lilyswritings

[lilyswritings]

Literally obsessed with faultline! I can’t think about thunderbolts without thinking about your story❤️ if it’s not too much trouble, could I be added to the tag list please?

you are such a sweetheart wow thank you ! i'm honoured ! and yes of course i'll add u <3

[lilyswritings]

yet another jaw dropping part to read before bed 😼😼

i kiss u

[lilyswritings]

faultline — vi.

synopsis: you wake up in a vault with no recollection of how you got there, only flashes of the medical study you'd signed up for in malaysia — and come face to face with four strangers. three of them are trying to kill each other (and possibly you), and the other one is... bob. author’s note: thank you all for your patience! my brain hasn't been kind to me this past week, and i've been visiting family and flying etc., so i didn't have much time to write, but i actually had so much fun with this part. valentina 'boy mom' allegra de fontaine is killing me, she's basically writing herself at this point. hope you all enjoy!! we're getting to the good stuff now. (also i'm posting this in a bit of a rush lol so i have not proofread to my liking — pls lemme know if u find any glaring errors! thank u!) wordcount: 4,016

part i || part ii || part iii || part iv || part v || part vi || part vii

Bob Reynolds x Reader

Unbeknownst to you, in the hallway beyond your ‘holding room’, as she insists on calling it, Valentina stands and intently scrolls through the data amassed by her team of scientists while she was in there.

Mel, her own tablet clutched beneath sweaty palms, watches her boss and nervously awaits her next orders, flinching ever-so-slightly when Valentina finally looks up from her tablet with a triumphant smile.

“Good. This is good. We’re getting somewhere.”

“So…” A beat, where Mel realizes her boss has no idea what she’s waiting for. “Do you want me to contact R&D, or maybe PR to work on an image, or–”

“Oh, Lord, no. No, no new superheroes. The Sentry was always going to be a solo act, we’re not changing that now.”

The hallway is quiet, and Mel glances nervously back at the door they just came from. 

“But you told—“

“Yes, yes, I know what I said,” The older woman taps furiously on the tablet in her hands, before refocusing on her assistant with a tight expression of patience worn thin. “Look, we just need to figure out how exactly the serum interacted this time, and then… Get rid of the evidence. If we ever decide on a magnetic superhero in the future,” She pauses to huff out a laugh as if the idea itself is absurd. “We’ll know how to replicate it — on the right person, not some random we pulled off the street.” 

Mel’s dark eyebrows tug together over wide eyes, her expression morphing as her boss’ words register. “So... Murder?” Her voice drops to a mock-whisper as she utters the last word.

“So dramatic, honestly. No, it’s…” Valentina sighs, and Mel can see her coming up with the PR appropriate wording in real time. “‘Destruction of intellectual property’. We have the documents to back it up – including a signed waiver.” She thrusts the tablet in her hands at her assistant, forcing the young woman to awkwardly stack the two devices.

“And what about…” Mel pauses, fumbling with her own device in her hands for a few more moments before squinting at the words on the screen. “Robert Reynolds? Is he… Evidence?”

Valentina heaves out a world-weary sigh, readjusting the shawl draped in an impersonation of informality over her shoulders and strutting away, leaving Mel to scramble behind her to keep up. “Ideally, we’d be doing the same to him, but certain recent events have forced me to speed up the timeline, so… No. He’s our Sentry.”

“Have you read his file? Delusions of grandeur, depression. I mean, someone that imbalanced, amplified by the treatment…? The people in the labs, they were just test subjects. They were never going to be the one.” Mel rambles as they walk towards the other end of the hall, brows drawn together in concern.

As they come to a stop at another set of doors, Valentina turns to her assistant and smooths a hand over the shawl again. “Does this look nurturing enough?”

Mel blinks, and then sighs. “Very nurturing.” She nods with a small smile, watching her boss disappear into a warmly lit room fitted with a comfy bed, where the other test subject is just starting to rouse from their tranquilizer-induced dormancy.

The pit of unease in her stomach is growing by the second – since the events at the vault, and her phone call with Bucky Barnes, her resolve towards soldiering through her job wears thinner and thinner with each thing Valentina has her deal with. This, though… Seeing the despondence on your face in that room… It may be enough to break her. 

You’ll learn later that the time you spend captivity never amounts to more than forty eight hours, and yet it feels infinite.

After Valentina leaves you, the tests continue. More pulses through the chip in your neck, more monitoring of the electromagnetic waves, more voices on the speaker asking you to do things. Reshape the metal shards. Turn the lights off. Spike the magnetic field. 

Turns out, you hadn’t done the triumphantly rebellious thing you thought you had by melting the camera in the corner – there must be more, in this room, that you can’t see, and that subtle surveillance terrifies you.

Through verbal direction and painful encouragement, you learn just how much you can actually do. Turns out magnetic waves aren’t just related to metal – you can alter the temperature, the light, cause sparks to fly, lift yourself off the ground.

The entirety of the time you spend in that room, you never once try to escape. Maybe it’s self preservation. Maybe it’s cowardice. Either way, you don’t dare try anything that might make you seem like more effort than you’re worth – and deep down, some part of you fills with shame at the satisfaction you feel as you begin to understand your powers, to feel strong. 

That feeling goes away the moment you hear cracks of gunfire in the distance. Your body freezes in place, eyes wide as you strain to hear more, but it’s too far away. Dimly, hope fills your chest that this might be someone coming to save you, but rational thought squashes that feeling immediately – who would possibly be coming for you? Who even knows you’re here. 

No one.

The sounds of fighting get louder, and you fight the urge to cower in the corner, instead choosing to use it to your advantage – if the attackers end up taking out your captors, this could be your chance to escape. Given that you aren’t shot to death the moment that door opens.

You take a deep breath, embracing the electric hum that shoots down your spine, and hold your hands out in front of you, prepared to shoot metal at whoever comes through that door.

Then – there. Muffled voices on the other side of the door. There’s a thudding sound, then another, and then the door caves in and shoots across the room.

You blink in shock as John Walker comes through the doorway, heart soaring at the sight of Ava and Yelena skidding to a stop next to him, their eyes locking onto you.

“Jesus, kid.” John curses, lowering the gun raised in front of him, his eyes narrowing as they take you in, face pinched in what could be construed as concern if you didn’t know better. Two more men appear behind the trio, but no one reacts, so you take it they’re on your side. 

“Oh,” You blink a few times, wincing at the exhaustion that seems to ricochet through your body when you relax and lower your hands. “Hey guys.” You greet dumbly, strangely self-conscious of the pose you’d been in when they’d stormed in, and of your current condition as a captive in general. “You’re… Here.” 

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get too sappy.” Ava scoffs, but you catch the way she looks warily around the room you’re in, gaze lingering on the metal shards on the floor. 

“You look like shit.” Yelena greets, and you find yourself tamping down the overwhelming urge to cry.

They came for you.

“How did you– What are you–” You fumble over your words, inundated by emotion. “Why are you here?” You settle on.

“Where’s Bob?” John ignores your questions, and you shake your head. 

“I don’t know, they separated us, I–” Focus. “Valentina, she’s turning him into a hero – turning me into one, too, I guess. Or killing me. Still not sure which.”

“Yeah, the Sentry project. That’s why you two were in the Vault.” Yelena fills in, and you nod, having remembered a lot about the trials during your time in the room, and you open your mouth to mention the serum when you’re interrupted.

“We gotta get a move on.” The dark haired man next to Ava says, and you narrow your eyes at him as recognition tugs the back of your brain. Oh– Oh, shit. That’s Bucky Barnes. 

“S-Senator.” You greet awkwardly, ducking your head towards him in some form of odd mock-bow that you immediately regret to your core as he frowns back at you. 

“Bucky,” He corrects you with a grimace and a nod, before frowning. “Are you… Okay?” 

“Yeah, no, I’m–” You cut yourself off, nodding instead and offering a thumbs up, despite the painful tingling feeling shooting down your spine after testing your powers non stop for… You have no idea how long. 

Bucky doesn’t seem to believe you, but he shrugs anyway, turning to address the others. “I’ll go up to the penthouse alone to get her, the rest of you can find this Bob guy and get him out of here–”

“No, I’ll go up there. I have a history with Valentina.” John cuts in, and Ava makes an incredulous face at him.

“I’m sorry, are you forgetting the part where she tried to burn us all alive?”

“No, which is exactly why I’m going to go up there and deal with her–” John bickers back.

“We’ll go as team, show her the mighty strength of the Thunder–” The fifth guy is smiling in a way that honestly unsettles you a bit.

“There is no team.” Bucky cuts him off, eyes squeezed shut like a parent sick of their child’s pestering. 

“Enough,” Yelena cuts in between them, warily glancing between you and the others, taking in the sheer exhaustion evident on your face. “No more splitting up, we’ll just– We’ll all go.” 

You’re sort of stunned when no one argues with her, but you can see a shift in their attitudes, a sort-of-camaraderie formed between all five of them – even though you have no clue when they managed to rope a Senator into their antics, and you still have no idea who this fifth guy is, or why he’s dressed like Santa Claus’ military cousin.

They all turn to back out of the door, and a strange warmth fills your chest at how easily you fall back into this dynamic despite how short your time together was. 

The warm feeling disintegrates as you watch them all exit the room, and your eyes widen in fear at the sight of the dividing line between your room and the hallway.

“Wait–” The word rips out of your throat in a strangled cry, just before you step beyond the threshold of the door, and one of your hands shakily grasps at Ava’s arm, fingers digging into the material of her suit as your heart leaps into your throat. “My– My neck.” 

Her dark brows pinch together, light eyes scanning your face as she tries to understand you, startled by the fear so suddenly evident in your expression. 

“There’s something– They put something in my neck, and I can’t see it, I can’t feel for–” You try again, slowing your breaths as the rest of the team look nervously at you from the hallway beyond. “Ava, can you get it out?”

Understanding dawns in her expression, the implication of what they might have done to you not needing to be said explicitly. “I can try.” She offers, and you nod fervently, deathly afraid of what might happen if you leave this room – the words ‘kill switch’ don’t exactly inspire confidence or a sense of security.

Ava clicks something on her suit, suddenly flickering in and out of visibility, and you scrunch your eyes closed as you see the air warp close to your face, tucking your face down into your chest to give her easier access. There’s a cool wash of air, a tingling, and then you crack your eyes open as she reappears in front of you.

Holding a tiny silver square in between her finger and thumb. Her mask slides off her face as she stares at the chip in her hand, before meeting your eyes and giving you a nod of reassurance. 

You bite your lip and step beyond the door, and you don’t immediately die.

A heaving sigh of relief escapes you, and you actually become lightheaded at the overwhelming release of anxiety. Then the anger fills in the space left by the fear – the worry, the pain, the frustration, it all builds, and in a moment of rage, you narrow your eyes at the chip and it shoots into the air, melting and falling to the floor in a blob of silver.

Only then do you look around and notice the shocked expressions of those around you.

“Uh…” A grimace. “Yeah, I, uh, figured it out. I guess.” You’re looking at John, referencing the conversation you’d had in those tunnels what feels like eons ago, and he shrugs, smudging the metal blob on the floor around with the tip of his boot.

“YES!” 

You jump out of your skin at the shout that comes from directly beside you, and you turn to find the man in red clapping his hands together with a ridiculous grin on his face. 

“POWERS! We are the Thunderbolts and we have powers!” The man shouts again, and you finally frown and point at him.

“Sorry, who’s–?”

“Alexei.”

“Red Guardian.”

“Yelena’s dad.”

Yelena, the man himself, and John all reply in sync, and you make an ‘oh’ sound and nod, sort of more confused than before but unwilling to ask for clarification. 

You’re grateful when no one makes any more comments on your powers, although you catch Bucky watching you out of the corner of his eye warily as he moves past you, but the looming threat of Valentina seems to preoccupy all your minds enough that you simply keep moving. 

They all head down the hallway and you fall into step behind them, warily taking in the monitors and chairs lined up outside the room you were in, obviously surveilling you. It sends a shudder down your spine.

You turn at the movement in the corner of your eye to watch John snag a grey hoodie off the back of one of the chairs, holding it out towards you wordlessly, and you take it gratefully, slipping it on over your scrubs. 

You slow down, wary of every bend in the corridor and dark corner, eyes darting back and forth as if Valentina herself is going to appear from the shadows and throw you back in that room. You approach an elevator, filing in like sardines in a can, and when the doors slide shut with a hiss, the hair on your arms stands on end.

You feel him.

That strange hum in your blood, that tug you can’t explain – it’s stronger now. More familiar. You’re getting closer to him. Your breath hitches slightly in anticipation as you rise, eventually halting at the penthouse, and then the elevator doors slide open.

You let the others step out first, admittedly hiding just a little bit behind Walker’s broad frame – it had been a good strategy back in the vault, and it seems like a good one now. The room that stretches out in front of you is all gleaming floor and floor-to-ceiling windows, shiny and new and off-putting. 

“How crazy is it to think of all the monumental fights that happened exactly here where you’re standing?” Valentina’s voice, accompanied by the sound of a bottle popping, makes you flinch – an action that doesn’t go unnoticed by your present company. When you finally see her, she’s posed casually behind the bar, pouring herself champagne. “Eh, I don’t really care. I mean the place wasn’t cheap, but it’s got good optics.”

“It’s over, Valentina. This ends today.” Bucky speaks first, striding across the room, and you watch the interaction nervously.

This is all wrong. She’s not the type to present herself to you like this, to admit defeat and go willingly. She has something up her sleeve, and even the mere thought of that has you rubbing at the back of your neck nervously. Where’s Bob? You find yourself thinking again, anxiety pinching high in your stomach.

“Congressman Barnes, wow. You know, I never really thought you’d have a promising political career, but – less than half a term? Yikes.” Valentina struts out from behind the bar, champagne glass poised in manicured fingers.

“We’re taking you in, Val.” John pitches in, and she turns to look at him, a short laugh escaping her lips. 

“I don’t think so, Junior Varsity Captain America. And I see you’ve stolen something of mine, so, I’ll be needing that back.” Her gaze coolly lands on where you cower behind John, and your blood runs cold at the way she talks about you.

The lights in the room flicker, and it takes you a second to realize it’s your anger doing that.

“Seems like you learned a few things!” Valentina calls out to you, and you grit your teeth, even as Yelena side steps ever-so-slightly in front of you. 

“How nice to see you, Ava.” Val’s eyes dart between the members of the rag-tag group in front of her. 

“Yelena,” she makes a face. “You look awful. Are you sure you’re really ready for that public-facing role that you asked me about?”

“Eat shit, Valentina.” Yelena bites back.

“Where’s Bob?” You finally pipe up, the hum in your veins stronger than ever as you look around the room nervously. “What’ve you done to him?” What if he’s hurt, or trapped, or– 

“Look at you,” Valentina ignores you. “You are all so adorable. Just think – I send you down there to kill each other, and instead, you make nice, and you form a team.” Her gaze lands on Alexei. “Who is this old Santa?”

“I’m Alexei Shostakov. The Red Guardian.”

“What?” 

“Where’s Mel?” Bucky asks, and you blink in surprise.

“Mel? Oh, Mel, yeah. Uh, Mel is having a little loyalty issue. But I’m just so grateful that she stayed long enough to lure you all in.” Valentina’s smile is lethal, even as Bucky stalks towards her and removes her glass from her hand. His hand reaches for her and then freezes, vibrating midair, and your breath catches.

“I’m not alone,” Valentina smirks, and then– “Robert?”

Bob.

You sense him before you see him, but when he finally appears at the top of the stairs, it punches the air out of you.

Golden armor hugs his frame like second skin, a long cape trailing behind him, and his hair is… Blond? He looks every bit the hero Valentina designed him to be, and it makes you sick to your stomach.

“Oh my god.” Yelena utters, and you’d agree with her if you weren’t so horrified. 

“That’s Bob…?” Bucky says.

“Yeah, he’s changed a little.” Ava answers, and you find yourself hiding slightly behind Yelena, frightened by the man in front of you. It’s all wrong. The hair, the suit, the grandiose composure as he struts down the stairs… 

He stops and stands beside Valentina, an expression plastered on her face like she’s the owner of a prize-winning dog. You suppose, in a way, she is. “It is my great honour to introduce to you the Sentry,” She presents him. “All powerful, invincible, stronger than all of the Avengers rolled into one, and soon to be known as ‘Earth’s mightiest hero’.”

You finally shake out of your stupour. His name slips past your lips, more a breath than a whisper, and his gaze snaps to yours. Bob’s jaw goes slack, something flickering behind his eyes, and he loses his composure for just a moment. 

“You’re– You’re here?” His voice stutters, glancing for a brief second over at Valentina, and in a split second, you realize how easily she got in his head.

“She told you I left.” You look between the two of them. Bob doesn’t answer – he doesn’t have to. You can see him struggling with the lie internally.

“I offered you both the chance to become something great, and you’re the only one that took it, that’s all.” Valentina continues to ignore you, addressing Bob exclusively, and you watch with disgust as he seems to accept her answer – it’s like he’s under a spell, amenable to her demands, and panic rises in your chest.

“Okay, I’ll bite – what’s the plan?” Bucky asks, eyes narrowed.

“You haven’t figured it out yet, Bucky? Jesus, well – at least you’re kind of cute.” Valentina continues to ramble.

“You are not going to hurt people.” Alexei chimes in from the back of the room.

“Oh, no! No, I’m not going to hurt people. I’m gonna hurt you,” Valentina smiles, cocking her head. “You see, the press is on their way here now, and they’re gonna witness the awesome power of Sentry – as he takes down this ruthless group of rogue agents, thus beginning a new era in which I decide how to keep the American people safe. Answering to no one. I’ll be unimpeachable.”

“That’s… Never gonna happen.” Bucky is quick to interject.

“Sentry,” Valentina orders. “Your first mission is to take out these criminals.”

Everyone seems to prepare to fight, but you frown, shaking your head. Bob looks over the group of you, eyes apologetic, and for just a moment, you see a glimpse of the person you thought you knew. 

“I don’t wanna hurt you guys,” he says. “Why don’t you just… Turn yourselves in.”

“No, you don’t wanna do this, Bobby.” John starts, and you see Bob’s expression curl in anger, eyes narrowing. 

“You can call me the Sentry.”

“Please, don’t do this. You do not need to listen to her.” Yelena pleads, and you can see his face soften slightly. 

“Robert,” Valentina interrupts him. “They don’t think you’re good enough.”

“That’s not true.” She continues, brows tugged together, and you nod beside her. “You can trust me, I know you.”

“Bob–” Your voice is desperate, pained enough to make him look at you, and the hum in your veins gets stronger. “Do you feel that?” He pauses, then nods, just once. “That’s– There’s something there, okay? Between us. Let’s just– Let’s go. Together. We can figure it out, no one has to get hurt–” 

It’s the wrong thing to say. His expression twists, like you’ve accused him of something, and he frowns. 

“You think I want to hurt people? I’m helping people. I was never–” His eyes turn soft, pained. “No one ever let me be anything but broken. At least now I’m–”

“Now you’re just owned.” You finish, trying to get through to him, to get him to see that Valentina, of all people, doesn’t care about him.

Bob flinches, and Valentina’s voice cuts through the tension, dripping with control.

“Robert, sweetie, don’t let them get in your head. These people are criminals. Traitors. You saved them once. You don’t owe them anything.”

He looks at her. Then at you. “You told me they all left.” His voice is low, clinging to control.

“I needed you focused,” Valentina says, stepping closer. “And I was right – look at what you’ve become. The world will worship you.”

Your voice is steady, but quiet. “What they’ll worship isn’t you. It’s a character.”

Bob takes a step forward – just one. The air hums around the two of you, and the rest of the team glances at each other as they can physically feel the pressure of the room increase, your powers combining dangerously as both of your eyes begin to glow.

“Bob,” You whisper, eyes shining. “You’re not– This isn’t you.”

Silence.

“Please. Come back to me.” Your voice is quiet, desperate, and his eyes snap to yours, the gold flickering out of them for just a moment – and there, underneath the blond hair and gold suit and false bravado, is your Bob. The man you met in the vault, the one that had your back and offered you words of reassurance when everything around you crumbled and burnt. 

And then it’s gone. 

“Enough talking!” Alexei shouts, and you startle, panic filling you as the moment you’d shared shatters. “No one messes with the West Chesapeake Valley Thunderbolts!” 

“No, wait–” The strangled cry flies past your lips at the sight of Alexei hurtling towards him, but it’s too late. 

Bob’s gaze snaps to the side, golden glow burning bright in his eyes again, and you know you’ve lost him.

taglist !

@s0urw00lf @lewispullsman @writeoffside @wildtigerlili @hotweeb @lina844 @beebeerockknot @spawn0fsatan @alllaboutangel @kukookuroo @hslovebot @niawoods @ghost-reine @soupiemeowmeow @moonz33 @kaylinfayezink @sugarysc @obsessedromancereader @augustjoy @starrystarrynight15 @abbyandersonslovr @yooniverse00 @billericious @silveritydreams @gmmsos @hyperfixations-go-brrr @apocalyptichero @youdontknowe @naushtheaspiringauthor @ohnogovno@woodlandwrites @skeletoonz-official @badbishsblog @leslieelaine @bmyva1entine @i-am-typing @ben-has-arrived @shondlenoodle @iceyyycapsicle @lbee13 @coffeemarie25

( if your name is on the list above, but you didn't get a notification, it means you have your tag notifications off or set to private ! )

[lilyswritings]

thot daughter: yelena  gay son: bob  boy mom: valentina girl dad: alexei weaponized incompetence uncle: walker trauma bonding aunt: bucky  black cat neighbor: ava golden retriever sister in law: mel  I can’t get away from this family: reader 

( in the meantime have this very stupid note i couldn't get out of my head after hearing that one tiktok that i feel like does a very good job at summing up the character relationships in faultline lmao )

sorry for the delay on the next part of faultline — i'm travelling right now and visiting family, but i'm working on it and hope to have it out in the next day or so ! thank you all for your patience !

[lilyswritings]

love your river and carl fics!!! you’re the best 💕

mwah mwah mwah mwah (running out of heart memes to reply with, sorry!)

[lilyswritings]

your river cartwright fic is so so good!!! literally one of the best ones out there, i hope you write more!! there’s not enough out there for him (he’s such a loser i love him)

hope your doing okay and have had a good week💕

you're the sweetest ever, thank you so much dear anon ! and don't worry, i plan on writing much more for him !

[lilyswritings]

Aksuduwodusus faultlines I need to be tagged!!!!

thank you my love ! 🫡

[lilyswritings]

tysm for writing faultline it's literally so fucking good omg lemme kiss your brain 🥀❤️❤️

everyone on this platform is too damn kind i swear

love you all ! i cannot thank you all enough for your sweet responses to faultline ! mwah mwah mwah <3

[lilyswritings]

Can i be added to the taglist for Faultline? Im OBSESSED!!🫶

you sure can ! thank you for your kind words !

[lilyswritings]

reading the new part of faultline before I sleep like it’s my bedtime story

me when i give u a lil smooch on the forehead <3

[lilyswritings]

Hey, I don't know if you get asked a lot, but what's the last chapter of Fate?

hi ! i actually don't get asked a lot — the last part published is part nineteen, which you can read here !

i will use this as an excuse to thank you all for your interminable patience with me in regards to fate — while i think it would probably be easier ( and possibly even kinder ) to stop leaving you all hanging and just cancel it, i however love it very dearly and do indeed plan on finishing it one day.

unfortunately i cannot tell you when that'll be ! just that i see your comments and messages, am so grateful for your readership, and love you all.

[lilyswritings]

F   A   U   L T L I N E .

you wake up in a vault with no recollection of how you got there, only flashes of the medical study you’d signed up for in malaysia — and come face to face with four strangers. three of them are trying to kill each other (and possibly you), and the other one is… bob.

masterlist. 

part i || part ii || part iii || part iv || part v || part vi ( or find it on AO3 here ! )

pinterest board.

find it here !

taglist.

@s0urw00lf @lewispullsman @writeoffside @wildtigerlili @hotweeb @lina844 @beebeerockknot @spawn0fsatan @alllaboutangel @kukookuroo @hslovebot @niawoods @ghost-reine @soupiemeowmeow @moonz33 @kaylinfayezink @sugarysc @obsessedromancereader @augustjoy @starrystarrynight15 @abbyandersonslovr @yooniverse00 @billericious @silveritydreams @gmmsos @hyperfixations-go-brrr @apocalyptichero @youdontknowe @naushtheaspiringauthor @ohnogovno@woodlandwrites @skeletoonz-official @badbishsblog @leslieelaine @bmyva1entine

( if your name is on the list above, but you didn't get a notification, it means you have your tag notifications off or set to private ! )

if you would like to be added to the list, please message me here !

[lilyswritings]

faultline — v.

synopsis: you wake up in a vault with no recollection of how you got there, only flashes of the medical study you'd signed up for in malaysia — and come face to face with four strangers. three of them are trying to kill each other (and possibly you), and the other one is... bob. author’s note: this chapter is a little different, but it reveals a lot about the reader and the experiments, so i hope this answers questions you guys have! i feel so-so about this part, but i'm excited to see your reactions! ( i'll be travelling tomorrow, so i would love to receive feedback/comments to look at in the airport! ) wordcount: 2,530

part i || part ii || part iii || part iv || part v || part vi

Bob Reynolds x Reader

You open your eyes to darkness. Your pulse throbs painfully in your skull, your throat rough, and you don’t know where you are or how you got here. Just… The crater. Hovering over Bob. Immense relief that he was alive. Then nothing.

You try to reach out into the darkness, and your arm hits a wall before it can even lift fully. No. This is too familiar. You press your fingers into the surfaces around you, and with rising dread, realize you’re in the same box you woke up in back in the vault. 

You kick your knees against the lid, pressing against it the same way you did in the vault, but it doesn’t give. Last time, there was a crack of light, a hiss as the seal opened, but now it’s just darkness and silence. 

Panic claws roughly at your throat, your breathing growing quicker and quicker as you start to kick, and push, and scrabble at the surfaces around you. You try to calm your breathing, try to find a rational solution, but the fear of being trapped is overwhelming. 

There’s a tingle at the base of your spine – that hum from before, the feeling akin to the buzz of electricity right before lightning strikes, and this time, you don’t pull away from it.

You close your eyes and step into it, letting it flood through your body.

The box explodes.

The lid and panels shoot up and off to the side, and when you tentatively open one of your eyes, adjusting to the intense brightness that surrounds you, what you assume to have once been the panels of the box are crumpled pieces of metal stuck to the walls around you. You exhale, and the metal pieces hit the ground, the motion startling you despite knowing somehow that you made it happen. 

Walls of tinted glass and smooth white greet you as you finally take it in, eyes squinted against the harsh fluorescents that flood the room. You shiver as you adjust to the colder temperature of the room, looking down to find yourself back in the pajamas– 

No, wait. Different ones. Pristine. A shudder wracks through your body at the realization that they redressed you. You don’t have to wonder who they are for too long – there’s a crackling sound and then a voice fills the room, coming from a speaker in the corner.

“Very well done.” A woman’s voice croons, and you squint into the camera.

“Hello?” Your voice is rough, and you have to clear your throat before you speak again. “Where the fuck am I?” A beat. “Where’s Bob?”

“You know, I was worried you’d be just another failed test, but… Looks like you’re the real deal.” The voice continues as if she didn’t hear you, and you narrow your eyes.

“Valentina, I presume.” It’s a guess, but it seems pretty obvious at this point – Valentina wanted to destroy the evidence that was in the vault. You and Bob were the evidence.

There’s a hissing sound, and you step back as one of the panels of the wall opens up to reveal the woman with the white streaks in her hair you’d seen at the entrance to the vault. She gives you a thin smile, utterly devoid of friendliness or humour, and as she steps into the room, she proceeds to read from a tablet in her hand, listing your full name, date of birth, home town, parents’ names, blood type and more, and by the time she’s done, your entire body has gone cold.

“Nice to finally meet you. I thought we might have a chat.” Valentina hums, tucking the tablet under her arm. Your eyes dart to the door behind her and she actually laughs. “Seriously, I wouldn’t bother – you’re only useful to us so long as you’re cooperating.”

“What do you want from me?” There’s an answer, a reason you’re here in the cell, alone, but you just can’t figure out her game yet. 

She sighs, as if you’re boring her, and readjusts the shawl draped over her shoulders. “You died, sweetheart. You failed the tests,” She glances over your file again. “But here you are. Living, breathing… Manipulating metal, it would seem. So. We need to know how.”

You frown. Died? No, you just– No. You blink a few times, the words scrambling your mind in your groggy state, and Valentina just lifts a brow expectantly. “No, I–” You clear your throat. “I don’t know. I don’t even know what’s happening to me, I–”

“Oh, no, we know that,” She laughs, the sound echoing off the walls in a way that feels wrong and eerie. “No, no, we’re going to find out. Here. What went wrong, what’s ‘happening to you’, as you put it… We’ll find out together.”

It sounds promising – but something inside you screams that this isn’t right, that she tried to kill you, that they took Bob– 

Bob.

“Where’s Bob?” You ask again, eyes darting to the door beyond her again. 

She sighs, loudly, then steps back into the hallway and beckons someone forward. You hesitate for a moment, your heartbeat faster at the notion she might bring Bob to you, but instead a dark haired girl enters the room with a tablet clutched in her hands, unable to look you in the eye.

“This is Mel.” Valentina waves her forwards, and you eye the girl warily as she holds her tablet out towards you. You squint at the image on the screen, unsure what you’re looking at, and then pause as it comes into focus. 

It’s security footage of a bedroom – big, plush, cast in warm light with a large bed in the middle. It looks like a high-end hotel suite. The bedroom isn’t what catches your eye, though – it’s the figure in the middle of the bed, curled up under the sheets. You recognize the tousled hair, the hunch of the posture. Bob.

“What– Why–” You try to voice your confusion. He’s in a hotel suite, and you’re in some kind of lab. Why are you separated? Can you go see him? What do they need the two of you for? There’s an abundance of questions swimming around your mind. “Why isn’t he awake?” You settle on, finally. 

“Ugh, you ask far too many questions, has anyone ever told you that? He took two darts of tranquilizer to the neck, sweetheart. That takes a while to wear off.” Valentina glances jovially over at Mel, who in turn pushes out an insincere laugh. 

“Why is he there, while I’m here?” You push. 

“It’s cute, what the two of you have going. The whole protective thing. It may end up working in your favour, actually – a duo does feel compelling, especially with such good chemistry.” Valentina smiles, and then her face goes serious again, lips pressed together in a thin line, and you can tell that you’re wearing her patience thin – but you can’t bring yourself to care.

“However, he’s in there because he’s going to be the next Avenger, and you’re here because you’re just another failed test,” Her words are serious now, deadly sharp. “For now.” She tacks on, a sinister smirk spreading on her lips. “If you want to see him, I need to know what you can do.”

“I– I don’t know what I can do,” You defend, heart rate rising as you begin to shake your head. “It’s only ever happened by accident before, I can’t– I can’t just do it.”

Valentina’s patience breaks – she tilts her head back, sighing and looking up at the ceiling for a moment, before pulling out the tablet again and holding it in front of her. It’s security footage of the room you’re in, of a box– No, wait. It’s the box you woke up in. You narrow your eyes as the box explodes on camera.

“See, that’s you. Doing it. Now, the same time this happened, there was a powerful magnetic field spike on our monitors that came from this room, so… You can do it. We know that. Now I need to control it.”

You desperately don’t want to do what she says, but if you can control it, maybe you can use it to get out of here. To find Bob. You take in a breath and reach desperately for that feeling in the back of your mind, the humming sound beginning to buzz around your brain, but you wince as it becomes too much and pull back.

“There.” Valentina’s lips crack open in a victorious grin. “That was it – do it again.”

You frown. Nothing had happened. “No, I didn’t– I couldn’t–” 

“Oh, but you did – I saw it in your eyes.” She smirks, flipping her tablet to face you, and you see yourself in grainy security footage from an elevated angle. The footage is frozen, paused on a moment just a minute ago, and– 

Your breath hitches at the sight of your eyes glowing silver. 

“This is sort of perfect, actually. Gold and silver. Yin and yang. Sun and moon. We can work with this…” She muses to herself, elegantly sweeping her hair off her shoulder. “If you give me a reason to.”

“I told you, I can’t–” 

“See, I think you can. I just think you’re too scared. But I can help.” Then, over her shoulder to Mel in the corner, she barks an order. “Do it.”

You frown in confusion until your entire body sings with energy, overwhelming your senses and lighting your nerves on fire. You open your mouth to scream, the hum from before amplifying tenfold, and suddenly, the metal table in the room fractures into shards and shoots across the room, embedding into the wall.

The feeling stops, and you fall to your knees, your skin tingling like you just got electrocuted. 

“Oh, very good.” Valentina types something on her tablet, and you go cold at the realization that she’s grinning.

“What was that?” You gasp out, shaky hand coming up to feel the back of your neck, where the feeling was the strongest. 

“Oh, that was just the chip we put in the base of your skull. Should you ever choose to act against our explicit wishes, we have a… What did we call it, Mel?”

“A kill switch.” Mel answers from the corner, and your mouth goes dry.

“Right, yes, a kill switch,” Valentina smiles down at you. “Using an electric pulse. But someone on my team theorized that the pulse could encourage your powers to show, and, well, here we are!” 

Horror dawns in you, icy fingers creeping up your throat, as you realize just how much of a pawn you are in their game. A test subject, and nothing more. You sag down even further, sitting back on your heels as you stare blankly at the floor. 

“Oh, don’t look so morbid, we won’t use it if we don’t have to! You were expensive to make, sweetheart,” Valentina’s attempt at reassurance only causes a shudder to ripple through you at the notion of being made. “Besides, look, your lab results are in! You, my dear, seem to affect the electron– electromo– Mel, what does that say, the font’s too small.” She says, holding her tablet out to the younger woman, who mutters something before stepping back again. 

“Electromagnetism.” She spits each syllable out, making a face as if she’s just learned a cool new fact and isn’t discussing the genetic alteration of a human being. 

“I– What?” You frown, unable to understand anything that’s been said beyond the fact that there’s a chip in your neck that can kill you at any moment. 

“The tests were supposed to make you fly and be invincible, but you’re just magnetic,” She makes a humming sound, narrowing her eyes at you and tilting her head, yet somehow completely ignoring you.

“We can work with that. I think. You’ll need a little more R&D before you’re ready to go public, though,” At this point, it seems Valentina is talking to herself – you don’t even need to be in the room. “We already have the Sentry costume down, and– Oh, yes, a name. Mel, have a team get on that. Something… Passive. Defensive.” 

“Wait– I don’t– I’m not–” You try to speak multiple times during Valentina’s monologue, but after a few tries you get frustrated. Angry. “Stop.” 

She blinks at you, the look in her eyes like you’d just keyed her car and called her a name, but your chest feels tight and your head is spinning. 

“I don’t want to be… Whatever this is. I don’t want R&D, or a costume, or a name. I just want– I want to go home.” You finally voice it – the thing that’s been tugging at you, ripping your heart open and raw this whole time. You just want to go home. You’re sick of superheroes and assassins and OXE group and Valentina. You’re done.

Both of the women in the room blink at you – Valentina, like she still can’t believe you talked, and Mel, wide-eyed like she’s waiting for Valentina to kill you on the spot. She may not be wrong, you think nervously. 

“Oh, that’s cute. You think you have a choice in this,” Valentina’s voice is smooth and cold. “You’re evidence, sweetheart. So here’s your choice: you either go back in the shredder, or you play by our rules and get to be worshipped as a god. I’ll leave you to pick.” She whispers the last part conspiratorially, before she whirls around and disappears, Mel in tow. 

You sink to the floor and curl in on yourself the moment the women are gone – you know the cameras are watching, but there’s literally nothing you can do. You had thought being in an incinerator was the scariest moment of your life, but this feels so much worse. 

Some time passes, and you don’t know how, but you know the moment Bob wakes up – you just know. It’s like half of you just woke up – like you just unlocked the other part of yourself that was lying dormant since he’d crashed from the sky. 

You lift your head from the floor, narrowing your eyes at the shards of metal still embedded in the wall, and lean into the part of you that just awoke. 

The shards fly out of the wall and hover in the air. The humming sensation fills you again, the spark under your skin coming to life as you concentrate, leaning into the discomfort of the feeling. The shards fly together, and when you blink and exhale, they drop to the floor in a solid round ball of metal, rolling slowly across the room. 

You focus again, and the ball rises, morphing until it’s liquid – which you promptly aim at the camera, covering it and melting it too. 

When you’re done, a sheen of sweat has broken out all over your body, and your muscles feel spent – but some part of you hums with energy. Some part of you feels unlocked. Reclaimed.

You won’t be a pawn for them. They turned you into this, and you’re going to use it against them.

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[lilyswritings]

THE CARL AND RIVER FICS, chef's kiss MWAH!! THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL AND YOU ARE AN AMAZING WRITER 🫶🏽✨️ I can't wait for more!! If you do them!

Have a great day!

-🐻

this is literally me rn bc my amazing readers are the sweetest people alive and i would be nothing without them ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

but seriously, i'm so so so glad you enjoyed reading them !

i had so much fun writing for both carl and river ( you all know me, i love my disaster men with hearts of gold ) so if you guys want more, i'd be over the moon to write more for them !

your kind messages/comments/reblogs/tags are literally what fuel me these days, so thank you !

[lilyswritings]

almost.

synopsis: three times you almost kiss river cartwright... and one time you do. author’s note: giggled and kicked my feet the whole entire way through writing this — you'll understand once you've read it! do i have four other river fics currently in my drafts? yeah, maybe! i had so much fun writing this. wordcount: 3,402

River Cartwright x Reader

The lock on the door you’re currently trying to pick is old enough to be stubborn, but not old enough to be easy. The only light you have to work from is the dim yellow street lamp above you, casting long shadows on the ground, and your knees are beginning to scream from where the rough concrete of the narrow alley digs into them through your jeans. 

River crowds over you, shielding you from the busy street beyond as he watches you work. It’s beginning to get on your fucking nerves, to be honest, his sharp blue eyes honed in on the movement of your fingers as you work at the lock.

“Why don’t you try–”

“For fuck’s sake.” You sigh heavily, not even sparing him a look as he starts to backseat lockpick. 

“I’m just suggesting–”

“Did I ask for suggestions?”

“No, but this doesn’t seem to be your strong suit–” 

You scoff. “Oh, like it’s yours? You could barely–”

“At least I was getting somewhere, you’re taking ages–”

“You rushed into it and nearly snapped the pick in the fucking lock!”

“Big talk for someone losing a fight with a door.” He mutters under his breath.

You fix him with your coldest, darkest scowl, opening your mouth to retort when the pick slips and embeds itself into one of your fingers, a hiss escaping your lips before you can stop it. 

“What did you do?” His tone flips, immediately alert and concerned. 

“Nothing.” You mutter, tucking your hand behind your back like a scolded child when he crouches beside you, too close for you to ignore. 

“Which means something.”

“I’m fine–”

“Show me.” River’s voice is firm, inarguable, and you roll your eyes but hold out your hand anyways, muttering something about his dramatics. 

Blood beads against your skin, and his jaw ticks. “Think I’ll live?” You snark, but he’s too busy digging around in his pocket to reply, and when his hand emerges, he’s producing a crumpled takeaway napkin. 

“That’s disgusting.” Your nose wrinkles and you instinctively pull your hand away, even as he takes your wrist, firm and careful, wrapping the napkin tight around your finger.

“Yeah, well, it’s better than dripping DNA all over the door, isn’t it?” He mutters, fingers brushing yours as he knots the makeshift bandage, his head dipping close enough that his breath ghosts your hand. “There. That’ll do for now. But clean it off and change it as soon as you can.”

You shove down the warmth that floods you at the care, unable to think of a proper retort to throw at him as you go back to working at the lock, and finally, finally, there’s a dull clicking sound– and the door eases open. 

You let out the breath you didn’t realize you were holding, looking up to smirk at River, who just rolls his eyes and ushers you into the building. Once inside, you both click on your torches, scanning the darkened security office before you in sync.

“Shit.” River hisses beside you, and you can’t help but agree with him – the office is deserted. Not just empty, but emptied – drawers hanging open, desks cleared, pieces of torn paper littering the ground. Your heart sinks at the realization that the two of you are too late.

“Fuck’s sake.” You groan, fully aware that Lamb is going to flay you alive for fucking this up. Before you can delve too far into your pity party, though, there’s the distant sound of a door closing, and you and River lock eyes. 

Footsteps echo in the hall, and you look around the room frantically. The desks and cabinets are too thin to hide behind, the door to the exterior leads to a dead-end alleyway– 

River grabs you by the hand, tugging you towards the wall to the left, and before you know it, he’s tugged the two of you into a supply closet, easing the door closed behind him and boxing you in. 

Your back hits a metal shelf and you jerk forwards to avoid knocking anything over, instead stepping directly into River’s space, and his hand darts forward and settles on your waist to steady you. Your breath hitches in your throat from panic (among other things), your eyes adjusting ever-so-slowly to the darkness of the closet as the footsteps get closer and closer.

“I heard something, I’m telling you.” Someone barks, their voice gruff, and you glance over at River. His head is turned towards the door, angling his ear to hear better, and you really really need to keep your mind on the danger at present instead of how good his side profile looks. 

“No one here, idiot.” Another voice, and then– 

“Wait, is that–?” A third person. You lock wide eyes with River, knowing that he’s thinking the same thing you are – you’re officially outnumbered should it come to a fight. He raises a finger to his lips, only barely visible from the sliver of light coming through the door, and you nod, holding your breath as footsteps get nearer. 

You’re so close you can feel his breathing get heavier, the rise and fall of his chest grazing your own as you swallow your fear. If they open that door you’re both so fucked. 

He leans closer to you, one hand moving to slip past you as the hand on your waist digs in slightly, and your brain all but short circuits. You give him a bewildered look as his face gets closer to you, both delighted and yet utterly baffled at his idea that now is a good time for a first kiss, when he pulls back suddenly and you catch a glimpse of the can of bug spray in his hand – that he just got off the shelf behind you.

He cocks his head, an apologetic expression on his face, and you push down the disappointment that swells in your chest. He holds the spray in front of him, obviously intent on blinding whoever opens the door, just in time to hear voice number two speak.

“Fucking hell, a chocolate bar?”

“It’s just sitting there, and I’m hungry.” The third voice retorts, and then the footsteps retreat down the hall, their bickering fading into silence. The two of you stay frozen for much longer than necessary, the warmth of his hand on your waist searing into your skin and spreading through you rapidly. 

In the thin spill of light under the door, his eyes catch yours – bright, sharp, something dangerous simmering there. For a second, it feels inevitable. His eyes slide down your face in a way that makes your breath hitch in your throat, and– 

“Bug spray? Really?” The quip leaves your lips before you can stop it, effectively shattering the tension in the closet as he rolls his eyes and steps away from you, opening the door and peeking out. 

“What were you gonna use, your torch?” He bites back, holding the door open for you once he’s deemed it safe, and you stifle the grin that threatens to spread across your face. 

That smile is wiped entirely off your face moments later when you call Lamb to let him know the office was cleared out when you got there. “MI-fucking-useless, the lot of you.” He says as he hangs up, before you can even describe the men that were in there, and you squeeze your eyes shut and fight the urge to smash your phone on the pavement. 

“Told you he was proud of you, did he? Great work and all that?” River meets your gaze from across the alleyway, his voice dripping with sarcasm, and you nod, sucking in a deep breath. 

“Come on, let’s see if Roddy can track their movements – maybe we can unfuck this by finding out where they went.” You jerk your head towards the main road where he’d parked the car.

“I’m not calling him.” River calls, and your jaw drops.

“I called Lamb!” You retort. 

“Roddy doesn’t do favours for me.” He shrugs as he climbs into the driver’s seat. 

“Yeah, he only does them for me ‘cause he wants to get in my pants.” You groan, sliding into the passenger seat, and River simply shrugs again, though you can see the corners of his mouth curling in the passing light from the streetlamps.

Roddy is, unfortunately, helpful – he follows the men on CCTV into a gray van, tracking the license plate of the van to a house not too far away. You give River the address and chew on your lip the whole drive there, worried you’ll be too late again, but when you ease the car into a quiet stop on the side of the road, the van is parked in the driveway.

By the time you’ve pulled in, the skies have opened and sheets of British rain lash down at the car, effectively striking out any notion you might’ve had about getting out of the car and trying to do surveillance on foot. You shoot Lamb a text to update him, rolling your eyes as the text registers as ‘seen’ without an actual reply. 

River’s car is small enough that you keep bumping arms with him every time you shift in your seat, the suspense and tiredness of the night making you restless, and by the end of the first hour of the stakeout, you swear he’s starting to lean his elbow on your side of the center console deliberately.

“Keep to your side.” You grumble, knocking his arm back. 

“Stop fucking wriggling.” Is his reply, not even looking at you as he scrubs a hand over his stubble and glares out of the window. 

The house is quiet, the windows dark, and you’re beginning to wonder if you’ve been sent on a wild goose chase. By the second hour, your eyes are beginning to feel heavy, the rain battering the car only serving to add to your tiredness.

“First to fall asleep has to write the report.” River comments from beside you, and when you groan and look over at him he’s already watching you out of the corner of his eye.

“This is a dead fucking end.” You complain, readjusting in your seat, and he shrugs.

“Maybe. But if we ditch now Lamb’ll never let us hear the end of it.” 

You heave out a sigh, knowing he’s right, folding your arms over your chest and squinting out into the darkness beyond. The silence after hums heavier than it should, his arm brushing yours when he shifts, pressing firmer into yours and staying there. You don’t shove it away this time.

“You still have that napkin on?” His voice breaks the comfortable silence, and you frown, glancing down at where your hand rests next to the gear stick, the napkin spotted with dried blood still firmly wrapped around your finger.

“It’s fine.” You tuck it into your fist, hiding it from his gaze, ignoring the fact that he’s looking at you. 

“Just– Don’t let it get infected.” His voice is lower now, softer. Almost like he cares.

You don’t answer, and neither does he – not for a while. It feels like the two of you are holding your breath without even knowing why, the only sound in the car the dull patter of rain on the roof.

“Wait, what’s– Look, there.” River’s voice is barely above a whisper as he points towards the second floor window, and you have to squint and lean forward to make out the window through the rain. 

“I don’t see–” You frown, scanning the house.

“No, look, that one.” He gestures again, and you narrow your eyes, having to lean into his side of the car to try and get a better look. There is, in fact, a light on in one of the windows now. 

“Okay, so someone’s in there, it doesn’t mean–” You turn to tell him off but freeze when you realize you’ve placed your face inches from his own, too focused on the outside of the car to notice.

River seems to do the same, blue eyes darkened in the dim light from the streetlamp, and neither of you move. His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows, and you watch his eyes dart down to your lips and then back up again, as if debating himself internally.

Fuck it, you think, heart pounding in your chest as months of these moments together build up in your mind, and you lean in, his breath ghosting over your face, mere centimetres from– 

Your phone rings, lighting up the darkness inside the car and shattering the silence, and you swear to god your eye twitches at the interruption. 

You and River jolt backwards from each other, as if caught in the act, and you scramble for your phone with shaky fingers and answer the call. You can just make out the pink flush on his cheeks as you hold the phone up to your ear, but are immediately distracted as the voice of Lamb on the other end begins to speak. 

You miss the way River bites back his smile at your annoyance, watching your face scrunch with increasing irritation the longer the phone call goes on, barely managing to get in any responses besides ‘yes’, ‘wait’, and ‘no sir’, eventually hanging up and dropping the phone into your lap with a huff. 

“Lamb’s calling off the surveillance,” You meet River’s eyes, your previous shared moment disintegrated entirely by the irritation you both feel. “Apparently he sent Louisa to gather other intel, and they found enough that they don’t need us to watch them anymore.”

River tugs his bottom lip in between his teeth, obviously frustrated. “Right, so we just–”

“Return to Slough House and make a report, yeah. Three hours of surveillance for fuck all.” You dig the heels of your palms into your eye sockets, shoving back the fury and waking yourself up.

“Fucking dickhead.” River curses as he puts the car into drive, and you’d have to agree with him.

Slough House in the wee hours of the morning is deadly silent and starkly lit by fluorescents, and you really don’t think you want to find yourself here at four in the fucking morning ever again. You’re never usually the first one in, that’s always Catherine and Lamb (mostly because you’re fairly certain he sleeps here) but you and River had wanted to get the report filed so you could actually go home and rest.

The two of you collapse into your desks in your shared office, River bagsying the report on the surveillance (i.e. a couple sentences that summarize all the nothing you saw), and you’re left to type up the office break-in; detailing the interior, descriptions of the men, and your intel from Roddy.

You make a cup of tea and then get to work, fingers pounding the keys like they’ve personally offended you, but you’re tired and more than a little distracted from certain situations you’d found yourself in earlier, so you end up writing a few sentences over and over before they actually make any sense.

Across the office, River pretends to focus on his work and fails spectacularly.

“If you stare any harder my desk might just burst into flames.” You speak without looking up, watching River duck his head back down in your peripheral.

“Just wondering why it’s taking you so long to write up the report.”

“Quality takes time, which is not something I’d expect you to understand.” 

“Oh, so that’s how it is.” You can hear the smile in his voice, but there’s something else there, something you don’t dare read into while you’re trying to describe the unique vocal inflections of the men in the warehouse.

“That’s how it is.” You smirk.

The words settle into a strange silence between you, and you press the delete key a little harder than necessary just to shatter it.

“You’re still wearing that bloody napkin, aren’t you?” 

You open your mouth to call him a mother hen and tell him to back off, but the words die on your tongue when he suddenly appears beside your desk.

“Let me see.” He crouches beside your chair, and your cheeks flush involuntarily.

“River–” 

He rolls his eyes, holding his hand out expectantly, and you place your hand in his faster than you’d care to admit, watching him unwind the napkin gently. When it falls away and reveals the cut from earlier, red and slightly swollen, he fixes you with a pointed look.

“I told you to clean it hours ago.”

“I was kind of busy, if you hadn’t noticed.”

“Do you always have to get the last word in?” He sighs, standing back up, and you scoff.

“What, did you have more medical knowledge to tell me off with?” You blink up at him, eyebrows raised, and he runs a hand through his hair, looking away from you as if searching for the strength to deal with you, and you turn back to your monitor. 

“You’re insufferable.” He counters, finally, and you scoff, finishing up a sentence.

“Oh, I’m–” 

Your breath hitches when you go to look at him and realize he’s bent at the waist, his face mere inches from your own. The world beyond fades away when he leans in slowly, his hand cupping the edge of your jaw, fingers warm against your skin as he meets your eyes, searching for your reaction, blue eyes fierce but soft, and you lean–

The door bangs open.

You jerk back so hard your chair makes a metal squealing noise. River straightens like a soldier caught, both your eyes snapping over to the doorway. 

“Well, well, well,” Lamb’s voice drips like oil. “If it isn’t MI5’s answer to Romeo and bloody Juliet.”

This cannot be happening right now, you think, begging to any deity that will listen that this is some kind of twisted nightmare and not your living reality.

“Christ,” Lamb mutters, grin splitting his face open as he looks between the two of you. “What’s all this, then? Dry-humping over duty logs? Filing reports as foreplay?”

“Fuck off.” River snaps, ears pink.

Lamb’s wolfish grin grows wider. “Oh, don’t mind me, just pretend I’m not here! Same way I’m going to pretend you’re not turning this place into a knocking shop.”

He turns and disappears down the stairs, muttering about HR complaints and disinfectant until you hear the creaky metal front door swing shut behind him.

The silence after is a live wire. Your pulse hammers in your ears, but slowly, the blazing heat in your cheeks starts to dissipate, the mortification burning under your skin lessening ever so slightly as you look back up at River, who’s staring at the empty doorframe like he can set it on fire with his mind.

You can feel the moment you cast caution to the wind, the various almosts of the night driving any rational course of action out of your mind. Fuck it. You clear your throat, feeling fiendish. 

“Where were we?”

His eyes cut to you, wide at first, then narrow and dark and full of things that do not belong in this room. His mouth curves, wicked and quiet, bending back down until he’s hovering right above your face, dimples forming on his cheeks that betray his attempt to hide a growing smile as he places a hand on the back of your chair, boxing you in. 

“Nowhere good.” River says like it’s a promise, and finally (finally) seals his lips against yours. The kiss is sweet but full of fervour, both of you feeling the frustrations of the evening come to a head, his hand sliding up the back of your skull and tangling into your hair. 

You wrap your fingers in the front of his coat, pulling him down to you, and he nearly stumbles at the action but at the last second rests his knee on your chair, between your thighs, to steady himself. The action makes goosebumps erupt across your skin, and you make up your mind then and there.

“My place is closer than yours.” You utter when you break away for air, not even waiting for him to ask the question, and he huffs out a laugh against your neck, the sound causing warmth to flood your body.

“Lead the way.” He mutters against your skin, and you beam.

[lilyswritings]

Bro I can’t wait for the next chapter it’s so good need you to work double time fr on it ( im inpatient when it comes to a good story ) SCSJSJWIWIEJEBENDJDISB

wow wow wow wow, i'm actually blown away — you guys are literally the sweetest ever, your comments and asks have me smiling like a fool !!

thank you again for all your kind words and support, i literally could not do this without you all <3

( and i promise i'm working as fast as i can ! )

[lilyswritings]

genuinely unironically giggling and kicking my feet as i write this river cartwright fic it's sooooooo over