#this has gotten long and rambling and stupider than usually allow myself to get so ✌️ | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dottiechan · 3 years

Text

ICEBREAKER Pt. 1

Read on AO3 (link in bio)

Pairing: Crosshair x Reader x Hunter; Tech x Reader (platonic)

Wordcount: 2389

Summary: Tech watches on helplessly as his brothers' affection for you threaten to ruin the squad.

Warnings: cursing, yearning

You’re just as cold on the inside as the ice is under your boots. It crunches with every step you take, and your heart seems to beat along with the fall of your boots, aching. You feel unsteady, almost enough to miss the tracks running in the snow right in front of you. You pause and crutch down, gloved fingers dipping into the indentations as you grumble to yourself. It’s not even your turn to scope out the area where you’re setting up camp, and besides, there is a literal tracking genius in your squad - it really shouldn’t be you who’s out here in the snow and ice, eyes straining against the blinding white of the planet, fingers freezing off as you set up perimeter alarms. And yet you just volunteered for the less than ideal task without explanation, not understanding your own decision either.

At least Tech offered to tag along, but you suspect he’s simply had enough of his brothers for a while. Not that you can blame him.

“Fascinating.”

You sigh, internally begging him to stop talking as you stand, abandoning the tracks after deciding they most likely belong to a lone whitefang. You have enough on your plate right now, with Hunter still being pissy and Crosshair avoiding you like the plague, and silence would be much more preferable right now to listening to one of Tech’s rambles.

“Did you know that this moon’s surface is almost entirely composed of water?”

“No.”

“Despite the subzero surface temperature, there are subsurface oceans underneath the ice that are warmed by the moon’s internal heat.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I wish we could stay long enough for me to study the subsurface flora and fauna. There might be plants underneath the ice that-”

“Tech.”

“-that use chemosynthesis-”

“Tech!”

“What?”

He has the decency to look flustered, one hand gripping the datapad tightly, the other flying up to adjust his goggles as he peers up at you. You didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but sometimes you just can’t help it. Sometimes, the confinement of the Marauder is enough to turn you into a ticking time bomb, irritated by the slightest seemingly innocent things. And you’ve had more than just mere sparks to flare your temper as of late.

...

His rifle is spotless, and yet he’s still scrubbing it as if his life depended on it.

Maybe it does, because if he jumps up and lowers his guard for a second, he’s out the ship and off to find you and Tech. Maybe you’re a fool sometimes, a god damn nuisance, a person he still couldn’t grow used to, but you belong with them now, you’re theirs, you’re his, and that means something to him. You frustrate him beyond reason, and he often grows callous and agitated because he refuses to allow himself to feel the emotions you elicit from him whenever you’re near him.

Even now, on an ice planet, the mere thought of you infects him with a sweet, sweet jungle fever that knocks him off his feet.

And he’s supposed to be angry now, Crosshair reminds himself. After all, you almost gotten yourself killed on Bracca, and almost broke him in the process.

“They’ve been gone for too long,” Hunter grumbles as he paces up and down like a caged nexu craving to run free. But lately Crosshair began to suspect that he craves something else, someone else, and the thought has his throat tightening in jealousy. He’s been watching, and he convinced himself that he’d misread the signs until he saw the same agitation reflect in his brother’s eyes that he himself has to wrestle with every day.

If it ever came down to your choice, he knows he wouldn’t be it, and he hates living with this knowledge.

Hunter has all the things you seem to like - unlimited kindness, longing looks, smirks that turn a little too soft when directed at you, broad shoulders he caught you staring at more times than he can count. Deep down, he’s still hoping it will never come to you having to choose, but it’s impossible not to wish to be in the centre of your attention. You drive him insane, but you also make him want to commit and stop fighting and lay down his weapons for once in his god damn life.

“Relax. They’re probably fine.”

The screen to their left lights up, and Hunter rushes across the ship in long strides before exhaling in relief. “The proximity alarms are online. They should be heading back soon.”

Crosshair sucks in a breath, worried about seeing his own emotions sitting behind Hunter’s eyes as well.

...

You were assigned to assist the Bad Batch for an unspecified period of time some months ago. You’re a versatile field agent, specialising in both stealth and combat casualty care, one of the few volunteers who were qualified enough to join the GAR. Oh, and you’re also clearly mistrusted by your new squad as they flip out the very moment you risk yourself in the line of duty. You’re not stupid, you weighed the risks carefully, and you trusted your abilities to see you through the job unharmed.

But ever since the incident on Bracca, you’re given the cold shoulder by most on the squad, and for once, the scenery matches your mood.

And yet Tech deserves better than to be cut off like that. He deserves to be listened to, and appreciated as the good man he is. You’re friends, but in moments like these, you think you don’t deserve his friendship.

“Look, I’m... I’m sorry, okay? But right now, I have too much on my mind to think about, umm, chemo...”

“Chemosynthesis?”

“Yeah, that.”

“I think I understand,” he nods, satisfied with your half-assed apology for the time being as he goes back to scanning the vast icy desert stretching as far as the eye can see. The Marauder’s lights blink in the background, orange against the dark blue of the growing darkness that surrounds you. It’s like a beacon, a sign that promises warmth, and you gaze at it longingly until you remember that you’ll have to go back to Crosshair’s scowl and Hunter’s disapproving frown and Wrecker’s awkward little smiles. Somehow, the ice is preferable once more, and the snow that just began to fall in soft flakes is little more than a mild annoyance.

“Well, aside from a few distant life forms-”

“Whitefangs.”

“Yes, most likely whitefangs - aside from those, we should be quite safe inside the ship for tonight.”

“Yeah,” you sigh. “You might be. I’m not the most popular with the squad right now, remember?”

“You are a valued addition,” Tech declares, and the certainty in his voice releases inside you the emotional equivalent of a sucker punch. All you can do is stand, and fight the sting of tears in your eyes. You’re confident, but you never in your wildest dreams imagined how difficult it would be to live up to the expectations of a special unit. You also know your worth, but it’s hard to keep on believing in yourself steadfastly when the rest of your squad doubts your every move. “Which is why the prospect of losing you elicits a rather severe emotional reaction in us. It is rare for regs to warm up to us as well as you have, let alone volunteers. Aside from the obvious tactical disadvantage losing you would mean, I believe it is a little more personal than that.”

...

Hunter knows something is off even before one of the alarms is triggered - whatever it is, it is within five clicks of the ship, making you and Tech plenty exposed before he could do anything. He was straining his ear simply to keep you all safe - so what if he accidentally heard your muffled voice, or the soft crunch of snow underneath your boots?

But now is not the time to be idle, and he knows it. He would never forgive himself if something happened to his squad. And to you, he corrects himself almost softly as he grabs his helmet and checks his weapons quickly. Despite the fact that he’s still angry about your previous carelessness, he cannot deny the forbidden yearning coiling in his stomach whenever you’re on his mind, making him just as nervous as hopeful. And to be fair, it happens more and more often as of late, which is both alarming and exciting as he never thought he’d ever have the luxury to feel this way about someone else. Sure, he knows love, he loves his brothers with all his heart even if he isn’t very vocal about it, but this is different. New, scary, exciting different, an effervescent and persevering tingling blinding all his senses.

Crosshair is beside him in less than a second, rifle in hand, silent, and they share a nod before lowering the ramp and rushing out into the freezing dusk.

When he picks up on your muffled voice, he seems to ignore everything as he breaks into a sprint towards you, hoping to reach you in time before you’re in danger. He almost misses the way Crosshair’s heartbeat picks up, the usually stoic man reeking with genuine worry as he looks through the scope of his rifle.

He can deal with this later, Hunter promises himself as he pushes down this uncomfortable feeling. But then he sees you and Tech, and he seems to forget about anything and everything - you have that unfortunate and awfully distracting effect on him.

...

“But Hunter yelled at me for being reckless for a solid hour. And Crosshair said he didn’t care if I wanted to get myself killed, but I should do it in a way that didn’t interfere with the mission. Seriously, what an asshole.”

“Nevermind what they actually say,” Tech waves his hand in mild annoyance. “Hunter was worried sick. Crosshair almost went after you. And they’re both too pigheaded to admit the real reason why they’re so worked up.”

“Which is?”

“Obviously they both view you as a potential romantic partner.”

There’s a moment of pause as you two stare back at one another before you snort and chuckle, shaking your head and crossing your arms over your chest as a futile attempt at staying warm. “Tech, you need to work on your sense of humour.”

“And you need to work on your observational skills and situational awareness.”

“My observational skills are exceptional,” you defend yourself, a finger held up in the air defiantly. “And my situational awareness is-”

“Lacking, as you didn’t seem to notice the whitefang return. I suggest we head back to the safety of the Marauder.”

Sure enough, the wild cat is there lurking amongst the ice dunes, its eyes glowing in the dark as they reflect the light of the ship. It shouldn’t pose a threat to you as it is alone, and relatively small, but you still consider wrestling with it instead of returning to the ship and facing the rest of the squad - somehow, even that feels like a fight more fair than the ones that await you upon your return. So you hold its gaze as it curiously inspects you, wishing to swap bodies and run away and avoid any more conflict. Before you can even think of returning to the ship, you hear quiet footsteps catching up to you.

“I thought I heard something.”

“It’s probably more curious than anything.”

Hunter unsheaths his vibroblade and twirls it in his hand so theatrically it makes you roll your eyes. He glances at you, shoulders all tense, ready to pounce at the slightest sign of danger, and even though his face is obscured by his helmet, you can almost see the disappointed frown sitting on his features. “You want to test that theory?”

“My money would be on the whitefang winning.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Tech.”

“Any time.”

“Relax.” The distorted rasp of your commlink is not enough to drown out the smugness of the sniper. The stand-off ends when a single well-placed shot right before the big cat sends it sprinting away into the darkness. You all turn to find Crosshair standing by the ship, his rifle still aimed at the retreating form of the whitefang.

“Well, there goes my opportunity to finally have an interesting patrol,” you mutter to yourself as you all make it back to the Marauder.

“Do all of your patrols end in you staring down carnivores?” Crosshair snorts, clearly unamused.

“Only the good ones,” you fire back, deciding not to wait for any of them as you head inside. Crosshair is hot on your heels, another string of mockery sitting on the tip of his tongue, because fuck, you’re stubborn, but he’s not going to cave in and tell you how it makes him feel to see you in danger. He can’t, however, put up with being away from you either.

Hunter lingers a little outside. He has to set himself straight, to contain all the things he wants to say you that have nothing to do with scolding you about Bracca, to kill all the feelings that suddenly demand to be felt so desperately. He clenches and unclenches his fists by his side, pretending to survey the surroundings of the Marauder. Tech moves in the periphery of his vision, but instead of following you and Crosshair, he steps closer to Hunter.

“I believe the threat’s been averted.”

“Yeah. Good job on setting up those alarms, Tech.”

“No problem. Is there anything else you need?”

“No. You should head back inside. The last thing I want is for you to keel over with hypothermia.”

“That’s not how hypothermia works,” Tech mutters, his voice trailing off, eyes uncertain behind his goggles. He suddenly places a gentle hand on Hunter’s shoulder, making the sergeant glance at him.

“Hunter, I’m only asking this because I care about you all, but... how long do you think this can go on before one of you gets hurt?”

Tech’s words echo in his mind long after he’s rejoined the squad on the ship. And Hunter just stands outside in the snowfall, watching the last rays of light disappear on the horizon, wondering which one of you he’ll have to hurt when the push comes to shove.

#dottiechan writes #hunter x reader x crosshair #hunter x reader #crosshair x reader #the bad batch #the bad batch x you #the bad batch x reader #tbb x reader #tbb x you #crosshair #tbb hunter #tbb fanfiction #star wars #tbb tech x reader #tech x reader

274 notes · View notes

devildomimagines · 3 years

Text

Part 2 Remix

Ok, listen. First, I’m going to need you to go read this *chef’s kiss* of a post if you haven’t already. The Brothers and Undateables at one of Diavolo’s balls when a Noble starts talking down on MC by @arcadejohn127-9. There is now a part 2 for the ending (and it has been up for a while haha)!

Somewhere after the first post was published but before we had the ending, I started writing my own twist on the ending because I was so inspired and because I needed the comfort from the hurt/comfort lol. I’ve finally gotten around to finishing it and I wanted to share. You will see why it took me so long as some of these parts really ran away from me. The younger brothers and the Undateables are under the cut to save everyone’s dash. 😂

Lucifer

For a second he was torn, making that Noble pay or chase after you.

The choice was obvious, you came first.

As he made his way through the crowd, Diavolo caught his eye.

With a few quick gestures, Lucifer had communicated he was going after you. Diavolo nodded, making his way to the Noble to take care of that side of it.

The crowd opened up enough for Lucifer to see the door to the butler’s pantry close.

He had to catch up to you before you met up with Barbatos.

His worst fear right now is that you would take advantage of Barbatos’ power and have the timeline altered to where you never came to Devildom and never met him.

Once he was close enough he used a blast of magic to open the door and rushed into the room.

You had been wiping your tears but with the door bursting open, you jumped and scowled at who was entering. Realizing it was Lucifer, your face softened but looked away.

“You’re still here,” Lucifer held a hand on his chest, allowing himself a moment of relief.

“Well it’s not like I can teleport or fly. I’m just a human.”

The way you talked down about yourself made Lucifer’s own heart drop, your pact physically affecting him, your pride was at the lowest he had ever felt.

As the Avatar of Pride, he wouldn’t stand for it. “You’re not just a human, MC. You’re unbelievably important.”

You rolled your eyes, “Yeah, because I’m Lilith’s descendant and a part of the exchange program.”

“No, you’re important because you bring kindness and joy into everything you do. You’re important because you’ve become the anchor I’ve been trying to be for my family for centuries. You’re important because you truly try to make a meaningful difference even when it’s difficult.” Lucifer moved in front of you, gently tilting your chin up to meet his gaze, “You’re important because I love you.”

Mammon

When he recovered from the shock, he looked around.

The first brother he saw was Levi. He marched over and ordered him to deal with the Noble.

Next he moved in the direction you had stormed off in. He finally caught up to you at the coat check.

You noticed him and looked away pretending you didn’t.

“MC! You going home? I’ll go with,” he dug out his own coat ticket and handed it over to the coat checker.

“You really don’t have to.”

“Don’t be stupid, I’m going where you go,” He moved to sling an arm around your shoulder like he normally does but you shrugged out of his reach. That hurt.

“Well maybe I am stupid! Just a big dumb human who doesn’t realize they’re being used.” You hugged yourself to try to self-soothe.

It took a few moments for Mammon to register all of your words, “What? Who’s using you? Was it that Noble??” He scowled back at the ballroom.

“No, forget it.” You started walking to the exit.

He growled as he grabbed his coat and jogged to catch up to you.

You heard the rushed footsteps and paused more out of habit than anything else. “Mammon, stop.”

He had made it right behind you before he was forced to stop, the pact binding him in place. That didn’t stop his mouth though, “MC, whatever that Noble said to you, it’s a lie!”

“You don’t know what he said,” you replied coldly, “He said that I’m being used, by you and your brothers, by Diavolo, he said that none of you ever really cared about me, I was just a replacement for Lilith.” Repeating the words made them worse, it had you shaking as the sobs started to rattle your body.

“MC,” Mammon whined your name, clearly trying to force his body to move, “drop the spell,” you shook your head no so he begged, “Please MC.”

His desperation softened your resolve for a moment long enough to release the hold you had on him.

Mammon immediately turned you to face him, your tears broke him and he started tearing up. He pulled you into his chest and started, “We never thought of it that way. I was so relieved that Lilith got to lead a fulfilling life where she didn’t have to suffer turning into a demon. You were the result of her happy life that it made me so happy, unbelievably happy. But I liked you before we knew all of that, I was the first of my brothers to see how great you are.” He placed a soft kiss on your forehead, “MC, I love you so much. Please don’t doubt that.”

Leviathan

“Ouch,” he thought as he looked around. The first of his brother’s he found was Beel, his height and orange hair made him stick out. He was also in the most likely place to find him, in front of a table of food.

Levi maneuvered around party guests and tapped at Beel’s shoulder. Very quickly he explained the situation, Beel nodded with a piece of meat hanging out of his mouth and started muscling his way through the dance floor.

Next was to face you. He was nervous, had he done something he wasn’t aware of? Did the Noble point out his inferiority and MC was disgusted to have a pact with him?

He got to the bathroom and hesitated. He could hear your soft cries muffled behind the door. All nervousness left him as he knocked and called out to you, “MC?”

The cries stopped and you answered, “Go away.”

“No,” Where was this confidence coming from, he wondered as he added, “I’m here for you, please let me help you.”

“You can’t help me, you’re part of the problem.”

All of the confidence he just had was shattered. “MC… I’m sorry. If it was something I did, or didn’t do, please tell me. You know I don’t know how to handle these situations but I would never try to hurt you.”

The door swung open and Levi jumped.

“And why is that Levi?” Your tear stained face stared him down.

“Because I c-care about you?” He was confused why you were angry at him now.

“Because I’m a replacement for Lilith?”

“No way!” Now it was his turn to be angry.

A bit of the venom was removed as you asked, “Because I’m a dumb normie human?”

“Well…” He started to joke but when you pouted he took it back, “of course not.”

“Then why?” You sniffled.

Levi looked around, you two were in a pretty secluded area. He took a deep breath and braced himself so he wouldn’t lose his nerve. “I wouldn’t hurt you because we’re a team! My player 2, my Henry, my friend! When I agreed to form a pact with you, it was because you opened my eyes to how valuable it would be to let people into my world. At that time, I had no idea about Lilith, Lucifer kept us in the dark and I chose not to seek out the light. Then you came into my life and you were so bright it hurt my eyes.” He was rambling, “Anyway, you might be a normie human but you’re my normie human! Whatever that Noble said to make you question that, it isn’t true.”

After a beat, you jumped into his arms. His heart was absolutely pounding as he wrapped you in his arms, he knew you’d hear it but he was relieved he somehow said the right thing.

Satan

He knew it was the Noble that caused your mood shift.

You retreated through a door, Satan didn’t have time to make the Noble suffer in the ways he was already imagining.

As he headed for the door himself, he bumped into Lucifer.

It was grinding on his nerves but for your sake he asked Lucifer to take care of the Noble.

Without question, Lucifer whisked off to take care of it. He probably knew it was important since Satan would never ask anything of Lucifer if it wasn’t necessary.

Satan picked up the pace to get to the door and catch you.

He looked down both sides of the connecting hall and found you leaning against the wall facing away from where you had come from.

As he approached he realized your shoulders were shaking. It broke his heart.

When he placed a hand on your arm, you jumped out of your skin and stepped away.

You relaxed seeing it was Satan and not someone else but making eye contact with him hurt, “Leave me alone, I just need a moment.”

You had turned to leave but he wasn’t letting you go again. He regripped your arm.

“Don’t go.”

“Satan…” You sighed trying to bring back some of your usual strength.

“Whatever that Noble said…” A thought dawned on him mid-sentence, “Did he do something to you?” The wrath in him bristled anew.

“He didn’t do anything besides point out some things.” You laughed weakly, “Actually he made some good points I should have seen for myself a long time ago.”

“What points did he make?” Satan asked.

You looked down the hall, debating an escape, “That I was just a pawn to Diavolo’s plans and a replacement for Lilith.”

“That’s not true,” Satan defended.

His tone of finality made you look back at him. He took the opportunity to explain.

“You’re no one’s pawn. You always had and will always have your free will to do as you want. Just as you’ve shown me that I’m my own being,” he held a hand to his chest, “You are your own person.”

You scoffed, “and being related to Lilith-”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” Satan interrupted and finished the sentence. “I’ve heard all the stories from my brothers but I never met her. I met you though,” His hand moved down your arm to your hand.

Automatically you gave his hand a squeeze just falling into habit and he smiled.

“It doesn’t matter how you got here,” Satan started, hoping you would complete the quote from a book you both read.

Quietly you added, “All that matters is you’re here now.”

He pulled you into his arms and you let him engulf you in a warm embrace. It was so different from the sharp, cold feeling you got from the Noble that it felt like home to be here with him.

“I’ll always be here for you MC,” he whispered and you believed him.

Asmodeus

Well clearly something was wrong, you never pulled back from him like that.

He first looked around for some assistance. Things had been fine before your dance with the Noble so something happened in relation to that dance.

The first person he spotted was Satan. Asmo waved him over to the table. Satan nodded and departed from the company he had been talking to. Asmo quickly described the situation in a pretty grim light knowing exactly what would flip the wrath switch in Satan.

The blond demon stalked off after his newly provided prey.

Asmo checked his appearance in a pocket mirror before setting after you. It wasn’t like he had something on his face or a hair out of place that drove you off but he had to be sure.

He found you looking out over the Devildom with the most somber look on your face.

“MC~ You look absolutely stunning under the Devildom moon.”

You sighed.

That wasn’t the reaction Asmo was aiming for. “Won’t you tell me what’s wrong, love?”

“It’s nothing,” you tried to smile but it didn’t light up your face like he knew it could.

“Ok,” Asmo put up his hands. He could take a hint, you didn’t want to talk about it and he wasn’t going to push and make it worse. “Let’s go home then?”

“I know you don’t want to leave. You’ve been looking forward to this all month,” You looked back out at the cityscape.

“Well I don’t want to be here if you’re not having fun,” Asmo snaked an arm around your waist and looked out across the city himself.

He felt you stiffen under his touch and he tried very hard not to pout outwardly but you rejecting him really hurt.

He said he wasn’t going to push but he had to know, “Did the Noble say something unacceptable to you?”

“No, if anything it was too acceptable, factual even.” You leaned away from him and against the railing as your face soured further.

“What did he say?”

“That I’m being used,” you looked at him to see how he reacted to the second part, “by Diavolo and your family.”

His brow furrowed and you knew it was genuine emotion since he would never risk the wrinkles otherwise.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Asmo shook his head, “That’s absolutely not what’s happening.”

“It’s fine,” you shrugged, “we all have our part to play.”

“MC,” Asmo took your shoulders and stared you down, “You are not just some pawn, you’re a very important human to me and my family!”

You looked to the side, “Only because I’m related to Lilith.”

“No? We love you for you!”

You blushed at his blunt honesty, “Oh.”

“Did you think that we didn’t care about you before we learned that you were distantly related?”

“No!” You defended, “But when he was laying out all the info, it did kind of seem like that.”

“Who are you going to trust? Some random or me?” Asmo batted his eyes at you.

After a moment you conceded, “You, of course.”

You both giggled and he whisked you to the dance floor to show you the best night of your life.

Beelzebub

“Wait MC-” Beel jumped up from table, his knees knocked it and it wobbled as he pushed his chair back.

“You couldn’t just leave like that,” he thought, “I can’t lose another…”

He found you on the front balcony. From what he could guess, you paused to take in the fresh air but then watched as you steeled yourself and briskly started your way down the stairs.

“MC,” he caught up easily even in his formalwear, “Let me at least walk you back to the dorm.”

You hesitated, not making eye contact with him, you shrugged, “fine.”

The two of you walked in silence. Beel had no idea what to say to make you stay. He cursed himself that words didn’t come as easily to him like Asmo or Mammon, he couldn’t relate it to something he read or watched like Satan or Levi usually did and he couldn’t think of the perfect solution like he knew Lucifer would.

He was the only thing standing between you and the metaphorical exit and he had to do something.

So he did the only thing he could think of and apologized. “I’m sorry.”

It made you stop, “What?”

“I’m sorry. If it was something I said or did or ate, I’m sorry. If it was one of my brothers then I’m also sorry. Whatever it was, I’m sorry.” Tears pricked in the corners of his eyes. He wasn’t usually one to cry but he was so frustrated and felt so helpless. If this wasn’t what you wanted then you’d be gone.

“No,” you sighed, “I’m sorry, I took out my frustration on you. I’m not mad at you or your brothers. If anything, I’m mad at myself,” you laughed dryly.

“Yourself?” Beel repeated, trying to figure out how he could help you with that.

“Yeah, I should have seen it for myself but that Noble was right,” you continued onwards to HOL.

“Right about what?”

You finally looked at him and it crushed him to see the saddest smile on your face as you answered, “That I’m just some kind of replacement for Lilith. I thought you all really cared about me but your behavior did change after everyone learned I was related to her.”

Beel was frozen in shock. He watched you pick up walking home again.

“That’s not-” he started but you raised a hand to stop him.

“I get it, you guys were so happy that she lived that you wanted to show it in some way,” this time when you turned toward him you couldn’t keep the tears from falling, “and in a way I’m grateful because if I wasn’t her descendant then I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t have met you all, and I wouldn’t have been a part of a family like yours. But I’m selfish and I wanted you to love me for who I am.”

He was finally unfrozen and wrapped you in a near-bone-crushing hug. “We do!” Beel confirmed, “We love you, MC!” He began crying, “I love you, please don’t leave.”

Enclosed in his arms, you felt his earnest emotions flood into you, “I believe you,” you wiped his tears, “Thank you for loving me.”

Belphegor

He knew it, that Noble was bad news.

Belphie looked around and easily found Asmo in the middle. He pushed past his fans and told Asmo what happened. Asmo left to take care of the Noble.

Belphie caught up with you in your room back at the HOL.

He had followed the noise and found you were angrily packing a bag, in between wiping your face.

“What’re you doing?” Belphie asked from the door.

The sudden voice made you jump, “Leaving.”

“Why?”

You paused, wringing the shirt in your hand, “We’d all be better off.”

“Because you’re a replacement?” Belphie threw your words back at you but realized his mistake too late.

When you shuddered and fell to your knees crying he wanted to disappear. How could he be so tactless?

“Yes! I’m not Lilith!” You cry-yelled at him. “I wanted so badly to be a part of your family. I did everything for you and your brothers to make amends, to prove myself and my intentions and it didn’t matter! The second you all learned about my lineage, it all changed.”

You sniffled and added, “You hated me for being a human, I’d almost prefer that if that is honestly how you feel about me.”

Ouch. But he deserved that, “I don’t hate you,” he knelt in front of you.

“I’m just a stupid human,” he grabbed your arms and pulled you into him as you sobbed, “I don’t want to be used as a pawn, and I’m not a replacement for your sister.”

“I know, MC,” Belphie soothed, “You’re not a pawn and we know you aren’t a replacement for Lilith.”

“B-but,” you blubbered.

“No buts,” there was an edge to his voice, that he wasn’t going to take any rebuttals. “Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to move forward as a family. We’d be worse off without you in our lives.”

You shifted back a bit to look at him, “Really?”

“Really,” Belphie verified. “Don’t go,” his voice caught in his throat, his own emotions finally hitting him. What would he do without you?

You grabbed his face, assessing for yourself. “Ok…ok.” You relaxed in his hold and finally felt secure in how he felt about you.

Diavolo

You ducked into the kitchen.

He tried to follow but got stopped by a high ranking demon that he could not brush off. He was trapped, that is until Barbatos caught his gaze.

The butler swooped in, distracted the demon with appetizers and began leading them away.

Ever grateful, Diavolo smiled and then another thought hit him. He stopped Barbatos and whispered in his ear what happened between you and the Noble. Barbatos nodded and made his way to find and complete his new task.

Diavolo jumped into the kitchen before anyone else could stop him.

“MC?” he looked around and found you sitting on the counter with your head in your hands. His heart dropped.

You sniffled, “Go back to your party.”

“I don’t feel like it.” he mused.

“What a spoiled prince,” you replied.

He felt hopeful, if you were joking then surely you would recover. “Won’t you tell me what happened?”

When you tensed, he stopped inching closer.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t matter.”

“That’s not true,” Diavolo tried to take your hands but you fought him slightly, still trying to cover your face. When you finally relented and looked at him with tear stains on your face, he swore he never felt a greater rush of love and the need to protect like he did in that moment, “You’re so important to me.”

“Because I’m an exchange student?” You searched his face for any reaction.

“What?” He was actually dumbfounded. “You think that’s the only reason I care for you?”

“What other reason could there be? Isn’t that the whole point of why I was here in the first place?”

He paused to gather his thoughts. There were so many reasons to love you and the fact that you could be undone like this from one conversation proves that Diavolo was failing you. Still holding your hands, he raised one to kiss your knuckles. “I’ll admit that at first, my goal to build bridges between the realms was my focus, but as the program went on, I found myself looking forward to our meetings. Much to Barbatos’ chagrin, I would sneak out to steal a few moments with you and they meant everything to me.”

You had begun rubbing his hand with your thumb, tears were gone but you still looked sad.

He rested his forehead against yours, “I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if I didn’t meet you. You’ve brought a joy and sense of adventure into my life that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”

“Thanks Dia,” When you smiled softly, he could swear his heart was melting into a puddle. “I’m sorry if I ruined your night.”

“Nonsense!” Diavolo laughed and backed up to help you off the counter, “The night’s still young and I think I owe you a dance.”

You squeezed his hand, “Wait, I probably look terrible from crying!”

The kitchen door swung open to Barbatos trying to hold back Asmo. Asmo chirped, “We can help with that!”

Diavolo laughed at the sight. Barbatos sighed and released Asmo as he whipped out his travel make-up kit and busied himself with you.

Barbatos stood next to Diavolo and in a hushed tone affirmed, “The target has been captured.”

A dark look passed over Diavolo’s face as he responded, “Good. We’ll deal with him in the morning.”

Barbatos

He wanted to chase after you but his duty was of course to Diavolo and the ball at hand.

Within a few moments, he reasoned that the ball was in danger of being compromised if you weren’t there and the Noble was allowed to roam free of consequence.

Barbatos wasn’t one to ask for help but he knew that if he mentioned the Noble’s actions to Lucifer, the demon would take matters into his own hands to deal with it and Lucifer did so.

That left him to track you down. He had a feeling of where he’d find you.

Out in the garden, seated on the bench, you were fidgeting with his handkerchief.

Careful to make noise as he approached you so as to not spook you with his usually silent steps, Barbatos sat on the other end of the bench.

He caught you peeking at him so he tried not to look directly at you, knowing it would make you feel uncomfortable.

“Thank you for this,” you held out his handkerchief.

“Any time,” he accepted it and even through his gloves, he could feel the dampness. Had he left you alone for too long to have cried this much? Very slowly he folded the cloth and put it in his pocket.

“Also I’m sorry for my behavior before.” You shifted and began to explain, “I was confused and hurt, that Noble… actually nevermind.”

“There’s no need to apologize to me, though I am sorry for the distress you’ve gone through.”

Still bothered, you had to ask, “Why do you tolerate me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you only nice to me because you’re under orders to be?”

He couldn’t lie, “Lord Diavolo has directed me to be of use to the exchange students, but I’ve come to genuinely appreciate your company, if that isn’t too presumptuous.”

You peeked over again and could see a light blush on the butler’s cheeks, he wasn’t looking at you now out of embarrassment.

That earned a small smile, “It’s not, I’m grateful to hear your true feelings.” You paused thinking on what the Noble said, “Do you think the others feel the same? That they actually like me, not as some replacement for Lilith or as a tool to be used?”

Ah so that’s the idea that the Noble had planted, he rubbed his chin in thought. “While I can’t speak for the brothers, I can conclude that you mean much more to Lord Diavolo than he’d like to admit. He has never spoken ill of you in my presence. Even Lucifer, who has often verbalized his distaste for his brothers’ shenanigans, has never voiced the same of you even if you were involved in said shenanigans.”

“Well that’s something.”

“It certainly is,” He confirmed.

You giggled and it was like Barbatos was hearing his favorite song for the first time.

After a beat, he stood, brushed himself off more out of habit than any actual dirt accumulation and faced you. You looked slightly surprised. He bowed and offered his arm, “Shall we head back in?”

Hesitantly, you took his hand, “Can I stay with you?”

“If that is what you desire,” Barbatos smiled and led your hand to hold his arm, “How could I deny a direct request like that?”

Solomon

He was stunned for a minute. Had you meant him and you weren’t on the same page or the humans and the demons weren’t on the same page?

Solomon was pretty sure that the pacts were a clear indicator of a human and a demon being on the same page.

This was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of one of his new pacts, he sent the demon to gather as much information, good and bad, that they could dig up about the Noble that had danced with you.

If knowledge was power then he wanted as much knowledge on his side as he could get before making a move.

That left him free to follow you. He caught the sight of you as you left into an adjoining hallway.

Shuffling through the crowd he broke free and got himself through the door. He looked both ways and found you at the end, turning the corner.

Although not one for running, he jogged down the hall to catch up with you.

You had turned to watch for the approaching noise and at the sight of your watery eyes he skidded to a stop.

Solomon couldn’t remember a time when he had seen you cry, not like this, where your whole being seemed depleted.

“MC…”

“I’m fine,” you wiped the tears away quickly, “I was dumb for thinking that any of this meant something to them, that’s on me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The exchange program, the demons, everything here was just all part of Diavolo’s plan and I played right into it.” Bitterly you added, “I was a pawn and I couldn’t even see it.”

“That’s not true,” Solomon rebuked. “I’m sure they did not count on you making pacts with the 7 demon brothers. They are extremely high ranking, that wasn’t an easy feat.”

“They’re not any better, they probably only did so because I was some sort of replacement for Lilith.”

“Lilith… oh yes the fallen angel that almost did not survive.” He nodded as he remembered, “Is that what they said when they made the pact with you?”

“Well not exactly…” you admitted.

“I see,” he took your hand and pulled you to a nearby bench, “I happen to know a bit about pacts.”

You rolled your eyes but he took it as a good sign, “And when entering the pact, usually one or both parties admit their reason behind entering the contract. Usually it’s the human asking for something only that demon can offer like money, power or influence, but that wasn’t the case for you was it?”

“No.”

“What was it that they were looking for from you?”

You didn’t answer for a while, thinking back on each of the pacts being forged. “If I had to sum it up for all of them, love or acceptance.”

Huh, that was pretty straightforward, Solomon wondered why he hadn’t thought of that. “That seems like something only you could have given them, I doubt they would want the same from me.”

You laughed, “I wouldn’t say that, Asmo really loves you, he always talks about you.”

Solomon groaned for effect but you both knew he cherished the bond with the demon.

“You were never their pawn, they chose to offer the pact and you chose to accept, that was not something orchestrated by someone else.”

Finally, you nodded, seeing his perspective. “You’re right.”

“Of course I’m right,” he joked.

With a light punch of his arm, you both made your way back to the party. Solomon planned on showing you a magical night.

Simeon

The walk back to Purgatory Hall was quick, too quick for Simeon to figure out what happened.

He’d seen you dancing but not who with, also why had you been in such a hurry to get away from the brothers? He thought things were going well with them.

“I’ll put on some tea, ok?” Simeon offered as you two entered the front door.

You nodded and sat at the table.

“Simeon~” Luke called, “You’re back early!” The cherub entered the room and saw you from behind, “And MC!? What a treat!”

Luke came up to your side and caught your sad expression before you could turn away. “What happened?” He shot an accusatory glare at Simeon.

Simeon looked shocked, Luke thought you were upset because of him?

“It’s nothing Luke,” you replied softly, “you were right, I shouldn’t have trusted demons.”

The two angels looked at each other shocked, neither had expected that. “Well of course!” Luke defended, “What did they do?”

You sighed, you didn’t see a way to brush them both off so you recanted the dance with the noble, the things he knew about you and the ideas he had brought to your attention.

Luke chomped down on a cookie, “Well he’s not wrong about Diavolo’s plan.”

“Luke,” Simeon admonished, “I’ve known Diavolo for a long time, he’s not one to use others for personal gain, even if he is a demon. He’s always preferred to do things his own way.”

“And those brothers?” Luke asked. You looked at Simeon expectantly, your face repeating the question, ‘And those brothers?’

“I’ve known them for a long time too. Of course they adored their sister Lilith, we all did. But no one could serve as her replacement because she was irreplaceable.” Simeon allowed that thought a moment to sink in. “I think that you've made your own bonds with them, different and separate from your ancestral lineage.”

“I suppose…” You conceded.

“Why do you even put up with them MC?” Luke offered.

Now you had to laugh, “For a while I thought they were the ones putting up with me.”

“No way!”

“Yes way,” you smiled at him as you sipped your tea. “I think you forget sometimes that you’re all powerful beings and I am not.”

Luke blushed, “You’re powerful, in your own way!”

“Thank you,” you put your hand on his cheek and he smiled.

You looked over at Simeon, “Can I spend the night here?”

Although he still sensed some sadness from you, it certainly was not the same level as he had felt when he bumped into you before.

“Yes!” Luke answered first, “Please Simeon!”

With the two of you giving him pouty looks, “How can I say no?”

“Yay!” Luke cheered and ran from the room, “Sleep over!”

“It’s alright if you’d rather not entertain Luke all night,” You offered, “I can go back to the HOL, I don’t want to impose.”

“You’re not getting out of this that easy,” Simeon teased, “He probably has six movies lined up already and he has been practicing making pillow forts in his room.”

You both laughed, “I appreciate you listening Simeon, I’m glad I have a guardian angel like you,” you winked as you joined Luke on the floor. He did already have a stack of movies to watch.

Simeon blushed and then shook his head to clear his thoughts as he joined the blanket pile.

#obey me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me asmodeus #obey me satan #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me solomon #obey me simeon #obey me angst

221 notes · View notes

sugarcubetikki · 3 years

Text

why are you in my friend’s clothes?

Summary: Firstly, Chat Noir has had a bad day. Secondly, why the hell was Ladybug in Marinette’s clothes?

Notes: Wrote this little one-shot to celebrate 500 followers (more like 561 now) but tysm! I literally don’t even know how I have these many-I swear most of the content I post is like random shit. But thank you! I really appreciate it so here’s a treat : D

P.S. THIS IS POST MR. PIGEON 72

AO3

Adrien Agreste was shaking with that feeling of utmost disappointment, that feeling he had harboured getting used to.

Once again, that was another dreary, awful day that he was drowning away into oblivion through a warm lactaid beverage.

He chugged his flask of milk under the thick layer of clouds that masked the ethereal twinkle of the stars embedded in the night sky. Huffing frustratedly into his warm woollen scarf (the only worthwhile present his father had gotten him), he lounged lazily on the rooftop in solitude. No Ladybug there to brighten up his world even in the murkiest times.

But it was fine. It was fine. She really needed it. Being guardian was weighing down on her. He understood that. She could miss as many patrols as she wanted.

He still really missed her though.

Restlessly, he sprang to his feet and languidly leapt across the rooftops, the cold rush of the wind pounding in his ears. But he didn’t really care. He was used to that too.

He took little sips from his flask at regular intervals between each jump. It was solace to all the unpleasantness that was swirling within him right now.

At about the fifth jump, when he was chugging down some milk, quite a strange sight caught his eye.

It was Ladybug.

And she was on Marinette’s balcony.

In a polka-dot bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head.

What?

He choked a little, and the milk in his mouth sprayed out, accompanied with some rather loud coughs. And it seemed that he had caught the fair lady’s attention.

Her eyes widened and her face blazed red at his presence. Lips spreading into a sheepish smile, she waved reluctantly. He simply stared at her with his mouth agape. A blur of questions bursting into his head.

“M-milady?” He leapt to Marinette’s balcony, landing right in front of her. As he met her eyes once again, he noticed the large pair of glasses perched on her nose. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh! Hi! Hi, Ch-chat!” She squeaked, her voice an octave higher than usual, an uncannily wide smile, and her arms splaying all over the place. “I-well-you see… I’m here to relax, you know. Marinette and me…w-we’re friends! Yeah. We’re friends.”

“You are?” He arched his brow. A painful pang struck his heart. He just didn’t know what to say…when she said, she couldn’t make it, he wasn’t really expecting this. He expected her to be busy with guardian stuff or something. Not that she shouldn’t relax! She totally should! She was completely allow-

He just didn’t know.

He didn’t really know why he was upset. He just was. He didn’t expect her to be on Marinette’s balcony like this. And that…didn’t make him feel so good…

“W-w-well. Y-you s-see. My kwami loves sweet stuff! And M-marinette pretty much lives in a bakery. So, I come here often to get snacks for her! Absolutely.” Ladybug replied frantically to his question, and took a long sip into her mug of…hot chocolate?

He bit his lip and looked her up and down again. She was in Marinette’s clothes. Why was she in her clothes? He had the most insane hunch gnawing at the back of his head. He could just say those couple words now. But he didn’t want to jump to conclusions just yet, so he went…

“Did she lend you her clothes?” He asked stupidly, slurping into his flask of milk, gloved hand perched on the railing.

“I-oh-yeah. Yeah, she did. Like an hour ago or so, she’s not here now though. Went to her best friend’s place for a sleepover…hahaha” Amidst her rambling, Ladybug reached out to place her own hand on the railing. Mere inches from his own. He had the urge to reach out and caress it under his own. But with everything in his head, he lacked boldness in the moment. “Sh-she was nice enough to…you know.”

“I know.” A smile glittered onto his face. “Marinette’s incredible.”

For no reason, Ladybug’s face grew a brighter shade of red at that compliment. One that wasn’t directed towards her. But he chose not to question it, and instead turned to the murky sky, his mind whirring for a surreal joke to cover up all the awkwardness. After all, he didn’t really have anything else…valid to say.

“Do you- “

“I’m really- “

They simultaneously say, voices overlapping over one another, making them stop and stare at the other sheepishly.

“You go first.” Ladybug said, fidgeting with a loose strand of her hair.

“No, milady, I was about to crack a stupid joke.” He tells her with a gentle smile. “I’m sure whatever you have to say is far more important.”

Hesitantly, she stared at him for a moment, with doubt plastered in her eyes. He widened his smile at that, letting her know it was okay. Satisfied, she reciprocated his smile, and her uncertainty faded away into amusement. Playfully leaning in, she hooked her arm around his own.

“Thank you, kitty. Make sure you reserve the joke for later.” She bopped his nose affectionately. “You know I love them.”

“Good for you then, you’re never getting rid of this clown of a partner who’s crazy for you.” He played along with a wink.

Eyes filling with joy, she lightly chuckled and took a sip into her mug of hot chocolate. Making her laugh always filled this sense of pleasure within him.

“So…” she continued. “I just want you to know that I’m really sorry for bailing on you today at patrol…I-I j-just I didn’t mean to intentionally h-hurt you or anything. It’s just th-that I needed some time to myself…to relax…and by relaxation, I didn’t expect myself to be a mess on a-uh-civilian’s balcony. It…well…just happened.”

Her apology caught him off guard with a little gasp. But he was able to compose himself and gave her a brighter and even more genuine smile than before.

“I-thank you for apologising, milady. I appreciate it and I do understand.” He shot her a gentle glance taking a sip into his flask. “I have to admit…I was hurt by seeing you here but I…I felt better when you apologised. I mean it when I said I really appreciated it.”

A mixture of surprise and shock filled her face, his genuineness had her stunned, but it was short-lived. Her face melted into a very pretty smile and it made her face shine even more brighter under the golden glow of the balcony light.

He really was glad that she had apologised though. If his father was in her place, he would’ve ignored it completely and turned the blame on him, saying he was too sensitive for feeling hurt over something so trivial.

Like he’d done today when Adrien found out that his Chinese lesson had been cancelled and neither Nathalie nor father had informed him of this. He’d sat there waiting for his teacher for ages. He didn’t even know it was cancelled until dinner when Nathalie told him.

It was one of the few days his father sat to have lunch with him. And the only thing Adrien had done was express his disappointment on how he missed walking home with Marinette today unnecessarily.

His father wasn’t amused. And had said that he shouldn’t be feeling hurt over missing such trivial events. Of course. Spending time with a friend was so trivial to father. How could he have forgotten?

It hurt. It wasn’t fair. It was these evenings that hit him with the constant reminder how difficult it was for him to have fun.

That’s why he really appreciated that he was spending the last hours of the day with his lady. Where most of his fun moments lay.

“You’ve got a milk moustache.” She chuckled and leaned in to wipe it off with her gloved hand. “There you go.”

“I am a cat.” He playfully remarked, raising his shoulders in pride. “This is how we cats drink milk. Milk moustaches are the best way to go.”

“I’m not a cat but I do agree with you.” She said with a spark of confidence in her eyes. Her competitive self took a large gulp into her mug of hot chocolate. Upon lowering the mug, she grinned triumphantly with a thick layer of brown spread above her lips.

“That’s naughty.” He reached to wipe off her moustache. “You got one intentionally.”

“It was still bigger than yours.”

“Still intentional.” He pouted in faux annoyance, and she laughed, her hand automatically coming to rest on his chest almost to contain herself.

As usual, there went the freezing of his breath and rapid beating of his heart. Something about Ladybug that he would’ve never expected in the start: she was a very touchy person.

Sure. She laid all hands off him during akuma attacks and when she was in an all-business mode. However, it was moments like these where she would open up, where he got to see more of the girl behind the mask. And he really treasured these moments.

Her laughter came to a halt and her eyes focused on her chest. Fingers crawling up to play with the ends of his scarf, she gazed at it quite fascinatedly. Too fascinatedly.

“I-is that Adrien’s scarf?” The words bluntly slipped out of her mouth.

“Wh-what? A-adrien?”

“Uh-“She sprang away from him, seeming startled that she had said that out loud. “I-well-you know-that looks like Adrien Agreste’s scarf!”

“I-uh-well- “He tensed and looked at her with wide eyes. There was no way he could reveal his identity like this. “I-I-borrowed it from him! You know! Just like you did from M-marinette!”

“Ah- “Her mouth flapped open and closed a couple of times. “Th-that m-makes sense.”

The bluenette turned away with pursed lips and speechlessly stared ahead.

“Yeah.” He replied in relief. Good. No identity prying questions. Now, she wouldn’t know he’s Adri-wait a minute.

“H-how did you know this was Adrien’s scarf?”

Her head merely turned to him with a dumbfounded expression and she heavily blinked.

“I-well-I recognise the stitching! You know! I’m good with this kind of stuff-very into fashion-and he wore it a couple of times when I saved him you know!”

“I- “He didn’t recall wearing the scarf anytime around her. Had he? He wasn’t sure. She had saved him as Adrien plenty of times. He didn’t remember everything so maybe…it was plausible.

“Oh…okay then.” He simply said. “Looks like we’re both wrapped up in clothes lended from a civilian friend, right?”

He wanted to bonk his head onto the railing right then and there. Stupid thing to say, Agreste.

“Y-yeah.” She replied uneasily. “F-from civilian friends.”

“Marine-Oh!” Another voice shook the tense atmosphere, both heroes turned around in alarm.

A surprised Alya Cesaire greeted them as she peeped out from the trapdoor.

Hold on a second.

“Alya?” He questioned in shock. “I thought Marinette was at Alya’s place for a sleepover, but if she’s here then- “

He suspiciously arched a brow at Ladybug. Her eyes widened for the umpteenth time that night and she blankly looked at Alya.

“A-alya! W-what are you doing here! I th-thought M-marinette and y-you were meant to be at a sleepover at your house! Right?” Ladybug mimicked a dramatic tone of surprise. But he wasn’t falling for it.

“Ah…right…you se- “

“I think I know what’s going on.” He cut Alya off. The two girls hastily exchanged frantic glances.

“Look, Chat- “Ladybug commenced.

“I know she didn’t tell you bu- “Alya began to explain at the same time.

“You’re dating Marinette and Alya’s the only one that knows.” He cut both off. Feeling relieved to finally let go of that hunch.

“What?” Both girls yelled flabbergasted.

“It all makes sense! You’re on her balcony! In her clothes- “

“It’s not-it’s not what it looks like-I-wait up-you’re in Adrien’s clothes?” Ladybug paused in a frenzy realisation. “If you’re saying me being Marinette’s clothes means I’m dating her, is that confirmation that you’re dating Adrien?”

“What! No-I-you didn’t deny it.” He took a step forward and pointed accusingly at her.

“That’s not the point! You’re the one who’s dating Adrien.” She reciprocated his body language.

“Well, you’re dating Marinette.”

Brows narrowed with competitive expressions. They stood toe-to-toe with Alya giving them a what-the-hell look.

“I’m not even going to get involved in this…” Alya facepalmed and disappeared under the trapdoor.

“You’re not denying it!”

“You’re not denying it either!”

They bickered back and forth about the whole dating chaos, taking swigs from their beverages every now and then, from the way they argued, it was almost like they were drunk on milk. The clouds began to clear the sky, and the moonlight began to cast a lovely glow on the city.

“Look…to resolve this…let’s never talk about this night again, got it?” Ladybug concluded, taking one last sip into her mug.

“Fine.” Chat raised a hand in surrender, sipping onto his own flask. “I have to make my leave anyway.”

“Okay.” Ladybug huffed. “Have fun seeing your boyfriend!”

“Well…you have fun seeing your girlfriend, milady.” He fluttered his eyelashes playfully. “I’m sure she’s just as nice, pretty, and talented as you said.”

“I never said tha- “

“See you, milady!” He cut her off again and leapt away on his baton, catching one last glimpse of an adorable pout on her face.

It was nights like this that always brought a smile onto his face even on the most miserable of days. And that’s exactly why he loved spending time with her.

Despite the whole situation with her thinking he was dating-well-himself. Ugh.

Wait a second…

She was dating Marinette.

The multitalented, insanely kind and endearing Marinette.

Oh crap. He was screwed.

#sugar writes #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfiction #ml fanfic #ml season 4 #ml spoilers #mr pigeon 72 #ml fanon #ladynoir #ml love square #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng

48 notes · View notes

em0avacado · 3 years

Text

Pen Pals - Ezekiel Reyes

trigger warning : none other than brief mention of removing someone’s pelvis, wearing maybe.

word count : 2068

Dear Ezekiel,

Her first letter started simple, she wasn’t sure whether to address the inmate more formerly, or of this was fine, but with lack of better knowledge on this, she settled on that. It all started when curiosity got the best of her. She had a friend who would constantly talk about her very own pen pal, she’d talk about the stories theyd tell her, how they were interesting and that they had, in reality, not much better to do with their time in lockup. At first, the young woman was rather skeptical, but after reading some of her friends letters herself, the curiosity started eating her alive from the inside out. Maybe she’d give it a try, what’s the worst that could happen? So, after a few hours of extensive reasearch, she’d picked an inmate and began writing, although, after the first two words of the letter, she was stuck. It wasn’t long until she realized how much time had passed since she’d actually written a letter to someone who wasn’t her grandmother.

With a pen gripped tightly in her hand, the black ink began to spill onto the page as her mind finally came up with things to scribble onto the soft blue lines. The nails of her right hand tapping against the finished wood of her desk, it wasn’t long until she ripped the paper out of the coiled notebook and started over again.

Dear Ezekiel,

My name’s Ophelia, I’m about twenty six years old, and my favourite colour is orange, because it reminds me of orange creamsicles on a hot summers day. Seems childish, I’m aware, but alas, my curiosity only carried me so far. It’s been years since I’ve actually written a letter, let alone made a friend. You see, I’m a very reserved person but i supposed that the only way of really making friends with a pen pal is to start off by introducing myself into a bit more depth than small talk. The friends I do have, they call me Oph, no one really calls me by my first name.

God, she sounded so utterly stupid, she thought, but what else was there to write? Who even knew if this man would write back? No one, no one did. But, can’t be for sure unless she tries, right? right.

However, she went on, writing down anything she could possibly think of that could stark some sort of interest from the man behind bars. She went from how the green on the trees in the spring brought her a specific joy in her heart because when she was younger her father would point out that the green in forests meant that the wild life was happy, healthy, to explaining what the saw was initially invented for. Once her hand began to cramp, she called it a day. Folding the papers together neatly, she shoved them in an envelope and sent it off to the right address before her hesitation stopped her. Now; it was time to wait. And she hated waiting.

Without a real timeline in her head on when she’d hear back from Ezekiel, she waited days, then weeks, at some point, the thought seemed to slip her mind. Heading to work each day, only to head home, check her mail box, head inside, prepare herself for the night and get at least a few hours of sleep before doing it all again the next day. An impossibly boring routine that was disturbed when she found an envelope, with blue in scratched into the front. Reading the name ‘Ezekiel’ within the first few lines of the actual letter, thrilled her. Quickly, she tossed her bag and keys to the side, kicking the door shut behind her, she tore into the envelope and began to read.

Dearest Ophelia

You can tell me absolutely anything you wish to, just from your first letter i can tell that your mind is a place of wonder. If you think anything like you write, I’d love to pick your brain some day, those run on sentences really get a man thinking.

A wide grin spread across her lips, her eyes flit across the pages as she read ever word scribbled onto the lines in blue ink. He told her anything that reflected topics she covered, answering all the questions that she asked, even adding in commentary here and there. He matched the amount she wrote, rambling on just as much as she did.

P.s. were chainsaws really invented to cut open and take out the pelvis of a woman who took too long giving birth?

A cackle rolled passed her lips when she read that very last sentence, and she dove into explaining the history of it once more. Every letter she wrote, would end in a fact so buzzard it was hard to believe. The two went back and forth as fast as time would allow, matching the length of letters, each and every time. Quickly, that ugly blue ink from Ezekiels pen became her favourite colour, replacing the orange colours that she once preferred over all else.

But, all good things do eventually come to an end, for years, they’d go back and forth, writing letters and knowing everything about one another. Occasionally letters were sent with tear stains wrinkling papers from when she poured her heart onto the page, she’d sent a picture of herself once too, one she never got back. Dozens of paper cuts, empty pens and notepads empty, pages torn out and sent. Then, one day, it all just stopped, her last letter never got a response, she waited weeks, but weeks turned to months quickly and she assumed he’d gotten out, it wasn’t worth contacting her anymore now that he was set free into the world once again. It hurt, it shouldn’t have, he was just a pen pal, a friend who wasn’t permanent in the slightest, she knew that, she did, but that bond she thought they developed was broken. Perhaps she got attached, but, for lack of better wording, it sucked.

It was now the middle of December, and Ophelia had planned what she usually did during the holiday season. Nothing. She didn’t have family left, her friends had their own families to attend to, besides, she had just up and moved to a town she was dangerously unfamiliar with. Although, none of that really phased her. On her way home from work, she stopped by the store, a hardcore case of the munchies leading her down chips isle. Humming to herself softly, her eyes scanned the shelves, tossing a bag or two in her basket before strolling down the isle.

A small, white sheet of something, perhaps paper? Swayed to the ground slowly, landing rignt at her feet, with a quirked brow, she leant down and picked it up. The man who dropped it, standing not too far in front of her, didn’t seem to notice that he’s lost it. A man, with a buff figure, broad shoulders, he walked like he’d been constipated for a week now, his phone in hand, which his focused had zeroed in on. She trapped the small paper, which turned out to be a photograph. Ophelia didn’t want to look at it, to respect the mans privacy, but curiosity killed the cat, right?

The photo, she immediately recognized the bright red hair, the pearly white smile, the mess on the pale skin and the beaming green eyes. That was her, the photo? it was the one she sent to Ezekiel all those years ago, when they first started talking. But why did this man have it? With confusion, she rushed forward, tapping the man on his shoulder “excuse me -“ she started, but her words caught in her throat when he turned around, it was him. he looked like he did in the pictures on the sight, the one he sent her, just slightly older, his hair had a tight trim, he had a few more stress lines than the picture did.

The basket tucked under her arm just moments ago, hit the ground with a crash. Her eyes went wide, her skin paled. Ophelia looked like she’d just seen a ghost, Ez mimicking the shock on his own features. “you- i-“ she managed to get out, forcing her mouth shut.

A nervous chuckle came from Ez, paired with a weak “O- hey.” he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

She raised her fist and punched him in the bicep “what the fuck?!” she asked, her shock replaced by anger as she waved the photo in front of him. “really?! I thought we were cool, friends? even? you said I was one of the best friends you’d ever made and I don’t even get as much as a ‘oh hey Ophelia I’m getting out talk to you never!’ ?! and you just carry my picture around like a creep?” she asked, pushing it against his chest and crossing her arms over her own. “well?”

“Listen, I’m sorry.” he said, looking for ways to explain himself, why he hadn’t kept in touch, any sort of excuse but there was nothing, truth was, he had wanted to stay in contact but everything with the club, and the deal, and pops got in the way, so it kept getting pushed back. “it was a dick move and I’m sorry.” he said, looking down at her.

“yeah no fucking shit.” she spoke, her arms still crossed over her chest, her glare burrowing holes into his head. She opened her mouth, ready to add more onto what was already said to him, but in that moment someone in a kutte that nearly matched his own, rounded the corner, ready to speak to Ez until her glare shifted from him to the slightly taller man, his green flannel buttoned up, chains clanging together.

“Hey boy sco-“ he stopped mid sentence, not taking another step, he narrowed his eyes at her, looking between her, and his brother, a smile came to his lips in realization “oh shit.” he laughed “you can deal with angry fire crotch on your own, I’ll wait outside.” he laughed, heading out and leaving the two alone again.

“Angel?” she asked, he looked exactly like Ez would explain in his letters, nodding his head, she furrowed her brows slightly and leaned down, picking her basket up again, hanging it in the crease of her elbow. “Look I get it, you got out, had better things to do, I shouldn’t have let my anger get the best of me but come on? We spoke for years, we bonded, or so I thought? Feels ridiculous now, but, hey, I hope that your life treats you better than it has, I’ll see you around.” she said, nodding her head at him, turning to head to the till when she felt his hand on her arm, spinning her around.

“I looked for you.” he started “not nearly hard enough but they never gave away your address, nothing, which was smart but I did look for you, where I could.” he confessed “not once did I forget about you, Ophelia, I couldn’t.” he dropped his arm when she stood, looking up at him.

“I know. Duh. Your memory is like- permanent.” she said, and he nearly rolled his eyes.

“okay smart ass that’s not what I meant.” he groaned. “you’re unforgettable, even if I could forget, I couldn’t.”

“you’re much smoother on paper” she added another little side note.

“Ophelia.”

“Sorry.”

“Anyways, that picture was the only that allowed me to feel a sense of home as of lately, and would be the only thing that did until i found you. That’s why I kept it.” he told her, her gaze softening. “Now that i have, found you, i won’t let you get away again.”

“sounds kidnap - y.” she muttered, interrupting him. He dropped his hands, slapping against his thighs with a soft sight, he shot her a glare.

“Ophelia I swear to god i’m trying to confess my feelings right now could you put a pause on that for a moment?” he asked her, raising a brow.

“no.” she said simply, scratching her nose. “don’t confess your undying love for me in the middle of a grocery store, please. That old lady has been listening and eyeing you this whole time.”

#angel reyes x reader #ez x reader #ez reyes #mayans fanfic #mayans mc #jd pardo

121 notes · View notes

escxpedes · 4 years

Text

loopholes (fin.)

Remember when I said I’d post this like two days after the last part? No? Me neither... Sorry about the delay, I’ve had a severe lack of motivation. (It’s mental illness innit.) I feel like every part of this story gets longer and longer, and makes even less sense. If you haven’t read the other two parts, I recommend you do so. These technically can be read standalone, but I think it’s cuter when you read them knowing the context. Even though, again, they seem to make less sense the more I write. Lots of new information came about season 5, and it’s both nerve-racking and exciting at the same time! Three cheers for anxiety, amiright? Hope you all are doing well, I’m excited to hear the feedback on the last part of this series. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to write, I’m a sucker for prompts! x

part one | part two

loop·hole

noun | A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system.

hands that wrap around my wrists, (and arms that feel like home.)

Shutting down the monitors she was using, Riley tries not to think about how her sleep deprivation affects her body. It’s one thing to work as a distraction, but the drag in her pace tells her this coping method is wearing her down.

How is she supposed to save innocent lives when she’s so exhausted.

And she is, exhausted, that is. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. Every part of her is weightless, suspended in air, and it feels like she can’t do a single thing about it.

An irritating helplessness encompasses her, tightening its grasp on her sanity.

She wants to cry out, throw something, cause a scene. Instead, she buries her feelings deep in her subconscious and tries not to focus on how tight her chest is.

It’s an occupational hazard, she tells herself. It’s nothing she can’t handle, she repeats daily. It’s almost a mantra by now, echoing inside her head and ramping up what seems to be an infinite supply of determination.

It’s the only way.

Mac waits for her outside, leaning against the building while she locks up. Her vision is still kind of fuzzy due to lack of energy, and her body doesn’t seem to be completely awake yet. She can physically feel Mac’s concerned gaze burning a hole in her cranium as if staring hard enough will give him access to all recesses of her mind.

“Ready?”

She nods, feigning a smile, and bumping his shoulder with her own, “You never mentioned why you stopped by so late.”

Ignorance is bliss, right?

“I left my phone in the labs.” She can hear the exasperation in his voice; concern rushes forward and sends a pang through her heart.

Suddenly, she’s irritated too, not with Mac, but for Mac. He does the right thing for humanity despite all that humanity has done to him. She can’t imagine how frustrated he must be with the entire situation, once again putting the world before himself.

He’s had so little time to process everything.

She knows he could use a break but also knows that he won’t admit he needs one.

For how smart he is, he can be really stupid sometimes.

When she turns her head to look at him, she can tell she’s lost him to his own thoughts. His eyebrows are furrowed, his usually clear eyes unfocused, and his mouth is set in a grim line.

If she listens closely, she can almost hear the gears turning, working out possible solutions, and thinking through every outcome.

It’s not an uncommon expression.

She stops abruptly, “Hey.”

This seems to shake him from his trance, his eyes meeting hers in a questioning manner.

“You are doing the best you can under the circumstances, but pushing yourself too hard won’t solve anything,” Her hand finds its way to his arm and squeezes reassuringly, “You can take care of the planet, but make sure to take care of yourself, too.”

The look he gives her is so full of gratitude and affection that nearly every emotion that Riley’s fought to contain bursts through its confinement and surges through her body.

“Thank you.”

Her breath catches in her throat, making it hard to breathe.

“What for?”

She really hopes the shaky breath that follows goes unnoticed.

“For always believing in me, no matter what.” His gaze is piercing, robbing the ability to form words from her throat.

She rakes her mind for something, anything, to say that will stop her from doing something she would totally, one hundred percent regret.

“It’s what Jack would do.”

It takes everything in her to break eye contact and shrug nonchalantly. Humor laces her tone, despite the sincerity of her statement. It is something Jack would do, something he taught her to believe in. Not necessarily in Mac, but what her gut is telling her.

It seems that in any given situation, before or after Jack’s departure, Mac’s intuition has always mirrored her own. Since the second he broke her out of prison, they always had the same values. Just like Jack, she learned how to read and understand Mac.

She knows how to interpret his rambling. She knows that no matter the situation, he’ll always put everyone else first. She knows that whatever crazy plan he’s come up with, it’s constructed with the best intentions.

She knows that no matter where he goes, and no matter what he does, her instinct is to trust him.

So she does.

With every ounce of her being.

She desperately wants to share this with him, especially if it would probably make him feel better. However, she knows the second she starts talking, she won’t be able to stop. Mac’s got a way of doing that, translating her thoughts into words that tumble out of her before she can control what they might mean.

The grin Mac throws her, which conveys understanding and amusement, allows the tension between them to dissipate.

“Speaking of Jack, he would absolutely kill me if I let you drive home in your state.”

Before she can get a word in edgewise, he’s already opening the passenger side door of his truck. The tone in his voice leaves little room for debate, as if he’s ready to refute whatever argument she can muster up, so Riley doesn’t argue.

She wants to, but just the idea of operating a car sounds exhausting.

Besides, she’s missed this. She’s missed Mac, not just as someone she’s possibly in love with, but as her best friend. With everything going on, she’s hardly been able to see him.

The absence of him in her life hurts just as much as having him in it.

She literally can’t win.

The silence that follows is comfortable, the rumbling engine serving as white noise to Riley as she dozes off against the window.

She tries to, anyway. Driving with Mac is always an adventure, which is useful when trying to avoid being killed by a terrorist organization. Maneuvering Los Angeles traffic? Way, way less so.

“Maybe driving myself home wouldn’t have been such a bad idea.” She mumbles, fighting the urge to grab the handle above the door.

“Hey! I always get us home in one piece.”

“Physically maybe,” an amused smile finds its way to Riley’s face, “But mentally? I should sue you for psychological trauma.”

The look of disbelief that follows is enough to get her through several lifetimes, or it could be the smile he struggles to hide under his offended facade.

“Ouch,” Mac puts his left hand over his heart, “That hurts right here, Riles.”

The nickname throws her off, causing her stomach to flip. It’s just a silly name, it shouldn’t affect her like this, but her heart still clenches uncomfortably.

She attempts to brush it off, trying for a humoring grin that feels more like a grimace.

Though the comfortable atmosphere doesn’t change, the playful energy is replaced by more silence. As buildings pass outside, all Riley can think about is how much she hates silence. Man, what she would do just to get rid of it for a little bit. It’s constant these days, and it always finds her no matter where she goes.

Her fingers tug at her bottom lip, a nervous habit she’s recently adopted, as she tries to think through possible solutions to the predicament she’s found herself in.

She must be pretty engrossed because it takes her a minute to realize Mac’s spoken again.

“What?” Her brain slows down enough to pick out his words, something about how much sleep she’s gotten recently, “Oh, I don’t know.”

She tries not to notice how concerned he looks when he asks, “You don’t know?”

Not really

Logically, she knows that she sleeps almost every night. How long? It’s hard to tell sometimes. If she’s lucky, she can get a couple hours in before her brain goes into hyperdrive. Other times, she’d rather be doing something productive on her rig instead of staring at her ceiling fan.

She props her elbow against the window and rests her head in her hand, “I guess it hasn’t been a priority.”

From the corner of her eye, she can see him open his mouth and close it abruptly, trying to find the right words to comfort or soothe her.

As always, Mac is trying to rectify the situation.

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

She doesn’t miss the parallel and throws him the same reclusive look he had given her on multiple occasions.

“That’s my line.”

There’s an irritating tension that fills the space, like the feeling you get when you can’t get past a certain level on a video game. It’s a little stifling, urging Riley to do whatever it takes to make it disappear.

“C’mon Riley, you’ve been off ever since, you know, the whole codex situation. At first, I thought, well, it was kind of traumatizing for everyone involved, but then you moved out and,” He trails off, and she can physically see him putting all the working components together, “Is it the apartment?”

God, she wished it was just the apartment. Sure, it plays a part in all her problems right now, but she knows that it’s more of what the empty apartment represents than the apartment itself.

Still, she’s glad he came to that conclusion. It’s easier to lie to him when it doesn’t pertain to the actual issue at hand.

“The apartment’s fine,” she says after a moment of hesitation.

“It’s the AC unit, isn’t it?” His lips compress shortly before he shakes his head, “I knew I should have looked at it.”

As he starts ranting about the condenser coils in her air conditioner and how easy it is for them to get dirty, Riley can’t help but let a soft laugh fall from her lips.

“Mac, it’s not my air conditioning.”

When he opens his mouth to respond, she holds her hand up to stop him. “It’s not my heater either, or my ceiling fan, or anything that might require your unique expertise.”

“But it has something to do with the apartment.”

The statement is blanketed in excitement as if he knows he’s getting closer to uncovering the truth. He’s always been so obsessed with knowledge and learning, never quite capable of letting things go and living in ignorance.

His eyes light up with child-like curiosity; it’s highly annoying and endearing at the same time.

She feels her self control loosening.

With Mac, she feels secure, like maybe she can put herself back together again. She could confess to a crime, and he wouldn’t look at her any differently.

That helplessness kicks back in, tearing her apart from the inside.

When he slows to a stop in front of her complex, she hasn’t answered him yet.

In the back of her mind, she’s a little proud of herself for only joking about his driving once in the ten minutes it took to get there.

She stares at the lobby entrance and can feel the soft flannel of his shirt, giving him a hug before she exits his truck. She can hear the sleepiness in her voice as she leans against the door and tells him goodnight. She can see herself walk through the double doors and not turning around.

She can see it so clearly, but she remains planted in the passenger seat.

Fear tangles itself in her shoulders, in her stomach, in her heart.

Not just because she dreads the idea of spending another night counting the minutes before her alarm goes off, but because she doesn’t want to leave with their friendship in this state.

She just wants everything to go back to normal, to get back some semblance of their old friendship before she knew how she felt.

Mac waits beside her, a patient and comforting presence.

“It’s just so quiet. Up there, it’s just me and my thoughts. They never cease or quiet down; it’s a constant loop. I try listening to music or watching TV, but I can never focus on any of it. Then, I start panicking because I don’t know if it’ll ever go away. There’s no comfort, no stability. I’m just… alone.”

With every word, a little of the weight falls from her shoulders.

It almost feels like she can breathe again.

“The only time I don’t feel like that is when I’m working,” she clenches her hands in her lap, “At Phoenix, I can get to any room in the dark with my eyes closed, and I’m constantly surrounded by people I’ve known for years. It feels… safe.”

Mac’s silent, reaching over to grasp one of her hands.

“You don’t feel safe here?” He encloses her left hand between his own and squeezes, the pressure and warmth spreading through her body like wildfire.

She meets his eyes, “Not in the way that matters.”

He turns the truck off, hopping out before Riley can say anything else. He walks around the hood of the car and pulls the passenger door open, “Come on.”

“What are you doing?”

He helped her out of the truck, “You trust me, right?”

More than he’ll ever know.

“You know I do.” She eyed him suspiciously as he opened one of the complex’s doors for her, following as she entered.

“From what I can recall, Bozer got you a Nintendo Switch for your birthday earlier this year. It’s been a while since I’ve had the pleasure of destroying you in Super Smash Bros.”

His voice was quiet, trying not to disturb the people trying to sleep.

“First of all, you’ve never destroyed me in Super Smash Bros, and you never will if you keep playing with Luigi,” She grinned, watching as he shook his head in disagreement, “And second of all, it’s two in the morning.”

He shrugged, “That’s never stopped us before.”

He wasn’t wrong, but things were different now.

Riley tried not to think about Desi, wrapped up in Mac’s bed, peacefully sleeping and blissfully unaware of this entire exchange.

Not that she had anything to worry about.

It didn’t matter anyway because clearly, Riley had issues with saying “no” to Angus Macgyver.

“Fine, but prepare to get your ass beaten.”

He grinned triumphantly, “That sounds like a challenge.”

She unlocked her apartment door, stepping into the dark and quiet entryway. She faltered a little bit, her heartbeat quickening with newfound anxiety.

As always, the apartment radiated energy that always put Riley out of place.

Mac closed the door behind him, helping himself to any food he could find in her fridge. There was an intimacy to it, a closeness that made the apartment much more bearable. Her shoulders dropped a little, the anxiety easing a little as she took a deep breath.

She busied herself in the living room, connecting the switch to her TV and grabbing a variety of different pillows and blankets.

It was, after all, a tradition for these types of events.

Mac joined her after a couple of minutes with two beers, “Your fridge is worse than mine.”

“Will you get it started,” Riley ignore his comment, handing him one of the controllers, “ I’m going to change.”

When she returned in a comfy ensemble of leggings and a sweatshirt, Mac was scrolling through the character list. She hopped the back of the couch to sit next to him, watching as he hovered over Luigi for what feels like an eternity.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Mac’s determined expression didn’t falter, “You’re just jealous of my skills.”

Those skills proved to be no match for Riley’s, though, after she managed to beat him in the first game. It became much more entertaining when she did it again in the second. She tried not to laugh, but it became nearly impossible with his onslaught of complaints.

“You’re such a cheater, you can’t do that!” He pressed down hard on the keys as if smashing them harder will make Luigi speed up.

Jokes on him, Luigi was the slowest character in the game.

Very slowly, her exhaustion began to creep up on her. She knew she was done for when Mac actually managed to beat her. He seemed just as surprised as she was, but he suggested switching to a movie anyway.

They ended up choosing a documentary, something that Mac had been interested in watching recently. Riley didn’t care what they watched, as long as she got to lay down.

Mac placed a pillow in his lap and tapped it gently.

“So, was this your plan,” She comfortably adjusted her body, so her neck wasn’t in an awkward position propped up on the pillow.

In front of them, a monotone voice explained the phenomena surrounding the universe.

“Homo Sapiens are social creatures; we need people to survive,” Riley could feel Mac’s fingers coursing through her waves, creating a soothing pattern that calmed any remaining tension in her body.

“You feel comfortable at Phoenix, sitting around the fire pit at my house, or spending time with the team at the arcade because we’re there. It’s okay to need us, Riles, because trust me, we need you, too.”

Mac’s words barely resonate with her, and she hummed noncommittally in response.

His fingers gently combed through the tangles at the nape of her neck, “I don’t think we build homes in material things like houses or apartments, but rather, in the people we surround ourselves with.”

Laying there, with her head on his lap and his fingers in her hair, Riley could only think one thing:

He couldn’t be more right.

#macriley #macgyver #Angus MacGyver #riley davis #just cute things #hope you enjoy!!

60 notes · View notes

fellulahh · 4 years

Text

‘Mammon visits MC in the human realm and Lucifer gets jealous’ Part 13/???

Read Part 12 here!

Even the idea of it made him absolutely livid. There was no way he’d ever allow the demons of Devildom to think MC was carrying Diavolo’s baby. No...never.

The only issue was...

‘Am I ready to accept that you’re my baby?

It was a warm evening in Devildom as Mammon and MC sat on her bed chatting. It felt like it’d been years since they were last together. Like two best friends having a gossip, they talked until their jaws ache.

“So what’s it like bein’ pregnant?” He asked her curiously as he laid on his back. “Do you like it?”

“Yes and no.” She answered truthfully, “I mean there are some horrible parts to pregnancy that I haven’t enjoyed but then there are moments which makes me forget about all of the bad stuff.” She smiled to herself.

“Like havin’ the baby scan?” He asked, interested in their conversation.

“Exactly like that.” She nodded.

“I’ll tell ya what, I’ve never seen Lucifer get so funny over a photo!” Mammon laughed, “I tried to have a look at it the other day and he snatched it out of my hands - he now keeps it in a frame in his study.”

“He does?” MC smiled. She hadn’t even thought what he’d do with it.

“Yeah? Didn’t ya know?” Mammon asked surprised.

“No I didn’t...but I haven’t actually seen him since the scan. We’ve been talking from time to time but then he’ll get caught up with something.” She sighed, “But I’m happy he’s making small time for me now. I was beginning to think he’d never talk to me again.”

“Sounds like Lucifer.” Mammon nodded, “if it makes ya feel better he hasn’t even had time for us brothers either and we’re far more important. I can’t remember the last time he ate with us!”

“Sounds like Diavolo’s really working him hard...” MC sighed to herself. She understood that Lucifer made a pledge to him and went behind his back to see her but surely even Diavolo would understand how important it is for Lucifer to spend time with his baby? ‘Perhaps deep down he doesn’t even want it and this is all just one big excuse’

“Speaking of which, how is it livin’ with the Prince? You gotten used to it yet?” Mammon asked, changing the subject slightly, distracting MC from her thoughts.

“I don’t think I could ever get used to living here.” She chuckled, glancing at the room, “it’s nice though.” She nodded, “Diavolo takes good care of me, he’s been there for me a lot considering he’s the Prince of Devildom. Oh! He was actually really sweet the other day: when I came home from the doctors I showed him my scan and he was really happy! He told me mine and the baby’s souls are radiating.” She rambled with a big grin on his face.

The last part of her sentence caught his attention.

Turning his head to her, he arched an eyebrow. “He said what?” He asked unsure. Mammon couldn’t believe the words that fell from her mouth.

“Mine and the baby’s souls are radiating.” She repeated with a smile, “don’t you feel it too?”

‘He can sense her soul?’

“I—er of course!” He mumbled awkwardly.

“Why are you going all weird for?” She scoffed amused, “it’s only Diavolo - you don’t have to get funny about him.”

Realising how obvious his awkward reaction was, Mammon quickly snapped out of his mood. “Sorry! Guess I’m just not used to him gettin’ to spend all this time with ya.” He covered smoothly. “Ya better not be here too long!”

“I know.” MC said with sad eyes, placing a hand on top of his. He quickly glanced up to meet her eyes. “I hope it won’t be forever.”

Mammon marched through the door to the House of Lamentation. His face was sheer panic as he frantically rushed through the hallways, running toward Lucifer’s study. As soon as he reached it, he practically fell into the room with a deep breath.

“Mammon? What is the meaning of this?!” Lucifer asked sternly, surprised to be seeing his brother.

“Ya gotta listen to me!” Mammon cried, hastily making his way to Lucifer’s desk, slamming in hands down on the surface, “ya gotta go and see MC.”

“Why?” Lucifer asked, immediately concerned as he stood up. “Is it the baby?”

“No.” Mammon panted, “it’s Diavolo.”

“Diavolo?” Lucifer questioned, his face scrunching as he did so.

“I think he’s in love with MC!” Mammon exclaimed.

“In love?! What brought you to this ridiculous conclusion?” Lucifer seethed, trying to convince himself that Mammon was being overly dramatic and had gotten completely the wrong end of the stick.

“MC told me today that Diavolo could sense her soul and the baby’s.” Mammon spoke quickly.

“She did? What else did she say?” Lucifer asked with wide eyes.

“Nothing.” Mammon breathed, “I think she’s forgotten what it means - she seems to think all demons can sense souls.”

“They can.” Lucifer sighed, “when they’re in love...” His face was hard as he glared down at his desk, collecting his thoughts. “Are you certain this is what she said?” He asked, his voice suddenly quiet.

“Well yeah, MC told me herself.” Mammon shrugged.

Lucifer ran a stressed hand through his black hair. He knew there was something odd going on with the Prince but he never expected it to be this. “There has to be an explanation.” Lucifer sighed.

“Well if ya think that’s true go and talk to Diavolo! Ask him straight up.” Mammon insisted. “Ya don’t wanna lose MC to the Prince of Devildom...how are ya supposed to compete with him?!”

“That’s not helpful, Mammon.” Lucifer shook his head, face palming.

“Never mind what I’m saying! What are ya still doin’ here?!”

“I’m going to the palace. You’re now in charge of dinner duty.” Lucifer stated as he made his way over to the door.

Mammon would usually object but on this occasion he allowed it. All he wanted was for his older brother to be happy - he’d never forgive himself if Diavolo stole MC from him and he did nothing to stop it.

“So what brings you here, Lucifer?” Diavolo asked as he shut thr notepad he had in front of him. “I presume you didn’t come here just to talk about your duties.” He spoke with an arched eyebrow.

“Forgive me My Lord, I was hoping to speak to you about MC.” Lucifer breathed cautiously. “I understand you’ve been taking care of her for some time now...” he was hesitant to continue. Just Diavolo’s cold glare was enough to make him want to go back on himself. “I’d just like to know she’s in safe hands.”

“You’re questioning me now?” Diavolo asked surprised before chuckling, “Lucifer please, she’s safe here. I have Barbatos waiting on her on hand and feet - she has everything she could ever ask for.”

“So you’re happy for her to stay with you? I understand that her return to Devildom was unexpected and it was a very rash decision for her to stay at the palace.” Lucifer spoke slowly, “I hope this isn’t too much trouble.”

“Trouble? How could I see it as trouble when it was myself who insisted she stayed?” Diavolo eyed him. He leant forward in his seat, leaning his forearms on the desk. “Unless...that’s not what you’re really asking me?” He asked quietly, a dark glint in his eyes. “What is it you’d really like to know, Lucifer?”

“Do you love her?” He asked abruptly.

Diavolo remained cool despite the interrogation. “Love her?” He questioned with a chuckle, “Lucifer you understand I brought MC into my home to protect her and that baby because your child is the key to our realm uniting with the humans?” He asked offended. “I don’t appreciate you taking my gesture as a ploy to push you out and romance her. My true care is the realm.”

Lucifer suddenly felt stupid when he heard Diavolo say it back to him. He cursed himself for listening to Mammon.

“I understand that you’ve had doubts about MC and her pregnancy but to make these accusations about me to try and distract yourself from your own fears is not the way to go about things.” Diavolo spoke calmly. “MC is here because it’s the safest place she could be. Your baby won’t be harmed for as long as she’s under my roof.”

Lucifer was quiet for a moment, feeling ashamed. “I apologise, My Lord. It would seem my own worries have clouded my judgement.”

“As I thought.” He nodded, “Is that all?”

“That is all.” He sighed, “I’m going to stop in and see MC and then I’ll be off.”

“You may stay for dinner if you wish?” Diavolo offered.

“No thank you. Unfortunately I am still making my way through the reports that you gave me.”

Diavolo nodded as Lucifer left the room. His stare remained on the door as the eldest brother disappeared. His heartbeat was a little quicker than usual as his gaze flickered across the room.

Lucifer shook his head as he approached MC’s room. He felt absolutely mortified after the conversation he’d just had with Diavolo. If there was anything that could take his mind off things though it was the human hiding in the depths of the palace.

Her door was open when he appeared. As soon as he entered the room he could see her out on the balcony; hands resting on the railings as the breeze blew through her hair. A smile crept onto his face as he stepped through the room, relief filling his body as he came into contact with her.

“Long time no see.” He spoke softly, leaning against the doorframe to the balcony.

MC spun around as she heard his voice. She had a wide smile on her face as she approached him. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see Diavolo and couldn’t leave without seeing you.”

The gesture made her heart feel warm. She wasted no time wrapping her arms around him. His whole body eased when she embraced him; it was the first time he’d felt relaxed since his conversation with Mammon.

The pair of them pulled out of their embrace and moved back into the bedroom. Laying on her bed, they faced each other as they began conversing. While MC was speaking, Lucifer’s eyes kept trailing to her prominent bump. MC noticed that he kept staring but didn’t say anything.

“How have you been?” She asked him softly as she tilted her head.

“Bu—“

“Busy?” She answered for him with a laugh, “I thought so.”

“I am trying, MC.” He sighed, feeling his heart sink a little.

“I know you are - and I appreciate it.” She nodded sincerely. She was about to say something else but after feeling a new sensation in her stomach, she quickly forgot all about what she wanted to talk back. “Oh!” She smiled, confusing Lucifer. Before he could ask what on Earth was happening, she grabbed his hand and pulled it toward her. “Feel this.” She insisted, as she placed his palm around the curve of her bump.

Lucifer’s body froze as he felt it. Nerves began lacing throughout him as he held her belly. As he waited for movement, his heart was racing. ‘What if the baby stops kicking now that I’m holding her?’

With an incredibly worried expression, Lucifer’s hand remained on MC. But suddenly, he felt a small force against him. It was only little, bit he could feel the movement as the baby stretched. His breath hitched in his throat. MC was surprised by the unsure look he had on his face but she put it down to the fact he’d never felt anything like this before.

Letting out a shaky breath, Lucifer’s eyes met hers. “There it is.”

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me lucifer #obey me imagines #obey me one shot #obey me fanart #obey me diavolo #obey me imagine #obey me drabble #obey me fic

314 notes · View notes

fly-flower-fanfics · 4 years

Text

Just....Friends...

Aziraphale x Male Reader

Warnings: None

Thank you to @sinningissuprisinglyfun for being so so patient while I had a depression episodes and computer troubles. Thank you so much. I hope you like this.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Doctor!” I called out in a sing-song voice. I knew Crowley was home by the low growl coming from the living room.

“I’m not a bloody doctor,” he replied as I plopped next to him on the couch. I glanced over and met his eyes, his yellow snake eyes. They always looked like they were judging me, which they probably were, but that was beside the point.

“I swear you were an actor back in the day,” I said, referring to one of my favorite TV shows. He grumbled something under his breath, but I didn’t need to hear it to know what he said. I was never a damn actor.

“Azira still at his bookshop?”

Crowley glanced over toward me, raising his eyebrow. “Isn’t he always?”

“So why aren’t you with him?” I asked. I knew the two were usually together, but that didn’t mean they always were. It was just when they were apart nowadays, something usually happened. I hoped nothing did. Crowley — as soft as he was — knew how to hold a grudge.

“Muttered something about how the bookshop kept reorganizing itself and practically threw me out.” Crowley shrugged. “Might let you stay, though.”

I laughed. “Crowley, there isn’t a difference between you and I.”

Crowley just smirked and snorted softly, but didn’t say anything. He swore up and down to Satan himself that Aziraphale was interested in me. Of course, I didn’t believe it. I hoped, however, but I didn’t believe it. I was only me, and he was an angel. Literally.

“So why’re you just sitting here?” I asked the demon, trying to change the subject rather quickly.

“Must I a reason?”

“I suppose no,” I replied, shrugging lightly. “Just figured you would have something to do.” I pushed myself up and ruffled the demon’s hair, which made him yelp in shock. “I should go annoy Azira now. See ya later, Doctor.”

As I closed the door behind me, I heard him shout, “I’m NOT a doctor!”

I chuckled to myself as I walked down the street. My thoughts turned to the angel again. I knew he wouldn’t mind the fact that I was pansexual. He was, too, in a way. He didn’t really like to label himself. But it just meant he wouldn’t have a problem with another man. I just knew that ‘other man’ couldn’t be me.

I opened the door to the bookshop; the little bell tinkled in response to let Azira know I was there. I heard a soft groan, a “good heavens,” and hurried footsteps. The frustration on Aziraphale’s face faded as he realized that it was only me.

“Oh, Y/N. Hello.” He smiled, his soft, round features filling with a warm happiness.

I couldn’t help but match his smile. “Hey Azira. Crowley said you were having trouble with the old shop.” I gave one of the wooden shelves a gentle pat. “Thought I could help?”

Aziraphale hesitated, but I knew why. He had a specific way of how things were supposed to go. A way that was meant to confuse people and keep them from actually buying any of the books he had managed to collect over the years. But I also knew that his bookshop was slightly sentient, just like Crowley’s Bentley and the shifting of the books drove Aziraphale mad.

“All right.”

A smile appeared on my face. “Thank you. How are you organizing them, so I know how you want me to do it.”

Azira started talking, but shamefully, I wasn’t paying attention. My eyes watched his lips move, but there didn’t seem to be any sound coming out from them. My eyes traced his face like I was trying to engrave it into my mind, even though it already was. His gentle blue eyes, his soft blond hair, the slight curve of his nose. All of it was already inside my head in a perfect picture.

God, I was in love.

“Y/N?” This time, Azira’s words did break into my thoughts. “Do you understand?”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry. I blanked for a couple seconds,” I replied with a light chuckle. I was known to do that often. “But yes, I do understand.”

I turned on my heel and went to the back of the bookstore and began to organize the books absentmindedly. Whatever Aziraphale has said stuck in my head as I watched his lips because once I knowingly tried to do anything, I couldn’t place a single book.

So I allowed my mind to wander.

I thought about Crowley and how close of friends we had become. I thought of Aziraphale and how I desperately hoped that he would love me. I then thought about how I was only me... a human whom aged. A human whom would die long before Azira or Crowley since they couldn’t die at all. I sighed softly to myself. That’s why I knew Azira could never love me back. I was a human. He wouldn’t want someone that would only be around for a handful of years. In another thousand, I would just be a whisp of a memory, if I was even lucky enough to get that. I didn’t want that... I didn’t want to lose them.

I paused and leaned my head against the bookshelf, realizing my throat and eyes burned with the familiar sense of needing to cry. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a soft breath. It was only now that I realized I had gotten midway through the store, and I could hear Azira’s soft voice.

“-of your mind, Crowley.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, angel.” I heard Crowley gag, which made me stifle a laugh. “I can’t believe you made me say that. The point still stands, no matter what I say.”

“We’re just friends. Y/N and I are just friends.”

I paused, book in hand, as tho I had become a tableau. Just friends. I mean, I didn’t expect anything more, but it killed all my remaining hope of Aziraphale reciprocating my feelings.

“Y/N?” Crowley’s voice broke into my head, causing me to look over.

The two had moved to the row I was in. Aziraphale was frowning lightly; Crowley was as stoic as ever.

“Hey. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. Just try to figure out where to put this book,” I said, gesturing to the item with my eyes. “I’m sorry for any disruption I caused.”

“No, no, dear, you’re fine. I’ll take that and put it away,” Aziraphale said.

I placed the book in his outstretched hand and offered a soft smile. “Do you need anything else? Well, I know you didn’t need me in the first place, but is there anything else you want me to do or am I free to go?”

“You’re allowed to leave if you desire.”

I smiled once again and nodded toward Crowley to acknowledge him. “All right then. See you two later.” With that, I headed out of the bookshop.

I shoved my hands deep into my pockets with the familiar burning sensation in my throat and eyes. Crying seemed to be stupid right now, but I could stop my tears this time. Aziraphale wouldn’t love me — not in the way I desired — so why get all worked up over it? Stupid. It’s stupid. I cursed myself softly, wishing I hadn’t gotten so attached.

Once I reached my front door, I opened it and headed inside, directly for my couch. I decided that I might as well let myself cry it out and work with it tonight so I’d get over it faster. Although I hated to cry and felt silly, burying the feelings would make it hurt more. A small part of me encouraged me to be overdramatic about it, to overhype it all in hopes it wouldn’t seem so bad tomorrow morning.

I decided to follow that part of me.

I got some cookies dough from the refrigerator and plopped myself down onto the couch. I let myself have a cry-fest, ranting about how he didn’t even love me as a friend and how dumb I was to even imagine it all working out. After that, I put on Doctor Who. My stomach hurt with all the cookie dough I had eaten, but that didn’t stop me from still eating more as my favorite TV show played.

I suppose I had fallen asleep on the couch because the next thing I knew, the TV was not playing the same episode I had last remembered, it was dark outside, and my phone’s clock read 4:32 a.m.

I shrugged and got myself up, stretching out and making an obnoxious but very necessary sound as I did so. I knew I probably should’ve just gone to bed, but I found myself going towards the front door instead.

It was a crisp morning; the wind bit at my naked arms. I paid no mind to it. In a way, it was comforting. It reminded me that I was still alive and that I could still function.

Instead of going to my normal spot by the trees by Crowley’s house, I wound up outside of Aziraphale’s bookshop. A small smile spread over my lips as I sat down on the steps.

After about ten minutes, I heard, “Running from something or waiting?”

My eyes jerked toward the noise, and I saw a smiling Azira walking towards me.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” he asked.

“Maybe,” I replied, ignoring his first question. It seemed to more be like him grabbing my attention than looking for an actual answer. “But here I am.”

“Why my bookshop?” He walked up and took my hand, pulling me up. Immediately, he frowned and hurriedly opened the front door, pulling me inside. “My dear, you’re frozen!”

I tilted my head, feeling a little like a confused puppy. I didn’t feel cold, but I didn’t feel numb either. “I’m all right, Azira, please don’t fret.”

That did not stop him from fretting.

I sighed softly and allowed him to do so, simply because I had no other choice. In a handful of minutes, I was sitting in his office with a cup of hot cocoa and a blanket around my shoulders.

Silly bastard. God, I love him.

“Anything else you wanna do?” I teased lightly.

Aziraohale paused, thinking about it. I suppose after six thousand years, he still hasn’t picked up on what sarcasm is yet.

“No. I’ve done all I can, I believe.”

I laughed, rolling my eyes and taking a sip of my cocoa. “This is why I love you.” I nearly choked on my drink when I heard myself saying it. But now it was out there.

“I love you too, my dear.”

I felt flustered, my hands trembling. “I’m sorry, I didn’t really—”

“I know.”

“It’s just I can’t help it,” I rambled.

“I know.”

“I fell in love with you so long ago and—and it hurt to keep inside.”

“I know, my dear.”

I hesitated and looked up at him curiously. “You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad when I, too, am in love with you?” A light blush dusted his cheeks. “I always thought you knew...”

I let out a gentle laugh, shaking my head in disbelief. The man I loved for so long had always loved me back. Call me the oblivious one.

“I love you,” I repeated, more surely.

“And I, you,” he replied, smiling

Aziraphale took a seat next to me. I used my free hand and hesitated a moment before going for it and grabbing his hand, lacing our fingers together. He turned to look at me, a small grin on his face as he leaned in and kissed me.

Once he pulled back, I still felt like I’d gone to a more pure heaven.

“You taste like chocolate,” he whispered.

I snorted. Of all the things he could’ve said, that was what he chose. “I love you so damn much, Azira.”

“I love you, too,” he replied, looking slightly confused.

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you, however long that may be.”

Aziraphale gave me a small smile, a smile with a hint of sadness, knowing that he would outlive me.

“To us, Azira. To us and our future,” I whispered, pressing a kiss onto his cheek. I didn’t want him to be sad right now.

“To us,” he said, capturing my lips in his.

#good omens x reader #aziraphale #aziraphale x male reader #crowley #good omens x male reader #good omens oneshots #good omens #aziraphale x reader

224 notes · View notes

brief-candle · 4 years

Text

ǫᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴꜱ - Akaza

yeehaw

was debating posting the 1 haikyuu request i did here but i’m really not a fan of it so i decided to just not. i’m not deleting it off my quotev though, because it’s a part of the learning process ^^

also akaza is harder to write than i thought >:0

series: kimetsu no yaiba/ demon slayer.

notes: MANGA-ONLY CHARACTER, yandere (platonic edition), young reader, implied death of a minor character, fluff.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

"Hey, Akaza?" The words tumbled from my mouth before I could stop them. Before I even glanced to see whether he was actually listening (or willing to listen) or not, I continued with another question. It was one I already knew the answer to, and it was an answer I didn't like, but I couldn't help but ask it every now and again. Just in case he changed his mind, I suppose. Even if such a thing was pretty much impossible for him.

"Can I go outside?"

As soon as I asked, I found that I didn't even want to look in his direction anyway. The atmosphere shifted immensely once those words dropped from my lips, staining the relaxed air with tension and suspense with every passing second. Like an open wound on one's favourite piece of clothing, it seemed to stain more and more until utterly ruined, no matter how much was done to save it. Or something like that, anyway.

"You already know the answer." There wasn't any indication that he even heard what I'd said before he spoke.

"True." I stretched my arms out behind me for a moment, hearing a small crack as I did so. Thankfully Akaza didn't particularly care much for those types of things, so didn't scold me like my mother used to do. Always nagging about being ladylike and manners, the whole lot. But, as I rested my arms behind my head and stared up at the now-familiar ceiling, I supposed that I missed it every now and again. And now was one of those 'every now and again's. After all, my mother wouldn't care about me going outside as long as I was home before sunset and cleaned myself up afterwards. There was no bitter disappointment to compliment the lack of surprise, only the cheerful ecstasy of being able to escape into nature for a while.

"Then why ask?" The question may have sounded snappy from someone else, but Akaza wasn't really like other people. Yes, he's stubborn beyond belief, but he's not malicious. Not to me, anyway.

Father may have told you something different, though.

"Dunno," I shrugged, leaving the topic there. He hummed passively, going back to doing whatever he was doing. Speaking of...

Sometimes I even surprised myself with how quickly I could leap to my feet. This was one of those times, even in the moment of sheer boredom when looking for something- anything- to do rather than mope around all day and just listen to the sound of the rain's gentle tapping rather than act like a child once again.

"Hey, Akaza?" Rocking on one's heels was harder than I'd thought, especially when trying to converse with someone. Countless times, I almost rocked too far both front and back, nearly toppling over and probably breaking something from the little that we have.

From his seated position on the floor, Akaza looked up at me through his- very oddly coloured- eyelashes. Life was so unfair- why couldn't I have been given eyelashes like that?! Though maybe I'd pass on the colour, thanks. Pink probably wasn't very flattering without pink hair like Akaza's. Wait!

Was Akaza born with pink hair?

Now that I thought about it, I'd never heard that name before I met him. Either it was super rare or completely made up. Or I just didn't go and meet many people. All three were so plausible...

"Yes?" He'd asked, and it was then that I had to make a decision: what question to ask first? Depending on which one I chose first could dictate whether I got to ask any more, which I desperately wanted to do. When I wasn't talking to him, I wasn't talking to anyone. And when I wasn't talking to anyone, I was doing very little else. Akaza wouldn't even teach me his super cool fighting moves, which was probably the most disappointing at all. He said it was because I was a girl, which is so unfair! So many girls out there get to fight, or even just walk outside in the rain when they want! Life is so cruel!

Ah, I've been rambling in my head again, haven't I?

It was easy to tell when that was the case, as even though he tried his absolute best to be patient with me, he couldn't always succeed. And from the way his eyebrows were creasing, I was very quickly running out of time.

"Whatcha doing?" I didn't want to risk both irritating him with what he called 'stupid' questions (they aren't stupid in the slightest, Akaza, you jerk!) and wearing down his patience. A look of confusion crossed his face for a moment- surely he knows that wasn't what I decided on asking after all that time! He always seemed to know what I was doing and thinking. One night I had decided to sneak out, only to open the door, very stealthily, to find Akaza right outside and staring right at me. It was safe to say I didn't leave my room for a while after that. In the middle of the night in complete darkness, it was terrifying to see such unnaturally coloured eyes staring straight at you, wasn't it?

"Drinking tea." Oh, so he was. How did I not notice that before? Why did I even ask when I could just look right in front of me, where the answer was plain as day.

I couldn't help the familiar curl of my lip though as I came face-to-face with the type of tea he was drinking. My worst, most powerful and deadly enemy.

Green tea.

Just when I was about to ask for some tea too! Just when I thought that I'd like some tea for a change, he goes and makes and drinks green tea! Why has God forsaken me like this?

"What?" What?

Oh, he's talking to me. And staring at me rather expectantly, questioningly. Was there something on my face? Not likely, as he probably would've told me by now. Had I been staring the whole time then?

Ah. That was probably it. How didn't I realise such a thing?!

I really wanted to ask, but wasn't sure how to word it or even whether or not to ask at all! But time waits for no one, and so I decided to take the plunge anyways, rather than stand here wasting time like usual, "Do we have any roasted green tea?"

By roasting the green tea, its sins could be cleansed into a decent tasting drink. That was the only form of green tea that was acceptable to drink in my eyes. And if something was acceptable in my eyes then the whole of society should accept it also! Even Akaza, as he sits there drinking a demon's choice of drink. Disgraceful!

He furrowed his eyebrows slightly to form an apologetic expression, "No, sorry. I can go get some tonight, though."

"I can go!" The words flew before I could even catch them and think about what I was about to say, before I could shove them down before they surfaced and replace them with a 'it's okay, don't worry about it'. It was safe to say that it didn't seem to please him.

His eyebrows furrowed further, though the apologetic expression was wiped off his face for one of disapproval instead. "We've been over this, you're-"

"-not allowed to leave the house because demons may attack you, I know!" At the time, I didn't even recognise that I was raising my voice, something I'd never done with him before. But at the time, so many emotions were stirring and clashing, fighting over which one would finally tear me apart. I loved Akaza, I truly did. He was always there for me, even when Father disappeared into the night and Mother turned me out, screaming that it was all my fault. Before and after that, he held his arms open and brushed through my hair as I cried. So, surely, it was ungrateful and bratty of me to act like this, right? It was- I knew it was! But I couldn't help it; my mouth continued to run on autopilot, "I know all that! But a demon's never attacked me, Mother or Father before. And back then we lived in the middle of nowhere, where a demon could kill us all before we could do anything about it! Besides, I can go while it's light out, because demons don't go out in the sun."

That's what Mother and Father had told me anyway, as to why I could go out in the daytime but not in the night. The forest was like the night during the day at times anyway, though, with how tall both the trees and their shadows were.

Then again, Akaza didn't go out in the sun either. I'd never really paid it much thought, for out of all his traits that one seemed the least odd. I mean, come on! He has pink hair, blue sclera and skin so pale that it almost wouldn't surprise me if he turned to me one day and confessed to having died over a hundred years ago! What about that isn't as weird as maybe not liking the sun?

"Demons aren't the only thing you should fear." With such a tone of voice, I felt my nerves tense in apprehension and fear. Each word was as if laced with venom as he spat them out. I could feel my hands begin to tremble as I clenched them by my sides, attempting to suppress the shaking. It's fine, it's all fine! Akaza wouldn't hurt me, I'm like his little sister, right? Even if that wasn't the case, he says he doesn't fight women, so why would he lash out at me?

As he moved, I barely restrained myself from flinching. However I couldn't stop my eyelids reflexively slamming shut, heartbeat drumming even louder in my chest and blood pounding in my ears. When I opened them again, which was a few moments after, I found that he'd only moved to drink some of his tea.

I was being silly again, wasn't I? I should know by now that Akaza won't hurt me. He's had many chances to, and even more reasons. Especially when I first arrived.

"Humans can be more dangerous than even demons." After finishing off his point, he beckoned.

I suppose there was truth in his words. Quite a bit when I thought about what he'd said further.

I answered, moving towards him without hesitance nor complaint.

When I stood right next to him, I knelt down beside him. He reached for the side of my head furthest away from him and coaxed it onto his shoulder. It would have been uncomfortable had he not been taller than I, leading to my neck not being strained as much. The only real issue I would have pointed out is how cold his shoulder was. The first time I'd noticed that I'd flung myself into a panic to try and start a fire, barely listening when he tried to reassure me until he'd gotten frustrated.

Blue fingers attached to pale hands ran themselves gently through my hair. At first it'd been a complete surprise at how gentle someone so muscular and (at times) intimidating could be, but by now I was very much used to it. Any surprise had been long worn out after countless days of this routine.

I think Mother had done it before Akaza, and had stopped after Father disappeared. It was barely a couple of hours later that she left to search for him, returning soon after with sorrow in her eyes. I hadn't understood it at the time, as it had been a long time ago, but it was definitely sadness. The type of sadness I'd see in Akaza's eyes at times when he helped me with chores around the house, in brief glimpses when he thought I wasn't looking. They must have had something in common then, so why couldn't they have gotten along? Maybe then the misery in her eyes wouldn't have changed to such malice, and she wouldn't have locked me out. Maybe then she could have lived with me and Akaza now, and all three of us could have found Father and been a big happy family.

I felt my muscles relaxing, becoming less tense by each passing second. Akaza's touch often did that with how relaxing it was, how easy it was to fall into the rhythm that he created each time he did this. Even easier was the habit of falling asleep at some point while he did so.

So that was what I did.

I dreamt of first meeting the pale, pink-haired man, with his blue lines that seemed to terrify me more than how he used to loom over me. Of Father's rage when he found out, how he'd gotten angry and refused to let me or Mother leave the house. How one day he went to the village for food for us all and never came back. This time Mother let the pink-haired man into the house with warm welcomes, asking him to join us in our quest to look for Father. He agreed, and off we went through the snowy forest surrounding our home. It wasn't much of a quest, though, as we stopped when finding some pinkish, bloody mass in the centre of a clearing. It was gross, and a bit sad too. Mother seemed to agree. It's always sad when an animal dies, even if it's to feed another. Though it was the first time that I found out animals wore clothes.

I'd have to tell Father when we found him, especially since this one seemed to wear a kimono just like his.

"Hey, Akaza?" I'd asked, just a bit after waking up from that dream. It was a strange dream, one that I remembered few details of.

He was there when I awoke from my nap, as usual. It was nice of him to wait next to me when I slept; he didn't have to waste his time doing that, when he could be...

... uh...

training? Is that all that Akaza does that I can think of? Or drink green tea like some sort of heathen, but still. I wonder if he was actually a really cool painter or something. Maybe I should ask him that one day, amongst the pile of everything else I wanted to ask.

"What is it?" His voice was calm and even, as per usual.

"Do you ever dream?" It was fleeting curiosity that led me to ask this question, rather than more important ones that I could ask in order to get to know him better.

The question seemed to catch him off-guard for a moment, as it took him a moment to respond with a tone just as surprised, "I don't know?"

"You don't know?" I repeated, confused by this. How can you not know if you have dreams or not?

"I may do, but I don't remember them."

I nodded, humming in thought as I did so.

"Why, did you have a dream?" He asked. Once more, I nodded. He probably wanted to ask what about, but I bombarded him with another question before he could:

"Do animals wear clothes?"

This, once more, seemed to surprise him. Maybe he didn't know. Before the dream I thought that I'd known that they didn't, but maybe it was a situation that only the rich animals wore clothes. Rich animals probably wouldn't wander in the woods near my house, after all, for that is where the common animals linger.

When I glanced over to him, he looked troubled, as if debating on how to answer this question. Just as I was about to speak up, he seemed to settle on an answer.

"Yes. And they are the most dangerous."

A bit confused, I merely nodded. It didn't really sound right at first, but I supposed that clothing may give them more protection for fights. Maybe they fight humans and steal their clothes to prove their worth. If anything, the more I thought, the more silly it seemed to get.

But if Akaza said it, it had to be right. That's why he doesn't want me leaving the house, so I don't get lost like Father, or be killed like that animal. Akaza knew what was best, after all.

#kimetsu no yaiba x reader #yandere kimetsu no yaiba #yandere kny x reader #akaza x reader #yandere x reader #yandere akaza #x reader #yandere kny #kny x reader #platonic yandere

235 notes · View notes

urcharactersclasspect · 4 years

Note

Psst. Can I get some more details about Nazz and Jonny being Bards of Heart? That's a really interesting take imo!

Boy do YOU have an ESSAY to read

As a disclaimer, Ed Edd n Eddy isnt really a very deep show- Theres just tidbits of something deeper sometimes you can gather about the cul de sac and the kids we focus on in the show. Ive watched through the show from episode 1 to Eddy's movie and the last episode. But its been a hot second since Ive been a kid myself and I havent really sat down to watch it in a long time tbh.

Another disclaimer is, even though they share a godtier does not mean they will have the same personality! Since Personality by itself pretty much is not as relevant to classpects as much as how the aspects seem to bend around the person in question as they grow and delevoped. That being said..This is gonna be a long ass read. Im so sorry. I have THOUGHTS on everything.

For Nazz, throughout the show we see her literally making almost every boy in the Cul De Sac crush on her, she has no confirmed feelings until the last movie, where she and kevin want to date. Unlike most heart players in canon and the ones I have met or seen good protrayals of, i dont think she has unrequited feelings and we clearly see as much, but it sure does give me the same energy as Dirk's frequant troubles to just finally spit out his feelings for Jake through extreme indirect means, and how Heart players are actually way better at controlling how or showing how they really feel waaaay more than people give them credit for- This isn't to imply heart players are Emotionless and never show emotion, but Heart players are firmly NOT all sweethearts who are innocent, do no wrongs and are definitely not always bubbly fangirls like Meulin- Hell, even Meulin isn't really probably being honest with her own feelings on things either. On the contrary, they can be very intense with what they are passionate about whether it be romantic or just an interest of theirs. And usually, like Dirk, they are very self aware of that fact. So they sometimes try to hold back things about themselves they are all too aware of. Sometimes to a detriment, but not always. For Dirk, its his emotions in general he tries to keep to himself. For Meulin its likely her resentment of her team members and holding back her anger at Kurloz or maybe even her feelings for Kurloz still being there.

For the Bard part of her classpect, its the idea that Bards Mirror their opposite. The thing about Nazz is shes actually very responsible! Often giving an air of being very well put together for a kid to the rest of the cul de sacs kids and cool headed more times than not. Its part of the charm. Of her acting cool and casual- And just how she behaves regularly like nothing bothers her, but sometimes you can tell it does or just might (almost like a passive ghost of hpow Dirk acts). You learn over time shes actually very smart, too; she gets very good grades, is a model student who cheerleads, and even was seen as responsible enough by the parents of the cul-de-sac to babysit Eddy. Which definitely says something, I think. This is usually how we see Mind Players- Dirk being so cool headed but only the surface is too. Since its the stereotype at this point that Mind players are the calm ones (which I have my own opinions on too but thats another essay for another time).

DESPITE this chill and responsible facade on the surface, Nazz has SEVERAL times shown some genuine Heart player impulsiveness or thinking with her heart on a sleeve. She allows Edd into her bathroom without even thinking about it, even when it wasn't cleaned up. You see how she acts on emotion like humouring Edd a lot through the show even by kissing him at one point and dancing with him even when it wasnt the popular thing to do, she humours Kevin but lectures him for his own impulsiveness on pure anger towards the Edds frequantly, passively destroying someone elses impulses and making him think before he acts a little more; In spite of this too, she also can get violent towards the Edds herself and irritable when things dont go her way, and we even learn Nazz for all her coolness and popularity, still has insecurities shes VERY emotional about- her hair being one. Much like Dirk does about this or that. Im sure theres further proof to get what Im saying across, but Im rambling as is. So thats where Ill end that tirade, I think it REALLY fits Nazz. So theres my conclusion.

For Jonny 2x4. Its easier to tell you why I think it fits him, and Id say its for far more obvious reasons when you really get down to it. Hes probably an example of a Bard that simply hasn't learned how to gauge his aspect very well in every day life, leading to him becoming more of an annoyance to those around him much like how you see Cronus or Gamzee be treated. Someone who hasn't quite "gotten it" yet. I don't think this is nessasarily because Jonny is stupid though, at least maybe not as stupid as he makes himself out to be, since hes shown to definitely have some intellegience, more like its because hes Younger (theres no direct ages we know of?), but he does act a lot younger than Nazz so thats my best assumption, and hes also in a seperate enviroment from Nazz, who I personally see as a far healthier Bard for reasons I'll be getting into in a minute here. just know. Jonny has similiarities to Nazz with how the Heart aspect bends around him; Theres too many instances to count where hes just being impulsive but he tries to come across as braver or calmer than he really is. But if I admitted all of them for Jonny, we'd be here all day long and you'd be reading even MORE.

Lets just go with the obvious signs outside those then.

Jonny is a very lonely kid. This is similiar to Dirk too; Jonny is never seen with any genuine friends except his attempts to befriend the Edds, as stated before some kids in the cul-de-sac consider him to be an annoyance due to his own impulsiveness, and this because hes a very socially awkward kid because even in his own home theres rather dark implications of Child Nelgect or something happening. Even the Creator of the show states this interesting quote in an interveiw: "He'd be more or less thrown out the door at 9am and only let back in when it got dark or if it was time to eat. He had an imaginary friend. " Hes that lonely kid who was so lonely and felt so much so he had to resort to Imaginary friends, imposing an identity to an object that seemingly has a similiar personality to his own or a personality that meshes well enough for them to "get along" and to not get along sometimes- this is seen constantly with Jonny talking to Plank. Jonny sometimes disgrees with the morality of Plank, but hes also best friends with Plank and if I remember correctly, Jonny even says at point they are as close as brothers- PLank knows him more than he knows himself, as Jonny says. Sometimes Plank suggests even illegal things - things a little kid like Jonny (supposedly) wouldn't know about or do himself. Almost like Jonny knows weird things from listening to his parents and imposed them onto Plank, making Plank "real" so Jonny could stay in his own head and pretendHE doesn't know anything. If that makes sense. Much in the same manner as Dirk having conversations of various focuses with HAL and objects he himself has inputted his will or rather - his Soul and Heart onto.

Thinking about this some more. I think an arguement could be made that Jonny isn't actually a Bard of Heart, but maybe a Bard of MIND. But IM not so sure.

If i think of anything more to add to this, I might revisit my thoughts on it later and reblog or edit it more.

#long post //#bard of heart #Classpecting #ed edd n eddy #jonny 2x4 #nazz van bartonshmeer #classpect analysis

8 notes · View notes

renaroo · 4 years

Text

Thinking Positive

Disclaimer: Doom Patrol and associated characters are the creative property of DC Comics Warnings: internalized homophobia, depression Rating: T Synopsis: In order to heal, Larry will have to work on being more positive. It’s a long and difficult journey.

A/N: I watched Doom Patrol last year and to say I loved it would be a major understatement. But the thing that took me by surprise the most was just how meaningful Larry Trainor’s story was to me, someone who also grew up surrounded by a lot of homophobia and feels like openly living with pride is still a difficult and ongoing struggle into my adulthood.

And with global quarantine being what it is, I’ve had a lot of strange and curious time on my hands to work on things so far as mental health is concerned. And it’s had me thinking a lot about how sometimes negativity and cyncism is a coping mechanism that’s easy to use but damaging in the long run. I tend to take that perspective away from Larry’s story rather than the way the show sometimes dismisses valid personal fears of outing and shames closeting. So this rambling story came barreling out of me. I hope it makes some sense.

Larry dismissed himself from dinner with the rest of Doom Manor’s residents.

It didn’t take much more than some dismissive words on his part, easily ignored over the rambunctious antics of Jane and Cliff, or the attempts to quell said antics by Vic and Flex. Rita was the most difficult to escape, considering Larry was her main outlet for commentary, but even she was willing to let him go when he stressed that he was tired.

He had tired rather easily over the last few months, and Rita knew why even more than the others.

In some ways, it was like therapy. In other ways, it was like torture. But that had always been Larry’s dilemma. He was rarely allowed to have one over the other.

Even before the Negative Spirit melded to his very soul.

When Larry attempted to frame his fears in less selfish designs, he framed his need for more energy as being there for the others. Cliff needed to have someone counter his gutsier instincts. Jane’s sarcasm needed someone equally verbose in it. And Rita, of course, counted on Larry’s counsel more than anyone’s. But it was easier, lately, with each other, with the others like Vic and Flex and even Dorothy, young in appearance and still finding her place as she was.

Besides all that, Larry had made a promise to himself that he wasn’t going to blame his reluctance on others anymore.

Which led to the closing of the thick lead door behind Larry. The slow removal of his protective bindings as the Richter scale crackled in the decompression port. The daily walk through his metal room and his radiation proofed furniture.

It was funny to think that his room had changed so little from the minimal aesthetic it had when the Chief first offered him a place nearly half a century ago. Funny, but also uncomfortable. Like it was wrong and stupid of him, but it had been so long that it would be weirder if Larry attempted to make any big changes.

He laid down on his bed and made himself comfortable, his hands rested over his chest, close to his heart.

Larry gazed at the ceiling and felt the rumbles deep in his body which let him know that the spirit was aware of what time it was.

“Hey there, buddy,” Larry said, voice low and tired. “It’s that time again. The one where I try to get stuff off my chest.” His hands tapped rather nervously over his shirt. It was light enough that the nerve damage kept the tips of his fingers from truly feeling more than the slight pressure of it. “Literally.”

For the life of him, Larry couldn’t figure out why he always started out so nervous and uncomfortable every day.

Then again, Larry had lived his entire life nervous and uncomfortable. It was hard to break habits formed over a century, he supposed.

“Okay, well, here goes nothing,” Larry sighed, closing his eyes and preparing himself. Idioms aside, it did not feel like nothing, it felt like everything every time.

“Start from the top? Positive things?” Larry asked out loud. With his eyes closed, the rumble from the negative spirit felt even stronger, more enthusiastic perhaps. “Of course, you eat those up. Alright.

”Today my azaleas began to bloom early. I got some rhododendron seeds in the mail. Chief is offering to get me a new greenhouse on the property, to expand things. Dorothy made me a flower crown. She didn’t use any of my flowers. I think she used paper and then with her, ah, powers turned them into real flowers. Usually, her using her powers is disturbing, like the whole thing with the puppets. But this was, you know, cute. I liked it. I mean it’s quicker to use a Snapchat filter, but…”

The negative spirit rumbles more abruptly. It gives Larry a sense of warning or disapproval.

“I know, I know, staying positive,” he sucks in a deep breath. It’s the sort of deep, lung filling breath that he’s only capable of thanks to the negative spirit’s possession of him. Their temporary separation reminded him of that. That, however, was an unspoken positive between them.

“I tried a new recipe, everyone seemed to enjoy it,” Larry continued. “It’s curried roasted eggplant with smoked cardamom and coconut milk.” He couldn’t resist the huff of a laugh that escaped him as a result. “Sheryl would’ve never believed it.”

There was a numbness that spread out from his chest. It was an overwhelming sense, but Larry considered it a good development.

He and the Negative Spirit both took a long time to have a response to his ex-wife being invoked that was anything other than overwhelmingly negative.

Still, it was best to trade subjects and not linger on old regrets. As natural as it was for Larry to do that.

“With all the new residents, this place has really gotten lively,” he said, arching his neck back more comfortably on the pillow. “I know I’ve let you out a few times to explore that for yourself, but you probably miss a lot of the little things.”

A gentle hum radiated out from his chest. Positive? Affirmation? Larry was still deciphering the finer bits.

“It’s good for all of them,” Larry concluded. “They fit together well. Well, not fit. The whole point of this place is that fitting is…”

He trailed off, catching his own turn toward negativity long before the spirit had a chance to disrupt him.

“It’s nice, seeing how meaningful it is for Cliff and Jane to have someone…” Larry scowled and lifted up one of his hands from his chest to scrub at his face. Doom Manor was so hard to contextualize sometimes. “Not younger. She’s older than all of us. Smaller? It’s nice to see Cliff and Jane both have someone smaller to look out for. Daughter. Little sister. However it goes.” He lowered his hand down to his side, away from his chest where he’d more acutely feel the rumbles of the Negative Spirit’s responses. “Did I mention she made me a crown? That was nice.”

Larry lapsed into silence, his eyes unfocused as they stared at his ceiling and past it toward all the feelings and regrets of a long life.

He never felt the need to regain a sense of fatherhood like Cliff was haunted by. But he had been a father, too. He had been a father of two.

And he never saw either of them again. Never tried.

Sheryl had taken them away to a better life. Maybe she remarried, to a man who could love her the way she deserved to be love. Maybe the boys got a father who could teach them all the things about being a man that were beyond Larry’s comprehension.

It probably would have been simple enough to find out, if Larry had asked questions or reached out.

But he hadn’t. He forfeited that part of his life, just like he had forfeited so much else.

In some ways, he hoped Sheryl had told the boys he had died. That way they never grew up wondering why Larry hadn’t reached out. So they didn’t have the accurate picture of what a coward their fearless flyboy father had been.

There was no telling how much time he was prepared to spend down that path before his body jolted.

Not without warning, the Negative Spirit seized through Larry’s body with force and separated. His eyes rolled back into his head and everything went limp and dark.

When Larry woke with a gasp, he already knew what had happened, but he sat upon his bed all the same and grabbed at his head in frustration.

“Look! This is part of it!” he yelled toward his chest. His heart was racing, equal parts the Negative Spirit’s pulsing and Larry’s own anger. “I know, I know we need to work on being positive, but you got yourself paired with one of the most naturally negative sons of bitches on the planet. This wasn’t just about you, alright? We’ve talked about this before. I was born negative. I’ve been looking at the dark side of things since I was seven years old and that’s not changed in a century. You have to work with me here if we’re going to get anywhere.”

He was answered only by the creaks and groans of Doom Manor.

“I’m allowed to remember bad things, you know,” Larry continued to argue. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe everyone’s right and I’ve been letting them rule me. I-I know you’re all right about that. But completely avoiding and ignoring negative things doesn’t keep them from existing. It’s dangerous. And it’s wrong.” His frown deepened. “I’d be more of a monster than I ever dreamed myself being, if I thought anything less than the fact that the boys didn’t deserve what they had to go through. Alright? They may be old men now, but they are still my boys. And they deserved not losing everything they ever knew. And they didn’t deserve all the secondhand anxiety and paranoia from me. Those are just facts. Even if they were unavoidable.”

Finally, the Negative Spirit hummed again.

“What? That’s what you wanted from me?” Larry asked, splaying his hands against his chest to feel the rumble more. “You wanted me to say it was unavoidable? Look, how many times do I have to learn these lessons until you’re satisfied?”

There was quiet once more.

“If it’s until I believe them,” Larry’s voice softened to a murmur, “we’ll be doing this every day for a long time. Maybe until the day I finally die. And even then it might not be enough. You know that, right? I’m pretty majorly fucked in here, and a good amount of that came with the package before you joined in, buddy.”

The hum was unmistakable that time, Larry felt it through his core.

Okay.

“Okay,” Larry repeated, laying back down. “Stop having fits the second we go into some territory you don’t like, I’ll try to respond quicker.”

There was another unmistakable hum through his chest.

“If you’re wondering about the conversation with Rita about Flex, then you probably were already aware of most of it,” Larry snorted. “I’m coming up on one hundred years old, I don’t want to repeat what I said to my best friend about someone else’s quads.” He tossed his head a little from side to side and then sighed. “They are nice, though. And admitting it out loud didn’t light me on fire, so, who knows. Maybe being gay does get easier with practice.”

That seemed to satisfy the spirit, and it did Larry, too.

Small victories — victories so small that a previous version of himself might have argued they weren’t worth celebrating, not for the amount of time it took for him to get to that point. But he felt the accomplishment all the same.

There were so many regrets and so much fear in his life that was still there, and he still didn’t believe that erasing all of it was the fully responsible or realistic thing to do.

But he could make himself lighter, in whatever small increments he could. And that was surely worth the battle alone.

#writing #dc fic #Larry Trainor #Negative Man #Keeg Bovo

39 notes · View notes

redhairdontcare732 · 5 years

Text

Sweet PeaxReader: Riot Night From Hell, Part 2

Author's note:

This is the second part to this, so if you haven't read the first I highly suggest you do, or this won't make sense! I'm trying to figure out how to make a masterlist so that all the imagines will be in one place, but it's not up yet. Again, italicized text indicates a flashback or memory.

AnYWaYs. Here's the last part to this two-shot

TRIGGER WARNING: Violence against women, semi-graphic violence described.

Jughead POV:

“Hello?”, I answered the unknown number with a sickening feeling of dread.

“Juggie! Long time no see”, a very familiar voice practically sang.

“Penny. Called to brag about the impending war?”, I practically snarled. She giggled with her disgusting, sickly sweet facade.

“Oh Jughead, why brag about something so certain? You should know by now that isn't my style. No, I was calling because there's someone here that I thought should get to speak with you before I take care of her”, she quipped.

I furrowed my brows in confusion. Surely she didn't have Betty? I'd narrowly gotten Toni back from those assholes; there was no way that they'd had time to find Bets, right? The growing pit of fear tightened and took hold in my middle. Before I had a chance to formulate any semblance of a response, my anxious mental rambling was abruptly cut off by the angry shouting from an all too familiar voice.

“JUGHEAD DON'T LISTEN TO THIS BITCH”.

“Y/N”, I managed to choke out. My heart had officially sank into the very bottom of my being. They had Y/N. There was an electric crackling sound followed by an agonizing shriek that made my knees turn weak. This couldn't be happening, not to her. Y/N was like the sister that Jellybean never got the chance to be for me; she'd been a constant in my life ever since we were in diapers. Hee homelife sucked, and more often than not she stayed in the trailer with me. She knew me better than anyone, even Betty. She was the first to support my novel about Jason Blossom, the first to welcome me into the Serpents. Hell, on more than one occasion she’d even beaten up the morons that bullied me. All of the memories of Y/N and I flooded my mind; all the times she showed up to my trailer in the middle of the night to escape her father, every movie she and I watched and dissected together, the stupid jokes, each time she fiercely protected me, everything.

I leaned against the wall, arms crossed firmly against my chest as I surveyed the student lounge with my usual mix of disdain and disinterest in equal parts. It was just another day in hell,with the exception of the eerie sense of foreboding; the discovery of Jason’s body had cast a dark cloud over Riverdale High’s student body, that much was clear. Students walked a little faster to class, people walked in groups, and the entirety of the students seemed on-edge. Well, almost everyone.

My attention was fading in and out as Reggie ripped into Moose and Kevin before spouting his insane theories about Jason’s murder. I watched Archie struggle with the vending machine with limited interest, thoughts turning to my own theories and ideas regarding the Blossom investigation, until I heard Reggie utter my own name.

“What was it like Suicide Squad? When you shot Jason?”, the dark haired jock addressed me with a sense of near gleeful malice. I rolled my eyes back so far I almost worried they would get stuck that way like my mom used to tell me. “You didn’t do stuff to the body...like after?”.

“It’s called necrophilia Reggie, can you spell it?”, I replied, disgust and disinterest written all across my face. Reggies face went from smug to angry in seconds, and it wasn’t long before he leapt over the side of the chair he previously occupied and charged at me like a bull released at a rodeo.

“Come here you little--”, Reggie started.

“Leave him alone Reggie”, Archie stepped in front of me, placing himself between the Bulldog and myself. I didn’t quite expect him to step up for me, but I guess it was just part of Archie’s personality. He was never one to allow the Bulldogs to walk all over anyone, unless of course it was only with words.

“Yes Reginald. Do leave him alone”, I heard a voice come from just across the room. I pulled myself out of my musings about Archie to turn and find Y/N leaning against the lounge's doorway. Her arms were crossed, leather jacket pulling lightly against her broad shoulders, and one of her combat clad feet leaned casually against the frame. Her face probably appeared impassive to the rest of the students, but I had known Y/N my entire life and I knew that she was pissed. Her Y/C/E were alight with anger, and her fists were tightly clenched against her arms. Y/N wasn’t fond of any of the Northside kids, but she especially hated anyone that talked down to me or Southsiders in general. She had always been overly protective of me; she always half-teased that she was my ‘big sister’, which I always refused to accept because I was 2 months older than her. She would always say that didn’t matter, it was her ‘maturity’ that made her the ‘older twin’. Regardless, his was going to end poorly for Reggie if he didn’t back off quickly.

Reggie didn’t appear fazed by her sudden arrival for more than a second or two. He scoffed, head turning from Y/N to me and back.

“And what are you going to do about it if I don’t?”, he sneered. Y/N smiled her most terrifying smirk; it was the kind of smile that always looked so out of place on her otherwise sweet face, the kind that should be more than enough warning for it’s target. I noted the way Reggie’s face fell fractionally before his cocky facade returned, and I shook my head. Reggie always was a special kind of stupid, and now it was finally going to get him into trouble.

“Well Reginald, I just thought that you should have a fair warning before I’m forced to step in”, she stated simply, choosing to circle the Bulldog slowly like a snake circling its prey. It was almost poetic really; most Serpents didn’t have the correct mannerisms to actually be compared to a snake, but Y/N fit the gang’s name to a T. She was beautiful, but in a completely different way, cunning, smarter than most people, and always slow to strike-- but when she did, you were going to regret ever underestimating her or not heeding the warnings she was so clearly giving. Reggie snorted once more before turning his back on her and facing me once more.

“What, can’t fight your own battles Jones?”, he glowered. “Gotta get your butt buddy here and your Serpent Slut to step in for you?”.

I shoved to make my way past Archie but the redhead blocked my path. Y/N tapped Reggie on the shoulder in a way that seemed too gentle for the occasion. If I hadn’t been present for the previous events I wouldn’t have thought she was doing anything more than trying to gain his attention. But this was Y/N and Reggie and there was nothing innocent about it. As soon as the football player turned, he received a solid punch to the nose. He immediately reeled backwards, blood spurting from between his fingers and profanities spewing from his lips. Y/N chuckled and kicked his shins, making the Reggie fall to his knees clutching his nose and groaning. Her hand flicked out quick as lightning, long nails digging into the soft part of his right ear causing the bloody boy to howl out in pain.

By now we’d gathered the attention of everyone in the lounge. Moose and several of the other Bulldogs stood and rushed over to their friend, but not one dared step in between Y/N and her target. They all just stood tensely, watching the entire thing unfold with looks mixed between disgust, fear, and slight admiration. Veronica, Betty, and Kevin stood together off to the side watching the chaos with wide eyes. I relaxed back into a bored stance, more than happy to let Y/N do her thing. Most people would be worried about the girl in the midst of a fight with a jock twice her size, but I knew better. I watched with a sort of pride as Y/N leaned in close to Reggie’s ear, fingers still pinching his other so hard that it was beginning to draw blood.

“Now, I can let the Serpent Slut comment slide because, honestly, I don’t put much stock in the opinion of a flea-ridden mutt, but the comments about my brother over there need to stop. So, if you value the use of your pathetic face or dick again, I suggest you leave Jughead alone. Permanently.” she hissed. “And don’t think that just because I don’t go to school in this Pep-filled nightmare that I won’t hear about things. Trust me when I say I have my ways Bulldog. This is your first and final warning”.

She released his ear and stepped back. Then she turned to me with a bright smile and a new twinkle in her eye, all signs of her terrifying persona gone as quickly as it came on.

“Ready Jug?”, she asked kindly. I smirked and headed over to the door with her, exiting the school and leaving behind the still shocked faces of the students left in the lounge.

“You know I could have handled that on my own”, I teased, only half-serious. Y/N laughed out loud and shoved my shoulder with her own as we made our way down the steps outside the school.

“Oh Juggie I'm sure you could have, but what kind of big sister would I be if I didn’t help?”, she giggled, stopping for a moment to pinch my cheeks playfully. I swatted her hands away, smile still planted firmly on my face as we stepped out into the cool fall air.

Y/N was so much more than a sister to me. I'd always teased her about calling us twins, but truth be told she was right. She was my family, even more so than my parents or Jelly, because she had chosen to be in my life and actually stay in it. Y/N was the one constant factor in my life.

“Mhm, I gotta say this girl has more fight in her than the last one”, Penny simpered. “Of course we're obviously a bit more impatient than we were previously, and besides Y/N/N and I have some unfinished business of our own”.

“What do you want Penny? What's the endgame here? You've already got all of the Serpents ready to enter the Colosseum and fight, when you and I both know there's no chance of survival. What more could you possibly want at this point?”, I rasped, still reeling in shock and fear.

“I'll tell you the same thing I told your pathetic, fake little twin: don't play stupid with me Jones, you're too smart for that. You,Y/N, and your teenage wastoids did me dirty and I haven't forgotten”, she snarled. “So you'd better show up soon because while I am loving watching Riverdale burn, my patience with you Joneses is running dangerously thin”.

“Surely you know that this won't end well?”, I stated trying futilely to sound more strong than I was feeling. Penny chuckled darkly.

“Oh I know it won't Jughead, but I'm not the one that's going to lose everything. Because if you bring anyone along with you, including your dad or this one's anger management case of a boyfriend, I'll kill her on the spot. No little Red Riding hood hiding out in the woods either. You come alone or don't come at all” she threatened.

“Whichever works for me really”, Penny continued nonchalantly. “Either way I get a Jones all to myself”.

“So if I come to you, no tricks, you'll let Y/N go?”, I asked evenly.

“Course kid. Just show up alone and I'll let the little Serpent Slut go”.

“NO JUG DON'T. SHE'S A LYING FUCKING--”, I heard Y/N start to shout before her voice abruptly cut off. The sounds of sickening groaning and thudding filled the phone line.

“I'd hurry up and make a decision here Jughead. With the mouth on this one we may have to start the party early”. Penny laughed before ending the call.

My eyes were filled with unshed tears, and I threw my fist against the side of the Wyrm in anger. There were no options left, no reprieve from the shit show that had overtaken Riverdale. Y/N didn't deserve this, none of the Serpents did. I wiped my eyes futilely as the tears continued to stream down my face, and dialed the one number I knew could maybe get Y/N out of there alive.

“This is Hiram”, Mr. Lodge answered curtly.

“Fangs getting arrested, the riot, the Ghoulies showing up the night of the riot, with Penny in tow, taking Y/N. None of this is happenstance”, I said, half to Mr. Lodge, half to myself. It was hard to believe that all this could be orchestrated by one mad-man, but then again this was Riverdale.

“Jughead I genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about”, he sighed.

“You’ve been buying up everything you could, but you couldn’t buy us, so you paid the Ghoulies and Penny to go war with the Serpents, so you could finally get rid of us once and for all. How much is this costing you?”, I ground the words out of my mouth, still in slight disbelief that they were even real. But they were. This was real, and Y/N, my dad, and the entire Serpent population were in danger thanks to the coward I was currently speaking to.

“I’m hanging up now”, Hiram replied after a few seconds.

“ ‘Cause I have a counter offer”, I practically cut him off. His line went nearly dead; he was silent. “Mr. Lodge?”.

“I'm listening”, he answered finally.

Y/N’s POV:

I sat, or rather perched near a crackling fire while I watched, with more hate in my eyes than I had ever felt, Penny who sat calmly across from me. The orange and yellow flames crackled with a relaxing, sweet glow that did not fit the scenario. My hands were bound behind me with the thickest, sharpest fucking rope in existence. I swear Penny had gone and found the oldest, most uncomfortable length of rope in Riverdale just to piss me off and add insult to injury. Speaking of injuries, I was 99% certain that I had a concussion based on the pounding in my head that was unlike any other I’d ever felt before and the blood that I could feel dripping down my neck. It was as if one minute I was riding with FP, and in the next I was awoken in the worst way possible. Malachai had decided that the best way to rouse me was to shove his taser in my ribs. I awoke screaming, confused and in more pain than I could describe. Being tasered was like someone shoving an electrified fork into my core that was ripping my muscles apart. I would have much preferred the sternum rub that cops used to wake drunks, or even a punch to the face over their chosen method.

“Good morning dollie, did you have a nice nap?”, Penny giggled as I attempted to stand up. I could still feel the remnants of the electric shock coursing through me and it made me feel as if I was going to be sick. One of the two Ghoulies that were holding me up by my armpits decided that I wasn’t moving fast enough. He yanked my head up by the roots of my hair, causing my eyes to water with pain and the wound on the back of my head to throb. Penny walked up to me slowly, eyes staring into mine the entire way. Penny’s eyes were a disgusting pool of emotionless darkness; though her eyes appeared to be a light blue in color, as she got closer I realized that they were speckled with black spots. How fitting. She finally reached me, smiling at me sweetly before sucker punching me straight in the gut. All the breath left my body in a single whoosh, but I refused to cry out in pain. I would not give Penny anymore satisfaction in seeing me suffer. The same putrid Ghoulie grabbed a fistful of my Y/H/C hair and made me look up.

“Aw, what’s wrong? Nothing to say?”, Penny snarled before punching me across the jaw. Stars danced across my vision and I fought hard not to pass out once more. I used every ounce of strength I had to lift my head on my own.

“Penny”, I growled. “What the fuck do you want?”.

“Awww come on now, don't play stupid with me love, you're too smart for that”, she pouted with fake concern. “I want payback from you and all your backstabbing teenaged Serpent pals. Although it seems like the town has already taken care of one of you for me. Pity, he would've been such fun to beat; that sweet little face all twisted in pain”, she risked wistfully. Then she grinned like some kind of demonic Cheshire cat, leaning in dangerously close to my face.

“Speaking of sweet, at least I will still have the pleasure of explaining to your loser boyfriend all the ways I'm going to make you scream before these guys-- ”.

I spat at Penny's face, hitting her directly under her eye. My spit had turned bloody from her punch, and it now adorned her scowling face. Though I knew I would pay dearly for my action I couldn't bring myself to regret it once I watched the Snake Charmer's face go from smug and all knowing to disgusted and furious. I felt a twisted sense of pride in that moment. Penny could do her worst to me, but I would die before I let her speak like that about Fangs, Sweet Pea, or anyone else I cared about. The Ghoulies holding me yanked me down by my arms and kicked my knees out from under me; I fell to the ground in a heap, knees taking the brunt of the fall. Penny wiped my bloody saliva from her cheek with the inside of her jacket before chuckling lightly and kicking me directly in the face. I couldn't help but cry out in pain as I felt my lip split in several places and heard the sickening crunch of my nose breaking. Fresh, hot blood squirted and sputtered from my nose like a faucet, and I tilted my head forward in a useless attempt to keep myself from choking on it.

“Think it's time we gave your little brother a call, don't you?”, she asked while cracking her neck in a businesslike manner.

“Leabe him out of this”, I hissed, trying to sound like the bitch didn't just break my nose. Penny laughed.

“Aww that's adorable. You think you call the shots around here doll?”, she asked condescendingly. “Bring her over to sit. Wouldn't want her to pass out again before the real fun begins”.

The men holding me shoved me roughly onto a chair as I fought with every ounce of strength I had not to lose consciousness. I vaguely heard Penny speaking to someone, but largely my thoughts were filled with Sweet Pea. The only reason I was even clinging to reality right now was him; I still wondered if he was okay, and hoped he would be smart enough not to avenge what was about to go down. As I struggled against the darkness that threatened to overtake me, I heard Penny more clearly call Juggie by name, and I fought against all my pain to warn him.

“JUGHEAD DON'T LISTEN TO THIS BITCH”, I screamed with all my might. Surely he must know that there was no way that Penny was going to let me go no matter what he did. I was dead no matter what, but Jughead was an idiot if he brought himself into this too. I didn't have too long to catch my breath before Malachai shoved his crackling taser into my ribs once more. I couldn't hold back the cry of pure pain that ripped it's way up my chest and out through my bloody lips. The taser had dug into me in nearly the same spot as before, and I vaguely smelt the sickening aroma of burning flesh as I began to black out once again. Malachai was having none of that, and he slapped me across the face in order to rouse me. Through the ringing in my ears that hadn't stopped since I'd awoken I vaguely could make out the sounds of Penny luring Jughead to this pit of terror, using me as bait.

“NO JUG DON'T. SHE'S A LYING FUCKING--”,

I was cut of abruptly by one of the Ghoulies tipping my chair backwards harshly until I felt my back hit the ground with an agonizing thud. As if this wasn't enough, he also kicked me twice in the stomach for good measure. I couldn't fight the darkness this time, and I allowed the waves of numbness to overtake me.

I don't know how long they'd left me unconscious, but I did know that they'd moved me once more. I now sat across the fire from Penny, no Ghoulies holding me up. They'd positioned me awkwardly in a chair, the ground around me filled with the gruesome sight of my own blood. As I waited in silence I internally wondered how much blood I'd lost tonight. If my constant struggle against unconsciousness was any indication, probably a lot.

“Look who decided to rejoin the party”, one of the Ghoulies practically giggled. I struggled against the ties that dug into my wrists futilely, anger reigniting as I recalled the events of the night. Penny laughed from her place across the fire.

“Oh please Y/N, by all means please get out of those ties. I’d love to see what you think you can do with all of us here”, she laughed mercilessly. I huffed, ignoring the screaming protests from nearly every part of my body. I settled myself more comfortably in the chair, although there was no way any position was going to be in anyway comfortable given the state of my injuries. I glared at Penny before sending a sickly sweet smile her direction. If I was going to die all because of this raging bitch I was at least not going to afford her the satisfaction of seeing me fall apart.

A twig snapped from somewhere behind me.

Jughead entered the grounds through the brush and for the first time since I was brought here I felt my eyes fill with hot, salty tears. I couldn’t believe he was stupid enough to come here, without any backup. He was going to end up with the same fate as me, and the unnecessary sacrifice from the boy I considered closer than family was too much for my heart to bear.

“You fucking moron”, I mumbled, unable to think of anything else to say. Jughead eyed me up and down with a look of pure sorrow as he assessed my injuries. I briefly wondered if I looked worse than I felt, but quickly dismissed the thought. Nothing could possibly look worse than the way my body was feeling at the current moment.

“The sacrificial lamb arrives”, Penny exclaimed as she stood. Ghoulies flanked her on either side, and the orange glow from the fire made her gaunt face seem even more evil. Jughead reluctantly turned his attention from me and he turned to face her, his expression stoic.

“I’ll remind you of the deal I made with your boss, Hiram Lodge”, he stated lifelessly. “I turn myself into you tonight and there’s no bloodshed tomorrow. Y/N goes free”.

“Yes, apparently getting you two out of the picture is more important to him than an all out Serpent annihilation”, Penny replied. “Kudos”.

“What do you mean the two of us?”, he ground through his teeth. “Y/N is leaving. Now”.

Penny just laughed, the sound of her witches cackle echoing throughout the clearing.

“Let’s just say that Mr. Lodge and I may have, re-negotiated a bit after you called. We agreed that one less Serpent to deal with tomorrow the better off we’ll be”, she sneered. Jughead hung his head, eyes closed and lips pursed in a thin line. “Come on kid, did you really think your sacrifice was really going to save anyone? Y/N gets it, she’s known from minute one. You really should have listened to her”.

“You son of a--”,

“So do I at least get one last cigarette before this thing or what?”, I interrupted Jughead, voice hoarse from screaming. His face snapped up to meet mine, blue eyes filled with so much sadness that I couldn’t help but send a small smile his way. I was really going to miss him.

“That’s your last request?”, Penny chuckled with disdain. I held my ground, staring into her empty eyes with as much contempt as I could possibly convey. Penny shrugged, and motioned to one of her tagalongs. He stepped up to my now standing form, switchblade flicking out in what I’m sure was meant to be a threatening motion as he waved it in front of my face tauntingly. Did he really think the threat of death was really going to faze me at this stage of the game? His uneven teeth glinted against the flickering light from the fire as he leaned down and swiftly cut the ties binding my hands. I grabbed my pack from my back pocket, lighting up quickly and walking slowly over to Jughead, unsure the whole way if my legs would really be able to take me all the way there. I savored the taste of the sweet nicotine as it hit my throat, blowing the smoke out through my nose.

I reached Jug after some difficulty; the eyes of every insane asshole in the clearing were trained on each of my movements, but I mentally blocked them out as I took in the boy in front of me. He looked about twenty years older than I’d last seen him, and I felt a pang in my heart at his change in demeanor. I brought my hand up to his arm, gently squeezing it and smiling lightly.

“Y/N…”, he started, voice cracking. I held up my other hand as a way of silencing him.

“Me too Juggie”, I said simply, trying to show him how much he meant to me through my eyes. Being my twin had its perks, and Jug seemed to understand what I was getting at immediately. He brought his arms around my shoulders gently, hugging me to his chest like he used to when we were kids and I was hiding out from my father. After what felt like only seconds, I disentangled from my brother and turned back to the group with as much strength as I could muster. I took one last puff from my cigarette, flicking it absentmindedly into the fire.

“30-2 huh. You guys that scared of us?”, I sniggered. Malachai and the rest of his posse stalked towards Jughead and I slowly.

“The only scary thing is what we’re going to do to your not-so-little boyfriend when we find him”, he snarled. I blinked once, turning to Jug and giving him a blank look. Then I felt all the rage that had been building all night, hell my whole life, snap from inside me like a rubber band. I was nearly blinded by the intensity of the anger that was aching to come from every pore in my body.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HIM”, I bellowed as my fist swung out of its own accord and landed solidly in the center of Malachai’s ugly painted face. From that moment all hell broke loose; all the Ghoulies attacked Jughead and I with a kind of insane vigor that I couldn’t describe if I tried. I attempted to fight back at first, but waves and waves of blows were coming down on me like the downpour of rain during the sad montage part of a rom-com. After the first few hits my body became mercifully numb, and I just lay on the ground waiting for the comforting curtain of darkness to overcome me once again.

As I faded in and out from consciousness my mind was flooded with thoughts of my Sweetest Pea. I'd always thought it was all bullshit when people claimed they saw their life flash before their eyes during experiences like these. I also never dreamed that this kind of thing would ever happen to me. But it was, and I could confirm that my entire life with Pea was playing through my mind as I lay brokenly on the cold ground. I couldn't really feel my face at all, but in my head I was smiling as I enjoyed watching each of my memories like a comforting movie.

I recalled the way Sweet's dark curls bounced across his forehead as he laughed that truest laugh that only a select few, me included, could draw from him. I thought of the way his smooth lips would perk up into a smile whenever he saw me and the way his strong jaw felt under my fingers as his lips connected with mine. I heard the moans of pleasure that I took such pride in pulling from him in our more intimate moments. I re-lived the countless lazy days that we spent in our trailers, his strong arms holding me protectively. Nestled in the way I loved to lay on his solid chest when we cuddled in bed; how he would always tighten his hold around my middle and whine whenever I attempted to get up. I was soothed by the memory of his steady heartbeat against my cheeks as his fingers grazed over my back and arms gently. I felt the way his calloused fingers felt when they danced across my cheeks, leaving a small trail of electricity in their wake no matter how many times he repeated the action. I heard the deep, soothing bass of his voice, lips tickling the shell of my ear as he told me he loved me. But above all, I heard my own voice echoing as I promised him that I would never leave him. Tears filled my eyes as I realized that I would be breaking my promise tonight, and I prayed as the world faded from view that he could find some way to forgive me.

Sweet Pea's POV:

I skidded to a stop and barely switched my bike off before I began sprinting to the spot Toni had identified. There was an abandoned fire crackling, with no sign of Penny or her Ghoulies. FP and I shared a glance; his eyes were open as wide as they could go, and he looked almost as terrified as I was betting I probably looked. I only spared a second before sprinting off into the thicket, FP hot on my heels as we entered the brush to search. My head whipped around frantically for any signs of Y/N. I probably looked like a fucking mental patient with the way I tore through the uneven terrain, but I couldn't be bothered to care. The fires of anger in my chest had died down to make way for the anchor of fear, guilt, and panic that was weighing me down the longer I went without Y/N in my arms.

“PEA”.

FP's frantic howl rang in my ears like the sound of the shot that killed Fangs. I whipped around to find him kneeling on the ground a couple of yards away from where I stood. I sprinted faster than I ever had, ignoring the way my legs screamed in protest and the way my heart sank into my feet. I dropped to my knees as soon as I reached my destination, giant unshed tears forming in my eyes and the back of my throat burning at the sight before me.

Next to a badly beaten Jughead lay my beautiful Y/N. Her face was nearly unrecognizable with the multiple cuts and swollen bruises forming across her once gentle features. The plump lips that I loved so much were nearly indistinguishable from the rest of her face they were split so badly, and there looked to be teeth marks on her slender neck. Her Serpent jacket was missing, and I could see several areas of her exposed skin had been either burned or slashed in some way. Her long Y/H/C locks were matted and covered in blood and dirt, and there was blood under some of her nails. The knuckles on her right hand were swollen and bloody; I noted with a sick sense of pride that she likely fought back against the Ghoulies, even though she was outnumbered. That's my girl, never one to go down without a fight. Her body was still, and even as I gently scooped her into my lap she remained cold and motionless; I felt my breath hitch and a sob leave my body when I found that I could not tell if she was still breathing. My shaking fingertips lightly grazed the spot where her once smooth cheeks resided.

“Y/N, baby please. Don't do this to me, you've gotta wake up princess”, I pleaded softly while standing and gathering her up in my strong arms. I began running out towards help. The way I felt her long limbs dangle lifelessly from my hold nearly tore a hole in my heart. I couldn't be too late, it just wasn't possible. She swore she'd never leave me. She promised.

“Pea…”, I almost missed the nearly inaudible rasp that came from her lips as I ran. I came very close to stopping when her unusually tiny voice reached my ears, but I kept going towards the area where I knew Toni had brought her truck.

“I'm here babydoll, don't worry. Everything is going to be alright”, I choked out. She tried to speak again, but I shushed her gently.

“Don't speak Y/N, I'm getting you help. Just stay with me doll. Can you do that for me baby? Just open up your beautiful Y/E/C eyes and stay with me, okay?”, I pleaded, moving more quickly as I spoke. Her dark fan of lashes fluttered weakly as she struggled to do as I'd asked. My heart broke, and I wished with everything I had that my Y/N would be alright.

It’d been an agonizing 2 weeks spent in the confines of a tiny, white, too sterile looking room in Riverdale General. Y/N had been rushed into surgery as soon as Toni and I brought her to the hospital, and since that day had undergone 3 others to attempt and repair the damage that those Ghoulie scum had inflicted. Her internal bleeding was out of control when she arrived, and her lung had all but collapsed from the blunt force she was subjected to. She had nearly half her ribs broken, a broken wrist, broken orbital bone near her eye, and a severely sprained ankle. Her skin was slowly recovering, most of her bruises shifting from deep purple to light shades of yellow and green as time went on. Her skin was stitched in multiple places from either the surgery or the cuts she sustained that night. In total she had over one hundred stitches covering her once smooth skin. She’d also required a skin graft to her upper rib area from some burns that the doctor said were likely from some kind of electrical element. Despite all this, as I sat next to her in the most uncomfortable plastic chair I’d ever encountered and stroked her hair gently, I still couldn’t help but feel like she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever known. Her swelling had gone down significantly, and the splits in her lip had all but healed. I spent hours stroking the back of her hand with the pad of my thumb, staring at those gorgeous lips and wishing that they would part and begin speaking to me in that musical voice that I missed so dearly.

I hadn’t left the hospital for more than an hour at a time since she was admitted. I missed everything from the rumble with the Ghoulies, Jughead’s release, and even Fang’s discharge from the hospital. The others came and visited nearly everyday, most of them trying to gently pry me away from the room for any length of time. I refused each time, berating anyone that would even try to take me away from my Y/N. How could I leave her? It was my fault she was even in here, laying in this bed, broken. I should have protected her better, should have rushed to find her as soon as we got separated at the Sheriff’s station. Guilt washed over me in giant waves as I thought of all the ways I could have saved her. But she swore to me that she would never leave me, and I believed her. She was going to come out of it one of these days, and I was going to be there to hold her once she did.

Currently, it was day number 16 of Y/N’s stay, and just like all they other days she laid motionless on her bed with her chest lightly rising and falling with each breath she took. They’d taken her breathing tube out a few days ago and ever since then I’d sworn I’d never take any of her soft breaths for granted ever again. I used to lay with her on my chest as she slept, my hands lightly resting on her waist as I relished in each gentle snore and soft sigh that left her. If she ever laid on my chest it was an inevitability that she would end up sleeping at some point. Not that I really minded, she was adorable when she slept. She used to say that it was because she loved the feeling of my heartbeat against her face; she said it reminded her that I was still there with her, that I was safe. I always teased her about it, taking pride in the light blush that adorned her face as she stated proudly that my heartbeat was like her own personal lullabye. Now I as I listened to the steady beat of her heart monitor I understood more and more what she meant. I yearned to go back to that time and savor in the moment more than I had. I was situated on one side of her with her smaller hand nestled into mine as I sat and stared quietly at her beautiful face.

Jughead sat on her other side, hands folded across his lap as he stared off silently into space, seemingly lost in his thoughts. Jughead visited more than anyone else, even after he was discharged himself. He always sat stoically on the other side of her bed, and he was the only one who never pressured me to leave the room. I appreciated his silent support more than he could ever know, and I took a large amount of comfort in the fact that Y/N would be so proud to see her “two best boys” getting along for once. I only wished that it were under different circumstances. Jughead seemed like he understood how I felt better than anyone else.

The amicable quiet of the room was broken as he cleared his throat and shifted in his chair, rising slowly. I didn’t even have to glance at the clock to know that it was nearly 9pm. Though they’d made a special exception for me, most visitors were booted from the room at 9. Jughead put his coat on slowly, and bent down to press a light kiss to Y/N’s temple.

It was funny, I’d never pegged Jones for a softie, but when it came to Y/N he seemed like the most affectionate person. I wasn’t very fond of him at first, but over time I came to understand that he and Y/N really did care about each other like, well, twins. They had an odd relationship, that was for sure, but I was more okay with it than most people would probably assume. I trusted Y/N with every fiber of my being, and if she said that Jughead was nothing but a brother then I believed her. With one last nod in my direction, Jones exited her room and I was left alone once more with my girl. Grabbing her hand in both of mine I began to smooth out the rings that I’d insisted be placed back on her fingers. Y/N was so particular about her rings, even more than me, and it seemed wrong that her hands should be bare. It just didn’t fit her. I sighed brokenly as tears filled my eyes for what felt like the millionth time since she’d been here.

“Hey babydoll, it’s me, Pea. I don’t know if you can hear me or not, the doctors claim that you can, but I’m not sure if I believe that or not. But anyways, I just wanted to ask you again to please come back to me. Please”, my voice cracked as my tears fell like rain onto her soft hands, soaking down into the thin hospital sheets that covered her. I went through this speech each night, begging for her to open her eyes and look at me. Begging for her to squeeze my hand or give me some sign that my Y/N/N was still in there. Each night I lost a little more hope that she would respond, and each day the cement block that had lived in my stomach since the day I carried her here in my arms became just a little heavier.

I continued to speak to her until my voice was hoarse. I talked about whatever I could think of, rambling on for as long as I could. Sometimes Betty or Jughead would bring by some of Y/N’s favorite books, and I would spend the lonely nights reading out loud to her. Some nights, like tonight, I just spoke about nothing like we used to do together.

Eventually I faded off into a restless sleep, head laying on her lap and hand still connected with hers. My dreams, if I had any at all, were always filled with her smiling face. Tonight was no exception, and my head was filled with images of her smiling face. She was just as beautiful as ever, clad in her favorite outfit with her radiant laugh echoing over and over. She held me close to her, and she seemed as happy as I’d ever seen.

“Pea…”.

I heard her musical voice call out to me as she beckoned me closer to her.

“Y/N…”, I murmured.

“Sweet Pea... handsome…wake up”,

I frowned. What did she mean? I didn’t want to wake up, my dreams were the last place I still had with her. I shook my head sleepily.

“No…”, I muttered stubbornly, reaching out for her quickly. Her dream-face broke out into a devious smile and she quickly hopped away from my reach. I stared in utter confusion, and it wasn’t long before I heard her beautiful chuckle echo and felt the ground around me shake lightly.

“Baby, please wake up”.

I groaned and sat up slowly, neck sore from the position that I had slept in. My eyes blinked rapidly as I tried to re-adjust to the bright lights of the room. And once they had, I needed a double take to ensure that I was really seeing what it looked like I was seeing.

Y/N was sitting up, albeit a bit awkwardly, in her bed with her eyes wide open and a fond smile on her face. Her hands were tangled in my dark, unwashed locks as she brushed my hair back from my face. Her eyes were filled with such love that it took all the breath I had in my body away for a moment as I gaped dumbly at her. She chuckled lightly, removing her fingers from my hair and taking my hand in hers.

“Boy, and here I thought you’d be happy to see me”, she croaked playfully, squeezing my hand. I finally snapped myself out of my trance and practically attacked her with a hug. I couldn’t believe it, she was finally awake, and I had almost fucking slept through it. I held her in my arms for an immeasurable amount of time, taking absolute pleasure from the way her arms tightened around my body and her slender fingers danced through my hair once more in a soothing motion. I could’ve held her like that for the rest of my life, but after what felt like only a moment I heard her slightly muffled voice come from the depths of my chest.

“Uhm carefully Pea, ouch”, she muttered. I immediately pulled back from her as if shocked by an electric current. Of course that hurt moron, I thought to myself. Sitting myself on the edge of her bed, I decided to gently rest my hands on the sides of her face instead, thumbs gently rubbing across the healing bruises on her smooth cheeks.

“It’s really you”, I murmured softly, still not convinced totally that this wasn’t just a dream. I felt her smile against my hands before she took one of my hands and kissed my palm lightly before returning it to its place on her cheek.

“Of course it’s me baby, who else would it be?”, she whispered. As she leaned her face further into my hold, her eyes fluttered shut slowly, and I panicked.

“Y/N?!”, I cried. Her eyes shot open and she frowned resting her hands over the tops of mine, rubbing soothing circles with her fingertips.

“What? What is it?”, she exclaimed, eyes wide. She removed her hands from mine in order to grasp my face gently, mirroring my previous position. Her soft hands stroked against the tense muscles in my jaw, patiently waiting for my response. Realizing I had overreacted I cast my gaze downward as I removed my hands from her face and attempted to slow my now shallow breaths. Y/N was having none of that, and she brought her two fingers to tilt my head back by my chin.

“Pea, handsome?”, she questioned softly. I sighed.

“I just...please don’t close your eyes like that”, I muttered, slightly embarrassed. “I thought I lost you again”.

Her eyes were immediately remorseful, and I nearly got lost in the deep pools of emotion that I had been missing for far too long. She patted the spot next to her in her bed.

“Come lay with me Pea”, she said nearly inaudibly. I shook my head.

“Not a chance babydoll. You’re still too injured for me to pull that off without hurting you”, I reasoned, grabbing her hands in mine and squeezing them softly. She frowned.

“I don’t care Sweets. I just want you to be here with me, that’s all I’ve wanted for the last however long it’s been”, she said softly, tears forming in her big Y/E/C eyes. My resolve nearly crumbled at the sight of her sadness, my heart screaming to do whatever she said. But my more rational side wouldn’t let this go on without a fight.

“Babydoll… “, I started to argue with her, but she shook her head wildly.

“Sweet Pea please….”, she pleaded. I sighed once more, any ideas of denying her what she wanted out the window. I slowly slid up the bed and gently brought Y/N to my chest, tucking her head gently under my chin and savoring the way she let out a sweet sigh of contentment. I nestled my face into her hair, and she mirrored my action but into the crook of my neck. For the first time in nearly 3 weeks I felt at peace. We laid like this for a while, Y/N’s hand circling the place over my heart lovingly like she used to do back in my trailer. I nearly fell asleep once more, but fought the urge in favor of savoring the moment for as long as it lasted. I’d waited half a month for this day, and I was damned if I was going to let sleep ruin it. I was so lost in my musings for a moment that I almost missed the soft words that came from Y/N’s mouth.

“Pea…”, she murmured sleepily.

“Yeah baby”, I answered softly. She yawned.

“I’m going to fall asleep handsome. Please don't be scared”, she said, eyes nearly closing again. “I meant what I said when I promised not to leave you. It’s gonna take a lot more than Penny fucking Peabody and some Ghoulie trash to take me away from you. I love you Sweet Pea”. My heart soared as she slowly moved to kiss my neck, just where my Serpent tattoo was placed. I unintentionally shivered and she smiled her trademarked little smirk, though her eyes remained closed.

“I love you so damn much Y/N”, I murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of her head gently. She tightened her hold around me slightly. “Get some rest babydoll, I’ll be here when you wake up”.

“You promise?”, she muttered, already halfway asleep. I chuckled lowly.

“Yeah baby, I promise. I’m not going anywhere”, I vowed.

“I don't want you to worry”, she whispered. I chuckled lightly, placing the gentlest kiss I could muster to her forehead.

“Little late to that game babydoll”, I teased lightly. My cheeks hurt from the smile that had been etched on my face since she woke, but I couldn't bring myself to care. “It's alright beautiful, sleep. I'll be here when you wake up”.

“I know you will be”, she muttered, eyes finally creeping shut as she snuggled in closer to my side.

“Sweets…”, she breathed after a few minutes of silence. I'd thought she'd fallen asleep in all honesty, and my eyes were closed too as I sank into the easiest sleep I'd had in weeks.

“Mmm”, I answered quietly.

“I promised you I'd always be there”, she murmured against my neck. “I still will be, I love you Sweetest Pea”.

I opened my eyes to see her, seemingly asleep. Her hair was covering part of her face, and I gently brushed it to the side. She didn't stir at my action, and I took it to mean that she was now fully asleep. I smiled once more in utter peace as I whispered in her ear.

“And I love you my gorgeous, smart, badass, loveable babydoll”.

#riverdale #archie comics #fanfic #riverdaleimagine #southsideserpents #sweetpeaxoc #sweet pea oneshot #sweet pea #sweet pea imagine #sweet pea reader #sweet pea x reader #sweet pea x you #sweetestpea #soft!sweetpea

165 notes · View notes

retrosounds · 6 years

Text

He’s Perfect For You, Darling (ch.2)

summary: you run into freddie mercury after a queen concert and you two become extremely close friends. he introduces you to the band and you find yourself falling for roger but are too scared to admit it because you don’t think he feels the same.

characters: Ben Hardy!Roger Taylor, Rami Malek!Freddie Mercury, Gwilym Lee!Brian May, Joe Mazzello!John Deacon

“I miss you.”

“Freddie, it’s only been a week.”

“Oh just humor me darling and say it back.”

“Of course I miss you, Freddie,” you spoke into the phone.

“Remind me, dear, when do you get out of school for the holidays?”

“2 weeks.”

“Perfect, and it is my request that you spend your entire holiday on tour with the guys and me,” Freddie said invitingly.

“Freddie, I’m going back home for the holiday,” you reminded him.

“To America?” he gasped.

“Yes, to America.”

“Well, what does America have that I don’t?” he said defensively.

“My family,” you noted. But Freddie was in a mood and wasn’t going to let you out easy on this one.

“Well if you won’t come on tour with me, then I insist on joining you in America.”

“Are you high Fred?” you laughed.

“Well of course dear.”

“Goodnight Freddie,” you chuckled into the phone before hanging up.

The friendship between you and Freddie was confusing. You truly had only hung out for less than 48 hours. That night when he introduced you to the band was the last time you saw him. You had only briefly met the other guys before Freddie had dragged you to some party to get high with him.

The following morning you had caught the long train ride back to your apartment as the group moved on to their next city.

No more band.

No more concerts.

No more Roger.

You wished Freddie had given you more time to meet with him before pulling you away. You never even managed to get a word out, you were so starstruck.

Your reaction to Roger was frightening. Nobody had ever made your body shiver the way he did just by looking at you. You remember the feeling so vividly. Your heart pounded so loud you could barely hear. You could feel your blood coursing through your veins, your body brimming with passion as his aquatic eyes hypnotized you. His cheeky smile had you wanting to scream but also completely speechless at the same time. You could feel your desire for him surging through your bones as your lips craved to be met by his and your skin longed for his touch.

Your head was spinning just thinking about him. His words were replaying in your head, over and over. “She pulls them off better than you Fred”. Was he saying that to compliment you or to tease his friend?

What did it matter anyway? It’s not like you were going to have a chance with him. He probably makes every girl feel like this. You weren’t special, not at all. Just another one of the lucky ladies who had the opportunity to be in the same room as him. That was it.

Thanks to Freddie, you didn’t even have the chance to attempt at a first impression. Fred was so easily distracted by other plans that you were out of that room faster than you had gotten into it.

The singer called you after every show to tell you how it went and to check up on you. It was sweet, really, but you weren’t quite sure what his motives were. The week that you have been apart had been longer than you were ever actually together. Yet he was oh so persistent, claiming that life was a bore without you around, which you knew was not true. The man had one of the least boring lives you could imagine, meanwhile you were a slave to your studies at a university. Often times he would go on long rambles about life, lovers, or his many eccentric stories. He could talk aimlessly all night long if you let him, and usually, you did. Your nightly phone calls with Freddie were typically the most exciting part of your day. You would frequently ask about how the guys were doing in hopes he’d mention the blonde you couldn’t take your mind off of.

Thankfully, Freddie had not yet been able to catch on to your little crush, or things would have been taken way out of hand. For now, it was your unspoken secret, foreign to the outside world.

Nobody could even tell that you were nearing the brink of insanity as the thoughts of the drummer cluttered your brain.

Nobody except for Roger.

He saw it the moment you first looked at him. It was as though your lust for him was written across your skin like a tattoo. It was undeniably there.

“Everbody misses you, darling. You must simply come join us. We have the holidays off and I will throw an absolute tantrum if you don’t spend it with us,” Freddie begged.

“How could they miss me? I met with them for less than 5 minutes.”

“Well, they talk about you all the time.”

“They do!?” you asked a little too excitedly.

“Yes! Of course, it’s me doing most of the talking, but nevertheless, they have mentioned you. You must have made an impression.”

You rolled your eyes. “Anyone makes an impression wearing your clothes, Fred.” you laughed into the phone.

“Your family has spent enough time with you, now come out here and spend the rest of your break with the guys and I. Hell, I’ll even fly you out here myself if I must.” Freddie persisted.

To be completely honest, his offer was getting harder to resist. Things weren’t going to well at home, and you wanted more than anything to go back to the UK. Besides, the idea of spending some time with Freddie and the band without the stress of school weighing on your back would be nice.

And you couldn’t even begin to fantasize what spending the holidays with Roger could look like. It was impossible to say no.

“Okay Fred, I’ll do it.”

“It’s a Christmas Miracle!” Freddie cheered into the phone. “I knew you were a keeper.”

Your holiday break was about to get so much brighter.

“Hello my dear friend,” Freddie burst with excitement as you arrived at his large London home.

“Your voice sounds much better in person.” you laughed, embracing him as he kissed your cheek.

“As does yours darling,” he spoke. “I’ve decided that you can stay in Lily’s room, it’s one of the largest after all.”

“Lily?” you questioned quietly to yourself.

“My cat, dear.” Freddie clarified.

Freddie never left the room as you unpacked, he just went on about how elated he was that you were here.

“I should throw a party to celebrate the occasion!” Freddie gasped, exciting himself over his idea.

He was too happy for you to resist, so you simply nodded your head and continued unpacking. It had always been a dream of yours to attend one of his extravagant parties anyways.

“Oh, and I obviously haven’t forgotten about the guys,” Freddie began. Your head popped up and you were immediately focused. “I’ve told them to meet with us for breakfast tea tomorrow morning.”

You couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off your face. “That sounds really nice Freddie,” you spoke behind your suitcase, attempting to hide your blush.

“I knew you would like it!” he beamed.

“See you in the morning then, Fred,” you said warmly. You were exhausted and jetlagged, desperate for sleep.

“Yes, till the morning!” Freddie sang as he slipped out the door.

You couldn’t believe your life right now. Not in the slightest.

You scanned yourself in the mirror. You could hear his voice downstairs and it made your pulse rush. You were panicking, but was it obvious? You had spent extra time on your makeup this morning, trying to cover up the fact that you were incredibly sleep deprived. You re-examined your outfit once more, wearing your clothes this time. You had hoped to settle for something that was casual enough for a breakfast tea yet classy enough to make an impression.

Finally, you exited the room. His voice was much clearer now, coming from right downstairs. It was often overlayed by Freddie laughing or John adding some sarcastic commentary, but you heard him incredibly clearly above everyone else. You could have stood up here all morning just listening to him. But you so deeply desired to see him once more. You wanted to drown in his eyes again as you felt the electricity in your bones.

You walked down the staircase slowly, taking time to admire all of Freddie’s Christmas decorations to distract yourself from the nerves you felt tightening in your stomach. Your blood was icy yet your skin felt like fire as you entered the grand living room where the boys were seated.

“And there she is, the guest of honor!” Freddie announced, standing quickly to greet you.

Roger’s eyes pierced through your skin. You could feel them everywhere at once, strangling your body, begging for you to look back at him and fall into his trance.

“I believe we met briefly,” Brian spoke, sliding over to make space for you on the couch.

You smiled at him. “Yes, I’m y/n,” you replied, reintroducing yourself.

“Oh yes, we know. Freddie mentions you in just about every sentence.” John quipped.

You chuckled, still refusing to make eye contact with Roger as you reached for the pot of tea.

“Allow me,” A voice interjected. There was no escaping it now. He was sitting right across from you, your bodies only inches apart as he leaned in to grab a cup.

“Do you take milk in your tea?” Roger asked sweetly, his bright eyes completely engulfing your mind as he looked at you.

A warm lump formed in your throat. You didn’t trust your voice anymore. Your thoughts were so scattered you knew words would come out in jumbled sentences. Instead, you just nodded.

Fuck, there it was again. That smile that had you in pieces. You squeezed your eyes shut. You shouldn’t be reacting this way. Why were you reacting this way?

“Is she always this quiet Fred?” Roger asked as he handed you the tea.

“Why don’t we let her answer,” Freddie prompted.

He was right, you needed to say something. Anything. Now was your time to make an impression. You wouldn’t let this opportunity slip, not again.

“It’s quite a long flight,” you began, “ this tea is very much needed.”

“Where are you from in America, might I ask?” John pondered.

“Right outside of Brooklyn,” you responded.

“Ah, sweet New York, I’ve loved touring there. I wish to go back someday and explore.” Roger said as if recalling a pleasant distant memory.

“I could certainly show you around sometime,” you spoke before thinking. Shit. Had you really just said that? You were going to sound desperate, or obsessed, or creepy. Oh god, what had you done? You should have stayed silent.

“That would make my travels even more wonderful,” He winked at you.

Was he flirting with you? You had not anticipated this. Your heart could not stand being teased by him the same way he teases every girl he lays eyes on. You knew it meant nothing, he’d just do it to get you all flustered. He knew how girls reacted to him. He could have anyone begging on their knees if he so insisted. You weren’t ready to be one of those girls yet. You had fallen too hard for him to be reduced to just that.

You knew the there was only one way out of it. You couldn’t be so easy. You’d have to play a little hard to get and not melt at every word he says. You knew that was easier said than done, but you weren’t about to let yourself be another one of his potential one night stands. It would be crushing to see him let you go so quickly.

“How many girls have you used that line on?” you shot back. You weren’t sure where you had gotten this confidence from, but it was boosted when Freddie burst out laughing beside you.

“I told you she was a good one Rog,” Freddie snickered.

“Finally, not a lovestruck pushover,” Brian joked, though little did he know, that’s exactly what you were. Roger could make you do anything he wanted you to. He had you exactly where he wanted you, you just couldn’t let him know that.

Roger glared at his bandmates, brewing an even stronger feeling inside you. You weren’t sure why, but seeing him mad was so incredibly attractive. This act you were playing was going to be impossibly hard to keep up.

Especially since, unbeknownst to you, Roger knew exactly how you felt for him, and how easy it would be to end your little game with him.

< previous chapter all chapters next chapter >

Tag List (comment if you want to be added):

@stilesneedsprotection @ohhhh-honeyyyy @multifandomgirlrandomstuff @this-fangirl-nerd @queeen-freddie @benbutlikealsoroger @teribabayeva

#queen #bohemian rhapsody #queen movie #freddie mercury #brian may #roger taylor #john deacon #rami malek #ben hardy #gwilyn lee #joe mazzello #fanfic #x reader #roger taylor x reader #ben hardy x reader #freddie mercury x reader #rami malek x reader

380 notes · View notes

sheerioasteroidpanda · 4 years

Text

Couple’s Holiday, Getting Dicked Good and Monster Girls

Uhh so as usually, when I’m most stressed I write and lately I’ve been reallyyyyyyyyy feeling some Ed Sheeran story so I wrote this. It’s just short and silly and yeah. Just blah. I know I haven’t written anything for tumblr in a while and my AO3 is kind of dead but its cause I let a snide comment get to me plus I’ve been super busy with finishing up college so. Anyways enough rambling. Here’s my first Ed fan fic in a long time. And yes, I used my name cause I’m lazy and selfish and needy for Ed.

"Babe?"

"YEAH?" amanda shouted from her position on the couch, which was currently upside down, legs on the head rest and head on the foot rest.

"Why are you yelling?" Ed asked not looking up from his phone as he entered the condo he had rented for the holidays.

"Oh sorry, thought you were farther away. All the blood is rushing in my ears and it's kinda hard to hear."

"What the hell are you doing?" Ed asked finally looking up to see his girlfriend sitting the complete wrong way with her head nearly touching the floor.

"I dunno, what are youuu doing?" Amanda grinned back. They had been staying at a luxury condo in Colorado Springs for the past 2 weeks and she was getting antsy. While it was supposed to be a holiday vacation, Ed had gotten together with a few music buddies and of course, being Ed, had worked the whole 2 weeks. She didn't mind, she loved seeing him happy and working but still… antsy.

"Wanna go to a party tonight?" Ed checked his phone again as it dinged.

"Hmmmmm what kinda party? We takin party hard party? Rave party? Club party? Pub/dive bar party? You gotta fill a girl in here, ginger boy" amanda rolled over so she was sprawled on the long couch laying on her stomach, her feet kicking in the air.

"Oh I'll fill a girl alright!" Ed wiggled his eyebrows and quickly pocketed his phone so his hands were free to grab Amanda's sides and tickle her. "Fill her right up with my ginger cock is what i’ll do!"

"Edward!" Amanda squealed and wiggled trying to get away. Or maybe get closer, it could be hard to tell sometimes. "You're so lewd!"

"Aye but you love it" ed said as he nuzzled his nose against her cheek, his body now laying fully on top of hers.

"Nah, i love you" amanda said while pushing her hips up to rub against his groin.

Ed nearly growled at the friction. "Babe before we start, do you want to go out tonight? It'll be club and my friends will be there" ed explained as he trailed kisses behind her ear and down her neck.

"Oh" amanda said softly trying to focus. "Which friends?"

"Hmm?" Ed mumbled while he rested back on his hunches and started to push up Amanda's top.

"Ed which friends are going to be there tonight?" Amanda asked a little more firmly.

"Uh, I don't know, probably Dillion and JB and Dia and…" ed listed off a few others.

Amanda felt her heart sploot a little, these were definitely not her types of people. "Uh, why don't you just go. I know you'll have a lot more fun without me to be your ball and chain" saying a little more cheerfully than necessary.

"You don't want to go? Is it cause of Justin? You know he's grown up now. Just like I did." Ed says seriously, all future sexy times are thrown out the window.

Sighing amanda scooted out from under ed so she could sit properly. "I know ed but i just don't enjoy his company not to mention a few others you mentioned would be there. You know that's not my scene anyways. Id just be awkward and distract you from having a good time. Go have fun with your friends. Seeing them is just as important as seeing me or seeing family."

"Dear god I love you" ed said, cupping Amanda's cheek and giving her a sweet and light kiss. "What about you, love? What will you do if i go out?"

Amanda laughed loudly "darlin i have a bottle of wine in the fridge, internet connection and my kindle app. I promise ill be fine for a few hours." It was amanda's turn to give ed a peck on the lips. "Go. Have fun. I'll be here enjoying me time."

"God i fucking love you!" Ed said excitedly as he jumped up after kissing her again and grabbing his jacket and ran towards the door.

"Wait!" Amanda shouted just as he was about to close the door. Ed poked his head back in with a question.

"Phone?" A nod.

"Wallet?" Another nod.

"Keys?" Amanda asked with a raised eyebrow as she looked from him to the coffee table in front of her with his keys sitting on it.

"Have I mentioned you are the most wonderful woman ever to exist?" Ed said as he sheepishly came back inside and grabbed his keys.

"Hmm ill be sure to let your mom know you said as such" amanda grinned wickedly.

Ed gasped "you wouldn't"

"I will if you don't leave right now. You're gonna miss all the fun."

Ed rushed out the door with a final, ‘love you!’ and left Amanda on her own once again. Sighing to herself, she allowed herself to pout at being left alone once again but only for a moment. She truly meant what she said about wanting him to see his friends. And it wasn’t that she didn’t not like some of his friends, she just knew she wouldn’t enjoy herself. If she wasn’t enjoying herself, she didn’t want to distract Ed with her problems.

But honestly, did he have to leave her all hot and bothered? Just rude. Thinking about ways to fix her problem she slammed her fist in her other hand. “I’ll need my laptop and that bottle for sure” Amanda giggled. If Ed is going to have a good night, so was she.

----

“Dude? And she just let you go?” Justin looked at Ed in disbelieve. “Sounds fake but okay” he muttered as he sipped his drink.

“Well I think it’s nice” Dillion said. “You two are so good for each other, she has totally got your back.”

Dia snorted, “That or she’s fucking someone else.”

“What the fuck?” Ed slurred a little. “She wouldn’t do that to me. If she wanted me to stay in, she would have told me. Besides, she loves my dick. Why would she look for another” Ed said smugly.

Dia eyed Ed up and down while sassing her head. “Who said she’s looking for some dick?”

“She is pan” Justin chimed in unhelpfully.

“Let Ed be. Y’all should learn to trust your partners. That’s why y’all can’t stay in a relationship while our boy Ed here is in a 3 year relationship with a lovely girl.” Dillion praised with red cheeks.

“I don’t know about that. You have seemed to be avoiding her lately” Justin muttered, glancing at Ed before looking away just as quick.

“No I’m not!” Ed said a little louder than he had meant to. He was more drunk than he thought.

“Ed, you two have been here for nearly 2 weeks on a ‘couples holiday’ and all you’ve done is work. Amanda hasn’t even been coming with you cause me and her don’t mix well” Justin pointed out. “If I gave up seeing my family and friends for the holidays to go on take a trip with my boyfriend to a luxury condo resort only to be left almost daily cause said boyfriend is working, I’d be a little irritated myself.”

Ed sat with a large pout while he picked at the label on his beer. “I always ask before I leave and she has asked for me to stay a few times and we’ve gone out and skied and went ‘round her old hometown. Even went to that coffee shop she remembered as a little girl.”

Even Dillion started to look doubtful. “I don’t know Ed. I don’t think Amanda should have to ask you to stay when you’re on a couples holiday.”

“I know my girl,” Ed stated again louder than he meant to, setting his beer bottle down a little too hard on the table. “If she had a problem with me going out, she would have said so. She isn’t seeing anybody else and she isn’t sleeping with anyone either.”

Dia raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Sure Teddy, but I know females and that girl is totally feeling ignored and pushed aside.” Dia stood and winked at the whole table, “I’m going to dance, see you boys later.”

The 3 men sat in silence for a moment before Justin spoke up. “Okay, I can see what Amanda was saying about not being sure about her.”

“You talked?” Ed looked shocked at his friend.

“Hmm?” Justin looked to Ed after watching the girl he was currently talking to start 2 guys eyeing her like meet. “Uh yeah. We don’t click well but we’re civil enough, jesus Ed. It was on the 3rd day you two showed up and I came to pick you up to record. You were still in the shower and I waited and we talked a bit.

“Amanda seemed a little more off than usual with me so I asked. She confessed that Dia made her uncomfortable and didn’t think she was a good match, before back-peddling and saying she didn’t mean to intrude on my private life and apologized. And... “ Justin stopped and looked a little embarrassed. His red cheeks from drinking didn’t help hide his guilty look.

“What?” Ed asked irritated for some reason.

“And she said she was sorry for not being able to get along with me. That she knew we were really good friends and didn’t want to ruin that but she wasn’t going to change herself to please you. Then she hoped she was wrong about her feelings for Dia and wished me luck.” Justin looked away, too embarrassed to look Ed in the eye. “I gotta say man, I got a little jealous of you right at that moment.”

“See Ed, there’s nothing to worry about. Just relax and enjoy yourself.” Dillion said with a pat on Ed’s back.

Ed squinted at Justin, taking in his words. He had a sudden swell of unbelievable pride in his girl but the ear worm had gotten to his brain already and now he couldn’t stop thinking about Amanda being in bed with another man. Or woman. Oh god, or both. Ed stood up abruptly, almost knocking his chair over. “I have to go!”

“Wait, Ed maybe you should sober up a bit first” Dillion looked worried.

“I’m fine” Ed grumped and marched out of the bar. They weren’t that far from the condo complex and the cold air would sober him up just fine.

After walking the 10 minutes back to their room, Ed’s head had cleared and realized how stupid he was being. Ed smiled to himself as he unlocked the door and shook his head at how silly he was and what a great girl he had.

Until he heard a long, wonton moan.

Ed froze and could literally feel his heart break. His shoulders slumped and let his coat and keys fall to the floor. He dragged his feet but couldn’t stop his movements towards the bedroom where he was hearing more moans and obvious sounds of sex.

He raised his hand to open the door when he stopped again. There was another moan but listening again, he realized it wasn’t Amanda’s moan. And then another voice groaned and then… someone speaking Japanese?

Then to top it all off, he heard Amanda snort and laugh out loud.

Now he was mad and confused so he peeked inside to find Amanda sitting on the bed, cross legged and in one of his nightshirts and a pair of boy short panties. She was sipping wine from a plastic bright green wine glass and was watching something on her laptop.

Again Amanda being Amanda, she was positioned oddly so her back was actually towards the door and Ed could see what was playing on the laptop.

“Oh my god! Are you watching tentacle pron?” Ed shouted as he stepped inside fully.

Amanda screamed and jumped, spilling her wine all over herself and the bed. Ignoring that, she slammed the laptop screen down so fast, Ed barely saw her hand move. “What are you doing here back so soon!?” Amanda shrieked.

“I, well, uh. That doesn’t matter right now, were you watching tentacle porn?” Ed asked again trying not to laugh.

“You were supposed to be gone the whole night! And you left me horny! And you weren’t supposed to be home so soon!” Amanda rambled, blushing so much her neck was turning red too.

“I didn’t know you were into that” Ed said smirking.

“Shut up, ginger boy!” Amanda shouted as she stood up off the bed but now standing she didn’t know what to do with herself. “I just. The thing is. You see it started. I mean, I discovered it when I was in high school. I mean, why am I explaining myself? Why were you skulking about trying to scare me?”

It was Ed’s turn to look embarrassed. “If I explain my embarrassing story of the night, will you tell me about your kink I never knew about?”

Amanda crossed her arms and looked away with puffed cheeks. “I’ll think about it after you explain yourself.”

“Okay well, I was a little drunk when it was brought up how I was ‘allowed’ to go out without you and then the guys were saying how great that was that you were cool with it but then Dia had to say something about you maybe looking to find some dick somewhere else and then Justin pointed out I’ve been working almost this whole holiday and I’ve been a rubbish boyfriend. So in my drunken stupor I thought I’d come back to find you and dick you down so good, you’d never even think of another man but then I came through the door and heard moans and sex and panicked and felt my heart break and followed the sound and then found you looking so beauiful in my shirt and those panties on that lushous ass of your’s and you watchin porn after I left you alone, I just… My brain stopped working.”

Amanda stared at him with a raised eyebrow and a doubtful look on her face as she listened to him ramble. Though once she heard that Dia had started spewing her poison, she wasn’t surprised to learn that a seed of doubt was planted. “Wait you’re telling me that brain of yours works sometimes?”

“It’s up for debate to be honest, love” Ed smiled sheepishly.

“And you were gonna ‘dick me down so good’ huh?” Amanda said as she still kept her arms crossed but now jetting her hip out as well, sass surfacing in defense of the embarrassment of being caught.

“Okay so maybe my brain isn’t working at all tonight” Ed said as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Not the most romantic thing I’ve said.”

“Ironic sense you know, Ed Sheeran and all” Amanda smirked and nudged her chin in his direction.

“Are you seriously gonna keep sassing me when I caught you watching tentacle anime porn?” Ed said exasperated.

“Are you seriously gonna keep bringing up the hentai?” Amanda sighed.

“Oh it has an actual name? Please tell, love, why haven’t I learned about this private enjoyment before?” Ed said, slipping into to his low baritone and stepped up to cupped Amanda’s warm cheek.

“Cause I haven’t needed to watch porn in a while and plus it’s just sort of a once in a blue moon type thing” Amanda confessed, blushing straight to the tips of her hair. “Plus it wasn’t tentacles…”

“Oh? Please correct me than?” Ed smirked, loving the way her whole body was warm.

“It was monster girls and aliens” Amanda whispered. “I like the succubuses” Amanda muttered as she placed her face against his chest.

“That. Is. So. Cute” Ed laughed as he hugged Amanda. He lowered his head so he whispered in her ear, “Would you like to watch it together?”

“Well…” Amanda snuggled her face more into Ed’s chest. “I spilled my wine of the bed.”

“Wanna do it on the couch?” Ed asked simply.

“Edward!” Amanda pulled back and slapped her hand against his chest. “You’re so lewd.”

“That wasn’t a no” Ed wiggled his eyebrows.

“You’re right, it wasn’t” Amanda giggled back.

#ed sheeran #code ginger #ed sheeran fan fic #Couple’s Holiday Getting Dicked Good and Monster Girls #asteroid panda's bad writing

2 notes · View notes

natasha-cole · 5 years

Text

#1 Crush: Part 19

Chapter Summary: It’s bad enough that Reader is dealing with a devastating breakup on top of the fact that her stalker seems to be finding out more and more about her. She shouldn’t have to now be afraid of the one man who is meant to protect her.

Word Count: 3417

Warnings: angst, creepy fan, an incident that could be seen as assault? Mostly, Liam crosses a line

Notes: Thanks for being patient with me. Have another chapter.

Series Masterlist

By the end of Friday, you were wiped. These weekends always kept you busy, but you had intentionally kept yourself busier than usual. Mostly in an attempt to have an excuse to avoid Rob and the questions from your friends. So, when the day was over, the only thing on your mind was retreating to your room to be alone again.

“You’re not joining us tonight?” Rich asked as he watched you gather your things from the green room.

You had said goodnight to almost everyone, but he found it odd that you were turning in so early when Friday evenings were usually the nights you’d all have dinner and drinks together before karaoke.

“Not tonight,” you replied. “You guys go. Have fun, try not to be hungover tomorrow…”

“Kinda feels like we haven’t hung out with you in awhile.”

“I’m just- not really in the mood. I figure it’s best to just stay under the radar for now.”

“Rob said that creep is still being, well, a creep.”

“Yeah,” you chuckled. “I’m just trying to not be too obvious with my whereabouts I guess.”

“You know,” he began. “I heard about you and Rob, and I’m sorry about that. I’m not gonna pry or whatever because I’m sure you had your reasons for leaving; even if they’re stupid reasons. But, if you ever need somewhere to stay… or if you just need someone to be around, our home is always open to you.”

“I appreciate that, I really do, Rich. But, this guy found my house. He was in my house. I’m not about to put any of you in a position where he also knows where you live. I’m okay on my own. It’s for the best.”

“No one wants to be alone,” he smiled. “Especially not you. I gotta say, I really miss the social butterfly that you used to be.”

“Me too,” you replied. “Things are just- different now.”

“I think you’d be safe having dinner with all of us though. Plus, your bodyguard is literally always around.”

“Yeah, I suppose being with a crowd is pretty safe,” you agreed. “But, uh, maybe I should avoid the crowd for now, after…”

“Ah,” he replied, realization hitting him. “The whole Rob thing.”

“Yeah,” you mumbled. “I can’t imagine he’d want me around.”

“You’d be surprised,” Rich chuckled in return.

“Is he- is he okay?”

“Honestly? Not really. He’s pretty devastated. But, like I said, I’m not going to pry. Can’t help it that he talks about you to me though.”

“I feel really bad about everything,” you admitted. “But, it just had to happen.”

“If you say so.”

Rich gave you a crooked smile, letting you know that he didn’t believe you, but he wasn’t going to argue with you.

“If you’re sure you don’t want to join us, then I’ll see you tomorrow,” he continued, changing the subject slightly.

“Yeah, no. I’m good. Have fun.”

Rich nodded at you and turned to walk away. You watched him, bummed that you couldn’t even hang out with your friends because you were afraid for them. They didn’t seem to understand, but you knew what you were doing in the end.

“You’re staying in tonight?” Liam asked as he snuck up beside you.

The suddenness of his deep voice right next to you made you jump. You hated that movements like this startled you now.

“Uh, yeah,” you mumbled. “I guess so. Lucky you, you’re off the clock.”

“Room service again?”

“I don’t know… I’m kinda tired of being cooped up today. Maybe I’ll just hit up the restaurant here at the hotel.”

“Alone?” He asked, eyeing you as if to remind you that it was a bad idea.

“Well, I suppose not alone. You never give me a chance to do anything alone, do you?” You chuckled.

“Just doing my job,” he replied.

“I know. You wanna grab food with me? I mean, you don’t really have a choice anyway.”

“Sure,” he smiled. “I will accompany you to dinner. I would have followed you anyway.”

“Well, if you’re following me, you might as well have dinner with me.”

You surprised even yourself with your choice of wording. You didn’t mean to keep making jokes about having a stalker, but sometimes, you spoke before you could think. Liam frowned at you, unsure of how to respond.

You decided against even trying to recover from that. Instead you brushed it off, made sure you had all of your things, and headed out of the green room with Liam following.

***

You and Liam had an okay dinner together. Honestly, it was better to have him join you rather than feel awkward as he sat nearby, just keeping an eye out. Rich had been right about one thing, you really didn’t want to be alone. It was actually nice to have some company even though you were intent on staying away from your friends.

The two of you chatted through dinner and every now and then you would stop and wonder if this was appropriate. You were a friendly person by nature, but the whole situation had turned you into someone else. You had stopped being too trusting with fans, and Liam was really no different. He was essentially still a stranger. A stranger that you had to trust.

He talked a lot about his interests as you listened. Even on the flight here, he had been talkative. You on the other hand, had kept your half of the conversations pretty generic, still unsure of whether or not you really should get to know him too well or even if you should allow him to know you.

There could be a friendliness here, you decided. But, you had to keep yourself at a distance in a way.

After dinner, Liam escorted you to your room, as usual. He was still chatty as you stopped in front of your door and you had mostly zoned out, not really listening to him as you paused.

You fumbled with the key card, suddenly afraid to even open the door. You felt as if you had a brief flashback of returning home only to find that someone had been in your house. What if this guy could somehow manage to get into your hotel room too? The thought hadn’t crossed your mind before, but now you were working yourself up over the possibility. Everything was a possibility at this point.

“Is everything okay?” Liam asked as he stopped his rambling, noticing that you were ignoring him now and looking hesitant.

“Yeah,” you breathed out. “I just- it’s gotten difficult for me to face the fact that I’m alone lately. I mean, the guy found out where I lived. He always seems to know where I sleep when I’m at these conventions… I know no one is in there, but I still get scared, you know?”

Liam smiled at you and you didn’t really understand why. Your fears were legitimate and warranted, and you sort of hated that he seemed to think it was a joke.

“I can have a look if you’d like.”

“No, it’s okay. No one’s in there. I’m just being paranoid.”

He reached out for your hand, grasping onto your room key to take it from you. He let his hand linger on yours briefly and you pulled away first, sort of thrown off by the movement.

He unlocked the door for you and stepped inside first, and you hesitated before following him in.

He went straight to work, wandering the small room and checking in the closet, bathroom, and behind doors and furniture.

It took him just a couple of minutes before he gave you the clear.

“Everything seems to be in order,” he said.

“Thank you,” you replied. “I feel stupid that you even had to do that for me.”

“Don’t feel stupid,” he said with a smile as he stepped in front of you. “I get it.”

“It’s just- without Rob… I feel a little less safe, you know?”

“Hmm,” he hummed in response, his eyes watching you intently.

“Sometimes I wish I would just take it all back,” you went on, mostly just throwing words out there as you were growing uncomfortable by Liam’s constant stare. “I miss him. But, I keep telling myself it's for the best.”

“It is,” he confirmed, still watching you.

“I’m sorry,” you laughed nervously. “I’m sure you don’t want to hear all of this. You’re probably tired of listening to me cry about things.”

“Y/N,” he said softly as he stepped even closer to you. “It's okay. I understand that this has been hard for you, but you don't always have to try to be strong.”

“I just- probably shouldn't dump all of this on you,” you replied. “I'm being very unprofessional.”

“It's fine,” he smiled again as he lifted a hand to your face.

You froze when he made contact, his hand gentle against your skin as his fingertips brushed against you, moving back so that he could run his hand through your hair as he moved his face closer to yours.

“That’s what I’m here for.”

Before you could protest and remind him that he was only here to protect you, he moved in even closer. You backed yourself against the wall, not really sure how to react to what was happening right now.

You tried to stop him as his face came closer to yours, but before you could speak, he pressed his lips against your forcibly and you froze in place. You didn’t kiss him back. Mostly, your mind was in a panic. This wasn’t what you wanted and you didn’t understand why he would be doing this.

Once you collected yourself, you placed your hands firmly against his chest and pushed. He didn’t budge right away, so you put more effort into it, turning your face from his to break the kiss.

“What are you doing?” You asked, breathless and panicked as you tried to make sense of this.

“I was kissing you,” he chuckled.

He took a step back toward you, placing his hand against your waist to lead you back to him, but you squirmed out of his hold on you.

“You can't do that. Please don't do that.”

“Is that not what you wanted?” He asked, looking at you as if you had offended him.

“What did I do to make you think I wanted that?”

“Well, it was a culmination of a lot of things,” he said with a grin. “Honestly, I've noticed your interest in me for a long time now.”

“I'm not interested in you,” you corrected him. “And I don't feel that I've done anything to lead you to that conclusion.”

“Come on,” he chuckled. “You dumped your boyfriend not too long after I showed up. And you made a big deal out of getting to know me better. You invited me into your room...”

“First of all, you had nothing to do with my choice to break up with Rob. Secondly, I thought I should just know more about the man who is paid to protect me. Also, the only reason you’re in here is to make sure I’m safe. That wasn’t an invitation for… this.”

“So now you’re just pretending that you haven’t been flirting with me?”

He looked taken aback, as if you had been the one to lead him into believing something that you had no intention of even hinting at.

“I am sorry if I gave you the wrong impression,” you said sternly, now upset with yourself that you had done something to make him jump to this conclusion since you really didn’t think you had given him an indication that you were interested. “But, I’m not interested in you.”

“Really?” He asked, narrowing his eyes at you. “So all of this has just been… business as usual? You really didn’t ask me to dinner tonight? You didn’t vent about your ex boyfriend to me on the plane? How else am I supposed to read that?”

His expression was no longer playful and joking. Now, he simply came off as being sort of angry at your denial of him.

“You need to go,” you said softly, avoiding eye contact with him.

Yes, perhaps you had gotten too friendly, and maybe you had unintentionally came across as being flirty with him. But, you didn’t feel that you owed him an explanation. You had only meant to be nice to the man, maybe just because you felt so alone right now.

“We’re not gonna talk about this?” He asked.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” you replied. “You misread the situation, and maybe that’s my fault. But, you can’t just go around kissing people because you think they’re flirting with you. Especially not the woman that you work for. You crossed a line.”

“I crossed a line?” He asked, voice raising at you.

“You’re right. Maybe I did too,” you replied shakily. “But we’re drawing a new line here. I’m not interested. You need to leave.”

He smirked at you in response. And honest to god, unimpressed smirk that only made your you stomach turn. You felt awful about the possibility that you had led him on somehow, but now he was creeping you out.

He didn’t say anything else; he just backed off a bit, still staring at you coldly. When he had succeeded in scaring you; not that it was his intention, he turned from you and walked out the door, letting it close heavily behind him.

You stayed frozen, back against the wall as you tried to collect yourself. For just a moment, you had been afraid that that whole thing was going to get really out of control. You had never been afraid of Liam until now. The way he smirked at you, stared at you, and called you out on behavior that you didn’t even realize you were projecting scared you.

The pushover part of you thought you should just pretend that none of this had even happened. You wondered if maybe you had overreacted and if it was best to just ignore it and go on as if tonight hadn’t happened. At the same time, you knew that it would just remain awkward having him around after that. He had scared you, whether this whole thing had been your fault or not. The last thing you needed was another reason to be afraid.

You were a coward. You couldn't fire Liam yourself. Yes he had made you extremely uncomfortable, but the idea of having to fire someone directly made you even more uncomfortable.

Now, you were also wondering where Liam had even come from. What kind of agency would keep a man who had no issue in making a move on a client? Maybe he had never done something like this before. Maybe you really had led him on and brought this out of him. You were humiliated even considering that this was your fault.

Although it was sort of late, you decided not to hesitate in handling the matter. Well, you decided to make sure someone else handled it for you right away.

You called your manager immediately after you had calmed down a bit, knowing that you had to get rid of Liam quickly. You couldn’t bear the thought of having him around even for one more day.

Luckily, it was still fairly early back home, so your manager answered right away. You wasted no time in questioning him about Liam first.

“Y/N, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” your manager said.

“How did you find Liam?” You asked. “Was he recommended? Did you find him through someone?”

“He applied for the position.”

“Really?”

“He had heard through his agency that we were looking for someone for you and he applied.”

“That’s interesting,” you said quietly.

You thought it was odd that your people hadn’t actively searched for security for you, but rather just interviewed someone who had applied.

“Is everything okay?”

“I just- assumed you hired him directly through an agency or he was recommended or something.”

“No, but he has an impressive resume. He was exactly what we were looking for. We did interview him, Y/N.”

“Right. I was just wondering.”

“Did he do something?” He asked, concern evident in his voice.

“No,” you lied. “I just- don't feel comfortable with him anymore. I need someone new.”

It wasn’t a total lie. And you really had intended to mention the incided. But, your embarrassment over it was a bit stronger than your actual nervousness about the situation.

“Are you firing him, Y/N?”

“I'm actually having you fire him,” you replied.

“Okay,” he said in return. You could hear the confusion in his voice, but he at least didn’t argue. It was your life after all. “I can do that. Can I also know why?”

“It's just- he and I don't get along. It's nothing other than the fact that I don't think he takes this job seriously enough.”

“Okay, Y/N…”

“Just find me someone else, please.”

“That could take some time.”

“Fine. I just need Liam gone.”

“Should we wait until after the convention is over?”

You considered this. On one hand, you knew it was best to have someone looking out for you especially while you were working. Convention weekends seemed to be when most of the stuff was happening. On the other hand, you were embarrassed and deeply uncomfortable about the thought of Liam still being around you after what had happened.

“No,” you insisted finally. “Please just let him know his services are no longer needed starting immediately.”

“Y/N,” your manager began, sounding concerned over the thought. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to do this right now?”

“Maybe not, but I’ve decided and I want him gone immediately.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing happened!” You shouted. “Please, I just don’t think he’s a good match. We don’t get along.”

“Okay,” he responded. “Whatever you say. I’ll call him right away.”

“Thank you,” you said, letting out a sigh of relief.

At least you wouldn’t have to face him again. You felt guilty for having someone else get rid of him for you and for lying about the reason why, but it needed to be done.

“I have to say,” your manager continued. “I am a bit worried about the rest of the weekend. We had a bodyguard with you for a reason.”

“I understand that. I think it’ll be fine for a couple of days though.”

“Well, I suppose you do have the usual convention security,” he mused. “And everyone else looking out for you. Rob is very protective.”

Hearing his name caught you off guard and it still stung. But, it appeared that at least news of your split was not spreading as quickly as you thought it would.

“Oh yeah,” you chuckled. “He never lets me out of his sight.”

“Well then, I’ll talk to Liam and work on finding someone else for you. I’ll also talk to the convention organizers, see if we can’t just have regular security keep and extra eye on you. Until then, just let Rob know what’s going on. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Yes. I will be okay this weekend. Thank you for handling this for me.”

“Y/N,” he said quickly before you had the chance to say goodbye and hang up. “If something happened… if Liam did something to upset you… you know you need to tell me, right?”

“Yeah, of course,” you responded nervously, still not wanting to talk about what had happened. “If he had done something, I would tell you. But, he’s really just not a good match for me.”

“Okay,” he replied. “Have a good night, Y/N. I’ll get in touch again once things are sorted.”

***

You couldn’t sleep that night either. Now, it was just a culmination of everything all at once. Still, you had a stalker who was managing to remain anonymous while continuing to harass you in unexpected ways. And now you had this situation with Liam that you were beating yourself up over.

You were humiliated and felt somewhat violated by the fact that your own body guard had taken things to this point. If you couldn’t feel safe with someone who was literally paid to ensure your safety, were you ever really going to be safe at all?

Forever Tags (tag me in everything!)

@destielschild

@sorenmarie87

@smoothdogsgirl

@kocswain

@culturebay

@itsfunnierin-enochian

@typicalweirdbookworm

@angelsandhuntersgalore

@riversong-sam

@emoryhemsworth

@hunterpuff

@camelotandastronauts

@laffytaffyhumor

@cyrilconnelly

@jpadjackles

@waywardswain

@sirraxa

@thewordsmithofhell

@atc74

@shanghai88

@narisjournal-blog

@chocolategate

@lucerospn1detc

@nerdyforyourbooks

@rblstrash

@your-sparklywinnercollection

@robfangirl

@soythedemonqueen

@southernbell91

@sherlockedtash88

@internationalmusicteacher

@tas898

@katsanders

@collinscosmicentity

@missihart23

@wilde-abandon

@laubeck10

#1 crush #rob benedict x reader #rob benedict rpf

31 notes · View notes

grumpyhedgehogs · 5 years

Text

These Kids These Days with Their Ink Machines

Summary: In which Henry is much too old for this and decides to go home. Surprisingly, this course of action works out well for pretty much everybody.

Notes: I just realized I never cross-posted this on tumblr so here you go. That being said, my Henry is definitely Grandpa!Henry rather than Dad!Henry. He's old and tired, and he wears a bushy beard and ugly sweaters when he shows up to fight demons. As you do. As I said in the tags, only some past violence and very (very) light gore that is depicted in the game. Still, if you are uncomfortable with talking about past murders, steer clear. Otherwise, enjoy! P.S.: The working title of this was: Henry Saves Everybody By Being Old And Grumpy

Henry is standing knee deep in ink and God knows what else when he makes up his mind. It’s a decision he should have made before turning on the Ink Machine, before coming to the studio, hell, before opening Joey Drew’s blasted letter.

It’s a decision he makes, simply, over the ominous creaking in his knees.

“All right, that’s enough for me,” Henry says, and turns right back around to get in the elevator again. In the corner, Boris tilts his head and twitches his nose questioningly. Henry pats him reassuringly on the shoulder.

“No need to worry, Boris.” He sighs and scrubs a gnarled hand through his hair. “I’ve just come to the realization that I’m much too old for these shenanigans.”

Boris perks his ears and wisely does not agree to Henry being old. Smart wolf.

“Come on then, let’s go talk to Ms. Angel about these ridiculous requests of hers.”

Boris decidedly does not like that plan.

“Come now, little errand boy, you can’t have collected my hearts so easily, could you? Maybe I’ll just have to take yours inst-”

“That’s enough of that nonsense, miss. Please come out here now, I’d like a word.”

Alice doesn’t reply for a moment but Henry can hear a faint indignant squawk before the intercom cuts off. After some time, the doors beneath the “She’s Quite a Gal” sign slide open just a crack. He can see her unearthly eye peering out at him. Her halo glows above her, casting Alice’s face into severe shadows.

Henry is far too tired to come off as half as terrified as he suspects Alice wants him to be.

“Excuse me?” Alice’s tone is dangerous and soft. “You think you can wander into my web and tell me what to do? The more you fight, little fly, the more pain-“

Henry levels an expression he used to use to get Joey to do what he wanted at her. She shuts her mouth with an audible click; after a moment Alice seems to be at a loss as to how to proceed, so Henry feels it safe to step in.

“Now, I need you to listen to what I’m saying, young lady.” She twitches, but his fatherly expression stops her from retreating. “I am much too old for all the hullabaloo that’s going on around this place. I figure if I keep going like this my heart’s just going to plum give out. My doctor told me I have to take it easy these days, you know?”

“Uh,” Alice replies, dumbfound. What is going on? This is not according to plan.

Henry stuffs his hands in his pockets and blows out an exaggerated breath. “Now, I’m thinking we’ve only got a few options here.”

This is the first time he’s heard Alice sound hesitant. “Options?”

“Well yes, as to how we’re all getting out of here,” Henry replies blithely. “Now, I do have a van, on account of never getting rid of it when my kids grew up and went off to college-remind me to show you some photographs, I’ve got them around here somewhere- so I can take maybe five? That’ll fit me, you, Boris of course, and three others. Maybe I could take the Butcher Gang? Hm, but I’d rather like to collect Bendy and Norman myself, I mean someone has to keep an eye on them. Sammy too, for that matter. I know there’s at least one company van left in the parking lot, and it looked like maybe it could still run if we jump started it- do you know how to drive?”

“What,” says Alice. The doors creak open more, revealing her in all her stained glory. Behind Henry, Boris cowers back, pulling his ears down over his eyes. She feels sick vindication at his fear slip through her veins like poison; but Henry doesn’t move.

“Do you know how to drive?” He repeats. “It’ll be much easier to get out if two of us could drive.”

“You-I- you want to leave…”

“Yep.”

“…With us?”

“Yessiree Bob.”

“That-That’s so stupid!”

Henry tilts his head at her. “Why?”

“We-I- everyone’s trying to kill you! We’re monsters.”

He looks distinctly unimpressed. “That’s a terrible argument, because I don’t agree with your self-assessment. Besides, I’m sure we can work things out with a nice, rational conversation later. Maybe over hot chocolate, that makes everything better. Now, are you ready to go?”

“But,” Alice glances around uncertainly, a little desperate. She feels like she’s grasping at straws here, like she’s trying to hold onto thoughts that slip through her fingers like water. Boris isn’t cowering anymore. “But why?”

“Oh honey,” Henry says, reaching out arthritic fingers to push her hair out of her face. Alice feels the cold husk in her chest thump once, twice, hard. “Did you think I’d leave without you all?”

Alice only looks a little out of place, standing between himself and Boris. After all the stuttering and wavering she did when he explained their escape plans, the wolf has lost a good bit of that unhealthy fear of the angel.

Not that Henry can blame her. Poor thing has been cooped up all alone in her tower for too long. And who knew how Joey had treated her before that. Young woman just needs some rest and a good talking to, to get her head on straight.

Henry figures he’s retired; he has enough free time on his hands to help with that.

“So, I think I heard Sammy rambling about a few floors up,” He says conversationally as the cage slides into position. “Shall we?”

A few Searchers flop and scramble forward before he even steps out. “None of that now, please,” Henry makes his tone sharp and authoritative. The Searchers stop, motionless. It looks like they turn their heads towards each other for a moment, before looking back at the animator, sightless and bewildered.

Henry looks at Alice. “You know these little guys more than me. Do you think there’s any way to help them out?”

The Searchers perk up at that. One face plants into Henry’s right knee and wraps its arms around his pant leg.

“I-“ Alice falters for a moment, wringing her hands. The sight softens Henry’s expression and Alice seems to find her voice. “I don’t think they can leave the Ink Machine. And they-they’re in pain. The voices in the ink…”

“Oh.” Henry tries to ignore the lump in his throat. All the pain Joey had caused-how much of it could have been avoided if he had been here to talk Drew down? “They’re hurting, aren’t they? And there’s only one way to stop it.”

Alice nods and shuts her eyes for a moment. Boris trembles, but pats her quickly on the shoulder. Memories of being in the ink were never good. “We’ll have to shut down the Machine.”

Henry nods, and gently passes his palm over the Searcher’s formless back. “I’m sorry, little buddy. It’ll be okay soon.” The Searcher nods and turns back to his friends, seeming to communicate soundlessly to them.

Two more Searchers wrap themselves around Henry’s knees before allowing them to move forward. Boris watches quietly as they faded back into the ink puddles.

“Sammy Lawrence, you stop that right now.”

Sammy jumps, fumbling with the paint brush and bucket of ink in his hands. Henry stands a few feet behind him, flanked by Alice and Boris. Sammy tries not to flinch at the sight of the angel. It has been a long time since he last saw her.

“Sheep!” He exclaims, preparing himself to leap forward.

“No.” Henry snaps, and Sammy deflates. “Now, that is no way to treat your workspace, and I‘d have thought a man as meticulous as you would be ashamed of such behavior.”

“I-I-”Sammy splutters for a moment, “I am doing this for my Demon Lord, so he knows that I serve him-“

“Hogwash,” Henry snorts. “You’re still just as overdramatic as usual, Sammy, although the man I knew at least knew how to retain his pride.”

“How dare-“

“Now listen here, and listen good,” Henry interrupts again and good God of the Ink, the old animator never knew when to leave well enough alone did he, “I’m taking all of us out of this hellhole and I don’t want to hear any complaining. There are going to be a few rules, in fact.”

“What,” Sammy says, as Alice giggles unexpectedly. Boris bumps his shoulder into hers and grins. She’s not half as intimidating when she’s smiling, Sammy realizes vaguely.

Henry takes no notice of their childish behavior, and wags his finger at Sammy instead. “There will be no praying to demons, singing of hymns or giving sermons on this trip. You are not to antagonize or make the others uncomfortable with your worship and you are to tell me when you are upset instead of using idolizing Bendy as a terrible coping mechanism. And no calling anyone sheep. That’s just weird, Sammy.”

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, sheep-“

He cuts himself off with one glance at Henry’s expression. Alice leans forward conspiratorially. “The Dad Look only gets worse, Lawrence. It’s best just to give in, trust me.”

“Huh,” Sammy says, feeling his ink receding from where it dripped down his mask. Henry smiles at him from over his spectacles. “Well then. Alright, Henry.”

Norman Polk was never a very loud man, which made his screeching as a projector monster just plain uncharacteristic, in Henry’s humble opinion.

“Oh, will you stop that racket,” Henry says, and the Projectionist obediently pulls up short before barreling into him. Ink still splashes onto his chest, though, and Henry mourns the loss of his favorite orange sweater. “Really Norman, what has gotten into you?”

“IIIInnnnkkk…” Howls the speaker in Norman’s chest.

“Alright,” Henry concedes, “That’s a fair point. Would you like some help with that?”

The speaker hums confusedly, increasing in pitch until Henry claps his hands over his ears. “Just a nod or a shake, please!”

The hum stops before- “Hennn-Hennn-rrr-eee?”

“Yes, old pal,” Henry says, “what say you we get outta here? You look like you could use a vacation. Or retirement, as it were.”

The Projectionist rears back, its light blinding Henry and for a moment he thinks maybe he misjudged this, that he’s going to get a face full of claws on behalf of someone who used to be a good friend-

The light dims, the Projectionist hunches back down, and his mechanical head dips twice. Before pulling back, Henry reaches out and lays his hand alongside the projector. The metal is warm. “Good. Let’s go home, then.”

The Butcher Gang huddles around a flaming barrel at the back of the toy warehouse, where the elevator doesn’t reach. By the time Henry has cleared all the stairs to get down there, he’s breathing a bit too heavily. He leans back on the banister and feels Boris place a worried hand on his shoulder.

“I’m fine, son,” Henry tells him, wincing a little and rubbing his chest. “Just not as spry as I used to be. Give me a minute.”

Alice is back to wringing her hands. “Did I- I made this happen, didn’t I?”

Henry levels a look at her over his glasses. “Don’t take responsibility for things out of your control. Father Time did this to me, Ms. Angel. And the war. Although I suppose the ink fumes I inhaled all my career didn’t help my asthma. Don’t get old, kids.”

“We can’t,” Sammy says helpfully. Henry would reply, but the Butcher Gang is approaching cautiously.

“Well now, who do we have here,” Henry says, opening his hands welcomingly. “Let an old man have a look at you three.”

The Butcher Gang veritably break his heat. Every one of them look in pain or misshapen, even worse than Alice or Sammy. Alice and Sammy don’t have fishing poles in their necks or wooden limbs. Alice and Sammy can speak.

Still, Henry didn’t hold title of Head Animator at the studio for nothing. “Well, this’ll take a good bit of work, I can tell you that. But all in all, I think it’s quite salvageable, don’t you? We’ll have to collect some ink to take home with us, but I think we can fix you up in no time.”

Edgar’s stitched together lips mouth the word ‘home,’ and Henry feels a twist in his chest. He smooths his fingers of Barley’s head and smiles kindly. “Yes, kiddos, home. You wanna get out of this place with us? I’ve got my own fireplace.”

Soon, Henry is swarmed by tiny toons all trying to climb into his arms. Henry laughs, kneeling and wrapping them all in a hug. They remind him not in small part of his own children when they were young. So eager to please, and so excited for a new playmate.

Boris catches Charley under the armpits and heaves him up onto his own hip. After a moment, Norman follows the wolf’s lead and swings both Edgar and Barley onto his broad shoulders. The toons shuffle a bit, glancing worriedly between the stairs back to the elevator and Henry. Alice holds out her hand to help Henry up from his position on the floor, and Sammy takes his other side with ease.

“Now, now,” Henry says, trying to keep a stern face, “you’re going to make a man feel old with all your fussing.”

The crowd that spills out of the elevator as it reaches his floor is not at all what Bendy expects to see when he rounds the corner. It’s a mess, a tangle of limbs and stumbling and loud screeching. Bendy stands stock-still and watches it all unfold out of the doors like a clown car. It’s almost awe-inspiring.

“What are you doing, you’re going to hurt him, hanging onto him like that,” says a voice Bendy is startled to realize is Alice, “you know his back is bad-“

“I’m not holding onto him, Barley is, he won’t let go of his sweater- come on, sheep-uh, kid, we’re trying to get out of here it’s super cramped-“

“M-mmyyyyy fff-ff-fooooottt-“

“Alright, alright everybody, settle down.” Henry’s voice booms. Bendy has never heard –doesn’t remember hearing from his time of being ink on a page, staring up into those warm eyes, wondering what he’ll do next, which adventure will his creator send him on- the animator speak so loudly. “Single file, and no stepping on anyone’s toes. That’s it now. Watch the inkwells, we don’t want to make another trip for those.”

When Boris sees him, he yelps and points wildly in Bendy’s direction. Strangely enough, he seems excited, rather than scared.

Henry finally pops into view, dusting himself off and running a hand ruefully through his ink-stained beard. “What’s that now, Boris?”

Bendy steps forward; he feels that old anger, that hatred for the traitor who left him here, left him to be tormented by the likes of Joey Drew, who didn’t even care to look back, rise to the surface.

Henry levels a look at him over his glasses, mouth pulled into a tight, thin line and sighs at him disappointedly. Bendy stops. Bendy stares. Bendy tells himself he is not intimidated.

“Uh-oh,” Sammy mutters from behind Norman somewhere, “I remember that look.” Norman nods.

“Hush, you interfering miscreant,” Henry says, and although his expression doesn’t change, his voice is warm. It’s surprisingly warm still when he addresses Bendy. “Now, what in heavens are we going to do with you, hm?”

Bendy feels the ink on his spine bristle into spikes. Alice shuffles like she wants to step back, but glances at Henry, and stays. On his other side, Boris plants his feet and pulls a lead pipe from out of nowhere. Norman looms, protective and hulking, behind Henry.

“Oh would you all be terribly disappointed if we left the posturing for the teenage boys?” Henry sounds exasperated. He steps forward, towards Bendy and Bendy- doesn’t know quite what to do. No one has ever come toward him, after all. They mostly run away screaming. His spikes recede.

Ink drips down over his (confused, anxious, hateful, hopeful) grin as Henry says, grandfatherly, “Would you let me have a look at you, son?”

Bendy almost backs away as Henry steps up to him, but he is a fearsome ink demon who has taken the lives of any who stepped foot in this hell. He does not run away from old men in ridiculous sweaters.

Henry reaches up, up, up and gently, oh so gently, lays a wrinkled palm just at the edge of his grin. Bendy can’t -won’t- read the warm look in his eyes. “Well, it has been a long time, hasn’t it old friend? I missed you.”

His palm is warm, and rough, and reassuringly heavy. Almost against his will, Bendy lowers his head to Henry’s level, looks at him from inches away, and sees Henry for the first time.

He is old- older than Joey Drew was when Bendy ripped his heart out, older than Sammy was when he became what he is, older than Alice ever was. And he is tired- Bendy can see it in the corners of his eyes, the way his back won’t straighten like he has an awful weight on it, the way his knees are forever bent just a little. And he is terribly, horribly sad.

“Joey really did a number on you, huh, buddy.” Henry says, and he is so quietly miserable, like he’s seen into Bendy’s (non-existent?) heart and shares his sorrow, “I never should have left you alone. I’m sorry, pal.”

Henry’s trembling fingers slip through the ink on Bendy’s face, slicking it away, and Bendy’s eyes see the light of day for the first time in thirty years. His first real sight, not plagued with ink, is his Creator’s solemn, hopeful smile.

Bendy feels like crying.

So he does, loud and quaking and right there in front of so many in the middle of the place he has been tortured in for years, where he’s killed so many for what they have done to him. Where he cannot- will not- kill his last Creator.

Henry pulls him forward, tucks his chin between Bendy’s horns, and rubs his back.

“It’s okay Bendy,” he hears Henry murmur, “You’re okay now. We’re gettin’ outta here, all of us. We’re going home. It’s going to be okay, you’ll see.”

Bendy curls around his Creator, clutches him close, and doesn’t let go for a long time.

Bendy shows them to the Ink Machine. It is, predictably, based near Joey’s old office. The last few yards, the hallway is lined with Searchers, all watching, sightless, as Henry follows the Ink Demon to where all of this began.

Henry and Bendy step into the Machine’s room, but Alice and Boris stop at the threshold. None of the others seem intent on coming with, so Henry smiles and nods understandingly.

This ends how it was started: with him and Bendy.

At the side of the room, connected to the Ink Machine with thick wires and tubes, is a simple switch labeled “POWER.” Joey was never one for subtlety, Henry ponders, faintly amused.

Before he has taken even a step towards the switch, Bendy lays a light hand on Henry’s arm. He holds up a terrifyingly large syringe filled with ink, and gestures toward Henry, then toward Joey’s office, then to the syringe and back to Henry.

Henry gets it. “Oh no, my boy, I’m much too old for that attempting to obtain immortality nonsense. Having bad knees for eternity? Count me out, thanks. Let’s just get this done, shall we?”

Bendy nods and lets out a low growling hum. Together they cross to the switch. Together they grasp it. Together they end the Ink Machine once and for all.

As it turns out, Sammy can drive still. Allegedly.

“I was the best driver here, Henry.” Sammy says, incredulous.

“You were the flashiest driver here,” Henry corrects as Norman nods vigorously, “and that car of yours was a deathtrap.”

“Beulah,” Sammy supplies wistfully, “I wish she were still around. But that doesn’t mean I can’t get us out of here and back to your house. I’ll even be following you! Easy-peasy.”

“Do you even have eyes? I don’t believe you can see the road, no matter what you say.”

“I can walk without bumping into things can’t I? It’ll be fine. Besides, it’s not like we have that many options here.”

Henry glances around; Alice is missing an eye (he can totally fix that, he’s already mentally set aside an inkwell for her), Boris is a wolf and it is questionable if he even knows what a car is, Bendy has six inch claws, the Butcher Gang is much too short and have between them only three or four defined eyes, and Norman- Norman is a projector.

He sighs. He sucks it up. He sends a quick prayer to anyone out there.

“Fine. But I’m gonna be having Alice check on you in the mirrors the entire time, got it?”

Sammy bounces on his heels and his mask moves as if he may be smiling.

Henry tugs on his beard once more and says, “Alright, here’s how we do it; Bendy, Alice and Boris are with me. Norman and the Butcher Gang will fit more comfortably together in the van with Sammy. Any questions?”

“Yes,” Alice says, raising her hand like they're in school. “How are we going to get the van running? It looks dead.”

Henry hadn’t thought of that passed the usual “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” reasoning.

“That,” he says, deadpan, “is a good question Ms. Angel.”

There’s a crash behind them. Henry spins, heart in his mouth, to see Norman pulling haphazardly at the wires connected to the back of his head.

“Norman!” Henry leaps forward, almost tripping over the curb before Bendy catches him around the waist. “What in the blazes are you-“

Paying no heed, Norman shoves his wiring into the van’s battery and flips an unseen switch on the back of his own head. His projector light dims a moment and then-

The engine sparks, trembles, and turns over.

“Huh,” Alice says faintly behind Henry. Boris whines happily.

“That’s convenient,” Sammy sounds cheerful, “all aboard then, right Henry?”

The drive out to Henry's home is a long one. He chats idly with Alice on the way, ignoring Boris's cold nose poking into his neck. The wolf's ears flap in the wind from the open window, but Boris is loving the smells of the outside world, so Henry doesn't have the heart to roll it up just yet.

"Who is this?" Alice asks, fingers brushing over a worn photo of his late wife in his wallet.

"Linda," Henry sighs with a bittersweet smile shot at her before turning back to the road. "My wife. She was a gem."

"She's very pretty," Alice murmurs softly.

Henry reaches out blindly, and smiles when her fingers wrap tightly around his. Her hand is cold, but that's alright; he's warm enough for them both.

"She was a spectacular woman. She would have wanted to save you just as much as I do. You would have loved her."

"She's-" Alice falters and Boris whines sadly, pressing his nose more firmly into the crook of Henry's neck from behind. "She's gone?"

"Human nature, honey," Henry says gently. "I'm alone now, but that's alright. I've made my peace with it."

Boris whines again. Sammy's lights flash in the rear-view mirror.

"You're not alone anymore, Creator," Alice says quietly. Henry squeezes her hand, catches Bendy's eye in the mirror, and grins.

"I guess not, huh?"

Bendy smiles back, softer now, content. From out of thin air, in the darkness and out of sight, his hands pull out that strange syringe. He turns it over in his fingers, watching his Creator lead them to safety, and contemplates immortality.

57 notes · View notes