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eddiesguitarskills · 1 year

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When We Were Young

Older Ex Eddie Munson x Reader

Other parts 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Intro : 5 years have past since you packed up and left behind Hawkins. Well not all of it, as the people you met there are still a huge part of your life. But it’s been 5 years since you had set a foot in the small town, 5 years since you left him. And now after all that time you were back.

Warning: angst, language, mentions of suicide, miscarriages, self harm, mental health. Arguments. Mentions of break ups. Female identity reader.

Bold parts are flashbacks

Word count: 4.5k

A/n: please only read if you are in a good place, I wouldn’t want this story to trigger or hurt anyone. Let me know if you wanna be tagged in the next part

Not prove read.

The phone rang and rang, the sound being drowned out by the tantrum of a toddler who didn’t want to go to bed. Her father couldn’t hear the phone as all he could focus on was trying not to shout at the little girl despite how frustrated he was. However, the phone kept ringing. Nancy was the first to notice the vibration of the item in the living room, “st-“, she looked over to her husband who was snuggling to get the PJs on their daughter. She chuckled at the little girl’s determination, Steve often said she got her stubbornness from Nancy. She walked into the living room and picked up the phone. “Hello Harrington residents-“ she was cut off “very formal paps”. Nancy smiled knowing exactly who this was, even without the nickname she would know who it was. Who else with a British accent would be calling their house?

“Y/n! We’ve missed you, you haven’t called in a couple of days, how are you?” You chuckle at the end of the line, “do you miss me that much?”. Truth be told it was weird for the Harrington household not to hear from you. Your daily calls were part of the family routine. Nancy knew that’s why her daughter’s temper had been so bad at the moment, she missed her aunt. “Well I wouldn’t say loads but..” Nancy joked, but then her thoughts started to consume her “Are you okay? Seriously though? nothing has happened?”.

You turned the faucet to pour the bath, tears only helping to fill it more -

It was hard not to think about it any time it was mentioned, no matter how many techniques you had learned to deal with the trauma. You knew what she was asking, she usually knew better, not to ask since the only people you ever talked about it to were your therapist and Steve your best friend. But Nancy couldn't help it when she was this worried. Her nails before looking beautiful red and long were now becoming chipped from her biting, a habit she thought she had got rid of in high school. The thought of you being hurt sent her back to then, and the anxiety she felt that night. She felt so uncomfortable, twitching in her skin waiting for you to reply.

You sighed on the other end “no Nancy” it felt weird for both to hear you use her real name, it had been a while since you hadn't called her paps. It used to be an occasional nickname you used for her, but when she got head editor at Hawkins post it only felt right for her to be permanently called that. “I'm okay, I promise. I have good news actually”. The anxieties began to wash from Nancy’s body, she exhaled not realise she was holding her breath. “Steve is going to kill me that you found out first, especially since it's kind of his fault I have good news. But you know Jeremy right? Jeremy slacks, well he was talking to the staff at school saying that they need a new drama teacher. And if they had any recommendations so Steve mentioned me. It’s the perfect job for me, I couldn't say no. So I'm moving back, I'm finally gonna be able to see Rosie grow up properly”.

The anxiety crept back but she didn't want you to know, so she put on the act she used when interviewing people when she was uncomfortable with them. She acted cool. “What? Rosie's gonna be so happy. When do you move back?”. You smile on the other end not realising anything was wrong. “Three weeks” Nancy hmmed to show she was listening. Knowing that Nancy was not the quiet type unless she was overthinking. You knew she was worried about the practicality of this, she was always a worrier. “Don't worry I'll have somewhere to live, my parents are gonna help me to find a house. Hopefully they don't try to move me in next door to them” you laughed, your aunt calls you from the other room. “Sorry paps I've gotta go but I’ll see you soon. Like really soon” the phone hangs up.

Once Nancy puts the phone back on the receiver she storms upstairs in search of her husband. The sound of their daughter had disappeared now, showing that she must be asleep. Nancy didn't even notice all she could think of was the call she just received. She walks into her room to find Steve, in his boxer about to go shower. His face beamed when he saw his beautiful wife, that was until he saw the distress that was written all over her face. “What's wrong?” he walked over to her, hoping to embrace her to hopefully take some of her burdens. He reached out to in gulf her into a hug, she pushed him away. “What were you thinking!?”. Steve was very confused, he racked his brain, did he do something wrong? He knew he must have to upset her this much. He didn't know what he did but if apologising made her feel better he would in a heartbeat. “I'm sorry”. Nancy crossed her arms “do you even know what you're sorry for?”

His plan to accept guilt didn't work out as well as he hoped. He looked to the floor in search of something to say before he could even muster out a word Nancy was speaking again. “I get you to miss her but she hasn't been able to set foot here since she left. What's different now?” The pieces of the puzzle were now all together. “Nancy she's ready, I know she is”. Nancy tries not to shout to wake her daughter but Steve’s carefree attitude was pissing her off. “How do you know that? We have to meet her in the city when she visits because of the triggers, YOU say it will cause by her being here”. Steve raises his voice “I know her better than anyone. She’s ready”. Nancy frowns, Steve, noticing, sighs and sits on the edge of the bed, running his hands through his hair. “I'm sorry... I just can't do it anymore. every day I'm waiting for the phone to ring so I can know she's okay. So I can know she hasn't hurt-” , he chokes as a lump forms in his throat.

Nancy makes her way over to him, getting on her knees him front of him. Holding his hands running circles over his palms to let him know she's there for him. “ I thought time would help it go away, but it doesn't. It's like no matter how happy I am, I can't get rid of the thought, the what if. I hate that the only way I can know she is okay is a call at night. There are so many hours in the day Anything could happen. What if something happened again and I'm not there this time? I can't stand it. I know it's selfish, but her life is here it always has been, it's just been waiting for her to come back and claim it. She's told me she thought about coming back loads I was usually hesitant thinking there were just words but a few days ago when we talked, she sounded so sure. I guess I got excited so I decided to give her a reason to come back. I'm sorry”. Nancy kissed the back of his hands “it's okay, you should have told me”. He nodded, tears rolling down his face, that he didn't realise were there. His wife brought her sleeve to his face wiping the tears “you should have told me everything, I'm your wife, your fears are my fears.” Steve smiles at his wife, kissing her head. “Thank you”. She smiled back “ I am happy she's coming back too. I'm just worried” a laugh falls from her lips “Rosie's gonna think Christmas came early” Steve copied her laugh.

Three long weeks later, you were all the group could talk about you. Except when he was around. The him that was currently stood in his bar talking to his staff about the tasks that needed to be done before he left, not aware that his world was about to be turned upside down again. “Also the band gets in at 8, make sure everything is safe and set up for them. And please no alcohol this time, they are underage I don’t want to get in trouble with the chief again”. The staff nod to show they are listening. “Just give me five minutes Sarah and I’ll give you the handover stuff”.

He walks into the back into a stock cupboard that has a small desk with paper and pens filling every surface, a bar stool and a phone hung poorly on the wall. He sits on the chair and starts to dial a number, picking at the holes in his jeans and waiting for someone to answer. “Hello?” Eddie smiles hearing one of his favourite voices “hi dusty bun” he laughs a little. “Eddie, how's work?” Dustin’s sounded warm upon hearing his friend's voice.

Eddie chuckles “why do you assume I wanna talk about work?”. Dustin laughs “that’s the only thing you talk about other than dnd”. Eddie rubs his hands over his face “god am I that dull?”. For the younger boy this could be further from the truth, Eddie was one of the coolest people Dustin had ever met. However, because of how well Dustin knew Eddie, he knew he would mock him for the compliment so he went with sarcasm. Something he had mastered from Eddie. “You’re the dullest person I’ve ever met. It’s exhausting being friends with you”. Eddie chuckled “I can’t be the dullest, you know Mike”. A dramatic gasp comes from the phone. Every day Eddie could see more of himself in Dustin and it worried him, not that he would ever say, but he hoped he would only get his humour and the rest from Steve. Dustin deserves the best in life and being another Edward Munson wouldn’t give him that. “I’ll tell him”, Eddie nods even though Dustin can’t see him “please do”.

He loved to annoy Mike, pretending he was the bane of his existence but he loved him, he loved all of his mismatched little group just some more than others. The only way he knew to show love was through teasing, maybe that was because of who his parents were. Even though most of his life he was brought up by his uncle who showed him, love, by being there but he also never knew the best way to show it. Maybe that was the Munson way. There was only one time he thought he knew what it meant to love conventionally but that was before everything.

You wait outside his trailer, minutes feel like an eternity, waiting, hoping, praying you would feel his warm embrace…

“I’ll tell him tonight” Eddie expects a laugh or joke, something but all he gets is silence. He worries that the signal has gone, “hello” he keeps repeating hoping this will somehow help the phone reconnect. “Fucking piece of shit” the phone slams back into its holder. There’s a tap on the office door “yeah”, Sarah walks in and sits on her boss's lap. She kisses along his jawline “What’s up Eds? ” he glares and moves her off of him. No one was allowed to call him that, the exceptions being, his uncle, Dustin once and you. The name was now a trigger to him and the slight mention made him tense. A word that used to sound sweet, was now venom to him. Any mention of that word caused him to relive things he would rather keep buried forever.

He is careful not to slam the door to announce his arrival. The more time he can practice what he needs to say the better. Mutters coming from him that would be hard to hear unless you were close. Flowers clutched tightly around his fist. The walk to your door was shorter than he had hoped…

She pouts hating to upset her boss/part-time lover “Eddie, baby I’m sorry” he doesn’t react, just saying anything to get rid of her. “best start on stock and things before they get here”. She crouches down so she can rub his legs. Hoping she could help relieve his stress. His eyes roll back the higher her hands roam, a small moan falls from his mouth. She smiles loving the feeling of being needed. The moment is interrupted by the harsh siren on the wall. Eddie raises from his seat making the girl’s hands fall from him “time to get back to work”. The girl stands up looking defeated, “have a good evening off Mr Munson” she leaves his office.

He Inhales and exhales hoping to get rid of any stupid thoughts that were still spiralling around his head. After doing this for a few seconds he picks up the phone, and before he even puts it to his ear he can hear the rambles of his younger friend. “Wow chill out Dustin”. He worries something bad had happened to the boy since they last spoke minutes earlier. “So you’re coming tonight?” Dustin’s voice came out a lot harsher than he meant as the fear took over his body. “Am I not welcome?” Eddie said confidently despite fearing the rejection of the closest person in his life. If he didn’t want him around who would, he thought.

Dustin stutters “of course you are, I just thought you couldn’t come”. Eddie smiled in relief “turns out when you’re own boss you can do whatever you want”. The phone falls silent for a moment, “shit not again!”. Eddie worries the signal has gone again, he taps the phone on the table hoping it will work. He raises it to his ear. “You there?”. Nothing.

He’s about to hang up when he hears breathing on the other end of the line. “You sure you wanna come tonight?”. This is the weirdest Eddie had ever seen Dustin act, there was no way he wouldn’t go now as he had to make sure his friend was okay. “Yes even if the Harrington’s have got something corny planned… see you at 7”. Dustin softly smiles “see you then”

Not realising Eddie had hung up the phone he continues to speak “Eddie she’s gonna be there so if you don’t wanna come you don’t have to” he waits for a response anything, but there was nothing. He looks down at the phone only to realise he was talking to himself. There was now no way to warn Eddie of what he was walking into.

You had only been back in town for an hour. At that time you had only briefly seen your parents when they picked you up from the airport. Despite Steve’s grumble about wanting to see you first, as you saw your parents a month ago and in his words “it was his right as your best friend to welcome you back”. He still got his way, as despite your knowledge you were dropped off not at your parent's house, not your new house, but the Harrington’s. Being the charmer he always was of course he convinced them to drop you at his house. Not that you were complaining, as soon as you entered the house you leapt into his arms, his arms felt so welcoming, like home. Something you hadn’t felt in a long time.

Steve knocked for the fourth time on the door, but there was still no answer. He knew it was rude to just invite himself in, but surely you wouldn’t mind since you had told him where the spare key was. Plus he hadn’t heard from you since you left the weepy voicemail an hour ago. He hated that he wasn’t home sooner to hear it. As the worry was eating him up and the key was in his hand he knew it was his right to welcome himself in. Repeating your name loudly but softly to not scare you, despite the fear he felt. He looked around the living room, the kitchen, and the dining room. Nothing. He started to make his way upstairs to look. While walking up the stairs he saw the light shine through under the bathroom door. A horrible sickly dread entered his body. He don’t know what came over him but he knew he had to get into that bathroom now…

Tears started to fall from both of the old friend's eyes. You had missed each other so much, more than you had realised. You suddenly felt a small force on your leg, break away from the hug, to see your goddaughter, Rosie. Rubbing your eyes before greeting the child. Then you reached down to her level and beamed at the precious girl in front of you. Trying to hold back tears that were seconds away from pouring again. She had grown so much since the last time you had met, her curls now long enough to be put into pigtails. “Hi Angel”, tears started to flow from the small girl’s eyes. She had missed you so much. You wiped the tears with your thumb from the little girl's eyes, “I’m sorry I was gone for so long”. Rosie sniffles “meanie”. You nod “I know I’m a sorry princess. You’ll never have to miss me again, I will always be here”. The girl pouted, she was happy at the thought of always having you around. But she was scared it wasn’t real unless. She stuck out her tiny pinky “prinky promise” she pronounced as well as she could. You smile. a tear escapes from your eye. You held both of your fingers together “pinky promise”.

After a tear felt welcoming from the final Harrington, Nancy. You were sat in the living room, Rosie’s head resting on your leg. She had tired herself out from sobbing before. Not that you could blame her all the crying made you tired too. You couldn't help the warm feeling in your heart from looking at your family, your home. Steve came in with a herbal tea, he placed it on the table in front of you, and took a seat in the armchair across from you, “thanks”.

You expected Nancy to come out as well and join so all of you so you could catch up. From the sounds of banging and frustrated sighs anyone could tell she was in the kitchen. Which was a huge surprise to you. You hadn’t been in Hawkins for a long time, but Nancy was Never, a cook. Not that she hadn’t tried, but she already had so many amazing talents, so what did it matter if there was one thing she couldn’t do? She was still perfection in your, Rosie’s and Steve’s eyes.

You leaned the upper half of your body towards your best friend, careful to not unsettle the small girl underneath you. Whispering loud enough so he can hear “what is Nancy doing in the kitchen? Isn’t it your best friend's duty to make sure I’m not poisoned on my first day back” you joked. “She’s not that bad”. You raised an eyebrow at Steve. “I swear she better, she doesn’t burn as many things as she used to”. You both chuckle “reassuring. But She doesn’t need to cook just because I’m back, I’m not classy I would happily have a KFC”. Steve's mouth watered at the thought of his favourite takeout that he had been trying to cut down on, scared of getting a “dad bod”. He would say it wasn’t cool for someone his age to have one. “Well she thought it would be nice, especially with everyone coming over”. Your mascara-stained eyes went wide. “Have you seen me?” signalling down to the tracksuit you had on for travelling, “I look a mess, I can’t see people like this”. You had never been one to worry about looks but messy raccoon's eyes and a tracksuit didn’t seem fitting for a welcome-back dinner.

After raiding Nancy’s closet for something that would fit, you came across a simple floral dress. Nothing spectacular but it was pretty. It was clear from the tag that Nancy had never worn it, but she insisted she didn't mind as she has received it for Christmas last year and it wasn't her style. She knew it would look beautiful on you. However, Nancy was always one of your biggest cheerleaders so if she was telling the truth or not you'd never know. You had also cleaned your face and put on mascara and Lipgloss you had in your bag. Feeling too bad to borrow more things from Nancy.

The couple were struggling to get the girl to bed before everyone came. Rosie has a serious case of Fomo. “I will only go to bed if auntie y/n takes me”. You would have done anything she said so you were more than happy to follow her orders. However, her parents knowing all too well knew her tricks. They knew she would make it so you couldn't leave her, showing you her puppy dog eyes, which even her parents weren't completely immune to. Meaning you were either going to have to stay in her room with her or take her to the party downstairs. So they thought it was best they did it, which made you sad, you would have honestly preferred to be stuck with the girl all night. Not that you didn't want to see your friends you were just nervous and you felt more comfortable around a 3-year-old, who you know wouldn't ask questions. Wouldn't judge. Wouldn't be scared you were gonna hurt yourself again. She would just be happy to be around her Aunt, probably talking your ear off about my little pony( her new fixation).

You sat in the living room again twiddling your thumbs, hating that could hear the sobs of Rosie upstairs asking for you. You wanted to go upstairs, hearing someone needing you so much was making your heart break but you knew you had to respect her parent's wishes, especially since they were the people you trusted most.

Bang. You jumped not expecting to be pulled away from your thoughts by a knock on the door. You hoped Steve would come down and answer it. You felt sick with butterflies. There was a knock again. You knew it was stupid to be scared to see old friends, but you could never help but feel awkward around them. When in the few times you had seen them since leaving, they all had the same glint in their eyes towards you. Fear. Maybe seeing you more now, showing that you had finally started to have your life ok track would stop that. You were being ridiculous, you knew they only worried because they cared, and it would be fine.

Upon hearing another knock, you held onto the sofa to get up scared your knees would fail you. You exhaled and put on the biggest smile you could. Waking over to the door. You grabbed the handle pulling it open, ready to welcome your friends. However, on the other side of the door was someone you still hadn't prepared yourself to see. You wanted to pitch yourself to make sure this wasn't a nightmare. ‘Ignore your heartbreaking and just keep smiling’ you told yourself. “Long time no see”. If anyone from far was watching they would have thought from the beam on your face, that you were greeting an old friend. But from Eddie’s face, you could tell it was anything but that. Well, his expression was hard to explain. But from his frozen body, it was clear he was shocked. You kept smiling trying to ignore the awkward interaction playing out. You moved your body to the side “come in”. He did but his facial expressions didn't change, he wouldn’t stop staring at you. “So how have you been?”

Steve came bounding down the stairs upon hearing the door shut, happy to be able to get away from his daughter's trauma. He stopped on the bottom step when he saw the unexpected guest. He wore the same face as Eddie. You looked between the pair, you needed Steve now more than ever so you were glad to see him. “Is she still crying for me?”. He nodded still staring at Eddie. You clear your throat you needed him, now wasn't the time to freeze up. He broke away from his trance, looking to you. “You know you should probably go up and see her”. You knew what he was trying to do but you didn't want to unsettle the girl more just because you were uncomfortable. “Steve I don't wanna make her worse”. His brows came together, how was he supposed to help if you wouldn't listen? “Fine do you mind helping in the kitchen just while Nancy is finishing up?”. You nod, leaving for the kitchen. As soon as you left the room a smile fell from your face. You thought you were over it but meeting those brown eyes brought up memories you wish you could forget.

“God why are you so controlling?”, you turn around to face him astonished by his accusation. “I'm trying to help, if you don't wanna do it fine. I just thought you might need some legal cash when you finally graduate”. He flinched. You knew you shouldn't have mentioned that word, it being a sore spot as this was his second time trying to graduate. You also knew you shouldn't mention the drug dealing, an awkward topic in your relationship as you always knew he was better than that life. You knew how sour his mood was about to become, so you were ready to make an apology when you were cut off. “I get it, you don't think I'm good enough to make it? You wanna stick me in some shitty job, so I'm stuck here forever. While you get to go live your dreams. Do you want me to be your little housewife and have food on the table ready for when you get back from your big successful job?”. How could you trying to help turn out so bad? You were always his biggest believer of him, and this was how he was treating you. You weren't sure if you should even mention the baby at this point.

Steve finally left the bottom step. He hated how sick this situation made him feel, it felt like was he responsible to make you happy, and this way the furthest away from that. However, he also didn't want to make his other friend feel unwelcome. Even if his loyalties were with you, he knew how awkward it can be to see an ex. He placed a hand on Eddie’s shoulder, breaking the man free from his frozen demeanour. “Eddie I didn't expect to see you here. Dustin said you had work”. The long-haired man scoffed “I guess there were things we both didn't know”.

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bippot · 8 months

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Summary: How many times does Vigilante need to get injured before Harcourt finally gives in and hires a medic to help out with the squad's injuries? Far too many times, that's how many.

When it's uncovered that a fancy hotel is linked to, not only what's left of the legion of butterflies, but also a string of weird deaths and missing persons reports, the only two for the job are lovesick Adrian and the newbie.

Will they both make it out of paradise alive?

Tags: Canon-Typical ViolenceGun Violence, Blood and Injury, Undercover as a Couple, Fluff, Idiots in Love. Fake/Pretend Relationship, Summer Vacation, Butterflies, Alien Invasion, Stitches

Music recommendation: Ultraviolet by Stiff Dylans

Peacemaker, Adrian Chase Masterlist - here

One of Vigilante's most obvious characteristics was his recklessness. And this lack of self-preservation and complete disregard of the possible consequences of his actions ensured that Harcourt was almost always pissed at him for some reason or another - whether it was his tendency towards stupidity or how he constantly was nothing other than his annoying self.

Harcourt didn't like Vigilante. It was a fact. She put up with him, of course, as there wasn't really any other way around it. He'd wedged himself into this group and was not leaving at any moment. That didn't mean she had to be nice about it. Especially when he was messing up constantly. Like, right now...

"You're a walking fucking disaster! How the absolute fuck did you get injuried again?" She yelled, looking at him through narrow eyes as the blood seeped from beneath his torn sleeve in a slow but steady trickle.

"She got me." He nodded his head towards the dead body beside him, which had once been a woman who happened to have a very full chest and a butterfly shaped alien thing in her brain. "She got me good."

The injury had occurred because both Peacemaker and Vigilante had been distracted thanks to the boobs. Before her death, the butterfly had thrown an ornate letter opener from the stationary set in this very fancy office that had plunged its way into Vigilante's bicep, and she was swiftly rewarded by Harcourt's bullet in her brain. Why, oh why, did she always have to deal with these two dumbasses? Couldn't they, you know, stop with the whole zero braincell bullshit when they were on missions?

Out of missions? Fine. They could go around town and do whatever useless shit they wanted to. But on missions? And her missions specifically? Well, the fact that they didn't focus was becoming an insult. Harcourt was the leader of these fucking things. If either of those two himbos messed up, it was her reputation as a strategist and as a person who was goddamn good at her job that was on the line.

Was it a smart idea to take the 'boss' mantle from Murn? With each passing mission, Harcourt was seriously beginning to regret her choice. Sometimes, she couldn't even rely on Leota to help keep the boys on track.

"That's a shame. She had a great rack," Adebayo commented once she saw the big breasted corpse. Emilia's eyes flashed with something akin to anger before she managed to hide it behind her usual poker face, but Leota saw straight through it. "I know, I know, feminism and stuff about being more than our bodies - which I agree with, obviously - but those bazongas are stellar. It has to be said."

"No. No, it doesn't though. It doesn't have to be said."

From their earpieces, they heard John question, "Who's got a great rack?" over comms. Harcourt was surrounded by idiots on all sides, it seemed.

"You want me to take a pic?" Peacemaker patted himself down in search of his phone, which was quickly ripped from his fingers before he could even try. "Hey!"

"Let's get the fuck out of here."

With all the information transferred onto a USB that Economos would have to do his hacker shit to get past the encrypted files, the mission was over. They'd gotten what they need to. The extraction team could go home and not see each other for a while, which was something that Emilia desperately needed. Time away from these assholes was the only thing on her mind, so she began the walk back to the RV with a departing and very disapproving snarl to her teammates.

Peacemaker, ever the Harcourt simp, pushed Vigilante to encourage him to start following after her so that he didn't look so whipped when he did the same. As he made contact with Vigilante's shoulder, Chris accidentally touched Adrian's wound and he yelped loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Ah, sorry, dude."

"Don't worry, man. It doesn't even hurt."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."

Adebayo was last out. She looked over her shoulder and saluted. "Thanks for your boob service, soldier," she stated as she left. Keeya wasn't even going to believe how good they were.

When they were all back at the van, each member of the group had their own things to do. Chris was rustling a crisp packet out of the passenger's side window to get Eagly to follow the vehicle. Leota was in the process of changing out of her blood-soaked clothes in the tiny RV bathroom, which was a real test of flexibility. John was driving. And Adrian was pitifully sighing every two seconds in an attempt so that Peacemaker would pay attention to him and help him patch up his shoulder.

Somebody had to help the bleeding idiot out. Emilia was the only one left. Fuck. She didn't want to. She really didn't want to interact with him when she had the chance to put headphones on and disassociate until they got back to HQ. But... she couldn't let him injure himself further. He was an effective member of the team and it would be best if he didn't give himself an infection.

"Don't say a word."

She snatched the antiseptic wipe out of his hand and cleaned his wound haphazardly. Honestly, she didn't care if she was being too rough. He was fucking annoying her and, well, she wasn't afraid to show it.

"Ow, ow, ow, what the fuck?" He whined, swatting weakly at her hands but Harcourt wasn't budging. "Be careful with those man hands of yours."

If looks could kill, Adrian would've been dead so long ago. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and, therefore, Harcourt just ignored him instead and continued her ministrations, muttering, "Shut the fuck up," which she knew was going to be ignored anyway.

After cleaning the wound up a bit, she grabbed the needle and Adrian swore he saw his life flash before his eyes. Was this the moment that Harcourt went crazy and finally sewed his mouth shut? She'd threatened to do it before. He'd pushed her so far. Shit. Shit. Oh shit. He swallowed and shut his eyes tightly, bracing himself for whatever came next.

But, Harcourt just began to stitch his skin together - albeit begrudgingly - and blocked out Adrian's borderline embarrassing whimpers of pain. He was loud so it was hard to ignore. Still, he could help but stammer out, "Fuck. I wish we had a nice nurse instead of this shit. You wouldn't have to patch me up then," and, for once, the dumbass had a good point.

Leota was the best when it came to first aid, but she wasn't a nurse by any means. The group had often got into scrapes and dumbass fights, and it was rare that they got out of them without a cut or a broken bone or two. So, yeah, a 'nice nurse' would be a godsend. And, even better, Emilia had the perfect candidate in mind.

As soon as they got to HQ, Harcourt ordered everyone home so she could pace around Henenlotter Video in peace and think how she would bring the idea up with Y/N, mentally preparing the conversation in her head. It's not as if Y/N was difficult to talk to, quite the contrary actually, but Emilia knew that Y/N got out of the game so did she really want to be the one responsible for bringing her back in.

There was no harm in asking, right? All it was was a phone call. It was Y/N's choice.

"What do you want, Meeley?" was the first thing that Y/N said as she picked up the call.

Emila let out a chuckle at the nickname. Only two people in the entire world were allowed to call Harcourt anything other than her name - her father was six feet under so it was unlikely that he was going to say anything to anyone anytime soon - so it was a very exclusive club.

"What makes you think I want something? Can't I just call to check up on you?"

"Are you checking up on me?"

"Maybe."

Y/N laughed. The pair had always been able to understand each other without saying much. Their minds were wired that way, the two of them. There was little doubt in Emilia's mind that Y/N knew exactly why the call was happening, and that was only confirmed when she said, "Okay, I'll play along." The smile was evident in her tone.

"How are you?"

"A child threw up on my shoes today," Y/N answered dryly. "So I've spent most of my time since I got home from work unpuking my sneakers."

"Sounds thrilling."

"Yeah, I'm really living it up over here."

"I bet."

There was silence. It stretched on for another couple of moments, both women waiting for the other to give in to the inevitable. Neither of them wanted to be the first, but they both knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Pleasantries had never been their thing anyway, so why would they bother wasting their breath.

Finally, Y/N sighed and asked, "What's the gig?" Emilia had won.

"Medical aid on my strike team."

"When do I start?"

"How fast can you get to Charlton County?"

"I'll see you tomorrow."

That was it. The job had been accepted with exceptional ease. In fact, it almost seemed like Y/N already expected she'd be pulled back into the biz at some point, so why not be pulled back in by Harcourt of all people?

Just as she said, Y/N was in Evergreen by the next day. Her time as a 'normal person' had consisted of waking up every day at 7 to work as a kindergarten teacher and she was giving that up at the drop of a hat. She'd called into work to inform them that she was leaving, which must've seemed abrupt to her employers and, if she were being honest, she felt a little shitty for doing it over the phone. Plus, she'd given them such short notice, which was a dick move.

It wasn't like she needed the reference, though. Emilia knew how she worked. Technically, one of her first jobs at the DEO (Department of Extranormal Operations) was acquired through nepotism since Emilia had been the one who put her forward for it.

Walking through the doors of the gross looking building that The 11th Street Kids used for their base, Y/N looked totally out of place. She wore comfortable jeans, a flowing button up and rounded spectacles. She looked like a kindergarten teacher, well, because she was. Had been.

"Hey lady! I think you've got the wrong place!" Chris exclaimed. It's not a super secret base if just any innocent looking woman can walk in. Henenlotter Video had stopped being a renting store more than a decade ago when all the other blockbuster type establishments did. There was no way she was looking to rent a video 2023.

Adrian had been in another room. Harcourt had gotten tired of his constant yapping and forced him to sort some of the files in the back office out, which was totally unneeded and tedious by design. As soon as he heard Peacemaker's calls, he ran in, gun in hand and ready to fire at the first sign of trouble. 'Would be a shame to shoot that face,' he thought as he took in the sight of this intruder.

"Woah, put the gun down, hot stuff," she urged, nonchalantly raising her hands to either side of her head. She nodded towards the guy in the spectacles "I'm assuming that's Vigilante."

"What?! No!"

"That's totally him," Chris shrugged casually.

Y/N slowly lowered a hand, assuring them, "Harcourt told me to," as she rifled through her back pocket to pull out a post it note that she'd hastily written all the information Emilia had given her the night before and read it, "Patch up the, uh, idiot named Vigilante."

Oh boy, being injured was going to get a lot more fun for Vigilante now. It was so cool that Harcourt had given in and given him a sexy nurse. He'd fantasised about this moment. Still, he retorted, "I'm not an idiot."

"Her words, not mine."

Emilia, with John hot on her heels, entered from her office and was rather surprised by the standoff going on before her eyes. She glanced between her three employees, a sigh leaving her lips as she shook her head. "Adrian, put the gun away."

He obeyed immediately, but didn't look happy about it and crossed his arms with a pout. Harcourt gave him a glare, almost like a mother disciplining her child when they don't greet a guest in a polite way. Adrian huffed and let his arms drop to his sides. He was adorable, Y/N realised, and immediately chastised herself as she was about to infantilize an actual serial murderer.

"Take him to the back office and redo his stitches."

Saluting her new boss, Y/N waited for Vigilante to move in their intended direction - she had no fucking clue where she was going - and followed after him once he got the memo, which was when John caught his eye and nodded his head to gesture for him to lead this newcomer to the back office.

Chris, John and Leota - who'd just walked in from their lunch run - all watched as Vigilante opened the door wide, let the pretty girl walk in before him and look over his shoulder to catch Peacemaker's eye. He was rewarded with a suggestive thumbs up from his buddy, one of which Chris was harshly slapped on the bicep by his boss for.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Stop being a pig!"

"Not for me, for him! His type! His type, not mine."

Chris was practically squealing whilst trying to defend himself to the woman he had to look so far down to observe. Harcourt is like a chihuahua, small but fierce and willing to bite if given the opportunity.

"She's nerdy-hot. He's crazy for those." Leota added as she began handing out the food. "You didn't think that part through, did you?"

No. Emilia hadn't. "He's crazy. Period."

On the other side of the door, Adrian was pretending that he couldn't hear his friends talking about him through the door - which was a situation he'd been through way too many times for his liking throughout his life - and haphazardly jumped to sit up on one of the filing cabinets, his butt creating a loud thud against the metal once he made contact. Yet, that sound was overwhelmed by what would become a very familiar one to Y/N from this point on.

Thanks to his energetic display, Adrian had managed to knock over the pile of case files that was to the right of him and were stacked in a wobbly 7ft tower. That was what he'd been doing when she'd first arrived. There were a lot of case files (most of which were classified and mostly contained lots of pages filled with redacted black blocks) and he'd barely gotten halfway into putting them back in the cabinet in alphabetical order like he'd been told to. Honestly, he often wondered why they even bothered with the files in the first place. It was an unnecessary paper trail.

A bunch of binders fell directly onto his shoulder, causing him to whine out, move way too quickly, and rip his stitches, which made another, even louder and pitiful whine come from his mouth. "Motherfucker!" he swore while clutching at his shoulder tightly.

Yes, he was in pain and that sucks. But also, it was kind of funny. Y/N had a hard time not laughing at him, which was unprofessional, but still, she let out a huff of laughter and was rewarded with a glare. "Sorry. Sorry." She calmed herself. "Mind if I take a look?"

"Go for it."

After carefully moving some of the files off his lap, she pulled some gloves on and waited for him to take his cardigan off so that she could take a look at the wound. Stupidly, he'd decided to wear a long sleeved shirt and 'unfortunately' had to take it off. 'Hot' was the one she would use to describe what she was seeing, and cut that thought short before it got more detailed.

And sure enough, there was a circular thumb sized hole in his bicep that was beginning to bleed again.

"Is it okay if I touch you? I mean, it will be pretty difficult for me to fix you up if you say no... it's nice to ask beforehand."

"Yeah, sure. Touch me all you want. I'd love you to." He paused to clarify, "As in, I'd love to not be bleeding anymore. Not that you should jerk me off or anything."

Despite how he was acting, Adrian didn't mind being alone with this woman. She was nice to look at and, so far, she seemed generally nice. No other members of the team ever asked before touching him. She didn't even get offended at his slip up. Adebayo would've called him a perv, and Harcourt probably would've swatted at him.

As she examined the wound, Y/N teased, "Well, I wouldn't want to show favouritism on my first day, would I?" and any sign of his previous grumpy mood had vanished, replacing it was a goofy, wide smile with pink blush that was far too obvious against his pale skin.

Weird. He felt the need to blurt out, "I'm Adrian. My name is Adrian, w-what's yours?"

"I'm Y/N."

"Good name." He could feel heat rising to his ears. Shit, was it noticeable? Hopefully not.

"You feeling warm?" She brought the back of her hand to his forehead due to his sudden change in hue. Her eyes darted from his bright, almost sparkling green eyes to his flushed cheeks as he gave her a slight nod. His head was definitely a little warm. "Have you been feverish at all since the injury?"

"Uh...no."

"Tell me if you do, okay? Infections are a real bastard to deal with."

"Okay."

She moved to find the first aid kit Emilia had told her they owned to find a banged up old box with huge dents and rust around the edges with a 'Medical Shit' sign hastily stuck on a diagonal along the top. Inside wasn't any better. It was only the bare essentials. Thread. Bandage. And three remaining needles. Luckily, Y/N had prepared for this as, in her experience (especially with Emilia), secret agent types are careless when it comes to first aid. They'd rather painfully limp a mile on a broken foot than take five minutes to make a splint and limp that mile less painfully.

Removing the straps of her backpack from her shoulders - which Adrian hadn't clocked until that point because the straps were the exact same colour as her shirt - she lowered it atop the scattered files to the left of where Adrian sat and unzipped it to reveal a bunch of stuff that looked very clinical to Adrian. He recognised some of it but he'd never been very good at the whole patching up thing, despite how much practise he had.

"Who's responsible for these?" She gently wiped away some blood that was about to drip off his elbow. "Was it Emilia?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Cause it's so shitty."

Not very many people knew that Emilia had a phobia of blood. It wasn't as severe these days, mostly on the account that it would be impossible to do her job if she let her fear get to her. Throughout her career, she'd gotten better at controlling herself, yet there were still moments when the sight of ichor still unnerved her.

"How's the pain? I've got some numbing drugs to make it painless, if that would help?"

Numbing? None of the others had ever offered him that before - probably because they didn't have it, but if they did and John got hurt first, Economos would definitely use up their supply on one injury. Someone offering to make his experience better without needing to? Shit. He was totally enamoured.

"Drug me up," he practically sang, only for his face to fall for a second. "Wait, it's legal drugs, right? You're not going to inject me with heroin or some shit, are you?"

What an idiot. An amused smile tugged at the corner of her lips at his concern and she shook her head. "How have you caught onto my plan of slowly drip feeding you opiates on my first day?" she joked, and to help him figure out that it was, in fact, a joke, she held up the bottle of anaesthetic so he'd be able to read the label. Sure, he didn't know what lidocaine was, but he could guess that it was the type of drug that a medical professional would use.

And by the way she warned, "Now, relax while I do this. You'll feel a small pinch, but that's it. Ready?" he could see that she definitely was used to this procedure. Maybe she'd done it hundreds of times before, maybe thousands. But, this was a type of bedside manner that he'd never experienced before. Doctors were like this, weren't they? They were like this on some of the tv shows he'd seen.

Honestly, he had no clue and just nodded dumbly. Getting checked out professionally was out of the question - mostly due to the cost, but there was also the need to hide his secret identity and explaining to a ER nurse that a drug dealer stabbed him in the shoulder whilst they were mid fight was a great way at blowing his cover - and this lack of proper care was evident by all of the jagged and wonky scars he had across his chest and shoulders that she gave a quick once over to ensure that there was nothing that was screaming 'BIG PROBLEM' that she would need to attend to immediately.

All of his DIY attempts had done the job. They weren't clean or well done but they'd worked, she concluded and started on her repair.

"You have a habit of getting hurt."

"No, I do-"

"That wasn't a question." She silenced whatever bullshit excuse he was about to try to get her to believe and gave him a look. Not one that was unkind, nor accusatory, but one that conveyed the general message of: I've read your case file, don't even try to deny what I've been briefed about. "Before these guys, did you patch yourself up?"

A small - and somewhat sad - "Yeah, still do most of the time," was what he responded in a soft whisper, making Y/N's heart crack a bit inside her. She knew Emilia could be cold and dismissive at times, but surely the rest of the group weren't the same?

"From now on, if you get hurt, you call me. Deal?"

The way she said it felt like a promise and, as he saw the determined glimmer in her eyes when she looked at him, Adrian felt a strange sense of relief wash over him. He wasn't exactly happy to admit it to himself but he couldn't shake the feeling that he liked having someone he could rely on looking out for him. Especially if that someone happened to be a pretty girl.

"Deal." He smiled, hoping that she could see the gratitude that flooded through his eyes.

Y/N returned that smile with a grin of her own and focused mostly on her stitching as he sat there watching her work. She was efficient and precise, never wasting time or effort. It wasn't rushed, nor was she sluggish. Just calm and steady and comforting, something which he appreciated a lot more than he thought he would ever. The way her fingers touched him so delicately with such expertise, as though she were performing surgery instead of doing simple patching, made him melt into a puddle and forget about all of the thoughts that had been plaguing him that day.

If he happened to make a noise, she stopped and let her eyes drift to his and wouldn't continue until he gave her a nod that he was fine and she could carry on. He was always fine. He always gazed back with a goofy dazed smile on his lips and his legs swinging right next to her hips, like a child whose favourite toy has finally arrived after weeks of longing and waiting for it. If he had any self control, he'd turn his gaze to anything but the beautiful girl, yet he couldn't bring himself to do so and his eyes were transfixed on her every move. It didn't matter if it was his stomach rumbling or the sound of their coworkers arguing in the next room - they both disappeared into the background, forgotten in the warmth of that moment.

Stitching him up took no time. She took one last look and ran her finger across it to make sure that everything was properly sewn. "Not too shabby, huh?" She glanced at him, smiling softly before reaching for a bandage and wrapping it carefully around his arm to secure it.

As soon as she was done, she ruffled his hair, cheering, "Way to go, champ," then realised what she had done and rushed to apologise, "Sorry. I've been working with children for years. I didn't realise it was demeaning until I did it."

"Oh, no no no! It's fine," he assured, "I liked it. Not in a weird way. It was funny."

"At least I didn't try to give you a sticker or a lollipop."

"You've got lollipops?"

Did she? She had said that as a joke. The only two types of people that have candy on them constantly are teachers and perverts. And, often, it's hard to tell the difference between the two. Still, she searched through her bag and found one to hand to him. Adrian walked back into the main room with a fixed arm, a lollipop and some pep in his step. The lollipop was the only part that Chris noticed and instantly complained, "Where did you get that from? I want one."

"Y/N gave it to me." It was the smuggest Adrian had ever sounded. "It was the last one she had."

Despite a jealous Peacemaker constantly asking for sweets, the rest of Y/N's first work day was a success. Emilia went over how they would proceed - for now, Y/N would assist John in the van so she could prepare her kit and be ready to fix up whoever (Adrian, most likely) needed it as soon as the field team got back - and the squad all sat around firing as many questions at the newbie as possible.

Leota was interested in Y/N's previous life as a kindergarten teacher, but she was definitely more interested in the way Vigilante was sliding his arm around the back of her chair. That boy was anything but subtle. He kept flicking glances at her from time to time and, whenever he did so, a bashful flush appeared on his cheeks before he ducked his head down and turned his attention to his feet for a few seconds in an effort to un-pinkify his being. Adebayo had never seen Adrian act so shy before.

Anytime they went out to bars, Adrian would never really act that interested in anyone of any gender (other than Peacemaker, of course) and she assumed that his flirting technique would be like his personality - loud and crude and brash. This gentler approach was something that didn't suit him at all. He seemed much more reserved and sweet than the cocky and arrogant Adrian she had come to know.

Chris, on the other hand, kept asking very personal questions that Emilia had to keep stopping him from committing multiple HR violations in one single breath. While everyone else found it amusing to hear his incessant babbling directed towards Y/N, Harcourt spent most of her time nudging him and telling him to "knock it off" or "Shut the fuck up cause I don't wanna know this shit."

That was until Emilia happened to notice what Y/N was wearing. The button up. She'd seen that before. "Hey, is that my shirt? I thought I lost that years ago," she accused, reaching her arm over to pinch at the fabric of Y/N's sleeve and pull a face at the offending item.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Meeley."

Bullshit. Y/N was a pretty good liar but the thing about sisters is that they can often tell when their sibling is lying. Emilia now knew that it had been stolen from her wardrobe all those years ago, just as a lot of her clothes did back then.

Next Chapter: BG3

#adrian chase #adrian chase x y/n #adrian chase x female reader #adrian chase x reader #vigilante x reader #vigilante #peacemaker

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who-is-page · 6 months

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I’m heavily pro-endo so that statement was meant literally (polytherian does not experience any form of plurality but calls themselves a system purely based on having multiple theriotypes).

Even if we were just talking about self expression. As a disabled person, does being radically accepting mean I have to accept nonhumans who are not disabled (who have said they are not disabled) using medical equipment to express their nonhumanity (i.e. someone using a cane solely for the purpose of showing they should not be bipedal). Because, it’s their right to express that way but it doesn’t sit right with me that I’m watching someone use medical equipment as an accessory. It’s not harmful but it’s also not something I can agree with.

I guess my point is. Where do you draw the line with radical acceptance? If we believe everyone about everything, if we accept every form of expression, at what point can we recognize what is harmful and not? If a couple people are hurt by it, is that harmful or just a personal opinion?

By no means is any of this meant as an attack. I’m really just trying to figure out where the radically accepting folks come from (as I once thought myself to be RA but found it brought on much toxicity and drama to spaces that weren’t that way before). As I said. I love Beastpunk for all its other qualities… just not the radically accepting (basically blind faith in my opinion) part…

Look, as someone who walks with a cane and wishes it was as well-loved and accepted an accessory as glasses currently are, so I'd get less shit about using one and accessibility for canes would be more baseline, I think you seriously need to reconsider why you can't agree with that. And why, even though you openly admit it isn't harmful, it's still being used as an example in this scenario.

Let's open the doors on this-- we're talking about a concept where we are trusting people to know themselves better than we know them, and where we are accepting the aspects about people that they cannot change, and where we are accepting people's non-harmful forms of self-expression. Where does any of that suddenly scoop your ability to think critically and deeply about information being presented to you out of your skull? I'm hunting through my essay and, you know, I simply just can't find the part where we yoink out your common sense or ability to question others.

Beastpunk is against plenty of harmful ideaologies and communities-- like pshifting, for instance, for historical reasons as outlined in the essay. You can be beastpunk and have opinions about what constitutes harm and what doesn't. But, as I said before, you're conflating radical acceptance as spoken of here with tucking tail and showing off your throat and belly, so to speak. You are confusing radical acceptance within this framework with an inability to confront others and to dig in deep to question why you are uncomfortable with something to decide if it really truly causes harm or if it's just internalized shit you need to unpack (re: the cane thing). And look, I cannot give you that skill. And being beastpunk requires that skill.

I cannot in good faith recommend beastpunk to you when you have so blatantly misunderstood what it represents, and seem to have a total inability to grasp one of the underlying, core principles of it.

Other folks are also welcome to chime in.

#-extremely aggravated shrugging- I don't know what you want me to say! Genuinely!

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writingquestionsanswered · 2 months

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sorry if this is a silly question and has been asked before but I'm planning out a long fic and I kinda want to wait to post it till it's all finished. The only problem with that is I take forever to write, and I'm really scared that someone else will have the exact same idea as me and post it before me and I'll look like a copycat.

I'm really excited for this fic, and I don't want to have to throw it all out if something like that happens. This happened last time I wrote a fic and thankfully it worked out, but I don't want it to happen again. Would you know how to help this fear?

Worried Someone with Same Idea Publishes First

It's an understandable fear, especially if you've had that happen to you in the past. I'm guessing what you found out the first time it happened is two people can have the same idea and write very different stories, and that's what matters.

Ideas themselves aren't that unique. We come up with story ideas based on the things we observe and experience, and since we're living on a planet with 7.8 billion other people, the odds of you observing or experiencing something that no one else has experienced are almost nonexistent. And when you have multiple people observing and experiencing similar things, you're going to see overlap in the ideas they come up with.

So, let's say for example this idea you came up with is for an anime show that you love. And let's say there's a really obvious couple who seemed to be growing into a romantic relationship, but the show went in an opposite direction. And, let's say there's an episode where things could have taken a very different turn, so you have the idea to do a story where things do take a different turn, and that's what leads to this couple getting together where they didn't in the anime. As much as you feel like that idea is unique to you, I promise hundreds of other people had the exact same idea. Most won't attempt to write it because they're not writers or interested in writing. Some might attempt to write it and abandon the story. A few might write the story and share it in a place where you never see it. And yes, one or two might share it before or after you share yours, and they'll theoretically look like they copied you or vice versa, but the reality is those stories are going to be very different. Because even though you're using the same stock material, the exact way you execute things can't be exactly like the way another person did. And that's what matters.

So, ultimately, don't worry about it. But, if it makes you feel any better, when you do eventually share your story, if you see someone else beat you to it, you can always do an author's note at the beginning that says, "I came up with is idea in early 2024 but it took me almost a year to write it." That way, people know you didn't copy this other person.

If you're a slow writer, though, I definitely wouldn't recommend posting as you go. ♥

Happy writing!

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keplercryptids · 2 years

Text

okay, here’s my official list of items that were extremely helpful to me after top surgery, with links if applicable. I limited it to five (plus some additions at the end) because these items were must-haves for me. for accessibility reasons, the links are mostly to amazon, but obviously if you can find these or similar items elsewhere, please do so!

1. U-shaped body pillow, sometimes marketed as a "pregnancy" pillow (link)

I was *glued* to this thing for the first three weeks post-op. It helped prop me up during waking hours, with cushions for my arms (which is a must), and it helped me sleep more comfortably both on my back and eventually on my side (by wedging one of the sides underneath me). I actually still sleep with it because I like to be surrounded by pillows even when I haven’t just gotten surgery lol.

2. *large* ice packs (link)

I don't know how i would have recovered without these lol. From about Day 4 until about Day 16, I was using them frequently every day. Great for soreness and swelling, but excellent to keep the itching at bay. (the itching was by far the worst part of recovery for me.) The extra-large size made them great for covering my whole chest, or one half my chest and underarm area (my usual preference). Obviously, never put ice directly on your skin, and you should probably ask your surgeon if you're getting nipple grafts because there may be special ice pack rules for that. but yeah!!! Get ice packs please it helps so much. (also! benadryl!!!! i cannot stress this enough take benadryl for the itchiness)

3. mastectomy shirt (link)

i only got one of these because they're kind of pricey, but i wish i'd had a couple to rotate through for the first week or so. these shirts are super handy for your drains: having interior pockets with loops to hold the tubing in place was great and kept the drains safely out of the way and out of mind. any soft button- or zip-up shirt with interior pockets would work well, if you're able to sew pockets into an existing shirt.

my other advice is not to worry too much about buying new clothes for recovery. I got a cheap pack of extra big T-shirts that I cut the arms off to make tanks with extra-big armholes, and those were the most comfortable things for me. after about a week, i was able to wear normal baggy shirts (with help getting dressed). bathrobes, button-ups, zip-ups, they’re all good choices.

4. post-op compression band from etsy (link)

this was an absolute must-have for me from weeks 2-7 or so, after I was allowed to compress using a binder or ace bandages. Ace bandages were okay but very difficult to put on/take off by myself, and i actually found this band to be more comfortable anyway, in addition to allowing me to put it on by myself. highly, highly recommend!

5. neck travel pillow (link)

This was fully the only reason I was able to sleep on my back for the first week. It kind of allowed me to turn my head to the side in a way that was still comfortable and let me “feel” like I was on my side, if that makes sense. I honestly didn’t think I’d use the neck pillow much but it was great to have.

Other stuff that came in handy but I either had on hand or were gifted to me: long silicon straws, baby wipes for sponge bathing the first week, a back scratcher, a mastectomy pillow (mostly for weeks 2-6 tbh, i didn’t use it much at first, though it did come in handy for the drive home from surgery), and squishmallows. seriously, if you’ve been looking for an excuse to get a squishmallow, let top surgery be that excuse. surround yourself with as many soft things as possible lol.

#teet: the yeetening #top surgery #medical stuff

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herrmannhalsteadproduction · 6 months

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500 Miles (Chapter Sixteen)

Summary: This is Part Nineteen of my series A Herrmann/Halstead Production. It is an AU where Christopher Herrmann's mom had an affair with Pat Halstead resulting in a baby. The series follows this OC character (Rebecca "Bex" Herrmann) as she grows up and gets to know her brothers and the various Chicago teams. It is very much an AU, just to underscore that. It doesn't follow the same timeline and characters will follow different paths.

Click here for the Series Rundown where you can find the links to read all of the previous installments (which I highly recommend you do so that this one makes sense.)

Rating: Teen and Up

Relationships: Christopher Herrmann & Original Female Character, Jay Halstead & Original Female Character, Will Halstead & Original Female Character, Jay Halstead & Will Halstead, Greg 'Mouse' Gerwitz/Original Female Character, Will Halstead/Connor Rhodes, Assorted OC Couples

Warnings: THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE CHAPTER! IT'S HAPPENING! BRACE YOURSELVES FOR THE MOST FLUFF TO EVER FLOOF! (also minor character injury, but he's fine, seriously.)

A/N: To underscore my previous note, this is an alternate universe so things have unfolded differently. This will not follow the canon arcs exactly by any means. But I hope you'll still enjoy it!

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Bex

The housewarming party had gone off without a hitch, but Bex and Emery had been so tired, they’d basically passed out once everyone left.

Sunday morning was spent finishing clean up—not that there was too much to do since Devon, Sam, Isaac, Kira, and Malia had stuck around to help tidy before heading home the night before.

Then the two of them got ready for the mini-housewarming party starting at noon.

Noon-ish.

It was hard arriving anywhere on time when you were herding four kids while you did it. Still, Chris and Cindy showed up an impressive mere fifteen minutes late.

“Oh, wow, Emery,” Cindy exclaimed after they’d all piled inside and were starting their tour. “I love what you’ve done with the place. Cozy, but not closed in, you know?”

“Thank you.” Emery beamed at her. “I had a lot of help though and I could use a little more.” She steered the whole gang into the kitchen and gestured at her fridge. “No one has given me anything to put on my fridge. Can you believe that?”

On cue, Bex dug out the kid-friendly art supplies from where they’d stashed them yesterday and held them up. “Who’s gonna help us fix it?”

Even Lee Henry, who was more teenagery than not lately, volunteered to help. Bex got them all organized around the coffee table while Chris and Cindy stayed in the kitchen with Emery to finish the lunch preparations.

Bex knew they were wanting to check in with Em to see how she was doing with everything and she was happy to give them the space to do that. Emery having more parental figures in her life was definitely helping her progress. Donna and Trudy had kept in touch after their girls’ night—to the point that Emery had a standing lunch date with both of them. Each one was neatly marked down on the kitchen calendar. With a little smile-y face.

It had taken awhile, but Emery was finally embracing having a whole gang behind her.

“Alright,” Bex said, crouching down beside Annabelle and Max. “What are we working on here? Is that a dragon? Nice.”

By the time lunch was on the table, they had a full fridge’s worth of masterpieces ready to go. Emery ooh’d and ahh’d over each one, letting the kids pick out their own magnets to hang them with before they sat down.

“I want to get my own house, just like Emery’s,” Annabelle declared through a mouthful of grilled cheese.

“That sounds like a great idea,” Chris said. “When you’re all grown up.”

Annabelle nodded. “When I’m ten,” she said decisively.

Bex pressed her lips together, trying to hold back her laugh at the look on Chris’s face. Annabelle caught it too and reached over to pat his hand.

“Don’t worry, Daddy,” she said. “You can come visit me.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” Chris choked out as Cindy patted him from the other side.

“Can I come visit too?” Bex asked her.

“Oh, yes, Auntie Bex,” Annabelle said. “…if you bring Kol.”

“Of course,” Bex agreed. Who was she to argue with priorities like that?

***

Will

Will and Connor had been home for about fifteen minutes when Bex and Emery came bursting through the door, arms full of bags.

“Hey!” Bex grinned as she swooped around them to the kitchen. “We brought stuff for dinner!”

“Tired of the new place already, Em?” Will teased.

“For your information, I was kidnapped,” she shot back as she followed Bex, laughing at the outraged squawk that got.

Bex poked her head back in the living room. “Excuse me for thinking it would be nice to cap off the weekend by having dinner together.”

“I think it sounds great, Bex,” Connor called out to her. She blew him a kiss and returned to the kitchen.

Will turned to his boyfriend. “You are such a suck up,” he whispered.

“Might be, but you love me,” Connor murmured back, waggling his eyebrows at Will.

“This is gonna be a thing now, isn’t it?” Will sighed. Not that he was in any way, shape, or form annoyed by it. A smile spread across his face as he leaned in for a kiss—

“Get your butts in here,” Bex yelled. “This dinner won’t cook itself!”

Will groaned and Connor laughed, giving him a quick peck. “C’mon,” he said, grabbing Will’s hand and hauling him toward the kitchen. “Our ass-isstance is required.”

“Ooooh, we have to break up,” Will groaned again. “That was terrible. Ugh. The worst.”

Bex and Emery overheard the last bit and made Connor say it again which started up a flurry of truly horrific puns that lasted until dinner was ready.

Emery and Connor stuck around for a movie afterward and Will had to admit that it was a nice way to cap off the weekend. He knew Bex had been apprehensive about all of the changes their family had been going through, but—

It looked like they were navigating their new normal just fine.

He and Bex waited at the door while Connor and Emery got their things together. After giving Emery a hug, he gave Connor a kiss. “Love you,” he whispered in his ear and Connor whispered it back. His stomach did a little flip every time he heard it. Will hoped that never stopped.

“See you at the coffee cart in the morning?” he asked as they drew apart and Connor nodded, giving him one last kiss before he and Emery headed out. Will locked the door behind them and turned to see Bex staring at him with wide eyes.

“What?”

“Will,” she said in a tone that seemed to indicate he should understand exactly what she meant by just saying his name.

“What?” he repeated. “Why are you looking at me like—” Oh. Maybe she—did she hear them?

“Will.”

Yeah, she definitely did. And that—that was okay. That was more than okay because he and Connor loved each other and he wasn’t scared or ashamed or trying to hide anything because it was all good. So good.

“Be-ex,” he sang back at her, grinning.

Then she screamed and jumped on him. “I’m so happy for you!” she yelled, nearly strangling him with her arms around his neck. “Tell me everything! Right now!”

He staggered over to the couch and dumped her on it, taking a breath. “Okay, fine.” Bex cheered as Will plopped down beside her, cheeks already hurting from how big his smile had become. “I’ll start at the beginning…”

***

Connor

Connor stepped into the elevator and pressed the button, avoiding Emery’s pointed stare as she followed behind him. He could still see her incredibly wide grin out of the corner of his eye though. It was kind of hard to miss.

“So,” Emery said slowly, drawing the word out to its full potential. “You and Will have a good night last night? Anything fun or interesting happen?”

He turned, taking in the gleeful look on her face. “It was nice,” he said. “A totally fine and normal night.”

The glee instantly dissolved into a pout as she grabbed his arm. “Connor, come on,” she begged. “Please? Who said it first? How did it happen? Details! Are you honestly not dying to talk about it?”

Connor lasted about fifteen seconds of pretending he wasn’t dying to talk about it when the doors to the elevator opened. “I said it first,” he blurted out before escaping into the lobby.

Emery squealed, chasing after him. “AND? Then what?” She looped her arm through his as they headed for the parking lot.

“Okay, fine,” Connor said before waving a stern finger at her. “But this stays between us.”

She crossed her heart enthusiastically. “I will be a freakin’ vault.”

Yeah, there was no way this wasn’t getting back to Bex, but Connor had a feeling Will was getting the same treatment at that very moment. “So,” he began, bumping shoulders with her while they walked. “We were getting ready for bed and Will was talking about what a great night it was…”

***

Bex

Bex yawned as she headed into Molly’s, wiping at the sleep out of her eyes. She’d been up late texting with Emery and comparing notes on the big Will and Connor ‘I love you’ story. It was obviously time well spent—no regrets—she was just going to need some serious caffeine to get through the day. She had no regrets about volunteering to help out Chris either, but…

Inventory was always so mind-numbingly boring.

“It’s too hot to be stuck in here doing this.” Otis arrived shortly after her, grumbling as he came through the door. “We should have minions for this sort of thing.”

“I mean—” Bex shrugged “—I think technically I am one of the minions.”

“Who’s ready to count stuff?” Shay came bursting in with a tray of iced coffees and a gigantic grin. Bex was already making grabby hands for one of the cups. Shay handed them out and then hopped up on a stool. “No one’s going to have as much fun as we are today.”

Otis peered at her over the top of his cup. “Why does that sound like a threat?”

***

Jay

“Gonna be a good day,” Ruzek declared as he strapped on his vest. “I can feel it.” He reached out a fist to Atwater and they did some sort of intricate bump-shake combination.

“Be even better if it wasn’t so hot,” Burgess groaned, pulling her hair up into a ponytail.

Ruzek snapped his fingers and pointed at her, eyes going wide. “We should get ice cream when this is done.”

Jay ignored the rest of their discussion—a heated debate over where they’d go for ice cream—and focused on getting his own gear on, not wanting to get distracted from the job ahead.

They’d been honing in on a group that was using clubs to test out a deadly new party drug. Yesterday, a solid tip came in from one of Olinsky’s CIs and today they were hitting the suspected base of the operations. Hopefully to shut the whole thing down.

“Hey.”

Jay looked up to see Upton standing before him, ready to go.

“You good?” she asked, tucking her hands into the top of her own vest as she watched him finish up his checks.

“Just about,” he said and she grinned.

“Good,” she said. “Hurry up. Word is we’re getting ice cream after this.”

***

Shay

Shay had a plan: Play it casual, keep the conversation going, and then slide a Mouse question in there, real smooth-like.

However.

They got ten minutes into working through the supply room with Otis griping about how hot it was the whole time and Shay found herself blurting out, “Bex! How are things going with Mouse?”

So. Not as smooth as she’d hoped, but at least it was a change of subject.

After a second of shocked silence, a tiny smile flitted across Bex’s face and Shay did an internal fist pump. That had to mean good news.

“Um, they’re—things are going great,” Bex said. “We’re still taking it slow, but I think we’re finally getting on the same page about things, important things, and—”

Otis groaned, banging his forehead on the shelf. “Please,” he said. “No relationships talk. Seriously.” He spun around to lean against the shelves and sighed. “I can’t deal with a full day of hearing about how amazing things are with you and Julie—” he pointed at Shay “—or how the unending saga of the Mouse and Bex romance is going—” he pointed at Bex “because while I am incredibly happy for both of you, I am also so incredibly, painfully single and I can’t. I can’t do it! I don’t need another layer of sadness added to this day. Inventory is bad enough.”

Shay exchanged a glance with Bex and they both stepped toward him, arms outstretched. “Aw, Otis—”

“No!” He raised his hands to fend them off. “No hugging either! It’s too hot for that too!”

“First of all, I turned the air conditioner on so it’s going to be fine in here soon enough,” Bex said. “Second of all, I think maybe we do need some relationship talk time, but focused on this whole stressful…tangle you’ve got yourself in.”

Shay had to agree. Dude was pent up.

He tried to argue, but Otis was no match for the combined persuasive powers of Bex and Shay. Soon enough, they were sitting in a loose circle on the floor of the supply room, sipping at their drinks as Otis detailed his romantic woes.

It was a lot of woe.

“Online dating got me nowhere,” he was saying. “And meeting people in person is hard with our schedules. Plus, I don’t think I make the best first impression, you know?” He frowned down at his cup. “No one sticks around long enough to get to know me.”

“They’re the ones missing out,” Bex said. She reached out to pat his knee and he snorted. “What? They are!”

“No, it’s not that,” he said, laughing a bit as he shook his head. “I, uh, there was the tiniest of moments awhile back when I was thinking about asking you out. When it looked like maybe things weren’t going to work out with you and Mouse.”

Hunh. Interesting. It would have been super weird, but Shay could almost see it? Bex seemed like she was trying to wrap her brain around it as well.

Otis looked up and saw her face, then started tripping over his words trying to explain it better. “Only because we actually know each other, you know? And we get along, right? We have a lot of the same interests and sense of humour and we already hang out with the same people.” He scrunched up his nose. “But then I thought about it more and realized it would be totally weird. Like, beyond weird. It was more of a last resort kind of idea than anything else? I rejected it pretty quickly—”

“Okay!” Bex cut him off, kicking at his foot. “I don’t need an extensive list of reasons as to why asking me out would have been a horrible idea. I’m gonna choose not to be offended by that because you’re right. Our sibling energy is way too strong.” She blew out a breath. “You must have really been grasping at straws to even consider it.”

“That’s what I’m saying!” Otis exclaimed. He slumped back. “Ugh. Relationship talk ban back on. This is making it worse.”

“No, no, no!” Shay scooted closer, ignoring the grunginess of the floor. “Listen. You are a great guy, Otis. You’re handsome, objectively speaking, you’re smart—”

“You’re funny,” Bex added. “And fun which are two different and important things. Plus, you’re a cool firefighter—”

“And a part owner of Chicago’s best bar,” Shay said, elbowing him until he cracked a little smile. “You’ve got a lot going for you.”

“And it’s not getting me anywhere,” Otis said, bringing them full circle. “I wish I could be like Severide or—”

“Ah!” Bex held up a finger. “That’s your problem, right there. Why are you trying to be like someone else? We literally just listed all of the reasons you’re awesome—all of the things that make you you. The right person is going to come along at the right time and I don’t think you should be trying to change yourself in the meantime.”

“Although,” Shay began and the two of them turned to look at her. “We could take some time to workshop your game a little bit—”

Otis instantly bristled. “My game is great, what are you talking about—”

Shay threw her hands up. “You just said—”

“I know!” Otis scowled at her. He crossed his arms and hunched in on himself, glaring at the two of the them before deflating. “Okay. Fine. What do you suggest?”

“Like I said, workshopping.” Shay snapped a pair of finger guns at him. “You’ll practice flirting with us—” She ignored his groan. “—and we’ll see if there’s any little things we can do to improve your approach.”

“Fine,” Otis grumbled, getting to his feet.

Shay exchanged a grin with Bex as they got up as well. She knew today was going to be fun.

***

Mouse

Mouse was loading up the last of the gear in the van when Burgess came over. She and Olinsky were going to be riding in it with him which seemed to be the usual set up on OPs lately. He didn’t mind. Olinsky mostly kept to himself and Burgess was nice enough.

Even if she asked a lot of questions.

He could tell one was brewing by the way she was hovering and handing him things to load into the van.

“Hey, so,” she finally said, clearing her throat. “You and Bex were pretty smiley at Emery’s housewarming party. Are things…going okay with her? Now?”

Everyone on the team had been giving him lots of space lately—Mouse suspected Jay was running interference—but someone was bound to crack sooner rather than later and he didn’t mind that it was Kim. She’d been offering him a lot of quiet support all along.

He wasn’t ready to talk about it in detail though. Not when he was still figuring out those details with Bex and as much as they were in a better place, they weren’t…solidified yet.

“Yeah,” Mouse said, locking in the last of the gear. “It’s, uh, things are good. Better.” He flashed her a small smile and hoped she’d be satisfied enough by that.

“That’s great, Mouse.” Kim grinned at him, bobbing her head in a little nod. “I’m glad to hear it.” She pulled the van keys out of her pocket and twirled them on her finger before heading for the driver’s seat.

Mouse chuckled to himself and closed the side door. Then he turned around only to be nearly nose to nose with Olinsky. Mouse hadn’t even heard him walk up which was as disconcerting as it was annoying. Guy needed a bell.

“You know,” Olinsky said in that soft, mild tone he had. “I try to stay out of everyone’s personal lives.” He sighed. “But everyone keeps talking about them so I still hear things.”

“Uh…” Mouse froze, not quite sure where he was going with this. Was he supposed to apologize? It wasn’t like Mouse was the one who kept bringing this stuff up at work. He had a hard enough time talking about it with Bex.

Or maybe Olinsky was trying to work his way around to offering some advice? It felt like everyone else Mouse knew had put their two cents in at this point so why not Olinsky?

From what Mouse knew of the man, the conversation could go either way.

“So, you’re saying…” Mouse prompted.

“I’m saying I wish I heard less.” Olinsky stuck a toothpick into his mouth and stared off into the distance. A haunted look passed over his face. “So much less.”

Mouse opened his mouth to apologize when Olinsky clapped a hand on his shoulder, nearly sending him into the van. “Be good to Mini-Halstead.” Then he wandered to the front of the van. “Burgess!” Olinsky called out. “Gimme those keys.”

This day was shaping up to be weird as hell. Mouse shook his head, accepting a fist-bump from Jay when he passed by. Voight called for everyone’s attention at that point and announced they were moving out.

Mouse scrambled into the van as Olinsky started it up.

At least the OP would distract people from asking him any more questions.

***

Bex

“All I’m saying is that there’s making meaningful eye contact during a conversation and then there’s not blinking at all,” Bex said as she and Otis hauled bags of trash out to the dumpster. “It’s an entirely different vibe.”

The workshopping had been an enlightening experience. Otis wasn’t bad at flirting, not really, but he was a bit intense with his efforts.

“I was trying to show I was listening,” Otis said morosely. He chucked his bags in, waiting for Bex to do the same before closing the lid.

“I think what we need to do is find ways to help you relax more,” Bex said. He’d gotten all tense even pretend flirting with her and Shay. “And I had an idea…”

“I’m almost afraid to ask.” Otis’s eyebrows winged up as they headed back inside.

“What do you think about me asking around my art school friends and seeing if anyone knows someone who would be a good fit?” A more personalized search from a new pool of candidates might be helpful.

Otis shrugged as he thought it over. “I’ve liked all of your friends that I’ve met,” he said. “I’d be open to it, I think? I wouldn’t want to dive into a blind date—Shay, is that my phone? What are you doing?” He ran into the kitchen where Shay was sitting on the counter, scrolling through his phone.

“Mine is acting up and we need some tunes,” she said, holding it out of his reach as he grabbed for it.

“How did you even get it unlocked?” Otis poked at her and managed to find a ticklish enough spot to snatch his phone back.

“Easy. I got the passcode on the first try.” She snorted and leaned over to whisper at Bex. “It’s the year of the first Star Wars movie.”

“Well, not anymore, it isn’t,” Otis grumbled as he typed away furiously.

“Let me—let me see it again,” Shay said, trying to reach over his shoulder. “I was just getting to the good stuff.”

Otis fended her off one-handed and finished resetting his code.

Now that it was out there though, Bex needed to know. “What was the good stuff?”

Shay’s eyes lit up. “Oh, there was—”

Leaping over to the counter, Otis covered her mouth with his hand, shushing her. “Stop. Come on. No, Shay!”

She’d already wiggled out of his grasp and managed to steal his phone again, hopping off the counter and joining Bex. “He has a playlist on here called Happy Time Songs.”

“Hunh.” Bex looked between the phone and Otis. “I don’t know if we should know what’s on that? That feels kind of…invasive? I mean—”

“Oh, my god!” Otis exclaimed, face going bright red. “It’s not that kind of playlist, Bex!”

“I wasn’t gonna judge!” Bex held her hands up, trying not to laugh as Otis thunked his head down on the counter.

He kept his head down as he held out a hand for his phone. “Give it.”

Shay pouted, but gave it back to him. Otis stood up enough to lean his elbows on the counter and then he unlocked his phone, setting it down for them to see the screen.

Sure enough, there was the Happy Time Songs playlist. Bex steeled herself as she took a peek.

“Hey, these are all fun songs!”

Otis rolled his eyes. “Yes, because it’s my songs for when I want a little pick-me-up. When I want to sing along in the car and cheer myself up or whatever. Not what you gutterbrains were thinking.”

Bex tuned out the sniping he and Shay were doing since there was no actual heat behind it and scrolled through Otis’s list. An idea began to form.

“We’re in not bad shape for the inventory, right?”

Shay and Otis stopped their bickering and turned to her. “Yeah,” Otis said slowly. Suspiciously. “Why?”

She pointed at one of the songs. “Want to do something fun for Molly’s socials?”

***

Will

Will flopped down next to Connor on the couch in the lounge. The day had been their usual amount of busy and this was the first chance they’d had to take a breather. Connor shuffled, letting Will sink into his side as he scrolled through notifications on his phone.

Just as he was getting comfortable, Will was jostled by the vibrations of Connor laughing at something. “What?” He nosed his way up Connor’s arm to try and see the screen.

“Bex, Shay, and Otis made a little video for Molly’s Instagram account,” Connor said. He tilted the phone toward Will and turned up the sound.

Carly Rae Jepsen came blasting out of the speaker, singing about how much she really, really, really, really, really, really liked him. Bex, Shay, and Otis were doing a—he wasn’t sure if he could call it choreographed, but it was something definitely dance-like. They were bopping around Molly’s and clearly having way too much fun.

Will snorted. “Inventory’s going well.”

“Managing inventory and promotion,” Connor whistled. “Bex is a girl of many talents.”

“Very true.” Will nudged him. “Play it again.”

Shay’s face when she almost fell off the bar was worth seeing a second time.

***

Hailey

Stakeouts were not Hailey’s favourite part of the job. They were necessary, obviously, but she’d always rather be out in the thick of things. Taking action. There was no action yet though, so she just had to be patient.

They’d managed to get eyes inside the building thanks to Mouse and confirmed this was the place the gang was operating out of. But the ringleader, Arnaldo Jacobs, wasn’t there yet. The CI said he would be. Voight and Olinsky had faith in their intel so they were stuck waiting.

Her phone beeped and Hailey pulled it out to check the notification. And laughed.

“What?” Jay glanced over at her before returning his eyes to the building.

“Your sister shared some kind of new promo video for Molly’s.” Hailey showed him the preview image and Jay barked out a laugh.

“Okay, we’re definitely watching that later,” he said. Then he did a double take at the screen and frowned. “You and Bex are Instagram friends?”

“Yeah,” Hailey said, putting her phone away. “Why? You got a problem with that?”

“No,” Jay said. “As long as Bex didn’t strong arm you into friending her.” He side-eyed Hailey. “Did you even have an Instagram account before or did she sign you up?”

Hailey laughed, shaking her head. “She did neither of those things,” Hailey said. “She sent me a friend request though and that was pretty impressive because my account isn’t even under my name.” She’d tried asking her how she found it and Bex’s only answer was that she’d learned enough from hanging out with Jay and the Intelligence crew over the years that she was basically a detective.

Hailey was kind of buying it.

“She posts fun stuff,” Hailey continued. “It’s entertaining.” Bex had a level of playful energy that Hailey hadn’t had in her life for…a long time now. Their friendship didn’t make a lot of sense on paper, but Hailey was enjoying it. She hadn’t realized how much brightness she’d been missing in her life until she got pulled into surprise parties and after-training pizza and game nights.

And getting to know Bex was giving her an unexpected amount of insight into her new partner. Jay Halstead kept surprising her with each new layer she discovered—including ‘gigantic marshmallow of a big brother.’

Voight’s voice popped up over the radio. “Jacobs entering south side door. Take up positions.”

Hailey nodded at Jay and they exited the truck in one fluid motion.

***

Bex

“Bex!” Otis shoved his phone in her face. “Seriously?”

She pulled back a bit so she could actually see what was on the screen. Oh. Right. She’d shared their Molly’s video on her own profile and tagged Otis in it. With a little extra message.

“P.S. Ladies, this handsome man is single, believe it or not,” Otis read the caption out loud. “When he’s not fighting fires, you can find him over at Molly’s. Come say hi!” He lowered the phone and gave her a baleful look.

…maybe she should have asked before she did that.

“I thought it would be a fun little boost! If someone shows up, it’ll be a chance to keep workshopping! Flirt in a comfortable environment and all that.” She started hunting around for her own phone. “Do you want me to untag you?”

Otis sighed. “No,” he finally said. “But if anyone murders me, it’s on you!”

“I’ll vet them all before they get to you,” Bex promised.

“Vet them ‘all’, she says.” Otis rolled his eyes. “Like there’s going to be a crowd.”

Considering the fact that Beau had already shared it to his account, there might be. But Bex wasn’t going to share that little tidbit with Otis just yet.

“Inventory is officially done!” Shay declared as she emerged from the supply room. “Anything else need doing?”

“We might as well take care of the monthly health and safety checklist while we’re here,” Otis said, grabbing a folder from behind the bar. “I’ll do the fire extinguishers if you guys can check the emergency lights.”

“On it.” Bex saluted him.

Otis walked off to start in the kitchen only to return immediately. "So, I can't check the fire extinguisher right now,” he said. “Because there is a...squirrel. In the kitchen. Squirrel in the kitchen. Yup."

“Wait, what?” Shay rushed over to peek through the door with Bex hot on her heels. Sure enough there was a squirrel. Just hanging out on the counter.

“Uh-oh,” Shay whispered. “Make that two squirrels.”

“How did that even happen?” Otis squeezed in to peer over their shoulders. “Where did they get in?”

Bex looked around as much as she could from her position and her heart sank when she saw it. The back door was open a crack. “Look.” She pointed it out to the others. “We must not have closed it properly when we came in from taking out the trash.”

“Because someone was messing around with my phone,” Otis hissed.

“Why are we wasting time with blame when what we need is a solution,” Shay shot back.

The three of them retreated to the bar to regroup. Obviously, they couldn’t call anyone to help with this. They’d never hear the end of it.

“We need to get them out on our own,” Bex said and the other two nodded seriously.

Otis tapped the Health and Safety folder. “Only if we take the proper precautions.”

Five minutes later, decked out in aprons and hand towels from the supply room and armed with serving trays, they stood in front of the door to the kitchen.

“Ready?” Bex asked them. Otis rolled his neck and Shay blew out a breath, doing a little boxer shuffle before nodding. “Okay,” Bex said, raising her trays. “Prepare to shoo.”

***

Jay

The raid had gone off without a hitch. They got the supply. They got the crew.

They got Jacobs.

But they might have the opportunity to get even more.

Mouse had managed to get into the guy’s phone—turning his nose up at the poor security the whole time—and it was a freaking goldmine.

They’d suspected that Jacobs was working under the larger umbrella of the Righetti family and the texts on his phone confirmed it. In fact, he had a meet scheduled with Frank Righetti an hour from now. If they played their cards right, they could cast a much wider net with this case than they originally thought.

Voight was already on his phone chasing down a warrant while the rest of them started strategizing entry points for the new location.

It was a good day to aim high.

***

Otis

The squirrels were out.

The kitchen was a mess.

But the three of them were still alive and that was what mattered.

“I think one of them growled at me,” Shay said, voice dazed as she sat on the floor, slumped against the fridge. “Can squirrels growl?”

“I don’t think they were squirrels,” Bex said from her spot under the table. “I think they were demons.”

It had been a battle and a half. Otis had made some noises that he’d really rather forget. He grabbed the counter and pulled himself up off of the floor. “The most important thing,” he said, making eye contact with the other two. “Is that we never speak of this incident ever again.”

“Agreed,” Shay muttered and Bex lifted her arm for a truly pathetic thumb’s up.

He did a quick sweep of the kitchen and winced. It was kind of a disaster. “Okay.” Otis clapped his hands together. “I vote for some medicinal pizza before we tackle cleaning this up.”

“Oooh, yes, please.” Shay made grabby hands at him and he stumbled over to help her up.

“You know, Otis,” Bex said as she crawled out from under the table. “You keep making genius suggestions like that and I might skip straight to marrying you.”

“Always good to know the way to your heart, Bex,” he said, lending her a hand as well.

She leaned against him for a minute before patting his chest. “We need cheesy bread too.”

***

Mouse

The warrant came through just in time and they managed to snap up not only Righetti, but five of his inner circle as well. The six of them were currently being transported back to 21.

Mouse had the van repacked and they were returning to the precinct as well. Burgess and Olinsky were up front again while Mouse tinkered away in the back. Voight was in his car up ahead with Jay, Hailey, Ruzek, and Atwater bringing up the rear.

A solid day’s work all in all.

Burgess and Olinsky were talking through next steps while they were stopped at an intersection. Mouse was only halfway listening as he fiddled with one of their cameras. The van lurched forward—with Olinsky muttering about how they needed to get the fuel pump looked at—and then Kim gasped.

And then—

A screaming clash of metal on metal.

***

Bex

Bex was sitting at the bar, eating her pizza, when a shiver ran down her spine.

Weird.

Her stomach did a slow flip and her hand itched toward her phone. She gave in, picking it up to check for messages, but there were none. Which made sense. Everyone was at work or wrangling kids. If there was a problem, they’d let her know.

Right?

Right.

She shivered again.

Probably just needed to turn down the air conditioner.

***

Jay

“Jay!” Hailey interrupted their conversation to point through the window at something on their left. He followed her finger to see an ice cream truck coming down the road, driving erratically.

He laid on the horn, but it was too late.

Swerving the truck to the side, he hit the brakes which kept them out of the line of collision, but did nothing for the van. He watched in horror as the ice cream truck slammed into the side of the van, making it spin and rock hard on its wheels.

The point of impact had been near the back. Right where Mouse was usually stationed.

Jay scrambled out of his truck, hitting the ground running. He darted around Ruzek’s jeep which had skidded to a stop beside them. He could hear the other three coming up behind him, but they could deal with triage. He was focused on one thing.

“Mouse!”

***

Mouse

Mouse groaned. Through the ringing in his ears, he could hear Kim and Al calling out his name, but all he could manage was another groan.

What the—

Oh. Something hit the van.

His brain started to clear a bit as he began to take stock. He’d been thrown out of his seat by the force of the crash, but nothing felt broken. Bruised as hell, but not broken.

“I’m okay,” he called back to the others when they yelled his name again. “You?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Kim said. “We’re—”

“Mouse!” a familiar voice kept shouting his name, drowning out whatever she was about to say and then the side door was wrenched open. Luckily, the hit had been on the other side and that door could still open.

Jay stood there, white-face and slumping in relief at the sight of Mouse blinking up at him from the floor of the van.

“Hey, Jay.” Mouse waved at him. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

“Tell that to your bleeding head wound,” he said, leaning in to peer closely at him.

Jay made him stay put, checking him over for other injuries—apparently, he’d cut his arm as well—and forcibly stopping him from getting up until the ambos got there.

He kept relaying updates to Mouse as he got them though which was considerate enough. Turned out the driver of the ice cream truck had suffered a heart attack and passed out behind the wheel. Kevin and Hailey were helping him while Adam and Jay checked on Mouse, Kim, and Al.

Voight had seen the crash happen in his rear view and turned back around. He was busy directing officers to control the scene and shouting into his radio demanding to know when the ambos were arriving.

Multiple ambulances seemed a bit overkill to Mouse. Obviously, the truck driver needed one, but Kim and Al said they were fine. Mouse was a bit bloody, but he’d had worse. Slap a bandage on him and he’d be fine.

Jay and Voight disagreed with him so Mouse was keeping his mouth shut until the paramedics got there. They’d agree with him.

***

Two minutes later.

***

Mouse

The paramedics did not agree with him. Kim and Al had been given the all clear, but Mouse had to go to Med for stitches. Jay was laughing at him for pouting when Adam sidled up to them.

“Hey,” he whispered. “What do you think the odds are of getting free ice cream out of this?”

***

Bex

After scarfing down their pizza, the three of them got their second wind and finished cleaning up the kitchen before heading home. Bex had a shower and a little nap since she hadn’t bothered swapping out for her evening shift at Molly’s.

Shay and Otis were planning to swing by as well. The bar was basically the centre of everyone’s social life. Bex wondered for about half a second if they should be branching out more before she remembered that they were forcing her into an outdoor game night later that week.

That was a big enough branch for now.

She checked her phone as she was getting changed, but there were no answers from Jay or Mouse to her texts. They must still be in the middle of things.

Bex sent a follow up message saying they should stop by Molly’s when they were done and left it at that.

…but if she didn’t hear from them by eight, she reserved the right to hunt them down.

***

Jay

They’d been at the hospital for a couple of hours now because the ED was so swamped, Mouse kept getting bumped. He’d tried to tell Jay a few times that he could go, but Jay would just tell him to shup up and then go get them some more snacks.

Including ice cream because Jay was always a little shit at heart.

Jay might have also pulled up the Molly’s video that Bex had made with Otis and Shay to entertain them while they waited. It definitely hadn’t gotten old yet. They were also getting regular updates from the team on how processing the gang was going.

Finally, they were called back and Will met them in one of the rooms, apologizing for the hold up. He checked Mouse over quickly. The good news was that Mouse didn’t have a concussion and he was mostly only bruised, but he did need stitches for the cut on his head.

Jay stuck around while Will got to work. Today could have gone in a very different direction and he wasn’t ready to let Mouse out of his sight just yet.

He’d also had a lot of time to think while they were stuck in the waiting room. As much as he’d been trying to stay out of Mouse and Bex’s business lately, there’d been something brewing in him for the last couple of hours and Jay had to get it off his chest.

To at least know that he’d said it. Even if Mouse did nothing with it.

Maybe it was years of listening to Bex rubbing off on him, but this crash felt like a sign and Jay was going to take advantage of the fact that Mouse couldn’t run away to try and make him see it.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Pretty sure the universe was trying to give you a kick in the ass today.”

“Hm?” Mouse quirked an eyebrow at him and Will tsked.

“Don’t move.”

Jay scooched his chair closer so Mouse didn’t have to turn to see him. “I’m saying things could have gone so much worse. You could’ve died without ever giving it a real chance with Bex.”

Will shot him a glare when Mouse made a wounded noise, but Jay kept going. He and his gut were back on track and he knew he had to say this.

“I know you’re worried about messing things up—”

“With good reason,” Mouse muttered.

“But think about it this way,” Jay countered. “You already have. Multiple times!”

“Jay!” Will’s head whipped around to give him an incredulous stare. “What the hell, man?”

“I’m going somewhere with this, I promise.” Jay waved him off and focused on Mouse. “You’ve already had things go sideways with Bex more than once now,” he said. “And you both worked through it to come out the other side better every time.” Jay was pretty sure their relationship was going to be Cindy and Chris levels of bulletproof at this rate.

“That’s not actually a bad point,” Will said, nodding as he focused on his stitching.

“If it was anyone else, maybe they would have walked away. A while ago. But this is Bex,” Jay said. “She’s special. She sees through the fuck ups and cares enough to take the time to work it out. It’s her Herrmann-ness. Always comes through.”

Mouse and Will both chuckled quietly at that.

“I’m not trying to brush off your worries,” Jay said. “But you guys have proven that you can survive the shit and today proved that the shit can come from any corner.” He scrubbed a hand down his face, shaking his head. “You almost got pancaked by a friggin’ ice cream truck. An ice cream truck, dude. You could have died and left nothing but a pile of broken bones and regrets. Think about that for a second.”

He tried to leave it at that, but he had one last point to drive home.

“You know she’s already there, man,” he said quietly. “And I know how hard this all is for you, but I think you’re there too. You just gotta go for it. Take the sign and go for it.”

***

Mouse

Mouse sat there, feeling a bit stunned by everything Jay had just laid out for him. Will and Jay were silent as Will finished treating Mouse; both of them clearly giving him space to think.

So he did.

All of the advice he’d received over the past few months swirled around in his brain—a lot of it echoing Jay’s words.

And Chuck’s.

A leap of faith.

He thought about Bex.

Laughing with her. Talking to her. Loving her. He had a chance to do that for as long as he could. Forever if she let him.

Everything that he wanted. Desperately. And he could have lost it all today.

Mouse’s heart tripped at the thought; somehow more scared by that than everything else he’d been wrestling with. He couldn’t let her go.

Jay was right. Mouse was—he was there.

He couldn’t believe what he’d almost let slip through his fingers.

“I could have died,” Mouse said slowly. “Without ever going on a date with Bex.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” Jay exclaimed, sitting up in his seat.

Mouse stared at him. At Will who was putting stuff away on a tray, shooting little smiles back at him. He shook his head, feeling like his whole world had been turned on its side.

“I could have died without ever kissing Bex,” Mouse said.

“Okay,” Jay grimaced. “I don’t think we need a detailed list or anything like that.”

“Am I good to go?” Mouse asked Will. “I need to get out of here.”

“I need to get your discharge paperwork—”

“Wait.” Jay stood up. “What are you—are you saying—”

“I’m going for it,” Mouse said. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the flood of negatively the usually came when he stepped foot in this direction, but none of that came. All he felt was certainty. He felt good and right. He grinned at Jay. “Yeah. I’m going for it.”

***

Sharon

Sharon was doing a round of the ED when cheers erupted from behind the curtain of room three. She turned to Maggie. “What in the world is happening in there?”

Maggie raised an eyebrow at her. “You really want to know?”

“Is it going to result in me having a headache or extra paperwork?” Sharon gave her the eyebrow right back. Maggie shook her head which was a considerable relief and Sharon made a little ‘go on’ gesture at her.

“Okay,” Maggie grinned, leaning over the counter and lowering her voice. “You know Dr. Halstead’s sister, Bex…”

***

Bex

Slowly, but surely the whole gang was trickling into Molly’s. That and a few new faces that were giggling and checking out Otis from a distance.

Ha. Success.

She scoped them out as she took their orders; asking a casual question here and there. They didn’t scream murdery to her so she gave Otis a discreet thumb’s up when she walked by.

On her next round, she brought him back with her, closely tailed by Joe, and made some introductions. She grinned at Chris when she returned to the bar, ignoring his eyeroll.

“I’m adding ‘excellent wingwoman’ to my resume,” she declared.

“You made that happen,” he said, nodding at the happily chatting group. “So I’d say you earned it.” He elbowed her. “You also earned a break. What are you still doing here? You did inventory all day, you don’t need to stay all night on top of that.”

“Jay and Will and everybody are supposed to come by later,” she said. “I want to stick around for that.”

“Ah,” Chris said knowingly. “I wouldn’t want you to miss ‘and everybody’.” He cackled, dodging out of range of her swat.

The front door opened at that moment and Adam, Kevin, Kim, Al, Hank, Sam, and Julie came through. Sam and Julie made a beeline for where Shay, Isaac, and Devon were seated while the rest of them came up to the bar.

Adam took a look around before facing Bex. “Jay and Mouse not done at the hospital yet?”

Bex froze. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Oh.” Adam’s eyes went wide. “Oops.”

She crooked a finger at him and he tentatively leaned in until he was close enough for her to grab him by the front of his shirt. “Explain. Now.”

***

Jay

They were still cheering when Connor stepped into the room. “What’s going on in here?”

“Mouse is gonna kiss Bex,” Will said cheerily.

“Don’t say it like that,” Jay complained as Connor gave his own cheer.

Jay had Mouse wrapped up in a hug, happy about it all, but the enormity of the moment wasn’t lost on him either. “This is going to be weird as fuck, isn’t it?” He patted Mouse on the back before letting him go.

“Yeah,” Mouse said, with a sigh that was anything but regretful. “Probably.”

“I’ll survive.” Jay said. Meaning it. “I’m happy for you, man.”

Mouse returned Jay’s grin with a truly dopey smile of his own

All of a sudden, their phones chimed with a bunch of text message notifications. So did Will’s.

And Connor’s.

Hunh.

Jay pulled his out to check and—uh oh. “Someone told Bex what happened,” he said, scrolling through the messages. “We should probably get there sooner rather than later.”

“Connor and I are done,” Will said, snapping off his gloves. “We’ll come with you.” He had a sparkle in his eye that Jay knew meant he wasn’t about to miss out on whatever was going to happen next. “I’ll go get you discharged.” Connor followed him out, saying he’d grab both their things so they could leave quicker.

Jay shot off a message to Bex, letting her know that everything was fine and they would be there soon. He peeked over at Mouse who was slipping his phone back into his pocket. “Not gonna reply?”

“You already told her we’re coming, right?” Mouse shrugged, biting at his lip with a little smile. “I just want to see her and talk to her in person.”

Will was back within seconds and soon enough they were all free to go. Will and Connor must have taken some kind of crazy short cut after they left or broken every speed limit there was because they were waiting outside of Molly’s when Jay and Mouse pulled up.

“Ready to go in?” Will asked, bouncing a bit in his excitement.

Mouse still looked determined, but he was knitting his fingers together nervously. “Yeah, uh, I just—I need a minute, okay?” He shot Jay a look. “I’m not going anywhere. Promise.”

“No worries,” Jay said, clapping a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’ll try and hold her off for that long.” He followed Will and Connor up the steps and into the bar.

Bex must’ve had her Jaydar dialled up to eleven because as soon as he walked through the door, her head whipped up and she was marching over.

“Is he okay?” she demanded, peering around him, trying to spot Mouse. “What happened? Where is he?”

Jay held up a hand. “He’s fine,” he said. “He needed some stitches for a cut on his head and he’s a little bruised up, but Will gave him the all clear—”

Bex grabbed his arm. “Where. Is. He?”

He sighed, sending out a silent apology to Mouse for the incredibly short minute.

“He’s outside.”

***

Mouse

He jumped when the front door of Molly’s slammed open and Bex came flying out. She looked around wildly before spotting him off to the side and rushing over.

“Mouse! Are you okay? Where are you hurt?” Her hands carefully fluttered over him, needing to check every inch. Needing to touch. Mouse let her, shaking his head at the rapid fire questions.

“I’m okay,” he said. “I got all checked out and all I needed was some stitches, but—”

“Are you sure though?” She frowned at his bandage. “Did Dr. Abrams see you? What about a concussion? Or internal bleeding? Or—”

“Bex, I swear.” He grabbed her hands to hold them still. “I was thoroughly examined, I promise. All I need right now is to talk to you—”

“We should go inside!” She exclaimed, trying to tug him toward the side door. “You need to be sitting down. You should rest! Have you eaten? I’ll get you some food—”

“Babe, please!” He pulled her back. Easily, considering she’d gone stock still.

Her eyes were wide as a slow smile spread across her face. “Babe?”

He could feel the flush travelling up his neck, but he held fast to her hands and returned her smile. Every bit of nervousness that had tried to find a way back in faded away. “Bex,” he said. “Please? I’m, uh, I’m trying to leap here.”

***

Bex

Her breath hitched as his words sunk in and she stepped closer, squeezing his hands in hers. “Wait. Really? Are you sure—”

Mouse let go of her hands and put his arms around her waist, pulling her in close. “Yes, I’m sure,” he said as she looped her arms around his neck. “I’m—Bex, I’m all in.”

“Well, that’s—that’s handy because I am too.” She laughed and he smiled down at her, oh, so softly before they both leaned in for a kiss.

The kiss.

One worth waiting months—years—for.

Mouse tightened his arms around her and a spike of heat ran down her spine. He kissed her like his life depended on it, like it was the last chance he’d ever get to do this, but—

It might be a last first kiss, but it was definitely the first of many, many kisses to come. Bex wanted to kiss Mouse for the rest of her life. She never wanted to stop.

Except they did break apart just then.

It was kind of hard to keep kissing when you couldn’t stop smiling.

Mouse touched his forehead to hers, eyes closed as he huffed out a laugh. “Don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that.”

Bex didn’t think she would either. “C’mere,” she said, tugging on his collar as she walked them backwards to get them off the sidewalk and out of plain sight.

Mouse slapped a hand against the wall of the bar to cushion her head when she met it, his other still at the small of her back, keeping her close. She put her arms back around his neck, pulling him down until their lips met again.

They kissed until Bex was dizzy with it. Mouse groaned when they finally stopped for air. “I had a whole speech I was going to give you.”

“You had a speech?” Bex pressed a kiss against his jaw. “I love speeches. Tell me your speech.” She began kissing her way down his neck and he melted into her.

“It was, uh, I was going to start with, oh, jesus, Bex,” he moaned out when she nibbled on him a bit.

“This is a great speech,” Bex murmured into his skin. “Five stars.”

He kissed her again, deep enough to steal her breath away. Then he hugged her tight, whispering into her ear. “I’m sorry I took so long.”

Bex nudged him back until he met her eyes. “I think it took exactly the right amount of time if this is where we ended up.”

Mouse gave her that crooked little smile before leaning in and kissing her senseless all over again.

***

Otis

As soon as Bex had gone outside, nearly everyone had raced for the windows, trying to get a peek at what was happening. Or tried to before Boden barked at them all to ‘sit their butts down.’

After a painfully long wait, neither Bex nor Mouse had come back inside.

“What do you think is happening?” Shay leaned across the table to whisper at him.

“Let’s give them some privacy, like the chief said,” Casey piped up and everyone boo’d quietly.

“Someone should probably check,” Gabi said. “Just to make sure they’re okay. Don’t you think?”

And then, for some unfathomable reason, everyone’s eyes turned to Otis. “Me?” He pointed at himself, just to make sure, and they all nodded. “Why am I the one going?”

“I mean,” Gabi shrugged. “We could rock, paper, scissors for it, but I think we all know how that’s going to end anyway.”

“I do not have a tell,” he grumbled at her. He tried to ignore the pleading stares coming from every corner of the room—all of 51, the weirdly large crowd from Med that had shown up, the Intelligence crew—even Chief Boden was failing at not giving him a bit of hopeful side eye.

“Fine!” Otis threw his hands up. “I will check, but if I get my head bitten off—”

“Just go!” Stella pushed him toward the side door. “I believe in you.”

He shook out his shoulders as he stood before the door and took a deep breath. Then he slowly pushed it open and poked his head outside and—oh, god, that was something he could never unsee.

***

Bex

The sound of the side door creaking open had them breaking apart and Bex looked over to see Otis leaning out of it with his eyes squinched shut.

“Did you need something, Otis?” she called out, finding herself sneaking a hand up Mouse’s shirt to stroke his back because she could touch now.

“Uh, just seeing if you were coming back inside to work anytime soon?” he asked, eyes still closed.

She laughed when Mouse silently shook his head and started peppering her face with kisses. “No,” she managed to get out. “I quit.”

“Alrighty then.” Otis ducked back inside.

***

Otis

“They’re fine,” Otis said shortly, working hard at not making any eye contact with any of the Herrmanns or Halsteads in the room. Or anyone really.

“Okay, but—”

“Nope,” Otis pointed a finger at Shay, cutting her off. “I’ve already wiped it all from my mind so that’s all you get. They’re fine.”

Chris raised an eyebrow at him when he came over and stepped behind the bar.

“Yeah, she’s not coming back in anytime soon,” he said. “I might as well help out.”

“Atta girl,” Chris said, shooting a grin at the side door and chuckling to himself.

“It’s about time,” Boden agreed from his spot at the bar.

Otis couldn’t argue with that.

Bex and Mouse were due for some happiness.

And they’d definitely looked happy.

Ugh.

His poor eyeballs.

***

Bex

As much as Bex would like to make out with Mouse forever, doing so against the side of Molly’s wasn’t exactly the best plan. And if they’d sent Otis out to check on them, it was only a matter of time before someone less easily deterred poked their head out.

“Okay,” Bex said, when they’d finally broken apart again. She ran her hands over Mouse’s shoulders and patted at his chest. “This is your chance to back out—” She pressed a finger to his lips when he started to protest. “—of going in there because there’s a zero percent chance that any of them will be able to be normal about this once we step a foot through the door.”

Mouse kissed her finger and flashed a grin at her. “I’m willing to risk it.” He grabbed her hand and led her inside.

Bex was right.

They were being super weird.

Stilted conversations were happening all over the room.

“Sports,” Shay was saying to Kelly who was heroically trying to keep a straight face. “What’s happening with those lately?”

“It’s hot,” Adam blurted out to Al and Kim. “So hot this week. Rain. Rain is a thing. That would be good.”

No one was looking their way with the exception of Capp who was staring directly at them with a big grin. “Did you kiss?”

Tony reached up to smack him upside the head.

Bex buried her face into Mouse’s shoulder and felt him shaking with silent laughter. She held up a finger before looking back out at the room. “You get one minute to be weirdos about this and that’s it.”

There was a moment of silence before the whole place erupted.

Everyone was on their feet, cheering and talking at once.

She turned to give Mouse an apologetic shrug, but he was taking all of the backslaps and teasing with a good-natured grin. And a tight grip on her hand the whole time.

This was really happening.

And it was already amazing.

Bex squeezed his hand. He squeezed hers back and then she let herself get swept up in the joy of her goofy, chaotic family.

***

Chris, Jay, Will, and Connor

They each found Bex during the enthusiastic celebrating and give her a gigantic hug. Staying silent, because they could barely hear each other anyway through the noise, but saying everything they needed to with one embrace.

Happiness.

Overwhelming happiness and love and support.

Always.

***

Mouse

After that first minute, things did calm down a bit. He joined the 21 gang and Jay gave him another bone-crushing hug. “No details ever,” Jay made him promise and Mouse solemnly agreed.

“I’ll take details,” Shay said as she bounced over with a cheeky grin. Julie managed to redirect her and the rest of the night was almost like a normal night at Molly’s.

Almost.

Now, he kept looking over at the bar and he knew what Bex tasted like.

He couldn’t wait to kiss her again.

And again.

A few hours later, when everyone was starting to head out, Severide and Casey came over to him and got about two words into a shovel talk before Bex appeared out of nowhere.

“No,” she said, giving them both a fierce look.

“Oh, come on,” Severide protested. “We just—”

“No,” Bex repeated, drawing a finger across her neck. “Don’t even.”

Casey laughed, pulling Bex into a hug and kissing her forehead. “I’ll keep an eye on him,” he said before herding Severide and the rest of the 51 crew out the door.

Mouse stuck around to help close the bar and walked Bex to her car. He’d called an Uber for himself since Jay had driven them here.

“You know,” Bex said slowly, fingers still tangled in his hair from when he’d pressed her against the Tin Can to say goodnight. “I could drive you home.” She kissed him slowly. “Maybe come upstairs.” Another kiss. “Stay for awhile.”

He lost himself in another kiss, almost willing to give into the idea before he pulled away and buried his face in her neck with a groan.

“Bad idea?” Bex asked quietly.

“No,” Mouse muttered. “Very good idea.” He popped his head back up and sighed. “But I really want to take you on a proper date first.”

“One could argue that we’ve been on quite a few dates,” she said.

“No.” Mouse reached up to cup her face, kissing her one more time. “I want to take you on a real one. Where we’re both on the same page and we both know what it means.”

Bex blushed. “Okay,” she said, leaning into his hand. “When? Tomorrow?”

“Yeah—wait,” Mouse’s face fell. “I promised Jay I’d watch the game with him and—”

“We don’t want to start this with you breaking plans with him,” Bex said, shaking her head and Mouse’s heart warmed at how she got that so completely.

“It wouldn’t feel right,” he agreed.

“Wednesday’s out because of Outdoor Game Night,” she sighed. “I promised Kevin and I want to make sure Sylvie has fun.”

“Thursday?” Mouse asked hopefully.

“I have to work at Molly’s,” Bex said with a rueful laugh. “I promised Chris because he’s got some sort of last hurrah of the summer thing planned with the kids.”

“Friday then.” Mouse crossed his fingers and Bex nodded.

“Friday works for me,” she whispered. “Wow. We’re really doing this.”

“All in,” Mouse said, kissing her once again.

Finally.

Click here to read the next installment - Game Night 3: It’s Bex Ball, Bébés.

Click here to read 500 Miles on ao3:

Here is the tag list (let me know if you wish to be added or removed):

@sorry-i-spaced, @thegirlwhowishedeveryonelived, @ivyalmighty, @thewannabewriter, @lexhalstead3, @multifandomgrl08, @sensitivemallysix, @thebejeweledwatercat, @emme-looou, @trulylavandedarling, @onechicagochoicesbutterfly

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acaplaya-musings · 1 month

Text

Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals: Jack's Lament

Can you feel me practically vibrating out of my skin???

On one hand, I'm a little sad because this is the last video I'll probably be making a post about for a while (though by the time you see this, Geoff might have uploaded a new video that I can actually talk about the visuals for (EDIT from future me: he did!), and if so, you'll be seeing a post for that one tomorrow), but on the other hand, this is my third (though in no particular order/ranking) favourite Geoff video on his channel so far, and I am so excited to finally be able to make a post for it!

Geoff's cover of Jack's Lament debuted on the 8th of October, 2023, though I didn't see it pop up in my YouTube recommended until the 29th (if you remember from my Hellfire post, I wasn't initially subscribed to Geoff or Voiceplay, and both channels somehow ended up dropping off my radar for a while. Jack's Lament was the first from either channel that I had seen in at least a year, and as soon as I saw that thumbnail, I knew it was going to be amazing, but oh my GOD it was even better (and with me stumbling upon Hellfire the very next day, well let's just say I was pulled even deeper down the Geoff/Voiceplay rabbithole than I had been the first time around 😅).

Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll hit image limit on this one, or how much actual commentary I may have, but regardless, let's freaking go!

One hell of an opening shot, not gonna lie. Geoff's very-skeletal-looking hands playing the piano (in a beautiful way, might I add), immediately sets a very spooky/eerie vibe!

And this is one hell of an establishing shot! I mean goddamn there is a lot to take in here! Though one thing I will point out (that I actually only just noticed myself ^^;) is the Haunted Mansion headstone on the left, memorialising Madame Leota!

(Also shoutout to Pattycake Production Studios where this was filmed!)

I of course have to give a MASSIVE shoutout and kudos to Rick Underwood for the makeup job in this one, like holy christ he really outdid himself here! (and I can't thank him enough)

Ngl, if I don't come up with any other ideas between now and October, then I kinda wanna dress as "Jack Skellington Geoff" (Geoff Caskellington? 🤔), makeup and all (or just attempt the face makeup at least)

And seriously take a look at his hands! If it weren't for the super-high-definition closeup of his hands on the piano at the start, you'd be forgiven for thinking those are just really well-fitting gloves, but nope! An amazing airbrush job from Mr Underwood!

Also, if you look at his neck and chest in both this image and the previous one, you'll notice that he's got airbrushing going on there too, highlighting (or more accurately, shading) his ribs and other bones!

Finally, on the subject of the body paint job, if you've been paying attention to some of my other Geoff posts (and some of my Voiceplay posts), you might notice what's missing...

No necklace, and no rings! Had to remove them for costume/makeup/character purposes, rip. Must have felt a bit weird without them, but all that paint must have felt weird too, so maybe the weird feelings cancelled each other out? 😅

(His acting in this is of course 10/10 👌)

This video is one that I do actually know involved Geoff deliberately colouring his hair to make it grey, and it still looks as lovely as ever!

(Also this picture is a better one to check out the airbrushed detailing on his chest! (if you're gonna leave a couple of shirt buttons undone and your chest exposed, might as well take advantage of it! 😁))

The "moon" in this video is apparently just some big spotlight with a moon cover on it or something? Apparently you can fairly easily find them online or something, and you can in fact see the pole it's attached to underneath in this image here, but you likely wouldn't notice the pole if you weren't looking for it, and the usage of the moon is 100% perfect! (I've seen/heard one or two people wishing the moon was yellow like in the movie, but eh, it probably wouldn't have fitted the overall colour scheme of the video as much)

I had to include the "jumpscare" of course I had to! 😁

Also I can't get any good screencaps of it, but the way Geoff shifts from sombre on "a longing that I've never known," to more theatric/dramatic on "I'm a master of fright, and a demon of light" is so good, and the acting/choreography is absolute chefs kiss

"Bonjour!"

(For those of you not familiar with the original, the line "and I'm know throughout England and France" is part of the original song, but the "bonjour!" bit is not 😆)

A Geoff head not connected to the body! It's happened again! 😂

Also it's cool the way Geoff is quickly jumping/flashing from one point to another, reminds me of his Headless Horseman video

"No animal, nor man, can SCREAM like I can!"

What can I say, it's a very cool effect! Really ups the "oomph" factor of the little belt moment!

Tiny pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns in his eyes!!

"But who here, would ever understand..."

(I'm not even at half the maximum image limit yet, so I'm 100% just throwing in an extra screencap (or two) just because 😁)

Geoff pats the side of his leg to call for Zero the ghost dog, just in in the scene in the movie! (Also shoutout to Kathy, who I believe helped with puppeteering for this bit?)

"...that the pumpkin king, with the skeleton grin,"

(Freaking obsessed with this video, I tell ya!)

"The fame and praise, come year after year, does nothing for these empty tears"

This is the last shot before we see the gramophone logo (a very gorgeous shot btw), but there's a little bit of a bonus bit for those who stick around for the Patron credits!!

It starts to snow! Like at the end of the movie! It's a sign of hope and good things to come! <3

The original song is good for the movie, sure, but Geoff's cover feels like it has so much more depth (in more ways than one!) and emotion! And his vocal range is ugh god absolutely stunning and mindblowing! I cannot get enough, can never get enough!

But anyway, I hope you've been enjoying my Voiceplay/Voiceplay-adjacent posts! If there are any videos I've skipped over that you actually would like me to make a post on, please let me know! (And don't worry, I am planning to do all the 2017-onwards Christmas videos for both channels eventually - maybe as a Christmas In July thing?) I'm typing this on the 22nd of February, and if Voiceplay uploads a video in March that I wanna make a post on (nope), well you reading this will have already seen that post, and if Geoff uploads something in March that I wanna talk about (he did), then you'll see that post tomorrow (you will!). But otherwise, thanks for reading!

#geoff castellucci #jack's lament #jacks lament #acaplaya analysis #voiceplay-adjacent visuals

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lutawolf · 2 years

Text

Unforgotten Night (2022) Ep 1

My brat with a British accent wanted to write this together. Her once again covering the sub and me covering the Dom. I told her that she was a sadist and this was supposed to be bad. Iffy "noooooo, no, I'm just a special word for someone who wants you to suffer with me" You will be able to find the lovely iffy's companion post here.

It didn't help that I got so many requests to watch this. I think some of you are sadists. Is there something about doing this to a sadist that turns you on?? I included the Coconuts Mafia in my torture because if I'm going to take one, then the team should too. Thank you so much for the support and commentary! @biochemjess @suga4mycoffee read here @mematryoshkame @minisculecosmos @hereiswhereitbegan28 @akitbeast and their commentary here and Pebee. Also make sure to read @feralpansexual bdsm red flags post here

For those that know nothing about the series and this is your first time hearing about it: Kim (sub), a 25 year old office worker, has been in one sided love with his senior, Day, for a a long time. To forget about him and move on, he decides to have one night stand with a random stranger he met at the bar. What he didn't know was the stranger would start liking him to the point of no return. Kamol (Dom/Sadist), a 30 year old mafia, has some special needs in bed and so he keeps switching partners but no one is able to satisfy him. One night he meets Kim, who perfectly meets his needs. Right at that moment, Kamol decided to make the man his own.

Promo Poster

Seriously guys, what the fuck is that picture above. His FACE. "When you want to be tied up, but the idiot you're fucking doesn't know how to do it properly." I would like to be on the side of the Dom here but I can just hear the sub saying "Gotta do everything my damn self" Also, why are they using a glorified shoelace?? I mean, I haven't even started the episode yet and I'm dead. Where is the chemistry? What is it with these poses? They feel like their about to give a beginner's class in couples yoga with fun accessories.

Episode 1

So begins my drinking habit, I mean watch. No really, this turned into a drinking game. I took a shot every time a sub cries. I was tipsy by the end of the show. There was torture... Of the audience kind. Ellen DeGeneres shoes, constantly running water taps, 80's music and a horrible English breakfast with anemic sausage. On the plus side, I laughed a lot. I highly recommend as a group hate watch.

We meet Kamol as a "business tycoon" and you can tell they are trying to set an air of arrogance and command. The typical portrayal of a Dom. I didn't feel it though. I was deeply underwhelmed, he really wasn't giving strong power vibes. Ohhh, the ominous whisper "Something big is coming up." I'm all a flutter. Also, this might be an American thing but he just gave the weakest hang shake ever. As a Dom, I would be embarrassed. That's the one area where it is completely acceptable to have a pissing contest and you just barely held finger.

The next scene shows a weeping and marked up submissive. I've got no issue with one night stands but you still put the work in. Not only should there have been respect for limits but also aftercare. Instead he leaves him and has his bodyguards take him out. Can we get more Dom low class?

Why, yes we can "They always say they can take it but they never last" Yeah, okay. He wasn't any more satisfied than you buddy, so who is the real problem here? That's just stupid. You don't pick someone off the street and go, lets do a little whip and tickle. It takes a masochist to like pain and every masochist likes a different type of pain. This is like me asking if someone likes ice cream and then making them eat the flavor that's my favorite. Dumbass, I said I like ice cream, doesn't mean I like that ice cream.

We have a lot of weepy sub scenes. Then the girls aka assistants, take their boss to the bar. I don't know how they thought this was a good idea. The music alone would cause me to cry and drink too much. However, it's at the bar that Kamol (aka shoelace Pillsbury Ceo) shows up and notices Kim. Finally we have the moment they meet. In a bathroom, because the mafia apparently really appreciate bathrooms.

Kim is stumbling drunk into the bathroom and Kamol thinks this is a brilliant. Follows him into the bathroom. Where we have the conversation of,

Kim "Are you starting at me"

Pillsbury "I'm staring at you"

Kim "you interested"

Pillsbury "Yes, you caught my eye"

All why the mother fucking water facet is going!!!

Weepy Sub "in that case can you help me forget him"

Pillsbury "As long as you can tolerate it" 🙄🙄 Because yes, I like chocolate chip ice cream and so will you! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Weepy "No problem, you can do whatever you want" that's a good way to get stds kid and then you'll really have something to cry about.

Oh look! We finally have the, you're drunk, who me talk. It went as expected. Weepy sub is now up against the bathroom counter. Managing to avoid the still running water! It's torturing me! This is not my flavor of masochism! Then he calls him Baby. Which fits weepy sub. It's a very accurate pet name.

We show up at Pillsbury's place where they are magically changed into robes.... And they ones again talk about if baby is drunk. Yet they never talk about what kind of kink they are into. We apparently just gonna wing it, cause yeah that works. Guess we can blame it on him getting all hot and bothered at being called Mister. 🤦🏻‍♀️

The most consent talk we get is, you can suck this up right. And then he beaks out the Toys-R-Us cuffs that baby can easily slid right out of. He started him off real light with luke warm wax that's barely dripping. Yet we get this face.

At this point, I'm thinking boy can't handle much. Then Pillsbury breaks out a horse flogger. You guys, I wasn't expecting accuracy and if you want me to give a break down of why the flogging was so fucking God Awful that I took two shots! I can. Needless to say it was grossly inaccurate but even that doesn't match the horror of this.

Meanwhile his flogging is on the level of "I’m going to FLOG YOU……with kindness"

"W-would you like to talk to me about my childhood wounds as I whip you very gently"

On the plus side, there was a very nice, very accurate bite mark. I've got a bitting kink myself and no way THAT was fake, so kudos for that.

Then the true torture again. Dripping faucet. While Pillsbury finally gives some kind of aftercare. A bath with sweet kisses. While whispering sweet nothings of "You are the one".. It's not much but it's finally something so we'll take it.

But then baby wakes up alone to a Best Western breakfast. Is it any wonder he booked it? Maybe start acting like a Dom and taking care of your subs? Hmm.

I can't leave you without mentioning the stick on tattoo.

It shifts. For a second I thought we were going to get a shifter bl but they were just teasing. It's just a bad fake tattoo.

So there you have it. My torture is now our torture. Especially if you made it all the way through, what ever, that was that I wrote. Hope you got a few chuckles 💜💜💜

#unforgotten night #unforgotten night kink #luta #luta opinions #luta question and answer #weepy boy and Pillsbury dough bo #really bad flogging #turn off the mf faucet #coconuts mafia

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koalaray · 1 year

Note

Ok me again

Can we have headcanons about Leonard or Danny dating the turtle's sister (bonus getting raph's reaction about this )

Also sorry for request last time without checking if requests were open or not, I'm dumb, hope you can do it take your time 😊❤️💞 love you 💗

How dare you call yourself dumb! You are a wonderful person. I never specified any info about requests before so you didn’t know. So don’t you worry yourself about it sweetie.

💙💕I love you sweetheart💕💙

Now, thank you so much for this request. I hope you enjoy! 🫶

Note: I decided to do both Leonard and Danny, as well as Raph’s reaction. I got a bit carried away with Leonard because he’s my favorite lol

Loathsome Leonard

Power couple!

Lots of mutual teasing

You prank Danny and Mickey together

Leonard is surprisingly affectionate

Doesn’t mind pda

Lots of hand holding and rough kisses

He’s not afraid to make out with you in front of the guys either

Danny and Mickey hate it

Leonard also loves when you sit in his lap

Whether it be while you’re making out or just cuddling

When you’re alone, Leonard is more gentle

He just doesn’t want anyone to see his soft side

He gives lots of cuddles

Soft kisses

He whispers sweet nothings in your ear

When sleeping together, he’s big spoon

Always big spoon

He leaves soft kisses on your neck as he falls asleep

He prefers making sure you fall asleep first

He wants to know that you’re comfortable

Leonard hates mornings

He wants to stay in bed with you for hours and just cuddle

Won’t let you get out of bed until he wants to get up

He whines if you manage to get out of his arms

“Noooooo, come back baby…”🥺

“I need more cuddles😭!”

He is such a drama queen

“Please! I’ll die if you don’t come back to bed!”

“Leonard, I have to pee!”

“Oh.”

Leonard is great at breakfast

The only things he can cook are pancakes, waffles, and bacon

The perfect breakfast treats

Being in a relationship with Leonard is wonderful

11/10 would recommend

Dastardly Danny

Also a power couple!

Honestly, how can you date any of the Mud Dogs without being a power couple?

Anyways

Dating Danny involves judging everyone around you

Mainly just to see the reactions

Not a huge fan of pda

He will occasionally link his pinky with yours when you’re in public

In private however…

Lots and lots of kisses

Lots and lots of cuddles

He tells you how much he loves you over and over and over again

He is also big spoon

Always

Danny will let you wear his hat sometimes

He thinks you look adorable in it

On occasion, he’ll even allow you to wear his coat for a bit

A relationship with Danny is pretty great

Also 11/10

Bonus: Raph’s Reaction

He’s not happy

You’re dating a criminal?

Seriously?

It doesn’t help that (Leonard/Danny) rub it in his face

“Yeah, I’m dating your sister. How does that make you feel big red?”

Leonard will flirt with you and kiss you in front of Raph just to get on his nerves

Danny will just tell you how much he loves you over and over

It took Raph a long time to accept your relationship with (Leonard/Danny)

Even when he did accept it though, the teasing didn’t stop

He just had to get used to it

#rottmnt #rottmnt x reader #the mud dogs #mud dogs #the mud dogs x reader #dastardly danny #loathsome leonard #dastardly danny x reader #loathsome leonard x reader

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mariamariquinha · 2 years

Text

Versos de Placer (Colonel Carrillo x f!reader) - Seven

Masterlist

Summary: Morning after, bad news. Your father couldn’t simply go away.

Word count: 2.3k

Warnings: Bad words, blowjob, sexual innuendos, bad Spanish (from my part, consider me a Steve), slight angst and another small possibility of a daddy issues discussion (spoiler: it will happen).

Author’s Note: Yeah, yeah, the best part of finally making a couple have a good time is the moment things start to get in the way. If any of you are sensible with the familiar issues and all, I do recommend you to be careful. It’ll be more heavy in the narrative from now on.

Oh! I almost forgot! Steve with his lil camera? Best otp of the show. (And when he takes a picture of Javier? EVERYTHING)

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!

Join my taglist! Don’t forget to reblog, comment and like! As always, I would love to know what you’re all thinking! ❤

-----------------------------

Carrillo had his reputation for a reason. Colombia's juggernaut. Drug cartel wrecker. Before enlisting, he wasn't the smartest student in the class or the popular kid, but an interesting middle ground who should have earned a lot of praise from the teachers for being organized, polite, and very kind, if serious. As a soldier, equally devoted and obedient. He could be the type of soldier who ironed your own clothes. Perhaps he had some prominence as a supervisor of his more mischievous colleagues and they might not like him very much for it.

Things only started to make more sense after that night, more precisely the next morning, and you had a clearer picture of what he was like as a person. Between reserved and quiet, Carrillo was constant, obstinate, incessant, intense. It wasn't like that authoritarian version that left certain suspects in deplorable conditions, no; you could tell, as you watched fumbling around the bedroom to start his day, that he was enjoying unexplored feelings like a starved man, just to go back to his context of focus and seriousness.

“Are you sure you don't mind lending me that shirt?” You asked after a while watching him by the doorway, fingers playing with the hem of the clean shirt you wore.

“It's the least I can do.”

Carrillo didn't turn to answer you, even though he turned his head just a little to answer you. It left you a little unsure of what to do. He was already wearing his pants and was finishing lacing up his boots; surely you should already be determined to do the same, come home and shower before going to work.

It wasn't until you started picking up the pieces of clothing scattered on the floor that he reacted, but it was silent as usual. First, you saw his feet entering your vision; then, as you raised your face, his hand extended for you to rise. You obliged.

Of all the kisses he'd given you up until that moment, between the ones hidden at work and the ones he'd given you the night before, this one was the closest to the first. Deliberate, slow, as if he were testing every part of your mouth while you were more tempted to let him mold to your body. Without the layers of his clothes, you could feel the warmth of his skin, how it sent tingles through you and made a sigh fall from your lips.

Thank God you'd managed to clear away any trace of your morning breath.

“What is your opinion on delays?” You whispered in a teasing tone, pulling him by his belt while biting your lip.

“My opinion is that we have some minutes.”

“Some? Not a few?”

“It depends. I still need to show you around the house like I promised.”

“Nah, you also promised to have dinner with me. None of those things are important now, but you know what is?”

When you started to kneel in front of him, you could see the way his eyes were slightly startled, which soon turned into a lustful gaze. This attitude made him gentle with his ministrations - a gentle touch on the back of your neck, fingers brushing on your hair, a small smile on his lips at the way you freed him from his pants.

He was so handsome that way, looking over you with excitement and closing his eyes when you gave a tentative lick on his half-hard cock. You could tease him more, ask him if he hadn't had that for a while, that things weren't so easy but that he deserved it for being a good boy. Well, he wasn't a boy for a long time. Still, the way he moved his hips just a little bit when you put him in your mouth, eager for more, grunting openly at the contact… It kindled something in you.

There was no modesty in the size of his member, which made you breathe much deeper to go as far as possible. The action made him gasp, astonished at the sudden movement, and he even tried to pull you by the hair to prevent your gagging. You held the backs of his thighs tightly so that he could understand that it was okay, those tears weren't tears of sadness, and you would never complain about a sore throat if that was the cause of it.

“My God, woman… No me harás durar mucho así.” You won't make me last long like this.

“Esa es la idea, coronel. ¿No crees que mereces una compensación por todo lo que has hecho por este país?” That's the idea, colonel. Don't you think you deserve compensation for everything you've done for this country?

The groan he left was animalistic. Feral. The grip of his fingers on your hair tighten, as if it was a reflex of those words while your hand moved on his cock.

“Abre esa maldita boca.” Open that fucking mouth.

No, no it wasn’t a blur… It was a full show, with him showing that same posture of who needed and hunted for what he wanted. Carrillo grunted and groaned and enjoyed every second with the intense roll of his hips, which led him to give a loud moan when he came all over your mouth.

The sound aroused you even more. Horacio Carrillo moaning.

Yeah. He wasn’t the only one gaining rewards that morning.

------------------------------

“Hey, look here.” Steve’s voice made you jump in your tracks and you looked at him just in time to see a camera pointed in your direction.

“Good morning, Murphy…?” You teased. “What is it?”

“What do you think this is? It’s obviously a camera.”

“Right, smartass, I know the object, but what are you doing with this thing?”

There were a small part of things that made Steve smile like that - who would’ve thought the whole happiness of his daily life were resumed to the device. He was grinning like a child, both hands on the camera while watching you get closer after letting your bag on the desk.

“Complement for investigation. The other one broke so they sent a new one... I'm testing.”

“With me? I’m not a good model, Murphy.” You tried to sneak a peek at the thing.

“Because you didn't strike a pose. Come on, stay by the window.”

That morning, there was a positive aura in the air, something that didn't just extend to you because of what had happened hours before. It was as if the world, or at least Steve, shared a sliver of peace in the midst of the chaos of people walking to and fro. So you've formally positioned yourself there, in the corner, with the sunlight giving you the effect you need for two or three shots.

“I'll remember to hide these to send you later. I hope the government doesn't mind seeing some pictures of you and Javier in this.”

“Did you take pictures of Peña?” The smile you gave was genuine, just like his, who just shrugged with a kind of shyness.

“The bastard is very photogenic.”

“I guess.” After a beat of giggles, you looked around the place with a frown, the mention of your partner’s name acting as a reminder of his absence there. “Where’s him, by the way?”

“With Carrillo. They had a thing with a raid, apparently one of his informants had something solid about a new hotspot,” He didn’t hide the serious tone of his voice, the peaceful atmosphere already forgotten by the regular tension.

“Big op?”

“Mm-hm. With the CIA.”

Listen, it wasn't uncommon for things to come as a surprise to you there. Good God, you've had plenty of proof of how working to get Escobar was a hell of inconsistencies and coincidences. What made you suspicious, maybe even worried, was the fact that Steve suddenly went quiet, looking away to put the camera on his desk and make the subject drop with other conversations about you getting home all right the night before. You didn't press, of course. A sympathetic smile returned to your face and the two of you chatted a bit about how cool the bar was - limited to that for obvious reasons.

CIA, you thought, there’s something going on.

------------------------

Carrillo was quiet, arms crossed and frowning. When you walked into the office for what seemed like a normal meeting, he got to look at you and maybe his face relaxed, but with all the secrecy stuff, it was a short-lived reaction. You didn't care much; Steve was straightforward in saying that he seemed to be in a great mood when he arrived.

But that's what you said, the day was strange. Suddenly changed. Javier just mumbled something about no one from the DEA being directly involved with the new military operation, which was strange since he liked to be more aware of the steps taken by the Colombian forces, largely due to his proximity to Carrillo.

“You seem to have had a busy day.” Your voice was neutral, distracting enough to not give any impression of greater intimacy between the two of you.

He scoffed a discreet smile.

“That's what happens when I end up changing the schedule of my routine.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” A heat creeped on your cheeks then, as a reminder of what happened in the morning. “Martinez, Rojas… Necesito hablar en privado con ella. Por favor.” I need to talk privately with her. Please.

You were confused, particularly. He wouldn’t do that just for… No, he wouldn’t. Or he would?

“What’s the matter?”

“I think you heard about the CIA operation they're planning with us, don't you?”

Oh. Right.

“I guess. Murphy told me.”

“He did?”

“Yes.”

“How much of it?”

“How much of… Okay, what’s going on? I get the feeling you guys know something you don't want to tell me.”

You felt. Again, it was something that used to be a lot more… Your mother thing. In a way, you should imagine that moment of freedom, when you and he wore off all the tension that had been hanging over the two of you, would be over soon. That your work would consume you both right after, but at least it would give time to relax, to enjoy something out of the regular dramatic situation of Medellín.

That mistake made you falter, because things went downhill in an instant, faster than you could have imagined.

CIA. Huh. Fucking CIA.

“He took over an operations group last week. I only found out about this today because Javier had information to be verified and... Well, with that, they will start operating together with us.”

“You know that doesn't make any sense.”

“Why?”

“Messina would have said something, she wouldn't commit like that. My father was practically expelled from this country, Carrillo. Why would this happen?”

“I’m not happy either, but there's always someone poking their fingers in when the situation seems hopeless.”

“... Hopeless.”

Yeah, by 'desperate situation', everyone could understand that it would mean an iron-fisted carnage on the part of his father. He was like that. And maybe everyone was apprehensive about the offensive, even Carrillo who until then seemed to have a tendency to be the same way, but you would be the hardest hit. For being the daughter, or the biggest antagonist, or the motivation, even if you didn't think he even had a clue what happened.

That would simply break what you had already built up from the case. Carrillo knew it. You knew it. Javier and Steve knew. Fuck, of course you father knew that either.

“Listen... Seriously, look at me.” He stood in front of you, both hands holding your face with care. “I’ll be on the operation too. You know me, I wouldn’t go easy on him even if I liked the guy.”

“Oh, so you don’t like my father?”

“Good thing I didn't need his permission to do what we've been doing,” The light tone of his voice made you laugh. “To be honest, he wasn’t even my biggest worry today.”

You frowned at him, holding his wrists.

“I haven't stopped thinking about you. Or on both of us. It's really a tragedy to see you dressed after what we did.”

“Don’t be like that, Carrillo, this is a serious situation.”

“And do you think I'll have time to fulfill my promises with him here?” He lowered his hands to your waist, pulling you to him just a touch. “It’s a part of the problem, hermosa. We both know there's no turning back.”

“I know... You're a woman seducer.” You followed his lead with a teasing comment.

“My abuela always told me that it’s a family thing.”

“So I should know a brother or a cousin of yours to confirm this theory.”

“You really think you’re cute, don’t you?” Carrillo gripped your clothed hips firmly. “I don't remember you being so full of jokes with my cock in your mouth.”

“Maybe you need to work hard to keep my smart mouth busy, especially now that we're going to have... company.”

“Forget him for now. Nobody needs him. But I need you and you need me, that's what matters.”

That was so fucking sexy, he didn’t have idea.

“Keep talking to me like that and we're going to ruin all those plans on your desk, colonel.” You whispered, hands holding his collar to have a taste of the side of his neck.

“Don't threaten me with a good time.”

No one ruined the plans or did something imprudent just because, but Carrillo kissed you fiercely before letting you go, as if trying to make your mind wander to more than the problem ahead.

He should’ve known it was supposed to work. What he shouldn’t have known was that you felt angry at the fact that, even being away, your father kept taking the good moments of your life.

--------------------------

Taglist

@cheesybadgers (boo, just tagging you but if it’s too much just tell me)

#colonel carrillo x reader #colonel carrillo #colonel carrillo fic #horacio carrillo #horacio carrillo x reader #narcos #narcos fic #maurice compte

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