#and a set of brothers we knew chased each other around with a cutting board and a serving fork | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

anna-justice · 3 years

Text

Superman - Upstead

Summary: Jay and Hailey are a part of an officer involved shooting, the aftermath puts Hailey in a very dangerous situation, causing her and Jay’s lives to be at risk. (Pre-Established Upstead)

Warnings: violence, mentions of blood & gore, swearing, angst, over-protective Jay

Requested: Yes! #71, “Get away from him/her!” & #74, “He’s/She’s not yours.”

…

“5021 George, we are in pursuit of the offender on foot. The offender is armed, all units advised. Send back up to the corner of Garden and North Malcom.” Jay said into his radio as he and Hailey raced down an alleyway. They were in a nicer part of town, the streets were more open and Jay could see an open field at the end. “Hailey, I’m gonna cut him off.” Jay called out to his partner, before darting out of the opening. He beat them to the end, taking off as the offender exited the alleyway.

Jay sprinted towards the large man, tackling him to the ground. He knew he had a gun, but it was his only choice. They rolled across the grass, Jay immediately trying to get the upper hand. Hailey caught up, drawing her weapon. “Chicago P.D. Stand down!” She shouted from yards away.

The offender was restless, flipping them so that Jay was pinned underneath. Jay kicked him in the groin and knocked the gun out of his hand. Neither of the men had noticed Hailey’s presence, and when Jay reached behind him to grab the gun, the man punched square in the jaw, disorienting him. The man smiled, standing and grabbing his gun, pointing it at Jay.

There was a loud pop, followed by a thud. Jay sat up immediately, seeing his partner with her gun raised. “You good?” She called out, racing towards him.

“Yeah.” Jay said, jumping up and kicking the gun away. He wiped the blood from his nose as he checked the guys pulse, he was gone.

Hailey sighed as she reached her partner, “That was stupid.” She said sternly.

Jay nodded, “Yeah, I know.” He looked her in the eye, holding their gaze, almost like a silent apology for scaring her like that. They were interrupted by the sounds of sirens. Patrol had made it to the scene. Pretty soon the field was flooded with officers and crime techs.

“What happened?” Voight asked, finally arriving on scene.

Hailey shrugged, “He ran as soon as we knocked on the door, Jay tackled him, he had a gun. It was us or him.” She explained. Jay nodded, backing her up.

Voight gave them a short nod, “Well, I guess that’s justice. Let’s head back, we’re back to square one.” The two nodded, bidding him goodbye and walking back to their rig.

They had been working the case a few days, it was a quadruple rape and homicide. The offender they were chasing was Jason Forbes, they knew he was one of them abusers because his DNA was found on all four victims, but now they were looking for his partner.

Jay jumped in the driver's seat of the truck, Hailey following suit on the other side. “Thanks,” He said, once they were settled. “For earlier…”

“Yeah, Of course.” Hailey said, smiling at him. “You're my partner, I’ve always got your back.”

…

It was a long day full of almost no leads, it was like the trail died with Jason. There wasn’t even anything to chase down. All they had was everything they knew above Jason, and no one he knew met any of the criteria they were looking for. No one looked good.

Eventually, Voight told them to all go home and get some rest. Hailey suggested getting a drink, Jay didn’t do well cases involving children, especially rape cases. Plus, she knew he was beating himself up over his attempted arrest earlier. They agreed to meet at the pub a few blocks away from Hailey’s apartment. It had become their own personal Molly’s.

They sat at a high table near the back, the only thing it was near was the old fashioned jukebox, that they were both sure didn’t work. “How’s your nose?” Hailey asked, taking a sip of her beer.

Jay chuckled, “Fine, thanks.”

Hailey put her hands up in surrender, “I’m being serious, he hit you pretty hard.” She was trying to hide her genuine concern behind the humor, cause she couldn’t get the image of that man standing over him with a gun out of her head.

“I’m a little sore.” Jay admitted, sighing. “But, I’m fine. Thanks to you.” He smiled softly, making direct eye contact yet again.

Hailey shook her head, averting her gaze. “You’re acting like I took a bullet for you.”

Jay shrugged, “Close enough.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, neither of them really knew what to say. There was a cloud looming over the table. It wasn’t lost on Hailey that if she had been just 10 seconds later, Jay might be dead. And Jay knew how close he came to death today, just because he overestimated his own abilities. They came close to losing each other, but wasn’t that the job? It wasn’t a new thing, but it felt different.

About an hour later, they walked out of the bar. Heading towards the parking lot to their separate cars. Jay walked a little behind her, he wasn’t ready to part ways yet, but he didn’t know how else to make her stay with him. “Hailey-” He started, but something caught his eye.

“Yeah?” She asked, turning around.

A car passing on the street slowed slightly, the back seat window rolled down and Jay saw the tip of a long gun. “Hailey, get down!” He shouted, sprinting and tackling her to the ground. Bullet after bullet hit the brick wall behind them as Jay used his entire body to shield her from the fire. When the assault finally stopped, they both waited a few seconds before sitting up. Jay grabbed Hailey’s shoulders, scanning her body. “Are you okay? Are you hit?”

He subconsciously placed a hand on her cheek, running his thumb over the pavement burn just above her jawline. Hailey placed her hand over his, “I-I’m fine. Are you okay? What the hell just happened?” She asked, taking his hand as he helped her stand.

“I-I don’t know. I saw the gun and-” Hailey cut him off by launching herself into his arms, wrapping hers tightly around him. Jay hugged her back immediately, holding her close. She was shaking, Jay combed his fingers through her hair. “Hey, it’s okay. We're okay.” They stood there, wrapped up in each other for a few minutes before a patrol car rolled up.

“We got a call of shots fired?” The guy asked, stepping out of the car.

Jay pulled up the bottom of his shirt, showing the officer his badge. “Yeah, a black SUV rolled by and just started shooting, I couldn’t get plates.”

While Jay talked to patrol, Hailey looked around, finding a set of security cameras. “Hey Jay!” She called out, she got his attention immediately. “We should check with the owner and see if these work.” She said, pointing up at them.

Jay nodded, “You guys call for backup, I’m gonna go talk to the owner and call my sergeant.” He ordered, clicking on Voight’s contact information. It was going to be a long night.

…

“Matthew Zimmerman.” Kim said, taping his picture to the board. “That’s who the car is registered to. Now, there is no obvious connection between him and Jason Forbes other than them being in the same facebook chat room.”

Kevin turns his computer screen so that they can all gather behind it. “We didn’t find it before, because somehow Jason was able to make it unassessable on all his devices. It’s called the Misunderstood Brotherhood, and it is an invitation only, unmarked room. So you can only get in with a code from an invite.”

Kim continued, “We searched through all of the members and there are near 75 in the Chicago area, many of which are registered sex offenders or have previous allegations against them.”

“So, it’s a bragging ground for rapists?” Jay snapped, leaning on Hailey’s desk and crossing his arms.

“Sort of.” Kim said.

“Most of the messages are pretty disturbing, they talk about urges and possible intent, but they are smart. There is nothing specifically incriminating, well, except for this.” Kevin scrolled through the chat, stopping so they could all read the bolded message. “This was posted yesterday afternoon.”

This morning, one of our brothers, Jason forbes, was shot and killed by Hailey Upton. A Detective in the Intelligence Unit out of the 21st district, badge #55055. We will not stand for this and we must avenge his death. The brotherhood will award a $100,000 reward to anyone who can eliminate the officer as a threat. Do us proud.

Hailey gasped, taking a step back. Her back hit her partner’s side, who instinctively wrapped a protective arm around her waist. “Holy shit.” Adam said.

“So last night, that was a hit?” Hailey asked shakily.

Kim nodded, “It looks like it, and we can assume at least 200 other people have seen this message.”

Voight took over from there. “Alright, we need to get Hailey to a safe house. Halstead, you’ll go with her. I’m gonna call the ivory tower, they are gonna want to be in the loop.”

As soon as Voight shut the door to his office, Adam stood. “Maybe I should go with Hailey.”

Jay scoffed, “What?”

“I’m just saying, your head doesn’t really seem in the game.” Adam snapped, Jay’s arm wrapped around Hailey catching his attention.

“Do I need to talk to you?” Jay asked, his jaw clenched.

“Jay-”

Jay took a step forward, “Where the hell do you get off?” Jay asked, seething. “She’s my partner.”

“She’s not yours, Jay.” Adam said, getting in Jay’s face.

Hailey stepped forward, holding her hand up to Adam. “I’m not anyone’s,” She snapped. Jay took it as a chance to step back, the last thing he wanted to do was piss Hailey off. Hailey glared at Adam, shaking her head. She didn’t understand why he was causing such a scene. She turned to Jay, “Let’s get our stuff.” She stormed off to the locker room, Jay hot on her tail. She turned around exasperated when she entered the room, Jay cracked the door behind them. “What the hell was that?” She whisper yelled.

“I’m sorry-”

Hailey cut him off, “I won’t be the prize you two sword fight over. That was incredibly embarrassing, if Voight had been out there, there would be hell to pay.”

Jay slouched in defeat. “I know, I’m sorry. He just makes me so mad sometimes.”

“Jay.” She said, “Do you really think I would have let Adam come with me over you?”

Jay sighed, “No.”

Hailey stuck her arms out at her sides, emphasizing his statement. “Thank you.” She collapsed onto the bench behind her, running a hand through her hair. Jay cautiously walked toward her, sitting down about a foot away and leaning on his hands. Her fast mood changed, scaring him a bit. Hailey sighed, running her hands over her face. “There’s a bounty on my head.”

Jay shifted a little closer to her, letting his hand rest on her back. “We’ll get through it.”

Hailey looked up at him, something about the way he said we made her heart skip a beat. Before she could say anything, the door swung open and revealed Kevin. “Hey, you guys ready to go?”

Hailey jumped up immediately, sniffling. “Yeah, let’s go.”

…

Three unmarked cars and a safety evaluation later, Hailey found herself sitting on a not so comfortable couch. For their own safety, neither of them knew quite where they were. There were alarms on all the windows and doors, so if someone tried to break in the team sitting in the house would immediately be alerted.

Jay was pacing, his hands on his hips. Hailey huffed, “Are you gonna do that all night?” She asked.

“Maybe.” He deadpanned.

Hailey rolled her eyes, “Can you please just come sit down.” She asked.

Jay sighed, admitting defeat and sitting on the other side of the couch. “Better?”

Hailey smiled, “Much.”

They sat in silence for a while, deciding to turn on the TV in front of them, not that there was anything good on. Jay snuck glances at his partner, even though he had been seeing more and more of it lately, it was nice to see her so casual. She had on leggings and a sweatshirt, her blonde hair falling over her shoulders. Her sock covered feet pulled up on the couch and tucked under her as she watched the screen absently. Jay watched the way the colors danced over her face in the dark room, smiling softly. He swore she got more beautiful everyday.

Hailey looked over at him, blushing slightly when she found his gaze already on her. “What?”

Jay coughed, “Nothing.” He could see the gears in her head turning from across the couch. “What are you thinking about?” He asked.

“Eh, I don’t know,” Hailey shrugged, smiling weakly at him. “That we’re even now.”

Jay chuckled, “Yeah, I guess we are.”

“I-” Hailey started, “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there.” She looked down at her hands, feeling her eyes well up. “I know we put our lives on the line everyday, but…” Jay held his breath, her heart aching for her. “I could’ve died last night. I could have died last night, and you could’ve too, and that would have been my fault.”

“Hailey-”

“No Jay,” She said, looking at him with teary eyes. “You can’t talk yourself out of this one. You put yourself between me and a gunman and I just, I don’t understand.”

Jay shifted, moving a little closer to her. “Hailey. I will never not protect you.”

Hailey sucked in a breath, his gaze hot on her skin. They had never been quiet about trusting each other, they both knew they would follow the other anywhere, that at the end of the day, they would be there for each other. But this, this was new. Not to him, he had always protected her, but for the first time in a while Hailey got a glimpse at how much she really meant to him. “I, uh, It’s getting late.” She rushed out, looking at her hands again. “We should get some sleep.” She stood, glancing back at him.

“Uh, I’ll take the couch, you take the bed.” He busied himself gathering pillows from the other chairs and grabbing the throw blanket off the back, trying not to think about Hailey’s complete dismissal of his previous statement.

“Jay.” She said, and his head snapped up. “Are you really going to make me sleep alone tonight?” It was forward, she would admit. But the thought of sleeping alone in some random house while people were literally racing to kill her, wasn’t so appealing.

He stood, shaking his head. “No.”

Hailey smiled, letting him follow her to the hotel-like bedroom. It was a big enough bed for two people, thankfully. Hailey pulled back the covers and climbed it, she hadn’t slept in over 48 hours and she was feeling it for sure. Jay climbed in cautiously, glad that he had a pair of sweatpants in his overnight bag and he didn’t have to sleep in his jeans. They laid on complete opposite sides of the bed facing each other. “Goodnight Jay.” Hailey said quietly.

“Goodnight Hailey.”

…

Jay woke up in the middle of the night, needing to pee. When he registered where he was, he noticed that he wasn’t alone. Hailey’s back was pressed against his chest and his arm was wrapped around her waist. He smiled to himself, careful not to wake her as he climbed out.

The bathroom light was blinding as he flipped it on, waking him all the way up, he noticed he had creases all over his arms from the blanket. Means it was a good sleep. He thought, grinning. Honestly, he was surprised he was sleeping so well, given the circumstances. He guessed he was more dependent on Hailey than he thought, she really did calm him.

He did his business quickly, itching to get back in bed and enjoy his partners embrace, even if it was for just one night. He was halfway back to the bedroom when he heard a loud crash. He took off running, and when he reached the bedroom, he saw a masked man standing in front of the broken window, staring a Hailey.

The man took a step forward, not noticing Jay’s presence. Hailey woke up confused, screaming for Jay when she saw the man. “Get away from her.” He yelled, charging forward. The man pulled a gun, but Jay kept going.

“Jay!” Hailey screamed again, thinking her partner was crazy.

Jay grabbed the gun, ripping it out of the guy's hand and punching square in the jaw. He tossed it on the bed, “The safety was on.” He said, getting on the top of the guy and flipping him on his stomach. Hailey jumped up and ran to her belt across the room, grabbing a pair of handcuffs and handing them to Jay. Jay cuffed the guy and pulled the mask off, revealing a younger man. Jay stood him up, “Let’s go in the kitchen, we don’t know if there are more coming.”

Hailey nodded, following behind him. She removed the rounds from the gun and placed it on the counter, watching Jay sit the guy down on the floor. A few minutes later there was commotion outside and the pair immediately raised their guns. “Chicago P.D!” Someone yelled and they both sighed, relaxing. The rescue team kicked the door in and was surprised to find the duo alive and well on the other side.

Jay picked the guy up off the ground and handed him over. “He came in through the bedroom window.” The detective nodded, hauling him out of the house.

As part of protocol, Jay and Hailey were both checked out by paramedics. They went over details with the detectives and their team, hopefully giving the information they needed to get ahead of and take down the brotherhood. Eventually they found themselves in the back of another unmarked car, Hailey leaning into Jay’s side, she was physically and emotionally exhausted, way too exhausted to worry about how things might look or come across.

Jay held her close to him, letting his thumb rub over the fabric of her sweatshirt. Hailey yawned, “You really have been playing superman today.” She said groggily.

“Yeah?” Jay asked, smirking.

“Yeah, you’re pretty good at it.” Hailey confessed, leaning further into him. “But don’t quit your day job.”

Jay smiled, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Wouldn’t dream of it. I couldn’t leave you stranded like that.”

Hailey smiled contently, “You better not, good partners are hard to find.”

“Yeah they are.” Jay agreed, hugging her closer. Good partners were hard to find.

…

A/N: This got so long, sorry! I really like it though, I haven’t written anything like it. Thank you so much for reading! <3

#jay halstead #hailey upton #upstead #upstead imagines #chicago pd #one chicago #chicago pd imagines

93 notes · View notes

percywinchester27 · 4 years

Text

A lot like ‘Us’ (Part-22)

Word count: 5.2K

Pairing: Sam X Reader AU

Warnings: Anxiety, feels, light flirting?

Series Summary: Y/N Y/L/N is eager and honestly, still in awe that she managed to get herself an acceptance from Stanford Law School. On the face of it, her life seems as put together, mysterious and independent as one might hope for. On the insides, she carries the burden of past that haunts her till date. Seemingly, she’d left it all behind; that is until she sets foot in the class of the Law School’s youngest, most promising professor.

A/N: Hey peeps, just wanted to thank you guys for all the love. Y’all are awesome! <3

The story employs two different timelines. The present timeline for the story takes place in 2014. Please let me know what you guys think :)

Beta: @deanssweetheart23. Thank you, babe <3

A lot like ‘Us’ masterlist

“Jesus, kid! Don’t you ever pull that one on me again, okay?”

Max was trying to escape his embrace, but Sam didn’t budge. His heart was still beating out a disjointed rhythm.

“I didn’t do anything!” Max protested.

Alex was quick to interject. “You ran out on me.”

Max turned in the circle of his arms glaring at Alex. “Only because you fell asleep.”

Alex’s face got all red and she sneaked a nervous glance at Sam.

“She’s got school in the morning,” Sam told Max. “She was tired. That doesn’t mean you can run out on her.”

“This isn’t the first time either,” Alex put in, emboldened by Sam’s support. “He ran to her on Sunday as well.”

“What’s this, Max?” Sam didn’t want to make his voice stern, but the fear wasn’t helping. Alex had called him towards the end of his meeting to tell him she couldn’t find Max. Sam’s heart had dropped through the ground at the mere thought. By the time he could ask Chase to pull out his car- Sam’s was still parked in the campus- a second call from Alex had already informed him that Max was back and okay. But Sam couldn’t stay put. He’d made Chase drive him back anyway.

“She’s my friend.” Max muttered.

“You’ve only met her twice!” Alex accused.

Max threw Alex a betrayed look, mumbling to himself.

Sam rubbed his face with his hand. “What’s happening?”

Alex started to say something, but Max interjected. “I want to tell him!”

“Alright, go on.”

Max told him about a new friend he’d made in one of the buildings along the playground, and that he was going to see her on Monday again.

Sam shot a look at Alex to confirm and she nodded encouragingly. Falling asleep on the watch might have been a one time thing, otherwise Alex was both smart and thorough. She wouldn’t have agreed to anything that wasn’t safe for Max.

“I can go, right?”

“Only if you promise to never go out by yourself.”

Max made an excited sound. “Yes!”

“Okay, enough of this moping,” Chase announced. He had been standing uncharacteristically quiet, watching the drama unfold. “Alex gets to sleep, Max gets his date and Sam gets to chill. What does Chase get?”

Sam turned to him. “What do you want?”

“Food. I want food.”

Alex waved to Max, who didn’t acknowledge it. He was still mad about ratting him out. “Bye, Sam. Bye, Mr. Lincoln.”

Sam nodded, and Chase waved at her cheerfully.

Sam let go of Max, not really looking him in the eyes, lest he should sense just how freaked out Sam was. That’s not what kids should see in their parents- the fear of being incompetant. Sam had learned as much from Dean. His older brother had been absolutely confident in every decision he’d made for Sam. It was only in the later years that Sam realised how freaked out Dean must have been attempting to raise Sam, even with Bobby and Karen’s help. They were all always second guessing themselves.

The next hour was spent on a call with Stacey. She debriefed Sam about the end of the meeting, promising to forward the transcripts after she was done with editing them. He was lucky to have found someone as efficient as her. She was a blessing. Sam appreciated that her first words were of concern for Max. Stacey had designed Sam’s schedule in such a foolproof manner that Max was never neglected. He couldn’t have been more grateful. To think that they had started their work relationship disliking each other.

Sam took his time in the shower, letting the hot water wash away some of his anxiety. Just the very thought of losing Max was enough to decapitate him. Later, as he diced the bell-peppers, his eyes kept going to the sofa where Max was playing connect four with Chase, who was sucking bigtime. It was something they did at least once a week. Right now, Chase was going on at length about how awesome the cookies were, that he was stealing from a jar. Sam didn’t remember buying any cookies at all.

A sting in his finger made him hiss. Looking down, he saw blood spreading into the bell-pepper pieces and the surface of the chopping board.

The next minute small hands were taking his finger, blowing on the cut and guiding him towards the sink.

“You never pay attention!” Max admonished.

“What do you care?” Sam muttered, washing his finger under the steady stream. The cut wasn’t too deep. “It’s not like you don’t love worrying me.”

Max huffed. “You’re being melodramatic.”

“No, I’m not. Seriously, Max, do you want me to stop going to work? How am I supposed to concentrate on anything if you’re going to be a flight risk?”

“I wasn't running away from home, okay? I just went to see my friend.”

Sam knew he was overreacting but what else was there to do? Alex had sounded so frantic on the phone.

“Who’s this girl anyway?” Sam eyed his son, turning off the tap. “Is it Lucy from school?”

“Ewww nooooo!” Max cringed, making a face. “I don’t like Lucy!”

“Of course you don’t,” Sam grinned. He added more seriously, “Don’t push Alex, okay? She might decide to not babysit you anymore.”

“It’s your fault really,” Max shrugged. Chase who had gone to retrieve the first aid box- it was ridiculous he even knew where that was in the house- handed Sam a bandaid.

Sam gave Max an incredulous look. “How is any of this my fault?”

“If you got me a mom, we wouldn’t need a babysitter!”

Sam barely even had the time to pick his jaw up when Chase started howling with laughter. He raised his hand and Max high-fived him.

“Wha- what?” He spluttered. “Where’s this coming from?”

“I told you, you had this coming, Samuel,” Chase chuckled, superior. “Even your boy seems to be scoring more dates here. And look at the little daredevil sneaking out to get em. What’re you waiting for? Divine intervention?” He lowered his voice just for Sam’s ears. “Even Steve from HR gets laid more than you. And he smells like Kleenex!”

Sam glared at his friend. “That’s it. Get out of my house! I’m not responsible for feeding you.”

“Now, now,” Chase placated, putting his hands on either side of Sam’s shoulders from behind and giving them a squeeze. “Look at these muscles. Such a waste to not have beautiful arms draped around them.”

“Well, there’s always you!”

Chase huffed, drawing back. “You don’t pay me any attention.”

Max giggled.

Sam turned to his son. “Max, having a mom doesn’t mean you won’t have a babysitter. Working mothers are a thing!”

“He’ll, at least, have quality food,” Chase put in. “All you feed him is vegetables.”

“You know what? I’m done with the both of you. Go back to that game you were playing.”

“No,” Chase shook his head. “This is more fun. Why aren’t you asking Jess out?”

“You know why.” Sam wasn’t as patient this time as he had been the last ten times, since Chase had been badgering him every damn minute. “Go wash your hands, Max. And help Uncle Chase set up the table.”

Max knew he was being dismissed, so he made a whole show of slowly dragging himself from the kitchen counter and heading upstairs at the speed of a snail. Once he was surely out of earshot, Sam hissed at his friend. “Drop it, Chase! You know it’s not going to happen. Besides, the last time was embarrassing enough. I don’t know how to face her.”

Chase rolled his eyes. “She’s a grown ass woman and super hot. You’re lucky she’s into you,” He paused, the sly grin dancing in his eyes. “That was like three or four years ago. She must be long past it.”

“I sure hope so.”

“I don’t know how else to convince you,” Chase sighed, dropping all the teasing at once. “Jess is successful, beautiful and so damn smart. If a girl like that can’t move you, I don’t know what else to do for you.”

“You can always give up.”

“No chance.” Chase ran his fingers through his hair. “I just keep trying to understand what’s holding you back.”

It was Sam’s turn to sigh. “I’m married.”

“No, you’re not!” Chase argued, with more emotion than Sam had expected, enough to make him face his friend. “This isn’t marriage, Sam. This is you holding on to something dead with both your hands. Let go before your hands start decaying.”

“Don’t say that.” The pain in his own voice depressed Sam.

Chase grimaced. “What would I not give to see this girl! Who is she? Some supermodel? Is she gilded out of diamonds or something?”

It was no point going in circles with Chase over this. Sam knew from years of experience that he wouldn’t give up.

“What was her name again?”

“It’s-” Sam’s gaze shifted to the base of the staircase and found Max standing there, face blank. “We’ll talk later,” Sam whispered, wondering how much Max had heard.

The dinner was a quiet affair. Sam knew it wasn’t so because Chase and Max were appreciating the sensory overload of how amazing his stir fry was. Chase was sulking and Max was lost in thought. After Chase had left for the night, Sam set to cleaning the kitchen. Max came to sit by him on the island counter, picking out a cookie from the jar Chase had abandoned.

“How was your day?” Max asked and despite himself Sam chuckled. There was something so odd about the question coming out of a six and a half year old.

“T’was alright,” Sam told him. Most of it had been very boring, except for the evening scare and the morning lecture in which he was mere feet away from Y/N, every cell in his body hyper aware of the fact that she was there. It was pathetic and Sam knew it. “I do have a hearing tomorrow. I think we’ll win this one.”

“What’s it about?”

“Property fraud. Very interesting.”

Wiping the kitchen top, and hanging the rag on the hook over the sink, Sam came to sit by his son. “How was your day?”

“Very interesting.” Max smiled, but didn’t elaborate. Not wanting to flare up his earlier irritation, Sam didn’t ask him for the details either. Instead, he dipped his hand in the jar and drew out a Choco chip cookie.

“Is it because of me that you don’t go out on dates?”

Max’s voice was small, diminished even and it made Sam draw in a quick breath.

“Max!” He exhaled. “Why would you say that?”

His boy wriggled his fingers. “I don’t know. Uncle Chase is right. You don’t have any fun. I know it’s because you have to spend all your free time with me.”

“You don’t mean that,” Sam stated outright, shaking his head. “I know you don’t because not one second of the time spent with you has been a sacrifice. You’re my son. You’ve got to know that I would do anything for you.”

“Except get me a mom.”

“Mom’s don’t grow on trees or fall out skies, Max.” Sam reasoned trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. “And don’t you ever say that I don’t have fun in life. We have fun, don’t we? I love that and wouldn’t change it for any girl in the world.”

“Not even for Y/N?”

Sam faltered, aghast. Maybe it was because he was thinking about Y/N so much already, or because Max didn’t usually bring her up, but somewhere inside him there was a nagging feeling that he was missing something here. Max’s question was natural in the context of the conversation… but the very conversation felt out of context. Max knew very well what he meant to Sam, and even if a part of him thought that Sam was sacrificing for his sake- Sam fervently wished that wasn’t the case- the Max he knew would never bring it up this conversationally.

So he answered with complete conviction. “No. Not even for Y/N.”

“And you get this through your head, Max,” he continued, voice pained despite his efforts. “You and I are already a complete family. I love you with everything that I have. So long as we are together, you’ll make do with just me, won’t you?”

“Mhmm.”

Sam ruffled Max’s hair, and kissed his brow, rankled by his words. Regardless of what Sam had just said, wouldn’t it be nice for Max to have a mom? Even in his imagination the face was perfectly clear, the vision already there. He’d be lying to himself if he said that over the years he hadn’t thought about her holding Max, laughing with him. There was only ever one face that completed Sam’s daydream- Y/N’s. But Sam also knew just how impossible it was. Y/N wouldn’t even think of the aftermath of an accident, imagining her as a motherly figure was simply cruel. So much that the whiplash of it hit Sam’s conscience. It was why he hadn’t mentioned Max to her.

Trying to reign in his thoughts he absentmindedly took a bite of the cookie in his hand, chewing as he tried to dislodge the idea of Max and Y/N. Impossible… too painful, his mind screamed.

Abruptly, he stopped.

“Hey, Max? Sam asked slowly, “Where did you get these cookies?”

“Umm, those girl scouts came over this afternoon,” he said, not meeting Sam’s gaze. “I asked Alex to buy. Is that okay?”

“You sure these are girl scout cookies?”

“Yep.”

Eating the rest of the cookie in one bite, Sam jumped down from the counter and turned to his boy. “Promise me. Promise me you won’t think like that again,” Sam pleaded. “That you’re keeping me from anything. You saved me, kiddo. I would have been barely worth anything without you.”

“Same,” Max quipped. And despite the absolute horror of the situation, and how true both of their words were, Sam found himself snorting.

“Enough with the black comedy,” he ordered, “Lets go brush your teeth.”

“Yessum.”

Max leapt into Sam’s arms, and he carried his boy out of the kitchen. Sam eyed the jar of cookies one last time before switching off the lights.

Friday, first day of Induction fair. It was going to be one long day tomorrow.

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

“Alright, everybody clear on what they’re supposed to be doing tomorrow?”

“It’s 11:30 in the night, Y/N,” Seth complained, “We aren’t going to be any more ready.”

“I’m sorry,” you waved apologetically. “You guys should go home, I’ll wrap up the rest. I’m just nervous.”

“It’ll be okay,” Madison came to your side, putting her arm around your shoulders. “Seth’s just kidding. Aren’t you?” She turned on the poor guy who shook his head and you snickered.

“Okay, pack up y’all!” You called out to the people in the background busy with the last checks on the sound system. “We’re going to have a blast tomorrow.”

Cheers went up around you. One by one everyone clapped you on your back, offered smiles and went their way; only Madison, Brad and Rebecca remained.

“Who are you taking with you to the Saturday night dance?” Brad asked.

Well crap! “A friend of mine,” you answered. You’d have to ask one of the guys if they were free Saturday evening.

“Hmm… Does this friend happen to go to Law school?”

“Nope!”

“We’ll at least have time for one dance,” Brad insisted, leaning next to you as you packed your bag. “Your friend won’t mind, will he?”

“Brad,” you sighed. “I’m clearly not your type.”

He put his hands up. “Hey, I’m not implying anything here, but if that’s what you got out of it…”

You ignored him, walking back towards Maddie. He kept up with you easily. “What about the dance? One dance is well deserved.”

“Okay, fine!” Better to just agree and get it done with. Brad left with a superior smirk and you wondered what was the deal with him.

“Brad’s a great guy,” Rebecca said. “I don’t know what kind of Prince Charming you’re waiting for that you keep turning him down at every opportunity.”

“I’m not waiting for anyone.” It was true. You had found someone who could put Prince Charming to shame and then you had lost him. Now, the most you could hope for was his friendship. The thinly veiled bitterness and longing in Rebecca’s voice when she spoke of Brad led you to believe that her dislike for you wasn’t reasonless after all.

At the quad, you stopped, letting the girls know that you’d be heading towards the library, to relieve Molly from her shift early. It was supposed to be your shift anyway, Molly was doing you a favor by subbing.

“I’ll come with you,” Madison quipped. She waved a goodbye to Rebecca and the two of you set towards the library, your footsteps echoing in the night.

Once Molly had left, Madison logged into one of the records PC’s and started working on the case studies for professor Whitman. Meanwhile, you logged into your mail to print out the schedules and itineraries for the speakers tomorrow.

Just as you were printing out the last set, your email pinged, alerting you to an email from Sam. It was ridiculous that your heart should leap out of your chest, especially when it was merely a reply to your assignment. It was past one, and Sam was still up checking coursework.

Oh, how you wanted to reply back, ask him why he was up this late. But this was an official email ID. It would be wrong to get personal here. Unreasonable as it was, you were miffed that you didn’t have Sam’s phone number. Friends should be able to call each other, right? You could always find it out from the directory, however, you were stubborn about getting it from him.

“Hey, I just heard back from Professor Winchester,” Madison whispered, even though there wasn’t anyone else in the library. “I scored a 21.5!”

“That’s great!” You smiled.

“What about you? Did you hear from him yet?”

“Just. Scored a 23.”

Madison scrunched her nose, “I bet that’s the highest.” She sounded rueful, but you knew she didn’t mean any ill. “You mind if I take a look at your paper?”

“Course not.”

Madison read through your document carefully. “I can see why he rated you this high. This is great work, Y/N! I wonder…”

“What?”

She looked bemused. “In my email, he’s specifically pointed out all the good things and complemented me for my good work. In your reply he’s only pointed out the one flaw that cost you the two marks. He’s not said one good word about the rest.”

Maybe he thought you would understand, or maybe he was just too tired. If not commenting on your essay earned him ten extra minutes of rest, you were very glad that he hadn't.

You shrugged at Madison. “Maybe he forgot.”

“That’s not done,” she frowned. “You should ask him tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

A glazed look came over Madison’s face. “Remember the first time we were alone here?”

“We’d been trying to research for Mr. Winchester’s first assignment,” you smiled.

“And ended up stalking him instead,” Madison winked. “After I went home that day, I read up more about that sensationalised case of his. Really gruesome, the whole deal. Never pinned him for the type of lawyer to take up a criminal law case, let alone homicides.”

“What’s there to fight for in a criminal homicide?” You wondered. “Isn’t that DA’s job?”

You remembered a little from what you had read with Madison that day, over a month ago. Twin homicides followed by a legal battle over property inheritance. The deceased’s brother vs. the deceased son. There were also connected matters of custodial rights, abuse charges and adoption.

“It was really scandalous, Y/N,” Madison said. “You wouldn’t know because you didn’t live in California. It was all over the papers and news in LA. Ralph Simmons was this bigshot producer, and his on and off girlfriend- both of them shot by some drug pimp. A whole big racket came out with it. I think Mr. Winchester moved out of LA to avoid the fanfare that followed him everywhere afterwards.”

“When was this?”

“Ummm… about two and half years ago,” Madison said.

So before he started teaching at Stanford, and before his job at Acton Griswold.

“Why would he leave a successful firm in LA and move base to SF?” You asked out loud. “That too after a successful stint? It doesn’t make sense.”

To your surprise, Madison laughed. “Oh, firms must be dying to have him. Even my dad offered. Apart from offering a junior partnership, Acton Gris must have paid him a ton of money. Besides, his working hours are more like a consultants, so he can manage classes. That’s a lot of relaxations- only someone with that sort of fanfare would have been able to negotiate a deal.”

It wasn’t the money. That much you knew. Something else had made Sam uproot his life in LA and move here.

“Uhg! I really want to work with him, Y/N,” Madison let out. “I really want the summer internship at Acton Gris.” Seeing your expression, she quickly added, “It’s not why you think. I mean sure he’s super hot and all that, but I’ve looked up to him for his ethics, and the way he thinks. He’s just such a great lawyer.”

“Sure is.”

“I know what you’re thinking,” She said in a defeated voice. “Rich girl with a firm to her name, who could get in Acton Gris by recommendation as a favor. What’s the big deal, right?”

“Maddie, I wasn’t thinking that-”

“It’s alright if you do. Everyone does.”

You placed your hand on top of hers. “I don’t care what everyone else thinks. I care about you. The Madison I know is intelligent and hardworking, who deserves whatever she sets her heart to. Law is a lucrative practice. As long as you aren’t screwing over someone else, you should use whatever means you can.”

Madison’s eyes welled up. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Y/N. Sometimes… sometimes I wonder if I even have any real friends who care about me. Becca… Lace, Mer… they all feel like friendships of convenience than actual substance. You’re the only one I’m sure will be happy to see me succeed in life.”

Your heart reached out for Madison. She was a good person who didn’t deserve to feel this way. Slowly you reached out and put your arms around her. “Maddie,” You breathed in her hair, not knowing what else to say. You had always known she was hurting inside without her having told you. Her relations seemed frivolous to you, but by the looks of it, her family life wasn’t much good either. Deep down she was convinced that her parents, her brothers didn’t love her. What must it be like to live that way?

You’d never been rich in your life except for those short married months, but not for a minute had you questioned the love of any person you called family. How was one supposed to live on without having the assurance of being absolutely loved?

The way you’ve lived for the past six and a half years, a small voice whispered in your brain. You quelled it immediately.

“Madison,” you said firmly this time. “I love you. And I’ll always support you. To hell with anyone who thinks otherwise.”

She hugged you closer, and you felt her broken breaths against your body. She didn’t want you to see her cry, so you held on till all her tears had dried.

********

You probably looked exactly how you felt- sleepless and exhausted. The first half of day one had gone smoothly with all introductions in place. Over two hundred and fifty alumni had RSVP’d for the event and forty two had agreed to speak or participate in panel discussions. You had been told this was one of the biggest turnouts ever. Instead of feeling like you had succeeded, you just felt more scared. Organised activity wasn’t your cup of tea. Right about then you were questioning how you even ended up heading this committee.

Everyone seemed to be asking for you, everyone had some or the other work with you and the tasks were never ending. The first time that you got a minute to sit was towards the end of lunch break. You dropped into the seat at the far end of the auditorium, head in your hands.

“Here!”

You turned your face to see Sam sitting next to you with a bottle of water in his hand. Unlike his usual self, he was dressed in a light knit grey sweater and jeans today. His glasses hung from the V-shaped neckline, revealing just enough for you to see the glint of his chain. You were so exhausted, all you wanted to do was fall against his shoulder and close your eyes for just two seconds. Sighing, you took the bottle from him and drank to your heart’s content.

“Maybe doing the late night shift at the library wasn’t the best idea, huh?”

You frowned. “How do you know?”

“The register,” He said. “I went to the library in the morning to return my book.”

“I thought you were avoiding the library like the plague.” The words slipped out before you could think them through. You hoped the bitter edge in them wasn’t very obvious.

“I would come if I could, you know?”

“What’s stopping you?” You asked, belligerent, “Too scared to go back home in the dark?”

You knew it was unfair to put him in a spot like this. He had a home, his own bed. Why would he spend his nights at the library just because you worked there? Just because he hadn’t talked to you all that much lately, or given you his phone number, didn’t mean you had the right to be irritated at him.

“Y/N-” he sighed, and before he could add on to that, he was interrupted.

“There you are!”

Chase Lincoln put a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

You straightened your expression under the pretense of drinking more water, and handed the bottle back to Sam.

“Thank you, Mr. Winchester,” you said, standing up, “I must hurry back now. If you’ll excuse me.”

Sam stood up with you. The errant thought of resting against his shoulder made an appearance but you shoved it away violently.

“Wait,” Sam put his hand out to block you. You looked around you to see if anyone else had noticed. No one but Chase.

“Let me introduce the two of you,” he said.

“Wait, I know you,” Chase interjected. “You work with Molly, right? And you’re heading the organising committee.”

“Chase,” Sam said with gravity, making his friend focus, the green eyes sharpened on you.

Exhaling slowly, Sam turned to you. “This is Chase Lincoln. He works with me at Acton Griswold.” You heard the unsaid words- ‘He’s the one I was talking with that day in the coffee shop; my friend.”

“Chase.” Sam’s voice was heavy, the way Atlas’s might have sounded after a millennia of holding up the earth. There was defeat in it. “This- this is Y/N.”

Each time Sam uttered your name, a warmth settled in your chest. You suspected it was just your eternally besotted mind making up the idea that his voice grew softer when he said it. Apparently, that wasn’t the case, for Chase’s eyes narrowed as he took in the look on Sam’s face, then went wide in a split second. His head rapidly moved from you to Sam in a matter of moments, before his jaw dropped.

“S-... Your… “ Speech seemed to have temporarily evaded Chase.

“No diamonds,” Sam murmured.

“Y/N!” Someone shouted for you from two rows down. “There’s a problem with the mic. You need to check it out.”

“Ex- Excuse me,” you mumbled, hurrying away from Chase’s astounded stare. Maybe he knew it all, that didn’t particularly surprise you. What did surprise you was how Sam had decidedly made the introduction- as if Chase had to know.

As it turned out, the mic had only been disconnected. It was working absolutely fine. You were still grateful to have been removed from Chase’s presence, glad that you didn’t have to wait around to witness his judgement.

The rest of the day flew by faster than you could have guessed. Most of the heavy panel discussions were scheduled for the first day itself. You were blown away by the immense knowledge and expertise of those people, which was a good thing because you desperately needed a distraction.

You only saw Sam afterwards, once everything was over and the alumni were all catching up with each other, like old friends, reminiscing about the time they had spent together. Even though it was a lot of people there, your eyes kept going to Sam in his thin sweater, in a deep conversation with an aged man, who was laughing at something Sam had said.

“One down, two more days to go,” mumbled Madison. She was leaning against your back. “Can we just sleep here?”

“I told you to come home with me last night,” Rebecca stated, appearing out of nowhere. This time she had Lacey and Meredith with her. “Why did you have to stay up at the library?”

Usually Madison would’ve at least tried to answer. Today, her forehead and nose just dug deeper into your back. You pursed your lips so the smile wouldn’t spill over. She was taking a stand for how she deserved to be treated.

“Well, shit!” Lacey said. “Looks like I wasn’t wrong after all.”

Rebecca groaned. “Ugh she looks like an uptight bimbo.”

You didn’t pay attention to their conversation till Meredith said, “She’s definitely into professor Hotchester.”

Your head snapped up in Sam’s direction, but he was out of the straight line of your vision. Obscuring him was a girl, dressed in a pretty blue chiffon top and tight fitting pencil skirt. Her five inches long pumps caught the light of the setting sun and gleamed. She was tall and beautiful, statuesque in the way a swimsuit model is, her blonde hair fell to the middle of her back in perfect curls.

As you watched, she threw her hands around Sam’s neck and hugged him tightly. He willingly embraced her, too. You chanced a glance of the smile on his face as she disentangled and laughed, touching Sam’s chest lightly with her hand.

“Yeah, there’s something there,” Lacey whistled.

“Wonder who she is,” Madison whispered, so only you could hear.

You didn’t need to wonder who it was, you already knew. Jessica Moore. Sam’s Ex-girlfriend.

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

A/N 2: I kinda really like the next chapter. I think it speaks more about about the sort of writer and person that I am than most things I’ve written yet. Can’t wait to share it with y’all.

So any predictions? ;)

Thank you for all the reblogs and comments! Not gonna lie, life’s been kicking my butt a lot lately. Believe it or not, all of your love really helps <3

If you want be tagged, you can send me an ask or add yourself to the taglist here.

Or here’s my side blog @percywinchester27-writes. You can give that blog a follow and turn the notifications on to know about updates.

ALLU taglist:

@gabavaldman @im-a-light-child @cosicas-cuquis @bllyjianne @hoboal87 @i-is-for-inspiring @daughterleftbehind @wackiekebab @mylovelydame21 @dancing-the-hellfire-rumba @superbadassnatural @babypink224221 @badlittlehabit99 @anathewierdo @sams-bubblegum-bitch @fandomoverdose666 @superstarmarvel @atc74 @aiofheavenandhell @rebel-author-chick @death-unbecomes-you @cookiechipdough @kbl1313 @linki-locks11 @miss-nerd95 @sunflowers-n-rocknroll @stoneyggirl @like-a-bag-of-potatoes @niyahgray @traceyaudette @blueaura @awfulmoons @waterlily502 @mrsbatesmotel53

#sam winchester x reader #sam winchester fanfiction #sam winchester reader insert #lawyer!Sam #Professor!Sam #professor!Sam x reader #lawyer!Sam x reader #lawyer au #professor!au #sam winchester #sam x y/n #sam x reader #sam fluff #spn fanfiction #anawritesspn #anawrites #Ana writes ALLU #allu 22 #q

95 notes · View notes

popculturebuffet · 3 years

Text

Ducktales Della Arc Reviews: The Great Dime Chase!

Welcome back all you happy people, to my look at the series first arc! I covered the pilot last week and this week i’m going full speed ahead with two more review for this arc, one more for the Lena arc all leading up to BOTH finsihing up next week for DUCK WEEK, my huge celebration of the final episode of Ducktales 2017. So with all that in mind when we last left off the kids moved in, webby gained friends, Donald and Scrooge made the first steps to patching up.. and Dewey found out his mom was also invovled with their adventures setting this arc off.

This is also where the airing order reshuffling started as this episode was pushed up by two replacing impossible summit as the third episode... and where said order reshuffling for both this arc and the Lena arc really bit Disney in the ass by giving fans the wrong idea about the series pacing. See the original idea was to have a few episodes as a buffer, since this arc itself is only about 5 episodes long, so the pacing would be more spread out and fans while likely getting impatient for the della mystery to be resolved, would expect it to take about that long after a while. The same was clearly planned for the Lena arc.

The problem is Disney didn’t give one shit about proper airing order, story pacing or any of that at the time despite their most popular show at said time having the same pacing structure and having been aired in the right order. So as a result and as most of you already know, season 1′s structure was a mess: The globetrotting adventure episodes were off ballance with ones set in Duckburg itself, Scrooge sometimes felt like a supporitng character in the first half due to his two focus episodes being crunched to the back for holidays... it was bad. And it was worst here as by having both the Della and Lena arcs progress pretty quickly in the first 6.. it was thus jarring and grating that there was zero progress for either in the rest of the first half, and they had to move the spear of selene up a few episodes when they came back just to make up for it.. which still messed with pacing as that arc wouldn’t be picked up until the final three episodes solving nothing. This made fans blame the creators for sloppy pacing and for taking too long to get to the Della thing when they’d done nothing wrong and HAD staggered it out. It wasn’t till Frank later revealed the order was a bit bungled we got the message and until a few months into the series being on Disney Plus we got a proper order for the series. And again, the arc has pacing issues we’ll get to without this.. but they were made so much work by Disney blatantly disrespecting and ingoring their creative team.

I will give credit where it’s due though: Disney learned from it. While Season 2 had a few episodes shuffled around, this time it was due to trying out that binge airing strategy they were doing to get shows on Disney Plus faster, airing DuckBombs (Woo-Ooo!) frequently, so they wanted the airing to flow properly with that without screwing up the flow fo the season more than they absolutely had to. They were being careful and delberate this time not to make the same mistake and with season 3, they simply havent’ shuffled the airing order at all> The only two episodes aired out of order were holiday episodes purposefully made to air at the right time and detached from the season as a whole. This stretches to other shows too: Amphibia is two seasons in and Owl House got through it’s whole season with at worst minimal changes to the airing lineup and the arcs all being properly spaced and aired as intended. I give Disney a lot of shit, rightfully so, but I will give them all the credit when they learn from their mistakes and they REALLY did here, learning to trust their creators to know when to actually make an episode and simply having them set aside holiday episodes if they want one.

Otherwise not a lot of lead in for this one: It introduces a bunch of the supporting cast, reintroduces the board in full, and in general is a pretty good episode. Find out why under the cut.

We open with the introduction of the shows go to Show Within a Show Ottoman Empire. And what I’d forgotten was Louie wasn’t always into it but there’s a subtle arc to it: he gets into it, slowly obesses over it, by the end of the season he’s got his brothers into it, it’s not a huge thing but it’s a little detail I can’t help but enjoy a hell of a lot. But him not liking it is part of a larger problem Scrooge has picked up on: Louie’s laziness has reached godlike new levels: he’s opened about 7 cans of PEP! and only taken a sip from each, won’t change the channel because the remote, which is right next to him and would only take him hopping slightly to the left to get to it or incnching over a bit is “too far”. Scrooge finally blows up at the sight when Louie tosses his phone away for not being charged and assumes he can get another one because “We’re rich”. Scrooge corrects him “I”m rich!” and then drags him off by the hoodie with him to the office so he’ll learn the value of a hard day’s work. And really.. the scene is a good showcase for Scrooge: Louie is acting like the embodiment of all deadbeats and Scrooge is still VERY patient with the boy until it’s very clear he needs a wakeup call. Given Scrooge has a temper on the best of occasions it really shows he’s trying with the boys, and only really snapped when it was clear Louie NEEDED someone to snap at him and snap him out of his bullshit.

Meanwhile Dewey sneaks into Webby’s room to read her secret file on the McDuck family only to LITERALLY be caught red handed as she put glitter on her outside.. because it looks pretty. And as a security measure. Given she lives with a trained spy who likely has riffled through her stuff at least once, or would at least solely try to check her files just to make sure their secure, and lives in a place that gets broken into or nearly blown up, both by Glomgold, on a regular basis, i’d expect no less. But she also points out the obvious once he explains he’s looking for information on his family: He could’ve just asked. As we saw back in Woo-ooo! like yours truly webby will gladly go on about things she’s obsessed about at the drop of a hat and has likely been dying for someone to share her vast conspiracy board with. As for why he didn’t do the obvious, keep in mind he doesn’t know Webby well this point, so he dosen’t know what questions he asked might set her off and also doesn’t know WHY his uncles don’t talk about her, so he’s being cautious and it’s a nice foreshadowing for his secret keeping throughout the arc.. and how it’s an inherently dumb and selfish idea that only slows down his investigation.

So naturally given the sequel hook at the end of the pilot, he asks about Della. And after drawing the curtains and making sure Scrooge isn’t around to listen Webby asks what HE knows. Naturally given this is a whole story arc he only knows what she looks like from an old photo of her dunking donald’s head in his birthday cake, and Webby.. knows even less. No one talks about Della and the last time anyone did, a mailmain brought some junk mail with her name on it, Scrooge bought out the post office and they never saw that mail man again. Webby naturally thinks Scrooge murdered him... and while I don’t think he went THAT far, I pity that poor shcmoe and whatever ice floe he’s been banished to. And not a small villiage in the arctic mind you like an actual ice floe scrooge left him on with a lifetimes suply of beans.

This also admittedly answers a question i’ve been griping about for some time that turns out had a logical answer: I thought he’d somehow wiped her out from public record and the internet and then magically put her back. I was wrong and simply hadn’t rewatched this episode and connected the dots. He likely didn’t do.. any of that, but the triplets likely never thought to internet search her with Donald because as far as they knew Donald was an average person, and thus their mom would be too and looking her up wouldn’t tell her anything about them. It still leaves the plot hole of how they knew about Scrooge and not the Della search, I have no answer for that one, but hey sometimes these things happen and it’s a good enough show I can ignore it. Point is they had no reason to research her before then and Donald likely went out of his way to hide anything about her when they visited places. Likewise Scrooge was likely so miserable and consumed with his search, and once that was called off his failure, he likely pulled every archive and artifact for his own personal collection to pour over them in sadness and loss and simply put most of it back into the public once the boys helped him heal by the end of the season and the truth was out there. Likewise while the internet info was likely there after this episode too Dewey, as foolish as he can be, likely wasn’t stupid enough to look up his mom’s name on his uncle’s wifi. While Scrooge likely isn’t tech savy, given how paranoid he is and how much of a sore spot this is, it’s not a stretch to have him ask gyro to monitor his wifi for certain key words. So yeah i’ll admit when I was wrong and there was a logical explanation, if still with some holes, all along.

Anyways Webby has one place she hasnt’ been able to get into that might have the answers: Scrooge’s Personal Archives. And as it turns out, both parties are heading to the bin: Scrooge since, much like the comics, that’s where his office is, and Webby and Dewey for the same reason The bin being Scrooge’s buisness center, where his office is where he has meetings where a lot of his emoployees are is very accurate to the comics, as while the layout was never entirely consient apart from “Scrooge’s office is the only way in and out of the bin itself” and said office having a very consistent and iconic look that the series didn’t change. But as we’ll see they added two extra parts to it that in the comics scrooge would Balk at the expense of but this scrooge, whiel still probably not happy about the extra money, knows are vitally necessary.

Speaking of which the plot splits in two pretty cleanly once we actually get to the bin: Scrooge has no real issue with the kids going to the archives and no glimmer of their real intention, so the plots don't’ meet up again outside of when Louie’s literally crashes into Dewey and Webby’s for a second. There’s some thematic connections, cutaways and an intercut montage, but nothing outside of that. So as is tradition for me i’m covering them seperatly and since it’s both the reason why i’m covering this episode and our B-Plot, let’s start with the archives Webby and Dewey in The Mad Archivist of Scrooge McDuck!

Webby and Dewey head to the archive where we meet Quackfaster. In the comics she’s scrooges long suffering secretary, emphasis on suffering. He barely pays her, takes expenses out of her paycheck and she generally seems once minute away from a nervous breakdown at any given time. What i’m saying is the character and the “gag” have not aged well in any way shape or form so instead here she was revamped. Frank and Matt leaned on Scrooge’s love for adventure more than his greed at first, and had his thrill-seeking be his vice more. It does make sense as greed isn’t nearly as good as it was to people in the 40′s and especially the 80′s, but they eventually clearly realized they made it a bit too subtle, as it’s still an iconic part of the character and played it up a bit more in seasons 2 and 3, to the point two of his worst moments in backstory, both revealed in season 3, come from his greed. They found a nice ballance and I do think having his adventuring also be a vice was a nice change of pace. As such, they came up with the idea that he’d hire people who like him are exceptionally talented but also a bit reckless and unhinged. The kind of people most employers would unfairly shut the door on but Scrooge sees their true talent and worth and treats them with the respect they deserve. People who in most other works would be super villains, but here are kept from that by being given honest jobs for their talents and a boss who has no intention of ripping them off or undermining them. IT’s a great concept and I wish we’d saw more than two people hired with that in mind, but the two we got are great.

So with all this Quackfaster was reinvented with this idea in mind to someone entirely different but infinitely more entertaining: She’s now a ham of the highest order, not literally, and slightly unballanced. She also refuses to help Dewey until he completes some challenges for her, sorting out a code in the dewey decimel system

And in sorting the books to get to know the archives. Webby is all for it naturally as this is a dream for her: she’s likely tried to access the place for years and couldn’t as a non-relative, something Scrooge hopefully relaxes in the future, so a giant pile of books about adventuring, Scrooge (including an apparently 7 volumes on his favorite smells one of which Webby gives a happy “I knew it” upon finding out it was fresh baked cookies), and places he’s been, including a sly nod to Plain Awful. This is a hallmark of the show making smaller nods to the past incarnations without going into them or doing those adventures again and while I was at first disappointed those tales already happened in some form, I now get they simply wanted to tell NEW ONES, and were a big as fan of the olds ones as most of you reading this and myself. Though between you and me I was never a big fan of the square eggs story. Good idea just a weird and not all that funny execution.

Dewey however has the patience of a coked up ferret who also took some shrooms and being Dewey tries simply demanding she tell him. Naturally yelling at the weird hammy lady intrusted to guard the private library of someone whose a certified badass.. is not a smart or correct move and Quackfaster decides if they can’t respect the archives they’ll become PART OF THE ARCHIVES and pulls out a crescent shaped sword to apparently murder them.

So a chase ensues with the two trying to simply throw books at her, escape her and only narrowly doing so for a minute when Louie pops up being chased by a giant robot made by a smaller robot using a giant change machine. I love this show.

Eventually their backed into a corner while Dewey defiantly demands info on his mom. And his impatience and anger is understandable: this is the first time in his ten or so year old life he’s had ANY chance of learning anything on her.. and he’s having to do various fetch quests. While he could use some tact, may not get him stabbed so much, his viewpoint is understandable.

Thankfully it turns out Quackfaster was just doing a Mr.Miaygi and secretly testing them, having chased them to the book Dewey wanted, and said code she had them find earlier is the login for the vault. Granted it also has them put away some books (”How much of this is us just doing your job for you?” “About fiffttty perceeennnt”), but she works for scrooge. While he thankfully pays her a living wage here he still can’t be paying her much. Still they find their way to a secret vault and Dewey gets stabbed a bit to verify he is a mcduck.. and let into Scrooge’s secret room, full of treasures Della likely gathered. As I said, he DID put them aside somewhere, and likely just wanted them to cry over and donald didn’t fight it since the last thing he wanted was the boys learning their legacy. D

The telling part here though, despite accusations later.. is that Dewey’s first instinct upon finding this is to tell his brothers. Keep in mind Dewey’s all consuming need for attention and validiation, all of which he could possibly get and only have to share with Webby. He has every selfish reason for not telling them.. but he wants to. He knows they deserve to learn to. The only wrinkle is webby finding a note saying “Scrooge i’m taking the spear of selene, i’m sorry”. He decides to hide it for their sake right then and there. But while part of this as we’ll get into later in the week is him simply being afraid of what he’ll find personally.. it’s fair to NOT want to tell them. To try and protect them from the horrible truth whatever it may be. He has no way of knowing the betryal was nonexistant here and neither did we. It’s not the right course of action, awful truth or no they deserved to know too and both would say as much later, she’s their mom: good person or bad they know.. but like his uncles he’s not hiding this out of malice but because the truth might genuinely hurt them.. and as we’ll learn.. it will.. oh boy will it ever. But more on that next week and more on the arc itself later this week. What about the rest of the episode?

Louie in The Great Dime Chase! and Scrooge in The Boardroom Full of Heartless Assholes!

Winding back a few hours, Scrooge drags Louie up to his office, where the boy is genuinely impressed.. before naturally trying to take a swim in the money while Scrooge tries to tell him about his number one dime. Scrooge stops him before head injury occurs explaining that yes, even the money thing requires proper training: Louie would’ve just cracked his skull open and this would’ve either gotten really dark really fast or turned into a horrifying and hilarious child death version of weekend at bernies. It’s what Louie would’ve wanted. Scrooge can do it because he’s built up the muscle and resistance over time, strong enough and skilled enough to travel through the solid metal and dive into it. It’s a nice nod to life and times: While Scrooge didn’t necesarily train to swim in money, he bathed in it at first and when he needed to during an adventure discovered he could swim through it going from one barrel of his cash to another. So tweaking that slightly to an earned skill, and one Louie will have leanred by the end of the season, was a billiant move..and a way of silencing all those head injury jokes.

But their soon interrupted by the board, who Scrooge dosen’t recall having a meeting with and likely pull this kind of shit all the time when they can get Scrooge. It makes even more sense after the Della reveal, as he likely has to be forced into dealing with the men who, while as far as he knew were trying to help him, still pulled him away from Della.. and in one case, had a shit eating grin about it. Seriously Bradford you smirked evilly about your nemesis not being able to rescue his daughter how do you NOT get that your the bad guy?

The meeting ends up being boring with Louie asleep and Scrooge almost there, as let’s face it most board meetings probably are, until Gyro barges in! It’s our first apperance of 2017 Gyro and a lot of people were upset by how much more of an ass he was. Me, while I like the kind and gentle original, like the more mad sciency version here and feel Jim Rash did a good job with it, and I only really hate it when he’s around Fenton, and the show eventually addressed how fucked up that was in Season 3 after downplaying it in Season 2 by having them barely interact and have Gyro genuienly show some pride. Otherwise I like my insane prideful version even if I get why some don’t like it as it is nothing like the comics, but as we see with Donald not being a lot like the comics version isn’t a bad thing.

IT’s one hell of a character establishing moment, as he barges in, is rude to everyone and has to read cue cards to properly intro his latest invention Little Bulb, Gyro’s most iconic invention whose made here to help people not do work. The Board is skeptical though as most of Gyro’s inventions have turned evil, a nice nod to the fact that most of Gyro’s robots in the original series, who are in fact on a list of previous inventions.. turned evil and tried to kill people. IT also shows his warmer side as he insists they aren’t evil just misunderstood, or at least half were anyway, and tries to cover for Little Bulb shaking his fist at them and doing a throat slitting gesture... which while Bradford plays dumb about what that means.. he’s worked in organized Villainy for at least 55 years. He knows what that gesture means. It’s Heron’s favorite. And even if he didn’t he’s also worked with Scrooge for around 30. It’s also Scrooge’s favorite. So it’s rejected though Scrooge encourages Gyro who vows they’ll understand one day and they’ll all pay. Really should save that for outside.

Scrooge vouches for the board to Louie who questions such a slam dunk, pointing out he trusts their judgment.. mostly because he dosen’t know they’ve been embezzling from him to fund an evil spy orginzation the whole time but still, he usually trusts them. He would’ve found a way to fire them if he didn’t on the Della thing. But sometimes they overstep and they undermine that statment by suggesting cuts to the Bin’s budget, starting with Magical defenses “Do you know how many curses I have on my head?”. And props to the creators as they apparnetly had the whole Bombie idea in mind this far back, and as Bradford later shows towards the end of next season when he lures Louie into cutting it, he KNOWS where that money goes. He just was trying to feign ignorance to get Scrooge killed if he could. Clever bastard.

So Louie goes to get a drink, and naturally scrooge’s drink machine in his office not only charges but requires an extra ten cents. Louie assumes the dime in his office is an emergency Dime only to walk in on Scrooge giving the full story. As you all likely know, it’s his number one dime, with the origin taken straight from life and times: He was a poor shoe shine, and he worked hard to clean off a ditchdigger’s muddy boots, working himself to the bone.. only to get an American dime which inspired him both to work harder and smarter than anyone and to go to America to seek his fourtune. There’s some extra steps in the original material, and another bit that the show would also adapt later that we’ll get to next week, but point is it’s his symbol of all his hard work.. that Louie just sent into the vending machine. So said great chase insures as Louie follows the dime, as it’s emptied from the vending machine.. by a gull janitor we only see this season. And he’s a really likeable guy I wish we’d learned more. He then faces his and Charles Xavier’s greatest enemy THE STAIRS. There’s a runner about Louie having to constnatly run up and down the massive amount of stairs the bin has as someone else takes the elevator and by the climax it’s been taken out entirely. It’s pretty great. So Louie’s seemingly screwed and instead looks up how to pick a lock on YouTube.. no really. That’s what he does. Frank outright mentioned this in an interview, pointing out they wanted the kids to act like a kid would.. and props to him that’s what a kid would do. Hell that’s what I would do if I were locked out of a place and time was of the essence. Either that or look up a step by step instruction on google. He then runs into Gyro though, and gets the idea to use LIttle Bulb, convinces Gyro he has money and would like to invest and just needs to borrow the little guy and Gyro is happy to agree to it.

Naturally though, Louie’s laziness and a volatile machine who only likes one people just like his daddy, do not mix and Louie leaves sorting the coins to it while he watches Ottoman Empire, actually getting really sucked into it. IN fairness he did start with the Glomgold episode. Little Bulb meanwhile shows just how awesome he is by turning himself into a giant coni sorting mech by rewiring and reconfiguring the coin sorter.. and naturally given who made hi going mad with power. So while he did get the dime out.. he’s not horrifyingly obessed with chasing it and the real great dime chase begins.

Back at the meeting Scrooge continues to debate the Buzzards who now want to cut staff, both of whom Scrooge rightfully defends. While Gyro is a bit unhinged, his inventions have likely made the company millions and saved them billions, and while Quackfaster is the same as we just saw, there’s a method to her madness and her laziness. And given Quackfaster works two additional jobs to afford a nice retirement, it’s clear that while he pays them decently he’s likely still not paying them gobs. With the power of hindsight i’ts very clear Bradford just wants to try if he can to eliminate two sources of chaos and backup for Scrooge and when Scrooge sarcastically suggests just getting rid of the bin, Bradford goes with it with a shit eating grin, but it’s very clear by that and Scrooge’s frustration this is a non starter, and Bradford’s likely doing it just because he frankly knows it’ll piss Scrooge off.

So Louie runs for it working harder than he has in his whole life, with Gyro eventually trying to talk little bulb down, to no avail.. though we do get a nice moment of it registering him as father. Awwww. So the chase naturally eventually leads to the bin and Louie stuck in it, slowly swimming across, until Gyro gets to LIl Bulb, and realizes he’s in the wrong time of wattage and has literally gone mad with power and puts him back in his tiny old body fixing the problem. Gyro also crashed in with the bulb mech earlier, and while it disproves Scrooge’s point he’s stable.. he simply rolls with it and points out his staff is dangerously insane, and would likely swear vengeance on the Board if they were fired. And while he dosen’t say this part of it directly given Scrooge treats BOTH Quackfaster and Gyro exceptionally well, he knows they’ll know EXACTLY whose idea it was.. probably even tell them. So the board agrees to keep things as is to not die horribly as supervillains or not they have limits.

So the day is one, Louie finds the dime, replaces it and passes out with Scrooge none the wiser. it also turns out the Dime isn’t even the real deal, to Louie’s frustration. But Scrooge is proud he clearly worked hard, and gives him the fake dime as his own number one dime, a nice setup for their bond and a nice showing that Louie really has the potential to be as rich as his uncle one day, and it’s clear by this setup there was a lot of potential here for an arc.. which is why we got one. More on that some other time. Louie accidently spends it while Gyro ends realizing if he put himself int he robot it wouldn’t go mad with power.. and thus Project Blatherskite is born. And we all know where this is going.

Final Thoughts: All in all a decent episode. It has great pacing, some excellent world building, and some really good gags. While the series would do better episodes as it went, for an early episode helping set things up including Louie’s charcter arc, Gyro, Gizmoduck and the board as proper characters, it’s still very good and one of the series early standouts.

Next Time on Della: Donald is forced to confront his adventuring past when he runs into his old sorta friend THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES, Scrooge is forced into games of the gods by their resident Douchebag Zeus, and Dewey is forced to confront his own fear of whatever it is his mom did. Confront this review later this week.

Next Time on This Blog: It’s Lena’s Dark Night of the Soul as she and Webby head into “The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!”

If you liked this review share it, feel free to commission your own and feel free to join my patreon at patreon.com/popculturebuffet. Even a buck a month helps, and helps me reach my stretch goals, the current one being just 5 dollars away, and netting you reviews of the super Ducktales arc of Ducktales and a Darkwing Duck Review every month. See you at the next rainbow.

#ducktales #the great dime chase #louie duck #gyro gearloose #emily quackfaster #scrooge mcduck #dewey duck #webby vanderquack #bradford buzzard #F.o.w.l.#reviews #animation #disney channel #launchpad mcquack #little bulb

18 notes · View notes

theladyofdeath · 4 years

Text

The Arrival {part II}

The Arrival {Modern AU ACOTAR 2nd gen PART I}

So many of you have asked, and part two has finally arrived! Make sure to read part I before diving into this bucket of fluff.

Written, of course, alongside @throne-of-ashes-and-beauty

Enjoy. :)

Rhysand cracked his eyes open and saw the sun peeking through the blinds. He knew it couldn’t be later than 7:00, but having to be at work at 7:30 every morning had him awake with the sun almost every day. He decided he deserved just a bit more sleep and rolled over.

He found Lily asleep in Feyre’s arms, her precious hand pressed to his wife’s cheek as it always was in sleep.

He laughed, quietly, kissing them both on the forehead before quietly slipping out of bed and into the hallway.

The scent of bacon was already filling the house.

He wasn’t too surprised to find Cassian and Azriel already in the kitchen.

Both stood there in nothing but sweatpants and Rhys looked down at himself and laughed. He was clothed identically. Cass raised his mug of coffee in greeting.

“Where’s mine?” Rhys asked, sitting at the bar and letting his head fall into the cool marble.

“Hungover?” Azriel asked, not turning from the stove.

Rhys only lifted his hand in a vulgar gesture. He heard a mug set down in front of him and he reached up and wrapped his hand around it without looking up.

Cass laughed. “Coffee usually only helps if you drink it, Rhysie.”

“I need food first,” he mumbled.

As if on cue, Azriel set a plate piled high with bacon on the island. Rhys’ head snapped up and he grabbed a piece.

Sleepy foot steps had them all turning towards the hall. Lily poked her head around the corner, still clutching her stuffed kitten.

“Good morning, Princess,” Rhys said and she ran over to him, reaching up for him to pull her into his lap. “You’re up early.”

Of his three children, Lillian was the most like her mother, valuing her sleep and never saying no to her afternoon nap. She rubbed her eyes, his violet eyes, and rested her head in the crook of his neck and shoulder. “Hungry, daddy.”

Rhys handed her a piece of bacon and she ate it, not moving from where she was nestled against his chest. After a minute, he heard her breathing even out and knew she was back asleep, especially when her little hand pressed against his neck.

He sighed and softly rocked her in his chair. “So,” he asked, taking a sip of his coffee, careful not to let any drip onto his sleeping daughter. “Try to induce labor again last night?”

Cassian just grinned. “No, that was this morning.” Rhysand only laughed and shook his head. “She’s soaking in the bath right now, she said she might actually join us on the boat later, as long as we promise not to go too fast.”

Azriel sat a plate down with dozens of scrambled eggs. “So she’ll come out while the kids are tubing, but not while we’re wakeboarding? Got it.” He laughed.

“Basically,” Cass chuckled. “She brought her camera, I think she wants some new shots of them all.” He looked at Rhys. “Want to finally teach Bennett how to board? Thorn is doing it completely on his own now.”

Rhys took another drink of coffee. “If he wants, sure. He’s seven now, when did you start teaching Thorn?”

Cass smirked. “Five.”

Azriel laughed lightly. “Luna is dying to try, but the girl can barely walk on flat ground without tripping over her own feet.”

Rhys laughed. “Elain is the most graceful woman on the planet, yet somehow you two ended up with the clumsiest one of all the kids. How?”

Azriel shook his head. “Your guess is as good as mine. We went to the playground with Lucien and his daughter last week and somehow, Luna ended up with a knot on her head from the bar above the slide.” When his brothers said nothing, he added, “The bar is 6 feet above the opening. I have no idea how she managed to get her head that high up.”

They both chuckled and shook their head. “Where’s Elain at? Still asleep?” Rhys asked.

Azriel pointed over his shoulder out the back door. “Morning yoga. Every. Single. Morning.”

Rhys glanced over his shoulder and saw Elain bent over on the mat, yet also reaching for the sky.

Azriel mumbled, taking a drink of his coffee, “If she doesn’t put something else on aside from those tight leggings, we’re trying for baby number 3 again before we go out on the boat.”

Cassian laughed loudly and Lily sat up, looking around, startled. She began to cry.

“No, no, no, Lily Love.” Cass came around the island and took her from her father’s lap. “No tears. Not allowed this weekend.” She stopped crying but sniffled and nodded, rubbing her hands over her eyes. Cass pressed a kiss to her dark head. “Still hungry? Want Uncle Cass to make you a plate?” She nodded and wrapped her little arms around his neck. He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Go sit at the table and I’ll bring it over to you.” He set her down and she made her way over to the table. He looked over at his brothers. “Who’s waking up the rest of the kids?”

They all looked at each other. Azriel asked, “Rock, paper, scissors?”

They nodded.

Azriel lost.

————

“They really are just a bunch of grown ass kids, aren’t they?” Nesta asked, sunglasses on, sitting on the back porch with her sisters and a glass of orange juice after breakfast.

Cassian, Rhysand, and Azriel were playing football with the kids- or, against the kids. And they were not showing the kids any mercy.

As Azriel hurdle jumped over John’s head, Elain sighed. He was giggling and chasing his uncle, but the girls saw how close Az’s bare foot was to John’s head. “This entire vacation is a hospital trip in the making.” Lannan was milk drunk and sound sleep on her chest. She patted his butt with her hand as she slowly rocked.

“Any luck with baby number 3?” Feyre winked, taking a sip of her margarita, even though it was 8:15 in the morning. Elain blushed and looked down at her sleeping baby, opening her mouth to answer.

She was cut off by the roaring of loud music and a green boat sped by the house.

Nesta groaned. “I see the Tool still has his lakehouse.”

“Seriously, what are the odds that you’d marry the guy who’s vacation house is next door to your ex’s?” Elain mused, looking back down at Lannan, making sure the roar of the boat hadn’t woken him.

As one, they all looked over at the house “next door”. It was clear that even though they were all grown, Tamlin still used his lakehouse to throw parties. Beer cans littered his backyard and the house wasn’t kept up well.

“Did you know he’s dating Ianthe?”

Feyre spit her drink out at her sister’s words. “How did you hear that?”

Nesta was smirking. “Cass arrested her for public intoxication last week. He was the one to come bail her out. Said he made a big show of kissing her and calling her baby and his light.”

Elain and Feyre glanced at each other and burst into a fit of laughter.

Lannan woke up and started to cry at the sudden sound.

The game stopped at the sound of that little wail and Azriel was instantly running for the porch.

“What’s wrong, buddy?” He took him, resting him against his bare chest, gently bouncing him.

Elain signed. “You’re sweating all over our infant.”

Cassian grinned from the makeshift field below. “Just be glad we’re not making him join the game.”

Elain threw her hands in the air. “He can’t even crawl! He just learned to roll over!”

Azriel was pressing kisses all over their son’s face and his cries were turning into squeals of delight. He lifted him in the air and his giggles only grew louder.

“Daddy,” Livy cried, running for Rhys. “Do me, do me! I wanna fly too!”

Rhys picked Livy up and tossed her over his bare shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“I wanna get in the boat,” Thorn begged. “Can we, dad? Please?”

Cass raised his eyebrows. He looked around the eyes staring up at him, all various shades of blues and browns and hazel.

“First one to go change and be back here with your life jacket on gets to help me drive the boat.”

They scattered in an instant, Thorn and Bennett shoving each other as they ran into the house.

Rhys stood with his hands on his hips and watched. “You just incited mass chaos in one sentence.”

“Literally his favorite thing to do,” Nesta muttered.

Cassian just grinned in triumph.

“I think I’ll come on the boat,” Nesta said. “Ladies?”

“Where’s the infant life jacket?” Elain asked.

Lannan grabbed Azriel’s bottom lip and tugged as he said, “Down by the dock.”

Elain ran a hand down the back of Lannan’s dark head. “Let go of Daddy, baby.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them.

Feyre and Cassian began howling and Rhys was smirking.

“I hate all of you,” Az muttered, carrying Lannan down the dock to where they’d left the life jackets the night before.

Bennett was the first one out the door and he raced down to the docks, shoving his arms in the holes. “I win, Uncle Cass!”

“Good job, bud! Let me and your dad go get changed. Will you help the little kids when they get down here?”

He nodded and started separating the jackets into sizes. He lifted the biggest one in the air. “Who gets the big one? It’s huge!”

Nesta looked at the maternity life jacket in his hands, then at Feyre and said “I swear, I’ve never hit a kid, but right now, yours is pushing it.”

Feyre just laughed. “He’s not wrong, though.”

Nesta rolled her eyes before slowly rising into standing position and heading down to the dock, snatching the jacket from Bennett.

Bennett just watched his aunt climb into the boat with wide eyes. She took her spot in the seat behind Cassian’s captains chair and put her sunglasses on.

Lily and Livy bounded out of the house hand in hand. They wore matching swimsuits.

Nesta called, “I can’t believe you still make them match. Didn’t they outgrow that at, like, three-years-old?”

Rhys follows behind, holding a bunch of towels in his arms and a cooler. “They do it on their own. We’ve let them pick out their own clothes for about two years.”

Feyre said, “Yeah, so…”

When none of the kids were looking she threw a vulgar gesture her sister’s way. Nesta returned it without even looking up.

Azriel laughed, under his breath, as he strapped Lannan in his life jacket. “Our family is crazy. Yes they are. Mhmmm.”

Lannan giggled, kicking his feet wildly.

“Stop with the baby talk, man,” Rhys said, lifting the cooler up into the boat. “You’re gonna knock Elain up again just with that shit.”

Cassian came out of the house, Luna thrown over one should, John over the other. “Alright, mamas. Your turn to change.”

Nesta shook her head. “If I get in that water, I’ll sink.”

“Come on, Nes.” He sat Luna and John down by Rhys and Az who began buckling them into their life jackets. “It’ll be fun.”

Her tone was clipped as she crosses her arms over her belly. “No. Thank. You.”

He raised a brow. “Fine, no induction later.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You’ve never turned me down.”

He shrugged. “Guess you better go get that sexy butt in a suit so I don’t tonight.”

Her brows furrowed. “A baby is going to pop out of me any day now. You did this to me. You’re asking me to get out of this boat, walk all the way back in the house, change my clothes, only to come all the way back here and plant my ass where it’s currently planted?”

He squatted down in front of her, whispered something in her ear, and Nesta blushed. She glared at him, spit out, “I hate you,” and carefully stepped off of the boat, accepting Rhysand’s hand to balance her. She took off the life jacket, dropped it on the bench on the dock and began to waddle into the house. Walking was no longer an option, only waddling.

Feyre and Elain looked at each other with raised brows, looked at Cassian and followed their sister into the house. The rest of the kids flooded out and were pulling their life jackets on, with Rhysand’s help.

Azriel hopped into the boat, grabbed a couple beers out of the cooler, handing one to Cass and asked, “What did you tell her?”

Cassian’s grin was wicked when he said, “Let’s just say that I know what she likes.”

Azriel blinked. “As a couple, the two of you scare me. I just want you to know that.”

“Keep in mind, there are two mini versions of us running around and there will be a third soon.”

Azriel put the beer to his lips. “God help us all.” They fell into a comfortable silence. “You ready to have a daughter?” Azriel asked.

Cassian glanced over at him. He answered quietly, so none of the kids could hear. “Fuck, no. I’m fucking terrified. Having boys is easy. We’re boys, we know what boys like. Girls, especially an Archeron, are an absolute mystery.”

Azriel gazed lovingly at Luna, who was being chased by Lily and Livy. “I love Lannan, I do. I’m glad I have a boy to carry on the family name, but there is no love like a daddy has for his little girl. She’s my princess, I would do anything for her. Anything.”

The finality of his words had Cassian worried for any boys she may bring home in the future.

“Shit,” he mumbled.

Azriel just grinned, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

Nesta had finally made it to the back door and basically tumbled inside.

“She really is a lovely pregnant woman,” Azriel said, under his breath.

Cassian chuckled. “No need to lie.” Azriel laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m thoroughly enjoying the daily sex I get in the afternoons, but I’m honestly fucking her as often as I am so she can have Scarlett and won’t be so miserable.”

“How chivalrous of you,” he laughed.

Cassian grinned and went back to getting ready to go out on the water.

_____

“You’ve gotta stand up, bud,” Rhys called from the boat. Bennett was on his 4th try, but it seemed wakeboarding was not in his future. At least not this summer. “Once Uncle Cass starts moving, you’ve gotta twist and stand.”

“I can’t, daddy,” he cried, clutching the handle in front of him tightly.

Rhys sighed, grabbing his shirt and pulling it over his head, getting ready to jump into the water and pull his oldest back to the boat. But he heard a splash and when he pulled his shirt off, he saw Thorn swimming out to his cousin.

The girls and the rest of the kids were back at the house, taking naps and getting lunch ready. Rhys, Azriel and Cass were still out on the boat, wakeboarding, letting Thorn have a chance and really opening up the throttle and flying across the water. Luna sat on Azriel’s lap and giggled mostly, not ready to learn how to wakeboard, not wanting to be with the big kids.

Thorn bobbed next to Bennett in the water, quietly talking with his cousin, helping explain to him things that when Rhys or Cass explained just frustrated or confused him more.

Thorn swam back to the boat, climbing out and looking back at Bennett. He gave him a thumbs up, which Bennett nervously returned.

“You ready, bud?” Cass called, glancing between the two boys. Bennett nodded, adjust his grip on the rope’s handle.

“You sure?” Rhys asked, looking at a smirking Thorn. He was so much like his father, genuinely wanting to help, but also full of mischief.

Bennett nodded, once again, as he took a deep, unsteady breath.

“He’s got it this time,” Thorn assured them all.

Cassian smiled at his son’s all consuming passion for those he loved as he started moving forward.

Rhysand, on the other hand, couldn’t tell if Thorn was being honest or if he knew that they were about to watch another failure unfold.

Cassian accelerated, gently, careful not to go too fast, and just as he looked over his shoulder to see if Bennett had gotten into standing position, Thorn, Luna, and his brothers were cheering.

He wasn’t up for long. Bennett soon hit a little wave and flew into the water, but when he broke the surface, he had a huge grin on his face and his little arms were tossed into the air in victory as he bobbed in the water.

“You sure you don’t wanna try?” Azriel asked Luna.

She shook her head. “No, I want to go play with Lily and Livy. Girl stuff.”

Azriel chuckled. “I see.”

“Wakeboarding is girly, too,” Cassian assured her as Bennett was lifted by his father into the boat. “Just ask Aunt Nesta. She kicks ass on a wakeboard.”

Luna just sighed and looked up at Azriel. “You really need to tell him to watch his mouth.”

When they made their way back into the house, they found the youngest siblings crashed on various parts of the living room, an episode of Paw Patrol long ignored on the tv.

Feyre was scrolling through her phone and looked up when the door opened. She put her finger to her lips, a look in her eye that dared one of them to wake one of the sleeping children.

“Lunch is after impromptu nap time,” she whispered, gesturing to the sleeping children around her. Lily’s head was lying in her lap and John was curled up against her other side. Olive was face down on the floor and Rhysand chuckled softly, as he picked up his daughter. She didn’t stir and he blew Feyre a kiss before carrying her down the hallway towards the room. Cassian instructed Thorn and Bennett to take turns taking a bath and sent the boys off to their task. He collected John from Feyre’s side and pressed a kiss to the top of his head when his son gripped his t-shirt tightly. “Nesta napping?”

Feyre shook her head. “Soaking in the tub.”

“Oh, is she?” He said, raising an eyebrow. “I think I could use a bath, too.”

He turned and headed back towards the room Rhys had just gone to lay Livy down in.

Azriel brushed Luna’s hair back off her face and she looked up at him. “Why don’t you go take a quick nap, too, bug?” She nodded, looking as if she might yawn at any second and climbed the stairs to the second floor. When she was out of earshot, Azriel rubbed between his eyes with his thumb and forefinger and sighed. “It’s literally like he forgets that my 6-year-old is standing right here,” he whispered.

Feyre just chuckled and shook her head. She cleared her throat. “Speaking of naps, I’m pretty sure your wife is in there pretending to take one.”

She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Azriel move so quickly.

Feyre laughed, picking up Lily and carrying her down the hallway, alongside everyone else. Once she laid her down next to Olive, she meandered into her and Rhysand’s room. He was in the shower, singing softly to himself - extraordinarily off tune.

Feyre laid back on the bed, listening to her husband showering. Aside from his off key singing and the water running, she couldn’t hear another noise in the house. In that silence, she began to think.

When Rhys got out of the shower, he found Feyre laying on the bed, facing the far wall. He assumed she was asleep, so when he rounded the bed and opened the top drawer of the dresser, he was surprised to look over and find her eyes open.

“Hey,” he said, seeing a look in her eyes that often unnerved him. He sat on the edge of the bed, wearing just his towel. “What’s on your mind?”

Feyre didn’t seem to even notice his near nakedness. “I only got to be pregnant twice.”

An eyebrow raised and Rhys quickly did mental math. “We definitely have three kids, babe.”

“No, I know that,” she said, and he could tell she was fighting the urge to roll her eyes, even as she chuckled. “I mean, I was pregnant and then I had Bennett. And then I was pregnant and had Liv and Lily.” She gnawed on her lip. “Nevermind, don’t worry about it. It’s stupid.”

He rested a gentle hand on her cheek and pulled her lip from between her teeth. “Not a single thing you’ve ever said, done, or thought is stupid.”

Feyre smirked and said, “Not even that time I decided to break into the fraternity house to get your things out of Tamlin’s room?”

He recalled the memory and could still hear the sound of the police sirens as they pulled up in front of the house next door. Feyre came out in handcuffs and it was his quick thinking and sharp tongue that convinced the officers to let her go. It was his charm that convinced her to go out on a date with him for saving her ass.

“Okay, maybe that was a little stupid,” he admitted, laughing. “What is it, baby?”

She sighed and said, “I just see Nesta, as miserable as she is right now, and Elain, trying for another baby, and I just… I liked being pregnant.”

Rhys blinked at her, trying to remember how to use words. “Are you- Feyre, please tell me you aren’t saying you want another.”

“Cauldron, no!” She said, a harsh laugh leaving her in a gust. “Of course not, three is more than enough. God, I’m not explaining this well.” She sat up and ran a hand through her hair. “I love the twins, they’re the best surprise I’ve ever been given. But we went from an only child to three. Most women get to be pregnant twice before that happens, but not me.” She ran a hand over her flat stomach. “I just wish I could have gotten to experience it one more time.”

Rhys leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Maybe one day, you can. It’s not like your childbearing years are gone.” He laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead as he pulled her down to the bed again and wrapped her up in his arms. “Maybe one day, when the twins are a little older, when Bennett is old enough to babysit, we can think about this again. I would never say ‘no’ to growing my family with you. But for now, I’m happy.” He kissed her again. “I’ve got the three most beautiful girls in the world and the best mini me I could ever ask for.”

“I love you,” Feyre mused, closing her eyes and leaning up to press a kiss to his lips. Her hand lingered on his chest where it was resting, while his reached down to grip her hip.

He didn’t break the kiss to tell her he loved her, too. Instead, he took the time to show her.

_______

Lunch went by quickly, as soon as all the littles woke from their naps bright eyed and chipper. With all the newfound energy, Cassian, Azriel, and Rhysand decided to come up with a new game. So, after collecting a series of thick, oversized garbage bags and an unopened bottle of dish soap, they were outside making the world’s longest homemade slip-n-slide down the grassy hill.

“Okay, as awesome as this looks, it’s going to turn out really bad, isn’t it?” Elain asked from where she, her sisters, and Lannan sat on the porch.

“For the kids? No,” Nesta said, then pointed to the three overgrown children. “For those three? Oh, yeah.”

“Whose testing this thing out?” Feyre yelled, to the men at the bottom.

Azriel and Rhysand, without hesitation, pointed to Cassian.

Nesta rolled her eyes. “Do you know how much that man weighs? He’ll shoot off the bottom of that thing like a cannonball.”

Feyre chuckled. “I’d pay good money to see that.”

“Be careful, Uncle Cass!” Livy shouted.

The children sat, in their swimsuits, in a line next to the slip-n-slide, buzzing with excitement.

Cassian grinned as he jogged to the top of the hill.

The makeshift slide was nice and soapy once Cassian was at the foot of the porch.

“Don’t die,” Nesta sighed. “I’m not raising three kids alone. You die, I’m instantly remarrying without any regret.”

Cassian looked over his shoulder. “It’s a slip-n-slide, Nes. I’m not jumping out of a plane.”

Nesta just sat back, humor dancing in her gray-blue eyes. “We’ll see, old man.”

Cassian frowned, turning his bare, inked back to his wife. “I am not old.”

“Go, dad!” Thorn yelled, as Cassian hesitated.

After taking a bracing breath and shaking his arms out, Cassian started running at the long makeshift tarp. Right before his feet left the ground, Azriel called, “Shit, Cass, STOP!”

But an object in motion stays in motion and there was no slowing him down as he leaped, hit the slick surface, slid, and-.

Skidded to a halt, pulling the garbage bags with him.

Luna cried, “Mommy, Daddy said a bad word!”

But none of the adults were paying attention, all of them, save for Nesta, were on their feet, faces shocked, as they stared at Cassian lying on the grass.

No, Nesta wasn’t staring, Nesta was howling.

“Oh, my god,” she said, trying to breathe. “That was the best thing I’ve ever seen.”

Cassian sat up and glared at the men at the bottom of the hill. He was covered in dirt, grass, and soap; his face, chest and stomach red and splotchy. “Which one of you assholes forgot the water?”

Luna stomped her little foot and said, “Uncle Cass, LANGUAGE!”

Nesta’s laughter began anew and he even heard Elain snicker from behind him.

Feyre was bent over, hardly able to breathe through her laughter.

The only one shaking his head, face in his hands, was Azriel.

Cassian, still sitting in the grass, groaned.

“Poor baby,” Nesta said, tears spilling from her eyes.

Thorn rose to his feet, arms crossed. “Old people shouldn’t slip-n-slide. Now it's ruined!”

It wasn’t. Azriel and Rhysand quickly fixed the issue and the kids were sliding down the hill, having a grand old time, in no time. Even Rhysand and Azriel flew down the hill a few times, followed by a slightly tipsy Feyre.

Cassian, on the other hand, laid on the porch with his pregnant wife.

“You didn’t have to laugh,” he mumbled, head lying on her lap.

“Yes, I did,” she clarified, “because it was hilarious.”

Cassian, despite himself, chuckled. “Not so funny being sore as hell.”

“Don’t let Luna hear you,” Nesta whispered. “She’s been very upset with your language.”

Cassian turned his face and kissed her stomach. “Wanna rub my back?”

“I’m eight months pregnant,” she said. “If anyone's getting rubbed, it's me.”

“Oh, I’ll rub you,” Cassian grinned.

“Oh my god. I’m sitting right here,” Elain said, covering Lannan’s tiny ears. “Do you two have no boundaries?”

“You can say that all you want, Lainy, but we all know how kinky you and daddy are,” Cassian winked.

Elain’s cheeks turned a dark shade of red.

“How’s the whole, uh, impregnating thing going?” Cassian asked, closing his eyes and reaching his arm out to rub one of Nesta’s swollen ankles. “Azriel need any tips? I’d say I’m basically a pro at this point, I’m pretty good at it.”

Elain scoffed and cleared her throat. “No, Cass, I think we’re good.”

Nesta ran a hand through his hair and said, “He really is, though. I can prove it.” She gestured to her large stomach.

Cassian, eyes still closed, pressed another kiss to her belly. “Yeah, I can tell him about all the positions I used to get it real deep in there.” He slightly moved his body to demonstrate what he meant. “And I mean, it’ll be in there. I can personally guarantee you’ll be knocked up in four to six weeks.”

“You know, I really don’t like walking up and hearing you say that to my wife, while you’re doing that with your hips.” Azriel’s voice was amused but there was a slight edge to it.

Cassian's eyes shot open and he sat up. “You caught the tail end of a really weird sentence.”

“I’d say so,” Az said, sitting in the spot Elain had offered him by scooting forward in her deck chair. His legs straddled her and she leaned back against him. He rubbed her shoulders softly and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. He looked down at Lannan, asleep against Elain’s chest. “But I think I’m pretty good at what I do.”

“Oh, you are, baby,” she said, twisting to kiss him.

His lips still brushing hers, he breathed, “You mean, daddy.”

“That’s going to haunt me forever, isn’t it?” Elain groaned, just as Feyre slid down the slip-n-slide with her twins, causing a one-man cheering section from Rhysand at the bottom of the hill.

Cassian snorted. “Oh, most definitely.”

Azriel whispered something into her ear that made the color her pink cheeks deepen.

“Elain!” Rhysand called from the bottom of the hill. “Your turn!”

Elain, shaking off whatever impact Azriel had just left on her ovaries, shook her head. “No way!”

“Come on, mama!” Luna clapped.

“I’ll go with you, Aunt Lainy,” John offered, running up the stairs and holding out his hand.

Elain sighed, fondly watching her nephew. “Well, I can’t say no to that, can I?”

She handed Lannon to Azriel, who cradled him against his chest, and took John’s hand. The two sat at the top of the hill, hand in hand, and went down the slide.

“You should go down,” Cassian said, looking up at Nesta. “Scarlett will shoot right out of you as soon as you hit the bottom.”

Nesta flicked him on the side of the neck. “Why do you say the things that you say?”

“You’re the one that married him,” Azriel whispered, careful not to wake his son. “You should know better by now.”

Her eyes rolled over to him as she said, “His stupidity amazes me every day, but at least my life is never boring.”

Cassian opened his mouth to jab back at his wife, but his words were cut off by a cry that filled the backyard. All three sets of parents quickly took tally of their children, seeing that they were still playing safely in the water hose.

Elain hollered to Azriel, “Is that Lannan? It sounds like a baby.”

Azriel stood, letting her see the still sleeping infant in his arms. Rhys and Feyre jogged up the hill and met them at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the deck.

“You failed to mention a very important fact when you told us about Ianthe getting arrested,” Feyre said, voice low.

Cassian walked down a few steps until he could see the yard next door. He leaned to get a better view. “What are you talking-?”

Tamlin was standing on the back porch, a plate in one hand, which he sat on the side of the grill and in his arms-.

“Is that a baby?”

Rhysand quickly clasped a hand over his son’s mouth, but his loud question carried over to Tamlin. He looked over at them, catching them all staring. Bennett quickly ran back to where the other kids were still playing. Azriel awkwardly raised his hand to wave, but before he could, Tamlin flipped them the bird and went back inside.

“Aaaand go fuck yourself then,” Azriel mumbled, letting his arm drop back down. “Prick.”

Elain and Nesta quickly looked to Feyre.

“They had a fucking baby?” Nesta asked.

“Language,” Cassian warned.

“Says you of all people,” Azriel mumbled.

“Apparently so,” Feyre said, looking in the direction in which Tamlin disappeared.

Rhysand was watching Feyre.

“That baby will be a damn mess,” Cassian muttered.

Elain’s eyes grew wide. “Cassian.”

Cassian just shrugged, “It’s true.”

Even Azriel had to agree.

“Let’s head inside and start cleaning up for dinner, yeah?” Rhys said, eyes still on Feyre, who had gone unusually quiet.

Cassian nodded and whistled, getting the kids attention. “Last one inside has to lick Uncle Azriel’s foot!”

“Dude,” Az chuckled, but Cassian’s method was effective. The kids all came sprinting towards the house, Livy and John bringing up the rear. It was agreed that since they tied for last, no one would lose, just to be fair.

Thorn thought that was full of shit, which he announced to Bennett as they were making their way towards their room.

“Thorn!” Both Nesta and Cassian said at once.

Good thing Luna didn’t hear, because she would have destroyed him and his use of profanity.

Thorn groaned, as he approached his parents.

“What?” He asked. “It’s true.”

“You can’t swear,” Cassian whispered.

“You swear,” Thorn mumbled back.

Nesta rolled her eyes. “Do as your father says, not as he does.”

Thorn groaned, following his cousins inside.

When Nesta looked up, Elain was shaking her head.

“What?” She asked.

“I do not want to know what goes on in your household,” Elain said.

Azriel, infant on his chest, howled.

“You’d be scandalized,” she smirked, and pointed at Cassian. “Watch your mouth in front of him. You know he wants to be just like you.”

“He is just like me,” he said, holding out a hand to steady her.

“Exactly.” She leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. “You’ve proven my point. Now if you’ll excuse, all five pounds of this ridiculously huge baby you put in me is sitting on my bladder and I’m about to piss myself.”

Cassian watched her walk in the house and sighed. “God, she’s a peach. How did I get so lucky?”

“Is that a rhetorical question or…?”

Cassian flipped his brother off and Rhys chuckled as they all headed inside.

Everyone got changed into dry, comfy clothes and piled into the living room, deciding to watch a movie before dinner. It wasn’t long before they realized that the sun had tired the kids out, and even some of the others.

Cassian was asleep with one arm draped across the back of the couch, the other wrapped around his firstborn. Thorn was fast asleep, his head resting against Cassian’s chest. Elain was on the other side, her head on the arm of the couch. Luna was snuggled safely in her mother’s arms, under a fluffy blanket. Bennett was asleep in one of the oversized bean bag chairs, while Lily dozed on top of Rhysand, who was stretched out in the recliner. Even Nesta had fallen asleep, her head propped in her hand, John curled up in her lap.

Feyre looked around the room, taking in her family. She smiled and pressed a kiss to Liv’s head, her little arm wrapped around her waist. She looked over at Nesta and John, how he was clinging to her like his life depended on it.

Once again, she was struck by how differently her pregnancies were from her sisters’. Bennett was an only child. He went from being the only boy to completely outnumbered. He never got to experience life as the baby, something Feyre knew all too well.

John, though, he’d never known anything but being the baby.

She glanced over at Elain, knowing she was about to go through the same situation as Nesta.

Lannan was so young. His little personality was still coming to life in front of them.

She looked over at the youngest member of the family, expecting Az to be asleep as well, but instead was met with his hazel eyes.

“You okay?” He asked, softly rubbing Lannan’s back.

Feyre nodded, looking back over at John. She noted how his little fist was clutching at her shirt, how he tried to be as close to her as he could, yet his head was carefully resting on her round belly. But it wasn’t just John. Nesta's arm was wound tightly around her soon-to-be middle child. It was as if they both were taking advantage of his being the baby for just a little bit longer.

Azriel’s gaze followed Feyre’s.

“His life is about to change completely,” Feyre said, softly. “He’s about to be a big brother, and he’s never been anything but the baby.”

Azriel nodded, a smile on his face. “You’re right, and it’s probably not going to be the smoothest transition for him either. Nesta’s spoiled him a bit.”

Feyre chuckled quietly. “A bit?”

Az shook his head, quiet laughter coming from him. “Okay, a lot. But he’ll be a great big brother. He’ll have an awesome teacher.”

Feyre smiled and looked at Thorn. He’d moved, pulling himself out of Cassian’s grip, and now he was the mirror image of his father, down to the arm draped across the back of the couch.

Feyre shook her head and laughed. Silence settled in the room.

“Feyre?” She glanced up at him. Concern was written across his face. “Are you okay?”

She looked away. Azriel was always too observant for his own good. Of course he’d noticed her change in mood.

Her eyes grew teary, and she wasn’t sure why. “Look at us all. We’ve known you three since we were kids. Rhys used to pull on my ponytail, Nesta used to push Cassian down on the playground, and you and Elain were best friends since preschool. Now look at us. Married, kids.”

“And that makes you sad?” Azriel whispered.

Feyre chuckled, shaking her head. “No, it makes me really happy. But time passes too fast, you know? Just yesterday, Bennett was a baby. My baby, my only baby. Then two more popped out of nowhere, and I love them all so much, Az, but it got really different really quickly. Now, they’re almost four. Bennett is seven. Nesta’s having her third baby. Elain wants to have an entire heard of children.”

Azriel smiled, patting her knee gently. “I never thought I’d have kids, you know.”

Feyre lifted her brow, glancing at him sideways. “Really?”

Azriel shook his head. “My parents were such shit, the entire idea I had of family was miserable.”

“What changed?”

Azriel’s eyes found Elain, soundly asleep with Luna. He watched her, lovingly. “I fell in love with the most beautiful, gentle woman… She always knew she wanted kids, and I had no doubt that she would be an amazing mother. She was my family. And I wanted to give her all the babies she wanted. Then, we had them...and I’m so in love, Feyre.”

Feyre laid her head against his broad shoulder. “You’re a great father, Az.”

“And you’re a great mom. A quality that runs in the family.”

Azriel and Feyre silently watched the rest of the movie, laughing quietly when one of the kids would snore (it was mostly Nesta, honestly) and as the credits were rolling across the screen, she softly woke Olive up and told her to go wake her daddy up.

She did this by climbing up onto the recliner and dropping herself into the small between his body and the armrest.

He woke up with a huff and Azriel and Feyre chuckled. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, clearly trying to decipher what time it is. He carefully extracted his arm from the Lily vice grip she had on it and looked at his watch.

“Shit, it’s only 5:20?” He said, dragging a hand down his face. “We still have to cook dinner.”

Thorn sat up slightly, blinking sleepily. “Dinner?”

My God, Feyre thought, he truly is a tiny version of Cassian.

“Want to help me grill?” Azriel asked, watching Thorn with the same humored expression.

“No,” Nesta said, adamantly, eyes still shut. “Do not let that child near flame.”

Azriel didn’t protest, even if Thorn instantly pouted.

Feyre got her Lannan snuggles in as Azriel padded into the kitchen, Thorn sneakily on his heels.

Cassian and Elain were still knocked out as the kids all got up and began to do their own thing. Nesta moved to the recliner and read her book quietly, enjoying the peace and quiet.

Azriel stuck his head through the door, searching for his wife, not expecting her to still be asleep.

Feyre gently rubbed Lannan’s back as she glanced at the two figures on the couch and then back to Azriel and Nesta. “How much sex do you have? They’re both exhausted!”

Azriel just grinned and walked away, but Nesta snorted. “Do you truly want to know the answer to that question?”

Feyre debated. “No, I really—.”

“The man is a freak,” she went on, turning the page. “Can’t get enough of me.”

Feyre shook her head. “Elain would be appalled of you speaking like this in front of the baby.”

Nesta peeked over her book at Lannan. “Considering his mother refers to his father as daddy, I’m sure he’s heard much worse, no matter how much she denies it.”

“I heard that.” Azriel’s muffled voice carried back to them from the kitchen and they heard the fridge door fall shut.

The two girls started laughing and the sudden noise startled Lannan, who began to cry.

Instantly, Elain was up and moving across the room before she was fully awake and coherent. She slumped back onto the couch and leaned her head on Cassian’s shoulder. “Az, baby, take him, please.” She nudged him.

Cassian, still dozing hard himself, took Lannan and leaned back, settling deeper into the couch and an arm falling around Elain.

Feyre and Nesta once again looked at each and were laughing once again.

Cassian began to rouse and he blinked a few times, seeming to notice he was holding Lannan right about the same time he found his arm around Elain. He looked up at Nesta and his look of genuine confusion had her chuckling.

“What are you doing, babe?” She crooned.

“I don’t, uh — I really have no idea.”

“Our bun is still in the oven,” she clarified. “Not your kid, not your wife.”

Cassian yawned, and shrugged, and closed his eyes, once more. It was Elain, who woke up ten minutes later, who had the audacity to turn a deep shade of red.

She stood quickly, the fluffy blanket falling to the floor, and stumbled over both the floor and her words. “I don’t — That’s not my — Huh?”

Nesta chuckled. “Yours is in the kitchen,” she said, inclining her head towards the kitchen.

Elain nodded her thanks and turned to take Lannan. He woke up as she cradled him in her arms and began to babble up at her.

She cooed to him the whole way into the kitchen where she found Azriel putting a tray of chicken nuggets and fries into the oven. “Who is that?” She asked, turning so Lannan could see Azriel. “Is that daddy? Is that daddy?”

The chubby cheeked baby started to giggle, his hazel eyes sparkling as he looked from his mother to his father.

Elain was grinning, her smile breathtaking, as she turned to gaze up at him as well.

“You are...the most amazing mother.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips.

She was blushing when he pulled away, her eyes lined with silver. “Azriel…” she trailed off. Leaning up on her toes, she kissed him again. She still held Lannan to her chest and he began to squirm. “Where did that come from?”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed a kiss to both her forehead and the top of Lannan’s head. “Talking with Feyre during everyone’s naps. I realized I don’t tell you near enough how amazing you are. The best mama I could ever want for my babies.”

He leaned down, pressing his lips to hers. His hand reached down and gripped the curve of her ass. She giggled, loving how in love with this man she was.

“Ma… ma…. Mama…”

Elain jerked back, eyes wide open. “Did he...did he just...he said mama. Didn’t he? You heard it, he said mama.”

Azriel’s smile widened. A full fledged smile, that he only saved for a select few. Around Elain, he couldn’t help but letting out that smile. He didn’t bother to tell his wife that Lannan was only babbling, as it had become his favorite activity lately, and his saying mama was definitely a fluke.

Instead, he pulled her closer and took her face in his hands. He kissed her forehead, then her nose, then her lips. “Maybe he wanted to let you know that he thinks you’re an amazing mom, too.”

He wiped away the tear that slid down her cheek.

“I love you,” she smiled, “so much.”

“I love you,” he repeated, “so much.”

“Azriel,” she whispered. “How long is that in the oven for?”

He arched an eyebrow, before taking Lannan from her arms and bringing him to Feyre in the living room. When he got back to the kitchen, Elain was already walking up the stairs to their bedroom.

——————

“Uncle Cass?”

Cassian turned from where he was eating at the bar of the kitchen island, towards the table of cousins sitting behind him. “Yes, Luna Bug?”

“Is my mommy sick?”

Feyre choked on the drink she was taking and Nesta sniggered from the other room. Only Rhys was able to keep his composure and keep eating.

“No, baby, she’s not sick,” he said, chuckling. “She needs some sleep, that’s it.”

“Is daddy taking care of her?” she asked.

Cassian nodded, slowly. “Yes, yes he is.”

Elain and Azriel joined them downstairs half an hour later, and Luna had many questions about her mother’s quick nap.

After dinner, once the sun began to set, the boys started a bonfire down by the lake. The littles went to bed, while Thorn, Bennett, and Luna stayed up, making s’mores alongside their parents.

“So, Thorn,” Feyre asked, breaking a s’more in half and handing it to Bennett. “Are you excited to not only be the ‘big brother’, but the ‘biggest brother’?”

Thorn, who had been laughing with Bennett and already eating his own s’more, paused and swallowed before he answered. “Uh, yeah.”

Feyre smiled at him and began asking Nesta questions about what to do what when she went into labor, but Cassian, who probably should have been taking notes, wasn’t paying attention to his wife’s words. Instead, he was keeping an eye on his son.

Thorn, just like his father, was usually the life of the party; the one cracking jokes and making everyone smile. But now, he sat quietly eating his gooey treat, absentmindedly drawing circles in the sand surrounding the firepit with his feet.

After a few minutes, Cassian stood, announcing he was going up to the house to get another beer. After most in attendance asked for a second as well, Cassian rested a hand on Thorn’s shoulder, startling him from his thoughts. He looked up at his father, with his mother’s eyes, and Cassian could see the emotion that roared inside, just like their stormy hue. “Come walk with me.”

He nodded and stood, tossing what was left if his s’more into the fire.

Instead of walking towards the house though, Cassian led him towards the dock, where the boat still waited for one more day of fun. He walked down the dock, sitting down once they were completely obscured from their families’ eyes, letting his bare feet skim the water’s surface. Thorn awkwardly followed, clearly not sure why they had come over here rather than into the house as they’d planned.

Cassian fished a small box out of his pocket and then there was a flash of a lighter.

Thorn’s eyes went wide and he said, “You smoke?”

Cassian chuckled. “Not normally, no. Only when I’m really stressed or when I’m drinking.” He took a long drag off the cigarette, pausing. “Your mom doesn’t know though.” Cassian looked up at his eldest son and grinned at him. “This is our secret, okay?”

Thorn nodded and came and sat next to him. Rather than letting his feet hang off the edge, he crossed his legs and rested his elbows on his knees, propping his chin in his hands.

“So here’s the deal,” Cassian said, taking another drag on the cigarette and flicking the ash into the water. “I told you a secret and now you have to tell me one.”

Thorn looked up at him. “That’s not fair, I didn’t ask you to tell me you smoked! You just pulled them out and lit one.”

Cassian couldn’t stop his chuckle as he was once again reminded of just how much like himself his son was. “Sucks, doesn’t it? Now fess up, what’s going on? Why’d you shut down when Aunt Feyre asked if you were excited for Scarlett to get here?” He flicked the cigarette into the water, hearing it sizzle as it hits the surface and extinguished.

Thorn once again stared down, this time at the water instead of the sand earlier. “Nothing, I didn’t. I’m excited for her to get here.”

‘Thorn,” he said, turning to him and placing his hand on his shoulder again. “What’s wrong, bud?”

He was floored when Thorn turned to look at him and found tears lining his son’s eyes.

“You’re not going to have time for me anymore,” he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Cassian only blinked at him for a moment, not understanding. “What?”

A quick intake of breath was the only indication of the fear that he truly felt. “When Mama had Johnnie, I had to go over to Uncle Rhys and Aunt Feyre’s all the time. He’s still a baby and now there’s gonna be another baby.” A little sob broke from him and Cassian felt his heart break as he listened to his firstborn, so much like him that it scared him sometimes.

“Being the oldest is bullshit,” he muttered, wiping angrily at his eyes.

“Yeah,” Cassian agreed, pulling his son into his chest. “It is.”

Cassian was the oldest of four and his parents were shit. So, yes, he knew all too well the difficulties of being the oldest.

“We’ll still have time together,” Cassian promised. “Newborns need a lot of attention, but we’re a family. Me and mom are going to spend just as much time with you and John. Alright? Just… we may need a little help with Scarlett every now and then. And sometimes, that means going to play mini-golf or going to see a movie with your cousins.”

“I hate mini-golf,” Thorn said into his father’s chest.

Cassian snorted. “Liar. Anyway, Scarlett won’t be a newborn forever. She’s going to get to be Lannan’s age, then you and John can start helping her get into all kinds of trouble.”

Thorn, despite himself, smiled. But, that smile soon faded. “Don’t forget about me. Okay?”

Cassian kissed the top of Thorn’s head. “You’re the oldest, bud. My firstborn. You made me a dad. I love you. Alright? Don’t ever worry that I don’t. Mama does, too. We love you more than you’ll ever know.”

Thorn nodded, his tears dried up. “Okay.”

“I guess we should go get everyone a drink, huh.”

Thorn nodded. “Don’t tell mom I swore.”

“Oh, I’m definitely telling mom you swore.”

“Then I’m telling her you smoked and threw your cigarette into the lake.”

Cassian and Thorn stared at each other for a long minute.

“Call it even?” Cassian asked.

Thorn grinned, wildly and mischievously, before nodding. “Race you to the house?”

Just a couple of hours later, Rhys and Cassian were carrying their sleeping sons to their room, while Luna explained to Aunt Nesta how girls were smarter than boys and their brains didn’t have to work as hard.

“That’s why I’m not as sleepy as them,” she said, holding her hand as they walked into the house. Azriel chuckled as he headed into their room, to check on Lannan. Finding him fast asleep still, he came back out and Luna was in the middle of pleading a very strong case against going to bed. She even had counter arguments planned for everything Elain said. His wife threw him an exasperated look and he picked Luna up from behind, surprising her and causing her to begin to giggle.

“It’s bed time, Luna Bug,” he said, tossing her over his shoulder and walking back towards their room.

“But I’m not sleepy,” she said, trying to turn her giggle into a whine but failing.

“If you don’t go to sleep now you’ll be too sleepy to do anything fun with everyone else tomorrow, and you don’t want that, do you?” he asked, as Luna threw her arms around her daddy’s neck.

“No,” she sighed. “Can I sleep with you and mommy?”

Azriel chuckled, kissing her cheek. “Not tonight. You’ve got your own bed here, and Livy and Lily will be sad if they wake up in the morning and don’t see you in your bunk.”

Luna agreed. “Okay, fine.”

Elain had already slipped back outside with her sisters as Azriel walked Luna into her bedroom. He could see them all sitting around the fading fire, Elain laughing brightly at something her sisters had said. He was so captivated by her beauty, so blown away by that heart-stopping smile.

He kissed Luna goodnight before tucking her in, then slowly shut the door behind him before making his way downstairs.

Cassian and Rhysand were in the kitchen, having put the boys down in their room.

“I suppose I should grab my pregnant wife and put her to bed,” Cassian said. Yet, he was cracking open another beer and putting the can to his lips.

Rhysand shook his head. “Is it even possible for you to drink too much? When was the last time you’ve been hungover?”

Cassian thought about it, then shrugged. “Don’t remember. High school. Maybe college.”

Azriel laughed before bidding them both goodnight and stepping out onto the back porch.

“Going to bed!” he called to his wife. “Goodnight!”

“That’s a hint to follow him,” Cassian said, stepping out onto the porch behind him, still sipping on his new can of beer. “You know, so you can procreate.”

The three sisters rose and walked back up the hill, Nesta holding her lower back as she did so.

“We all need to go to bed,” Nesta said, taking the can from her husband. “I’m cutting you off.”

Cassian snatched it back and chugged until the contents were gone. He was sure to lean close to his wife before letting out an obnoxious belch.

Nesta just blinked and put her palm against his face, pushing him back. “Someone remind me why I let him be the father of my children.”

Elain and Azriel had already slipped away for the night.

“The rest of us wonder that daily,” Rhysand laughed, holding out his hand as he leaned against the doorway. “Come to bed, Feyre, darling?”

“Of course,” she smiled, intertwining her fingers with his.

Once they were gone, Cassian sat back on one of the lounge chairs and patted the space in front of him. “Come sit.”

Nesta, rolling her eyes, sat in front of her husband and leaned back against him.

“You smell like beer,” she said, yawning.

Cassian’s massive, calloused hands were instantly caressing her baby bump. “I can’t tell if you think that’s a bad thing or not.”

She huffed a laugh, looking up at him behind her. “You’re an idiot. I love you.”

He kissed the back of her neck as his arms around her tightened, “I love you, too.”

#acotar #acomaf #acowar #nessian #feysand #elriel #the arrival #tacmc x throne of ashes and beauty #collab #telby #shara #shelby and tara writes #fanfic #fanfiction #part #2 #update #2nd gen

324 notes · View notes

stusbunker · 4 years

Text

What Lingers Within: Eight

A Supernatural Fan-fiction Mini Series

Featuring: Dean Winchester x Female Reader

Written for: @thisismysecrethappyplace

Prompt: Amnesia

Word Count: 3925

Beta’d by the amazing @itmighthavebeenintentional

Aesthetic by @thoughtslikeaminefield

Divider by: @talesmaniac89

A/N: Set in season 11. Flashbacks are still in italics. Thanks for finishing this journey with me and all your patience! xoxo Stu

Series Masterlist

Dean woke up to an empty bed, which shouldn’t have been surprising, yet the realization that she wasn’t there beside him kept hitting him harder each day. She was asleep in the room next door; it was both reassuring and torturous having her so close, never close enough.

He stood outside her room and debated knocking. It was too early, he reminded himself. He let her sleep, like the day before and the whole week before that. Dean cursed Sam for giving her a room on his every path and headed to the kitchen for coffee. She shuffled in just after ten, looking blurry eyed and warm. Her hooded stare burned right through him as he handed her the mug that had already become hers.

“Got anything stronger?” she mumbled, trying to play tough. He didn’t buy it.

“You know, we’re not exactly on a strict schedule here. You could even go back to bed--- if you wanted.” Dean dipped his chin, gauging if he could keep prodding or step back.

“Sleep is dumb, and besides, my room is boring,” she pouted, cupping the mug in both hands.

“Thought Sammy had that laptop all set up for you?” Dean tried, brow knit in concern. She glanced up at him sheepishly, the heaviness inside reflected in her posture and the silent plea in her all-too-familiar eyes. Dean couldn’t help but soften as he continued, “Right, well, I was going to skip research today. If you’re up for it, we could do some target practice?”

Just as Dean had returned her small smile, Sam came in with a breathy, “Hey.”

Dean closed his eyes, unsuccessfully hiding from the disappointment before he turned to look at his brother. “Where’s the fire?”

“Sandusky, it’s--- probably her,” Sam’s voice was calm, but his eyes told Dean whatever it was, it was bad.

Dean nodded. “Okay, well, looks like I’m going to have to take a raincheck.” He faced her and saw all the unsaid things staring back at him. Tendrils frayed between them as he had to pull himself away again. “You gonna be okay by yourself? It’s gonna be a long drive, both ways.”

She rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding? I’m gonna be ransacking the place when you’re gone. How much do you think the Men of Letters shit will go for on Ebay?”

Dean shook his head, even though he felt Sam flinch behind him. “Yeah, well, don’t touch anything that isn’t labeled as safe, alright?”

“Go on, fight the good fight.” Her eyes sparkled with the forced casualness her wit always brought with it, letting them both off the hook.

Dean sat in the driver’s seat, squinting in the afternoon sunlight, watching the hospital entrance with growing trepidation. Cas walked out with Sam first, the blood along Sam’s collar the only remnant of his injury. They quietly slid into their respective seats. Dean mumbled a greeting, but continued to stare at the glass doors across the parking lot.

He ignored Sam’s sad puppy dog eyes and Cas’s perpetual confusion and waited, the keys grew sweaty in his hand against his thigh. She was discharged alongside Sam, though they played it off as a fender bender. Cas explained it all to her, as an off duty officer who happened to witness the ordeal and got them to the hospital in time.

Dean had little problem bludgeoning her car to back the story up.

Fourteen minutes after Sam and Cas made it to the impala, she wandered out of the revolving door and into the life Dean had left for her. His eyes trailed her up and down the rows until she found her crumpled sedan. She fought with the driver side door and he almost got out to help her, but she managed. He exhaled as she disappeared from sight.

His heart rotted inside his chest, arteries and veins strangled his lungs with the spreading poison. He sniffed and put the key in the ignition.

“Dean,” Sam started.

“Don’t. Don’t say her name.” Dean snapped. “You mention her ever again and I will break your fucking nose, I swear.”

Sam cocked his head and absorbed the rage in Dean’s words. He side-eyed Cas as they both agreed to those terms.

Her car creeped behind them as she navigated the overly complicated traffic pattern between the hospital buildings. He gave her three minutes before he eased out of their spot and back onto the road. The only proof of his life with her was shoved into his duffle and buried in the trunk. The proof that couldn’t be written on the back of his eyelids or settled in the bottom of his gut.

You stopped in the library for your laptop before settling at the kitchen table with a fresh cup of coffee. Your curiosity was piqued and a quick search brought up the horrors that had been unleashed in Ohio.

‘Four Dead, Seven Injured in Nursing Home Altercation’

You scrolled through the news story wondering how this spelled ancient dark being to Sam. In the weeks with the Winchesters, you had quickly learned what hunters looked for in order to sort out the regular awful and the freaky awful. It wasn’t until the last paragraph of the article that your blood ran cold.

The CNA that had called the cops said a woman in a black dress had been bent over the patient when she came to take the elderly man to the common room for lunch. But when she asked her if she was the patient’s granddaughter, the woman had disappeared. That patient went on to assault the others at lunch with his spork and his fists.

Naturally, the article questioned the eye witness’s credibility, but you knew better and so had Sam. You suddenly felt very scared for your hosts’ safety, despite their expertise.

You closed the computer as Dean’s face ran through your thoughts.

That night you did lunges down the web of hallways, muscles burning and face twisted in effort and bouts of laughter. It was ridiculous and if anyone had been home, you never would have dared, but it felt good to be silly and to use up the nervous energy that had been bubbling up inside since the guys had left.

It wasn’t that you couldn’t sleep, but rather that you slept fitfully. Katelyn’s voice snarled through your dreams, the feel of her spit on your hand mimicked by the sweat leaching from your body. You gave up after the second nightmare, texting Dean for an update in the middle of the night before you could think your way out of it.

Amara appeared to Dean fully grown, bathed in shadow. The hollows of her face were almost voids as she whispered in his nightmares. The nursing home was a tragedy they couldn’t stop, couldn’t fix. Amara was growing more powerful and there were plenty of souls in one place to feed from. Wherever she had been hiding, she didn’t wander out for long. It felt off.

She was the itch he couldn’t scratch in the back of his mind.

He didn’t want to keep chasing Amara, but the quicker she was off the board the better. It was a selfish desire, knowing he wasn’t fully himself since she had been released, but it aligned with the greater good, so he leaned into the hunt. The text he hadn’t replied to still stared back at him almost three days later.

There was no update to give and somehow he didn’t want to disappoint Y/N with a “no news” bullshit response.

The trail had dried up two days before Sam and Dean headed home, the unwillingness to quit wearing them both down to the edge of constant bickering. They stopped chasing their tails and settled on a couple of days to recoup before easing back into the usual hunts. Dean needed a win, but he couldn’t force Amara out of hiding, and even if he could, they had no way to end her anyway.

They got in close to eleven at night, creeping into the bunker so not to wake Y/N up. Sam showered first, and Dean sipped on a beer in the library before he decided to grab fresh pajamas and the shaving kit he kept in his attached half bath. But when he went into his room, he found a mound of blankets twisted in the middle of his bed, snoring lightly.

He felt suddenly self-conscious about the state he had left his room and tried to count back to when he had last changed his sheets. But that worry didn’t stop him from blushing with the rush of excitement seeing her in his bed once more gave him. He gently pulled the door closed, turning on the bathroom room light to let him grab his things.

She murmured something in her sleep and rolled over, causing Dean to freeze in panic. He was trained in the art of silence, but since she moved in, it felt like he had gained two left feet. Her breathing returned to a steady rhythm, letting him watch her from the wedge of light he stood in. Once his eyes readjusted he saw that she had brought in pillows from her room, but was only using his. He chuckled despite himself.

With a final glance at her sleeping silhouette, Dean left for that shower.

You were running through your office, rows of cubicles surrounded you like an endless forest. The click of heels on concrete followed you, despite the banal beige carpeting you were treading. Suddenly everything went dark and then you were looking down on yourself, hands around your own throat as you both inflicted and felt the pressure cutting off your air supply.

You woke up coughing uncontrollably, flailing in the dark against the non-existent double.

Your elbow hit something firm and you backed yourself into the corner of the nightstand, trying to escape.

“Hey, you okay?” Dean’s voice scratched through the dank confusion and you sat up, struggling to cover your chest and tummy with your bunched camisole.

“Dean? When’d you get home?” You coughed again, and swallowed thickly.

“A couple of hours ago.” Dean whispered, propped up on his elbow, he watched you. You slowly made out his features in the dark, pale skin a beacon, hooded eyes and wet lips. He was so beautiful and he was right there.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come in here without your permission, it was just so quiet and being here made me feel sa---,”

“It’s fine, I mean, you’re still a blanket hog, but I know you haven’t been sleeping,” Dean reassured, before he shifted the pillows so he was propped against the headboard. “So, nightmares, huh?”

His hands rested in his lap, pajama bottoms firmly above the comforter, practically chivalrous. Especially after you had helped yourself to his bed.

“Yeah, mostly,” you admitted, swallowing once more, the phantom pain had started to ebb with the conversation. “I should go, let you sleep, you had a long drive.”

“Hey, come here.” Dean cocked his head, beckoning you to him as he opened his arms. You hesitated. Then he tipped his chin, and you were a goner. Awkwardly you situated your body against his chest, his strong arms framed you just so. “That’s better, in’it?”

You sank into his warmth, refusing to be self-conscious about being half naked in your tank top and sleep shorts, and just relished in the firmness of his body and how it supported yours.

He breathed in your hair, his lips grazed your forehead, and you squeezed him tighter.

“I never wanted to be the bad guy. I don’t know what to do now, don’t know how to deal with this guilt,” you explained, staring at the slats on the bottom of the door.

Dean pulled back to look you in the eye. “You did what needed to be done. That bitch was going to kill you. There is nothing wrong with defending yourself.”

“I know. It’s just--- this--- being a fugitive is not where I ever thought I’d be,” you admitted, eyes closed in pained shame.

The moments ticked away, the weight of your words increasing as your breathing fell in sync with Dean’s. His thumb tapped a gentle rhythm against your side, as you rested your head on his shoulder. You were so close you weren’t sure if you were smelling or tasting him.

“Life on the run ain’t easy.” Dean shifted so your head fell over his heart. “But I do know you can’t lose yourself to guilt. Trust me, there are things that I have done that still keep me up at night. It doesn’t bring them back, it doesn’t undo anything. Except for maybe your sanity.”

He let out a sad three-beat-laugh.

“Just keep doing what’s right. Make the world better in your own little way and hope that someday you’ll find your own absolution,” Dean spoke as if he was a million miles away.

A moment before you thought better of it, you asked, “Have you found yours?”

Dean stiffened in your arms and then exhaled, his fingers threaded through your hair. Slowly he relaxed again, his chest and arms softening to the point of you forgetting which parts were him and which bits were you.

“Right now, it feels like I might,” Dean whispered in response to the question you almost forgot you had asked. You blushed beneath the implication, the warmth between you intensifying Dean’s natural magnetism. His honeyed voice and steadfast embrace was hypnotic amidst the exhausted chaos of your thoughts.

“Dean, I ---?”

Dean hummed in response before he shushed you. “It’s fine, just try and go back to sleep.”

You fell silent, the emotions rolling through you in waves of strung out anticipation and tempering doubt. In the end your mind stopped trying to stay afloat and let you sink into the depths of a ragged slumber.

Then one night, you slept. It wasn’t exactly refreshing, and it wasn’t perfect, but it was something. The fact that you had been crawling into Dean’s bed each night, may have helped.

Deep down, you felt the shift in your psyche: a glacial slide, the gradual progress of accepting what you had done which sprouted the fissuring magmic ooze that was hardening you into something new. Forged yet still fragmented, you bent to each sweltering degree as you navigated the impossible almost Dean and you had stumbled into.

Dean was in love with you.

You felt it first when he called you honey and invited you to breakfast all those weeks before. And you knew it the moment he shared your past in a handful of worn photographs. Unfortunately, you just didn’t know if he loved the you that you were becoming or the woman you had been. Your past self, which you didn’t even know.

Both possibilities were equally terrifying.

Winter slid into Kansas like a muddied dog, invasive and messy. Your usual and completely unscheduled call from Michelle told you that you were expected back for Christmas. No excuse, safe for an actual arrest, would suffice. You could almost taste your aunt’s green bean casserole already. You smiled to yourself, imagining Dean in an ugly sweater as Sam, oblivious, would knock his forehead on Michelle’s dubiously placed mistletoe.

Because, of course, they were invited too. Not that you would have gone without them at your side; they were as much your family now as Michelle and her parents had always been.

You hung up without promising your cousin anything except that you would stay safe. Though Dean and Sam were never in the bunker for long, you were fairly certain you could persuade them to take a few days off for a real, home-cooked, holiday meal. You just didn’t know if you would be bringing your roommates/ bodyguards or if you would be bringing whatever it was Dean had become and his brother.

That would require you to address the real problem. One far scarier than the temporal question of Dean’s affections.

You hadn’t let yourself fall for Dean. Not completely. You had been holding your breath, so oxygen deprived that you had developed tunnel vision. And no matter how patient or generous Dean had been, he couldn’t get you to acknowledge the silent, unanswered question in his eyes.

No amount of cuddles or lips brushed warmly over your forehead or strong arms that held you through the terror of your nightmares had emboldened you to fully reciprocate his affections. You remained simultaneously in his arms and proverbially a day’s drive east.

The problem was if you let yourself love him, you would be giving him permission to hurt you. Again.

You had time, you told yourself, before you would be introducing your aunt and uncle to the Winchesters. And you would drag your feet the entire two and a half weeks until then.

One week later

The half-truths had grown comfortable, expected, predictable. Dean and Sam would return from a case and Y/N would have food in a crock pot or beer and popcorn waiting for them to unwind before bed. She would duck out early, and then Sam. Dean would have another drink alone, telling himself he’d be brave enough to say something if she turned up at his door again.

He had too many misgivings about what she’d say. It wasn’t fair to make it about him when she’d get so riled up after the nightmares.

It was better to wait for the morning.

“Dean?” Her voice broke through his internal rationalizing, and he held his breath. She wasn’t upset, no tension nor tears. The look in her eyes felt like a punch to the gut.

“What’s up?”

She laughed dismissively, a short trill ending on disbelief. “You didn’t even hear me, did you?”

“Uh, no, not really. Come on in.” Dean stepped back, letting her in once again with his heart in his throat.

“We should talk,” she repeated.

“About?” Dean rested his hands on his hips, straightening himself as he watched her crawl into his desk chair and perch, heels along the edge, as she hugged her knees.

“Us?” She made it sound like he was slow. His eyebrows shot up; this was happening.

“Okayyyyyy,” Dean trailed off. She gave him nothing back. “What specifically do you want to talk about?”

“You’re in love with me.” She smiled that secret keeping half-smile.

He huffed in exasperation, but couldn’t help but smile back. “Really? You’re sure about that?”

“Mmm-hmm.” She nodded.

“So?”

“Sooooooo, it’s your turn.” She looked up at him, chin jutted out, challenging.

“My?” Dean stammered, hand curled at his own chest. “You’re saying--- that I need to---- I don’t know, diagnose your feelings?”

“Yup.”

She was going to be the death of him, that shit-eating grin already creeping up on her lips as she watched him huff and puff and try to pull himself together. He looked at her like a deer trapped in headlights, and she looked back; he felt like he was going to melt under the pressure.

“I mean---- I don’t---- What do you want me to say?!” Dean chuckled self-deprecatingly. He dropped to the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees as he started at the floor, but finished to her face. “Christ, I know what I want to say, but I can’t say it for you, Y/N. You have to mean it.”

“And what if I do?” Her feet fell to the floor as she leaned on her palms. She seemed somewhere between coming fully back to him and flying away for good.

Dean started to let the hope sneak in. “Well, I was kind of thinkin’ you would’ve shown me already.”

Time stopped.

She launched at him, and just as he caught her, a notch above the waist, her lips stole his breath. He gave it away willingly, until there was no more to spare.

Triumph. Relief. Yearning answered.

Dean’s arms curled around her body, clutching her to him as her momentum pushed their top halves onto the bed. It felt like a dream; Dean wouldn’t open his eyes ever again.

They tasted and teased each other, lips and tongues, whispers and snickers. She looked down at him like he hung the goddamned moon, and he prayed he’d never do anything again that would change that. He swallowed, not sure what to say next, unwilling to break that impossible moment.

It just got better.

She left a trail of punctuated kisses up his jaw and whispered in his ear. “I love you, too, you idiot.”

In a flash, Dean rolled you onto your back, sliding you fully onto the bed at last. He practically purred as he nuzzled your pulse point before leaving a sloppy kiss behind your ear. You shivered, bolts of electricity shot through your body, burning from the inside out.

“I--- just let me tonight,” Dean insisted, hands in your hair as he pleaded over your lips. “Please?”

“Be my guest.” You didn’t know where all that nerve had been buried, but it was reassuring to find your footing after so long.

He kissed you dizzy, stubble scraping and lips soothing. Slowly you were able to lay down your worries, alongside your clothing. With each brush of his mouth over your body you became lighter, leaving behind the fear and the uncertainty for something you’d never thought you’d get: trust and understanding.

True acceptance.

You fell into the moment, head first and determined, enjoying the knowledge he had retained of your body as he planted a firm palm over the thick roll of flesh above your mound, holding you in place before he dove in.

His tongue told you that you were wanted, his fingers showed you how you were cherished, revered. His lips were lingering reminders that he wasn’t leaving again, that you were just where you were meant to be, that he needed to show you all the things he couldn’t say out loud.

That you came first, always.

Bursting and brilliant, Dean saw to it, gentle yet persistent.

He never stopped touching you, aching to hold you as long as you’d let him. Maybe longer. He crawled his way back up your body, nuzzling your nose with his before you got your mouth back on him. You drank in his now tangy desperation.

You locked him in the cradle of your legs, telling him you were just as invested, a puzzle completed. Together you found your rhythm, your promises matched and measured. It was everything, and it was easy: no confusion or second guessing, just bliss. Dean’s moan broke on your name, and you felt it as if it had been the thousandth time, not your first.

It was you and Dean, forever as it had always been. These feelings had always existed, and they would never leave because not even the host of heaven had been able to snuff them out. They had lingered within you, and now that they were fulfilled, you knew you were going to make it in this uncertain life.

Because as scared as you were, you were certain of Dean. And he’d never stopped betting on your ability to keep fighting, to pull through all on your own.

His faith in you had seen you through the mess with Katelyn and years of unknown memories. Now you had nothing but time to regain what you’d lost, because lost things always have a way of finding their way home.

Series tags: @tiggytaylor @vicmc624 @kalesrebellion

General SPN tags: @flamencodiva @dolphincliffs @dontshootmespence @thoughtslikeaminefield @fangirlxwritesx67 @dawnie1988 @mrswhozeewhatsis @cosicas-cuquis @foxyjwls007 @tumbler-tidbits @defenderrosetyler @ericaprice2008 @princessofthefandomrealm @wingedcatninja

#supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester fanfiction #what lingers within #dean winchester fluff #dean winchester smut #dean winchester x reader #dean/reader #dean/you #dean x reader #amnesia fic

68 notes · View notes

fiction-fun · 4 years

Text

A Loving Headline

@braidedchallah @alexanderdamnhethin @creedtheconquer @rthoney @andpeggy21 @pixiepip @little-nymph-claro @haha-gunsgoburrr @hamiltimes

Fandom: Newsies the musical

Pairing: Jack/Oc

Words: 6526

I blinked open my eyes and stood quickly, pulling my vest tight around me and tucking my hair up under my hat. I reached down and shook the kid’s shoulders.

“Come on, little ones. Time to go see Ms. Medda Larkin.” I said softly.

The kids groaned but stood up getting ready for the day. I grabbed my paper bag and made sure I had enough on me for the hundred I’d be getting that day. I took Bea’s hand and lifted Ry into my arms before walking quickly down the fire escape and out of the alley. I took a look around before running across the street and ducking back behind the theatre. I knocked quickly still looking over my shoulder.

“Ley! There you are, I was getting worried.” Medda said opening the door.

I smiled softly and passed her Ry before lifting Bea up into the doorway.

“They didn’t wanna get up today. I gotta go, Jack'll never let me live it down if 'e beats me to the gate! I’ll sees yous two later, behave!” I called before turning and racing away.

I slid around the corner getting to the gate and catching my breath seconds before Jack and Crutchie walked up.

“Ley, how you always beat us here.” Jack said shaking his head and smirking at me.

I laughed sharply.

“Maybe someday you’ll be able to beat me. Not likely, but maybe.” I said a smirk curling my lips.

Jack laughed a bit at that before stopping and turning to the gate, the others coming around us. We stood watching the board.

“Whatcha think it’s gonna be today?” Someone asked behind me.

Jack shrugged and turned his head slightly.

“Doesn’t matter, if I don’t like it, I’ll just change it.” Jack said his solution to most things.

I shook my head and closed my eyes.

“I just hope it’s not the rail strike, again.” I muttered.

Those had been hard papers to sell lately. I heard murmured agreements and even Jack was nodding along. We all groaned as the board lit up.

“Rail strike enters week three! Great.” I heard muttered behind me.

The two goons opened the gate and we entered, forming the line.

“Hey Weasel!” Jack called.

We all laughed.

“It’s Wiesel!” the paper pusher called.

Jack shrugged and took his stack; I slapped my money done and shot him a look.

“Weasel, my man!” I shouted.

I walked over and grabbed my stack, high giving Jack as I did.

“Hey, weasel!” Crutchie continued the call.

I laughed and high fives him too. The kids behind Crutchie were new though.

“You could at least call me Mr.” Wiesel said with a gruff.

The kid behind Crutchie put his coin down.

“20 papers please, Mr. Wiesel.” He said as a younger boy darted over to us and grabbed a paper bag.

I looked at him and closed my eyes, he was barely older than Bea and Ry. I knew Jack saw it as an opportunity.

“Fifty more papes for the new kids!” jack said slapping a coin down.

The kid tried to fight him over it but his younger brother struck up a deal with Jack and I laughed when they shook.

“That’s disgusting.” Davey said pulling a face as Jack helped Les down.

“No, that’s how we do business. Good luck, I’m off.” I called sticking a hand up and walking away.

I went around and sold my papes the best I could, falling three short by the time my area cleared out. I sighed softly as I counted the money in my hands.

'Well, they’ll get to eat. ‘I thought as I headed back towards the theatre, seeing Jack, Davey and Les race in.

I looked and saw Snyder chasing them. I ducked back into the shadows praying they would keep me from being seen. I let out a breath and raced across the street when I was sure he was gone. I yanked open the back door and jumped in.

“Snyder after you again, Jack?” Medda was asking.

I saw Jack nod and look up I gave him a glare.

“Ya almost led him right to me!” I growled walking over to him.

His eyes went wide, and he backed up a step.

“Now, let’s not do nothin' hasty!” Jack said hands up.

I glared at him before turning back to Medda.

“Hey Ms. Medda, where are they?” I asked looking around.

She opened her mouth just as I heard two sets of feet racing towards me. I dropped to my knees and caught them hugging them tightly.

“Thanks for letting them stay here.” I said looking up at her.

“Anything for you Ley, you two know you’re always welcome.” She said smiling.

We ended up staying for a show before heading back out, Jack had tried to convince us to stay but I still had to get the kids food. I got them food quickly before we ducked back into the small hole we had found. The next morning, we repeated the morning. I got to the gate and waited, Jack and Crutchie joining me minutes later.

“Let’s hope.” I muttered.

The others nodded, and muttered agreements. All noise stopped when we saw the board.

“Prices raised for paperboys! Sixty cents a hundred?” someone read out.

We all turned to Jack; he was our leader.

“They can’t do that can they Jack?” was a common question I heard.

Jack laughed and shook his head.

“Nah! They’re just yanking us!” Jack said and that seemed to reassure everyone.

We formed a line and Jack slapped his coins down.

“Hundred papes!” he called.

Wiesel laughed meanly.

“It’s 60¢ for the hundred, Jack.” He called a cold cruel grin on his face.

Jack backed up and our line broke. He sat heavily on a crate and the others crowded him, until Les made them back up.

“Jack, you still thinkin'?” Les asked a few seconds later.

Jack nodded and then waved us in.

“We just ain’t gonna sell them, and we ain’t gonna let nobody else sell them either!” Jack declared.

Jack and Davey got into an argument about what a Union needs and how to go on strike. I swallowed feeling the ice slide down my back.

“Jack.” I called; he had just declared the strike.

He looked up at me, his eyes widening a bit, he waved me over to the truck.

“Go ahead, we won’t blame you. You gots responsibilities.” He said.

The others all started to throw a fit as I slowly walked over to the truck setting the sixty cents down to take my hundred. I kept my head down as I walked back passed the boys.

“Ley!” I paused at Jack’s voice.

I turned and looked at him.

“Don’t worry none.” He said and I gave a small smile before moving out into the city to sell my papers.

Each one I sold felt wrong, but I had to. I sold out and still had barely enough to get us all food.

‘I’ll go without tonight, so we have a little buffer in case I don’t sell enough tomorrow.’ I thought as I trudged back to the theatre.

I got the kids and we got food, then I got them back to the safe spot and got them laid down. I heard it then.

“Ry, buddy did ya just snuffle?” I asked crouching down to look at him.

I had already taken my hat and vest off, letting my hair fall down my back. The little boy nodded and snuffled again, I reached out and felt his forehead, flinching at the warmth I found. I sighed and leaned back, quickly tugging my vest on, and tucking my hair back into my hat.

“Stay here and don’t make a sound, don’t come out until I get back got me?” I asked softly.

Both kids nodded and I ducked out of the hole, running to the corner pharmacy looking through the medicine there.

'So much for a buffer.” I bit my lip as I tried to decide.

If I got the one, I knew would work it would wipe out the money I had left and make it so I couldn’t get a hundred papes tomorrow. I turned and looked trying to see if there were any other options. I reached my hand up and then hesitated.

“Are you buying something?” the counter person asked.

I looked at them for a second before looking down.

“Let me go get more money, the prices are different than what I remember.” I muttered as I turned and ran from the shop.

But I didn’t go back to the kids, I don’t know why, but I headed towards where Jack stayed. I stopped seeing him talking with that reporter lady from the other day.

“We’re counting on you, Katherine!” Jack called as she walked away.

I almost walked away; I knew Jack understood why I had to sell….but I still felt bad.

“Ley?” Jack asked turning and seeing me.

I looked up at him and waved slightly. He gave me a concerned look; he could always read me. He walked over and took my arm, leading me to the stairs, he was the only one who knew the truth.

“What’s wrong, Kaley?” he asked his voice dropped low enough no one else would hear.

I closed my eyes and bit my lip again.

‘Besides you flirting with the reporter girl?’ I thought before shaking it off.

“Ry is…is sick. And I didn’t make enough today to feed us and get his medicine. I already went without, so we’d have some incase somethin' else happened but the medicine, Jack it’s so much.” I said my voice cracking.

Jack watched me for a second before hugging me gently, that’s what was nice about Jack. He was all rough and tumble during the day but if you needed him, he was there for you.

“How much?” he asked voice soft.

I took a breath.

“25¢, I…I got most of it but it’ll wipe out any kind of buffer we had. But I have to get it! I swore I’d protect those kids.” I said my voice shaking slightly.

Jack patted my shoulder and stood up; I closed my eyes.

'He's mad, he won’t help. Why would he? I still sold; I broke us up during something so important!’ I thought.

My thoughts were cut off when I felt Jack take my hand and press a coin into it.

“Jack…I…” I said my voice wavering.

He shook his head and waved off my words.

“No, you get that medicine, and you pay me back later. If anyone knows what it takes to survive out here it’s you and me. Now, I know you’re all up in your head but, I ain’t mad atcha. I know what you gotta do, the others ain’t so happy with you, but they stopped bitchin' when I told ‘em to. Now go.” Jack said.

I stood up and hugged him quickly.

“Thank you.” I whispered before racing back off to the Pharmacy.

I ran inside and grabbed the bottle of medicine before going to the counter.

“I didn’t think you’d actually come back.” The person made no attempt to hide his disdain for me.

“Just this thanks.” I said a fake smile on my face.

He sighed and rung up the medicine, I paid quickly taking the brown bag and running from the shop. I took a long winding way back, just in case he watching me to try and send Snyder the Spider after me. I got back to the safe spot and ducked inside.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok guys. It’s just me.” I said crouching in front of them.

I tugged my cap off and pulled the medicine from the bag, I had read it in the shop and poured just the right amount into a cup for Ry. I gave it to him and he made a face.

“Now get some sleep buddy.” I whispered before settling down next to them.

I tugged off my vest and spread it over top of them, giving them a little more warmth. The next morning, I woke up early and let them sleep in for a minute with a sigh, looking at the sky as it slowly went from dark inky black to a lighter grey.

“Kay?” I heard a soft voice and turned my head seeing Ry sitting up, Bea behind him.

I smiled gently.

“Hey buddy, how are you feeling?” I asked as I grabbed the bottle and poured another dose for him.

Ry sniffled again and shrugged. I frowned softly and felt his forehead again before giving him the medicine.

'Maybe Ms. Medda will let us stay in the theatre for a few nights.’ I thought.

“You seem upset.” Bea said looking at me.

I smiled softly and ruffled her hair.

“I always worry boutcha when you’re sick!” I said smiling softly.

Bea batted my hands away and flattened her hair or tried to.

“But you look sad, like when momma and daddy didn’t come home!” Ry said looking at me.

I sighed and nodded.

“I let my boys down yesterday and I have to again today.” I said softly.

I didn’t like letting them into my problems, I was older I was meant to take care of them. Bea and Ry looked at each other before scooting to me, hugging me.

“So, don’t.” Bea said softly.

I laughed and kissed her forehead.

“If I don’t, we don’t eat.” I said softly.

They looked at each other and shrugged.

“We get can get food lots of other ways!” Ry said, with a smile.

I swallowed, the way he was talking about is when I used to steal for us.

“I can’t do that anymore.” I whispered.

It was true, Jack had been my partner and he had gotten caught, for me. They didn’t know that. They hugged me again.

“It’s ok, they’ll forgive you.” Bea said and I hoped she was right.

We got ready and headed to the theatre.

“Thanks again Ms. Medda. For everything.” I said as it turned to trudge off to the gate.

“Ley!” Ms. Medda called.

I turned to look at her and she stepped out of the theatre and over to me.

“Help your family.” She said softly.

I nodded towards the theatre.

“That’s what I’m doing.” I said trying to stay strong in my resolve.

She shook her head and pressed something into my hand, tilting my head up when I went to look at it.

“Your chosen family.” She said before gently turning me and giving me a shove towards the gate.

I walked a few feet and turned the corner, before pausing and opening my hand. Ms. Medda had pressed a roll of coins into my hand and sent me on my way, I looked back towards the theatre before nodding tugging my bag off I took off running.

“Ley! I beat you!” Jack called a smirk on his face.

I gave him a look, having tucked the coins into my pocket.

“Jack, shut up.” I said before throwing my bag on the ground at his feet.

His head followed the movement before his head snapped back up and he looked at me.

“What about?” He asked trailing off.

Only Davey, Les and him knew about the kids. I smiled and tilted my head back towards the theatre.

“Let’s just say Ms. Medda helped me make up my mind. And they also said I should help.” I said vaguely.

“Aw yeah! Ley’s with us!” Crutchie called waving his crutch with the strike flag on it.

I let out a sharp laugh and ruffled his hair.

“I was always with ya, ya damn fool!” I called.

After that, the day went downhill and before I knew it, I was running for my life from Snyder and the cops.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I yelled as I spun around a corner and up a flight of stairs.

‘I hope everyone managed to get away.’ I thought as I finally stopped to breath, I was hidden behind an outcrop on a roof.

I waited a while before making my way over to Jack's, hoping to find him. I ran up the fire escape and looked over the railing giving a small sigh of relief.

“Jack!” I called relief in my voice.

He spun and in seconds we were wrapped up together.

“Thank everything anyone believes in! I thought they got you too.” Jack said looking down slightly at me.

I swallowed at what that meant.

“Too? Who else did they get?” I asked fearing the answer.

Jack moved away from me leaning on the rail and shaking his head, I walked up to him and laid my hand on his shoulder.

“Jack?” I asked, concern in my voice.

“They got Crutchie alright! I was right there but I couldn’t get him! They beat him with his own crutch!” Jack exclaimed.

I took a shaky breath and hugged jack.

“We’ll figure out how to get him back. It’ll be ok.” I said trying to reassure him.

Jack shook his head looking up at the sky, he blamed himself any time anything happened to any of us, but he took things that happened to Crutchie particularly bad.

“He was real hurt, what if he doesn’t make it?” Jack asked softly.

I shook my head.

“You can’t think like that. He’s stronger than anyone knows. If anyone can survive that hell hole, he can.” I said firmly.

Jack didn’t look convinced, but I knew nothing I said would actually help him. We stood there for a while in silence, before Jack turned to look at me.

“Shouldn’t you be getting the kids?” he asked me.

I saw a moment of worry in his eyes, I smiled softly and shook my head.

“Ms. Medda said they could stay at the theatre for a few days while Ry gets better. I'll head over in a few minutes, unless you want me to go now.” I said voice gentle.

He shook his head.

“No, you don’t gotta go yet.” He said quietly.

I nodded and we stood there for a while longer, letting the sun set. I took a breath and turned to Jack hugging him again before moving towards the steps.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Jack.” I said softly.

He nodded and did his best to give me a smile, I knew he felt our injuries were his fault, and sadly I knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t be out there tomorrow. I walked quickly down the steps and stuck to the shadows, popping into the shops and getting something quick to eat for the kids, I ran to the theatre and inside. I quickly fed them, ignoring the questions about my cuts and bruises before giving Ry another dose of medicine and getting them ready for bed. The next morning, I woke up and got ready quickly letting the kids sleep in. I turned seeing Ms. Medda standing there, I had already tucked my hair up so I wasn’t worried.

“Thank you.” I said sincerely.

She shook her head and smiled softly.

“Of course, dear!” she said with a smile.

I ran out of the theatre and head towards Jacobs Deli hoping no one else had been caught. I slid to a stop in front of the door and pulled it open, seeing Katherine standing there with the guys I did a quick count and saw that besides Crutchie only Jack was missing. I quickly fell into a chair beside Les and Davey. Everyone looked to happy this morning, that’s when I saw the paper.

“We made the front page?” I asked softly.

Davey nodded bouncing slightly.

“Above the fold!” He exclaimed happily.

I let out a soft laugh, they couldn’t ignore us if we were in the papes!

“Ley, where’s Jack?” one of the boys asked and I looked up, seeing them all looking at me.

I looked away and everyone started talking.

“Shuddup wouldya!” I yelled standing up on my chair.

That go their attention.

“Jacks fine, Snyder missed him. But I ain’t gotta tell yous all how he is.” I said quickly.

The others nodded, except Les, Davey, and Katherine, who looked at me. I sat down in my chair.

“How is he?” Les the more outgoing brother asked.

I sighed and shook my head.

“I forget, yous two…. three sorry reporter girl…are new.” I said softly.

“It’s Katherine.” She said hands on her hips.

I waved my hand, waving off her words.

“Yeah, yeah. Jack takes all the bad stuffs that happens to us and blames himself. I saw 'em yesterday and he was bustin’ himself up over what happened to Crutchie. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was hiding out in Ms. Medda Larkin’s theatre.” I said sipping the water that had been put in front of me.

That’s all it took and the four of us were up, I paused at the door letting the others run ahead of me, I turned to the others.

“Get word to Spot Conlon! His cousins callin' in the favor 'e owes!” I shouted and darted from the building before they could question me.

The four of us ran into the theatre, and down the steps into the basement.

“There you are! How about letting a pal know you’re alive!” Davey called running down the steps to him.

Jack shook his head and kept working in the background. Katherine Les and I stayed back.

“Look! We made the paper! Front page, Above the fold! That’s right! Above the fold!” Davey said enthusiastically.

“Yeah that’s great.” Jack said.

“Is that Santa Fe? I have to say Jack this go west young man thing is getting old. You should paint something you know.” Katherine said and I slapped my forehead.

Jack froze for a second a dark look over taking him.

“You wanna see somethin I know?” Jack asked and his voice was low.

I didn’t want to see what he was going to do. He spun the background around and in almost photo realistic paint was the fight that had happened yesterday. I swallowed looking away.

“That’s what I know! That’s Newsie square, all of the kids gettin’ beat down for standin' up for themselves! I ain’t puttin’ them through that again!” He yelled, face contorted in a mix of anger and upset.

Davey tried to convince him to have hope.

“You know why a rattle snake rattles?” Davey asked walking up behind him.

“No, why?” Jack asked sarcasm clear.

“Cause he’s scared!” Davey said.

Jacked huffed and shook his head.

“Look it up! Why else would he have sent the goons!” Davey continued.

Jack started to slowly nod.

“Maybe your right!” Jack said finally.

“Thank the god!” Davey said.

I huffed a laugh at that, and we all started to plan a bit. Katherine had to leave and so Davey, Les and I stayed with Jack for a bit. Davey and Les started up the stairs a while later and I kept an eye on Jack knowing he was planning something.

“I'm fine.” He said as he kept working on the painting.

I nodded and pursed my lips.

“Ok, but bullshit.” I said letting my opinion be clear.

He let his head drop back and he laughed, turning to face me.

“I hate that you know me so well.” He said finally.

I crossed my arms and smirked.

“No, you don’t.” I said firmly.

He nodded and laughed, his own smirk on his face. We stood there staring at each other for a while. He finally set down his paint brush and refused to meet my eyes.

“I’m going to go invite Pulitzer to this rally maybe let 'em see who he’s messing with.” Jack said finally, still not looking at me.

I sucked in a breath and looked at him, his mind was made up. I nodded slowly, my arms dropping to my sides.

“Ok but what if it’s just us? Spot hasn’t said one way or another that he’s in this, and without him, without Brooklyn, you know damn well the others won’t come!” I exclaimed frustrated.

He nodded and looked up at me.

“I know, that’s why if they don’t come, I want you the kids Les and Davey outta here. Cause if the others don’t come, you know Snyder's going to find a way to get in here.” He said firmly.

I bit my lip and nodded.

“I don’t like it, Jacky.” I said quietly.

Jack sighed and dropped the cloth in his hand, walking over he wrapped his arms around me, we had always been close. I wrapped my own arms around his chest and tucked my head under his chin, we were alone I could do this without worry.

“I know, I don’t like it none too much neither, but if it’s the only chance we all got.” Jack said pulling back to look down at me.

I nodded and closed my eyes, letting my arms fall from him and he stepped back.

“Just be careful, Jacky. You got all of us here waiting for you, and reporter girl to impress.” I said softly with no lack of scorn buried in my tone when I said that.

Jack had picked up his brush to finish the backdrop but he paused at my words and tone. He turned back to face me, a smirk on his face.

“What, are you jealous?” Jack asked a teasing turn to his voice.

I felt my face flush and turned away a bit.

“Kaley?” Jack asked softly.

I bit my lip before looking up at him.

“Yes ok! Is that what you want to hear? I've liked you for a while now, can’t help it. Seein you pine after that reporter girl makes me realize…” I broke off and shook my head.

Jack was just watching me now, his eyes wide.

“Doesn’t matter, I gotta go get food for the kids.” I said turning and running up the steps.

I didn’t stop running until I was out of the theatre, ignoring Jack’s voice as he shouted my name. I ran to the shops and got food, paying quickly and walking back to the theatre. I paused at the corner seeing Jack just leaving, I waited until he was gone before I walked back into the theatre. I fed the kids and cuddled up with them giving Ry his medicine. When they were asleep, I sat up and crossed my arms over my legs.

‘Jack still hadn’t come back; I hope Snyder didn’t get him.’ I thought with a worried frown on my face.

I laid back and tugged my cap over my face to try and get some sleep. Early the next morning I woke up to chanting voices in the street. I stood up, tugging my cap on and looked out of the door, before yanking it open and rushing out.

“Spot!” I yelled.

He turned and grabbed me, his arms around me as he spun.

“Brooklyn’s here. We’ll win this thing yet!” He shouted.

That got mass acceptance and that’s when I realized, all of the paper boys from the entire city were here including our group. Davey walked up to me then.

“Where’s Jack?’ he asked quietly.

I swallowed and shrugged.

“I don’t know, we got into a fight after you guys left and I haven’t seen him since I went to get food.” I said softly.

Davey gave me a worried look and I knew my face mirrored it. Within a few hours all of the boys where gathered into the Theatre. I had given Ry his medicine and moved the kids into another part of the theatre incase anything happened. I stood by Les and Davey. I smiled as Spot took the stage and rallied the boys. And I actually breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Jack appear.

“He raised the price and we strike, so he lowers the price. And in a few weeks, he Jack’s them right back up, because let’s be honest, he will.” Jack said and I froze.

Everyone in the theatre erupted in anger at the same time, except me, I was still to shocked at what Jack had said. The others had already started to clear out about an hour later when I saw Jack and one of Pulitzers men. I saw the money the guy handed him and I shook my head.

“I thought they were worth more to you then a wad of cash, Jack.” I said disbelief and anger coating my tone.

He jumped at my voice and turned to me guiltily.

“Ley, I can explain.” He said looking at me worriedly.

I closed my eyes and turned to walk away, but something told me to hear him out.

“You have two minutes.” I said still not turning to face him.

I heard Jack let out a breath, in a sigh.

“He said I had to talk against the strike or he’d throw me back in.” Jack said quickly.

I didn’t have to ask, 'in where?’, we all knew where.

“The money, Jack.” I said firmly.

I heard a soft thump as if Jack had thrown the money down.

“It was part of his deal. He cleared my arrest record, including the warrants and gave me enough money to go wherever I wanted. I just didn’t want to go back in.” Jack said and I turned slightly.

I took a breath.

“Well you’re lucky it was me who saw that. But you have to fix this Jack, those boys don’t think you care.” I said my voice stronger than I thought was possible.

He watched me for a few seconds, taking a small step closer.

“What about you?” He asked.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, moving to the stairs.

“That balls in your court, Jack. Your decision and your move.” I said before disappearing to go take care of the kids.

I didn’t see Jack at all for the rest of the evening and laid down after giving Ry his medicine. I was shaken awake hours later, I sat up rubbing my eyes.

“W-wha?” I asked before my eyes cleared enough to see who was standing before me.

There I saw Les and a bit away I saw Davey, his eyes wide.

“Woah! You’re a girl!” Les exclaimed, and I shushed him.

I quickly pulled my vest on, making sure the kids didn’t wake up, before I tucked my hair up into my cap and stood shooing them into another area of the theatre.

“You’re a girl?” Davey, this time, asked shock coating his tone.

I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, I am. You gots a problem with that, skinny boy?” I asked him quickly.

Davey put his hands up and stepped back.

“Jack needs us! Katherine and him planned somethin’! Come on!” Les said grabbing me and tugging me along.

I bit my lip and looked back towards where the kids were, before finally nodding

“Alright, let’s go.” I said and the boys led me outside and we ran through the streets before busting into Pulitzers basement.

“Woah.” I said quietly.

“You got enough people coverin' us?” Jack asked looking up at Davey.

Davey tilted his head and gave Jack a slightly unimpressed look.

“We could have a hoedown down here and no-one would know.” Davey said.

Jack smirked and nodded.

“Good let’s do this.” He said.

I walked down the steps and looked Jack in the eyes.

“What is this?” I asked looking at him, a smirk playing across my face.

He smirked back and looked towards the room; I turned my eyes widening at the printing press.

“You told me to fix it, this is how we’re fixing it.” Jack said softly.

I turned and nodded.

“We got work to do. I’ll get Spot on the line and get his group rallied, they’ll spread the word.” I said nodding already racing up the steps.

“Let’s do this!” Jack shouted again.

I ran out of the door and to the nearest payphone, using a trick I had learned a while ago I entered Spot’s number.

“Spot, rally the gang. We are going to make first light news.” I said quickly when he answered.

“You got it! Let’s go boys!” Spot called from the other side of the line.

I hung up and ran back down into the building, quickly helping bundle and stack the pages. Before long we had enough to blanket the city, and that’s exactly what we did. Hours later, saw everyone with one of our papes and Jack looked at me smirking.

“Time for Davey and me to make the final blow.” He said with a bright sparkle in his eyes.

He knew we won. I laughed and shook my head.

“Go, we’ll be there with you! RIGHT BOYS!” I yelled the last bit to a resounding agreement from everyone in the area.

Jack smiled at me before taking off, Davey right behind him. The next thing anyone knew we were all outside Pulitzers building looking up and blocking all of the streets, we saw Jack and Davey and Les managed to get away from us and ended up with them in Pulitzers office. The thing that did surprise us, with Governor Roosevelt was stood with them. Twenty minutes later and Davey Les and Jack came racing from the building.

“WE WON!” Jack shouted in such a manner I hadn’t seen on him in a while.

A bright cheer went up, it got louder when Governor Roosevelt announced that the Refuge was closed, Crutchie joining us again. All of us surging over to him, the best news was when Snyder the Spider was put in chains, Crutchie took great joy in whacking him with his crutch.

“Could be used for a weekly political comic, what do you say Theodore? Let Jack behind your back door?” Pulitzer was saying.

I looked over and saw Jack debating between staying and leaving for Santa Fe.

“What’s Santa Fe got that New York doesn’t? Tarantulas?” Davey asked walking over to Jack.

Katherine walked up to Jack then.

“Better yet, what does Santa Fe have, that New York doesn’t?” She asked him with a smile.

I turned and gave a smile to the guys walking through the crowd. We won today and tomorrow, I’d be back out selling papes to help my family, I felt a hand grab me and turn me.

“Ya know, you walk really fast when you wanna get away from somethin’.” Jack huffed out, still holding my hand.

I smiled weakly at him.

“We won, congrats.” I said softly.

He tilted his head for a second and sighed shaking his head.

“For a smart girl, who can hide in plain sight. You can be kinda dumb.” Jack said.

I huffed out a breath and closed my eyes.

“If you’re just going to insult me you can just …” I started before Jack interrupted me.

I would have smacked him if he hadn’t had his lips attached to mine. I froze for a second before my eyes fluttered shut and my arms wrapped around his neck. I lifted one hand placing it on the back of his hat, giving absolutely no fucks when I heard it and a similar thing hit the ground. I didn’t care when I felt my hair down my back. The only thing I cared about was Jacks one arm wrapped around my waist and the other around my shoulders as he tilted me.

“Jack where did you…. Oh!” We heard a voice from behind us and stood up slowly.

Jack pressed his forehead to mine, and didn’t look up.

“What is it Crutchie? Can’t ya see you’re interruptin’ somethin’?” Jack asked looking into my eyes.

I smiled softly at him, running my fingers through his hair.

“S-sorry!” Crutchie said and I heard him move away.

I smiled again, closing my eyes.

“So, what’s this about?” I asked still a bit breathless.

He laughed and held me closer, if that was possible.

“Well you did say that this particular ball was in my court right?” He asked turning it back to me.

I took a breath and stepped back, breaking his hold on me. I turned my back and crossed my arms in front of me.

“I…I just…I saw how she looked at you and I thought…” I said softly.

Jack laughed and I felt him wrap his arms around my waist, placing his head on my shoulder.

“Nah, she’s just a girl. A friend yes, but just a girl. You’re so much more than that.” He said gently swaying us.

He turned me around and looked down at me tilting my head up.

“My best friend. My partner. The only person I’d willingly get arrested for again. Beautiful. Witty. Wise. Bright as a whip. Caring. Loving. Kind. Do I need to keep going?” He said pressing a soft kiss to my lips each time he paused, before turning the ending into a question.

I was bright red as my arms wrapped around him.

“The kissing, yes please. The compliments…. only if you want to.” I said softly burying my head in his chest.

He laughed and I felt him kiss the top of my head.

“Oh finally!” we heard and turned again, seeing a small group of boys at the mouth of the alley we were stood in.

I raised an eyebrow.

“What?” I asked.

Most of them groaned and rolled their eyes.

“One, we’ve known yous was a girl for a while. We just didn’t care. And two, yous two dancin' around each other for years got old real quick.” Romeo said stepping forward.

Jack and I laughed and spun a bit, just then the paper alarm sounded. Together jack and I leaned down grabbing our hats and quickly got them back on our heads, my hair tucked back under it.

“Well, what are we waitin' for? We got papes to sell!” Jack shouted.

With that we headed back out and into the streets selling the papers. Jack did eventually accept Pulitzers offer of the cartoonist job and we eventually were able to afford a small apartment. It took a little bit but, everything worked out in the end. Including Jack and I.

“EXTRA, EXTRA OUR BOY JACKS OFF THE MARKET STEP ON UP YOU HEARD ABOUT IT HERE! READ ALL ABOUT IT!” if I had figured out who yelled that I probably would have cuffed him with the paper.

Instead I shook my head, holding Ry in my arms as he held up a paper, Jack doing the same with Bea.

“Get yer paper!” Ry called.

I smiled and patted his head gently; Bea made an echoing call and I saw Jack nod at her sales tactics. That’s how the next while went, until we saved enough to send them to school, then Jack took the cartooning job and I sold Papes. Taking over the pack for Jack. And that’s just how it went.

#newsies #Jack kelly #oc #davey jacobs #ocs

16 notes · View notes

reaperintheroses · 4 years

Text

When I’m Ready part 2

Word Count: 5217 Warnings: Angst, Fluff, mean reader, Bisexual reader A/N: Hello! So part two is finally here and I’m sorry it took so long! I ended up having to work a lot this week when I wasn’t supposed to. I was so surprised at all the love part one received and it makes me feel super happy and joyful inside that everyone liked it! I am opening requests for oneshot ideas as well as just blurds/ drabbles. Also feel free to either just pop in and say hi or ask me questions to get to know me better! Also feel free to let me know if you want to be tagged in future works about outer banks! Beta’d by the baby pogue queen @uwubonebabie As you all know I took some inspiration from lots of her baby pogue works. She just updated her masterlist and theres like so many more fics to read. Go check out her page. Take my word for it you won’t regret it! Part One

It had been about forty minutes before you heard two sets of footsteps barrel down the hallway and two more sets walk a little more calmly. You were still crying but at this point, you had quieted down a little. You heard someone pound on the door. Knowing that you wouldn’t be able to face any of them for a few days you decided to just let them knock and hope that they would just eventually get the message. After a few minutes, the banging still hadn’t even died down and was accompanied by your brother’s voice begging you to just talk to him. Rolling over in your bed you faced the wall. Soon JJ’s voice started to accompany John B’s. “Come on (y/n), we just wanna know your okay,” you could hear him say with desperation in his voice. You could feel your throat getting tight again. “Please just go away, John B.” You sniffled as you felt a new round of tears rise to the surface. You could hear a few small shifts in the floorboards and made a guess that they were looking at each other trying to decide what the best course of action was. Eventually, the tears fought their way through your resistance and you started to sob loudly again. Hearing the floorboards creak once more you knew that you were alone. You knew that you needed to get some Advil and water but they were probably all sitting around in the kitchen and you just couldn’t face them right now. You looked over to the framed picture on your messy bedside table of your dad, your brother, and you. You were on your dad’s back and John B. was jumping up behind you trying to photobomb. You still didn’t know what happened to him or if he was ever coming back. You grabbed the picture and studied it for a moment before clutching it to your chest. You started to cry even harder. A few moments later you fell into a restless sleep.

When you woke up it was one in the morning. You could hear JJ’s snores and your brother’s mattress moving. Your head hurt. Like a lot. You slowly sat up from your bed and frowned when you saw that the picture had fallen onto the ground while you were asleep. Bending down to put it back up on your bedside table and then stretched. You looked around for the off chance that you still had Advil in your room from your last headache. No such luck. Grabbing your empty water bottle you threw on a pair of socks to try to stifle your footsteps. First, you opened the door and looked down the hall to see JJ sleeping on the pullout couch. John B.’s door was closed. Walking on your tiptoes you crossed the hall into the bathroom. Opening the cabinet door you grabbed the pain relief. Walking down the hall into the kitchen you filled up your water bottle. Setting the two items on the counter, you looked over at JJ’s sleeping form. Even from where you were standing you could smell the weed. Good. He wouldn’t wake up at a small noise. Opening the cabinet as softly as possible to grab the bread and then the peanut butter. Opening the fridge you grabbed the grape jelly and as an afterthought, you grabbed an apple. Making your sandwich you grabbed a plate for your food. You cut your apple and then after everything was on the plate you washed off everything and put it back in its proper place. Walking back to your room plate in one hand, Advil and water bottle in the other you tried to open your door as silently as possible without dropping anything. Setting the bottle of pills on the dresser you quietly ate and tried to have some water. You heard your phone vibrate against your bed. Looking over to the device in question that you had discarded there earlier you wondered who was texting you at this time of night. You didn’t really talk to many people regularly. You didn’t have a whole lot of friends and your brother only texted you when you weren’t going to see a lot of each other that day just so you knew where he was. It vibrated again and you reached across your bed to grab it. Giving your eyes a few minutes to adjust to the brightness you munched on your sandwich. You looked at who the sender was and you felt the downturned corners of your mouth straighten out. It was from Anna. You were surprised she was texting you already after what happened before. Then you scrolled up on the screen and saw she had replied to your earlier texts about what happened and your apology. She was wondering if you wanted to go to the beach in a few hours to watch the sunrise and talk. You texted back a yes and looked at what time you would need to leave. Grabbing your backpack that was at the foot of the bed you took out the book that you bought earlier and opened it. You allowed the fictional world to swallow you whole and wrap you in its calming embrace.

Looking over at the clock you saw that hours had passed. Throwing on a swimsuit in hopes of being able to get in the water for a few minutes, you repacked your backpack. Checking that your door was still locked you hopped that they had the decency to leave you alone at the early hours of the morning and that they would just think that you were sleeping in. Opening your window you grabbed your longboard and threw it out the window. Then you moved everything on your bedside table onto the dresser and put on your backpack before you positioned it against the window. Climbing on top of the table you grabbed the window sill. Pulling yourself up you swung one leg outside. After making sure you had a good foothold you moved the other and dropped to the ground. Grabbing your longboard you stalked off the main road trying to avoid the gravel in case someone was sleeping on the porch or JJ was already awake and moving around. Making it to the main road you set off in silence. You tried to keep your thoughts quiet. They would only make everything worse. You knew, deep down, that you needed to talk to them. Or at the very least you needed to talk to your brother. He deserved at the very least to know you were alive. It was dusk outside. You looked around as you emerged onto the heart of the cut. The only people you saw were early bird fishermen. You nodded in acknowledgment to everyone you came across. Letting yourself breathe in the smell of the ocean in the morning you looked out onto the horizon starting to see just the very top of the sun. Pushing off once more to gain some more speed you stuck up one hand to feel the wind. As you came up onto the dock from yesterday you came to a full stop. Swallowing hard you shut your eyes and let the memories from yesterday wash over you and play like a recap. You could hear Kie asking you to talk, could feel your brother’s shocked gaze. Brushing away the stray tear that had fallen you turned back.

Pushing onward you made it to the familiar place where the pavement broke off and the sand started to replace it. Picking up the board you walked to the familiar hidden entrance. Moving the trees that covered the walkway you ducked down to avoid getting branches stuck in your hair. Emerging onto the beach you looked down to the spot from yesterday and saw Anna gazing out to the waves. “You know you should come to the boneyard sometime to go surfing.” You smiled and walked up to her blanket. She looked up at you and gave you a small grin. “That’s pogue turf, are you sure I wouldn’t get chased off the land?” She laughed quietly. “I’m sure you’d be fine if they knew you were with me,” you replied. She breathed in and smoothed down the spot next to her offering you a place to sit. Setting down your longboard you shrugged off your backpack and set it down next to the blanket. She gave you a small frown before she looked back out onto the ocean. “You know (y/n), we need to talk about what happened yesterday.” She looked back over to you to display that you had her full attention. You sucked in a breath. “If you’re not out to your family, I’m not going to pressure you to say anything to them,” She gazed down at you, “but I still want to know what that means for us.” You closed your eyes and just listened to the ocean for a few seconds before you made eye contact with her. “You’ve obviously heard the horror stories right?” You asked her. “I’ve never told them because I didn’t want it to not go well and me not have a place to go if something went wrong,” you swallowed down the thought of something like that actually being your reality when you finally got around to talking to everyone. “As for what that means for us, I’m not ashamed to be seen around you,” you swallowed and looked at her, “I just think we should lay low until I can get around to talking to them.” You finished and stared at her. “So that’s a no on changing my Facebook status to ‘Dating an awesome surfer dude-bro pouge’?” She giggled at you. “Probably not.” You laughed back. You both settled back into a calm silence and watched as the colors of the sky change from dark to light blue. You felt yourself thinking. Telling yourself that you could do it when you got home. Say to them ‘I’m bisexual, I like men and woman,’ you knew that was wishful thinking, that you could just go up to them and say it. The sky looked like a painting, you wished you could enjoy it without all this weight on your shoulders, knowing that when you go home you were going to have to make a decision.

The sun had almost fully made its appearance. Anna turned to look at you. “Would you want to grab some food with me?” She asked looking hopeful. You pulled out your wallet to see where you could go with what you brought. Your face fell. “Anna, I would love to but I don’t have enough money with me.” She looked thoughtful at you for a moment. “Don’t be serious, you’re giving me surf lessons consider it payment,” she grabbed your hand in hers, “Also this way you don’t have to go back to your house.” You considered the pros and cons for a minute and came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t hurt. Besides afterward you and Anna could spend the early afternoon in the cut because the other pogues were helping Pope deliver groceries today. They would almost definitely take out Heyward’s boat for a spin. Standing up to dust off the sand from your clothes, you offered her your hand. “Why not,” you asked, “and later we can spend the early afternoon in the cut.” Her grin twisted into a frown. “Oh I would love to but my parents need me to stay in the 8 today.” She replied looking disappointed. Damn. You thought about who Pope delivered groceries to on Wednesdays. Okay. It was all fine. The probability of them even seeing you were slim. “Okay, then I guess we’re just going to spend the day around the 8,” you replied trying to get her to lose the frown. You quickly gathered up your things and helped her fold up the blanket. Walking hand in hand you made it to the small entrance of the beach. You looked out at the sky. Inside your head, you were saying to yourself ‘please don’t let me regret this.’ You were having a great time. You and Anna went to eat breakfast at a small cafe. You felt super bad that she paid for you as well even though she spent the latter part of the meal convincing you that it was fine. You let her lead you everywhere because you had no idea what to do on that side of the island. Tugging your hand she led you inside a store with lots of surfing apparel. “I know I need more than a swimsuit most of the time, I just don’t know what I need,” she glanced around, “Will you help me pick some stuff out?” You gave her a small smile and walked over to a rack or rashguards. You had her pick out three. While she was trying everything on you grabbed a wetsuit and threw that over the door and explained what everything did. You were glad that this was something she was genuinely interested in. She came out of the dressing room with a smile on her face. While she bought everything you looked around to see if there was anything you wanted that you could save up for. You felt someone behind you. “Are you ready to go?” She held out her hand to you. Grabbing it and lacing her fingers in yours you let her guide you out of the store onto the street. You placed down your longboard and pushed off the ground lazily. She pulled you out to the docks where the kooks kept their boats. That’s when you saw it. The Heyward’s boat. Goddamnit. Why couldn’t you just enjoy yourself and act like a normal teenager? When she felt you not moving she turned to you. “Hey what’s wrong (y/n)?” She followed your line of sight and looked back at you confused. “That’s my brother's friend's boat,” you said solemnly. Realization dawned on her face. “Oh, should we just part ways right now?” She looked sad yet understanding. You knew that if you turned around right now you could hide in some boutique until the boat moved along. “I’m sorry,” you apologized, “once I can talk to them I promise things will be different.” You glanced back to the boat as if you could see them around the deck. She spread her hands as if to give you a hug. You leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She shifted everything in her arms and looked at you. “I’ll text you tonight, ya?” She asked with disappointment clear on her face. You were about to reply when you heard someone shout to you. “Hey, (y/n) I thought you were at home.” You heard your brother yell, catching the attention of some onlookers. “That sounds like my cue to leave, I’ll see you soon.” She looked over her shoulder before swerving past you. You grabbed your board and readjusted your backpack. You turned around trying to pretend that you hadn’t heard him but just as you turned to walk away you heard footsteps running towards you. John B. grabbed your shoulder to keep you from walking away any farther. “I know you heard me, (y/n), don’t act like you didn’t.” He kept his hand heavy on your shoulder. You turned around to look at him. “What, so I’m not allowed to leave the house without telling you now?” You tried to play dumb and plastered a shocked look on your face. He sighed. You looked over his shoulder to see the other pogues staring at you two. “You know for a fact that’s not what I meant,” he gazed into your eyes, “I just want to talk to you, that’s it.” You knew deep down in your mind that being mean to him wasn’t going to solve anything. It didn’t stop you though. “You know what JB, I don’t owe you jack shit,” you seethed, “ I don’t need to tell you anything so regardless of what you have buried in your thick skull that I need to tell you about what you saw yesterday it’s wrong.” You could see the hurt in his eyes. You brushed his hand off your shoulder and turned around. “I don’t care about what you want John B.” You stalked off. After you turned around the street you felt a few tears slip down your face. Brushing them away, you kept on walking. You hopped none of them would follow. You knew you had been horrible, but at the moment you didn’t care.

Opening the chateaus screen door you kicked off your shoes. Walking into your room you set down your longboard and tossed your backpack onto your bed. You walked over to your window and moved the bedside table back over to its normal spot. You moved all the little trinkets that you moved earlier back to their original spot. You shimmied out of your shorts and pulled your shirt off. Throwing them into your closet to be dealt with later. Grabbing a towel out of your closet and snatching your sunglasses off of your dresser you decided that you would go for a small swim in the marsh since you didn’t get in the water this morning. Walking out through the back door you saw that John B.’s van wasn’t in the driveway. Good. He drove and probably gave the other pogues a ride. You would be able to tell when they came home and with luck, you would be able to make yourself less noticeable. Hopping on the deck of the pogue you moved to the side to make sure that the boat was anchored. After checking that it wasn’t going to launch itself into the water after you jumped off you walked to the bow. You pencil dived off and let the water wash over you and cool you down. Climbing back on you spread out your towel on the deck and laid down on top of it. You tossed your sunglasses next to you and you shut your eyes, you felt the sun kiss your skin and calm you down. You started to feel tired and found it hard to try and open your eyes. You let unconsciousness overtake you.

You felt cold droplets of something fall on your face. Groaning you threw your hand over your eyes trying to will yourself to fall asleep again. The droplets just switched to your stomach. Moving your hand you opened your eyes ready to grab your stuff and move to the hammock so the rain would stop hitting you and you could continue your nap. Turning over ready to grab your sunglasses you were greeted by three pairs of eyes and JJ with his hand outstretched ready to flick more water onto you. Shrieking you backed away and clutched at your chest trying to get yourself to calm down. “What the hell is wrong with the three of you?” You hissed. You watched Kie’s face move from a questioning glance to an angry frown. “What the hell is wrong with us,” she asked sarcastically, “What the hell is wrong with you (y/n).” After calming your breathing you sat up and glared at her. “What are you talking about, Kie?” You asked knowing that maybe for once playing dumb would actually work in your favor. “You know exactly what we’re talking about,” Pope chimed in. “You were super mean and rude to John B. when all he wanted to do was talk to you.” Pope glared at you. Folding your arms over your chest you looked at Kie in the eyes. “I don’t know what you want from me,” you replied. Kie sucked in a breath of air and opened her mouth but JJ set an arm on her shoulder to stop her. He looked at you. “We just want you to talk to him is all, what you said really hurt him.” He looked down at you. Your thoughts were turning. All you felt was unjust rage. You tried to shut your mouth. It didn’t work. “I don’t owe him, or any of you for that matter, anything.” You looked at each of them in turn. “I don’t know what it is that you think I need to say because unfortunately, you guys make a huge deal about the smallest things that go on in my life.” Kie’s eyes softened and she seemed ready to give you a small pep talk but that just fueled your fire. “I’m so done with each and every one of you-” once the words started coming you wished you could take them back- “you can’t make me talk to him and explain what he saw yesterday, maybe if he had half a brain he could just put two and two together and we could just avoid this altogether.” You breathed out. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I was trying to sleep.”

You grabbed your towel up from the ground and moved around the helm of the boat and stepped off onto the ground. You heard someone, probably Kie, move to try and follow you. You heard the footsteps stop and then some murmuring for a few seconds. Walking over to the hammocks you jumped up into one and wrapped yourself in your towel as if it was a blanket. You looked up at the trees and watched as the sunlight that made it through the canopy of leaves danced on the ground. You thought about everything you had said that day to your brother and his friends who were basically family and cringed. Sometimes you wished you could shut your mouth before you said anything. Or better yet just never talk at all. You heard crunches as someone approached you sat up to see who it was. When you saw JJ approaching you with a small frown on your face. You looked off to the side. He set his hand on the hammock. “Can I sit,” he asked. Opening and closing your mouth for a second you decided he would do it regardless of what you said. “Might as well,” you replied. Looking out again you felt him rub his hand over his face. “You realize that you’ve been a bitch right?” He folded his hands in his lap and stared at the side of your head. You realized that there were two routes you could go with your response. You could continue to be rude and succeed in your quest of becoming a professional jerk or you could just let go and accept that this wasn’t just some small thing that you could let go and pretend never happened. You decided that the latter would get you farther. “I know.” you looked down at the towel that had pooled around your waist. He grabbed your hand and cupped it around yours. “I understand that this is gonna be a difficult conversation for both of you but I can promise that he will be nothing but supportive.” He exhaled. “You know if he wasn’t we would kick his ass.” That got you to give him a smile. “How about this-” you turned to look up at him- “if you go talk to him we can all watch some chick flick together, you can pick.” You started to play with a loose thread at the bottom of his shirt. Deciding that it would be best to just go and apologize. “Where is he,” you asked quietly. “In his bedroom,” he glanced towards the bushes that were blocking his view to the boat, “I’ll keep them outside till you come to grab us for the movie.” You moved your hand away and pecked him on the cheek before jumping down.

Opening the back door you walked into your house. Passing the kitchen into the hallway that your brother and your bedrooms were in. Walking past his room you walked into your own and got dressed into some comfy clothes. Braiding your hair you tried to take as long as possible. When you finally finished and tied it off you decided that now was as good a time as ever. You reached for your door handle before you turned around and threw open your underwear drawer. Digging threw to the back you grabbed the small bisexual flag that Anna had given to you a few months back. Stuffing it in your pocket you shut your drawer and put your hand on the knob. Twisting you walked out and shut the door before you could stop yourself. The hallway seemed to almost double in length. You shut your eyes and walked down the hallway that you had memorized. Stopping in front of his door you raised your fist to knock. You hesitated. Maybe in the time, you had taken to change he had left to go to the store and it would be pointless to knock. Maybe he was asleep. Maybes swirled around in your head. Your hand fell. You stuffed it in your pocket and felt the fabric of your flag. You tried to control your breathing. In. Out. You knocked against the door twice before. Stepping back you leaned against the wall. You balled up the flag in your hand. You heard shuffling around before the door fell open and John B. looked at you with wide eyes. He moved aside and gestured for you to come in. Making your fist tighter you walked inside. You hovered by the door and made sure that it was cracked in case you needed to bolt. He sat down on the bed. You looked at him and felt a small frown grow on your face. “Aren’t you going to say something,” you asked already feeling a pit of dread grow in your stomach. He looked up at you and smiled. “I’m not going to say anything until it’s okay.” He gestured for you to come to sit on the bed. Walking over you sat as far away from him as possible. You were expecting the worse. You shut your eyes and gathered your thoughts. Finally, you looked over at him. “So I guess the cats already out of the bag,” you started. He made a keep going gesture with his hands. You knew it wouldn’t be that easy but you still had a very tiny sliver of hope. You were trying to think of how to best put your words together. “So the girl you saw me with, her name is Anna.” You started to play with your hands so that you wouldn’t have to look at him. “She’s my girlfriend.” You tried your hardest to keep your voice even. “I met her at school,” you were staring at the covers now trying to do anything to avoid his gaze. Looking over at the door to make sure that it was still cracked, you glanced up at him. Here came the hard part. “I’m-” you hesitated, if this went wrong that was it- “I’m bisexual, I like men and women.” He moved towards you. You tried really hard to not shy away. He pulled you into a hug. Hiding your face into his shoulder you felt a few tears start to slip down your face for the third time today. You felt something cold fall onto your forehead. Looking up from his shoulder you saw that he was crying too. You hugged for a while. “You know, if dad was here he would be really proud of you.” He peered down at you with a small smile. You leaned against him and tried to not start crying again. You cleared your throat. “You know everyone else is waiting for us to come to get them, so we should probably go do that.” He laughed. You moved away from him and heard the sheets rumple. You heard him stretch and crack his back. Picking up your gaze you saw that he was holding a hand out to you. Grabbing it and groaning you let him pull you up with little resistance. Stretching out you heard him play with his hands for a moment. “You do realize you need to apologize to everyone right,” he said with no hint of scolding. Breathing in deeply through your nose, you sighed. “I know,” you replied. You walked hand in hand to the back patio. He went first and opened the door. When you followed you saw everyone sit up a little straighter. John B. nudged you with his toe. You turned to glare at him for a second before you turned back to them. “I-” you got flashbacks from the entire day and cringed- “I’m sorry I was such a bitch today.” You tried to think of how to best phrase everything. “I shouldn’t have acted so childishly.” you started to talk with your hands. “I was upset and wasn’t thinking right.” You looked at each of them in turn. “I feel super horrible and I’m hoping you can forgive me.” You let your hands fall down to your sides. You saw them look at each other before they looked back at you. “You were forgiven the moment you walked out that door with your brother,” Kie replied giving you a tiny smile. You felt the relief flow through you. “Though I do believe I promised you a chick flick and it’s starting to get cold out here.” JJ gestured for you to lead the way inside. Opening the screen door you held it open for everyone as they all filed inside. John B. and Kie walked over to the kitchen to start making snacks. Pope and JJ started to fold away the pull out while you walked over to the small shelf of movies. Grabbing Dirty Dancing, you walked over to the small T.V. to set it up. After you popped the DVD in you stood up and brushed off your legs. Turning back around you saw a half of the blankets in the house had been pilled on the couch. Walking over to the kitchen you saw that Kie had set out the snacks on the counter and was smiling over at the setup the boys were trying to make. Smiling with her you walked over to the hallway. Reaching your room you grabbed your phone off the bedside table you texted Anna the good news. After a moment of thinking, you added that you were going to hang out with your family tomorrow. Walking back out to the living room you saw that they were all waiting for you. Going to sit on your usual spot on the end you felt a sharp tug before you realized you had been pulled into the middle of the couch. Seeing your brother glance down at you for a second before looking back at the screen. Snuggling into him you felt JJ rest his hand on your thigh and start to rub circles into your skin. You turned and saw that the sky had turned into a nice pink. Turning back to the screen you smiled thanking all your lucky stars you got an awesome family by choice. @beth-winchester21 @losers-club6

#john b x sister!reader #john b x reader #john b x y/n #jj x reader #jj x y/n #kie x reader #kie x y/n #pope x reader #pope x y/n #obx #outer banks #bisexual reader #oc tag #multipart #second part #baby pouge

66 notes · View notes

ooops-i-arted · 4 years

Text

Part 2 of Anon’s prompts, “Give me attention.”

Yod’ika 55 held out his hands, and the marbles he was holding slowly started to float up into the air, then circle around and around each other.

“I knew you could do it!” Din didn’t have his helmet on, and he was glad his son could see his smile, especially when Yod’ika 55 returned it. “That’s amazing.”

“I did it!” Yod’ika 55 threw his hands up in triumph, the marbles scattering as he lost focus. Din deflected one from Yod’ika hovering by his knee and reached out to pat Yod’ika 55’s head. “You did so good, ad’ika. You should be proud.”

Yod’ika 55 beamed, leaping forward into Din’s arms for a hug, which Din happily obliged. “I told you that you would get it if you practiced,” Din said.

“I did it, Papa!” repeated Yod’ika 55. “I did it!”

“Jate, jate, ad’ika,” said Din. Yod’ika 55 beamed and went off to chase down his marbles. Din started to stand, but was stopped by Yod’ika tugging on his pants. “Dad, I want to show you my picture.”

“When it’s your turn, Yod’ika.” Din had started the system of the children taking turns getting his undivided attention both for his own sanity and because Omera had said that learning how to take turns was good for social development and age-appropriate for the children. Din wouldn’t have objected even if there was no benefit, truth be told. He was pretty sure the only times he wasn’t being eternally called over by his children was when he was asleep or when he managed to escape to the ’fresher.

“But Dad,” whined Yod’ika, but Din shook his head, not wanting to let his eldest build up steam or he would never stop. “A few of your brothers already asked to show me something. Wait your turn.”

“It’s my turn now, Daddy!” chirped Yod’ika 22. He held up a piece of paper with red and yellow crayon marks scribbled all across it. “I drew Boga Jr.”

The picture only resembled the varactyl in the colors used, but Din studied it carefully anyway and nodded at his son. “It looks just like her. She’ll like it.”

Yod’ika 22 laughed. “She’ll just try to eat it again. Can I put it on her house?”

“Of course.” The little shelter Kuiil had constructed was currently covered in artwork, which was fine because Boga Jr. rarely used it, preferring Din’s bed to her own. It had become a play area for the kids instead, though they liked to include the varactyl in their games.

“My turn, Buir!” said Yod’ika 63, standing by an impressive block structure.

“I’m still showing Daddy!” snapped Yod’ika 22. He held up the paper again. “Can I go put it on Boga Jr.’s house right now?”

Din considered, but the area was very safe, he had a whole perimeter of warning sensors, and Omera had advised him to encourage small acts of independence. That, and Boga Jr. was somewhere outside and wouldn’t let the kids wander off, and Yod’ika 22 was not one of the ones inclined to wandering anyway. “Take one of your brothers with you, and come right back, but yes.”

“I’ll go with you,” said Yod’ika 3, and the two held hands and toddled off.

“Dad,” said Yod’ika, patting urgently at Din’s knee again, “Dad, I want to show you my picture now.”

“Wait your turn!” said Yod’ika 5. “You always try to cut!”

“Be nice,” Din reminded him.

“You have to wait,” said Yod’ika 10. “It’s Yod’ika 63’s turn, then Yod’ika 32, then mine, then yours.”

“Your brother is right,” said Din, patting his eldest son’s head. “Wait your turn.” Yod’ika pulled away, now closer to Yod’ika 63.

“Buir! Buir, come see my blocks!” said Yod’ika 63, hopping up and down with excitement. “I made a space station!”

Din had scarcely turned around when Yod’ika thrust out a hand, and the block structure crumbled and Yod’ika 63 was knocked onto his bottom. Instantly, and loudly, Yod’ika 63 burst into tears.

“Yod’ika.” For once, Din’s voice came out sounding stern. “That is not how you treat your brother.”

Yod’ika scowled defiantly at him.

Din scooped up Yod’ika 63. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said soothingly, rocking him close. As for his eldest, he scooped him up too, but carried him over to the basket in the corner that had been designated the Thinking Place and set him there. “You can stay here for a minute and think about how you are supposed to treat your vode.”

The noise level doubled as Yod’ika started wailing too.

Din forced himself to turn away, much as he didn’t want to, carrying Yod’ika 63 back to where his ruined block structure was. Omera had told him that rewarding negative behavior with excessive attention would only increase it, but Din had figured that out even before she confirmed it. All the children wanted Din’s attention and had difficulty waiting and Din was still teaching them. But Yod’ika went after Din’s attention like a nexu hunting prey, and didn’t much care who got in his way. Din wasn’t sure how to get it through his eldest’s head that his attention had to be shared.

Right now, though, Yod’ika 63 was the one who needed attention. “It’ll be all right,” Din told him, bouncing him a little and letting Yod’ika 63 wipe his face on Din’s shirt. “We can rebuild it.”

“I w-wanted t-to show it t-to you, Buir,” sobbed Yod’ika 63.

“Show me how you built it. We can make it again,” Din said, patting his back and reaching out for some of the blocks. “What’d you start with?”

“I can help too!” said Yod’ika 10, echoed by several of his brothers, including Yod’ika 22 and Yod’ika 3 as they returned from outside and rushed over. Suddenly there was a whole swarm of flapping green ears and helping hands; blocks flew through the air as the Yod’ike starting putting the tower back together. Yod’ika 63 sniffled, clinging to Din, but raised his hand and started adjusting the blocks as they stacked higher and higher.

Din glanced over at the corner. Yod’ika was sitting with his arms crossed, his tear-streaked face twisted in a miserable scowl. As soon as he saw Din looking, he started wailing again. Din turned away quickly, trying to tune out the miserable sound and the way it made his throat tighten.

The block structure was now rebuilt, the cluster of Yod’ike beaming proudly. Din scrambled to identify everything he wanted to praise. “It looks very good. Strong and sturdy. And it was kind of you to help your brother.”

Yod’ika 63 sniffled faintly, but scrubbed at his face with his sleeve and smiled. “Vor entye,” he said. “Thank you.”

“Let’s all play with it!” said Yod’ika 10, snatching up one of the plasticine figurines Omera had given them. His brothers agreed, Yod’ika 63 climbed off Din’s lap and jumped into play, and Din was able to stand and let them at it.

He glanced over at Yod’ika. He had stopped screaming again, and had his face pressed into the corner.

Yod’ika 10 and Yod’ika 32 were engaged in the block structure and were clearly not about to fuss about turns right now, so Din walked over to the Thinking Place and sat by his eldest. Yod’ika stubbornly pressed his face further into the corner.

“Yod’ika?” His eldest tried to scooch further into the corner. Din almost reached out but hesitated. “Yod’ika?” Din suppressed a sigh. It was so hard to know when to talk and when to give one of his children space. Doubly so when he knew he only had a minute before someone else was demanding his attention. “It’s your turn now,” Din said finally. “What’d you want to show me?”

Yod’ika leapt into his arms, crying, and Din held him close and patted his back. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” Din repeated. He spent half his day saying that, it felt like sometimes.

“D-D-Dad,” wailed Yod’ika. “I just wanted to show you m-my picture…”

“I know,” said Din, still patting his son’s back and hiking him up higher so Yod’ika could wrap his arms around Din’s neck. “I know you did. But all your brothers want to show me things too.”

Yod’ika sniffled, burying his face in Din’s collarbone, but Din pulled him away just enough to gesture at all the other children playing in the room. “This is your aliit. Your vode.” Yod’ika was the best at Mando’a and always liked it when Din used the language with him, and his ears were perking up a little. “Mhi me’dinuir. We share with our vode. And that includes time and attention.”

Yod’ika said nothing, leaning against Din’s shoulder.

“You would be very upset if all your brothers tried to take their turn when it was yours,” Din reminded him, taking one of Yod’ika’s little hands in his own. “You would be upset, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes. Elek,” said Yod’ika grudgingly.

“Go apologize to your brother. Then you can show me your picture.”

Din held his breath, half-expecting another tantrum, but after a moment Yod’ika hopped out of his arms and toddled over to Yod’ika 63. Din watched, unable to hear the words, but Yod’ika 63 smiled at whatever Yod’ika said and pointed at the blocks. Yod’ika shook his head and rushed back over to Din. “I ’pologized, Dad.”

“Jate, ad’ika.” Din patted his eldest son’s head. “Now, what did you want to show me?”

Yod’ika clambered into his arms. “Will you carry me, Dad?”

“Of course.” Din felt Yod’ika’s claws dig into his shirt, but his ears went up when he was up high and the only one with Din’s attention right now, like they usually did. Yod’ika’s tantrums were difficult, but at least soothing them was always easy.

Din carried him over to the little art table he’d fashioned for the kids - a flat thick board with holes drilled into it as places to put supplies and set him down. Yod’ika toddled past his few brothers still there, waving their artwork at Din; Din told them he would look in a moment and returned his attention to his eldest as Yod’ika brought over a still-wet painting and held it up for Din to see.

“That’s you, isn’t it?” asked Din, pointing at a green blob with two vaguely ear-shaped blobs coming out of its sides.

Yod’ika beamed. “Yes! You can tell?”

“Of course,” said Din, determinedly not glancing at the drawing Yod’ika 6 was waving in the air, a much more distinct self-portrait. The children had been educated at the lab, trained in fine motor skills even if the Kaminoans hadn’t encouraged creativity like Din tried to, but the effects were obvious when Yod’ika tried to draw as well as his brothers. He’d been trapped in the pod for so long, never encouraged to use his fingers or given the opportunity to handle a pen, and he was smart enough to realize that he was behind the others almost his age, no matter how much Din tried to downplay it. “It looks just like you.”

Yod’ika grinned broadly. “And I drew you too!” He pointed at another blob, this one a mix of gray and brown, but with a vague T-shape in black over it all. “It’s both of us!”

“I thought I was looking at a mirror,” Din said, and Yod’ika laughed. “What are we doing?” asked Din.

“I dunno,” said Yod’ika, shrugging. “I just wanted to draw us together.”

Without thinking, Din pulled Yod’ika back onto his lap and hugged him close. Children won’t say ‘Give me attention,’ Omera had told him. But they will find ways to ask.

“Mesh’la. It is a beautiful picture.” Din carefully helped his son hold it out so they wouldn’t be smeared with paint. “When it’s dry, can I hang it in my room?”

“Yes!” Yod’ika squealed in delight, jumping up to hug Din as best he could. “Elek! Elek!”

“Jate,” said Din, catching the painting before it smeared over his sleeve. “Are you done? Can I put it up to dry?”

“Yes!” said Yod’ika, and Din carefully held him as he stood and placed the painting to dry on the shelf that had been designated for that purpose. “Jate,” Din told him again, gently stroking one of the ears the way Yod’ika liked. The other children at the table were clamoring for him, and he turned to remind them to wait before returning his attention to his eldest. “Some of your vode want a turn to show me things now,” said Din. “You can go play, if you are going to be a good vod, or you can go back to the Thinking Place if you still need quiet.”

“I will be good, Dad.”

“Jate.” Din hugged him again, which Yod’ika returned before pulling himself up to press his forehead against Din’s. Din smiled, gently bumping their heads together before finally setting down his son and watching him hurry over to join his brothers at the blocks.

“Papa, look,” said someone at the art table. “I painted myself!”

Translation: give me attention, Din thought before turning around to deal with the next issue.

#couldn't pry off the teacher hat for this one whoops. let's say din is a lvl 20 parent by now #anyway if you've ever wondered what my work day is like it's like 75% this #101 yoditos au #the mandalorian #fic #requests #anon

32 notes · View notes

thethirdwheel404 · 4 years

Text

Med Rewatch Series (#5)

S3 e3: Trust Your Gut. From what I remember this is a big one. I just remember this episode title honestly but we’ll see what happens.

-look at that! ava’s just casually in this scene, minding her own business, doing her job! you would never guess that this is a character who would later have a psychotic break and commit suicide.

-that’s really the point i’m trying to make. I hate all those posts where they’re like ‘i hated ava before, but season 4 has finally shown her true colors’ like not even?? no??? we’re trying to prove that that was never even a thing. i want to eliminate the possibility of s4 happening from your minds. nothing from s3 should ever be used as foreshadowing. that’s what the rewrite is about, ava being a good character. ava was never going to commit suicide. she was never gonna go psychotic. that should be ingrained in everyone’s minds.

-anyways, back to the episode.

-connor takes everything like a personal attack. relax

- i never realized how fun stoll was. like obviously not in the story but as a character he’s hilarious. unattached by everyone else’s drama

-awww. this maggie interaction is amazing. tapping sarah on the shoulder (neck actually but whatever) just to say hi. adorable. and sarah is already super jumpy. come on. her anxiety is already setting in. they really gave sarah two huge storylines in the same season.

-maggie... no one else would ever slash sarah’s tires. i mean honestly

-WHY DOES CONNOR HAVE TO CONTROL OF EVERYTHING - honestly ava was just reading off the chart and he can’t even let her do that he has to take over just to say the same things.

-and the way ava just takes it with her smug smile

-she is such a strong character there is no reason she would have gone crazy over connor she literally needs nothing from him.he has not ever had anything that she needed.

- SHE’S JUST ROLLING HER EYES, SMIRKING, AND SHAKING HER HEAD AT THIS INSECURE MAN ava I love you.

-okay there’s no way i can explain it but after rolling her eyes at connor Ava turns and looks at the patient and instantly her face changes and you can see such pure concern in her eyes?? s4 ava could never (can someone please rb with a picture of what i’m talking about? it’s uncanny and so so sincere.)

- she’s in control of her emotions. she cares so much for her patients so don’t even try to play that card. the only thing connor has done literally since she got here is get in her way.

-AND CONNOR LOOKS AT HER WITH SUCH DISTRUST AND CONTEMPT. TELL ME HOW. this is insane. exasperating.

-and the way she smiles and comforts the patient. i mean come on. she’s just so amazing. AND COMFORTING. if ava really was as heartless as people say, she wouldn’t take the effort to do that. connor didn’t even do that, he just scowls at ava.

-which just proves my point, ava is only ever mean to people who she thinks deserve it. and, the more that I think about it, she’s never really actually mean. sure, she’s blunt and rude, but never cutting. she’s nice to her patients (and I know what you’re going to say, it’s not because she has to be. she’s a doctor, she still wants to help people). but when her patients are dicks, she’s not nice to them. she’s as snarky with as she’s professionally allowed to be.

-like, take this guy. he seems nice enough. he’s funny, polite, comes across charming, so ava is nice and is polite back to him.

-let’s move on.

-why is connor always so suspicious of ava. come on. he’s the one who should be sus. she literally said ‘Don’t worry, Ray, we’ll take good care of you’ and he’s giving her this weird side eye.

-ethan and will being in this board meeting is really adorable to me. like, just, bros.

-oh godddd sarah please relax. sweetie. please.

-sarah fucking tranqed him oh my god

-oh my god noah asking people for help literally shut the fuck up

-straight people are gross. not to hate but how does anyone sit through manstead

-connor literally needs to chill. I know this bit (they’re arguing over menial things in surgery) plays more to them just picking on each other, pulling each other’s pigtails on the playground if you will (i didn’t like that analogy but I used it anyway), but if you look at it, ava was only trying to help connor (suggesting a wider possible target and an easier to handle stitch) and connor took it wayyy to personally. sure the second bit of advise is just poking at him, but she suggested a better spot on the base and he shut her down without any thought.

-and then latham points out that there is no point in arguing, to which ava defers, then connor snidely says ‘Thank you, Doctor, Now, how about from here on out we keep the background noise to a minimum’ and ava just shakes her head, scoffing.

-at this point ava just likes annoying connor because its fun. it’s entertaining. he gets so upset. everyone’s done that, just be annoying for fun (its bad to say but i mean come on everyones done it)

-another point, ava immediately deferring to latham might read to some as her being a suck up but that’s not what it is.

-ava really likes seeing how close to the line she can get. she goes right up to it, but she never crosses it. the same is true with her interactions with other people outside of surgery.

-I really like this story of the girl who passed out and hit her head, and her brother’s a wreck, and her parents obviously think the brother’s a disappointment. and it was finals week so of course she wasn’t taking care of herself. and the brother knew that, and you can tell he cares so much and feels so bad. it’s nice

-complication on the surgery they were working on. ava comes in with a solution (off of connor’s mistake during surgery after not following her advice) but I have a sneaking suspicion that by the end connor will be back on top

-the effort it took connor to say ‘it’s a good idea’ come on man just fucking let it go

-i’m glad we’ve all agreed that connor’s just a dick

-aw look at that she even held the door for him. connor would never

-i don’t want to overly push the ‘med is sexist’ thing but how is it that in a storyline between nat and ethan, characters who have never been romantically involved, they still pull the woman thinks one thing, man refuses to believe it and is right dynamic. i mean come on med seriously. what the fuck is wrong with you.

-the look of annoyance and disbelief on ava’s face that connor hadn’t actually messed up. comedic, but also i get your pain.

-glad that latham sides with ava, ava advocating for a riskier procedure so they could ensure the blockage is removed)

-(something could be said about ava’s high-risk, high-reward ideals. you could even draw the parallel to events in s4 and s5, even though I really don’t want to. it’s an interesting and notable character trait to say the least)

-YOOOO I FORGOT HOW METAL THE PSYCH STORY GETS

-dude straight up cuts his abdomen open and his intestines spill out

-the fear and shock and emotion on sarah’s face make me feel so bad for her

-WAIT IS THIS THE EPISODE WHERE SHE LOSES THE END OF THE INSTRUMENT? IS THAT WHAT THIS IS? i am not prepared to watch an ava bekker breakdown rn.

-the shock on ava’s face when connor said nice job.

-ava actually tried to apologize to connor. well, not apologize but she feels a little bit bad for just how abrasive she’s been to connor. (connor didn’t necessarily have to make it super competitive). Ava said “Look, I know i have the tendency to step on toes. it’s nothing personal”

-and now they’re not arguing and are this close to actually working like a team

-and i cannot believe connor’s big one-liner is ‘Murphy’s law’

-the emotion on april’s face when the girl’s parents won’t even let her brother grieve for her. I feel it. astounding. its so painful omg

-ava: “your optimism is enchanting.” when i was writing earlier I was worried I wasn’t being accurate with her dialogue and making it sound too overly formal but i guess I nailed it. also, this line reinforces how much I love her (so does every other line)

-connor just refusing to give ava anything, no credit, no nothing. doesn’t even give her credit for earning the surgery saying “you may have elbowed your way onto the case, but he is still my patient” (I JUST TRANSITIONED INTO A QUOTE SO SMOOTHLY WHY CANT I DO THAT IN MY LANG RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ESSAYS YOU’RE KIDDING)

-hey it’s joey!

- i can appreciate him so much more when he’s not chasing after reese

-do you remember their first meeting? bickering over who gets the last splenda? (real meet cute amirite)

-dr. charles remarking how all the scientific advances can’t beat human instinct, nice little tie in to the episode title

-ava just smiling while connor waits for her to apologize. she. takes. no. shit.

-i literally hate connor’s face so much. it fucking looks predatory like stop looking at her like that. it’s almost like you were planning her psychotic break

-ava’s cunning, saying ‘we’ instead of ‘i’ when talking about the decisions being made. she’s smart. she knows what to do. She knows how to present herself. (and yeah, a little hypocritical that she said to connor ‘when you fail, I will make sure that it is noted that it was your fault and not mine,’ but like I said, she just knows how to present herself)

-latham: “Dr. Bekker seems to enjoy this discordance.”

-rhodes’ face when changing his mind and saying ‘maybe I do’ when asked if he enjoyed it too - he literally makes the dumbest faces. please. stop. (is it a straight people thing?)

Alright. Another episode down. 17 to go. This was actually a pretty good episode all around. Ava took none of connor’s shit and you’d have to squint to find any sort of romantic subtext in their interactions, which is huge win in my book. reese’s storyline wasn’t too bad, she didn’t go through too much trauma, which, the bar for watching med is incredibly low i guess. This was a really good episode for ava. like I said before, very little romantic subtext, and she had a redeeming quality in the way she obviously cared for her patient at the beginning of the episode.

The main point is something I’ve been reiterating again and again. Ava cares about her patients. Ava is mean to connor because she knows someone needs to put him in his place, and she is glad that it is her.

All in all, this was a pretty good Ava episode. Very happy.

thanks for sticking with it.

read the rest here:

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Extra

#chicago med #med rewatch series #mine #trust your gut

6 notes · View notes

logicallyidiotic · 4 years

Text

Just a little story I was inspired to write by one of @atomiktaco posts! Had fun with this and I hope you enjoy! Here is the post that inspired it!

Remus walked into his apartment after work, exhausted but excited. He was planning on going to explore an old abandoned mall on the south side of town. He had been there a few times before, but he still had a floor to explore. He wanted to take Virgil with him so the poor ghost wasn't left alone longer than he had been and so Remus had someone else with him.

Once he made it to his room, where he had left the jacket, he saw Virgil appear on the bed, where he seemed to be sleeping. Remus grabbed a change of clothes and went into the bathroom to change. After he came back out, he put Virgil's hoodie on, causing the ghost to wake.

"Finally, you're home. I thought you were supposed to come back for lunch?" Virgil grumbled, stretching his arms. Remus rolled his eyes as he walked out of the room and to the kitchen, with his ghost friend floating behind him.

"That was the plan but the store ended up swamped. Barely had time to eat." Remus explained, pulling out a microwave meal. The two spoke for a few minutes about their days as Remus made his food and quickly ate. The excitement was starting to set in, not going unnoticed by Virgil.

"Alright, what's got you all giddy? You're brother finally give you a call?" Virgil asked, brow raised. At the mention of his brother, Remus groaned in annoyance. He did not want to talk about him right now.

"For your information, Roman and I had lunch last week. I'm 'giddy' because we're going to explore an abandoned mall once I'm done eating." Remus growled. He loved his ghost buddy, but if he mentions his brother again Remus might just have to leave the ghost at home for a week.

At the mention of an abandoned mall, Virgil's interest was peaked. The two hadn't been able to go explore much due to Remus having to work double shifts at work. The store waa currently low on employees and Remus owed the owner. To say Virgil was excited would be an understatement.

"Really? What mall?" He asked, a small smile appearing on his pale face. He didnt want to seem as happy as he was, but there was no hiding all of it. Remus noticed the ghost's excitement though, having gotten pretty good at figuring out how the ghost was feeling. Leaning back in his chair with his arms holding the table, he said "Pearsons, the one by the museum on the south side."

Virgil knew that mall. He had been a few times while he was alive, but he only spent a decent amount of time there once. He had gotten the supplies for his jacket there. "How long has it been closed?" Virgil asked.

Remus shrugged, not really knowing exactly. "Maybe, at most 15 years? I dont think it's been that long though." It certainly wasnt the oldest abandoned place he's been to but it was still fun to explore and skate around in.

Remus stood from his chair, stretching his back, satisfied when he heard the quiet pops from his joints. Virgil cringed at the sound, but said nothing about it. As Remus went to put his shoes on and grab his skateboard, the ghost floated through the wall into the bedroom and turned the light off. Remus had a tendency to forget about the lights.

"Virge, come on! I wanna show you around the place!" Remus called from the door. With the rill of his eyes, Virgil quickly floated to the door, accompanying the excited male.

Within twenty minutes the two were at Pearsons mall, Remus going through one of the broken windows on the ground floor. There werent many people who patrolled the area, but they still needed to be careful and not overly loud.

"So there's the main entrance," remus said, pointing at the bearded up doors "and the stairs up are right there, which we will be going up to the third floor" he finished, pointing at a far wall to their left. With a hum of acknowledgement from Virgil, remus started jogging to the stairs, making sure Virgil wasnt being pulled too much by the jacket, seeing as he's connected to it. Once at the stairs, Remus was quick to sprint up them, arriving on the third floor in just a few minutes.

"This is the only floor I have yet to explore. And I know for a fact that somewhere up here is a ramp that goes to wach level, I saw it last time. Now let's explore!" Remus exclaimed, throwing his skateboard down and starting to skate towards the different rundown shops. Virgil chuckled and did his best to keep up with Remus, feeling the tug from his jacket occassionally. He did have to float through walls to catch up sometimes, but what's the problem with a few shortcuts?

After maybe ten minutes of exploring, Remus suddenly stopped, causing Virgil to zoom past him, only to be tugged all the way back, falling through the floor. The ghost groaned as he came back up, growling "Why the hell did you stop? And without warning me!"

Remus didnt answer, looking into a certain store. Virgil moved his gaze to where Remus was looking, only to freeze completely. Laying inside the store was a large number of stray dogs, and they did not look pleased with the presence of the two people. Whether the dogs could sense Virgil or not, they definitely didnt want Remus there.

"Remus, I think it's time for you to go. These pups don't look happy." Virgil whispered, despite knowing the dogs couldn't hear him. Remus nodded, slowly stepping back as the dogs stood, growling at him. With slowly and careful movements, Remus prepared to skate again, placing a foot on the ground and the other on the board. He saw the dogs ears perk up with any sound he made, quiet or not. He took a breathe and pushed off the ground, propelling himself and the board down the hall.

With the sound and quick movement of what Remus had done, the dogs took off running after him. Virgil floated after Remus, anxiety settling deep in his stomach. He looked ahead of Remus and cut through walls, looking for something to move that may help. Suddenly, he spotted a stack of boxes that he might be able to knock over. He turned towards the direction Remus was coming from and yelled "This way! Hurry up!"

Remus followed Virgil's instructions, zooming past him. Just after Remus passed, Virgil managed to knock the boxes over, though it used a lot of his energy. The dogs either ended up under the boxes as the crashed down on the, or ran into other dogs, causing a crash. Despite the dogs being stopped temporarily, Remus kept going. He caught sight of the ramp he'd been looking for and turned towards it, slowling down slightly so he didnt crash at the bottom.

Virgil was with him in seconds, yelling "get your ass down that ramp! That wont stop them long!" And with that, Remus was flying down the ramp. It wasnt steep, but it certainly wasnt gentle either. Remus' hair flew out of his face as Virgil's jacket flapped behind him. Even with the dogs chasing him, Remus smiled the entire way down. Virgil was close behind him, enjoying seeing his friend happy, but also still extremely worried for his friend.

They made it to the bottom floor in no time, still able to hear the dogs. Remus looked back and saw them at the top of the ramp and fearfully kicked off the ground again. He jumped through the window just as the dogs made it down the ramp, running a bit away, looking behind him for the dogs and Virgil every few seconds.

They stopped at a park a few blocks away, Remus panting and Virgil still looking around in fear. On all the little adventures they've had in these 6 months they'd known each other, they hadn't been chased by dogs. Chased by other things, yes. But not dogs.

"You owe me for the anxiety you just gave me." Virgil said, looking down at his panting friend. Remus only glared in response, earning a chuckle from Virgil. Once he regained his breath, Remus grumbled "I dont owe you shit. But if it'll keep you from teasing me about running like a coward then I will let you pick what's on TV tomorrow."

That made Virgil's face light up, but he quickly tried to cover it up. "Really? I, uh, mean cool. I'm cool with that" he said. Remus shook his head at his friends antics, grabbing his skateboard and starting to walk away.

"Let's get home ghost boy."

#remus sanders #ts remus #virgil sanders #ts virgil #fanfic #ghost virgil #sanders sides au #sanders sides fic

9 notes · View notes

cowboyshit · 4 years

Text

Stay the Night

I started writing this lil ficlet awhile back, right around Revolution. I decided to write a purely smut-filled one-shot just for indulgence sake, where a FOC would basically use sex to "take care” of Adam and make him feel a little better. Since I like using FOC’s who I’ve already established whenever I can, I figured Fawna Rose from Some Real Cowboy Shit fit the bill for this one perfectly. There’s a little angst as we catch up on why these two aren’t together, but for the most part this ficlet is purely self-indulgent smut.

Ship: Hangman Adam Page x Fawna Rose (FOC)

Summary: After their initial encounter, Adam and Fawna started to get close. Close enough that she was pulled in to the storm of his insecurities and, not able to handle the idea of not being the only man in her life, they decided to stop seeing one another. However, the night after Revolution, even though Adam and Kenny won and beat the Young Bucks, Adam finds himself holed up alone in his hotel room, drinking. Lonely. He makes a stupid, drunk decision and despite what unsolved aches lay between himself and Fawna, he decides the only thing that can help him is the chance to see her again.

Rating: NC-17 (Gratuitous smut)

Warnings: Alcohol use, smut

Length: 5,982 words

Available below the cut

There was still a ringing in his ears. An ache in his chest. No matter how much he drank, he couldn’t get it out of his head. The footage on the titantron in front of him. Matt, Nick, and Kenny. All three poised to superkick him after he and Kenny won the tag team titles.

Kenny. The man who held the other half of the tag team titles alongside Adam himself.

But it was supposed to matter that they didn’t kick him, right?

That’s what he kept telling himself. Beer after beer. Shot of whiskey after shot of whiskey. It was becoming apparent that no amount of drunkenness was going to ease what was burning in his heart and that was when, drunk, a careless, reckless, and absolutely stupid idea popped into his head.

There was a sharp and sudden clatter as his clumsy, big hand swept a little too hard and tipped one empty beer can to crash into three more, sending them bouncing off the coffee table and onto the floor below. He muttered a curse and looked at the mess, noticing a few splatters of beer had spilled out and were soaking into the carpet. Unable to care enough to do anything about it, he made a nose of discontent in his mouth that was something like a grumble and returned to what he’d been trying to grab: his phone.

The bright screen made him wince as he unlocked it, but he soldiered on, mind set on one conquest and unwilling to give in until it did what was necessary. He navigated (with difficulty) to his contacts, scrolled, and clicked her name.

FAWNA ROSE

Their last text conversation popped up, long bubbles of thoughts they’d sent back and forth over a month ago, and her last words to him shone vivid and bright. He knew what they said – he’d read this conversation enough to memorize it – but he still forced his eyes to focus and read them again.

If you can ever find it in your heart to accept my situation, I’m here. Until then, I don’t think we should talk or see each other anymore. We’re just hurting ourselves by dragging this out Adam, and it isn’t fair to either of us. I care about you.

I care about you.

He sucked in a hard breath and held it, broad chest lifted and lungs slowly beginning to ache. His eyes ran over those four words one more time and he exhaled in a heavy, sudden breath. Too drunk to think through what he was doing he clicked her name, clicked audio, and clicked the button to call her. He held the phone against his ear and stared wordlessly out the window from his hotel room and tried to keep his breathing low and slow. He didn’t know what he was going to say when she picked up (if she picked up). He didn’t know why he was calling.

Yeah, he did.

The phone clicked and the ringing stopped but didn’t roll into the voicemail recording. She was there on the other line, but she hadn’t said anything. He pressed the phone a little harder to his ear, wanting her close, wanting to hear her breathing. His lonely heart ached and not just for the way he missed her, but for everything. For himself. The loneliness that chased his lashing out at men he’d once called brothers. The emptiness that no amount of alcohol seemed to fill, try as he might. The sting at the words echoing back at him in real time, with Nick’s and Matt’s voices, joining that of his insecurities and making it all harder to fight and to ignore.

“Adam?” She spoke first after enough silence passed between them.

He inhaled, tried to say something – even something as little as a hello – but found his throat was suddenly too tight to work anything through it at all. That air he sucked in hitched, betraying the shaky way he was struggling to hold his composure.

“Text me your hotel and room number, okay?” There was a gentility to her tone that stung his eyes with tears and made him pinch the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb to hold them at bay. The ache inside was a chasm ripped asunder and it begged to be filled with the care she so freely gave him. “Adam?”

“Okay,” he barely managed to speak, voice hoarse. He cleared his throat after and tore the phone away, ending the call with his heart pounding hard and his inebriated mind spinning.

After sending her the hotel and his room number, Adam glanced around and lumbered to his feet. His large frame swayed with instability, but he started to snatch and shove discarded towels and clothes around the room in an attempt to tidy up. He wasn’t necessarily a slob, and it was hard to make a hotel room messy after just a day when you spent your time in it completely alone, but drunken carelessness had him less clean than he’d normally be. He knew Fawna worried about him, too. Wouldn’t do for her to come in and see a bunch of beer cans lying carelessly around.

He didn’t call her because he wanted her pity, nor did he want to be lectured.

They’d gotten close after their first encounter. Close enough that she knew what he was going through. Close enough that when he started letting the fear of everyone close to him turn on him become true, he’d taken that out on her, too. Because he didn’t like that someone he was beginning to get real feelings for was already married. Because he was already feeling inferior everywhere else in his life, and no matter how many times she explained polyamory and her unique situation, he couldn’t shake the voice in his head that reminded him with her, he’d always be second.

Always second.

He was so tired of being second. Or third. Or fourth. Or fifth.

When the fuck was it finally going to be time for him to be first?

There was a knock on the door and Adam jerked, realizing he’d been standing in the middle of the hotel room, holding the television remote, staring off into space as he drifted in and out of painful, misery-fueled thoughts and inebriated numbness. Shaking himself back to reality he glanced at the remote, frowned, and set it on the hotel entertainment center before making his way to the door. His weight lurched and he struck a palm on the door to steady his body and keep from toppling over. It was then he realized he hadn’t thought to put on a shirt and hesitated, just briefly before he slid his hand down the flat surface to the handle, pulling it open and glancing down his front at her.

Seeing her after a month of no contact brought up feelings he didn’t have the mental stability or sobriety to process. He sucked in a breath and tried to think about what to say, but his drunk tongue took over and robbed him of the chance to save face.

“I miss you.” His brow pinched, and he swallowed back hard.

“I know.” She said, but gently, like she was cradling him carefully, minding his current fragility to keep him from shattering apart. Her autumn brown eyes on his put butterflies in his stomach and made him sway where he stood. Did she see the way she affected him? “I miss you too.” She admitted, volume a little smaller, like she knew she wasn’t supposed to say it but understood how badly he needed to know that. He felt guilty, then, making her go against everything she’d explained to him about how they couldn’t see one another unless everyone was on-board and okay with their situation.

He worried she was going to ask him if he’d changed his mind. His bleary blue eyes jumped with sudden sharpness between hers, waiting for it.

“Can I come in?” She asked instead, gesturing to the hotel room behind him he was blocking with his thick figure.

“Oh, yeah.” He said quick, stumbling back and out of her way. Adam held the door as she walked inside and then turned to close it, back to her as he tried to sort through everything and get a better hold of himself. Calling her here had been a drunk mistake, but he was still too drunk to take responsibility and send her home. He had her here. He needed her.

Adam turned around, hoping when his gaze met hers, he’d have a stroke of brilliance and know just what to say. “Fawna, I –”

“Shh,” she said, effectively quieting him as he frowned in confusion. Fawna drew close enough to lay her palm over his heart, and a smile tilted the edges of her full, sinfully kissable lips. “I can feel how hard your heart is beating,” she whispered, and it sounded like a roar in his ears with the way his blood rushed.

“Wait. I can’t do this to you.” He’d lifted his hands to pull hers off him but let his fingers curl around hers and was holding her hand between them. “I still don’t think I like the thought of sharing you, I just…” Words failed him because he knew he was wrong. He knew it was wrong to ask her to stay anyways, to let them keep complicating things because he just wanted to feel good for a minute.

He was using her the same way he used alcohol.

“Adam, it’s okay.” She said, surprising him. He frowned at her and she slowly pulled her hand away from his.

She pressed her fingers onto his chest and though she didn’t have the strength to physically move him, he allowed himself to be moved at her insistence and stumbled backward until she had them turned with his back pointed toward the bed. When he glanced questioningly at her, she raised one dark, shaped brow as if to say: Do you really want to fight me on this right now?

It was easy to give in since it was what he wanted. Adam let her guide him backwards until he fell on the bed, and when he tried to speak as her hands went to his belt buckle, she clicked her tongue with gentle chiding and let their eyes meet.

“Let me take care of you tonight, Adam.” She said.

Fawna waited for his nod, and relief swept immediately through his body. He laid back on the pillows and breathed hard through his nose as she released the tension of the belt, snapping the buckle and pulling the strap through. The sound of his jean zipper tugged down overpowered the jingle of her leaving his belt undone, and he groaned deep in his throat as she slipped her fingers beneath the elasticity of his boxer-briefs and wrapped her fist firm around his cock. The blood was rushing to fill it quickly, and he pressed his chin to his chest and watched with desperate eyes as she gave him that little smile that claimed innocence even as she behaved licentiously.

“Ohh,” he squeezed tight passed clenched teeth, “fuck.” A quick hiss sucked air hard into his lungs as she dipped and put her soft, wet mouth over the head of his cock and slipped him down her tongue. His body tensed and his hips arched upward, greedy, stuffing more of his inches and stretching her lips wide around his girth. His fingers curled and dug hard into the comforter over the hotel bed and his eyes, wild, jumped over the top of her head and watched her please him.

A desperate, shaking hand unclenched the grasp it had on the comforter and moved instead for her hair. He pushed the strands out of her face, wanting to have a clear line of sight to his cock bulging her cheek at the same time he felt it running between her tongue and the warm, ridged roof of her mouth, the tip pushing between the warm wet walls of her throat before she pulled back up. His groans filled the room and mixed with the little wet noises of her lips and tongue servicing his cock.

A little pop as she pulled up off his head, sucking back the saliva that left it glistening.

“Feels good, baby?” She purred, and Adam’s fingers slipped to frame the back of her head, curling tight around the strands.

“Mhm,” he grumbled, nodding as he pushed her head down, eagerly wanting her mouth on his cock again.

That soft, wet tongue of hers knew just how to stroke the skin, just where to curl and flick the sensitive lip of the head of his cock, and as badly as Adam wanted to keep watching her he was victim to the way his eyes rolled back in his head. Fingers still curling in her hair – pulling the strands a little too hard, his knuckles gone white – he pushed her down further and further, stuffing his cock inside her warm mouth until her lips kissed the base. He felt her struggle to hold his cock so deep and pictured the way they’d look from the side, where he’d be able to see the bulge of its shape down her throat. She choked again, body jerking, tender, wet skin squeezing his girth and making him moan deep in his chest.

Adam’s eyes snapped forward and he released the pressure of holding her down, watching as she slipped quickly up, little bits of spit bridged between her lips and the head of his leaking, desperately red cock. As she brushed the saliva away, Adam’s eyes traced the wetness glistening over her eyes and admired the way they shone in the soft white hotel light coming from the bedside lamp. He liked it like this - lights on - able to watch and see everything.

Fawna curled her fingers around his erection and used her spit and his precum as lubricant as she stroked with perfect pressure. Adam’s chin jutted outward, jaw clenched tight as another desperate, heavy moan ripped through his lungs and pressed between his teeth. She bent and he felt the tip of her tongue run down the blood-filled veins of his shaft toward his balls, and when she latched her lips around them and sucked the tender skin of his sac he made a desperate sound and curled his fists hard into the sheets at his side. Sweat dappled his forehead, sticking his crown of blond curls to his skin.

“Oh fuck, Fawna, baby,” he panted heavy and fought to keep his eyes forward when all they wanted to do was roll back again.

“Mmm, mhmmm,” she moaned and murmured while still sucking and licking the most sensitive, pleasurably spots, fingers rolling over the tingling, needy head of his cock. She sent vibrations through his cock as she did it and caused him to glance desperately down his body toward her head bent between his legs.

“Wait, wait,” he breathed heavily, like he’d just finished performing an intense match in the ring, his large sweat-damp and lightly blond-hair dusted chest rising and falling with staggered breaths. As Fawna slowly pulled her mouth off him and looked with confusion, Adam was sure to move quick and shoved at his denim jeans to push them further down his thighs. He wanted them off, same with his boots and socks. Once Fawna realized this she pushed his hands away - she’d said she wanted to take care of him - and undressed him herself.

She slipped off the bed and when his glazed eyes followed her with helpless confusion she answered with a little curve to her smile and slowly started to undress herself. “Stay put,” she commanded with a sweet murmur, and practically peeled the material off her skin inch by inch until his blood was roaring in his ears and the beat of his heart was pounding distinct enough to count. His fingers curled into the reprieve of the comforter again, needing to grab something since she’d told him he wasn’t allowed to reach for her. Hungry blue eyes nearly gone black, void of any softness they could otherwise have, ate up his delectable little treat as she - at last - peeled the lace lavender bra she wore and dropped it to the side. She curled her fingers in the elastic of her matching panties and made sure to turn about as she slipped them down and off her body so he’d have ample view of her ass as she did it.

It made him growl, more beast than man. His ass clenched as his hips lifted instinctually upward, wishing they were buried between those thighs he couldn’t pull his gaze from.

When she returned to kneel on all fours between his spread legs, she bent and angled her head inward, laying a slow, lingering, sensual kiss against the inside of his thigh. She trailed those affectionate, sweet touches up his skin to where his cock jerked and twitched, so hard it almost hurt, pre-cum beading and dribbling desperately down its head.

After pausing to wet her fingers she began to service him again, being careful to let off when it was clear she was building him too quickly toward the peak. The tease - the way she edged him - was the most glorious torture he’d ever experienced. He fought the instinct to put his hands on her hair and hold his cock in her throat until he made her gag on his cum by instead bruising her body with how rough he handled her. He grabbed fistfuls of the soft fat over her hips before he ran his calloused palms down her chest and over her nipples, pinching and pulling them just enough to make her squeak in that way that made a smug grin push into his round cheeks.

His sac sucked tight to the base of his cock as she bobbed her head in a quick, rapid motion over his sensitive, throbbing head. He felt the tight curl in his abdomen for the fourth time that night and his thighs tensed, the hard muscles beneath the natural fat showing. Fawna, used to the way his body communicated during sex, popped her lips off his head just before it was too late. He groaned long and low, mixed with an almost growl-like noise of frustration as his hips arched up and his cock leaked desperately, but he still didn’t cum.

“Are you trying to kill me, woman?” His voice was strained. Weak. He was a mess of heavy breaths and a sweat-sticky body.

And she smiled that little smile with her lips red and swollen from how they’d sucked and licked at his cock for so long. That playful little innocent seeming smile that told you she knew she wasn’t pure at all. It made his eyes dark with hunger and his fingers cramp, wanting to curl hard into her skin and flex his strength over her. She leaned back on her calves, sitting upright between his legs, and slowly wiped the little glisten of saliva and precum from her lips before she fixed her eyes on him again.

“Of course not, baby. I’m just enjoying you.”

A shiver of pleasure rushed down his spine and a flood of pride filled his body. That was something Fawna did well from the very beginning; make him feel important. Needed. She could be anywhere in the world, even back home, with her husband, but she wanted to be here, squished between his hairy, thick thighs, making him writhe and moan and nearly cum before letting off and going again, drawing everything out for as long as they physically could.

“Besides,” she said, tone playfully matter-of-fact as she started to climb up him, knees on the mattress at either side of his hips, drawing her eyes back up to his, “those moans of yours have me drenched, and you’re not going to finish until you’re inside me.” His nostrils flared, jaw clenching tight enough to make the muscle jump beneath his closely trimmed blond beard.

She pressed back on his thick cock, the head slipping between her pussy lips but not yet allowed inside. He could feel the truth - how wet she was - and it made him groan as his cock slid up with ease between them and rubbed her clit. She ran her hips back and forth, slow and languid, teasing her clit to rise and making herself whimper and moan above him. Adam’s fingers bit into her hips and drove the pace a little faster, wanting to milk more and more of those trembles out of her body and hear those needy little cries she couldn’t help but make.

Fuck, she was so wet. He could feel it coating their thighs; sticky.

Before she could make herself cum by rubbing his cock over her clit, Fawna pulled her hips up and reached back, positioning him so that when she sat back, the leaking, red head of his erection buried an inch inside her. She sank her hips slowly; down, down, down until he was comfortably lodged deep and they both stilled for a moment, adjusting to the way they breathed with shaky, desperate breaths. She ran her hands down his bare chest and started to move, rocking her body slowly to stroke his cock a few inches in and a few inches out. She was building him again, content to make his head spin and keep his only focus on the love and sex that filled the space between and around them.

The moan from his chest was deep and yearning. He arched his hips up as she sank down, and his fingers readjusted where they gripped her. He was trying to reach through fat, through muscle, to bone. She moaned and Adam felt he’d never heard a sound that made him happier. The way her cries bounced off the corners of the hotel room and reverberated back, tangling with his own passionate grunts, the shifting of their bodies atop the sheets, was driving him toward a lack of control. He wanted it all, then and there. He wanted to flip them around so she was beneath his shadow, he wanted to push his palms hard against her thighs and roll her hips up until her knees touched her temples. He wanted to drive his hips hard and fast into her over and over and over until he bruised her and left her aching for days. This possessive beast inside him was nearly impossible to deny, and his hands gripped tighter on her hips, his own driving faster up into her. He forced his eyes open, though they wanted to clench shut from the pleasure tingling through his entire body, and watched the way her face pinched in pleasure, lips caught wide open, their edges still glistening wet from when she’d been servicing his cock.

He grunted and drove his hips up harder, readjusting his grip on her hips, happy to see the red and white marks of his hands in the fat there. Would it bruise? He hoped so. He hoped she’d have the marks of his fingerprints in black and blue across that pretty flesh, and think about this moment. How good it felt to have him deep inside her, stretching her.

Suddenly, she resisted him. Before concentrating, Adam was the hive of restless need, and only forced his grip on her a little tighter, trying to make her ride him to the rhythm he decreed. But, when she stayed firmly resolute against being drilled by his pace, his eyes met hers with question. She slipped her hands down his sweat-damp chest to where he held her body and curled her fingers around them. Lifting, she pried them off her body and set them atop the comforter cushion. Her eyes met his and she smiled.

“My pace, cowboy. Remember?” She grinned as she said it, stopping him once again from getting carried away and driving them to the orgasm his cock was desperate for, twitching and leaking inside her. The breathless quality to her voice, the way she seemed to need to catch herself for a minute, was more than enough evidence to see how he’d affected her and nearly threw her off her game plan for the evening.

Adam could barely smile, every muscle tense and tight, but still flashed her an impish one.

“Can you blame me?” He choked out as she brought the pace back slow, sliding languid up and down his length, head never falling from her drenched lips. He shifted his body beneath her, peeling his skin from the damp comforter and drew a ragged, needed breath deep in his lungs. His tongue swept his lips and he took another breath, letting the tension in his muscles slowly leak out. “You’re driving me insane.”

“Aw, I’m sorry baby,” she said with a purr in her voice and a look in her eyes that said she was definitely not sorry. “But tonight I make all the rules.” She kept that pace, that way she stroked the entire length of his cock up and then down. Moving her hands to either sides of his shoulders she leaned her body over his and let him be trapped in her shadow. Her nipples brushed his chest and made a shiver ripple through his body. Every slow shift back and up of her body rubbed them against his skin and made him want to make a mad grab for them. Instead, his fingers curled desperate into the sheets where she’d placed them.

Fawna lowered, but didn’t reward his lips with a kiss. Instead she left tokens of her affection on his neck, kissing, licking, down to his chest and up the other side. She suckled, not enough to leave any permanent marks, but enough to let the blood rush hot and tingles to race up and down his spine. As she nibbled at his earlobe she whispered huskily into his ear, “I’m here to take care of you tonight, baby. I’m going to make it worth your while.” And she dropped her lips back to his neck, kissing where the muscles jumped because he swallowed so hard at her repeated promise. She lifted her mouth from his neck and hovered over him. One of her hands reached so she could gently grasp his bearded chin, tilting his blue eyes to meet hers. “That means I decide when we cum and everything we do before then.”

A shiver ripped through him like a tremble and the satisfied look in her eyes made him bite back a groan.

The slowed pace had taken him off the edge he’d been desperately at, and Adam wasn’t sure to be thankful or to curse her. Fawna slowly sat back and his cock twitched, buried inside her. He looked up her body, every imperfection on display by the glowing lights all turned on in the hotel room. She wasn’t shy - he loved that about her - and smiled at him watching her, lifting her arms and arching her body sensually. Her pink nipples were hard, and it took everything he had not to demand she bring them to his mouth where he could suck, lick, bite and give her beard burn on her breasts. His eyes fell down them to her belly, to her hips and thighs where his greedy fingerprints were still visible on her skin and back up again. When he’d had his fill of admiring her, Fawna began to move her hips again.

Adam wasn’t sure how much time had passed since she first came to his hotel. Time seemed to stand still in this place, even though he logically knew he didn’t. Nothing existed but himself and Fawna. Not the alcohol, not the turbulence in his self-identity and his questioning of the love and loyalty of men he’d once called brothers on his tongue and in his heart. None of it. He existed only in pleasure with her rocking hips, in the pressure of her pussy wrapped around his hard, pulsing, desperate, cock, and the sore tightness of his balls sucked up to the base of his shaft, needing that final release. They were both glistening with sweat, their hair stuck to their foreheads, temples, and neck.

Fawna pressed her palms against his chest gently and lifted her hips off him until his cock slid out, patched in creamy white from her own slick. It twitched, longing for the warm home it’d been enveloped in. She didn’t rob him for long, instead gingerly moving her body so she stood bedside and reached for his hand to tug him off the bed too. The sheets stuck to his sweat-damp body, his thick figure a frame in the comforter from how hard he’d been pressing himself into it.

“What idea do you have in that head of yours now?” He asked, but his voice was roughened by the relentless continuance of pleasure and the denial again and again and again of final satisfaction.

“You’ll see,” she said, and leaned over the bed, pressing one of her forearms atop it for leverage. She reached back, hand on his, and pulled him to stumble forward until his hairy, muscular thighs pressed against her legs and his cock slipped up between her cheeks, leaving a trail of his precum and her wet. When she let his hand go it was natural for it to fall to the ample curve of her ass and for the other to join it. His fingers pressed and curled into the give of the fat there and that hungry look passed his face again.

Fawna arched her back and moved herself into the cushion of the mattress and then back, squeezing him inside her cunt with ease, as if they were pieces of a puzzle meant to fit. Adam leaned his head back, letting the end of his curls brush his shoulders, and arched his hips into her pace. His fingers slipped up the curve of her ass with the intent to tighten a grip on her hips but then, unable to help himself, he lifted his right palm and brought it down hard, open-palmed, over her ass. The ripple of skin, the soft sting of red in the shape of his hand and the little squeal of pleasure and pain she made pushed his hunger back to the forefront once more. He raised his hand and brought it down again, making the fat jiggle and the skin redden.

This time Fawna did not stop him from choosing the pace and the more she let him get away with, the more he let the hunger inside take. His hips crashed with hopeless abandon into hers in quick, needy bursts. He knew he was going to bruise her, but he didn’t care. He wanted more and more of those whore sounds to moan out of her throat and bounce around his hotel room and back into his ears, filling it until it was the only sound he could hear.

His fingers curled their grip into her skin and used it to forcibly pull her back hard on him, to assist the thrusts as he shoved his cock needy and deep inside her. He fucked her into the mattress, one hand reaching up her back and shoving her down into it between her shoulder-blades, pushing her ass more up toward him so he could fuck her deeper and make her cry out and moan even more loudly. His name joined her cries and it made him even more ravenous than before. Sweat dripped down between his chest and still, he kept driving his hips to crash hard into hers, shoving his cock relentlessly again and again inside her red, swollen pussy lips.

By offering him the final power - allowing him to answer that needy call inside himself to be the one in control for the final act - she gave him exactly what he needed.

But he could hold off. Just long enough.

The hand that had previously pushed her into the hotel bed lifted and instead snaked between her body and the mattress, fumbling as his fingers reached with greed and without apology for her raw, raised clit. He slipped past it momentarily, almost cruel as he pushed two fingers inside her, along with his girthy cock still stretching her. A devilish grin curved the corner of his mouth at her little cry and long moan of pleasure that followed. He pulled his fingers free and used the wet he’d drawn from inside her to circle around her clit, petting her harder, synching it with the thrusts of his pulsing cock inside her. Just a little longer… just a little longer… he could hold off, he could…

“Adam!” Her cry ripped audaciously loud before her thighs began to shake and her body convulsed, the muscles of her cunt gripping tight around him.

A low groan crawled loudly from his throat, his jaw locked and he bent halfway over her before his own body could be denied no longer. Buried inside her Adam came, decorating her insides with ribbon after ribbon of hot, sticky cum. For a long moment, almost long enough to make them look like carved statues of exhausted lovers, they stayed still like that. Adam leaning over her body, his palms flat on the mattress, her body trapped under his, their skin glistening with sweat that caught the lights.

Dragging a deep breath into his lungs that smelled like sweat and sex, Adam slowly lifted himself to stand straight and gingerly pulled his sensitive, still semi-hard cock from between her red, dripping pussy lips. She crawled onto the bed and turned herself around to look at him, that same exhausted, happy expression relaxed onto her features. Before reality could stab into this sinful haven they’d created, Adam gestured toward the bathroom with a tilt of his head.

“Want to rinse off with me real quick?”

“Yeah,” she said with a smile, gingerly moving to set herself on her feet. When she swayed, he reached out to catch her, though his reaction was a little slower than it’d normally be. They exchanged smiles, amused at how they’d thoroughly exhausted themselves.

She yawned as they padded barefoot and naked around the bed and toward the bathroom. “Is it okay if I stay here with you tonight?” She asked, and though her tone sounded innocent, as if she’d just now thought of it, Adam had to wonder if she’d planned it all along. If she’d had the forbearance to know he didn’t want to spend the night alone, and all the sex in the world wouldn’t stop that emptiness from coming to steal away his happiness as soon as she left and he was the only one in his hotel room.

He wouldn’t put it past her.

Adam pulled her by the hand to stop her from walking into the bathroom and crashed her body back into his. His free hand reached to gingerly tuck a lock of her frazzled, tangled hair behind her ear and fell into tenderly holding her face. This was what made things hard between them. The way his heart beat for her. The way it wasn’t just sex.

“Yeah.” He said, and a faint, tired smile touched his lips. “I’d like that.” He leaned down, his hand slipping to pinch her chin between his thumb and forefinger, holding her face up toward him as he brushed his lips gently against hers and then sank in for a deep, passionate kiss that’d leave them both dizzy by the time it was through.

#hangman page #hangman adam page fanfiction #wrestling fanfiction #aew fanfiction #this was. purely self indulgent #mine: fanfiction #my fics: hangman adam page

41 notes · View notes

secretsofthedarkestkind-arch · 3 years

Text

Part 5 of the pilot ramble. Triggers marked. Anyone want to be added to the tag list yet? Nah, that’s okay

Word count: 2,742

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four

@storieswrittcn

The group of four had broken up; Matt to go find Elena after she’d left the bridge, Bonnie and Caroline going to do their own thing, and Lee to get another drink. She knew Stefan was off hunting whatever small game he could find. It drove her crazy but she also knew his fear of changing back into a Ripper. That Stefan had been fun, but horrible. Lee just hoped nothing would ever push her over that line. It was always a possibility, even with everything she’d done. Especially because of everything she’d done.

She leaned against one of the tables, beer in one hand while she pulled her phone from her back pocket. Still nothing. Lee groaned, “So petty…”

“Who?” Bonnie questioned as she leaned against the table beside her, “That look screams trouble in paradise.”

“Trouble for the relationship? No. This is nothing new. Trouble for me? Yeah, definitely.” Lee shows Bonnie her phone. Her message left on read from the night before.

“June wedding?” Bonnie smirked, looking back up at the Salvatore.

“Caroline wasn’t exactly quiet last night when she said it.” Lee doesn’t even deny overhearing the conversation. She pockets her phone, “It was supposed to be a joke.”

“Jerk move.” Bonnie challenges.

Lee holds her hands up in mock surrender, “Not denying I’m an ass. But it really was supposed to be a joke. We rile each other up all the time.”

“I take it, she’s possessive.” Bonnie glances down to the ring on her finger. “Not exactly the family ring your brother has.”

“Not even a fraction of how she is.” Lee doesn’t usually talk about Katherine when her brother or possibly brothers are in hearing distance. “But I wouldn’t change her.”

“You know they say possessiveness and jealousy walk hand in hand,” Bonnie reaches for another glass to drink.

“I live it,” Lee takes another drink.

“Then...jerk move.” Bonnie says proud of herself.

Lee laughs, “Jerk move. See, I’m not so perfect.”

When Bonnie doesn’t answer, Lee notices her eyes are going past her. She turns her head to see Stefan talking to what would appear to be an almost desperate Caroline. Shameless. “You might not be perfect, but I have a feeling you let her down a lot gentler than he just did.”

Stefan throws Lee a small look, not ashamed of himself in the least, as he walks toward Elena. The look on Elena’s face almost makes Lee have to do a double take. That smile that’s almost a smirk, the bird that caught the worm while still trying to look innocent. Not so innocent then. “I think you’re right.” Lee looks away to a crestfallen Caroline. “He’s always had a way with words,” Lee rolls her eyes, tone dripping with sarcasm.

----

Lee and Bonnie had found Caroline after she’d wandered through the crowd. The witch had been trying to calm her down.

“Somebody help!” Elena’s panicked yell had Lee moving before she could think about it. There was the younger Gilbert struggling to carry another teen who’d been hurt. Lee could smell the blood. She took off her flannel as she reached them, her eyes zeroing in on the vicious bite on the teen’s neck. This wasn’t just to feed, it was a message. One that left the teen hanging in the balance of life and death.

“Press this to her neck, be ready to move with me not against me.” Lee hands Elena her discarded flannel. “Let me have her, I’m stronger than I look.” Lee told the boy, already reaching for the limp girl. Her voice is firm toward both Gilbert’s leaving no room for argument.

“Vicki? Vicki, what the hell?!” She hears Matt yell. A crowd is circling around them as Matt rushes to be closer.

“Move!” Lee growls, the sea of people parting, “Clean off the table.” She looks over the crowd to find Bonnie, “Call an ambulance, tell them a girl’s been hurt and her carotid has possibly been nicked but not severed.” After the witch's acknowledgment Lee looks away, setting Vicki down on the now clear table.

Tyler is right there, “What happened to her?” He asks but Lee ignores him.

“It’s her neck, something bit her. She’s losing a lot of blood.” Elena tries to explain, worry and panic covering her face and painting her voice.

She places a hand on Elena’s white knuckle grip,” I need to see how deep. Just for a second, okay?” Lee’s voice is calmer than it was. Elena numbly nods, letting Lee lift their hands.

“You heard her, somebody call an ambulance!” Matt orders, but Bonnie is right beside him on the phone. The crowd seems to get thicker around them.

“Everybody back up!” Tyler demands spinning to push people back, “Give her some space.”

Lee lowers their hands back to Vicki’s neck, “You’re doing great.” She tells Elena, eyes searching for the teens. “The pressure is helping. She’s losing less blood. Just help me keep the pressure alright?” Lee isn’t pushing much, just a presence on Elena’s hand.

“Vicki, Vicki, come on. Open your eyes, look at me.” Matt begs.

The vampire feels Stefan’s eyes on her; either because of the scene or because of her touch with Elena is anyone’s guess. She looks up at her brother just as Matt does. “Go…” Lee mouths. Stefan only hesitates for a moment before he’s backing out of the crowd to leave. Lee goes to look back down at Vicki but something catches her attention in the corner of her eye. One of the rafters sits a crow. Damon… Lee snarls some, she wants to go after her brother. But can’t. The siren’s are getting closer.

“They’re almost here,” Lee looks over to Matt, “She should be alright.” The fluttering of wings lets her know the crow is gone, which means so is Damon. Her eyes travel to Elena’s, “Can you keep pressure like this without me?”

“What? No!” Matt argues. “You're the one who knows what you're doing.” Lee doesn’t break eye contact.

“Elena knows. She’s been doing great. Pressure just like this. Alright?” When Elena swallows but nods again, Lee takes her hand off.

“Lee! Where are you going?” Matt grips her arm.

“My brother is squeamish when it comes to blood. You saw him leave,” Lee locks eyes with him, “I’m going to go check on him. You’re going to be okay, stay with Vicki, and make sure they take her to the hospital.” Her eyes darken, compelling him.

“Go check on Stefan,” Matt let’s go of her arm. “I’m going to stay with Vicki.”

“She’ll be okay,” Lee looks back at Elena, “Just like that.” Then she’s moving through the crowd to head back to the boarding house.

----

Lee’s feet hit the grounds of the estate, eyes searching for where her brothers might be. After a message like that, Damon had to show himself. “She’s not Katherine,” Stefan’s voice hit her. Lee closed her eyes, bracing herself for what she was about to walk into. This was one of the many downsides to the game Katherine had played.

“Well, let’s hope not. We both know how that ended.” Damon’s cocky, self assured voice. Not hearing it in over fifteen years had been a blessing for sure. She continued to walk up the long drive. “Tell me something, when’s the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?”

“Fuck…” Lee started to run, at a human pace. The only reason Damon would ask that would be to weigh out his ability to take Stefan in a fight and knowing Damon it wasn’t going to be pretty. She might loathe her brothers, might be able to kill them if the need arises or they rubbed her the wrong way, but she’d be damned if either screwed this. All because Damon couldn’t get over the fact Katherine changed them both and Stefan was the reason Katherine was taken away that night. The latter Lee might secretly agree with.

Stefan scoffed, “I know what you’re doing Damon. It’s not going to work.” Do you really, Stef? Most of the time the siblings thought they knew what the other was thinking or doing---most of the time, none of them had a damn clue. Too many secrets, too many lies, too many years of hating each other.

“Yeah?” Lee heard Damon smack Stefan, “Come on. Don’t you crave a little?”

“Stop it.” Stefan’s voice breaks. Lee scoffs, how easy would it be to break him?

“Let’s do it.” Damon shoves Stefan. “Together. I saw a couple girls out there.” Another hit. “Or just, let’s just cut to the chase,” And another, “ let’s just go straight for Elena!” Lee growls. Not out of protectiveness for the girl but due to the fact Damon is actually planning to fuck up Katherine’s one chance of freedom.

“Not happening,” She grits out just as there’s the sound of one of her brother’s pushing the other.

“Stop it!” Stefan yells out. She’s at the main roundabout.

“Imagine what her blood tastes like,” Damon yells back. “I can.”

“I said stop!” Right as she’s about to open the front door, her brothers come flying out the window of Stefan’s room. But Stefan lands alone.

“So dramatic…” Lee moves to help her groaning brother up, “You just had to give into him.”

“He wouldn’t stop,” Stefan weakly argues.

“He never does,” Lee sighs.

“He is right here.” Both turn to find Damon leaning on the hedges, “Hello, little sister. I wondered when you’d join the party. Though I did think you’d still be playing medic for a little longer.” He takes her in, “Ohhh, new tattoo.” He motions to the tiger half sleeve. “Fitting, if not a little overly feminine for you.”

“Brother,” Lee looks him up and down, “You seem to be just as psychotic as ever.”

“Thank you, I do try.” Damon plays along. He looks over at Stefan once more, “I was impressed. I give it a six.” He pretends to debate that rating, “Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole face--” And Damon’s childish antics begin as he does an over the top reenactment of Stefan. Lee groans and rolls her neck back to not attack him. “--thing. It was good.” Damon laughs, eyeing their sister. “Want to see what you get? I’m sure this might be one of the few things you can do better than Stefan.”

Lee’s lips curl, her veins rising under her eyes, and fangs descending, “Why n--” Stefan grabs her as she goes to take a step toward the eldest Salvatore.

“Now who’s giving in?” Damon takes a step forward, ready for her.

Stefan tightens his grip on Lee’s arm, “You know, it’s all fun and games, Damon, huh?” This time Stefan steps closer to him, “But wherever you go, people die.”

Damon doesn’t see his point, a shrug of his shoulders, “That’s a given.” He peers over at Lee, “He knows we’re vampires right?”

“Not here.” Stefan makes sure Damon’s attention goes back to him. He knows if Damon and Lee start fighting, one will die. “I won’t allow it.”

Lee does facepalm at that, “Saint Stefan…” She mutters. Right now she needs some extremely strong alcohol.

“I take that as an invitation,” Of course, he does. You never tell Damon what to do. You either make something seem like his own idea or you tell him to do the opposite of what you want, just so he does what you want.

“Damon, please!” Lee looks up at the stars before moving to the hedges herself to lean against them, arms crossed over her chest. How many times does this conversation have to happen? “After all these years, can’t we just give it a rest?”

“Nope,” Lee comments more to herself, the p popping.

Damon points toward Lee, “She’s right.” The words are almost like he has no choice but to agree, faux sympathy on his face. “I promised you an eternity of misery, so I’m just keeping my word. Because that’s what Salvatore’s do right?” Damon takes a few steps toward Stefan. “I wouldn’t be much of a big brother if I didn’t.”

“Just stay away from Elena!” Stefan demands. Lee laughs humorlessly. There’s no chance in hell of Damon doing that.

“But Lee can?” Damon asks. “How unfair.” There’s a pout on his lips that turns to mock concern, “Where’s your ring?” Both Lee and Stefan look down to his hand where the ring should be. “Oh,” He fakes being so troubled by this, “Yeah. Sun’s coming up in a couple of hours, and, poof, ashes to ashes.”

“Smooth, Damon.” She’s actually impressed and it shows in her tone.

“Thank you, give me at least an eight?” Damon gives her a Cheshire grin.

“Mmm...seven and a half.” Lee shrugs. “Perfect execution but giving yourself away? I would have let him realize it on his own. But you always did love the attention.”

“What can I say? I’m a little attention w-”

“Where is it?” Stefan breaks up their antics.

“Relax! So up tight,” Damon steps forward, “It’s right here,” The ring sits in the palm of his hand. It’s a trap bigger than anything else. Lee stands up straighter, Stefan hesitantly takes the ring while his eyes study Damon’s. He slips it back on.

Just like that Damon’s hand is on Stefan’s neck, face contorted to their true selves. “Damon!” Lee warns just as said brother throws the middle one over the drive to hit above the garage.

“Stay out of this or you’ll be next,” Damon threatens, already moving to be above Stefan, “You should know better than to think you’re stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people,” Damon doesn’t touch Stefan, his words enough to remind their middle brother of his place. “I wouldn’t try it again.”

Watching them, all Lee can see is the older brother who tormented her when they were human. Silently, she moves up behind him. She grips Damon by his own neck, turning him and pinning him against the garage. The rage inside her making her stronger, “And you, dear brother, would do well to remember I am not that young girl afraid to speak or act out against you. Those days ended long ago. You can put Stefan in his place,” Damon tries to break her grip, Lee holds him steady, lifting him up more. “But you would be wise not to try me. Unlike Stefan, I really don’t care if you live or die. Are we clear?”

She can see the gears in his head turning, to fight or agree. Damon studies her eyes before tapping her hand twice, Lee only releases him when she’s sure he knows she’s being serious. She takes a step back and offers Stefan her hand to pull him up. Damon rubs at his neck. All three look toward the house as they hear movement inside before the front door unlocks. “I think we woke Zach up.” Damon mutters, the smirk back on his lips. He walks past them toward the door, “Sorry, Zach.”

Lee helps steady Stefan, “The difference between me giving into his taunts and you? I can handle him. You can’t Stefan. No matter how much you wish you could.”

“I know,” Stefan groans, accepting the help. “About earlier---”

“Which part?” They slowly make their way toward the door.

“You being like Damon, I’m sorry.” Stefan stops them so he can make sure their eyes are connected. “I am glad you’re here.”

-----

Lee toweled off her hair walking out of the attached bathroom into her room. She’d gotten Vicki’s blood off of herself and her tank while in the shower. The vampire was now in comfortable clothes for the evening; a pair of black and maroon sweatpants with a matching sports bra and socks. Her attention is on the phone in her free hand as she tosses the towel onto the back of her desk chair, finger hovering over the call button. Katherine’s information on her screen. She’s going to have to hide this phone soon in fear of Damon getting his hands onto it.

She knows both brother’s have left the house once again, it’d be the perfect time to call her. Lee looks up to make sure her bedroom door is shut and hit’s call.

“I’m glad you answered, I made a jerk move. I’m sorry.”

1 note · View note

fanfictrashdump · 3 years

Text

Queening a Pawn, 17

((Y’all know the drill. I was supposed to be doing something productive in my life and I wrote this trash, instead))

Summary: During the Time Heist, Loki stole the Tesseract and escaped. He did not expect, however, to be pulled through a Time Loop that delivered him to a Midgard more than a decade older, wiser, and bitterer. Having just lived through his unsuccessful attack in New York, Loki must learn to live in Midgard after the defeat of Thanos (post-Endgame). The question is, who is Loki without a quest for a throne or total domination?

Pairings: Loki x OC

"–out came the sun and dried up all the rain and the itsy, bitsy spider went up the spout, again."

Delilah grinned from ear to ear as she spied into the classroom where the handful of four year-olds were huddled into while their parents were at work. When she was first informed that Loki had volunteered to take the afternoon shift for the pre-school kids, she had feared the worst.

On the best of days, Loki's patience lasted about as long as it took him to drain a full cup of coffee. On others, just about as long as it took his heart to beat. When it came to the imps, as he called them, his tolerance for half-hour stories that went nowhere and non-stop renditions of nursery rhymes was utterly boundless. And so it became that every now and then, when her day was going awful and she needed a pick-me-up, Delilah peeked around the doorway to watch him interact with the kids.

Today, he was chasing after a boy that was covered, head to toe, in finger paint while another child trailed behind singing Itsy Bitsy Spider on a loop. The Asgardian Prince snatched the boy up just before he clambered onto the pristine, white armchair in the corner, ignoring the fact that, he too, was now covered in cheap water-based paint.

With a lazy half-smile, he deposited the boy into one of the seats at the art table, where three other kids were sitting, doing their crafts before snapping his fingers and ridding them both of their colorful mess. Before retreating, he ruffled the boy's hair with a chuckle and immediately took a knee in front of the child trailing him.

"Yes, Aria. You have my undivided attention," he assured and the child repeated her song, seemingly satisfied when he smiled and applauded her at the end as she turned tail and went off to do something else. "Tidy up and go wash your hands. We're having snacks in ten." There was a chorus of acknowledgement around him that made Lilah sigh and smile delightedly at the extra beats her heart skipped. As if sensing the fondness, Loki did a double-take at the door, trying to smother a smile as he skirted towards the door with his hands clasped behind his back. "Wasn't aware I was to be under scrutiny today."

"We like to keep inspections a surprise. Make sure the rules are being followed at all times," Delilah responded with a feigned severity.

"And, is my performance satisfactory?" He leaned against the wall beside her, choosing to cross his arms over his chest, seemingly so he could watch the kids while also flirt. It was never to be said that Loki wasn't good at multitasking.

"Well, there is the small matter of how the child became utterly covered in paint, but I suppose you're passable."

The unspoken challenge drew a wolfish grin from his lips. "Will there be an opportunity for me to prove myself later? I can assure you that I can be more than passable."

"There are literal children here–"

"And I have said nothing untoward. Have I, Miss Delilah?" He pushed away from the wall with a grace that was unfair of such a tall person and turned towards Delilah to bow slightly, fist over heart. "I must feed the children before they riot. See you later?" With a dazed grin still on her face, she nodded and quietly slipped backward into the hallway to walk back to her office.

The grin, however, fell off her face when she opened her door to find Thor frowning at her desk. "I was having such a good day, too," she complained under her breath before plopping down in her chair. "I know I'll regret asking, but why are you so sulky?"

"Nothing. Just mentally preparing myself for the answer to my question: how is my brother doing?"

Delilah furrowed her brow, confused. "Loki? He's doing great. I just left his class he was giving the kids snacks."

"I just wanted to offer my services, should there be any need to–"

"I'm going to stop you right there…" Delilah leaned forward, leaning her face into her hand and sighed. "Last week he learned every child's favorite color and made them each a snowflake that never melts in that color. I think we're fine," she finished in a mock whisper. "I don't want to say this, but you look the littlest bit disappointed that your brother hasn't fucked up."

Thor sighed, shoulders slumped. "It's not that I am disappointed at his current success–"

"You're disappointed you voted to keep him imprisoned. To be fair Cap and Sam voted with you. It wasn't exactly an unpopular opinion, bud."

"But he is my brother."

"He also tried to, you know, take over the world."

"You trusted him."

Delilah gave him a tight-lipped smile. "No. I hoped I could." She chuckled, shaking her head absently. "You know, when Loki taught me how to play chess, there was one thing he said that always stuck with me. I remember him setting the board and staring at me over the pieces. The crux of the matter is this: you can learn the rules and hope that I'll respect them, you can distract me and hope I don't catch on, or you can interest me, and that, pet, is where the game really is," she finished, perfectly imitating his purposeful pronunciation. "A whole new world with a decade full of new things to discover– who wouldn't behave for that? It was practically Loki's wet dream."

Thor made a face at the turn of phrase that did nothing to resolve his already pinched expression. "I wish I were that confident of his behavior."

"I'm not. That's the whole point. Loki will mess up–he's allowed to mess up. He works so hard when he doesn't assume you're waiting for him to fail." She chuckled. "And he's good at his job– great at setting examples. None of the kids are afraid of trying new things because they know they are entirely free to fail."

"Failure is not something to strive for."

"It's better than hiding in the back of a ship with Quill and Rocket," she snapped back and Thor showed surprise at the retort. "Don't dish it out if you can't take it."

"I am performing a duty for the Universe."

"It didn't start out that way, though, did it?" She pressed, single eyebrow raised and the god of thunder shifted uncomfortably. "Bottom line is that your brother is actually an astounding person. You should meet him sometime."

Amidst tense silence and a staring contest, the doorway was filled by the devil, himself, who looked between his brother and his lover with a small notch forming between his brows. "I can sense I am already in trouble. Consider me well and thoroughly lectured, brother dearest," he said to Thor, not bothering for a response before turning to Delilah. "It seems that Byron has thrown up his snack because he insisted on running a lap around the room right after eating. His parents are awful hypochondriacs– do I need to tell them?"

"Yes, but preface with the running and end with the fact that the rest of the kids are fine."

"Excellent. Oh, and Bruce was looking for you. He said he'd be in his lab." With a flirty wink, the clone disappeared from the doorway, leaving Thor and Delilah back in awkward silence.

Delilah smiled quietly, hands folded together upon the desk, while Thor decided if he was going to accept defeat graciously or not. "Was there anything else on your mind, Thor?" She asked when he didn't say anything.

"How… how have you done this?" He asked, heaving a great sigh. "It's like there's a different person occupying his body."

"The really sad part is that there isn't. That's just Loki, except we didn't give him a goddamn chance the first time around."

Thor frowned, looking down at his boots. "You love him."

"Of course I do. How can I not?" Lilah sniffled, scrubbing at her eyes with frustration at the tears that prickled the corners of her eyes. "He's a beautiful creature who thinks he's a monster all because Asgard failed him. They failed him, and you know it."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me. You take it up with him," she retorted, harshly. "Now, get out of my office." Thor merely nodded before vacating his seat, and disappearing out the doorway. When he was out of sight, she drew a deep breath, wiping at her eyes and anxiously ruffling her hair. "Stop hiding. I know you're there."

The illusion melted away and from thin air, Loki appeared looking surprisingly sheepish. "I thought you hadn't spotted me." Delilah gave him a look and he raised his hands defensively. "I am aware I should know better." He smiled, taking long steps to close the distance between them before bending to kiss her crown. "Stop fretting over me, darling girl."

"Someone's got to do it. It's not like you fret over yourself!"

"My love, I don't care what Thor thinks. Or the Valkyrie, or anyone in these blasted nine," he argued, carding his fingers through her short hair. "Only you. And if I please you, even if unworthy, I am happy." He kissed her forehead and sighed. "Just you… and that spoiled cat of yours."

"Lilah, do you happen to–" Thor's voice boomed as he crossed back into her office, stopping mid-step at finding Loki with an arm around her slight frame, looking content and soft. "Oh... Brother, do you have a moment…?"

Loki cut his eyes down at Delilah, who shrugged noncommital. "Certainly, Thor." Smiling warmly, he bent once more, pressing a lingering kiss on her forehead and brushing his fingers on her cheek as he straightened. "I adore you, my love," he whispered gently. "I'll find you for dinner, alright?"

Loki followed Thor quietly, hands clasped behind his back. The god of thunder looked conflicted and Loki knew better than to interrupt the man when he was on the verge of emotions stronger than silly giddiness. The hulking blonde stopped just short of the in-house bar, sucking in a deep breath before meeting his blue eyes to his green.

Thor steeled his resolve. "Loki–"

"There's no need, brother. No need to dwell on the past."

The older brother furrowed his brow. "She has done you good. I would have thought you'd relish the idea of having me grovel for forgiveness."

"I just spent eight hours dissolving quarrels because one child stared at another for too long. Being petty for the sake of it is highly overrated," he offered, leaning against the corridor wall with a leg propped up on the surface.

Thor chuckled, nodding absently. "You always did have exceptional patience."

"Yes, you've trained me well in that regard." Loki offered his brother a lopsided smirk in response. "Come. Let's have a drink. I've been on a steady diet of apple juice and mandarin oranges all week."

#Loki #Loki MCU #Loki fanfic #MCU #MCU fanfic #MCU fanfiction #Loki x oc #Loki x ofc #alternate timeline #time heist #fix it #Queening a Pawn

2 notes · View notes

writersrealmbts · 4 years

Text

Protect Them: Cornucopia

Description: Safe with Me Sequel! Hoseok x Reader. Thanksgiving Special!

Fluff.

Posted: 11/27/2019

Tags: Hybrid!au, hybrid!Hoseok, Safe With Me Sequel

Words: 4,855

A/N: So, I was going to do four of the submissions, but life had other plans. I’m trying to get at least one other submission done for tomorrow, but we’re riding the struggle bus. Hope you guys enjoy this...something.

You rolled over sighed, reaching and turning off the alarm he must have accidentally set when he was trying to change the time displayed.

He groaned. “Sorry.”

You lay on top of him. “Today, I’m thankful you didn’t accidentally set the alarm for an ungodly early hour.”

“Oh? When did I set it for?”

“It’s eight.”

“That isn’t too bad. Thanksgiving usually starts early here.” He stretched and then wrapped his arms around you. “Which you already know. Man, time flies.”

You hummed happily. “For the better, sometimes.”

“Yeah, for the better.” He nuzzled into your neck. “I mean, the twins are walking and talking now. Emma’s been teaching them how to say ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ for a while now.”

“That’s going to be absolutely adorable.” You sighed.

“Oh no.”

“What?”

“Jungkook. He’s got the triplets up.”

“They’re coming here?”

“Yeah.”

“Protect me, please,” You said softly.

He nodded, rolling both of you over so that your weak leg was covered by him.

Three sets of feet rushed in and hopped onto the bed.

“Time to get up!”

“It’s Thanksgiving!”

“Up! Up! Up!”

“We’re going to eat so much food!” Nari squealed excitedly.

You giggled softly as they crawled over Hoseok and tumbled on the bed, then dispersed.

Kaemon cuddled up to you, nuzzling your shoulder. “Up! Up! Up!” He sang brightly, pulling at your arm.

You trapped him with said arm, humming in thought. “Hmmm, nope.”

He squealed happily when you trapped him between you and Hoseok.

“Hey!” Minsu protested, rushing and climbing over Hoseok clumsily.

Hoseok grunted and then groaned. “Kid…your feet…”

Minsu forcefully wiggled into the same space as Kae.

Nari huffed, then tugged at Hoseok’s sleeve. “Oppa.”

He made sure Kae and Minsu wouldnt hurt you, and then wrapped his arms around her and snuggled her close, waiting for her to relax before blowing a raspberry into her neck.

She squealed and wriggled to try and get away from him. “No!”

He got another raspberry in before the two boys started trying to “rescue” their sister.

You quickly shifted away from flailing limbs and tumbling pups, getting up so that they wouldn’t be able to step on you.

They were completely lost in their game, so you stepped into the bathroom and changed. You’d finish getting ready after breakfast.

You picked Nari out of the fold because she wasn’t fighting anymore, just laying there giggling at the silliness.

She wrapped her arms around your neck with a grin, still giggling softly.

“Let’s go get bacon before the boys try and eat it all,” You suggested in a conspiratorial whisper.

She giggled more. “Yes!”

You waved goodbye to Hobi, who definitely noticed you leaving and gave you the most surprised look.

She walked down the stairs (they were getting too big for you to carry, even if they were slightly smaller than fully human kids) confidently, then raced over to her father, who scooped her up and tossed her in the air before cuddling her close again.

“Happy Thanksgiving!” She chirped, kissing his face.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” He replied, quickly kissing her forehead before setting her in her chair at the table and serving her breakfast.

The twins were already playing with their breakfasts, with Jungkook managing to get their mouths full here and there. They were more focused on their conversation with each other, their babble definitely following the normal cadence of a conversation. They knew real words, but most of the time this was what was heard.

Jimin’s wife, Ariel, had mentioned that there were studies that said that the connection between twin/triplets was even stronger for hybrids, though they hadn’t determined why that was. All research was relatively new.

Emma was already getting started on Thanksgiving Lunch stuff, flying around the kitchen as she hummed, darting out for a second to place a kiss on Nari’s head, flashing you a smile and then back to whisking something in a pot on the stove.

You went over and stopped Jaehyun from flinging food into Jungkook’s face when the bunny was distracted by his phone, quickly distracting the pup with a kiss to the head and a spoon into his shocked mouth. “Cute, baby. Silly bunny looked away, didn’t he? I should have let you fling your oatmeal at him,” You murmured, loving how the baby gurgled after swallowing.

Jungkook winced. “Thanks.”

“Must be some girl to distract you like that,” You pointed out.

He turned red. “It’s not like that. At least, not for her.”

“Who is she?”

“My tutor. The one I told you guys about over Halloween.”

“You mean the squirrel hybrid who is literally the only reason you passed last year? The one you spent half an hour gushing over how cute she got when she stored food in her cheek pouches unknowingly? That tutor?”

Emma looked over. “You should have heard him gushing about how smart she is to me last night. And her tail. He wants to pet her tail.”

You grinned.

Jungkook groaned. “Eomma!”

She just laughed. “Hey, be grateful oyu didn’t tell Tae. You know he’d never let you live it down.”

His eyes got huge. “With how he’s been, he’d probably travel just to meet her and tease me. Not to mention he’s got that challenge thing he started earlier this year.”

“Like I said, good thing Tae doesn’t know.”

Then she paused. “What challenge?”

He shuddered. “It’s probably better you don’t know.”

She shook her head. “I’ll find out eventually, but okay.”

You took a seat, stumbling slightly because your impaired vision and not noticing that the chair was farther over than you thought, but ultimately making it to your spot and filling your plate with pancakes and bacon.

Hoseok came down with two rambunctious pups hanging on him, depositing them so they could rush to their mom, then their dad and say good morning before scarfing down food. Hoseok plopped next to you, kissing your cheek. “You abandoned me?”

“Yup, the best plans always includes an escape plan. Kids get distracted by you, I get dressed and escape. Your welcome for taking Nari with me, though. Can you imagine if she dove back in?”

He shook his head. “I would be much more bruised than I am.”

“Your welcome.”

“I never said thank-you.”

“Does that mean you want to be bruised, because I can fix that,” You teased in a whisper, running your fingers along his neck.

His tail started swishing behind him and his ears flattened against his head. “We should have woken up earlier. Or locked the door.”

“Hey,” Jungkook said loudly, getting both of your attention. “Keep it PG, huh?”

You nodded.

Hoseok huffed. “But—”

“Nope, none of those,” Jin called out, ruffling Hoseok’s hair and ears.

You snorted.

Emma rolled her eyes. “Seokjin, darling, you’re not helping.”

“Sorry,” He chuckled, going over and kissing her.

“Ewwww,” Kae shouted dramatically.

Both of his parents looked at him in surprise.

“Oh dear.”

“We entered that faze already?” Jin muttered in bewilderment. “I thought we had at least another year.”

You and Hoseok exchanged amused looks, then he pecked you on the lips.

“Not gonna deter me. And if he’s determined to be grossed out by kisses, he’s got a rude awakening coming when Jimin and Ariel get here.” Hoseok spoke over the grossed out sounds Kaemon was making.

You just hummed in amusement.

Emma got a glint in her eyes. “Alright, Kaemonnie, if you think kisses are yucky, I guess you don’t need any anymore. But I better make sure to give everyone else morning and bedtime kisses, so you just sit there.” She went around and kissed all of her kids good morning, even kissing the top of your head, skipping over Kaemon.

His ears were back and his eyes were huge. “But…eomma….”

“It’s okay, Kaemon, if they’re yucky you don’t need them.”

A high-pitched whine came from his throat and Jungkook quickly turned away to hide his grin.

“She’s right, Monnie,” You said, jumping onto the train Emma was conducting, keeping your face serious. “We’ll respect your feelings on kisses. I won’t kiss you either.”

“I’ll take his kisses!” Minsu said excitedly.

You nodded. “Alright, if Kaemon is okay with you getting his share of the kisses.

“NO!” Kaemon yelled, voice full of desperation. “They’re my kisses! You can’t have them!”

“But Monnie, you said that kisses are gross,” Jin said gently, stroking the boy’s head.

“But I want them!” Kae wailed.

Emma quickly swooped in and pulled him into her arms, showering him in placating kisses. “Okay, baby. Then you can have your kisses. Right, y/n?”

You nodded. “Of course.”

He nodded and nuzzled into her neck. He conked off in her arms, as he was prone to doing, not even stirring when passed to Jin.

“Thought he seemed tired,” She murmured fondly, kissing his still-chubby cheek before heading back to the cutting board.

Minsu pouted. “Aww, I wanted the extra kisses.”

“You can have as many as you like, Min-min,” You told him, amused.

“Within reason,” Hoseok amended, looking a little possessive.

Minsu was already around the table and in your lap, basking in the little kisses you placed on his face and head. He curled up in your lap.

Nari looked confused by both of her brothers. “Appa, they’re funny.”

“Yeah, they are,” He agreed softly, kissing the top of her head. “Wow, Nari, good job finishing all the food on your plate!”

She basked in his praise, then wiggled out of her booster seat and to the floor bouncing out. “Brush teeth now?”

He glanced around the table. “In a little bit. Maybe when Jungkookie finishes cleaning up the twins he can help you brush your teeth?”

Jungkook nodded, sending Nari a grin. “Of course.”

She bounced happily and then came over to Minsu, tugging on his foot.

He wrinkled his nose at her.

Hoseok glanced over at Jungkook a couple seconds later as the two chased each other across the living room. “Did you wake them or were they already awake?”

Jungkook gestured to the twins. “Aimi was not a happy camper this morning.”

“So they were all woken up abruptly, that explains a lot. They seem just a little…off.”

Aimi yipped a bit, sounding terribly neglected.

Jungkook wiped her face and then removed her from the highchair, stripping her of the bib-shirt and making sure she was clean before snuggling her close. “Man, I’ve missed home.”

Hoseok chuckled, getting Jaehyun out and cleaning him up as well. “Right? Not being around the babes is just torture because they grow so fast. Suddenly, they’re talking and running and looking at you like oyu hold the stars in your hands.”

“And Jimin abandoned me,” Jungkook pouted. “If I needed cuddles I could just go crash in his room. But no. He had to go and graduate and get married and get a job here.”

“Be careful, I’ll tell Ariel about you disliking her so much.” Hoseok handed Jaehyun over to you.

“That’s not what I said!”

“He’s right,” You intervened. “What he said was that he needs a girlfriend, A.S.A.P. so that he’s not as lonely.”

“W-what?! No!”

“You’re right, we should intervene. I’ll tell Taehyung, Jimin, Namjoon, and Yoongi and we’ll all go visit this friend of Jungkook’s—”

Suddenly you had both one-year-olds and the boys were wrestling on the floor.

The day continued in a slightly frenzied manner as everyone got ready for the festivities. You and Hoseok managed to escape for an hour to get ready in your rooms. Since Jimin was always snapping photos throughout the day, nobody dared to come to Thanksgiving lunch without their hair and makeup done or in less than nice clothes. It made the day feel a little more special, so you weren’t about to complain.

“Man, the kids were fired up,” Hoseok sighed, standing beside you as you tried to find a way to do your makeup on your right side in the space you had. He took the brush and turned you so he could carefully apply the makeup for you. “Probably could have gotten them back to sleep if I hadn’t started playing with Nari, huh?”

“Maybe. It’s hard to say.” You checked his work in the mirror and nodded in satisfaction. “Thank you, baby.”

He hummed in response, wrapping his arms around your waist and watching you fuss with your hair. “Probably stressed Emma out.”

“Hmm, I thought she seemed pretty happy, even with the antics of all of her kids,” You said, heavily implying that he was one of those partaking in the antics.

He hummed, rubbing his face into the curve of your neck. “Jungkook started it.”

“You’re going to have to straighten up a bit once we have kids,” You told him, teasingly tugging on strands of his hair that were tickling your neck.

He pressed a kiss to your skin, exceptionally quiet. “You feeling alright?”

You looked at him in the mirror. “I feel fine. Why?”

He shrugged slightly, but was definitely distracted by your skin.

“My visions blurry, but okay. And I’m not in pain.”

He breathed in deeply, his nose against your skin. “I thought I was smelling the house, but I don’t think I was.”

“Hmm?”

“I…I don’t know,” He murmured. He rubbed your arms as he pressed kisses along your skin. Lips warm against your skin.

“Mmmhmm, now what do you think is bugging you?” You asked, forcing him away so that you could turn around and look at him.

He rubbed your cheek with his thumb, looking thoughtful. “I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. Not even my own.”

“Just…” You stopped, finally catching on. “You think…that I’m….”

His eyes flickered down to your stomach, then back up. “I don’t know. It’s hard to tell here because it smells so much like babies already.” He looked like he might burst.

You kissed him quickly. “Head downstairs, okay? I’ll be down in a few. I just need to finish my makeup.”

“Okay,” He whispered, kissing you twice more before leaving you.

You waited until you could hear him on the stairs before slipping over to the door and poking your head out.

Emma stopped beside you, looking amused. “Um…”

You flashed her a smile. “Got any pregnancy tests?”

She nodded. “In my bathroom.” She took your hand and led you to her bathroom, shooing her husband and telling him to go make sure the pups were still alive since they were alone with Jungkook. “Actually, make sure Jungkook is alive. Jaehyun is teething pretty badly.”

Jin chuckled and left.

She handed you two different brands. “Try both.”

You nodded.

Aimi toddled over to you and Emma when both of you entered it a while later.

Emma scooped her up, kissing all over her face. “My little troublemaker.”

You quickly joined Hoseok on the couch, snuggling up to his side. “Jungkook, what are you doing?”

“If I stay still long enough, maybe they’ll think I’m dead,” He answered, staying on his stomach.

The triplets definitely didn’t think he was dead.

“Where are my puppies?!” Jimin called out, running into the room.

“Oppa!” Nari squealed and scrambled over Jungkook’s back, not hearing the grunts and groans of pain.

Jimin scooped her up and tossed her, catching her with a purr so loud you could hear it from the other side of the room. “Here’s one little puppy, where are my others?”

“I’m coming!” Minsu cried out, but Jungkook had trapped his feet and he was still trying to free himself.

“Kaemonnie is asleep,” Hoseok informed Jimin as he hugged his younger brother.

Ariel slipped in quietly, plopping a kiss on Nari’s cheek. “Jungkook, Min is about to hit his head.”

Jungkook quickly pushed himself up and pulled the kid back away from the coffee table.

You hugged both of the newcomers, then sat back down, closing your left eye as it did weird things.

Hoseok stroked your hair absentmindedly as he caught up with them, mostly making sure you were alright.

You tugged on his belt loop so he knew you were. It was a signal both of you had agreed upon just before your first thanksgiving with his family. Tug on the belt loop if you were fine, his sleeve if you weren’t.

He still pet your head while you sat, blinking to try and get your eyes to agree to cooperate.

Eunyeong came racing into the living room, crashing and tumbling onto the carpet beside Minsu and Jungkook. She shook her head, then looked up at them with a huge grin. “Hi!”

“Euny!” Nari squealed, wriggling to be put down.

Yoongi and Taehyung looked like they’d been put through the wringer.

Yoongi dropped into a chair, barely acknowledging everyone else and leaving his daughter to all of you to care for.

“Eunyeong doesn’t like to take N A P S anymore,” Taehyung informed everyone, watching her get smothered in kisses by Minsu and Nari. “She’s been wired today too.”

“We’ll see if we can get her down with the other kids, then,” Emma said in a soothing tone, placing a glass of water in Yoongi’s hands and making sure he drank it. “And you two don’t have to worry about her here, you know that.” She rescued the kitten from Aimi who had grabbed the stumpy kitten tail, refreshing the loud purr as she cuddled the girl close.

Aimi pouted up at her mom, waddled over to Taehyung and held up her arms.

He picked her up and gave her a kiss before she was leaning toward Hoseok.

Ava and Namjoon arrived just as the kids were calming down, which led to more excitement.

You liked watching the family interact, still a little uncertain of your place within the family despite having been with Hoseok for over a year now. You’d been with the family longer than Ava, but only by a few months, and she’d adapted more quickly with her outgoing personality and her drive to be part of Namjoon’s pack.

You were a human who had no such drive. Yes, you wanted to be accepted and you were accepted by the family. More than accepted, you were practically dragged into it by force because of the kids—and you wouldn’t have it any other way. They were the only family you had, and really, you didn’t feel like you needed more than them. They seemed to fit every want and need you’d ever had.

You scooched to the corner of the couch, curling up with Kaemon who had stumbled over to you with sleepy eyes.

Everyone was talking, and you piped in now and then when you had something to add, but you were mostly just content to listen and watch everyone.

Hoseok kept reaching over to check on you, satisfied as long as you didn’t tug on his sleeve.

Eunyeong was racing around with Minsu and Nari, playing some game but mostly just giggling as she ran. Then she raced up to her father and climbed into his lap. “Appa!”

He grunted in acknowledgment.

“Where’s Olly?” She asked, patting his shirt as if expecting it to be in one of the pockets.

“Olly?” Yoongi repeated, eyes getting big. “Olly. Right. Olly. Um…why don’t you see if Uncle Taehyung-ah has it while Appa checks our bags?”

She purred and rubbed against him before sliding down and running over to an equally panicked Taehyung. “Uncle TaeTae!”

He helped her climb up onto his lap, but just as quickly was blowing a raspberry on her stomach, eliciting squeals and giggles as he tried desperately to buy Jimin and Yoongi time to find the stuffed animal.

You could tell things were devolving into panic when Ava and Namjoon both went to help look for the requested toy. You reached over and plucked Eunyeong from Taehyung. “My kitty!” You sang out and raced away.

She laughed, completely delighted as Taehyung “chased” you around to get back “his kitten!”

Kaemon came back with an elephant stuffy and held it up to Euny as Taehyung caught both of you. “Here, I think Olly stayed home, but you can play with Ellie while you’re here.”

She grinned, taking the toy. “Thank-you.”

Kaemon grinned back and raced to the entryway. “Yoongi-hyung! Euny’s gonna play with Ellie since Olly is at home.”

He came back in Yoongi’s arms, the man purring loudly, which was unusual unless he’d had some catnip (which they weren’t allowed to use around the kids).

Euny ran around with the elephant like it was her own toy, collapsing in one of the beanbag chairs with a loud purr, not necessarily forming words but meowing and mewling and making other adorable noises.

Yoongi kept purring quite loudly, though he looked almost asleep.

Jin kissed the top of Kaemon’s head, looking extremely proud of his little son.

“Food’s ready!” Emma called.

Chaos. Utter chaos until everyone was seated around the large dining table (definitely custom made, because there’s no way she just happened to find a table that could seat over fourteen people), helping kids eat and eating yourselves and talking about twelve different things. You still remembered how crazy everything had been the year before, your first thanksgiving. Euny was just starting to talk and walk, the twins were still tiny babes, and the triplets had wanted every iota of your attention and Jungkook had helped them steal your attention because of how pouty Hoseok got. You’d had a seizure later in the day, but it hadn’t been a bad one and it was acceptable for you to be slightly comatose in Hoseok’s arms after the meal when Emma had sat down with the triplets to read them a story and everyone else sat watching some Thanksgiving movie or other that you hadn’t known existed.

Now all of the kids were walking around, and all of them spoke basic words, and ate solid food, and sometimes threw their food. The triplets weren’t nearly as clingy to you, actually clinging more to their parents this year. Kae was still sleepy, and Nari’s mother-henning went more toward the twins than her own brothers anymore (which you’d caught plenty of pouty looks when the boys caught her not mothering them). Minsu was still the bravest of the three. All three were enrolled at the school within the Sanctuary walls, and Hoseok had gotten the teaching position for the kindergarten class, so he was teaching them this year, but all of you were expecting a fuss next year when they realized that he wouldn’t be teaching them again. Minsu still struggled with reading, but he worked on it with you during lunch since you were part of the library staff and had been taking on the extra role of speech therapy—which apparently also qualified you to help all the kids with special learning needs. The school was good at enacting your suggestions for helping the kids learn, especially since it was technically a really small school and Jin was technically the Principle.

Nari had a gaggle of friends that she happily played with, but would always tackle the boys in a huge hug after school and look absolutely exhausted. Kae was more of a loner, reading or napping during playtime, but sometimes getting pulled into Minsu’s games with whomever the more outgoing boy was playing with today. Apparently, Minsu was the most popular kid in class and organized all of the group games, but didn’t particularly care for anyone as his friend except his siblings. The other kids didn’t seem to care though, and were always patiently waiting to play with him. He had requested a recess with you once a week instead to work on his reading and to get away from the other kids.

“I don’t want to play with them today,” He would whisper, crawling into your lap with a book that he’d been trying to read with little success.

You would give him an extra snack because he was always hungry and usually just knew not to complain about it outside of snack time, usually an apple or orange.

You flinched when Hoseok’s hand gently stroked your hair, then shook your head when he flashed you a concerned look. You gestured that you had zoned out a bit.

He nodded, leaning over and kissing your forehead. He was sitting on your left side, because he knew you got antsy when other people did, so he was a little hard to see, but you could tell he was still a little worried about you.

Minsu was animatedly telling a story from school to a semi-rapt audience.

Even Eunyeong was following his movements at least, looking enraptured, and completely oblivious to Jimin trying to give her more food until he purred with amusement. Then she looked at him and smiled and chirped a thank-you that had his eyes turning into crescents. You thought Jimin might have a bit of kitten fever.

Which wasn’t surprising. You’d actually expected them to say that they were going to have kids back in the spring, but they never said anything. You also half-expected Ava and Namjoon to announce that they were expecting back in June,especially when she went into her heat unexpectedly, but you supposed she’d also been under a lot of stress with the ongoing legal battle with her former owner. It was probably why she looked so content curled up in the corner of an armchair, half sitting on Namjoon’s lap, surrounded by her pack and close to her mate.

Hoseok pulled you close. “You okay? You’ve been pretty quiet.”

You nodded. “Just…happy.” You curled up toward him, sighing softly. “Tests were positive, by the way.”

He smiled, pulling you carefully onto his lap. “I’m really happy, baby. Emma know?”

You nodded again. “Had to get the tests from her.”

He nuzzled your face. “Should we tell them, or wait until you’re out of the dangerous period?”

“I’ve had too many miscarriages to tell them,” You whispered.

He made a low sound, empathy and sadness, and kissed your temple. “We hadn’t figured out your medicine then. We do now, and…”

“You want to tell them?”

He nodded slowly. “I can also tell them that it’s still early. They know…they know it’s riskier for you. They know what we’ve been through.” His voice was barely more than a whisper.

Emma and Jin came back from successfully getting all of the kids down for a nap, handing off baby monitors to today's volunteers—Jimin, Jungkook, and Ariel.

You nudged Hoseok. “Then tell them.”

He smiled.

“Are we going to do the gratefulness circle, Eomma?” Jungkook asked, grinning cheekily.

Namjoon groaned. “Why would you bring that up?”

She rolled her eyes. “We haven’t done it since the second year I had all of you. Let it go.”

“Actually…could we?” Hoseok piped in, hesitantly. “It’s been a pretty crazy year.”

Yoongi sighed. “Yeah, fine. If Hobi wants to, I’m in.”

Taehyung shrugged.

“Only because Jungkook obviously didn’t want to,” Jin chuckled.

Jimin purred that he was for the gratefulness circle, sticking his tongue out at Namjoon and Jungkook.

Emma shrugged. “You should have kept quiet,” She told Jungkook. “Anyone want to start?”

“I will,” Yoongi grunted, sitting up. He took a breath, and let it out rapidly. “I’m grateful for all of you, because I don’t think I could raise Eunyeong half so well as I am if I didn’t have all of you helping me. I’m thankful that she’s growing so strong, though she could stand to grow a little bigger. I’m thankful that she doesn’t seem to have any lingering repercussions from being abandoned. I’m thankful that I’m getting transferred back here in January and that I’ll be closer to all of you because the trip is really long right now.”

Taehyung fidgeted. “Um…I’m thankful to have Euny and to live with you,” He said, looking at Yoongi. “I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with my life, so I’m really grateful that I have both of you to give me some sort of purpose while I figure things out.”

Yoongi patted the capuchin’s head.

Ariel shrugged a little, shy. “I’m grateful for the broader job market for hybrids, and the geneticist position I was able to get. Someone has to support this fluff-ball,” She giggled, nudging Jimin.

“Hey! I work,” He protested, squeezing her.

She just laughed a little more.

“I’m grateful to all of you for showing me how to properly clean the house because otherwise she would have killed me by now,” Jimin said after Tae reminded him that it was his turn.

You glanced up at Hoseok. “I’m grateful to have a family. I didn’t have one for a long time, but now I have all of you. It means a lot.”

“I’m grateful for y/n carrying our baby,” Hoseok said confidently, kissing your forehead.

The gratefulness circle was abandoned with the uproar that followed.

—

Previous Next

Masterlist Series Masterpost

Tagging: @jiminslye @musicandmusing @it-is-dana @kimmie113080 @bluebirdphantom @ephemeral-mindset @young-yellkie @alex--awesome--22 @bryvada @knjhe

Couldn’t Tag: @missmoxxiesworld

87 notes · View notes