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coeurify · 5 months

Note

ok but what do you think about making a sex tape with ellie 🧍‍♀️

an: this has been reworked over and over since this request came in in march… so enjoy! its very lovey dovey and sm plot sorry :3

warnings: 18+. filming. jackson!ellie. fingering and oral!r receiving. mostly lovey but some teasing and rough language :3 ellie is obsessed and lovesick and so is reader soooo they make a sex tape. unedited gimme time.

When Ellie first brought up the idea, you had recoiled into her old beat up couch, scoffing as she waved the old camcorder around, a shiteating grin on her face.

“I doubt that thing even works El,” you shrugged your shoulders under the blanket you had stolen off her bed. It wasn't unusual for you to hole up in her small homey garage while she was on patrol.. but what *was* odd was her little.. Souvenir from this particular trip.

“C’mon babe,” Ellie pouted, “Let me try on you..” she wiggled the little camcorder, slipping her hand into the attached grip, flipping open the small screen. Despite your complaints that there was no way it worked, Ellie just could never be wrong. Of course she knew you would fight back, and so she had made sure she fished some batteries too. Of course they came from Maria, the cost three days of stable duty.. But it was worth it for the immune woman, who ducked her nose down and watched the screen flicker to a slow start.

The quality was no better than that of what you could expect from a decades old camera, the film grainy and muffled, each corner covered by symbols Ellie didn’t really understand. But it was no roadblock in the trek of her wants. She smiled when your hands immediately came to slap over your face, voice serious behind your palms as you spoke, “put that down.”

Eventually however, you got a little used to Ellie’s newest fixation. The little hums she made were always a dead give away that she was filming you. During a video game tournament against Dina and Jesse, squished so closely to the two on the floor of the garage that you literally bruised the taller man during a particularly aggressive round of a fighting game. When you were trying your best to compete against your girlfriend’s art skills, tongue poking out the corner of your lips as you worked on a very detailed stick figure that dawned pointed down eyebrows, a large frown and red pencil hair. Even just when you were organizing Ellie’s closet for her, sorting through the tens of sweatshirts with a judging pout on your lips at the mess.

Each time you heard the distinctive sound of El’s attempt at holding back laughs, a small little choked up ‘hmm’ sound. You usually turned your head, quick to flip off your girlfriend-turned-filmmaker. But by the fifth time of catching her smiling behind the little object, you just let her. Whenever you could see her a little less tense, you took it.

Even if that meant starring in all of her little five second shitty clips. Her excuse always, “Just something to look at when I miss you.”

In some ways it made you feel weak legged, slightly lovesick by the thought of Ellie loving you so dearly she just had to steal little memories of you. Every small grin that broke onto freckled cheeks wherever she filmed coaxed you into the haze built up by her new hobby. You became so covered in adoration soon that you resorted to tiny only half mad eye roll when the click of the camera sounded.

Small clips turned into Ellie’s free hand wrapping around your bare waist as you looked in the mirror of her bathroom, the camcorder pressed near your cheek, the auburnette on the other side. You wiped the condensation from the glass, the room still slightly foggy from your shower. “You are not filming me out of the shower,” you huffed. Ellie didn’t answer, the familiar sounding hum stopped only when she pressed a kiss to the base of your neck, lips pulling up into a smile against the skin. “Won’t point too low..” she promised. “You just look so pretty..”

That time, the camera had been closed and discarded on a random bedside table as the two of you stumbled across her floor, giggling as Ellie cursed, stubbing her toe on the corner of the bed she tried to press you down into.

It continued like that, the limits of what you allowed Ellie to film seemed to blur further with every day.. Every curl of her fingers around the object that had become so central to this small haven of her home. Your own neck hot for reasons very different from embarrassment each time the filming light blinked a little too long. The line that you and Ellie had drawn in the sand of your mind was looking a lot less precise with every new memory saved into the device.

Even further along into the passing weeks, you had settled comfortably into yet another night spent at Ellie’s. Your own bedroom had remained untouched for nearly a week this time, bed spread likely just as cold as the air outside. But the garage was warm. The air inside thick as you pressed two fingers against your lips to keep a laugh from spilling out. Glasses of half empty wine, stolen from Tommy and Maria’s cupboard, balanced on the table that sat directly in front of the couch you were cuddled into.

The feeling of wine drunkenness always made you giggly, but your girlfriend parading around her small living space with her camcorder, well, that made you even more prone to bursts of laughs. She had gone from filming and rambling on about what wine you were drinking to zooming into your face, chuckling with breath that smelt like red wine. “See how pretty?” Ellie gaped to no one, stepping closer to you on the couch. The whole garage was painted a light orange from the setting sun outside, but it didn’t stop Ellie.

“El, you’re being a dork,” you chide, shaking your head as more compliments spilt from her. She shoos off the bitten remark with a sound that boarders on a coo, leaning over you as the lens of the camcorder sat close enough to pick up the smaller details of your face the grainy film usually could not.

“I’m just showin’ how perfect you are..” Ellie explains, a softer tone edging into her lungs as she presses her thumb to your cheek, drawing a new heat under the digit. “Perfect cheeks…” her finger traces over your jawline next, and then your chin. Each new landmark of your face that Ellie doted on swept closer and closer to your soft lips. You were no idiot, you saw how the green of her eyes fell to the fat, watched as you sucked your bottom lip between your teeth and then out again. You made no move to stop what came next.

That next move was your girlfriend’s finger following like a moth to a flame to the one spot that teetered on that blurry line again, thumb pressing softly around the curve of your lips.

“Perfect lips,” Ellie continued, eyes flicking back and forth from the camera screen to you. Soon the pad of her finger is right against your bottom lip, and the room seems to slow.

The both of you hold bated breaths as you mull over your options. But this mulling is no longer than a few seconds, feeling overwriting the more logical side of your brain with a gushy type of tightness in your chest.

Your lips part, eyes meeting the lense as you suck the tip of Ellie’s thumb into your mouth. Lips wrap around the soft skin, salty and cold, and Ellie has little to say other than a slow and breathy, “Fuck..”

Your tongue peaks out just for a moment, lavishing over the wet skin, but Ellie is quick to pull away, leaving your shining lips parted in confusion. The camera falls to her side as her free fingers wrap around your wrist. Just like last time, the little red light twists away from your face. Ellie’s toes step backwards from that oh so mysterious line you two made.

“You know what you do to me, hm?” Ellie questioned as she hauled you up by your arm, a sharp giggle following as she stomped to the bed. The camera is discarded on the table near her pillows as you are thrown back on it.

“No,” you tease, your next giggle cut off by a thump noise that was Ellie pushing you back against grey sheets, you make a sound that almost sounds like “oof” as you try to readjust. Ellie clambers on top of your squirming frame as another sputtered laugh escapes at the messy, and not very seductive, way you two found contact against the creaking mattress.

“Tell me,” you prompt, meeting Ellie’s narrowed green eyes. “Why should I? You’re laughin’ at me.”

Your eyes roll as Ellie’s lips fall into a pout that you want to kiss clean off. “Stop being a baby,” you mutter before letting your impulse win, your hands cupping the freckles cheeks of your girlfriend and pulling her down for a soft kiss. Her pouted lips quickly shape to your own, and you sigh in approval as the hand not holding herself up traces down to your waist.

“I’m not a baby,” your girlfriend complains when your lips part from each other, and you nearly pinch her cheeks from just how lovely you find the whiny drawl in her voice, instead you just shrug, biting back another half bubbled up laugh, “mhm, prove it.”

Ellie does just that. One tug on your hips has you flatter against the bed, one poke at your side has a squeal leaving your mouth. You see how Ellie’s lips quirk up, but before you can admire the sight, she kisses you again.

“So,” Ellie punctuates the word with a kiss, the sort that makes a loud and annoying smacking noise, before trailing her lips to your cheek. “Fuckin” Ellie’s lips find home on your jawline next, and act that has a simmering heat grow between your legs. “Perfect.” Ellie finishes the repeat of what her fingers had done earlier by nudging your head back, lips pressing softer kisses to the flesh of your neck.

Your eyes flicked to the side table, pupils finding the little camcorder as the auburn haired girl bit at your neck, your attention pulled away as your eyes flutter closed at the feeling. “El,” you breathe out, a hand finding her messy hair, nails scraping at her scalp as she bit harsher at the column of your throat. You aren’t sure why her name had been your first thought to say after seeing the camcorder, swallowing as your fingers itched to reach toward the side table.

“Hm? Tell me,” Ellie taunts, words muffled as her next target becomes your collarbone. Your own words biting at you again as your eyebrows furrowed together, watching as your girlfriend’s fingertips find the edge of your shirt, pushing it up as your hand falls from her hair to help take it off.

You pull her back for another kiss before you can even think to answer her question, one you weren’t even sure you could explain. Ellie’s needy fingers come into contact with the fat of your tits, tweaking at the perked nipples, nails pressing in just a little too hard, earning a mewl directly against the spit slick kiss. As Ellie kissed you, you tried your best to focus on the feeling, and not how you were acutely aware of the camera beside you.

Her tongue swiped at your bottom lip, warm against your parting lips as she searched to deepen the kiss, messy sounds of half breaths and kissing all sounded through the small area, your hips rolling up as her knee slotted itself between your trembling thighs.

You can’t help but wonder what this may look like on camera, and as Ellie pulls back, you notice the green of her eyes had dimmed, pupils blown as the pretty eyelashes fanned lightly. The freckles splattered over the apples of her cheeks were particularly prominent tonight, and you suspected it had something to do with the blood that rushed there, rosy and all around causing that same lovesick feeling to creep up your weakened bones.

You wonder if she would look as pretty on that grainy screen too.

Before your mind can even form another thought, Ellie is pulling away from your lips, a small whine the response she received. You can’t complain for long as she moves down, wet lips trailing sloppy kisses to your soft stomach, planting the ember of a growing fire in your groin, causing your hand to flex. Your eyes are pulled by an invisible string to the side of you again, the black material of the camcorder your gaze’s target. Ellie grumbles in response, and a small pinch on your hip has you yelping.

“What’re you looking at? Look at me.”

“Ellie,” you try again, lip quivering nervously as she ushers you to lift your hips, tugging off the bottoms you wore. “Fuckkkk,” she drawls, lost in her own little world as a large hand presses your thighs open. “You see that?” she marvels, a finger pressing against the wet spot on your panties. When she presses, you can feel the fabric stick to you, nearing translucent as she teases, your lips hugging the now soaked panties. It has your hips stirring in their spot, the flame in your stomach burning your liquid feeling stomach. “Ellie,” you sigh again.

Finally her gaze looks up, “Yea?” she asks, her voice softening. You can see the flash of confusion, her hand falling from your thigh as she searched for any apprehension. “You ok?”

“I can’t—“ your voice comes out whinier than you would like to admit, harsh against your ears with a feeling of embarrassment. “Can’t say it,” you finish, eyes moving to the camera sitting on the small wooden table beside you for the umpteenth time.

Ellie follows your eyes, and when you look back to her, there’s a flash of surprise in the shade of green you loved so much. It was replaced quickly, her eyelids drooping as her chin tilted up. “Hm. Don’t know what you mean,” she shrugs, fingers going back to teasing your panty line.

Her tone is laced with sarcasm, the teasing tilt to it is a voice you had heard many times before, many times in this exact position. Ellie liked to make you say things, liked to watch you squirm. You were convinced at this point she got off on your embarrassment, and she probably wouldn’t even deny that.

“Gonna have to spell it out for me, babe,” Ellie added, dipping down to place soft kisses at your hip-bone, pink muscle licking over a mark there.

A low and annoyed sound escapes your throat, and your girlfriend chuckles against your flesh, one finger curling around the fabric of your panties, tugging it down a little ungracefully, your shaking thighs to thank for that.

“Barely even touched you yet and you’re shakin,” Ellie teases again, whispering softly, “Such a pretty pussy..” as the sight of your weepy folds meet her eyes. “This all for me, baby? Or somethin’ else on your mind?”

Your eyes squeeze shut again, hoping to rid your mind of the film reel like thoughts of the camera pressed in Ellie’s hand as she did this. They played over and over behind the black of your eyes, and another frustrated sound fills the garage.

“Not gonna answer?” Ellie was quieter now, repositioning herself, parting your thighs even more. A finger ghosted over your dripping cunt, a hum following the action. “Can’t make you feel better if you don’t use your words, y’know?”

The warm air hit your folds as Ellie exposed you more, thighs burning from the stretch, from the tight grip of one of her hands, fingers digging into and squeezing the fatty flesh.

The blanket beneath your bare ass is no comfort as you move around, and Ellie’s nose bumps against the softness of your thigh. So close, so fucking close to giving exactly what you were searching for, so close to your aching center that your resolve cracks lightly, head tilted back and against the pillow.

“The camera,” you croak, your mouth dry as your lips part, refusing to look at the other girl.

“What about the camera? Look at me and tell me what you want.”

The crease between your eyebrows likely was gaining small droplets of sweat just from how hard you were attempting to avoid this entire fucking conversation, but Ellie kept pressing you further, and who were you to deny her?

“Wanna film this,” you eventually admit, head dipping down to meet her darkened eyes.

“Yea baby? Wanna see what a mess I can make you?” Ellie’s words start to blur together, the idea surely muddling any coherent thoughts together in her mind, licking her lips as she awaits your response.

“Fuck— mmph, yes El. Please.*”

Ellie’s lips curl into a smile that’s more wicked than loving, “Red button starts it, you can hold it.” She instructed, and you scramble to reach your arm out, grasping at the little hand strap connected to the camcorder.

“There you go babe,” she nods, “give it a go, let me see what you’ve got.”

Your fingers are shaking so badly it takes a moment for your thumb to hit the button, to see the soft little red light noting the start of the film.

The grainy screen doesn’t pick up on all the freckles adorning Ellie’s face. The ones that made you feel all gooey, that you wanted to kiss until her face was a pretty shade of red. But it did capture her parted lips, the expanse of your thighs, and your shaky grip tilted the camera down as Ellie’s head dipped between your thighs.

Her mouth latched to your achy cunt, tongue licking up the drops of arousal that covered your slit, pearling on the petal like lips that she spreads with her fingers.

Your arms almost immediately gave out.

Clearly, you were not as skilled in the art of film making as Ellie had been, the camera dropping almost completely to your tummy as Ellie sucked at your cunt. Her eyes flicked up, and she unlatched from the saccharine slick that pooled on her tongue.

“You keep that camera steady,” she muttered, thumb rubbing tiny, tight circles on your throbbing clit. “Or I stop, yea?”

You nod quickly, hips grinding into the slow and steady motion of her thumb, wet with your sticky . You would have agreed to anything she demanded of you right now anyway. Too needy, too desperate to feel her lips on you again.

“ ‘M counting on you to make a pretty movie for me.”

The sentence tapers off as she disappears to the space between your thighs again, and you nearly and truly sob as her nose bumps your clit, her tongue poking experimentally against your hole, feeling as it clenches against nothing.

You know your whimpers and quick little puffs of air are being picked up by the camera, but you’re too focused on keeping the lense directly focused on the auburn tendrils of hair, on where her face was covered by your thighs caging her cheeks in, keeping her in the place she most needed to be, drinking down every single single drop you gave her.

“Ellie,” you whine, toes curling when she presses away from your clit, two long fingers coming to part your folds, admiring the sticky sight.

“Shhh,” Ellie coos, eyes glancing up at the camera again, the burning sight of her fern colored gaze through the tiny screen has your stomach clenching even harsher, hands trembling lightly.

The air on your exposed center lasts no longer than a few seconds, Ellie’s head dipping down as the warm, wet feeling of a glob of her spit trails down your clit, finding your pulsing hole. Her tongue swipes it quickly after, suckling gently at the shiny bubbles. The sound that follows, the loud wet squelch of your wetness mixing with her spit is enough to make you want to cover the speaker of the camcorder, fingers gripping tightly at the little contraption. She focuses on licking at your sopping cunt, her head moving slightly, moaning against your folds.

“Oh—nnh—El!” you cry, your chin trembling in tandem with the hand you try desperately to keep still. Your hips rut up, and Ellie’s face moves up with you, an arm detaching from its place on your squishy thigh to instead wrap around your waist, pulling you closer. Impossibly closer.

You can feel yourself closer, closer to that delicious peak, Ellie’s nose bumping your clit, tongue working mind numbing ministrations on you.

Then she pulls back.

“Fuckin made for me,” Ellie groans, taking a deep breath as she unlatched from your pussy, her fingers sweeping through your puffy lips. “Was fuckin’ made to let me taste you.” Her eyes flick to the camera, her tone louder than usual— a little less breathy. She wanted the microphone to hear.

You cry pathetically at the loss of her tongue, lip quivering.

“Tell me,” she demands, voice overpowering the slick noises of her now shiny fingers rubbing between your folds, the tips pausing at your pulsing hole, dipping only a little in, teasing. “Tell me this pretty pussy was made for me.”

And then Ellie is reaching forward, letting go of her grip on your hips to grab harshly at the camera, maneuvering it to show your trembling body, her fingers pressing open your lips, giving the camera a pretty close up of your soaked cunt. She croons at the sight, her fingers pressing together to land a short and sharp slap against the swollen lips. “S’pretty.”

“Ellie,” you choke, chest heaving up and down as the embarrassment creeps up, making that coil in your tummy even tighter.

“Tell me,” she says again, smoothly.

Desperate to have her fingers opening you up, to have her filling you and breaking that tightly wrapped tension in your groin, you break.

“I’m yours el. ‘m all yours, was made for you,” your voice is restrained, quiet as you chew at your lips, stirring in your spot as she continues the teasing.

“What else? Tell me more, baby,” she insists, one long finger sinking into you, hissing at the feeling of your cunt molding to her, perfect for her as you clench.

“A—ah!” your voice is a sweet little cry. You grind down into the feeling, searching for more. “It’s yours El,” you babble— louder now, head thrown back. Ellie captured the moment with a quick tilt up of the camera. “M-my pussy s’all yours.”

“Fuck,” Ellie breathes, her own, usually steady camera hand, wavering as you speak. She grants you with another finger as she thrusts harshly into you, a shriek pulled from your open mouth.

“So—s-so fucking perfect,” she grunts, curling her fingers gently, hitting that squishy spot in your walls that has you keening, eyes rolling back. “Love this pussy so much, shit—shit, love you so much.”

“Love you too El,” you blubber, your chin tilting down to stare directly at the camera for a second. That awkwardness, the fear from the early days of when she’d film you completely gone as you moan pathetically, eyes shiny with complete and utter adoration.

She only pistons her fingers into you harder, faster, relishing in how you moan, how your toes curl and your chin wobbles. You’re the prettiest fucking thing she’s ever seen.

The camera points down to where she’s thrusting into you, watching through the screen as you meet her thrusts, your hips moving against the grey sheets, your thighs squeezing her hand in between them as you sob out.

Ellie meets your eyes, stealing your attention from the camera she keeps focused on your squirming frame, pounding her fingers into your cunt. “Cum for me, you can do it baby, go on. Give me a pretty show.”

And you do. Your sweaty back lifts off the bed with a sharp sob as the cord in your tummy snaps, gushing around Ellie’s fingers, pulsing around her as she thrusts shallowly, riding you through it.

Your vision goes black for a second as you heave, hands shaking as you reach out for Ellie, fingers looking to curl around her warm skin.

You don’t even notice the off click of the camera, of how she lets it softly drop to the side as she climbs up your shaky form, pressing a sweet kiss to your cheek.

“So pretty,” Ellie hums, “Prettiest movie star ever,” she mumbled, and you pour your lips— getting another soft kiss as she continues to plant tiny loving pecks around your face.

“Never should’ve let you keep that camera,” you whisper gently, smiling right when she does against the corner of your mouth that she pecks at.

“Yea fuckin’ right, we just made the movie of the year babe.”

#ellie williams #ellie williams x reader #ellie williams x y/n #ellie williams x you #ellie williams x f!reader #ellie williams x female reader #ellie williams fanfic #ellie williams fic #ellie williams smut #ellie williams fluff

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heartpascal · 1 year

Text

check under the doormat

▹ — joel miller x platonic!f!reader + tommy miller x platonic!f!reader

▹ — summary: settling down fully in jackson means new friends, and more patrols. what could go wrong?

▹ — a/n: 9.7K words here guys … and i cannot tell you what is in here. anyway. hopefully its decent. i feel like i just have very little memory of writing all of this, tis all a BLUR!! one second it was two paragraphs, the next its this??? anyway. hope yall enjoy (pls be nice)

▹ — warnings: angst (as always), blood, injuries, food & food hall, teasing, infected + humans, canon typical violence ofc, father figure miller bros, slight suggestion of a dead horse, swearing, not proofread

▹ — general taglist: @auggiesolovey @just-kaylaa @evyiione @lemonlaides @fariylixie0915 @erensloveinterest @dazedshoon @faceache111 @randomhoex

masterlist | PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

howl’s song association!

∘₊✧───── ───── ───── ─────✧₊∘

As much as you had grown to love the town of Jackson, one thing that you couldn’t seem to grow fond of was how loud and obnoxious the dining hall was. You understood, of course, a community eating space where people could socialise and eat and enjoy the company of other residents, it was going to be loud.

But you hated it.

You were used to quiet eating times, or at the very least, quieter. Before Ellie, eating times often remained silent, rushed, especially when you were out on a trip with Joel and Tess. There hadn’t been time to chat. Even when Ellie had tagged along, it wasn’t too loud, because she was mostly forced to talk to herself.

With the Millers, it remained somewhat peaceful at dinner time, the occasional teasing before you focused on shoving your food into your mouth, never quite getting the hang of slowing down. After all, you’d always lived life in a rush, constantly forced to hurry up when eating to save daylight.

In the hall, people laughed and talked and even shouted. It was off putting for you, and you couldn’t quite grow comfortable around it, even when you tried to sit as far away from the rowdy groups as you could, taking a table that sat right along the edge of the room, opposite where you grabbed food.

Most people in the town gravitated towards the noise, crowding in the middle of the room, which was why you were so surprised when you saw someone sit down at the other side of your table, placing a plate in front of them and gazing at you from the corner of their eye.

You looked up from your plate, eyebrows furrowed when you looked at the boy sat opposite, confused why he sat at your table when there were still multiple free.

“Hi.” He said, a grin on his face, and he tapped restless fingers against the table, waiting for your response.

“…Hi.” You replied after a minute, though it came out as more of a question, your confusion evident through both your voice and your expression. The boy grinned wider, and held a hand out over his plate.

“I’m Jesse!” Jesse told you, shaking your hand firmly when you slowly reached toward his extended palm.

“Okay?” You said, watching with even further befuddlement as the boy picked up his cutlery, and began eating, looking at you expectantly. With a slight huff of an awkward breath, you told him your own name, your eyes darting around the room as he grinned widely, showing off some of the half-chewed food in his mouth.

He stayed at your table for the entire meal, until eventually he was waved away by somebody sat toward the middle of the hall. He’d been mostly quiet, other than a comment here or there which hadn’t required a response, mostly talking about how loud the other residents were. When he left, he waved wildly, not faltering even as your hand remained on the table.

You blinked down at your empty plate, completely perplexed by what had just happened.

Two days later, in the dinner hall during lunch time, it happened again. Jesse sat opposite you, his plate full of food in front of him, and he grinned in your direction, as if it answered all of your questions.

“You know, it’s much nicer in here during lunch.” He commented, looking around at the slightly quieter room, his gaze lingering on the group sat in the middle of the room. Jesse moved his eyes to look at you, almost expectantly.

“I guess.” You answered, after a moment of reluctance, and shoved another forkful of food into your mouth when Jesse grinned with a shake of his head.

“You’re not very talkative, are you?” Jesse asked, amused. When you just shrugged your shoulders, hoping he’d take the hint, he continued. “Y’know, I don’t really see you around town much. I’m quite the social butterfly.” He snickered at his own words. “You don’t even eat here every day.”

“Yeah, and?” You asked, voice snarky and matching your unimpressed expression.

“Just saying.” He said, shrugging his shoulders in defeat, or so you had thought. “Where do you live?”

“Isn’t that a creepy thing to ask?”

Jesse put his hands up, tilting his head and clearly trying his best to give an innocent look. “No, it’s a small town. Most people know just because everyone is a neighbour’s neighbour.”

“Clearly not that small.” You said, and he snickered again at your response, amusement lingering in his eyes.

“Guess not.” He shrugged, shoving more food into his mouth, and you stared at him for a moment longer, before getting back to eating your own food.

It continued like that for three weeks after the first time Jesse sat with you — he’d sit opposite you, comment about the dining hall, maybe tell a joke or two. He’d ask you questions that you wouldn’t give a clear answer to, and you’d raise your eyebrows at him for all of his strange behaviours. You thought he would’ve caught on that you weren’t all too interested in entertaining him, but each time you were in the hall, he sat at your table.

You hadn’t realised quite how used to his presence you had become until you were sat in the dining hall one evening, and he didn’t show up. You tried to pretend that you weren’t searching for his face each time the doors swung open, but realised it was likely obvious you were searching for someone.

For two days, he hadn’t showed. You pretended you weren’t concerned.

Until it came to the third day, where you had arrived to the dining hall late after facing questions from Tommy as to why you weren’t eating at theirs as often, and there he was. Sat at the table you usually occupied, his head snapping up the moment you swung the door open.

You sighed, something closer to relief than annoyance, because you didn’t mind his mindless comments. As much as it surprised you, you didn’t find his presence all that off-putting.

As soon as you had grabbed your own plate of food, you made your way over, sitting opposite Jesse. He perked up at your presence, lowering his fork from where it had been pushing food around his plate. Your eyebrows furrowed when you saw his face, littered in cuts and scrapes, a plaster covering his forehead.

“What happened?” You asked, before you could think better of it, and he rolled his eyes with that all too familiar grin.

“Aw, you worried about me?” He teased, his hand shooting out to grab your arm when you reached to pick up your plate, moving to stand. His teasing stopped quickly, and a smile quirked at your lips. “Okay, okay. It’s embarrassing.”

“Well now you have to tell me.” You reasoned, slightly amused already at the prospect of whatever humiliating thing had gotten Jesse in such a rough shape.

“I… fell off of a horse.” Jesse said, and you couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you, despite the way he immediately frowned, defensive. You probably shouldn’t be laughing — given that the one lesson of horse riding you’d had with Tommy hadn’t gone so well. “It’s not funny!” He defended, but a smile was creeping up on his face.

“It’s kinda funny.” You responded, still grinning at the image of Jesse just going face first off of a horse. “Okay, it’s really funny.”

“You…” Jesse trailed, shaking his head. “After all my jokes, me falling off of a horse is what makes you laugh?”

You shrugged, an amused look on your face, and said, “Maybe you need to get better jokes.”

Jesse gasped in offence, holding a hand to his chest as if the words had physically pained him, and you shook your head at his dramatics. You were glad he was okay, because you almost enjoyed his presence, on occasions.

“So this is why you wanted to come to the dining hall, huh?” Came a voice from your left, and you snapped your head over to look at Tommy with widened eyes. He was grinning, a teasing smile growing wide on his face, and he laughed. “Oh, I cannot want to tell Maria.”

“Tommy!” You hissed, scolding, your cheeks growing warm at his words. It wasn’t like that — you just wanted to know if Jesse was okay. You mildly enjoyed his jokes, sue you, and it was nice to be around a non-Miller, even for just under an hour a day. “What are you doing here?” You asked, dropping your cutlery onto your plate and glaring at the man.

“Thought I’d save Maria cookin’ and grab some food from here.” He snickered, “Had no idea what I’d be walking into.”

“Oh, are you—” Jesse started, but you cut him off with a stern look.

“No. Tommy, go away.” You ignored the way Jesse was laughing to himself, his grin wide as he looked between you and the Miller man. “Shut up, Jesse.”

“How’s the injury?” Tommy asked, amused, his grin widening when you looked between the two of them, confused. You were sure your face couldn’t get warmer — you would never live this down, you were sure. Tommy wasn’t one to let things go.

“Better,” Jesse grumbled, and you felt the slightest bit better that he felt embarrassed over his horse-related injury. “Had her worried, apparently.”

“I was not worried.” You defended, immediately, and turned to glare at Tommy, repeating your words. He just gave you a disbelieving look. “I hate you both. I’m going home.”

You stood, grabbing the plate of food and heading towards the stack of dirtied dishes. You ignored the way the two of them were still snickering behind you.

“Oh, come on,” Jessie called out to you, almost shouting your name, his grin not faltering even as you sent him a dirty look over your shoulder. “Where are you going?” He asked, standing and following you, with Tommy trailing behind whilst shaking his head.

“Don’t you have a wife to feed?” You asked Tommy, eyebrows raised, and grinned tightly when he swore, heading over to get a serving for himself and Maria. “And you, go away.” You told Jesse, looking at him flatly when he just smiled at you some more, clearly very entertained by Tommy’s arrival.

“Why’re you embarrassed? You’re allowed to have friends!” Jesse responded, following behind you as you scraped off the remnants of food on your plate.

“We’re not friends.” You grumbled, shoving the cutlery into the elected trays, before placing the dirty plate on top of a pile of three.

“Hmm, I don’t believe that. You like me.” Jesse laughed, unable to wipe the smile off of his face even as you shook your head, making your way to the exit. “It’s true! We are friends. Admit it!”

You rolled your eyes, the smile tugging at the edge of your lips, but you refused it, not wanting Jesse to have the satisfaction.

He followed you out of the dining hall, still going on, “Admit it!” In a sing-song voice. It was incredibly annoying.

“Nothing to admit. Now go away.” You responded, turning your head to look at him as he followed along. “I could be leading you to a dark alleyway to murder you, you know.”

“You wouldn’t. You know why?”

“Why’s that?” You asked dryly.

“Because we’re friends.”

You scoffed out a laugh, unable to help it, because he really was kind of contagious. You stopped, turning fully around to see him grinning to himself.

“If I agree, will you go away?” You asked, eyebrows raised as you crossed your arms in front of your chest, forcing your expression to flatten into something closer to serious.

“Maybe.”

“Fine,” You drawled, rolling your eyes, “You, the weird guy who sits at my table uninvited all the damn time, are my friend.” Despite the way you had described him, Jesse still smiled blindingly at your admission, his whole face lighting up.

“I knew it!” Jesse yelled, putting his arms in the air victoriously, and you shook your head, holding the bridge of your nose with one hand as he cheered. “You couldn’t resist my charming nature, beautiful looks, and unbeaten survival skills.”

You looked flatly at him, “You’re annoying, look like shit, and the only skill you’ve shown off, is how many pieces of bread you can fit in your mouth without choking.”

“Wow, harsh.” Jesse said, though his grin didn’t fall.

“Don’t take it personally, kid.” Tommy said, making you both turn to see him, two boxes of food held in his hand. He grinned, and nodded his head toward you. “She’s a softie, really.”

Your flat look just made Jesse snicker, and you shot him a glare. “You’re both annoying.”

“Mhm, whatever. Now get. Maria will wanna see you. Get yourself home, Jesse.” Tommy said, shooing Jesse away and shaking his head as the boy shot off with a wave, and a “See you later, friend.”

“I’m coming to yours, then?” You asked with a roll of your eyes, elbowing him in the ribs when he moved to stand at your side. “Asshole.”

“Hey! Watch your language!” He scolded, though there was no force to the words.

“Yeah, okay, Dad.” You snickered, shooting him an amused look at the joke you’d made, before you continued on in the direction of his house. You missed the way he raised eyebrows, something like shock on his face.

“God, I am gettin’ old.” He mumbled to himself, shaking his head before he set off behind you.

∘₊✧───── ───── ───── ─────✧₊∘

“This is so unfair.” Jesse told you, sulking as he walked by your side, loose stones crunching underneath your feet. You just smile, almost smug, as you turn your head to see his frown.

“It’s not unfair.” You said, rolling your eyes when Jesse only pouts, slowing his pace to keep up with your own. “I’m just better. And Tommy can’t say no to me.”

Jesse slows as you approach the stables, seeing Tommy stood impatiently, his foot tapping against the ground as he waits for you to meet him. When he stops, you stop, turning to the boy who had adopted the tendency to follow you wherever you went.

“Be careful.” He warned, expression turning serious, though his pout remained.

“Jesse, I’ll be fine. I know what I’m doing.” You told him, waving off his concern with a casual pat to his arm. He frowned, and you rolled your eyes at him. “Seriously, calm down.”

“I’m calm!” He defended, a pitch too high to actually make the statement believable. “Can’t believe you get to go out on actual patrols. I’m still stuck on stupid kid training.”

“You are a stupid kid.” You snickered when he shoved your shoulders. “You’ll be out there with me, soon enough.”

Jesse rolled his eyes, about to respond when Tommy called your name, his impatience growing, and he moved to walk over. “I’m coming!” You yelled back to him, huffing at his impatient nature. “I’ll see you later, okay? To tell you all about my badass shooting.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Don’t die.” Jesse said, and you waved him away as you made to go over to where Tommy was looking at his wrist expectantly. You snickered.

“You do know you’re not wearing a watch, right?” You asked as you approached the man, taking the rifle he held out for you without a second thought. You put it over your shoulder.

“Don’t need to be wearin’ one to know that you’re late.” He scolds in response, and you roll your eyes, not paying him much mind seeing as you were before the time he’d actually told you. Tommy just liked to complain.

With a scoff, you followed him into the stables, where the man working there for the day handed off two horses. He passed you the reigns to a dark brown horse, and you smiled, petting her on the nose.

The walk down to the gate was quiet, and you pretended not to notice Tommy glancing at you multiple times out of the corner of your eye. You knew what he was hoping for, but he wouldn’t be getting it today.

A group of those on patrol had already gathered, only a few missing, and you huffed at how early these people liked to be. The assignments had been handed out already, and a woman came over to whisper your assignment to Tommy, giving him a tight smile after she had glanced at you.

“You sure about this, kid? No shame in backin’ out, goin’ home.” Tommy told you, sighing heavily when you shook your head immediately.

“I’m doing this, Tommy. Where we headed?” You asked, watching people start to get on their horses, and head out of the now-open gate.

“C’mon. Goin’ on a trail through the woods, got a cabin out there, needs checking out.” He told you, helping you get onto the horse as you struggled to get up. You got comfortable on the saddle, smiling at him.

With a heavy sigh, he got on his horse, and led the way out of the gate.

You’d guess that he had staked out this route before he allowed you on it. It was tame, barely a sound in the woods other than a few birds chirping away. You shouldn’t have been surprised, it was definitely a Tommy thing to do. Well, a Miller thing, if you thought about it. You knew Joel had done the same thing back when you’d been with him and Tess at the QZ, before he’d let you come on any smuggling trips.

You didn’t mind it, really.

The gun still slung over your shoulder was a comforting weight, and you were just glad to be holding a weapon once again. It was heavier than the ones you were used to, contained more ammo than you could’ve dreamed of, back in the QZ days. It felt good.

Tommy stared at the woods around you, glaring as if he was daring anything to come out of them. It was almost funny. If you weren’t on edge, surveying your surroundings, you might’ve laughed. But you were on this patrol only because he had allowed it, and you were going to prove yourself.

The cabin Tommy had told you about finally came into view, after around an hour of riding, and you raised your eyebrows. You were expecting it to be… more intact, for whatever reason.

With walls made up of rotten wood, and a half burnt down barn, it definitely fit the image of a shack, rather than a cabin. The door was on the ground in front of the frame, and the fence surrounding the property may as well not be there, with how many gaps were in it.

“Well… it’s something.” You offered, pausing your horse behind Tommy’s as he stopped, staring ahead.

“Okay, let’s check it out. We’ll leave them here.” He told you, gesturing towards the horses as he swung his leg over his own, stepping onto solid ground. You did the same, letting Tommy grasp your bicep to keep you steady as you managed to get down. He took the reins of your horse, tying it loosely to a branch not far from his own horse. “Got your knife, too?” He asked, when watching you grasp your gun.

“No, Tommy, you forget that you guys took all my stuff when I first got to town?” You drawled, looking flatly as him, and he returned your expression, rolling his eyes before relenting, giving you a switchblade he’d had shoved in his pocket. “What about you?”

He unsheathed a larger blade from his thigh, waving it in your direction, and you rolled your own eyes at him, reminding yourself to not care about his safety, next time.

You put the knife in your own pocket, and gripped your gun with firm fingers as you followed behind the Miller man, eyes set as you kept an ear out for anything moving around.

The floorboards to the cabin creaked as he stepped inside, and you both cringed, stilling. When nothing came around the corner to try and kill you, Tommy glanced back at you, nodding to continue. The good thing was that there were no signs of clickers, no telltale clicking or stumbling feet. However, from somewhere in the cabin, something was groaning.

“You stick behind me, okay?” Tommy told you, his voice firm and leaving no room for argument. Not that you would have argued, anyway, because you knew better. You’d rather be stuck in the backseat than him do something stupid and get himself killed trying to protect you. With your confirming nod, he sighed quietly, before continuing on with practiced light footsteps.

You raised your gun higher when the sound steadily grew louder, and Tommy grew tense as the two of you got closer. Finally reaching the room, Tommy peered into the doorway, his expression showing that he’d seen the Infected responsible for all the noise. You peeked between his shoulder and the door when he moved closer, gun raised toward the thing’s head.

It was newly turned, you would’ve guessed, as it still sounded almost human as it cried. The hair on its head hadn't thinned as it usually did with time, and on its arm, you could see the dried blood around where those raised marks originated — the bite. You wondered if the one that bit it was still around, or if this thing had had the sense to shoot it while it had been human.

Stepping into the room, Tommy pulled the trigger, as the Infected turned its head at the noise, mouth opening to let out a shout before it was interrupted by the bullet. You jumped, not expecting the sudden gunshot noise, and you had forgotten just how loud the sound actually was.

Everything was silent for a moment after, both of you holding your breath as you waited for something else to happen. When it was clear after a few seconds, Tommy approached the body, patting pockets and pulling out a small box of pistol ammo, which he stuffed into his own pocket. The thing didn’t have a gun on it, surprisingly. You wondered if it would’ve been here if it had had a gun on it, but chose not to voice that.

When there was a resounding cry, echoing around the hollow wooden walls, Tommy thought his heart was going to stop. There was a door on the wall beside the one you had entered, and he couldn’t tell which way the sound was coming from.

“The corner.” You suggested, nodding over to the corner of the room, so you could have a clear view of both doors, the only possible entrances. Tommy nodded, ushering you over first, and he followed, raising his gun towards the door on the left, while he nodded you toward the one on the right.

Something clattered to the floor in the cabin, and you breathed steadily form your nose, adjusting your grip on the gun just slightly, and keeping your eyes locked onto the doorway.

It let out another yell, much closer than it had been earlier, and Tommy kept his own gun trained on the left doorway. When it smacked into something nearby, Tommy pressed his finger over the trigger, waiting.

The Infected stumbled into the right door, and the gunshot echoed throughout the room, with Tommy letting out a harsh breath as he watched you lower your smoking gun slightly, looking over the top of it to check the thing stayed down. It did.

“Nice going, kid.” Tommy said, slightly begrudgingly, but he couldn’t help feeling something like pride in his chest. You were a good kid, and he hadn't doubted you, but you hadn't let him down. You were as good of a shot in real-life situations as you were in simulated ones. Moving targets didn't prove to be an issue. However, it did mean that he had no excuse for keeping you off of the patrols he’d promised to allow you on.

You smiled. “Told you so.” You said, and raised your gun, looking through the doorway to the left as Tommy searched the second Infected’s pockets for anything of use. Coming up empty handed, he followed you through the second door, watching as you searched through drawers, the room being a dead end. You waved a box of rifle ammunition at him triumphantly. “Better check the rest of the place.”

He nodded, and you went back to following behind him, glad that at least his tense shoulders had loosened the slightest bit after the show of your skill. You could understand his nerves — you wouldn’t like to have a kid completely reliant on you, either. But you could take care of yourself.

Finally, Tommy realised that, too.

∘₊✧───── ───── ───── ─────✧₊∘

When Joel burst into the Miller home, Tommy hadn’t really known what to expect. His brother had changed over the years, much like he had, and while they remained close, things between them hadn’t been the same since Sarah. Joel hadn’t been the same.

His eyes were wide, his hair unruly, and Tommy realised he’d probably just woken up after taking the night patrol. Joel usually prided himself on being in control during stressful situations, but he was definitely not composed.

“What are you doing here, Joel?” Tommy asked, eyebrows raised as he turned to the man, holding his son in his arms. He had hoped that they could bond over this — fatherhood — but Joel had remained somewhat distant, steering clear of the baby Miller. He wasn’t expecting Joel until later on, an hour or two, at the least, when him and Ellie were meant to be joining Tommy and Maria for dinner, whilst you dined at the dining hall with your new friend.

“I ask you to keep her safe, that’s all I asked of you, and now you’re letting her on patrols?” Joel spat, his voice loud, and Tommy’s son stirred in his arms, distressed at the shouting.

He should’ve expected this — part of him did, which was probably why Tommy hadn’t told Joel about it, even when he asked what had caused you to storm out of the house, all those days ago. Tommy sighed, tilting his head back and closing his eyes in annoyance.

“She asked to go, Joel, I’m not gonna shield her from the world.” Tommy reasoned, shifting his son to hold in one hand, now that he had stirred from where he had been falling asleep. Tommy supposed he’d be missing his afternoon nap, now. They were going to have a grumpy child on their hands, in the coming hours.

“She’s seen enough of the world, Tommy! Why do you think I left her here? You think that was for nothin’?” Joel responded, immediately, a hot feeling settling heavy on his neck as he looked at his brother. Everything he had done, everything he had sacrificed by leaving you behind, for what? For his little brother to go over his head, and disregard those decisions? You would barely even speak to him. It hurt, and it carved a pain in his chest that was only rivalled by the loss of his first daughter.

Joel thinks of those times he’d tried to reach out, tried to help you understand, and thinks of how you had rejected each attempt. The most civil interaction he’d had with you was delivering that food after the argument you’d had with Tommy — and the two of you had barely spoken.

He thinks of how this might be the rest of his life — reaching for you, and watching you turn away.

Joel knew he’d do it all again in a split second, if it kept you safe. He didn’t want to imagine what might have happened if you had joined them, didn’t want to think about the time he had almost lost Ellie, didn’t want to imagine it could’ve been both of you.

Tommy feels bad, for a moment, but he knows that you’re capable of being out there. Besides, it wasn’t like he was shoving you out of the gates on your own! The moment you gave him an inkling of the idea that you didn't want to be out there, he’d be stopping the patrols.

“Joel,” Tommy sighed, because part of him feels pity for his older brother, who struggles far more than he lets on, but he also understands your anger. Two sides of the same coin. “Nobody’s sayin’ that was for nothing. But she’s not some little kid, alright? And I was with her the whole time, nothing was gonna happen to her.”

“You’re not invincible, Tommy,” Joel said, his brows furrowed, and he doesn’t halt himself even as he hears footsteps coming down the stairs, likely drawn by the commotion he’d caused. “And neither is she. God damn it, Tommy.” He raised his hand, holding the bridge of his nose as he turned away from his little brother, trying to gain back some of his composure.

Maria stepped around him, cautiously taking the baby from Tommy’s grip, and said, “What’s going on down here?” She looked between the two brothers, waiting for somebody to answer her.

“He doesn’t want her goin’ on patrols.” Tommy said at last, after silence had lingered for too long, and he didn’t need to say much else for Maria to know who he was talking about.

“Trust me, Joel, I wasn’t thrilled about it, either.” Maria spoke, going to say some more before Joel cut her off, his hand moving from his face to gesture wildly in front of him.

“She’s just a kid!” Joel yelled out, unable to help himself. He thinks back to when the raiders came, to the way panic had gripped him as he shoved Ellie across the street toward his brother’s, and had set off toward the ceramic shop. He remembered his heart beating so wildly in his chest that he thought it might give out, especially when he caught sight of a raider, the gear too reminiscent of a night so long ago, a light shining in his eyes, blinding him, until all he could hear was Sarah. “Don’t you get it?” He asked, almost desperately.

“I get it, Joel.” Maria said, her voice so stern that Joel couldn’t interrupt, even if he had wanted to. He looked to the door on his left, catching sight of the names still written on that chalkboard, and he knows. He looked to Maria, and he could see it on her face. She knew, just as much as he did. “But it’s not our choice. All we can do is try to keep her safe, wherever she goes.”

It helps, for a moment, that there’s somebody who does understand, but then he’s just filled with something burning, and he turns away from the chalkboard before he can imagine your name written up there, next. “If she dies, that’s on you.” He spat, pointing an accusing finger at his younger brother, “And I’ll never forgive you for it.”

Tommy watched his brother turn away, slam the door shut so hard the walls shook, and feels the weight on his shoulders get heavier. He sighed, Maria’s hand on his shoulder doing nothing to relieve the burden.

∘₊✧───── ───── ───── ─────✧₊∘

Jesse’s hands were covered in wet clay, and you could only laugh as he cursed, baring his teeth at the wheel in front of him, covered in splatters of clay. “How the…” He started, trailing off and sputtering when he pressed too hard on the pedal, making a watery clay fly in all directions, including straight to his face.

“Okay, I think that’s enough of that.” You told him, pulling him away from the stool he was sat on, and watching the spinning slow to a stop, Jesse’s miserable attempt at pottery left looking even worse when you could actually see it. He was sulking, you knew before even facing him, and couldn’t help but snicker.

“Oh, shut up. Not everyone can be a damn… whatever you are.” Jesse retorted, glaring at you as your snicker turned into a laugh as he failed to find a phrase for you. “Okay, stop laughing. Stop! It’s not funny!”

You continued grinning at him, as he washed his hands clean of clay remnants, and watched as he dried them on a rag left by the sink. “Oh, come on Jesse, you should know by now that your misery brings me the most joy and entertainment.” You said, smiling sweetly at the boy who had quickly grown comfortable in your space.

When you had actually invited him, you couldn’t recall, but he had a way of just inviting himself into places. You didn’t mind it all that much, despite how tired you were after going on patrol. You were pretty sure that it was from the faded adrenaline, the rush of being back in the real world leaving you wiped out. It had been more than a few months by now since you had been out there, travelling and facing those things every day.

“You’re an asshole, you know that?” He asked, jokingly, pouting at where you were scraping his failed creation off of the wheel, throwing the clay in the bucket beside the machine, where you usually threw your own failed attempts.

“Hey, you know where the door is.” You replied, not turning to look at him despite finishing cleaning the wheel as you said it. You didn't want to think about the truth of the words, or why the concept made your chest ache in a painfully familiar way. Why did you do this to yourself?

“Not going anywhere,” Jesse said, a hint of truth to his words, and you turned to glance at him, if only to give him a raised eyebrow in response. “I mean, who else is gonna tell me the story of their very first patrol?”

You shook your head at him, despite the way his words relieved the ache the smallest bit, and sighed. “I mean, when you put it that way…” You trailed, rolling your eyes when he sat himself down on another stool, leaning forward and looking at you like he was a child, waiting for story time.

As you told the story, you made it more dramatic, just for his sake, though it was entertaining you, too, even if you wouldn’t admit that aloud.

Tommy, stood outside the shop door, listened as you told it, feeling that weight on his shoulders pull him down further as you got closer to the end of your tale, laughter shared between you and Jesse at the exaggerated details. He laid his head against the frame, sighing heavily when he caught your final words, “You should’ve seen it, man. We were the dream team. Fighting off Infected, saving the cabin, one bullet at a time.”

Jesse laughed, and you joined, sure the grin on your face would never be wiped away in that moment. “You gotta convince him to bring me!”

“Hm, maybe one day, asshole.” You responded, rolling your eyes at the pleading expression Jesse was sending your way.

“Come on, I’m a way better shot than I am… potter-er.” He justified, sighing when you laughed at his choice of words, echoing it in a disbelieving tone.

Tommy walked away from the shop, unsure what to do about the weight that was getting too heavy for his aged joints.

∘₊✧───── ───── ───── ─────✧₊∘

It had been around four months since you had started doing patrols, but only two weeks since you’d been doing them without Tommy. Spring had been leaking into summer when you had started, but now, the days were dropping colder, clouds looking heavier by the day.

This morning, you felt an inkling of nerves as you looked to the sky, worried about it finally storming, like the sky had been threatening for the past few days. You hated when your worries were proved correct.

“Shit, it’s getting bad out here.” You said loudly, squinting your eyes to see through the quickly-thickening snow that was falling. It was settling against the ground in deep blankets, surprisingly quickly. You didn’t think this winter would be as bad as last years, but it seemed you were proved wrong there, at least.

“Should we go find shelter?” Jesse yelled back from behind you, his hand over his eyes, trying to keep his horse as close to yours as he could.

“I don’t know if these buildings have been cleared!” You responded, feeling your heart thrum heavily in your chest as you looked through the falling snowflakes at the buildings around you. They were mostly houses, with one building that looked like it could’ve held offices.

“What other option do we have?” Jesse asked. You huffed, surprising yourself as you agreed with his thought process — you were at risk the longer you stayed out here, and the horses might not make it all the way back to Jackson. Especially as the snow on the ground got thicker, your horse getting nervous as she treaded through it. You patted her neck as soothingly as you could, looking back towards where Jesse was following, and you hated how you regretted convincing Tommy to let him come along.

You were meant to be travelling with another patroller from Jackson, but he had turned back a while ago, complaining of a stomach issue. You grit your teeth, recalling how he had nervously surveyed the clouds as the first sprinkle of snow had appeared. He had convinced Jesse it would be fine to go along without his guidance, and you hated how the two of you had trusted his judgement.

“Okay,” You relented, turning your horse to head towards a house opposite the office building. “That one’s got a garage! We can get the horses in there.”

Jesse followed you as you led the way, and you huffed a breath that disappeared between falling snowflakes, nervous for a reason you couldn’t quite explain. You got off of your horse, handing the reins to Jesse where he was perched upon his own, and you hefted the garage door up with a bit of difficulty, cringing at the way the metal screeched. You peered underneath, seeing no sign of Infected as it got halfway, but your head snapped up when you heard something in the distance, barely there over the swirling winds.

“We good?” Jesse urged, his teeth chattering, and you looked at him before nodding, lifting the garage door up the rest of the way. He pulled your horse alongside him as he rode inside, and you pulled the door shut behind you as you followed.

The temperature wasn’t much better in the garage, but the lack of snow falling on you certainly helped. You let out a deep breath, watching it cloud the air in front of your face, and let your head fall back against the wall behind you.

“You okay?” Jesse asked hesitantly, pulling his wet gloves from his hands and rubbing his hands together, trying to generate some warmth.

“Yeah,” You responded, almost absently, and looked up when Jesse said your name, “Just— Just thinking of how Tommy’s gonna kill that asshole, when he gets back without us.”

Jesse smiled, scoffing out a slight laugh despite the situation, and nodded in agreement, “Oh yeah, he’s dead meat.” He let a moment of silence pass, not wanting to voice the thought that you’d also just had, that Tommy might not be back in Jackson, either. He was sent on a route in the opposite direction, to take out a dozen Infected with a small group of others. Jesse cleared his throat, shoving his gloves into his pocket. “So, when we get back, I was thinking…”

“Uh oh, this can’t be good.” You interrupted, grinning at the roll of his eyes.

“I was thinking,” He repeated, “Maybe I should introduce you to my friend, Dina.”

You raised your eyebrows, snickering at the nerves in his tone as he suggested it. “I thought I wasn’t allowed to meet your friend Dina.” You reminded, after you had seen him trying to chat the girl up. You thought she had seemed into it, but apparently that meant you weren’t allowed to meet her, lest you embarrass Jesse in front of his crush.

“I have reconsidered. Shut up.” He responded when you snickered. “Don’t make me change my mind!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it. I’d love to meet her.” You said, continuing to grin when he groaned and dropped his chin to his chest, clearly regretting making the suggestion already. He was pretty sure the two of you would team up against him. “You sit there and suffer, I’m gonna check the house out.”

Jesse frowned, moving to follow you, but you waved him away, knowing that he was annoyingly better with the horses. You thought of what had happened to him when you’d not long become friends, and grinned to yourself.

You held your gun up as you left the garage, looking in each room carefully, methodically, like you had done it hundreds of times before. You didn’t keep count, so really, you might have.

The house was empty, of almost everything, clearly ransacked a long time ago. At least a few years, you would’ve guessed, looking at the way dust and cobwebs had settled on ruined furniture, cracked family photos. You picked a broken frame up, twisting it in your hand, and frowned as you saw the way the crack marred the faces of the family in the photo.

Upstairs was arguably worse, the bedrooms completely destroyed, and you couldn’t help but wonder if the family who had lived here was still alive. You were sure they would hate to see what had become of what had once been their home, so part of you hoped they weren’t.

You looked at a wardrobe that had been completely disassembled, clothes torn out and strewn across the floor, old sentimental pieces left to rot on the dusty carpet. You stepped towards the window, moving aside the blue curtain, and peered outside at the worsening storm. You squinted at the ground, wondering if your eyes were playing tricks on you, until you saw that the footprints were definitely there.

And they were coming from the opposite way you and Jesse had appeared from, heading straight toward the front door.

With a new sense of urgency, you gripped the gun in your hand tightly, stepping down the stairs as quickly as you could without completely giving away your presence. You peered around the corner, seeing a mass of black clothes moving outside the frosted glass of the front door.

“Jesse!” You hissed, stepping into the garage and watching him jump where he had been petting your horse’s neck. He stood straighter, eyebrows furrowing as you shut the garage door gently behind you, gripping your gun as if your life depended on it. “We’ve got company. We need to get out of here.”

He nodded, shoving down his fear and starting to grasp the reins of the horses, beginning the frustratingly slow process of turning them around in such a small space. “How long?”

“Not long enough.” You acknowledged, ear pressed to the door leading to the rest of the house, and you heard the doorknob rattle. “Get the horses ready, I’ll buy us some time.”

Jesse said your name nervously, but you shot him down, urging him to just do what you say with a look he hadn't seen before in your eyes. You opened the door, peering around the corner the slightest bit, gun aimed towards the door. You took a deep breath, steadying your aim as they finally got it open, two rushing in immediately.

The first one went down, dropped to the floor with a single bullet to the neck, and you tried to tune out the way he gargled. The woman who followed him ducked to the side, pressing against it, and you shot the third person who peered around the doorway, saying nothing when they yelled out a curse, injured, but not dead.

You didn't know how many there were. That was making you more nervous than you could comprehend, especially as you shot a fourth who tried to enter, watching her fall to the snow outside, and trying not to focus on the blood that stained the white blanket when somebody dragged her body out of the way.

A shot far too close to you made you duck back into the garage, turning your head to see Jesse turning his horse the right way. He gave you a thumbs up when they were ready, and you nodded, flinching halfway through at the shot that settled in the wood just above your shoulder.

With a huff, you slammed the door shut, pulling a cabinet in front of it with a heave that made your arms ache, the wood far heavier than you had expected. It clattered in front of the door, stopping the people on the other side from entering as you heard several sets of footsteps rushing in, the moment the door closed.

“Get on!” You urged, reaching for the bottom of the garage door and heaving it open in one quick movement, grasping onto your horse and fighting the panic when you struggled to get on her. “Go!” You yelled to Jesse, following him a moment after when you were on your horse.

Blood was rushing through your ears, tinting the snow falling around you a faint red around the edges of your vision, and you gripped the reins tighter. When shots began firing from behind you, you leaned your chest down, closer to your horse, and tried to hurry her into going faster, unable to feel the pity you usually would for forcing speed in such terrible conditions.

A shot to the glass of the office building drew your attention, and you heard the glass shatter behind you, but your eyes were unable to turn back to see what followed when Jesse cried out, sliding off of his horse in the moment of shock.

You pulled your horse to a stop when his own rode off, too panicked to stop and wait for his rider. “Jesse!” You yelled, hand going low as you leaned to the side, using the hand he grasped onto you with to help get him on your own horse. “Come on, come on.” You urged again, your heart hammering as you saw the drops of blood that stained the snow where he had fallen. “You asshole, hold on!”

When Jesse grasped firmly onto you with one arm, you hurried your horse forward again, knowing it would only be more difficult for her with the added weight. As soon as you got to the forest cover, it would be okay, you had to assure yourself.

Groaning behind you only panicked you further, and you felt your pulse in your throat as shuffling in the snow grew louder, before some of the gunshots stopped coming, the sound of screams filling your ears.

It blurred in your mind, the moment you reached the tree cover, only just remembering to look back behind Jesse to check you weren’t being followed when you had travelled for a few minutes. You felt Jesse slipping before he could say anything about it, and you had to stop the horse when he slipped so far you only just stopped him from falling. You couldn’t remember doing it, but you eventually got him draped over the horse in front of you, and you held a hand firmly on him as you urged the horse to go faster.

Getting back to Jackson was the easiest part, with the route melded into your mind, and despite the snow that covered everything, you knew the way.

The lookouts didn’t see you until you were almost at the gate, where they yelled for you to be let in. Multiple people poured out, helping you get Jesse off of the horse as you dismounted, and watched them carry him in, with him managing only weak steps where he was held up between two shoulders. When Tommy rushed up to you, his hands grasping your face, you wondered if Jesse had been speaking to you, that whole time, because at first, you couldn’t hear his voice.

“Are you hurt? Kid, are you hurt?” He demanded, tapping a hand against your cheek when your eyes drifted to where Jesse disappeared between the gates.

You shook your head, “‘M fine. We— we got ambushed, they’re still out there.” You responded almost absently, letting out a harsh exhale and feeling Tommy’s hands fall from your face, as he swore and brought a hand up to his head. “What? What is it?” You asked, your attention finally caught.

“Joel, he went out after you.” Tommy replied, reluctantly, and you felt your heart drop.

“What?” You asked, wanting him to repeat it to ensure your mind wasn’t playing tricks on you, that this hadn’t been the breaking point. “Joel’s out there?” When Tommy nodded, a sense of urgency went through you, and you stepped back, grasping the reins of your horse from whoever had grabbed hold of them.

You shuffled your way atop the horse, getting on and turning her around before Tommy could quite comprehend what you were doing. His eyes widened and he stepped towards you, hands out, pleading, and you hated the look on his face as you rode away.

∘₊✧───── ───── ───── ─────✧₊∘

Your name being called in the distance caught your attention, and your head snapped towards the sound, where it was being yelled between gunshots. You swore, and rode on further, until you could finally see what faced you.

From the tree line, you could see the bodies of the people who had attempted to ambush you, half trampled by the horde of over a dozen Infected, which were swarming around as they were picked off slowly, from a house to the side of the one you had been in. You saw the glint of a gun coming from the shattered window of the living room.

Holding the reins still, you grasped onto your gun, adjusting your grip to accommodate the leather in your hand. You fired a single shot into the face of one of the runners, who was making too much progress in getting toward the window. You could only hope that it was Joel, as the sound of your name had fallen to a pause.

Between you and who you hoped was Joel, the hoard was picked off in no time, with them barely paying you any attention from your spot in the distance. Only one had come toward you, and it was dead before you could even change your aim.

“Joel?” You yelled, nerves making your throat clog up, and you squinted through the falling snow that had slowed during your shooting. “Joel?” You shouted again, louder that time, pushing past the lump in your throat.

He responded, calling your name, and you slid off of your horse, wrapping the reins around a branch and rushing to head towards the sound. When you peered through the broken window, stepping around bodies of humans and Infected alike, you saw him there, hand gripping tightly over a bleeding wound in his thigh. Joel’s shoulders fell when he saw you, a breath of relief leaving him, rushing out in a cloud that blocked the image of his face for a moment.

You stepped through the window frame, hissing when broken glass nicked your palm, and you held out your hand to help him stand. His bare hand grasped your gloved one, and you frowned for a moment, before focusing on pulling him to his unsteady feet.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” You asked, after he was finally stood on his own feet without your assistance. “You know what, don’t answer that.”

He said your name, and you whirled around to face him fully from where you had turned towards the doorway. “Please, let’s…”

“Let’s what, Joel?” You questioned, desperation leaking into the tone of your voice. “Let’s hug and make up after you almost got yourself killed? Is that it?”

“I came out here to help you!” He defended, looking at you with a pleading expression, his hand covered in blood as he pressed it harder against his leg.

“I didn’t need your help, Joel!” You yelled, hands waving in the air in your exasperation. “I had it covered. I’m not that same kid that needed saving, don’t you get that? You saved me. You already saved me, so why do you keep trying to get a do over?”

He gaped at you, for a moment, and couldn’t answer.

Joel thought of you, the face that was so much different from the one that looked at him now, thought of the way you had clung to him and Tess, as if your life depended on it. He supposed, it might’ve. He wonders if that’s why it hurt so much, that you pulled away, that it was an admission that you didn’t need him.

You stared at him, the man who had held on to you back at Boston QZ, who had done that despite the way it made his skin crawl, made his heart race. You knew now that he must’ve thought of his daughter, each time you looked to him with scared eyes, looked to him for answers, for protection. Knew that he must’ve been stuck in that day, all those years before, where he had failed at the first daughter who had looked to him that way.

“Please,” Joel repeated, because he didn’t know what else he could say, or do, other than beg you for something he wasn’t even sure he knew himself. Did he want forgiveness? “I didn’t want to leave you. I didn’t want to. But look at us.” He gestured between the two of you, the way you gripped your gun where you had slung it over your shoulder, the way he held onto a bleeding wound. “All I ever do is fail you, again and again and again. I couldn’t keep doing it. I failed Tess. I failed Sam, Henry… I couldn’t fail you. Not again.”

You stared at him, at the open wound he wasn’t attempting to hide, and you couldn’t stop the pull of your lips as you bared your teeth at him, swallowing the lump in your throat that made your eyes sting. You wondered, then, if showing your own unhealed wound would change anything, but you didn't think it would. You didn’t think anything could change the distance between the two of you.

With the heart in your chest aching, though for what, you couldn’t decipher, you shook your head, tilting it up towards the water-stained ceiling of this house. “Joel, that isn’t…” You sighed, closing your eyes, knowing that his expression would make you crack. “No, it’s not fair. I didn’t ask you to— to come back to Jackson, to come out here to protect me. You left me behind, so what? I’d be safe?”

His chest was painful, feeling so tight he wasn’t sure it would ever rise if he let his lungs empty, so he held his breath, staring at you as you refused to look at him.

“I was safest when I was with you.” You admitted, and Joel didn’t fail to notice the past tense of that sentence. “I was scared of losing you, of losing Ellie, like I had lost everybody else. I didn’t want to see that. I wanted to stay with you both. You made my fear come to life.”

Joel frowned, not moving as you stepped forward, finally looking at him, to point an accusing finger towards his chest. He said your name, wanting nothing more than to reach out for you, to hold you close and swear he’d keep you safe, but he was starting to realise your perspective. He was starting to realise that to you, he had failed. The moment he had left you behind, he had failed.

“And I hate you for it.” You added, arms falling to your sides, despite the way your fists clenched, just aching to hit him where it hurt, to not stop until he felt how you did.

“I’ll…” He trailed off, sure his next words would be the wrong ones, but he didn’t know what else he could say. “I’ll leave, if you want me to. I’ll go and I won’t come back, but only if you tell me. I don’t wanna leave you again.”

“You can’t just… put that on me.” You said desperately, turning to the window and taking another step away from him. “I don’t want you to leave, but I’m not sure how much I want you to stay, either.”

Joel blinked away the tears that were coming to his eyes as he looked at you, feeling like the two of you were miles apart.

“I don’t forgive you.” You told him, gritting your teeth, “And I don’t know if I ever will, but I…” You trailed off, looking out to where your horse was still stood in the faltering snow, suddenly feeling a harsh pang of guilt for leaving her there. “Let’s just get home, okay?”

“Okay.” Joel agreed, unsure what else he could do. Maybe, you were right, and you wouldn’t ever forgive him. Maybe he would live out the rest of his days, with only memories of you, only catching a glimpse of you as he passed you in Jackson, with you not sparing him a glance, as if the two of you were strangers. He doesn’t know if he can quite cope with that.

He tried to hold some hope in the fact that you were here, you had come back out here, for him, as he followed you out of the door of the house, limping his way to your horse, frowning where his own had been taken down by the horde. He tried not to linger on the thought.

You settled behind him on your own horse, and it hurt his chest, thinking that this is the exact way the two of you had been when riding into Jackson the first time. He hoped everything didn’t fall apart again, like it had before.

When your forehead rested against his back, complete exhaustion falling heavily on your shoulders, Joel tried not to hope.

He had never been good at such things, when it came to you.

PART FIVE

▹ — if the door wasn’t shut taglist (all parts): @sleepylunarwolf @am-i-shit-or-am-i-the-shit @mandowhatnow @aphrcdites @doodlebob-mp3 @rrickgrrimes8 @nikt-wazny-y @fallenoutofrose @wrathofcats @kakimakiloh @famoussuitcasepiebagel-blog @poliars @esstark @bella820 @gtxbitch

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller one shot #joel miller imagine #joel miller imagines #joel miller father figure #joel miller angst #joel miller fic #tommy miller x reader #tommy miller x you #tommy miller father figure #tommy miller angst #tlou imagine #tlou one shot #tlou imagines #tlou angst #the last of us one shot #the last of us imagine #heartpascal writes

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burnyouwithacigarettelighter · 1 year

Text

(3) TENDER LIKE A BRUISE ─── ethan landry 𖦹

ೃ⁀➷ “Let me hold your tenderness for a moment, Forgetting all pains that the tenderness has caused….” — Luffina Lourduraj

pairing. spiderman!ethan landry x reader

warnings. heavy swearing, mention of blood+death, alcohol

summary. ethan calls during a patrol, frantic, and you have no choice but to find and save him. (1) (2) (3) (4)

a/n. another bit of the spiderman!ethan landry universe. i'm being pretty carefree about the timeline atm, so basically you and ethan have been fake-dating for a few months already. also, do tell if the relationship progression is too fast or too slow!

iii.

Your fake-dating label has stuck, following you everywhere.

From having an awkward dinner with Ethan’s parents (which would have been one with his entire family, but Quinn could not keep a straight face and had to leave), having double-dates with Annika and Mindy, Ethan having to ward off weirdos hitting on you at parties (which, was actually rather welcome), and the like.

Sometimes, entirely to keep your cover straight, you and Ethan have to engage in some… physical contact. Mostly, it’s hand holding, or wiping something off his cheek, him tucking your hair back behind your ear, fixing his shirt collar, him tying your shoes — all the little intimate things that make your fake relationship seem so much more real.

It’s kind of sweet, actually, how in-tune you guys are becoming with each other. Like, Ethan knows how you like your coffee, and you know what shirts he likes to keep at your place more than the others. You can trust the boy to pick an amazing place to order food from, and he can trust you to wash his Spidersuit like no-one else. (Seriously, he is shocked at how you can clean it in forty minutes and he can spend four hours in his sink without doing much at all.)

However, once, you and Ethan had to kiss. Well, “kiss”. It was drunk couple stuff, trying to fly under everyone's radar.

Your friends were beginning to think it was a little odd you had never done anything while drunk together, because everyone did. Sure, you two could be very private considering PDA, but everyone saw how sweet you were in front of others, so it was getting suspicious.

To void these pesky suspicions, during a low-key drunk night between friends at Chad and Ethans place, you downed a full shot of gin, let it burn in your throat, and pulled yourself onto the equally drunk Ethan.

You had climbed atop his lap, his fatigued head thrown back against the leather couch. Your hands graced the sides of his face, and through your alcohol stained lips you whispered close in Ethan’s ear.

“I’m going to kiss you, Ethan. Fake, though,” You said simply, your mind addled with that familiar alcohol fog.

You waited for his familiar hum of acknowledgment, the one he voiced when he was brushing his teeth, or drinking something, all his little sounds you’d grown to know.

When he did, you leaned your head at just the right angle that to everyone, it looked like you were going to town on Ethan, when in reality you were pecking the side of his lip.

Your hands had carded through Ethan’s soft, curly locks, tugging slightly and repositioning yourself on his lap, his own hands settling nervously on your waist. You moved onto hovering around his neck, sending shivers down his spine with your hot breath on his skin.

Ethan could taste the citrus stains you left on the side of his mouth, and he was beginning to feel feverish. His entire body was incredibly warm, either from the alcohol, or how close you were to him now.

He gulped, watching you on his lap, pretending to do everything he had exactly zero experience in. You - this, made him so incredibly nervous, he was losing his mind over your touch.

And as soon as it started, it was over, and you pulled yourself off the flustered boy. Chad whistled at the intensity of the action, a “proud dad” moment of sorts.

Ignoring it, your hands itched towards another shot of alcohol. Through the corner of your eye, you saw Ethan, breathing heavily, eyes coursing over you.

His gaze, low and deep, made your heart skip a tender beat, beginning to thump louder in your ears—

You downed another shot, and let it wash those thoughts away. Perhaps it is denial, or perhaps you don’t want to lose him.

(Somewhere deep in you, you’re terrified of losing him. Literally and figuratively, you could lose Ethan in so many ways it's beginning to hurt.

One of those ways comes far too soon for your comfort.)

It’s Halloween.

You’re stuck in someone's house, and a drunk girl you don’t know the name of is regaling you on her outfit choices for the night.

Quinn and Mindy are fighting over who's the better superhero, Spiderman or Iron-Man (and when Quinn heatedly declares Spiderman is some friendless, familyless freak, you snort), Tara and Chad are… doing whatever their newly blossomed situationship requires to make even more tense, and Annika is passed out on Mindy’s shoulder.

Ethan is on patrol tonight, after he left you alone in the middle of the party. Apparently, it had something to do with candy and costumes making criminals more “devious” (whatever that meant).

Sometimes, you really wish trick-or-treating wasn’t just for kids.

You slip away from the drunk girl, whose friend group has since found her, and sneak into the very same bathroom Ethan had jumped out of earlier. In the mirror, you finnicked with the costume you were wearing.

“I couldn’t exactly find anything similar, so I made it myself.” Ethan had said a few hours ago, holding up the costume. It was an odd black-and-white version of his Spidersuit, with a white hood and pink underarms.

“It’s made of a mix of spandex and a flexible carbon-fiber I stole from the evidence locker at the NYPD - the same stuff as my suit. And, I know, not morally great, but whatever, I’ll make up for it by catching the criminals who owned that stuff.” Ethan continued, stretching the fabric.

You raised a brow, taking the slim piece of fabric off his hands. “And why exactly do I have to be some Spiderman dupe tonight?”

Ethan scratched his cheek, gaze veering from yours. “If I’m wearing this, you’ve gotta wear that. To keep the cover, obviously.”

You two were sitting on your bed, Ethan already decked out in his own well made Spiderman “costume”. Everyone else was dressed, too, just waiting for you to finish.

“So,” You leaned in closer to Ethan, “this is just a matching couple costume… for the cover.”

Ethan nodded rapidly, still avoiding your eyes.

You surveyed him for a moment: his brown eyes were coursing across the whole room, on anything except you, lips bitten between his teeth, hair askew, slight blush blazing across his face.

Something about that look of his just got to you, and the sound of the blood rushing to your face was positively deafening.

You pulled back, trying to ease your stuttering heart. “Isn’t this a bad idea? Wearing the suit and all, aren’t you scared of someone finding out?”

“I think it’s ironic.” Ethan said under his breath, a small smile gracing his face. “And it’s the opposite. If I pretend to be some superfan, people won’t think I’m him.”

You puffed up your cheeks, blowing the air out. “Okay, fine. I’ll wear your couples costume. Just don’t, and I mean it, Ethan, do not leave me alone at the party to go on patrol.”

“[Name]. You know I can’t promise you anything, I mean, what if there's a dog or something getting stolen out of an apartment—“

Without thinking, you stopped his rambling by pulling him close to you, hands gripping lightly at his arms. The two of you held still for a moment, staring deep into eachothers eyes.

You would have been ready to say anything, but the heartfelt words you had thought of, the feelings you knew were burning in your heart, about to burst at any moment, died in the sudden hesitance you felt from Ethan.

Unknowingly, your face contorted into one of hurt. “I know. I know, I’m sorry, I - I know that's selfish of me to ask, I just…” You let go of him, “there will never be enough time in the world for you to be both Ethan and Spiderman. Which one - which life, relationships - do you value more?” you turned away, whispering under your breath.

And if Ethan had heard you, he didn’t say anything. Tension settled in the room, with a terribly miserable air of regret.

Suddenly, Mindy had called out from the living room that you’d all be late to the party if you didn’t hurry up. Ethan exited your room quietly, and you didn’t see him look back at your door with so much guilt it was choking him.

Remembering that bitter start to the night, you sighed, patting down your spandex suit.

Then, someone on the other side of the bathroom door started banging it, but you couldn’t make out what they were saying under the blaring music reverberating throughout the entire house.

“Wait a minute!” You shouted, straining your throat. You began to continue in the loud tone, but the familiar buzz of your phone interrupted you.

Quickly, you fished out the device from a sleek thigh pocket you were thoroughly impressed with Ethan for designing, and clicked it on.

“Speak of the devil,” You mumbled to yourself, seeing the ever-present contact name of ETHAN LANDRY buzzing atop your phone screen.

You answered, pressed the phone to your ear. However, before you could get a word out, Ethan began frantically shouting into the phone.

“[Name]! Goddam—it, okay, I need you to - to - I left my backpack at your place, and I can’t do this without—“

“Ethan! Ethan, Eth— slow down, I can’t—“

“Get my bag, please, and don’t find me, just— leave it at Blackmore, near the fountain, I’ll swing by— and— oh, for fuc—“

And then he hung up. Or, more precisely, probably broke his phone swinging away from whatever was causing him to act like that.

You felt your heart drop, finally registering the intensity of Ethan’s voice. The boy was often lighthearted and dorky, extremely endearing in his polite awkwardness, so hearing how alarmed he was now was sending you for a loop.

You shook your head, storing such feelings away for later. You made a mental note of Ethan’s requests: bag at your apartment, leave at Blackmore fountain.

Nervously, you cranked open the window in the bathroom, eyeing the slingers attached to your wrists. You’d found out entirely by accident after sticking to a beer bottle that Ethan hadn’t merely created a fake pair of web slingers for the costume — he’d supplied you with a functional pair of his own.

Ethan had done a full run-down of his suit once, entirely fascinated with the thing. He was so proud of his own creation, rambling about how the web-fluid took ages to perfect, and about the one time his father got in trouble for “forgetting” to keep track of evidence from the NYPD locker.

This identity was entirely Ethan’s own, and he was so incredibly happy with it. You realized then how selfish your comment had been, how it must have stung him so.

You bit your lip, and pushed yourself back on track, slipping on the matching mask the costume had. Surprisingly, the vision in it wasn’t terrible, and it was merely a little foggy.

Then, at the window, you decided you needed to use the web slingers. You knew this could go extremely wrong, seeing as you obviously hadn’t been bit by a radioactive spider, so your agility, physical build, and pain tolerance were at an all time low in comparison to Ethans, but you remembered how frenzied the boy-hero was— and swung out the window. Time was of essence.

You finnicked with the webs, feeling the cool night chill bite your face, and tried desperately to replicate how Ethan so easily thwipped building to building. You just barely made it into an alley a few blocks away from the party-house, and almost hit your head on a lamp post on the way there, so you knew after this incident you’d never even approach the web-slinger cuffs.

You ran the rest of the way to your apartment, climbed up your fire escape, and shimmied the small gap for Ethan in the glass window open with your foot. After a moment of scanning, you nicked Ethan’s characteristic green canvas bag, and braced yourself to swing once more.

Your web made a slippery connection with the building in front of you - Danny’s apartment - and you swore you saw your life flash before your eyes when you almost fell.

After several moments of climbing down the wall with webs, a situation which closely resembled rock climbing with a rope, you broke into another run, heading to Blackmore University.

You would have felt dead tired by now if not for the adrenaline pumping through you, your anxiety for Ethan up to your ears. That, and maybe the amateur web-slinging that almost killed you, were the only things keeping you upright as you ran around New York.

However, as you made quick shortcuts through other alleys, you heard a familiar cry come out from an approaching block.

“Fucking—“ You heard the boy cry out, heaving, alongside the sounds of an intense scuffle.

Without any acknowledgment of doing so, your body pulled itself to the dimly lit backstreet lane, and you found yourself watching Ethan, partially unmasked, fighting a group of several masked people, weapons and duffle bags of money thrown on the ground. In the distance, you could vaguely hear an alarm — perhaps a banks — beeping on and off.

“E—“ You stopped yourself mid sentence, breath catching in your throat, and when one of the men threatened to grab the pistol lying haphazardly to Ethan’s side, you shot a web at the gun, bringing it to you.

Quickly, you slid the offending weapon away, and did as much as you could to help the still-fighting Ethan. From throwing measly punches of your own, tossing weapons away, or pinning the burglars to the wall with webs, you did it all, until it was just you and Ethan, sitting on the cobblestone, breathing heavily.

He slipped his mask fully back on, and turned to say something to you, obviously seeing your own mask on, as well as your use of his web slingers.

But, then replacing the bank's alarm in your ears, several police sirens could be heard making their way down to the backstreet lane you were occupying.

“We have to go. Can you swing?” you said to Ethan between gasping for air.

“I’m out of web fluid. It - it’ll take too long to refill,” he pointed lazily to the long-forgotten backpack.

“I’ll do it, then,” You said, trying not to show your hesitancy. Before Ethan could voice his own surprise and fear, you wrapped an arm (and several webs, as you knew you could not fully support his built body) around him and shot a thick string of webs at the closest tall building.

“You’re—“ Ethan’s eyes were wide open, “doing it wrong! We’ll— fall!”

“Just—“ you swung to the next building, completely unaware of how terrifying your technique was to an expert, “bare with it! I promise not to - kill us!”

“I’m unsure how - trustworthy - your - words are!”

“Stop - distracting me!” You said, making a close call on a parked garbage truck, before making your last swing to the fire escape window at your apartment.

Thank god the bank was not all the way across the world to your apartment, for you didn’t know how long your poor swinging skills and decent luck would last.

You two entered your room, and you immediately ripped off the white hooded mask you were wearing, taking in fresh bouts of air like a fish entering water. You felt extremely relieved that you two had made it back safe, alive — but Ethan clearly felt differently.

He tore his mask off, rapidly turning to face you. “I thought I told you to leave the bag at Blackmore!” Ethan’s finger was pointed accusingly, “I told you not to find me, for fucks sakes, [Name]!”

“Excuse me?” You said, in shock. “If I hadn’t found you — and I was going to Blackmore, I was taking fucking shortcuts, Landry — if I hadn’t found you, alright, you could be dead right now. You said it yourself, you were out of web-fluid!”

“Not then! I would’ve made it out fine!”

“Is this fine to you?” You gestured to his bloodied state, beaten up and bruised. “What? Were you gonna drag your broken bones up my fire escape, ask me to fix you up again?”

Ethan’s eyebrows creased. He had no answer for your words. “Just— I fucking told you not to fucking find me!”

“Jesus christ, Landry, you are fucking stubborn. I did find you, okay, but not on purpose— I fucking stumbled upon you. So don’t get all up on me for something you did.”

“You didn’t have to help either,” he said viciously, “I have escaped worse situations without your help. I have done this for years without you, okay?”

You let out an incredulous laugh. “Oh my god, are you serious right now? I wouldn’t have to help you if you didn’t call me, if you didn’t forget your web fluid, and if you just fucking listened to me and didn’t go on patrol tonight.”

Ethan went silent, digesting your words.

“You know this is your fucking fault, right?”

And as soon as the words left your mouth, you regretted them. You wanted to catch the air and stuff it right back down your throat, undo your harshness, realize how increasingly broken Ethan’s tone was.

Realize how he stared at your cuts and limp, realize how guilty he looked as he asked why you went to find him.

Why you put yourself in danger.

Ethan’s mouth opened and closed, unsure of how to tread further, his anger falling off him in waves, revealing the pain he held underneath.

“Fuck, Ethan, I’m sorry, I—“ you started, but stopped when Ethan looked you in the eye.

“You could’ve died,” he whispered, “and you were - you were swinging and fighting armed men, [Name], I—“

“Ethan, I wanted to. I wanted to help you, it was my own goddamn choice. My own stupid choice.”

“No - no, you were right. I should’ve never called you, I have done this all before, in worse moments, all by myself—“

“That does not mean you should, Ethan. Being alone in this kind of danger is not smart.”

“I’d rather be alone than endanger you.”

“Ethan, I’d rather be endangered than have to lose you.”

You stared deep into eachothers eyes, not unlike the way you did at the beginning of the night. Except this time something had changed, perhaps the way you unearthed your hearts to one another now made it so much easier to breathe, to feel, to do.

But there was still hesitation there. Untread territory and past regrets making things - this - so much harder to make real.

You and Ethan wanted to do so much more, to do all the things you pretended to do, but instead, you wrapped your arms around his broad back and hugged him like there was no tomorrow, like you were the last people on earth before a meteor struck. His arms snaked around your waist similarly, longingly, and terribly grievous.

It felt like connecting broken pieces of a heart together, and though you did not kiss, you felt so equally joined to him like you had. The hug was long and intimate, so close you could smell the dull impression of his cheap cologne from earlier, the lonely heat of your bodies joining to warm you both so completely.

You felt so at home in his touch. You could only wish he felt the same.

(And Ethan did. He melted into you, the only thoughts in his mind being that this felt right.

Somewhere, deep in his mind, where he kept his guilt hidden, he felt he was just going to lose another thing he loved. That this love was futile, fading, the loss inevitable.

But today Ethan wanted to be selfish, breathe you in, and be at peace, even for a second.)

a/n2: no kiss, and not quite to the official relationship yet, folks! but we’re getting there, slowly but surely. have these lovely crumbs for now. though, big milestone: the acknowledgment of mutual love!

taglist: @iloveneilperry @backtotheshitshow @hazehepburn @powowowy @ifilwtmfc @oscarisdaddy69 @al1v3cvp1d2 @bloodyeverything @diamondci1ty @l5bryinth @gojosbucket @volturi-girl-imagines @sflame15-blog @thatoneembarrasingmoment @bajadotcom @cerealzzz @elynka @theapulidooo @solaceinwriting-blog1

(strikethrough: wouldn’t allow me to tag!)

#ethan landry x reader #jack champion #ethan landry #spiderman!ethan landry #jack champion x reader #spiderman x reader #scream 6 #scream vi #marvel #spiderman

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mollysolo · 7 months

Note

hii can i request a sacred the thread with bucky barnes where it’s a tlou au and bucky and the reader are sent to go find an old friend of sam’s. like an enemies to lovers kinda thing. and congrats on 3k! :)

Labyrinth

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X fem!Reader

Summary: You and Bucky learn to get along when you are sent out on a mission together.

Warnings: Crying, Bucky is mean to the reader, arguing, some insults, there is an age gap between Bucky and the reader (Bucky is 42, the reader is 33), some cursing, kissing, idiots in love, tlou au, mention of guns, mutual pining

Word Count: 2.6k

a/n: i hope you like this!

my 3k follower celebration!

the gif below does not belong to me

For as long as you and Bucky had known each other, you’ve never gotten along. But that wasn’t your fault, you tried to be nice to him like you were to any other person in Jackson. But he just seemed to always treat you horribly anytime you spoke to him.

And you never understood why, but you weren’t going to kiss up to him. If he hates you, there’s nothing you were going to do try to change that. Even though the very thought of him hating you made you feel like your heart was slowly breaking in your chest because you were in love with him and had been for months. But the way he was treating you showed you that he quite obviously didn’t feel the same.

Little did you know, Bucky was in love with you too. He had been in love with you since the day you arrived in Jackson and he had seen Sam showing you around. But he had been scared of the feelings he has for you and has been immature about this whole situation ever since. He was being mean to you just because he liked you and he didn’t know what to do about it like he was still a young boy and he hated himself for that.

The only reason you two interacted at all was because Sam — who ran the community in Jackson — had assigned you to do patrol together every other morning. And right off the bat, Bucky had started to just be an asshole to you and only you.

He’d mercilessly tease you, insult you, torment you about how you lived alone and mostly kept to yourself. “Y’know, I’m not surprised that you live alone, doll. I don’t know why anyone want to live with you or love you, you’re always quiet and when you do talk, you’re just boring.” He had said to you one morning, causing tears to start to well up in your eyes. “Fuck you, Bucky.” you had said in response as you faced away from him and swiftly wiped your tears away.

And as much you would’ve liked to run home anytime he insulted you, that wasn’t an option during your patrol shifts. So you stayed there and tuned him out, not letting what he was saying to you bother you. But that particular statement, really dug deep. It hurt to hear the man you were in love with say these things to you.

You wished that he would just give up on insulting you. And little did Bucky know, the reason you were so introverted was because you had survived on your own for years since you were a kid and teenager and hadn’t gotten used to living close to other people again without worrying if you were in danger. You were taking it all one slow step at a time because that’s what worked for you. If only Bucky knew that, then maybe he’d stop being mean to you.

————————————

One morning in early December when you and Bucky weren’t on your patrol shift, Sam had called you two into his office because he had something he needed to discuss with you and Bucky. You were dreading to find out what he wanted to talk to you about. What if Sam sent you out on a mission with Bucky? Would you even be able to survive being completely alone with that man?

And that fear ended up becoming your reality just minutes after you got to Sam’s office. Sam was sending you and Bucky to find an old friend of his by the name of Joaquin Torres. This man used to live in Jackson and run the community along side Sam but he had randomly disappeared five years ago and Sam had finally gotten some insight on where Joaquin might be hiding.

So he decided to send you and Bucky — his best fighters and scavengers — to find him and bring him back. The two of you would leave tomorrow morning at 9am and start heading north.

You groaned and rolled your eyes the second Sam had told you that two of you would be going on a mission together. “Isn’t there someone else you can send with me?” you asked Sam, desperately hoping that he’d say yes.

Sam sighed as he began to respond to your question, “No, there isn’t. I’m sorry, (y/n) but you and Bucky are just going to have to learn to get along.” he had said to you, causing you to let out another groan.

You took a deep breath, “Fine.” you replied, getting one simple nod of his head from Sam in response.

You then stormed out of Sam’s office to go pack for the mission, leaving Bucky behind in the room. And once you were gone, Bucky looked down at his feet and let out a deep breath as he thought about all of this for a moment.

Sam knew just how much Bucky loved you and he didn’t know how long he was going to last on this mission before he started apologizing for everything and then admitting his feelings to you.

But now that he was actually thinking about it, that didn’t sound so bad. He just hoped that you would forgive him when that time for him to apologize came around. Bucky then looked at Sam one more time, nodded his head in understanding then left, off to pack his own bag for the mission.

And as you walked home from Sam’s office, this mission was starting to not sound so bad to you as well. Maybe this would give you and Bucky the chance to actually get to know each other without the arguments and insults. Maybe he’d fall in love with you too.

————————————

The following morning, you got up early and went to meet Bucky at the entrance to the community after grabbing some things you would need, your shotgun and bag strapped to your back, the horse Sam was letting you borrow standing at your side.

You arrived at your meeting place at 8:59am, earning an eye roll from Bucky.

“Do you even know how to be on time? We have to leave right now, we don’t have anytime to make a plan for how this mission should go.” Bucky complained, glaring at you as he got onto his own horse.

“Oh sorry, I was just busy getting enough of the resources we’ll need on this mission so that we don’t die.” you sternly replied, glaring right back at him as you got onto your horse, the bottom of your bag gently bumping against its back as you got on.

That sentence made Bucky’s eyes widen and it reminded him that all you had ever been was nice to him, even when he had been quite the opposite to you. But he was still too full of his pride to apologize so he simply nodded in response and motioned for you to follow him on the path you were supposed to go down.

————————————

The two of you road your horses on the path you were supposed to be going down for the next 8 hours in complete silence until you had to stop because the sun had started to set. You set up camp in a part of the forest you had come across with a large amount of trees that surrounded a small clearing.

You hopped off of your horse and tied her reigns to a nearby stable tree branch, petting her head before you went to unpack your sleeping bag, your silent way of telling her to lay down. You then got your sleeping bag out and set it down on the ground and took out a large blanket you had brought for your horse, gently unfolding it and setting it down on top of her now that it was getting colder outside.

Bucky watched in complete awe as you did all of this, you looked so gorgeous in the orange light that filled the forest as the sun set. He couldn’t bear to look away from you and he wished that he hadn’t been such an asshole to you from the start. Maybe then he’d have a chance with you.

You turned to face Bucky after you finished setting up your side of the camp, you had felt him looking at you the entire time you were setting your things up. “What?” you asked while you softly shook your head side to side and looked directly into his eyes.

His eyes widened at that and he shook his own head, to bring himself out of spacing out while he stared at you in his case, “Nothing, doll. Don’t worry about it.” he answered, sending a feeling of shock through your system while he crouched down to start the fire in the middle of your camp with some nearby branches.

That was the first time he had actually spoken to you without being mean in some way. Maybe this mission would bring out Bucky’s kinder side? At least that’s what you hoped, all you wanted was to see the side of him that he didn’t let anyone see and have him let you love him.

Sure, he was an asshole anytime he spoke to you. But some part of you just hoped that he loved you too and was just being an asshole because he doesn’t know what to do about these kinds of feelings, as stupid as that may sound. After all, you know it’s been a very long time since he’s had a lover, same as you.

And once Bucky had finished getting his side of the camp as well as the fire set up just ten minutes later, you sat down on your sleeping bag and crossed your legs.

You then reached back into your bag and pulled out two of the sandwiches you had packed for the mission. You threw one to Bucky and it landed in his lap, making him smile and softly chuckle for just a second. But you saw every reaction he’d just had, which caused your cheeks to heat up.

You let out a sigh as you took the first bite of your sandwich. If you and Bucky were going to be alone together for a while, you thought that now would be a good time to tell him more about yourself. Specifically your past, the reason for your solitude that he felt the need to make fun of.

“Y’know there’s a lot you don’t know about me, Bucky.” you said, starting off this sort of conversation in a relaxed manner. You hoped that he would listen to what you had to say.

He looked up at you from his own sandwich and smirked at you, “Oh, yeah? What don’t I know about you?” he asked as he looked into your eyes, showing you that he was listening to you and prompting you to continue on with what you were going to say.

You took one deep breath before you started your story, “There’s a reason why I live alone and I don’t interact with other people in the community as much as everyone else does. I was 10 when the outbreak hit and I was made an orphan right away because my parents had been infected. So, in all of the chaos I was forced to survive alone and figure everything out on my own. I haven’t lived so close to other people without worrying that I was in danger since I was 10 and I only moved to Jackson last year, so I’m still getting used to living so close to it all again. We’re all going through different things and I understand that what you are going through may be the reason you are taking your anger out on me.” you explained to him, your story causing tears to prick at Bucky’s eyes but he wiped them away before they even had the chance to fall.

You had been through so much and even though he was mean to you, you were never once mean to him. You always treated him well, even when he didn’t deserve it. You had been on your own for 22 years and you still didn’t let that destroy your kindness or the goodness of your heart.

“Oh god, (y/n), I had no idea. I’m so sorry, for every mean thing I’ve said to you. I’ve been such an asshole to you and you don’t deserve that at all.” he made known to you, his apology that you had been waiting months to hear making you softly smile as you continued to eat your sandwich.

“Thank you and I accept your apology, Bucky.” you told him after you swallowed the bite you had just taken, that soft smile still on your face making you look extremely beautiful to Bucky.

He was in shock, “You forgive me? You should be furious with me.” he said, you pointed your face down towards your lap and softly chuckled at that.

You looked back up at him, complete honesty in your eyes, “Yes I do because life is too short to hold grudges against people, especially in the world we live in now. Plus, I don’t think I could ever bring myself to be genuinely mad at the man I’m in love with.” you said, a gasp quickly escaping your mouth after that last sentence, Bucky was in shock too. You hadn’t planned to admit your feelings for him as impulsively as you just did.

But the very second that this shock wore off, Bucky was on his feet and quickly making his way over to you. He fell onto his knees in front of you and lovingly took your face in his large, warm hands. You placed your hands over his, showing him that you were okay with his touch. There were tears in his eyes once again and this time he let them fall.

“God, I love you so fucking much. I’ve been such an idiot.” he shakily told you through his tears while your face remained in his hands, laughing a little at himself while he briefly looked away from you.

You inched yourself a little closer to him and looked up into Bucky’s eyes once more, a look of love only for him in your eyes.

“Me too.” you replied with a nod of your head, laughing with him, “I love you too, Bucky.” you made known to him, prompting Bucky to crouch down more so that he could press his forehead against yours and just feel you. He wanted to feel that you were real, that you were actually here and that you loved him back.

He pulled away from your forehead a few minutes later and looked down into your eyes again, “Can I kiss you, doll?” he asked, a tone of desperation in his voice as he continued to gaze into your eyes like you had hung the stars and moon in the sky just for him.

You nodded right away as tears started to form in your own eyes, not having the strength to verbally tell him yes because you were overwhelmed with everything you felt for Bucky. And with that, he pressed his lips to yours and passionately kissed you. You began to stand up on your knees while you kissed him back, loosely wrapping your arms around your neck and pulling him even closer to you, letting yourself indulge in the handsome man.

“I love you so, so much.” Bucky muttered against your lips in between kisses, causing a new feeling to bloom in your chest. Happiness.

You now had each other and everything felt truly perfect for once. The two of you clicked together like two pieces of a puzzle and you hoped that you would stay that way, in love and connected — the way you were always meant to be — forever. You had finally gotten through the worst of what was the labyrinth of falling in love with someone.

My 3k follower celebration!

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sweetpandorabox · 1 year

Text

Cedric Diggory as a boyfriend 🏆🦡

⋆ ˚｡ ⋆୨sweetpandorabox୧⋆ ˚｡ ⋆

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎…⋙

Warnings ⚠️: Slight mentioned of sexual themes and some spicy stuff.

Dating this sweet, kind, and handsome Triwizard champion could include:

🪦 💛 👨🏻

Cedric is a true definition of a gentleman, he undoubtedly has that chivalry touch about him, he's polite, honest, and kind. He would put your jacket around you as soon as he noticed you shivering even just a little, offer you his arm when you're about to walk somewhere, hold a door open for you, kisses you on the forehead, kisses your hand when the both of you have to part ways and never lets you pay a cent during a date that requires paying, because he enjoys paying for you and never wants anything in return. The affection of kisses, hugs and more means the world to him.

He calls you cute nicknames like Angel, Heaven, My World, or Sweetheart.

Likes when you call him Ced, Darling, Love, Handsome, or Teddy (It's an inside joke between the two of you that Cedric is as soft and kind-looking as a teddy bear, so you kept it going with that nickname).

His love language is probably words of affirmation, he's really good at expressing his love for you through words, he mentions how much he loves you often, and he compliments you anytime he gets the chance but most of all he's always affirmed you that no matter how many people might be interested in him weather that's about his popularity, looks or personality, he'll never leave you ever and that no one can ever replace nor even come close to you. That he couldn't love a human any more than he loves you.

He likes writing your name on all your subject's books for you but instead of your family's last name, he puts down his instead so every book you own says "This book belongs to Y/N Diggory" which drives your friends crazy with excitement, even professor McGonagall was sure you'd marry him one day.

He would take you out every Sunday morning to madame Puddifoot's tea shop for some tea, with sugar and milk just how you like it, while Cedric makes it a habit to make paper rings out of the tissues provided on each table for customers, then he'd take your left-hand kisses it and put the ring on you ring finger before saying "One day It'll be a real ring that shines and glimmer the way your eyes do when it hits the sun", that line never fails to make you smile and blush, so you smile at him kindly while he returns it sipping your tea away.

You have to get on your tippy toes to kiss him because he's built like a tree which never fails to make him laugh and smile at how adorable you are, but you'd pout every time he laughs at you so in return he lowers himself to your level and says "go on" then you would smile and ruffle his hair as messy as you can which leave the both of you to laugh and blush.

He uses his prefect power to go out after hours, his excuse is that he's patrolling around the castle before bed and sneak you up to the astronomy tower when there's no class available and stargaze there, then he'd ramble about all the stars that he knows about which you find really interesting and amusing.

He's the best at giving advice about anything and you've always taken it without hesitation because his advice has worked in your favor every time, he just seems to know what's best for you always.

Him chasing you all over the place to give him a hug after Hufflepuff's quidditch practice when he's all sweaty, smelly, and sticky.

When it comes to sex he's very gentle with you making sure to put you first before himself and a praiser too, despite how much you drive him crazy with lust because of how attractive you are to him, so it's mostly slow, passionate sex but when he's in the mood to just please you, he gets you to sit on his lap while he fingers you, touch your breast and kiss your neck and shoulder as you moan in pleasure. (😫).

He loves the sight of you walking towards the great hall for breakfast on the weekend after you've just woken up with his jumper on, slightly messy hair, sweats, and slippers on, what makes it better is the way you greet him good morning with your sleepy voice and a kiss to top it all off never fails to make him smile brightly and blush too.

He likes watching you sleep, he finds you to look so peaceful and effortlessly gorgeous doing nothing but breathing easy while closing your eyes, dreaming away about something good he hopes.

Despite him being sweet and patient most of the time with you, he's not afraid to argue back if he finds you to be too stubborn about something.

Shows you off proudly in front of anyone and everyone he could, talk about you often, mention how lucky he is to have you in his life and how he could never survive with you, not now not ever at this point.

Writes you cute yet unexpected love letters, notes, and paper balls with doodles of the two of you together, and no matter how many he makes/sends you've managed to keep and saved them all, which Cedric doesn't know about and by now you'd have thousands of letters, notes and paper balls filled with doodles made by him.

He smiles a lot around you and is the type of person who makes good eye contact even if he doesn't like that person that way in general.

Amos and Mrs. Diggory loves having you around their house and would often invite your whole family to join/celebrate things like Christmas for example in their home, just hoping that you and Cedric will be married together one day and untie both of your families into one big and beautiful one.

He lets you dress him up in your clothes for fun, put makeup on him, and even tie his hair into a short ponytail. He puts up with it all just to see you laugh your nose off, as long as you're happy he's happy too.

Whenever you achieve something big and you'd tell him excitedly he picks you up in the air and spins you around laughing with you and saying "I'm so proud of you my sweetheart" with a huge smile on his face before putting you down and giving you a passionate kiss.

Taglist:

@igncrantbliss @milivanili99 @thatdummy-girl @nighttimemoonlover

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clangenrising · 1 month

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Month 13 - Newleaf

Russetfrond scarfed down his morning meal and went over his responsibilities in his head. Sparrowpaw and the others were due for an assessment in their hunting and survival skills that he needed to design with Goldenstar and Yarrowshade. Patrols were mostly in order except for Mystique. He still didn’t like putting her into his schedule but Goldenstar had been clear that she needed daily exercise. At least she had agreed not to send the kittypet on any kind of Border Patrol, at his request.

It took him a while to balance out the patrols to accommodate her, shuffling duties around here and there, but eventually he had a solid plan. He stood, stretched, and sighed. Deciding to get the most unpleasant task out of the way first, he turned towards the elders’ den where a sleepy Ospreymask was sitting watch. If he hurried and took Mystique out now, they would hopefully get back before the dawn patrol returned.

He stepped up to the den and flicked his ear in Ospreymask’s direction, saying, “I’ll take over.”

“Thanks,” she yawned and slinked off towards the warriors’ den.

Mystique stirred inside the den. Curled up in the back corner, she lifted her head and pursed her lips. She seemed to have been awake for some time although she still seemed tired and hollow eyed. Her thick fur was starting to tangle as her winter shed came out poorly. He wondered absently if she even knew how to properly groom herself or if she let her twolegs do everything for her.

“Hey,” she said, “What’s up?”

“We’re going out,” he said. “I want to get your exercise out of the way before it gets too late.”

“Oh, alright,” she stood, ears brushing the top of the den, and slipped up beside him with a soft jingle. He stepped out of the way and let her arch her back and stretch her legs.

“I figured we’d go to the river and you could swim for a bit or something.”

“Wait, really?” she brightened.

“Yes,” he scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Just as long as you agree to come back when I say we’re done.”

“Yeah, of course,” she nodded.

“Good.” He set off out of camp, confident that she would follow. The morning was still young. The sun had just started to banish the chill of night from the air and birds were singing to each other from the distant trees. He and Mystique walked in silence for a while, simply basking in the beauty of morning.

Mystique eventually ruined it by speaking. “Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Oh?” He raised his brows skeptically. Hopefully it wasn’t another rendition of her ‘why does everyone hate me’ act. He’d heard from Branchbark all about her little incident during the Gathering and he wasn’t happy about it.

“Yeah, um,” Mystique said, looking at the ground, “I’ve been thinking - About my brother and everything - and… I want to try and help you guys.”

“Pardon?” he nearly laughed.

“I want to help,” she said, a little bolder. “Scorch is right, I’ve been way too passive. I may not fully understand what’s going on yet, but clearly you cats have a lot to lose and I want to help you. I was thinking maybe I could teach some combat drills or something? Y’know, help you hold your own.”

This time Russetfrond really did laugh. “Yeah, right! We don’t need fighting tips from a kittypet.” The idea was completely absurd! Insulting, even!

Mystique frowned. “I’ll have you know, I’m better than most cats back in the city!”

“That’s not saying much,” he shook his head at the comedy of the situation.

“I’m almost as good as Razor!” she insisted. “I bet I’m better than you! Hell, I know I am.” His shoulders tightened in offense.

“Is that so?” he growled, puffing up his fur a bit.

“Yeah,” she smirked and leaned down a bit to be more evenly on his level. “Try me and see.”

“Fine,” he said, slowing to a stop. “Show me what you’ve got and I’ll see if your offer is worth anything.” They had stopped in the dip between two hills where pooling snowmelt had caused the grass to grow in thick and towering. It swayed above their heads gently, blocking out the rest of the world and nearly obscuring them from each other in its density.

Russetfrond took a defensive stance. Mystique wiggled down into a crouch, tail tip twitching with eagerness. Russetfrond could already tell that she wasn’t taking this seriously - her smile was too bright, her gaze too scattered. This would be over quickly.

She moved in, tested his guard with a few swipes, and he danced easily to the side. He swiped at her ears with claws sheathed. Mystique ducked under the blow with surprising grace for her size and slipped into the opening he had given her. Her paws wrapped around his torso and her weight carried him off his feet and into the grass.

They rolled for a beat, Russetfrond hissing and Mystique purring, and landed with him on his back looking up at her. He kicked out with his hind legs and she took the blow without a flinch, then whacked him sharply on the head causing his vision to swim. She snapped at one of his paws as he tried to swat her, twisted so the other swipe struck the back of her head, and rolled onto her side to avoid another strike of his hind paws.

He rolled with her, onto his paws, and swatted her face twice, confident that, had this been a real fight, she would have been struggling to see through the blood. Mystiquer let out a mrrp of enjoyment and lunged. Her forepaws hooked around his neck and pulled his face into her chest before he knew what was happening. He struggled in the suffocating volume of her fur, unable to stop her as she rolled and flipped him over her body onto his side. Her hindpaws slammed into him, rabbit kicking over and over into his side. He hissed furiously and tucked his head to slam it up into her chin. She reeled, let him go, and he tumbled away. If this were real, he would be bleeding profusely from his flank, but for now he was simply panting heavily, struggling for breath.

“That was-” he didn’t get to finish. Somehow she was on her paws again and barreling into him. His surprise let her take him to the ground again and she quickly pressed his face into the dirt with one paw. Tail bristling, he tried to rise but suddenly her teeth were in his scruff, causing his legs to seize instinctively. His cheeks flushed hotly at the predicament.

“Alright!” he hissed quickly, “You win!” He needed her to let him go.

“Told you I was better than you.” He could feel the shape of her grin against his fur. He forced his body to move and tried to wiggle out from under her but she shifted to put a hindpaw on his haunches, pressing him flat into the ground. His stomach fluttered, only serving to make him even more embarrassed.

“You proved your point,” he growled, “let me up.” They were both breathing hard, her fur brushing his back every time she inhaled.

“Say please,” she ordered smugly between breaths.

“No,” he growled, his skin buzzing uncomfortably with some kind of energy. He felt dizzy.

“Aww, come on,” she said, her teeth thankfully letting go of his scruff. He summoned his strength and rolled onto his back, paws ready to swipe at her if she tried anything else, but she just smiled at him and tilted her head, one paw raised as if they were playing a game. He found it hard to swallow.

“You put up a pretty good fight,” she panted, flopping down next to him.

“You too,” Russetfrond admitted begrudgingly, letting his arms go slack. The grass swayed above and around them, a world of lush green with a small glimpse of cloudless, blue sky. It muted the birdsong and the sound of the wind, leaving them alone with only their slowing breaths to listen to.

“I won!” she purred, “I’d say I was more than pretty good.” He didn’t want to say it but he was inclined to agree. Neither of them spoke again until they had mostly regained control of their breathing. Russetfrond still felt dizzy though, dizzy and warm and hungry for something he couldn’t explain.

“Wanna go again?” she whispered, like it was a secret. He knew he needed to say no. He knew that he was standing on the precipice of something very big and very exciting and very dangerous and that if he didn’t leave now he wouldn’t be able to fight the hold it had on him.

“Alright,” he breathed, the edge of a smile daring to pull at his lips. He swallowed hard again. Mystique grinned wider than he’d ever seen, looking like she was hungry too.

“Hell yeah,” she said. “Maybe you can try and pin me this time.” Russetfrond thought he would like that very much.

“Don’t go easy on me,” he said, getting back to his paws.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she chuckled, swishing her silky tail around herself as she huddled into an eager crouch.

“Good,” said Russetfrond. He jumped.

#clan gen #clangen #warrior cats #warriors #warrior cats oc #warriors oc #clangen oc #clan gen oc #clangenrising #Mystique #Russetfrond #Newleaf

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bellswlw · 1 year

Text

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ it’s cold here without you 2: you set me on fire ⇨ e. williams

ellie williams x afab!reader

wc: 11k

part one | part 1.5 | masterlist

summary: after the winter dance, you and Ellie find yourselves unsure of where you stand. but after a prank gone wrong during a movie screening, the line before you bolds, and you’re ready.

cw: smut, mentions of homophobia, public humiliation, oral (e!receiving), inexperienced!reader, underage alcohol consumption (wine), mentions of artist!ellie, scissoring, multi orgasm, slapping, some fluff, mutual pining

a/n: this wasn’t supposed to be 11k…. but eat up! this is my first time writing proper wlw smut so pls, pls be nice:,) ps: i highly considering only writing jackson!ellie bc she’s just so cutsie i just love her. proofread.

There wasn’t a single thing on Ellie’s mind besides you. Besides what was going to happen tonight. And besides what she had planned, almost to perfection. almost.

She had been thinking about it all day, just a few after the two of you had your moment in the greenhouse after the winter dance. Which… was something.

Something… out of a movie, some might say. ‘Some’ just by Ellie. Secretly, she had rewinded the memories and let them play out in full from the inside walls of her own mind, afraid to mention even a speck of it outloud.

The images played on a loop inside her head, causing a grin to find its place on her face when she met you at the stables after her patrol shift and prayed that for what she was hoping would finally rise off of her notebook pages, tonight.

In the dining hall for breakfast surrounded by mostly everyone in Jackson, the four of you had contracted a plan. (Mainly Ellie, if she was being honest.)

“Oh come on, they’re just kids.” Dina said, cocking her head to the side to glare back and forth at Ellie and Jesse, silently scolding her for wanting to do something so stupid and looking to Jesse to help tell her off.

“Hey, those little shits deserve it. They totally started it.” Ellie said, pointing her spoon towards her. “Plus, it's totally harmless.” she sighed and took the spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

Earlier in the morning, just before breakfast had begun, some of the kids had started a completely civil snowball fight, and on your way toward the dining hall you had all stopped to watch. And you had to admit, they could be kind of cute sometimes. When they weren’t being absolute menaces.

“I say, tonight, as soon as we get back… we get drunk and play some board games.” Jesse said, nudging you with his elbow with a playful smirk.

You looked over, a soft smile. “Yeah, that sounds like fun.” and watched as Ellie continued ahead of you, her hands shoved so deep in her jacket pockets that they might poke out the other end.

Listen, she wasn’t jealous of Jesse, or the fact that the two of you had grown a little closer after you got to town. She knew he would never try anything, and she knew surely, neither would you. But it still sent a thick stroke of anger through her just thinking about the if.

She tried not to, but eventually it was the only thing running through her head. Like an absolute idiot.

You had only seen Jesse merely as a friend. And sometimes, somebody to help you tick Ellie off with stupid puns or to poke fun at. Sometimes. The other times he was stopping by the greenhouse to bring you back samples of plants he found out on patrol.

Most of them were weeds or dead flowers, but you accepted them all and thanked him kindly. He liked you. And he liked that you made Ellie happy, even as much as it grossed him out sometimes when you found yourself staring at her leaving the stables on Shimmer, galloping slow enough to see the steady jostle of her hips lift up and down with a rhythmic bounce.

Jesse had known, at the dance. He knew before then too. He knew when he saw the same look in your eye that he felt in his when he looked at Dina. He was happy for the two of you.

“Ellie, you in?” he asked, catching her attention and making her turn around. She was red in the face, fuming inside her head from a scenario that was nowhere near real.

“Huh?” she asked, and looked at you.

“Board games, drinking, probably a little…” and you put your pinched fingers to your lips, pretending to smoke a joint before blowing the smoke from your mouth with a laugh.

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” and then she turned back around.

The three of you had slowed down, all watching Dina as she knelt down behind a section of the playground, a snowball ready in her hand.

Ellie had been meaning to talk to Dina. About the dance, about the looks she had been giving you, she was so confused by it all, not really understanding why she did it and now why she seemed to hate your guts. Especially because no one knows. Or, at least… they weren’t supposed to.

You didn’t want to make a big deal of things, and since Jackson was relatively small and it was typically pretty calm, you did not want to be the talk of the town. Or any for that matter. But after Ellie had noticed how hesitant you were to go say goodbye to her at the stables, she knew something was wrong.

And it made her kind of mad. She felt the smallest amount of pride too, if she was being honest. She liked how much you flushed at the thought of someone else being upset that you had her instead of them. But on the offhand, she wanted to kindly tell Dina off for making you afraid to even say a simple ‘goodbye’ before patrol.

“It’s not a big deal, I don’t want to make something out of nothing.” and your eyes were glued to the floor.

“Tell me,” and her voice was so soft, melting on your tongue as her gloved hand grabbed yours. They were so warm, radiating a soft heat through the leather.

“I– it’s just… maybe Dina knows, you know? Maybe she saw and she hates me or something and–”

And Ellie sighed, swinging your hand playfully in hers.

“I told you, it's nothing!” and your voice was high, trying to hide itself in the lie.

“No. it’s not nothing. I’ll talk to her. Tell her to fuck off. If she saw, then who cares? Lucky her.” and Ellie slipped off one of her gloves to cup your face, pecking your lips slowly. Warm.

“I’ll talk to her, okay?” and you nodded. You could live with that.

Ellie came to a halt, her hands gripping the fence before she called out after Dina. “Hey Dina! Can I talk to you?”

And it was then that she finally noticed her, standing up from her kneeling position and throwing her hands up in defense. “Hey, guys? I’m tapping out!”

Ellie turned back to look at you, reminding you of the promise she had made earlier. You took it. “We’ll meet you inside?” and Ellie gave you a quick nod, her head tilting back while her eyes stayed on yours until you smiled at her and turned the corner, continuing your conversation with Jesse.

“So, what kinda board games are we talking?’ and you nudged him, hard enough to make you think you had caused him to stumble over. Which obviously made you burst out a laugh.

From there, it was obvious why Ellie was upset. She lost. Big time. Those kids had annihilated her and Dina, and there wasn’t a soul brave enough to face them again. They deserved this, those punks.

Or at least, that’s what Ellie had said from beside you. “They’re punks. They ambushed us. And they tackled you?!” her sigh was long, and she looked over to you for help, maybe a little bit of approval.

“Well… I mean, it does seem a little extreme Ells.” and you looked a little apologetic.

“Wha— Jesse, c’mon, back me up.”

Jesse jutted his hands out from underneath their place on his chin. “Hey, leave me outta this. I don’t want any part of it.”

Ellie lets out a frustrated exhale. Her hands resting against the table with one potato wedge in each. “IT is a completely non-extreme movie to show to a bunch of 12 year olds. You guys just suck.” she says, eyeing you before sticking one of her soggy wedges in your face.

Your brows are pulled up and your eyes tracking her flail these cold dead sticks of potato around as she continues her spiel. “I mean, IIIII think they deserve to feel their hearts beating in their chests for once… right? Like I’m practically doing them all a favor. We all are… because when screening starts, we sit through the first quarter, and then after all the parents fall asleep, BAM–” and Ellie is suddenly flinging her wedge across the table, landing hard against Jesse’s cheek with a rippling smack.

There's a moment of shrilling silence between the four of you, just before he wipes his hand down his face to dust off the skin of the potato and says. “Thank you, for this.” and plops it onto his plate.

It’s then that’s when you break, leaning forward against the table and letting your laugh erupt out of you like some kind of overflowing bubble.

Your eyes are practically sewn shut, and you breathe in just moments before jump starting another round of laughter from everyone around you. Including Ellie.

God, you had loved it when you made her laugh. It usually happens when you aren't trying. But it was worth it all regardless, just to see her lips break apart with the sound of your laugh alone, her teeth revealing themselves before she hung her head away from you to try and regulate herself.

She never knew you noticed that about her.

When you finally opened your eyes, letting the stars clear from your vision, you saw Ellie’s head had fallen back, and a wide grin was etched into her freckled face, the red hue blending between the constellations of her skin.

You felt Dina’s eyes on you just then, barely deep enough to cause you to look over at her and watch the look wipe itself right off her face. Did she see the way you were looking at Ellie? Did Jesse? Did everyone?

The two of you hadn't told anyone about what had gone on last week, mostly because you yourself didn’t really know. You had never ever expected for Ellie to admit she felt the same way as you did, let alone first.

Since then, the two of you had definitely been more than friends, but it was just that. You were still obviously friends, there was just a shift. You two still hung out as much as you did before, just now, they lasted longer. Day’s usually. And you had started going with Ellie to the stables more often, saying goodbye to her and coming back after her patrol shift was over if you weren’t busy working.

Your days usually ended the same, either you coming to Ellie, or her meeting you wherever you were scheduled that day. (mostly the greenhouse.)

It had worked better when you were scheduled to actually be working in the stables, helping prep Shimmer and the rest of the horses that were going out that day, or cleaning out their beds and refilling their water after it had frozen over. But you still went. You couldn’t stand not being around Ellie now that you were… more than friends.

There was a sudden worry in your stomach every time you watched her leave from behind Jacksons gates, the gnawing feeling eating away at you that there was a possibility that she couldn’t come back.

You liked Ellie, a lot. Definitely more than a friend, and more than all the words at your disposal. You would do anything you could to make her happy, to keep that part of her that is buried in fear and everything else she hasn’t told you alive. You wanted to push her buttons just enough to make her pinch at the sides of your waist in retaliation and cause you to try and get away from her grasp with scream laughs following behind you.

And to state the obvious, you wanted Ellie, period. You wanted her to touch you like no one else had ever before, even yourself. The execution is what had you stumped though. The line was blurry for you, and you weren’t sure if and how you were supposed to go about all of this. You were too afraid to ask.

And Ellie would never make fun of you, really if you did ask… but you knew that she had been with Cat, and you knew that she had more experience than you. And it made you feel kind of intimidated, and kind of jealous if you were totally honest. You had wanted to keep Ellie all for yourself, for your eyes only.

Which of course you knew was a little unhealthy, but you really couldn’t help yourself. She was Ellie. Everyone who really knew her loved her, how could you not?

You rested your eyes on your lap just then, drawing back into the reality of Jesse’s stupid remark. And her hand had rested high on your thigh, rubbing slow circles there as she tried to rid herself of the jokes Jesse was about to make. You had to pretend you were totally unaffected by it, when in truth you wanted to drag her to the bathroom right then and there.

You didn’t though, obviously.

A few hours later, after you, Dina, and Jesse had somehow fallen accomplices to Ellie’s stupid prank, you were sitting around in the dining hall watching the first half of Summer Magic.

There were fewer parents than all of you had expected, but the ones who did end up coming were asleep near the back of the room or leaning against the posts with bored expressions laid thickly on their faces.

You watched as Ellie sat next to you, her arms folded over her chest with a devious glare planted across her face, the light from the projector completely giving her away.

You then look back at Dina who was sitting a few seats behind you, closer to the for-mentioned projector and quite literally sitting on the key ingredient in the form of an old dinged up VHS tape.

Her eyes flickered from the screen to yours, and for nearly half a second, you could have sworn she had rolled her eyes at you.

Ellie noticed your head turn, and free’d a hand from her position to rest it on your leg. “Relax, we're not gonna get caught. Dina’ll throw them off.” and she offered you a small smile, squeezing your thigh lovingly.

Oh it wasn’t getting caught what had made you so nervous, it was the look in Dina’s eyes that read I know what you’re doing.

Soon enough, you did actually relax back into the movie, Ellie’s hand warm against the fabric of your jeans and her thumb slowly moving back and forth to decompress your anxiety.

It unfortunately didn’t last long, because just when you shifted positions to lay your head against her shoulder, the screen had gone dark and the room had swarmed with loud sounds of all the kids groaning and screeching to the sudden darkness of the room.

You had almost done the same, not knowing that Jesse was going to switch all the lights off at once.

Ellie had perked her head up then, watching from her dilated pupils, children standing from their seats and trying hopelessly to find their parents in the pitch black of the dining hall.

It was kind of cruel, watching how much she was enjoying it. You tugged on the sleeve of her gray hoodie, getting her attention. “Ellie, I think this is too much. We should stop before someone narc’s.”

She looked at you for a moment contemplating it. She did kind of feel a little guilty. Not for the kids though, but for you. She could tell how much it upset you, watching all of these little kids run around aimlessly trying to find their parents. It made her wonder if it had reminded you of what it was like before coming to Jackson. She had never had the courage to ask, she was too scared to figure out the answer.

Ellie didn’t want to picture you like one of these kids, screaming with tears running down their small cheeks and their voice cracking as they all yelled for the same thing. Protection. Ellie could give that to you, she knew that.

She hesitated. “I– okay. Okay. You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll find Dina, tell her there’s a change in plans. Okay?” and it's almost worrisome, how hard the sigh fell from your lips when the words “I’m sorry.” echoed in your ears.

“Okay.” and you stood up with Ellie, pecking her lips before thinking on it. She pulled her head back, and you could almost feel the confusion radiate off her.

Her hand had squeezed yours momentarily. “I’ll be right back.” and there was one last pinch to your fingers just as the screen lit up, an off-white flooding everyone's eyes.

It was then that you saw all of the kids scattered around the room, some huddled together in groups, and others backs flat against the large windows, hands still spread out in front of them in search.

The horror of their faces flushed the color from your face. They were just kids. And even if it was just a stupid prank, it was real to them. It was like their world was ending all over again.

But it was too late, because there it was, frame for frame what Ellie had talked about just hours before. The street post in full view as the people paraded the street with ease.

Ellie swore under her breath. “Shit.”

She turned her head around frantically, trying to find Dina, only she was now across the room, kneeling down in front of a little girl who was sobbing uncontrollably.

“Ellie,” you said, and there was a twinge in your eye that screamed, stop.

She looked down at you, watching as you shook your head slowly, eyes fighting the tears that so desperately wanted to pool there.

It was then that Seth had stepped into the center of the room, a mere few feet from the screening. “What’s going on here?!” he yelled, trying to find someone in the crowd to blame.

His eyes cut into your and Ellie’s, and he could see from the look on your face that you were scared, and after he realized that… he glanced over to a group of tween boys who were huddled around in a small group. “HEY!” he said pointedly, cutting their group apart with the snap of his dirtied fingernail.

The boys looked up, a different kind of fear ringing off of them. They dispersed almost instantly, moving away to find their younger siblings who were all still crying.

“Who’s doing this?” and he was spinning slowly, trying to make blame.

But it's then that the echo of Pennywise’s voice breaks the sudden silence, instantly turning him and the rest of the kids faces white.

“I’ll kill you all. Ha! I’ll drive you crazy and KILL you all!” Seth had suddenly stopped and stared straight up at the screen, his face dropping completely as he gulped down his fear.

This wasn’t part of the joke, to single him out and make him quite near piss his pants in terror. But it was somewhat entertaining to watch considering what had happened after you left Ellie and Dina on the dancefloor.

Ellie had told you a few days ago, laying flat on her back with a joint resting gently on the makeshift ashtray she had made from a small piece of wood.

You watched as she blew the smoke from her lips, curling in on itself while desperately trying to cling to the ceiling above.

It had made you mad, and Ellie just as much. Even if she didn’t like Dina like that, it was uncalled for in the first place.

Back in the dining hall, watching all of this unfold, Ellie stood there frozen, helpless. She didn’t know what to do. She knew what she should do, she should pull the plug and take the blame for all of it. But that was a harder bridge to cross when she enjoyed the terror that struck through Seth’s face as he watched a fictional clown threaten to kill him.

“I am your worst dream, come true! I’m everything you ever were afraid of!”

Ellie turns her attention away from him momentarily, seeing the curtain ripple just for a few seconds, seeing the flash of Jesse’s shoe slowly creep across the floor behind the screen.

You saw it too, knowing exactly what was to come before Ellie blinked in recognition.

And the entire room went quiet, unable to look away just as Pennywises’ hand curls into a claw and Jesse is jumping out from behind the sheet to tackle Seth to the ground with a loud thud.

He screams, and Ellie can’t help herself but laugh, folding in on herself as she places her hands on her knees. It was truly a sight. Seth is on the ground, kicking and screaming like his life depends on it, all while the rest of the kids and adults watch, doing nothing.

You can hear Jesse's faint laugh, a low chuckle shredding through the fabric and sending Seth into a spiral of utter fear. It was kind of ironic how afraid of clowns he seemed to be when he was one himself.

The smell came before anything else, and it hit Jesse first, causing him to jump off of him with a gag to follow. “Did you piss your pants?” he says, just loud enough to reach the ears of the gaggle of tween boys that were standing near the front of the room.

“Holy shit! He pissed himself!” and that’s what started the domino effect of laughter, soon filling the room with giggles from the children who had all finally sponged up all their tears.

You followed suit too, giggling into your hand before hearing Ellie cackle, her head falling back and a loud laugh erupting deep from within her lungs. She had been holding that one in for some time.

As the laughter had begun to subside, the door could be heard slamming on his hinges, and a few moments later the lights flickered back on and Tommy was standing next to Maria. Fumming.

Oh shit.

Ellie straightened up at the sight of him, knowing that they had all been caught. Not just Dina and Jesse, but the entire room.

Tommy eyed the two of you, squaring you away in his head. Ellie’s eyes had glazed over from her laughter, but were soon pushed away to the corners when she cleared her throat.

He looked over his shoulder, watching as Seth had struggled to stand with a big wet spot on the crotch of his khasis. Wincing, he took a few steps over toward him.

“Seth,” he said, a little hesitantly. “What happened here?” and it was then that he finally found the strength to pull himself upright, not hesitating to rat you all out.

“Those kids, is what happened! They ambushed me, and that one even assaulted me!” he yelled, pointing to Jesse who had the sheet balled up in his arms across the room.

Tommy eyed him, and then without saying a word he shoved the sheet over to one of the boys next to him.

“You guys wanna tell me what the hell just happened back there?” the four of you stood outside in the cold, your winter jackets folded in your arms unprepared for the sudden eviction.

You didn’t even have to look up from your spot on the ground when Ellie had chirped up an apology. “It was all my fault. My idea, they didn’t have anything to do with it.” and she eyed up Tommy, begging him to take the bait she laid out for him.

He sighed, and blew out a sigh. “Wh… I- Jesus, I can’t deal with all of this. Just go home. All of you.” Tommy was beyond frustrated, but he didn’t have it in him to give out punishments right now. He was going to leave that to Maria.

“Tommy, they aren’t a part of this-”

He looked at her, and then one by one, the rest of the group. “Go. Home. We’ll settle this in the morning.” and he didn’t wait a second more to turn his back on the four of you and return inside. Slamming the door for a second time.

As soon as the door is calm against its frame, Jesse turns inward and slings his jacket on. “Told ya,” and he shrugs his shoulders before shoving them deep into his pockets.

Ellie’s eyes are glued to the still door, making sure that it stayed shut until you all left. Which would probably be sooner or later, considering it was freezing and it would take a few minutes to get home.

“He got what he deserved.” and Ellie pulled her coat over her shoulders, nudging you with an elbow to silently tell you to do the same.

“Guess so.” he said before looking over at Dina, who was looking right at Ellie.

You tried not to overthink it… but it was so hard to look away when it felt like you were looking in a mirror, watching Dina look at Ellie the same way you had been for months.

Ellie finally perked up, her voice hugging around your waist with a sting. Her hand was freezing under your shirt. You prayed no one noticed, but of course they did.

“Hey, you guys wanna come hang out? We can get drunk and play board games, just like you wanted.” and her hand slips out from beneath your skin to playfully backhand Jesse’s arm.

You didn’t want her to let go, your skin forming goosebumps in protest, the silent and microscopic atoms of your skin trying to prick hers and lock them together forever.

But of course she did, she had to. Because she knew if she didn’t she would want to hold you forever.

Ellie was hopeless, in her mind. She had tried over and over again to try and forget that she had essentially spilled her guts to you last week. She wanted to tell you she had lied, or that she didn’t mean any of it, or trick herself into thinking none of it had even happened in the first place. But of course it did, and of course she had meant every word she said.

You liked her. And she liked you. It was as simple as that.

But of course, it wasn’t. These feelings were too big, too overwhelming and neither you or Ellie had any idea what to do with all of them. And sure, maybe they had been slowly spilling out into tonight, or yesterday, or a few days before that… but what would happen if they exploded, and made a huge mess of everything.

What if Ellie had something she didn’t mean, all because she was so fucking nervous to mess this up. To make you hate her. She feared it everyday since she met you, and that fear would either fuel her to do what she desperately wants, or eat her alive until she's nothing but a shaky bundle of nothing.

Jesse looked to Dina, hoping she might help him tell a flawless lie. “Ah, we probably shouldn’t. We’re probably gonna get scheduled to patrol because of tonight. Soon though.” and he shrugged an arm over Dina’s left shoulder.

Her eyes cut to you for the split of a second, just enough to make you squirm and look at your feet.

Ellie of course didn’t catch on. “Yeah, sure.” and she cocked her head up at him as the two of them walked off, making thin footprints in the snow.

“I thought you said you talked to her.” and you look up to meet Ellie’s eyes. Your lips were tucked in an unforgiving line. You were just the tiniest bit mad. You hated the fact that she didn’t like you, more so that you didn’t know what you did wrong.

“I did! She said she didn’t know what I was talking about. I let it go.” and she seemed genuine. But really? She didn’t know what you were talking about?

Before you could fire back, before a single word slipped past your lips, Ellie spoke again.

“How come you kissed me in there?” Ellie says now, the threat of a smile on her lips.

You drew back a bit, shocked. “Um, I dunno. I didn’t think about it.” and you search her face, trying to blink a response out of her. “Can you not change the subject?”

“I was kinda surprised if I'm being honest. It’s so… not you.”

You were fumbling, your hands clasping together to try and gain some control back into your system. “Ellie, you said you woul– wait, what do you mean not like me?”

Ellie’s smirk was hiding in plain sight. She was getting a rise out of you. And successfully changing the subject. Her hands found their way to her pockets, shoving them deep inside for warmth. “I just… I dunno. It was different from how you usually act.”

You knew secretly what Ellie meant. And she was right. It WAS out of character. But in the moment, in that dark room with over at least 200 people inside, that same feeling came flooding back into your stomach, and before you knew it you were kissing Ellie how you would if she were being sent off overseas. “I just… wanted to. Was it weird?” and you look at Ellie for approval, hoping she would tell you no. And if by some chance she said yes, you hoped she would let you down easily.

But she laughed, her breath catching the light just outside the building that was beaming down on the two of you and reflecting the glistening snow. “No. I thought it was kind of cute.”

“Shut up.” you said, nudging her just enough to express another laugh from her before speaking up again. “What did Dina say?”

“She doesn’t hate you, I’ll tell you that much.” and Ellie laughed again, but this time, it was stale, dried up and knocking against her throat on its way up.

“Ellie.” you couldn’t find her eyes, she was avoiding you.

She looked a little flushed now, even a little frustrated that you could easily get past her bullshit of a lie. Which wasn’t completely, it was a half truth.

“Okay, so she didn’t say it, but I mean it’s what she meant. Swear. She likes you.”

She didn’t hate you, that was true. In fact, it was the complete opposite.

Ellie hesitates, before pulling a hand from her pocket to slot it in with yours. She doesn’t know if she should even be doing stuff like this, and to be completely honest, she has no fucking clue what she’s doing. And her lips quiver. She convinces herself it's because it's cold out. But god she’s so afraid.

Ellie somehow managed to get you as her friend, but now, now is when it mattered. She didn’t want to fuck it up. She didn’t want to cross a line that she couldn’t take her word back on, lie her way out of or make a stupid joke to make you forget about it.

She was more than lucky to have met you, and certainly the luckiest girl in the entire world to have you like her. And she liked her just as much, probably even a little more.

How could she not? How could someone so bright walk into a place like this and not have people drawn into your beaming light and infectious laugh? It certainly worked for Ellie, there must have been half a dozen people who thought the same as her.

Your eyes drift from your locked hands to her face, she’s staring right at you. Right through you. “She likes me? Really?” and the smile is soft on your purpling lips.

“Yeah.”

You sigh, a little relieved. “She has a hard time showing it. More than you.” and you chuckle before wrapping an arm around her back, drawing her closer to you.

She was warm. Finally.

You opened Ellie’s door with ease, the laughter pushing you further and further inside with her hand on the small of your back and the other clutching a wine bottle.

She was covered in snow from head to toe. All to hear those giggles that were echoing around the room. Ellie had never been much of a drinker, but when she did occasionally, man was it a sight. She had shed her protective shield, leaving her to act like a 14-year-old boy who thought the word “Balls” was the funniest thing in the world.

Where you had even gotten the wine? Neither of you could really remember. But what you can picture clear as day is Ellie standing with her arms stretched out wide, with the bottle in one hand and the other flailing around as she yelled at the top of her lungs how much she loved Shimmer.

The snow was piled high, leaving you to stand at the bottom to watch as she confessed her love for her horse.

“She- she’s amazing. She… she’s such a good horse.” and she stood there, holding in a breath just seconds before exhaling with a laugh, something so deep in her stomach that hearing it made you do the same. You loved seeing her laugh, and so far this was the most of it you had seen since you met her.

“Ellie! Be careful, you’re gonna fall.” you said, the giggles threatening to rise in your voice as you watched her slowly move her hips back and forth. It was then that the snow mound had shifted under her foot, causing her to drunkenly slide down the side of it with an “Oof” and the wine to splatter across the blinding snow. It had painted itself all over Ellie, almost looking like blood in your hazy vision.

You couldn't help but laugh, and a minute later after you had come back to earth to see Ellie was laying down on her back chuckling to herself quietly.

“Are you okay?” you ask. Your hand flew over your mouth to smother your laugh.

Ellie was unsure, considering the sharp pain that was quickly forming against her back, the ice burning a hole there at what felt like lightning speed. But as soon as she saw your face, and had seen the glimmer reflecting off of the snow. She was perfectly fine.

“Yeah,” she said, taking the bottle to her lips and chugging down a few gulps. Ellie never liked drinking much, she didn’t like how it made her feel. IE: horny. Horny for you, most definitely.

The tingle in her legs had begun to grow the second that you bent over to help her stand, and the flash of your cleavage sent a bold brush stroke through her. She looked away, but the image was already burned behind her tightly shut eyes.

Fuck, she wanted you so bad, it had made her dizzy. Or was that because of how fast she stood up? Now she didn’t know. It didn’t stop her from kissing you though, with one hand clasped around yours and the other hanging onto the half empty wine bottle.

Your hand had touched the side of her face gingerly, and the feeling of her warm skin lit something bright inside you. So much so that it nearly poured right out of you with a quiet moan against Ellie’s lips.

They couldn’t do this here. But god did they want to. Both of them, right now, had never felt how their skin was on fire. Especially Ellie. And now she could crave that feeling for the rest of her life, chasing the high of your lips and the small sounds you made when she touched you.

“Let’s go,” you breathed against her, and without hesitating Ellie passed you the bottle and dragged you by the hand until you were back inside her room.

You both stood there now, a little breathless and unsure of what to do.

Ellie was undoubtedly covered in wine AND snow, and you were covered in goosebumps from watching her strip off her layers, leaving her in a white tank top and her jeans.

“This fuckin’...” she trailed off, and shimmied the sleeve of her hoodie off of her, tossing it on the ground next to her. You looked at her, mouth hanging open with dilated pupils. A look full of lust.

There's a knot inside your throat, tying the words together so tightly that all you can do is breathe, watching Ellie as she steps closer to you. To her bed.

Her hand is in yours again, and she’s taking you so far, tipping you over the edge of something that can never be undone. There are no do-overs. This is it. And it's happening, now.

“Ellie,” you rasp just as she sits on the edge of her bed, her hands instantly flying to cup your hips and draw you in closer.

She looks up at you. And the thought fuzzies out all of your other worries, underlining it in bold black ink. You want Ellie. You want to grip at her thighs and feel the wetness between her legs. You wanted to be between those same legs.

“I want you.” and you can’t fucking believe the words left your mouth, low and a little slurred. But it was true. It was all so unbelievably true that you had to laugh.

“Why are you laughing?” Ellie said, moving her hand ever so slightly off its comfortable place on your waist, flaring out her fingers to enunciate her question.

Your head fell between your shoulders, hovering over hers. “I don’t know.” you knew. You were so nervous. Excited, but nervous. Because it was real. And so was she. And so were her thumbs slowly making circles on your hot skin.

“Are you nervous?” she asked.

Was it that obvious? You couldn’t even look at her when you said quietly, “Yeah…”

Ellie cocked her head down, searching for eye contact. “Why?”

“You make me nervous. All of this does. I dunno.”

Ellie was baffled. She made you nervous? Oh, if only she knew. “I- I make you nervous?” and there was something playful behind her words, something that only made the smile on your lips grow. “Why do I make you nervous?” and her hands crept forward, to the opening of your jacket, threatening to pull it off of you.

You gulp back your words, a hitch in your voice when you finally find them again. “Because… I’ve never, I- I dunno. You just do.” and your coat is on the floor by now, leaving you in a gray long sleeve shirt.

“You never what?” her hands were making you dizzy, your eyes shutting softly before Ellie shifted your shirt just under your ribs and exposing your stomach.

The same stomach that was doing flips on itself, aching for something to touch it deep down inside.

Your breathing was uneven, shaky in some places and so, so shallow in others, unable to catch it.

“I’ve… never done anything before. B- by myself, but.. No one else.” and it was then that Ellie’s hands stilled against your skin, almost like they were suddenly same-faced magnets.

Your eyes met hers with a shrilling silence. The kind that burned.

“You’ve never…?” and all you could do was shake your head.

“No. But I want to. I want… you. I want to… you know, on you,” and the words were barely audible, even with Ellie this close. She was utterly shocked. You wanted… to go down on her? Ellie couldn’t fucking believe it. Her timid, giggly best friend –more than best friend– had just admitted that she wanted to eat her out.

Ellie had never been more turned on, and she didn’t even need a reason for it. She knew, she knew then that it was because of you, and because of those two words “on you” that checked Ellie into a state of mind she never wanted to leave.

“Oh yeah?” she was losing it. Big time.

Ellie’s cheeks were on fucking fire, she was burning up from the inside out, a pool of wetness already filling her underwear. She gripped your hips a little tighter now, unleashing the part of herself that she never wanted you to see, the greedy part. She was so fucking greedy, and she wanted you all to herself. She wanted to mark you as hers somehow, and show you off to all of Jackson.

She kissed you like you were the sun, soaking you in after a long 10-month drought. Your hands flew flat against her shoulders, trying to stabilize yourself before she was leaning you back, her back resting gently against the mattress while your hands boxed her in.

A suppressed moan slipped from your lips, feeling her hands ride up your sides and traveling across your back to snap your bra strap. Her chuckle etched its way across your skin before her nails scratched their way back around to the front and dipped below the button of your jeans.

“Fuck,” her voice was low against your skin. You wanted her to say it again. You wanted her to never stop talking, ever. You wanted her to do everything to you. Everything. You wanted Ellie so bad nothing else mattered to you right now as much as the desperate need to feel as much of her skin on yours.

“Ellie.” you said her name like a warning, the sirens in your head going off with the shift of your body, inching closer to her zipper.

Your shaking hands fumbled there, unsure if there was a certain way you were supposed to take off someone else’s pants, all while they watched. Ellie had now sat up on her elbows, resting there with her eyes glued on you, glued on how your delicate hands were brushing up against her folds that were pressed up against the crotch of her jeans.

Your hands gently pulled them off her hips, dipping underneath before Ellie bucked upward to help you. It was then that you had felt how hot her skin was. And it was all because of you. Because of your mouth and your hands that raked against Ellie’s thighs mercilessly.

You eventually got them off, hanging low around her ankles as one by one you took off her shoes and the rest of her jeans, now completely leaving her exposed besides the thin material of her tank top and underwear.

Ellie had fully sat up soon after, the look in her eyes pungent with lust as she quickly unfastened the button on your pants and stripping them off you with ease. You held onto her shoulders for support as you finished stepping out of them.

Oh so that’s how you do it.

She lifted her head up quickly, just seconds before her hands slowly grazed the bare skin of your thighs. You were so reactive, and Ellie loved every second of it. She knew that if you weren’t covered in goosebumps, you would be soon.

But she stopped herself then. She wanted to let you do what you wanted to do. To go down on her, as you said yourself. Ellie’s hands lifted away from you and you suddenly missed the feeling, leaning into her to try and fall back in her orbit.

“Say it.” was all Ellie said, holding her hands away from you in protest. She was refusing one of the only things you wanted, and that made her bloom with a tingle between her legs. Seeing the look on your face. The way you so badly wanted her.

You snapped back to, reeling back from Ellie. The look in her eye was all consuming. something that no matter how hard you wanted to look away from, you couldn’t. So you spoke instead. Low, with a slight rasp. “I want… I want you Ellie. Please. To go down on you. Let me, let me please.”

Please. Saying her name was more than enough, but the please. Oh you could have her any way you wanted. She loved the way it rang in her ears. So much so that she scooted away from you, setting herself up against her headboard. Just for you.

“C’mere,” Ellie said, and there was no more hesitation. This was it. This was fucking it. You were starving, and Ellie had just offered you to feast.

You were soon following suit, crawling onto Ellie’s bed, and sitting gently on your knees. You found yourself waiting for Ellie to give you further instructions. You wanted to please her, and please her. You wanted to do this justice, memorable even.

You actually found yourself asking for help. “Um… what next?” and you pulled your hair behind your ears with a slight shake to your hands. You were unbelievable.

Ellie looked a little blank then, realizing you really had no idea what to do, she found it cute. And kind of hot if she was being honest. The thought of you being so selfless and wanting to please her, when she hadn’t even asked. that is what Ellie was thinking as you sat on your knees in front of her. For her.

“Do.. you want me t’ tell you?” and she was only met with a singular nod, one that had only made her fume with desire.

“Yes. tell me, please.” and you were whining. You didn’t care.

“Okay.” was all Ellie could say. Her heart was beating out of her fucking chest.

She held out her hand for you, her fingers curling around themselves to usher you in, in between her legs that were already spread for you. “C’mere, for a sec,” and her hands found the soft spot behind your ears, pulling you into her so much that your chest was pressed hard against hers.

The moan vibrates through you, sending a shrill of wetness to collect between your legs. And those same legs had just done the unthinkable, a single knee slotting between the soft spot of Ellie’s clothed cunt.

Her mouth fell open with a moan crashing against you, snapping and cracking into yours. She felt it. You did it again, rubbing your bare knee against her core, getting the same reaction from her. It made the smile on your face shift to a grin. You felt so much pride.

“That– fuck.” Ellie mumbled out, her hands still resting lazily behind your ears. She wasn’t letting you go.

You continued, letting your knee move up and down against her wet folds, sending mass signals to keep going by the sensation that was building up in your stomach listening to the deep sounds that came from within Ellie.

She kissed you again, this time, letting her hands finally fall from their position on your face. Fuck, she needed you now. There was no time for teaching. She wanted your mouth on her cunt, and she wanted it now.

One last moan and Ellie was nearly unraveling, her hands swiftly moving to stop your knee from shifting against her. “Now.” she whispered.

You followed orders, and with her help, you stripped her of her underwear and soon you were met with the rarest sight of her pink pussy.

It was slick with her fluids, nearly glistening against the moonlight that creeped through the curtains, lighting up your back moments later when you inch toward Ellie’s pulsing cunt.

“Just…” Ellie was breathless, her chest rising and falling with hot anticipation.

You wanted to please her, and give her what she deserves. So it's then that you swallow back your worries and attach your lips to her burning nub. Your tongue ran slow circles around it, unsure if what you were doing before Ellie’s hands touched the top of your head, her hands fumbling with strands of your hair and then pressing your head closer to you. Skin to skin. Just like you wanted.

You took her clit between your lips sucking generously as you pulled a groan from deep within Ellie’s stomach, the cord there stretching with ease.

“F…” she mumbled, and Ellie’s fingers were tangled in your hair, curling and pinching at the root. It only made you hornier.

Your tongue danced against the bundle of nerves between her legs, just before you let it lay flat against her folds to collect the wetness for you to taste. Unexpectedly sweet. You did it a few more times, not getting enough. The voice in your head had diminished, leaving you to place your hand between those same pink folds and caress them slowly.

Edging. You were edging her, and you hadn’t even known it. Some part of you had just known exactly what to do. You just needed a little shove. Like Ellie’s hands, pushing your head down again and arching her back off of her bed to try and bring herself closer.

She let out what could only be described as a pornographic moan, a sound so guttural that your free hand had actually rode up the center of Ellie’s stomach, holding it in place as you began to unravel her from her tight knot.

It was when your fingers had dipped through her tight walls, the sensation alone making you moan against her heat before Ellie finally released her hands from you and let them fly toward her sides, flexing her fingers wide in preparation for the orgasm that was soon to come.

“Fuck, shit… jus’ right.. there.” and you felt her stomach tighten, tipping over that same edge.

Two of your fingers had slowly started pumping in and out of her, so agonizingly slow, but soon were quick enough to cause Ellie to lose her breath and draw in as much air as she could before stopping all together.

The sudden image flooded Ellie’s brain, smudging in the messy lines of your hair falling against her thigh as you devoured her whole. It was thrilling seeing you like this– in a position Ellie never could've even imagined you in– with your ass perked up, your stomach relaxing against the mattress just barely grazing it, and the small of it on full display as your shirt was still coiled up below your ibs, a little higher now, barely revealing your bra strap. But it was perfect. It was all so perfect.

Her orgasm hit her hard. Sending her flying over the edge with a loud groan, followed by the snapping of the cord in her stomach and warm liquid dripping from her as she clenched hard around your fingers.

You soaked up her cum, licking it with the tip of your tongue as you continued to help her from what you must have known was her high.

Ellie arched her back against the hand on her stomach then wrapped both hands around your forearm to ground herself. She was soaring, clenching around your gentle fingers as you fucked her with what she thought had to be the hands and mouth of someone who’d done this before.

Her mouth was agape. She couldn’t stop, letting the moans roll out of her with ease. She didn’t fight it. She couldn’t. Ellie was stupid to think that this would’ve never happened. Because if it wasn’t you, it’d be her between your legs. Which is what she so desperately craved.

“Fuck.” Ellie finally said. Her fingers were still wrapped around your arm, tight enough to leave crescent shaped marks that might even bruise.

You drew back to catch your breath, wanting to go back in for more before she had stopped you, gently tugging on your arm to pull you up closer to her. She looked at you in the low light, the glisten of your spit and her cum all over your face. Traveling as far as the tip of your nose and a single bead down the center of your neck. You were covered. And it pleased Ellie more than she’d ever admit –if it weren't for the look of lust piercing through your eyes, wide like a spooked cat–

“Where, the fuck did you learn that?” she asked you, the hold on your forearm strong, but not painful.

You licked your lips and managed to collect the sweet taste of Ellie before you spoke. “I–”

“Did you just lick your lip?” and Ellie was completely stunned. You had licked your lip. You licked your lip. Surely you were asking to be fucked.

“What?” and you threw your hands up at your sides with a laugh. You knew what you were doing. You loved getting this kind of reaction out of her. And there was a small tingling feeling in the nape of your neck that told you you had ticked her off enough to get something out of it for yourself.

“You're such’a brat.'' Ellie smirked.

In the matter of seconds, the hold on your hips was so tight that she had managed to flip you on your back with ease and the tiniest yelp to escape past your lips. Ellie’s lips connected with yours, dipping her tongue in your mouth with whatever resistance she had left as her hands tugged at your underwear before pulling them off in one fast motion.

You had gone so slowly with her that her fuse had come and gone, leaving her to hungrily take you in her hands like a fucking animal.

“Shit,” she teased, a hand cupping your dripping pussy, all for me, she thought. And that was true. It was all for her, it always was.

And then she asked, the two words that were echoing inside your head now with her voice pinning them down permanently. “For me?” and the smirk had developed fully now, all of the ink flooding to her face, a red hue visible to you even in the dark.

Her fingers found themselves hovering over your clit, rubbing the lightest circles possible with the pad of her finger just barely grazing it. This alone made your back contort forward, meeting Ellie heart to heart. Both yours and hers beating out of their chests.

The moan that echoed into Ellie’s mouth was low, almost like a whisper. But Jesus did it make her want to hear it again. Again and again and again she wanted it. She fucking needed it. She needed to hear how good she was making you feel, even if this was just the start.

Ellie held herself back with what little resistance she had left in her, planting a sloppy kiss on your lips before she drew back from you to sit on her knees. Her legs were spread wide enough that the reminisce of her unmade bed and rumpled comforter just barely grazed against her irritated clit, sending a shock through her in the form of a wince and the biting of her bottom lip. Along with a sudden jolt of her hips, adjusting herself closer to you.

Her hand shifts again, palming your cunt with a light hand, only to suddenly reel it back and slap it playfully. It wasn’t a mean smack, just enough of one to send you rolling forward and upright. Your hands now holding you up and eyeing Ellie with the slightest bit of worry spread across your face. You had never seen her act this way toward you. So dark… and vulgar. And you of course had never had her hit you. But there was something about it that you kind of… liked. It was indescribable, the feeling you got when the sting reached you. It… it woke something up, something that was always there. And there was a sudden hunger for it that only she could and would fill.

“Do that again.” you said, and the words sounded so matter-of-fact coming out of your mouth that Ellie didn’t even hesitate before there was a small cold gust of air that flooded your core when her hand drew away from you, only to come crashing down with a stifling smack that made the moan in your throat stagger out in broken breaths.

Ellie wanted the image burned inside her brain for the rest of her life. And her wish was granted when she had quickly laid her thigh over yours, wasting absolutely no time and turning herself at the perfect angle to align your dripping pussies.

Your hand is fumbling to touch Ellie, to touch any part of her really. And when you run your fingers along your leg, you meet with the edge of Ellie’s hip. You grip hard against her skin, pulling her forward until you meet flesh to flesh. The feeling alone seals your eyes shut with a flutter. And soon after Ellie’s drawing comes to life.

You with your mouth agape, and your eyes pinched shut along with your brows that had begun to pull together. She hadn’t even shifted against you, but feeling her warmth against you was already sending floods of blood to pump through your entire body.

This doesn’t last nearly long enough because Ellie lifts your leg up over one shoulder and grinds herself against you, fast. She gives you no warning, her hot heat rippling against yours like a bullet at a high speed, sending wave after wave of pleasure to shoot through you with a loud and unexpected moan.

Ellie laughed, but that didn’t stop her. No. Now, her only mission was making you feel how she’s been dying to for months; and a little extra, because after all… you really had deserved it.

She gripped onto the back of your thigh with both of her hands, opening your legs wider to make sure you felt as much of her as possible. She wanted to dive into your slippery folds, soak up every ounce of wetness that was designed just for her.

And she did just that, continuing to thrust against you until the moans were bubbling out of you, with no remorse. You were flooded with feeling, tingling from head to toe with the way Ellie felt against you. It was everything you had ever thought and so so so much more.

This did not feel the same as when you did it, your hand disappearing below the elastic of your underwear to feel how turned on you were after waking yourself up from a wet dream in the middle of the night. Your hand was sloppy as it swept back and forth your swollen clit, your other hand cupping and playing with your ice cold nipple, trying to sooth yourself any way you could.

But Ellie was persistent, her rhythm proficient as she pulled and pushed against your core, soft moans leaving her perfect bow-shaped lips.

It wasnt much later that your soft whimpers transformed into earth shattering moans, leaving you completely breathless as Ellie fucked you into the next 10 years.

Her hand grazed your bare abdomen, tugging at the fabric of your shirt to motion for you to take it off. Which you did absentmindedly, lazily pulling it up past your breasts and over your head, along with your sports bra soon after to reveal all of you to Ellie.

“Fuck, just like I pictured,” and her voice was light, clearly out of breath and raspy because of it.

She reached forward, cupping your tit with her ice cold hand. The moan had lodged itself back down your throat at the feeling, sending an immediate signal for your nipples to harden ever more than they already were.

“Ellie,” you croak. You were close, the knot in your stomach tightening with every thrust she made.

“Fuck.” her stomach was hollowing out, spilling all over you with a low bellow falling from her lips uncontrollably, gripping into your breast as she continued to grind herself against you,more rapidly now.

“Fuck, Ellie. Shit!” and you were gripping the sheets of Ellie’s bed like your own, coming so close against her that she felt it, she could feel your walls clenching around nothing but her lips.

Your orgasm washed over you completely. You let yourself ride out the high with no remorse, your leg shaking hard over Ellie’s shoulder while she slowed her pace to bring you down together.

You opened your eyes a few moments later, letting yet another moan fall from your lips while you watched Ellie’s chest heave with every shallow breath she took.

Her grip on your tit had softened but not before the shape of her nails were imprinted on the soft skin there. You hadn’t minded though. You liked knowing the next morning that you really didn’t dream it.

“Shit.” you whisper, trying to find Ellie’s eyes.

Once she notices your voice, her eyes shift toward you and she rests your leg back down against her bed gently just as she untangles herself from you and rests down next to you.

Ellie comes back down slowly, thousands of images running on the insides of her head with the speed of her heartbeat, fueling them all.

“Hey,” you say, gently rubbing small circles against her back.

Ellie doesn’t say a word. She can’t. Her head is traveling with her inside and she can’t slow it down no matter how hard she tries. But when she feels the light touch of your hand against her, she’s drawn back, back inside her room, with you. Just you.

She looks at you over her shoulder just moments before she sees your legs shake, the goosebumps prominent against your skin due to Ellie herself and because suddenly, with no clothes on in what previously was a garage, you realize just how cold it was in here.

Ellie does too, and she reaches over you to grab ahold of her comforter to pull it up and over your shivering body. It warmed you instantly, along with the feeling of Ellie laying down beside you and finally speaking. “Holy shit.”

She’s laying down on her back next to you, staring up at the ceiling as you watch, your elbow propping up your head to get a better view of her profile.

She's silent for a beat, not knowing if she should say what she’s dying to. She really likes you. Ellie wants you, more than a friend, more than anything. And she wants you to know, and tell her the same thing. But what if you didn’t–

“I really like you.” she says. Her eyes go wide. She’s afraid to move, praying that maybe you had already fallen asleep and hadn’t heard her.

But you were awake. You were stunned back into the reality of Ellie telling you the same thing you were thinking and had been for quite some time.

You blush. “I really like you too.”

The small smile on your face grew when Ellie's head turned along with her body to face you head on. Her breath had caught in her throat, a shaky and shallow version taking its place as she reached with curled fingers to place a stand of hair behind your ear

She needed to know. “Was it okay?” and she met your eyes, the uncertainty in them was cute to you. You found it so sweet that she was worried.

“No.” you said, breathing in slowly. You were fucking with her, prodding for a raction.

“No?” and she reeled her hand away from your face. She was kicking herself– of course it wasn’t okay. She had no clue what she was doing. She shouldn’t have kissed you, in the greenhouse, tonight… she–

“I’m fucking with you.” and you can’t help but giggle into your arm. “It was more than okay. Better than anything.”

“Jerk.” she scrunched her nose and pulled the covered tight over your shoulder, cocooning you in.

You let out a laugh then, the kind that had the pull of Ellie’s lips forming into a sly grin before she took a playful jab at you. “I’m surprised, y'know… about the.. Y’know. You have the mouth of like ah, what's the thing? Venus fly trap! Yeah…”

And you laugh in Ellie’s face then, loud enough to make her crack a full smile. God, her second favorite sound. “What?” and the sound had ripped something heavy off of Ellie’s chest. A slick sludge that was weighing down her ribs. It was stripped clean with the sound of your giggles alone.

“I– Like the…” and she pinched her fingers to demonstrate. Dropping her hand against your covered waist when she had failed to show you what she meant. “What I'm trying to say is… I had a good time. I just wanted to say that.”

Your laugh subsides then. Relishing in the overwhelming truth.

“I did too.” you smile at her. You couldn’t help it.

“Good.”

Ellie hesitates a moment, her hand laying atop of your side softly before she reels back and pulls herself underneath the covers with you.

Once she’s settled beside you, you take it upon yourself to inch closer to her, resting your head on her chest that was still somehow beating 100 miles an hour.

“I’m kind of tired. And pretty drunk.”

Ellie chuckles against you softly before drawing in a deep breath. “Same.”

And just as your eyes begin to flutter closed, you murmur against her. “Hey, now you can draw me like… all the time. Now you know what I look like naked and stuff..”

And just then, the thought alone would keep her up most of the night. You had no idea what you’d just done to her.

She didn’t care. For now, this was enough.

Soon though, she would get you to pose for her. For real this time.

Ellie would have you all to herself, and the feeling would send her into a soft sleep.

taglist: @hazelnutsforellie @coeurify @bunification @0atm1lf @aklxojjk @trouble-mans @soleilmoons

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