#she’ll be okay but we still have days of travel before we get to our new place. Bwah!
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I wish I could explain to Frankie what’s happening and that it’s okay. 😔😔😔
She’s just a baby after awllll…. My little lumpkin….
#road trip with kitty… she’s hiding out in the carrier all night..#she’ll be okay but we still have days of travel before we get to our new place. Bwah!#darby talks
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Hey :) I was wondering if since it’s a leap year you would maybe write a oneshot or blurb or smth with James Maguire x reader (maybe like Quinn!reader from your series??) where she proposes on the 29th of February bc it’s a tradition that comes from Ireland?? I just think it would be so cute bc he just totally wouldn’t see it coming and I’ve never seen anyone do it in a fic before
Leap Day (James Maguire X Quinn!Reader)
Masterlist
Request Something!
Summary: You, the girls, and James are now well into your twenties. Life is perfect, except for one little thing that’s been on your mind. After taking with your friends about it, you figure you should take matters into your own hands.
A/N: won’t put it on my series masterlist, but this could be seen as an epilogue of sorts to the fella series (even tho it’s not finished yet lol) but obvi it can be read as its own thing. Also im american so sorry for any terminology and such i get wrong. reader, james, and the girls are obvi aged up
***
If you had told your younger self that you and your friends ended up staying in Derry after finishing school, she would’ve thought you lost your mind. All she thought about was graduating and leaving home, traveling the world, and escaping her pain-in-the-ass sister Erin and somewhat crazy family.
But if she saw the life you had now, she’d probably understand. Because you had everything you truly wanted.
You had a nice little job close to your flat where you managed a bookstore. It was a quaint shop that became a frequent stop for some of the local teenagers. Erin also stopped by every now and then to boast about what she had already read.
When you weren’t working, you were with your friends. You were a bit more tame than you were in your adolescence, but that all usually went out the window when Michelle got a drink or two in her. Which happened often.
But the best part of your day was when you’d go home to see your boyfriend of many years, the love of your life, James Maguire.
“So, what’s goin’ on with you and him, anyway?” Michelle asked as she messily poured everyone a glass of wine. Every now and then, you and the girls got together for a night to get drunk and catch each other up on anything that happened since the last time you’d gotten together. For some reason, you and James were a bit of a hot topic tonight.
“What d’ya mean, Michelle? You know what’s going on with us.” You laughed, taking your wine glass from her.
“I mean, when are the two of you getting hitched? Has he even popped the question to ya?”
“Believe me, Michelle, you’d all be the first to know if we got engaged.” You said a bit glumly, downing your drink and waving your glass around for Michelle’s attention to fill it again.
“He still hasn’t asked you?” Clare asked with an incredulous look. From the start, she had been a big supporter of your and James’ relationship. If it was up to her, you’d probably have a few kids and a house in the countryside by now. “You’ve been going out since we were sixteen! And you just turned twenty-five a few months ago, didn’t you?”
“Yup.” You responded, popping the ‘p.’ “Nine years and no ring.” You held your bare hand up to prove your point. “But I don’t mind too much. As long as we’re together, that’s really what matters.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.” Clare cooed.
“It’s shit.” Michelle countered.
“Michelle’s right, Y/n,” Erin said, grabbing a crisp from the bowl in the middle of the table. “You’ve been waiting for James to propose since we finished at Our Lady Immaculate; admit it.”
“Have not!” You laughed at the absurdity of your sister’s sentence, but the looks everyone gave you made it die down. “Okay, maybe a little. But not seriously! It was just like a dream, you know? Like Erin thinking she’ll get published or Granda thinking Ma will actually divorce Daddy.”
Everyone giggled, except for Erin, who was grumbling about your little jab.
“Be serious, Y/n!” Clare laughed, patting your hand. “You’ve been waiting for him to ask for a long while.”
You looked down at your glass, swirling the wine around with a sigh.
“Maybe a bit.” You answered quietly. It hadn’t really nagged at you too much until recently. After all, you had been together for almost a decade, and everyone else around you seemed to be getting engaged or married. You loved James; truly, you did. But it felt like you were missing out a little. “But I’m fine with waiting.”
“The question is, Y/n, how long are you gonna have to wait until he actually does it?” Erin asked, leaning forward to stare at you. You shrugged, not really knowing the answer and not really wanting to respond.
“You might as well ask him, Y/n!” Your cousin Orla said with a grin. She was always an optimist. “He might just be scared you’ll say no!”
“You know, now that you say it, that’s probably why he hasn’t asked yet,” Michelle said, taking a sip from her wine glass that had been filled more graciously than anyone else’s. “After all, James is a pussy.”
“Don’t call my fella a pussy, Michelle!” You reprimanded, yet you still laughed along with everyone else.
“I can call my cousin what I want. And the fact is that he’s a pussy!”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea, really,” Clare said when everyone’s chuckles had died down. She gasped. “This is a leap year! You could ask him on the twenty-ninth!”
“That’s next week, Clare.” You said a bit nervously. Of course, you’d marry James in a heartbeat. But the thought of proposing, especially so soon, made you a bit sick to the stomach. Now you realize why James probably hasn’t asked you yet.
“It’s either next week or another four years, Y/n,” Michelle said with a teasing smile.
You gulped, feeling everyone’s eyes on you. As you thought about it, you had to admit that it wasn’t really a bad idea. Sure, you had less than an ideal amount of time to plan everything out. But you could probably get something small but nice together.
“Okay… Who’s going ring shopping with me?” The girls squealed at your question, getting up to surround you in a drunken group hug.
***
It was the twenty-ninth, and you were a nervous wreck. The ring weighed heavy in your pocket as you paced around your dining room. Dinner was sitting waiting on the table, and you were playing your little speech of love over and over in your head. All you needed was James, who should be home soon. But as the minutes ticked by, you wished the clock would freeze so you could have more time to prepare for this.
“Darling, I’m home!” James called out as he opened the door, and you realized you were out of time. You skipped out to the front hall to greet your boyfriend.
“Hi, Jamie.” You cooed, giving him a hug and kiss on the cheek before stepping away so he could hang up his coat.
“Sorry I’m a bit late, needed to finish some things at the office.”
“Oh, that’s okay, hun.” You waved your hands, both to dismiss his unneeded apology and to get rid of some nervous energy.
James gave you a quick peck before walking off to the bedroom to change, leaving you to overthink a bit more. You wanted tonight to be perfect. James deserved nothing less than that.
To pass the time, you grabbed a candle and placed it in the middle of the small table, finding a lighter to light the wick.
“It’s so nice to be home,” James murmured as he walked over to you, arms slinking around you to pull you close to his chest. He buried his face into your neck, leaving a kiss or two before taking a deep breath. “Dinner smells good.”
“Thank you, Jamie.” You turned your head to kiss his cheek before pulling away from him. The two of you sat down and started putting food on your plates.
You talked about anything and everything, James leading most of the conversation, which you were grateful for. You felt that if you had to talk too much, you’d either stutter too much or end up spoiling your surprise. James held your hand most of the time, playing with your fingers absentmindedly as he talked about something amusing that happened at work.
Eventually, your plates were clear and your cups were empty. James was finishing up a story about something a few of his lads had done while they were all watching some sports game you didn’t know much about. You knew that now was your time.
“Jamie?” He hummed, perking up at the sound of his name.
“Yes, love?”
“I love you.” You didn’t really know how else to start.
“I love you, too, N/n,” James said, smiling as he squeezed your hand.
You took a deep breath, about to give the speech that you’d been preparing in your head.
“I’ve known that you were the one for me since we were fifth years. Probably since I first saw you at the bus stop. That’s probably crazy, knowing something like that so early and so young… But it’s true.” You laughed, thumb sweeping over his knuckles. “These have been the best years of my life, being with you. And it might be a bit selfish of me, but I want more of them.”
“Y/n…” James whispered, tilting his head. “What are you saying, darling?”
“We have a bit of a tradition here.” You say, wiggling your hand from James’ grasp and standing up. “Ladies’ Privilege, Bachelor’s Day, whatever you fancy calling it. Where on Leap Day, girls can propose to their fella.” You stuck your hand in your pocket, fiddling with the ring. “And seeing how it’s Leap Day now, and I have a ring and all, I guess there’s just one last thing to ask.”
James’ expression turned even more stunned when you got down on one knee, now holding the silver band up in front of him.
“Will you marry me, Jamie?”
In the few seconds of silence after that question, you could feel your heartbeat in your ears. He looked at you stunned, and you desperately wanted to know what was going through his mind. How long would you have to kneel on the ground for him to give you an answer?
But then he smiled brightly, and all your worry slipped away.
“Of course, I’ll marry you!” James slipped out of his chair to join you on the floor and grabbed your face, giving you a long and deep kiss. You gripped his curls in your free hand, the other resting on his shoulder. When he pulled away, he let out an airy laugh. “I never thought I’d be the one being proposed to.”
“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” You giggled with him as you slipped the band onto his ring finger. “Happy Leap Day.”
“Happy Leap Day, indeed,” James said before kissing you again.
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Another Lifetime
Nanami Kento x Reader
(Song: Golden Hour Instrumental)
“We have to split up,” you said. His eyes widened at your command.
“You’ll die!” he exclaimed. You gave him a sad smile and looked at him warmly.
“And maybe you will,” you said. “But we’ve been going on with this constant fight. And I know that you know that splitting up is the best option.”
He took in deep breaths as he closed his eyes. He thought about the plan and he knew that you were right.
“We’ll split up our troops,” he said with a soft tone. “You head south and I’ll head east.”
“Yes captain.”
“Sweetheart.” You patiently waited for him to continue. “Be safe. Remember our promise.” Your eyes were filled with determination. You nodded. With the same, determined smile.
“I promise.”
You woke up with tears in your eyes. You didn’t know why you felt sad, but you did. It’s been a month since these dreams were reoccurring. They were seldom before, but now they just kept appearing night after night. The worst part was, every time you woke up, you can’t remember his face.
Your apartment was quiet. Perks for living alone. You got up and started getting ready for the morning. It was winter time. You smiled to see the snow fall gently to the ground and melt once it hit the pavement. No notice for campus cancellation. So you continued your morning routine before leaving for campus.
Shoko: I’m at the student center!
You: Heading inside!
You heard your name get called. You looked up and smiled widely to see your best friend waving at you. Next to her was Haibara Yu, her boyfriend of 3 years. You hugged the couple when they arrived and sat down in front of them.
“So, we have a new student coming in,” Haibara said excitedly. You and Shoko were interested, wondering how he knew so fast. Haibara laughed at them. “He’s my close friend. He moved in with me a few days ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Shoko asked curiously.
“He told me not to say anything,” Haibara answered. “Sorry babe.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s coming soon. He wanted to walk around the building. He’s in your class, Y/N. Actually, he’s in all of your classes.” Haibara looked up and you and Shoko watched him wave. They looked over at Haibara’s direction. You blushed to see a boy around your age with blonde hair. “Nanami! These are the two girls I’ve been talking about!” Nanami gave them a quick wave as we walked closer to the group.
Haibara happily introduced them to each other before Nanami took a seat next to you. You blushed, suddenly feeling shy around him.
“Are you okay?” Shoko asked. You nervously laughed.
“O-Of course I’m okay! Why wouldn’t I be?” You questioned a little loudly.
“Your cheeks are pink,” Haibara answered with a wide smile. You made a face at the couple before turning away to calm down.
“Nanami, she’ll guide you around the whole week. You two have the same classes each day.”
“Okay,” he said and looked over at you. A sudden image appeared in his mind. It looked like a splitting image of you from the back of your head.
“I promise, I’m not a bad guy.” She didn’t move, the back of her head still facing him. He sighed. “I only beat that guy up because he was making fun of you. He found your necklace and mocked you for not having a mother. I just wanted to protect you.”
“That’s what you did?”
“Yeah. I have your necklace too. I’ll put it on.”
“Thank you, Kento-kun.”
Nanami tapped your shoulder. This time, you did turn around and looked at him curiously. Nanami observed you. He looked at your eyes, wondering why they seem so familiar to look at. His eyes traveled down to your neck, where a necklace lies hidden under the turtle neck of your shirt.
“Do you need anything?” you asked curiously.
“Class,” he quickly responded. “It starts soon, right?” You looked at the time and nodded. You looked at Haibara and Shoko with a smile and waved.
“See you guys later.”
“Bye bye!”
Students would turn around and look at Nanami. You would sigh, feeling as if you were back in high school. Nanami stood closer to you, catching you by surprise.
"A handful of them aren't happy with you," he said. "I figured I stand closer to you so no one hurts you." You blushed.
"Thank you, Kento-san."
"You're welcome. And you don’t have to be so formal with me. We should be comfortable around each other."
“Kento-kun?” Nanami smiled and nodded.
Your day together with him was quiet. Even when you two went out to eat before your last class, you still felt so shy. Which is unusual for you since you’re used to starting a conversation with almost anyone.
"What time does Haibara and his girlfriend finish with their class?" Nanami asked curiously. You looked at the time on your watch.
"In another two hours," you answered.
"What do you usually do while you wait?"
"I like to either sit in the café or library to study. If I'm lucky, I find other friends lingering around campus. I usually use the gym, but I haven't been in the mood lately."
"Then, let’s go the library. I usually like quiet places."
You lead him to a private room at the library. It was a preferable place. The two of you get your own space together, somewhere away from the chatty students outside of the rooms. Nanami opened up his laptop and looked up on the syllabus on his courses for the semester while you started to take notes.
"Here, honey. You should read this book." He looked at the cover and gave you a look.
"You always give me romantic books to read." You giggled.
"Well of course. I gotta teach you how to be a lover. Maybe in the next life, it'll stick to you."
"Then here's your book." You took the book from his hand and looked a the cover. You gave him an angry, but not a seriously angry, look.
"The art of silence? You know that without my talking, your life would be pretty boring."
Your eyes widened and Nanami looked up at you. Nanami shook his head, diverting his eyes back to the screen. 'There's no way,' he thought.
"Kento-kun, do you believe in reincarnation? Do you believe that no matter what, people find their way back to each other?" you suddenly asked, your eyes back on the screen. He observed your blushing cheeks. He could tell that you have thought about this for a while.
"I might be starting to," he answered. "Since I started high school, I would seldom have these dreams. I was a sorcerer that fight off these curse spirits, and a girl is always involved. And since a month ago, these dreams happen every day."
"I-I thought I was the only one," you said in relief. She looked at him with a smile. "A sorcerer?" Nanami gave you a small smile. His smile made you catch your breath.
"Yeah, there was some war going on. Apparently the war's been happening since I was a baby in that dream. Maybe even longer."
"Have you--have you seen the girl yet?" Nanami shook his head.
"I just know that she has hair like yours. She's very talkative, unlike me. And she's strong and brave. She always puts other first which always worries me in the dream." You smiled as he talked happily about his dream girl.
You liked your dream boy. Someone quiet and calm. He was always reasonable and patient. He was gentle but very tough. He was scary to the enemies, a complete 180 to how he usually is. The thought of it made you laugh lightly.
"He's so quiet and calm. I remember him always being patient and caring. He knows how to be gentle but when enemies are around, he's rough and scary. He's known as The Silent Killer." You were suddenly quiet and Nanami noticed how upset you quickly became. It worried him.
"What's wrong?"
"I-I don't think she survived," you said sadly, tears forming in her eyes. "I don't even know what promise they made but I don't think they were able to keep it."
"Maybe right now, they're together," he said. "And they're happy living the life they dreamt of having." You wiped your tears away and gave him a smile. You nodded, feeling relieved at the thought of their happiness.
"Did you find her yet?" he asked frantically. His allies shook their head sadly.
"Do you think she diverted off somewhere else, captain?" He thought for a moment and nodded.
"You guys split up. I'll stay here."
"Yes captain!"
It's been a day after the battle was finally completed. They were victorious and Nanami couldn't wait to find his lover. He remained by the tree where they first confessed their love, but she has yet to show up. In fact, none of her troops appeared to be around. So Nanami left and ran to his troops. He ordered for the area to be searched. He called and called, but no answer. If some of his troops headed north and the others west, he knew, she headed towards him. In hopes more troops are nearby.
Nanami ran and ran, deep into the forest. He noticed subtle clues that were left behind. He knew deep down, it was from her. The quick ties of a purple ribbon gave way. He took every one of them before marking his own mark. He held on tightly to the ribbons as he continued to walk.
"Where are you?" he said to himself.
Nanami sighed in frustration. It's been a couple of hours since he was here. No more ribbons, no more clues. He felt lost and hopeless. Tears streamed down his face as he continued to search for her. He walked slowly as the snow covered the ground. He didn't want to step on anything or her. But he hoped that wouldn't be the case.
The further he walked, the more lost he knew he was. He knew it would take a while for him to find his way back. A deep, heavy feeling in his chest suddenly hit him before his eyes became fixated on a body covered in snow. He sprinted to the body, praying that it wasn't her. If it was, he prayed she had some sort of life left in her.
"No." Her skin was pale and lips were blue. Nanami looked at her body and found multiple stab wounds on her stomach and then her chest. He held her body tightly, refusing to let go. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't protect you."
Nanami woke up with tears. 'Holy shit,' he thought. His heart felt heavy. He didn't feel like starting his day. It has been a month since he moved in with Haibara. He grew closer to you and Shoko.
"Hey, I'm going to leave early and go to Shoko," Haibara said as he opened the door. "Her and Y/N aren't feeling well." Nanami sat up from his bed.
“Are they together right now?" he asked. Haibara shook his head.
"I'll head over to Y/N and make sure that she's okay," Nanami said.
"If you like her that much, just ask her out," Haibara said with a laugh. "The supermarket that's towards her house has really good soup. She typically eats miso soup and I think green tea when she’s sick?" Nanami nodded as he started to get ready. "I may or may not be on campus."
"I'm skipping today," Nanami said. "I'll text you."
"Okay."
Nanami couldn't help but feel overly worried over you. 'He didn't say it was serious,' he thought. 'She probably has a cold or a slight fever.' He found you miso soup and a box of green tea. He looked over and found a packs of Gatorade bottles. He took a couple of those and walked over to the snack aisle. He grabbed a bag of chips. But he feels like he didn't get everything he needed. He walked from aisle to aisle. He stopped to see a container of books. 'They better have something good,' he thought. A small smile appeared on his face when he found a romance book. With content, he finally checked out and drove to your apartment.
You sat on the couch, mindlessly watching a movie. The sound of the doorbell caught your attention. You wrapped a blanket around your body before walking up to the door. To your surprise, you found Nanami. He held two bags, one in each hand. He gave you a small smile.
"Haibara said you weren't feeling well," he said. "May I come in?" You nodded and moved to the side.
"Just don't complain if you start getting sick," you said, your voice stuffy and nasally. Nanami lightly chuckled.
"Fair enough. I'll heat you up soup. Haibara said you like green tea? But I found Frost Gatorade--"
“I’ve been needing Gatorade! And that’s my favorite flavor!" you said happily. Nanami smiled and handed you the bottle.
"I have chips and I found you a romance book to read." Your eyes widened.
"Kento-kun...”
"I just had a good feeling you wanted a new book to read." You couldn't help but hug him tightly around the waist.
"You're the best," you said. You sat back down on the couch. You lowered the volume on the TV and started to read your new book. A few minutes later, Nanami joined you on the couch. You thanked him, taking a few sips of your soup.
"My dream was sad this morning," he said. You immediately stopped reading. You placed a piece of paper inside the book and placed it on the table. You looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "The battle was over and he was looking for her. He split up with his troops and he went off course into the forest to find her. She left purple ribbons on the trees, so he grabbed them. He was out for hours and he finally found her body."
"She didn't make it," you said. You didn't question it. It was as if you already knew. Nanami shook his head.
"He held her tightly and cried. I have a feeling that he never left and died right there with her." You can feel tears slightly forming in your eyes and physically feel your heart break.
"That's so sad! That's sadder than any other book I ever read!" You let the tears fall. Nanami was caught off guard and handed you a tissue. You blew your nose. "I wonder who these people are."
Nanami stayed. You eventually fell asleep, so he got up and covered your body with a blanket that landed on the floor. In your sleep, you smiled and curled your legs closer to your chest. He brought his backpack and took out his notebook where he started to write out all of his dreams as they continued to play in his head. He thought back to your dreams that you two decided to share together when they occur. With another colored pen, he wrote down your dreams that match up with his. His eyes widened.
"It is her," he said. "And that's why I knew that I love her since I saw her. That's why I want to be close to her. I wonder how she feels about me." He looked back at his notebook and smiled.
"Even though I hope it doesn't happen, we could die. If we do, let's promise each other that we'll find each other in the next life." You looked at him with teary eyes and smiled.
"And if we don't die, we are immediately getting married and living our life to the fullest. The life we always dreamed of having."
"The tree where we confessed our love, we'll meet there if we ever separate."
"I love you, Kento-kun."
"I love you too, sweetheart. My sweet, beautiful, and brave girl.”
You opened your eyes. You heard your TV softly playing in the background. You can hear water running and food sizzling on the stove. Slowly, you sat up to find Nanami cooking and cleaning.
"Kento-kun?" You called. Nanami looked over at you and smiled.
"You look better," he said softly. "I cooked more soup."
“You know me so well, don't you?" Nanami responded with a light chuckle.
"Something like that," he said softly. "You want to freshen up?" You nodded and slowly stood up. Lying down for so long, you felt a bit light headed. Nanami watched you carefully, making sure you were okay. "You'll be okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just a bit light-headed," you said and slowly walked towards the bathroom. "Kento-kun?" He looked over at you with curious eyes. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." The two of you remained on the couch as you ate your early dinner. You told him about your dream from earlier. This time, it was how they first met as teenagers. He watched the girl being bullied for wanting to be a fighter. The boy beat up her bullies and then hugged the girl until she stopped crying.
"It was a cute dream."
"Have you ever told Shoko and Haibara?" You shook your head.
"As much as I love Shoko, she'll talk my ear to death," you said. "And Haibara, well, I just haven't bothered to tell anyone. Until you came along. At the library, I just had a feeling you knew what was going on."
"When you feel better, do you want to go on a date with me?" he asked. His sudden question surprised you but you felt this longing excitement that he gave you.
"The weekend is coming up in a couple of days," you said happily.
It took you all morning to find the right outfit for your date. It was the first date that you had to look perfect on. You loosely curled your hair. You wore a pair of skinny jeans with a pair of brown boots and boot length socks. You wore a loose long sleeve that had a loose turtle neck on and took out a brown peacoat to match. You applied light make up, wanting to keep a natural look on your face.
You perked up when you heard ypur doorbell. Excitedly, you walked to the door to answer it. In front of you was Nanami with a bouquet of red and white roses.
“Kento-kun…” Nanami blushed when he saw you just thinking how beautiful you are. You held on to the flowers and invited him inside. “You’re early.”
“I have something for you,” he said.
“In addition to the flowers?” Nanami nodded and watched you arrange the flowers in the vase. The two of you walked over to the couch and Nanami pulled out a black journal from his pocket. “A notebook?”
“It’s my dream journal. I put down how your dreams went and…well read it. We have a lot of time left.”
“Can you read it with me?” Nanami nodded. He held you tightly and you held the book down so you two can comfortably read it together. It took about an hour until you closed the journal with tears flowing down your cheeks.
“Kento-kun…” you looked up at him and you were surprised to see him crying too.
“It’s like, I remember living at that time,” he said as he wiped your tears away. “And if you did too, I hope you still love me.” You turned around and hugged him tightly.
“I love you, too,” she said.
“200 years without you. And I finally found you again.”
“That’s so long,” you said with a small laugh.
“I want to know, what happened that night?”
“One of your troops came to me. You were in trouble and I was a fool to fall for it. I was ambushed.” You felt him hold you tighter.
“I have another question?” He pulled away and looked at the chain of the necklace. “Can I see the necklace?” You nodded and pulled it out of your shirt. Nanami smiled. He remembered it being the necklace he gave back to you when you were bullied.
“My mother gave it to me before she died,” you said. “Family heirloom. She said there was this young woman. She was the smartest, strongest, and bravest woman in the family. Men looked down on her because they felt inferior. Instead of this one man. He respected her and fell in love with her. After the battle, both of their bodies were found. He froze to death, holding her body tightly to his.”
“Just like my dream.”
“Sadder than any story I have ever read. Kento-kun, is this the first time the whole dream thing occurred and it came true?” Nanami nodded.
“We made a promise. And now that we found each other in this life time, we can live it the way we want it. No fights, wars, or battles. No deaths. Just a peaceful life.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
#jujutsu nanami#jjk nanami#jujutsu kaisen nanami#nanami x reader#nanami x you#nanami#nanami fanfic#nanami kento#jujutsu kaisen#jjk kento#nanami fluff#jujutsu kaisen fluff#nanami jjk#jjk fluff#jjk#kento nanami#jujutsu kaisen x you#jujutsu kaisen x reader
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With Jack in NYC this week, I can’t get this image out of my head. He would wake you in the middle of the night just so you can scream his name because he wanted to with all the window blinds/curtains up.
City Lights
Jack Harlow x fem!reader
Smut!⚠️
A/n: the link pic is in the fic also I changed the plot from the request the tiniest bit.
Synopsis: Jack and Y/n enjoy the view from their hotel.
******************************
“It just makes more sense for you to be in New York for the week,” Chris tells Jack over the phone.
“Even though I only have a photo shoot and SNL literally a day apart?” Jack sighs.
“You could do some networking and meeting with others,” Chris explains.
“Fine, yeah whatever.” Jack agrees.
“Don’t shoot the messenger, Jack. Tell y/n I say hi.” Chris says before hanging up.
Jack groans and rubs his hand down his face.
“Are you okay, baby?” You ask him, climbing onto his lap.
“We have to leave tomorrow to go to New York for the week,” Jack informs you.
“Well, I do. You can stay, I know we just got done doing a lot of traveling.” He tells you, rubbing your thighs.
“You know I’ll go everywhere you do.” You smile at him, cupping his cheeks to kiss him.
“I love and appreciate you so much, you keep me sane.” He sighs.
“I must not be doing that good of a job.” You laugh.
He pushes you off of him carefully and leans over to tickle you.
“Jack! Stop!” You laugh.
“Huh? I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.” He laughs.
“Baby! I love you so much, stop!” You wiggle, trying to get away from his tickles.
“Alright, baby. Let’s go pack.” He finally stops.
“My stomach hurts.” You sigh, trying to rub the tightness from laughing out.
The two of you pack for about an hour and a half before going to sleep and getting on the plane.
You’re awakened from your sleep by your alarm going off. You quickly turn it off and turn over to see Jack still peacefully asleep and the night sky dark. It’s only 9 P.M and your plane is set to leave at 10.
“Wake up, baby.” You tell him quietly.
You kiss his lips, multiple times until you feel him kiss you back.
“Good morning.” He says, his voice raspy from his sleep.
“Good morning, handsome. Even though it’s still night.” You giggle.
“Let’s get up and get ready to leave soon.” You tell him, getting ready to move out the bed.
“Mm Mm.” He grumbles, shaking his head.
“We can’t stay in bed any longer.” You tell him.
“Yes, we can.”
“No, we cannot.” You giggle.
“I’m getting up to brush my teeth, it’d be lovely if you join me.” You joke.
“Ha ha, you are so funny.” He says, catching a tired attitude.
“Whew, blowing that breath.” You giggle, walking away towards the bathroom.
Jack joins you in brushing your teeth, to brush his.
“Up now, baby?” You ask him, playing with his curls.
“Yeah.” He says, leaning down to kiss your cheek.
“Alright, I’m gonna go put our bags by the door.” You tell him.
“Nu-uh, I’ll do that, baby. Will you get our plane bag ready?” He asks you.
You nod at him and go into your room to collect the chargers and anything else y’all will need on the plane or at the hotel.
“Ready, babe?” Jack asks, peeking into the room.
“Yeah.”
The two of you take an Uber to the airport.
Once y’all arrive you two get on his private plane and settle with each other. You cuddle up with him. The two of you fall asleep for the remainder of the flight.
You pack up y’all’s stuff and get off the plane before Jack.
“Hey, can I have some of those Biscoff cookies? I know she’ll regret not having them.” Jack asks the flight attendant.
“Yes, of course.” She says handing him a box full.
“Thank you.” Jack laughs.
Jack gets off the plane and meets you in the car Chris assigned to pick y’all up.
“Here you go, baby,” Jack says, handing you the box of Biscoffs.
“Where’d you get these!?” You ask him in awe.
“It’s a secret.” He laughs.
“Alright, boy.”
The two of you decide to go get food before going to your hotel.
“Let’s go to that pizza place by the Northstar,” Jack says.
“Ooo, yes! That place was so good last time we went.” You moan.
Jack tells the driver and he drives the two of you to Uncle B’s.
“Can please I get two slices of the deluxe cheese pizzas?” Jack asks.
“Course, that’ll be 12.99.” The man tells Jack.
Jack hands him his card and y’all are given the pizza.
The two of you eat on the way to the Northstar hotel.
A man approaches the car ready to take your and Jack’s baggage upstairs to your room while you and Jack follow him up.
“Wow, we’re high up.” You tell him showing him that you’re on the 17th floor.
“Yeah, the view is amazing from your room.” The bellman tells you.
“I can’t wait to see it.” You beam.
Jack watches you in awe. No matter how tired or worn out you were, you always look like the most beautiful woman alive to him.
The bellman brings you and Jack to room 1705 and unlocks the door for y’all.
“Wow.” You say, in awe of how beautiful the room is.
“Is it possible to have this room for the rest of the week?” Jack asks the bellman.
“Absolutely.” He nods to Jack.
He places the baggage off of the hotel bell cart and leaves the room after Jack tips him.
You and Jack walk into the room and are astonished by the view.
“This is so beautiful, Jack.” You gasp.
“Mm, it is.” He says, moving behind you and kissing up your neck.
“Jack-”
“I wanna fuck you in this room, with all the blinds open,” Jack admits.
“I want your pretty tits pressed against this window while I fuck you.” His words make your breath hitch and you feel yourself grow wet.
“Do it.” You say softly.
“I can’t hear you, pretty.” Jack teases.
“Fuck me, Jack. Do what you want to me.” You sigh.
“Good girl.” He smirks.
He pulls down your legging while you remove your sweatshirt.
Jack unclasps your bra as he moves you over to the ledge of the window. You put your knees on it and he pushes your boobs against it. You wince at the cold feeling as it hardens your nipples.
“Bet all those people could see you right now.” He says, looking down and seeing the streets of New York City.
“You’d like that hmm? Them looking at you getting fucked?” Jack asks as he pulls down his sweats and boxers.
You stay quiet, which makes Jack pull your hair back.
“Would you like that?” He asks again.
“Yes?” You moan out.
“Wrong, I’m the only one who gets to see you like this. Who gets to see how wet you get for me.” Jack says, rubbing his tip through your folds.
His precum mixes with your slick. A sigh leaves your lips as he rubs against your clit. Jack slowly inches his tip into you, feeling how you stretch around him.
“Mm, Jack.” You moan.
In one slick motion, Jack bottoms out into you.
You arch your back, begging for more. His thrusts are languid and deep, making you crave more.
“Jack, please.” You beg.
“What do you want princess?” He asks.
“Faster.” You moan.
Jack grabs a hold of your hip as he quickens his pace. Your breath fogs up the window as you fail to make sounds. The noises of your slick combined with the collision of Jack’s hips hitting against you fill the room.
“Just like that, Jack!” You moan.
“God, feel so good, baby.” Jack moans.
Jack’s hand slips in between you and the window to rub your clit.
“Fuck, Jack I can’t! I’m gonna cum!” You moan.
“Cum for me, baby. Let the 1st floor hear how good I’m making you feel.” Jack groans.
“Jack!” You moan out as you cum.
Your body buckles and shakes as you reach your high.
“Fuck, turn around,” Jack says pulling out of you.
You turn around and drop to your knees as Jack jerks off in front of you. He groans loudly as he aims to cum on your tits.
“Fuck, so pretty for me.” He moans.
You scoop up his cum with your finger and spread it on your tongue.
“Fuuuuck.” Jack sighs, throwing his head back.
“We gotta get in the shower before I fuck you all night,” Jack says, all but jokingly.
He holds his hand out for you to grab and you do so. You stand to your feet and the both of you walk into the bathroom. You pee while Jack starts the shower.
“I love you.” He says as you join him in the shower.
“I love you too.” You tell him, leaning your face up toward him so he can kiss you.
#jack harlow#jack harlow x reader#jack harlow smut#jack harlow angst#jack harlow fic#jack harlow imagine#jack harlow x y/n#jack harlow fluff#jack harlow concepts#dad!jack
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1x01 - extreme aggressor pt.2 “great”
pairing: spencer reid x fem!reader; read part one here!
summary: a small blurb-like continuation of part one
warnings: literally none? maybe mentions of trauma? fluff? awkwardness? second-hand embarrassment?
word count: 1463
Walking down the halls of the Seattle FBI office, you see a familiar lanky figure down the hall, facing away from you.
“Spencer?” You call out before you even realized you opened your mouth. You feel a tinge of embarrassment as you realize you are indeed, not alone in the hallway. Some other agents and workers glance at you before carrying on with whatever they were doing.
The man, in question, that you called out turns around, hearing his name and his eyes slowly center onto your figure.
Before you know it, he’s walking down the hallway towards you and you give him a sheepish look as he arrives in front of you, “Dr. Reid, I am so sorry,” You grimace and lower your voice, hoping to not embarrass him in his place of work any more.
The awkward man that you had met in your sister’s apartment couldn’t have possibly been okay with you yelling his name across his workplace and around his colleagues.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” You say before he can get a word in, “Thank you to you and your team for finding my sister.” You give him a grateful smile.
Dr. Reid chuckles softly, “It’s no problem,” He says, “I’m glad me and my team could help find your sister and catch the guy responsible,”
“And I wanted to thank you for what you said to me,” You added on, “I was panicking and it wasn’t doing my sister, my brother, or myself any good.”
He waved it off, “It was no problem at all. In fact, I would be slightly worried if someone in your shoes weren’t upset or panicked.”
He chuckled at his last sentence and you returned with a small laugh.
“I, uh,” Spencer continues to talk, “know this might be a dumb question, but, um, how is your sister doing?” He asks.
You assume that in his line of work they often don’t get to see the people they help recover and their lives after.
You shrug and smile at him, “As good as she can be doing. The doctors want to keep her for another week and then she’ll go through a therapy and recovery plan. She’s still really freaked out about what happened and even David is setting her off.”
“That’s completely normal,” Spencer replies, “It probably is just the presence of a man, not necessarily your brother.”
You nod in agreement, “Yeah, I thought so too. David’s hurt by it though. The flinching, wincing, all that.” You say.
“We’re, um, actually thinking about moving Heather away from Seattle for a bit. Get a nice change in scenery and start fresh.” You add.
“Where were you thinking?”
“During the summer growing up, we would spend a few months with our grandparents in Maryland. They had this small place in Annapolis. When our grandparents died, they left it to our parents, and when they died, they left it to us. Heather, David, and I have some good memories growing up there and the house has been maintained over the years.” You explain.
Spencer smiles, “That, uh, sounds really nice. It might help your sister to be surrounded in a place she’s felt safe before.”
You both continue to dawdle around in the middle of the hallway, awkwardly. Neither of you make the move to leave or say goodbye, its almost like neither of you want this conversation to end.
“So,” You start to say, ending the momentary silence between the pair of you, “I should let you get back to work. You must be busy and have other people to help around here, huh.”
Against your will, your cheeks start blushing a small red tint and you get embarassed that you’ve held up this man’s day just so you could talk to him again.
“I don’t work here.” Spencer replies.
You’re sure he can see the confusement on your face after you realize what he just said.
He goes to explain himself, “What I mean! That is, um, I, uh, don’t work in this office. In this building. In Seattle. Me and my, uh, team traveled from Quantico. We’re all stationed in Quantico, Virginia.”
“Oh,” You laugh a little at his stumbling to answer, “Sorry, I just assumed that-”
He waved you off and chuckled to himself, “Don’t worry about it.”
“Oh, here,” You say, drawing the business card he gave you days earlier out of your purse, “I guess I didn’t need to use this afterall.”
“Keep it.” He blurts out not two seconds later. His hands stay by his side and there’s no movement to even accept back his card.
You try again, “I don’t really have a use for it now since Heather’s found and that guy is locked away. You should really give it out to another person who needs it.”
“Keep it,” He reiterates, “I insist.” He says, even going as far as taking his own hand and wrapping it around yours which was reaching out with the card in your fingers. He curls his larger hand around yours and tucks the card deeper into your palm without hurting you.
He steps back quickly afterwards and even as he angles his head towards the ground, you can see a faint blush on his cheeks. He’s embarrassed, you chuckle to yourself in your thoughts. You could tease him a bit more, but you decide not to.
“Are you in town for much longer?” You ask, vying to change the subject.
“Um,” He starts to answer while looking at his watch, “It’ll take roughly four to four and a half hours to get back to Virginia and it’s already pretty late, so we’ll probably leave first thing in the morning.”
You bite your lip and urge yourself in your thoughts to take your shot, “Do you and your team have plans tonight then?” You ask. You hope that he starts to get the hint so he can let you down gently if you’ve got it all wrong.
“I, uh, think we’re all doing our own thing tonight. Some are staying in the hotel. Others are exploring the city.” He informs.
“Do you, uh, -” You stutter, you wring your hands around behind your back, “Would you, um, like to grab dinner together?” You ask. You push back the urge to close your eyes and wince, wanting to see his reaction instead.
It’s a little more shocked than you had hoped for on his face, but you don’t see him pulling back or veering away from you. You take that as a good sign.
“Wh-what about your sister?” He asks, a little speechless.
“Visiting hours are over and David is handling a bunch of paperwork tonight.” You chuckle nervously, “I’m sorry if that made you really uncomfortable.” You apologize.
“Just nod and we can move on, pretend that I never asked you that, say goodbye and never see each other again.” You say, preparing for the worst.
“No!” He exclaims, nearly cutting you off. “I’d, uh, I’d really like that! To do that.”
He takes a deep breath and rephrases, “I would like to grab dinner with you.” He says, looking you in the eyes. You can’t help it when a smile creeps onto your face.
“I just, uh, need to very quickly finish some paperwork, so, um, would a late dinner be okay?” He asks, carefully.
You nod, “Yeah, that’d be great. We can just meet somewhere if that’s easier for you? I can text you the address of this really great Mexican place nearby?” You offer.
He shakes his head up and down enthusiastically and eagerly rummages through his satchel bag, still perched up on his hip.
He hands you something, “That would be great. Mexican is great. I’m- that’s- you’re-” He takes another deep breath and takes a moment, “Great. Just, um, great. I’ll be done by 9 and we can meet then. It, uh, was really great talking to you again.”
Spencer’s face flushes even more and after he hands you something, he moves away and says his goodbyes, making his way down the hall in the direction he came from before stopping in his tracks, turning around and walking in the opposite direction.
You can hear him as he passes where you still stand. “Great? Why did you say great so many times? You said great five times in two minutes, Spencer!” You hear him chastising himself.
You laugh quietly to yourself as you watch him leave, waving to him when he turns his head to see if you’re still watching him (and you are). You look down at your hand and let out a larger laugh now that his is no longer in sight.
He handed you another one of his business cards.
a/n: here’s a small continuation of extreme aggressor because i felt like i left it way more open-ended than the other one shots i have since posted. this is to tide you over until 1x05 broken mirror is finished and to be posted! i might do more of these small continuations for others...
#spencer reid#criminal minds#criminalminds#spencerreid#dr. spencer reid#spencer reid x you#spencer reid x reader#spencer reid fluff#spencer reid x y/n#spencer reid x fem!reader#spencer reid fic#criminal minds fluff#criminal minds fic#one shot; one episode
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Okay then! Moving onto your ideas for a fix-it time travel style fic for TWDG, do you have any concrete ideas so far of what you'd want to do with it? Who'd be going back in time, how drastically things would change, plot points, that sort of thing? If you don't mind sharing of course, I'd understand if a lot of that would be spoilers should you decide to actually write it.
Would you believe I’ve spent the better part of last night thinking of this very fic idea? I couldn’t land on WHO the heck would I send back.
I’d send them back as the age they were during that time, so Clem going back to S1 from S4 would be 8-years-old all over again but with the mind and knowledge of 16/17-year-old Clem.
Clementine would be an obvious choice, right? As a character from the start to finish, she could easily make the most change. Depending on what point she travels back from in the series, she could very well change a lot of things. For starts, Clem from any season after S1 could:
Not talk to the stranger over the walkie.
Knowing her folks are dead, and probably want to avoid Savannah all together.
Be aware about the St. John’s, not trust them and campaign for them not to go. But then comes the fact that she’s a child and possibly the only person who would take her seriously would be Lee. So that could be something she might not be able to fully change.
If she doesn’t or can’t stop the event of EP2, then there could be a chance that she can intervene on Ben’s deal with the bandits. She would have to keep an eye on him specific pay attention to him whenever he leaves the inn or is on watch, which she’ll have to do w/o raising any attention.
If she can do that, and convince Ben to listen to her, even if she’s just a kid, they might be able to warn the group and get out of dodge before the bandit’s raid begins, so they could leave for the road a few days early.
If that happens, Lilly’s meltdown might not happen. If Larry died during EP2, then she’d still be depressed and in mourning of course, but not paranoid since there’s not a conspiracy going around the group about betrayal. Meaning Carley/Doug might not get headshot.
This also means Katjaa & Duck survive for now, and thus Kenny doesn’t have his complete character arc in S2 if his whole family is alive, since that loss played a huge part in his arc.
That also means that Lilly might stick around longer, and we may not get a Delta!Lilly.
They still take the train, as Clem can’t do anything about the train being in the way.
But then Clem realizes the train rolls right through Savannah, and there’s no avoid it anymore.
But Clem knew not to listen to the Stranger, so her sneaking away to meet him only to be kidnapped possibly won’t happen.
Meaning… We don’t lose Lee, which would’ve been Number 1 on Clem’s list of things to fix.
If that happens, the group has no reason to leave the house, meaning Vernon and the cancer group can’t get the boat.
Speaking of the boat… it’s WAY too small for their group.
Lee, Clem, Kenny, Katjaa, Duck, Chuck (since our group is big, I doubt they’d let him die the way he did), Lilly, Carley/Doug, Ben, Christa & Omid? That’s 11 people on this boat meant for at most like… 4 or 5.
Cue the talks of changing their plans. And much to Kenny’s chagrin, Katjaa agrees.
The group decide to put a pin in the boat plan and mull over their next move. This is where Clem chimes in and says they should head for the country, and get out of the city ASAP.
At this point, Lee would be way more trusting of Clem’s intuition and agree, so would Christa. Katjaa, Lilly, Doug/Carley, Ben would agree with the majority, and Omid would pick whatever he thought was best for Christa and their unborn baby.
They gather their bearings and plan their route out of Savannah over the night. The next day they discover the boat’s gone. So, Kenny really has no choice but to agree with their plan.
I feel like once the group is out of Savannah, and Clem has time for, well, downtime, she’ll want to think about how she’ll get back the other important people in her life like AJ, Javi and his family, and the Ericsons kids (especially if she romanced Louis or Violet). She wants to see them again, albeit not in the same circumstances as before.
On the other hand, is would I send back Lee? Another start to finish character (at least for S1), Sending Lee back from the end of EP5, Lee could make changes as well, his only hold up would be protecting Clementine even more since she really is 8-years-old:
He’d probably train her earlier, like between EP1 and EP2.
EP2 is the hardest to change, because it’s a group choice. It would probably go down similar to that deleted scene of them voting, where Lee would vote against going but be out voted by everyone else.
He doesn’t trust the St. John’s in the slightest, and when he goes back with Mark to check the perimeter, he tells him keep his guard up and watch the trees. Since Mark’s a bit more attentive, Mark gets grazed by the arrow instead of full impaled, and the scene plays out the same.
They make it back and Mark’s still a bit injured but not remotely as bad as before, so he’s able to attended dinner without having to go through Brenda’s, ahem, “check-up”.
So, who’s for dinner then?
Mr. Parker! Mmm, barbequed band teacher-
Let’s for back a bit, during the hunt with Lee, Mark & Kenny. They find Ben, Travis & Mr. Parker.
They don’t cut him out in time, but this time Lee doesn’t try to hack his leg off, remembering last time how he still bled out and died by time they made it back.
Lee instead tells Mark and Kenny to grab the boys and go. Before they can protest, the walkers are coming in, not many, but enough.
Travis makes a go at Mark’s rifle, but Mark shoots him in the leg. So now they have to carry him back.
So, Ben and Travis live! And Mr. Parker… for now.
Hypothetically, let’s say the dairy boys got to Mr. P before the walkers did.
So, he’s for dinner.
Dinner scene plays out the same, but this time Parker takes Mark’s place.
The Larry in the locker moment plays out differently. Since Mark is there, he’d help Lilly revive Larry.
Unfortunately, leaving Lee to argue with Kenny about not killing Larry. He’s trying to prevent as many unnecessary deaths as possible.
I believe Kenny and Lee would actually tussle over this, but Kenny would lose.
And by some miracle, Larry would win. As in he’d live.
Rewinding to where Lee was investigating the farmhouse, in the cabinet he found the morphine and wire in, he’d also find nitroglycerin pills. Lee kept them on the chance the moment in the locker happened.
Rest of the scene plays out the same until they make it out the locker.
Lee meets Carley/Doug, Ben & Travis outside the barn.
Since Mark’s arm is still a bit injured, Lilly shoots Andy.
Fight goes the same. Lee spares Andy and leaves him to his fate.
Interesting change, when it comes to the Stranger’s car, Lee purposely tries to distract the group from hearing the car.
Unfortunately, Mark sees it.
Lee is adamant about not taking from it, and doesn’t give Kenny the keys.
This almost prompts another Kenny v. Lee fight, until Larry steps in and argues they need it since the dairy was an absolute bust.
Lee uses Clementine’s argument that it’s more than likely someone’s car, and they might not be far. Since he knows it’s the strangers, he’d mention it probably belonged to a family.
A dreaded vote, and it’s Lee, Clem and surprisingly Lilly vs. Kenny, Katjaa, Travis, Carley/Doug, Mark and Larry.
Outvoted, Larry snatched the keys from Lee and they pillage the car. Doug/Carley comes up to Lee with batteries for Clem’s walkie, but Lee takes them instead, saying they might need them for something important.
EP2-3, Lee is aware that at this point the bandits are going to attack the inn because of Ben’s deal. So, Lee decided to nip the bud and go to Ben directly. He’d say something along the lines of “Don’t talk anyone in the woods, especially bandits who claim to have his friend.”
Sprinkle in a little, “Or else” because Lee’s DEAD serious on nothing that happened in EP3 happening twice. And Lee’s threat worked…
For Ben, at least. Because the difference between this time and last was Ben’s deal with the bandits.
He didn’t account for Travis being made the same deal.
So, color Lee terrified when Lilly comes to Lee about missing supplies.
He didn’t think she’d be paranoid, now that her dad was still alive.
He knew everywhere to check by the back of his hand, the signaling system, the chalk, all of it.
First, he trucked it over to Ben and immediately called him off the RV. Ben climbs down and Lee lays into him (well, where only he and Ben could hear) and accuses him of being guilty.
Ben’s confused more than defensive, which throws Lee off. Ben asks is it about what he warned him about a week ago, and says he hasn’t seen or talked to anyone outside the inn after he warned him about the bandits, and is generally confused as to what Lee’s blaming him for.
Lee apologizes and leaves. He checks the grate and what’s in it. Meds, of course.
He brings it to Lilly. The motel gets held hostage, but this is different; when they get held hostage, Mark taps on the window Lilly would exit from and warm them before they eventually hear for themselves.
While Lilly tells Lee to stall them, Larry does something stupid. Stubborn as an idiot, he refuses to be held up like he just was a week ago and goes for one of the bandit’s guns, getting shot in the process, causing all hell to break loose.
Lilly leaves her vantage point and goes to get Larry while Mark takes her place, the group splits up like they did before.
Lilly manages to pull Larry behind cover and tries to save him, so Mark has to deal with the bandits and keeping enemies off of her while she’s distracted.
The fending off goes the same, each group gets inside the RV, Duck is still bitten.
Lilly has to leave Larry, so now freshly mourning, and losing the inn, Lee knows all hells about to break loose.
Lilly pins it on Carley if she’s there, or Ben if Doug’s there.
Lee would defend Ben, saying he thinks it was someone else, and for the first time asks Travis.
Travis gets immediately defensive, just as Ben did before. Lee knows he did it.
But Carley/Doug would tell Lee to lay off him. Lilly would believe Lee’s claim that it was Travis since he’s helped her before.
Travis pins it on Carley/Doug.
Ben defends Travis, getting hi back under the microscope.
RV hits a walker, they’ve got to stop. Everyone exits.
Lilly shoots Travis in the head.
…
Lee knew it was Travis. But even so, the act alone caused the group to vote to leave her behind.
Katjaa calls Lee up front and tell him Duck’s bit.
Lee is angry that he’s failing to stave people this time around.
The train scene goes the same, they meet Chuck, Duck and Katjaa die, but instead of training Clem, since he already trained her a bit more and cut her hair, he decides he should tell Clem the new plan for Savannah.
Chuck compliments Lee on teaching the girl to survive.
He tells her that even though Kenny’s deadest on finding a boat, he thinks their best bet is getting out of the city ASAP and making it to the countryside.
Clem wants to find her parents, but Lee tries to gently tell her that they’ve been gone for so long that the chances of them being there or alive are slim to none.
Clem hates that answer.
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Clem—”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Well, at least that radio won’t be a problem.
They meet Christa and Omid. The next morning, Lee is horrified to hear Clem’s radio go off.
She’d been talking to him again.
Again.
Kenny says he thought the thing was broken, to which Carley/Doug will admit they gave her batteries for it when she’d asked.
Without a second thought, Lee angrily chucked the radio out the train. He’d be damned if that bastard gets his hands on Clementine again.
The they get to Savannah. Molly tolls the bell, they make a break for it. Ben runs from Clem, Chuck saves her and gets split from the group.
They get to the house. And get inside, Doug/Carley keeps watch. Everything plays out the same. Clem goes to Crawford with them. Carley/Doug actually gets killed instead of Brie, however.
Lee saves Ben at the bell tower.
Since Ben isn’t guilty, Kenny has no ill will toward Ben, but also threatens that if he leaves Clem like that again he and Lee will tag team his ass. Ben gets the message quick.
Vernon still offers to take Clem. Lee knew it was coming but isn’t as mad as he was at the suggestion to give away his adoptive daughter. He still declines.
I should note that Clem has definitely notice her walkie’s missing, but Lee says she might’ve accidentally dropped it while they were one the train. She’s really sad about this, and a bit anxious.
Clem asks Lee if they’re going to get on the boat with Kenny. Lee says they might. Due to him trashing the walkie, cutting off all contact with the Stranger, they may be able to all get on the boat; He, Clem, Kenny, Christa, Omid and Ben.
Clem asks if they’ll have time to look for her parents, Lee tells her what he said on the train.
She cries and leaves the room.
Since the group is downstairs, Lee lets Clem have her space. She’s probably really upset with him.
He tries not to fall asleep, but dozes off for a bit.
Lee jolts awake when he realizes. He looks around and doesn’t see Clem near him before remembering she’s downstairs.
He turns and looks out the window, expecting to see Kenny working on the boat.
Instead, his blood runs cold as he sees Clementine, standing outside the fence, talking to someone beside a car.
A station wagon.
A station wagon that looked horribly identical to the one from the woods.
From the one that was parked in front of The Marsh House.
He could’ve sworn his heart stopped beating for a minute as she willfully climbed inside the backseat.
Lee booked it downstairs, nearly falling as he slammed through the backdoor as the car peeled off down the street. Lee runs out the back yard but is too late.
And that’s all I have for now! I spent a minuuuute conjuring this all up! Keep in mind, this is all a rough idea of what I could try, not definitive!
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what year is it
i’m at that point where-- oh, no it’s been a while that i just plain haven’t known what year it was. i lost count somewhere and idk. how old am I? what year is it? we’ll figure it out.
Spent a couple hours the day before yesterday, during which I urgently needed to be working on cleaning my house, instead helping dude’s mom shovel out. she’d been working for hours, slowly, pacing herself-- she’s 70 after all, and in okay shape but not particularly athletic-- and then the plows finally came by and really plowed her in and she called nearly in tears, and Dude was ass-deep in alligators at work and I said, “give me an hour, and I’ll be over.”
So I got an hour’s worth of very necessary cleaning on the guest room, since my sister is staying there on the night of the 1st. I need to do more cleaning though, because of course she’s with her husband and Farmkid, who will be one day away from turning 9, and is like five feet tall, so they don’t all fit in that one guest bed and I need to clear out a bunch of space in the living room where somebody’s getting the couch. They’re always here in winter; I have guest space on the porch, but not when it’s cold! Oh well.
Anyway. Left that to do later, in what free time I don’t know, I’ll figure it out, and went over and spent two hours shoveling. It was a hard two hours; the snow was really compacted and wet. But we got a lot done. I cleared out the end of the driveway in about 35 intensive minutes, then went back and started on the Drift of Doom blocking the garage. She came out eventually and joined me, and together we broke through the drift but only got the path about four feet wide. Still, that was huge. On my way out I broke up a lot of the snow hoping to get it to melt. But I had to work yesterday, so i couldn’t continue.
She says it’s fine she’ll just back her car over the rest of the pile. I’m a bit concerned. But Dude managed to get out to grocery shop, and did the shopping for her too so she doesn’t have to get her car out and can just wait. She said she didn’t need to go anywhere else. So if she can make it, great, and if not, well, hopefully the thaw takes it down the rest of the way.
Anyway now we’re on flood warnings everywhere. We got 51″ of snow, was the final total, and now it’s 55F outside, room temperature basically, and so everything is melting *everywhere*. I am terrified for my basement, which I used to be great about keeping stuff off the floor of and lately I haven’t been able to and well, if it’s gonna flood I guess it’s gonna flood. I’m so nervous.
OH i forgot.
wednesday night, when the temperature first rose, I woke up at 1:30 am to Dude saying, loudly, “OH NO.” I came fully awake immediately, and he said, “why is this wet”, and then I heard it, water dripping, next to my face, and I got so mad because that happened to me so much over the summer in the cabin without a real roof and I was like “NO this is my INDOOR HOUSE” but
the blizzard had forced fine snow through the cracks of the roof deck and it had collected and run down to the edge of the roof and melted into a puddle on the attic floor and now was in the ceiling of our bedroom dropping onto our faces. We had to go clear out a corner of the attic and mop frantically and it was still dripping afterward so I slept in the guest bed and dude slept on the couch so at least when my sister’s family comes we can attest that the sleeping accomodations are comfy.
anyway i’m like. idk the stress is a lot for some reason I genuinely can’t puzzle out. i’m very frazzled. i’m making progress cleaning the house. it’s not the dirt it’s just that there’s so much stuff i haven’t put away in all my traveling and back and forth i never unpacked and anyway it’s just piles of things, and anything that’s put away i’ve forgotten i owned so the only things i use are the things in the piles.
I helpfully tidied everything away into my bedroom and then I get up before Dude so I can’t get dressed until he wakes up and it’s awful. so. anyway. unsustainable. can’t live like this. have to live like this.
Also it’s only 23 days until we go on vacation and i have at least five more garments i desperately want to make so we shall see, especially if i have no time to work on them, what gets done.
oh AND i have cramps, so that’s just like. shit icing on that cake really.
prayer circle for nobody drowning in these floods and the property damage to be minimal and for them to stop finding bodies in snowdrifts here.
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Mending Warped Designs: Full Gear
"Dude, you look like sh-"
"-shut up," Nino sighed, pressing the bag of pastries into Chris' hand. As he opened the door, Chris could see that his brother had been up for hours even before the sun rose. He was slouched like a puppet being held up only by sheer force of will, spite, or a combination of the two, wobbling unsteadily as he leaned against the door frame. "Sorry…been up all night. Just wanted to check on you."
"I'm doing a lot better than you are," Chris said, holding the door open. "You wanna come in?"
"Can't…tell Mom I have some work to do today," Nino said, waving over his shoulder as he turned around to leave. "I'll try and make dinner, but-"
Nino stumbled as the ground beneath their feet quaked, holding on to the door-frame for support. After a few moments, the quake passed and Nino shared an uneasy smile with his brother. "-I think I'm gonna be busy for a little while."
Work-life balance wasn't part of the superhero compensation package, but there had at least been a semblance of it before this week. As though all the crazy that had been lurking just beyond Paris' borders had finally come home with Ladybug and Chat Noir. He didn't put stock in superstition; as much as Adrien might think he was a walking jinx and magnet for bad luck, Nino didn't believe that a person could bring so much bad luck with him. After surviving three slobberknockers in two cities in less than two days, Nino was having second thoughts.
His phone chirped in his pocket, startling him out of his rumination as he saw Alya's name appear on the screen. "Hey."
" Hey, Chloe's still AWOL," Alya sighed. Through the line, he could almost imagine her pacing back and forth, running her hand through her hair as she tried to outwalk her problems. " I've been calling her all morning but she isn't picking up the phone and-”
Nino took a deep breath, already getting a second hand headache from Alya. “Okay…you want me to go see if I can find her?”
“ Could you ?” Alya asked. “ I’m setting up a safehouse in Le Grand Paris; I’ll explain everything more when we get there, but we have people in custody we don’t want bringing back to our base.”
“What kind of people?”
“ Would you believe me if I said that Ladybug and Chat Noir traveled through time and somehow landed in our lap or would you call bullshit?”
“That is bullshit, but it’s the kind of bullshit we deal with on a daily basis,” Nino groaned, rubbing his eyes. “Okay…you need me to do anything else while I’m topside, or-”
“Just let me know when you find Chloe,” Alya said. “The longer she’s out there, the more I’m worried about her…or rather, what she’ll do if we don’t find her soon. Thanks…”
“Okay…hey, I checked in with Chris and-”
“ Hang on; gotta run; the maitre-d apparently wants a credit card," Alya groaned. " Remind me to set up a tab with Chloe when you find her."
The line clicked off and Nino stared at the smiling picture of himself and Alya he had as her icon for a long minute.
“...Chris is fine,” Nino muttered, shoving his phone back in his pocket and setting off in search of his girlfriend’s girlfriend.
Read More...
#my writing#mending warped designs#yeah fuck it gonna crib ppv names for the next few chapters#it's appropo i swear
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Bonsoir Chapter Three: Electric Love
Bonsoir Masterlist
Bonsoir Playlist
Summary: Cassia and Gregor wake up and spend the day together.
Pairing: Pre MIA ep!Gregor x OC!Cassia Nu
Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI; Oral (M receiving), mentions of minor character death, bigotry against clones, fluff
WC: 3.3K
A/N: This chapter was interesting to write.
The early morning light starts to slowly fill the room. Cassia wakes up before Gregor, unable to look away from the beautiful sleeping man. His arm is laying across Cassia’s torso and she lightly traces her fingers over the slowly wilting leaves of the bracelet she wove him. She can’t believe he actually kept the bracelet on. She really believed him last night when he said he’d never take it off.
“Just so you know, I can feel your eyes on me.” He smiles, eyes still closed.
“Can’t help it. You’re pretty.” She brings his hand up to her lips, brushing them across his knuckles.
He opens one eye, looking at her. “No, you.”
“Do you have time for a cup of caf before you have to go?” She asks him, hopeful.
He pulls her into his arms with the warmest smile Cassia’s ever seen on another person. She could definitely get used to this… to him.
“I should be asking you that. I actually have the day off.” He tells her.
“That’s great! Our store is closed today, so it works out perfectly.” She tells him, excitedly.
“I thought Mara said she’d see you today?” He traces lazy circles over her skin.
“Oh shoot. No, we usually have lunch on our days off.” She realizes, sitting up to grab her comm. “I’ll send her a message and tell her I can’t. She’ll understand. She was very excited for me that you showed up yesterday.”
Gregor chuckles. “Really? I couldn’t tell at all.”
Cassia grabs her hair clip off the bedside table and pulls her hair up off her neck as she sends Mara a message explaining that Gregor stayed over, and she couldn’t do lunch today but that she’d tell her everything tomorrow. Gregor sits up with Cassia, resting his chin on her shoulder after kissing it.
She tilts her face toward his as he smirks before glancing down at her lips then looking up into her eyes.
“You have the prettiest brown eyes I’ve ever seen.” He smiles.
“I think you do.” She grins.
He pulls her back down the bed. “I don’t want to argue with you this early.”
“Why, because you know that you’ll lose?” She teases him.
He laughs, kissing her. “Oh no. Because I know that you’ll lose.”
She crawls on top of him, kissing his chest. “Well, Captain… If you let me win this argument… I have a surprise for you.”
“Ooh?” He grins up at her. “What is it?”
“Ah, ah, ah.” She shakes her head. “You have to fold to find out.”
“Alright. I fold. Tell me.” He gives in right away.
She laughs, reminding him how much he loves her laugh. “You’re easy, aren’t you?”
“The easiest.” He winks. “Now, you promised that you’d tell me what the surprise was if I folded.”
“I think I can show you better than I can tell you.” She hums.
She continues kissing down his chest, all the way to his adonis belt. She doesn’t miss the way he sighs perfectly under her touch. She travels down further, kissing his hip, making him shudder slightly.
“You okay?” She teases him.
“Perfect.” He looks down at him. “Never better.”
She teases his half hard length with her finger tips, tracing the veins all the way to the base of his shaft. He hums with pleasure, eyes closed as he lets Cassia do what she wants to him.
She begins tracing his veins up to the head of his length with her tongue and Gregor lets out a soft gasp.
“That feel alright?” She asks him.
“Feels amazing.” He really means it. She could just leave it at tracing his length with her fingertips or her tongue and he’d probably end up coming undone in a matter of minutes.
“Do you want more?” She asks him.
“You can do whatever you want to me.” He promises her.
“Well, in that case.” She smirks, taking his hardening length in her mouth, making Gregor groan loudly.
She tastes both of their releases from the night before. She hums in pleasure, feeling an arousal pool into her stomach just by pleasuring Gregor. She takes him all the way to the back of her throat.
“Fuck, cyar’ika…” He moans, one of his hands traveling to her hair, gripping gently.
“What does that mean?” She pulls off of him only momentarily, to ask.
“Sw…sweetheart.” He replies, making her heart swell. “It’s Mando’a.”
She starts bobbing her head up and down on his length, making Gregor whisper curses as his moans and gasps fill the room. She wants to make him feel as good as he made her feel last night.
His balls start to tighten and she can tell he’s close to coming as he grips her hair and her sheets. She keeps her pace going, moaning around his cock. He gasps at the feeling, making him quickly cum down Cassia’s throat and she swallows for the first time ever, surprisingly enjoying the way he tastes.
“I- I’m…” Gregor struggles to find words, panting.
Cassia laughs softly, kissing up his thigh and his chest until she finds his lips and he engulfs her in his arms, kissing her passionately, desperately not wanting to ever let go.
“You’re amazing. Absolutely fucking amazing.” He sighs. “How did I get so lucky?”
“So… caf?” She starts to get up to grab her silk robe off the back of her door.
“Caf sounds great.” He sits up, about to grab his bodysuit off the floor.
“Do you want some other clothes to wear?” She asks him.
“You have men’s clothes?” He quirks an eyebrow.
She chuckles. “They belonged to my grandfather, actually.”
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly-” He starts.
“Why, afraid they’re too out of date?” She teases.
“I’m afraid I’ll start to bring them back into style, actually. People will wonder where to get them and I’ll have to tell them ‘I’m sorry, you missed the store by 20 years.’” He teases back.
Cassia laughs with him. “If you’d rather wear that-”
“No, I was kidding. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t really mind.” He explains.
“I wouldn’t have offered if I actually minded.” She cups his cheek and then walks over to her closet, pulling the box with her grandfather’s old garments out of the closet. “You can go through these while I go make breakfast.”
He kisses her hand and she walks out of the room to allow him to get dressed. She really didn’t mind letting him use her grandfather’s clothes. He’d been gone for a bit now and it’s not like the clothes were going to be used.
“Wedge! Breakfast!” She sings out into the apartment and Gregor can’t help but smile to himself, realizing he could absolutely get used to this… and to Cassia.
Cassia grabs Wedge’s food, filling up his bowl and then gets him fresh water. Wedge comes and rubs up against her ankles, purring his usual ‘good morning’.
“Good morning to you too, good sir.” She scratches behind his ears, earning a loud purr from the fluffball.
Cassia washes her hand and starts the stove and grabs a pan, sitting it down on one of the electric burners.
“Gregor?” She calls back to her bedroom.
“Yes?” He answers as he walks out.
She looks at him and smiles. “You look great.”
“Does looking like an old man do it for you?” He pulls Cassia into his arms, grinning down at her.
“You do look very handsome.” She reaches up on her toes and kisses him on the cheek as she goes back to making breakfast. “Do you like eggs?”
“I do.” He smiles to himself, watching her dance around the kitchen, humming. “I promise there isn’t much I won’t eat.”
He can’t believe how quickly he’s falling for her. The guys gave him a lot of grief about where he’d run off to the night he met her. He just said he forgot he had stuff to do. He did, however, tell his brother, Dyer, about Cassia. Dyer was excited for Gregor and told him to have fun, with a wink. Gregor tried to explain to Dyer that it was more than a hookup but Dyer just pushed him out of the barracks and said to make sure to be back in time for training the shinies, as if Gregor wasn’t his captain.
“So, what do you think?” He hears Cassia ask as she finishes up cooking.
Gregor’s attention snaps back to her. “Sorry, what was that?”
“Will you take me back to that park today? I’d like to see it in the daylight.” She smiles and his heart almost stops. “I can pack a picnic?”
“That sounds like a great idea.” He agrees.
“Great!” She licks the jelly off the spoon after smearing it on their toast and tosses it into the sink.
She sits his plate in front of him at the table with a mug of steaming caf. He’s looking at the mug with an amused smile.
“‘Fuck off, I’m reading.’” He chuckles, reading the mug in front of him.
She laughs. “I have a lot of book pun mugs.”
“What’s yours say?” He looks over at hers.
She shows him her “My weekend is all booked” mug and he cracks up.
“I like it. That’s funny.” He grins at her and her heart melts.
A man who can appreciate books and her book puns should surely be The One, right? She can’t seem to look away from him. He winks, taking a sip of caf, flustering her.
They sit there like that, smiling like idiots while eating breakfast. It’s the most at peace that Cassia has felt in a very long time and she’s in no hurry to let the feeling go.
“So, is it alright if I ask about why you have your grandfather’s clothes? You can tell me to mind my own business and I will.” He leans back in his chair.
She pulls Wedge up into her lap and he lays his head in her lap like he’s so exhausted and didn’t just sleep all night long. Gregor takes notice and chuckles.
“My parents died when I was ten. They got jumped on their way home from a date night while I was being babysat by my grandparents.” She tells him, looking down at the large orange fluff ball in her lap while she pets him.
“That’s awful. I’m so sorry.” Gregor wants to pull her into his lap and take every bit of sadness away from her.
“It’s alright. It was a long time ago.” She gives a soft sad smile.
“My grandmother’s sister is actually the Jedi Temple librarian.” She tells him, finishing her cup of caf. “Do you know of her?”
“Madame Nu is your great aunt?” Gregor is genuinely surprised.
“Yeah, well… she’s technically not supposed to have any contact with family so don’t tell anyone.” She points at him.
“I see where you get your love of reading.” He finishes his cup as well. “Want another cup?”
“Please.” She nods, grinning.
“Well, we can’t make the little prince move, now can we? He looks too comfy.” He jokes.
Cassia laughs as Gregor gets up to fill both their mugs.
“I can’t believe you lied to me.” He tells her as he sits down across from her at the table.
“About what?” She asks him.
“You said there wasn’t much to tell about your life. You lied. Your life is something.” He replies.
She feels herself go warm in the face. She’s never been asked about herself before, really. Between being friends with Mara since they were young children and Penn and Ehren just not asking for little details, she’s not got a whole lot of practice talking about herself.
“So, your grandparents aren’t around anymore?” He asks.
“No, they passed within a year of each other a couple years ago.” She answers. “First my grandmother, then my grandfather.”
Wedge’s head pops up as a bird flies by the window. He immediately jumps onto the table and to the couch so that he can sit on the arm of it and look out the window.
“He doesn’t run the place at all, does he?” Gregor laughs.
“Nope. Not even a little bit. I’m the boss here.” Cassia chuckles.
“Cassia… I gotta tell-” Gregor starts.
“You can call me Cash if you want. Everyone else I know personally does.” She tells him.
“Cash. I like it. Cash… you’re the most intriguing and beautiful woman I’ve ever met.” He tells her, leaning toward her slightly.
Like a gravitational pull, she leans toward him as well.
“I feel the same way about you.” She smiles softly.
He sighs softly. “Now, I’m afraid there isn’t a whole lot to tell about me.”
“I don’t believe you.” She gets up and sits in his lap, straddling his thighs as she wraps her arms around his neck.
His hands travel right away to her ass, squeezing softly. She rolls her hips over his, his length starting to harden again. He groans softly, looking up into her eyes.
“One more go before we head to the park?” She raises her eyebrows to challenge him.
“Don’t have to ask me twice.” He picks her up, carrying her back to her bedroom to have his way with her before really starting their day.
When they finally get back out of bed and after getting a shower together, which ends up resulting in shower sex, Cassia makes a picnic and puts Wedge in his leash and leads both of them to the garage in the back alley.
“You have your own transportation?” Gregor asks, surprised as Cassia opens the garage door, revealing a teal two seater landspeeder that belonged to Cassia’s parents.
She hardly ever got it out. “I do. Cheaper than taxis. Plus, the taxis around here typically don’t allow pets.”
“Makes sense.” Gregor gets in on the passenger side as Cassia gets in the driver’s seat.
Wedge hops into Gregor’s lap but Cassia starts to apologize and stop him but Gregor holds his hand up.
“He’s alright.” Gregor gives her a reassuring smile.
“Admit it. You like Wedge.” She teases as she starts up the speeder.
“Yeah yeah. Surprised me too.” He playfully grumbles as he scratches the tooka behind his giant ears. “You were right… He’s definitely a Wedge.”
She tries to hide how touched she really is. The only people who have been accepting of Wedge were her grandparents and Mara. Other than that, Wedge isn’t much of a people person. Perhaps she’ll take it as a really good sign that Wedge seems to love Gregor. Maybe that makes two of them.
“You may want to hold on.” She grins at him, pulling on her shades.
Cassia speeds down the alley onto the streets of Coruscant, making Gregor hold onto Wedge tightly with a laugh. The Summer air hits them in the face in a not so unpleasant way. Wedge doesn’t seem to mind, though.
“Wow. You weren’t joking.” He watches as the shops disappear behind him as they head toward the park. “This thing goes.”
It’s further away than she remembers. Gregor has to give her directions a few times.
“So how long are you on Coruscant for?” She asks him.
“A few weeks. We’re training new recruits for our squad.” He tells her.
“So, in theory, you could spend the night again?” She asks him.
“In theory, as long as I’m back on base before my commander is awake, yes.” He grins.
“Interesting.” She smirks, finally pulling up to the park.
Gregor gets out with Wedge, putting him down on the ground and holding onto his leash. They begin their walk along the pathway along the water. Gregor and Cassia both see the spot where they hooked up the other night and start grinning at each other.
“Looks less sultry in the daytime.” She notices.
He laughs in agreement. “You’re definitely not wrong.”
Cassia asks him about the war and he tells her whatever she wants to know, answering all of her questions. He tells her about the Foxtrot group, his brothers, and some of his adventures.
“Do you have any plans for after the war?” She asks him.
“Honestly, before you, I’d not given it much thought.” He admits.
“And now?” She looks up at him with hopeful eyes.
“Well… the future seems much brighter since meeting you.” He slips his hand into hers.
“I’m glad you talked to me outside of 79s.” She tells him.
“That makes two of us.” He squeezes her hand.
She leans into him as they walk and then really starts to notice the weird looks that they start getting from other people walking past them.
“You’re noticing the people staring too?” Gregor asks.
“Um… yeah.” She replies, confused.
“A lot of natborns aren’t into clones mixing war with pleasure.” He explains.
“Well, that’s fucking stupid.” She shrugs, holding onto his hand tighter and giving people glares right back. “People should mind their own business.”
Gregor’s heart swells at the way that Cassia is proud to be with him. He’s never been in this situation, so he’s not really sure what to say that could make the situation better. He’ll just leave it to her for the time being, she’s doing great. He places a kiss on her head as they walk down the path.
“You know if you were smart, you’d keep that clone behind closed doors.” A twi’lek man tells Cassia.
“Excuse me?” She stops.
“Cash… don’t.” Gregor tries to get her to keep walking.
“No.” She pulls her hand out of his. “What did you say?”
“I think you heard me.” The twi’lek smirks.
She stands her ground, challenging him. “Go on and tell me why I should ‘keep him behind closed doors’.”
Gregor is slightly afraid for her and also turned on. He didn’t know she was so feisty. He’s really proud of her.
“Clones are bred for war.” The man tells her then turns to Gregor. “Go back to Kamino.”
Cassia lets out a loud sarcastic laugh. “That’s funny. Maybe you should go back to Ryloth. You see how ignorant you sound?”
The man stops smiling, starting toward her but Gregor pulls her behind him, protecting her even though he’s absolutely sure she could hold her own.
“Sir, just don’t.” Gregor stands taller, handing the leash to Cassia.
“Or what?” The man holds up his hands. “What are you going to do, clone?”
“Well, I’m not going to do anything. But, I am a commando captain and this comm device goes straight to the Coruscant Guard and they don’t take well to bigots at all. All I have to do is talk right into it.” Gregor holds up his comm device. “Or you can deal with my girlfriend here. She also doesn’t take kindly to prejudiced people at all. And I can assure you, she’s way smarter than you and I combined. You’ll walk away with your dick all the way up inside of you.”
“Whatever.” The Twi’lek man grumbles, continuing down the path. “Freaks.”
“Smart.” Cassia tells him and then puts on a fake smile. “Have a really nice day, sir.”
Gregor stops to look at her. “I was right. You’re fucking amazing.”
“Oh. Well, thank you.” She blushes. “Girlfriend?”
“I- if that’s okay. I’m sorry, I probably should have asked you-” He lets his words rush out, clearly nervous.
“Hey. It’s okay. Girlfriend is alright with me.” She assures him. “More than alright.”
Gregor pulls her into his arms right there, not caring in the slightest who was watching. Being with Cassia made him feel invincible, like he could do anything. He kisses her with a burning passion, feeling like he’s on fire, in a good way. An amazing way.
@livi-s @studioramekin @brynhildrmimi @madameminor @dumfanting @rain-on-kamino @wolveria @misogirl828 @rexandechosandwich @corona-one @tecker @ladykatakuri @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond
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Part Eleven: The Hideout
***
After an hour of travel, we arrive. The hideout is underground, only two ways in and out, both unknown to the outside world. I allow y/n to slide in first, giving me a moment to double check we haven’t been followed. When I sense that we’re in the clear, I follow behind her. I lead her down a very long hall. The only light comes from two lanterns that are spread throughout the corridor. We do this in the rare case someone finds this place, that they’d think it was abandoned. At the end of the hall, we make a left, which leads to the rooms, kitchen, lab, and bathrooms.
“This is my room.”
I say, pointing at a metal door as we pass by.
“This is Kabuto’s.”
I say pointing towards a door a bit up the hall.
“And this, is our spare room. This is where you’ll be.”
I explain to y/n. It’s the second biggest. A comfortable bed, with a desk, a television and whatever else she may need. I’ve had this guest room for a very long time, I originally left it empty for many years. Kabuto was the one who convinced me to make it look nice, for whatever reason. Looking back on it, I’ll have to thank him. I show her where the kitchen is, where the spare bathrooms are, also explaining she has one attached to the room.
“And this, is my lab. I hope you don’t mind this but please do not come in unless I or Kabuto specifically ask you to do so.”
I tell y/n, as nicely as possible.
“Okay.”
She says sheepishly.
“Have you met Kabuto before by any chance?”
I ask, pushing the laboratory door open.
“My lord.”
Speaks my right hand when he sees me.
“Kabuto this is-.”
I begin.
“Y/n.”
“We’ve met before.”
Says Kabuto.
“We took our Chūnin Exams together.”
Kabuto continues quickly, sensing my anxiety.
“Oh you did, did you?”
I ask, raising a brow.
“Yeah. I gave up pretty early into it. I saw her for the first part and that was it.”
Continues my assistant.
“Hm.”
I say, guiding y/n from the lab and back to her room.
“I’ll leave you be to get settled. If you need anything at all, find one of us and we’ll do our best to accommodate.”
I explain, hoping she’ll go back to sleep, especially after all that activity earlier. Since I’m still on edge, I’ll be joining Kabuto in the lab.
I turn away to leave, giving her some much needed space.
“Orochimaru?”
She says my name. I almost melt from the kindness.
“Yes?”
I ask as I turn around to look at her.
“Thank you.”
Says y/n. Her brows are pushed together, forming a small v in between them. Looking rather worrisome. Before I reply, she turns her head away from me, retreating into her new home. For the time being at least.
Something about the way she looked at me just now, is making me feel…weird. I can’t quite explain it. The door closes without a sound.
‘What is going on in that brilliant mind y/n?’
I ask myself.
***
The room is much larger than mine back at home. There’s no windows since we’re underground and the only light I’ll get is from the lamp on the table. I drop my bag on the rug next to the bed, collapsing down with it. I pull my knees up to my chest, cradling them to my body. I rest my head on them, closing my eyes, making it as dark as possible in my little nook.
And that’s when the tears come.
I’m not one for crying. Even when I was going through the most brutal thing a person could experience I didn’t cry. My brain must be wired wrong.
Tear after tear, it’s a never ending waterfall of sadness. The knee part of my pants are soaked, as well as the end bit of my sleeves. At least the lab is a bit of the way up the hall and not right next to me. I’d hate for either of them to see me like this. Nobody has ever seen me like this and I don’t plan on changing that anytime soon.
***
I work quietly alongside Kabuto. He did ask a single question, something that sparked his curiosity.
“Why did you bring her here master?”
He asked, looking up from his work.
“Will she be an experiment?”
He asks right after.
I explained everything that’s happened over the past day, what happened at the Academy and back at her house. I tell him she isn’t to be tested, unless its to check on her health and health only. Which is what I’d love to do in the morning, make sure there isn’t anything internally wrong.
“You will examine her in the morning when she wakes. She has gone through a lot of trauma over these past 18 hours.”
I tell him.
“Yes, my Lord.”
He replies back to me.
Must been about forty minutes since we arrived and I decided to check in on her, see if she needs anything. Outside of her room, I hear sniffling.
She’s crying…
I knock.
I hear some scuffling going on inside.
“Just a minute.”
She shouts, sounding perfectly fine. The door opens a second later. Her Flak jacket is on the end of the bed, as well as her bag. It looks as if she was trying to unpack, but what’s making her so sad. From what I’ve learned about humans is that each of them will get upset over different things. I would like to know what’s upset her, maybe I can fix it. Despite having no experience with this.
“I just wanted to see if you needed…anything, before I go to bed.”
I ask, hesitating a little bit.
“I think I’m okay, thank you.”
She says, a little too quickly.
As I look down at her, I can still see the faint redness in and around her eyes from crying. If I didn’t hear it, I would of assumed she rubbed her eyes a bit too hard.
“Okay, well. If you need anything. You know where our rooms are. Kabuto isn’t much of a morning person, especially when he’s in the lab late like this, so I’d recommend finding me if you need something early.”
I explain to her.
Her sad eyes look into mine. I’m not sure if I’m reading this look correctly but I feel as if she wants me to stay?
“You know y/n. You don’t need to hide from me.”
I say, brushing my thumb over her cheek. She doesn’t say anything.
“I know you’ve heard all these things about me and you have every right to be scared. To be quite honest, I’m surprised you haven’t run away yet.”
I say, now resting my fingers under her chin and jaw bone.
“I’m not scared of you.”
She says confidently.
Her heart is racing but not with fear, something a bit more joyful. Interesting.
I linger there for a moment more before turning to leave.
“You’re not that vicious monster that you and other people say you are, you know?”
She says, completely catching me off guard. What do I say to this? Thank you? No, that doesn’t fit. This is the one thing I would of begged to be told my whole life, it might of changed my path, stopped me from being so cruel before. I take this compliment and retreat to my chambers. Still in shock that the one creature I crave the most praise from actually said what I’ve dreamed of hearing. She doesn’t even know how much this means to me. One day, I might tell her.
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as we dance with the devil tonight
@rwbyrarepairexchange I wrote for @leanmeansaltinemachine !! Here’s one of them! (Pyrrha/Ruby/Penny ft. Salem & Pyrrha, casual magic, and prophecies)
It took maybe a minute of Ruby and Penny being dead for Pyrrha to jump to her decision. Maybe Yang was right, back when she'd joked about Pyrrha needing ‘adult supervision’ and discarding the fact that both Penny and Ruby were, indeed, younger than her. Of course, the appearance of the witch didn't help. She was still the one who said ‘yes’. Yes to the promise that if she only followed the witch, that if she left her spouses behind and lived with the witch, they'd be brought back to life. The decision wasn't exactly hard. Barely five seconds of that minute had been that decision– and two of those was the time it took to say the word. Pyrrha only wished she could've said something to Penny and Ruby before she left.
Grogginess weighed on Ruby when she opened her eyes. Like she’d just woken up from too much sleep. She turned to see Penny next to her, rubbing sleep from her eyes. The shirt Penny had worn that day was scorched. That is all it took for Ruby to realize that this wasn't right. And with it came the memory of why . Ruby looked around, half frantic. There were rocks, and dirt, and trees in the distance, and Penny, but— “Penny? Where’s Pyrhha?”
Penny scanned the area just as Ruby did. “I don't know.”
“Fuck,” Ruby whispered quietly. They'd died . There was no telling what Pyrrha would do because of that. “We have to find her quickly.”
“Agreed,” Penny said.
They traveled back to where they were staying, so Penny could make a tracking spell. The spell didn’t take that many ingredients and luckily they had all of them with them. Including Pyrrha’s hair from their hairbrush, since none of them had cleaned it out that morning. Ruby practically vibrated as she waited for it to be finished. When the spell condensed into a ball of magic, she ran over so quickly a rush of wind caused it to bob in the air like a ship in the ocean. Unlike Penny's normal brand of magic, this spell glowed a deep red the shade of Pyrrha's hair. The shining ball uncurled into a wisp and stretch and stretched and s t r e t c h e d until neither girl could see where it ended. Only then did it fall to the ground. Staying where it landed like yarn that would be invisible to all but them. Ruby picked the end up. It tingled with what felt like electricity between her fingers.
“This will lead us to her?” Ruby asked.
“Yep!” Penny said, standing up from her seated position. “All we have to do is follow it.”
“Perfect!” Ruby said. She dashed around the room, gathering the stuff she'd been too distracted pacing to grab. “Then we can leave as soon as we check out of the room and get our wife back!”
“Do you think the monster that killed us… stole her?” Penny asked, worrying at a loose thread leftover from the fight.
“I don't know, Penny,” Ruby answered honestly. “But if it did, she'll be okay. She's strong and we'll help her kick its ass when we get there!”
Penny nodded. “We're more prepared now, too.”
“Exactly!”
Pyrrha let the witch lead her to a tall door. Everything in this castle was tall. Tall and surprisingly empty. Given the size, Pyrrha would've expected to spot a few servants, but she hasn't even seen a rat.
The witch was included in the ‘everything’ of the castle’s tallness. Ever since she was a child, Pyrrha had been tall. Taller than both her moms, taller than both her wives, taller even than her best friend, Yang- someone who was tall in her own right. Still the witch towered over her. Numerous inches separated them in actuality while sheer presence exaggerated the difference to a few feet. Long white hair was bound into a bun by green wire and she wore a deep black dress with a high collar that trailed behind her as she walked in front of Pyrrha with a regal gait.
“What's your name?” Pyrrha tried once more and while red eyes did glance back at her, the question remained unanswered.
There was a creak from the door as it opened. It echoed loud and clear in the silence of the castle. It made the fact that their footsteps were silent for the entire walk glaringly obvious. Especially since the floor was devoid of carpet.
“This is your room,” the witch said. Pyrrha stepped inside and looked around. Every piece of furniture looked to be made with the same red wood as the door. Unlike the hallways, there was a large and ornate carpet in the center of the room that stretched towards the walls, missing each by just centimeters.
“Thank you,” Pyrrha said, looking back at the witch. The witch seemed to almost stiffen at her words, but nodded all the same.
“Dinner will be sent up for you tonight. Get acquainted with your room, there are clothes in the wardrobe and you can let me know if their size needs to be adjusted,” the witch said.
“Thank you,” Pyrrha said again. This time there was no reaction to her words. The witch turned from the room and shut the door behind her. When Pyrrha tried the handle- out of curiosity, not a desire to escape; she'd made her choice and made a promise to stay- it was locked.
As the witch had suggested, Pyrrha moved on to get acquainted with her new room. Though all she really did was lie on the bed. It was large and plush, covered in a dark red comforter that matched the base under the black and white pattern on the carpet. When she sat down on it, she sank a little. It was the first time she'd ever sunk into a mattress without Penny and Ruby lying on top of her. She wondered how they were. Both of them were strong, they'd do fine without her and would protect each other. She was confident about that. But would they be okay for however long she'd be kept here? Maybe if she asked nicely the witch would let her checkup on them somehow. Even if it was just with a seeing spell.
Or she could take Yang and Ruby’s bad influence to its natural conclusion and search for a way to make her own. Though first she'd have to get out of her new room. She'd stay in the castle as she'd promised, she'd just look around for anything that would allow her to keep a watchful eye on her wives.
And so started her first day in Salem’s castle.
The thread seemed to stretch onward forever. When the sun set, the thread glimmered beautifully under the changing hue of the sky. Though it would’ve been more beautiful if they were closer to Pyrrha. Almost a full day and they had not yet reached its end nor had it gotten shorter. At least, it didn’t seem like it had. Ruby was about the direct opposite of ready to sleep. If she has her way, she’d continue to follow it until her feet bled and she found Pyrrha, who she was understandably worried about when they had no idea who'd taken her. (Someone had to of taken her. She wouldn't have left their side otherwise.) But sleep was important and Penny needed it.
“She'll be okay, we'll find her tomorrow,” Ruby said so Penny wouldn't worry. The way Penny nodded told her she knew it was more for Ruby’s own benefit. It didn't feel as bad to be seen through as she'd thought it would be years ago.
They woke up early the next morning to continue their trip. The sun rose with soft colours- pinks and blues bleeding into the sky like cotton candy- so at least it'd be a nice day to travel. Especially since mostly all they would do was travel. Penny adjusted her bag and Ruby picked the thread back up. It would be a long walk. But it would be worth it to get Pyrrha back.
Pyrrha didn't actually make a lot of plans. Because she was a warrior and had been a part of the royal guard before she left, it was often assumed that she did, but she didn't. Most of the time her body simply moved without her input. No, Ruby was the one who usually came up with the plans. Which left her feeling a little out of her depth and a little weird as she searched her room for paper and a writing utensil so she could map out the castle as she searched and a bag to hold them in. At least everything that she would do here wasn’t that different from some of the things she’d done with the royal guard. Definitely different, but not outrageously so.
The door hadn’t actually been relocked after dinner. She didn't know if Salem left it unlocked because she trusted Pyrrha wouldn't leave her room, she'd put a sleeping drought in her food or drink (unlikely) so she wasn't worried, or Salem just didn't care what she did so long she stayed in the castle. It would be easier if it was the third reason. That way she wouldn't have to sneak around so much. (No matter what she was sure there'd be some sneaking. The castle was big. No doubt it held secrets Salem wouldn't want her to learn.) But she couldn't discount the first which meant Salem likely wouldn’t react too kindly to her exploration. Which meant she had to be careful. Everything she grabbed was placed into the bag, and Pyrrha edged her way out of the room. The hallways were large and echoey. Her shoes were left behind. It helped.
The rooms were surprisingly empty. Not of stuff- though there were plenty of rooms that were actually empty of that too- but of people. Of course there hadn't been anybody when she was brought in. And Salem was the only one she saw at dinner. But she'd figured with a place this large, she'd spot someone else eventually. Or an animal. Even a cobweb . There was nothing, though. Not a singular sign of life. Somehow it made the castle seem much larger and colder.
That wasn't what she was actually looking for, she surprisingly had to remind herself. It wasn't very like her to get distracted. Still, looking for it or not, Pyrrha found a sign of life twenty three rooms in. A small music box that danced with snowflakes and deer when you cranked the handle. There was a thin layer of dust on it, different from the thicker layer around the rest of the room. Like it’d been touched but not very recently. The rest of the room fit the aesthetic of the music box more than it did the castle. There were cool blue bed curtains draped from a bed canopy and a white comforter. The furniture was a black wood instead of the red she'd become accustomed with. On top of that, there were clothes in the armoire, while every other room was empty.
It was not the first room that Pyrrha would find like that. Over the week she would find four in total. One with a green swing bed, another with a brown bed with red pillows that looked more like a nest, and a final one with a blue comforter and yellow curtains over the windows. None of the four rooms used the red wood the others did. But they didn't all use the same, either. Every room seemed custom built for someone. Though Pyrrha had no idea who.
(The first time she'd found the room with the nest like bed had been almost embarrassing. It’d been late and she'd fallen asleep on the bed without even realizing it. She'd woken up sneezing from the dust.)
A week went by without her seeing Salem except when they ate. The search still hadn't turned up any spells. Though she'd found a silver hand mirror in the first bedroom that she hid in the room she occupied and a library that was too large to search in a day. Or in a month, possibly. It was five stories with shelves lining every wall and books filling every shelf. It was the library of a long line of people who traveled a lot and collected books from everywhere they traveled. Pyrrha itched to simply ask Salem for a spell. She’d taken to carrying the mirror with her.
She did not ask.
By the end of the week, Pyrrha had found every room. The only room she hadn’t entered was Salem’s. It was a breach of privacy she didn’t want to break when Salem had been hospitable to her the entire stay and she’d made the free choice to come to the castle. Eventually she would ask.
Oftentimes, while they ate, Salem would ask her questions. About where she lived, where she grew up, the castle and ruler she used to fight for, her moms and spouses and friends. Pyrrha would answer as best she could and Salem would drink tea as she talked. No matter how long she talked for, Salem always seemed to listen. Those were long meals. They reminded her a bit of the meals from the old castle. Except while both were obligatory, this one was certainly more pleasant.
Early in the beginning, Pyrrha learned that Salem wouldn’t answer any questions about her own past. The owners of the four rooms went unknown.
Eventually Salem found her in the library. Everything in Pyrrha froze up. But Salem didn’t say anything. She just continued past Pyrrha, her teacup on it’s saucer and her teapot floating along beside her. The candle at the table next to her chair lit itself when she sat down and a book came to her from its shelf. Casual magic similar to stuff Pyrrha had seen Salem do constantly, no spells or words and barely any gestures, if Salem even decided to bother. It was more impressive than even the oldest of the wizards Pyrrha had met. She wondered how long Salem practiced, how old she’d been when she started. It was unlikely, but.
“How old were you when you started to learn?” Pyrrha asked. Salem hummed and Pyrrha clarified, “Magic.”
Salem looked up at the ceiling. “About your age, I assume.” Pyrrha gaped at her. That old? From the magic control Pyrrha’d thought she’d been so much young- “Fifteen.” What ?
“Ma’am… I’m twenty five,” Pyrrha said.
“Oh.” Salem looked surprised. “Right, my apologizes. I haven’t actually had anyone here with me in quite a while and I’ve always been rather bad with ages.”
“So you were fifteen?” Pyrrha asked. That still seemed a little old, but Pyrrha assumed it could be hours a day of practice combined with a natural talent. But what surprised Pyrrha more was that she’d gotten an actual answer.
“Yes,” Salem said and said nothing more. Pyrrha stared at her for just a minute longer, before she went back to reading through the library. One of the books had to have a seeing spell.
The next day, the same happened, though no dialogue was exchanged. It looked like Salem didn’t mind her presence here. Pyrrha was relieved with that, she didn’t want to sneak around the castle anymore than she already had.
For days this pattern repeated. They would read in the library together and sometimes Pyrrha would feel Salem’s eyes on her, but Salem never said a word. The only time they would speak was during meals. Even then it was only Pyrrha. Salem didn’t give anything about her past again. Not for a long time.
“Can I have a seeing spell?” Salem looked up at Pyrrha, a single elegant eyebrow raised. Pyrrha held out the mirror. And red eyes went wide. There was no movement from Salem, she only stared down at the silver mirror in Pyrrha’s hand, and Pyrrha wondered again just who those rooms had belonged to. This was the first time she’d ever seen Salem freeze like this. Like she was made of stone. Maybe she was. It wouldn’t be the first time Pyrrha’d seen a magic user turn to stone.
“Where did you find this?” Salem asked, unfreezing just to take the mirror. Her hands shook as she did.
“A bedroom with a white bed,” Pyrrha answered honestly. “I searched through the castle trying to find the spell on my own, I’m sorry if I crossed a line.” Which she probably had. She truly was sorry for that, though she wouldn’t change her actions if time were suddenly reversed. The worry for Penny and Ruby was too strong to care. Even if she wouldn’t break her promise.
Salem nodded. “Yes, that makes sense.” Long fingers traced the bare tree design on the mirror’s front with care. With a sigh, she looked up. “This was my eldest daughter’s. I can enchant it for you if you wish, but there will have to be rules so you won’t break your promise to me.”
“Okay,” Pyrrha said. It hurt not to have Salem’s trust, even if it made sense to not have it. Apparently she’d gotten used to the easy trust of others. Such were the consequences of a reputation that stretched far and wide.
“You can only use this around me. No matter what you see, you must not interfere. If you do, I can’t promise how you’ll find them,” Salem said and Pyrrha felt a spike of fear go through her chest. Already she’d seen how powerful Salem was when just casually using magic. Before Salem had brought them back to life, Pyrrha had never even heard of healing magic that powerful. The meaning was clear. If she went back on her deal… Salem would go back on hers. Pyrrha swallowed.
“I promise.”
“Good,” Salem smiled very briefly. The frown and sigh that followed seemed tired. “I’ll return this to you when we sup.”
Pyrrha nodded.
It was given back to her, as promised, when they ate again. Salem didn’t ask any questions that night. Instead she left Pyrrha to quietly stare into the mirror and watch her wives follow a red string into the night.
Even with the spell, Pyrrha did not stop going to the library. There wasn’t anything else to do in the castle. Not until Salem looked at her, and sighed, and led her outside.
“No one has used this in a long time,” Salem said, though the place didn’t look like it. Not completely. It was a training ground, or had been at one time. The markers that had likely once been there were completely covered by grass- and probably faded-, but everything else was fairly intact. Old, but intact. The grass was short instead of overgrown. Stone arches and walls separated the grounds from the rest of the property. A training spear was held out to her. “I think you’ll find this suitable.”
“Yes,” Pyrrha said, taking it from her on instinct. Salem nodded and left her alone there. Pyrrha turned to the rest of the property. This was the first time since being led here that she’d seen the outside from anything but the windows. Trees thickly lined the property in a forest Pyrrha knew was deep. Closer to the castle were flowers she didn’t recognize. More things from generations gone by, no doubt. Left behind for Salem by her family line. A line that had a daughter in it, once upon a time.
Pyrrha started to train as her mind focused on Salem’s expression when she’d seen the mirror. If her daughter had died, why had she not brought her back? Or had she not found the spell until it was too late?
“Do you believe in destiny?” Salem asked out of nowhere as Pyrrha went through stances with the borrowed spear. It was not the first time Salem watched her practice. Though it was the first she’d said anything. Pyrrha paused to look over at her. There was no change from usual, though. No clue as to where the question came from. Maybe it was something Salem had been wondering since their promise.
“Yes,” Pyrrha said.
Salem hummed, seemingly pleased, and stood to leave her alone.
Sometimes, when Salem watched her train, Salem would give her tips. She'd point out things in her form that everybody else missed and she'd help her correct them, and Pyrrha knew she was a better fighter for it. Only once did Salem spar with her, using a sword in a style Pyrrha didn't recognize.
There was a book in the back of the library. It was on the first level and wasn’t very out of the way, but it was the first time Pyrrha had spotted it. A small thing with a black cover and a white, glittering design. There was no title. She opened it and flipped through it’s pages, catching sketches of flowers she only recognized from the garden and constellations she didn’t know. Words filled the empty spaces between the drawings in a neat, flowing script. Only one page held words away from any of the pictures the rest had.
‘ Immortality can only be taken by the invincible ’
Pyrrha stared at the words, confused. Though one of them struck a cord with her, like it was painted in a different colour though she knew it wasn’t. Invincible . That’s what she’d been called since she was less than a teen. The Invincible One. Invincible Girl. There was more, but a white hand with dark black nail polish appeared in her vision and took the book from her. She looked up to see Salem, moved from her spot in a corner near the entrance of the library.
“You told me once that you believed in destiny,” Salem said as she flipped through the pages of the book. She closed it and set it back in Pyrrha’s hands. Red eyes seemed to look through Pyrrha in their intensity. “Are you willing to fulfill yours?”
“What?” Pyrrha asked, numbly bringing the book to her chest.
“Bringing a life back comes with a heavy price. Not one you have to worry about, child, for I’d paid it once and I paid it in full. You will be untouched by my meddling with your spouses,” Salem said.
“What was the price?” Pyrrha asked.
Before her eyes, Salem took a knife from her sleeve and slit her own throat. There was no blood. The skin stitched itself up in seconds, black veins drawing white skin back together and fading like it’d never happened. “Immortality.” Salem smiled. It wasn’t a happy smile.
Salem stabs herself: Eternal life. With only one salvation. A pointed look at the book has Pyrrha pulling it away from herself. She fumbled slightly to keep hold of it when the cover opened itself and the pages started flipping. Soon enough it landed on the page she'd been reading. The words stared up at her.
“The prophecy of my payment,” Salem said. “I never forgot those words, but I figured writing them somewhere would help me deal with them better. It didn’t. Or maybe it did. Maybe it happened so long ago, that it doesn’t really matter.”
“... why?” Pyrrha asked.
Salem sighed. When she held out a hand, Pyrrha took it. She let herself be led back to Salem’s seat with the book clenched to her chest and sat when she was directed to. It took a moment for Salem to gather herself. Procrastinating by taking a sip of her tea, the spoon tinking against her cup as she stirred it. “I lost everything a long time ago. I… can’t remember how long ago, anymore. I don’t remember what took them from me, either, anymore. Though I suspect it was a plague. All that magic and people still died so much… But I remember the important things. I remember the colours in my husband’s eyes. I remember the sound of my daughter’s laughs and their favourite songs.
When I lost them, I decided the forbidden sorcery was worth it to bring them back. The price… wasn’t something I was fully prepared for, though I thought I was. I knew it had to be high if it was forbidden . At the time I figured it would simply be my life. A life for a life. I was prepared to die for my family to live.” She clicked her tongue. Her hand tightened briefly against her spoon. “I was not prepared for them to be taken from me permanently or for the price for meddling with death to be my own taken from me.”
Pyrrha looked at her. Every tired moment that she’d seen previously seemed to fill her now, like a cup overflowing. “And I’m…?”
“My salvation,” Salem said easily. This time the smile looked a little happier. “Though you’re not quite powerful enough yet, but I know you can be. I believe in you, Invincible One.”
“I… have to take your life,” Pyrrha said. It wasn’t a question, but she wanted it to be answered anyway.
“Yes. You said you would fulfill your destiny. So return to me and let me go home to my family,” Salem said. She did not beg Pyrrha, but Pyrrha could hear it anyway. There was a film of tears over her eyes. “Take the book with you if you want, I have another that I copied when I was bored one day, somewhere on one of the shelves. I’m sure your spouses are ready to see you again, just as I’m ready to see mine.” Somewhere deep in the castle, a door opened. Pyrrha turned toward it. When she looked back, Salem had stood up again and waved her away.
“ Pyrrha?! ” Ruby’s voice called from a distance.
“I’ll be back, I promise,” Pyrrha swore.
“I’ll hold you to it,” Salem said. She held out a hand and Pyrrha placed the mirror in her palm.
“Thank you for the use of your daughter’s mirror,” Pyrrha said.
“I’ll keep an eye on you,” Salem said. “Let them protect you and keep your destiny.”
Pyrrha nodded and ran out of the library, in the direction of Ruby and Penny’s shouting. The library doors closed behind her.
Silver and green eyes lit up when they landed on her. Immediately Pyrrha was bowled over by Ruby, her cape practically drawn taught in the wind as she rushed into a hug.
“Pyrrha! You’re okay!” Ruby cried. Actually cried. Pyrrha swiped her thumbs against Ruby’s cheeks, brushing away the wetness.
“I’m fine. I’m sorry,” Pyrrha said.
“You better be!” Ruby said.
“We were worried,” Penny said, falling to her knees beside them to take both of them in a hug that Pyrrha readily returned. “Why were you here?”
“I promised to stay here a while,” Pyrrha said. Her own price for her family returning from death. It was much lower than it could have been. ‘ Bringing a life back comes with a heavy price. Not one you have to worry about, child, for I’d paid it once and I paid it in full. You will be untouched by my meddling with your spouses. ’ She silently thanked Salem for taking that price for her. The price Salem talked about… Pyrrha wasn’t sure she could wait like Salem had. Though she didn’t know the full story. How long had she waited that she’d forgotten? How long that she was able to wait even longer, just so Pyrrha would be strong enough?
Pyrrha would get stronger quickly, as thanks.
“Can we go home?” Pyrrha asked.
“You’re able to leave?” Ruby pulled away just enough to give her a skeptical look.
“You don’t break promises,” Penny said.
“I’m not,” Pyrrha said. “My original promise has been filled.”
“So you have a new promise,” Ruby said.
Pyrrha nodded. “I’m going to return here, one day.”
“We’ll come with you,” Penny said. “To help you with whatever it is.”
“Yeah!” Ruby said. “You’re not allowed to leave us behind again!”
“I won’t.” Pyrrha smiled gently. “I won’t.”
Ruby hugged the three of them together, even tighter, for just a moment.
When they left, the door closed behind them with a finality that Pyrrha wasn’t entirely prepared for. It felt like the whisper of destiny. The trees bent ahead of them to create a path through the forest and they followed it, only Pyrrha knowing just who caused it.
One day.
One day, as Pyrrha promised.
#rwby#pyrrha nikos#salem#ruby rose#penny polendina#rwby rarepair exchange#pyrrha x penny x ruby#metalic rose rwby#writings
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Long time no checking in,
You see, there hasn’t been much to talk about. I’m still sticking to my plan and my plan is getting bigger and more detailed. I’m really just living life rn, I feel good. The weather has finally cooled down and I feel cozy and relaxed again.
Tomorrow is officially my friends’ last day at my place and I’m cooking for her. We’re both so relieved that we finally get to have our own spaces again. I’m planning to study ever harder, now that I don’t get interrupted by her coming home before dinner time. It’s just that she studies outside and I study inside, but I also sleep a lot longer, so when I start studying she’s basically an hour away from coming home. And when she gets here, my attention is divided. So no more distractions! I still always finish what I want to finish tho~
The meds work amazingly. One side effect is the huge bloated face unfortunately, but I know that when I get off the meds it’ll turn back to normal. I’m already happy that the side effects aren’t worse for me. We’re about halfway through. I took meds for the past 4 weeks & will have to take it for 5 more, but continuously lowering the dose. We started with 8 pills a day and are now down to 5 a day :) I’m sure I’ll be in remission soon.
I had (hopefully) my final therapy intake. They wanted to talk to my mom and I think it went okay. I don’t know when I’ll finally get the answers I need, because they can still tell me they can’t help me with my problems even if I’ve been having intakes for like the past 5 fucking months. I literally sought out therapy in April 2022 and I’m still not getting the right care. Every single time they tell me I need more extensive help and they sent me away just to be on another waiting list. It’s like the more help you need, the longer you have to wait. Sure, I’m doing better than ever, but I also have deep rooted mental health problems. I was literally suicidal from June to early September. Like, I could’ve killed myself in the meantime. Just saying. The meds working and the proper care my new hospital is giving me really worked wonders. If it wasn’t for that, I dunno.
My mom is leaving the 16th too. She’ll travel until march and I’m excited for her, but I’m also feeling slightly uneasy. It involves so much risk every single time. I have aerophobia myself, so I can’t help but worry. I just want her to be safe.
The 11th & 12th we spend some days together where I told her my plan and she loved it. Anything that needs financing, she wants to & can finance. I’m blessed with an amazing mother, who came a long way from not believing in my mental health problems to fully supporting me in every way. Those were 2 very very good days, I’m gonna miss her.
Last weeks’ bday with the besties was perfect. I’m so happy with the people that surround me. Keeping my circle small and cutting off toxic people, including the rest of my family, has been nothing but a blessing. I truly love all 5 of my friends and we’ve all been friends since I was 12. They’re the OGs. With two of em I have a study date next week~
I’ll check in again in a few days, when I have my place back & my mom made it to New Zealand safely :)
Look at this Kimchi jiggae I made!
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Stay at Home DILF
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairings: Aaron Hotchner/Female Reader
Word Count: 5,863
Tags: 18+, NSFW, Dad Bod Hotch, Insecure Hotch, Oral sex, Fingering, Unprotected sex, A little angsty by accident
Summary: Aaron retires from the BAU when the new baby is born, but a year later the lack of structure, sleep, and time for himself means changes to his body he's not very proud of. When the thought of having another child is brought up, how will he and his wife work through his insecurities to make the perfectly imperfect, happy family? *Requested by anon
Link to A03 or read below!
“Honey, I have to get going—do you need me to drop Jack off at school, or are you good?” Professor Hotchner slides her foot into a flesh-toned pump, leaning against the kitchen table for support and stealing a grape from Jack’s fruit salad. He narrows his eyes, then sticks out his tongue, and she does the same. “Do you want me to starve, Jackrabbit?”
“You won’t starve. Get your own grapes.” So full of sass, that one. Seven is such a fun age. She decides to blame the mixture of Aaron’s genes and Haley’s, and she pulls out her phone to send Haley a quick text.
Your son is a menace in the morning.
Haley: Gets that from his dad.
Aaron enters the kitchen, holding their one year old daughter Mia, and he sticks her in her highchair, puts her breakfast in front of her, and leans toward his wife.
“I’m good, I’ll take him,” he says, and kisses her lips. “Mia and I will take big brother Jack to school, won’t we?” Mia is obsessed with Jack—her first word was Jack, or rather, Ack, which was super cute—so she giggles happily, and her mother can’t help but smile. Their little family is absolutely perfect.
She leans in for another kiss from Aaron, and then another, and then maybe one more...
“You’re getting distracted,” Jack says, and she looks over at him with a raised eyebrow, then back to Aaron. He shrugs.
“It was on one of his vocabulary sheets.” Figures.
“Well, maybe I find my boys distracting. Let me give you kisses and we’ll find out!” She launches herself at him, kissing his head and his cheeks, and he laughs, and she knows she’s going to be late for work, but she can’t pass up moments like these, she just can’t.
She gives him a hug and tells him to have a good day, then she kisses Mia, and then she puts her arms around Aaron’s neck and kisses him goodbye. Before she pulls away, something comes over her—the warmth of this perfect morning, the overwhelming love for both of their sassy, silly kids, or maybe the fact that they’ve been too busy for sex lately and she’s constantly horny for him—and she looks up at him and whispers, “we should have another baby.”
Aaron grins immediately.
“Yeah we should.” They kiss a few more times, quickly, smiling against each other's lips, and he pats her hip because he knows she has to go. “We’ll talk more later, but yes. I want to. I love you.” He takes her face in his hands and kisses her deeply, and she sighs, grabs her bags, and heads out the door.
Work is work; as the youngest professor in the English department, her schedule is jam packed with classes, lectures, morning office hours, but despite all that, it seems that Aaron is having the more difficult day.
They both love that he was able to retire from the BAU early to be a stay at home dad when Mia was born—he does consult for them occasionally, but has no official title, doesn’t have to travel—and he’s amazing at it, but she knows her baby can be a handful even on a good day. The texts she’s been getting all morning only solidify that knowledge.
Aaron: FYI - Mia hates bananas this week.
Aaron: What do they put in this applesauce, crack? She’s tearing around here like a bat out of hell.
Aaron: Okay, she’s your child, I officially renounce her. I put on The White Album and she started crying.
Maybe she prefers Abbey Road?
Aaron: No. Unlike her mother, she has taste.
You wound me, Hotchner.
She works through lunch, grading papers on The Call of the Wild, but when Aaron’s name lights up the display on her phone, she puts her pen down and smiles, puts it on speaker.
She’s sorry she did, because Mia is wailing in the background, and it’s very clearly her, I’m exhausted, asshole, leave me alone, cry, which makes her wonder why she’s not taking a nap. She knows she resists Aaron sometimes, doesn’t want him to leave her alone in her room, which is so sweet and also so, so annoying.
“Hi, sweetheart. Are you having a little trouble over there?” He takes a deep breath and sighs.
“She won’t go down, baby, even if I sit in the rocking chair beside her. It’s been twenty minutes.” Wow. He put up with it longer than she would have.
“Put her in her crib with Stuffy Bear and just let her cry; I know you hate that, but she’ll give up eventually.” He groans softly.
“I can’t; I feel so bad.”
She smiles. Her warm-hearted man.
“She does this because she knows you’ll give in and do whatever she wants. I promise you, she’ll be happier for it; she sounds miserable.”
“I don’t know…” he says, and she can tell he’s not going to do it. She picks up her pen and skims the paper she abandoned.
“Are you tired?” She doesn't wait for an answer, because she knows he is: Jack had a bad dream last night and woke them both up, and Aaron went to lay with him until he fell asleep because he knew she had an early morning. It was almost time for her alarm when he made it back to bed. “If you want to try to nap, she’s going to have to nap. Do it for her, yourself, me, a combination of the three of us. She won’t be mad at you; she won’t even remember.”
“What if I give her abandonment issues?” he presses, and she closes her eyes for a moment.
“Aaron, I love you so much. You’re such a great dad, and our kids are lucky to have you. But you have to loosen the reins just a little, especially if… if we are going to have another baby.” The thought makes her smile, and she can tell he’s smiling down the line, too.
“Right. Loosen the reins. Just put her in her crib,” she can hear that he does that, “and give her Stuffy Bear, and let her cry.” He blows out a breath, and she can hear the door click shut behind him as he leaves her room. She’s proud of him, but she also knows he’s going to sit in front of the video monitor and watch to make sure she falls asleep, and that he’ll probably work on laundry after that and not actually take a nap of his own.
He insists he’s doing fine when she brings it up, but the way he sacks out like a corpse when they get into bed doesn’t exactly have her convinced.
“I love you, and miss you,” he says when it’s slightly quieter, though she can faintly hear the cries through the monitor. “It made me really happy this morning when you said we should have another baby. We make perfect babies, have you noticed?” She hides her grin behind her hand, because if anyone walked by her office they’d think she’s insane with how widely she’s smiling.
“I have noticed, but since we only have the one and I can’t take any credit for Jack, I figured we should probably make another. Maybe the same way we made Mia…” They’re both convinced it was a weekend when Jack was at Haley’s and the two of them went to town on each other, true marathon sex where they only stopped for food and water and she coaxed him to hardness so many times she felt like a damn sex goddess.
“Hmm. I remember that with fondness, and would love to do that again. You know Haley said she’d take Mia on one of Jack’s weekends if we ever needed her to.”
Her life is pretty damn perfect, with her gorgeous, caring husband, and her two awesome kiddos, and a job she loves, but the most unexpectedly sweet part is that Haley is so comfortable with her, and that she and Aaron were able to get past the ugliness of their divorce to eventually become friends again. It’s not something they take for granted.
“Maybe we should take her up on it this weekend,” she says, trying to sound a little sultry. “We’ve both been so busy; it’s been a while since you pet my kitty.” For some reason, this particular phrase makes Aaron blush and get insanely horny, and she’s hoping to tease him so much the rest of the week that their weekend is one neither of them ever forget, so she’s pulling out the big guns.
“It’s been far too long, and I’m sorry. I can’t wait, baby. I’ll call her here in a few; I know you have to get to your next lecture.” She looks down at her watch, and it is about time to clean up and head over. She sighs happily down the line.
“Okay, I love and miss you; try to take a power nap. I promise, she’ll be fine.”
“I will.” He won’t. “Talk to you soon.”
When she gets home, Aaron has dinner ready; she told him to hold off, that she’d help when she got there, but he has always been an overachiever.
Mia is already in her high-chair, waiting patiently for once in her little life; she kisses her forehead, breathes in her sweet baby smell, and then makes her way to her husband.
“Looks good, honey,” she says as he sets the table, and she leans up for a kiss, but when she presses her hand to his stomach like she always does, he pulls back a little. “Is everything okay? Did you have a bad afternoon?”
“No, it wasn’t bad after the nap fiasco,” he responds, but he sounds distracted. Maybe he was asked to look at a case, or something, and that’s still on his mind? She leans against his shoulder, puts a hand on his back and attempts to push up his t-shirt, to skim her hand up along his spine, which always comforts him, but again, he shifts away from her touch. She sighs and steps back.
“You're going to give me a complex, Aaron. If I did something to upset you, please tell me so I can apologize and try to make it better.” He turns to look at her face, and his formerly tense jaw softens a little; he presses his lips to hers, just a peck.
“No, you didn’t do anything. I’m just a little tired, that’s all.” He smiles softly, and she’s sure he is tired, but this seems like something more.
“You’d tell me if something else was bothering you, right? You know I’m here for you.”
“Of course I would, and of course I do. I love you,” he breathes against her mouth, and then he goes in for a longer kiss and she gets, as Jack said earlier, a little distracted. When the kiss breaks, she sighs happily.
“I love you. Missed those lips,” she murmurs, and then she runs a hand over his hair. “If the kids wake up again tonight, I’ll get them. You need to rest.” He shakes his head.
“You have another full day tomorrow,” he counters, and it’s so sweet that he keeps up with the schedule she has posted on the fridge, but still. She puts her hand on her hip.
“And you don’t? It’s my turn. Let me help.” He looks like he wants to argue, but she gives him the glare he knows means she will talk about this all night if he doesn’t agree; she’s not the sponsor of the university’s debate team for nothing, and even his prosecutorial ways have nothing on her.
“Okay,” he sighs, and she smiles and kisses him and then goes to get Jack and make sure he’s cleaned up for dinner.
That night when the two of them are getting ready for bed, she’s surprised as hell when he stops her from pulling one of his t-shirts—her typical sleepwear—over her head. She sets it down, arches her brow, and he guides her back onto the bed with a grin and puts his hands on her hips.
“What’s happening right now?” she asks, because before Mia, sure, Aaron would treat her to all manner of orgasm-inducing behavior at random, and she would do the same, but since Mia—especially in the last six months or so—their sexual encounters have been few and far between. It’s no one’s fault, and they’re both very clearly still attracted to each other; it’s just one of those things that falls by the wayside when you have a new baby and a hectic life and you don’t get enough sleep.
Needless to say, she is a little confused by this turn of events.
“I’m attempting to worship my gorgeous fucking wife,” he murmurs, and he leans up and kisses her stomach, licks a long line up from her belly button. Her breath hitches. “Gonna put another little baby in here—but it’s always beautiful.” He slowly moves his lips higher, over her ribcage, and holds her there. “You’re perfect, you know?”
“Aaron.” Her fingers come up to sweep through his hair; her heart aches with love and tenderness. He moves up, presses open-mouthed kisses to each of her breasts, then covers them with his hands and squeezes. She’s a panting, dripping mess, and more than anything she wants to strip him naked, pull him closer, get him inside her.
“I love you just as you are; I want you just as you are. Always have, always will.” He smooths his hands up over her throat, and brings her mouth to his for a deep, soulful kiss. She hadn’t even realized she’s been feeling repressed, but his touch tonight makes her feel so beautiful and special… It's incredible how close she is from only that.
“Make love to me,” she whispers, and he kisses her again, but then he slides back down her body.
“Want to taste you,” he says instead, and he gets his hands on her hips again and his mouth on her pussy, looks up at her while he licks and sucks like he’s gone without for ages—which he has, she figures, but it’s blowing her mind, her fingers scratching at the sheets, her neck arched. He massages her hips as his tongue works, as he grinds against the bed, and she comes with a whimper, because her body is so overwhelmed by how good she feels that she can’t even properly vocalize it.
Aaron comes up, just a little, rests his head on her stomach, and she smooths her hands over his hair and his shoulders, since that’s all she can reach.
“Come up and let me touch you—or you can come inside me.” She will happily take either option, but he just kisses her belly and shakes his head.
“No, I’m good. Just really tired.” She frowns, can’t recall a time in her life when they didn’t both get off during sex; he catches her expression and runs his hands up her body. “Really, I’m okay. I just wanted to do that before I passed out.” He smiles, and she doesn’t like it, but he climbs off of her and goes to the bathroom, and she pulls on the t-shirt and crawls into bed.
Two days later, she’s sitting in her office grading tests when she hears a knock at the door. She looks up, and it’s Aaron, of course, looking so gorgeous in a black polo and jeans.
“Hey, what are you doing here? Where’s Mia?” she asks with a smile. He leans against the doorframe with his arms crossed.
“She’s with her Aunt Penelope for a few hours.”
“Why? Is everything okay?” Penelope is at work, she knows, because she texted her earlier about something unrelated and she’d mentioned that she and Spencer were having coffee and that he said hello.
“Everything‘s fine,” he assures her, and he enters the room fully, closes the door behind him… and locks it. “Can’t your husband come visit you during your super secret not-really-office-hours?” She raises an eyebrow, both at his question and the fact that he locked the door. What exactly is he planning to do, she wonders?
“You can, but you don’t. I guess I’m just surprised.”
“Well today I decided to. I missed you so much.” He walks around her desk and leans over her for a couple of kisses. “Have you missed me?” She rolls her eyes, smiles.
“Of course I missed you. I miss you every second I’m away from you.” She reaches out, wants to hug him, pull him closer, but he takes a step back and crooks his finger, encouraging her to follow him.
He’s being really weird, but he’s also being really hot. She decides to play along.
She stands, walks over to him, and he carefully clears a spot on her desk, knows she has a system and doesn’t like a mess; when she’s within reach, he puts his hands on her waist and lifts her up onto it, her ass where a stack of tests had just been. Fuck.
“I want to get this dress off of you,” he says, voice low, and he takes her face in his hands and kisses her, rough and deep. “Can I take it off, baby? Can I make you come?”
Everything is happening so fast her head is spinning—it’s not like him to just show up at her office, to try to have sex with her there, especially when their dry spell has been, up until recently, like the damn Sahara.
He must sense her confusion, her apprehension, because he kisses slowly along the side of her throat, down the v-neck of her dress, making her eyelids flutter.
“The door’s locked, and no one even knows we’re in here. Can I take it off?” She pants, thinks about this for a second, but then he slides a hand over her thigh, pushing her skirt up, and she gets a little distracted. She nods, and he kisses her hard and unties the sash of her wrap dress, pushes it off her shoulders. She’s glad she wore a matching set of bra and panties, because this is like prime fantasy material and she wants to try to remember every detail.
He kisses her mouth, soft and sweet, then tugs the straps of her bra down her shoulders, pulls the cups down so her breasts fall out of them. She moans, a little startled, and he dips his head to mouth at her nipples, rests one hand on her lower back and one on her stomach—probably because she looks like she’s about to slide off the desk and onto the floor like a blob of jelly. She knows that’s how she feels.
When he’s gotten her thoroughly worked up, almost trembling with the need for more, he pushes her panties aside and presses a finger into her, and she whimpers, wraps her hand around his neck for support when he starts to pump it deeply inside.
“What has gotten into you?” she breathes, and her hips chase the pleasure he brings; the hand on her back moves to her ass, squeezes it.
“I love you and I want you. I want to make you happy, I want you to feel good.”
“Me—me too,” she gasps as he moves faster, staring right into his eyes. “I love you, want you. Want to make you happy, feel good.” She cards her fingers through his hair and stretches for a desperate, eager kiss. “I want you so badly, baby, please.”
“I’m right here. You have me,” he murmurs, but that’s not what she means and he has to know it. Just in case he doesn’t, though, she makes herself loud and clear; relationships are all about communication, after all.
“I want you to put your cock in my pussy, I want you to come in me. I want you to fucking ruin me, Aaron, I want you to shove your dick in me and keep shoving.” She sounds unhinged, but she can’t stop.
He adds a second finger—not what she wants—and roughly gropes her breast—it feels so good, but it’s not what she wants. Why won’t he give her what she wants?
“Shh, just come on my hand, it’s okay. I’ll fuck you later, in our bed, baby,” he promises. “Just come now, okay? Right here, right now for me.”
She does, because even if he’s being unnecessarily aggravating, it’s still Aaron. She’s desperate for him, always has been, always will be. She comes loud and high and she clutches him tightly and he kisses her and coos words of love and affection into her ear. She gets cleaned up, and they go for lunch, and they can’t take their eyes off each other.
Something’s very wrong, and she can’t quite put her finger on it.
That evening when she gets home, Aaron is feeling guilty. She’s not sure why, but he’s executing all of his patented guilty trademark behaviors: he offers her a glass of wine, runs her a bath, rubs her feet, even though he’s been the one home with the baby all day. She’s tempted to ask if he’s cheating on her, as a joke, but that’s never funny, especially when she knows he’s being shifty and weird about something.
When they’re laying in bed, he sets down his book and looks over at her.
“I meant to tell you, Haley isn’t able to take Mia tomorrow. Maybe the weekend after, we can have our special alone time.” She won’t say she’s not disappointed, but she doesn’t want to inconvenience Haley, when she’s already being so great. She smiles softly, covers his hand with hers.
“That’s okay. It was short notice, anyway. I’ll still enjoy my weekend, with you and Mia.” He smiles too, but it doesn’t quite touch his eyes.
The kids sleep through the night, but she doesn’t.
On Friday, she picks Jack up from school and takes him to Haley’s, who sends him to wash up so she can make him a snack. When he’s gone, she smiles warmly and invites her into the kitchen for coffee; she takes a cup, and they make pleasant small talk like they always do.
“Are you sure you don’t want to bring Mia over?” Haley asks after a few minutes. It sounds like she’s double checking. “It’s really no trouble.” She frowns, sets her cup down.
“I thought you weren’t able to watch Mia this weekend. I thought… I thought that’s what Aaron said. I must have misunderstood him.” That’s the only logical conclusion, because Aaron wouldn’t lie to her. He wouldn’t.
“He was being a little weird on the phone the other day. He asked me if I would watch her, and I said yes. He told me about your plans,” she says with raised eyebrows, “and then I told him, you know. That he better treat you right, because you just had a baby not that long ago and you might be a little self-conscious about jumping back into the sack like that; not that you should be, because you look amazing.” She racks her brain for the first time he started acting strangely, pulling away from her, and it would have been after his conversation with Haley. She asks, just to confirm.
“Is that when he got weird?”
“Actually yeah. He changed his mind, said you might not need me to watch her after all, but I told him the offer stood. He was pretty quick to get off the phone after that.” She would sip her coffee, but she’s pretty sure her hands are shaking. Why would he lie about that?
“You know, I should go. I’m sure Aaron’s pulling his hair out with her, she’s been a devil today. Tell Jack I love him and I’ll talk to him tonight, will you?”
“Of course. If you change your mind about Mia, just let me know,” Haley says, and she gets into her car with tears stinging her eyes.
When she gets home, Aaron is playing with Mia on the living room floor. He looks up at her with a smile that abruptly falls when he takes in her facial expression.
“What’s wrong?” She composes herself, takes a deep breath. They vowed a long time ago not to argue in front of Jack or Mia. She tries to sound conversational.
“You lied to me. You said Haley couldn’t take Mia this weekend.” He swallows and looks properly guilty. She’s not sure how he was able to lie to her in the first place; he’s never been any good at it.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. I just didn’t know how to say it.” She looks up, shakes her head, wills her eyes not to water while she’s trying to have this conversation.
“You didn’t know how to say what? What is it that’s made you distance yourself from me?” She recalls him physically pulling away, then doing a complete 180 and initiating sex, but never penetrative sex, never letting her touch him or return the favor in any way. “Haley told me about your conversation. So do you think I’m unhappy with my body, or are you unhappy with my body?” He has the nerve to look confused, gets Mia set up with some toys she can play with safely on her own and stands up, comes close to her. She’s not sure she even wants his touch right now, which is saying something; when she’s unhappy, that’s usually all she wants.
“Neither of those things. I swear to god. I love you and I love your body; you’re so beautiful. Too beautiful for me, you always have been.” He’s looking down at her so seriously, and she wants so badly to believe him, but how could she, when faced with the evidence?
“Okay. If it’s neither of those things…” Her voice is small when she says the one option that hurts her most. “Did you change your mind? Do you not want to have another baby with me?” He sighs, deflates, and she takes a deep, shuddering breath.
“No, listen to me. It’s not that I don’t want that; I want that more than anything, but it will… further complicate, things...” He trails off, and she tries to follow what he’s saying. “The problem isn’t you in any way. It’s me.” She huffs, squeezes her eyes briefly shut.
“You? How can it be you, when you’ve been the only man to catch my eye for years? From the moment you set foot on my campus looking for your bad guy, I’ve been attracted to you, aroused by you, wrapped around your finger. You’re so perfect for me: perfect husband, perfect dad, perfect lover. My best friend. Never a day has gone by where I haven’t wanted you.” He wets his lips, sighs.
“Surely you’ve noticed that since I quit my job and started staying home with Mia, I… I don’t look the same. I’ve… let myself go.” His brows are deeply furrowed, and he’s clearly struggling with this; she reaches for him, no longer angry—at least for the time being—puts a hand on his arm.
“I’ve noticed that you don’t quite look the same. Doesn’t mean you’ve ‘let yourself go,’ or that I’m not still attracted to you; you just have a dad bod now instead of an ‘FBI guy who punches people for a living’ bod.” Her other hand hovers, then comes to rest on his stomach, and she smiles. “I’m actually really into the way you look now. I’ve been fantasizing about it for ages. I wish I’d known you were feeling self-conscious.”
“I’m not used to feeling… self-conscious, vulnerable,” he breathes, but he presses into her touch, so she considers that a good thing. “I didn’t know how to handle it.”
“I get that baby, I do, but this is me. I would have done anything I could to make you feel better. You didn’t have to hide it from me. You didn’t have to lie. We could have talked about it.” She moves the hand on his arm to his face, guides him down for a loving kiss. “We’re equally to blame, because I know you haven’t been getting good sleep, and I know you barely have time for yourself, and I didn’t step in; but you never let me help. If roles were reversed, and it was me staying home with Mia, you would never expect me to do all the cooking and cleaning and homework and bath time without your help. So you need to let me help, Aaron, please.” She looks up at him, eyes warm and sincere, and he nods, bends to press a kiss to her lips.
“I’m sorry. I still don’t feel great about… myself, but maybe I could. If I let you help. If I took some time for me.” She nods and wraps her arms around him—finally—for a hug.
“I love you so much. Just like this. Big, cuddly papa bear, taking care of our babies, making our home a safe and happy place for them. How could I not love the body that brings me so much happiness? That makes me excited to get in my car and come home at the end of every day?”
They kiss some more, deep, healing kisses and soft, sweet kisses, but she doesn’t get distracted by them. She’s very focused, caresses him and brushes loving fingertips over his chest and arms and sides. But speaking of distractions…
“Were you doing all those sexy things to try to distract me from wanting you to get all up on me?” she asks, pulling back, and at least he has the decency to flush.
“Kind of? I figured if it was sex you wanted, you’d be happy to get off however it happened; it was great for me too, don’t get me wrong, I just didn’t really want to be touched, feeling the way I felt.” She frowns, rests her head against his chest and holds him tighter.
“That makes me sad. What I wanted was an intimate moment with my husband, and while yes, what you did for me was great, because you’re super hot and very capable,” she says, leaning back in his embrace with a soft smile, “it’s not what I’ve been wanting. I want you all naked and sweaty and heavy on top of me, going to pound town.” He presses his lips together and raises his eyebrows.
“Pound town? What are you, twelve?” She grins, shoves his chest, and he laughs.
“I’m surrounded by college kids all day, please forgive me. I think it got my message across though.” She touches his cheek, looks up into his eyes, and sighs. “Can we take Mia over to Haley’s and give it a shot? I’ll do anything to make you feel happy and comfortable, any position that makes you feel better—though what I’d really like most, if you’ll trust me, is to suck your dick, and then hop on your dick, and then later when we’re ready to go again, we do the pound town thing and make another goddamn baby.”
She’s so serious, and he looks so serious, and then he kisses her and says yes and they pack up their kid and take her to his ex-wife’s so they can get it on, which sounds so much crazier than it actually is.
She gets him out of his clothes, doesn’t move slow or spend lots of time focusing on what he thinks are flaws; instead, she proves how desirable he is by practically tearing his pants off and pushing him against the bed and swallowing around his dick just so she can hear all those delicious moans she’s been missing.
After that, she rides him hard, kisses him harder, plants her hands on his chest and stomach and moans and groans against his mouth. “So fucking hot, seriously so fucking hot, Aaron—if I saw you across the room today I wouldn’t change a goddamn thing, I would still pursue you, I’d make you blush like I did back then. I’d be so forward because I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about how good this would feel.”
She’s rocking his world, no doubt about that; it’s written all over his face, in the hardness of his hands on her hips as she grinds down on his cock, in the way his chest is heaving despite not actually doing any of the work at all. He comes first, and then rubs her clit while she continues to fuck him until she finds her own orgasm; she scratches her nails down his stomach, and he leans up and grabs her face for a rough, perfect kiss.
They take a break, cuddling and kissing and enjoying the feel of bare skin, comfy bed, soft lips. Aaron touches her cheek, tells her how much he loves and appreciates her.
“I’m so sorry I’ve been keeping this inside, and not being truthful. It’s hard, when you’re as perfect as the day I met you, and I’m…” She presses a finger to his lips, shushes him, kisses him.
“You’re as perfect as the day I met you, too. More perfect, even, because every day since then you’ve chosen me, and our family. I could not ask for a better man. Simply could not, Aaron. And if you want me to come home early so you can go to the park to run, or to the gym, then that’s what I'll do, but if you look like you do right now, forever, I’ll be happy with that too. Whatever makes you happy.”
They snuggle and kiss and talk and laugh, and then laughing becomes sex in that way everything becomes sex when you’re genuinely obsessed with the person in your bed.
He gets her on her back, kisses all over, teases her—“mmm, rubbing your kitty, baby, how does it feel?”—and then puts her legs over his shoulders, plants his hands, and fucks, taking every ounce of his pent-up frustration out on her, and it’s incredible.
“Yes, Aaron, yes, baby, oh, god.” Her head is thrown back, and she’s torn between laughing, because she’s been wanting this for months and it’s exactly as awesome as she’d dreamed it would be, and crying, because she fucking loves him, so much it puts a lump in her throat.
“Fuck, baby,” he groans, speeds up, sweaty and gorgeous and smiling. “You’re going to come with me—not just for me, but with me, so my come gets deep inside, so it works and we get another perfect baby who never lets us fucking sleep.” She nods frantically, presses her hips against his, and it’s not simultaneous, but it’s a near damn thing, when they both come groaning each other’s names.
A little less than a year later, they have Mason. Aaron is at home in his dad bod, Mia doesn’t cry at naptime, Jack is still a menace in the mornings, and their perfect little family got a little more perfect.
Taglist ❤️: @arsonhotchner @mrsh0tchner @ssahotchie @sleepyreaderreads @mintphoenix @meghannnnnn @disgruntledchowchow @azenpal @g-l-pierce @my-rosegold-soul
#aaron hotchner#aaron hotchner fanfic#criminal minds#criminal minds fanfic#aaron hotchner x reader#aaron hotchner x female reader#hotch x female reader#hotch x reader#dad bod hotch
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Best-friends to Lovers (Fred Weasley x Reader)
Pairing: Fred Weasley x Reader
Request: can we get like... a lil fred weasley, you guys are good friends and you don’t usually go back for the holidays, and Fred invites you back to the Burrow to spend the break there and y’all like totally fall for each other 🥺
Warning: None (I switched it up just a tiny bit to where they’ve already developed some feelings but they finally admit them sooo hope you enjoy!)
Word Count: 4.5k
It was a flurry and cold winter night, the kind of night when every breath stings the lungs and every exhale chills the lips. The frigid air, the slippery ground and the sheet of white covering the once green grass. All signs winter was here and cold times were ahead. Even in the highlands of Scotland, the winters were ferosus and unforgiving. You despised the freezing temperature, but Fred was far too convincing and a midnight walk with him was something you couldn’t find the words to turn down.
For the first time in the five years you had spent at Hogwarts, and the five years you had been best friends, you had finally accepted the twins offer on spending Christmas at the Burrow with their family. It was a turn of events in your typical holiday plans which were mostly spent alone at the castle. Your first two years at school you had traveled home for Christmas. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t exactly a ‘jolly’ time either. Family time came few and far between. The sparse time you did spend around your family had grown… awkward. Being the only witch in your family didn’t help much either. As the years dragged on, you felt like a stranger in your own home. Your parents spent their entire year with your younger brother, so he had undoubtedly grown to be the favorite and the prized child. They still loved you of course, it just felt forced to engage with them at times.
So it came as a pleasant surprise when you walked into the Weasley’s home and were engulfed in a warmth you had never known. Molly Weasley was the first to greet you, popping out from the staircase with a shimmering grin. Before you could register what was happening, she pulled you into a bone crunching grip rambling on about how good it was to meet you. Arthur hugged you as well and teased about how much the twins would talk about you, especially Fred. Fred would turn bashful but he didn’t deny it.
Ginny showed you around the house, beating Fred and George to the chance. Molly set up a mattress on the floor next to the youngest Weasley’s bed, something Ginny was over the moon thrilled about. She had been longing for a sleepover with you for years now. Ever since her first term, she followed you around like a little puppy. So your first night at the home, Ginny coerced you into a slumber party immediately.
The twins, mainly Fred, weren’t too happy at this. They were the ones who invited you yet their little sister was stealing all your time. Fred was bitter when you hurried off from dinner to go join Ginny upstairs, not even bidding him a farewell.
George insisted his twin was being dramatic- they had an entire month for Merlin's sake! The feelings his brother developed for you, their best friend, was clear as crystals to George. They both shared a crush on you for the first year at Hogwarts but George’s feelings quickly shifted to a friendship, sister love. Fred on the other hand, well his crush only evolved further. George noticed it the second Fred started combing his hair before dinner and always placing himself the closest towards you. It was a topic they danced around for quite some time. He teased his twin for years until the idea came to him that Fred still felt this way towards you even after years. George had devoted his previous two summers to breaking Fred into admission. All he wanted was to hear his twin confirm his suspicions. Not that he needed that really, other people were beginning to notice as well.
One of them being your temporary roommate. Ginny was a top notch observer. During her second year, she started to catch on to the elephant that followed you and Fred into every room.
That first night, Ginny shed light on her theory by offhandedly making a rather large claim late that first night. While the two of you were chatting softly in the dark, the young girl declared out of the blue,
“I think my brother is in love with you.”
In an instant, your whole body froze over like water on a lake. You were thankful for the dark, it kept Ginny from seeing your wide eyed stare of shock.
“What?”
It was now you could see her small frame adjusting in her bed. Even with the lack of light, you saw her sitting up on her bed, propping her weight on one elbow. It could be assumed she had a devilish smile as she probed on.
“Fred… pretty sure he’s in love with you.”
“Why, what makes you think that, Ginny?”
“Quite a laundry list of things, actually. First, he never shuts up about you. Second, he’s always trying to be around you. Third, he’s always staring at you… bit creepy. Fourth, he’s told our nanna about you! Lastly, and most obvious, I heard him telling George right before school started.”
Laying back down, you fixed your eyes on the ceiling taking in her words. Does your best friend really share the same feelings for you? It was too good to be true, it couldn’t be true, you thought. This kinda stuff only happened in the movies and your life definitely was not a film gracing the silver screen. The butterflies went rampant in your stomach, fluttering about wildly. For a moment, you had forgotten Ginny was there, or that you were in her room, until she spoke again.
“So, what do you think of him?” She asked innocently. Tugging the fluffy blue blanket closer to your chest you replied,
“Pardon?”
Ginny wasted no time and reached over to flicker the light switch on her bedside lamp. A bright light broke through the pitch black darkness of the bedroom. You groaned at the act but Ginny spoke over your sounds of protest.
“Are you in love with Fred?”
Running your hand over your face, you let out a sigh. It was getting too late to be thinking about such heavy topics. You had a great friendship with Ginny, you really did, but if you couldn’t even deal with these emotions on your own, you really didn’t want to throw your thoughts on her.
Turning over on the mattress, you rolled your eyes.
“Ginny, I’m not even dating Fred.”
“But you want to.” She confirmed stubbornly.
“I mean… I-I don’t know, Ginny. Can we talk about something else, please?” You wanted to hide under a blanket and avoid the question for all of eternity. She had caught you off guard and although the feelings you felt towards Fred were strong, it wasn’t something you felt ready to face yet. It wasn’t easy being in love with your best friend- there was so much risk, so much to lose if things went south. You settled on keeping Fred as a friend rather than gamble the option of rejection and a change in your relationship forever.
Ginny perked her brow, opened her mouth as if ready to rebuttal, then deciding against it. The corner of her tip twitched to a smirk as she replied,
“Hmm, okay.”
The topic was dropped for the rest of the night as Ginny went to bed shortly after, but it wasn’t completely over. From then on, you began noticing the constant little redhead attached to your coattails. You noticed each time Fred shooed his sister off and demanded she find something better to do. He was edging closer and closer to his point of eruption. This break was supposed to be time for him to spend alone with you and finally confess his feelings. Not Ginny being your shadow and George tagging along for every outing.
Now on your walk almost a week later, your mind hadn’t stopped wandering to that conversation. Ginny hadn’t brought it up again, at least not vocally. During breakfast the next morning after your talk while you're placed between Fred and George joking around with them, she’ll send you knowing looks, giggling to herself. Harry started to pick up on this as well and you noticed Ginny whispering to him afterwards. It didn’t help that Fred would take any opportunity he could to make you laugh and be in your presence.
Last night you found yourself sitting in front of the fireplace with George, Ginny, Ron, Harry and Fred. A steaming mug of hot cocoa was clutched in everyone’s hand. After about an hour of talking softly and sharing stories, Ginny, Ron and Harry decided to call it a night and trudged up the stairs together. You waved to them as they disappeared up the wooden steps, the sound off their feet turning quieter with every second.
As the three of you sat closely, it felt like you were back at Hogwarts in the common room. George was gushing about a Muggle film you had shown him earlier in the day and Fred was silently listening in, a small smile kissing his lips. You were sat at Fred’s side, your backs against the couch and his arm thrown casually around your shoulder. George was laid on the smaller couch across from the two of you, rambling on to himself. As his talking continued, Fred slowly worked to move your body closer to his and nearly in his lap. He did it so naturally you almost failed to notice. The loud, booming tone of George simmer out within minutes. His voice seemed to sooth him into a slumber as his harsh snores suddenly cut through the air, having talked himself to sleep. This caused the both of you to start laughing. Fred’s arm gripped you tighter as his body shook with chuckles. The sensation sent an odd shiver down your spine. It felt… nice, really really nice to be in his arms.
Fred wondered if now was the time. It was the first chance he had gotten alone with you for almost a week, so there was a good probability he wouldn’t get another for a while. He needed to make a move, something at least! Fred hated not having the bravery like the Gryffindor he was to fess up and spit out the words to describe how he felt about you. Closing his eyes, Fred took a deep breath then peeked his gaze open once more. The nerves had calmed and for the first time, he felt ready and he knew he had to act on it. But as he looked down at you, all the confidence had vanished with one glance. His throat dried as your eyes met and a faint precipitation budded in his palms. All the words he had been rehearsing for a year now simply slipped out the back door.
You took note of the ghost white paleness that took over and immediately sat up, removing yourself from his arms to ask,
“You alright, Freddie?” The concern dripped from your words as you examined the face of your best friend. His eyes were lowered, glued to the flickering flames of the crackling fire.
“Of course, love. I’m sorry, was just thinking.”
“Aw, Freddie, we talked about this. You know thinking is no good for you- you’re brain can’t handle it, darling!” Fred’s heart leaped at the adorning pet name. Only recently had you started calling him more loving names, and it drove him absolutely mad. No girl could ever get his heart racing with just one word like you could. He loved hearing such names coming from your mouth, and directed to him. There was only one name he would die to call you and that was his.
“Can I take you for a walk, love?” The request came abruptly, completely out of the blue. Your eyes widen at his question. Any other time you’d say yes without a second thought. Although, it was late and the land was not a territory you were familiar with like Hogwarts.
Your eyes fell on the window behind the couch. Large white snowflakes swirled from the sky and coated the grounds. The heavy black winter jacket you packed was hung up neatly by the door, not having been touched for at least a day.
Turning your attention back to Fred, you realized his eyes were already trained on your face. At your glance, a hopefully smile reached his cheeks.
“It’s nearly midnight I… actually, why not? Sure. But if we run into any wolves, I’m sacrificing you to them, Weasley.” He laughed at your response and quickly jumped up. You set your hands to your side, readying yourself to stand when suddenly, Fred’s large hands attached to your sides and lifted you up to your feet. You stumbled trying to gain balance but once again, Fred was right there to help you.
Unexpectedly, his left hand extended out and intertwined his fingers in yours. Just as you had predicted, his touch was warm, addicting in a way. It set off a pool of security and protection. Instead of fearing what may lie in the open land outside his house, you trusted Fred.
The tall boy walked you towards the door and pulled your long coat from the hook then threw it around your body. You slipped your arms into the fuzzy material as he yanked his heavy jacket on. Watching the never ending snowfall outside, you worked your hands into the black mittens you had stored in the coat pockets. You hoped it wasn’t as bone chilling outside as it looked.
“Here, I think you might need this, love. You can use my scarf too if you’d like. Don’t want you freezing to death, that’d be hard to explain to George and the rest of our friends.” Fred placed an extra winter hat of his on top of your head. Heat slapped your cheeks at his movements. Fred was commonly sweet towards you but lately, he had been extra sweet. Small gestures here and there were adding up and raising a bit of questions in your mind.
You knocked Fred jokingly on the shoulder and remarked,
“Reckon they’ll send you to Azkaban for that one. I’m a saint, everyone loves me, Fred.” You teased him playfully before accepting his offer with a thank you. Instead of handing you the maroon and gold striped scarf, Fred leaned forward and wrapped it snug around your neck. Once finished, his fingertip tapped against the tip of your nose, grinning to himself.
“You’re not wrong about that. We should get going though. The killer trolls will rise from the ground soon!”
“Knock it off!” You scolded him in a hushed tone, careful not to wake his sleeping family as you chased out of the house after him. Running down the steps, you saw Fred waiting near the car for you. There was an open path behind the car, a makeshift road but the kids used it for a walking guide.
He motioned you over waving exaggeratedly.
“C’mon, darling! You’re taking forever.” Fred moaned on dramatically as he waited for you to catch up to him.
“It’s freezing out here, be patient.” You waddled over to his side and stood close to his frame, egar for warmth. Fred took in your shaking body and wrapped his arm around your shoulder and tugged you towards his side.
Snowflakes landed on your eyelashes, conflicting your view. Despite the coldness of the winter air, the landscape was beautiful. There were miles and miles of open plains on all ends of the Burrow. In a way, they were isolated, but the atmosphere was live with activity. It was impossible to be bored when the Weasley siblings were around. There was so much to do, in an exploring sense. You had never felt so free, so open before. It was refreshing to spend time at Weasley's home. As the two of you walked together in the crunchy snow, Fred pointed to a large field, a makeshift pitch if you had to guess.
“Charlie and Bill taught George and I how to play Quidditch over there the summer after our first year. Percy hated playing with us! We’d all gang up on him- even if he was on our team- and try to knock him off his broom. I don’t think he’s played with us since! You would’ve died of laughter seeing how angry he got.” You watched as Fred’s features scrunched in laughed at the memory. His contagious chuckles infected you as you laughed along. It was a recollection you could imagine perfectly, even if you weren’t there. Percy was an easy target but he had done it to himself so there wasn’t much room for blame.
Shrugging your shoulders you said,
“I would say poor Percy but he turned me in for being out past curfew so, I’m proud of you, Fred.”
“Sounds like him, just try being related to him. He runs to our parents for everything! Every. Little. Thing. It’s infuriating.” Your cheeks began to sting from smiling so much, but when you were around Fred, it was a given. He had an affect on you that no one else seemed to earn. Even when you were on the brim of tears, Fred always found a way to bring a grin to your face.
But still, you thought about Ginny’s words and the change in Fred throughout your years as friends. Nights were lost tossing and turning over the thought of that prankster redhead who had occupied all your notions.
Lifting your hand up slightly, you grabbed for Fred’s gloved hand. He gladly accepted your gesture and squeezed on your hand as you continued to walk further from the home. Fred’s attention soon dropped as his consciousness drifted once again. Pursing your lips you drew him out.
“Freddie, what’s on your mind? You’ve been different since we got here. I mean, it’s not a bad different. It’s just… something is different with you and you’re my best friend so I wanna know.”
Fred’s eyes snapped up at your concerning voice and the startled expression met yours. This was definitely not a common act for Fred. Your mind raced at the possibility of what it could be but luckily, Fred didn’t make you wait long for an answer.
His pace slowed, but his feet still dragged in the powdered flakes holding your hand. You wanted to hear him speak so bad although you respected the time he needed and waited in silence as you continued to walk. It didn’t take long for Fred to shatter the thin air,
“Can I ask you a serious question? Like one that could change everything.”
“You can ask me anything, Fred. You know this. It won’t change a thing.” You replied seriously. Fred could hear the truthfulness in your words and it calmed him, only a little though. The looming fear, and reality, of rejection was becoming all too real. Even worse than rejection, Fred had a feeling if he didn’t take his chance now, he might never have the opportunity again.
“Do you see me only as a best friend?” The nervousness in his voice broke the peace of the air. Your feet halted at the cavalier inquest. Fred had asked quite the offhand questions before but this, this was new. Mentally attempting to connect the pieces, you tilted your head in confusion.
“Freddie…” The mummer was faint, almost failing to register from your lips. The Burrow was still in near distance and the moonlight provided enough light to search Fred’s face. You weren’t sure what to make of the inquiry exactly, but your heart race excelled in anticipation.
Fred Weasley shifted in the crystalline snow. His hands were shoved deep in his coat pockets and his legs bounced in his stance. You knew him well enough to see the contemplation written across his features.
“Y/n I really really like you. I promise this isn’t a joke or some prank. If you don’t feel the same I can find a way to accept it but I don’t wanna lose you in my life. I just can’t hold it in anymore. It’s been five years of tortue now and… I just needed to get it out, love. I think I might be falling in love with you- if I haven’t already.” As Fred poured his heart out openly, the dripping snowfall ceased all together. It was magically in a sense. The loud slush was now quiet, almost like drizzling rain. His gingerbread eyes were studied upon you, waiting for any sort of reaction to surface. You just gazed up at him scavenging for the perfect words to spill your emotions.
“You’ve liked me for five years?” You asked, stunned. That was impossible. All this time you had spent crushing on Fred and admiring him, stuck in the friendzone, you could’ve just talked to him and been honest. Fred’s eyes darted back to his house then to you anxiously.
“Yeah. I’ve just been too scared to tell you. I don’t want it to ruin our friendship, that’s the last thing I could take.”
Your heart dropped at his words. It was funny in a way, he had the same fears as you. In the same way, you felt guilty for putting him through the same torture you had been going through the last few years as well.
With a surge of confidence, you snapped your head up to Fred and quickly remarked,
“Will it ruin our friendship if I think I’m in love with you too?”
The stillness in the air was unreadable at first. Your gazes trained intently on each other. The uplift gleamed in Fred when he took in your words. All his fears went away like the swish of a wand.
Half out of adrenaline, the other half out of want for years of desire, Fred took one step forward and closed the small gap of space between the two of you by pressing his lips tightly against yours. His hands rested on your face, and the small of your back to keep you steady. This you were thankful for this as his quick actions took you by shock nearly knocking you off your feet.
Your left hand drew up to his hair, finding a tight grip in his shoulder length locks, something you’d been dreaming about doing. The kiss intensified as you indulged in the lock and pressed closer to Fred. Your mouths moved together as if snogging was naturally with you two.
Your lungs demanded air after a few minutes and you slowly pulled away from Fred’s lips and leaned away to regain your composure. You could hear Fred panting at your side, also processing what just took place. Your hands never left each other’s and he suddenly squeezed yours to earn your attention. A genuine look crosses Fred’s face as he whispered into the cold air,
“Can I ask you to be my girlfriend now or do you want me to woo you over on a date first?” His sweet words nearly melted your heart. As easy as you were to please when it came to Fred, this heartwarming exchange felt like the perfect night to declare as a first outing.
“I think I’ll count this as our first date, it was quite romantic.”
Fred rolled his eyes with a smirk. It made him happy that you weren’t demanding or the snotty type. He loved that the small things made you glow with happiness. Even with this, he was still mentally planning a date to take you on before break ended. Although you still had yet to answer his big question.
“So does that mean you’ll be my girlfriend?” You had to swallow back a laugh as you realized you never officially answered Fred. Despite your kiss, he still looked worried you’d turn him away. Shaking your head with a smile you replied,
“Yes, I won’t make you beg anymore.”
Fred wasted no time snatching you by the waste and giving you a small twirl around the snow. A yelp sounded from your lips and you hoped it wasn’t loud enough to wake anyone sleeping at the Burrow. Fred chuckled at your protests and placed you down delicately. Placing his hands on either side of your face, the joyful Gryffindor snogged you lightly, but his passion still seeped through.
“Merlin’s beard, can’t believe it took my stupid arse five years to ask you out. I could’ve been kissing you years ago!”
“Guess we were both missing out. Feel dim for thinking I was going to ruin everything between us if I told you how I felt. But I’m so happy, Freddie.”
“Here, darling,” His gloved hand jerk back to the house, “We oughta head back, now. Mum will kill me if she finds out we were out this late! She thinks you’re an angel so you’ll be fine but I’ll be six feet under by dawn. I can’t wait for morning, though. I can finally brag to everyone that you’re mine, love.” His lips pressed against yours again, desperate to relive the spark and it did not disappoint. Kissing Fred felt natural, like you melted into the embrace. Your lips molded in sync, matching up like magnets. His tongue drew a line across your bottom lips as he kissed you deeper.
Coming back to earth you detached from Fred with a light ‘smack’ noise. Neither of you could wipe the childlike grins off your faces. His plump cheeks turned crimson in the night. Unable to shake off the excitement of the night’s events, you leaned into Fred’s body, giving him a tight hug. He returned the embrace instantly and left a long kiss to the top of your head.
Leaning away, you planted one last kiss to Fred’s cheek then held his hand as you two walked towards his home. The light at the top of the Burrow, assumingly Fred and George's room was turned on. Brightness shone from the window and you pointed up at the sight. The house was only feet away and you started to wonder what George would think of the news.
It could be assumed he wouldn’t be shocked. George spent the last year making comments to you here and there, prying in on you and Fred. Ginny of course wouldn’t be too blown away either, but what about Ron and Harry?
Fred already knew what their reactions would be. He knew without a doubt all of your friends would be thrilled, but no one would be too taken aback by your new relationship. It seemed the only two students who were oblivious to your shared feelings, were Fred and yourself.
“You think they’ll be surprised to hear we’re dating?” You wondered out loud. Fred swung your hand in a back and forth motion as you approached the front porch of the house. Your question obtained a chuckle from Fred as he shook his head,
“Not one bit, love.”
#Fred Wealsey#fred weasley imagines#fred weasley imagine#fred weasley x reader#fred weasley#Fred and George#george weasley one shot#george weasley imagine#Fred and George Weasley#george weasley#george w#weasley twins#Ginny Weasley#weasley#Ron Weasley#Harry Potter#harry potter imagines#harry potter imagine#hp#hp imagines#hp imagine#Gryffindor#hogwarts#ron weasly imagine#Hermione Granger
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Choices - Part 1
Word Count: 3,913
Requested: by me; inspired by a TikTok POV
Story Description: After the snap (Y/N) and Steve decided to shift their friendship into a romantic relationship. After the Battle of Earth, and Thanos’s ultimate defeat, Steve had to travel back in time to return the stones, but what (Y/N) doesn’t know is he’s not returning. The man leaves to his best friend the hard task to break the news to his lover. But what will happen if Steve returns in an unexpected manner?
Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader
Part: 1/3
A/N: I just gotta say I only have spoiled knowledge of what happens in Endgame because I refuse to acknowledge its existence and I’ll never watch it. Anything I write that is not cannon, whoops. But this one-shot is inspired by a POV I stumbled upon in TikTok and I just needed to write. Had to divide it into two parts because it was getting too long.
Follow Me!
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***
It had taken 6 years and losing almost everyone we loved for Steve and me to admit our feelings for each other. After seeing our closest friends dissipate into fine dust we decided life was too short to wait for the right time.
That was 5 years ago. Our relationship had been solidified as the years went on and the loss of Nat and Tony in the Battle of Earth only bringing us closer.
But something had changed. These past few days Steve had grown distant and quiet, only acknowledging me when we were in our bedroom or stuck in training. All I could attribute it to was that he was nervous about traveling to return the stones. Normally, he would talk to me about what was clouding his mind but nowadays he was acting as if we were strangers.
Thankfully, I had a friend to occupy my time with. Bucky and I had developed a close friendship since meeting him back when he still was the Winter Soldier. Being part of his recovery was the catalyst to the relationship we have today. Losing him in the blip was horribly heartbreaking but it brought me and Steve closer. Now that he was back, I was able to have someone I could confide in the understood the Captain’s brain.
“Hey, Buck,” I announced my arrival as I saw Bucky getting some water in the kitchen. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“Not really,” he sighed. “The nightmares, you know?”
He was right, I did know. Although I wasn’t blipped I had my own demons I was still battling with. “Yeah, I get it. I’m making grilled cheese, do you want some?”
“Grilled cheese? At 3 am?” He chuckled. “What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on, (Y/N). You only eat grilled cheese at this time when you’re worried about something.”
“You know me too well,” I sighed. “It’s Steve. He’s been really weird this past few days.”
“Weird how?”
“He’s been kinda avoiding me lately and I don’t know why.” A few tears were threatening to spill, but I did my best to dry them before they fell. “It’s like nothing I do is good enough, like he’d rather be anywhere but close to me. Does he hate me? Is it something I did?”
Bucky got up from the chair he was sat in and wrapped me in a hug. I couldn’t hold off the tears this time. “There’s nothing you could do that would make that man hate you, he’s probably just in his head about traveling in time.”
“I thought so, but why wouldn’t he talk to me about it. There’s not a single thing we haven’t been able to talk about up to ‘til now. What’s so important about this that he can’t talk to me about it.”
“Don’t stress yourself over this, doll. I’m sure after tomorrow everything would go back to how it was.”
Bucky’s POV
And at that time I did believe it. Knowing Steve I really thought he was just nervous about the journey he had to take in the morning. That was until he said he needed to talk with me.
“What is it, punk? You too nervous?” I chuckled until I saw the serious face he held.
“I need a favor from you, Buck, and you might not like it.”
“You’re scaring me, Steve. What’s wrong?” I couldn’t help but think that this had to do with why he was avoiding (Y/N).
“When I go back today, I’m not coming back in 5 seconds.”
“What are you talking about, Steve?”
“I’m going to stay back and have a life with Peggy. This is my last chance to be with her and I’m taking it,” he ran his hands through his face. He knew what he was asking of me and he knew it wasn’t fair. “I need you to tell (Y/N) for me once I’m gone. She’s gonna need someone to lean on and I need it to be you.”
“You can’t do that, Rogers. It’s not fair to me and it’s definitely not fair to her. (Y/N) loves you with her whole being. This is going to crush her.” He had been ignoring her out of guilt and he was leaving all these feelings behind in a couple of hours, leaving me to deal with the aftermath. “You know, she’s been beating herself over you avoiding her and I thought it was just nerves. But this is a new low; the Steve I know would never do this.”
“Bucky, I’m sorry. I just think it’ll go over quicker if it comes from you.”
“What you’re doing is cleaning your hands of a mess you’re making.” The anger was boiling inside of me by now. (Y/N) did not deserve this ending, she did not deserve to have her heart broken in such a cowardly way.
“Please, Bucky. I don’t think I could tell her face to face.” He took a paper out of his back pocket. “I wrote her this letter, hopefully, it’ll help things to smooth over. Please, Buck, please. You have to believe me when I tell you the last thing I want to do is hurt her.”
I snatched the letter from his hands and guarded it in my jacket pocket. “I’ll do it only because I owe you my life and she’ll need someone once I break her heart for you. But, I get it.”
“Thanks, bud. I know that for now, it must seem like a horrible thing to do but hopefully in time you’ll see my point of view.” I accepted the hug he offered. Although my head was telling me to be loyal to Steve, my heart was breaking at the thought of breaking (Y/N)’s.
Before I knew it, Sam, Bruce, (Y/N), Steve, and I were standing in front of the machine that would be the catalyst of inevitable heartbreak.
3rd person’s POV
“Well, this is it,” Steve whispered. They were standing to the right as Banner made sure everything was ready for Steve’s trip.
“You know, it’s not too late to back out,” (Y/N)’s hands traveled to his chest. “We can have someone else go.”
“It has to be me, (Y/N). But I’ll be back before you know it, doll.” His head lowered and left a deep kiss on her lips. They lingered for longer than usual, and she couldn’t help but imagine that there was an underlying message to it. “You know I love you, right? And I would never do anything to purposely hurt you, right?”
“Of course, Steve. I love you, too.” (Y/N) smiled and kissed him once more, allowing him to engulf her in a tight hug. “Be careful, okay? I can’t lose you too.”
“I will,” he smiled. “Now, I’ve gotta go.”
“I know, be safe.” She smiled once more as she watched Steve get on the machine. She made her way over to Bucky, his arm circling her shoulders. “It’s just 5 seconds, right?”
“Yup,” he smiled, ignoring the burning sensation coming from the paper inside his jacket. “Just five seconds.”
“Ready, Cap?” asked Bruce from behind the control panel. Steve nodded, one hand on Mjolnir and another on the case that held the Infinity Stones. “Alright, we’ll meet you back here, okay?”
“You bet,” he responded. Two of the people present knew that it was a lie, but no one else had picked up on it yet. His head was encircled by the helmet and he stared at the two people that meant the most to him in this lifetime. Hurting them was the hardest thing he had to do, but he had been living for everyone else for too long. He decided that it was time to do something for himself.
“Going quantum in 3, 2, 1,” Bruce announced. A breath hitched in (Y/N)’s throat as the time went down, all she had to do was brace herself for five seconds. Banner hit the button and (Y/N) had to blink various times to fully grasp the disappearance of the man she loved. He had vanished as quick as a thought, one second there and the next just a memory. “And returning in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1....”
Nothing. Bruce clicked the button and nothing happened. The body of Captain America was nowhere in sight.
“Bruce, what the hell is going on?” (Y/N) spoke up, but she wasn’t sure if her voice was heard. Her mind raced a million miles an hour and she could feel her legs giving out. Had it not been for Bucky’s left arm, she would have crashed to the floor. Bruce stammered with his words, not knowing what to say. “Bucky, where is he, Bucky? Where’s Steve?”
Bucky knew it would hurt to see her cry, but this was shattering his heart. Her body was falling limp in his arms and the tears were streaming out of her eyes faster than he could dry them. Her words were slurred but he understood the gist of it. She was hurt; she was betrayed; she was beyond heartbroken.
“Come on, let’s sit down.” Bucky led her to the tent that was propped up behind them. “There’s something you should know.”
“What is it, Buck?” She sobbed.
“Please don’t hate me, but Steve is not coming back.” The girl looked up at her friend, not know what emotion she was feeling in the moment. Her tears stopped momentarily, needing to hear the words that would spill from Bucky’s mouth. “Steve decided to go back in time and have a life with Peggy. He needed you to know that he didn’t want to hurt you. He also left you this note.”
Her shaky hands extended to take hold of the piece of paper Bucky handed her. She dried away the tears that were clouding her eyes and began reading.
My dearest doll,
If you are reading this letter, you know I am not coming back. I decided to take hold of the chance to have the life I would’ve had if I stayed in the 40s. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling in this moment, and I’m sorry for all the hurt I know I’m causing you. I need you to know that I never knew I could love someone after Peggy and I’m thankful for all the years we had together. I was in love with you and I still am, but I could not continue on knowing I have a chance to answer one of my biggest ‘what if’s. I could not go on in our life with the weight of my past on our shoulders, you deserve better than that. I hope you can pardon how big of a coward I am being in the moment, I knew I couldn’t do this face-to-face and you deserve at least a worded explanation of why I left. You are strong, amazing, beautiful, and deserving of all the love in the world; I’m sorry I couldn’t provide it. I want you to promise me that you’ll move on and be happy, even if it’s not with me. I also hope you don’t hate Bucky for being the bearer of bad news, he didn’t know until today and I gave him no other choice thant to tell you. If there’s someone that can understand what you are feeling right now, it is him.
I hope one day you will forgive me for this,
I love you until the end of the line.
Steve
She folded the paper back up and broke down once again. Bucky engulfed her in a hug and held her as she shook. “He’s gone, Buck. He went back to be with Peggy. I wasn’t enough for him.”
“Oh, doll, I’m so sorry.”
“Guys, we’ve got to head back,” Sam peeked his head through the tent, heartbroken by the view in front of him. “I’ve got her, Buck. Go get the truck started.”
Bucky released (Y/N) into the arms of Sam Wilson, and left to start the car to head back to the tower. Sam ran his hands over the sobbing girl’s hair trying his best to soothe her. Even though he didn’t fully understand the situation she was in, he got the jist of it. After everything was packed back up, (Y/N) had fallen asleep in Sam’s arms, so he picked her up and laid her on his lap to not wake her. She would be needing all the rest she could get.
“You guys good back there?” Bucky asked.
“Yeah, she’s out like a light,” Sam whispered.
“Good, she’s gonna need all the energy she can get to recover.”
“What happened?”
“Steve decided to stay back and be with Peggy; left me to tell her the news.” Busky gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were pale white, his anger building up inside him.
“Wow, I never expected that from the Cap. I don’t think it’ll be easy for her to move on from this.” He looked down at the sleeping figure in his lap, wiping away the few tears that had slipped out in her slumber. “She might be physically strong, but she’s very sensitive and rarely gets attached.”
“I still don’t understand why he chose to do it this way. The little punk.”
The duo waited until Banner was inside the truck before leaving the spot they were in and back home. Unbeknownst to them, behind the trees, a figure stared at the scene in front of him with a broken heart.
***
It had been almost three weeks of robotic movements from (Y/N). She would wake up, sometimes eat, sit in front of a window and stare down the New York skyline; other times she would lay in bed wearing one of Steve’s shirts and sprayed the room with his cologne as she sobbed into his pillow. There were the nights that she drowned her sorrows in a bottle of whatever liquor she could find, until the other members started hiding the bottles. But that didn’t stop her from stashing a couple of bottles in her closet. Nighttime was always the hardest. (Y/N) had grown used to falling asleep in Steve’s arms and being engulfed in his warmth. Now, she thrashed around in a bed that was too big, too cold, and too uncomfortable.
The rest of the team had tried their best to lift her spirits, but nothing seemed to work too well. Sam tried his best to make her favorite meals, which she gave thanks for but rarely ate, pushing the food around in the plate; Bucky tried to entice some emotion by asking her to join him in clearing his list of movies to watch to catch up on the times, but she would zone out for most of the movie; Bruce would ask her to join him in his afternoon reading sessions, but every time she picked up a book she re-read the same page over and over not retaining a single word; Wanda would try her best to get her to partake in normal hygiene practices, which the girl had held off on for a couple of days, only getting her to shower every other day.
(Y/N) was a walking zombie, doing the bare minimum to survive.
But today she had woken up differently, her heart hurting a little less than the other days. She got into the shower, brushed her teeth, and even got dressed in her own clothes. It was three in the afternoon, but she was up. She was detangling her hair when her bedroom door opened.
“You’re awake?” Bucky said, startled to see a clean and awake (Y/N) in front of him. “Don’t mean to sound so surprised, but I came in here with the intention to startle you awake once again.”
The girl chuckled and continued her brushing. “Thought it was time to do something by myself.”
“Here, let me.” Bucky took the brush from her hands and started brushing through her damp hair. It finally smelled of her normal shampoo and conditioner, and not a mix of her hair oils and Steve’s cologne. The smell of strawberries and vanilla emanated from her head and Bucky couldn’t help but breathe in deep. His left hand ran the hairbrush through her hair as his right hand smoothed it down. (Y/N) leaned into his touch and smiled at the comforting strokes he was providing. Unknowingly, Bucky started humming a lullaby under his breath.
“What are you humming?”
“It’s a Russian lullaby I overheard one night while under HYDRAs hold. There’s not much I like to remember from those times, but this I don’t mind.”
“I like it,” she rocked to the movements of his hands and smiled as she listened intently to his humming. She couldn’t see him, but the veteran was smiling at her. It had been the first time she had shown any kind of emotion in the time that had elapsed. He finished her hair in a sloppy braid, not fully understanding the mechanics of the three-strand braid. “Thank you, Buck.”
“How’re you feeling today, (Y/N)?” He finally asked.
“I’m feeling better, don’t know how long it will take to get me to 100% but I’m feeling like a 45% today.”
“That’s good to hear, you know. It’s better than where we started.” He wrapped his arms around her from behind and she leaned into him, enjoying the warmth his body emanated. “So, what do you want to do today?”
“Have not gotten up to that point.”
“Well, Sam’s already cooking up something in the kitchen and I’m on the second movie of The Lord of the Rings, so we can watch that one.”
“Okay, that sounds good.” She smiled at the man that was next to her as they exited her room.
The rest of the team had gathered in the kitchen, working on ways to cheer (Y/N) up when they saw her emerge from the hallway with a small smile on her face. Everyone’s jaw fell open when they saw the girl looking partly human and with a spark of energy. It had been a while since she had resembled the (Y/N) they knew and loved.
“Guys, please pick up your mouths off the floor, your eyes do not deceive you.” (Y/N) joked.
“Glad to see you’re alive, (Y/N),” Sam spoke. “Come have some food.”
She smiled at her friend and sat next to Wanda as Sam placed a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of her. Bucky served himself and her a cup of coffee and added the cream and sugar she enjoyed with her drink. She happily munched on the food as the people around her stared in astonishment.
Thankfully, the staring didn’t last long. Wanda and Sam had a quick recon mission and Bruce had some work to finish in the lab, leaving Bucky and (Y/N) to enjoy The Two Towers in peace. Bucky had the curtains drawn and the movie all set up as (Y/N) took out blankets and made a hole between all the pillows that adorned the couch. The duo settled into their spot and bundled themselves in the blankets, settling in for the 226 minutes of the extended version of the movie.
She wasn’t sure at what point in the movie she fell asleep, but she was woken up by Bucky softly shaking her awake. She mumbled something she didn’t even understand, so Bucky decided to carry her to her bed. (Y/N) had burned too much energy by being around too many people too fast. It didn’t seem like a lot but being around the whole team had taken a toll on her. The sun had started to set and so were the last slivers of happiness she had felt.
Bucky set her down on her bed, tucking the blankets around her. He turned to leave when a small hand wrapped around his right wrist. He looked down and saw a teary-eyed (Y/N) looking up at him.
“Stay, please.” Her voice was barely a whisper and it trembled slightly. She was the vision of the heartbreaking scene that had hurt him three weeks ago.
He smiled softly at the girl and went around the bed to climb in. “Today was hard, huh?”
“Yeah, I thought I was ready to go back to normal, but it took too much out of me. I feel so useless.”
“You are far from useless, doll. You’re hurting, darling, we all understand.” He pulled her in close and laid her head on his chest, the thin layer becoming wet with her tears. “It’ll get better someday, that’s the only thing I’m sure of.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we all do, after a while we all get better.”
“I wish we knew how long a while was. Everything would be easier.”
“I know, doll, but let’s take it all one day at a time. Just remember you’re not alone. You have me – and the rest of the team.” He cleared his throat trying to disguise the importance she held in his life. Bucky would have never said anything, but he had fallen for the girl. He held her already in high regard for the care she had given to his best friend, but his feelings had started to shift when she started caring for him while they were on the run.
“Thank you, Buck. I don’t know where I would be without you.” She laid a kiss on his chest and drifted to sleep with Bucky’s arm rubbing circles on her back.
One more week had gone by and (Y/N) had grown used to having Bucky sleep with her at night. He had helped her pack away all the things Steve had left in the room – specifically the cologne that still hunted her, – he started waking her up earlier and making sure she got at least two full meals a days before she went to bed, and he made sure that she didn’t spend her nights crying for a man he called his best friend.
All of Bucky’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed. The remaining Avengers had noticed how the ex-assassin cared for the broken girl, going further than the rest of them did. And his feelings for the girl did not fly by the mind-reading witch that currently stared at him preparing lunch for (Y/N).
“When will you tell her how you feel?” The redhead spoke, casually sipping on a cup of coffee.
“What do you mean, Wanda?”
“What she means is that you’ve been in love with that girl for far too long and it’s time you confess already,” Sam jeered. “Nothing’s stopping you now.”
“Except for the fact that she’s still reeling from my best friend breaking her heart by going back in time and leaving her to be with someone else. I’m sure she’ll be jumping with joy if I confess right now,” he mocked. “Anyways, how did you know?”
“You’re not very secretive about it,’’ Sam laughed. “You’re always in a sour mood but magically when you’re with her you become someone else. The White Wolf become (Y/N)’s puppy real quick!’’
“I am not that obvious with it.”
“Okay, lil’ pup.”
“Whatever. Anyways, it’s not the right time for that.”
“When will it be the right time then, Bucky?” Wanda inquired.
“I don’t know. But it’s not right now.” He plated what he was cooking and headed to (Y/N)’s room. The last thing she needed at the moment was a new relationship, even if that’s all Bucky wanted.
#bucky barnes#bucky barnes imagine#steve rogers imagine#steve rogers#steve rogers smut#bucky barnes smut#bucky barnes angst#steve rogers angst#sam wilson#wanda maximoff#bruce banner#avengers#marvel#hurt/comfort#hurt#comfort#recovery#fanfiction#ao3#wattpad#andreafmn#reader insert#bucky barnes x reader#steve rogers x reader#love triangle
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Ficlet: Because I Fell Too
WARNINGS: References to the Tusken Massacre, unreliable narrator (Anakin)
When he stumbles upon her, it’s a coincidence.
He doesn’t know how much it’s going to change for the universe. He just knows what he sees in front of him.
“Knight Offee?”
Yellow eyes glare back at him, and he can feel the rage and despair now that he knows to look for it.
“General Skywalker,” she grinds out. The bomb in her hands is clear evidence of whatever the hell she’s setting up. “I suppose you’re going to--”
“Sit down,” he says, because his mouth moves faster than his brain. “Just... sit down.”
“Either arrest me or not,” she snaps.
“Let’s go with ‘not,’ for now,” he tells her, and takes a risk. He puts his back to the wall of the little service corridor, and slides to the ground. He rests his elbows on his knees. He waits.
Barriss looks at him with something akin to disgust.
“Ahsoka would be upset if I got you in trouble,” Anakin offers. “I don’t know you that well, but she thinks you’re her friend, so I’m going to run with that until you give me a reason to fight.”
“The bomb isn’t enough?” she sneers.
“What bomb?” Anakin asks, keeping his eyes on her face and away from the very obvious explosive in her hands.
Being nice to her apparently just makes her angrier.
“Sit down,” Anakin says again. “We both know I’d win a fight, and there’s not a whole lot of places to run, here.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I use this hall a lot. Trust me, I know it.”
“Sneaking out?” she asks, arms crossed in front of her. “To break the Code, just like all the rest?”
He raises an eyebrow. “Pretty sure that’s a bit of an exaggeration.”
“The Jedi have lost their way,” she spits out. “We’ve become tools of violence and destruction instead of peace and care.”
“And going Dark is going to help?” Anakin prods. “It’s not, you know.”
“Once you go dark, you can’t turn back,” Barriss dismisses. “I’m already here. I’ve already Fallen. My rage is plentiful, but at least I can turn it to a cause of worth.”
“And bombing the temple is going to stop the war?” he questions. “Barriss, the Seppies aren’t going to be kinder to the planets they take than the Jedi are. You know they’re softer on slavery than the Republic.”
“I can’t turn back now!”
“You can.”
“I’ve. Fallen,” she hisses out. “It’s too late--”
“It’s not.”
“And how would you know?!” she demands, practically screaming as she steps forward.
“Because I Fell too.”
She stares at him. It’s silent, for a moment, save for the hum of electricity in the background, and the heaving of her breaths.
(He’d looked up the process of Falling, once he’d been knighted and had access. With the war on and Dooku publicly a Sith, nobody really questioned his interest.)
(The initial Fall was always the most emotionally intense, always too much and too new for someone to handle.)
(She’d level out in a few days, whether she returned to the light or not, but for now...)
Barriss puts her back to the wall, a few feet down and on the other side of the hall, and slides to a seat. She keeps staring at him.
“Ahsoka never mentioned that.”
“Ahsoka doesn’t know,” Anakin tells her. “Nobody does, not even Obi-Wan.”
She looks at him, peering, and then says, “your eyes are blue.”
“Yes.”
“You... came back.”
“Yes.”
“What did you do? Why did you Fall?”
He wonders if it will help her to know these things, or if maybe he can just calm her down and tug her back and keep her talking long enough to stopgap whatever plan she’s putting into place.
“What do you know about the Sand Raiders of Tatooine?” he asks her.
She shakes her head, and then tilts it to one side, questioning.
“They’re one of the two native species of Tatooine,” Anakin tells her. “The other is the Jawas. But the Tuskens are... we grow up on stories, there, about how they take people in the night, kill them for fun, how they raid the homesteads and travelers because they think all the water on the planet should belong to them.”
“Sounds like propaganda to me.”
He hesitates, and then shakes his head. He can’t just get angry at her right now. She’ll run, and stay Dark, and then Snips would be upset. “Maybe some of it. But it did happen, once you got past the outskirts of the cities.”
“Okay, so?”
“There was a woman they captured,” Anakin says. “A former slave, middle-aged, who’d married a moisture farmer near one of the smaller towns. I don’t know why they targeted her, but her husband lost a leg trying to save her, and a few more people died. I tracked her down, and found that she’d been tortured nearly to death. She died shortly after I arrived, as I held her. There’d been no cause to it, just... senseless violence.”
She looks at him. Blinks. Her eyes are wide and far too yellow.
“The woman in question was my mother,” Anakin admits. “I broke the Code, and took revenge.”
“You killed the people who tortured her.”
“I killed the entire tribe,” Anakin corrects, voice heavy. He doesn’t let himself think too hard about this. “Including the younglings.”
“You’re a monster.”
“I was,” he agrees, because he can’t let her run, not now. He can’t tell her they were little more than animals, can’t tell her they were all monsters, who deserved to die for what they’d done. “And now I’m fighting to save lives, instead of ending them.”
“Banthashit.”
Anakin doesn’t make the face he wants to make. “This war is... so stupid. I hate it. You hate it. The Council hates it. Almost every Jedi I know hates it, and the ones that don’t are mostly too young to understand what’s going on. We can feel our soldiers die, we get accused of being warmongers, we lose Knights and Generals and Padawans every day. But if we don’t fight it, someone else will.”
“Then someone else should!”
“Someone who treats the clones as disposable, you mean?”
She glares again, eyes a poisonous yellow. “And why should I listen to a murderer of children?”
Anakin purses his lips, and holds his tongue for long enough that he doesn’t spit the first ugly word he thinks of. “Because this monster is still a Jedi despite that. Because I’m telling you that it’s not too late to come back to the Light.”
She hates him, he can tell, and then--
“Fine,” she says. She smiles, simpering and cruel. “I’ll come back and get ‘help’ with this... if you confess to your Fall in front of the Council.”
He stiffens up, and she lifts her chin, and he thinks I can beat her and I could let her go and finds that either he lets her go, and she bombs the Temple... or he takes her in, and she tells them about the Tuskens.
Or he kills her.
Ahsoka’s face, distraught with grief, pops into his head before he can consider it for more than a second.
Barriss gets to her feet, still smirking, and she’s got the bomb in her hands and so many are going to die if he lets her go.
But they’ll kick him out of the Order if he confesses.
They’ll lock him up and he’ll never see Padme again, never see Obi-Wan or Ahsoka or...
“I’ll take my leave,” Barriss says. Those yellow eyes bore into him with smug victory. She turns, and he breaks.
“Fine,” he says, with a voice he barely recognizes as his own, because he’d done something stupid by talking to this girl, and now he’s torn between killing her, getting arrested himself, and letting her kill innocent Jedi.
It’s for Ahsoka, he tells himself. Besides, I’m one of the most effective Generals in the GAR. They can’t just get rid of me.
Barriss stares at him. Again. “What?”
“Fine,” he repeats. “I’ll confess to my Fall if you come clean about yours.”
This is a terrible idea.
He hates everything about it.
But... but something in the Force sings that it’s right.
“Fine,” Barriss says, with an odd, painful expression he can’t quite read. “Then to the Council we go.”
And so they do.
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