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shiny-jr · 4 years

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❝ ʙ ᴜ ᴛ ᴛ ᴏ ɴ s ❞

Yandere!Husband x Reader - Kade

Note: I merely wanted to share one of my most popular oneshots from my Quotev account. Yes, it is inspired by Coraline. This story was originally published as a 1,000 follower special, so it’s quite lengthy meaning it will be split into different parts. I hope you enjoy!

Warning: there will be violence, gore, profanity, and other things such as. You have been warned.

Part Two.

Act I

Slim, cold hands held a rag doll. The black button eyes seemed to stare into his very soul and a permanent smile had been stitched onto the doll’s lips. Carrying the plaything to his desk, he began working oh-so-diligently.

Opening his kit of tools, he placed the doll atop the center of his desk, its back overturned. Cutting clear through the small dark black clothing on the doll, the small figure was soon made bare. Nimble fingers pulled at the raven hair strands, leaving the doll bald. Proceeding with the next step, he unstitched the black button eyes and removed them from their place. Next, he cut a straight long line at the mouth, and by hand, he removed every single piece of cotton used to stuff the doll until the figure was nearly as flat as paper. Turning the figure inside out, he then added sand to replace the cotton. Threading a needle, he carefully stitched the mouth closed and made it appear like a gentle smile. Pulling open his drawers, he scanned the dozens of pairs of buttons in his storage, selecting a black medium-sized pair to fit for the eyes before stitching them into place. Gingerly he threaded each strand of (h/c) yarn to fit for hair on the doll’s head, precisely measuring each strand to make it fit perfectly.

The man hummed, voice silky and slightly deep but appealing to the ear. Continuing to hum as he worked steadily, he remained focused on the task at hand. With scissors he cut out the design of the small clothing, stitching it together and sewing it so it would be flawless. Once done, he fit the clothing onto the small doll and then placed the tiny figure on the windowsill, prepped and ready for his newest guest.

________________________________________________

"Un, deux, trois~ Un, deux, trois~" An older man hummed as his fingers danced on the black and white keys of the piano, creating a melody with his foreign counting and humming. Smiling in accomplishment as his mind formed the next notes of the melody he would compose for his circus. "Un, deux-" Stopping abruptly as his train of thought was disrupted by the screeching of tires outside, causing him to become startled and his fingers to bang horribly against the piano keys. Scrunching up his nose in irritation, he pushed back his seat and approached the window to see who had ruined his creative thought process.

A little red car zoomed down the small dirt road, honking its greeting as it was tailed by a large moving truck. The small car disappeared around the corner of the aged house, leaving the larger automobile to park and the workers to begin unloading all the furniture and cardboard boxes as the new residents entered their new home for the first time.

The foreign man huffed and closed his curtains, wishing to ignore all the sounds of the outside world and focus on creating a masterpiece of melodies for his circus. Two elderly women who lived below used the stairs to catch a peek of all the commotion, pleasantly surprised to see the new neighbors had finally arrived. They kindly waved to the men who transported the boxes and furniture inside.

When all was inside the house, one mover held up a clipboard with a paper in need of signing. A young man inside took the ink pen and signed his name in smooth cursive. However, before he could close the door, the mover stopped and extended his hand out for a tip. The young man merely sighed and handed him a dollar bill before slamming the door shut, no longer wanting to deal with the hassle of the movers or furniture in need of unpacking.

A young woman closed the back door, deciding to take a stroll and explore the new environment. After all, it was a major change from her previous home and habitat. Shrugging the olive green jacket closer to her form, her gray cotton blouse and black jeans provided extra warmth, and the black rubber boots kept her feet clean from the mud. Stepping down from the porch, her (e/c) hues scanned the surrounding area of the garden, all dead and shriveled up. Everything was dull and almost gray, as if the life had been sucked out of all things in the area. Stepping along the cobblestone path, she analyzed the scenery. Instead of bright city streets brimming with life, her surroundings were that of gray dying woods and sad, forgotten apple carts. There was no music or endless chattering mixed with honking cars; all was silent here. Here, they hadn’t the luxury of malls and boutiques on every corner; it was at least a few miles to the closest town.

Sighing in defeat, she frowned and slowed her walking pace. The scenery wasn't a beauty to paint either; it didn't exactly spark any inspiration or motivation. Nearly jumping in surprise when a small pebble bumped against her boot, her gaze traveled to the rocks and she rose an eyebrow. "Hello...?"

Silence…

"Anybody...?"

Only silence filled the air…

Frowning at the lack of response, the young woman picked up the small pebble that had tumbled to her feet. Weighing the rock in the palm of her hands, she eyed a set of boulders sitting along the slope of the hill beside her, she shrugged, and then tossed the stone back up to where the boulders stuck out. A pained yeowl and angry hiss emanated from behind the stones. A white cat with brown and black patches hopped atop the boulders and glared at the woman.

(Y/n) shuddered and averted her gaze, speed walking away deeper into the woods to avoid further angering the feline. However, when she stopped and turned around, the cat yowled at her from atop a stump, frightening the woman for a moment. She pouted. A staring contest ensued between her and the strange cat. "This is the worst..." Crossing her arms over her chest, in the pit of her stomach she began to feel a thick growing desire to return back to her old home. "I lost my friends, the city—comfort, and all I get in return is you? He said this would be better. How is this better...?"

The feline stared, tilting its head. A low rumble emitted from its chest, its tail swishing back and forth slowly. Its mottled fur caused it to stand out, as it was probably the most colorful thing she saw since arriving in this plain little town.

She rubbed her arms, sighing as she murmured, "At least I still have Kage. That's something, isn't it...?" In reality, she was unsure. Her marriage with Kage was still young, but she knew she loved him. Although, recently she began to wonder if that love was noticed by him. She loved him deeply, but recently he’d become so engrossed in his work that it seemed like they were drifting apart.

Kage had explained before moving to this gray town that maybe this change would be for the best. A new environment, a fresh start. Someplace for them to mend their relationship, to grow closer. A new home for them to begin anew. They even hoped the work would lessen and they could spend more time with each other. Yes, he was trying, but she feared the worst.

Blinking as she felt a drop of water, she looked up and saw the gray clouds shifting. Water droplets began to fall from the sky, creating a light drizzle. The cat scampered off, probably to find shelter from the oncoming rain. Shrugging on the hoodie of her green jacket, she jogged back to the house. Her rubber boots slipped in the mud, and she scraped her palm as she caught herself. "Damn it!" Grunting in the process as her sleeves were now dirtied and hands injured, she stood up and wiped off the mud. Great, just her luck! She already hated this place!

________________________________________________

(Y/n) quietly shifted through some of the boxes, organizing the packed furniture in the cozy living room. However, she glanced at her husband, Kage. He was as quiet as ever, typing away on his computer. Kage was an author, a well-known one who’d published many wonderful books while he was still young. They had barely said a word to each other since arriving yesterday, and she desperately craved attention. Anything to fill the silence suffocating her. "Yesterday, I ran into a cat while I was taking a stroll. I'm pretty sure it was wild or something."

"Uh-huh..." Kage continued to type away, his pale fingers swiftly dancing across the keyboard. Never taking his gray eyes off the screen, he feared he would lose his focus. In his mind he pictured a lovely sunset at the beach and a young couple walking on the sands, a scene that was picture perfect. He blew a strand of his wavy black hair out of his vision, revealing his handsome face. The light of the screen was reflected in his smokey-gray eyes, and he anxiously bit down on his full pink lips, his well defined cheekbones highlighted by the laptop’s blue light.

"What if it was feral?"

"That's great... I mean, interesting..."

She saw he was fully invested in his writing, not giving her enough attention to respond with a proper reply. However, that did not deter her. Placing down a portrait of herself and Kage on their first date back in college, she stared at it fondly. Turning her attention back to her husband, she waltzed around the room as she mused, "Isn't it the perfect weather to go out?"

At her musing, he took one single glance outside. Beyond the large windows, rain poured, hitting the glass and drenching everything outside. "It's the perfect weather to catch a cold in," he replied, slowing his typing process. The sleeves of his white hoodie jacket drooped down his wrists onto the laptop.

Taking a seat across from him on a small cushion seat, she asked, "When was the last time we properly went out together without work?" Appearing downcast, she added with a sad frown, "Kage, isn't that why we moved here? To spend more time together?"

Kage stopped typing completely and spared his wife a brief glance. As soon as he saw her dejected frown and sad eyes, he sighed, "No- No, don't you do it. Don't give me those puppy eyes, (Y/n). You know that I—... Damn it..."

"You're great at writing romance novels, but you're not exactly a prince charming..."

"I'm charming to a certain degree, thank you very much. Please, just give me time. I'm very busy with this novel." For once he managed to ignore her pleading look. He knew she would be upset, but he needed to finish this one chapter, and then all his time would be hers. "The clothes still need unpacking, you know. To pass the time, you can finish that. I don't want to leave all the unpacking for later."

"You're no fun..." She pouted, crossing her arms in disappointment.

Remembering the strange item he found at the front door while his wife was out for a stroll, Kage reached by his feet and picked up the object resting there. He held it up for her to see, it was concealed and wrapped in newspaper. Holding it out for her to take, "You left this on the porch."

"Me?" (Y/n) accepted the item, curious about what it could be. She didn't recall forgetting any items. Most of her belongings were in her backpack or stored away in packed boxes. But curiosity has been known to kill a cat or two. Seeing that Kage had gone back to writing his novel, she unwrapped the newspaper, revealing an old fabric doll. A doll that looked oddly like her.

The color of its fabric skin was identical to her skin tone, and its black button eyes were wide and unblinking. A gentle smile graced the doll's lips, and strands of (h/c) yarn decorated its head, each one appearing to be precisely measured and fitted to make the doll more identical to her. Even its tiny clothing was exactly the same as hers: her favorite olive green jacket and current gray cotton blouse and black jeans covered its form, and on its little feet sat a matching pair of black rubber boots.

The young woman raised an eyebrow, slightly disturbed at the uncanny similarities. "It looks like me... This isn't mine, Kage."

"Oh? Don't look at me..."

An idea popped into the woman’s head. (Y/n) smiled mischievously, lounging on the couch right beside him. Holding the doll up, she examined it thoroughly and giggled. "If it's not mine and not yours, maybe it's from a secret admirer~?"

Kage stopped completely, freezing in place. Glaring at the doll, he appeared upset and envious now. Frowning, he looked to her and muttered, "If it is, I'll beat him into the next dimension."

"I'm just kidding!" (Y/n) laughed lightly, noticing his faint blush as he turned back to the screen of his laptop. She was happy she got a reaction out of him, that he cared and was protective enough to be upset at the mere thought of his wife having a secret admirer. Although all jokes aside, she was really curious about the mysterious origins of this odd look-alike doll. "But seriously, where did this toy actually come from?"

"Don't have a clue..."

She huffed and stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles on her clothing as she declared, "You know what? I'm going to explore this house. There has to be something interesting in this dusty old place!"

Lifting one hand, he lazily waved without tearing his attention away from his work. "Good luck..."

❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

After spending nearly one boring hour wandering the halls and exploring her new home, she had not found a single thing of interest. The rugs were overdue for a wash and were blanketed in a layer of dust; the windows fogged up easily and leaked, dripping rainwater in the hallway; and the bathroom wall was insect-infested while the water looked rather unsanitary. She waltzed into the last explored room, a large spacious area that was probably once a guest room.

(Y/n) planned to make the entire room a library for Kage. She wanted the area to be a place where he could store his prized novels and favorite books, a room they can retreat to when looking for a moment of peace and quiet. The walls would be lined with shelves and shelves of books, and cozy seats and warm blankets would decorate the floor. So far, only a few shelves had been set up against the wall. Many of the others lay face down, waiting to be lifted up. Gathering an armful of books, she began to organize them in alphabetical order. Fingers tracing over the spine of the novels, she stopped at twenty books. Before she could gather a few more to organize, she stopped upon noticing the look-alike doll had disappeared from its place atop a few empty boxes.

(E/c) hues scanning the room, she frowned and turned. Where had it gone? Had she misplaced it? It was atop the boxes just a few minutes ago. Turning around, she noticed the little black button eyes peeking at her from behind a shelf waiting to be set up. It's lifeless eyes unmoving, the doll peered at her quietly from behind the piece of furniture. Stepping closer, she kneeled down and carefully picked up the doll. Her eyes trailed off to the side, and there against the wall she spied a smooth bronze knob. A door knob.

She pushed aside the shelf, the closed door was revealed fully. Wallpaper covered the surface, but the knob made it obvious that an entrance was there. Tracing her fingers along the wall, she could feel the outline of the curving designs on the door while the tip of her fingers collected dust. What could this door lead to? Wishing to know immediately, she called out loud enough for Kage to hear, "Kage! There's a door over here!"

Kage groaned and rubbed his head. Just when his fingers had matched the pace of his imagination and he had a good pace, his train of thought was snapped in half by the shout from upstairs. The young man grumbled, "I'm pretty busy right now!"

Examining the keyhole, she attempted to use the knob. It squeaked as it turned just slightly but not all the way, meaning it was locked. The door refused to budge. “Kage!”

The young man winced once he was called again, further prying him from his work. Realizing she was not going to stop anytime soon, he put aside his laptop on the couch cushions and rose from his seat. Stomping across the halls into the spacious room, he examined the door his wife was so fixated on opening. Turning his gaze to (Y/n), he glared and frowned. This only served to irritate him further. He’d paused his work for a locked door?

“Aren’t you curious too?”

“Frankly, no.” Kage replied curtly, eyeing the knob and doorway. “If I open this stupid door will you leave me alone?”

“Yes...”

The young man sighed as he fished his keys out of his pocket. Chiming and jingling, the keys shifted as he searched for the one that would open this damned door. As he looked, he mumbled to himself, “Unbelievable... Kage do this, Kage do that...”

Finally he held one single, strange-looking black key. The top was round and identical to the black buttons eyes stitched on the look-alike doll. The bottom half was thin and it fit perfectly when it slid into the keyhole. The wallpaper tore as the door was pulled back, and (Y/n) watched it open with bated breath. Her curious eyes peering at the opening door as she gripped the doll.

Creak . . .

Concrete. Just bricks and concrete filled the space behind the door. It certainly wasn’t the secret room that she had hoped for. “But...”

“Logically, it most likely would’ve led to the basement or attic where our neighbors live.” Brushing himself off, Kage tucked his keys away. “We’re done here.” Without another word he returned to the living room to resume his typing, leaving (Y/n) alone.

(Y/n) frowned, knowing he was upset at and irritated with her. Closing the door, she tossed aside the stupid doll. No longer could she go pester Kage as she promised she would leave him alone if he opened the door. All she could really do now was waste the rest of the day setting up the library. Maybe her husband would be in a better mood later on.

❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

. . . . . .

Tick!

The ticking of the clock on the wall filled the dark silence. The steady beat matched her even breaths, but she was unable to attain sleep. She was instead left to stare up at the ceiling and contemplate the events of the day.

Kage was still as busy as always; he had fallen asleep on the living room couch with his computer screen glowing and filled to the brim with pages upon pages of text. (Y/n) knew better not to wake him up, so she merely saved his file, charged the laptop, placed a pillow under his head, and wrapped him in a blanket.

While she had retired for the night in the bedroom, the look-alike doll sat perched on the nightstand. Leaning against the lamp, it lay limp but continued to watch the woman with its black button eyes, even as she shifted on her side and reached for the small framed photo on the nightstand.

(Y/n) admired the photo, missing the moments and memories of the past. How things used to be. Before Kage became an author—when he was just a bookworm in college. When he had so much time to spare and spent it all on her, when he used to be so shy but affectionate instead of distant like now, when they felt so close—like nothing could ever tear them apart. (Y/n) longed for those days.

Creak . . .

The wooden door slowly opened, the old hilts creaking as a dim light seeped through the slim crack. Gingerly placing down the framed photo, she sat up and raised an eyebrow. “Kage...?”

. . .

No answer. Deciding to investigate, she slipped off the bed and slid on her slippers. Shrugging on a jacket over her short-sleeved shirt, the hem of her long loose pants brushed her bare ankles. Stepping into the hallway, she whispered, “Kage? Are you up here...?”

. . .

Looking left then right, she spotted the guest room at the end of the hall. Straight ahead, she saw the hidden door opened a crack. She was perplexed, as she was certain she had closed it shut. Curiosity filling her, she decided to venture forward to close it. Lighting flashed outside illuminating the room, thunder shook the ground. Still she reached forward and turned the knob, pulling the door back. There were no concrete or bricks obstructing her view like before, instead the door led out into a slim lengthy hallway that glowed a reddish pink. Like something out of one of her husband’s fantasy novels.

It felt like something or someone was calling to her from the other side. This was a dream. That was it, and nothing more. Mustering up her courage, she stepped inside. Each time she took a footstep, the ground beneath her feet glowed red. The deeper she traveled, the more she noticed tiny petals fluttered and rained down from above. A faint breeze brushed by, carrying a few petals along the way. Warm and gentle like a hug, its warmth beckoning her further inside.

When she reached the other end, she carefully pushed the door open and crossed the threshold. The space she now found herself in looked nearly identical to her own soon-to-be-library, however, the design was somewhat different. There was a plush couch set in front of a roaring fireplace alight with warm, red and orange flames. Lights were hung on the walls, and their dim glow was an inviting yellow. Strings dangled from the lights, holding clipped polaroid photos. Upon closer inspection, she realized the photos were of her and Kage. Pictures of memories from their first meeting in the college library, their first date at a local cafe, shopping and picking out clothes for each other, reading at home by the warm fireplace. In each photo (Y/n) could be seen as clear as day, but Kage’s alluring smoke-colored hues were concealed by a pair of dark sunglasses or hoodie.

Raising an eyebrow at the space she entered, she felt a slight tinge of worry. This was most definitely not her soon-to-be library. Kage wouldn’t leave his work to decorate. She waited for something, anything to awake her from this fantasy where she would jolt up in bed and think, What a strange dream.

“Every day, I imagine a future where I can be with you~ In my hand is a pen that will write a poem of me and you~” A voice sang. The tone was so familiar: silky, slightly deep, but very appealing to the ear. Complimenting the ringing of the piano’s melody, the lovely tune drifted throughout the house. “The ink flows down into a dark puddle... Just move your hand- write the way into her heart~!”

(Y/n) took quiet steps, following the lullaby-like melody that lured her deeper into the home. Her furry slippers muffled the creaking of wood beneath her feet. Her (e/c) hues examined the walls of the hallways, decorated as they were with beautiful framed paintings and photos all from memories of which she was fond of. Prying her gaze away, she stopped at an open room, the source of the singing. Peeking in, she spotted a familiar figure seated at a piano, his back to her and his slim fingers dancing along the black and white keys.

“But in this world of infinite choices, what will it take just to find that special day? What will it take just to find that special day~?”

(Y/n) blinked when the music stopped, his fingers pausing a top the piano’s keys and his beautiful voice fading into the air. Seeing the figure turn to face her, she was finally able to examine this man’s features. Strands of wavy black hair rolled down his neck like a waterfall and were partly brushed to the side to reveal his hues. Full lips a shade of light pink that curled into a smile and well-defined cheekbones complimented his facial structure. This man was identical to her husband Kage, yet one thing was off. Those stunning gray hues she loved to admire, were replaced with black button eyes.

“Ah, you’re finally awake, (Y/n)!” The doppelgänger smiled welcomingly, standing from his seat. He wore a white hoodie and tangerine colored cargo pants with simple yellow tennis shoes. Even his clothing matched her husband’s usual sense of style, but this was not her husband Kage. “Please, tell me what you think. Did you like the song I wrote for you? I spent quite some time thinking about it, attempting to properly convey my feelings with a sweet melody.”

“Who are you...? You’re not Kage, he doesn’t have...” (Y/n) took a step back, eyeing the young man with suspicion, unable to look away from his black button eyes.

He smiled fondly at her, pointing to the objects that had caught her attention. “Buttons? Do you like them?” Noticing her concerned frown and hesitance, he cooed, “Did you hit your head, dear? My name is Kade, not Kage. I’m your other husband~” When he reached her, he gently rubbed her head, his nimble fingers weaving through her locks before he lightly tapped her nose, “Boop!” Chuckling at her flustered expression before placing a chaste kiss on her forehead, he added, “I’d never dream about hurting even a single hair on your pretty little head~”

(Y/n) was rigid, still in place. She did not reel away. No, instead she felt a familiar warmth budding in her chest. The heat that had warmed her when Kage used to give her affection when their relationship had just begun. Gazing up at him with question, she raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean other husband...?”

“Dear, you are my precious wife.” Tussling locks of her hair, he continued his explanation. “Everyone has a significant other.” Hands trailing down, he intertwined his long slim fingers with hers and smiled lovingly at her. “I knew you were going to wake up hungry, so I took the liberty of making you a late dinner. Come on, let’s hurry before our meal gets cold.”

(Y/n) was led through the hallways, following this strange man that very much resembled her husband. There’s no way these spacious rooms and extensive hallways resided all within the home, it was impossible. This had to be a dream. A dream in which her mind conjured someone like her husband, possibly as a result of her lonesomeness and lack of Kage’s attention.

The kitchen was warm. Dark coffee colored bricks of the wall matched the mocha counters and iron gray kitchen utensils. Lights hung from above, reflecting against the surface of the center table which was smooth black marble, and each chair was cushioned with a pillow. A heavenly scent of freshly cooked food wafted in the air, it smelled simply divine and nearly made her mouth water.

Kade lifted her hand he held, guiding her to one of the seats around the counter. Like a gentleman he helped her into her seat. However, as soon as she was seated, he took a glance at her and smiled. Lifting her hand up, he placed a kiss on the back of her hand before taking a strand of her hair between his fingers, it curled around his thumb as he hummed, “I hope you're hungry. I’ve made enough for a king’s feast!”

The odd button-eyed man proceeded to gather plates and the meal he had cooked. Leaving (Y/n) to simply stare and wonder at the odd scenario she was in. The young woman examined the kitchen once more. It was squeaky clean and flowers seemed to decorate every corner, either in vases or simply sprouting from somewhere. This was a beautiful kitchen, like a remodeled version of the one in the house she moved it.

(Y/n) perked up once she heard humming. The man named Kade hummed the same song he sang earlier, his hands busily working on the final preparations for dinner. Laying out silver utensils on a white cloth napkin, with plates so clean one could see their own reflection, topped with an empty glass for wine. Finally, the main course. In the middle of the counter he set a large plate of spaghetti with meatballs, a bowl of salad off to the side, a basket of bread, with a small tray of various pastas. And with so many more delectable choices laid out in front of her, just for her choosing.

(Y/n) merely blinked at the sight before her, shocked beyond words. Her husband never did anything like this. Kage always forgot to eat with how his job occupied all his time. Even if he did occasionally remember, the most he would do was heat up instant ramen. “You... You did this?”

“Of course, who else would? I couldn't just let you go hungry." Kade chuckled as he poured her a bit of red wine that matched the palette of the diming lights, red and pink illuminated the entirety of the kitchen as the love song he wrote by hand magically played on harp strings originating from some unknown source.

The scent of the home cooked meal smacked her sense of smell, causing her to look down at the multitude of plates once again. It all appeared so delectable, as if it had taken hours to prepare it all. It made her stomach grumble, causing her to low her gaze in embarrassment.

He laughed lightly, amused at her timid behavior and cheeks red with embarrassment. "Don't be shy, darling~ Eat as much as your little heart desires." Swiftly he served her a plate of the main course, the spaghetti. The dish was topped with the perfect amount of smooth red sauce, meatballs perfectly spherical andhinted with tiny herbs that had been gently sprinkled over the top.

It did look appetizing, and she really did wish to try just a bite. It appeared so much better than sloppy mashed potatoes and a soggy sandwich she had for dinner. As the odd button-eyed man sat down and served his own meal, she failed to notice his observant gaze. Instead, she picked up her fork and twirled the tip of it on the plate, collecting a few strands of the spaghetti. Hesitantly she sniffed it, still cautious, yet nothing smelled off. So with her hunger gaining the best of her, she tasted the bit on the kitchen utensil. It's taste was simply divine, better than anything she had ever tasted before. Bright (e/c) eyes trailing up to the young man, she swallowed the portion in her mouth and commented in delight before she could eagerly fork more of the meal, "This is so good! How did you make this?"

"With a determined mindset and... oh, something else too. But I can't really reveal that..." Gaze traveling away to the opposite wall, a small pout etched onto his pink lips.

Lowering her fork as she took another bite, curious about what he could possibly mean. "Why can't you tell me?"

Knowing his little facade worked, he smirked playfully and rolled his eyes as he drawled, "Well... It's a secret ingredient. I use it in every meal and it works like a charm, making every dish perfectly flavorful and savory..."

Intrigued by his words, and she did not miss that playful smirk. Raising an eyebrow in interest, she propped her head up, knuckles supporting her chin. "Hm... Now I'm really curious. Can't you tell me? I won't tell another soul, promise."

"Well, I suppose since you are my wonderful wife, it's only right that you knew...~" Finally his gaze traveled back to her as he looked left then right, before leaning in close after he saw no one else was around. His positive features turned serious as his black-button eyes locked onto her (e/c) hues, whispering quietly, "I'm about to reveal to you a great secret, one for you and you only, dear. Are you ready to hear this valuable piece of information?"

Eagerly she nodded, entranced yet a bit disturbed by his buttoned gaze. Managing to respond meekly, "Yes, I am."

"The secret ingredient... is my love for you!" He grinned, planting a quick kiss on her nose while she was entranced into the moment. Black button eyes watching realization dawn onto her, her cheeks flushing red again but the slight smile on her lips proved her bashful joy. His words only furthered the embarrassment for her, "Isn't my love so sweet? It's only available for you, and I do everything for you whole-heartedly~"

After (Y/n) was over her initial embarrassment, she remembered Kage still had to finish writing his novel. She hated for the moment to end, this was the most fun and attention she had in such a long time, but he must’ve been busy. “We should probably finish soon... I know you’re busy with your book, and I wouldn’t want to bother you for too long.”

“Hm? Oh, don’t you worry, dear. I’ve already finished writing, so my attention and time is all yours.” He smiled reassuringly, ignoring his meal as hegaze was glued to her form. Humming lightly, basking in the moment where nothing was said and his song continued to play gently in the background.

(Y/n) felt slightly unnerved by his unwavering gaze, forcing herself to look away, at anything else as she was uncomfortable staring into his button eyes. It served as a reminder that this was some strange wacky dream. Unable to continue her meal, she wiped her hands on the white napkin before momentarily glancing back at him, his gaze still concentrated on her while a smile played at his lips. “Is... Is there something wrong?”

“Oh, no, no, no, no! I just... can’t help but admire you. I truly am the luckiest man on the face of the earth, to be wed to such a perfect woman~ I'm very happy to be with you again, (Y/n)."

Unsure about the entire ordeal as he gently took her hand, choosing her choice of words cautiously. "Again...? I'm sorry, but Kage is the only husband-"

"I am your other husband!" Kade stated, emphasizing his words. There was a brief sign of visible irritation and impatience before it vanished in an instant. Calmly he stood, his slim pale fingers carefully tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Leaning forward, he placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. "I've always been existent, but I've never been noticed by you. Finally, I've been blessed with the chance to greet you. After all this time, I welcome you home, my dear~" Behind him, lights twinkled like stars, almost like tiny fireflies floating through the air. Magically with the dim white light, a phrase was spelled out in neat fancy cursive, "Welcome home!"

Red flags. This entire situation was unsettling, and the way he momentarily held anger frightened her. Pulling away from his touch, she stood from her seat and took a few steps back. Wearing a small smile to conceal her nervousness as she managed slowly, "I see. Um... I'm actually kinda tired right now. You know, with unpacking and moving the furniture." This wasn't right, she had to leave. This Kade figure was posing as her husband, and it was wrong.

Standing upright, he blinked before nodding in understanding and smiling so lovingly. Linking his arm with hers, he led her away from the kitchen and through the hallways. "Of course, of course! Say no more, darling. Let's go, let me take you to our bedroom."

"Right..." For a moment she did not believe him. A shared room? It sounded far-fetched. Technically, she did share a room with Kage, but he always fell asleep in the living room or another room so it wasn’t like they slept beside each other. “Okay, that sounds... normal...?”

When Kade pushed open a door, she was taken aback by the contents inside. It was dim, illuminated by the same familiar floating lights from the kitchen that twinkled and sparkled gently. It was decorated neatly and a perfect cozy place. With one corner topped with dozens of Polaroid photos, the young man with her in the photos had his eyes concealed yet again.

Pulling back the soft covers of the bed, he allowed her to hesitantly lay down on the plush mattress. She wasted no time in pulling the blanket to her chin, resting her head on the pillow. About to flutter her eyes shut in an attempt to end this dream, but she stopped when she saw Kade kneel to his face was at level with hers. “Uh... Thank you for the meal, I guess I'll go to bed now...?”

"Wait a moment, love. Did you think I wouldn't notice?" Kade took her hand, his black-button eyes glimmering in the dim light as he examined the cut and scrape against her palm. The injury from when she fell as she explored earlier. Tsking as he shook his head, chuckling lightly as he picked a bottle from the nightstand drawer. Sprinkling a few droplets on her hand, he hummed, "You're so clumsy, dear~ What would you do without me?"

(Y/n) pressed themselves closer to the bed, using the blanket to cover herself from her toes to her nose, peeking out as she remained anxious under the odd man's watchful gaze. Averting her gaze, breaking the eye contact as she pulled her treated hand underneath the safety of the warm covers. "Thank you again... and goodnight...?"

Kade merely tilted his head. No longer was his expression innocent and joyful, his smile seemed somewhat strained,as if it would break its positive curl at any given moment. However, again it was gone in an instant, and he hummed in delight. “Goodnight, my dear. Sleep tight~”

. . .

(Y/n) had closed her eyes and everything went dark, she had fallen asleep almost instantly. Only when she fluttered her eyes open, feeling groggy and sluggish as she did not wish to leave her bed.

“Huh...”

Slowly she sat up, looking around only to see the walls practically bare and the room nearly empty. Much of the furniture had yet to be unpacked, still lying dormant in the many boxes littering and stacked on the floor.

It was a dream, she realized. An odd dream.

The young woman scratched her head, her fingers becoming tangled in the mess of her bedhead. Blinking sleepily as she stretched, a yawn escaping past her lips. (E/c) hues traveled across her dull room, only now noticing the look-alike doll propped up against the lamp on the nightstand. Its black-button eyes were similar to the man's own strange eyes from her dreams, that just seemed to stare her down. A bit unnerved, she reached over and picked up the doll, eyebrows furrowed as he recalled the details from her dream. It felt so strange and odd, but the attention was nice and the man named Kade seemed well-mannered.

(Y/n) sighed and placed down the doll atop of her sheets, mind wandering into what she had experienced into her sleep. Unconsciously she scratched her hand, eyes slowly trailing down to the flesh on her palm, only to see it completely clean and injury-free. No cuts and no scratches, the injury was gone. She gasped and examined her own skin, recalling it was the exact spot where Kade had applied that ointment to treat her wound. "How did...?"

She ran out of her room, hurrying to the guest room in which she planned to be a library. The same room in which the strange door was located, the one in which she traveled through in her dreams. Staying quiet to make sure she didn't accidentally awake Kage if he was still asleep downstairs. As soon as she reached the door, she swung it open, expecting to see that magic hallway that glowed red and pink. "Aha!-..."

Concrete and bricks greeted her, making her smile vanish and causing her to go silent. That... That was impossible! As if choosing not to believe the fact the entryway was concealed, she pressed her hand against the surface. Her healed palm touching the firm surface, clear evidence that there was no magic hallway. Slowly she closed the door, puzzled still at this predicament she found herself in. Was she going crazy believing in only a fantasy from her dreams, or was Kade actually real?

________________________________________________

The kettle boiled, whistling as steam escaped with the increasing heat until her husband removed it from the stove. As he continued to make his morning tea to freshen him and prepare himself for another full day of writing. The young man remained silent at the counter as his wife spoke of a vivid dream she had.

"It just felt so... real! You were there, but you weren't really you. It was like a carbon copy that called himself Kade!"

"Buttons for eyes, hmm?" Kage poured himself a cup of tea, raising an eyebrow as he saw her nod. Taking another momentary glance at her as he sighed, "Interesting, I suppose... Certainly creepy, but interesting." Taking his seat at the table, he took a sip from his tea, allowing the warm liquid to soothe his nerves and stresses. "(Y/n), are you sure you just weren't so hungry that you dreamt of that meal?"

Swallowing the bite she had taken of her muffin, she replied, "I was not hungry!" She huffed, stirring the straw in the cup of her morning beverage. She continued on the topic of her dream, recalling the choice of clothing Kade wore and what he did throughout the dream. "You were also playing the piano too, and you had these tangerine-colored cargo pants on!"

Kage frowned, wincing in disgust as he placed down his cup, "Tangerine? Ugh... Dream version of me has no style. I've learned all my style from you. If it's not good enough, I won't wear it. And I most definitely would not wear tangerine cargo pants." He scoffed, rolling his eyes as a slight smirk formed on his lips, "You should share some of that magical ointment with me. There's a chance it could clear up this writer's block I have."

(Y/n) smiled, rolling her eyes slightly. She could imagine him wearing those tangerine cargo pants. More importantly, she was glad she could have such a calming peaceful moment with her husband. This was the first time they shared breakfast in months. This moment was really needed, it eased her worries and stresses. Before she could speak up and continue their pleasant conversation, she watched Kage stand and carry his tea with him. "Where are you going?"

"Back to work, my novel won't write itself." The ravenette picked up his newspaper and other papers holding scribbled notes. Looking through what he had written with his free hand, humming lightly as he admitted, "Although, your dream you told me about just gave me an excellent idea! I have to go write this down before I forget!"

"What am I supposed to do now...?" (Y/n) sighed, throwing away the wrapper of her muffin and mindlessly twirling the straw in her beverage. Slouching slightly, she used her hand to prop up her head by her chin. Perking up when she heard Kage shuffling in the living room, calling out a response before he would become silent because of his work.

"Why not go introduce yourself to the neighbors downstairs? You should go on our behalf. It would be rude if one of us didn't say hello."

The young woman recalled the married ladies downstairs. They were old and strange, but welcoming and kind, yet it seemed they bickered often. "Didn't you say they were crazy?" To be completely honest, those two were a great deal different from her last neighbors. Standing up, she placed her cup in the sink to wash later. When she did not receive a reply, she called out once more, "Are you even listening to me?" She peeked out into the living room, spotting Kage completely engrossed in his novel already with his eyes glued to the screen and fingers already typing away.

It was too late, he was already lost in his work. The only thing left to do was do as Kage advised and that was to visit the old married couple and introduce herself on her and Kage's behalf.

❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

(Y/n) shut the front door behind her, stopping when her foot hit something that was laid out on the front porch. Looking down, she was puzzled when she saw a small stack of packages was what she hit. Eagerly picking it up, she imagined gifts sent from her friends back home only to see across the top it was addressed to someone by the name of Yakovich. Shuffling through each one, every package had the same name. "Yakovich, Yakovich, Yakovich, Yakovich..."

Abruptly a strange scent smacked her senses, causing her to raise her eyebrows and eye the packages she held. Holding the packages higher up closer to her face, she sniffed and reeled back once the pungent odor wafted through her nostrils. "Ew!" The look of disappointment from before was replaced with disgust as she lowered the packages in her arms. If she recalled correctly, a man with the same surname that was printed on the packages, happened to live upstairs in the attic space.

Well, she supposed now was a better chance than ever. Might as well go introduce herself to both the upstairs and downstairs neighbors. Traveling up the stairs on the side of the house, she kept the packages far from her face and turned her head away to avoid smelling whatever was inside with the horrible smelling contents. Once on the high porch, she knocked on the wooden door. Waiting a moment before calling out, "Uh... Hello? Your packages got left at our door!..." She took a step back, waiting patiently for a minute or two before leaning against the entrance to see if she could hear anything. "Would you like me to leave it here or-? Ah-!"

The door swung open with her weight, revealing a dark disorganized space only illuminated by a window and a dim lamp. Abruptly a man appeared behind the door just as the young woman stumbled up. The man stepped out quickly and slammed the door shut, "Secret! Famous jumping mouse circus not ready!"

(Y/n) stood up straight, eyeing the strange man. This was the guy named Yakovich who lived in the attic...? He spoke with an accent. He looked as if he hadn't seen the sun's light in months, his skin was dry and pale with tired bags underneath his eyes. Tall but lanky and slim, and wore a simple old white undershirt turned yellow overtime with jeans that were dirtied with unwashed food stains.

"Circus...?" She snapped her stare away from the man standing in front of his door, remembering the reason why she had come up here in the first place. "Oh, but I brought up your packages."

For a moment he appeared disinterested until she mentioned the packages he had been expecting. A grin spread across his lips and replaced his disinterested frown, partly concealed by his mustache. Eagerly he snatched the packages, relishing in the odor that emitted from the boxes. Murmuring something in a foreign language as he smiled in content.

"Huh...?" For a moment she was concerned, was Kage correct saying that the neighbors were crazy?

"New cheese samples." Yakovich clarified as he placed down the packages, popping his fingers as he stretched his bony arms upwards. Then picking up one box, he leaned forward toward the girl and scolded, "Very clever using this mix-up to sneak my home and peek at mushkas!"

"Umm... Mushkas?" She racked her brain for some help on foreign language, she didn't quite recognize the word.

The neighbor nodded firmly, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the door. "The mice!" He then stretched, shifting his arms from side to side.

"Al... Alright..." Perhaps this was the best time to introduce herself, it was now or never. "Uh... my name is (Y/n). (Y/n) (L/n). I'm sorry my husband Kage couldn't introduce himself, he's been busy with work lately."

He nodded, stopping his stretches as he extended his arms out wide and announced, "I am the stupendous Yakovich! But you, you may call me Mr. Y. Stupendous already know that I am!" This man was certainly... interesting to put it nicely. "Here is the predicament, little one, my songs I wrote go: oompaoompa! But tiny jumping mice only play toodle-too, like that! Is nice, but not so much stupendous. So now I switch to stronger cheese and soon! Wham!" Abruptly he picked up his packages and pulled a beetroot from his pocket, placing the vegetable in the girl's hands, "Have beet, make you strong." Mr. Y kicked open his door and backed inside, bowing as he stepped back, "Dasvidaniya, (Y/n)."

Just like that, Yakovich disappeared inside him home, slamming the close door as the bell on the door frame chimed. (Y/n) blinked, unsure what to make after that strange encounter. Looking at the beetroot, she tossed it over the railing and jogged down the steps. Walking along the dark grass surrounding the home, she stopped in her tracks upon hearing a voice.

"Hey, (Y/n)!"

The young woman looked up just in time to see the odd man swing effortlessly on the railings and metal stairs until he landed flawlessly beside her. Yakovich leaned closer, whispering breathlessly as he stated, "The mice asked me to give you word message."

"The... jumping mice?"

"They are saying-" He looked left then right, making sure no one was listening in as he continued in quieter whisper, "Do not travel through strange door."

(Y/n) gasped lightly, blinking in disbelief. How would they know that she...?

Mr. Y shrugged, inquiring curiously, "Do you know such a thing?"

The only strange door she could think of was the one in the guest room. The one in which she traveled through last night, where she met Kade and that strange world. "The one behind the wallpaper...?" She thought about it for a moment. When she had checked it for the first time upon arriving and even the time this morning, "It's all covered up. I can't enter it even if I wanted to."

"So sorry, it's nothing." Mr. Y brushed off the warning from the mice as he shrugged, slowly climbing the metal steps as he mused, pointing to his head for emphasis on his words, "Sometimes the mice are little mixed up." The young woman watched him as he strolled atop the high patio to his door. He continued, "They even get your husband's name wrong, you know? They call him Kade, not Kage. Not Kage at all!" He threw up his hands before returning inside his home, "Maybe I work them too hard."

(Y/n) stood for a moment watching the still door and empty high patio. Frowning lightly, she decided to brush it off for now and continue her task of introducing herself to the neighbors. Now, only the two old women who lived in the basement were left. Brushing down the wrinkles on her outfit, she hopped down the steps that led to the front door of the elderly couple's abode. Intaking a deep breath, she dearly hopped Kage wasn't right about these two like how his predictions were correct about Mr. Y. Lifting her hand, she reached forward and tapped her knuckles against the wood-

"Woof! Woof!!"

She stumbled back, frightened at the sudden movement. Little dogs, black Scottish Terriers, jumped up and clawed at the door as their barking alerted their owners to the guest at their door. As soon as the door clicked opened, the three little dogs scattered into the open towards the guest. Jumping up, they panted and rested their front paws on her leg, eager for a pat or scratch behind the ear.

"Oh, cease your infernal yapping!" The old woman scolded, watching as her pets began to settle down and simply circle and sniff the guest. She stepped back, using her cane for support as she gave a smile with wrinkled dimples to the young woman, "How nice to meet you dear! My, what a lovely sight you are. Do come in." Copper-colored locks were short and brushed to her lower neck, tucked in by the fuzzy green coat she wore which matched the makeup she wore.

As she took a step back, (Y/n) followed the elderly woman inside to the small dark hallway, closing the front door once she made sure all three dogs had returned inside. Giving a smile, relieved that the old woman seemed normal at least. "You must be Agatha. I remember the contractor mentioned you."

"Ah, yes! Wilma, put the kettle on!!" The old woman smiled welcoming to the young girl, sending her a wink before shuffling past the red curtains.

(Y/n) hesitated as her eyes landed on an old board advertising an act of two stunning women. The lady on the left was short and had beautiful wavy red hair that curled around her ears and shoulders, while the one on the right was tall and had magnificent blonde locks that ran down to her hips like a waterfall. Beside the red-head was the name, Agatha! and by the blond was the name, Wilma! Slowly she removed her jacket, no longer needing it now that it was warm down in this basement. Pushing past the red curtains, she could then see that her initial thoughts were incorrect and Kage was spot on once again.

Inside was a large living space, where the trio of pups immediately rushed to claim spots on the velvet sofa. Vintage music played in the background, matching the dim lighting and giving off a calming chill air to the whole place.

An elderly woman stumbled out of the kitchen, placing her glasses on to assist her in her vision as she eyed the stranger, "Agatha, I think you're being followed!"

"It's the new neighbor, Wilma." Agatha explained as she shuffled towards the velvet seats, leading the guest along the way. (Y/n) shyly offered a greeting wave to the other woman, before the copper-haired woman continued, "Her name is (Y/n)."

(Y/n) eyed each poster and old advertising board, noticing that each and every one of them depicted the same two young ladies, the red-head and blondie. Perhaps those were the elderly couple in their prime, back when they performed in shows at theaters.

"She'll be having the oolong tea!"

Wilma protested, picking the beverage, "No, no, no, I'm sure she'd prefer jasmine." Adjusting her glasses, she could now better see the young guest, noticing and admiring her shining locks and bright youthful eyes. Turning to see her partner frowning in disagreement.

"No, oolong."

The white-haired old woman ignored her, deciding as she picked up an extra cup. Turning away so she could not see Agatha's eye-roll and annoyance, "Jasmine it is then!"

Agatha shuffled over to the velvet couch, waving her pets to move as she urged, "Come on, off with you, boys!"

“I’m sorry my husband Kage couldn’t join us.” Now that the couch was empty, (Y/n) took her seat and placed her coat beside her. Eyes wandering the room, she finally took notice of the shelves lining the walls on each side of the couch. “He’s been so busy with work lately, and—“ Eyes going wide, she gaped at the realistic figures of Scottish Terriers dressed in white cloth and topped with a plastic golden halo over their heads. There were so many of them lining the shelves, it was unnerving as she saw each were even in different poses. "Are those dogs real...?"

"Ah, that’s alright, dear! And those? Those are our sweet departed angels~ Couldn't bear to part with them,” Agatha took her own seat on a single couch. She spoke so casually about her dead pets that it was scary. Smiling lightly as she sat just in front of the shelves, “so we had them stuffed.” Proudly she gestured to the stuffed dog corpses, beginning to list off the names of the pets, “There was Amish the Third, and—“

Drowning out that disturbing conversation, the young woman saw Wilma approaching. The new neighbor now wary of the tray the elderly lady placed down, a bit more than concerned after hearing that the old couple kept their dead pets.

”Oh, go on, have some.” Wilma slid the tray forward, posing dramatically as she boasted, “It’s hand-pulled taffy from Brighton. Best in the world!”

(Y/n) picked a small round pastel colored piece of candy, surprised to see as soon as she picked the singular piece, the bowl and other pieces came right along with it. She continued to ignore the dog names Agatha listed,while attempting to pry off the single little piece. Seeing that each movement was like quicksand, it became stickier until she accidentally flung it upwards and it stuck to the ceiling like glue.

”I’ll read them if you like?” Agatha smirked mischievously, catching her off guard.

The young woman blinked, realizing she had missed some of what she said. “Read what...?”

“Oh, your tea leaves, dear!” As if planning this to happen, the copper-haired elderly pulled a small top hat from beside her. Placing the hat on her head, she continued, “It’ll reveal your future!” Agatha watched as the new neighbor seemed unsure, but the elderly woman encouraged, “Go on, go on! Drink up! Not all of it though!”

Deciding why the hell not, she went along and picked up her teacup from the tray. Holding it delicately as she downed the warm fresh liquid, drinking drown to the last drops until the very bottom of the teacup was filled just a bit.

“Now let’s see what fate has in store for you!” Agatha took the teacup from her hands, squinting down as she moved the cup so the remnants swished back and forth. The dim lighting cast an eerie glow on her wrinkled face and chubby cheeks. The copper-haired woman gasped, “Ohhh... Oh, (Y/n)! (Y/n), my dear, dear, dear child! You are in grave danger!”

Wilma reached over and snatched the top hat, mistaking it for the teacup. Noticing the poor young woman’s frightened reaction as she scolded her partner, “Oh, give me that cup, Agatha! Your eyesight is going!”

”My eyesight?” Agatha scoffed, offended at the mere thought. Grabbing Wilma by her coat sleeve, turning her to face her and taking back her top hat as she snapped back, “You’re blind as a bat!”

The white-haired old woman ignored the insult as she accepted the teacup, placing on her glasses which she squinted through to properly examine the tea leaves. “Let’s see, let’s see... Ah! Not to worry, child! It’s good news!” Wilma assured as she readjusted her glasses, taking a better look as she announced, “I see a tall handsome beast in your future? But... aren’t you married already?”

”I am! I can’t picture myself with anyone other than my husband.” She attempted to brush off her prediction of her future. Perhaps it was better if she hadn’t allowed them to read her fate in the first place.

Agatha rolled her eyes, pulling on Wilma’s sleeve again as she received the teacup back. Pointing out the spots as she clarified, “Wilma, you’re holding it wrong. See? Danger!”

(Y/n) watched as the old couple squinted to analyze the bottom of the teacup, both with their own opinion on what it meant. Although, she was curious, “What do you see?”

”I see a very peculiar hand...!”

Wilma huffed, turning the cup around as she replied, “Well I see a giraffe!”

Dismissing the thought, Agatha hopped off her chair, “Giraffes just don’t fall from the sky, Wilma!”

”Well, what do you ladies recommend I do?”

The two elderly ladies began to list their own superstitions, warning the young woman as they discreetly pushed each other to be at the center of attention.

”Never wear green in your dressing room!”

”Acquire a very tall step ladder!”

”And be very very careful-! Now! Was there something you came to tell us?”

(Y/n) shook her head no in response as they leaned forward in interest. Standing from her seat and picking up her coat, she watched as the trio of pups jumped at the opportunity to settle themselves on the couch. “No, I guess not... But thank you for the tea, it was very nice meeting you.”

”Toodle-oo!”

”Cherry-bye!”

The young woman made her way to the exit, shrugging on her coat as she stepped into the dark hallway. She could hear the elderly couple begin to chat away, bickering once again. The noise of their voices conversing only vanished once she exited the basement and stepped up the concrete steps into the foggy day.

Stepping along, she noticed that with each step the fog swished from beneath her feet and below her knees like a blanket of clouds decided to cover the earth like snow. Fishing her phone from her pocket, she checked the time. Only an hour had passed, it was now 9:45 in the morning. It wasn't likely that she would get another moment with Kage like that unless he took a rare break at a random time, or until the next morning as he was preparing his tea. Sighing, she kicked the dirt with her rubber boots, kicking a rock that struck something in the distance.

"Hisss!" A familiar puff of fur jumped up onto a fallen tree, angrily yeowling and hissing at the young girl.

She must've kicked a rock or pebble to the cat on accident, she realized. It wasn't her fault, it's not like she noticed the feline with all the fog on the ground. As she stepped closer, the cat arched it's back, warning the human to stay away. "Oh, stop it. I'm not gonna do anything. Scaredy cat." (Y/n) scoffed, crouching down so she looked up at the stray. "Come to visit? I don't have any food for you."

The cat slowly relaxed, the feline steadily sitting down on the mossy bark. Only now did she notice this cat had different colored eyes, one was yellow and the other was blue. It’s unwavering gaze concentrated on her.

”Don’t tell me you’re a neighbor too? That makes you the fourth one.” She held her head up, propped up by her palms as she looked up at her supposed neighbor.

The stray cat licked its paw, no longer interested in the human. A light purr emitting from its chest, prying its gaze away.

(Y/n) huffed, crossing her arms as she stood, "You don't listen either, you're just like him. At least, you both don't listen for long..." Seeing the feline look at her once again, she was not surprised to see him jump off the fallen tree and disappear underneath the blanket of fog, only his tail poking out marking his location as he wandered off. Leaving her alone once again.

End of Act I

#yandere #yandere guy #yandere male #yandere scenario #yandere writing #yandere imagines #yandere oc #yandere author #yandere x darling #yandere x you #yandere x reader #yandere x y/n #yandere au #coraline #shinyjr #shiny-jr #yandere husband #buttons

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sevlgi · 3 years

Text

would it be so bad

requested: yes

group: twice

pairing: tzuyu x fem!reader

genre: fluff, angst

contents: hogwarts!au, quidditch player!tzuyu, rivals!au. [23/33]

warnings: none

synopsis: You’ve never exactly been the bright kind, at least not when it comes to love. Would it be so bad to realize your feelings for your partner in crime, though?

a/n: i decided to make the reader’s house ambiguous lol but i hope you enjoy! (also i realize that this isn’t british english, please excuse my idiot american english). i was originally gonna post this tomorrow in time for “cry for me”, but i realized that i should be respectful to jonghyun, and i will not be posting tomorrow ❤

word count: 5.3k

“Tzuyu Chou and Y/N Y/L/N. Why is it that whenever something happens, it is always you two?”

The Slytherin standing beside you in McGonagall’s office stood as impassive as ever, no emotion to be found in her blank expression or her perfect posture. Perhaps that was a thing that Snape taught to his favorite students-- the ability to wipe any guilt or liability off your face in an instant, to stay steadfast in any situation.

Or maybe that was just Tzuyu’s own charm, you noted as you swayed back and forth on the balls of your feet, turning slightly so that you could view her side profile in your peripheral vision. Merlin’s balls, she’s gorgeous, you sighed to yourself, unable to take your eyes off the girl who had been your rival since before birth.

Instantly, you regretted it. “Y/L/N! Have something to say to Ms. Chou?” the professor snapped, the book she threw to the desk making a sharp cracking noise as you faced her again with your fingers knotted behind your back.

“No, ma’am,” you answered, moving your hand to zip your lips shut. Despite McGonagall’s exasperated sigh, a smile quirked at the corner of her lips; she’d always been kinder than she expressed on the outside, and that seemed to be no exception when it came to you.

“You do realize that you can’t get away with decimating the Quidditch pitch, do you?” The witch sat sternly at her desk, a quill scribbling on parchment of its own accord beside her. “It’ll cost thousands of Galleons to repair, and it may not even be possible to do so before the season begins. The two of you collapsed it!”

Tzuyu spoke for the first time since being called into the Headmaster’s office, her eyes still trained on the wall next to McGonagall’s head. “If I may. I believe I did more damage.”

“That is not a thing to be proud of!” Standing, the woman clenched her fists tightly and you smiled at the affect the two of you were able to have on her. No one had seemed to infuriate her quite so much since James Potter; even the Weasley twins were overshadowed as soon as you and Tzuyu sat on the Sorting Hat’s stool. “I realize that you may think you’re carrying on your families’ legacies, or that you’re gaining fame for your antics, but you will not pass your 6th year if you keep this up. I will make sure of it personally.”

“Understood, Headmaster,” you bowed. Your voice was still noticeably singsong-y, and McGonagall bristled at the tone, but she said nothing as Tzuyu followed your lead in dipping her head. “Won’t happen again.”

Had it been any of the other teachers, you were sure that you wouldn’t have been allowed to leave without a year’s detention, but the Headmaster merely pursed her lips and waved her office door open. “Very well. I expect to see you in Transfiguration tomorrow and not caving in the North Tower.”

And as soon as the (not-so) imposing wooden doors slammed shut behind the two of you, Tzuyu raised an eyebrow. “Did you mean it when you said it wouldn’t happen again?”

“Of course not,” you grinned in response, relaxing into a comfortable slouch again. “I just meant we wouldn’t collapse the Quidditch Pitch again. It’s too boring to do the same thing twice.”

She scoffed and followed as you swayed down the hallway, her voice a bit too quiet to echo off the stone walls like yours did. “Of course. And what exactly do you have next, Y/L/N? You won’t be able to one-up my Hogsmeade stunt, I’ll have you know. My parents taught me well.”

“Your parents were nowhere close to mine,” you sniffed, stopping to wave at Fred Weasley’s portrait on the wall. He wasn’t inside, of course, probably off to bother someone, but you liked seeing the heaps of unused pranks piled underneath the frame as offerings. “Which means that you’ll never get on my level either.”

Tzuyu easily caught up to you with her long legs, the slightly-too-short Slytherin robe swishing about her ankles. But no matter how much she annoyed you, the wintery sunlight shined brilliantly on the planes of her face, pooling in the dark color of her eyes. There was that kind of beauty to her that instantly told you she was a Slytherin, a kind of untouchable coldness that didn’t match the warmth hidden inside her heart. “Tell that to the amount of detention I’ve been forced to do,” she protested. “I had hours last week, while you--”

“Never seen a Slytherin so eager to serve detention.” Fred had returned, leaning on an empty portrait’s wall with a familiar smirk on his face. “Y/L/N, Tzuyu. Any mischief to let me in on?”

“McGonagall nabbed us for wrecking the Quidditch Pitch,” Tzuyu rushed to explain before you, a hint of pride sparking in her eyes when she beat you to the punch. “It’s collapsed. And all my doing.”

“Your-” You shoved her, hands colliding with her arm slightly harder than you meant to. But you didn’t bother to apologize, declaring, “I’ll have you know that I did more. I collapsed two of the bleachers, for Merlin’s sake!”

Fred watched the exchange with amusement, egging you on when Tzuyu glared at you. “Go on, pick a fight. You’re right outside old Flitwick’s classroom, though. I’m sure he won’t be too happy for the resident couple of troublemakers to interrupt lecturing first years on Charms.”

“We aren’t a couple,” Tzuyu blurted, stepping back from where she’d been inches away from your throat with her wand. You stared at her in confusion; when had Fred mentioned the two of you to be dating? “Just-- I don’t even like her.”

There was an all-knowing smile on the portrait’s face that you didn’t like, an expression that must’ve been passed on to his nephews as well judging by how often you saw it. “I know. Didn’t even mention that, really.”

“Yeah, Tzuyu, the hell?” When she avoided your gaze, you sighed and grabbed her arm, ignoring how she attempted to pull away at first. “Well, good seeing you, Fred. I’ll let you know how the next attempt goes.”

“Good luck!” he called out as you left. “She’s a stubborn one.”

You stopped at one of the arches leading out to the courtyard, your back to the students idly roaming. Tzuyu still avoided your gaze, crossing her arms and running her thumb over the engravings on her wand. “Hey. What was that about, Chou?”

She hesitated to answer even with her lips parted, and the bell that rang loudly in your ears served as her excuse. “Well, you heard it. Time for potions, don’t want to fail out.”

She walked off, ignoring the group of 4th year boys staring at her with parchment scrolls crumpled in their hands. But your brow was knitted as you stared at her retreating silhouette, and at the way that she walked too fast to notice Dahyun and Chaeyoung raising their hands to wave at her. “Since when have you cared about that?”

Mina and Chaeyoung were disgustingly adorable at the dining table, but you were grateful enough for their company that you didn’t really care. “Maybe we should get Tzuyu’s ears checked,” Mina chuckled as she took a bite of the cake that her girlfriend fed her. “It’s not unlike Fred to say those things, but it is unlike her to take it so seriously.”

“Right? I didn’t think he was insinuating us to be a couple at all,” you frowned, digging into the treacle tart that you’d been picking at for the past hour. To be honest, you weren’t all that hungry, your mind only fixated on your friend/rival. “Do you think something else is going on?”

Chaeyoung shrugged, lips jutting out in a pout as she thought. “If it was anyone else, I’d think she was shaken up from being lectured by McGonagall. But it’s you two, so I doubt it. Double Troublemakers, aren’t you?”

“Double Troublemakers,” you snickered. “Jeongyeon really didn’t know what she was doing, coming up with that name first year.”

Jeongyeon herself, passing by on Nayeon’s arm, shouted out in protest and threw a balled-up handkerchief at your head. “Watch out, Y/N, I’m not scared of you and your pranks.”

“You should be,” you shouted back, incinerating the ball with a simple spell. “Tzuyu’s not going to protect you from me!”

“Hey, hey, speaking of Tzuyu, shouldn’t you be helping her with a potion right now?” Mina mentioned, tapping your arm. “I think you promised to help her at half past seven, and it’s already eight.”

Your eyes widened to the size of a house elf’s, and you scrambled up. “Oh, bloody hell. Thanks for the reminder, she’s going to be pissed.”

Chaeyoung commented offhandedly, “I don’t think she’ll be too pissed off at you.” But you didn’t pay too much mind, rushing out into the icy hallway and leaving your half-finished dessert behind with your friends. You cursed yourself for not bringing your scarf to dinner as you rushed to the Potions wing; for whatever reason, Snape insisted on charming that specific tower to be at the level of the Arctic Ocean. Tzuyu never seemed to mind, but it wasn’t comfortable when you only had your house robes to protect you from the chill.

The door banged into the stone wall unflatteringly, but the Slytherin girl didn’t even bother to look up from her cauldron. “Tzuyu, I’m so sorry--”

“It’s fine, Y/N,” she sighed, flashing you a quick smile as she snapped her book shut. “Just gave me some more time to memorize the potion.”

As you rounded the corner of the huge table, you peered at the array of ingredients laid out. Potions had never been your strong suit-- you’d usually been too busy pranking Jihyo than listening-- and you had no clue what you were supposed to be making whatsoever. “Uh. How am I supposed to help you if I don’t have a recipe?”

Tzuyu raised her eyebrow slightly at you, tying her hair up loosely and motioning for you to do the same as she lit a flame under the cauldron. “Just do what I tell you. It’s not difficult. Besides, I’m going to be working with Dahyun on this, I need to practice how to give directions.”

“Are you jabbing at my Potions skills, Chou?” you rolled your eyes, taking off your cloak. Despite the chill of the potions wing, the other girl had evidently cast a spell that made it boiling hot in the classroom, leaving you in a normal sweater embroidered with the crest of your house.

She didn’t answer, handing you a plant to cut open inside. “By the way. You aren’t wearing any perfume, are you?” Tzuyu asked suddenly, avoiding your gaze as she ground pearl dust even finer in a stone mortar. “It distracts me, don’t look at me like that.”

“You being close enough to smell my perfume is out of the ordinary,” you snorted in response, sprinkling the peppermint into the boiling water. “But no. I’m not wearing any.”

The thing about working with Tzuyu was that everything usually ended up in silence. Not uncomfortable silence, but the kind that made you focus on the way that the candles cast a warm light onto the wooden tables, and the kind that made you notice the smell of the opened potion books. As the girl stirred in more and more ingredients, though, and as colored steam rose from the cauldron, the musty scent of parchment and tinny metal was replaced with--

A clatter sounded as Tzuyu shoved the cauldron over, the potion fizzing when it met the table. You could only stare as your hard work spilled out of the pewter cauldron rolling on the table, but the other girl spoke before you. “O-oh. I’m sorry, I think you should go. I can clean this up myself.”

“I... are you sure? I can help,” you offered, reaching for your robes nonetheless.

“I’m fine. Go.” Her voice was strange, like she wanted to say something to you but was holding it in, but you didn’t comment on it. Despite everything the two of you had been through together, you realized that you didn’t really have a right to ask more out of the girl; you didn’t know her outside of bickering, after all.

When you closed the classroom door softly behind you, though, you realized that you could still smell the potion’s aftermath in a cloud around you. Kerosene, like the kind you used to blow up the stadium a week ago, bitter chocolate, and the faintest hint of the house elves’ kitchen when you snuck in to steal Tzuyu’s favorite bread.

It was the kind of familiar that made you miss it while it was still here, like a ghost that you couldn’t grasp and hold close to your heart in the way that you desperately wished you could. And it made you stare at the closed door of the classroom, listen closer to the sound of Tzuyu mopping up the spilled potion by hand even though she didn’t have to.

It was weird, that’s what it was.

Momo and Nayeon clutched onto each other as you shined the light of your wand into the dark. Tzuyu was just behind you with her own wand held overhead; you were pretty sure that you could see Sana clutching onto the Slytherin’s arm and cowering behind the tallest girl of the group. “Are... are you sure that this is a good idea?” Jihyo asked, her voice uncharacteristically small.

“Ah, come on. It’s one of the Marauders’ abandoned tunnels, who knows what we could find?” you persuaded, turning back to grin at them. When no one reciprocated, you switched to a pout instead. “Rude.”

“We’ll split like this.” Tzuyu waved her wand between the eight remaining girls, parting them like the red sea into two groups. “Nayeon and Momo, you split, you’re too scared to be in one group together. Y/N and I will go together.”

Dahyun wiggled her eyebrows at that. “Ooh. Together, huh? Just the two of you?”

Even in the darkness of the tunnel, you could see Tzuyu’s cheeks flush brightly. She stabbed her wand in front of her in an attempt to shine the light away from her face, muttering out, “Let’s go.”

You waved goodbye at your friends, being tugged forward by the Slytherin girl and nearly tripping over the tree roots winding through the tunnel. “H-hey, why’re you walking so fast? Trying to kill me, Chou?”

“If I killed you, there wouldn’t be any fun in prank wars.” She glanced back at you, eyes straying to the map that you had clutched in your hand. “Where’d you get that, by the way?”

“Fred,” you answered, waving the scroll around. It was stained, of course, with the pumpkin juice that Sana had spilled on you that morning, and with the ink that you had smeared when copying down the Weasley’s overly complicated instructions. “He said that something in here’s going to help us with whatever we plan to do next.”

Tzuyu frowned at you slightly, still pushing aside cobwebs and vines to forge further down the tunnel. “Did you tell him about the rig we’re going to set up for McGonagall?”

You shrugged and peered down at a cockroach skittering over the dirty ground. “Of course not. Fred may be a legend, but legends don’t get treated any differently when it comes to knowledge about Double Trouble’s plans.”

“I hate that name.” Tzuyu stepped through another archway into a tiny cave, a rough stone throne with a button on the armchair the only thing inside. She flicked her eyes over, nodding her head at the chair. “This it?”

You lunged forward, pressing down on the button before you could have any regrets. “Only one way to know.”

And-- nothing happened whatsoever. Your partner in crime stood there with crossed arms, the backs of her calves almost hitting the stone of the throne. “What’s supposed to happ--”

A strong gust of wind, stronger than anything you’d ever felt before, punched all the breath out of you and sent you flying, the force of your body knocking Tzuyu onto the chair. To prevent injury, your hands flew out in front of you and pressed into the crumbly dirt wall on either side of Tzuyu’s head, your knees probably bruising with how hard they hit the stone.

When you opened your eyes, previously squeezed shut, you found yourself sitting on the lap of the Slytherin girl, her hands hovering on either side of your waist and your foreheads almost pressed together. She looked somewhat shocked, eyes wide and her breath shivering on your lips.

Before you could apologize and scramble off, though, you were interrupted by someone coughing at the entrance. “Dahyun’s right, apparently.”

You leaped off of Tzuyu’s lap faster than you could’ve thought possible, heat burning at your ears when you found Jeongyeon and Nayeon smirking at the entrance at the cave. “S-so. Uh. You found anything?” you questioned, attempting not to look directly at either of them.

“Nah,” Jeongyeon answered after a pause, apparently feeling merciful. “I think Fred was messing with you.”

“Damn,” you breathed out, adjusting the collar of your sweater to be perfectly straight. All of a sudden, it was too warm underground, and the heavy robe you wore was pulling you down into the ground. Maybe that last part was wishful thinking. “Let’s go, then. I’ll go get Momo’s group,” you volunteered, brushing past your friends into the tunnels again.

Tzuyu didn’t follow, thankfully, because you didn’t need anything else confusing your senses with the smell of kerosene, chocolate, and sourdough bread wafting past your nose already.

“GO MOMO!”

You cheered louder than anyone else in the bleachers, maybe except for Jihyo, who was practically hanging off the railing as she waved a banner for your Hufflepuff friends.

Chaeyoung laughed, her nose bright red in the winter chill. Sana and Momo waved at you and all her friends as they strolled out with the rest of her team, hands gloved and what seemed to be 3 scarves wrapped around both of their necks. But you were holding in the loudest cheer of all for when the Slytherin team descended to the pitch, and you raised your voice even more when Tzuyu appeared with her broom in her hand.

Unlike Jihyo, she looked nervous, face drawn tight as she stopped with the rest of her team on the grass. She only wore her usual green robes, wisps of caramel brown hair fluttering about her face, but she was more stunning than anyone else in the entirety of Hogwarts. “CHOU TZUYU, YOU KICK THEIR ASSES!”

She looked up in surprise at your shout, a small smile coming onto her face when she spotted you clustered among your friends, all dressed in contrasting house colors but cheering for the same people. You only waved harder when she stared at you, almost hitting Jihyo in the face when you swung both arms in opposite directions.

And when the game started, it was just as chaotic as it ever was to be sitting on the bleachers. Jihyo, who played for Gryffindor, and Chaeyoung for the Ravenclaw team, were thankfully undivided this time, merely screaming their friends’ names instead of houses. Usually, you were next to someone much quieter in their support, a certain Slytherin who was dominating the field instead.

“And Tzuyu scores! Brilliant Chaser, this one, and gorgeous, too, if Y/L/N would just take the hint!” Felix shouted out at the announcer’s podium, his usually growling voice higher pitched to be heard over the crowd’s shouts.

No one seemed to hear him, not even your friends as they thrusted the Slytherin banner up in the air and whooped. You and Tzuyu both stopped in your tracks, staring blankly at the tiny blonde dot that was Lee Felix. For the Chaser, though, it turned out to be much more dangerous, as a Bludger hit by a Hufflepuff Beater slammed into her right below her right arm.

Everything went silent, a dolphin-like tone ringing in your ears as you watched Tzuyu plummet down to the ground. With the way her hair streamed in the wind, you’d think she was floating, but you were cruelly brought back to reality when she hit the ground like a bag of loose bones, a sharp whistle from Madam Hooch making time move normally again.

“Tzuyu,” you gasped, stumbling back into Dahyun, who didn’t complain. “Tz--”

“Three fractured ribs, along with a completely shattered wrist. Can someone tell me what she was looking at?”

Your nails tightened on the skin of your palms as you stared at the wrinkled bedsheet underneath Tzuyu’s good hand, your foot tapping relentlessly against the tile of the hospital wing. Perhaps Jihyo and Mina, talking quietly with Madam Pomfrey, didn’t think you could hear them talk, but every word of theirs echoed unfortunately loudly in the otherwise empty wing. You couldn’t bring yourself to look at Tzuyu, or at the violent purple bruises all along her right side, or at her frail and newly healed wrist cradled to her chest as she slept.

“I’m sorry, Madam Pomfrey. Sana... Sana and I asked Felix to say it as a joke, we didn’t think that Tzuyu would be so surprised,” Jihyo sighed. “And we didn’t think that Steelman would take advantage and hit her so hard.”

Pomfrey was quiet for a second, and the jagged tip of your nails nearly ripped your skin as you waited for one of them to speak. “I see. Well, I do believe you had good intentions, all of you. I will be speaking with Ms. Steelman about her actions, but Quidditch is tough sometimes. Please, refrain from asking Mr. Lee to play such jokes from now on.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Mina joined you first, her hand a comforting weight on your shoulder. “Don’t blame yourself, Y/N.”

“Who said I was blaming myself?” you laughed listlessly, shaking your head. “Who am I kidding? I am blaming myself. Because it’s my fault. It isn’t Felix’s for playing an innocent joke, and it isn’t Jihyo and Sana’s--”

Jihyo shook her head as she knelt near you, her head obstructing the view of Tzuyu’s sleep-peaceful expression. “Y/N, please. You couldn’t have gotten there on time. It’s none of our faults, okay? Besides, we shouldn’t... we shouldn’t have rushed you on this.”

“What?” you blinked up at your friends. “Rushed me?”

They exchanged looks, Mina closing her mouth when the Gryffindor girl shook her head in warning. “I think it’s best for you to find it out on your own time. Because you will,” Jihyo smiled. “I have faith in you, Y/N. Now, don’t stay here too late, Pomfrey will take care of Tzuyu just fine.”

“Seriously,” Mina warned as she retreated, the sympathy in her eyes the last thing that you wanted to see. “Sleep early!”

You raised a hand in farewell, sighing and leaning back in your chair once they were gone. Your friends meant well, of course, and you genuinely didn’t blame anyone for the incident, but you couldn’t help but think about what you could’ve done to save Tzuyu. There must’ve been some spell, some prank mechanism that would’ve done something...

And just like that, hours passed. The sky had begun to turn back to cloudy blue-grey from the black of the night by the time you found your head drooping onto your arms; you had draped one of the blankets that Pomfrey left behind over your own shoulders, your hair loose and splaying out at the foot of the bed when your friend woke up. “Y/N?”

Blinking blearily, you found Tzuyu staring blankly at you. “Why’re you still here? It’s almost dawn.”

There should have only been one answer at the tip of your tongue-- “I was worried” or “I couldn’t leave you alone” or something normal-- but instead, you found answers to questions that you didn’t remember asking just begging to be let out.

Because the potion that you had made all those weeks ago was Amortentia, and it smelled like the kerosene that you used in so many prank wars with Tzuyu, and the bitter chocolate she tried to convince you to like. It smelled like the bread that you stole from the house elves to cheer her up, and it smelled like the vanilla hand lotion that you bought for her on Valentine’s day in 3rd year.

And she asked you whether you were wearing perfume because she wanted to know if Amortentia smelled like you for her, and Tzuyu must’ve knocked the cauldron over because it did. Because--

“You love me.”

You didn’t expect the jolt that shook the entire hospital bed, the Slytherin girl jerking back like you had burned her with your words. “I... what?” Her eyes darted back and forth as she bit down on her lip, almost scrambling back as your eyes began to shine with a revelation that turned your entire world upside down. “Y/N, what’re you talking about?”

Her fists were ice cold in your hands, her expression unrelenting as you attempted to persuade her to admit the truth that should’ve made sense all along. “Your Amortentia smelled like me, didn’t it? Because mine smelled like kerosene, and... and bread, and everything you like. And you reacted so intensely when Fred called us a couple because you like me,” you breathed with the biggest grin of your life on your face. “No, because you love me.”

Tzuyu shook her head and snatched her hands out of your grasp, clutching the bedsheets closer to her chest as if that would protect her from you or something. “You aren’t making sense right now, Y/N. I.. I want you to leave. Before you confuse me further.”

You stared at her for a good twenty seconds, at the girl who was avoiding your eyes like you had told her you’d murdered her mother. “Wh-what?”

“I want you to leave.” The Chaser’s voice sounded steady, but it wasn’t confident in the way that you knew it to be. There was something lying underneath that made her voice that of a stranger to you, and you obeyed it as you stood.

“Okay.”

Not another word slipped from your lips as you made your way out of the Hospital Wing, standing on the balcony of a silent castle with blankets still wrapped around your shoulders.

That definitely wasn’t how you expected anything to go.

For nearly a week, you spent your free blocks alone, poring mindlessly over all your books by the Great Lake. Nothing you read actually stuck in your mind, though, the words floating before your eyes in hurricanes of black ink. No matter how much Chaeyoung or Momo attempted to convince you, you wouldn’t go back to the hospital wing; instead, you asked Mina for updates, probably the only one of your friends who you knew wouldn’t pressure you to talk to Tzuyu.

Groaning, you collapsed down onto the grass, flicking your quill away from you. It wasn’t fun devising pranks and coming up with plans to rig the Headmaster’s office without her, and there was no real lure in winning when there was no one to win against. Instead of thinking about the water that you wanted to splatter down on McGonagall, you could only think about how to apologize to your friend, how to take back a truth that you weren’t sure you could forget yourself.

But with the way that she responded, could it mean that you were right? Was it possible that Tzuyu really loved you, and you... you really loved her back?

“Y/N?”

Your head jerked to look at the source of your voice, a crack sounding when you turned too fast. “Ow,” you mumbled, raising your hand up to cup the back of your neck. However, you were completely fixated on the slightly paler-looking girl, standing just a few feet away from you. “Uh. Hey?”

“Hey,” she smiled. So she’s not angry. Tzuyu wasn’t wearing her characteristic expensive robes for once, dressed instead in a pretty skirt that was too cold for the lakeside and a black coat slung over her shoulders. “You didn’t come to visit me.”

Shrugging, you reached over and cleared your books away for her to sit. “I figured you wouldn’t want me to.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” she frowned, plopping down beside you and crossing her legs. “You’re my friend.”

“Friend, huh?” You chuckled listlessly, leaning back with your arms supporting you. The surface of the Great Lake rippled softly, and you wondered whether there really was a squid inside that could drag you away from the awkwardness sitting between the two of you. “That’s it?”

Tzuyu laid her hand over yours, her skin cold from the spring weather. She almost looked like she pitied you even though she was the one fresh out of the hospital wing, and you hated that expression on her. “What do you mean? Should there be something else?”

If you were slightly less impulsive, you wouldn’t be scrambling to your feet, crossing you arms to stare in disbelief at the beautiful girl sitting cross-legged mere feet away from the Whomping Willow. “Are you serious? Tzuyu, are you just going to ignore everything we-- everything I said that night?”

She stood as well, her hands still reaching out for yours and her eyebrows furrowed. “Y/N, I wasn’t going to ignore it, I just don’t know how to talk about it. That.”

You scoffed, jerking away from her grasp. Some part of you thanked Merlin that you were alone, because you didn’t know if you wanted your friends witnessing anything that you knew was about to go down. “That. Answer me something, Chou. Would it be so bad to be with me? To admit that... that you love me. And I love you back?”

Tzuyu froze, her hands faltering in midair. “You love me back?”

“Of course I do!” And suddenly, you were rushing forward to meet her again, eyes pleading for her to understand how genuine you were being. “I meant it when I said so, and Amortentia doesn’t lie. Tell me, what did your potion smell like?”

She stammered out, “B- burning books. From the time we set the library on fire, and the stupid perfume you wear. Ink, because you refuse to use the pens that Jeongyeon bought you, and--”

You still paused a second before connecting your lips, giving Tzuyu time to back out, but she might’ve moved even faster than you so that her hands were wrapped around your waist. She tasted like chocolate and bread, too, and you smiled into the kiss when you realized that she probably stole from the kitchen before coming to find you.

The long, winding roots of some tree tripped you over, your back colliding with the grassy ground with a loud thump, but you didn’t care as the Slytherin girl landed right on top of you. “To-- to answer your question. It wouldn’t be bad at all, to be with you,” Tzuyu laughed breathily, her smile so much brighter than you ever remembered it to be. “I love you, Y/N.”

And instead of responding, you pulled her in again, lips moving against hers for maybe a minute before you were surprised by a bug that Tzuyu held up against your face. “Chou Tzuyu, you devil!”

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notyourdayrdream · 3 years

Text

Summer’s Almost Over (So Come Spend it with Me)

Day Thirty-one, Side A: Ostentatious

A/N: the final chapter :( i wanted to thank everyone who read either one chapter or all of them, it means so much. especially when i didn’t update for days at a time lol. i always knew what i wanted to do for the last chapter. this is a sequel to “for as long as you’re with me (or until my mama picks me up)” which takes place ten years after the original story ends. i’m posting it here and separately as an addition to the series. hope you enjoy :)

read it here on AO3

When Kurt was thirty-two, he pulled into a lake house in North Carolina.

Victoria was asleep in the backseat, her tiny three year old body propped up in her car seat. Blaine was asleep next to him, his head resting between the window and his shoulder. Kurt shook his arm lightly without taking his eyes off the gravel road. “Blaine, we’re here. Wake up.”

Blaine rose out of sleep slowly, stretching as much as he could in the confines of the rental car. He sat up and turned to Kurt. There was a reddened print from the seat belt adorably marking his face. “Where are my glasses?”

“Glove compartment,” Kurt said. He made a sharp turn right, which took them a bit closer to the water, where their rental house was.

Blaine smiled to himself and adjusted his frames. “Thank you. Oh, it’s so gorgeous.”

And it was. As they pulled into the gravel driveway, the house and the lake came into view. The sun shone down on the dark blue water and made it glisten. The brick pathway turned into a wooden one the closer it got to the lake, complete with a covered pier. The cottage itself was enclosed by trees and flowers. It seemed big from the outside, far too big for their family of three. There was a deck that swept over an entire side of the house, complete with two rocking chairs. An American flag lapped against the wind by the front door.

Kurt turned the key and practically ran out of the car, walking a bit to stretch his legs and cringing at the loud pops of his bones. God, he was getting old.

He watched from a distance as his husband pulled Victoria from the car, her sleeping body limp against his chest. Blaine seemed to speak softly to her, pointing at the lake and a small swing set. She gave a small nod, and her head lolled back onto his shoulder.

“Should I grab some bags?” Kurt called from his spot. He took a deep breath, and his nose tingled from the husky scent of the wood and water and smoke. Someone was grilling something.

“Let’s just check the place out first!” Blaine whisper-yelled back. “Then we can put this one down for a nap.”

The cottage was a high open concept, so big it shouldn’t even be considered a cottage. Blaine went to lay their daughter down while Kurt wandered aimlessly throughout the house. It was all wood, the same color top to bottom. It was honestly super ugly, but they were only staying a few days. Victoria’s first vacation that wasn’t in New York or to her grandparent’s house.

He was looking out across the water from the deck when he heard the sliding door creak open. “It’s pretty, isn’t it?” He asked without turning around.

Blaine hummed in agreement from behind him. “Tori’s gonna be out for a while. You wanna go on a walk?” He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Kurt’s middle. When he spoke again, his chin pressed against his shoulder. “Or we could stay inside and do other stuff.”

Kurt turned around so they would be facing each other,

looking at Blaine with a small smirk. “Other stuff?”

“Like sex stuff.” Blaine fumbled with the buttons of Kurt’s open cardigan, looking up at him through his eyelashes.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Kurt’s laugh turned into a soft sigh when Blaine began sucking on the skin just below his jawline. After nearly a decade of being together, Blaine knew just how much that spot drove him crazy.

“Like what?” Blaine asked innocently, taking small kitten licks at his neck. His hands started moving down to Kurt’s jeans, teasing around his belt.

Kurt pulled him in for a kiss, sweet and slow. Blaine completely curved into him, wrapping his arms around his waist. They pressed into each other, Kurt’s back against the wooden railing.

They pulled away, foreheads resting together. When Blaine smiled, Kurt felt his lips curve up against his.

“You should go on a walk,” Kurt whispered practically into his mouth. “I’ll have dinner ready when you get back.”

His husband looked up at him. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah.” When Blaine hesitated, Kurt laughed and pushed him gently forward. “Go ahead.”

Kurt watched him leave and walk down the pebble path that trailed around the entire lake. Far off in the water, a group of teens splashed around in the water, a few of them laying on inflatable tubes. The sun was in the midpoint between setting and bright.

While Blaine was gone, Kurt decided to bring all of their bags into the house. He put their clothes away (it was too hot to wear the few sweaters and pairs of cabin socks Blaine had brought) and slid the suitcases into the closet. Victoria woke up from her nap not much later, full of energy. They swung on the swing set for a while and Kurt looked across the lake for any sight of Blaine.

“You wanna help Daddy with dinner?” Kurt asked, stopping the swing. Victoria whipped her head around, curly brown hair swishing behind her and falling over her shoulder.

“Yes!” She squealed, hopping off the screen and racing back towards the house, completely forgetting about the swing. Kurt chased after her, too concerned that she may fall. The girl was a total handful, and he was already dreading how she would be when she grew up.

Victoria did more dancing and singing than cooking. She and Kurt sang along to eighties hits on the TV, turning the volume up so high it could be heard from outside the house. He was wearing a ‘kiss the cook’ apron he had found in one of the drawers. It was absolutely hideous and stained but Kurt couldn’t help but put it on.

He was spooning broccoli onto a plate when the front door opened and shut, Blaine setting his set of keys in the kitchen counter. He said something, but it wasn’t loud enough to cut through the sound of the Thompson Twins harmonizing.

“Tori!” Kurt yelled. “Turn that off please!” He switched off the gas stove and moved to take off the apron, when Blaine swatted his hand away and wrapped his arms around Kurt’s neck.

“Stop that, it’s cute,” he said, swaying them back and forth.

Kurt rolled his eyes yet smiled. “It’s gross.” He spun Blaine around during the instrumental section of “Hold Me Now” like it was their wedding night. They laughed, hearty and loud.

Blaine leaned forward and kissed him, short and sweet. “Well I like the instructions it gives.” He looked up at Kurt, tracing the words with his finger.

“You’re such a dork,” he shook his head and smiled. And Blaine was giving him that look, the one that made arousal unfurl in his stomach and the blood rush to his face.

And Blaine knew it. He gave him that look all throughout dinner, even sucking the sauce off his finger in a way that was dirty and deliberate. They washed dishes as a family like they usually did, even if it dissolved into a soap war when Victoria splashed Kurt with soapy water.

Blaine cleaned the floors and Kurt gave their daughter a bath quickly. When he closed the door to her room for the week behind him, the lights were off in the living room and kitchen, replaced by various candles that mixed scents in the room. His husband sat on the black leather couch and turned to him, his hair washed from his gel and curled.

“What’s this?” Kurt sat on the couch and tucked his feet under him, accepting the glass of wine Blaine had poured. The gas fireplace sat aglow.

Blaine shrugged. “I just love you is all.” And even after all this time, the three words still made Kurt’s heart swell.

“I love you too,” he murmured, setting his and Blaine’s glasses down and crowding his space, kissing him silent.

Blaine threw himself back onto the couch and pulled Kurt on top of him, opening his mouth so he could lick into the heat of it. It was constant, the rocking of Blaine’s hips under him and the helpless whine that made Kurt’s lips buzz.

He slid his hand under Blaine’s shirt to feel the taut skin underneath, flicking his nipples swiftly and reveling in the moan that followed.

“Kurt…” Blaine’s hands roamed to the curve of his ass, pushing him forward so their erections pressed together in a dirty suggestion of what they could be doing. “Fuck me.”

Kurt groaned and pushed him further into the couch cushions, rocking forward and cupping his cheek with his free hand. The softness of the moment cooled them down, and Blaine curled into the touch. It was only when Kurt heard the sound of his belt being undone that he sat up. The look on Blaine’s face was nearly comical, eyes going wide with confusion.

“I’m not having sex on a leather couch, especially one that isn’t ours.” He laughed. When he led Blaine back to the master bedroom, his back peeled off the couch with a sound like velcro. They’d have to pick up their clothes from the hallway later.

They laid in the hammock after peeling themselves out of bed, laying half on top of each other in their briefs and a thin blanket. The moon shone against the water and the stars twinkled in the black sky.

“The people next door have a Lambo,” Blaine hummed into Kurt’s bare chest. “They parked it right in the front yard.”

“How ostentatious,” he said, chuckling softly. They listened to the quiet sounds of the nature around them; the crickets and frogs in the trees and wind rustling the oak leaves above them. It was still hot, not as much as it had been in the afternoon. Kurt swung them back and forth with his foot digging into the dirt below them.

“Do you have any regrets?” Blaine asked suddenly, causing Kurt’s heart to stop. “I mean, if you could, would you go back and do anything differently.”

Kurt could barely form the question. “What’s this about?” His mind was racing to every possible bad situation; Blaine wanted a divorce, he had a secret lover, he had killed someone. A few of them seemed worse than the others.

“My dad called.”

“Oh,” Kurt felt the fear slip out of his body. “What did he want?”

“He wanted to see Victoria, he said he missed me,” Blaine explained in a quiet voice, edged with apprehension.

“He can see her on Instagram.” Kurt couldn’t help the venom that dripped from the sentence. Mr. Anderson had been nothing but rude to not only Kurt for as long as he could remember, but his own son too. He remembered having to console Blaine the day after his wedding when his dad hadn’t shown up. For all he cared,

Mr. Anderson didn’t deserve to see his granddaughter.

Blaine sighed and sat up a bit further on Kurt’s chest. “That’s not really the point, honey.” His voice sounded thick, and Kurt intertwined their fingers and squeezed his hand.

“He missed me. And, I don’t know, shouldn’t I give him a second chance?”

“But the things he’s said to you Blaine. The things he’s said to me.”

There was a pregnant silence after that.

After they went public with their relationship in their early twenties, David Anderson became even more cold and harsh that he was when they were teens. They didn’t talk about it often, but Blaine would mention how hard it was to live with him. The screaming, the fights, the insults dripping with homophobia. It was a unanimous decision between them and the Hummels to not engage with Mr. Anderson unless it was necessary. Blaine had agreed, but Kurt knew it had to hurt.

“Some people don’t deserve a second chance,” Kurt grumbled after a while.

“He’s my father, Kurt!”

Blaine threw his arms out at that, the force of it tipping the hammock and sending the two of them sprawling onto the hard dirt ground.

“Oh my God, Blaine!” Kurt sat up immediately, ignoring the sharp stab of pain in his side. “Honey, are you okay?”

Blaine was laying still on his side, unmoving. Kurt’s blood ran cold. They had fallen pretty hard from a solidly high distance. Kurt crawled over to his husband, tears threatening to spill from his eyes when he still didn’t move.

“Blaine, please get up,” Kurt cried. It was too late to go for help, and holy shit, he had just killed his husband…

And then he heard laughter, and Blaine moved as if he were shivering.

Blaine sat up, tears spilling from his eyes as he laughed. He touched his head gingerly and winced. “Ow,” he groaned. Kurt could’ve passed out. But he started crying instead.

“Oh, Kurt.” Blaine pulled him closer, holding him in his arms.

In hindsight, Kurt felt a bit embarrassed about crying over a three foot fall. But it was the first time in a long time that he thought he had actually lost Blaine. And the emptiness from it terrified it just as much as it did the first time.

“Shh, Kurt. I’m okay,” Blaine said through a chuckle, kissing him on the forehead. Kurt gripped his shirt like it was the only thing holding him to the earth. “We’re okay.”

Blaine and Kurt went inside shortly after that, with the latter demanding Blaine should hold a bag of frozen peaches to his head. They fell asleep at nearly one in the morning after checking on Victoria and dusting dirt off their pajamas.

Kurt awoke with a jolt, sitting up to find the other side of the bed empty. The sun was just beginning to peek out from the horizon, a soft yellow glow in the window.

He slipped on a pair of slides and dragged a blanket with him outside onto the deck, stretching his arms over his head. Most of the lights in the other lake houses were off, and the only other person he saw was a woman walking a small dog. Until he caught his husband’s eye down at the dock.

It sometimes hit Kurt like a wave how handsome Blaine was, even from far away. His hair wasn’t his usual morning bird’s nest, combed down and contained just enough for Kurt to know he had brushed it. His muscles popped out of the thin long sleeve shirt he slept in, and when he smiled, his brown eyes crinkled.

“Awwh, Blaine!” Kurt gasped, looking down at the scene in front of him.

“Okay, okay,” Blaine stepped in front of him and adjusted his glasses. “Remember when we went out on our first date as boyfriends?”

“You mean when we got breakfast after I jumped you in your own apartment? Yes I do,” he grinned, already knowing where this was going.

Blaine nodded. “Right, and we went to that crappy diner and when I got steak and eggs you got—”

“Cheesecake,” Kurt pointed at the New York Style cheesecake sitting on a checkered blanket, raspberries and mint leaf sitting perfectly on top. “You made me cheesecake?”

Blaine’s smile faltered only slightly. “Um. Well about that. I tried to, I had the recipe and everything. And then I forgot the cheesecake dish at home.” Ah, so that was why Blaine seemed so freaked out when he looked through the bag of food after they left. “So I ordered one.”

“It’s perfect,” Kurt whispered and sat down at the edge of the dock, legs swinging over the edge.

“You’re my family, Kurt. You and Tori,” Blaine said as he sat down next to him. “I don’t need anything else. I just need you two.” He pulled a bottle of champagne and two glasses from behind him, pouring way too much.

Kurt opened his arms and wrapped them both in his blanket, cheesecake forgotten. For now. “Here’s to ten years of us.”

“More like twenty-five, if you include those years of pining,” Kurt interjected, much to Blaine’s chagrin.

“Fine, ten years of marriage,” he knocked against Kurt’s shoulder. “And to ten more.”

He looked down, feigning shock. “Only ten?”

Blaine just rocked forward and kissed Kurt’s cheek. “Happy anniversary, Kurt.” he smiled and took a sip of champagne, curling into his side and looking out across the water. There was nothing. more to say, not for now. They had everything they needed.

#tan lines and tan hands #glee #klaine fic #blaine anderson #kurt hummel #this was so fun to write #i missed writing this version of these characters #they’re so cute

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collecting-stories · 4 years

Text

The Beach Day - ep. 02 - JJ Maybank

Summary: It’s the second day of s’week and your group decides to hit up the beach. Issues before and after put a damper on the vacation but the events of the day might just bring you and JJ closer together.

The S’week Masterlist | Outer Banks Masterlist

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“Beach day bitches!” JJ shouted, footsteps thudding down the steps as he entered the kitchen. Sarah was slumped over the island, scrolling mindlessly through her instagram feed while you sat across from her on your computer. 

“How’re you not hung over?” Sarah asked, turning just enough to glare at her boyfriend’s best friend. 

“Cause I didn’t drink my body weight in four locos?” JJ shrugged.

“You say as you down a natty for breakfast,” you mentioned, watching him stand in the doorway of the refrigerator as he drank. 

Sarah and John B had joined you on the beach the night before where Sarah had gotten absolutely cooked because she ‘couldn’t deal with JJ’ while she was sober. While the three of you split a case of Pabst, Sarah had accumulated as many blue four locos as she could find and proceeded to drink until John B had to carry her back to your house. 

“I need a shower and like three more hours of sleep before I even think about the beach.” Sarah mentioned, coming back around to JJ’s original idea. 

“Is the point of s’week not to go to the beach?” 

“And I will JJ, when I’m not practically dead. I came down here for some ginger ale, sorry I’m not standing at the door ready to go.” Sarah snapped, sitting up enough to glare at JJ. 

“You guys are super fun to vacation with clearly,” you cut in, closing your laptop, “I have to go to the market before we hit the beach so...do you wanna come JJ?” 

You figured the best plan of action you could possibly have for this vacation, especially after yesterday, was to keep JJ and Sarah away from each other. If they could survive five days without murdering each other in the house it would only be because they didn’t spend any time together sober. Which seemed fine with both of them. 

Sarah got off the island stool, taking her phone and leaving the half empty can of ginger ale as she went back upstairs to find her boyfriend. Possibly to take the shower she claimed she needed but probably just to wake up John B and complain about JJ’s attitude all over again. 

“Morning,” Pope passed Sarah on the stairs, coming into the kitchen and grabbing a water bottle, “what’s with her?”

“Hang over,” you replied, “If you and Kie want to wait to go to the beach, I’m just running to the market with JJ and then we can all go?” 

“Yeah sure,” Pope nodded in agreement as you excused yourself to get changed. When you were out of the kitchen Pope turned his attention to JJ, who was rummaging through cabinets for something to eat. “I thought you ‘didn’t want to spend senior week with a bunch of fucking kooks’?” 

JJ paused in his search, looking back over his shoulder at Pope, schooling his expression into one of indifference. “Keep your enemies close Pope.” He replied, “and if they wanna buy you some free food then fucking let ‘em.” 

“You know, she does seem nice.” Pope reasoned. He knew his friend well enough to pick up on tells. JJ could pretend like he wasn’t as easily swayed by a cute girl but truth of the matter was that he was looking for the same thing John B and Pope had seemed to obtain. Someone in their lives a little closer than a friend. 

“Don’t try to make it something it’s not.” JJ replied, grabbing a bag of Frozen themed graham crackers and shutting the cabinet. 

You came down the stairs at the same moment, changed into different clothes to go out. “Okay, I’m ready.” 

JJ sat with his feet up on the dash, black scuffed boots leaving dirty prints on the glove compartment of your ‘88 land cruiser. He fiddled with his phone the whole time, switching between playlists as you drove. You’d given him the aux cord willingly, knowing that Kiara has good taste in music from the years at the academy with her and assuming her friends were the same way. 

“This car isn’t very kook of you,” JJ mentioned as he plugged his phone in, noting the old tape deck adapter that the cord plugged into. 

“I think you’re obsessed with that word.” You replied. 

“What? Kook?” 

“Yeah...is it possible for you to not say it for the next four and a half days?” You asked, looking over at him briefly as you stopped at a red light. 

“Of course it is.” 

“Okay, it’s a bet then.” 

“What do I get if I win?” He asked switching to another song when one he didn’t care for came on. 

“You can decide when you win.” You replied, “also, to ease your concern for my car, my dad’s not really into all that ‘kook’ shit. My grandparents are, hence the keys house but my dad tries not to flash his money.” 

“I’ve never met a k-never met anybody on the Eight that doesn’t.” JJ replied. 

“Well I think it was established yesterday that we should get to know each other more.” 

The Winn-Dixie you took him to was a little further away than necessary but it was your favorite, a little less updated, it reminded you of coming down in the summers as a kid. 

JJ was out of the car the second you pulled into a spot, grinning as he looked toward the entrance. There in the front of the store, between the set of sliding glass doors, was a mechanical horse that looked straight out of the 80’s. “I’m getting on that before we leave.” 

“I think you’ll break it.”

“I think you’ll break it.” He snarked back and you couldn’t help but laugh as you followed him inside. 

“Hey!” 

You turned in the frozen food aisle when you heard someone call your name. Kelce waved as he walked over, pushing a half-cart of food. 

“Hey, Kelce.” You greeted, shouldering the door to the Ben and Jerry’s display. “How’s the rental?”

“Pretty sweet. Heard you got Sarah and her friends at your place?” He replied, gaze shifting passed you as he spotted JJ at the top of the aisle. “Scarlett saw you two at the party last night. She told Rafe.”

You looked back as the blond approached, smiling at him before turning back to Kelce, “Scarlett can tell Rafe whatever the fuck she wants. I don’t really care. My life is none of his business.”

JJ came up beside you, missing the entirety of the conversation, putting an arm over your shoulder for the sake of Kelce, while he dropped some orange juice in the cart. Kelce looked both of you over, an expression of annoyance and contempt marring his features. He wasn’t a big fan of Rafe but he would defend a fellow kook, especially a friend of Topper’s, over you any day. You flew under the radar when you hung out with them, and they tolerated you because your family had more money than most, but you were far from the typical kook.

“I better get going.” Kelce finally said, shifting his cart to walk passed you, “make sure you check all your silverware before they leave.”

Before he could pass you completely JJ’s hand grabbed the end of his cart and he stepped in front of Kelce. “What’d you say?”

“I swear to god, if you two make a scene right now-” You groaned, annoyed as it was that Kelce had brought up your ex-boyfriend or the fact that they were in creeping distance of your house. And now he was being an asshole to JJ.

“Hey, I’m just stating a fact.” Kelce said, grinning, “you got sticky fingers just like your old man-”

JJ shoved Kelce’s cart back, pushing it into him stepping closer. You grabbed JJ’s arm to stop him from doing any more damage. You didn’t honestly know anything about his family life or him other than what you were learning as you went along but what Kelce said had clearly struck a cord. JJ looked back at you, jaw tense but eyes softer than they had been when he was looking at Kelce.

“It isn’t worth it, don’t let Kelce being a douche ruin the day.” You said, glancing over at the kook in the aisle. “Let’s just go.”

“Fine. Lets go.” JJ grabbed the handles of your cart and twisted it around, heading back the way he had first come down.

“Hey, in the future try to keep your dog leashed.” Kelce commented.

“What the fuck did you just say?” JJ shouted, leaving the cart and coming back down the aisle. You darted in front of him, putting your hands on his chest to stop him from completely plowing passed you and pounding on Kelce in the middle of the Winn Dixie.

“You heard me, fucking pogue.”

“I swear to god, say one more thing and I’ll fucking rip your throat out!” JJ threatened though he kept his anger in check enough that he didn’t push you.

“Hey, no!” You snapped before turning back to where Kelce was still standing, looking smug, “Kelce, fucking leave.”

“See you guys around.”

“Like hell!” JJ shouted after him. Once Kelce was far enough away JJ backed away from you and ran his hands through his hair, trying to calm himself down. “I fucking hate those guys, I swear to god, they’re all fucking douches!”

“I’m not arguing with you JJ, I’m just saying it’s not worth it to push them, especially not in the middle of a fucking grocery store.” You sighed. “Lets just go okay...we can head back and go to the beach.”

“I gotta cool down...” JJ said, trailing off. He still felt like he wanted to punch something and Kelce was well gone by now.

You stepped over to the refrigerator door closest to him and opened it, jokingly swishing it back and forth like you were fanning him. “Does this help?”

“I hate you.”

The rest of the grocery trip went without a hitch, JJ falling back into a more easy-going persona as he walked the length of the Winn-Dixie with you. Without quarters neither of you got the opportunity to ride the mechanical horse though you promised to come back later in the week with him. When you got back from the store Sarah was already on the back patio, beach bag ready to go.

“They almost left without us.” Kiara mentioned as she helped you unload the car.

“Why am I not surprised?” You loved Sarah but she was single minded and currently, for the last few years, the object of her attention had been John B. It was fine when he wasn’t around but now her main focus was him and spending senior week with him and sunbathing.

Able to wait long enough for you to come home from the grocery store but not long enough for you to actually unload the groceries, Sarah and John B headed down to the beach while you were still getting changed into your bathing suit. With them gone it just left you, JJ, Kiara, and Pope to head down the beach together though you didn’t mind.

Even though it was senior week the beach wasn’t too crowded, the four of you setting up a little closer to the water. Pope helped Kiara with the umbrella while you set up the blankets, watching JJ pull his shirt off and kick off his sandals.

“Do you have sunscreen on?”

“JJ never wears sunscreen.” Pope said, looking over at his best friend.

“You should be down here. The sun is more intense down here.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I've ever heard.” JJ replied, putting his sunglasses back on.

“Are you kidding me?” You asked, looking up at him like he was crazy. You knew from passed experience that the sun in Florida was a nightmare and could only imagine his pale skin burning in the summer sun.

“You should put sunscreen on Jay, seriously.” Kiara said, offering him hers.

“Nope.” He shook his head and you rolled your eyes at him.

“Don’t come crying to me when you burn.”

You and Kiara headed down to the water almost as soon as everything was set up. As you neared the edge of the water JJ ran up behind you, grabbing you around the waist and lifting you into the air. You screamed in surprise, Kiara and Pope laughing as JJ carried you into the ocean and threw you into the water. When you surfaced, you jumped him, wrapping your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist and sending him falling back into the current.

“Guys!” Kiara shouted when JJ accidentally backed into her trying to grab you again when you ran away from him.

“Sorry!” You laughed, running behind Pope and holding him in front of you.

“No! I’m not getting in this!” Pope said though he was laughing as he tried to move away from you.

“Get over here!” JJ reached for you, just missing and falling into the water. While he was under, he grabbed your ankle, dragging you under as he surfaced. You screamed again as you fell into the water, coming up and sputtering saltwater as you tried to catch your breath.

“JJ!” Kiara smacked his arm as she swam over to you, rubbing your back as you shook your head.

“I’m okay, I’m okay.” You swore, voice hoarse. When you looked up from the water your eyes met JJ’s and you smiled, splashing water toward him.

You stayed close to JJ throughout the afternoon, offering him sunscreen a few more times though he continued to claim that he ‘didn’t burn’ and that he was perfectly fine in the sun. When he and Pope went further out to jump waves you headed back up the beach with Kiara to sunbathe.

“I don’t think you should go,” you said, standing in the door of the bathroom as JJ stood in front of the mirror, inspecting the harsh red burn that covered the entirety of his back and shoulders and part of his arms. You had been right about the sun in Florida and he had learned that the hard way.

“I’ll be fine.” JJ replied though he sounded a little apprehensive. “All I need is some aloe and I’m good as new.”

“Okay,” you bit your lip, knowing that it was a bad idea to let him go to the party but also knowing that there was no way he was going to listen to you. He hadn’t listened to you in the market and he definitely hadn’t listened to you about putting on sunscreen so there was no reason for him to listen now.

The party was down the street from your grandparents' house and you cut through the beach to get there, carrying your shoes as you walked beside JJ. You knew his back was bothering him by the way he kept twitching but you said nothing. The party the night before had been nothing compared to this one which was clear as you walked into the house.

“Finally, a good fucking party.” JJ announced, scoping out the place.

“He says on the second night of the entire week.” Pope commented, rolling his eyes.

Kiara pulled him off to dance while John B and JJ went to find refreshments. Sarah stayed by you, hovering a little too close, and you frowned as you began to catch on to her motive. “I don’t even know if they’re here.”

“If my brother and Topper heard that there was a party anywhere near their place and didn’t decide that they definitely had to come? Yeah, I’m sure they’re having a quiet night in playing scrabble.”

“I didn’t mean they wouldn’t be here I just meant I’m perfectly capable of dealing with your brother Sarah.”

“Except every time you see him you’re so cringe it’s unbearable.”

“I am not!”

“How many times have you gotten back together with him? Because the second he even looks your way you totally turn to jello and do whatever he wants.” Sarah pointed out.

You crossed your arms over your chest, looking around the party and suddenly feeling like you wanted nothing more than to leave. “Look, it’s over. For real this time. I don’t want anything to do with him and I’m not just saying that.”

“Good, I hope not. JJ and I don’t always get along but he’s John B’s best friend and I don’t wanna see him get hurt or anything.” Sarah commented.

“What are you even talking about Sarah? JJ and I are barely friends. Just because we hung out today doesn’t mean we won’t go back to our usual kook v pogue shit when we get back to North Carolina.” You replied, “I’m getting a drink.”

You pushed through the crowd to the kitchen, grabbing a seltzer and heading down the hall for somewhere quiet. Sarah had sucked the party right out of you and honestly all you wanted to do was walk home and forget the whole night had even begun. You knew she was right, you had fallen back into Rafe’s charm more times than you could count but this time you swore things were going to be different. They had to be. You couldn’t keep putting yourself in that situation. And speak of the devil, you had just grabbed the doorknob on the bathroom when you heard the familiar voice call your name.

You turned around to see Rafe standing there in the hallway, beer in hand and grin on his face. “Topper and Kelce said you were down here...I was starting to think they were seeing things.”

“Did it occur to you that I didn’t want to see you?” You asked, turning your face away from him and looking back down the hall.

“Oh come on, you’re not still mad about your grad party are you?” He asked, stepping closer to you.

“Am I still mad that you showed up to my graduation party high off your ass and embarrassed me in front of my entire family. And then on top of that I had to catch you with my cousin?” You said, holding your ground. You hadn’t been lying to Sarah when you said that the last time was the last time you were doing this.

“Babe-”

“Don’t babe me Rafe, I made it perfectly clear I wanted nothing to do with any of you. Why are you even here? Aren’t you a little old to be hanging out on senior week.”

You watched the tic of his jaw as it tensed, “I came to see you and convince you to give me another shot babe. What happened was a mistake.”

“You sound like Topper, desperate and pathetic.”

Before you could get away Rafe grabbed your wrist pulling you closer to him. “I won’t give up.” He said, leaning forward and kissing you while you were trapped between him and the wall. He reeked of alcohol and you pushed at him, trying to shove him away from you. He wouldn’t let up, hands holding your wrists and pushing you harder against the wall.

“Rafe!” Someone shouted and his concentration broke long enough for you to push him away and duck into the bathroom. You shut the door behind you and locked it, leaning your head against the wood and taking a deep breath. Trying to steady your heart beat as the sound of the bass from the music thumped gently in rhythm with the pounding.

You heard the familiar gag of someone about to throw up and turned just in time to see JJ throw his head almost into the toilet bowl as he vomited. His whole body seemed to convulse and as he fell back against the tub you realized he was sweating.

“JJ!”

He groaned but said nothing to you, leaning forward into his lap. You came over, kneeling onto the ground beside him and carefully reaching for the hem of his shirt. “Can I take this off?” You asked, “I want to get some aloe on your back to cool you down.”

“I’m not even drunk, what the fuck.” He groaned, letting you take the cut-off shirt off of him. You got up and grabbed some aloe from the cabinet before coming back and sitting between him and the bathtub. He leaned closer to the toilet, waiting to throw up again.

“I think you have sun poisoning Jay,” you said, watching him shiver as the first of the aloe hit his shoulders and neck. “I’m sorry.”

“Tally this as another fucking terrible part of the trip.”

“When you’re feeling up to it, can we try walking back to mine? You might be more comfortable there, where there isn’t a massive party happening.” You reasoned.

He nodded. There was a long pause as you worked aloe into his back, cooling him down significantly, before he finally spoke up again, “are you okay? Why’d you come in the bathroom?”

“Saw someone I didn’t wanna see.”

“Kelce?” He joked. A second later he was kneeling up on his knees so that he could throw up into the toilet and you were holding his hips to steady him as he leaned over the toilet.

“It’s okay.” You comforted when you realized the quiet noises, he was making were whimpers from the feeling the vomiting was causing. “You’re gonna be okay.” When he fell back onto his butt again you rubbed his back carefully, adding a little more aloe. “We need to get you some water too, sun poisoning can dehydrate you.”

As you took care of JJ any thoughts of Rafe where pushed to the back of your mind. You knew it was only the second night and you had the rest of the week to survive, and he was was nothing if not persistent, but you couldn’t worry about what he wanted or what he would do when JJ was taking up all your attention. Not for the same reason he had on the beach today but still, you didn’t mind focusing on him for a while.

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recurring-polynya · 3 years

Text

Today’s AU suggestion comes from Tumblr user @missdramaqueensworld We had a bit of a back-n-forth, and I hope you don’t mind that I mushed a couple of your suggestions together into a Lighthearted Superheroes AU! Byakuya has always given me Big Bruce Wayne vibes, what with his extensive wealth and his flair for the overdramatic and his propensity for collecting orphans. I think I got the spirit of the thing (and, of course, the opening line!) I hope you like it!! (Note: I didn’t include the original prompt because it was very detailed and I didn’t want to give everything away, but please give credit to @missdramaqueensworld for all the good ideas and me for all the terrible superhero names)

Read on ao3 or ff.net

🦸 🌸 💥

“Hisana,” Byakuya called, as he contemplated the secret niche that was hidden behind the rear panel of his ancillary special occasion shoe closet. “Where is Senbonzakura?”

“Where’s what?” his beloved wife’s voice rang back.

Byakuya gritted his back teeth. “The mystical sword that has been passed down through twenty-eight generations of my family that allows me to fight crime as the mysterious hero Captain Sakura?”

Hisana leaned up against the doorframe of his closet. “Haven’t seen it. Where’s the non-mystical, yet very expensive tuxedo that allows you to escort me to the charity benefit that I’ve been planning for three months?”

“I am not joking, Hisana, I have a responsibility to the city!”

“That’s right, you do! You’re a charming and handsome philanthropist who is helping his beautiful wife raise piles of money for underprivileged children!”

Byakuya tried to rack his brain. Where could he have left the thing? “You know very well what I mean. The city is under attack by dark forces. Dark forces, Hisana!”

Hisana put her hands on her hips. “Don’t you have sidekicks for this?”

“They do not like being called sidekicks, they are allegedly adults now. Besides, you are the one who told me to stop bothering them so much. They have their own lives now, you said.” Which vehicle had he used last? The Sakura Bike? The Sakura Jet? He didn’t think it was the Sakura Jet-Ski, but honestly, all of last week was just blurring together.

“They can have their own lives on nights when I don’t have a charity benefit,” Hisana hissed.

Wait. He’d had that unfortunately team-up with the Great Desert Brothers (or were they calling themselves Phantom Thief NelDoPe again?) and he’d had to spend a great deal of time cleaning “Infinite Slick” off of Senbonzakura afterwards. The sword was probably on his workbench down in the Sakura Cave. Byakuya turned and attempted to exit his own closet, only to find his way blocked by the one opponent he had never truly bested: his 4’11”, stunningly beautiful and amazingly brilliant wife. “Excuse me,” he said.

“Excuse you?” Hisana asked, her eyes wide with false innocence. “You are not going down to the Sakura Cave.”

“I am going to the Sakura Cave.”

“You’re going down to the Sakura Cave because you’re going to drive us to the charity benefit in the pink Lambo, right?”

Byakuya regarded her. “The Sakuramobile is for official Captain Sakura business only. You are welcome to take the Aventador or the Huracan if you like.”

Hisana threw her hands out at her sides. “Byakuya. Look at me.”

Byakuya looked. Respectfully, of course. His wife was clad in a form-fitting navy blue sheath that flared just below her knees. From the front, the neckline was high and modest, but he knew for a fact that it swept low, exposing nearly the whole of her back. Her hair was swept up into an intricate knot at the nape of her neck. An array of tiny diamond hairpins shone like stars among the night sky of her tresses. Her makeup, as always, was impeccable, from her silvery smokey eye to the kissable red of her lips.

“Imagine!” she wailed. “Me! Walking through those huge doors at the Museum of Contemporary Art. By myself! To my own fundraiser!”

“I can imagine it,” Byakuya agreed. “You will turn every head in the room. That cad, Kuchiki, they will say. The fool. He knows not what he has.”

Hisana narrowed her eyes at him.

“The most beautiful woman in Seireitei City, for once, away from the overprotective glare of her impossibly handsome husband.”

Hisana rolled her eyes.

“You will have the undivided attention of every man in the room and more than a few of the women. They will be elbowing each other out of the way for the merest crumbs of your regard. And you, being you, should no doubt be able to spin these tragic circumstances into a positively dizzying pile of donation checks. That should make the orphans very happy, yes?”

Hisana’s face was screwed up into a lovely scowl, as her desire for his company warred with her love for parting cretinous billionaires from their walking-around money. Byakuya didn’t blame her, of course. She was a very patient and understanding woman to so frequently part from her charming and debonair husband in the best interests of Justice. Nevertheless, the city needed him at this desperate hour.

“And I promise,” Byakuya continued, lowering his eyelids seductively, “that I shall sweep in before the night concludes, to rebuke those fools who would ever doubt my devotion to you.”

The tip of Hisana’s nose twitched. He had her.

“You have to show up at the dedication of the new community center.”

“Of course I would show up--”

“In the costume.”

Byakuya’s jaw tightened. “Hisana.”

“Captain Sakura is the third most popular superhero among children aged 7 to 12.”

“Third! I used to be second!” Byakuya had an angry suspicion whom he had been overtaken by.

“Used to be,” Hisana replied. “Maybe you should think about making more personal appearances. And flex more. I hear that children love flexing.” Dammit, this further confirmed his suspicions.

Byakuya heaved a sigh. “Fine. I will show up and charm the little rapscallions. I will not ‘flex.’ Please, may I go now?”

Hisana gracefully stepped to one side. “Good luck. Stay safe.” She touched his arm gently as he swished past, and went up on her tiptoes to bring her face closer to his. “And check the umbrella stand in the front hall. That’s where your magic sword was last time.”

Captain Sakura alighted on the rooftop of Metropolitan Bank with the grace of a drifting flower petal. A large hole cratered the bitumen and the smell of C-4 hung unpleasantly in the air. Below, police sirens wailed and sirens cast blue and red reflections. Also, there was bickering.

“Are you sure he can breath in there?”

“I am a professional, of course he can breathe! You don’t believe me? I’ll trap you in a block of ice!”

“I never said I didn’t believe you, I just-- hey, look who’s here! Good to see you, Captain!”

Byakuya crossed his arms over his chest. “Yuki-onna. Sakura Boy.”

Yuki-onna, Mistress of the Ice and Snow, groaned. “You know very well he goes by Red Ronin now.”

Sakura Boy looked very much like he was biting his tongue as he tapped his massive whip-sword on his shoulder.

“Who was the perpetrator?” Byakuya asked, squinting inside the block of ice.

“That toothy bastard, Preying Mantis,” Sakura Boy supplied.

“He is one of the Ten Espada, you know, they often travel in--”

“We caught his dweeby sidekick downstairs, the police already have him,” Rukia replied. “We already swept the premises. You really didn’t need to come out.”

“It is bad enough,” Byakuya bit off, “that you two refused to take a honeymoon. You are supposed to be on a… a whatsit…” he waved one hand vaguely. “A stay-cation?”

“Eh, it’s not like we have hobbies,” Renji added, poking the block of ice with his sword.

“And aren’t you supposed to be raising money? For underprivileged children?” Rukia accused.

“I will be making a dramatically late entrance,” Byakuya snapped.

“Well,” Renji frowned philosophically, “as long as you’re here, can you help us figure out how to get this guy down to the ground?”

Children. You could raise them, give them their own utility belt, teach them to drive a jet ski, but they would still ask for your help in moving a seven-foot-tall mantis man trapped in a block of ice.

“Of course,” Byakuya agreed.

#my writing #wacky au requests #can you tell i used to write batfam fanfic?#i used to write batfam fanfic #i had to sit thru a 15-minute rant on how much Mr P hates Lambos for this #this man tried to spell 'murcielago' to me #'it means bat' he said #u will notice that no murcielagos appear in this fic #the huracan is the lambo that tried to kill dr strange

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oddsnendsfanfics · 4 years

Text

The (Mis)Adventures of Kal and Moose - A Real Party Pup-per

Genre: Fan Fiction Pairing: Henry Cavill/Reader Warnings: Fluffy Cakey Fun Rating: G Length: Drabble Disclaimer: a strict work of fiction, I own nothing except the original characters and the plot line. In no way am I affiliated to any of it.

A/N: I was inspired. I wrote this under 10 minutes. What can I say?

Henry Cavill Master List

“Moose, no!” Shouting at the dog seemed to do little.

Like a flash, Moose had his prize, dragging off a chunk of the birthday cake and high tailing it for his bed. Beside you, Kal cocked his head, whimpering as if he knew his friend's actions were the kind that earned you some serious crate time. Kal wasn't into spending time behind bars.

Surely you would over look his bouncing and barking, pretending that your home was being invaded, distracting you while Moose grabbed the cake. He would do his best to win you over, giving you his cute eyes, and smile. It worked for his dad. Kal had watched first hand, when Henry wanted something he would give you his best Kal impression.

Great. Just great.

Slumping your shoulders in defeat, you groan, avoiding looking at the mess on your kitchen floor. Any other day, you could have left that cake in the middle of the floor, on Moose's food mat and he never would have touched it. Why did he pick today to get into trouble? Kal sat in the middle of the kitchen, his tail swishing back and forth catching blue frosting with each swipe. Painting the floor around him a bright blue.

“Kal.” You groan again. “Kal, up.” You command the large black and white dog. “Okay, you boys need to go. Outside.”

Rising to his feet, Kal knows exactly what this means. At Moose's house, there is a fence, and in that fence is the garden. A garden, where the squeaky toys prosper and the bones litter the landscape.

“Moose.” You whistle to the cake thief, “Moose.” You walk to the sliding door, Kal hot on your heels.

Lifting his head from his chunk of cake, blue frosting on his chin, nose, paws, and chest the red merle looks at you curiously. How does he know this isn't a trap? Cautiously watching you, Moose licks his lips. The cake piece nearly devoured, he eyes Kal as well. Kal is a friend, but it doesn't mean he wants to share this delicious prize.

Sniffing the area, Kal licks his lips but thinks better of going in for a taste.

“Kal, come.” You call the dog, who gladly turns his attention to you. His large body vibrating with excitement as you slide the door open. “Outside, Kal. Go.” You instruct.

Kal doesn't need to be told twice.

“Moose.” You gesture to the door. “Outside, go play with Kal.”

Stretching, Moose slowly moves to his feet, a final defiant bite of cake, he saunters by you and out the door. In the garden Kal is romping around, losing his mind over which one of the toys to play with first, when Moose catches his excitement. Bounding around the garden like two toddlers on a sugar rush.

Often you wondered why those two were still allowed to play together. Gathering yourself and nerve to return to the scene of the crime, you wince seeing the classic white cake with butter cream frosting, smashed and drug across the kitchen floor. Your slate tiles tinted blue, with paw prints and crumbs littering them.

Picking up the dismantled cake, it pains you to toss it, but what else can you do? The dogs can't eat an entire cake and you surely can't give Henry a cake from the floor. At least they hadn't gotten the... you slap your hand to your forehead.

“Shit. Shit! Shit!” You mutter, scurrying around the kitchen. You forgot to buy the steak.

New task.

Find a suitable replacement for dinner and something to use for a cake.

So much for the element of surprise.

Surprise!

This entire surprise went tits up. Entirely off the rails and, and, and – why were you so worried? It was a surprise, Henry had no idea you'd been planning to surprise him. He would never know.

Biting the inside of your bottom lip, you scrunch your face. But you would know.

In the garden, Moose barked furiously. Followed by Kal's intense booming intruder voice. Great, all you needed was those two escaping after a squirrel. Peeking out the window, you spot the two ferocious beasts barking at their invisible friend. At least they took their protection job seriously, nobody was going to...

“What's all that about?” Henry's voice startles you. Screeching, you clutch your chest and jump. “Sorry, duck.”

“No, no it's fine. Hey. We weren't expecting you back, yet.” You calm yourself down, taking back every thought about how nobody would dare enter your house with all that noise in the back.

“I can see,” He takes in the scene of blue paw prints. “Should I go back outside and knock?”

“Nah, when do you ever knock?” You brush it off, smiling. As if a veil lifted, you notice upon his return the gym clothes are gone, changed into his favourite shirt and black slacks. “Hot date?”

“Depends duck, do you have plans?”

“Need to leave the bear here longer? You could have called. I don't mind, but so you know those paw prints here. That mess of blue frosting, is your cake, and I suppose it's a good thing I forgot the steaks. Happy birthday, by the way.” the babbling comes and doesn't seem to shut off. “I know I said that earlier, but anyway. Never mind. Go and have fun.”

“Are you finished?” He smirked, pretending to look at his watch. You nod. “Right, well. I appreciate the attempt at dinner. Cakes can be replaced. Now go, get dressed while I wrangle the hooligans in the garden. We're going to be late and we don't want to miss our reservation.”

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- if you want to be added or removed please let me know

#henry cavill #Henry cavill fanfiction #Henry and Kal #henry cavill x reader #henry cavill x you #the (mis)adventures of kal and moose #a real party pup-per #henry cavill fluff #henry cavill fanfic

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writer-and-artist27 · 3 years

Text

Weight in Chocolate

Note: Inspired by Dig Two Graves, my memories of family talking amongst each other, and recent talks with Lang ( @langwrites ). Happy birthday, beloved friend. I hope you spend your day loved and cared for because you deserve it. You and Os helped me become a better person, and I can’t thank you enough for continuing to grace me with your presence. This is the least I can do.

I’ll just drop this song here before going on with the story. Short but sweet, I think. Takes place in S&S and beta’d by Os — the original Beta — before posting. Consider this “part 1″ of your present.

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

Weekly meetings had become a common occurrence by the time the children had turned into teenagers. The former Uesegi Tomoe would not have even allowed herself the time to rest on her quest for revenge, but the killers of her family were gone from this world.

In Tomoe’s place, Gekkō Miyako smiled and opened the door once three gentle raps sounded against the wood. In the doorway, Hoshino Hikari beamed back, a picnic basket of barely concealed sweets hanging from her right wrist as she waved with her left hand. Muffins?

“You have certainly outdone yourself yet again, Hikari-chan,” Miyako said softly, stepping to the side for her friend to walk through the doorway. “Have you been working with Tomoko-chan?”

“She’s been reading a lot of recipe books,” Hikari said instead of a direct answer, slipping off her geta sandals while ducking her head in a quick greeting. “And I have to be there to make sure she doesn’t overdo it.”

“As you should,” Miyako agreed politely, raising her hands in a friendly offering. Hikari glanced at her open palms once before her smile widened, proceeding to drop the picnic basket into Miyako’s grip. “Tomoko-chan is quite a handful.”

“Responsible children are all handfuls, Miyako-chan,” Hikari corrected, eyebrows quirked upwards on her head in mirth as she slipped on a pair of guest slippers. “But that’s what these meetings are for, right?”

Miyako rolled her eyes in return. “I will prepare the tea. May I ask for your assistance?”

“Of course!”

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

Miyako did her best to not roll her eyes again once Hikari was “discretely” pushing the basket of sweets in her direction from across the dining table while mid-sip of her tea. “Hikari, I will partake in them eventually.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not looking forward to your reaction!” Hikari blurted out past her teacup, the excitement in her voice betraying her “nonchalant” facade. Any other time and then Hikari might have spit out her tea. Miyako was internally grateful she did not have to dodge the tea splatter this time. “It’s the first time in a while that I got to present you something before Tomoko-chan could!”

Miyako made a small note to herself not to get onto Hikari’s competitive side. That part of her was certainly something her daughter did not inherit, and it may have been for the best considering how the other children could get in their training. “I was not aware you were so excited.”

“Oh, we both know that’s a lie,” Hikari said cheerily.

Miyako gave her the point for that. “So.” She lowered her own teacup. “Is there anything else you wanted to say?”

The enthusiasm on Hikari’s face died a little for confusion. “Is there a reason I need just for seeing a friend?”

Once again, Miyako gave her the point. “That is fair,” she said mildly, tilting her head. “But I still believe that you have something else to say.” The faint flare that was Hikari’s chakra was flickering, after all.

Hikari’s face contorted for a moment as she slowly blinked at Miyako, matching the flame in her chest. Her eyebrows furrowed against her forehead as she proceeded to rest her chin in the palm of her right hand, closing her eyes in thought. Her ponytail swished behind her neck, then she said, “Hey, I had no other excuse to come by and visit. I just wanted to see you!” Hikari seemed particularly indignant about the last part if her voice and narrowed blue eyes were any indication.

Miyako took a moment to realize that surprise was starting to flood her veins. “…At least you are being honest about it,” she admitted after a moment, averting her gaze from Hikari’s face out of habit. “I still have yet to be used to this.”

“Then get used to it!” Hikari seemed happier at Miyako admitting as much, the smile returning to her face. It took another moment for Hikari to pause and let the smile drop for a thoughtful expression. “Though, now that you do mention it—”

“Yes?”

Hikari pushed the basket of sweets towards Miyako again, and Miyako leveled a questioning stare in return. “Just look and see for yourself, will you?”

Eyebrows quirked, Miyako erred on caution, slowly reaching over to the basket and lifting the cloth keeping the baked pastries hidden from view. As expected, muffins were nestled in the space, but the surprise was laid out in how the muffins were arranged.

Thank you, the chocolate chips embedded in the muffins spelled out.

Miyako blinked. She glanced between the muffins and Hikari, moving her head back and forth between the two before catching herself. “Hikari, this is—”

“Remember how Tomoko-chan was making an ‘Appreciate Kei Day’?” Hikari said in lieu of an answer, waving a single pointer finger in the air. “I just took some notes from her and made these for you.”

Miyako blinked again, rapidly this time. “Hikari-chan…”

“We’ve known each other for quite a while thanks to our kids,” Hikari filled in for Miyako’s silence, gently tapping the table with her free hand. “But I kept feeling like I never had the chance to say thank you for your company, Miyako-chan. Especially after all the times we’ve hung out like this.”

“You do not have to, Hikari,” Miyako interrupted, biting the inside of her cheek. “I chose to spend this time with you.”

“And it’s because of that I’m grateful to have you!” Hikari blurted out in that moment, stopping whatever train of thought Miyako had in mind. It took a moment for an embarrassed flush to cover her cheeks and Hikari then glanced away, rubbing the back of her neck. “I-I’m not good at being as open as Tomoko-chan is, and I know we don’t know that much about each other outside our dorks for husbands and housework. Heck, I still need to memorize the date of your birthday!” Miyako wasn’t expecting to hear that part, but still waited for Hikari to look up. Hikari kept her gaze focused on the tea in front of them instead. Whether she knew about Miyako’s inner thoughts was another matter entirely. “But…”

“But?” Miyako humored gently.

“…I didn’t have the greatest life before I met Judai,” Hikari confessed, her head ducked and facing the tablecloth. “Not a lot of friends. I usually stayed in my room a lot. But you, Miyako-chan,” Hikari then looked up from her tea cup to smile, tears welling up in the corners of her bright blue eyes. “You’re one of the first and greatest friends I could’ve ever asked for.”

Miyako opened her mouth, covering it with her fingertips for the smallest moment once she belatedly found out there were no words on her tongue to speak with.

“I know, I know.” Hikari waved a hand in the air as if to dispel any awkward tension in the room, unperturbed by Miyako’s silence. “That was cheesy as all heck, but I mean it. Even if I don’t know a lot about you—” Miyako froze at that part, tasting iron in the back of her mouth, “—I feel like I don’t need to. Being around you is good enough for me.”

Miyako felt herself relax before she knew she was doing it. She then reached over to place a hand on Hikari’s shoulder, squeezing with all the gratitude she could muster. “Thank you,” she said sincerely.

“You’re welcome.” Hikari beamed back, apparently not minding the single tear that streamed down her right cheek. With a shaky chuckle, she then wiped at her eyes. Miyako waited for Hikari to compose herself. Once Hikari’s chakra flickered, pearly white teeth peeked out past her lips as she smiled again. “E-Enough about me. Can you just try one of those muffins already, Miyako-chan? I’m starting to sweat from the anticipation.”

Miyako decided not to mention the “sweat’s” identity as tears still dotted the corners of Hikari’s eyes, opting to shake her head with a fond shrug. “I doubt that last part, but alright.” She let go of her friend’s shoulder to take a muffin in hand, taking off the wrapper before bringing it close for a bite.

Sweet.

“Thank you for being here, Miyako-chan,” Hikari said once Miyako finished chewing. “I hope the muffins tell you that more than me getting teary over it.”

Miyako felt herself smile back. “Thank you, Hikari-chan,” she repeated back, inclining her head. “The muffin was delicious.”

Hikari wrung her hands together in sheer relief, laughing softly. “Good. Th-That’s good.”

Everyone had skeletons in their closets, but Miyako already knew she did not feel the need to share when the world outside was bright enough as is.

#writing #birthday gift #hoshino hikari #miyako gekko #tomoe uesegi #long post #langwrites #birthday gift for Lang #the sea and stars

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texasthegreatdestroyer · 3 years

Text

OC x Canon ship excerpt. Trinity x Qrow.

The winter's draft nipped at her legs as she walked through the door of Brunswick Estate. Probably would have done her well to wear some proper leggings, or just pants in general, but after her time in vale, during those cold winters, she couldn't find it within her to really care. Her main concern was just past the door of the bar and entertainment room. Where she knew she'd find him sipping down whatever his cold, shaken hands could grasp at.

She opened the old, wooden door, tiptoed past the threshhold, as if to be weary to not set the dusty bird's nerves off more than they already were. The past two days had been... rough for him, and upon gazing at those beautiful eyes, a gut drenching sadness made themselves at home deep within. Trinity's plans to lay low in his presense failed however. "What do you want?" He sapped. "Look, I know you want to get all "touchy and feely" but I'm not in the mood, got it? Just leave me be." A lump was stuck in her throat as she tried to speak out. It was hard for her to breath. This man knew how to stab a girl's heart into the ground.

"... I wanted to apologize... for trying to force you to talk. I should have just given you your space... I just so badly wanted to save you... like you did me. I guess I'm not as good at emotional support as you are...." Qrow couldn't help but stare at her. Silence remained between the two, but just as Trinity turned to leave, Qrow poured another shot and slid it off to the side of him, leaving him with nothing but the bottle. Not like this was anything harmful to him. He lacked the class to avoid drinking from the bottle it self, and felt no shame for it. Trinity turned her head to the sliding noise, and what was originally just a brief stare turned into a full fledge turn around. This in turn irked Qrow a little. "Stop looking at me like a dork, sit down, and have a drink."

A sweet, gentle smile came to the gal's face, as she walked over to him, taking a seat over by him, and looking at the amber liquid in the glass. It had been awhile since she'd last had a drink. She quit when she met Qrow. Mostly for Mimi's sake, but when Mimi passed, she still couldn't bring herself to drink again. Not when Qrow veiwed her progress as satisfactory. He dragged her out of a rut, and the last thing she wanted to do was disapoint him by going back in... but now... he was handing her a glass of that same ol liquid regret that she forced herself to avoid. "I...haven't drank in awhile..." "Eh... What's stopping you now? The world's going to end, might as well go out satisfied."

She wanted to ask questions, she wanted to turn that forlorn face into a smile some how, but she knew better than that. The last time she tried, he actively avoided her the rest of the day, "I... don't know... I believe we can do something... I just don't know what yet." "How can you even say that. You heard lamp lady. We're done for. I know you're trying to be optimistic, but you'll just end up disapointed. So why even bother?" Trin's face formed into a scowl, as she looked over at Qrow. "Well it's better than sitting here and self loathing!..." Qrow looked to Trin with a hurt expression on her face. Trinity had begun to feel bad... wait... No! No she didn't! She was right and she knew it! "Qrow, I understand that you're hurting. No one is hurting nearly as much as you are right now. You lost a friend today, and you lost countless others to this unfortunate war. You devoted your whole life to this only for it to be futile. That's plenty of reason to want to give up, but what good does it do you? Why give up when you can go down fighting? And last time I checked, Qrow mother fuckin Branwen is one hell of a fighter!" Confidence gleamed through a bold smile on her face. Only the smile slowly faded as Qrow turned away. And so she stared down at the drink in front of her. She knocked it back real quick, and then stared down at the mahogony bar surface, which captured the light of the candles that had been lit.

"Ya know... I can't tell you what to do. You're a grown man. You can choose to roll over and give up, but I'm not. We need to keep fighting. Each day we push back is a day people have with their loved ones, and a day to take in the beauty this world has to offer, so I'm gonna keep fighting." Trin didn't take notice, but Qrow had turned away because he was hiding a smirk. Her words had touched him so. "I'm sorry..." The man's gravely voice hinted lightly of guilt and distress. "I've been an asshole. I'm not gonna sugar coat it. Ever since this journey started, you've been my cheer leader. You've always been in my corner, even when there were times you really shouldn't have been. I can't even repay you with some basic human decency. For that, I'm really sorry Tex..."

Tex... A name the girl wasn't even sure if she owned anymore, as she kept digging herself further into a hole trying to save someone who veiwed himself as "unsavable." The name that had sought to hide her past, one that had only recently returned to her out of guilt. Her name was Tex... Not Trinity.... Tex... Atleast that's what he called her, the man who she devoted her life to, something foreign to him. "I wish I could be like you... confident... optimistic... But I can't. You're amazing, and I'm worthless... unworthy-"

"Mother fucker!" Qrow flinched at the sudden cut into his pity party. "You're fucking fabulous, amazing, adorable, brave, kind hearted, caring, outstanding, heroic, daring, stunning,-" "Uuuuh... Tex???" "Georgeous! Stylish! Sweet! Worthy of love!-" "Tex!" "Fanfriggintabulous!" "TEX!... Slow your role! I get it!" Finally, she'd settle down, watching with relief as he let out a soft chuckle, swishing around the contents of the bottle. "You know... Ya always say that you bring misfortune to those around you, but... honestly... You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. You're my good luck charm, my sweet little bird." Qrow's face flustered a bright red. His heart throbbed with ever word that fled from those soft, black lipstick lips of hers. He felt warm inside, a feeling that had seemed almost foreign to him these past couple of days. His arm rose from the bar's wooden surface, and he plopped his hand down onto the wolf faunus's head, petting over her ears ever so gently. Enough to get her to purrrrrrrr~ softly. A sound of which brought Qrow some peace and serenity "... That's my little cheer leader...."

-experpt end.

Welp, hope people liked that good ol cheesy bullshit. I do take writing criticism, however "Ew! You ship an OC with a Canon character!" Is not one I take, so don't even bother. And here's a pic of my gal if you're curious of what she looks like. The art is done by me.

In the story I'm writing, this 4'8 lil gal follows Qrow and his merry band of adopted children around Remnant. She's typically a rowdy, take no shit kind of gal, and the two are constantly goofing around like two pals. Their favorite form of banter is going back and forth with calling each other a dork because they both understand how cheesy of an insult it is, and they're just an adorable couple of goof balls. Feel free to ask questions about her. Well, I've contributed to the small pool of canon x oc content, time to go forget I ever made this life decision. :D

#rwby qrow #qrow branwen

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iguessitsaveryswitings · 3 years

Text

Peaches - Section 1: Act 3

Peaches is an original work by ‘iguessitsavery’, also known as Avery. All characters and events in this work are fictional, no matter if they may resemble real life people or events. All rights reserved. Copyright 2021

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Section 1: Act 3

Sona groaned as he dragged his feet through the dirt, dust picking up behind him. “Pick up your feet,” Shinosu barked, not looking away from their list, mumbling under their breath. Sona had decided to accompany Shinosu on their weekly market trip, expecting some exciting adventure, but instead was met with the bore of shopping.

Shinosu took a step towards a new stand, this one selling another ingredient they had needed for dinner. Sona dragged himself behind his friend, peering over to look a what this one was selling. Bone- broth? He had no clue what it was, and just by the name alone, it sounded gross. He gagged a bit, earning himself a swat against the back of his head from Shinosu, telling him to quit.

He shooed their hand away, readjusting his hair, before crossing his arms. “This is borin’! Why can’t we go ‘n do somethin’?” Sona whined, exaggerating himself with his arms to try and get his point across. Shinosu paid no attention to him, instead, arguing with the salesman about how his items were far overpriced.

Sona’s ears flapped against his head in annoyment, he wanted to do something, anything that wasn’t this. With a huff, he turned on his heel and began to make his own exploration around the market. He passed by a number of people who cast him glares and judging stares, immediately trying to get themselves out of his vicinity like he was ill.

He came across a paper nailed to a post, the drawings on it easily capturing his attention. He reached up high, tearing the paper from the nail and taking a look at the poster. From the drawings, it showed to people fighting with swords, an arena behind them with large words printed under them.

“Du-duel-ing, dueling. Tou-t-tour-na-ment, tournament. Dueling Tournament!” Sona’s ears flapped happily as he pronounced the words correctly. He barely knew how to read, so he was happy with himself at the small accomplishment. He couldn’t read the rest of the words, as there were too many and he didn’t understand them, but he did know what a duel was.

As he turned to run back to Shinosu, said person was walking in his direction, shoulders stiffened as they laid their eyes on the child. “The hell you been?” They asked, making quick strides over to the boy and grabbing him by the hand. “You know what they do to hybrids like you, you coulda’ been killed, boy!”

“I found ‘is poster!” He exclaimed, not fazed by how Shinosu was hastily dragging them out of the market, earning a few glances from passerby’s. Shinosu groaned as they finally exited the market, the boy’s hand held in their own. They turned towards the boy, dropping down to eye level with him. “You’re a hybrid, not a god. N’ what, what the hell you mean poster?”

With a smile, Sona handed over the poster he had snatched a few minutes prior, earning another groan from his friend. “You-you can’t be stealin’ things from the town, boy.” “Wasn’ stealin’! Jus’-jus’ borrowin’! I swear it!” SHinosu stood up again, handing the paper back to the boy and taking his hand in theirs as they began to walk in the opposite direction of the town.

“Where we goin’?” Sona asked, looking up at Shinosu as they began to make their way down another dirt road. “My place.” Sona opted to be quiet during the walk there, nothing to be heard but the sound of their footsteps and the clanking of glass in Shinosu’s bag. Shinosu much preferred the silence, opposed to Sona’s constant games of ‘20 questions’ or ‘how long can I talk before Shinosu hits me’. The walk back home was peaceful for them, the place they called home slowly coming into view between the trees.

Large fields of wheat found themselves on either side of the dirt path, Sona’s ears twitching as his head snapped from left to right, observing the area. He had never been near Shinosu’s property before, he was taking in every little thing he saw. He noted especially the scarecrow that had looked worm down and beaten in the center of the field.

In front of them laid a worn-down lighthouse, most of the windows boarded up, vines crawling up the sides, and the strong smell of the ocean wafting into Sona’s nose. He gagged again, covering his nose as he groaned, earning a chuckle from Shinsou at his misery.

The pair stepped onto the porch of the house, Shinosu quickly swinging it open as the boy ran inside. Immediately he ran over to the kitchen, climbing clumsily onto one of the stools against the counter. Shinosu sighed as they closed the door behind them, making their way over to the kitchen and setting their bag onto the counter.

As they picked out their ingredients for dinner, Sona looked around, his mouth slightly open as he admired the place. From where he sat, he could see all of the first floor. Behind his was a large bookshelf, filled up with books of all sizes. To his right was a small dining table and two chairs, both made out of wood. Could they be hand-carved?

In the far corner next to the table sat another bookshelf, this one much more empty than the one behind him, only a few rows of it filled. There was a red rug on the floor below it, and in the final corner sat a few pillows and an open book. Sona debated whether or not to get a closer look at the room, but was stopped when Shinosu started talking to him.

“Hope you like stew, m’not makin’ you anythin’ else.” His eyes widened as he focused his attention back on them, watching as they poured the bone broth they had bought earlier into a bot above the fire. “‘l eat anythin’!” He said hastily, propping himself on his hand to get a better look at the food. A mix of vegetables and meats sat in the broth and Shinosu slowly stirred the mixture, putting a pot on it to let it cook.

They turned around, focusing their attention solely on Sona, at least, that’s what he thought. He could never tell Shinosu’s emotions or feelings thanks to the mask they donned. It frustrated him.

“This place ‘s nice, you live here by yourself?” They nodded, making Sona smile wide, opening his mouth to say an idea but was quickly shut down as Shinosu waved their hand. “No, you’re not movin’ in, I got enough trouble takin’ care of you durin’ the day.”His ears visibly drooped, making him sigh as disappointment spread across his face.

Shinosu frowned underneath their mask as the boy got down from his seat, making his way to one of the bookshelves that occupied the house. His feet made dull thumps against the carpet as he walked up to the shelf, hands swishing back and forth against his sides as he looked over the books in awe.

“You read lots?” He asked, turning back around as Shinosu nodded, humming. “‘m learnin’ how to read ‘n school, s’hard.” Shinosu sighed, nodding again as they turned back to the food cooking. “You just gotta get good at it.” Sona frowned but disregarded it as he made his way to the table, taking a seat in one of the chairs and propping his head up with his arms as he looked over to Shinosu.

He took one of his hands down to take the paper out of his pocket, setting it in front of him and staring at it. “What’d the paper end up sayin’.” He asked, watching as Shinosu continued to stir the food, pressing a few bits of meat to the sides to test how soft it was. “Somethin’ about a tournament in a few weeks, winner gets a buncha coin.” They replied, grabbing a nearby bucket and pouring water over the fire, watching the smoke rise up and out the chimney.

They grabbed a wooden bowl and a ladle, pouring a sizeable portion into it and heading over to where Sona sat. His tail thumped excitedly against the back of the chair as the bowl was set in front of him. He hesitated to take a bite, waiting until Shinosu sat down across from him, nodding at him, to dig in.

He shoveled the stew into his mouth hungrily, the broth dribbling down the sides of his face. Shinosu took the opportunity to grab the paper that rested on the table, scanning it over and frowning. Before they knew it, Sona let out a loud, satisfactory sigh as he settled the bowl on the table.

Shinosu raised a brow. “Hungry much?” Sona nodded. “Was good, can I have another?” Shinosu nodded, grabbing his bowl and heading back over to the pot. Sona wiped his mouth against his forearm, tail thumping as he watched them start to pour him another bowl.

As he finished pouring it, a question popped into his mind. “Wait, why don’ you eat some?” Shinosu visibly stiffened, but set the bowl in front of him, taking their seat once more, pointing to their face. “Mask.” Sona tilted his head to the side. “Take it off then!” “No.” He frowned, food forgotten as his new goal was to get them to take off their mask. “Why not?” Shinosu crossed their arms, settling back against the chair. “Drop it.”

“But I ne’er ask ‘bout the mask before! I wa’na know!” Sona whined, slamming his hands against the wood table. Shinosu’s eye twitched, glaring at the brat in front of them. “Quit while you’re ahead, boy.” In a swift movement, Sona leapt onto the table, hand reaching out for the mask. If he was quick enough, he could see their face, he could see what they were hiding!

He wasn’t quick enough.

Shinosu grabbed his wrist, twisting it harshly to the side and slamming it down against the table. The stew toppled over, spilling across the table as Sona yelped. Shinosu let go of his arm, standing up and heading behind him towards the door. Sona rubbed his wrist, yelling at Shinosu. “The hell was that for?” Angrily, Shinosu threw the door open, hearing the back slam against the wall outside. “Out. Now.” There was nothing but venom in their voice, it was cold.

A chill ran down Sona’s side, but he still had the nerve to question them. “What?” Shinosu’s eye twitched, they tapped their foot against the floor. “10. 9-” Sona caught on quickly to the threat, scrambling out the chair and out the door. He stopped on the porch, turning back to take a final look at his friend, but was met with their arm closing the door shut once more, hearing it click and lock.

He stood there for a few minutes, half expecting them to open the door again. Waves crashed against the shore loudly, the sun dipping down under the horizon and the cold wind settled onto him. They weren’t going to open the door any time soon. He sighed, stepping off the porch and kicking his feet into the ground. He took one last look at the house, before disappearing between the trees and back towards the town.

Inside, Shinosu rested with their back against their chair, forearm covering their mask’s eyes. When they heard Sona’s footsteps departing, they sighed. Both of their hand reached towards the back of their neck, fingers fumbling with the buckle of their mask. With a few tries, the strap loosened, letting them slide off the bone mask and set it against the table. With a tired huff, they rested their forearm over them again, this time resting it on their eyes.

“Nosy kid.” They mumble out, rubbing their eyes and picking up the flier once more, now the corner wet from the stew. “What am I going to do with you?"

Thank you for reading the third installment of Peaches. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and are excited for many more to come.

#original character #original story #original characters #original writing #original content #original work #writing #fiction #peaches

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abbacchiosbelt · 4 years

Text

A Reason to Stay | Ren Hana x GN! Reader

original date this story was published on AO3 — 5/10/2017. this story was also previously published under my main account.

summary — Ren said he'd take care of you forever, and he intends to keep his promise.

cw for stockholm syndrome, dub-con, blood, minor injuries, and a yandere character. please heed these warnings!

Lay your hands on me (Like you did a hundred times before) Is this what you need from me?

Your hands found purchase on his back, his claws digging into your sensitive skin as you grabbed on. You felt the familiar sensation of blood trickling down your arm and almost thought nothing of it. It was a feeling you had become acquainted with well the past few months. His mouth was suddenly next to your ear, his loud pants sending a chill down your spine. “I’m almost done, it’ll be okay. Just a little… longer...” He whispered, his voice sounding more menacing than soothing. When you had met Ren at the bar that night, everything about him seemed soothing. His soft demeanor and cheery expression compared to him, well, it made Ren seem that much better. You had tried to make them laugh by taking his drink, but it had ended up being the biggest mistake of your life, next to stepping foot in the bar itself. You wondered occasionally what it would have been like to go with him, a man whose name you had erased from your memory. You couldn’t think about it anymore. Ren’s sudden shift on top of you pulled you back into reality. You automatically rolled your head to the side, exposing your neck when you felt Ren’s nails digging into your skin even harder, and braced yourself for the end. You felt him move on top of you again, his mouth on your neck and fangs in your skin. A moan escaped from your lips, but you weren’t sure whether it was from pleasure or pain. Dizziness washed over you as the teeth in your neck sank in even further. Just as quickly as it started, it was over. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Ren said, placing a kiss on your sweaty forehead. His mouth was covered in blood, your blood, and nausea washed over you. You had been through this before, but something about this time was different. You felt Ren’s body lift from yours, and suddenly felt a sense of yearning. His weight was comforting. You heard him mutter something about getting dressed and getting you cleaned off, and heard him leave the room. You were just thankful this hadn’t taken place in the basement.

The tapping on his feet on the floor alerted you to Ren’s presence as he came back in, carrying a fluffy robe with your shock collar placed on top. He almost looked sympathetic, but you knew he wasn’t. Not really. Your eyes drifted over to the shock collar as he placed the items on the bed. It wasn’t often you got to take it off, but occasionally Ren would let you. He knew you wouldn’t leave, and so did you. Your eyes shifted back over to Ren as you watched him fish his phone out of his hoodie. “You look so good… I need to take a picture of this!” He said, lining the camera up. You didn’t bother trying to adjust. You heard several snaps go off before he lowered his phone, his fingernail tapping against the screen as he swiped through them quickly. You felt the nausea roll through your stomach again at his satisfied expression. “Don’t worry, I’ll block out your face when I post these.” You nodded weakly. He often took pictures of you and the mess he left on you. Your skin was always covered in bruises, though it had far fewer scars than Ren’s had. He always seemed hesitant to do permanent damage, as if you just being here was enough. The heart he carved in your chest served as a reminder of what he could do, though. You finally sat up, though you still felt a spinning sensation in your head. Ren walked towards you again and reached forward to tuck a strand of hair behind you ear. “Let’s get you cleaned up, hm? I’ll start the bath for you!” He smiled that infectious grin at you, irresistible and menacing all at once. You could have sworn you saw him hop once he thought you couldn’t see him anymore. You glanced down at the white sheets, now covered in blood. The contrast was striking. If it hadn’t been your blood, or blood at all, you might have thought it looked beautiful. You figured you shouldn’t keep Ren waiting for long. You grabbed the robe and the collar on your way out, although the thought of throwing the collar out the window crossed your mind for a brief second.

You got the faintest whiff of cherry blossoms as you walked down the hall towards the bathroom, the smell becoming more pronounced the closer you got. Once you finally got in the bathroom, you noticed the tub was almost overflowing with bubbles. There were even a few candles set up around the bathroom. He must have started it when he went to get the bathrobe in the first place. The room could have been picture-perfect for a relaxing spa day, but you were quickly snapped out of that thought as you looked at the shock collar in your arms. You quickly placed it on the counter. Ren’s tail was still swishing back and forth, and he beckoned you forward from the edge of the tub. You stepped forward and tentatively put a toe inside the water, testing the temperature. Somehow he had gotten it just right, usually, you ended up with scalding hot water if Ren started the bath. Though, you wondered if he did it on purpose. You lowered yourself in the water, your injuries sending a jolt of pain through your body. They weren’t that bad, you thought. He’d done worse. Mostly on the first day you were here. Other than the slight sting against your cuts, the water was comforting and the light floral smell made you feel at ease. The tub was rounded, leaving Ren enough room to sit on the edge and move around. You noted he was wearing a thin pair of boxer briefs, but nothing else. You found yourself staring at his scars often.

Ren had once told you that he wasn’t going to be like him, the man you had seen in the basement. (The very dead man in the basement.) Ren had shown you his videos, the screams of the unlucky victims pictured haunting your nightmares. Though Ren said he wasn’t going to be like him, you knew what he did to make money. It was unspoken, but you knew. After what Ren had made you do to him, he never involved you. At least, not yet. You shuddered at the thought.

Ren’s hands were suddenly on your shoulders, his hands gently brushing over the bruises he had left earlier. You scooted back towards him, resting your back on his legs that were submerged in the water. You felt him reach for something besides him and then felt the warm water on your neck. Your eyes closed as he worked until your hair was wet enough to wash, his extra careful movements as to not snag your hair making your heart jump. This creature, whatever Ren was, had your heart. You knew if you tried to leave, he would literally have it. He had told you as much once. Ren was softly humming something as he washed your hair. It was almost endearing.

“I really love you...” He said softly, his hands still trailing through your hair. “I’m so glad you’re mine.” Mine. Your hands clenched under the water, a deep sigh leaving you. He took that as a positive response and didn’t press for an answer like he usually did. You knew all too well the consequences of not returning affection to him or returning it the wrong way. He had settled down from the first few months you had been here, but the edge of possessiveness in his statements never left. At times like these, when he outright stated you belonged to him, it was hard to respond.

You started to drift off as he continued to work. The first few weeks you had been here had been like a testing period for Ren. First, he was gentle but was quick to anger when you showed fear. As the weeks went on, and you realized you weren’t leaving anytime soon, things began to almost look normal. Ren began to trust you, and in turn, you opened up to him. You and Ren had a lot in common, minus the murderous tendencies. His quirks were quick to make you laugh, like the countless holes he left in the backyard from digging. You felt a smile cross your face as you thought of watching him out the window while he jumped around in the snow one winter evening.

Ren’s hands left your hair and snapped you out of your dozing state, and you felt him move behind you again. His hands were quickly at your shoulders again, urging you to stand up. You noticed a washcloth in his hand. He began to move it over you, the suds leaving trails on your body and temporarily covering your cuts. Ren was so gentle, placing a kiss on the back of your neck as he worked. He had really meant it when he promised to take care of you. You winced as he wiped over a particularly deep cut from earlier, the thought of being taken care of quickly vanishing.

He finished washing you quickly and you sat back down, letting the bubbly water wash away the soap. There was the slightest tinge of red in the water now, and you leaned forward to drain the tub. You wanted to get out as fast as possible. Ren grabbed a towel from nearby and handed it to you, grabbing one for himself in the process. You moved slowly, dreading having to put the collar back on. Ren caught you looking at it out of the corner of the eye, and tutted. “I know, you don’t wanna put the collar back on… but it’s for your own safety.” He smiled, but his eyes didn’t. You handed him your wet towel and stepped out, your hands moving to tie your hair up. The cold air on your neck made you feel a deep sense of longing. For what, you weren’t sure. You glanced in the mirror, noticing that Ren had really done a number on your neck. It was peppered in bruises and bite marks, one mark particularly deep. The rest of you wasn’t in much better shape. Not only had Ren cut up your arm with his nails, but your body was covered in deep bruises from the pressure he put on you. Bite marks littered your thighs. The only untouched part of your body was your face if you didn’t count the deep circles from lack of sleep. “So beautiful.” Ren mused from behind you, your eyes catching his in the mirror. If anything, at least he was complimentary. He stepped towards the counter and grabbed the collar, opening it back up. You stepped forward and turned your gaze up so you didn’t have to watch. He slipped the cold metal around your neck, placing one last kiss on your throat before snapping it shut. The weight was almost comforting, just as his weight had been earlier. You slipped into the robe he had set out and made your way to the living room, nestling yourself in your favorite corner. Ren must have followed closely behind, as he sat on the couch soon after you did, laying his head in your lap. You reached down to pat his head, a gesture that almost felt automatic at this point. Your finger played with the soft fur on his ears absent-mindedly. He fell asleep like this more often than not, his tail wrapped around himself. He looked up at you, his contentment was hard to hide. “I love you so much! I know I already said it… but I just do. Please don’t ever leave me.” You almost wanted to laugh at his words. Like you could leave. You didn’t even have the option. But at the same time, you found yourself unable to entertain the thought. You loved him too, in whatever way you could. You put your hand on the side of his face, cupping it. “I won’t, I promise. I love you, Ren.” His tail started swishing again at your words, and he sat up to wrap his arms around you. His face nuzzled against your neck as he started to pepper light kisses against the bruises there. He was going to take care of you. Forever.

#not jjba #my writing #angst #boyfriend to death #ren hana #ren hana/reader #ren/reader #yandere cw #dub con cw #violence cw #blood cw #unhealthy relationship cw #stockholm syndrome #not sfw #abbacchiosbelt archive

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jinkieswinkies · 4 years

Text

I made a fic where lifeline fixes revenant. I like them together.

Heavy metalic footsteps echoed throughout the corridor. One step slightly becoming louder than the previous.

He was mad. Fuming even. He didn’t like asking for help much, especially anyone from here. He didn’t really care about the other legends much less the supposed mechanic- er closest to a mechanic At least.

A low growl escaped the robot's lips, his hip stuck out at an unnatural angle. Each time he lifted his right leg he wanted to rip it clean off, the high pitched squeak filled his ears and it was getting quite annoying.

He groaned again, ‘fucking great’ he thought.

The games were done for the day so that meant he didn’t have to rush this.

He rolled his eyes, or the bright orbs that would’ve been his eyes. This wouldn't have happened if that dumbass skinbag didn't decide to strike a piece of glass into his right hip. Fucker, they'll pay next game.

What was her name? Bangalore? Bagboar?

Whatever it was, it didn't matter. For sure; next time, she's his first victim. He chuckled deeply, just thinking about what poor skinsuits are pitiful enough to be at the mercy of his hands, got him riled for next time.

That damned whine returned, his thoughts back at hand.

Getting repaired

Grimacing, he stopped his tracks. He's arrived. The one who has close experience with robots. Looking to a slight right, he read the nameplate.

Ajay Che (combat medic)

”Wouldn't call that little pet a robot.” he grumbled.

Huffing, he had second thoughts about this. Glancing to his right hip again, and back to the name planchette. This could slow him down, this needed to be taken care of.

Cursing under his breath, he knocked. Well more like banged. Nothing. Nothing was happening. No response. No sounds coming From inside. Nothing.

He crossed his arms and huffed heavily, it was taking all of him not to just go back to his room. This situation needed to be resolved and if she couldn't help him he'd make her. Still, there he stood In silence until three loud shuffles were heard from inside.

“A’right, a’right. Hol’ on.” Her voice was loud but breathless.

He froze, he didn’t really associate with the other legends much less Ajay. He did not want to talk. At all.

The automatic metal doors slid open, revealing a tired and worn out looking medic.

“Ain’t dis a surprise, what you doin ere?”

He briskly walked inside, ignoring her question. Scanning the room, in the middle he saw a metallic table and a few spare robot parts for her drone.

“Dats a bit rude to jus come in ‘ere like you own da place.”

Shoulders tense, he turns around. He doesn’t know how to respond. How does a conversation like this work? He didn’t like socializing and this was hard as is. Someone else touching this robotic fucking monster of a body. That’s a fucking NO. He already had a hard time accepting this fucking form.

Ajay stared, her eyes full of curiosity. ”Well?”

He was getting angry, the words didn't seem to form out his mouth. Was it not obvious? Did he really need to say more? Just fucking looking at his hip and you'll see why he came here.

She knew and he knew that she knew. So why? Why does she still ask?

”If yah come ere’ to stand and stare den leave I don have time to chat.” she rubbed her temples.

She did look tired But he didn't care. Pointing to the right hip and back to the table.

“F-fix.” He grumbled.

She raised a brow as if challenging him to say more. She hummed. Still looking at him, She wants him to say more.

‘He said fix, why does she still stare at him dumbfounded.’

Her arms crossed, she lets out a tired sigh. “I don have time for dis...chu want sometin ask nicely.”

Knuckles cracking, he let out a feral growl. ”fix. Or else.”

Her face contorted into annoyance. ”look you won't be gettin fixed...yah hear.” She pointed to the door, Getting up close and personal to his face. She demanded. ”Play nice or get out.”

The crimson-plated robot shook with anger. This was not going well and the atmosphere in the room was suffocating. He didn't like her attitude even when she wasn't sassy. A happy go lucky, rich spoon-fed kid who grew up with luxury needed to be put in place.

He didn't care and he didn't fucking like her. Period. This girl, she’s testing him. This ship had a respawn beacon anyways wouldn’t make a difference if she magically disappeared. She acts like she isn’t afraid of death. She’s odd. Something about her pricked his interest but he shoves it away.

Why wasn't she afraid? Why is she provoking him? Obviously, things would just go smoothly if she just did what he asked.

He backed away, he needed this to be done. If this wasn’t resolved then it’s gonna fuck with his performance and If it fucks with his performance then oh boy. He’s gonna fucking throw a fit.

Looking at her eyes, they’re filled with annoyance and tiredness. Her brown eyes dark, making her eye-bags pop out more.

He huffed out his nose. “Fix me.”

He saw her grit her teeth. She opened her mouth. “You-“

He interrupted “Please.”

It took all of him not to shout at her, to force her to fix him. She was a toughy. Something new?

She backed away, briskly making her way to the table. Grabbing the tools on her way, she turned and gestured him to come closer.

He followed suit, wanting no needing for this to be over. He propped himself up on the table.

Having a cocky grin she asked, ”Where?”

Throwing him off, he stared. How dumb can she be???

lip quivering. He simply jutted his hip out and made a simple ”hmmph.”

Rolling her eyes, her arms wrap around his waist to bring him closer.

Surprised, he shouted. ” Be gentle or I’ll fucking kill you!” His Hand twisting into a pointy makeshift knife.

”Yah kill me, yah won't be fixed. Sorry for triggering sometin.” she whispered.

After pulling him closer she rested her hands on his lap, reaching her hand softly onto the left hip to ground the crimson robot. He winced.

He’s always been sensitive, especially near his hips. That’s just how his wires feel. Sensitive. It’s worse since they’re usually exposed. The sad excuse of a shawl covered the majority but not the sides. It’s crazy how Hammond designed his model. Crazy how even then, even after dying. He can still feel things. Not like he messed with anything there anyways.

“Sorry...”

He grumbled, annoyed with the whole situation he didn’t want to put up a fight.

She chuckled softly, “I see Anita dit a numba on yah hip.”

“Hmph.”

He wasn’t going to engage in conversation as she wanted. She got enough of cooperation from him.

“I notice, yah know.”

This piqued his interest. “Mmh?”

“I notice yah, yah don like talkin to us.”

He weakly shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t care enough to.” His voice was almost nothing.

Her hands wrapped around the shard of glass, swishing it slowly back and forth.

The murder robots hands gripped the table underneath him. Letting out a shaky breath he whimpered, “Be more careful...”

The shard was a long one and it came out rather easily. The matter was his wires were pulled out as well. Clicking her tongue she grabbed a screwdriver and pried the small space just a little more open.

He wanted to run out of this room right now. He wanted to close his legs. He wanted nothing more to do with this. This stupid sickening feeling, dumb stupid retarded Ajay. “Wa-wait..”

She didn’t hear him. Or did she. Point is his message didn’t cross. Her hands trailed up his exposed wires. Picking the shortest one, she rolled the tip whilst pinching the end to squeeze into place. Making him shudder, His hips jerked. His voice was static and breathless “Wait, I said wait...ho-hold on.”

She rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time today. “Look I know dis hurts but I’m workin as fast as I can.”

Ignoring his pleas she continued with putting his wires back in place.

His right hand gripped her uniform, she didn’t mind or she just didn’t care at this point.

His body trembled with each touch of her fingertips. “Haa...”

Her fingers made their way to the second thickest wire, this one was much more troublesome to get into the right place. Slightly twisting the dark gray wire, she tugged it into place. Next to it, a smaller sized green one stood out, pinching this one just like the first. It found its way into proper standing.

His grip had become increasingly tighter, desperately trying not to roll his hips into her hand. He refused to be like...this. Taking a deep breath he steadied himself.

“Dis is de last wire.” She mumbled.

The last one was...difficult to say the least. Located closest to his pelvic area, she knew she had to be gentle. Sure he may be a robot but it’s courtesy to still treat him with respect.

“Uhm.” He mumbled. “This is the last one right?”

“Jus Said id was.”

If he still had a real working body, his face would’ve been red and his heart would’ve been a Jackhammer. If it was even possible he missed having a heart, missed hearing how it drowned out his hearing when it bumped, missed having it beat when a lover of his said they loved him. He didn’t want to feel this anymore. So small and shy.

Ajay couldn’t pinch this wire, this one was way much thicker than the rest. She had to be more gentle. If it hurt him this much then it was better safe then sorry. (Little does she know. ) She found where it was originally stored rather quickly, stroking the wire, she increased her hold on it.

Revenant let out a high pitched wheeze, his hips rolling into her hand. His legs tightened around her waist.

”wha- what are ya doing?” She stammered, clearly confused.

This was so fucking embarrassing he wanted to fucking die. More than he already wished. “I- you- I said-“

She groaned, “I’m workin as fast as I can. We’re both tired I know but cha gotta work with me, Rev.”

A shiver ran up his would be spine caused him to falter. “Rev?”

“My bad broter. Thought since I’m doin yah a favor I could give cha a nickname..”

“I don’t care and I don’t like it, just finish.” He replied, looking away.

“I would if yah let me go witcha legs.” She snickered.

He jumped, slowly letting go of her. Her hand down back at his right hip, stretching him back out. He leaned back on the metal table with his palms carrying most of his weight.

This felt weirdly intimate, and he didn’t like it. Another shiver went up to his makeshift of a spine. Twisting the darkest wire back into place, she had to squeeze the middle area for it to fit. This time, he couldn’t hold it back. He let out a shuddered breath, Lidded luminescent eyes now found their way closed, hips slowly rolling once again.

Ajay looked up, with a quizzical look on her face. She didn’t bother questioning it but she still wanted to test something.

She squeezed harder and he let out a small mewl. The tips of her fingers found their way traveling ever so delicately down to the thickest part of the wire. Her thumb circling around the base, she felt the failed suppressed shudder throughout his body.

he breathed, “Fuck...”

She hummed, she put the wire back In place but she still wanted to play with him. Hands wrapped on his waist she began feeling his back indents. His panting was audible now. Pressing inwards of one of the indents. His voicebox crackled, letting out a cute “mmph.”

He slowly moved back, letting her climb on semi top of him. His hips rutting against her leg, he was really needy. Whimpering and begging practically. She smirked.

Figured as much, he’s been alive for almost 3 centuries. Nobody to touch him, nobody to make him feel good. She almost pitied him.

“P-please let me.”

Ajay hummed.

Another voice crack, “Ajay-emmhp”

His rutting became more aggressive, more sloppy. He needed this. However, he did come into the room with an attitude. Can’t let that go through can we. Moving her leg back, she got off him.

“N-no..” his hips chased her leg. His eyes flicked to her.

“I fixed yah, chu can leave.” She moved to her desk.

“Wha- I ehm...” he really didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t want to be left feeling this way.

“Yah Heard me.” She snickered.

He covered his face with his arms, he couldn’t do this. He didn’t want to be the only one feeling this way.

His breath still irregular, his voice box struggled to make out coherent words. “i-“

“Yah don’t have tuh say anyting.” She interrupted.

He swallowed. Getting up from the table, he still looked at her.

His thoughts raced. ‘What should I do? I came to be fixed And I was. Why am I feeling this way? I don’t want to anymore.

Why is this happening? Why did that happen?why did I allow that?’

He awkwardly walked up to her desk where she sat. Turning her around, his eyes darted to look anywhere but her face.

Why’d I do this again? I want- I want her to touch me again..

“Hm?” She questioned.

He kissed her cheek and turned to walk out of her room, he heard her giggle. “I’ll see ya in the games, yah smhook.”

Stopping his tracks at the open door, he shouted. “STUPID SKINSUIT!”

“Fuck ya!” She burst out laughing.

He was down the hall when he heard her respond, he wanted to be back in his room. Nobody was going to stop him. Briskly making his way down the hallway. The crimson plated robot found his room on the right.

His back met his bed issued from the company. His Body still ached for her touch. Wanting more. Rolling back and forth like a toddler on the sheets. He shouted, “Stupid SKINSUIT!”

#revenant apex legends #lifeline #lifeline apex legends #lifeline x revenant #revline #wireplay #dont use tumblr much as you can see #apex legends #revenant kind ooc at the end #begging #sassy lifeline

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marciacmoon · 4 years

Note

Bad Things Happen Bingo: Passing out from Pain- Marichat

⇢ pairing: Marichat⇢ genre: angst, a little fluffy!⇢ word count: 1.8K⇢ theme: passing out from pain⇢ warnings: manipulation, violence, blood. Nothing graphic though! ⇢ summary: Marinette gets injured as Ladybug and bullied by Lila, and Chat Noir comes to the rescue. ⇢ A/N: This is the first time in a long time I’ve written something that wasn’t for a report for work, so please let me know what you think!

Link to Original bingo!

Request a square!

“Marinette!”

“I’m fine Tikki, just give me a moment.” Marinette’s breath huffed out of her as she staggered slowly through the back alley beside her school, not wanting to be seen until her body caught back up with her head.

Her kwami huffed and pouted, which Marinette probably would have thought to be cute if she wasn’t acutely aware of the stabbing pain in her stomach.

To say this morning had been rough would be the least of it. On her way to class, she’d been horrified to find a man brandishing a knife to a woman just outside the corner store. After finding the nearest and most inconspicuous spot behind a bush to transform, Ladybug had swooped in to save the day! The fight had been short and to the point, but not before the attacker landed a hit, slashing straight across her middle. Though the suit protected her from having blood drawn, the force behind the attack knocked the breath out of her.

So here she was, slowly climbing the stairs to class knowing she was fifteen minutes late already, “You need to tell somebody what happened!” Tikki whispered from her purse.

“No way, Tikki,” She sighed, “It’s going to be on the news that Ladybug saved someone today. Someone will be able to connect the dots, or if not, they’re going to think I’m lying to try and save my name at school! I don’t want that getting back to Lila, and her being able to twist it to make everyone hate me even more.”

Tikki huffed again, but Marinette had already opened the door to her classroom, effectively ending the conversation. Mrs. Bustier gave her a soft glare, not saying anything, but jotting something down on her papers as Marinette sat in her desk in the back.

It was so difficult for Marinette to pay attention now that she was sat in the back of the classroom, coupled with the exhaustion and pain from her fight this morning, she was more or less sleeping during the class. Every now and then, Nathaniel would elbow her to write something down. She didn’t mind it, until his elbow hit her once again, at little too close to her middle. Yelping loudly, Marinette hopped out of her chair, arms wrapped protectively around her middle.

“Oh my gosh!” Lila cried from the front row, “Nathaniel, are you touching Marinette inappropriately?! I saw you!” Of course, Marinette was the only one to see the slick smirk just passed Lila’s oh-so-surprised face.

“What?! No, I-I- “

Mrs. Bustier raised a hand to stop poor Nathaniel’s stuttering, “Marinette is this true?”

Marinette glared in confusion at Lila, eyes narrowing as she tried to work out what her plan was here, “No, Mrs. Bustier. I just… Nathaniel was trying to help me stay awake, and I… thought I saw a spider, that’s why I yelled.” Marinette’s face blazed at the admittance to dozing, her head aching with the lie.

“Ms. Dupain-Cheng,” Mrs. Bustier started, her voice clipped, “You should do well not to disturb the class so often, coming in class late and yelling. Please see me during lunch break today.”

Marinette nearly snarled at the vindictive look on Lila’s face, but simply sat back in her seat and tried to pay attention during class. Her reprimandation during lunch wasn’t as bad as she had expected, Mrs. Bustier seemed more concerned at the bags under Marinette’s eyes rather than the incidents from today, but she didn’t mention it outright. Marinette trudged through the rest of class, making barely legible notes through the intense pain in her stomach.

Grateful that the final bell rang, Marinette packed her bag slowly, trying not to irritate her pain anymore. Maybe Tikki’s right, she thought to herself, I think I need to go to the hospital. So focused on building the lie she would tell her parents so they would take her, she didn’t notice that everyone in the class was gone.

“Dupain-Thing.”

Well, almost everyone.

Marinette bit back a groan, “Hello, Lila.”

She smirked, “You’re so noble, I can’t believe you would rat yourself out instead of letting that art brat take the fall for you.” Her footsteps were near silent as she crept towards Marinette’s desk

“I can handle your lies, Lila,” Marinette said cooly, “But I won’t let you lie about my friends. I don’t care if they start to hate me, I will always be there for them.”

“Aw, how noble!” She cooed, her eyes glazed with fake tears, “How adorable, do you have a crush on him?”

Marinette scoffed at the bait, “I’m not having this conversation, I need to get to the bakery.”

She began to walk past Lila, but tripped over a foot - and this time, it wasn’t her own. Marinette fell face first, the stairs making a sickening thud against her brow bone as she accidentally bit the inside of her cheek, “Oopsie, you’re so clumsy Marinette!” Lila laughed, walking past the girl on the ground. She ‘accidentally’ kicked Marinette’s head, the girl feeling it collide painfully with the leg of a desk.

The door opened and shut, and Marinette finally let out the shaky breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in, “Tikki…” She tried to say, but she couldn’t finish her thought before bursting into tears.

The kwami flitted from her hiding spot in her purse, “Marinette… you need to tell someone about this…”

“I can’t,” Marinette sobbed, “She’s going to lie her way out of it, say it’s my clumsiness, or, or that I– I started it!”

Tikki frowned, “Maybe you should talk to Chat Noir about it.”

Marinette startled, “Are you kidding, Tikki? He’s got bigger things to worry about than me.”

“That’s not true, Marinette. He cares about you, he’ll want to know about this.”

“O-Okay…” Marinette mumbled through her tears, slowly sitting up. It wasn’t until she staggered to her feet that she realized how dizzy she felt. Steadying herself on a nearby desk, Marinette belatedly noticed how sticky her face felt. Reaching up a hand, her fingers ghosted over the caked blood on her forehead. Had she really fallen that hard? She needed to get home.

If she was staggering in the doors this morning, Marinette was limping now. Though Lila’s trip had mainly impacted her forehead, it had aggravated the pain in her stomach. Her body felt like it was on fire, but she barely noticed it through the murky pain in her head. She’d barely made it to the locker room when she had to stop, breathing labored as she leaned against the wall for support. Vaguely, she heard a “Shhh!!”, but she couldn’t be certain with her brain the equivalent of scrambled eggs.

Sliding down the wall and closing her eyes, she felt Tikki pushing against her in the bag, trying to get her up, “‘M just gonna sit here a minute…”

“Marinette!” Her rest was rudely interrupted by a panicked screech, a tone she had heard a million times in a different name.

Her eyes opened briefly, enough to confirm her suspicions, “Fancy meeting you here, Chaton.” His hands hovered in front of her, as if afraid she would shatter from a touch.

“Princess, what happened? Are you okay? What happened?!” His hands finally delicately grabbed her face, tilting her head back and forth as he inspected for damage.

“You… you should see the other guy,” She chuckled, the pain blinding her to the thought of why is Chat Noir at her school right now?, “I’m okay.”

To try and make her point, Marinette began to stand up. However, her stubbornness wasn’t enough to push through. Before she’d stood from her crouch, she was seeing black, and it wasn’t the leather of her partner’s suit, “Uh oh.”

“Marinette!”

_____________________________________________________________

Chat Noir was sat atop Marinette’s balcony, the trap door open so he could keep an eye on her below. He’d never felt his heart beat as fast as it had when Marinette’s limp body slumped into his arms. Panicked, he’d taken her to the school nurse. Adrien barely knew how to apply a bandage, let alone treating someone who was unconscious.

The nurse had done her best to clean Marinette, but informed him she was going to contact her parents - she needed to go to the hospital. Insisting he was faster than any ambulance, he’d carried his princess to the address her parents had given, “Come on, Marinette, please wake up.”

Leaving her to be carted off by doctors was agonizing, his tail swishing back and forth in irritation until he felt one soft hand and one large, warm one grace his back. He flinched, head whipping back and forth to see Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng embrace him, “Thank you so much, my boy. I don’t know how quickly she would have gotten help without you there.” Mrs. Cheng had tears in her eyes.

“It’s… it’s okay. I’m just… glad she’s… she’s…” He didn’t realise the tears welling up in his own eyes. Clearing his throat softly, he spoke again, “I’m sorry, but I do have to get back to the photosh- to um, my life.”

Mr. Dupain smiled softly at him, holding out a cardboard box with the T&S logo he had come to know and love, “Here, son. You look like you could use some weight on you. Thank you for saving our daughter.”

Chat Noir nearly burst out into tears at that, but simply nodded and accepted the gift, promising to swing by the bakery later tonight to check on Marinette.

According to her parents, she had woken up, long enough to tell the doctor what had happened (she ‘fell down the stairs’), and long enough to be discharged. Now, she was resting in bed, her head, arm, and side wrapped in bandages.

He slipped from the patio chair down onto her bed, perched at her side as she rested soundly. His clawed fingers gently traced the bandages, reaching up to ghost over the bags under her eyes, “Princess…” He whispered softly, a frown gracing his features.

“Hmmmmnn,” Blearily and slow, Marinette’s eyes blinked open to stare at her knight, hand reaching up to rest on his knee, “Chaton.” She murmured.

Letting one of his hands glide down to hold hers, the other still cupping her face, Adrien gave her a soft smile, “Hey, Mari. How are you feeling?”

She grunted, but didn’t elaborate. Taking a deep breath, her eyes began to water as her grip on his hand tightened significantly, almost - ow! - painful. How in the hell is she this strong?! He wondered. Before he could put any more thought into it, she spoke, “Chat Noir… can I tell you something?”

“Anything for you, Princess.”

#marichat #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #chat noir #lila rossi #asks #coco's bad things happen bingo #Anonymous

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tvehyungs-gf · 5 years

Note

27 and 54 for Taehyung!

If it kills me - TattooArtist!Taehyung Drabble

✧ I love you and it scares the hell out of me!✧ I thought you didn’t want me.

Your heart was inevitably yearning for him - beating for him and you had no idea what the hell to do but make an irrational decision to get something tattooed permanently on your body. At the time, it was such a brilliant idea and you swore there was no other way to go about it except for this one.

But now, when the time neared for your appointment, you were more than nervous. You felt like you could die and that wasn’t even exaggerating.

With sweaty palms and a heart full of regret and timorousness, you made your way to Glow Tattoos. As you opened the door, the bell above made a ding, and immediately you were greeted with a bubbly voice welcoming you in. “Y/N! Welcome to Glow Tattoos!”

Hoseok walked around the counter and engulfed you into a friendly hug. “Hey Hobi, how are you?”

“I’m good! You?” He raised a brow when you both pulled away.

“Eh,” You shrugged, wiping your palms against your jeans. “Nervous.”

“Ah.” He oh’d as a smirk played on his lips. “You’re here for your tattoo, right?” You nodded nervously and it made Hoseok let out a chuckle. “You’ll do fine. Taehyung should be ready for you, wait here as I get him.”

It felt as if an eternity had passed by as you waited for the happy go boy come back. Once he peaked his head out of the black curtain, he began to hold the curtain open to the hallway behind the counter and gestured for you to come inside. “He’s ready for you, love.”

You answered with a grin and walked through the curtains. You already knew where to go so as soon as you were in the walkway, Hoseok let the curtain go. It swished back and forth for a second before finally settling into its original position, separating the main room from the hallway. You turned back around and took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” You thought.

As you took each step, your fate suddenly felt like it was going to end. The very last door seemed so close yet so far away but the moment your hands touched the cold metal door handle, you felt a shock run through your entire body. Slowly, you opened the door and not even a second later you were engulfed into a bear hug.

“Y/N!” Taehyung squealed excitedly, his arms quick to wrap around you. “I miss you!”

You giggled, pulling away. “It hasn’t even been a week, let alone a few days, since that last time I saw you.”

Taehyung shook his head making his blue hair swirl around. “I don’t care, it still felt like a year to me.” He frowned before motioning you to sit on the tattoo chair. “Anyway,” He smiled. “You’re getting a quote right?”

“Yeah.” You nodded. You placed your purse on the counter and then sat down on the comfy chair. “Because of you, I live with hope.” You repeated the tattoo you wanted. “Cheesy, I know, but it means a lot to me.”

The boy raised his pierced brow at you as he went to wash his hands and get everything ready. “Is… this referencing to someone special?”

“Y-yes.” You gulped but quickly, you interjected with, “But you don’t know him!”

“Him?” Taehyung crossed his black ink covered arms across his broad chest. “Whose ‘him’?”

Fuck. “This guy I like.” You mentally facepalmed yourself. How could you be so dumb and dig a bigger hole for yourself?

“You like someone?” He whispered, his arms falling to his sides as his face turned solemn. Maybe you were just imagining things but you swore it looked like Taehyung was feeling… hopeless? “I didn’t know that.”

“I-…” You sighed looking away. “I don’t think he likes me back.”

Taehyung frowned. Whilst getting his drawing book, he sat down at his desk that was beside the tattooing chair. “Why wouldn’t he like you?” Taehyung opened the book, your eyes immediately drifting to the drawings he drew and you knew for a fact that these couldn’t have been for his customers because well… they were drawings of a girl and she seemingly looked like you but you didn’t want to assume. Maybe it was your mind playing tricks on you.

Nonetheless, it didn’t stop you from glancing at them. “Because…” You started. “He’s way out of my league and he could do so much better than me.”

“Who?” He asked turning around. “Who’s the one who took my only chance away?”

Your eyes grew wide. “Your chance?”

Suddenly, Taehyung stood up. “Dammit Y/N! I love you and it scares the hell out of me!”

Did you hear him right? “You love me?”

“So fucking much!” He sighed. His shoulders drooped down as his head hung low. “But you don’t like me anyways.”

You shook your head and stood up, looking at him. “I thought you didn’t want me.”

“Huh?” He asked shocked. His lips began to part as his eyebrows furrowed. “You thought I didn’t want you?” He almost let out a laugh. “How could you possibly think that I didn’t want you? I thought it was obvious with how I felt about you…”

You raised your brow confused. “Not at all.” You shook your head sideways. “I guess this is where things change between us, eh?”

Taehyung chuckled, his cold hands finding their way to your soft warm ones. Silence fell between the two of you as you both stood there with your eyes staring into another’s. “The quote,” Taehyung started. “Is it about me?”

“Yeah.” You admitted shyly. A blush rose on your cheeks making Taehyung chuckle at your shyness. “You do you give me hope.”

“Did I give you hope about us?” He bit his lip.

“Honestly,” You looked away from his piercing stare. “At first, yes. However, I made myself believe that you didn’t want to be with someone like me.”

His cold hands were now on your cheeks, making you look at him. “Never think that way again because Y/N, darling, I want you and only you.” His lips parted ever so slightly as his forehead leaned against yours.

You looked from his brown eyes to his pierced, juicy lips. “I love you, Y/N. So fucking much.” You looked away from his lips and back to his eyes. And slowly, you closed your eyes and leaned in, your lips molding together with his.

“I love you too, Taehyung.”

AN: lowkey listened to if it kills me by jason mraz as i wrote this for inspo! and i lk kept changing the freaking gif because for some reason the one i downloaded wont like move :/

Send me a number(s) from this list, along with a member, and I’ll write you a drabble.➝ ask box ➝ bts masterlist

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mintchocolateleaves · 5 years

Text

Emogust - 07.08: In which character A. is searching for a cat, and character B has found a cat around their windowsill // @sup-poki - A college!AU.

“What is that?”

Saguru squints across at his roommate, feels tempted almost to throw his textbook over at him, and decides against it. Kuroba is just being his strange self again, trying to distract him from his criminal law dissertation.

“I’m sure it’s very interesting,” Saguru sighs, trying to focus back on the legislation he’s researching. All very boring, important yes, but oh so very boring. He half considers procrastinating. “But not right now.”

“Oh please,” Kuroba says, “I’m pretty sure everything is more interesting that the legislation that’ll only be relevant to a single sentence of your report.”

Saguru hums. There are some interesting elements to researching his dissertation piece, but Kuroba is right that this isn’t really one of them. And it’s not even a major part of the research, just something he’s including because it will give him a higher grade.

Beside him, Kuroba shifts, unfolding himself from where he sits cross-legged on the sofa. He moves with a grace that Saguru catches from the corner of his eye, distracting in a criminal sense.

You know what, Saguru should probably be doing a dissertation on how his roommate is the Kaitou KID, there would be no shortage of articles and literature on the thief, and he’s got his own research he could add.

Then again, Kuroba would probably end up deleting his dissertation the day before submission if he did that, so… probably for the best if he doesn’t.

“I thought maybe it was a racoon, or a ferret,” Kuroba says now, and despite himself, Saguru glances up. He’s been successfully distracted. “But it’s a cat.”

Saguru lets out a sigh, pushes himself up, and follows Kuroba to the patio door that leads out to their balcony. It’s small outside, barely larger than a prison cell, but sometimes on hotter days, Saguru will study outside, dragging out one of the deckchairs from the cupboard.

“I’m sorry,” Saguru says, as he stares through the door – it’s opaque, and when he moves forward to unlock it, it slides open. “But do you even know what a ferret looks like?”

Kuroba huffs, crossing his arms. He says, “Out of the corner of my eye, it looked like it could be a very large ferret.”

“That doesn’t really answer my question,” Saguru says, and then, slipping his phone from his back pocket, he brings up a photo of said animal. Turning his screen around, he says, “That cat looks nothing like one of these.”

Kuroba does what he usually does whenever Saguru goes to show him something, and that’s steal his phone and swipe through the page without a care. Saguru rolls his eyes, steps out onto the balcony and glances at the cat.

“Ah, ferrets are kind of cute, aren’t they Hakuba?” Kuroba says. Saguru, feeling a headache coming on, decides to focus on their visitor instead.

Practically a bundle of fur, but almost elegant, the cat is easily recognisable as a Norwegian forest cat. Tufts of orange and brown fur mixed together against white fur, makes it look like the sort of pet someone would showcase in a pet beauty competition.

“Ah – Ah – Hakuba – look this one’s got a little hat on!”

Saguru takes a moment to glance away from the cat, offering Kuroba the driest look he can muster. It’s a mixture of exasperation and- nope. That’s pretty much it.

Let the man realise that even after all these years, even knowing that he’s capable of outrunning the police and committing crimes without being caught, Saguru still thinks of him as an idiot.

“You’re an idiot,” he says, just to make sure he gets it.

“How can you be so mean to me,” Kuroba says, “knowing that when you sleep each night, I’m only a room away?”

Saguru rolls his eyes. He turns back to the cat and finds himself squinting at it. Almost nervously, he reaches his hand out, as if questioning whether the animal will allow him to smooth it.

Glancing around, it isn’t too difficult to see how it got up here. Their apartment is on the first floor, so they don’t typically see anything other than birds up on their balcony, but there is a cherry blossom a little to the side of the apartment and it’s not impossible for a cat to climb to the edge of the branches and make the jump.

“Don’t be the demon roommate Kuroba, it’s too much of a cliché.” Kuroba huffs, and Saguru successfully places his hand against fur without having claws turned against him. The cat lets out a small purr, a low grumble and Saguru can’t help but feel satisfied by it. “Should we be looking for who owns this cat?”

He can practically feel the eye roll he receives. “Why do we need to search down the owner?”

“…Well, it could be lost, couldn’t it?”

“No, no,” Kuroba says, and now he moves forward, shuffling out onto the balcony as well, grabbing the back of Saguru’s shirt, dragging him backwards. “No, we’re not searching for the owner, it’ll find its way home eventually.”

“Wha–”

“We’re not doing this again,” Kuroba says, ignoring the incredulous eyebrow raise Saguru sends his way. “No – don’t give me that look. You know what I mean.”

Actually, Saguru doesn’t. He says as such.

“I refuse. Hakuba, dude, we go searching for the owner of this cat, and we’ll only meet someone who’s lost it. A weirdo, someone insane – deranged. Whatever. I’m not doing it.”

Saguru frowns. He says, “I think that’s a bit of a reach, don’t you?”

“Please,” Kuroba says, “it’s the truth.”

“No, you’re reaching.”

“Oh puh-lease,” Kuroba taps his fingers against his elbow, arms crossed as he shakes his head. “You haven’t realised? You attract crazy Hakuba, it kind of just flocks to you.”

Saguru frowns. He squints.

“I mean, I don’t really know why,” the thief continues, “but my working theory is you’re just so boring, that the crazies flock to you because they think you’re hiding some of it.”

“I don’t attract crazy people.”

“I mean, I’m your roommate,” Kuroba shrugs, scrunches his nose. “That’s one example.”

“You’re an anomaly in the statistics,” Saguru says. “And even then, you’re not crazy, you’re just…”

He doesn’t know what to say so he simply waves the man up and down. Kaito huffs again, breathing through his nose, the side of his lips moving up in a half-grin. More amused rather than annoyed.

“Uh, sorry,” – Kuroba snorts, lets out a low laugh. – “but you do. I mean, don’t you remember Yue-san?”

Saguru winces. Alright, so maybe Yue-san, the student they’d met during the previous years summer social had been a little insane, but they’d not known that at the time. And to be fair, the woman had hardly been crazy, just a cultist who was pursuing a sociology degree and…

Okay, no, yeah, considering the fact she’d tried to indoctrinate them both into her cult, it’d kind of be stupid to deny her… issues.

“Another anomaly.”

Kuroba groans. He sighs, goes to say something else, lips parted slightly for words when a knock echoes from the other side of the door. Saguru turns, arching his head back indoors.

“I’ll get it,” he says, because Kuroba is the kind of person who’d rather wait and say he’s not answering the door in case a murderer is on the other side. Which, well – there are so many issues with that.

“Hope you don’t die!” Kuroba says, which is pretty much confirmation that he isn’t expecting anyone.

Opening the door reveals a woman with deep, plum coloured hair. She looks concerned, worried, as she stands in front of him. For a moment, Saguru watches as she fiddles with the sleeve of her blouse and then, he blinks and reminds himself that he’s being rude.

“Uh,” he clears his throat, “hey, can I… help you?”

“Oh yes,” her voice is not hard, but there is a strictness to it, something that leaves him standing a little straighter. “Sorry, I don’t presume you’ve seen a cat around recently.”

Saguru blinks.

Well that’s easy, isn’t it. Now they don’t have to go searching for an owner.

“Ah, well, yeah I have actually.” He turns ever so slightly to look inside his apartment, to where Kuroba is now rubbing the belly of the animal in question. “A… Norwegian forest cat, yes?”

“This one?” The girl asks, and sure enough, when she shows him a picture it’s an exact likeness to the one on their balcony. “I’m quite worried about his absence.”

Saguru can understand that, how nervous someone can be when a cat is roaming around for a long time, without being seen. He says, “yeah, he’s uh – just through here. If you want to get him?”

She tilts her head, half agreeing, half thankful. Depositing her shoes by the entrance and continuing with just her socks, she waits until Saguru has closed the door and then, follows him to the balcony.

Kuroba glances up at the sound of their footsteps, and after the initial surprise at seeing a stranger in their apartment, he offers a smile. That polite one he practises for people he doesn’t know how to read yet.

“Ah, Hakuba, who is this?”

You know, maybe Saguru should have asked first. Oh well, no one ever said his social skills were very good.

“Oh, of course, I haven’t introduced myself,” she says, “my name is Koizumi Akako. It’s a pleasure to meet you – and you’ve met my cat, it seems.”

Eyebrows raised, Kuroba nods, turning back to the cat that’s nibbling now at his fingertips in an attempt to draw his attention back to him. He says, “Oh, this little guy is yours?”

“Indeed, he is,” Koizumi says.

She steps forward, scoops the furball up into her arms. The cat leans against her, immediately comfortable. It’s seems an odd sight to see – it puts up no argument, offers no movement, other than the slight curl of its tail, swishing back and forth beneath her arm.

“And what is this little guy’s name?” Kuroba continues.

Koizumi offers them a smile, soft and content as she glances down at her pet. She says, “this is Lucifer.”

Oh? What an original name.

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Kuroba’s eyebrows fly up his forehead so quickly it seems almost like he’s waxed them off. It’s practically invigorating watching his roommate bite down his tongue in an attempt to not say anything.

“Is that so?” Saguru says.

“Yes,” Koizumi nods, adjusting her hand on the cat to scratch behind his ears. “This cat harnesses the spirit of the satanic majesty Lucifer himself. A drunken mistake made by myself, but we’re getting used to being roommates, I like to think.”

Kuroba jerks. It looks mildly, beneath the initial mask he wears around new company, like he’s in pain.

Maybe he’s having an aneurysm.

“But,” Koizumi continues, “he’s quite a docile little fallen angel as long as I give him tuna every so often, isn’t that right, Lucifer?”

Lucifer purrs.

Kuroba, predictably, jerks again. His lips force into a slightly larger smile than usual – it makes him look almost psychopathic, but hey, maybe it’s just because Saguru sees KID in a smile like that.

“He must love the tuna then,” Saguru says, and Koizumi nods.

“If you’ll excuse me though,” she says, voice lowering, “Lucifer and I should probably head back. We’re having a ritual dinner tonight, and I’d hate to be late.”

“Ah,” Saguru blinks. “Yes, of course. I’m glad we could – give you your cat back?”

Koizumi offers him a smile on her way out, her thanks slipping from her lips on her way out. Saguru closes the door after her and then, slowly turns around to face his roommate.

Kuroba looks almost like he’s waiting for something. He rolls his wrist, his hand waving in a way that urges him to speak. He says, “…well?”

“She seems nice.”

For a moment, all Kuroba can do is blink. Then, thrusting a hand out to point at Saguru, he says, “that’s what you’ve taken from this? She seems nice?”

“Well yes,” Saguru says, pausing. “What else am I supposed to think?”

“She’s – fucking crazy.” Kuroba lifts his hand, brushes it through his hair. It makes his hair even messier than it usually is. “She thinks her cat is the devil, and that she’s placating him by giving him fucking tuna, and all you can think of is that she’s nice?”

“I mean,” Saguru pauses, “I think a lot of cat owners say their pet is the devil.”

Kuroba takes a long breath, heaves it out with so much force that it feels like his body shakes from the pressure of it. He says, “I don’t know who’s more insane. That Koizumi girl for believing that, or you, because there aren’t any little alarm bells ringing in your head.”

#DCMKEmogust2019 #DCMK #Kuroba Kaito #Hakuba Saguru #Koizumi Akako #Detective Conan #Magic Kaito #I cannot believe this is over 2k #wow #mywriting

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txladyj-blog · 4 years

Text

This Time Around - Chapter 29

A Daryl Dixon x OFC collaboration written by @xmistressmistrustx by request of @txladyj-blog

Rating: Explicit

Relationship: Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character

Tags: Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Awkwardness, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Crush, Fluff and Humor, Angst and Humor, Mild Smut, Strong Language, Eventual Sex, Eventual Romance, Slow Burn, Canon Divergence, Some Canon Scenes and Dialogue

Chapters 30/?

Exhaustion was not the word. In fact, there wasn’t a strong enough word that Jess could pluck out of the air to explain how tired everyone was when they finally rolled back through the gates. The sun was high in the sky and she could tell that Rick and Deanna were on the verge of sending out a search party by the look of the small gathering of worried faces on Deanna’s front lawn.

Enid was the first to climb from the car, followed by Carl, who was promptly swept into Rick’s arms after he’d sprinted across the lawn and path to the gate. Following Rick, was Carol who wasted no time in approaching Daryl and draping her arms over his shoulders. He returned her embrace and Jess sheepishly watched from the other side of the car. She didn’t see such a thing often, or ever, when she really thought about it. Daryl wasn’t a hugger; he’d said it himself. But he made exceptions for Jess and now, as far as she could tell, for Carol too. When he dropped his arms and walked to the car’s trunk, he flung it open and retrieved his crossbow, turning to find that Carol was not satisfied with one hug and no explanation and she was hovering around him with an angry glare.

“Where did you go?! We were worried.” She demanded.

“The girl got taken. Those assholes that attacked this place. Had to go get her.” Was his short and basic reply.

“Oh god, is everybody okay?” She looked around and with her eyes, quickly scanned Carl and Enid, who was awkwardly standing on the side-lines and hugging her torso. Then, she noticed Jess from under her hood, and the harsh bruise across her cheekbone.

“Jess! What happened?!” She cried, surging past Daryl and reaching out to push her hood back. Jess flinched and jolted backwards, swerving out of her reach.

“Oh, I got slapped. It looks worse than it is.” She dismissed, grabbing her backpack from the trunk and throwing it over one shoulder.

“That looks very sore.” Carol mentioned.

“I’ve had more troublesome zits. Honestly, it’s fine.” She assured her.

A light tap on her shoulder saw her flinch again, her uneasiness down to the sudden attention and stares she was receiving. Apparently, their absence had been noticed by most of the town. Enid lowered her hand and twisted it inside the sleeve of her dirty hoodie

“Thank you, guys.” She said quietly. “For coming to get me.”

“Sure. Maybe you should stay inside the walls now from now on though, hmm?” Jess suggested, horrified by the thought of her getting recaptured. Enid, clearly traumatized by her ordeal didn’t have to agree, a slight nod of her head told Jess that she wasn’t likely to be going on another solo jaunt anytime soon.

“Hey, if you need me, just let me know. If you need to get out you can come to the fairground.” She proposed as she took hold of the girls sleeve covered hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. A subtle but genuinely thankful smile was all Enid could manage before she backed away and started walking along the sidewalk.

“Enid, wait.” Carl called out. But before he went to her, he broke away from Rick, veered over to a puzzled Jess and took a quick glance over his shoulder in case anybody was listening. By that point, people were gathering around Daryl, who was being forced into explaining the ins and outs of everything they’d endured for the last day. Jess caught Aaron’s eye across the crowd and he stared, wide-eyed at her cheek and mouthed the words ‘are you okay?’ at her. She nodded and waved him off, replying in the same way and telling him she’d catch him later.

“Jess” Carl whispered “I wanna tell her. I think I have a good shot now.”

“Well, you did blow a guys head off for her. I think so too.” She grinned. The pulling of the tissue in her face when she smiled made the swelling of her bruise thrum with pain, but she pushed it aside.

“How do I know if she likes me back? What if she doesn’t say anything?” he fretted.

“Look at her eyes.” She told him. “When we’re around someone we love, or that we’re attracted to, our pupils dilate. But, Carl…this stuff, it doesn’t happen overnight when it’s complicated by a third person being in the mix. It’s a process and you’ve started it by being there for her and protecting her. She does have a boyfriend and unless she tells you otherwise, you can’t really make a move. Be honest, but respect the boundaries. Got it?”

“Got it. Thanks, for everything.” He said sincerely.

“Don’t be stupid. Go on, now. She’s waiting for you.”

Carl immediately spun around and walked over to Enid and Jess felt a strange sense of pride when she overheard him ask her if he could walk her home. Feeling someone’s eyes on her, she checked the group of people to her left to find Daryl watching her as Rick, Deanna, Carol and Aaron all discussed the information he’d given them.

She held a thumb out and used it to gesture to the gate and he understood that she was telling him that she’d had enough, she was heading home. He wound his way around the group and paced back and forth a couple of times, not content with Jess wandering around alone after everything they’d just been through. Carol noticed his unsettled demeanor and broke away from the others as he started to walk towards the gate, following on after Jess when she disappeared from sight. Carol broke into a jog, tapping his arm and halting him before he left the compound. He turned to find a solid smirk on her face and her lips pursed. She said nothing and her shoulders swished back and forth slightly, as if she were expecting a golden piece of gossip and couldn’t hold back her excitement.

“What?” Daryl sighed.

“You kissed her yet?” She asked boldly.

Daryl huffed to himself but didn’t speak a word, his eyes and body language conveying everything as he shifted from one foot to the other and pushed his lips into a thin line. With one hand on his crossbow strap, the other toyed nervously with a hole in the side seam of his dirty, ripped jeans. Carol could see his ears turning pink and she’d never been so proud of him.

“You have” She stated with a wink.

“Y’know, if money was still a thing, I could have bet a hundred bucks that you were gonna ask me that.” Daryl relayed in exasperation. When Carol was on a mission, she rarely backed down and had her ways of getting what she wanted. Too many people had underestimated her intelligence and cunning. But not Daryl, he knew Carol better than anyone.

“I’m proud of you, Pookie.” She beamed.

“Shut up.” He grunted with a thin layer of amusement.

“Go get her.” She told him as she walked backwards to join the others. “I’ll see you later.”

“Later.” He called back.

Jess was pushing through the undergrowth and shoving branches aside when she heard Daryl approach. She didn’t bother to turn around or acknowledge his presence at first, she was concentrating too hard on getting back to the fairground, to her comfortable clothing and bucket of clean water to wash the dust and mud from her skin. More than anything else, she just wanted her bed and she didn’t care one single iota that it was the middle of the afternoon.

“Shouldn’t be out here alone no more.” He heard him express from behind her.

She didn’t stop walking, her boots crunching and snapping twigs under foot as she pressed on. It had been expected, the idea that no one, especially females, should be seen alone outside the walls now a group of armed and dangerous men had been humiliated by having something precious stolen from right under their noses. But Jess wasn’t phased in the slightest. To her, the danger was no more relevant now than it ever had been before.

“In case you hadn’t noticed. I’m a certified badass now.” She boasted. The fencing to her home loomed over the tall bushes in the distance and she’d not been so glad to see it since after the attack on Alexandria

“Never said ya wasn’t.” He felt the need to say, assuring her of his belief in her ability to take care of herself. He hadn’t followed her because he thought she was incapable; he’d followed her for his own peace of mind. That, and the more he’d had to face the notion of losing her and seeing her hurt over the passing weeks, the more he was realizing how deep his feelings really stretched.

“I’m so tired I feel like my eyeballs might fall out of my head and my bones are made of pure dust. I need a shower and around six months of sleep, but sure, follow me home. I don’t mind. Really!” She rambled. Reaching the gate, she unlocked it and wandered inside, shooting him a knowing look while stepping to one side and allowing him inside.

I’m going to sleep if you’re here or not, buddy. But if you want to curl up with me, I won’t say no.

Ignoring her blatant sarcasm, he followed her to the diner, through the door and dropped his tired body onto the edge of the bed, listening to her potter around and clean up. His eyes were heavy and his body ached, the cuts and scrapes on his arms were also starting to sting but he told himself he would deal with them in due course, he had other priorities to handle in the meantime. On the table by the bed, he picked up a piece of white, nylon twine. It was partially braided, neatly and with precision until halfway along, where it had frayed and been abandoned. He set about rectifying it, his problem-solving mind taking to the small task quickly and welcoming something else to focus on aside from how tired he was.

Eventually Jess sank down beside him on the bed and yawned. He noted her sweatpants and loose T-shirt. She most definitely was ready for bed and it wasn’t even dark yet. She observed his fiddly task as he braided the twine and took one of his hands in hers. Her skin was soft and warm and he wanted to hold onto her and snuggle into her like never before but he pushed his urges away and remained stoic. She ran her fingertips over the littering of small cuts across his palms.

“Should really get these cleaned up.” She mused.

“I will.” He mumbled, stealing a glance at her. “How’s the cheekbone?”

She tilted her head back and lowered her eyes, frowning at the result it presented.

“Well, I can see it without a mirror and that can’t be good. I’ll put something cold on it tonight.” She said. Having not had much time to pay any attention to how she might look, it dawned on her that her face must look horrendous for Carol and Aaron to notice it at a distance. She could see for herself that it was swollen and discolored, but to be able to detect the blurry outline of it whenever she looked down meant that her current appearance didn’t bear thinking about. “Heeeey, you guys!” She exclaimed in a deep and slurred voice, hoping that Daryl would catch onto the reference and she wouldn’t have to explain her joke to him.

“You do not look like Sloth. Don’t be an idiot.” He muttered before bringing the twine to his mouth and gripping it with his teeth to tighten it. She decided there and then that she liked him even more for having seen The Goonies and clicking onto her joke so quickly.

Her eyes moved down to his arms. Smeared with dirt and blood and shiny with sweat. She didn’t know how he could look as though he’d been dragged through a swamp but still managed to completely captivate her until she was almost drooling. He certainly was attractive, unconventionally and in a rough and ready kind of way, but knowing the man under the exterior only enforced it.

“You don’t want to go and get some rest?” She enquired.

“Wanna hang around a while, make sure we ain't been followed. You livin’ out here all alone, it ain't such a good idea. Need to keep you around in case ya need to save my life again.”

The last part of his sentence lingered in her head, echoing back and forth and she wondered why he would say such a thing. She hadn’t saved his life back at the college. In fact, the only time she had recently, without doubt, saved his life was when he’d been shot. She remembered Denise’s words while sitting by his bedside with Rick.

‘Guys, he’s not going to make it if I don’t get some blood in him and soon.’

“What do you mean?” She asked

His lips parted and a small breath caught in his throat. He knew he was about to tread on thin ice but he needed to know why she neglected to tell him such a significant piece of information.

“Got your blood in my veins. Can’t just let ‘em have ya.” He uttered.

She stared at the side of his head. His eyes were lowered to his hands where he still fiddled with the twine. He was refusing to look at her. Her stomach lurched. She tried to find the words, tried to come out with something that might help her explain herself but all she felt was dread. She never wanted him to feel indebted. To her, she’d simply helped him out when he needed it. But she was well aware that his train of thought was not akin to hers.

“You know about that.” Was all she could say.

“Yup. Carol. She thought I knew. I should have known. You should have told me.” He said sadly. “Why didn’t you?”

She shrugged wordlessly and lifted her hands in a motion that told Daryl she was searching for some kind of explanation herself. It did little to fill him with confidence.

“Wasn’t much to tell.” She blurted out. Daryl’s eyebrows pinched together and he felt himself flush with anger.

Not much to fuckin’ tell?! Is she playin’ with me right now? She saved my god damn life and she thinks there ain't much to tell?!

“You just needed a top up and I happened to have some spare. That’s all.” She added nonchalantly.

Then, he turned his head and looked at her blasé expression. His face hardened and she could sense he was growing angrier by the second. She may not have wanted him to think much of it, but it was becoming evident that he already did.

“Don’t do that.” He warned her.

“What? Do what?” She asked innocently.

“Don’t you dare fuckin’ trivialize it like that. Carol told me everythin’. She said you almost passed out and I know I’d be dead if it wasn’t for you. Why didn’t you tell me, Jess?”

“Alright! Just…don’t get mad at me. Please. We are both too tired for that crap.” She pleaded as she changed position on the edge of the bed, turning her body to face him. “I didn’t say anything because I know what you’re like with accepting help. I didn’t want you to feel like you owed me anything or you needed to thank me. I don’t want any of that. I just wanted you to be okay and you are and that’s all that matters.”

“But Jess…I do” He said softly. His tone had changed dramatically and she wanted to hug him for trying to understand instead of flying off the handle and being impulsive “I do owe you-”

“-No! See! No. You Don’t.” She interrupted with one finger extended at him “I couldn’t sit around and wait for you to die when I had what was needed to help you. Don’t make this a big deal. You’ve saved my ass more times than I can count. It was nothing, do you hear me?”

He didn’t know what to say and the seconds turned into long, drawn-out minutes. Jess fiddled with the edge of her T-shirt, rolling up the hem and letting it down again. She held her fingers to her face under her eye and winced at the pain. It was all she could do not to focus on how mortified she was at how he’d forced her to be so honest.

“I get it” She heard him say eventually “If it was you…I’d do the same thing.”

“So, you can’t be mad at me for not telling you.” She threw in, hoping that whatever he was feeling was not going to manifest into an irate barrage of questions and a telling off. When he rested a hand on her knee and sighed deeply, she told herself that maybe just maybe, she should give up assuming things about Daryl and just wait for him to surprise her, although that was easier said than done.

“I ain’t mad ‘atcha. Just don’t want ya to keep shit from me. You don’t want me to owe ya, fine, I won’t. But you gotta know that I’m grateful. More than you know.”

Her thoughts began to bustle in her head. So many ideas and notions, explanations that had no foundations. Jess was an overthinker when it came to such affairs and being exhausted wasn’t helping. She tried to keep herself in check, to follow a more logical train of thought rather than letting her emotions take over. But self-doubt was also playing a part and as she thought back over their last kiss and their conversation in the fairground, she couldn’t help but wonder;

Is this why he’s been so into me? Is this why he started that conversation? Is this why he kissed me the way he did before Carl turned up? Because he was…grateful?!

“I um, I’m not keeping anything else from you.” She lied “Can we just move on from this now?”

She suffered the weight of the things she hadn’t told him and didn’t plan on admitting. Mainly, that she was so in love with him that she could barely think about anything else.

“K” He grumbled. “M’sorry I was a dick in the car yesterday”

Reassured that the subject was over and done with, she resigned herself to the fact that he wasn’t going to be leaving anytime soon and if she was completely truthful, she just wanted to sleep.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t exactly polite either.” She responded.

“Just didn’t want my best friend to get killed.” He added.

It hit her like a freight train. Jess was certain she could feel a piece of her heart crumble away at the words. It was everything she didn’t want to hear, but should have been happy to nonetheless. Unable to help feeling totally crushed by being labelled as his best friend and nothing more, she put on the bravest face she could but felt the resentment swelling deep inside her. She’d held out for so long, hoping that one day, he would tell her that the reason he kissed her was because he liked her or, she would never be able to trust what was happening and now, she felt like her paranoia and overthinking was justified; he was probably only kissing her because it was a way to occupy his time, have a little fun and thank her for saving his life.

“Best friend? Are we in 5th grade?” She complained. Her thinly veiled irritation rolled off of her tongue and she could barely control it.

“Forget it.” He scoffed.

“No, I’m serious. Should we have matching bracelets or something? I could make some, decorate them with little seashells. It’d be cute.” She snipped.

Part of her didn’t care if he picked up on her very deliberate sarcasm. It was on the tip of her tongue, ready to bite.

“I got an idea, why don’t we just sit… and not talk.” He announced.

“Fine by me” She shuffled back on the bed, and crawled up to the pillow. She lay on her side, facing him and fought to keep her eyes open, the events of the last few hours taking their toll as well as the devastating blow of finding out that her hopes for her relationship with Daryl had been well and truly dashed.

She could see him fiddling with the twine but took no notice as she traced the edge of the quilt with her fingertip. He turned his body to face her, bending his leg on the bed and held something out to her. Her vision flickered up to the object in his hand and she stared down at his fingers, which were holding a white bracelet made from the twine he’d braided.

She gradually looked up at him, observing his somewhat apprehensive expression and just like that, half of the sadness and disappointment she felt dropped away into nothing. He still thought the world of her, he still cared about her and he still saw her as the most important person in his life.

She smiled as she pinched the bracelet between her fingers and slid it onto her wrist. He helped her to fasten it and she rolled onto her back, holding her arm above her to admire her new piece of jewelry. It was as though she could literally feel the intensity of his stare every time his eyes fell onto her and that moment was no different. She made eye contact with him and let out a small snort of laughter, pleased when he did the same.

“Best friends” she repeated thoughtfully. “Best friends don’t usually make out like we do.”

Never one to fall at the first hurdle, she’d made a last, ditch attempt to dig for more. Bringing up their secret trysts almost made the ‘best friends’ label seem a little ridiculous to her and she wondered if he saw it the same way.

“No. They don’t.” He agreed.

She blinked at the ceiling in pure confusion.

What the hell does that mean, Daryl?! You just gave me a damn friendship bracelet but yesterday we were sucking face and almost having a discussion about this whole mess. Do I keep asking?! I’ll just annoy him. Because I’m annoying for needing to know. Why can’t he just be straight with me?! I need him to be straight with me. He is so frustrating!

“You…got any idea why we do?” She persisted.

“Do you?”

“It’s rude to answer a question with another question, Stinky.” She snapped. “Not to mention annoying as shit.”

Daryl was intuitive and Jess’s frustration was certainly not lost on him. He’d dug himself enough of a hole to want to crawl back out of it, hating the idea of her being upset because of him. To make things right, he had to give her something, anything that would allow her some clarity. Unwilling to dispel everything that was happening inside his head too soon, he conceded that for the time being, something small would have to suffice, at least until he was ready to face his feelings…or he would mess everything up forever.

He leaned over her, bracing himself on one arm by her side and with his other hand, he moved a lock of dark hair from her forehead. Her eyes seemed to shine in the dim room and she lay entirely still. He lowered his head and brushed the tip of his nose on hers, hearing her breath hitch in her throat. Then, he pressed a tender kiss to her lips and all at once, her head emptied momentarily and all she could think about was his lips on hers and how their kiss grew more and more eager by the second.

Oookaaaaay. I don’t care if he sees me as a friend, or a girlfriend, or a frickin’ lampshade right now. This kiss is…everything.

She lifted her arms, feeling the twine bracelet indent onto her wrist when she rested it over his broad shoulders. The palm of her other hand smoothed over his dirty, toned arm and he dragged himself closer still, moving further over her and seeking entry with his tongue. Jess’s body lit up when she heard him groan and felt his hand grip at her hip, pushing her down into the mattress and lowering more of his body onto her. He gasped against her and she swallowed hard and panted when he pulled away and dragged a thumb across her lower lip, pink and swollen from his unplanned and suggestive kiss. His chest heaved against hers while he caught his breath and he dipped his head again, gently kissing along her jawline until he reached her ear.

“Do it ‘cause I like it.” He whispered to her shakily.

When she managed to turn her head and find his eyes, he was staring raptly at her with a hunger she hadn’t seen before. He breathed heavily with teeth ever so slightly bared until something in him seemed to click, his eyelids flickered and he crawled backwards, away from her and resumed his initial position on the edge of the bed.

He had to move away. There was no doubt in his mind that if he stayed where he was, with her under him and kissing him the way she did, letting him lavish such attention on her, he would have hazarded taking things to the next level. His body was screaming at him to make a move, to forge a connection that deep down, he knew was there but she was too precious and valuable for him to encourage her into a situation that he wasn’t even sure she wanted to be in.

He closed his eyes when he sensed her run her fingers down his upper arm and tried to gain some control over the testosterone surging through his veins. But her touch and the hushed tones of her soft, tuneful voice just sent another tidal wave of lust crashing over him.

“I like it too” She whispered.

His jaw tightened.

Shit. She does somethin’ to me. This is fuckin’ intense. I gotta leave.

“Uh…I’ma head back to the house. Talk to Rick. You should get some rest.” He told her.

“O-okay.” She squeaked, a little disappointed and having changed her mind about him staying.

He sprang up and walked to the door, positioning one hand on the handle and pausing. She saw the air leave his lungs and his shoulders sagged. His cheeks and across his nose were a faint, red hue, as if he’d been flustered.

“I’m not…I’m not leavin’ ‘cause I want to. I-I wanna stay n’…” He stammered with a head full of things he wouldn’t dare say to her for fear of offending her or scaring her away. But he wished he could just stay with her, kiss her and explore her until night crept in and morning arrived. ”…never mind. See ya tomorrow.”

She opened her mouth to call out to him, to stop him from leaving but he was out of the door and barreling towards the gate quicker than she could lift her head from the pillow.

Two hours of sitting on Aaron and Eric’s front porch the next morning did not turn up one sighting of Daryl and Jess was starting to become suspicious. She also hunted on her own, bringing back a rather rotund Opossum which she proudly dumped on the ground in the entrance to the pantry, just in time to find Coffee being poured. Her face felt better, the swelling had reduced and she was left with a dark bruise that would be a distant memory in a few days.

Of course, Aaron had pestered her for the latest developments in her quest to bag Daryl as a boyfriend but she’d brushed him off, telling him white lies about how nothing had happened besides a little meaningless flirting and that she would never have a chance with him anyway. The latter part ringing a little truer than she’d hoped.

The night before had left her with even more unanswered questions and a new source of anxiety; what if things had progressed into a new realm where clothes were shed and it was no longer a few stolen kisses they were having to contend with? Was that what he wanted? Was that what he was thinking while he was looking down at her, his body heavy on hers and his heart like a hummingbird in his chest?

She wished she could tell Aaron, if anything just to vent to someone. He’d earned her trust and his place as her friend. But the situation was too messy and complex for her to go blabbing to someone else. She couldn’t risk it getting out, even by accident and other people finding out. It would be the end to her spark with Daryl, no more kisses, no more friendship. Nothing.

Instead, she relayed their trip to rescue Enid in graphic detail, making Eric cringe into his coffee mug when she explained how Carl blew someone’s brain to pieces with a shotgun at the tender age of thirteen. For the duration of her stay, her attention didn’t leave the front gate, which could be easily monitored from Aaron and Eric’s house. With still no sign of Daryl and breakfast coming to an end, she bid the guys farewell and attempted to cross the street with the intention of checking the bench by the pond for any signs of Carl so she could get an update on someone else’s love life and temporarily ignore the chaos of her own.

“Jess, wait.” Aaron’s voice, a little winded from jogging after her, stopped her at the side of the road. He touched her arm and motioned with his head towards the side of a house they’d just passed. She followed him out of earshot of the gate guards and any passers-by. “I know you’re lying to me.” He told her. She almost asked him exactly what he thought she was lying about when it all clicked in her head. “Something happened with Daryl, didn’t it?”

“What are you, psychic or something?” She huffed.

“You haven’t stopped looking at the gate since you sat down. I take it you’re looking for him? What’s going on, Jess? I promise you, I will not repeat it to anyone. If I do, you have permission to tear down my license plate collection and replace them with whatever you want”

She tapped her thigh with her fingers and sucked both lips into her mouth while she pondered over not only how much to disclose, but also what she would replace Aarons license plate wall with.

“Movie posters? John Hughes movies?” She asked

“Alright, yes.”

“Fine. We kiss. That’s a thing.” She muttered.

“That’s great…isn’t it?” He asked, perturbed by the exasperated look on her face.

“Yeah. I guess. I mean, he’s damn good at it. It’d be a whole lot better if I actually knew if he felt anything for me. But he always manages to skirt around the subject.” She explained with a large sigh.

“Daryl isn’t the kind of guy to go around kissing people, Jess. I’m willing to bet that if he kisses you, it’s because he likes you.” He tried to reason. But her face was still downcast and he sensed her nervous fidgeting was down to there being more to the story.

There was and until then, Jess had never mentioned a single word to another soul about the reasons why she needed a solid, definitive answer from Daryl. Why she couldn’t possibly bring herself to believe that Daryl would like her as anything more than a friend. She’d never been able to express her distrust in any compliments she received, never seen herself as worthy of anything more than a friendship and never knew what it felt like to be wanted and desired by someone.

“Before the turn, I met this guy. He was gorgeous, Aaron. Just…wow. All the signs were there. He told me he cared about me. Took me a while, because I’m not the girl that guys want to date, but I ended up believing that he genuinely liked me. I was horribly wrong. It was my best friend that he was into. I knew from then on that it would just never happen for me and I would never again be naïve enough to think that someone liked me.”

“Daryl Dixon is different, Jess.” Aaron assured her.

“Yeah.” She agreed “He is. He is so much more than I could ever dare to hope for. I don’t want to get hurt and lose my friend because I was fool enough to think that he would ever want me like that. I am not that girl, Aaron. I’m not good enough for him.”

Aaron was regarding her with a disbelief that she’d never seen in him before. He was looking at her as if she’d completely lost her mind. She even thought that she detected a slight hint of anger in his eyes but knew deep down that if he did feel anything of the sort, it would be because he cared and didn’t like seeing her so down.

“Listen. Between you and I, Eric thought the same for a long time. He couldn’t believe that I wanted to be with someone like him. He felt like he didn’t have much to offer. But all he had to do was let me show him that he did have things to offer. I just didn’t understand at first, I didn’t think I was anything special, least of all not the way he made me out to be” He paused to brush hair from her face, blown across her eyes by the breeze. “But I didn’t see myself the way he did. Daryl, he doesn’t see you the way you do. Nobody does. It’s all perception, individual to each person. Daryl barely even speaks to people, let alone kisses them. So, for him to do that with you…it must mean something to him. I don’t think you should write it off without giving him a chance to figure out what he’s doing. Just enjoy it, there’s no harm in that. It’s obvious he cares about you and he would never hurt you deliberately. You earned a little fun, girl. Have at it.”

“I hope you’re right.” She said.

“There’s a reason I’m a recruiter. I’m a good judge of character. I know that kissing you is not a decision that Daryl would have taken lightly. Give him a little more time. But it doesn’t mean you should stop having fun. You get what I’m saying?”

“Yes” She whispered, stepping closer and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He placed his hands on her back and welcomed the embrace.

“And don’t sell yourself so short. You’re awesome.” He concluded while rubbing one of her shoulder blades.

Feeling like a fraction of the weight had been lifted from her shoulders from sharing her burden with Aaron, Jess swore him to secrecy, thanked him and made her way to the pond. She found it empty and dropped herself onto the seat, sticking her legs out straight in front of her and crossing them at her ankles.

“Penny for ‘em.” Said a deep, southern voice from behind her. She sat up slightly and twisted in her spot to find Abraham trundling through the flower bed. Turning back and running a hand through her hair she let out a long breath.

“You do not want to know,” She replied.

“Wouldn’t be askin’ if that were true.” He corrected as he sat down at her side. With Abraham not being a small man, the bench creaked as he settled.

“It’s nothing. Just me overthinking.” She said.

Abraham craned his neck and caught sight of the bluish bruise on her face.

“Woah, what’s with the Taint n’ tarnish, Sweetheart?” He asked with a deep concern on his face. His large fingers pinched at her chin and angled her face so he could get a better look. She tapped his wrist and he let go.

“Enid got kidnapped. Daryl and I fought like a cat and dog on the way to get her because he’s a stubborn son of a bitch that won’t ever accept that I’m right. Anyway, we went to college to get the girl back. Carl hid in the trunk and almost cooked himself to death so we had to take him with us. Some asshole landed a nice, dry slap across my face so I shot the bastard in the eye with an arrow. Daryl blew everybody else up with an RPG and Carl shot a guy in the head with a shotgun and decorated the sidewalk with teeny, tiny little pieces of brain matter. Enid, well she did as she was told and made it back in one piece and then we all camped in the woods and came home.” She surmised in as short a version as possible.

“I know the world went to shit n’ all but…what in blue blazes?!” he questioned in disbelief. She yawned and rubbed at her eyes, still enduring the exhaustion from the days before. “Honey, look at you. You’re a damn mess.”

“Thank you for the compliment.” She growled while side-eyeing him.

“Ahh cmon, who I gotta kill to get a smile outta you?” He tried in an attempt to lift her spirits.

“Nobody. Really” she smiled.

“If you insist. Looks like I’ll have to save my ridicule for another time.” He leaned back and crossed his huge arms. Jess felt positively dwarfed by his size at times but she never once found him to be intimidating or overbearing. She’d only known him since Rick’s group arrived at Alexandria but within days, and despite her efforts to distance herself from just about everyone, his jokes and big personality had won her over almost immediately. Being around Abraham took her back to before the turn, to her childhood and growing up with a brother in the military and being surrounded by his friends.

“You remind me of my brothers’ friends, y’know” She told him.

“They handsome sons of guns too?” he grinned.

“I meant in the way that you make fun of me with your general annoying bastardness.”

“Ahh ain’t nothin wrong with a little teasin’, a little flirtin’. Keep the blood pumpin’. You know I’m only playin’ around with ya though, right?” He checked, leaning forwards enough to see her reaction.

“Yeah. I know. That was the thing with them, they’d tease me like there was no tomorrow but they were super protective too. I was lucky in that respect.” She expressed.

“Can bet ya ass a lot of folks in here would be just as protective of ya. Aint no point being alone no more. Can’t do nothin’ without people in this world. Still, you got Daryl so, you’re set, right?” He smirked, waiting for her to flare up and tell him it was none of his business and to stop bringing it up.

“We’re friends.” Was all she said.

“And I’m Mary Poppins.” He laughed.

She didn’t bother to put him right, mainly because she wasn’t even sure it would be right anymore. How could she correct people if she didn’t know what they were herself? She hated all the uncertainty, the lack of consistency and the fact that she had been so patient until now. Until it was starting to grate on her. She knew Aaron was right and giving Daryl time to figure things out was the right thing to do. Having fun with it certainly seemed like an appealing idea too, but she wasn’t sure she could continue with such an indulgence if it meant her getting hurt at the end of it.

Abraham didn’t move an inch when Jess rested her head against his arm. He knew that for her to do such a thing, she must have needed it and so, he left her where she was and ceased conversation. Bees and birds flitted around the pond, a welcome reminder that nature was still rolling on as best it could, no matter what else was happening to the world. The only sounds came from people wandering past on the street and the repetitive sounds of shovelling from the vegetable patch.

“Why can’t everyone just be honest with each other, Abe?” Jess uttered out of the blue.

“Why are dingleberries brown? Just the way shit is, sweetheart.” He answered.

That afternoon, Deanna called for Jess, Daryl, Enid, Carl and Rick to discuss Enid’s kidnapping and the possibility of another attack. It was the first time Jess had laid eyes on Daryl since their kiss the previous night. Try as she might, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d been actively avoiding her. So, when he bumped into her, alone in the hallway and tickled the outside of her hand as he passed, she was so astonished it took her at least a minute to enter back into reality and deal with the task at hand.

Upon entering the main room of the house, she found everyone else present and Daryl skulked off into the corner, perching on a wide window ledge. He met her eye when she appeared but quickly looked away, wanting to maintain the air of secrecy around what was happening between them. But Jess had questions. What he’d done in the hallway was different. A new kind of affection that was a world apart from a sexually charged kiss. It was the kind of passing attention that was shown between two people in a relationship and even though she couldn’t deny that she didn’t hate it one, little bit. It had confused her even more. Best friends did not affectionately tickle hands in hallways and they certainly did not lay on beds kissing. It always felt like some days she was getting somewhere, moving along slowly but surely, lured into thinking that he wouldn’t kiss her if he didn’t see her in that way. And then, he would do something contradictory, like dubbing her his ‘best friend’ and drop kicking her firmly into the friend zone. Why did she have to fall for someone so complicated? Why could he not just tell her what he wanted for sure?

Asked for her take on what happened, Jess clearly ran through the process of Enid's rescue, telling the room that the man she’d spoken to informed her that there were around a hundred of them, probably slightly less due to the amount that were killed that day and about the branding on their hands. Daryl got up and without a word, picked up a pen and drew the branded symbol on a piece of paper at Deanna's desk before going back to his perch at the window. A concerned silence filled the room as the towns leader and Rick swapped a glance and after what felt like an age, Denna finally announced that she wanted training to be stepped up even more. Rick suggested visiting the college to see if any more of the men had been sent as replacements, or if anyone was still alive. If they could capture one and drain them of information, they would be in a better position to plan. The idea was met with some doubt by Deanna who wasn’t keen on the idea of having to keep one of them behind the wall and mentioned that they could be opening themselves up for another attack.

“A hundred men, all armed is quite the threat.” She stated.

“The guy said they weren’t all in that College. I can’t vouch for his credibility. We saw around fifteen when we were there. All of them were dead when we left. I have no idea where the rest are.” Jess explained.

“We still have women missing. Daryl, did you see any other prisoners?” Rick asked with his hands on his hips and stirring Daryl from his stillness across the room.

“Naw, just Enid.” He grunted in response.

“They don’t keep them there.” Enid mumbled from the couch next to Carl.

“What was that, honey?” Deanna encouraged, missing the girl's muffled comment.

“They don’t keep the rest of the women they take at that place. It’s a halfway point.” She told her.

Now, Daryl moved and stood up, thudding into the middle of the room by Rick. Jess avoided his gaze from where she sat, on the arm of the couch next to Carl.

“You know where the rest are?” Daryl questioned.

“No. I’m sorry. I just heard them saying they were keeping me there until they found enough gas to make the journey and move me in with the others.” Enid said.

Carl fiddled with his hands in his lap, uneasy about hearing Enid talk about being in the clutches of the dangerous group that had taken her.

“Look, these guys, there might be a lot of them but from what I saw, they’re dumber than a box of hair.” Jess announced with confidence. She’d not seen an ounce of training or logic in their behavior which matched the way they bombarded Alexandria with mass murder and terror. They used sheer numbers and the element of surprise. It wasn’t perfectly planned or stealthy by any stretch of the imagination.

Carl couldn't help but laugh at Jess’s take on it and he clocked Enid smiling at him.

“She’s right. I ain't never seen nothin’ so disorganized.” Daryl added “All runnin’ around like they didn’t know which way was up. Willin’ to bet they think women just sprout from the earth and they’re plannin’ on comin’ back for the harvest.”

Tapping the papers on her desk with a pen, Deanna sighed and pursed her lips as she scanned the faces of the people in the room. The threat was more real than ever. Many of the townspeople had perished in the attack and since then, they’d kidnapped a teenager and tried to kill those who set off to rescue her. Such an embarrassment was unlikely to be forgotten and the prospect of Alexandria having more of what they really wanted was too great for them to ignore. She had to act.

Deanna zoned in on Jess “You need to move inside the walls”

Jess’s back prickled and her shoulders went back. Her defenses shot up. She’d worked hard for her home, to create a place where she felt safe and was allowed to be herself and she wasn’t about to give it up for anything.

“No. No. Absolutely not. Non-negotiable.” She confirmed.

“Jess-” Rick tried

“I said no.” She snapped. “I’ll help in any way I can. If you need volunteers to go back to that place and scope it out, I’ll do it. But I’m not moving. Let me know once you make a decision.” She headed to the door, expecting someone to stop her but no one moved or uttered a word. When she vacated the room, Rick threw Daryl a knowing look.

Make her move inside the walls, Daryl.

She left Deanna’s house so fast that no one, let alone Daryl had the chance to stop her. She raced down the steps and across the lawn to the gate, tripping on a piece of wood in the process. She stumbled forwards, her hands shooting out and her heart lurching in her chest. Managing to keep herself upright and overcome with fury. She spun around, picked up the piece of wood and launched it into the street, the impact shattered it into tiny pieces. If it wasn’t for her lips being tightly pressed together, there would have been no doubt about her turning the air blue with cuss words. Footsteps from behind her accompanied cigar smoke and she let out a sigh.

“Wow, someone’s wound up tighter than a bull’s asshole in fly season, huh?” Abraham observed with his eyebrows raised. He moved around her, checking her expression and placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah, just tired.” She uttered.

“You need to let loose a little, maybe get yourself laid, it’s amazing how a clear out of the pipes can stop you being such a crankosaurs.” He suggested with a playful nudge of her arm.

“Abe.” She warned, rolling her eyes.

“Just a suggestion. I’m not volunteering” He chuckled “but if you beg me, I’ll be forced to have mercy.”

Daryl clicked the door to Deanna’s house shut as Jess threw the wood into the road during her tantrum and sent splinters flying everywhere. From the front porch, he leaned against a pillar and lit a smoke, listening to the conversation happening below.

“In your dreams” Jess shot at Abraham with a point of her finger. She left him laughing to himself and headed for the gate. Daryl descended the steps a little quicker than he’d intended but he had to move fast if he wanted to catch Jess before she left. She was striding with purpose at the gate, about to vanish from sight. His speed was decent enough to catch up but his demeanor was calm on the outside. Abraham wasn’t being fooled; he could tell that he was in a rush to catch her.

When he finally reached her, he thoughtlessly jabbed at her shoulder, waited for her to turn to him and dragged her by her wrist into the shadow of the wall beside the gate. He slammed a hand on the wall beside her to stop her from running away before he’d said his piece.

“You ain't goin’ back there. Deanna’s right, you gotta move inside the walls” He instructed.

Hey eyes grew wide with a stunned stare and rage suddenly flooded her mind and clouded her judgement and she struggled to keep it under wraps.

“No” She answered clearly while looking him right in the eye.

“Can’t just stay out there all by yourself. Told ya before, I need you to live.” He reminded her.

“Why?”

“What do ya mean, ‘why’? Kinda question is that?” He dropped his arm and backed up, aware that she seemed to have switched and her irritation towards him was founded in something a lot bigger than just him giving her orders.

“Look, I know you feel like you owe me for giving you my blood and we act like two middle schoolers kissing in secret, but it doesn’t give you the right to tell me what to do. Only my family could do that and seeing as we’re not related, you don’t have a say.”

He tried to reach out and touch her hand but she ripped it away from him, her eyes narrowing and her back hitting the house behind her.

“You can’t keep doing this to me.” She uttered.

“Doin’ what?” He questioned.

Kissing me and telling me what to do like an overprotective husband and then friend zoning me

“Forget it. I have to go.” She grumbled.

She stormed off, flustered and shaking with a toxic mix of nerves and anger. Daryl tilted his head back and breathed out a long sigh before kicking the wooden panel on the wall.

“…Fuck…”

The surface dented and his toes ached with pain but it was welcomed as something else to think about. Something other than how tetchy Jess had become and how he only really had himself to blame. He turned on his heels and marched off.

Outside the walls, Jess kept walking along the main road, missing the shrouded path to her home in the woods and equipped her hood and mask. She tugged her machete from her belt and swung it by her side as she strutted towards the end of the street. When she reached a row of abandoned cars, all parked at different angles like a bad attempt at Tetris, she turned her machete around, gripped it by the blade and began hammering the handle on the metal body work of each Vehicle, walking slowly as she went. The louder the better. Killing Walkers was the norm for Jess, but she still could never quite shake that niggling fear that pestered her every time she was faced with one. But as long as she kept them at the end of her machete or bow, she managed just fine.

Before long, she was pleased to find two of them staggering along the side of a house and snarling as they went. They were both female and one was somehow hobbling along with only half a foot left. Both of them were considerably decomposed and their summertime barbeque outfits were barely noticeable anymore. Jess flipped her machete back and ran at them, ignoring her usual spike of fear, skidding to a stop in front of them and kicking the woman in front in the stomach. The impact sent them both careering backwards and onto their backs, one on top of the other. Her blade was nowhere near as clean as it used to be. In fact, she hadn’t cleaned it since she’d used it to slit a man’s throat at the college and so, it failed to glint in the sun when she drove it down onto the Walkers, hacking at them like they were firewood. With each blow, a cry of frustration left her body and with that, went a tiny fraction of the confusion and turmoil in her head. She needed to blow off steam and chopping Walkers into bite sized chunks was the only effective way she could think of at the time.

Rosita, who was sitting on the steps to her house, clicked her fingers at Abraham and pointed to the empty space on the step beside her. She was used to Abe’s flirtatious and outgoing personality, never really seeing it as a negative and happy in the knowledge that if he was any other way, she wouldn’t have been all that interested. He kept her days interesting and her nights fulfilled.

“You are a terrible flirt, you know that? Good job I’m so self-assured, huh?” She glowered at him playfully as he lowered himself down beside her with a grunt.

“Flirt? That was just for giggles, Mamasita. All my flirting is saved for you.” He grinned. He reached behind them, grabbing a half empty bottle of whiskey that he’d been working his way through. Rosita had told him countless times that he was only going to dehydrate himself and that necking whiskey on the daily was only going to cause him problems. But his selective hearing meant that he simply ignored her advice and only listened to what he wanted to hear.

“Hmm. It better be.” She winked at him.

They had both looked over at the gate in time to see Jess storm away from Daryl and leave the compound. He was visibly annoyed and the curse word that left his lips was obvious even at such a distance.

“Things are still at a stalemate there then.” Abe mentioned.

“What?” Rosita asked.

“Daryl. He’s keen on Jess.” He told her.

“What the hell are you talking about now? I don’t see that. They’re just friends.” She expressed.

“Oh yeah? Watch this and tell me he doesn’t like her.” He challenged with a smug grin. He used the black, iron railings to hoist himself up from the step and was soon pacing over to where Daryl was wandering along the sidewalk. Rosita shook her head at his childish need to be right in every given situation.

“She seems a little cranky” Abe pointed out to a stony-faced Daryl.

Feeling like Abraham was deliberately picking the wrong moment to state the obvious, Daryl stopped and bit his lip, taking a couple of seconds to keep his impulses in check. Everything in him wanted to release his temper and start yelling at Abraham, asking him what the hell it had to do with him and why he couldn’t just back off and leave Jess alone. Being in the middle of a quiet street, Rosita’s listening ear had not gone unnoticed and with little interest in getting into a confrontation with anyone else, Daryl opted to try and stay as calm as possible

“She’s tired. Getting’ Enid back, took it outta both of us.” He admitted.

It wasn’t wholly an untruth, he could tell Jess was still feeling the after effects, as was he. But the real reason for the tension between them was coming from something else, something that he wasn’t quite sure how to handle.

“Seems to me she’s lacking more than sleep.” Abraham suggested boldly. “Needs to get laid. Maybe I should help her out.”

Daryl heard Rosita scoff from where she was sitting in front of the door to her home and he couldn’t even begin to think what Abraham thought he was playing at. Rosita was not the sort of fiery, Latino woman he would want to go up against. He checked the rest of the street, Rick was heading home and Carl and Enid were strolling in the direction of the pond, immersed in conversation. He instantly thought of how happy Jess would be to see them spending more time together, if she hadn’t been too irate to stay. Abraham was taller than Daryl but he wasn’t about to let that intimidate him, the subject matter was extremely important to him and it was for that reason that cracks began to show in his calm façade. His teeth pushed together and his jaw went rigid.

“Look, there ain’t no bad blood between you n’ me. But you stay away from her. Ya hear me?” he advised.

“Why? If you ain’t going to do it, it ain’t fair to keep her away from those that will.” Abraham continued with a sense of mischief to his voice. “Hell, Daryl, better it be me than that yellow-bellied son of Deanna’s. He’s been checking her out at every given opportunity.”

“Why you so set on this, huh? You got a girl, man” It was a complete mystery to Daryl, who thought it a little counterproductive to attempt to see two women at once. His brother proved it frequently by saying he was with one girl while in the midst of trying to woo another. The resulting drama always ended the same way, in a fight or with his truck getting keyed. It always ended in disaster and Daryl could never understand why no one could ever be content with what they already had.

Abraham took a peek over his shoulder to see Rosita gesturing wildly to him to put Daryl out of his misery and stop winding him up. His booming laugh filled the street and he landed a hand on Daryl’s shoulder, gently shaking it.

“I’m yankin’ your chain.” He confessed. Daryl just shrugged him off. He could have done without it and would much rather have been left alone to figure out the mess that was his relationship with Jess “Sure are touchy about this subject though.”

“It ain't what it looks like.” Daryl declared.

“I don’t give two short n’ curlies what it looks like, man. She’s into you. You’re into her. What are you waitin’ for? A goddamn bus? Get it done, buddy.”

With that, he delivered a wink to Daryl and sauntered over to where Rosita was sitting. She punched his arm and unleashed a torrent of Spanish swear words while he laughed heartily and fished around in his pants pocket for a cigar.

The next day a decision was made; Deanna ordered all training sessions to be bumped up to twice a week and everyone that was able to hold a knife was to be taught how to use it effectively. Lookouts were to be set up along the main road to the gate with a checkpoint made at the end of the street. Manning them would be taxing but Rick stepped in with another roster to keep things ticking over smoothly. Jess, Aaron and Daryl were asked to sweep a local hardware warehouse for materials to make the checkpoint and lookouts. They were to take two trucks and return with as much as they could fit into them. Deanna’s pleas to Jess to move inside the walls fell on deaf ears once more and instead she set about doing everything she could to help prepare for any future attacks.

She didn’t see Daryl hunting that morning, the second morning in a row. She couldn’t say she was surprised given that their last exchange had been less than friendly and she’d spent that afternoon carving up Walkers and leaving them in bloody piles around the neighborhood. She could feel his eyes on her as Deanna announced her plans but she didn’t once look at him, having spent the entire night mulling over the last few days, weeks even and coming to some kind of conclusion as to how to proceed.

Aarons words stayed with her and she had to give some credit to his ideas, especially the notion to just go with it and have some fun for the time being. Kissing Daryl was the most fun she’d had in her whole life and she’d been starkly aware of its absence during their three-week hiatus after dislocating her shoulder. He’d told her he’d missed her and he didn’t mean in the sense that he hadn’t seen her, he meant that he missed kissing her and she felt exactly the same. After all, how could she not miss kissing the most attractive man she'd ever set eyes on? The man she loved.

Letting off steam and spending some time thinking about things with Aarons view on it had certainly helped clear her mind of the useless, overthought clutter that had accumulated. She felt much more able to make an informed decision about how she would handle things from then on and when she found herself standing in Aaron and Eric’s living room, drawing X’s on a map under Daryl’s watchful eye, she told herself that she was going to lock the previous day away in the past.

Requiring refreshments in order to think straight, Aaron declared he was going to make some coffee and promptly left the room. From where she was, leaning on the back of the couch, Jess monitored Daryl’s movements and her eyes followed him as he slowly ambled to the window. He’d not said a word to her but he had spent a considerable amount of time looking at her. She followed him to where he stood, silently peering through the gap in the blinds.

“I’m sorry. About yesterday.” She said with sincerity.

An uncomfortable quiet was what followed and Jess felt panic begin to rise when he didn’t respond straight away.

“I pissed ya off.” He finally admitted “I’m the one that should be sorry. Just want you to be safe.”

His lack of conversing with her had little to do with him not wanting to speak to her. He wasn’t angry at her, nor was he sulking in any way. He simply didn’t have anything to say and until he knew that she was ready to mend things, he was going to keep his mouth shut.

“I know.” She assured him.

“You still mad at me?” He asked sheepishly.

“No. I’m not mad at you”

He held her gaze as he peered at her sideways, unable to drag his eyes away from a face he’d grown so fond of. He hated making her angry, hated that she was upset with him and hated that he couldn’t yet give her what he knew she needed. She lifted a hand and pinched the lapel of his leather vest, pulling it to the side and urging him to step around and face her. He quickly got the message and found that her hand hovered away from his vest and rested on his chest, over his heart.

I hate that I’m so in love with you

She took a small step closer, testing him to see if he’d reject her. When he didn’t, she decided to take Aaron’s advice and enjoy herself while it lasted. Her hand moved up once again, this time to the side of his face and his eyelids flickered at her touch. He nestled against her hand and she heard a subtle sight emanate from him.

“Aaron could see us” He warned her.

“You didn’t care that Carl saw you holding my hand the other day.” she reminded him.

He nibbled his lower lip, considering that she had a point. He hadn’t cared that Carl had seen him holding her hand, but there was the very real possibility of either one of them being seriously injured or killed. Such a thing was at the bottom of his list of priorities at the time. She was still peering up at him and seconds were ticking away. He heard Aaron opening cupboards and drawers in the kitchen. Still busy. He dipped his head, tugging her close to him by her wrist and holding it where her new bracelet rested. He rested his forehead on hers, ghosting her lips and leaving her with a featherlight kiss. Then, he had no choice but to pull back as Aaron reappeared with a tray of coffee’s in his hands.

Jess took a deep breath and ran her hands down her clothes. She was flustered and pleased that his interest in being close to her didn’t seem to have waned. At least she now knew that pushing him away was only going to result in him bouncing right back to her. But try as she might, she couldn’t help but think it was because he felt like he owed her, or because she was simply used to it now. After all, why would someone like Daryl, so tough, so courageous, so completely different, want to be anything other than friends with a self-conscious nerd?

Their destination was an hour and thirty minutes’ drive away and Jess opted to jump into Aarons truck on the journey out. Daryl didn’t seem to mind although he was not likely to express his disappointment in front of Aaron. Pleased to find a CD player in the cab and a pile of dusty CD’s, Jess and Aaron spent the majority of the drive singing like banshees and dancing in their seats.

It had been a long time since she’d felt so free. With no laws to abide by, no boundaries to keep to, and every building, home and store deserted, freedom was everywhere. Yet Jess didn’t see freedom in the physical sense. It was more than that to her, more of a state of mind than being able to go anywhere at any time. Singing at the top of her voice with her good friend without a care in the world meant she could escape for a while, and simply enjoy the existence of Aaron and his terrible singing voice.

“I feel like I’m at the zoo!” She cried through the rush of wind past the open windows and the loud tones of Twist and Shout by The Beatles.

“What? Why the zoo?” Aaron wanted to know in between warbling along to the song.

“Because the noises that are coming out of your mouth are unlike anything I’ve ever heard before!” She laughed.

“Hey! My voice is amazing!” He argued

“Yeah, amazingly bad!” She chuckled.

When the song's most memorable lines kicked in once more, they both wailed and made dramatic hand gestures as if no one else was watching. Except there was someone watching. In the next lane, with one hand on the steering wheel and a bemused expression, Daryl was witnessing Jess as he’d never seen her before, hair blowing in the wind, eyes closed and arms hanging out of the window as the truck shot along the road. She was singing without a care in the world and after the initial shock he experienced at the sight, he soon realized how endearing it was to see her so carefree. He smiled to himself as he shook his head at the both of them and their mini concert and if the world wasn’t full of decaying, walking corpses and humans hellbent on destroying one another, he would have thought it was the perfect start to the day.

The warehouse, upon first inspection, was deserted and its shutters were wide open. After two walks of the perimeter, Daryl gave them the signal to head inside and joined them at the closest entrance. Jess half expected to find the building picked clean, but it was quickly apparent that any visitors since the turn had little need for sheet metal and building supplies, not like the demand for food, weapons and medicine. Walkers milled about inside; their numbers low enough for the three of them to take them out without a high level of danger. But it had been a while Since Jess had been faced with so many Walkers in one week, even if she had sought the two from the previous day out herself. Opting to use the experience as part of her knife training, she kept her machete tied to her belt and used the smaller blade gifted to her by Daryl almost two years ago instead. As each dead person neared her, she told herself to keep calm and remember her training, promising herself that she would not use the bigger blade or her bow.

A couple of near misses were enough to send her spiraling into self-doubt and letting her fear determine her actions. While she was busy backing away from a gnarly, male Walker with a hole so wide in its shoulder that she could see through to the other side, a bolt whizzed past her ear and dropped the threat to the ground and immediately afterwards, she felt Daryl slap a hand around her wrist and turn her body to face him. In the dusty, barely lit warehouse with its high aisles and cold, musty air, Jess sucked in a deep breath and shook her head.

“Y’alright?” Daryl checked, receiving a short nod from her.

Suffocating her with concern was not a wise idea and Daryl knew it. So, he left her to put the last Walker down but kept a close eye on her from the end of the aisle. At the same time, Aaron was beginning to drag wood and metal from shelving units with all his might, piling them up onto a forklift which to his glee, still worked albeit after some spluttering and stalling. Daryl was soon helping him hurl heavy materials around while Jess was needed at the door due to the noise attracting Walkers from the surrounding area. Climbing on top of a truck in the parking lot, she picked them off, one by one with her bow, deducting five points in her head for every shot she missed.

“Jess? How we doing out there?” Aaron called out from the darkness inside.

“We’re looking at a soccer team right about now.” She shouted back.

“Huh? What does that mean?” He enquired.

“Eleven. We’re on eleven Walkers, bright spark.” She quipped as she drew the strings and arrow back on her bow once more. ”Make that ten.”

Daryl jogged out from under the shutter, crossbow held high and eyes fixed on the approaching Walkers. Jess dropped another corpse and was quickly preoccupied by the bodies hitting the asphalt from nowhere until she realized that he was scooting across the parking lot below and making for his truck by the gate, killing everything that moved in the process.

“Stop stealing my thunder!” She complained loudly. Her aim needed some work and it was the perfect opportunity. So far, she’d only had to deduct ten points and that was progress considering the amount of Walkers she’d been faced with.

“Wouldn’t have to if ya wasn’t shootin’ slower than an asthmatic snail.” He jested, turning and taking a couple of steps backwards so he could survey her reaction.

“Oh yeah? How about we see how fast I can fucking shoot you!” She exclaimed, nocking another arrow and aiming at him. She heard him chuckle and he resumed his hurrying to the truck. The sun cast it’s glow over him, his sweat slicked arms from the manual labor seeming even more toned than usual and Jess cocked her head to one side and blinked slowly, pondering how she could quite happily wile away the hours with such a view. But reality crept up on her daydream when the engine of Daryl’s truck roared to life and he backed the vehicle up to the shutter.

Having shot Daryl a smug look of defiance after killing the rest of the Walkers in the parking lot, Jess helped to load everything up, catching Daryl’s eye every now and then and questioning in her mind why it was that this day, out of all the time she’d known him, she was more aware of his attention on her than ever before. The way he was looking at her was different, like he wanted to smile every single time and it set her mind on edge and made her stomach hum with a delightful anticipation of what might happen when they were alone again. Maybe it was her new found way of accepting the situation, thanks for Aaron and his intuition. Maybe it was the tentative way in which he’d asked if she was mad at him. Or, maybe she’d just missed him in those small hours overnight.

After the second truck was filled up, the trio decided to head back to Alexandria as the air was cooling and evening was setting in. The sky turned a water colored texture of oranges and pinks and with her back leaned against the inside of the truck’s door, Jess pretended to fasten loose thread on her gloves when she was really stealing a lot of lingering glances at her return journey accomplice.

Daryl had glimpsed at her a couple of times, seeing her eyes lower suspiciously into her lap or onto the gloves which she held against her bent knees. When a sign for a newly build neighborhood shot past at the side of the highway, he eased off the gas and contemplated if it was worth stopping. Sensing the slow in pace, Jess sat up.

“You see that sign?” He asked.

“Yup. You wanna check it out?”

“Worth a look. Need all the supplies we can get.”

“Okay. I’ll tell Aaron.” She announced, grabbing the radio from the dash and holding down the button on the side.

“This is BloodyMary to MonkeyNuts, come in.”

Daryl’s head slowly turned to her and he shot an incredulous look at the names she’d apparently dubbed herself and Aaron. Ignoring his perplexed face, she turned up the volume on the radio and waited. It crackled and hissed and Aaron’s voice filled the cab.

“We talked about this. I did not agree to that name and ‘BloodyMary’ is not becoming for you.”

“I’m not changing it now. You know it was either that or ‘LargeMarge’ and according to you, that’s even more unbecoming.” She sent back “Don’t be a killjoy, MonkeyNuts.”

“What do you want, Jess?” came Aaron’s chuckled response.

“We just saw a sign for a new build neighborhood. We’re turning around to check it out.”

“Yeah, I saw that. I’ll follow on.”

She threw the radio back onto the dash and clunked her boots up, crossing one over the other a slouching down in the passenger seat. Daryl was still glancing over at her intermittently.

“LargeMarge?” He eventually questioned.

“What? My dazzling personality is large enough to warrant such a name. But ‘BloodyMary’ just seemed a little more…apocalyptic.” She figured with a shrug.

Yeah, you’re real weird. He thought.

She’d now seen Daryl smile and laugh more than she’d ever thought possible and even more so in the last few weeks. It was a sight that she never got tired of, especially when she was the reason for it. She knew he thought her to be weird, but even with that in mind, he still wanted to be around her anyway and the thought warmed her heart and set her reservations about his real feelings aside. There was no doubt in her mind that he enjoyed her company, trusted her and cared about her wellbeing and to have that was a hundred times more than she could have expected when she’d first met him at the quarry. Hoping for any more than that could well have been pushing her luck, but she loved him, so completely and unconditionally that she couldn’t help but hope and dream for something more.

The estate of houses they found were still standing and looked reasonably untouched. Drapes were ripped and windows were smashed but it was nothing out of the ordinary for a post-apocalyptic scene. Some cars were still parked on drives, with suitcases and bags strapped to the roofs, blood splatters on the doorsteps and front yards with violent smears now brown and dried with age. Jess and Daryl hopped out of their truck with Aaron signaling that he would check the cars and keep an eye out for any danger. Choosing the biggest house in the street, Jess equipped her bow and kicked the door in, creating enough of a racket to be heard in the next state.

“Easy, girl.” Daryl hushed “Damn RPG would have been quieter than you.”

“Get off my ass before I put you on yours.” She threatened as she entered the house, swinging her bow this way and that, into every room and checking the coast was clear. A single Walker in the kitchen was swiftly eliminated by Daryl as Jess crept around in the study, opening cupboards and pocketing a packet of painkillers and a bottle of whiskey. She had no plans to drink it, but Abraham sure as hell would. Under the desk, her boot hit something heavy and metal and she stooped down, squinting at the huge, locked safe before her.

“Whatcha got?” Daryl asked while wandering in, scanning the shelves and noticing her bow sticking up from under the desk where she’d positioned it over her shoulder and bent down to inspect the dial on the front of the door.

“Safe. Big one.” She muttered. “Probably not even worth looking inside. Can’t exactly buy our way to survival these days.”

“A safe ain't just for money. Especially in a neighborhood like this. Move aside, lemme take a look.”

Complying but with a little confusion around how much Daryl seemed to know about safes and what was kept in them, Jess planted herself in a leather, wheeled chair and pushed herself away with her feet until the backrest hit the bookshelves behind her.

"Hmm. Old safe for a new house" He mused.

From where she was, she could see him grab a pen and a piece of paper from the desk, returning to the safe and sitting, cross legged in front of it. He brought his ear to the dial and listened intently as he slowly turned it, making notes on the paper as he went. Jess watched with great interest, mystified by his actions and a little impressed all at once and when he held up the paper and started spinning the dial a little more rapidly, she heard a loud click and he tugged the door open, moving back to give himself enough room to delve inside. Jess’s jaw almost hit the floor.

“Are you-are you kidding me?!” She cried “Were you a bank robber or something?”

“No.” he grunted without even a glance over his shoulder. He pulled a pistol and ammo from the safe, along with multiple tubs of medications. He handed them to Jess, who was still staring at him in shock as she shoved the items into her backpack.

“Would you care to explain how you knew how to get into that thing, then?” She pressed.

He got to his feet, picked up his crossbow and slung it over his shoulder.

“Not really” He grumbled.

In the blink of an eye, he was gone and instead of pursuing him, she continued searching the house, eventually finding him outside on the porch, arranging packets and tinned food in a box. It was quite the find and one that meant their detour on the way home was not in vain. They’d found a gun, ammo, medication and food all from one house. So pleased was he with their find, that Daryl ripped open a packet of beef jerky and took a huge bite, chewing messily and grunting in approval. Jess inched closer, feeling mischievous and waiting for her moment. As he raised the packet once more, she snatched it from his grasp and dragged the tough, leathery substance over her tongue.

“I licked it so it’s mine.” She declared with a certain degree of provocation.

He dropped his now empty hand and cleared his throat. Dipping his head, he stepped closer to her and bit down on his tongue. There were so many things he wanted to say, most of them suggestive and daring, even though he’d tested the water by flirting with her before. He didn’t know if any of the possibilities were a little too forward and the last thing he wanted was to come across like Merle, but he was sure that Jess was unlikely to switch from her playful mood to full-on offended and figured that even if she did, she would forgive him eventually. Deciding to risk it, he waited for her to catch his eye.

“You uh…you really should stop teasin’ the fuck outta me with that…unless you wanna do somethin’ ‘bout it.” He told her. It was delivered with a world of confidence and sureness that he didn’t know he possessed and when she failed to appear disgusted or flee before him at the very idea of something so risqué, his heart rate quickened and a small smile tugged at his lips.

Jess, determined to follow Aaron’s advice and just have herself some fun, pursed her lips and for a moment, struggled to think up a response that didn’t make her look completely inexperienced and shy. She wanted to widen the smile on his face, she wanted to make him laugh and above all, she wanted to show him that if she felt like it and had the nerve, she could give as good as she got.

“Don’t you dare threaten me with a good time, Daryl.” She purred at him.

He had to look away, it was all he could do to stop the rush of heat that radiated from beneath the skin across his nose and cheeks. Flabbergasted and rendered temporarily mute by her unexpected response, he rubbed at his chin and couldn’t hold back the throaty laugh that expelled from his lungs.

“Well…shit.” He chuckled at her, eventually able to bring his gaze back to her. She shrugged off her backpack and stuck her hand inside, retrieving one of the pots of medication and reading the label.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Dixon” she instructed, now taking control of a conversation he thought he held the reins of. He’d never seen it before, her willingness to take their mild flirting to the next level.

“Why would I do that when you’re throwin’ backchat like that at me?” He commented.

She delighted at the redness of his cheeks which he was no longer bothering to hide and it occurred to her that she didn’t feel one shred of shyness when she would have otherwise curled up into herself and wished the ground would open up to devour her.

“Stop distracting me. We have a job to do.” She smiled.

“You’re the ones distractin’ me” He pointed out.

“Am not”

“Are too” He uttered under his breath, sitting down on the wooden bench next to the box of supplies. “Talkin’ to me ‘bout lickin’ stuff… God damn.”

Not willing to let him forget that he’d been the one to bring it up, she raised an eyebrow at him as she took a generous bite of the beef jerky that was still pinched between her fingers on one hand and dropped her backpack on the floor. She handed him the snack and also settled on the bench, with the box in-between them. When he was done eating, he screwed up the wrapper in his fist and threw it at her. She batted it away and the two of them sniggered at one another.

Checking on Aaron once again, Daryl noted that he was still perched in his truck's cab, with the door open and one leg dangling out.

“So, did we swap kissing for trust?” Jess suddenly asked, far too loudly for Daryl’s comfort.

“Shh! What is with you today?! Ya so damn loud!” He hissed, worriedly looking over at Aaron again, who clearly hadn’t heard a word and also hadn’t moved an inch. “What are ya talkin’ ‘bout?”

“Well, you started kissing me and now you don’t trust me anymore.” She explained casually.

“For god sakes.” He mumbled to himself as he rose to his feet and scuffed around on the decking. He lit a cigarette and did a small double-take at her while she eagerly awaited some kind of answer. “I do that because I trust ya.” He muttered.

“Then tell me how you knew how to open that safe.”

Daryl, much like his brother, was no angel before the turn. Following in Merle Dixon’s footsteps came with a price and that price was usually paid in the form of a criminal record and a list of things that he wished he’d never got involved in. At the time, he hardly knew any different, their life lived on the edge, drunk and high and notorious for being unpredictable and volatile was the norm and with no other role models to turn to, Daryl didn’t have a chance to choose a different path. He’d been in more fights than he could count, never being one to back down from a questionable look or an offensive remark made in a bar. He’d given Jess hints, snippets of who he used to be and the Daryl she’d met at the quarry was the start of his transition into becoming his own person. The turn itself had given him the clarity he needed to open his mind and showed him that Merle’s way was not the only way. Daryl had always been the more sensitive of the two and was naturally analytical, but he knew that voicing any opinions against anything Merle said was likely to get him punched. He’d done a lot of things that he wasn’t proud of, things that he never really wanted Jess to know. Things that made him so far removed from the kind of person she deserved to be with. He didn’t deserve forgiveness or the benefit of the doubt. He knew what he was and that was a redneck with a record and a lot of regrets.

“Did some stuff I ain't proud of.” He grumbled, pleading with her in his mind to just leave the subject alone. He didn’t want to lie to her, but he didn’t want her to know the lows he’d stooped to either.

“Haven’t we all?” She mused.

“I mean before.” He added. “Ya don’t wanna know.”

“I do.” She corrected “I do want to know. Tell me.”

She was begging him with her innocent eyes, urging him to trust her and he found it almost impossible to decline. She’d seen his temper; she’d been witness to and on the end of his biting remarks when he was angry and she still came back to him. He’d heard it with his own ears that she liked him as more than a friend, even after seeing the parts of his character that he loathed and she’d trusted him with her life and continued to do so. Something told him that she wasn’t about to let the subject go and if she did, she would only ask again at a later date and so, he gave in, deciding not to mention too many details.

“Never robbed a bank. But other places, yeah.” He admitted.

Her face lit up as if he’d graced her with the most valuable nugget of information that nobody else could ever know and on the inside, her heart sang with the fact that he had opened up about something so potentially precarious. She told herself not to react too dramatically, or he was likely to close up again altogether.

“Other places…?” She probed gently.

“Mmhmm. The odd house. Merle used to scope places out n’ we’d go in. Usually rich folks. More money than sense. Some bars n’ liquor stores too.” He confessed.

“You ever hurt anybody?” She wanted to know. She was conscious that the question might well backfire on her but after a brief spell of him chewing nervously on his bottom lip and taking a long drag of his smoke, he nodded solemnly.

“Couple times. Not women. Or kids. Had to keep folks in line, y’know? Stop ‘em callin’ the cops. Never killed nobody…before the turn anyways”

He expelled smoke from his lungs, the plume rising in a bluish cloud above him. The smell of nicotine stung her nose and she realized that he was having trouble bringing his gaze back to her. He was ashamed and it was written all over him. In his body language, in his eyes when she managed to catch sight of them and in his tone of voice. She felt guilt burn in her chest for making him discuss it, but if she never really knew his past, how could she know how far he’d come? It was obvious to Jess that the Daryl that was standing in front of her was most definitely not the Daryl from before the world went bad and she wasn’t about to let him believe otherwise.

“Can you pick locks?” She asked with genuine interest.

“Depends on the lock. But mostly, yeah.”

“And hotwire cars?”

“Yeah.”

She giggled to herself and shook her head in disbelief. The criminal element to his past activities didn’t matter to her anymore, he wasn’t a danger to her or anyone else in Alexandria and the fact that he’d had such a shady past only aided him in his need to protect those he loved in the new world. He wasn’t afraid to do what it took and he didn’t do anything by halves.

“That is so cool.” She expressed, looking up and finding him staring down at her. She lifted a hand and extended her index finger, pointing at him. “You, Dixon… are cooler than a childhood secret handshake”

“Look, if you’d known me back then-” He tried

“-I did know you back then. I met you at the quarry.” She cut in.

He threw his smoke away and let out a long sigh, briefly turning his back to her and leaning on the fencing around the porch. He could see that Aaron was now on his feet and wandering through the front yards of the houses opposite, peeing into windows and opening discarded suitcases.

“I ain’t a good guy, Jess.” She heard him mumble.

“What a load of hooey.” She scoffed.

He shot her a baffled glance over his shoulder and slowly turned around, leaning back against the barrier.

“Hooey? What are you, ninety-four?!”

“Oh, shut up. You are a good person. Okay, look at Ironman.” She mentioned.

“Ironma-what?!” He questioned in exasperation at yet another superhero analogy. He weighed up the benefits of at least trying to pick up one of Carl’s comics for research purposes at some point.

“Tony Stark!” She cried, flinging her hands up “He was a selfish playboy who managed to win the heart of Pepper Potts. Tony did stupid shit all the time, like creating Ultron. But from Ultron came Vision who was a badass character and Tony ended up still being kinda selfish but an altogether good person. I’m rambling, you uh…wanna stop me?”

“Aaron.” He said blankly with a nudge of his head in Aarons direction.

“Right. Aaron’s there. Fine. My point is, it doesn’t matter who you were. What matters is who you are now and what you do with the very useful skills you have. You are a good person, Daryl. And you are cool.” She informed him with a sincerity to her tone that conveyed her belief in what she was saying.

His face changed and his gaze became more intense as he tried to fight the urge to tell her that she should stay away from men like him. That she had no business believing that he was anything other than Merle Dixon’s brother, the criminal redneck with the bad temper.

“Don’t be so naïve, Jess. People, they only show ya what they want you to see. Some folks, they try…they try to be good but inside, all there is... is darkness and pain n’ all the fucked-up shit that they did.”

She leaned back against the bench’s backrest, thudding her jacket against it and crossing one leg over the other.

“Woah. Okay. That’s deep. Take it easy, Bucky.” She smirked to herself.

Suddenly, he remembered overhearing Jess telling Carl that Bucky Barnes was her favorite superhero. It dawned on him that for her to refer to him by that name, it must mean that she saw him as similar. The idea was all kinds of wrong to him. How could he ever be seen in the same vein as a superhero? In his own mind, he was far from it and he didn’t want Jess believing something that he simply would not be able to live up to.

“Winter Soldier.” He said

Her eyes widened and what had started as a throwaway comment that she thought would just get bypassed, had now opened up the truth; that Daryl was her superhero.

“You heard me.” She stated

Aaron was approaching and she quickly shifted her eyes to alert Daryl to his presence. He was only a few feet away, walking along the path towards the front porch they were both residing on.

“Yeah, I heard ya. Shouldn’t call me that name. I ain’t no superhero. Far from it.” He quickly threw in before Aaron could hear anything.

“You don’t see it, but you are to a lot of people. And you are to me.” She concluded.

Standing up to acknowledge Aaron, she clocked extra movement from behind him and the telltale gurgling of blood-filled lungs. Her heart jumped into her throat.

“Walker! WALKER!” She yelled, ripping her bow from her shoulder. “Shit! AARON!”

Daryl however, was quicker off the mark and grabbed his crossbow, fired a bolt and put down the threat before Jess could even choose an arrow. Aaron’s jaw almost hit the floor when he turned to find that the corpse was within grabbing distance and he was soon charging over to Daryl to shake his hand.

“That thing came out of nowhere. Little too close for comfort. Thanks, man.” He said with a form grip around Daryl's fist.

“Anytime.” Daryl replied.

Deanna’s son, Spencer wasn’t half as popular as his fair and reasonable mother. He’d been caught on various occasions taking more than he was allowed from the pantry and had rubbed Daryl up the wrong way right from the day Rick's group arrived. There was something about him that Daryl never trusted and it was for that reason, that he kept his distance and was careful not to disclose any valuable information around him.

Jess had hardly spoken to him, even having arrived in Alexandria considerably earlier than Daryl she’d avoided him due to receiving much the same vibes from him as Daryl did. She also thought him to be creepy and disrespectful towards women, which was surprising considering who his mother was and Jess’s reasonably solid relationship to her.

The trucks were left at the side of the road to be unloaded the next morning with the help of others from the community. Jess hugged Aaron goodbye and stood aside when he shook Daryl’s hand and thanked him a second time for saving his skin. As she backed up, she collided with somebody and spun around to find Spencer grinning down at her from his tall height.

“Spencer, Hi. Sorry, I didn’t know you were there.” She apologized, moving back and creating a considerable distance between them. Daryl hovered around behind her, listening closely and telling himself he’d rather shoot Spencer between the eyes with a bolt than leave her alone with him.

“How are you?” He asked.

“Uh, Fine.” Jess replied curtly.

“Y’know, I’ve seen all the work you’ve done to help the town. How much you’ve changed since you showed up in that mask and hood. Now I know your name, I thought it might be good to get to know you a little better. Maybe you’d like to join me for dinner tonight.” He explained.

Daryl’s hands curled into tight fists at his side and he swallowed hard in an effort to contain the pure fury that was bubbling in his chest. Over her shoulder, Spencer could see the archer glaring angrily at him as he slowly paced back and forth like a guard dog about to attack.

Back off asshole. Lay one fuckin’ finger on her n’ I’ll knock you so hard, you’ll see tomorrow today.

Shocked by the offer and having it come from absolutely nowhere, Jess immediately decided that if this was not some kind of joke, then it was a setup for whatever Spencer’s ulterior motive must be. She couldn’t possibly fathom what she might have that he would ever want, but she certainly had no designs on finding out.

“Thank you for the invitation but I’m going to politely decline. I’m heading home, it’s been a long day. Goodnight.” She delivered gracefully, stepping away and walking to the gate. Daryl was infuriated to find as Jess walked away, Spencer’s eyes dragged up and down her body and he licked his lips, shamelessly checking her out, almost as if he was trying to provoke a response. When he turned back, he found Daryl stood inches from his face with one hand on his knife.

“You think cause you’re Deanna’s son you can get away with whatever ya want?” He growled. Spencer’s mouth dropped open but no sound emerged and Daryl wasn’t in the mood to wait around for chit chat. “You listen to me. If I ever catch you lookin’ at her like that again, I’ma tear your heart outta your ass n’ shove it down your throat. You hearin’ me?”

With one eyebrow flickering up and the badly disguised fear that Daryl had instilled in him settling behind his eyes. Spencer nodded once and backed up, clearing his throat as he turned and walked away.

Daryl didn’t ask to walk her home or stay the night. In fact, conversation was now so far from his mind while he settled his rage that he stalked along behind Jess, having caught her up. She quickly guessed that being walked home was going to be a regular thing since the threat of attack was now even more heightened. What was unusual, was the quietness that resonated from beside her as Daryl ambled along the path, pushing branches aside. After such a chat-filled day, she thought it a little strange that he hadn’t uttered a single word yet.

“You’re quiet. What’s wrong?” She asked.

“M’always quiet.” He grumbled.

“Alright. Whatever.” She shrugged, feeling her body heat surge under her jacket “Ahh, it’s evening and it’s still so hot. What I wouldn’t give for some Blue Belle right now.”

“What’s that?” He questioned, sounding as though he couldn’t have cared less.

“Only the best ice cream made in Texas. Preferably chocolate chip cookie dough. It was my pre-apocalypse, binge-eating go-to.” She told him with a slight smile at the memory of the finest tasting treat she’d ever eaten. Of all the things she missed, Blue Belle was most definitely one of them.

“Nice.” He grunted.

“Single girls best friend. Along with cats…and vibrators.” She continued to babble, feeling him glance sideways at her “So I’m told.”

The temptation to hint at being single, even at the end of the world was strong and so, she’d given in in the small hope that he might pick up on it and make some kind of comment about how she couldn’t exactly call herself single anymore. She could hope, but it didn’t happen. In fact, all that did transpire was another long and tension-filled silence.

“Sonofabitch” She suddenly sighed, flapping her hands noisily by her sides and stopping on the path. “It’s like you’re not even here. What is it? What’s bothering you?”

“S’nothin’.” He uttered, unwilling to lie to her and tell her the truth at the same time. He was torn between coming across as jealous once more or throwing her a mistruth to keep her attention away from the fact that it literally made his blood boil when another man looked at her or spoke to her in a remotely sexual way.

“Daryl, just tell me.” She demanded with a sternness on her face that he didn’t necessarily want to contend with. If he pushed back and continued to deny it, she would become angrier and the last thing he wanted was to fight with her.

“Alright, fine” He snapped “Just…don’t overthink it, or freak out, okay?”

“I will…try. I will try not to do that.” She attempted to promise, knowing full well that her specialties were overthinking and freaking out.

“It’s Abe. He keeps harpin’ on about havin’ sex with ya. Now Spencer’s got a thing for ya too.”

Jess didn’t think before she did it, but when a laugh tumbled from her lips at the thought of Abraham making any serious moves on her while he was with Rosita, or even at all, it had proved too amusing to ignore. From her perspective, Daryl just couldn’t not understand the type of friendship she had with the big, cocky military guy. Maybe it was because he’d never been party to such a friendship in his life before, or maybe it was because Abraham’s humour and take on life was different to Daryl’s. Either way, he would only continue to get riled up by it unless she tried to explain it to him.

“Abe really does not mean that, Daryl.” She assured him.

“You sure ‘bout that?” he questioned.

“Yes, I am actually. He’s military. That’s his humor and I’m used to it because that’s how I grew up, I was an Army brat. I see a lot of my brother and his friends in Abe and that’s why we get along so well.” She conveyed.

Daryl thought back to when Merle had left the Military. Dishonorably discharged for punching his superior. It was no more than Daryl expected at the time. He’d arrived back at the Dixon house with a bag of his belongings and much the same humor as he’d possessed before he embarked on a new route in his life. Daryl couldn’t blame the military for Merle’s low opinion of women, the way he saw them as pieces of meat most of the time was present long before his days doing drills and target practice.

“So, ya ain’t gonna… Y’know?” He checked with a certain nervous disposition. The thumb of one of his hands was anxiously tapping away at the bottom of his vest.

“No! That’d be like incest.” She grimaced.

“Right.” He grunted “What ‘bout Spencer? Guys a dick.”

He refrained from admitting that he’d squared up to Spencer and threatened him with violence if he ever looked at Jess the wrong way again. He knew there was a very good chance that word would get back to her about that anyway and all he needed was one, little excuse to follow up on his promise. But he knew that Jess would only bombard him with questions he just couldn’t answer.

“Yeah, he is and I’m not interested. Why do you care about who wants to sleep with me, anyway?” She wanted to know.

Then, Daryl broke his own code. The lie had drifted out like it was nothing.

“I don’t.”

In the back of his mind, he cursed himself.

C’mon. You fuckin’ pussy. You do care. Don’t lie to her.

“So, this brooding silence is all for nothing.” She snapped, flapping her hands by her side and charging off. He sighed in frustration and continued to follow her, almost able to feel the irritation radiating from her very being. They covered only a short distance before she stopped out of the blue once more and blocked his path.

“Look, even if he does want to sleep with me, it’s a compliment. I’m no supermodel but why wouldn’t a guy want to have sex with me? I mean, I spent my whole life thinking I’m not good enough. But maybe I am. I may be a geek to the bone but I have feelings and needs and I’m not a freakin’ nun. I didn’t have the willpower to go down that road, remember?”

All at once, it occurred to him that in his desperate need to keep her away from anyone else’s affections, he’s somehow managed to offend her. His head grew louder as he tried to find a way to put things right, tried to search for something to say, for a way to explain away the fact that he hated the idea of anyone but him being able to touch her. But the words wouldn’t present themselves from the ocean on muddled thoughts in his head. Words were just not his forte.

“I didn’t mean…just forget it.” He mumbled.

“No. Y’know what? Why not Abe or even Spencer? You don’t want them anywhere near me yet I’m not good enough for you to want me, am I, Daryl?”

His whole body went rigid at the sound of her question. His eyes widened and even his nervous hand tapping on his vest ceased. She’d been pushed to the edge and he hadn’t even realized the can of worms he was opening as he was speaking. His heart sank when she stormed off and left him there, clueless and afraid that he might have just screwed everything up with the one person that had ever meant anything to him and all because he had no idea how to tell her how he really felt.

He kicked at the bushes and leaves on the ground around him as darkness blanketed the woods. Emotions had ever been easy for Daryl to contend with. A lifetime of stuffing them down, being beaten for crying by his father and having his older brother try to ‘make a man’ out of him. He still felt them, searing and powerful and unchecked, more often than not translating into violent outbursts or a feeling of too much all at once that usually led to cigarette burns on the back of his hands or some other self-destructive way of release. Now, he had feelings of an altogether different kind, new and complicated and truly terrifying even to someone of his level of courage. Those feelings were gradually tearing down everything that was good when they should have been building it up. Jess. She was the good in his life. She was the thing that made him smile and laugh and brought out things in him that he never even knew were there to begin with. He was going to lose her unless he did something, unless he acted with haste and the only way he knew how to do that was with actions instead of words.

Jess was staring at a blank page in her journal when the bell on the gate rang. She clenched her jaw, snapping the pen between her teeth and throwing it on the bed along with what had proved to be a useless form of venting. The pages of the journal bent and scrunched when the book hit the quilt after she carelessly threw it aside.

She stood up, ran her hands down her black tank top and grey sweatpants and tugged the tie from her hair as she squinted through the gap in the blacked out window. Daryl was eagerly treading back and forth beyond the gate, his crossbow swinging by his side and his eyes sweeping the floor as he moved. She could tell, even from her distance away that he was battling some kind of internal war with himself and she prepared for what was looking likely to be an awkward exchange.

She headed outside, slamming the door behind her and running a hand through her hair as she reached the gate. He stopped and threaded his crossbow across his shoulder, his bottom lip clamped under his teeth.

“You’re mad at me” He stated before she could speak. “I ain't leavin’ things that way.”

“I’m tired. It makes me sassy. Apparently” She said quietly, wishing that she could leave and go back to the diner. To the quietness where she could at least try and make sense of how everything was changing. She was reaching the end of her tether and the direct and angry question that she’d spat at him like it was acid had worked its way out from the back of her mind. She didn’t have the strength to hold it back anymore.

“Kinda like your sass.” He admitted, moving closer to the gate and linking his fingers through it. “You gonna let me in?”

“Shouldn’t you be getting back to the house?” She asked.

He dipped his head for a moment and leaned it against the fencing. His hair flattened and she heard him drag in a deep breath before he raised his head again and positioned his eyes between the diamond gaps in the structure, looking right at her and silently pleading with her to just let him inside.

“Need to put somethin’ straight first” he answered.

“That’s very cryptic” she muttered, unimpressed and flicking the latch on the gate to allow him access.

He followed her wordlessly to the diner and as soon as he clicked the door closed behind them, he wasted no time in reaching out to grab her hand, quickly halting her and closing the gap between them. Her hands instinctively came up and rested on his chest, as if she was about to push him away but he held onto her tightly, with one hand holding her waist and the other raised to her face. His finger was extended over her lips, signaling that he didn’t want her to talk. To him, it wasn’t the time for it. She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. His fingers curled against the skin of her waist, almost gripping her flesh and the want in his touch matched that of his eyes, which were piercing and serious. He hadn’t even kissed her but it was enough to make her weaken in his grasp and she felt her legs begin to tremble. He could sense her anxiety and removed his finger from her lips, bringing his face close to hers and pressing soft kisses to her nose and cheeks, guiding her hair from her eyes with a gentle sweeping of his fingertips. His voice was a mere whisper but it was the only sound in the room and Jess was glad of it when she heard the words swirl around her mind.

“You think I don’t want you.”

It was a statement. Not a question. Her heart jumped and her stomach flipped and she almost gasped when she realized that her earlier assumption, the idea that he didn’t want her, was so important to him that he’d refused to leave it alone until he could put it right.

He gently kissed her and she seemed to clamber up to him, rising to her tip toes and feeding her constant need for him. The fill the void in her soul that was only made for him. She loved him and every time he touched her; she was even more sure of it. Her hands snaked up his chest, settling on either side of his strong and tanned neck and she was holding him to her with enough strength to tell him that she did not have designs on pulling away. Her body was pressed to his, aided by the hand at her waist now travelling around and pressing at her lower back. She tensed slightly at first but was soon arching herself into him as their kiss shifted in intensity and she felt his tongue dance against hers. She raised her arms and draped them over his shoulders and he took it as permission to pull her even closer, with a sharp tug that made her gasp against his lips.

The skin of her shoulder sparkled at his touch when she felt him nudging the strap of her tank top aside and his lips left hers to create a delightful trail from her jaw down her neck and across her collarbone. He still had hold of her strap and the more he pulled it down, the more the ball of anxiety in her stomach grew. She tried to blink it away, to focus on how good it felt to let him lavish her with attention that she could only ever have dreamed about. She’d wanted it for so long, the chance to be so close to him, to know the urgency of his touch and see in his eyes that he wanted her. He wanted her.

“You okay…?” He asked between kisses.

“Yeah.” She breathed.

“Put ya legs around my waist.” He rasped at her.

“Wha-”

She didn’t have time to ask questions. She held her breath when both of his big arms enveloped her waist and she was lifted from the floor, her toes wiggled and the soles of her feet were suddenly cold. With her attached to him, legs gripping his middle and his lips now back on hers, he walked her to the diner’s countertop, sitting her on the edge and lifting both of his hands to her front. When he grazed over the shape of her breasts, he was careful not to use too much pressure no matter how much he wanted to, it would all happen with time and too much, too soon could spell disaster. Gauging her reaction and taking her pink, moistened lips and breathlessness to be a good thing, he stepped things up. He placed his hands on her thighs but was mindful not to grip where she’d been grabbed before by the harsh digits of those that she didn’t want to touch her. She managed to glance down between them, to find his fingers gliding over her legs, up to her pelvis, his thumbs smoothing along her inner thighs to make her core sing and her nerves spark even through her sweatpants. Reaching her hips again, he dragged her over the counters surface and something tightened inside him when he eased one of her legs aside and positioned himself between them. His own self-doubt began to toy with him. It had been so long since he’d been in any kind of intimate situation that he wasn’t sure of his own abilities. But she was still kissing him and smiling against him and she hadn’t stopped him yet.

Jess didn’t really know what to expect and so far, everything was steaming along in a lusty haze. Half of her wanted to surrender to him and let him do what he wanted, while the other half of her was screaming to her to stop and that she wasn’t ready for it. But she was stunned that a man such as Daryl, who looked so rough and unrefined, could be so gentle and thoughtful with every connection to her skin and every kiss. The pull to carry on, to ignore the voice in the back of her mind that was telling her it was all too much was being stifled by him winding a hand into her hair and slowly easing her head back. She felt his lips and tongue on her neck, tasting her and sucking the flesh just enough to add a slither of pain, a delightful thrum of a new sensation.

“You think I don’t want you” He growled again against her throat. “I do”

She couldn’t help it, her hand delved into his hair as her eyes snapped open and as she stared at the ceiling, totally flabbergasted by his admittance. She’d never felt anything like it, never heard anyone tell her such a thing and his enthusiasm was knocking her for six. How could she possibly be provoking this kind of yearning from him? Her head was full of questions, but the urge to act now and think later was presiding. His hands moved again, this time venturing to the bottom of her top as he kissed her hungrily.

“Want me to keep goin’?” He asked when his lips momentarily left hers. She tried to speak but nothing but a hush of air emerged. She nodded.

He slowly eased his hands inside her top and the warmth and roughness of him felt amazing on her skin but she began to feel self-conscious when he reached parts of her torso that had not always been that way. Once, they’d felt different and as a result of her evolution, she was left with the marks to prove it. Straight away her limbs were so shaky, it was like they were fading away to nothing. Her muscles tightened under his palms and she tensed up. When he noticed, he didn’t need to ask for an explanation and removed his hands, changing tact and kissing her slowly and deeply. To him, she was curvaceous and alluring in ways that he couldn't even began to try and explain. He just wanted to explore her, all of her, all at once. She groaned against him, experiencing a rush of affection for his choosing not to make a big deal out of her reluctance. But then, he slid his hands down her back to her ass, pulling her hips flush with his pelvis. Yes, it had been a long time indeed for Daryl and the urge to press himself against her had proved to be all too strong. In one, swift movement, the hot and hard sensation that she found held between her legs caused her to shut down. She froze. Every muscle in her body going totally still and all he could do was look down at her, battling the onset of sheer panic.

“Jess? You alright?” he asked with a shaky voice.

“I…I need to stop.” She stammered.

He immediately held his hands up and stepped out from between her legs, showing her in no uncertain terms that he was listening and doing as she asked. He turned to the side and cleared his throat, subtly using one hand to adjust himself in his pants as she slid down from the counter and pulled her straps back up.

“Please will you leave.” She whispered.

“What? What did I do?” He questioned worriedly.

“Nothing. Please, just leave.” She pleaded.

When he noticed that she couldn’t even look at him, his hands went to his head and he briefly pushed his palms to his eyes, devastated by the notion that he might have taken things too far and scared her. His chest was so tight with despair he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Oh… shit.” She heard him whimper before he dropped his arms and gave her the saddest and most desperate look that she never even realized he was capable of. “I thought this was OK. I asked ya. You said it was. I thought you wanted to-”

“Daryl. Please… go” She said, closing her eyes and fighting back tears.

“Alright. Fine. I’m goin’.”

The door slamming made her flinch and the absence of him in the room hit her in the gut like a punch. She buckled over and sank to the floor, hugging her knees and pushing her eyes closed, tears managing to work their way out from beneath as sobs wracked her body.

Masterlist

Fear not, dear readers, this story will continue. I’ll post chapter 30 soon. We took a break as we’ve been working on this story for the past year. We haven’t abandoned it at all. Mistress Mistrust is focusing on her studies but will be back.

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@woundmetender @lilred254 @lonewolf471

#daryl dixon #daryl fanfiction #twd daryl #the walking dead daryl #daryl x oc #daryl

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