#pebbles' design is like. yeah okay
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I drew this in the middle of night
#sig isn't a child he is a twink! /ref#i think my design for sig's outfit is the best ever i take zero criticism#pebbles' design is like. yeah okay#art#my art#rain world#five pebbles#no significant harassment#is there even a ship name for these two?? i have no idea#may i propose: strawberries#why? pebbles is pink. strawberry. sig is green. strawberry leaf.#i am in fact a genius btw /j#from kile#i need to start doing more art this was pretty fun tbh#need to draw the divorce polycule at some point
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decided to do the silly chart, further explination of each under the cut
Fav Character: Pebbles is my fav guy and I find him very relatable in certain ways
Liked by everyone but me: I do like arti, but not as much as the rest of the fandom. Arti is just less of a focus to me but I don't hate arti
Didn't like at first: Yeah I used to think Spearmaster was a bit strange but they grew on me a lot and became my sona scug lol
Would like to know more: Please more sig lore in both canon andmy au (I am actually fine if they keep it a mystery but if I had to have a character to learn more about it is Sig)
Least Fav: As I said earlier, I don't hate arti, they are just less of a fav compared to everyone else
Like design, dislike character: Saint is made to be unlikeable in my au and only gourm tolerates saint
dislike design, like character: I have been thinking of changing some things on my hunter, just minor things. so I guess they go here
Simillar personality: Guys I couldn't draw all of them, I project my personallity onto every single one of them
Fav ship: guys guess what ship PookaPufferfish likes
Least Fav ship: yeah losing a friend who ships this hurt a lot, guys please don't go and attack bathbomb shippers, just know that I get extremely triggered even seeing the 2 together even in a non shipping way. it just still hurts right now
Would befriend irl: I just think they would be really nice and supportive
Would never befriend irl: Pebbles would not let me, and I do not fight. I would probably go "oh, he does not want to be approached? okay!"
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a new (temporary) life
genre: fluff
pairing: sana x fem!reader (ft. empress twice)
setting: ancient korea
content warnings: mentions of captivity
you were so amazed by the culture and sights of south korea.
after a few weeks of staying here, in hiding from mina, you’ve found yourself feeling more free.
even getting to walk outside without feeling like you have to be cautious of how you look, what you have to say, just nothing mattered.
you felt so carefree.
you were linked arms with empress nayeon and chaeyoung who you roamed the streets of korea with. seeing different designs of hanbok, different foods, including the very unfamiliar hangul that you had to adjust to.
nayeon and dahyun helped you understand each letter, and they will say your korean has improved within just the little amount of time you’ve been in this country, along with momo who is following behind.
“she seems to be adjusting to the life here, sana.” jihyo smiles looking at the older girl.
“she is. i’m happy she is…” she sighs as she stares ahead with a frown watching you.
jihyo looks at sana with furrowed eyebrows, “is something wrong?”
sana takes a deep breath in before speaking, “i wish her life hadn’t come to this, jihyo. in hiding like this? if i could face mina right now…she’d regret it.”
she kicks a few pebbles on the ground in frustration.
“well, at least she’s out of harms way, ya know? she is okay now. and mina cannot reach her-”
“no,” sana cuts her off, “you don’t understand. i’m lucky y/n has even gained her own consciousness back. it was so hard.”
“sana? what do you mean?” jihyo asks as the empress turns to look at her, and they both stop walking.
“that bitch had put y/n into a dungeon cell. that dungeon is deep into the grounds of her palace. she made y/n believe she did that because she cares about her. you don’t do that to someone who you love.” sana angrily says while jihyo only listens.
“i hadn’t seen y/n for seven months. the first time i saw her i-i…” a lump in sana’s throat appears after having her brain create that same you she saw that awful day.
“she would not speak. she would not even look me in the eye. all she did was respond to mina. the look in her eyes; she was scared all the time. she was just…gone. it took me nearly two months for her to get back to normal, and even then she was so paranoid that mina would do something to her, worse than keeping her away from civilization.”
jihyo carefully used her thumbs to wipe away the tears off sana’s face that flowed rapidly.
“hey, it’s okay. y/n is here with you. she is okay. i understand being so afraid, but you have got her with you. she is no longer near mina. she’s safe.” the younger empress reminds her friend as she wipes her tears.
sana nods shakily, feeling her emotions overtaking in such an instant.
she loves you so deeply, so much so she would die for you.
the thought of mina somehow getting back to you is a nightmare she never wants to face or live.
she vowed to herself she would keep you safe.
“sana!” nayeon’s voice pulled sana from her thoughts and she quickly but gently dabbed her tears away, “come!”
jihyo and sana both make their way over to nayeon who was smiling widely and excitedly as she lead them both into a tent, specifically for traditional hanboks.
what sana was met with made her go in awe. totally speechless.
“ooh! you look so beautiful, young one. you are sure to be a lovely bride.” the owner says with a chuckle as she re-adjusted the hanbok you wore.
you turn around meeting sana’s eyes with a small smile.
“so? what do you think?” dahyun asks with a giggle.
sana couldn’t even form words, even if she wanted to. but all she could do was stare at you in this moment.
seeing you in traditional wedding hanbok, along with your beautiful facial features that are present with your smile, including the little giggle you let out as compliments kept getting thrown at you.
yeah, i am certain i will marry this girl, sana thought.
—
make into a series or nah?
#darlinggtwice#sana x reader#sana x fem reader#concubine!reader#ancient korea#ancient japan#twice imagines#im nayeon#park jihyo#empress!sana#empress!jihyo#empress!nayeon#empress!dahyun
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oops. rain world brainworms
designs completely not final, just getting some ideas down. no idea how to design doc so he ain’t here.
some half-baked notes:
>hacker was either created by an iterator (a la spearmaster) or at least modified by one
>he can override overseers and other such computer-ish things? maybe?
>you can’t see it here but hacker’s tail is a lot longer than average
>demolitionist and mercenary probably have negative scav reputation
>dunno how to make demolitionist not just artificer 2.0 on the explosives side
>his hook probably works like king vultures’ harpoons though. except it’s thrown like a normal spear rather than launched like the harpoons
>ok yeah mercenary’s entire schtick is that any thrown item does the same damage as a spear
>also they can pick up stuff from enemies (metal from miros birds, king vulture spears, lizard spines, etc)
>all of them fall during the same point in the timeline (obviously)
>honestly unsure if they’re frolicking around moon and pebbles or if they’re up in some other iterator’s business.
>dissenter (not pictured because i don’t know how to design him) definitely screws around with karma somehow
>(something something dealing with deaths/mitigating the consequences. karma lore is kinda confusing to understand, okay)
>…unsure if doc should be called the dissenter or the damned, because both work in this case
#actual art#madness combat#madcom#rain world#hank j wimbleton#mc sanford#mc deimos#slugcat#i suck at names and this is no exception.#also hank has like no titles i can use as a slugcat name so aaaauughhhh
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Sweetapple Slice 7
Alexander Sweetapple series
No one asked a question for this one, I just needed a beach and to visualise something other than suburbia. Unfortunately, the boys are interested in other things and we don't get much scenery.
Just a short one this time, not read through, just thrown up here.
This one happens during that time after 'Along the Way' when Alex first visits the Island.
And if you are wondering why this is Slice 7 and yesterday was Slice 5, Slice 6 is on its way via a different author :D I have no doubt it will appear soon :D
I hope you enjoy this little scene.
-o-o-o-
“So, what’s it like living on your own private island?”
Virgil snorted, and, turning, skipped a pebble off the surface of the Pacific Ocean. It bounced across the smooth glass of the caldera a full six times before disappearing into the turquoise depths.
“As with everything, it has its pros and cons.” Virgil raised his arms, gesturing to it all. “We live in a wildlife documentary with sunsets to die for.” A smirk. “But there is no takeout. Everything on the Island is maintained by us - the housework, the lawn, the electricity, even the sewage.” Virgil’s nose wrinkled up at that last. “A lot of its automated, thank goodness, but where there is automation-“
“There is maintenance.”
“Yeah, that. Self-sufficiency has its downsides.” Virgil looked out at the caldera again. “But then we have all this, all to ourselves. We don’t have to worry about the paparazzi out here, we’re safe on our beautiful island home.” He shrugged. “As I said, pros and cons.”
Alex scanned his eyes around the beach. “You can’t get here without a plane either. I apologise ahead for the lack of surprise visits on birthdays and anniversaries.”
Virgil smiled at him. “We can work something out.”
“Oh?”
But Virgil only kept that smile on his face and said nothing further on the topic.
Okay, play it that way, Mr Mysterious Thunderbird.
And it hit him again. He was on the hidden island of the Thunderbirds.
Virgil chuckled. “You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?” Blushing at least.
“Fanboying fit to bust something.”
“Hey!”
But Virgil had moved in closer, one hand sliding up the side of Alex’s neck and into his hair. It was very distracting. “From one fanboy to another, you are really adorable when you do that.” And Virgil was pulling him down into a soft kiss.
Mmmm.
But before his brain could white out into the pleasure that were this gorgeous man’s lips…
“Wait. You’re a fanboy? Of what?”
Virgil chuckled, soft breath teasing Alex’s neck as dropped his forehead to Alex’s shoulder.
Alex drew him into a hug, hands sliding over well-defined muscle through the light shirt Virgil was wearing. As always, Alex was struck by exactly how incredible Virgil Tracy actually was, what those muscles did on a daily basis, and how unbelievably lucky Alex was to be holding him.
“Have you heard of Kip Harris?” It was said into his collarbone, warm breath teasing the chest hair under his borrowed shirt.
Kip Harris…
“Is he the guy who designed that gas fire suppression regime you used in the Siberian gas fields, end of last year?”
Virgil’s head shot up. “How do you know about that?”
Alex arched an eyebrow. “Fanboy? I know quite a bit about your missions. They are fascinating. The equipment you use, the techniques-“
But Virgil was laughing into his shirt.
“What?”
Those dark eyes looked up at him again, filled with mirth. “Yet you didn’t recognise me when we first met.”
Alex opened his mouth but nothing came out.
Which prompted Virgil to start giggling even more.
“Hey, I’m an engineer. Sometimes I get distracted by cool gadgets.”
The giggles became full-on laughter.
“Well, if you’re going to be like that.” Alex pulled back a little, mock offended.
Virgil grabbed at him. “Hey, no, come here.” The laughter had turned into a struggling fond smile. “I can introduce myself, if you like.” The smile almost broke into a laugh, but the man managed to hold it back. “Hi, I’m Virgil Tracy, the man behind the cool gadgets. Oh, and the coffee. Apparently, I can make cool coffee, too.”
The smile was strained beyond belief and Alex had no choice but to kiss it into submission.
“It’s hot coffee.” Mumbled against soft lips. “Wonderfully warm and hot coffee.”
Virgil didn’t answer, instead using all his many skills to melt Alex under his touch. His big hands roamed up Alex’s back and…
Yeah, he could stop thinking now.
-o-o-o-
#thunderbirds are go#thunderbirds#thunderbirds fanfiction#virgil tracy#alexander sweetapple#nuttyfic#romance#virgil tracy/alexander sweetapple
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okay can i just like yell for a second about iterator color inconsistency cause on one hand it’s really funny to me but on the other hand it drives me NUTS
because like!! okay. pre-downpour we just had Moon (yellow) and Pebbles (cyan) which was. like ???? because why does the BLUE iterator with red spots have the YELLOW overseers and pearls, while the pink iterator with YELLOW spots have tHE BLUE(adjacent) OVERSEERS AND PEARLS?? hello?? which architect designed these two i just want to talk
i wonder if the ancients ever got confused between the two overseer colors. like the idea of some ancient child waving to one of the wiggys like “hi moon!! hope you’re doing well!!!” and pebbles is just sitting there with the most incensed look on his face. do you realize how funny this is especially in terms of like the sibling rivalry energy. like being mistaken for your sibling is certainly. the experience.
anyways then we got downpour with its more fandom inspired takes and let me just say i’m very happy with the fact that NSH has the greens and Suns has the reds, which!! makes!! sense!! it matches and satisfies my desire for character designs to match the character and i just. hgfjjgrgr good. Suns is yellow and RED and has RED overseers and pearls. NSH is GREEN and purple and has GREEN overseers and pearls. It Just Makes Sense thank you downpour for making Sense
(to be fair NSH is implied to be green even in base game according to the color of hunter's pearl, the green neuron, green overseer, etc.)
but now im caught with the dilemma of designing Chasing Wind and Unparalleled Innocence because i KNOW that CW has the purple overseer (evidenced by purple text during spearmaster broadcasts) and i think it's highly likely that UI has the white one because they're close by and i'm like. do i make them match the iterator designs or no because its funny.
i think i will just because a lot of people make CW have the white overseer and UI have the purple overseer which i'm like 90% sure isn't the case but either way those designs slap and im not gonna be like. lore police LMAO. but yeah i think whenever i get to itty designs i'm gonna go with the downpour strategy of actual color matching
conclusion: chasing wind is a grape and unparalleled innocence is a snowball thank you for coming to my ted talk
#the majority of this ramble started because of the fact that i realized CW has the purple overseers#cause if the colored text in iterator chats is anything to go by then CW is confirmed to be associated with purple#therefore the white one has to be someone else (UI)#i also find it funny that there's a higher chance of seeing one of UI's overseers than CW's which means to me that UI is nosier and CW lurk#rain world#rain world iterator#rain world discussion#text#iterator color theory#long post
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asdjf;laskdfj, i was asking of YOUR aus, like having different versions of Suns, or different versions of Saints, or so on or so forth, what your favorites were, like "i like my [insert au] Suns best"
OH SOBS OKAY SORRY JFJDJDN
I dont have that much AUs unless you count my crossovers jfjdjdnd. I genuinely make aus most of the time because theres a design idea i have that cannot fit in my main Travel Puppet AU
Such as System Failure, i love drawing evil pebbles but colouring the tendrils will kill me everytime jfndnd. But yeah thats the only other AU i have outside my main one. I really like my main one, theyre silly :)
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I’ve made a realization while doing research for my fic idea: Spearmaster is the smallest and most thin slugcat.
So- Spearmaster is a genetically modified scug, they are built to stab creatures and suck the nutrients out of their innards. However, this is not natural, so everything else about them doesn’t quite conform to this method of feeding.
Look at these two official art pieces (sorry for the low quality)
Iterators are roughly the same size, I believe Pebbles is a bit smaller than Moon, maybe it’s a newer generation thing. But even still Suns and Moon look to be close in generation because their eyes are black unlike the newer generation with the white eyes like Pebbles has, so we should be okay to measure using their height.
You can see that normal slugcats, like Rivulet, are actually quite big, they are almost as tall as iterators in fact. They are only about a head or two shorter I’d say. But look out how big Rivulet is beside Moon compared to how small Spearmaster is beside Suns.
Spearmaster is like half the size of Rivulet!
And see here, look at everyone’s waist compared to Spearmaster’s, the others (aside from Gourmand) stay a roughly rectangular shape all the way down to their tails, but Spearmaster’s dips in half way down.
And in Spearmaster’s arena art (which I cannot find for whatever reason) they don’t fill in nearly as much of the screen, their ears are a bit shorter too. Also, it’s only by pixels, but their model is also thinner and has the ever so slightly shorter ears.
Hunter is the same I believe. Now this is in the void and it is hard to tell Hunter’s size due to them being curled, but they also appear quite a bit smaller than No Significant Harassment. However, this isn’t as plausible, as Hunter has normal sized arena art and a normal sprite size. Maybe it isn’t specifically genetic modification that causes this, though Hunter does have a largely protein based diet, while Spearmaster, again, sucks liquified flesh/organs/blood through a damn straw.
And what spurred this realization? Well, you know how you get a longer, slower jump when you hold a squidcada? Yeah, Spearmaster can just straight up fly with one, they are just that light.
In conclusion, malnourishment? Or something similar? Idk
So, uh, yeah, they little. Thank you for coming to my useless Ted talk, maybe this’ll help artists who want to stay faithful to the in-game designs idk
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I suddenly feel like I need to record my initial reaction to RvB Restoration. We'll see how this goes
So that isn't Maine in the trailer, it's just a dude in his armor. I guess it makes sense since Tucker just ditched the armor after Epsilon died, anyone could have picked it up. I shouldn't assume someone in a Locus helmet must automatically be Locus.
Holy shit, did Grif start raising chickens like Geoff did in that long minecraft series?
Lol, Caboose could speak Spanish the whole time but he never spent time with Lopez so we never knew.
Caboose is literally R2D2.
WASH HAS A PICTURE OF A CAT IN HIS ROOM.
Okay, I like the direction so far. Doing some backtracking into some loose ends from previous seasons.
I guess the AI survived the EMP inside Maine's armor? I wonder if they got Elijah Wood again.
Okay, so Epsilon isn't alive, it's a smart recording that Church made before he fell apart. A little cheap... they kept killing him only to find that they wanted to bring him back one more time.
Uh... do I have voice blindness now, along with face blindness? That guy in the armor did not sound like Tucker. Unless he borrowed Tex's voice modulator. Or Epsilon is wrong and its not Tucker, it's some other fucker who ended up in the Meta's suit.
But... those were just memories of the AI, not the original ones. Epsilon was one slice of the whole Alpha, he couldn't have split himself further to recreate the AIs like they were before. They would have been a slice of a slice, and much smaller than the original ones. I can't imagine them having enough power to do the same amount of damage Maine took as the Meta. It's like the difference between being hit in the head with 6 rocks, and being hit with one rock split into 6 pebbles.
Hey wait, where's Donut?
Wow, they really shoehorned Felix in there. He never put on the armor as far as we know, and if Charon somehow obtained his intelligence, then they must have Locus' too.
But... they can't recreate the Alpha??? The Alpha was destroyed by the EMP along with the other original AIs? If they rejoin, they just recreate Epsilon. They went back to address old plot lines and erased a huge section of the story.
Interesting design choice, giving the Meta's armor Felix's color scheme. And I just realized that the Meta's helmet is the opposite of Locus', the entire thing is a visor while the Locus helmet doesn't have one at all.
Is Wash hallucinating Doc? That would be a first, instead of Doc being there and no one noticing, he's not there and Wash thinks he is.
Oh yeah, didn't Donut leave or something after season 17? To go soul searching? Maybe he's in Paris.
For 2 seconds I thought Sheila called Locus. My heart skipped a beat and I got so excited. Nope, season 19 breaking my heart- HOLY SHIT THATS 479ER. IT TOOK ME A SECOND BECAUSE I HAVENT THOUGHT ABOUT HER IN YEARS (beyond me selling merch with her face on it). I take it back, she might not be Locus, but she's still cool as fuck.
I guess they left Lopez behind to look after the base?
... if the Meta is still here... then what is Tucker/Meta wearing- oh, he's just hiding in there.
'Its okay Tucker, I forgive you' *weeps hysterically*
Sarge isn't dead... is he? They can't kill off the Red team leader, right? There's no dirt to throw over him. His armor is just going to do that locking thing like with Donut when Wash shot him?
Sarge?
Sarge..?
SAAAAAARGE!
They really killed him. They killed Sarge. Season 1 killed the blue team leader, the final season killed the red team leader.
They actually bothered to give him a headstone? The first time they thought he died they just threw some dirt on him and walked away.
Grif is literally asking Simmons to run away with him.
Press F to pay respects.
THERE WAS A SPARE THE ENTIRE TIME???? THERE WAS A WHOLE PLOT WHERE BLUE TEAM NEGOTIATED WITH RED TEAM TO BUILD NEW BODIES FOR CHURCH AND TEX.
So they killed Sarge and now they're resurrecting Church. I guess there can only be one team leader at a time between the Reds and Blues.
Doc couldn't save a life to save his life- Did Wash just jump off a cliff?
Oh hey, did Meta/Tucker just damage Simmon's cyborg arm? This is the first time they've ever shown him having one.
I know a lot of people were hoping Grif and Simmons on top of each other... but I don't think like this...
... what launched Caboose like that?
Oh wow, they brought back Tex AGAIN? Well, she was the best fighter in Project Freelancer, and doesn't have an organic body like Tucker.
Maybe they will use this opportunity to fix her story?
Oooooh, there's Carolina! I forgot about her.
Wait, is she and Tex going to team up to take down Meta/Tucker? FUCK YEAH BEST TEAM UP EVER.
You know, I had a hard time believing Tucker could be this good, but the AIs must be piloting the suit. Charon must have collected data on Felix's fighting skills and the AI downloaded it. Combine that with the enhancements and you have a pretty good killer.
ARE THEY GOING TO EXPLAIN HOW TUCKER GOT INTO THE ARMOR???
Oh, I guess Doc is real.
Okay, they are GONE. NO MORE RESURRECTIONS, NO MORE RETCONS.
HOLY SHIT WAIT DOC DIDNT SURVIVE CHORUS?????
IS HE FOR REAL DEAD???
Oh, hi North! And Wyoming! Hey, it's the whole gang!
I'm not crying, YOURE CRYING!
I don't believe Doc is dead, he's probably hidden out somewhere on Chorus tending to a garden with Donut.
Oh, this must be someone from the season I didnt watch.
I guess they didnt need Donut because he already had a good sendoff in season 17... oh wait didnt Doc show up post Chorus? He fought Donut in season 16 for that hammer thing.
Ah, they didnt get Elijah Wood back, they had Miles do Sigma. But they had Burnie's youngest do Theta, like how his older brother did it before! That's cool.
My final thoughts on season 19?
0/10, there was no Locus. Unwatchable.
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Bro fucking B E T
Idk if I already sent one in but “how long have you had this” with Kirishima and/or Bakugou? I can’t remember if you do poly shit but if not then just kiri is 100% okay.
Girl I don’t care how many you send in I’m always ALWAYS happy to oblige my darling Mae 🥰
Pairing: KiriBaku x fem!reader (aged up of course)
Warnings: just domestic af but a little suggestive!
As always no minors mkay? Mkay!
Okay so the three of you FINALLY moved in together
And since hero work and your profession have kept you busy you haven’t been able to fully unpack
But one Sunday, a full two weeks after you’ve moved, the three of you have the time
All three of you are comfortable with your own stuff
What’s yours is theirs and vice versa
Bakugou is in charge of organizing the kitchen
Kirishima is doing your shared bedroom
And you’re doing the living area, interior design is your ✨passion✨
You’ve got your music blaring through Bluetooth speakers as you unpack and organize different photos, artwork, and designer pillows
When Kirishima comes through the kitchen to bakugou
“What is it Shitty Hair?”
“I found this in one of her boxes”
Both men look at the object then up at you, furrowing your brows at whether you want this particular picture right by the tv or not
Two pairs of red eyes look to each other and smirk
You feel a pair of arms hug you from behind
It startles you and you jump a bit but relax when Kiri kisses your neck
“You’ve been hiding stuff from us pebble.”
????
“I don’t think so...”
Bakugou appears before you holding something
Words are a thing of the past when you see that he’s holding your special box
Special box of blindfolds, handcuffs, riding crops, latex fits, clamps, you get the idea
“Princess, if you wanted us to do these things to you, ya should’ve said something.”
“Are the other toys not good enough baby girl?”
You stutter that you had completely forgotten about that
“I didn’t think you two would be into that”
You feel Kirishima press into you and see Bakugou’s irises darken as they look at you like you’re their prey
“...I will take that as an ‘I was wrong’”
“Oh fuck yeah you were, can’t wait to slap this latex and leather on you, sweetcheeks.”
“Your daddy shark can’t wait to mess with you later.”
And then they dropped the box at your feet
And went back to unpacking
Now you stand completely flustered and incredibly turned on
How the hell are you supposed to clean and unpack when these thoughts are in your head
Oh, after tonight new rules and boundaries will be set and crossed
#kiribaku x reader#kiribaku headcanons#kirishima eijirou x y/n#kirishima eijiro x reader#bakugou katuski x reader#bakugou x reader#my writing#i did the thing#minors dni#headcanons and drabbles
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Indigo--Calum Hood [one]
A/N: I can’t believe it’s finally arrived! Thank you all for being so patient while it took me literally two months to write this fic. It’s my first ever slow burn and the longest fic to date (word wise). This means so much to me and I really put my heart and soul into this. This is also written in Calum’s perspective!
Word count: 12.2k (36k total)
Warnings: themes of emotional infidelity but really all internal with no actions,�� confusing emotions and thoughts, nudity, slight mention of body image issues, casual drinking, jealousy, sexual situations
Masterlist
Indigo playlist--really just songs that helped inspire this piece so give it a listen if you’d like!
Feedback is always welcome and I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!
This is split in three parts because Tumblr's new post limit I can't fit it all in one post. So I'll be posting them all at once!
Enjoy!
***
Calum agreed to help out Sarah and Andy with their latest project. He wasn’t quite sure what it was exactly but anything they create is phenomenal and he’s ecstatic to be a part of it. He’d just texted Bianca, his girlfriend, that he’ll be gone for a better part of the afternoon when he arrives at Sarah and Andy’s place. Pebbles greets him at the door, her whole body wiggling with excitement by his presence.
“There’s our man!” Sarah chirps from the table, her camera and other gadgets placed on the table.
“We aren’t shooting here?” Calum asks bending down to pet Pebbles.
“No, there’s this meadow that gets the sun’s rays perfectly at this time,” Andy informs walking in with his own camera bag. “We’re meeting someone else there, too so we should get going.”
“Someone else?”
☆°•.¸☆¸.•°☆
The sun is beating down on Calum’s back as he walks through the tall grass behind Sarah and Andy. They’re a good distance away from the road and he hopes they won’t go too much further and land in the fate of a 90’s horror film. Andy and Sarah are talking quietly with each other and Calum checks his phone, no new messages from Bianca.
“All right, we’ll start setting up and you just sit and relax until she gets here,” Andy directs to Calum when they stop at a fallen tree that has moss growing on it and its roots extending to the sky.
“Who is ‘she’?” Calum asks, taking a seat on the tree. He wipes at the back of his neck, it’s sticky with sweat. His lips are starting to get chapped and he wishes he brought his water bottle.
Andy and Sarah exchange a look.
“She’d prefer to be anonymous so I can’t tell you,” She responds ominously and unzips her camera bag.
“Anonymous?” Calum is baffled. Andy and Sarah make a point to avoid the topic as they continue to gather their equipment.
In about ten minutes there was another figure walking through the grass and Calum peered at her trying to get a good look. Her hair was blowing in the slight breeze and bangs framed her face. Calum was intrigued when she was first mentioned.
Watching her walk towards them made him think of those snapshots in your life that sticks with you. Something inside of him told him this would be one of those moments.
She was short, which was the first thing he noticed when she stopped in front of him.
“Hey guys, sorry I’m late. Traffic, y’know,” she smiles at Andy and Sarah.
He notices there’s a hint of purple in her hair.
She’s short and has purple hair.
“No problem, sweetie. We were just getting things ready. This is Calum,” Sarah nods towards him and the mystery girl turns in his direction too.
“Hi Calum, thanks for helping,” she smiles.
“No problem, Anonymous,” he grins standing from his tree and holds out his hand.
“Oh, right,” she snickers, stepping forward to take his hand. “You can call me Indie.”
She’s short, has purple hair, and likes to be called Indie.
“Nice to meet you Indie.”
☆°•.¸☆¸.•°☆
Andy and Sarah first have Calum and Indie sit next to each other on the tree while they take some sample shots. This way Calum and Indie can get to know each other a little better. Calum notices the ink on her wrists, arms, and a nose piercing. She asked about his music and what inspires him. He asked what she does and she very offhandedly said with a shrug,
“Social media stuff.”
And that was the end of that. She didn’t add anything more and Calum wasn’t sure if he should ask for her to clarify but her statement had a tone of finality to it.
She definitely intrigues Calum.
“Okay, Indie, can you swing your leg over the tree like you’re riding a horse and lean on Calum’s shoulder?” Sarah asks.
“Yeah.”
Indie does as she’s directed then rests her arm on Calum’s shoulder, her head dropping on top of her arm.
“Both of you look at me...good, now Cal, look down at Indie...good, good. Okay, now I want you to put your leg over his...close your eyes for me, babe. That’s it! Beautiful.”
They continue with different poses on the tree and each touch Indie gives to Calum makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up. His body becomes attuned to her touch until Sarah tells Indie to undo her shirt and lay her head on Calum’s lap.
Calum swallows thickly and watches Indie undo the buttons. He looks away quickly wanting to give her privacy and instead looks towards the direction of the road hoping they’re far enough away from peering eyes.
“Now lie across his lap and let the shirt fall over his legs. Yup, Cal... Calum!”
“Huh?” Cal whips his head forward and feels the weight of Indie’s head on his knees. He’s forcing himself to not look down but his body is aware of her weight on him.
He knows this is all a form of art, but he just met the girl and he was unaware this is how the shoot was going to go. He’s posed shirtless for Andy and Sarah multiple times but never with someone else. And never with a girl with purple hair, a gentle voice, and a pen name.
“Lay your arm over her chest.”
“What? Is that okay?” he looks down to Indie’s eyes, they’re a striking deep blue. Like the deepest part of the ocean and he gets a little lost in them. “Is that okay that I do that?” he asks her this time.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” she nods with a smile. “Thank you for asking.”
Calum carefully places his arm across Indie’s exposed chest; he notices how warm her skin already is from the sun but also feels the small poke of her nipples on the softest part of his arm.
“Cover her nipples a bit, Cal, she’s going to post these on her Instagram and you know their dumbass guidelines about breasts,” Sarah rolls her eyes adjusting her camera.
Calum adjusts his arm which means he has to look where her nipples are. He knows the human body is art in its natural form, and he admires the female body so why is he nervous? Is it because they literally just met and her top is open?
He curses himself. It’s not like they’re making an adult film or anything, this is an artistic moment. Shit, why did he think of an adult film because now a million different scenarios flash in his mind. While he places his arm across her chest, he sees some more ink below her breasts but he can’t quite make out the design.
“Indie, put your hands on his arm, spread your fingers…”
Calum hears the rapid shutter speed of her camera as she captures the intimate moment between strangers. Calum wonders why he was chosen to do this. Obviously, Michael wasn’t at the top of the list because he and Crystal are married, and Luke and Sierra just announced their engagement. KayKay is no novice in front of the camera, but maybe they wanted a girl and guy? Usually, Ashton is up for anything involving the human body.
“Cal, you have your thinking face on, man. Relax,” Andy says.
“Don’t be nervous,” Indie whispers gazing up at him.
Those damn blue eyes again. The purple in her hair really makes them pop and he notices a small freckle at the corner of her eye.
“You’re not?” his voice is hushed so Andy and Sarah don’t hear.
“Of course, I am, this is way out of my comfort zone. But this is art, and I want to explore it,” she shrugs.
It eased him that she was nervous as well. He took a deep breath and fixed her bangs in her face.
“That’s good, that’s really good, act natural,” Sarah advises.
“I like the purple,” he compliments, “it really comes out in the sun and makes your eyes stand out.”
“Thank you. I can’t really see your face because of the sun,” she squints up at him and giggles. Calum smiles at the sound.
The session continues and eventually Calum removes his shirt as well which he’s thankful for because he was starting to sweat. He told himself it was because the sun is at its hottest spot in the sky, not because of some cute girl with purple hair and tattoos with her shirt open.
He leans forward on his knees with Indie standing behind him and the tree, her chest pressed to his back and her hands locked under his neck. He wonders if she can hear how loud his heart is beating.
Another pose has him sitting in the grass with her legs hanging over his shoulders. Calum tickles her toes and she squeals out in laughter and Calum knows those will be great shots.
“Hey! Tickling is forbidden!” she laughs. “I will kick you and it will be your fault.”
“You won’t kick me,” he shakes his head but stops tickling her then notices another tattoo on the outside of her ankle. He looks to his right and sees a small red train on the inside of that ankle. “You have a lot of tattoos. What does this one mean?”
His finger traces the red outline of the train and the small speckle of stars shooting from the chimney.
“I loved Thomas the train engine.”
Calum looks up at her not believing her for a second. From this angle he forgets what his smart-ass remark was going to be because her naked midriff distracted him greatly. The ends of her hair tickled over her nipples, her bangs framing her face perfectly.
She gives him a radiant smile that he can’t deny by returning one of his own.
“All right, that’s it for this spot. Ready to head out Indie?” Sarah asks, pulling them from their small moment of connection.
“Yeah, I’m starved,” Indie buttons up her top.
“Want to come, Cal? We’re getting pizza at Marco’s,” Andy says.
“Uh, let me check my phone quickly, hang on,” he pulls out his phone then slips his shirt back on over his head. One notification from Bianca and she just gave his text to her a thumbs up. “Yeah, pizza sounds great.”
He walks next to Indie back to their cars.
☆°•.¸☆¸.•°☆
“How would you guys feel about doing a night shoot back at our place? The city lights in the skyline would be perfect,” Sarah says when she finishes off the last piece of pizza.
“I’m down for that. Can it be partially nude?” Indie asks, sucking up the last of her root beer from the vintage red cup.
“Absolutely,” Sarah nods.
“What do you say, Calum?” Indie looks up to Calum and he feels like she’s challenging him.
“I’m in,” he nods. He’s always up for a challenge.
The night shoot is out on Sarah and Andy’s balcony. Calum watches Sarah and Indie first from the doorway. Indie has her top open again leaning against the railing. She stretches her arms up above her head, extending her torso and Calum can get a better glimpse of that tattoo below her breasts.
It looks like celestial with moons and stars. As the photos progress, she slips it all the way off and leans over the railing. She does a profile view then reaches her hand out to Sarah’s camera for a close up of her fingers. The two women are giggling and Calum won’t deny how natural and confident Indie is in front of the camera even though she admitted to being nervous to him earlier.
Was she telling him the truth or was she just doing that to keep up this anonymous persona?
“Sarah has a way of making people feel comfortable in front of the camera. It’s her loving nature,” Andy explains as if reading Calum’s mind. “This is all Indie’s idea by the way, the shoot. She wants to do a body positivity session.”
“That’s…” Calum watches with wide eyes as Indie drops her shorts and panties then he sees her cute little bare ass. “Nice.” He clears his throat since she’s completely bare. Andy chuckles and nudges him in the ribs.
Calum is suddenly in the need of a cigarette; his fingers begin to twitch.
He watches her as she and Sarah continue to interact. Indie keeps her backside facing Sarah and Calum spots yet another tattoo on the back of her shoulder. Why’d she choose him to be a part of it? Or was it Andy and Sarah who chose him?
Calum opens his mouth to ask when Sarah calls him over.
“Get your ass out here, Hood, it’s your turn. Sit in the chair,” Sarah commands, pulling up said chair right in front of Indie.
Calum keeps his gaze on Indie’s face when he sits in the chair in front of her, his head seems a bit clearer now without her naked body in front of him.
“Shirt off?” he jokes, trying to ease his own tension.
“Please,” Sarah grins and he peels it off again. Of course, she’d say yes. “Baby, can you get the lights for me?”
The outside lights shut off by Andy and replaced by color changing string lights hanging in the rafters. Calum stares up above as they transition from green to yellow to orange and finally to some sort of purple/blue hybrid. Indie’s face comes into view over his shoulder, her fingers dance on his shoulders, her eyes are shining, and her hair is more purple with the added hue.
“Magical,” Sarah comments.
Indie smiles at him and he couldn’t agree more with Sarah’s statement and a few notes of a soft melody sprout in his head.
☆°•.¸☆¸.•°☆
Calum stayed up all night going through Indie’s Instagram. He thought it would show her real name and he’ll deny to his dying breath that he did NOT spend an hour trying to find her profile. Turns out, her social media persona is displayed as Indie too and he wonders why.
Her posts are all about body positivity which include photos of her body that look professionally done in his opinion. Each pose is perfectly posed so you can’t really see everything but know that she’s fully naked. He tries to make out the tattoos he couldn’t see from the night before, but it’s hard with how her body twists and the way they’re edited.
He reads through some of the comments, agreeing with the ones telling how hot and gorgeous she is. He wanted to tell off the creeps and defend her because her message was about loving your body.
Her photos and posts are real and authentic. She talks about her own insecurities, how learning to love her body seems to be an ongoing lesson. He admires her rawness and understands seeing something different when you look in the mirror but when he sees her...he wonders how she can see flaws.
His phone rings right after he hits ‘follow’ and the noise scares him. His heart plummeted when he saw it was Bianca.
“Hey, babe,” he greets and she immediately rattles off about her day.
Calum puts her on speaker so he can continue to scroll through the photos of him and Indie she posted from their shoot. There are comments from some fans inquiring if he and Bianca broke up.
Bianca didn’t really say anything about his photoshoot, but she doesn’t really say much about what he does anyway.
☆°•.¸☆¸.•°☆
The guys are taking a little creative break after bouncing back chords, verses, and beats that they’ve been working on since six in the morning. Ashton was complaining about needing his fifth cup of iced coffee and Michael was starving so the two of them left to pick up lunch and coffee.
Luke and Calum remained behind like always. Luke never stopped working and Calum always kept him company, enjoying the sounds of his soft guitar playing. Ashton’s lava lamp changes to purple and Calum is reminded of Indie so he pulls out his phone and goes to her Instagram.
She’s made a few new posts within the last several days. The first one is of her standing in front of her bathroom mirror with a towel wrapped around her. Her eyes are wide and bright, her hair is in wet strands and the steam frames her reflection. The next one is darker with the towel dropped; two small black hearts are placed on her breasts.
She captioned it: “conversations with myself about loving me are the hardest conversations I have. Sometimes they’re serious and other times goofy, but that’s with the aid of rum. Being gentle with yourself seems so easy until you come face to face.”
The second most recent post is of her and another guy at some sort of festival. They both have on circular sunglasses and the photos are a little blurry. One is a close up of the guy but he’s out of focus and eating a corn dog. The next one is of the two of them standing in front of a funhouse mirror; she has her fingers up in a peace sign. There’s one of them eating cotton candy and the last is of them on the Ferris wheel.
She just captions it as ‘memories.’
The last one she posted was from several hours ago and it was another photo shoot. She was posed with the same guy from the festival only this time she was topless and his arms were around her in front of a mirror. Another one has her lying on a bed with her head hanging off the edge and she’s upside down. The guy is resting his head on her stomach, both of them are looking at the camera and he’s shirtless too. The last one is of her twisted on the bed under the sheets, her ass peeking out and she’s spread across the guy. His hand is very low on her back.
Calum feels a pang in his chest. The pictures are great and all but why is he feeling this sharp pain and warmth in his cheeks?
“Woah, are you on OnlyFans right now?” Luke snorts and Calum jumps from the sound of his voice.
“What?”
“Pretty raunchy, don’t ya think?” Luke grins and then something clicks within Calum.
Could Indie have an OnlyFans account? Is that what she meant by “social media stuff”? He knows it’s one of the most popular adult content websites right now and that pay is really good if you post a lot. Is Indie her...sex name? Is that what that’s called?
“D’you think she has an OnlyFans?”
“I dunno. Who is she?” Luke stops his guitar playing to look at Calum.
“I...I uh did a shoot with her, Andy, and Sarah a few weeks ago.”
“Really? What did you do?”
Calum brings up the session he and Indie did together, handing his phone over to Luke. He suddenly feels very self-conscious and almost wants to snatch his phone back so Luke doesn’t see Indie bare chested. But she posted it on her public Instagram so anyone can see it.
“Wow, you really did a nude shoot?”
“We had our pants on,” Calum scoffs, trying to take his phone back but Luke stretches his arm out of his grasp.
“She doesn’t in these next ones.”
“Give me my phone!” Calum scrambles over Luke’s broad frame to get his phone back. He settles back on the couch in a huff. “Don’t look at those.”
“You showed it to me! Who is she anyway?”
“I don’t really know. She goes by the name Indie but I don’t think that’s her real name.”
“What do you mean?”
“When we arrived at the meadow for the shoot, Andy said we were meeting someone else there and when I asked who it was; Sarah said she wanted to be anonymous. She posts a lot about body positivity and I asked what she does for a living and all she said was social media stuff.”
“OnlyFans is social media. What did Bianca have to say about these photos?”
“Not much,” Calum shrugs and he gets a Twitter notification from her. Does she have a sixth sense to post or call when he’s talking about her?
He opens up the notification and she’s talking about him but very vaguely by only calling him ‘boyfriend’ with a photo attached of him looking down at his phone while they were out to dinner the other night. She brags about him online but hardly does anything with him when they are together. He’s starting to forget why he’s dating her in the first place.
“She had nothing to say about you posing topless with another woman?” Luke’s guitar playing stops and his eyebrows are raised.
“Nope,” Calum sighs and likes Bianca’s post anyway. Their relationship seems to only be about ‘liking’ each other’s posts lately.
“That’s...odd. So, why’re you looking at this girl Indie’s insta anyway?”
“I like what she posts. It’s real and true and a lot of people relate to it. It’s nice,” Calum shrugs. “And she was cool to hang out with at the photo session.”
“Ah, I see. You’re jealous you aren’t in those photos with her.”
“What? No, I’m not.”
“Yeah you are, and you didn’t want me to see her naked bum.”
“How would Sierra feel about that?”
“She’d look with me,” Luke shrugs, “you know that. See if she tagged the guy and find out who he is. If he has an OnlyFans then there’s a possibility she might have one, too.”
“How does that make sense?” Calum asks but clicks on the tagged name anyway because he’s not thinking properly and his curiosity is getting the best of him.
“They promote new content with whoever they did it with.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
“Saw it on TikTok, and there was that rumor that Ash has an OnlyFans so I Googled about it.”
“That’s a weird thing to Google.”
“Please, you’ve Googled worse. So, who is the bloke?” Luke peers over his best friend’s hand to look at his phone screen.
Calum looks back down at his phone on the new profile. He has quite a massive following and a small bio.
“His name is Ian, he’s a model and an extra in TV shows. There’s a link under his name but he posted photos with her, too.”
Calum taps on the post to see it’s of them in that damn bed again. Indie is straddling him but she has on some sort of lace outfit and Ian’s hands are on her waist. They’re both laughing and facing the camera.
“He wrote ‘always a blast doing sessions with you.’ Does that mean photo sessions or OnlyFans stuff?”
“How am I supposed to know? Why does it concern you anyway?”
That stops Calum short. Why does it concern him? His mind is spiraling with his conflicting emotions and the desire to search for more information about this Ian guy. He tosses his phone on the opposite end of the couch.
“It doesn’t concern me. I was curious and now I know you and Sierra subscribe to OnlyFans.”
“What? I didn’t say that at all!” Luke squeaks then narrows his eyes. “Don’t change the subject. Why does it matter if she has one or not?”
“I want to understand her, she didn’t tell me much about her and I’m not sure why.”
“She probably wants to keep her life private. Does she have a big following for what she posts?”
“Yeah.”
“Then maybe she doesn’t want people knowing her business. You can understand that, can’t you?”
“Of course, I can, I--she intrigues me, that’s all. I want to know more about her.”
“Why do you want to know more about her?”
“I don’t know! She...her purple hair and nose ring and tattoos...and her eyes are so damn blue. I don’t understand it.”
Luke is silent for several moments staring at Calum, his blue eyes imploring his friend to tell more. Luke‘s looking at Calum as if he knows something.
Calum is lost in his confusion. Luke moves from the couch and picks up Calum’s notebook and his favorite type of pen. He holds them out to Calum.
“Write about it. Figure it out.”
☆°•.¸☆¸.•°☆
Calum tried to write about it and figure it out and he was a little ashamed of himself for searching for Indie on OnlyFans a few days later after talking with Luke. It made him feel pervy, and even though he didn’t find her, it wouldn’t have changed his outlook on her at all if she did have an account. It only makes him want to learn more about her and not the small number of half-truths he received.
It’s been a month since he saw her and he’s at a party with Roy and Bianca. Bianca was off with her friends so Calum and Roy were left to their own devices which were perfectly fine for Calum. He’s always up for a good time but only when it’s with his close friends who are more like family, not a hundred people who sneak photos of him when they walk by.
He’s scanning the crowd--people watching is his favorite thing to do--when he spots someone with purple hair walk by.
“Indie! Hey!” Roy literally took the words right from Calum’s mouth.
Roy knows Indie?
Indie turns at the sound of her name waiting for her friend to pass and she smiles upon seeing Roy then shows her teeth in a radiant smile when she sees Calum right next to him. She’s got on some overall shorts with one of the straps unbuttoned and a tight black shirt that stops at her midriff. There’s some glitter on her face and Calum is mystified once more.
“Hey Cal, fancy seeing you here. Hey Roy,” she smiles at him and Roy pulls her into a hug. Calum feels a twinge of jealousy that he didn’t receive a hug.
“You two know each other?” Calum asks, eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, Indie comes to my meditation sessions once in a while. It’s been too long since the last one, missy.”
“I’ve been working!” she giggles shoving his shoulder playfully. “I’m in need of a good meditation zone, though. Oh, this is my friend, Travis.”
“Nice to meet you guys,” Travis shakes Calum and Roy’s hands.
Calum eyes him up but before he can say anything else, Travis mentioned something about finding their group of friends.
“I’ll send you details on the next mediation,” Roy tells her before she heads out.
“I look forward to it. Have a nice time,” she smiles at them both and lets Travis guide her through the crowd.
Calum is a bit upset he didn’t really get to talk to her as he watches her disappear into the sea of people. He continues listening to Roy and his latest idea for a new album and what it will be based around. He hums and comments in the spaces he’s supposed to but his mind is off on someone else.
And then he wonders where the hell Bianca got off to.
“What’s wrong with you, man? Your mind is out of this world right now,” Roy comments.
“Nothing, nothing,” Calum shakes his head gruffly and then Bianca appears handing Calum a drink.
“You look parched,” she kisses his cheek and he feels the sticky residue of her lip gloss on his skin.
Calum continues to search for Indie as the night goes on, wanting to discuss how her body positivity project is going. He smiles and poses in the photos with Bianca; he knows both of their smiles are fake. Whenever she touches him, he doesn’t get that same feeling he did when Indie touched him in the meadow.
It’s a little after midnight as he exits the bathroom and bumps into someone.
“Oops, sorry, my faul--Indie! Hey!” he grins down at her.
“Oh! Hi again. Having a good time?” she asks brightly.
“It’s all right, how about you?”
“Not really in the mood to party tonight,” she shrugs, “but my friend Travis from earlier likes a guy here so I’m his wing woman.”
“What a good friend you are,” he smiles. “Have they met up?”
“I got a text from him with the tongue emoji, the fire emoji, and the drooling emoji,” she counts off on her fingers. “I’ve walked around this place twice so I’m assuming he’s all good,” she chuckles.
“So, you’re here all alone?”
“Yeah. I was just about to order an Uber--”
“I can take you home if you’d like. You shouldn’t take an Uber alone.”
“You don’t have to do that. I don’t mind--”
“Hey baby, some of the girls want to go to the club. I’ll see you later,” Bianca appears and gives Calum a very fleeting kiss on the cheek.
“Okay, before you go, this is Indie; remember how I did that photoshoot a month ago?”
Bianca glances at Indie who gives her a bright smile.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet--”
“Oh, yeah! Where you were both half naked! Very hot. I’ll call you tomorrow,” she says offhandedly to Calum then runs off to her friends.
“Nice to meet you, too!” Indie finishes in a half-shout and Calum laughs. “She’s a woman on a mission, huh?”
“Yeah, always has to be where the party's at. How about that drive home?”
☆°•.¸☆¸.•°☆
Once in his car, Indie connects her phone to his Bluetooth and puts on her playlist along with the address of her apartment. Calum watches her scroll through her phone until she selects the first song; its vibe is very chill, fitting the mood of the blue color of his car’s interior lighting. He keeps glancing over to her; the blue really brings out the purple in her hair. She then pulls her hair back and up behind her head in a makeshift ponytail, fanning herself with the other hand.
“Hot?” he asks while pressing the button for the AC. she lets out a yelp of surprise when the cool air blows on her neck from the headrest of her seat.
“I need my seats to have this feature,” she sighs then lets her hair drop over her shoulder. “Thank you for taking me home. Will you meet up with...oh my God, what’s your girlfriend’s name?” she presses her hands to her face, eyes widening in horror. “She left before you could introduce her.”
“Her name’s Bianca, and no, I’ll probably go home. Club life isn’t really my style.”
“Are you hungry?” she asks.
“For what?” He peers at her curiously.
“Have you ever had insomnia cupcakes?”
When they arrive at the small cupcake shop they read over the flavors listed on the bulbous glass display case. The cupcakes are the size of muffins and each time Indie nudges closer to him, he can smell her perfume. It’s citrus with a hint of something else he can’t place but she smells wonderful.
Indie ends up getting a strawberry cupcake with white frosting and pink sprinkles and Calum gets a confetti one which she teases him about.
“What’s wrong with confetti?!” he laughs following her outside and sits at one of the round metal tables.
“It’s like the second most vanilla flavor you could get. Live on the edge!” she swipes off a bit of frosting and sucks it off with a low satisfied moan.
Her eyes close relishing then taste and Calum gets momentarily distracted by her reaction to the cupcake.
“Well, isn’t that vanilla frosting? Not too on the edge yourself, are ya?”
“It’s not vanilla. Here,” she holds her cupcake in front of him, her eyes testing him. “Try a taste.”
He swipes her frosting off, eyes still on hers and he pops his finger in his mouth. His tongue is full of a very zesty lemon flavor, it’s sugary and sweet but light enough where it’s not too overbearing.
“Shit, that’s good.”
“Told you! Now you enjoy your plain confetti over there,” she wiggles in her chair taking her cupcake back. She swipes up more frosting.
“You eat the frosting first?” he asks, unfolding the paper from his cupcake.
“Mhm, the cake is the best part.”
He watches her in wonder as she continues to eat before taking a very large bite of his own treat. Frosting gets on his nose and she loses it when he wipes it off.
“Did I get it all?” he asks, sucking off the frosting from his thumb.
“You missed a spot...right here!”
Somehow she snuck some frosting on her pinky finger and rubbed it onto his cheek and nose. Calum was dumbfounded then when he saw her practically rolling in her chair from laughing, he joined her and wiped it off on her own.
“Thanks for that,” he laughs, licking off the lemon frosting.
“I’m sorry, I had to,” she shrugs and licks off the rest of her frosting from her cupcake.
“I’m going to get you back for that, Indie. Mark my words.”
“I’m trembling in my overalls,” she mocks with a smile.
“You should be,” he teases and takes another large bite of his cupcake.
When their cupcakes are finished they’re back in his car and her music fills the air with sound. He makes note of the band on his screen, Linus Young, so he can look them up later. He turns it down on the song titled ‘Crystal Ball.’
“How’s your latest project coming along?” he asks then moves into the middle lane.
“Pretty good, I guess. I want to do a couple more shots before I do a post. Sarah said she’d help me with it, we just have to find the time.”
“Do you need a partner?” he grins.
“Not for these shots,” she giggles, “but you’re more than welcome to come if you’d like. I’m always open to other artists' creative eyes.”
“Yeah, I’d love to. Do you have an idea on what your next project will be?”
“Um, I don’t know. It’s always centered on self-love and body positivity. I might try something with body paint or shadows. There’s a--”
“Do you have an OnlyFans?” he blurts out then immediately wants the earth to swallow him up whole.
Where the hell did that come from? He wanted to try and ease into it casually but how do you casually bring up a website like that? And now he just blurted it out like an imbecile. He keeps his eyes on the road anticipating a well-deserved slap across his cheek or for Indie to demand he take the next exit and drop her off.
Instead, she laughs. It’s a full-on cackle with a trail of giggles gasping for breath. Indie doesn’t stop until he looks over at her in alarm and with an apologetic grimace.
“Oh, you’re serious?” she squeaks wiping at the corners of her eyes. She takes a deep breath, still chuckling. “Why do you think that?”
“I was showing my friend Luke the shoot we did and when I went to your Instagram he saw your other photos and asked if I was on OnlyFans and he said creators usually post photos like that with a partner they collaborated with or something and you said your job is social media stuff and that’s social media and I’m--I’m an asshole for blurting it out like that. I’m sorry. It’s none of my business but even if you are, that’s great, y’know? No shame or judgment from me whatsoever. And I feel stupid for even trying to search you--”
“You tried searching for me?” she asks but Calum’s on a ranting rampage. “Wow. I’m fl--”
“This makes me sound like a grade A creep. You--”
“Calum!” she laughs resting her hand on his forearm. The hair on his neck stands up at her touch just like in the meadow. “As entertaining as it is to see you stumble over your words and talk this much, stop. I’m flattered you would even think that in the first place, but no, I don’t have an account.”
He risks a glance at her; she gives him a warm smile.
“Do you have an account?” She asks in a hushed whisper.
“What?!” he swerves a little in his lane but thankfully he needs to change over for the exit. His GPS says Indie’s place is only a few more minutes away. “No, no I don’t have one.”
She giggles again but doesn’t say another word.
They’re silent for the remainder of the drive, the music playing softly in the background. He wishes he never said anything and that Luke didn’t bring it up in the first place. Calum makes the few turns indicated on his screen and then parks in front of a duplex. Indie unbuckles her seatbelt, angling herself towards him.
“Would you subscribe if I did?”
He jerks his head in her direction, did he hear her right? He opens his mouth to answer then narrows his eyes, she does the same and they have a narrow-eyed contest until they’re laughing.
“Would you subscribe if I did?” he counters.
“I asked you first.”
He unbuckles himself as well so he can stretch in his seat and run his fingers through his hair. “I’m not going to answer that. Can we pretend I never asked that and this conversation never happened?” He drops his hands to the steering wheel; he needs to have a firm handle on something because clearly his tongue is acting wild.
“What did you ask?”
“What?”
“What conversation are you talking about?”
Calum stares at her, then looks outside as if there’s a hidden camera and he’s being punk’d right now. Is Ashton Kutcher hiding in that trailer?
“We were talking about OnlyFans.”
“Calum! I was playing along! You didn’t ask me anything and we didn’t have a conversation about that unasked question,” she gives him a perky smile.
“You are something else, you know that?” he rubs at his face out of embarrassment and feeling like such an idiot.
“That’s what I’m told,” she sighs.
He feels there’s a story or two there but he’s already invaded her privacy enough tonight. And it’s only the second time actually meeting her.
“Can I ask you something?” She asks.
“Yes. Please do.”
“Why do you want to know what I do?”
Calum rests his head on his seat, turning his head towards her with his hands still on the wheel. She’s situated herself in her seat so that one leg is pulled to her chest and resting against the center console. Her round cheek is cupped in her hand, her eyes wide and captivating.
“I want to know more about you, that’s all.”
“Why do you want to know about me, Cal?”
That question again. The answer is staring him right in the face, it’s on the tip of his tongue, but he just can’t bring himself to say it out loud. So, he alters his answer because he’s already rambled enough for one night.
“You have this ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude and a free spirit. You’re sure of yourself and not a lot of people are like that.”
“I definitely do give a fuck about a lot of things. Maybe too much,” she shrugs, removing her hand and leans forward. “You’re sure that’s all?”
She doesn’t ask it in fishing for compliments type of way, it’s more like she knows he’s hiding something, like she knows he sugar-coated his answer. Indie’s eyes have him captured, he’s like a fly caught in a black widow’s web that’s made up of his own lies.
“Ye-es…” he responds slowly.
“You promise?”
Her eyes are steady on his, he squeezes the wheel, arms tightening, knuckles whitening, and the smallest flick of her eyebrow causes him to let out a large exhale. Calum drops his hands in defeat.
“I don’t know how to answer that,” he shakes his head.
She’s looking at him like Luke was looking at him back in the studio.
“You’re…” he licks his lips and swallows down his nerves. “You’re unlike anyone I’ve ever met, Indie. I’ve never been this lost in my head on finding the proper words to say what I want to say. But I can tell you that my intentions are only to get to know you, which I’m certain of.”
“Get to know me as a friend?”
“Friend, photoshoot partner, whatever it is,” he shrugs. “All I know is I can’t stop thinking about you.”
She gives him a small smile with an even smaller nod then takes a deep breath. Her hands rub at her temples as she lets out a frustrated groan covering her eyes with her hands.
“Are you okay?”
“You know that’s the truest thing you’ve said this whole time, Cal? I’d be glad to be your friend but I can’t lie about how I’ve been thinking about you, too.”
“So... what do we do about that?”
Indie removes her hands, her eyes the size of planets holding the same secrecy of the galaxy. He wants to explore every part, every hidden crevice.
“I want to know you, too. But we have to promise--” she holds out her pinky “--that we are friends first and foremost. I don’t trust people easily; I only tell what I think they should know. But my intuition is telling me to trust you and it’s never wrong. Can you do that?”
Calum mulls over her words. He reaches over the console so their faces are closer. He can see the glitter on her cheeks and how they resemble constellations. He cups her cheek; his fingers locking in her hair and captures her lips in a fevered kiss without a thought of the repercussions that will follow.
The kiss is full of sparks, desire, and an innate need. Indie kisses him back with equal hurriedness and soon they’re scrambling to the backseat. Lips still connected, her fingers claw at his shirt and--
“Cal?”
Calum blinks. He’s pulled back to the present, his fantasy betraying him in the worst possible way from the reality of Indie still holding her pinky out for him.
The kiss was all in his head. Going against his selfish desires, he hooks his pinky with hers and Indie’s face turns serious.
“We promise to always stay friends, no matter what. Promise?”
“I promise.”
“We promise that no matter what comes from the darkness, what secrets will surface, or whatever urges may arise, we are friends first and won’t let those things change that. Promise?”
“I promise,” he nods, tilting his head to the side in amusement as she continues.
“And above all else...we won’t leave or abandon one another. Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Good. I promise, too,” she stares at their joined pinkies.
“You okay?” he asks, feeling the shift within her.
“Yeah...it’s a little...I’m giving you all my trust. It’s a little scary.”
He squeezes her pinky then covers their joined hands with the palm of his other hand. He cocks his head lower until she looks at him with shining, vulnerable eyes.
“I promise I won’t break it, Indie.”
He wonders if she catches the double entendre to his promise because while he said it about her trust, he could tell she’s wearing her heart on her sleeve. He doesn’t want to break that either.
☆°•.¸☆¸.•°☆
Calum has been walking on air ever since that night with Indie a few weeks ago promising to be friends. Is he attracted to her? Absolutely. That at least is something he can admit even if it is in his own head. Will he act on those thoughts? No, because he has respect for Indie and his relationship with Bianca.
Things between him and Bianca have gotten a little better; they go out more and she’s asked him about his music. When he’s mentioned he has this tune stuck in his head that he can’t figure out she doesn’t say too much about it and quickly transitions to her next appearance promoting a new line of liquor.
Calum’s confident he can push his attraction for Indie to the side and make their friendship a priority. He’s never had a female best friend before but it’s an easy transition with her.
After that night they exchanged numbers and were quick to start sending funny memes and TikTok videos. Calum downloaded the app solely because of her and when he discovered she had a few videos of her own, he watched the four videos relentlessly.
“You’re a very talented lip syncer, you should go pro,” he’d told her one day over FaceTime while he was making breakfast.
“There’s no such thing as a pro lip syncer,” she snorted back. She was applying makeup in her bathroom sitting cross legged on the counter with her feet in the sink.
“Yeah there’s that show on MTV or some shit where you dress up and put on a whole performance.”
“I would literally die if I had to perform in front of people. No thank you.”
Calum laughed then watched her apply her eyeliner with careful strokes and perfect precision. Whenever she did her makeup she had her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and her bangs clipped up so she wouldn’t get makeup on them. Seeing her whole face for the first time filled him with even more intrigue and he thought she was even more beautiful.
“Why do you do that on the sink?” he asked, flipping his egg on his toast.
“So I can get closer to the mirror. It’s a girl thing. Doesn’t Bianca do it?”
“Dunno, I’ve never seen her put her makeup on before.”
He would send her photos and videos of Duke and each time she’d comment on how adorable he is and that she would steal him one day.
“You’ll have to get through me first,” he grinned.
“I can take you. It’s one of my superpowers.”
“What superpower is that exactly?”
“If I tell you then my cover’s blown, duh.”
“Why don’t you show me then?” he teased with a slight hint of flirtation.
“Cal…” she warned but couldn’t help her giggle.
“All right, all right,” he smiled, scratching at his head. “Sorry.”
There would be some innocent slip-ups like that throughout their conversations. Calum just felt so at ease with Indie and when she asked him to help her with a photoshoot of hers he was more than excited to accept.
When he arrived at her place, there was music playing from down the hall and he heard voices followed by Indie’s laugh. He follows the sound right into her bathroom where she is with another girl while the bathtub was running water, bubbles rising.
“Did you finally get your own dog?” he asks and the two girls turn at his voice.
“No, it’s for the photos,” Indie smiles. “Cal, this is Inka, she’s going to be in the photos with me and helping you take them.”
“Nice to finally meet you, Calum,” Inka smiles.
Inka’s a little taller than Indie with flowing ink black hair, wide set eyes and brown skin. She has a septum piercing and is also very good looking.
“Nice to meet you,” he nods, and then turns fearfully to Indie. “I’m taking the photos? Shouldn’t you ask Sarah, she’s a professional.”
“I don’t want them to look professionally done. Inka’s big on water photography so she’ll help you. And we need someone to take photos of us together.”
“All right, so…” he glances at the tub that Inka is now bent over testing the water. “What’s with the bubble bath?”
“That’s where we’ll be,” Indie grins, removing her shorts.
Calum is so caught off guard by being the photographer that his eyes watch her step out of them, but finds she has on swimsuit bottoms. At least he won’t be distracted this time like in the meadow or at Andy and Sarah’s when she was completely naked.
“Are you alright with us being topless, Cal?” Inka asks removing her own shorts. He spots some ink on her skin as well, he wonders if they got tattoos together at one point. The styles are pretty similar.
“I’m fine if you guys are,” he shrugs then eyes up the Polaroid sitting on the counter. “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable with me here; I respect the artistry of the naked body.”
“All I needed to hear,” Inka says with a sigh. “The water’s perfect, Indsy. I’ll put on music that helps me get in the zone.”
“Is this the camera I’ll be using?” Calum asks, pointing to the Polaroid as Inka changes the music on her phone to something with a bit of soul to it. The voice echoes very softly within the bathroom.
“Yeah, it’s Inka’s. She’ll show you how to use it while I’m in there. Thanks for helping with this, everyone couldn’t or thought it was weird when I asked them.”
“Glad to be of assistance,” he smiles down at her, noticing she doesn’t have makeup on. “You look nice by the way.”
“Thank you. I’m going to take my top off now,” she touches his arm as if in assurance, her eyes widening slightly. “Will you be okay?”
He knows she’s teasing but he links his pinky with hers that’s on his arm.
“Promise. Now get in there,” he jerks his head towards her bath.
“Sheesh, you’re a demanding assistant.”
She backs away and he examines the camera with curiosity. When Inka and Indie converse behind him, he lifts his eyes to their reflection in the mirror just as Indie is pulling her t-shirt off. Her eyes meet his as she tosses it to the floor and it’s as if the moment slows before she’s stepping into the water.
“Inka! This is too hot!” she squeals, pulling her foot out.
“No, it’s not! Calum, come feel the water.”
He turns and stands next to Indie; he bends to the floor pressing his hand through a mountain of bubbles. It’s pretty warm but he’s come to realize that Indie doesn’t like hot things.
“I think it’s fine but it is too hot for her,” he agrees with Indie.
“Well, you’ll get used to it and if your cheeks get a little red or your chest, then it will make the pictures better.”
Indie sighs; she puts her hand on Calum’s shoulder for extra support and puts her foot in the water again. She lets out a hiss and stands there for a couple seconds. Calum grabs her hand and holds her fingers when she places her other foot in the tub as well. He watches her scrunch her face at the temperature, he can see a red splotch blooming on her chest already and she’s not even fully in yet.
“Darling, it’s really not that bad,” Inka sighs rubbing at Indie’s shoulder. “Is it?”
“I just need to let myself get used to it,” Indie replies and drops a knee, her fingers’ holding onto Calum’s tightly.
“I can get a cold washcloth for you,” he offers but Indie shakes her head and drops her other knee.
“I’ll be okay. Can you get me a bottled water from my fridge?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right back,” he nods and he releases her fingers.
When he returns, Indie is fully in the bath, her hair cascading over her back like a dark purple curtain. Her knees are drawn up to her chest and Inka is on the floor with her camera pointed at Indie. Indie’s head is on her knees, her body curving forward, eyes big and her lips pouting slightly.
Calum doesn’t like how she looks sad even if he knows it’s for the aesthetics of it all. Indie looks up at him then stretches a now bubbly arm towards him for the water.
“Wait, stay like that for a minute!” Inka instructs Indie's pose and the camera clicks. “Okay, you can take it.”
Calum sits against the cabinets next to Inka, paying attention to the buttons on the camera before she takes a picture. Indie leans back with her head tilted back and eyes closed, her breasts pointing out. Then she rested her arms on the edge of the tub, her cheek falling perfectly in the crook of her elbows and she eyed up the camera and Inka. When she looked at Calum, he forgot how to swallow.
“Okay, ready for me?” Inka asks, standing up from her place on the floor.
“You’re going to complain about the water though,” Indie rolls her eyes playfully and turns the tap back on. She shifts to the opposite end so she doesn’t feel the hot water.
“Just take photos you think would be good as candid’s,” Inka instructs handing Calum the camera.
He’s nervous now. He doesn’t want to mess up their vision and he runs over what Inka told him in his head as she takes off her tank top and climbs in with Indie.
“This is so tepid!” Inka shrieks and Indie laughs.
“It’s perfect!”
“You’re such a little weirdo,” Inka drops into the water and pushes the running water towards Indie. Indie sticks her tongue out.
While the water continues to run, Calum takes some practice shots and Inka starts to pull her hair up in a very messy bun with loose strands kissing her cheeks and forehead. She looks very good, actually. Inka has a natural beauty to her, much like Indie does. Calum took photos of that process, Inka is confident in herself like Indie is; it’s all in her posture.
“Remember the first time we were in the bath together?” Indie asks, leaning against the wall.
“Yeah, you were drunk and thought your tub was a whirlpool. But you turned the shower on instead and I thought you were drowning,” Inka laughs.
Calum captures their smiles. He remains silent as they place bubbles on each other’s noses or blow them at each other from their hands. He tries to take as many of those as he can because he thinks they’re charming.
He discovers they’ve been friends ever since Indie moved to L.A and have gone through tough things with each other like bad relationships, loss of jobs, and fallouts from a whole group of friends they were involved in. The more they talked, the closer they got in the tub.
“Here, turn around, I want to get some shots like this,” Indie tells Inka.
They’re in a fit of giggles and laughter as Inka maneuvers in the water, some of the bubbles are rolling down the sides of the tub. Once they’re situated, Indie scoots closer until she’s pressed against Inka’s back. Calum’s reminded of feeling her pressed against his back at Andy and Sarah’s.
“Look at Cal,” Indie says and they both turn to Calum.
He snaps the photo.
“How are you doing over there Mr. Camera Man?” Inka asks leaning against Indie.
“Great. How’re you guys?” he asks.
“Hungry. I want some pizza,” Indie sighs. She presses her cheek to Inka’s neck and wraps her arms around her stomach.
“We’ll order some afterwards,” Inka lifts her hand and pats at Indie’s head affectionately. “Does Calum know you need to be fed every few hours?”
“You make me sound like a baby,” Indie laughs. “Does Calum know?” She directs the question to him in third person, looking at him expectantly.
“Yes, I discovered she gets very feisty when she’s hungry,” Calum laughs.
“He’s a good egg,” Indie says and kisses Inka’s neck.
“Wait, do that again,” Calum says and Indie presses her lips to Inka’s neck. He snaps the picture and he grins. “That’s a good one.”
“Stay professional over there, sir,” Inka warns, narrowing her eyes.
“I am! It’s a sweet moment that’s all. You guys are close and have been through a lot. There aren’t too many friendships like that.”
“I always tell her she’s my soulmate,” Inka pats Indie's cheek then spins around again in the water.
“My friend Ash and I say the same thing.”
“You two take baths together, too?” Inka asks and Indie laughs.
“No,” he laughs. “We wouldn’t fit.”
That gets them both laughing and he snaps a picture of it, the pure joy and amusement on their faces. He notices goosebumps are on Indie’s arms.
“You’re getting cold, Indie,” he comments.
“Yeah, we should get out soon. Did you get some good photos?” she asks, sitting up a little straighter, her hands on the edge of the tub.
“Wait, Cal get one more picture,” Inka stops Indie from standing.
He poises the camera to his eye again and watches as Inka leans in and gives Indie a soft kiss on the lips. She holds the kiss so he can take the picture and he keeps snapping when they pull away and smile at each other.
They both rise from the tub with more water sloshing over the sides; all the bubbles are gone now. Calum stands handing them each a towel; he’s trying to wrap his head around that kiss. He kisses his friends too, but to see Indie be kissed by a girl made that pang form in his chest again like when she hugged Roy and not him.
He shouldn’t be jealous; they’re just friends and he pinky promised.
“I’ll order some pizza and upload these so we can look at them,” Inka says, wrapping the towel around her. She folds it over so it’s held to her body like a strapless dress. “Time to put your camera skills to the test.”
The photos ended up looking really well. He could tell the differences between his and Inka’s, hers were angled in different ways to make the focal point look cool. His photos were straighter on but Inka was impressed by some of his close-up shots of their laughter.
The three of them watched a movie as they ate their pizza, laughing at the scenes and more memories that came about for Indie and Inka. Calum really liked Inka and she gave him a hug when she left, promising she’ll contact him if she needs his help for her own photos.
“You have her approval by the way,” Indie says, moving back to the couch pulling her blanket over her legs.
“Approval?” He joins her resting his arm over the back of her couch.
“Of being my guy best friend. This was sort of a test of hers by having you deal with our shenanigans and being half naked in the tub.”
“Elaborate, please?” he chuckles. “Did she think I’d be weird about it?”
“She’s a little protective over me. We’re best friends but…” Indie looks at her hands in her lap; she starts to play with the edge of the blanket.
“But…?” he prompts and she bites her lip. “I feel like this is a pinky promise moment.”
“It is.”
He holds out his pinky waiting for her to link their fingers. She takes in a deep breath and hooks her pinky around his but she doesn’t let it go when she speaks. Her eyes are trained on their pinkies.
“Inka and I dated actually, for a short time. It was right when I moved out here and we got super close super-fast, I felt the most comfortable with her in the friend group I fell into. She’s the first one I voiced my attraction to women about and she said she was the same. We both don’t like labels. And... Yeah, we dated for a couple months but both agreed our friendship was more important than if we broke up badly.”
“So, you’re attracted to men and women or just women?” he asks softly.
“Both,” she says, her eyes still on their pinkies. “Inka’s the only woman I’ve dated and have been with but I’ve had other crushes. They just never went anywhere.”
“Hey, look at me,” he tugs on her pinky lightly until her eyes meet his. “Why do you seem scared?”
“When I tell other guys about it they get all weird and ask for threesomes or they get freaked out like I'm going to cheat on them with her or something. I’m attracted to girls but it’s more than attraction, too.”
“I get it,” he nods, “you don’t have to explain to me. You care for people for who they are. I’m sorry if you felt cautious to tell me. You can tell me anything, Indie.”
“It’s just nerve wracking, that’s all,” she lets out a shaky laugh. “I knew you wouldn’t be creepy with the photos but while we were doing them I figured this would be a good time to tell you.”
“Thank you for telling me, it helps me get to know you better,” he smiles. She gives him one back then pulls her pinky away so she can give him a hug.
He holds her tightly, feeling how fast her heart is beating. They didn't let go until her heart slowed down and matched his.
☆°•.¸☆¸.•°☆
Every day at the studio, Luke would pester Calum asking when they would finally get to meet Indie. Not long after, Ashton and Michael would chime in as well about wanting to meet her and Calum would do his best to ignore them. But he knows his brothers and they’re persistent to the point where it will make you go mad if you don’t agree.
Today was more of a chill day tossing random lyrics and notes around trying to make it into a song. While the other three were goofing off, Calum was at the piano trying to work out the notes that have been swimming in his head for the last couple months. He has the first and last notes down pat but what is in the middle? He can’t figure it out.
“Hey, Cal,” Luke calls, “you should have a party tonight.”
“What for?”
“So, we can all hang out, drink, eat, meet Indie…”
Calum’s hands fall away from the keys and he twists around on the bench to see Luke smiling with all his teeth. He looks like that emoji with his teeth bared.
“Why do you want to meet her so badly?”
“She’s friends with you, we want to be friends with her as well,” Luke shrugs.
“Roy knows her, why can’t we?” Ashton adds.
“Yeah, is she even real at this point?” Michael chortles.
“Yes, she’s real,” Calum rolls his eyes. “How—”
His phone buzzes on the table.
“It’s Indie!” Luke exclaims trying to snatch up the phone.
Calum darts forward grabbing his phone before they can. Thankfully, it was just a text because he knew if he picked up the phone one of them would have found a way to speak with Indie and say something ridiculous.
“Stop acting like we’re twelve,” Calum shakes his head. “Two of you are married.”
“I’m engaged, actually,” Luke corrects, leaning back on the couch. He crosses his converse covered feet at the ankles. “What’d she want?”
Against his better judgment, Calum opens the message to see three photos and a text. They’re all the same photos just taken in different positions. It’s her naked body, from just below her breasts to the tops of her thighs. She’s poised in a way that you can’t see anything and it ranges from black and white, sepia, and the original photo.
‘Which one should I post?’ was the text sent.
“She sent me photos asking for help on which ones to pick for a post,” Calum says already typing away about how she should do all of them. Then he asks how her day’s going. He looks up at his friends and they’re giving him the same look of expectation. “Ugh, fine! If I invite her over you can’t be weird as shit like you are right now.”
They whoop and holler at that news.
“Finally, we get to meet the infamous Indie,” Luke sighs, resting his head on his hands. Calum throws a pillow right at his face.
☆°•.¸☆¸.•°☆
All of Calum’s friends are mingling in the backyard and kitchen area, conversation and laughter is heard over the low sound of the music playing. He’s ordered pizza and wings for everyone to enjoy and they should be delivered in about forty-five minutes. He’s been anxiously waiting for Indie to arrive but is also nervous about how the guys will act around her.
Bianca is out of town so she couldn’t make it and Calum wasn’t too sure what his feelings are about her not being here. She told him to have fun and not get too rowdy, so he appreciates that small sentiment.
Indie was excited to meet everyone else when he called her and when she asked if she could bring a friend, he assumed it was Inka so he of course said yes.
Boy was he ever wrong.
He was popping open another white claw when Andy and Sarah announced her name. He looks up in excitement to see her hugging Sarah but then it falters when he sees it’s not Inka that’s next to her. It’s that guy Ian from her Instagram posts that she posed with. The pang in his chest is back when Ian places his arm over Indie’s bare shoulders and shakes Andy and Sarah’s hand.
Calum takes notice of her outfit; she has on a dark blue top with the sleeves that only go to the tops of her arms and black jean shorts with some black boots. Her dark purple hair is pulled back behind her head in a sort of braid.
“Hey isn’t that—”
“Indie?” Calum finishes Luke’s sentence and takes a long drink of his white claw. “Yeah, let’s go introduce you.”
Ashton and Michael met them by Indie and she gave Calum a big smile.
“Hey! How’re you?” she asks rising on her tiptoes to give him a hug. Ian and Calum’s eyes meet briefly before Indie pulls away.
“I’m good, glad you could come,” Calum forces a smile. “Uh, these are the guys. It’s about time you all met. This is Luke, Ashton, and Michael. Guys, this is Indie.”
“So, you are a real person,” Ashton nods, shaking her hand.
“As opposed to what? A blow-up doll?” Indie teases and Michael chokes on his own drink.
Calum grins because he knows she’ll be able to handle herself around them. He just hopes they don’t say anything about him that would raise questions.
“I like you,” Ashton smiles. “Who’s this you brought along?”
“Oh! Right, sorry. This is Ian,” she introduces.
Calum eyes him up while he shakes his friends’ hands. He’s about the same height as Calum with short brown hair that kind of sticks up in the front. He’s got tan skin, an arm of tattoos, and has a lean muscular build.
“And this is Calum,” Indie introduces him last.
Calum notices she didn’t say ‘my friend’ or ‘my boyfriend’ when introducing Ian, so what is he exactly?
“Good to finally meet you, man,” Ian holds out his hand.
“Likewise,” Calum makes sure his grip is tight, but so is Ian’s. “Help yourselves to drinks from the coolers and kitchen. Pizza and wings should be coming soon.”
The pang in Calum’s chest only grows as the night progresses. He’s not quite sure what to make of Ian except that he and Indie are very comfortable with each other. When Calum is in ear shot they’re always flirting and touching each other.
“Sooo…” Luke drawls sidling next to Calum. “He’s that guy from her Instagram, right?”
“Yup.”
“Are he and Indie dating?”
“No idea,” Calum’s voice is clipped. He takes a drink of his white claw. The pang keeps getting sharper, his fingers are twitching for a cigarette and now he really wants some weed.
“Are you all right?”
Calum watches Ian come up behind Indie with another drink for her and he smacks her ass then proceeds to rub her back. Indie smiles up at him taking the cup.
“Yeah, I’m all right. We’re just friends,” Calum sighs.
When the party dwindled down, it was only Ashton, Michael, Luke, Andy, Sarah,Indie and Ian left sitting around the firepit. The conversation transitions from topic to topic that are mainly centered on Indie and finding out more about her. Just as Calum suspected, she’s very cryptic in her responses and that makes him smile. Calum’s sitting across the way from her and her legs are resting on Ian’s lap. Ian’s hands are rubbing at her calves.
Calum tells himself it doesn’t bother him.
Somehow the conversation turned to sex, which isn’t all that uncommon for their group but Calum was shooting daggers at Ashton because he didn’t want Indie to feel uncomfortable. As always, she surprised him and she was asking her own questions. Everyone answered her question of what their first time was like and they were all great stories of embarrassing moments.
When it came for her to answer, Calum sat up a little straighter in his chair.
“I was nineteen, wasn’t expecting it to happen at all. And you’re always told ‘oh, it’s this magical moment! You’ll be changed forever!’ but it literally lasted two or three minutes and I was like, ‘that’s it?’” she giggles. “I didn’t feel changed at all.”
“Two minutes?” Michael laughs. “Was it his first time too?”
“Hey, in my defense I’ve wanted to do it with her for a long time and when it finally happened…I lost control,” Ian smiles. “That tends to happen with Indie.”
Calum’s ears feel hot and it’s not from the fire. He ignores Luke’s quick glance to him from the bit of information that Ian was the first guy Indie had sex with.
“And we were also in your parent’s living room,” Indie giggles some more.
“All right, so now the next question…most rounds in one night?” Ashton asks lighting up another joint.
Calum wants to strangle him.
“What the hell is with all the sex talk, mate?” he finally asks trying to play it off as nonchalant, but the way Luke and Michael fidget, he knows it didn’t sound that way. No one else seems to notice, if Indie did he doesn’t know because he doesn’t dare look at her now.
“It’s a beautiful thing. It brings people closer by being open about it,” Ashton rests his ankle on his knee.
Calum snorts and shakes his head crossing his arms. He shakes his leg in annoyance.
Everyone says one or two rounds with little stories with each one. Michael made everyone laugh when he said one and a half.
“I was super drunk and it finally caught up with me and…yeah, I fell asleep,” Michael chortles. His eyes are heavy from drinking.
“That poor girl,” Andy says.
“I married her, so you know she’s the one,” Michael smiles.
“Where are Crystal and Sierra? I was looking forward to meeting them, too,” Indie says.
“They’re both at some fashion expo,” Luke explains. “We’ll all get together; they want to meet you too.”
Then fashion is the next topic of conversation until Ashton opens his mouth again. The weed must have set him off in a very inquisitive buzz.
“Indie, you didn’t answer the round's question.”
“I don’t want to be judged,” she holds up her hands in defense.
“This is a judgment free zone, this is a safe space, c’mon,” Ashton smiles lazily.
Indie looks at each person individually, except Calum before she answers.
“Three times,” she sighs, staring into the fire.
There’s a collective ‘woah’ around the group and sounds of approval. She tries to hide her smile but fails and ends up covering her face.
“Damn, that dude’s got stamina,” Michael says.
“It was a fun night,” Ian smirks while taking a drink of his beer. Indie smacks him in the shoulder and that earns even more of a reaction from the group.
They all want to know details and context, but Calum is seething. He really wants to get up and leave because he doesn’t want to hear anymore, but he knows that will cause more questions.
He remains silent for the rest of the night thinking about everything and questioning everything. He wants to know if Indie and Ian are dating and he wants to know why it matters to him so much. It really shouldn’t and that just makes him angrier.
He’s glad his friends are getting along with Indie, but he wishes it weren’t in this type of context.
When everyone had left, Calum was stuffing plates and cups in a large trash bag then he was going to light up a joint in hopes that would help calm his mind and rid his thoughts of seeing Ian and Indie together. He doesn’t even want to think about what they’re doing right now.
☆°•.¸☆¸.•°☆
Taglist: @calumance @in-superbloom @calpalirwin @karajaynetoday @wiiildflowerrr-blog1 @sunshineeeluke @littledrummeraussie @suchalonelysunflower @hoodhoran @Fobodob @thew0rldneedsmcreycghurt @sunshineeashton @ashtonsunflower @mymindwide @itjustkindahappenedreally @seanna313 @fivesecondsofonedirection @mulletcal @pandaxnienke @sebsbrokentoe @heartskippeddabat
#Caum hood fic#calum hood x oc#calum hood slow burn#calum smut#calum hood writing#calum angst#calum hood angst#5sos writing#5sos fics
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Jealousy. (2/3)
𝑨𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒆 | I AM MAKING THIS A 3 CHAPTER STORY CUZ IM TOO LAZY TO WRITE EVERYTHING TODAY. anyways, jealous mad gojo is so, so cute. i was considering making this super angsty and sad but i figured ill save that for another time. ALSO THERES LIKE 0 ROMANCE HERE IM SORRY
𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 | Teen! Gojo Satoru x Gender Neutral Reader
𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 | 1186
𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 | Cursing, mentions of body parts. ALL CHARACTERS HERE ARE AGED DOWN FROM PRESENT ANIME/MANGA INTO WHEN THEY WERE TEENAGERS.
𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚 | Shoko, confronting Gojo about her theory on Gojo’s crush, attempts to get an answer. Unlucky for her, you and Geto crash the occasion. Gojo, being the little angry baby he is (gojo slander is acceptable), rage quits and storms away. Geto comforts him about you.
Gojo gawked, turning over. The can tumbled down his face, leaving a trail of water behind, water droplets rolled down Gojo’s pale skin. Shoko’s grave eyes glared directly back, her usual laid-back atmosphere had evaporated into thin air. The can landed on his t-shirt hem, cursing to himself in his head as the water seeped into the fabric.
Gojo gulped, an unbreakable, heavy silence loomed over the two. Could he ever catch a fucking break from Shoko’s smart ass? Gojo could hear all the rustling of the leaves, the screams of (Y/N) and Geto, and never before had he realized how much he hated Geto’s screams and laughs compared to yours.
All he had wanted to hear was you, and no one else.
“Why would I have a crush on them?” Gojo laughed awkwardly, impulsively flicking open the can of pink lemonade. He took a light sip in an attempt to appear casual and nonchalant. “Are you being sarcastic Shoko? I legit can’t tell.”
Shoko exhaled dramatically, leaning onto the tree as well. Pulling her knees toward her chest, she wrapped her arms around her legs, enjoying Gojo squirming and trying to appear as if he wasn’t panicking. She was sure to relish the feeling of power, because usually, with Gojo destroying everything in sight, he hogged all the power.
“No, I just notice how you’re always staring at them, and even though Geto’s your best friend you look like you want to use the extent of all your powers and pulverize the guy with a flick of your wrist.” she stuck her hand in the icebox, shuffling around and looking for a drink, letting out a shudder as the icecubes rubbed against her.
Gojo spat out his drink.
“You are smoking some HAIRY ASS FUCKING COCK, Shoko. Geto’s my best bud, shit we even compared dick sizes once! If he wants to go after (Y/N), it’s whatever, I don’t care.”
“Didn’t need to know that Satoru, back to the point.” she yanked out a carton of apple juice, stabbing the straw into the carton. She took a long sip, setting it down before crawling up to Gojo.
She looked directly into his eyes, her tone unwavering. “I’m afraid you’re the one who’s smoking... You know, I prefer not to use vulgar language like that. I’ve always realized that you stare at (Y/N) more often then you don’t.”
Not knowing how to respond, Gojo turned around, looking for anything to occupy his time. Firmly gripping onto the picnic basket, scavenging inside of it, trying to forget Shoko’s piercing eyes.
He took a deep breath in, turning over with a bag of packaged red bean filled mochi in his hand. You know what? Maybe he did have a thing for (Y/N), fuck how could he know? He didn’t really have any experience with intimate relationships, the closest he had gotten was fucking a few girls in bed, maybe for a few weeks. That was the extent of it all. He tore the wrapper open, opening his mouth to speak.
“Okay, fuck, maybe you got me. I-”
Suddenly, Geto and (Y/N) burst into the scene. Panting heavily, Geto’s hands on his knees, sweat pouring from his forehead. (Y/N)’s hand over their stomach, you crumpled to the ground, thankfully on the picnic blanket, in a fit of laughter and tears in your eye.
“Heard something about hairy cock, Satoru.” he grinned, extending his arm to his best friend. “I got some, if you’d want it.”
Silence pounded in everyone’s ears, no one even dare breathed a word, aside from heavy breathing from Geto and (Y/N). The trees rustled and whistled with the wind.
“Geto!” you laughed, desperately trying to make conversation, slapping his hand away. You looked at Shoko and Gojo, hoping for some form of reaction, you were almost sure Gojo would chuckle a bit, shaking Geto’s hand. Instead, both appeared disgruntled and were incredibly close to eachother.
You felt your gut twist.
“...Do we have any ramune?” you timidly mumbled, the atmosphere was incredibly serious, you noted, a far cry from the bright, cheerful one you just had with Geto earlier.
“Yeah.” Gojo calmly replied, a tone of negativity carried in his voice, tossing you a bottle. You caught it, fumbling with it a little before it dropped to the ground, dirt rubbed the bright, colorful design printed onto the glass bottle.
He strode off, hands shoved into his pockets and mumbling about something. Geto blinked.
“What’s wrong with that guy?” Geto looked down at Shoko, who was now playing with her hair. He gestured to Gojo’s figure disappearing as time passed by.
“Dunno, why don’t you ask him?” Shoko playfully suggested, drinking from her carton with a small smile on her lips.
“Thanks, smartass, will do.”
‧₊˚✩彡.
“Yo, Satoru!” Geto jogged over, feet repeatedly hitting the pavement, it sorta sounded like a rhythm.
Gojo glanced over his shoulder, begging to all things good that it was (Y/N) about to dramatically confess his love to him. On any other day, Gojo would welcome Geto with open arms, ready to go pick up chicks in Tokyo and take them to the bedroom, but an anger was brewing inside of him instead.
“Hi.” he muttered, anxiety now overfilling out of the brim of his body. What did Geto have that he didn’t?
Geto strode up, spitting at the ground as he did so. “What’s with the long face, didn’t get any pussy recently?” he joked, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Gojo, in response, jerked his shoulder away.
Geto looked at Gojo’s face, a mixture of confusion before a look of understanding settled in.
“Hey, man, you good?”
Gojo nodded, glaring at a group of pigeons eating scattered bread. Staring back at Gojo, they hopped backwards, small bits of bread in the hold of their beaks.
Even Geto didn’t know how to respond to such a serious Gojo. He smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.
“Um, well, you know there’s a shit load of time left for the picnic. You can come back whenever, (Y/N)’s been meaning to talk to you about some bullshit.”
Gojo perked up, his slump disappearing. It seemed like the guy had a whole new personality.
“Really?” a tinge of hope in his voice, he tried hiding it.
Geto nodded before grinning, looking down at Gojo’s feet, and then looking up.
“What, you checking me out?” Gojo scoffed, a hint of relief at the casual talk. It had been a while since he had really talked to Geto like a best friend.
“Nah.” Geto faced towards the picnic area, his back now facing Gojo. He glanced back, long black hair blowing in the wind.
“I’m gonna assume this is about (Y/N), good luck..”
Gojo watched as Geto casually walked back to the site, as if he didn’t just say weirdly serious sounding shit, like he didn’t carry all the worries in the world with his shoulders.
“What the fuck could (Y/N) want?” Gojo murmured to himself, kicking at some pebbles as he looked at the ground.
#teenage gojo satoru#gojo satoru#jjk gojo satoru#jjk fanfic#gojo satoru x you#gojo satoru x y/n#gojo satoru x reader#gojo#gojou#jujutsu kaisen#jjk gojo#jjk#jjk x reader#jjk x y/n#jjk x you#jjk geto suguru#geto suguru#jjk shoko ieiri#shoko ieiri#ALL CHARACTERS ARE TEENAGERS IN SECOND YEAR#idk how to characterize shoko and geto oops#sorry for blueballing u all#im just super lazy LOL
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"Ice Cold", a Leon Kennedy x reader fanfiction
As an Art and Design student all you want to do is just knuckle down and finish that one goddamn piece you've been working on for months. Too bad your time is constantly stolen by your Waiter job with minimal pay, but hey, at least the tips are good if you unbutton your shirt that one more time.
Masterlist
Chapter 2: The Sketches
“It’s ten A.M. dumbass, get out of bed.” You woke up to the sound of your roommates voice and the feel of a pillow hitting your face. “We have our reservation in like fifteen minutes…”
The reminder of your scheduled fancy breakfast with your roommate managed to wake you up fully and you instantly ran into the bathroom to have a shower.
As you stood there with the water running on your skin you began to feel your head pounding. “Great, a fucking hangover.” You muttered as you turned the shower knob, stopping the water and leaving you cold. You stepped out of the shower with a towel hanging over your shoulders and sat down on the toilet seat. "Hey, can you maybe make me some tea or coffee or something? I got a headache, probably overworked or something" you lied, shouting to your roommate.
“Yea sure 'overworked', huh? Don't worry, I'll make something but get ready already!" You dried yourself with a small towel and put on some light clothes. A pair of shorts and a white shirt, it was hot outside due to it being summer and wearing anything other than shorts is a death sentence. You didn't feel like styling your hair so you just refreshed yourself, hoping you wouldn't look too bad. You stepped out of the small bathroom and were greeted by your roommate who handed you a glass of water with a pill. "I'm sure this will help more than just some tea.. after your 'overworking'". They winked at you and you feared they thought something different than what actually happened.
"Hey hey hey, that's not what happened okay? Imma tell you when we're eating, alright? But don't assume anything wrong, you hear me?" You laughed a little, but had to stop because of your headache. You took the glass of water and the mysterious pill, placing it in your mouth and then swallowing it with a gulp of water. You then saw your friend standing at the door, already wearing shoes and ready to go out. You sigh as you grab a pair of sneakers from under your bed, practically jumping straight into them.
“I read the reviews of this restaurant we’re going to and legit like all of them say that it’s super cold in there, you might want to grab your jacket.” They get the jacket off of the back of the door and hold it out for you to take.
“Thank you, thank you.” You accept the jacket and fold it over your arm as you place your phone in the pocket, but rather than it going straight in like normal, something is in there and blocks it from sitting perfectly. You place your phone in your back pocket and reach your hand into your jacket, pulling out a white envelope. The envelope was a little heavy and had a note written on it “This semester is on me, think of it as payment for agreeing to decorate my house - Leon S. Kennedy.” You slit the envelope open and it looked identical to your tips envelope, absolutely filled with cash. You let out a small gasp. "Holy shit."
You looked at your roommate who also looked at you and the envelope laying in your hand. "Yeah, holy shit. Are you working as a stripper now or how'd you get all the money suddenly?"
“Although I would be a great stripper… No.” You look at the cash, not knowing what to do with it. "I have to give it back. I can't just keep all.. this."
“Uh?! Yes you can!” Your roommate looked at you like you were an idiot. “That's like five grand there! If you’re not going to take it I will gladly take it for you!”
"No way! I can't just accept this money!” You close the envelope and place it on the desk on your side of your shared room. “This doesn't feel right, you know that." You thought about what you're going to do next. You looked between your friend and the money and decided you need to do the right thing. "I'm sorry, but I have to return it. As soon as I get my paycheck I will go out to eat breakfast with you, I promise! But I need to do this. Sorry." You grabbed the envelope again and walked past your roommate and out the door, giving them a look of excuse. They simply scoffed and slammed the door behind you.
As you sat outside on the curb you used your phone to look up where you were last night so that you could get Leon’s address. As you ordered your taxi it asked you for some contact details. “Kennedy.” You chuckled as you entered that as your last name, thinking it would be a funny joke. On your way you texted your roommate once again, apologizing for your behavior but not for your need to do the right thing. You sighed as you put your phone in your pocket and looked out the window.
After some time you arrived at what appeared to be Leon's home. You couldn’t really see it the night before since it was dark, but it looked even better during the day than you could have imagined before. You paid the taxi driver, with your own money this time, then left the car and went towards that big door. You looked for a bell but couldn't find one so you knocked against the thick wood, hoping someone would even hear it. After repeating this a couple more times and almost giving up, the door opens and you are greeted by a woman. She was wearing a white dress shirt and a black bustier over the top, followed by a black pair of trousers. Confused, you looked at her and then at the house, thinking you were wrong. "Can I help you with anything?" The woman asked, not even bothering to ask you inside.
"Uhm.." you stuttered, not knowing what to do in this situation. "I thought someone else lived here, but I guess I'm wrong. Sorry for bothering you." Something inside you actually hoped you typed in the wrong address. This couldn't be Leon's home, right? But it looked so similar? Maybe all the drinks added up over the night and made me remember this wrong..? You thought back to the day before and remembered how Leon was actually texting someone and didn't tell you a name or something. Maybe he actually has a wife or something and I misunderstood last night. Maybe he actually paid me to.. stay away? You shook your head. That's bizarre. Or is it?
"Who did you think lived here then? Maybe I can help you." You were taken back to reality from that woman's voice and looked at her.
Fumbling with your hands you tried to form a whole sentence, but all that came out was "Kennedy."
She looked at you. "Do you mean Leon Kennedy?" You nodded your head, still hoping you were wrong here. "Well, it appears you are right then. May I ask how you know him? I've never seen anyone like.. you here." It seemed to you she spit that 'you' out as if you were something less worthy than her. But maybe you were once again imagining things.
"Well, we actually met yesterday and he invited me to come over. I forgot to give something to him, so that's what I'm here for now. Can I see him now?" You looked at the woman standing in your way, trying to be confident.
“Mr. Kennedy is out of the house at the moment and he won’t be back for a few hours. I will tell him that you stopped by.” She stepped back from the door. “Bye now.” She practically slammed it in your face, the waft from the door causing your messy hair to blow backwards.
You rolled your eyes and sat down on the steps, exactly where you were sitting with Leon last night. You searched through your contacts and found Leon’s name. After tapping the call button it rang four times before you heard a rough “Hello?” come from the other side.
It took you back a little as it sounded like you had just woken him up. “Oh, hiya Leon.” You looked back at the front door as you began to talk. “I’m sitting on your doorstep right now…” You then looked back at the driveway, the pebbles and the green grass perfectly manicured. “I wanted to swing by to drop off that money you left in my jacket.”
“What, why?” He sounded confused. You could tell that he pulled the phone away from his face when he coughed, probably trying to clear his throat. “That money is for you, Buttercup.” He chuckled, making you blush a little. “You’re not supposed to give it back to me.” Sounds could be heard in the background as he talked but you couldn't tell what they were.
"Is there anyone with you right now?" You didn't even think about that question before it left your mouth.
"Don't worry about it. And also don't worry about the money. It's a gift, just accept it." You let out a small laugh.
"Just accept it? This is more money than I would make in two months! I can't just accept that, Leon! I can leave it with your girlfriend if you don't want to take it back, but I won't keep it." It was silent on the other side. You were worried you took it too far now.
But then, a chuckle and a full out laugh. "Girlfriend? I'm sorry, but you probably went to the wrong house. I don't have a girlfriend, partner or whatever, Buttercup." You could hear him still chuckle on the other side of the phone, but you didn't feel like laughing.
You felt kind of dumb right now. "Well, whoever that woman was, she just shut the door before me and left me sitting in front of it. So I guess I'm just gonna leave the envelope under the doormat." You looked around. There wasn't even a doormat. "YOU DON'T HAVE A GODDAMN DOORMAT? LEON S KENNEDY WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS?" You heard him laugh out loud again and didn't even try to stop him from it. You just sighed and gave it up. "Well, Mr. Kennedy, I'm gonna find a place to put that money. And don't even think of sneaking it back to me, you hear me?" You didn't even wait for an answer and just hung up. You sat on the stairs for a few more minutes thinking about what to do next.
Just as you stood up to leave you heard the door behind you opening again. "Mr. Kennedy just called me. He wants me to let you inside. Please take off your shoes here and.. don't touch anything." There is not even a thing to touch here, what do you want? You went through the doors and left your shoes next to them. The woman looked at you again before turning her back and walking away. So now you just stood there, in this empty, big house with a woman who doesn't seem to like your company.
Just like the night before you went through the entire house looking around, but also trying your best to avoid that woman. At some point you even found some paper and a pen and began drawing some rooms with fitting, and for now missing, furniture. After a while you felt your phone vibrating in your pocket so you put your drawing away and checked your messages. Apparently Leon tried to call you a few times but ended up sending you a message instead. You opened and read it. I'll be back home in a few hours. Please just accept the money, but stay for as long as you'd like to. I wanna see you again later. - Leon. You had to smile. Who even puts their name at the end of a message nowadays? You just replied with a quick 'alright' before putting your phone away again. You went back to what you were doing: planning and drawing the interior design of Leon's big ass home, all from memory from your tour last night.
You ended up placing all of your designs and sketches on the floor in what you assumed was supposed to be a living room. It just had two simple fabric couches facing each other in the middle of a giant room. Each design was placed in order, somewhat resembling the floorplan of the house. You didn't know how much time passed, but you began to feel tired and had to take a small break. Since you didn't wanna cross paths with that grumpy woman, you just stayed in that room. After some time of relaxing you felt really tired and didn't have any more motivation to plan the last few rooms. It must have been the combination of lack of sleep and whatever that pill was that your roommate gave you, so you ended up sitting on one of the couches and you began to close your eyes. Before you even knew it you fell on your side and into a light sleep.
The sound of a door slamming against the wall scared you half to death. As you looked towards the noise, you saw the same woman from earlier looking at you. “My apologies.” She smiled as she looked to the other side of the room. You followed her eyes and noticed she was looking at Leon. He was sitting opposite you with all of your sketches in his hands. You rubbed your eyes, trying to look somewhat alive. Leon didn't even look at her or you, he was way too focused on your drawings. Next to him you saw a laptop, where he seemed to type a few things in separate to going through your sketches. You sat up and slowly walked towards him. Without looking up from the drawings he talked to you. "These drawings are amazing. When did you make all of these?"
You were flustered by his actual interest. "Uhm.. I just made them for fun while waiting for you.. I didn't even take it seriously.." You scratched the back of your head.
"Are you kidding me? You probably.. no, you DID more for the interior design in the past few hours than I or Angel over there did in the past three years!" You were kind of confused by the name. Angel? Her? Was that supposed to be an unfitting nickname or her actual name? You didn't want to ask so you kept that thought to yourself. After Leon's comment Angel looked at you even more disgusted than before, it's a wonder that was even possible.
You wanted to ignore the weird feeling that stood in the room, so you just sat down next to Leon on the couch. "What are you doing on your laptop?" You wanted to look at it but before you had the chance to make out what he typed in earlier he closed it.
"Nothing special, don't worry about it." You sighed but didn't push it. After a few seconds of awkward silence between the three of you Leon stood up from the couch with his laptop, walked towards Angel and gave it to her. You looked at him confused, but he didn't even notice that. He said something to the woman but you couldn't understand it since they were so close to each other. You didn't know what, but a weird feeling spread in your body. Jealousy? You had to laugh out loud, which made the two look at you.
"Is there a problem?" Angel asked you, to which you answered with a head shake.
"I'm sorry, I was just thinking about... something funny." You saw Leon's lip lift up a little bit which made you smile a little bit, too. Angel turned back from you and Leon led her out the door to the main hall.
You could hear them talk for a few minutes before the door opened again and Leon came back in alone. "Soo.. now that you're awake, do you want to grab something to eat? We can drive somewhere or I'll just order something."
You thought about the offer, but instantly remembered why you came here in the first place. "No way, Leon! I can't take any more money from you. I actually came here to give you back that money you left in my jacket. It's good for you to have so much but I can't keep it! This doesn't feel right." You looked at him frustrated.
He just shook his head while laughing. "I told you it wasn't for nothing. You literally just proved me right with giving it to you after seeing your drawings. You earned that money."
You were kind of flustered but still couldn't just accept it. "Leon, it's really nice of you and I don't wanna argue. But you gave me way more money than these few sketches are worth! My roommate even thought I started working as a stripper!"
Leon looked at you with big eyes, then stepped closer to you. "Well.. have you considered working as one? They make a good amount of money and I'm sure you would do great." He winked at you as he laughed out loud and even though you knew he was joking you turned completely red.
"Leon...what. the. hell. No! Of course I didn't think about working as one! I'm happy with my current job.. I guess." You looked at him again, realizing how close he suddenly was to you.
"Well, if that's what you think, alright. But I'm not gonna miss that money and I'm sure you will bring it to good use. So please, stop arguing with me and just accept it." His smile had disappeared and his face was a little more serious, he really wanted you to take that money.
“I can’t, Leon.” You grabbed his hand from his side and placed the filled envelope in his palm. “It’s too much." He looked at you disappointed, as if all he just said meant nothing. "Whatever." He muttered to himself. It made you feel bad for your behavior but you knew it was the right thing to do.
You looked at him in a sorry way and wanted to walk past him. But he blocked the way. "That's all I came for, Leon. I think it's better I leave now. Your Angel is probably waiting for you already."
He scoffed at your comment. “I think you misunderstood something here. Angel is her actual name. If I had to give her a nickname it would be anything but Angel, believe me. She can be a pain in the ass, but she gets her work done. And that’s all that matters for me.”
You let out yet another sigh. Why were you relieved anyway? Whatever Leon is doing with women, or men, was none of your business. You’ve literally only known him for like a day and act like a jealous partner. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to say it like that.”
“You don't have to apologize all the time, sweetheart. I thought it was cute.” He gave you a little wink and you felt your face heat up again. You looked away shyish and waited for his next move. But it appeared he did the same since he was just looking at you, waiting for you to say something. “Ehem..Food, right? I guess that´s what you wanted. Soo... Do you have anything special in mind?” He looked at you with a childish smile and simply answered “Just you wait, I have something great in mind.”
“Pizza?” You chuckled. “I didn’t think a fancy man like you ate peasant food like that.” You picked up your phone and began looking up a place that would deliver to Leon’s house
“Oh come on! Who doesn’t like pizza?” He shuffled over on the floor so that he was sitting beside you, looking at your phone. “The third one down.” He pointed at a restaurant named The Broadway. “That’s the best one around here, trust me, I’ve tried them all.”
“Alrighty.” You tapped on the phone number and as it rang you held it up to your ear. “Oh hiya! I’m looking to place an order for delive-”
“Pick-up. They only do pick-up.” Leon interrupted you.
“For pick-up!” You corrected yourself. When the worker asked for your name you couldn't help yourself. “For Kennedy.” Leon chuckled slightly and shook his head.
You ordered food for the two of you and some simple drinks to go with it. Of course Leon would get wine for the two of you but there’s nothing wrong with soda, especially when you’re already eating a greasy pizza. “Do we get Angel anything?” You asked Leon in response to the other person on the end of the call asking if anything else was wanted.
“She loves garlic bread, just get her some of that.” Leon replied, looking up from his own phone.
After the guy on the phone told you a time to pick up the food both you and Leon put on some shoes and went outside. “You gonna drive up to that poor pizza place with your fancy Porsche?” You asked jokingly.
To your surprise he actually shook his head. “You can choose the car if you want to. If you got a driver's license, you can even drive it yourself.”
You looked at him shocked. “Yea, sure. I’m gonna drive one of your expensive cars. Even if I had a license I wouldn't dare to sit down on the driver's seat. If I destroy it there's no way I'll ever be able to pay for the repair!”
“What’s one car more or less?” As he said that and you looked at him with an open mouth you heard a garage opening next to you. The bright lights kinda blinded you at first but as soon as you got used to the brightness you saw multiple cars and motorcycles standing in the big garage.
“Wow. What the hell.” That was all you were able to say at that moment. “I’m guessing that this is like your passion or a hobby?” You said as you walked in. Each vehicle was spotless, so clean that you could see your reflection in each one.
“Yeah, something like that, you could say.” As he was moving past the different vehicles he told you a little bit about all of them. Even though you had zero knowledge of cars and stuff you listened to him closely, trying to understand what he told you. You could see it in his eyes how he loved talking about these things, which made you smile.
After a good twenty minutes however you had to stop him. “As much as I love listening to you blabber away, I really wanna get our pizzas now.” Exactly at that moment your stomach began to growl, making you and Leon laugh.
“Well then, I hoped you listened closely. Go on and pick a ride.” He gestured around the both of you. You were thinking for a few seconds before finding a car you liked. You pointed towards it. “I like this one.” He followed your gaze and walked towards the car.
“I see. So you like the big ones, huh? Well then this Jeep Grand Cherokee is perfect for your needs.” He talked like he advertised the car which made you laugh and shake your head. He opened the passengers door for you before taking a seat behind the wheel. In just a few seconds the car left the garage and you found the both of you on the main road. Leon drove the car with ease which really fascinated you.His left hand was on the wheel and he was leaning on his right arm, he probably noticed you staring because he turned to you. “You wanna take over? The streets are empty here anyway.”
You shook your head again. “I meant what I said before. Just you drive now, I'm starving.” He looked back to the street and the rest of the drive went on quiet but nice. “I’ll learn to drive another day.”
Once you got back to Leon’s house Angel greeted Leon at the door, completely ignoring you. Leon tossed his keys to her and she caught them with one hand. As both you and Leon kicked off your shoes Angel hopped into the car and placed it back into the garage with the rest of them.
Leon led you to the kitchen and placed the multiple boxes on the counter, rather than sitting down he reached into a cupboard and pulled out two wine glasses. “Red or white?” He asked you.
“I don’t really want to drink tonight.” You admitted. That small hangover you had this morning wasn’t all that bad but you didn’t want to repeat it.
“Are you sure?” He asked, filling up both glasses with ice cubes. “I would hate to drink alone.”
“Fine.. but only one glass!” You gave in, to which Leon held both of the glasses up in confusion. “Huh? Oh! Red!” You replied to his earlier question. Leon nodded and opened up a small wine refrigerator he had under the counter, he picked up a bottle and read the label to himself. “Only the finest huh?”
“The finest thing is sitting right in front of me.” He chuckled and winked at you as he poured the two glasses, placing the fresh cork on the countertop. “So is this a business date where I hire you to be my interior decorator?”
“I’m only a student, Leon.” You opened one of the boxes and a waft of the smell of the food hit your senses, making you feel even more hungry than before.
“Whatever you say, student. This doesn’t change the fact that you already helped me a lot today. So this one is on you.” He raised his glass and with a cling both of yours met. You took a small sip and then took out a piece of pizza. “Besides, wouldn’t furnishing such a fancy house like this look really good on your resume?” You nodded slightly.
“Yea, you´re probably right about that, too. But let's not talk about work now and just enjoy the evening.” He gave you a smile before eating and drinking too. That evening seemed to never end as the both of you talked and drank, with no end in sight.
Maybe working for Leon wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
A/N: hey guys! This fanfiction is a Collab from me and Qwertyyy12 on AO3. If you want to, you can also leave her some love over there :) thanks for reading!
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Taglist: @trinswhimsys
#resident evil#re2#re4#re6#resident evil vendetta#leon Kennedy#leon s kennedy#leon x reader#leon kennedy x reader#leon s kennedy x reader#x reader#resident evil x reader
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Too Loose And You’ll Lose It
Ch9: Lebanon, Lebagone
Co-written with @icanfeelastormbrewing
Summary: A few months post their reconciliation, Jake and Stella run a mission with the rest of the team…
Pairing: Jake Jensen x OFC Stella Stevenson
Warnings: Bad language, Smut (NSFW, 18+)
Word Count: 8k ish.
Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. We do not own any characters in this series bar Stella Stevenson and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.
A/N: So the mission detailed here was highly inspired by the second book in the Grey Man series. Locations and a few major details are changed, and the names are completely made up. The Terrorist/Political party- The Lebanese Freedom Party, does not to our knowledge actually exist.
Too Loose And You’ll Lose It Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Chapter 8
“Alright, let’s get in position before daylight hits.” Clay looked around as they walked down the narrow alleyway.
“Roger that.” Stella nodded as Cougar replied with a tip of his hat to show he had heard, Pooch also inclining his head.
The four of them stopped by a door to their right, Stella pulling the tool from her utility belt which was fastened around the waistband of her camo pants. She picked the lock in under thirty seconds, a simple job that required a little bit of jiggling, twisting and a good jerk with the torque wrench Cougar was holding to defeat.
“Not particularly high security considering this was a bank.” She mumbled as behind her Cougar chuckled.
Inside it was pitch black, dust rose in clouds, shimmering in the moonlight, which was streaking through the dirty arched windows. Both of them flipped out their flashlights, quickly scanning the room for any sign that someone had been here recently, but there was none.
They crossed quietly and quickly through the main atrium of the old building, taking care to keep to the shadows. The old bank was completely deserted bar a few desks and old telephones which sported thick layers of dust as they moved through, heading for the spiral staircase at the far side.
“We’re clear.” Pooch said as he looked up to the top of the staircase. “This place hasn’t been accessed for years.”
“Lima Six, anything to report?” Clay spoke into his radio and a moment later Jensen replied.
“Nothing on the comms, they’re talking about moving Kilo One out at the time we suspected but it could be a rouse to make sure…but Lima Two knows the code-word should they decide to go early.”
“Okay, as soon as you get movement let me know.”
“Ten-four, One.”
“Okay, let’s get set up.” Clay instructed and the team nodded in agreement as they all set about, placing various pieces of equipment around the place exactly where it needed to be for when their target and his security detail, in which Roque had embedded himself undercover, came storming into the pre-designated building, seeking refuge from an attack outside.
It took them roughly an hour to set up completely, things having to be precisely as Pooch directed. Eventually, when he was happy, they climbed the staircase at the back of the room. Four sets of eyes swept the square below. It was deserted, as was to be expected at such an early hour in the morning.
Stella scanned the buildings, nevertheless, her eyes sharp, looking for any sign of movement around the whitewashed and pebble-dashed sandstone that they had grown accustomed to seeing over the last three weeks or so they’d been in Nabatieh, Lebanon.
“So Khalil should be coming from there.” Pooch raised his arm and pointed to a small road to the right. “The plan is we lay down some fire by his bodyguards as he approaches the podium, and force them to take shelter in the bank, as led nicely by Roque.”
“Why do we want this guy alive so badly, anyway?” Stella mumbled to herself. “If he’s such a bastard, why don’t we just kill him? He’s a terrorist leader.”
“The Lebanese Freedom Party ain’t deemed terrorists all over the world.” Pooch grinned and Stella snorted. “Russia views them as a legitimate socio-political force.”
“Russia basically executes people for being gay” She scoffed. “Forgive me for not taking their viewpoint here as the one to set my moral compass against.” She sighed. “Cougs could take one shot, straight in the head. Boom. Job done.”
Cougar chuckled as he unloaded his rifle and stand, looking up at Clay. “She’s not wrong, Boss.”
“Whilst wiping that particular shit stain off the face of the earth might be appealing, they ain’t our orders. We apprehend alive.” Clay spoke, matter of factly and Stella rolled her eyes.
“Whatever helps us sleep at night, huh?”
****
Stella had to hand it to their Intel department. The start of the hit went like clockwork. At bang on the designated time, Jensen radioed in to say that they were moving out and sure enough, twenty minutes or so later he accounted the SUVs and jeeps had left the compound. He joined the rest of the team little over half an hour later, leaving the dirty van he had been driving hidden down a dark alleyway at the back of the bank, behind the one the rest of the team had arrived in and headed into the dank building, wrinkling his nose at the musty air as he walked in.
“Hey.” He greeted Stella, his hand falling to her shoulder as she sat in the back, her attention focussed through the window, a pair of binoculars raised to her eyes.
“Hey.” She whispered back, her gaze flicking to him quickly, flashing him a smile as she turned back to her spotting.
“So I picked up on their coms that they think Khalil’s personal security have done a sweep of the area.” Jensen looked at them. “Roques done his job nicely. They should be entering the square from the South West corner.”
“ETA?” Clay turned to him.
“Less than five minutes.”
“Excellent.” Clay nodded. “So far so good.”
The next five minutes or so passed in silence, all five of the Officers in the room observing the roads leading to the square just in case. Even though their intel was solid, it was drilled into them that they should never rely on it completely.
“Boss,” Cougar spoke suddenly, his shoulders squaring back, “target approaching. Roughly two miles out.”
“Fuck, I got something coming too from the North East.” Pooch groaned.
“What?” Clay demanded.
“I dunno but it looks suspiciously like an ARV.”
“An ARV?” Clay frowned.
“Yup. They’ve stopped. Six hundred yards out.”
“What do you mean they’ve stopped?” Jensen demanded, snatching the binoculars off him.
“What the fuck do you think I mean?” Pooch replied. “They’re not moving.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Stella growled and Clay took the binoculars off Jensen. She watched as Clay took a look before he sighed heavily and dropped his head.
“It’s the Lebanese Special Service. I recognise one of them from a mission a while back.”
“What the hell are they doing here?”
“I should have seen this coming.” Clay bit his lip. “They’re going to hit him at the rally. The false trail we leaked to them means they think we’re moving on him as he makes his way out of town and up to Beirut. They’re going to get in first.”
“It’s a double cross.” Stella looked at Jake and Pooch as she spoke, the pair of them exchanging a look before all eyes bar Cougar’s, which remained firmly fixed on his target, turned to Clay. “Why?”
“Death to the West and all that.” Clay sniffed. “They’re gonna take him out and try and use USA involvement as cover.”
“Don’t they realise that won’t work?” Stella shook her head. “We’re Black Ops, the thick fuckers. As soon as there’s so much of a sniff that shit is going west, the CIA will leave us high and dry, denying they had anything to do with it.”
“So what’s Plan B?” Pooch turned to look Clay. “I’m hoping you got a Plan B, because Plan A is going to shit.”
“Kilo one still approaching.” Cougar stated.
“You got anything special in your arsenal?” Clay turned to Pooch. “As in blow up an ARV special?”
Pooch blinked. “Yeah, the RPG but…”
“Go get it.” Clay instructed.
Pooch didn’t hesitate, he shot off down the stairs and Stella watched him go before she turned her attention back to the large square, which was roughly the size of two football pitches, busy with people bustling about their everyday business.
“If we get this wrong, the whole square is gonna be caught up in a fucking gun fight,” Stella spoke, her eyes falling on a group of kids in the middle.
There was a pause before Clay spoke again. “Khalil is our main objective; we just need to keep collateral to a minimum.”
Collateral. Stella hated that fucking word. She swallowed and looked at Jensen who gave her a small smile, which she returned before she glanced back at the square.
“One mile out.” Cougar informed.
“Okay,” Clay spoke, clapping his hands together. “Pooch, as soon as the LSS move, you shoot that RPG straight at the fuckers.”
“Gladly.” He nodded, “But, chances are if they’ve got an ARV out there then they’ll already have agents on the ground.”
“It doesn’t matter, all we gotta do is get a shot off first. Once that initial gun crack is heard, Khalil’s security outfit are gonna herd him in here anyway. And hopefully, when the LSS get note their vehicle has gone bang it’ll draw them into blowing cover somehow.” Clay nodded. “At least then we’ll be able to spot where they are.” He took a deep breath. “Cougar, keep watch on Khalil. As soon as you get a viable opportunity to lay down the fire, take it.”
Cougs, who hadn’t taken his eye away from the target sight of his gun simply tipped the brim of his hat again with his finger to show he had understood and Clay turned to the other three of them as they waited instructions.
“What about Roque?” Stella asked. “He doesn’t know about the LSS.”
“He’ll roll with the punches.” Clay rubbed his hand over his chin. “Everyone clear?”
“Clear as, boss, it’s a shoot-out.” Jensen snorted, nodding his head as he gave a chuckle. “Good times.”
“If this is your idea of a good time then I’d hate to see a bad one.” Pooch grumbled and Stella gave a chuckle.
“Hey, Poochy, I just like to see the positive in all aspects of life.” Jensen grinned, holding his hands out to the side, palms up. “You’re just grumpy because Jolene’s finally managed to…ouch!” Jensen gave a yelp as Stella punched him hard on the arm. “What was that for, babe?”
Stella shot him a look which instantly shut him up. Pooch had confided in her, Cougar and Jensen no less than two days ago that Jolene was four months pregnant, but he didn’t want to tell Clay or Roque for reasons that he was keeping to himself, as per his prerogative, she supposed. It had made her and Jensen snort a little, as when Aubrey had found out she was pregnant roughly five months or so ago, the entire world had known pretty much before the pee was dry on the test stick. Jensen’s eyes widened as he realised exactly what he’d been about to say and he grimaced, before turning to Pooch, giving him an apologetic look.
“Kilo One is approaching the square.” Cougar spoke, and they all turned their attention to him, stepping forward to the window, Clay observing their surroundings with the binoculars.
“Okay, focus up Losers.” Clay hushed them all, gesturing to Pooch. “Get ready with that RPG”
Pooch shot Jensen one final filthy glare before he stepped forward, resting the grenade launcher on his shoulder.
“Arty, Jensen, in position.” Clay instructed. “Coms on, code names only.”
They both nodded, Stel picking up a device that had been in Pooch’s big bag of tricks, and made their way back to the spiral staircase.
And then, it all happened at once. Clay gave the order to fire and both Pooch and Cougar took their shots at the same time. The popping of guns, sounds of screaming and yelling and a rather large explosion followed by Pooch’s loud chuckles of glee hit their ears and Jensen looked at Stella as they waited at the top of the stairs.
“I really shouldn’t enjoy this as much as I should.” He grinned, and Stella snorted as suddenly the room below them was full of voices, once of which the recognised instantly as Roque. From their extensive planning, Sella knew that they would likely hustle into the room in a tight cordon, with Khalil in the middle and head to the most secure part of the building, the vault. They had no idea how many of the guard had made it into the building with Khalid, but essentially it didn’t matter. The Losers were one step ahead.
As soon as the group made their way towards the main part of the atrium, through the open double doors which led through the cashier area, Jensen grinned at Stella.
“Hit it, babe!”
Stella smirked as she pushed the button on the device she held in her hand. The large electromagnets that had been placed on the locks snapped into place, firing the four inch thick steel bolts into their slots, securing them tightly, ensuring no one could get out, and no one else could get in. Yells of warnings rang out about the place as the guards instantly wheeled round, their guns raised and Roque’s eyes flickered upwards to where they were hidden on the veranda above. Jensen raised his right hand, his index and middle finger extended and he waved them across his face, indicating that their next move was about to go down. Roque made no sign he’d seen them, bar a quick double-blink.
“I’m sorry, pal.” Jensen grimaced a little as he ducked down and lifted a heavy square box off the floor, flipping the plastic cover up, jamming his thumb onto the red button. “Lima Two is about to deploy, please return to your seats and cover your ears.” He spoke into his coms, giving the rest of the team a warning. As soon as the device beeped to say it was charged, Jensen launched it over the side of the railing where it fell onto the floor below. As soon as it left his hands, he and Stella ducked down, their fingers jammed in their ears, eyes scrunched shut as the device activated.
Referred to merely by Pooch as the S-Fud- ‘Sensory Fuck-Up Device’, the item had been developed by the boffins in the CIA lab to create complete optical and aural disorientation by using ultra violet and bright white lights and a loud, high pitched sound and sonic wave. Even with his eyes screwed shut, the flash of light still bounced off all the surfaces surrounding Jensen, and the hands which were clamped over his ears might have dimmed the majority of the loud wailing siren, which lasted no more than two seconds, but the combination was still enough to leave him feeling slightly woozy as he stood to his feet, blinking furiously, his eyes feeling like he’d stared straight at the sun, his eardrums ringing as if he’d spent hours in a nightclub with music thumping in his ears. Besides him, Stella staggered to her feet and shook her head, pressing the heel of her palm to the space between her eyes. But they had no time to waste. Jake gently shook her shoulder and she nodded to show him she was okay. Together they made their way down the stairs as quickly as they could.
The S-Fud had done its job, all the men were incapacitated to some extent. As Stella’s eyes glanced around she quickly counted six men in total. Three, one of whom was Khalil, were completely unconscious, face down on the floor. Two more, including Roque, were writhing in pain, hand clutched over their ears, and one was attempting to stagger to his feet. In a flash, Stella had nailed him with a kick to the face, and he fell backwards with a thud, his nose shattering as her heel smashed straight into the bridge.
“Did you see that?” Jensen turned to the other three men who had joined them, all looking around the room. “My girl, she’s a bad ass chick.”
“Can you concentrate on the mission in hand for once and not your dick?” Pooch shook his head as Cougar hit the moving guard with the butt of his rifle, knocking him out.
“Your momma concentrated on my dick last night.” Jensen shot back and Pooch groaned.
“Seriously? Momma jokes, now?”
“Shut up.” Stella nudged Jake harshly with her elbow as she walked past, following Clay as they stepped over the unconscious guards, heading towards Roque as he groaned and lay curled up in the foetal position. Clay knelt down and reached out, loosening his tie and the top button of his dress shirt before patting him on the shoulder, as Stella did the same to their target.
“Okay, lets move.” Clay looked up. “Jensen, Pooch, you take Roque. I’ll get Khalil. Cougs, Arty, give us cover to the vehicle.”
The team all nodded, Jensen and Pooch stepping forward, each seizing Roque under his arms. They managed to get him to his feet, each supporting him, their arms round his back as his arms slumped over their shoulders. His feet staggered on the floor as he made an attempt to talk.
“We got you, buddy.” Jensen said softly. “You’ll be alright, just feel like you’ve got one hell of a hangover for a few hours.”
Meanwhile Clay had managed to hoist Khalil to his feet with Cougar’s help, the man a complete dead weight, which he allowed to slump against his right shoulder. With an almighty heave he ducked and then stood, using his legs to rise up fully, Khalil slung over him in a fireman’s lift, his arms dangling freely down Clay’s back.
Without another word, the team moved as quickly as they could to the dead-bolted doors where Stella reached into her pocket with one hand, whipping her pistol out with the other. She clicked the device, which unlocked the glass doors and they made their way across the atrium, the chaotic noises from outside growing louder as they approached the back door to the bank they’d used to enter. Stella flattened herself against one side of the wall to the right of the door as Cougar took aim with his rifle. He looked at her and nodded, and in a flash she reached out and yanked it open, Cougar darting through, rifle held in front of him.
“Clear.” He spoke and Stella moved to allow the rest of the team to step out into the alleyway, taking up the rear.
She spotted the man hiding in a doorway two down before Cougs even had chance to shout a warning. In a flash she fired pistol twice. The first shot hit the guy in the arm, causing him to drop his gun, the second in the knee and he fell to the floor, screaming in agony. Then came another, and another. As Stella and Cougar continued, Jensen, Pooch and Clay heaved their charges to the side of the van, ducking as shots rained down on them. Pooch wrenched open the door, and Jensen hopped into the back, hoisting Roque in as gently as he could, a sharp contrast to the way Clay simply slung Khalil unceremoniously into the back. As Pooch ran to the front and hopped into the driver side, Stella and Cougar both sprinted towards the van, flinging themselves in as the engine started. With a sharp tug, Clay pulled he door shut as Pooch started the engine.
Seconds later, the van roared back off up the alley, the crackle of gunfire from the square growing quieter and quieter as they put more distance between them and the danger. Pooch drove them out onto the main road, towards the point, some six miles or so away, where they would ditch the van and hop into two separate SUVs and make their way to the agreed Ex-fil point at Saida Port roughly a half an hour or so drive away.
Stella closed her eyes, resting her head against the cool metal of the van, watching as Pooch and Jensen hoisted Khalil into a sitting position, securing his wrists with flexi-restraints behind his back. Cougar was busy offering Roque some water, Stella pleased to see their teammate was finally starting to come round. She smiled as Jensen flopped down next to her, his arm looping round her shoulders as he pulled her to him for a soft kiss.
“I love working with you,” he grinned and she snorted, shaking her head as she chuckled.
“Yeah, we’re a regular nine-to-five couple, aint we?”
****
“Stel?” Jake called through the door of the bathroom of their temporary lodgings before he opened it and to be greeted by Stella led back in the bath, eyes closed. She turned her head to look at him. “I was gonna ask if you wanted head out with the guys for a beer and food but you look pretty comfortable.”
She pulled a face. “I’m feeling anti-social.” Jake laughed at her frank answer and smiled as she gave a small shrug. “Sorry, not sorry, but we spent four weeks in a hell hole motel and I’m extremely grateful Clay’s managed to get us holed up in a nice place and not the Officers’ Quarters on base so I intend to make the most of it.”
“Babes, we were both in the army.” He snorted. “Rocks for pillows and all that.”
“Yeah, well it’s been a while since I did that. What can I say? I’ve grown used to the finer things again.”
“Fair enough, I’ll let Clay know you hate them all and don’t want to socialise.” He teased.
“Jakey, we’re gonna be here for by my guess a week at least, plenty of time to go out sampling the finest bars the UK has to offer.” She shrugged, not bothered in the slightest by his teasing. “If you wanna go meet them, feel free. I’ll grab a take out. There were some leaflets pinned to the board in the kitchen.”
“Or…” Jake smirked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, “I stay here, because frankly, that bed looks really comfy and I kinda wanna test it. See how grossed out we can make Pooch.”
“Jerk.” Stella snorted.
“Well, he’s done nothing but complain since we got here about how he has to share this house with us and can’t go in with the others, so I wanna give him something to really complain about.”
“You’re such a little shit.” She laughed and Jake groaned.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what? Laugh?”
“Yeah, it’s making your boobs wobble under the water, and that’s making me horny.”
“You’re always horny.”
“Hornier than usual.”
“Well, I can solve that problem.” She grinned and Jake smirked.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, turn around and shut the door on your way out.”
“Ouch, Stells.” Jake slapped his hand over his heart. “That’s cold.”
“Hmmm,” She muttered, laying her head back and closing her eyes again. “If you’re getting in here you better hurry, or the water will be cold too.”
Jake grinned and in a flash, reached back to grab a fist full of his t-shirt behind the collar and pulled it over his head. As his hands flew to the button on his jeans Stella nodded to the door.
“You better lock that, I know you said you wanted to gross Pooch out but if he walks in on us he’ll be scared for life.”
“And?”
Stella merely arched her brow, “No locky, no fucky.”
With that Jake spun on his heel and flicked the lock, before he turned round and shoved his pants and boxers down in one full swoop and swung his leg over the side of the tub. Stella moved forward so he could settle behind her, his legs laying either side of hers. It was a tight squeeze, the tub in the two bedroomed terraced house wasn’t built to accommodate two but neither paid it any mind.
Stella took a deep breath, closed her eyes and leaned back, her head laying against Jake’s chest as his hands softly rubbed up and down her forearms, his lips pressing a kiss to her shoulder.
They were silent for a while, the pair of them simply contented to stay there for a moment, relishing the peace after a long and tedious mission and the chance to relax for an evening before the debriefs and analysis started the next day in the War Rooms of the RAF Base in Suffolk, England. Often, the aftermath of a mission was more hard-going than the action itself. They’d hash over the events, listen to the CIA operative justify some of the more morally ambiguous decisions made, no doubt the ramifications and political fall-outs, be informed about how the CIA were going to play it and then they’d have to submit written reports, which would be Classified at the highest levels and stored in the top secret vaults in Virginia.
It was part and parcel of being in a black-ops team. They knew the script, having read and played it many a times before. But it was draining and exhausting, one of the many reasons Stella was glad that the actual missions they ran, whilst they could last months at a time, were on the large few and far between.
“You okay?” Jake broke the silence and pressed his lips once more to the back of her shoulder and Stella nodded, tilting her head round so she could look at him.
“I spoke to Rey before.”
“Yeah, how is she?”
“She said she felt the baby move for the first time.” Stella beamed.
“Oh, that’s awesome.” Jake grinned back, “are they gonna find out what they’re having?”
Stella snorted, “dur. You know what she’s like. She’ll want to decorate and buy it blue or pink clothes, plus if it’s a boy she’s got time to mentally prepare seeing as all she wants is a little girl to treat like a doll.”
Jake laughed. “Is it wrong I kinda hope it is a boy?”
Stella grinned. “Nope, I was thinking the same. She’s asked me to be with her when it’s born.”
“I’m not surprised.” Jake wrinkled his nose. “Dick’s gonna be about as much use as a knife in a gun fight.”
“Knives can be very useful in a gun fight, if you know how to use them.”
“Oooh I love it when you talk dirty, babe.” Jensen smirked and dropped his head to kiss her softly. His right hand moved from its spot on her arm to stroking her hip, tracing a path down the outside of her thigh. His fingers softly traced shapes on her warm, wet skin just to the side of her knee before he moved his touch up her leg again then across to her abdomen. Stella sighed against his mouth, as her head lolled to the right. Jensen’s mouth moved, trailing a line down her neck, nipping at the hinge of her jaw.
He was growing hard against her, Stella could feel it, and the way his fingers were ghosting over her made her skin tingle and her body shiver.
"Jake," she whimpered.
"Yeah, baby?" His fingers found the tuft of curls and then her nub. "You gonna sing for me, Stells?" He encircled her clit with his fingertip and drew back up. "Let me play that pussy?"
“Fuck...” she groaned, leaning further back into him, her body sagging into his. She loved his dirty talk, being so in control for most of the time, she enjoyed letting herself go when it came to this. “Feels good, Jakey.”
"Yeah? You like it when I touch you, feel my fingers inside? Stretching you for my dick?" He dipped two fingers inside, his thumb able to press into her sensitive clit.
"Jesus, fuck," Stella gasped as he moved into her. The thickness of his fingers felt like she was on fire and had her silently begging his foreplay wasn't long.
"So fucking wet already, babe." Jake was enjoying the feel of her on his fingers. It'd been a long while since he'd felt all of her and he hid his desperation well behind dirty words and filthy ministrations.
His mouth moved down her neck, teeth gently nipping at her skin as he went, lips curling into a smirk as he listened to her softly groaning. Her hips moving in time with his hand as his fingers curled inside her.
Water began to just teeter over the tubs edge but neither paid any mind. Stella's breathy pants bounced off of Jake's cheek as he watched himself finger fuck her.
"I love it when you fuck my fingers, baby."
"Oh God," Stella squeaked, for she was going to hit that edge and fall right over. The time between, the angst of their mission and Jake's mouth were nearing too much.
"Jakey, please," she moaned.
"Cum on my fingers, Stells, then I'm gonna fuck you, really...really... good." With each 'really' Jake barely rutted against Stella, just enough to tease her at what he wanted to do to her.
He wanted to slide in, slow and deep, her body seated on top his, while he feasted on her nipples and neck. He wanted to be buried into her to the hilt and paint her walls with his seed.
Stella came undone as her body quaked against his chest. With a breathy squeak she went rigid and her hand flew from the side of the tub, wrapping around is wrist as she came, her walls clamping around his fingers
"Fuck, Stella, turn around baby, sit on my lap."
She was as languid as the water around them, her body drowning in ecstasy as Jake helped her turn in the small space.
His fully erect and throbbing cock stood at attention, his head just above the water’s surface. He guided Stella just where he wanted her and slowly dipped inside her still trembling walls.
The sensation was more than Stella had bargained for and she moaned out loudly as she sank into him.
"That's it baby, let them hear you"
Jake bucked a bit into her, closing the gap that Stella was slowly shortening, his cock fully inside her and he moaned himself. She felt so good, so tight. Like there was no one else made for him but her. The thought gave him a flutter deep in his belly. She was his, and would be forever, if she'd have him.
Stella rolled her hips against his, grinding down the pressure on her sensitive clit while Jake's lips moved over her skin, nearing her pert nipples. His hands wove around her back, fingers pressing into her spine as he bobbed his hips up and down to meet with her rolls. It was a dirty grind, water sloshing out of the tub like waves licking the shore.
When Jake found a nipple and rolled it between his lips, his tongue tasting her flesh and his teeth nipping at it, Stella tugged at the little bits of longer hair atop Jake's head as she squeaked out a pleasurable sound.
One of Jake's large hands palmed down her back and over the curve of her ass, squeezing her cheek as she rocked all whilst he played with her breasts. The same hand soon found its way between their bodies and pressed hard into her clit before smoothing upward over her tummy and grasping her left breast, kneading it gently.
The more he gave, the more she took and before long she was grinding down against him, her breathing ragged as he thrust up, hard, his hands dropping to her hips.
“Come on baby,” he groaned as her head fell back, his lips nipping against her collar bone, “fuck, I love you.”
“Love you.” She groaned as he thrust up, her hands curling over his shoulders, nails biting his skin. “Shit, Jakey, I’m gonna...”
“Cum baby, come on.” His jaw clenched as her body trembled and her eyes fluttered closed, as she let out a broken, whispered groan. As she clenched around him, Jake gave a soft growl of his own, his hips moving slightly faster as he rutted up, pulling her down onto him. The coil in his abdomen that had been tightening and tightening snapped and his entire body surrendered, a surge of warmth spreading from his belly outwards and he stilled, his cock twitching as he came. A few sloppy thrusts later and he stilled with a satisfied him, his hands moving to smooth Stella’s damp hair back off her face as hers cupped his cheeks. She simply looked at him for a moment and he gave her a grin causing her to chuckle as she pressed a soft kiss to his mouth.
“Jesus Christ, that was amazing.” Jensen mumbled and Stella grinned, her lips meeting his once more.
They stayed still for a moment, soft kisses being shared until Stella shivered a little and Jake helped her move off him so he could get out of the tub and leave her to finish off. He grabbed a towel and his glasses from the basin unit before he dried off, gathered his discarded clothes and headed onto the small landing of the accommodation. Pooch, who was just emerging from the other bedroom shot him a look.
“You better clean that damned bathroom before I use it.” He arched his eyebrow and Jensen grinned. “You’re like the best disgusting person I know.” Pooch continued with a snort before he nodded his head to the stairs. “Take it you’re two ain’t coming?”
“Already came, Poochy.” Jensen grinned as he walked to their bedroom, laughing as the sounds of Pooch’s groans of disgust hit his ears.
****
Stella woke the next morning to a burning deep in her core and Jake’s face between her legs. Her orgasm roused her much better than any alarm or cup of coffee ever could and as Jake stuffed himself insider her, his mouth nipping softly at her neck, she smiled softly to herself as she realised he’d done this very thing the first morning they’d moved up to college together.
After pulling on her Army Uniform cargo pants, Stella tucked her khaki green tee into the waist and adjusted the belt before she sat down and laced up her heavy boots as Jake fiddled with the collar of his, complaining that it felt tight. When Stella pointed out he was slightly more built than he had been last time he wore it a good few months ago, he grinned and flexed his arms to give her the ‘gun show’ making her snort and shake her head.
They headed out of the house and walked the half a mile to the main gate of the base, flashing their ID and making their way to the Mess for breakfast where they met with the rest of the team, Pooch giving them another filthy look as their antics had continued beyond the bathroom and much later into the night. Once they’d finished eating, they each grabbed a coffee to go and headed down to the War Rooms - a network of conference rooms and IT facilities nestled in a bunker along the runway of the RAF Base - and settled down in the leather seats around the large, polished mahogany table ready for whoever it was from the CIA that would be arriving to give the debrief.
They’d been there for roughly half an hour or so and Jensen was already bored. He was messing around, twirling his pen in-between his fingers, the other tapping against the disposable coffee cup. After a pause, he took his pen and began to draw a face on the white plastic lid.
“What are you doing?” Stella looked at him, having caught his fiddling in the corner of her eye.
“I’m bored, Stelly,” his voice was a childish whine, “where is this guy anyway? We’ve been waiting here for like thirty minutes!”
“Just take the fucking pen off him, Arty.” Roque groaned. Stella reached over for it and snatched it away”
“Hey, that’s mine!”
“Jensen, shut up!” Roque shot back and Jensen turned to him.
“Why? It’s not like anyone is talking anyway.”
“You, you’re talking. As usual. Put a sock in it.” Roque turned to Stell as Clay stood up and walked to the door to see if anyone was coming. “How the fuck do you put up with this?”
“He has his mouth busy most of the time.” Stella quipped as she leaned back in the chair and Jensen gave her a dopey grin.
Both Roque and Pooch let out noises of disgust, Cougar’s chuckle just audible from the other side of the table where he lounged with his feet on the table and his hat pulled down over his eyes.
“Yeah, laugh all you want but next time it’s you sharing the digs with them.” Pooch looked at him. “I’m done.”
“Chill out.” Cougar replied and Pooch blinked.
“Did you just tell me to chill?”
Cougar smirked in response, tipping his hat up slightly to flash Pooch a wink.
“The Pooch is perfectly chilled.”
“The Pooch refers to himself in the third person,” Jensen shook his head, “that’s so not chill.”
“Oh…this just got even better.” Clay’s remark had them all turning towards him, the teasing banter dying off as Roque sat up.
“What?”
Clay simply walked into the room, rolling his eyes. Less than five seconds later, in walked a very familiar face.
“Oh great.” Jake mumbled as Stella blinked, coming face to face with her ex for the first time since he’d stormed out of her apartment all those months ago.
“Good Morning.” Evan greeted them all before he nodded to Stella, a little awkwardly. “Hey.”
“Evan, hi... what are you... what are you doing here?” She asked and Evan took a deep breath.
“It was my intel you guys were running down so I’m here for debrief.”
“That was your intel?” Pooch spoke and Evan nodded.
“Yeah, we’ve been tracking Khalil for a while and reached out to him a while ago to offer him a deal. He declined so we needed to bring him in.” Evan nodded. “His activities were giving us cause for concern, not to mention with the Russians behind him. We needed to make the grab before he got even more power behind his cause.”
Jake sensed Stella tensing slightly besides him and slid his hand over her thigh. Her fingers gently locked over his as she kept her gaze on Evan, who had spotted the subtle movement of Jake’s hand. He didn’t say anything, instead the man’s eyes flicked to Jake’s who simply stared back before Roque chipped in.
“So, we got the guy. Did he give you what you needed?”
“I can’t tell you that.” Evan replied, apologetically. “It’s classified, need to know basis.”
“In that case I don’t wanna know.” Pooch mumbled.
Stella’s mind was whirling. Truth be told, she’d started to think about exactly why they’d been dispatched to capture this particular guy alive, when his type were ten-a-penny all over the place. There was a lot more to it than the fact this guy’s ideologies didn’t fit with those of the Western World. And then, the final little piece dropped into place in her analytical brain and she turned her head to see Clay watching her.
“Did you know?” She asked.
Clay shook his head. “Suspected but…”
“Suspected what?” Jensen looked at Clay then Stella. “Babe?”
She took a deep breath. “There’s a reason why we were on a capture not kill mission. At first I assumed it was to do with not making him a martyr but then throwing him in prison would cause just as much unrest. But that unrest will die down when he’s released in a few months in exchange for his cooperation for details on his Russian backers and arms suppliers.”
The rest of the team looked at her, then to Evan who blinked, his face remaining stoic as Stella shook her head and continued.
“He then lets his supporters know that he and his friends in Russia had a disagreement and he was traded away. He retires to some island somewhere, under the careful watch of the UN and fades away into non-existence.”
There was silence and Evan took a deep breath, “it’s not quite as simple as that, Stel…Stevenson, but yeah, that’s pretty much the basics.”
“God, this is so fucking bent.” Stella shook her head. “It’s no wonder the entire world hates us.”
“You know, considering you technically work for the CIA and the Armed Forces, you kinda signed up for this.” Clay raised his eyebrow as Stella rolled her eyes.
“We tried to negotiate terms with him. He turned them down.” Evan replied, matter-of-factly. “So we sent you in to enforce them. The rest, as I stated a minute or so ago, you really don’t need to know.”
“Yeah, classified, we heard.” Clay replied, leaning back in his chair.
“Did you suspect the Lebanese Special Service would try a double cross?” Roque looked at Evan and the man shot him an apologetic look.
“It was always possible, yeah. But you know how it goes…”
Roque scoffed and Cougar shifted in his seat, Evan’s eyes flicking to him before he took a deep breath and shrugged.
“If it helps, think of the bigger picture. We remove their leader, cut off the Russian support, and suddenly the LFP is nothing more than an overhyped street gang...”
“Yeah, that doesn’t really help.” Jensen wrinkled his nose and Evan shrugged, not quite meeting his eyes.
“Well, that’s your opinion. Not ours.” He cleared his throat, “anyway, it’s done. The mission is over. For now, you guys need to lay low. We’ve cleared it with the RAF for you to stay in the area for a while until all the fuss about Khalil going missing has died down. We’ll be monitoring all the usual lines and channels of communication, making sure no one has your descriptions and doing what we can to keep your faces out of the public eye.” Evan paused. “But, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you what happens if we can’t.”
At that The Losers simply looked at one another. Evan was right, they didn’t need reminding. That was the whole point of the CIA running the number of Black-Ops teams it did. It gave them a way to do the slightly grey area dirty jobs and remain at arm’s length, denying all responsibility if required.
“Any idea on how long that’s gonna be?” Pooch asked.
“Probably be a week, maybe two. But once we’re confident we’re clear, we’ll send word and get you back to the US.” Evan replied.
“So what you’re saying is we got two weeks off?” Cougar spoke and Evan looked at him, giving a shrug.
Pooch grinned and fist bumped Cougar.
“Are you staying here too?” Jensen looked at Evan and he shook his head.
“Don’t worry, I’m flying back to Virginia tonight”
“I’m not really worried…” Jake shrugged. There was a moment where both men simply stared at each other until Clay coughed.
“Right, is there anything else?”
“Mission reports due as usual, next forty eight hours.” Evan turned his head away from Jensen and looked around the team. “I’ve arranged access into the Red Network from the hub on the base. Your liaison officer, Wing Commander Levinson, says he can set you guys up with time on the range or the phys- ops courses too, have you join their drills if you want. Might be an idea to keep yourselves sharp.”
Cougar, Pooch and Jake all groaned at the suggestion of the physical training whilst Roque and Stella looked at one another, nodding.
“Yeah, I can go for that.” Roque agreed.
“And that’s it, other than on behalf of the CIA I wanted to thank you, it was a slick operation. We’re really pleased with how this one turned out.”
The team exchanged looks and soft smiles, before Clay stood up.
“Okay, Losers. Let’s grab some more coffee and then we can regroup. Figure out what we do for the next two weeks.
Movement filled the room as they all stood to leave, and just as Stella had picked up her empty coffee cup, Evan cleared his throat.
“Stella, can I have a word?”
She hesitated and Jake turned to look at her. He opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off. “Jakey, it’s fine. Go, I’ll catch you up.”
He blinked, before he turned to Evan, the glare he gave him positively filthy before he turned and left the room. Evan and Stella stood still watching him go, before Stella turned to Evan, the man giving her a soft smile.
“You look well. Being happy suits you.” His tone carried no anger, and Stella found herself returning his smile before she sighed and shook her head.
“Listen Evan, I...”
“It’s okay Stella,” he spoke, holding his hand up, “I won’t keep you long. I just wanted to apologize. I was an asshole when you broke up with me.” Stella took a deep breath as he continued. “The way I acted and the things I said were horrible. My mother would be ashamed and I just ...” he shrugged. “I wanted to let you know I was sorry, that’s all.”
Slightly surprised at his outwardly contrite tone, Stella simply shook her head. “It’s okay. You were hurt. I hurt you.”
“Yeah you did but that doesn’t excuse the way I reacted. So, like I said, I’m sorry.” He smiled, gesturing with his hand to the door. “And I’m glad that you and Jake are, you know, making it work.”
As he spoke the final like, that tell-tale nerve in his jaw twitched a little and Stella knew that he wasn’t happy, at all. But, given that the rest of his apology had been genuine, she accepted the gesture for what it was.
“Thank you.” She gave a soft smile. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry too. I did like you Ev, it just…”
“It wasn’t meant to be.” He shrugged. “Yeah, I get that now. And hey, no hard feelings. If we hadn’t broken up I’d never have met Talia so…”
“Oh, you’re seeing someone?”
“Yeah.” Evan nodded. “It’s early days, we’ve had a few dates and been away for a weekend. She’s nice, I like her.”
“Good, well I hope it works out.” Stella smiled. There was a pause before she took a breath. “I better…” she jerked her hand towards the door and Evan nodded.
“Of course…”
“I’ll, erm, see you around, yeah?”
“Yeah, take care, Stella.”
“You too, Evan.”
With a final smile at one another, Stella left the room and headed back up the corridor. Jake was waiting outside for her, leaning against the wall of the building.
“All okay?” He asked and she nodded.
“Yeah.”
“What did he want?”
“To apologise for the way he acted when we broke up.” Stella shrugged. “That was it, oh, and he’s seeing someone else. Which is nice. I hope it works for him. He’s a good guy.”
Jensen made a non-committal noise in his throat and Stella looked at him. “Don’t start.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You don’t need to.” Stella rolled her eyes. “Stop.”
“Okay, okay, sorry. I just, well, I don’t know what it is but I still don’t trust him, never have. He’s shady.”
“He’s an intel officer for the CIA.” Stella scoffed, taking Jake’s hand. “We’re a Black-Ops team. Far more shady than he is.”
“Suppose.” Jensen sniffed, as the two of them walked down the side of the building. As they went, Jensen suddenly had a sense of unease. Almost as if they were being watched. He turned his head to glance over his shoulder, but found no one. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head, telling himself he was being ridiculous. They were on a secure Military Base, probably the safest place they could be given the circumstances.
“You okay?” Stella asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” he assured her, “so, the rest of The Losers are in the coffee shop. Pooch is already on his phone checking out local bars, fancy hitting a few tonight?”
“Why not?” Stell grinned up at him, leaning up to place a soft kiss to the underside of his jaw. Jake smiled, and pulled her closer as they headed off to join up with the rest of the team, casting a final glance over his shoulder, once more seeing nothing out of the ordinary.
****
Chapter 10
#too loose and you'll lose it#jake jensen#jake jensen x ofc#jake jensen x original female character#the losers#the losers fan fiction#jake jensen fanfiction#chris evans#chris evans characters
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seaside
she glanced at laurie desperately, searching his eyes for the amusement he often had when she was young and bratty and stupid. but there was no amusement, only understanding. that understanding was something that she could never get used to, and it made her shiver each time she found it.
summary: a more reflective, detailed look at laurie and amy’s budding relationship in europe.
a/n: welcome to my blog! i have lots of random fics in my notes app, so i’d thought i’d share, just in case anyone happened to enjoy it :)
the tide pulled itself in as the pair grazed the shoreline. they strolled silently, eyes fixated on the rocky sand. amy made it a habit to pause every couple of steps, yanking treasures from the sand like a greedy toddler with grubby fingers. her gaze finally shifted from the collection of granulated stones and shells at her feet to the rough, choppy water. the ocean seemed to pull at her heartstrings with every crash, the salty mist reversing the clock, taking her back to a time of golden sun and kites and pastel ribbons. but there was no sun, no kites, and no ribbons. the sky was blanketed in grey, reflecting on the sea. it was a vast expanse of nothing. she figured that she could recreate that exact scene by simply draping her brush in one bland color.
and suddenly she was feeling that yearning again. the yearning for her first loves. she missed her sisters more than she knew she could. that yearning coursed through her veins, personifying itself in a twisted expression of disdain. laurie averted his eyes from the sand, studying her face for a few minutes before quipping,
“why the long face? was that rock not everything you hoped it would be? you know ames, not everything can be as beautiful as you”
he bowed half hazardously, bumping into her side. she giggled, as she’s always done around him, shaking her head and tossing the mundane stone she held back into the water. they walked on for a few minutes before amy finally broke the silence,
“i miss them,” she murmured, “i didn’t realize that being away this long would suck so much. and no one’s told me how beth is. it’s like —it’s like they think i can’t handle it or something” she glanced at laurie desperately, searching his eyes for the amusement he often had when she was young and bratty and stupid. but there was no amusement, only understanding. that understanding was something that she could never get used to, and it made her shiver each time she found it.
“i think,” laurie began, “i think that they only reason they won’t tell you anything about beth is because of beth.”
amy scoffed, dropping her eyes, in search of another worn out pebble or halved shell,
“is that another one of your riddles?”
“no,” laurie smiled. her stubbornness was oddly pleasing to him. it wasn’t the haughty, brazen sort of stubbornness he was used to. the kind jo championed and he also, regrettably, exhibited. no, amy’s stubbornness was a quiet kind. one that was resolute, but had no neediness to it. this form of stubbornness seemed so out of character for the extravagant little girl she once was. he marveled at how much she had changed since their childhood in concord. somehow europe, arguably the most pompous, garish, vain location on God’s green earth, humbled her. laurie found himself staring at her again, rapidly gathering what his next sentence was meant to be,
“c’mon you know that way bethy is. she wouldn’t want you to worry. not when you’re halfway across the world and virtually helpless—“
amy raised her eyebrows,
“you think i’m helpless? clearly you haven’t met me yet.”
laurie hesitated, careful to lace his words with some level of decorum,
“no, okay, of course i don’t think you’re a helpless person. but you have to admit it ames, no amount of stress here can change what happens there. beth might not be some brilliant mind, but she’s not an idiot.”
amy nodded, pursing her lips. her eyes were trained on the ground, and she deftly snatched up another relic. this time, it was a shell, the kind that seemed to swirl and swirl endlessly. she examined the shell with an artist’s eye, scouring each inch of its sovereign design. then, with an hum of contentment, she slipped the object into her jacket pocket.
“how many more of those things are you gonna steal?” laurie teased.
“as many as i can,” amy jabbed at the boy’s side, “and besides, it’s not stealing unless we’re in a national park or something.”
“okay, okay” laurie threw his hands up in defeat, “so it’s not stealing. but, why are you collecting all this crap anyways? is it for a piece or something?”
“nah,” amy kicked at the sand, her demeanor slowly loosening, “i just collect them to look at ‘em at i guess” she shrugged, scouting for more of nature’s knick knacks.
“that’s just like you,” laurie mused, “seeing the beauty in everything.”
“oh don’t worry,” amy snorted, “i’m still that old vanity you once knew. trust me, it’s never that deep, i just like pretty things.”
“yeah,” laurie sighed, “yeah i’m not so sure about that.”
“about what?” amy stopped dead in her tracks, looking at him with those wide doll-like eyes he was certain she had lost in paris.
“i’m not so sure that you’re still that old vanity,” laurie’s lips twitched upwards into not-quite-a-grin, “though i’m also not so sure if you were ever an old vanity.”
“yeah right,” amy scoffed, though she knew, in her heart that he was right. the pair resumed their walk, only commenting on the patterns of sediment or the peculiar actions of nearby gulls. laurie noted how content they were together. they often didn’t need words to communicate. it’s as if they were of one mind. this type of silence was something he hadn’t ever enjoyed. not even with jo.
laurie shuddered at the thought.
#litte women 2019#little women#amy x laurie#laurie x amy#amy aesthetic#amy march#florence pugh#timothée chamalet#theodore lawrence#laurie laurence#louisa may alcott#greta gerwig#emma watson#eliza scanlen#perioddramacentral#period drama
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Umm hi 👉👈 I realized that most of the asks you guys get are about games and rec lists. You guys deserve so much recognition for the work you put in this blog, so I wanted to ask if I can do a little get-to-know-the-mods thing? If that's okay!
1. Besides writing, what are your hobbies?
2. Do you have a niche interest right now?
3. Any fave songs/artists/bands?
4. Any fave movies/tv shows?
5. On a scale of 1-10, how likely would you survive in your wip's world?
You can totally ignore this if you guys want, no pressure. Anyway, much love to all the interact-if mods! You guys are incredible! ❤
We saw this ask and we went 👀 👀 👀 so we’re happy to answer! Thank you so much for the fun ask!
We also rated our survivability in all of our collective games, since Mars isn't an author! Fun stuff! Spoilers, though: it’s really not looking so great for me (Dani) but that’s fine!!! 😌
1. I’m a photographer as well as a graphic artist (but not like. A painter/drawer kind of artist!) and, on a general level, a maker and a tinkerer!
2. Fountain pens! I only write with ink, and only with fountain pens, and I use bottled inks/converters!
3. I’m pretty eclectic with music, but my top genres are alt rock, indie, indie pop, etc, as well as top 40s and some rap.
4. I feel like this is the hardest one for me to answer? Favorite movies/shows? Avatar: the Last Airbender has been a favorite show of mine since I was a little kid, but I have a harder time thinking of shows I would call a favorite in recent years. There are shows I’ve liked, and a lot of shows I’ve watched. But I’m picky! And demanding! It takes a lot to earn a place in Dani’s Trophy Case of Favorites. 😌 I would say I quite liked A Quite Place (movie), and I liked Us (movie). When it comes to TV shows, I have a hard time being pleased with them if they don’t end well. As a result, I have a penchant for a good limited series/miniseries (because they’re stories that have an end in mind and the plot reflects that, dagnabbit).
5. Heh. Okay.
In The Goodfellows? I think I stand I chance. I can exercise my sparkling wit and lovable personality to the best effect. I’m gonna give myself an 8/10 survivability rating. Even if I don’t have the right skills, I can go crying to the person who does and they’ll save me. Maybe.
In Creatures’ Cradle? I’m super $**!%d. 😌 1/10 survivability rating. And that 1 is me being nice to myself. The day the apocalypse breaks out I would probably be patient 0. I am self-aware. I would not do well in an apocalypse. Zombies care not for aforementioned sparkling wit and lovable personality, and I have all the muscle of a boiled spaghetti noodle. So it’s a no go.
Greater Than Gods (Cruz): Well. I’m going to be optimistic. And say that I have the wisdom not to do things I shouldn’t do and not to rock boats I shouldn’t rock. I’m going to give myself a 7/10 based on insider information, but also based on reckless optimism!
Vardir (Cruz): Cruz says this is a lighthearted game, so 10/10 LOL.
When it Hungers (Roast): I’m giving myself a nice, mediocre 5/10. I think I could put my mind to work here; I joke that I’m the village idiot, but I’m actually pretty smart! Unfortunately, I’m also curious, and maybe a little bad with authorities who won’t answer my questions. So I knocked off a lot of points due to the fact that I’d probably poke the metaphorical bear. So it’s a real coin flip as to whether I’d really make it or not.
Orthall Bay (Nines): Considering the genre is “horror” and the game intro includes the words “monster” and “maim,” I’m giving myself a whooping, enthusiastic 3/10. Yes, folks, I am that confident in myself! Once again, I can’t charm the socks off a monster (or can I?), so one of my greatest weapons is snatched from beneath my feet. Alas!
1. Beloved I’m a college student in the middle of a pandemic... i can hardly even write LOL i do draw at times which u can see in my personal blog (nothing too good really) and i used to do karate before things went to shit <3
2. Nothing niche I believe? All I do is leave Netflix as bg noise every day n play popular videgames (genshin)
3. Porter Robinson <3 I love Bea Miller a lot as well but lately I’ve been feeling Porter a lot
4. The Good Place <3
5. My WIPs:
Greater than Gods: Highly situational, the world GtG is set in is as broad as the real world LOL so I don’t have an universal answer. But keeping it vague, and knowing my own personality, I feel like 5/10. depends on my luck.
Vardir: 10/10 no one dies in Vikgade, unless you’re a hunter but I wouldn’t be a hunter <3
Others’ WIPs
I'm gonna give myself a solid 5/10 in all other WIPs because y'all aren't writing lighthearted stories either. I feel like as long as I avoid the role of the MC I will be mostly fine. I hope. But as Dani said I'm also prone to fight the wrong person and dig my own grave so 😌
1. Well, writing is a very, very, very, distant hobby since Words Hard, but I like to crochet and sculpt a little! Anything to do with fiddling with my hands and I’m good to go. And like, debatable but graphic design is my passion [insert clown emoji here since Tumblr said No]
2. Oh yeah a bunch! DnD yelling at people, thinking of arson, crocheting, rock climbing and simply vibing. I got into podcasts a few years ago and I’m always looking for more recs, so if you have some, hmu 😤
3. Pls,,,,my music taste is,,,so weird do not let me expose myself with lack of consistency but uhh. Current songs that are stuck in my head include; Cult of Dionysus , Achilles Come Down and The Last Shanty
4. If you’ve ever spoken to me before, I probably yelled about Pacific Rim to you or at you. Plus I love all The Mummy films and really enjoyed Castlevania (s3 excluded, we do not perceive that) as well!
5. Ah, mod survival simulator pt. 3
Alright, let’s go! I don’t have a WIP because again, words hard, but like, considering how feral I am when not tryna seem professional hm...
The Goodfellows: I wanna say a solid 7/10 because I’d hardcore vibe with the Traveler and probably instigate so much nonsense. I can also bribe with blueberry cake so maybe.
Creature’s Cradle: maybe a 4/10 and only because of pure spite keeping me alive long enough to smack someone. I’ve prepared for hypothetical zombie apolcapyses and I won’t hesitate to bap, but will be bapped back because I’m weak as hell.
Greater Than Gods: a toss up between 2/10 and 7/10! I can vibe and be chill but I also have terrible impulse control so...
Vardir: hm....I think pretty good survival rates all around? If you ask me to fight then like, okay sure, your knees are mine. So maybe a 8/10?
When it Hungers: .......8/10 just because I’d refuse to die if I can be a cool creature. Living for the aesthetic can and will drag me outta hell. But I’m also clumsy as hell so I’d probably crash as a porcelain or hold a rooster and perish (aka, real rating is a good 3/10)
Orthall Bay: 2/10, nope. Nope I’d be taken out in a heartbeat. Monsters can go pspsps and I’d head straight into the dark creepy forest like a fool if someone comes @ me. Half the time I’ll just assume it’s sfx makeup and vibe until it’s too late.
god, never put me in a universe where I cannot squawk like a bird and throw pebbles from a window. Oof
Anon, you're so sweet! I give you a forehead smoomch <333 As for your questions...
1. If I'm not writing, I'm usually watching video essays on Youtube. My go-to channels as of right now is Disrupt and Aperture! I just really like their videos. Aside from that, I recently got into podcasts. Currently going through Hello From The Hallowoods and Shelter and Warning, which are made by queer creators!
2. Oh oof, there's quite a bit so I'm just gonna put down one thing. For some reason, I really got into collecting tiny astronaut things? I recently bought this astronaut desk light, and I've got a package coming in for the miniatures I ordered. No purpose for them other than I think they're neat <3
3. I'm a bit private with my music taste (even tho I have Spotify connected on Discord lmao), but there's 5 songs that I'm currently obsessed with. I keep replaying them over and over again. Just squeezing all the serotonin I could get outta them.
4. I can't really say I have a fave TV show or movie because I can't really just pick one, but my current fave is 9-1-1 and Resident Alien. 9-1-1 because I just really love the found-family dynamics and how the show tackles sensitive topics, and Resident Alien because it's lighthearted comedy. My all-time fave movie is Flipped! I have the book too and I like rereading from time to time <3
5. You're in for a doozy, anon, because we're rating each other's games <333
The Goodfellows: 7/10
Listen. Shenanigans with the Traveler. I would get up to so many of them and that is what'll get me possibly bodied, not the actual environment itself <3
Greater than Gods: 7/10
I like to think I have enough common sense to uhhh not recklessly flip stones that should not be flipped <3 I'm a cautious and skeptic person irl so I think I'll hold up well? Then again, it's a vast environment change and while I can adapt pretty quick, I wouldn't like the lack of control in the unknown.
Vardir: 10/10
Going off what Cruz said, Vardir is lighthearted and focused on personal growth so I think I'll be okay! Self-growth here I come, babey!
Creatures' Cradle: 8/10
Maybe I'm overestimating myself, but I think I'll be able to survive in a supernatural post-apocalyptic world! Ah, but it depends on the motivation though. I like the idea of rebuilding communities and eventually societies, but the survival turmoil would be a constant battle I'd have to overcome. If we're talking survival itself though, I think I'll do well.
When it Hungers: 8/10
That's probably my wishful thinking but I think I'll be fine. Maybe. Possibly. Don't like the idea of being regulated by an organization so if I was a non-human creature that could pose a problem but I can roll with it <3
Orthall Bay: 6/10
Assuming I'm not playing as MC, my chances of survival uhhh changes quite drastically. Not enough to guarantee an untimely demise, but certainly enough that it would constantly keep me on my toes. I think that's the safest answer I can get without spoiling anything lmao
Thank you so much for asking! It's super sweet of you <3
1. Too many :'D I knit, I sew, I do carpentry (well, learning), I bake, I'm hammering away at HTML and CSS, my job kind of encourages learning new things and I take that to picking up new hobbies!
2. My time is kind of consumed with school work and work work and WIP work so not a lot of time to pursue niche interests right now. I've been watching a lot of horror game playthroughs, true crime youtubers, and an adorable show on Netflix called the Repair Shop <3
3. My taste in music is "what am I vibing with atm?" I've been listening to a lot of 80's music atm (don't @ me), but also Lo Fang and Kaleo, and whatever spotify recommends me on my discover weekly which is usually complete chaos.
4. I love the Mummy even though it hasn't aged 100% well (I'm a librarian, of course it's one of my gotos LOL), Legally Blonde, Leverage, Jumanji (the original), I'm....very bad at having recent tastes... and very bad at remembering my favorites when asked.
5.
The Goodfellows: I'm a creature of comfort, 5/10 if I can just luxuriate in town and not actually interact with the story sfjkdbsdkf
Creature’s Cradle: I'd like to think I have a 50/50 shot XD 5/10, I want to think I'd be decent at a zombie apocalypse but ultimately would suffer an early fate.
Greater Than Gods: 10/10 if I'm just vibing, less so if I'm involved in the actual story XD
Vardir: I'd still suffer without technology but I can also knit for a living in this world so I'm down 8/10
When it Hungers: I feel like I could vibe here, there's tech if dated, hot showers, telephones are around by now... might still get bored. 7/10 though it'd be cool to be another creature....I should make a 'what creature of snv are you' quiz!
Orthall Bay: 7/10 idk I feel like after the first monster of the week I'd just skip town XDDDD I'm the worst protagonist, I see danger I just leave.
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