#it took three days guys I'm a bit rusty | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jeneveuxrein · 5 months

Text

needy (BLACKPINK Rosé)

word count: 3.3K

(i'm a bit rusty, lol)

You hear an exaggerated sigh behind you. You ignore it, choosing instead to smirk at your screen as your team continues with its quest.

Your online friends would call you a complete idiot for not doing what you should be doing versus what you’re actually doing.

It wasn’t intentional.

At least on your end, it wasn’t.

Well, to an extent.

You shouldn’t be focused on finding this stupid shield Jungkook read about from a gaming article with this new update.

You should, however, give all of your attention to the woman laying on your bed.

But it’s not that simple.

See, the thing is, when you meet someone as famous as Park Chaeyoung, or Rosé, or your favorite Rosie or Chaeng, there are rules you’ve established to make this relationship work.

Rule number one: no one can know unless it’s disclosed to her company. Privacy and all that, not only for her, but for you as well.

Rule number two: you specifically aren’t allowed to date anyone else. The rule applies to her because you are officially together, like boyfriend-girlfriend kind of together, but she likes having so-called power over you.

Rule number three: if you’re in each other’s presence, undivided attention is a must. Time is precious for the both of you after all. She has a hectic schedule that takes her all over the world while your line of work has you constantly troubleshooting to make sure everything runs smoothly.

So it was a surprise when Rosie showed up at your apartment a little before midnight without a heads up. She knew what you were doing this evening, but you hadn’t heard from her since morning. You, being you, figured she had an event or a rehearsal or something that kept her occupied. Not that you weren’t involved in her life, but her schedule constantly changed. It was hard for you to keep up.

Rosie lets out another exaggerated sigh that it actually distracts you, causing your character to die in this part of the quest.

“Dude seriously?” Jungkook’s voice is in your headphones, chuckling. “You of all people dying to that?”

“Shut up,” Is all you say, swiveling your chair around to your girlfriend dressed in more comfortable clothes than what she arrived in—your clothes specifically. She has a habit of rummaging through your drawers. Not that you minded, she looks hot in whatever she wears. There was just something about her wearing your clothes that had you feeling some type of way. You mute your mic, double checking it is in fact muted before asking, “Everything alright?”

“I’m over and my boyfriend won’t spend time with me,” Rosie huffs out, crossing her arms.

“If I knew you were coming over, I wouldn’t have logged on,” You roll your eyes, glancing at the screen to thirty seconds left before you respawned.

“I called,” Rosie glares. Someone else might’ve folded under her gaze, but it doesn’t intimidate you.

“And my phone was in the living room,” You say, slightly apologetic, but the respawn sound plays that has you turning back to the screen.

“Yeah yeah, play your stupid game,” Rosie mutters, which you hear loud and clear while the rest of the guys talk about their day.

See, meeting Rosie was pure chance, a deal of the hand you weren’t expecting. Your gaming company drove the development of her group’s mobile game and when it was time to launch, the members of BLACKPINK were there.

At the time, you were just one of the developers since you had more of a managerial role and took it last minute. You were overseeing the game’s development more than anything, giving your two cents as needed, but were hands off for the most part.

According to Rosie, as she told you during your first date, you were indifferent to meeting them as opposed to everyone else on the team who brought merch for them to sign. She noticed you before the other three girls did, and made sure she personally introduced herself to you.

Rosie’s beautiful. You’re not blind. You get the appeal. You guessed it was that you treated them like normal people instead of idols that had most of your coworkers swooning in their presence.

She’s also clingy, not that you minded. She’s slowly told you about her past relationships–lies, cheating, using her. It left wounds of insecurity that have made her feel unsure of who she could trust her heart with.

One drunken night after spending it at Jennie’s, tangled in your sheets, Rosie told you she felt safe with you.

Though, as of this moment, you sense the irritation rolling off of her.

“What the fuck?” The controller falls into your lap when you see Rosie suddenly beside you.

“You good over there?” Tae asks.

“Yeah, I just gotta mute myself for a sec, my girlfriend’s calling me,” You mute the mic again, grabbing the controller before turning to Rosie. “What?”

“I’m bored,” Rosie states simply.

“And you want to watch me play?”

“Can I?” You raise an eyebrow, knowing her too well that she’s up to something.

“Did you want me to grab you a-” Rosie doesn’t let you finish, opting to sit in your lap. “Okay fine, no funny business.”

Rosie shrugs, settling comfortably against you as you unmute yourself, “Sorry.”

“Are you in trouble?” Jungkook jokes. Your friends know of your girlfriend, but you have yet to give any information on her. Again, privacy and all that.

“No, she’s just being needy,” That earns you a slap on the arm and a glare.

Your friends laugh, which Rosie hears, slapping your thigh this time. You squeeze her body with your arms before resting your chin on her shoulder as you continue playing.

Time goes by, Rosie starts squirming in your hold. She was never one to sit still. You let go and she tilts her head back onto your shoulder before she relaxes against your chest. It’s nice being with her like this. She comes over often, but not often enough.

You haven’t seen her in almost two weeks. The group just finished their last leg of their tour before their encore performances begin. They have a show in France in a couple weeks, which you’ll be joining them. She asked if you wanted to go with them to the states so you could visit your mother in San Francisco. You had to check with your boss, but it was likely you’d be going as well.

Rosie mutes your mic, “Are you almost done?”

“Not really,” She sighs against your body. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Rosie pouts, but she does something you were expecting. She slightly rolls her hips. It’s subtle, but it’s enough.

“Chaeng,” You deadpan, eyes still focused on the screen.

“What?” There it is. The tilt in her voice, that if it was anybody else, they’d fall for her feigned innocence.

But it wasn’t anybody else. It was you.

“Don’t,” Rosie rolls her hips against you again, this time, perfectly against your cock. “Chaeng.”

“I’m just trying to get comfortable, you’re not exactly ergonomic,” Rosie shrugs, rocking her hips against you once again.

Your cock stirs at the movement. You take a deep breath, refocusing yourself as your team continues the quest.

Tae asks you a question, forcing you to reach around Rosie to unmute yourself. “Yeah I’ll check that.”

When you mute once again, Rosie asks, “How quiet can you be?”

“What?” The question catches you off guard because Rosie’s standing up and unmutes you. She turns to smirk and drops to her knees in between your legs. Your eyes widen, shocked at her boldness. You’re about to say something when she holds a finger to her lips.

“Fuck,” You groan into the mic when Rosie slips her hand underneath your sweats, wrapping her hand around your half-hard cock.

“What happened?” You barely hear someone ask.

“Nothing,” You grit out, eyes watching Rosie push your sweats down just enough to free your cock. You let out a hiss as the cool air of your apartment hits your skin. “I’m good.”

She starts off slow, moving a loose fist up and down your length as the blood in your body rushes south. By the time you’re fully erect, she lets go, and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding.

Rosie’s face lights up, and you know that look. It spells trouble with a capital T, and when she stands up in between your legs, pulling her (your) boxers down, you have a clear picture of what’s going to come next.

It was meant to be a joke when you mentioned it on FaceTime while they were touring in Australia. You had this fantasy of her keeping your cock warm while you gamed. She asked if you actually wanted that, knowing how much you took gaming with your friends seriously. You shrugged, off-handedly commenting that you thought it would be hot.

You didn’t go into much detail of how you envisioned it. It was just a fantasy, but when Rosie turns around, her shapely bottom waving in your face, this was so much better than what you imagined.

Rosie mutes you again, her face slightly turned to you, “Still want to play your game?”

It’s a challenge. A very dangerous one that you don’t know the outcome of, but you’d bet everything to find out. Even if that meant you have to fuck Rosie against your desk for being this needy.

“Yeah,” Your voice comes out hoarse, hardly recognizable in your ears.

“Fine.” One hand rests on your desk as the other reaches for your cock, angling it as she takes all of you in one smooth move.

“Jesus Chaeng,” You nearly drop your controller as one hand shoots to her hip, gripping tightly as her walls squeeze around your cock. It knocks the wind out of you, feeling just how wet and warm she is.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” Rosie slightly pants, leaning on your desk as you feel her walls stretch to accommodate your size.

“I don’t know,” You pathetically moan out as she sits up straight against your chest.

“Keep playing,” Rosie unmutes you before slowly rocking her hips.

You don’t know how the fuck you were supposed to focus when she feels so fucking good wrapped around you, but you push through.

You tune in to what your friends are talking about, ignoring the small mewls Rosie lets out as her hips move in a circle on top of you. You try to be engaged, commenting here and there, but it’s hard to care what they’re saying.

You close your eyes, dropping your head against the chair when Rosie lifts her hips along your length before dropping her weight against you.

“Fuck,” You mutter, but it’s loud enough for your friends to hear. They ask if everything’s alright and you immediately snap back to the screen as Rosie repeats the movement again and again and again. “Yeah, I’m fine,” You grit out after she lands on a particularly hard thrust, walls tightening as she takes a breath.

You’d give yourself a pat on a back for how far you’ve made it. The amount of self-control you have when it comes to your girlfriend is usually very low. You don’t need much convincing when it comes to having sex, but you want to hold out as much as possible to see where it takes you.

It’s not everyday Rosie uses your cock to fuck herself. She has, but that’s usually on a bed or in your car, where she has your full, undivided attention.

Rosie brings your hands against her lower stomach, resting the controller against her as she undulates her hips. Any vibration from the game has her body reacting, which by default, you reap the benefits.

Rosie reaches forward, the mic turning off once again, “I’m going to cum,” She moans out.

You didn’t think she’d get there that fast, but it is hot to get fucked while your friends are oblivious to what’s going on. She loves performing for thousands of people at a time, but you know her favorite performances are for you and you alone.

“Go ahead baby,” You murmur, eyes watching where you’re connected, her hips hypnotizing you as they move. “Make yourself cum since you couldn’t wait for me.”

The words set her off as her body quivers, shaking on your lap as her orgasm hits. Her head snaps back and she holds onto the arm rests as she tries to shut her thighs at the pressure inside her body. The only obstacle is your hands and controller dropping, keeping her spread open as you feel a sudden wetness cover your sweats.

“Did you just squirt baby?” Your lips ghost over her skin, sweetly kissing her behind the ear.

“No,” Rosie mumbles weakly, resting her head on your shoulder as she catches her breath.

“No? Then why are my clothes soaked?” You thrust up from your chair, knocking the wind out of her as she lets out a filthy moan.

“You came,” She moans as you rock up again, enjoying the sensation.

You click your tongue, shaking your head as you decide you can’t hold back any longer. Keeping her on top of you, her walls snug and hot, you unmute for the last time, “Ayo, I gotta go.”

Rosie tries to stand, but your arms around her keep her still, filled.

“Dude what? We’re nowhere near done,” Jungkook whines and you roll your eyes.

“I realized I didn’t finish something. I can pass on the shield. I’ll log on again sometime this weekend,” You say curtly without giving them a chance to respond, quickly exiting the program before tossing your controller on the desk.

You stand, easily taking your girlfriend with you as you push her forward, folding her against your desk as she rests on her elbows, back perfectly arched, keeping your bodies connected.

“Baby,” Rosie whines, your cock still nestled deep inside her.

“Jesus fuck Chaeng,” You pull your hips back, looking at your cock covered in her slick. “You’re a fucking menace.”

You snap your hips forward, groaning as your cock fills her.

“How else was I supposed to get your attention?” Rosie moans, pushing her ass towards you to take you even deeper. “You chose a game over me.”

Your hands grip her waist, stopping any movement from her as you just breathe since both of you know what’s coming next. You lean forward, kissing her head, “Don’t act like that. You know you still have all of my attention.”

You draw your hips backwards, but before you thrust, Rosie speaks, “Then fuck me like I do.”

Never one to not obey Rosie, you do just that.

You thrust into her experimentally, getting your bearings before you completely lose it since it has been two weeks too long and the amount of dirty texts and pictures you’ve exchanged is never enough.

“Baby please,” Rosie begs, head slightly turning before nodding.

The control snaps and you’re thrusting wildly, her hips slamming against the desk, before she could react.

One of the best parts, aside from you care deeply for and can genuinely share your thoughts and feelings with, is that Rosie always welcomes being fucked hard. Sure you’ve had sex at a much tamer, slower pace, which is just as great, but it’s the best when it’s been a while and the only thing either of you could focus on is tearing each other apart together.

“Missed you so much,” Rosie whines, doing what she can to meet your thrusts. It isn’t much since you’re practically nailing her against the furniture.

“Missed you too baby,” You groan as her walls start to clamp down to keep you inside.

One hand lets go of her waist, raising it slightly before your palm makes contact with her ass cheek. She lets out a moan, pressing her face into her arms, slightly embarrassed by how her body reacts to the pain. You watch her skin slowly turn red, spurring you on even more.

You feel your peaks coming soon just based on how much easier it is. Her pussy’s slickness lets you slide in and out with ease, but there’s another thing that Rosie loves and it’s how vocal you can get.

Praise is all around her, but the praise she adores the most is when you tell her yourself.

Your hand grips her waist again before you let your thoughts fall freely from your mouth.

Fuck you feel so good baby.

Couldn’t wait for me huh? Needed my cock so badly.

You look so pretty, letting me fuck this pussy.

You were so hot taking me while I played.

Bounce on my cock next time, let my friends hear what a good little slut you are.

Rosie screams as her orgasm rips through her body taking you with her. Your hips stutter into her and your vision goes white as you hit your climax. You couldn’t pull out since she was doing everything to keep you in.

“Holy shit,” She moans out, back tensing as you feel her release over your cock, making a filthy mess as you paint her insides with your cum.

You immediately wrap your arms around her stomach, pulling her into your chest as you groan out the remainder of your orgasm.

It takes you a minute, but you collapse on your chair, the wheels slightly rolling backwards while Rosie falls flat on top of your desk.

The sight of your girlfriend, fucked out, panting, has you questioning why you didn’t give your attention in the first place. You feel a second wind coming as the smallest bit of cum dribbles out in between her lower lips.

“Can you go again?” You ask after a few minutes, staring as more of your cum falls out. You almost reach out to push it back in, but you spare her the overstimulation.

Rosie stands straight before turning to you. She bends to kiss you softly on the lips, sitting on your lap, and circling her arms around your neck.

“Quick nap?” Rosie offers, peppering kisses over your jawline, which of course, immediately gets you worked up.

“Fine,” You pout like a petulant child.

You swoop your arms underneath her body, making sure you have a strong grip before standing. You literally have BLACKPINK’s lead singer in your arms, and any physical damage to her would automatically fall on you.

Rosie giggles as she holds on, telling you not to drop her or the girls would come after you. You roll your eyes, knowing it’s an empty—sort of. The only member you’re actually scared of is Jisoo, while the other two are like the little sisters you never wanted.

Once you gently lay your girlfriend down, you reach for the bottoms she was wearing, tossing it to her. You change into a different pair of sweats, noticing how much of a mess was actually made before joining her back in bed.

“Hi,” You whisper, a small smile tugging at your lips as you stare at your girlfriend. You still couldn’t believe she chose you to date out of everyone else.

“Hi yourself,” Rosie smiles, burying her face into your chest. “I missed you.” It comes out soft, shy even, because feelings are still hard for her to put into words.

“I missed you too,” You bring your lips to her forehead.

There’s something else you want to tell her, something you’ve been holding in for a couple months at this point. You want to say it now, but when you hear light snores, you know it’s not the time.

You say it anyway, “I love you.”

#blackpink smut #blackpink rose #blackpink park chaeyoung #rosie smut #park chaeyoung smut #park chaeyoung

659 notes · View notes

onceuponaoneshotfanfic · 1 year

Text

Superstar (Superstar Chapter 1)

I'm no one special, just another wide-eyed girl

Who's desperately in love with you

Give me a photograph to hang on my wall, superstar

The Reader is thrilled to start a new job at AFC Richmond- especially since it means working with a certain player-turned-coach.

Roy Kent x Reader

2.7k words

Warnings: language (because Roy Kent); I’m a bit rusty so forgive my writing!

A/N: Been having some horribly bad writer’s block in addition to work stress. Thankfully my man Roy Kent helped me finally break through!!!

“Well, there she is!” Coach Ted Lasso waved enthusiastically as I parked my car in the staff lot. Next to him stood Rebecca Welton, who offered the tiniest of waves and something of an apologetic smile.

I took a deep breath, my hand hovering over the driver’s side door. First day on the new job: coach’s assistant. Between three coaches, there was a lot going on; they needed someone to handle communication, schedules, and small tasks so they could focus on training and (hopefully) winning. Having grown up just around the corner from Nelson Road, it felt almost like an honor to be part of the organization.

In a blur, Ted had firmly shaken my hand for what felt like an eternity, yammered off about a dozen Lasso-isms that I wasn’t quite sure I heard correctly, and ushered me into the building, all with Rebecca following along, interjecting short corrections and reassurances every time Ted paused to take a breath.

“And this here’s the locker room,” Ted announced with a small flourish. “Now, the boys tend to be pretty modest, the only one you may see too much of is Jamie, but if you just throw a towel in his face, he’ll take the hint.” He opened the door, gesturing for me to follow.

Rebecca touched my arm gently, that tight smile still on her face. “I should be going. But please, let me know if there’s anything you need. You’re in great hands,” she added, nodding towards Ted. “Welcome to Richmond.” With another touch to my arm, she was gone.

I followed Ted into the changing room. A few guys were milling about, still in their street clothes, chattering and beginning to put their things away. They looked up when I entered, offering small nods of acknowledgement. Ted rattled off their names, all familiar to me. I made mental notes about how each one smiled and shook my hand, trying to take snapshots in my brain so I could describe every moment to my family later that night.

After meeting all the players that Ted called “early birds”, I followed Ted into the coaches’ offices, where I was quickly introduced to Coach Beard, who nodded from behind a tattered copy of Either/Or.

“Now, Coach Beard and I share this office,” Ted was explaining. “You’ll be right through here. Hope ya don’t mind sharing!” He led me through the side door to another office. “I’m sure you know this ray of sunshine here is Roy Kent.”

My stomach jumped to my throat as the man in black track pants and a dark Richmond shirt glanced up from his desk. As if I really needed to be introduced to the man whose poster still hung above the bed in my childhood bedroom. Several kits sporting his name and number hung in my closet. Hell, for one birthday my jokester dad even got me a cardboard cutout of the man. It currently sat folded in the back of a closet in my flat, but it often made an appearance in my living room when I hosted game day parties with my mates.

I was pretty sure if I dug far enough in my parents’ attic, I’d find my school notebooks with “Mrs. Roy Kent” scribbled all over them.

And now he sat in front of me, staring up at me through thick eyelashes that made me go weak in the knees. A half scowl appeared on his face. “You’re the assistant then?” He offered his hand.

I nodded, praying that neither coach could see my body trembling slightly as I reached out to shake Roy Kent’s hand. “I- I am.”

Ohmygod ohmygod I’m shaking Roy Kent’s hand I’m touching Roy Kent Roy Kent spoke to me Roy Kent is looking at me ohmygod ohmygod.

It felt far too soon when he let go of my hand. “Well, as long as you keep your shit off my desk and don’t wear any rancid perfume, we should be fucking fine.” He nodded behind him toward an empty desk. “That’s you.” Without another word, he stood up, grabbed the notebook he had been drawing in, and left.

Ted beamed at me. “Well now, that went great! That’s about as charming as you can expect Roy to be, so count yourself lucky. Now, why don’t you get yourself settled and we’ll see you in the locker room in about ten minutes?”

“D’you like kebabs?”

I turned my head, pausing my fingers above my keyboard. “Excuse me?”

With a giant sigh, Roy swiveled around in his chair, leaning his elbows on his knees. “Kebabs. D’you like ’em?”

“Uh, I guess.” I scrunched my nose as I stared at him. After two weeks of working for Richmond, this was the first time Roy had spoken to me so directly. Up until now, it had been mostly grunts and growls in my general direction. But, after years of watching him on the pitch, I knew by the look in his eye that he didn’t hate me- at least, not any more than he hated the rest of the world. And that was fine enough with me.

“You guess?” There was that scowl. “You either fuckin’ like ‘em or you don’t.”

It took all my strength to suppress my grin. God, he was just as gorgeous as when I used to watch him play on the television. “Fine, fine. I like kebabs.”

With a suddenness that almost made me jump in my seat, Roy stood up. “Okay.” Without another word, he walked out of our office.

About twenty minutes later, a Styrofoam container slammed onto my desk. I looked up at Roy, who towered over me, a plastic bag clutched in his fist. He glowered at me.

“Thanks, Roy,” I managed, opening the box. Sure enough, kebabs. I smiled up at him, but his eyes were scanning my desk.

“That your family?” He pointed at a frame that held a photo my family had taken during a camping trip.

“Oh, yeah. My folks and brothers. They live not far from here. We grew up huge Richmond fans.”

His eyes continued to roam my work area. “What, no pictures of your boyfriend? Is he fuckin’ ugly or somethin’?”

My cheeks heated up. “No boyfriend.” Somewhere inside me, boldness surged forward. “What about you? I don’t see your model of the week on your desk.”

He smirked. Ohmygod he smirked. “I’m too fucking old for that shit now.”

“Uh huh.” I couldn’t make myself say anything else. All I could see was that smirk, and those brown eyes. Until I realized he was waiting for me to say something. Speak, you idiot! “I like kebabs,” I blurted. Shit.

The smirk softened slightly. “So I heard.”

For a moment he just stood there, smiling down at me. Then he cleared his throat, glancing at the bag in his hand. “Don’t tell anyone I got you lunch. They’ll be trying to make me some fuckin’ errand boy if they find out.”

“Your secret’s safe with me.”

With a small hmmf, Roy nodded and headed back to his desk. I smiled down at the container on my desk and returned to my work, ignoring my burning cheeks.

“What does Jamie Tartt smell like?”

“Is the gaffer really like that in person?”

“Did you pass out when you met Roy Kent?”

Swallowing the bite of pasta I had been chewing on, I grinned at my family. “Tartt wears a homemade combo of Tom Ford, Dior, and Juicy Couture that he calls ‘Tartt by Tartt’. Coach Lasso is exactly what he seems. And Roy Kent…” I cleared my throat and prayed my face wasn’t completely red. “He’s fine.” My voice cracked slightly. “We, uh share an office. He got me kebabs for lunch last week.”

“Come off it,” I scoffed. “Or else I’ll take back those VIP tickets I got you for your birthday.”

“Ooh, Roy Kent bought you kebabs?” my dad hummed, grinning at me pointedly. “My future son-in-law, the football superstar.”

Before my dad could retort, the doorbell rang. I jumped up, relieved to have a distraction.

“I’ve got it!” I just about sprinted down the hall to the front door, confident it was our elderly neighbor asking to borrow the spare key, as she did at least once a week. Instead, when I threw the door open, I found Roy Kent on my parents’ front porch.

“We should really put a fucking tracking device on you,” he grumbled as he moved past me into the entryway.

I stared at him, closing the door. “Um, not to be rude, but why are you here? At my mum and dad’s house?”

He shoved a manila envelope into my hands. “Some papers Lasso wanted you to work on if you can this weekend. Said it was important. I dunno, I don’t fucking listen to him when he yammers.”

“Oh.” I placed the envelope on a nearby table and folded my arms. “And how-how did you know where I was?”

Roy wiggled his phone in the air. “You’re one of those idiots that has their Snapchat locations on. You’re gonna get fucking murdered one of these days y’know.”

Right. Ted had made us all join multiple Snapchat groups with him; he was adamant about keeping our streaks.

I couldn’t help but grin. “And you’re gonna murder me?”

“Not today.” A small smirk cracked through that grizzled face. “But apparently if I wanted to, you’d be easy as hell to find.”

“I’ll just have to keep being a good officemate then,” I supposed teasingly. Am I flirting with Roy Kent?!

“You’re doing a fine job so far.” Roy took a step towards me, looking down at me.

Is he flirting back?!

My brain short-circuited. “Um, well I…” I coughed, looking around the entryway, as if I hadn’t walked through it my entire life. “Thanks for uh, bringing those papers.” A question interrupted the high-pitched buzzing in my brain. “Why’d you bring it by the way?”

Roy cleared his throat and took a step back, allowing a respectful space between us again. “Told you, Lasso said it’s important.”

“Yeah…” I started slowly. “But I’m sure it’s something you guys could’ve sent Will to do. Or something Ted would probably love to do, tracking me down to my dad’s birthday dinner. Why are you-?”

“He’s here! He’s there! He’s every-fucking-where! Roy Kent!” Beaming, my dad burst past me and clapped a hand on Roy’s shoulder as Roy stared at him with wide eyes. “Oh hell, Roy Kent’s in my foyer!” He turned and faced me. “I can’t believe you got Roy Kent to come down here! You’re my favorite kid, you can tell your bloody brothers that anytime.” He grabbed Roy’s hand and started pumping it, reminding me of the first time I had met Ted. “It’s an honor to have you here. Absolute honor.”

I finally found my voice. “Dad, Roy’s just here giving me some stuff for work. He’s not here for your-”

“What kind of cake do you have?” Roy’s gruff voice interrupted.

“Chocolate,” my dad answered. “M’wife made it herself. And we have plenty of pasta if you’re hungry.”

Roy unzipped his jacket. “Then happy fucking birthday. Let’s eat.”

A half hour later, I was still in a state of shock. Roy Kent was sitting next to me in my parents’ dining room, chatting with my dad and eating my mum’s pasta. He took all everyone’s questions in stride, not seeming to mind how obsessed my brothers were. He only growled at them twice- once when they asked about his knee, and again when they said how much they like Jamie Tartt. Of course, they made kissy faces whenever Roy wasn’t looking, and my mum kept raising her eyebrows at me with a twinkle in her eye, but the dinner was much less painful that I had expected.

And getting to sit there with Roy’s arm pressed against mine? A dream come true.

My dad cleared his throat as my brothers began clearing the plates. “I think it’s time for presents and cake then?”

I stood up; my arm felt cold after having Roy’s arm keeping it warm. “I’ll be right back, gotta go get your present.” I pressed a kiss on my dad’s head as I passed by. “Don’t embarrass me,” I hissed, giving his shoulder a squeeze. He offered me an assuring wink.

I quickly went up the stairs to my old bedroom, not completely closing the door behind me. Since I was planning to spend all weekend a their house, I had just haphazardly thrown all my things into the room when I had arrived after work. I regretted it now, noting that my idiot brothers could be saying anything to Roy while I searched for the envelope holding my dad’s birthday card and the tickets to Richmond’s next match.

I groaned. “Where the hell-”

“Ah, this isn’t the fucking loo.”

I whirled around. Roy stood in my doorway, eyebrows slightly raised as he glanced around the room. My cheeks burned as I watched him take in all the Richmond posters, which disproportionately featured his bearded face.

He is never going to talk to me again, a panicky voice in my head whimpered.

To my surprise, a small smirk formed on his face as he quietly closed the door behind him. “Why the fuck are there so many pictures of me in this room?” he asked, a chuckle escaping his lips.

I cleared my throat and stood up, straightening out my top as I cursed my teenage self for being so obsessed. “I, uh, I told you. My family’s huge Richmond fans. You’re kind of our favorite player. Hence, my dad’s excitement when he saw you.” I winced. Lame, lame, lame.

“So…” He stuck his hands in his pockets, still looking around the room at the embarrassing number of photos of himself. “Does that mean I’m your favorite too?”

Somehow, my cheeks grew warmer. “I… I mean… I guess.”

His eyes moved upward and widened slightly.

Fuck.

“Is that a fucking poster of me above your bed?”

I shifted my weight, wishing that somehow the carpet beneath me would spontaneously turn into a black hole. “Oh, you know, gotta keep the monsters away somehow.” You’re fired. You are so freaking fired for being a creepy fangirl.

Roy let out a bark of a laugh. “That’s what I’m good for? Scaring away fucking monsters?”

With a groan, I covered my face and collapsed on my bed. “Please don’t tell anyone,” I grumbled. “This was my room when I used to live here, I was a dumb kid. I swear to God, my flat is normal. A normal adult flat.”

The bed squeaked as I felt someone sit beside me. When I peeked out between my fingers, Roy was looking at me with a hint of concern on his face.

“Hey, no need to be fucking embarrassed.” He glanced up at the poster that now laid directly above us. “Can’t say I blame you. I was young and hot.”

Despite my inner anguish, I moved my hands and grinned. “You’re not that much older now, Kent,” I teased.

He raised his eyebrows at me. “I’m still hot then?”

Before I could come up with some clever retort, Roy cupped my face and leaned close. “Please say yes,” he said softly.

I gulped, knowing he could definitely feel it. “Yes,” I whispered.

He gently pressed his lips against mine, a soft, small kiss that made me melt closer to him. His beard tickled my face as his hand stroked my cheek. Roy Kent is kissing me Roy Kent is kissing me Roy Kent is kissing me.

When Roy let go, a tiny giggle escaped my lips. He smiled at me- a real smile, the one I had seen maybe a small handful of times on television over the years. He opened his mouth to say something-

“Oi!” A loud knock banged on the door. “Mum and Dad want to know if you’re snogging Roy Kent in there!”

Roy grinned at me, still holding my face. “Don’t suppose I can tell your brother to fuck off?”

I wrinkled my nose. “’d rather you didn’t,” I whispered.

“Well then.” Roy stood up, stretching out his hand to help me to my feet. “Guess we should go have some fucking cake.” He nodded up towards the poster above my bed. “You should bring that thing to work sometime. I can fucking autograph it if you want.”

#he's here he's there he's every fucking where #roy kent #roy kent x reader #roy kent fanfic #roy kent fanfiction #roy kent fic #roy kent fluff #ted lasso #ted lasso fic #ted lasso fluff

911 notes · View notes

gyll-yee-haw · 4 months

Text

Birthday Surprise

Hii, everyone! I'm back with something short to celebrate our man's bday and the release of his book! (so proud :'))

Hope you like it! (I'm kinda rusty, haven't written anything in YEARS)

Prompt: You give Jake a very special birthday present :)

Like 1k words

Warnings: fluff, mentions of pregnancy.

You were almost shaking in anticipation. Oh, how long the two of you waited for that moment... ever since you got married, and maybe even a bit before that, you and Jake have always discussed starting your own family. Seeing how he was with his nieces always made your ovaries ache.

Now he was in his "uncle era" as you would call. Releasing and promoting his book "The Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles" was just so exciting for him and you were beyond proud, seeing him so happy and trying new things.

You were almost sad that era would have to end... soon he would start a new one. And he had no idea.

Ever since your test results came positive, you knew you had to find a special way to tell Jake. He deserved that.

You found out two weeks before his birthday. Perfect opportunity... I mean, it was so hard to buy him presents... he always loved everything you got him, but you knew he never actually needed anything. But this year... it would be unforgettable.

-----

When the day came, you thought you would have a heart attack, you barely got any sleep. You knew he would love the surprise, but it had been so hard to keep it a surprise, it was almost driving you insane.

You found him sitting on the sofa, wearing an oversized green sweater after the two of you had his favorite breakfast. He seemed so calm and content. He looked cozy, he looked like home. You realized you were staring at him like a fool with a smile on your face. It was the right time, you felt it.

"Jake?" You called him as you walked to join him on the sofa. You held a box in your hands.

"Yeah, baby?" He gave you his sweetest smile.

"I wanted to give you a present. But... not something you could just buy, you know? Wanted it to be special." You explained, looking at the box. He could see you were nervous because of how you were gripping on it for dear life. You just felt that... when the box was no longer in your hands, the situation wouldn't be under control anymore.

"You know you didn't have to give me anything, my love." He tried to calm you down. "Just being able to wake up by your side for another year is more than I deserve."

You took a deep breath and handed him the box. He sat closer to you and hugged your shoulders, giving you a forehead kiss before opening it.

He unwrapped a very clearly homemade book. He looked at you in awe.

"Y/N? That's... that's so thoughtful, did you do all of this...?"

"Well, Ramona and Gloria helped with the illustrations." You explained, seeing him smile just imagining you and his nieces working together on this project. "I wrote the story and struggled to bind it for several days, so... I know it looks messy, I just..."

"It looks absolutely perfect." He got emotional before he could even imagine what was inside...

"Will you read it out loud?" You asked shyly. "Wanna see your reaction..."

"Sure!" He smiled excitedly, as he opened the book.

Writing is hard, I will not lie... But there's a man who makes me wanna try. I wonder how can he be... Looking this good at forty-three?

He left out a laugh and rolled his eyes.

How can you deny he's the greatest uncle of all times... When someone calls him "uncle", you can see the pride in his eyes.

You could hear the emotion on his voice. You could see his eyes running through the illustrations with absolute adoration.

He's more than an uncle, it's true He gets called another thing or two The greatest actor, the funniest guy, He doesn't even have to try. How lucky am I, cause in the end I get to call him my best friend

That's it. Now he was going to read the important part. Your heart was about to burst.

But there's something he's never been called before... Something he'll have to wait a few months for. But I'm sure he will be glad Cause he'll have someone to call him... dad.

At the end of the page, you glued the pregnancy test. He stared at it wide-eyed, speechless.

"Honey, is this..." he was afraid of saying it out loud. It was too good to escape his lips.

"Yes. It's true." You grabbed his hand and placed it softly on your belly. "I'm pregnant, Jake."

He murmured something inhuman as he placed his gift on the side so he could bring you to his arms and fill your face with little kisses.

"This is... the best birthday present I ever got... I mean... they both are, the book and this..." he looked at your belly, then to your eyes. "Thank you, my angel, I love you so much... I love... this baby so much already, I..."

"We love you too." You replied as you felt your eyes fill with tears. "I'm sorry, but now you'll have to start working on 'The Secret Society of dads'..."

"Y/N." He freaked out when it hit him. "I have NO IDEA how to be a dad..."

"I'm just joking" you laughed at his reaction. "You don't have to write a book about it."

"I just have to raise the child, which seems easier, huh?" He raised his eyebrows sarcastically.

"I know it's hard." You reassured him. "But you got me as a coauthor in this one."

"In that case... I just know it will be the most beautiful story."

______________________________________________________________

As promised, tagging my sweet @gyllenhaalstories, who inspired me to come back, and made me feel very welcome <3

#jake gyllenhaal #jake gyllenhaal x reader #jake gyllenhaal x you #jake gyllenhaal fanfic #jake gyllenhaal imagine #jake gyllenhaal fluff

84 notes · View notes

tyuninthemirror · 11 months

Text

— blender: c.yj

— pairing: idol!yeonjun x idol fem!reader — genre: angst — word count: 1702 — disclaimers: not proofread! mentions of eating, signs of cheating, adding of minor characters (lee know, bangchan and hwiyoung) — synopsis: part 2 to bad omens. — series masterlist

— author's note: i'm back and kickin'!!! a bit rusty and short, but i hope you enjoy it!! alsoooo! do let me know if you think part 3 should be a happy ending or not XD

"Y/N!" Minho called as you entered the JYP practice room. You smiled and ran over to your cousin, giving him a big hug.

"Uh, hi, I'm here too," Bangchan interjected.

"Hi, Chan," you chuckled, hugging the other boy. "What are you guys up to?"

"Just planning a special stage," Bangchan answered, grabbing a bottle of water from the table. "Congratulations on your comeback! Did you receive our bouquet?"

"Of course I did," you grinned, unlocking your phone to look for a photo of the said bouquet. "I posted it on my SNS and all!"

After a couple of minutes of catching up, you, Minho, and Bangchan make your way to the cafeteria to grab some food. It wasn't unusual to see you at JYP since you and Minho met up almost every week.

"So, Y/N," Minho said, clearing his throat as you three sat down with your food. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"Do I have to answer that?" you chuckled, looking down at your food.

"So you are?" Bangchan teased, wiggling his eyebrows. "Who is it?"

You were just as close to Bangchan, so it wasn't embarrassing to share details like that, but when you didn't answer, a frown formed on both their faces.

"L/N Y/N, don't tell me you're still doing that thing with Choi Yeonjun?" Minho growled. Your eyes watered at the tone of his voice.

"Y/N," Bangchan sighed, "I know he's a great guy, but you shouldn't waste any more energy on someone who can't reciprocate your feelings…"

"Easier said than done," you mumbled. "You know how much he means to me."

Besides the other TXT members, only Minho and Bangchan knew about your arrangement with Yeonjun. Although they were good friends with TXT, they knew what was going on wasn't healthy for you at all.

"He might be your first love, but he doesn't have to be your last, you know," Minho said, grabbing your hand from across the table. His heart ached for you, you were one of the sweetest and most giving people he knew, and he was watching all of that being taken advantage of. "It's not the end of the world if you don't end up with him."

"Why don't you try seeing other people?" Bangchan suggested with a small smile.

"Wouldn't that be unfair to the other person?" you asked.

"That's literally what Yeonjun is doing," Minho rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but…"

"Look, Y/N, what if you just went out for coffee? Like not a date, but you just hang out and have coffee?" Bangchan explained. You thought about it for a moment, it didn't sound like a bad plan.

"That sounds okay," you nervously chuckled. "Alright, I'll try to ask someone to get coffee with me."

"Don't worry, we already have someone in mind." Minho mischievously grinned.

"Y/N!!! Welcome~" Huening Kai sang as you entered the VIP room of the restaurant.

"Kai," you chirped, hugging him, careful with the wine in your arms. "Congratulations on your first Inkigayo win!"

"Is this for us?" Soobin grinned, pointing at the bottle.

"Of course," you giggled, passing it to the taller boy. Your eyes landed on Yeonjun who was chatting away with Taehyun. When he meets your gaze, he winks at you, and your heart skips a little beat.

Bang PD decided to throw a small celebration dinner for TXT on their first Inkigayo win, and you were invited by Kai earlier that day. You looked around the room to see some Seventeen members and other HYBE staff.

"Oh? Is it just us?" you asked, noticing that the seats were nearly full as you took a seat next to Beomgyu, giving him a side hug. It was your indirect way of asking if Yunjin would show up today.

"Yeah, just a small dinner celebration," Beomgyu responded. You hear the chair scraping and you turned to the other side to see Yeonjun sitting on the seat on your other side. He throws an arm over your shoulder.

"Hey, miss me?" he whispered in your ear. You feel your face heat up as you respond with a nod.

With how Yeonjun was acting, you knew she wasn't showing up tonight. Whenever Yunjin would be somewhere you two were, Yeonjun was always distant, and quite frankly, would act annoyed at you. But whenever she wasn't, forget his 'stop hurting yourself speech', he'd be just as into you as you were into him, and you loved the attention. So did he.

You were sharing a 6 person table with boys, and you watched gleefully as Taehyun began cutting the meat on the grill.

"Are you coming over after dinner?" Kai asked excitedly. Besides Yeonjun, you spent a lot of time with Kai because of your similar interests in food and movies, so oftentimes you'd go to their dorms to hang out, and of course, end up in bed with the eldest member.

"Obviously," Yeonjun snickered from beside you.

"I can't," you scratched the back of your neck.

Five pairs of eyes look at you in shock. You've never said no to staying over before, not even when you had a schedule to get to at 4 am in the morning.

"Damn," Soobin whispered. "Are we in an alternate universe or did a clone come and replace Y/N?"

"Got plans later, Y/N?" Beomgyu asked, nudging your side.

"Yeah, actually," you nervously replied. "I'm meeting a friend later."

"But it's like 9 pm now," Huening Kai pointed out.

"Well yeah, we're just getting coffee," you explained.

Beomgyu's eyes widened. "Are you going on a date?!"

Yeonjun nearly choked on meat at Beomgyu's words. You? Going on a date at night?

"That doesn't sound too safe, Y/N," Yeonjun frowned. Beomgyu rolled his eyes at Yeonjun's remark. Though he knew about you both, he didn't like the arrangement. You were friends with all the members, and although Yeonjun was like their brother, they didn't like how toxic your relationship with Yeonjun was.

"I'll be fine," you waved it off, popping another piece of meat in your mouth. "Besides, it's not a date, we're just meeting for coffee."

You kept telling everyone that it wasn't a date, but you made it a point that if Yeonjun asked you to not go tonight, you would cancel your plans.

"Well, who are you meeting?" Yeonjun demanded to know.

"Hwiyoung from SF9."

"Yeonjun, calm your ass down," Beomgyu groaned, annoyed as Yeonjun continued to pace back and forth the living room where the other boys sat playing games.

"It's almost midnight and Y/N hasn't responded to my text," Yeonjun angrily muttered, glancing at his phone for the 6th time that evening.

"She's a grown woman, I'm sure she's fine," Soobin said, his eyes glued to the screen in front of him.

"Don't you rarely text her back anyway?" Taehyun asked.

"He's just angsty because Y/N finally decided to see someone else," Beomgyu snickered. "Don't expect her to text you back till tomorrow morning."

Yeonjun glared at the younger boy, annoyed. He wasn't angsty, he was just worried.

"Hwiyoung though? They'd look good together," Huening Kai commented and the other boys nodded in agreement.

"She said they were just meeting up for coffee," Yeonjun reminded them, trying to keep his cool.

"Please, when you tell us you're getting coffee with Y/N, aren't you two at her place hooking up?" Soobin raised an eyebrow. "Is this any different?"

That remark shut Yeonjun up and a sense of dread filled him.

By the time it hit 12:30 AM without a word from you, he decided to call, even after the others told him not to.

"Yeonjun?" your voice said over the phone. Yeonjun let out a sigh of relief when he heard noise in the background, indicating that you were still out in public and not somewhere alone.

"Hey, Y/N, just calling to make sure you're home," he said, playing dumb. He definitely didn't think this through.

On the other line, you freeze up for a moment. Did Yeonjun just call to check up on you?

"Umm, I'm still out," you answered after a brief pause, peeking over to Hwiyoung who sat across from you.

"It's passed midnight, will you be done soon?" Yeonjun asked, his fingers crossed. Now that he thought about it, he doesn't remember the last time he called first.

"Yeah, soon?" you answered, unsure. You glanced at the watch on your wrist, you were having a great time with Hwiyoung you didn't realize it was already this late.

"Will you come over then? You could stay the night."

A thousand thoughts ran through your mind. You looked up to see Hwiyoung giving you a small encouraging smile.

"Alright, I'll be there soon," you say before ending the call. You give Hwiyoung a sad smile. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Y/N. I should be glad you even agreed to meet up with me.," he chuckled, his contagious smile causing the corner of your lips to raise along with his. "You don't know how long I've asked Minho."

"He never told me," you shyly answered, a blush forming on your face. You felt like you were in high school all over again.

You spent the night getting to know Hwiyoung and eventually managed to open up about your feelings for Yeonjun, not wanting to lead him on. You were surprised at Hwiyoung's understanding of the situation and even encouraged you to take your time to sort things out.

"Will I get to see you again?" Hwiyoung asked just as you were about to part ways.

"Of course," you nodded. He moves closer to give you a hug which you gladly reciprocate, and you can't help but feel the difference between hugging Yeonjun and hugging Hwiyoung.

"See you soon, Y/N."

You ended up in bed with Yeonjun that night, but you couldn't help but feel guilty. Hwiyoung was nice and understanding, and you knew he liked you, just like how you liked Yeonjun, but you couldn't help but feel bad about being in Yeonjun's arms that night when you just had a great time with Hwiyoung.

And then you began to wonder, did Yeonjun ever feel bad about sleeping with you when he was out there chasing someone else?

#txt fanfic #txt x reader #txt imagines #txt x you #txt angst #txt scenarios #yeonjun x reader #choi yeonjun #yeonjun #yeonjun angst #yeonjun x oc #yeonjun x you

187 notes · View notes

anexperimentallife · 3 months

Text

Since the rights have reverted to me, this is the story I WAS getting paid to license as the basis of a video game until the deal got canceled unexpectedly after a year of development(for understandable reasons I won't go into here). There's a lot I'd change about it now (I'm a better writer now, for one thing, and my understanding of problematic tropes is better now--this was the first story I ever sold, and was originally published in the anthology The Crimson Pact, volume 2), and my Quiet World setting has morphed and expanded quite a bit since then, too. This will be getting a rewrite, with additional characters (some of whom you'll meet if you play the dialogue-only demo linked to below). But anyway...

HERE’S THE ORIGINAL STORY--ENJOY!

(also here's a link to a playable dialogue-only version of the first three chapters of the mobile game version--which is quite different)

Karma

by D. Robert Hamm (about 15,000 words)

We hit the interstate like an unguided missile. Needles of frozen rain and jagged blades of wind beat my face numb and turned what was left of my dress into a full-body ice-pack. Even with the heater on ‘incinerate,’ I couldn’t stop shivering, but the outside air was all that kept me from gagging on the smell of my own puke and the rusty stench of blood, so the window stayed down. Between the black pavement and blacker sky, the air was wet and gray. It sucked the vitality from my headlamp beams well before their natural time, but that was okay. I wasn’t paying much attention to the little they revealed anyway.

The man in the passenger’s seat either didn’t feel the cold or was too stoic to show discomfort. The dashboard glow turned his short white beard to green and deepened the age lines in his face. Gods, I’d loved that face growing up. It was my grandfather’s face. But right then, I could barely look at it, because this wasn’t my grandfather, just a sad, confused spirit wearing his body. And even though he was one of the good guys, that didn’t mean it was easy to take.

“You’re going to catch cold,” Not-Grandpa shouted over the storm.

“I’m… what?”

Since last night I’d been shot at, whipped, and electrocuted. I’d watched a good man beheaded and disemboweled before my eyes, and learned things about myself, my family, and especially my past, that had already driven other people into padded-room territory. I was marinated in a vile concoction of blood and various other body fluids, quite a bit of it my own, and had spent the last however-many hours fighting horrors that should never have existed. In the middle of all that—because I’m an overachiever—I took time out to kill a man I loved.

And this guy was worried that I’d catch a fucking cold?

Once I started laughing, I couldn’t stop. The kind of deep, full-body laughter that doubles you over and makes your stomach muscles ache for days afterward. The kind that shreds the lining of your throat and rises in pitch to rapid staccato squeaks, like sneakers on a hardwood floor. I held back the worst long enough to wrestle the car onto the shoulder, then let go. The laughter turned to howling, the howling into screams, the screams into sobs, and the sobs into a quiet whimper that finally, gods finally, tapered off, and I could breathe again, in great, ragged gulps. I wiped away a rope of snot hanging from my nose and sat hunched over with my eyes closed and my forehead against the steering wheel, shaking, while the rain pummeled my back with tiny, ice-cold fists.

In shock? Probably. Hysterical? Definitely. Look, I make sandwiches at my family’s restaurant for a living, okay? Sandwiches.

Not-Grandpa waited until I quieted down before speaking. “I’m sorry,” he said. It was the dozenth or so time he’d said it. The line of his mouth stayed hard, but his eyes and his voice were soft and broken. I believed him. Had to believe him.

“I know.” I didn’t mean for it to sound bitter. He’d saved my life after all, and he deserved better than that. I just didn’t know if I could forgive him for not being who I wanted him to be.

A little too “in media res” for you? Yeah, me too.

So here are the vitals: My name is Karma Miranda Rodriguez. I’m twenty-three years old, five foot six, with brown eyes, light brown skin, and dark brown hair that I keep boy-short. I claim to be a size five, and I dare you to say otherwise. I like strawberry daiquiris, support equal rights for supernaturals, am indifferent toward long walks on the beach, and . . .

And oh, yeah—apparently, I kill demons.

Eli’s Borderland Station, my family’s restaurant, has been the only twenty-four hour eatery on the Kansas City Plaza since back before the Jasonites outed the supernatural community (aka, “The Quiet World”) and we had to coin the term ‘daylighter’ to differentiate plain vanilla humans from those touched by the paranormal. During the riots that followed the Jasonites’ little party, and all through the Apocalypse Wars, my Grandpa Eli and Uncle Garston kept the restaurant open as a free kitchen-slash-aid-station for refugees and emergency workers, and turned the upstairs apartment—which is mine, now—into a de facto headquarters for various peacekeeping forces.

So alongside our Absolutely Killer Turkey Sandwich (made from, according to the menu, genuine killer turkeys), we serve up a mean side-order of history. Obviously, a lot of things have changed since the AWs; for instance, the Plaza, always an upscale shopping district, is now a level four Private Patrol Zone with the best law enforcement money can buy. As you’d expect, our main business is well-heeled shoppers whose sidearms are more fashion statement than personal defense, but we try to keep prices reasonable enough for the average college student, too.

No amount of money will buy you a table or a bar stool in our VIP lounge, though, even if every other seat in the house is taken. The lounge is permanently reserved for veterans, proxies, bounty hunters, elites, and so on. It’s where people with code names like Halloween Jack, Lucy D.T., HalluciNathan, and so on come to catch up with one another, trade information, or just relax. Grandpa and Uncle Garston are technically civilians now, but a lot of the VIPs still use their call signs from way back when, so if someone in armored leathers with notched weapons and a stare that looks like they’re counting the ways they could kill you with one finger says they’re going to see The General and Body Mass, they’re not talking about some secret mission, it just means they’re headed our way for the lunch special.

On Tuesday nights we lock up for a few hours of uninterrupted cleaning with my special patented Karma Rodriguez closing procedure. This involves, among other things, lots of dancing around with brooms and mops, and other Weapons of Mess-Destruction, and me in a casual dress singing along with loud music at the top of my lungs. It’s effective. The more I can make work feel like play, the faster and more efficiently I get things done, and as proof of that, what used to take three people on Tuesday nights now requires only two.

At thirty seconds to zero-dark-thirty on a drizzly February evening, when my grime-fighting partner Jayden and I were the only ones left in the restaurant, I locked the front door and hit the music. My mix for the night was weighted heavily in favor of pre-Apocalypse rock—music that was old before I was born. It was a minor tragedy when it cut off about ten minutes into the shift, right in the middle of David Bowie’s Rebel, Rebel. Jayden and I both trailed off a cappella.

“I didn’t hear you singing if you didn’t hear me,” Jayden said. “We stick together, and nobody can prove anything.” He fixed me with what would have been a deadpan stare if not for that quirk at one corner of his mouth that I thought of as his, ‘our little secret’ smile.

I put on my best film noir ‘tough dame’ voice. “It’s always secrets with you, isn’t it? Fine, I’ll play your game.” Staying in character, I headed upstairs with an over-the-top hip-swaying sashay, to reboot the router while Jayden kept cleaning.

I can’t be objective about Jayden, so I won’t try. He was one of a kind. Literally. Part Aosidhe, part Graealfinsidhe, and part daylighter, Jayden was a medical miracle, and he got the best from each branch of his ancestry. Six and a half feet of lean muscle, flawless skin, hair like pale gold silk, and . . . you get the idea. His ears were only slightly pointed, and with his hair down, he could pass for an exceptionally pretty daylighter, if not for his eyes. Whiteless, and bright turquoise in color. They suited him.

And yeah, I know. If only I wasn’t his boss. Jayden had something of a ‘mystery man’ air about him that only added to his status as local lust-object. Among other things, the way he dressed like a wastelander (only cleaner) but acted like a gentleman fueled speculation. He kept his past and his private life just that, though—past, and private. It was like the world was in love with Jayden, but Jayden wasn’t sure how he felt about the world and didn’t want to lead it on.

When I got back from confirming that the router was indeed fried, those exotic eyes of his were fixed on the big screen in the main dining area. I came up behind him and stopped, gaping. “What the . . . ?”

Just north of us, people were fighting in the streets and looting, while Hushville—Jayden’s neighborhood—burned.

“Short version?” Jayden said without turning around, “They busted the wrong guy for the Taylor murders, so they released him. He lasted a whole three hours.”

“They didn’t give him police protection?”

“He was under police protection when it happened. Now everybody has a conspiracy theory, and apparently with every conspiracy theory this week, you get a free Molotov cocktail kit. Speaking of which . . . ” He rewound a few seconds and paused on a burning apartment building that I recognized as his. “Great firebomb, huh?”

“Wow. I’m sorry.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

He shrugged, his back still to me. “I carry everything really important with me.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Want me to leave you alone?”

He paused, as if considering. “No.”

“Okay. But know what? Fuck cleaning. Help me get the trash out, then haul your duffel bag upstairs. You’re staying at my place tonight.”

Jayden turned and looked at me as though I were speaking Swahili. “Your place?”

“You just lost your apartment to a xenophobic asshole with a fire fetish, and you need crash space. Friends do that kind of stuff for each other.”

That earned me a confused look. “No, I just . . . Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.” He seemed utterly bewildered. So much for his famed stoicism and unflappability. Ah, Jayden. Such a strange, strange boy. I ran up to get my coat and pull on a pair of jeans under my dress, and Jayden and I dragged the first can out into the alley.

I remember the air tasted of cold grease and wet pavement. I remember the electric buzz of the street lamp, and the way its dirty light turned the drizzle into sparse gray streaks like anime rain. I remember the exact cadence of the trash can’s scraping and banging as we dragged it toward the dumpster. How screwed up do things have to get before taking out the trash is a fond memory worth replaying in your head?

We didn’t hear the patrol team until they entered the mouth of the alley, running hard toward us, shouting at us to get inside. The woman’s name was Lawson. She’d lost her helmet, and a sheen of blood covered the left side of her face. Her partner, Hall, had a crack running down the side of his faceplate, and his body armor was shredded in places. They both carried their weapons at the ready, scanning the roofline as they ran.

Before they’d even finished their warning, a clot of shadow and sickening angles detached from the rest of the dark. The Shashashkuhun slaughter-spider—How did I know that?—dropped from the roof and—The Shashashkuhun and the bad people are making us walk a long way again. I don’t say how tired I am because I am almost eight years old, and that means I’m a big girl, and because it would make Mommy feel bad that she can’t carry me that far. Mommy and me are in our nightgowns because we were asleep when they—Where were these images coming from?—landed in the alley behind them. It was an impossible thing, eight or nine feet tall, all mottled ochre-and-black chitin, with eight spiked and bladed spiderlike legs from which it took its name, serrated mandibles beneath great protruding compound eyes, and short, thick, writhing tentacles suspended from the underside of a bulbous, misshapen central body.

I shouted my own warning, but Hall was already emptying his magazine at the thing as he backed toward us. Lawson either tripped or dove in our direction, twisting in mid-air to land on her back. She raised her shotgun, and—grabbed us, and it was really late because both moons were out, but they let us put on our boots before they made us start walking. Mommy tried to fight them and she shot one of them but they beat her up and cut her cheek really bad. But she is still the prettiest lady in the whole wide world. It was real people, not Shashashkuhun, but they don’t act like real people. Mommy says they have bad things inside them called Qlippoth. I think they are telling the Shashashkuhun what—made it roar as she hit the pavement.

The monster’s cry was like a foghorn made of cats and feedback, a spike that shoved through both eardrums. Lawson had hurt it, taken out one leg, in fact, but it wasn’t enough, and Hall’s automatic gunfire cut off with a sickening, meat cleaver sound as the spider sliced through his neck. Hall’s head flew from his shoulders and bounced against the alley wall while the spider eviscerated his body before it could hit the ground, as if he weren’t–to do. A man tried to run away today, but they caught him, and instead of shooting him a Shashashkuhun stuck one of its sharp arm/leg things in him and cut him open and played with his insides until he stopped screaming, and I cried, but I won’t cry anymore, because I’m a big girl, and—dead enough already. Even as far back as Jayden and I stood, hot, sticky wetness splattered our faces.

The monster tried to leap toward us, but its missing leg threw it off balance. Lawson’s shotgun was out of ammo, so she fumbled out her .45 and taunted the slaughter-spider while edging toward the side of the alley opposite the door. Sacrificing herself—big girls don’t cry. The demons usually kill everybody, but now they only kill people who try to run away or stop walking before they tell us to stop or people who fall down and can’t walk anymore, but sometimes when somebody falls down they let somebody else make a travois, which is a kind of sled thing that you drag—to give us a chance to get away. My gun was in my purse inside, but even if I’d had it on me, I couldn’t loosen my grip on the trash can, let alone force myself to move.

I caught Jayden’s eye. I’d never before realized–when I feel like crying I think about Daddy. Daddy is a general, which is a kind of soldier who tells other soldiers what to do. He is a long way away fighting other Shashashkuhun, but when he comes to save us, the Shashashkuhun and the bad people are going to be sorry. I am going to be a soldier like Daddy when I grow up and—how much he and I communicated without speaking, but with that look, I knew we’d done the same math. One of us might—just might—make it to the door. If we left the other one to die along with Lawson.

Fuck that.

Once I’d made the decision, the tension drained from my body—I am nine years old, and I have been in the prison camp for over a year. They tell me it is time for the laboratory again, but if I pick someone else to go, they will leave me alone today. If I choose my mother to go they will leave me alone for a month. They seem surprised when my answer is to hold out my wrists for the cuffs. I am the daughter of a general and a hero. I do not run, or let others take my pain. And no matter what they do to me, I won’t let them see how scared I am—the way the fear had, sublimating into the night and leaving me perfectly relaxed. Jayden gave me that ‘our little secret’ smile, and I knew he got it. He understood. Not just what I was about to do, but why.

When anything you do will end in death, make your final act one of defiance.

And so it was that we, about to die, in the most futile and ridiculous gesture in the history of futile and ridiculous gestures, screamed our defiance in the face of death, and charged the monster that would surely kill us.

With a fucking trash can.

We slammed into the slaughter-spider and fell hard, with the trash can bouncing between those giant legs and spilling its slippery contents out onto the already-slick blacktop. The slaughter-spider screamed at the impact, even louder than when Lawson had shot it, and nearly toppled. A serrated leg missed me by inches, and I rolled away, but I’d only be able to dodge for so long. My only regrets were that since I hadn’t properly prepared this body, I would die along with it—again, where the hell did that thought come from?—and that so many things would go unsaid between me and those I cared about. Including Jayden, if I was being honest.

Something hard in my coat pocket bit into my side as I rolled. I’d forgotten about the taser I almost always took with me when I left the restaurant. Even if it was still charged, it wasn’t salvation, but at this point salvation wasn’t an option. Victory was what mattered, and victory was nothing more nor less than continuing to fight until the inevitable happened. I pulled out the taser, flipped off the safety, and sent 50,000 volts into the center of that mass of tentacles, along with all the fury I could muster. The slaughter-spider jerked momentarily, and Lawson took advantage to pick up a piece of steel rebar from the junk pile in the alley and plunge it glove-deep into one of the slaughter-spider’s faceted eyes. Jayden followed with a sharp piece of broken two-by-four into the other.

And as though someone had flipped a switch marked ‘alive/dead,’ the slaughter-spider fell . . . in slow motion, like those television broadcasts of building demolitions. After one final spasm, it was still, and the alley was silent for several seconds except for the buzz of the streetlight. After barely long enough to begin to accept that we weren’t dead, answering cries to the spider’s death scream split the night.

We staggered inside the restaurant as the first new creature hit the pavement, and got the bars across the door just before another slammed against it. I slapped my palm against the ward sigil and spoke the syllables to activate it, then ran to the front and did the same there. After grabbing my gun and other weapons from upstairs and activating still more wards, I hit the ‘dim all’ switch and met up with the others in the kitchen. Lawson used a cabinet as cover, her shotgun aimed at the door, and Jayden . . .

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

I’d been gone perhaps two minutes, but when I returned, Jayden stood transformed, a grim-faced cross between a modern wastelander and a wild warrior from legend, in a combination of armored biker leathers and Fay armor. The hilts of two matching blades extended over his shoulders, and his jacket sleeves were pushed up to reveal Sidhe archery gauntlets—the real kind, not the department store knockoffs. Other weapons clung to various parts of his body, strategically placed so as not to impede movement—blades, throwing disks, bolas, and quivers and bandoliers of bolts and arrows for the quick-load mini-crossbow in his hand and the compound bow housed in a slender case across his back. He shrugged bashfully—Jayden? Bashful?—when he caught me staring. So this was what he meant when he said he carried everything important with him.

The booming of another hit on the door jerked my attention away from Jayden. After a few more tries, though, the spiders seemed to realize that it was futile, and ceased their efforts.

Now that we had stopped racing time, time slowed to let us catch up. Whether from the endorphin rush or something else, I felt disconnected, an observer watching from inside myself. In the dimness, Lawson and Jayden were pale, oh so pale, and heartbreakingly beautiful against the gray and charcoal shadows. I stood with chest heaving alongside them, seeing and feeling and hearing everything as though for the first time, in love with it all. Because we, who moments before had been dead, were alive and more than alive, were filled with life until we could burst from the pressure as it strained against the insignificant scraps of skin and flesh that could barely contain it.

A single glossy drop of blood formed at the tip of Lawson’s finger, creating itself until it was real enough to float downward and finally join its comrades who had already emigrated to the floor to form a puddle, and Lawson was falling, falling, falling behind it as if to join the puddle herself.

I shook out of my trance barely in time to help Jayden take Lawson’s weight. She was conscious, but weak. “It’s okay,” I told her, “We’re going to get you taken care of. Did you call for backup?” Lawson shook her head weakly, closed her eyes, and made a sound between a chuckle and a sob. “Nobody left to call. Even if the radio worked, nobody left to . . . ” she trailed off and seemed to fold in on herself. I’d seen what that thing did to Hall. I didn’t need her to tell me what had happened to the rest of her squad.

We got Lawson into the VIP lounge and onto a folded-out hide-a-bed, and raided the crisis closet. There was more in there than I’d realized. We patched up Lawson as well as we could and got a saline drip going with something for pain and nausea. It was only after I’d given her naproxyn, though, that I thought to wonder if it thinned the blood the way aspirin did. What if she had internal injuries? Was there anything else I was supposed to be doing? At least I remembered to elevate her feet and make sure she had plenty of blankets. Beyond that, it was a matter of, ‘do no harm,’ with a supersized side order of, ‘hope I don’t fuck this up.’

Damn it, I wasn’t qualified for any of this. Grandpa was the one with the certifi—Duh! Grandpa could talk me through this, and we needed to get word out anyway. Our phones may as well have been paperweights, though. No signal, whether due to the riots or something else. If all else failed, Lawson said that after too long with no contact, it was corporate policy to send in what amounted to the wrath of the gods to investigate. The restaurant was pretty much a fortress—even the ‘glass’ was actually transluminum—so theoretically speaking, all we had to do was stay buttoned up for a few hours and wait for help to arrive. And not go nuts in the meantime.

I’d cut away most of Lawson’s uniform, but the rest needed to come off to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. Her partner had died saving us, and I’d be damned if she followed suit because of me. I asked Jayden to leave the room, but Lawson put a hand on his arm, winked, and flashed a weak smile. “‘Sokay. I like your boyfriend,” she said.

“Just a friend. It’d probably break my ego to date somebody that much prettier than me.”

“‘Just a friend,’ my ass.” She smiled and closed her eyes, slurring her words, and rolled her head around on her pillow. Her own smile didn’t so much fade as disappear. “Thanks, guys. You did good. I just wish . . . ” Tears trickled from the corners of her eyes, and it didn’t take a psychic to know how that sentence was supposed to end.

After helping Lawson down some broth with a little liquid protein and Nutri-All added, we let her rest. When we were sure she was asleep, and that her breathing and pulse were regular, Jayden and I crept out of the room to treat our own injuries, mostly scrapes and bruises.

It seemed like there was something about what had happened in the alley even stranger than the attack. A flash of knowledge or memory. But whenever I tried to access it, it slipped away. Probably the kind of thing that takes over for some people in emergency situations, like the woman who supposedly lifted a car off of her toddler, or the accountant who found himself standing over the bodies of three would-be muggers, with no memory of what had happened. The other disturbing thing was that I was so . . . blank. I should have been shaking. I should have been horrified at Hall’s death, and at the deaths of the rest of their squad. It’s not that I didn’t care, I just kept feeling like it should have affected me more. We should have been . . . I don’t know, mourning them or something. Maybe I couldn’t let myself feel it yet.

I knelt behind Jayden on a tablecloth on the floor, dabbing antiseptic onto a scrape on his upper back. “So everybody dies,” I muttered, “and we end up with road rash. That’s fair.”

“That’s survivor’s guilt talking,” he said.

“Yeah, well.”

“Lawson’d be dead if not for you. We all would.”

“I had help.”

“Your idea, though.”

I’d been swabbing the same area for maybe a full minute, no longer aware of what I was doing, until Jayden spoke again. “You were wrong, you know.”

“About what?”

“About the ‘prettier than you’ thing. I don’t think anybody is. Nobody I’ve ever seen. And I see into the infra-red and ultra-violet, so I see more than you’d think.” I could almost hear that, ‘our little secret’ smile. “It’s not a peeping thing,” he added quickly, “It’s just my normal vision.”

Blatant change of subject, but not unwelcome. I’m pretty sure I blushed. “Yeah, well thanks. But hey, I like the way I look and all, and I’m not fishing for a compliment here, but—realistically speaking—if you’ve never seen better, you must’ve been living in a cave.”

“Actually,” he said, “a Graealfinsidhe separatist conclave, until five years ago. It was carved into the side of a mountain, so I guess it counts as a cave. Never talked to anyone about it until now. I stand by my statement, though. I decided that if we lived, I was going to tell you that. Tell you everything.”

I blinked. “I’m . . . honored. And I’m not complaining—I mean, look, you’re not the only one who decided out there to reveal some things; guess almost dying does that. It’s just, the guy I’ve been crushing on for two years now is suddenly . . . Why me?”

I caught myself stroking his hair, and was about to stop when he tilted his head into my hand and sighed. We sat there like that for a while before he answered. “I want you to know me.”

Coming from him that night, there in the dark on the hardwood floor with the smells of grime and antiseptic assailing our senses, with death waiting outside the door, those were the sweetest words ever spoken. Sweeter in their simple, naked honesty, than any candle-lit declaration of love, more beautiful in their artlessness than any sonnet delivered on bended knee. I couldn’t stop the wetness on my cheeks, and I didn’t want to.

“Yeah, well, there’s something I want you to know, too.” I pulled him back against me, brushing my lips along his cheek. He turned his body in my arms until we found each other’s mouths and lost ourselves, and entwined around each other on that blood-streaked tablecloth on what might be the last night of our lives was the only place I ever wanted to be.

We dozed, and when we woke it was to Uncle Garston standing over us like a bearded, glowering mountain of muscle in blood-stained flannel, with one bandage around his head and another showing through a rip in his shirt, wearing a flak vest that didn’t quite close around his girth. In addition to his omnipresent Desert Eagle in its holster, he clenched an assault rifle in a hand so huge and meaty that the rifle looked almost like a child’s toy.

“Where’s your half of Eli’s find-me charm?” he growled.

“What? What happened?”

His nostrils flared, and he snorted like a bull about to charge. “Did I fucking stutter? Where is the gods-damned—” He stopped, took a breath, and squeezed the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “Sorry. L-word, all right? I didn’t mean to . . . Just, where is it?”

I told him where it was, and he sprinted out of the room. Jayden and I dressed hurriedly, and Lawson called out from the VIP lounge asking what the shouting was about. “That’s what I’m going to find out,” I told her. I ran upstairs, with Jayden behind me, to find Garston in the kitchen scattering the contents of drawers onto the floor.

“Here,” I said, “Right where I said it was. Now stop being Uncle Growly long enough to tell me what’s going on.”

“They took him. Don’t know why, or why they didn’t kill us, but those bastards—”

“Who? The Shashashkuhun? The Qlippoth?”

“Of course, the Shashashkuhun. Who else . . . ” He looked at me with an undecipherable expression. “How did you know about the Shashashkuhun?”

Yeah, how did I know? “I—I don’t know. But when the slaughter-spider attacked last night—”

“They came here?” Garston roared loudly enough to be painful. “Why didn’t you say so? Did they hurt you? And you, boy,” he turned to Jayden, “where were you when this happened?”

Gods. Could I get one question at a time? “I’m fine,” I said, “and Jayden helped kill one of the damn things, so you can back up out of his grill right now. They killed an entire patrol squad except for Lawson, though. She’s downstairs. But this is . . . ” I shook my head. This wasn’t right. “People don’t suddenly know things like that, Garston. And then not even wonder how.” My heart was trying to pound its way out of my chest. Anyone would be freaked out, but why now instead of last night? Where was this panic coming from? “But that’s exactly what I did. I haven’t thought about it since—and when I do, I get these pictures in my head. There were two moons, and we were walking to some prison camp or something, and I was a little girl, and they . . . ” I could hear my voice rising in pitch, but couldn’t stop the words from spilling out or the images from growing more and more solid. Garston and Jayden moved toward me, but I held up my hand. I could do this on my own. I slowed my breathing and counted my breaths, an exercise I had learned as a little girl. One . . . Two . . . Three . . . Little by little, the panic faded, and I opened my eyes.

“Better?” Garston asked.

“Oh, hell no,” I said. “Or yeah, better, but not good. What’s happening to me?”

“Something your grandpa and I were afraid was coming, and that fucker last night must’ve kick-started things. ’Swhy we made you learn all that meditation and shit. Important thing to know is you’re not crazy, okay? But right now, I have to go find Eli, and we’ll explain it all when we get back. Just try not to think about any of it until then.”

“No, you can explain on the way.”

Garston shook his head. “This ain’t a discussion, K-girl. I want you safe. Don’t worry about me. I’m just gonna find out where they’re headed and call in the big guns soon as I get someplace I can get a signal.”

“You’re right, it’s not a discussion. We’ll take my car; it’s faster, and I just charged it.”

Garston opened his mouth to argue, but Jayden jumped in. “Quick question,” he said, “Do you really think anything you say is going to stop her from following you?”

My uncle glowered, but Jayden spread his hands, “I didn’t make the rain, I’m just reporting the weather.”

Garston looked from one of us to the other and threw up his hands—narrowly missing my spice rack with his AR-15—and, grumbling, led the way back downstairs.

Jayden, with his preternatural senses, rode in the passenger seat with Garston’s AR-15, once again in full warrior regalia, while Garston rode in the back with the find-me. I drove. It was calming to have something active on which to focus.

“So,” I said once we were under way, “Tell me if I’ve got this right. Monsters kidnap Grandpa Eli and attack the restaurant, and you know all about them, right down to their inseam sizes, but you don’t think to say anything until they show up and actually start killing people? Oh, and I have random surprise knowledge and first-person scenes from a science fiction movie popping into my head, and you knew that was coming, too, but didn’t think to warn me about that, either. So if I sound just a little bit pissed off, it’s probably because I am. Care to explain?”

“It wasn’t . . . We never thought they’d come here, and just . . . you were so happy, not remembering. You could grow up and have a life this time. Meet a nice boy. Or girl. Hell, a dozen of each and a fucking toaster if that was what you wanted. But you’re the one that made yourself forget shit, and we figured you had a reason and we shouldn’t fuck with it. Maybe it was wrong, but if we’re guilty of anything, it’s trusting your own subconscious, so if you’re looking to be pissed off at somebody, you better put yourself right at the top of the list.”

Ouch. I pretended to focus on traffic for a little while.

“Sorry.”

“‘Sokay.”

“So, whatever ‘it’ was, it was that bad?”

Garston snorted. “Pardon the old war-dog cliché, but I still wake up screaming some nights, and that’s after decades with a PTSD specialist. See, we got what they call desensitized after a while, so they stepped things up a little at a time. When I remembered, though, it was fifteen years all at once, including the stuff at the end that would’a broke anybody unless they worked their way up to it. The good part is it doesn’t sound like it’s hitting you all at once, and like I said, there’s all that meditation and shit.”

“And I still have no idea what ‘it’ is. Looks like we’ve reached the point where not remembering is more dangerous than remembering, though. Agreed? Make me understand here.”“Eli’s better at this kind of thing than I am. It’ll sound crazy coming from me.”

“I challenge you to top the last couple of hours in the crazy department.”

“Okay. Here goes.” He took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and went for it. “Your Grandpa Eli is a demon hunter who travels between universes by performing a ritual that lets him die and come back in other worlds, and he’s actually your father from your first life. You and I and a bunch of others got taken prisoner by the Shashashkuhun demons—who were working with the Qlippoth demons at the time—when you weren’t quite eight years old. Everybody thought we were dead, but we weren’t. We spent about the next fifteen years as live test subjects for demons, until we finally escaped.”

I pulled onto the interstate. The electric hum of the motor, the tires on the wet road, and the wind buffeting us from outside were the only sounds for a while. The drizzle had picked up into rain, and sandwiched between the black sky and blacker road, I struggled to see through the falling gray that sucked my headlight beams into limbo.

“So. You escaped. We escaped, I mean.”

“Yeah.”

“By doing this death ritual thing.”

“Yeah. We got separated, and you took forever to get here, but one day you just sort of . . . coalesced is the word Eli uses. This perfect, beautiful little baby girl, looking exactly the way you used to. Eli picked you up and held you for the longest time, staring at your face and crying, and I said, ‘See? All the good things you’ve done, your karma finally caught up to you.’ And he said, ‘Yes, she finally has.’”

I drove. And I admit that I sniffled a little.

After a few minutes Garston said, “Well? You gonna say something?”

“This is probably the biggest understatement of the century, but it’s a lot to take in.”

“I warned you.”

“You did.”

Still trying to figure things out, we compared notes on the attacks. When Grandpa and Garston saw the riot footage and couldn’t reach me by phone, they headed to Garston’s truck to come check on me. That was when the demons hit them, about an hour and a half after the attack on the restaurant, roughly twelve-thirty or so, when we were still huddled in the restaurant thinking the monsters were right outside. Knowing all that didn’t help much in the ‘figuring things out’ department, though.

Jayden had been silent most of this time except for helping fill in details of our fight with the slaughter-spider. When I glanced over, he was frowning.

“So,” I said, “Regret getting involved with me yet, or do I need to work on that?”

“You’ll have to work on it. Had a thought, though. I’m still not getting a signal, and . . . ” He clicked on the radio. Nothing but static all the way up and down the dial. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding,” I said.

I caught up as close as we dared to the find-me charm, which bought us a few minutes to pull over and search for the jammer. Once we found it, in a waterproof casing fastened to the inside of a rear wheel-well, disabling it was simple. For something a little bigger than a pack of cigarettes, though, it had certainly caused enough trouble.

Jayden took the wheel when we got back on the road so we could run without headlights, thus saving juice and making ourselves stealthier at the same time. Garston made the call. Not just to anybody, but to Malachai Traeger, who doesn’t need a code name because, hey, he’s Malachai fucking Traeger. He might be a sweetheart when he’s not working, but according to local legend, he’s faced down gods. No, that’s not hyperbole. Handy having someone like that as a family friend, especially considering there was no way we could afford him otherwise.

Just knowing that Kai was on the job did wonders for morale, and we whooped triumphantly. Okay, I whooped. Jayden smiled, but for him, that counted. Uncle Garston’s whoop sounded more like, “Would you please shut your mouth while I’m on the phone?” but I claim creative license.

Why wouldn’t we be jubilant? We had a plan, and professionals to carry it out. We had a big head start, but Kai said he’d catch up as soon as he could, and make calls on the way to assemble a small recon team and get someone to the scene of each attack to do forensics. The recon team would figure out exactly what they were up against, and call in extra support as necessary. All we had to do was point the way.

The find-me led, and we followed, with occasional updates to give Kai our route. Once we got out of range of the last cell tower, we dropped emergency reflectors and other expendables at exits and intersections to blaze a trail, and considering we were well into unpatrolled territory at that point, I strapped on Lawson’s body armor just to be safe.

On a sketchily-paved county road at the corner of nowhere and nothing, something pinged the fender, and the front right tire blew with a ‘whump’ like a glove hitting a punching bag, Jayden fought for control and lost, and the world did cartwheels as the car flipped sideways into the ditch, coming to rest halfway down with wheels in the air. Jayden and I extricated ourselves from our seat belts and air bags while I called out to Garston to see if he was okay. He didn’t answer, and when I turned to check on him, he was gone, along with one of the rear doors.

With Jayden’s night vision, it didn’t take long to find Uncle Garston, laying spread-eagled in the bottom of the ditch with his head at an unnatural angle, and wheezing with every breath. I fought back the impulse to throw myself across him the way I had as a little girl, and knelt beside him instead. Jayden understood more quickly than I did what was happening, or maybe just accepted it more readily, and stood silently nearby.

“Least it doesn’t hurt.” Garston said. “Can’t feel shit, to be honest.”

“Kai should be here soon. We’ll get you to a hospital and you’ll be—”

“Come on, K-girl. This ain’t my first body. I know when one’s going.”

I felt like I was six years old again. “You can’t just give up. You’re my Uncle Growly, and you’re tougher than anything, remember?”

“Difference between giving up and knowing when to cut your losses. I need you to do something for me, now. It’s hard, and I don’t want to ask, but—”

“No. No, don’t make me do that again. I can’t.” Again?

“Yes, you can, K-girl. I don’t need the ritual, either, not if it’s quick and clean. If I’m stuck in this body for too much longer it’s over for real, though.”

“I call bullshit. You’re going to hang the fuck on, and that’s all there is to it.” I knew better. But until I admitted it, it wouldn’t be real.

“Karma, I’m asking you to do this because I can’t do it myself. You’ll get past it. Jayden’ll help you with that. I’d ask him, but I know you—even though he’d be saving me, you’d never be able to look at him again and I want better for you than that. So I’m begging you now. Please, do this one last thing for me.”

He coughed, drew in another wheezing breath and coughed again. I ran my fingers over that tangled, salt-and-pepper mess he called a beard and kissed him on the cheek, and after a little bit of struggle, I managed to free the Desert Eagle from its holster and hold it somewhat steadily in both hands.

“L-word, Uncle Growly,” I said.

“Love you, too, K-girl. I’ll be seeing you again.”

Garston closed his eyes. It took me a while, but I pulled the trigger. The big Desert Eagle knocked me on my ass and punched me in both eardrums. I turned my face skyward and howled while the rain sluiced thick, sticky warmth from my face.

And I remembered. Not everything, not even a lot, but enough to begin to understand just how fucked up everything was. To understand why they hadn’t wanted me to remember. Why I had made myself forget. Jayden stood back while I let it out. If he’d put his arms around me or offered any kind of support, I don’t think I could have handled it. He seemed to know that.

Although it’s the worst place to find it, there is strength in pain. Not if you stuff it down or deny it or revel in it, but if you accept the pain as yours. When I was done crying, I used that strength to pull myself from the mud, and hand in hand, Jayden and I helped each other up the slope to the car to assess the damage. Jayden made a frustrated sound beside me, and flipped open his cell phone to show me the bullet hole in the fender.

And that was when I put it together. “Jayden, this isn’t about Grandpa. It never was. This is about me.”

I laid it out for him.

Whoever planned this had learned my routine, knew it would be just me and one other person on Tuesday night, and knew we’d be in the alley with our hands full at some point. The idea was simple. Grab me and get the hell out of there. The spider was never supposed to kill me. But because of the riot, the Plaza had a bunch of extra security, and Jayden and I changed our schedule, so not only were the—call them minions—not all in place, they’d been spotted. Once they’d tipped their hand, they only had a few hours to act, so plan B was to grab Grandpa and use him as bait, leaving Garston alive to come tell me. If they just wanted me dead, why a jammer instead of a bomb, either on the car or in the alley? Or why not a sniper in the alley? And why would someone clever enough to think of making us carry our own jammer not think to look for a find-me charm? They had to have found it, but instead of getting rid of it, they incorporated it into their plan. Then, when we got to where they wanted us to be, they shot out the tire to keep us in place.

There were easier ways to do this. All of it. That someone had gone to all this trouble to show they could outsmart me and pull my strings meant this was something personal, and considering my age when the Shashashkuhun had taken us, it had to be something to do with the prison camp.

It took maybe thirty seconds to explain it all. “So, what do you think?”

“I think my girlfriend is either a brilliant detective or a criminal mastermind. What’s our next move?”

I had no idea.

Garston had brought an extra rifle and plenty of ammo. Jayden and I gathered everything and scrabbled to the edge of the ditch. The tree line was perhaps a hundred yards away on the other wide of the road, but in the darkness it may as well have been miles. I was thankful for Jayden’s eyes.

“I’ve got some movement, but nothing much,” Jayden said “They’re either waiting for their boss, or they just want to make us sweat.”

“Probably the latter,” I said. “We screwed up their plan. Whoever it is, now it’s even more important to show how clever they are. Both for their own ego and to save face. They’re going to want to talk. And gloat. I’ll try to stall them until Kai’s crew gets here. If I say anything horrible that doesn’t sound like the me you know, and I probably will—”

“No, I get it. ‘Words are weapons, sharper than knives.’”

Devil Inside. Now there was an appropriate reference. I nodded. “Just wanted to make sure.”

We watched the tree line in silence for a while. Rather, Jayden watched the tree line. I couldn’t see that far in the dark, so I watched Jayden and tried to stop shivering.

“So,” I said, “Bet you’re wishing you’d stayed at the restaurant about now.”

“No. Gotta admit, though, I normally don’t do the whole monster-fighting thing until the third date. But you’re special.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls who almost get you killed.”

Jayden seemed about to say something when a man’s megaphone-amplified voice shouted across the field. “Karma Rodriguez.”

“It speaks,” I shouted back. “And it knows my name. Should I be impressed?”

“You should remember mine. It’s Brallus. I’m sending over a field phone so you don’t have to shout.”

“Anything that steps out of that tree line dies, Brallus. Especially if it’s carrying something I think might go ‘boom.’” I was already getting hoarse, though. After a quick exchange we determined that both sides had access to walkie talkies, and that Brallus had no need for signal jammers this far from the closest cell tower.

“Alright, Brallus,” I said into the walkie-talkie, “Good people died tonight because of you. If that was supposed to get my attention, it worked.” I wanted to scream at him to give my grandfather back, but if there was any chance at all of that happening, I had to downplay how important he was to me.

“You expect me to believe you’re upset about those native guards?” he said, “What happened to the cold little demon-bitch who whored out her own mother for scraps and special treatment?”

What? Jayden caught my eye, and I shrugged, nonplussed. “You know that’s not how it was. And which of us is working with demons? I could swear that was a Shashashkuhun slaughter-spider I killed a few hours ago.”

“A temporary alliance. And better the Shashashkuhun than monsters like you. See, I know why the Qlippoth’s little experiment worked on you when it killed everybody else they tried it on. You were evil to begin with. That thing they put inside of you wasn’t an invader, it was a soulmate.”

Okay, best not to think about the Qlippoth putting anything inside me for now. Probably something I was better off not remembering. “Brallus, I was a child when they captured me.”

“Captured you? Took you home, you mean. Put you in with the real prisoners to spy on them, and anyone who caught on, you had your followers kill. Then when you and your little band escaped, you left the rest of us there.”

“Okay, do you see the flaw in your logic here? If I was somehow serving the Qlippoth, why would I want or need to escape?”

“How should I know how a demon thinks? After what you did to my brother, I stopped even trying to understand you.”

Riiiiiight. Not like I’d really expected logic to work, anyway. “Look, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“No idea? His name was Kolb. You used your powers to seduce him, then had him ripped to pieces when he finally gave in. As if he had a choice. I can still hear him screaming.”

Speaking of screaming, I didn’t need the walkie to hear him at that point. If the idea was to stall, as opposed to goad, I’d better take things down a notch. I keyed the mic, but before I could speak, the world went away. This world, anyway.

The stone is rough against my back, and Kolb has his hand over my mouth. His brother Brallus is supposed to be keeping watch, but he keeps looking at me funny, and he says they shouldn’t do this, but he breathes harder when he looks at me. Kolb thinks I am afraid of them, but I am just waiting for them to make a mistake. When Kolb tries to rip my top off, I bite his hand as hard as I can and knee him between the legs the way Mommy taught me. I still have a piece of his hand in my mouth, and it is gross, but I can’t think about that now. I spit it out and dig my fingernails into his eyes and scream as loud as I can. And then Mommy is there . . . That twisted . . . And he called me a monster? When I could speak again I screamed back hoarsely. “I was nine years old, you sick fuck. I’m glad Kolb is dead. I hope it hurt like hell and took a long, long time, and I’m just sorry they could only do it once. Now give me back my grandfather, you piece of shit, or I swear I will tear you open with my bare hands and feed you your own intestines.”

I was shaking with rage, and when Jayden touched my arm I nearly decked him before I regained control. He raised an eyebrow and indicated the tree line by inclining his head toward it. By the time I followed his eyes, he was already sending arrow after arrow across the field. The Shashashkuhun were attacking. There were at least a dozen or so—I was a little too occupied to count—a mix of slaughter-spiders and more humanoid-looking creatures—slothor, something inside me said—laying down suppressing fire with automatic rifles, but considering what it had taken to kill just one already-wounded slaughter-spider, we were well and truly fucked. So much for Brallus wanting me alive. The only thing to do was go down fighting, but that would probably be quicker and cleaner than whatever Brallus had originally planned. I picked up the AR-15 and took aim, and Jayden lay down his bow and grabbed the other rifle.

“I’m sorry, Jayden,” I shouted. Like sorry would cover this. “They don’t care about you. If you run they might let you go.”

Jayden’s only response was to keep firing. I had to give him the out, even though I knew he wouldn’t take it. Part of me found comfort in knowing he’d be there until the end, and the rest of me hated myself for that.

“I love you,” I yelled above the sound of gunfire. I should have said it months ago, and I might not get a chance to say it later.

“You’d better,” he said as he swapped out magazines, “And I love you, too.” He tried to give me one of those ‘our little secret’ smiles, but failed, and we pretended not to see the fear on each other’s faces. We downed two demons, but although that made them a little more cautious, they were still too tough and healed too quickly. By the time they were thirty yards away, we had only taken one more out of the fight, and were nearly out of ammunition. It would be hand to hand with the remaining ones soon, and realistically speaking, that wouldn’t last very long. We were about to die. The only question was whether we could take any more of them with us.

And that was when our miracle arrived. At first I thought it was more Shashashkuhun, but no, the demons were taking flanking fire from the roadside perpendicular to ours, and a three-wheeler with a sidecar leapt over the adjoining road and sped toward us down the center of the ditch. Malachai Traeger, tall and lean in brown armored leathers and that Boba Fett-looking helmet of his, jumped off the trike before it even came to a full stop, letting it stall out, and a slender Aosidhe woman in ill-fitting rust-colored gear followed from the sidecar, carrying four assault rifles with jungle clips. If I knew Kai, and I did, they’d be loaded with something to give us an edge. She tossed one to Kai on the run, and scrambled up the slope to hand one each to Jayden and me before taking a prone position and firing. She and Kai squeezed off disciplined three-round bursts, and Jayden and I tried to follow suit, focusing on the same targets. The Shashashkuhun didn’t simply fall back or retreat, they scrambled for the tree line. About half of them made it, and the gunfire changed to occasional shots and bursts as targets became less visible.

The Aosidhe woman took off toward the other end of the ditch. Kai waved me a little further down the slope and plopped down next to me, flipping up his faceplate. “Would’ve been here sooner, but someone left a surprise for us. And by the way, that trash can did quite a bit of damage. Not fatal on its own, but more than it should have. Same with the taser.”

“So their weaknesses are aluminum and electricity?”

“Nope. I have a theory about that, but—”

The radio squawked. Brallus wanting to know if I was still there. “Yeah, I’m here, Brallus. You’re down a few troops, though. Seems like this might be a good time for you to surrender.”

“Not when I still have something you want.”

I made sure the mic was off, and explained to Kai what was going on, then asked, “Can your people get to my grandpa?”

“They’re working on it, but we don’t want to put him in any more danger. Stall.”

Along with everything else, Brallus was playing a power game. He couldn’t just tell me what he wanted—He had to make me ask. “Okay, what do you want?”

“You, demon-bitch.” He didn’t speak the words so much as spit them. “Wearing thrice-blessed iron manacles, in a circle of containment. Then I’ll let the old man go.”

What. The. Fuck.

“Traditional anti-demon thing,” Kai whispered. “This is good. Keep him talking.”

“I see a couple of problems with that,” I said. “The first of which is, gee, wouldn’t you know it, Brallus? I’m fresh out of thrice-blessed iron manacles.”

“Funny. I’ll send over the restraints.”

“And what’s to stop you from double-crossing us once you have me?”

“I don’t think you have much choice.”

“Let me talk to him.”

“He’s rather . . . indisposed.”

“Look, do you see the other hole in your logic here? If I’m this evil demon spawn you claim, why would his life mean enough to me to risk my own?”

“I don’t know, nor do I care about your reasons.” Of course. Hadn’t we established earlier that Brallus was immune to logic? “I’ll give you twenty minutes to decide how important he is to you.”

“If you kill him, you lose your leverage.”

“True, but I don’t have to kill him. How do you think he’d like living without his lips? Or maybe his eyelids?”

That was when I knew that no matter what, even if it cost me my own life, I was going to kill that son of a bitch, and anyone who got in my way.—The worst part isn’t what they do to us. It’s what they make us do to each other. I am strapped to the table trying not to cry while my mother stands over me with a hot iron. They give her a choice. She can take over torturing me, or they will burn out my eyes, one at a time. If she still refuses, they will cut out my tongue—but not all at once. They will draw it out. They make it very clear just how long and how horribly they can make me suffer while keeping me alive and awake.—

“You touch one hair on his head, and I’ll make the prison camp seem like Club fucking Med, motherfucker. I’ll . . . ” I don’t even remember the rest of what I screamed into the walkie-talkie at that point, only that my hands were shaking so badly that I dropped it. I was wiping the mud off when Brallus’ voice broke in again.

“I’ll turn this back on in twenty minutes. Have your answer ready.”

Oh, I had an answer for him, all right. I was going to put him in a hole where no one could hear him scream. I was going to cut off his balls and feed them to him. I was going to—

“You know you can’t hand yourself over, don’t you?” Jayden said.

My voice came out harder than I’d intended. “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. You think I don’t understand the risk? Would you do it for someone you love?”

Jayden’s voice was quiet when he answered. “You already know the answer to that.”

Oh, smooth. I was bitching at a man who’d proven twice in the past few hours that he’d stand beside me even if it meant dying. I hung my head, blinking. What the fuck? One minute I was ready to kill, the next, I was fighting back tears.

“I didn’t mean to snap at you,” I said. “It’s just so messed up right now. We started the night being attacked by monsters. And do we run from them like, oh, I don’t know . . . sane people? No, we chase them into an unpatrolled zone like some kind of demon-food delivery service, because yeah, that was bound to turn out well. But what other choice did we have? They took Grandpa and we had to get him back. And Garston . . . I lost one of only two people I consider family tonight—no, correction, I blew his fucking brains out, and I don’t dare even slow down long enough to let myself feel it yet.” I heard my voice rising, felt my control slipping, and I didn’t care. “Apparently my entire family is from some alternate universe, and I’m remembering things from a past life where I was tortured by demons for fifteen years starting when I was eight years old—Let me tell you, it wasn’t a good time. I am this close to completely, absolutely, permanently, and irrevocably losing my fucking shit, and the only reason I haven’t already lost it is that all of this is so utterly bat-shit insane that I can’t even focus enough to go properly crazy. I—”

Jayden knelt and pulled me to him hard, covering my mouth with his in a kiss that, for just that moment, was more real than anything else in existence. Solid and tangible proof of a connection with another human being. One who would support me no matter what the odds. When we broke the kiss Jayden remained, holding me firmly but gently, grounding me.

“I’m sorry,” I managed to say, “I just . . . I’m doing the best I can, but I honestly don’t know how much I have left in me. I’m trying to be strong, but I’m so fucking tired of being strong right now.”

“And you are strong, Karma,” Jayden said. “Just stop taking it all on yourself. Nobody’s that strong.”

Kai shook his head and sighed. “The kid’s right,” he said. “Most people’d be ready for a rubber room after half of what you’ve been through in the past—what’s it been, five hours or so? I’ve been close to the edge myself a couple of times, and I deal with fucked-up shit for a living. No shame in needing somebody to pull you back.”

I swallowed and nodded, and Kai continued. “That said, as much as I don’t want to push you any further, we’ve got a deadline to meet. You gonna be okay?”

There was a question I’d heard before. “Ask me that in a couple of years. But let’s do this.”

“Okay. Give me your hands. I have to check something.” Kai knelt where Jayden had been and took both my hands in his. A familiar, subtle energy, both warm and cool at once, circulated through me. Something in Kai called out to that energy, but it was like the call was in a foreign tongue, a friendly language that I could almost, but not quite, understand. Kai became somehow more real, more solid. I had an impression of immensity, of a bright column of light almost too intense to look at, that feathered outward like three sets of giant wings, and of a voice like singing multi-tonal bells and pipes accompanied by a chorus of beautiful, almost human voices. Kai removed his hands from mine, and the vision faded.

“You’re a—” I started.

Kai cut me off. “Don’t go there, it’s not what you think. I’ll explain later, but for now let’s just say the Quiet World is a hell of a lot bigger than most people think. There are some people who don’t even know they’re Quiet Worlders. Like you.”

I swallowed.

“So what am I?”

“Beats the hell out of me. Not the same as me, but similar enough that I’m betting your power—at least one part of it—works about the same way mine does. At least there’s one thing we can both do.”

“Are you telling me I’m a—”

“I said don’t go there. Now about this power . . . ” After he told me I sat blinking, trying to take it in.

“You’re telling me that I turned a trash can into a holy weapon? And I can’t believe those words just came out of my mouth.”

Kai winced. “I wouldn’t put it like that, but basically, yeah. You channel energy into objects, and if something’s got a supernatural weakness, well . . . You’ve seen the results. You’ve already done it unconsciously, and we have about ten minutes to figure out how, so let’s get with it.”

When Brallus came back on the air, I told him I was ready. He sent the more humanoid of the remaining Shashashkuhun across, pulling what looked like an old barn door on makeshift runners, marked with containment circles. Assuming they were specifically keyed to demons, they wouldn’t affect me, nor would the blessings on the restraints. Unfortunately, though, the chains would hold me just like they would anybody else. Brallus insisted I strip down to my bra and panties to make sure I wasn’t hiding a weapon, and while that made sense on one level, it was also creepy, considering. The kind of pseudo-succubus he’d convinced himself I was wouldn’t mind stripping, though, and the idea for now was to play into his expectations.

So I stepped up into the containment circle and made a show of it, shimmying and tossing my head as though dancing to some private, raunchy music—which is a lot harder than you’d think when you’re soaked, and shivering uncontrollably. When I got down to my underthings I ran my hands down my sides, did a little wriggle, and hooked my thumbs into the waistband of my panties. “Sure you don’t want me to keep going?” The demon eyed me and licked its black lips as it came closer. Gods, I was going to be sick if the thing actually touched me.

At a word from Brallus, it backed away hurriedly, and someone in the tree line fired a warning shot. “No tricks,” Brallus shouted. “You, with the long hair,” meaning Jayden, “Chain her up. And do it right, or the old man suffers.” So far, so good. Part of the plan depended on either Jayden or Kai getting up onto the platform with me.

The cuffs and collar were fastened to a ring in the middle of the platform by chains that wouldn’t allow me to raise myself up past a crouch, and secured by large, medieval-looking padlocks. As Jayden snapped the last lock in place, I lowered my head, ostensibly in defeat, but in reality to hide my smile at the feel of cold metal hidden beneath my foot and the chemical smell in my nostrils. The drizzle hadn’t let up, and would already be diluting the acid, but all the acid had to do was weaken the wood where the ring was bolted.

It took forever for the monster to slog across in the mud pulling me behind it. This would work, I kept telling myself. For the most part I believed it, too. Until Brallus stepped forward, placed his hand on the platform, and spoke an activating word. After that I was too busy screaming to think about much of anything.

When I came to, I was huddled on my side in the fetal position, shivering, in a pool of my own vomit and urine. At least I’d landed on the multi-tool when I fell, keeping it hidden. The air was damp and cold, but a tent kept the rain off of us. Brallus stood nearby with arms folded, glaring at me. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, fairly well-muscled, with close-cropped, thick, dark hair. The overall effect was like someone had brought a G.I. Joe to life. A .45 sat holstered on his right hip, and a coiled whip hung from one wrist by a leather strap.

“Killer turkey sandwich,” I croaked, “No mayo, black coffee, apple pie.”

“You have no idea how difficult it was to treat you like a human being, or to keep my food down while looking at you. And by the way, please try to move again. The outer circle is containment, the inner one is pain, as you’ve already discovered. So sorry your foot was touching it when I turned it on.”

“Kinky. If I were fifteen years younger I bet you’d be creaming yourself. Again.” I tried to keep my voice steady, but I was scared shitless, and trying to hide it from him any way I could.

It wasn’t a good tactic. I barely saw the whip coming in time to take the lash on my arms instead of across my face. It was a half-hearted strike and didn’t quite draw blood, but it stung like hell, and I cried out despite myself. The whip gave me an idea, though; I just wasn’t ready to try it yet.

Brallus was red in the face. “Soaked in holy water. It should have burned you, but I guess that’s just one more mystery we’ll have to solve. Some old friends want to see what makes you tick, and I’m sure they’ll get to the bottom of it. If there’s anything left when they’re finished, you’re mine. Think about that, demon-bitch.”

I thought about it, alright, and I didn’t like the pictures in my head. “What about The General? Did you let him go?”

In answer, Brallus pointed behind me to where Grandpa was tied to a post by his wrists with his head down on his chest. He was breathing, but unconscious. “I’ll release him at a more appropriate time. For now, though,” He pulled a baby monitor—talk about creep factor—from his cargo pocket, switched it on, and set it on top of the nearby field table. “Feel free to scream at me as much as you like. I’ll be listening.”

He muttered what I supposed were instructions to the monster who’d dragged me here, then swaggered out of the tent. Smug bastard. The man demon growled when it looked my way, but immediately averted its many eyes, as though afraid to look directly at me. I guessed Brallus had him convinced that I was dangerous. I took advantage to inspect the pain ward more closely, careful not to move any part of my body over it. I was no expert, but if I was right about it, my idea should work. I wrapped myself around the ring, and worked it back and forth, covering the motion with fake, body-wracking sobs, augmented occasionally with very real dry heaves from the stink of my own fluids, until I’d gotten it as loose as I thought I could by hand.

I was determined to stay alert for a chance to work on it with the multi-tool, but I was at that point of exhaustion where inanimate objects move in the corners of your eyes and normal background noise becomes voices on a far-away radio. The pain and growling in my stomach reminded me that what little I’d eaten in the past few hours was either smeared all over my skin or lay in a noxious pool beneath me, and the last time I’d felt warm or dry seemed like a lifetime ago.

My body finally said, ‘enough,’ and as if my brain was trying to convince me to stop fighting sleep, I could almost hear a lullaby in a woman’s soft mezzo-soprano, familiar and comforting. I held the song against myself and let it pull me down into the welcome dark.

I couldn’t have been out for more than a few minutes, but when I opened my eyes, the demon guard’s misshapen head lolled to one side in sleep. It had to be a trick, I thought at first, but then again, we’d left Brallus short-handed, and who knew how much it took out of these things to heal as quickly as they did?

I turned at a low hiss from Grandpa. He winked at me and wiggled the end of the rope. He’d gotten loose, but held it in place to make it look as though his hands were still bound. Thanks to the baby monitor, we didn’t dare speak, but I managed to pantomime my idea, and urged him to escape. He frowned and shook his head no. I hadn’t really expected him to leave me there, any more than I’d have left him or . . . Gods, I didn’t want to tell him about Uncle Garston. I set to work with the multi-tool, digging around the ring to which my chains were attached. Once I got it out I replaced it, took a deep breath, and with an encouraging look from Grandpa, got ready to put on another act.

“Brallus,” I said toward the monitor. The demon guarding me jerked its head up, awake, but other than that, nothing. “Brallus! Please, I’m cold, and I’m hungry, and I know you don’t care about that, but I’ll tell you things you want to know. All I want is a blanket and some food. I’ll cooperate. I didn’t know how bad it would be without my power.”

Still nothing.

“This body’s getting weaker. It’ll get sick. What if it dies? What then? All this for nothing?”

Something rustled outside, and Brallus entered the tent glowering. He spoke a few words to the demon in an ugly language, and the beast left. I did my best to look small and pitiful and afraid. The afraid part wasn’t hard, and I figured that being scared at least meant I was still sane.

“I sent it for food, water, and blankets. I’ll have it bring them in once we’re done here.”

I bowed my head, doing my best ‘humbled prisoner’ act, and reminded myself that as long as those wards were active I’d be unconscious from pain before I could get my hands around Brallus’ throat. “Thank you,” I mumbled.

“Don’t thank me. I’d rather watch you suffer.”

I bit my lip. Have to play this just right. I couldn’t have him get pissed and walk away. I needed to get hold of that whip.

I kept my head bowed. “I know. But I’ll keep my end. I’ll tell you everything.”

“And how would I know it was the truth?”

“Because my best chance of survival, or at least a quick death, is to cooperate.”

The best lies contain at least partial truths, and I sprinkled in just enough to make things sound plausible, given that there was no way he’d accept the unvarnished version. Some things I had to blatantly fabricate, though. For instance, I claimed that the riot and Grandpa were both parts of long-term plans to gain power in this world, and that when I agreed to trade myself I did so thinking that Brallus couldn’t hold me (that part was true) and I’d have my pawn back for free. After a few minutes, it was time to bait my hook. With head hung low, I offered to tell the truth about what I had done to his brother, and said that I’d write a confession. He bit, and I started reeling him in.

Another thing about lies. People will buy into almost anything as long as it confirms what they want to believe, and unless I had seriously misunderstood Brallus’ expression when his brother was trying to molest me, Brallus’ tastes ran similar to Kolb’s.

So I spun a Lolita story that would have made Nabokov proud. Although I barely kept from gagging as I did it, I confirmed all the lies people like Brallus and Kolb tell themselves so they can sleep at night, and credited myself demonic powers to further absolve Kolb of responsibility. Brallus’ breathing quickened, and every so often he’d unconsciously moisten his lips with his tongue. Yeah, I know. Makes you want to throw up, doesn’t it?

“And you’d write this out as a confession?” he asked.

I hung my head. “With witnesses, if you want, to prove I wasn’t coerced.”

He steepled his hands and sat watching me. “You know this doesn’t change anything.”

“I know. Still, I was hoping maybe . . . ”

I let the pause hang there until he prompted me. “I knew you’d have an ulterior motive. You were hoping what? That I’d unchain you and let you go?”

I shook my head. “No, just that if I cooperated and told you everything you wanted to know, maybe you wouldn’t turn me over to them.” I wasn’t even sure who ‘they’ were, but I assumed the higher-ups in the Shashashkuhun hierarchy.

“That’s out of my hands.”

“No, you can convince them. And you can . . . use me any way you want.” Emphasis on the ‘use.’ And then, for the bit that would set me free. “And if this body doesn’t please you, I could help you find young girls, like I was back then. Boys, too, if you want them. I could make them either submit or fight back, whichever excites you more.”

His face went slack and pale. The last thing people in denial want is to have their proclivities thrown in their face. “You. Dare.” Brallus stood and unfurled the whip. I crouched and threw my hands in front of me as though cowering, but as the whip wrapped around my forearms and bit into them, I grabbed and pulled. Brallus teetered, off-balance, but didn’t fall. We played tug-of-war, and Brallus was winning until Grandpa threw himself at Brallus’ back and knocked him across his own wards.

The wards flashed with electricity, and Brallus screamed, convulsed, and passed out. I used his body as a bridge to get out of the containment circle, then Grandpa grabbed his sidearm and his keys. Grandpa offered me the .45, but I waved it away in favor of the keys, and told him to deactivate the find-me charm—which would signal Kai and his group to attack. I should have taken the gun and put a bullet into Brallus’ head, but I wanted him awake and alert when I killed him. As I finished with the locks, scrambling noises outside said that at least one demon was on the way back to the tent. I grasped the chains that had held me and swung them in a slow, but accelerating circle while I used what Kai and I had discovered about my power to infuse them with what energy I could.

When tall, dark and revolting poked its ugly head into the tent, I swung my chains with everything I had, and sent it staggering back. The power in the chains flashed, then diminished, but did not completely fade, and the demon’s face blackened across its eyes where I’d hit it. I swung again and again while Grandpa flanked it with Brallus’ .45. On my third blow, the demon’s skull cracked open, spattering me with blood and brains.

Gunfire and other battle noises announced the arrival of our allies, and by the time I’d secured Brallus and stepped out of the tent, the fighting was over. Filthy as I was, I threw my arms around Grandpa’s neck, telling him how much I’d missed him, how worried I’d been, and babbling about Jayden.

Grandpa looked away, with sad eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not your grandfather.”

“I know. Uncle Garston told me. Dad.” I grinned.

“You don’t understand. I mean—”

I heard movement behind me, and turned to see Brallus low-crawling toward the tent flap to escape.

Reunions would have to wait. I ran toward Brallus swinging my chains, and opened a gash across his back with the bolt end of the connecting ring. He bellowed and fell forward, and I went to work on him. Not his head, though. That would be too quick. This man had killed my friends, kidnapped and tortured my father, forced me to kill the other man I thought of as a parent, and those were only the tip of the mountain of things he had to answer for. He rolled onto his back snarling and tried to catch the chain, and got a broken arm for his trouble. He succeeded in pulling me off balance, but I don’t think me landing with my knee in his solar plexus was the result he was going for. While he gasped for breath, stunned, I raised my arms into the air and smashed a double fistful of chain into his face.

Once he was unconscious I let up, simply because it wasn’t as satisfying to hit him when he couldn’t feel it. I wanted to kill him. I wanted it more than I could remember ever wanting anything. But I didn’t. No, not because of some cliché like, ‘he wasn’t worth it,’ or, ‘that would be stooping to his level.’ Oh, hell, no. I could have killed him and slept the sleep of the just, but it came down to a question of practicality. I had questions for the bastard, and if I killed him, I’d never get the answers. I left him to Kai’s tender mercies for the time being.

One of the proxies loaned us a vehicle to get back to civilization, and Jayden and I set out to find where Grandpa-slash-Dad had gotten to. The drizzle had become a downpour by the time we found him on the side of the road staring at the spot where Garston had died. Correction: where I had killed him. I stuffed that thought down as best I could. Kai’s cohorts had already removed the body, but someone must have told him. I didn’t know whether to feel relieved that I didn’t have to break the news, or guilty that he’d had to hear it from someone else. I finally decided on feeling guilty about feeling relieved. Jayden kissed me—yes, vomit and all—and said he’d be close by, then wandered off to give my grandfather and me some time alone.

I stood behind Grandpa and put my hand on his shoulder. I didn’t know what to say, or even whether to call him Grandpa or Dad, so I didn’t say anything. After thirty seconds or so, he broke the silence, and I didn’t think I’d ever heard him sound so frail or tired.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so, so sorry. I thought I could get Eli back, but then I was . . . He’s in here somewhere, but he’s buried deep.”

My stomach dropped, and my spine turned to ice. I backed away, drawing my nine millimeter, pointing it at the back of his head and thumbing the safety off. “Who are you? What are you? And what the fuck are you doing in my grandfather?”

“I—Nobody. Just another prisoner. Someone who tried to save everybody and failed. You did great, though. Saved everybody I couldn’t, including yourself. Including me. I’ll keep this body alive long enough to get it to a hospital, and then I’ll leave you all in peace.”

I lowered my weapon. “What do I call you?”

He turned toward me, and I averted my eyes to avoid seeing someone else behind that face. “I won’t be around long enough to need a name.”

There was nothing left but to go home. I took the wheel, with Not-Grandpa in the passenger seat and Jayden in the back. In the enclosed space, all the things I hadn’t been able to wash off hit me square in the face. That window had to come down, freezing rain or no. I eased us back to pavement, and then opened up full throttle, trying to outrun my own thoughts.

Nothing. It was all for nothing. I’d failed, utterly and completely, and as if to prove there was no justice in the universe, I was still alive—Then again, maybe there was justice after all. Maybe surviving was part of my punishment.

Which brings me to my laughing-slash-crying jag at the side of the road. The car was too confining, so I drove to the nearest rest stop, got out and walked to a covered picnic table. After a few minutes, Jayden joined me. As he’d already shown, he had a good feel for when to approach me and when to leave me alone.

“I was talking to, uh . . . ” He gestured toward the car.

“I’ve been thinking of him as ‘Not-Grandpa,’ for lack of anything better. And look, I already know I’m not giving him a fair shake. I can’t help it. And yes, I know we should try to help him find another—”

“About that. I know the whole deduction thing is your territory, but as the Watson to your Holmes, I figure I can come up with something once in a while, too.”

“Okay, spill, Watson.”

“Under one condition.”

At Jayden’s insistence, I gave myself a sponge-bath in the ladies’ room while he rinsed my clothes and laid out his thoughts and conclusions the way I’d done with him earlier. When he finished, I stood literally open-mouthed for probably a full minute, letting it sink in. If my power was, as Kai thought, something like his, there was one way to see if Jayden was right.

“Go on,” he said. “I’ll wait here for a little while.” Seemed like that boy spent a lot of time waiting for me. Then again, we’d waited almost two years for each other, so we should’ve been used to it by then.

Back at the car I took Not-Grandpa’s hands, over his objections, and focused on finding that same energy I’d felt with Kai.

There were no heavenly choirs, no columns of light. Just a face. Layers of faces, actually. The first one was a facade, the peak of a bearded mountain named Garston. Behind that one was a woman’s face, with long, dark hair, and eyes like mine. A face from another life. My mother.

Although it was Grandpa’s body in front of me, it was still my mother’s face I saw superimposed upon it. She turned away from me, crying. I was almost too stunned to form words, and my mouth opened and closed several times before I could make anything come out. “Mom?” I said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I—” she started, but a huge sob cut her off, and for a while, we just held each other and cried.

So much for this all being for nothing.

Maybe we all got what we deserved in the end, after all. We’ll be a family again for the first time in nearly two lifetimes, once we get Dad back from wherever inside himself he's hiding out and find Mom a new body (no idea how we're going to do that, but I have some ideas). Jayden got me, and at the risk of blowing my own horn, I’m not such a bad catch. The patrol officers—after everything I’d seen, I couldn’t believe that death was the end for them. Me, not only was I getting my family back, along with some sort of as-yet-unexplained superpowers, but also quite possibly the most fantastic guy in this or any other universe. I don’t know what I did to deserve any of it, but it must have been something pretty awesome. So even if it sounds corny—and I know it does…

I’m going to call it karma.

#my writing #urban fantasy #hopepunk #writing #karma #quiet world #my fiction #cosmic horror

13 notes · View notes

vincess-princess · 8 months

Text

in darkness shall you be reborn

Chapter 13.

Word count: 3073 Warnings: a bit of violence, i guess? A/N: hi hello it's me just a month after the previous chapter. my classes started and every day im running to work and then to uni across the entire city like a headless chicken so i don't really have much energy for anything else. but i'm gonna try hard to keep posting semi-regularly at least!

Vince’s guess proved true when he climbed the stairs to the hatch and peered outside. The pirates gathered in the middle of the deck in a circle, and within it there was movement and frequent, irregular clunking, each eliciting cheering or booing from the pirates. Occasionally he could hear Nikki shout. Vince hesitated a bit, pretty convinced it would be unwise to show up after Nikki so explicitly disapproved of it, but his bitterness over the recent humiliation prevailed and he climbed onto the deck and walked behind pirates’ backs until he distinguished Mick’s.

“Vince? Whatcha doing here?” Mick asked, startled when Vince patted his shoulder.

“Wanted to see what’s going on. I’m always missing all the fun.”

“Well, you have. Happy now?” Mick wanted to add something, but his voice drowned in Nikki’s yelling.

“Tom, are you trying to show us a minuet here? What’s all this leg-kicking? Feet firmly on the floor, shoulder-width apart, knees bent, or you’ll get knocked down immediately! Bobby, push him! See, you almost fell! You gotta be steady as a mountain or you’ll get trampled. Get in the stance now. Lower! Bend your goddamn knees! Alright, that will do. Bobby, push him again. See? Didn’t sway a bit. Now keep that in mind as you go for another round. Three, two, one, go!”

The clunking resumed.

“Oh yes. Finally it’s not me he’s yelling at. But – fencing lessons on a pirate ship, really? And you all are fine with him bossing you around like that?”

“Well,” Mick sighed, “you too admitted that the motherfucker is damn good. And you can’t let your skill go rusty, not in our walk of life. Besides, it’s a good way for the guys to blow off steam.”

“Can’t wait to see you in action.” The respect the crew and even the captain held for the cook was obvious, and Vince was dying to know what caused it. Mick didn’t look much of a fighter, but pirates were the kind of people who only respected brutal force, so there must have been something Vince couldn’t see – not yet, at least.

“You won’t,” Mick ruthlessly thwarted his hopes. “Twenty years ago, maybe. Now my bones won’t let me.”

“You don’t take part in raids then?”

“Close combat is not the only way to take down an enemy, y’know.” Mick patted his holster. No other explanation was needed.

They watched Tom lose to Bobby again when the wooden sword of the latter smashed into his wrist with a crack – hopefully the crack of wood – making him cry out and drop his weapon. His opponent was two heads taller, his arm as thick as Tom’s leg. Tom wasn’t capable of taking his opponent down by force no matter how hard he tried.

“The right stance here won’t help, not with their size difference,” Vince told Mick. “His endurance is also lacking. The longer the fight, the smaller his chance to win. The guy’s only hope is speed. He needs to focus on that.”

Mick gave him a long, hard look.

“You really think you know better than Nikki? He took you down in a couple minutes.”

“I know my theory.” Vince shrugged. “He, on the other hand, seems to be an intuitive type. He honed his own skill to perfection, sure, but he’s got gaps in his overall knowledge of the craft. For example, how it can be readjusted for different body types.”

“Well, your ‘knowledge of the craft’ didn’t help you much,” Mick said sharply. Then, seeing Vince’s hurt expression, softened somewhat. “You better keep it to yourself. Nikki’s not gonna like it if you go around undermining his superiority like that.”

“No one would listen to me anyway,” Vince huffed. “He made sure of that.”

“I wouldn’t be so convinced,” Mick smiled mysteriously.

“What do you mean?”

But the old pirate refused to elaborate no matter how hard Vince tried, and soon Vince gave up and switched his attention to the new pair of fighters in the ring. Slash and Duff were inseparable even during the training, Vince thought, as he watched them get into positions.

This fight was quite a bit fairer, as Slash’s almost snake-like agility compensated somewhat for Duff’s height and weight advantage. It could only do so much, though: multiple times he got too close to Duff to land a blow powerful enough to knock down, and imminently had to retreat when facing a counterattack.

“Are there, like, rules for the fight?” Vince whispered to Mick. “Or just freestyle?”

“Only one: the fight goes on until one is downed or disarmed.”

“No prohibited moves, nothing?”

Mick looked at him like he was an idiot. “The only exception is the eyes. Everything else is fine, as long as they don’t get too excited. Limit them now, they will never show their full potential in a real fight.”

“And if someone gets seriously injured?”

“With a wooden stick? Don’t be ridiculous. Anyone who’d let that happen doesn’t belong on the Shout. And Izzy’s here eating our food for a reason.”

Vince involuntarily searched the crowd for the skinny, black-clad surgeon. To his surprise, next to him he spotted a familiar ginger head.

“So almost everything is off limits then.”

“I’ve been trying to say that the whole time.”

“Then why doesn’t Slash go for Duff’s crotch? He’s gotten close enough several times by now. Duff’s completely open, he won’t have the time to parry or dodge. It’s so obvious - but Slash doesn’t seem to notice.”

Mick looked at him with amusement.

“Damn, you’re vicious. Maybe he just doesn’t want to be a dick, you ever thought of that?”

“Alright, not the crotch,” Vince backed down, belatedly realizing that he too wouldn’t want to do it to a friend. “The knee’s open as well, and you can topple anyone with a well-placed strike there- Oh. That must have hurt.”

Duff’s sword collided with Slash’s shoulder with a loud crash, kicking the weapon out of his hand and almost knocking him to the ground. Slash staggered back, grasping at the hurt shoulder with his left hand and cursing like… well, like a sailor.

“Sorry, mate!” Duff raised his hands in an apologetic gesture, but Slash spat on the deck in disdain, turned his back on Duff and walked away proudly, plopping down onto a bench just a few feet away from Vince and Mick. Duff frowned, but didn’t follow him; instead he handed over his sword to the next combatant and disappeared in the opposite part of the crowd.

“Slash, you gotta learn to lose!” Vince heard Nikki’s voice. “And also work on your grip!”

Pirates in the circle laughed. When Slash showed them the middle finger, they laughed louder. Vince swallowed a lump of yearning in his throat; it slid down his chest and stomach, coating his insides in cold slime. This laughter was so different from what he was always getting. Not jeering and mocking, but light-hearted and good-natured, the one you would hear from your friends when you trip over. But they weren’t his friends and would never be.

Vince hastily kicked the unwanted emotion into the back of his mind and forcefully smoothened the frown on his face before turning to Mick and speaking to him as cheerfully as he could.

“Wow. Did I just see the inseparable couple separate?”

“That’s not for long,” Mick waved his hand. “Slash only gets pissed at Duff when he loses, which is almost always. But he comes around quickly. Wait and see, they’ll be thick as thieves in an hour again.”

“Well, no wonder he loses all the time. His grip is fine, perfecting it further won’t yield much use. His problems stem from trying to use a strategy not fit for his capabilities. He’s pushing forward like he’s got all 200 pounds in him, and of course it doesn’t work. He should make use of his agility instead.”

Mick sighed.

“Do you just turn a deaf ear to me every time I open my mouth? You won’t like it if Nikki learns you’ve been shit-talking him. That includes talking to me. You never know who might be listening nearby.”

Vince couldn’t help but look around suspiciously, a chill creeping down his spine. There were several pirates nearby, but all of them were captivated by the fight. Were – or just pretended to be?

Then he looked back at Mick and grew even more uneasy.

“You wouldn’t…?” he trailed off, recalling everything he told Mick over those days on the Shout. Were Nikki to learn some of that, Vince would be fucked.

Not a muscle moved on Mick’s face, but his features as though sharpened, lines on his face deepened, and the chilling-blue gaze turned outright freezing.

“I’m not a snitch, princess. I know how to keep my mouth shut. That’s why I lasted so long here.” He looked away, crossing his arms on his chest. “You know, if Nikki had learned about your midnight stroll, you wouldn’t be sleepin’ in the galley no more.”

“Oh. Right.” Vince’s guts twisted into a knot. Did he just turn away the only friendly face on this ship? “Sorry, man. I never thought you’d do something like that.”

“Thinking is not a sin. Running your mouth before you think is.” Mick’s voice was still cold, sending Vince further down the anxiety spiral.

“How many more ways of saying ‘shut up’ can you invent?” Vince scrambled to come up with a joke to test the waters. To his relief, corners of Mick’s mouth curved into a smile.

“Definitely not enough for you to actually do it.”

“Well, who else is going to provide you with unwelcome yet high-quality commentary then?” Vince smiled, feeling the knot in his stomach loosen. This felt damn close.

Mick let out an exaggerated sigh. “If only you did your goddamn job with the same zeal… Y’know, if you’ve got so much energy to spare, maybe I should increase your workload?”

“I don’t like the direction this conversation is taking.”

“The only way to stop a conversation is to-“

“Fine, fine!” Vince groaned. “I’m shutting up.”

They watched a few more pairs of fighters. The majority of them were surprisingly decent, somehow turning the absolute lack of technique into their advantage. Those that didn’t manage to do so probably didn’t last long in this profession. Some, like Axl, functioned entirely on uncontained rage, which worked up to an opponent intrepid enough not to piss his breeches at the sight of an armed to the teeth pirate charging at him with insane eyes and a naked blade. Judging by how long Axl managed to last on the pirate ship, though, this tactics must have been working pretty well.

The ring emptied, and a strange silence descended on the ship for a moment before the pirates erupted in exulted cries. Vince couldn’t understand what caused it until a few seconds later, when he saw Nikki and Tommy walk into the ring, wielding real, steel rapiers.

“No way,” Vince could only mumble, watching them get into positions. “They’ll kill each other.”

“Relax, princess.” Mick looked at him condescendingly. “They do it all the time. Haven’t had any accidents.”

“Yet.” Not that Vince would mind Nikki getting impaled or, God bless, even killed, but it was much more likely to happen to Tommy, and, as backhanded and humiliating his protection was, it was still protection. Mick could only help Vince when on his territory; behind the closed doors of Nikki’s cabin Tommy was the only one capable of bringing Nikki to his senses.

“They know what they’re doing. You’ll see.”

The two pirates drew their rapiers.

Last time Vince only saw Nikki and Tommy in action together was at a periphery of his vision that was already clouded with rage, and then Nikki got him too fast to really understand anything except that he was damn good. Now Vince could see them properly, and that sure was a sight.

They started off slowly, even languidly, rapiers pointing to the ground, steps soft. Tommy attacked first – leaped forward, rapier flashing in the sun. Nikki ducked, his hair flying; a loud clank, and Tommy jumped back just as effortlessly, grinning from ear to ear.

Almost immediately – another strike, a whoosh in the air, another rapid retreat. Tommy pranced around Nikki like a young thoroughbred, showering him in quick, untargeted stabs, never too long in one place for Nikki to land a counterattack yet neither gathering enough momentum to penetrate Nikki’s defense. Not that it was even possible: not once had Nikki opened up enough for Tommy to land a hit, firmly standing his ground, parrying with short, precise movements, never move more than a step away from his original position. If Tommy wanted to exhaust him through endless attacks, he only achieved the opposite. His style would have worked on someone with worse reflexes or less steady stance; Nikki had neither of those things, so Tommy’s strikes, flashy as they were, grew shallower and more predictable as he depleted his energy. He wasn’t really to blame for this, though: so far Vince couldn’t spot any fault in Nikki’s move set, detect a single miscalculated movement. There really was not much to be done in this case.

Tommy must have grown tired and lost his focus, but Vince spotted the moment Nikki shifted his weight forward to counterattack earlier than the first mate. Chary and discreet – unexperienced fighters would even think lazy - in his movements before, now he charged forward with such force the lines of his silhouette blurred for a split second. Vince flinched, as if it was his stomach the cold steel was going to pierce. There was no way Tommy could parry that.

And Tommy didn’t. He swirled in place, turning his body sideways – rather awkwardly, but it worked. Nikki’s rapier stabbed the air mere inches away from his skin and withdrew just as rapidly when he returned back into his initial position, restoring the defense sacrificed for a daring move.

The pirates cheered and clapped. Vince looked at Mick round-eyed.

“This isn’t a performance. It’s real.”

“Of course, it’s real. This ain’t a circus.”

“He almost got him.”

“The key word here is ‘almost’.”

“A fraction of a second later, and we’d be wiping Tommy’s guts off the deck now.”

Mick pursed his lips in exasperation. “You don’t have to watch if you’re so faint-hearted. Nobody invited you in the first place.”

“It’s not about me,” Vince bristled. “It’s about your captain and first mate fighting to death and you all just watching.”

“Since when you’re so worried about them?” Mick narrowed his eyes. “Do you want me to think all your shaking and sniveling and midnight walking is just a show then? Because you go on like this, I might just start thinking that.”

Vince froze, mouth half-open. Yeah, he’d rather Mick spat him in the face than say something like that. And he thought hearing the faking accusations from Tommy was hurtful. Turned out it was a splinter next to Mick’s backstab.

“You think I’m faking?” he asked, his voice two tones higher than he wanted it to be. “You think I’m secretly enjoying it?”

Mick rolled his eyes. “No. I don’t think anyone would enjoy that. But to me, you do get too dramatic about it. A whore gets the same treatment as you every night, but you don’t see them lining up to throw themselves off the docks. And their pay usually only covers food and lodging, which you get for free here, so no benefits in that either.”

“You’re saying I’m overreacting.”

“I’m saying that you don’t realize how much worse it could have gotten for you if Nikki hadn’t decided to keep you here. You think they’d waste your pretty ass away at a plantation, like the rest of your crew? Ha. There are things that even whores won’t do, and that’s where slaves come in. And from what I’ve seen on you, Nikki’s actually pretty mild in that regard.”

“You call that mild-“ Vince began indignantly when a loud thump interrupted him, drawing his and Mick’s attention back to the fight.

Nikki, who up to this moment kept tight defense with only a few quick attacks here and there, went into assault. If Vince hadn’t seen him in that state before, the sudden change in demeanor from what seemed as careful and unwieldy, sluggish even, would have come as a very unpleasant surprise. It would also most likely be the last surprise of his life. Nikki’s blade moved so fast it was more akin to a silvery gust of wind; his whole body was like a string, receptive to so much as blinking of the opponent, almost predicting it. A chill creeped down Vince’s spine: he didn’t even realise during their incredibly short clash how damn deadly the pirate captain was. It even seemed as if he was purposefully holding back during their fight.

Tommy held up to his second-in-command status pretty well, though. It was clear how much his movement coordination lacked compared to Nikki, but his reaction and distance perception were incredibly well-developed for a self-taught former child beggar. His technique, or rather the mastery with which he employed the lack thereof, would first induce a heart attack in Vince’s swordsmanship teacher, who then, after being brought back to his senses, would offer to teach the ingenious savage free of charge. It wasn’t a surprise Tommy stood out among the rest of the pirates, and it was pretty clear Nikki chose him as his first mate not just because he and Nikki were a thing.

But the continuous attacks of the first half of the fight exhausted Tommy, and now Nikki made sure he didn’t have a single moment to catch his breath. Vince could see Tommy’s movements grow jerky and spasmic, his reaction time getting longer. His imminent defeat was a matter of a couple of minutes.

Vince’s estimate was very close: one hundred and fifty-two seconds later (he counted) Tommy miscalculated a step and ended up closer to Nikki than he intended. The punishment for the mistake was fast and merciless. The rapier rattled against the wood of the deck as Tommy collided with it with a loud crash and a pained groan. Nikki stepped up, lined the tip of his rapier with Tommy’s twitching Adam’s apple.

“You lose,” he said, smiling.

#motley crue #nikki sixx #vince neil #tommy lee #mick mars #motley crue fanfiction #my writing #in darkness shall you be reborn #it really feels like my writing from half a year ago (this chapter) is so much better than my current writing #i havent been writing much lately (not of my own will) because i have no energy left for it #and what i read i read in russian #so my english gets worse #i dont even scroll tumblr much

20 notes · View notes

theaudacitytowrite · 1 year

Text

Chapter 7 - Ordeal by fire

Series Masterlist

<- Chapter 6

A/N: This took me long enough... but at least not as long as last time. Only one more Chapter + the Epilog to go. We are getting there!

Summary: Loki and you attend the Gala together, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the other avengers.

Loki, yet again, stays by your side as your anxiety tries to derail you again.

word count: 3.514

The weeks passed quickly. After you had moved back to the Stark tower your progress in taming the raging fires inside you had come to a point where you were able to train outside the specially insulated room. Loki had broadened the training from summoning and dispersing to directing your flames towards targets and it actually was working out much better than you would’ve thought. Once you could confidently light up and extinguish your fire, learning new skills became a piece of cake. You had even learned party tricks. You could sit in the living room with Peter for hours, entertaining him by setting balls of paper ablaze as soon as he threw them up in the air. Another upside of your newfound powers was that you didn’t need to search for your lighter anymore whenever you wanted to light your candles or even heat up your coffee again when you had forgotten about it and it had sat on the table for hours already.

You had even visited your old colleagues in your lab. You hadn’t even realized how much you had missed your lab work and your studies until you were catching up with Jamie, who had been your stand-in all this time. Excitedly you two had talked for an entire afternoon about her new findings. You had even helped her during some experiments, serving as the specimen for the effects of Hydra’s drug.

Soon you found yourself in front of your calendar. You swallowed hard as you saw the date that was circled in red. Today was the day of the gala. It was supposed to be one of the most exciting days of your life. But now new doubts were bubbling up. Were you really ready to be surrounded by people again? What if you couldn’t keep your anxiousness under control?

A soft knock on the door shook you out of your worst-case scenarios.

“I found the bobby pins!” Nat held them in the air triumphantly, “Let’s get you ready for your big night!”

Loki was waiting patiently in the entrance hall, waiting for you. Nervously he tugged on the collar of his button-up. It felt as if his green tie was suffocating him.

"Brother, you look splendid tonight." Thor tried to reassure him.

"Thank you, Thor." Loki straightened his sleeves and his jacket.

"Are you alright? You look so skittish." Thor grinned at his brother impishly.

"No, I'm fine." Loki huffed.

"He's just nervous because he’s escorting Y/N to the gala." Tony chimed in, "Maybe he has finally grown some balls and will ask her out."

Loki wanted to glare at Tony just as Thor exclaimed: "Finally!" which made him glare at Thor instead.

"We're friends! She asked me to accompany her, so I will." Loki defended himself, "And even if I was to ask her to court me, it wouldn't be any of your business."

"You will chicken out anyway, Reindeer Games." Tony let himself fall onto an armchair, grabbing a random magazine from the coffee table right next to him. "I bet that you'd ask her when you two met up on the walk."

"I had bet you would have asked her even before that. Even before the accident.” Thor reminisced, “The hours you spent with her in the lab! But I guess you've become a bit rusty with the ladies."

"You two are distasteful, this is not a game." Loki scoffed.

Suddenly the elevator pinged, announcing its arrival. As the doors slid open, Nat stepped out to the side.

"Our future published science author." Nat proclaimed, pointing her arms towards you.

"Wow." the three guys hummed in unison. Loki had to tell himself to breathe again when he suddenly felt dizzy.

The long green dress you wore, that matched his tie, reached to the floor. It flowed softly over your silhouette, creating the illusion that you were floating over the floor. Your hair was braided and pinned up neatly.

"You like it?" you bit your lip abashed, swaying from foot to foot to make the fabric swing, “Nat made my hair.”

"Like doesn't even describe it, darling." Loki’s velvety timber made you blush.

"You look just as dashing yourself." you complimented him, fixing his tie nonchalantly, when you noticed your sleeve again, the black mesh didn’t fit to the elegant occasion. “The only thing that annoys me a bit about my outfit is the sleeve.”

“I could help with that.” Loki offered lowly, his hands softly taking yours. A shimmer spread up your arm until it reached the collar of your dress, leaving behind a dark green sleeve that looked like it was a part of your dress.

“That’s amazing” you looked at your arm in awe, “Thank you so much, Lo’!”

"Can we skip this or do you two need a prom picture as well?" Tony mocked as pretended to read the magazine in his hands.

"Are you just here to annoy us, Stark?" Loki rolled his eyes.

"Never." Tony gasped offended, "I'm just waiting on my driver to pick me up."

"You're coming, too?" your mouth gaped, "You never attend these things."

"Of course, I do! Also, I wouldn't want to miss seeing how you win first prize." He smiled sweetly at you, "You two love birds can join my ride if you haven't planned something different." he quickly added.

"Er..." he caught you off guard.

"I guess it wouldn't be sensible to drive separately," Loki grumbled behind you. You nodded contently and Tony lead the way.

"Loki." Natasha suddenly held on to his arm.

"Hm?" Loki stopped in his tracks.

"You could need that." She held out a handkerchief to him.

"Why?" he asked bewildered.

"In case you start drooling again." She deadpanned. Thor was having a good laugh, shaking his head amused. Loki narrowed his eyes at them, forcefully taking the handkerchief and hurried after you and Tony.

The drive to the gala was short. The closer you got, the more nervous you felt. The collar around your neck felt constricting. Loki noticed your uneasiness as you fought with the collar, he understood that feeling all too well. His hand swiftly covered your hand that rested on your legs, and he squeezed it reassuringly.

"Hey, you're going to just be fine." he tried to calm you down.

“I know.” you gulped, “But what if I’m suddenly not anymore?”

“Then I’m still by your side.” he smiled warmly at you, “Besides, we practised for the worst case. So, you don’t need to worry, ok?”

“Ok.” you nodded but the sinking feeling in your stomach wasn’t really convinced just yet.

As you entered the venue the crowd quickly encased you. You were quick to grab Loki’s hand once again, holding tightly onto him. All the different smells of perfumes and the loud chattering were overwhelming. You knew almost no one here. For a short moment, you regretted your decision to come here at all. Luckily you quickly found your assigned seats near the front of the stage and were able to acclimatize a bit further away from the tumult.

Tony was thankfully undertaking the obligation of socializing and networking while you waited patiently for the beginning of the ceremony on your assigned seat. Loki’s arm was draped around your shoulders, his fingers lazily drawing shapes onto your skin which helped you to concentrate on the sensation instead of the nervousness deep inside you.

When the lights dimmed people started to hurry to their seats. The excited chattering slowly turned into a whisper before the room finally fell into silence. After a few welcoming words of the presenter and a short speech about the history of the event the ceremony finally started.

"So with further ado I want to welcome you to the official presentation of the 'State of the Art' award.” the young well-dressed presenter exclaimed, “As every year we have received plenty of brilliant entries that were pioneers in their respective fields. In fact, we have received so many, that we struggled to pick a definite winner which resulted, for the first time in our magazine's history, in a second round of selection. Tonight, we want to honour these 5 unique minds who managed to enter this second round. Our thanks go out to our generous sponsors who make this event possible and help our gifted newcomers, who are pushing the bounds of science, to be on display for the entire world.”

Your jaw clenched tightly which you hadn’t even noticed until Loki had softly tugged you closer by your shoulder. He was still caressing your arm to ease your mind. When your gaze caught his, he reassuringly smiled at you.

“You’re going to be fine.” he hummed to you, his dashing smile making you melt into his side, your cheeks heating up for new reasons.

“Because we know that this must be a really thrilling time for our candidates, we do not want to prolong this anymore. So without further ado, we will announce the winners. The third place and receiver of the grant fund of 1.000$ is... Dr Alexi Cronos with his entry about the use of state-of-the-art drones as unmanned defence weaponry.”

“Third place?” Loki whispered into your ear over the applause, “I thought there were five of you.”

“No idea what’s even going on right now,” you mumbled back with a shrug, your heart starting to beat faster.

The applause stayed strong as Dr Cronos walked on stage to be congratulated by the presenter with a handshake. She handed over the oversized check and posed for a quick photo before he went back to his place.

“As many of you might have realized by now, we immediately jumped to the third place… that’s because we actually have two joined second and first places. Another first time in our history.” the audience erupted into enthusiastic applause, “Because of the similar nature and topics of the articles we decided to reward all the efforts and expertise fittingly. This means that the second place with the grant fund of 1.500$ and an additional workshop meeting with Stark Industries, which was made available by none other than Tony Stark, will be received by Damon Ryder about his efforts in overlapping genetics to cure genetic disorders and Dr Koari Ikegami about the research in recovering damaged brain tissue.”

Your mouth gaped as you didn’t hear your name being called. It couldn’t be. You watched as the two others went up to get their checks and a certificate for the workshop.

“Close your mouth, your brain is getting cold.” Tony suddenly whispered into your ear as he leaned over your shoulder.

“Oh shush.” you shooed him away.

“That means, the joined first place who receives a grant fund of 2.500$ and get their scientific work published are Dr Y/N Y/L/N about her breakthrough in molecular chemistry about the prevention of infection by synthetic airborne viruses and Dr Barbara Morse about the advancement of genetic improvements for safe use."

Once more the room burst into applause. Tony even got to his feet, letting a whistle resound through the room. Suddenly you felt taken back to graduation when your dad had cheered your name when you were called on stage. You had felt more than embarrassed back then and even now you weren't sure how you felt about it. But it made you smile to see Tony being proud of you.

“That’s where you go up to the stage.” Tony teased as he saw your gaze fixed on him. You quickly hurried from your seat, your legs feeling like jelly whit every step you took.

It felt as if time was slowing down all of a sudden as you approached the presenter. You could hear the beating of your heart drum in your ears as you shook her hand as she kissed both your cheeks before she moved on to Dr Morse. As you were posing for the picture, you were already mentally prepared to walk back to your seat when Dr Morse suddenly walked up to the microphone for an acceptance speech. You gulped hard. No one had mentioned that you were expected to say anything.

Your cheeks were growing warm and an overwhelming surge of heat rushed into your head. You tried to think of words quickly so you could get this over with. Your throat was already closing up as you tried to swallow and the throbbing in your veins was starting to get too much - when all of a sudden a cool breeze drifted over the stage diverting your attention back to the here and now. A pleasant shudder run over your body when you felt as if an ice cube was being dragged down your spine. Your eyes quickly darted to Loki who was still sitting in his chair, his eyes fixed on you.

"You're fine, darling." his timber resounded in your brain, as he nodded at you reassuringly. You took a deep breath and mouthed a quick 'thank you' towards him.

Dr Morse had just finished her thanks and you hesitantly approached the podium. Your eyes flit over the crowd and you felt the nervousness trying to win you over again.

"Eyes on me." Loki softly ordered to which you obliged gladly.

“This is really overwhelming.” you huffed, earning a chuckle from the crowd, “First of all I want to thank Stark Industries and especially Tony Stark for supporting my research and helping me to find a new approach and a flexible perspective for my research. I also want to thank my dear friends who have supported not only my professional path but were also by my side with each step I took in my personal life. I also want to thank the ___ for giving me this opportunity to be seen in the 'big league'.

The room applauded one last time as you and Dr Morse exited the stage and the presenter wrapped up the ceremony before she initialized the dinner.

Loki welcomed you back at the table with open arms. He tightly hugged you, quickly pecking your cheek.

“I am so proud of you.” he hummed into your ear, “You deserved this.”

You smiled against his shoulder as your eyes weld up. Loki had stood by your side for every step of your journey. He had helped out during the early trial periods; he had read through your first rough draft of your article, and he was there when you had submitted the finished work. And now, after even more hardships, he stood beside you to celebrate your victory.

As the food was brought out, the chattering from before continued seamlessly. Your cheeks still felt like they were burning from all the smiling. You finally felt more at ease. The coming weeks surely wouldn't be as exciting as today had been and you weren't mad about it.

Loki and you were mingling with the others, talking about their respective article when someone tipped you onto your shoulder. You turned around to see Tony's brows creased as he peered down at his phone.

"I have to head out, J.A.R.V.I.S is talking about some kind of disturbance in my office. It's probably just Pepper searching those papers she was nagging me about earlier. Shall I call for another driver for the two of you?"

"No need Stark, we'll get home on our own." Loki waved him off.

"As long as the two of you get back in one piece." Tony shot Loki a dirty look.

"We will." you consoled him with a firm squeeze of his arm.

"All right then, see you two love birds back at the tower." he snickered. Loki and you watched Tony disappear into the crowd, not even bothering to protest this time. When Tony was out of sight, Loki gently nudged your side.

“Do you wanna ditch this party?” he hummed.

“Are you still my head again?” you grinned up at him.

The night was crisp, the cool wind being a welcomed change to the stuffed venue of the Gala. Loki was strolling next to you as you wandered through a park. His hand was gracing yours every now and then.

"What are you going to do now?" Loki asked out of the blue.

"What do you mean?" you pushed a loose strand behind your ear.

"Well, now that you're a published scientist, what will be your new challenge? Do you already have any plans?"

"I dunno." you shrugged, "I haven't thought about it yet, to be honest. I mean, on the one hand, I would love to assist Jamie with her research and continue my own. But on the other hand, I want to get out in the field again. After all Ydra Corp. is still out there, trying to hide that they're Hydra."

"And doing it badly." Loki chuckled, "They could've at least put some effort into their name."

"True... but hey, makes it easier for us." you snickered, "Also I'm still waiting to be reinstated into my active Agent role and I haven't heard from Fury about the Avengers thing either."

"I'm sure he will contact you soon." Loki smiled down at you, making your cheeks burn immediately. His sweet tone and genuine smile were something you probably would never get used to.

"And in the meantime, we just concentrate to perfect your abilities."

"That sounds good too but now that we're talking about plans..." you mused, "Didn't we have plans to celebrate my nomination a few months ago?"

"Yes... we did." Loki nodded, "It's about time that we finally fulfil our obligations then."

"We better do, before we get reprimanded for taking too long." You played along.

"How about tomorrow?” Loki asked eagerly, “Just so we don't forget about it."

"Sounds like a plan." you grinned.

“Awesome.” he smiled abashed.

You walked over a bridge that led to a small pond. The moonlight shimmered on the surface of the water, making it look like an ocean of glistening crystals. You halted at the handrails, marvelling at the sight.

"Thank you, Loki." You leaned against his shoulder.

"For what?" he looked down at you.

"For everything. For being by my side tonight and being by my side in general. I don't know if I could've made it without you."

"I'm sure you would've."

"Maybe... but I like it this way much better." you smiled coyly at him.

"I'm just happy to see you excel again and adapt to your new circumstances... not everyone can do that, you know?" he let his gaze wander over the pond.

“Though I have to be honest... one of the aspects that came with all this, I probably will never get used to.”

“And that is?” he asked intrigued.

“I hate heat. I never was that big on summertime, I've always been more of a winter person.” Loki chuckled amused and pulled you into a hug. As he pulled away slowly, his hands rested on your shoulders, struggling to get out any words for a moment.

"Dance with me." he huffed over his breath.

"What? Here?" you looked around the park.

"Yes." he snickered, "Your dress is too beautiful to not be danced in."

"But we don't have music." you tried to protest.

"I can help with that." he softly touched your temple with his index. Suddenly your head was filled with classical music. You tried to hold back a smile as you mustered him.

"Ok, one dance. But I can't promise that I won't step onto your feet."

"I think I can handle that." he cheekily remarked, taking your hand in his and twirling you around. You couldn’t help the giggle that escaped your mouth as he spun and swayed with you over the ground.

“Ooop, I’m getting dizzy,” you announced after a while, holding onto Loki for dear life. He quickly slowed down, only swaying softly from side to side. It took a while for the two of you to calm down, your giggles resounding through the night.

“You look so pretty in the moonlight." Loki's eyes gazed deep into yours. Your mouth gaped as you found yourself unable to respond. The soft breeze tussled through your hair, freeing some more from your pinned-up hairdo. Loki’s eyes darted to the free-flying strands, his hand instinctively reaching out to tug them back behind your hair. His hand lingered at the base of your neck. Your head slightly leaning back, pliant to his touch.

"Y/N-” he breathed out but before he could continue a ringing interrupted him. He gulped hard as his eyes darted to your pocket.

"I think that's yours." he grinned down at you when you hadn't pulled yourself out of the trance quite yet.

"Oh." you gasped, "Sorry."

You excused yourself to accept the call. You fumbled your phone out of your pocket, Tony's face showing up on the display.

"Everything alright in the Tower?" you greeted him.

"I have someone sitting in front of me who's dying to meet you." you could hear the grin on Tony's face. Your eyes grew big as you glanced to Loki who looked back at you expectantly.

Chapter 8 ->

#loki #loki x reader #loki series #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #loki laufeyson #loki friggason #loki odinson #loki drabble #loki fic #loki imagine #loki blurb

38 notes · View notes

pissysoda · 2 years

Text

JUMP SCARE

SILCO x READER

summary: you make it your personal goal to jump scare silco

(Just so you guys know this is my first post and a haven't written fanfiction in years so i am VERY rusty. I just had this idea and was like I must write it)

It started by accident. You really didn't mean to. Working for silco could be a pain sometimes, it's always blood, guts and walking on eggshells or just dealing with jinx which is a whole problem on it's own.

It's Hell.

You've been working with silco for a long time now, you're as close as sevika is to him. You're one of his best employees. He trusts you to make good decisions. But Silco is never one to show emotion other then anger and that smug smirk of his. Until one day you accidentally scared the shit out of him.

Walking into the last drop with sevika after a mission immediately gains you some attention from the customers. Turning their heads towards you, but looks away once you turn their way. "That didn't go to bad huh?" sevika smirks as she sits down on the bar stool. You've both just took care of some assholes that didn't pay silco back, coming out with only a few cuts and bruises. You laugh "I'm going to go report back to silco that we finished the job" she nods as you begin to walk up the stairs to go to silcos office. Once you made it up stairs you turn the corner to come face to face with silco himself. He jumps with a surprised face, and next thing you know you have the blade of his dagger at the tip of your nose. You both pause, then he slowly takes the dagger away from you, he clears his throat and straightens his coat "I see you are back already" he gives you a glare "I suspect everything went as planned?" He asks "yes sir" you reply "good" he says coldly as he walks away

Did I just jump scare him?

You bit your lip to stop yourself from smirking, as you turn around and go back downstairs.

After that you never talked about it again. You didn't feel the need to bring it up and silco definitely wasn't going to say anything about it so life went on.

Until you scared him again.

This took place a month and a half after the first time you took him by surprise. But this time it was in his office. You needed to ask silco about what time the meeting you'll be having tomorrow started. Walking up to his door you knock softly three times on the old wood, you sworn you heard him say "come in" so you opened the door and made your way inside. He's sat at his desk looking at a book he was writing in. After a few seconds of him not saying anything or looking at you, you call out to him "sir?" He jumps with a small gasp leaving his lips making him drop his pen, he looks up with wide eyes. His glaze turns into a cold angry glare "why did you not knock before entering?!" He says in a loud Stern voice "I did knock and thought I heard you say come in?" You say slightly confused "maybe you need to get your ears checked because i certainly did not!" He rest his hand on his forehead and closes his eyes in irritation "what do you want?"

"I was just wondering what time the meeting started?" He glared at you again "4:35pm" you nod and turn around to leave. Once you close the door behind you, you couldn't help but laugh slightly.

Okay now it started to be kinda on purpose. Now that you realize you could take silco off guard it's been your personal goal to see if you could scare him again. Trying to not make it obvious that you're TRYING to take him off guard. Subtly lurking in the shadows to see if you could get him again. You've got him few times already. Like when you were hanging out with jinx in her workshop and he stopped by the tell her something. Seeing he was there you waited outside until he came back out again. When he opened the door you jumped out acting like you just got there, he looked like he just seen a ghost. Jinx's loud laugh doesn't help his frustration as he pushes past you with another cold glare.

This was his last straw. After a two months of jump scaring him he finally had enough. So he decided to take you off guard instead. Waiting inside by the door of his office. He sees you open the door quietly and make your way in but is confused when you don't see him sitting at his desk. He makes his way behind you and touches your shoulder making you jump with a gasp, you whip around to face him "I know you've been trying to take me off guard for awhile now. I don't appreciate this foolery" he says with a Stern look. You laugh slightly "im sorry, it's just enjoyable to scare you" a smirk beginning to grow on your face. You could almost see the corner of his lips turn upward slightly "I advise you to stop this nonsense" he puts his hands behind his back "No promises!"

"Then two could play at that game" he smirks

-end-

#silco #silco x reader #sevika #fanfic #arcane #arcane x reader #fandom #sevika x reader #silco my beloved #first post #arcane silco

71 notes · View notes

flower-biter · 27 days

Text

25-31 March 2024

It’s just a lot of rambling this week.

On repeat: Too Sweet by Hozier. Idk what that man puts in his music, but I cannot stop listening to this song or get it out of my head.

I gave up on The Shining. Just, ugh, I don’t have the energy for it. I don’t really have the brain energy to read anything else either right now.

Finished the crochet bag! It’s a little bit wonky, but it will hold stuff. I want to make another one a little bit bigger and with a longer strap, but I like the single strap and cylindrical design. (This is the pattern I used)

Guy friend told me I have “very masculine energy, but you wear it well” (uh, thanks? Is it the bitchiness bossiness? Or just the buzz cut/lipstick combo? It does make me feel very Gender™, whatever that may be). We got second place at trivia, so next week’s beers are free, which, Nice. Really it’s just a confidence boost to not be in the bottom three again.

I booked flights for my next trip to NYC, going up in June to visit my sister before she starts at Columbia in the fall. I love having a trip to plan/something to look forward to. I’ve already booked us tickets for a walking tour of Green-Wood Cemetery that focuses on the Victorian language of flowers on grave markers (which I’m really excited about!) and have a running list of museums, bookstores and lesbian bars I want to check out (but am taking suggestions!)

Haircut again. Buzzed it down to a #3 on top and #2 on the sides, the shortest I’ve ever done. I love having my own clippers and not having to deal with weird looks at the salon; truly a dyke’s (second) best buzzing friend.

It’s weird seeing so much of my scalp, but it’s so soft and fuzzy. I’m experimenting with tying silk scarves to wear when I want to feel a little more feminine, or want some sun protection other than a hat. I feel like I look like I’m wearing a funky surgical cap, or like I’m appropriating tignons, when the vibe I'm going for is more like the workday headscarves of my Hungarian & Polish great-grandmothers. I’m still playing with different ties at home before I wear them out and about, but the silk feels so nice and I like being covered, as well as finding ways to wear my collection in all seasons, not just autumn/winter.

I had a gloriously lazy Saturday: took Butterball to the vet (he’s fine, just a checkup, and he has since forgiven me for the terrible six-minute car ride) and did a little housework (all the doors and windows are open, it’s warm and sunny and breezy and all the birds are singingggg!) but otherwise lazed around crocheting: on the sofa, on the porch swing, sitting weirdly on my desk chair. And then my neck and back hurt from shrimping, so I had floor time in a sun beam with the cat, and then just laid outside in the grass in the late afternoon sun and had the best nap of my life, and miraculously didn’t get sunburnt falling asleep outside. Truly how weekends are meant to be spent.

I’ve been slowly adding to my sister’s red blanket (why did I make this 300 stitches wide. it’s enormous and so heavy and not even a quarter of the way done. Claire I hope you appreciate this when I finally send it to you) and started a super simple sweater for myself. The yarn is such a silky cotton with gorgeous drape, and I love the rusty orange color. I have no illusions that I can make anything perfectly, but I want to do really well with this one and do this pretty yarn justice even though it’s already full of cat hair. Sigh.

I STILL haven’t finished editing my photos from my last Charleston trip. Really need to get on that today.

I forgot it’s Easter; I’m really too old & agnostic to be getting an Easter basket, but my mom gave me a little chocolate rabbit and nice rose-scented candle anyway. My youngest sister and her husband are coming over for a big dinner later; I get to spend the day with the cat and doing laundry and some chores I didn’t get to yesterday. I’m just going to try to ignore all the religiosity. It feels like escaping a cult; I grew up in it and fully believed for so long, but now from the outside, I find it baffling and disturbing and am infuriated by the hypocrisy (I could write a whole series of essays on growing up queer & southern baptist but will spare y’all).

Okay…didn’t really talk about what happened this week (mostly because not much of anything happened) but that’s enough Thoughts™ for now. Onward.

last week

#costar really said girlie your neurodivergence is showing #i really didn't take many pictures this week so have an extra butterball #mixed feelings about putting my face on here but. hi.#one of those weeks where everything happens in my head more than irl. oh well #catalog of little joys

6 notes · View notes

jt-artsandfics · 2 years

Note

I'm a 21 years old American woman (I'll be 22 on the 20th!) Who is 5ft 10in if you round up. I have rusty brownish hair and eyes that shift from grey to green to blue depending on my mood and energy. I'm athletic, but now it's more so for mental health health reasons now days. I love to embroider, read, and write (even though I'm Dyslexic). I use sarcasm as a second language. I don't love attention on me, preferring to be in the background. I just want to equip and empower other people to reach their full potential.

I work with kids with special needs while I study to become a social worker and I fall into leadership roles, even when I don't intend to. I'm stubborn and independent, but deep (and I mean deep) down inside I'm a romantic at heart who wants to be able to depend on another person. I feel a bit like a walking contradiction sometimes, but in a good way. Like I watch MMA while embroidering or will swear like a sailor in Church. I'm the middle of two boys (now the older sister of two sisters because of my mom's remarriage!) and as one brother who literally is Wrecker (Machine Gunner in the military. Loud. Just wants to blow things up), I've learned how to not intimidated by large and scary looking people and will mom anybody who needs it. I'm extremely intuitive and can read body language really well due to my auditory form of Dyslexia.

Hey I'm guessing you want a bad batch match up. And since you put your age I might make it a little smutty too. Ps. Im drinking while writing this so there is bound to be speelimg mistakes. And guys I'm also dyslexic too so yay. But I hope you enjoy!

MDI +18 (HINTED SMUT ) NOTHING HAPPENS BUT STILL

The Bad Batch

I match you with... Hunter

Hunter's first time meeting you was quite the tale, a mission gone messing resulting in most of the batch being injured. Watching them walk off their ship and you had made a beline for the Sargent.

Hunter has never heard that many curses come out a civilians mouth and damn he's kinda turned on over you telling him off but he'd be damned if he told anyone that.

It was an honest mistake you ripped him a new one once seeing his team believing this was your brothers team back from mission.

Once you realised this wasn't your brothers team you are a flushed mess trying to apologise to the sergeant when leads to the team taking a shine to too after watching you chew Hunter out. Watching someone of your height and stature taking on Hunter without even a thought.

That's how toy got invited for drinks with the dysfunctional group of clone soldiers

From then on the boys would come to you when they needed down time. And considering they haven't really had anyone check up on them mentally it's nice for then to be able to talk opening with someone. Hunter takes a while to break but once he does you see him nearly every time the batch is on leave.

It took him a while to get comftable but once he felt he could trust you.most days he shows up he flops down on your couch and rest his head in your lap and let's you play with his hair while he talks.

He loves pulling you into his lap and falling asleep while watching holos with you, to day it's a guilty pleasure would be true.

Please make him little embroidery peices like he will find some way to wear them or display them. He doesn't know why he does it but he loves showing off the things you make.

To say this man fell for you is an understatement full on crashed is how I would put it. And now he can't get enough of you.

Once the jedi order falls he purposely seeks you out to makesure your alright and that nothing has happened to you before he ask you to come with him.

Watching him and omega is quite something this man is so protective of her and you that when your In public people always assume that you three are family.

Hunter's eyes never leave your figure as you shop with Omega. He watches as you point out things to her before walking over to look at them. "Hunter!, Hunter. Come look at this" the young girl calls out which makes the sergeant smile as he makes his way over to the two of you. "What have you two found this time" he ask while looking down at different things that Omega found interesting.

Ord Mantell was filled with markets and you could always find something of your desire here. In the end Omega had talked Hunter into letting her buy a small science kit on the promise she asked Tech to help her with it.

"May I offer you something that may interest you and your husband" a voice quietly asked from behind you which makes you turn. Your eyes widen a little. "Oh um Hunter and I aren't married haha" you reply blushing only for the woman to smile lightly. Hunter calls out that he and Omega are heading back. "I'll catch up with you!" You call out before turning back to the lady who laughs lightly as she watches Hunter and Omega walk off.

"You two are rather close if your not married and not to mention having a kid too I'd say it would almost count" she replied before pulling out a small vile. "But if you are telling the truth and aren't together I can sure tell you want that man and by the way his eyes linger on you I'm willing to bet that he wants you just as badly" she says smugly.

Your face is a bright shade of red. "And what exactly are you selling me?" You ask wearily as she place the small vile in your hand. "Try this if he still doesn't take interest after this then it's free of charge. But if it works come back and then pay me 20 credits" she replys. "I'm not going to drug Hunter!" You almost shout which makes her laugh. "Hun you use it on yourself it's a natural phenomenon enhancer. All you have to really do is get him interested and the spray will work wonders on your body. Tho I recommend doing a test run by yourself first to see how you react. It will in turn make you very horny" she states while leaning down on her hand and giving you a little motion to run along.

Hunter had been sitting in Sid's parlor for most of the night since coming back from shopping. But something had him on edge an almost sickly sweet floral smell mixed with your natural scent that lingered in the air. He didn't know how to describe it but for the past half an hour it's all he could smell, it's faint but by the stars does he want to follow it.

He hadn't seen you since you had come back from shopping and so after finishing his drink Hunter gives the rest of the batch a wave before heading thought the corridors to look for you. As Hunter gets closer to your room it's like the smell is more intense it smells like you but more, he knows what you smell like and this it was doing things to him. He almost growls as he reaches your door. He could finally pinpoint what it was, he could smell your arousal and it had him action almost like a feral animal.

He has to stop himself from almost ripping the door off you smelt insanely divine, he knew your smell to well and this felt like it was enhanced, if he had had describe it the best he could say was it felt as if you were in heat. And by the stars it made him want to fuck you. He steadies his shaking hands before knocking. "(Y/N) It's Hunter, I'm coming in" he tries to sound as civil as he can as he opens the door.

As he walks in your smell hits him like a freighter and he has to hold himself up against the wall as he closes the door behind him and locks it. Hunter can see you withering on the bed whimpering and moaning. Your whole body covered in sweat.

Hunter removes his armor before throwing his shirt on the floor as quickly as he can before making his way over to you almost like a predator stalking his prey. Once he comes into your eye sight you almost whimper more legs clamped together trying to keep some friction before you feel his cold hands run up your legs which makes you gasp and moan at the contrast of his skin and yours.

"I could smell you from down in the parlor" he growls while crawling to cover your body with his. "Hunter" you whine out as your hands shoot out to grip his shoulders and pull him closer. "Tell me what you want" he says. It takes so much self control not to just take you with how you smell.

"Need you"

#star wars #star wars clone wars #star wars clones #the bad batch #tbb imagines #tbb x reader #bad batch hunter #dad hunter #hunter imagine #hunter #hunter x reader #sergeant hunter #sergeant hunter x reader

19 notes · View notes

fff777 · 5 months

Text

Combining my comments on the un-cut videos for Golden Age promos

[Un Cut] Take #1 | 'Golden Age' MV Behind the Scene

These videos are so long but that's to be expected because there are 20 members.

Jaehyun watching the burning chair with a serious expression. That must be an odd situation in the moment but I suppose that's the difference between entertainers and laypeople.

Ten and Jungwoo inspecting Jaehyun's ootd. Well, Ten trying to rip open Jaehyun's pants and Jungwoo climbing into the back of Jaehyun's knit tank.

I feel like Ten and Jungwoo are such a deadly combo lol. Very vibes.

Tenwoo not being able to look at each other without smiling :3 I feel that that's the case with most members of the same group. It's a bit awkward.

Ten's hair is really pretty.

Now THREE guys watching a burning chair. And then smiling after the keys are thrown in. Something something arsonist rituals.

Jungwoo isn't awkward but he's clearly acting when he runs over to Ten and leads him away by the hand and you can't help but feel awkward XD

Jeno has THREE fans on him. It is probably the heat because I'm guessing this was filmed in the summer but I think the fans are also so that sweat don't smudge his makeup or hair.

Jeno saying that Haechan did well on the song, unprompted.

Mark dropping his keys while trying to be cool. He 1000% would be the loserboy dropping the keys of his new car in the gutter while trying to impress someone.

The perfectionist that he is, Mark always has a lot of comments and questions when recording and filming.

Yangyang: Winwin has something to say!!!!!!! Winwin is forever maknae, even his didis want to hype him up.

Winwin ended up thanking the staff and the fans XD Yangyang said that Winwin practised his speech for 30 minutes. I wonder if he's rusty because he's been in China and hasn't been speaking as much Korean lately.

Yangyang has braids :3

Taeyong putting on his own lip gloss.

Winwin's little "OK!"

Mark called NCT the Avengers and now Taeyong's saying it looked like Power Rangers when Mark was being filmed with his arm in the light in the Taeyong-Yuta-Mark-Jeno-Winwin-Yangyang scene. EXO already officially took the superheros concept though unfortunately lol.

[Un Cut] Take #2 | 'Golden Age' MV Behind the Scene

When I first saw Haechan and Renjun looking at each other seriously in the MV I was like "...this wouldn't ever happen unless they were acting" because normally they'd just start bickering or joking lol. At least on camera.

High contrast Renjun.

Renjun is wearing his friendship ring again.

On their way to terrorize Qian Kun. When I saw the four of them in the MV I was like who did this XD

Haechan: Thank you to Jeno who loves me so much <3 But I'm going to choose Chenle. Chenle's been winning many hearts this year huh (with Jaemin earlier and now with Haechan :P).

I'm only realizing now that every member is wearing only black and white.

Haechan choreographing a dance for the song.

Renjun was explaining that this song was supposed to be encouraging. It kind of reminds me of an old radio interview where Renjun said that he hoped Dream would provide healing to the noonas and hyungs out there :3

Haechan @ Renjun: 我愛你 Just a regular day in renhyuckland.

Kun-ge has entered the chat. Chenle already looks up to no good.

Chenle giving the play-by-play of his solo scene.

Chenle: I wanted to meet 127 and WayV hyungs, I'm a bit disappointed that we had to film separately. Me too, buddy. The appeal of NCT is that they intermingle but SM really hasn't used this feature to its full potential.

Xiaojun preparing to submerge

Oh he had to use scuba equipment?

Xiaojun: This is the best shoot ever, no need to fix my makeup, hair, or clothes

Like Mark the perfectionist, Jisung the perfectionist asking to retry a shoot.

Jaemin doing a vandalism.

Jisung-Jaemin-Johnny-Hendery scene was kind of delinquent themed huh? Being chased, vandalism, disguising oneself lmao. Also this is the unhinged + kid brother group btw. When I saw that tiktok/Youtube short they did I was like oh right, Johnny, Jaemin, and Hendery just do whatever.

Johnny mentioned both Czennies and Wayzennies when he said that fans would come together with NCT :3

[Un Cut] Take #3 | 'Baggy Jeans' MV Behind the Scene

Mark's colour contacts are astoundingly light.

Just a really surreal shot.

I think Mark and Ten are recording tiktoks? And then Taeyong and Ten. Tiktoks and also dance challenges have become essential to the kpop promotion circuit it seems. Probably easier than going on a variety show for some though, since they can be very short (compared to a whole episode of a show).

The way Taeyong's pink and blue hair peeks out under the bandana is pretty.

Jaehyun got the shaved eyebrow thing going on. I don't know what it's called, I'm old.

Doyoung on that thing that's like a hoverboard but also like a segway.

Doyoung kept calling Mark his angel. It's cute. But also. Christian XD

The balloons that spell "BAGGY" is actually such a fun aesthetic. Great choice, directors.

Mark getting his birthday surprise with tons of colourful hair ties still in his hair. Also the guys were singing in English. Not that it's hard, but I feel like they purposely did it in English for Mark.

The guys shooting on top of the building when the sun was low reminds me of GOT7's You Are.

So I think Mark's final hair kept the green ribbon and hair ties but was a little more styled and less all over the place?

Omg visitors! Renjun, Jeno, and Chenle came to visit <3

Mark shook hands with Jeno but stroked Renjun's face. Renjun will always be Mark's special cutie boy lol.

Chenle told Mark to take a better picture of them XD Somehow Mark became the cameraman and Norenle became the stars XD

Doyoung telling the people to put down their phones so that they can truly appreciate the beautiful sky lol.

Ohh Norenle prepared the birthday watermelon for Mark. I remember a while back there was a birthday pic of the Baggy Jeans group with Norenle but we wouldn't have known that it was because the three Dreamies had visited set.

Candle broke and Renjun did reconstructive surgery.

Mark really calls the Dreamies his babies ;_;

Lol Chenle wore an ISTJ shirt.

I'm still not over the Dreamies being Mark's special babies.

The guys giving Doyoung shit for daring to get food while the others are stuck on top of the platform

Getting makeup retouching

The guys actually playing pool.

This set is awesome. I think it's easy to forget how much time goes into preparing these sets for filming. They may only be filmed for a few hours, and the footage that makes it into an MV might just be seconds. But there are so many details in this set. From the walls and floor to the furniture to the individual objects and accessories. All things that need to be procured and prepared. In this case, we also have the gravity-defying aspect that the set designers need to worry about.

Taeyong's repeated appeals to find people willing to adopt a multi-coloured-dyed maltese.

LMAO Mark and Doyoung acting out a stranger danger skit with Doyoung unironically asking Mark to get ice cream with him and Mark saying yes.

Mark: Let me show you guys to my room, just, let me show you to my-aww they took it down Mark is literally some loser in your class.

Doyoung is very flustered by all of Ten's compliments. He just knows Ten's going to use them against him one day.

There was a scene at the pool table and also in front of this white screen where the other members would have to stay still while one moved. Honestly that seems so hard. For me, I know my eyes would accidentally move.

7th Sense reunion in 2031.

Doyoung playing doctor with Mark. Doyoung has been really playful with Mark this entire video :3

[Un Cut] Take #4 | ‘PADO, Kangaroo, The BAT, Alley Oop’ Archiving Video Behind the Scene

I was anticipating this video the most :3

老徐真係個巨人

Xiaojun and Haechan are such a good combination, I'm so glad we're getting more of them.

Jaehyun left Haechan hanging, but then they did their special handshake afterwards.

I recognize the choreographer/dance trainer from some of Dream's videos.

Low fives for the babygirl little guy vocalists, our complimentary colour boys (Xiaojun and Haechan).

Mark and Johnny roleplaying a bar reminds me of them roleplaying a lemonade stand.

Xiaojun's at a point where he can tease Haechan!!! X3

Jaehyun explains to the camera that they're filming a track video for Pado but the English subtitles still say archiving video. I still don't understand why SM had to make the distinction.

Hendery and Haechan playing :3 Haechan is really social, eh?

Kangaroo time!!!!!!!

Yep, first time we're seeing NCT Mathyung and NCT Maknae shooting together (though Jisung is now no longer maknae)

Leave room for Jesus

I know Renjun is the shoulder gangster but is it just me or does Chenle also have narrow shoulders ^^;;

Kunle returns

I love the ending poses for Kangaroo :3 They're so cute.

What the fuck dude

Jisung has two more videos to record! Get some sleep dude.

The bat time (y)

Ah yes the infamous Johnny and Jeno scene.

Jisung embarrassed by the tight clothes and mature concept ^^;; Both Jeno and Jisung have talked about not being used to such a concept. Not that they haven't done mature concepts because they have begun dipping their toe in it with songs like Poison, but it's a little different. Poison is like "look if you want" but the Bat is "I'm making you look."

Jaemin, Jisung, Jeno, and Haechan are the current Dream workout squad?

Jisung ends with a dab.

Bat roleplay

Jungwoo & Hendery English class

All the guys admiring Jeno's arms.

Onto Alley-oop group

Jisung playing with the sound equipment like it's a keyboard

A wild 3J appears

Yuta wearing a Lebron Lakers jersey

Taeyong, Mark, Hendery, Chenle, and Yangyang went to play basketball together :3

More adorable Winyang :3 Yangyang's like the official spokesperson of the duo lol.

Jisung vibing alone

[Un Cut] Take #5 | ‘Kangaroo, The BAT, PADO’ Dance Practice Behind the Scene

I've come to expect idols to do dance practice in streetwear. Which is why I chuckle at the fact that Taeil is in gym clothes for dance practice XD I mean that's how I would have dressed if I knew I was going to be doing a heavy cardio session. Practical man.

Jisung has entered the chat.

Jisung once again embarrassed by the cutesy dance, sigh. Truly a teenager in rebellion phase.

Trainer: Taeil, could you be a bit cuter?

The guys taking a photo in the mirror and Kun being like Jisung, your hand!! (assuming Kun wanted him to do a kangaroo paw) Jisung refuses to be cute but the concept calls for it.

Chenle just singing the entire song while practising the dance

Oh I forgot that Taeil was in the Bat unit but didn't film in the end because of his accident.

What is Yuta saying to make Jisung embarrassed? Granted, Jisung gets embarrassed very easily.

On to Pado dance practice

Xiaojun got a hug from Taeyong for remembering the dance :3 Also it was his birthday :3

Haechan also dressed in workout clothes

Oh right, no Alley-oop dance :<

[Un Cut] Take #6 | 'Baggy Jeans' Dance Practice Behind the Scene

Watching a demo of the choreography first

This dance looks so tiring lol. You would think a song called Baggy Jeans would be more laid back but it feels a lot more exact.

Taeyong: ...I don't really want to do this. I don't blame him, any choreography that is really low and close to the floor always looks so tiring.

I just realized that we're kind of getting the behind the scenes un-cut videos in reverse order. They were released with the filming videos first, then the dance practices, and then the recording videos. I'm thinking chronologically that the idols would have finalized the songs first, then learned the dance, and then filmed the track videos. Though I know sometimes they learn the dances with the demo versions of songs.

Oh that's a fridge?

Taeyong, when crawling under the legs of the other members: They will kill me. Yeah risky move.

Mark: *Talking about the dance* Taeyong: I like your necklace. *puppy eyes*

[Un Cut] Take #7 | 'Baggy Jeans' Recording Behind the Scene

Taeyong immediately in love with Baggy Jeans demo.

Taeyong wearing a My Neighbour Totoro shirt.

It's interesting how interested the members are in maintaining the 7th sense subunit vibe. They might as well be a fixed subunit like Dojaejung.

I can't imagine having to make such an important decision in such a short time. The guys had to listen to the demos and then right then decide which one they wanted. If it were up to me I would have liked some time to better get a feel for the songs but alas, this industry is an incredibly fast-paced one.

I don't listen to a lot of 127 music but I know why people say that Taeyong's rap can be polarizing. He has a very specific style and people either like it or hate it.

Oh no, mosquito bite ToT

Doyoung has such a distinct voice

Doyoung unhappy that his dad joke was already stolen

Lol feature Johnny for the song

Doyoung coming to check on Mark

It's always interesting to see how when Mark sings/raps he really feels the music in his body. He's swaying and dancing to the music a lot.

Mark the perfectionist doubting when the producers say they liked how he sounded.

Mark calls Jaehyun baby too :3 So Jaehyun is one of his babies? :P

[Un Cut] Take #8 | ‘Not Your Fault’ Recording Behind the Scene

Renjun warm up exercises

Producer loves Renjun's wispy delicate singing voice

That passage that Taeil first sang reminded me a lot of the prechorus in Jay Chou's 告白氣球

Ooh after the producer suggested the change in Doyoung's passage, it did sound very cool

Producer: The hardest ones are the nicest to listen to

The producers praising the singers reminds me of that time someone commented on a producer's praises and they were like "yeah I need to eat" XD I forgot whose producer said that and in what video.

Xiaojun does a lot of fists and paws when he sings :3

He's just a little guy

Interesting that the sheet music is also blurred out. Trade secrets I guess.

Interesting that they did not blur out the "SONY" on the side of the headphones.

Student look today

Several of the members have pushed this as a song well suited for snowy weather so perhaps it's meant to be a very early Christmas track lol.

Ooh yes Taeil's harmony and ad-libs.

Also interesting how Taeil remains singing when sitting while most others stand.

Xiaojun successfully invited Jungwoo on a lamb skewer date. I said this before, but Xiaojun has secretly been a hyung collector this whole time.

[Un Cut] Take #9 | ‘Golden Age’ Recording Behind the Scene

To be honest while I do like piano music, I didn't like this adaptation of Pathetique. It used the same motifs so it just wasn't very fun or creative. I know, they can only do so much when they're trying to adapt it into a pop song and include rap. I know we're not going to get Baroque variations. But Golden Age as my first full group comeback song was whatever to me.

I already feel exhausted thinking about having to record 20 guys and fitting them all in one song ^^;;

Yangyang's low singing

Me reading my work emails in the morning

Producer: You're good Winwin: No, I'm not TAT

Producer telling Winwin to do the "wow wow wow" part like a villain ^^;; I guess it's to get a little more animation out of Winwin.

Xiaojun's voice has developed so nicely :3 His voice when recording Golden Age was so nice.

Xiaojun making notes on his sheet music and showing the producer.

Jeno's sweater says "cat person." Something something puppies and kitties.

"Ay x 13" on Jeno's sheet music.

I say this every time but like, Yuta does have a nice singing voice. I legitimately didn't know until recently because it's not brought up so often.

Renjun and lyric trouble ^^;;

Chenle: Who sat down and recorded? What a genius. It was Taeil lmao.

I don't think I've ever heard Chenle singing such low notes.

Jaemin inquiring about the inspiration of the music :3

Jungwoo only had that one exclamation ToT The trouble with too many members. I can't imagine what full group songs are going to be like when they add the members from NCT New Team

Jisung the perfectionist: Can I try five times in a row?

What a shirt

Haechan low singing

Haechan has painted his fingernails black

#screencaps & commentaries #nct

1 note · View note

wardenred · 8 months

Text

Whumptember 5: "What do you want me to do?"

Using the prompt to poke at the backstory for an ongoing WIP.

Elair's hands shook subtly as he stepped inside the Cliffside Inn. He told himself it was simply because he was cold from the rain. Now, with the flames crackling in the cramped room and the smell of hot spiced wine traveling over the tables, he would get warm in no time. Warm. Relaxed. Collected.

The man who'd ordered him to come here shouldn’t have the luxury of seeing him shudder.

The Cliffside Inn stood on the edge of the Luminous Harbor, on the flat top of the Molten Peak. Technically, this great big rock towering over the waves counted as beyond city limits. Or at least the upper part of it did. Once you got halfway up the slippery staircase cut directly into the stone, past the red flag that served as a border market, your life was governed by a fresh set of rules. The city guard still patrolled the inn and the area around it, but there were only three situations that would make them interfere.

Mass poisoning. Conspiring with the Dread God of the Deep. Murder for non-religious reason.

Anything else was fair game.

Elair took a breath, squared his shoulders, and made his way to the farthest, darkest corner of the room. He didn't know if that was where Grati expected him, but honestly, where else?

His suspicions came true the moment he pulled up a chair. Shadows on the other side of the table moved to reveal a tanned man with the kind of smile all sharks in the Nacrous Sea envied.

"You sure kept me waiting," he drawled in place of a greeting.

Elair kept his chin up. "You said tonight. Nothing implied the time was set in stone.”

Grati clicked his tongue. "You're getting bold out here, are you? I guess the big city living agrees with you." He looked Elair up and down, one eyebrow slightly raised. "Which aspect of it is the most agreeable, I wonder? All that shit about learning magic in a posh Academy? Or is it about your lover?"

All warmth seeped away. Elair supposed he'd always suspected that Grati must know by now. It would be unreasonable if he didn't. That didn't mean Elair was ready to hear this.

"He is nothing. Merely a way into the good crowd." He'd never be able to say this so dismissively where there was a chance of Miqualis hearing it. Not just because it was untrue, or because he didn't want to hurt his boyfriend. Rather, around Miqualis he became a softer, tamer thing. Here, away from his fabricated existence, with the person who'd known him and molded him before Miqualis had ever set eyes on him, it was different. The rancid resentment came bubbling back to the surface, and Elair let it. Old hurts were the surest disguise against those who expect nothing better.

"You are sure not nothing to him." Was that admiration in the minelord's voice? "I spent the day looking over the reports. Even observed you two first-hand, a little bit. The boy is clearly head over hills." He saluted Elair with a half-empty tankard. "Well done, fake son."

"Thank you," Elair said without missing a beat. He didn't feel the least bit grateful, but in situations such as this, it was always best to keep talking. Pause for too long, and your silence might give away a secret or two.

Grati smiled and set his tankard aside without taking a sip. "Now. For the real reason you're here."

Elair's arms itched to cross in front of his chest. He resisted. "Yeah. That What do you want me to do this time? I'm all ears."

"I'd rather you were all brains. Though," the older man's grin turned salacious, "I don't think it's your mind that rich guy is after, huh? Though I suppose it's your private business. Just as long as it results in my getting what I want, and I want a few drops of your lover's blood. For research, you understand."

A shiver ran down Elair's spine. "Why? He's a regular base-blooded human with a regular magical gift. You might as well take mine."

"Ah, but I need his. Though if you're offering..." Grati procured a rusty blade seemingly out of nowhere and wiggled his fingers around the handle. "Come on, then, provide a sample. It will be interesting to compare."

This was as good a way to stall as any. Elair extended his hand like a challenge and barely winced when the blunt blade cut through his skin. He knew enough healing spells to deal with an infection and make sure the wound didn't scar. This wasn't a problem.

Keeping Miq out of this man's clutches was. Research, my ass. There was nothing interesting about blood. Not for studies. What made it valuable was how it allowed one to control the person whose veins it had come from, or those closest to them.

Elair's breath hitched.

He shouldn't have offered his hand.

He only did it because Grati already controlled him, but. But.

"There," Grati said, pulling the blade away from the gash in Elair's wrist and replacing it with a small vial. Thick redness trickled into the glass tube. "It's always nice to have some extra. By the way, your sister sends her regards. She's still such a willful child. Best give her no reason to stop being one too soon, eh?"

Elair really shouldn't have offered Grati his hand.

#warden's random scribbles #whumptember2023 #whump writing #my writing #writeblr #writblr #original fiction #flash fiction #snippet #champagne problems #fantasy #the thing about elair is he's book-smart but not life-smart #he does things with zero thinking and then he's like “wait a second”#all the other impulsive characters i've ever written combined look like paragons of strategic thinking compared to him #i love him but damn

1 note · View note

wasted-my-time · 9 months

Text

Genesis

Warnings: Mention of drugs, alcohol and child mistreatment.

-To put it briefly, my mother wasn't exactly the mom of the year... Billy began his tale.

He was six years old, he was hungry.

-Mommy, there's nothing to eat. He complained after checking the fridge for the fourth time and deciding that baking soda and the moss growing on a rotten apple weren't a complete meal.

-Mommy ain't got no money, so cope on your own, little prick! She yelled at him before taking another swig from her bottle of Jameson's.

He was nine, he was left alone, he didn't see his mother for three days, but he had a newspaper run and got himself a bit of money.Luckily, Kraft Dinner was cheap and using the neighbors' microwave oven was easy.

-I don't need help, I doing better without her, I don't need help. He slowly repeated himself as the device started beeping to signal his meal was ready.

He was thirteen, he had enough. Finding his mom passed out on the couch every time he got home starting to play with his mood.

-Where did you put my fucking white horse?! Was the first sign of her consciousness he had when he walked through the door.

-I didn't touch your heroin and you know it. He answered calmly in a vain attempt to lower the temperature.

-Who took it then?! You're the only one in here, appart from me!

-I don't know, maybe you should ask the guy that was here with you last night? He countered, a bit angered by her drug induced amnesia.

-Mike? He... He was there?

-No, Mike is the one trying to make you quit. Rodger you called him, I think.

-Oh yes, I remember now... You know, he has pretty interesting ideas: He said that if I ran out of dope or money, he knew people that would trade quite a lot for a young boy like you.

He was about to say something but the sheer terror his mother's insinuation caused all words to choke in his throat. All he could do was to stare at her with eyes wider than one dollar coins.

-Oh, you heard well, so you better bring me back all what you stole from me. You have fifteen minutes, little prick. Otherwise, I'll call him, and he'll call his friend and by the end of the day, I'll be rid of you.

Fifteen minutes is a hell of a short time to give back something you didn't take. So instead of searching, he started packing, which wasn't very difficult: Apart from what he was wearing at the moment, all he had were two shirts and a pair of jeans, as for his beloved Swiss knife, it was already in his pocket.

-Don't you dare get out, I'm still your mother! She yelled when she saw him about to leave with his bag on his shoulders.

-It was about damn time you realized it! He felt like his blond head made a full turn as she slapped him across the face in response.

-Fuck you, I'm not your son.

It was the last thing he ever told his mother as he slammed the door behind him.

He was used to a lot of walking around because of his job, but a full night of constant movement completely drained him. Too scared to sleep, he had to keep going, but at eight o'clock,he climbed up the emergency stairs of a disaffected factory and decided the rusty metal would be the perfect spot to take a break.

-Just... a few... minutes. He whispered to himself just before his body gave up and let him sink into a deep slumber.

___________________________________________

-Hey, boy! Boy, are you alright? A calm voice woke him up along with a hand gently shaking his shoulders.

His first reflex was to jump on his feet, his Swiss knife pointed at the man's face.

-Woah, relax kid! I want you no harm, it's just that, how can I say, you're sleeping in my doorway and I'd really like to go home. The stranger protested, putting his hands up to appear as little threatening as possible.

To be honest, with his mid length, wavy, dark hair, his big, soft, brown eyes, and his not yet adult face, he looked quite friendly.

-You live in there?

-Yes, there's me, my friends and a bunch of other people. You, on the other hand, don't seem to have a place to stay, do you want to come in?

-Wait a second, I don't even know your name! Billy exclaimed.

-I'm Graham Mellor, and would you mind not to point that thing at me, it would be very appreciated, you know. He answered and offered his hand to shake.

The boy put the knife back in his pocket and reluctantly accepted the hand.

-I'm William.

-William what?

-I don't know my father's name, and I don't want my mother's one.

-Billy Nameless, that's good! It could be a cowboy name from those old movies! Graham joked.

-Only my friends can call me Billy.

-So, now that you know my name, do you want to come in?

-Okay, but if there's anything shady in there, I get out or you're gonna end up with a second hole down your ass. He answered, patting the pocket containing his knife.

-It's a deal, Mister Nameless. Graham nodded and led the way.

Where Billy was waiting for two or three scruffy guys with absolutely nothing to do, he found five young adults taking care of about twenty kids from eight to sixteen years old.

-Alright everybody! Here is William and he might be our guest for a while, so I want y'all to be at your best with him.

-What the fuck?!

-It's class in the morning and we do chores in the afternoon. Graham explained.

-Oh, okay then...

-You said a rude word, you must apologize!

A little girl scolded him.

-Eh.... Sorry guys?All kids nodded in one synchronized move of approval and teenagers snickered under their breath.

-Who are they... How do you... You know what I mean!

-Mostly like you, but for a few of them, their parents heard of us and brought them here because they couldn't take care of them. They visit sometimes.

-Show me around, the whole place.-Well, here used to be the offices, the younger kids sleep here and because there are a lot of separate rooms, it is also where we do classes. I think they're on a break right now, that's why they're all together.

He then led him down one flight of stairs, showing him the teenagers' dorm room then, one floor lower, the adults' one. Both were only consisting of thin foam mattresses covered by even thinner sheets and covers laying in one big room.

-That's it for us, "The Family Unit". Underneath, there are a few homeless guys that live here. They're nice but they don't want to deal with us lot. I'd gladly join them sometimes. He chuckled

-And on the ground floor?

-Junkies. Most of them are cool too, but we don't want any substances around the kids.-You won't see me disagreeing with that.

-So, do you want to try it out for a while?

An organised, more or less safe way of living. It sounded better than his mother's place.

-... Why not.

Months passed and he so to say became part of the family, taking part to chores and courses. To his surprise, he had more to eat there than he used to have with his mother and miraculously it wasn't as cold in winter, thanks to Graham gathering enough money to afford a bit of gas for the heating.

About a year later, some other changes in his life came with a loud pounding on the rusted door of the ground floor.

-Police! Open the door! A man with an English accent shouted.

The panic those words caused to the still sober occupants of that floor...

But of course they didn't open (or even approach the door) and the "police" had to kick it open only to see a couple of them running up the stairs.

-Maybe it's not that bad of a thing if they demolish this damn place... He mumbled to himself after discovering what he thought to be the only residents of the building.

He began to search the floor he just entered for something or someone that would eventually be enough to discourage promoters from tearing down the building.

He just didn't want another apartment complex that people wouldn't be able to afford.

-If you are from the police, I assume you have a badge, and some kind of a warrant. Graham asked as he got to the staircase's landing.

-No, I don't. What I have is a reason for you to help me.

-Could you elaborate?

-The new owners of your... Home want to replace it with apartments. I'm a private investigator and they hired to see what has become of their property.

-Argh, it must be about this unpaid rent of us. He answered with irony.

And this is the moment Billy and his less than perfect sense of timing decided to arrive.

-Hey why in Hell did you guys let the front door open?! He shouted as he entered the building.

-What are you doing with children in here?! Bernie yelled at Graham, taking out his pistol and pointing it at him.

-No, I swear it's not what you think! Such panicked explanation were far from satisfying for the detective, but as he was about to cock his gun, a dull sound resonated and he collapsed to the ground.

-Eeeh, I went dumpster shopping and found quite a few cans of soup. Billy explained and picked the one he just threw at the man's head.

-I hope you found some ice for his head too, now help me, we'll get him upstairs.

Bernard woke up on the third floor, surrounded by six pair of curious eyes and his head resting on the last clump of snow in town wrapped in a towel.

Unbeknownst to him, on the upper floor, twenty ears were pressed against the ground, eager to know what was going on.

-Mister Gray, can you hear me? Graham asked after seeing their "guest's" eyes fluttering open.

-How do you even know my name?

-Your wallet. Billy answered and threw it by the laying man. Don't worry, I didn't take anything from it.

-Hmm, and what do you want from me?

-Just to be left alone.

-I want to see the rest of the building first, I don't mind lying to the promoters who hired me, but I need some inspiration first. Oh, and if you give me my gun back, I'd appreciate it.

Billy put the firearm by the detective's hand carefully, but the adults couldn't help but shoot an anxious look at the ceiling, thinking about the kids upstairs and of a way to hide it.

-What's up there? He asked with suspicion.

-N-Nothing. One of Graham's friends stuttered.

-Oh, so you won't mind if I do this... He retorted, only to grab his revolver, stand up and fired three shots in a corner of the ceiling.

As the high pitched screams of the children rang above them, Graham and Billy tackled Bernard to the ground as the adults ran upstairs.

-Nothing uh? The detective chuckled.

He was good enough to tell when he was lied to, and once everything was explained properly, all suspicions were washed away.

-I'll help you. I'll scare away the promoters with something about contaminants in the ground and the soil being so soft that the whole thing would collapse, I don't know...

Relief was about to wash over the squatters' mind when the detective spoke once again.

-But I have a condition. He then pointed to Billy. You. Your name is William Forester and your mother came at my office telling me that you had ran away and required my services. If you come back with me, it's a deal.

-No, don't do this, I know her, she won't pay you! Billy pleaded.

-Well, it's still worth trying, if she doesn't, I'll charge a little extra to the promoters. He explained and patted his pockets, looking for something before adding: They won't even notice. And did you also take my cigarettes?

Graham glared at Billy, whom rolled his eyes and threw the little cardboard box to their guest.

-What about my lighter?

This time, Graham was the one to retrieve the missing object.

-So, what do you think? Bernard asked with a cloud of smoke.

-... I'll go. Billy resigned himself. But to one condition, we will go to my mother's place, instead of her coming to your office.

-Wise decision, young man.

___________________________________________

-I begin to understand why you ran away... Bernie grumbled after kicking a rat the size of a small dog out of his way while climbing up the stairs of the apartment building.

-Wait until you get into her place...Three flights of stairs later, they were in front of the dreaded door.

-Miss Forester? Bernard called as he knocked on the door.

-What time is it? Billy asked.

-Half past one. He answered after checking his watch.

-She's sleeping.The teen deadpanned before opening the unlocked door, revealing his mother snoring on the couch, surrounded by dirty dishes on the floor and various powders on the coffee table.

-Do you really want to send me back here? Or did she forget to tell you she threatened to sell me to child traffickers before I left?

-You should become a lawyer, 'cause you just won this case.

-So let's go back to the factory! He exclaimed after quietly closing the door.

-No, I called my other client to convince him that he shouldn't build anything there, but he already had reports indicating otherwise, so now he thinks I'm a liar and he won't pay me...

-And you aren't gonna get your money for finding me neither? The teen asked as they turned around to get down the stairs.

-No, to be honest, I don't get paid that often... I basically live off the two days advances I ask before each job. But it's enough as long as I keep finding new jobs.

-I could help you. I met all sorts of people since I got out of here.

-It's an idea. The detective chuckled. But first, I'll help your friends get another place.

-... And I guess he thought it was one good idea, because he's stuck with me ever since and didn't even complain.

-You kid deserved to go to school, and have an honest job! Bernie exclaimed before sitting back with them.

-Maybe I would have deserved it, but instead of that, I work with you! Billy joked.

-And you dropped school when you were sixteen! His so-called uncle retorted.

-Okay, you win...

-We should watch the news, maybe they'll talk about you lot. Bernie changed subjects after checking the clock.

They settled down in front of the television, Billy and Janie sitting by each other on the couch and Bernie took place in his armchair in the warming company of a glass of cognac.

"Breaking news, Ladies and Gentlemen, a corpse has been found on the railway crossing Broad Channel Island in Jamaica Bay..." The presentator announced as soon as she appeared on the screen.

-You don't say... Billy chuckled in faked disbelief.

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

Next chapter: Billy's got a gun.

#The ballad of Janie and Billy #Janie's got a gun #billy's got a gun #Fan art #def leppard #aerosmith

0 notes

digitaldiscipline · 1 year

Text

Take three days off of melatonin and then go back on, and yowza*

Lest anyone think I am a party animal, I tried to go to bed before 6pm last night. In that, I was a resounding success - in bed at 5:28pm, bay-bee.

... and couldn't get to sleep until nearly 9pm, at which point, I trundled to the bathroom for a melatonin gummy. I'd given the brainmeats a break from sleep aids, and apparently, the previous two nights' sleep of "being in an accident in my parents' first minivan" and "shopping for soup" weren't going to cut it.

I need to preface this next bit by saying that I have never watched an episode of The Office (either flavor); I've only seen memes and gifs, primarily of the American version. This matters, because I spent about 3/4 of my dreamshit time last night as Steve Carell in what I assume was a third-rate knockoff of the show, because none of the rest of the cast was there (or if they were, I didn't recognize them).

It began as a contemporary episode, but quickly morphed into a flashback to what I assume was high school/college/20's, where they were all being low-grade, innocuous delinquents together, and somehow shared a rambling but cramped apartment.

I had two notable skills, because I otherwise had no idea what the fuck was going on at any point:

I could throw with realistic accuracy

I would not take any shit from any one at any time about any thing

These came into play repeatedly.

First, we went to a dilapidated, hidden arcade, where someone was enthused there was a pinball machine (there were actually three, but they were all occupied, or real-life me would have been on them like snot on a doorknob). There were some fratbro types engaged in a competition on one of those miniature basketball games, trying to make shots from long distance with a surprising amount of success, but the ball bounced over to me on the other side of the venue when one of them missed.

Being me, I whipped it at the hoop on a bounce and nailed it. While impressive to the frat bros, this had the unintended and unwanted consequence of getting the attention of two undercover cops, who came over to say "we don't need three cops here."

Obviously, since my ACAB ass isn't one, I took this as an opportunity to go off.

"The Verillas kilt, which is pro-LGBT, doesn't give away that I have cuffs in my pocket like your jeans do. I'm wearing scuffed cowboy boots, which I'm pretty sure aren't in the dress code. Just because I am a scruffy white guy with a shaved head doesn't make me some kind of fascist shithead."

Because this was a dream, and not an actual place, I didn't get the shit kicked out of me immediately in the process of being arrested; they just left.

I went with the other Office Guys to the restaurant/bar that shared a back wall with the arcade, and it was apparently the ice cream shop from Stranger Things (I am basing this exclusively on the fact that they had those silly hats, and one of them looked like Steve; I have not watched ST since the end of the first season. Again, gifs and screenshots only).

One of the waitresses was complaining about how busy they were, which was immediately submarined by the shift manager wandering around and collecting empty beer cans and chugging the occasional half-empty glass of whatever, and, for reasons unknown, I asked him for a job.

Fortunately, the rest of the gang saved me from capitalism by deciding it was time to go hang out in a leafy glade with a rusty swingset in it, where we were approached by a horrible little kid (like, seven or eight), throwing sticks at us.

So, I did what came naturally, and pegged him in the head with a rock the size of an unshelled almond.

This was apparently A Cause For Concern, because the horrible little kid was one of the office guys' cousins, and they were allowed to be a violent little shit within certain constraints. This irritated me, so I left, and in the process of walking out of the forest, ended up in my childhood back yard, and made my way towards the garage and house.

Why there were NBA players playing HORSE on a hoop that was not where the one lived in reality, I can't surmise, but, again, a missed shot came my way, and I made a very fancy basket by bouncing the ball behind me and into the hoop as I ascended the porch steps. This was greeted with some impressive hooting, which promptly soured when I said it was a lucky shot, and not something I could do on purpose.

"I'm not going to try it again. I'm quitting while I'm one-for-one."

Said porch was absolutely crammed with shit from the garage, which was also half-full of shit, for some kind of rushed renovation my parents were doing, and which I found deeply annoying, not leastwise because it made getting into the house impossible, and I spent a lot of time getting yelled at for moving shit around to try and make a path, which devolved into some vigorous shouting by all involved before I said fuck it and went back into the back yard.

Which was almost normal, except for the fact that one of my friends was out there, singing, very loudly, with some kind of gospel choir broadcast on a portable television. Since he is Jewish, this was a little weird, but, hey, it was nice to visit the artificial pond and scrap-wood fort I'd made as a kid, though falling into said pond (4x deeper in the dream than it was in reality) and having to rescue myself and my dad before hypothermia set in was unwelcome.

After drying off, it was back to the present, where the office guys and I were still sharing the same apartment, and they were getting increasingly suspicious that I didn't know shit about shit, but kinda-sorta played along.

Then the SWAT team showed up, and one of the guys activated an alien artifact that was basically a Sontaran terracotta warrior, who apparently kicked the ever-living shit out of the cops.

Then one of my cats made barfing noises and woke me up.

*i do not apologize for inflicting psychic damage on @tricktster with that word, though no tits were involved in said dreams

#dreamshit

1 note · View note

velvet-paradox · 2 years

Text

Weirdo

Fandom: Peacemaker (DCU)

Pairing: Vigilante (Adrian Chase)/ Jade (Y/N) female reader

Summary: Vigilante has grown on you since joining the crew, when he gets himself into a bit of a pickle you help him out in more than ways than one.

Length: Long

Warnings: NSFW 18+ ONLY, woah bro there's a lot to unpack here so let's see: strong language, real identities, explicit content, mentions of blood, mentions of sutures, friends to lovers, possible spoilers, kissing, fingering, mentions of squirting, oral (m & f receiving), unprotected P in V (wrap it up, you know the drill!), almost creampie, heavily detailed smut.

Tagging: @synnersaint @asexualatsushi @spookyspiderboiii @azurewitch @jaysfav @aliceb6 @tuxedoram @moldypeasant @pimpernelpages @free-to-be-impaled @serious-as-a-peek-frean @spellboundspectre

ENJOY!!!

"Hey Jade," Vigilante asked drumming his fingers to the beat coming from the Vigilante-mobile's speakers on the steering wheel. You two sat in the back of a thankfully dimly lit parking lot as the rain outside had turned into a faint drizzle, waiting for your targets. "You wanna make out?"

"What?" You turned your head to him in the passenger seat of his beloved gold Sebring, the red visor of his mask was already facing you. In full cover of his costume he gave you a playful shrug, clad in your own olive toned tactical suit and lower face mask.

A fan of arcade games as a kid and well into adulthood, especially Mortal Kombat you took your favorite character and morphed her somewhat into yourself. You were still a little rusty with the bo staff, you did baton twirling from as young as you could remember.

Peacemaker was the first of the group to pick up on your secret identity, watching you take on three bad guys with some fancy blade work. You had ducked at the perfect moment the last one had come charging at you, you popped a blade from the inside of your boot cutting both inner thighs in quick succession. The bad guys' friends were laid out with some serious artery debilitating cuts.

Victorious you shouted, "Jade wins!" Peacemaker even gave you a around of applause, stopping his own fight to watch you in battle.

"Vigilante we're... dude we're literally in the middle of a stakeout. We have to pay attention, we can't miss these guys coming out." You picked up the binoculars on the dash and stared at the backdoor of some seedy looking club.

"Oh. Right."

Vigi could be so scattered brained sometimes.

"And besides," you simply stated, "we don't know what each other looks like."

The creak of his uniform made you jump, his hands snatched the binoculars from your hands at exquisite speed. "Are you trying to say that I'm ugly? cause I'm not, I'm not fucking ugly!"

"Woah slow down, that's not what I meant. I meant isn't it not knowing better, shit gets real super fast out here and you know it. You wanna' still keep your day job right?"

He huffed and handed the tool back to you limply. "I know I know. I'm just bored I guess, we've been sitting here for..." Vigilante tilted his red visor towards you, you could see his eyes just barely there through the material unlike yours which were completely exposed. He held up a gloved finger. "Wait a minute; so are you saying if we did know what each other looked like... you'd make out with me?"

"Sure Vigi; just not on the job."

"Tight." He punched the steering wheel with glee, from what you could gather without actually seeing his face.

"You're so weird sometimes."

"Thank you, I appreciate that."

You chuckled through your mask and kept watch of the doors.

...

You came into the office a little later than usual a few days later, nothing like an exciting migraine to start your day.

That's odd; you don't see the gold Sebring also known funnily enough as the Vigilante-mobile in the lot. It was usually parked at the last lamppost, it sat empty and sad. A plastic bag instead blew around in its place.

You came into the office space, your new makeshift HQ with a jug of ice water in your hand because realistically the water in the cooler tastes stale as fuck and the thought of drinking from it for the rest of the day had your head pounding once more.

"How's your head?" Harcourt asks from her desk, she didn't bother to look up from her computer screen. Leota chewed on her fingernails across from her.

"I'm alive if that's any consolation," thankful for the bottom portion of your mask. You wore your signature green but not the full outfit, just a green hoodie with camouflage leggings of the same hue and boots. The office was... dead. "Where are the boys? It's like a funeral parlor in here."

You shuffled to your desk by the window though you were quick to shut the blinds as you settled in. You heard Harcourt kick her under the desk, she grumbled at the blonde.

"That would be your cue, schemer. Go ahead Ads, go on and tell her. Tell her where her friend is."

You lifted your head, eyes narrowed. Worst case scenarios made your stomach flutter. "What are you talking about?"

Adeboya reluctantly creaked in her chair to face you, her deep brown eyes looked a little remorseful as she chose her words carefully. "I uh I may have had a little chat with him about Peacemakers dad when I failed at trying to talk him out of talking to him in jail. And I also may have indicated that he would be helluva lot happier if you know... if you something were to happen to the old man. Like get rid of him."

You balked. "Get rid of him..."

"Yeah. Vigilante got arrested and is now in the same county jail." Adeboya grimaced and then grabbed the arms of her chair as you stood quickly, a little too quickly as the blood in your entire body rushed up your spine. Even though you took meds twice already and smoked a joint, the lingering ache knocked against your skull at full force. You stomped to her desk, Harcourt finally lifted her eyes seeing you on fire.

"Arrested?! Vigi won't last in there, are you fucking nuts?!"

"Told you she'd be pissed, Economos you owe me ten bucks!" Harcourt exclaimed through the headquarters.

"You told him to get his ass arrested in order to take out Peacemakers dad?! A, what the fuck?"

"I'm sorry alright! Chris is my friend and he's hurting right now, actually has been for years. You don't know his dad, he's the worst person on this fucking planet! He deserves what he gets."

"So that means Vig needs to do the dirty work?"

"I'm sorry! everyone has been down my throat about making the hard choices and this was one of those times, I thought! I doubt he even minds. He's killed numerous people, he's clearly capable of getting the job done, Jade. He hasn't been busted for those other murders yet."

You sighed and sat back down with a groan, covering your head with your hands.

Hours went by, you could see Murn in his office texting on his phone, to who you weren't sure but his face was straight and sometimes he pinched the bridge of his nose. Hopefully he was trying to bust Vigi out of jail, you thought then went back to going over the files before you. A medium sized cardboard box full of colored folders sat on the outside of your desk on the floor.

....

5:34 PM and still no word yet as you bounced your leg under your desk. Murn was on the phone for most of the morning and a little into the afternoon. You and Economos ran out for lunch; the taco truck five minutes away was a quick favorite. You got extra hot sauce on your burrito, a shared snack you and Vigilante would grab when the others were busy. You'd sit on the hood on the Vigilante-mobile, cheersing the tortillas before turning away eating back to back so you couldn't see each other.

"Can't you get him out? like... isn't there anything you can do?"

"Missing your little annoying buddy already huh?" Economos laughed to himself.

He stops instantly when you shoot him daggers that you just maybe wished were real. "I'm worried. Auggie Smith has some pull in that fucking jail, if Vigilante gets mouthy like we all know he's prone to, whose to say they won't try and kill him. At the very least bust him up."

"We don't even know his real name, Jade." Murn came into the common desk area, leaving his much larger office to join you and the others.

"What about a vague search?" Leota suggests with a shrug. "How tall do you think he is? six feet maybe or just under?"

"Sure. Uh, maybe dark hair and blue or green eyes..."

You all come up with very vague answers for what you thought he might look like under the red visor and black and blue suit with those dirty silver accents. You leaned on one side of Economos and Harcourt on the other as he searched the jail's database intake.

It only took ten minutes until Vigilante's picture popped up; no... Adrian popped up. Adrian Chase. You got his hair and obscure eye color right from the get, Leota was spot on for height. It was strange to see a mugshot of the man you'd grown so fond of lately, sans security blanket.

It took a few hours and more phone calls, a few lies and a single maybe half-assed truth but you pulled it off. Murn hip checked your desk after Harcourt and the others left for the night, he leaned down and touched the back of your chair.

"He's free," he showed some emotion when you looked up at him suddenly, slamming the red folder you were busy scorching hotly. "I think you should go pick him up, take him home. I'm certain he would love to see a friendly face. Just a thought." He patted your shoulder and waited for you to grab your things, swinging the keys to the head quarters around a finger.

You were almost almost certain you heard him chuckle as you ran to your car.

....

You weren't sure why you were driving so fast, you had a moment of clarity when you looked at the dash realizing you were going well over the residential speed limit. Excitement or adrenaline that Vigi wasn't another victim to the jailhouse life, that he wasn't beaten to death for running that mouth of his.

You slowed down, parking in between two other cars. Your heart pounded, you thought about putting on your mask but the way Murn had given you a fatherly look, made that sort of suggestion had you putting it back into your console. You looked towards the door.

You saw the dark curls first, the outside lamps glinting off silver framed glasses caught you off guard. The man you knew by voice was limping out towards the courtyard in a zip up hoodie, he looked around no doubt looking for Peacemakers gaudy red and white blue car. You smiled seeing him without the suit and rolled the passenger window down, Vigi continued towards the curb even though he didn't recognize you.

You cleared your throat.

"Hey! need a ride?"

Vigilante stops suddenly, bending just enough to see you through the open window. You smiled.

He limps closer, his head just outside the window with his hands on the door. "Jade? Is that you?"

"Come on, I'm here to take you home."

When he plops down in the seat the stink of cafeteria food plumed, instantly taking you back to the lunch lines of middle school. He looks at you, studies your face while he fumbles with the seatbelt not wanting to look away from your bare face as it seemed. He finally clicked it with a small smile.

"You survived."

"Ha! was there any doubt?" the spell was broken and he was back to his usual self. He was real handsome up close you thought and pulled away from the curb.

"Nope."

He sighed deeply and looked out the window. "I think I made a mistake. I just wanted to help but I'm afraid I just made things worse." He wipes under his glasses, the big strong hero slash killer teared up and shook his head. "He's still alive..."

"Don't worry Vigi, you were trying to do the right thing. We'll figure it out." You weren't sure what to say, you knew he meant well. A bit on the psychotic side but he had a good heart. "How's your toe?"

"It fuckin kills dude!" He suddenly exclaimed, wiggling in his seat as if he forgot about it for a second and not in complete-

"Wait. You didn't have them look at it while you were in there?" You pulled to a stop a red light and looked incredulously at him.

"Fuck no! It was embarrassing enough they made me strip whole ass naked, squat and cough, like I would really shove something up my ass. I can't even see my own hole let alone put something up there! psychos."

You snorted. "Change of plans then."

You rolled through to the next light and took a left.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm taking you back to my place, I'll suture your foot and you can rest."

"You mean like a sleepover? You mean it?" In your peripheral you could see him smiling at you in the passing lights when you merged onto the freeway.

"Sure Vigi, like a sleepover."

"Bitchin’! it's uh... I'm Adrian. When I'm not in the suit... I’m just Adrian.”

"Y/N."

"We know each other's names now and that's -- wait wait oh my God holy shit!"

"What?"

"We know what we look like! We can totally make out now!"

"I'm kinda’ operating a vehicle Vigi." You laughed.

"Adrian and not now, silly. But you know like potentially in the future hopefully in the near future."

"You're really adamant about this kissing stuff, huh?"

"Fuck yes I am! I haven't kissed anyone in three years, three years Y/N! Kissing is like one of my all time favorite things. Well besides killing bad guys, and playing with Eagly; I've really earned his trust lately ya' know? Oh and listening to tunes with Peacemaker my all time bestie as you know."

"I know. We all know." You rolled your eyes with humor in your voice.

"Oh and getting spicy burritos with you of course and french fries oh and-" he rambles on about his sound of music favorite things list as he watches the street lights pass by as you drive to your apartment.

You can see the gratefulness on Adrian's face when he see's your complex has an elevator, albeit a shitty one that isn't big enough for four adults on one ride but enough for you two to make it to your floor. You help him down the hall, hooking his arm over your shoulder to alleviate some of the pressure.

He looks around your place from the couch you dumped him on, telling him to stay put as you search through your bathroom for your expansive med kit.

You turn on the lamp once you sit down at the other end of the couch, grabbing the decorative pillow you motion for him to give you his foot, he lifts his legs by grabbing the fabric of his jeans with a grunt. He gives you the thumbs up when you unlace his shoe, his sock is a little bloody and the scent of fresh iron fills your face.

"You may not want to look." You say as you carefully peel it down, he had a bit of gauze tape and paper towel wrapped around it, poorly.

"That bad huh?"

"We're gonna' find out."

....

It looked worse than you thought, exposed meat on both sides it was a wonder he was able to walk on it at all though he did have quite the pain tolerance. This was something else.

You dug through your kit getting out some supplies. You handed him a bit of gnarled leather, he looked it over in his hands.

"What's this for?"

"You're gonna' want to bite down on that when I get started," his eyebrows raised. "This is gonna' hurt."

When you look at him he's smiling, fiddling with the leather that has quite the array of your own bitemarks into it then you'd like to remember. You feel hot under his eyes.

"What?"

"You're a total smokeshow you know that? like... wow."

You felt even hotter and had, for your own sake to look away. "You're not so bad yourself."

Adrian preened a little before chomping down on the bit before chuckling, "Told you I wasn't ugly."

You get to work, its not as mangled as you thought once you got started. You threaded the needle after cleaning the surrounding skin, making sure there was enough tissue to work with. Adrian had his eyes screwed shut, cursing and screaming against the leather piece. The mention of pizza and beer piqued his interest for a moment, tears welling in his eyes when you were almost finished.

You fashioned a small splint for his pinky toe, wrapping decent gauze and tape around it to keep it safe. Satisfied with your work you patted Adrian's ankle, he peeked with one eye at his foot.

"Should probably elevate it for it at least an hour. I’ll order us a pizza, yeah?”

He wiped at his face with a sniffle and nodded. "Will my little piggy be able to wee-wee-wee all the way home again?"

You smiled. "Eventually."

"Bitchin'."

Adrian put away three beers rather quickly followed by just as many slices of pizza when you finished with his foot. Ever easy to talk to as he just kind of filled the space with his random thoughts anyway you enjoyed your dinner.

"Can I sleep with you?"

You narrowed your eyes after you put away the leftovers. "What?"

"I just think it would be better if I laid in a bed to keep my foot elevated, per your request. I'm afraid I might roll off this couch and make matters worse. Hate to ruin all your fancy handiwork."

"Alright but no funny business."

Adrian thrust up three fingers. "Scouts honor."

You did your best not to look or get caught looking at Adrian as he wiggled out of his pants, leaving just his t-shirt and black boxers briefs on. He hopped on your bed a few times while you got ready for bed, grabbing your pajamas to change in the bathroom.

He was laying with his hands behind his head, glasses off and on the side table. You found another pillow to prop up his leg before you crawled into bed next to him. He winked at you before closing his eyes with a sigh, visibly comfortable.

You rolled over and turned out the light.

....

Murn called you that next morning, too early in fact that sky was a Bob Ross sunset painting of pale pink and orange hues. He asked about Adrian's foot, you explained what happened and with not even an ounce of guilt that the crew would would be pulling a little more weight, he suggested you keep your eye on Vigilante for the time being. You asked how long that might be and your boss with a straight shooter answer barked at you, "However long it takes!"

You thought for sure Adrian would wake up at that as you laid on your side, back to back with him. You hung up and snuggled back down into bed, with a sigh you turned, your arm under your pillow. Your friend was still fast asleep, giving his foot some much needed rest. You were surprised blood hadn't soaked through his sneakers, his poor toe was a mess but you were glad for your medic training. Also the fact that your uncle had once had to sew his thumb back into place during a hunting incident in the late 1970′s.

You watched him sleep for awhile, peaceful as could be. You covered your mouth when you saw his face twitch, hip lips parted with a faint mumble, eyes flitting back and forth behind his lids. He was really cute, handsome under that full face mask of his. With a face like that he probably had a few girls in rotation, and you weren't one of them. You sighed and closed your eyes, trying to will yourself to go back to bed. At least you got to lounge at home on a crisp fall day.

....

Adrian took his time making his way into your living room, you heard him get up on the better side of noon while you made a quick lunch. He limped into the space, scratching at his stomach through his shirt and yawned. Clad in his boxers still. He plopped down on your couch, cleaned his glasses with the bottom of his shirt looking at the quiet volume of your TV. He lulled his curly head over the back of it, looking at you slightly as you clinked a few plates.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"We're playing hooky today."

Vigilante clapped and almost fell off the couch with his excitement. "Fuck yes!" he took the plate, just a simple sandwich and a cold Wild Cherry Pepsi, he bounced on the cushion. "Looks like we'll be getting to know each other even better."

"Guess so."

"We should play a game! you got any board games around here? Jenga, Monopoly. Oh maybe a puzzle!"

You liked his enthusiasm even though he was tortured a few days ago in the ex-Senators' butterflied basement. He ate the same way, chest freezing chugs mixed with his chewing and appreciation for a snack.

In the early evening after warming up your half and half pizza you played a few Jenga rounds, caught up on the news when an alert that somehow a whole ass Gorilla had escaped without sight or warrant and finally settled in for another night with the green eyed man. Who couldn't keep his eyes off you, when you left the room (for anything!) you either felt him from the back or watched him lull his skull around in your direction.

You pulled out a middle block, placing it gingerly on top of the next tower, waiting for Adrian to make his move. Only it wasn't the move you were expecting.

"You know I'm in love with you right?"

You choked, Adrian hurriedly sat up and clapped you on the back several times until you could catch your breath and swat him away. "What?!"

"I thought it was obvious- is it not? dammit Chris said it was totally apparent!"

"Wait how though? you've only just seen my full face like-- I don't know yesterday! how can say you love me?"

Adrian shrugged and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "We're compatible, good chemistry, easy banter and quick witted, nice eyes. Should I go on?" he shrugged again, " It's pretty simple really."

"Weirdo." You shook your head.

"I don't expect you to say anything back, I'm full of emotions but I'm not too keen on when and where to expell them so they just kinda' come out they are right now. Hope I didn't make this awkward."

"It's too late for all that Vigi, there's fucking butterflies living peoples brains at this point."

"Very true. I've seen them with my own eyes. Which is another reason why I think we should make out. Just sayin'."

"Okay." Honestly curious you huffed, he pegged it was annoyance until you found yourself climbing onto his lap, knees pressed into the cushions he sat on. His eyes went wide and a slow and unsteady hand pushed up his glasses again as if what he was seeing wasn't real. His mouth silently opened.

"You wanna' make out so bad, let's do it then." You tried to suppress the way your heart pounded blood in your ears, you swallowed and watched his face contort from a bashful confusion to a full on Cheshire grin, his hands squeezed your thighs.

"You sure?"

"I am if you are."

He stopped you for a moment, eyes traveling all over your face until he studied your mouth then made intense eye contact. "I want you to know that if anyone ever decided it was even a thought to hurt you, even the smallest of tiniest flea like thought, I'll kill 'em. Slowly. I'd take a chainsaw to their ankles first and work my way up limb by fucking limb." He licked his lips at the intruding thought.

You nodded when caressed your cheek with his fingers then gathered some of your hair at the back of your head.

"I believe you."

His dark demeanor changed with flash of a brilliant smile. "Good."

Then he was pressing his mouth to yours.

For him to be the telling the truth Adrian hadn't kissed anyone in three years to be true he must've been a natural, taking the lead as the kiss grew more passionate. His other hand framed your jaw, then the side of your neck as he continued, evenly licking at the seam of your lips asking for permission. Which you granted. His tongue was hot against yours, licking at the roof of your mouth. With a shudder he pulled back just enough to look at you, his glasses slightly fogged up.

"How far are we taking this?"

You licked his spit from your lips. "How far do you want to go?"

Adrian beamed.

....

"Oh my God-- are you fucking kidding me?!" For a split second you were grateful for your apartments cement walls as you damn near screamed. You were proven exactly right that Adrian was a natural with his mouth as he proceeded to show you with the forever expertise he was treating you between your legs.

He'd made the request against the shell of your ear, "I wanna' go down on you so bad, I'm so fucking hard right now thinking about it." Who were you to stop his fantasy? you could feel him pulse beneath you.

He had limped behind you as you pulled down your sleep shorts, kicking them away from your ankles when he unexpectedly shoved you on to your bed with a bounce, you rolled over to see him standing at the foot of your bed, nearly folding his glasses before he set them onto of your dresser nearby. He made a gutteral sound when you opened your legs to him, he wiped his mouth and dropped to his knees on the bed.

"You ok up there?" Adrian asked on the sexy end of condescension, folding his arms over your lower belly giving your pussy a break. He'd already managed to coax two orgasms rather quickly from you, your hands still looped in his short curls. "You sound desperate."

"I am! God Adrian you're good at that." You panted and sat up on your elbows, your shirt rumpled under your breasts.

"Ya' know if I put a pillow under your ass I could probably make you squirt," he gave a slight shrug looking down at your thighs, he gave one a nip and chuckled at your stunned face.

Do what now?

"I can't-- I can't do that."

"Oh sure you can!" Adrian nodded furiously excited as he snagged a thrown pillow from your first oral orgasm, drunk on pleasure you lifted your hips as he wedged it to his liking. "There we go. should we try? you really wanna' soak my fingers, Babycakes?"

"I uh... what did you call me?"

"Oh that. Sorry. That's just what I call you in my head."

"I like it."

"Let's get messy then."

Your maniac lover mouthed over you again, licking lewdly at his lips flexing his fingers next to his head before he pushed them into your slick, he looked up with a wink making you burn from the inside out. One hand pushed down on your abdomen while he curls his fingers expertly, in a come hither motion making you whine. "That's it that's the spot."

He did it again and again fingering you with lithe fingers. You can feel it building, that coil that has been snapped twice but this time there's something more promising at the end of it. You arch and he chuckled, eyes trained on your cunt as he pumped his fingers faster, another whimper escaping your throat and all you can do is grip at the sheets.

You've heard your arousal thousands of times by your own undoing, by past lovers and toys but this was strange and dangerous new territory that scratched beneath the surface. That obscene squelching that was filling your bedroom between heady breaths of the pair of you urged you on and you bucked. Two times, then another and on the third curl-

"Bingo." Adrian preened as you came with a sudden shout of his name, warm walls gushing over his knuckles as you fussed beneath him.

The slow drag of his fingers pulling out of you had you a panting mess, Adrian had climbed up between your splayed legs, tired and worn with a crooked smile on his face. When you opened your eyes he was tasting you off his digits.

He moved and hovered above you, bending down to kiss you sloppily, salvia laced with a new burst of arousal. Adrian titled his head. "Can I face fuck you? just like a little bit."

You bit back a laugh and nodded. Though he stilled your movements to sit up and move down his body, instead he tsked you, a damp finger tapped your lips. In all his glory he moved up over your chest, knees dipped into your mattress against your shoulders pinning your arms down at your sides before he gripped the back of shirt and pulled it over his head. You didn't mean to gasp, you'd never seen him in any sort of undress until yesterday. He hummed as he stoked himself through his boxers, his cock thick in his own hand. He watched you watch him through his lashes, he took himself out thumbing the precum already present and waiting.

You swallowed at the sight of him above you. "Go slow first, don't want you to kill me with that thing." You breathed.

"I'd never kill you Babycakes! you're the PB to my J duh... though I might choke you on it; in fact I want to but I would never kill you with it. That would just be crazy..." Adrian bit the inside of his cheek then proceeded to rub the blunt head of his dick along your bottom lip. "Now open wide."

You smiled before lolling out your tongue, he twitched before dipping the head of cock along the soft pad of your mouth. Wrinkles in his forehead had him urging more and more of himself within, he'd only gotten started, had just began to rock his hips down into your face and you could feel his weight already start to sag on him.

You gagged after awhile, watching his face contort in pleasure taken from your warmth, he pushed himself a little more slipping down your throat with his forearms pressed against the wall above your bed. He fucked your mouth with a drawn out groan, easing his cock easily in and out of your wanton mouth.

"Holy fuck Cakes your mouth is... Christ, your mouth is so fucking perfect," one hand traveled down to your brow, he collected some of your sweat from your brow and licked his fingers of its salty tasty with a grunt. "Wish you could fucking see yourself swallowing me down, fuckin' fuck. I should film this, I need to film this."

You grumbled a response, he pulled his cock out for a moment and you caught your breath. Strings of drool clung to your chin. "What was that Babycakes? you shouldn't talk with your mouthful ya' know?" He was smiling like the madman he was.

"Maybe next time," you panted and swallowed even though your throat burned from his thick intrusion. "Right now though, I want you to fuck me. Can you do that?"

"Ha! can I do that? all fucking god damn day I can do that," Adrian scoffed moving backwards down your body, his stomach muscles tightening. He looked so fucking good you had no other choice but to reach out and touch his side, his hip and his outer thigh. Solid; and warm. "How do you want it?"

"I don't care, I just need you in me."

His breath caught in his throat, eyes locked on your own. "That is one of the top seven sexiest things I've ever heard."

"You mean top ten?"

"No, top seven silly." Adrain shook his head, curls dancing over his forehead as he leaned down against the apex of your thighs, grinding himself against you his cock still damp with your salvia as he wiggled his way between your lips, the head of his cock spearing through your walls. He sunk inside you with a drawn out curse, you carefully watched his face morph into bliss just as you gasped when he bottomed out. He whined.

"Love that first stretch," he puffed out, caging in your head while he pressed his forehead to yours. "You ok Babycakes?"

"Mhmm, please you need to move."

"Aw you stuffed full Babycakes? can barely even talk," Adrian for what its worth could speak coherently while fucking, proving more to the point when he started to thrust, gyrating against the warmth of your walls. "Doesn't matter. I plan on fucking out every word you have logged away up there anyway." He tapped your temple and pulled out only to slam right back into your heat.

You yelped and grabbed onto his thick arms, holding him steady and right where you wanted him with a hold of your legs around his waist. You licked your lips.

"You're so fucking good. So good Adrian, so good to me all the fucking time... even when you don't have to... you don't have to be nice." You panted and scratched at his skin, soft and almost supple beneath your nails.

"I want to be nice to you Cakes, I don't have-- much, much in my life but I'm glad you're a part of it. The cream to my Oreo... mmm I'd like to twist and split you open-"

"Adrian please!"

His rambling talks of foods that you two were akin to were endearing and meant the world, but the way he pounded into you faster at the thought of those things had your head swimming.

"Sorry. Focus Adrian focus," he suddenly slapped himself in the face, you didn't have time to react as he was already lowering his mouth to yours.

He kissed you hard with longing, fucking his tongue in and out of your mouth, gliding over your lips to kiss your cheek, then your neck and shoulder taking an experimental bite of one with a moan. "God damn you're soft. Taking me so good, you're the prettiest little thing I've ever had on my cock for sure! please Cakes can um... can you cum for me again?"

You didn't know actually, he'd pulled a few from you already and by the way he was dicking you down this good, your legs already at a tremble did you wonder if you could. "I think so..."

"Good," he kissed you again, biting into your lower lip before he pulled completely out of you, your accustomed walls squeezing around nothing made you sob. He rolled your pliant body over onto your belly, large hands kneading the flesh of your back digging into the backs of your thighs up and over the cheeks of your ass until you felt him spread your legs. "Gonna' make you cum again cutie, I can't help myself I'm being a little greedy-- that alright?"

You turned your head against the mattress, looking over your shoulder as he positioned himself by rubbing a set of fingers along your swollen lips, gently tapping your clit and making you jerk beneath his weight. "Be greedy all you want babe, 'm all yours."

Adrian had barely pushed back into your hole, grunting as he easily slid in and out his hands pushing you down between your shoulder blades. "Eight. Top eight sexiest thing you've done now. If you're all mine you're gonna' get it and get it fucking good. Think you can take it, hmm? take all this fucking dick Babycakes? stretch this sexy fuckin' hole right out." He chuckled and all you could do was whine and nod, watching him fuck you from behind. "You like that don't you? go ahead and look back at it. Look back at me fucking you senseless."

His smile was predatory, his thrusts brutal but steady and you had to finally look away and he laid it on you. It was all too much, he was overwhelming in the best sort of way.

You hummed when you felt him lean, hitting a deeper angle that had you silently screaming for more tightening your grip on your sheets. He kissed over your shoulders, nipped the back of your neck before holding onto it with one of his hands while the other gave your backside a strong slap.

It was only a matter of decent strokes, slipping a little deeper when you lifted your hips just the faintest amount had you both chasing towards the climax line just in reach, so damn close. The synchronicity of your breaths, your movements and slapping of skin on skin drove you to a spiraling state, Adrian twitched behind you no doubt on his own euphoric cloud.

"I'm close Adrian please, cum with me cum with me." You cried out, a gush of new wetness milked around his cock.

"You first, I'm right behind ya' I promise."

“Jesus Adrian!" You clenched around him, the noises he made was a symphony in your ears, bouncing off your bedroom walls until all you could feel was expanding heat as another orgasm ripped through you. You whimpered his name into the bed.

Adrian's hands shifted to your lower back with a groan. Pushing you further into the bed, he fucked you faster before pulling out leaving you wanting more but straightened when you felt him slide his dick between your cheeks, with a low groan he came. Ropes of his come shot out, splashing along your lower back while he rocked against you.

You listened to him catch his breath, it hitched a few times before you heard him laugh lightly to himself. He told you to hold still, he picked up his shirt from the floor and cleaned up the mess he made, he folded it rather neatly so it didn't stick to anything else by your bedroom door.

Adrian confidently walked about your room, watching you roll over on to your side. He stopped at the foot of your bed and held up his fingers like it was a picture frame.

"Now what are you doing?"

"Taking a mental picture, duh. I have a really vivid memory and this is definitely one I want to remember every little, teeny tiny detail about!"

He really was a weirdo sometimes but as you snuggled into bed, you realized he was now your weirdo. And you liked that; a lot.

Part Two

Part Three

#i'm so not fucking sorry lol #super indulgent as usual #vigilante x you #vigilante x reader #vigilante x female reader #adrian chase x you #adrian chase x reader #adrian chase x female reader #vigilante imagine #adrian chase imagine #peacemaker imagine #lookin at you vigilante #vigilantie fic #vigilante smut #adrian chase fic #adrian chase smut

522 notes · View notes