#the worst ones had big round handles ugh ugh ugh | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

katsukikitten · 3 years

Text

Part one. Master list for plus one can be found here.

Just a nice fic I decided to write for fun. Please enjoy!

Asshole!

He was nothing but a huge, giant fucking ASSHOLE for the entire two years the two of you were dating and he decides NOW is a good time to break up with you?

Two days before your cousin's wedding and over TEXT MESSAGE?!

That fucking asshole.

He knew how you felt. Exactly how you felt about going alone to your cousin's wedding after your family begged to meet your boyfriend and teased you for "probably making him up." Which hell, he may as well have been made up considering how absent he was in the relationship. Using work as an excuse to come home late but forgetting to turn off his snap location when he showed up at the bar.

So you did what any rational woman in her upper twenties would do.

You drowned your sorrows in booze, tonight red wine as it was the only thing around, and you scrolled through your socials in hopes of distracting yourself from your suffering.

Alas the devil that is Instagram only amplified your sadness and irritation. Showing couple after couple, your friends on hikes kissing on the mountain top, kissing in the flickering light of candles at a fancy dinner or, worst yet, getting proposed to. The video showing her in hysterics screaming, "YES I DO I DO!"

And it feels terrible to feel this way. Especially about your friends, the people you love and want to support, still it stings. You hadn't told anyone about the breakup, you weren't even sure your friends even remembered that asshole's name.

A teardrop lands on your screen, magnifying all the magical lights of the led beneath the glad. You wipe away the tear and with that the feed refreshes. A new post has come in at the top, Res Riot's official account.

Kirishima stands with a fat white cat in his arms. He dwarfs the animal with his large stature that looks larger as he still has his Red Riot gear on. The caption reads something along the lines of "missed my precious baby."

Red wine is a dangerous thing as your body acts on its own. You go to his page to hit the little arrow to DM him. Typing out and backspacing your message as you struggle from the booze, you decide to say fuck it and use the voice memo feature. Before you know it your sniffling voice is playing back to you after you've hit send.

"My ex broke up with me before this stupid wedding. It's in two days and my family is going to roast me big time when I show up alone. They think I made that asshole up. I don't know why I'm even in your dms. Your account is probably run by some dick head who can't even capture your kindness. I guess I'm here cause my first thought seeing you on my timeline was Red Riot has always been my hero…"

Ugh totally fucking cringe.

There is no surprise as you see the three normally ominous dots pop up, probably his social media manager about to ask you to stop your "advances" as Kirishima is too busy to date and he'd hate to block you or some other bullshit.

But there it is a surprise to see a little bubble with the play button and some vertical lines in various heights. It takes your sluggish brain a moment to realize you've been sent a voice memo. Odd. Your thumb smashes the screen faster than you can think and a deep voice rumbles through the speakers of your phone.

"Actually I run my official and personal socials. And I'm sorry to hear about your ex doll. He sounds like a real ass. I'll be your hero, I'll go with you to the wedding."

Your heart stutters, no way, no way in HELL this was Red Riot. You had read about the horror stories before or pervy account managers taking advantage of women who so desperately wanted to talk to their hero.

Hell, it's happened to Dynamight plenty of times.

You swallow quickly but the bile rushes up your throat. Not just from the anxiety of a possible con but from drinking an entire bottle of wine with nothing on your stomach after months of sobriety. Quickly you stumble to the bathroom, abandoning your phone on your bed. You barely make it in time to praise the porcelain Gods before you fall onto your back. Looking up at the light in your cramped bathroom, the orb doubles and spins as you feel the Earth turning on its axis. You curl into your side using your bathmat as a pillow as you drift off into sleep, totally forgetting about the voice memo on your phone.

As you sleep peacefully on your memory foam bath rug, Kirishima settles into his nightly routine. One giant hand grabbing strands of long dark red hair into a towel while another sits snugly around his Adonis belt and the thick, black happy trail that follows up the center of his abs before spreading out onto his chest. He tosses the towel over the open door of the bathroom before sitting in his favorite armchair with phone in hand. Diamond, his beautiful white cat he rescued a few years ago, jumps onto the arm of the chair, purring loudly when Kirishima's free hand scratches her ears absentmindedly.

He chuckles to himself as he realizes exactly what he's done. Acting on a feeling instead of logic all because he heard a "damsel in distress." Starting off his rare vacation with spontaneity starting with an impromptu date with a stranger. He really isn't sure what you look like and it's obvious your handle doesn't have your real name in it, just PrincessPeach with some random numbers at the end. He takes the time to scroll through your profile. Seeing pictures of food, of many sunsets, a friend's dog that guest appears often, your own cat and plenty of strays.

It takes him a while before he sees a photo of you. His heart stutters in his chest as he looks you over. Laughing with a friend, soft lighting from strings over head that blur like little fireflies. Your smile is wide, half hidden by your hands as your eyes seem to smile with you. Sparkling as if they held stars.

For a moment Kirishima forgets how to breathe, it isn't until Diamond jumps down from the armchair does he inhale. He smiles softly to himself before he drops his towel, puts his phone on charge and promptly falls asleep in his bed.

Kirishima rises before the sun even has a chance to filter through his blinds. He sighs softly, getting up to a sitting position disturbing a fluffy white ball that lays beside him.

"Mmrow." Moon stone eyes blink slowly as they look at the mountainous man hogging the bed.

"I didn't mean to wake you sweet baby." He says softly, going to pet the soft white fur only for her to get up stretch and give him her butt before plopping back down.

"I know, mean ol' daddy woke you up too early again." He says softly, his hand falling onto her back before he rises from the bed. Fishing for his running shorts, socks, headphones and shoes. He makes his protein shake, leaning on the counter as he drinks it, looking at how you read, or better yet, listened to his message but still no reply. It was late and there was a small slurring of your words, he figures you've passed out. He just hopes you're okay.

His run goes as usual, up before anyone else unless they were the normal avid runner. Passing by the usual array of people. An old man holding onto his youth by jogging through his daily five mile morning run, Kirishima knows he runs another five in the evening while the sun is setting. He hopes he can embody some of this man's commitment when he is older. Then he passes a middle aged woman, who gives him the biggest smile as she pases, jogging backward to send him a wink before plowing ahead. Occasionally he'll see a running group or a few teens training to be heroes, they always ask if they can run his route. "It's long." He always warns in a kind, warm voice. They assure him they will be fine so far only one other person could handle his 12 mile morning run. A young woman in her second year of hero courses at UA. Since then Kirishima put in a word with his boss and so every time internships roll around she's in the office.

By the time Kirishima is rounding back towards his high rise apartment, the city begins to stir. Slowly waking as men and women in business suits rush towards the train, parents flinging open the doors or curtains fussing at their children who cling to an extra few minutes of sleep before school.

This was always his favorite part of the run, not because it was almost over, oh no it was because he had a chance to glimpse at everyday life. Of nine to fives, of school hours and after school hangs outs at snack bars or the library.

What most would call the mundane but Kirishima would never call it that. It's why he worked so hard to protect it.

Diamond greets his sweaty form at the door. Glaring angrily with her moon stone eyes. Tail swishing before she goes to the kitchen by her bowl. Waiting impatiently.

"I'm not late, sweet cheeks." He coos, and she glares, "I know I know. You're hungry now."

He opens the fridge, gets out the highest quality food there is and places it on her dish, sure to keep it all in the middle or she'll claim her bowl was empty. He added a splash of water too since the weather was starting to get hot.

He sucks down a water or two, demolishes a protein bar and then heads to the apartment gym.

A few hours roll by and without hearing from you yet his worry over your well being begins to cloud the forefront of his mind. He pauses his music, picks up his phone and talks out a voice memo.

A loud DING echoes from your room and around your skull as you rise with a throbbing headache.

"Fuck." You hiss to yourself grabbing at your head as you shakily rise to your feet. Yanking the handle of the faucet to drink from the stream before looking at yourself in the mirror.

"Ugh." You grunt ignoring your swollen face and eyes, yanking the mirror door open to snatch at the bottle of aspirin. Swallowing THREE extra strength pills before slamming the door shut and turning off the faucet. You make your way towards your bedroom, more than ready to sleep the rest of your day away. Grabbing at your phone to charge it you see the push notification of an Instagram message from Red Riot.

The fucking Red Riot.

Internally you scream before it bubbles up your throat and escapes. You fumble to unlock your phone before looking that it's a voice memo.

Mortified you realize you sent one too. And first at that.

"Fuck MEEE!" You plop onto the bed. Nervous this second voice memo is probably about how you're a weirdo or something as you relive the memory of asking him to be your plus one.

Hesitantly your thumb hovers over the play button before you find the strength to press the cool glass. A soft thunderous voice plays out.

"Good morning sleepy head. I haven't heard from you yet, I hope you're okay. Be sure to drink some water and eat something greasy. Trust me, late nights with Denki and Bakugou taught me something. Since the wedding is tomorrow I'll need a picture of your dress for the color and style so I can match you Sweet pea. Contact me soon so I can know where to pick you up."

Did he… did he just call you SWEET PEA? Your heart pounds in your chest before it registers he's asked for your dress color and lowkey asked for your address. This couldn't be real. It sounded like Kirishima, his voice familiar from interviews you've watched but it very well could be a prank. Defeated you hit the small microphone and reply.

Kirishima hears a sharp DING in his headphones over his music as he finishes his set. He wipes the sweat from his face on his shirt giving the few people in the gym a lovely view of his sweaty and thick torso. One woman trips on the treadmill but it goes unnoticed by Kirishima. He pauses his music and hits play on the little memo. Your beautiful yet groggy voice comes in through his ear buds causing Kirishima to bite his lip. It causes such a flutter of butterflies in his stomach he has to listen a second time to actually hear what you said. Although he understand, he cannot help but feel hurt by your reply.

"How do I know you're not just some pervy guy using Kirishima's Godly looks to prey on unsuspecting people."

Your phone chirps at you from the bed stand and you growl reaching for it. You had hoped your message would have been clear. An unspoken of you know they're a fucking creep taking advantage of their PR job.

"What can I do to prove it to you, Sweet Pea?"

You hate how that cute nickname sends your heart into a somersault and your stomach in delightful knots. Still your doubt pulls a harsh tut from your lips before you reply.

Kirishima doesn't need his phone to alert him that you've messaged him, he's been looking at his screen for far to long without having to restart his set. He listens to your voice as if it were music.

"Fine, you wanna prove it to me so bad. Take a picture of yourself shirtless with the word 'Sweet pea' you love so much and send it to me. No photoshop I know what my favorite hero looks like!"

For over an hour you don't hear back and you figure you showed that perv.

But now you can't sleep so you nurse a water, door dash a "greasy" breakfast all before cranking your shower as high as it can go. Your phone dings and you try to ignore it. You really do but as the saying goes curiosity killed the cat. Opening the message you see a classic guy mirror selfie. Kirishima is clear as day in the photo, his large hand pointing to his bare, hairy chest where sweat pea is scrawled in his adorable handwriting. He winks at the camera as his kissable lips wear a dangerous, almost cocky eyes travel down his bulk following his happy trail that dives under a pair of black shorts, the best part of the view getting cut off by the vanity. At first you try to rationalize that this was fake but damning evidence was sitting on the vanity. A fluffy white cat in a diamond and ruby encrusted collar sits on the counter giving her owner an odd look.

His cat Diamond that everyone knows he loves and adores. Slick begins to collect between your thighs and especially so after you listen to the voice memo that comes through shortly after. His normally friendly and soft voice comes out a bit dark, husky as he says in a playfully annoyed tone.

"Now send me a picture of that dress, Sweet Pea."

#kirishima x reader #kirishima eijirou x reader #bnha x reader

478 notes · View notes

britishassistant · 3 years

Text

The Villainous Paranoiac Has Visitors

You’re a fool.

A blind, tunnel-visioned, desperate fool.

There’s no one you can blame for this mess but yourself.

You were moronic enough to think that a promise would’ve been enough to stop Grim from going after more overblot stones.

And now where are you?

Lying in a bed in the infirmary, bandages and gauze wrapped around you from your collarbone to your chin, because the one creature in this fucked up magic world that you were stupid enough to trust unconditionally tried to rip out your throat over a rock.

Your neck aches. You’re so tired it feels like you can barely even move. Your head is a weird weight of white noise, making it hard to think about anything other than your current predicament and how you should’ve seen it coming a mile away. How you should’ve stopped it.

Maybe—maybe it was because you’d made him hold out too long. Maybe that’s it. Maybe you were wrong to make him swear not to eat any more, and him lashing out at you over Vil-senpai’s stone was just-just temptation that had been pushed too far. Why weren’t you looking after him more closely anyway? You’re his supervisor, you’re supposed to make sure Grim doesn’t get into trouble, you should’ve noticed he was gone sooner. Then maybe this whole mess wouldn’t have happened. And it’s not like Grim wasn’t working hard to uphold your deal, you were the one who wasn’t meeting his efforts halfway. After all, he hadn’t eaten anything after Jamil-senpai’s overblot, had he?

...

Had he?

No stone ever turned up after Jamil-senpai’s overblot.

And you were so out of it that night, riding out the aftereffects of the overblot’s venom and the anti-venom warring in your system.

Grim could’ve easily left during the night and eaten it, and so long as you never asked, never pressed him about it, you’d have been none the wiser.

And you didn’t ask. You just trusted him.

You’re a fool. A pathetic, misguided, twisted, worthless fool.

Your family was right about you.

You would grind the heels of your hands into your eyes, but even lifting your arms towards your face feels like more effort than you can spare right now. Luckily it takes no effort to stare up at the ceiling and just hate yourself for your stupidity.

You’d have thought you would have learned that trusting people is an awful idea already. Hopefully this will finally get the message through your thick skull—

“Yuu?”

You tilt your head and blink up at Deuce. He grins, blindingly bright. “Guys, he’s awake!”

You weakly smile back, ruthlessly squashing the urge to correct him.

Epel pushes the divider back as he rounds it, pretty face worried. “Prefect, how are you feeling? Nurse Kamac said you lost a lot of blood.”

“M okay.” You mumble back, your tongue feeling thick and sluggish in your mouth.

“What the hell happened to you, Prefect?” Deuce moves to pull up a chair and sit down next to you, shooting you doubtful looks. “Was it an attack by another overblot or something? Some kind of monster? Did you get jumped by some punks from RSA?”

You wonder what you should tell them. You know that all you have to do is tell him the truth, say the word, and they’ll all be off after Grim like a group of hunting dogs, just like when you used to ask Ace and Deuce to help you catch him back at the start of the school year.

But Grim might get hurt. Or he might hurt them.

Can you put them through that?

Ace collides with the foot of the bed, interrupting your internal debate, eyes wide and panting. “Guys, bad news. Crewel’s outside asking for us, he looks pissed.”

Deuce and Epel stiffen in tandem, darting nervous glances towards the door like the potions and alchemy teacher will burst in at any moment. “What’d you do?!” Deuce hisses.

“How’d you know it wasn’t you, ass?!” Ace protests. “Seriously, we can’t keep him waiting! I think he’s even madder than the time Grim turned his coat pink and green.”

All four of you shudder collectively.

Epel grabs Deuce’s arm, squaring his shoulders. “We just gotta—need to see what Professor Crewel wants right? It may not even be us he’s piss—irritated at. Just gotta man up and face him.”

Deuce nods, even though he looks like he really, really doesn’t want to. He and Ace follow Epel away from your bed and towards the infirmary exit. You loll your head back onto your pillows and resume your staring at the ceiling.

“But Ace, no one’s...?”

“What the—?!”

There’s a bang as the infirmary doors slam shut.

You look over in time to see Ace slide a mop through the door handles, and drag a chair over to prop under them. He then points his magic pen at it all and a padlocked chain loops itself around the whole affair and clicks shut. You can hear Deuce and Epel hammering on the other side, demanding he open up.

“Ace?” You struggle to sit up, your throat aching. “What—”

“Shh, sh, easy, we gotta be quick.” He darts over you, helping you to sit up and pulling up the pillows behind you to lean back against. “Do you need me to get your shirt for you?”

“W-what?” Your brain is still struggling to catch up.

Ace gestures impatiently to your chest.

You look down.

Oh.

You look back up at Ace, cold sweat drenching you.

Please no. Not him too.

Ace reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls something out—!

He holds up your binder. “Figured Kamac might not have let you keep it. It hurts your ribs, right?”

Wait. What?

“H-how...?” You stutter, fumbling with the buttons at your collar.

He shoots you a look. “I basically carried you back here from Dwarf Mines. It was easy to tell something was up when Kamac wouldn’t let me or Deuce stay in the room while you were getting patched up. Plus this was kinda dangling out your back pocket when you came out”

Well. That’s. That’s...

“Look are we doing this or not?!” Ace hisses, shooting a nervous glance back at the door where Deuce and Epel’s voices are being joined by others and growing louder. You think you hear Kalim-senpai’s twittering, Vil-senpai barking orders, and Jamil-senpai’s drawl.

You begin working on your buttons with newfound determination.

Ace helps you get your head through the top hole of the binder without pulling on the bandages around your neck too much.

You struggle your arms through the arm holes, and then shrug the hospital pajama shirt back on. He’s already done over half the buttons by the time you’ve recovered from your discombobulation.

“Feel okay? Not hurting your breathing or anything?” You nod, still disoriented. “Okay, let’s just get you back under the covers, and then I’ll let in the circus.”

There’s another metallic clang from the door and a cry of pain that sounds worryingly like Ashengrotto-senpai.

“W-why?” You rasp, an odd swooping feeling catapulting in your stomach, like you’ve just jumped off the bleachers again. “Why would you...?”

Ace heaves a sigh and gives you a look normally reserved for Deuce and Grim. “Because you’re my friend, you little dumbass. Getting something like this for you isn’t a big deal or anything.”

You gape at him so hard it feels like your eyes are burning.

Something inside you feels impossibly, uncontrollably warm.

Turns out getting a lump in your throat really hurts when you’re recovering from having it slashed open.

“Aw, jeez, what’s with the waterworks?!” Ace leans over you, ungloved hand swiping at the tears on your cheeks. “C’mon Yuu, if they get back in here and see you crying, you know Deuce’ll kill me.”

“Good. ‘S a-all your fault. I won’t f-forgive you until you give me a hug, you big jerk.” You sniffle, opening your arms and holding them out.

He huffs a laugh, before following your orders. “You’re a tyrant, ya know that? You’re as bad as Vil-senpai and Dorm Head Riddle.”

“I’m worse than they could ever be.” You mumble, hiding your burning eyes in his shoulder. “Don’t you forget it.”

“Oi, you better not be wiping your nose on my jacket!” He tries to shrug you off gently. He still hasn’t stopped hugging you though. “Get your snot and tears offa me!”

You cling onto him tighter, unable to stop giggling even as a few hysterical tears slip down your cheeks. “Suffer.”

“Tyrant.” He fakes an exasperated groan, but you can feel him chuckling along with you.

There’s not many things you can think of that would ruin this moment.

“King’s Roar.”

...Being bathed in sand as the doors to the infirmary disintegrate certainly wasn’t one you had in mind, though it does the trick well enough.

Lucky you had Ace hugging you to act as a human shield for the worst of it.

He sputters once the deluge has subsided, shaking his head and rudely dumping the excess sand into your lap. “Ugh, senpai, what the hell?! Would it have killed you to wait one minute?!”

“You take too long.” Leona-senpai shrugs, pocketing his magic pen again and sauntering in to stretch out on the empty bunk next to you. “These guys wouldn’t stop whining until I did something.”

Deuce rushes over to your bedside with Epel and Kalim close behind him, kneeling down next to you. “Prefect, are you okay?! What’d he do to you?!”

“His eyes are all red an’ swollen!” Epel points out before you can say anything. “Ace, you bas—”

“Epel.” Vil-senpai stalks in, looking much better since you last saw him at VDC. Healthier, somehow. “But yes, Potato #1, what exactly were you playing at, locking everyone out like that?”

Ace stammers under Vil-senpai’s cold glare, so you take pity on him, clearing your throat weakly. “Ace just didn’t want any witnesses to him fussing over me. He’s allergic to showing kindness, after all.”

For some reason, being able to say that and have Ace elbow you playfully makes you feel...buoyant, somehow.

Everyone stares at you. The weight of their disbelief is heavy.

Kalim places his hands over yours. “Yuu, you don’t have to be afraid to tell us the truth! You’re among friends here!”

“Oi!” Ace protests.

“Who’re you calling ‘friend’?” Leona-senpai interjects, because he’s still a huge bag of dicks.

Ashengrotto-senpai has his magic pen in its cane form and is leaning on it heavily, limping. “I wouldn’t worry Kalim-san. I’m sure whatever the Prefect experienced can’t be worse than having a cauldron drop on you.”

Deuce inches closer to hide behind you and Epel sheepishly.

“Technically Azul, it was rebounded onto you off the doors of the infirmary.” Jade-senpai interjects cheerfully, switching a bouquet from one hand to the other. “Though I’m sure Spade-san would be glad to reimburse us for damages through labor if necessary~”

Deuce lets out a squeak.

“Eeeeh~~ Crab-chan, were you doing something naaauughty with Shrimy all alone in here~?” Floyd-senpai drapes himself over Ace’s shoulders, arms looping around him. “No faaaaaiiir, I wanna play too~~”

Ace stiffens, face growing to match his hair as Floyd-senpai’s arms begin to tighten. “J-Jamil-senpai—!”

Jamil-senpai cruelly ignores him. “Kalim, make sure you’ve still got your magic pen when we leave. The Prefect might try to add to his collection.”

You shoot him a look. “When are you going to let that go?”

He sits on the end of your bed and smiles sweetly at you. “When you stop making a nuisance of yourself by sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, Prefect.”

You try to dissect that statement, then give up and settle for attempting to kick him off the bed. You only end up depositing more sand into your lap under the covers.

He laughs at you, because for all his talk about reputation, Jamil-senpai is also a huge bag of dicks.

The dust and sand irritates your nose and throat, making you cough hard. It’s not as bad as it was after Vil-senpai’s overblot, but you feel the warning tugs on your weakened lungs and torn throat. You gratefully accept the glass of water Epel hands you, gulping it down.

The sand around you gently shifts and seeps out from under and on top of your covers as you swallow, pooling into a large pile at your bedside.

Leona-senpai’s tail flickers as he tucks his magic pen back away and pretends to be sleeping again.

Deuce begins to fret over you, taking the empty cup from your hands and ineffectually trying to fluff your pillows. You let him hover as Ace rolls his eyes and playfully ribs at him for his mother-henning.

Jade-senpai places the bouquet in a small vase on the table next to you with Vil-senpai and Epel fussing over the arrangement every time Floyd-senpai delights in deliberately poking the flowers out of alignment.

Kalim-senpai promises to bring you a carpet next time, maybe even an elephant if you want, much to Jamil-senpai’s dismay. Ashengrotto-senpai begins trying to negotiate for even more presents.

Leona-senpai half-heartedly growls at everyone to shut up and let him sleep.

You’re a fool if you think trusting these people will turn out any better than trusting Grim did.

But somehow, you feel like you’d rather be a fool and enjoy the warmth blooming in your chest right now rather than anything else.

186 notes · View notes

terramous · 3 years

Text

i'm in over my head

an incredibly belated birthday present for my love @silvarafael !! thank u jamie i love you so so so much and i'm so grateful to be your friend!! title from: the palace - father john misty word count: 9.6k beta'd by: @marjansmarwani bthb - seizures warnings: vomiting AO3

“Here’s your uniform. It’s ready to go when you are,” Carlos declared as he wandered back into the bedroom. He had a soft smile on his face as he set the folded uniform down on the corner of the bed.

“Thanks, babe,” TK said as he dragged a hand down his face. It took him a little longer to gather up the energy he needed than usual. It was probably courtesy of the month he’d spent on medical leave while recovering from his concussion. He wasn’t used to surfacing before noon anymore, aside from when Carlos would press a kiss to his forehead before leaving for his morning shifts.

In reality, he was excited to get back to work after so much time spent at home recovering. He had been going stir-crazy since he was well enough to get down Carlos’ stairs by himself and it’d been three weeks since then. As much as he liked spending all of Carlos’ time off curled up together and without a shortage of affection, he was going to lose his mind if he spent any more time cooped up.

Carlos stepped closer to TK and brought a hand up to cup his boyfriend’s jaw as he connected their lips in a soft kiss. “How’re you feeling?”

“Pretty good.”

Being met with worried brown eyes pulling apart every detail of his demeanour was something TK had come to expect in his daily life and those looks had only become more frequent over the past month.

“Are you sure? How’s your head?” Carlos asked, running his hand through TK’s hair until it came to rest on the back of his neck and he began running his thumb over TK’s skin. It had become a comforting gesture they often shared when TK was plagued by the most horrific headaches during his recovery. It never soothed the pain but it made him feel less alone.

He’d gotten used to the constant low-level pain behind his eyes, it was nothing to worry about at this point, so he omitted mentioning that to Carlos. It would only serve to make his boyfriend worry when he really didn’t need to.

TK was fine. He was on the road to fully recovering from his concussion, he was finally going to get his life back.

Even though he was only scheduled for a six-hour shift today. It was incredibly short, pitifully so, but he had to take it easy.

Carlos didn’t even have a shift today, he was just spending lunch with his family at his Tia Lucy’s and would be able to pick TK up the second he was done at the firestation. It wasn’t like he was immediately being thrown into the deep end with a 24-hour shift, Carlos really didn’t need to worry so much.

“You know I love this shirt on you,” TK said as he smoothed down Carlos’ collar and trailed his fingers down the seam along Carlos’ shoulder.

Carlos leant forward to share another kiss with TK. He spoke as they parted, “you love every shirt on me.”

“I also love every shirt off of you,” TK whispered, following the kiss as Carlos drew backwards.

“I know you do, but you have to get dressed.” Carlos stood up from the bed and intercepted TK’s needy grab to draw him back into the bed with a firm poke of TK’s nose. “You have work.”

“I could call in and say that my head hurts, then you could spend the day in bed with me. Your Tia Lucy loves me, she’ll forgive you.”

“No, she’ll forgive you. You’re her favourite,” Carlos clarified with an accusatory point in TK’s direction. “You also say that as if your father wouldn’t order a wellness check and call me every fifteen minutes to make sure you’re not dying.”

“Ugh. He’s the worst.”

“I know sweetheart,” Carlos said, giving TK another chaste kiss before he quickly snuck away. “I’m going to sort out some breakfast so you can get changed.”

“You’re the worst,” TK protested with a pout.

Carlos poked his head back through the door and shot TK a smile. “You love me anyway.”

TK tossed a pillow at Carlos but it collided with the doorframe as Carlos disappeared down the hallway. “That’s debatable!”

He watched as Carlos disappeared through the door and down the stairs before he took a deep breath and glanced at his waiting uniform. It was just clothing, it should feel like a big deal.

And yet it did.

Grabbing the folded shirt on the end of the bed and pulling it into his lap, TK couldn’t help the overwhelming feeling of anxiety in his chest as he ran his thumb over the patch with his name on the front.

This was his job, he loved it, he lived to help, but that didn’t keep him from feeling nervous about getting back in the game after a month. It didn’t help that his last shift ended with being held hostage on the wrong end of a gun and given a concussion.

He could do this. He just needed to be thrown back in the deep end.

Shrugging off one of Carlos’ old hoodies that he liked to sleep in, TK took a careful breath and mentally prepared himself for the shift ahead. He didn’t know why he was so nervous but something about the familiar weight of his uniform draped over his shoulders somehow made it feel more official.

The buttons seemed to be smaller and more stubborn than he remembered. He fumbled with them but just couldn’t seem to get his fingers to work properly. Never before had it been this difficult to dress himself. How many times had he done this exact thing without a second thought?

Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes. He just wanted things to go back to normal, but he couldn’t even put on his own shirt. Fuck.

He clutched at the material of his shirt, bunching the edges up in his trembling, useless hands as he stared down at the offending buttons through tearfilled eyes. He was so focused on the indignity and frustration of it all that he didn’t hear the footsteps outside the door until Carlos’s voice drifted in.

“Hey, food’s ready- what’s wrong?” Carlos asked. TK didn’t look up but Carlos’ hands were holding his in a matter of seconds.

“I can’t do it.”

Carlos squeezed TK’s hands softly in a way that was meant to be reassuring. “What can’t you do, sweetheart?”

“These stupid buttons!” TK huffed, unable to stop the fresh round of hot tears running down his face.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Carlos said, already moving to do up TK’s buttons in a matter of seconds. He smoothed down TK’s uniform, before carefully tilting his boyfriend’s head up to meet his gaze. “You know you don’t have to work today if you’re not ready. No one is going to judge you for taking a little more time off.”

“No offense, but if I’m stuck here for even one more day I am going to start climbing the walls.”

“None taken. Do you want something to eat?”

“Actually, can I just take it with me?”

Carlos’ eyebrows knit together at that as he eyed TK cautiously. He was clearly worried. “Sure. Are you nauseous? Do you want to take another day off?”

TK waved away his concern. “I’m fine. I just don’t want to be late.”

“Okay…” Carlos didn’t look convinced but he gave TK a quick kiss. It was just a second or two but it took all of TK’s strength to not seize Carlos by his collar and pull him down onto the bed.

Carlos knew this, of course, and smiled at TK before pulling away. “Finish getting dressed and we’ll get on our way soon. I’m sure you can manage that, but just call out if you need me.”

“I always need you.”

“You’re such a dork,” Carlos chuckled as he stepped out of their bedroom, blowing TK a kiss as he left.

TK lifted his hand to catch the kiss, gingerly curling his fingers into his palm. He turned back to his uniform and took a few seconds to let go of his anxiety. He could do this. The buttons were just a minor setback.

Truly, the buttons appeared to be the hardest thing. Not that TK was entirely sure why, but getting dressed the rest of the way proved itself to be a lot easier.

He’d even managed to brush his teeth and make his way halfway down the stairs before Carlos called out to him.

“Who’s this handsome paramedic in my house? I don’t remember calling 911.”

TK just rolled his eyes as he hopped down the rest of the staircase. As soon as his feet hit the floor he stood there with his arms open, giving Carlos a pointed look.

He tapped his foot impatiently as Carlos wandered over and wrapped his arms around TK’s waist, picking him up and walking towards the door.

“This is not what I had in mind!” TK grumbled until Carlos set him down. Slung over Carlos’ shoulder was TK’s duffle bag that plonked heavily on the ground at the same time as TK’s socked feet reconnected.

Before TK could say anything, Carlos was kneeling down and grabbing TK’s boots.

“I can put my own shoes on,” TK protested as Carlos manhandled his feet into the boots.

“You can’t even tie your laces properly, you still do the double-loop. It’ll go faster if I do it.”

TK knew it was a ploy to make sure he didn’t have to deal with the fiddly task of tying his laces. But he’d never tell Carlos that he had caught on.

I only took Carlos a few seconds before he was standing up again and pushing the front door open with a lovesick grin on his face. “You ready to go?”

“Definitely,” TK said with a nod.

TK froze as he stepped out of the front door. The sun was definitely brighter this morning than he was expecting, and a little more than his head was prepared for. But he could handle it.

“You good, babe?” Carlos asked. TK opened his eyes to see Carlos worriedly looking over the top of the car door instead of climbing into the driver’s seat. He really was going to worry about TK all day, wasn’t he?

TK nodded, “Yeah, I’m good.”

“You sure?”

Taking a deep breath, TK gave Carlos a smile. “It’ll be fine, Carlos.”

Walking into the firehouse felt like coming home after a long day. He wasn’t aware he could miss his workplace so much, at least until he spent a month basically confined to Carlos’ condo.

No one was around when TK wandered in, which he could probably chalk up to the missing ladder truck. That was until he spotted the one, the only, Nancy Gillian. She had her legs draped over the arm of the couch and her phone glued to her face, the blue light from the screen reflecting on her skin.

“He’s alive!” Nancy cheered as she looked up from her phone, all but throwing it aside as she kicked her legs up and in a few short strides, wrapped TK up in a bone-crushing hug.

This was definitely weird. TK had never even been hugged by Tommy, let alone the paramedic with whom he had not had the smoothest sailings with in terms of their relationship.

“I missed you, jerk.”

It took TK a few seconds before he was returning her embrace. “I missed you too.”

Almost instantly, Nancy let TK go and turned her back to him. “Did you hear that, Tommy? I told you I could get him to be sappy within five minutes!”

Tommy stepped into view and clicked the button on her stopwatch, making it beep. “2.38. That’s got to be a record.”

“I wasn’t aware there was a record. Or that you were both scheming against me on my first day back,” TK said, his gaze shifting between his fellow paramedics.

“C’mon, it was the perfect scheming opportunity. Marjan and Paul helped with the plan,” Nancy explained.

TK rolled his eyes. “Of course they did. I wouldn’t expect anything less from them.”

Nancy looked around before crossing her arms across her chest, looking somewhere between disappointed and bored. “They had hoped that they were gonna be here to witness it though.”

“Speaking of, why aren’t you guys on the call with them?”

“Medical wasn’t needed, so we’ve just been waiting for you to show up. They’ll be back soon, though,” Tommy said with a shrug.

“And Judd will probably never put you down again in your lifetime,” Nancy chipped in.

TK couldn’t help but to chuckle at the mental image of Judd carting him around for the rest of his life. He certainly wouldn’t put it past him.

Judd was, after all, always threatening to wrap TK up in bubble wrap or never let him do anything unsupervised ever again. TK definitely considered it to be an overreaction and a tad over-protective but everyone else seemed to disagree with him every time he brought it up.

He followed Nancy back to the couch where they both sat down and TK prepared for the onslaught of questions about his well being.

Nancy turned her calculating gaze on TK. “How’s your head?”

“Good.”

“Any dizziness?”

“Nope.”

“Sensitivity to light?”

“I told you, Nancy, I’m fine. Just happy to be back at work.”

“She’ll never admit it, but she missed you,” Tommy said.

“I did not,” Nancy hissed, shooting a glare in Tommy’s direction.

“She’s lying. We all missed you.”

TK turned to see Paul standing behind him. Paul smiled and ruffled TK’s hair. “How are you doing?”

“If one more person asks me that I’m going to smack them.”

“Don’t hit me,” Paul said, raising his hands with his palms towards TK in surrender.

“Give me one good reason,” TK said, raising his hand in an empty threat.

Paul eyed him carefully. “You need someone to protect you from Judd when he realises that you’re here.”

“True,” TK said, lowering his hand so that it rested in his lap. Judd’s big brother role that he had adopted was definitely a lot to deal with at times, but TK enjoyed the affection.

“Strand!” Judd’s distinct voice called, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

Paul mouthed him a quick ‘good luck’ before TK was wrapped up in a tight embrace.

Pitifully trying to shove away Judd’s arms, TK struggled to wriggle out of his hold. “I need to breathe, Judd.”

As soon as his boots hit the ground, TK rolled his shoulders back and shook out his arms as he bounced on his feet. It was good to be back.

It’d been a good day, mostly minor calls so far, a fainting, a typical rest home visit, and a compound fracture from an unfortunate shortcut down two flights of stairs. But this was exciting, he was back in the heat of it now.

“Look less excited to be at a car accident, Strand,” Nancy scolded as she jabbed her elbow into TK’s ribs.

“It’s not my fault. I’ve been on house arrest for a month, I’ve missed this.”

“And we’ve missed you, but make sure to listen to your body and not push your limits today. You’re supposed to be being eased back into this,” Tommy said carefully as she placed her hands on TK’s shoulders to hold him still.

TK nodded. “Got it. Take it easy, tap out if there’s any issues. I got it.”

Tommy offered him a satisfied smile before she turned to the scene. “Alright, TK, you take the kid that got flung, Nancy and I will check on the driver.”

“On it, Cap,” TK said with a sharp nod, adjusting the strap of his medical bag on his shoulder.

He could do this, he could see the kid sprawled on the road with a few firefighters by his side. This was straightforward, just TK and no hassle of waiting for the team to free his patient.

It was simple, something he couldn’t mess up on his first day back. He knew that this was Tommy’s way of including him without potentially jeopardizing anything.

“What have we got here?” TK asked as he knelt down on the opposite side of the patient, meeting Paul’s gaze briefly.

“Kid got thrown, don’t think he lost consciousness but he doesn’t seem to be in a chatty mood,” Paul offered.

“That’s alright, I got it from here. Why don’t you go do firefighter-y things?”

“Ooh, he’s a paramedic and now he’s too good for us firefighters,” Paul mocked as he gave TK’s shoulder a firm shove.

“Blah, blah, blah. Screw you, Strickland.”

“Let me know when you’re free!” Paul called with his hands cupped around his mouth as he jogged backwards towards the rest of the team.

TK couldn’t help the smile on his face as he shook his head. It was good to be back. He’d certainly missed everyone more than he cared to admit. He turned his attention back to his patient. As far as TK could tell, Paul had gotten as far as a cervical collar and not much else.

“Hey, I’m TK. I’m a paramedic. Can you tell me your name?”

“Andy,” the kid groaned, his face scrunched up in what TK assumed was pain. There was road rash visible on Andy’s face, blood from his nose and a laceration on his forehead sticking his long black hair to his skin.

“Hi Andy. I’m going to help you as best I can. Can you tell me what happened?”

“I’m-” Andy paused, seeming to need a moment to think about it. “I’m not sure.”

TK tensed for a moment before shaking out any visual reaction to the information he was gathering. He had to be professional, and being professional meant keeping his patient calm at all costs. “That’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

“Do you know if you lost consciousness at any point?”

“I don’t think so?”

TK pulled the edge of his bottom lip between his teeth, gnawing on it to ease his nerves. This wasn’t good. “Do you know where you are?”

“The middle of the road.” Well, he wasn’t wrong.

“Do you know what day it is?”

“Tuesday?”

TK shook his head. “It’s Saturday.”

“Nice.” Andy cracked a small smile. “I love the weekend.”

TK fished his penlight out of his pocket and turned it on in one fluid motion. It was muscle memory, but it felt good to be back. He ran it over Andy’s eyes, his mind whirling as he processed what he was seeing.

Tensing up a little as he realised the severity of the seemingly insignificant head wound. “Pupils are irregular and response is delayed.”

“That’s bad isn’t it?” Andy asked, his voice climbing in pitch with what was undoubtedly fear. It was always fear.

“Don’t worry about that right now.” TK clicked off the light and held his penlight parallel with Andy’s face. “Can you follow my light?”

He watched Andy’s eyes trailing the sideways movement of the light carefully.

Clicking his tongue, TK slipped the penlight back into his pocket. “I can’t make a diagnosis here but you might have a concussion.”

“How bad is that?”

“Oh, it’s not gonna be pleasant. I just spent a month on medical leave for a concussion of my own. Wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”

“Ouch?”

TK nodded, suppressing a grimace as he tried to ignore the stabbing pain making itself known behind his right eye. Now really wasn’t the best time for a headache. “Ouch.”

“I’m going to slide my hands under you to check for any bleeding that I can’t see. Is that okay with you?”

Andy nodded slightly, his movement restricted by the collar. Clearly his probable concussion protested the attempted motion as Andy quickly let out a groan, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Yeah, that won’t be a good idea for a while,” TK hummed as he began sliding his gloved hands under Andy, watching carefully for the familiar smear of red that would let him figure out why Andy was getting so pale.

But there was no blood.

In any other instance, TK would be relieved to find no evidence of bleeding, but with the growing lack of colour in Andy’s skin and the way that TK confirmed with a single touch that his skin was also colder than it should be, there was no relief from the lack of a visible bleed. It was almost definitely internal and there wasn’t a lot that TK could do about that.

Sucking his teeth, TK mentally ran over his course of action. It didn’t involve a lot of steps so he could handle it on his own. There was no need to bring in the cavalry.

“Okay, I’m going to give you an IV,” TK said as he dug around in his med kit. “It won’t solve anything but it’ll make you feel a whole of a lot better.”

“That sounds good.”

TK had the bag of saline, the needle—he even triple-checked the gauge—, the catheter and a few alcohol pads laid out before him. This was an IV, he’d done it a million times, he could do it in his sleep.

That was until he tried to open the alcohol pad and couldn’t seem to get his fingers to cooperate. It was the button fiasco all over again. TK was starting to get really sick of this.

Brushing it off and deciding to blame the alcohol pad as faulty, TK quickly tried another. And another. And another.

The alcohol pads weren’t faulty, he was.

Taking a breath as he closed his eyes, TK willed his hands to stop shaking. This wasn’t the end of the world, he could handle it.

“Hey, Gillian, can you give me a hand?” TK called over his shoulder and tried to ignore how unsure his voice sounded.

“Sure!” She called back. It was only a few seconds before Nancy was kneeling on the other side of Andy, her own med kit with her. “What do you need?”

With a careful inhale, TK asked the question he knew was only going to raise a million more. “Can you run a line for me?”

Nancy looked like she wanted to ask, but she stayed silent and set up the IV with quick ease.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Nancy said. TK could tell that she was trying to seem casual, but her voice was firm. This was going to find it’s way back to Tommy and she was going to bench him. So much for a good first say back. “I’m gonna go see if there’s an available gurney.”

“That'd be great, thanks Nancy,” TK said with an uneasy smile. He was grateful but he knew that once this interaction was over, he was going to be benched. Carlos would be called to come and pick him up from the station and he’d be back on medical leave for the foreseeable future.

Nancy left and TK turned back to Andy who was eyeing him curiously, his brown eyes seeming to trail after TK’s every movement.

“Are you alright?” TK asked, scanning Andy for any sign of an injury that he may have missed.

“Did you know that you’re really pretty?”

TK froze for a second, he probably looked like he was buffering. Concussed teenagers are one thing. Apparently concussed teens flirting with him were the same thing. TK had to consciously remind himself to reply to Andy instead of just kneeling there looking like a stunned mullet. “It has been said.”

“No, I mean like, so pretty.”

TK rocked back on his heels slightly, lifting his head to look in the direction of the rest of the crew. Silently begging Nancy to return. “Andy, I’m flattered, but you’re like twelve.”

“I’m fifteen,” Andy said.

“I rest my case. You’re a minor and I already have a boyfriend.”

“It’s not my lucky day, I guess.”

TK could help a smile as he shook his head, ignoring the low-level pounding in his making itself known. “No. No, it is not.”

As soon as Andy was unloaded from the ambulance and Nancy and Tommy followed his gurney inside the hospital, TK climbed into the passenger’s seat of the ambulance to wait for them.

His body was so heavy, he really couldn’t fathom staying on his feet any longer. He wasn’t used to all this work. Maybe diving back into the deep end wasn’t the best plan.

If he was still a firefighter, he’d have been put on light duty. He’d be working reception, checking inventory or cleaning all day but he’d be doing something. Light duty wasn’t much of a function when he was a paramedic.

This was the closest he could get, he didn’t get to drive or work on anything that wasn’t minor. And still, he was feeling the toll.

Curling in on himself, TK massaged his temples. Of course his head had to hurt.

TK could feel the pressure in his head climbing. The little sharp pains morphed into a constant throbbing as it got harder and harder to bear having his eyes open. It was only going to get worse from here.

But he just needed to hold it together for the rest of the day. Or until they could get back to the station.

If they got back he could sleep off the worst of it, or look pitiful enough for Tommy to send him home. He didn’t want to go home but he wanted to stop feeling like he couldn’t do his job.

He could hear the distinct sound of doors opening and closing as Tommy and Nancy returned but he didn’t look at them.

“Good work out there, team. It’s been too empty just as the two of us, it’s good to have you back, TK,” Tommy said as TK felt the ambulance start up with the familiar hum of the engine.

“It’s good to be back.”

Nancy had pulled out of the hospital and back onto the road by the time Tommy spoke again.

“Do you want to talk about the IV, TK?”

“Not really,” TK said. He knew what Tommy was going to say, he was bound to be benched.

“Just say the word and you can go home. No one is mad, or disappointed, or anything. If you need more time off, that’s okay.”

“No, no. I’m good.”

“The offer is always there if you feel the need to take it.”

TK let out a short laugh. It sounded kind of like he was being strangled. “I won’t, but okay.”

They lapsed into silence, the atmosphere suddenly having become so much more awkward.

After a few minutes and most of their journey back to the station the pressure in TK’s head decided to spike and suddenly everything was making a fresh wave of pain hit him.

Groaning softy, TK pinched the bridge of his nose and scrunched his eyes shut to block out the light. He really needed the throbbing in his head to ease up or at least not get worse before they got back to the station and he could down a few advil to take the edge off.

Over his recovery period he had gotten used to the pattern of his migraines, the way the pain would linger for an hour or two and steadily get worse until it skyrocketed and Carlos had to hold him while he sobbed and tried to ride out the pain. By that point there wasn’t much either of them could do except to make their way up to the bedroom and hope that TK could sleep it off.

He couldn’t begin to even imagine how many hours Carlos had spent sitting on the bed next to him in the dark, rubbing his hand soothingly across TK’s back, silently begging for the pain to stop. TK knew how much it killed Carlos to see him hurting, as well as how he’d kept quiet about it but he could never really hide these things from his boyfriend. Carlos’ eyes were so full of emotion, they were a dead giveaway every time.

It’d been almost a week and a half since he’d had a migraine, his neurologist even said it was a good indicator that he was on the tail end of his recovery. However, in usual TK Strand style, good things never lasted.

As he opened his eyes, TK had to suppress his urge to curse. Everything was like he was looking through an out of focus camera, the haziness only slight in the centre of his vision but his peripheral vision was barely decipherable.

The taillights of the car in front of them seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat and the midday sun was making the simple act of keeping his eyes open borderline-unbearable as pain laced its way through his skull.

This was bad.

He closed his eyes and leant his head back until it collided softly with the seat. At least he was expecting the dizziness and nausea as they washed over him.

“You alright, Strand?” Nancy asked, undoubtedly having given him a quick once-over when he got quiet.

TK nodded, biting his tongue as he felt like he was going to regret having lunch. He tried to laugh it off, but the sound came out very weak and not at all as casual as he had hoped. “Yeah, just tired. I’m not used to being awake for so long without taking a nap.”

“Feel free to lie down for a bit when we get back to the station. I don’t want you overdoing it, you hear me?” Tommy chimed from her seat in the back.

“I’ll be fine, Cap. Just need to readjust to working life.”

TK could hear Tommy shift in her seat, probably so she was sure that he was listening to her. “You sustained a traumatic brain injury after getting kidnapped on the job, I think you’re entitled to as many naps on the clock as you can take.”

“I’ll be fine. I just want you to treat me like you would any other day. You guys got kidnapped too, I don’t need any special treatment.”

“You’re not special, we just don’t want to waste half an hour giving you a ride up to the ER because you overdid it and didn’t tell anyone,” Nancy said.

“I wouldn’t do that,” TK objected, not even bothering to open his eyes and give Nancy a displeased look.

He didn’t even have the energy to roll his eyes as his coworkers laughed.

Tommy was the first to speak, “sure, kid. Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

The laughter dissolved after a short while, Nancy and Tommy making amicable conversation as TK tried to hold himself together around every turn and slightly too-abrupt brake.

Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore. It seemed like the fire station was further away than it had ever been before, he wasn’t going to make it until then.

Taking a deep breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth, he couldn’t quell the nausea.

“Nancy, pull over,” he groaned.

“What?”

“Pull over.”

“I’m not going to pull over, TK. We’re almost at the station.”

“Nancy Gillian, I swear to god, pull this ambulance over.”

Nancy gave in, probably noticing the serious edge to TK’s voice or probably the fact that he had undoubtedly gone very pale in the passenger’s seat. “Okay, okay. Pulling over now.”

TK couldn’t fly out the door any faster once the ambulance came to a halt. He knew that Nancy and Tommy had a million questions that he wasn’t answering, but he was too preoccupied sinking to his knees and throwing up in the gutter.

This wasn’t going to go down in history as one of TK Strand’s finest moments, that’s for sure.

He didn’t notice anything aside from the throbbing in his head and the sting of bile in his throat until there was a hand rubbing his back. It was Nancy, he knew that without her even saying anything. Her cherry scented shampoo, although usually pleasant, made his stomach twist.

“‘M sorry,” TK whined as he took a moment to catch his breath before the nausea came back with a vengeance and he was once again emptying his guts.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I don’t feel good.”

“No, I bet you don’t.” That was Tommy. She had a very soothing energy that would usually make him feel better but he was too preoccupied retching and only now noticing how much he was shaking.

“I’m-” TK drew in a trembling breath. “I’m fine.”

“Sure you are.”

“It’s just,” TK waved a hand in the vague direction of his head, “concussion.”

Tommy was running her hand through his hair now, like his mother always used to do when he was sick as a kid, it was a very comforting gesture. He was going to die with the secret that her comfort made him want to cry, ignoring the fact that he definitely already wanted to cry. “Yeah, I think you’re gonna need some more time off.”

“No.”

He could almost hear Nancy rolling her eyes. “Yeah, Bud, I don’t think you have a choice in the matter.”

“If this stays between us I don’t have to go back on medical leave.”

Nancy scoffed. “This can stay between us if you can stand up and walk back to the ambulance on your own.”

“That’s easy. I can do that.”

“Go for gold, kid,” Tommy said as she retracted her steadying hold on him. TK didn’t quite realise how little of a part he was playing in keeping himself upright until that moment.

Steeling himself with a deep breath and wiping his sweaty palms on his pants, TK rocked back onto his heels, ready to push himself onto his feet.

And careened backwards almost instantly, a head rush rolling over him.

TK would never be able to express his gratitude for Tommy and Nancy catching him in that moment. He leant heavily on Tommy as he closed his eyes willing everything to stop spinning. The earth wasn’t supposed to tilt like this.

Nancy gave TK a gentle pat on his back. “Yeah, you’re going back on medical leave.”

She was just met with a groan, TK couldn’t find the energy to argue, and he was almost certain that if he opened his mouth he’d be sick again.

“Do you want to ride in the gurney back to the station?” Tommy asked softly, brushing his sweaty hair away from where it clung to his forehead.

“Please, no,” he whimpered, resting his head fully on Tommy’s shoulder. He was never going to live this down.

“Hey, champ. Just sit tight and we’ll give you a hand.”

TK waved her off. “No- No, I’m good.”

Ignoring how much he fumbled, TK eventually managed to wrestle his way out of his seatbelt and opened the door. He ended up bracing himself almost entirely on the doorframe as he struggled to his feet and tried to step down.

His foot missed its purchase and he was falling for a moment or two, his brain didn’t even realise it was happening until Tommy and Nancy appeared seemingly out of nowhere to catch him.

“Easy there,” Tommy said as TK relinquished his part in holding himself up. His legs felt like the bones had been stripped from them at this point, he had no hope of bearing his own weight.

TK couldn’t help the whine he let out at the sound of Judd’s voice. “Whoa, what happened?”

“Can you guys help get him to the couch?” Tommy asked, dodging the question as she slung one of TK’s arms over her shoulders.

Judd’s arm looped around TK’s torso should have made him feel better and more supporter but he could only let out a pitiful groan as every slight shift made the room spin.

“Don’t worry, we gotcha.”

“I don’t,” TK grumbled as he let himself be dragged around until he was settled down onto something soft. He knew that it was a long enough walk from the ambulance bay to the common area or the bunk room for TK to know they had definitely gained the attention of most of the firehouse at this point.

“You’re looking very green, kid.”

As much as TK appreciated Judd’s concern and assistance getting to wherever he was currently situated - he couldn’t find the will to open his eyes to the bright lights of the station - but the signature deep Southern drawl was grating against his eardrums.

“He looked greener when he abandoned his guts in the middle of the street,” Nancy chimed. It was a very snarky statement but her words had no bite. TK imagined that this was probably how she had spoken to him on the night of the kidnapping when he was freshly concussed. He honestly couldn’t recall anything more than a few flashes from that night.

“He’s shakin’ like a leaf.”

“Yeah.” That was Paul’s voice now, coming from somewhere behind or to the side of TK. He wasn’t entirely sure anymore. “Shouldn’t he go to the hospital? This doesn’t look good at all.”

TK could almost see Tommy shrug. “If he doesn’t improve with some rest, or gets worse, there’s a ride to the ER with his name on it.”

“No,” TK groaned. “No hospitals.”

“Bud, I love ya, but this looks pretty bad.”

The voices were beginning to get harder to tell apart, everyone’s words blending together into one big indecipherable mess by the time they reached TK’s ears but he knew that was Judd.

TK stiffened as his stomach lurched. He opened his mouth to speak but a small trash can was swiftly shoved into his arms just in time for him to throw up yet again. He whimpered between heaves of what was just bile at this point, his insides cramping painfully.

“Carlos is on his way.”

Was everyone here? TK assumed his dad would be there considering he was puking his guts out on his first day back, but there were already too many other people seeing him in his current state. The idea of Carlos coming, however, made TK feel a lot better.

He’d probably feel bad about interrupting Carlos’ time with his family later but right now, all TK cared about was having Carlos next to him again.

He didn’t even realise he was crying until someone was wiping his tears away. It was that gesture that prompted TK to open his eyes. To near-complete darkness.

It only took him a few seconds to piece together that he was in the bunk room surrounded by his colleagues while he held onto a rubbish bin with a white-knuckle grip. As if on cue, he folded over the edge of the bin again and retched while someone continued rubbing his back.

The hand was definitely bigger than Tommy or Nancy’s, so maybe it was Judd? Or Paul? TK didn’t particularly care at this point. He was just glad that he wasn’t alone.

Every time he managed to lift his head for more than a minute at a time, Tommy was right there with a glass of water, trying to coerce him into drinking some of it.

“You need to drink something,” Tommy said firmly as she once again put the glass in his face.

Even the idea of drinking water made TK’s insides twist, he didn’t particularly feel like throwing up cold water anytime soon. “No thanks.”

“I wasn’t asking. You’re going to drink this water or you’re going to get an IV.”

“An IV sounds great.”

“Drink the water, TK.”

He didn’t have the energy to fight her so he slowly sipped the water while Tommy held the edge of the glass to his lips.

The feeling of cold water on his irritated throat was better than he’d ever admit, but he only got a few seconds of relief before he pushed the glass away and the water came back up.

“Yeah, this has ‘hospital’ written all over it,” Tommy said.

“No hospital,” TK groaned, trying to glare at Tommy through the tears gathered in his eyes. “Need Carlos.”

“I’m here.” There were hurried footsteps and a familiar presence slotting in next to TK as arms wrapped around him. TK could cry. He buried his face in Carlos’ shoulder while Carlos ran his hand between TK’s shoulder blades. “I’m here, baby.”

TK couldn’t help the fresh wave of tears that soaked into Carlos’ shirt. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too. How are you feeling?”

“Bad. Awful. I left the thesaurus at home.”

“You’re doing great.”

“Sorry for ruining lunch,” TK mumbled into Carlos’ shoulder, his voice muffled by the fabric.

Carlos brought a hand up to play with TK’s hair at that. “Shh, no. You didn’t ruin anything. We’re all just very worried about you and want you to feel better.”

“I wanna feel better.”

“I know, baby.”

“Sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologise for. Everyone understands,” Carlos said as he pressed a kiss to the top of TK’s head. “Are you going to let Tommy take you to the hospital now?”

TK just whined and clung tighter to Carlos. He didn’t want to let go.

“I’m not gonna leave. I’m going to be right next to you the entire time,” Carlos promised, pressing a few more soft kisses to TK’s hair.

“Is that my cue to get the gurney?”

TK wasn’t entirely sure who spoke but he just sighed and nodded into Carlos’ shirt.

“Yeah, that’d be great.” TK could only imagine the smile Carlos was giving, he could hear it in his boyfriend’s voice.

Being with Carlos brought him comfort and he was so exhausted from the toll this episode had taken on his body that he was content to just rest his entire weight against Carlos.

Carlos accepted his presence entirely. He ran his palm along TK’s spine in a comforting gesture. TK could almost fall asleep there if he didn’t feel so awful.

He had no idea how much time had elapsed by the time something changed. Everyone was pretty silent for the most part, aside from the occasional clicking of the door opening and closing as people came and went.

And then he felt the shift. Like a tectonic plate moving underfoot, the exhaustion morphed into a sensation he was all too familiar with.

Panic.

Something bad was about to happen.

TK rested his palm on his chest, right over where he could feel his heart racing as it got harder to draw in a deep breath. That wasn’t a usual symptom when his head was acting up. “Ooh, I feel weird.”

Carlos stiffened under him at that. “What do you mean?”

He looked over at where Marjan and Paul were pretending not to be looking over at him every few seconds, only to realise he couldn’t really see them all that clearly. “I kinda feel like I’m about to have a panic attack, but my vision is going weird. That doesn’t usually happen.

“Are you okay? Do I need to get Captain Vega?”

“I think-” TK’s sentence was cut off as he paused to take a breath, willing away the dizziness that had made a spectacular comeback. “I need to lie down.”

“Alright, okay,” Carlo said, helping to ease TK down until he was lying on his side and Carlos could run a hand through his hair. “Just hang tight and we’ll see what Captain Vega says, okay?” Carlos asked in a soft voice, running his hand through TK’s hair.

TK nodded, “Okay.”

As quickly as things had gotten weird, they got weirder. There was another wave of dizziness and a weird taste in his mouth as his body seemed to have a mind of its own. There were a couple involuntary jerks of his hands and legs, as much as TK tried to hold his limbs still it just seemed to get worse.

“Tommy!” Carlos called, his voice cracking.

“Go get Tommy,” someone said before there was another set of hands touching him and the sound of panicked footsteps moving further away. When they spoke again TK could identify the voice as being his father’s. “TK? TK, can you hear me?”

TK wanted to nod, to confirm that he could hear them, that he didn’t know what was happening.

He was scared.

TK could feel himself slipping as the jerking got worse. He wanted to tell Carlos not to worry but he wasn’t in control anymore. His jaw clenched firm as his head jolted back a few times. He was shaking now, like he’d been electrocuted, and Carlos was looking more and more scared with each passing second.

“Shit.” Tommy’s voice reached his ears ripe with alarm as TK felt even more hands on him. “He’s seizing!”

And TK slipped.

The darkness was only brief, in what seemed like just a few moments he was blinking up at Carlos again. As if he’d fallen asleep for a minute or two.

“Hey there,” Carlos said with a soft smile. Looking up at his boyfriend, TK could clearly see the tears gathered in Carlos’ wide, worried eyes.

“Hi,” TK breathed as he pieced together all he could remember. There was a gap between lying down and talking to Carlos and waking up in the same place that he wasn’t entirely sure of. It was a void. All he knew was that his head definitely hurt more now, but everyone aside from Tommy and Carlos had cleared the room. “What happened?”

“You had a seizure.” That was definitely Tommy speaking, even though TK couldn’t see her. She was somewhere out of his line of sight and he was too preoccupied with studying Carlos’ worried expression to look away. It definitely made a lot more sense now why Carlos downright terrified.

It also made sense why no one else was around. Tommy would have known that he didn’t want anyone gawking at him when he came to. “Thanks.”

“For?” Tommy asked.

“Sending everyone out.”

“Don’t worry about it. I figured you didn’t need anyone other than me or your boy right now.” Tommy gave TK’s thigh a pat before leaving his side. “I’m going to go see if Nancy’s got the gurney sorted, okay?”

TK just hummed as Tommy walked away. He didn’t particularly care much about what was going on, he just reached out for Carlos until he could curl his finger around his boyfriend’s wrist.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a soft voice, not failing to notice the way Carlos jumped a little.

“What do you mean?” Carlos’ eyebrows knit together in confusion as he visibly tried to decode those three words, as if he was going to come up with a reason he could understand for why TK would ask him that. “I’m fine. I should be asking you that.”

“You’re scared, I can tell.”

“Of course I’m scared. You don’t have to worry about me, though.”

“I’m still going to worry, I care about you.”

“Care about yourself for once. You just had a seizure!” Carlos’ voice cracked on the last word as he covered his mouth with his free hand. He was crying. TK couldn’t see it but he knew. He could feel the way Carlos trembled and hear how his breaths were rough and staggered as he tried to swallow his sobs.

“I know. But I’m gonna go to the hospital and they’re gonna fix me up, you don’t have to worry. I don’t even feel that bad anymore, I’m just really tired and my head hurts. I just wanna make sure you’re okay, ‘Los.”

He heard Carlos take another deep, steadying breath before a familiar hand found its way into his hair. “TK-” he started, voice moderately steadier than before, but he was interrupted by the arrival of TK’s team and the gurney.

“Up you go, Strand,” Tommy instructed lightly as Carlos shifted gears, pulling the hand out of his hair and instead reaching around to help him up.

“I don’t need help,” TK objected as he slowly eased himself to his feet, bracing his entire weight on Carlos as his boyfriend helped to lift him.

“Yeah, you do. It’s okay,” Tommy said as she grabbed his legs and moved them so that they were on the gurney with him. “No one is mad at you.”

“I never said that.”

Carlos pressed a careful kiss to TK’s temple before brushing a hand through his boyfriend’s sweaty hair as he placed the other on TK’s side. “You were thinking it.”

“I’m getting déjà vu,” TK groaned. This situation of his worried boyfriend hovering over him while his head was unbearably painful was beginning to be a recurring event in his life.

“I think they call that nausea and dehydration,” Carlos offered, a small smile curling up the corner of his lips.

TK closed his eyes and sighed. “I hate you.”

“Why? I’m lovely.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” TK mumbled as he tried to suppress a groan at the jostling motion the gurney made as he was loaded into the ambulance. Carlos was quick to follow him though, eagerly scooping up TK’s hand in his own.

"I'm dying," TK grumbled, his face buried in his pillow. He’d been trying to fall asleep for the past however many hours he’d been cooped up in the ER. But everything was too bright, too loud, and his head hurt so badly. Every squeak of sneakers or beep from his IV pump seemed to serve only to exacerbate his pain. He was even cooped up under a spare blanket and Carlos’ jacket as his sweat was just making him colder in the frigid hospital air.

TK could tell by Carlos’ silence that he was trying to suppress a laugh before he said anything. "You're not dying, babe."

"If I'm not dying, why does my head hurt so bad?"

"Because you're an idiot who doesn’t tell anyone when he’s struggling."

TK just groaned in response. "I don't think this level of pain should be legal."

"Unfortunately, I don't think I can arrest your brain."

"Then what's the point of having a cop boyfriend?”

“I’m not sure. Personally, I choose to date endearing idiots who are determined to give me grey hair.”

TK just huffed and shot his boyfriend a glare. “You suck.”

“I know.”

Their banter dissolved into silence. TK knew Carlos was trying to stay as quiet as possible, that any sound would aggravate TK’s pain, and he was grateful for that.

"My head hurts," TK whimpered, reaching out clumsily until his fingers connected with Carlos' arm. His grip wasn't firm, but he pulled Carlos closer anyways, as if his boyfriend wasn't mere inches away at most times and always eager to be closer.

Carlos ran his fingers through TK's hair, carefully so as to not jostle his head. "I know sweetheart, I'm sorry."

In a flash, the nausea came rolling back with a vengeance and TK only had a few seconds to prop himself up on his elbows.

Carlos was quick to shove an emesis bag under TK’s face as he shuddered under the force of his body dry heaving until he had to taste his own bile for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

When TK finally rolled back onto the bed, panting from the toll the day had taken on his body, Carlos gagged. “That’s disgusting. You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“Give me a break.” TK grumbled, rubbing his eye with the heel of his palm. He was exhausted and he just wanted everything to be over. “I’m in the hospital.”

“This chain of events was entirely your fault, you don’t get pity.”

“I deserve pity.”

“Maybe you do.”

“I want to take a shower, I’m all sweaty and gross.”

“You can when we get home.” Carlos said, taking TK’s hand in his own, careful not to mess with the IV as he pressed a few short kisses to TK’s knuckles. “Unfortunately that’s going to be a little while away. They’re probably going to want to do a bunch of scans.”

TK groaned, rolling towards Carlos until his face was buried in the thin hospital pillow. “I hate scans.”

“I know, baby.” Carlos tapped his fingers on the railing of the bed a few times before he spoke again. “You know they’re necessary though.”

“I don’t care. They suck.”

“Just try and get some sleep, okay? I’ll wake you up when the doctor gets here.”

TK went to nod but thought better of it. Instead he sighed and sank further into the pillow, “I’m sorry.”

Though TK couldn’t see him he could practically hear the frown in Carlos’s voice. “Sorry?” he asked, “For what?”

“For worrying you,” TK started, “for not being able to make it through a day at work. For not being able to do anything. For being useless.”

“Hey,” Carlos responded firmly, “You are not useless. You are hurt and still recovering. None of this is your fault TK, none of it.”

“Still,” TK pressed on, “you shouldn’t have to deal with this.”

“And niether should you, but here we are. We’re in this together babe, no matter what.”

TK lifted his head off of the pillow to look at Carlos who was giving him a soft smile. He looked so hopeful TK could hardly stand it, but he appreciated it all the same. “I think I love you,” he said wearily before plopping his head back into the pillow, the sounds of Carlos’s fond chuckle chasing him.

“Well I know I love you,” Carlos assured him, rubbing a comforting hand down his back. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

The resident tapped the end of his pen on his clipboard before looking back up at TK. "This could just be post-concussion syndrome but I'm going to page your neurologist given your medical history to see how she thinks your treatment should go."

Carlos looked confused as he turned to the doctor. "What would his medical history have to do with it?"

TK sighed. He’d had this conversation with his neurologist a month ago. The risk of this concussion exacerbating any symptoms from previous injuries that could have had an affect on his brain. "Overdoses. Getting shot. They're worried about permanent brain damage."

“That sounds serious. Why haven’t you brought that up before?”

TK shrugged. “I thought we’d cross that bridge if and when we got to it. No use worrying you about something that no one can control.”

“I’m going to order a CT scan and see whether or not your neurologist wants more tests when she gets here,” the doctor explained before heading back into the main body of the ER.

One CT scan became an MRI, and many more tests and scans. After many hours it was determined that no, TK’s condition hadn’t worsened. It just hadn’t gotten better.

His neurologist had determined that it was likely post-concussion syndrome and discharged him with a few referrals and a prescription for a bunch of new medication that would hopefully ease his symptoms.

Carlos offered him a soft and reassuring smile as he pulled a hoodie over TK’s head.

TK didn’t even bother to put his arms in the sleeves as he gave Carlos a pout. “I want to go home.”

TK was used to Carlos’ sixth sense at this point. He should have expected that Carlos would hear him sniffle from all the way downstairs and race up to check on him.

Before TK could even get his thoughts in order, his face was sandwiched between Carlos’ hands as thumbs wiped the tears from his cheeks. He loved Carlos’ eyes, he loved getting lost in their depth, but he didn’t love the way they only ever seemed to look at him with worry nowadays.

“What’s wrong? What hurts?” Carlos asked in a soft voice. He was worried. He always was.

TK closed his eyes and let a few more tears slip free as he drew in a shaky breath. “My head.”

“Get back in bed, sweetheart.”

“No.”

“No?”

“I can’t do this anymore.”

“Do what, TK?”

“This,” TK said, gesturing towards his head. “It’s been five months and it’s not getting any better. I’m sick of being in pain all the time, I’m sick of not being able to work, I’m sick of being a burden on you.”

“Hey,” Carlos breathed, tilting TK’s head up so they were looking at each other. “You’re not a burden. You’re never a burden.”

“I keep making you cancel plans to take care of me. We don’t do anything anymore, you just look at me like I’m going to fall apart if there’s a loud noise or if i go from a dark room into a bright one. Just because my life is ruined, it doesn’t mean that yours has to be too.”

“I’m sorry that I’ve made you feel like this, but I promise you that I’m never going to want to be anywhere as much as I always want to be by your side. I love you, TK. I don’t care how long this recovery process takes, I’m not going to love you any less.”

“Maybe you should.”

“Never,” Carlos said firmly. “I’m always going to be here to love you. I’m gonna go downstairs and bring up your meds and something to eat, then we can spend the day in bed and try the date tomorrow if you’re up to it.”

TK nodded. “Tomorrow.”

Carlos pressed a kiss to TK’s temple before disappearing back downstairs.

When he returned, Carlos handed TK a handful of assorted pills and a smoothie before sliding under the covers and wrapping his arm around TK’s waist.

“You know I love you, right?”

“I know.”

“You mean the world to me and I’ll never let you forget that.”

#bad things happen bingo #911 lone star #911 lone star fic #writing*#userjillian #userkimmy #tuserpaige #tuserjamie #userjillybean #uservickytoria #userac

72 notes · View notes

themousefromfantasyland · 3 years

Text

Prince Lindworm

A Lindworm is a snake creature from swedish folklore. A wingless, serpentine creature, with dragon's head, scaled skin and two clawed forelimbs. This darker swedish variation of Beauty and the Beast caught my attention because it remind me of a version of Bluebeard that I read as a child. This makes me think these tales are connected somehow

Once upon a time, there was a fine young King who was married to the loveliest of Queens. They were exceedingly happy, all but for one thing—they had no children. And this often made them both sad, because the Queen wanted a dear little child to play with, and the King wanted an heir to the kingdom.

One day the Queen went out for a walk by herself, and she met an ugly old woman. The old woman was just like a witch: but she was a nice kind of witch, not the cantankerous sort.

She said, “Why do you look so doleful, pretty lady?”

“It’s no use my telling you,” answered the Queen, “nobody in the world can help me.”

“Oh, you never know,” said the old woman.

“Just you let me hear what your trouble is, and maybe I can put things right.”

“My dear woman, how can you?” said the Queen: and she told her, “The King and I have no children: that’s why I am so distressed.”

“Well, you needn’t be,” said the old witch. “I can set that right in a twinkling, if only you will do exactly as I tell you. Listen. To-night, at sunset, take a little drinking-cup with two ears” (that is, handles), “and put it bottom upwards on the ground in the north-west corner of your garden. Then go and lift it up to-morrow morning at sunrise, and you will find two roses underneath it, one red and one white. If you eat the red rose, a little boy will be born to you: if you eat the white rose, a little girl will be sent. But, whatever you do, you mustn’t eat both the roses, or you’ll be sorry,—that I warn you! Only one: remember that!”

“Thank you a thousand times,” said the Queen, “this is good news indeed!” And she wanted to give the old woman her gold ring; but the old woman wouldn’t take it.

So the Queen went home and did as she had been told: and next morning at sunrise she stole out into the garden and lifted up the little drinking-cup. She was surprised, for indeed she had hardly expected to see anything. But there were the two roses underneath it, one red and one white. And now she was dreadfully puzzled, for she did not know which to choose.

“If I choose the red one,” she thought, “and I have a little boy, he may grow up and go to the wars and get killed. But if I choose the white one, and have a little girl, she will stay at home awhile with us, but later on she will get married and go away and leave us. So, whichever it is, we may be left with no child after all.”

However, at last she decided on the white rose, and she ate it. And it tasted so sweet, that she took and ate the red one too: without ever remembering the old woman’s solemn warning.

Some time after this, the King went away to the wars: and while he was still away, the Queen became the mother of twins. One was a lovely baby-boy, and the other was a Lindworm, or Serpent. She was terribly frightened when she saw the Lindworm, but he wriggled away out of the room, and nobody seemed to have seen him but herself: so that she thought it must have been a dream. The baby Prince was so beautiful and so healthy, the Queen was full of joy: and likewise, as you may suppose, was the King when he came home and found his son and heir. Not a word was said by anyone about the Lindworm: only the Queen thought about it now and then.

Many days and years passed by, and the baby grew up into a handsome young Prince, and it was time that he got married. The King sent him off to visit foreign kingdoms, in the Royal coach, with six white horses, to look for a Princess grand enough to be his wife. But at the very first cross-roads, the way was stopped by an enormous Lindworm, enough to frighten the bravest.

He lay in the middle of the road with a great wide open mouth, and cried, “A bride for me before a bride for you!” Then the Prince made the coach turn round and try another road: but it was all no use. For, at the first cross-ways, there lay the Lindworm again, crying out, “A bride for me before a bride for you!” So the Prince had to turn back home again to the Castle, and give up his visits to the foreign kingdoms. And his mother, the Queen, had to confess that what the Lindworm said was true. For he was really the eldest of her twins: and so he ought to have a wedding first.

There seemed nothing for it but to find a bride for the Lindworm, if his younger brother, the Prince, were to be married at all. So the King wrote to a distant country, and asked for a Princess to marry his son (but, of course, he didn’t say which son), and presently a Princess arrived. But she wasn’t allowed to see her bridegroom until he stood by her side in the great hall and was married to her, and then, of course, it was too late for her to say she wouldn’t have him. But next morning the Princess had disappeared. The Lindworm lay sleeping all alone: and it was quite plain that he had eaten her.

A little while after, the Prince decided that he might now go journeying again in search of a Princess. And off he drove in the Royal chariot with the six white horses. But at the first cross-ways, there lay the Lindworm, crying with his great wide open mouth, “A bride for me before a bride for you!”

So the carriage tried another road, and the same thing happened, and they had to turn back again this time, just as formerly. And the King wrote to several foreign countries, to know if anyone would marry his son. At last another Princess arrived, this time from a very far distant land. And, of course, she was not allowed to see her future husband before the wedding took place,—and then, lo and behold! it was the Lindworm who stood at her side. And next morning the Princess had disappeared: and the Lindworm lay sleeping all alone; and it was quite clear that he had eaten her.

By and by the Prince started on his quest for the third time: and at the first cross-roads there lay the Lindworm with his great wide open mouth, demanding a bride as before. And the Prince went straight back to the castle, and told the King: “You must find another bride for my elder brother.”

“I don’t know where I am to find her,” said the King, “I have already made enemies of two great Kings who sent their daughters here as brides: and I have no notion how I can obtain a third lady. People are beginning to say strange things, and I am sure no Princess will dare to come.”

Now, down in a little cottage near a wood, there lived the King’s shepherd, an old man with his only daughter. And the King came one day and said to him, “Will you give me your daughter to marry my son the Lindworm? And I will make you rich for the rest of your life.”

“No, sire,” said the shepherd, “that I cannot do. She is my only child, and I want her to take care of me when I am old. Besides, if the Lindworm would not spare two beautiful Princesses, he won’t spare her either. He will just gobble her up: and she is much too good for such a fate.”

But the King wouldn’t take “No” for an answer: and at last the old man had to give in.

Well, when the old shepherd told his daughter that she was to be Prince Lindworm’s bride, she was utterly in despair. She went out into the woods, crying and wringing her hands and bewailing her hard fate. And while she wandered to and fro, an old witch-woman suddenly appeared out of a big hollow oak-tree, and asked her, “Why do you look so doleful, pretty lass?”

The shepherd-girl said, “It’s no use my telling you, for nobody in the world can help me."

“Oh, you never know,” said the old woman. “Just you let me hear what your trouble is, and maybe I can put things right.”

“Ah, how can you?” said the girl, “For I am to be married to the King’s eldest son, who is a Lindworm. He has already married two beautiful Princesses, and devoured them: and he will eat me too! No wonder I am distressed.”

“Well, you needn’t be,” said the witch-woman. “All that can be set right in a twinkling: if only you will do exactly as I tell you.” So the girl said she would.

“Listen, then,” said the old woman. “After the marriage ceremony is over, and when it is time for you to retire to rest, you must ask to be dressed in ten snow-white shifts. And you must then ask for a tub full of lye,” (that is, washing water prepared with wood-ashes) “and a tub full of fresh milk, and as many whips as a boy can carry in his arms,—and have all these brought into your bed-chamber. Then, when the Lindworm tells you to shed a shift, do you bid him slough a skin. And when all his skins are off, you must dip the whips in the lye and whip him; next, you must wash him in the fresh milk; and, lastly, you must take him and hold him in your arms, if it’s only for one moment.”

“The last is the worst notion—ugh!” said the shepherd’s daughter, and she shuddered at the thought of holding the cold, slimy, scaly Lindworm.

“Do just as I have said, and all will go well,” said the old woman. Then she disappeared again in the oak-tree.

When the wedding-day arrived, the girl was fetched in the Royal chariot with the six white horses, and taken to the castle to be decked as a bride. And she asked for ten snow-white shifts to be brought her, and the tub of lye, and the tub of milk, and as many whips as a boy could carry in his arms. The ladies and courtiers in the castle thought, of course, that this was some bit of peasant superstition, all rubbish and nonsense. But the King said, “Let her have whatever she asks for.”

She was then arrayed in the most wonderful robes, and looked the loveliest of brides. She was led to the hall where the wedding ceremony was to take place, and she saw the Lindworm for the first time as he came in and stood by her side. So they were married, and a great wedding-feast was held, a banquet fit for the son of a king.

When the feast was over, the bridegroom and bride were conducted to their apartment, with music, and torches, and a great procession.

As soon as the door was shut, the Lindworm turned to her and said, “Fair maiden, shed a shift!”

The shepherd’s daughter answered him, "Prince Lindworm, slough a skin!”

“No one has ever dared tell me to do that before!” said he.

“But I command you to do it now!” said she.

Then he began to moan and wriggle: and in a few minutes a long snake-skin lay upon the floor beside him. The girl drew off her first shift, and spread it on top of the skin.

The Lindworm said again to her, “Fair maiden, shed a shift.”

The shepherd’s daughter answered him, “Prince Lindworm, slough a skin.”

“No one has ever dared tell me to do that before,” said he.

“But I command you to do it now,” said she.

Then with groans and moans he cast off the second skin: and she covered it with her second shift. The Lindworm said for the third time, “Fair maiden, shed a shift.”

The shepherd’s daughter answered him again, “Prince Lindworm, slough a skin.”

"No ever has dared tell me to do that before,” said he, and his little eyes rolled furiously. But the girl was not afraid, and once more she commanded him to do as she bade.

And so this went on until nine Lindworm skins were lying on the floor, each of them covered with a snow-white shift. And there was nothing left of the Lindworm but a huge thick mass, most horrible to see. Then the girl seized the whips, dipped them in the lye, and whipped him as hard as ever she could. Next, she bathed him all over in the fresh milk. Lastly, she dragged him on to the bed and put her arms round him. And she fell fast asleep that very moment.

Next morning very early, the King and the courtiers came and peeped in through the keyhole. They wanted to know what had become of the girl, but none of them dared enter the room. However, in the end, growing bolder, they opened the door a tiny bit. And there they saw the girl, all fresh and rosy, and beside her lay—no Lindworm, but the handsomest prince that any one could wish to see.

The King ran out and fetched the Queen: and after that, there were such rejoicings in the castle as never were known before or since. The wedding took place all over again, much finer than the first, with festivals and banquets and merrymakings for days and weeks. No bride was ever so beloved by a King and Queen as this peasant maid from the shepherd’s cottage. There was no end to their love and their kindness towards her: because, by her sense and her calmness and her courage, she had saved their son, Prince Lindworm.

#fairy tales #swedish folklore #swedish fairy tales

29 notes · View notes

morkleemelon · 4 years

Text

Jet Lag✈️

1) you and Mark are both idols and you're on video call from different countries and you miss each other. You surprise Mark secretly visiting Korea and you then surprise him in his room and you guys cuddle and stuff ^~^

@smolninja thank you for your request! I hope it’s everything you wanted! I’m sorry for the delay, I had so many issues with Tumblr and accidentally deleted it when I was like 70% done it was so sad. Nonetheless, I really liked writing it! Enjoy :)

Warnings: mild swearing

Word Count: 3k

Genre: Fluff, slight angst

Fem Idol!reader x Mark Lee

The set up: you’re in a 7 member kpop group called Girl Trouble and you’ve just finished the first concert of your Japanese tour. We’re pretending corona doesn’t exist :) The general public does not know that you are dating Mark Lee

-----

You feel the van come to a stop as flashing lights bloom from outside the tinted windows, waking you from your much needed sleep.

“We’re at the hotel y/n,” your bandmate, Yeeun, informs, fixing her hair in her phone camera to make sure she was ready to be photographed.

The excited cheers coming from the street bring you out of your sleepy stupor and you stretch your arms above you in a big yawn.

“How do I look?” you ask Nayoo, your best friend in the group who’s sitting next to you, touching up her concealer.

“Perfect as always y/n, duh,” she replied, playfully winking as she put her stuff away.

“Ok I’m opening the door!” you warn as you grab the handle and take a deep breath, putting on your best smile.

Swinging the door open, you’re met with an uproar of fans calling out your name and a storm of camera flashes eager to capture your latest look. It was your group’s first time in Japan so the fans were especially excited to finally have the chance to see you.

*Click click click click*

You stepped out of the car as gracefully as you could, smile never faltering as you showed off your pearly white teeth and prize-winning dimples. Brushing your hair back slightly as you walk, you tease your new gold earrings as a subtle endorsement to the brand. Your members following suit, you wave to the crowd and make your way to the entrance, nodding at a few fansites you recognized.

- - -

Throwing yourself onto the bed, your freshly showered hair promptly soaks through the comforter but you couldn’t care less.

“Ugh...,” you sighed, melting into the plush goodness of the hotel mattress, “I’m so goddamn tired.”

If only he were here with you...

“Oh!” you gasp, head shooting up from your now wet pillow, “I promised I’d call!”. You rolled off the bed and scrambled to find your phone in your bag, suddenly wide awake.

“You’re calling loverrr boyyyy?” Nayoo teased, dragging out the letters because she knew how much you hated it.

“Stopppp!” you whined, throwing your soggy pillow at her and trying to hide the growing blush on your cheeks.

Frantically unlocking your phone, you scroll through your contacts to find your boyfriend, heart racing with anticipation. It’s been a few weeks since you’ve seen Mark and you know it’ll be a few more until you have the chance. You promised each other to call whenever you could, but with NCT dream having a new comeback and Girl Trouble was starting to be really popular, there was only so much you could do. On top of that, it was stressful trying to keep your relationship a secret with all of the prying eyes around you and Mark’s intense fan base. Nevertheless, you’ve been going strong for about 8 months now you know that everything, every struggle, is worth it because of how much you truly love him.

Calling: Baby💕💋🦁...

You don’t bother to fix your makeup-less face and frizzy hair because you know that he’ll say you’re beautiful.

You smile at the thought of him as the FaceTime chimes ring.

*whoom*

“Marky!” you whisper cry, heart racing with excitement as you see his face for the first time in days.

“Baby!” Mark squeals back in the same tone, losing himself to giggles as you both giddily recover from the excitement of getting to see each other. You can hear the sound of voices mocking him in the background and Chenle’s piercing scream cuts through the audio.

“How have you been, baby?” you ask adoringly, ignoring the dreamies and look longingly at the boy in round glasses and his favorite grey hoodie.

“Shut up guys! I’m trying to talk to y/n!” he yells back at them, met with only more mocking and screaming. Sighing and giving up, he turns back to the camera, “Ah you know, I’ve been alright. We’ve been pretty busy with practice. I’m actually at practice right now if you can’t tell”. He pans the camera to the other members of dream who are clearly only taking a break because Mark made them stop for this phone call.

Guilt grips at you as you realize how you were probably inconveniencing them. After all, it was getting late and they all have to stay even later now because of you.

“Oh... if now’s not a good time we can always try tomorrow,” you offer, smiling slightly but not enough to hide your disappointment and guilt.

“Aw baby I’m sorry,” Mark soothes, “don’t worry about us I didn’t mean it like that. I missed you so much and these guys can spare a few minutes it’s fine”.

“I wish you were here, Mark. Or I was there,” you whisper, lying down on your bed once again. Placing your phone in front of you, it’s almost, almost, as if he were there lying with you.

Mark wears a pensive expression as he looks down, using his free hand to fiddle with his hoodie strings.

“Yeah. Me too”.

His voice is strained as he thinks about the nights you’ve snuck out together and the secret dates you shared. He misses the way you feel in his arms and the way your soft hair felt when it tickled him awake in the morning. He misses your terrible dad jokes and your night cooking. It was really frustrating how you were both so young and so in love, but everything else in life had to get in the way. Mark really missed you.

You reach out instinctively to stroke his hair but instead of comforting the boy you loved, your hands are met with only the cold surface of your screen.

The two of you talked for a few more minutes, trying to make the most of the time before he had to go. You could tell by the way his voice strained that he was really exhausted.

When he finally hung up, you couldn’t shake the empty feeling off; not being next to him, being able to touch him, to comfort him, to be with him was the worst feeling in the world.

And before you could stop yourself, warm tears began to fall as your shoulders shook with your heartbroken sobs. Video calls were supposed to make you miss each other less, not more. You loved him so much that you’d miss him even if he was right there with you. Being apart was devastating.

“Oh, honey…,” Nayoo coos, crawling into your bed to give you a much needed hug, “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. Let it out”.

Wrapping your arms around your best friend, you let the tears fall onto your already soaked pillow and spilling out the feelings you’ve kept buried inside for so long.

“I just miss him so much,” you gasp, squeezing your fists around the fabric of Nayoo’s sweatshirt.

“Oh I know y/n, I know,” she comforted, “remember back when we were trainees and you just started dating Mark? And I was always there to distract Manager Kim when you snuck out to meet him?”.

You let out a small laugh at her attempt to lighten the mood. Nayoo was truly a good friend and she always had your back. You were really lucky to have her in your life.

“I do, Nayoo. I never thanked you enough for that”

“You know I love you. I’d do it again now if you wanted to sneak out and meet him. Actually I bet you could pull it off since our next show isn’t for another 4 days”

“Wait…”

Both of you sat up at the same time, looking at each other with wide eyes.

------

“I can’t believe we’re doing this”

“Shush! We already bought the tickets there’s no backing out now”

“What if someone notices me?”

“They won’t. Look at you”

You looked in the mirror of the lobby bathroom you were hiding in. You were dressed in plain, unbranded clothes, your hair tucked in a low, messy bun. The majority of your face was covered by a mask and a baseball hat, making you look nearly unidentifiable to anyone looking.

“I guess,” you sighed, still nervous, “let’s just go over the plan again”.

“Alright sheesh,” Nayoo groaned, “as if I am not a wizard of distracting our manager. You’ll get into the Uber we just called and go to Japan Airport. Your flight is at 2:30am and you’ll arrive in Korea at about 4:00am. Then you’ll go to Mark’s dorm and make out with him yadda yadda-”.

You punched her in the arm.

“Okay! Did I lie though? Anyways, you’ll be on your return flight the next day at the same time so you better savor your time. MY job is to tell Manager Kim that you are having lady problems and you can’t make it to practice today. He hates when we talk about periods so this is fool proof seriously. Plus we know that you will do fine on stage without one day of practice”.

“Okay…,” you chewed your lip nervously, half dreading the thought of being caught and half thrilled at the thought of being in Mark’s arms in a few hours. Your phone buzzed in your pocket and you looked at the notification.

*your Uber driver Ayako is here! Look for license plate A29&Q on a black Honda Pilot*

Hugging Nayoo goodbye, you rush out of the hotel and into the cab, adjusting your cap and mask to make sure it covers your face.

Each second that passed, you became more excited about seeing your boyfriend and less nervous about the consequences.

Mark, I’m here for you. I’m coming, just wait a little bit longer.

Your hands itched to call him and tell him what you were doing but you knew that he was catching up on some much needed sleep by now.

When you arrived at the Japan Airport, you thanked the driver and walked briskly through the airport. You had nothing except a small backpack and your plane ticket so getting through security was quick. Thankfully, there weren’t too many people there at 2 in the morning so you began to relax.

Successfully making it through security, you finally board the plane and claim your seat at the very back.

Looking out the window to the dark, starry skies, the lights of the airplane wings illuminate the drops of rain that began to fall.

-----

You jolt awake as the plane lands at the South Korea Airport with a rumbling thud. Your hands dart to your face to make sure your mask and hat are still there, sighing in relief when they remain unmoved.

Grabbing your bag, you walk down the aisle of the half-empty plane, each step bringing you closer to Mark.

Rushing out of the airport, your steps gain traction as you feel your heart racing in excitement at the thought of seeing your boyfriend so soon. The cold night air greets you familiarly as you call the nearest cab over. Telling the driver the address of Mark’s dorm building, you watch as the streetlights pass by and you near the boy you’ve been dying to see for weeks.

At last, you arrive at the steps of the apartment complex. Thanking the driver, you rush into the building and attack the elevator button going up. Your breathing is shallow with excitement knowing that he’s there right now. He’s there and you’re going to be with him.

Every second in the elevator feels like hours and you kick yourself for not taking the stairs. The floors seem like they’re all a mile away from the last and you tap your foot impatiently on the carpeted floor.

8...9...10

*Ding*

You speed out of the elevator and find your way expertly to the infamous 10th floor dorm room. Feeling around the crevices of the carpet floor for the spare key, you feel a slight twinge of nerves because you’re technically breaking into their home. But, as soon as you enter the familiar room, any guilt you have washes away and the only thing you can feel is the rapid beating of your heart filled with love and anticipation.

Making your way silently through the dark common room, you stop at the oh-so-familiar door. When your hand touches the cold metal of the doorknob, you swear that the beating of your heart was loud enough to wake the entire building.

Taking a deep breath, you open the door and you see him. Your breath hitches at your throat and you fight back the urge to cry right then and there. Mark was lying on his bed, snuggled under the covers with his arms and legs wrapped around a pillow like he always does when he sleeps. His soft breathing was rhythmic and calming, the warm scent of his room inviting you in.

Without wasting another second away from him, you drop your bag on the messy floor and walk up to his bed. Carefully, you pull at the pillow in his embrace and replace it with your own body. Mark shifts slightly and you freeze, not wanting to wake him up from his rare sleep. His eyes remain closed and his arms instinctively tighten around you. You can see through the darkness that his eyebrows furrow slightly and his lips part, and you wonder if he knew you were there.

“Finally,” you thought to yourself, reaching up slowly to caress his hair, “we’re finally together”. It didn’t feel real. You couldn’t believe that you were finally here in his arms. His body was so warm and felt like home to you.

You can feel Mark’s fingers autonomously rub circles into your back. As if his body realized what was happening, Mark’s eyes opened slowly and he peered into your face, blinking slowly to process this new information.

“I’m here, Mark,” you whisper as softly as you can.

Without any hesitation, Mark leans forward and presses a deep kiss onto your lips, conveying ten thousand words with his actions that could only be interpreted as “I missed you so much”.

You kiss him back, fingers gripping onto his shirt with raw emotion in an “I missed you too”. You breathe in deeply, not wanting to forsake any aspect of him, taking in all of his scent and drinking it all like a flower with no water.

He pulls away with a sigh and presses his forehead against yours. Mumbling incoherent words, you notice that he seems to have fallen back asleep.

Your own eyelids feel heavy and they flutter closed as you succumb to the warm welcome of sleep, your heart whole with love.

-----

Dull beams of sun fell slanted through the curtains as you drifted awake the next morning. You felt a hand playing with your hair and you opened your eyes slowly, temporarily forgetting what you had done the night before. Memories flooded back and your attention narrowed in at the smiling boy in front of you.

“You’re really here,” Mark whispered, “how are you here?”.

“It’s a long story,” you whispered back, voice still hoarse from sleep.

He pulled you in closer to his chest and you gladly snuggled into his warm body, nuzzling at his favorite hoodie, the one you got him for Christmas.

“I thought it was all a dream when I saw you last night,” he admitted.

“Stay with me today?,” you ask, worried that your time together would be short. If he had to go to practice, you could hardly see him at all and you’d go back to missing him a thousand miles away.

“I’m not going anywhere today,” Mark replies, kissing the top of your head, “my wishes have finally come true and you magically appeared in my bed. I’d be an idiot to leave”.

You giggled at his words, working your fingers to draw shapes into his back.

You start to tell him what happened after you called him the night before and how devastated you were when you weren’t with him. Mark’s arms tightened around you as you told him you cried when you saw how tired he was and you weren’t there to cheer him up. You told him about how you put on a disguise and snuck around Manager Kim who thought you were dying right now. His body shook with laughter at the crazy night you had and you both agreed that this was the wildest thing you had ever done.

“How long are you gonna stay here?”

“My flight back to Japan is at 2:30am tomorrow morning. What time is it now?”

Mark shifts to unlock his phone on the nightstand.

“It’s 10:49am”

You sighed and buried your face deeper into his chest, trying to get impossibly closer to the love of your life and make the most of your hard-earned time together.

“Let’s do everything today,” you heard him say.

“What do you mean?” you ask, tilting your chin up to look at him, pressing a small his to his jaw.

“Let’s just do everything we always wanted to do. Let’s get ramen from the convenience store together and then go on a walk at the park. Let’s get matching sweaters from the mall and then full sugar boba tea. You’ll drink half of mine and I’ll let you because I’m a good boyfriend”. Mark giggles at his imagination and peppers kisses across your face.

You laugh at the ticklish sensation and your heart swells with love for the Canadian boy.

Your whole body tingled, the feel of his body around yours and his lips on yours sending your head spinning. Rubbing your nose adoringly against his in an eskimo kiss, you vow that you would be strong for him from now on. You might be apart for work a lot, but the love you share is inseparable and undeniable. Nothing could ever come between you. You were his and he was yours.

“Let’s do it, Everything”

209 notes · View notes

lotusss-flowerbomb · 4 years

Text

We Have A Situation (1)

Bucky x reader

Warnings: implied smut

A/N: I haven’t really been feeling inspired to start anything new, so I’m hoping this will inspire me to finish something I started last year. Let me know how y’all feel about this and if I should continue. 😁

Word Count: 2,051

********

You feel yourself stirring awake. The headache hits you immediately as you roll over with your eyes still closed to climb out of bed. You crash into a hard body on your way out. Lifting your hand, you felt around and suddenly stopped when you felt something cool. Your eyes shot open and so did his.

"Oh my God!" You yelped and struggled to get up. Realizing you were both naked, you grabbed at the sheets and covered yourself leaving Bucky completely naked and exposed. "What are you doing in here?!"

"This is my room," he raised an eyebrow. You finally looked around. Shit, what were you doing in there?

"Oh no, did we — no, we didn't... did we??" You paced back and forth.

Bucky just watched you trying to hold in his laugh. You felt the faint ache between your thighs confirming what you didn't want to believe. How did you get so drunk? You stopped as the memory came flooding back. You looked up at Bucky with wide eyes.

"Thor!" The two of you spoke in unison.

Thor had made the last few rounds of drinks last night. He’d added the strong Asgardian liquor to the drinks since he knows it's the only thing that will give both Steve and Bucky a buzz and you drank from his glass to prove you could handle it. You must have gotten off the elevator on the wrong floor. Bucky's room is right above yours, so it makes sense that you'd think you were at the right door.

You looked around frantically for your clothes. Your head was killing you and Bucky was just sitting there looking all smug. God, you wanted to slap that look right off of his stupid face. He still had not bothered to cover himself and it was getting harder and harder not to stare at him.

"Can I keep these?" He held up your underwear.

You grabbed a pillow and hit him in the face with it snatching the underwear from his hands. He laughed.

"Ugh! I can't believe, of all the people I could have drunk fucked, it had to be you."

"This isn't exactly my proudest moment either, baby doll. But let's not pretend that you didn't enjoy every second of it," he smiled.

Bucky Barnes was the one person on this team that you just couldn't get along with. The two of you fought about everything. He didn't trust you to be on his team for missions and you didn't want to be. You even argued about things you agreed on just for the sake of yelling at each other.

Bucky moved from the bed finally and handed you your bra. You hurried to dress and ran out of the room. Not wanting to risk running into anyone else on the elevator and having to answer questions, you took the stairs down to your room. Once inside, you immediately showered and took medicine for your headache wishing you could go back in time.

That's it! You'd call Stephen and have him turn back time. It's just a few hours, what could it hurt?

********

"Please?!" You spoke into your phone.

"I absolutely will not," Stephen Strange scoffed from the other end of the receiver.

"But I did something really stupid and I need it to have never existed." You whined.

"You know that I cannot and will not turn back time, because you regret a decision that you made."

"Come on, Doc, I thought I was your favorite? Just do me this one favor and I'll never ask for anything ever again."

"You said that last time I opened a portal for you at the pizza shop, so you wouldn't have to drive yourself." You rolled your eyes and opened your mouth to say something, but he cut you off, "I'm very busy. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to figure it out." He hung up.

You flopped down in a kitchen chair. You heard a throat clear and you looked up. You hadn't even noticed Wanda and Natasha sitting there. Your eyes became as big as saucers.

"Would you like to tell us what that was about or do I need to torture you?" Natasha asked.

"Why is torture always your go to, Nat?" Wanda questions.

"What? It's my favorite thing," she shrugged.

You dropped your head to the table and groaned. "I got drunk last night and hadadgkvuikfsexyghujggj," you grumbled out.

"What?" Wanda twisted her face.

"I had sex with Bucky," you said again without looking up.

Dead silence.

You finally peeked up at the two women who sat across from you doing their best not to laugh. You groaned and dropped your head again and they were unable to contain their laughter.

"I'm sorry," Wanda was first to apologize, but continued laughing. You pushed back in the chair ready to make your exit. "No, no, no, please we're sorry!" She bit her lip to force herself to stop. She nudged Natasha with her elbow.

"You have to tell us how it was."

"Nat, no," you said.

"Oh, come on! He has women here all the time. I can't ask them, but I can ask you." she leaned forward. Wanda was tuned in waiting for you to answer. You glanced at the kitchen door. "Don't worry, all of the guys are in the gym."

"Well," you started, "from what I think I remember it was... incredible." You put your hand in your hair and twisted a braid. "I was still sore this morning," you looked down.

"And why are you ashamed? You're both adults." Wanda asked.

"Because it's him. I could accept anybody else," you exaggerated.

"I don't know, good sex is good sex," Nat shrugged.

You glared in her direction and dropped your head once more. This could not be happening.

********

It had been a little over a month since you had slept with Bucky. You both ignored what happened and went on with your lives. Still arguing and still fighting about nothing. Once again, everyone was sitting around drinking after a long mission. The thought of alcohol made you nauseous, but it had been a while since your last drink. You knew to stay away from Thor's stash this time.

Nat handed you a shot of tequila, knowing it's your favorite. When you brought it to your nose you could've vomited on the spot. You sat the glass down.

"You're not taking a shot?" She eyed you curiously.

"Nope, immediate flashback. I'm good on the liquor." you pushed it towards her.

She shrugged and threw it back. Bucky rolled his eyes knowing what you were referring to.

You excused yourself to bed trying to figure out what your deal was. Of course you were scarred for life knowing you'd gotten drunk and slept with Bucky, but it was just sex. You were also able to hold any other liquor just fine, so why did tequila sound like the worst thing in the world right now? You shrugged off your thoughts and went to bed. Your stomach was still rolling from the smell of the tequila.

The next day, you stayed in bed all day. You weren't feeling too well and decided to just lie around and do nothing. Nat brought you some soup hoping it would help settle your stomach a bit. You threw it up shortly after. You stuck with crackers and ginger ale deciding the sickness had to be one of those 24 hour bugs.

You rubbed your belly and froze.

"No," you whispered.

Jumping out of bed you hurried to get dressed, grabbed your purse and ran to the elevator. Smashing the button rapidly as if that would make the car come faster. The doors finally opened, thank goodness no one else was on it. You made your way down to the main floor and rushed outside. A small convenience store wasn't too far away.

You snuck back into the tower undetected and headed to your room. Dumping the contents of the bag, you stared down at the pregnancy tests and bottles of water. You took a deep breath and tried to remember when your last period was and how you hadn't noticed it was extremely late.

After gulping down the water and waiting a few minutes, you went to the bathroom. A three minute wait. This was going to be the longest three minutes of your life.

The timer went off. Snatching up the stick, you stared down at it. Two lines indicated pregnancy. You snatched open another one and headed to the bathroom. Same results. Another, hoping this one would read differently. It didn't.

"What the FUCK?!" You screamed at no one. You sat down and calmed yourself before deciding to go up to Bucky's room. Might as well tell him now.

Heading to his room, you could hear voices the closer you got to his door. A giggle from some random woman. You smiled. At least you'd get to ruin his night.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

"Go away!" he yelled from the other side.

"James Buchanan Barnes, you open this door right now!" You yelled back banging again. You heard him stomp over and he snatched the door open.

"Somebody had better be dying," he said. You pushed past him into the room. The woman sitting on his bed jumped to her feet.

You smiled over at her and stuck your hand out for a shake, "Hi, how are you? I'm —"

"I know who you are," she shook your hand, "I'm Kayla."

"Hi, Kayla," you turned to Bucky. "I don't mean to be rude, but she’s gotta go. We need to talk."

"What? Can't this wait?" He scrunched his face up.

"If it could wait I wouldn't be here," you rolled your eyes.

"I drove her here."

"FRIDAY," you called out, "please get an Uber here for Kayla right away." Bucky let out an exasperated sigh, he apologized and walked Kayla to the elevator.

When he got back he slammed the door behind him.

"You know, there's no reason for you to be jealous. You could've just joined the party," he teased.

"Get your head out of your ass, Barnes, this is serious," you pulled a test out of your pocket and tossed it to him. He stared down at it for a few seconds before it registered. He looked at you in horror.

"You're pregnant? By who?"

"Really?" You stared back at him.

"Are you sure? I mean, take another test." You pulled the other two out of your pocket and showed him they all had the same results. He sat down on the bed and ran his hands through his hair. The room was quiet before he finally asked, "What are you gonna do?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, I mean, it's really up to you, right? Back in my day, this wasn't a question that needed to be asked, because there really was no other option."

You thought about your answer before speaking out loud. "Although it means that I'll be stuck with you until I die, I want to keep it..."

Bucky released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. You couldn't tell if it was a happy release or a sad release. He smiled over at you and nodded. He supported your decision.

********

After visiting Dr. Cho and getting confirmation from a blood test, you asked FRIDAY to have everyone come to the conference room. As you and Bucky walked in, you could hear Sam grumbling.

"What's this about?" Sam asked, seeing you in the doorway. Bucky stuck his hands in his pockets.

"To keep it short," you started, "this idiot knocked me up," you pointed at Bucky.

"Hey! Why do I have to take the blame for all of this?"

"Because it's your fault! Ever heard of pulling out, pretty boy?"

"If I remember correctly, you were in my bed completely naked when I got there. You seduced me." He squinted his eyes and waited for you to back down.

"Sam, you know those cookies you love? I'll make you some if you shoot Bucky right now."

"Say less," he said, standing and reaching for his waist.

"Sam, no!” Nat yelled. “This is gonna be a long 9 months," she sighed.

********

@titty-teetee

@bluestarego

@fandomfavesss

@literaturefeen

@angrythingstarlight

#bucky x reader #bucky x you #Bucky Barnes #Smut #marvel smut #marvel fanfic #Avengers #avengers smut #Lotusss Writes

265 notes · View notes

noonachronicles · 4 years

Text

The End of the F**king World Pt. 5

Byun Baekhyun X Reader

Word Count: 11.3k

Warnings: Language. Cheesy confessions of love. Smut.

Genre: Apocalyptic/Alien Invasion AU. Slow Burn (ish?). One pining pup and one idiot in denial ~finally~ to lovers.

A/N: The one (I’m pretty sure) everyone’s been waiting for.

You and Baekhyun spent quite some time in the bath and beauty store. He watched you with amusement as you’d filled the tiny bathtub with things you thought you might want to take with you. You’d also found some presents to pack for Seulgi and Irene. Once you felt satisfied with your findings Baekhyun took you around the rest of the third floor and down to the second floor for the tour. As he brought you around to the different stores you kicked yourself for not thinking about coming here much sooner. It was packed with a ton of useful items that were completely untouched.

On the second floor you found the real motherload, a military surplus shop. It was packed with knives and other weapons, an entire section dedicated to MREs, and everything you could think of for first aid supplies. When you asked Baekhyun why he’d never brought any of this stuff home with him since he’d apparently been here so often he shrugged and said that he’d never been in the store before. He said that it didn’t look very fun from the outside, which earned him a hard punch to his shoulder.

After that you found a clothes store that you wanted to go back to later and an empty shop space that hadn’t been rented out. You suggested that you could bring some of the camping supplies from the surplus store into the empty space for a nice place to sleep later. Baekhyun agreed and made note that the restrooms were right outside and you could both use them to wash up. With a plan for the night in place you finally made your way to the toy store before it really got too dark.

Flashlights in hand you made your way into the store. Almost immediately after walking inside you heard Baekhyun call your name and looked over at him. He tossed a small package your way and you reached out to grab what ended up being batteries.

“Just in case.” he grinned before moving towards the opposite side of the store.

“Thanks.” You blushed as you pocketed the batteries and made your way down the aisles.

Down the first aisle you picked up an off brand nerf gun that was meant to look like a semi automatic sniper rifle. It felt strange in your arms, too light. Sehun had taught you to shoot a sniper rifle, you knew what it was like to hold a real one. You knew what it felt like to shoot one, to shoot a living thing with one. Holding a fake one, to imagine shooting things and people as being a fun game, it left you with an uncomfortable sensation. You frowned as you put the gun back on the shelf. You’d used to love nerf guns, they’d been fun. Brushing off the discomfort, and picking your flashlight back up from where you’d placed it, you moved down the next aisle.

This aisle was a little more relaxed, board games and puzzles. Moving your flashlight over the pictures on the puzzle boxes you thought, if you survived this fight, you might like to start doing puzzles. Maybe you could set up a big table in the record store and just listen to music and work on puzzles with thousands of pieces. Moving along to the next aisle you found a collection of Lego sets. They made you think about Baekhyun. If he used to do them before you could get him a really nice one for the holidays, maybe he’d like that.

With him fresh on your mind a curious thought arose as you eyed the sets in front of you. “Baekhyunnie...”

“Yeah?” His voice came from somewhere a little deeper in the store.

“I have a question for you.”

“Ask away.” He sounded a little closer now but still a bit distracted.

“Why would you come to Quad Two?” you called out your question and tried to ignore the aggressive wave of jealousy that washed over you for at least the third time that day.

“What do you mean?” He asked casually, you were glad he was still aisles away and couldn’t feel the swell of envy rolling off of you as you imagined the worst.

For a second you wondered what that meant to you. The worst. What would be the worst possible reason you could imagine? Baekhyun visiting someone. Baekhyun visiting a woman that wasn’t you. Baekhyun falling in love with someone else. With a vigorous shake of your head you halted that destructive train of thought and moved around to the next aisle.

“You said before you’ve been here a dozen times. Why would you keep coming back to Quad Two?” as you asked the question Baekhyun rounded the corner at the end of your aisle and you looked over at him innocently. As innocently as you could manage anyway. “Were you coming to see someone? I mean... you had to have been, right? Why else would you keep coming back?”

He stopped about a yard away from you and leaned against the shelf with a smug, knowing smile. “Who were you visiting every time you went to Eight?”

“No one.” You scoffed and looked back at the shelf even if there was nothing that really interested you. “I went to the record store, that's all. And anyway don’t avoid my question. Who were you here to see?”

Biting his lip in amusement he let it go with a small pop, “I’ll tell you but only if you admit you’re jealous.”

“Well I won’t be doing that because I’m not jealous.” You rolled your eyes and stepped away, moving slowly towards the next aisle.

“You really want to know?” His voice followed behind you.

“Are you going to tell me or are you going to tease me like before when you refused to tell me who you were hung up on?” you asked looking over your shoulder at him.

“You’re still thinking about that?” he asked, “I’m surprised. You must really be jealous then.”

“You know this is why no one ever lets you have any power, right? It goes straight to your head.” you sighed, “You can be so impossible.”

“Me?” he scoffed, keeping his eyes on your back. If only you knew how impossible he found you. “You’re sure you want to know? I don’t know if your little green eyed monster could handle the truth.”

Your fingers lightly touched the silver handle of the plastic toy in front of you. Honestly, you weren’t so sure he was wrong. There were some really beautiful women in Two. You knew that. Most of you wanted to pretend a little longer that you didn’t know why it mattered so much to you. Maybe being in love or in a relationship with someone wasn’t on your priorities list but part of you always enjoyed that Baekhyun seemed to like you. As selfish as it was. Even with everything that was happening around you it always made you feel good. He always made you feel good. For whatever reason it gave you a sense of normalcy, crushes and harmless flirting. It gave off a very Before Times feeling. The fact that thinking about him seeing someone else made you sick with envy made you feel like a terrible human and an even worse friend. You shouldn’t be so possessive over someone that wasn’t even yours. You should be happy for your friend, the one who always did his best to bring you joy.

“Yeah.” You answered quietly after a moment of consideration. Internally you reminded yourself to be nice, no matter who it was. “I really want to know.”

“Do you remember my brother?” He asked.

You looked up at him in surprise. You weren’t expecting that, “I think I met him once or twice. He was a lawyer, right?”

“Right.” He nodded. “He had an office building a couple streets away.”

“Oh.” Your shoulders fell, jealousy quickly replaced with the ache of guilt.

“I uh-“ he sighed deeply, “Sometimes when I’ve had a bad week or whatever, I’ll just go to the office. I don’t know what it is. I like to just sit in his chair and look at the pictures he kept of our family. When I’m there it feels like I’m able to talk to him. So I tell him everything. It’s just kind of comforting.”

“Baek.” You weren’t sure what to say, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you.”

“It’s okay.” He shrugged, “Being able to tell him things is nice, but I like telling you things too.”

Looking down at your feet you dug the toe of your shoe into the floor.

“Fine…” you sighed, still feeling horrible and like you had to give him something, “Just so we’re clear, I did ask because I was jealous.”

Baekhyun laughed. It started as a little chuckle then grew until it was something almost uncontrollable. His cheeks had formed perfectly rounded orbs of joy. Hand on his chest as he tried to breath, teeth out on full display. Just absolutely glowing with happiness. It was cute, so you rolled your eyes to offset the grin on your lips.

“It’s not even that funny!” You tried not to laugh along with him but he was too infectious.

“I knew.” He continued to laugh, “It’s just funny because obviously I already knew, but you admitted it anyway. You’re so...you’re so great.”

“Ugh, I hate you!” you groaned.

“Yeah, I know.” he sighed, “I love you too.”

He laughed for a little while longer before growing quiet. The two of you were silent for a while but it wasn’t uncomfortable at all. In fact all day, with the exception of your run in with Baddie, had been comfortable. Truthfully you usually had a good time when you were with him. You spent a minute trying to think of the last time you really let yourself spend time alone with Baekhyun. It hadn’t been for some time you knew that much. A year at least, maybe even longer.

In the beginning you were together all the time. All day every day essentially. The two of you would go out to scavenge together or train with Sehun. Then you’d go back home for the night and go over maps together and make plans for the next day. If it was a particularly hard day, if there had been lots of Lurkers or maybe you had a close call, you’d play games. He taught you poker and you learned chess together. The more you thought about how much fun the two of you had back then the less it made sense that you’d have stopped. You flushed lightly when you finally realized why you had.

At some point after the first year you worried you were, as Seulgi had put it at the time, catching feelings for him. For a lot of reasons back then you weren’t ready. Losing Siwon was still pretty fresh in your mind. You’d just barely gotten comfortable with your new situation, the new normal. The idea of having feelings for anyone, let alone someone you were as close to as Baekhyun terrified you. It was then you started to push away from him. Scavenging alone, spending time with friends from other families in an attempt to avoid alone time with him. When you looked up at him he stood with his hands in his pockets, a pout on his mouth. He seemed a little sad and you wondered if he was thinking about his brother.

“Hey.” You said finally and turned around to reach for the toys you’d been looking at before. Grabbing one plastic lightsaber in each hand you held them out to him, “Red or blue?”

His lips turned up into a smile and he said, “Blue, obviously.”

With a groan you tossed him the blue lightsaber, “Of course you would, such a good boy.”

“Which makes you...” he grinned, “a bad girl?”

You rolled your eyes. “Are we here to flirt or are we here to fight?”

“Both.” he muttered as he tried to tear the plastic packaging from the toy.

You laughed as you jabbed one of your blades into the plastic, quickly tearing apart the packaging. Once your weapon was freed you hurried to the front of the store. Baekhyun whined about you giving him a faulty lightsaber. You dropped your backpack on the cashiers counter and tugged off your jacket in preparation. When you turned back around Baekhyun was finally flicking his toy open. His thumb pressed against the button and the blue blade started to glow, the telltale saber sounds emitting from the handle.

He slid his pack across the floor so that it was near the counter at your feet, “Ready to die, Sith spawn?”

“Not today, Jedi jerk.” You said flicking your arm so that your blade was out as well.

After that the two of you were off. You fought aggressively, just in the front of the toy store at first and eventually pushed out into the rest of the mall. Your stomach hurt from laughing as you chased each other from the third floor down to the second floor and then back up again. Invisible limbs were left all over the place and both of you excelled at dramatically losing blood. You’d died and reset three times despite your very best efforts but you refused to give up until you won. Baekhyun’s endless energy and enthusiasm was hard to match but you did your best and he respected your game. After your fourth collapse onto the tiled floor of the mall you had to request a brief recess to catch your breath. Baekhyun had agreed wanting to get a new lightsaber, since his had a bend in it.

The sun was setting but there was still a bit of light reflecting back into the galleria, enough that you didn’t need your lights outside of the stores. Both of you sipped quietly from your bottles of water. Leaning over the railing you looked down at the black lake below. You tried to think of all the times you’d watched Lurkers attack. They weren’t terribly smart creatures. They didn’t climb as far as you’d ever seen but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible. Once or twice you’d seen one take a leap. The first time had been one that chased Taeyong to the rooftop of a building. He’d jumped across to the next building with little damage, but the Lurker was too heavy and dropped like a brick. Sometimes in their mob mentality they’d step on one another like stepping stones until they reached their victim. They were mostly big on brute force, breaking things down to get to people. Smashing windows, breaking down walls and doors. Still it surprised you they weren’t adapting after this long.

“Why do you think the Lurkers don’t try to get past the water?”

Baekhyun shrugged, “Their eyesight. We know they can’t see for shit. They have no perception of how deep the water really is or how long it goes on for. Risk versus reward isn’t worth it.”

After a moment of thought you said, “So all it would take is one Lurker to be bold enough to try. To walk through the water and realize it’s not dangerous for them and then they’d come after us, and we’d be dead.”

“Stop!” He let out a breath of a laugh but you could hear the frustration. “Why do you always do that? How can you always imagine the worst happening? We’re in the middle of having a nice time, are we not?”

“Of course we are, but that’s when you should really reassess your safety and strategy. How can you not imagine the worst? How have you survived until now?” You weren’t offended, you knew it’s what you did. You thought everyone else was crazy for never stopping to think of every possible scenario. “Haven’t the last three years taught you anything?

“The last three years taught me the only thing I need to know.” He answered, “It taught me life is short and unpredictable. Too short and too unpredictable to spend all my time worried about the things that could happen instead of enjoying the things that are happening.”

With a light sigh you tried to keep your eye roll at the most respectful length you could muster.

“Try it.” Baekhyun said seriously. “For the rest of the night, stop thinking about the world outside of this mall. No Lurkers. No Baddie. No death and pain. It’s just me and you. I promise I will worry for the both of us where worry is warranted. Just give yourself the next few hours to be worryless. To enjoy the fact that so far none of the Lurkers have been so bold to cross the water and that we have a place that feels genuinely safe.”

“I don’t know.” You shook your head.

“You’re too tense all the time. If you don’t let things go every once in a while, you’re never going to beat me at lightsabers.” when you looked back over at him he was grinning. You wondered how long ago he realized being challenged was your weakness and then you wondered how long he’d actually been using that knowledge against you.

“Fine, but you have to promise you’ll worry about something every ten minutes, at least, to compensate for my lack of concern.”

“You got it.” He said and held his hand out.

You shook his hand to seal the deal and took a deep breath before slowly releasing it. Bending down you placed your water bottle on the ground. When you looked over you realized he’d left his new weapon on the ground inside the toy store when he’d sat down to tie his shoe earlier. You held back a malevolent grin.

He watched you, quite amused, as you physically released yourself of worries. Deep inhales, long exhales. You shook your shoulders to loosen up and stretched your body out until you were satisfied. Then you reached down to your side and grabbed the lightsaber from the holster you’d crafted and snapped it so that the red plastic blade was released to its full length. His smile dropped at that point as a confident smile grew on your own face and he realized he was unarmed and that you were blocking his access to his weapon with your own.

“Now...now I’m going to kick your ass.”

“...Shit.” Wide eyed with fear he bolted quickly in the opposite direction and you sprinted after.

He ran halfway around the third floor before skidding into a womens clothes boutique and hiding behind a headless mannequin.

“Wait!” He shouted with laughter. “I wasn’t ready!”

“A Sith would never wait for a Jedi to prepare.” You said calmly, smacking your lightsaber against the mannequin. You bit your lip to keep from laughing as Baekhyun released a shrill shriek and ran to another mannequin.

“Damn...that’s true.” He muttered.

You followed him as he circled around the boutique, hiding behind racks and mannequins.

“You should just let me kill you. You have no weapon and you can’t hide forever…”

“I’m not.” He responded before jumping up from behind the table he was next to. “Just had to catch my breath, so I can go get my weapon.”

Your eyes went wide as you realized that while you were following him around you left an open path to the door. “No!”

Both of you bolted towards the door at the same time. Baekhyun let out a battle cry and threw a balled up T-shirt at you. You paused at the door, looking down at the shirt you’d caught as he continued running back to the toy shop laughing the entire way.

“Did you just throw a fucking T-shirt at me?!” You screamed after him, “Get back here, Baek! You are so dead!”

Finally, having let go of some of your anxieties you were able to defeat Baekhyun twice in a row much to your satisfaction. At that point the sun had set and all you really had as far as lighting was your flashlights so both of you figured it was time to settle down for the night. Working together you carried supplies from the surplus store on the second floor to the empty shop on the third floor.

After some looking around you decided to upgrade your backpack from the one you’d been using the last several months to a sturdy, bigger one. You stuffed the new pack full of MREs to try for dinner. And like a gift from the heavens you found near the camping supplies, a display for s’mores. You made sure to snag every single bag of marshmallows and every bar of chocolate you saw. As far as you were concerned it was more important than the sleeping bags. Baekhyun grabbed the sleeping bags himself along with some lanterns for better lighting. That was going to be your very basic setup for the night. A huge empty room with a couple of sleeping bags and a stockpile of s’mores ingredients. The sight, once you’d hauled everything to the room, pleased you greatly. It was everything you needed. Feeling settled, you told Baekhyun you were going to clean up.

Before heading to the bathroom you stopped by a few other stores from earlier. In the clothes boutique you spent some time really looking around. You were pleased to find a comfortable pair of pajama pants, an oversized sweater and even some cute underwear. Feeling like being in there already was a good enough excuse you also grabbed yourself a nice, clean shirt, a new bra, and some socks for the next day.

Stuffing your new purchases in a bag you stopped a few other places before finally making your way into the bathroom. The lanterns Baekhyun had grabbed from the surplus store lit up the bathroom brilliantly. Apparently you’d grown spoiled having the shower head at Cordially. You had to angle your head quite uncomfortably to wash your hair and it left you a little annoyed. In the bath and body shop you’d found a hair mask and threw that in before starting on your body.

You groaned at the realization that you had Lurker blood splatter all over you. It was your arms mostly, but it had also soaked through your shirt in several spots. You weren’t even sure if it was from the night before or this afternoon. With your newly found loofa you were able to scrub your skin until it felt fresh. Then once you’d rinsed out your hair and thrown it up into a towel you shaved. For the first time in a long time you shaved. You felt stupid for never having done it before. It wouldn’t have been hard to find the supplies. Beyond your tapes you just didn’t think about little luxuries like that anymore.

When you finally stepped out of the bathroom you felt completely refreshed. Brand new, clean underwear and pajamas from the boutique down the way. Scented soap, and fancy shampoo from the shop Baekhyun had taken you to earlier. For the first time in years you felt almost human. While that all helped to get you there, you knew it also had a lot to do with the fact that you hadn’t spent the entire night stressed about things that may or may not happen. The only thing you’d thought about was how happy you were and how much fun you’d been having. You felt a little stupid for that too. For never taking the time before to just be a person. You should have been taking Baekhyun’s advice all along. You could never admit it to him though, he’d never let it go.

Reaching the room the two of you had set up earlier you realized that the fun was not yet over. Apparently while you’d been away getting clean and refreshed Baekhyun had been keeping busy. He’d taken it upon himself to set up an indoor campsite. There were the sleeping bags from before but he’d brought in stacks of pillows and blankets as well. They were set up around a bunch of candles that he’d turned into a makeshift campfire, complete with cardboard cut into the shapes of logs. Next to that was a pile of junk food, candy that he’d collected, along with the s’mores. And the MREs from the surplus store. The best part of all was a battery operated projector he’d found earlier in the toy store. It was set up to reflect against the ceiling and it looked like a starry night sky.

Too amazed by the sight you almost didn’t even notice Baekhyun come in. However he’d been grunting and that caught your attention. Turning around you saw him waddling inside the room from the bathrooms with the little tub in his arms, water sloshing from side to side.

He smiled brightly when he saw you, “Do you like it?”

“Where’d you find the time?” you tried to help him with the tub but he refused.

“What does that mean?” He laughed “All I have is time.”

“I mean you bathed, right?” You asked skeptically. “Because you were getting ripe.”

“First of all I was not ‘getting ripe’. Maybe you were smelling yourself.” He started, after placing the tub down, “Second I don’t know what you girls do in the bathroom but whatever it is...it takes too long.”

“Well” you sat down in the seat he’d set up on the opposite side of the foot bath, “I shaved.”

“What for?” He laughed harder than before as he tugged up the leg of the pajamas he’d put on, and stuck his feet in the water. Then he paused suddenly, “...for me?”

“No!” You denied a little too enthusiastically and way too quickly as you rolled up your own pajama pants to your knees. Baekhyun just grinned as you dipped your feet in the water with his.

While you weren’t paying attention apparently, he’d found a lemon oil, tea tree bath salt for the water and you watched, a little amazed, as he poured it in. It turned out he’d brought a lot of things along to do as your feet soaked. You started to realize you were finding his thoughtfulness less and less surprising with every passing day. Though your gratitude for it, for him, was greater than ever. He let you apply a peel off mask to his face and he applied one to yours. He said he would massage your hands with a nice lotion he’d found but made you promise to do the same for him, which seemed like the easiest trade off you’d ever agreed to in your life. You even let him paint your nails, he didn’t do a bad job at all.

“Okay, try this one.”

Digging your spoon into the pouch that you’d heated up, you laughed to yourself at the way it looked and then held it out to him.

“Is that dog food? That looks like someone already tried it and then spit it back in the pouch. Give me another one of those cookies instead.” he said still painting your toes.

“One bite of cookie and then you have to try the food. I made it for you myself.”

He rolled his eyes as he opened his mouth so you could feed him a bite from one of the cookies that had been in the meal package. You waited diligently until he swallowed and then shoved the spoon in front of him. After accepting the spoonful he started shaking his head. He made a face like he wanted to spit it out but realized he didn’t have anywhere for it to go.

Swallowing the mouthful he made a gagging noise that just made you laugh further, “Nope. That’s a big time no on the beef brisket.”

“Shame.” you sighed putting it to the side and grabbing the next one, “It smelled pretty good.”

“Actually, you know what we should do?” he asked, finishing your last little toe and then sitting back, “We could take it with us and force feed it to Baddie. It might be the secret weapon to his destruction.”

“Ready-to-eat poison pouch?” you asked and held out a spoonful of something new.

“Why am I the only one eating them?” he asked, looking at you with great suspicion. “Why don’t I make one and you eat it?”

“I am eating them! I ate the chicken with the rice and the tacos.” you said innocently.

“Yeah, after I tried them first and said they were good!” he argued before reluctantly taking the new bite of food from you anyway. “Eh, it’s not bad, not great.”

Taking a bite of the pouched spaghetti you shrugged, “Kind of like that canned stuff from when we were kids. Want some more cheese spread?”

“Nah.” he reached over and pulled an armful of junk food across the floor to where you were sitting on your sleeping bags. “Time for s’mores.”

Though both of you were actually pretty full from eating the meals you still managed to tear through an entire bag of marshmallows and all of the chocolate a little too quickly. Neither of you was ready for the fun to be over though so you kept snacking on marshmallows straight from the bag and played games from a stack that Baekhyun had brought over from the toy store. After several rounds of Connect Four and Guess Who, he suggested Chubby Bunny. It seemed like the two of you were dead set on finishing every bag of marshmallows you’d brought with you anyway so he thought you might as well make it fun.

“Thumby mubby.” he mumbled cheeks fat and round with about eight jumbo marshmallows and big puppy eyes watering with laughter.

“Stop! You’re so dumb. I can’t breathe. I can’t-“ You brushed the tears from your aching cheeks as you laughed. Your whole torso hurt from the strain on your muscles.

Looking over at him you couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed. He was such an amazing guy. You couldn’t help but think about all the time you’d spent together and how happy you always were when you were with him. You remembered everything he’d ever done for you whether they were huge things like saving your life or tiny little things like sharing a piece of gum with you. He was such a dork. He could be so annoying and completely infuriating sometimes. Some days he drove you absolutely insane. But looking at him now, his cheeks packed with marshmallows and tears of laughter streaking down his cheeks...you knew. You knew that you never would have survived this long without him and you knew you didn’t have a future if he wasn’t in it.

Before your brain could make sense of what your heart was doing, before it could stop you again you said, “I love you.”

Your smile faded quickly and a brick of nerves slammed into the pit of your stomach where the laughter had just been. Your eyes looked anywhere but at him. He was trying so hard to chew and clear his stuffed mouth, he nearly choked. You knew what he was going to ask. You knew he’d want to know what you meant and as you sat there waiting for the inevitable you realized you weren’t sure what you wanted to say.

You knew what you meant by it but it didn’t have to be what you told him. You could always say you meant, “I love you like a friend”. Even if you knew it was more. Even if you knew it was “I love you so much it hurts. You’re everything I have in this fucked up reality and I’d be lost without you”.

“What did you mean...when you said that?” He asked, finally swallowing the last of the marshmallows.

“I don’t know what you mean.” You shrugged.

“You’ve literally never said you loved me before. Did you mean love like when I say ‘Oh man, I love Chanyeol?’ or did you mean I love you like how I mean it when I say ...I love you too?”

You sat quietly for a moment, contemplating your options. One or both of you could be dead by tomorrow and the way you saw it you could do one of two things. You could continue to blow him off, pretend like how he made you feel was nothing, and then you die or he dies or you both die and he never knows for sure how much you actually do love him. He doesn’t know that he meant more to you than anyone left in the whole world. He never finds out that every single day you spent with him was a day he kept you alive. And if you live and he dies, you live with that regret until your last breath.

Or the other option would be to just tell him. And maybe, for just one single moment in this hellscape of a reality, you could be reminded of how good just loving someone felt. Then tomorrow comes and one or both of you die and then it’s over, good feelings gone. Bad feelings made ten times worse because you’ve lost the one thing you loved the most in the whole world and you can’t lie to yourself anymore because you already told him the truth.

You sighed shakily.

“Do you remember the first few weeks after the invasion? We didn’t know anything then. We didn’t know if it would stop. We didn’t understand Lurkers yet. We didn’t know if we’d run out of clean water or if we’d run out of food. Everyday was miserable to get through. Everything was so dark and gloomy.” Finally you looked up at him with tear filled eyes, “Except for you, Baek. You always found a reason to smile. Every single day. Even if it was something small or silly, you were always so happy. I didn’t understand how you did it. And I didn’t understand why you always shared it with me, whatever that one thing was. You always made sure I smiled or laughed.”

He scooted closer as you started to really cry and placed his hand on your knee. You thought to hold his hand but yours was absolutely trembling at your side.

You wiped at your cheeks and with a shaky voice you continued, “I was so miserable then. To you, to everyone. I didn't even want to live in this world. I thought about dying every day. Seulgi kept me alive those days. I couldn’t do that to her, you know? Then she had Yeol and I knew she would be okay. I knew he would take care of her. I wasn’t living for her anymore, but by then I had something else to keep me going.”

You placed your hand on top of his. He didn’t say anything, just squeezed your fingers.

“You were so nice to me. You always have been, even before this. And I couldn’t figure out why. I didn’t deserve it, I never have. I’ve never been half as good to you as you deserve. To be honest, of everyone that’s left I think I’m still pretty miserable now. I definitely still don’t deserve you or how amazing you are to me. Maybe I’ll never deserve you. Your kindness is so pure and you’re so thoughtful. I guess despite that, despite knowing I’ll never be good enough for you, I also know now without a doubt that I wouldn’t be here without you. I don’t want to be here without you, Baekhyun. You’re what keeps me going. You’re my reason. You’re the only reason I try anymore. I guess I mean... I- I love you. I love you. I just...love you.”

He leaned forward with a tiny grin and dried your face with the long, soft sleeve of his shirt, “So...not at all like when I say I love Chanyeol.”

With a small laugh you wiped your cheeks again, “No, not really. It’s like a little bit more than that.”

“Y/n, I...I can’t remember a minute of my life when I wasn’t in love with you.” He said with a thoughtful smile, “That’s how long it’s been for me. Literally since the second I saw you. Feels like decades at this point but I still remember it perfectly. Whatever happened in my life before I met you, it just doesn’t exist now. It’s not important. You do deserve everything I do for you. If for no other reason than because I say you do. And I’m not as good as you think I am. Every time I made you smile was purely selfish because your smile is the only thing that gets me through the day. And that was true well before any of this bullshit. Why do you think I always brought you coffee? I just wanted to see you happy. You’ve been the reason for my smile for years. This was just my chance to be that for you. And just in case I haven’t said it enough yet, I love you too.”

You rolled your lip between your teeth before giving him a pout, “I think this is where we kiss.”

“Really?” He looked a little overwhelmed.

You nodded in affirmation and he leaned forward. He gently pinched your chin between his fingers and brought your lips to his. His eyes lingered on your mouth for some time. You were growing restless watching him grin at your waiting lips.

“This isn’t some fantasy, Baek. I’m here, you can really kiss me.” You whispered.

He let out a huff of laughter. “That’s funny...you don’t like waiting for me.”

“You know I’m impatient.”

“Oh, I know.” He responded, but still he made no effort to kiss you. Only sat there smirking.

“And yet, you do not kiss me…”

His eyes crinkled with a smile as he felt you grow more and more frustrated. You were about to just lean in and do it yourself when he pulled away completely. Your eyes went wide in shock.

“I changed my mind.” His eyes were sparkling as he looked you over.

“About?”

He looked down at his lap, “I was going to kiss you. I want to kiss you. I’ve wanted to kiss you forever and it would be so easy to just grab you by the face and bury myself in you until I can’t feel my mouth anymore.”

“That sounds great. You should do that.”

“I think I want to wait instead.” he grinned at the anguish on your face, and seemingly out of nowhere he said, “When I was little I wasn’t really allowed to have sweets. My parents thought I had too much energy as it was.”

“I can't imagine that at all...” you said sarcastically, and settled back down, realizing this wasn’t going to be the instant gratification you were looking for.

“For my birthday and only my birthday, I would get a cake and a bag filled with candies. All of my favorite kinds. The best ones. And my parents would let me eat the candy however I wanted but they reminded me that I'd only get the one bag. When I was younger I would be done with the bag in a day, an hour if I didn’t get a stomach ache. As I got older I understood the lesson better. I stretched it out as much as I could. I’d wait weeks and then have a candy and then a few more and have another one. I had candy all year long if I did it right, and every one of those candies I’d appreciate to the fullest.”

“So...I’m the candy?” you asked.

He shook his head. “I’m the candy.”

“I don’t understand, Baek.” You said thoroughly confused.

“I’ve wanted you forever. You’ve wanted me for five minutes. If I just let you eat the whole bag you don’t learn the lesson.” He shot a lopsided smile your way. “I just want to make sure you take your time and appreciate me to the fullest.”

“You assume I wouldn’t appreciate you?” You asked semi-offended. “That I don’t already.”

“I just want to make sure.”

You supposed you could play his little game. “Okay. So what do we do now?”

“Time for bed.” He said, throwing himself down against the pillows.

You were wrong, you could not play. “You're not serious?”

“Good night.” he closed his eyes, a cheerful smile on his face.

“Byun Baekhyun...I swear,” you threatened, “if you don’t get up…”

“Then you’ll what?” He teased, keeping his eyes closed.

“Then I’ll…” you weren’t sure.

He wiggled his body until he was comfortably settled, “Well, go on.”

“I’ll go down there to you.”

Finally he opened his eyes, they were bright and playful as ever. “Look at you. You want me so bad. I might even say you’re being desperate.”

“Shut up.” You shoved his shoulder and he rolled easily from his side to his back.

Baekhyun laughed as he looked up at you, “If you really want me that much, I guess I won’t stop you, but remember... I’m a treat.”

Your lips parted as if to speak but instead you leaned forward and kissed him. It was so simple, a junior high kiss. Just your lips on his lips. Nothing special about it at all but it felt like everything. It was hard to tell if it was just years of not being touched or if it was because it was Baekhyun. You had a feeling it was a little of both. He had one hand in your hair but his other arm wrapped around your waist. A giggle escaped your mouth as he pulled you on top of him. The two of you kissed like that for a while, PG13. You couldn’t bring yourself to stop but eventually he pulled back to take a look at you.

“Your lips taste like marshmallows.” He whispered.

Leaning forward you left a soft kiss on his cheek. “You should taste the rest of me.”

“Don’t.” He murmured quietly before easing himself out from under you and pushing up into a sitting position, “Not unless you mean it.”

You pushed yourself up as well, and threw your leg over him, settling down onto his lap. “What makes you think I don’t mean it?”

“You’re a tease.” He said placing a hand on your hip.

“I’m a tease!” You laughed and shoved his shoulder again. “Mr. Time for bed.”

“You’ve been teasing me years.” There was a small smile on his face but his eyes darkened. “Walking around all smart and funny. Strong, so strong, and so beautiful. There’s never been anyone as sexy as you. And you’ve just been rubbing it in my face all these years.”

With a blush you kissed his cheek and then pulled his lip between your teeth. When you leaned back he was practically glowing again. You grabbed the bottom hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head. Then he watched wide eyed as you pulled your sweater off. Chilly against your hot skin, his long fingers moved up the length of your back. He brought you close until you were pressed against his chest and groaned as you brushed your tongue gently across his lips before he opened his mouth for you.

Getting caught up in the kiss you moved your hands up his neck and into his hair. You moaned softly into the kiss. Instantly you felt his nails dig into the skin of your shoulders. The feel of his tongue on yours was euphoric. You’d forgotten how much you loved to kiss. There was a simplicity to it, no rush. It felt normal for a moment like you were back in your old life. You could have kissed him all night but it was clear after a while, as he grew hard against your thigh, that he had other plans for the two of you. He flipped you so that you were on your back. His lips sucked on the skin of your neck until you were gasping beneath him.

He pulled back for just a second to look at you, “Do you want…”

“Yes.” You answered effortlessly.

He groaned and pressed a kiss against your cheek. “I uh...I don’t have any condoms. I don’t even know where to get one that’s not expired.”

“I think we’ll be okay.” you laughed, “Unless you’ve been sleeping around with everyone we know.”

“I haven’t...not with anyone.” he said quietly.

“Ever?” you asked surprised.

“God no! Not ever!” he said, horrified by the assumption, “Just since it happened.”

“Me too.”

“Really?” he asked.

“Really.” You weren’t sure if you should be upset by how genuinely shocked he sounded. “Who’d you think I was fucking?”

“No one.” he said looking just passed you, avoiding looking at you.

“Obviously someone.”

“Please don’t get mad at me.” he begged, feeling this moment slipping away from him. “I just, I couldn’t shake the feeling you were with... Hyunwoo.”

“Oh.” your forehead creasing as you tried to avoid replaying his death over and over again at the mention of him like you had been for the last couple of days.

He sighed seeing the distraught look on your face, though he assumed it was because of what he’d said and not what you’d seen. He pushed his face into your shoulder mumbling, “I fucked this up.”

“No… no you didn’t.” you turned your head slightly and kissed his forehead. “Just distract me. Please. I do want this.

“Okay…” he brushed his thumb over your cheek, his face still resting on your shoulder. “Do you remember the other day when Baddie showed up? Do you remember that morning?”

“Um.” you couldn’t think with his fingertips dragging down the length of your neck, so slowly. “Barely. I was on scavenging duty like normal.”

Turning his face up, his nose brushed your neck and then his lips grazed your skin, “Do you remember before that? On the rooftop of the old bank. You were…you were touching yourself.”

“How do you-“ you inhaled sharply as his hand moved down your neck to your chest. “I didn’t.”

“Don’t deny it.” He grinned feeling the gulp move down your throat passed his lips. “I watched you.”

“Seriously?” You asked. You knew you should be more angry, feel violated. Instead between the thought of him watching you and the way he kept whispering against your neck left you excited. You let out the smallest laugh, “I always knew you were a little pervert.”

“It was an accident at first,” he said pulling your earlobe between his teeth, “but I did enjoy it.”

“Fuck, Baek.” you sighed.

“Tell me what you were thinking about.” he spoke softly but it was a demand regardless. “What do you fantasize about?”

When you turned your face towards his, your noses brushed together in an Eskimo kiss and your eyes met his before you muttered, “You.”

His eyes went wide, as if he forgot he was trying to seduce you. Finally gathering himself he puffed out an amused breath of air. “If you don’t tell me the truth Y/n, I can’t make your fantasies come true.”

“I’m telling you the truth.” you whispered against his lips, “I was thinking about you.”

He moved his absent hand back up your body, grabbing your chin. Holding you in place he sucked your lip between his in an urgent kiss. You moaned slightly as your mouths molded together. When he pulled away his eyes locked with yours. They were electric. It was as if all the energy he usually used up running around everywhere or chatting your ear off was locked inside of them.

“Tell me everything. I want to know everything that happened in that beautiful head of yours.”

You blushed but you knew you weren’t getting out of it and you didn’t want to, “We were in the shower room at Cordially.”

“With the candles and flowers like I did for you?” you nodded and somehow his face beamed brighter than before, “were we naked?”

“And wet.” You grinned.

He threw his head back with a groan before looking back at you, “It’s perfect already. Keep going.”

“You had the shower head, and you used it on me and the water pressure was astounding.” He laughed against your neck as his hand slipped into your pajama pants.

“Yeah?” He asked, “Did I use it here?”

Your mouth dropped open as his hand slipped into your panties, sliding smoothly against your already slick sex. You shivered at the feeling of someone else’s hands on you.

“Yeah, there.”

“God,” he murmured as his fingers dragged up and down your sex, occasionally rubbing against your clit. “we don’t even need a showerhead, you're so wet.”

You nodded and then gasped as two of his digits found their way inside of you. They were so long and so agile and felt infinitely better than your own. It had only been enough time for a few slow, almost experimental, pumps of his hand but already you felt like you might come.

“Do you always think of me?” He asked.

You answered honestly, “No.”

“Oh.” His hand paused momentarily and continued on.

“But thinking of you is the only way I can come.”

“Ohhhh…” he flushed.

You dropped your hand to his front and moved it under the elastic band of his pajama pants until your fingers wrapped around his already fully erect cock. He tried to keep his focus on you as you rubbed the sticky wet precum from his head down his shaft. It was so thick and hard in your hand you could feel your mouth water. There was a grunt released from deep in his throat with every pump of your fist.

“Slow down.” He gasped “There’s no way… I won’t last.”

“Well…” you lifted your free hand to his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

“Say something.” He whispered against your lips.

“You don’t have to make me come like this.” you offered, “You could just fuck me, it’s okay.”

He shook his head and worked his hand faster. “No, you get both.”

You leaned back into the pillow with a moan as he dropped his head to your naked chest. His tongue brushed against your nipple, twirled around it. He sucked it into his mouth as his fingers curled inside you.

“Oh, Baek...Baekhyun.” You whimpered. “Your hands…”

“Tell me about my hands.”

“They’re magic.” He hummed with laughter. “I’ve never felt anything so amazing in my life.”

“Are you gonna come for these hands?”

“Yes, yes…” you gasped “Yes, oh. Oh yes, right there. Right. There.”

“You’re close.” He panted hot air over your skin, “I can feel it. Come on baby, get there for me.”

“I am!” You couldn’t stop the scream, “I’m coming! I’m coming! FUCK!”

He kept his fingers buried inside of you as you came down from your orgasm, loving the way it felt as you contracted around him. After a minute had passed Baekhyun removed his hand from between your legs and leaned back beside you with a sigh. You looked over at him breathlessly and he turned to look at you. He lifted his hand to his mouth and sucked his fingers clean of you. You blushed as he hummed with delight. Then he smiled and his smile turned into a laugh of disbelief. You couldn’t help but laugh along with him.

Reaching out you brushed your thumb against his cheek, “Thank you.”

“I bet you can thank me better than that.”

You raised an eyebrow at his cheeky comment, “I can. Would you like that?”

“Maybe later.” He grinned, “Right now I kind of just want to be inside of you...if that’s okay?”

With a slightly nervous gulp you nodded. Then you watched as he got up and dragged his pants and boxers off his hips. You pulled your own pants and underwear down as well. Sitting back down on the blankets he grabbed your hand and pulled you over until you were sitting on his lap again.

“Are you sure you’re ready for me?” You teased.

A simple, happy hum escaped him. “I’m sure.”

Neither of you said anything else as you reached down between your legs. Baekhyun inhaled sharply as your fingers wrapped around him again, adjusting him to where he needed to be. You groaned as you sunk down onto him, taking him in. Grabbing your hips he held you still for a moment, wanting to take in the feel of finally being inside of you. You didn’t mind as you were adjusting to the stretch from the girth of him.

“Oh god, oh my god.” He groaned. “You feel so good, you don’t even have to move.”

“Am I better than your hand?” You smirked as you leaned down for a kiss.

He inhaled sharply as you began to roll your hips nice and slow. “My hand? Never of her. All I know now is you.”

You laughed and then tensed at the jolt of pleasure that shot through you. The two of you moved together so perfectly as he let you take control. You were pretty certain even if he wasn’t the first person you’d had sex with in nearly three years he’d still be the best. Whimpering out your pleasure against his lips you kept on while your foreheads, beading with sweat, pressed together. Hands still gripping onto your hips Baekhyun pulled you closer, burying himself deeper.

“Still think I’m a tease?”

“No,” moving one of his hands from your hips he landed a smack against your ass, “I think you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Jerking forward you released a satisfied groan. Your legs tightened around him and he moved his hips up to meet yours, matching every thrust. His neck bloomed red as he gasped against your chest. As he licked at the sweat that gathered on your skin your eyes rolled back. Your hands slipped up his back, nails digging into his shoulders until he hissed.

“I’m gonna com- fuck Y/n…” he threw his head back in pure ecstasy.

His neck was stretched out so long, little veins popping out prominently along the length as he worked harder to get to his orgasm and yours. Never before did you have the urge to dig your teeth into someone but Byun Baekhyun was a treat that made your mouth water.

With a shake of your head to clear your thoughts you kept going, kept grinding down onto him. The little grunts and groans that escaped your lips were driving him crazy. His shoulders were growing red from tension. The muscles in your thighs were aching. Wrapping your arms around his shoulders you pulled him in as close as you could.

“Oh, Jesus Christ.” You gasped, “I’m there, Baek. I’m right here with you.”

“Good.” He muttered breathlessly as he kept going.

Every muscle in your body tensed as he threw his hips into you as hard as he could. Then you slowly eased with release. Baekhyun had grunted when you tightened around him, milking out his matching orgasm, coating you in warmth.

You stayed on his lap for a few minutes, the mess of the both of you dripping down your thighs and pooling into his lap. You weren’t entirely sure why you didn’t move. Only knowing you wanted to be as close as you could to him for just a little longer. He didn’t seem to mind. He just sucked gently on the skin of your shoulder, catching his breath until you were ready and pulled yourself off.

One you’d gotten off his lap you laid down on the blanket beside him and he released a deeply satisfied sigh, crashing down onto his back. “That surpassed...every single one of my fantasies of you.”

“Did it?” You hummed thoughtfully. “I just can’t believe we could have been doing this the whole time.”

He kissed your temple and chuckled lightly, “Whose fault is it that we weren’t?”

“Don’t be mean.” You pouted. “We were having such a nice moment.”

“You’re right.” He grinned as he leaned in for another kiss. “I’m sorry.”

Your hands moved around his neck, holding him close while your tongue moved across his lip. The two of you kissed for a while and then you felt him start to stiffen against your hip once more.

“Wanna do it again?” You whispered against his mouth.

“Absolutely, I do.”

He continued the kiss as his hands moved down your body. His arm tucked under your leg and he flipped you so you were on your back. You watched as he slipped down your body, leaving a trail of kisses along the way. He didn’t say anything before he buried his face in the mound between your thighs.

A groan vibrated against you. It sounded like he’d just gotten a mouth full of his favorite meal for the first time in years. You tensed all over as his wet tongue swirled and flicked at your tingling clit until he sucked it between his lips. He kissed your lips and sucked you into his mouth until your eyes were rolling back.

“Baek!” You gasped, “You’re so good at that, what the fuck?”

Baekhyun hummed happily and continued on. His magic fingers found their way inside of you once more and you’d become so wet that the sound was nothing but lewd. It was almost too much for you to take. As you inched closer to your third orgasm you reached down and grabbed at his head with both hands. You were pretty sure he laughed while he dropped his messy hand down to stroke his cock, using your abundance of arousal to get himself ready. A violent shiver moved down your body with your orgasm, your back arching completely off the ground.

“Oh Jesus fucking christ!” You screamed, “I...”

As he moved back up your body you continued to shiver, tiny moans filling the air. Your hands stayed fisted in his hair and every part of you was tense. He watched as you caught your breath, kissing your collarbone and your neck.

“Are you okay?” He asked softly.

“It’s just a lot. After so long… overwhelming.” You were gasping out breaths.

“Let’s stop.” He suggested but he didn’t sound at all angry or disappointed.

You shook your head, “No, that’s not fair. I can do it. I can take it.”

“You're sure?”

“Yes, I want it. I want you.” You pulled his lip between yours for a quick kiss, “Please, Baek? I want you so bad.”

Pushing himself up over you he reached down again. His tip brushed gently against your still wet, very sensitive sex and he eased in. You winced slightly at the feel but relaxed once he was fully inside.

“Slow, okay?” Your voice came out quiet, almost innocent.

With a nod he started a deliberate roll of his hips. You lifted your legs so they were wrapped around him and urged him closer and deeper. Both of you were dripping beads of sweat as he took his sweet time. Each of the moans that escaped you perfectly matched the mixture of pain and pleasure that consumed you.

“I swear, I’m almost there.” He promised after a few minutes with a heady groan. “Oh god. You just feel good. I can’t…I can’t explain it.”

Reaching your hands up you held his flushed cheeks in your palms, “Baekhyun, I really love you.”

“I love you too.”

As he held himself up above you, you watched him lift his face to the sky. His neck stretching out before you once more like an offering. This time you couldn’t hold back. Lifting yourself up you latched your teeth to his skin. It wasn't a gentle tickle but you didn’t draw blood either. His mouth dropped open with a surprised gasp and he inhaled with a hiss as he came, his hips stilled.

“Sh-shit…” the warmth of him inside of you paired with the pressure of him pressed so deep took you over the edge one more, almost painful, time.

Your teeth dug into your lip to stifle a soft sob. You wrapped your arms around his body and pulled him down onto you. Arms tightening around him as much as they could.

“You okay?” He asked, leaving kisses against your sweaty temple.

“Mmm. Just don’t move.” you pleaded, “I just need a second, it’s a little too much.”

Baekhyun nodded, not moving besides to leave soft kisses on your chest and neck. He waited until you gave him the okay and then he removed himself slowly and collapsed beside you a second time. You rolled into his side, throwing your leg over his thigh and resting your head against his shoulder.

The two of you laid there for sometime, quiet, his fingers trailing over your bare skin. As if getting a sudden burst of energy Baekhyun sat up, greatly disturbing your comfort, and reached over to his pile of things near the candle campfire. When he laid back down next to you he had his instant camera in hand.

“No.”

“Why not?” He pouted immediately, still messing with the settings regardless.

“There’s no way I look cute right now.” You argued.

“You’ve never been more wrong in your entire life.” He said and eased back down beside you. “Come on. Just one. For me.”

“One.” You said sternly.

His smile stretched even wider, which you didn’t think was possible, and he leaned towards you. You moved a little closer to him while he stretched his arm out to take a selfie. Thinking quick, just before he pushed the button, you snuck a kiss against his cheek. With a laugh he grabbed the instant film as it was released and held it out so both of you could watch as the picture came through.

You laughed when you saw his face, eyebrows raised in shock with the happy surprise. “Okay, it’s cute, but only because of you.”

He pulled the picture close to his face and blushed happily, “You’re so in love with me.”

“Let me see.” you grabbed his hand and bought the photo closer. You could see it, it was clear. Even though it was just a tiny, low quality picture you could see it. It was there in the way you looked at him like he was everything. You didn’t tell him you agreed, you just turned and kissed his shoulder. “I want another s’more.”

“Shame we’re out of chocolate.” He said, tucking the picture away to the side.

“We’re not.” you tugged the sheet you’d been laying on out from under him and wrapped it around yourself before crawling over to your backpack.

Baekhyun rolled over into his stomach and watched you. His eyes grew wide with realization. “You don’t…”

You looked over your shoulder at him and grinned before lifting your bar of birthday chocolate into view. “I do.”

“I can’t believe you were holding out on me.”

“If you really love me, you’ll forgive me and make me another.” You said as you crawled back over to him and dropped the chocolate on the pillow.

“I’ll make you a s’more if you let me take a booby pic.” He smirked.

“Baekhyun!” you laughed as you shoved his chest. “No way, you little perv.”

“I won’t show anyone! I swear.” He placed his hands together in a prayer. “Please!”

With a roll of your eyes you dropped the sheet to your hips. For a moment he just sat and stared at you, as if he’d completely forgotten why you’d done it in the first place. Then he quickly scurried to grab the camera and shoot his shot.

Tugging the sheet back up around you, you laid back down. “S’mores!”

These ones were way better than the first. Though you weren’t entirely sure it was just because of the chocolate you used. It could have been the chocolate. You just suspected that it was more so kissing the chocolate off of Baekhyun's lips. Or him sucking your fingers clean of melted marshmallow. Or the way it made you feel every time he whispered that he loved you just before pressing his sugary lips against your skin, which happened quite a bit.

You hadn’t used the word perfect to describe a single day since the invasion. At least not unless it was sarcastically. But this day? This day had been perfect. You tried not to think about how many days you could have had like this one. How many days with him you’d missed out on because you were too scared to get hurt. You didn’t want to think about how few of these days you were actually going to get. You’d told him you’d stop worrying, so you weren’t going to let yourself ruin this perfect day.

“I hope you know,” you said with your chin resting on his chest once all the chocolate really was gone, the marshmallows had been devoured, and the two of you were dressed once more. You looked up at him. “Now that I love you or whatever, you really can’t let anything happen to you. If you do. I swear, if you died, I’d be forced to kill you.”

His eyes blew wide and his smile even wider as he wrapped your head in a bear hug against his chest, “Aw! You love me!”

“I already said I did. Several times.” you grumbled. “Can’t breathe.”

He released you from his suffocating embrace and looked down his nose at you thoughtfully. His soft fingers dragged across your forehead, brushing away loose hairs and tucking them behind your ear. He ran his thumb over your lips and his eyes moved over every inch of your face like he was committing you to memory. You had a sneaking suspicion it was something he’d wanted to do for sometime.

You felt incredibly vulnerable, in a way that you never had before. However nothing about it was as unpleasant as you’d always assumed that sort of vulnerability would feel. Instead it was calming. Something about opening yourself to him felt so safe, it felt like it was something you’d been desperately missing. Finally, he slipped his fingers through your hair and dipped his face to yours for a soft kiss.

“I thought you were going to fight me for the rest of our, probably short, lives.”

“I still might.” you joked.

“Okay,” he nodded in quick acceptance. “You can keep pretending to hate me. Just so long as you kiss me like you love me.”

In response you pulled his lip between yours and squeezed him tighter. The kiss lasted a long while. Soft and slow. You were so warm and comfortable, you wondered if it was possible to fall asleep in the middle of a makeout session. As if reading your thoughts Baekhyun pulled slowly away from your lips. He kissed your nose, your forehead and then the top of your head. Then, with your head on his shoulder he grew quiet beneath you and you assumed he’d fallen asleep. Even if he had, there was something you needed to confess.

“I’m sorry.” you whispered.

He hummed against the top of your head, “For?”

“Taking so long to come around.”

He smirked, though you couldn’t see it you could hear it in his voice. “Yeah, I bet you’re feeling preeetty stupid right about now. Knowing you’ve been missing out on all this.”

“Ugh, so annoying.” you puffed out a quiet laugh. “I hate you so much.”

“I know.” he tightened his embrace around you, “I love you too.”

His hand moved gently over your back but you couldn’t quite fall asleep.

“Baek,” you whispered and he hummed again in an acknowledgement that he’d heard you. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”

“I hope you know I never will.”

#byun baekhyun scenario #byun baekhyun smut #exo scenarios #exo smut #baekhyun smut #baekhyun scenario #baekhyun x reader #exo x reader #kpop scenarios #kpop smut #TEOTFW

104 notes · View notes

hold-me-sickfics · 3 years

Text

Taehyung x Yoongi “Experience is the best Teacher”

Hi guys! Sooooo I was in the mood to write and thanks to @thatoneemokpop-02 I got inspired 😁 here’s an mpreg fic based on a prompt Alex gave me last night! Hope y’all enjoy!

TW: food, mpreg, birth scene, anxiety, emeto (if there are any more please let me know!)

“Taehyungie, baby, I don’t know if we can fit all this in the car…” Yoongi eyed the ENTIRE STORE, watching nervously as Taehyung ran around pointing to various things he wanted. The nursery was Taehyung’s main focus right now, and Yoongi was sure it was because he was nervous about the baby coming soon. However, if it numbed Taehyung’s nerves, Yoongi was all in for it.

“Yoongi it’s not like I’m gonna buy the whole thing. Just a couple things if we really need them.”

Taehyung smiled as he looked through all the bottles that the store had to offer.

“Can we get these? They’re so cute!” Taehyung giggled, causing his tummy to bounce up and down. Yoongi swore it was the cutest thing he’d ever seen in his entire life.

“Babe we bought those last week, didn’t we?” Yoongi put them back on the shelf.

Taehyung picked them back up.

“No, those were the blue ones. These are yellow.”

Yoongi had to admit, he had a point.

“Alright, we can get them. But these are the last bottles okay? If we get any more, I’m gonna have to build another cabinet.” Yoongi chuckled, Taehyung’s beaming smile making him feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

“Deal.” Taehyung reached over into the buggy, keeping one hand on his tummy so it wouldn’t be pressed into by the metal siding.

“Ready to go? I’ll get you your favorite.” Yoongi couldn’t help himself, spoiling Taehyung was his guilty pleasure. It had been ever since he’d started dating him.

“Ugh Yoongi I’m already fat.” Taehyung looked down at his tummy, palming it just a bit. His mood swings were no problem for Yoongi, being as he knew exactly how to handle them.

Yoongi and Taehyung were behind a shelf, giving Yoongi a perfect shot (Taehyung hated physical affection with other people watching, so Yoongi was always mindful of it.)

Yoongi took Taehyung’s hand and gently kissed it.

“You’re beautiful, and I don’t care if your scale says that you’ve gained a little. Honestly, I can’t get my mind off of you when you’re doing your little waddle. It’s kinda sexy.” Yoongi winked at him. Taehyung couldn’t help but laugh.

“Min Yoongi you have lost it.”

“Mhmmm,” he kissed his head. “Now, don't fight me on this. Baby wants chicken strips. Does daddy want chicken strips?”

Taehyung felt his face turn completely red.

“... maybe a little…”

“I thought so.” Yoongi winked at him, and squeezed his hand. “Let’s go pay for these and then we’ll go get supper.”

“Ahhhagghhhh!” Taehyung’s smile quickly changed into a pained grimace as he rubbed his back. Yoongi was holding him in less than a second.

“What happened? Are you okay?” The worry in Yoongi’s voice couldn’t be clearer.

“I- I’m okay. He kicked and punched me at the same time. It hit my back. Agh it hurts…” Taehyung had tears in his eyes, but used his breathing techniques from his classes to calm himself down.

Yoongi’s eyes were filled with sympathy, wishing he could take Taehyung’s pain away. All he could do was to hold him, and copy his breathing pattern to keep him focused. Soon enough, Taehyung was back able to walk, and they bought the bottles and went out to the car.

Unfortunately, the kick managed to knock Taehyung’s appetite off. Yoongi begged him to eat, but the mere thought of food made him consider asking Yoongi to pull over so he could throw up.

When they got home, Yoongi helped Taehyung change clothes, and then assisted him in getting into bed. (It used to be easy, but with all the extra tummy weight, he had trouble balancing to raise his leg up.)

“I’ll be right back okay angel? I’m just gonna run to the bathroom real quick.” Yoongi kissed Taehyung’s cheek, and then swept his hair back.

Yoongi went and did his business, but the whole time he was thinking of how he could help Taehyung get through these last few weeks before the baby came. He hated it, but Taehyung was going to be nervous and feel bad no matter what he said. All he could do was support him. Still, he did feel like if he could experience what Taehyung was going through… maybe he could help more.

By the time he got back to the bedroom, Taehyung was already fast asleep. Yoongi took his usual position, big spoon for his beautiful boyfriend. His arm was wrapped around his midsection, right above his stomach. He felt the baby kick a bit, and smiled knowing the little one would be here soon.

Little did he know, he was in for a heck of an awakening…

----

Yoongi woke up to a sickening feeling in the back of his throat. He tossed the covers aside as he felt a stream of vomit coming up his throat. He was out of time. Next thing he knew, he was spilling the remnants of his dinner into the floor below him. Taehyung was awake almost instantly.

“You’re okay baby. Just get it up, I’ll clean it up in a minute.” Yoongi felt Taehyung’s hand rub up and down his back. Goodness he was so sore. It was like he’d been thrown up against a wall and beaten up. Everything hurt, and his stomach being so big and bloated didn’t help either. It made it hard to move. Why on earth was it so heavy? WAIT-

Yoongi looked at his stomach, and puked again. Taehyung actually had to catch him to keep him from falling off the side of the bed.

“T-Tae-Taehyung my stomach-”

Taehyung was behind him, eyes wider than saucers.

“Yoongi… Mine…” He looked down at his sculpted stomach, abs just as firm as they were before pregnancy.

“Oh heck-” Yoongi leaned over, puking again. Every heave wrecked his frame, and strained his insides. Now that he registered what was happening, he could feel the baby moving. Each kick and punch and stretch just made him feel worse.

After a couple minutes, Yoongi was left coughing and dry heaving. Taehyung kissed his crown, smoothing his hair down.

“I’m gonna come around to the other side and get you okay? Keep your eyes closed. It’ll help you not feel as sick.”

Yoongi nodded, one hand on his now, very large stomach. He clenched his eyes shut, wishing he could do the same for his nose.

He heard Taehyung putting a towel down on the floor to cover the puke. Then he felt Taehyung’s hands around him, helping him up gently.

“It’s gonna be harder to get up, just put your weight on me alright?”

“T-Taehyung I’m gonna puke again-” Yoongi dry heaved, the sound even causing Taehyung to wince. He knew that had to hurt Yoongi’s throat.

“You’re empty baby. It’s just the smell. Trust me, I would know. I was the pregnant one like four hours ago.”

Yoongi gagged again, feeling his knees go weak and nearly collapsing under him.

“Help me” Yoongi cried, tears rushing down his face.

“I’ve got you Yoongi I promise I won’t let you fall. Just keep your arms around me alright?”

Yoongi nodded, but kept shaking, knowing at any moment something else could happen. He had no idea being pregnant was this terrifying.

“Breathe Yoongi. Hey, focus on my voice. What do you hear me saying?”

“T-To b-bre-breathe.”

“That’s right. Now we’re gonna go take a bath and get you clean. The water will help with the cramping I promise you.”

“Mmmmmmnnnnn” Yoongi shuddered.

“What did I tell you just then baby?”

“W-water h-helps…”

“That’s good. Now sit down right here for me okay?”

Yoongi opened his eyes, shocked to realize that Taehyung had actually distracted him and helped him walk to the bathroom.

Taehyung leaned him down, feeling his own heart break at how pitiful Yoongi looked. He turned on the faucet, and added in some of his own lavender bubble bath soap.

“Taehy-hyung?”

“What’s happening baby?”

“B-baby’s moving-g. H-hurts…”

“I know it does. Here…” Taehyung ran a washcloth under the water. He started to wipe the sweat from Yoongi’s face and neck.

Yoongi moaned in comfort.

“There you go. That’s good baby.” Taehyung continued until the bath had filled up midway.

“Alright…” Taehyung kissed Yoongi’s rounded cheek, adoring the extra bit of baby-weight that pregnancy had added to him. “I’m gonna help you get undressed. Can you lift your arms for me?”

“Y-yeah.” Yoongi couldn’t think of anything except how scared he felt.

Taehyung slid his shirt off, slightly palming Yoongi’s stomach in the places that he could see the baby moving.

“Ahhhahhh,” Yoongi let out a half moan, half cry.

“I know baby. Believe me, I know.”

Taehyung got ready to take his husband’s pants off, helping him up off of the toilet slowly. Yoongi wrapped his arms around Taehyung’s neck, and just held onto him. Nonverbally begging for some of his strength.

“Taehyung… I- I-”

“It’s alright baby. I promise it’s not this bad all the time. Some nights are worse than others.” Taehyung lightly kissed the boy’s ear, holding him close.

“Ahhhhhhhahhhgggggh Taehyung I gotta lay down… S-something’s w-wrong…”

Taehyung’s eyes widened in shock… for some reason… a splatter of water had just hit the floor.

“Ahhhhaggghhhh hmmmmm…” Yoongi’s legs were trembling. Taehyung laid Yoongi down on the rug, thankfully they’d chosen a soft one when they’d decorated.

“Okay baby let me see-”

“N-no- no no, I can’t… I don’t w-want to…”

Taehyung felt his blood run cold. He had a really bad feeling about this.

“Just let me look. I won’t touch anything. I promise.”

Yoongi’s legs opened on their own, so it didn’t really matter whether Yoongi wanted him to see or not. What Taehyung saw was probably the worst thing he could have seen, or at least close.

“Alright baby I don’t know how but, you’re fully dilated…”

Yoongi cried, screaming in pain. Suddenly, it felt like everything had just crashed down on him.

“I- I c-can’t- p-lease…” Yoongi pushed involuntarily, feeling pressure and more pain than he’d ever experienced.

Taehyung saw Yoongi’s stomach tense up as he pushed down.

“Okay hey, look at me, look at me baby.” Taehyung’s voice was calming. The only bit of comfort he had in the whole situation.

Yoongi opened his eyes, and looked straight into Taehyung’s.

“I’m here. I’ve got you. Just push when you feel ready, okay?” Taehyung used his fingers to stretch Yoongi’s opening a bit, already able to see the baby’s head inside.

“Ugggggghhhhhhh” Yoongi threw his head back, his back arching in pain.

“You’re doing great. Yoongi I can see him already!” Taehyung smiled, tears filling his eyes.

Yoongi felt the urge to push, but wouldn’t.

“Baby I know you’re scared. Just do what you need to do. Your body is gonna show you how to. It’s gonna be alright, I promise.”

Yoongi felt a sharp pain erupt in his lower stomach.

“Taehyung hold me!” Yoongi stretched both his arms out to reach for Taehyung.

“I’m here baby. I’m right here. Just wake up.”

Yoongi was beyond confused.

“Everything is going to be alright. I’m right here with you. Open your eyes.”

Yoongi felt another intense pain inside of him, and he pushed.

“Yoongi you gotta wake up!”

Yoongi woke up, gasping. His entire body covered with sweat.

“T-Taehyung?”

Yoongi’s heartbeat was so loud he could barely hear Taehyung trying to soothe him.

“I’m here baby. I’m here.” Taehyung kissed his shoulder, unable to hold him due to the size of his stomach.

Yoongi immediately reached down and felt his stomach, then down to his privates. He was back to normal. He wasn’t pregnant, and moreover, he wasn’t giving birth.

“What happened?” Taehyung rubbed Yoongi’s arm.

“I-” Yoongi decided there was only one way for him to explain it.

“Taehyung, I’ll be right back okay? I’ve gotta run and get something from the store.”

“You are not telling me you had a nightmare because we’re out of milk.”

“I’m not, but there’s something I gotta do. I’ll be back in 30 I promise okay?”

Taehyung reluctantly said yes, and Yoongi threw on some clothes.

He made a quick job of his mission. Fluffy socks, 3 dozen roses, a bath bomb, as much candy as he could grab in one go, and Taehyung’s favorite from McDonald’s since they were the only ones open. Oh, and the milk. He couldn’t forget the milk.

He got home to see Taehyung waddling around the kitchen, making a mental list of things he had to do today since it wasn’t likely he was going back to sleep. He heard the door close, and turned around to see Yoongi crying.

Yoongi dropped everything and rushed to him, hugging him and half blubbering into his neck.

“You are beautiful and I love you so much and everything is going to be okay I promise. I’m gonna make sure you have the best doctors and the best of everything in the nursery, and I’m gonna build you that other cabinet for the bottles. I’ll start at 6:00, because Lowe’s doesn’t open until then but I’ll be there when the door opens. Anything you want, you just tell me. Anything. I don’t care what time it is or what else I’ve been doing that day or whatever. Anything you need is yours. And on top of that, I’m giving you a massage right now so don’t try and stop me.”

He swept Taehyung off his feet, barely able to see his path due to the size of Taehyung’s stomach. He got him to the bedroom and immediately turned the lights down and grabbed the lotion.

“You rest and let me do this. Want me to turn on the music?”

“Babe… are you okay?”

“Just work with me. Pregnancy makes you emotional.”

Taehyung didn’t question it, and just smiled at how cute his husband was being. He knew there were things he could say to thank Yoongi, but it seemed that right now the biggest thank you would be to go back to sleep and show him that his massage helped comfort him. He did promise himself to get more into detail about that dream in the morning though.

The end

#rpf #emeto #btssickfics #tw food #pregnant Taehyung #pregnant Yoongi #Taegi mpreg #mpreg #birth scene #slight anxiety

42 notes · View notes

littleoddwriter · 3 years

Text

Dumbass | Roman Sionis x Victor Zsasz | ZsaszMask

"can i mix the Misunderstanding prompt and the late night conversation prompt? for zsasz and roman (-zsasz probably got confused or mispronounced something real bad,, it'll b cool if the late night convo was handled in a comedic way ya kno?)" anon A/N: I’m really not good at being comedic at the best of times, and rn it’s like the worst of times, lol, ANYWAY; I really hope this is to your liking, still!

summary; Victor accidentally buys the wrong thing, Roman manages to hurt him with words, and later cheers his little doggy up by telling him dumb stories.

notes; kind of Emotional Hurt/Comfort; Domestic; Established Relationship; Stories of Dumbassery (the Raccoon Story; a hookup story, where the hookup was very ~ small ~ and Romy being Romy then); Cheering up; Fluffy; Verbally hurting someone (without intention tho); idk what else to say about this; Attempt at Humour?.

"How the actual fucking fuck did you manage to get that fucking wrong? I mean- wasn't I clear enough, when I told you to get me this very specific fucking chapstick and you come back with what? A fucking deep red lipstick? Are you fucking serious, Zsasz?" Roman yelled, already red in the face and seething. It seemed like such a small thing to be upset about, but this should be routine by now. It was always the same chapstick. Always! Yet, for some reason, Victor managed to come home with a lipstick, even when he was told very explicitly what to get for Roman? It was annoying at best, but very upsetting at worst. Unfortunately, Victor had to deal with the worst now. The problem truly was that Roman felt like Zsasz just didn't care enough, even though he had enough evidence of that not being the case; but by all means, Roman was past rational thoughts in that moment. Victor actually looked embarrassed at having made such a grave mistake. "I'm sorry, Boss. I can go back and get the chapstick, if you want?" "Ugh, no! I'll just send someone else who can actually get it fucking right," Roman said, feeling a pang in his chest at the glimpse of hurt in Victor's eyes, "Besides, I need you here now. I have a meeting in not too long, remember?" Zsasz nodded, keeping his mouth shut now, apparently. That was okay, he wasn't much of a talker anyway, but Roman was a little concerned that maybe he's actually managed to hurt his little lapdog with words of all things. Perhaps he really needed to get a grip on himself in some situations. Much later, when it was already late at night - or very early in the morning, depending on who you were asking - they had both retired upstairs for the night. They got ready for bed respectively, Roman taking much longer of course, because a flawless body like his needed time and work, after all. Then Victor and Roman lay down on their bed, their sides touching as they were lying on their backs for now. There still was a bit of tension left from that afternoon, although Zsasz tried his hardest not to let it show, Roman knew that. After a few moments of tense silence, Roman intertwined his hand with Victor's, squeezing it. "You're a dumbass, you know?" Roman turned his head towards Victor, looking at him intently. Zsasz also turned his head to face his boss. He didn't look very amused. "I said I was sorry." "I know. I didn't mean it like that, I was trying to- I don't even know. Come on, Zsasz, I can't have actually hurt you with this. Right?" Victor just shrugged, hurt flickering in his eyes once more. Roman let go of Victor's hand and rolled over, onto his stomach, partially lying on his lapdog now, as he tangled their legs and wrapped one of his arms around Zsasz. Their faces were barely an inch apart. "I was bitten by a raccoon when I was a kid," Roman stated, a light pink flush gracing his cheeks. To this day, he was still a little embarrassed by it. Victor's eyes widened almost comically, as his mouth went slack, "How? And how old were you?" "I think I was around twelve years old? It's a bit of a blur, but... Yeah, well, I was in the forest and I saw this raccoon and it was really fluffy, you know? So naturally, I wanted to pet it. Got fucking bitten in the hand real quick." Roman chuckled self-depracatingly, burying his face in the crook of Victor's neck. "Oh my lord. And you're calling me a dumbass?" Victor joked, poking Roman's side who flinched and slapped the other man's hand away. Then Roman lifted his head to glare at Victor, but it wasn't really coming through, since he couldn't contain his grin. "See? You're a dumbass because you apparently either don't know the difference between lip- and chapstick or, you just don't fucking listen to me. And I'm arguably a dumbass, too, for trying to pet a wild, rabid raccoon." Victor leaned up to close the inch of distance between them and captured Roman's lips in a sloppy kiss, both of them grinning. "Do you have more stories like that?" Zsasz asked when they parted, a shit eating grin on his handsome fucking face. Fortunately, there was no more hurt detectable in his lapdog's big round eyes anymore, so his strategy had actually worked. Roman sighed then and smiled slightly, "Hmmm, I know you hate to hear about past hookups of mine, but one time - before we knew each other, of course - I met this guy at the club and went home with him, right? And fuck, I was looking for a good, hard fuck, but then this fucker pulls his pants down and it's barely two fucking inches! All I got out was a mocking laughter and telling him how fucking tiny he was, obviously, as if he didn't know that. Then I left. It's not really a stupid story of mine, but fuck, the audacity of this asshole!" Roman cackled at the memory. Victor joined his laughter, "And do you have more of you being a dumbass?" "You're not letting this go, are you?" "Absolutely not." "If only I didn't like you so much, ew." Roman leaned forward to kiss Victor again for a few minutes, thinking of a story he could tell him that wouldn't be too undignified and embarrassing. In the end, he was only glad that Victor wasn't hurt anymore. He didn't intend for Zsasz to be plagued by his words. So he spent a few a more hours talking about stupid things he's said or done in his past before he knew Victor. His little lapdog kept laughing and joking, but also reciprocating with some stories of his own that Roman didn't know about and were actually rather endearing. Perhaps he really was a little soft for the other man.

#roman sionis #victor zsasz #zsaszmask #roman sionis fanfiction #victor zsasz fanfiction #zsaszmask fanfiction

29 notes · View notes

brynnmck · 4 years

Text

J/B Exchange Recs Round 1!

I have not been around Tumblr much lately because I was so preoccupied with stuff for @jaime-brienne-fic-exchange, but I am trying to get back into the swing of things, and I figured what better place to start than with some recs?

These are currently skewed a bit toward my amaaaazing gift fic and the amaaaaazing ones I beta-ed, since I am way behind on my reading, but there will be more to come!

Backpfeifengesicht by @samirant - I am so unbelievably grateful that I had both amazing prompts/amazing recipient for the fic I wrote, and such a fabulous gift fic too. I was still working on my own fic and very sleep-deprived and flagging when I read this for the first time and I think I may have actually left my body on a wave of sheer euphoria. IT IS ALL THE GOOD THINGS. So many of my favorite vacation/road trip tropes--drunken shenanigans! Intimate late-night conversations while everyone else is sleeping/elsewhere! Friends being too involved in your relationship! Unexpected forced proximity! And the banter is glorious, and the secondary characters are so well thought out and add such depth and vibrance to the story, and the Sansa/Margaery subplot was DELIGHTFUL, and I love the way this structured Brienne's relationship to Tyrion and then to Jaime as an extension of that, and the resolution was handled with an absolutely perfect balance of hilarity and heat. (There was also the stuff throughout that was very targeted to me specifically WHICH I APPRECIATED, so thanks to both Sami and @forbiddenfantasies1 for that). About 20% of the way into the story, I was deeply convinced it was Sami, and in the best possible way--it had the hallmarks I love about her writing: her sense of humor, her gift for banter, her clear affection for the characters, the richness of all the relationships. It was like showing up to a party and unexpectedly finding a friend there, and it was the loveliest feeling. I am thrilled that so many people have read and loved this story but I want everyone in the world to read and love it, so. Please check it out if you haven't! And also check out Sami's hilarious tale of woe regarding her writing process, which is amazing. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR SUCH A PHENOMENAL GIFT SAMI. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

A favorite line: On any other day, Brienne would have left him - a relative stranger - to his wallowing, but an untold amount of imbibed Pentoshi Slammers stirred up a noble benevolence within her, a little voice that said they had something in common and what good were her broad shoulders if they weren’t offered as a place to rest a weary, heartbroken brow? SO GOOD.

_____

Lay Your Heartbreak and the sequel You could make me feel so good by @ajoblotofjunk / sdwolfpup - LISTEN. SDW sent me an early chunk of this and I was immediately OBSESSED and I have not stopped being obsessed since. Obviously worldbuilding is a huge strength of SDW's and her creativity with that is a constant astonishment to me. But pop culture is full of examples of people who can create amazing worlds and then utterly fail to populate them with interesting or dynamic characters, whereas SDW's ability to fill in those wonderfully creative spaces with her love for the characters and their love for each other that is just magic. And these fics are the perfect examples of that. The setup is not only fascinating but makes for such fantastically INTENSE feelings, omg, everything just feels like it's crackling off the page; even before Jaime and Brienne and Addam are admitting anything to each other, it's not so much simmering under the surface as boiling. The balance between the three of them is gorgeous, there are two incredibly hot fencing scenes as well as a very hot swimming scene (in addition to the sequel being just one big tangle of brain-scorching hotness), there's a perfect amount of sweetness and softness to play off all the blazing heat, and overall this is one that's going to stick with me for a long time. I know J/A/B isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if you aren't actively opposed to the idea of them, then I highly highly encourage you to check this out.

A favorite line: That night she dreams of golden skin, hot and soft against her palm – yes, someone moans, yes – the rough scrape of callouses over the arch of her ribs, the scratch of red stubble between her thighs – like this? Yes, more, please more – legs sliding together and between each other, and two mouths touching her all over. Hnnnnngh.

_____

The Limit Does Not Exist by @agirlnamedkeith / sameboots - Fics with a power imbalance are something I approach with a lot of caution but I LOVED the way that sameboots handled it here. The fact that this fic includes her signature extremely hot feelings-forward porn as well as a thoughtful exploration of what it can mean to be a woman in STEM is like a beautiful multi-course meal; I cared a LOT about whether they were gonna do it and I was also equally invested in how Brienne’s thesis was going to turn out and where she would go from there. I love Brienne’s stubbornness and determination and even though she’s finding her way here (as you would be, as a grad student), those elements are VERY much on display and they spark fantastically against an initially guarded and caustic but eventually deeply admiring Jaime. And while I don’t want to spoil anything, I will say that I feel like the end is a perfect illustration of one of the major themes of the fic, and I love it so much for that. Watching this one take shape and watching sameboots geek out over her math research was a delight, and the result is excellent (and did I mention, extremely hot). Definitely worth all her work!

A favorite line: “Has anyone ever told you that you’re the worst liar?” (KIDDING HANNAH ILU HERE’S THE REAL ONE:) The problem with smoothies was that it was hard to make them aggressively., Angrily pushing a button didn’t have the same release as whaling on a punching bag. Brienne didn’t have a punching bag, though, and she desperately needed to do something, and she was hungry. ANGRY SMOOTHING-MAKING. I LOVE IT.

_____

Right Off the Bat by @hillaryschu - A You’ve Got Mail AU where Jaime and Brienne are rival Little League coaches who unknowingly bond over Twitter is SUCH a great idea, and Hillary committed to it right down to the delightful rom-com-trailer summary. She also put an enormous amount of care into the details of the story--she had references for outfits, buildings, even Jaime’s cologne--and it shows in all the lush descriptions throughout. The banter is sparky, watching their two relationships gradually unfold is a lot of fun, there’s a particular tipsy (on Brienne’s part) Twitter DM exchange that I still get flustered thinking about, and there’s a batting cage scene that will be haunting my brain for a while. Especially given that Hillary had never written a story anywhere near this long before, I’m so impressed that she pulled it off (and fixed some of the most problematic elements of the movie, too). Congratulations to her on rising to the challenge!

A favorite line: But as they part from each other, Brienne lifts the hem of her tee to wipe the dirt and sweat from her face. Her exposed stomach is pale and toned, with softly defined muscles that gleam with perspiration. Jaime trips over home plate. SAME JAIME. SAME.

_____

X Marks the Spot (where I’ll find you again) by @pretty--thief - PIRATES. I WAS SO EXCITED WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THE PIRATES. And this fic is such a fantastic blend of snappy, exciting swashbuckling (and hilarious use of parrots) and a very poignant backstory that underlays the adventure with all this yeeeeeearning and it’s SO GOOD. The action scenes are thrilling, the descriptions are gorgeous, there is STARGAZING and BATTLE COUPLE, the Jaime snark is chefkiss, Brienne is so brave and committed and quietly full of feelings, there’s a really lovely discussion of the ethics of being in the military, and also Pod and Addam and Arya and PIRATES FOR JUSTICE. SO HERE FOR THAT. And did I mention the yeeeeeearning (which is paid off wonderfully--the penultimate chapter lived rent-free in my mind for about a week after I first read it)? Ugh SO GOOD.

A favorite line: When he had exited his quarters, Brienne had looked at him with so much concern in her eyes it threatened to swallow Jaime whole. He’d felt something similar when he was around Cersei, when they were fucking or fighting; a fire he had once thought he could never tire of, would never want to put out. But Brienne had reached out her hand, as if on reflex, and smoothed her thumb across his tired brow. The ship had continued to sway beneath them, and Jaime didn’t feel fire. He didn’t feel like he would be turned to ash at any moment. He felt a breeze, the wind in his hair and salty air in his lungs. as;lfkja;sldjgas;lfjas;lf

_____

Federation Fliers by @elizadunc /Ladybugbear2 - A short and very sweet one! I adore the world that Megs created in this and would happily read many many more words in it, but this is a lovely glimpse in and of itself, and made me so happy. Established relationship (which I love), one of my favorite Jaime nicknames for Brienne, a wonderfully badass Brienne and a wonderfully besotted Jaime, all against a fascinating backdrop. So good!

A favorite line: She belonged in the sky. She had a grace to her movements on the ground, but in the sky she was ethereal. HEART-EYES

_____

And now for a few that I just read after they were posted like a normal person:

Wine Down by @slipsthrufingers - SOME MILD SPOILERS HEREIN FYI. Okay first of all, the summary of this fic is deliciously evil and I think we all need to appreciate that. Also, it starts out with Jaime and Brienne having lunch together and these glorious descriptions of food and he has taken note of the specific food she likes and is making sure it’s provided for her and that is SO VERY MUCH MY LOVE LANGUAGE YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW. I FLAILED. And then things go, shall we say, a bit downhill, but in the most achingly beautiful way--Jaime sacrificing himself for Brienne and Brienne determined to tether him to life through sheer force of will and steadfast devotion. Slips puts us right into Brienne’s headspace/heartspace while she’s worrying for Jaime and trying to negotiate the fucked-up Lannister family dynamics (and the observations on said dynamics are wonderful too), and this hits such an excellent balance of Brienne’s rigidly controlled surface and everything that’s roiling away underneath. I’m always fascinated by the idea of what could have happened during the time that Brienne was in King’s Landing and this is such a brilliant exploration of how things could have gone, and Brienne’s interactions with the rest of the Lannisters (and Sansa) give the world that much more depth as well. The descriptions throughout are beautiful, there are so many lovely turns of phrase, the intimacy between Jaime and Brienne is just devastating, and it all comes back around to an immensely satisfying conclusion. SO GOOD.

A favorite line: The gods had seen fit to give her an unwomanly body, so she had taken up the sword. They had given her an ugly face, so she had perfected her manners and courtesies so they could never be frowned upon. But they had given her a maiden’s heart, and try as she might she had never found the right weapon to protect it. MY PRECIOUS GIRL.

_____

A Matter of Honor by @nire-the-mithridatist - I shrieked at nire in DMs basically the whole time I was reading this story, it made me experience like 90% of the range of human emotions in one night and I’m still mad about it. This features a fascinatingly flipped script where Brienne is the wealthy one and Jaime the supplicant, and an arrogant-ass supplicant he is. Brienne is an angy baby nineteen-year-old who is furious at the entire world and I fucking adore her for it, and watching all the events unfold through the lens of her (generally well-founded) suspicions was a delicious sort of torture where I trusted NO ONE and genuinely did not know exactly what was going to happen next. Nire turns a lot of marriage fic tropes on their head in this and it’s all done brilliantly, and there is EXTREMELY SEXY SWORD-FIGHTING (and as a sexy bonus, Brienne’s perspective on it feels so perfect for someone who is truly an accomplished swordswoman), and nire uses some common elements throughout to just pack in these layers and layers of meaning and significance, and there are many turns of phrase so perfect that they hurt, and then she’s like “hey would you like to re-feel all the feelings in this story again in a very concentrated burst” and it’s SO MUCH, and the conclusion pays everything off amazingly. And even though it’s very swoony and romantic (and HOT. I SHOULD MENTION VERY HOT), there’s a hint of melancholy to it too, reckoning with what it means to be a woman--even a wealthy one--in Brienne’s world, and it’s just the perfect crunch of salt on top of all the sweetness. LOVE.

A favorite line: He brought her knuckles to his lips. As sweet as honeyed nettles, he declared, “Lady Brienne. You have made me the happiest of men.” As the crowd roared in approval, she felt the sting of his kiss. STING OF HIS KISS ARE YOU KIDDING ME. Also I’m including this for purely thirsty reasons but NO SHAME: He stood from the sofa and went to help his wife undress, and if she noticed his averted eyes and his trembling hands—oh gods, the laces went on endlessly down her back, and with each pull, a little more of her figure was revealed, barely veiled by her gauzy shift—she said nothing. I DIED. I ALSO SAID NOTHING BECAUSE I WAS DEAD. Fuck, man.

_____

The Riverlands Gang Go to the Zoo by @naomignome - Another shorter and very delightful one with Naomi’s typical brand of chaotic humor that I adore. It’s Hyle POV, for one thing, which is good times, and the structure of this is so clever--the way each section of the zoo is used to progress the story is so seamless and happy-making, and there are tons of little jokes and Easter eggs packed in along with a very sweet, snarky emotional storyline wherein Hyle is definitely doomed. Plus another EXCELLENT Brienne nickname in here. LOVELY.

A favorite line: “Pixel!” he said laughingly, “You know if you fell in the bear pit, I would jump after you without a second thought.” “You need to have a first thought in order to have a second one.” Brienne said dryly. SUCH A GOOD BURN.

_____

all these people think love’s for show (but i would die for you in secret) by @naomignome - This is SUCH A FLEX because not only did Naomi write TWO fics for her recipient but they are WILDLY DIFFERENT and I’m so impressed with her for doing it! This one is SPIEEEEESSSS and Naomi packs so much tension into 5K, I was on the edge of my seat through the whole thing. Canon events are woven in astonishingly well, and it’s a delicious enemies-to-partners-to-lovers situation that involves some excellent hurt/comfort and excellent use of RAIN to moody/sexy effect and it’s just all very thrilling. YUM.

A favorite line: He lets off a single bullet and it grazes the inside of her thigh, enough to make her wince and draw blood, but not enough to stop her from tackling him to the ground and wrestling him into submission. She’s got both of his wrists pinned above his head and her knee is drawn up and pressed against his torso. Jaime’s chest is heaving under her knee. Her chest is heaving in tandem. From above him, Brienne can see the green of his eyes darken, and even in submission, he’s annoyingly beautiful. Her blood is rushing, and it’s not all adrenaline. WHEW. SAME.

_____

as stars once a year brush the earth by @ylizam / mazily - Another wonderfully bite-sized one (good job actually taking the minimum word count as a guideline, people who did that, unlike the rest of us dumbasses!) that packs a lot into a small space. A canon-ish soulmates AU that’s so understated and dreamy, but with the echo of all the turmoil they’ve gone through to get to this place that brings everything in sharp relief. It’s also funny and sexy and romantic as fuck, and there are gorgeous poetic descriptions, and they spar by a WATERFALL, and just. So much happens in just over 1600 words! IMPRESSIVE.

A favorite line: Her right hand goes numb, unfeeling; back in their rooms Jaime is waking up, and she knows the phantom ache of his missing hand is bothering him. Jaime is waking, and yawning, the bed linens pooling around his waist and highlighting his summer tanned skin. She misses him, suddenly, as wide as the endless sea in front of her. BEAUTIFUL.

OKAY THIS WAS A LONG POST. That’s all I’ve got for now--more to come as I continue my reading!!

#jaime x brienne #jaime x brienne fic rec #jaime brienne fic exchange #braime #so many feelings in this post!!#so many talented writers in this fandom!!

63 notes · View notes

princessofgayskull · 4 years

Text

somehow I’ll still love you more (kitra fic sneak peak)

so this is a scene from my upcoming fic somehow I’ll still love you more, which at is core is going to be a kitra/baby fic. However, there’s a lot I want to say about this (you know me, can’t keep that word count down) so this fic will be nothing if not a full course meal.

The fic is told in a nonlinear fashion. This particular scene I wanted to share with you guys because I believe it touches on a lot of what the fic is going to be about. It’s set between the episodes White Out and Light Spinner in Season 2. Enjoy! (this has not been beta’d yet)

“Scorpia,”

“Hmm- huh?”

“Stop doing that.”

“Stop doing what?”

Pulling up the hand brake, Catra stopped the speeder in its tracks before whirling around, her left eye twitching like the movement was the only thing keeping her eyeball in place. “That- that thing you’re doing with your mouth. That noise you’re making under your breath.”

“Singing?” Scorpia raised an eyebrow.

“You call that singing?” Catra scoffed at her inferior. Look, Catra got that growing up in the Horde meant there weren’t any private music lessons (even if that was in Shadow Weaver’s job description she’d just relegate that responsibility off to some tone deaf Force Captain so she’d have more time to make Catra’s life a living hell and dote on Adora on the side) that all those half-witted princesses definitely got growing up, but it was like Scorpia was trying for the same sound her pincers made when she dragged them down slabs of concrete.

Catra’s hand squeezed the brake handle until the pressure hurt the bones in her hand, her left eye still twitching. It was like Scorpia was trying to tank Catra’s recent promotion as Hordak’s second in command by being as annoying as she could on purpose. But who wasn’t trying to derail all of Catra’s hard earned progress these days?

“Oh um, I could stop. If you want.” Scorpia muttered, her face falling into an expression that gave Catra the urge to both scream, puke, cry, and beg for forgiveness at the same time. And lately, every action, every word, every little breath that any took in her direct vicinity set off a domino effect of violent emotions in Catra, every single one too enormous and too consuming for her body.

Good thing Catra didn’t have time for any of that.

“Just-” Catra’s breath faltered when Scorpia refused to look at her (what? Now she was the bad guy just because she needed focus or Hordak would have her sent to Beast Island? Or worse?!), “- just don’t do it right now, okay?”

This earned Catra an enthusiastic nod, and she was too fucking tired to do anything but figure that was going to have to do, given the time crunch, and not mention, the insane amount of pressure she was running under. Clicking the brake, Catra pushed the handle down, fucking ecstatic to be driving the speeder the rest of the way in peace and quiet. Finally. Scorpia didn’t say another word, didn’t make another noise, until Catra was pulling up to the edge of Dawn’s Pass and activating the brake again.

That was good enough for Catra.

Just as Catra moved up to the edge to take a watchful stance of the town, Scorpia opened her big mouth. “Uh, boss? Not that I don’t love these recon missions with you lately, but I gotta ask: why are we staking out this village again? The Horde’s occupied this place for the last twelve years, and this isn’t exactly what I pictured when you said we were going to start hanging out over work? I mean, unless Dawn’s Pass has a mean bowling alley. Does- does it?”

“No,” Catra’s tail twitched in irritation.

“Oh.”

A cadet, waving his baton in a steady motions, stood at the broad brick wall that blocked off the town as his shift replacement approached from the west, whistling a tune through their helmet so ear shattering it put Scorpia’s new little song to shame. Keeping her eyes trained on the two of them, Catra braced herself for the metallic scent of magic to hit her nose. There was the quick swish of her claws unsheathing, and then, a pregnant silence.

If they’re going to strike, Sparkles and Rainbow and- and Adora, or any of the other dopey Princesses- are going to strike now.

But Catra watched unfold was a typical exchange between Horde Cadets: a simple salute, a complaint about standing for ten hours, and a wish for good luck during the dull, boring night shift. No Princesses. No magic. No threats anywhere in sight.

Nothing. Just like Dawn’s Pass went from being a primary target to just another boring occupied village and Catra’s paranoia had wasted another night. Grimacing, her claws digging into her forehead, Catra actually found herself hoping Hordak would be too busy wasting pleasantry on the Princess who sat at (or on it, literally, because Entrapta just thought she was the shit and that she could waltz into any room) his throne to speak with her tonight. Her lengthy string of failures was getting harder and harder to choke her way through excusing.

“So um,” Scorpia started up again, sending Catra’s ears laying flat up against her head. She exhaled a hot and irritated sigh, but the Horde’s hostage/princess stayed true to her inability to take a fucking hint, “when you said we were going to start hanging out after we came back with all that tech from the the Northern Reach, I just- I just didn’t picture us, you know patrolling.”

An angry pulse ran up Catra’s back at the mention of their tech victory- Entrapta’s tech victory- back in that shitty winter wasteland she almost froze her tail off in. “Scorpia,” her voice was thin, “I told you a thousand times, I don’t have time. Just take what you’re given and try not to complain.”

Wow, did she just sound like Shadow Weaver right then. Whatever, Catra turned her head away from Scorpia, in no mood to deal with the fallout of seeing her sort-of-friend’s expression, maybe the Old Crone was right about some things in the end.

“Can I ask why we’re here? Like here, here? What makes a place with no bowling alley so interesting?” The second Scorpia let up, Catra let her forehead hit the rim of the speeder and didn’t even blink at the ringing pain. Ugh, Scorpia just never gave up. How many times did Catra have to ask for some damn silence so she could think?

Running her claws down her face- again- Catra grunted, “Dawn’s Pass can’t fall into the hands’ of the Rebellion. If we lose it, or if they’re conspiring with the Princesses, we’re going to lose the Horde’s longest occupied village and we’ll be giving up the tactical advantage it gives us against that flower Princess’s kingdom.” And I will have another failure under my badge. If I lose another town, I can basically kiss my Force Captain badge goodbye. And maybe my life.

“Ohhhh…” Scorpia trailed off. At this point Catra was going to end up with a bitch of headache just from rolling her eyes at the other Force Captain. “Yeah, that makes sense. This’ll be fun! Patrolling the occupied territories with my bestie!”

Catra made a noise of disgust, but it wasn’t enough to stop Scorpia from pushing herself onto the front seat and almost pushing Catra out of it. Leaning the exoskeleton covered parts of her elbows onto the rim, Scorpia let out a contented sigh, her ditzy gaze trained on the town as Catra struggled- yipping and yelping to no end and scratching up the dinged up leather of the seat- to get her tail out from under the other woman’s butt.

Do the words “personal space” just mean absolutely jackshit to her? Catra, gripping her freed tail, growled under her breath and turned away from Scorpia. The seat was practically hers now! Looks like kneeling on the floor would have to do! It’s like I’m wearing a sign on my forehead that reads “what’s mine is yours, including the air I breathe!” Ugh, of course Hordak doesn’t listen to me, nobody does! Not even Scorpia! Everyone is too busy with their own heads up their asses to see what I’m trying to accomplish, or to give me enough space to let me do it! And she wonders why I don’t wanna “hang out after work,” or whatever.

Maybe bringing Scorpia as her backup belonged up there with some of Catra’s worst ideas; not like she didn’t have a pretty impressive tab of those wracked up already. Whatever, the universe wasn’t exactly open to responding to any of Catra’s actions with anything other than another round of punishment, so it wasn’t like acting on her impulsive or emotional notions were really going to be her undoing. Not with Hordak out for her neck, her badge no longer wielding the protective force that came with having real authority.

Catra was an idiot to think that power would’ve actually lasted her longer than a week, that now that she’d taken out Shadow Weaver and left her to her rotting self in a cell that there wouldn’t be another player on the board that could take her shield of Second in Command away from her. Well, that’s what she got for letting Entrapta into their vents. Helping them win the war or not, Horde or not, their resident techwhiz was still a Princess.

And princesses weren’t good for anything other than being annoyances that stood in Catra’s way.

“Are you seriously humming again, Scorpia?!” Catra yelped out, the volume of her voice loud enough to scare several birds from off the town’s wall. Her split eyes had been trained on the town as she crouched at the bottom of the speeder, the only entertainment the angry spiral echoing in her brain, tailing the action of a family and their wagon of sparse supplies as they approached the gate when the grating sound smacked her upside the head. The resulting intensity of her fury was almost enough to give Catra the strength to put her fist through the wall of the speeder.

Scorpia retreated into herself. “Sorry.”

Holding back a response, Catra just scoffed again and turned back to the previous subject of her attention. Watching one of the men of the family reach the gate and request entrance into his town was better than directing a full on meltdown at her inferior, kicking her out of the speeder, and forcing her to walk her way back to the Fright Zone. Catra wasn’t so far drowning her rage to something that idiotic, yet.

It was big yet. Catra knew that as she tried to shift her position, rolling her head on her shoulders and squeezing her fists, breathing only through her nostrils despite understanding that there was no sitting with an anger this encompassing. The feeling pushed and pushed and pushed at her physical walls until it was practically promising that Catra’s building fury would end one mesmerizing explosion, one that would take her, Scorpia, the family, the Horde Cadet, the entire town, all of it, out with a bang.

Now if only Scorpia had the brains to know that when she started her singing up again.

Catra peeled her blue eye open. The sun was beginning to set, and it had bathed the surrounding forest in shades of soft pink and orange, a scene so painfully ordinary it meant they couldn’t be anywhere else other than reality. Underneath the shadow cast by the stone wall, Catra took in a breath as she watched the first man continue to negotiate his family’s entrance into their own town.

Okay, so she’d hadn’t blown them all to fiery simtheriens- not the speeder, not the wall, not the little girl watched over by another man stumbling barefoot in the grass, letting out happy babbles as she pulled out clumps of grass and started sticking them in her cloth diaper until her father got down on his knees just to get her to stop. Guess Catra could count that as victory that her emotions hadn’t ended in an explosion that ended a child, a baby. Catra figured that given the fact that each step the little girl took on those chubby little legs of hers was a leap of faith that she probably wasn’t even a year and a half old.

The other man, the one that had chosen to forgo the customary negotiation in favor of watching the little girl experiment with walking near their wagon, moved from his kneeling position to pick her up. Something about the way the villager held her with a grip firm enough to keep his child from falling, yet not with so much strength that he hurt left a series of psychosomatic bruises up and down Catra’s ribs. She watched as the man ran a hand bigger than his daughter’s entire head through her soft and downy mauve hair, careful to avoid the tiny stumps in her head that would eventually become long enough and pronounced enough to match the horns of her father’s head. Catra let out a breath she was holding just to suck in another.

“Dada!” Even from the faraway vantage of the speeder Catra’s ears still picked up on the sound of the little girl recognizing her father. Because the universe was both impartial and cruel. Right as Catra realized she had stuck one set of claws in her mouth and she was chewing on them- who was she?! Adora?! Out her biting her freaking nails ‘cause something had the nerve to make her uncomfortable?- the baby stuck her tiny, chubby little hand into her father’s bright orange beard and yanked without mercy.

Now that guy’s screams scared the rest of the birds away.

As the family’s head negotiator rushed away from the Horde Cadet to tend to his husband’s facial hair, their daughter laughing up a riot at their combined reactions, Scorpia leaned over to where Catra sat on the floor, her tail twitching back and forth. “Uh boss?” she started but Catra didn’t turn away, her hand clutched into the fabric that rested above her sternum and not on her Force Captain badge for once. “Should we do something about these guys?”

“Why? They’re not Princesses.” They’re just a normal family trying to get into the place they live, so they can take their daughter home and have a dinner together that’s not mush, and then tuck their daughter in, tell her bedtime stories, be there in the night in case she has nightmares and needs them.

The fathers joined in on their daughter’s laughter.

“Well, that is true.”

A new feeling crept up Catra’s spine, but this time around the discomfort didn’t bring to her the edge of explosion. Implosion, actually. It was the same heaviness that settled in her lungs and crawled up to her throat, a slow and destructive effective infection of Catra’s self, when Hordak shut down her ideas to let Entrapta speak. When the Princesses left a trail of glitter behind running, tripping over themselves to follow She Ra’s lead. When Shadow Weaver cupped Adora’s face and showed her with praise for the simplest fucking task.

Yeah, Catra knew it made her the world’s biggest idiot to keep her eyes on the seemingly indifferent family and the happiness that radiated off them. She was aware of the damage she brought on herself by not turning away, the risk she ran by letting her emotions run her. So why couldn’t she look somewhere else, anywhere else?

“I can’t wait to be a mom.” Scorpia said out of nowhere. Ears flying straight up, Catra blinked before turning to gawk at her.

“Wait, really?” A mom mom, as in a person who takes care of and looks after her children?

“Yeah, I mean, it’s something I’ve always wanted.” Scorpia shrugged, somehow rubbing her neck with those big pincers of hers. “Why, do you think that’s a bad idea?”

“Scorpia, we’re in the middle of a war,” and that was putting it bluntly, “Besides, Hordak doesn’t even allow fraternization between his soldiers, much less-” her sputtering stops, Catra’s brain still tripping over the word fraternization, “having a family!”

“Well, we’re not going to be at war for the rest of our lives, Catra. Once we get the rebellion to surrender, I kinda wanted to set down roots, do something other than be a Force Captain, not that I don’t love doing that. I’m sure Hordak will loosen up about the whole fraternization thing as soon as we win! I mean, you’ve seen how he was with Entrapta!”

At her words, Catra came close to all out hurling over the speeder’s edge. It was crappy enough of Scorpia to bring up how Entrapta and Hordak were getting closer every day and shoving Catra out of the position she worked her ass off for, but then she had to go and frame it like that?

Look, Catra got that Entrapta wasn’t the most socially aware princess, but yikes. That didn’t mean she didn’t have some sort of standard.

“What about you, Catra?” Scorpia continued, “What do you- um, what do you see yourself doing after the war?”

Catra met Scorpia’s eyes, only to regret it. “I- I-” she stuttered, looking away and forcing her eyes closed. Pfft, after the war? After the war? How the hell was Catra supposed to picture an after when her entire life, her entire purpose, every goal she’d ever had, was only because there was a war to begin with?

The Horde conquers the rest of the planet, sends the Princesses running, puts She Ra in the ground, and what, Catra was just supposed to have a plan for after that? What… what was Catra supposed to do when they did win, when the Horde pulled off everything she worked for?

Even though she was expecting to find an emptiness, a blank space, a new start for the after the war when she tried imagining it, all Catra could picture was blonde hair tied up in a tight ponytail, melodic laughter accented by brief snorts ringing in her, the bluest eyes cutting through the longing. The same longing that plagued Catra when she forced her eyes open and saw the two fathers talking to their daughter in gentle yet bright voices, explaining to her that the soldiers had processed their papers and they could go home now.

“I don’t know.” was Catra’s quiet response.

There wasn’t any promise Hordak would keep her alive that long anyway, or if there would be anything left to live for by the time Catra got Adora down her knees and ended it all- by giving into that implosion that lived deep down in her core, letting it rip right through her and seeing to it that her love for Adora severed the universe in two, creating black hole that would suck them all in eventually- right then and there. Like it always promised to.

A part of Catra tried to push beyond that implosion, tried to picture the future Scorpia envisioned in her mind of setting down roots and birthing legacies. Was there a part of her, beyond the pain and the brokenness, that wanted what Scorpia wanted, too?

Watching that family tonight had been the only part of her mission that hadn’t felt the same as downing a vat of acid down her throat. And as hell bent as Catra was on obliterating any princess that dared to mess with this town’s occupation, there was no animosity in her heart towards that little girl.

She was kinda cute, in the mischievous, funny kind of way. And almost fun- for a baby, that is.

But when Catra closed her eyes once more to picture that little girl and her happy, innocent smile, all that was waiting for her was the image of a shriveled shadow, locked and rotting away back in the Fright Zone.

#catradora #sav writes a baby fic #catradora fic #she ra and the princesses of power #up until like three hours ago i forgot i told you guys i wasn't going to write this fic #surprise!#I'm hoping not to trip before the finish line #but thank you to tol and ren for convincing me to sit down and write this

76 notes · View notes