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jarofstyles · 1 year

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Reaper

surprise! we have a new story we'd like to share with you. It's a bit different than our other stories, but as you know we love to put our spin on classic tropes. This reminds us of our roots of fic writing-- please read the warnings for every part as this story contains some toxic behavior and many red flags from both of the characters, but it's all for the sake of entertainment. it's going to be a darker fic so we aren't offended if it isn't your cup of tea! just thought we would spice things up for those who have been asking :)

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warnings: y/n has a stalker, angst, toxic behaviors, gang violence and activities, mentions of guns and murder, age gap (6 years y/n 21, h 27)

wc: 6.7k

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He was going to kill her.

She probably should have told him the second she started noticing something was off, but after three months of taking different routes home and keeping busy by being out with her friends, she thought she had escaped its escalation.

“Harry, someone’s been in my room.” Y/N breathed into the phone, “I know it wasn’t my ma, she’s working a double today, I left it out on purpose and it’s gone!“

There was too much for Harry to unpack in that sentence. He was wondering whether it was even worth it to question her when she was in a shaken state, she already had trouble using her words as it was.

“Pack a bag, I’ll be there in 15.” His tone was flat despite the worry that had filled his entire being.

Harry had been best friends with Y/N’s older brother Sterling since they were both prospects for the Devil’s Keepers. Being in a biker club is not something Harry expected a guy like Sterling to get into. The scrawny kid with a friendly approachable face, but that man had a punch that could knock teeth out— and it has. On multiple occasions.

Sterling went nomad earlier this year, hopped on his bike, and took off leaving Harry with very simple instructions:

“Look after my girls, yeah?”

It seemed that Sterling forgot who his sister was.

Worry and anger radiated off of him like heat on a car hood in the middle of summer. He knew damn well his stance said not to fuck with him as he stalked up her front porch, opening the front door to find her standing in front of him.

“I don’t see a bag.”

His tone was clipped. Harry wasn’t a man of many words to begin with. He loved the open road, his bike, the leather cut with the Devil’s Keepers logo on the back and his patches, and his mom- but words? Words weren’t something he loved. People talked too damn much to say nothing at all.

Someone had been inside her house, someone had been watching her. Bunny. Little Bunny, Y/N to most but Bunny to him and the rest of the club. He was tasked with keeping her safe- the whole club was, but him especially- and she had been messed with.

“Explain.” His arms crossed, the inked skin stretching and catching her eye. As intimidating as he may be, he was attractive as all hell. Distractingly so.

“They were right here,” Y/N walked to her desk, tapping the spot with her fingernail. Of course, it was empty now, but she’d left her panties on her desk for a reason. “I left a pair of panties on my desk and they’re gone.” She knew it was a bold move, but she wanted to leave something a potential creepy stalker would actually be interested in. Y/N didn’t think that they’d actually take them. She’d done it to prove herself wrong, she thought she had been imagining things.

“Don’t make that face, Harry, listen—“ The girl sighed, “things have been moving around my room for a few months or so now, but this is proof! Someone’s been in here.” Y/N didn’t want to admit that she had been dealing with a stalker for the past 3 months. She logically knew she should have told him sooner, but it didn’t feel real until now. She had been handling it just fine on her own.

Y/N swallowed thickly as she saw his demeanor change, still not able to read him after all these years. She’d never been one to miss a change in his usually expressionless face, but she’d never seen him make this face before.

“And now would probably be a good time to tell you that I also think whoever took them has also been following me around… and please spare me the speech on how I should have told you. I was doing fine on my own and now I’m telling you because I need help.”

His face was tight. Jaw clenched, eyes a dark, cloudy green as she could see his displeasure. Harry was not happy at all. In fact, he was more pissed than she had remembered seeing him.

This wasn’t good.

“Months?” He grit out. “This has been going on for months?” He felt the rage rising in him. Both from her not telling him and the fact someone would dare try to break into her space. Follow her. Stalk her.

Harry had promised to take care of her and had told her to call him whenever something happened. Of course, her stubborn pain in the ass self didn’t. And now he was fuming, looking at an empty spot where a perverted, deranged stalker had snatched her panties from.

How did they get in? His boots were loud against the hardwood as he messed with the window, moving the lock back and forth- only to find it broken.

He closed his eyes, his back to her as he took a deep breath to try and even his temper out. This wasn’t safe. At all.

“Pack the bag.” He snapped. “Now. You aren’t staying here.”

“And where will I be staying then?” She asked, letting out a breathy laugh. “I’m sure whoever this is won’t have a problem finding me again so what difference will it make?”

Truth be told, Y/N didn’t want to leave her house. She felt safe here even after realizing that there was someone who had been breaking in regularly. It had comforting memories, her favorite bed sheets to hold her a night, and her mother among other things that would actually help her cope with her new reality.

“Easy. You’re staying with me.” Harry spoke the words as if he couldn’t believe she’d ask such a stupid question. He was the only one who’d keep her safe, from now on he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.

“With you?” She tried her best not to act excited. Y/N had always liked Harry the most out of all the members of the Devil’s Keepers… a little too much. He was her brother's best friend, but he was also a strong, sexy, intimidating, and powerful man. A strong, sexy intimidating, and powerful man who had always shown her the patience others failed to.

“That’s what I said. Keep up.” He grunted, going into her closer and grabbing the Mickey Mouse duffel bag he knew she had gotten at Disney world and taken on every trip with her. It was tossed on the bed as he gave her an expectant look.

His place was safer. Far safer than here. Her mother was a nurse, she worked nights when she was sleeping and he knew that would be the time that the stalker would try and hurt her. That usually was the goal. To take or harm. He wouldn’t let her find out.

He had top-of-the-line security systems in place, his own personal armory, and the rage in his gut that had been brewing since the initial phone call to keep her safe. There was nowhere safer than with him. She should know that.

“Move. Or you’ll be forced to wear the same shit every day. I’ve got shit to do.”

It didn’t take long for her duffel bag to be stuffed to the brim with all the essentials. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be staying, but she had a feeling Harry appreciated not having to make any back-and-forth trips.

With one final scan of the room, she stopped in her tracks in an attempt to remember anything she had forgotten.

Her journal.

She couldn’t believe she had almost left it there. That journal knew everything about her, and could potentially create even more trouble if her stalker somehow managed to find it and read it. Thankfully, she’d kept it hidden in a secret compartment her brother had built into her bedside table.

Harry watched as she carefully placed the book into the pocket of the duffle. He was glad she’d thought to bring it, lord knows he wasn’t good with feelings. Judging by how quiet she was now, she’d have quite a few to write about.

The ride to his house was quicker than usual. For once, he wasn’t in the mood for a ride, instead opting to get the girl into a comfortable and safe environment as soon as possible.

The door was unlocked with the code and key, something he would show her later. Bunny walked in first, her duffel bag falling to the ground with a ‘splat’ as she began her scan of the place.

Harry never let people come here. It was his safe space, literally. Photos of the people he considered family hung up and his record player and records in the corner, his bedroom tucked away as the open concept floor plan left everything else to the eye.

He picked up the duffel with a sigh, wordlessly hauling it into his room as he heard her pad around looking at things. Harry wasn’t one that willingly shared a lot and Bunny was a nosy girl, so he knew she was going to take every opportunity to analyze something else about him.

“Bathroom.” He pointed to the door beside the bedroom. “Bedroom.” He looked around. “You have eyes.” For the rest. His kitchen wasn’t huge but it was decent for the apartment, and it had dual ovens. For what reason? He didn’t know. But he knew she would eat it up.

“Don’t touch my guns. Don’t care about the rest.”

“Okay cool. Are you hungry?” Y/N spoke up, immediately going to his fridge to see what he had for her to work with. “I’m starving, please tell me you have something good in here please…” Y/N hummed a tune to herself as she rummaged through the shelves in search of inspiration.

“These peppers are about to go bad, you know?” She pulled them out of the fridge along with some other vegetables and then went to check his freezer. “Wow. Okay, so you invite me over and you have no food?” She teased, expecting a reaction out of him. If there was one thing about Y/N, she loved to push his buttons.

Looking through his cupboards she managed to find some rice and pasta— ultimately picking pasta because it was quicker and she was starving. It wasn’t long before she had a vegetable sauce going, the apartment smelled incredible, and Harry couldn’t help but wonder in to see what she was up to.

“Here,” Y/N took a spoon and picked up a bit of the sauce, bringing it up to his lips for him to try. “Tell me if you think it’s missing something.”

Harry wasn’t quite sure what to think.

In the small time he had gone to the bedroom, showered, and changed his sheets, she had come up with some sort of something for them to eat.

It wasn’t something that he expected. He had his small menu of meals that he kept in rotation and a lot of it was instant ready-made stuff. Takeout was his favorite so he was going to get pizza or some shit, but Bunny had been standing at his stove like a little housewife. Like she owned the place.

He gave her a look, one of apprehension as he opened his mouth to try it. It seemed… oddly intimate for them. Sure, they had been around each other for years but he always kept a distance.

The sauce though? He was very pleasantly surprised. “Looks like culinary school’s done you good.” He said simply, nodding in approval before moving away.

He had been too close to her. Having her here was probably a bad idea, but it was the only option besides the clubhouse. God knew he wasn’t taking her there. As much as he loved it, it was pure debauchery as soon as the sun fell and the moon came up.

“I’ll take you to the shop tomorrow.” He sat down on the couch, spreading his legs as he cracked his knuckles. His body usually was a bit sore from riding and… other activities of the not-so-legal variety, but the tenseness he usually held had increased tenfold.

Someone was stalking her. Someone he had no clue who they were, but damned if he didn’t find out soon.

Y/N was used to him being tense. His jaw was perpetually clenched, brooding, carrying himself like he was ready to throw down at any given moment. Most people thought Harry was abrasive and hard to know. Hell if she hadn’t known his heart, she probably would have thought the same about him.

From what Sterling had shared with her, Harry had a rough upbringing. In and out of Foster care, homelessness, the biker club. There wasn’t much softness in his life aside from his mother he had reconnected with, whom he sent a large chunk of money every month to support.

Y/N didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable in his own home, so she opted to give him space as she plated a meal for him and brought it to the living room for him to eat while he worked on god knows what.

“Here. There is more in the kitchen if you need—" She kept her voice calm and low, seeing the man was on edge, likely thinking about the stalker issue she had brought on to him. Y/N knew he would help, and knew the guy would be dead the minute they found him. It brought her great comfort, to a point where she probably was desensitized to the idea of someone actually hurting her.

He’d never let that happen. Club rules.

“Hold on.” He grumbled, pointing to the other side of the couch. “You will tell me about this shit as soon as you’re done. No more hiding. I need to know every little thing.” He steeled her with a look that made sure she was well aware of how serious he was.

It was his job, his promise to protect her. In a way, he had failed. While he wasn’t sure what he could have done to prevent it, if he had known earlier he could have gotten the club to dig into shit. Stood watch all night. She was family.

He’d always been fond of her. Perhaps a little too fond in the recent year or two, so he kept a distance to ensure that never wriggled out of control. That only seemed to make it worse.

Harry wasn’t a good guy. He really wasn’t. There were reasons his road name was Reaper and that’s what people knew him by. Bunny didn’t need to get caught up in the shit he was involved in. It’s why he and her brother had kept her as far as possible from the club life as they could.

“Well, I’m not exactly sure what else there is to tell.” Y/N answered him with a shrug, “I’ve told you what I know, but I’m sure you have questions I could answer.” She explained further, knowing this wasn’t a time to play games or joke around with him.

“I started noticing it in February. I transferred to culinary school and I was always getting home late, I thought it was just my tired brain telling me I was misplacing things.” Y/N was trying her best to remember the events as they were, but again, she wasn’t scared so she wasn’t registering it. She just had a bad feeling.

“And when I visited Hannah back at my old campus, she noticed that there was a guy following us one night a few weeks after… but I figured it was just some drunk guy headed to the dorms. So every day after, I took a different route home just in case.” Y/N had the basic knowledge of this stuff, her brother had drilled it in her to stay alert and what to do in case something did start happening.

“I’ve seen the same car around the area around the same time I was coming home, but everyone around here drives the same fucking black truck so that could be a reach. The only thing is the plates changed and that wouldn’t be my first thought but it had a massive scratch all up the front of the hood so it sort of made it obvious.”

He stayed silent, listening to her explanation. Each tidbit of information was filed away for further use.

What bothered him was how casual she was. Did she not realize how dangerous it was? Sure, she had been scared when she called him but this was serious. Did she not think to call him?

“You should have called me the minute you realized someone was following you.” His tone was cold as he looked over her. She had no scratches or bruises yet but what if she hadn’t told him and stayed at home? He could obviously get into the house very easily at any time he wanted.

“I don’t think you’re understanding how serious it is. We could have fixed it- I could have handled it months ago when you noticed someone messing with your shit. When you noticed someone was following you.” He was obviously angry.

“You know to call me. That’s what your brother said to do. I know you think you’re all grown up now, whatever the fuck, but you are still vulnerable. We told you to always come to us.” He was a little hurt, too. Did she not trust him?

“I know that— I just told you I didn’t think it was an issue till now. I didn’t want to have to get you involved, what if I was just being paranoid? You guys have better shit to do than follow me around like a lost puppy.” Y/N had been made to think she was incapable her whole life and frankly, hearing those words from Harry stung.

“Fix it now. What difference does it make? I’m here anyway, should be fine shouldn’t I?” Her attitude was masking her true feelings. “Can't go back in time can I, Harry? Don’t talk to me as if I wanted this to happen, how the fuck is this my fault now?”

She was definitely taking it the wrong way. His tone had struck a nerve and she was too proud and too embarrassed to care if she was being irrational. She wanted him to think she was strong. She wanted him to believe she didn’t need the protection, that she could handle things on her own. That she wasn’t 17 anymore and that she was an equal.

“What would you prefer for me to do huh? Call you every time something feels off? I’m not the boy who cried wolf, this shit happens to women all the time. I’m always on edge about these things— I know what could happen. Do you really think I’m being careless? Please, be serious.” She rolled her eyes.

His teeth grit, jaw clenched as she spoke to him with an attitude. He was angry, far too angry to deal with this shit. Her attitude would get her nowhere with him.

His palm itched, wanting to spank the hell out of her ass for speaking to him like that and taking her safety for granted. Where the hell had this come from? Why would she do this?

“I’m not saying you wanted or asked for that shit. Don’t put words in my mouth.” He warned, his glare cold. “I’d rather you waste my time and be safe than not call me and end up in a Fuckin’ ditch. Are you kidding me?”

He stood up, crossing his arms as he looked down at her. She was too witty and too smart for this shit. “Guys who stalk like that? They aren’t there to be a friend. They either want to take you or take you out. I’m fuckin’ serious. I’ve lived in this fucked up world long enough to know and deal with some of the worst.” Bunny had a clue about the fact the club definitely didn’t do the most moral things, but still. She hadn’t expected him to say it.

“So yeah, I’d rather get annoyed at somethin being nothing than have you in trouble. Fucks sake.” He rolled his head back. He needed to get away before he hurt her feelings.

“Going out for a smoke. Don’t follow me.”

She didn’t have to be told twice, staying silent while she cleared their plates from dinner and packed up the rest. Y/N was fuming. She didn’t like being talked down to, especially by Harry. Telling her off for not saying something sooner, making her feel like she did something wrong.

She was just living her life! This happened to happen, sure she should have called, but what could she do about it now? Not that she was expecting him to be all lovey dovey with her or baby her, but he’d always been more understanding with her. Why was it so different now?

Y/N took herself from the kitchen to the bathroom, aiming to shower away all the icky feelings left in her body from the conversation. She hated it. The scolding hot water wasn’t enough to soothe her, the tears flowing down her face as quickly as the water down her back.

She’d messed something up again. Made it difficult for them, again. Harry would surely think she was stupid now if he hadn’t before.

---

He could pinpoint why it bothered him so much as he stood on the balcony.

He cared. He cared far too much, and the idea of something happening to her sent an absolute panic into his bloodstream.

Bunny was special to him. She was someone he grew up protecting and someone he always wanted to make sure felt at ease. He couldn’t always figure out why, but she had always been a bit delicate. That wasn’t a bad thing at all.

He admired her softer traits. The sweetness of her voice and the softness of her skin. She looked like a dream and smelled like one too. It’s why he wouldn’t let himself get too close to her. She was a good one. He wasn’t. His life would chew her up and spit her out.

But what choice did he have now? Someone was stalking her and he hadn’t been there to protect her. Maybe he would have noticed if he hadn’t been so weak in his convictions. Nervous that if he spent more than his check-up times with her, that she would wiggle her way into the soft spot she had already been chipping into his icy heart.

He groaned quietly, sending a text to the President of the club, Viper. Letting him know he had a situation to speak to him about. He would know what to do. There weren’t many people Harry respected, but his brothers in the club? He would lay down his life for.

By the time Y/N had finished up with her shower, Harry was back inside sitting on his place on the couch typing away at his phone trying to find answers and solutions for the situation that had been causing him to feel more than he’d felt in years.

It was strange. He hasn’t been this worked up in… well, ever. Not in a violent way at least.

Seeing her walk out in her comfy clothes, hair still damp, face clear of makeup, eyes puffy, Harry felt the pang in his heart again. Had he pushed too far? Had he said too much? He was simply expressing his feelings, he didn’t think she would take his words to heart, she had always been good at understanding where he was coming from.

Y/N put the kettle on in silence, avoiding walking to the couch and facing him again. Not when she was so obviously vulnerable.

He sighed to himself as he felt a little antsy. Foot tapping against the floor he tried to figure out what to do.

He wasn’t… a comforting person. He was the last person a lot of people saw before meeting Hades. But christ, he wanted to make her comfortable. He just wasn’t good at it.

He stood up from the couch and approached her in the kitchen, leaning against the counter.

“You’re going to the clubhouse with me in the mornin’.” He said quietly. It was something she had always wanted to do, but he always refused.

It wasn’t too bad during the day. Of course, it was extremely safe considering it was where they all met and kept their shit. But he didn’t want to introduce her to the people. They’d like her, they’d love her even. He didn’t want her to integrate into the society there because she deserved more.

It wasn’t a knock to his brothers. They didn’t want their sisters or daughters, hell even their wives or girlfriends around it sometimes. It put a target on their backs- but it seemed she already had one there.

She was Sterling’s sister, she was a low risk but they had enemies. They had to make sure it wasn’t one of them. “I know you’ve built it up in your head but I just gotta say it isn’t anything special.” It was a compound with a large garage to work on their bikes, a house with an open downstairs with a large bar and couches and pool tables, a meeting room and tables to eat the food the girls who worked there made. “You good with that?”

She looked up at him with a cautious look. She hasn’t expected that. It was something he said he would never do, she wondered why the change of heart but decided not to push it. Y/N simply nodded, giving him an ‘Mhm’ and a small smile before passing him a mug of tea.

It was clear he wanted to smooth things over but wasn’t sure how. She wondered if maybe this was his way of trying to comfort her. Either way, she would definitely need more from him than that.

Y/N was never really aware of Harry’s love life or lack thereof. She knew he definitely had slept with loads of women but she never heard about any of them. She wondered if he even liked intimacy and if he ever got it from someone properly.

She always did her best to show it to him in the ways she would allow herself to. His reactions were always so wholesome despite his tough appearance. He practically melted, always so shocked that she would do something like that for him so easily.

He slowly rose the cup of tea to his mouth. He loved tea but rarely had anyone make it for him anymore. She knew how to do it right, for some reason, which always did freak him out a little.

“Thanks.” He mumbled. There was a bit of silence in the kitchen as his eyes stayed locked on her form, watching as she puttered around the kitchen, looking over the shit in his fridge and pantry. It was pretty bare bones and he could practically hear her remarks about how he could ‘live like this’ and how he ‘stayed in shape when all he had was blueberry pop tarts.’

“Make a list.” His words broke his silence and made her jump. It made him want to smile seeing her jump and squeak, gripping her chest in fright. It was a harmless scare. “If you’re gonna complain… I’ll buy you whatever shit you want to cook. Put the shit you want to snack on too. You’re gonna be on lockdown for a bit.” He didn’t take for granted that she had come with him without a fight. She knew far better than to fight him on that when danger was around.

Lockdown made things sound a lot scarier. She knew having a stalker was a big deal but Harry was making it seem like it was a whole operation. To him it was. Y/N decided not to think too much about it, opting to make the list full of their favorites.

When Harry and Sterling first became friends, Y/N used to cook for them all the time when being a chef was just a pipe dream. Harry used to compliment her cooking even when it tasted shit, he never let her think she wasn’t good at it, but she could tell when it started improving just by the way his eyes would widen and his brows would furrow as he took another bite.

Y/N decided she needed to wind down after making the list, night had fallen and she knew they’d be going to sleep soon. A little bit of TV couldn’t hurt, right?

—

Harry finished up his third cigarette, smashing it on the ashtray as he finished the phone call.

Tomorrow wasn’t going to be easy. They had to hatch a plan on how to best keep her safe and he had a feeling she wasn’t going to love the ideas they’d been mulling over the call. But he trusted Viper.

He stretched his aching bones, opening the sliding glass door to find her curled up in a ball on his couch. In the corner of the sectional, she watched Gordon Ramsey yell at someone about unclean kitchens, her eyes falling as she sat there. How she slept with his incessant yelling, he had no idea, but it was time for bed.

“Time to sleep.” He grabbed the remote and turned the tv off, ignoring her pout. He didn’t want to think about it being cute, or how soft and sleepy she looked. Warm. Like if he laid down with her and tucked his face between her breast, he could fall asleep to the sound of her breathing.

That thought was quickly shaken away as she stretched out, standing up like a kitten waking from a nap. “You can just show me where the extra pillows and blankets are.” She murmured, wrapping her arms around herself.

“No.” He blinked. “Come on.” He didn’t give her a choice but to follow him, walking across the room to his bedroom. The light flickered on and he tossed his house shoes to the side, adjusting them with his feet.

“In.” He didn’t have to look at her to know she was behind him as he took each ring off of his fingers, plopping them in the ring dish.

“Are you sure?” She asked with caution. Harry was used to being alone and she didn’t want to crowd his space. It was his bedroom after all. “Where are you going to sleep?” Surely it wouldn’t be in the bed with her.

She could already feel herself getting giddy at the thought, unsure if she’d actually be able to get any sleep lying next to him. It was always so easy to deal with her crush because it wasn’t often that they had spent time together alone.

With Sterling being away he had come to visit her more often, but even that didn’t compare to being surrounded by his smell in the comfort of his home. How he had no issues with her doing whatever she wanted here, how he was always close by keeping an eye on her.

“Here.” He said simply. “Couch hurts my back, you don’t want me weaker.” He untucked the gun from his waistband and tucked it into the bedside table drawer after checking the safety. The knife attached to his ankle was next, the holster tucked neatly away.

He could feel her eyes on him, heard the uptick in her breathing. She wasn’t used to Harry like this. Harry… being himself in the way other people saw him. Of course she knew he was dangerous but seeing him place the gun into the drawer, knowing he had the capability to use it and has in the past? It made her insides twist.

She couldn’t decipher if it was a good or bad way quite yet. It was a mix of nerves and arousal. That certainly didn’t help her keeping cool. She made her way over to the bed, leaving her hoodie on the side and stripping from her sweats so she could be comfy in her t-shirt and sleep shorts. The left side of the bed because Harry seemed to have his own little setup on the right.

“I sleep closest to the door. If we separate and someone gets in through the balcony, which they won’t- I have take first hit.” He knew it wouldn’t happen though.

“You’re against the wall.” He didn’t look at her as he undid his belt, back to her as he grabbed sweatpants from his drawer. Naked sleeping would have to wait until this was all resolved.

“Put up a pillow if it makes you feel better. But until I find out where this piece of shit is, you aren’t leaving the sight of me or someone from the club.”

“Oh…”

It was all she could really manage to say as she realized that this wouldn’t be the only night she spent sleeping next to him. He said she was going to be on lockdown for a while. It was finally clicking that she was going to be locked down with him.

Y/N climbed under the covers, his scent-soaked sheets invading her senses. She practically purred, letting out an audible hum that she pass off as a sleepy coo.

“It’s really comfy…” She mumbled, shoving her face into the pillow with another hum. “What time do we have to be up tomorrow?” Y/N wanted to continue the conversation so she didn’t get too lost in the fact that he was shirtless and in grey sweats in front of her.

It’s like he was doing it on purpose.

“7. You take forever to get ready.” He remembered Sterling bitching about it all the time when they’d go out. Bunny always managed to look incredibly pretty and put together though, so he assumed it probably was for the greater good.

A selfish part of him wanted her disheveled and sloppy so maybe the guys wouldn’t be as interested- but it wouldn’t matter. Bunny was a fucking model regardless of makeup or clothing. It stroked an irritated, possessive cord he didn’t want to be strummed.

“We get there at 8. Meet with Viper, then breakfast.” He was making up for his coldness before by filling her in. His body was tense knowing she was snuggled into his bed, getting her scent all over his sheets. It seemed like he was a glutton for punishment.

His hair was put into a loose bun so it didn’t get fucked up immensely when he slept, but he knew he’d have to fix it again in the morning.

He wordlessly excused himself to the bathroom, brushing his teeth quickly to get the smokes off of his breath, and gave himself a once over. He looked like every father’s worst nightmare for their daughter- and it was true. Harry was quite literally the worst thing that could happen to a girl. He fucked and left, and while he left them satisfied, never went there again. One and dones were his thing, even if the club girls who volunteered themselves liked to think he would give in one day.

He wouldn’t. People got attached.

He came back into the room to see her staring at the ceiling. It wasn’t like her, really. Bunny was nosy and noisy and giggly. A seed of discomfort welled in his throat, unsure how to approach it.

“Y’good?” Was his attempt, throwing the covers back and sitting in the bed.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She nodded as she looked over his body once more and gently closed her eyes. Letting out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding in, she turned on her side to face him and wondered how he felt about all of this.

It wasn’t until he turned off the lights and got comfortable that she spoke up again, letting the darkness fuel her courage.

“Thank you for letting me stay here.” She was feeling guilty for giving him an attitude earlier. She knew he was just trying to help even though his delivery did hurt her feelings. Harry had her best interest at heart, she knew that. She was just craving emotional support.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

Damn it.

He chewed his inner cheek. He felt the guilt inside of him grow. Of course, he didn’t have to be so coarse with her but it was hard to find a happy medium. If he leaned into the softness in his gut it could put him in a situation where he liked her more than he should. Sterling would kick his ass, and in turn, it would make her life even more dangerous than needed.

He exhaled slowly, looking over to where she was laying. “Told you I’d protect you. I’d do it if Sterling was here or not.” He mumbled. “M’not gonna let this dick hurt you. Yeah, should have told me sooner but….” He paused to lick his lips, thinking his words through. He didn’t talk this much to other people. Didn’t want or need to.

“Can’t do anything about it now. You’re safe. Got me and the club to take care of you. Just… listen to me. Don’t be reckless. Don’t fight me at every turn. Kay?”

It was as good as it was going to get to comforting for him tonight. It was still not where she wanted it to be, but from him, it was what it was.

Y/N felt content with his answer, it’s the most she’d ever gotten out of him and she didn’t feel like pressing him for more. She wanted to let him choose if and when he wanted to open up more. However, she still wanted to ease his worries even if he claimed it was part of the job.

“Kay.” She mumbled, lifting her head off of the pillow so she could lean into his frame and press a sweet kiss to his cheek. The small gesture made her feel giddy as she pulled back and got comfortable under the covers again.

“Goodnight, Harry.” She whispered, not trusting her voice due to how fast her heart was beating. She felt like a teenager again, giddy at the idea of him feeling flustered. Of course, she couldn’t tell because she had her eyes closed and it was dark, but still! She hoped maybe it made him feel good and appreciated because he deserved that.

It was so simple for her, but for someone like him, softness wasn’t always well received. She felt honored to be one of the ones he allowed to be soft with him.

His cheek burned. Both from the blush and her kiss, making him feel a bit squirmy.

It was annoying how much she had an effect on him. He was a grown man who’d had plenty of pussy in a variety of ways, who looked death in the face every day. And yet here he was. Blushing over a cheek kiss.

“Night.” He said gruffly, eyes wide open as he took his turn to lay back and look at the ceiling.

This wasn’t like him. He wasn’t someone who likes this sort of shit or tolerated it. He simply didn’t. He hated softness and touches it was rough and hard and hands tied behind backs and faces buried in mattresses. Not a fucking cheek kiss. It was disarming to feel something when he was so used to being numb.

The real option Viper had offered him today had been weighing on his mind. Could he do it without losing himself in it? Could Bunny? He wasn’t sure. But he’d rather it end up with her mad at him than her hurt. It pissed him off fully to know she was in any sort of danger, he was working hard to make sure that it wouldn’t be the case again.

His eyes eventually drifted close as he turned to look at the dark outline of her, listening to her breathing and sleepy noises. In another world, he would let himself crave intimacy like this every night- but he couldn’t.

Especially not with her.

843 notes · View notes

lovelybrooke · 7 months

Text

I Have to be Dreaming. (Chapter 7).

Regular masterlist~~Series Masterlist

"We're here today to mourn the loss of a wonderful woman, Alicia (L/n). She was a teacher, caregiver, but most importantly, a mother. Her impact on the world will not be forgotten. Now, (Y/n), Alicia's child, is going to say a few worlds."

You slowly stand from your seat in the front of the room, smoothing down your clothes as a way of soothing yourself. You were so nervous, shaking the entire short walk to the podium. You don't dare look at the casket, containing the body of your mother. You've barely looked at it during the service, only doing so when you absolutely had to. You didn't want to except what was happening.

You take a quick look at your prepared note cards, placing them down on the podium with a trembling hand. You stare out into the large group of people, some crying, some giving you sympathetic looks, but all of them unfamiliar.

"Hello." You speak into the microphone, your voice quiet and wavering. "I'm happy to see so many people here, celebrating my mother's life." You smile, but it didn't reach your ears.

"My mother was an amazing person, I always wanted to be like her. As most of you know, she was a scientist and professor, I'm pretty sure most of you were her students." You gaze at some of the unfamiliar faces in the crowd as you speak.

"I never know my mother very well." You look away from the crowd, looking at your notes. "She was always so consumed in her research. But, when we did spend time together, we went to the beach."

"We'd go and look at the ocean, and It was during that time when I felt closest to my mom. She'd say "(Y/n), scream your worries to the sea, and the sea will answer!"" The crowd laughs, though it was more endearing than funny. "I'd scream about school, or work, life in general. But when mom got sick, I went to the sea one last time, and screamed about her."

You started to cry lightly, wiping the tears away quickly. "I cried and screamed because I didn't know her, I couldn't help her, and because it felt like she didn't care. Even as we got older, she was still so focused on her research, and she'd never share it with me."

"Her research was what killed her, and she kept that from me to the very end."

"I miss my mom, but even now, I feel worlds apart from her."

---

You gasped as you awoke, sitting up in your bed while clutching your chest. The sun was out, most likely meaning it was mid-day, Usopp probably let you sleep in.

The man in question was sitting in the corner of your shared room, tinkering away at something. As you shifted in your bed, he looked at you, eyes brightening as you yawned.

"(Y/n)! You're finally awake!" From the table, he held up your gauntlets. They were cleaned of all the blood and looked refurbished. You could see some new wires and medal platting on them. "Look! I improved those gauntlets of yours! I was inspired by the impact dial, look, look!" He moved to sit on the edge of your bed, showing you the palms of the gauntlets. "Now, when you uses them, you can absorb the impact of your punches! If you squeeze on the inside, you'll release a big blow!"

He goes on and on about the improvements to your weapon, but you couldn't help but notice the strain in his voice. He kept talking, but you knew deep down that he was struggling to adjust without the others. "You miss them, don't you Usopp."

That shuts him up immediately, his eyes widening in embarrassment. He looks away from you, frowning. "You're only like this with the others, Usopp." You point out, placing your hand atop of his. "It's okay, you're allowed to miss them."

Usopp shakes his head, looking back at you. His look was intense, matching his words as he spoke. "No! I-I don't miss them." He pauses, clearing his voice before continuing. "I'm just--glad you're here with me, I don't know what I'd do without you." He holds your hand tighter, a little bit too tight, making it impossible to let go. He takes his other hand, holding his pinky in front of you. "Promise me, no matter what happens, you won't leave. You're the only one I have left." His worlds were quiet, and scary, but you nod your head, wrapping your pinky around his.

"I promise Usopp."

---

"Zoro, please stop talking, you're only making things worse." Nami begs, following the swordman around as he argues with the captain.

Luffy doesn't look at Zoro, eventually finding his was to a hammock and laying down in it. "No, Nami, this is exactly what I said would happen if he didn't keep them away from battle."

"What were we supposed to do, we're pirates." Luffy responds, his eyes closed, and voice relaxed.

"I don't know, not drag them across the sea against their will!" He yells, exasperated. Luffy doesn't move an inch, waving him away.

"I asked you to keep an eye on them, so in a way, this is more your fault than mine." Zoro is reminded of that night, on the Sky Island. When the battle was won, and everyone was done celebrating. He was tired, and his head was aching due to all the alcohol he consumed. But when his captain has orders for him, he follows them no questions asked.

I need you to keep an eye on (Y/n) and tell me if they try anything." Luffy asks him. This was different that other orders though, his voice was low and demanding, leaving no room for argument. "They want to leave."

"Why?" Maybe it was the alcohol, but he couldn't help but wonder why you desired to leave so badly. He wasn't stupid, he saw how uncomfortable you were, how you were scared of absolutely anything. He knew you desired to be anywhere but with them, but he couldn't help but want you to stay.

Maybe he was selfish, greedy even, but there was something about you that Zoro craved. He couldn't describe what, but he wasn't about to let you get away.

Luffy stares the swordman down with an unwavering gaze "I don't know, just make sure they don't." Zoro nods, watching as Luffy walks away, his mood instantly shifting in front of the others.

In the present, Zoro narrows his eyes at the laid-back captain, scowling with furrowed brows. He's only able to get one step closer to him before Nami is standing between them. "You two can argue about who's at fault until the sky turns purple but that's not going to change a thing!" She turns towards the hammock, glaring daggers at Luffy. "Speaking of which, you need to apologize to Usopp. He got so upset because you came to a decision so unexpectedly!"

Luffy takes one look at the upset Nami before covering his eyes with his hat. "Well, it's too late to back out now."

"That's not true! You can apologize and talk it over with him!" She yells.

"I said it's too late." He responds lowly. "Usopp isn't foolish enough to wager his life over a temper tantrum."

Luffy shifts slightly in the hammock, "If it was something we could patch up by talking about it, it would never have come to this in the first place." He yawns.

Nami sighs, excepting defeat with a sag of her shoulders. She rubs her temple, feeling a headache coming on. Right on cue, arguing out on the deck could be heard.

"It's your fault this is happening! You should've beat those Franky freaks to a pulp then Usopp wouldn't have had that awful experience, and (Y/n) would still be here!" Sanji yells right in Zoro's face.

"Then you should've stayed here to fight, instead of going out shopping!" Zoro screams back. "And (Y/n) was planning on leaving before this all happened!"

"You're lying! You just don't want to admit that you played a part in---"

"Stop fighting at a time like this!" Nami yells, the two shutting up. "Don't argue about things that can't be changed." The soft patter of footsteps is heard, diverting all of their attention to him.

"Chopper, I thought you went after Usopp." The reindeer nods.

"I wanted to treat his wounds. But he brushed me off." He places his medical bag down. "They're both staying at an inn in town. Usopp said, "We are no longer apart of the crew, so go back to the ship."" Chopper sobs, tears running down his face as he whimpers.

Nami sighs, taking a seat. "All the great times we've had seem like a big lie now. On top of that, if something happened to Robin, I feel like our crew is falling apart."

---

"Usopp, are you sure you don't want me to come, what happens if you get hurt?" Usopp shakes his head, his hand on the handle of the door, ready to leave.

"It's best if you stay here (Y/n)--" He says quietly before turning around with a brave face, posing. "I don't want you to see what might happen to Luffy when I destroy him, it'll probably be a gruesome fight." You give him a worried look but smile regardless.

"Please be careful, Usopp!" You hug him.

Usopp faulters in your hold, not knowing what to do in your arms. He shakes for a bit before wrapping his arms around you tight. The hug lasted for a while, Usopp didn't want to let you go. He was afraid that if he did, this wouldn't be real. That you'd realize how weak and hopeless he was and you'd leave him.

You eventually let go, much to the annoyance of Usopp. You laugh, patting him on the shoulder, "Go gettem Usopp! I know you can do it!" Usopp's heart swells at your encouragement, blushing before nodding and heading out. He was going to make you proud.

---

"You guys stay on board. Do not get off." Luffy demands his crew, stepping out onto land. It doesn't take long for Usopp to meet up, the dirt beneath his feet crutching as he walks closer, standing tall in front of the Strawhat captain.

"You came. So, you didn't lose your nerve." Luffy dooms. "No matter what happens, don't regret it! You chose this fight!"

Usopp keeps his eyes on Luffy. "Darn straight. Go ahead and try to kill me. I'll bet you at your own game. I've already figured out how to bring you down."

Usopp narrows his eyes, snarling at the captain. "Don't lump me in with enemies you've faced up till now. They didn't know your tricks, Luffy. We've known each other a long time. I know your powers well."

The others watch anxiously from their spots on the ship. "Can't we stop them, Usopp is seriously injured!" Chopper asks Zoro. The man doesn't spare the doctor a glance.

"If you can't bear to watch, go to your room." Zoro couldn't see any signs of you, causing him to scowl at his former crewmates.

"Don't be shocked by what I tell you, Luffy. I--have 8,000 henchmen! If you fear for your life, surrender now!" Luffy doesn't flinch at Usopp's shouting.

"Huh?! 8,000 men?!" Chopper gawks.

"Go to your room."

"I know you don't have that many henchmen!" Luffy yells, only for Usopp to collapse suddenly. Luffy runs over, winding up a punch.

"What? Pity for you enemy." Covered in his hands was what Luffy thought as blood but could tell from the smell was nothing but ketchup. Before he could react, a flash of light blinds Luffy, pushing him back as he covers his eyes.

Usopp stands, flinging ammunition at Luffy over and over again, staggering the pirate. A rotten egg hits the corner of Luffy's mouth, causing him to gag.

"Ugh, that stinks!" Luffy sticks his tongue, trying to get the taste out of his mouth. "Darn you! Get serious and fight you jerk!"

"You think I'm fooling around?! I'm deadly serious Luffy!" Usopp growls, huffing from exhaustion. "This is how I fight. Watch out or that gaping mouth of yours will get burned." Usopp fires his slingshot, a pepper flying into his mouth. Luffy gags, covering his mouth as he begins to sweat.

Luffy stumbles around, spitting out the pepper in pain. "If I were you, I wouldn't stumble around so much either. The soles of your feet are already in caltrop hell!!" Luffy yelps as a spur digs into his foot, causing him to fall onto of more spurs.

Nami gapes at the sight of Luffy flailing around. "Usopp's controlling the fight!"

"Luffy, I'm going to beat you and take the Going Merry with me no matter what it takes!!" Usopp announces. The sniper was fueled by thoughts of you cheering him on, promising him that everything would be okay, that you believed in him. He kept his head held high as he fought his best friend for Merry, and for you.

Luffy is finally able to stand, shaking off the spurs while coughing. "It's stinky and it's hot!"

"I told you; I won't use an attack that won't be effective against you! I won't give you an opening, not even an inch!" Usopp fires again, shuriken's flying past Luffy, who is barely able to dodge in time. He flips around, stretching his limbs when needed in order to avoid the stars.

Luffy huffs as the stars hit the ground, smoke billowing around him. He looks around, confused, before seeing the dial on the ground near him. He groans in annoyance, looking back at Usopp.

"A wind dial!! You didn't notice the smell because of the rotten egg all over you." Usopp points at him with his slingshot. "You're currently surrounded by a cloud of gas." The others on the ship gasp as Usopp fires a large, fiery bullet at their captain.

Luffy watches as the bullet hits his abdomen, exploding on impact and causing a ripple of black smoke to billow around him. The boat shakes, creaking as the waves around it shoot out in every which direction.

"Luffy, Usopp!" Nami screams as she watches her friends fight. The smoke around Luffy eventually clears a bit, revealing Luffy laying on the ground, staring up into the sky. Usopp, exhausted, falls down onto his butt, laying back on a rock near him.

"Luffy!" Chopper cries. "Usopp." Neither respond, both motionless. Eventually, Usopp stands, a painful sound coming from his mouth.

"You--you won't die from something like that. I know that Luffy..." Usopp loads his slingshot, flinging ammo at his former captain. There's no response, the smoke still top thick for Usopp to see through.

The smoke ripples as Luffy shoots himself towards Usopp, punching dead each bit of ammunition Usopp fires. Once close enough, he jumps into the air, sending a punch straight into the side of Usopp's face, blood spewing from his mouth.

Usopp is able to move before more damage is done, blocking the attack heading for his stomach with a dial. It makes a low hissing sound, before its shot back in Luffy's face. The sheer force of the attack causes Usopp to cough up blood, crying out in pain.

"How did you like that, jerk?!" Usopp yells, but Luffy was right in front of him, glaring down at his friend. Usopp watches in horror as Luffy sends his arm backwards, before swinging in forward right into Usopp's stomach. He gurgles, stumbling back before falling straight forwards onto his face. Luffy waits for him to stop moving, falling to his knees while clenching his wrist.

"You idiot!" He yells to the unconscious man. "There's no way you could defeat me!!" Luffy sighs at the bloody sight of his friend and looks around the battlefield. Where were you, why haven't you come back yet, didn't you want to support Usopp? He pouts, realizing you weren't going to show up.

The pirate shuffles to his feet, grabbing his hat which wasn't far by. "This was your plan, isn't it, Usopp." He whispers. "Keeping them from me, just to spite me." He turns back, walking back to the ship.

"Do what you want with Merry. We're gonna find a new ship and we're gonna keep sailing forward!" Luffy declares, putting his hat back on his head. "So long Usopp, it's been fun."

Chopper cry, rushing towards the railing in an attempt to get to Usopp. "Hey, don't go, Chopper!" Nami yells as he cries for Usopp.

Sanji grabs hold of him, pulling him back. "Why?! He was in bad shape to begin with, and to just leave him after that beating..."

"This wasn't just any old fight." Sanji says as Chopper transforms, breaking out of Sanji's hold.

"So what?! I'm a doctor! Let me tend to him, at least!" Chopper begs. Sanji jumps onto his chest, holding him down.

"He lost his challenge...The last thing he needs now is your pity. Think about how that would make him feel!" Sanji explains. "Excessive kindness just hurts the vanquished even more! He made the challenge knowing what the outcome could be."

Luffy listens to Sanji from land, staring down at the ground. "This is too much...!"

Zoro looks at him through the corner of his eye. "That's the burden of being captain."

"Don't doubt yourself. If you start becoming unsure, who can we have faith in?!" Chopper, back in his smaller form, hops off the ship, running towards Usopp with a bag of medical supplies. He places it down near him, scurrying back towards the ship.

"Let's leave the ship to him." Zoro says. "This is it for us. We can never return to this ship."

---

Usopp doesn't return to the room in the morning, your stomach churning in worry. Sleep did not come easy the night of Usopp's fight, both because of your fear for his life, but also because you're dream from earlier.

You didn't know how to feel about the dream. You think you're supposed to be happy parts of your memories are coming back, but you wonder why. Why now?

Maybe this is a sign that you need to hurry up and contact the Navy, that they can help you. But another, louder part of you, reminds you that you have no one waiting for you.

You mother, the only family you had, is dead.

And you abandoned the only people who cared about you in an effort to find home.

You cover your face with the arm, sniffling in the dark of your room. Why did you have to be so indecisive? You made your choice, damn it, stick to it!

Was Zoro right, was there even a home you could return too?

You wished Usopp was here.

---

Sanji walked onto the roof of the inn they were staying at, being greeted by Zoro and Chopper. "Where's Luffy?" He asks the two.

Chopper points towards the top of a large bell tower. "Over there."

Sanji watches his captain as he lights a cigarette. "Where'd you go Sanji?" He blows smoke from his mouth, looking down at Chopper.

"I stayed by Rocky Cape all night keeping watch just in case Robin returned. I wonder where she went."

"I was planning on searching the town today. Whatever happens, let's make this inn our contact point." Chopper nods.

"I'll--I'll come too! To Search!" Sanji nods calmly.

The small peace was broken by Nami bursting onto the roof. "Luffy! Terrible news. The whole towns in an uproar." Luffy looks at her from his spot on the tower. "Last night Mr. Iceberg from the shipbuilding yards was shot in his home!"

"Ice guy?!" Nami nods. "Yes, he's in a coma right now."

"Who's that, Nami?" Sanji asks.

"A man we talked to at the shipbuilding yard yesterday. He's the president of the shipbuilding company and also the mayor of Water Seven." Nami explains. "He's quite a big shot. There's never been a bigger incident in this town."

"Everyone loved and respected him..." Luffy ads, jumping off the tower. "I'm gonna go check things out."

"Wait, Luffy. I'm coming too!" Nami yells, racing out the building. Sanji turns and looks at Zoro.

"We're going to search for Robin, what about you?"

Zoro shrugs. "I'm gonna wait and see what happens."

----

"Agua Laguna is coming!"

"Notify every household that hasn't heard!"

"All works stops now!"

Announcements rung out all across the island, people scurrying around you, sometimes even bumping into you as you walked down the winding roads of Water 7.

Aqua Laguna?

"Excuse me?" You tap a woman on her shoulder, "What was that advisory about?"

The woman laughs, clearly not as worried as some of the of the others. "Oh, you're a tourist? Man, you sure came at the wrong time. Aqua Laguna is high tide."

The woman lets out a hardy laugh at your shocked expression. "You better evacuate to someplace high up. This town will be submerged in seawater." She waves you off, taking off down the street. "It's an annual thing, take care."

Dang, that sucks. What does that mean for the locals who live in Water 7. You assume it's probably something they're used to, but that doesn't make it any less scary.

You shake your worry off, continuing your journey down the street. Finding a way to contact the Navy once the others leave is your top priority.

---

"Just as I though, look at that crowd of people." Nami and Luffy both stare at the crowed canal in front of them, everyone clumped together right in front of a large gate numbered 1. "We won't be able to get into the shipbuilding yard either."

Luffy pouted, looking at the people around them. "But I have to meet Ice Guy one more time."

"Excuse me, do you know where the head office is?" Nami asked a bored looking man on the boat next to them.

"Oh, that's impossible to get to. You have to go through dock one." He explained. "Only authorized personnel and reporters with special permission are allowed though."

"People are all gathered here to get the news as soon as it breaks. Everyone's worried--so worried they can't sit still..."

The man was right people were basically climbing on top of each other to get even the slightest glimpse past the gate. Loud shouting was heard as they beg for their mayor.

"So many people, there's no way we can get up close." Nami laments to a silent Luffy. "It can't be helped. We'll find out in time though the newspaper or something."

From above, a man watches the sea of people with an annoyed gaze. "What's with the ruckus, anyway?" He grumbles as upbeat music starts to play.

The music travels down all the way to the canals, silencing the locals in their boats. They groan, covering their ears at the mere sound. "Ugh! Th-that beat!" "No way, it can't be!!"

Luffy and Nami look around for the source of the music. "Alright everybody, did someone call my name?" A loud voice declares, far away but booming.

"We didn't call you! Get lost!" One-man yells.

"Where are you? Where?!" Another man screams to the air.

The music gets louder and louder, an onlooker pointing to the top of a tower high in the sky. "I see him--over there!" The people look at a silhouette of three posing people.

"Don't be sky, just sit back and listen!! To my name!"

"We don't wanna hear! Just disappear!"

The people started spouting accusations at the three, all their attention quickly focused on getting the man to shut up. "There should be a guy named Strawhat Luffy today!!" Nami gasps as the man speaks. "Show yourself!"

Suddenly, the cover hiding the three was blown away, "I am the number one hero of this island! The hidden face of Water 7. Oh yeah, everyone say it!" The man beds down, drumming is abnormally large arms on the ground.

"Franky!" The man poses to the sky, two women to his sides.

"Come on out, Strawhat!" People scream, the canals clear out as people attempt to escape from the potential fight.

"Who is that werido?" Luffy asks, furrowing his brow at the eccentric man.

"Didn't he say he was Franky?" Nami points out. Luffy's was taken aback, standing up in the boat and shouting at the man.

"Hey! Speedo guy!" Luffy's face darkens. "I'm Luffy."

"So, you're the one known as Strawhat Luffy!!" Franky booms. "While I was away, you sure caused some trouble didn't you, bro?" Franky continues to strike poses, the women next to him following along with him.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I returned. I mean, there was nothing left of my house!! You beat up my boys pretty good too..."

Nami stands up, "Hey! Where's our 200 million berries?!" Nami screams, Franky laughing at her.

"Huh? Oh that..." Franky tilts his head with a cocky smile. "All spent. Not a single Berry left! You probably stole it from somewhere anyway, so don't act so high and might, you pirates!"

"I don't care about that anymore. I won't be satisfied until I kick your butt!" Luffy roars.

Franky sneers down at the pirate captain. "That's what I'm saying you idiot." People start darting away from the two pirates as Franky takes a big, deep breath in.

"Hey! Come down here!" Luffy demands.

"What's he doing?" Nami questions with a slight worry.

Franky lets out a loud exhale, fire billowing down into the canal right in front of the two. Luffy backs away from the fire, nearly tumbling into Nami, who was already attempting to steer the boat away from fire. "He breathes fire!!" Luffy shrieks, a loud smug laugh.

"Never see anyone break fire." Smoke escapes from Franky's mouth as he speaks.

"Maybe he has powers! What fruit is it?" Luffy gapes.

With a huff, Franky jumps into the water below, water splashing everywhere. "He jumped into the water!! if he's eaten a devil fruit, he's gonna drown." Luffy mentions, watching the water calm.

"He probably just slipped and fell! His fruit ability must have been to breathe fire." Nami mentions.

Screams come from them as the boat they're on breaks into pieces, both being shot up into the air. Underneath them was Franky, his fist where there boat previously was. "He can swim?!"

"I didn't eat any devil fruit!" Franky screams, crawling onto one of the larger pieces of wood left floating above water. While he was too busy getting up, Luffy sent his arm back, extending it towards Franky.

"I've heard all about your powers..." Franky says, aiming his own arm towards Luffy, his hand detaching and hitting the pirate in the stomach. Connecting his arm and first was a long chain. Luffy grunts as his back hits the gate leading to the mayor's office, Nami watching from the sidelines in horror.

Franky's hand eventually finds its way back to his arm, clicking in place as Luffy slides down the gate. His head hits the ground with a thump, Franky staring at the sight with a triumphant smile.

"Oh, don't you guys know?" Franky patronizes them, Luffy scowling as he speaks. "Then I'll tell you."

"I'm a cyborg!"

---

The two men's fight eventually led to the shipyard, both of them heaving as they stare each other down.

"I'm going to beat your brains out." Luffy threatens.

Franky simply laughs as the boy. "Just try it! Your attacks won't have any effects on me!" Franky extends his arm, his hand detaching and bending to the left, revealing a barrel in his arm and a scope on the palm of his hand. He aims right at Luffy, before a large explosion goes off. Luffy dodges barely, stretching his foot towards Franky. As Franky raises an arm to block the attack, both of them are slammed into a pile of wood.

"Who are you?" Luffy rises, the Galley-La foremen standing behind him.

"You've got some nerve, just what is it are you after Strawhat?" Nami heart sores at the sound of Paulie, the companies vice president, voice.

"It's the shipwrights from yesterday! They'll be on our side, right?!" She hopes, the others around her sighing in relief. Though, the two women with Frank couldn't be more displeased.

"Hey now, Galley-La boys." Frany says calmly, raising his arms to his sides as he attempts to show he means no harm. "You know, you shouldn't stick your noses into other people's fights. Do you want to get hurt?" Franky was obviously trying to together in front of the foremen, but they were having none of it.

"You're one to talk." Kaku says. "Looking at what you did to our factory we were bound to come after you."

"Grah! That's right Franky, you fool! How are you planning to atone for this?!" A large burly man yells, Paulie motioning for him to calm down.

"Just hold on, Tilestone. We'll deal with him later." Paulie's attention was turned to Luffy, who was pouting, assumedly due to his fight being interrupted. "We have more important business here, remember? Don't we Strawhat Luffy?" All of the foremen were staring at him excitedly. Luffy remained silent, causing Paulie to grow angrier by the second.

"You what I'm talking about. I'm amazed you showed your face here again." The cigar in Paulie's mouth sizzled, ash falling to the ground as Luffy's mouth gaped open, confused.

"Why? When we heard about the old guy, we--"

Franky sighs from the side of Luffy, his eyes rolling behind his sunglasses. "So, our family wasn't enough for you, huh? You had to go and mess with Gally-La too? You must be at that awkward age when you hurt everything you touch!!"

Luffy turns towards the cyborg, his face scrunching up in anger. "We didn't do anything!" Paulie heard enough, charging towards the pirate in a rage.

"If you're gonna play dumb, I'll just turn up the heat!!" A rope extends from Paulie's jacket. He grabs one end, the other wrapping around Luffy's neck. He groans as the not tightens and he's thrown into a wood pile.

"You jerks! I told you not to get in the way!! What part of that don't you get?!" Franky shouts to the foremen, diverting their attention away from Luffy. "I'm the one who's got a score to settle with that guy!!"

Nami watches with the onlooks from the side of the destroyed shipyard. While the locals were screaming in support for their beloved foremen, Nami sweats as she watches Luffy stand. "Why!? Why are all the shipwrights our enemies too?!"

The pirate captain let's out a cough as dust circles around him. "Hey, hold it! I've got no reason to fight you!" Luffy's attempts to calm the foreman was fruitless as two bullets were shot at him, sending him back slightly as the spring back out of him.

"Did you eat a Devil Fruit?" One asks as the bullets hit the grounds. Luffy doesn't get the opportunity to, being kicked in the jaw before a world could even come out of his mouth.

The sight caused Franky to sweat, gritting his teeth backs away from the foremen. "Come on, are you people even listening to me?! I told you..." Franky's arm detaches, snapping into place with a clank and becoming a clank, "...to stay out of it! That kid's mine!" Franky fires bullet after bullet towards the foremen, explosions going off near them as the jump and dodge out of the way.

"We don't have time to mess around with you..." It was Kaku directly above the cyborg, "...Franky." Franky aims towards Kaku, smoke coming from his arm.

"What was that, you bumpkin!" He prepares to fire, a large pillar hitting him in the back interrupting him. Franky flies away, a sickening smack being heard for miles.

"You're the one who's in the way, Franky!!" Tilestone huffed as he swung the pillar around. The onlookers awed at the sight of Franky being pushed further into the ground by Kaku.

"Knock it off!!" Luffy was too preoccupied with fighting Rob Lucci to even pay attention to the cyborg behind him. Lucci was bocking each of Luffy's attacks with ease, frustrating the boy greatly. The silent man paid no mind to this however, ending the fight with one strong blow to Luffy's stomach.

Luffy coughs as his back hits wood. "These guys are really strong." He laments with a groan. "What's wrong with you?! At least yell me why you're doing this?" Luffy questions as he sits up, his face a mixture of confusion and frustration.

"We're the ones who want an explanation!!" Paulie yells, walking up him. Luffy wipes his mouth of blood and debris as he furrows his brow, nearly pouting.

"Last night, somebody broke into headquarters and attacked Mayor Iceberg." Paulie points a finger towards Luffy, anger dripping from his voice. The man was nearly shaking with rage as he gazes at the pirate. "And that somebody was you guys, wasn't it?!"

Franky was up and moving at his point, his voice a tone quieter than previous. "Iceberg was...? What's this all about?!" Franky scratches his head, a hint of dejection in his voice as he spoke. The people around them gasp, Nami shaking her head at the accusation. "What are you suggesting?"

Luffy snarls at the man, sitting up straight as he bellows loudly towards the man. "Don't be an idiot!! Why would we do something like that?"

"After the Mayor came to, he said there were two assassins." Paulie said in a critical voice, staring daggers at Luffy. "When we asked the Government, they told us on of them was a buddy of yours. A bounty named Nico Robin!"

---

Word spreads quickly throughout Water 7.

Especially in regard to their mayor.

It didn't take long for you to hear the rumors regarding the Strawhats and the "assassin" Nico Robin. In honesty, you didn't know what to believe, you don't really know Robin, who are you to say that she's a good or bad person. But when you think of her, you think of that night exploring the forests in Mock Town.

"Before you came here, I worked with a terrible man. He hurt people, and Luffy helped take him down. He saved me." When she spoke, it was like she was talking directly from her soul, nothing but truth coating her words.

You wonder, if all of this is true, was Robin simply lying to them, to you, to herself. Or is there something deeper at play.

The busy, crowded streets eventually die down morphing into a near ghost town, you assume due to the evacuations. So far, your search for any way to contact the Government was a dead end, most regular people have no need to contact the Government and well, you don't think you're going to be speaking with Iceberg anytime soon.

"Sanji?" He was sitting on the street near some stairs, his body soaking wet and lacking a shirt. His head instantly turns when he sees you, and for a second you swear you saw his eyes light up.

You can't deny the painful beating in your heart as you stare at him. You know deep down you miss him, miss all of them, but you made a promise not only to yourself to find a way home, but to Usopp. You couldn't abandon him now, no matter how crazy everything was currently.

"(Y/n)?" He asks quietly, like he wasn't sure if you were actually real. You take a few short steps towards him, testing the waters to make sure he wouldn't start yelling at you. When he remained silent, watching you, you sighed and motioned towards the spot next to him.

"Can I sit?" He nods quickly. You thank him quietly as you sit down and for a second neither of you say anything. You can feel Sanji look at you, but you don't dare look at him back. You're too afraid to see the look of hurt and betrayal that seeped into every corner of him.

After a few long minutes of silences, Sanji finally speaks up. "What are you doing here?" It was strangely judgmental, but you have no room to judge. You're the one who left them, you made your choice.

"I heard about Robin, I uh--wanted to make sure you were all doing okay." You lied through your teeth. Sanji looked away from you to light a cigarette, after inhaling the smoke taking a deep, long sigh.

"I-I've been thinking a lot since you left." You've only been gone for a little more than a day, must've been a lot of thinking. "Did you only ask me to train you because you were planning on leaving?" His voice dripped of sadness, like it hurt for him to even think about you lying to him. It made your earlier lie seem much, much worse.

You swallow down your regret and nod; hearing Sanji take a shaky breath from beside you. "It wasn't a full lie; I really did feel so useless after all our time at the Sky Island." You stammer, playing with your hands as you try your best to ignore your reflection in the water.

"I thought, "yknow, they've been spending a lot of time with Luffy" and I was so excited to finally get time with you to myself." He lets out a dry laugh and another drag of his cigarette. "Maybe it was just wishful thinking."

"I really am sorry. I-I just, I felt like I was just taking up space with you guys. I really did think that learning how to fight would make me more useful." Your voice cracks a bit, you hate this. You hate this situation; you hate having to acknowledge your feelings. It makes you feel gross, and small, and pathetic, just like before.

Sanji, yet again, lets out another sad laugh. "Well, it doesn't matter now, does it? You're gone." It's the first time you looked at Sanji, and to your surprise, he was looking at you. Your eyes were filling with tears, and Sanji looked exhausted. But when he looked at you, you could see the exact moment his expression turned from pure fatigue to remorse. His eyes widened, his mouth opening a bit as he stared at your guilt filled face.

"Come here." In a second, Sanji's snubbed out his cigarette, wrapping his arms around you, you gladly taking the hug. He smelt mainly like smoke, but you could smell a small bit of sea salt from what you assumed was earlier. The water covering him didn't matter to you as cry softy into his chest.

"(Y/n), I want you to know that no matter how far you are from us, we will always care about you." He speaks into your hair, his hold tight and comforting. "Even if you don't believe it, you were, you still are, an important part of the crew." Your lip wobbles as you sniffle.

It takes a while before you're let go, Sanji fixing a part of your hair as he smiles at you. He waits for you to calm down, the tears dry on your cheeks as you move to look at the ocean near you. The waves were getting larger and more violent as the day turned into night, and he wondered how bad it would get until high tide.

"I had a dream last night, Sanji." You spoke. He follows you gaze to the ocean. "It was more of a memory, about my mom." You frown at the word "mom", but Sanji was too concerned with the implications. "I think my memories are coming back." You didn't sound happy, but you also didn't sound sad, so Sanji didn't know what to say. He didn't want to lie to you, telling you how happy he was, because he wasn't. Getting one memory back means another would come, and another, and another, until there's no room left for them in your mind.

"That's good, right?" You tilt your head at him, the cook remaining silent. You were so cute, your cheeks sit a little wet from tears, your hair framing your face nicely as it tilted to the side. He let out a small nod, looking away so you wouldn't see his red cheeks.

He's such a terrible friend, swooning over you as you confide in him. Perhaps it was the caregiver in him, wanting to take all your worries away so you could just focus on him. But he knew there was a more selfish part of him that wanted you look at him, and never look away. A part of him that relished in the naive looks and mumbling words. You were just so undeniably you, and he couldn't get enough.

Sanji had to light another cigarette of calm down, focusing on the situation at hand as to not get too caught up with being back with you again. "You said you heard about Robin, right?" You hum, it was sad.

He takes a short drag of his cigarette. "Would you be willing to help us, get her back I mean." You don't answer for a bit, thinking. "Luffy's been off the rails ever since, yknow..." He alluded to the incident with you and Usopp. "And now all this with Robin." He sighed, shaking his head.

"Earlier, right before you got here in fact, I saw Robin. She took blame for the attack and told me she was leaving, and I-I just can't except that." You stare at him as he spoke, his voice determined. "I know something has to be going on with her, and--I'd like your help figuring everything out." He looks at you.

"I-I don't know..."

He suddenly takes your hands in his, holding them tight. They were cold because of the water, causing you to shiver. "Please, (Y/n), I've seen you fight, I know you can hold your own! Besides, once this is all over, I promise we'll all be out of your hair." You knew he couldn't promise that, but a small piece of you hoped he was telling the truth, that this could be your last thank you to the Strawhats before finally going home.

Maybe this would be good for you. Robin has always been kind to you, even though you barely knew each other. She deserved someone to be there for her as well.

You nod, shaking his hands, Sanji grinning ear to ear as his face turns a light shade of red.

---

A/n: Uwu Sanji and Usopp fans are eating.

#yandere x reader #soft yandere #platonic yandere #yandere one piece #one piece x reader #one piece strawhats #yandere strawhats #straw hats x reader #yandere one piece x reader

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chordsykat · 1 year

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I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that St. Cecilia will never be canon in the series itself. But she's canon in Dethkomic, and that's just as good, right? 🖤

Dethkomic has been averaging about 70 hits per update on AO3, and according to my analytics, is seen by about 30 additional unique accounts/IPs overe here on Tumblr on or about the day that I update it.

Compare that to last week's Nielsen Ratings for the new episode of Metalocalypse, which was 0 - no episode exists, and I think we've earned our place as the top blue-toned Metalocalypse themed webcomic on Tumblr, today!

But seriously? It's story time!

When I was a kid in high school, not old enough to be looking at stories that contained adult themes, I would often find myself on the internet, looking at stories that contained adult themes. And there was so much of it to look at! One of my favorite writers at the time did much more than make sex stories, though. She wrote fanfiction - she wrote longfiction - and she had a continuing series that she'd update about once every two weeks.

Her fanfics were a-maz-ing. The canon characters had everything I loved them for in the show, but with so much more depth. There was an extended cast of what we'd call OCs today, too, and I came to love them as much as the familiar faces I knew from TV. The overarching themes were darker, the subject matter explored places a show on cable before 9PM couldn't, and of course - there was a good amount of sex thrown in for good measure. But! For as good as the grownup scenes this author wrote were, even the hornball 15 year old me couldn't deny the main attraction was the storyline itself, and how she'd taken a world we all knew and loved, and turned it into a place so many of us wanted to return to, every week. To a great many of us, it wasn't the show, but it was as good as the show.

And then one day, the show premiered its long-awaited third season, which featured an all new writing/production team, and her stories became better than the actual show.

I actually found myself looking forward to this author's fanfic updates more than the episodes that were airing on TV - and I wasn't alone. As it happened (as it usually happens), the show's eventual downfall couldn't be blamed on newbie writers (trying their darndest with a series that held a fuckton of lore, I have no doubt), as it also fell into a pretty crummy timeslot, could hardly hold the interest of even its most hardcore fanbase, and simply wasn't pulling the numbers it once was. It was not renewed for another season after that singular crappy one. A "conclusion" to the series was thrown together, and thus, fanfiction was all we had.

Those of you who are paying close attention (or who were in the fandom of which I'm speaking at the time - hi, @curiouslyhigh) might know what show I'm talking about, and that it recently had a resurgeance in popularity with a brand new comic series and more (which we old people are all very happy about). And while the final canon season is barely one I can recall a single epside of, I never forgot that fanfiction series, its cast, or its stories. All of them are still with me to this day, and in fact - I have gone back and re-read some of them as little as a few months ago, because I love them so much.

The world we live in today is much different than the world in which fanfiction was published, back then. We've seen authors and artists working on the IPs they used to create fan content for (I'm one of them!), we've seen fanfiction get greenlit as official (and one or two unfortunate instances of being outright stolen to become official), and maybe most importantly - we've seen a shift in copyright holders' opinions of fanfiction. I'll remind everyone reading this who may not remember or is too young to know otherwise, but yeah - there once was a time that we had to hide this stuff (especially the porn).

I'm afraid I haven't gotten a phone call from Brendon, telling me he's canonizing Dethkomic and sending me a check for forty-seven million dollars to share amongst the creators whose OCs I've put into its panels, but at the end of the day, the cooperative nature of fanfiction and official content has never been more celebrated than it is now. I like to think we all are capable of creating amazing stories with fanfiction, fanart, and other transformative works, which will be held in the hearts of all who read them as much as the canon. I like to think the fan works we do even had a hand in making the Metalocalypse movie a reality since, again... it's not like we had any new episodes to gush over. And I think that's pretty special. I think we should be happy about that.

At the end of the day, I'm making stuff for you guys. To me, when it comes to Dethkomic, the only thing I hold closer to my heart than its story and characters, is the knowledge that you guys feel the same way. I feel like the luckiest writer in the universe to have people looking forward to my works the way that a lot of you guys do. I will never take it for granted.

Dethkomic truly does love you. <3

#mtl #fanfiction #writing #dethkomic #answered

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luckyshotwrites · 1 year

Text

Ch. 64 // The Confession // Day 50

Contents (Warnings): Wicks tells Lynette everything...or tries too (Angst, magic mentions, character and monster info as always). Read full chapter on - A03

Wordcount: 2,336 (I WILL BE MAKING A MAGIC SYSTEM BOOKLET AS SOON AS I CAN, PROMISE!)

Side note: This will contain experimental writing; first person (Lynette's view) will be implemented alongside third person for the two other essential characters, (mostly) Alexander and (occasionally) Drake. All their text will be italicized for those third-person moments, with the characters' names in Bold at the start and their thoughts in Bold. There may be other characters I write for using this.

------------------------------------------------------------------- (Nov. 12th, Saturday)

I barely slept. Everything felt like a hazy layer of sick familiarity. I thought I had escaped it before. And today, felt lighter, maybe a relief. We were leaving soon. Everyone was sometimes or later.

Wicks and I were packing in our room. He had his suitcase next to mine on the bed.

"Lentils, how did you like Garter?" Wicks asked with a smirk on his face.

I reflected the smile, "he's-tall..."

Wicks exhaled and still smiled, "He was the first friend I met at the C.P.P.A. We were in training together as classless."

"Classless?"

The door flying open interrupted Wicks's explanation. "HEY, YOU GUYS ARE TAKING WAY TOO LONG!" Charletta charged in and hugged me first. She got Wicks in it second.

"We just started," I muttered. "You're the one that insisted we stay up until 4 a.m. at the bonfire."

"I wanted to spend more time with you guys before you leave!" Charletta squeezed further until I was pressed tightly into Wicks and her. I could smell Charletta's rose body wash and Wick's sandalwood, one clearer than I wanted. "I feel bad we couldn't hang out because of the wedding!" She sniffled.

I felt Wicks pull away, freeing me from her suffocating grasp.

"My birthday's coming up. We got plenty of time." Wicks assured her.

Charletta gasped, "OH-" Embarrassment covered her face. She forgot his birthday was coming soon. And had yet to get him a gift. Not that I was any better. "Yeah! Of course!"

I'm finally free, and I let out a clear breath. "We have plenty of time to see each other again," I said with one more deep breath.

...

Wicks

The thought hung in the back of his mind. He knew this was inevitable. He knew they'd tell her but he wished they had picked a different time.

Or...not at all. Wicks was on the opposite spectrum from the others, and his mother at one point shared that, but she couldn't bear to keep it hidden any longer.

One Month Earlier. He sat back on his new office and closed his eyes. "Transmission" from his father. It was similar to teleportation, except on a lessor scale. It sends thoughts and visuals to others from one mind to another. It requires a connection and agreement, generally. Even in his head, he could always hear the voice that was ever changed after he came back to them. "We're telling her at the wedding, because Charletta's getting married to a vampire beast named Ulysses Clemente." Padre said to him, We shouldn't. "Why now? Did Mom agree to this?" He heard Charletta voice in the background, his dad's power was frightening as he could capture the thoughts of others near him too, "we should have told her when we first took her in!" His dad and Charletta had been saying that for years. They always wanted to tell Lynette. But, they weren't around when Lynette started to fall like him and mom. "There's too much to hide..." His mom chimed in, he could tell by the trembles of her mind that she had been crying. "Then what? How can we ease her into it, we'd-I'd have to tell her everything..." He started to lower his head. She'll hate me. She'll never want to talk to me again. I can't lie to her if she asks. "There'll be plenty to tell her and plenty of time to tell her once it's over." His father said. "And if it ever gets to difficult to watch her-" Wicks snapped back immediately, "I'll take care of her." I won't abandon her. She never once did that to me. Not long after he had to cut it short, Garter came in with their coffee.

He wanted nothing more than to kill Ace now, most of his frustration redirected toward him and away from the other danger, Alexander. But, it was his fault. He shouldn't have trusted a friend of Ulysses and Charletta. He shouldn't trust anyone around her...or...no. I should have stayed with her. It doesn't matter if she wanted me around or not. I need to protect her.

That conversation and those thoughts never left his mind. He rubbed his thumb on the steer wheel leather chewing on those thoughts while he drove, until he heard his sister voice speak up.

"I'm going to quit the pizzeria." Her timid soft tone said out of the blue. The drive had been quiet, not a word about it had been mentioned since he first told her. "I've been thinking about it since you said it."

He glanced at her briefly before turning back to the road. "Really?!" He tried to hide his excitement. She actually listened to me.

"There's so much I don't understand, so much I don't know. And...I think you're right. I shouldn't involve myself in any of this." It came out with uncertainty, an unspoken unsureness. He knew she didn't want to give up.

She felt she needed to go on, Wicks knew that. Lentils was stubborn, she rarely ever gave up on anything once she started it. She had a determination he felt he lacked.

"I'm glad. And if you want later tonight, we can start our normal job hunting." He said with a smile.

There was a blanket of ease resting on his shoulders. He didn't think she was strong enough to handle everything that came with this. Just like humans, monsters were just as complicated or different. One world was enough.

He held back his cheer, he didn't want to stir her further. He could tell by the sound alone, she hated to say she was giving up.

Lynette nodded, "after you tell me what you can about magic...I still want to understand you-it all better.."

Wicks nodded. There's so much to tell you. He parked in their spot at the apartment and smiled. "Sounds like a plan."

...

Lynette

Wicks was patient with me, but it didn't matter how many breaks he made between the information I couldn't retain it. He even tried giving me demonstrations using a little bit of magic, yet there were so many spells I couldn't keep track.

I only retained two things, variations and levels. As he explained every spell has its own category, and a spell in that category was called a variation. While every variation had a level at which the magic was used, it determined its power protentional. A small use of the spell force can knock over things like soda cans, while at higher levels it could tear someone apart.

At least that's what I assumed. He really said, "it could seriously hurt someone."

"Psychic Magic, one of my specialties. It deals with spells that require mental understanding and a link to your own mind and others. If you are unable to concentrate or think, you can't use it." he tapped his head. "The first variation is Understanding. It's a mental reading of your opponent. Weaker versions need permission from the person your trying to read, while at higher levels you can understand their mind without it. You'll be able to know their intentions..."

He looked over the worry on my face and smiled, "it can also be used to understand different languages. Like if you and I didn't speak the same language, if I used it on you, I'd be able to understand what you're trying to tell me. It's as if its translated into my head with the language I know."

I don't think I'd want to ever use anything like that if I could. I feel like I would have my heart broken WAY too many times with peoples thoughts. I nodded along. Wait, is that what June uses? I then shivered, maybe a different version? He said he projects his thoughts out. Because if he was reading my thoughts...

"Can you also share your thoughts?"

Wicks jolted at the question, "technically, yes."

He went to the next before I could ask further. "Mind Erasure Variation," Wicks said.

If I quit, I'll have to deal with that won't I...WAIT will I forget everything? The wedding too?!

"To erase some ones memory it usually involves you to be present during the events you're trying to erase and or have someone else who was present during the events. If you yourself weren't present/ or have anyone who was and you're trying to erase some ones memories it'll be near impossible, as you'll have to shift through their mind."

His tone shifted down an octave, "and you can end up losing your mind and messing up theirs."

I nodded. For some reason, his face looked like someone was twisting a blade in his stomach. I didn't know why but I tried to lighten his mood.

"Sucks that you can't erase any of those embarrassing moments I have of you rent free in my head." Though, after I said that simple joke. The question entered my head.

Any of them could have erased my memory, right?

He smiled, weakly.

I interrupted him before he continued, "do you replace those memories with what you want?"

His hazel hue fixated on me. He could see it in mine as I could see it in his. My heart squeezed.

"We generally use our own memories of events to conjure a false one in some ones head. Vague enough for them not to think to hard about it." There was a look of desperation.

My voice trembled as it left, "did any of you ever erase my memory?"

He sharply answered, "Madre, Padre, and Charletta never erased your memory."

His head tilted down, his jaw clenched with the nervous jitter of his leg. It shook the bar counter.

I couldn't ignore it, I had to know. "And-what about you...?" Lie to me, lie to me, tell me you didn't.

His eyes met mine again and he said the truth. "Lentils, let me explain.-"

I looked at him and I only whispered back, "you erased my memory..."

"There was this group-"

I held my head, I wasn't listening anymore. I could feel it spinning. Everything was spinning. I didn't understand it. I would drown without him, so why...

"How many times...how much did I lose..."

Wicks grabbed my shoulder, "listen to me."

I pulled away and stumbled off my chair. I strained my voice to shout, "HOW MUCH DID YOU TAKE FROM ME?!"

I could feel the rise and fall of my chest. It felt so strained as if it was bruised.

"Lentils, it was for a reason! You were stuck with what they did to you FOR THAT WHOLE WEEK!"

"WEEK!" I shook my head desperately. What did he make me forget, how many times has he made me forget things? "You said 24 hours is a limit for erasing some ones memory, why-did you mess up your mind, AND mine."

"It wasn't that simple, Lentils are you even listening to me!"

His stood right in front of me and sounded so far away. Like there was miles between us.

My chest heaved in tandem with my throbbing head.

I watched his mouth move, his eyes looked sincere and distraught. I wanted to hear him, hold him, pretend I didn't care.

"I just-I started to feel relieved...you were-" My eyes had bustled with hot water for days. I'm surprised they hadn't boiled.

His words still refused to reach me. What else has been a lie? Has he erased my memory whenever I've been inconvenient? How many times? When did I lose that week? Was it important?

It felt so hard to breathe, I clutched at my chest. Wicks stepped closer and I shook my head.

"How many times did you do this to me, and what did you take and change?"

He kept trying to get closer. I didn't stop backing up. I could see his eyes glistening over.

"IT WAS ONCE. I WOULD NEVER DO THAT UNLESS IT WAS NECESSARY."

When is it necessary to ever do that? How do I know you're not lying now. How do I know it hasn't been more. How do I know any of you haven't been doing that my whole life! AND IF YOU HAVE WHY LEAVE ME WITH-

I heard two words from him, "missed work," and it clicked. Charletta and Wicks both hesitated whenever I mentioned the ducky place and my food poisoning...

"I didn't have food poisoning." My head wouldn't stop banging inside my skull, my vision started to blur, and I still couldn't breathe. His presence felt suffocating.

I have to leave. I thought to myself. His hand grabbed my arm as soon as I got my suitcase handle. We hadn't put anything away yet.

Please let go. I couldn't say it out loud. I didn't want to him. His grip was too strong to tug away from yet I knew I couldn't stay here. I didn't want him to erase it in my sleep.

"Lynette, just calm down, you can go to your room and think."

"I-don't-want-you-to-erase-my-memory-of-this-too." I whimpered in a weak croak, each word had a breath behind it.

"I'D NEVER DO THAT!"

"LET ME GO!" It hurt to shout. It burned. I pulled away and ran with my suitcase. I grabbed the keys to my car from the bowl next to the door. Wicks finally found the footing to pursue me.

And I slammed the door in his face.

...

Hey, you, thank you so much for reading. It means a lot that I put out a story that people can enjoy! So, I hope you continue to enjoy it as WE have a LOT more to go! YOU BETTER KEEP PROSPERING! (Nonnegotiable).

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Catch up, see some maps/art, or check the latest release dates down below ↓ ↓ ↓

What I’d do for a Livable Income (Synopsis/Chapter - List)

#widfali #angst vore #angsty #vore story #vore writing #v.0re #v.ore #v/0re #v/ore

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universeofmuses · 1 year

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//so I wanted to post these every Friday so people had something fun to read over the weekend, but I’m going to post the next one now as a poor attempt to make it up everyone who I had to drop a thread with. I hope you like the next chapter.

(Cyber Café)

Conner and Ethan where sitting at the bar of the busy cyber café talking about the previous school week while Trent was busy taking orders from the customers and Hayley filling the orders and taking the money,

"Man I can't believe that I have a 5 page paper due in econ, man Mrs. Skipworth is cold-blooded." Groaned Conner,

"Well, of course she would mad at you dude, you fell asleep for the third time this week and you were snoring." Replied Ethan,

"Oh come on dude I wasn't EVEN snoring . . . hey wait." Conner admitted sheepishly as Ethan let out a stifled laugh.

"So how far along are you on the paper?" asked Ethan while containing his laughter,

"Well I got through a page and a half last night." Conner replied

"Hey that's not too bad." Replied Ethan,

"Yeah I know, hey where's Kira today?" asked Conner showing peeked interest in his question,

"Uh, I think she said something about helping Dr. O with organizing his old stuff." Ethan replied,

just as Ethan answered Conner's question Kira came up behind the guys and caught them off guard,

"Hey guys" Kira said very enthusiastically,

"Kira!" both teens said in unison,

"Hey I got some bad news, Dr. O is giving us a pop quiz on Monday." Kira finished with a bummed tone in her voice,

"Oh man, that's even more that I have to worry about now." Conner said hysterically,

"Well there goes my weekend of breaking in a new game." Ethan said,

"Kira, what did you do to make Dr. O so mad to give us a pop quiz?" Conner asked,

"Nothing I just made an old joke." Kira said innocently, both boys let out an exasperated groan at Kira's explanation.

"Well if that's the case then we're all dead." Said Conner,

"Yeah, we'd better have a better chance at taking out Mesogog than passing that quiz." Said Ethan,

"Well I hope Mesogog doesn't attack this weekend cuz I'm in way over my head." Said Conner in a hopeful tone,

"I don't know about you guys but I have to get ready for my gig tonight, see you guys tonight." Said Kira as she turned to leave.

(Tommy Oliver's privet study)

After Kira left Dr. O grabbed the box that held the mementos from his time with Kimberly, the look of hurt and regret filled his eyes. The "Legendary" Tommy Oliver was over came with the look of a heartbroken kid who lost his dog to old age. (Watermarked images in the background start) as Tommy looked at a picture of him hugging Kim from behind and her laughing, images of when Tommy asked Kim out for the first time, the time when he caught Kim after she fainted when she found out he was the "Mysterious" white ranger, the time when she was captured by Zedd and had her life-force drained, when she left for Florida to train for the Pan Global Games, and finally when he received "the letter".(end background images) snapping back to reality as he felt a single tear run down his face, leaving his desolate, tear welling eye. Tommy's way of cooping was for him to work out and practice his karate; in a way it helped him to quiet his mind. As he was about to go to the gym he heard a siren go off in his lab and he knew instantly what was happening, he had to collect his thoughts and focus his attention to the current battle at hand and contact his teammates. He held his communicator to his mouth,

"Conner guys come in." Dr. O said,

"We read you Dr. O, go ahead." Replied Conner,

"Looks like Mesogog sent down one of his little experiments, we need to take care of it." Dr. O said

"Ok, we're on it; see you there." Said Conner,

And with that Dr. O got into his morphing stance.

"Dino-Thunder Power Up, Ha."

(Outside the Cyber Café)

"Ok, we're on it; see you there." Said Conner,

With that the four teens got into their stance,

"Ready?" asked Conner,

"Ready" replied the three other teens,

"Dino-Thunder Power Up, Ha." All four called out.

(The Frank's Gym, Reefside)

A petite brunette haired woman walked in the gym wearing a pink tank top and a black leotard, she headed toward the balance bar to work out a routine for nothing but the benefit of keeping her Olympic gold medalist figure in shape. As she worked out her complex routine in the gym she unknowingly gathered the attention of everyone in the building, when she jumped of the beam for the end of her routine she was startled by the sudden applause she had received. Playing into the applause the took a graceful bow as the applause subsided, now heading over to the juice bar to get quick drink; the man behind the counter had the TV on when a special breaking news bulletin came across the screen warning the residents of Reefside that they were under another monster attack, for some reason the woman couldn't shake the feeling of déjà vu from her old high school days. Then out of nowhere five rangers appeared to defend the city, as she watched the live report go on she couldn't help but notice that the black ranger's fighting style was strangely familiar to her but he couldn't place her finger on it. She thought and pondered about it for a while until the black ranger did a triple roundhouse kick, then it hit her like a semi-truck, she knew who the black ranger was.

"No, it can't be. Could it?" she asked out loud,

"Is there a problem lady?" asked the bartender,

"What, oh no, just though I saw someone" she said as she trailed off,

'wow small world, if he cant give this up then I've still got a chance its not too late for me' she thought.

"Do you have a phone book back there?" she asked the bartender,

"Yeah sure." He replied as he handed her the book,

'I've got to find him.' She thought as she went flipping though the book.

(Downtown Reefside)

All five rangers where sent flying to the ground hard as a failed attack with their saber-max swords backfired on them,

"Uh, Dr. O any other ideas?" asked Ethan,

"Yeah we're getting our butts handed to us." Remarked Conner,

"I know guys he's stronger than he looks." Replied Dr. O,

"Giving up so soon rangers? Anymore of this and you'll become extinct." Said the terror-dragon rex, a monster who had the body of a dragon with spikes all over its back, and two monstrous swirled horns on both sides of its head; its body is all black with streaks of green running trough it, and its weapon of choice is a sword that is similar to Dr. O' brachio-sword but it has a wider frame to it and its hilt is in the form of a horned-dragon's tail.

"He's right, Conner I think its time to go Triassic." Kira said looking from the monster to Conner,

"Shield of Triumph!" Conner called out as the Shield of Triumph materialized into existence, then Kira and Ethan made their power contributions to the shield; which allowed Conner to tap into a new level of power,

"Ok creepy this ends now, Shield of Triumph!" Conner called out as he and the terror-dragon rex disappeared into another dimension where the final moments of this battle would take place.

(Shield of Triumph Dimension)

The Shield of Triumph Dimension is a perilous world with a warped, twisted, distorted reality where anything can and will happen; the monster came spinning down onto a lonely floating square area and landed hard on the surface while Conner now in Triassic Ranger mode gracefully landed on the plane with a flare about him.

"oww, my aching gizzards, where are we?" the monster asked as he slowly rose up where he was standing,

"This ends now, Shield of Triumph!" Conner called out as a large sword blade came up from the middle of the shield as Conner dashed at the monster with light speed.

(Back in reality)

Suddenly Conner appeared behind the monster kneeling with his right are extended back like he had just finished a devastating sword attack while the monster behind him slowly fell away from him on its face and as soon as the monster landed it exploded into a large fireball.

(The Mysterious Island Lair)

"I see that the first step in the plan was a total success." Mesogog hissed at his henchmen,

"Yes my lord they took the bait hook, line, and sinker. Its only a matter of time now." Answered Elsa, much to Zeltrax's jealousy because he was in the background while Elsa got the attention of their master.

"I guess you two aren't completely incompetent after all." Mesogog hissed in approval of the recent success of the plan.

"When can we begin phase II of the plan?" asked Mesogog,

"Patients my lord we still have yet to find the proper power source for the device yet, but I have a good idea where I can find it; but first I have to pay a certain someone a visit to do recon." Said Elsa,

"Make it fast Elsa, before I lose my interest in this plan." Hissed Mesogog,

"Don't worry my lord the rangers will be gone in no time." Elsa replied with an insidious grin on her face,

"So tell me about this power source and who has it." Mesogog inquired,

"well, he's been in this game for a while now, and he's been the strongest leader that any team of rangers has ever had." Said Elsa.

(The Cyber Café)

The Cyber Café was full for Kira's performance, and as always Conner, Ethan, Trent, and Dr. O sat in the front most table waiting to hear their friend and fellow teammate play her set. Just as the group of rangers sat down, the woman from the gym appeared not sure what was going on as she made her way to the bar to get a smoothie,

"Welcome to the Cyber Café what can I get you?" asked Hayley,

"um, let he have a straw-berry smoothie please." The woman replied, "you sure are busy tonight aren't you?" asked the woman

"yeah its because we an up and coming musical performer who performs here every few weeks." Hayley explained as she handed her the smoothie,

"if you excuse me I have to announce her before the crowd starts getting restless." Said Haley as she made her way to the stage.

"As always the Cyber Café is proud to present Kira Ford and her band." Hayley announced

"Thank you Hayley, wow a lot more people this week; anyway as Hayley said I'm Kira Ford and this is my band, I hope you guys are ready for a good show." Kira said as she started a riff on her guitar,

(Twenty-five minuets later)

As she finished the last number with a big musical power cord,

"Thank you guys, you were a great crowd and remember to thank Haley also because without her I wouldn't have a place to play my music. Good Night." Kira said,

As she walked off the stage the crowd was going crazy

"ENCORE, ENCORE, ENCORE, ENCORE!" the electrified crowd chanted,

She couldn't resist the reaction to the crowd and walked up on stage and took the microphone.

"Ok guys, one more song." She said, and the whole room erupted into cheers,

"This last song is an old song, but a good song that I think is a good representation of me and my friends" Kira announced while looking at her friends; who at the mention of this the three teens looked at each other wondering what she was talking about while Dr. O had a content look on his face because he helped Kira pick out the song that she was talking about.

FLASHBACK

Kira and Dr. O where in the middle of cleaning up the basement/ command center,

"Hey Dr. O?" asked Kira,

"Yeah Kira, whats up?" Dr. O responded,

"I need some help picking out a song for my set tonight, I think I might be short a song; can you help me?" asked Kira,

"Sure . . . I know why don't you sing Riders On The Storm?" Dr. O suggested,

"Riders on the what?" asked Kira confused,

"Riders On The Storm, it's a song that Creed did back in the day; I think its perfect for you" Dr. O said,

"Ok, do you have the song so I can listen to it?" Kira inquired,

"Yeah sure." Dr. O said as he made his way over to the main computer and fired up iTunes and searched for the song, when he found it he played the song for Kira to hear.

END FLASHBACK

After a few moments of Kira and the band playing intro riff of the song Kira started to sing,

Riders on the storm.

Into this house we're born

Into this world we're thrown

Like a dog without a bone

An actor out on loan.

Riders on the storm.

There's a killer on the road.

His brain is squirming like a toad.

Take a long holiday

Let your children play.

If you give this man a ride

Sweet family will die.

Killer on the road.

Yeah.

Yeah!

Girl, you gotta love your man.

Take him by the hand

Make him understand

The world on you depends.

Our life will never end.

You gotta love your man.

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Riders on the storm.

Riders on the storm

Into this house we're born

Into this world we're thrown

Like a dog without a bone

An actor out on loan.

Riders on the storm.

Yeah!

Riders on the storm.

We're riders on the storm.

Storm, storm

We're riding on the storm

Yeah!

Riders on

Yeah!

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Riders on the storm

As Kira and band finished the song the crowd was ecstatic over the performance,

"Ok guys that my set and the end of the show, you guys where great; see you next time." Kira said

After she set the microphone down she made her way over to her friends to chat with them,

"Hey guys, what did you think about the performance?" asked Kira,

"It was great, cant you hear the crowd still going crazy about it?" Conner said,

"Yeah Kira, you smashed the performance tonight." Ethan said while Trent nodded,

"Thanks again for helping pick the song Dr. O, for an old fossil you know your stuff." Kira said with a smile on her face, while the others gave her the death glare

"Sure Kira anytime, and as for the fossil joke do you want to make it two pop quizzes this week?" asked Dr. O with a grin on his face,

"No, sorry, please don't do that to us." Kira begged,

"Well . . . just this one time I'll forgive you, but first quiz still stands." Dr. O said with an even larger grin on his face.

"Aw man." All four teens groaned at Dr. O's response.

A few hours later Hayley announced that I was closing time and that everyone had to go,

"well you guys better get going, wouldn't want your parents to be worried about you." Dr O said as he walked with is students out the door,

"You heading home too Dr. O?" asked Ethan,

"Yeah might as well I do have a quiz to right up." Said Dr. O with a chuckle in his voice,

"ok, ok, ok, no more old jokes." Said Kira,

"alright, night guys." Dr. O bid his students,

"night Dr. O" the four teens said as all five rangers parted ways for home.

(in a split-screen all five rangers simultaneously crawl into bed and begin having dreams of things that go bump in the night.)

KIRA'S DREAM:

Random images of a dark circular room with a globe at one end and a large blue tube at the other end, images of Dr O wearing a green suit, a white suit, a red suit, and then a black suit but she couldn't tell if it was a ranger suit or not. On top of those images were ones of a mystery city under attack, and images of a staff with a large 'Z' at the end; images of a rip in the sky growing by the second as thing start to disappear, and finally the last image that jarred from her all but peaceful sleep was an image of Conner unconscious on the ground at the mercy of a winged monkey in gold armor. At this final image she bolted upright in bed with large cold beads of sweat all over her body

"ok, wow, I've got to stop with the hot cheetos before bed." Kira said as she lay back down.

CONNER'S DREAM:

Conner's dream for some reason was just a bunch of random thoughts; thoughts of abandonment, thoughts of having to morph but being able to, thoughts of confusion of who where the villains he was up against, and finally as if someone had turned on the TV Conner had an image of Kira lying lifeless on a table in front of a large blue tube. As this image and thought crossed his mind he rolled over in sleep and rolled out of bed and fell hard on the cold wooden floor.

"oof, ok no more hot cheetos before bed." Conner said holding his sides, after he picked himself back up he got back in be and was fast asleep again in a matter of moments.

ETHAN'S DREAM:

Ethan's dream was like something out of a highlight reel of the power ranger teams throughout time, but the highlights were from the first power ranger team. Every fist to fist fight, every zord fight, and every defeat that the first team suffered; but it was weird because the last fight which ended in a loss Ethan felt like he was there and what was even stranger is that Conner, Kira, and Trent were there, but yet Dr. O was no where to be found. Ethan woke up calmly and made his way to the bathroom as he came back and layback down, and thought 'man Dr. O has us taking this ranger this way too seriously.'

TRENT'S DREAM:

Trent had visions of being in a castle on the moon ruled by a man with a silver staff with a large 'Z' on it and a woman who was a sorceress with help from their henchmen which included a winged monkey in gold armor and a walking skeleton warrior and for some reason what looked like a green power ranger? How could that be possible but then again he was evil so in a way it made sense, but then suddenly the whole area went blank as if time and space were suddenly destroyed in an instant. As Trent's mind wondered through obliterated reality he remained asleep.

DR. O'S DREAM:

Tommy was in fight with Goldar as he came to his friend's rescue, when he had dished enough damage to Goldar to make him retreat back to the moon palace the other rangers came to his side,

"Hey bro, thanks for your help but, what's up with the new outfit?" asked the Red Ranger, Jason Scott asked,

"Jace, what are you talking about I'm the green . . ." Tommy trailed off as he noticed he wasn't wearing the green ranger suit but rather a mesh of the green, white, red, and finally black ranger outfits then he noticed there were two red rangers, two blue rangers, two yellow rangers, and one white ranger,

"Conner? Kira? Ethan? Trent?" Tommy asked hoping he was imagining it,

"Yeah, Dr. O." the four teens said in unison, then he heard it clear as day; a deep all knowing voice,

"TOMMY, THE FABERIC OF TIME AND SPACE IS IN DANGER, ONLY YOU AND ONE OTHER CAN SAVE THE UNIVERSE FROM A HORRIBLE FATE. GOOD LUCK AND MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU." The voice said

And at this Dr. O bolted up in bed in disbelieve as if he had seen a ghost.

"Did I really just hear that? No. is it even possible?" at this Dr. O went down into his basement/command center to see if there are any abnormalities in the morphing grid or anywhere else.

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teenage-idiot · 1 year

Text

In the Blink of an Eye - 8

Avengers Age of Ultron | Quicksilver x Female Reader Fan-fiction.

*WARNING SPOILERS*

Contains strong language, sexual references and mentions of death.

1315 words

CHAPTER 8

The grass felt soft underfoot as I walked over to where everyone else was standing. Today we were training outside, which I guess would be a nice change as it could get awfully stuffy being cooped up inside all day. The fresh air could do us all some good.

We all lined up and Cap told us what was going to happen.

"Today, you are really going to need to join together and work as a team if you want to win. We are going to be playing capture the flag. You're going to be put into two teams, and I'll tell you what those teams are in just a moment, but first you need to know the rules. One team will be attacking, and the other defending, then you'll switch. The team attacking has to get the flag, whilst keeping as many of their team members on their feet as possible, and the team defending must try to knock the other team down, and prevent them from getting the flag. Now you can only use the items you have at hand now, or in some cases, the powers you harness. Okay, now we've established a set of rules, the teams will be as follows. In team one, Wanda, Falcon and Pietro."

I heard a small 'yes' escape from Wanda's lips as her brother walked over to join her. He turned and looked at me, giving me a small smirk as he did so.

"Team two will be those that are left, War Machine, Vision and y/n. Team one, you're going to be attacking first, so team two, you're defending."

Cap finished speaking, and team one stayed with him and Nat at the starting point, while my team went off into the woods behind the field we'd been standing on. We found the point with the flag, and made a plan.

"James, you and I will head out a bit further. Y/n, I think you should stay here and guard the flag," Vision said, and I couldn't help but feel like he thought I was going to bring their team down, like I was feeble and weak. Nevertheless, I agreed.

"Sure, that's fine," I lied, feeling useless already.

So, Vision and War Machine headed back out into the woods, and I remained with the flag.

A siren sounded off in the distance somewhere, signalling the start of the game. My whole body tensed up, and I suddenly felt a wave of nervousness surge over me. For a while I just stood there, listening to noises from afar. Then, I heard leaves rustling to my right. There was nothing there, but out of my peripheral vision I saw someone whoosh past me to my left.

'Not someone,' I thought, 'Pietro.'

I was totally on edge, all my senses tingling, and goose bumps running up and down my bare arms.

Before I knew what had happened, my whole body was spinning, literally spinning in the air, and when I came back down, I came down hard. My body smacked down onto the ground, and my stomach felt like it had just been punched about twenty times.

I got up as fast as I could, and thankfully the flag hadn't been taken yet.

A cocky looking Pietro sauntered towards me, a smug look on his face.

"You didn't see that coming?" he smirked, one eyebrow raised.

I heard more rustling coming from behind me and whipped around to see Wanda walking up to where the flag was. I swiftly froze her with my telekinesis, alas, just in time to see Pietro grabbing the flag.

Another siren sounded, signalling the end of the first half of the game, and that it was time to switch. My team headed back to the starting point and team one stayed behind.

"Don't worry. We'll get them this time," James said confidently, and I gave a weak smile, partly feeling it was my fault we'd lost.

Once again, we talked strategy, devising how best to beat the other team.

"The twins worked together last time, so they'll probably do the same this time around," I said.

"I agree," said James.

"James, I think you should take Falcon, I'll take the twins," Vision spoke, a sense of authority in his voice.

"Wait, what about me?" I said puzzled. Did he really just want me to do nothing?

"Y/n, I think you should be the one to go for the flag. You're the fastest and most agile, and I don't think they'll see you coming. You're the only one who can do it," he said.

"Oh I don't think that's true-" I tried to argue, but Vision cut me off.

"No, you are more powerful than you think. You can do it, y/n. It has to be you."

I nodded sharply, feeling a sense of pride within me, and then the siren went off.

I ran for ages, as fast as I could go. I kept running and didn't look back, but then I stopped abruptly. The twins were directly ahead of me.

'Shit' I thought. Where the hell was Vision?

Suddenly, he appeared and started battling it out with Wanda. Leaving me faced with Pietro yet again.

He dashed towards me, and without thinking, I hurled a log straight towards him. He fell to the ground and I went over to the spot he was at.

"You didn't see that coming?" I said, mimicking his tone.

He just laughed and let his head fall back on the ground, still lying underneath the log.

I sprinted off to the point where the flag was situated. There was no one there. It all looked a bit too easy, so I proceeded with caution.

Just as I thought, Falcon leaped out of nowhere, but James tackled him to the ground with perfect timing.

"The flag!" he yelled, signalling for me to get it.

I ran up to it and ripped it from the small pole it was hanging from.

The siren sounded loud and clear, and all of us went back to the start, eager to find out who'd won the game.

"Okay, so both teams won when they were playing attack, however, there can only be one real winner," Cap began.

I could feel the tension rising in my body, hoping we had done enough to secure victory.

"The winning team is, team two," Cap announced.

I couldn't stop smiling. James and I high-fived each other and Vision gave us both a nod, letting us know that we did well.

"Before you go, I want you all to know that you did well today, all of you. I'll see you all later," Cap said, and then walked off with Natasha to go back inside.

Everyone started chatting as we walked back inside, and I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hope I didn't hurt you too bad," Pietro said, half smirking as he talked.

"Same to you," I said, smirking back.

"Touché," he laughed, causing me to laugh with him.

We continued to talk and laugh with each other until we got upstairs.

"Hey, no hard feelings right?" I joked, extending my arm for a handshake.

Instead of shaking my hand like expected, Pietro pulled me in for a hug, catching me totally off guard. I was shocked for a second, but then I hugged back. He was so warm, and dear lord he smelled good. I smiled, taking in his scent for a few seconds, as he mumbled something into my hair.

"No hard feelings."

He pulled away, and I felt a tinge of sadness in him doing so. He uttered a casual 'see you later,' and then walked off to his room.

I entered my room and shut the door behind me, sliding down it. I hugged my knees to my chest and found myself smiling uncontrollably.

What was this boy doing to me?

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duskoscrawl · 2 years

Note

for the fanfic ask thing: Don't Touch The Marble and the questions 2, 5, 9 or whatever you feel like talking about :)

don't touch the marble (thank you, i love this one :))

2 - What scene did you first put down?

oh so this one is interesting! i usually write a fic from start to end, just as it ends up, but don't touch the marble started with a joke tumblr post:

it is a lovely day in zephrah and you are a horrible de rolo child. percy and vex needed a holiday, at least, that's what keyleth had gotten out of her most recent work meeting with vex. and keyleth is a level twenty druid, she is competent, she is a friend, she can give them a holiday by having their children to stay with her for a week.

five children should be fine for a week.

what could possibly go wrong?

it is grissen and her guards are despairing. five children is too many, they insist in the guardroom. orym is exhausted. it's not only that there are five of them. its that they are five children accustomed to living in a castle, each as smart as a whip and trained by vox machina.

orym is a young man, but in the space of a week he gains the permanent exhaustion of a father of five. his shift partner is threatening to quit if the voice of the tempest decides to babysit five children at once again

which i was then prodded into making into the full fic that it is today (ngl i do a lot of my writing in my head so i think i rotated a lot of scenes in my head before i began, and the pov switched a number of times - for a bit it was from the eyes of keyleth/or one of the kids, but orym works best)

5 - What part was hardest to write?

this was a one sitting fic - rather than one i worked on in separate sessions, so the writing process has blended a little together in my mind (although i definitely remember bothering the discord about it). i think getting everyone into the marble and keeping it interesting was quite a struggle, as was picking the magical item to trap them all in (in the end i stole the bubbles the greenseekers had and modified them)

9 - Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

oh definitely. every fic i write ends up a surprise. for a while it was going to be the full week with a whole range of shenanigans. for a bit, keyleth was going to get trapped in the marble too. i considered a bubble with a time limit, or having them fight their way out of the bubble. the writing process was all figuring out mechanics and character dynamics and different levels of social class between the characters. i think we'd only had Will for a couple of days when i wrote the fic (and he even hadn't been mentioned when i came up with the original concept), so i had to do a lot of character building for Will and figure out how he would fit with what we already knew about Orym and what we had just learned about the De Rolo children.

there are so many ways that this fic could have gone, especially as it has so much dialogue; when i write dialogue, i never know where it is going, i just find the correct character voices and follow where they go. i find out so much about the characters as i write them, i love it.

if i had written 'don't touch the marble' when i wrote the concept, it wouldn't contain will. it would likely be mostly about the de rolo children meeting orym, and getting to know 'mr orym' over the course of childhood, but when liam gave us will, i wanted to see how will and orym felt about children, about the future, about life, in the moments before it was all taken away

ask prompts from this list - ask me about my fics

#chill to reblog #critical role #campaign 3 #asks #thank you for the ask :))

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thirstymercury · 6 months

Text

I dont write anymore. I thought this, thought why?, and then immediately wrote my answer as if it was waiting in the wings. feel like im monologing into a reel recorder~memorializing~

my mom said her favorite color is orange i remember where i was in the kitchen of the new jersey house so 70s it makes me whirl with sudden recognition of my place in the unfurling ribbon, false time, fake decades, significant by colors, what IS and is NOT okay, women. i wonder if she and i were in the kitchen after dinner today and i was once again lost in the spider vein on the back of her thigh, If i asked her again- what would she say? would her opinion still feel like it was conceived on the spot? i imagine her shuffling a crayon box in her mind trying to inhabit the right to care, trying to reckon with the fact that someone else would care. i cared enough to keep it in my head forever filed with the other Very Important Facts, like "righty tighty lefty loosy" and to coun the seconds between lighting and thunder. I feel with some certainty that i will be my grandmother lost on the way back from the bathroom but it seems impossible that i would ever lose my mom choosing orange. privately i tried to cope with the dissonance of an orange woman who owned nothing of the sort but the previous owner's shag carpeting sewn into the floor. but she liked the orange starburst best. she liked the orange slice candy-enough that she would buy small clear plastic containers of them from the grocery store and keep them up on the higher shelf of the pantry with the things like salt, baking powder, flour-the things only she would use. something for herself! these are the things i wont forget. i think even before i knew WHY it mattered, i knew that finding any trace of my mother in my house jumped out like the rarest treasure-baffling every time, orange slice candy holding this sort of ancient feminine mystique up there next to the food coloring drops we'd used twice a year- crescent crystal crusted goo here is the soul of a woman i knew i wanted to but couldn't know. she is somewhere behind the role. she is kept in clear plastic.

there is one song my mom ever said she liked (adele's rolling in the deep! a good choice!) i was in the car of the van years later. i had given up on asking. but she offered! music! i couldn't hold the all of her in my mind. i couldn't make it make sense. my mom who used to drive us home from practice in silence because 'she needed it' i was too young and too heartless to understand and so i judged her mercilessly . i should have realized this was as much a moment of HER as the orange candy. she chooses silence. all meaning aside- there she was. but id roll my eyes rather than see her too teen too resentful at this point and later id insult her to my friends 'she has no soul, she doesn't even like music!'. i didnt know it was okay to grieve a missing woman replaced by a perfect mother. i still don't know HOW maybe. me and my grief are kept in heirloom plastic container, still some sticky orange sugar crystals crusted in the corners. me and my grief live alone now and i don't need silence but I forget there is an alternative. sometimes for weeks

at dinner, in the NJ house mostly, when he was almost as child as i am now, my dad would tell stories of his life. the highlights practiced anecdotes a cadence of something repeated, with character voices, heroes villians. i still know the names of the children on my dads street when he grew up, what grew in the garden, his favorite albums in college. i can conjur the imagery like he was the protagonist in a book ive read a couple times over. my dad spills off the dinner table. is all his life at once printed along the time ribbon.

if you asked her any question, tried to know her before we were born- she had a look on her face like someone caught daydreaming in class no idea of the page number. she said she didnt remember. anything??? college would have been only ten years before or less. i still don't know how to cope with what that means if it were true. with what it means that my father didnt even try to help fill in the blanks. he knew her then too. what happened? where did she come from? where did she go? old enough at five to smell the sadness. id lay awake and senseless truths would come crushing in from all angles. in the dark down was up and ‘original sin' and 'infinity’ and the missing girl on the milk carton of my mother -earth,air and sky-seeing a wrongness so ingrained the adults are walking right through it without a wince as if it’s not there at all! feeling the cliff edge of mind where something dangles and dances never can be truly grasped. I tried to tell them "my bed feels like it is tipping". hoping this would be a layup-��snow is frozen, the e is silent, here is how to hold a pencil and here is how to hold the existential weight here is why you can stop asking” No. but you will grow into the gravity. You will forget where the cliff is entirely or grow tired on the way, maybe you will put up a fence. You will walk right through the solid wrongness and feel nothing at all. you may grow to find yourself sorted with the baking ingredients. the things that shine seasonally. you’ll be up on the high shelf wrapped in plastic having no idea how it came to be.

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robinofgothamcity · 3 years

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♡ scenario: connor losing his mind when you're hurt and charging into the fight recklessly.

♡ pairing: connor kent ( superboy ) x fem! reader

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / i'm sorry but i'm living for these angst to fluff moments rn especially bc i rewatched reign of the superman and forgot how much i loved connor in it.

Connor watched as you were completely slumped on the side of the building, no longer clear headed and struggling to stay awake. what was supposed to be a clean and easy mission turned out to be more than what the league expected.

he had requested for back up and while they were already trying to fight off the thugs that were attacking Connor, he could still see that you were fighting to stay alive and he had no idea if you were even going to come out of this fight alive.

"what the fuck?" Connor whispered, seeing you now slumped on the ground. he turned to the person who attacked you, eyes fully red with no intention of holding back. Clark could sense his song was a second away from committing murder as he saw Connor charge into the heart of the battle with no game plan, just murder.

"SUPERBOY NO!"

you waved shyly to the group of league members as you hid behind Wonder Woman. you were new to the scene of sidekicks and had no idea how to even introduce yourself without sounding like a complete idiot.

"woah new girl!" you heard a male voice say as you stood in your place petrified. you had no idea who it was as Diana had yet to individually introduce you to everyone, "i call dibs!" you heard the same voice say.

Diana turned to you before grabbing the boy who was charging towards you by the head and tossed him back to Superman, "she's not up for 'dibs' Superboy. she's my newest apprentice and you will treat her as such," she threatened.

you giggled behind her as a few of the sidekicks introduced themselves. you knew them as the Young Justice team and although you weren't formally with the team, you figured Diana was training you to become apart of them in the future.

"( your hero name ), this is Superboy," Wonder Woman said, "he associated to the Super family," she explained as he pushed up his dark circled glasses and flicked his hair back, "pleasure is all mine," he muttered, shaking your hand.

you returned a tiny smile before she continued to introduce you to Robin and Impulse. you noticed how Superboy kept his eyes on you. you had no idea if it was because he liked you or he disliked you but every time you turned to look at him, he was already staring at you.

after introductions and the cliche 'your real identity is sacred' conversation ended, Diana felt it was for your own good to get used to your new 'teammates'. she wanted you to make sure you weren't uncomfortable around any of the YJ team even if that included Superboy.

"so, what do you like to do for fun?" Wonder Girl asked, sitting down next to you and handing you a bowl of popcorn. you shrugged, "uh, not much. I like to watch tv and read for the most part. no one really invites me to do things with them," you admitted, scratching the back of your head.

she laughed, putting her arm around you, "well that ends today! we should all do something fun! how about we go to the county fair? doesn't that sound fun?" she asked. you shrugged, not really opposed to the idea, "I call all the rides with ( your hero name )!" Jinny replied.

you smiled, following her and Wonder Girl out the door as Robin, Impulse, and Superboy followed behind you. Robin looked at him, "you like her don't you?" he asked, already calculating the minute Connor had fallen in love with you.

"well she's apart of the team, i'd like to hope we'd all like her," he replied as Robin shook his head, "no, you get what i mean by that," Robin pressed as he could see Connor's face fall with realization. he didn't reply but he could tell what he was tell Connor's real answer through his face.

as they arrived to the fair, they all booked it to the first food stand they saw. Robin offering to pay for everyone being Bruce Wayne's son had its benefits. you ordered a simple coffee as you didn't want Robin to spend too much on everyone.

"what ride should we all get on first?" Jinny asked excitedly. you pointed to the tallest ride, it was one of those high rides that sat two people at the top and had them spinning around, "oh I can't do that. it's way too scary," both Keli and Jinny said.

Superboy smiled at you, "I'm down if you are," he said as he grabbed two tickets from the worker, "cool," you replied as the two of you walked to the line, sweat already building up from nervousness.

once they sat the two of you and made sure you were both buckled in, you stared at Superboy nervously as the ride started up and pulled you up before immediately starting to spin. you stared at Superboy, screaming for you life. you unintentionally grabbed his arms, not realizing you were holding onto him as you continued to yell.

Superboy chuckled, finding your reaction cute.

after the months passed and you finally grew closer to everyone on the team, you were particularly close with Jinny and Superboy. you and Jinny shared a lot of common interests as she showed you how to shoot a gun and Superboy...well, everyone could tell the two of you were just seconds away from actually dating.

you walked into the YJ lair, sipping on hot chocolates with Jinny as the weather was turning cold. she was cracking some cringe dad jokes, trying to make you laugh as you tried to contain from choking on the hot chocolate.

"hey, where we yall at?" Keli asked. you turned to Jinny before giggling, "just doing a few errands we had to run before I had patrol with Superboy," you said, not really clarifying on what you both were actually doing.

although everyone could see how much you liked Connor, Connor himself thought you had a thing with Jinny. he knew she was particularly close with you and felt as though he was practically competing with her for your attention.

"do you have my phone?" you asked Jinny as she dug into her pocket and handed it to you. you grabbed your phone before quickly snatching her hat and putting it on, "yee-haw," you giggled into the mirror as Jinny started chasing you down the halls.

as you turned a corner, you bumped into Superboy and fell flat on your ass, "oh, I'm sorry Superboy, I didn't see you there," you groaned as Jinny grabbed her had and put it back on her, "you've yee'd your last haw," she said, making you laugh harshly.

Superboy's eye couldn't help but twitch as he gave you his hand, "ready for patrol?" he asked sternly. you looked to Jinny who crept away from the angry Kryptonian and left you to deal with him, "yeah, let me just freshen up again and I'll meet you outside," you murmured, going into the bathroom.

you quickly used the bathroom before checking if you had everything. you opened the door and walked into the lair's common area. Connor had yet to drop the angry attitude and everyone was eerily silent as you walked in. he grabbed you by the arm and practically rushed you out the door.

"weird," Jinny told Robin as he shrugged, "what isn't weird about him," he replied making everyone laugh.

patrol started extremely awkward. you hadn't felt this weird since you first started on the team and you had no idea what was wrong with Superboy since he wasn't telling you.

the two of you walked on top of roof, scanning the empty roads before you turned to look at him, "what's up? you seem bothered," you asked him as you both sat on the ledge, "seriously? you seem annoyed at me or something so at the very least you can try and tell me what's wrong," you pressured again.

he looked at you with eyes of determination before grabbing you by the collar of the shirt and pulling you into a very heated kiss. you were taken back by surprise but let him continue to kiss you. a part of yelled at Connor pulled you close but another part of him was still screaming at him that you still could've liked Jinny.

"I had to do that before Jinny officially took you away from me," your eyes fluttered in confusion, "uh, what do you mean by 'take you away from me'?" you asked, not knowing what he was talking about.

Connor sighed in frustration, "I see the way you're around Jinny and figured that she likes you and vice versa," he finally admitted as he stood up, not wanting to hear your response. you quickly stood up and grabbed him by the wrist, "hey wait," you said.

he stared at you, "I'm really not in the mood to get rejected ( your hero name )," he ran his fingers through his hair annoyed. you shook your head, "I don't like Jinny nor does she like me. we're just really close friends Superboy," you whispered, bringing him into another kiss.

this time, he was the one taken back but he melted into the kiss, all his negative emotions washing away as you continued to kiss him. he wrapped his arms around your waist as you him in closer by the neck. Connor was definitely not expecting this tonight.

"so does this mean that we're like....together together?" you asked playfully shy. Connor let out a laugh before lacing your hands together, "clearly. I can't let Jinny steal you away from me," he jokingly replied.

Connor ran to the three different henchmen as his strength was to the point of killing, not caring if he died in the process. he was recklessly dodging bullets, knowing they wouldn't do anything to him. he grabbed the first man and threw him against a wall as it collapsed around him. Connor only hoping that it did enough damage to unalive him.

the second one he managed to choke him out enough to the point where he passed out but that wasn't enough for him. you were on the brink of death and if he had to see you die, he was going to make sure the men who possibly killed you got what they deserved.

"SUPERBOY!" he heard his father scream again. Connor paid no attention to him as he grabbed the third henchman and slammed him to the ground, throwing punches left and right, "listen to me," Clark screamed at him.

he could see the tears coming down Connor's face as anger, fear, and sadness clouded his mind, "this is not you! pull out of it!" he yelled, shaking Connor's shoulder, "you're about to kill this man. I get that you're angry but you don't get anything out of hurting him. all you get it consequences and your girlfriend needs you right now more than ever!" he continued.

Connor finally shook himself out of his trance as he heard his dad telling him to go to you. Connor nodded and ran to you, seeing you unconscious and hardly breathing, "I'm taking her to the hospital," he yelled to Batman before hauling your body into his arms and flying towards the nearest hospital.

once he finally reached the emergency doors, he shoved everyone out of his way and to the front desk, "she needs help...NOW!" he yelled to the poor receptionist. the girl jumped up from fear but nodded and screamed for a bed and a few doctors.

the doctor asked Connor to place you on the bed before the doctor told him that he could follow them inside. a part of Connor wanted to straight up move the doctor to follow you into the OR but he knew that he'd get into more trouble with his dad and the MPD if he hurt anyone else.

for what felt like hours, he was waiting inside of the room they had told him you'd be in once you got out of surgery. he had already gotten the lecture from his dad about the consequences he would've gotten if he actually managed to kill the three men earlier.

"she's going to make it," the doctor told Connor as he walked into the room while they adjusted you to the bed. Connor nodded, "she'll be out of duty for months. she sustained a lot of injuries to her body that'll take weeks to recover and she got a nasty concussion so you'll need to play doctor for the next few weeks to make sure she's okay," he explained.

Connor nodded as the doctor told him that you should be waking up within the next few hours. Connor adjusted himself on the seat and got comfortable as he had no intentions of leaving your side until you were awake and ready to leave the hospital.

you woke up a few hours later, your body killing you from all over as you saw balloons all around the room. you knew you had landed in the hospital but you had no idea how long you were asleep or in a coma even. you turned to see Connor passed out next to you, his body slumped awkwardly.

"Kon, Kon wake up!" you whispered, shaking him softly. Connor jumped up in a fright as he immediately realized you were awake, "how do you feel? are you okay? do you need anything?" he immediately asked as you couldn't help but laugh at his frantic attitude.

"Connor, I'm okay, I promise," you whispered as you brought him in for a kiss, "my body just hurts and i'm still kinda tired," you murmured as Connor nodded. you managed to wiggle yourself enough to make space for him, "babe, it looks like you haven't slept in days."

"I had to make sure you were okay so i haven't exactly slept in a while," he admitted sheepishly. you shook your head, "you're too much sometimes," you giggled as you put your head on his shoulder, "but you love me regardless," he replied.

this was the first time the L word had came up in the relationship, "yeah, I guess I do but now you need to sleep," you said as you closed your eyes and felt Connor pull you closer to him, "I love you too by the way," you whispered, giving him another kiss on his partially exposed chest.

#dc #dc x reader #dc imagine #connor kent x you #connor kent x reader #connor kent imagine #connor kent #superboy x y/n #superboy x reader #superboy imagine #comics #dc comics

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thera-daydreams · 3 years

Text

PLUS ONE

》 A TRESE TWOSHOT 《

[Maliksi x Reader]

📝 Summary: In which your beloved best friend snatches you from your apartment at dawn asking you to be his plus one for his cousin's wedding. Unbeknownst to the clueless you, everything is just going according to Maliksi's ultimate masterplan. With the help of friends and family, the Prince of the Tikbalang finally gets the girl he's been longing for. And oh, Señor Armanaz gets his dream daughter-in-law and the promise of grandchildren within the year.

📌 Warning: May contain some slight NSFW for spicy suggestiveness and cussing. No smut or anything super SPG—this girl can't write that for her life—but just be prepared. It's Maliksi we're talking about. We've got friends-to-lovers, obliviousness, pining, fluff, and a tikbalang simp. Figure it out. 😃

(word count: 7,454) ♥︎ Part Two: ?

》 AUTHOR'S NOTE 《

Not an Inday spinoff, but a lengthy oneshot in celebration of this blog getting 90 followers. Just ten more to 100, yay! Thank you so much for the love and support, everyone. I also promised that I'll be making this brainrot that @binibiningbabaylan and I have fangirled over a few days ago (find the original post here) when I finished the latest chapter of Inday. Here it is! 🥰

Before I forget, I was also inspired by the cute fic made by @crispybasil titled "Sunshowers" and the "Trese Boys As Things My Guy Friends Do" made by the amazing @smolla-than-a-bug (I bow down to your wonderful works in the Trese fandom). I definitely see Maliksi to be the type to go on spontaneous roadtrips and be the boyfriend to drive you around eveeeerywhere (while also driving you crazy). 🚘

There are also some songs mentioned throughout this work. You should probably listen to them while reading for the full experience. Ending was somewhat rushed but eh, I'm too exhausted and I've rewritten it too many times. Also, if someone makes some actual tikbalang smut, tag me please. Anyways, enjoy! 💕

The way it all started was hilarious. Absolutely fucking hilarious. It happened like a blur. Literally. One second, you were snoozing in your bed. The next? You had a seatbelt on in the shotgun seat of a sophisticated-looking car. Your brain didn't even get to process it yet.

"... So let me get this straight," you grumbled, still half-asleep from your sleep marathon. You just finished a hugely successful project at work yesterday, got promoted, and wanted to make up for the restless nights you spent overtime in the office. Of course you were irritated from being disturbed. You were on vacation leave for two entire weeks, originally planning to go into temporary isolation by deactivating your social media accounts and reserving a beach cabana for yourself in Batangas.

Well, turns out, you weren't going to Batangas anytime soon. All because your unreasonably spontaneous bestfriend of ten hectic years stole you from your apartment at 2AM. Was this considered kidnapping? Was this him just being more in touch with his tikbalang side, taking unsuspecting women in their sleep and leading them to their inevitable death? (He was going over the speed limit, so it was a valid thought.) Will wearing your shirt inside-out save you today? Lord, masyado ka pang pagod para mag-isip ngayon.

"Go on."

"You abducted picked me up in the middle of the night because you want me to be your plus one at your cousin's wedding in Tagaytay?"

"Yup. And technically, the venue is right on the outskirts of Cavite going to Tagaytay," he corrected you as a matter-of-factly.

"Same thing, whatever," you huffed tiredly. "Your cousin's wedding is at 6AM today. In a few hours. In four hours."

"Uh-huh."

You groaned exasperatedly, "Mal naman, eh! You didn't even let me bring anything. Could've at least given me a heads-up a few hours ago. I'm practically emptyhanded right now save for my phone! Sinungaling ka, you said this was just a normal midnight drive—not a freaking wedding!"

The Prinsipe ng Mga Tikbalang, son of the Great Stallion, heir to the Armanaz herd, and the Top Drag Racer of C-5 Expressway—if that was even one of his Game of Thrones-like titles—grinned as he continued driving beside you. He let you continue ranting in the passenger seat while he mulled over his ultimate masterplan that would change his entire life later on. He was a spur-of-the-moment kind of guy, so all this wasn't his thing. But for you? He'll make plans, alright.

"Wala man lang akong dinalang masusuot o kahit konting makeup para maging presentable sa harapan ng buong pamilya mo," you exclaimed, in absolute despair. "Do you know how out of my league you are? Your rich-ass family might judge me—hell, your dad might see me as a hampaslupa if I show up there in my pambahay and tsinelas!"

"Psh, I'm not out of your league," Maliksi waved it off, smoothly turning a corner. "And calm down. We've known each other for a decade! My dad practically loves you as his own daughter. Heck, the entire family knows you and keeps telling me they want you adopted in already. Lolo Andres and Lola Perlita said they'd have the paperwork settled. You just need to sign them."

It would be even better (and easier) if you married into the family. To him, specifically (as if he'd let anyone else have you). God, he was already being so obvious in his advances, but you were just so damn oblivious whenever it came to romance. None of this needed to happen if you just got it through your thick skull that he was madly in love with you.

"That's not the point, idiot!" you slumped back into your seat, hopeless. "Do you think the bride and the groom will get offended? Shit, baka masumpaan ako kung magagalit sila, Mal. Mukha akong patay galing sa South Cemetery."

The long-haired tikbalang rolled his eyes, "Huwag kang mag-alala. Nothing's going to go wrong. Chill ka lang diyan. I've got everything under control, babe."

Babe. Yes, he even called you babe but you thought it was him being a himbo and a massive flirt. Now, it was his common term of endearment for you, but you still assumed it was him just being irksome to you and that you couldn't stop the man from saying it anymore. Thus, you let it be (the most obvious hint of his attraction to you, bestie).

"... Ugh, why didn't you ask Hannah or Amie to go with you?"

He just smiled knowingly, shrugging and making up an excuse, "Nagmamadali ako, eh. Hannah and Amie are also coming, but they already have the other tikbalang as dates."

"'Luh, ako pala ang backup choice mo?"

"Heh. Whatever you want to think."

Little did you know that you were always his first choice. Always. Even when he pursued Alexandra Trese many years ago, trying to convince himself you were just his best friend, it was always you. How did he come to that realization? Well, an international band he was a fan of released a song a couple years ago and he heard it being played in a club in BGC. The song title?

It Was Always You by Maroon 5.

Needless to say, after hearing the song and being unable to get it—get you—out of his mind at night, he stopped courting Alexandra. Unfortunately for him, that time, you'd started dating other men. Therefore, he was left on the sidelines... until your latest and most painful breakup, at least. That was five years ago. You still hadn't dated anyone since then, kind of traumatized from getting into another failed relationship like that.

In the present day, as if the fates were playing on you two, one of your favorite artists played on the radio. A very ironic song given the situation you two were in.

Best Friend by Rex Orange County.

Maliksi knew it was a favorite of yours. He knew it by the way your eyes lit up like a star brightening the twinkling night sky. Like the sun first rising in the morning at Apolaki's command. Like the moon extending its gentle rays from the magic of Mayari herself. If there was anything he wanted to ask of the old gods, it was you—everything else be damned.

"I wanna be the one that makes your day, the one you think about as you lie awake," you half-sang and half-screamed happily, somewhat out-of-tune. "I can't wait to be your number oooooone! I'll be your biggest fan and you'll be mine—"

Maliksi glanced at you, not minding that his eardrums were probably getting microscopic ruptures from your aggressive singing. As much as he wanted to stare at you all day, he had to keep his eyes on the road. But the lyrics you were singing were wrong; the Prince of the Tikbalang was already yours from day one.

"Babe, McDo drive-through tayo for breakfast. Let me make it up to you. Gusto mo ng caramel sundae for your promotion gift? Sige. Ako bahala. Chicken nuggets din? Mabubusog ka ba niyan? I don't think they serve those this early..."

》》》

"Sandali lang!" you shouted out from inside an empty room. You'd just arrived at the venue—the Alta Veranda de Tibig in Silang, Cavite (practically the gateway to Tagaytay)—an hour or so ago. The hired makeup artist just left so that you could privately change into the outfit that had been bought specifically for you. Curse Mal and his ability to buy anything (perhaps anyone) he wanted. "Bwiset, Mal, you didn't tell me we'd be part of the damn entourage. We have to be walking the aisle in thirty minutes, simbako! You just love rushing me, don't you!?"

If only you were the one walking down the aisle today towards him.

When you exited the room, Maliksi couldn't help but let his jaw drop as he skimmed your figure, clad in the luxurious, silky satin blush midi dress he bought in one of those fancy stores in Makati yesterday. He imagined that it would look great on you, but now, seeing it on you in person... you looked divine (and frankly, he wanted to see it off your body to see what was underneath—but don't get too ahead of yourself, Mal). It was a whole 'nother level from his imagination. The deep cowl neckline and thin spaghetti straps showed your lovely collarbones... as well as a peek of your cleavage. His favorite and the best part of it all? It was backless, allowing him to gaze at the tempting curve of your spine.

He hadn't realized he had grown silent until you smiled and closed his mouth, tapping his chin.

"Lalangawin ang bibig mo, Mal," you laughed softly. Never had you seen him so speechless. You then flicked your hair back, ridiculously posing for him like you were on the cover of Vogue magazine (haba ng hair mo, gurl!). "Do I look that good? Char lang."

"... You look absolutely ravishing—I mean, uh, stunning. Hot. Yeah." That was all he could say. He mentally punched himself for not showering you with more suave compliments.

Still, your face brightened up, not knowing that the man in front of you just fell for you a thousand times harder, "Wow! Really? Damn. Ang galing talaga ng MUA na kinuha mo, ginawa akong artista. Give me their contact number later! May work event pa naman ako in two months. I'm shocked, it's like they made me rise from the dead! Even my eyebags are gone, Mal! How'd they do that?" Heck yeah, your confidence was boosted. He offered his arm to you like a gentleman, making you half-heartedly roll your eyes (you took it anyway). From holding it alone, you could tell that your best friend was a sinewy man (well, you knew that already after seeing his tikbalang form before—the little shit didn't even wear a loincloth like all his clanmates; your poor eyes were eternally scarred).

You looked him up and down. You wouldn't lie—Maliksi is and always has been an attractive man. Now? With his hair in a ponytail (pun not intended), definitely one of the hunkiest men you've ever known. "You're not looking too bad yourself, horsey."

"Ako pa!" He puffed his chest out in pride. You chuckled at his reaction.

"By the way, how do you even know my dress size and my shoe size?"

"Babe, I've known you too long. You know almost everything about me, I know everything about you."

You snorted at his confident tone, "'Di nga? You don't know every single thing about me, Mal. Assuming ka masyado."

"Alam ko nga anong cup size mo. Wala lang 'yang shoe and dress size."

You slapped his shoulder, cheeks quickly flushing red, "Huy, umayos ka! Walang hiyang tikbalang na 'to." With this guy as your best friend? You heard dirty jokes at least once a day. "Don't be inappropriate here!"

"What? It's only fair I know!" He looked down on you suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows. "You already know I always go commando, so of course I know that your bra is a size—"

"Shhh! Baka marinig ka, 'nyeta."

"So? Let them hear. My best friend has a nice set of melons!" he shouted. You were grateful there was no one around. Hopefully.

"Oh my God..."

Your best friend chortled at how flustered you'd become. He led you to where some of his family was waiting, with a couple of his relatives already greeting you. You instantly and quite easily mingled with them, your worries of them not accepting you far from even true (they all knew how much their prince loved the innocent you).

"Kayo na talaga, pare?" one of his older tikbalang clanmates asked while you went away to be fawned over by his aunts.

Maliksi chuckled, crossing his arms as he watched you from afar, "Heh. Hindi pa."

Another one of his clanmates—a younger one—laughed, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, "Talaga? That's cap, bro. You two are like a married couple already and you guys still aren't a thing?"

"Ilang taon na ba kayong magkakaibigan?" the older one asked him.

"Almost ten years," Maliksi responded, a smile unconsciously pulling his lips up as he remembered your moments together. He watched you converse with his female relatives (who adored you the moment Maliksi brought you to a family event many moons ago).

The two tikbalang snickered as they saw the look on the Great Stallion's heir.

"You're down bad," the younger one said, snapping a photo of his lovestruck kuya. "You've got it so bad for her, dudeparechong!"

"Balak mong ligawan anytime soon?" the older tikbalang inquired.

"Heh. Balak ko na ngang pakasalan. Kung pwede, ngayon."

They looked at Maliksi as if he was crazy. He was very much serious, though, even if there was a huge, lopsided smile on his face. The Prince of the Tikbalang raised a brow at them.

"What? Don't give me that look. Our ten years of being best friends is practically the courting and the dating stage already."

"Eh... you're right. Don't waste anymore time. Go and marry her today, dude. Suporta kami sa'yo, basta groomsmen kami sa kasal niyo, ha!"

"Ge. Without question."

Meanwhile, on your end with the ladies of the family, they started pestering you on your love life (like all typical Filipino aunties). Chismis everywhere.

"O, iha, single ka pa ba?"

"Kailan ka magpapakasal? Malapit ka nang pumasok sa thirties mo."

"Do you want kids? How many?"

"Are you and Maliksi a couple? You look good together! Kayo na, 'di ba?"

"Will you be getting married next? Are you engaged? When's the wedding? Invite niyo kami!"

Before you could get overwhelmed by their questions, Maliksi swept you off your feet to lead you to the entourage that was lining up outside the chapel area. Again, it happened like a blur. He laughed at the partially nauseated look on your face.

"You okay there?" he asked, grinning.

"Your family thinks we're together," you muttered quietly, not meeting his eyes. You weren't sure why you felt... tingly about their statements.

He tilted his head at you curiously, gently setting you down on your feet and helping you stand.

"Do you hate the idea?" It hurt him to ask you the question, but he wanted your thoughts on it. Perhaps doing this was a bad idea. Maliksi was competitive in many things, including wanting you to be his, but if you were so opposed to it, he would never force you into something you didn't want. He let go of your hand; you didn't even notice he'd been holding it until he let go. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

Your wide-eyed gaze snapped back to look up at him, "No! No, it's not that! And... it's not bad." Your hand felt strangely empty now that his was gone. Biting your lip, you disclosed, "You're not making me uncomfortable, Mal. Don't ever think that."

With that, you shyly interlocked your arm with his, tearing your eyes from his to mask the growing warmth you felt spreading in your veins. You two didn't say anything else when the ushers let you walk down the beautiful, petal-covered aisle together.

The man beside you was starstruck. Hopeful. Maybe both of you did have a chance. Maybe somewhere in the depths of your soul, his feelings for you were being reciprocated. For the rest of the sacred ceremony in the gorgeous main pavilion, both of you relished in short, comfortable, and low conversations. He even cracked jokes every once in a while—really funny ones that made it challenging for you to you stifle your laughter.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may kiss the bride."

Maliksi fervently prayed to Bathala that he'd experience the same opportunity he was seeing with you someday. One day.

Even while the sun was brightly out, the sky began showering down light rain onto the land. You were in awe as you looked out the window.

"Hala, totoo nga pala! Tignan mo!" you laughed, tugging Maliksi's suit sleeve, pointing at the window.

"Na ano?" he curiously inquired, not understanding what you were referring to.

"Na kapag may tikbalang na kinakasal, umuulan habang may araw pa," you replied, eyes filled with childlike mirth and wonder. A rainbow had even begun to form by the clouds. "Look, it's magical! Ang ganda pala ng view dito kasama ang old Spanish architecture. Timeless na timeless. It's so pretty, 'no? Picture tayo 'maya, Mal."

Unlike you, it wasn't the sky outside that the prince was looking at. Amidst the loud cheers for the newlywed couple and the bubbles the guests were blowing, his vision could only focus on how magnificent you looked while being amazed. You were his best view. (Ed from 90-Day Fiancé, kabahan ka na, may katapat ka sa pickup line mo.)

》》》

"Smile for the picture!"

You giggled as Maliksi was dragged into a photo-op with the bridesmaids and the important older wedding sponsors a few feet away (funnily, he looked a little constipated around them). All of a sudden, when he was heading back to your direction, you were roughly pushed into the said man's arms. When you turned around, there was nothing (except maybe a gust of wind that came out of nowhere).

"Ooh, gotcha. Careful," the tikbalang steadied you, strong hands holding your biceps. "Natapilok ka?"

"... Huh, hindi naman," you wondered suspiciously, looking around. "I think someone pushed me? Parang tinulak ako... but wala namang tao."

"Weird. Maybe it was just the wind."

It actually was. Really. Maliksi knew for a fact that it was those two taong hangin who were spying on you from the corner, trying to pair you up. He gave them a thumbs-up while your back was turned in the opposite direction. Hannah and Amie returned the thumbs-up before vanishing. Suddenly, the two wedding photographers had moved on from the bridesmaids and were right beside you.

"What a lovely couple you two are!" she praised. Before you could correct her, she held up the black contraption she held towards you two. "Pose for the camera, lovelies!"

And so you did, the photographer guiding you two on what to do. Maliksi wrapped his arm around your waist and you leaned on his side, looking sidewards to the camera with one leg cocked in front of the other. Her assistant, who was holding a polaroid camera, printed out two photos for you.

"Thank you," you told him, taking the photos from his hands then flicking them rapidly to make the images develop. You and Mal were about to walk to the reception area when the photographer stopped you, handing the male beside you a business card.

"If you two need a photographer or a videographer for your wedding, call me," she signaled to both of you before running to another guest, bringing her assistant with her.

You gawked, "Mal, did you just hear what she said?"

"Loud and clear." A grin was on his face. He seemed very pleased at what he heard.

"... How can she even tell if someone is married or not?"

Maliksi's free hand took your left hand, tapping the ring finger, "Nothing here."

"Ooooooh. I get it now." Your brows creased. "Huh. This is like the fifth time today the people here have mistaken us for a couple."

Maliksi shrugged, teasing you, "Who knows? Baka may potential tayo, babe."

Before you could ask him what he meant, he was hurriedly towing you to the reception venue. While he was doing that, you stared at the now-developed polaroid photos you were holding. Huh. Maybe you two did look like a couple.

"Come on, they're serving some snacks at the welcome reception area. Peach pie and mango float-flavored. Paborito mo, babe."

》》》

The rest of the night went by without a hitch. You were actually enjoying the event—the host was great, the food was great, the music was great. Everything was great... that was, until the games.

"Alright! Now that the bride's garter has been removed, let's have the bouquet and garter toss... starting with the females!" the host announced. "Dear bride, please stay here in front. And all single ladies—and by single I mean ready to mingle and are not married—please rise and stand here on the dance floor. Let's play matchmaker tonight, everyone!"

"Uy, single ladies daw," Maliksi nudged your side. "Sign mo na 'yan." You snorted like a pig.

"Nope, ayokong madamay sa bouquet toss," you whisper-yelled at your best friend. "Do you know how embarrassing that is?! Besides, they won't notice if I don't join! Special tactic ko 'yan sa weddings: pretending I'm not single. Katabi naman kita."

More women came to the front, making you feel assured that you didn't need to participate. The host was about to say something, when the bride interrupted to whisper something into his ear.

"Hala, halaaa! Sabi ko all single ladies, pero may isang single lady na nagtatago pa!" he announced, making you freeze. Please don't let it be you. "What's her name, beloved bride?"

"Y/N L/N." You nearly spat out your champagne. You? Did they just call out your name? How did they know?

"Oh fuck," you cursed quietly.

"'Di ka makakatakas dito, babe," Maliksi jabbed, making you stand up. "Tinatawag ka na."

"Baka may ibang Y/N L/N dito," you resisted, attempting to sit back down. "I can't do this, Mal."

"'Sus, ikaw pa. And it's just a symbolic ceremony!" he encouraged, as if he didn't have any underlying intentions. "I doubt the bouquet will go to you anyway."

Sheesh, what a big fat liar you are, tikbalang prince.

You expressed your dissatisfaction with the situation, "Bwiset, fine. I'll just... dodge it. Or evade it. God, I swear..." You calmed down, confident. "I'm not going to worry. I've never caught the bouquet at my own friends' weddings anyway."

When you were at the dance floor, Maliksi snickered, seeing the bride—his cousin—wink at him. After all, he had thoroughly bribed her earlier.

《《《

"It's about time you settled down with someone, Mal," the bride commented while he slipped her the newest Hermés designer bag filled with a bunch of jewelry (plus some bills) two hours ago, right before the reception began and while you were in the restroom freshening up. "Hehehe, this is why you're my favorite cousin."

"Do we have a deal?"

"Of course. I'll make sure she participates. I'll also try to throw it in her direction."

"Good. Thanks."

"You better invite me to your beach wedding. I can tell how much you love her."

"Not a problem. I'll even make you a sponsor."

The bride stared at her bouquet, already practicing how she was going to throw it, "Tito's going to thank me so much for ensuring that he's going to get grandkids soon, hihi."

》》》

Back to the present, on the other end of the room, Maliksi saw a familiar duo give him a sign that they were ready. Bingo. Time to execute the most important part of his plan.

《《《

"I don't care how you do it," he told the two wind elementals after he bribed the bride. "I've already instructed the bride on what she should do, pero siguraduhin niyo lang talagang lumipad sa kanya ang bouquet."

"Mmhmm," Amie flipped her hair, a hand on her cocked hip. "And what do we get in return, oh great Señorito Armanaz?"

"Sagot ko bar-hopping niyo for one month."

The two girls pretended to think about it, making Maliksi roll his eyes. He had to pull out the big guns, huh?

"Fine. Magbibigay ako ng cash deposit plus pwede niyong gamitin ang black card ko for a one-week shopping spree in Ortigas." There. Bullseye. That's what they liked.

"Deal!" they exclaimed excitedly.

Hannah let a cool gust of wind enter one of the nearby windows, testing out how they're going to do this. "Ano pa bang pinaplano mo for Y/N mamaya?"

Maliksi hummed, "Basta."

》》》

You tried your best to hide within the densest part of the group of women. The bride seemed to have her eyes on you, weirdly enough, and she looked almost feral wanting to throw her flowers into someone's face.

That someone being you. Most likely.

"Target locked on," you saw her mouth move. She positioned herself like she was about to throw a football at someone (ahem, you). Holy shit, was she talking to you? Miss ma'am, it was a bouquet toss not a bouquet throw. The bride seemed to notice this, and once more regained her elegant composure.

"3, 2, 1," the host counted down. "Go!"

Surprisingly, the bouquet flew very high into the air (it was a wonder it didn't get tangled in the ceiling decor), but quite a distance away from you. You grinned, knowing it was too far to even touch you. Squeezing through the crowd of women eagerly awaiting the bouquet, you went to return to your assigned table.

Ah, what a wonderful evening.

Sike!

Something painfully landed right into your face, leaves and flowers getting into your hair and mouth.

... Wait, leaves and flowers?

Before you could comprehend it, the bouquet dropped right into your arms. What kind of ungodly, inhuman force allowed this to even happen?

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have our lucky girl for the night!" Everyone clapped, with some—those guests you knew—even cheering your name unbelievably loud. The host approached you, a glint in his eye which you couldn't understand. "Miss Y/N, kindly sit here while we await the lucky guy who catches the garter from the groom."

What just happened?

"All single gentlemen, please proceed to the dance floor. Remember, the man who gets the garter gets to slip it onto the lucky lady's leg later!"

Oh, God. You pinched the bridge of your nose. What you'd give to be back at home or to be in that resort in Batangas you'd planned on going to for a solo vacation.

"To make this even more exciting," the host stated, handing you a black blindfold. "Our lucky lady has to keep her eyes closed until her lucky man for the night captures the bride's garter! When the music plays, only then can she uncover her eyes."

See? Humiliating, just as you expected. Still, you wrapped the blindfold around your head (albeit hesitantly). You attempted to guess who it might be, thinking of all the tikbalang friends Maliksi had introduced to you back then whenever he invited you to his clan reunions.

"Groom, are you ready?" the host asked, microphone loud and clear.

"Ready na ready!"

"Single gentlemen, are you ready?!"

"Ready na ready! Awoo, awoo!" they loudly chorused, exactly mimicking Spartans about to engage in battle. You sweatdropped in the seat you were in. This was actually kind of scary. Maybe you felt a bit objectified.

"3, 2, 1, go!"

There was a brief moment of silence, which made you concerned. Ba't ang tahimik? Then, everyone erupted into roars and bravoes much louder than when you caught the bouquet—perhaps even louder by tenfold. What the heck was happening?!

The music played. Very raunchy, spicy, babymaking music. You expected it to be the typical Careless Whisper by George Michael or Pony by Ginuwine (corny songs which you could probably laugh at, at least), but no. Nuh-uh, this was probably worse. The DJ must be pretty young, the song of their choosing being a slowed, bass-boosted, sexier remix of Earned It by the Weeknd.

Ano 'to, bold? Fifty Shades of Grey? The hell was this?

Alright. This was embarrassing. Thank the heavens there were no children at this party. From the music alone and its implications, this was strictly for adults.

You removed your blindfold (that was okay now, right?) as the guests whistled playfully. You peeked one eye open reluctantly, then inwardly groaned. Oh, no. You should've expected it to be him of all people from how loud the reactions were. And all those yells from the crowd were from his family.

Son of a—

"Well, this has proven to be a very interesting arrangement!" the host proclaimed. "Our lucky man for tonight is none other than our great clan leader's heir, Maliksi Armanaz! Congratulations, sir! You get to slip the lacey little garter on Miss Y/N!"

The said very smug tikbalang stood a few feet away from the chair you were sitting on, smirking at you. His hair was no longer in that mesmerizing ponytail—instead, he'd tied it into a more sinfully attractive man-bun, loose strands framing his face and accentuating that sharp, angled jaw of his (say yes and thank you to Manny Jacinto's jawline, besties).

"Let's cheer him on in his new mission, everybody!" the host pushed. Was this that glint in his eye earlier? And was that a one thousand peso bill sticking out of his pocket?

The groomsmen, Mal's cousins and uncles whom you've met before, hollered words of encouragement to the tall man (who was, oddly enough, not one bit fazed). In fact, Maliksi seemed like he was famished as he stared you down.

You swallowed, feeling like you were going to get eaten (heh, say that again). Maliksi had shrugged off his dark suit blazer to the beat of the song (holy fuck, he also unclasped the suspenders attached to his pants right before your eyes—asdfghjkl). Were you prepared for this? No. Will you ever be prepared? No!

"Mr. Armanaz, before you begin," the host interrupted. "We have an additional challenge for you in this mission. Kaya mo ba? It was a request of the newlywed couple."

"What is it?"

"Use your teeth!" the bride and the groom cheerfully shouted, clapping with the other guests. Whatdidtheysaaaaay???

The cocky bastard didn't even hesitate, his smirk at you growing wider; those pearly whites of his on full display. Was it just you or were his canines a little sharper than usual?

"Anything for the newlyweds. Challenge accepted," he dashingly replied, winking at you. You sputtered indignantly. Pisteng yawa. Putangina. Putek. Pakshet. You swore you thought of every swear word in the book at that moment. What did that YouTube parody song about Filipino mythological creatures say again? About the tikbalang? Ah, yes. Half-macho dancer and half-stallion. Maybe the joke was true, especially when you saw what Maliksi did next.

He bit the shred of lace, loosening his necktie (bestie, you good there?), unbuttoning some top buttons, and rolling up the sleeves of his collared white undershirt up to his elbows (consequently showing off his toned, veiny forearms—those lucky bridesmaids behind him nearly fainted). Honestly, you felt like you were about to lose your mind from embarrassment. With how tantalizing your guy best friend was being? Let our response be: San Pedro, kunin mo na ako. Was he doing all this to tease you? To rile you up?

Because damn it all, it was working. In your ten years of knowing Maliksi Armanaz, withstanding all his daily dirty jokes and flirtatious attempts, never had you seen him like this. So... wolfish. Ravenous. Like he was a man that hadn't been fed in years.

He stalked closer towards you, falling to his knees in front of your legs. Your gown had a long slit that extended up to an inch or two below where your left leg began—your best friend was eyeing his target already, knowing where to place the garter. Normally, you would never even wear something as revealing as this gown. It just wasn't your type, but Maliksi was the one who bought this for you for this specific occasion, so you had no choice. It was this or your pantulog he stole you in just hours ago. At first, you were confident in the gown. Now? You felt too... naked.

Somehow, in the heat of it all, you'd muted out the noise of the venue. Maliksi teasingly lifted your foot up, fingertips slyly grazing the thin shoe straps around your left foot—his calculated touch leaving fire in its trail. Once the garter had been successfuly inserted past your high-heeled stilettos, the man kneeling in front of you kept his hands to himself. Despite the fact that now there was absolutely zero skin-to-skin contact between you and this man, your body felt hotter than it ever was before as he expertly slid the lacy bit of cloth up your ankle at an agonizingly slow pace.

Maliksi's warm eyes had turned dark, his pupils blown, a tinge of red in them—of his true beast—while he maintained striking eye contact with you, pulling the garter up your calf with his teeth. Smoothly tugging... tugging... tugging. Tangina, it was like he was undressing you with his eyes alone; like he was telepathically telling you to keep your eyes open.

To keep your eyes on him, where he was knelt inbetween your legs, his hands intentionally locked on his back. Did you ever imagine this? Him between your legs? Maybe. Once or twice. But you never thought about it seriously; Maliksi dated girls left and right in the past.

His lips... his lips were so close... so close to your leg that you could feel the heat of his breath along with the lace. Were you about to die? Perhaps you already did. Maybe you were in heaven. Up... up... up... snap!

Suddenly, he stopped, grinning up at you mischievously and letting the elastic bounce back to the skin of your left knee.

"I'm not going any further, don't worry, babe," he whispered, noting that your eyes had become misty and glazed over. Internally, he grew worried. "That's enough." Did he think it was from discomfort? From you being uncomfortable? Bitch, no. It was the exact opposite. You had never been this turned on in your entire life.

You felt like your soul had left your body at that moment. Did you just have a heart attack? Was your blood pressure okay? Before you or Maliksi could stand, however, someone bellowed from the wedding sponsor tables.

"Higher! That's an order!"

Fucking hell, it was Maliksi's father who shouted. He wasn't in the huge tikbalang form you'd normally meet him in, but he was still very intimidating in his humanoid form, commanding attention and subservience wherever he went. You could tell where Maliksi got it from.

Instantly, the other guests—already half-drunk and wanting the spirit of partying to continue on—joined in.

"Higher! Higher!"

The host cheered, "You heard Señor Armanaz! Higher!"

Maliksi gave you a questioning look. Even if it was his father who spoke up, he still wouldn't do anything you didn't want. Well, you two made it this far; there was no point in getting embarrassed now. You bit the inside of your cheek, nodding. You probably couldn't erase the redness on your skin with how much you'd blushed from this night. It was as if the heat was tattooed onto your skin.

"Go on, Mal," you whispered to him, bending your torso down closer to his face, eyes half-lidded from want. "Finish what you started, babe."

With those sultry bedroom eyes he'd never once seen you show him before—plus you turning the tables with that familiar term of endearment, how could he refuse? Like a switch had been flipped inside him, he immediately complied, taking the frilly scrap of stretchy lace between his teeth once more, moving it further up to your thighs until where your high slit ended—centimeters below the warming juncture between your legs.

Your legs felt wobbly... boneless, as you stood up from the chair, the fabric of your gown cascading over where the lace sat securely on your upper left thigh. The party was still going strong even after you two finished the garter wearing tradition.

"'Atta boy! That's my son!" Señor Armanaz blazoned, standing up and raising his glass for a toast. "Cheers to the newlywed couple! May they last forever!"

You guys weren't the newlyweds, but it did sure feel like it. If the clan leader was hyped up, everyone was hyped up. Heck, the groom and the bride didn't mind one bit what had just transpired on their dance floor. In all the chaos, Maliksi took you out of the reception area and somewhere quieter. More private.

You would need to have a serious, urgent talk with your boy best friend.

》》》

You two silently sat on a stone bench in a gazebo somewhere in the reserved venue for the wedding, trying to cool down and get yourselves back together (at this point, you needed ice from that steamy, half-scandalous event you just went through). Here, there was no one else except for the chirping of crickets, the lush trees surrounding the area, and the golden fairy lights strewn all over the roof. Awkwardness was something you'd expected after what just happened, but somehow, you still felt comfort in this man's presence. For the past thirty minutes, both of you just stayed still, lost in your thoughts and reflecting.

"Mal?" you finally spoke up.

"... Hmm?"

"Ano tayo?"

"Whatever you want us to be."

Your fingers instinctively reached out for his, just like they always did when you were anxious. Sensing this, he grasped your hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Soothingly. He massaged the skin of your fingers, distracting you from your nervousness. It seemed like both nothing and everything changed between both of you. The gesture was the same, but so different at the same time.

"Mahal mo ako." It was not a question. It was a statement. A truth—one that you'd been too blind to see before. One that you only discovered while you stared into each other's eyes in that party not as best friends. You realized with a jolt in your heart what he really felt for you, and now, what you really felt for him. In those thirty minutes of silence, you knew. You just knew.

"Yes. I do."

"... Just as a best friend?" you probed.

"..."

Finally, you gazed into his eyes, previously so dark and full of hunger. Now? Just reluctant. Vulnerable. Open. Unsure of what to do next.

Seems like you had to be the one to take initiative tonight. Taking out your phone, you opened your music app and pressed play on a certain song. Ikaw at Ako by Johnoy Danao. You removed your heels (which were starting to blister your ankles and toes), then pulled him up to stand.

"Dance with me," you murmured, grabbing his arms to wrap them around your waist. He was stiff. Tense. What was he to do when the woman he's been pining after for so long let him hold her? All his gallantry and ability to romance disappeared out the window the moment you let him touch you so intimately.

You two weren't even waltzing. Just swaying. Slowly, you leaned your head on his broad chest, listening to the steady thump of his heart.

"... I love you," Maliksi admitted in the middle of it all, feeling like he was dreaming. Your head on his chest kept him grounded to reality, however. "More than anything in the universe. I fell for you ever since you patched me up when you were nineteen and I was a reckless drag racer who didn't have a purpose in life. 'Nung dinala mo ako pabalik sa Armanaz Tower on the verge of death. Simula noon, ikaw lang."

"I realized that," you smiled, reminiscing the old memory. You were just a broke college student that time, coming back to your dorm from making your group thesis at a classmate's house. Imagine your panic when you found a half-man, half-horse bleeding out by some bushes on the way home at night. Despite your fear and your little money (only enough to feed you for the week), you went out of your way to buy a first-aid kit at the nearest 7/11. It was scary, but you managed to mend the creature's wounds by the side of the road. When he was finally able to speak, turning fully human (which you admit, freaked you out initially), you arduously carried him back to his address—to his father and his clan, even if you had classes the very next morning. Because of your heroic deed of saving their precious heir, the tikbalang clan had become indebted to you: a teenage girl on the verge of a mental academic breakdown, just making her way through the cruel adult world. How old of a memory that was, you thought, yet you still recalled it in perfect detail. "Just a while ago."

"Ah." He swayed you gently.

"Lahat ng ito, plano mo?"

"... Yes," Maliksi fessed up. "Except for this part where we're here dancing in this belvedere. Wala sa plano ko. Gusto ko sanang magconfess doon sa may fountain para sweet, pero..."

You lifted your head off his chest, smiling at him with one brow raised, "You know, between both of us, you're supposed to be the spontaneous one. Planning isn't usually your thing."

"I know. It's a failure, huh?" Maliksi sighed.

"Nah." You shook your head, then suddenly locked lips with him. It was so fast and surprising he didn't even get the chance to return your first kiss. For once, you caught him off guard. You pecked him on the lips again. "It's not a failure."

"Wha—"

"I'm sorry for making you wait, Maliksi. Ten years. We're twenty-nine now, and only tonight do I realize how blind I've been. We've been going around in circles, wasting so much time. Ayoko nang mag-aksaya ng oras," you whispered guiltily against his lips. How could you have been so blind? Andaming nasayang na taon. Making up your mind, you told him, "Yes. Sige, I accept. I'll be your plus one."

The tikbalang was flustered and baffled from the kiss, as well as your revelation, "... But, you already are?"

"No, silly. I meant that I'll be your plus one for life. For as long as you'll have me," you laughed, now processing that you were currently dancing barefoot with your boy best friend and had just kissed him in a wedding you didn't even plan on going to. The universe had a mysterious way of doing things. "Guess I'm the spontaneous one now, huh?"

Maliksi was tongue-tied. "Seryoso ka ba? Is... Is this a marriage proposal?"

"Whatever you want it to be," you echoed his words back to him. "Best friend, plus one, girlfriend, wife—mmpf!"

He kissed you so hard your lips bruised. After an impromptu makeout session which was definitely more in character for Maliksi, you both pulled away, panting heavily in search for air, still desperate for passion. He cupped your cheeks, giving you a sweet, featherlight Eskimo kiss.

"You're missing one more title."

"Hm? What do you mean, Mal?"

"Love of my life." He kissed you again, this time lifting you off your feet and spinning you around (his sneaky right hand was resting on your bum, too, giving it a tight squeeze). You know in the Princess Diaries where the main character's foot just... pops whenever the prince charming kissed her? Yeah, that happened to you on that humid summer night. This was right. You two were meant to be together. Everything was falling into place.

The bungalow you reserved for your Batangas vacation leave ended up being the site of your very eventful honeymoon with the Prince of the Tikbalang (with his libido, it wasn't that difficult to continue where you'd left off in the garter toss; that scrap of lace came off your leg the same way it went on). Actually, nauna pa ang honeymoon sa actual wedding (it was definitely spontaneous). Right after your confession in that alcove, you two went to Maliksi's father to ask for his blessing (which he gladly gave, cackling and saying that it took you long enough) before you guys went driving off to Batangas that night. You and Mal indeed had lots and lots of fun in that resort (I'll let you imagine the rest). More beautiful memories were made from that point on—this time, not just as best friends.

All that and your small, intimate wedding occurred in early April. Just when you thought that it'd be impossible to fulfill Maliksi's life goal of having a baby within the year (nine months of pregnancy meant that the earliest you'd give birth would be January next year), the impossible happened.

Exactly thirty-two weeks later, on New Year's Eve, the Armanaz herd welcomed one prince and two new princesses into the world. Triplets who were instantly adored by everyone in the clan.

Señor Armanaz had never been happier, and so were you and your husband. Your best friend. The love of your life. Your forever plus one.

Maybe being spontaneous wasn't so bad after all.

Taglist: @belladaises @binibiningbabaylan @4kodzuk3n @sparklingmallow @severuslovebot @holyshxtangel @marinac15 @space-flamingo @pippethealien @kashasenpai @disappointmentpastry @hornehlittleweeblet2 @seijohoe @monimiin @ibelievein2dmensupremacy @tinybonksharkcop @methehipster @banisuoh @genshin-idiot @lemonnie-kimmie

#trese #trese 2021 #trese netflix #maliksi #maliksi x reader #tikbalang #trese fic #x reader #trese x reader #thera.writes

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grogusmum · 3 years

Text

In Which, Dad and Me Have Ice Cream For The First Time and Survive Brain Freeze.

A Galaxy Far Far Away Short, As told by Grogu Djarin

NOTE: Feeling silly this morning! So I thought I'd try writing a little something from Grogus point of view. This is part of the A Galaxy Far Far Away AU. (Quick and probably a bit messy in the edit department)

WARNINGS: all about eating

🍨🍦🍨🍦🍨🍦🍨🍦🍨🍦

I love food.

When Dad and me came to Earth, I had no idea how great the eating would be.

I like lots of things about Earth so far, it smells good in the woods and at your house. And there are so many fluffy friends, some of them let me eat their eggs. They don't mind at all!! Tabitha and Willow sleep with me and keep me very warm, but sometimes their tails and whiskers tickle my nose. I want to ride Seamus like a Blurrg, but we haven't discussed it yet. You are nice and shine with a purplie-pinkish aura. And you talk a lot, and then say sorry about talking a lot, but it's okay! Dad's yellow and gold aura glows extra bright sometimes when you do this. You also sing and make me and Dad feel good and warm. Best of all, you make lots of yummy food!

Anyways, right after my nap... that I didn't really need that much, but you tricked me to sleep by rocking me and singing that pretty song about rainbows... you and Dad came into the room to get me. You had a big smile, your eyes were happy, and said we were all going to have ice cream, and that it is the most yummy thing in the universe. Well, I figured you had obviously not eaten frogs yet so...

Dad and your energies was kind of big at that moment, they bounced off of each other like the two wanted to mix but as soon as they touched, they would pull back, like little shocks... I know what shocks feel like because Dad thought I was an electrical engineer once.

ANYWAYS, I sat in my seat, which is great, I get to be right up to the table like the big people. I tucked Long Ears next to me in my seat. You call her Rabbit, but she told me her name is really Long Ears...

You went over to the cooler that has lots and lots of food and opened one of the doors and pulled out a container. And said there were lots of flavors and ways to eat ice cream, but we'd start simple.

You took three bowls down from a shelf then opened a drawer to pull out three spoons and one big one.

I couldn't help getting excited, you had been so scared earlier today, but you seemed so much happier now. Ice creams must really be good!

I watched carefully as you scooped the white stuff with brown swirls, using the big round spoon. You filled each bowl, the ice cream looked like little balls. You told us that it is very cold, "so go slow".

You put the bowl and spoon in front of me and handed one to Dad, so he could take off his helmet in the other room. I wish we could all eat together. Then you sat with me at the table, watching.

You smiled and told me to try it. I picked up my spoon and scooped up a little and tasted it. It was so creamy and sweet and definitely cold. I could hear dad making quiet yummy sounds too, these ears aren't just for looks, you know! And, as usual, Dad maked an understatement.

"It's- this is very good."

I shake my head at that guy sometimes! And as usual I needed to clarify that it was more than very good and started telling everyone so, but you know, language barrier. So I waved my spoon and couldn't help but laugh, because it is so so yummy! I could hear dad laugh, so I knew he was getting me. You laughed too, and said you knew we'd love it. You were right, I do !!!

But that is when I forgot your warning! I couldn't help digging in for my next bite...

The same thing must have happened to dad because we both cried out. It was a sharp pain in my forehead! Why would food do this to me?

You made both a sorry face and I might laugh face! Ma'am, this is serious! Food is hurting me!

You told us it is brain freeze. And APPARENTLY, it happens when you eat ice cream too fast. Then you said to put our thumbs on the roof of our mouths- quick! and you said sorry.

I put my thumb in my mouth like you said, pressed it to the roof. It worked. You then stroked my ear. Which is nice. And you asked if it felt better. Which it did.

Dad did a chuckle and said you did warned us, which is true. I nodded! I want to try all the other ways to eat it but I will never ever forget to go slow with ice cream again...

ALL

@its--fandom--darling @seasonschange-butpeopledont @jessie-writes-things @pedro4ever @oloreaa

AGFFA

@darthmama1618 @artemiswastaken @persie33 @yourneighborhooddisaster @janebby @terecord

#pedro pascal #the mandalorian #din djarin #grogu #mandalorian #clan of two #baby yoda #soft din #a galaxy far far away #grogu djarin #grogu pov

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myhockeyworld87 · 3 years

Text

Ruined - Jamie Benn - Part 4

Word Count: 8,133

POV: Jamie and then switches to reader

Warnings: Language, small amount of smut so we will say NSFW

Notes: This is hell long, I’m sorry. I don’t normally write chapter/parts this long, so don’t get used to it, because I’m sure it won’t last...haha! At any rate here we go with Part 4. As always I love your feedback, both good and bad, so hit me with it. Happy Reading! Also (Y/NN) = Your Nickname (Y/LN) = Your Last Name

Ruined Masterlist

JAMIE POV

Five days, that's how long it was until you saw (Y/N) again. Well, it was four days, sixteen hours, twenty-two minutes, and forty-two seconds, give or take a second or two. And why did you know the exact time, only because you'd been counting the hours since she left Jordie and Jessi's house. The dinner party had gone great, at least you thought it had, but then you hadn't seen her since then; not even a glimpse of her outside in the backyard or pulling into the driveway. It was maddening or maybe it was just you slowly going insane as every little noise outside had you wandering over to the window to check and see if it was her. It hadn't taken much to convince your brother to throw a dinner party on short notice, in an excuse so you could see (Y/N), but now that you had, there was just this overwhelming need to see more and more of her.

Now, here you were, just four days, sixteen hours, twenty-four minutes, and sixteen seconds from seeing her again. She was to be at the practice center at four-thirty today, so that someone, that someone being you, of course, could show her around the facility. You stood back a bit, staring at the entrance doors just waiting for her to walk in. And then she did. She looked radiant. Dressed in a simple navy pantsuit with a pair of high heels that clicked across the floor, she made her way to the front desk. Instead of rushing out to greet her, you headed back to the locker room, where you knew the receptionist would usher her back to you.

Your palms were sweating and suddenly you felt unsure of yourself. What if she was only playing nice at Jordie's and really didn't want to be around you? But that didn't explain how she'd laughed and reminisced with you about different things. That laugh, you knew it was a genuine one, for you heard it so many times in your dreams you had it memorized. God, you hoped you could make her laugh like that again today.

You could hear her heels on the floor, so you busied yourself with one of your sticks retaping the blade, even though it didn't need it. "The team captain is in there, Miss. If you need anything just let me know." You heard the door open and then turned around.

"Jamie?"

"Oh hey (Y/NN)," you tried to sound casual as if her simply being in the same room as you didn't send your heart beating into overdrive.

"I guess I didn't realize you were the team's captain."

"Yeah, have been for a few years now." Your heart sank a bit in the knowledge that she hadn't really followed your career except to know where you were, so she could avoid you.

"Well that's…," she stumbled on her words which was unusual for her and you wondered if she was as affected by you as you were by her, or if it was just her disdain for you, and that she hated to give you any amount of praise. "That's really amazing. Your coaches and team must really hold you in high regard."

"I'd like to think so." You finally abandoned the stick that didn't need taping, leaning it against the wall before turning your attention back to (Y/N). "Anyhow, I guess I'm your tour guide today." She gave a weak smile and a simple head nod, which was not encouraging to say the least. "So, how about we get started? If you want you can leave your stuff in here, no one will bother it." She'd been carrying her medical bag and a few other things, but she handed them over to you and you set them in your stall. "Well, as you can see this is our practice locker room, pretty basic. I thought we'd start with a tour of the entire place before I show you the training room."

The two of you headed down the hallway and back out to the lobby. "Obviously, you came in this way, but I'll show you the entrance you can use in the future. We're pretty much contained to this side of the building as you can see, but when practices are open, people can come and watch." You showed her the rink, from seat level, then headed back out. "This is the club lounge, if there's ever an event here where we aren't skating we use one of the boxes up there. You're more than welcome to as well."

"I have to say this is kind of elaborate for a practice rink."

"A bit."

"I was expecting metal bleachers and…well, I don't know. I feel like this is more like the arena and then a practice rink."

You chuckled, for you kind of thought the same thing, the first time you came here. Now you barely even noticed it. "Well, the boards are the same as the AAC, but other than that it's very different."

"AAC?"

"American Airlines Center," you hadn't realized you shortened the name. "Sorry about that. I think we're scheduled to tour that on Wednesday." It gave you another opportunity to be with her.

"Yes, I have that on my calendar, but was going to see if we could change that." You supposed there was your answer about her wanting to be in the same room as you. "Dr. Ellis has a patient that needs a knee arthroplasty and he asked if I'd show him the technique I've been using. Less evasive and I'm having great success with cutting the healing time by half." Oh, so it was a medical thing, whatever an arthroplasty was. "If we could push it back a bit that would be great, if not maybe we could look at another time."

"I'll work around your schedule, it's not a problem." If it meant spending more time with her you'd go to any lengths that you had to.

"Thanks, if we could maybe make for like three in the afternoon instead of noon that will give me plenty of time because I have a feeling, he'll want me to sit in on his other two surgeries he has scheduled that day."

"Not a problem." You took out your phone and made the change in your calendar. Thankfully, you didn't really have anything after practice that day but giving her the tour. "Shall we continue then?" She smiled, and it made your heart feel light. You took her to the offices next. "Down this hallway is pretty much everyone that works for the Stars; PR, accounting, our GM, our owner. You'll pretty much find them here." You stopped in front of a door and then opened it up. "This office is for you." It had a great view, well as much of a view as any of them had, but it really was a nice place for her to work.

"Umm…this won't do."

You blinked at her a couple times, there was really nothing wrong with the room. Everything in there was modern with state-of-the-art equipment. "What's wrong with it?" The words came out a little harsher than you intended but you really couldn't see her problem.

"Well for starters, we're on the what, the third floor? And I believe the locker room and training room are on the first." You gave a confused look as this was Dr. Lundin's old office and he never been concerned about it being where it was. "It's just if I'm going to be working on you…well not you, but any of you. I need to be near you. I can be at ice level during practices, but if I'm treating you, my office should be closer to the ice." Well, you couldn't really argue with that. "Also, there's no exam table in here. I get that I'll be doing most things in your training room, but there may be times when I'll need you to stop in to look over something, or what if one of you need to see me about something private."

She had a point, though none of you had ever really gone to Dr. Lundin like that. Come to think of it, he wasn't really around that much. He more or less made recommendations on where you should go if you had a problem. He wasn't necessarily the doctor to fix you. Seems like (Y/N) planned on being more hands-on, and you were ok with that. "You make a good point. Give me a second." You stepped out of the room and called the Jim Nill, the general manager. You weren't sure he was the man to go to, but you knew he'd be there in the building at least and could possibly offer a solution. It was a short phone call, as you expressed (Y/N)'s concerns. Jim was happy to help and said that he'd get someone on moving her downstairs to one of the spare rooms that housed equipment at the moment. "All set. They're going to move you down next to the training room. It might take a few days to get in the stuff you want, but if you make a list, we'll leave it at the front desk and make sure it gets taken care of."

"Thank you, Jamie. I really appreciate you doing that."

Her praise was like music to your ears, you could remember the days when you'd have a good game and she would go on and on about how well you played and you'd literally soak up every word that came out of her mouth. "No problem, guess we should head down there then." You showed her the room, which she seemed pleased with, then took her over to the training room. A couple of the trainers were still in there from practice, so you introduced her to them.

"I hate to be a pain in the ass but would any of you mind if I changed the set up here. I don't want to step on anyone's toes. I just see a few things that could make this more efficient."

"Sure, go ahead," Dave, the head trainer told her.

"So, see these units right here. They would work so much better if you had them in between the training tables. That way two guys can be on the machine at the same time."

"Oh, I see what you're saying." They went to move the equipment, it looked heavy so you helped as well. (Y/N) was opening up cabinets and taking things out, then moving them to other ones.

"Is the AAC," she looked over as you to confirm she'd said that right. "Setup like this as well."

"Pretty much," Dave told her.

"Could we make these changes there as well?" They seemed to be a bit annoyed, but she wasn't deterred. "Bear with me for a moment. Say Jamie has a cut to his eye that needs to be stitched." She looked at you to play the part.

"Ow my eye," your acting was horrible and they all laughed.

"When he comes into the room, we take him right to the nearest table, which is here." You sat down where she gestured. "It's obvious, he needs stitches, but the medical cabinet is all the way over on the other side of the room, and by the time we get there, look for what we need then come back we've waist two minutes of playing time and we don't even have a single stitch that we need in." She was making a lot of sense. "If we had our sterile supplies here, and then individually marked and put in like this." She rearranged the cabinet as she talked. "Then when Jame comes in with the cut. We can assess it and stitch him up in no time."

"Makes sense," Dave agreed. "I'll get to work on changing the AAC as well." He and the other trainer were done for the day and said their goodbyes before heading out.

"Hey Jame," you noticed she'd started using your nickname and you weren't upset about it. "Could you move this table over to here?"

"No problem."

"Is something wrong?"

Quite the opposite actually, you thought today was going pretty well. "Um, no why?"

"You're favoring your right shoulder. I saw you do it earlier."

"Oh, I think I just slept wrong on it or something." Well tossed and turned on it was more like it, as thoughts of her pervaded your mind.

"Sit." It was a command and one that you were not to argue with. She came up behind you then, her hands going on your shoulders, kneading and massaging your shoulders and for a moment it felt like heaven, just having her hands on you again. Then she pushed down hard on a particular spot and you winced. "Tender?"

"A bit."

She came around in front of you and stepped in between your legs. "This might hurt a little." Hurt? God, she was killing you at the moment, as her body was almost pressed intimately up against yours. You willed your growing erection to calmed down, but apparently, it had a mind of its own. She moved your arm in a weird position, then pressed down almost under your armpit but not quite. (Y/N) was right, it did hurt a tiny bit, and you grunted at the pain. "Sorry." She went back to kneading your muscles, while you caught the scent of her perfume, or maybe it was just her, either way, it intoxicated you. You closed your eyes inhaling deeply, willing your body under control. You'd give anything at that moment to just wrap her in your arms and press her lips to yours. Would her lips be as sweet as they once were? Would she kiss you back with the same abandonment as she had that first time so long ago? There were so many questions swirling in your head, and you wanted to know the answers, but it was too soon. If you attempted any of this now, you'd take the chance of losing her for good and it was not a risk you were willing to make. All too soon for your liking, she stepped back. "Does that feel any better?"

You rotated your shoulder and neck a few times. "Yeah, it actually feels amazing."

"Excellent," a huge satisfied grin on her face, which only made you smile back. You felt it then, a shift in the air, almost as if her heart was giving way to you in some small manner. Maybe it was just you, but there was something in the way that her eyes held yours, the way they softened as she gazed at you. You remembered that look, had only dreamt of seeing it in her eyes again but now here you were, afraid to blink for if you did it would break the spell. Her watch chimed then, like the clock striking midnight in a fairytale. "I really should be going," she told you, and just like Cinderella, she was running away only this time you knew she wouldn't get far. "So, Wednesday, then right?"

"Yeah, three o'clock."

"Ok, I'll see you then."

"Hey (Y/NN)," she turned back around. "Since we're heading downtown, why don't I just drive us both down. I'll show you the shortcut." She seemed to mull that over a bit.

"Sounds good." She made a move to leave again, only this time, she stopped herself. "Thank you for today Jame. I really appreciate you showing me around."

She called you Jame again, another step in the right direction. "Anytime, (Y/NN)." You sighed happily as she walked out of the training room. You were one step closer to winning the girl of your dreams back.

READER'S POV

What was wrong with you? You seriously needed to get ahold of yourself. That moment in the training room could not happen again. For god's sake, your watch had to chime to tell you to breathe, because you were pretty sure you'd stopped. There had been something in Jamie's eyes. Those big beautiful brown ones of his, that you could spend hours looking into. People always said the eyes were like windows into your soul, and if that were true you saw your own reflected in Jamie's. The shocking thing was, it didn't frighten you like it should. There was this small part of you that wanted to fall headfirst straight into him, but you couldn't. This time it wasn't just your reputation as being easy riding on the line. It would be your reputation as a doctor and a professional as well, and that was something you would not let him ruin.

You turned over yet again in what felt like the most enormous bed at the moment. You couldn't seem to get comfortable and sleep was evading you, as thoughts of Jamie filled your head. Every time you closed your eyes there he was, smiling as he took another bite of cake in his mouth, laughing when you least expected it. It was all quite maddening and thrilling at the same time. This time you sat up in bed. Grabbing your iPad, you opened your one guilty pleasure and started reading the romance novel you'd started on the plane here. You hadn't picked it up, since the day you saw Jamie. It would provide the perfect distraction from him.

You were about three chapters in when things started to turn a bit steamy, and as you read each line you found your hands wandering over your body. Your hands snuck up your shirt, wishing that it was our hero's gliding over your breasts the way he caressed the main characters. As the dialogue went on, you got more and more turned on, until you abandon the book for your own pleasure. Closing your eyes, you pictured the protagonist with his dark locks, kissing his way down your body. Your hands would thread into his hair, as he kissed above your panty line, before slowly shimming them down your legs. It was almost as if you could feel his warm breath against your thigh making you shiver. You let your fingers mimic his, as they slid between your folds, your pussy already wet with desire for him. He softly kisses you there then, his beard somewhat scratchy against your sensitive skin, but it was a feeling you yearned for. His long fingers would slip inside, moving in and out of you slowly at first driving you mad. Your hips flexed up, as you gave over to the fantasy, craving the faceless man's touch. You could see the muscles of his back stretch across his skin and you longed to rake your nailed down them as he thrust his cock inside you, though it was his torturous fingers driving you wild at the moment. You were close now, just teetering on the edge with the need to cum. Rubbing your clit with your other hand, you thrust your fingers in out of you in a motion that you knew would take you to the heights you sought. Only your mind told you it was his fingers, his tattooed arm, his wicked tongue that was taking you there. Eyes closing tighter, as you fully emersed yourself in the fantasy, you felt the orgasm begin to build. Your legs started to tremble and your breathing was erratic, and then it hit and you were screaming out his name. "YES…JAMIE…YES!" Your eyes flew open, at the sound of his name echoing off the bedroom walls. It was Jamie you were picturing the entire time. He was the man giving you such exquisite pleasure. The realization had you spinning and throwing the covers over your head, too bad you couldn't hide from yourself. How were you ever going to face him in a couple days?

Sleep was something that evaded you that night and the next, well not entirely you did get a few hours here and there. The only problem was Jamie seemed to creep into your dreams as well. There were ones where the two of you were laughing and joking and having the most amazing time, and ones that had you calling out his name in pleasure again as well. But the ones that got to you the most, were where he was with Caitlyn. They would be holding hands or kissing right in front of you. You'd wake up so angry that you wanted to punch something or someone, namely Caitlyn. It had you questioning why though. If you didn't have feelings for Jamie, then why were you so angry at some college girl who threw herself at him. The deeper you dug into that, the more you didn't like the answer, for it meant there was still something there between you.

Thankfully, Wednesday came and so did your teaching surgeries, which meant you had something else to think about other than Jamie Benn. It was an early morning as most days in the operating room were, so at five, you grabbed a coffee and headed to the hospital. As you suspected, Dr. Ellis had you tag along on his other three knee arthroplasties, which meant you were walking out of the OR just before noon. If you timed it right, you could grab a quick bite to eat before going over charts and then be at Jamie's before three to tour the AAC.

"I've got to say your method in that replacement was impeccable," Dr. Ellis told you as you headed down the hallway to the doctor's lounge.

"Thanks, it took a little time for me to get things right, but as I said when you take that ligament…"

"Dr. Ellis, you're needed in the ER for a consult; car versus pedestrian," the nurse told him, and immediately your heart sank. You always hated seeing these kinds of accidents come through the hospital. "It's a twelve-year-old, his leg is in bad shape. I'm not sure it can be saved."

"Dr. (Y/LN), would you join me?"

"Of course." The two of you quickened your pace as you rushed to the wounded child. "I thought you said this wasn't a trauma hospital?"

"It's not. I'm not sure how this case got here."

The moment you got to the ER, you didn't have to be directed as to where to go. Doctors and nurses rushed in and out of the room at a frenzied pace. It had honestly been a good year since you'd done any extensive trauma work, but the adrenaline came rushing back through your veins with a force of a good slap shot. When you entered the room, it was worse than you expected, you'd only seen one other case that was this bad. You rattled off a flurry of questions, to those around you, trying to assess the damage. "I think we're going to have to amputate," the chief emergency physician said.

"Only as a last resort." You looked at Dr. Ellis. "If you're willing, I'd like to try and save this child's leg, but we need to get him in the OR now."

Not even a second ticked by, before he said, "You heard her people, let's move." Everyone started rushing to get him prepped for surgery.

"I'll need your assistance," you told him as the two of you made your way back, nurses following close behind.

"Of course, anything you need."

"Oh, I need someone to call Jamie Benn." Dr. Ellis gave you a funny expression. "He was to show me around the arena today in a couple hours. I need to push that back." He nodded to the nurse who jotted down the information before the two of you went to scrub up.

The surgery was grueling, your feet hurt and your back ached from standing in the OR for over twelve hours, but it was worth it. You were able to save young Noah's leg. And while most of those that had joined you in the operating room were headed out for drinks, which they wanted you to join, you were putting back on the dress that you'd chosen this morning to wear for your tour with Jamie. Admittedly, you may have decided on it because it showed a little more cleavage than usual and that it was Jamie's favorite color, but right now you'd give anything to not have to wear it for another couple of hours as you walked around an arena trying to remember where the entrance and exit were. Though still you, glided it over your body and headed out the door.

You thought about pulling into your driveway, but decide to go straight to Jamie's instead. Your feet already hurt from standing all day, and the heels that you'd brought earlier now felt like they were twenty inches high instead of the three that they were. No point in walking extra steps from your place to his. You rang the doorbell and almost immediately Jamie answered. "You look…"

"Like hell." You finished for him as he stepped aside you let you inside his house and even through your exhaustion you realized this was the first time you were seeing the inside of his home.

"I wasn't going to say that."

"Oh, well I feel like it," you added. "But anyhow, are you ready to go?" You were standing in the entranceway taking everything in, the vaulted ceilings, the winding staircase, even the glass doors were things that you'd talked about with him when you were younger. It was almost a carbon copy of your dream home that you two talked about.

"Um…well, I kind of didn't think you'd be up for it tonight."

"Oh, thank god."

He chuckled as you sagged in relief of knowing that you wouldn't have to put another ten thousand steps in. "I have an alternative if that's alright." You had no idea what he could be thinking, but anything other than a thirty to forty-minute drive downtown would be better. Just then your stomach growled, the sound seemed to fill the room and Jamie's eyebrow shot up.

"Sorry, I haven't eaten since six this morning."

"Well, then I think you're going to like my idea. Follow me." He headed into the open concept, kitchen, and living room, which was decorated all in white. "I kind of figured you'd be hungry, so I cooked us dinner. You still like salmon, right?"

"Love it." You couldn't believe that he went to all this trouble. You could see the table set perfectly, and that he had a couple pots on the stove, which smelled divine. "This is so much better than the drive-thru I was going to beg you to go to."

"Fast food, really? Come on (Y/NN) I would've sworn you'd go for pizza at least."

"I mean well, obviously, but when you're crunched on time."

"So, does this mean you're staying for dinner?" It wasn't in your original plans, but he'd gone to all this trouble, and well, you did have to eat.

"I'd love to."

"Great, I just need to get the grill going. How about a glass of wine while we wait?" You nodded, after the day you had, wine sounded perfect. "Red or white."

"A dry white since we're having fish." His walk-in wine cellar was to die for and filled from head to toe, you couldn't help sneaking a peek behind him. "I didn't realize you were a wine drinker."

He shrugged, the movement careless and carefree. "From time to time, I enjoy a glass. It's always better to share it with someone though." God, you'd said the exact words almost a hundred times. You loved your wine, but it was almost self-indulgent to just open a bottle and drink it yourself, so you rarely did it. He chose one, then came back out to the kitchen to uncork it. "I almost hate to ask, but how did the surgery go?"

"It was long, but we ended up saving Noah's leg."

"Oh my god, that's amazing."

"Well, I don't know…"

He didn't let you finish, just scooped you up in a hug. One that literally lifted you off the ground. It took your breath away not only from the shock of it but because of the way it made you feel. There were so many times you'd completed something successful in the OR only to come home to an empty house and no one to share it with, sure you had your family to call, who were always thrilled, but this, this was different. It was someone sharing in your joy and happiness, and you could feel it in the way that he held you that he was just as excited as you were. All too soon he put you down as if he realized he'd overstepped his bounds. "Sorry," Jamie told you taking a step back, yet still wearing a huge grin. "But you freaking saved a kid's leg. Like who does that." Again, he didn't give you time to answer. "You're truly amazing, (Y/N)."

A blush rose to your cheeks at his compliments or maybe it was from the way he held you and you longed to feel his arms back around you. Either way, the room suddenly got a bit warm. "Thank you."

He poured you both a glass of wine, then lifted his. "To the most amazing doctor. Dallas is lucky to have you." You clinked your glass with his then took a sip of the crisp chardonnay.

"This is good," you sighed as you took another drink. "Would it be terribly rude of me, if I took these shoes off? My feet are killing me."

"God no, make yourself at home," he chuckled.

"What I should really do is run home and change into some sweats. If only my feet didn't hurt so bad."

"You can wear mine."

"Oh no, I couldn't." Because really, you couldn't wear his sweats, that would just be going too far.

"Please, you used to do it all the time." Ok well, he had you there. "I think you had more of my sweatshirts than I did at one point."

"Hey, I couldn't help it, they were just so….cozy." He laughed again and you found yourself joining in.

"Well, you're more than welcome to steal some. It's not like I don't have a ton from the organization. Which reminds me, I'll make sure they send you over some stuff."

"Oh, that would be nice."

"Until then just go put mine on. You know you'll be more comfortable." He was right, but it felt a little awkward and you hoped he wouldn't read into it.

"You're sure?" He gave you that look, the one that told you if you didn't get your ass into his sweats, he might kick it, and you had to laugh. "Ok, ok." It kind of felt like old times, only without all the bad stuff that happened, and god help you; you liked it.

"Upstairs go to the left. They are in my closet on the right-hand side. Bottoms are in the third drawer and the sweatshirts are hanging up. I'm going to go throw the salmon on."

He headed out to the grill, and you made your way upstairs. The bedroom had pristine white walls, like the majority of the house. A massive four-poster king-size bed was done in shades of gray; it reminded of you the bed you shared long ago once. You shook yourself, as memories of that first time with Jamie came flooding back. There was no point in dwelling on that; you told yourself as you made your way into the huge walk-in closet. It was neatly arranged and you had to wonder if it was Jamie being meticulous or if he had a housekeeper that did all this for him. A shelf on the left side caught your eye. There were photos there nestled with his colognes. A picture of when he was drafted sat there, along with one from when he won his gold medal playing for Team Canada. At that moment, you realized you'd missed so much of his life. All these major life-changing events, that had things gone differently, you would've been part of, or at least you told yourself you would've. You sighed, feeling a heaviness in your chest that you didn't want to explore at the moment.

Turning to the right, you went to grab the sweats like you were supposed to instead of digging around in Jamie's closet. You found them easily then moved down to grab a sweatshirt off the rack. You didn't really pay too much attention, just grabbed a Stars hoodie then started to head toward the bathroom to change. Again, photos caught your eye. These more personal. There was one of him with his mom and dad, that brought a smile to your face. You'd always loved his parents. Another was him with Jordie and Jenny, and still another with just him and Jenny's daughter. It was the one next to that, that made your breath hitch and your heart beat faster. It was a picture of the two of you, one of your favorites from Canada Day. You'd been out at the lake house with his family, and someone had candidly captured the two of you just staring happily into each other's eyes, a smile playing across both your faces. You remembered the moment like it was yesterday. That he would still have this picture was just….well, it was a lot to digest. You'd burned yours in a moment of anger weeks after what had happened, but Jamie, well apparently he kept his and still had it on display. What did this mean? Did he still have feelings for you? Did he still love you? Moreover, how did you feel about him now, after all this time? There were so many questions in your head, it was making you dizzy.

You rushed into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on your face. Part of you wanted to run the two houses down to your home and lock the door behind you, but that would solve nothing. So instead, you inhaled deeply, getting control of your emotions just as you would before you entered the operating room. There was nothing between you and Jamie anymore, the two of you were just…well, you were trying to be friends, that's all this was. You quickly changed into his clothes, throwing your dress across the huge soaking tub, then you plopped your hair on top of your head in a messy bun. It was only then that you looked at yourself in the mirror. It was a reflection of your teenage self, the one that loved Jamie with her whole heart, but you weren't that girl. You were older and wiser, and you were not about to let your heart get trampled on by one Jamie Benn again. Squaring your shoulders, you headed back downstairs, where you'd pretend as if you hadn't seen the picture of the two of you that set your heart aflutter.

When you entered the kitchen, Jamie's jaw dropped and you knew he was seeing that same version of your teenage self that you saw moments ago, though he recovered quickly. "You look more…comfortable."

"I am. Thanks again for letting me borrow these." You decided to not mention, how they made you look, or feel for that matter. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I've got it pretty much under control. Just prop up your feet, it'll be ready in a few."

"It smells delicious."

"Thanks."

"When did you learn how to cook? Because from what I remember, you could barely boil water." It was true, he was never that great in the kitchen, but from the aroma, his skills had definitely improved.

"Well, when you're on your own as long as I've been, you learn quick." He finished mixing, what looked like some sort of sauce before drizzling it over the asparagus that he'd broiled. "Besides, I can't burn off a large pizza the way I used. If I indulged in that every night, I'd have even more of a dad bod than I do now."

"Oh stop, you do not have a dad bod. Trust me I've seen plenty of those and you're not it." With his toned arms and legs, he seemed more in shape than when he was sixteen years old. Well at least more defined. In fact, just looking at his thighs brought all sorts of wild fantasies to your mind. Oh my god, you needed to stop thinking of Jamie like this or there was going to be another sleepless night in your future.

"Thanks," he answered back to your compliment. "Though I will never live down the nickname Chubbs."

You laughed, like full-on belly laugh. "Oh my god, tell me that did not follow you around."

"With Jordie on the same team," he said while rolling his eyes and joining in your laughter. "Of course, it did. It's fine though, actually, it'd be weird if people didn't call me that."

"I'll have to remember that, Chubbs." He raised his eyebrow at you before stepping out to grab the salmon. This really was nice, the two of you just laughing and joking, maybe you could be friends after all.

"Your dinner, madam," he said as he placed what looked like something out of a five-star restaurant in front of you, before sitting down in the chair beside you.

"Wow, this looks amazing."

"Well, it's not the celebration dinner you deserve for saving a kid's leg, but it will have to do." He raised his glass again towards you. "To an amazing doctor." He needed to stop making these toasts to you, as they made you blush every time.

The conversation at dinner flowed easily, like two old friends who hadn't seen each other in ages, instead of two exes. You reminisced about old times and caught up on gossip from back home. It was all really refreshing, and you realized that you'd worried about moving to Dallas for no reason at all. You helped him clean up the dishes, then you both moved into the living room to finish up the bottle of wine. "I was thinking," Jamie told you. "I drew out the AAC a bit, that way if you're schedule gets too packed, you'd have somewhat of a map to get you around."

There he went again, being all kind and sweet. A complete contrast to the man that you'd hated for the past fourteen years. "That's really nice of you. Let's have a look." He laid it out on the table and started to explain what parking garage to use and where that entrance would put you once you were inside. He was about midway through when the knot in your neck from surgery today, decided to stiffen a bit. You tilted your head to the right, then to the left; in an attempt to work it out.

"Little stiff?"

"Yeah, sometimes long hours in the OR, make my neck not want to hold my head up anymore."

He chuckled then moved back against the side of the couch so that he could rub your shoulders. "Here let me."

"You know, I'm supposed to be the one helping you out, not the other way around."

"Yeah, well humor me." You turned, giving him your back. His hands were gentle as they kneaded the muscles there and you had to admit it felt really good. You could feel yourself relaxing back against him. "Scoot up for a second." You did as he asked and then he swung his one leg up so that you were now seated in between his legs, then he went back to working on your muscles. "Better?"

"Mmm," you sighed out and let your eyes drift shut. It had been a long time since anyone had taken care of you the way that Jamie had tonight; cooking you dinner first and now this. He gently nudged you back against him, as your body grew heavy. Slowly, you drifted off to sleep. What you didn't know, was how Jamie settled you fully against his body, then grabbed the blanket that was strewn across the back of the couch to cover you up. Nor did you know how he pressed a kiss to your head, as his arms slid around your waist. He knew that he should probably wake you up, but he couldn't resist the opportunity to hold you in his arms even if it was for just a little bit. Jamie told himself that he'd just lay with you here for a little bit, let you rest for just a few minutes, but what he didn't plan on was falling asleep with you.

You weren't sure what woke you, maybe it was the light snoring in your ear, but you found it hard to rouse yourself out of slumber. You were just too comfortable, too cozy, too content, to want to wake up. There was just this safe and secure feeling that you had that just kept lulling you back to sleep. But slowly, you came alive. You blinked a few times, trying to figure out where you were. This wasn't anything new, when you were an intern, you'd wake up all over the hospital depending upon where you fell asleep, and moving to Dallas you still weren't used to your new home, but nothing here looked at all familiar. It was then that you noticed, someone's arms around your midsection, and that you were sleeping on said person's chest. A light bulb went off in your head, and you realized that person was Jamie. Obviously, you'd fallen asleep at some point, you just didn't know why Jamie hadn't woken you up. Instead, he chose to fall asleep as well.

You should be in a panic, but for some reason, your not. It just all feels so…right. Only it shouldn't feel that way at all. You shouldn't want his arms wrapped around you like they are, and you shouldn't like the gentle rise and fall of his chest as you lay against him, and you definitely shouldn't have your fingers interlaced with his, but you do. You actually could stay like this…well if you're being honest…forever, and that scares the living hell out of you. It's then you decide you have to get out there and you start to untangle your limbs from him. The movement waking Jamie. "Mmhmm," he hums sleepily and for some reason, your heart flutters at the sound. His hands tighten around your waist and you don't cringe like you should, but if you stay here any longer, you don't know what will happen.

"Jamie," you whisper. "Jame."

His eyes peek open as you turn and look at him. There's a slow smile that comes to his lips, that just sends heat to your core. Fuck, you need to get out of here. Then realization dawns on him, "Oh shit, I must have fallen asleep." He's scrambling now and so are you. "I'm sorry….I only meant to let you sleep for a bit." Oh, so he didn't mean to hold you all night and make you feel cherished? Why does your heart sink at that knowledge?

"It's ok, but I should really be going." You're a little stiff as you get up off the couch and look around the kitchen for your purse, noticing that it's five in the morning. "I need to get ready for rounds at the hospital."

His hands go to the back of his neck, then comes around the rake down the front of his face. "I'm really sorry…"

"Jamie, it's fine. I'm the one who's sorry. I shouldn't have fallen asleep on you like that." You slip back into your heels then head towards the front door. "Thank you again for dinner."

"Anytime," he mumbles and there's this look of confusion on his face. You can't decide if it's about waking up with you in his arms or if he's still not fully awake yet, but you're not going to ask, as you open the door and slip out. "Hey (Y/NN)." You turn back around the minute you hear his voice. "I'll call you," he tells you, and damnit if your heart isn't beating faster again, like your fifteen and the prospect of this hot hockey player calling you is just doing weird things to your insides that medical science can't explain. "About rescheduling the tour."

"Right, the tour," you muttered and suddenly, it's not as romantic as it all seemed a moment ago. "Yeah, we definitely need to do that. Thanks again." You shut the car door so fast and drive the two houses down, which looks completely stupid, as Jamie stands on his front porch watching you, making sure you get inside ok.

What the hell just happened? It's the only question you can think of as you drag yourself up to the ensuite in your bedroom, so you can wash your face. You grab a cloth and turn the water on, your mind trying to digest the last ten minutes. You just spent the night with Jamie Benn, and you're not mad about it. You're not mad about it at all and that's frightening. A week ago, you didn't want to be in the same room with him for five minutes. Now, you were laughing over dinner and falling asleep in his arms. Jesus, what were you thinking? You look up at yourself in the mirror and all you can see is his damn hoodie and sweats on you. You take a deep breath, trying to calm yourself, but instead, all you can do is smell him. He's on your clothes, well of course he is, they're his, you idiot. You swear when you pull your hair all the way down from its even messier bun that your hair smells of him too. And when you close your eyes you can feel him; his arms wrapped around you holding you close, and damn if you don't want that again.

"NO," you yell out to yourself in the mirror. "No, no, no." He's not good for you. He'll break your heart. Your mind knows all these things and still, your heart is trying to open the door and let him in. This can't happen, you need a plan. No, what you need is someone to remind you how he broke your heart.

You pick up your phone and dial your best friend, Emma. She'd been with you through the whole breakup with Jamie and remained by your side through every dumb mistake you made afterward. Emma had even moved to the east coast, when you went to John Hopkins, though she'd met the love of her life there and was now engaged. You knew it was early, but you also knew that your best friend would answer the phone if it was you who was calling. "Hello, sunshine," she answered all cheerful and it only put you in a fouler mood.

"Really? How are you this happy in the morning?"

"You know I've always been a morning person. Now, please tell me what happened with Jamie."

"How do you know something happened with him?" It was truly baffling how she could just read you like an open book.

"Why else would you call me at six-thirty in the morning? Tell me he's not breaking your heart already?"

"It's worse." You pause trying to figure out the best way to tell her. "I think I'm falling for him again."

"Get out!" She shouted at you through the telephone. "It's been like what ten days?"

"God, when you put it like that, it sounds insane."

"It's not insane (Y/N)." At least Emma didn't think you were crazy for possibly falling back in love with Jamie. "You two have history, like big-time history, and that just doesn't go away overnight. The question is what do you want to do about it?"

"I don't know, Em." It was true, you were so conflicted about whether you should just shut Jamie out completely, or open your heart just one more time. You were hoping your best friend could shed some light on the situation.

"Well, then I think I have your solution." You waited patiently for her to tell you what it was. "You know what they say, in order to get over someone, you need to get under someone." Had you heard her right, did she really just tell you to go out and have sex with someone random?

#Jamie Benn #Jamie Benn imagine #Jamie Benn imagines #nhl imagines #nhl imagine #nhl fanfic #Dallas stars #Dallas stars imagines #Dallas stars imagine

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hot-wiings · 3 years

Text

The One Where After Your Grandfathers Death, Breakdowns Happen And Christmas Tradition Dies.

Edited: 12-3-2020

Hitoshi Shinsou walked into your dorm room. He hadn't knocked but opted to use the key you had given him. Normally he would have been forbidden from going into the girl's dorms, or at the very least scolded, but being Christmas eve, most of the teachers had left home for the holidays, as well as the students. Those who hadn't left would be leaving today.

“Ready to go?”

You zipped up your bag that held Christmas gifts and a Christmas dress that you recently acquired from the mall. You were going home for Christmas so you didn't need to pack any clothes. You looked over at Hitoshi who stood in your doorway in a sweater, holding a bigger bag. You weren't ready to go, not today. You didn't want to go, not this year. Not when he wouldn't be there with you. You tried your best to smile at Hitoshi, to smile and not give away what you were feeling. A smile that hid your pain.

“I was thinkin’ what if we went to your house for Christmas instead?”

“Kitty, we always go to your house for Christmas, it's a tradition at this point.”

“I know, but doesn't your mom get lonely on her own?”

Hitoshi walked over to your bed and picked up your bag for you. He hoisted it onto his arm with his bag and pressed a chaste kiss to your temple to sway your concerning worries about his mother.

“My mom will drop by for Christmas dinner anyway, so really, it's pointless to go to my home. Besides, we already told your mom we were coming.”

You let out a little sigh as you latched your hand onto Hitoshi's hand. You leaned against him as he led you out of the dorm rooms and out of the dorm building. You buried your face into part of his coat as the cold winter air hit your body. With your body leaned into him, he couldn't see your frown. He couldn't see the look of monumental disappointment and unhappiness, but how could he see what you were trying your best to hide. How could see your negative feelings when you tried your best to make yourself look positive. How could he know when you did your best to hide your cries at night. How could he know when you did your best to cover it all up.

Once you approached Hitoshi's car he headed to the back to put your bags in and you headed to the front. You plugged Hitoshi's keys in and turned the heat on, making sure to turn Hitoshi's seat warmer on, then you turned the radio to a Christmas station. Something happy, something for the holidays, something you no longer found comfort or joy in but something you had to listen to keep up your facade of happiness.

“All set?”

"Yup."

Hitoshi buckled himself up and looked over at you briefly to see you nod at him with a smile before adjusting his mirrors. He didn't see, he didn't notice that you looked out the window and watched the passing roads with a numb expression on your face. He couldn't feel how much you were hurting with the passing of every street you could remember going with him. Every grocery run, video store trip, walk to the candy store. He didn't see, he didn't notice how you were hurting. His quirk was mind manipulation, not reading.

Hitoshi nearly drove past your house. It was dark and bleak, no lights were up, not even the sidewalk was shoveled. He was so used to seeing your house lit up over the holidays. Solar-powered candy canes, glass color-coded bulbs on the roof, the railings, the fence, the door, the trees, and god did you have so many wreaths. Hitoshi parked the car in the driveway with a frown and you helped him fetched your bags from the back to help him escape the cold faster.

“I almost didn't recognize your house. It looks sad without lights.”

“I don't know why no one put them up...”

You bit your lip as you kept your focus on your hands. Once you and Hitoshi grabbed your bags you slammed the door shut and walked up the front lawn with your hand in his. You leaned against each other to help create warmth until you reached the door and briefly broke away so you could pull out your house keys and unlock the doorknob. You pushed the door open and walked in but not before stomping to get the snow off of your boots. The house was bare and empty, like the lawn, the lights were dimmed and no decorations were put up. You and Hitoshi kicked your wet boots off, leaving your bags by the door. With your hand in Hitoshi's, you went in to search for the kitchen.

“Mom?”

“Oh, hey sweetie. You're here early.”

“Well, Toshi’ wanted to get here early, he likes coming here for Christmas, likes to eat our cookies.”

"Oh I..."

Your eyes glazed over the counter and observed the cans and dishes your mother was prepping for Christmas eve dinner. It was mostly store-bought and canned goods. Your heart panged as you watched her throw away the storebought containers and platters, trying to pass off this dinner as her own. Usually, she and your grandma made everything homemade. From bread to pie, to the stuffing and meat, it was homemade. You had an inkling feeling in the back of your head that she wasn't going to put the effort in.

As you saw the alcohol bottles on the counter your chest hurt. Your mother was constantly drunk when you were a child. He was the only reason she stayed sober, constantly encouraging her to stay sober, sober for family, sober for her kids. With him gone you supposed, she fell off the wagon. He was the only reason she stayed sober, making her bearable. He was the only reason your siblings came around for the holidays. You wouldn't be surprised if they didn't show up this year.

"I'd hate to disappoint Hitoshi, but I didn't make any cookies."

“No cookies, great. Why didn't anybody put the Christmas lights up?”

“All the lights are in the basement in your grandfather's workroom. I didn't want to go in and look for them. Quite frankly, I'm too busy to put the lights up anyway.”

With one simple sentence, a small explanation, your heart broke. You knew this year was going to be different. No one put lights up, no one made cookies, your mother, slightly dunk, was serving a store-bought meal and your siblings probably weren't going to show up. Your grandpa held the family together. He kept everyone coming home for the holidays, he went all out with decorations and dinner, but he was gone now. You couldn't do it anymore. It was like all your emotions came crashing down in one swinging motion.

“You didn't put Christmas lights up because you couldn't handle going into his workroom? That's fucking bullshit! You're a grown adult, you have to do things you don't like!"

"Grandpa's gone and you need to accept that, hows that for doing things you don't like? I'm sorry to disappoint you, [Y/N], but grandpa is gone. Your sisters texted and said they weren't coming, I figured you'd bail too, so I didn't bother with a homecooked dinner and lights."

You ran your hands through your hair roughly as the tears made way down your cheeks in hot salty streaks. Hitoshi, from behind you brought his hand up and grabbed your shoulder, thumbs rubbing comforting circles. He had been to the funeral with you, he had been there while you grieved. He went through it all with you. Slowly, your nightmares and crying seemed to lessen, he thought you were handling it better, processing and healing, he hadn't realized you were hiding your pain.

"Grandpa would be so fucking disappointed in you. He would have hated this, he would hate this so much!"

"He would be so disappointed in the fact that you can't grow up. How are you going to be a hero if you can't face his death? I'm going to work, like an adult, with a practical adult job. I'll see you later, if you decide to a stick around."

Your mother grabbed her bag and stormed out of the house without another word. You knew it was the alcohol talking, but it hurt so much. Hitoshi came in front of you and pulled your body against his. He was worried about you. He didn't know you had been hiding your feelings, hiding your pain for so long. If he had known he would've tried to help you through it.

"Your mom's hurting too. She's just reacting to grief differently."

You couldn't stay and listen to Hitoshi, instead, you took off upstairs but Hitoshi ran after you. Even when you slammed the door, he didn't let it deter his determination to get to you. He walked into the room and pulled you against his chest. He didn't care that you were sobbing, he didn't care that you were soaking his sweater. He didn't care. You were hurting. You were hurting and he wasn't there for you. You were hurting and he didn't notice. You were drowning in a sea of pain and he couldn't see. He should've seen. He should've seen through the facade, saw through the fake smiles and laughs.

"[Y/N], it's okay to cry."

"No, it's not, it's not! He's gone Toshi'! He's gone. If I grieve I'll get better, if I get better and I'm happy, it'll be like he's really gone."

"Grieving doesn't mean he's gone. Getting to a place where your happy doesn't mean he's gone. He will always be in your heart, he'll always be watching you."

"He would be ashamed. This is his favorite holiday. Every year we'd put up lights and we'd have a Christmas party. We'd have homemade food and cookies. It wasn't about presents for him, it was about family and my fucking siblings aren't even coming."

Hitoshi pulled you tighter against his chest as a sob escapes your lips. It hurt him to see you in such pain, it hurt him to not be able to relieve you of your pain. He felt like he should've noticed everything you were experiencing and going through earlier. He should've gotten you help. He should've been there to help you through this.

"We can still do some of those things if you want, we can bake and cook, I'll go to the store, find what we need."

"He's gone Toshi' it's not the same. My siblings aren't here, he's not here. Tradition is ruined, Christmas is ruined. I- I don’t want to do anything, I just wanna lie down... Will you lie down with me?”

Hitoshi kissed the top of your head and led you over to your bed. He pulled the covers back and tucked you in the bed before climbing in himself. He let you lay your head against him as you closed your eyes and tried to keep the tears in. The sudden outburst of emotions was taking a toll on you, but you needed to grieve. You needed to grieve rather than just shutting it all down as you had originally. You needed to let yourself cry it out, you needed to let yourself finally process he was gone. That's what you did. You let the tears out as Hitoshi ran his hands through your hair. He let you cry, weep, and sob. He let you be emotional until you didn't have the energy to. He held you with no judgment, but comfort and love. A word you had yet to say to each other.

"Don't leave me Toshi'."

“I’ll be here when you wake up, I'll always be here.”

You had only been asleep for a couple of hours when you felt your body being shook awake. The feel of the hands on you were familiar, familiar, and comforting. All you could bring yourself to do was keep your eyes closed as you nuzzled into the pillow you had your head resting on.

"Wake up. [Y/N], wake up. It's important."

"What is it?"

You rolled over to the edge of the bed and peeked your eyes open to peer up at Hitoshi. You blinked your eyes a couple of times until they were able to fully handle the bright lights. Your eyes felt heavy, heavy, and sore from crying. You were glad to finally get some of it out in the open. Hitoshi was right, grieving felt good, crying it out felt good. You felt light, but that part of you that deeply missed your grandfather felt guilty for trying to process it and move on.

"Put your shoes on, I wanna take you somewhere."

With a light huff, you complied with your boyfriend's wishes. You pulled yourself up out of the bed and grabbed your socks which you must have kicked off in the middle of your sleep. Hitoshi quickly grabbed your hand and tugged you to the front door where your boots were. You let go of his hand and slipped your feet inside of the shoes. Deciding you were taking too long with tying up the laces, Hitoshi started tying your other shoe. You gave out a little laugh, a genuine one.

"You're so impatient. Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

You huff again, but none the less you button up your coat and let Hitoshi wrap his scarf around your neck tightly before he grabbed your hand and pulled you towards his car. You noticed that the sidewalk had been shoveled, and it looked like someone put the solar-powered candy canes up. It was dark out, making them glow prominently and making you wonder how long you had been asleep. You supposed Hitoshi put them up because you mentioned how it bothered you during your outburst. A small smile fronted your face, the lack of other lights meant he must have gotten tired and quit, but he still tried. It made you feel partially guilty for hiding your feelings for so long. He just wanted to help you. Hitoshi only ever wanted what was best for you.

"Can I put some Christmas music on?"

"Go for it."

You fiddled with the channel knob until you found the right station, the Christmas station your grandpa always listened to. The car ride was slow and long, filled with awkward silence. You wanted to go back, go back, and not let yourself break down and cry in front of him. You hadn't let Hitoshi see you cry in your relationship. As heroes, not crying equaled strength. Crying and showing weakness meant you were weak. While no one taught you this, it seemed to be a rule every pro and hero in training followed. You hated the idea of being so sad and weak in front of Hitoshi, it made you feel like a bad hero. It made you feel so weak, but Hitoshi never made you feel bad for it.

"I put a lot of thought into what you said earlier. I know nothing but time is gonna make you feel better, nothing I say can help your pain. I can't heal your pain, not completely, but I'm gonna try to lessen it."

Hitoshi pulled the car into a parking lot and you looked out of the window to see where you were. It was dark out and the parking lot was practically empty but the mall was still lit up and open. You furrowed your brows and turned to look at Hitoshi, confusion was written on your face.

"Why are we here?"

"I'll show you, c'mon."

You got out of the car with Hitoshi and entered the mall through the target entrance. A decent amount of the store was sold out and there seemed to be no people. Everyone had finished their last-minute Christmas shopping and were sitting at home with their families. You grabbed onto Hitoshi's hand unsure of what you were doing here with him.

"What are we doing?"

"Last year, your grandpa told me that when you were younger he would take you and your siblings out to donate a gift, take a picture with Santa, and go get a treat. He said you always did that until you and your siblings stopped going."

Hitoshi pulled you further in the store, leading you by your hand, he took you down by the dolls and toys so you could pick one out. Your eyes glazed over with tears, remembering the tradition you had been doing ever since you were born. You had been doing that up until a couple of years ago when his health started to decline, your mother wouldn't let you go under the pretense you were too old, out of fear that it would make his health decline worse by going out in such bad weather. She told you it was too strenuous on him, and while you understood her worries for her father, it just made you hate her for taking away the time you barely got with him.

"You said moving on meant your grandpa would be gone, but that's not true. He wants you to be happy, but happy doesn't mean forgetting him. That's what we're doing here. we're gonna remember him [Y/N], we're gonna do everything he used to do with you."

You grabbed onto a Ken doll and grabbed some extra Ken clothes. Your grandpa would buy extra clothes because he was always peeved when he played dolls with you. Your Ken dolls clothes would go missing. Ken wasn't like Barbie who came with a dozen outfits, Ken only ever came with a pair of shorts and if you were lucky a shirt.

"If you're getting Ken, I'm getting Barbie."

Hitoshi leads you to the cash register and places all the items on the counter. The cashier scanned the items and placed them in a bag for you. Before you even had a chance to pull out your phone to use google scan and pay, Hitoshi was handing cash over to the cashier. With the now paid for bags in his hand, Hitoshi leads you to out of the store and towards the giant donation, dropbox painted like a huge present.

"You want to drop it in?"

Your face flooded red, embarrassment rode your skin like a disease as you nodded your head left and right for a no.

"I can't."

"[Y/N], this is good for you. Think of it as letting go of the pain, and remembering the good memories. I-"

"Toshi' I want to, but I really can't. I want to grieve properly. I want to grieve and get better and be happy. You're right, it doesn't mean he's gone, he's just not here... I can't reach it. I never have, I don't think I ever will."

"Shit, here."

Hitoshi grabbed your hips from behind and lifted you up. You could supposed the extra lessons he was receiving from Mr. Aizawa were paying off. With an extra foot off the ground, you tossed the plastic bag inside the container with a smile on your face. He wasn't gone forever, he was still in your heart.

"Thanks, Toshi'. I- I shouldn't have hidden how I was feeling. You're right, he would want me to be happy. He's was the reason I decided to be a hero, my mom discouraged it, but he... He said I could do it. Death doesn't change anything. I want to be the kind of hero that shows people it's okay to be weak, that it's okay to cry and still be strong."

"He'd be so proud of you [Y/N]. He's probably waiting up in heaven, watching you grow into the hero he knows you can be."

"Thanks, Toshi'. I'd like to say he'd be proud of you too. You were my only boyfriend he ever liked."

A smile crossed Hitoshi and filled him with pride as he took your hand again.

"Let's go get a picture with Santa."

"Can we find matching sweaters first?"

"Definitely. They've gotta have cats on it, and we'll get rootbeer floats afterwards."

Holding Hitoshi's hand you knew it was going to be okay. Your grandpa was up there watching you, and his death was just going to push you to be a better hero. A more inspiring one. Someone a kid could look up to and say, 'I can be emotional because [Y/N] does and she's strong'. Someone who could show people it wasn't a weakness. As Hitoshi pulled you along with him, you knew it would be okay. He'd never leave you, he was going to be there encouraging and pushing you along as your grandfather did.

"Hey, Hitoshi?"

"Yeah?"

It was going to be okay. It would be okay. You'd be okay. Hitoshi was with you. He never made you feel bad once in all your tears or outbursts. He held you tightly at the funeral and he hadn't left your side since. Even if he didn't see you hiding your emotions, he wasn't leaving or shaming you, he was trying to help you. You stopped your walking for a moment to smile up at him.

"Thanks for dealing with my emotional ass. I- I love you Toshi'."

Hitoshi let go of your hands and cupped your cheeks. A smile was grinning on his lips. It was the first time you said those words to each other. It wasn't the most romantic setting, but he wouldn't rather have it any other way. His thumbs skimmed the skin under your eyes. Smooth clear eyes compared to his.

"I love you too. You might be an emotional mess, but your my emotional mess."

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a-mended-pact · 3 years

Text

Unsteady keys: Chapter Eight

A/N: Hey everyone sorry for the wait on this chapter! I hope you enjoy it! Please let me know your thoughts.

Warning: this chapter contains Smut. If you are not 18+ DNI

Word count: 2,320

Request are open

If you wanna be added to the taglist just ask!

I was the first one awake. I tried to go back asleep but the longer I layed there the more my mind filled with images of him and Ethan. I wasn't upset about them having been together. Quite the opposite actually if anything I just wanted to know Spencer from back then. Was he happier? Did Ethan make him experience a happiness that I wasn't giving him?

This isn't jealousy right? I've never really had this emotion around Spencer before. He's never given me a reason to feel like this. It's a strange thing.

I glanced down at his hand resting on my stomach. His silver band was shining in the sunlight that was peeking through the curtains. Even though my mind was a wreck, the atmosphere in our room. Our home was calming. I didn't want it to be shattered. Of course I knew that eventually it would. I only hoped just not right now.

I closed my eyes and kept trying to fall back asleep when I felt his arm tighten around me and pull me in. He nuzzled into my neck and started peppering it in kisses. A soft sigh escaped me.

'Good morning love.' His voice was hoarse and extremely dreamy. I knew we wouldn't be able to have our talk about Cat if he sounded like that the whole time. All I'd want to do is jump his bones and show him exactly who he belonged to.

I rolled over to face him and groaned in small annoyance because of course he looked delectable. 'I can't tell if that was towards me or the thought of being awake with the sun in your eyes too.' While he spoke he was rubbing sleep from his eyes.

'Oh it most definitely was to you. It's not fair that I'm supposed to be upset and you look like this when waking up. Derek wasn't kidding when he called you pretty boy all the time.'

As I spoke I shoved him on his back completely and straddled him. I watched as he closed his eyes and let out a small moan as my hands purchased on his chest. The longer I sat there feeling him beneath me the more my mind filled with ideas. Pleasant dirty ideas.

I dug my nails into his chest and scratched him softly. I leaned forward and began kissing his neck, placing wet kisses up and down it until he started squirming beneath me. A moan left his lips as I bit his neck and started sucking. Sure I knew this wasn't a professional thing to do. Especially since everyone would definitely see it. That was the point though. I wanted everyone to see it.

Apparently the ring wasn't enough to show he was mine and I wanted to make sure the point got across this time around.

His hand wrapped itself in my hair as he held me down to his neck and grinded against me. Making me moan in his ear and him shudder at the sound.

I pulled away and sat up completely on him. 'This wasn't how this morning was supposed to go.' I punctuated each word with a movement of my hips. I could feel him through my panties. God it was a glorious feeling.

A small moan escaped him as he rested his hands on my thighs watching me. 'This definitely isn't how I imagined it happening either but I'm not gonna complain. ' He met my motions on his own and I couldn't help but dig my nails into his tummy.

'I'll only let thi-' before I could finish my sentence he bucked up into me and pulled me down to him by cupping my throat gently. I couldn't do anything but moan and whimper. Life definitely wasn't fair sometimes.

He kissed me hungrily at first until he pulled away and stuck his thumb on my swollen lip. 'Mark me. That's what you want isn't it? You want to have more of a claim over me than the ring on my hand. You wanna show them that my body is yours just as well as my heart. Do it Y/n. I'm all yours.'

We both rushed off the bed quickly to strip ourselves of our clothes before I shoved him down to the mattress. He laid there with his hands behind his head with a smug smile.

'I hate that you're right. I thought after we got married I wouldn't have to keep showing people that you're mine. I'd wipe that smile off your face though if I were you or else I'll make sure your breath smells like me when you interrogate Cat later, maybe even when you go talk to Ethan too.'

A small chuckle escaped him as he watched me climb up his body leaving bites and claw marks in my wake. 'Careful darling your possessiveness is showing.' I glared up at him from his belly before biting him there. He winced slightly but still held that blasted smile.

I was already turned on just by seeing him nude. He always had that effect on me and he knew that. Once I made it up to straddle him again he pulled my head down to his neck. 'Go on sweet girl. I know you want to.' I moaned into his ear as I rubbed my wetness up and down his hard cock. I laced my left hands fingers in his hair as I latched onto his neck. He lifted my hips slightly and aligned himself up with me and made me slowly sink down on him. I gasped and let go of his neck as he bottomed out completely. 'F-fuck!' I sighed into his neck attaching myself to him yet again as I started to ride him.

He felt amazing inside of me. Stretching me. I had missed this. We'd be so distracted with work and Diana and my mental health it's taken a toll on our sex life. I pulled myself back and rested my hands on his chest for leverage as I started riding him harder and faster. 'God, that's it. ' He moaned, throwing his head back in ecstacy.

I dragged my nails down his chest to the end of his happy trail making him buck up into me. His hand moved to my waist as he pulled himself up to cup my ass. He started kissing up and down my neck until he made it to my pulse point and bit. A loud moan escaped me as our movements became more violent. My hands began clawing at his shoulders and back.

A whine left me as he pulled me into a gentle kiss. His other movements making me thrash on top of him. My legs started shaking and clenching. He was the only thing keeping them apart. 'You're almost there sweet girl. Just let go.' I continued gasping and whining as his own thrust became a bit irregular. My eyes brimmed with tears when he began covering my neck in kisses and bites. My hands caught into his hair as I held him there.

'I- I don't wanna. Not yet.' I was so breathless I wasn't sure if he heard me. He smacked my ass making me let out another moan. A few tears escaped my eyes as I fought against my own orgasm. I didn't want right now to end because the moment it does we will have to actually confront the storm around us. I wasn't ready for that.

He cupped my face and caressed his thumb along my cheekbone. 'I'm yours. Only yours. All yours.' His thrust became sloppy as he kept kissing me each time he pulled back to speak and our lips were still touching. Caressing. I whined again and clung to him harder. I felt his other hand move between us. The moment his fingers touched my clit I felt myself come undone. He let me ride out my orgasm as he continued to thrust until he came too.

'I love you Mrs Reid. ' He said right before he tossed me off of him so he could get off the bed. I could feel his cum leaking out of me and I could do nothing but shudder. I was going to yell at him for what he did until he grabbed me by my ankles and jerked me to the edge of the bed, spreading my legs wide. Before I could ask what he was doing his face was buried between my legs and he had me pinned in place by his strong arms and hands.

'Oh! My god Spencer!' My hands immediately went into his hair as I squirmed from overstimulation. I was gonna cum within seconds. I'm sure he could tell too. It was always so easy drawing orgasms from me when he used his tongue.

He pulled back and looked up at me, his face glistening with my essence. He kissed my thigh and smiled at me. 'Sweetheart you shouldn't threaten me with something I would enjoy and then not do it.' He buried his face back into my heat bringing me closer to orgasm with each stroke of his tongue.

'There you go. Cum in my mouth darling. I'll be sure to talk to Cat and Ethan when we go into work first thing. ' I began shaking again as I grinded on his tongue. With a couple of more licks I was a goner. I climaxed into his mouth and he ate it up eagerly.

'I'd say you thoroughly marked me my love. '

______________________________

By the time we made it into work we were late. I had no regrets though. I could see her smiling at me the whole way Into the building. Obviously admiring her work. She was giddy and to be honest I didn't blame her because I was too. Even if my neck was killing me. Y/N really did a number on me. I was certain I'd get looks had I let anyone see me before I strolled into the interrogation room. This was going to be fun. I could still smell her on my skin and on my breath. I had brought my go bag up so I could clean myself off properly after. As much as I loved having her state her claim on me like this. It wasn't work appropriate nor was it polite to the rest of the team.

I had no idea whether or not my wife followed me here or not. Honestly I didn't really care if she did. This would happen whether she were watching or not regardless. I had let Cat get to close for comfort in more ways than one.

I sat down in the hard chair across from her and watched as she took in my new markings. Her face contoured from amusement to hatred back to amusement. 'Oh, Spencie looks like you've been a naughty boy. Are you trying to tempt me into ruining you too?' She went to reach up to touch me when the cuffs pulled her back into place.

'I'm married Cat. Nothing I do with my wife is any of your concern. However what is my concern is where Lindsey is. Why don't you give me a little hint?' My voice came out monotone. I really just wasn't in the mood for today. I much rather be surrounded by someone that wasn't such a pain in my ass.

She clicked her tongue at me as she let out a laugh. 'What like I'd just give you the answers? Please.' She scoffed. Her eyes never left my neck and I couldn't help but fight a smug smile as her emotions started getting the better of her.

I stayed silent as she thought of what to say next. 'Why don't we play a game first?' She smiled at me, her teeth showing. 'I think it would be more fun.' It was like she was reminding me she was still in control and that made me nauseous.

'If I guess right to my own assumption I'm gonna need you to tell me what I want to know but if I guess wrong I'll tell you everything I know about Lindsey.' The smile never left her face. Someone like her shouldn't be able to get under my skin. She was a killer and here I was thinking of how attractive her mind was as if she hadn't killed about 200 people.

'I'm not playing your games Catherine. If I heard right you and I aren't playing anymore. It's you and the misses.' I smiled as I got close to her making sure I blew my breath into her face. Her eyes widened as she Jerked herself away from me like I had burned her.

'You're a bastard spencie.' She looked away from me and down at her hands. If I didn't know any better I would say she's trying not to cry.

'What's the matter? You are showing signs of jealousy. Do you wish it was you that did this to me? I leaned away showing off my neck a little as I stretched. 'You love the idea of getting your claws into innocent men especially when they aren't expecting it.' A smile formed on my features as I watched her struggle to make eye contact with me.

'Well I'm expecting it. I was from the moment we knew you were involved in this case. You are trying to taint me and Mark me as yours.' I pointed to my head and I watched as her eyes followed my hand movement. 'Luckily for me I've already got someone's claws into me and I wouldn't have it any other way.'

I got up to leave when I turned and looked at her

'Have fun with the other Agent Reid, Miss adams.' I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as I closed the door behind me.

Taglist

@sassymoon @rainsong01 @onlyhereforthefanfics @itsdars @dreatine

#criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer x reader #spencer x you #unsteady keys #spencer x y/n #spencer reid #spencer x reader insert

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sanababes · 4 years

Text

It All Ends Here

Pairings: female kpop idols x fem!reader

Warnings: NEUTRAL (detective au)

-----------

PROFILE

• Name: Park Y/n (female)

• Age: 18

• Height: 5'8

• Bloodtype: A-

===

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock

The sound of the clock almost lulled you to sleep. Exhaustion was finally taking a toll on your whole body due to the continuous murder cases for the past weeks. You and your teammates were sent to different crime scenes to assist the bureau, and especially to ensure the safety of the city of Seoul.

A sound of glass being placed on the table interrupted your eyelids from fully closing. You looked up to see your trusted partner, Major Song Yuqi. She chuckled at your vulnerable state then took a sit across you.

"It's pretty rare to see you that tired, Y/n." She mocked playfully.

You rolled your eyes out of annoyance and clearly, your day won't get any better.

"Yeah right,"

She gestured you to drink the liquid that she mainly prepared to ease your troubled mind. You casted a look of doubt to your mischievous friend before shrugging your shoulders and sipped on the hot tea. A delightful sigh came out from your mouth as the warm liquid rushed down on your throat.

"Damn, that's much better... Thanks, Yuqi." You smiled gently which made the latter feel contented.

"It's nothing, Lead Inspector."

"Oh! Today's finally the day we elect a new mayor! Who are you going to vote for?" She added while pacing around your room excitingly.

"Huh? I don't know yet..." You replied nonchalantly.

"Well I'm going for Kwon Boa, but don't tell chief though or he'd go spare!" You chuckled at your partner's antics.

Seoul is currently celebrating the election between the mayoral candidates – Choi Siwon (red party) and Kwon Boa (blue party). Both are socialites within the government, with Siwon being the current elected mayor and Boa's aspiring will to lead the city better.

Just then, the door of your office burst open. The two of you immediately rise up and greeted the Police Chief of Seoul, Kim Namjoon.

"There you are, Lead Inspector. I've been searching for you, "

"Speaking of the devil..." You heard Yuqi grumbling under her breath.

You stifled a laugh before welcoming the man inside.

"Well know that you found me, what is it that you want to say, Chief?" Your eyes glanced down to the i voted badge on his chest.

"I'm sure that you guys know that today is an important day! Keeping things secure is our top priority for now, that's why I came here. I want you to go check out the red party's offices because Mayor Siwon has expressed strong fears about the safety of his staffs and I don't want to leave anything to chance." He stated, but you're a little unsure with his sudden firm attitude.

"But chief I've been hoping that we'd be having a day off—"

Yuqi's whine was cut off when the chief yelled out.

"You can't seriously have hoped to be off duty on such a day, Major Song?! Now go and report to me as soon as your team is done patrolling!"

Eventually, you went to the lounge area of the officers with Yuqi tailing behind you and saw your other five teammates chilling without any worries.

"Guys! We'll be heading to the headquarters of the red party, please ready yourselves and we'll leave in a bit."

Sua, Jennie, Joy, Sana, and Miyeon groaned in unison as they struggled to follow your orders.

"Oh stop with the fuss, we are all tired here... Don't worry I'll try to book a week vacation for us." You offered.

Their faces instantly lit up at what you said, causing them to gear up hastily which made you snort.

《at Red party's Headquarters》

You and the girls stepped out from the van then walked up to the entrance of the building.

"Hey Y/n, have you noticed... how tense Chief is acting lately?" Jennie said as she clings to your right arm.

The others immediately agreed to what the older girl uttered.

"I know right, maybe the mayor is putting some kind of pressure on him. I hope it stops after the elections." Sana continued while swiftly wrapping her arm around you.

"We don't know anything about that yet, let's just wait and see."

You finally composed yourself, and as if it was planned, Mayor Siwon appeared with his bodyguards behind him.

"Inspector Y/n, I'm so glad that you girls are here!"

He shook hands with you and the girls looked at him with hidden disgust, unknown to your own oblivious demeanor.

"That goes the same for us, Mr. Choi." You smiled politely.

"Uhm since my headquarters are about to open in an hour or two, I want to make sure everything is safe for my staff's last day of work."

He motioned to come closer to the sealed doors before unlocking them one by one.

"Here, I've opened the doors for you. Please if you can just have a quick look inside, I'll feel safer." You and the girls reluctantly stepped inside the offices.

Your team began to part ways and started to look around the vast hall.

Not even a few seconds had passed, a loud shriek coming from Joy made you dash to her side.

"What's wro– oh shit!" Yuqi cursed as she saw what the latter was screaming about.

There in front of you and the other officers was a man sitting in one of the office chairs, unfortunately, he was shot to death.

"Oh my god! B-but how could this happen, and is that the rookie model, Kwon Jiyoung? What is h-he even doing here?" Joy stuttered due to the terrifying scene.

"I've never liked him at all since he's been involved with some drug scandal, but to die like that and be shot right between the eyes? Damn..." Sua sighed.

Just then, the mayor called out.

"Inspector, is everything alright?" His eyes went wide when he saw Jiyoung's dead body.

"Oh god, I-I swear I had nothing to do with this! I'm innocent and history will prove it!" He exclaimed while starting to walk backwards.

"Calm down, Mr. Choi. We're just going to need to talk to you since Jiyoung was shot in your headquarters, after all." You warned him with your raspy voice.

'Ughh, daddy~' The girls thought except for Yuqi.

( a/n: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )

The mayor agreed and ushered you and your team to make it quick.

"Oh God, the press will surely crucify me once they knew about this. We need to do some damage control!"

After calming the man down, you added him to the profile list for being a possible suspect.

You told Jennie, Sana, and Joy to bring the victim's body to the morgue for an autopsy report. The rest are tasked to investigate the crime scene.

"Y/n! I found a receipt, this might be a clue." Miyeon said as you take a look on the faded paper.

It belonged to Jiyoung and it seems like he bought a drink at Lotte Hotel shortly before his death.

"Good job, maybe try checking the hotel after this search? You can bring Detective Jieun with you."

"Yes, Inspector!" She kissed your cheek before going back on finding clues or some fingerprints.

'Why are they so whipped for me...'

===

You and Yuqi are currently talking with the mayor in some private room within the Red party's offices. They are still some questions that Siwon needs to answer to give your team some information.

"Inspector, this cannot be happening! The journalists will have a field day with this if it goes out to the public!" He said and distress was evident on his face.

"I'm afraid that we cannot make this go all away, but I have already informed the Chief. I'm sure he'll keep this case confidential for a lotted time." Your partner reassured the man.

"I can't believe people would do this... Killing a man just to ruin my chances of being re-elected!"

Your brows furrowed at his statement.

"So you are claiming that you were framed?"

He reasoned that Kwon Jiyoung was an avid supporter of his campaign.

"I see, thank you for having time for us Mr. Mayor." You and Yuqi soon left the offices.

《back to Seoul Police Department》

The good news instantly came as the two of you arrived at the station. Coroner Kim Taeyeon reported that the victim was executed cleanly with an extremely precise shot. The killer seems to be right-handed due to the bullet trajectory and definitely knows how to handle a gun.

—————————————————

KILLER'S PROFILE

• handles guns

• right-handed

—————————————————

Meanwhile, Miyeon and Jieun just came back from investigating the lobby and bar of Lotte Hotel.

"Y/n, it's confirmed that Kwon Jiyoung came to the hotel shortly before his death. We also picked up a torn ticket, I'm sure it looks promising!" The detective said while handing you a clear zip bag which contains the clue.

"I see, let me try restore it in my office. I'll see you guys in a bit."

You sauntered towards your office and placed the torn pieces of the ticket on your table. You leaned one of your hands on the hard surface before starting to place the pieces together.

You're now down to the last part when someone back hugged you and nuzzled its face into the crook of your neck.

"Y/n~ let's cuddle~" Sana whined which made you chuckle.

"Now is not the time for that Sana-ssi, besides I just finished restoring the second clue." You showed her the finished product.

The girl snatched it from your hold before skimming through the details of the plane ticket. She also pushed you gently towards the table which made you sit on it, the latter smiled then placed herself on your lap.

"It says that this ticket was brought under Kwon Jiyoung's name. And this is a one-way ticket to Hawaii! Why he would even purchase such kind of trip?" Sana pouted as she turned her face towards you.

"You're right. As far as I know, Jiyoung's sole goal in life is to be a bona fide member of Seoul's exclusive luxury community. He'll never have left for some tropical islands..."

"The credit card number used to buy this ticket will help us understand everything! ...Oh no, it's badly printed... can you help decipher this for me Sana unnie?" You asked cutely.

"O-of course, I'll be done in no time!" You saw her blushing which made you smirk internally.

"Thanks, I really appreciate the help." You pressed a kiss on her forehead before leaving the latter flustered.

Your phone suddenly rang as you pressed answer, not even bothering to look at the name of the caller.

"Yah Park Y/n! We still need to have a chat with Kwon Boa, I'm barging in any second!" Yuqi exclaimed.

You groaned at her childish demeanor.

"I'll be back in an hour, please do your task okay?" You reminded Sana before finally meeting up with Yuqi.

===

《Seoul City Hall》

The press conference of the candidates just ended a few minutes ago, so you took it as an advantage and greeted the head of the blue party.

"Ah, Inspector Park! It's nice to see you, have you voted yet? After what happened today it seems like my victory tonight is almost ensured!" Boa expressed herself happily.

"Are you referring to Kwon Jiyoung's murder?" Yuqi asked as you watched the older woman in front.

"Hmm, I always had a hunch that the red party is populated with bloodthirsty maniacs. I mean making dreadful deeds just to advance their political agenda... Poor Mr. Kwon being shot at their own headquarters, now I'm sure that the citizens of Seoul will vote for me!"

"Anyways, my campaign has always been based on honesty and morals." The mayoral candidate stated.

You just sighed at her egocentric reply.

"I think that's all that we need to know for now, Mrs. Kwon. We'll keep in contact with you, just in case." You sent her a cold gaze before walking away with your partner.

Yuqi grumbled under her breath before draping her arms around your tall frame.

"These goddamn politicians are going to be the death of me..."

You chuckled on what she said.

"Same... Right now we only have two suspects."

"Yeah, we should close this case as soon as we can. By the way, Officer Chan told me that you should check your email soon. He said the mayor's staff sent you a video recording." Your partner explained.

You immediately grabbed your phone then opened your email.

1 unread inbox

You shared a meaningful glance with Yuqi before opening the said message.

A videotape is played which showed Kwon Boa sneaking into the Mayor's office, presumably right before Jiyoung was killed.

"I can't believe this! It's Mrs. Kwon! We should speak to her again right now–"

"Not so fast, Major Song." Chief Kim appeared with some of the SWAT officers behind him.

"Mrs. Kwon can wait, I want you two to go secure the stand where the election's winner will be announced."

"Huh? But Chief we can't lose time on finding–" you tried to argue, but as usual, you were cut off again.

"Finding Mr. Kwon's murderer is top-priority, but so is the election winner's safety! I'm counting on you Inspector Park, go talk to Boa and don't forget to check out the election stand on the way!"

You and your partner had no choice but to follow his orders instantly.

"Every goddamn time, he always cuts us off!" You whined childishly which is pretty rare.

After a few minutes of walking, the two of you arrived at the wide podium. It has two large posters of each party which is hanged opposite to one another. The guest tables were pretty scattered in front of it due to the neglecting visitors who came to watch the awaited conference a while ago.

"Let's split up, you're with the tables then the podium is mine." You instructed Yuqi.

"Yes ma'am!"

The two of you then started to inspect the area thoroughly without missing a single spot. There were a few plant vases on the stage which didn't look suspicious until you saw one that looked a bit unkempt and the soil was disheveled too.

'Oh! Looks like our killer messed up a little, too bad for him...'

You wore your leather gloves before analyzing the vase carefully. It seems like someone previously dug up a hole and covered it carelessly. A smirk crept into your lips as you shoved your hand in the soil and began to try feel any possible foreign object.

"What are you doing?" You looked down to see your partner doubting your current efforts to find a lead.

"I'm searching for any clues? Duh..."

You suddenly felt a hard item and struggled to have a grip on it. After a few seconds of harsh pulling, you finally hauled a small garbage bag with something wrapped completely inside it.

"Look what I got~" you grinned playfully.

"How the fuck did you–"

"I'm going to bring this to the forensic team, have anything useful too?" You asked while stepping down the podium.

"Uh I got this hidden camera on one of the tissue holders, and then I saw this notebook on the floor. The page is torn so I think It looks suspicious so yeah,"

Yuqi handed the portable camera and ripped notebook to you. She also helped on putting all the clues inside your forensic kit whilst you called for Officer Wooseok to pick you up from the city hall.

"I called for Jennie and Joy to help you talk with Mrs. Kwon again, I'm sure you can handle it without me right? I'll go ahead to the station to get this stuff examined." You bid a goodbye to your partner and told her to wait for the other girls.

'Let's see if the fun starts from now on.'

Part 2 coming soon...

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How was ittt? Its my first time writing with these kind of theme sooo yeah hihi 🐶

#kpop imagines #kpop au #twice #blackpink #red velvet #dream catcher #gidle #bts #snsd #sana #jennie #namjoon #miyeon #sua #joy #yuqi #detective au #ihih

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