#( this is a mess of a post but i'm gonna. go on an almost midnight walk ! )

[guiltyasdave]

like snow on the beach

pairing: Javier Peña x f!reader

word count: ~2.8k

summary: You're on a work trip with your boss, who you don't like and who you're convinced doesn't like you either. Unfortunately, there's only one bed.

tags/warnings: only one bed trope (ayyyy), fluff, idiots in love, alternating povs, reader has hair that drips down her neck after showering at one point but there are no texture or color descriptors, able-bodied reader, no use of y/n, my nonexistent knowledge of colombian geography which i'm asking you to ignore for the sake of this silly story THANK YOU

a/n: my entry for the summer lovin' challenge brought to us by queens @pedgito, @chaotic-mystery and @amanitacowboy <3 i got the moodboard you see in the header and the location by the water. i'm also posting a little early but i'm too excited and it's almost midnight here so i think it's gonna be fine hehe

biggest love to @sizzlingcloudmentality who held my hand through writing this and patiently listened to all my complaints lol. i love drinking more caffeine than pedro and writing with you while getting distracted by cats <3

dividers by @plum98!

find my full masterlist here and follow @guiltyasdavenotifs to get notified when i post a new fic :)

You’re hot, too hot. 

It’s disorienting, as you blink awake, slow to get your bearings. Arms are wrapped around you, caging you in, engulfing you in the warmth of the body pressed against your back. Hot air is fanning against your neck, accompanied by a scratching sensation on the sensitive skin. 

Your surroundings are unfamiliar, faded wallpaper in an unappealing shade of green and light filtering in through the battered up blinds. It comes back to you in pieces, the motel you’re staying at, the small Colombian town where you’re hoping to get a hold of one of the Cali cartel men. 

The obnoxious scent of Peña’s aftershave is flooding your nostrils, paired with the traces of tobacco that follow him everywhere he goes. It’s honestly embarrassing, how easily you recognize it.

It clicks into place now. The arms around you, the warmth. The scratch that you now realize is his mustache as he’s breathing against your neck.

You start wriggling around, causing the man behind you to stir, a confused groan coming out slightly muffled, his mouth still so close to your skin. He lets go of you after a second, allowing you to turn around and glare at him. 

His face is already forming his signature annoyed scowl, an expression that you’re more than well acquainted with.

“What the hell are you doing?!” 

He sounds different like this, voice still thick with sleep, a hint of the disorientation that you’ve shaken off by now. 

“What am I doing? I woke up with your arms around me, Peña.” 

He blinks, shifting to sit up and lean against the headboard. You mirror him, putting as much space between you as the rather small bed frame allows. 

“Sorry,” he allows after a beat, running a hand through his hair, tousling the mess of black strands that has formed in his sleep. “That wasn’t… appropriate. I apologize.” 

If you weren’t as annoyed right now, you’d probably think that he looks adorable like this. The you from a few months ago would most likely go wild at seeing Javier Peña right after waking up, after he held you in his arms no less. 

The you from a few months ago hadn’t experienced what an asshole of a boss he could be yet, hadn’t been taken off investigations again and again, because Peña thought you weren’t ready. She also hadn’t heard about his terrible reputation with women, hadn’t been subjected to all the office gossip that surrounded him yet. 

Now, after days of practically begging him to take you along on this trip because the whole investigation was based on information that you had gathered, you’re stuck in this motel room with him. Something about your booking of two single rooms accidentally having been processed as one double room, with no other rooms available because of course there weren’t. 

Peña had offered to sleep on the ground, or in the car, but you had waved him off, thinking about how often he had complained how his back was getting worse the older he got on the drive here. You hadn’t expected to wake up to him all but wrapped around you. 

Maybe a small, very small part of you is still going wild about it. A part that you can easily swallow down though. He’s objectively attractive, yes. Doesn’t change the fact that he’s an asshole.

“Just forget it,” you mumble, heat rising belatedly in your cheeks. Gathering your clothes for the day, you flee to the bathroom, eager to wash the whole decidedly weird situation off your body and out of your mind. You’re here because you have a job to do, not to get flustered around your boss. 

When you reemerge, wet strands of your hair dripping down your neck, he’s already dressed, clasping his hands in a way that almost seems nervous. If you weren’t pretty convinced that Javier Peña isn’t physically able to get nervous. 

“I– I’m really sorry,” he repeats, raising from the worn down arm chair he’s been sitting in. “I didn’t mean to put you in an uncomfortable position. I’m not– I’m not exactly used to sharing a bed.”

A scoff leaves you at that. Sure, Agent Peña, who’s notorious for sleeping with his informants and with at least half of the female staff of the American embassy, isn’t used to sharing his bed. 

“Don’t worry about it, Peña.” 

You turn away before he can reply, collecting your notes on the investigation that you hope will come in helpful eventually. You don’t catch the remorseful look in his eyes, or the way they linger on you as you open the door, the early morning light illuminating your figure.

It’s another day filled with nothing but waiting and growing frustration, just like the one before. The sun is beating down on the car that you’re occupying, the heat suffocating even with the windows rolled down and the cool bottle of water that you’re pressing against your neck.

Minutes tick by, turning into hours that go by too quickly and seem to last forever at the same time. Peña is surprisingly quiet, not goading you in the way you had expected him to. 

“Maybe the information was bad,” you mumble eventually, sinking deeper into the car seat. The leather is sticking uncomfortably to your skin and you can’t shake the growing feeling that you’ve insisted on coming out here for nothing.

He slowly turns his head in your direction, regarding you through the dark tint of his aviators. 

“I looked at it. We wouldn’t be here if it was bad.” 

You huff, your patience running short and shorter at the subtle indication of his superiority, his quiet arrogance, always so fucking sure of himself.

“You weren’t exactly thrilled about coming here, remember?”

He raises a brow, a hint of impatience on his own features.

“I wasn’t thrilled about you coming here.” 

You roll your eyes, openly scowling at him now. 

“It’s my intel.”

“Doesn’t make it less dangerous, does it?” 

Biting your lip, you force your blood to not boil over. He’s still your boss, at the end of the day, someone you probably shouldn’t start cussing out, no matter how openly he underestimates you and how badly it annoys you. And you’re gonna have to share that wretched bed with him again tonight. 

Javier watches your face, watches you swallow down your anger, watches your teeth digging into your plush bottom lip. He understands your frustration, understands that no part of this trip is turning out the way you expected it to. 

You’re still new to the workfield, not yet experienced with the hours upon hours of waiting, more often than not without a satisfying result to show for it. If he’s being honest with himself, he isn’t mad about it this time. He’ll rather have you frustrated than in danger. 

You want to prove yourself, you’ve made that abundantly clear. You work hard, determined to bring in results, hungry for praise. It’s not that he doesn’t see that, doesn’t think that you’re capable. But he’s seen enough, enough injuries, enough psychological trauma, enough deaths, to know that he wants you far away from that side of your work. 

Even if that means you’re angry at him more often than not, a glint of bitterness in your eyes every time he refuses to send you out yet again. 

After another few hours, accompanied by the increasing rumbling in both your stomachs, he finally calls it quits for the day. 

“We can drive back to Bogotá tomorrow,” he quietly offers on the way back to the motel, after picking up food for the both of you and refusing to let you pay for your share. “Gather more information, see why we didn’t find anything.”

You huff in return, irritated about the whole situation. The one chance you had to convince him to take you seriously, and this is what you get. “Fine,” you agree, gritting your teeth. Maybe your intel was bad. Maybe you just aren’t that good at your job.

“Keep to your side of the bed tonight,” you grumble later, after the bored woman at the reception told you that there still aren't any other rooms available. 

“Of course,” he sighs, sliding under the covers with the biggest possible distance from you.

You nod, closing your eyes and willing for sleep to take you, but it’s a losing game. You toss and turn, feeling both too hot and too cold at the same time, unable to find a comfortable position and to get the voices in your head to shut up. 

When you roll over yet again, his voice rings through the dark, somewhat agitatedly asking what’s wrong. 

“Nothing,” comes your frustrated reply, pressing your face deeper into the cushion, your eyes squeezed shut. After a few more breaths and zero sign of your brain slowing down, you turn towards him, only able to make out his silhouette in the dark. Your judgment is probably hazy with how tired you are, but the words are out of your mouth before you can think them over.

“Can I ask you a question, Agent Peña?” 

“Javier is fine.” 

Your heart gives a tiny flutter, despite your conflicted feelings about him, despite the question that you’re about to ask. 

“Why do you not like me?” 

It’s inappropriate, especially right now, lying in the dark and sharing a fucking bed with him. But you think that if you don’t ask now, you probably never will, and you need to know. 

“Why would you think that I don’t like you?” 

You huff, squinting at him. “It’s pretty obvious. You don’t trust my work, you never send me to go out, dismiss my intel most of the time–” 

It’s silent for a long time, safe for his quiet breaths. 

“That’s not–” He sighs deeply, turning his head towards you as well. “That’s not true. You’re making it about yourself when you shouldn’t. I treat you exactly like your colleagues, you’re the one taking it personal.” 

It’s curt, dismissive. Laced with carefully feigned indifference, bordering on coldness. Too carefully. You didn’t think he’d lie to you if you asked him this directly, but here you are. 

Blinking back angry tears, you roll onto your back again, unseeingly staring at the ceiling. You don’t understand why it hits you like this. You’ve had shitty bosses before, far worse than Peña. You’ve just never wanted them to like you the way you want him to. 

“Good night, Agent Peña.” You turn onto your other side, your back towards him. 

“Good night,” comes his solemn reply. 

You don’t wake up with his arms around you again, thankfully, but he hasn’t exactly kept to his side of the bed either. One hand is curled over your shoulder, like he had to reach out and hold onto you in his sleep. 

You’re the one taking it personal. 

Clearly he hasn’t been reaching for you specifically. It’s probably just second nature for him, something that usually goes well with the women sharing his bed. 

You’re able to shake his hold off without waking him up, something that you’re grateful for. 

When he wakes and repeats how he thinks you should abandon the investigation, you don’t argue. It’s a quiet affair, packing up and getting ready to leave. 

Sitting in the driver’s seat, he turns to you, his brow furrowed into that moody expression you’ve gotten used to. “I’ve been thinking,” he begins, eyeing you warily. “We’re not far from the ocean right now. Have you been to the beach since you came to Colombia?” 

You raise an eyebrow in mild suspicion, curious where he’s going with this. 

“I haven’t been out of Bogotá since I landed there. But–” 

His eyes grow softer, his hand twitching like he almost reached out towards you. 

“No buts. At least then it won’t have been a total waste of time to come here, right?” 

The dig towards you, towards the reason you drove all the way out here for nothing isn’t lost on you. You don’t have it in you to argue against it, so you just nod, staring straight ahead. 

Javier realizes how badly you misunderstood his words as soon as they’re out of his mouth and he sees your face. He doesn’t know how he consistently manages to fuck up his interactions with you like this. It’s not him, the blundering, the words constantly coming out all wrong, but you make him nervous in a way that he hasn’t experienced in years. 

He starts driving, hopeful to somehow still be able to turn this trip around. There’s a whole day on the road ahead of them, and he’d much rather spend those hours without feeling like he’s made you hate him. 

You do soften at the sight of the ocean, the sound of waves rolling against the shore having a soothing effect almost instantly. It’s beautiful, the water a brilliant blue, the sun glittering on the surface. You can’t be mad right now, not even at Javier, who’s keeping his distance, letting you wander along the shore by yourself. 

You focus on taking in the scenery, hoping to somehow take it with you to when you’re back in your bleak, government issued apartment, staring at the vastness of gray buildings that is of Bogotá. 

When you turn back to him, his eyes are already on you, less tense, more open than you’re used to. You don’t know how long they’ve been lingering on you, how little attention he had been paying to the nature surrounding you. How good it had felt, to see you like this, without the usual distaste in your face that you have come to regard him with most of the time. The silhouette of you against the bright sky, your skin glowing under the beaming sun. 

“Thank you,” you say, actually smiling at him. A spark of warmth grows in his chest. “This was a good idea, I– I enjoyed it.” 

“I’m glad.” He eagerly returns the smile, allows himself to reach out and graze one finger against the soft skin of your hand. Finding himself unable to stop touching you, now that he’s had a taste of it.

Confusion crosses your face before you quickly avert your eyes, but you don’t pull away. It gives him a sliver of hope, that maybe you’re starting to understand what he doesn’t know how to tell you. 

After a mostly quiet drive back, both of you too exhausted to talk much, Javier drops you off at your apartment, his hand once again hovering over yours before you get out. 

“Good night,” he breathes, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. After a moment of hesitation, he continues on. “You– you’re doing good work. Don’t beat yourself up over this, okay?” 

You manage a nod, murmuring thank you, Javier before opening the car door and stepping out onto your street, illuminated by the glow of yellow lights. You only realize that you used his first name by the time that your apartment door falls shut behind you. It doesn’t bother you as much as you thought it would. 

Breathing in the familiar scent of your own place, a deep relief washes over you, reveling in the knowledge that you’re gonna sleep in your own bed tonight, alone. You turn on your shower, eager to let the warm water soothe your muscles, stiff from spending the entire day in a car. 

When you exit the bathroom, wrapped into a towel and with a cloud of steam accompanying you, your answering machine is blinking. You press the button to let the message play, moving through your apartment to put on your comfiest sleepwear and ready to fall straight into bed. 

You stop in your tracks when Javier’s voice rings through the room, tripping over the words in a way that’s difficult to associate with the calm, self-assured man that you know. 

“Hey, it’s Javier. You– you’re probably showering, or already asleep. I just– I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings these past days, or– or any day, really. I wanted you to know that. You’re good at what you do, you really are, but– I worry about you, I guess. And I know that I shouldn’t, that I shouldn’t treat you differently. It’s– it’s not because I don’t like you. I like you too much, if anything, and– and now I know what it’s like to sleep next to you, and– anyway, I’m– shit, I’m making a fool of myself. Just– just call me back. Please.”

Your hand finds your phone as soon as the recording ends.

thank you for reading! as always, reblogs, comments and asks are love and absolutely make my day <3

[thisapplepielife]

Written for the @steddieholidaydrabbles December challenge.

Go With This

Prompt Day 30: New Year's Eve | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: M | CW: Underage Drinking, Weed, Off-Screen Sex While Under the Influence | Tags: Post S4, Eddie Munson Lives, New Year's Eve Party, All the Teens, Kissing at Midnight, Getting Together, Morning After, Eddie POV

"Gareth, no!" Eddie screams, as he steps through the doorway, but it's too late. The bottle of champagne pops open, exploding all over Steve's kitchen.

"Oh, fuck!" Gareth says, trying to control the spray, but it's useless. He's making it worse instead of better. Gareth didn't shake it up on purpose, but Eddie watched him poking at the cork with his pocket knife and knew something bad was gonna happen.

Gareth is flailing around, shouting, "I'm sorry!"

Steve's already waving him off, grabbing a towel off the counter, then some paper towels, and finally the mop for good measure. It's going to be a goddamn sticky mess when it dries, that's for damn sure. 

"It's okay," Steve says, but Eddie can see that his jaw is tense, clenched. 

They didn't even ask if they could have New Year's Eve here at his house, they all just decided that's what they were doing, and made Steve go with it.

Eddie gets down and tries to help wipe it up, but he's pretty faded. Argyle brought the good shit, and Eddie's been going out back with him and Jonathan all night long.

But, Steve smiles at him, so maybe Eddie isn't on Steve's shit-list.

The ball drops, and it's 1987. He made it through 1986, thank fucking Christ. Eddie watches everyone take turns kissing each other. Weird. He thinks he could have lived without seeing Nancy kiss Jonathan, and then Steve, back-to-back. But then she kisses Argyle, and Argyle kisses Jonathan as Nancy kisses Robin. 

Is this an orgy? 

Was Eddie invited to an orgy and didn't know it? 

Or, do preppy kids have a version of key parties? Eddie looks for a fishbowl.

Gareth gawks at him, like, what the fuck and Eddie stares. He doesn't know either. Clearly not wanting to be left out, Gareth kisses Goodie, much to Goodie's chagrin. Jeff just laughs, and then kisses Eddie, and it's weird, but okay, he guesses.

Then, Nancy presses her lips to his.

He's kissed Nancy Wheeler now. In what world?

But, okay. That's okay, too, he supposes. 

It wasn't sexual. He's sure of that, and if he had any concerns, they'd have evaporated a second later, once he sees Robin kiss Steve. It's the weirdest thing he's seen yet, even if it's only a hard pucker of a kiss that nobody would ever mistake for being romantic. It looked more like a hostage situation, and Robin immediately wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, hard.

"Rude," Steve says, and Robin laughs.

Then, Steve looks at him, and Eddie falters.

Steve's gonna kiss him.

Eddie watches Steve lean in, and Eddie doesn't know if he needs to go with this, or flee the country. It's too late to choose, because Steve presses his lips to Eddie's, and Eddie's hand isn't connected to his brain anymore, because he lifts it, cupping Steve's neck. 

Steve startles, but only for a second, then opens his mouth over Eddie's, and now they're kissing kissing. Not just the friendly peck Steve offered everyone else. 

Shit. Fuck. Damn.

Eddie tries to extract himself from this, but Steve's fingers are digging into his back, and Eddie can feel everyone's eyes on them. They're never gonna live this down. 

Steve finally lets him go, and Eddie makes a move to step away, but Steve grabs his hand.

"Happy New Year," Steve says to the room, and heads for the staircase, dragging Eddie along behind him. 

Oh shit. 

But Eddie follows, willingly. Letting Steve pull him to his bedroom. Letting Steve yank his shirt over his head, letting Steve press kisses to his chest, his scars. Hands roaming, both of them pulling off clothes, grabbing at each other. 

This is really happening.

Eddie tries to toe off his Reeboks, but realizes he's wearing his boots, and almost falls over. Steve doesn't let him, and just squats down, and starts unlacing them. Pulling the long laces loose, in swift movements.

It's hot. It's so hot.

And Steve is eye level with his dick, and this is what dreams are made of, for sure.

Happy Fucking New Year.

In the morning, Eddie clomps across the kitchen floor in his unlaced boots, and the soles stick with every step. He gets a vaguely clean-looking glass from the countertop, and fills it with water. 

And drinks, and drinks, and drinks.

He looks out over the living room, and can see Gareth on the couch, with one eye barely open. Clearly hungover. Maybe Eddie fucked up letting Gareth join them. Gareth's not that old, not yet. He's still in that weird middle-ground. Eddie was drinking and smoking at his age. Steve, too. But maybe they shouldn't encourage it. Maybe Gareth should have been sent to Dustin's kiddie party, instead. But Gareth would've fought that.

Gareth whistles low, a mocking catcall.

Eddie looks down. He's wearing his boxers, and his boots. And that's it. Fuck. Yeah, he's hungover, too.

Eddie doesn't give Gareth the satisfaction, so he twirls, showing off. Acting like he meant to look exactly like this.

Then, Steve stumbles into the kitchen, taking the glass from Eddie's hand, gulping down the rest of the water, and he's in his briefs, and that's it. With a big-ass hickey on his neck, that Eddie is certain he's responsible for, even if he doesn't quite remember doing it. 

"Steve's hairy," Gareth mumbles, and Eddie laughs, even if it kills his head. 

They are all so hungover, it's ridiculous. Maybe he shouldn't have mixed champagne, beer and liquor with Argyle's weed.

But then Steve leans down, and puts his chin on Eddie's shoulder, wrapping his arms around Eddie's waist, hugging him from behind. No, Eddie thinks this is the best thing he's ever done, maybe. 

Eddie leans back into him, and Steve kisses him on the bare shoulder.

"Happy New Year," Eddie says, quietly.

Steve chuckles, hugging him tighter, "Well, it sure has been so far."

Yeah, 1987 is definitely going to be Eddie's year.

Notes: Thank you so much to everyone who read, liked, commented on and reblogged all my entries for this month-long challenge. I really enjoyed participating in this event so damn much. Thank you for reading! ❤️

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @steddieholidaydrabbles and follow along with the fun!

If you want to see the rest of my entries into this month-long challenge, you can check them out in my Steddie Holiday Drabbles tag, right here!

[lainiespicewrites]

I just want to feel safe - Walter Marshall fanfic. Part 1?

Okay. Preface. This story has mentions of sexual assault. This is a personal story. But I've changed a lot of the names and some of the actual story to fit the fic. I think that I've decided this is going to be a series. It's taken a lot out of me writing this but. I really love Walter and I can see this relationship growing into something more than what is here. I also think that from a healing standpoint, I'm gonna write the story I never gave myself the chance to have. Anyway. That's enough from me. I'll let you guys read the story now. I know this is a heavy topic and situation but I'm still always open to comments and feedback. Thank you guys for the support in posting this <3

Plot: OFC reports assault after 2 years and Detective Walter Marshall is assigned to her case. He will stop at nothing to help her feel safe again.

Warnings: Panic attacks, mentions of sexual assault (retelling the story of what happened.)

Unbeta'd Mistakes are totally my own and I own that. This might be a mess because honestly I was super emotional writing this but it felt good to get it all down.

Please don't share without crediting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m not sure what I expected a police station to be like. Frankly I’d never really imagined myself in one. Kind of funny how things can change like that. All of a sudden you’re doing things you’d never imagine. That’s how I ended up here. In this strangely familiar looking police station. I guess maybe that’s the one thing movies and Tv got right. Police stations for the most part look exactly the same. This whole night started from a list of  “Fuck it why not’s” that spiraled out of control. But that explanation alone was not enough to help the officer help me. I looked back at the petite woman in front of me. I’m sure she was a good police officer. I wasn't trying to doubt her skill. But her overly sympathetic nature and deer in the headlights look on her face was making me feel worse. 

“I know this is hard.” She spoke softly, placing her hand over mine on the table. She didn’t know. She had no idea what this was like. Being attacked like this. Letting yourself become vulnerable because ‘why not’ I’d known those boys my entire life. When my brother invited me out for drinks with his friends, I didn’t have a reason not to trust them. Not to trust… him. My brother didn’t know. He couldn’t have known. He was betrayed too. “But I need you to tell me what you remember, what happened to you, so we can help you.” I looked around again At the empty gray walls. Out the window into the dark cloudy night sky. It must be almost midnight now. Anywhere but at the woman in front of me. What did she say her name was? Rachel? I focused on the empty desk chair behind her when I finally spoke. 

“It doesn’t matter. I remember all of it. Every detail. But we have no case.” I muttered I looked down playing with my hands again. 

“Alayna,” She said my name softly. I met her eyes again for the first time since we sat at her desk. “You don’t know that. You did the right thing coming here and reporting it. I need you to talk to me.” She pleaded with me. She didn’t understand. 

“No,” I said again. “I do know.” 

“How do you know we can’t help you?” She asked her eyes boring into mine. I know she wants to help. I know that but I just don’t see how they  can. not after it’s been so long. 

“There’s no evidence.” I said. 

“Sweetheart, with all due respect you aren’t a police officer we may be able to find something you wouldn’t think to look…”

“It was two years ago.” Rachel paused then. She took a deep breath and sat back in her chair. 

“2 years ago?” she repeated. I nodded. She let out a soft sigh. “Sweetie, Why did you wait so long to tell somebody?” She asked. This felt more manageable. This I at least knew the answer for. It was logical. It made sense. Well it doesn’t really make much sense but when you’re bargaining with yourself it does. 

“I didn’t think it would matter. I’m still not sure it does.” I said. I swallowed hard. Now or never Alayna. You didn’t walk 3 miles to the police station, in the cold, after a panic attack to not give yourself some kind of peace. I let out a long breath and started again but then the door of the squadroom opened. A tall figure walked in. I couldn’t make out much of him at first. Just that he was very tall, 6,1 or something and had a full beard. He was wearing a heavy winter coat and beanie. I tensed a little when  I watched him walk from the entrance to the desk next to Rachel’s. He shrugged off his coat revealing a thick gray sweater. He draped his coat over his chair and pulled off his beanie. His hair was a mess of dark curls. As soft and cozy as he should have looked…Something still felt intimidating about him. Maybe it was because he hadn’t spoken a word since he’d walked in the room. None of us had actually. 

“Alayna,” Rachel said my name, getting my attention and finally breaking the silence. “This is detective Walter Marshall. He’s going to be working on your case.” That’s right. When I came in to report, the officer on duty at the station had to attend to a call. When I told them I wanted to report an assault, they told me that they’re psychiatrist was still in the office.  I  could talk to her until one of the detectives was available. I think they were afraid if they told me to come back later… I wouldn’t. They were probably right. Although I’m not quite sure if it would be because I’d lost my nerve or dying of hypothermia on the walk home.  Rachel wasn’t even a detective. Was I really that out of it? Why didn’t I remember that until now?

“Okay,” was all I managed to say. 

“I can stay,” she said. I'm not sure if it was for me or the detective. Maybe both. “If you’re more comfortable. If it’s easier for you. Ya know?” she asked. I shook my head and I watched as the detective…Walter, put his hand on her shoulder. 

“Go home, it's been a long day,” he told her. His voice was deep but he spoke softly. And surprisingly he had an English accent. “We’ll manage,”  his eyes were tired and heavy when they met mine. He offered a gentle smile. I nodded. 

“You’re sure?” She asked. 

“I don’t want to keep you Rachel. I can talk to the detective.” I said. She nodded. 

“Okay, wait right here, just a moment while I catch him up okay? And then you two will get started.”  I gave her a slight nod and just stared out the window again. Rachel and the detective went off into a side office somewhere to discuss what I’d already mentioned. This was sure to be quick now. As soon as she tells him how long it’s been, he’ll dismiss me. This was so stupid. I’d kept this to myself for this long. I knew this was a bad idea. Just as I had convinced myself to get up and leave the office door opened again. 

“Thank you,” Walter’s voice said from across the room. “Get home safe.” he told Rachel as she waved goodbye. I gave her a small wave. I sat back in the chair trying to relax. But I knew I couldn’t. He came back over to the desk leaning his hip against it, crossing one foot over the other. “Are you comfortable out here or would you like to talk in my office?” He asked. “There aren’t too many people still around this late but, it would offer a bit more privacy than the open squadroom. It’s up to you.” He stated. I thought about it for a moment. Finally, I  pulled my eyes from the window to look up at him. 

“I think I’d feel better with a little more privacy,” I said. He gave me a sympathetic smile. 

I stood up from my spot next to the desk.  Then he led me out of the squadroom and down the hall to a small office. There wasn’t much, just a large desk with nothing but a computer and a travel coffee mug on it. The walls were bare other than a standard wall clock. He motioned for me to take a 

seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk as he shut the door behind us. He circled around to the other side of the desk, setting a file down and taking a seat across from me. 

“You’re reporting  an assault, is that right?” He asked. I nodded. 

“Yes, not a recent one. I’m sure Rachel informed you.” I said. I felt so ashamed of myself. I was wasting his time. Detective Marshall’s eyes met mine. I didn’t find the same overly sympathetic look in his eyes like I did with Rachel. He wasn’t pitying me. He wasn’t trying to psychoanalyze  me. At the same time, it wasn’t cruel or harsh. Not even annoyed. Just open. 

“She did,” he spoke after a brief pause. “But I’d like to hear the information from you myself. If that's alright with you?” He questioned. I swallowed hard. I leaned forward and folded my hands on the desk. 

“I can do that.” My voice shook when I spoke. “Will I need to write a witness statement too?” I asked him. Telling this story once was going to be hard enough. Seeing it written on paper was going to be gut wrenching. 

“Let’s just get through this conversation first. We’ll talk about the rest later, "he said. I nodded. He sat with his forearms leaning on the desk and his hands folded together. He pursed his lips into a tight small smile and nodded toward me. “Whenever you’re ready.” He stated. I swallowed hard. Of course it didn’t necessarily mean that. It was after midnight now. This guy probably wanted to get home. I had to get this out. 

“November 12th, or well 13th I guess. It was around 1:30 or 2am so the 13th. My brother, his friends and I had gone out for his birthday. It wasn’t his birthday though, we had to wait until the weekend to celebrate because it fell during the week.” I was rambling. He needed details. I need to stop rambling. “Uh anyway, We were at a bar, earlier that night on the 12th, but I got kind of tired. The boys were picking on me for being a lightweight and leaving early. I left the bar at 11, got home at like 11:15. I went right to bed. I was really tired. The boys were all gonna come back to the house when they were done at the bar. I woke up to the bedroom door bursting open at like 1 am and someone yelling my name. I screamed. It was my brother's friend. Um.” I paused for a second, starting to feel uncomfortable. Did I have to describe it exactly? What did I have to say? But Walter spoke, easing the tension a bit. 

“And what’s his name?” He asked me. 

“His name is Justin, uh Justin Veach.” I responded. Walter nodded for me to continue as he wrote a note in his folder. He put the pen down and looked up at me again letting me know he was listening. 

“Uh He said, ‘It’s okay! Don’t freak out, it's just me! We’re back, come hang out with us!’ Then he came over to my bed and kissed my face which was weird but he was an affectionate guy and well they were still drunk. I didn’t think much of it. He’d known me since I was a baby. He and my brother had been best friends since kindergarten. They were ten years older than me and he watched me grow up.” I shuttered a little thinking about it. “Um so after that he left. After telling me to come down stairs to talk with them again. And I did. We sat in the kitchen. I just sat there sleepy and confused. The boys were talking and eating drunk snacks or whatever,” I kind of chuckled a little. “It was nice. But we were talking about how it’s so funny that I’m old enough to go drink with them now. And Justin kept making these comments about remembering when I was born and that I was such a beautiful baby. It seemed so weird. But looking back. He knew. He knew what he was planning on doing…. We all said we were gonna go to bed. Blake, my brother, told Justin he could sleep on the couch or they could share his bed or whatever. But Justin was coming up the stairs with us and he said ‘I wanna cuddle’ to me, and he was still drunk and I thought he was joking so I laughed it off and said ‘yeah sure’ I let him lay in my bed. But I put myself on the inside. I thought he was just gonna lay there a minute and like it would be a joke. Blake did too. He asked if I was okay before he went to his room. Because he was still kinda drunk and ready to crash. I said. I was. But Justin didn’t just lay  there. He took off his pants before he got into the bed so he was just in boxers and his shirt. And,”

 I was shaking. I couldn’t do this anymore. I was gonna cry. I didn’t know this man. He was surely annoyed by me and. God he probably thought I was lying. That’s what Justin would tell him. When he confronts him. That I’m lying. Or maybe that's what I wanted. This was so stupid  I shouldn’t have come here. I swallowed hard again. I looked back up at walter. I could feel the tears in my eyes. 

“Take your time.” He said softly. “Is this when he hurt you?” He asked.

“I can’t,” my voice was trembling now. “I’m sorry I’ve wasted your time, I can’t do this.” I sobbed. I stood up to leave his office. Walter stood and walked to the other side of the desk gently reaching out and putting his hand on my shoulder. “There’s nothing you can do, I know that. I wasted your time detective. I’m so sorry.”

“Hold on,” Walter’s voice was low. “Sit back down, and breathe for a moment. If anything else I can’t let you walk out of here and drive home in this state.” I looked at his face. He was concerned. Worried about me. About my safety. I sat back down in the chair. I took a deep breath trying to compose myself again. But I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. “It’s okay, You’re safe in here. I’m going to do everything I can to help you Alayna.” Detective Marshall said, crouching down in front of me to meet my eyes again. I nodded. “Do you think you can keep going?” he asked. I nodded again. He stood and leaned on the edge of his desk. His proximity seemed to help keep my calm. I don’t know what was so different between him and talking with Rachel. But when he said he could help, I believed him. Maybe it was the sheer size of this man. Or the gun on his hip. Or maybe there was something in his aura or some other bullshit I didn’t understand that was protective and made me trust him. Fuck maybe I’d gone to far to turn back now and I was too emotionally exhausted not to lean on anyone who would listen. Whatever it was, I continued. 

“At first I was just laying next to him. Like I was saying, I thought it was a joke. But he wrapped his arm around me to make me cuddle him.. I guess. He started rubbing my back. I froze up. I started to recognize that his hand was lingering where it shouldn’t but I couldn’t say anything. And this guy he’s .. he’s huge. I mean like 6 foot and like 400 lbs when he rolled over on to me and started touching me I felt paralyzed I couldn’t move but… I couldn’t have pushed him off if I’d tried. I just felt hopeless. That’s when everything happened.” I sniffled softly. I hiccuuped catching my breath. “It was like I was outside of myself watching it all happen…I .. I don’t know if that makes sense? But I couldn’t do anything. All I could do was lay there. I don’t remember if I said no. But,

“You didn’t consent. That’s no. This was not your fault. You’ve already tried to blame yourself. It’s a really common thing, unfortunately, that you can’t react. But that doesn’t mean that you let it happen. Or that you wanted it to happen.”  Walter said softly. I nodded at the ground. 

“Afterward he, he fell asleep and I showered, I had to get rid of the feeling of him. I slept on the couch, Well I tried to. The next morning he was came down and sat with  all of us like nothing had happened. I had mentioned that my back had hurt the night before. And he moved closer to me and rubbed it for me. I couldn’t move. I didn’t react…again. I just. I don’t know. All I could think was, I didn’t wanna start anything. But I also couldn’t make sense of what happened. When he left I changed the sheets. I threw them away actually. My clothes were washed. But eventually I couldn’t look at them anymore. I threw them away too.”

“Why do you think it took you so long to say anything?” Walter asked me. 

“I wasn’t even sure it happened. I wasn’t sure I could call it what it was. I mean he was drunk, I just… Just laid there. It took me over a week to tell my best friend. But It took almost 4 months after talking it out with her and one of my other friends for me to face it and call it what it was. But I still can’t say it.”

“And why are you here now? What made you report it?” He raised an eyebrow. I took a deep breath. This has been eating at me so long but. This month. This 2 year “anniversary.” If you could call it that. Has been terrorizing me. 

“It’s all I could think about the last couple of weeks. I started having nightmares. Seeing him in my dreams. Before when I dreamt about it, I always got away. Someone always stopped him. But now. Now I’m trapped all overagain. It happened in my childhood home. In the room I grew up in. I’ve moved out since then. I live alone. He doesn’t even live in that town anymore. He lives 3 hours away from me. The chances that I’ll run into him are slim. And I don’t have any 

reminders of it anymore. But Sometimes if I wake up and I’m laying next to the wall it sends me into a panic. If I see someone with a similar body type or with a similar voice it shut down. He’s over a 100 miles away. But I don’t feel safe. I’m losing my mind! I’m getting up to check the lock on the door like 10 times before I can go to sleep. What if he just walks in like he did then. He doesn’t even know where I live. But I’ve never confronted him. And he has a wife! And Kids. He did when he did this to me. I can’t get over that. She needs to know but … I don’t, I don’t know what to do! That’s why I’m here, I had another panic attack, I didn’t trust myself to drive. So I walked. ” I was in tears again. He must think I’m so weak. So stupid. What an idiotic thing to do. 

“I understand, and first I want to say, I’m sorry that you went had to experience that. It’s a good you were able to tell your friends, but you were seemingly dealing with this alone for a long time. I’m sure that’s taken a toll on you. The next thing I need to ask you, is what you want to do now that you’ve told me.” I took in his words. He was right. This has been so heavy. And I’ve carried it alone for so long. But now that I’m here I never thought there would be options. 

“What can we even do? It’s been so long?” I asked. 

“Not too long though, if you want to press charges, and see him convited for this, that’s still on the table. If that’s what you want to do then yes, I do need you to write a witness statement. There will be a lot of other legal things that need to be done and signed. Then we can start an investigation. I know you think there isn’t anything here. But well do you trust me?” He asked. Did I? I didn’t know him. But Rachel seemed to. And he had his own office. That must mean he’s some high status detective right? And there was just something about him. Why did he feel so safe. It wasn’t the gun. It was. It was him. I did trust him. 

“I do,” I spoke finally. 

“I’ve put people away, on much less than what you’ve given me tonight.” He said. That felt good. To know he could lose everything. Like he made me lose my sense of security. But then my stomach dropped. 

“W-would I have to see him?” I asked meekly. 

“In court yes, possibly in a line up. But definitely in court. We would need your testimoney,”

“I- I don’t know if I can do that, I don’t know if I can face him.” I shook again. 

“There will be officers in the court. You won’t be near him. He won’t be able to get to you.” 

“Will you be there?” I asked suddenly. 

“If you’d like, yes, I can be there.” He said giving me a soft smile. 

“Can I think about it?” I asked meeting his eyes again. 

“Of course,” He stood and walked back to the other side of his desk. “It’s been a long night emotionally for you, if you’re ready tomorrow to make a decision you can come back in the morning.” He said typing a something quickly on his computer. “If you’ll wait just a few minutes I can gladly give you a ride home. It’s far too cold for you to walk, even it’s a block away.” He offered. I nodded. 

“Thank you, I appreciate that. It’s, well its actually 3 miles.” I stated biting my lip awkwardly. He let out a soft chuckle and smiled. 

“Well, I surely can’t let you walk that far this late. I’ll get you home safe.” He said. He finished typing whatever it was he was doing on his computer. Then he locked the file in his desk. He stood and gestured for me to lead out of the office. He turned the light off and locked it behind him. Oh God I’d kept him after his shift. 

“I’m sorry for keeping you,” 

“Oh, no don’t appologize, this is common practice for me. This is honestly the earliest I’ve left in weeks.” He said as we walked back to the squadroom. He grabbed his coat from the desk chair. “Do you have everything?” He asked. I nodded. 

He led us out of the station and to his truck in the parking lot. Once we were settled in, I gave him my address so he could drive me home. I watched out the window as he drove down the familiar streets. The drive was silent. The closer we got the more I got this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Back home. Back home to be alone again. I was so scared. What if he knew where I lived. I didn’t feel safe. It wasn’t long before the detective was pulling up in front of my building. 

“Thank you,” I spoke breaking the silence for the first time since we’d left the police station. 

“Of course,” He reached into his pocket pulling out a business card. “Take the night and decide what you’d like to do.” He said and then handed me the card. “That’s my cellphone number. If there’s anything else you need call…”

“Would you come in?” I cringed the second the words left my mouth. 

“I, I can search the place, If you’d like. If it would make you more comfortable.” He offered. 

“I mean, could you…” I can’t believe I was asking this, “Stay?” the word came out barely above a whisper. I sighed. I turned toward the window squeezing my eyes shut. “I’m sorry that was stupid, You probably have a wife, and a family to get home to. That was so inconsiderate. I just. I was afraid and I… I’ll just go.” I opened the door. 

“You don’t feel safe, do you?” He asked. I paused and shook my head. I didn’t. I hadn’t for weeks. But I couldn’t ask this guy to give up his time for me. 

“I don’t but, It’s okay. It’s just that there’s only one deadbolt lock on the door. And I don’t know sometimes that doesn’t feel like enough. And I can’t seem to get any sleep. But that’s not up to you. I have to figure this out. You’ve done so much to help me already detective.” I rambled. Walter let out a long breath. 

“You’ve got a lot on your mind right now and a lot to consider.” He said. “I’m sure the lack of sleep isn’t helping at all, You could use a good nights rest.”  He stated. 

“But it’s not you’re responsibility and I don’t want to take you away from your family.” I said. 

“I, well I live alone actually.” He bit his lip awkwardly “Why don’t you stay with me for the night? I’ve got some work to catch up on anyway. I probably won’t be getting much sleep. You wouldnt’t be putting me out.”

“Are you sure?” I asked raising an eyebrow. I’d given this poor guy enough trouble. And he was being so kind. Walter nodded. Honestly. The way I was feeling I didn’t have the energy to consider it any longer. I shut the door and walter put the truck in drive. 

It was almost 2 am when we walked into his house. 

“I can just sleep on the couch I, I really don’t want to be any trouble.” 

“You aren’t,” He assured me. “And please, you can sleep in the bedroom, I rarely sleep there anyway. It’d be nice to know someones getting use out of it.” He smiled. I nodded and he showed me to the room and left me to get comfortable. He said he’d be down stairs likely working in his office if I needed anything. I took in the room everything seemed to be a dark navy color the comforter, the curtains the sheets. I chuckled to myself. That made sense for him. 

I slipped off my shoes and slid under the covers. This should feel strange. And it did. But I was safe. And I hadn’t felt that way in a while. I let that feeling take over as I tried to fall asleep. But my mind started to wander again. What if he found out I reported it. What would happen. Or What would he do when they arrested him. What would he say about me. Would he say I wanted it. Tell them I didn’t push them away. Try to convince them that I was lying somehow? He was good at that. And he had a friend from college that was a lawyer. Surely he already had a story. Maybe he’d been prepared since it had happened. I started to shake again. I could feel my heart rate speeding up. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t hear the footsteps up the stairs. I didn’t see him come in. I didn’t even realize that I’d started  to cry again until I noticed he was next to me saying my name. 

“Alayna. Alayna. It’s okay. You’re okay. Take a deep breath.” He soothed.

“I can’t, I can’t… what if he tries to come after me. What if.. What if he tells them… what if tries to tell them I wanted him to…I don’t think I can do this.” I sobbed. Walter wrapped an arm around my shoulder. 

“He can’t get to you. We’ll be sure of that. All that matters, is that you’ve told us the truth. As long as you have, and as long as you confirm that in court. No matter what he says or what anyone believes, it won’t matter. I want to help you. I want you to feel safe again. I think the only way we can do that. Is to put this guy away. I’m not gonna stop until we do. I won’t let him hurt you again.”  He said.  Pulling me closer to him. 

“Do you have a sister?” I asked after a brief pause sniffling softly. 

“No,” He shook his head and leaning back against the headboard letting me rest my head against his shoulder. “But I have a daughter.” He said. 

“Is that why you do what you do?” I asked. He smiled. But he was quite for a moment. 

“Not at first. When I was younger and I first started out, it was just something that I liked. Something I was good at. But when my exwife and I had our daughter, a lot of that changed. It became personal. To an unhealthy point honestly.” He chuckled at himself. “I guess to my own detriment.”

“Is that why you’re still working even though you clocked out hours ago? You could use some good sleep too detective.” I stated. Starting to relax. 

“I haven’t slept well in ages,” He said. “Focusing on the job, oddly enough, keeps my mind off everything else. There are some horrible people in this world. I don’t have to explain that to you. I get so in my own head about how, it could be her. If I spend anymore time considering the what ifs I’d keep her locked in a tower,” He chuckled. 

“I understand that. But surely, If she was raised by you, she’s a smart girl. But.. well I guess,” I sighed. “Nevermind.” Walter squeezed my shoulder softly. 

“Thank you, I know what you mean.” He smiled sympathetically. 

“I’m going to do it.” I said suddenly. “Press charges, I mean. You’re right. Knowing can still get to me. Knowing he’s out there. That’s what’s causing me all this stress and …I can’t keep going on like this.” I stated. 

“I can take you back to the station tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. “Walter?” I asked nervously biting my lip. 

“Yeah?” 

“Will you stay here? I don’t know what it is I just feel.. Safer when you’re here.” I blushed softly. Walter adjusted so that he was lying on the bed. I moved and laid my head on the pillow. 

“Get some sleep darling. I’ll be right here.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay that was part one❤️ let me know how you’re feeling about this guys!

Tag list: @summersong69 @carrie80reads @caramariehurst @redheadrouge @warriormirkwood @gummydummy19 @deandoesthingstome @shellyshellshell @mary-ann84 @starfirewildheart @foxyjwls007 @alwayzmsbehavn @toooldforobsessions@mishkatelwarriorgoddess @henryownsme @identity2212

Part 2:

[https-milo]

HTTPS-MILO PRESENTS..!

FLUFFTOBER 2024 !!

Every few days in October, a different fluffy one-shot will be released by yours truly!

Credits to @https-kreideprinz for the prompts from their post! (the names in bold are their prompts!!)

1 ☾ Costumes / Eijiro Kirishima !! - going costume shopping with your boyfriend!

2 ☾ Baking / Satoru Gojo !! - unsurprisingly, he cannot bake... buttt the first years are counting on some desserts!

3 ☾ Party / Denki Kaminari !! - "You new around here?" "I'm in your math class."

5 ☾ Sweater Weather / Yuta Okkotsu !! - changing seasons means changing weather... it gets pretty cold! Luckily, your boyfriend offers you his sweater

6 ☾ Movie / Mina Ashido !! - Mina has been begging to see the latest slasher that came out... too bad she gets too scared halfway through

8 ☾ Sweets / Ranpo Edogawa !! - It's Ranpo's favorite season. But only because you come in with new candies every day

9 ☾ Bandages / Shota Aizawa !! - You've been tasked with changing his bandages after the USJ incident by Recovery Girl.

11 ☾ Apple Orchard / Atsushi Nakajima !! - Your boyfriend accidentally lets it slip he's never been to an orchard. Appalled, you take it upon yourself to show him your favorite part of the season

12 ☾ Nightmare / Tsuyu Asui !! - Maybe listening to that murder podcast before bed wasn't a good idea... Luckily, your unbothered girlfriend has you covered!

14 ☾ Pumpkin Carving / Megumi Fushiguro !! - He's never carved a pumpkin before. But, you're a certified self-proclaimed expert!

15 ☾ Scars / Dabi !! - "Pretty? That's new." "Just the truth!!"

17 ☾ Warmth / Suguru Geto !! - It's so cold!! There's only one solution... cling to your boyfriend for warmth! (Little do you know he messed with the thermostat for that exact reason)

18 ☾ Potions / Tomura Shigaraki !! - You discover a potion that smells like your soulmate... so why does it smell like your longtime best friend?

20 ☾ Midnight / Osamu Dazai !! - "I'm gonna need someone to kiss at midnight" "...That's New Year's."

21 ☾ Spells / Ochaco Uraraka !! - You cast a love spell on your best friend... except you didn't actually. So why is she acting like that?

23 ☾ Luck / Chuuya Nakahara !! - You've been winning an awful amount of UNO rounds...

24 ☾ Masquerade / Izuku Midoriya !! - You meet the loveliest person at a masquerade party. You're forced to leave before you can get his name or number. That new kid in your art class sounds a lot like him though!

26 ☾ Music / Choso !! - Your half-curse boyfriend never took an interest in music before... well until you shared headphones on his rooftop, of course.

27 ☾ Haunted House / Katsuki Bakugo !! - Going to a haunted house with your boyfriend sounds like a good idea on paper, right? Well sure, until he almost blasts the scare worker's face off!

29 ☾ Hayride / Yuji Itadori !! - A simple relaxing hayride with your boyfriend. At the end of it, you get a pumpkin child!

30 ☾ Vampire / Shoto Todoroki !! - Being a vampire hunter wasn't an easy job. Especially when the vampire on your hitlist is a cutie!

31 ☾ Halloween / various (from all three fandoms >3<) !! - celebrating Halloween with your favorite people

I'm doing a lot of MHA because that's what my blog is mostly about!!

I cannot wait for this October <33 it'll be my first flufftober I participate in (well tbf I was never on tumblr before may this year so like...)

© https-milo. please do not repost, steal, copy, or modify my works!

Thank you so much for reading <3

[beatrizamante]

First of all, I'd like to thank @renru @reesevernerlovebot @honeylemonbutte and Bee too (I believe I don't follow her ç.ç) for giving me the courage to start posting these. And @lacunafiction for thins wonderful story omg, I love her book.

_Fallen Stars

There were books sprawled all over the floor. Astronomy, physics, star charting ones. Papers and journals filled with equations that were almost impossible to read, covering up huge constellation maps made by hand. Doctor Yu used to joke that you'd write even on the walls of the lab, given the chance. 

Well, you're in your Pa's old apartment now, there's nothing stopping you. If you had some neon blue makers, you'd be sure to write down your chartings, it would look beautiful at night. Maybe people would lock you up in an asylum this time? You know that, if Dr. Yu ever hears someone repeat this to you, you’d fear for the person’s wellbeing. You got this style of brainstorming from Dr Kuiper, after all, and the trio of you were best friends since freshman years.

Dr. Lara de Armas, the astrophysicist. Dr. Sieben Kuiper, the mathematician. Dr. Morgan Yu, the engineer. 

You guys made some amazing discoveries and built amazing things together. You miss them dearly. 

But that's not important right now. Well, you did trail off a little bit... A portion of the wall south of the kitchen had some scribblings on. Huh, you gonna have to clean that later... Or not? It could be related to art, right? Right? 

The intention was to put a monitor in that wall, anyway. Nobody has to see this. Yes, good plan, big brain. 

The apartment was still getting its new decor. There were some boxes of new purchases you intended to use in this place. You've already asked for some midnight blue wallpapers. And the kitchen had some new utensils for you to use whenever you had another sudden craving for strawberry smoothies.

But where did you put your telescope...? Too many boxes! Too many boxes!! 

Your thoughts are derailing again, aren't them? Ugh. 

Focus! 

Today was a special day, after all... 

The wristwatch beeped and you stared at the time with a slight frown. There was still about an hour to gather your things and go. Getting up from the mess you were, you ask yourself how that marker ended up in your hands, but there isn’t much time to dwell on it. 

There’s a smile on your face. A happy one. The kind of happiness that Bee would instantly click a picture of. 

A meteor shower today was the cause for your happiness. You were the first one to discover it. Dr Yu even tinkered with your telescope for you to get a better view. 

You wish they were here. The bright smile on your face dampens a little bit. But there's no time to lose. So, you march around the mess in your apartment and gather your things. 

Telescope? Check

Chartings? Check

Camera for stargazing? Check

Something to sit on? Check

Time to go, Lara. 

Things were loaded in your car especially fast, even if with all the gentleness in the world. There was a humming beneath your breath, a soft melody, your body moving at your tune without much thought.

       " - Ok, Frodo, how are you gonna name it?   

- Just because you're taller than me, doesn't mea- 

- Hmmm, I'd called it the one ri-

- You're a brute, you know that? 

- Morgan, stop annoying my student! 

- I'm sorry, Dr. Kuiper. Now, now, Doctor de Armas, would you name it? You're the one who found its trajectory first, after all. 

- It already has a name... It's a perseid!  

- Are all astrophysicists this uncreative? Come on, give it a name. What would you call it?

- Uncreative? You called your arm bot "Morg_4rm".

- Better than perseid, still. Go on.

- Ugh! Possibly Ocean fall.? Ocean... drops?... Scintillans falls! 

- I like the sound of that. Keep at it, Sam.

- I detest Yu. 

       "  

Oh! You've forgotten something! There’s nothing to drink! That's why you stop at the diner, right...? Right? 

Well, it doesn't matter, you're parched and when the diner enters in your field of view, you don't rummage your brain as for the "whys". The fact that you have butterflies in your stomach doesn't register instantly. Did you eat something you shouldn't? 

Your pulse just spiked up? There was no physical activity today. Well, Mal did show you a beautiful place that he may not even know how much it meant to you. You can always bring him photos of the shower!

Why are you thinking of him right now, though? Oh, right! Because you're at the diner! And he's interesting! You like his company, even if can be really charged. The fact that your heart, at the thought of him, makes you feel like a little rabbit, doesn't matter. Must be the lack of sleep. Nothing about that cheek kiss? It can't be, right? It is because he knows too much about this town and you’re trying to understand what he is. Surely!  

You find yourself inside the diner, your mind still wandering to a certain lake, the brightest smile on your face. Except when those hellish creepy spoons sound like an undead knocking in the glass. You hate those, sparing them a murderous glare. 

Clyde welcomes you, mimicking your smile, and you go instantly to ask for some tea and energy drink to pack while your eyes wander. You're just taking in the diner. It's not like you already had the whole blueprint of the building in your mind. You're just taking the ambient in, right? 

Right!

Must be nothing aside from that.

"Someone seems extra bright today, Ms. De Armas!", Clyde comments from his place at the cooking top, cleaning his spatula from some leftover batter. He's cooking some pancakes? The smell makes your stomach rumble. Haven’t you eaten today? Well, it doesn't matter, you can eat later. 

"Nighty night, Clyde! Today is a special day, after all! I'll bring you guys some photos from a phenomena that only happens once a year. And we've managed to get some cobalt reading in this year's batch, so-", you stop suddenly when you see confusion in the chef's face. You manage to breathe in a little bit, slowing down your thinking process to make sense for the middle-aged man, a softer smile on your face. "Pardon me, Clyde. I got a bit caught up. But there will be a meteor shower today, in about... ", you stop to look at your wristwatch, pouting a little bit, "40 minutes. It's going to be to the west, and it will look like ocean blue stars."

The old chef returns your enthusiasm, smiling back at you with energy. "Then you'll need these as fast as we can make it. Maybe a special someone can make the tea just the way you prefer and you can take him with you?", the suggestion in his tone takes you off guard for a moment and you fumble with your words, blushing hard. 

Wait, he means the drinks! Yeah, totally the drinks! Hundred percent sure... You think? 

It wouldn’t make sense otherwise, right? 

Ugh, some social cues are hard to read.

"I'd... love that!", your eyes sparkle with delight. If you manage to make it to the spot you encountered earlier, you for sure will have a great view of the event. Your hands tremble in excitement. There’s also the need to go fast, though, it’s a thought you don’t quite enjoy.

That’s when you feel it. It begins as a featherlight sensation in the nape of your neck and travels down. Your hair stands up at the end and a shivering sensation crawls beneath your skin. The bright smile vanishes from your face, replaced by an intense focus. Your gaze rests in every exit of the diner, trying to understand where the sensation comes from and where you can take cover, if needed. There’s a slight pressure in the back of your neck. Annoys you so deeply that you can’t understand why this is happening. You stand below a hanging cupboard, it acts as a protection for your thoughts as you analyze the diner. If you can pinpoint the direction it comes from, maybe yo - 

“Hey there, Charmer.”, the voice comes from behind your left. It’s a honeyed tone, slightly hushed if not amused, as if you both were sharing a secret. You didn’t notice him coming. Not that this is abnormal. Is his modus operandi, after all. But you were not expecting to be taken off guard, so his sudden awake gives your body a slight jump and you hit your head in the cupboard, releasing a pathetic “Yiiik!”. You instantly protect your slightly throbbing head, looking back at him with watery eyes. 

 “Mal? Hey!”, your eyes abandon the diner and are naturally drawn to him. You don’t stop to think about how it is always like this. Exits, covers and possible weapons forgotten, shoved back to the back of your mind. The shivering sensation, though, intensifies. You wonder if it’s the cold coming from the fridge. You can hear its motor in the back of the diner, and the place where you are can be an air duct for both cold and hot air masses to meet. He is dressed in his diner uniform, holding a bag in front of your face. There’s a very disarming smile on his lips. Lips that you're so not staring. Shaking your head slightly, you smile up at him, flushing heavily. “Something could’ve fallen from the cupboard, so be careful, please? But it’s ama- great! Great to see you!”

His smile becomes less disarming, and a touch more genuine. His eyes are hypnotic to you, so you decide to stare at the diner bag. Maybe you should take some medicine for your heart, something is surely not right. But the shivers stop, replaced by a warmth you don’t quite understand. Weird. 

Especially because Mal didn’t move a muscle. 

“Something falling would be the least of this place's problems, wouldn’t it?”, you slightly narrow your eyes as his mysterious words, opening your mouth to say something, but he just continues. “Besides, having something falling for you wouldn’t be so bad.”

Oh! Oh…  Ok. Remember. Night sky. Ocean Blue meteorites. Don’t stare too much. You have other things to see tonight… And he’s just being friendly, right? Right! 

DON’T THINK ABOUT THE NOTE HE TUCKED IN YOUR BACK POCKET. I SAID DON’T! 

Friends do that, right? Is it a normal thing? 

And the way you felt about it… You weren’t expecting any kind of slap, it wouldn’t make sense. Who likes to get slapped? 

Not that you liked his hand in… You know what? You’re not going there.

Is it a social cue? You know your lack of actual romantic relationships makes it harder to navigate these things… But Mal doesn’t see you that way… Not him, and not with you…

… You think. 

The way he phrases things, though? Why does it slam you with so much strength? It confuses you a bit… He barely knows you, you don’t even know his full name yet. 

Then why do you feel like you’re lying to yourself?  

“I - I… Well, thanks for bringing me these. I told Clyde about the meteor shower tonight, would you like some photos? I wish you could see them first hand…”, you say, a dreaming look in your eyes fills Mal’s vision. Something passes through his expression as his jaw sets, your curious look isn’t answered, as per usual, so you just let a soft smile take place in our lips. Pushing is something you don’t enjoy when it’s done to you, so you won’t do it to him either.   

“Mal, why don’t you take some hours off? Ms. De Armas may need some help carrying those bags!”, the line cook shouts from his spot at the cooktop. There’s a huge smile on his face as he points at the duffel bags resting on the table you’ve put them on, when you’ve arrived at the diner.

Again, Mal’s expression shifts. You were too busy listening to Clyde’s offer to notice. His jaw tenses and the customer service smile in his face dies. He looks at you, giving nothing away. Is he expecting your reaction? Is he angry at Clyde for offering? You know something always stops Mal from spending any time with you unless late in the night, but you don’t understand or know why. You want to ask, but you know you won’t receive an answer. You’re still pulling the puzzle pieces together. Maybe when you get the whole picture, it will make sense. 

“Well, uhm, do you want to come? You don’t need to, I have… 22 minutes to get there. It’s around 15 km, so I can get there in time if I get a constant velocity o-... Oh, sorry. Again, you don’t need to go, I won’t be sad or anything, I always go alone on these. And I can bring photos!”, you stumble. You have to stop being too specific about things. Is something you got from Dr. Kuiper. 

“What a server wants isn’t really ever questioned in our line of work, Charmer.”, Mal smoothly replies. You glance at him quickly, a trace of sadness in your face. You wish you could help him. He doesn’t seem happy with his role. Truth be told, behind all of that confidence, there’s a deep sorrow, for what you could detect. You won’t overextend here, you don’t want to burden him. As you did with Bee. What if you have to leave, and he expects you to come back, like Reese and James did. What if you put him in danger, as you did to Silas. 

No. You won’t pile up your list of wrongdoings. 

Giving him a soft look and smiling in a way that draws his eyes, you nod. The waiter rests his left hand in the cupboard above you, his knuckles turning white. You take a step forward with intention towards the exit, looking at your duffel bags after taking the drinks from his hand with the same delicateness that you would use to take care of your telescope. There’s a slight movement from him, as if he wanted to reach out, but you don’t linger in that. “I care about your wants, Mal. So you don’t need to do anything on my behalf. Tell me if you need anything, ok?”  

“Lara…“, he speaks in a hushed voice, staring at the increasing separation of your personal spaces with a hard expression. His customer service smile isn’t coming up so easily at this moment, you wonder why. You collect your things and wave at Clyde, smiling. The line cook looks between you and your bags, giving a sad smile. You thought Mal would’ve already disappeared, but he stays there, holding the cupboard like it’s the only thing he can hold onto right now. You lift the diner bag in his direction and give him a smiling farewell.

Your steps are wide. Well, as wide as they can be, given your height. There’s somewhere to be, after all. Even if there’s a nagging feeling in the back of your mind wishing you were sharing this with someone. But you always did this alone, so why change now? Reese passes through your mind, and your heart beats a little faster at him sharing this with you. But is it him that you wanted to share this so badly?

No, you’ll do it alone, as it has been done for so many years. It brings you peace. Something needed right now.

The drive is free of any danger, as it always is with you in the wheel. Bags are unpacked with efficiency and speed, setting everything up is a matter of a few minutes. You’ve noticed this cliff surrounded by a bed of flowers and overlooking a lake some days prior, and knew this would be the perfect spot for your “Scintillans falls”. The trek was eventless and gave you some time to enjoy the nature around Fernweh. Even with everything awful that happened in this town, you can never deny how beautiful it is. It makes you wonder, if these things didn’t happen, this place would be a haven.

The night was unusually dark, even with a half moon illuminating the surroundings. You brought a small blue weak lantern and laid it within the towel beneath you. The wristwatch beeped again. It was time. Setting the camera and fixing the telescope, you began stargazing. 

A soft wind blew around you as the stars fell down, painting the skies in a blue hue. The colors of the ocean on a sunny day brightened it, as if hundreds of bright blue fishes jumped down from a huge waterfall. It was mesmerizing. 

How would this starlight frame Mal’s face? 

No, uhuh, not going there. 

Then your mind finds another thought that you shouldn’t linger… But it's there, anyway.

You wonder if your family is between them, traveling through the skies, watching over you with the love they always had. You miss them. More than you care to admit. It should’ve been me. 

You hear a faint noise in the distance. Maybe a motorcycle? But your mind is too occupied right now to pay attention. There’s a lone tear lining your right cheek that you fail to notice.

Blinking against it, you start to take pictures. 

It’s beautiful tonight. 

[thatssonanii]

Things We Have to Lose Pt. 2

SVU Fic

A/N: Been holding onto this for a month. Figured I better post it before your surgery so I can get it out.

Carisi and Peach stood over their now one year old daughter in her Bluey toddler bed. As a part her birthday gifts, Carisi had her room made over as a gift to match her newfound love for Bluey. Sunshine slept peacefully after spending her birthday weekend with both sides of the family and friends.

"She's knocked out. Long day of bossing everybody around," Carisi whispered, pulling his wife closer.

Peach laughed softly. "Long weekend of bossing everybody around you mean. But I'm glad she enjoyed her party."

"So am I. I'm just," he sighed softly, "I'm worried about what's gonna happen tomorrow when you go back to work."

Peach turned on the bluey light projector and the baby monitor then pulled her husband out of the room with her closing it up a bit. She led him to the living room, both sitting down on the sofa. Peach pulled her legs under her and faced him.

"What are you worried about?"

"You know like I know Amanda is not happy. She hid it well for the most part but we all knew," he explained. "I don't care about her not being happy but I care about what that could mean for you."

Peach watched her husband, noticing his nervous ticks and reached out to hold his hand. "Babe, she's probably just gonna be a little snippy and ask questions. I don't mind answering some of her questions but I'm not gonna let her get invasive."

"You know like I know she's gonna get more than a little snippy. I just don't want her being her to get you into trouble."

"What can she do? McCoy already knew and we told Garland last week. We've handled all cases correctly. There's nothing she can do."

He sighed again this time staring at his wife. "BiBi, listen ... I'm talking about her pressing your buttons and you reacting. There's only so much Liv can do."

"It's been a whole 24 hours since the party and we've heard nothing from her. She would've called or texted you by now. Right?"

"Yeah but," he started. Peach cut him off with a finger to his lips.

"No buts. We're not gonna worry about her. If anything goes on, trust your wife enough to handle it the right way. Okay?"

He smiled softly at her. "Okay, Bibi. Okay."

"Now," she smiled as she got up from the sofa, "There are some files in the bedroom I need you to look at, Mr. ADA."

"Files?"

"Yup ... files," she winked before disappearing down the hallway.

Unable to shake the events that unfolded the night before at Sunshine's birthday party, Amanda left Hasim with her girls citing an emergency meet up for work. She found herself at Peter's condo, knocking hard on the door not thinking about the late hour. Minutes later the door was snatched open, revealing an annoyed Peter.

"I'm not gonna ask if you know what time it is because I know you know," he complained leaning against his door. "But let me remind you in case you forgot, it's eleven almost midnight. What do you want?"

She rushed into his condo without waiting on an invite much to Peter's dismay. He closed the door behind her following her to his living room. She paced the floor a bit, trying to get her thoughts together.

"I'll ask again, what do you want, Amanda?"

"You knew."

"I knew what?"

She sucked her teeth, rolling her eyes to the heavens. "You know what I'm talking about," she exclaimed. "You knew about Peach and Carisi."

He sighed, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pajama pants. "What does it matter whether I knew or not? Its all out in the open now."

"It matters because you let me believe that Sunshine was yours! I did all of this and you just let me look crazy, Peter!"

Shaking his head, Peter straightened his posture before addressing her. "I didn't do either of those things, you did that, Amanda. Let's get this straight right now. I told you to leave it alone, I told you to mind your business, I told you not to mess with Peach. So don't go putting this on me."

"You could've told me!" She yelled throwing her hands up. "I was truly worried about you not seeing your daughter! Or the girl I thought was your daughter!"

"Cut the crap, Amanda. You've got some issue with Peach and you were trying to stick it to her. Save your martyr act." He admonished. "And anyway why does it matter if Carisi and Peach are married and have a kid? If memory serves me correctly you're with Hassan, are you not? And you didn't want Carisi or am I rememberingthat incorrectly?"

Her pacing stopped. She stared at him. "I don't want Carisi. I'm upset because he's my friend and now he's stuck with her."

"And that's his choice. Not yours, Amanda." He pinched the bridge of his nose trying to calm himself down. "What Carisi does with his life is none of your concern. You didn't want him, remember? Leave. Him. Alone."

"He's my friend! I care about his well being which is gonna suffer with her."

"Has his well being suffered in the two years they've been together? Because from what I gather, she's been great for his well being. And since being around them, I can vouch for that."

"You really believe that?" She asked giving him an incredulous look.

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter what you or I believe. It matters what Carisi believes."

She shook her head. "Can't believe this. I've gotta talk to Sonny."

"Listen to me ... leave this alone before you do something you can't take back."

With those final words, Peter watched Amanda storm out slamming the door behind her. Going back to his spot on the sofa, Peter grabbed his phone to send Olivia a text about Amanda's impromptu visit and then sent one to Nikki Stains. Although he should regret even getting involved in any of it, he didn't at all.

The next morning Olivia read through her texts while she rode the elevator up to the squad. She let out a harsh breath thinking of what could possibly unfold during the work day. Being as Amanda hadn't made a scene at the party, she hoped that her detective wouldn't do it at work either.

Olivia saw Fin and Kat at their desks while the other two sat empty and she feared the worst.

"They're just late, Liv. Rollins got stuck in traffic," Fin informed her reading the look on his friend's face.

"And Sunny had a little melt down when Carisi was dropping her off to Nick's mom so Peach had to go help so he could get to court," Kat added not looking up from her paperwork.

"Okay," Olivia breathed out, "Good. Did the two of you hear anything?"

Fin leaned back in his chair. "Quiet on my end."

Kat scratched her head still looking down. "They haven't spoken of that's what you're asking, Cap. Only thing I heard was that Carisi is worried."

"That makes two of us but no news is good news. I need you two to pay close attention to them, intervene if you have to no matter how small or big. Okay?"

Both Fin and Kat agree and Olivia goes to her office, closing the door behind her. Moments later, Amanda rushed in going straight to her desk.

"Traffic was a bitch this morning two wrecks right after the other. Had to go all the way around," Amanda complained while putting her things away. "But I'm here, I'm here."

Fin smiled at her. "It's all good, Amanda. What matters is that you weren't in either of them."

"Right. You're here and safe." Kat added taking a brief look up.

Hearing that felt good, felt to her like her friends hadn't completely betrayed her. She pulled a file from her desk with notes she needed to look over.

"What did you all do yesterday?" She asked flipping through the papers.

Kat shrugged. "Was here for a bit to catch up on paperwork I didn't finish Friday and went to dinner last night."

"Phoebe had me helping her pick new furniture out. We spent all day in ikea." Fin answered twisting side to side in his chair. "Had pizza and went to bed. What about you?"

"All that sounds fun except the paperwork, Kat." She laughed. "Uuh took the girls to the park, Hasim made dinner. I did go see Peter for a bit."

Her admission made Kat look up, she made eye contact with Fin before they both turned to look at Amanda.

"As in Stone?" Fin asked.

"The one and only. Just a quick chat then went back home." Amanda shrugged. She tried to judge their reactions but came up empty.

Peach breezed in, she hugged Kat then went to her desk collapsing in her desk chair. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh my gosh, I've never been so happy to be at work," she laughed.

Amanda eyed the other woman with anger in her eyes. The look didn't go unnoticed by Fin but he kept quiet not wanting to agitate the situation.

"Don't do my niece that way."

"Kat, you're saying that because you didn't have to pry her out of her dad's arms and endure crying for 20 minutes straight," Peach sassed. "I should've just taken her myself but no."

Fin chuckled. "She's probably still tired. She partied pretty hard Saturday. My son said Jaden was the same way this morning."

"Yeah well she should've went to bed when I told her to last night instead of playing with Bluey," Peach joked. "Good morning, Amanda. Thank you for the gifts and bringing the girls."

Fin and Kat held their breath watching the interaction.

"Hmm? Oh you're welcome, I hope she enjoyed them. The girls had fun as well."

Peach smiled at her. "She did enjoy them. They did? I'm so glad to hear that. I know the girls slept good that night between our nephew and nieces running them around and all the food and sweets."

"Our," Amanda mumbled before recovering. "Did you redecorate? Sonny's house, I mean."

"Here and there. What did you think of it?"

She shrugged going back to her notes. "Mmmm, it's okay. I like it better before but you're the one that has to live there."

"That's right, I am and I love it." Peach laughed softly.

"Hmm I bet you do."

Fin's phone ringing interrupted their conversation. He answered it quickly taking a few notes then hung up.

"We got a push in rape. Rollins, you're with me to the hospital. Peach," he called out standing up, "You and Kat go to the scene."

Figuring he needed to send more than a text, Peter went to Carisi's office. After speaking with his former (and Carisi's current) assistant, Peter enter his office closing the door behind him. He took a seat in front of the desk.

"Sorry to interrupt but figured this deserved a pop up." Peter explained reaching to shake his hand.

"I would say it's nice to see you but I don't think this is a good visit."

"You're right it's not," Peter admitted. "But first, how's the little princess?"

Carisi leaned back in his chair a soft chuckle escaped him. "She's not too happy with me. She didn't wanna leave me this morning, she went to sleep pretty late last night."

"She was still on that birthday high," he chucked, "Did you hear anything from Amanda?"

"No but I'm sure it won't be long now. Why?" Carisi frowned a bit.

Peter proceeded to recount the events of the previous night, making sure not to leave anything out. Once it was all out, Peter sat quietly letting Carisi digest everything. The ADA rested his elbows on his desk taking a few, slow breaths.

"I don't get it. For years before BiBi got to svu, I tried with Amanda and embarrassingly enough I got shot down every time. So I gave it up. And now ... now," he hissed softly, "She's trying to save me. It's bull."

"Trust me, I agree with you. She didn't want you but she also doesn't want anyone else to have you." Peter deduced with a slight chuckle.

Carisi nodded, squeezing his fists closed right. "And because she had such a problem with BiBi, it's even worse."

Peter learned forward in his seat. "Speaking of, what exactly is the problem?"

"Honestly, I don't know the exact reason that started this. All I know is they never got along and it's gotten worse since," he explained, running his hands through his hair. "And between you and me I'm still not convinced Amanda didn't put Bibi being a UC out on purpose."

"Wait what?"

"Yeah. Fin, Bibi and Amaro went undercover and towards the end it got out, some of the guys jumped on her. Thankfully Fin intervened and they were able to spin it."

"Wow," he uttered. "I would hope that she didn't but she doesn't have the best track record. Sandbagging is her go to when she doesn't like something. She did it to me twice."

Carisi nodded trying to make sense of it. His daughter's birthday should still be taking up majority of the space in his mind but instead it was this.

"While it's just us, we should talk."

Peach glanced at her best friend from the road. "Uuh okay. About what?"

"Amanda."

"First Sonny, now you," she complained, "My baby just turned one and all anyone seems to wanna talk about is her. I don't care if she's mad, I don't care if she's sad. I don't care how she feels about me, my husband or my child."

Kat put a calming hand on her shoulder. "Hey, wait, I'm on your side here. When I said Amanda I didn't mean her feelings, I meant about her possibly retaliating."

"I didn't mean to snap at you but I'm done walking around on eggshells for her. She needs to get the hell over it. "

"I agree, Peach. I do. But listen, you know she's gonna try to do something to get back and when she does you can't let her win. Don't give in." Kat coached.

Peach agreed just like she had with her husband. Getting back to the squad, Fin and Amanda had beat the best friends there and were already giving Olivia a briefing on what they had.

"Okay, follow those leads," Olivia turned to Kat and Peach, "And what do you two have for me? Please say good news."

"Okay so the building does have cameras in the lobby, those were sent over and we found out that this guy tried to do this two weeks ago to another tenant." Peach explained. "She wasn't home, we sent officers to her job."

Olivia pulled her glasses off, "Okay let's see if we can find a report on it. Anything else?"

Amanda cut in, "Did you ask about a boyfriend or if she has multiple people in and out?"

"We asked and they said female friends are often there," Kat shrugged going to her ringing phone, "They said nothing about men. Tamin?"

"Did she say something to indicate that there maybe a boyfriend or a man she's seeing?" Olivia asked.

Amanda shrugged going to look at their board. "She didn't but I get the feeling there may be."

"A feeling?" Olivia pushed.

"Yeah, a feeling, Cap."

"Fin, did you get this same feeling?"

Fin looked between his partner and the captain, he thought for a moment on his answer. Peach and Olivia waited on his answer while Kat continued her call.

"I didn't get that feeling. She was rattled, scared and nervous," he shrugged. "I didn't feel like she was hiding anything."

"I had a look through her phone when she asked me to call her mom she had quite a few pictures of herself and other men, dating apps, afew messages about meet ups." Amanda bought up unashamedly.

Olivia frowned a bit. "You went through her phone? Without permission?"

"Technically I did she asked me to call her mom."

Kat quietly returned to her spot beside Peach. They listened to Olivia and Amanda's conversation. Olivia was more worried about the breach of privacy without consent and Amanda was steadfast about her hiding things.

"The tenant, Alicia, is on her way, Cap." Kat slid in.

Olivia barely acknowledged the information carrying on with Amanda.

"Cap, all I'm saying is we asked about her seeing anyone and she didn't speak up about any of them. She's hiding something."

"Maybe she didn't think any of them were relevant or maybe they're not current," Fin suggested.

Olivia nodded. "And as we all know victims always withhold something. We'll talk to her again and see what comes of it."

The officers entering with Alicia cut their conversation short, Olivia allowed Fin and Kat to take her statement. She stood with Amanda and Peach on the outside listening in. Her story sounded consistent with the current victim outside of the actual rape which was thwarted by her live in boyfriend.

"At least her and the boyfriend got a good look at the guy so they can ID him when we catch him," Peach acknowledged softly. "Rollins, did the vic get a good look at him?"

Amanda ignored the question, keeping her eyes trained on her co-workers and Alicia. It was nice not having to interact much with Peach, she hoped it would have lasted the rest of the day. Peach glanced around Olivia to Amanda noticing the stoic look.

"Rollins," she called out a little louder, "The vic ... did she get a look?"

Once again, Peach's question was met with silence. The adolescent behavior annoyed her but she wasn't going to show it. Olivia nudged her detective, nodding at Peach.

"Oh uh she saw him but not a really good look. Sorry I'm trying to listen," she answered without looking in their direction.

Peach kept her remarks to herself, not wanting to start an argument. She remembered the promises that she made her husband and best friend, wanting to make good on them.

"It's being recorded, Amanda. Relax." The captain assured gently.

Amanda chuckled. "Relax? Yeah okay, Cap."

Olivia switched the speaker off turning to the blonde. "Is there something that you wanna get off your chest, Rollins?"

"Not at all, Captain."

"Are you sure? Because it sure sounds like you have something to say." Olivia pushed.

Amanda huffed loudly, "I'm sure. Can we get back to this?"

While on a lunch run, Peach met up with her husband to make sure he got food as well. They sat at a table while they waited on both of their orders. Peach showed her pictures from Nick's mom.

"She has so much fun over there," Peach gushed. "And gets fed well, even though she gets it all over herself."

The smile on Carisi's face slowly faded a they came to the last picture. "She does. And she's learning Spanish. She speaks more language than me."

"Between you teaching her Italian and Nick's mom with Spanish, she gonna be a well rounded little girl. And sassy in three different languages," Peach joked. "I noticed that you were frowning when you got here. What's up?"

Carisi sighed grabbing ahold of her hands, kissing the tops. "Peter came to see me today to tell me about a visitor he had last night."

"Uuuh... that made you frown?"

"Yeah. The visit it was Amanda." Peach tried to pull her hands away but he held onto them. "BiBi, stop and listen. I'm telling you so that you know." She frowned but mumbled for him to go on. "Thank you. He said that she was enraged with him and us when she came. She stormed in going on about us and wanting to fix it."

She looked her husband in the eyes as she spoke. "She's been fine, Sonny. A little snippy but fine. You and Kat worry too much."

Back at the squad, Olivia called Amanda into her office. She had her detective wait until she finished a few messages and emails. Since Peach had gone to get lunch, the detective had been vocal about her displeasure of the handling of their current case, sliding in subtle jabs at their missing coworker.

"I think you know why I called you in here, Amanda."

She raised a brow. "Actually I don't. What's up, Cap?"

"I know that finding out about Carisi and Peach on Saturday did not feel great for you. I know that it disappointed you and it upset you." Olivia stated. "But regardless of that you still have a job to do. I need to know that you can work with Peach and Carisi without their being an issue. If you can't then you need to tell me now and I'll find you somewhere else to go."

The blonde scoffed at the insinuation. "Why do I have to leave? I've been here longer."

"I'm telling you the same thing I plan on telling Peach, Amanda. I would like an answer."

"You know what? I need to think about it." She retorted. "For the last two years the people that I've trusted with my life before she even got here have been keeping this secret from me. Going on with them, celebrating or doing whatever while I sat in the dark."

Olivia clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "If that's how you feel, Amanda, then take some time to think about it. But while you are working as you come up with an answer, be professional or I'm going to take the decision away from you. Is that understood?"

"Got it, Cap. Anything else?"

"Watch your mouth and you know exactly what I mean." Olivia noticed Peach walk in with food and cleared her throat. "That's all. Send Peach in here."

After having a similar, albeit calmer, conversation with Peach, Olivia took a much needed break. She left Fin in charge while she went to get air. The detective ate and discussed the case amongst themselves.

"Oh this is my little baby, she must be about to nap. I'll be back." Peach rushed away into the crib to answer her facetime call.

Amanda watched her leave then started to mumble to herself. She had been texting all day with Nikki Stains to tell her about the situation and to call her off from helping Peter. She was upset with how things had unfolded, they weren't going in her favor.

"I have to know." She blurted out. "Kat, she's your best friend so I get it but Fin, we're partners. You knew and said nothing. I mean got God's sake, I was his partner too. Why?"

Fin and Kat exchanged looks as he dropped his fork onto the plate. "I was respecting their wishes, Amanda. I'm sorry if you're upset that we knew but you should know why they didn't want to tell you."

"I should know?" She repeated sarcastically. "I should know why they didn't tell me they were dating, they they were having a baby, that they were getting married? Well, I don't, Fin. Why don't you tell me?"

"Look at how you're acting," Kat interjected. "You're acting like it's some wild injustice against you and it's not. They're happy, that's all that matters."

Amanda threw her hands up, laughing. "That's not all that matters here. It's not."

"Then tell us what else matters," Fin pushed.

"Nothing. Nothing. Forget it. I'm thinking about leaving anyway." She pushed her chair back and got up, walking away from them.

She went to the crib, easing in quietly. From where she stood, she could see and hear the facetime call. Carisi had joined the call, his smile wider than she had ever seen aside from at the birthday party and for some reason it bothered her. Sunshine's giggles and words mixed in with her gibberish almost bought a smile to Amanda's face but hearing Peach's voice quickly ruined it.

"Oooh is that a yawn? Big girl is ready for a nap," Peach asked in the baby voice she used for her daughter.

Carisi chuckled at the yawn. "Yeah, Princess Sunny is tired. Take a nap and Daddy will be there to get you after. Okay?"

Sunshine spoke her gibberish through another yawn. "Kay. Buey?"

"Yeah, Sunshine, we can watch Bluey. Night night, big girl. Daddy loves you."

"Mommy loves you too, big girl."

Sunshine blew them a kiss at the instruction from Nick's mother. After she hung up, husband and wife spoke for a few minutes about what they would have for dinner and weekend plans before hanging up.

"You're eavesdropping." Peach called out looking down at her phone. "That's rude."

Amanda was startled by her, not sure how she had been heard. "I came in to get away, didn't realize you were in here."

"And once you did, you didn't leave." Peach shot back sliding her phone into her pocket. "But I'm leaving, it's all yours."

When Peach went to walk out the door back onto the floor, Amanda stepped in front of her. The latter staring into her coworkers eyes with disgust and anger.

"Excuse me, Amanda." She said as politely as she could.

"What is it with you? You came in charming everybody and making everyone love you, fall at your feet even." Amanda sneered. "But not me. You're a conniving snake."

Peach laughed. "I'm a snake? Me? Which one of us damn near blew the other's cover and got them beat up? Which one of us tried to undermine the other?"

"That was an accident and I can't help if you're wrong."

"I am your superior and I'm ordering you to move out of my way, Detective Rollins. Now."

"Oh yeah, my superior," Amanda laughed. "Explain to me again how you got that promotion to sergeant again. Garland does seem to be fond of you. You sleep with him too?"

It was Peach's turn to laugh. "Are you serious right now? Too? I guess you're counting Sonny. I got my promotion because I passed my test, something you failed to do so no I didn't sleep with Garland. I'm not you."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Let's just say your reputation exceeds you, Amanda. Now please move."

"Of all the men you just had to have Sonny. You knew he was gullible, you knew he was vulnerable and you preyed on him." She accused poking her shoulder. "I knew that night I called and he was taking you home that you were gonna seduce him. He wanted love. You saw an opportunity, swooped in and took him."

"Do not touch me again." Peach warned. "To take him that would mean he belonged to someone, namely you, which he did not and does not."

"You're such a bitch. How did Sonny get stuck with someone like me?"

"Someone like me that loves him, cares for him and treats him like a person and not a burden. Someone like me that allows him to be himself, someone that doesn't belittle him. Is that what you mean?"

"No," she snapped. "No, I mean someone like you that sleeps with who she needs to just to get what she wants. I talked to your last partner. He told me about you and your captain. You got what you wanted then you were gone."

Peach stared at the blonde wanting to lash out. "Amanda, I keep telling you to mind your business. You don't know what you're talking about. Get out of my way."

"Oh, Bianca wants to run away now. Not so much to say now? I wonder what Carisi would think about you and your ex captain."

"You're pushing something that you shouldn't. Leave me alone, Amanda. All of this over a man you didn't want," Peach warned through gritted teeth. "You decided as soon as you saw me that you didn't like me and ever since then you've done nothing but be a bitch to me."

"I'm not scared of you. I know you're secret and I'm gonna tell everyone." Amanda smiled, clearly proud of herself.

Peach took deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves. "I'm trying to respect the captain's wishes and the promises I made my husband and Kat but you're making it very hard. Get out of my way."

"Move me, Bianca. Come on, you're not so big and bad huh?"

"I know that the captain gave you the same option that she gave me. You don't have to think, since it means so much to you to have them all to yourself then I'll leave. I'm not doing this with you anymore." Peach stepped around Amanda going for the door.

"Wonder what Sunshine's gonna think about having a whore for a mother? Hmm ... maybe she'll be just like you." Amanda called behind her with a sinister chuckle.

With her hand in the doorknob, Peach dropped her head counting to ten in her head. She could ignore nearly everything Amanda said but this was too far. Peach knew that Amanda was trying to press any button she could but this is one she should have left untouched.

"Let that be the last time you speak on my child."

"Truth hurts, huh? It's sad to think that your daughter is gonna be a whore just like you." Amanda taunted approaching her coworker. "It's gonna break Carisi's heart. Not only is his wife one but his daughter will be too."

Turning to face the blonde woman, Peach tried not to see red. She clenched her fists so tight that she was sure her nails were digging harshly into her palm. Her unwanted memories were floating back to her, she hated Amanda even more for being the reason they were back. That on top of her daughter being mentioned outweighed the promises she made.

"Say whatever you want about me but leave my daughter out of it. I don't talk about your kids."

"So tell me how was it? You know with your ex captain?" Amanda asked enthusiastically. "I wanna hear your side, see if it lives up to the story I got."

"Fuck off, Amanda."

"Oooh language. You're a mother, remember?"

While they continued their argument, Olivia walked back into the squad clearly refreshed from her break. She noticed the two empty desks.

"Where are they?"

"Peach went to take a call and I'm not sure where Amanda is," Kat answered.

"But they can't be together. For a long ass they've been gone we haven't heard any arguing."

In their arguing, Amanda had moved closer to Peach once again. She taunted her disregarding the warnings. Feeling herself become enraged again about the marriage, Amanda slapped her. Peach held her cheek for a moment.

"You deserve more than that but it felt good! You came in here trying to take over and I'm sick of you!

Outside in the squad, the trio heard the slap and the yell. Each having a delayed reaction before heading that way. Amanda's rant was cut off by Peach punching her in the mouth and stomach. She was going for a third hit when the others ran in, stepping between them.

"Did we not talk about this? What the hell is going on in here?" Olivia asked looking between them.

Peach checked her lip for blood. "She was eavesdropping on my call and then she wouldn't let me leave. She slapped me."

"Rollins, that true?"

Amanda groaned softly wiping the blood from her mouth. "She could've left."

"You were standing in my way! I asked you to move several times, I ordered you to move and you still didn't! Don't lie!"

Amanda smiled through the pain in her face and abdomen. "Don't leave out your little secret. You couldn't take it so you pushed me. That's why I slapped you."

"Liar," Peach tried trying to get to her only to have Kat pull her back.

"What secret?" Fin asked seeing the stressed look on their captain's face. "What is going on?"

Peach snarled at her. "You better fucking not."

"Her old partner told me she slept with her captain for perks," Amanda announced, "Oops. Sorry, Bianca."

Kat frowned, "Wait, no. Amanda, you didn't."

"I told you to mind your got damn business! You talk so much, you don't even know what the hell you're talking about, Amanda! You're so lucky she's holding me back!"

"See, Cap? This is the real her. I'm so glad you all get to witness what I already knew." Amanda tried to move closer but Fin pulled her back. "Nice to see the real you."

"Enough!" Olivia yelled, silencing both sides. "Until Garland and I can get to the bottom of this the two of you are suspended indefinitely. Leave your gun and badge. I will call you when you can come give a statement. Until then you two will not interact with the other. Is that clear?"

"Crystal. I wanna press charges. She assaulted me." Amanda announced.

Fin shook his head at her. "You do that and you're going down too. Don't be like that."

Peach pushed her best friend off of her and walked out of the crib. She tossed her badge and gun onto her desk and snatched her things up before storming out of the squad. Olivia went to her office slamming the door behind and Fin went to get Amanda some ice leaving Kat and Amanda alone.

"I hope you're proud of yourself, Amanda."

"I told you guys she isn't who you thought she was. I'm just happy it's out now."

Kat shook her head. "You have no idea what you did. Let me guess you talked to her ex partner, right?"

"Yup."

"And you didn't even bother to check behind him. You know I always tried to give you the benefit of the doubt but you are the evil bitch I was told you were." Kat fussed. "She did nothing to you and you went digging for dirt on her but you ended up getting it all on you."

Amanda rolled her eyes, "What are you talking about?"

"You'll find out. But if Peach is out of here and you stay ... so am I."

The only place Peach could think of going was to her husband. She knew he was probably busy but she just washed to be with him. The promise she had made was broken but she couldn't take it. If this is what she was going to have to deal with, she wasn't sure if she wanted to keep working there.

Getting to his office, she walked right in closing the door behind her. He smiled, extremely excited to see her until he saw the tears in her eyes and the bruise on her cheek. He met her halfway, pulling her into a hug letting her cry on his chest.

[official-osha]

alright, so im gonna continue to be less active on here for a while - probably. we'll see. explanation of things below the cut. its long and rambly im typing this up at midnight in between discussing saw with someone sorry

im at a crossroads with this blog. i feel an expectation to live up to the OSHA thing, and i want to, but also... i want to continue offy's story, and roleplay.

theoretically, both could coexist, but i know the larger part of you all dont care about offy very much, and i feel deeply embarrassed when i do roleplay because of this. i appreciate the following i've amassed, but it's... a lot. and i'm tired and busy.

i haven't felt motivated to roleplay like i used to here for pretty much almost two years. the OSHAverse is pretty inactive these days. and i don't know how i want to close out offy's character arc.

diving into the roleplay thing more - i started this blog when i was a mentally ill 14 year old going into public school for the first time since the first grade. a lot of offy's earlier interactions and behavior reflects this, because i projected onto them and used them as a way to vent. i'm deeply unhappy with how i used to write them. if i could, i'd reboot them, but with the OSHAverse being the way it is... that's not easy. i'd have a hell of a lot of people to have discussions with, some of whom i haven't seen roleplaying in a year or more. and because the organizational system on my blog is a fucking nightmare, that adds another layer to the mess.

so im faced with a few decisions: keep going even though i really am unsure, move offy and their roleplaying onto another blog, or just do a mass retcon on this blog.

as to why i havent made another blog for roleplay in the first place - tldr i like attention. longer version is this has always been a roleplay blog so if you remove that its like. alright. what am i doing with myself now. i have all my followers here and shit, and i also value audience participation in offys story [even if i uh ... dont make it easy for you guys to participate]. but at the same time, i know you people arent here for roleplay. also im unfortunately deeply aware that a large part of the site considers the OSHAverse cringe

ill probably make a poll sometime in the future to see what the people want, if anyone has input they want to offer now itd be appreciated. no matter what though, the blog will stay up if i dont get any copyright infringement notices or anything. if anyone has a link to one of those mass taggers that would allow me to tag a post that comes from a specific date or earlier itd be appreciated so i can tag older posts.

[nightflower-stuff]

Supa strikas Fanfiction/Text no. 1:

Food for Thought (Season 7, episode 11):

* During the Super League gala ceremony. They're congrats Miko Chen & Riano for helping their other rivals. Shakes & Skarra are doing something worst acting if they're enemies each other as well. Skarra is the only one who throw the food at Shakes. He hear his name & all of them congrats to Shakes. He throws the burger while Skarra got almost hitting then he hits it at Uber. These two must be started. 🙂👍*

Uber: Iron Tank... *Stops then he pushed the table*

* The super League players are starting the battle of the food fights. Klaus got allergy to turkey while Dooma puts on Klaus' head. After the food fight. Others are complaining. Skarra & Shakes are their faults doing them. Some of them are from the Super League headquarters for taking these two. Tiger sees Miko mess himself with Nakama team.*

Tiger: *run* Miko!

Miko: Twisting Tiger?

Tiger: That's me. 😁

Miko: Huh, You got a mess.

Tiger: Yeah, Doing food fight. It's just Shakes & Skarra started it. That's their fault (⁠ー⁠_⁠ー⁠゛⁠).

Miko: I know, they're enemies each other.

*These two boys saw Inyo holds her umbrella was a mess, except her outfit cannot be mess. As she's protect herself from the food fight.*

Miko: Inyo! Over here! *Wave his hand*

Inyo: *arrived* It's good to see you, two...

Tiger: You remember us right now 😊.

Inyo: You should wash your clothes & take a bath. Both of them are mess...

Miko: *chuckle* Don't worry, We've got this. Your umbrella also mess, too.

Inyo: Nah, I'll tried to wipe it very clean.

Tiger: That's unfair. (⁠•⁠‿⁠•⁠)

Miko: What about your team?

Inyo: They have mess, like you.

Tiger & Miko: (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠).

Udi Pass: Inyo, Who's talking to you? *Walk & sees Miko Chen & Twisting Tiger* It's really you guys.

Tiger: That's us. 😁

Miko: We have a mess suits, especially you, Udi.

Udi Pass: Ignore that. Those two against each other. 😐

Inyo: I saw them.

Miko: Tiger & I sees them. Throw the burger, sandwich & etc... Other Super League players are starts them against.

Udi Pass: I see you helps Supa strikas goalkeeper, Big Bo. Congratulations, Miko.

Inyo: Congrats, my friend.

Miko: *little bit blushed & embarrassed* Thank you. (⁠◠⁠‿⁠・⁠)⁠—⁠☆

Tiger: Okay, we saw him. Even Riano & Shakes.

Inyo: Tell me, where are they taken these two?

Udi Pass: To the Super League headquarters. For their behaviors.

Miko: Welp, they're punish....

Udi Pass: I better go. It's midnight. I shouldn't sleep well.

Inyo: Me too.

Udi Pass: See you at next match. We will meet again soon. *walk away*

Inyo: So do, see you, my friends *walk away*

Tiger & Miko: Bye, Inyo!

Miko: Are you & Supa strikas are having practice at your training tomorrow?

Tiger: Yes, For against Invincible United at 4 days in the match. The 3 days are for practicing, except Shakes, even Skarra, Too. How about you?

Miko: I need a rest. I'm very tired of training by Ura Giri. (⁠-⁠_⁠-⁠;⁠)⁠・⁠・⁠・

Tiger: That's okay 😄. He's immature 😒.

Miko: You're right 😊.

North Shaw: Twisting Tiger! We need to go, now! The training will be tomorrow by announcing of Coach! Let's go! Don't waist of time! *Walk*

Tiger: I'm gonna go. We could meet again 😁.

Miko: *proudly* Of course. See you at the match. I'll rest myself. Bye, Tiger! *Walk away*

Tiger: Bye, Miko. *Walk away*

*Miko & Tiger are walking away from each other. Miko went back to the hotel then he should be rest on his room. Tiger & North Shaw with the players of Supa strikas get inside the bus since they're both separately places while they should start training tomorrow, except Shakes. Shakes & Skarra are in the Super League headquarters in the privacy*

• Requested/Suggestions by: @sahara-solaris-solace

• Bonus + A/N:

I forget to doing the headcanon TwT because I've got busy on social medias for I posted my arts when I'm tired 🥲♥️.

Anyways, Enjoy them 👋❣️

More Lists of the texts & posts:

[pyrrhicraven]

How long is the next chapter of the fic that is being updated gonna be?

The short answer is 1000+ as I try to write every chapter of everything I write at least around that and the long and I do mean looooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnng answer is below 🤣

The Last Knight: Chapter 16: 1,466 words (which can change as I edit it) and Chapter 17 is currently in progress at 142 words.

Brooklyn Bros: Chapter 16: Currently sitting at 182 as I accidentally didn't save the chapter 😭(Apparently auto-save got turned off somehow 😵‍💫)

The Devil's Trap: Chapter 24: 156 Honestly I wrote chapter 23 and was trying to plan out what happens next 😂so I haven't actually worked on this much.

Red Windows: Chapter 8: 505 words in 😂 Why are words hard??

Oracle Of The Void Chapter 6: 439 also writers block issues

Is it really a Harem if the Main Character is Aro-Ace? chapter 5: 100 Not sure I like the pairing might change it because it's bugging me and I haven't written much for it.

Tangled Hearts Chapter 18: 643 words. writer's block got me on this one and I just haven't come back to it.

Nova Chapter 8: I've properly plotted this one out now and am in the process of rewriting this one. Most of the chapters are so far similar and have about the same word counts but I haven't written for 8 yet.

Never Be Your King Chapter 9: I've got nothing other than the chapter title as I put this fic on pause for a bit. (Though I didn't mean for this long yikes)

Beneath The Midnight Sky chapter 30: 734 is almost done then I need to edit 😊

Ghost In The Imperial Naval Academy Chapter 4: 593 but I'm also going over the plot and thinking about rewriting the first three chapters again. Not sure if I will or if I'll just post 4 when I'm done though.

Pac-Man Chapter 16: 498. I meannnnn how do you write this nonsense?? I know how-by throwing everything out the window lol

Angel Shrine Chapter 11: sooo Adrien is making a mess, I've rewritten this chapter twice already and hate both. Both are nearly 1000 words of garbage, so yeah probably going to rewrite it a third time.

Red Shift Chapter Two: 344 words currently even though I have it all plotted out (Rare for me) I got stuck if you will lol

Unintended Chapter 20: 292 This fic has been difficult, to say the least. Like wrangling cats really.

Savage Chapter 6: 581. I put this one on hold too due to the massive amount I'm plotting/writing at any given time.

Alchemy Chapter Two: 534 I added a twist last second so now I'm plotting over this one's corpse.

Blind And Frozen Chapter 19: 316 People are not seeing eye to eye for this one so not sure when I'm doing anything more for this one.

A Phantom Caress Chapter 18: 705 at a crossroads of sorts and unsure if I want to continue or run away screaming 😂

Blood Auction: 11,813 words

UNPUBLISHED OR FORMERLY PUBLISHED BUT DOWN FICS

These jerks live in my head rent-free and have done so for at least a year hence some of them with big numbers.

Everything You Need: 4582

Haze: 12,663

Monsoon: 3,323

Vlad:1,876

Emerald Waves:2,122

Darkest Luck: 2,320

Adored by the shadows: 1,832

Life Beneath The Universe: 272

Silver Veil: 300

Untitled Super Mario: 1,265

Rise: 2,656

Hunger: 524

Planet X: 222

[starryserenade]

Sunflower: A Kingdom Hearts Story

(I'm SO sorry for posting this like a bajillion times, it's so old that I forgot which version was the final version whoops. This SHOULD be right. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go cry for being such an embarrassing mess) Fic Description: In a field of dandelions, a sunflower points the way to the light

Notes: I lost track of what lore is considered canon in KH, especially in terms of newer introductions like the foretellers, so some things may not make complete sense. That said, this is a set in a world created based on a lot of interesting hints and details that all became dead ends (as far as I'm aware). Seeks to give Mickey a more interesting and meaningful role in the world of Kingdom Hearts.

Dug this back up from the depths of the computer after getting an ask from an Anon (thanks for reminding me it exists). I'd forgotten it almost entirely. Literally didn't even know what to write for the description, so have that fun little sentence that was the first thing that popped into my brain.

Enjoy! haha

AO3

~~~

“Why do ya call them Dandelions?” 

“Because,” The mysterious wielder giggled and knelt beside the young boy. “They are all my secret wishes, the seeds I hope to plant for a world I cannot yet see.”   

The little mouse tilted his head, staring thoughtfully at her face with curious eyes that twinkled in the way only children’s do. 

“And why d’ya want me?” 

On these words she stayed silent for some time and her eyes drifted past him to the figure standing just behind, a single lantern swaying in their grip.  They exchanged silent nods and she turned back to the child, smiling softly. 

“Even dandelions cannot persist alone in the dark.  They need the sun to give them strength, and its light to guide them home.”

“I…don’t understand…”

“Little sunflower, I need you to point the way.”

~~~

He stood on the brink of dark and dawn.  To his back lay a sky littered with stars, the whispers of daybreak lingering about them in clouds of pink and blue.  There was a warmth to their shine, but it was fragile, like the flame of a match flickering in a midnight breeze. 

But before him sprawled a sea of shadow, endless and unwavering.  It met with the dawn in a violent clash, nipping at the barrier between and lashing out at every bright flicker that managed to get too close. 

Mickey had cemented himself on the side of the light, as had the others, though he was so close to the border that his shadow fell to the realm beyond.  He sucked in a shaky breath as he looked out at the world before him and did his best to cling to his keyblade.  It wasn’t easy.  A deep gash scarred his shoulder, a recent wound, and every inch of his body screamed and pleaded with him to give into oblivion. 

No, not yet, he scolded himself with what little awareness remained.  Every other bit of thought was focused on scanning the would-be battlefield for the thing he was sure would be his end.  Then it was there.  From deep in the shadows, two eyes blinked open, glowing a deep, bloody red, and Mickey swallowed, resigning himself to the inevitability of what was to come.  It was over.  His blood went cold at the thought and he realized, abruptly and with a curl of his tail, that these were the last moments he would share with the ones beside him.

After hours of standing his ground, he now took a step back. 

~~~

“I wanna go with ‘em!” squealed the boy, and he scrambled to join the keyblade wielders he’d seen rushing outside his window.

“Hm?..Oh!”  Ava leapt from her place and darted to the door, blocking the curious child’s path.  “Ah ah ah!” She wagged her finger playfully, laughing as she always did, even as he pouted.  “You know you have to stay here!”

“But why?” he groaned, ears drooping.  Then his tail twitched, and his voice got soft.  “It’s so lonely.”

Her smile faltered for only a moment before it was replaced by a sunny grin.  “I know, but it won’t be forever, I promise!” she assured him cheerfully. “Right now, we all have our roles…and theirs is just a little bit different than yours.” A wind swept past the window, carrying with it a graceful stream of dandelions, and she let out a quiet breath.  “I know how that feels, believe me.”

She bit her lip even as she spoke the words.

The boy’s eyes fell to the floor and he shuffled his feet.  “I miss Papa…when can I go home?”

Ava didn’t know what to say to that.  Soon?  After the war? 

…Never?

An answer evaded her.

So she kneeled before him and smiled softly.  “Why don’t you show me that new story you were talking about?  The one about the curious girl and her silly rabbit.”

It worked.  He lifted his head and grinned, eyes sparkling as he grabbed her hand and yanked her towards a desk very much his size, where a book sat glittering in the windowlight.  Cheerfully he flung it open and golden beams spilled from its pages.

Ava grinned as a new world took form around them, built piece by piece from those same ribbons of light.  It unfolded at first like the pages of a book, but then the edges softened and the words beneath their feet vanished until this world of make believe was indistinguishable from reality.

And as Mickey led her forward through a flourish of colorful foliage, chattering on about grinning cats and hatters and talking caterpillars (of which Ava could not begin to imagine how they might all connect), she began to realize that he truly knew nothing of his purpose.  To him, this was all a playful game of dream and fantasy, imaginary worlds to pass the lonely days by.

How might the nature of these worlds change, she wondered, if he knew of the weight they held?  Would their bright and childish nature take on a darker hue? 

No, they won’t.  I’m certain of it, she thought silently as she watched him dart back and forth between every curious little thing that caught his eye.  He could not have understood that these stories, these tales born from his own imagination, were so much more than that, were the very hope for the world to come.  But right here, right now, that didn’t matter.  He was a child and his heart was bright, and that was all the light needed to survive.  She had faith in that.

Be brave, my little sunflower.  We need you.

~~~

Starlight thrummed behind him and pulsed through his heart, reminding him of what remained to protect.  The worlds sung.  They were endless wishes, hushed and nearly lost, but all that kept him from running, all that gave him the strength to keep his keyblade in hand.  For with each step, the scarlet eyes grew brighter.  A deep growl like passing thunder echoed across the realm, leaving ripples in the skylit surface beneath Mickey’s feet.  With it, five more pairs of eyes blinked open in the dark, each a different color, every one just as menacing as the next. 

The leader padded into view, an admittedly stunning white lion with a silvery mane.  Its paws were larger than Mickey as a whole, and the mouse shuddered to think what just one swipe of those claws would do to his body.

The other creatures soon joined the lion, bearing the forms of a bear, unicorn, snake, leopard, and scorpion.  Their forms were not like usual animals in the least; if anything, they were far more spectacular.  Designs lay scrawled and shimmering across their pelts, their bodies glowing with light.  Their appearance could be described as no less than otherworldly, and Mickey could liken them only to the spirits he had seen in his dreams.  But even then, they outshone any he could remember.

But he knew now that the light was a falsity, a guise conjured which exemplified their pride in the form of something lovely and deceiving. 

He would not be deceived again.

“We need Sora…” 

The small voice beside him derailed his train of thought and he looked up to find Kairi, hands held to her chest. 

Mickey’s heart sunk.  She was right.  The boy had always been there before.  Each and every time things had looked their bleakest, he had appeared at just the right moment, ready and willing to defy all the odds. 

Not this time.

But still...

“He is here,” Mickey said after a moment, defying every fearful bone in his body as he forced himself to smile.  The other five Lights looked at him in surprise, and he did his best to hide the tears welling in his eyes.  “Awe gosh….don’t tell me ya don’t feel it too.  That’s what made Sora so special, isn’t it?  That no matter where we were, we could always feel his heart shinin’ right there beside us.  So maybe…maybe we can’t see him, but I know that somewhere out there he’s cheerin’ us on.”  Kairi laughed, a sad, quiet laugh, as he took her hand and grinned, then turned to look over the others.  Riku’s expression, dark from fear, anger, and grief, now softened and as Mickey continued, he nodded quietly.  The mouse wasn’t sure how much he believed what he was saying anymore, but did it really matter?  If this was their last stand, he was darn well certain it wouldn’t be spent lightly.  A new fire, new hope, burned in his eyes as he spoke.  “No matter how far, the light will connect our hearts.  If there’s any time to believe that then gosh, I’d say it’s now.”

As he spoke, the creatures’ shimmering forms began to shift, melting away to prepare for another, more human likeness.  “Foretellers” is what they’d called themselves.  They continued to walk forward as this change took place, the masks of their animals hiding their eyes.  All but their leader, the lion, were dressed in brightly colored garb.  Only he wore the cloak that Mickey and his allies had come to know the Organization by, though he was certainly not one of them.

The Lights watched them even as they listened to Mickey speak.  It seemed his words, and seeing the Foretellers for what they were—human—was enough to give them the courage they needed.  Kairi grasped Mickey’s hand and squeezed it, sparking a chain amongst the others from Mickey to Riku to  Aqua to Ventus and then, finally, to Axel.  And for a single, brief, moment they all stood hand in hand. 

“For Sora,” Riku growled at last.

“For Sora!”

They released hands, summoned their blades, and rushed forward.  From somewhere within the darkness, a bell began to toll.

~~~

She stumbled through her doorway, clutching her side and gasping for every breath.  How could she have been so blind?  She had sought after Luxu to prevent the war, to save these innocent children from the dark fate that awaited them.  And yet in her heart she felt that their encounter had been the spark of it all.  The events she had dreaded so were finally coming to pass.

Their only hope now was to prepare for the future.

“Mickey!” she called to her charge, wincing as she tripped over herself and knocked into one of the desks in the room.  Sweat dripped beneath her mask and her face was pale with pain.  “M-Mickey!”

Her brain was swarming and it took her several moments to realize there had been no answer.

She straightened abruptly. 

“Mickey?  Mickey!”  Her calls quickly became more desperate, and she forced herself to brace against the pain and search every corner of the chambers.  But try as she might, the child was nowhere to be found.

Oh no…

Her pain vanished, replaced by a chilled panic, and she bolted out the door.

The battlefield was already littered with fallen blades when she arrived and upon finding herself in the heart of it all, she froze for just a moment.  It was worse than she’d feared.  The wielders—no, the children who had once laughed and played with one another now fought bitterly, without regard for the hearts of their friends.  Kingdom Hearts loomed above the badlands, dark and swollen. 

But the luxury of grief could not last long for her.  Standing out as an opposing Foreteller among the crowds of younger wielders, she quickly became their target and was forced to fend off countless blows. 

“Look at what you’re doing!  This isn’t right!” she shouted to them, though it made little difference.  Persistence was something the other leaders had obviously drilled into them a little too much.  And although their attacks were hardly difficult for Ava to block or avoid, she loathed seeing the anger and hatred burning in their eyes. 

The ranks began to thin, and Ava had not spotted the mouse.  A sick feeling sat in her stomach.  He had yet to summon a keyblade, and heaven knew she had hardly taught him to fight on his own.  He was younger than the others.  Younger and smaller, and far too innocent for the battlefield. And…

And then she saw him. 

Several yards away he streaked past, a bright blue blade gleaming in his grip.  Ava gasped, first relieved to find him alive, but then shocked and almost frightened to see him wielding a weapon of his own.  Surely a heart such as his, so young and untainted, could not be part of this carnage.

The battlefield was still filled to the brim with wielders, and Mickey quickly disappeared from her line of sight. She caught only glimpses as she navigated the conflict, deflecting blades as best she could without harming their owners as she ran.  It was no easy task and she found herself locked in battle with several determined souls.  But she managed to break away and, spotting a small figure darting through the crowd, raced towards it.  For a single moment, she was granted a clear view of her charge.  But her heart caught in her throat when she saw him race straight towards a fallen wielder, his keyblade raised as if ready to deal a final blow.

She opened her mouth to shout at him, moved to try to stop him.  But then he dropped to his knees, blade and hands bathed in the verdant light of healing magic, and she stopped, watching as the other wielder took a shuddering breath that steadied beneath the spell.  The little mouse offered a hand, grinning from ear to ear as his new ally took it, then he pointed off into the distance before running off to yet another weakened soul. 

He quickly faded from sight but Ava breathed a shaky sigh of relief, even as she too was swept away by the remaining skirmishes.

A light to guide them home… she thought, recalling her own words.  How he had learned to summon his blade, how he had even learned of the war, she knew not.  But here he was, younger and smaller than any other, healing every fading heart he could find.  Ava could not have been more proud.

Only several moments later and the wielders’ ranks had thinned.  Several more, and there were hardly any left.  And then suddenly, in a swift rush of air, the world was all but empty.

It was over. 

Almost.

An eerie cloud of dust lay over the battlefield, heightening the silence that already persisted across the near-empty world.  “Mickey!” she called.  She was certain he still remained, in her heart she could sense his light.  And to her relief, his silhouette soon appeared within the haze.  She ran forward and opened her mouth to call his name once more, only to stop dead in her tracks as a second figure appeared just behind him.

“Invi…” Ava whispered, eyes widening as the fellow foreteller became clear.  The point of her keyblade was held to the child’s back, and he stumbled timidly forward, confusion and fear masking his face.  “Invi, what are you doing?”

“Fulfilling my role,” the woman hissed.  There was pain in her voice, and a deep anger.  “I trusted you, Ava.  We all did.  I believed you when you told me the Master had commanded you to gather those wielders from our unions…but that was a lie, wasn’t it?  How could you lead your own union to safety and leave the others to perish here?!”

Ava’s breath hitched in her throat.  The dust had begun to clear and the gleam of thousands upon thousands of fallen keyblades shone in the darkened light of Kingdom Hearts.  “I didn’t lie,” she breathed.  “And my Dandelions are from all unions, not just Vulpes.  You know that.”

“But I didn’t know about him.” Invi prodded Mickey with her blade and he let out a frightened whimper, tail lashing behind him.  “Not at first.  But I’ve been watching.  He’s connected to the Keeper, isn’t he?  Meaning he has a power unlike any other, and you hid it for a reason.  You wanted to keep it all to yourself.”

“No!  That’s not—”

“Don’t deny it!” The fury that burst from Invi’s mouth was so venomous, so filled with rage, that Ava found herself unable to speak.  “The Master forbid us to so much as speak to the Keeper!  But you hid his child away, using him to create perfect little worlds of your own.  You say the Master told you to do this?  Well, the Master tasked me with keeping peace between all our unions.  And he-“ She glared at the little mouse.  “-represents nothing but imbalance!”

Ava could sense the energy beginning to flow between Invi and her blade, and she gasped as she summoned her own.  “Invi, you can’t!  He’s done nothing wrong, he’s just a child!”

“So were they!” Invi screeched, flinging her free hand towards the keyblades surrounding them. 

“Master Ava…” Mickey’s terrified whisper caught her attention and she glanced at him.

“Invi, please…don’t do this.”  The words came hoarsely, trembling and clumsy.  She knew she wouldn’t be faster than her counterpart.  She wouldn’t be able to save him.  “Just let me explain..”

Invi trembled, the poise and grace so often donning her persona having vanished.  She was angry and heartbroken and betrayed.  For once, emotion ruled her entirely.  Kingdom Hearts’ now-dark form glinted on the silver of her mask.

“You say the Dandelions were your role to play?  Well this…this is mine.”

[ttvnadeeta]

regarding live

wanted to apologize for not making this sooner.

but yeah,sorry no stream last night. fiance wasn't feeling well and i didn't wanna push him.

with plans changing though,i was able to test out honkai star rail and see if i liked it or not. i did. hopefully finace tests it out and likes it too. that'll give us another game to play together. if he doesn't,i'll play it solo at some point(since i do plan on doing a stream for 25 days next month)

oh,also i downloaded a soundboard thing for my computer. i added some of my sounds from my instant button website that i had in my favorites(and it came with some preloaded sounds i liked)

i was messing around with it,and u can add audio/songs in it. so depending how well it works in stream(as i haven't tested it yet)

i can use that for when i go live.

and what i mean is,i think my chatbot is broken. cause almost half of the videos i have on there when i try and go to that specific song,chatbot says there's an error and the video can't be played. even though its for my country(as some of them are my videos),and none of them are private/became private(as i just downloaded them to use in my soundboard app)

and like chatbot doesn't have an update,so idk if its a bug or what. so i hope the soundboard thing works properly,so that i can play more music than the same stuff over and over and over again. i'm sick of listening to the same songs repeatedly. so if i'm sick of it,i'm sure u guys are too.

its still non-copyright stuff as again some of them are mine. but some are from non-copyright ppl on YouTube,so i know the audio itself is fine. so it'll give my stream more audio.

its a pain in the butt to have to refind all the songs though(as u can't select the title of the video and paste it in the search,nor can u manually go to the YouTube video. so i have to literally type every audio by hand,find it,download it and put it in the soundboard)

anyways that being said,if plan stays the same,i should be going live at some point later today(since its past midnight),and it will be a ps5/PC stream. will keep u all posted.

also i might try and get another external at some point. main reason being is so i can re-download tower of fantasy,and destiny.

like i have both games on my external,but it wants me to copy it on the console(which makes no sense),so I'm gonna look up if i get another external or whatever,if i can just transfer them there,if so then that's what i do.

i mean my fiance misses playing both games with me,but i also miss streaming it for u guys.

[scary-mostaccioli]

The Lore Post

note: dude what if I do this like a Wattpad fanfic. ..fuck it I'm gonna

For starters I finished the culinary year shit and hence was the start of * summer 2022 *

from march to may I kinda half lived w some people and may i moved in

June I left bc they were shitty and did a lot of bad shit. I worked preschool and pizza after that so like obvi I was doing shit but I also got invited to drink a lot??? Also in September that year my therapist sent me a letter asking to come back and then when I called next day she couldn't accept me bc she got a promotion so like. why wld she tease me like that smh what a therapy break-up

But tbf the next month I met my fiance which like. Hold up

Oct 3 2022 met fiance

Stayed in hotel 3 days

Oct 7 left and worked. Then quit job to go to hospital and didn't make it so I called my at the time partner and cried for an hour then picked them up

Next day went to Ohio at midnight and got cigs. Legit drove back to indy immediately after

Then went to Florida the next day (9th) and almost died from car fumes lol

Florida for a week

Indiana by the 15th. Ohio 16th-22nd. Then bounced Indy Ohio until Nov 2. Got cat (pumpkin) nov 6. Engaged 19th.

December 16 went to visit my fam for 3 days. Met man in hotel parking lot that fiance said we wld meed again Sept 14 2023 homeless in downtown indy

Dec 30 was arrested and framed for smthn and until Jan 5 I was in jail. I slept in front of the tv on new years bc I wanted to watch it I think I remember harry styles or Taylor swift

March I got kicked out of a place bc when I went from Ohio to indy to visit my parents the cat knocked out two dogs

April out of place but fiance still had court so in Ohio but also in indy

May on the way to Ohio car went up in smoke from engine bay. Temp place w old roomie from year prior. 25-28, 28-29 walked over 15 miles to downtown indy. Homeless since.

July 5th pumpkin stolen July 12 given mister

Aug 12 set up first camp by river. Sept 14 met man again. Moved camps in november bc a school got mad my fiance looks like Jesus (ft middle school cult: bring me Jesus bring me Jesus)

bruh and the shit between it all.

Also like all the homeless ppl here know us bc of my fiance and it's like a power bc 1. I'm legit like. The safest mofo out here in terms of I don't need a weapon bc my fiance is so well liked ppl don't mess w me. 2. Bc of this I am bus pass god 3. Freddy please unblock panda on Facebook they're desperate. I dont hate u I was sick sorry freddy

[swiftiephobe]

ok general thoughts: i really really like it!!!!! i've given it three full listens so far and i've enjoyed it more each time. i don't think it's much of a progression nor does it really bring anything super new to her discography but it does feel like a very refined/polished form of the pop sounds she's already explored. i'm not going to officially place it into my album ranking yet because i really need to wait and see how it settles. very very tentatively, it could maybe dethrone 1989 and take third spot (and best pop album spot) but that's a very very very early judgement. i also had lover in my top 3 a week after release so maybe you can understand my caution here asfhdhcjdjf

i do feel there was a bit of a bait-and-switch between the concept/visuals and the music which i think explains some of the initial negative reactions from some? especially since there was no single released there was a LOT of hype over what the album would sound like and the visuals being so 70s inspired but like... it's a straightforward pop album. i really really like it as i said but i can definitely understand why people are disappointed. i feel like if you're gonna leave that much mystery there has to be more of a pay off at the end than releasing songs that have the same dna as stuff you've released before. i also feel like more could've been done with the "midnights" concept in general, like it's there on some of the songs but the theme of "telling the story of 13 sleepless nights" doesn't really come through as strongly as i thought it would.

lyrics: it's a pop album so i wasn't expecting as much folklore/evermore "quill pen" lyricism. there's definitely a LOT more "glitter gel pen" lyrics but y'know she hasn't really been releasing those much in the past couple of years so i'll allow it!! i think overall the lyrics are good, they're a mixture of eloquent, detailed, vulnerable with a bit of cheek at the right moments too. that's not to say there aren't some clunkers on here but overall i think there aren't any songs that are diabolically bad lyrically which is great, and even some of the weaker songs lyrically make up for it in other ways

production: this has jack antonoff's style ALL over it and well i'm a slut for synths so i was always gonna like the production. if anything though it's a bit samey? don't get me wrong i prefer that to the total whiplash mess that was the lover tracklist, i definitely think midnights was a very pleasant listen all the way through and i can see it being an album i return to as a whole which is a win for me. however i do feel some of the songs are just kinda redundant and blend into each other. i'm sure the more i listen the more i will notice the little details that set them apart

anyway here's the track-by-track (under a cut because this post got LONG)

lavender haze: this is sooooo gorgeous, veeeeery sensual, this is probably one of the highlights for me. idk how i feel about it as an opening track; i feel like the "meet me at midnight" intro was definitely added on after she decided to make it the opener rather than it being an organic part of the song. but taking the song out of that context it's absolutely stunning

maroon: ahhh it IS like a grown-up version of red with the colour references. another one that's up the top for me, it's just so rich in imagery

anti-hero: mm there are things i like and things i don't. i really like when taylor properly self-reflects in her music and i do think it must be a really tricky thing to do knowing millions of people will be listening. however this kinda feels like it almost gets there but doesn't quite for me? like idk certain lyrics kinda feel like she's just mocking what people say about her which kinda takes away from what the song is meant to be. i'm kinda like "girlie you're soooo close" at certain points, there's just a certain level of sincerity lacking for me. absolutely love the lyric "i'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror" though. the bridge is great too. and despite some gripes about the lyrics the song is a certified bop

snow on the beach: she HAS to be trolling omg. i actually don't mind her backup vocal features but why hype up the lana feature just for lana to barely be present at all. i actually don't love the song either which is a shame because i love both taylor and lana as musicians :/ idk it's just kinda meh for me. also this song did not need to be explicit LMAO like there are a few of taylor's songs with swearing i feel is shoehorned in but i think this is particularly egregious

you're on your own kid: i think she's singing about her childhood/start of her career here???? at least at the start, the song as a whole is basically an autobiography. i honestly wasn't expecting that but i kinda love it, it feels really different from what she's sung about before and feels so vulnerable and honest (what anti-hero wishes it could be!), for sure a worthy track 5 which makes me happy because the title had me a bit dubious

midnight rain: some interesting production choices here... i can't really work out who she's singing about and i'm curious. i'm probably just oblivious

question...?: the eccentric title was not necessary ashfhsjfjskf this is not as experimental as i thought it might be. again i want to know who/what she's singing about??!?! both this and midnight rain just kinda come and go for me, like they're solid mid-tier in this album, good but not standouts

vigilante shit: ok this is one i was anticipating to not like as much based on the title and yeah. this is down the bottom for me, it's a bit corny. i think the story in the song is fiction/fantasy (definitely feels like taylor cosplaying as... something) but if it's real i want to know the tea

bejeweled: i do really like how vigilante shit flows into this song, they almost feel like they're a pair that go together. i also like it better than vigilante shit even though i keep hearing her say "hoe" in the chorus which is a bit of a scream (ik she's not i just keep hearing it!). add this to the list of "who the hell is she singing about" songs

labyrinth: the epiphany vibes!!!!!!!!! we won!!!!!!!! i love how this is a bit different from the other songs sonically, it's more of a slow burn. i think this is going to be a grower for a lot of people and one of those underground favourites that doesn't really get discussed much but has devoted fans nonetheless

karma: nahhhhh idc this is so fun. this song is gonna get dragged but i am going to be a karma apologist! karma IS a cat and it's purring in my lap. the girls who get it get it and the girls who don't don't

sweet nothing: this is a bit cutesy but y'know good for them!!! i like the instrumentation it's very sweet, this is the most stripped-back song i think so it'll probably just be more of a grower

mastermind: this was probably the song i was most curious about because it's a closing track and closing tracks always slap and "mastermind" was an intriguing title so i was like hmmm how is it gonna wrap up the album??! and i like it! i really love the production and how it builds and i think it does round out the album really well. the general themes explored and directions the album goes in are nicely brought together here which is exactly what i want from a closing track!

[slashxrose]

•Slash Imagine ~

Name: cannot resist you.

Posted on: Wattpad (user: Slashxrose)

Warnings: unprotected sex, dirty talking, gagging.

Narration: first person.

Summary: you couldn't wait till Slash stops working, everything you wanted was him between your legs so you try to caught his attention until he couldn't resist you.

Narrator:

The click of her heels perks her husband's ears up with instinctive interest, but nothing else as he focuses on the task at hand. It's now late at night and the need for him to be in bed next to her is unyielding.

I saunter over to Slash for the third time tonight, my hand skimming the edge of the mahogany while observing his taut posture. I watch as his hands go to work, admiring the sinewy dance they make. The veins atop his hands scatter throughout, his tendons flexing as his wrist flicks while writing. Wear and tear decorate his hands beautifully, showing his proud age with scars and wrinkles. Long, masculine fingers grip the white and gold fountain pen I gifted him with such elegance, it almost makes me jealous of the pen. The gold adorning his fingers glistens under the only light source in the room, a stained-glass lamp on his desk.

Slash's eyes slyly shift over my form as I marvel at his hands, observing the lack of clothes I have on. My body is on full display under a sheer black babydoll set. White-hot arousal rises from his gut to his chest as he rakes over my bare breasts, honing in on the hard peaks of my nipples. Lower and lower, he inspects the translucency of my panties, he can see everything. He inhales irritably, wishing I wouldn't be right in front of him looking so appetizing when he has work to do.

"I'm busy," he says sternly, without looking at me.

My husband knows where this is going and in the back of his mind, he doesn't care. Ignoring his statement, I maneuver into his lap so that I'm facing him. He sighs as he has no choice but to look at me now. Nostrils flaring, eyebrows scrunching, he scowls me with another elongated sigh.

I situate my center over his crotch and his heart rate speeds up. Slash quickly pushes my torso against his own, almost as if he's trying to hide my face from his view. My head rests against his shoulder, unable to see his face as the hand at my upper back tells me to stay put with a strong force. Wrapping my arms around him, I hug him tightly while my hips start to slowly rotate over him. Immediately, my breathing is heavy against his ear, the blissful friction sliding across my clit, is amazing even over the thick material of his pants.

Slash gulps and fixates on a sentence he can't seem to read, too engrossed as he can feel how wet I am with the glide against his clothed cock. Gasps turn into low moans, my lower half rubbing him faster as he hardens underneath my barely-there panties. My slick splits my folds, causing the thick of him to nestle between my inner labia.

"But I want you." I say in a whisper.

His broad chest heaves, his breathing becoming heavy. My breasts squish against him, every inhale and exhale are felt with immense detail, and he can't help but be absorbed in it. Slash's brown eyes snap up to the chiming clock above the door ahead, signaling midnight has arrived. Stress plagues him all the while I'm taking it away. Time continues to slip his grasp, as does the pen in his hand. Clearing his throat, he tries to carry on with his efforts.

But I lean back and hastily unzip his pants. My meek hands reach beneath his boxers, feeling his hotness before pulling him out. Hot and hard, his thick cock stands with a curve in my hand. Resting at a high position, I hold him still while nudging away my panties. Slash rolls his full lips between his teeth with anticipation of what's to come, desire riddling his entire body. Rolling my hips upwards, my clit skims the ridge lining the underside of his length before I glide back down with the innermost wetness of my pussy.

"Oh, my damn god." I moan, clutching onto one of his shoulders tight to maintain stability.

Now breathing out of his mouth, he lets out a whisper of a groan as I paint his cock with my essence. My hand begins to massage his swollen tip, spreading the leaking precum. Shutting his eyes, he savors the sublime attention of my slippery fingers and wet pussy.

With a higher ascend, I suddenly spear myself on his shaft with a penetrating whine. Gravity pulls me toward his base with a sting to my stretching walls. The wrinkle between his brows deepens with a clench of his jaw, his eyes rolling back as my sweet pussy consumes him. Raising my hips to lessen the pain, I shallowly ride him until my wetness coats him enough to slam all the way down. Slash grunts and nearly abandons his pen but doesn't as he knows it'll be the end of this facade he's trying to maintain.

I work him up into a blazing abyss while he tries to use his resolve to persevere. The tip of his cock nearly hits my cervix with this position, filling me to the brim. The steady bounce I'm maintaining have me moaning in his ear, gradually unraveling by the second. His cologne invades my senses while burying my face in his neck, inhaling the thrilling scent with each intake of air. Panting, I cling to him with my tired legs, trying to wrap around him as I rock against him.

"Fuck babe, I- shit-" He moans out loud.

Each time I rise, my insides feel an emptiness I can't bear until the mighty stretch of sinking down gives the divine satisfaction of being full of him again.

"You like being a sluty girl for me, huh." He keeps moaning as he grabs my ass. "Feel how your cunt begs for my cock."

On his end, the heavenly scorch of the inferno that is my hot, wet, velveteen walls squeezing him feeds his carnal desire to penetrate me with control. Slowly, his hips start to buck upward, chasing the feeling of my saturated plushness. My high-pitched mewls indicate me impending release, the pulsating beat inside me becoming more frequent with each plunge.

"S- Slash, daddy...." I pule, the look on my face is grave as I pull back to look at him.

Seeing such desperation in my face makes him drop his pen without a single thought. Slash grabs my hips and lifts me to roughly slam up into my drenched cunt. Hissing, he eagerly leans back and devours the small contortions in my face. The pleasure between both of us increases tenfold as he controls the pace with my body and the power of his hips. Sure, I could ride him the whole night, but with Saul Hudson, it's an entirely different type of gratification only he can deliver. Slash drives into me like rapid-fire, ceaselessly slamming through my fluttering walls.

"What a desperate little cunt you have here," he says through clenched teeth, leching at my straining hole with a cocky tilt of his head. "Sucking me in like you can't live without my cock being buried inside you," he says with such poise it makes me lose it.

My jaw gapes open, letting out waves of wails that coax a vicious, almost painful speed of his hips. As my body recoils and quivers, my insides squeeze him.

"You're really cumming over that?" He roughly growls, his own orgasm hitting him. "Is my wife that much of a whore?" He snarls, his rough mouth intensifying my releases.

The tightness around him brings his release head-on and he sharply grunts before exhaling out a drawn-out groan. A hot rush surges through his shaft, resulting in thick strings glazing my insides. With impossible brute force, his hands clench around my hips hard enough to leave marks while pounding his spurting cock upward. Rolling waves of hot bliss wash over me as my cling to his solid body, the air being knocked out of me from his forceful thighs banging against me.

"Bab-e" the moans do not stop coming out of my mouth.

With a slight sneer to his mouth, Slash captures my lips in a fervid kiss, one that cuts my voice short. Tongues openly swirl around one another, moans and groans mixing in a harmonic cacophony.

"Holy shit, I'm gonna cum.... shit." he moans against my lips.

Sighing heavily through his nose, leftover jitters jolt his body with the last remnants of his orgasm hitting him. My walls gradually relax around him, hugging him while thick fluid flows from the junction between our bodies. Clutching onto him, I lift off him and feel as empty as ever without him. Standing on wobbly legs, I struggle to stand on the stilts of my heels. Warm semen seeps down my inner thigh, prompting me to look down at it. Slash catches the liquid with a finger, swiping it up as more drips down. Just the feeling of the pads of his fingers near my center nearly makes me topple over.

"Clean this mess," he orders, offering me his glossy fingers.

I gaze at him while opening my mouth, his fingers gliding to the back of my tongue. My lips close around his digits as his finger pulls out. Smiling, I lean over to kiss him but he stops me with a finger on my lips and a raised eyebrow.

"Did I not say clean this mess?" He repeats pitilessly.

I look down at his still hard, glistening cock as semen pools around his balls and trickle down his pants. Immediately, I sink down to my knees between his legs, licking my lips as I inspect the immense girth of him. Gingerly grabbing his base, my eyes snap up to his before licking collecting the hone he so graciously is giving to me with a fat stripe up his tall length. Slash's nostrils flare in arousal, watching me lick up his seed like a glazed candy. Even though it's bitter, it's the sweetest thing I've ever tasted as I see that he's enjoying himself.

The drip of his seed between my thighs distracts me every so often as it coats my skin in a glassy luster. My lovely tongue peeks from my lips tantalizingly as it slithers around the fat veins of his cock, smoothing over them deliciously. Reaching the tip, I lick the small slit at the top, collecting even more of the tasty liquid. While keeping his semen in the back of my mouth, I continue slurping up the mess all the way down to the bottom.

My husband lets out a hiss as my tongue cups one of his balls, softly sucking it into my mouth. A deep pinch between his brows appears and the muscles framing the back of his jaw flex as he pushes his hair back, revealing more of his handsome face. Almost breathless, he watches my mouth at his balls with an expression that spurs me on. With the acidic fluid now gone, I can't help but keep licking him until my lips reach the tip. I wrap my lips around the sensitive, swollen head and suck harder than he'd like, making his hips jerk up. He groans and snatches me by the hair, lifting me off him.

Leaning forward, he moves close to my face, tilting his head mockingly at me.

"I don't think you're in a position to toy with me when you are my toy babe," he muses, placing a finger over your closed mouth.

Slash grabs the frame of my jaw roughly, wedging his index and thumb between my teeth from the outside so my mouth opens. He smirks triumphantly seeing his release in my mouth.

"Swallow me," he orders.

I swallow the bittery goodness and stick my tongue out to show off my compliancy. Slash smiles, reclining against the chair and pulling my hair at the root. Jerking my face closer to his cock, he smashes my lips to his length before forcing my mouth over it. I whine as his cock drives through my parted lips, the fleshy hardness of it hitting the roof of my mouth. My brows scrunch while trying to not gag around him as he pushes me halfway down.

"I know you can take it all with that expert mouth of yours," he croons, holding my head down until he feels my throat open up for him. "That's it, my girl, my babygirl."

His thickness penetrates my throat and I concentrate on breathing properly without gagging. Bobbing my head atop his cock, his fingers tighten in my hair with each thrust, getting lost in the feel of my mouth and throat. Slash's eyebrows quirk up as my moans pitch higher, wondering why I'm enjoying this more than usual. Through the gap between my mouth and his cock, he can see that my pussy is still oozing his cum. With a smug grin, he moves his leather loafer below me, raising the tip of it to skim my drooling center. Gasping, I moan against his cock as he rubs my clit against his shoe.

"Nasty girl, getting turned on by her husband's shoe," he sneers, pushing me further down his cock until my nose is buried in his black pubes. "Does my cock taste good knowing my seed is spilling from you?" He growls, increasing the pace of my head.

I whine, his cock muffling my voice. Tears begin to break the barrier of my lashes and stream down thickly, making for a wonderful view of my struggling face. He rubs my pussy tauntingly slow, patting my entrance with a vile gush. Though he's teasing me, he's ultimately riling himself up further as he twinges in my throat.

"Since your little pussy can't keep my seed in, I think I need to refill it again, tesoro," he coos, pulling me off his cock with a nasty pop.

Strings fall down my chin, my lips glossy and my cheeks full of tears. I nod and he smiles warmly through the heat of his impending release.

"But you have to promise me that you won't bother me again like this if I do," he says.

"Okay, daddy." I reply.

Slash smiles, helping me up with attentive hands, and in the back of his mind, he knows full well I'm lying. Picking me up and placing me atop his desk, he hikes my right leg against his torso with my heel cresting his wide shoulder. Leering brown eyes roam my filthy thighs while curling a possessive arm around my thigh, dragging my bottom to the edge of the desk. My palms splay on top of the desk beside me as I sit up, wanting a good look at him while he plows me. The tips of his fingers slip a bit, prompting him to delve his fingers deep into the flesh of my inner thigh to keep a strong grip over me. Standing straight, the desk is a perfect height for him to align his cock up with my entrance without having to dip his body low. My other leg rests against the wood, bent with an inviting spread to my legs.

I stare up at him with wanting eyes and he can't help but fall deeper in love with me with that expression. He lays the curvature of his cock against my slit, making me moan before moving back his hips. With the head of his cock trailing lower to my hole, he slams into me with a roll of his eyes. His cock glides in with little to no resistance as the mixture of fluids in me make for a sensuous massage. I squeal, my hands nearly slipping from the powerful thrust. Placing his free hand on my other thigh, he grips it hard before pulling out and driving back in. My little whimpers turn into hiccup moans, tears quickly returning to my lashline as he hits me deep. Slash loves the fact that he can control the pleasure in me, experience with each thrust as if he has my emotions in the palm of his hand.

"This is what you wanted? Honey." he mumbled.

"Not enough, I need more daddy." I faced him

His features quickly hardened.

"You need more? Okay sweetheart, you're gonna have more so."

Gritting his teeth, he watches me spread around him as I did earlier, this time though, he's quicker than ever as he nears his release. Strands of his bangs fall back down to his forehead, leaving his hair perfectly messy with each undulating sway. Tip to base, he makes me feel every detail of him, sinking into me so deep he brushes the crest of my cervix.

Oh god.

The thick veins coiling around his cock beat in tandem with his heart, his cock head throbbing and leaking profusely with precum. Ducking his head low, he rests his forehead against mine, his nose rubbing the side of us as he fervently fucks me.

"Squeeze me like you always do babe," he growls, placing a thumb over my clit and rotating. My walls instantly tighten and he groans needily. "Just like that, you're perfect," he says hastily, giving me his all.

Striking my bottom with his hips with a loud clap, he pounds into me vehemently, relishing in the sweet squelch between my legs. Parted lips meet in an opened mouth kiss, one that is lazy as the two of us begin to swiftly unravel. The tips of my tongues twirl together hotly before he retracts his muscle earlier than expected, his breath labored as his hips move on their own.

"Gonna stuff you full with my seed," he mumbles through clenched teeth.

Slash slams against me with a terrifyingly crash, jolting my body within his tight grasp. The urge to fill me is strong and so he snaps into me ferociously, ejaculating inside of me once more. His cock pulses inside of me with a coaxing sensation, drowning me in a wash of bliss. His thumb relentlessly rubs my clit through his strenuous efforts, wanting me to have the utmost pleasure imaginable. Wrapping his arms around me, he desperately hugs me to his body as he can barely pull out of my rippling walls, eager to stay buried inside me. With each thrust, he hisses sharply, sensitive, and in awe of how I can just disarm him so easily just by coming into his study.

He swallows thickly before holding me and crashing back down in the chair as it creaks loudly.

"I don't think this chair is going to last if we keep this up," he chuckles gruffly, idly skimming my back with his fingertips. 

[septicstories]

Big Life in a Small Town (Part 1)

A/N: This is based on the song "Santa Fe (Prologue)" from the Newsies musical! It's not based on the plot of the musical. The song will be altered a tad, but not too much! In the next part though, I'll have to do some edits. But for now, you've got this... mess? I dunno, I'm writing this before it's done. This is post-X-men Apocalypse, so Peter is in his late 20's.

Genre: Bittersweet fluff

Warnings: alcohol, drinking, mentions of broken limbs, daddy issues, no beta reader, minimal editing

Word count: 1.3k (1,385 words)

The X-mansion was quiet, the cool midnight air only changing currents occasionally when a silver blur sprinted around.

Pietro had his younger brother in his arms, running around. Peter injured his leg a while ago, stuck on crutches. ANd it was killing the young speedster.

And Pietro noticed.

So he scooped his younger brother up out of his room, running him around the mansion's vast yard until he smiled. That's when he brought him up to one of the rooftop balconies of the mansion.

The two siblings weren't the only ones in their family who lived in the mansion. Pietro's twin, Wanda, was fast asleep, her room near the balcony.

Pietro, as immature as he may seem, was wise beyond his years. He'd seen more things than he ever would have wanted to for a 35-year-old man. Hell, anyone would be unsettled when you find your mother died of sickness, and your father was out of the picture when your younger brother was born a few years after.

Pietro and Peter sat on the balcony, a case of beer between the two, a sudden scoff came from the older speedster.

"What's up, you alright?" Peter asked, looking at his brother.

Pietro's eyes were glued to the ground below them, a sour expression on his face.

"Those streets down there," Pietro began, a dry laugh leaving his lips. "They sucked the life right out of our old man. Well, they aren't doing that to me."

Peter pursed his lips, watching as his older brother took a swig of his beer.

Pietro has always hated staying in one place for too long. The mansion hadn't really ever been his favorite place. Staying at their aunt's house in D.C. was something he looked forward to every summer. But, even then, he could only stay there for a few days before needing to go somewhere else. Not just from his need to move, but the U.S. government still wasn't absolutely fond of mutants.

"But everyone wants to come to New York," Peter let out a small chuckle. To an outsider, it'd sound like he was in disbelief, but he understood how Pietro felt.

Staying in one place was hard. But Peter also managed to make himself a family here at the mansion as he grew up. He met the ever-sweet Jean Grey when he was 20 years old. The poor girl had some trauma that no one but Chuck knew about. He got to meet Hank, and Raven, and all of the other younger kids. He thought of them all as his younger siblings.

He couldn't leave.

"You keep your small life in the big city. Give me a big life in a small town."

Pietro's words snapped Peter out of his thoughts, looking to his older brother. Pietro's eyes had lifted from the ground, looking up to the sky.

"They say folks are dying to get here."

"What about you, Piet?"

"Me? I'm dying to get away... to a little town out west that's spankin' new," Pietro said with a grin. "And while I've never been there, I can see it clear as day! If you want, I bet you, you could see it, too.

Peter has always had a particular question on his mind, that he always knew the answer to.

Then why haven't you gone? What's stopping you?

But, as always, Peter kept his mouth shut. He didn't want Wanda and Pietro to leave, as dumb as it may be. They were the only family he had left. Well, that he knew of and that knew of him.

Erik was another person he'd address when he had the courage.

But not...

Not now.

"Close your eyes."

Peter looked at his brother again, who was staring back at him. Honestly, he was waiting for his brother to snap in his face and use what became his favorite phrase after a few movie nights: "Hello, McFly?"

"Come with me, where it's clean and green and pretty, and they went and made a city out of clay."

Clay? A city out of clay? That sounds... odd. Peter hasn't stayed too long in other parts of the world, opting to stick to the Northeast area of the U.S. Occasionally, he'll go further South or a little bit further West. But never past Kansas.

"Why, the minute that you get there, folks will walk right up and say, 'Welcome home, son. Welcome home to Santa Fe!'"

Being called son was something the Maximoff boys wanted more than they would ever elude to. Their father? Out of the picture for the most part, up until they realized he was a terrorist. And he didn't even know about Peter.

Of course, the townsfolk of Santa Fe may not call you "son" as soon as you land on the premise. But, two bastard sons can dream, can't they?

"Planting crops. Splitting rails. Swapping tales around the fire," Pietro's grin grew as he spoke. He really thought about this a lot, didn't he? "Except for Sunday when you lie around all day."

Peter didn't know how much Pietro truly thought about leaving. Pietro's mind was full of places to go and see, places where he could take his family and live without having to deal with attacks from the U.S. government.

Santa Fe was where they'd go next in the U.S., but Sokovia was certainly the next best option. The U.S. government wouldn't come looking for them in Sokovia.

Right?

"Soon your friends are more like family, and they're begging you to stay! Isn't that neat?" Pietro asked as Peter took a large sip from his beer. "Living sweet in Santa Fe."

Pietro trailed off, almost in a dream-like state, making Peter flinch. He really fucking wanted out, huh?

"Hey, no one worries about a bad leg in Santa Fe. You just hop on a palomino, you'll ride in style!" Pietro joked, knocking his shoulder into his brother's.

"Feature me, ridin' in style," Peter giggled, taking a swig of his beer again.

"Hey, I bet a few months of clean air, you could toss that crutch for good!"

"Santa Fe," Peter and Pietro mumbled in unison, one happy and the other more tired. "You can bet, we won't let those bastards beat us. We won't beg anyone to treat us fair and square. There's a life that's worth the living, and I'm gonna do my share."

"Work the land, chase the sun." Pietro ran his hands through his hair, standing up.

"Swim the whole Rio Grande just for fun!" Pietro and Peter shouted together. The two had massive grins spreading across their faces, just happy to see the other smiling.

"Watch me stand!" Peter stood up quickly, only to feel a sharp pain jolt through his bad leg. His hands flew to the balcony railing, gripping it tightly as he let out a choked noise of pain.

"Watch me run..."

Pietro frowned when he saw his brother's grimace, watching Peter set himself down into a sitting position. The poor kid was gritting his teeth and sucking in harsh breaths as he set himself down.

"Hey, hey..." Pietro began softly, sitting down beside his brother before slapping a hand on his shoulder. "Don't you know that we're a family?"

Peter's eyes met Pietro's, painting over his grimace with a weak grin. "Yeah, b--"

"Would I let you down?" Pietro asked.

Peter let out a weak laugh as his brother continued.

"No way. Just hold on, kid, until that train makes Santa Fe."

The younger speedster let out a yawn, leaning his head on his brother's shoulder.

"Let's get you to bed, okay?" Pietro said, only getting a nod from Peter.

Pietro scooped his younger brother up in his arms, speeding through the mansion into Peter's room before setting him down.

"Good night, Peter."

"Good night, Pietro."

Pietro sped out of Peter's room, only to be stopped when he passed Wanda's room. His sleepy twin gave him a look, one that he didn't see often, and it concerned him.

"Pietro, we're being called to Sokovia," Wanda whispered sleepily.

"What? Why? All three of us?"

"No. Peter needs to stay here. He's got a broken leg, Pietro. Just you and I."

Pietro took in a quick breath before nodding.

"When do we leave?"

"... you didn't see that coming..."

A/N: Haha, cliffhangers are fun, ain't they? Okay, but, here's what you have for now! The other one is already in my drafts, and I've got plans for that! So, I'll get all that shit out, and we'll be good! I've got so much shit in my drafts, holy shit. Okay, uh... I don't have much to say, so thank you for reading! I don't necessarily have a tag list for this sort of stuff, so if you want to be on a tag list, let me know! And please let me know if you find a typo or something that doesn't make sense. Like I said, there's minimal editing.

[primroseprime2019]

Darkness Rising- Part One

The sun's rays pierced through the clouds. On the road, a red Dodge Challenger drove down the road. "So there I am on the lookout when out of nowhere, these highlight beams light up my rearview," the red Autobot said, "and then it hits me. I'm illegally parked!"

"Another parking ticket?" A blue and pink Kawasaki Ninja 250R asked in a knowing tone as she drove down the road. "Better. The boot," the red bot said.

"Big metal tire clamp impossible to remove," the motorcycle said.

"Bingo! So the local police do their thing, and I let 'em get all the way down the back," the red bot said, "that's when I kick off my new shiny shoe and bang!" "New York's finest soil themselves," the motorcycle said, amusement in her voice.

"You know me Arcee," the bot said, "you mess with Cliffjumper-" "And you get the horns," Arcee said, earning a laugh from her partner, "not sure how that complies with Autobot rule number one: keep a low profile."

"What can I say? Patrolling out here in Dullsville gets lonesome," Cliffjumper said, "almost makes me miss the Decepticons." "Like Jasper Nevada's a party? We're alone wherever we travel on this rock Cliff," Arcee said.

Cliffjumper's GPS navigation system started going off. The screen changed from the road route to a sonar picture of the area he was in. "I'm getting a signal," he said.

"Need backup?" Arcee asked, alert. "Do I ever need backup?" Cliffjumper said before going off-road. At the highest speed, Cliffjumper sped towards the location. When he arrived, he skidded to a stop at the edge of a ditch. There were big and small dark blue energon crystals sticking out of the bottom of the ditch.

"I just found a whole lot of energon!" Cliffjumper said. A shadow suddenly loomed over the Autobot and the energon. Cliffjumper transformed into his bipedal form and looked up to see a large ship. "Decepticons," he said.

The Decepticon warship- or the Nemesis, as most called it- loomed over the energon. A gun-like blaster unfolded on the side and fired at Cliffjumper. The blast exploded at Cliffjumper's pedes, the force of the explosion sending Cliffjumper flying into the ditch. The Autobot warrior got on one knee as he looked up to see a few Decepticon troops flying out of the ship and landing near the edge of the ditch.

"Arcee... about that backup," Cliffjumper said, "fair warning boys. I'm gonna put a few dings in ya." He transformed into his vehicle form and drove up the wall of the ditch before he flew off it, transformed into his bipedal form and began to fight the Vehicons.

◊◊◊◊

"Arcee to Optimus! The 'Cons are back. Cliff might be neck deep in scrap," Arcee reported to her leader, Optimus Prime. "Understood," the Prime replied, "Ratchet, do you have Cliffumper's coordinates?"

"I'm locked onto his signal Optimus," Ratchet said as he drove through a snow-covered area, "but our teams are scattered across time zones."

"Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Firestorm, Primrose, rendezvous back to base and prepare to ground bridge," Optimus ordered.

◊◊◊◊

Cliffjumper was having a rather hard time fighting the troops. The odds weren't in his favor now as the Decepticon troops punched him hard. One punched him hard enough to send him flying back into the ditch and the punch sent one of Cliffjumper's horns flying off.

Cliffjumper got to his pedes. "You want the horns," he said, unlocking his blasters, "you got 'em." With that said, he began to shoot at the Decepticons, taking one of them out before the others started to fire back at the red Autobot. Cliffjumper dodged the shots before the energon exploded, the force of the explosion sending Cliffjumper flying into the wall.

As the smoke drifted into the air, two Vehicons dragged Cliffjumper to the warship.

A silver and dark grey Seeker stood in the command center. "The energon," he said bitterly, "it's worthless to me now." He turned to see the Vehicons dragging in a nearly burnt and beaten Cliffjumper.

"Scream... been a while," Cliffjumper coughed, "so... where's your master?"

"Nevermind him!" Starscream snapped, "I am my own master." With that, the Seeker slammed his digits into the left side of Cliffjumper's chestplates. "Any last questions?" The Seeker growled.

Cliffjumper let out a weak groan and when Starscream pulled his claws out, the Autobot fell to the floor limp.

Starscream stepped back, "clean that up."

◊◊◊◊

Once the Decepticon warship flew away, a ground bridge opened. Firestorm, Bulkhead, Arcee, Bumblebee, Primrose and Ratchet jumped out, their weapons out. Optimus came out last, his blasters out.

"An untapped energon deposit," Optimus said. "What's left of it," Bulkhead said.

"The first Decepticon activity we've seen in three years," Ratchet said. "That we know of," Firestorm huffed.

"If the Decepticons are scouting for energon, they may be preparing for his return," Optimus said gravely.

Primrose, Arcee and Bumblebee bounded down the wall of the ditch and to the bottom. Primrose looked around before she froze as she saw something.

Arcee followed her gaze and widened her optics. It was Cliffjumper's horn. She scooped it up into her servos, "no." Optimus walked up beside her before he looked to Ratchet, "Ratchet, can you track his position?"

Ratchet opened a mineature computer in his wrists. "No... Cliffjumper's signal... just went offline," he said gravely. Firestorm widened his optics.

"No," Primrose whimpered, "no." Arcee wrapped her arms around the young Prime, feeling despair in her spark.

◊◊◊◊

Starscream stood in the command center. A slender Decepticon Seeker with black and purple colors and a visor silently walked up to the other Seeker.

"Soundwave," Starscream said, "what is it?" "Like Jasper Nevada's a party? We're alone wherever we travel on this rock, Cliff," Soundwave recorded the conversation between Arcee and Cliffjumper before the red Autobot's death.

"Ah, the one called Arcee," Starscream said with a smirk, "why slay one Autobot when we still have the advantage of surprise?"

◊◊◊◊

"We must not allow our anger over the loss of Cliffjumper to impair our judgement," Optimus said as he and his teammates stood on the roof of the silo, "as of today, only we seven Autobots remain on this Earth. We owe it to ourselves, to the memory of Cybertron, to any Autobots in any galaxy seeking safe harbor, to humankind."

Primrose knelt down and placed a rose next to Cliffjumper's horn. "And we owe it to the memory of our fallen comrade to survive," Optimus said and he looked to Arcee, "Arcee."

"If Cliff's gone, standing around here sulking won't bring him back. So unless anyone minds, think I'll get back to protecting humankind," Arcee said bitterly as she walked away before she transformed into her vehicle form and drove away.

"Optimus, helping humans will only result in more tragedy," Ratchet said. "Your opinion is noted," Optimus said with a nod.

◊◊◊◊

In the busy part of Jasper, Nevada, a sixteen year old boy was working at a local fast food restaurant called KO Drive-In.

He had raven black hair and deep blue eyes. "Welcome to KO Drive-In where every patty's a knockout," the boy said in a bored tone, "may I take your order?"

"Uh, two super combos, extra fries," the customer said. "Okay, dos numeros twos," the boy said as he prepared the order, "anything else?"

"Yeah," the customer said, "some advice. How do I get an awesome job like yours?" Then the sixteen year old boy heard laughter in the background and his eyes narrowed.

"So that's two we're-not-as-funny-as-we-think-we-are combos with a side of bite me," Jack sniped.

The customer laughed before he realized what Jack had said, "what you say?"

"5.59, sir," Jack said, "at the window." When he said that, he turned away as the customer drove up, grabbed the bags and drove off, laughing.

"H-hey! You have to pay for that!" Jack said. However the customer didn't get far as a fourteen year old girl stood in the way. She had midnight black hair, light brown eyes and she didn't look happy.

"I suggest you pay my friend- even though I don't do violence, would you rather have your precious car vandalized?" The girl asked with a smirk.

The customer quickly backed his car up and paid Jack before he drove away. Jack gave the girl a thankful look, "thanks Paige."

"No problem Jack," Paige said with a soft smile, "you coming outside yet?"

Jack laughed softly and he nodded.

Arcee drove down the road, almost getting lost in her thoughts. She hadn't meant to leave her teammates behind.

Cliffjumper's death was really hard on her. First it was Tailgate, now it was Cliffjumper. Something caught her attention and she shifted her side mirror and saw two Vehicons driving after her.

"Twins," she said to herself before she sped up and drove over to the restaurant. She drove into a spot and watched as the two Vehicons drove past.

"Take five Sadie," she said once the hologram of the motorcyclist disappeared and she turned off her engine.

After a few moments, Jack walked out of the restaurant and his phone started to ring. He took it out of his back pocket and answered it. "Hi Mom," he said, "I just got off. No, I'm not going to the dance. Experience says I should never cut a rug; unless it's stolen carpet."

Paige smiled at Jack as she walked up beside him. She saw the motorcycle and went over to it.

"Be careful? Seriously? This is Jasper," Jack said with an amused smile. He paused in mid-step when he saw the motorcycle. "I love you," he said dreamily before he realized he was still on the phone, "uh, yeah, Mom. Love you too. Gotta run." He hung up and he hurried over to the motorcycle.

"Hello, beautiful," he said, "where have you been all my life?" Paige chuckled slightly as she looked the motorcycle over curiously. She squatted down in front of the motorcycle and gazed at it's headlights.

Something felt strange about this motorcycle. She didn't know what it was but she could almost feel it's presence surrounding hers. She could feel it's emotions.

She looked up at Jack as the sixteen year old mounted the motorcycle. "It may take a few KO paychecks but I am gonna own a ride like you someday," he said.

"Are you talking to your motorcycle?" He and Paige looked to see two girls laughing.

"U-uh, to my motorcycle? N-no," Jack stuttered, "but- to you, I am." He pressed his palm to his forehead in embarrassment, 'lame.'

"Smooth Darby. Smooth," Paige said with a slight smirk, earning a light glare from Jack. "So how's things, Sierra?" He asked the girl, "take you for a spin sometime?"

"C'mon, smooth operator," Arcee whispered as she kept her side mirror on the two arriving Vehicons, "wrap it up." Paige looked at Arcee for a moment before she sat behind Jack and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You know my name?" Sierra asked. "We're in home room together," Jack said, "I'm Jack. Jack Darby." Lights shone in the teenagers' direction.

"Scrap," Arcee hissed. The two Decepticons drove towards the group. Sierra and her friend ran away. Arcee started her engine and drove towards the Vehicons. Jack shouted in fear. Paige shut her eyes tightly in fear and shock as Arcee sped past the Vehicons and she drove out onto the road.

"Do not let go," Arcee said to Jack and Paige. "Who said that!?" Jack shouted, freaked out.

"Commander Starscream, target sighted, acocmpan by two human youths," one of the troops said. "Destroy them all!" Starscream ordered.

When Arcee had Jack and Paige safe in an alleyway, she finally stopped and let the two off. "What are you?" Jack asked, stepping back.

"I don't exist," Arcee hissed, "tell anyone about me and I will hunt you down."

Paige widened her eyes slightly before she ran away with Jack quickly following. Arcee drove out of the alleyway and the Vehicons drove after her.

One of them turned down the alleyway. "Scrap!" Arcee said. In the process, she jumped over the oncoming vehicon before turning the corner. In the alley, Jack and Paige were running. Jack grabbed Paige's hand so she could keep up.

"We don't even know her!" Jack shouted at the Decepticon that was chasing them. "What do you want with us!?" Paige shouted.

Arcee drove past the Decepticon and up beside Jack and Paige, "hop on!" Once the two did just that, Arcee sped ahead of the two Vehicons.

Once Arcee was on a highway, the Decepticons followed in pursuit and started to shoot at the Autobot femme.

"Why are those guys shooting at us!?" Jack asked nervously. "There's no us, kid," Arcee said firmly, "and there are no guys."

Bumblebee joined them on the highway and rammed into the Decepticons. After skidding around the highway a little bit, Bumblebee regained control and immediately went to follow Arcee.

"Friend of yours?" Paige asked curiously. "Family," Arcee corrected.

◊◊◊◊

Under the bridge in Jasper, Nevada, a young boy was racing a toy car around by himself. As he had fun with his remote control car, his phone rang, which he immediately answered.

"Hey Mama," he said, "racing right up the street. Okay. Just five more minutes?" He hung up and started to drive his toy car around.

Arcee drove over the bridge and landed a few yards away from Raf who dropped his remote in surprise. "Whoa," he said.

"You have no idea," Jack sighed. Raf walked over to Jack and Paige. Paige got off of Arcee's vehicle form and let out a breath of relief.

The sound of revving engine caught the kids' attention as the two Decepticons drove over to them. Paige widened her eyes slightly and she pulled Raf close protectively.

Arcee transformed into her bipedal form. Jack, Paige and Raf hurried to the side.

"This ends here, Cons," Arcee said and she charged at the two Vehicons. That's when the fight started.

"Wh-what are they?" Raf asked. "Talking cars that turn into robots," Jack said, "or the other way around."

Arcee punched one of the Vehicons multiple times, "this. Is. For. Cliff!" Her punches didn't seem to phase the Vehicon as he looked at her.

She stepped back before she started to dodge the Vehicon's blaster shots by doing backflips. There was one she couldn't dodge as one of the shots hit her right in the abdomen, sending her skidding back across the ground.

The Vehicons walked towards her only to stop when Bumblebee jumped down and attacked the two. He punched the closest Vehicon next to him before he kicked the other away. He walked forward until there was a loud crunch under his pede, causing him to pause in surprise. Looking down, he lifted his pede and saw Raf's crushed toy car.

"Sorry about that," he said, looking to the kids. "No problem. Really," Raf said.

Suddenly Bumblebee was shot, the force of the shot sending him flying back and landing on the ground. He pushed himself up only for one of the Vehicons to slam their pede on the back of his helm. The scout turned towards them and they aimed their blasters at him.

"No!" Paige shouted. "Leave him alone!" Raf shouted angrily. Bumblebee and the vehicons turned towards them.

"Please?" Raf squeaked. "Bad call," Jack said. One of the Vehicons walked towards the three. "Go! Go!" Paige exclaimed and she quickly ushered Raf to run ahead with her and Jack quickly following.

The three climbed into a storm drain and continued to run as the Vehicon reached towards them. Suddenly the Vehicon was pulled away from the storm drain. Bumblebee peeked into the storm drain. "You kids alright?" "Thank you," Paige and Raf said in unison.

"No problem," the scout said before he quickly left to help Arcee.

"Don't look back," Jack said. "What did we just see?" Raf asked. "No idea and I'm not sure I wanna find out," Jack said.

The fight between the Decepticons, Bumblebee and Arcee continued. One of the Vehicons punched Bumblebee hard, sending him flying back next to Arcee who quickly knelt down to help the scout.

The Decepticons walked towards the two Autobots only to stop when a green Lamborghini LM002 drove towards Arcee and Bumblebee. He transformed into his bipedal form, standing beside his comrades, "who's ready to rumble?"

The Vehicons looked at each other before they transformed into their vehicle forms and drove away.

Bumblebee bent forward, placing his servos on his knees in exhaustion. Arcee looked to Bulkhead, "what took you?"

"Traffic," Bulkhead said with a shrug.

◊◊◊◊

At the base, Arcee was explaining the events to Optimus. "And the Cons would've been scrap metal if I wasn't distracted by the human," she said.

"Human?" The Prime repeated. "Two boys and one girl," Bumblebee said.

"I guess the other one caught us in action? I don't know. Was a little busy at the time," Arcee said, crossing her arms over her chestplates.

"If the Decepticons are targeting us, anyone perceived as our ally will be at great risk," Optimus said. "Well this will be interesting," Firestorm said, leaning against the wall.

◊◊◊◊

At the school, Jack walked down the stairs and he looked towards Raf and Paige who waved at him. Jack hurried over to the two, "guys, hey. Look, let's just forget this ever happened okay? Keep this between us?"

"I honestly doubt that'll happen," Paige said and a honk caught her and Raf's attention. "Jack," Raf said happily.

"Oh not again," Jack groaned as Bumblebee drove up beside them and opened his door.

"You two, get inside," he said. "It wants us to get in," Jack said.

"No. Just me and Paige," Raf said. "How do you know that?" Jack asked, surprised.

"He said so," Paige said. "What!?" Jack gasped. "Yours is over there," Raf said, gesturing to Arcee who was parked on the other side of the street.

"Yeah, I really don't think-" "How's it going?" Raf asked as he and Paige climbed into Bumblebee's venicle form.

"Wh-hey! Stop!" Jack protested but Bumblebee was already driving down the road. The sixteen year old boy frowned before he sent a glare towards Arcee and walked away.

A fifteen year old girl sat on the stair, drawing a sketch of Arcee. "Coolest bike ever," she said. Her phone rang and she picked it up. "Host parents? Ignore," she said with a huff as she closed her phone and continued her drawing.

When she looked up, Arcee was gone. She groaned in disappointment before she saw the motorcycle drive down the road. She quickly got up and ran to follow it.

In an alleyway, Arcee drove up and stopped in front of Jack. "Relax. I just want to talk to you," she said.

"Don't you mean you and your new friend?" Jack asked. "Kid, there's a lot you don't understand," Arcee said, making Sadie disappear.

"I get it, I get it," Jack said quickly, stepping back, "the first rule about robot fight club is you don't talk about robot fight club." He turned and started walking away and much to his dismay, Arcee began to follow him.

"What you need to understand is that I don't want any crazy, talking robots following me around trying to get me killed!" Jack snapped. Arcee transformed into her bipedal form, kneeling down, "look. Jack, is it? Your personal safety is exactly why Optimus Prime requested your presence."

"O-Optimus who?" Jack asked, confused. "You may be in danger because you are one of the few- one of the only who have ever seen us," Arcee said.

"Dude, what're you waiting for?" They both looked to see Miko standing next to the corner, looking excited. "Go with!" She said.

"Scrap," Arcee sighed.

◊◊◊◊

Arcee and Bumblebee drove down the road. Miko was cheering loudly in Jack's ear, much to his and Arcee's annoyance.

"And why exactly are we bringing her?" Jack asked. "Rules," Arcee said. The two Autobots drove down the road and sped past the stop sign.

"Whoa!" Jack yelled in surprise and fear. A rock slab slid down and the two Autobots drove into the base. They drove down a tunnel and into a large room.

"Whoa," Jack and Miko gasped. "Cool," Raf said. "Amazing," Paige said.

Bumblebee stopped and Raf and Paige stepped out of his vehicle form, allowing him to transform. "I thought there were three," Ratchet said.

"Haven't you heard? Humans multiply," Arcee said sarcastically. Paige looked at Arcee then at Firestorm and Primrose.

"I'm Raf," Raf said to Miko. "I'm Miko," she said as she ran up to Bulkhead, "who're you?"

"Bulkhead," Bulkhead said nervously. "Are you a car? I bet you're a truck- a monster truck! Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Ever use a wrecking ball as a punching bag?" Miko asked eagerly.

Primrose chuckled softly. "So if you guys aren't robots, who made you?" Raf asked. Ratchet scoffed, "puh-lease."

Paige couldn't help but frown and she tensed up when there were heavy, rumbling footsteps. She turned to see Optimus Prime walking over to them.

"We are Autonomous Robotic Organisms from the planet Cybertron. Also known as Autobots," he said. "Why are you here?" Jack asked.

"To protect your planet from the Decepticons," Primrose said as she walked up beside Optimus.

"The jokers who tried to bump us off last night," Arcee clarified. "Okay... why are they here?" Jack asked.

Optimus knelt down so he could be a comforting sight to the humans, "a fair question, Jack. In part, they are here because our planet is uninhabitable; ravaged by centuries of civil war."

"Why were you fighting a war?" Raf asked. "Foremost, over the control of their world's supply of Energon, the lifeblood of all Autobots and Decepticons alike. The combat was fierce and endured for centuries," Optimus said, "In the begining I fought alongside one who I considered a brother. But in war, ideals can be corrupted. And it was thus that Megatron lost his way."

"Is there gonna be a quiz?" Miko sighed and she grunted as Paige lightly elbowed her in the arm.

"So what does Megatron or any of this have to do with us?" Jack asked.

"Megatron has not been seen or heard from in some time," Optimus said, "but if his return is imminent, as I fear, it could be catastrophic."

◊◊◊◊

"Those transmissions are aminating from deep space. I would hate to waste the Energon," Starscream sighed, "unless you are absolutely certain." Soundwave nodded his helm in confirmation. Echo looked at her brother then at Starscream.

"Then lock on transmission coordinates and activate the space bridge," Starscream said.

◊◊◊◊

In the darkness of deep space, a space bridge opened up. In mere seconds, a silver and purple jet flew out of the space bridge and transformed into his bipedal form.

"DECEPTICONS! I have returned," Megatron said with a triumphant grin.