#'of course it was her that did the bag check. she took half my stuff' | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

v1nsmoke · 7 months

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𝑷𝑨𝑹𝑻𝒀 𝑲𝑰𝑳𝑳𝑬𝑹 // 𝑺𝑳𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑹!𝒁𝑶𝑹𝑶 𝑿 𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫𝑬𝑹

spooktober week 3 - modern au with slasher zoro!

tw: murder, d3ath, g0re, alcohol, can this be taken as yandere?, fire

summary: attending a house party won't be a bad choice, at least that's what you think until something changes the course of the night, and everything turns into chaos.

a/n: phew, my longest oneshot so far! i mean it took almost a week so i was hoping. i just want to say that im trash at writing endings so idk how that turned out, i feel like i fucked it up. also COP SHANKS CAMEO??!?!??! and firefighter Ace too!! LISTEN TO HOUSE OF BALLOONS WHILE READING, IT FITS THE VIBE!!!

first half until the garage scene supervised by lena!

tags: @stargirldelight cause cop shanks appearance at the end ♡ (sorry that i keep tagging u in shanks stuff)

wc: 5.6k

The cafeteria was bustling with people, just the average, daily experience. You munch on the horrid food they serve, the food you always tried to trade with the people who were smart enough to bring their own. You were lucky to have Sanji in your friend group, he always brought a bit of his own, delicious cooking, which Luffy would often steal.

"Here dear, I brought you some of your favourite!" Sanji exclaims, handing you a small portion of your favourite food with a smile on his face.

"Thanks, you're the best!" You take it and immediately dive in, hoping that you won't feel the taste of the cafeteria's food you finished a minute ago. While talking with Sanji, you could feel someone staring, but every time you looked around to check, there was nobody looking at you.

"Okay guys, last night I was thinking." Nami speaks up, now the whole group's attention focused on her as she stands up on the table. "Robin, you already know, I'm talking about what we discussed over the phone." She smiles.

"Just spit it out." Zoro says, losing his patience with the orange haired girl.

"Since it's our last year here together, I was thinking about hosting a big halloween party! And everyone is invited! And I mean EVERYONE. If you know somebody outside this highschool, feel free to invite them! The party is going to be held on October 31st! That's a week for you to prepare your costumes and get ready for the best night of your lives!" She excitedly says.

The whole group and the people present at the cafeteria cheer for her, everyone in on the idea. You haven't attended a good halloween party in years, and when it comes to parties, you know it's in good hands with Nami.

~○~

You walk trough the girl's locker room's door, the fencing helmet held in your hand since it won't fit in your bag.

"Thanks for waiting." You high five Zoro, standing at the entrance since he changed clothes faster. Maybe because he didn't spend a good twenty minutes with gossiping, or more like overhearing converastions going on about some random girl's personal life.

"So, what did they say?" You ask.

"What?" He looks at you bluntly.

"What do you mean 'what'? Oh. So you didn't ask them about the party." You sigh as realisation hits you.

"I didn't ask them about the party." He repeats, almost sounding proud of himself.

"Nami is counting on us!"

"The whole cafeteria heard her, isn't that enough people? Is her house even that big?"

"Even if it isn't, she'll find a way to get all these people together. She's smart, you gotta give her that."

Just then, a guy trying to leave the fencing hall bumps into you by accident. He rapidly looks up, making you notice his strange shaped nose.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to!" He apologises.

"No, don't worry, it's nothing. I was the one standing in the doorway, it's not your fault." You apologise back, picking up his bag that fell from his hands after the impact. He's about to leave, but you call out for him.

"Hey, uh, I was wondering if you could come to my friend's halloween party. October 31st. You in?" You shout, hoping he still hears you. The guy turns around, and shouts back a "sure" in response. "I'll send you the address, I think I have you on Instagram. Bye!"

The guy puts his thumb up and leaves. You turn back, and you're met with Zoro's eyes piercing trough you.

"What?" You ask, seeing he was clearly bothered by something.

"Nothing. Let's go." He sighs and heads towards his car, landing in the driver's seat.

"If you say so." You shrug and follow, getting in next to Zoro. You open your phone, and type in your address into Google Maps so that you won't have to guide him and his poor navigation skills. Sometimes you wonder how he got his driving license.

He stops at your house. You gather your fencing equipment, and step out of the car.

"Are you coming to Nami's party?" You hold the door open so you can speak with him.

"You sure sound very excited about it. I thought you hated parties, the people, drinks and all." He replies.

"I still do. But Nami and the others will be there, at least I won't feel alone. I want to see how it turns out. You still didn't answer me."

"I guess it's worth a try. She will probably buy the expensive drinks, someone's gotta try those out."

"You're saying that because you are an alcoholic, Zoro."

"I know. Bye." He grabs your door's handle and closes it, starts the engine and drives off.

"Yeah... Bye." You say to yourself.

You plop down on your bed, letting your body sink into the soft mattress. Maybe Zoro was right. Maybe you shouldn't go. Parties? You never attended them, the overwhelming amount of people and the disgusting smell of alcohol that would stay on your shirt keeping you away from these events.

But for God's sake, it will be hosted by Nami this time. She was your best friend ever since you started highschool, and she was also your number one supporter from the moment you two met. And now she was going to organise a huge halloween party with everyone invited, there's just no way you wouldn't attend it! Besides, all your other friends would be there, too! Robin or Sanji would definitely let you stick to their sides, you'd be safe there. You've got a whole week to get ready, both your costume and mentally.

~○~

Nami throws another ingredient in the cart, adding to the weight of it, making it even harder for you to push it forward.

"Did you even look at the price of it? Or are you just throwing in everything you see?" You ask your friend.

"We need all these, and I have the money for it. I just can't wait for tonight! This will be the party of the year, and I bet everyone will be talking about it tomorrow!" She exclaims, throwing another bag of potato chips your way. You catch it and place it on top of the heap of other food already in the cart.

"What will be your costume, Y/N?" Nami looks at you as the two of you join the line at the cash register.

"I couldn't come up with anything, I'll probaly go dressed as myself. Not very original, I know." You say as place the groceries on the conveyor belt one by one.

"Hm, I was looking forward to see you in some costume for once, but whatever." She sounds dissapointed, but at least she respects your decision.

After paying the crazy amount of money Nami decided to spend on snacks, you get into her car, heading straight towards her house. A few days ago you agreed to help her set up the party, but didn't expect it to be such a big thing. Sure, Nami was the host, so it's natural that she would plan something huge.

Her keys dingle in the front door's keyhole, and she opens it. Both your hands full with the bags, only being freed after you manage to drop them on her kitchen counter with a sigh.

"What should I help with?" You inquire, leaning on the white marble kitchen island.

"I was only thinking of helping with the groceries and now that's done, but if you're already here, could you put these into bowls? You know where to find them." She motions at the snacks in the grocery bags.

Of course you knew, Nami invited you over more than a million times, you could swear you knew the whereabout of every small item in her house. You open a cupboard, grabbing a bunch of bowls from it.

"I've got some things to tend to, Usopp should be here in about twenty minutes." She waves before going upstairs to take care of whatever she needed to.

"Ayyy! I didn't expect you here! Only here to set things up, or staying for the party too?" Usopp hugs you upon entering.

"Weird to see me here, huh? I'll stay for the party too, though I will probably stay by somebody's side, likely Robin or Sanji, maybe you, we'll see." You hug him back.

"Only an hour before the others arrive, I'm so excited! It's gonna be fun, I promise, and if ya ever feel lonely, find me!" Usopp pulls away and the two of you share your own handshake that took days to perfect.

~○~

The loud music with the same, repetative beat keeps playing from the speakers installed by Usopp earlier today, maybe an hour ago. You didn't expect everybody from the cafeteria to actually pull up, but it seems like you weren't the only one who thought it would be nice to attend a party just this one time. Everybody was there, event those smart students whose daily routine was entirely made up of studying and the quiet kids nobody knew anything about, and they all seemed to have fun. Except you.

You stood alone in the corner of the living room, awkwardly holding the red plastic cup filled with alcohol that you won't drink anyway. Maybe coming here was a bad idea after all.

"Uh, hey." You hear voice behind you, though it was faint since the music was being blasted. You turn around to see the guy from your fencing classes, the same guy that you invited here because Zoro wouldn't do it.

"Hi." You say, your fingers fiddling with the cup as you force a smile onto your face.

"I see you're alone. Zoro didn't come with you? I was sure he would." He starts.

"Uhhh I haven't seen him yet, but the party only started not so long ago, he said some days ago that he'll show up. He's bad with directions and navigation, maybe he just got lost." You explain.

"Oh, alright, if you say so. My name's Kaku. Nice to meet you, I've been watching you during fencing classes."

Zoro's face expressed disgust. Was it worth coming here? He stands still near the doorway of the living room, silently observing the scene currently unfolding on the other side of the room. When he entered, you were the first thing he saw amidst the crowd, but his happiness quickly dissapeared after a guy approaches you. Zoro could recognise him as Kaku from fencing classes, the guy who would always be paired with Zoro (and inevitably lose to him).

He couldn't hear what your conversation was about, the other guests and the music overpowering his hearing. Oh how he hated Kaku. He annoyed Zoro so much, his voice, gestures, everything. And now this man he hated was talking to you. It was supposed to be him. Maybe if he didn't take twenty-two wrong turns, get stuck in a traffic jam AND park his car in front of the wrong house, it could be him. But that wasn't the case right now, because instead of enjoying your company, he stood still on the other side of the room.

It bothered him how you had to force a smile, he could see it across the crowded room, but Kaku standing next to you couldn't. He just kept talking and talking, not noticing the way you were looking in all directions but at Kaku, who didn't seem to care.

"Heyyy, you wanna join me on the dance floor?" An unknown girl comes up to Zoro, pointing at the middle of the living room.

"No." He coldly turned her down, not even bothering to look at this girl. He couldn't take his eyes off you and Kaku, and knew that if the guy tries to do anything, whether it be a romantic or hurtful action towards you, he's going to be there between the two of you in the blink of an eye.

Just then, he notices as Kaku takes your hand into his, the movement making you seemingly uncomfortable. Seeing this, Zoro takes rapid steps trough the living room, squishing himself trough the crowd, his katanas colliding into each other. As he gets closer, he starts to hear you voice.

"No, uh, thanks, I-" you stutter, politely turning him down, trying to pull yourself back to the corner you were standing in.

"Come on, you're supposed to have fun, right? Zoro's not coming anyway, that asshole doesn't care." Kaku chuckles. Zoro deeply inhales. It took his all not to launch at the guy and gut him right then and there.

"No, sorry. I'm not going anywhere with you." You insist, pulling back your hand in hopes of freeing it from his grasp. Your heart was beating faster, and it was definitely not because Kaku's charms. You've already considered all possible outcomes of this. Lucky for you there was a small cupboard with a vase on it next to you just in case of an emergency.

"No way, I'm a nice guy, you know me! I-"

"She said no."

"Zoro!" You smile upon hearing your friend's deep voice, one that you could recognise anywhere. Kaku seems to lose some of his self confidence after Zoro's voice hits his ears, but he still didn't let go of your hand.

"Hey, buddy!" He gives the green haired man a fake smile. This was off to a bad start. Zoro could swear that if this guy called him 'buddy' again, he'll lose it.

"Let her go." He says back, not even greeting Kaku. Instead, he stared into his soul, and if looks could kill, Kaku would be gone by now.

"Alright, fine!" Kaku gets defensive, letting go of you and raising both his hands up like he was being arrested. It looked like he was waiting for a 'thank you', but you sure weren't going to thank him for the bare minimum. Feeling the tension, the guy tries to lighten the mood before Zoro accidentally stares too strongly at him.

"Zoro, buddy, can I invite you for a drink?" He asks.

Zoro nods, knowing that Kaku had no idea of what he just got himself into.

"I'll be back soon." Zoro smiles your way, which is not a rare phenomenon with you, then leaves wirh Kaku following closely behind him, leaving you alone yet again.

~○~

Zoro pours another drink into the cup, Kaku letting out a sigh of satisfaction as he downs it again. Both of them sat at the kitchen counter, drinking up everything they could find. They both consumed the same amount of alcohol, but one of them was definitely drunker than the other. Zoro was an expert at alcohol drinks, and could still stay sober even after an insane amount of drinks. Unlike Kaku. He was deeply drunk by now, just as Zoro expected it.

"Zoro, hi! You're actually here, cool! Though I would be happier if you left your katanas at home." Nami appears, greeting her friend.

"I always take them with me everywhere."

"Yeah, that's exactly why you are banned from so many places."

"Zoro, pour me and yourself another!" Kaku chuckles, his shaky hands holding the cup towards the green haired. Zoro agrees, but when he tries to grab another drink, he notices that it's all gone.

"Strange. I thought you were prepared, Nami." He says.

"I WAS! But you two idiots drank it all!" She shouts at the two, mad that they didn't leave any for the rest of the guests.

"So no more drinks?" Zoro looks over to Nami, earning a sigh from her.

"There is. Go to the garage, I have a few crates of it stored there. Bring those up, but leave some for the others."

"Why do I have to get them? You're the host, do it yourself." Kaku whines, clearly drunk.

"MAYBE BECAUSE I WASN'T THE ONE WHO DRANK IT ALL. NOW GO." she pushes Kaku out of the room, Zoro walking behind them.

He would be lying if he said this wasn't what he was planning all along. The crates in the garage? He knew about it. And he also knew that nobody will be there, all the guests in the living room or one of the guest rooms. He felt a bit bad for leaving you alone, but there were things that had to be done. And it was for your own good.

"Man, I'm telling ya, I would be long gone with that girl if you didn't interfere. Damn bro, I even had some aphrodisiac with me, I-"

Zoro didn't need to hear the rest. His steps slowed down, mind going in multiple directions. Did he just mean you when saying 'that girl'? Did he really want to give you that shit? Kaku may be drunk, but drunk words are sober thoughts, and Zoro knew that. He hated Kaku, but now he snapped. This guy was going too far, and Zoro didn't like the way this crazy dude talked and thought about you.

He opens the garage's door, holding it open for Kaku to enter, and he does so, skipping his way down the few stairs. Unbeknownst to him, he just walked into a trap, one that Zoro has been planning ever since Kaku started making flirty comments towards you during fencing classes, not noticing how you were internally cringing and creeped out by him, but neither of you ever said a word about this. And tonight really did it for Zoro. He didn't invite Kaku for a drink because he wanted to get closer to him. He did it to get him into this drunken state, and made him drink up every drink until there was none left. He didn't need Nami to ask them to get more, he would've done it anyways.

Kaku looks trough the shelves, searching for even more drinks.

"Zoro, you helping me or nah?" He inquires, still looking at the metal shelf.

"Sure. I think I already found one of the crates." He says, carrying a crate filled with whiskey over to Kaku. He tries to hand it to him, but drops it in the process. The glasses break, the alcohol spilling on the floor and Kaku, who is now soaked from head to toe, given that he was crouching when this happened.

"Sorry." There was no remorse in Zoro's tone, but the guy believed him anyways, the drinks doing their thing.

"It's okay buddy, mistakes happen." He smiles, going back to searching the shelf again in case he missed something.

He doesn't notice as Zoro quietly locks the garage's door, trapping the two alone together. He starts searching in his pocket, until he finally gets his hands on the keys to Nami's car, the keys that he stole from the hanger in the hallway. Zoro opens the car's door, sitting down on the leather seat of it, then inserts the key and the engine comes to life with a buzzing sound.

"Ey man, be careful or you'll hit me!" Kaku shouts, still crouching just a few meters away from the car.

"Don't worry. Stay there, and you'll be safe. I just want to test something." He lies, and steps on the gas pedal. The tires of the car squealed on the concrete floor of the garage, which had just enough space for the green haired to roll the car back a bit.

"Buddy, Zoro, no, no, let me just go back, you can try the car when I'm not here." Kaku stands up, ready to leave in this instant.

"Stay put. I'm here to crush your skull, not the car." And with that, Zoro pushes the car's gear, feet forcefully pressing the gas pedal.

A loud thud echoes in the garage as Zoro crashes into the wall, the breaking of bones and coughs ringing with it. Kaku tries to take deep breaths, but now that he was squished between the wall and the car, it seemed impossible. His head was spinning, eyesight hazy, the only thing he tried to focus his eyes on was the man in the driver's seat, staring at him with an emotionless gaze.

Zoro backs up a bit with the car, Kaku falling to the floor with broken ribs. He coughs, clawing at the floor in hopes of being able to crawl away. Zoro opens the car's door, slowly stepping out. Kaku was almost at the few steps leading to the door, when he looks back over his shoulders at the sound of footsteps, the green haired man approaching him.

"No, please, I-" he crawls a bit faster, but Zoro grabs him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him back with force, then dragging him along the cold concrete floor, back towards the car.

Zoro lifts him up, then places him in the drivers seat while he stands at the car's door.

"You're gonna be in big trouble when I tell the others about this." He manages to whisper between coughs, his own blood filling his mouth.

"They won't." And with that, Zoro steps on the gas pedal, quickly pulling his leg back after doing so. A deafening scream pierces trough the air, the car running into the wall yet again, the metal shelf between the two objects breaking right trough the windshield, the end of it sliding trough Kaku's head.

The car sparks at the impact, the alcohol spilled there by Zoro previously catching fire. Was the crate drop a few minutes ago intentional? Yes. Yes, it was. Now the car was in flames, the already dead Kaku stiff in the drivers seat.

Zoro calmly grabs a crate filled with beer from the other side of the room, and makes his way towards the door like nothing happened. He doesn't look back, letting the car burn with Kaku inside it. The whole garage was made up of concrete walls, which cannot catch or spread fire, meaning that Nami's house won't burn down if he leaves the fire to be.

He leaves the room, striding back to the kitchen. Just as he was about to leave the hallway and enter the living room, Nami comes rushing to him.

"Zoro! What took you so long?! We heard loud noises, I was getting worried that something happened to you!" She scolds him.

"I didn't know you could do that." He coldly replies, earning an eyeroll from the ginger girl, who noticed something.

"Wait, where's the guy who went with you?" She asks.

"Oh, Kaku? He told me to feel free to come back, said he wanted to try something. He should be here soon." He lies straight to Nami's face.

Nami shrugs, about to go back to the middle of the party, when she suddenly stops in her tracks. Her nose picks up an unkonwn scent, or more like smell.

"Zoro, can you smell it too?" She asks worriedly, turning back to the swordsman. "Smoke." Realisation dawns on her, eyes going wide. She rushes out the room, a curious Usopp and you behind her. "You're coming too!" She shouts back, clearly meaning Zoro. So, he follows them.

The grey smoke filled the hallway as they got closer to the garage, Nami already suspecting what happened. Usopp bursts trough the garage's door, letting out a few coughs along with Nami and you. The room was filled with smoke, the orange haired girl's car still in flames, it was only a matter of time before it gets worse and the car explodes.

"SOMEBODY HELP! WE NEED WATER! CALL THE POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS!" Usopp screams. Nami and you nod, running back to warn the others and call for help.

Now Zoro was left alone with Usopp, who was panicking, taking fast and deep breaths to calm himself down.

"You, Zoro? D-don't you feel l-like doing something about this?" He shakily asks, eyes on the green haired man.

"I already did." He answers. Usopp slightly scrunches his eyebrows, not quite understanding what he meant.

"What are y-you trying to say? You're creeping me out a bit, you know." He takes a tiny step back, Zoro looking at him with a colder, more menacing stare than usual.

Usopp swallows hard, feeling uneasy after Zoro doesn't give him an answer.

"Zoro, you... you didn't, right?" He nervously chuckles, but Zoro still doesn't move or say anything. Usopp realises that he's in grave danger here, and it's time for him to run. But just as he turns around, ready to sprint back to the living room, he hears as Zoro unsheats one of his katanas. Usopp grabs a vase, throwing it right towards Zoro, who simply cuts trough it.

"This can't be real, this can't be real, this can't be real!" Usopp murmurs to himself, shutting his eyes for a few seconds. But when he opens them again, Zoro's gone. Or at least that's what he thought, standing up, letting out a deep sigh at the fact that he won't die.

"Sorry. No witnesses." He hears the deep voice from behind, the blade making contact with his upper body. Usopp looks down, and is met with the sight of Zoro's katana going trough right his heart. He sees as Zoro pulls out the blade from his flesh, a hole left in its place. He coughs, blood spilling from his mouth before landing on the flooring beneath him with a thud.

Zoro's hands were now stained with his friend's blood, the crimson liquid staining Nami's floor and his katana's shiny blade. He had to get rid of the body quickly, before you, Nami and all the others return with the cops. So, he grabs Usopp's dead body by the legs, dragging him to the burning car in the garage a few steps away.

You panic, dialing 911 as fast as possible while Nami ushered everybody out the house before something else catches on fire too, or the flames reach the wrong spot of the car and it explodes. But Usopp was down there, trying to put it out with the buckets from the storage room. Or at least that's what you thought was happening.

"911, what's your emergency?" A female voice chimes in from the other side of the line, one that you could recognise.

"Uta, hi! Nami's car got caught on fire in her garage, and she said somebody was there too, it can explode any minute, Usopp is trying to put it out but I'm worried for him, I-" you dump all the information on her, but she calmly cuts you off.

"Alright. I'll ask my dad to go, he'll bring some of his colleagues too, so him and some firefighters will be there in a few minutes."

"Thank you. Bye." You shake, worried for Usopp and Zoro at the garage. Uta puts down the phone, and you do the same as you rush back to the garage to get the two out of the house.

You cough as you get closer, Usopp and Zoro nowhere to be seen.

"ZORO! USOPP! COME ON, WE NEED TO GET OUT!" You shout, hoping they will hear you. You slow in your track when you notice the splatters of blood on the floor and wall a few meters away from the entrance of the garage. Did something happen to them? You think for a second. Maybe the fire wasn't caused by accident. Maybe somebody set it on fire intentionally, killing the person Nami said was there. And now he maybe got one of your friends too.

"USOPP! ZOR-" you call out their names, when suddenly the green haired man appears in the garage's doorway.

"Oh god, you're alright! Look, we need to get out of here, the police, firefighters and ambulance are already on their way, there's nothing we can do about the fire now. And I might sound stupid right now, but there might be even a killer, and-"

"There is. Now come with me and get out of here." He cuts you off and grabs your hand, heading to where you just came from.

"But Usopp-" you try to stop yourself, but Zoro keeps dragging you behind him.

"He'll be fine." He replies, not even looking at you.

"You know what he's like, we can't just leave him here!" You argue back, slightly raising your voice.

"There's no time for him, we need to leave, now."

"No!" You tear your hand away from his. "He will panic that he's alone, or worse, he can die too! Don't you think about that?!"

"I do, but I don't care. I don't care if that fool dies, but if I don't get you out of here and you die because of me, I'll never forgive myself." He lifts you, throwing you over his shoulder, firm hands keeping you in place. You squirm, trying to get out of his touch, but it seems impossible.

He bursts trough the door, then places you down at the front yard. The other guests were either gone the moment they heard there was a fire, or watched in horror as the smoke flowed out the house. Just as you step on the sidewalk in front of the house, the sound of cop cars hit your ears, that same deafening sound as all the other times. Firefighters and ambulance arrive at the scene too, jumping out of the vehicles in an instant. You rush towards one firefighter, the black haired, freckled guy you were friends with.

"Ace! Ace, one of my friends is still inside, please, try to find him and get him out." You beg, tears forming in the corner of your eyes.

"That's my job, sweetheart. Don't worry!" He reassuringly winks, running toward's Nami's house.

You knew Ace since childhood, you both went to the same school and your moms were good friends, so you got to hang out with him a lot. He loved going on adventures, and was a good company. He always dreamt of being a firefighter, and it was like a dream come true for him when he got the job. You knew that he will be great at this job, and you trusted him. When he told you not to worry, you believed him, there was something about your friend saying this that calmed you down a bit.

"Hey, you alright?" Another familiar voice sounds from behind you, his hands placed on your shoulders. You turn around and see the red haired man with scars over one of his eyes, worry displaying in his eyes. You couldn't hold your tears anymore, this was it. You wrap your arms around him, face buried into his chest, sobs escaping your lips.

"It's okay, it's okay. You'll be fine." He hugs back, bringing a sense of comfort to you. Shanks was the usual friendly cop, the one who would always be there when an old lady called the police because her cat got stuck on a tree, the man who would knock into your home just because he was bored and wanted company. You knew him, his little secrets, and he knew yours.

~○~

The rest of the night you sat in Shanks' cop car, a blanket over you after a doctor checked up on you and it was all okay. You were devastated. Ace and the doctors did everything they could to save Usopp, who was found dead in the garage, stabbed. The other victim was Kaku, who died under mysterious circumstances. There was definitely a killer, but nobody knew who it was. Though you did have your suspect. And you could only wish you were wrong.

The last time you and Nami saw Kaku was when he was with Zoro, but Nami said that the two went to fetch drinks and Kaku stayed behind, so maybe that wasn't Zoro's fault. But it was also him who stayed with Usopp, he was last seen with him. And the fact that Zoro carries his katanas everywhere, including this party, and Usopp getting killed by a blade just fit together. Why would he kill Usopp? You had no idea.

Everyone got questioned one by one, and sadly all clues lead to Zoro according to Benn, who was Shanks' colleague. You didn't know him like you knew Shanks, but you would meet him often. He was smart, and knew what he was doing. And that's why you were so worried. Because he is likely right this time too, and that means Zoro, your best friend is a murderer.

You see as Shanks approaches his car where you were sitting, a serious look on his face.

"Is something wrong?" You quietly ask, worried that something happened, something wrong.

"I'm sorry. I really am." He says as he sits down in the back next to you, looking in a direction. You follow where his eyes are focused, and see what you didn't want to. Zoro in handcuffs, escorted to a police car. A tear escapes you, it hurts to think that your friend is a killer. You didn't know his motives, why he did what he did, but he probably had a good reason.

~○~

Life went smoothly. The image of that night was still vivid in your mind, but you forgot about it so often that it was almost like it's gone. You would still sometimes dream about it, but other than that, you were fine. Shanks was worried that you will be targeted after this, so he offered to take care of you and live with him if you want. You have been living alone ever since you were 15, and you knew Shanks well, so, you moved in with him. He has been acting as your father figure ever since, and you totally don't mind it.

You would sometimes still wonder: why did you do it, Zoro?

one piece and all related characters belong to eiichiro oda, i do not own any of those characters.

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the-really-lonely-mountain · 5 months

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Along for The Ride - Part 1

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Summary: Transported to Middle Earth, you must Join Thorin Oakenshield's Company as they travel to reclaim Erebor! OR: My take on the classic 'modern girl in Middle Earth' troupe. With this first installment, we are following the first movie of The Hobbit trilogy, and falling in love with Kili on the way! Slow burn with this one y'all, nothing spicy till the next work I'm afraid.

Tags: Kili / Reader, Reader-Insert, Slow Burn, Modern Character in Middle Earth, During The Hobbit, How Do I Tag, Canon-Typical Violence, Kíli Is a Little Shit (Tolkien), wrote this while I had covid, in like 4 days lol, implied soulmates, Dwarf Culture & Customs, Freeform, Holding Hands, Cuddling & Snuggling, Sleepy Cuddles, Protective Thorin Oakenshield Company Members, Dwalin & Thorin Oakenshield Friendship, Fluff and Humor, Domestic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Where In Middle-Earth Is Gandalf?, Hair Braiding, Dwarf Courting, My First Tumblr Fic, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fíli & Kíli & Thorin Live, Thorin Oakenshield Lives, Fíli Lives (Tolkien), Kíli Lives (Tolkien)

Word Count: 6,292

A/N: I was utterly appalled by the lack of Kili writers on here and Ao3. Y'all who write for Kili, I've been eating your crumbs like it's the shit (cause it is) for weeks, but one can't be sustained on crumbs alone so I've prepared a feast!! This is the first fic I've ever wanted to post, please be gentle. Comments, Likes, and Reblogs are loved and treasured!!

Tagging the amazing Kili writers I've been living off of for the past few weeks and who have inspired me so they might share in the feast as well lol go check out their stuff too: @mikathemonster, @cowboybeepboop, @littleenglishfangirl, @ethereal-inquisitor, @sweetpeakili

Photo credit: @immawriteyouthings

Divider credit: @cafekitsune

You were having one of those days that made you want to run away from everything. Instead, you walked on the golf course behind your house after hours; no phone, no umbrella, no bag this time, just you. You had what you could fit from your hands in your jean pockets as you walked the grassy field. Something twinkled and caught your eye on the far side of the fairway, there was a sparkle in the ferns. You walked over and began looking through the underbrush. Your hand grazed a smooth stick with a mangled end that encased a gem. You picked it up hoping for a better look but were transported to another world instead!

You appeared in the new world holding the staff. You were standing beside an older fellow with a pointy hat and long grey beard. You looked around and saw many other gruff, burly-looking men sitting in an encampment. They looked as confused as you. You did the only thing you could think of doing at that moment.

You turned around and took off running as fast as you could.

The wizard whose staff you were running away with asked the younger dwarves in his company to fetch you for him. They ran after you as quick as the wind. You dodged trees and hurdled bushes, making an all-around great effort. You were slowing down though. You stopped for a moment to catch your breath and plan. A twig snapped in the distance; quick footsteps closed in on you. You took off again. You needed a place to hide, a moment to think for God's sake. You were afforded no such luxuries. They were gaining, you were tiring. In your drained haste, you tripped on a bush which sent you stumbling and struggling to regain your footing given your momentum. You finally fell and scampered to take cover behind the roots of a great tree. Their footfalls grew slower and drew nearer. They were so close you could hear their words now.

“…She’s hiding, Fili,” one said much closer than you expected them to be.

You tried your best to steady your breathing. Your heartbeat was so loud you knew they could hear it.

“Stop scaring her Kili,” The other chastised. “You know she’s got to be scared half to death”. He walked past you, studying the ground. The other came up the other side of the tree doing the same.

You gripped the staff preparing yourself to be found. They turned in unison following the same tracks and looked up at you simultaneously. They were both panting but not as hard as you. Fili, the elder and more experienced of the two knelt where he stood a few yards from your curled trembling form.

“My name is Fili” He put his hand on his chest and motioned to the man next to him, “This is my brother Kili. We mean no harm to you.” He kept his distance and showed his empty hands. You stayed firmly pressed against the tree trunk, your chest heaving rapidly and your eyes as large as saucers. They could have tackled you, beaten you, or done any number of terrible violating things, but they kept their distance and spoke softly.

“What’s your name?” Kili asked, with a charming smile as he crouched beside his brother.

“Y/N,” you said in a shaky freaked-out tone.

“Y/N, that’s our friend wizard’s staff,” Fili said, “If anyone can figure out how you got here, he can.”

“But you gotta come back to camp with us,” Kili said reaching out his hand as a peace offering. So many horrible things could happen to you in the wild of this new world, but even more on top of that could if you didn’t go with them.

“How can I trust you?” You asked them. They looked at each other.

“How can we trust you?” Kili threw back at you with a suspicious look and recoiled his hand.

“Touche” you nodded returning his look.

“Seems we are at an impasse then,” Fili huffed at his brother, “You want to get home, and our wizard can do that. The only way that can happen is if you come with us back to our camp. We can only offer you our word and promise on our honor as dwarven princes that you will not be harmed by any in our company.”

You thought for a moment and nibbled at your lip, “You promise?” you looked up at Kili this time.

Kili looked you deep in the eyes, and very seriously said: “No harm will ever come to you, on my honor as a prince.”

You nodded at this, “Very well”, and tried to stand up but were stuck against the tree. The 2 men easily lifted you back to your feet. You followed them back to the camp.

You tried your best to hide behind Kili as you approached the wizard smoking a pipe. You peeked from around his shoulder at the other men in the camp. They were looking at you.

“Please sit, my dear,” The wizard said to you, motioning to the rest of the long log beside him “We have much to discuss.”

Your legs wouldn’t move you from behind the dwarf. You were still quite afraid.

“She seems to have taken a liking to you Kili,” the wizard said to him. The rest of the company let out a soft chuckle of agreement. You couldn’t see it from your angle, but Kili smiled and nodded.

“Sit down child, we aren’t going to hurt you,” One of the dwarves sitting across the fire said. You took a deep breath to gather your courage. One false move by any of the others would have you bolting again.

You moved from behind Kili and sat beside the wizard still clutching the staff.

“May I take that from you?” the wizard politely asked. You handed it to him. He explained how this type of thing had happened to a couple of his wizard friends before, but he didn’t know the remedy or spell to undo it or how to prevent it from happening again. You sat quietly listening and nodding. He explained to you and the rest of the company that he was leaving to travel to his friend and inquire about your predicament. In the meantime, he convinced the company and its leader, Thorin you came to know, to keep you in the company as an innocent bystander to help around the camp and whatnot till Gandalf (the wizard) could figure out what to do with you. Gandalf gave you a small sack of coins, instructing you to get a bag, a bedroll, clothes, and any other necessities you’ll need at the next town.

As the fire died down so did the company. They got out their bedrolls and sleeping gear like a synchronized unit and as quickly as they started, they were all asleep snoring softly. Kili had first watch and was sitting on the ground next to you leaning against the log you were on. You slid onto the ground next to him curled with your knees to your chest. He looked over at you. You looked over at him.

“I don’t know what to do now,” you said not hiding the waver in your voice very well, “I’m so scared.” You couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. You cried into your hands as quietly as possible, so you didn’t disturb and anger the others. If you had looked at Kili, you would have seen him in a slight panic and at a loss for what to do, he didn’t know how to console crying women. You sobbed into your hands knowing you just needed to let it all out then you’d be fine. Kili looked at the fire and put his hand on your back. Physical contact of any kind back home was next to nonexistent, it felt nice to know he was trying his best to comfort you. After a few minutes of uncontrollable sobbing and hiccups wracking through you, you began calming down. When you were able to breathe properly, you wiped your face even though tears kept falling. You sniffled and rested your chin on your knees letting the tears fall silently now.

“Do you feel better?” Kili guessed in a soft tone and rubbed his hand on your back.

You nodded at him, “Yes” You took a deep breath and wiped the tears from your eyes as best you could, “Thank you” You looked at him and smiled a little. He smiled and nodded too, still concerned but returned his hand to his lap. You sniffled and looked at the fire.

“Really though I don’t know what I’m doing,” you said. “I’ve never been camping before,” you paused to think. “I don’t know how to fight or use a sword or make a fire or hunt or-or—” You were working yourself up and starting to cry again. Kili cut you off before you could start sobbing hysterically again.

“WOAH! Woah!!” alarmed, he put his hand on your back again, “It’s ok. Calm down.” he said harshly, “Take a deep breath, that seemed to help last time,” He mumbled the last part under his breath. That made you smile despite yourself.

“You don’t know how to console someone, do you?” You took a deep breath and wiped your eyes. He shook his head and took his hand from you. “Seems we’re both out of our depth then,” you said making the mood a bit lighter.

“In my defense, I was raised in a pack of manly men,” He smiled fondly “It’s a wonder my mother got through to me at all.”

“So, you do have a mother,” you said, making him look at you quizzically “I assumed you were raised by wolves,” You shrugged. He laughed and you couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re not completely wrong about that,” He smiled, looking over at the men across the fire. There was a momentary silence. “We’ll teach you those things, how to fight, how to make a fire, all that,” He looked over at you, “I mean who knows how long Gandalf will be, and you’d have to be pretty stupid not to pick up a thing or two even from this bunch.” You smiled and nodded; this calmed your nerves a little. A moment of silence fell between you again.

“Is it ok if I stay up with you?” you innocently asked, “I’m not very tired.”

“Sure,” he said casually, “May I ask about your life back in your world?”

“OK,” You nodded.

“What do you do?” he asked, you gave him a weird look. “Like for a living, how do you make money, how do you spend your days?”

“I’m a student at university at the moment.” He looked at you confused this time. “I spend my days studying at a desk, it’s boring and dull” You quickly summed up.

“Ooohh,” He said, “No wonder you couldn’t run for shit,” He laughed.

You scoffed, “So rude,” You huffed, failing to hide your smile. He was glad you were cheering up a bit.

“If it’s so boring and dull, why don’t you do something else?” He asked, naive to your world and its ways.

“It’s…complicated” you sighed “I have to study to do what I want to do for work even though I don’t want to work or study or do any of that, but I have to make money somehow because I need money to do stuff and buy things because the world I live in is shitty that way and it’s so frustrating sometimes,” you gritted your teeth to make your point.

“Well, what do you want to do then?” he asked, trying to understand your strange world.

“Sit on the beach,” You said without hesitation “…Listen to the waves…sleep on a blanket in the sun,” you sighed wistfully. “Die happy and rich.”

“That does sound nice” He agreed “I’ve never seen a tropical ocean before, the seas near the Blue Mountains are all frozen over.”

“Surely there’s a beach somewhere in this world,” You refused to believe the universe sent you to a world without a beach.

“There is! I’ve heard stories of Southern Gondor, where the sun makes the sand hotter than forges, and the water falls over the horizon in every direction.”

“That sounds like the beaches from back home,” You felt a little bad for him. You’d been practically raised at the beach because it was the only free thing to do in your hometown.

“May I ask a question?” you asked this time.

“Of course,” He shifted to lean against the log and face you.

“What are you guys doing?” you gestured to the camp around you.

“We are on a quest!” He said proudly, “A quest to take back our ancestral home from the dread dragon Smaug,” he said in a sinister voice. He explained about Erebor and the dragon and Thorin to catch you up. You listened, nodded, and took it all in, asking questions and giggling at his jokes. He was a decent storyteller.

“And I’m just along for the ride I guess,” you said deflated about your role in all this.

“If it’s any consolation, you’re quite good company,” He indulged; Kili always got so lonely on watch.

“Yay!” you said over a yawn, “I’d hate to bore any of you,” you replied, genuinely fearing your stories may never measure up to theirs. You leaned over and laid on the soft grass, curled in a ball with your arm as a pillow. You tried not to shiver from the cool evening breeze. You heard some shuffling of fabric, and then a blanket fluttered on top of you. You looked at Kili who smiled and said: “I’m quite the furnace at night, I’ll be fine without it,” he reassured.

“Thank you,” you said over another yawn. You didn’t expect to fall asleep but the next thing you knew it was early morning and you were awoken by the clanging of pots and spoons. You sat up and looked around to get your bearings.

‘Still in the same strange world’ you thought not fully awake. Kili appeared, greeted you good morning, and handed you a bowl of white goo he called porridge. You thanked him and ate your breakfast in silence like the rest of the company. While the men packed up the camp you were tasked with washing the dishes in a nearby stream. You were struck by the beauty of the incredible woods around you even in the dim morning light. You returned to camp and put the dishes in their bag, which was taken by one of your new companions. You felt out of place without a task among everyone who knew what to do. Balin saw you standing in the middle of the camp looking lost. He asked Thorin what they were to do about their lack of an extra pony for you. They decided you could ride with Kili seeing as he was the lightest (next to Bilbo) and his pony could take the weight and because you seemed the most comfortable with him. The old dwarf with a white-grey beard curled up at the ends approached you with as much of a nonthreatening air as he could muster.

“Good morning, my dear!” He greeted you with a chipper smile. “My name is Balin”

“Good morning,” you replied. “I don't quite know what I’m to be doing,” you said sheepishly.

“That’s ok lass, it’ll come with time,” he reassured, “For now, you’ll ride with Kili so you can see if he needs help getting ready.”

“Ok,” You nodded and started walking in Kili’s direction. You stopped in front of his pony and petted its nose and down its neck. “I’ve been told that I’m to ride with you,” you said timidly looking at him adjust his saddle. Kili looked at you and nodded.

“I’ll be happy to have a lovely conversation again” He smiled and looked back at his saddle, making the final arrangements.

He turned to you and said, “I’ll give you a leg up,” And jabbed a thumb at his pony. You nodded and approached the animal. You put your hands on the ponies back and bent your leg waiting for him to help. He leaned forward so he could whisper in your ear: “Wrong leg”. You blushed quite profusely at that and switched legs. He heaved you with such strength he nearly threw you over the other side of the pony. You made yourself comfortable behind the saddle before he hooked his foot in the stirrup and carefully mounted so he didn’t knock you off.

“You ok?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Yep!” you smiled. He nodded. You were excited to see new lands even though you feared what they harbored.

“If you need to hold on to me when we get going you can,” he said, making you both blush despite yourselves.

A few moments later Thorin called out: “Company ready?” in a deep booming voice, “Aye!” They all replied in unison. “Company, move out!” He bellowed and urged his pony forward. The rest followed behind him one by one. When your animal lurched forward you grabbed Kili's waist for dear life. The company was silent till they got to the end of the forest. You had your cheek pressed against Kili’s shoulder and your chest against his back. The fur of his coat was very soft against your face as you turned your head to look over his other shoulder. You yawned but didn’t realize you did it right next to his ear and breathed down his neck. He determinedly kept his eyes on the pony ahead of him to keep the blush rising in his chest at bay.

“You can take a nap if you need to,” he said over his shoulder in a soft voice for only you to hear.

“That sounds like a good idea,” You yawned again. You buried your face in the soft spare fabric of the hood on his back and cuddled closer to him to rest your head on his shoulder. You closed your eyes and sleep swiftly took you. He knew this because he could feel your breathing slow on the back of his neck. He was happy you could sleep and couldn’t help his smile. You shifted now and then, turning your head one way then a while later turning it the other. Kili tried not to talk or move too much in fear of waking your delicate slumber. By midday, you felt very well rested. You took a deep breath and released your grasp on Kili to stretch your arms above your head, arching your back to wake yourself up. You quickly slipped your arms around him again, so you didn’t fall.

“Good morning!” He chirped, “Well afternoon really,” he corrected with a smile, “Sleep well?”

“Mhm,” You hummed against his shoulder “I haven’t slept that well in a long time,” you said thinking back on the restless weeks before your arrival in Middle Earth.

“Good,” He nodded. “Happy I could be of service.”

“Yes, you make quite the comfortable bed,” you replied.

An easy silence settled between you for a while. You contentedly watched the landscape pass by while he kept the pony on the path.

“What’s a good weapon for a beginner?” You asked knowing you needed to start wrapping your head around the fact that you could be stuck here forever and needed to protect yourself. He thought about that for a few moments.

“I’d have to say a bow,” He shrugged, “I don’t know honestly, lemme ask Fili,” he kicked up his pony to walk faster to be next to his brother. “What is the best weapon for a beginner?” He asked him. Fili glanced at you and thought for a moment.

“Hmm I think a sword would be easiest,” He replied, contradicting his brother.

“A sword?!” Kili said incredulously “No that’s one of the harder ones,” He swatted his hand as if to swipe the words from the air.

Fili scoffed “For you maybe,” he said barely keeping his teasing smile under control “But not to the rest of us, my weapon-challenged brother.” That made you giggle. Kili huffed and pulled his horse back, so he wasn’t beside his brother anymore.

“Are you that bad with a sword?” you asked, trying not to laugh too much.

“No!” he exclaimed, “I’m just better with a bow and arrows,” he pouted.

‘Awe he’s so cute when he pouts’ Your thought took you by surprise.

“Perhaps you can teach me, Archer,” Your voice was lower than you intended, making you both blush. Your breath ghosted over his ear making him shiver just a little. He turned his head to look at you over his shoulder, his face so close to yours. He looked at your lips then deep into your eyes holding eye contact.

“Maybe I will,” he said in a deep gruff whisper that made you gasp and goosebumps rush over your skin. He turned back and smiled; proud he could get a rise out of you. You huffed and distanced yourself from him by leaning back, needing the space to calm down.

As night drew closer, Thorin led the company to the edge of a forest and found a shallow cave, more like a cliff overhang to make camp for the night. He told Fili and Kili to take care of the ponies and Oin and Gloin to make the fire. After the meals had been handed out Thorin told you to take Fili and Kili a bowl. You walked through the forest and found them looking at a downed tree in panicked awe.

“Something took 4 of the ponies,” Fili said to you, hoping you’d have the answer to their predicament.

“Yes, and…” you nodded at them trying not to panic yourself “What are you going to do about it since it’s your problem?”

The brothers decided to see what took the ponies and if they could handle it themselves, no need to worry Thorin, right? You followed them as they tracked the pony-nappers. Kili hid behind a tree and peeked around, you hid behind him and peeked over his shoulder. 3 large trolls were something to worry about, and a sight that made that dreadful feeling drop from your chest into your stomach. Your grip on Kili’s coat tightened.

He turned to you and said in barely a whisper, “Go back to camp and tell Thorin”.

Fili was immediately against it, huffing and puffing from behind his tree. Kili shrugged and motioned with hands as if to say, ‘What else would you have us do?!’ Fili huffed again and snuck around the tree. He tried to cut the rope fence with his sword, but he took too long. The trolls caught him. They were deciding ways to eat him when Kili looked at you in alarm and told you to go back to camp. You ran as fast as you could.

“Ponies! Big grey troll things took the ponies!” You said out of breath pointing the way you just came “Fili…in…danger”. Thorin cursed in dwarfish and rallied the company. Balin told you to keep your distance, so you didn’t get caught in the fight.

The dwarves fought bravely but were captured. Bilbo bid for more time while you thought of a plan. You heard the trolls complain about daylight coming and that gave you an idea. You saw the trolls had made camp in the shade cast by a large boulder. You wedged a branch under the rock and used the leverage to try to roll it. It was very heavy, and you were not. It took everything in your power to push the branch to roll the boulder down the ditch edge it rested on. The trolls were washed in sunlight, turning them to stone and freeing the company. They cheered when you stepped over the branch and into the clearing. You helped them from their confines and smiled and blushed when they praised your good job.

Back at camp the company gathered their things and discussed what to do now. Fili suddenly hushed the company.

“Warg howls in the distance,” He whispered to Thorin “They are coming!”

“RUN!” Thorin yelled at the company. Following Thorin everyone started running. You all ran as fast as you could onto a hilly plane sprinkled with trees and boulders. You ran and ran till the Wargs finally caught up. They began to encircle you. The company fought the beasts, taking them down as still more came at them. You went to hide behind the rock formation but fell into it instead. You climbed out as the Wargs were closing in.

“Down here!” you called “There’s a passage this way!” you slid down to make room for the others. Thorin was the last one, as he slid down a horn was blown near the entrance to the passage.

“I can’t see where it leads, do we follow?” One of the dwarves asked.

“Yes! We follow!” Thorin barged through the dwarves and led the company through the narrow pass. You all walked for a few minutes, but then Thorin rounded a corner and slowed as he realized where he’d unwittingly led the company. The rest kept walking around him, but Bilbo stopped and said in admiration: “Rivendell”. You stopped as well to take in the view before you. It was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen. A small town on the side of a mountain with water flowing from beneath some of the glittering structures.

As Thorin led the company over a bridge, you grabbed Kili’s arm to steady yourself as you looked around and took in the ornate statues and architecture of the front steps of a large building. A man much taller than you or the dwarves approached the group.

“We would like to speak to Lord Elrond,” Thorin said through gritted teeth. He was swallowing his pride for the betterment of the quest, that much was clear through his clenched fists and tense shoulders.

“Lord Elrond isn’t here,” The elf said regretfully.

“Then where is he?” Thorin’s patience was growing thin. A horn was sounded on the other side of the bridge you’d just crossed. Everyone turned to see a group of horses galloping towards them. The dwarves began shouting in dwarfish and closing ranks with their weapons ready for battle. You were pushed into the very center of the circle as tall horses and riders circled you. They stopped suddenly and the one on a black horse dismounted.

“My Lord Elrond,” The elf who first approached you said with a bow.

“Lindir” Elrond bowed his head at him then turned to the leader of your group, “Welcome Thorin son of Thrain,” He looked over the dwarf “You have your grandfather's bearings.”

“I’m afraid I know you only from the stories my grandfather told me,” Thorin was doing his best to be polite. (You were later informed that the stories were mostly about him being a ninny.)

“I’d like to offer you and your company a taste of our elfish hospitality,” Elrond said with a warm smile.

“Does that mean we’ll eat?!” Bombur called from the back. The company chuckled at him.

“Yes Bombur, that means we’ll eat” Dori replied. The company cheered at the prospect of a full belly and a warm hearth.

Not long after, you were sat next to Bilbo and Kili at a large table. The salad appetizers were very good despite the dwarves not liking green food very much. You giggled at their jokes about how bad the music was or how they wanted chips and meat. Thorin was sat at another table across from Elrond discussing something you couldn’t hear, but you could tell it pained Thorin to be in the other man's presence.

You turned to Kili beside you. “Thorin looks constipated,” you said in a low voice barely containing your laughter “He can’t even pretend to be enjoying this”. Kili looked over at his uncle and laughed with you.

When the meals were served there was boisterous laughter and general dwarfish shenanigans, the usual at any merry dwarfish gathering. Bilbo looked like he was having PTSD from when they were doing the same at his house at the beginning of the quest. At the end of the meal, Thorin and Balin disappeared with Elrond to discuss a map. You asked Kili if he would escort you to the markets with as much innocent girlish need as you could muster to solidify your security. He agreed and walked with you through the corridors and to the market. He helped you get a fair price on a bag, a blanket, and a bedroll. The next thing you needed was clothes to blend in.

“What do the women around here wear exactly?” You asked him. He shrugged.

“It depends, I guess” He had his hands shoved in his pockets as he followed you around the clothing stalls like a puppy.

“Gee, that’s a big help.” You teased.

After some more wandering you found a stall selling clothes that looked your size. You purchased a dark blue form-fitting tunic that stopped above your knees and had slits on the sides that went up to your hips. It paired very nicely with the brown pants and brown coat with dark blue highlights you bought as well. Kili helped barter with the merchants since you didn’t know the fair price of things here. In another section of the market, you bought spools of black, blue, and pink thread. You put your belongings in your new bag.

“Are we done?” Kili asked, sounding slightly annoyed. He was ready to go back to the others and be away from so many elves. You sighed and rolled your eyes playfully and nodded. He led you through the busy crowded markets by holding your hand. You were thankful he was in front of you so he couldn’t see your blush. You made it back to the group, who had set up camp in a courtyard garden at the end of a hallway. Just as you arrived two female and two male elves came down the hallway.

One of the males stepped forward, “The bathhouse is ready for you now” he said to the group.

“Bath?! We don’t need no stinkin’ bath!” Exclaimed a dwarf from behind the fire. The rest heartily agreed, not ready to drop their pants on elvish soil it seemed.

“I’d like a bath” you timidly said, not wanting to make a fuss but very much wanting to be clean.

“Very good mistress dwarf, if you’ll follow us,” one of the female elves said. You were tense as you followed the four elves down the corridor, not sure what you were doing.

“You best go with her lad,” Dori said to Kili, “You never know what an elf might try to pull.” He glared at the back of the elves as they walked away. Kili nodded and ran after you.

“Y/N!” He called making you and the elves stop.

“Oh, change your mind, Kili?” You asked with an innocent smile, happy to have his company.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He smiled too.

You were led to a large door that opened into a covered hot spring that flowed over the balcony to create an assumably gorgeous waterfall. Columns lined the outer edge of the room which was split down the middle by a cloth partition. The male elves walked to one side of the divider with Kili in tow, while the females walked to the other. The elves asked that you wash under the heated shower of water off to the side before entering the hot springs. They left you to your own devices.

“I’ve never seen anything like this have you?” You asked Kili across the large room.

“No” He smiled at the wonder in your voice from seeing new things and making discoveries. He thought it was very cute.

You placed your bag and new clothes on the vanity in the corner. You undressed and stepped under the warm shower. You used the bar of soap you found to wash your hair and body. It was the best-smelling soap you’d ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

“Hey, Kee?” You hollered.

“Yeah?” He yelled back.

“Do you plan on keeping your soap?”

“No…Why?”

“I’ll take it then. I’ll need extra anyway,” And you were so happy you did. That soap made your hair silky smooth and stronger than ever. You rinsed the suds away then stepped into the hot springs.

It felt luxurious. You couldn’t help but moan a little as the heat pulled every knot and tense muscle from you. Relaxed, you floated in the steamy water.

“You still there Kili?” you asked suddenly nervous he’d left you.

“Yeah, I’m here” He replied, “We shouldn’t take too much longer though, Thorin could be back any minute and who knows what kind of a mood he’ll be in.”

That made you enjoy the bath a little faster. Not long after you began drying off and getting dressed. You took the hairbrush and beads and other miscellaneous hair trinkets that were on the vanity. You looked in the mirror at your new outfit. It fit as you thought, though a little snugger in some places than others, hugging your curves to allow for movement yet still baggy for breathability and insulation. Overall, a nice ensemble.

“Ready Y/N?” Kili asked from across the partition.

“Yeah, you can come over, I’m just packing my things.” You replied, folding your old clothes, and putting them in your bag with the rest of your things.

“Here’s the soap” He handed it to you.

“Thanks!” You smiled at him; you simply wrote his flushed cheeks off to the hot water. When you stood, he was able to get a much better look at you in your new clothes.

“A perfect fit I see” He smiled, looking you up and down. He couldn’t help but imagine what you’d look like wearing nothing but his tunic. A line of thought he blushed at and quickly willed away.

“Does it look alright? I don’t know how it’s supposed to fit” You fussed with the hems and the folds trying to make them lay better. He grabbed your hand to make you stop fidgeting.

“You look great,” he said with a genuine smile. You smiled and nodded your appreciation.

You walked back to camp, making moneyless bets on what mood Thorin would be in when he returned.

As you approached Fili saw you in your new outfit and said, “Well look at this…” Making the rest of the company look at you too, “Our wee lass looks like a bona fide middle earther now!” They cheered at your near-complete indoctrination.

“Now she just needs to learn how to fight like one.” Bofur quipped from beside the fire.

“Then I wouldn’t need any of you to protect me!” You put the back of your hand to your forehead feigning a damsel in distress, making the company laugh. You sat on the ground beside the long chair Kili was now examining his weapons in and leaned against it. You held out a stone fish figurine to him.

“As a thank you for helping me” you cleared your throat “…And for being my friend.” You couldn’t meet his eyes, but you knew he was smiling a little around his reed pipe. He took it from your open hands. You know it wasn’t much but it’s all you could offer.

“Maybe one day you can return it to the ocean,” you said, referring to your previous conversation.

“Maybe I will,” he smiled down at you with genuine fondness.

“Bombur!” Bofur called before throwing a sausage to his cousin. The table, which took skilled elfin craftsman months, even years to craft and carve out of solid wood, collapsed under the massive weight of Bombur. Everyone erupted in laughter, it was nice to be part of the group and share in the merriment.

Thorin stopped Balin on their way back to the camp, “We should leave her here,” He said, “She is a liability.”

Balin had a terrible sinking feeling in his round tummy when he thought of splitting you up.

“So what if she is, Thorin?” Balin said near pleading. “Have you ever seen your nephew that happy or open with a girl that quick before? I’ve never seen the lad so engaged in a conversation that didn’t have to do with weapons before last night. So what if she dies on our quest, at least we gave them a chance to happen, and if fate finds their pairing favorable it will all work out!” Balin was desperate to keep you and the young prince together if only to keep the sinking feeling at bay.

Thorin huffed, “Very well, but her blood is not on my hands,” He walked away and into the camp.

Thorin and Balin returned, and the tone became slightly more serious—slightly. The company settled and laid their bedrolls in the grassy parts of the garden. You laid yours out as well and prepped for sleep by removing your shoes and coat. The night was warm enough that your blanket would suffice. You looked up at the stars wondering if any of the constellations were the same as back home. You cuddled your coat to your chest relishing the feel of the soft fabric. The low conversation between Fili and Kili, while they sat on watch across the fire, lulled you to sleep.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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jarofstyles · 1 year

Note

Mafiarry Christmas please miss jars!!!

Of course 🫶 here is a peek into their Christmas season!

Check out our Patreon!

Warnings- mafia mention, anxiety, dangerous situations

“You can’t be serious.”

“Don’t be a Scrooge.” Y/N puffed, hauling the tinsel behind her with a swing of the hip. “It’s not my fault you can’t see the joys of the season. You’re just grumpy.”

Harry exhaled fully, dragging his hands down his face as he walked into his living room. It looked like Christmas had thrown up all over. He had been warned by the wreath when he walked to the front door, but nothing could have prepared him for the title wave of jingle and jolly that invaded his house.

“I’m not a Scrooge. That’s offensive.” He grunted. “I’m just… this is a lot, darling. Where are you possibly going to put it all?” He knew Y/N had a lot of time on her hands now that she had agreed to stay home for her safety for a bit, some ongoing issues making it a bit hard for her to go and do the normal festivities. “I think you’ve bought the entire Christmas section.” His face had softened as he saw a slight pout on her face, stretching hard to place the tinsel on the higher hook.

The man didn’t skip a beat, coming up behind her and taking the fluffy tinsel from her hand and draping it up so it hung the way he had a feeling she would want. One hand curled around her waist, fingers slightly digging into her soft tummy as he pressed against her. Y/N couldn’t keep the facade, leaning back into him with a gentle hmph. It was unfair that a single touch, a little gesture made her feel so needy. Her body leaned into his, feeling the crispness of his pressed shirt and inhaling the scent of him as she dropped her head back against his shoulder.

“Thank you.” She paused. “Even more rude that you haven’t kissed me hello yet.”

That was something Harry could agree with. Especially with her wearing these odd yet very flattering red velvet leggings with a flare at the bottom and Santa like fuzzy stuff at the rim and a cropped knit sweater. He pulled her closer, tilting her chin up a bit and covered his mouth with hers for a full kiss. He wasn’t one to ever half ass their kisses, and he was known to be a greedy man, so he did what he did best. Holding his lips over hers and sucking slightly as he pulled back, a little smile curling his lips as he heard a soft protest from her.

Y/N spun in his arms to properly face him, hands sneaking under his blazer jacket to find his belt loops. Harry’s smile was one of the private ones reserved just for her, making her irritation at his prodding about the Christmas decor lessen. “I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to forget your kiss.” He gently rubbed the bare skin of her back, dipping his fingers into the waistband of the velvet things. Whatever they were, he liked how they looked and how they felt. “Just shocked me. M’not used to this. And you didn’t consult me.” There was no malice in his voice, just slight surprise. She usually told him when she did big things. This seemed to quantify as a big thing.

“Was feeling spontaneous. Antonio and co took me shopping, you knew that. But once I got to the Christmas sections I got a vision.” She raised on her tiptoes to kiss his nose before pulling away, sauntering over to the bags. “Winter wonderland. Classy and cool, doesn’t need to be taken down the very next day after Christmas. Just… something to do.” She shrugged, trying not to make him feel bad. There was no illusion, she knew what she was into when she decided to stay with him. Sometimes things would be more guarded and she would need to listen to him for safety. Harry was worth any sacrifice.

“Hm. That’s a good idea.” Harry loosened his shirt, placing the blazer on the chair. He had spent all day wanting to come home to her and relax- and he would. But he wanted to indulge first. He may not have the most Christmas spirit usually, but if it made her happy, he would put on a santa hat or something. “I’m sorry you can’t do the normal things.” He sat down on the ottoman in front of all the bags, watching her cross the room to come and sit near him to give him a ‘haul.’ He didn’t know why she loved it so much but her smiles and the excitement was well worth it.

“It’s okay. I’ve got a handsome man with pretty hands who comes home to me. He’s very dangerous and good in bed. So.” She snickered, grabbing a bag that was in her way and placing it on her lap. “It’s a good trade off.

Plus you kind of fund my hobbies so, I’ve got to give it to you.”

Harry had to laugh, crossing his arms as he watched intently, eyes locked on her as she went through the items. The light in her eyes, the excitement she showed as she was going through her purchases and explaining where each piece would go and her ‘vision’ for the spaces. Was there really a need for miniature Christmas trees in every bathroom? No. But he wouldn’t mind. It didn’t hurt anything and he was sure any of his men wouldn’t say anything either. Nothing but compliments allowed for Y/N’s sake.

“And then!” She stood up, tapping her fingers together. “I got you a tree for your office. And before you give me the Harry Eyebrow raise- your’re starting it, stop- it’s flocked. We won’t decorate it besides some lights. I know you’re a macho man who runs underground crime and all that but…” she brought the box over to him, presenting it like it was a gold dabloon. “I thought about what you’d like. Simple and elegant. It’s a pretty tree and we can set it up together. That’s all the decor for your office cause it’s your space but I just….” She fiddled with the box, looking down at it. “I wanted you to be happy too. I know things are a bit hard now, that you’re on edge. I hope that it makes you feel a bit less like your head is lost in this. That you’re still normal.”

And there it was. One of the biggest reasons why he loved her. Her pure thoughtfulness was something that Harry never would be able to find in anyone else. Despite him trying his best to shield her from some of the tiny, insignificant parts of this that would grate on him? She noticed. Holidays never felt special before her. Last year had been calm and she had given him the best Christmas he ever had, which he had admitted when curled naked around her, stroking her supple skin. Confessing how hard the holidays were especially when shit like his business was life or death for a lot of people. The weight was heavy and he tried to keep afloat but sometimes he would drown in it.

She was his life preserver.

“Thank you.” He said quietly, sitting up straighter as his finger crooked. Motioning her over to come right to him. “Come give me a cuddle before you go back to your work. We can set it up together. You’re very thoughtful, darling girl.” As soon as he could get his hands on her she was tugged into his lap, straddling him as he curled an arm around her and pulled her face down so he could kiss her cheeks. “My very own angel. Couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Harry didn’t care about stockings or anything under the tree. Lights didn’t phase him. All he needed was this. Her. Seeing her in his bed every morning as she whined for him to stay, finding his marks on her skin after nights of passion, getting to be the receiver of these sort of thoughtful gestures. She was his person. “I love you.” Her voice floated over him, snugly placing her arm around his neck. “I want to lessen the burden. Want you to have an escape.”

“You are my escape. Helped make this house a real home. I completely and utterly adore you.” His words were weighted, settling in her belly as she smiled down at him.

“That’s all I can ask for.” Her fingers delicately brushed over his jaw, the stubble rough against the tips. “You are my dream. Didn’t know I had such an intense dream of love, but you’re easy. Despite everything else you’re the easiest person to love that I could imagine. It comes naturally.” Her eyes focused on his, letting him see how truthful the sentiment was. “Thank you for indulging in me. I know you don’t care too much about the decorations but you’ll help me and look at the things I’ve bought because it makes me happy.” She watched him go to open his mouth but she shook her head. “S’okay. Promise. It makes me happy that you do it anyways. But… I just hope you know how much I appreciate you.” She ended the thanks with a kiss on the tip of his nose.

“Come on then. I need my Scrooge to roll up those Armani sleeves and use that strength to help me put up the tree. I got an artificial one. We need to save the forest.”

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dilf-whore · 2 years

Text

my kind of girl (part 1)

pairing: billy hargrove x f!reader

genre: friends to lovers! , a little fluff (?), i’m not sure really, some mentions of bullying

summary: you grow closer and closer with the redhead you tutor... and maybe with her stepbrother too

A/N: i’m back! i’m sorry i was gone for so long so many shit has happen and i lost motivation to do stuff. i hope you guys like this series, i’ll be posting the next part soon. please do let me know if you want to be tagged to the next parts! 𓆩♡𓆪. send in you requests as well! also this is not proofread.

requested: no

requests are OPEN

masterlist

・°☆

“Hi! Y/N Y/L/N? is that right?” a redhead girl approached you, hugging her skateboard. You assume she’s a middle-schooler, seeing her wary eyes as she enter the high school campus. You nod.

She sighs in relief, her body relaxing a little. “I heard that you do tutoring? Are you still available to tutor another student?” she asks.

“Actually, I’m not teaching anyone as of the moment so I have all the time after school to tutor” You say.

“Oh that’s great! I’m Maxine Mayfield by the way, but please call me Max. Will you be free today after school? So you can coordinate with my parents? and hopefully start today” Max rambles, fidgeting the hem of her jacket.

“Sure!” you smile.

She pulls a crumpled piece of paper and a pen in the pocket of her bag. She lifts her knee and put his skateboard on top, writing her details.

Handing out the crumpled paper to you, “4819 Cherry Lane, I’ll see you at 6. You can eat dinner there”.

"Alright see you!” you say as your wave each other goodbye.

・°☆

You turn your car at the house with the number 4819, and see a blue camaro in front looks familiar you thought. You park beside the shiny car and made your way to the front door.

Dusting off your pants and making small fixes on your shirt. But before you could even knock on the door, a tall blonde man barged outside the door, startling you. You watched him approach his car in disbelief, didn’t even bother to apologize or even look at you.

As he opened the driver’s seat, you took a good look at him. It’s Billy Hargrove

“Hi! You must be Y/N? I’m Neil and sorry about my son. You know, just a little misunderstanding” A man, wearing glasses interrupted your thoughts.

“Oh y-yes that’s right” you reply.

“Please come in”

He leads you to the dining table, and there you see a woman, who looks like Max. And of course, Max who’s smiling excitedly at you. “Hi!” she waves at you.

You sat down beside Max, handing out to you the roasted chicken.

“So how much do you charge and what do you teach?” The woman asked.

“I charge $3 per hour, and I usually teach middle-schoolers and sometimes those in pre-school and elementary. I teach all subjects most of the time” you say.

“Wow that’s really impressive. We’re also good with your price, can you start today?” Neil asked.

“Yup!” you reply.

・°☆

Max brings you to her room and grabbed a spare chair for you.

“So you and Billy are siblings?” you wondered.

“Uhm no, he’s my stepbrother and an asshole” she replied, emphasizing the word stepbrother.

You nod as you take a seat beside her.

“Before we start, is it okay if they pay you like every end of the week? my mom and stepdad are usually gone, so yeah” Max asks as she look through notebook.

“Sure no problem” you reply.

・°☆

An hour and a half has passed, and you see 8:03 on the clock. You look at Max who just finished the activity you gave her on Physics. She gives you her paper, a little scared.

Giving a small pat on her shoulder you reassure, “don’t be nervous Max, you can do it. Besides I’m here to teach and guide you every step of the way”

After checking her work, you gave her a wide smile and a thumbs up.

“Good job! you only made three mistakes but that’s a huge improvement. I’m so proud of you” you cheer.

Max sits up straight, energy filling her body. She claps her hands excitedly like a little kid, “Oh my god! I did it! Thank you Y/N, you’re so smart”

“I told you you can do it! and there you have it the end of our first session! So, I’ll see you tomorrow? same time?” you ask.

“Yup, see you!” she reply.

You stand up and help Max tidy up her table. Piling up pieces of paper, picking up books and putting them inside the girl’s bag. You hear a loud roar of a car outside which startled the both of you.

“He’s back” Max says, rolling her eyes.

・°☆

You both go outside the room, and hear soft giggles. You and Max go further and see Billy with Carol, arm around her waist, entering the household.

You made eye contact with Carol who’s looking you up and down with disgust. i want to gauge this bitch’s eye out you thought. God how much you loathe Carol, boosting her self-esteem by making fun of other people, judging them as if she’s perfect. You were never really made fun or judged by her, (not until now) but you are aware of how poorly she treats other students in school.

“Who are you?” Billy asks annoyed.

“She’s Y/N, my tutor. And if you don’t mind, get out of the fucking way” Max replies, motioning the pair to move aside.

She grabs you by the shoulder and quickly bring you to your car. And you swear you felt eyes staring at you from behind as you go out.

Billy watches as the girls left the house, checking you out of course.

she’s pretty

“I’m so sorry about him, I assure you he won’t be around during our tutoring sessions”

“It’s okay Max, no need to apologize” you reassure.

You step in your car and bid your goodbyes.

Well that was something

・°☆

#stranger things #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfic #billy hargove x reader #billy hargrove #billy hargrove imagine #billy hargrove headcannons #stranger things headcannons #dacre montgomery

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th3-c0rps3-r0gu3 · 7 months

Text

shadows

chapter 4.

Pairings: Natasha X Wanda, Natasha X umbrakinetic teen fem!reader, Wanda X umbrakinetic teen fem!reader, Avengers X umbrakinetic teen fem!reader.

Warnings: swearing,

3rd person.

"hey has detka have you seen y/n it's been four hours. She's not in her room."

Natasha says to her girlfriend concerned. It's way past the time y/n should be in bed but Natasha can't find the girl to tell her that.

"I took her to the library."

Wanda responds. She seems less concerned but she hadn't seen y/n exit the library so she assumed she was still there.

"I'll go check. Thanks mylashk."

Natasha says heading for the library.

Natasha enters the library and starts to look around. Someone is definitely here as there are books missing from shelves everywhere. Whoever y/n is no where to be seen. After about thirty more minutes Natasha is about to give up. That is till she sees a mountain of books surrounding a beanbag. A bean bag that held y/n.

Y/n pov.

I don't know how long I've been in here but in all honesty I don't care either. I've been able to read so much! And no one has tried to stop me or yell at me like other bookstore customers. Then a voice breaks me from thought.

"there you are y/n I was getting worried."

It's natasha. She standing Infront of me but she doesn't look angry.

"oh.. sorry."

I am still way to quiet. I was better with Wanda. Not that I should say that. I'd offend Natasha and that would lead to.. I don't think about it.

•red head seems worried.•

•why worried? Nobody worries for us.•

•red head relieved now though.•

•did we relieve her?•

•yes.•

I drown out the shadows again. Natasha just looks at me concerned. I really need to get used to that look being aimed at me. It's.. unsettling.

"you need to go to bed now. It's late. You need sleep y'know."

Natasha says. She seems calm.

"ah.. ok. Sorry."

I say quieter. I really need to get better. Speaking to solely shadows is getting to me. Natasha nods at me.

"if it's ok but have you read all these books?"

Natasha asks. That surprised me.

"only half. The right side is ones I've read and the left I haven't."

I'm louder this time. Still quiet but louder. Good. Natasha looks at the piles. Granted the right side has more books than the left but y'know it's not that bad. Natasha then nods again.

"ah ok. Goodnight y/n."

Natasha then leaves. I get up and walk down to my room. It's quiet. Thank god. I enter my room and sit on the floor again. I'm not ready for a bed yet. Not after the years of sleeping on concrete.

It's morning. And it's bright out. I really need to darken this room.

•bright!•

•too bright.•

•tone it down!•

I try and block the shadows again but their too loud and I cant.

•make it dark again!•

•white bright too!•

Right. I need black paint. I'll find a way to get that. But I should visit the book store and see Sandra.

I walk into the main area and see Wanda and Natasha talking to a blonde woman who I assume is carol. All three turn to me.

"morning y/n."

Wanda says smiling. I'll need to get used to that. Sandra is usually the only one who smiles at me.

"morning.."

I say quietly. Damn I thought I made progress at being louder.

Wanda starts to introduce me to the blonde woman. I half don't listen. Anything I miss the shadows can tell me. Eventually Wanda stops rambling and America smiles at me. Still unsettled by the smiles.

"hey uhm.. can I go back to the bookstore. I help out there and stuff.."

I murmur nearly silent. I really really need to be louder.

•ohh visit Sandra?•

•who's Sandra?•

•friend!•

Natasha's voice breaks through the shadows muttering.

"course you can kiddo. We can walk down now if you want."

I simply nod.

The walk was quick and quiet. Thank the gods. I enter the bookstore and greet Sandra while Natasha walks away.

"hey kiddo how is living with literal superheroes?"

Sandra asks grinning while she pulls out boxes of books that need shelving.

"it's ok. Better than I expected. But I need to darken my room.. it's too bright."

I say. Here at least I speak normally.

•room is definitely too bright.•

•see Sandra again!•

•ooh yes Sandra!•

•hello Sandra!•

I let the shadows rumble their greetings as Sandra explains where the books need to go. I already know where they need to go. I've done this so many times now.

3rd person pov (with Nat and Wanda)

Natasha returned to the compound and sighed as she walk through the door to her and Wanda's level.

"well? How was the walk?"

Wanda asks from the kitchen. Natasha comes up behind her hugging her.

"quiet. She really doesn't like to talk."

Natasha responded.

"what are you cooking? It smells heavenly detka?"

"it my paprikash Nat you should know this by now."

Wanda responds giggling. Natasha smiles.

"ahh silly me."

°three hours later°

Natasha and Wanda have been watching sitcoms for the past hour now but Natasha is starting to worry about y/n.

"detka is y/n coming back alone or am I going to pick her up?"

Natasha asks the red head snuggled beside her.

"I dunno. If your worried we can walk down to find her."

Wanda sits up and turns off the tv.

"and now that you mention it I am starting to worry."

Y/n pov.

I finished shelving ages ago and now I'm reading. After about a million questions from Sandra and the shadows screaming in my ear holes I finally have some peace. And a bonus is the Sandra supplied me with black paint. So there's the brightness issue half fixed. Next is to get light blocking blinds. If I can gather the courage to ask for them that is. But that's an issue for future me to deal with.

"hey kiddo. You will still visit me despite the fact you live with heroes now right?"

Sandra's question confuses me. Why would I stop coming here?

"of course I'll keep coming. Why would I stop?"

Sandra seems a little guilty looking now.

"well you live with heroes. You hardly need a bookstore owner backing you up now. I'm half surprised you came in today."

The older woman explains. I frown.

"I live with heroes but honestly they scare the hell out of me. Besides. Your my friend. I trust you."

I easily explain. At least with Sandra I can speak normally. Then two red heads walk in. Two easily recognisable red heads. Why in Satan's name is Wanda and Natasha here?

•why they here?•

•shhh that's rude!•

•rude but good question.•

"shut up...."

I mumble to the shadows who finally listen to me and quiet. Wanda sees me and smiles. God I need to get used to that. Or she could stop doing it. Though I doubt she will.

"hey y/n. We were just wondering when you were going to be back?"

Wanda asks me. Natasha is talking to Sandra. Wanda then consequently notices the black paint.

"what's with the paint?"

The Slovakian asks.

"oh uhh.. my room is a bit bright and um.. I decided to darken it by painting it black... if that's not ok I won't and I'll just give this back to sandra..."

I murmur. God I'm still too quiet. I'll work on it.

"oh sorry. I never stopped to think if the rooms as bright. I can help paint if you want. It'll be fun!"

Wanda responds.

"and if it's still too bright we can get light cancelling blinds so then you won't need to deal with sunlight too much. You didn't seem the type for bright spaces anyway."

I sit there surprised by Wanda's response. I was expecting a scolding but this is better.. I think. Then Natasha comes over.

"alright you two let's go. Before it's dark out."

The Russian grabs Wanda's hand gently and waits for me to get my stuff before we leave.

"bye Sandra! I'll come back and I won't forget you! Promise!"

I call out to sandra.

"I'll hold you to that kiddo!"

She responds. I then follow Natasha and Wanda out and back to the compound.

Me and Wanda have just finished painting my room black while Natasha put up the sun block blinds.

"there we go. Now your room isn't so bright."

Wanda says proudly looking over our paint job.

•ooh finally not bright.•

•better much much better•

•no sun! Black everywhere!•

•we in heaven?•

I struggle to drown the shadows out. The joy I feel combined with them is too much. Oh well their rambles can go on I suppose. Natasha moves next to us and kisses wanda. I cringe internally. Is this how couples are meant to act?

"brilliant job detka. The paint looks brilliant."

Nat says and Wanda smiles.

"I'm glad the curtains didn't fall on you."

Wanda responds. Is that how your supposed to respond to that? Natasha doesn't seem unhappy...

"yes well how about we go shopping tomato fill the room up."

Natasha proposes. I perk up. Does that mean book shopping? Or drawing shopping? Will I get a new sketchpad?

"that's sounds like a brilliant idea. Y/n how do you feel?"

Wanda turns to me.

"oh.. uh yeah sounds good."

Still to goddamn quiet.

A/n: I honestly thought I posted this ages ago. Then I go to Wright chapter five and what's in my drafts? This. Oops. Sorry for those who actually like this series for the late post.

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha x you #black widow #natasha x y/n #natasha romanoff x fem!reader #black widow x reader #wanda maximoff #wandanat x daughter!reader #wanda maximoff x fem!reader #wandanat x reader #natasha x daughter!reader #natasha x wanda #natasha x teen reader #wanda x reader #Wanda X teen reader #avengers x reader #avengers x teen!reader #Wanda X daughter!reader

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romanoffsbish · 1 year

Text

We Got Lost in Translation…

Kate Bishop x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Heavy Miscommunication, Jealousy, Feelings of Betrayal, Depression, Heartbreak… But it ends happy 🤷🏼‍♀️

Smut: Angry/“Hate” Sex, Slut/Whore/Baby (K), Mommy (R), Oral(K), Fingering (K), Strap (K), Face Slapping, Kinks: Spanking/Punishment, Choking, Degrading/Praising combo

18+ | Minors DNI !!

5,530 Words

The clock struck midnight, a displeased huff fell passed your lips as you faced the reality, pulling the blanket up to your shoulders, and settling into your warm bed; alone once again.

———

Today was different though, she promised to be here, it was your anniversary for heavens sake. Five years together, a whole half a decade, and she missed every scheduled event for the day. You even checked the news, and low and behold there wasn't any earth shattering event taking place, and when you last checked her location it showed her to be at a diner of sorts. There was just no excuse this time, and you were tired, so incredibly so, it's been like this for a few months now, and you dealt with it, but this is proving to be your final straw.

Tears soaked your pillow as you slipped into a restless nights worth of sleep, and after tossing about at five am, having only managed to get four hours of straight sleep you huffed again., "Nope, I'm fucking done.," you grumbled into the painfully empty space, the covers flew off your body and you jumped off the mattress. After taking a shower you returned to the room, gathering every last item of yours to haphazardly toss it into your duffle bag, and taking one last look at the false image of love on the bedside table before slamming the door on your way out of the unwelcoming space.

—

Kate rushed into the apartment with an excuse at the ready, expecting to find you sat in the kitchen eating breakfast before you had work. Instead of your frowning face she was met with an eery silence, that only got more daunting as she turned the place upside down in search of you, only to find your drawers to be empty., "Fuck.," she rushed out of the apartment just as quickly as she rushed in, and raced off to where she knew you'd be—your sisters house.

Kate pummeled her fist into the door, willing you to be the one to answer, but of course she wouldn't be that lucky as she was met with the deadly glare of Wanda Maximoff, the woman that once warned her about breaking your heart, and judging by the look in her eye she'd done just that., "Please, Wanda, where is she?," she didn't care though, because she was here to fix everything, it was just a misunderstanding., "Bishop, you have two seconds to get off my property, before I do the work for you."

"Please, it's all just a —.," Kate cut herself off when she saw your face, it'd been a few days since she last saw you, but the sight of you so broken was a stark difference to your norm. It broke her heart to see you so distraught, and to know it was her that did it made it even worse., "Y/N/N, please, just let me explain.," she pleaded with you, ignoring the witches warnings in the hopes that you'd talk to her., "It's okay Wands.," you placed a hand to her shoulder, squeezing lightly to let her know this was a necessary step in the process.

"Lucky's at the neighbors, I told them you'd be by sometime this week to collect him.," you said as if this was the most casual of moments., "Y/N I-.," you cut her off once more with the wave of your hand, her eyes widening when she saw the key to your shared home in between the pads of your fingers., "Here you go, I took all of the stuff I cared to, the rest is yours.," she recoiled instantly, arms crossing like a petulant child who was refusing their vegetables but still expecting dessert., "No, Y/N you're being silly, let's go home and work this out. I love you!"

"Yeah, but you don't like me Kate!," your chest was heaving as you aired your dirty laundry out with the love of your life before Wanda's neighbors., "Don't be ridiculous!," she tried, but failed to interrupt you., "A part of you has grown to love me over the years, but you never liked me, you just pretended to because you'll always do what's right Kate, even if it's not what's right for you.," her face fell into an offensive expression as your words hit her hard, she loves every last part of you, and she doesn't understand where this is coming from.

"Yelena though, you do like her, I've never seen you laugh at one of my jokes like you do hers.," your hands furiously wiped away the bitter tears as they trailed down your smooth face., "I'd been hoping you'd prove me wrong, but when you never even made it home last night.," you paused to take in a shaky breath., "I knew."

"Please, don't.," the archer pleaded with you, and you truly looked at her for the first time since she'd arrived on your sister's doorstep. Her heart was visibly breaking, but you knew this was what she needed from you to move forward—or at least you believed that she did., "I'd known that it was over when I cried myself to sleep for the final night. Go home Kate.," and just like that you shut the door, and cast the woman out of your life for good.

Kate fell to her knees, a pained sob etching its way out of her throat, and as if the world was trying to sympathize with her it began to rain. Streams of tears fell from her face as she sobbed, this whole situation could've been avoided had she just fucking shown up last night over being a nervous drunken coward. Now her pocket weighed her down as she slowly returned to her feet, the fabric having been drenched in the rain, but moreover, it was by the enclosed ring meant for your finger.

Directly on the other side of the door you were stood sobbing in your sisters embrace, her arms strongly wrapped around you to provide you with comfort, and Natasha had the same idea as she joined the embrace, and offered you a mug of cocoa piled high with whipped cream and lots of chocolate and peppermint shavings.

Two hearts shattered in the span of seconds, and all it would've taken to fix the mess made was some kind of offered up clarity, but it appeared that further miscommunication was the chosen route for all parties involved...

—

An entire month flew by without a word spoken between either of you, and that might've been working well for you on your journey to heal, but for Kate it wasn't working well—like, at all. Every night she'd muster up a text, but then your words would ring in her head, the finality of your goodbye causing her heart to shatter further, and for her to erase the pleadings for another chance with your heart.

Yelena was growing tired of being sent to her voicemail so she wandered into the dark home, but quickly ran back out when a field mouse scampered across the floor. Only to return an hour later in the proper attire; a hazmat suit.

"Kate Bishop, get out of that bed.," Yelena shouted, trying to make sure she was heard through the glass of her headpiece., "Oh my god, what is this?!," Yelena shrieked, a piece of what appeared to once be pizza in her hands with a layer of greenery that was never intended for the delicious food to wear present, and in turn making her sick.

Her attempts to get the depressed girl out of bed failed, so she left, and headed straight for Wanda's house in a fit of pure annoyance., "Open up! We need to talk!," she pounded her first into the door so hard it was a shock it was still on its hinges as it flew open to reveal her sister's scowling face., "Privet homewrecker.," the blonde rolled her eyes, then tugged her sister outside of the house., "I'm no such thing, my house is in perfect condition, unlike Kate Bishop's.," the blonde shivered at the thought of her previous encounter, and though Nat was still upset for you, she was also intrigued.

"Y/N needs to make nice-nice with her, she is not doing well Natasha, and it's time we fix it.," Natasha laughed at her sister, as if it was her idea of a good time to play matchmaker., "No, Kate dug her own hole, hell, you even helped her with the shoveling, so fix it yourself, or better yet leave Y/N alone to heal."

"Natalia! Stop it with your silly little American phrases, there were no holes dug, and quite frankly you should know that I don't do the dirty works like that.," the blonde was growing frustrated, never once had she known that you thought her and Kate were falling in love, if she knew she'd have told you ages ago that there was no need to worry., "You were the reason it all ended Yelena, take some responsibility."

"I am what?," she gasped in offense., "I didn't do anything, they just poofed into a breakup."

"Seriously Yelena? The way you two used to flirt openly, and frequently was obvious to all.," Yelena frowned at her sister's words., "I don't understand, I thought friends flirted over here, is that not the custom? What about all of the sleepovers in the movies where they do it?!"

Natasha groaned as she realized the mess she now found herself in, because for every line of miscommunication sowed by the lot of you, it was now up to her, and of course her girlfriend to unweave the mess of broken people in the hopes of putting all your lives back on track., "Fine, I will help you, have Kate ready by tomorrow at two, and I'll bring Y/N."

—

Kate was a real piece of work, but after a round of convincing her you'd be there she got up. Entering the shower to rinse off the filth of a week, and while she did that Yelena quietly ushered in a maid service to handle the mess while she herself sat atop of a dresser to shelter away from the freely frolicking rodents.

Kate reentered her room a little shocked to be able to see the floor again, as well as to find a freshly ironed purple suit, with a sheer black top to go underneath, and the box she'd hidden beside it with all her selected pieces of jewelry. A nervous smile took over her face as she looked herself over in the mirror, tugging on the suit jacket to adjust the fit, and then after a moment's time she finally responded to Yelena's fist hitting her door by following her out of the apartment's and to a park.

Natasha told Wanda everything, and it wasn't hard for her to believe it, she knew you'd never felt like enough for the archer, so for you to have come to your conclusions the way you did truly adds up. In a moment of blind solidarity she took your side, and even though she knew there had to be more to the story she wasn't going to push you into investigating it.

From an outsiders perspective you looked fine, even appeared to be doing swimmingly, but Wanda always saw through your facades. An unbelievable ache still held your heart tight in its grasp, and she's more than thrilled to be playing a part in helping to ease it. Even if you're being an unbearable brat as she tugs you to central park for a proposed picnic with her girlfriend., "I don't want to be a third wheel."

Wanda ignored your grumblings for what felt like the zillionth time, reminding herself that it'd only be a few more moments before all of this would be over, and she could return to her paused program; The British Baking Show.

"Shut up, and sit.," she finally responded, her tone left no room for questions, and she smiled when you settled without a rebuttal., "Now you stay here, I'll be back in just a moment.," she lied, then scampered off to meet her lover, and her troublemaker of a sister behind a tree.

You hummed a comforting tune while perusing through the picnic basket, the food selection was perfect, but the more you sorted through it the more worried you became. Natasha was a health nut, and the lack of healthy options told you this wasn't the picnic you were offered. Felt more like a blind date, and that had you on your feet in no time, turning to run away, but falling back on your ass as you ran into a body.

"Kate?," even worse, your ex, and you'd be a lying son of a bitch to say she didn't look great. Then your heart sunk at the remembrance of the night that she walked away, she didn't negate your statements, let alone return to fight for you to take her back. No, she simply vanished, and solidified your overthinking mind's decision to end the relationship.

"Y/N...," she too uttered your name like a whispered prayer, totally transfixed on your beautiful face that she'd missed so much., "Please, don't run.," she managed to add, taking a seat next to you, and placing her hands over yours to keep you in place. A shiver ran through the both of your arms, and down your spines at the missed, familiar touch, and for a brief moment you relished in the comfort., "Why not? I don't appreciate an ambush."

Kate released a heavy sigh, it was showtime, and she knew this would be the last call if she wasn't careful with her words.

"I do.," you quirked a brow at her shortened statement that gave you nothing., "Like you.," you tried to pull your hands away from her, but she just gripped them tighter, then in a moment of desperation she threw her leg over you to straddle your lap, her hands moving to hold your face., "I like everything about you."

The sincerity in her eyes wasn't hidden, but to your jaded heart it wasn't easy to believe., "Kate, it's okay that you like.," her hands squished your face, causing your words to be muffled, and eventually cut off., "No, it's not okay that I let you believe such nonsense.," she firmly pressed on., "Yelena is a friend, there was never anything going on, and there never would be because I love you Y/N, but more importantly I like you, a hell of a lot really."

Her pointer finger tenderly traced over the lines on your face., "I like the sound of your adorable laughter whenever I tell you a joke, along with these tiny wrinkles that are etched on your face to prove how funny I am.," your brows furrowed at her asinine claims., "I like the way that you are like a total whiz at math, but for some reason you still use your fingers to count when adding up the smaller numbers.," you pouted at that, because how dare she call you out, but also your jaded heart fluttered as she continued to list off such random things.,

"I like watching you make your little crafts, you get so serious and engrossed in your work. It's the way you meticulously put peoples things together that is so inspiring, you're truly the most thoughtful person I know..."

"I like the way that your eyes light up when you see a stray cat waddling by, and the way that you'll drop whatever you're doing to find a way to feed and offer the cat comfort."

"Ooh, and I like the way your brows furrow, creating that little crease between them whenever you're lost in your thoughts.," as she pursed her lips in thought herself you decided you heard enough., "Kate, love, I get it.," her heart soared at the endearing term, and her face mirrored just that as she beamed at you, then she cupped your cheeks and pressed on.

"I like the way your body fits so perfectly to mine, as if you were specifically crafted by the Gods for me.," your lips upturned genuinely., "My very own Greek Goddess.," she teased, then in a bold move she pecked your lips.

"I like the way that you always kept me sane with something as simple as a smile, whenever the world became too much I knew I'd be safe in your arms, and I truly was.," this time as she spoke her voice involuntarily cracked., "I can't say that I like everything that you are always, because that would just be a little far fetched, but goodness Y/N/N, I never only tolerated you, but I will admit I forgot to cherish you."

Her hands shakily reached into the pockets of her suit jacket., "That day...," she mumbled while pulling out a red, velvet box, your eyes widening in overwhelming understanding., "I'd met up with a few friends at the diner, telling them my plans for our big day, but the longer I sat there with a drink in my hand the more my nerves started to take over, and it's crazy, but without you there it was like I couldn't cope. My friends all left, but I stayed, frozen to my seat, and it wasn't until the clock struck 1am that the poor worker had to usher me out."

"I walked around aimlessly for hours, knowing I'd fucked the whole thing up, and it was when the sun began to rise that I raced home to find you gone, and that was my worst nightmare. You're supposed to be planning our wedding right now, but instead you're living thirty minutes away from me, and no longer mine.," you chuckled, slightly catching her off guard, and causing her frown to deepen., "Katie, I think we both know I'll always be yours.," she smiled hopefully as soon as she saw the truth settled beneath your soft smile.

"This thing we've built, it's my most valuable asset, no amount of money or Avenging could come close to what we have here Y/N. I'd give it all up if it meant that you'd be mine forever.," she went to open the box but you were quick to clamp your hands over hers, and you felt bad as she instantly began to cry., "Kate, hey, calm down...," you moved your hands to her face., "I'm not saying a definitive no, it's just a 'let's get back to where we once were,' and then you can propose to me like you originally planned."

Kate couldn’t hold back at the promise in your tone, so she surged forward, and captured your lips with her own. The both of you sighed, as it was a dearly missed affection from both ends.

"This is the part where we stop spying and leave right?," Yelena suddenly blurted, a bit thrown off by the two of you making out., "Yeah.," Natasha agreed., "Yup, definitely.," and with fast steps the witch abandons her post and the sisters follow her in post haste.

The sound of a car screeching effectively got the two of you to separate, seeing the familiar Camry speeding away told you whom it was., “Welp, there went my ride.,” you teased, and the arched looked at you with a teasing smirk., “Good thing I brought my trusty two seater.,” you looked into her brown eyes, finding the way the sun reflected off of them beautiful, and the longer you looked at her you felt this urge. It’d been months since you’d acted upon it, and you found your appetite for food dwindling as the other was roaring at you., “Take me home.”

Kate saw the way your eyes darkened, and she was more than excited for what that meant, but deep down she was more thrilled that you said ‘home,’ you were finally coming home to her. So she obviously wasted no time lifting you, and the picnic supplies up off the ground, and tugging you off towards her purple sports car.

The whole ride was spent in silence, because in the prior moment you were swept away by the romanticism of Kate’s actions, and her words, but now that you were in her passenger seat you felt that former resentment festering. Feeling her hand in yours, though familiar, felt like it was destined to burn you, that if you were to trust her again, she’d just let you down. Loving her was once your greatest strength, and in many ways it was also your weakness. She’d never been held accountable for the hurt she leaves in her wake, and you decided that would be ending tonight; she’d feel it too…

Kate was none the wiser, she happily parked her car, and you kept up the illusion with a smile, and a tender squeeze of her hand.

As you entered your old home the smile that you held was genuine, the place looked the same as how you left it, and that settled you. Kate went to plop on the couch, hoping you’d follow, but you just stood still in the doorway., “Um, Y/N, I just want you to know that when you left I kinda fell apart.,” you bit your tongue at her sudden awkward confession, the anger was finally at its peak., “Good, now you know exactly how I fucking felt every single time you said you’d be here Kate, and then weren’t.”

A smirk took over your face when you saw hers fall, you slowly stalked over to the girl, your hand quick as it gripped her by the throat, and shoved her into the wall., “Y/N.,” your hand only tightened., “No, shut the fuck up, if I wanted to hear you talk we’d be at the park.,” your lips slammed to hers, and she brokenly moaned into your mouth as this newfound aggressive side of you was shockingly exciting.

“Oh, you like that now do you Kate?,” she tried to nod, to scream a resounding yes, but you just cut her ability off even further., “Maybe if I’d been more aggressive then you’d have been here then?,” you chuckled bitterly., “Had I maybe fucked you like a worthless whore then you’d have made it home for fucking dinner?”

Kate gasped when you released your hold on her by tossing her aggressively onto the couch., “Y/N/N.,” she tried to reach out, to remedy the obvious pain in your heart, but she only gasped once more as you slapped her across the face., “No fucking talking slut.,” you grabbed her by her chin, digging your nails into the taut skin., “Do I make myself fucking clear whore?”

Kate nodded dumbly, completely thrown by how excited her body was for this side of you, even though her heart was so clearly aching alongside yours. Her eyes trailed over your face, a whine left her when she saw how you were hurting, and you took notice of the love. For some reason though, what was meant to be reassuring, only made your more pissed off.,

“Take your fucking clothes off, mommy will be back shortly.,” as soon as you left Kate did what she was told as tears of immense regret slowly trailed down her cheeks., “I’m so sorry…”

When you returned to find Kate laying flat on her back, a distant look in her eyes, and fully at your mercy you found yourself to be smirking., “Looks like the slut can listen, good girl.,” she immediately turned her head to face you, and her eyes widened at the sight of you in your lace bra, and with a massive strap harnessed., “Like what you see?,” you teased the woman, the fear in her eyes was obvious, but as you approached her you took notice of her cunt.

In all its bare glory you could see just how ready for you she was, honestly, you could see your strap sliding right on in with ease, but there’d be no fun in that really., “Tell me, what is it you want?,” your hands settled on her bent knees, pushing them down onto the couch., “You.,” you snickered at her., “Well no shit.,” her lip trembled and you rolled your eyes.

“For the love of all things holy, I guess I’ll just have to figure it out myself.,” you groaned, but then she whimpered softly., “Y-your mouth.”

“Look at that, you’re finally learning how to communicate, good fucking girl.,” you mocked her, then in a move to prevent her sad response you dove right on in, lapping at her folds, and pulling the wildest of moans from the woman. Kate had never been this turned on in her life, every nerve in her body felt like it was on fire as you ate her out without relent, your tongue was deep within her when she fell over the edge.

It infuriated you that she took so easily to accepting the pleasure, she didn’t even have the decency to ask—no, she just took, and took like she always fucking did, and you weren’t having it at all., “Such a greedy little whore.,” you spat as you raised to face her wide eyes., “Did you forget to ask?,” she gulped nervously when she saw the rage in your eyes., “I-I’m…”

“Save the apology for someone who cares Kate” you smirked., “Mm, because you don’t know the half of how sorry you’re about to be baby.,” your lips slammed to hers, your tongue forcing its way passed her lips, while your hands were roaming over her body, gripping so tightly that you knew you’re fingerprints would adorn the skin of her hips beneath the morning sunlight.

Kate squealed when you pulled back just to suddenly flip her over, then she cried out when your hand landed harshly against her bare ass., “Say you’re sorry like you mean it, and count.,” you took turns laying a slap to each cheek. Your entire body felt impossibly warm the longer you went on, almost like you were drunk with power. It was obvious to you by the slick that trailed down your own thighs that you were finding the way her cheeks reddened, and reverberated with each slap incredibly hot., “I’m so fucking sorry Y—mommy, twenty six.,” her overly pained sobs were what finally broke you free from your dizzying trance.

“I know you are baby, I know…,” you took a second to momentarily offer her reassurance, your hands now caressed the sore skin of her bottom, and though she whined you knew she was grateful for the lighter touch. In a moment of exploration your fingers slid down, finding her dripping cunt awaiting you., “Your cries speak of pain, but my oh my baby, your soaked cunt here drips with another story.,” Kate felt herself clench around nothing as you spoke the truth; as painful as the slaps were, they left her feeling nothing short of desperate., “Please…”

Kate’s body jolted as you slammed two finger’s into her eager hole, and you were shortly rewarded with her broken moans, the pleasure you were bestowing upon her was unending., “You’re taking my fingers so well, swallowing them just how I’d expect your slutty pussy to.,” the woman was quite literally a mess with all the dirty talk, her mind couldn’t keep up, and all you got from her was pornographic moans that brought a wide set smile to your face.

You grunted as you felt her clenching around your walls with every thrust of your fingers, and with the way she was moving in sync with you, you knew she was getting close., “Come on now, remember the rules baby.,” you were excited at the prospect of further punishments, but in all honesty you didn’t think she could take anymore, so you warned her., “Beg for it.”

“Fuck, p-please let me cum mommy, it hurts, I need to let go. Promise to be your good girl.,” you beamed at her first attempt, leaning over her you settled a few kisses along her spine., “Let go for mommy baby.,” you whispered the permission just as your fingers curled inside her, and your thumb swiped over her clit., “There you go, mhm, drench my fingers baby.”

Kate’s body convulsed as stars clouded her vision, she was getting emotional whiplash with the varying degrees of your mood, but in some odd way it only furthered her pleasure., “You look so pretty like this, all marked up, no way in hell you’ll ever forget where you belong again, now will you?,” you flipped her onto her back, with this wave of rage quickly dying as she winced., “It’s okay.,,” she melted into your hand as it cupped her cheek, this glimpse of the you she’s used to was able to make her heart’s aching lessen for the moment., “You’re okay?”

Kate nodded, letting you know that you were okay to continue, and then she whimpered pathetically when you lovingly kissed her for the first time since this whole ordeal started. When your hands held her hips in a tight grip again she prepared herself for total carnality, she knew the pain was still at the surface for you, and if fucking her senseless was your way of releasing some of it she wouldn’t complain.

“Oh fuck.,” the words slipped from her as you pushed the thick head of your strap into her, she hadn’t ever seen this one before, part of her wondered if it was an anniversary gift, or if this was new for your personal collection. A few tears trailed down her temple as she pondered the possibility of you being with another in your months time apart, but she didn’t dwell on it for long because once you bottomed out with an abrupt thrust she was void of thought.

“Fuck, there we go.,” you groaned, totally in awe as you peered down to see how the large strap had her filled to the brim., “Oh shit.,” the sight of your bulge protruding from her belly had you losing all sense of rationality as you aggressively began to pound her into the couch. Kate’s hands were holding onto your shoulders for some sort of grounding as your bodies were moving against one another’s, her nails digging into your skin with every pained gasp you pulled., “Shit, I-I need to cum, mommy please.”

“Of course you do.,” you mocked the woman, then you gave her permission just as your lips met hers to catch her moans with a sloppy kiss. Kate failed to keep up with you as her body was trembling wildly beneath yours, so you simply chose to explore her mouth as she rode out her high, then just as she went to collapse into the cushion you flipped the both of you over., “Don’t pretend like you don’t have more in you, sluts like you always do, and mommy’s in need of her own release, so ride my fucking cock.”

The idea of pleasing you was obviously enough motivation for the exhausted girl to move, she began a slow and steady grinding, ensuring that with each drop down you felt the pressure of it on your aching clit, she watched your face closely and relished in the confirmation of your blissful expressions., “Baby, faster, I’m close.,” your words were choked as you felt the warmth in your abdomen increase, then as Kate began to hop up and down at an increased pace you began to meet her with a fast paced thrust.

Kate watched you fall apart beneath her, and that was what sent her spiraling into her final orgasm of the night, and what left her a crying mess on your chest as she collapsed into you., “I-I’m so sorry Y/N, I didn’t, I never mean to hurt you like this, please, don’t leave me again. I need you here with me—always, please…,” you were still a bit dazed out, but your arms were quick to tighten around her broken form., “Shh, KitKat, I know you’re sorry, it’s okay.,” she shook her head., “No, it’s not. I-I broke you, and I made you think I didn’t like you.”

“You’re right, it wasn’t okay, but it is now.,” you gently pecked her trembling lips., “We’re okay now Kate, just rest now, we’ll clean up in a bit, then we’ll have that big, messy healing talk.,” she gazed into your eyes for a long beat, then after she found truth in your words she settled into your embrace., “I love you Y/N.,” your lips pressed to her forehead., “I love you too Kate.”

Truth be told the two of you had a lot to work through, but in this moment, with the archer lying so vulnerably in your arms you knew you’d be able to mend what’s been broken. Kate Bishop was the only woman you’d ever love, and you’d fight to be the same to her.

————

#kate bishop #kate bishop angst #kate bishop fluff #kate bishop smut #kate bishop mcu #kate x you #kate x fem!reader #kate x y/n #kate x reader #kate bishop x female reader #kate bishop x reader #kate bishop x you #kate bishop x y/n #natasha romanoff #yelena belova #wanda maximoff #wandanat #wanda x nat #wanda maximoff x natasha romanoff

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carlandoxlestappen · 2 years

Text

Reflections | Robin Arellano

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gif creds: @mcllymcdclly

~Robin is aged up to 15

Warning(s): fighting, blood, violent themes, kind of slut shaming, kissing.

“What did you just say?” Robin asked in a painfully calm voice. One that should’ve told Moose that it would be better for him to back off. But, of course, he didn’t.

“I said that Melanie Blake is hot. You’re going out with her, right? How is she, huh?” Moose replied with a tone that made Robin’s blood boil.

“Oh, so you think It’s funny? Calling a girl you don’t even know names behind her back?” He questioned, having heard what he was talking about before he came over.

Everyone in the entire school knew how protective Robin could get when it came to the Blake siblings. And for good reasons too; Finney was his best friend, Melanie has been his girlfriend ever since they were 12 years old, and Gwen saved him from a goddamn child murderer when he was 13.

Anyone with half a mind knew not to talk shit about any of them, especially Melanie. Because if you fuck with the Blakes, you fuck with Robin, and no one wants to fuck with Robin.

Except the occasional idiot, like right now.

“Uh yeah, who wouldn’t talk about her when she puts out that much. I’m surprised no one’s-“ Before Moose could even react, Robin’s fist collided with his face, wiping his shit eating smirk right off.

“Listen to me, and listen to me good.” Robin kicked him in the face after he stumbled back. He stepped forward as Moose fell to the ground like a twig and kneeled over him. “If I ever hear my girlfriend’s name leave your dirty mouth, I will make sure nothing comes out of it again, do you understand me?” He asked.

When Moose simply stared at him with no response, he decided to take it up a notch. He already had a crowd, he could use this as a learning experience and show everyone what will happen to them if they do the same thing. “I said,” Robin raised his fist again, ready to make a fucking mess out of the asshole underneath him.

“Do.” A punch to the face. “You.” Another one and Robin could feel the damage to his knuckles. “Understand.” Damn, Moose has some sharp teeth, though some of them were a dark pink color and on the ground next to him. “Me?” Robin stopped, looking at Moose to see if his results were enough. And they were, the boy looked like another punch would knock him out cold, though the blood dripping to the ground was the best warning of all. That’s what people listened to anyway, the amount of blood.

“I-“ Moose coughed up some blood. “I understand.” His voice broke, and Robin nodded, standing up. Moose scrambled to get up, staring at Robin in fear before running away, his friends running after him to give him some shitty explanation for why they didn’t get involved. But it was obvious why, they knew they stood no chance, Robin could take them all out if he wanted to.

The crowd that gathered around him earlier slowly dissolved until there was only one person left, the one he did it for, Melanie Blake.

“Hey, let’s clean you up, okay? ” She said gently, taking one of his bloody hands in hers. She pulled him away from the scene and the two walked inside the school and to the boys’ bathroom.

“I’ll check.” Robin said before letting go of her hand and walking in, checking every stall to make sure there was no one there. “It’s clear.” He said, opening the door and moving aside to let Melanie walk in. She put her bag down and leaned it on the wall, opening it and taking out her first aid kit as her boyfriend locked the door.

“Are you mad at me?” Robin asked, going straight to the point as always. He never liked it when others sugarcoated stuff, so he never did it to anyone, including himself at times.

“Hey,” Melanie stood up, her eyes wide as she put down the kit by the sink. “I could never be mad at you, especially not because of this, you know that. You were protecting me out there.” She took his hand and put it in the sink before opening the tap, washing the blood off of his hand before taking his other one and giving it the same, delicate treatment.

“Are you sure?” He questioned, watching her actions quietly as she pulled out a conforming bandage and duct tape.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Melanie responded, before looking at him and seeing his head hung down. “Look at me.” She requested and Robin obliged, looking up at his girlfriend. “I love you, Robin. And there is nothing you could ever do to change that.” She smiled as he nodded along.

“There we go, all done.” She said, letting go of both of his now bandaged hands and allowing hers to fall limp at her sides.

“Thanks, babe.” Robin said, looking her in the eye as he took her hand in his. “And I love you too.” He smiled before leaning down and kissing his girlfriend.

#Spotify #the black phone #robin arellano #finney blake #the black phone x reader #robin arellano x oc #finney blake x oc #robin arellano x blake!oc

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nitewrighter · 2 years

Note

Are you still taking asks from the Pliny the Elders posts? More on Cindy's faerie godmother, either her response to the wedding or the other godmothers' responses to what she's done in the story itself?

For anyone not familiar with Cindy, here’s the masterpost!!

Sorry this has been sitting in my drafts a while. If you guys want to read other Cindy-matic Universe stuff you can check out Smoky Tea and Ball’s in Your Court!

---

"So. Out of juice, huh?" A scraggly old fairy with drought-browned foxtails for hair chewed at her pipe as Hazel hugged her knees, huddled against the roots of the Mother Tree. Hazel said nothing. She barely heard her. God, she really had just thrown that kid into the deep end. And what would happen after? Memory spell or not, they ran from the freakin' cops, that wasn't something that just went away. Granted sometimes it did if you pulled it off the right way, but for legal reasons neither Hazel nor the author could go into that. Quiet. Focus. Just breathe. Magic adapts to its environment and if you're a ball of furious nerves regretfully stumbling through the events of the previous hours, you're stuck with nervous wreck magic, which sucks.

"Hey--Orphan Tears. I'm talking to you," The scraggly fairy spoke up again. Hazel missed that part as well. Or at least mixed it up with the memory of Cindy asking if she should cry on the tree more.

"Oh I get it, you barely squeak by on your ass into Godmother Rank and suddenly you're too good for the rest of us--too good for old Foxtail--but it's not like the good fairies'll ever think you're one of them anyhow. Old Foxtail hears what they say about you. Lemme tell ya, once you switch from sourin' milk to sparkles, something takes root in you--those of us with the rot and the earth, that's magic that can be trusted, that's--"

"Wh--?" Hazel glanced up, "Oh. You were talking to me."

"Fucking hell--it's always the same with you young lot--a few hours in the human world and you leave half your wits there," Foxtail flopped back against the Mother Tree, "Yes, I'm talking to you."

"Sorry, I just..." Hazel's brow crinkled and she turned her gaze upward to the lattice of branches-that-were-also-roots that wove about the high underground ceiling of Faerie, "It's... harder than I thought it would be... I-I scared the shit out of her when I first showed up, and--and I think I helped her, but if she gets in trouble because of me...." Hazel felt at her horns, grimacing, before exhaling.

“Sounds like you really care about this one,” Foxtail rested her chin on her knuckles.

“Enough to use up all my juice,” Hazel snorted.

“God, humans are so much simpler when you’re just... threatening to kill a priest if he don’t ask the dying old man he’s performing last rites for if you’ll get into heaven on judgment day,” Foxtail huffed.

“They really are...” Hazel sighed. She perked up slightly. “Will we--?”

“Oh no, we won’t. Not really our bag, as it were,” Foxtail shrugged, “Good for scaring priests though.”

“Mm,” Hazel turned her gaze forward.

“It’s interesting, what you’re doing, I’ll give you that,” Foxtail took this opportunity to finally light her pipe and the scent of burning ground-up children’s teeth drifted around the base of the Mother Tree, “Shakes things up down here, for sure.”

“I’m not doing it to shake things up--”

“I know, why d’you think I call you ‘Orphan Tears’ anyway? Of course you’re stuck to that human--but you know you’re going to outlive her. So long as that tree of yours is up. But humans are always trouble--we have the godmothers to try and keep things all...” Foxtail huffed smoke out through her pointed teeth, “Diplomatic, but mark me, mortals are trouble. And if any of us good neighbors is going to prove that...”

“Mm...” Hazel readjusted herself to a cross-legged position, resigning herself to letting Foxtail rant some more. It was a comfort, in its own bitter, brittle way. Being born from a tree, and not the Mother Tree at that, she didn’t really have a concept of family--not a lot of common fairies like her did--but she had seen how some humans interacted with each other. They were flawed beings stuck together, and just having to deal with that, and somehow down the line not wanting to let each other go... she could understand something like that with Foxtail. But then Hazel perked up at a melodious, almost chiming sound. Fae armor didn’t thud and clink like human metals, it sang.

“Godmother Hazel?” two fairies in semi-armored livery loomed over her. She didn’t quite catch which one spoke. The first instinct was to run, but Hazel knew in the state she was in, it wasn’t like she could get far.

“...I am she,” Hazel looked up from furrowed brows with the traditional response.

“The Reverend Godmother would like a word,” said the other liveried guard.

“Oi! She hasn’t done anything wrong, you pigs! She helped her human just like you lot swear you do!” Foxtail piped up.

“It’s fine,” Hazel stood up. It was that moment when exhaustion gives you a second sucker punch because you let your body think it was in a recharge mode (and to be fair, it was), but still she stepped away from the Mother Tree with a short exhale. “Take me to her.”

Both guards pivoted to either side of her, and each stiffly hooked their arm under hers before they took off with a light thrum of dragonfly wings.

“Don’t you worry, Orphan Tears!” Foxtail hollered after her, “It’s our nature to get in over our heads--on scales them mortals can barely dream of!”

“God, that stinks--” muttered one of the guards.

“We’ve got to do something about the children’s teeth problem,” said the other guard.

Hazel briefly considered saying “She’s not hurting anyone” or “it’s one of the only ceremonies humans have with the lower Folk” but held her tongue. Grumpily hanging in the grip of two fairy guards was far from a position to soapbox. Fucking wings. All fairies who had wings thought they were a big fucking deal, but they were largely redundant--between the stealth with which they could move, and pretty much any fairies’ standard bag of tricks, and zipping around with pixie dust or bubbles or between reflective surfaces, wings were more about status (and status quo) than anything. But gods knew the godmothers loved their theater.

Hazel was ushered into a large hexagonal office. Reverend Godmother Mailse pivoted towards her, her features as high and smooth and slightly gnarled as teak driftwood, with sea glass green eyes and silver hair cropped short to high, frothy waves.

“Hazel. So glad you could join us--Tea?”

Hazel was unceremoniously plomped down to her feet and rocked on her heels slightly. A large moth in a waistcoat and frilly collar leaned toward her with a platter of tea and pastries. Hazel took an almond tart and chewed it while not breaking eye contact. “Can I ask what the purpose of this meeting is, Reverend Godmother?”

“We can’t tell you how... encouraging, all your progress in our little experiment has been,” Reverend Godmother Mailse clasped her hands together.

“Uh huh...” Hazel’s voice was only slightly distorted by a mouth full of slightly-too-dry pastry. Oh boy, they were calling it ‘the experiment’ again. A couple weeks ago it was being crowed about as a ‘diplomatic venture,’ and now we were back to ‘experiment.’

“It’s just... I’ve been informed you gifted your human charge something... permanent,” Reverend Mother Mailse’s hands went from clasping to that little jerky forward-steepling-fingers gesture.

“We’re fairies. We give gifts all the time,” Hazel shrugged, still chewing.

“In the old days! With the old kingdoms! And--and I recognize that it was very old magic that brought you to us,”

“Pure-hearted Orphan Tears,” Hazel said, with just the right amount of ‘Fuck you I know what I’m doing’ energy even if, in this moment, she very much didn’t because she still didn’t really see what she did wrong.

“It’s just... when we give humans gifts that are... permanent, that tends to... disrupt things,” Reverend Godmother Mailse was pacing back and forth.

Hazel scoffed. “They’re shoes. They’re not going to disrupt things.”

“Shoes?” Mailse’s silver eyelashes fluttered.

“Shoes. I mean I learned enough of our history not to give her a sword--I. mean I think giving her a sword would have probably freaked her out--I mean if I had given her a sword, it obviously wouldn’t be a permanent sword, it would just ffft away after I helped her kill her stepfamily, but you guys are all like ‘oh nooooo Fairy Godmothers don’t straight-up murder people’ and I’d be like ‘I’m not killing them, I’m letting her kill them,’ but then that’s probably against the rules somehow too or something. But anyway, I could tell she wasn’t up for killing anyone, and like... all she really wanted was to get to that party.”

Mailse was staring blankly at Hazel then. Her lips parted for a few seconds, then she closed them, she opened her mouth again, squinting a little, closed it again, then paced away from Hazel.

“That’s--I--Shoes?” she said, pivoting towards Hazel again.

“Shoes for the party,” said Hazel, “And I made them permanent so... she’d have something to remember the party by. The kid--she... she gets scared a lot. The people with her tell her she’s stupid and crazy all the time. I thought... if she has a happy memory, it should be one thing that people can’t tell her she’s stupid and crazy for.”

“I see...” the Reverend Godmother looked thoughtful at this.

“And look--it’s a nice shoe, but there’s no real glamour about it. The most magic I put into it were the defenses!”

“D-defenses?”

“Well, yeah, obviously--they’re her shoes, and her stepfamily stole a whole bunch of her shit, so I figured I’d make it so they couldn’t steal the shoes!”

“Go on...” Reverend Godmother Mailse said slowly.

Hazel had the feeling this was setting up for some kind of trap, but at the same time, she knew how all the winged fairies looked at her anyway, so if she was going to make an ass of herself, she had made peace with that concept a long time ago. “Look, the shoes just fit her, okay? They don’t fit anyone else. And maybe there’s a slight deterrent on the stepfamily putting them on. Maybe. That’s really the only magic on them. The shoes are just.. not going to fit anyone else. And that’s not a big deal! All the humans have their shoes custom-made, anyway! Or y’know they cobble them down to whatever size! What are they going to do... come up with some kind of... standardization for foot size? What kind of fucking weirdo would do that?”

“Mm...” Reverend Godmother Mailse was nodding as if what Hazel was saying was very reasonable, but there was a hard crinkle in her brow.

“What?” said Hazel. But then a memory flashed back to her. Poor Cindy, all sniffling, curled up in the middle of the road, rats and lizards and an old-as-balls farm dog loping around her, all covered in pumpkin guts. “I lost one of the slippers... I’m sorry.” And the poor fucking kid just looked so scared in that moment, like Hazel was going to hurt her for fucking up even though it wasn’t like she had a whole lot of control in that context, not to mention the fact that she might be fucking concussed from the pumpkin crash--god, why hadn’t she explained more things to her?! “...What happened?” it was finally at the point where Hazel couldn’t meet the Reverend Godmother’s eyes.

The Reverend godmother looked... honestly just a little too apologetic in that moment. This wasn’t really a smug expression from her, more like the look you get from your DM when you roll a Nat 1 on a saving throw and they know you’re really attached to your half-elf bard.

“Hazel... there really hasn’t been anyone like you in Faerie in a very long time,” was all she said.

“That is not fucking answering what I’m asking,” every muscle in Hazel’s body was tensed. She suddenly lunged forward and seized the Reverend Godmother by her arms, “IS MY KID FUCKING SAFE!?”

There was an audible drawing of swords and spears behind her and Hazel immediately realized her emotional reaction well-outpaced her current physical abilities. There was a moment of freezing like, no, she couldn’t let go, not until she knew, but then she felt a thin-fingered gentle hand smoothing her hair behind her horns. The sound of metal behind her seemed to slacken and Hazel’s eyes flicked upward.

“She’s safe for now,” said the Reverend Godmother, looking down at her, “But the situation is still developing.”

“‘Still developing?’” Hazel scoffed, “The hell is that supposed to mean?”

The Reverend Godmother glanced up from her and gestured at her guards and they briskly walked out, before quickly returning, wings thrumming, with what appeared to be a large mirror, but it didn’t reflect so much as look like dark, murky water. The reverend godmother passed a hand in front of it, and its plane rippled to reveal the blinding daylight of the mortal world.

“Hear ye, hear ye!” A town crier was yelling, “Whosoever fits the shoe in question, is the prince’s intended bride!” before unfurling a scroll which featured the fucking shoe Hazel gave Cindy.

Hazel’s mouth was hanging open. “Ah--” Hazel made a sound and turned to the Reverend Mother, “Okay so---” she sharply inhaled through her nostrils, “I didn’t glamour her--okay? I didn’t. I mean, I gave her a nice outfit, but like, there’s a memory charm on the outfit--that’s the whole thing--the whole thing was no one was supposed to remember her--I mean yeah, people can remember what she said--I wanted her to have a chance to tell the stepfamily to go fuck themselves, alright, and they wouldn’t forget that they got told to go fuck themselves, alright? HOW THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW HE’D STILL BE IN LOVE WITH HER!?”

“...because truth sticks in the mind far longer than anything else...” the Reverend Godmother didn’t turn away from the mirror, “And those pure of heart speak as true as they can.”

Hazel’s mouth drew to a thin line. “Look--you... you can’t punish me just because I couldn’t know she could be that good of a person! That’s not--you know what I am! You know I’m--I’m--” the words came so close to Hazel’s teeth but she bit them back. She knew what she was, but there was also a furious part of her that would never give those with wings the satisfaction.

“Did you think I brought you here to punish you?” the Reverend Godmother glanced toward her.

“I MEAN YOU HAD THE FUCKING NARC GUARDS DRAG ME IN,” Hazel threw up her hands.

“I brought you here because... for the first time in a very long time, I’m not sure what will happen next,” the reverend godmother chuckled, “I... I don’t think you’re a bad fairy, Hazel.”

“I’m literally Unseelie,” Hazel folded her arms in a huff.

“You were made from tears. From pain. It’s very easy to think that pain is purely bad--but it’s not. Pain tells us when something is wrong. Pain tells us that things should not be the way they are. Pain can be punishment, that’s true, but I think--more often than that, pain is the absence of justice and kindness and love...You were born from tears of grief and loneliness, Hazel. You think you are pain, but in fact, you are love. And fury. And justice.”

Hazel’s met her eyes and was pressing her lips together hard, arms still folded, though it was clear those words had shaken her.

“I didn’t bring you here because I thought you must be punished,” said the Reverend Godmother.

“Right, ‘Fairy Godmothers aren’t about punishment,’” Hazel rolled her eyes.

“It’s true,” said the Reverend Godmother, “I mean we can decommission you and you can go right back to turning butter rancid, if that’s what you think is better for you.”

Hazel was silent, not looking at her.

“But the actual reason I brought you here was, I don’t know what’s going to happen next. It’s been a very long time since we’ve interfered in human affairs to this extent. But I think if anything goes wrong, I can trust you to put it right.”

Hazel blinked.

“Don’t get me wrong, you’ve disrupted... probably a lot of human politics--but it wouldn’t be very true to our roots if we didn’t do that, would it?”

Hazel’s eyebrows raised and she glanced up at the Reverend Godmother then.

“Like I said,” said the Reverend Godmother, “There hasn’t been anyone like you in Faerie in a very long time.”

Hazel blinked a few times. “C-could I get that tea, now? And can I sit down?”

The Reverend Godmother smiled.

#cindy-matic universe

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coneyislandbabey · 1 year

Text

prologue; bug spray and bonfires and booze. -> w.rojas

WARNINGS: alcohol, cursing

SYNOPSIS: This is the prologue to the Camp Wawayanda Lake series! You arrive at camp and reunite with old friends. There's a drunken bonfire, and Warren is suddenly, distractingly beautiful. word count: 2,079

NOTES: I'm so psyched for you guys to read this series! it feels like the perfect thing to write as summer comes in. I hope you love it! check out the official series playlist on spotify!

“Fuck! What did I do with my bug spray,” you muttered, sifting through the growing pile of random crap amassing on your bedroom floor. It was an amalgamation of stuff you had half-unpacked from college during the few days you’d been home, and stuff you’d been gathering to pack up for the summer. Daisy and Simone were due to pick you up any time now, and your duffel bag of summer camp essentials was still only half packed.

“I can’t believe you’re already off again,” your mother said, suddenly materializing in the doorframe of your bedroom. She maneuvered through the mess to drop a can of bug spray in your open bag, and you shot her a grateful smile.

“C’mon, mom, do you really want me moping around the house all summer, eating all your food?” you asked with a laugh. You spotted your sunscreen partially buried under a mound of sweatshirts from college, and tucked it away in your bag.

“Actually, yes, I wouldn’t mind it,” she responded indignantly.

“I know, mamma,” you said, standing up to press a kiss to her cheek. “But you know I wouldn’t miss a Wawayanda Lake summer for all the world.”

“I know, I know. Don’t forget to say hi to Uncle Rod for me, alright?”

“Of course,” you waved a hand dismissively. “And Teddy, too.”

“Very good,” she poked your nose. “Don’t forget to pack your shower stuff.”

“Shit! That’s what I’m missing,” you huffed, tottering through the mess in your room and out to the hall closet, where the bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and soap you had bought specifically to bring to camp were waiting for you. As you made your way back to your bag, a car horn sounded from the street below. You unceremoniously dropped the bottles in your hands, making a beeline for the window. A cherry red Firebird was parked at the curb, Daisy’s familiar flaming head emerging from the driver’s side door.

“Gotta go,” you announced to your mom, hastily zipping up your still-open duffel and throwing both of your bags over your shoulder.

“Did you pack everything you need?”

“Guess I’ll find out! Bye mom, love you,” you grinned, dragging her into a quick hug before shooting down the stairs and out the front door.

“My girl!” Daisy called as you emerged, throwing her arms wide as you emerged. You trotted down the driveway, dropping your bags on the sidewalk to launch yourself at her.

“My hazy Daisy,” you grinned, arms still locked around her neck. “I missed you so much.”

“You don’t even know the half of it.”

“Where’s my Simone?”

“Asleep in the passenger seat,” Daisy rolled her eyes. “Better not wake her when you get in. She almost bit my head off when I picked her up earlier.”

You laughed, ducking down to glimpse Simone’s sleeping form in the car. “She’s always so grumpy when she’s tired.”

Daisy hoisted up one of your bags and you took the other, opening the back door and shoving them across the bench seat before climbing inside yourself. Daisy resituated herself in the driver’s seat, shooting you a grin through the rearview mirror.

“Ready for another Wawayanda summer?” she asked.

“I always am.”

The ride up to Camp Wawayanda Lake was several hours, and you spent every minute with your head leaning against the open window, feeling the wind rush across your skin, singing along to the music blaring out of the radio. You watched as crowded suburbia turned into rural towns, as flat stretches of field turned into the winding road up into the mountains straddling the border of New Jersey and New York. With each mile that you traversed, you grew more excited at the prospect of everything this summer would bring.

Undoubtedly, your closest friends in the world were those you had met at Wawayanda Lake. Some, like Daisy and Simone, you had met when you were children, attending summer camp together. The others, like Karen and Eddie, you had only met once you had all started working as counselors together back when you were sixteen. After days, it had felt like you’d known each other for years; never in your life did you connect with anyone that fast– even your college friendships paled in comparison. A part of you thought that Wawayanda Lake had to be magic in some way, the perfect conditions of summer sun and woodland isolation leading to you forging the most important relationships of your life.

“We’ve arrived!” Simone shouted, breaking you out of your reverie. You shifted to look through the front windshield, catching a glimpse of the ancient wooden sign bearing ‘WAWAYANDA’ in faded white letters. A few minutes later, Daisy parked alongside a small group of other cars in front of the welcome building.

“Looks like we’re the last to arrive,” you noted as you climbed out of the car, pausing to stretch your stiff limbs.

“Yeah, we’re technically a little late,” Simone said, glancing down at her watch.

“We’ll be fine, Roddy never gets mad at his little niece,” Daisy said, pinching your cheek as she walked past. You rolled your eyes at the gesture, following her and Simone up the front steps of the welcome building.

Sure enough, everyone else was already milling around the main room, catching up with one another. You spotted Uncle Rod close to the door, back turned to you as he chatted with Teddy, and bounded over, scaring the shit out of him when you tackled him from behind in a hug.

“Jesus fuck, kid,” he said, after realizing who it was who had accosted him.

“Hello to you, too, Uncle Rod,” you grinned, detaching yourself from him in order to hug Teddy as well. “Mom says hello to you both.”

“How is she these days?” Teddy asked, while in the background Rod muttered something about you nearly giving him a genuine heart attack.

“Jealous that you two get to spend so much time with me,” you answered. “I’m very much in demand, you see.”

“Of course you are,” Teddy chuckled.

“Speaking of which, I’ve got places to be and people to see. I’ll talk to you guys later,” you winked at Teddy, hugged a still-grumbling Rod, and turned to your friends.

“There she is!” Eddie said, the first to see you making your way towards everyone. He maneuvered around Karen and Graham to squeeze you in a hug so tight that it lifted you off of your feet.

“Roundtree, wonderful to see you again,” you grinned, patting his cheek when he finally placed you back down on the floor. The next to reach you was Camila, whose hair was impossibly longer than the last time you’d seen her. You were enveloped in her familiar, comforting vanilla scent when she hugged you, a scent that could rocket you right back into memories of every previous summer of your life spent in this little stretch of woods. You made your way through Karen, Graham, and Billy as well, before looking around the room in confusion.

“Where’s–” you started to ask, turning in a circle. You were cut off by the curly-haired boy you were seeking coming around the corner, grinning and already making a beeline towards you.

“Warren!” you shouted happily, closing the distance between the two of you and launching yourself at him for a hug, completely trusting that he would catch you. His strong arms encircled your waist, clinging tightly as he spun you around in a circle.

“There you are, angel,” he said, and you could hear the smile in his voice. “I was wondering when you’d get here.”

“Manage to pass all your classes this year?” you asked, and Warren rolled his eyes fondly. You had teased him all of last summer for failing his writing requirement first semester because he slept through every class, having to retake the following semester.

“Yes, mom,” he returned. “I learned my lesson and stopped scheduling classes before noon.”

“I don’t understand you, Rojas. You wake up before eight in the morning every day when we’re here, but you couldn’t manage a ten-thirty class?”

“Well, I don’t get to look forward to seeing you every day when I’m at Penn State, do I?”

You rolled your eyes, smacking him on the chest and ducking your head to ward away the blush warming your cheeks. That only made it worse, when your hand made contact with the hard expanse of muscle that was Warren’s chest. You took a step back, taking him in as he told you about something stupid his college roommate had done.

Warren had always been something to look at, even when you met at sixteen and he was scrawny and growing like a weed, but something had happened over the last year. It was like he turned twenty and his body said got it, we have to look ridiculously beautiful and grown up now. His hair was longer than usual, his curls deep black and shiny and unruly as usual. He must have started hitting the gym or something, too, because the way his t-shirt stretched tightly over his chest, arms bulging strong and tan from the sleeves, was almost lewd.

Fuck, you thought. Every preceding summer, you had been able to convince yourself that you didn’t like Warren than anything more than a friend. Anyone can appreciate eye candy, right? At least, that’s what you told yourself when your gaze lingered too long on his bare chest when he was on lifeguard duty at the lake. You had a feeling you weren’t going to be able to lie to yourself like that this summer. And that meant you were totally fucked.

Night came quickly after a long afternoon of running orientation for the crop of new, baby-faced sixteen year old counselors. As you walked them through the camp and explained their responsibilities, you marveled at how you possibly ever looked so young.

Now was the time for fun. You all had exactly two days to yourself before the kids arrived: days that were meant for setting up the camp and making sure everything was in working order. But those nights, they were just for you. And like any adolescents alone in the middle of the woods, you spent them getting drunk around the bonfire. Rod and Teddy turned a blind eye to your antics, hoping you could get most of it out of your system before about a hundred children became your responsibility for the rest of the summer.

The bonfire was already raging, reaching warm, orange fingers up toward the star-scattered sky. Counselors new and old (when did you get to be on the old end of things? Where had all the time gone?) gathered around, drinking a truly disgusting mix of whiskey and several other things that you didn’t want to know; Eddie’s invention, of course.

You sat on one of the benches, at that giddy sweet spot of drunkenness where everything was warm and hilarious and you weren’t hammered yet. Camila was trying to teach Eddie and Graham an old Girl Scouts song– really, kind of morbid, about the Titanic– and you couldn’t stop laughing over the fact that they were so drunk they couldn’t sing a single note on key.

“I would knock them both out of the water if I tried to sing it,” Warren said, dropping down to sit next to you.

“Oh? So let’s hear it, then,” you said, raising an eyebrow.

“Can’t embarrass them like that,” Warren shrugged faux-apologetically, sending you into another fit of drunken laughter.

As you quieted down, Warren bumped his shoulder against yours. “I missed you a lot this year.” The soft, low tone of his voice had an instant calming, sobering effect on you.

“I missed you, too, War,” you said, turning to smile at him. Your breath caught in your throat at the way the firelight danced across his face, reflecting brightly off the sheen of his curls and brightening his eyes so much that it looked like the light was spilling out of him, not the fire. For the second time that day, you were confronted with how incredibly beautiful he was.

“We better make the most of this summer, then,” he said.

You hummed your agreement. “If we do, maybe we won’t have to miss each other so much.”

“Lost cause,” Warren said, waving a hand dismissively. “I always miss you if you’re not right next to me.”

tag list: @iwantloveletterss @boredshit-shadow @xx-all-purpose-nerd-xx @lilyhw1 @graziellasnotes @nicostars @robinismywife @xxxlaura @hella-sirius @everyonesannoyedwithme

#daisy jones and the six #djats #warren rojas #warren rojas x reader #warren rhodes #warren rhodes x reader #eddie roundtree #eddie loving #graham dunne #simone jackson #daisy jones #karen sirko #karen karen #camila dunne #billy dunne

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imaginesfordifferentfandoms · 2 years

Text

You Look Like a Museum to Me

Click here for my masterlist.

Click here to add yourself to my taglist.

Prompts - “You’re extra beautiful when you talk about this. You know you’re good at it, and that knowledge lights you up.”

Notes - I know absolutely nothing about ancient Egypt so if anything is wrong, just go with it.

Steven fiddled with the ends of his sleeves nervously as he glanced in the mirror, seeing nothing but Marc’s slightly amused eyes looking back at him as he watched him panic over his first date with you. Despite being reassured a dozen times that he had this, that you liked him just as much as he liked you, despite all of Marc’s comforting words he still couldn’t get rid of the pit of nerves in his stomach.

“You’re gonna be fine,” Marc told him again, not even annoyed at the amount of assurance Steven needed today. It was nice watching Steven with you, watching how flustered he got and feeling how happy he was. “You’re taking her to the museum, right, giving her a tour?”

“Yeah,” Steven sighed, nodding as he wiped his slightly sweaty palms against his pants, “Yeah, she wanted a tour of the museum.”

“Then you’re gonna be just fine, you know everything about that stuff, you’ll blow her away.” Marc smiled as Steven laughed nervously before checking his appearance one last time and grabbing his bag, one more deep breath and he turned away from the mirror.

After a quick goodbye to the fish Steven was heading out the door, just about managing to catch the bus and making his way to the museum. Marc was right, if there was one thing he knew it was this, how many times had he dreamed about giving this tour and now he got to give it to you.

Asking you on a date had been nerve wracking, even after everything that had happened lately somehow asking a pretty woman out on a date felt scarier than any of it. Marc had laughed, not in a mean way, more in a fondly exasperated way and encouraged Steven to ask you out, went back and forth with him all night with different ways to ask you and different dates that were ideal for the first one.

“I know this stuff, I’ve got this.” Steven muttered to himself as he got off the bus, not even noticing the side glances he received from strangers. Marc did and it showed when Steven glanced in a window to see Marc standing with a fond smile.

“I’m right with you buddy.” Marc said as Steven walked up the steps of the museum and found that the words eased his nerves a bit and he took one final deep breath to steady himself before he walked through the doors.

He spotted you straight away, of course he did, even with the children darting back and forth, the tourists looking every which way, the school group that stood huddled together, somehow Steven missed all of them but managed to see you. You were focused on one of the figures, reading the small plaque in front of it as Steven stood still in his spot, more than content to watch you for a moment.

“She really is stunning.” Steven mumbled, whether to himself or to Marc, even he didn’t know. His eyes were still locked on you as Marc rolled his eyes fondly from his place in the reflection of a glass barrier before he took control for half a second in order to get Steven moving.

Steven stumbled slightly but managed to catch himself, shooting Marc a glare but Marc just smiled and gestured for him to make his way over to you.

He took a steadying breath, feeling both more nervous and at ease at seeing you before he finally did as Marc advised and forced his feet forward until he was looking over your shoulder and humming as he saw just what you were looking at.

“Ah,” Steven said from behind you, causing you to jump slightly before you turned around, a smile spreading across your face and eyes lighting up as you met Steven’s gaze, “that there is Set. Bit of a knob actually.”

“Oh really?” You asked, not even attempting to stop the laugh that escaped you, completely unaware of how the sound momentarily stunned Steven before he shook himself and swore he would do whatever he had to to keep hearing you laugh.

“Oh yeah, completely mental really, I mean what other word is there for dismembering your own brother and having a fish eat his-“ here Steven cut himself off, already berating himself over his words but then he saw your smile widen and your whole body turned to him, giving him all your attention, your head tilting as he paused.

He could see Marc in the reflection behind you, the reassuring smile on his face telling Steven that he hadn’t messed up, he could do this.

“Probably best to start a story from the beginning though, eh?” He continued, encouraged by your nod, smile having yet to fade and attention still solely on him. “Well, Set used to be a hero, people called upon him for all sorts, a protector in life and death but what really made him a hero was saving Ra, the sun god, meant he had made sure the sun would continue to rise. But by the time of the New Kingdom, Set gets a bit jealous, now I don’t know about you but when I’m jealous I don’t go around murdering people but maybe that’s just me.”

Steven paused as you laughed again, trying to commit the sound to memory before he continued.

“See Set was jealous of Osiris, jealous of the fact big brother was the ruler of Egypt and he wasn’t. It wasn’t just Set killing his brother that was odd though it was the way he did it, instead of, you know, just murdering him quietly Set throws this party, one of those fancy ones, and he brings this casket out after dinner.” The entire time Steven speaks his gaze is locked on you, watching you nod along with his words, expression shifting from smiles to questioning looks and Steven can see the genuine interest on your face, can see that you’re actually listening to what he has to say, listening to him ramble about something he liked.

Steven couldn’t remember a time when somebody had just let him speak, let him share his interest with them without interrupting him or making a disparaging comment before brushing him off. He had known you were something special from the moment he had met you, hell actually from the moment his eyes had locked onto you but this, this moment right here, just confirmed to him how amazing you truly were, a one of a kind girl he had somehow been lucky enough to meet.

“A casket?” You asked, Steven chuckling at the face you pulled, eyebrows drawn together, nose scrunched up and lips twisting into a grimace.

“Weird right? Well after he brought out the casket he had each of the guests attempt to climb into it but none of them could fit. When it comes to Osiris’ turn, well guess who fits in the casket? Osiris does and when he does get in, that's when Set comes along and slams the casket shut, poor bugger was trapped in the thing all the while Set threw him in the Nile.”

You were more than content to continue standing in front of the glass protected figure listening to Steven as he told you the story about the god it was based on, happy to watch as his hands gestured around as he spoke, observe how his entire face seemed to light up as he got to teach you something, watch Steven be at his most confident as his knowledge seemed to give him a boost. It wasn’t a drastic change, it was only noticeable if you were paying attention, he still fiddled with the edges of his sleeves, still tugged on the strap of his bag but he seemed lighter, completely in his element as he spoke without fumbling over his words and it was a side that you guessed many people didn’t get to see, whether it was due to Steven not showing it or other people not giving him a chance to.

When Steven finished talking he saw your face soften, it was almost of fond expression with something else he couldn’t quite place and it made him smile sheepishly at you, an apology on the tip of his tongue, almost on instinct, for rambling on. He nearly had the words out when you interrupted him and your words almost made his heart ache with happiness.

“So what happened to the brother, did he just die?” You asked him.

Steven felt his smile widen, not only had you put up with his rambling but here you were asking questions, wanting him to keep talking. It was such a rare thing that all he could do was smile at you, completely and utterly captivated by you.

He really hoped he wouldn’t mess this up, he was already so gone for you and it was only your first date. Steven hoped to any god that might be listening that there were many more dates to come.

“Well the casket floats down the Nile for a bit before it washes up on the shore and this tree, the tamarisk tree, sprouted up to protect it. The tree was so beautiful that the King and Queen of Byblos cut it down and had it brought to their court. Osiris had a wife, Isis and she tracked Osiris down and managed to get his corpse back, all the while Set’s in Egypt and ruling as King, not a good one mind you, he switched between storms and droughts because he was the god of not only war and chaos but also storms, the people ended up turning on each other just to survive, told you he was a knob.” Steven said, pausing to let your laugh wash over him as he moved his hands to play with the ends of his sleeves once he realised he had been gesturing wildly between the two of you.

“Sounds like he was a bit more than a knob.” You laughed and Steven couldn’t stop the bright smile that spread across his face. “So what, Set just kills his brother and gets to rule Egypt? And Isis managed to retrieve his corpse?”

“Yeah, she gets his corpse back and hides the two of them again in some swampy marshes of the Nile. Once they were back though Set found out and started tracking them down. Isis knew of some herbs that could bring Osiris back and she asks for help to watch the body. When Isis is out though Set comes along and tricks Nephthys into telling him where Osiris was hidden, after he found him he went about hacking his body to pieces,” Steven paused, watching as you scrunched your face in disgust again, hoping he hadn’t put you off but you were still looking at him expectantly so he carried on, not giving himself another moment to doubt himself, “Once Isis was back she and Nephthys went about collecting all the body parts to put him back together but his, um, well a certain part of him was missing, well actually it was eaten by a fish which, you know, bit gross.”

“It was actually eaten by a fish?” You couldn’t help but laugh as Steven nodded, a bright smile still firmly in place as he chuckled along with you. “So that was it then for Osiris?”

“Well since he was incomplete he couldn’t return to the land of the living and instead became the lord of the underworld and god of the death and I can tell you that Osiris doesn’t mess around when he’s judging where you’ll spend eternity.” Steven told you, his tone filled with an emotion you couldn’t quite put your finger on and his eyes shifted just over your shoulder to look at the statue of Set.

Steven's eyes shifted to look at the reflection in the glass casing, distracted by Marc’s amused snort that you obviously couldn’t hear, his own smile spreading into a grin as he focused on you again.

“You say that like you have experience.” You laughed and watched him laugh along with you. “So what happens to Set then, he’s the King, right?”

“For a bit, yeah but Osiris actually had a son, Horus, who battled Uncle Set for control of Egypt. The two of them went before the Great Ennead and were given contests to battle against each other. Turns out Set wasn’t very good, actually he was complete rubbish and lost every battle against Horus.” Steven explained and felt his chest warm as you interrupted him but in a way that was so different to how others usually did.

“So Horus became King then?” You asked, unable to stop yourself.

In all honesty Ancient Egypt wasn’t something you sought out yourself, you appreciated it and it was interesting but you had never been too eager to seek knowledge out about it yourself. However when Steven was the one talking about it, telling you the stories that matched the figures you were captivated, completely hooked on his every word, and wanted him to tell you everything he knew.

“You’d think wouldn’t you but no, actually, Set reigned for over eighty years because Ra refused to vote that Horus should be the King and because the decision had to be unanimous Set was free to be King.” Steven told you, physically feeling himself fall for you more and more as the seconds passed as you frowned, mirroring his expression when he had first read the information from one of his many books.

It wasn’t until he looked behind you that he saw a group of school children making their way from one of the figures over to the one the two of you had been blocking for a while now. You looked questioningly over at him before following his gaze, eyes widening as the teacher gave the two of you an annoyed look causing you to bite your lip and look over at Steven, a grin breaking out across both your faces as he took your arm in his and pulled you along, the two of you laughing as you leaned into each other.

Making your way further into the museum, laughs fading off as conversation filled its place Steven found himself glancing down, your arms still tangled together despite the fact that they didn’t need to be. Steven was thankful you hadn’t let go of him, he was more than happy to stay attached to you the whole way around the museum.

“Steven?” You prompted softly when the man had remained silent at your question, his gaze on you but clearly having missed you speaking.

“Sorry love,” he apologised softly and you couldn’t ignore how your stomach seemed to fill with butterflies at the word love. It sounded beautiful coming from Steven, sounded genuine and not meant an attempt to flirt that would ultimately leave you uncomfortably trying to get away from somebody.

You really wanted him to call you love again.

The two of you made your way around the museum, Steven rambling on happily about each of the different things that were on display but he found himself stumbling over his words at some points, your entire attention focused only on him, expression so open and he could happily stare at you all day. When he watched you mouthing along as you read from the plaques attached to the displays or when your eyebrows knitted together when you didn’t quite understand something and you would turn to look up at him questioningly, it was only with Marc’s helpful calling of his name and quick repeating of the question that he was able to stammer out an answer, memorising the way your face light up as you listened to him.

He had never made somebody smile like that, like the way you were smiling, he had never had that kind of smile directed at him and he most certainly had never been the reason somebody’s whole face seemed to light up or made somebody laugh in the way he made you, a genuine laugh that made his stomach flutter and took his breath away.

Even as he was surrounded by some of the most beautiful pieces and ancient displays that would usually occupy his attention for hours, they all seemed dull when compared to you standing next to them. Steven found he would much rather look at you, learn everything there was to know about you, than anything that was in this building.

You were as equally as distracted as Steven was, completely captivated by everything about the man, by the way he spoke, even when he did stammer over his words as he was pulled from his thoughts, how his arm felt still tangled with yours, how his eyes seemed to light up every time he looked at you. You had never felt so much for one person so fast, never realised how quickly you could fall for somebody and yet here stood Steven Grant seemingly on a mission to see how fast he could make you fall for him.

The date lasted hours and yet it still didn’t feel long enough when the two of you stood just past the museum steps, reluctant to pull away from each other but having no other choice as you were getting ready to say goodbye, heading home in opposite directions.

“Thank you for today, I had a bloody brilliant time.” Steven told you, a smile on his face as you laughed softly, nodding in agreement with his words.

“So did I,” You said honestly, “I hope we can do it again?”

“Yeah, yeah I’d love to, absolutely.” Steven’s smile spread into a grin and you couldn’t stop yourself from mirroring the expression, face almost aching from how much the man made you smile.

“Good, I can’t wait.” As you spoke you looked up, feeling rain begin to fall from the grey clouds above and looked at Steven. “We should probably get home before it really starts.”

“Good idea,” he laughed, seeming to hesitate for a moment before he nodded and stepped closer to you, giving you time to pull away. When you stayed as you were Steven smiled before leaning forward but instead of going for the kiss like you thought he would, he instead placed the softest kiss to your cheek before pulling away with a shy smile. “Let me know you got home safe, yeah?”

“Yeah,” you agreed quietly, somehow the soft kiss to the cheek flustered you more than you thought a normal kiss would but thankfully Steven seemed as flustered as you. “I’ll see you soon.”

“God, I hope so.” You heard Steven mumble to himself after you had turned away and taken a few steps away from him, a soft laugh leaving you, fully agreeing with the sentiment and making your way home with a smile on your face even as the rain fell down on you, completely ready for your next date with Steven Grant.

___________

Steven Grant Taglist -

@bxmaaa, @captainamericasdaughter15, @daisyfreshwhore, @myguiltypleasures21, @polyglot-noodle

#steven grant x reader #steven grant imagine #steven grant imagines #steven grant #steven grant fic #steven grant x you #moon knight x reader #moon knight imagine #moon knight imagines #moon knight #moon knight fanfic #moon knight fic #marvel imagines #marvel fanfiction #marvel imagine #marvel x reader

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justmultifandom · 11 months

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Kidge summer event 2023

Day 15: Sleepover

Katie had never had a problem bringing the boys into her house, not least because she didn't bring them. His brother Matt, to everyone's surprise, was making plans in his free time to try and get some girls into his room and their parents obviously always snubbed him. But Katie had always been smarter than her brother, and also luckier than him, because with a space wolf she could carry it was child's play to sneak a boy into the bedroom.

She was finishing checking a report for a new Garrison project when a flash of blue lit up the fairly dark room. She turned around smiling, closed the computer and placed it on the desk, then ran into the arms of the person who was literally spammed in her room suddenly. And that person was Keith.

Of course, even if they must have been in bed at that time, her parents and Matt were still in the house and, going too far was not even in the plans, so they had limited themselves to lying together in his bed, looking at the starry sky from the large ceiling window.

"You know, I have a surprise for you...": Keith smiled, a few moments later Kosmo teleported with a yellow bag between his teeth. He pulled two bottles out of it and gave one to her.

“Areftko?” She read the label, raising an eyebrow at him.

“It's a Galra equivalent to our alcohol, much tastier than Nunvil”: he explained, opening the bottle and taking a sip, making a small face when he swallowed the liquor: “It tastes similar to beer, but it's as if we were drinking tequila..."

She smiled respectfully, taking a small sip and feeling her fizz run down her throat. It had a slight bitter aftertaste, but it was the sweetest, sugariest drink she had ever tasted.

"Good. Are you interested in Daibazaal's stuff now, eh?”: she raised her eyebrow, looking at him and already feeling the alcohol rise after the first sip.

“I'm just trying something different”: he walked over to her, putting his arm around her shoulders, taking another sip: “This stuff makes you hot, damn!”

“It's summer, Keith”: she laughed silently, as she blushed as she saw him take off his shirt revealing his abs. Sure, she obviously had numerously seen him shirtless even during missions when Voltron was around, but that Areftko was literally getting her drunk and she wasn't even half bottled of it.

“If my father finds out you're so dead”: she laughed at him, continuing to drink and wiping her wet lips with her arm.

“No offense but I'm more terrified of your mother and your brother” he replied, moving closer to her.

"Oh yes. Matt could unleash the entire Earth defenses and wage war against Daibazaal."

"Oh what a pity. It took me too long to make the Galra peaceful!”

“You've only been making a speech for a few minutes and they were all at your feet!”: she patted his chest lightly. The room was soon filled with drunken laughter as they both whispered to shut up, then laughed again.

“Ahhh… The Are-thing is finished…”: Pidge let out a drunken whimper, throwing the empty glass bottle somewhere on the wall, forgetting that they weren't the only people in the house and that probably her parents or Matt would have noticed if the noise woke them up.

"You're too hot...": she complained, trying to move away from Keith to the other side of the bed too small for two people: "I will never share a bed with you!"

“You just did…”: he replied, placing his arm on her forehead exhaling: “You might feel better if you take off your pajamas, don't you think?”

"Asshole": she tried to punch him, with a drunken smile: "It takes more than an ultra alcoholic drink to make me undress"

"Do as you like": he laughed, sitting up: "I'm afraid I'll have to take you home, then"

“This is my bedroom”: she exclaimed, kicking him lightly to make him fall off the bed: “You are the guest, remember that!”

“Oh, yeah right”: he laughed at her, grabbing the sheet to keep from falling and pulling it at her, then pushing her onto the bed covering her face with it and tickling her.

“You're an asshole!”: she laughed, flailing and kicking to make him stop. And then, despite her alcohol, her brain gave her the best of ideas. She looked at him with a wicked smile, cupping his cheeks and pulling him into a passionate kiss. Her lips were moist as their tongues danced in harmonious rhythm, feeling the taste of the drink back in their throats and savoring her scent.

"Just kisses": she ordered looking into her eyes.

“You're going to kill me whit this, you know that?” he chuckled.

“Then you will die in the best way…”: she brought him back for another messy kiss.

#voltron legendary defender #keith voltron #keith x pidge #kidge #voltron pidge #keidge #kidge summer event

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nehswritesstuffs · 4 months

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fly little seagull, that rock can be home - Part 2

With the rate at which I’m finishing these chapters, I highly doubt I’m going to get the next one done before *checks notes* mid-April at the earliest, so I’m sorry in advance. Good news I guess is that I recently also passed 41k overall and I am regretting my decisions lol

Chapter 1 [FFN/AO3]

With a backwater island located, a father and daughter adjust to their new life. [10,387 words; AU where Law tries to lead the quiet life Cora-san always wanted for him]

Business was slow.

It was not that there was a lack of need for a medical professional in Hinba or on Diura as a whole. As a matter of fact, it was clear that there was an intense need for one. It was simply that—aside from the handful of new patients he did see who were mostly around his age—the residents weren’t entirely trusting of the man who simply wandered in from parts unknown and it was becoming a problem.

“They’ll come around,” Svana said as she measured Law’s fingers. She was bored and decided that he needed gloves, so therefore was going to knit some that fit his curiously long hands. He had tried to turn her down, but before he could even get a word out Nauja had been gifted mittens of her own for when the snows began to fly, the girl now wearing them happily around the house as the adults stuck to the front sitting room.

“I’m more used like a novel pharmacy than anything,” he groused. “How do you get them to listen to you?”

“I delivered over half the island’s population and haven’t lost a mother yet,” she shrugged. “They’re a prickly bunch—we tend to be so here in the South.”

“I knew this place felt like home,” he scoffed. She finished writing measurements and took some yarn and needles from her basket. “I’ve worked with guys from the South Blue before—I was well aware of what I was getting into.”

“Of course,” she agreed idly. Law wasn’t entirely certain he enjoyed the fact the island’s elderly midwife had attached herself to the clinic so readily. Boredom, perhaps? Wanting to make certain that the prior doctor’s spirit was not being trampled? If he didn’t know better, he would have guessed that there had been something between Svana and the old doctor, though that would have put such an age gap between them that he didn’t want to think of the logistics…

Just then, one of the small children who tended to run around nearby came barreling in through the front door, making Law jump in surprise; how in the hell were kids fucking with his Observational Haki? The child, however, looked out of breath, as though he had run the entire way from the school to there.

“Now what is this about?” Svana asked, barely even reacting to the boy’s sudden presence.

“There’s ships in the harbor!” the boy squeaked. “Traders!”

“Which ones?” she asked. The boy pondered for a moment as he took off his backpack.

“Books and stuff, but also house things!” He took a small box from his bag and shoved it in Law’s hands. “Miss Lanna at the shop told me to give this to you!”

“I never ordered anything… what is it…?”

“Mark-over,” the boy scoffed, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Some people use it when the traders are in town because of the sailors’ marks they got! She said you probably don’t have some for your hands. I guess it’s the stuff you have to mix…? But she said you could get some that matches your hands better if you talk to her.”

“Then I shall have to thank Miss Lanna next time I see her,” he nodded. The boy grinned, clearly proud of himself. “Now run along; I should put some of this on if I’m going to see what the traders brought.”

“Yes, sir!” The boy then zoomed out of the house as quickly as he entered it, leaving the two adults to exchange tired looks.

“Do you need me to show you?” Svana asked, gesturing to the makeup box.

“I’m a man of many talents,” he deadpanned. He stood and brought the box with him to the large infirmary, where he was able to mix the tint into the makeup with the help of the room’s strong lights until it was so close to his skin tone that he almost couldn’t tell the difference. Law thought of Cora-san as he began to brush the stuff over his hands and forearms, remembering the man’s routine that he had though of as silly at the time.

“Remember Law, you don’t need to pile it on too thick. Just enough to conceal will do.”

Fuck… it had seemed like so long ago… was it really that long? Cora-san had taught him a lot when they were running together, hadn’t he? Sometimes there was nothing to do but watch him. He would shave, put on makeup, fix his hair… usually right before they tried another hospital that he eventually would burn down. He didn’t think the medical networks they visited had fully recovered until just a year or so before he took the Polar Tang into the Grand Line…

A few spritzes of sealant and the job was complete. Law stared at his hands and arms, marveling at how different they looked without the ink being visible. He stared in the mirror as he fastened his shirt up to the second-to-topmost button, fingers trembling as he did so. Each done button made the man staring back at him more a ghost than anything, his father finally before him when he was done. Neither of his parents had tattoos that he had known of, and it reminded him partly of why he had gotten them to begin with—to stave off his brain going back to those days.

It was inevitable now; he planned on growing older than his father ever had the chance to be, and the man was certain to stare back at him from time to time for his troubles. How old would his parents be if they lived this long…? How much older than Cora-san had they been…? What would they think of him off in the middle of nowhere, playing pretend—

“Vaor! Vaor! Vaor!” His morbid thoughts took a back seat as he heard Nauja come looking for him, with her nearly throwing the door open with how excited she was. “Svana-ya said traders are here!” She stopped and stared at his hands and forearms, her head tilting to the side. “Where’d your tattoos go?”

“I covered them—can’t trust traders. Their reach is too long.”

“Since when do you know makeup?”

“You’ve seen photos of Cora-jiisan; the man made sure I can apply eyeliner in the dark.”

“Can you teach me how to do that?”

“Maybe when you’re a little older and we know your hand’s steady,” he offered. “Now come on; let’s go see what got brought into port.”

Nauja made her way to the front door while Law got his wallet from his office and left the clinic, Svana having already gone back to her own house. The pair went down to the docks and watched some of the merchants unload their ship with some of the other villagers. Law glanced over at one of the men standing there—a teacher from the school, if he recalled correctly, who looked to be about his age.

“How do we see what they got?” he asked.

“We have a couple empty spots where they set up shop—in the middle of summer, there’s often stalls,” the other man replied. He gestured down the main road, where someone was opening the shutters of what was likely a storefront. “You’re the new doctor, I take it?”

“Yeah. Tr—er…” He pretended to cough. “Sorry. Doctor Corasson Law. My daughter Nauja is the one that only shows up three times a week for morning sessions and twice for afternoons.”

“You’re good to make her go at all—her social skills have been improving the most from what I can tell. That you’d have to ask her main teacher; I just take her if there’s a coverage issue. I’m Seasbur Daisuke; Nauja’ll be in my class full-time in a couple years.”

“Thank you for looking after her.” He bowed his head slightly, Daisuke mirroring his movement. “She can be a little much.”

“Ah, she’s just a kid.”

“Yeah, but she’s my kid, so I know how much of a handful she can be.” He watched as the sailors continued to load boxes onto the cart. “What do they have, anyhow?”

“Stuff we can’t make here, mostly,” Daisuke explained. “Primarily manufactured goods, but there are some specialty imports and some different foods.” He paused for a moment, clearly mulling something over, before continuing. “Say, since I got you here and there’s still a while before they’re ready for business, my coworkers and I were wondering if we could talk to you about something.”

“Did Nauja—?”

“No, she’s fine. It has nothing to do with her, but figure might as well talk now while the kids are all distracted.” He motioned towards where the schoolhouse sat. Children were trickling out the front door, most of them bouncing and excited for what the traders possibly had for them as they headed towards the wharf.

Well, there was no time like the present, he guessed.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Law knuckled his left ear and stared at the small group in front of him. “You want me to teach what…?”

“Health class,” Jacks—the headmaster—repeated awkwardly. Both secretaries and all three teachers were there as well, each of them with a hopeful expression.

“You do realize that I don’t even know if the people on this island trust me yet to be their primary care physician, let alone teach their children anything related to the Human body.”

“Oh wait, that’s right, you also lived on the Grand Line—do you know anything about Fishfolk and Minks? To be thorough?”

Law pinched the bridge of his nose and pursed his lips for a moment, gathering himself. “I know my daughter just started and is on the young end, but what all do you teach here?”

“A bit of everything,” Rikki—one of the teachers—offered. “Reading, writing, math, geography, what we can of social studies, science, and history…”

“…and we add in things that would be useful for living on this island specifically,” another teacher—Dia—added. “This means often going outside the classroom for introductions to agriculture, animal husbandry, sailing, fishing, how to barter with merchants, placement with potential apprenticeships or further education off the island…”

“Wait: you can teach them about how sheep fuck but not about Humans?”

“It’d be nice if we didn’t have to teach them about Humans fucking,” Daisuke admitted. “I mean, you can also go over with them stuff about good hygiene and what to do when you’re sick and all that, but you’re an actual doctor… I think things might hit different coming from you.”

Whatever headache was going to result from this conversation was going to be troublesome.

“So… you want me to write a Health curriculum for ages six to sixteen purely because I am a doctor? Despite the fact I’m still a stranger? Don’t you ever have Svana-ya come in and talk to them or something…?”

“She does, but… my wife said that you trained for a while in Drum Kingdom before its downfall and then Water 7 after that—you’re much more qualified to talk about nitty-gritty medical matters.” Law stared at Jacks, unsure what in that to broach first. “My wife, Dervla, she’s the village leader. You know… the one that told you to set up shop in the old clinic.”

“Between talking to her and Svana, we’ve gotten an idea of the kind of person you are,” Daisuke added. Law exhaled heavily and was thankful that it was at least this and not, say, the entire village ganging up on him at once; he was right to suspect Svana as a possible font of information about him, though Dervla was a surprise. “We’re willing to give you a go, if you’re interested.”

“Might stave off some awkward conversations later,” Dia shrugged. “I’ve got the teenagers and the amount of things I’ve heard of getting stuck in places…”

“Alright, alright… fuck…” Law sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly; this was a rare sort of opportunity to get in the good graces of the island’s inhabitants, and the sooner he could win their trust, the sooner he could blend into the background. “This would solve more problems than you’re telling me, I take it?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Jacks admitted. “Sometimes we draw straws and it’s still not enough.”

Law regretted his words before he even said them. “Then I guess I can put together something…”

The collective sigh amongst the staff was telling.

“Seas, thank you,” Jacks breathed. He shook Law’s hand with an unexpected force that wriggled the younger man’s arm and through into his body. “How long do you need to prepare the course?”

“I… uh…”

“Does three weeks sound good?”

“It…”

“Excellent—we’ll set up something for you to show us what you’ve come up with in the meantime!” Jacks seemed to be absolutely set on not giving Law a choice in the matter. “Alright, then we’ll see you towards the end of the month.”

What the actual fuck had he just gotten himself into?

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Vaor, can I ask a question about before here?”

It was a few days later and Law glanced up from the coursework he was compiling to see Nauja was standing awkwardly in the doorway to his office in the clinic. He reached out with his Observation Haki—cutting down on his Devil Fruit was going to be a priority—and felt no one, prompting him to put the publication down. “What is it, famke? Is it about the crew?”

“Umm…” She looked down at her hands. “I just had a thought: why do you have things from Flevance? I thought they were dangerous.”

Oh.

“They were, but I was able to fix that,” he replied. Law beckoned his daughter over and she entered the office, climbing up into his lap. She was getting big for that, he realized, and wondered when it would need to stop entirely. “One of the first things we did when we got the Polar Tang was go to Flevance and look around at all the damage. We took some things I didn’t mind ruining and experimented to see if we could divorce the Amber Lead from things that had been treated with it. After that, I was able to take things from my home and made them safe for people to touch and carry so that I’d always have a bit of the good memories with me.”

“So… that’s why you have Oma and Opa’s rings?”

“Yeah.” He felt the weight of the twin loops sitting against his chest on their chain a little more prominently, glad for their presence. “It’s how I got a lot of things, actually.” Pausing, he wondered if he should continue, then thought he might as well. “Would you like to see?”

“Oooh! Yes please!” Nauja’s face brightened at the prospect, so Law opened a Room—damn it, he had to stop that—and replaced the medical journal with a boot-box he had brought with him from the Polar Tang, one with a cobbler’s stamp from a shop on the White City’s high street. It was one of the few things from the ship he’d taken that could not be shoved in a pack, along with a box of miscellaneous books and things, as well as the small chest from Nauja’s original home in Water 7. “Oh! This box!”

“Do you remember this?” She nodded as he lifted the lid and took out the envelopes of photographs, exposing the rest of the contents scattered across the bottom. “We couldn’t bring anything too hefty with us, being in a submarine and all, but we were able to reclaim some things like jewelry and other small items.”

“Oooh, like these!” Nauja marveled, taking a pair of wire-frame eyeglasses out. She held them up to her face and then wobbled—the lens’ strength was a surprise. “Opa had bad eyes.”

“Heh, yeah, and so far I’ve got Oma’s sight, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed,” Law explained. “This was the bell Tante Lami and I used when we were sick, and these are my parents’ name tags for their doctor’s coats at the hospital—it was easier some days to grab a spare from the hospital linen closet if theirs hadn’t made it through the wash—and this…”

“…what about this…?” She pulled a lumpy envelope out and frowned. “It’s heavier than the others.”

“That’s because it’s full of that jewelry I was talking about,” he said. He let her pour the contents out onto the desktop, only to see that it was a jumbled, tangled mess. “Maybe when you’re a bit older we can go through it. I don’t know what you’d like or not.”

“It’s a mess.”

“That’s what it does when someone doesn’t keep it all separated properly.” He then had an idea. “If you want, you can get them all apart, and then I can get you a box for it.”

“That’d be nice.” She poked at the lump, where a teardrop pendant sat shimmering in the light. “So you went with Penguin-ya and Shachi-ya and Bepo-ya to get these?”

“We left Bepo-ya on the ship as a control subject, but yeah, we did,” he confirmed. “The chemistry set we’d stolen before heading over came in handy.”

“I wish I could have seen Flevance in person,” Nauja said quietly, “you know, without the danger.”

“I know, my little seagull; I wish that too.” He pressed a kiss to her hair as he gave her a one-armed hug. “So much of it was white and pastels, even in nature, at such an amount that we should have seen Amber Lead coming earlier.” Letting his eyes go out of focus, Law’s memories slipped back nearly two decades and he swallowed hard. Had it really been that long…? Was his sister’s smile that old? His mother’s gentle voice? His father’s strong hands? The sisters’ guidance? Eventually, he felt Nauja’s hand wipe at his face—when did he start crying? “Thank you.”

“For what…?”

“Being here. Listening. Accepting. It means more than you realize.”

…and honestly? He knew it was more than he realized as well, but he wasn’t about to get into that. They instead began to untangle the knot in front of them, working right until the next patient came in through the front door.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The morning chill settled over Hinba in a low mist as Nauja grabbed her Sora backpack and ran out the kitchen door into the pre-dawn air. She couldn’t figure out why it was this cold and no one was acting like it was unusual, but was glad that it seemed like it was supposed to be normal. She watched the sun creep over the ridge as she made her way to school, where it was clear she was one of the first ones there.

“Good morning, Miss Rikki!” she grinned as she ran into her classroom. None of the other students in her grades cluster had arrived yet, which was honestly fine by her. The woman at the head desk glanced up and smiled.

“My… aren’t you here early?” Miss Rikki chuckled.

“I wanted to know if I could use the lightbox!” Nauja said. “Vaor’s still using ours and won’t give it up.”

“Is that so?” The teacher went over to where the lightbox desk was and switched it on. “What sort of things are you learning about now?”

“The digestive system,” Nauja replied happily. She dug into her backpack and pulled out a looseleaf snail photo of exposed bowels from an injured Marine and placed it on the lightbox surface along with a piece of tracing paper over it. “Isn’t it cool?! I’m not learning everything about it yet, but I am learning about when some things go wrong, and I’m gonna draw a bunch of pictures of it!”

“That’s… lovely…” Miss Rikki grimaced. She watched as Nauja began tracing; no wonder the lightbox was in use at the girl’s house. “…and you’re… allowed to do this…? Encouraged…?”

“Oh, yes! It’s the only way I’m gonna be good at drawing them for real one day! At least to start!”

“Who in the hell did Jacks and Dervla contract,” Miss Rikki muttered. He then coughed, pretending to clear her throat, before addressing Nauja again. “What else do you have to draw?”

“Different kinds of bodies and body parts, but also everything else,” Nauja explained, not looking up from her work. “I can’t bring the naked-parts pictures, because we don’t know how people are here about naked stuff even if we are doctors, and I really shouldn’t have this here, but it’s cool, isn’t it?”

“It’s… not my favorite, but it’s good to see you so excited about your work, Nauja,” Miss Rikki said, forcing a smile. She did not even notice that some of the other students had made their way into the classroom until it was too late, with some of them crowding around the lightbox.

“Whoa, that’s cool!” Nauja looked over her shoulder and saw that a small handful of her classmates were now staring at what she was tracing. “Where’d you get that?!”

“One of the books I have to read for doctor stuff!” Nauja beamed. “It’s someone’s bowels exposed from a severe lass-er-ae-shun!”

“…a what…?”

“Their guts spilled out of a sword wound!”

The small children all oohed and aahed at the gory photo and in-process drawing while their teacher tried to not cry—she really had her work cut out for her with this one.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was early in the morning as Law woke up to the feeling of something cold burrowing its way under his blankets. He groaned and rolled over, seeing that Nauja and Professor Nanuk had joined him in the bed, the girl attempting to cuddle in close as she could to stave off the chill.

“Could you have waited half an hour more?” he groaned.

“’S cold…” she whined.

“Seas help me if I ever try to bring you to my Home Blue.” He adjusted the blankets so she was nearly completely covered, and him only up to his neck as he held her close. “It’s cold there like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I thought southern places in the Blues were supposed to be warm!”

“Not this far south; here we’re about the same distance from the Equator as Flevance was in the North,” he murmured. It had admittedly been a while since he was this consistently cold thanks to the Grand Line’s… peculiar weather patterns, not to mention the heat involved in the Polar Tang’s mechanics that made it a hotbox on the best of days. “You’re used to living in a ship that gets really warm.”

“I miss the others,” she replied sleepily. “I miss the Tang.”

“I know you do, kiddo.” He stroked her hair as he lowly hummed a few bars of something he thought he remembered from childhood. “They’re all really proud of you.”

“Yeah…?”

“Yeah.”

Law laid like that for about forty-five minutes—he didn’t want to risk oversleeping though he sure as hell wasn’t getting up yet—before carefully removing himself from the bed and leaving Nauja nestled in the warm blankets. He glanced out the window and chuckled to himself before getting dressed—it was going to be an interesting day.

Sure enough, Nauja was shuffling into the kitchen by the time he was whisking some eggs, a blanket still pulled tightly around her. “My birthday’s next month—it should be hot outside.”

“Too bad,” her father replied. “Say… what’s the weather look like?” She sat down on her chair and groaned. “Nauja… what’s it look like outside?” He watched as she slid off the chair and went to the window, her forehead softly hitting the glass pane before she actually bothered to look outside… and gasped.

“Wait… it snows here?!” She spun around to look at him, eyes wide.

“Why wouldn’t it snow here; we’re closer to the South Pole than we are to the Equator,” he chuckled. He saw how Nauja was almost vibrating in excitement and remembered something. “You weren’t this excited when we visited winter islands in the Grand Line.”

“Yeah, well, those always have snow and this place doesn’t!” she reasoned. “Do you think it’ll snow on my birthday?!”

“It might,” he said. “If you grew up in my homeland, it would be around the warmest day of the year.”

“…because we’re on opposite ends of the Blues, right?!” Good; she was awake enough to begin thinking critically again.

“That’s right,” he replied. “Now grab what you want in your omelette out of the fridge before I pour the eggs.”

“Oh! Yes, Vaor!” Nauja happily went into the fridge and found some leftover bacon, a cheese block, and some leeks and mushrooms that looked like they were about to wilt. “These, please!”

“Good, now go get dressed properly and maybe you can play in the snow a bit before heading off to school,” he said. She then remembered she was still in her pajamas! Nauja ran back to her room, returning when she was warmly dressed and ready to play. She was almost out the door when Law pulled her back in and stuck her on the chair—breakfast first. The entire omelette was downed in almost record time before she ran out and jumped directly into a snowbank. By the time Law went outside to join her, she was already red-faced and soaked to her skin—smiling brightly in the brief morning twilight—and he knew he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Hey, do you want to come play with us?”

Nauja glanced up from the book she was just about to pack away, seeing two of her classmates, Carina and Magne, standing there hopefully. Miss Rikki looked like she was still handling other students as everyone packed up to go home.

“I can’t; I’ve got chores.”

“You can do them when you get back,” Carina said.

“Yeah, it’s nothing super-urgent, is it?” Magne asked.

“Well, no…” She slipped the book into her Sora backpack. “I have to sweep up the downstairs including the clinic, feed the Den-Den, and it’s my turn to change the linens in the infirmary and sanitize the medical instruments…”

“Wait, you have to do what?!” Magne marveled. Carina’s mouth dropped open in surprise as well.

“Sanitize medical instruments…? It involves boiling them and…”

“No, the Den-Den!” Carina interrupted. “I didn’t know you had a transponder snail!”

“We have it for emergencies,” Nauja replied. “Don’t people have them for emergencies…?”

“Miss Dervla, yeah, but not a lot of people have them,” Carina said. Mange nodded.

“I don’t think I’ve even seen one.”

“Then maybe if you come over, I can do my chores after we have some fun and you can see the Den-Den!”

“That sounds cool!” Mange grinned. The three children packed the rest of their things and ran out of the schoolhouse, heading down the street towards the clinic. They barreled into the kitchen, kicked off their shoes, and dropped their stuff on the floor, with Nauja poking her head into the corridor.

“Vaor! Back from school! I’ve got friends over!”

“As long as you get your work done,” Vaor replied unseen. It sounded like he was in the consultation room.

“Okay!”

Nauja then grabbed some lettuce from the fridge and led Carina and Magne up the back steps, to the smallest bedroom, which was kept as the private combination-office-and-library. Amongst the dozens of books and papers and the pair of desks, a terrarium sat on its own table with lush greenery and a low-powered heat lamp, a snail shell sitting on a rock.

“Whoa… so that’s a transponder snail…?” Carina marveled. “Why’s it hiding?”

“It does that when it’s sleeping because it’s not hooked up to anything right now,” Nauja explained. She broke the lettuce into tiny pieces and placed it in front of the snail. When it didn’t move, she lightly scratched the shell with her fingernail. “Hey, wake up. It’s food time.”

The snail didn’t move.

“Are you sure there’s one in there?” Magne asked.

“Yeah, I’ve fed it before. Sometimes you gotta…” She picked up the shell and shook it slightly…

Only to scream as the dead snail schlupped out of the shell and plopped onto the terrarium floor.

All three children screamed, in fact, as they ran out of the office and down the stairs. While Carina and Magne decided to grab their stuff and leave, Nauja went straight to the consultation room, where Vaor had one of the fishermen, Lars-ya, up on the examination bench as he looked in his ear.

“Do you have to keep barging in on appointments?” Vaor said through grit teeth. “This is unprofessional.”

“Vaor! Vaor! It’s a disaster! The Den-Den died!”

Vaor’s face scrunched in confusion. “What do you mean ‘the Den-Den died’? We’ve still got another ten years on that thing at the very least.”

“I picked it up and it just slid out of the shell and went plop on the rock!” she whimpered.

“Fuck,” Vaor cursed under his breath. He then looked at his patient with an expression that showed he wanted to scream. “Do you know if your wife can order transponder snails through her store?”

“Lanna can get her hands on a lot of things, but she can’t work miracles,” Lars-ya shrugged. “You can try to catch a snail, but even if you have the tech it doesn’t mean it’ll work.”

“Great,” Vaor sighed. “Just… don’t worry, famke. I’ll clean it up later.”

“…but I was supposed to feed it! I must not have in time…!”

“They just do that sometimes, like people; it’s nothing to worry about. Now let me finish here with Lars-ya, alright?”

“…but… but…!”

“Just go,” he insisted, trying to not sound cross. Nauja then ran up to her room and hid under her blankets, sobbing hysterically as she allowed the severity of the situation weigh on her. She had not seen more than five transponder snails since leaving the Polar Tang, which meant that they had needed to keep that one alive! What were they going to do?! She cried so much that she almost vomited, absolutely sick to her stomach as she curled around Professor Nanuk, trembling.

The little girl did not know how much time passed before she heard her door open and felt the mattress shift with new weight. She peeked out from her blankets to see Vaor sitting there with a mug of tea waiting for her, which she took and held under her face.

“It’s all gone now,” he said, scratching her scalp. “I already got rid of it.”

“Am…” she sniffled, “…am I in trouble…?”

“Not at all,” Vaor replied. “What I said in front of Lars-ya was the truth: these things happen. I’ll figure out how to replace it later, alright?”

She nodded.

“Alright. Now drink your tea and come downstairs for chores when you’re ready. How does fish and rice sound for dinner?”

A grunt.

“Bring your mug down when you’re done,” Vaor said. He then kissed her hair and left, allowing her time to calm down on her own. It took a while of her breathing in the hot steam from the mug before she was steady enough to drink—the thought of anyone from the Polar Tang trying to call them was sharp in her mind as she tried to tell herself that if Vaor said it was okay, then it was okay.

If Vaor said he was going to fix it, then he was going to fix it. Everything was fine. Nothing to worry about, right…? Right.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“What do you mean it can’t be done?!” Law gaped. He was standing in the general store the following day, the proprietor at least attempting to seem empathetic from behind the counter. “I need a snail to keep in contact with everyone from where we used to live! This is essential.”

“That’s all well and good, but properly-raised transponder snails are a rarity to come by in these waters,” Lanna replied calmly. “They’re often restricted to the super-wealthy and the emergency networks local leadership builds.”

“So what you’re saying is that the only person on the island who has a Den-Den Mushi is Dervla, and that’s only because she’s in charge?”

“Yeah. It’ll go to whomever succeeds her once she retires.”

“You barely get newspapers, it’s difficult to get books, and now you’re telling me that transponder snails are hard to come by?”

“You know how much of a hassle it is to get to this island,” she reminded him. “It impacts literally everything and everyone going in or out.” She watched as Law covered his face with his hands and took a deep breath—at least he was actively trying to not be a dick about it. “I know you’re probably used to more things being readily available from your time in Water 7, but this is the South Blue… not just that, but Diura… we used to sail three days to see a doctor between his yearly rounds before you showed up.”

“That’s inhumane.”

“That’s the trade-off we get for not being bothered,” Lanna shrugged. “Is there anything else you were looking for today? Maybe that’ll help.”

Law took a steadying breath—yeah, it was best to change subjects. “Do you know who is the best person to ask about woodcrafts?” She raised an eyebrow and he took a piece of paper from his pocket and showed it to her. “I want to know if anyone can copy this pattern.” The woman studied the paper curiously, taking in the intricate design of flowers, leaves, and grasses that had clearly been copied from a book.

“This Lvneelish?”

“No, but close enough,” Law replied. “It’s from a book on the North Blue that Dr. Ghar-Spartel had. My daughter mentioned she likes it, and I was wondering if I could get something like this on a jewelry box.”

“That is a good question; a lot of us are good with carving, but this is delicate work.” It was then that the chimes on the door rang and someone else walked in—a woman looking miserable in her last months of pregnancy. “Ah, Marla, just the woman I want to see.”

“Daisuke will not pass your daughter in geography if she keeps doodling in class and not turning in homework,” Marla groaned as though they’d had that precise conversation before. Lanna shook her head.

“It’s for the Doc.” She gestured towards Law with a jerk of her head. “Your dad still do woodcarving jobs on the side?”

“Last I checked.” Marla was passed the paper and she narrowed her eyes at it. “This is definitely a Northern design, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Law admitted, almost sheepish. “I haven’t properly met your father yet—do you think he can carve something like that on a small box?”

“We’re on break at the shipyard; let me get what I came here for and you can ask him yourself.”

“Her dad’s the best this side of the current,” Lanna smirked. “How about I just keep an eye out and an ear open for the other thing we talked about, hm?”

“Argued about what she can and can’t get, eh?” Marla wondered, a near-consoling tone to her voice. Law shrugged as she received a package and almost jumped out of his skin when she linked arms with him. “Come on—time’s wasting if you want this to be a secret. This is a secret for your daughter, right?”

“Uhh…”

The grin that crept across Marla’s face was nearly predatory, he decided, as he was forcefully dragged from the store. Hopefully it was going to be as pain-free as possible… though… his hopes were not exactly high.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was well after lunch when Law stepped into the schoolhouse, glad that the building was kept warmer than most. An entire week’s worth of new snow and it felt as though it was refusing to let up, which was great to only children and people who didn’t have to leave their own warm places. He left his hat on as he shed his bag and coat, putting them up on a visitors’ peg near the door as his thoughts were lost in the lessons he was going to teach that day. The oldest group had sexual consent, the little ones had hand-washing, and the middle group was—seas help him—getting into why bathing was important…

“So good to see you, Dr. Law,” purred a voice. He nearly jumped out of his skin, only to see that it was the younger of the secretaries, hidden by her desk’s position in regards to the door. Taking off his hat, he put his mittens in it before hanging it too on a peg.

“Same, Janka-ya,” he replied tersely. He honestly had few bits of leftover patience for niceties that particular day, but he was willing to perform if it kept him from being hounded with questions. Get in, teach the day’s lessons, then leave; that’s all he really wanted to do. “Are classes on time today?”

“They seem to be,” she replied. “I don’t think any are behind, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“A little,” he admitted. Law went over to the radiator and held his hands close to it, glad for the device’s intense warmth. “I want to get the oldest kids’ lesson done before they get sent off to their jobs.”

“Surely you don’t have to get to that immediately,” Janka frowned. Wait, no, that was more of a pout, wasn’t it? “You can wait here with me until Dia is ready with her group.”

“Don’t bother me, Janka-ya—I’ve got a lot I need to think about to keep the kids on their toes,” he replied. Which was true; he had only taught a handful of sessions thus far and the schoolchildren’s capacity for curiosity knew little bounds. His hands finally warmed up and he turned, only to see that Janka was now standing right next to him. How…? “What?”

“You cold?” she asked. What were her eyelashes doing? Was there something in her eyes…?

“If you haven’t noticed, it’s snowing outside,” he replied. “Usually that accompanies cold weather; I’m fine now.”

“Pity. I could help you warm up in the future. Maybe… if you come a little earlier…?”

“I have patients that need attending and a curriculum to keep on top of; I don’t have extra time.”

“You sure a curriculum is the only thing you need to keep on top of?” she asked. He tried to move and she blocked his way. “Maybe… you need something to be on top of you?”

Janka winked and suddenly everything clicked into place in Law’s brain—oh, fuck, she was flirting with him! He then noticed how he was essentially trapped between the wall, the heater, and the secretary who was sizing him up with very specific intent. Swallowing hard, he pressed himself against the wall, trying to stay as far from her as possible.

“That is very inappropriate, Janka-ya,” he replied shakily. “This is not the place for that.”

“Then maybe I can warm you up at my place…?” A grin crept across her face that made his chest feel tight and his stomach awful. “Your place…?”

Law’s brain felt as though it was shutting down. Seas, when was the last time someone propositioned him like this? Propositioned him at all?! It was before he had his homicidal aloof loner reputation as one of the most notorious Supernovas, that was for certain, and he absolutely hated how helpless he felt as he was cornered. Couldn’t use his Devil Fruit without questions, had no access to Conqueror’s Haki, he was afraid to even touch her…

“Dr. Law…? Are you, uh…?” Law looked towards an open door that had a small handful of teenagers gathered around it, staring at the scene as though they walked in on something private.

“Ah, class is in session! Excellent!” He slid along the wall until he was out of Janka’s grasp and grabbed his bag on the way in, not allowing himself a second to breathe until he was in the classroom with the door shut.

“You haven’t seen her with some of the traders, have you?” Dia, the teacher, groaned in exasperation. Law shook his head silently, the man still a bit in shock at the interaction. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Thanks,” Law squeaked. He then took a deep breath to calm himself and looked at the students. “Alright class, today we’re going to be talking about why what Miss Janka did was not okay. Everyone to your seats.”

At least he was able to do that.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Despite the nights beginning to grow longer, Law understood how fortunate he was that there had been extra rooms in the clinic’s living areas as soon as the air grew a chill. The clinic was likely built to accommodate two or three families so medical staff had no problem living on-site. What it meant for him, however, was that there was plenty of extra room to move about in the cold months, allowing for a room meant specifically for training.

“Right here, famke,” he said, bringing her through the motion of stabbing a practice dummy. Her knife was in one shaky hand, grip backward so the flat of the blade could rest along her forearm when not being embedded in someone’s torso. She frowned at it, not enjoying the movement.

“It’s hard to hold,” Nauja pouted. “Why can’t I hold it like normal?”

“You won’t always be able to grab it like normal,” he reasoned. “Sometimes you will have to grab it weird and not have time to adjust the grip.”

“Like when?”

“Like when you have to take the knife from someone’s sheath and bury it in their side.” Law then placed his hand over Nauja’s and pressed the tip of the knife against the dummy’s side. “Now, what will this hit?”

“The… ninth and tenth ribs,” she replied, brow furrowed as she thought. She then adjusted the knife. “This way will go between them and hit the left kidney and part of the stomach. The other side is the right kidney and the gall bladder.”

“Good, good.” He then let her adjust her grip and placed the knife tip back against the dummy’s side. “Thrusting up here hits what?”

“The spleen.”

“…and maybe…?”

“Maybe a… lung…?”

“Good.” Law then saw that Nauja was frowning as she stared at the knife in her hand. He could tell something was bothering her. “What is it?”

“I know this is in case someone tries to hurt me, but…” She crinkled her nose. “Aren’t we doctors? This feels a lot like how to kill.”

“Not at all,” he assured. “You need to know where things are in the body if you’re going to draw them, or treat them medically, or fight off someone without hitting a vital organ. That takes a lot of practice.”

“…but why would I need to know how to fight here?”

“You never can be too prepared.” Law pressed a kiss into her hair and let out a low chuckle. “Alright, now show me again where to stab to get under the sternum again.”

Nauja wrinkled her nose and placed the blade accordingly.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was finally Nauja’s birthday. Although it was still winter, the weather had warmed just enough to turn everything slightly slushier. Heavy, wet snow fell the entire day, encouraging Law to make the prudent decision to stay inside. At least Nauja herself didn’t mind, as she enjoyed days where she stayed in and was allowed to study alongside Law. He surprised her with umeboshi onigiri for lunch and Flevench-style pea soup for dinner, afterwards bringing the celebration into the front sitting room where a fire was already warming the hearth from “business hours”. Flexing his Devil Fruit for the first time that week, he shambled three wrapped packages onto the table next to the cake, which made his daughter gasp.

“Really?!” she marveled. He nodded silently, allowing her to pull the nearest package towards her and open it up: an art and drafting set filled with pens and pencils—regular and in colors—as well as a couple sketchbooks and some varied straight-edges, measuring utensils, and other miscellanea. “Wow! That’s so cool! Thanks!”

“Don’t thank me just yet; open the rest of them,” he chuckled. She pulled another package towards her and tore the paper off—a wooden box, decorated with an elaborate pattern that had been carved into the lid and sides.

“What is it?” she asked, tilting her head. She opened it carefully to find that it was lined with a blue velvet and had many different internal sections.

“It’s a jewelry box,” he explained. “Macksson Jan made it. We can put the things from the envelope in there to keep it nice.”

“…oh. Okay.”

Law watched as Nauja stared at the intricately-carved box, running her fingers lightly over the design. She sucked in a sniffle as tears began to well in her eyes. “Famke…?”

“Law-san… I don’t know what I did to deserve this,” she said quietly. She sniffled again and hiccuped before wiping tears away with the heel of her palm. “I’m just some kid Bepo-ya found…”

“Where did this come from?” he wondered aloud. His hand found the top of her head, where he began to scratch lightly at her scalp. She struggled to not cry and it made his heart feel both heavy and dangerously fragile. “I thought we’ve been through this.”

“I know… but…” She sniffled loudly, trying to suck up some snot back into her nose. “It’s hard…”

Ah. Something was making her rethink things, whether it was a difficult time adjusting, or maybe something someone said, or possibly even her own mind beginning to play tricks on her. She was a bit young for it, but then again… he had been when that first started himself. Children generally suffered from moods as they grew emotionally and she was being subject to one. The only thing now was how to get her out of it…

…and maybe… maybe it was good to have all the cards on the table. His daughter deserved that much, after all.

“Nauja?” He gently turned her face towards him and brushed away more tears. “Can I tell you something? Something I don’t know if I ever said out loud in words before?”

“Not… not even to my uncles?”

“No one on the Polar Tang knows this.”

The girl sat there and digested those words. Something no one else knew? No one at all? She placed the jewelry box down on the cushion next to Professor Nanuk and adjusted so that she was sitting cross-legged on the couch.

Please.

“When I was your age,” he began, each word measured and deliberate, “before I met Cora-san, before we knew Amber Lead was killing us, I went to church. My parents took your Tante Lami and I there once a week, most weeks, the last time being about a month before… before I lost them.”

“Church…?” She tilted her head curiously. “What’s that?”

“It’s a place for religion… for faith… for spirituality… for the part of us that can’t be mended with bandages and stitches and medicine… when done right, a church is a place where people can find peace, understand things in different ways, be a loving community, and be inspired to do good, if not there then elsewhere in their lives. It can augment mental and emotional therapy for some people and help keep them even-keeled between sessions. Again, when done right, it has the ability to be highly valuable.”

“Was it… not done right…?”

“I think it tried, which is the best most churches can do.” Law took a deep breath as he thought back to hardwood pews and soft candlelight; he could almost smell the sweet and heady mulberry incense and hear the bells and organ pipes in the rafters. “The church in Flevance would do things like talk about salvation—unconditional freedom and forgiveness in this life and the next—which wasn’t something I really understood. When you grow up privileged in a place where even the poor are wealthy by other countries’ standards, such a thing is a difficult concept to grasp, especially as a child. I was more concerned with other stuff… more irritated with other stuff…”

“Like what…?”

“‘Everything happens for a reason’,” he said, the words flowing over his tongue for the first time in so, so long. “The church ran the schools for younger students in Flevance and it was something the religious sisters and brothers we had as teachers said. Often. I didn’t believe it then and not for a long, long time after.”

“Why…? Were they mean?”

“They could have been, in another time or place, but no they were very nice. They loved all of us children the same whether we went to church or not, whether we believed what they said or not, and said that if we were to ever think of anything preached to us as true, it was that. We had to find our own way to make sense of it, but they encouraged us to take that phrase to heart.”

“So… everything…?” Nauja puzzled over that for a moment. “I thought things happen because people do or don’t do things.”

“You are correct, but it’s something they said to make us feel better here, to help make sense of things in here.” He tapped the middle of her chest with two fingers, then her forehead. “I thought they meant stuff like when Tante Lami got into my room and tore it apart in play, or when my parents had a patient who passed away unexpectedly, or when a classmate would break a bone after slipping on ice. That wasn’t it at all.”

“What was it?”

“It was preparing us, in case one of us would not find salvation with the others,” Law admitted quietly, his voice cracking slightly. “It doesn’t mean what happens is always right, or good, or that you will ever understand why; it’s hopefully something that clicks into place later on so that the past doesn’t weigh the better parts of you down. By thinking about it, you can move forward and not let ghosts haunt you.”

Nauja looked away, her gaze towards the art set on the table yet far-off and distant. Her father waited for her to say something, yet she did not.

“If I had not been the only one to live,” he continued, “then I would have never lost my faith in the good in the world. My rage would have never led me to Doflamingo or to my Devil Fruit. Amber Lead would have killed me if bullets and fire didn’t. I would have never had to relearn what was good with Cora-jiisan or the crew, I would have never gone on the journey I did, and I certainly would have never agreed to stop at the island we met on.” He watched as she drew up her legs and hugged her knees in an effort to become smaller. “I would have never known that you needed me like I needed Cora-jiisan, and I would have never realized that what he wanted was not for me to go headlong into a suicidal revenge mission, but to pass on the love he gave me.” Holding her gently by the shoulders, he waited until she looked back at him to continue. “I don’t know what forces brought us together if any did at all, but what I do know is that you are my reason, Trafalgar D. Water Lawsdottir Nauja. It doesn’t have to make sense to you just as much as it needs to make sense to me.”

Errant tears were now streaming down both their faces—too much more and things would become ugly.

“You lived,” he stated. “That’s what you did to deserve to inherit love. I lived, and that’s all I needed as well. If more people knew that, then maybe I could take you home to my family, or you might know first-hand how much of a klutz Cora-jiisan was. If more people understood… then the world might be different.”

“If there was a church here, would you take me?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“I…” he swallowed hard, “I don’t know.”

“Would you… go by yourself…?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did Oma and Opa and Tante Lami and Cora-jiisan find it? Salvation?”

“I like to think they did.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, where he lingered for a moment as he drew strength from her presence. “We’re here for a reason, famke, and so far, being your father and seeing you celebrate birthdays is enough for me. Now come on; open your last present.”

Nodding quietly, Nauja took the third parcel from the table and dragged it into her lap. She slid her fingers under an opening in the paper and stopped.

“I’m the only one in school who was adopted outside their blood-family,” she admitted. “A couple kids live with grandparents, and one girl lives with her aunt and uncle, but there’s no one else like us.”

“…and that too is for a reason.” He gently rubbed her back. “Come on. Open it.”

Nauja carefully tore at the paper and revealed a small stack of books that she quickly looked through: the newest Sora volume, a volume of reference poses, a collection of Northern folktales, and a book on unique localized architecture. She opened the last book and saw in the index not only a section on her father’s hometown, but hers as well. She stared at a photo of a canal full of gondolas and yagara bulls and sniffled.

“…as long as you need me, and longer still,” he murmured. She looked at him with watery eyes and he ruffled her hair. “So, what do you think?”

“Thank you, Vaor. I love them.” She then glanced over at the cake that was still sitting on the table and began to fidget. “Can we…?”

“We can,” he replied. Nauja breathed a sigh of relied—something to solidly change the subject, and not only that, it was whole cake all to the two of them! It was perfect.

As they ate their cake, Law sat on the couch with a book of his own, while Nauja knelt in front of the table as she began to test her new drafting supplies and reference materials. He glanced over once in a while to see that she was paying close attention to the particular way that elevated canals worked. Had she lived next to one? He couldn’t remember…

Eventually, Law left Nauja in the sitting room as he went to put together some tea for her and pour a couple fingers of a gifted whisky for himself. Was he technically on-call? Yes, but if he couldn’t drink the stuff during a special occasion on a full stomach, when could he? He brought the teapot, their Sora mugs, and the whisky back on a tray, watching her nose wrinkle at the sight of his drink.

“That’s stinky,” she scowled.

“Your opa drank it, as did both of my opas,” he shrugged, sitting down to lean back into the couch. “I don’t expect you to like it—you didn’t even like that sip of beer Ikkaku-ya gave you.”

“Don’t remind me,” she cringed, pouring herself some tea. They took more cake to have with their drinks, both quiet as they continued their dessert in peace.

When he was nearly done with both cake and whisky, an odd feeling settled over Law. It was as though a weight shifted on his shoulders—not quite lifted and yet eased in a way. Two years prior, he would have not been able to predict that this was ever in his future. Seas, he wouldn’t’ve been able to predict it when he first saw Nauja, the girl nearly half-feral and malnourished from neglect, that she would be the entire reason behind his retirement. Now, after everything, she knew more about him than even Bepo. She understood him and his motivations in a way no one else did, even if it hadn’t all set in yet, and there was something… oddly reassuring about it.

Eventually, all children were likely to hit their limits and Nauja was no exception. He chuckled inwardly as her head bobbed in exhaustion, her fight to stay awake nearly valiant in a way.

“You can go to bed if you want,” he said. She shook her head.

“I wanna stay up,” she whined. Nauja abandoned her books and crawled up onto the sofa and cuddled into Law’s side. He let his arm drape around her and she hummed in happiness—the sharpness of the whisky, the smokiness of the fire, the fragrance of the tea, the sweetness of the leftover cake, the electricity and rumbles of the oncoming change in the storm, the warmth of each other and the flames… it was going to be a birthday she would never forget, and neither would he.

Eventually, the storm began to roll in and Law began to drift off himself. He imagined the smell of the fire as Cora-san’s cigarettes, as the fireplace in his parents’ house, as something warm and comforting beyond his daughter… a reality where some things went a little more his way…

Just before he was nearly asleep, a thudding pounding rocked the door, jolting both father and daughter awake. Law went to the door to open it, only for Daisuke to come in, supporting his wife Marla with one arm draped across his shoulders. While both were windwhipped and drenched from the heavy snowfall, she was clearly in pain, which set off alarm bells in Law’s mind.

“You have to help,” Daisuke said between heavy breaths. “She’s gone into labor.”

“Wait… where’s Svana-ya?”

“She’s seeing to her brother’s younger granddaughter,” Marla said. She took a deep breath as her hand went to her stomach. “This one wasn’t supposed to come until next month.”

“…but obstetrics isn’t exactly my field of expertise…”

“I don’t think this baby cares,” Daisuke replied as Law began to support Marla from her other side. He caught sight of Nauja peering at them from the couch and he blanched. “What about…?”

“Hey, famke, remember the illustrations about childbirth in our textbooks?”

“Yeah…?”

“Well get ready, because you’re going to help in-person.” Law led Marla and Daisuke back to the operating theater and helped sit the woman down before beginning to grab things off of shelves and out of cupboards. “Get Marla-ya one of the spare gowns; I don’t want her in those soaked clothes.”

“Yes, Vaor!” Nauja chirped. She scurried back out of the theater and down towards the linen cupboard, giving the adults precious seconds to themselves.

“When was the last time you helped deliver a kid?” Daisuke asked. Law shook his head.

“I can in theory, but it wasn’t part of my clinicals.” Which was the truth, but the ins and outs of his unorthodox medical training wasn’t something that really mattered at that moment.

“Not even for your own daughter’s birth?” Marla wondered as she peeled off her soaked jumper.

“Lot of reasons, long story, but we’re not going to talk about that now.” Nauja then returned with a fresh patient gown, which she shoved in Marla’s hands. “Alright, now get the lights and wash your hands really good.”

“Yes, sir!”

Daisuke shot Law one final incredulous look before Marla caught their attention again as a contraction caused her to hiss in pain. They left her side only to scrub in best they could, because there wasn’t long before the woman began full-on cussing.

What followed next was one of the most stressful hours of Law’s life. He was never going to admit that he’d only ever glanced at obstetrics in passing, with Penguin and Shachi’s giggling immaturity having been the most those texts had gotten use until he went over the topic with Nauja all those months ago. It made him glad he had, as both of them were thrown into the terrifying and messy situation headlong, for at least they were both somewhat (if poorly) prepared. Eventually, a baby cried its first cry and was nestled in his mother’s arms, Marla so relieved and exhausted she could barely speak.

“Storm,” she breathed. “I think that’s his name.”

“Not after your dad?” Daisuke smirked.

“No—his arrival was something to weather, like what’s going on outside.” She raised her eyes towards Law and Nauja, who were both beginning to crash as they cleaned up on waning adrenaline. “We’re doing fine; you two should go rest.”

“Marla-ya, I…”

“I’m a mom now and that means I can boss people around,” she joked. “In all seriousness, you look like you’re going to fall over.”

“We’re okay,” Nauja insisted. She rubbed at her eyes, the late hour getting to her. “We can stay up…”

“I’ll get you if we need anything, how about that?” Daisuke offered. Nauja nodded at that with a tiny squeak, while Law exhaled heavily. Fine—he had them there.

“We’ll be in the waiting room if you need us,” he said. Law then ushered Nauja out so that the new family could have some privacy, the pair finding their way back to the front sitting room. The fire in the hearth was nearly out, so he put a couple more logs on and made sure the flames caught before sitting down a bit too hard on the couch.

“Vaor…?” Nauja whispered as she joined him, cuddling in close.

“Hmm…?”

“We’re here because someone needed to help Storm be born, right? Is that the reason?”

“Maybe.” He smiled hazily at her and let out a chuckle low in his throat. “Slaap goed.”

“Sleep well,” she echoed, curling back up into his side. He wrapped his arm around her and they stayed like that until Daisuke woke them five hours later with food ready in the kitchen.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

A/N: I don’t know how many of you all realize how Catholic-coded Law is and when I say Catholic-coded I mean after a happy upbringing there was an awful event that made him lose his faith and question everything he’d known, only to slowly get back to accepting what he was brought up in and where he is currently, even if a lot of what he sees at-large makes him uncomfortable and by no means has erased the fury he once felt. My circumstances were (obviously) not the same, but a lot of the emotional journey that Law goes through via Flevance and Amber Lead really strikes a chord with me due to applicability with my own faith journey and that’s part of why I adore his character so much.

Also, just as a disclaimer, once I wrote Visiting Home [FFN/AO3], my brain went and decided that something similar probably happened in canon, so to me it’s my emotional support fanon, and by emotional support I mean crying happens a lot.

#Trafalgar Law #Trafalgar Nauja #One Piece #fan fiction #give. that. boy. some. catholic. guilt. GIVE. THAT. BOY. SOME. CATHOLIC. GUILT #this is so very domestic and I love it #I live for this kind of nonsense lol #Trafalgar D. Water Law

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edupunkn00b · 10 months

Text

The Uses of Adversity, Ch. 20: Thinking Out Loud

Prev - Thinking Out Loud - Last - Masterpost - [ AO3 ]

People fall in love in mysterious ways Maybe just the touch of a hand Well, me, I fall in love with you every single day And I just wanna tell you I am - Thinking Out Loud, Ed Sheeran

WC: 4243 - Rated: G - CW: none? Gotta be honest, this is pretty fluffy -

“Hey, Dad, can I get in that cabinet?”

Virgil stood inches from Logan as he slouched over the kitchen counter, checking his phone for messages from Janus. After four and a half months of motions, counter-motions, delays, and continuances, the judge had called a special session in her chambers with only attorneys present. They were both hopeful she planned to dismiss the case, but Logan was afraid to bank too much on hope.

He walked a line between putting his faith in Janus’ willingness and ability to fight on his behalf, forcing the case from his mind. And obsessively checking his phone for any updates, texted questions, or taunting messages of victory from Kelly.

Virgil chuckled, smirking lightly at his father. “You didn’t fall asleep did you?”

“No. No, of course not.” He adjusted his glasses and smoothed down his tie, quickly turning his wrist to check when his watch buzzed. Nothing important. He drank a bit more of his coffee and cleared his throat. “Simply checking my email.”

“Okay…” Virgil drawled. Logan couldn’t tell if he believed him or not. Virgil pulled out a bowl and took down a box of popcorn. Bopping his head to the music playing out of one earbud, he shed its wrapper and set it in the microwave. While it popped, he rooted through the cabinets and found a box of Cheez-its and filled another bowl with them. “Hey, do we have any more of that trail mix?”

“No, I’m sorry, Virge, we’re out,” he rubbed Virgil’s shoulder then updated the shopping list on the refrigerator. “I can hit Costco tomorrow.”

“Thanks.” The microwave beeped and Virgil shook the bag before dumping it all into another bowl. “Say, Dad, are you gonna have any time off next month other than Christmas Day?”

Logan grinned, looking up at Virgil and pointing toward the calendar. “I’ve got the entire week after Christmas off, starting on the 25th. Was there something you’d like to do?”

“Do you think you’ll have time to go through the cabinets? I mean, we have a lot of stuff here that I don’t think we need….”

“Oh.” Logan kept his mask on and nodded, throat tightening beyond words. He swallowed hard and smiled. “Sure, Virge, of course,” he finally managed. His eyes darted around the kitchen and he wondered which cabinet he should start on tonight after the boys went to sleep.

“Virge?” Roman asked from the hallway. He huffed out a little laugh, leaning against the banister. “That’s a funny way to say, ‘Dad, I’m glad you’re getting some vacation time.’”

“Oh,” Virgil blinked, looking at Logan. “Oh, yeah, that… “ He stepped a little closer and smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, that didn’t come out right. Sorry, Dad.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot and looked again at the calendar. “I am really glad you’re getting some time off.”

“Thank you,” Logan nodded, not entirely certain what to do with the sincerity in his son’s eyes.

Virgil gave a little shrug, “Was there… was there something you were hoping we could do while you’re off and… and Remy and I are home?”

“Something I want to do?” he repeated. He hadn’t really thought about it beyond getting his request in and arranging his cases to have the time free.

“That’s a good question,” Roman’s voice rumbled from the stairwell.

Logan looked between them and smiled. “How would you feel about the light show at the Botanical Garden? It gets dark so early in December and… It’s really lovely at night.”

Nodding, Virgil grinned. “That sounds like fun. And we could see if that hot chocolate cart is there again… Oh! Remember when Pat was finally old enough to hold his own cup?”

“Oh and he…” Logan covered his mouth, laughing, and Virgil turned to Roman.

“Pat asked to wear Dad’s tie,” he mimicked Logan’s habitual straightening of the knot at his neck. “He said he was drinking coffee but you needed to wear a tie to be old enough for coffee.”

“That’s adorable!” Roman chuckled.

“Made us call him ‘Little Daddy.’” Virgil picked up his snacks and shook his head. “And then he dribbled hot chocolate all over the thing.”

“Oh no!”

“I still have the tie, stains and all,” Logan smiled, a little wistful. He’d kept hidden it away in a little box of treasures at work. It was one of the first things he’d brought to new house.

Virgil bumped his father’s shoulder as he passed. “I’ll come down when Jax gets here if you want to call it an early night, Dad. You’ve been burning the candle at both ends with all your cases.” He grinned. “Remy and I can manage two ninth graders.”

Logan nodded, eyes flicking over to meet Roman’s. None of the boys knew about Kelly’s petition, though he’d planned to talk with the older two when they visited for Thanksgiving, to share a bit about what had been keeping him so occupied. But now that they were home, he didn’t know how he’d ever explain.

“Thank you, Virge. I might take you up on that for an hour or two,” he nodded and smiled as Virgil made his way up the stairs. Roman ruffled his hair as he passed then joined Logan in the kitchen.

“Any word from Janus?” he asked quietly, gently bumping his shoulder and staying there. He smiled when Logan bumped back, leaning into him.

“Nothing,” Logan shook his head. Roman was warm against his arm, his eyes bright. “Janus is confident he can get it dismissed.” He’d shared part of the proceedings back in June with Roman, but Logan had left out everything that had involved him. If he wasn’t actually named, he didn’t need to find out… not that way, at least.

Roman leaned back against his shoulder and Logan smiled up at him. The shorter days and the sudden sunset had left the house darker than usual, but even in the dim light, he was beautiful.

Even if Logan knew he couldn’t be completely open about his feelings with Roman, that he couldn’t simply lay all that at his feet and magically expect it not to damage their friendship, at least he’d finally stopped lying to himself.

His feelings for Roman were far more than friendly.

Since the first hearing, since his final admission to Janus, really, his dreams had only intensified. And over the past few months, Roman had woven himself into Logan’s days, first with the family’s twice-a-week visits to his summer Shakespeare festival and then nightly dinners at least a couple times a week, with or without Janus and Remus. Increasingly, there were weeks when Roman spent more evenings at his house than at his own brother’s.

It left Logan with a plethora of memories for his sleeping mind to warp into a very different kind of life together.

“How was your interview, Mr. Prince?” he asked, grinning when Roman stole a sip of his coffee and warmed his hands on the cup.

Roman chuckled. “A cross between TMZ and The Actor’s Studio.” He took another sip and tilted his head until it rested gently against Logan’s. Roman’s head was warm in the slightly chilly kitchen, heat radiating through his hair and against Logan’s. “Pat’s got a talent.”

“He’s petitioning the school for a ‘radio’ show during homeroom,” he nodded. “He’ll start with interviewing popular students and teachers. Then sneak in current events and if a little advocacy naturally follows…”

“Very nice,” Roman laughed again, gently bumping his head. Apparently not gently enough because he grunted quietly at the impact. “Pat certainly takes after his dad.”

Logan smiled proudly, nodding. “He’s better. He—” His watch buzzed repeatedly and he scrambled to check it. “It’s Janus,” he muttered, eyes wide.

“Go ahead,” Roman nodded. “Do you need privacy?” he asked, starting to pull away.

Without needing to think about it, Logan shook his head and threaded his arm through Roman’s, keeping him close. He tapped to answer the call and pressed the phone to the side of his face. “Hello?”

“Dismissed with prejudice!” Janus cheered over the phone and Logan squeezed Roman’s arm. Something between a laugh and a sob slipped past his lips and he nodded, smiling up at Roman.

“With prejudice? You’re sure?” Throat tight, Logan could barely whisper.

“What does that mean?” Roman asked, eyes wide.

Tears welling, he smiled and explained in a low voice. “The judge dismissed her case. It means she can’t ever pull this again.”

“Lo, that’s amazing!” Roman’s mouth fell open in a wide smile. Drawing closer, he looped his other arm around his middle and squeezed. Logan leaned into him, the tension of the past few weeks, months, dissolving.

“And I quote,” Janus laughed. “‘Due to the preponderance of evidence provided by the defense, this case is dismissed in its entirety with prejudice. Identifying information for all named parties beyond the plaintiff and defendant’”—Janus dropped to a sotto voice—“That includes Roman and all three of your boys—’are to be stricken from the record and sealed. The court’s record will be expunged on August 15, 2026.’”

“When Patton’s eighteen,” he said, voice cracking. “Janus, this is…” His voice fell away and Janus continued.

“There’s more. ‘Given additional facts in evidence, the parenting agreement is heretofore modified to place all control over the plaintiff’s visitation schedule with her minor child’—name redacted—’at the sole discretion of said minor child and the child’s father, Logan Sanders.’”

Logan went quiet, processing the legalese, a tendril of hope choking out his pessimism. “Does…” How had Janus gotten that in? “Does that really mean….”

“It means Patton can see as little or as much of her as he wants.” Janus’ voice was gentle. “It’s completely up to him and to you, explicitly named as his father. There is zero wiggle room for her. No games, no loopholes.”

“I don’t know what to say,” he whispered and stroked Roman’s arm.

“I haven’t even gotten to the part where the judge ripped her lawyer a new one for even taking this to court in the first place.” He laughed, and Logan couldn’t help a sweet brush of his own schadenfreude. “She issued a court order stating if he or anyone in his firm wasted the Court’s time with this sort of bigoted bullshit—her words—again, she’ll fine them for contempt of court.”

“Janus, this is incredible,” he murmured, hugging Roman’s arm with his head tucked under Roman’s chin. Some distant part of his mind was aware he was at risk of crossing a line, but when he loosened his grip, Roman simply patted his side and moved closer. And the rest of his mind only urged him nearer. “Thank you,” he said. “I couldn’t’ve done this without you.”

“I couldn’t’ve done it without you,” Janus said, his laughter falling away. “We were a team on this. I’m looking forward to our next case together. And now,” he said, cheerful again. “As my final official duty as your representation on this case, Mr. Sanders, I am advising you to go celebrate with your family and then come to my house next weekend so we can all celebrate together.”

“You’re on,” Logan chuckled. “Thank you.”

“I meant what I said before,” he laughed. “You make sure I get those ferrets and we’ll call it even. Byee!”

“Bye, Jan,” he got in just before Janus ended the call. Logan stared down at his phone, shock melting away to relief and he smiled up at Roman. “It’s really over.”

Roman smiled back at him, those luminous green eyes sparkling. He brushed away a lock of hair that had fallen over his glasses and whispered, “I’m so proud of you, Lo. I know how hard this has been for you.” Roman’s hand lingered near his cheek and he turned his face, leaning into the gentle touch just slightly. “You’ve been a warrior.”

He didn’t feel like a warrior. He’d been terrified and hurt and, some days, near-panicked that with one wrong move, his world would crumble underfoot. But then Roman would send a silly text or come by with flowers and a board game and…

“It’s easy to be strong with you by my side,” spilled out. Logan looked up, eyes wide and searching Roman’s to see if he’d assumed too much, said too much, and crossed a boundary. But Roman just smiled, warm fingers brushing his cheek.

In the low light, he positively glowed. His cheeks were flushed, but Logan noticed Roman’s lips were much paler than their usual pink hue. “Are… are you feeling alright?” Brow furrowed, Logan reached for his cheek. “Ro,” he pressed the back of his hand to Roman’s forehead. “You’re burning up!”

“I’m fine,” he shook his head, but blinked lazily. “A little achy, maybe.” He grinned. “Yesterday was arm day.”

“Father of three, remember?” Logan chuckled and ushered him into a seat out in the living room. “I know a fever when I see one. I’ll get the thermometer.”

Roman laughed, but sank into the armchair and let his head fall against the plush backrest. “If you insist, Doctor.”

“That’s better,” he said with a worried smile.

Logan returned a moment later with both an oral and a forehead thermometer and crouched next to the chair, bringing himself to Roman’s eye level. Roman had sunk into the soft chair, listless, the last of whatever inner stubbornness that had kept him on his feet fading fast. “Calibrating?” he asked weakly, eyeing the devices.

Shaking his head with a weak chuckle, Logan drew one device across Roman’s forehead to his temple. He frowned at the dial, a red glow spilling out over the back of his hand. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you felt more than a little achy.” He touched Roman’s forehead again, pushing back his curls and peering closely into his eyes.

“Hmm,” Roman hummed. “Your hands are nice and cool.” His lips curled in a slow smile even as he fought weighted eyelids.

“That’s what the two thermometers are for,” he nodded. “I can get you a cloth for your head. It will work best if you lie down, though.”

Roman nodded, eyes finally closed. “Good idea. Now that you mention it, I… I am… a little tired, actually.”

“We’ll do that, though perhaps not here,” he said. “Jax is coming by soon. It will be chaotic downstairs. I…” Logan looked at the stairs, remembering the night Roman had so easily carried Patton up. He knew he was not capable of that. “Can you walk, if I help you?”

“Mm-hm,” he nodded, wincing. Logan draped one of Roman’s arms over his shoulders and helped him stand. Moving upright seemed to clear his head, at least a bit, and he kept his eyes open as they walked, even as he leaned heavily against Logan’s side. They stopped twice on the stairs when Roman got dizzy, but eventually made their way to Logan’s room.

“You can rest here,” he murmured, peeling back the corner of the covers before helping Roman sit on the edge of the bed.

A soft smile spread across Roman’s face and he sighed, eyes half-open. “Quiet in here,” he murmured. “Hmm, and smells like you.”

Blushing, Logan looked around the room. “If it’s stuffy, I can—I can open a window—”

“No… it’s nice,” he said. “I like it… You smell good.” Frowning, Roman started to lay back, then pushed himself up. “Help?” he asked, holding out his hands.

“Of course,” Logan rushed forward and took his hands to help him to his feet. Once upright, he fumbled with his belt buckle.

“Jeans are too…”

“Oh.” Keeping his eye trained up, Logan helped him pull off his heavy denim jeans before quickly moving him back to the bed and covering him with the blanket. “Is… is that better?”

“Much more comfortable,” he mumbled.

“I’ll hang these and get a cloth for your forehead.” Logan tucked the blankets high over his chest. “We should get your temperature down a bit. It will help your headache.”

Roman smiled weakly, watching him through half-lidded eyes. “Okay.”

He lingered for several seconds, waiting to see if Roman really would be alright for a moment alone, then hurried off to the closet, then the ensuite to wet a cloth with cool water. He filled a Dixie cup, as well. The small sips of coffee Roman had had were not what he needed and if he could drink just a bit, he’d feel better for it. Logan’s reading chair was nearby and he nudged it closer until it was flush against the side of the bed.

“I’m going to put a cloth on your forehead now,” he murmured, fearful of shocking him with the sudden cold. Roman didn’t open his eyes, but smiled at the touch as he slowly set the folded cloth against his skin.

“Mm… ‘ank you…” he mumbled.

Logan brushed his hair from his face, then pulled away. Before he got far, though, Roman reached for him, one warm—Logan now realized, feverishly warm—hand wrapping around his. Roman brought it up to his lips and kissed it. “Lo…” he breathed, then grew quiet.

Certain he’d fallen asleep, Logan tugged gently, but Roman tightened his grasp. “Stay,” he whispered and pressed Logan’s hand to his cheek. “Please?”

“I’m right here, Ro,” he murmured, and dragged the chair closer with his other hand. “I’ll stay right here with you.”

“Here, Ro… Drink just a little more before you fall asleep again…”

“Mm-hm,” Roman nodded, humming again when the cool, sweet liquid hit his tongue. “‘S good,” he mumbled and curled back into the soft warmth around him.

He was lying with Lo outside, bright sunshine on his face, head pillowed on Lo’s chest. Lo was warm and soft and his touch so gentle, so… so loving. Roman thought his heart would burst.

With Lo’s arms wrapped around him, the delicious scent of vanilla and cinnamon and musk in every breath, Roman was ensconced in him. It was peaceful and calm, singing birds and the boys’ happy voices in the distance.

It was perfect.

“One more sip, Ro, okay?” Lo urged.

“Anything for you…” With Logan in his arms, Roman didn’t need to say it, didn’t need to find his own words or borrow them from Shakespeare. He held Logan close and let the embrace speak for him.

I love you, Lo….

When Roman next opened his eyes, the room was dark and fuzzy. Something beeped and quickly faded, followed by a green glow and a little relieved sigh. “Re?” His throat was dry, his voice cracked and barely above a whisper.

“No, Ro, I’m sorry…” The gentle voice from his dream, firm hand at the back of his neck, cool liquid on his lips. He swallowed and leaned forward for more. Worried blue eyes swam into his vision. “It’s me, Logan.”

“Lo,” he smiled and let his eyes close again. “Hmm… I dreamt of you…”

“Really?”

The surprise in his voice was sweet and he held him tighter. “All th’ time, Lo.”

Roman blinked, eyes slowly focusing on the dark blue cotton pressed against his cheek. Oh. He wasn’t holding Logan. He was holding a pillow.

“Hmm… Where…” He pushed up and looked around. He was in bed, well, a bed. A small bowl, a mug, and a bottle of Gatorade sat on the nightstand near his head. The walls were a soft matte blue, and, with the exception of his jeans hanging from a hook on the back of the door and the small collection of dishes and thermometers on the nightstand, the room was sparse and tidy.

A thick book open and face down on his lap and a worried smile gracing his lips, Logan sat in a chair next to him. “Am I in your bedroom?”

Logan nodded. “I… I hope you do not mind. You were… a little out of it from the fever last night.” He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling. “I… I managed to walk you up here and… and you fell asleep. I, um…” He blushed, a soft pink that matched his lips. “You… you wanted your jeans off. I… ah… hope that’s alright.”

“It’s okay, Lo…” He reached out and patted blindly, hand brushing over Logan’s knee. “Thank you for helping me. Boxers probably cover more than the ones I wear on my runs, anyway.”

“Indeed,” he said with a little laugh, cheeks brightening.

“Oh!” Roman chuckled and his own face grew warm as his brain kicked into a higher gear and he remembered which pair Logan might have caught a glimpse of. “I’m wearing the ones with little smiling hearts all over them, aren’t I?”

“You are,” Logan nodded.

“You know, I usually…” He scrabbled for dignity then shook his head. He was half naked in his… Logan’s bed where he’d been hugging his pillow like it was him. He had no dignity left. Surprisingly, he was okay with that. “Who am I kidding? I’m a sucker for novelty boxers.” He huffed out a little laugh. “The cornier the better.”

“I thought they were sweet.” Logan poured more Gatorade in a cup and helped him drink. “Besides, I have been known to favor a set with a TARDIS print,” he smiled, taking the glass when he was done.

The Gatorade helped. Roman laughed, eyes dancing with mischief. “So would you say then, it’s… bigger on the inside?”

Logan’s eyes flew wide open, one hand jerking up to cover his mouth. But before Roman could apologize for the off-color remark, Logan had doubled over in laughter. Every few breaths, he would sit up, gasping for air, only to collapse in the most adorable giggles again.

There was a knock at the door and Remy poked his head in, concern quickly turning to his own grin. “Oh, you’re laughing.” He looked over his shoulder, “Emile, they’re okay.”

“Yes, we’re fine,” Roman nodded, struggling to speak past his own laughter.

Logan beckoned him in. “Sorry to worry you,” he managed before another giggle burst out that he tried to wave away. “We’re absolutely fine.”

“I see that,” Remy chuckled. “Glad you’re feeling a little better, Ro.”

“Thanks to your dad’s care,” he nodded, reaching to brush his fingers over Logan’s where they rested on the edge of the bed.

“He’s good at that. Do either of you need anything?”

Blushing, Logan glanced at Roman, who shook his head. “No, but thank you, Rem.”

“If you change your mind, we’re here.” He waved as he closed the door. “Goodnight, you two.”

“I thought he was going to warn us to keep both feet on the floor,” he started to laugh but then the rest of what Remy said sank in. “Wait—How long—”

Logan smiled, sort of. It was almost a wince. “You’ve been mostly asleep for a good twenty hours or so.”

“Oh,” he said.

“You got up twice, ah,” he shrugged and looked toward an attached bathroom. “But you were barely awake. Your fever finally broke about two hours ago.”

Roman lay back against the pillows and nodded. “Wow, I… I haven’t been knocked on my ass with a fever in a… long time.”

“Are you hungry?” Logan scooted forward in his chair and looked ready to fetch him anything he asked.

“Hmm…” Roman shook his head. His eyelids suddenly felt very heavy. “Maybe later. I’m okay just like this.” With Logan an arm’s reach away and nestled in his bed, the gentle spicy vanilla scent of his hair surrounding him, he was more than okay.

“Some nurse I am,” Logan chuckled, checking his temperature. “I’ve worn you out.” He smiled and refreshed the cloth in the little bowl before laying it over his forehead.

The cloth was cool against skin, and Logan’s gentle brushes through his hair were even better. It soothed the lingering throbbing under his skull and he let it lull him back into a comfortable haze. “That feels really good,” he murmured and tried to stifle a yawn. “I… I am getting tired. But… good tired.” Logan’s bed was soft and cozy and just the thought of moving was draining.

He looked up at Logan’s eyes, those sharp blue eyes watching him for any sign of distress or pain while adjusting the cloth perfectly over his head. “Would it be alright if… if I… I stayed?”

“No,” Logan grinned, eyes dancing. “I’m going to make you walk home.” He chuckled as he smoothed the covers and fluffed up his pillows. “Of course you’re staying here tonight. I’ve been checking in with Remus. He knows you’re safe. I’ll call him again about tonight,” he murmured, pulling away.

Roman caught his hand before he got too far away and brought it close to his mouth, brushing his knuckles back and forth over his lips as he pushed his sluggish brain to cooperate.

“Thank you, Lo. For looking out for me again.” He grinned, suddenly giddy, and pressed Logan’s hand to his heart. “For taking care of me.”

“No, Ro,” Logan shook his head, smiling. “No, we…” Soft, cool fingers stroked his hand. Something flashed in Logan’s eyes and his smile brightened, his entire face blooming like a wildflower in the sun. “We take care of each other.”

“Mm-hm,” he nodded. It was becoming difficult to keep his eyes open. “We do.”

“Rest now, Roman,” Logan whispered, brushing back his hair as his eyes fluttered and the room went dark. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

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