#started this when chapter 21 first came out and then sat on it for a month once it was finished | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hoedamn-eron · 3 months

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baby, please - part 22 (finale)

Holy shit...now what?

Warnings: Fluff. Mentions of unsupportive family members. Thanks again to the Sims for determining the outcome of this pregnancy. Mentions of breast feeding (a fed baby is a happy baby, no matter where it comes from!). Mentions of being in pain and on pain killers (C-section). Hospital setting but it's not too obvious. Mention of drinking wine. Like one swear word. Not proofread (what a surprise). Word count: 4,256 F!Reader, no use of Y/N.

This is it! The last chapter! Thank you again to everyone who has read, commented, and reblogged any parts of this fic along the way, even when I took a 3 month break. It's been an experience writing this, but I've enjoyed every second of it 😊

Also, the poll figures showed that you mostly thought the twins would be girls!

Part 21 ● Series Masterlist

The first thing you notice when you wake up is the sting in your abdomen from your Caesarean wound and fresh stitches, where the painkillers were starting to wear off.

The second thing you notice is that it’s still dark outside, meaning it’s either very late at night, or very early in the morning.

The third thing you notice is, although it’s dark out, your room is softly illuminated by a small lamp in one corner of the room. You see Santi sat in the chair in the corner, looking down at the bundle in his arms, who was sleeping soundly, the second bundle sleeping equally as soundly in the plastic hospital bassinet by you.

You slowly sit up in your bed, hissing at the pain in your abdomen. You see Santi from the corner of your eye look over at you, his brow furrowed in concern. “Do you need me to call for a doctor?” he whispered, still sounding too loud in the quiet room.

You shake your head. “No, I’m okay.” Santi nods at you before turning back to the baby in his arms. You watch them for a minute, a fond smile on your face before you ask, “Is she okay?”

Santi gives his own smile before nodding. “She was fussing a little, but she went right back to sleep.”

You nod, looking at your new family.

Your daughters (daughters!) came into the world screaming and kicking. Isabela María, named after Santi’s mother, was born at 7:03pm, weighing 5lbs and 7oz. Her identical sister, Jasmine Terese, followed no more than six minutes later, entering the world at 7:09pm at 6lbs exactly. Dr Montgomery was impressed with their weights and sang your praises as she held them over the partition to show you each time, and they were the most perfect things you had ever seen. You had immediately burst into tears as soon as you saw the two of them.

They both had a head of dark hair, thanks to their daddy, and even as they scrunched their little faces as they cried, you thought they were the most beautiful things to have ever graced your life. Once they were measured and checked over, and wrapped up in some blankets, Dr Montgomery had them brought over to you and Santiago (who had been quietly sobbing to himself, but you’ll pretend you never noticed until the day you died).

The next hour or so was a blur to you as you were stitched up and the twins were taken away to the NICU for monitoring, to see how well they were breathing. With some reassurance from yourself that you would be fine, Santi never left the girls’ sides, keeping a watch over them. You saw him sneak some photos of the girls on his phone, looking like a proud dad.

You were wheeled out of theatre and were heading back to you room where you sent a text message to your friends, explaining that your babies were sent for monitoring. Santi was with them, and if they wanted to wait, they could, but it might be better for them to come back tomorrow. Your friends came to see you anyway, just for a few minutes, where Beth was FaceTiming Gabrielle to keep her in the loop.

As soon as Beth and Courtney saw you, they burst into tears, making their way over to you and enveloping you in a hug, telling you how proud they were of you and how amazing you did. You fought back tears of your own, telling them that you had had girls, which they both somehow cried even harder at, commenting on how you were all convinced you were having boys.

After some more fussing, and Courtney gathering her things, they promised that they’d be back the next day to meet them, and they would bring you some food from home because they knew how terrible hospital food was. You give them a goodbye, telling them to let Santi’s friends know that he wasn’t going to be out for a while, to which Courtney said that Santi had already text his friends to let them know to come back in the morning, and the guys left not that long ago. Knowing them, they’d be back the next day too.

Santi was back within an hour of your friends leaving with Dr Montgomery, wheeling your girls (your girls!) in their bassinets. Dr Montgomery gave you a smile, telling you that your daughters were perfect, that there were no issues, and you would probably be home in the next few days. You thank her profusely, before you and Santi are finally left alone for the first time as a new family. Santi dressed the twins which took longer than it should have (“They’re delicate! Have you seen the size of them!?”), and your heart fluttered in your chest at seeing them in their little outfits, looking soft and cosy.

A breastfeeding consultant was sent to your room to guide you through your first feed with your daughters, who took to it like a duck to water. You wanted to cry with pride, since they were doing so well already, being barely two hours old. You saw Santi look away with a slight blush on his face, causing you to smirk and make a quip about how he’s seen you naked (to which he gave you a look before turning away again, to strip out of his scrubs). He made a comment about going getting his overnight bag from the car, and quickly making his way out.

You felt a little bad that he felt uncomfortable around you still, but it was something you would both just have to work on.

Which brings you to now, where you watch Santi from his place in the armchair, holding Isabela as she slept. You frown at him. “Have you gotten any sleep at all?”

Santi hesitates for a moment before shaking his head. “No, not yet.”

“Santi,” you gently chastise. “Put her down and get some sleep.”

He shook his head, looking up at you. “No, I’m fine. Besides, what if she needs me again?”

Oh, be still your beating heart.

“I’m sure she’ll wake us up if she needs anything, and Jasmine,” you say gently.

With a final look at Isabela, Santi gives a sigh before carefully standing and taking her to her bassinet. He stands at the bassinet for a moment, just looking at her before he gently places her down. She made the smallest whimper before settling back to sleep with a big sigh. He slowly moves her bassinet to join Jasmine’s, before stopping and looking down at them both.

Santi doesn’t move immediately, just staring at his daughters, before he finally breaks the silence in the room.

“I can’t believe I almost gave this up,” Santi said quietly, sadly, without looking away from your babies.

The air in the room suddenly felt heavy with the weight of Santi's confession. His voice, barely above a whisper, carried a mixture of regret and self-doubt as he uttered those words that seemed to hang in the air like a cloud of uncertainty, and you felt your heart break for him.

As you shook your head gently, your eyes met his. “Don't...don't think about that, okay?” you murmured softly, with a mixture of understanding and compassion. “You're here now.”

The silence lingered. Santi's gaze shifted, descending upon the tiny figures nestled in their bassinets, their innocence a stark contrast to the tumult of emotions swirling within him. “I was in special ops,” he says, his voice tinged with just the smallest hint of disbelief. “And that was less scary than this.”

Your heart ached at the raw honesty in his words, the admission of his innermost fears laid bare before you. With a sympathetic gaze, you say, “Being a new parent isn't something that people just know what to do,” you reassured him gently. “We'll learn as we go, and it's okay to be a little scared.”

As you looked at Isabela and Jasmine, a smile tugged at the corners of your lips, a beacon of hope amidst his darkness of doubt. “They'll be so happy you stayed,” you whispered, your voice filled with quiet conviction. “They're going to love you, so much.”

Just as much as I love you.

You swallow against the words, knowing now isn’t the right time.

A fragile smile graced Santi's lips at your words, where he gives you a quick glance before his gaze falls back on the sleeping forms of his daughters, the most fragile beings in the entire world. Damn, no-one warned him they’d be so tiny. They were so peaceful and asleep, and they were so small! They were the most fragile things in the world. There was no way he was letting anything happen to them. They had to stay little forever so he could do everything for them.

“I want to be the father they deserve,” he confessed, his voice tinged with a newfound resolve. “To be the man they can look up to.”

“You already are,” you assured him, your words almost stern. He looks up at you, his eyes intense. “I know you’re doubting yourself, but you’ve got a great support system; you have me, Frankie, Will, and God knows Benny is already in love with these two.”

Santi gave a snort of amusement. “He’s gonna cry as soon as he lays his eyes on them.”

You give a small laugh before looking at him again with a soft look on your face. “You know, when you left after saying you didn't want to be involved...it hurt. It hurt more than I can put into words," you began, your tone mix of vulnerability and strength. “I felt abandoned, alone, and completely overwhelmed, but I was determined to do it alone, for our girls.”

Santi tenses, a look of shame overcoming him, but you continue before he could say anything.

“But you came back," you say. “And for that, I'm incredibly grateful. I’m happy that you chose to step up, to be here, to be a father to our kids.” You smile at him, seeing his shoulders relax a touch. “Though I’m still a little pissed that you left, I'm also thankful that you came back. I’m glad that we can navigate this crazy, beautiful mess together.”

Santi give a small chuckle before he reaches out to you, and you reach out to hold his hand, giving it a squeeze.

“I’m sorry, for leaving. For making you feel like that, after everything we’d been through to get here,” he said. “I’m going to live with the guilt for the rest of my life, but fuck, knowing I made the right decision to come back was so worth it.”

And in that moment, amidst the commotion of your new reality, you finally felt a sense of unity with Santi, even if it wasn’t in the way you wanted. You don’t know what the future held for the two of you, if you’d ever admit your feelings for him, of if you’ll eventually move on and find someone else, but despite that, you were bound together by the unbreakable bond of parenthood, ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead.

However, in that fleeting moment, amidst the silence of the early morning hours in that hospital room, there was a small feeling of hope, slowly blossoming like a fragile flower.

“Watch her head, Benny.”

“I know how to hold a baby,” said Benny, giving Will a firm look before his expression softened as he looked down at Jasmine, who was sleeping soundly after you had just fed her and Isabela.

Isabela was settled in the arms of Frankie, who was lightly swaying as he grinned at the bickering brothers. Santi had left the room to take a phone call with his sister, Mariana, who had been checking up on him every few hours and was trying to organise a day where she and his other sister, Carmen, could come and visit and meet you and the kids. He was trying to put her off for at least a few weeks, until there was some sort of routine.

After your talk during the very early hours of the morning, Santi had decided to stay at your place, to help with the girls why you recovered, just until you were back on your feet. You’d protested, telling him that he really didn’t have to that, that you’d need him to do that, but he immediately shot you down. You tearily looked at him and thanked him, before Jasmine had started crying, to which Santi had no hesitation in picking her up.

“How you holding up?” Frankie asked you, still swaying Isabela. You weren’t sure if he knew he was doing it or not. “You know, after the whole…”

He goes quiet, nodding his head towards the door where Santi had walked out of. You smiled at him. “I’m doing okay. Glad he pulled his head out of his ass in time.”

Frankie grinned. “Took a bit of a verbal beating from us, after he told us he was leaving. The fucking idiot – oop, sorry.” He pulled a sheepish face as he looked down at Isabela, who had eventually fallen asleep during Frankie’s swaying.

You gave a small laugh of amusement as Benny looks up from Jasmine. “Your girls been yet?”

You shrug at him. “Just Beth. She came this morning with Georgia, they left not long before you got here. Gabs and Courtney are gonna come by later when Courtney’s finished work. Gabs has the kids again.”

Benny seemed to stop for a moment, in thought, before he finally nodded and turned back to Jasmine. You don’t ask him why he asked about your friends, you just assume he was being friendly since he was sat with Beth and Courtney in the waiting room last night.

When Beth had arrived that morning, she’d immediately fawned over your children, bursting into tears at how ‘beautiful they were’, and congratulating you and Santi. She’d even given Santi a hug, then threatened him to never leave you after the first time. He’d admitted he was an idiot, and it wouldn’t happen again. She’d accepted that answer, but still gave you a look as she picked up Jasmine for a cuddle.

After a while, as she and Georgia swapped the twins around, she’d asked about your family, and if you’d told them you’d had the babies. You paused before you eventually shake your head at her, telling her that they hadn’t bothered to respond to your messages or contact you at any point during your pregnancy, so you decided to just…let it go.

Even if it tore you up inside.

At least you weren’t crying about it anymore.

Beth had pulled a face and told them it was their loss anyway, that they’re going to be missing out on knowing the best little girls around. You agreed with her.

Santi made his way back in the room, hanging up his phone. He sighed, before running his hand through his hair. “So my sisters will be arriving next week.”

“Ay, hermano,” said Frankie, smirking. “Grow a backbone.”

Santi wordlessly gave Frankie a gentle swat on the arm, being careful of Isabela, before leaning down to you and giving you a quick peck on the forehead. “Sorry I was gone so long, corazón, Carmen wouldn’t get off the phone.”

You ignored how your heart leaped at the feel of his lips on you. You weren’t going to think too hard about it, it was just because of the babies, it has nothing to do with you. You’re the mother of his kids, he’s going to be affectionate with you, especially when you had just given birth. He was just being nice. Protective.

Like you said, you weren’t going to think too much about it.

“I’ll get her and Mariana to stay at my place,” he said.

“You don’t have to stay at my place, Santi, really – “

“No, stop fighting me on this, I’m helping out with the girls.” Santi gave you a stern look. “You can barely walk, I’ll stay, it’s fine.”

Frankie gives you an amused look over Santi’s shoulder, and you felt the urge to stick your tongue out at him. You end up looking back at Santi, before giving a shy smile. “Okay.”

He grins at your relenting. “Thank you. I’m trying to make it up to you for being a dick to you, but you’re being too nice.”

“You weren’t – “

“No, he was,” said Will before you could finish your sentence, crossing his arms over his chest. “He was a dick.”

“The biggest,” agreed Benny, looking away from Jasmine to nod at you.

“Okay, okay,” Santi called, holding his hands up in surrender. “Not in front of my girls, please.”

You watch in amusement as Santi get’s ribbed by his friends, but he gave just as good as he got.

As the banter between Santi and his friends continues, you can't help but feel a warmth in your chest, seeing the camaraderie and genuine connection they share. Despite the teasing and playful jabs, there's an underlying bond that speaks volumes about their friendship. You know that your girls were going to grow up to be the most protected kids in the world.

In that moment, you realize how far you’ve come in the past few months; to an unplanned pregnancy and finding the love of your life (even if he doesn’t know it), and growing yourself as a person (and growing two persons of your own!). As you gaze around the room, your heart swells with gratitude for the connections forged in the unlikeliest of circumstances. How you truly know who your family is, and a part of them are in this very hospital room.

The guys leave after another hour, telling you that they were happy to help you out whenever you needed, before they were herded out the door by Santi, saying you needed rest since your friends were arriving later.

You bask in the suddenly quiet room after Santi closes the door after him. You look at Isabela and Jasmine asleep in their bassinets. Santi soon came back in the room, smiling softly at you before checking over the girls. “You okay?” he eventually asked you, digging around in his bag for a moment.

“Yeah. Tired,” you replied.

“Get some sleep, I can look after them,” said Santi. “But first…”

He pulled out a familiar paper bag from his bag, and a small box. You look at him curiously. “Is that the bag that Frankie bought?”

“After Ikea? It is,” he said, perching himself next to you on the bed. He passed you the bag. “I had these commissioned by Sarah when I found out we were having girls, which was why you couldn’t look at them. Then when we finally decided on names, I had her change them a little.”

You open the bag, pausing before tears fill your eyes. You give him a watery smile before you pull out the two matching, pale pink, and lavender patchwork blankets, decorated with embroidered white and yellow flowers. You run your fingers over the stitching, feeling how soft the blankets were. You look over them before your gaze lands on the bottom corner, where you trace your fingers over their names that had been embroidered in the corners. “Santi, these are gorgeous. I’m scared to use them!”

“Stop, they’re supposed to be used,” he said. “Even if they puke all over them, or other bodily fluids.”

You laugh at that.

“And these,” he said, handing you the box. “Are for you.”

You take the box, which fit in the palm of your hand. You recognised it immediately, and you opened them to see the two charms, in the letters I and J, with a red gemstone in each of them.

“Garnets,” he said.

“January birth stone,” you said, smiling at him as you wipe the tears from your eyes. You laugh at yourself. “I am far too emotional for you to be giving me things like this.”

“Stop, I planned to give these to you, I want to give these things to you,” he said. “I need you to understand that I made a bad judgement and a stupid mistake, and I’ll be trying to make things right for the rest of my life, for you and our girls. You’re important to me.”

You swallow against your tears, but you sob anyway, giving a watery smile. “You’re important to me too.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, bringing you into his arms gently.

And you believed him.

“Careful, careful!”

“I am being careful, Santi,” you say, making your way towards your house from his car (his car!).

“I’m going to have to level these flags out, they’re a trip hazard – “

“You will do no such thing, Santiago, not with your knees,” you say to him, raising your eyebrows at him, daring him to challenge you.

He mutters something in Spanish as he carries the car seats containing your girls, who had fallen asleep from the movements of the car, to your front door, where he unlocked it and stepped in.

You had finally been discharged from the hospital, and you were able to go home. It had been a trying afternoon, with lots of tears as you tried to manoeuvre yourself with a C-section wound, and two very needy babies who just wanted to be on you all the time. You had to take a time out getting to the wheelchair, where Santi did his best to calm the girls, and to calm you.

Eventually, you made it out of the hospital and into Santi’s car, where he’d wrestled a little bit with the car seats before finally having the girls secure safely in the back of the car. Once you were settled in, Santi proceeded to drive well under the speed limit on the way back to your house. He glared at anyone who even gave him a funny look for driving so slowly, which made you giggle and make the quip that he could drive a bit quicker.

“No,” he’s said firmly. “You’re delicate, and they’re delicate. I am not driving any faster.”

You followed Santi into your house, where he was taking the girls out of their car seats. Gabrielle had been over to your house that morning, on your request, to arrange your house a little for your arrival. She’d bought some playmats down from the girls’ bedroom, and set up their bassinets in the living room so you didn’t have to tackle the stairs as soon as you got home.

Santi settled your babies in the bassinets before sighing, seemingly glad that everyone was safe and sound. “I’ll go and get our bags from the car, and we can have some dinner. What are you in the mood for?”

“Sushi,” you reply with no hesitation.

Santi gives an amused snort before nodding. “Sushi it is.”

“And I might have a teeny tiny glass of wine,” you say, grinning. “Just a small one.” You put your thumb and forefinger together, with just a tiny gap between them.

Santi laughs. “You deserve it.”

He disappeared outside, getting the bags from the car. You gently lower yourself down on your couch, sighing in relief as you get off your feet. Dr Montgomery had prescribed you some painkillers for you C-section for as and when you needed, and you know it’s going to be a tough recovery but with Santi’s help, you’re sure you’ll be fine.

He comes back in the house, laden with bags, before he sets them down by your front door, and closes it. He takes a look around your living room properly, saying, “You’ve made this place pretty nice.”

“I had a lot of time on my hands last week,” you say. “I needed something to do.”

Santi nodded, before his eyes drift over to Jasmine, who started fussing in her bassinet. As you went to stand, he gently placed his hand on your shoulder and pushed you back down, before pulling his phone from his pocket, handing it to you. “Here, have a look at what you want to eat, I’ll settle her.”

You take his phone and thank him as he made his way over to Jasmine, cooing at her, asking her what’s wrong as he lifted her from her bassinet. He set about to change her diaper. You scroll through the food app for a moment before your eyes drifted over to him, admiring him without his knowledge.

You felt happy. Content. This wasn’t what you imagined your life would turn out like, and sure, you and Santi did things a little unconventionally, but you wouldn’t change a thing. Everything worked out in the end, even if Santi did have a wobble about becoming a dad, even if your feelings for him will go unsaid and kept to yourself. You were okay with that, as long as he was there for your girls.

You sigh as you smile at the scene before you, of Santi telling Jasmine about his early days in the army, how he met Uncle Frank, and how loved they already were. Even though you did everything backwards with Santi and your girls, you look forward to the next chapter of your life and couldn’t wait to see what it brought.

Tagged - @khonsulockley, @superficialfeelings, @othersideoftheparadise, @beezusvreeland, @itsmytimetoodream

#triple frontier #santiago garcia x reader #santiago x reader #santiago garcia #oscar isaac #pregnant!reader #santiago garcia x f!reader #santiago garcia is a girl dad #change my mind

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natsaffection · 1 year

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My sweet Student. | part 1 | N. Romanoff

Prof!Natasha x Student!Reader

MINORS DNI!!! (18+!)

warnings: Age gap (natasha = 42 | Reader = 21), sex dream, spanking, school stress, more sex dreaming

Word count: 2229

A/n: Okayyy here it is! The first chapter (it’s very short but the next are getting better🏃🏻‍♀️)

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You moaned and squirmed in her touch.

"Do you masturbate?" asked Natasha suddenly. This intimate question humbled you even more, but you force yourself to answer.

"Y-Yes..."

"Then you know how it feels when you're about to climax?" She strokes your head and watches every single reaction from you.

"Yes..“

Natasha's fingertips slid just beside your entrance, caressing it. You ached for her touch, the desire stronger than anything you had felt before.

"You belong to me now. So your pleasure belongs to me as well. That means you will only have an orgasm if I allow you to, understand?"

"Y-yes." You cried now. You couldn't take any more. You needed her touch. You needed her fingers!

"Do you want me to touch you?" You both knew what she meant. "Please!" You shout.

"Then ask me to do it. I want to hear you beg." You swallow, searching for words. You would accept any humiliation from her.

"Please... touch me!"

‎

Your alarm clock rings and you immediately turn it off. you look up sweaty and realize that you are in your room and immediately start realizing what happened again. You dreamed about your teacher again. And not exactly pleasant..

You intended to study, but your mind had a different plan. You may be a bit relaxed right now, but the thought of your lessons is still in the back of your mind

And with none other than Natasha Romanoff. She's in charge of history and Russian and you wanted to impress her so badly. You didn't know why, but she's the reason you lay awake nights. And it's not just because of classes..

You get ready and run to school. You are lucky that your sister works near the school railing, so you could run just before time every time.

Arriving at your class, it was relatively relaxed at first. The teachers did their work and you did your notes. But the closer the class with Ms. Romanoff got, the more nervous you became. Your friend Kate, who was a new addition and you had the same vibe from the beginning, was already starring at you.

It was relatively funny. The two of you were sitting together at recess and suddenly Kate brought up a crush of hers. You were expecting a classmate, but then when she mentioned a teacher, you just looked at her in wonder. It was good to know someone who had the same view of someone older than yourself. So you knew that this friendship was going to be a good one.

"It's almost time..." You suddenly feel an elbow in your hip. Noup. It was a mistake to tell Kate everything, because now she always teases you, "Shut up! I have another hour..." You were a mess.

What if she looks at you again? Talks to you? Oh God, you can't talk to her...

Of course, since you'd been in your head all hour, the hour passed quickly and you found yourself back in another room. In Ms. Romanoff's room.

It wasn't any easier when you saw that Kate was once again sitting farther away than you and it wore you down.

You get all your stuff out and stopped short when Ms. Romanoff entered the class and closed the door behind her. She walked over to her table and sat down as well. She greeted the class and got right to work on the material. Once in the middle came something you had been missing,

"I had brought up several weeks ago the exam that will be written in a week and I want to go over the points with you." Okay. Nothing bad, right? Just a normal question hour where you're definitely going to hold back-

"To that end, please do assignments 1-7 and in the meantime, I'm going to call on a few of you and then we'll go over the questions from your side up front here together, understand?"

You see in the corner of your eye Kate look to you and you were destroyed. You and her? Sitting together at the front of a square meter table? Where's the nearest window? You started to panic. Holy, you're going to be sitting at a table with Ms. Romanoff..Looking into eyes....

"Let's start with you, Soph."

Oh thank God, you get to see from a distance what exactly is being discussed and done. You look behind your comrade and ahead to where Ms. Romanoff was looking at you. You quickly looked at your sheet and pretended to do the assignments. Ten minutes later, Romanoff called the next up. Seeing that she was busy again, you try to get everything out of Soph. Thus you throw something small on her and she looks to you, "What?!"

"Just very briefly! What did you guys talk about?" She looked at you, then forward and then she leaned in to you, "I don't know, just stuff about the assig-"

"Hey you two, what are you doing?" You guys got caught. You sit up straight again and apologize. Great. Now you caught wind of everyone. You started sweating and tried to focus on work. Until your name was called.

You slowly look up and got more pressure. Is everyone suddenly looking at you? Are you the only one in the room? You stand up and move to the front. You sit down and see Natasha looking at you. "So, how are you?" How am I? NO IDEA!

"G-Good!" Should I ask her too? "So about next week..." Okay, just forget about that.

You look at the sheet Ms. Romanoff pulled out and try to follow her movements, but it was a little harder than you thought. Why does she have such good fingers? Her movements are so smooth- "Are you listening to me?!" She looks at you and you turn red, "Of c-course!" Pull yourself together Y/n...You notice Natasha leaning further towards you, "Y/n, am I making you nervous?"

Now it's over. You kind of try to get out- "Look at me when I'm talking to you." And you do, anxiously, "Do I make you nervous?" You had two options. Lie or tell the truth.

"No..." You gathered everything inside you so you could say that simple answer, "Just tired." Well, that wasn't a complete lie. You notice how the older woman continued to look at you, practically piercing you with her stare. "You do realize I'm not stupid, right?" Now you're staring at her, "W-what?"

"Every time you see me, your eyes are wide in class. And then you'd catch on that you weren't paying attention. I have to admit it was cute." You suddenly felt something on your hip and look down so you could see it was your teacher's hands, "M-Ms Romanoff, I.."

"You don't have to say anything. I know what you want." This is what you dreamed about every night. That she-

"Y/n?" You look back at her and see her looking at you again, "Did you get that or do you want me to explain again?" Wait. You look around and realize that you are sitting in the front. You look down and see no more hands. Then it hit you.

‎

You were dreaming. AGAIN

‎

"Y/n what's wrong with you? Lately you seem..absent. I don't like that. I want all my students to pass this year, okay? So please drop what's distracting you."

That was kind of a mix of annoyed and worried. "Won't happen again, I promise..." She flips the paper back over and looks at the class book, "I'll count on it."

You stand up with soft legs and make your way back to your seat. What you didn't know is that Natasha's gaze was on you the whole time.

After 30 minutes, you continued to take notes, and noticing how Natasha kept an eye on you and your classmates all the time. Didn't she have anything better to do? Why is she just sitting there?! You don't understand the species 'teacher'.

Suddenly you hear the front of the chair move backwards and you notice Natasha walking between the aisles, "So. What we talked about will be important for later! I don't care if you write it all down, I just want you to understand the material and know how to apply it."

You're lucky you're doing well in school. Motivated as well, or you would have gone down mercilessly here. You look around and see how other students got a face of fear. You knew nobody would never understand it and everyone was afraid to ask Natasha for extra lessons. You don't bother and keep writing your notes until you feel someone in front of you. You slowly look up and see your teacher standing in front of your table.

She leans down and looks at your paper. "Good as always. However..." She took her index finger and taps on a sentence on your sheet, "You got the tense mixed up here, Y/n." You look down as well, noticing the heat starting to rise in your ears.

"I-I'm sorry Ms Romanoff, thank you..." She continued to look at you and a small smirk spreads across her lips, "Good girl, you can be counted on."

She straightens back up and continues walking. You realize it now that you had been holding your breath the whole time and let out a soft and quiet sigh. You look after Natasha and reflexively look down again when you see that she was also looking at you again.

When the class was finally over, you sneak in amongst the crowd and successfully make it out of the room and Kate now jostled you from the side. "So it wasn't that bad, was it?" Not that bad? It's not like you dreamed your teacher taking you in front of the class. She was calling you a good girl, AND starred at you the whole Time!

‎‎

——————

‎‎

You both make your way home and say goodbye, outside your door. You watch behind as Kate walked herself home and you close the door. You went into your room and threw your bag in the corner.

You lay down on your bed, a little exhausted, and stare at the ceiling above you. Why are you like this? Why do older women turn you on so much? Maybe it's just Natasha? That's a good thing, right?

Speaking of. Is she single? Fuck, is she even into women? Oh god, what if she's married and had kids?

You frantically turn to your side and pull out your phone. You open up various social media sites to possibly find her. Aaaaand after several hours you actually had her on your phone. You sit up startled and click on her profile only to be disappointed because she is private.

Never in your life will you press "follow". Never! Yet you want to see the pictures, fuck!

You look at her profile picture and see her face. Perfect as always. Long red hair, perfect skin and her lips..

‎

"You do realize I'm not stupid, right?"

‎

You hear her voice in your ear canal again and shudder. Was that dreamed earlier too? Or was it reality?

You let yourself fall backwards again and close your eyes.

How much you wish it, it will never come true..Her? She as she takes you? With fingers, with toys, with everything? Man...you are desperate. Literally.

‎

"I know what you want."

‎

You close your eyes and let your mind wander.

And suddenly Natasha swung up behind you on the bed and grabbed your upturned hip with one arm to pull you toward her. She lashed out and gave you a slap on your butt, then another and a third, each more violent than the last. You gasped, but Natasha gave you only a brief pause to catch your'e breath, then her flat hand struck again. She slammed down hard on your butt, and though the fabric cushioned a good portion of the impact, she knew full well how the blow would burn on your bottom.

"You like that?"

"Y-Yes..." you groaned breathlessly.

Natasha wrapped her arms around your waist and grasped the button of your pants, which she undid in a single motion.

Again her hand whizzed down, slamming down on your reddened bottom, and the young woman in her hands squirmed and gasped.

"Can you still?"

A brief hesitation, then a convinced, "Yes, more!"

"Brave little one. Who do you belong to?" Asked Natasha.

"Y-You, please.."

Natasha began to penetrate you slowly, thrusting into you in a regular rhythm, curving her finger slightly and stimulating just the most excitable point.

Natasha had increased her pace and was now thrusting into your wet pussy with two fingers.

„Who owns you? Hm, little Girl? Tell m-“

Your thoughts were interrupted when your cell phone rang next to you, and you cry out in frustration. You reach for it and see that it was a classmate of yours. You roll your eyes and answer it.

What the hell, "W-What?!" you yell breathlessly,

"Hey Y/n, Have- Wait why are you so out of breath?"

Yeah maybe because I just jerked off to our teacher?!

"Sport. What is it!"

"Okay..Um, do you have the homework tomorrow for third period? I see-"

You're only listening with half an ear and with the other you're just trying to understand what you did a minute ago....

#natasha x reader #natasha smut #natasha romanoff #natasha romanov x reader #nat x reader #natasha romanov smut #dom!natasha x reader #natasha romonova #the avengers #natasha

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ladykailitha · 6 months

Text

Royal Pain Part 23

Hey, guys! This story is back, baby! And is the start of the four chapters that are all one run on chapter basically. You'll see why at the end of this chapter I held off until I got the resolution written.

I still have some room on the tag list but not much, only six slots. So once it fills up, that's it, I will take no more requests for the list once it hits fifty.

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5 Pt 6 Pt 7 Pt 8 Pt 9 Pt 10 Pt 11 Pt 12 Pt 13 Pt 14 Pt 15 Pt 16 Pt 17 Pt 18 Pt 19 Pt 20 Pt 21 Meta Pt 22

****

There wasn’t time for Eddie to see Steve and Wayne before the show, well for any of them to see their loved ones before the show, really.

Eddie’s knee was bouncing as hard as it was when he played in front of Steve for the first time.

They had all met Metallica at the sound check and had hit off, much to everyone’s surprise. But they had their own pre-show rituals and Corroded Coffin had theirs.

“Fuck,” Jeff said, coming back from the bathroom. “I think I’ve thrown up more times tonight than I did that time we all thought it would fun to main line tequila shots for two hours straight.”

Everyone winced in sympathy. That was a bad time for everyone all around.

“Who would have thought that after years of hard work,” Brian said, “that we would be opening for Metallica? Holy shit, this is our lives!”

Jeff smiled, looking a little less green around the gills. “Mandy said that if I waited for us to be ready, we would never take that chance,” he said, rubbing his hands on his pants. “And she’s right. We’ll never get a chance like this ever again.”

Gareth chewed on his thumb, gnawing at it worryingly. Eddie got up and put his arm around their youngest member. “Hey, this isn’t us selling out. This isn’t us giving up our dedicated following. This is us testing the waters to see if this is something we would enjoy doing.” He kissed the top of Gareth’s head. “We won’t know if we prefer smalls gigs at the Nightmare Hole over stadiums, if we haven’t played stadiums, okay?”

Gareth nodded. “I’m just being ridiculous.”

Jeff came over sat down on the other side of him. “No you’re not. It’s a valid concern. But Eddie’s right, too. How do you know you prefer intimate sessions over roaring crowds if you’ve never played to those roaring crowds?”

Gareth sighed. “Yeah, I guess.”

Brian tilted his head. “It’s the sound, isn’t it?”

All three other members turned to him. Gareth’s jaw dropped. He opened and closed his mouth several times trying to refute Brian’s claim, but found he couldn’t.

Jeff twisted in his seat to look at Gareth a little better. “Loud noises bother you?”

“Gare-bear...” Eddie said softly. “Why didn’t you say something?”

Gareth blushed and looked at his hands, picking at the skin around his nails. He shrugged. “I never thought about it. Until Bri said something, I didn’t even realize that might be why.”

Brian had been digging in his bag while they talked and chose that moment to brandish his find. “Tada!” He waved the noise canceling headphones around like a flag. “Wear these!”

Gareth stood up and gingerly took them from Brian and help them tenderly. He looked up Brian like he was a god damned hero.

Brian tapped on them. “Just plug them into little sound device they gave us and bam! No more sound. Or at least very little.”

Gareth fell on his friend giving him the biggest hug. Brian hugged him back fiercely.

“I just want to make sure you have fun out there, okay?” he whispered.

Gareth nodded.

There was a knock on the door and a stage manager poked his head in.

“Five minutes guys.”

Gareth straightened up and composed himself as his friends strapped on their instruments.

They all filed out but Gareth hung back for a moment. Eddie turned and smiled at him.

“Come on,” he said fondly, holding out his hand. “Let’s go make some noise.”

Gareth laughed. “Hell yeah!”

Steve was showed to the VIP box where a lot of people were already there. Some of them he knew like Gethin and Miranda. Wayne, too. Most of them were complete strangers and suddenly he felt like he didn’t belong here.

Everyone else here was family. Steve wasn’t even a boyfriend. Not yet anyway. They had barely kissed the once before this landed on their laps. Eddie even had to cancel his tattoo appointment for today. That’s how new this all was.

He took a step back. Then two. He was about to turn and run when Miranda spotted him.

“Steve!” she called out, making every head turn his direction.

Which did not help his feelings inadequacy in the slightest.

She leapt to her feet and dragged him over to sit between her and Wayne.

“I’ll introduce you all after,” she said. “So glad you could make it. Jeff was saying he was worried you wouldn’t be able to because of work.”

Steve blushed. Which meant Eddie had been terrified. “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.”

She raised an eyebrow and twisted around to look him in the eye. “You sure? Because it looked like you were going to bolt to me.”

Steve shook his head. “I would have found somewhere else to watch them. But I don’t belong here with family and the significant others. I’m just...me.”

Miranda slumped down in her seat with a sigh. “Steve, of course you belong here. Eddie only had two people in the whole world he wanted to see him open for one of the biggest metal bands in the world. And you’re sitting next to other one.”

Steve looked over at Wayne who chuckled.

“Do we have to tie you down, Steve?” he asked fondly.

Steve shook his head. “No, sir. I’ll be good.”

Wayne hummed. “Glad to hear it. Now quiet down. My boy is about to play.”

Steve smiled for the first time since arriving at the arena.

The house lights went down and the stage lights went up. Steve leaned forward, elbows on his knees, chin propped up on his fists. Eddie was always beautiful to behold, but fuck. Like this, under the spotlights? He was incandescent.

Eddie leaned into the microphone and introduced his band to the audience.

“We don’t usually play other people’s music, but we got permission to do this one,” Eddie said. He nodded to Brian, who grinned.

Corroded Coffin’s bassist began to play, the first few notes in and the crowd went apeshit. Completely crazy. Steve turned to Miranda. “Shit. I think I know this one. It’s Master of Puppets, right? From Metallica?”

Miranda nodded. “Damn straight it is.”

Steve was on his feet screaming in an instant. Everyone was cheering and having a good time. Maybe he shouldn’t be here, but until someone said something, he was going to cheer Eddie on the loudest. He loved his metal boyfriend with all his heart.

Eddie stumbled off the stage covered in sweat and higher then he’d ever been on weed. The rest of the band was jumping and screaming too. There was no greater feeling in the world.

They got better than front row seats to Metallica as they watched from backstage.

Even after thirty-five years they still knew how to bring the house to their knees.

They celebrated with the band for a bit before their families were ushered in. Eddie had even cleared it with the band for Dustin and his friends to come meet them but only for five minutes.

Dustin and Mike were freaking out, but Will hung back, still shy. But Lars came over and talked to him for a minute and that really made Will’s day. Hell, his entire year if he was being honest.

They all filed out leaving the ten family members alone with the boys of Corroded Coffin. Gareth’s parents and twin were fawning over him calling him brave and saying how proud they were of him breaking out of his comfort zone.

Jeff’s dad and Mandy’s mom were huddled over in the corner with the couple, just hugging each other tight. No words needed.

Brian had his sister and Cecil and his sister chatting excitedly, hands waving about as they broke down their favorite moments of the concert.

Eddie picked Steve up and whirled him around kissing him soundly on the lips. “Baby, did you see us out there?”

Wayne chuckled. “Oh just him and about thirty thousand other people.”

Eddie kissed him on the cheek fiercely. “I’ve never felt anything like it! It was so amazing.”

“You were amazing, Eds,” Steve said. “All of you were. It’s you guys were made for that stage.”

Eddie kissed him again. “I’m so glad you were able to make it! I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to come.”

Steve kissed the side of Eddie’s mouth tenderly. “Well you see I had a cancellation this afternoon, so I was able to shift my schedule to accommodate my boyfriend opening for Metallica.”

Eddie blushed. “I’m sorry I had to cancel, baby.”

“I’m not mad, sunshine,” Steve assured him. “I’m happy for you.”

They kissed again.

Wayne waved Steve off so that he could hug Eddie. “I’m proud of you. Now don’t be getting too famous to see me, you hear?”

Eddie’s eyes welled up and his pressed his lips together. “I would never. I promise. I’ll always come to you, I swear it.”

Soon it was time to pack it all up and hit the road for home.

Everyone said their goodbyes and they all parted ways. With Eddie promising to stop by the shop tomorrow to reschedule his appointment.

Steve was beaming. High off the euphoria of watching Eddie live out his dream. He had never felt like this about anyone before and he couldn’t wait to tell everyone about how awesome Eddie did and how the crowd went wild for their music.

He really should have seen it coming. He should have been prepared. But he wasn’t.

Eddie didn’t come into the shop that day, because he called instead. Metallica had offered to let them opening for them for the rest of their tour. For the next two weeks, Corroded Coffin would be going on the road with one the world’s biggest metal bands.

And leaving Steve behind.

He fought hard to be happy for his boyfriend. But everything between them was too new. Too tender.

They didn’t even get to say goodbye in person and Steve was left with that feeling of not being good enough.

For anyone.

****

Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Epilogue

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk @bookworm0690 @chaosgremlinmunson @goodolefashionedloverboi @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @plyerice27 @thedragonsaunt @sapphirecobalt-1 @a-little-unsteddie @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @rozzieroos @wonderland-girl143-blog @itsall-taken @justforthedead89 @emly03 @aizawa-emma @yikes-a-bee @redfreckledwolf @thesuninyaface @bookbinderbitch @archermightbegay @littlewildflowerkitten @scheodingers-muppet @hallucinatedjosten @ellietheasexylibrarian @anne-bennett-cosplayer @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @bestwifehaver @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @oldwitcheshat @nightmareglitter @tinyplanet95 @novelnovella @jonesn4coffee

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #tattoo artist steve #autistic gareth

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chiefdirector · 3 months

Text

Briefing | Tim Bradford | The Rookie

(Y/N) lifted the travel cup to her lips, finishing off the final dregs of her coffee, before placing it back down onto the desk. Tim sat next to her at the front of the room as they, including Nolan, Harper, and Chen, waited for Grey and Lopez to arrive. His arm was slung over (Y/N)’s shoulders, pulling her into his side.

She closed her eyes, trying to drown out the chatter from her colleagues. Relaxing wasn’t something (Y/N) ever really succeeded in, she was hard-wired to always think of the worst outcome, and multiple times her panic and worry had caused her to lose focus on what was really important. She tried to focus on her breathing as a way to not start to worry. It had been a habit Grey had gotten her on to, inhaling for two seconds, and exhaling for four.

Putting focus on her breathing meant that she could silence out the rest of her surroundings. She could feel Tim’s breaths as she leant on his, his arm pulling her closer. She could feel the slight stubble he had grown rub against her hair as he rested his head on hers.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Tim whispered into her hair, “It’ll be okay.”

(Y/N) just nodded into his chest, enjoying the moment until it was interrupted by the sound of Grey coughing. She whipped her head up, bumping Tim’s as she moved.

“Are you two done?” he asked, looking less than impressed. “Because if you are, we have business to solve.”

The two split up, keeping a respectable distance, but Tim still kept a hand on her thigh as they both turned their attention to Grey. The other officers all gathered round the front tables as Grey stood at the podium.

“Right, so we all know why we're here, there have been a couple of developments in the Diaz case and the threat it poses to us.” Grey opened the file in front of him, flicking through the pages until he found the interview report. “Starting when Bradford and Lopez interviewed one Damian Barrett.”

“Yeah,” Lopez took over from where she was perched on a table, “He was questioning over a store robbery, I thought he was innocent but (Y/N) noticed that he had a familiar tattoo. She had seen it on a waiter in some Italian restaurant, La Fazenda.”

“Wait what?” Tim interrupted, taking his hand back as he turned to his wife, “Why did you not tell me this?”

“I didn’t think it was important.”

“Not important? Your life is in danger, and you think that seeing something like that isn't important enough to tell me?”

“Look. I thought it was nothing, this is the first I've heard about it since.” (Y/N) looked down. She reached over to place her hand on Tim’s shoulder but he shrugged her off.

“Well clearly it was something,” Tim snapped, before taking a breath, trying to regain his temper, “look, just next time, tell me. No matter how minute.” He turned back to Lopez, “Anyways, continue.”

“Well I ran another, more detailed background on him. He was in some deep financial trouble which seemed to disappear when he was released from jail two years ago. He was held at the twin towers jail before he was sentenced. Which is where we believe he met Diaz.” Angela moved towards the chalkboard at the top of the room, grabbing the chalk and writing down names as she continued to speak, outlining her theory. “Barrett came from a family of crooks, including a sister who was serving life at Central California Women's Correctional Facility.”

“So he took a bribe? Or is he being paid to do someone’s dirty work?” Harper asked.

Angela nodded, writing the initials R.D on the board. “I think someone brought him out. And he has to comply to pay off a neverending debt.”

(Y/N) shifted in her chair. “I’m not following. What does his sister have to do with this?”

“The handwriting analysis came back to me, we had a match to an inmate at the Central California Women's Correctional Facility. It also gives us some form of motive, revenge. This station and some of its officers got on this inmate’s bad side. They want to make us suffer.”

“What are you getting at Lopez?” Grey asked, crossing his arms.

“I have it on good authority that R.D was not Regina Diaz, or anyone posing to be her. I believe that R.D is Rosalind Dyer.”

As Angela finished speaking, the room fell into silence as the officers tried to process the words spoken. (Y/N) had heard of Rosalind Dyer, everyone in L.A had, but she couldn't understand why she would target them in particular. On all accounts, Dyer was sociopathic, surely she would want to target all cops in the city and not play cat-and-mouse with a select few. (Y/N)’s mind was spinning so fast that she barely noticed Tim’s hand grabbing hers again or Chen’s almost sob from the other side of the room.

(Y/N) blinked, bringing herself back into the room. “Why is she after us?”

All eyes turned to her.

(Y/N) did not understand what she was missing. Clearly there was something that they all knew. Something serious. Tim turned in the chair, still holding her hand, so that his body was facing hers, inadvertently blocking her view of the rest of her colleagues as he began to recall the story of what Dyer had done.

He left out a lot of the minor details, but he told her about Caleb and what he had done, how they had Dyer come and show where more of the bodies she killed were, he spoke about the torment Lucy went through. Lastly, he told her about Nick Armstrong’s betrayal.

“Detective Armstrong?” She asked, the information she had been told spinning through her mind as one link suddenly became clear to her. “He was partnered with my case worker before. Kade Sullivan. Do you think that was how she managed to get her information?”

“It’s a possibility.” Grey moved from the podium and towards his officers, “If we are dealing with Rosalind Dyer, we need to be hyper-vigilant. She will be watching us and she will know that we are watching her. Our only trump card will be that there is a chance that she doesn't know that we have figured out who's behind this. Do not trust anyone outside of the room with this information. We will all need to work together to overcome this, but Chen, I do understand if you would want to take a step back from this.”

Lucy swallowed the lump that had grown in her throat. “No Sir, I’m right where I want to be.”

“Okay then. We will meet back here tomorrow morning after roll call. We will need a cohesive plan, but for now all of you go home and rest. You will need your energy as these next days or weeks will be intense. You're all dismissed.”

----------

“So why did Dyer go after the precinct in the first place?” (Y/N) pulled back the duvet as she got into bed. “I get that she wanted revenge on Armstrong, but the rest of us? I mean what did we ever do to her?”

��She is sick in the head, that’s why. She plays mind games, and questioning why she does stuff means she wins.” Tim said, joining her in bed.

“Look Tim-” (Y/N) started, stopping herself as the words didn’t come forth. She took a breath, trying to regain some composure before starting again. “I’m sorry. I should've told you about Barrett. I just didn’t want you to worry.”

“It’s my job to worry.” He said, shuffling down in the sheets, opening his arm up for (Y/N) to cuddle into him. “I will always worry about you, but you need to be honest.”

“I promise.”

Instead of responding, Tim just placed a kiss onto (Y/N)’s head as he shuffled down to sleep.

Chapter 22 | Chapter 24

Series Masterlist | Masterlist

Tags: @xceafh @kmc1989 @buba424 @salty0cracker @iamasimpingh0e @malindacath @agentred27 @hufflepuffwhore13 @tessalynni @anaferreira-4

Tags are open :)

#tim bradford #tim bradford x reader #tim bradford imagine #the rookie #the rookie x reader #chiefdirector #botto

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humblequestvinyl · 1 year

Text

mountain with a view

MOUNTAIN WITH A VIEW, EDDIE DIAZ X FEM!READER

APART OF THE ‘ROLLING UP THE WELCOME MAT’ SERIES

SUMMARY: after one too many late nights, y/n l/n is sitting at their kitchen table, debating if her and her husband's marriage is even worth fighting for.

inspired by mountain with a view, by kelsea ballerini

previous chapter, | next chapter,

lowercase is intentional! wc: 1.9k

warning: angst!!!!! swearing, marriage problems, trust issues (?) if there’s anything i missed let me know!

a/n: AHHH NEW SERIES W EDDIE <33! i'm so excited for this!! also my deepest apologies in advance bc i am so mean to eddie in this LMFAOO hope u guys enjoy <333

“COUNTRY STAR Y/N L/N HAS FILED FOR DIVORCE FROM HER HUSBAND, EDDIE DIAZ AFTER FIVE YEARS OF MARRIAGE.”

the voice of a news reporter flooded through the tv as photos of the former couple were placed on the screen.

“L/N on instagram asked her fans on instagram to be mindful, and that both parties are fragile, and to respect their privacy.”the reporter went on, before a photo flashed of the h/c girl, “L/N is currently gearing up for her fifth album release; SUBJECT TO CHANGE this september.”

the video came to a stop, and she saw her best friend standing in front of her, with a horrified look on his face, “you and eddie are getting a divorce?” her heart hurt. this wasn’t how she wanted him to find out.

“it was bound to happen buck.”y/n’s voice was strained due to all of the crying she had done for the past two months, with a heavy feeling in her chest, “you and i both saw this coming.”

“i didn’t.” evan buckley’s voice dropped, and y/n slipped the shades to the top of her head, revealing her bloodshot eyes, “never once did i see this coming.”

“this wasn’t how we wanted you to find out.”her voice cracked, playing with the strings of her hoodie, “eddie said he was going to call you about it.” buck’s eyes watched as the girl avoided his eyes, refusing to make contact with them, knowing if she did she would probably burst into tears.

“why did you file for divorce?”

(TWO MONTHS BEFORE.)

STARING OUT THE BIG OPEN WINDOWS OF THEIR PENTHOUSE,

y/n could see the sun rising as she finished making breakfast for her and her stepson, making sure to leave some for her husband in case he came home in time.

eddie diaz and y/n l/n had first met when she was 21, and he was 23, one kick-starting on their music career, while one had just become a single parent to a son from a former marriage. somehow, they still made it work. getting married at 23 and 25, going from texas, to los angeles, becoming a mother figure to his son chris, and making sure she could still go on tour.

they thought they had it all figured out, with everything working and a fixed schedule.

until they didn't.

so here she sat, waiting for her husband to come home while her stepson got ready for school, knowing she’d have to force a smile, make everything seem like it was okay, and be able to play the part of the perfect wife, perfect wife. it wasn’t until she smelt smoke that y/n realized the toast was burnt to absolute crisp, and was ruined, meaning she’d have to make more.

“shit.”she muttered, rushing to make more, as she saw chris come down the hallway, and she forced a smile, brushing her h/c hair out of her face, making sure to tie it back.

“did you burn the toast again?”chris asked with a smile, and y/n forced a laugh, nodding before she brought over a plate with pancakes and eggs on them. “unfortunately, i did. i’m making more right now.”

a knock on the front door came, before it opened, revealing carla, and she had a wide smile spread across her face as she came in, and y/n waved as the toast popped up, less burnt than before. quickly placing it on a plate, and putting it on the table, making it so chris would be able to get to school on time.

“you go get ready for the day, i’ll make sure chris eats.”carla told the 28 year old, giving her a soft smile, and y/n nodded, before rushing off towards her room, and grabbing the clothing she needed for that day.

walking into the bathroom after she had changed, her eyes glanced down, seeing a wedding band that wasn’t hers sitting on the counter.

it was her husband’s.

she felt anger run through her, with a million thoughts racing through her mind. why would he take it off? or why did he leave it at home? did he forget it? did he take it off intentionally before he left for work?

why did he take it off?

“bye n/n!’chris yelled, breaking the girl out of her thoughts, and she gripped the counter, trying to keep her anger under check. “have a good day at school chris!”she yelled back, and the front door slammed, as she took a deep breath in.

it was a few moments before she walked back out towards the kitchen, noticing everything was put away, except for the burnt toast. opening up her refrigerator, y/n grabbed the butter out, and brought it over towards the kitchen table, before spreading the butter against the toast, and taking a bite out of it.

her eyes scanned back over the mountains as the clock struck 7:30 am, realizing her husband was over three hours late coming home, and had missed seeing his son in the morning for the second time that week.

it killed her. it absolutely killed her that he wasn’t coming home, and she was the one who was carrying all of that weight on her shoulders, trying to keep this marriage going when it was all one sided. she felt like a glass plate, and was breaking into a million pieces.

hearing boots come towards her, her head snapped towards it, seeing her husband eddie diaz walking towards her, before placing a kiss on the top of her head, with no words spoken between the two. the tension in the air made her uncomfortable. it was so thick that you could almost cut it through it with a knife.

it was a while before any words were spoken between the two, and when they were, they were laced with anger and confusion.

“you left your ring at home.”y/n spoke up, taking another bite of the burnt toast, afraid to see the look her husband was giving her, “and you were late coming home again.”

“i forgot it when i left.”eddie admitted, glancing over at his wife for a moment, before looking back at his plate of food, “and i was finishing up something with buck.”

wrong. he wasn’t with buck, because buck had texted y/n back at five, saying he hadn’t seen eddie since he left his shift at 4am.

“what? you don’t believe me?”eddie questioned, as y/n got up to throw the toast away, keeping silent for a moment, debating on how to handle the situation, before she shook her head no.

“i don’t believe you.”y/n admitted, placing the plate in the sink, avoiding eye contact with him, and she could feel the anger radiating off of him, “because buck texted me at five that he hadn’t seen you since you left your shift at four.”

she saw eddie freeze, knowing he had gotten caught into a lie, and y/n had seen right through it. he wouldn’t be able to hide whatever he was away for.

“okay fine, i wasn’t with buck.”eddie admitted, causing y/n to lean up against the kitchen counter, facing her husband to read his body language.

“so, where were you?”

“i don’t understand why you need to know.”eddie shrugged, getting defensive, causing y/n to read all the red flag, “it doesn’t matter to you at all.”

“it does matter to me eddie.”y/n spoke softly, fearing of an argument breaking out, but it was enviable with the two. “i want to make sure you’re not sitting in the goddamn morgue.”

“well guess what, i’m not.”eddie spewed, catching y/n off guard, “i’m standing right in front of you, trying to eat breakfast while you’re bothering me.”

“because i want for you to realize that i’m worried about you.”she told him, and she could tell he was dismissive, “i wait up for you every night, only for you to not come home until chris is about to leave for school.”

“and i never asked you to do that.”he stabbed his eggs with his fork, and y/n tensed up, “that’s your own doing for staying up and waiting.” y/n gave him a look as she took his words like gut punches, making her absolutely sick, “maybe you should just stop staying up and waiting.”

“maybe you should come home on time.”y/n shot back, folding her arms as she watched him closely, “to the family you have. to your son.”

“i do!”eddie defended, and y/n shook her head, “no you don’t! for the past four months you’ve been late coming home after every single shift eddie!”

“you’re forgetting your ring, you’re not coming home on time and you’re distant.”y/n pointed out as eddie brushed past her to put his plate in the sink, and walked towards their shared bathroom, slipping his wedding band on, “there! are you happy now?”

“no i’m not!”y/n exclaimed as eddie started to change, and she followed him, “we’ve been in and out of therapy for the past three years and absolutely nothing has changed eddie. i’m so tired of it.”

“i mentally cannot handle another year of us being just fine.”y/n whispered, causing eddie to snap his head towards her, with a shocked look spread across his face, “what are you trying to say?”

“i want a divorce.”y/n spoke aloud, making all of her feelings real, and she saw eddie’s face fall.

“you want a divorce? all because i’m taking extra shifts to try and provide for our family? to pay for the mortgage for the house you insisted we had to have.”he shot back, and y/n felt her anger bubble over, causing her to snap, “you don’t even pay for the house! i do! it’s under my name and everything! not yours!”

“i’m the one who pays for the cleaners, the groceries, the electric!”she yelled, as the two stood in their bedroom, one that hadn’t felt like theirs in months. “i feel like i’m the only one who’s doing all the work all the time because you’re never home!”

“you loved me way more at 23 than you do now eddie, and that's a fact.”she told him as she brushed past him to pack a bag, “i cannot keep doing this anymore.”

“you’re just like your parents. giving up way too easy on our marriage.” eddie swore, and y/n felt something snap inside of her. “first off, don’t you dare talk about my parents! secondly, i have tried for months to get through to you.”

“you’re the one who never came to nashville when i called you begging to hop on that flight, one i paid for by the way!”y/n exclaimed, zipping up the bag she had packed, “i knew you had the week off and didn’t have chris at all and you still refused to come.”

“i’m done trying eddie.”she finished, before storming past him and walking towards the front door of their penthouse.

“so you’re done?”he questioned as she grabbed her car keys, and opened up the front door, staring right back at him with tears in her e/c eyes.

“this is when it’s over for me.”

#eddie diaz fic #eddie diaz fluff #eddie diaz x y/n #eddie diaz #eddie diaz x reader #eddie diaz angst #eddie x reader #911 spoilers #911 on fox #buckley diaz family #evan buckley #evan buckley x reader #rolling up the welcome mat

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roosterscockpit · 2 years

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His Little Girl | Bradley Bradshaw x Reader P. 1

click here for the master list

It's that moment you've all been waiting for bessssties! 🥺 I just want to thank everyone for your support. It truly means a lot to me. ❤️ I've been wanting to try to write a Bradley x reader story, but I was so nervous! But I really hope you all enjoy this first part! 😭 I love you all! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. 🥰 Happy reading! 💕

A/n: This is a flashback chapter for a little background! Enjoy! (sorry for poor grammar. I'm sure I missed a lot of errors lol.)

Word count: 2.3K

Warnings: cursing, drinking, throwing up, fainting, angst (If there are more I'm sorry I literally can't remember all of them 🥺)

Please don't take my work, I will find you.

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You and Bradley had met each other in college, both taking engineering classes at Virginia. You two became awfully close and were inseparable. You felt in your gut he was it and you thought so too when he introduced you to his uncle Pete, or Mav, his callsign he was given being a pilot in the Navy. He was all the family he had. Bradley always said Mav was like a dad to him growing up. He said he wanted to be just like Mav and his dad. He wanted to fly just like them. You were the happiest girl in the world and nothing could ever change that as long as you had Bradley…..

Isn’t 21 supposed to be fun? You had been so stressed and sad ever since Bradley was deployed. This was his first deployment since being in the Navy. You spent all your days home slumped on the couch binge-watching every show possible to pass the time, but I don’t think you could watch another year worth of TV shows… or maybe you could? Bri, your best friend, and roommate planned for you and a couple of others to go to the Hard Deck to get you out for some fun. So against your will, you went and had some drinks and finally started to let loose and have fun.

Some drinks later, you felt a wave of sickness hit you when you were out at the Hard Deck with your friends. You thought maybe it was the drinking not sitting well with you. You were never really good with holding your liquor. So you excused yourself to the bathroom. You barely made it before you were falling to your knees head in the toilet throwing up everything you had in your stomach. You felt dizzy and began to throw up again. The room was spinning and you just laid up against the wall until everything was still. You finally gathered yourself and made your way to the mirror. You rinsed with some water and wiped your mascara that was now running down your face. You popped in a mint and straightened out your shirt before you went back out to meet with your friends. You tapped on your best friends shoulder and let her know you were going to head home.

Y/n: “Hey girl, I’m not feeling very great.” You let her know, your eyes were still glossy. “I think im going to head home.”

Bri: “Oh no! Are the shots of whiskey catching up with you?” She looked at you concerned. “I can take you, I haven't had anything to drink tonight.” She offered looking around for some water.

She handed you some water and you drank the whole glass. You started to feel unstable. “I’m never drinking like that again.” You thought to yourself.

Y/n: “Please? That would be great! I’m feeling a little dizzy again.” You said starting to sweat.

Bri:”Of course, let me just grab my things.” She said as she turned to grab her purse.

You started to feel weak, you sat on the barstool near you and began to blackout. “Oh my gosh! Y/n!” Was the last thing you heard before you hit the floor.

You woke up on your couch the next morning, smelling like the whisky you had the night before. You were sweating all the alcohol out of your system. Your best friend came over to you with a banana shake and some ibuprofen.

Bri: “Hey sleepyhead. How are you feeling?” She said as she handed you the shake and medicine.

Y/n: “Like a million bucks.” You said as you took the medicine and chugged down the shake. “What happened to me?” You folded your arms and sat back against the couch.

Bri: “You had quite the ride last night. You passed out face first into the barstool next to you, after you asked me to take you home.” She laughed. “How is your head?” She sat at your feet and rubbed your leg.

Y/n: “It feels fine, I had way too much to drink last night.” You put your face in your hands. “Never let me do that again please.” You said In embarrassment.

You looked over to the patio door and saw how bright it was. “What time is it?”

You pulled out your phone and looked at the time, 2 PM. “Great, I missed the opportunity to text Brad before he went to bed.” You threw your phone next to you and laid back again.

Bri stayed quiet for a little bit and bit down on her lip before asking, “Do you think he will actually respond this time?”

Y/n: “He’s working in a completely different place and time zone. I know he will respond when he can.” You smiled weakly knowing its already been 2 weeks and nothing from him. Not even an “I’m here now" email, text, call, messenger bird, something.

More time passed and you started to feel really sad again, you had no energy. You barely were eating and when you did, you would just throw up. You didn’t feel like yourself. You just felt off. You were sad because it had almost been another month and you hadn’t gotten anything from Bradley, you almost started resenting him.

You couldn’t figure out what it was. You two were so happy when he was here, it seemed he had the same feelings you were feeling. But now just the cold shoulder, you were getting nothing. It's like he got what he wanted from you and now he’s done. Like you were his “just in the moment, while he was home” kind of person. You always gave him the benefit of the doubt and would say he’s just getting used to everything with being away, settling in, getting used to the work and the hours. You just wanted to feel better about the situation. You knew Bradley wouldn’t hurt you like that. You always said when he has the time, he will get back to you. But more and more time kept passing. You kept calling/texting/emailing and nothing. You started to think that maybe he changed his number and forgot to tell you.

It’s been 2 1/2 months and still nothing from Bradley. You started to text and call him less. You started to just try to get back to your life before him. At this point you were mad at him, making you wait, putting you constantly into a bad head space; wondering if something bad had happened to him. You were beyond hurt. You were being left in the dark on purpose now.

Tonight, you and Bri went out to the Hard Deck to have a couple of drinks. The two of you sat at the bar having conversation with Penny. You all were just having causal conversation and Mav came in and sat down with you. He hugged you and Bri and gave Penny a kiss.

Mav: “Hey Y/n. How have you been with Bradley gone on his deployment?” He said with a loving smile.

Y/n: “I actually am fine.” You said monotoned then pressed your lips together and giving him a small smile.

Mav cocked his head at you and looked a little concerned at the tone of your voice. “Do you get to talk to each other as much as you’d like?” His eyes now narrowed at you and took a sip of his drink Penny had just given to him.

Y/n: “We haven’t talked since he’s left.” You took a deep breath. “He doesn’t respond to any of my calls or texts.” You said now looking down at your drink, counting the ice cubes.

Mav: “Oh I see.” He looked at Penny with wide eyes and she gave him the same look back.

Bri saw their exchanges with each other. “What’s going on, Mav?” She said now eyeing the both of them.

Mav opened his mouth slightly and looked at Penny who now turned around to serve some Pilots that just walked in. “I, uh..” He stopped. “I can’t imagine…he doesn’t have the time. I have a buddy of mine who’s son is out there with him and I talk to him all the time. I don’t really talk to Bradley very much anymore, but my buddy’s son is always out with him during their free time after work.” He started to tap his finger on this glass and looked at you nervously.

Your head shot up to him saying that he LITERALLY has some free time. You furrowed your brows, “Im sorry, what?”

You started to feel it again, the nausea. The over whelming taste of saliva in your mouth. Everything went silent, your ears were ringing and your vision blurry. You weren’t going to make it to the bathroom this time. You ran out the back door to the beach and threw up right then and there. Right on the edge of the deck, barely missing it and into the sand. Mav and Bri came running to you and comforting you as you kept on throwing up. Your knees on the deck, you were hunched over, hands buried in the sand. Bri holding your hair and Mav rubbing your back saying they’ve got you.

Bri and Mav looked at each other very concerned for you. They were comforting you as you kept on heaving and releasing everything you had in your system. Mav covered his face in disbelief. This wasn’t the Bradley he knew, he would never just leave you hanging. He wished he could do more, but at that specific moment in their lives they had no communication.

You were hurt, why was he ignoring you? Why did he want you to hurt? And why were you so damn sick? Wait…you’ve been sick. Shit.

You slowly got up and rubbed your hands together to get the sand off. Bri and Mav looked at you with concern. Bri rubbing your arm and Mav pushing hair out of your face as you looked at them scared.

Mav: “Are you okay?” No response. “Y/n, you okay? You okay?” He said now cupping your cheek.

Y/n: “Can I have some water, Mav? I just- uh need to get this taste out of my mouth…” You said looking at him scared.

Mav: “Yea, of course. I'll go get some.” He went back into the bar to get you some water leaving you and Bri alone.

Bri: “Honey, what’s wrong? You’re really scaring me.” She said brushing our hair behind your ear. “Is everything okay?”

Y/n: “Bri, Ive been so sick. Like sick sick.”

Bri: “Yea we know you can’t handle liquor, y/n.” She cocked her head at you and let out a little chuckle. “It happens to everyone girl. Just let it all -”

You cut her off, “No girl. I’VE BEEN SICK!” You looked down and covered your mouth.

Bri: “No…you don’t mean…” her eyes were wide. She gasped.

Mav: “Here’s your water y/n.” He gave you the water. “Can I get anything else for you, sweetheart?”

You grabbed the water and chugged it. You hugged Mav, “Thank you Mav but we have to go.”

Mav hugged you tight, “Im so sorry Y/n. If you need anything, I’m just a call or text away. No matter the time or place.” He rubbed your arm and hugged you again.

You grabbed Bri’s hand and ran for the car. Bri drove quickly to the nearest store. You were shaking when she came back with the pregnancy test. You were terrified. You’ve drank a couple of times. You haven’t been eating a lot. You hadn’t even thought of being pregnant as a possibility. You were so scared. You weren’t being the best mom you could have been or should have been if you were pregnant. You felt so guilty.

You finally got home and busted through the door and ran to your bathroom. You peed onto the small pink stick and set it face down onto the counter. You threw a tissue over it and didn’t want to see it. You set a timer and paced around your bathroom. Bri was out sitting on your bed waiting for you to come and tell her the result. She gave you your privacy as you waited.

A million thoughts ran through your head. “Ive only had sex once. Jesus Christ, y/n… THAT’S ALL IT TAKES!” You said to yourself in a loud whisper. You were pacing up and down your bathroom. “C’mon hurry up you damn thing.” You stood at the counter watching the timer count down. You tapped your fingers on the counter top. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon.” You took a deep breath and cover your face as you leaned against the cold wall behind you. Then finally your timer went off. You took your hands slowly off of your face and just stared at the tissue that was hiding your fate. You slowly walked over and stopped the timer on your phone.

Those two minutes were the longest two minutes of your life. You pulled the tissue off of the test and dropped it on the floor next to you. You were shaking as you picked up the test. You flipped it over and it revealed the two little pink lines. You gasped. “Holy shit….” You were frozen. You couldn’t breathe. All you could hear was your heart pounding in your ears. You put your hand up to your mouth and looked at yourself in the mirror. You started to sob. At first quietly. Then you gasped louder and the tears running down your face. You couldn’t catch your breath. You were terrified. Bri came running in to comfort you. You sat in her embrace the whole night in the bathroom crying. What were you going to do? How were you going to do this? How were you going to raise his child?

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Thank you all for your support! Please like and reblog if you're ready for the next part! 🫣 I can't wait to share it with you all! Thank you so much! Let me know if you would like to be added to the tag list bessssties! ❤️

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fizzyxcustard · 2 months

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Covert Eyes (23)

Masterlist of fan fiction

Fandom: Spooks

Pairings: Lucas North x OC (Amy Holland)

Warnings: Stalking behaviour, anxiety, language, sexual references, angst, smut, heartbreak, gunshot wounds and recovery, abduction, hostage situation.

Summary: Lucas takes notice of a young woman, Amy, but his obsession and want to get to know her begin to spiral out of control. Amy is now working for MI-5, after being recruited by Ros. But will her involvement with Lucas cause even more problems and heartbreak?

When Amy's parents get involved, how will things pan out for Amy and Lucas?

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People who don't interact with my fics over a few months will be removed from tag lists.

Bright light burst into the room and the familiar voices of Ros and Jo broke through the shroud of silence that had formed in the room. Halos around their heads. Amy winced against the light….

As Amy lay in bed, waking, she saw Lucas’ outline, his form haloed by a bright light. He was in the doorway. Every time he stood in the doorway, the room dark, with only light from the hallway behind him, it took her back. It felt as if she were time travelling back to her time locked away with nothing by Simon Caulfield’s slimy words for company.

Lucas limped into the room. She could hear his shouts in her mind as Simon Caulfield had put a bullet in his thigh merely seconds before Ros and Jo saved them. Then once they had both been released, Amy and Lucas had been in hospital overnight. They had been given their own private room due to the nature of their reasoning for being in hospital.

Harry had given them both time off to recuperate, and offered counselling. Lucas, as he had done many times, politely rejected Harry’s offer. However, Amy knew that she would probably find herself fighting against the memories for some time.

Lucas got into bed beside Amy, and studied her for a moment. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, but gradually they had begun to fade and the light in her eyes was starting to reappear.

Amy curled her arm around his head, her fingers sifting through his short hair. He was literally her everything.

***

Richard Holland held a small package in his hand, thinking back on the postman’s words that it had been sent first class but accidentally got lost at the depot, so was a week late. He ripped open the thick envelope finding a small stack of papers inside. On the top was a note, written in capital letters.

RICHARD AND SHARON HOLLAND,

THE ENCLOSED PHOTOGRAPHS ARE PROOF THAT LUCAS NORTH IS NOT WHO HE APPEARS TO BE. YOUR DAUGHTER IS IN DANGER.

Richard felt his whole body grow cold at the sight of photos of Amy bound to a chair and blindfolded. Then further photographs showed Amy lying on the pavement in a pool of her own blood, next to another woman also shot. With Lucas standing over both of them, a gun in his hand.

***

Amy and Lucas were still off work when the phone call came. Lucas was sat on the sofa with a mug of coffee, flicking through the channels, rolling his eyes at how shit day time TV was. Amy had been cleaning the kitchen; mundane tasks were enough to take her mind away from the thoughts of Simon Caulfield. The pain in her neck and back was fading day by day, but still enough to cause her grief and keep up a steady dose of painkillers.

“Dad?” Amy asked. “Everything okay?” Amy sat down at the kitchen table and sighed, wincing at sharp stab of pain which shot through her neck.

“I’m coming to fetch you, Amy. You’re not to stay with that bastard any longer!” Richard Holland demanded. “Your mum knew there was something behind the shooter; I know she was involved with Lucas. And I know you were took hostage last week.”

A rod of ice shot down Amy’s back and her heart raced in her chest. “D…Dad….what’s happened?”

“I’m coming to London to get you. He better not be there when I come because I’ll kill the bastard!” Richard seethed.

“Dad, please, stop it.”

“No, I won’t stop it, Amy. I am not prepared to let him do this to you. It’s a good job your mum is at work and hasn’t seen the photos. I won’t let her see them.”

“Who sent you the photos?”

“It doesn’t matter who sent them. I’m coming to get you. Pack some things.”

“Dad…please….”

Lucas could hear Amy’s pleas and hobbled into the kitchen. “Aim, what’s going on?”

Richard growled down the phone line. “Trying to play the protector now, is he? He can fuck himself. He’d better not be there when I come and get you because I really will kill him…”

Amy was weeping as her father disconnected the call. She held the phone in her shaking hand, until it finally fell from her grasp and hit the floor. “Dad knows!” she sobbed. “He’s got photos of me from last week and when I was shot. He’s coming to take me back to Coventry. I can’t leave.”

Lucas’ breath caught in his throat. Everything he loved was slipping away, and for a few seconds he tried to grapple with some kind of rational thought. He knew he couldn’t fight this one; Amy’s father was right. Despite having not heard Richard’s side of the conversation, Lucas knew he was doing the right thing. Amy had to be safe.

Amy dashed at Lucas, grabbing his shirt. She could see in his face that he was admitting defeat.

“You need to go with him, Aim. They can keep you safe: I can’t,” Lucas said, his voice breaking. “I love you too much to let you keep being hurt. He’s doing this because he loves you, Amy. He fucking loves you…and so do I.” His voice finally broke. Tears fell down Lucas’ cheeks and he took Amy into his arms, holding her tight. “Go with him, angel. I can’t keep you safe anymore.”

“You can,” Amy wept, looking up at him. “I want to be with you, Lucas. More than anything. Don’t push me away.”

“I’m not pushing you away because I want to. Fuck. Can’t you see that? It’s because I love you more than anything that I’m doing this.”

“If I do go, I’ll come back,” Amy argued. “They can’t make me stay.”

Lucas smiled through the tears. “You are the bravest person I’ve ever met.”

The next two hours were crippling as Amy packed two suitcases full of clothing. Lucas watched her from the doorway, knowing that letting her go was the only way to keep her safe. Amy belonged with her family who could be the stability she needed. “I am coming back,” Amy said defiantly, stopping for a second with a pile of underclothes in her hands. “I don’t intend on staying there for long.”

“You’ll stay as long as you need to.”

“I’m only doing this to please you and Dad for now, but I’ll be coming back,” Amy countered. She approached Lucas and lifted her hand, cupping his cheek. He kissed her palm, turning into her touch. Then suddenly he kissed her hard, catching her off guard. Heat mounted so high between them and within seconds, Lucas’ lips were trailing down Amy’s throat.

They made love on the bed. It was like the very first time they had made love: intense, passionate, full of want. As Lucas came and then rested his head on her chest, he whispered, “I need to let you go.”

“Lucas, no!” Amy whimpered. “Don’t you dare!”

Lucas got up from the bed, untangling himself from her and re-buttoned his shirt, and then pulled his jeans up, re-buckling his belt.

“When we got back together, I should have known I wouldn’t be worth it,” Amy growled. “I’m never worth it, am I?”

“You are worth everything!” Lucas shot back. His eyes were wide and his whole face was contorted in anger and frustration. “How the fuck can you say you’re not worth it? I’m doing this because I love you. I should have known better than ever bring you into any of this. I should have stayed away when I first saw you.”

Amy choked as she heard those words and dropped to the bed. “You regret me….”

“I would never regret you. I only regret that I caused you so much pain. Your dad won’t be too much longer, I don’t think.” He looked at the clock; Coventry was about a three hour drive away from London. It was now just after one in the afternoon and Richard had called at eleven. “Go with your dad. You are loved so much more than you could ever imagine. By all of us.”

Lucas walked out of the room and picked up his keys in the hallway.

Amy followed on behind, calling after him.��

Before Lucas left the flat, he kissed Amy hard one last time. “I adore you so much,” he choked. “Be happy, angel, but more important, be safe.”

Amy sobbed on the doorstep as Lucas left. She watched his form walk down the hallway and out the main door into the street. Pain was ripping her so raw inside and in her own mind she knew that she could never give up on Lucas North completely. No matter what happened and what evil things were thrown at them. Their love would be stronger than any of it.

***

Amy sat in her dad’s car as they drove back to Coventry. There was only silence and the gentle sway of the car as it swept along the motorway. Until Richard broke open the silence. “Fancy a coffee?”

“Okay,” Amy whispered, her voice so hoarse after sobbing. Her cheeks were still vivid red and her eyes full of unshed tears. They threatened to fall at any moment. Just her dad’s kindness and soft voice made her want to cry all over again. Of course he was only protecting her; that had never been in dispute. That was all he and Lucas were doing.

Richard slipped out of the car and headed into a Costa at a motorway service station. Rain was beginning to spit as dark clouds began to move in. Amy stared out of the window, her focus glued to the spot in front of her where a family were getting into their car. A dark haired man, accompanied by a blonde woman. A toddler and an older child, who looked to be around ten. They looked happy.

The sound of the driver door opening snapped Amy back to reality and made her jump. Richard noticed his daughter’s shock and smiled sadly at her. “Here you go, love,” he said, offering her a large latte. “Extra shot of caramel.” Then he winked.

As Richard started the engine, he sighed. “I’m sorry, Amy,” he said. “I’m only doing this for your good; you know that, don’t you? I know you love Lucas. But being with him is going to put you at risk.”

“I know, Dad,” Amy said, her voice quiet. “I know you’re doing this to help me and because you love me.”

“You might be a grown woman, but your mum and I would do anything for you, you know that. We want you safe. No matter how old your children get, your responsibility for them never stops.”

The car was still stationary as Richard glanced across at Amy’s hands in her lap, and he noticed something dark around her wrist as her jumper sleeve had ridden up her arm. “Fucking hell,” he whispered. “Your wrists.”

***

Lucas slammed the flat door as he walked back inside, knowing Amy would be gone by now. The silence was deafening, and a gasp came from the very back of his throat. She’d gone. Her room was tidy, but her diary from her bedside table was gone, along with her slippers and most of the toiletries from the bathroom. He opened her wardrobe, just to feel the pain of her departure even more. There were barely any clothes left.

In the kitchen and Lucas slumped down on the floor, feeling the cold of tiles against his backside and thighs. Pain from the bullet wound shot down his leg, but he didn’t care. The pain couldn’t compare to that of letting Amy go. He pulled his phone from his jeans pocket and looked at the photo of them on his lock screen. She was his everything. Though the pain was excruciating, her very presence in his life had helped him to feel once more. All of the emotional and mental numbness he had felt since coming home from Russia, had been burned away by Amy Holland. She made him feel happiness, contentment, love, pleasure. But also pain. Pain seemed to be a constant in his life now, a permanent friend.

***

Amy stepped into her parents’ house, feeling the wave of familiarity rush through her. The smell of a home she had left many years ago – it was still exactly the same. It hadn’t been that long since she and Lucas had been visiting for new year, but this was different. Today marked the day she would be staying for longer. Maybe until all of this blew over, and then she could be with Lucas again. So she hoped.

“Your mum isn’t home yet, but I’ve burned the photos. I can’t let her see those. What happened, Amy? The truth, please,” Richard asked, his voice was low but firm. He had never been a demanding man, instead always being gentle with his daughters. But today had shown Amy just how fierce he really could be. “You know who sent those images, don’t you?”

“It’s all secret information…”

“No, Amy! I won’t have that shit,” Richard growled. “Tell me. I don’t care if it’s top secret and a risk to national security, or whatever, you’re my daughter and I deserve to know what happened to you.”

Amy stood in the kitchen and looked up at her dad who was waiting for an answer. He had his arms folded and his face was set in a straight expression.

“The woman who shot me was Lucas’ ex and a CIA agent. She faked her death because she killed her boss and went on the run. Then she must have found out about me and Lucas, and tried to make me think he wasn’t really in love with me. And she collared us outside the café that morning and went to shoot Lucas, but I stopped her. And Lucas killed her.”

Richard sighed and held his hand to his mouth. “Fucking hell, Amy.”

“It was Sarah’s brother who took me hostage, wanting to get revenge on him. Apparently, the accomplice of Simon Caulfield was Sarah’s ex-husband; I was told that in the hospital. They went rogue together to get revenge on Lucas.”

“And you were still prepared to stay with him after all this?” Richard asked, his eyes wide.

“I love him,” Amy replied softly. Tears were falling down her cheeks again. “I’ve never loved anyone else like this, and he actually loves me back. For so long I never felt I’d ever find a man who could love me...”

“Oh, love,” Richard sighed. He took Amy into his arms and held her tight as she wept on him. Through tears, Richard looked up at the ceiling, asking in prayer for the strength to be what his daughter needed.

Once Sharon was home from work, Richard explained the whole story to his wife.

“Where are the photos, Rich?” Sharon asked. Her dark eyes were wide with shock and her hands were shaking.

Amy was sat at the other end of the table, feeling as though her whole body was closed off. She hung her head, feeling ashamed of everything that had occurred.

“It doesn’t matter about the photos. I got rid of them. I wasn’t letting you see them,” Richard replied.

Sharon walked towards her daughter. She was slow and deliberate, and her gaze was locked on her daughter’s arms. Her skin was concealed by a thick jumper. Sharon leaned down and gently pushed the sleeve up on Amy’s left arm. “Oh, God,” she gasped, seeing black and purple bruising around Amy’s wrist.

***

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#Lucas North #Richard Armitage #Spooks #MI5 #Lucas North x OC #Original Female Character #Fanfiction

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halothenthehorns · 2 months

Text

Chapter 21: MY BIRTHDAY PARTY TAKES A DARK TURN

Thank you so much to:

@ary-cm

on Tumblr for the awesome cover image!

I can't believe I'm already almost done with one of the three series?!

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Will read what he was sure to be the last chapter title with heavy concern. What on earth could be left to happen to Percy that couldn't have waited until the next disaster of an adventure to start with?

Nico's heart sunk that's how his appearance was described. Apparently whatever respect he'd gained from Percy was already twisted into fear so early. He couldn't blame him, after what he'd talked him into. A lifelong curse he now had no clue about...

"Please involve something cool and fun for once," Thalia sighed, imagining him having one last fight to the death and passing out on his birthday or something. "Like blacklights! You don't enjoy the effects of those enough!"

"To see all the blood in my room? No thank you," Percy scoffed.

The rest of the summer seemed strange because it was so normal.

Will's tone was happy, hyper even, he seemed genuinely excited he was finally getting to share Percy having a normal time at their camp for actual weeks on end for once.

The daily activities continued: archery, rock climbing, Pegasus riding. We played capture the flag (though we all avoided Zeus's Fist).

"Clarisse actually sat out of most of them," Percy recalled in surprise. "Her whole cabin didn't, but she and Chris helped be the medics for a few fights. It was sooo weird, but it made a lot of the campers who were clearly uneasy about him warm up a bit. Especially when Mrs. O'Leary cuddled up to him too."

"He caught on pretty quick," Will agreed, "he still helps out in the infirmary too when he doesn't really need to anymore," he finished with a significant look at Nico. Most kids didn't seem to care who was helping them as long as the pain was going away, his parentage or whatever he'd done in the past usually wasn't on their mind when it hurt like that.

"Are you sure it wasn't changed to Kampe's fist?" Alex asked when Nico didn't seem to be answering in any way. "The first never even seemed to fit."

"Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to try and get everybody to agree on a new name for something?" Will asked. "Even if we did a poll it would be chaos."

Which was no bother at all to Alex of course, so she looked at him like he was the one who was nuts for pretending that was a good excuse not to.

We sang at the campfire and raced chariots and played practical jokes on the other cabins.

Will hid well how hard the adjustment had been for him that time marched on. Kids had come and gone from the camp, his siblings hadn't been immune to shocking deaths from a random monster attack in the forest or even defecting, it wasn't even the first time he'd been witness to such a thing, if only a handful of times before; but it was usually the ones who'd been there a few weeks. The kids who he'd barely gotten to know.

Lee had been there from day one. Had shown Will the ropes and been his Luke, his best friend, his go to for advice on everything there. It was strange for so long to not wake up every day and have him rousing them for breakfast. Micheal had never tried to emulate him either, he'd done it his own way, which had been all right, but a part of Will had wished someone in there would keep making Loony Tunes references, would keep challenging them to archery target practice instead of just letting the memory of him slowly fade away. Hearing him in Percy's life had been the most he'd been able to think of him in a few years now, and it felt nice.

I spent a lot of time with Tyson, playing with Mrs. O'Leary, but she would still howl at night when she got lonely for her old master. Annabeth and I pretty much skirted around each other. I was glad to be with her, but it also kind of hurt, and it hurt when I wasn't with her, too.

Percy expected the laughing at the teasing, probably a few snarky comments about Rachel.

None came, and as he looked around in surprise he just saw sympathy. Because he didn't have that option now with her nowhere to be seen. He had friends down here, but he still didn't have someone very important to be going through all of this with him.

I wanted to talk to her about Kronos, but I couldn't do that anymore without bringing up Luke. And that was one subject I couldn't raise. She would shut me out every time I tried.

Jason couldn't let that one go without a good laugh though. "I'm now imagining you following her around and she actually darts into random cabins or bathrooms or anywhere she can to slam a door in your face. Maybe even a window if you agitate her enough."

"You're right Jason," Percy sighed with indulgent exhaustion. "I should have cornered her in the woods, maybe used Grover and Tyson to triangle her in so she couldn't escape."

"You say that like she doesn't need an intervention," Thalia grumbled.

July passed, with fireworks on the beach on the Fourth. August turned so hot the strawberries started baking in the fields. Finally, the last day of camp arrived. The standard form letter appeared on my bed after breakfast, warning me that the cleaning harpies would devour me if I stayed past noon.

Magnus opened and closed his mouth several times like he couldn't decide if he wanted to ask how real that threat was. If he stayed and killed the harpies would he be punished or rewarded for yet another fight for his life? Would they devour him if he stayed until 12:01 or if he managed to avoid them until next summer would the ban be lifted?

He ultimately closed his mouth and decided it wasn't worth the headache.

At ten o'clock I stood on the top of Half-Blood Hill, waiting for the camp van that would take me into the city. I'd made arrangements to leave Mrs. O'Leary at camp, where Chiron promised she'd be looked after.

"Tell me you at least intend on riding her down the streets of New York once Percy," Alex looked rather betrayed such a glorious hound was being confined to one camp.

"She deserves to be on a farm where she can stretch and be happy, um, without the death metaphor," Percy shrugged.

"You can still have her for the weekend," she sighed but didn't argue the point further.

Tyson and I would take turns visiting her during the year.

I hoped Annabeth would be riding into Manhattan with me, but she only came to see me off. She said she'd arranged to stay at camp a little longer.

"I can't decide how the bus should feel about that," Jason told him with an almost straight face. "You now range from blowing them up to awkward silence when she's around."

"He's blown up more on his own in his younger years without her, I think the bus should be worried," Thalia offered.

Percy sighed and muttered something about normal friends, whatever that meant.

She would tend to Chiron until his leg was fully recovered, and keep studying Deadalus's laptop, which had engrossed her for the last two months.

"I think you should be thanking some god out there for making sure she stepped away from it," Will agreed.

"She slept with it, Malcolm has proof," Thalia agreed.

Then she would head back to her father's place in San Francisco.

"There's a private school out there that I'll be going to," she said. "I'll probably hate it, but..." she shrugged.

"Yeah, that but," Percy agreed with the same feelings of awkwardness swimming through him now. A feeling that apparently wasn't as good of a swimmer as him, as it kept coasting up and down his throat like vomit!

"Truancy, something even a child of a wisdom goddess would never break the rules for," Alex agreed tragically.

"Yeah, well, call me, okay?"

"Sure," she said half-heartedly. "I'll keep my eyes open for..."

There it was again. Luke. She couldn't even say his name without opening up a huge box of hurt and worry and anger.

"I'll get the key," Nico promised through gritted teeth.

"Maybe you could lose a few while you're at it," Will muttered. Nico seemed to have been better as of late about not keeping everything so close to the chest, but it was still something he found himself worrying about.

"Annabeth," I said. "What was the rest of the prophecy?"

She fixed her eyes on the woods in the distance, but she didn't say anything.

"You would nag Zeus himself about not finishing destroying you," Alex told him with a hint of awe in her voice.

"Seriously Perce, learn to let it go," Jason couldn't help but agree with a troubled frown. Annabeth had been through enough.

Percy didn't feel particularly ashamed though. His stubbornness paid off, and if Annabeth didn't resent him he wasn't going to let these guys make him feel guilty for getting the full picture. It had happened so rarely before meeting her.

"You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze," I remembered. "The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise. We raised a lot of the dead.

Magnus had a cheeky remark on his tongue for, 'who's this we,' before he paused and realized. Bianca might never have revealed herself to Nico if Percy hadn't been there. His coming along on Annabeth's quest was likely essential for that to happen. It hurt his head, a lot, to realize all over again how powerful those fates were to be able to weave together such immensely different and important things.

We saved Ethan Nakamura, who turned out to be a traitor.

A line that Annabeth had probably hoped referred to Luke all this time, Thalia thought miserably. The girl had been a hopeless optimist when it came to him, but that would imply she'd ever fully admit to Luke being a full blown traitor.

We raised the spirit of Pan, the lost one."

"Raised, and or released," Will agreed.

Jason pursed his lips rather than putting in. He kind of regretted his comment to Percy because he loved that they went over these at the end to analyze them, but he felt like he'd only be encouraging Percy.

Annabeth shook her head like she wanted me to stop.

"You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand," I pressed on. "That wasn't Minos, like I'd thought. It was Nico. By choosing to be on our side, he saved us.

Nico still smiled at how casually Percy acknowledged the good he'd done on this quest instead of that unfortunate period of threatening his death. Seems Will had been right, Percy really didn't go around saying a bad thing about him.

And the child of Athena's final stand—that was Daedalus."

"I'm sure Malcolm is so relieved," Percy snorted.

"Percy—"

"Destroy with a hero's final breath. That makes sense now. Daedalus died to destroy the Labyrinth.

"Which is very awesome," Alex couldn't deny. "Though I'm still mildly disappointed Annabeth didn't discover some kind of sonic blast breath or something along the way."

"She uses words as a weapon, isn't that enough?" Percy sighed.

"Whoever said words don't hurt never got hit by a dictionary," Thalia nodded in agreement. She'd gotten quite angry in her youth trying to memorize all the homonyms once and thrown it across the room where Thalia's head happened to be.

But what was the last—"

"And lose a love to worse than death." Annabeth had tears in her eyes. "That was the last line, Percy. Are you happy now?"

"No," Percy whispered, shivering for the first time in the cold depths of the ocean. He'd always known she liked him, but it didn't really hit him until now she liked liked him. Not just admired and was impressed, as Percy once was. It left a very dead feeling inside him, wondering what had stopped her from running away with Luke back when he'd tried to kill Percy. If Luke had gone to Annabeth and taken her away then, how different his life could have been without her.

The sun seemed colder than it had a moment ago. "Oh," I said. "So Luke—"

"Percy, I didn't know who the prophecy was talking about. I—I didn't know if..." She faltered helplessly.

If it meant him, Percy clearly understood that context! She'd thought him dead, she might have even thought kissing him was some final breath that had been all her fault!

He found himself scrunched up in his seat to stop himself beating at the walls. He wanted her in here! He wanted Annabeth to look him in the eyes and say she was okay with how this had all gone and mean it! It was probably selfish of him to want her to relieve this nightmare with him, but he ached for her in a new way he couldn't even begin to describe to himself. Annabeth meant so much to him, couldn't her prophecy have mentioned that!

"Luke and I—for years, he was the only one who really cared about me. I thought..."

Before she could continue, a sparkle of light appeared next to us, like someone had opened a gold curtain in the air.

Magnus finally released a breath he'd been holding for getting to jump off the topic of the creepy idea of his cousin hoping some guy twice her age would be in love with her too and instead blanched in horror if that was Kronos/ Luke about to appear from thin air and murder them all. How was it possible her life was so much more miserable and complicated than his?

"You have nothing to apologize for, my dear." Standing on the hill was a tall woman in a white dress, her dark hair braided over her shoulder.

"Oh hey," Alex said with a hint of violence already on the horizon. "She owes you an explanation!"

Percy grinned a scary sight, tapping his fingers impatiently on his leg and glowering at the book. She'd scarred the piss out of Annabeth, her advice had been in no way helpful, and he had a bad feeling already he could blame more on her soon for how miserable this quest had gone.

Jason sighed. Just what they needed, another god for Percy to piss off.

Thalia was glancing uneasily between Percy and Jason though as her own guilty thoughts got an unpleasant jumpstart. Their reaction to her showing up only reinforced in her she was doing the right thing for now, keeping her suspicions to herself. Percy was already unhappy at Hera for his own and Annabeth's past, if he found out what Thalia was considering he'd rip apart the ocean in a heartbeat just to get rid of his growing tension.

Jason, Jason just looked like he would want no part in this. He was too cautious, to content to let things slide. She enjoyed that about her little brother, it would make picking on him much easier and made him nothing like their dad, but for this it felt right to keep him where he felt safe.

"Hera," Annabeth said.

The goddess smiled. "You found the answers, as I knew you would. Your quest was a success."

"A success?" Annabeth said. "Luke is gone. Daedalus is dead. Pan is dead. How is that—"

"Our family is safe," Hera insisted.

Will couldn't help but read that in agreement. He couldn't help but share the sentiment, that the good had outweighed the bad this time. His brother had died, his camp had felt vulnerable and left him scared to sleep at night like nothing before...and yet he still had a bed. Siblings he could lean on. Not all was lost as it could have easily been. There were better paths out there, like if Hera had actually stepped in and banished all the monsters before any of her 'family' had to die, but Will honestly read that with a sense of joy in his tone that, to Percy's ears, had somehow been lacking. Hera had been stating a fact with pride, Will made Percy smile in some sense of agreement of the word family, even if not the whole pie.

"Those others are better gone, my dear. I am proud of you."

I balled my fists. I couldn't believe she was saying this. "You're the one who paid Geryon to let us through the ranch, weren't you?"

Hera shrugged. Her dress shimmered in rainbow colors.

"Taking a rainbow in vain," Alex scowled hotly for such a beautiful representation of inclusiveness being taken hostage by someone so selective.

"I wanted to speed you on your way."

Will's voice cracked, like someone had stabbed his bubble with a knife. He knew Annabeth had a beef with Hera, the whole camp knew she blamed the goddess for Percy missing. His heart broke though that Nico's journey hadn't even been considered in her wisdom? That she'd only paid for just Annabeth's group to get through and any other half-blood could suffer the consequences? That had been Hera!

"But you didn't care about Nico. You were happy to see him turned over to the Titans."

"Oh, please." Hera waved her hand dismissively. "The son of Hades said it himself. No one wants him around. He does not belong."

The pain of hearing that surprised Nico more than the actual words. His dad said it all the time, he assumed it frequently from the few interactions he'd had with these major gods, but for Hera herself to just come outright and say it made him flinch.

Which quickly morphed into admiration when he heard Will cuss. He hadn't seen that before. Sure he'd been angry in the past, but never full-blown swearing like he was doing now. His southern accent really came through too, he was twanging bad on all his i's and drawing them out to a noticeable level.

"It's, erm, not a big deal Will," Nico patted his hand again. Not one person in here looked like they even sort of agreed with Hera, instead they all looked varying levels of anxious at Will and a tad angry too and his behalf. For some reason that didn't surprise him anymore, which surprised him. "We all know that's how the gods feel about-"

"It is a big deal Nico, because she's being a mother fu-"

"Will," Alex sighed, rubbing her temples. "I agree with every word you're saying, but maybe use some other language, oh child of a poetry god."*

Will finally shut his mouth with a restrained grimace. He didn't feel nearly the amount of better as he'd have liked after venting, but Alex looked as discomforted as Nico for once, who was looking equal parts uncomfortable as usual at being so focused on, everybody watching him for his reaction, and just a tad flattered at Will so vehementily defending him; all while looking rather anxiously at the book clearly wondering how Percy had reacted to that.

So Will conceded he'd made himself plain enough while wondering what the opposite of an offering was as he muttered and searched for his place.

Thalia looked on, mildly impressed and perhaps recruiting Will on her kill Hera crusade, while Percy just felt bad the guy was finally at his level of outrage. He hadn't wanted to drag anyone else down with him.

Magnus and Jason were to busy glancing at every speck to make sure Hera wasn't going to appear and blast them all to smithereens to react properly in time.

"Hephaestus was right," I growled. "You only care about your perfect family, not real people."

Will's voice still shook with fury at just how right the god of the forge was about that apparently. When the gods were born, how much understanding did they have? Had this newborn child looked up at his mother and seen the look of disgust on her face before being pitched off a mountain?

It was an ugly truth Will had never really been confronted with until this moment. It made him sick to realize if Luke had been telling kids this kind of stuff all along and how it wasn't that unbelievable to him anymore. He'd never considered the gods perfect, but growing up in camp had always given him a sense they'd at least grown from their first depictions as the very worst they could be called today. They'd laid out a safe space for their kids to practice and grow, they had to have been evolving with the times, if slower, right?

His breath shook loose, a calming feeling as he remembered his dad helping Percy find Artemis and how awkwardly yet fervently Posideon continued to help Percy. None of them were perfect. They were distant and often harsh and more often unhelpful if they did try and tended to make their lives worse, but Hera was just a horrible exception.

Ares and Hephestus, Zeus and Posideon, he'd never really had much firsthand experience with any god except Mr. D and flip-flopped between pitty and heavy annoyance with him with minimal grudging appreciation he didn't just incinerate them all and call it a job done. Percy's adventure in detail didn't really change anything, it just gave him a heavier feeling of what he'd been fighting for than he'd gone to Manhatten with.

It sort of scared him for a moment, actually, as he frowned at the rest of the page and his skin twitched with displeasure at what he'd really just been doing. He never would have considered thinking all that before being thrown in here, let alone saying it out loud, verbosely, and only having to be stopped because someone asked him to. He'd been noting Nico's slow change with enthusiasm, but hadn't really stopped to consider his own until this moment, and it left an uncomfortable knot in him as he continued.

Her eyes turned dangerously bright. "Watch yourself, son of Poseidon. I guided you more than you know in the maze. I was at your side when you faced Geryon. I let your arrow fly straight. I sent you to Calypso's island. I opened the way to the Titan's mountain.

Nico felt his mouth open for several moments before he realized he should close it. Not since the stories of old had he heard such blatant interference, and it kind of impressed him. That Hera had gone so out of her way, unprompted, to help them every step of the way. He'd never have believed such a thing from Percy's own mouth, but to hear it from an Olympian herself was amazing. Like a real flip of the cards to reveal what her plan had been all along and strike down all foes come to life.

It was, of course, possible she'd done all that just to gloat and change history a bit in making her seem like the caring mother her title suggested she could be, Thalia's painful looking sneer proved this wasn't a popular thought, but Nico still found it extremely fascinating. He'd have never wanted such help from a god before all this, every interaction he'd had with them was laced with tension and she herself proved they wanted nothing to do with him in return...but that didn't make this less interesting to hear by a mile.

Annabeth, my dear, surely you see how I've helped. I would welcome a sacrifice for my efforts."

"Do you think anybody sacrifices to her?" Magnus had very mixed feelings about hearing this, Percy was a tad disgusted to hear a touch of pity in his voice. "I think she really did do this, like a kind of adoption?" He didn't sound that sure though. Like a theory he expected to get trashed. He even mouthed 'sorry' to Nico, not trying to disconnect from the fact she didn't do it well! Yet Annabeth's own mother didn't seem to have stepped in here, maybe Hera had really wanted to help and was just out of practice.

Percy strived to keep his voice even and not too harsh in return. "I, um, think it's a tad more selfish. It sounds like she was willing to win by any means necessary, it just happened to align with our means."

Annabeth stood still as a statue. She could've said thank you. She could've promised to throw some barbecue on the brazier for Hera and forget the whole thing.

Jason looked very queasy at all of this, for once instead of being the arguing party he understood both sides well. Juno probably did feel undervalued, with no direct link to those kids at Camp. Her temple dusty, her history rarely spoken of and if so negatively.

Yet, he had a feeling what Annabeth was about do. The same thing Percy would have done. He had almost grown used to the level of disrespect these guys so often showed to the gods, and it froze some inner part of him with dread at the mere bubble of thought, let alone what his ears were about to hear worse than anything Will could have called her.

But she clenched her jaw stubbornly. She looked just the way she had when she'd faced the Sphinx—like she wasn't going to accept an easy answer, even if it got her in serious trouble. I realized that was one of the things I liked best about Annabeth.

"Name a thing you don't like about Annabeth," Thalia rolled her eyes.

Percy opened his mouth, closed it, thought about it for a moment, and then said with confidence, "her love of olives. I tolerate them at best, but she puts them on everything!"

"Ah, the olive theory, a classic," Alex snickered while Thalia just looked at him with complete pity. Gods, boys.

"Percy is right." she turned her back on the goddess. "You're the one who doesn't belong, Queen Hera. So next time, thanks...but no thanks."

"Not really as harsh as I was expecting," Magnus admitted even as his heart tried to jump around his chest like a jackrabbit on crack no matter what he said.

"I guess that was her restrained dismissal," Alex agreed with a tad more disappointment. She'd probably wanted at least one jump scare at minimum to impress her.

"And this was the girl who warned you to be polite to Ares," Jason mumbled through numb lips, expecting her to drop dead any second honestly.

Hera's sneer was worse than an empousa's. Her form began to glow.

"That, is not great," Magnus said with a very dry mouth. Somehow Percy constantly pissing off gods felt like second nature by now, it really wasn't that great of a concern at this point since he was alive.

Where the heck was Annabeth?! Was this curse to be forced to live at the bottom of the ocean meant for her? If so, the digs seemed way to nice, though perhaps by their standards this was poverty?

"You will regret this insult, Annabeth. You will regret this very much."

I averted my eyes as the goddess turned into her true divine form and disappeared in a blaze of light.

Most of the others flinched and instinctively wanted to close their eyes, imagining a mushroom cloud in her wake after that.

Except Jason, who sat frozen in place without the good sense to do anything other than mutter, "uhoh."

Percy sighed, already knowing he'd probably have to tackle this idiot to the ground at least once in his life if he saw something cool enough to kill them all.

The hilltop was peaceful again. Over at the pine tree, Peleus the dragon dozed under the Golden Fleece as if nothing had happened.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth told me.

"She's sorry?" Percy asked meekly, a very strange expression on his face. "Where's my apology?" His tone implied none was needed though, his lips were twitching to much and he kept rubbing his thumb across them. They all figured out what that tone was and collectively decided they didn't want to hear it again.

"I—I should get back. I'll keep in touch."

"Listen, Annabeth—" I thought about Mount St. Helens, Calypso's Island, Luke and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, and how suddenly everything had gotten so complicated. I wanted to tell Annabeth that I didn't really want to be so distant from her.

Then Argus honked his horn down at the road, and I lost my chance.

"Remind me to smack an eyeball onto Argus's sense of timing," Thalia groaned. She would have personally handcuffed the two together if it would have resolved their problems already.

"Duly noted," Percy and Jason both promised, causing the others to snicker hard.

"You'd better get going," Annabeth said. "Take care, Seaweed Brain."

She jogged down the hill. I watched her until she reached the cabins. She didn't look back once.

Percy had never felt so much at once seeing her take off like a blond comet across the green fields. Her confidence in every stride, how happy he was for her she'd finally made peace with her dad and felt no need to look back.

The longing he wished she'd at least slow down, that she'd shove that tenacity of hers in his face and kiss him again when he wasn't about to die. That she'd tell him he was a Seaweed Brain and that her feelings for him were just as complicated as they were for Luke's at minimum.

Will's voice startled him out of his memory, to be dragged back here as lost and confused as ever what Annabeth would ultimately decide was best for her with no clue how to show her it could be him.

He didn't even know who to ask for advice about this. His dad was kind of out of touch at the dating thing, he'd probably just suggest Percy snap his fingers and offer to split the ocean for her or something, or ban him from talking to Annabeth if he didn't already know who she was. His mom was just way to embarrassing to even consider every time her name came up. Chiron, maybe...nope. Still to awkward. He was starting to become more convinced by the hour that lone memory he'd awoken in here with was a dream and a fortune teller was probably his best bet. Gods he was hopeless.

Two days later it was my birthday. I never advertised the date, because it always fell right after camp, so none of my camp friends could usually come, and I didn't have that many mortal friends.

"Do you, have any?" Thalia honestly tried to ask without sarcasm, but it sounded that way anyways.

"Um, I used to cat sit for this really old lady before we moved and she'd give me jelly beans when I walked her dog," Percy shrugged.

"A true bestie I'm sorry we never got to meet," Thalia chuckled.

Besides, getting older didn't seem like anything to celebrate since I'd gotten the big prophecy about me destroying or saving the world when I turned sixteen.

"There are so many themes you could do around that though!" Alex sighed. "I can think of three off the top of my head!"

"Alex can and will make a volcano explode in your apartment," Magnus sighed with full confidence.

"But I'll leave the surprise of who jumps out," she winked.

"Pass," Percy could only say hesitantly though. It sounded fun, he'd never even had a bounce house before...but hadn't it already happened? Retroactive birthday party? Maybe? If he survived another year?

Now I was turning fifteen. I was running out of time.

My mom threw me a small party at our apartment. Paul Blofis came over, but that was okay because Chiron had manipulated the Mist to convince everyone at Goode High School that I had nothing to do with the band room explosion.

"Yes!" Percy fist bumped the air with such exuberance there was yet another new crack in the ceiling. "I thought of that before but didn't know if I'd remember to tell Chiron before I left!"

"Now remember this plan for the next time," Nico chuckled.

Percy sighed at the already assured knowledge there was going to be a next time, but it had been a nice five seconds while it lasted.

Now Paul and the other witnesses were convinced that Kelli had been a crazy, firebomb-throwing cheerleader, while I had simply been an innocent bystander who'd panicked and ran from the scene. I would still be allowed to start as a freshman at Goode next month. If I wanted to keep my record of getting kicked out of school every year, I'd have to try harder.

"You say that like it was your fault," Magnus told him bracingly. "Until someone invents monster repellent, you can try all you like and get nowhere."

He meant it in a positive way, but Percy nodded as glumly as before. It was something he'd heard all his life being ADHD. He'd have to try ten times harder than the 'normal' kids and still never be on their level, which to him sounded like he really shouldn't bother trying that hard at all.

Tyson came to my party, too, and my mother baked two extra blue cakes just for him.

Percy bounced in his seat for a moment with one of the happier grins they'd seen on his face today. Annabeth couldn't or wouldn't be there, Percy didn't feel like his own birth should be celebrated, but his little brother was there. His mom had opened the door and greeted him with a Tyson worthy hug and had extra cake just for him and that was pretty much the greatest birthday present he'd want anyways.

While Tyson helped my mom blow up party balloons, Paul Blofis asked me to help him in the kitchen.

As we were pouring punch, he said, "I hear your mom signed you up for driver's ed this fall."

"Would Percy's bus explosion problem translate to cars?" Alex asked eagerly.

"Gods I hope not," Percy sighed.

"I'm not sure I get the stereotype about New Yorkers and driving," Magnus admitted. "You have to walk everywhere because the streets are horrible, but if everybody walks or takes the subway why are the streets so bad?"

"We're fearless about any obstacle but are to impatient," Percy grinned.

Magnus might as well have asked him to spell out those Canadian monsters names again for all the light that provided on the subject.

"Yeah. It's cool. I can't wait."

Seriously, I'd been excited about getting my license forever,

"Pretty sure that's something we look forward to from the time we're born," Will said wistfully. He'd spent the whole day of his sixteenth birthday on the chariot track, imagining it as his dad's sun-mobile. He'd spent the previous week painting it bright red and everything and, according to his own imagination, won every Indie 500 Race that day.

Only to have several of his siblings show up and hog the races the rest of the day from the rest of camp to make that a reality. Kayla had even painted brands and logos on some of them for authenticity while Micheal and Lee somehow always had the dastardly bad luck of fumbling the finish so Will could sail through.

It really had been a good day, and only a tad bittersweet at the end as he sat on the roof of his cabin watching the sun go down, his prayer unanswered of hoping his dad would just make an appearance, let alone let him touch the sun. Austin had assured him that night as he flopped into bed they'd all made that wish and Apollo hadn't answered in centries for any of his kids, just another day.

but I guess my heart wasn't in it anymore, and Paul could tell. In a weird way he reminded me of Chiron sometimes, how he could look at you and actually see your thoughts.

Will realized his thoughts had drifted him into a melancholy mood, and trying to jump right back out, he offered, "hey, did you know Chiron will help kids at camp get their license if they want to. He does something with the mist, gives them papers if they need it, but they still have to pass on their own merit," he finished with a grin at remembering Connor nearly drove his practice car into a jewelry store and still insisted it was an accident. It probably was an accident, but it was still funny too.

"I was actually wondering about that for a second," Magnus told him gratefully. He knew he was out of luck on that front and would likely remain homeless forever because of it, but for once this Camp finally had a solid, irrefutably good thing he might be able to look into.

I guess it was that teacher aura.

"Is the dark turn Paul's been a secret FBI agent all along infiltrating the school," she paused with a wild gasp, "or your family! And he reveals the secret conspiracy of hauling you all away to Area 51!"

"Alex," Percy sighed with a good-hearted grin. "You are going to be excellent at whatever you decide your life is."

"Living that dream," she smirked.

"You've had a rough summer," he said. "I'm guessing you lost someone important. And...girl trouble?"

"I guess we know who the problem child is, the ones the parents gossip about," Thalia did a pretty good impression of an ornery older sister to Percy's ears while he flushed and muttered a bit about how he wasn't surprised this had come up with his mom.

I stared at him. "How do you know that? Did my mom—"

He held up his hands. "Your mom hasn't said a thing.

"Oh," Thalia sounded as stunned as anybody while Percy went from shocked to pleased the fastest. Percy had never really missed his life as a mortal, he'd spent to much of his younger years being the odd kid out to even know what that felt like but at this moment he knew that if Paul was the dad in his life that he didn't have to be, things would have still turned out all right for him.

And I won't pry. I just know there's something unusual about you, Percy. You've got a lot going on that I can't figure. But I was also fifteen once, and I'm just guessing from your expression...Well, you've had a rough time."

I nodded. I'd promised my mom I would tell Paul the truth about me, but now didn't seem the time. Not yet.

"Save that for his birthday," Jason chuckled, "see how long he thinks you're pranking him and asking for his real present before it sinks in."

"Well I know who I'm scratching off my next guest list," Percy rolled his eyes.

"I was on the list?" Jason looked surprised, which Percy hoped was a joke. Obviously everybody in here was.

"I lost a couple of friends at this camp I go to," I said. "I mean, not close friends, but still—"

Will looked touched all the same Percy didn't go back to his home and try to forget it even happened. Maybe the next time there was a war council meeting and Lee wasn't at the table Percy wouldn't just blink and breeze right past it like it had entirely left his mind.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah. And, uh, I guess the girl stuff..."

Percy had never been the greatest with his words. He had no more clue what to say to Paul than to Annabeth herself, how to get started on her and Rachel and Luke and the constant question mark bouncing around in his head. It wasn't because of Paul though. He'd stood there waiting patiently the entire time as he'd gathered his useless thoughts and then scraped them at least five times.

"Here." Paul handed me some punch. "To your fifteenth birthday. And to a better year to come."

We tapped our paper cups together and drank.

Percy couldn't have asked for a better toast. Any year had to be better than the one he'd just had. Right?

"Percy, I kind of feel bad giving you one more thing to think about," Paul said. "But I wanted to ask you something."

"He asks you if you're a half-blood?" Thalia asked, because really, it had to be something with Paul. Maybe he could see through the Mist too and never knew how to say it before he saw Kelli.

"Is he going to ask what he should have gotten you for your birthday?" Will asked, imagining he'd gotten Percy, like, a black puppy that turned out to be a hellhound too or something and that was the 'dark turn.'

"Is he going to ask to move in already?" Magnus asked, no clue how fast these things were supposed to go, but it felt like 'a step,' worthy of including Percy.

"What is the capital of Bulgaria?" Alex chuckled.

"Yeah?"

"Girl stuff."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Oh gods," Jason's mind started spinning like a guinea pig. "He's not going to ask you what he should get your mom for her birthday?"

"Sounds, um, kind of nice?" Nico offered. Percy obviously got along with Paul, maybe Paul was looking for a way to spend more time with him.

"Your mom," Paul said. "I'm thinking about proposing to her."

"Oooh," all seven of them said with the same blank look. That was, so beyond the scope of their understanding honestly, they barely knew how to react to that other than nonplussed, maybe a little mild pleasure. None of the others really had a great enough relationship with their own mortal parent to process entirely what was being said.

I almost dropped my cup. "You mean...marrying her? You and her?"

"Sally and Paul, sitting in a tree," Thalia burst out singing with surprised laughter.

Percy came out of his dumbfounded state enough to react to that and give her a shove. He was happy for them, a hundred percent. Really, it wouldn't even be that weird, the guy was over all the time anyways. He just didn't even know how to process something like this because it didn't involve stabbing something.

"Well, that was the genera idea. Would that be okay with you?"

"You're asking my permission?"

Paul scratched his beard. "I don't know if it's permission, so much, but she's your mother. And I know you're going through a lot. I wouldn't feel right if I didn't talk to you about it first, man to man."

"Man to man," I repeated.

Percy had never been called anything more than his mom's little man before. He found himself sitting up straight in his beanbag chair, smiling with a new kind of pride.

It sounded strange, saying that. I thought about Paul and my mom, how she smiled and laughed more whenever he was around, and how Paul had gone out of his way to get me into high school. I found myself saying, "I think that's a great idea, Paul. Go for it."

It had felt like the obvious answer the moment he'd said it. Paul had looked him right in the eye while asking, despite their height difference. He was always there for his mom, he'd never made her cry. Percy didn't even know what else people needed to be in a marriage, but he already knew it would be better than what she'd had before.

He smiled really wide then. "Cheers, Percy. Let's join the party."

Percy had followed him with a strut in his step he'd never had before. His imagination had already been going wild, asking Paul to help him put on those weird monkey suits he'd only seen on TV. Would Paul ask Percy to call him dad? How upset would he be if Percy never wanted to?

But his mom...those seemed like minor problems when he could already feel the happiness through a kind of faith alone he'd never had for the gods that she was never going to stop smiling after this day.

I was just getting ready to blow out the candles when the doorbell rang.

"Did you make a wish?" Thalia asked with interest. The only time she'd ever managed to sit down for one of her birthdays was over a trashcan fire with Luke and Annabeth. They'd found some lumpy, frozen chocolate that had clearly all once melted together and were chipping it away, the two teasing her not to blow out their 'candle' that was keeping them warm, and she'd only promised her wish would be it never did. Other than that experience, she had no clue what someone would wish for.

"Yeah," Percy grinned without elaborating. It had just been a feeling really, of hope, that everything would be okay. He'd bottled it up tight and been about to exhale it onto that candle as a kind of offering all its own to the cosmos when that knock had interrupted him. He tried not to frown at that being some kind of bad omen.

My mom frowned. "Who could that be?"

It was weird, because our new building had a doorman, but he hadn't called up or anything. My mom opened the door and gasped.

It was my dad.

Percy had instantly felt zapped, shrunk back down to twelve years old again and seeing him for the first time on Olympus. He'd wanted to load him into a taxi and have some fairy tale ending. Instead, he'd told Percy he regretted him being born.

He was wearing Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt and Birkenstocks, like he usually does. His black beard was neatly trimmed and his sea-green eyes twinkled. He wore a battered cap decorated with fishing lures. It said NEPTUNE'S LUCKY FISHING HAT.

"Pos—" My mother stopped herself.

"What kind of fake name could she have even given?" Alex asked in amusement. "Pos, pause, pus," she kept trying to enunciate that into something and looked increasingly frustrated coming up with nothing. "Posterior? Pustrami? Pussudinym? Postumus? Possible? Positive, Pustual, Potter, Pos-"

"Posey?" Percy offered. That was a flower, and a girl's name, right? Then he went crosseyed as he realized what he just suggested his dad should go by for any length of time.

"Yes! Great one Percy!" Alex cackled in delight.

"I think we could go through every religion to find his alter ego and he'd still rather just go by his own name," Will finally interrupted the madness with a laugh.

She was blushing right to the roots of her hair. "Um, hello."

"Hello, Sally," Poseidon said. "You look as beautiful as ever. May I come in?"

"Can you say no to that?" Magnus stage whispered.

"I wouldn't want to try," Percy shrugged though because it was his dad, not in general.

My mother made a squeaking sound that might've been either a "Yes" or "Help." Poseidon took it as a yes and came in.

Percy shook his head at the six of them getting a good laugh out of that, Thalia of course escalating it by giving him a hearty clap on the shoulder and saying, "well, now we know where you got that from too."

"I don't squeak," he finished with a long, exhausted sigh knowing he couldn't really deny any such thing.

Paul was looking back and forth between us, trying to read our expressions.

Jason nodded in understanding. Some random guy showing up probably had Paul instinctively worried about Gabe showing up, if Sally had shared anything about him at all.

Finally he stepped forward. "Hi, I'm Paul Blofis."

Magnus crinkled up his nose in disgust at the idea of a creepy, three-eyed monkey coming to mind who always introduced himself like that at the end of those old cartoons. He'd really hated that thing. It had nothing to do with Paul, it was just a bad name association.

Poseidon raised his eyebrows as they shook hands. "Blowfish, did you say?"

"Ah, no. Blofis, actually."

"Oh, I see," Poseidon said. "A shame. I quite like blowfish.

"Poseidon's favorite son confirmed," Will snorted.

"At least it's not Antaeus," Percy shrugged.

I am Poseidon."

"I kind of like that better," Alex said. "Just come right out with it, why hide?"

"I think we just heard Alex's life motto," Nico grinned.

"Poseidon? That's an interesting name."

"Yes, I like it. I've gone by other names, but I do prefer Poseidon."

"Like the god of the sea."

"Very much like that, yes."

"Well!" my mom interrupted.

"I have never thought of your mom as a killjoy before this moment," Thalia admitted. "Even when she's being boring and safe and loving, telling you not to die and be careful and all that nonsense. This, this I would have paid to see how long your dad would go on like this."

"She's a little stressed," Percy shrugged, "and she gets a free pass."

"She gets all the free passes," Thalia nodded in agreement.

"Um, we're so glad you could drop by. Paul, this is Percy's father."

"Ah." Paul nodded, though he didn't look real pleased. "I see."

"Oooh, jealousy," Alex snickered in surprise.

"I'm guessing Paul's not his biggest fan," Percy agreed, confusion mixed into every syllable of how he felt about this. "My mom always made sure I knew my dad didn't abandon me, but you know, I was a little kid. I don't think Pual would have taken to that lost at sea thing. He probably wants to speak to him man to man too," he finished with an awkward smile he'd definitely have to be a part of that conversation to make sure nobody got turned into blowfishes.

Poseidon smiled at me. "There you are, my boy. And Tyson, hello, son!"

"Daddy!" Tyson bounded across the room and gave Poseidon a big hug, which almost knocked off his fishing hat.

"Naww," Magnus smiled in surprise.

"It was that or Tyson was going to burst into tears of joy or something," Percy grinned in relief at this choice.

Paul's jaw dropped. He stared at my mom. "Tyson is..."

"Not mine," she promised.

"Legally," Percy mock whispered, using air quotes and everything.

"It's a long story."

"I couldn't miss Percy's fifteenth birthday," Poseidon said. "Why, if this were Sparta, Percy would be a man today!"

"That's true," Paul said. "I used to teach ancient history."

Poseidon's eyes twinkled. "That's me. Ancient history.

"Have the gods written a memoir?" Jason asked with a false amusement meant to hide his instant need for such a thing. "An autobiography? A manuscript? A rough draft I could steal?"

"Jason, that last one could count as high treason, worse than stealing the bolt," Percy told him with wide-eyed concern that wasn't really mocking.

Jason laughed like he was kidding, but even to his own ears he knew he didn't convince anyone.

Sally, Paul, Tyson...would you mind if I borrowed Percy for a moment?"

He put his arm around me and steered me into the kitchen.

Once we were alone, his smile faded.

Percy sighed as that chapter title came true, again. He wished they wouldn't even be there to kill his blue skies, always looming over whatever nice moment he'd been having. Like storm clouds rolling in and chasing everyone off the beach. His dad hadn't done it on purpose he was sure, it had just instantly killed his mood.

"Are you all right, my boy?"

That immediately felt like the storm running out of rain though as Percy smiled. Chiron had called him that many times, but it had never hit as hard as that did.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I guess."

"I guess," Thalia nodded without surprise. "You know Percy, you don't have to guess every question you're given."

"I'm right like, fifty percent of the time," Percy shrugged.

"I call bullsit on that number," Jason scoffed.

"And I'm to bad at math to do the actual percentage," Percy scoffed right back.

"I heard stories," Poseidon said. "But I wanted to hear it directly from you. Tell me everything."

"See, this is why they invented cellphones though, to avoid awkward moments like this," Magnus said with a twitchy feeling in his gut. The gods popped up at any old place now, yeah been there done that, but something about Poseidon being in Percy's apartment was giving him a feeling of anxiety. Ever since Gabe had left, Percy had always felt safe there, and though his dad was clearly no threat to him, it felt invasive. Like he could hear howls in the distance...

So I did. It was kind of disconcerting, because Poseidon listened so intently. His eyes never left my face. His expression didn't change the whole time I talked. When I was done, he nodded slowly.

"I cannot say I've ever had a god's undivided attention before," Will said with a touch of awe. When Annabeth had done it, he'd been infuriated beyond words. Now his mind felt overflown with jealousy at Percy getting the same from his dad. It really did feel like all or nothing for the Olympians sometimes.

"So Kronos is indeed back. It will not be long before full war is upon us."

"As opposed to the minor battles you've been dealing with," Nico sighed.

"What is war if not just for a bunch of little battles," Thalia agreed.

"Violent," Alex offered.

"Profitable," Percy raised his hand for something he actually remembered from a class.

"You two think you're so clever," Thalia scoffed.

"What about Luke?" I asked. "Is he really gone?"

"I don't know, Percy. It is most disturbing."

"But his body is mortal. Couldn't you just destroy him?"

"We've been asking that since he summoned a scorpion and tore a rip in the air with a sword," Magnus said, and by we he clearly meant himself.

"Mortal, perhaps, but there is something different about Luke, my boy. I don't know how he was prepared to host the Titan's soul, but he will not be easily killed. And yet, I fear he must be killed if we are to send Kronos back to the pit. I will have to think on this. Unfortunately, I have other problems of my own."

"That, was the best summary of the gods, and I didn't even have to Sparknotes it," Nico sighed. Yeah, your problem sucked, but I'm busy with other things!

I remembered what Tyson had told me at the beginning of the summer. "The old sea gods?"

"I wonder if Oceanus is listening in on us and muttering about how his strategies still would have worked," Thalia said with interest. She wished he wasn't such a reclusive old nut, she'd have liked the chance to hear the perspective of an old Titan.

"More likely he'd forget our names every other minute and be whining about how the Olympians run things," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Back in my day we squashed puny mortals on their birthday!" Alex even gave a helpful old man impression again to prove Percy's point, earning a grin from said child of the sea.

"Tethy's didn't seem that bad," Jason was clearly on Thalia's side with a hopeful smile at the door.

"So long as she keeps that thermometer away from me," Percy insisted.

"Indeed. The battle came first to me, Percy. In fact, I cannot stay long. Even now the ocean is at war with itself. It is all I can do to keep hurricanes and typhoons from destroying your surface world, the fighting is so intense."

His dad had been stroking his beard the whole time, a nervous tick Percy had never seen him do before. He didn't have his triton on him, also a first. Poseidon had seemed more human in that kitchen than Percy realized he even could be. Like that delirious moment of him just waltzing back into his mom's life and snapping his fingers to make everything perfect was possible for just this second.

And then what he'd said really sunk in. That his dad, in all his godly power, was already exhausted and torn in half by a war long before Zeus even admitted one was happening. His father, like any of the gods, was far from perfect.

"Let me come down there," I said. "Let me help."

"The summer camp I'm honestly surprised you haven't attended yet," Alex agreed.

"Not for lack of trying!" Percy groaned.

Poseidon's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "Not yet, my boy.

"Yet," Percy sighed, though when he did try and search through his mind to get a glimpse for that feeling, it hurt. A trace of pain lancing through him he had no wish to play connect the dots with in the slightest.

I sense you will be needed here. Which reminds me..." He brought out a sand dollar and pressed it into my hand. "Your birthday present. Spend it wisely."

"Is, that a joke?" Jason asked slowly.

"Um, spoiler, I didn't laugh," Percy promised if it was.

"Uh, spend a sand dollar?"

"Oh, yes. In my day, you could buy quite a lot with a sand dollar.

"Could probably buy a whole sand mansion or something back in his day," Nico snorted.

"Wasn't he kind of born owning the ocean?" Magnus asked. "How rich is he from just all the treasure in the seas?"

"More immeasurable than his already infinite power I'm sure," Percy sighed at them missing the point, as usual.

I think you will find it still buys a lot, if used in the right situation."

"What situation?"

"When the time comes," Poseidon said, "I think you'll know."

Percy sighed at the strange feeling that gave him. Like he knew his dad was right, and it wasn't even particularly painful like the last time he'd just tried to understand this cryptic advice, but it was still as exhausting as wondering whose string those old ladies had cut. Better than sending him another card though.

I closed my hand around the sand dollar, but something was really bothering me.

"Only one something?" Jason sighed. "Because I'm over here losing track of all my somethings."

"I prioritize better," Percy smirked.

"You forget more," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Dad," I said, "when I was in the maze, I met Antaeus. He said...well, he said he was your favorite son. He decorated his arena with skulls and—"

It had been a really horrible moment in a vast, never-ending sequence of horrible moments down in that maze. Nobody was surprised this one had stuck with Percy.

It was nice he got the chance to air it for once. That Poseidon had a chance to answer for why he'd never stepped in and told Antaeus to knock it off with the murdery entertainment.

"He dedicated them to me," Poseidon supplied. "And you are wondering how someone could do something so horrible in my name."

I nodded uncomfortably.

Poseidon put his weathered hand on my shoulder. "Percy, lesser beings do many horrible things in the name of the gods. That does not mean we gods approve. The way our sons and daughters act in our names...well, it usually says more about them than it does about us. And you, Percy, are my favorite son."

Percy smiled to bright for them to do anything other than smile along, the answer had clearly meant a lot to him that they weren't going to badger for more.

Yet it felt more like a redirect than an answer.

He smiled, and at that moment, just being in the kitchen with him was the best birthday present I ever got. Then my mom called from the living room.

"Percy? The candles are melting!"

"You'd better go," Poseidon said. "But, Percy, one last thing you should know. That incident at Mount St. Helens..."

For a second I thought he was talking about Annabeth kissing me, and I blushed, but then I realized he was talking about something a lot bigger.

"There was something bigger that happened?" Alex said in an oh so innocent impression of Percy's voice.

Percy gave her an eye roll for that, a blush on his cheeks but sinking lower in his seat all the same for what he'd done.

"The eruptions are continuing," he said. "Typhon is stirring. It is very likely that soon, in a few months, perhaps a year at best, he will escape his bonds."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean—"

Poseidon raised his hand. "It is not your fault, Percy. It would've happened sooner or later, with Kronos awakening the ancient monsters.

Percy couldn't believe the weight that was lifted off of him, like taking a much needed breath of air. He did still feel the responsibility of that on his shoulders, but for his own dad to assure him it wasn't his fault was unbelievable when he knew best the gods would try and blame this kind of mistake on the easiest target available.

But be aware, if Typhon stirs...it will be unlike anything you have faced before. The first time he appeared, all the forces of Olympus were barely enough to battle him. And when he stirs again, he will come here, to New York. He will make straight for Olympus."

"Oh, so it's not just my birthday that took a dark turn," Percy sighed. "It's the whole stinking continent that's soon going to be covered in ash and blotting out the sun getting a dark turn."

Thalia gave his shoulder a gentle shake and her usual spiel about not freaking out to early while Nico batted his eyes at Percy in surprise. He'd been so sure that stupid thing related to him, that he'd hear Percy's uncomfortable thoughts about inviting him inside to darken his apartment. Percy's wasn't exactly a great interpretation, but it certainly was different than his.

That was just the kind of wonderful news I wanted to get on my birthday, but Poseidon patted me on the back like everything was fine. "I should go. Enjoy your cake."

And just like that he turned to mist and was swept out the window on a warm ocean breeze.

Alex chuckled for a moment before telling Nico, "you still have the best calling card in this one by the way, but Poseidon does get points for spirit on that."

Nico swelled with pride he was being compared to some god other than his dad to care what those points were worth.

It took a little work to convince Paul that Poseidon had left via the fire escape, but since people can't vanish into thin air, he had no choice but to believe it.

"I feel so bad for Paul," Magnus chuckled as he rubbed his temple. "Knowing the answer you're given isn't the truth but feeling crazy there's no other answer."

"Yeah," Percy agreed with a sorrowful nod. He'd felt awful lying to Paul after the awesome talk they'd just had and resolved in himself to tell him the truth sooner rather than later. He hoped he'd managed to do that before this whole disappearing off the face of the earth thing he'd apparently done so his mom had someone to really confide in about her worries.

We ate blue cake and ice cream until we couldn't eat anymore. Then we played a bunch of cheesy party games like charades and Monopoly. Tyson didn't get charades. He kept shouting out the answer he was trying to mime,

"Which is lucky for you because he would have kicked all of your butts being such an awesome artist," Alex grinned.

"I call him on my team!" Jason instantly yelped.

"Hey, no dibs before we even set up our own game night," Alex narrowed her eyes with a menace none of them were sure was entirely playful.

"Got to be faster Alex, sorry," Jason just shrugged smugly.

Thalia loudly cleared her throat to move that on before she had to restrain the two.

but it turned out he was really good at Monopoly. He knocked me out of the game in the first five rounds and started bankrupting my mom and Paul.

"I see Tyson really got all of Poseidon's good traits," Magnus laughed in surprise.

"I call him on my Monopoly team," Alex said swiftly.

Jason sighed in defeat they would switch it up between games and gave in.

"How do you play Monopoly in teams?" Percy asked.

"By making shit up I'm sure," Thalia shrugged at the amount of chaos that was going to happen when this night happened.

I left them playing and went into my bedroom.

"Aw Perce, don't tell me you're a sore loser," Will frowned.

"More like I was getting a headache watching their money move hands so fast," Percy grinned.

I set an uneaten slice of blue cake on my dresser.

Nico smiled in surprise that finally explained why, when he'd materialized, he'd heard shouting in the background like there had been a gameshow on when the TV was off as he'd come in. He'd thought he had shut it off or something crazy when he'd come in with his weird powers and aura and they'd fallen silent upon seeing him. Turned out it was a much more fun, and mundane reason.

Then I took off my Camp Half-Blood necklace and laid it on the windowsill. There were three beads now, representing my three summers at camp—a trident, the Golden Fleece, and the latest: an intricate maze, symbolizing the Battle of the Labyrinth, as the campers had started to call it. I wondered what next year's bead would be, if I was still around to get it. If the camp survived until next summer.

Percy did have another bead on there, of course, and he clasped his fist around the lot now, his throat as tight with worry as ever what had happened between all that. He felt like the best-case scenario was he'd come out alive, but the more realistic possibility was he'd just gone nuts and molded one for himself in a mock victory from his grave or something before being plopped in here.

I looked at the phone by my bedside. I thought about calling Rachel Elizabeth Dare. My mom had asked me if there was anyone else I wanted to have over tonight, and I'd thought about Rachel. But I didn't call. I don't know why. The idea made me almost as nervous as a door into the Labyrinth.

Thalia sighed with guilty relief he hadn't. It would have just been awkward if Annabeth found out about that...and yet she knew from Annabeth Percy had spent a large chunk of time coming up hanging out with Rachel so she was a tad surprised that hadn't started here.

I patted my pockets and emptied out my stuff—Riptide, a Kleenex, my apartment key.

"You kept up with that this whole time," Will asked in complete disbelief. "I need the brightest rainbow lanyard I can find to keep up with my key to my cabin because I keep losing the dang thing and my siblings started locking me out after the seventh time."

"I never lock my cabin door," Percy said blankly.

"You scare kids to much to sneak in there," Thalia scoffed.

"I want to know how and why you got a kleenex," Alex snorted. "And, more importantly, why you didn't offer that to Annabeth when she was sobbing her nose out."

Percy's heart froze and his mind scrambled as he suddenly found himself asking the same thing before Magnus jumped in saying, "probably pocketed it from that meal with Hera, I wouldn't trust that thing not to be poisoned anymore. Grover's probably just immune to such things."

Which didn't make Percy feel better, but did make him laugh for a moment along with the others.

Then I patted my shirt pocket and felt a small lump. I hadn't even realized it, but I was wearing the white cotton shirt Calypso had given me on Ogygia.

"I bet Annabeth loved that," Jason muttered, imagining she'd hardly looked at him the entire time because of the reminder.

Percy had been amazed it held up so well, covered in dirt, mud, and other unmentionable things he was sure. She was probably more amazing with a loom than Circe for giving him clothes he hadn't lost and or torn to shreds.

I brought out a little piece of cloth, unwrapped it, and found the clipping of moonlace. It was a tiny sprig, shriveled up after two months, but I could still smell the faint scent of the enchanted garden. It made me sad.

Percy touched where the little pocket had been over his heart, of course no longer there on his camp shirt. He had done the impossible, he had forgotten about Calypso even for a brief time in all the other madness that went on when he came home. Now it was Annabeth, Rachel, and Calypso all bouncing around in his head like a screen saver all fighting for his attention as his fingers tightened in his shirt before he dropped his hand back to his lap and sighed.

What the hell had Hera meant by it, sending him to her island? Had it been a warning, that all the Titans had faced punishment and Percy had better remember which side he belonged on? Had it been her deranged way of helping, giving him a chance to heal there, a place she knew he'd never stay on?

All he did know was that, like all help with the gods, it felt more harmful than good really. From now on, only his dad was allowed to send him off on vacations, and that was a spotty vow considering he wasn't sure what the outcome of this place was going to be yet.

I remembered Calypso's last request of me: Plant a garden in Manhattan for me, will you? I opened the window and stepped onto the fire escape.

My mom kept a planter box out there. In the spring she usually filled it with flowers, but now it was all dirt, waiting for something new. It was a clear night. The moon was full over Eighty-second Street. I planted the dried sprig of moonlace carefully in the dirt and sprinkled a little nectar on it from my camp canteen.

Nothing happened at first.

Then, as I watched, a tiny silver plant sprang out of the soil—a baby moonlace, growing in the warm summer night.

"I'm surprised Grover didn't sniff that out and eat it," Alex broke the heavy tension falling around them. "I honestly expected this to be mentioned back at camp as an invasive species and D would rip it up and threaten to strangle you with it."

"My brain works in mysterious ways," Percy grinned, a sad but meaningful one to help take his mind off all the bad. "That's probably why it waited until just now, weeks later, for me to ever think of cleaning out my pockets."

"Mmm, yes, mysterious," Alex laughed, because she said mysterious like one would their least favorite kind of cheese.

"Nice plant," a voice said.

I jumped. Nico di Angelo was standing on the fire escape right next to me.

"Nico's back!" Will yelped in surprise. For once he hadn't been tensing up beside him, fidgeting and internally freaking out about this happening, so Will had not a hint of warning any more than anybody else.

"I've been here the whole time you nit," Nico rolled his eyes with a smile.

Will's arm pulled him just another tiny little bit closer as he just laughed in surprise and kept going like the whole room was a bit brighter all of a sudden, making Nico blush and for the first time think of pushing him away making this 'a thing.' It was just a fleeting thought though, one he didn't act on.

Will didn't find it hard to explain to himself why he was so jazzed for this news. It was the very first instance of Nico reaching out to anybody, especially the most perfect person on the planet being Percy with his mom right on the other side of that door. For Nico to get a glimpse of how he should be greeted any time he entered a room.

"Is anybody going to ask how?" Percy yelped loudly, rudely interrupting Will's joyful reading as he stared strangely at Nico. "You appeared out of nowhere dude!"

"Practice," Nico said with pride in his voice, which of course, was no answer.

Percy groaned, Chiron and Thalia were known to do that too so it wasn't just the gods being cryptic and annoying, they were passing it on!

Nico really did give him a sorrowful smile though and pressed his finger to his lips, his skull ring gleaming. They had shadow-traveled a lot in the coming time, and he didn't want to upset Percy now when he saw the last page in Will's hand. They were nearly done with another, no need to go pushing Percy's mind to its limit when he'd get his answer without Nico forcing it on him soon enough.

He'd just appeared there.

"Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to startle you."

"That's—that's okay. I mean...what are you doing here?"

Nico inhaled carefully, letting his mind think of that with interest now rather than the little happy dance he'd been doing in his head Percy's first reaction back then hadn't been pushing him off the fire escape in surprise. Now he really heard this for what it was. Not the blatant acceptance he so craved, just Percy reacting to him somehow even better than he had Rachel popping up in his mortal life. It was surprisingly a nicer, warmer feeling than his old feeling he had to keep off any part of his face.

He'd grown about an inch taller over the last couple of months. His hair was a shaggy black mess. He wore a black T-shirt, black jeans, and a new silver ring shaped like a skull. His Stygian iron sword hung at his side.

"An outfit you apparently never changed out of," Jason chuckled in surprise.

"I bet he has a closet full of the same outfit," Alex sighed tragically.

"I like this color," he kept the childish note out of his voice almost well enough. He should get used to defending his odd choices now if he was going to go to camp and hear this over and over...then he was surprised how easily that thought had come to mind. Tartarus had gone to far from his plans, he realized as a cold feeling swept him.

Will's hand curled gently around his arm, a warm pulse radiating from his palm that gave Nico a chance to exhale and focus on this.

"I've done some exploring," he said.

"A common day pirate," Will smiled in delight. "A vassst yee, I shall be tied down to no land!"

"See, now you're getting it," Nico's eyes shimmered with delight at the goofy impression.

"Even pirates need a secret cove to bury all their treasure," Will reminded hopefully. If that's all camp could be to him, a way station of safety, it would feel like enough so long as he'd always feel free to use it.

"Hmm, I'm not much of an artist Will, I'll have to work on getting a map together," Nico couldn't help the glib comment, the wishy-washy response. Despite how comfortable he felt under Will's arm, it was the longest, most permanent feeling he'd ever had in his life up to this point. Something so solid, even more permanent like Will kept wanting still sounded like to much for him to wrap his mind around right now.

"That's okay, I know a good one. X marks the spot and all that," he grinned all the same. He'd still carve that on Thalia's old tree when he got back and knew Nico at least would get the reference.

"Thought you'd like to know, Daedalus got his punishment."

Will's voice somehow sparked with even more joy getting to read this so soon. He really had wanted to know his fate, and Alex was right there with him, leaning forward eagerly in her seat, her teeth sunk into her lip as she wavered back in forth in her head how harsh she wanted to hear this being.

"You saw him?"

Nico nodded. "Minos wanted to boil him in cheese fondue for an eternity, but my father had other ideas.

Nico had been surprised when he'd showed up in his courtroom he hadn't even needed to step in and offer anything for this. Daedalus had been such a notoriously lost soul for so long Hades had already taken an interest, and swift execution before Nico had even woken up.

Hades had laughed to himself about the cheese fondue idea and even filed it away for later though. As far as Nico knew, Minos was still on his seat at the judge's table, so he hadn't exactly been as punished as Nico would have liked, but hey, you win some you lose some.

Daedalus will be building overpasses and exit ramps in Asphodel for all time. It'll help ease the traffic congestion. Truthfully, I think the old guy is pretty happy with that. He's still building. Still creating. And he gets to see his son and Perdix on the weekends."

It was just the perfect kind of Greek ending really. Quintus, Daeadlus the fifth's body, had had a very long road, and his punishment was to continue making them. It was no reward, but really, it was no great punishment. Hades seemed to have found a stroke of balance in his domain that all wished for really, a kind of medium eternal life after his grand adventure that rocked to many boats.

"That's good."

Nico tapped at his silver ring. "But that's not the real reason I've come. I've found out some things. I want to make you an offer."

"What?"

Percy hadn't squinted suspiciously at him or anything, he hadn't gone for his sword or jumped back in and slammed the window in his face. He hadn't exactly jumped to his feet with delight either and hugged him for finding all this out, so, that had been the highlight of Nico's month.

"The way to beat Luke," he said. "If I'm right, it's the only way you'll stand a chance."

I took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm listening."

Will's voice was so happy as he read that, his pupils kept wanting to jump away from the text to glance at the two with such bright eyes. This, this had been what he'd been hoping for Nico for so long, ever since he'd vanished after the Titan War. He already knew Percy and Nico made an awesome team, the two working together had been the saving strategy and the reason they were probably all alive today. Why did Nico constantly think he wasn't accepted again when Percy had been open and amenable from the start to his plan?!

Nico glanced inside my room. His eyebrows furrowed. "Is that...is that blue birthday cake?"

It had been the strangest feeling, Nico shook his head at himself. He'd been glancing around for an enemy, someone eavesdropping. Instead he'd seen the brightest splash of color, a blue swirl patterned cake with sprinkles. The exact kind of thing Bianca would have smacked his hand for reaching for, telling him he'd get a cavity just looking at that thing.

He sounded hungry, maybe a little wistful. I wondered if the poor kid had ever had a birthday party, or if he'd ever even been invited to one.

No, and no, Nico pursed his lips together rather than answer. Will, thankfully, read right over the moment without waiting for an answer, bless him. Nico still considered himself a no on both too, because he hadn't been 'invited' to this party. He'd gate crashed.

"Come inside for some cake and ice cream," I said. "It sounds like we've got a lot to talk about."

"Everything Percy brags about his mom's cooking is true by the way," Nico said swiftly before anybody could ask questions they weren't going to get an answer to. "It was, the best cake, I've ever had." He smacked his lips in appreciation at just the thought. It had been the most solid food he'd had in months and he was pretty sure his ambrosia had switched to tasting like that for a while.

"We'll get her her own cookbook, or a TV network show or something," Jason laughed.

Percy had a lot more questions buzzing around his mind about how that night would have continued. He opened his mouth with at least three trying to all bunch together, but all that came out was a very rude yawn.

"The question now is, do we take a break or just start the next one?" Thalia asked, stretching and jumping to her feet all the same.

"A break, definitely," Percy pleaded at once. "Hell, can I take a nap, since the days all out of whack anyways and we start the next one tomorrow."

"Nap yes," Thalia told him not unkindly, "but I am waking you back up to at least start on the next one! We'll be in here for twenty years if you sleep to your heart's content Rip Van Winkle!"

Percy nodded and then, actually just slumped over, right there in his chair. It would have been a tad concerning if he hadn't started drooling only moments later.

Nico expected Will to jump up and join the others as they all started talking quietly, stretching and going off to eat, but instead he stayed in place, hugging the black book tight to his chest and smiling at it still. Nico still thought him nuts, but a very charming kind. Nuts and berries.

Something had been nagging at the back of his mind though. A pessimistic idea that wouldn't leave him, an observation about Will always being so happy and optimistic at the idea of Nico being at camp. "Did you kiss me because you want me to stay at Camp?" Nico asked, his stomach in painful knots that the answer was going to be yes and how much he should care about that and how much it would make a difference. Maybe Will did just want something from him-

"No!" Will's startled blue eyes were pure honesty. "I kissed you because I wanted to, no other reason." Nico still seemed confused though, so he offered, "look, I, I feel like I should apologize, for kissing you right then," Will confessed. "That, um, wasn't exactly, 'friendly,' and if that's what you need right now-" his arm started to pull away even.

"I like it," Nico interrupted, the surprise on his own face for admitting that causing him to sheepishly avert his eyes, but his hand darting up to hold his fingers in place, nearly pining them to his black shirt. "L-liked. Um, it was, it feels- felt, good, but if you regret it-" his hand spasmed as he told himself to let go.

"Woah, I never said that," Will interpreted right back. "I've been trying to get to know you since we met. I just, um, was trying to make sure-" he was blushing himself and stammering and going very blank in the mind to find words to describe anything.

"Right, well," Nico took a shaky breath but looked back at him with a hesitant smile. He interlocked their fingers, and Will easily mimicked him. "That's, established. Neither of us, regret it, and we both like talking, so let's just, keep doing, that."

"Sounds perfect," Will grinned.

PJOPJOPJO

I am not promising that this will be the last book to end with Solangelo, I don't want to be a liar like that, but I do already have the ending to the next book planned out and it's not focused on them, so there's that?

So I'm taking a short break and then posting Demigod Files next month for sure, and then I'm going to start Last Olympian in May! I'm so excited guys, I'm looking forward to it all as much as anybody!

*I know most people probably imagine Alex using the f' word like a bestie, but I'm more familiar with people who grew up in verbally abusive households disliking strong language because it's been used on them to much. Also I do my best to keep these PG, T at most, so it's going to stay at least in the level of clean you've seen so far in the tone of the original books, so this is what I'm going with.

#pjo #Percy Jackson #HDYSG #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #alex fierro #Magnus Chase #Will Solace #nico di angelo #solangelo #fierrochase #percabeth #BotL #battle of the labyrinth

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rene-is-an-insomniac · 9 months

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"Like a Circus." (Lyney & Steambird!Journalist Reader) Part 2

To anyone named Lianna I am so sorry for your loss in this story/jk

Here's Part One if you haven't seen it yet

I love how the archon quest confirmed a theory I had.

(2/21/24)Next Chapter will be out by next week!

Tag for this series

Hehe gif is a small reference for something else im wriring for the Fontaine siblings 👀

Nighttime hit Fontaine as businesses began to shut down for the night. Most employees were making their way home, a few people were on the streets hanging out around this time.

“Uhm hello?” Lianna, a Knight from Mondstadt drunkenly walked down the streets of Fontaine alone, bottle in hand. She was here on business and ended up getting drunk at the bar she met her client at. The bar kicked her out for getting too rowdy and dancing on tables.

She mumbles angrily to herself, continuing forward, trying to find an inn to sleep in for the night. The clinking of her heels dragged along the street. She slowly inched her way through the road when the lamps lighting her way suddenly went out, leaving her in darkness.

“Huh?”

She stopped taking in her surroundings. The pitch blackness made it difficult for her to navigate a land that she was unfamiliar with. She went to move again when something strange occurred.

The sound of a music box started to play. Lianna stood confused, trying to get her thoughts together. First, the lights now have some weird music box, if she didn’t know better, she would think this was some stupid prank they played on foreigners.

The music suddenly stopped. Silence and sounds of water from the nearby pier filled the background. Light footsteps walked in her direction, the sound of continuous tapping directly in front of her. She waits with a bated breath for something to happen or the lights to turn on. Seconds turn into minutes as she waits.

A small flame flickers as a Fatuus stood before her with a scythe in hand. That was all Lianna needed before taking the initiative to run away.

She ignored the darkness as she took off running. She ran zig-zag, trying to get the person off her trail. Lianna could hear him right on her tail yelling phrases towards her that she didn’t pay mind to. As she kept turning the corner, she heard the ocean waves growing louder. She pushed forward, going forward down the path, running face first into the waters down below.

Her purser stopped in their tracks, standing close to the edge of the pier. A light flashed into the water directly at her, blinding her momentarily. The Fatui member stares at her, not moving to snatch her up. She is still watching their movements. She waited for him to move before she started swimming towards another pier.

As Lianna exited the ocean, darkness filled her vision.

The Steambird was filled with chatter from the other members. Members ran around trying to collect the newspaper printed.

"Mondstadt woman found dead near the pier nearby."

“A young knight who worked for the Knights of Favonius, came here on business regarding trade between Fontaine and Mondstadt, Officers pronounced her dead around 3 Am this morning.”

"Lianna was apparently found with her neck snapped in an awkward direction. The only evidence the police found of the culprit was some pieces of cat hair around her neck."

"Did you find anything?" Charlotte peeks her head in from around the corner.

"Nothing that we don’t already know." She entered with more documents in hand.

"I heard the streetlights were shut off, probably didn’t want the cameras or possible eyewitnesses seeing them.” Charlotte sat the pile of papers neatly to the side.

"Well, that makes things much harder, doesn't it?" Charlotte lets out a small laugh as she enters the cubicle, papers in hand.

"Boss says, "All of those need to be completed by the end of today." She takes her leave as quickly as she entered your cubicle.

Picking up the documents, you spot the Chief of Justice among your list for interviews. Very helpful, leave it to the court to "have all the answers."

You walk along the streets of Fontaine, sweater in hand. Light music filled the streets as you passed by the shops. Everyone is always working, leaving few people in the streets to leisurely roam during the day. Some restaurants had business lunches, others roaming around quickly to their locations.

The head of the court, the young god Furina and her right hand, Neuvillette judged the guilty. The building was the largest in the city almost similar to the roles that the people residing in them had to the people of Fontaine.

You shook your head trying to relieve yourself from the negative thoughts. It was just an interview with the Judge, nothing bad was going to happen. Entering the court, you signed yourself in and waited to be called.

"Yes how can I help you?" A melusine sitting at the desk glances up in your direction.

"An Interview with the steambird for Monsieur Neuvillette?" The melusine sighs, before walking off in the direction of his office. You remain by the desk waiting for the Melusine to return.

"He has time for you." The Melusine returned pointing out the direction of his office to you. You knock on the door before entering his office.

The Judge's office consisted of various articles spread throughout the wall, with dates circled. Neuvillette himself, sat at the desk writing away on a document. The hydro archon, sat on a chair talking to him as he works away.

"You should have seen the people that danced on their partners feet." She recounts a story of one of her outings to the Judge who listens silently.

"Next time, I'll take you." She continues talking as he seemingly listens in on her. Seeing you, her expression changes back into the arrogant stature she carries.

"It appears that we have a guest."

Seeing no place to sit, you stand awkwardly next to the door waiting for his permission.

“For the interview, correct?” He responds still focused on his work, not sparing you a single glance.

“Uhm yes. I’m Y/N.” The Judge sets aside a document, looking up to meet your gaze. Lady Furina sat up listening to the conversation.

“Let’s begin, what are your questions for me?”

“Fontaine wants to know, what are you doing about the disappearances of the foreigners as of recent?”

“We are doing our best to investigate the situation, Clorinde has taken over the case, I would advise talking to her.”

You put away the notebook, as quick as you pulled this out. This wasn't even five moments into the conversation.

"I understand, thank you for your time." You thank him and take your leave to go find her office.

“Furina can show you.” The young girl who was leaning against his desk shot up.

“Huh?"

“She’s not doing her work; she has time to take you.” He sighs hearing her argue more. He stands pushing her out of the office alongside you.

“If you’ll excuse me.” He locks his door leaving you with the young God.

“Neuvi!” She whined banging on the door to no avail. It remains shut with her locked out. She stood at the door annoyed before turning to you.

“As your dear archon, I will graciously help you out.” Her expression taking one of a soft smile as she guides you to Clorinde's office.

"I see thank you Miss Clorinde." You exit her office leaving the Palais Memonia. You checkt the list of other credible sources that was on your agenda.

Miss Navia

Melusine Guardes

Guardes

Monsieur Neuvillette

Mademoiselle Clorinde

You sigh crossing them off one by one. You decide to go with your best bet which is the Guardes. The Guardes during the time that Lianna was walking that time of night, some had to have been stationed in that area. Looking over the information that Mademoiselle Clorinde gave, it appears that none of the Guardes that she had stationed that night, heard any strange noises.

You sigh crossing the Guardes off your list momentarily. You sigh making your way to take care of the other things on your agenda.

"And you're sure that was the only evidence that you left by accident?"

"Yes." The white haired female let out a sigh of irratation as her nails drum along the desk she sat at.

"No more mistakes or do you need more training?" She sends a glare towards the three who raised their heads slightly.

"No sir." She sighs and dismisses the three from the room. The door to the House of the Hearth closing as a certain blonde and his siblings exit.

"We were a bit careless." One mumbled as they pass down the streets of Fontaine.

"I thought that you had them honestly."

"It doesn't matter, next time we'll do better."

“Places in 5 minutes!”

The staff and the performers began getting ready for their acts. Other performers were talking amongst themselves backstage.

The twins were preparing for their final performances for the night.

Lyney sat next to his vanity, preparing for his upcoming act, while his younger brother, Freminet, drew sketches for his next project sitting with him.

Freminet would occasionally assist the siblings with their shows, though mainly he would watch from the crowd. The last show he helped with, was to regulate Lyney so he wouldn’t have another accident.

“Are you helping out with the show again, Frem?”

“What acts are you doing tonight?’’ The youngest looked up from his drawings.

“The usual, tightrope, saw cut, things like that.”

“I don’t think I’ll join this time then.” Lyney frowns, turning to Freminet.

Lyney sighs making the youngest stop his drawing. He puts down the make-up brush, turning to face him. "You know I only do this to get you comfortable with others right?"

"You're always on your own, you barely even talk to Lynette and I, that's not healthy, little brother."

The youngest stops his drawings as he closes the drawing book. He simply nods, not arguing with his older brother.

Their conversation ends short as a staff member peeks his head into the room.

“Lyney, it’s time.” He stands, tying his bow behind his back.

"Will you watch tonight at least?” He sends a glance to Freminet as he puts on his sleeve and gloves.

"I'll be in the audience."

"Then, I'll make sure to put on a hell of a show for you." He ruffles Freminet's hair before leaving the room.

“Wish me luck!” The crowd cheers welcoming Lyney and Lynette to the stage for their performance.

A/N (2/21): Chapter 3 will be out in a few weeks, thank you for your patience.

Taglist: @pochipop @teyvattales @estensity @teyvattales @bluu-m0on @tsukette @estensity @malleuxii(I dunno who wants to be tagged for this series just tell me below.)

#genshin impact #genshin lyney #genshin lynette #genshin freminet #genshin neuvillette #genshin furina #genshin charlotte #the steambird #was fun to write #lyney x reader #lyney and lynette #like a circus #rene genshin fics #adventures with a magician boy from a quiet villiage #genshin arlecchino

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bcofl0ve · 2 years

Text

what started in beautiful rooms | an austin butler x priscilla actress!reader story ❀˖°

part 1/?, RATED M MINORS DNI

summary: “what happened between you and austin?” is a question you dread. it makes your gut twist, even if only proposed through a pointed look. the short answer is “a lot”. the long answer is more complicated.

word count: 2,575

warnings: infidelity, age gap (reader is 21 when the story starts, austin is 28), unhealthy romantic and sexual relationship dynamics, explicit smut.

chapter summary: “so then someone shared, if you want some inside scoop, “austin butler checked in to a hotel with a girl- they are sharing a room, it has one bed, one king bed.”and they said they would let us know when they figured out who the girl was… and the girl is ___ - i looked her up and she is playing the role of priscilla presley in the new elvis film…you know what we call that ladies? full circle.”

chapter soundtrack

i live for comments and love talking about my writing! pls feel free to come chat via anon (or off anon!) anytime. more than happy to share headcanons and what not (-:

xxx

November 27th, 2019 | Sydney, Australia

You braced your hands against the sink counter, taking a shaky breath in and out.

It wasn’t that Austin would stop you from leaving if you walked out of the bathroom and told him you’d changed your mind. He’d asked if you were sure about accepting his proposition of getting a room for the night no short of six times after you’d agreed. And another three on the drive over from media training for the GQ event tomorrow.

“I don’t wanna pressure you ” He’d said as the car pulled to a redlight, glancing at you out of the corner of his eye. You sat up a little straighter, hands folded in your lap as you spoke. “And you aren’t Austin.”

It wasn’t a lie, nor had he had to do much convincing to begin with. The idea of it had lingered in the back of your mind since the first Facetime call after casting was finalized. He was ridiculously attractive- you hit it off instantly. And if how touchy he was when you spent time together in person meant anything you assumed he was into to some degree.

But he was with Vanessa.

And still was, though you’d assigned a “kinda” moniker to that in the past hour since he caught your arm walking to the parking lot, rushing the disclaimer out when he saw how wide your eyes at the initial proposition.

“We’re gonna break up real soon. Don’t think she wanted to do it before I had to come here and do press. That’s all.”

It was still wrong, You thought- knew.

But you’d managed to shove down the guilt, talking yourself in circles about how they’d be broken up within 24 hours of him getting back to the states and that no one would ever have to know about this.

Austin gave you a ball cap and sunglasses from his car when you went inside, donning the same simple disguise himself as he checked in using a name that wasn’t his.

There was, even so, a flash of recognition in the recipetionsits eyes when he talked and tried to ignore it, alongside the anxiety blooming in your chest.

Which you did pretty well until you actually got up the room- ducking into the bathroom “for a second” that was starting to approach ten minutes.

You weren't surprised when a familiar knock came through from the other side.

“You alright?” Austin asked, concern in his tone.

Swallowing thickly, you opened and shut your mouth when you felt tears stinging behind your eyes.

Heat rushed to your face as you tried to chastise yourself away from crying. Every other twenty-one year old actress you knew would be jumping at the opportunity to sleep with their attractive co-star that had almost a decade on them.

But here you were, about to cry in the bathroom and shoot yourself in the foot like a little bitch, you mumbled under your breath.

You didn’t realize the sliding bathroom door didn’t have a lock until you heard a creak as it slipped half an inch open, and heard Austin’s breathing.

He paused, and you could almost feel him leaning his head against the door.

“You can come in.” You whispered before he could say anything and the door slid all the way open slowly.

He stepped in and you looked away when you caught his eyes in the mirror, his face dropping when he clocked your expression and realized you were close to tears. He took a step closer and leaned his backside against the sink counter.

“Hey,” He said softly, placing a hand over one of yours. “I meant what I said, I can drive you back to your AirBnB right now- that’s okay.”

There was some part of you that knew you should take him up on that, but whether it was right or not you didn’t actually want to leave. But you weren’t about to turn and unload on Austin about how conflicted you felt about the whole affair aspect of what you were barreling towards.

“We still have a whole movie to film together, and promote.” You started, hating that your voice trembled. “If this makes things weird and then we hate each other or can’t be in the same room,”

Austin listened intently to your rambling, rubbing his thumb against the side of your hand where he was still holding it.

“Well one, I don’t think you could ever do anything that’d make me hate you.” He said, a hint of a southern drawl slipping into his voice that made you want to kiss him senseless mid sentence. “Not that I don’t get where you’re coming from, cause I do.” He continued. “But all that matters tonight is you and me. Not Elvis and Priscilla- just Austin and Y/N, two friends who met through a co-worker.”

He let out a soft laugh at the last bit, and you wanted to quip back that it wasn’t that simple. That it was never going to be that simple and that “co-worker” was doing some heavy lifting for Baz Luhrman.

But the look Austin had in his eyes as he tucked a piece of hair behind your ear drove you off the sink and into crashing your mouths together. He let out a little gasp at the suddenness of the kiss but reciprocated soon enough, hands finding purchase on your hips as your palms slid up the sides of his neck.

You’d been expecting the first kiss to be good, but the way his mouth moved against yours was like nothing you’d ever experienced in your life. He kissed you like he was drowning man gasping for air. And you almost whined out loud when he pulled back after a minute- breath shaking.

“Let’s move this outta the bathroom, yeah?”

Giving a short nod, you nudged him backward with your foot as you went back to making out.

But you only took two steps before you felt Austin sliding his hands off your hips to your backside, grabbing your ass in both palms. He lifted you just off your feet and you got the message, hopping up and allowing your legs to wrap around him.

You’d just slid your tongue into his mouth when you felt the bulge in his pants rub against you. The friction hit at just the right angle to make your breath catch, Austin letting out a light chuckle against your mouth.

He laid you gently onto the mattress when you reached the bed, motioning for you to sit up so he could arrange the pillows more conveniently, sliding one under your hips.

When sat back to admire his handiwork on that the first thought that came to your mind as his eyes raked across your body was that you felt small. But he dove dowin to kiss you again and it was quickly forgotten, replaced with pleasure as he slotted a knee between your legs.

He dragged his mouth down to kiss your neck and you could no longer muffle the sounds rising up your throat against his mouth. Something he seemed to revel in as he pushed your hair back for better access.

Grinding haplessly against his knee, you tried to fight a whine, and failed when he adjusted the angle- fully hard cock pressing against your thigh.

“Use your words for me, I’m listenin’.” He whispered.

“Too many clothes.”

Austin mumbled a gruff “Agreed.” as he pulled away just enough to remove his shirt. You used that time to shimmy off your black sundress dress, tossing it to the side of the bed and laying back down as Austin did the same with his pants.

When he was stripped down to his boxers and finally looked back down at you, the lust you found in his eyes went straight to your already dripping center.

And the guilt you’d felt just a few minutes earlier dissolved into white noise.

You pulled him back down by the neck into a searing kiss, pistoning your hips up as he ground against your shamelessly. One particular shift of his hips against your center drew a moan out of your as you dropped your head back, followed by something he couldn’t make out.

“What’d I just tell you?” He chastised, bringing his fingers to the edge of your panties, tugging at the waistband but not pulling them all the way down.

You couldn’t make any words come out and he didn’t let that stop him from dipping his hand into the lace clad fabric, rubbing the pad of his thumb against your clit once.

Your hips jerked at even that slight sensation, hand that had been holding onto the sheets flying up to grab at his lower arm and move his wrist yourself.

Biting on his bottom lip, he tugged your panties all the way off and you found enough composure to get your bra off with one hand as he did.

Austin’s eyes widened a little when he noticed and he returned his attention to your neck.

Kissing all the way down to your breast bone, he glanced back up at you for permission before he went further.

Dropping a hand into his hair with a nod, you gasped when his tongue swiped over your nipple a second later.

When he repeated the motion he paired it with returning his hand to your throbbing clit, sucking ony your tit as he rubbed you off. It was embarrassing how quickly he was dragging you to precipice, breathy moans escaping past your lips in rapid succession.

Pulling off of your breast, Austin moved back up your body to press his dick against your thigh again, grinding against you as he moved his fingers off your clit and eased them inside of you. He hooked the two digits in your pussy in a ‘come ‘ere’ motion, and the moan of his name it got out of you got what sounded like a growl out of him.

“You feel what those sounds are doing to me?” He grunted. “Gotta fuck you soon or I’m gonna come in my boxers like a middle schooler.”

“Can’t do that- need you inside me Aus please,”

At that whiny beg that you could barely get out he pulled his fingers out of you roughly, sticking them in his mouth and sucking as he used his other hand to tug his boxers down.

You reached for him before they even hit his knees, the need you felt for contact growing overwhelming.

“Such a good girl telling me what you want, usin’ your manners.” Austin said as he yanked them all the way off, leaning in to give you a quick kiss as he dropped them to the side.

When he pulled away the hand that had just been inside you wrapped around his dick, the other grabbing the underside of your thigh to lift your leg. You were quick to let both wrap around him like you had before as he lined up at your entrance, arms falling around his neck.

Pushing in slowly, his breath shook as he braced his hands against the mattress on either side of your head. He was a little bigger than you’d expected and you sucked in a breath as you adjusted, grip around his neck tightening.

When he was all the way inside he stopped, bringing a hand up to your face. Running his thumb across your bottom lip, Austin looked at you with a tender gaze.

“You okay pretty baby?”

Cheeks flushed as you took a deep breath and exhaled, your voice shook when you found your words. “‘m good, so good,”

He started to move then, and when his head dropped to your neck with a groan you realized being this close to him could become addicting.

Moving one hand from around his neck, you pushed him back by the chest just enough to get access to his neck.

Kissing down to his clavicle did exactly what you’d hoped it would when the speed of his thrusts increased, his breathing labored.

“You’re so perfect,” Austin groaned as he dropped down to his elbows and moved one hand down to your clit.

Getting in at as good an angle he could, he massaged the bundle of nerves with two fingers as he fucked your into the mattress. And the combination sent you reeling, head thrown back as you writhed under him, hips moving involuntary. You could feel how red your face was as you panted, nails digging into his shoulder blades so hard you were sure you’d leave marks.

“Oh look at you, shit-” Austin choked out, cut off by a moan of his own, movements growing erratic.

You didn't know how much longer you were going to last, too far gone to be embarrassed about coming too fast.

“Aus- Austin I’m gonna,” you tried, cut off when one particular slam of his hips found your g-spot, dick pounding it against it mercessily- and repeatedly when the realization clicked.

“Yeah, come on my dick baby- do that for me,”

He ducked his head down to kiss right below your ear, nibbling at the skin there and that did you in.

Moaning his name so loud you were sure the people in the next room heard them, you saw white as the coil in your stomach came undone, hips thrashing against his hand as your walls clenched impossibly tighter around him.

Austin yanked out abruptly, chest heaving as he barely managed one stroke before he was coming with a groan, stripping your stomach all the way up to your chest with his release.

You’d been so caught up in the moment from the first kiss that you hadn’t realized you’d skipped the condom until then, though you were too fucked out to give it much thought.

Squeezing your eyes shut and trying to catch your breath, you thought you heard Austin say something about how he’d be right back. And when you opened your eyes again he’d returned, helping you sit up with a wet flannel in one hand.

Whispering so quietly you almost didn’t hear it about how beautiful you were, Austin pressed his lips to your body and face as he wiped you down.

It was intimate. Too intimate, and as the orgasmic high wore off you felt the anxiety from before creeping back into your chest.

When Austin was done and went back into the bathroom you forced yourself up to dig through your duffle bag for clothes to sleep in.

Austin did the same when he came out, and the silence that fell over the room not awkward- but not comfortable either.

And you didn’t know what you’d wanted to see in his face when you turned back around after getting dressed. But finding guilt made your stomach drop.

Avoiding his eyes as you got back into bed, you sucked in a breath when he outstretched an arm as you did. He stopped short of wrapping it completely around you, hand resting above your head as you adjusted the blankets.

And there was a considerable gap between the two of you until closed it, rolling over onto your stomach.

A minute passed before either of you said anything, Austin’s hand finding its way to your hair. He stroked through it as he spoke, and you lifted your eyes towards him cautiously.

“You’re a good girl- and you don’t let anyone take that from you, okay? Even me.”

A part of you wanted to tuck and roll out of the hotel bed.

Run out and run into the street and just scream.

But you nodded against his shoulder, breathing out an “‘Kay.” as he kissed your hair.

Nothing about what you’d just done was okay, to the extent that you were starting to feel nauseous over it.

A little self preservation couldn’t hurt though. Could it?

#this is going to be based a bit around the austin & olivia gossip circuit #so it’ll include shirtgate/the mtv article the beach photos the friendship with vanessa etc etc #VERY pumped to write this pls feel free to send me anons with anything specific you want to see or headcanon asks #but i do want to clarify i don’t think the hotel rumor was about the GQ trip LOL that’s me taking some creative liberties #mwah #austin butler x reader #austin butler x priscilla actress reader #austin butler fanfic #austin butler headcanons

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beans-in-your-socks · 7 months

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Not Nice Days

read now on ao3

A post Good Omens 2 fanfic set approximately 3 weeks after Aziraphale left

⚠️Slight gore/body horror warning⚠️

| CHAPTER 1 | A Demon’s Memories |

It was not a nice day. All of the days had been miserable since he’d left. There had been rather more of 21 of them so far, and Aziraphale hadn't come back yet. No amount of heavy drinking was able to disguise Crowley’s emotions. And there were a lot of them, none of them good. If anything, the alcohol only made it worse. Crowley stumbled around his apartment. Since he’d gotten it back from Shax, he hadn’t been able to shake the deep stench of hell that lingered around the dark marble floors. Almost like burnt toast but much more sinister (if it’s even possible for toast to be sinister in the first place). As he made his way back over to the wine cabinet, he nearly tripped on a small potted plant that sat neatly on the floor nearest to the sofa. The leaves of this particular plant had always been the most pristine of them all. Never had a spot appeared on these leaves. Crowley had always been fond of this plant. But now all he could do was look at it with utter disgust, for you see, it had been Aziraphale who had gotten this plant for him. A few years back, just after the almost apocalypse, he had gifted it to Crowley. He suspected that the angel had cast a miracle on it to never have the leaves shrivel. He eyed the plant, picking up the pot and bringing it up to his face, to get a better look of it. He examined it. For the first time in 4 years, a spot had appeared on this plant. It was sad, wilted and the ever-gaping hole in the centre leaf made Crowley’s heart ache. He had never shouted at this plant. Never had been able to bring himself to put his fear into it. For shouting at this plant, was like shouting at Aziraphale, and although Crowley would never say it out loud, he would rather bathe in holy water than see Aziraphale hurt. He had always been so careful to not say anything that would intentionally hurt his angel Aziraphale. But now Aziraphale had hurt him, hurt him like he never could have imagined. With just 3 words.

I forgive you

“Well guess what angel? I don’t forgive you.” He sneered at the plant. “Fuck you. Fuck heaven. Fuck your fucked up morals and your fucked up angels and your fucked up rules,” the demon spat, tearing off a leaf from the plant with each word. “and most of all, fuck you. Fuck you and your ineffable fucking plan” he pointed a singular slender claw towards the ceiling “is this what you wanted? Just when things were starting to go our way, you have to take him from me like the fucking bastard you are.” there was no answer. as per usual. "typical." he scoffed "never did talk to me properly." He was starting to fume now. No not fume…smoke. Nothing good ever came from a smoking demon.

Crowley looked back down at the plant. It was shaking, ever so slightly. A pathetic little shiver that he had only seen once before, from a certain angel after a certain kiss. That terrible, teeth clacking, nose clashing, disaster of a kiss. Not Crowley’s best idea, that he would admit. but that tiny tremble was all it took. Crowley was able to feel the tears welling up in his eyes and he desperately willed them to stay in their tear ducts where they belonged, but every mortal body has limitations, even if it belongs to a demon. He prepared himself for the searing pain he was sure he was about to experience.

Usually, for humans, tears would just come streaming out without warning, salty and warm, but this was different for Crowley. The tears stung his skin as they trickled down his cheek. It burned. The liquid seeped into his pores and dissolved a few layers of flesh. It was like acid. He dropped the plant and as it clattered to the floor he sank to his knees, feeling what he’d hoped he’d never have to feel again. Back in the 1800’s after they’d saved Elspeth from suicide and helped her buy a farm, Crowley had been sucked back down to hell for performing such an extensive set of good deeds that night. What awaited him was not a rude note or stern words from an authority figure, but an exponentially angry dark council, and a particularly horrific punishment, even by hell's standards. He had expected the worst, but this seemed beyond, even hell. He could remember it as clear as the water in the pond in St. James’ Park…

“I’m sorry” Beelzebub had muttered “I really hoped it wouldn’t have to come to this.” Crowley detected a twinge of sympathy in their voice, hidden behind their usual facade of fortitude and dominance. A sniff of pity lurking in the back of their throat, something that Crowley never thought he’d hear.

“Come to what? You going to erase me from the Book of Life?” He’d joked. He had thought at the time that “extreme sanctions” were merely a fear tactic used by the almighty to make the angels and demons more compliant with the plan. And he had probably been right, but that was not the fate that awaited him that night. “I truly am sorry” Beelzebub reiterated. With one swift motion, they snapped their fingers, drawing power down from the deepest pits of hell.

there was a burning behind Crowley’s eyes. He screeched, clawing at them, clueless as to what was happening. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” He’d screeched at Beelzebub, collapsing to his knees, trying desperately to remove his eyeballs from his skull, he was, however, unsuccessful. The Grand Duke of Hell looked on in pity, “I’m sorry, I don’t make the rules. I'm only following orders.” They’d whispered. “It hurts the most the first time but after that, it’ll only sting for a few days, then you’ll barely notice it as the years go by.” They brought their hands up to their eyes as if reliving the same painful experience Crowley was currently going through, writhing on the floor as he slowly began to realise what exactly had happened.

“HOLY WATER?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, IT’LL DESTROY ME!” He screamed. He’d never screamed like this before. But he had never felt pain like this before either.

“It’s a slightly watered-down formula, so you won’t be discorporated.” They chuckled at their pun but quickly resumed their pitiful look, as Crowley lay on the floor, tears streaming down his face, burning his skin as each one dropped. They had been friends once, him and Beelzebub. As angels, as demons too, in the earlier days, but as hell got worse and worse, they had drifted apart. And now here they were, two estranged friends. One stood looking down at the other, flailing and tearing into his face with so much force, that it almost hurt more than the consecrated liquid that filled his tear ducts.

Crowley pulled himself out of his mind and looked around. For the first time in weeks, he became fully aware of his surroundings. The apartment was a mess. Empty bottles littered the floor, the bins hadn’t been taken out in days and there were several shards of glass scattered across the marble tiles. He looked back down at the plant. The ceramic pot had shattered and a pile of soil and entangled roots sat in front of him, the chartreuse leaves that had been torn off the poor plant, scattered around Crowley, like a circle of salt, forbidding him from moving. He gathered the leaves and held them to his chest. “Oh angel,” he wailed, tilting his head upwards, half hoping he was listening, half hoping he would never see Crowley like this, “we could have been us. We should have been us” he wept. It was silly really. no human words could accurately or adequately describe the immense adoration he had for his angel, and yet he found himself uttering the unutterable. Speaking the unspeakable, the ineffable if you will. Saying the words he should have heard coming from Aziraphale instead of I forgive you.

“I love you, angel.”

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imzadi-caskett-huddy · 14 hours

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It Started With a Kiss (4/?)

Thanks so much to everyone for continuing to follow this story, and for all the kind words! I know you guys don’t like what’s going on with the Josh storyline. But trust me...I promise you…I will never write a fic where Beckett ends up with Josh…so just show a little patience, and I promise he will go away.

This chapter deals with the episodes “Setup” and “Countdown.” I’m going ahead and combining them, because when I view the episodes, I basically view them as one story, even though it is a 2-parter. The original airdate for “Setup” was Feb 21, so it takes place only about a week after the last chapter in the timeline.

I still don’t own Castle…

xxxxx

It had been a week since Valentine’s Day…since she’d given in to her desires and kissed him. She had known better; she normally had much better control of herself than that. She didn’t know what she had been thinking; or more accurately, she hadn’t allowed herself to think it through or second guess her actions at all…that was the problem. She couldn’t believe she had done something so…so…juvenile. Thank goodness his daughter had come home when she did, or Kate didn’t know how far she might have gone that night.

In the days since the kiss, neither of them had brought it up. In fact, it had been pretty light on murders, so Castle had barely been at the precinct; he was never one for paperwork. That suited her just fine now; when he was there, she was always careful to make sure she wasn’t alone with him in any kind of setting that wasn’t entirely professional. When they were working, her comments were strictly professional.

She could tell he wanted to bring it up to talk, but she never gave him the chance, and thankfully, he followed her lead. She preferred to keep her work life and her personal life separate; it was easier for her to compartmentalize that way. And it had worked up until now. But Castle…her feelings for Castle, and his feelings for her…blurred the line between her personal and professional worlds because he touched both aspects of her life, and it was no longer simply a physical attraction between them. Then there was Josh…Castle had witnessed her fighting with Josh in the precinct…somewhere she wouldn’t have normally had the argument with him, but the doctor had showed up and insisted on talking to her anyway.

And then there was this case…this case, which currently had her trapped in a hazmat tent with Castle, who was freaking out a little bit about a nuclear bomb after her radiation detector had maxed out. This was not the way her life was supposed to go. She found herself wondering, and not for the first time that week, how the hell she had ended up in such a mess.

“Castle, we don’t know that it’s a bomb,” she tried to reassure him. But of course, she knew that he could very well be right. Her detector had maxed out…that was never a good sign. But at

least one of them needed to try to remain calm, and as a cop, clearly that was going to have to be her.

“Well, we will in that nanosecond before it goes off and we’re vaporized,” he countered. “I’m sorry…it’s just the writer in me going to the worst-case scenario,” he apologized as he came over and sat across from her.

She sighed, looking at the gloves she was holding in her hands as she sat and waited. “Can we just talk about something else?”

“Yeah,” Castle nodded. “How’s Josh?” he asked almost cautiously. Normally he wouldn’t dare bring up the detective’s boyfriend, but after witnessing the argument between her and the doctor at the precinct of all places, he couldn’t help but wonder just how strong their relationship was. Maybe they were on the outs, which might bode well for him.

Josh. When she had suggested they talk about something else, that wasn’t what she’d had in mind. She hadn’t expected him to ask about her relationship with the doctor. “Fine,” she answered simply. “He’s on his way to Haiti to do another Doctors Without Borders mission.”

Castle did his best to remain calm and casual with that information, especially since it seemed like something Kate was not happy about. “How long?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.” She was quiet for a few minutes, toying with the gloves in her hands. “It’s funny, Castle. You know, at first I loved that he was so busy. It just…it gave me an opportunity to keep one foot out the door just in case,” she sighed.

“But with one foot out the door, it’s hard to know where you stand,” he pointed out.

“And even if I did, I mean, what does it mean? He’s out there. He’s saving people. How do you even compete with that?” she asked, clearly frustrated.

“You can’t,” he shook his head. “No one can.”

“That’s one of the things that attracted me to him the most, you know?” she looked up at him. “That…passion. That…drive. Why is it that the thing that attracts you to a person always ends up being that thing that just drives you crazy?” she asked, not really expecting an answer. She took a deep breath and looked back at her gloves. “I just wish that it…I wish that I had someone who would be there for me, and I could be there for him, and we could just dive into it together.”

Castle remained silent for a moment, at war with himself over whether to speak up or just try to reassure her. “You do,” he finally stated quietly. “You have someone who will be there for you…always.”

His words had her eyes flying to his immediately. This is not the time, Castle. She tried to will him to stop talking, but that had never worked the entire time she’d known him.

“You have a choice. It’s actually kind of simple. I know you care about him…he’s a doctor, he saves lives, on paper you guys are perfect…and I’m sure he’s really great. He certainly doesn’t make it easy to hate him," he began quietly. "And I know I’m just a writer; I don’t save lives, or even really make the world a better place. But we don’t live our lives on paper. And Kate…I love you. In a really, frustratingly big, follow you into danger, be willing to die with you, take a bullet for you, unfortunate way that sometimes makes me hate you, love you. So pick me. Choose me. Love me.”

Kate’s eyes widened, and she stared at him. What the hell was he doing? What the hell was she supposed to say to that?

Thankfully she was saved from having to formulate some kind of response when a hazmat worker unzipped the tent and came inside to talk to them. “You’re free to go.”

Castle looked from Beckett’s face to the worker with a look that hopefully conveyed his frustration at what the man was interrupting. “We…we are?” Because he could have used another few minutes in here with her away from the case and everything else.

“What about the radiation?” Beckett asked after finding her voice.

“We found residual traces of Cobalt 60 in the storage unit, but not enough to cause any health problems,” the worker explained, looking between the two of them before leaving.

Beckett stood with a smile. They were okay, and that meant she could get back to the case. It meant she could focus on something other than her love life, the unwilling love triangle she’d found herself in, and Castle’s speech. Pick him? Choose him? Love him? She couldn't deal with this now…not in the middle of a case. She needed to think…preferably over a few bottles of wine with Lanie as her sounding board.

Castle stood as well, gritting his teeth in frustration at the interruption. They had been so close to having to talk about their relationship. “Kate…” he tried, gently touching her elbow.

Montgomery walked into the tent, interrupting again before she could (had to?) say anything. “Detective Beckett, Castle, we’re all real glad you’re okay.”

“Thank you, Sir. So are we. I’m confused, though. Is this just a false alarm?” she asked, giving her captain her full attention.

“Not exactly,” he shook his head. “If you’re feeling up to it, we could really use you back at the precinct. I can fill you in on the way.”

Castle wanted to scream at the second interruption, but his curiosity was now piqued. “Those traces of Cobalt 60…where did they come from?” he asked.

“We think there was a second crate at the storage unit which contained large quantities of Cobalt 60. We found wire and crimp on connectors, which leads us to believe the crate was outfitted with explosives,” Montgomery explained.

“A bomb?” Beckett asked.

Montgomery’s face was deadly serious. “A dirty bomb.”

She swallowed hard at that news. “Where is it now?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out.” Montgomery exited the tent.

Beckett made a move to follow, but Castle touched her elbow. “Kate…”

She shook her head. “Not now, Castle. We have to find the bomb,” she told him simply, following her captain out of the tent and leaving Castle no choice but to follow her silently and wait until the case was over.

xxxxx

Castle slowly opened his eyes, groggy and clueless as to where he was. After a few moments, he was able to take in his surroundings and realized he was in a medical facility. Slowly, the events started coming back to him. The bomb. The freezer. Kate! “Where is she?” he began struggling to get up.

“Sir, you need to calm down,” a paramedic struggled with him, trying to push him back on the stretcher.

“Where is she?” he struggled some more, realizing he wasn’t in a medical facility at all, but was in the back of an ambulance.

“She’s going to be fine,” he heard a familiar male voice. When the man stepped up into the ambulance, it was confirmed that Josh was indeed the owner of the voice, much to Castle’s chagrin. “You’re both going to be fine. We got you just in time,” he assured him.

This was almost a nightmare scenario…Beckett’s boyfriend having to save his life. Great. One more thing to not be able to hate him about. The only silver lining in this was that she was fine;

her boyfriend made sure she was fine. “Josh,” he stated. It wasn’t really a greeting…just a comment…an acknowledgment of sorts.

Josh studied him for a moment. “So you’re recovering from a moderate case of hypothermia. You’re going to be a little bit sluggish for awhile. But, with some warmth and fluids, you should be alright.” He was a complete professional, his personal feelings for the writer not withstanding.

“I thought you were in Haiti,” Castle commented.

The doctor shrugged. “Didn’t go. It wasn’t worth losing her over a couple of months in Haiti,” he stated simply. “I stayed for her,” he added in a tone that sounded a lot like he was claiming her and warning Castle to back off.

Castle had to swallow hard at the man’s words. He obviously cared very deeply about Kate as well. He felt like the way Josh spoke to him, telling him he had stayed for her in the tone he used, was almost like he knew Castle had feelings for her. Then again, what sane man wouldn’t develop feelings for her after spending any time around her?

“This is going to hurt,” Josh warned him, taking his IV out and putting a bandage over the mark. “Let’s get you up,” he added, pulling on Castle’s arm and using his hand at his back to guide him to a sitting position. “Alright, just move slowly,” he warned him, hopping down out of the ambulance.

After talking with Ryan and Espo to find out if they got the bomb and how they found them, he spotted Beckett leaning against a car, wrapped in a blanket. He climbed down from the ambulance with his own blanket and approached her, leaning next to her against the car. “So…your boy is back in town…” he started, trying to get a read on her after everything they’d been through in the past couple of days…everything he’d said to her, everything she’d almost said in that freezer.

“Mm-hmm. He came back,” she nodded, avoiding looking at him.

“What does that mean to you?” Castle had to ask her.

“Come on. Agent Fallon wants to debrief,” she answered, completely avoiding his question. This was not the time or place to have that discussion. They were still in the middle of a case. She wasn’t going to delve into her personal life until they had found the bomb; she couldn’t. She hadn’t even had time to process everything…including nearly dying. He was going to have to give her some time to just…think.

They passed along the information they had to Fallon, and when Beckett asked if they could rejoin the task force, Fallon had told her it was up to her doctor. So Castle had watched like a

sad puppy as she sauntered over to her boyfriend to get him to medically clear them. He had to look away as he saw her lean into Josh, her fingers curling at the opening of his jacket.

“You know, it’s funny. When I first met you two, I thought you two were together,” Fallon commented.

Castle turned away completely from the sight of Kate and Josh together, trying to school his expression. “No,” he said, but he couldn’t keep the sad tone out of his voice. “Just friends…partners,” he answered.

“Get cleaned up. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

Castle nodded and looked up just in time to see Josh and Beckett share a soft kiss before turning his eyes back to the ground and walking away. He needed to find a ride to his apartment; he needed to get away from there.

xxxxx

“Fallon, do you know how to diffuse a bomb?” Beckett asked into her phone, trying her best to remain calm despite the fact that she and Castle were staring at the time that was quickly ticking down to a minute.

“Where are you?” Fallon asked.

“We’re at 55th and 11th,” she answered.

“I’d have to see it. Can you send a picture?” he answered back when he realized he was too far away to make it in time.

“Yeah. Yeah, hold on,” she took a couple pictures with her phone and sent them to the man on the other side of the conversation. “They’re uploading now.”

“45 seconds,” Castle informed them.

“You got it?” she asked, beginning to pray for a miracle at this point.

“It’s opening,” Fallon answered.

“Fallon?”

“Yeah…hang on!” he replied, trying to see something, anything, in the pictures she sent him.

Castle continued the countdown. “30 seconds.”

“Fallon?!” she asked, using every bit of police training she had to keep the panic out of her voice.

“I can’t see anything. I’m sorry…I’m sorry,” the agent apologized.

Beckett put her phone down and took a deep breath. This was it. They were going to die…together. The regrets of things she would miss, things she hadn’t said to people she cared about, the future she wouldn’t have now…and memories…so many memories…the laughter, laughing with the boys at the precinct, playing poker with the boys at Castle’s loft, joining the group for drinks at The Old Haunt...all came crashing around her; then there was his face, his smile, the way he looked at her…and it hit her like lightning. “Castle…” she started softly, so many things she wanted to say to him in the mere seconds they had left, but she didn’t have the words.

Castle took her hand and swallowed hard, giving her one last look. If they were going to die, she was going to be the last thing he saw. He grabbed all the wires connected to the bomb and yanked them, turning his back in anticipation of blowing them both up. When nothing happened, he turned and saw the time on zero.

“Castle!” Beckett immediately hugged him tightly in relief. Somehow, his dumb luck had saved them…again.

He returned her hug as they laughed a little to let out some of the tension they were both still feeling. “Yes!” he said, relief and adrenaline coursing through his veins.

Back at the precinct, they had gathered in a conference room with celebratory beers, Beckett describing the events as they had unfolded. After Fallon had shown up and pulled Castle and Beckett away to say his official goodbye, Castle studied her for a moment. He was still feeling pretty high on life…and lucky. “Hell of a day, huh?” he asked her.

She nodded with a smile. “Hell of a day.”

“You know, I was thinking…” he started. He heard the ding of the elevator and spotted the all too familiar sight of the tall, dark, and handsome doctor approaching over her shoulder.

Josh came up behind Beckett before Castle could finish what he was saying. “Oh, hey,” she greeted him, giving into the hug he pulled her into. Even in the hug, her eyes met with Castle’s, silently offering an apology.

“You ready?” Josh asked with a smile.

She pulled back from the hug and gave Castle a small smile. “See you tomorrow?”

Castle swallowed hard but forced a smile for her. “Goodnight,” he told her.

Josh put his arm around her as they walked toward the elevator. When they got inside and turned, her eyes met Castle's again and she gave him an almost sad look.

He held her gaze as the elevator doors closed, realizing that he had gambled, overplayed his hand, and lost. She picked Josh. She chose Josh. She loved Josh.

xxxxx

The ride to Kate’s apartment was silent, but Josh didn’t think anything of it. He knew how Kate could be, and considering the day she’d had, he figured she just needed some silence to process everything, so he didn’t push. They entered her apartment in the same silence. She pulled off her jacket and headed to her bedroom to store her badge and gun before returning to the kitchen.

Josh had poured her a glass of wine and set it on the counter for her. She took a seat on the stool behind it quietly, watching him as he leaned back against her counter with his beer. When he gave her a smile, she looked down at her wine glass. “I think you should go to Haiti.”

Josh just stared at her, his smile fading. “What?” he asked.

“I think you should take the Doctors Without Borders mission and go to Haiti,” she repeated, looking up to meet his eyes.

“But you said you needed someone who would be here for you, that if I left that we were basically over...” he shook his head, studying her, trying to figure out what had changed. Seeing the sad look in her eyes, he knew. “Oh…” he realized; she was breaking up with him. He placed his beer bottle on the counter, clenching his jaw.

“Josh…I’m sorry…this just isn’t…”

“This is about him, isn’t it?”

“Josh…” she started.

“Are you sleeping with him, Kate?” he interrupted as his anger flared up.

“What? No!” she slid off her stool, her own anger flaring at the accusation. They’d had this fight before…so often that she knew he was referring to Castle without even having to say the name.

“Then what? You’ve just been lying to me this whole time? I knew…I knew there was something

more between the two of you, but this entire time you’ve insisted that you’re just friends.”

“I haven’t lied to you!” she shot back angrily. “This isn’t about Castle…”

“The hell it’s not! I turned down the Haiti offer to stay here…because you wanted me to be here. I chose you over my career, Kate…and after a couple of days of running around with Writer Boy, you’ve suddenly changed your mind?” he vented.

“Josh…that’s not how it happened…”

“Then how did it happen, Kate? How did we go from you being happy I stayed a day ago to telling me I need to leave? Tell me…how did it happen?”

She was silent then, pinching the bridge of her nose. She didn’t know how to answer that because she didn’t even know how it happened…or when. “I don’t know, okay?” she finally admitted.

He sighed, running his hands over his face. “Are you in love with him?” he finally asked her after a few minutes, his initial wave of anger having subsided for the moment. When she didn’t answer to deny it, it was as good as a yes. “Did you ever love me? Did you even try?”

“Don’t do this, Josh…” she shook her head. “I like you…I care about you…deeply.” But it wasn’t enough…not anymore. Not when she knew she wasn’t being fair to him.

“But you don’t love me,” he stated.

“I’m sorry…” she apologized, a few stray tears sliding down her cheeks.

He inhaled deeply and nodded, slowly releasing his breath. “Yeah…” he murmured.

“You’re a great guy, Josh. For what it’s worth, I did want this to work out,” she told him honestly.

“Me too.” He moved closer to her and dropped a soft kiss to the top of her head. “Goodbye, Kate,” he sighed. “I hope Writer Boy knows how lucky he is,” he murmured. And then he let himself out of her apartment.

She walked over to the door now that he was gone and locked it before leaning her back against it and closing her eyes. A couple more tears slipped out of her eyes, running down her cheeks as she slowly slid down the door to sit on the floor. What a hell of a day.

xxxxx

Where are my Grey’s fans at? I know you guys recognized where I got the concept for

Castle’s little speech. I’ve been watching early Grey’s Anatomy and when I saw that scene, I wanted to do my own version of it…but Beckett is NOT the “pick me, choose me, love me” type. However, much to my good fortune, Castle is…at least in this case I think.

And I told you Josh wouldn’t be around forever!

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I look forward to your thoughts for those of you who choose to comment!

#castle #caskett #kate beckett #richard castle #castle fanfiction

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lokisprettygirl · 1 year

Text

Lose me to Love you (Loki x Female Reader) (AU) (18+)

Read Chapter 20 here / Series Masterlist

Chapter 21

Summary: Loki comes for you.

Trigger Warning: 18+ Smut, Description of rape and assault, panic attack, Extreme dark themes, Sexual abuse, physical abuse, public sex, Rough violent sex, 18+, Steamy stuff, age difference ,Rough language, mention of suicide, talk of virginity and slut shaming, manipulative behaviour, mention of trauma, smut, toxic relationship between main characters. Dark themes, cult stuff

You heard the door opening again and it awakened you from whatever sleep you were having, you did see him in the dream though, he was there holding you, loving you and your eyes teared up as you came back to reality. The door opened and closed immediately so you started to squirm, you could see the silhouette of a man but you didn't know who it was.

"Y/n?" You heard Loki's voice and your heart beat raised immediately

"Lokii? Oh my god" you mumbled between your whimpering so he walked towards you and tried to find the lights, as soon as it turned on you saw him, he was there, you weren't dreaming. This wasn't a dream.

He sat down on the bed and tried to open the knots of the rope first, you stared at him blankly, a part of you felt scared that it was just a dream.

"I'm here darling..I'm here.. I'm here" he mumbled but you couldn't tell if he was talking to you or himself, he wasn't meeting your eyes and that hurt you.

"Loki"

"I'll get you out..I'm sorry" he opened the knots so you sat up to hug him but he immediately stood up and walked towards the door, he banged on the door loudly but they had locked it from outside

"Lokiii" you called out to him again but it was as if he wasn't even listening to you,

"I'll get you out i pro…I will get you out" he mumbled mindlessly as he continued to bang his fist on the door.

"Lokkkkiii" you yelled his name out loud so he finally turned around and looked at you, his eyes welled up immediately, he was hurt, broken, you couldn't even imagine how scared he must have been in the last few hours, it must be the next day already.

"Please come here.. please" you opened your arms so he walked towards you and then he sat down on the bed to hug you. As soon as you felt his warm body close to you a deep breath of relief escaped your lungs. You were safe, as long as he was there you were safe. He still had the same clothes on as yesterday and his white shirt had gotten dirty, he smelled a little funky as well, not like his usual self but it didn't really matter, all that stress must have made him sweat profusely. The way he held onto you so tightly was enough of an indication to tell you that he was broken even more by this incident.

He pulled away from you then he looked at you up and down finally,

"Where are you hurt?" He asked you but instead of answering you cupped his cheeks and kissed him softly. You took his jacket off, his shirt was soaked and you wanted to get the layer off his body.

"God I stink" he immediately pulled away from you and walked towards the door on the left side. Always so self aware, sometimes you hated it, like in this very moment, all you wanted to do was snuggle him and calm him down but he wasn't even allowing you to do that. When he realized that it was a bathroom indeed he walked towards you,

"Come with me" he grabbed your hand and took you to the bathroom along with him. He made you sit down on the toilet seat and asked you to stay there, as if you had other options.

"Did you see them? Who called you?" You asked him as he undressed but he didn't answer "Atleast talk to me..can we just go back to the room and sit down for a moment?" You asked him but he was already under the shower, there was a soap so he used it and scrubbed himself as if his life depended on it. The towel you had used before was still hanging behind the door so he grabbed it and wrapped it around his waist before he walked towards you and grabbed your hand again to drag you back to the room.

"Open the fucking door Thor..I need clothes" he was yelling at his brother as if this was the most normal situation, you were drugged and kidnapped but to him it probably felt like a family reunion. When he didn't get an answer he pulled up the same pants over his legs. You laid down on the bed again and you couldn't stop crying after that, as soon as your cries reached his ears he snapped out of the nightmare. You were safe, alive, unharmed from what he could see, he needed to get a grip on his emotions and comfort you. You needed him.

You felt him getting onto the bed and then he turned you towards him, the bed wasn't big enough to fit two people but you liked that. Atleast he'd be closer that way.

"I wasn't going to snuggle you smelling like a beaver" he said to you as he wiped your tears, he turned your head to the side and that's when he noticed the mark on your cheek, his jaw clenched and eyes went red with anger immediately.

"What did he do to you? Tell me everything"

"Nothing much..he just slapped me because I was struggling" you answered him and you could tell he was planning an elaborate murder scene in his head, guys had hurt you before at parties and such and you have watched them get beaten up to the pulp as well.

"Are you wearing my mother's clothes? Who put this on you?" He asked another stupid question but you chose to not answer him this time.

"Is this what you want to talk about after what has happened?" Your eyes welled up so he sighed.

He sat up so you did too and climbed on his lap, he wasn't even looking at you and that hurt you deeply but then you understood why he was unable to do so, he was probably blaming himself for all of this, must be holding himself responsible for failing to protect you.

"It's not your fault"

"Don't you dare tell me that it isn't my fault when it clearly is, i should have known" he raised his voice but you stayed calm.

"You couldn't have known baby"

"I'm not a baby"

"You're mine" you kissed his forehead and he grabbed your hand to kiss it but then he noticed the burn marks the rope had caused, that only managed to make him angrier "Calmmm down pleasse ..I'm here..I'm okay, you have me" you whispered in his ear before your lips traveled down to place small kisses on his neck.

"I do now.. but I lost you, again, i promised and I failed..againnn"

"No you didn't..you are here..for me" he snickered as you said that.

"It's not because I found you..its because for some reason that bastard out there wanted me to come here"

"It doesn't matter, you're here and I'm safe because of you" you cupped his cheeks to make him look at you, your thumbs wiped the tears that continued to spill from his eyes,

He placed his hand on your chest right where the heart is supposed to be, he wanted to feel it beating, as if he couldn't believe that you were back in his arms, his mind felt foggy and it very well could have been just a dream but your beating heart put his worries to rest momentarily.

He cupped your cheeks and finally kissed you the way you wanted him to kiss you, you wanted to feel the desperation reeking into his touch.

"I'm sorry baby" he mumbled meekly so you shook your head,

"I am sorry Loki..i'm sorry, shouldn't have gone to the bathroom alone"

"You should be free to go wherever you want, I am sorry this world isn't safe enough for you to do that, I'm sorry darling" you kissed him again as soon as he finished his sentence but he wasn't done speaking "I'm not letting you out of my sight again, you hear me?" He spoke sternly so you nodded, if he wanted to keep you all tied up in his closet then you'd agree to that as well, whatever would make him feel peace you'd be willing to do it "You won't go anywhere without me from now on, not even to the restrooms, no meeting anyone until I say so" he whispered between those longing kisses so you nodded again.

"Yesss daddy"

"Good girl" you moaned into his mouth at the praise, almost forgetting where you were for a moment.

"What do they want from me loki? She kept talking about my virginity" his eyes flickered as you said that.

"Did Thor try to…hurt you? Did he try to rape you?" You looked at him and the look in your eyes was enough to tell him what must have happened here, a part of him was relieved that Thor didn't hurt you like that but knowing that he tried was enough reason for him to hurt his own brother, he couldn't even imagine how scared you must have felt, his arms wrapped around your waist and he rocked you back n forth to comfort you, feeling his body so close to you, being back into his arms was all you have prayed for in last few hours, you couldn't believe that your prayers were answered again, couldn't believe that he was back to you again.

Once you had your fill of his warmth he put you down on the bed again then he walked towards the door, he kept banging for them to open and after a few minutes of constant yelling the door was finally unlocked, he grabbed his jacket from the floor and put it on, he looked like a sexy movie star at the moment, probably not the best time to fantasize but you couldn't help it.

He took a step back and as you walked towards him he hid you behind his body, you clutched onto his arm as they both entered the room again. Loki's jaw clenched and teeth gritted harshly as he looked at Thor, he was burning with intense rage and all he wanted to do was hurt him for putting his filthy hands on you but then his eyes met with Frigga and as she walked towards him he took a step back.

"My child, have you not missed your mother?"

"What you just did to her..I'll never forgive you for that" your eyes teared up as he said that.

"You know why I'm doing this.. and I know you'd never do it until it's too late so I had to ask Thor "

"Ask Thor? To rape an innocent girl because of the delusion you share with that asshole?" Frigga glared at him as he said that

"I'm not delusional Loki, you always turned blind to the truth, you don't know what your father is capable of"

"That psychopathic bastard is not my father"

"But he is loki, and he's free again, you knew what he wants and you still allowed her to walk so freely like an open bait..you should be grateful that it was us and not him"

"What's happening? What are you people talking about?" You asked him and he sighed.

"You haven't even told her have you?" Thor laughed and that was it. Loki stormed towards him and punched him right in the face, Frigga rolled her eyes in frustration and you were just confused by everything. She walked towards you and you took a step back in fear

"You're a young beautiful woman, work your magic and get my son to rid you of your virginity, why is it so tough for you? He has always been a sexual man with needs"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" You yelled at her but she turned around to pacify the fight between the brothers. Thor wasn't even putting up much of a fight to be fair, maybe he also carried the get hurt to not feel hurt trauma that Loki did.

Loki walked towards you as he noticed you shivering so you hugged him tightly.

"Loki, what's going on?" You asked him as you looked up at him so he cupped your cheeks and kissed your forehead to calm you down.

"I'll tell you everything darling"

"We won't let you leave until you fuck her Loki" you glared at Thor as he said that then you walked towards him and slapped him as hard as you could.

"Never harm an actor's face you large asshole" you screamed at him and he just looked at you all confused. He knew he deserved it though. Frigga stormed out so Thor followed her but he closed the door from outside again so you turned to look at him. The room suffocated you and you wanted to get out there as soon as you could, you wanted to go home with him

"What is happening?"

"Do you know why Odin chose you as the last sacrifice?" He asked you so you shook your head. He gestured for you to come to him so you took small steps until you reached him, your body language indicated that you felt anxious and stressed out of your mind. You remembered what Sister Natasha had said once about you being the key to eternity.

"Those girls that he sacrificed before were raped by him, his men, Mee" he looked down as he was ashamed of his sordid past, the things he had done, he would never be forgiven for that "He did it to open the gateway to the Asgard - a realm that he claimed to have been banished from for eternity, in order to return he had to sacrifice 9 lives, and the last one was to be someone innocent and untouched, that was you, he trapped your mother in his lies just so ultimately he could use you for the final ritual"

"He's fucking crazy"

"I know..trust me I know"

"That's why they want you to fuck me? So I'm not a virgin and can't be used for the sacrifice?" He nodded as you said that.

"The whole family is crazy .. except you ofcourse" he chuckled as you said that his eyes held the tears worth of grief.

"I'm not exactly sane sweetheart.. you thinking so highly of me isn't going to wash away my sins"

"You had no choice Loki, you need to accept that you had no other choice in that matter" his eyes teared up more as you said that.

"Did you ever wonder why I became your friend? So many kids at the center and every time you needed someone I was there with you? Did you ever stop and think about what a man my age wanted from you?"

He asked you and your eyes teared up as a realization occured.

"He asked you to get close to me didn't he?"

He looked up at you and his eyes told you everything.

"I was just a toy, you think I saved you? Noo i ruined your life darling" you pressed your fingers on his lips as he said that, you didn't care why he became your friend or what his intentions were, he cared enough about you to risk everything in order to save your life, that's all you cared about

"No you didn't..I'm sitting here today because of you..you hear me?" He shook his head as you said that, then he stated crying.

"I'll always drag you down sweetheart, my issues are so fucked up and you'll never be happy with me" you wiped the tears that rolled down his cheeks, his words rendered your heart.

"Then drag me down, take me to hell..I don't care as long as I get to hold you and touch you, and kiss you like this" your lips lingered over his before you spoke again "All I know is that I'd never be able to be happy without you, I can't even breathe without your presence in my life and you need to understand that" he clutched onto you, hiding his face between the crook of your neck as you said that. His life has been a joke to him, it always has been but somehow amidst all the cruelty he found you, somehow the universe was kind enough to send an angel to rescue him, to give him such strength that he was able to do what he did.

"Are you going to fuck me here?" He pulled away from you and looked at you as you questioned him "Not that I'm against it–" he shut you up by pressing his thumb on your lips before you could say anything further

"Not here..not like this..okay?" You nodded as he said that then you pressed a chaste kiss on his thumb.

"Me and you for life lolo" you whispered to him so he nodded, a smile curved the corner of his mouth

"Me and you for eternity my sweet buttons"

After a few minutes you both heard the knock on the door and you rolled your eyes.

"Are you done?" Thor questioned before he opened the door. He sighed heavily as he looked at you two canoodling on the bed "Mother is taking a nap, run out of here as fast as you can" your eyes widened as he said that. Loki put you down on the bed so he could talk to Thor

"There's no Asgard or Valhalla Thor, he's a maniac and mother could never get rid of her delusions either, he changed their names, kept feeding into the myths but in the end that's all it is" Thor chuckled as Loki said that

"You think I don't know that? She's too old to be fixed now, it's better to let her live in her fantasies" Loki sighed, Thor wasn't wrong but he just wished that he was able to fix all of this.

"Don't you ever again put your hands on her alright? If you'd try I'll cut them off and I'm not even fucking with you right now" Thor chuckled as Loki said that.

"Oh sod off ..get out before I lock you both again" You grabbed his arm so Loki obliged, as you ran out hand in hand you noticed that it was an underground basement in a house that was literally miles away from the city, it took at least two hours to reach home, you even fell asleep on the ride home, thanking all the stars internally that it brought him back to you.

He picked you up in his arms as he took you up to the apartment, you woke up but you enjoyed being carried so you didn't say anything. He laid you down on his bed and the relief that washed over you was indescribable.

"Let me call Steve, I'll have to make up a lie" you nodded as he said that. He didn't want to tell Steve about Thor's whereabouts and you understood that "Can I get a glass of water?" You asked him so he kissed your forehead "I'll make tea sweetheart..you must be hungry too" he spoke softly so you nodded and he went to the kitchen.

You noticed the frame on the bed that you had gifted to him on his birthday and your eyes teared up as you looked at his teen self, he was beautiful and you didn't just mean it in the way he looked, he was and will always be the most beautiful man to you. You remembered how you had to beg Steve after the trial to bring the picture back from the confiscated evidence, it was saved in your mother's camera. You placed the picture on the bedside drawer as you heard him talking to Steve in the living room. People would probably look at the picture and judge your relationship with him but it didn't really matter, as long as you had each other, nothing else mattered.

You missed him so you got off the bed and made your way to the kitchen, he was making pasta for you, you could smell it.

"You should probably change darling, that nightgown is creeping me out" you giggled as he said that. And then you took it off, just like that, leaving you just in your lingerie, his eyes darkened as you jumped up on the counter. He filled a glass with water then he walked towards you, you sipped on it as he pressed the rim onto your lips then he put it down on the counter, his fingers trailed over the mark on your cheek, he was furious still and now he wanted to go back and punch his brother some more.

Your arms wrapped around his neck as you kissed him sensually,

"Never allow me to lose you like this again darling, I can not live without you. Felt so hollow, this fucking apartment felt so empty without you, it didn't feel like home"

Everytime he said something close to what one would consider a romantic expression of love, your whole body burned with an unquenchable thirst for him, a year ago you couldn't even have imagined being here like this with him..

"I'm home daddy and I'm never leaving again"

He wished he could have kept things peaceful, he truly did, but as long as that man was out there, nothing would ever be peaceful or normal, he had to find Odin and he had to get rid of him.

"You're lost again" you whispered as you took off his jacket, leaving him all shirtless. You grabbed his bulge from over his jeans and he moaned slightly. Unzipping his jeans you pulled his cock out, you pushed him further away from you and he was confused but then his eyes widened as you dropped down to your knees right in front of him.

"Sweetheart –"

"Please daddy I need it" you bit on your lips and didn't waste a second before you had sucked his tip into your mouth as if you were thirsty for his cum alone, he groaned as he looked down, the sight of your lips wrapped around his cock was enough to harden him up to the complete potential, your eyes widened as he got bigger right in front of your eyes.

His fingers curled into your hair, you lowered down his jeans until it was pooled around his ankles, you have wanted to do this for as long as you could remember, you felt like an addict who has been on withdrawal even though you never even got to have a taste. You kissed down from his happy trail and he knees began to tremble as you pressed your face over his mound and took a whiff, those unruly coarse hair tickled your face

"You're so sexy I can't…fuck" you mumbled as you looked up and he was a goner, his masculine musk drove you insane, you felt like an animal in heat and he wasn't any better, your eyes remained on his as you sucked him in slowly, trying to take him as deep as you could, you mimicked what you had seen in the porn, you pulled him out to breathe but your mouth didn't stop working, flattening his cock against his torso you kissed down until you had his balls into your mouth, you kissed it, sucked it, nipped on it and licked it desperately.

Every inch of him was made to be pleasured, you couldn't help but wonder if he was feeling good, he continued to moan and you had no idea that just having you worship him like this was enough to give him all the sensation that he craved,

"Dadddyy ..does it feel okay?" You asked him, doubting your ability to please him so he cupped your cheeks in his large hands.

"You're perfect darling, so sweet but also so filthy. So desperate for my cock like a whore should be..and I fucking adore that" his pressed his thumb into your mouth so you sucked on it,

"Use me daddy please..pleaseee" you whined so he grabbed the back of your neck with one hand and the other one pulled your hair up in a makeshift ponytail

"Open up darling..lips over your teeth and breathe from your nose yeah? If you want me to stop you will tap on my thighs..am i clear?" He asked you so you hummed in response "take me in now little girl" he mumbled so you opened your mouth, his hips started to move slowly, the taste of his precum filled your mouth and you felt intoxicated, he was using your mouth in the literal sense, he grunted as the sensation began to build in the pit of his stomach, your thighs clenched together and you could feel your wetness dripping, thankfully you had the underwear on or you'd be messing up the kitchen floor.

"Such a good little hole for daddy..fuckkk i love you sweetheart" He mumbled under his breath, hips thrusted in and out of you slowly, he was taking his time.

The filthy words combined with the love confession that he had said he'd probably never say again was cathartic for you. Your life has shifted its course three times in the last two days. He pulled out to allow you to breathe, pressing your head against the counter he lifted one of his thighs to place it on the top of it, then he began thrusting again, the position was obscene and he wasn't as merciful this time.

You loved how rough he was being with you, you needed that, he needed that. Your hands wrapped around his shapely ass and you caressed his skin

"Close…sweetheart..so close.. want me to cum inside hmm?" He asked you as he pulled out so you nodded desperately "Drink it all up baby" he grabbed your cheeks with his thumb and forefingers to open your mouth and his fist pumped his own cock and then he came inside you. A loud roar of your name spilled from his mouth and you sipped every little drop like a good girl he wanted you to be, the orgasm was intense for him you could tell, his knees had started to buckle and he was holding onto the counter behind you for dear life. His chest heaved up and down heavily and you couldn't just take your eyes off him.

Once he came back to his senses, he picked you up and sat you down on the counter, you looked like a mess of drool and cum so he kissed you passionately before he got out of the jeans and walked towards the sink to wet a paper towel, then he wiped your face as best as he could.

"Are you okay?"

"Heaven…it's heaven" you kissed him and it made him smile

"It wasn't too much? Wasn't too rough?"

"It was perfect loki"

You knew the next step would be him taking your virginity but you also knew that he didn't want to rush it, it didn't matter that Odin was out there, he didn't want to fuck you like that for a silly reason, he wanted to fuck you ..but for love. With love.

And you knew he was waiting for your birthday to take that from you. He wanted you to remember the night, he wanted it to be special and memorable.

You couldn't wait to turn 23 a week later

💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

Taglist: if I am not able to tag you please check your settings

@annoyingsweetsstranger @whylokiissocute @loki-s-wife @fraoid3 @siggytumbles @crzyplantladyvibes @stupidthoughtsinwriting @vickie5446 @wheredafandomat @mcufan72 @xxntiimulti @loz-3 @dishahaldar @mcdesij @scram1326 @elthreetimes @army24--7 @sinsandguilt @holotacopeely @huntress-artemiss @blog-the-lilly @ultraviolencexxss @disneyismyworldforever @bunny24sstuff @kats72 @somewiseguy @asgardianprincess1050 @multifandom-world8 @loki-laufeyson-1054 @daddylokisqueen @lulubelle814

@itsybitchylittlewitchy @rogerrhqpsody @praq123

#loki x female reader #loki #loki x reader fluff #loki x reader #loki x reader insert #loki x reader fic #loki x you #loki x reader angst #loki x reader smut #loki alternate universe #loki au fics #dark themes

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tamurilofrivendell · 1 year

Text

Beauty and the Beast | Chapter 33

Previous Chapters [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32]

Read on AO3 [x]

Pairing: Thranduil/Fem. Reader Summary: A Beauty and the Beast inspired tale with Thranduil the Elvenking and a human reader from a nearby village Taglist: @captainchrisstan @rebleforkicks @yjrevolution @majahu @honey-wine @accio-boys @achromaticerebus @solomonssimp @tired-ass-show-girl @dreamlessnight @daddy-long-legolas @sleepyamygdala @coopsgirl @penguinlovestowrite @midsommar-nights @whore-of-many-hot-men @elvyshiarieko

note: This is the second to last chapter. I’ll be wrapping up their whole 'happy ever after' thing properly in these final two chapters.

Two days passed and then Legolas and Tauriel returned with your father. You were in the library with Thranduil when the news came. You had foregone your book long ago by that point, swapping it for Thranduil’s lap where you sat curled against him, kissing him like he was the very oxygen you needed to breathe.

Legolas had burst into the room and given you such a fright that you had leapt from Thranduil’s lap, though not quick enough because Legolas witnessed the entire scene, including what was happening just before you moved.

He lifted a hand to his face in an attempt to hide his amused smirk and cleared his throat to smother a laugh. The look his father levelled at him told him that he noticed. “I, ah..” He started, recovering himself as quickly as he could. He had the good grace to become a little more sombre as he turned his gaze to you. “Your father is safe. We have set up a room and he is with the healer.”

“Is it bad?” Thranduil asked, and you turned to look at him, a little surprised. You had become too accustomed to Thranduil’s derisive comments or looks whenever your father was mentioned. You understood it more after learning about the roses and everything else that had happened, but it had still felt slightly uncomfortable. You loved your father. Looking at Thranduil now, there seemed to be concern in his expression and you couldn’t stop the softest of smiles gracing your features.

“He will live.” Legolas assured you both, though he was looking at Thranduil, responding to his father’s question. “They had him in this place, some type of hospital I believe it was, but he was just locked in a room and not very well cared for. He has a fever and a sickness in his chest. He is unconscious right now... but you can see him, if you would like.”

This was directed to you and you nodded instantly. “Yes. Yes, please.”

Legolas nodded, moving aside for you to leave the library ahead of him, turning to shoot his ever-so-slightly ruffled and unamused father a smirk.

Moving into the room they had set your father up in, you rushed to the side of his bed. The healer on the other side did her best to put your mind at ease, assuring you that he would recover, and recover well thanks to the medicine and healing powers that the elves had.

Still, you hated to see him this way. He had not woken but he seemed feverish, mumbling under his breath as he slept. You wished desperately for him to wake and yet you also partly dreaded it for the sole reason that the last time he had been here had been terrible and he had not experienced the elves as you had. He had not experienced Thranduil as you had.

Three days passed, during which you hardly left your father’s side. Thranduil came to check in once on that first day but he had not come again, leaving you and your father in peace. He didn’t wish to intrude, though three days apart gave him more time to sit and dwell upon the problem he was now facing.

The problem that was your mortality.

You were a human. Humans, who were there and then gone again so quickly.

The thought agitated him.

He loved you.

Thranduil had admitted as much to you. Out loud, despite his many concerns. The days after both of your confessions to each other had been spent in a little bit of a haze. The two of you had been quite wrapped up in the bliss of it all, exploring this connection that had grown between you both. That you had both finally acknowledged.

However, Thranduil was now succumbing to the reality of the situation. A human and an elf. It had happened, sure. Your favourite story was proof of it - Beren and Luthien. He scoffed to himself as he sat behind his large desk, not getting a single bit of work done as his mind tortured him.

You would die eventually.

He would lose you.

He would be left alone and grieving once more.

He did not know if he could do this again.

The sound of your name roused you from your half-slumber. You sat up in the chair and blinked, turning your attention to your father who was now awake. Your immediate joy soon dissipated and you watched, confused, as he didn’t even look at you, his gaze fixed firmly on the other side of the room. As you studied him, you noticed the wideness of his eyes, the tension in his face... he was afraid.

Swiftly, you turned to see what had captured his attention, and you saw the Elvenking darkening the doorway. He was looking back at your father but he wasn’t moving, as if standing very still would make your father less fearful. However, he still looked intimidating, standing tall with his shoulders straight, chin slightly tilted upwards.

“Father...” You began, turning back to him.

“Daughter!” He cut in before you could continue, reaching out to grasp at your wrist. You winced slightly as the last of the bruises Vermund had left on your skin stung at the contant. Thranduil visibly bristled, however he stayed where he was. “Go!” Your father continued, turning his gaze back to the Elvenking in the doorway, who was now looking at you. The way he was looking at you made your father more scared, more angry. “I do not know how I came to be here but... but you will go, you must! I will stay this time. I will... I will pay for my crimes.”

“No...” You started again but this time it was Thranduil who cut you off.

“This is not necessary.” He said smoothly, taking a few careful steps closer. Your father shifted and his grip on you tightened as Thranduil’s expression softened. It reminded him of the fear he had instilled in you in the past. “Nobody here is a prisoner... my friend.” He blinked. “Not anymore.”

You watched your father trying to figure out what was happening here. To match the elf before him to the one he had met when he first stumbled into this realm. He couldn’t do it and, eventually, turned back to you for help.

You smiled softly at him. It was just so good to see him, finally, to have him right here in front of you. “I have so much to catch you up on.”

Thranduil reached out to place a hand upon your shoulder and you looked up at him. “I only came by to check on you both.” He said, ignoring your father’s expression as he tried to understand what he was witnessing. “I have a meeting but if you have need of me, tell Galion, and I shall come. If your father feels up to it, you might like to show him around.” He smiled again as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to the top of your head before turning and sweeping from the room in a rush of robes.

"So, you and--and the Elvenking?!” Your father’s shock had not lessened in the many hours since you had told him everything that had happened.

You had taken him on a brief tour of the realm and you were both now sitting on a bench in one of the common areas. He had not seemed the slightest bit surprised when you told him that Vermund had led a hundred villagers here to launch an attack on the elves. He scoffed at the mere mention of that man and seemed fairly satisfied to learn of his death. He didn’t say so but he felt a warm gratitude spreading through him when he heard how Thranduil had rescued you from his clutches.

“Yes...” You felt heat rush to your cheeks and you ducked your head, nudging your father as he started to chuckle at you. He was feeling more comfortable now that you had told him what had happened, how things had changed here, though he still had a few of his own concerns.

“It is good to see you up and about!” A voice floated towards the pair of you and when you looked up you saw Legolas coming towards you.

You grinned at him. “Indeed. There is much to be said for the wonders of elvish medicine.” You turned to look at your father, your smile faltering as you realised he’d gone a little pale and was looking down at his shoes. "Are you okay? Are you feeling sick again?” You panicked, reaching out for him.

He shook his head and stood, looking up at Legolas a little timidly. “I... I just wanted to say that... that I am so sorry. I never meant-”

Legolas shook his head and stepped forward, reaching out to clasp your father’s shoulder in a gesture that said more than words could somehow. “It has long since been forgiven.”

A weight seemed to fall from your father’s shoulders and he offered Legolas a smile of his own, nodding gratefully.

Legolas turned to you then, still smiling. “My father wondered if you would both like to take dinner with us tonight.”

It was the slightest bit strange just because you had grown so accustomed to no longer being asked to join them in the royal dining hall but you realised that Thranduil was doing his best to show your father respect. It made you smile even though he wasn’t there.

It was agreed that you would all meet for dinner. The three of you talked a little longer and then Legolas took his leave while you showed your father around a bit more and introduced him to some of your friends.

When dinner came, you found that you were nervous for some reason. Myleth had come and dressed you up in a beautiful gown that seemed a little too grand for the occasion but you didn’t complain about it, leading your father towards the royal quarters. He was kind of awed at everything around him, though you could tell that he was a little worried to see the king again.

He needn’t have been as Thranduil was oh so very gracious as he rose from the table to greet you both. He seated the both of you before he re-took his spot and the meal was started.

A surprisingly easy conversation passed as the rest was caught up on, and your father finally told the tale of how he had ended up behind bars again in the first place. You felt a little responsible but you reminded yourself that everything was okay now. It had worked out and he was safe. You were all safe.

However, as you sat there passing the meal with your father, Thranduil and Legolas, you noticed that something seemed a little off. Whenever Thranduil would meet your gaze, he would immediately look away and, if you didn’t know any better, you’d have said he even looked a little uncertain.

Once the meal was done, you rose from the table and offered Thranduil a smile. He smiled back but he seemed distracted as he gestured towards your father. “I have a few things I wish to discuss with your father.”

“Oh. Okay.” You nodded, glancing at Thranduil and then at Legolas before turning back to your father. “Should I wait for y-?”

“That will not be necessary.” Thranduil said and you flicked your attention back to him, feeling as though you were being dismissed.

You did your best not to pout, wondering if something was wrong but you just nodded, smiled again, and turned for the door. “If anybody needs me, I will be in the library.” You said as you left, figuring that nobody would.

The door of the library opened a few hours later. You jumped, a little startled, having been quite lost in your thoughts. The open book you’d been staring at on your lap was forgotten as you twisted around, watching Thranduil as he moved inside and over to you.

You watched him, suddenly aware that you had not really seen him in a few days, since your father was brought here. You missed him and the thought made you smile, forgetting for a brief moment the worries that had taken root in you over dinner.

“Reading anything good?” He asked, coming to stand beside you.

You shrugged, closing the book so he could see the cover. It was the copy of Beren and Luthien that he had gifted to you - it felt like so long ago now with everything that had happened since.

He hummed, smiling, and you watched him for a long moment before you spoke again. “Is something wrong?” You wondered softly.

Thranduil looked from the book to your face, tilting his head as he took in your exression and your quiet tone. He realised then that you looked unhappy. “No.” He shook his head, crouching down by your side, reaching for your hands. “No, of course not, what would be wrong?”

You shrugged, looking down at his hands in yours with a little sigh. “I just... thought maybe...” You didn’t really know what to say so you trailed off for a long moment before continuing. “You seemed distracted. At dinner.”

“Ah.” He nodded, his mouth twitching then as he looked back at you. His eyes were bright as he took you in and you blinked back at him, wondering at the slight change in him.

“No.” He assured you quickly, leaning in to kiss you softly. You relaxed somewhat, allowing your eyes to drift shut as you kissed him back. If he was sending you back to your village and ending this whole thing, he wouldn’t be kissing you, would he?

“I thought maybe...” You continued as he pulled away, lifting his hand and tenderly brushing some strands of hair out of your eyes. “You might have been having second thoughts.”

“About what?” He asked quietly, studying your face closely.

You shrugged again. “Um... about... maybe you wanted me to leave.”

Thranduil’s brows knitted together and his mouth dropped open just slightly in surprise. “Why would you think such a thing?”

“I don’t know.” You sighed, feeling silly as you squirmed under his gaze in the silence that followed.

When you looked up to meet his eyes, you thought you saw tears. You straightened immediately. “Oh, no! No, don’t be upset, I... I’m sorry! I was just being-”

He swiftly cut you off with firm kiss. You sighed into his mouth as you wrapped your arms around his neck.

When he pulled away again, he was smiling. “You were being silly.” He finished your sentence for you, levelling you with an amused smile. “I have no wish to send you away. In fact... I want nothing more than for you to stay with me. I need you to stay with me. I was not shutting you out, little human, I was making sure everything was perfect.”

“What do you mean?” You asked quietly, but you were smiling now too, his words making you feel better.

“I wanted to do it all properly. So I... I asked Myleth to find you a dress and I was asking your father...”

He trailed off then, glancing down at your hands, and you blinked at him, tilting your head curiously. “What?”

Thranduil looked back up at you, letting go of your hands as he reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a small carved wooden box. “I was asking your father... if he would be okay with me asking... for your hand in marriage.”

You were not sure what you were expecting but you knew for sure that it wasn’t that and you stared at him, completely stunned. Tears began to blur your vision as Thranduil opened the box, producing a ring wrought of silver, with tiny ruby coloured gems, all entwined with the banding to look like roses. He took it from the box and held it up in between you both and then looked up into your eyes.

“Would you?” He asked, voice practically a whisper, sounding suddenly so very unsure. “Would you stay here and marry me?”

You laughed then because how was it even a question?

“Thranduil...” You breathed, reaching up to brush away the tears that had started to fall. “Of course I will, I... nothing would make me happier!” You cried, shaking your head as you practically leapt at him, attacking his mouth with your own.

Thranduil laughed, gathering you up into his lap and kissing you senseless.

The old Thranduil would have allowed all of his earlier doubts to control every single one of his actions. He would have drowned in them and never resurfaced. He would have turned it into anger and he would probably have done what you feared and sent you away. He would have stayed in his bubble of misery and denied himself every happiness.

The Thranduil sitting here now had been changed. Your arrival had changed him. Every day he encountered you since had changed him. He had grown to understand that denying this happiness because of a future pain would only double it. He wanted you with him and that was all there was to it right now. Yes, you would both need to talk, there was still a lot to discuss, but right now he didn’t want to think about any of it.

“You have made me very happy.” He told you when he finally pulled away, sliding the ring onto your finger and then standing. He offered his hand to help you up but then swept you off your feet and into his arms, chuckling as you squealed.

He carried you through the hallways of his realm, oblivious to all the watchful eyes he passed by, and carried you back up the stairs to royal chambers.

That night, Thranduil took you to his own bed, where he happily worshipped you until you eventually collapsed into the most blissful slumber you had ever experienced.

#thranduil x reader #thranduil x you #thranduil fanfic #thranduil fanfiction #lotr x reader #the hobbit x reader #hobbit x reader #beauty and the beast

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