#(and then turn around and only serve as an annoyance to the enemy team as spider-man in the next lmao)

[burnsmulti]

Marvel Rivals unironically being good is... Surprising, tbh

[strawwritesfic]

Joel x Female!Amputee!Reader: (Don't) Hold Your Breath [Ch. 11]

Summary: You’ve made a lot of monumental mistakes in your life. Cutting your arm off isn’t even at the top of the list. Now you’re about to learn a lot of life lessons at the hands of your savior and her brute of a guardian–and they’re not about to let you learn them the easy way either.

Challenge: "#32 in His Rulebook" by Edible Heart Monster on Lunaescence Archives

Rating/Warnings/Tags: M (post-The Last of Us; excessive swearing; sexual references; violence against children; infected children; references to abortion; references to cannibalism; references to starvation; references to riots; implied domestic abuse; implied grooming; implied sexual relationship between an adult and a minor; death of a parent; violence; gore; blood; gun use; ableism; amputee!Reader; enemies to lovers; not canon compliant)

Pairings/Relationships: Joel/Female!Reader; Tommy/Maria; Reader/Male!OC; Ellie & Reader; Ellie & Joel; Ellie & Maria & Tommy

Tag List: @imaginesfire

Master List (with important note!)

Rule #11: If you get badly burned, let me put some ice on it for God's sake.

It took another day and a half to get out of the quarantine zone, and another week after that to lose the gang tracking you. By the time Ellie popped a bullet through the last man’s eye, you were well and truly lost. Joel and Ellie might have known how to get back to Jackson, but you didn’t, and they were in no hurry to share with you. Aching and stinking, you had no choice but to trudge after them day after day, watching the sky turn pink night after night.

The lack of pursuit did improve the trek somewhat. At last, your pack, having been emptied by your previous travel buddies, had been filled. A gas mask hung from one strap. That had come in handy just earlier that day. Less importantly, but perhaps better on the added cheer front, you were allowed a fire.

Not that Joel was happy about it. Fires meant people, animals, and related things could find you. But snow remained in purple-white piles against the trees from the fall that morning and a hard freeze linger in the air. Sometimes you had to pick your poison.

Heat didn’t seem like much of an antidote at somewhere around five in the morning anyway. Huddled as you might close to the flames, poke as you did at the tinder with the rusted remains of a coat hanger, you shivered violently underneath your worn coat. You supposed you should have just been grateful one of those hunters had even had a coat your size to steal. Somehow, you were not.

It might have been several days since you bashed that man’s head in, but your muscles hadn’t forgotten. Long gone was the body used to cross-country running for the track team, to carrying a broken ten-year-old for miles every day. The adrenaline drained quickly away and left your remaining arm near-useless. The day after, you hadn’t been able to move it at all. Even now, you had to concentrate not to grimace simply stirring the instant coffee in your camping pot.

“Shit,” you whispered as the dented spoon slipped from your fingers again. For a moment, you didn’t bother to pick it up. Instead, you wrapped what limbs you had left around your torso and scowled up at the sky. You didn’t know what was worse at that point: the phantom pain in your lost arm, or the real pain in the one you still had.

The coffee would probably taste like piss, which only served to disappoint you farther. Sure, you’d snapped at Ellie about not needing a machine to make coffee, but fuck if you yourself knew how to do it otherwise. Back in the day, you went to a Starbucks for your caffeine fix. No one ever asked you to do it yourself. Still, even you could figure out that hot water and coffee grounds did not a beverage make.

Another annoyance of the cordyceps apocalypse: You could no longer tell time, not precisely. The watch you’d taken with you to the California zone had long since died. Before that, it hadn’t taken long for cell phones to become useless. At night in a forest, you couldn’t see the moon. Not that telling time was a particularly important survival skill, but your inability to do so rankled even more in your current condition.

It must have been nearing dawn, though, because you heard something move. You stiffened for only a moment before you saw Joel sitting up. His face was difficult to read, dark as your surroundings were and with your eyes filled with the light from the fire. It could not be Ellie, though; the shadow was too large. It didn’t move right to be non-human either. The realization that you knew the thing moving did not cause the tension in your shoulders to lessen.

Maybe he sensed that, although for the life of you, you couldn’t figure out why the hell your feelings would matter. His walk to the fire was uncharacteristically slow and steady—like he was sneaking up on a clicker, not coming to talk to one of his traveling companions.

When he got close enough for you to see his face, Joel paused. You caught a flash of pink tongue against the corner of his lips before he nodded at your pot of mud-like substance. “Making some coffee?” You blinked. His shoulders lifted and fell. “Smells good.”

“Thought I wasn’t supposed to take it,” you said, keeping your voice as low as Joel did. Ellie remained asleep after all. You didn’t need to get him riled up by waking her.

Joel shrugged as he sat down across from you. He watched you, for some reason, before looking away. “You weren’t, but,” he turned back, and for a split-second, you thought he might have been smiling, “I might not complain as much if you let me have some.”

You snorted as you took up your spoon again. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

“Worth a shot.” He didn’t seem too bothered, and the next moment he lifted a hand and rubbed at his beard. You tried your best to ignore him and focus on your stirring. Burnt coffee was the last thing that you wanted, especially with Joel watching. Unfortunately, your arm still hurt too much to get away with nonchalance. “You want me to do that for you?”

“No,” you said flatly.

Why was Joel even talking to you? His watch shift was over, and he was likely to get cranky in the afternoon if he didn’t get his beauty rest. When you briefly looked up at him, you caught him roll his eyes. The next time he moved, you did not hear him until he had wrested the spoon from your fingers and shoved you over.

“What the fuck?”

“I’m not gonna steal your damn coffee, so don’t even start,” he said shortly.

You clamped your mouth shut over your stillborn protest. If you’d blurted it out, Joel might have spilled the water out, leaving you without coffee or fire. It was probably best to just let him do whatever it was he wanted. He was going to anyway.

Sullenly, you rubbed your stump to distract yourself from the silence. That was another thing the not-so-new world had. No more iTunes or internet radio. Just you and the great outdoors, and maybe the occasional tagalong you didn’t even want.

“So why didn’t you keep the plank?”

“Huh?” you asked. Caught off guard, you forgot to try to sound intelligent.

Joel was looking right at you; one corner of his mouth crinkled at your confusion. “That plank you used to kill that guy. Why didn’t you keep it?”

“Why would I keep it?”

“Well, you can’t shoot worth shit so—”

“I shot that other guy in the head!”

“Lucky shot. You deny it?” As usual, Joel saw straight through you. God, but that pissed you off, enough that you looked back down at your shoes to avoid seeing him look smug. “I’m just saying, if you can’t shoot ‘em, may as well beat ‘em. Make you less useless at least.”

“I still can barely move my arm, asshole,” you snapped. “And somehow that translates to less useless to you?”

“Look, you killed three men that night—”

“Because Ellie took out so many looking for you!”

you,” you muttered, but didn’t go farther than that. Even that, though, must have made you look like you were throwing a temper tantrum, because Joel waited a good long while before he asked:

“Ya done?”

“Just finish your fucking compliment.”

“Well, like I was saying,” he said, and there again was that thing that might have been a smile but no way in hell could have been, “you killed three men that night. On your own.”

“And?”

“And?” Joel snorted. “Why’s there gotta be an ‘and’? I was just sayin’, I recognize that you did a little better back there. Guess you’re trying. Can I have some coffee now?”

“Why would I give you my coffee after that?”

It was getting difficult to keep your voice low enough to let Ellie sleep. Judging by the lightening of the sky through the easternmost branches, she wouldn’t get to stay that way much longer anyway. You knew waking her up would piss off Joel—though it was perfectly clear that Joel didn’t care if he pissed you off. Even with your full glower directed at him, he just stared at you over the dying fire.

“Ellie said you’d share with me if I was nice.”

“Well, you aren’t fucking nice!” you snarled.

You expected more of a fight after that. Maybe that was why you said it. After so many years of traipsing the country side trying not to die, you appreciated routine. Arguing with Joel was about as routine as your life got those days, and those familiar altercations had been lacking while you fled the quarantine zone gang. But you did not get a fight. Instead, to your very great surprise, Joel doubled over with laughter.

Your mouth popped open. Was he going insane? Not the scary fungus kind of insane, but regular run-of-the-mill insane? Then after a minute or so, he sat up, wiped a tear from his eye, and appeared entirely normal.

“What the fuck was that about?” you asked after another moment of silence.

Joel just shook his head, still smiling. You are, without doubt, the most angry and predictable woman I have ever met.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re doin’ it again.” You scowled at him, and his smile widened. “I was teasin’, [Name]. All I meant was you made sure Ellie got out of there alive. ‘Spose I owe you a thank you for that.”

Somehow, the gratitude seemed genuine. You glanced to the left to see Ellie still in an exhausted heap on the frozen ground. She’d scraped away the worst of the ice and now lay underneath her spare jacket—and Joel’s, you suddenly noticed.

“Yeah, well,” you sighed, “she’s a good kid. I guess it wouldn’t benefit me at all to get her murdered at this point.”

“And I told you you’d regret it if you let her die.”

“I remember that. Distinctly.”

“Good. ‘Cause that’s still true. We’re not home yet.”

You stared blearily into the red embers of the fire and did not answer, maybe because you didn’t have an answer, maybe because you didn’t have the energy. “You’re right, though. She is a good kid. Maybe too good sometimes.”

Suddenly, you fixed your eyes on Joel’s face. Again, it struck you how odd they were together. Joel didn’t seem the type to knock some lady up and then spend the rest of his life looking after the baby. Besides, he kept a pretty constant refrain of “You’re not my daughter; you’re not their niece,” when in all other respects he certainly acted like she was.

“Where’d you find her anyway?” you asked.

“I—” Joel shut his mouth, shooting you another death glare. “None of your goddamn business.”

“God, okay. I was just curious.”

“Keep it to yourself,” he said, and lifted your pot from the fire before you could retort.

“Don’t you dare—Fuck!”

You had attempted to snatch the coffee from him. In the process, you pressed your palm straight to the hot metal. What choice did you have but to hold your hand there until you could slowly lower the pot to the ground? None, if you didn’t want to lose your precious cargo! A few mouthfuls still sloshed out into the snow, but you hardly had time to lament what with your skin blistering in front of your tearing eyes.

“What the hell are you doing?” Joel got to his feet, watching as you danced about the campsite.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” you whispered, as though that could somehow dull the pain. A scream clawed at your throat. When Joel appeared quite suddenly in front of you to grab your wrist, that scream died away.

“What,” he said again, “are you doing?”

“You were going to toss my coffee out, you fucker!” you said, and that time your voice cracked the approved volume level. “I couldn’t just let you—”

“I was going to ask you if you had a mug or something. Don’t blame me for your idiocy.”

“I’m not stupid!”

“Did I tell you to stick your hand on the pot?”

“Just shut up! God, I hate you!”

“Would you hold still? I want to put some ice on it.”

“Don’t you fucking touch me!”

He tugged you closer to him, close enough that you shut up. “I said hold still,” he growled.

Up that close and person, you couldn’t deny how large Joel was. You swallowed and held still. With one hand still clamped around your wrist and his eyes still fixed on your face, he very slowly bent, scooped up a handful of snow, and pressed it into your palm. While he held it there with his own hand, Joel stared at you. You stared back, at a loss for words.

“You guys gonna stand there all day holding hands, or can I go back to sleep?”

You looked over to see Ellie half-risen from her cocoon, one fist pressing into an eye. Heat rushed to your face; you tried to tear away, but Joel’s grip on your hand was too strong. If you attempted escape, it would only hurt you worse.

“Go back to sleep, baby girl,” Joel said. When you looked back at him, he had a smile on his face. “We’re just gonna rest today. Save up energy for the trip tomorrow.”

Ellie watched him for a moment, allowing her eyes to drift once or twice to you. Very slowly, she smirked. You didn’t know why, but that look on her face made you want to hit her. Joel’s fingers tightened around yours as though he somehow read your mind.

“You two kids don’t have too much fun,” said Ellie. Then she rolled over and snuggled back into the jackets on top of her. Joel didn’t move, for how long, you couldn’t say. All you could think of as the sky above you turned robin’s egg blue was that your coffee would be stone-cold by the time you go to it.

[madschiavelique]

Can I request a Karlach x fem reader (she/her pronouns)? I would love a little angst where reader's faith begins to wane in the party because she thinks they aren't staying focused on removing the tadpoles from themselves. I would love it to end with with some fluff or smut where tav comes back to Karlach and the team.

Thank you for all of the work your putting into these requests.

i might have derived a tiny bit from the request but i hope you'll like it!! i have no idea if it's good or bad i have no perception

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ pairing : karlach x fem!reader

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ content warning : angst, but don't worry comfort afterwards, fem!reader (although i think it could be read as gn!reader), no use of y/n

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ words : 1,5k

( not proofread, english is not my first language ☆)

You looked at your full glass of wine. It had only been served to you once all evening, while your companions themselves were on their third. The dark, almost black crimson of the liquid reflected your seriousness and concern, sawing your forehead in anxious frowns.

You had reached Baldur's Gate not so long ago, you had never been so close to your objectives, and yet what had you done when you arrived?

You'd wandered into a circus.

A circus, as ridiculous as it gets, was the first thing on your agenda. You had the end of the world to save, were close to the city that had been your target for months, and this was the first thing the group went to?

Admittedly, it might have helped the crew relax to have a moment without having to worry about whether they'd turn into octopuses in the next few minutes, but for your part, you couldn't get the objective out of your head.

You still had so much to do before you could even scratch the surface of your objectives, like finding the grave of the madman locked in a medallion found in the Underdark, confronting Gortash and Orin, or even finding the remains of Dribbles who were scattered who knows where.

You had so much to think about. You hadn't even reached the drawbridge that would take you into the city, too busy in the meantime neutralising enemies in the circus.

Night had fallen on the camp for a while now, and all the companions were discussing the various things they wanted to do once in the city. Astarion wanted to take revenge on Cazador, Gale was desperate to get to Lorroakan's tower, Wyll needed to see his father, and your real objective seemed to get lost in all this.

You had moved slightly away from the camp, watching the town from your campsite, sitting on a large chopped log. All the days ahead would take you horribly slowly towards The Absolute. 

“What's got you so worked up, soldier?”

You didn't need to turn around, Karlach's warm, high-spirited voice was easy to spot. Given your departure from the group earlier in the evening, it was probably only a matter of time before she came to see you.

Karlach cared about you, and you about her, more than you would have thought. A cold sweat ran down your spine every day as your eyes inevitably landed on her beating heart, staining her chest orange.

You had almost come to hate that colour. Every day the sun bathed the world, morning and evening, with its golden caress, and marked with a hot iron seal one less day in the rest of those Karlach could live.

Another annoyance that would keep you from the Absolute, another problem that could lead you to lose more than just a friend, to lose a lover…

“Worked up?” you feigned, as if the remark were ridiculous, “I'm not worked up.”

She giggled behind you, and walked over to sit next to you on the log, towering over you slightly. You could feel her gentle eyes on you, a small smile on her face as her gaze returned to the horizon.

“You look tenser than Gale when he has to hear someone massacre ‘literature's accuracy’,” her claws mimicked the signs of quotation hooks in the air.

You smiled, crossing your arms over your chest as you recalled the day when Gale, too banged up from the day, had asked Karlach to read aloud to him an extract from one of his books taken during the trip.

“He'd be ready to pounce on anyone in seconds if that happened,” you sneered.

“But you're not pouncing,” she remarked, “you're brooding, or more like, looking super anxious.”

You turned towards her, finally meeting her gaze. “Am I now ?”

“Yeah you are,” Karlach laughed softly, gently nudging you with her shoulder.

For a brief moment, there was silence again as your eyes watched the glow of the city in the distance. You were already wondering what order to go through tomorrow, what equipment to change, what food to stock up on...

“Hey... Are you okay ?” questioned your lover, obviously noticing the annoyance on your face. “Wanna talk about it ?”

Her warm hand came to rest on your shoulder, bringing you back to reality much less abruptly than you might have thought. Her warmth softened you, wrapped you up like a comforting blanket, and eased all your worries.

“It's just,” you shrugged, “the Absolute has been haunting us for months, we have never been closer to it before, and yet we can't help but go do so many other things beforehand?”

Your head fell back, closing your eyes as if to banish from your mind the countless quests that awaited you once you had passed through the city gates. As if your mind didn't even have the power to think about anything else, just to detach itself from the addictive thought that a worm had latched onto your brain and was planning to turn you away from humanity at the slightest misstep.

“It's like at times I can feel the thing just- writhing in my brain, trying to go deeper and deeper to what's left of me and clasp its nasty teeth on it until I'm one of theirs.”

Your head fell into one of your hands, pinching the bridge of your nose as if that would bring any relief.

“How many quests will it take ? How many more enemies will we have to bring down for there to only be one remaining to end ?” Your chin rested on your palm, eyes once again on the city and the multitude of problems it would single-handedly bring.

Karlach was silent for a moment, but you could feel her gaze on your profile.

“Didn't know this had you all so worked up, little one,” she said, giving you a gentle nudge. “But get it this way: do you know how long some of our champs have been waiting for an opportunity like this to happen?”

Your eyes found the floor, for you felt very stupid. It was probably true, the opportunity of a lifetime, to put down the past once and for all and move on. If you had never been so close to ending your most important objective, it was the same for them.

Some of them had waited years, decades, some even centuries, to even get close to what they wanted most in the world. Who wouldn't want to tick every box on their list of the most extreme things to do when they were all dangerously close to death's door? Who wouldn't seize the opportunity to act and finish off whatever bitterness still resided in their hearts and wish a complete farewell to what had tormented them so much?

Karlach came and took hold of your chin to turn your face towards hers, her gaze full of gentleness.

“Don't be mad at them for shooting their shot, they've been weaponless long enough.”

You grabbed her wrist, bringing her warm palm against your cheek as you sighed at ease.

You knew who was waiting for you in town, who she had to see, who she had to kill. Gortash was on Karlach's list, and therefore on yours. Your eyes rested on Karlach's chest, the orange glow of her heart beating through her ribs and over pouring on the black of her bra.

One look at that contraption was enough to make your own veins boil. Karlach had her revenge too, and you weren't going to stop her getting it.

“If you were on the edge of death’s cliff, wouldn’t you want to get all the things you didn’t have the courage to do before standing on it ?”

You felt her hand on your back, gently rubbing it. You knew how getting closer to death made people want to be alive more than ever, and you couldn’t take that away from them. Not when you wanted to pass every last minute with Karlach, not when you wanted her to find relief in the death of her tormentor, not when you wanted to do anything other than fight.

“You're right, love,” you smiled, winning her eyes, “there's been so many things to think about lately and all I want is for all of you to come back out of this in one piece.” You sighed, kissing her palm before pressing your cheek against it again. “It's my priority to keep you all alive.”

She smiled, and all your worries seemed to vanish like a dandelion scattering in the air. She placed a kiss on the tip of your nose, pressing her forehead against yours.

“I promise you we will outlive this, okay?”

You didn't feel any destructive heat from Karlach. So much had been done with her flames to make them violent, starving them and letting them devour everything in their path. From the inferno, you felt only a soft, comforting, free warmth.

“Okay.”

Karlach came and placed a kiss on your forehead, holding you close. No matter what happened, you would do everything you could to allow everyone to do what they had to do, each step bringing you a little closer to an end, victorious or not.

[howlingday]

Ok, dumb idea after seeing this.

After all that negative emotions Jaune became a corrupted knight, affected by dark magic of the depresso island. And because of Jaune's negative experiences with Fire (Cinder) his new dark powers are also related to flame (thus fire behind him)

Basically Jaune became something similar to Soul of Cinder from DS3. Image RWBY going to defeat main villian but Jaune is their last enemy and they have to fight him, on a empty feel filled with ashes of whatever was there before.

"There it is!" Ruby shouted, pointing at the portal ahead. A shimmering mirror revealing the sands of Vacuo. She and her team had fought tooth and nail to get here, and now, here they were, ready to get back to Remnant. She prayed the war against Salem wasn't over yet.

She felt something collide against her as she ran, her body crashing to the ground, kicking up dust and dirt. She looked up and saw Neopolitan, her former assassin pushing her to the ground. She was going to shout, but noticed Neo staring off in the distance. Ruby looked back to where she was and saw a flaming crater. Neo had saved her life. But from what? She followed Neo's gaze to the shining sunset.

Except it wasn't the sun setting.

On the horizon, moving closer, was a golden light bouncing as it drew closer. A mighty roar shook the air around her. It was huge, much bigger than anything else she saw on the island. And it only got bigger as it drew closer.

Covered in shining bronze armor, a red dragon approached. As it beat it's wings, it's armor clattered against it's body, making the girl shiver at the sheer size of the fairy tale come to life. It landed with a crash on four huge claws, it's five digits scoring the earth.

"Ruby!" Yang called from behind, finding her younger sister on the ground next to Neopolitan. Just beyond, a dragon was towering over the two. "Holy-"

The dragon roared as it lumbered towards the prone duo. The beast covered great distance in it's charge, like a lizard across the earth. Yang fired at the monster, running in an arc around her titanic foe. Her intentions to serve as a distraction went unheeded as the dragon continued it's assault, head lowered and wings raised, preparing to snatch up the girls.

With a shatter, the dragon bulldozed through the illusion of the two girls, skidding across the ground as it tried to halt it's movement. It's momentum had carried it a significant distance before it stopped. It turned to face Yang, who gulped at her now unwanted attention.

"Yang!" The blonde turned to see her sister behind her, her weapon in it's rifle mode. If there weren't a dragon, Yang would have hugged her sister right there, thanking The Brothers, or Oum, or whoever was listening to her unvoiced prayers. "I can't believe we're fighting a dragon."

"A real dragon before going home." Yang let out a long sigh. "I'm burning all of our fairy tale books when we get home."

"You said that already." Ruby replied. She then looked past Yang. "Right?"

Yang turned to see Neopolitan nodding vigorously nodding her head, her sword pointed outward in a fencing position. Yang shook her head and looked to the dragon, arms raised and cocked.

"Alright, ladies!" Ruby grinned as she spun Crescent Rose up into her scythe form. "Let's become dragon-slayers!"

Ruby charged forward as the dragon hissed and screeched in it's own march to meet the reaper. With a petal burst, she dodged it's snapping jaw, striking it in it's heels, but the hide proved to be especially hard, as the swiping blade did little more than bounce off the hardened red scales.

Annoyed, it reached down with it's neck to snap between it's legs. Embers danced from it's maw as it drew closer to passing it's legs, but was interrupted by a fiery blast of another. It locked it's reptilian eye on Yang as she lept at the maw of the beast. Grabbing it by it's scaly lips, Yang unleashed a barrage after barrage of heavy blows against the lizard's jaw. Screeching in annoyance, it shook it's head, not once losing sight of Yang with it's emerald-green eyes.

With a slam of it's head to the ground, it knocked Yang off it's face, and whirled around to find Neopolitan approaching upon her back. With a shrieking most horrible, it lunged at Neo, who danced away from the snapping maw. Failing to catch the girl, it then folded it's wings and rolled over, hoping to crush the mute menace.

Neo lept away, rejoining Ruby and Yang while the dragon stood once more and bellowed at them in rage. Yang rolled her shoulder, impressed by the monster's durability. Ruby, on the other hand, panted from the excitement she was feeling. She was fighting a real dragon!

"I knew it would be hard, but I didn't think it's scales would be that hard." Ruby explained.

"Try the underbelly next time." Yang suggested. "I think that uppercut did a number on it."

"You think, or you know?" Ruby asked.

'She thinks.' A third voice spoke. They turned to see Neo typing on her scroll. Once she was done, she held it up, and the voice returned. 'The monster's weakness is on it's back, between it's wings.'

The two were dumbstruck at this recent development. All this time, they thought Neo was a mute. Well, she was, or is, but not voiceless it seems.

'Focus!' Neo quickly typed, pointing at the dragon stalking it's way to them. 'We need a distraction.'

As the dragon approached, it suddenly fell forward. It's leg stuck to the ground, it thrashed about in it's rage.

"Will that suffice?" The trio turned to see Weiss and Blake standing behind them.

"Weiss!" Ruby cheered.

"Blake!" Yang joined.

"Not now." Blake said, a light touch of pink on her cheeks. "I never thought I'd say this, but Neo is right. That thing is bigger than anything we've fought."

"Except the Leviathan." Ruby pointed out.

"We didn't really fight that, did we?" Yang asked. "Besides, it's not Grimm, either. It's eyes are green, and it has red scales."

"Odd for a creature like that to exist, even in this kingdom." Weiss commented, heaving a heavy sigh as she released her weakening glyph on the dragon.

"Okay, team, here's the plan:" Ruby commanded, "Neo says there's a weak-spot on it's back, so we need to get to it. Bumblebee distract the head. Weiss, keep it grounded. Neo and I will go for the weak point. Ready?" The dragon roared as it reared on it's hind legs. "Go, Team RWBY!"

---------------------------------------------------

Jaune Arc felt warm.

Jaune Arc was safe.

The last memory Jaune Arc had before he fell was how he failed his friends in protecting them from the attack by Cinder Fall and Neopolitan. So many innocent lives lost because he wasn't strong enough. He was a failure.

But he didn't feel that here, in the darkness. He couldn't move, but what purpose did moving serve when he was safe in the warm embrace of the darkness. Pleasant dreams played like memories in his mind. Memories of Beacon. Dreams of Pyrrha.

He laughed with her. Danced with her. Kissed her. Loved her. She was his everything, and his everything, she stayed.

Jaune Arc was happy.

A jolt disturbed his rest. A sudden twitch that gripped his mind like a viper. He stirred from his slumber as new memories played. A heavy fist. An old fool in a young body. A damaged crown.

The warmth overtook him once more, and his dreams resumed. He and Pyrrha were testing in a park, spending the whole day walking together. Fingers intertwined, he could feel the love she held.

The dream continued, but he felt a sudden discomfort in his abdomen. Like taking off in a bullhead, but more suddenly. Another cold sting struck him in the temple. The warmth began to fade as the cold overtook his body. The darkness that enshrouded him, fading away into roaring, golden fire. He opened his eyes to see five figures stand triumphant in the ashes of his home.

On one end was a beautiful creature who stood on pins and held a blade. Wreathed in white, a tiara sat perfectly atop her head as a flowing white mane danced in the wind.

On the other end was a walking shadow, two feline ears atop glowing amber eyes. She held a butcher's blade in her hand, and could feel the sharp teeth that laced her wicked maw as he stared at them.

Next to her was massive beast, dressed in fire. Flames danced from her massive claws as red eyes glared through golden fire that nearly blinded him.

Next to her was a petite creature wearing two masks, both a twisted mockery of human emotion. She held a thin blade close, but he could see another behind her back, warning him she was not to be trusted.

Before all of them stood the reaper herself, a massive, red blade hovering over her head. With a pale finger, she pointed, and a damning hiss escaped her lips. This one he trusted the least.

A voice in his head kept whispering to him.

"Don't let her kill me again."

---------------------------------------------------

The dragon laid, dying as it wheezed. Ruby and her team huffed as the hard fought battle was over. Looking past the dragon, she pointed to the exit.

"Just a little longer, guys," she wheezed, "We're almost home."

She took a step and the ground rumbled. The dragon let out a horrible screech as blood spurted from it's opened wound, and a hand burst forth tearing the wound open wider. Ruby jumped back with her team as an armored figure pulled itself from the dragon, a baptism of blood welcoming it's arrival as gore erupted around it.

It crawled forward, before staggering to it's feet. It shambled towards them, reaching for Ruby. She jumped, but fell away as a she tripped over a sword on the ground. She kicked away as it reached down, striking the sword closer to the figure.

It reached down and examined the blade. It was old, and rusted. Dull and pitted by time, and hardly a fitting weapon for knight like the armored figure. But it seemed to suffice as the shambling armor returned to the dragon, who wheezed and whimpered.

Ruby saw the portal home, and she wanted to move closer, but this figure held her in place. Her attention entirely focued on this strange, armored being, birthed before her eyes from the dragon they slew.

The knight, on the other side of the dragon, raised it's blade and drove it deep into the dragon. With a final, horrible sound, it died. Ruby shook at the noise, as it was an all too familiar sound.

It was a dying gasp.

It was Pyrrha's dying gasp.

The knight withdrew it's blade, now wreathed in damnable hellfire, and pointed directly at Ruby. The others couldn't see past the visor, but Ruby saw baneful eyes glare through. Baneful eyes of ocean blue.

"Jaune..."

[anothermansjeans]

“i don’t want to bother you. seriously, it’s all just… it’s a lot.”

thank you for sending one!!

pairing: spencer reid x gn!reader

content warning: mentions of maeve plot line, mentions of stalker (relating to case)

wc: .9k | masterlist | enemies to lovers prompts

++

Spencer was having a really bad day. Well, not just day, more like week. The current case the team had been gifted with revolved around a stalking situation involving a young brunette, and the motive clearly being jealousy. To say it was hitting a little too close to home for him was an understatement. Not only was the case making him a wreck, but you, the newer-but-not-so-new agent had been down his neck all week as well, clearly sensing his bad attitude.

When you first joined the team, Spencer thought the two of you would get on well, but then when he was mid-ramble, giving statistics and leading up to a big discovery in your first case, you cut him off, beating him to the punch (you swore it wasn’t intentional and the words just slipped out of your mouth from pure excitement over the finding, but he didn’t really believe it, being one to get cut off a lot). So since that day, he was nothing but short with you, and if he had to work with you for periods of time longer than five minutes, he quickly became agitated.

Now, in the current case with the way you would send him worried glances, the agitation was there, but it was quickly turning into defeat— tired from the constant nagging in his brain about his past and how similar it felt right now. He was alone in the precinct’s conference room, head down with his palms pressing into his eyes, willing himself to get over it and focus on the file in front of him when you poked your head in the room.

“Um, hey, Spencer.”

The sound of your voice caused a sigh to slip his lips and he sat up, turning towards you with an unamused look. “What? What do you want?”

Whenever Spencer acted this way towards you, there was alway this fire that would start in the pit of your stomach, and you wanted nothing more than to serve right back what he originally dished out. But you never did. You never did because despite the way he could have an attitude to your disliking, you saw the Spencer that would brightly talk to Penelope, or the Spencer that would endure Morgan’s teasing, or even the Spencer that looked after Henry and showed nothing but love for the kid. However, that didn’t stop the eye rolling or scoffs you’d let out, making sure he knew you were aware of the blatantly rude behavior— there was only so much you could take.

You took a timid step into the room before closing the door behind you, and you crossed your arms over your body, “I was just checking up on you. You’ve been on your own a lot”.

He could see the sincerity in your eyes, and he didn’t know whether he hated or appreciated it. “I- it’s uh, it’s nothing. I’m fine.”

“Spencer, you’re clearly not okay. I know I’m probably the last person you want to talk to about this, but I can tell something’s up. I mean, you’ve been so in your head during this case that you’ve barely said one snarky remark towards me.”

At that, he let out a scoff. You were right. Despite the feeling of annoyance he’s felt from your glances the whole time, he hasn’t actually said anything to you regarding them. Taking a moment to himself, he spoke quietly, “I don’t want to bother you. Seriously, it’s all just… it’s a lot.”

You ended up taking the seat next to him, relishing in the way he softly spoke to you— noting that this was probably the second time since you’ve known him that he’s used this tone with you. “It’s not a bother if I’m asking. We’re a team and… no matter what you may think of me, I care about your well-being.”

Spencer then decided that he not only appreciated the sincerity he caught earlier, but loved it.

“Um, a- a couple years ago, I had this… woman, Maeve. Now that I’m saying it I honestly don’t really know what we were, but I loved her, she also had a stalker who was jealous. Wanted what she had— what we had, I guess.” He paused for a moment to look up at you, and noticed unshed tears ready to fall onto your cheeks, “the current victim, um, she resembles Maeve a little bit, and with the way things ended with her I just—” Spencer had cut himself off before he could get too choked up, but at the same moment you threw your arms around his shoulders, squeezing him in a tight hug.

“I’m so sorry”, your voice full of sympathy, “about Maeve and for hugging you without asking… I just thought you needed it.”

He let out a short laugh and sniffled, wrapping his arms around your waist and squeezing you back. “No, no. I did need it. Thank you.”

The two of you stayed there for another moment before splitting apart. “So, do you want me to leave you alone now”, you asked with humor in your voice while wiping your cheeks, and then leaning over to swipe a lone tear that fell below Spencer’s eye.

He was shocked for a second before clearing his throat, “um, no, I uh, I actually have an idea on how to find the unsub but I think it would be easier to talk through my theory with you before deciding if it’s the best option.”

Giving him a smile, you nodded your head and pulled the file that was in front of him over to you. Spencer just watched the way your eyes scanned the paper for a moment, feeling his heartbeat race a bit. Something between the two of you clicked, and he wasn’t quite sure what it was, but that something made him feel good— happy.

++

permanent tag list: @athenaofathens @averyhotchner @ssa-m-187 @nomajdetective @pastelbabygirl19 @cacoetheswriting @nyx2021 @openheart12

spencer x reader: @sultrypotter @goose-eats-god

want to be added? tag list form

[starshipsofstarlord]

Hey! Could I request a fic where the reader and Bucky like each other and she has to pretend she’s Zemo’s girlfriend for the Madripor mission? Bucky gets jealous and all that jazz and they confess their feelings :)

Madripoor Muse

Pairing | Bucky Barnes x reader

Summary | Bucky harbours feelings for you, but despite Sam’s inflatable encouragement, refuses to inform you of them. However, seeing you pretend to be Zemo’s girlfriend whilst on a mission, more so when the criminal knows what strings he is pulling at, happens to infuriate him inevitably.

Warnings | jealousy, violence, references to sex work (there is nothing wrong with it, everyone is free to do what they want or need to do to get by, angst, mentions of death, grief, smut, unprotected sex, fluff, swearing

Quick link to my masterlist, if you’re interested in reading more of my crap 😬

“I mean, if he looks like a pimp, then I look like one of his workers.” Sam snorted at your words, as Bucky’s eyes trailed down the skin that was exposed through the small piece of fabric, that in modern days, was considered a dress.

Zemo simply sighed at the pair of you, shaking his head as though the former winter soldier would understand his point. “It’s Madripoor, not an american graduation. You are not going to be clothed in long robes in this place, expression is in the body, and how it is clothed.”

“Or not clothed.” Bucky retorted, frowning at how you shuffled beneath the criminal’s gaze, crossing your arms, which definitely did not help the situation, considering that it did nothing more than make your breasts rise. Admitting defeat, you let them fall, holding them to your sides, outlining your hips, which once more, was not how you wished to be portrayed as you walked through the illuminated air, careful to keep pace in your heels.

“We all have a part to play, winter soldier.” Helmut spoke, his accent causing waves to ripple through the euphoria of lights that lay up ahead. “I am me, you are you, Sam is the Smiling Tiger, and...”

“I’m a hooker?” Once more, Zemo showed disappointment, pinching the bridge of his nose as he turned to you. It seemed that tonight, you, a smart and well coordinated avenger, was absolutely adoring testing his patience, but that was his trick.

He was the captive here, forced to help the forsaken superheroes that had prompted him with the idea of escaping from the government’s ensured facility. And it was without a doubt that he would mess with their minds each chance that he got.

“No, think of yourself as more personalised to one person than that y/n. Your as you people say ‘arm candy’.” He used quotations with his fingers, causing you to reach for Sam’s arm to assume the role. “Oh no, not his.” Zemo made a come here motion, making you gulp.

“You’re kidding, right?” Bucky huffed, glaring unimpressed towards the Baron, who only tutted in reply, implying that he indeed was serious. “This is stupid.”

“Stupid would be allowing this hurrah of new age super soldiers to continue their war path, don’t you think James?” Zemo asked condescendingly, holding his arm out for you to grasp onto, so that you would look more than an associate, or a serum induced bodyguard.

“Me posing as your sugar baby is stupid.” You muttered, as you walked, Bucky on look out behind you, as he glared frustratedly at where you and the mass murderer were touching.

Zemo tugged you by the arm for the comment, causing you to roll your eyes at the man that had tried his best and succeeded, at destroying your team; your family. Nevertheless, you followed his stride, well aware of the sharp eyes of the man behind you.

As you entered the club, a spectrum of blue lights illuminated your skin, as you stared around in wander. There was a variety of all didn’t people, born from different virtues, wealths and races all intermingling around in the space.

If Zemo didn’t have a leash on your arm, you’d have stared for a little longer, perhaps even gotten purposely lost in the sea of bodies that flashed with such ambition and prospect. All were designed to suit their surroundings, and you wished that you could fit in that easily too.

But you were lost, roped into this journey by the Falcon, the man that denied Steve’s wishes and passed on the shield to firmer hands, still uncertain of where you were planning on going. What you needed was a fight, a reason to keep roaming upon the earth. If you came up empty, you may have well have taken up Thor’s offer, and accompanied him with his new friends.

The avengers were disbanded, dotted with different services. You’d heard nothing from Wanda, it appeared that her phone had been cut off, leaving you gravely confused, but you understood that she needed time to mourn. But you couldn’t give yourself the same pampering, if you did so, then all purpose of life would slip through your fingers, and you’d be left vulnerable, a hero that willingly fell from their graces.

Finally you reached the bar, with the shadow of the winter soldier hovering over your shoulder, watching as Zemo’s untrustworthy hand trailed along your furthest collarbone, using it as his sway to grab your attention. He set his sights upon his touch, glaring harshly at it.

No one would question the expression that he wore, it was only natural for his reputation to be proceeded with such a dagger like gaze; he was supposed to be playing the killer that he once was after all.

“My lady, what would you like to drink?” Helmut asked, turning your gaze towards his, gripping your chin between his thumb and forefinger, forbidding you from even try to look away from his sly eyes.

“White wine will do the trick, my love.” The words felt like spew falling from your mouth, but you withheld the impulse to grimace, instead, flashing him a flirtatious smile, fanning his face with your eyelashes as you were still held to face him.

“Fine choice.” He smirked, nodding towards the bartender, who had just presented the Smiling Tiger imposter with a shot that had the intestines of a snake floating around in its liquid. Out of the corner of your eye, you watched as Sam hesitated to drink it for a moment, before throwing it down the hatch, treating it as an old trick.

Madripoor, for an island trapped in violence, didn’t appear that bad on the outside. That was, until the shooting began, causing the lot of you to leg it from the citizens targeting their rifled hardware towards you, running with your lives depending on it.

You had temporarily lost Zemo, as you put head your own safety, your pace and spot being just between Sam and Bucky, as the first man’s arms flailed as he insisted that he could not run in the heels that he was wearing. Huh, you’d be running in heels all your life, maybe he shoulda learned how to do so earlier, it came as a great talent.

Gunshots rang out, as a hooded figure unveiled themselves, introducing the older face of a blonde that you had once knew. It had been quite some time since you had last seen her, all having gone your separate ways to evade the law, and its cruel jurisdiction. “Sharon?” Bucky spoke, instantly recognising the woman that had aided them in the past.

Once you were all reintroduced, and met with her annoyance, which was surely understandable, she led you to her property, where you were able to part from the Sokovian, and share your distaste to the man, as well as remove the skimpy dress.

It pooled at your feet as you tossed it from your ankle, leaving you in nothing more than your underwear. As you squinted, searching for some reason that you were continuing with this foolishness of thinking that the world still considered you a hero, an echo of a knock rattled against the door. It was metal upon wood; Bucky.

“Come in.” You spoke, as you tied a spare robe around your waist, watching as the super soldier, who appeared less stoic, and more human stepped into the room, closing the door behind his emerging shadow. “You alright man?”

Bucky’s eyes drifted down for a moment, before they splintered back up towards your face, his jaw physically tensing, the notion well visible. He breathed in a long breath through his nose, as he stepped closer, his brow harsh and lined upon his forehead.

“I didn’t like Zemo putting his filthy hands on you.” He admitted aloud, the words of Sharon, teasing him for pining after someone that he had once thought of as no more than a friend of Steve’s. But now that man was gone, and so was the one that he used to be. Instead, he was left standing on his own feet, having to find balance by himself somehow.

“Neither did I.” You informed him. “It was like he was pulling back the images of his collapsing country, pouring every ounce of pain and hatred upon me, evading my mind with guilt, and the memories of what it all amounted to. None of it had been worth it, living like this. We’re treated like animals, no longer idols or heroes, people under the big thumb that keeps pressing down on us.”

“Well we’re both pressed down, limited to our rules and the outlines they want us to obey.” He nodded, raising his flesh hand to your collarbone, wanting to mark his touch upon it to remove that of Zemo’s. At his action, your breath hitched, but you allowed him to sweep his pads over the flesh, shuffling indefinitely closer so that you were chest to chest.

“We’re dangerous in their eyes. That’s a mindset they have in common with our prisoner out there.” You whispered, frowning from the thought. Two monarchies, one still whilst the other already fallen, served the same opinions, though, only one could continue to take action. Zemo was a Baron, but of what country now?

Like all, his home had been vanquished into smithereens, the foundations collapsing into rubble, the history disappearing with its lands, having thrown its dusty remnants in your face.

“I’m fine with being considered dangerous so long as I’m not alone.” He pinched your chin, tilting your head, this time though, you felt in his grasp. It didn’t belong to that of an enemy, it was one of an ally, a friend. “Tell me I’m not alone y/n.”

“I’m here James.” You stared up at him with focused pools, biting your lip as your mind went haywire over everything. “The Wakandans will come for him, you do realise that, right?” He hummed in reply, briskly bringing his metal hand to toy with the belt of the white wrap around.

“Do you think that you could show me that I’m not alone?” He nervously asked, shuffling his weight from foot to foot, as he awaited a reply. But instead of words, he earned himself the sensation of your lips upon his, collaborating in a touch starved jumble of grunts. “You’re beautiful, like...”

“Like what Barnes?” You prompted, brushing your palms onto his shoulders, easing his tenseness. Expectedly, you watched him through half lidded eyes as you leant up to plant supple kisses upon his neck, sucking his skin into your mouth, as though you were trying to thread it gently with your teeth.

“A muse.” He sighed, thinking for a momentum, before dragging your hair through his vibranium fist, lightly grinning as he heard your breath wither from the sensation. “A beautiful muse, one that reminds me to be better everyday. I want to become someone better for you.”

“You shouldn’t.” You unlatched your mouth from him, frowning lightly at the brunette man. “You should become better for nobody but yourself Buck, each day, it’s about self growth, fixing everything that you have ever been taught so that you can learn to do better next time, so that no one else will die because of your expense.”

Bucky nodded, allowing your words to sink in. His fingers returned to playing with the waist band on your robe, his eyes gazing into your own, as he fiddled with the material. “Can I?”

“Go ahead.” You granted him permission, allowing him to push the coverage from you, his eyes widening at seeing you in nothing more than your underwear. His sight traced every curve and bump and dip that was upon your shape, licking his dry lips to make his gawking less subtle.

“You’re killing me doll.” He leant his head back, as he raked his contrasting fingertips down your shoulders, all the way to the small of your back. You smirked, grasping him through his jeans, earning yourself a moan from the elder man.

“I said it’s all about self growth, didn’t I? It seems that you are taking that in quite a literal sense.” You rubbed him through the denim, finding it unsurprising as the man backed you towards the bed, your knees hitting the end sending you falling onto the mattress.

Bucky crawled his way atop of you, rutting his hips against your own. It had been so long since he had been permitted to be this free, and he knew for sure, this would be a secret that he would not inform any therapist of. This was private, the sentiment making it close to his weathered heart.

His lips returned to your own, as your hands scaled beneath your shirt, lightly tracing the scars. He wasn’t as insecure as he thought he’d be about someone touching them, perhaps it was because many of your own materialised stories were written in your skin, or that you understood what it meant to be a soldier, serving under orders.

It didn’t matter too much, he wasn’t overthinking it. Instead, he was yearning as he grasped at the straps of your bra, trying to pull it over your head, as was done with the dames back in his day, but the effort seemed more difficult. Lightly leaning away from him, you reached around your back, unclamping the contraption before tossing it out of his sight.

He didn’t care to ask what the modern day had done to the garment, he was far too focused on your pert nipples, and how they stood to attention before him. The super soldier reached forwards, running his smooth hands upon the underneath of your breasts, before interacting with the present buds, softly tugging at them with his whimsical fingers.

“You’re wearing too many clothes.” Released from you as a sign, instantly becoming pleased as Bucky stripped himself from everything but his underwear, leaving a nest of his clothes upon the wooden floor, as he leant his head down, capturing your left nipple within the warmth of his mouth, moaning lightly as your hands weaved through his locks, tugging lightly at the short roots. “Stop teasing Buck.”

He didn’t miss the way your eyes roll from the slowness of motions, and thus, he reached down, and snapped the band of your underwear, the ripping noise audible, as he then pulled his boxers down, revealing his bobbing cock, that was directing its tip towards your entrance.

With a glance down, he lightly drooled at the way your cunt clenched around nothing, quickly swiping his fingers through your slit, as he brought them up to his lips, humming contently at the flavour that graced his tastebuds. “Need to be in you doll.”

“Need you in me soldier.” You taunted back, digging your knuckles into his shoulders as you pressed him against you, pushing your tongue into his mouth, as he suddenly bottomed out inside of you, waiting for a moment for the pair of you to adjust to the sensations.

He was in you, filling you to the brim, as you tucked your heels into the base of his back, lightly rotating your hips up, as your tongue chased his own, sucking on it as you nipped at the end, causing him to unintentionally jerk his rigid cock into you.

That had prompted him to start moving, screwing his hands into the satin sheets either side of your head, as your bodies succumbed the others to waves of pleasure. It was a luxury, having an outlet to all the stress that your duty brought. If you could just pass the mantle on like Steve had done, and Clint was in the process of doing, you would.

But it was all you had known; the gritty route, that had spanned the entirety of your tale. And Bucky now became a part of it, as he became a part of you, unravelling your vulnerabilities with sleek thrusts into your cunt, and smooth words that had swept you from your feet and had landed you in a bed.

A bed thats structure was creaking from the strength behind the animalistic carnage that you spent on one another. His teeth pulled at your lip, opening your mouth so that you could use him as an oxygen mask. Neither one of you had noticed the door opened, and an unimpressed Sharon standing in the entry way, her agent arms crossed unamused.

She cleared her throat, which made Bucky still inside of you, and you to clutch onto his back, to cover the decency of your chest. “You let me go on the run, then you fuck in my bed. It’s like I’m not allowed to belong anywhere.”

“Sharon-“ she halted your speech by raising a finger, her eyebrows pointedly telling you not to bother trying to speak, as sweat beading down your body. Bucky subtly rolled from atop of you, quickly pulling the sheets over you both, giving Sharon views that she neither wanted nor appreciated.

That was grittiness, she was a hustler, not a once avenger. A part of you wished she would understand that, as much as it would be painful to hear, she hadn’t been the top of anyone’s list. She had disappeared, and from so, she had became unreachable, practically falling off the face of the earth.

But she had been here, in Madripoor, the island of bones and whatever else Zemo had described it to be. “You two fucked in my bed. Okay.” She remained cool headed, her eyes trailing through the various fabrics among her floor. “Thought I’d tell you to get ready, and to blend in, though you two have that part already figured out. There’s some clothes in the wadrobe, and from what I can tell, you’re going to need new underwear.”

She bothered no longer once she had informed you of what she had told the other men. Instead she simply left, only for you to brace your head back into the quality pillows, slumping, and dreading the journey ahead.

Though you seemed restless, Bucky still thought of you as a muse. His hands grasped your chin, leading your lips to his own, as he sucked on your bottom one, his right hand grasping one of your breasts, as he pulled you atop of him, your skin flushed as you steadied your weight over his tough thighs.

“Now this is a dangerous sight.” He clicked his teeth, trailing his large hand down from your jaw, surpassing the middle of your chest, to your hip, which he grasp, as he shuffled you up just a little, so that you were seated upon the base of his cock.

“I can show you dangerous Barnes.” You smirked, adjusting the both of you so you were ready to sink down on his length. Your hands softly stroked his erect shaft, as you tapped his tip upon your pussy, before pushing down, filling yourself up one more.

Madripoor was a bad place, but good things could come out of visiting the skull island. This was the job, though, breaks were prompted, and were you glad that Bucky had became your little bit of calm in the arising trouble in the world.

“Fuck.” He groaned beneath you, his balls clenching as he felt you writhe all the way down to his base, beginning to bounce upon him, the years of training that you had endorsed coming in handy as it had helped your stamina. He was a super soldier after all, you were surely going to need it.

[chachadelight]

I HATE YOU Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Pairing: Druig x Fem!OCReader

Summary: Hate was a strong word, but the pair of you were sure it’s what you felt for each other. Two intense characters battling against each other in a never-ending tirade; a fight to see who was smarter, faster, stronger. Constantly trying to outdo the other but always ending in nothing but annoyance and dread. Was this hate or was this something else?

You and Druig were made to butt heads. Ever since the pair of you left the Domo onto Earth there was nothing but sarcasm, annoyance and crudeness. The other Eternals could barely stand to be around you two. Were the pair of you meant to be enemies as you served Arishem or was there more to it. Was the tension you felt something entirely different?

Warnings: Swearing, Angst, Slow burn enemies to lovers and back to enemies then back to lovers, Eventual Smut and a lot of it lmao, cannon level violence, asshole Druig, cocky reader, MINORS DNI, won’t use any specified name for oc just ___, multiple part fic, THIS PART IS SMUTTY

Word Count: 2.8K

A/N: Heyyy, finally got part 3 out. I wrote this over a couple days so I hope the quality is a little better. This chapter is a little bit of a filler chapter; but don’t worry there’s still some sauce for ya’ll to enjoy. I just wanted a part that developed their relationship a little more. I have major plans for the plot to grow so please look forward to it!! If anyone had any suggestions or ideas that they’d like to see in future parts pls send them to me! I’d love to include them. 

Part 3: Confusion

To say things were different after that night in the temple would absolutely just be putting it simply. Everything had changed...well maybe not everything. The pair of you were still at each other’s throats; however, there was less hostility and more so playful teasing and sarcasm. Annoying and snide comments thrown around here and there, the odd shove, sneer or growl. But there had been no frustration or anger; Gilgamesh could finally breath as he no longer needed to peel you two away from each other in case one caused some serious damage. He wasn’t the only one that noticed, the rest of the team for sure noticed the slight shift between the pair of you.

It started small. You made sure that no one would ever know what happened that night; you just couldn’t let that slip to the others. They would never let you live it down, especially Kingo and Sprite as they knew how much you hated Druig, and the thought of them knowing you let him take you so easily made you shudder. So, for now, you made sure to keep up the façade. You hated Druig, despised him, couldn’t stand to be near him. Even the way he breathed pissed you off...well, that’s how you wanted it to be.

There were moments, moments of awkward silence where the two of you peered into each other’s eyes for a few seconds too long. Uncomfortable sounds leaving your lips as you both quickly shifted to different topics of conversation, most of the time simply insulting each other on something small and insignificant.

However, this teasing grew into so much more. Any moment the either of you had, you were mocking each other about everything and anything. Growls and snarls turned into smirks and soft chuckles, annoyance turning into amusement. Druigs favourite thing had turned into the way you smiled when you couldn’t help but be entertained by his snarky comments; the way you’d roll your eyes and quickly turn away to avoid him seeing you laugh even though he knew you were.

You looked better when you smiled, he thought to himself; who was he kidding? You looked beautiful all the time and it annoyed him; Badly.

No one noticed. Except of course Thena. Silent, she was good at not being noticed. She was too observant; literally nothing could get past her and the way the both of you found any excuse to touch each other. Even if it was small like you shoving him in the shoulder, or how he’d teasingly twirl your braid around his finger quickly making you swat his hand away in an increasingly obvious act. She knew something was different; Thena could tell the ‘hate’ you both so passionately preached for each other was all an act. A desperate rouse to make yourselves seem dignified. She thought it was silly.

Often these fleeting glances had your mind racing with thoughts; images of the night you spent together replaying in your mind over and over. Your thighs clenched together hard any time he was near you, it was as if his mere scent drove you to the lustful side of your mind. You silently hoped that one night wasn’t the end of it...and you were right.

Cocky whispered soon turned into heated moments; the pair of you sporadically finding yourselves in compromising positions and locations. The forest amongst thick trees, castles, and abandoned huts by the river. You couldn’t help it, his low voice in your ear had you instantly melting into against his back, and his roaming hands finding their way across your body never failed to make you give into him. Like the time he dragged you to a nearby cave, promising you that you’d love what he had found.

And he was right; a beautiful cave illuminated by the soft glowing abdomens of fireflies. Their bioluminescence emanating a soft blue glow throughout the cave as a harsh waterfall bellowed behind the pair of you. Closing you off to the outside world, shutting you away from anyone else. It was just you and Druig. You were mesmerised, eyes drinking in the sight and soft hums of pleasure leaving your lips as your feet found their place amongst the cooling shallow sapphire blue pool. You paused for a moment; however, closing your eyes and thinking hard.

Why would he bring you here of all places? Why would he care to show you something so beautiful, knowing you’d love it? Sure, the two of you have been sharing many intimate moments lately but that’s all it was. Lust, an exchange of pleasure to release the tension the pair of you shared.

But now here he was, arms wrapped around you, pulling you into chest as he breathlessly pressed kisses against your neck. You wanted to hesitate, but you just couldn’t, a soft sigh leaving your lips as the male Eternal once again dipped his hand to where you so desperately needed him to be.

Holding you securely against the rock in the water, his naked body pressed against your own and the soft sloshing sound of the water echoing inside the cave as he pulled in and out of you rhythmically.

“Gods; I’ll never get enough of how you feel around me”. Druig groaned deeply into the crook of your neck; his hair wet from the water and sticking to his forehead.

You were lost in the pleasure, hands desperately gripping at Druig’s back, the heels of your feet hooked around him to pull him in deeper. Moans constantly spilling from your lips as you let the back of your head fall against the rock behind you. For a moment you pulled yourself together long enough to lift your head and press your lips against Druig’s ear, taking his lobe between your teeth to give it a soft tug. The groan that came from him sent a shiver through you, sending it straight to your core.

“Then go ahead and cum for me Druig”. You cooed-

Druig was taken aback by your words, not having prepared himself enough so that he let out a guttural moan, squeezing his eyes closed for a moment to concentrate long enough to allow himself to ride this out a little longer. His hips stuttered briefly but he quickly found it rhythm again as he pulled out slowly and slammed harshly back into you, causing you to shout out with pleasure.

“What was that my sweet siren?” Druig bit his lip, as his eyes suddenly locked onto your own.

“I said...” You paused, your gaze flickering from his eyes to his lips then back again. “Cum for me”.

“Fuck”. Druig was drowning in your gaze, his mouth falling open as once again his lips stuttered. Your eyes were eating him alive, the way your lips curled into an open ‘O’ and the pure bliss across your expression as he spilled into you sent him into overdrive.

“____ F... fuck...I...” Druig stuttered, his words falling out of his mouth in a senseless mumble. You just looked so beautiful like this, the blue hue illuminating your body, your fucked out expression, your harmonious moans. Everything together...you. He was overwhelmed.

You were so fucking perfect. He didn’t know what he was feeling; was it just lust. Was it just the pure feeling of pleasure hazing his mind, not letting him think clearly? Sure. That’s what it was, it had to be. The pair of you disliked one another; this was simply to blow off some steam.

Druig quickly reminded himself of this; squeezing his eyes shut tightly to regain his focus as he stilled inside you. Confused expression hiding away in your neck to avoid questioning from you. To avoid any suspicion from you, the make eternal quickly attached his lips to your own, locking you in a feverish kiss. Wet, hungry...desperate to ensure you had no time to think too deeply.

He wouldn’t let this happen again. He couldn’t.

But when the mere thought of anyone else even making you smile pissed him off; he knew something was wrong

———————————-

“Druig!” Your voiced cracked as you yelled out in desperation, watching as Druig was thwarted by the tail of a large deviant, sending him flying to the side and colliding with q small wooden structure.

“___! We need you over here!” The sound of Ikaris’s voice filled your ears; and you knew he was right. You should run over to Ikaris, Makkari and Gilgamesh who were both all going at it on the deviant who had just attacked Druig. But you couldn’t bring yourself to move your feet in that direction. Your mind was flooded with the thought that Druig could be seriously hurt; and if you didn’t go to help him, it was going to be your fault for leaving him behind.

“Now ___!”

“Druig needs help!”

“Ajak will deal with it, get over here!”

You snared with distaste, hating the way Ikaris just had to control everything you did. Without another thought you ran towards Druig’s direction; quickly finding him strewn amongst wooden debris from destroyed homes.

“Druig...Druig come on, get up”.

“I’m...fine ____, leave me be”.

“You are so very much not fine”. You cradled the male in your arms, supporting his head as blood trickled from his temple. You scanned his body, looking out for anymore injuries and noticing the blood that seemed to seep from his side, his hand not doing a good job at hiding his wound.

“Yeah, totally fine. Druig you’re about to bleed to death”.

“Didn’t know you cared about me so much pretty little siren”. His smile was weak, and you could only watch him carefully until Ajak would finally arrive. “Never gonna’ let you live it down”. Eyes fluttering closed, Druig slowly begun to lose consciousness and panic started to set in.

“Druig! Druig. No... no you must stay awake you idiot. I’m not done making you miserable”. He gently shook the male as you could feel your stomach churning, your entire chest burned, tears threatening to fall from your eyes. “Stay awake you asshole!” Out of desperation you laid a slap to Druig’s cheek, this briefly awakening him out of shock.

“Fuck ____, really?”

“Hey, don’t die in my arms. That’s disgusting. You’ve already got your blood all over me”.

Then suddenly, from behind you heard Ajak’s voice. “Druig, ___! Are you two okay?” Instantly relief rolled over you and you could quickly let Ajak take over for you.

The other female Eternal made quick work of Druig’s injuries as you stood your distance, wiping your bloodied hands against your armour in a futile attempt to clean them. You took a deep breath, closing your eyes for a moment to regain your composure. For a moment there you were scared; genuinely scared that you could actually lose Druig.

Sure, you hated him; but the Eternals were your family. Druig was part of your family. To have a member of your family die would be heart wrenching. That was the only reason...but something else hurt inside you. The thought of not having Druig in your life anymore made your heart sting, you couldn’t bear the thought and it pissed you off knowing he had such an effect on you.

All day: all damn day you couldn’t get the thought of Druig out of your head. How he made you feel as he lost consciousness in your arms. Almost bleeding to death right before your eyes. Why did you have to go to him instead of joining in the fight, at least that way maybe you would have never gone through the wave of emotions you went through. Ajak would have found him, and it would’ve been okay. But no, something inside you forced you to make sure he was okay. You didn’t know what it was, maybe you did but you didn’t want to admit to yourself or anyone about what that might be.

You weren’t the only one who noticed these possible feelings.

Druig did too.

And he was going to milk this opportunity for everything.

——————————————————

“Didn’t know my little siren cared about me so much hm?”

You rolled your eyes, turning away from the male as you tried to slink your way past the humans walking through the markets.

“Mm, she’s speechless. So overwhelmed with emotion she can’t say a word”.

“Please Druig; you’re making a fool of yourself”. You turned your head towards him a smirked, reaching over to one of the cherries sitting in a handmade basket and briskly slipping it between your lips, making sure to eat the piece of fruit as slowly as possible. You made sure to catch the way Druig’s gaze captured the sight of your mouth. “And I am NOT your little siren”.

You flicked your cherry pit in his direction, the male chuckling as it hit him in the chest.

“Sure... is that why I could sense those tears threatening to fall from those pretty little eyes of yours eh?” He strolled along behind you, his arms behind his back and that notorious smirk plastered permanently across his face.

“I was merely traumatised at the thought of having to get your disgusting blood out of my hair. If anything, it was annoying, putting yourself at risk like that. I’m sure the others feel the same”.

“Mm, I may not be able to dig around in that brain of yours ___ but I know what you feel”. He was directly behind you now, you could feel his breath against your neck, you could tell in this position that his lips were close to attaching to your skin. Druig was going to get you to melt against him again, seduce you and take you as he has been doing for many months. But you had no intention of letting him do it this time; not after trying to humiliate you in front of the locals.

“Hm”. You hummed in thought, a smirk forming on your lips as you swiftly turned around to meet Druig’s cocky expression. “So what if I do feel something for you Druig?” You tilted your head, meeting his gaze as you dropped you smile and looked at him with doe eyes.

Instantly the male went silent, his eyes locking onto yours as he tried to figure out if you were serious of playing with him.

You hummed softly, letting a soft harmonious sound as you reached over to him, dainty fingers gently gliding up the side of his arm as he never took your eyes off him. Relishing in his silence, something Druig struggled to do around you, Keep quiet,

“How I yearn for you this whole time... the thought of you touching me drives me crazy every day”. Sliding your hand further up you cooed again, gently biting your bottom lip. “I crave nothing more than you...”

“Me?”

You quickly wrapped a hand around the male’s throat, taking him by surprise as you backed him into a corner of the market, barely out of sight from any passer-by’s.

“___?”

You started to smirk again, placing more pressure on Druig’s throat and relishing in how his breath hitched for a moment, his blue eyes boring into your own as you held him there. “Whose speechless now hm?” You scanned his face, drinking in the sight before you. How vulnerable he looked like this; it was delicious. Every predatory instinct inside you was ticking with excitement as your eyes glowed, your fangs beginning to push out on their own. “You’re so pretty like this...silent. I like you this way”.

You moved your hand slightly up, giving you the opportunity to swipe your thumb over the male’s bottom plump lip, watching with exhilaration as Druig’s mouth parted ever so slightly. “Look how eager you are here for me now hm?” With his mouth slightly open, you could slip your thumb between his teeth, pulling his bottom jaw open, pulling your thumb down and dragging his bottom lip with it. “Do you want me?”

You leaned forward, pressing your forehead to his own as you let your lips ghost over his own. Druig shivered against you, his own lips quivering, almost as if he were reaching for you. Desperate to taste you. Your hand travelled from his jaw and around his head, your fingers gently entangling into his hair, stroking his scalp lovingly. The sigh that left his lips was delightful, making you smile.

“Yes”. He breathed out desperate; and just as he leaned forward to attach his lips to your own you snagged his hair in your grasp, roughly pulling his head back, exposing his neck to you. Druig groaned, hissing at the pain of his hair being pulled.

“Tsk tsk” you clicked your tongue, licking your lips devilishly. “Too bad”. With a hum you leaned forward, placing a gentle and barely there kiss to Druig’s throat before letting your tongue dart out and flick against his nape. You could taste the lust and desperation on him and it made you insatiable. You could devour him right then and there, and the soft groans that spilled from the base of his throat definitely didn’t help your self control.

And just like that you released the male Eternal from your grasp; watching as an exasperated Druig attempted to recollect himself, cheeks flushed and lips pink, still parted as he caught his breath. You couldn’t wipe the smile on your face.

“What was that for?”

“You tell me”. You simply said, turning and leaving him in the corner. Letting him watch you as walked into the crowded market.

“Fuck”.

[taesspark]

A Normal Friday Afternoon

drabble #1 from the Spellbound series

pairing: Jungkook x reader

genre: enemies to lovers (but mostly enemies so far oops), hogwarts au

word count: 2.2k 

warnings: violence (oc punches jungkook in the face), swearing

It’s a normal Friday afternoon at Hogwarts, meaning everyone is going insane. You wonder why Professor Snape even bothers teaching Potions right now since it doesn’t look like anyone is paying the slightest bit of attention. He even chose a hard potion for the class to make, individually this time. As if making it an individual assignment could stop a group of annoying 17-year-olds from wreaking havoc. 

You flicker your eyes in annoyance at Jeon Jungkook and his rowdy group of friends. They had created a game where they launch the ingredients into each others’ cauldrons, giving each other points based on how close it got. Usually you try to get along with your classmates, especially fellow Gryffindors, but Jungkook has always been the sole exception. There’s something about him that grates all of your nerves like a carrot. Maybe it’s the way he’s good at all the same things you are, but he makes it seem more effortless. Maybe it’s the way everyone thinks he’s so innocent and kind, when he’s been metaphorically (and literally) pulling on your hair since first year. 

It started with the little things. You were friendly to him, like you are to everyone, and as an 11-year-old, you had nothing to complain about. Something changed one day when you were walking past him in the hallway to class and he hit you with a hex that he hadn’t mastered yet. You remember falling to the ground in pain, watching your stinging flesh go boneless. And Jungkook? He was laughing.

You’re no less of a witch or a Gryffindor though. With your limp arm, you cast the strongest dancing hex you could muster. It worked, of course, and Jungkook was known as “Happy Feet” for at least another year for the way he danced around Hogwarts that day. 

It’s a memory you keep close, as a reminder to never trust the sweet smile and starry eyes of Jeon Jungkook. 

If you looked at all of the detentions you’ve served in your 6 years of being a Hogwarts student (and there are plenty), you’re sure 99% would have been from fighting with Jungkook, whether it’s yelling at him, cursing him, or swatting him with your broomstick in midair during Quidditch practice. Because of course he would join the Quidditch team at the same time you did. 

You’re not in the mood for fighting today, though. You’re exhausted from a frankly awful week, and you just want to finish your stupid potion, get your stupid grade, and go to your stupid dorm so you can sleep. 

Your only good friend in this potions class is a Ravenclaw girl named Nina. For a Ravenclaw, she’s chatty, and she flits around you while you grind up asphodel root for your potion. With a quick slide of your knife, you dump the crushed root into your potion. It bubbled. Beside you, Nina bubbled even more, her personality like soda that had been shaken too hard. 

“-and then Emilia told me that she asked Irene if she would go with her to Hogsmeade next weekend, but Irene said she’s already going with Jieun, but Sam told me that Jieun is going alone, so what’s even the truth? You’d think that she’d at least-” 

“Maybe you should mind your business.” You give her a sour look, and you hope it isn’t too harsh. “Just a thought.” 

Nina’s mouth curls into a rueful smile. “You’re spending too much time with Yoongi lately.” 

You crack a smile at the thought of your best friend and his (only partly true) reputation. No one dares cross Min Yoongi, a 7th year Slytherin with a killer poker face. As one of his best friends, you can see right through it. 

“There’s no such thing as too much time with Yoongi,” you grumble. 

Nina leaves you alone after that, thank god. You usually have a higher tolerance for her chattiness and gossip, but today your patience is running thin. Luckily, she knows you well enough to not seem upset at your attitude. 

You sprinkle a serum into the potion before stirring it clockwise ten times. It’s the last step of the potion, and yours is already turning the perfect shade of mint green. You count to yourself as you stir: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight-

You don’t make it to ten. You were so goddamn close. 

“Oh, shit-”

You don’t register who curses. All you can see is a bottle of serum—someone else’s bottle of serum— being launched straight into your cauldron, and your entire potion splattering onto your front. Your robes sizzle where the potion hit them. 

“Oops.” 

You recognize that voice. How could you not? You almost want to laugh. 

Fucking Jeon Jungkook. 

The leech lumbers up to you sheepishly, scratching at the back of his head. “My bad. We were playing a game, and I missed pretty bad.” 

He chuckles a little, surveying the green ooze all over you. “Green is your color, Y/N. Maybe they should’ve put you in Slytherin.” 

You’re seething. 

A temper is not one of the traits associated with Gryffindor, but at that moment, you think maybe it should be. Lions do roar, after all. 

And roar is exactly what you do. Roar and knock Jungkook the fuck out. 

The room is in chaos: Professor Snape is yelling, Nina is telling you to calm down, Jungkook is on the ground in front of you, more shocked than hurt, and half the class is chanting “Fight!” because the adolescent urge to create violence never truly dies. 

“Take this outside!” Snape shouts at the two of you, grabbing you both by the collar of your robes. “Fight in the hallways, I don’t care, but this is not going to happen in my classroom. When you’re done, head to McGonagall’s office. I’m sure she’d like to have a word with you two delinquents.” 

Jungkook stares at you, rubbing at the bruise blooming on his cheek. 

The door swings closed, slamming in your face. With a huff, you turn around and vanish the potion residue still left on your clothes with a quick spell. You barely spare a glance for Jungkook. He stands several feet away, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. 

“Do you have something to say?” You snap. 

He opens his mouth. Then closes it. 

You roll your eyes. “Listen, Jeon. I know you did that on purpose. Very funny prank, absolutely hilarious. Truly, I’m rolling on the floor laughing right now.” 

Jungkook’s eyes drop to the floor as if he expected to see you there, laughing. 

“Let’s just go to McGonagall’s already,” you say, posture slumping at the thought of being yelled at by the intimidating professor.  

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” he says. Jungkook rolls his shoulders, and you see him gain some of his usual bravado. “We were playing a game, I already explained this to you.” 

You bark out a laugh, just one. “I’m not stupid.” 

He cocks a brow. “Are you sure? I bet my potion was better than yours even though I was dicking around for the entire class.” 

“Fuck off.” 

“Hit a nerve?” 

“No.” 

It’s like this, for the long, long, long trek from the dungeons to Gryffindor tower where McGonagall’s office is. 

“You know, you don’t have to be such an asshole all the time,” you say, turning the corner. Jungkook jogs after you to keep up. 

“I don’t? No way, all this time I thought it was mandatory.” 

He sounds more upset than snarky, and in your present state of blind rage, you don’t have a single clue why he would be upset. He’s the one who ruined your potion and got you sent to McGonagall’s office. He’s the one who has been a splinter the size of Greenland in your thumb for five years and counting. 

“Besides,” he adds, as if you wanted to have a conversation with him, “you’re the one who fucking punched me in the face. It’s kinda hypocritical to call me an asshole in this situation.” 

“That’s a really big word, Jungkook. Did you finally learn how to read?” 

Jungkook’s face crumples into a frown. “Shut up.” 

“Hit a nerve?” You mock. 

You think getting to McGonagall’s office is a relief until you’re finally there. McGonagall is all but screeching at the two of you. You’ve heard the same lecture several hundred times, but never in such a high pitch. You offer to make her some herbal tea for her throat, and she only gives you the evil eye. Jungkook snorts beside you. You ignore him, nudging him in the ribs with your elbow. 

“Never in my days…”

“...Such stupidity from my own students!”

You fade in and out of consciousness during the lecture, and one look at Jungkook tells you he’s doing the same. 

“Detention for both of you. I will see the two of you here at 9 pm sharp every day for the rest of the week,” McGonagall finally says. 

Jungkook groans. 

“I’m being generous,” McGonagall says. “If I see the two of you acting like violent animals again, I can and will suspend you both from the Gryffindor Quidditch team.” 

You and Jungkook both make sounds of protest, only to be drowned out by McGonagall. 

“I hate to see my own team lose, but it has been five years of your childish fights. You two will learn to be civil to each other, and I will make sure of it.” 

The tone of her voice makes you uneasy. Jungkook beats you to the question that’s on both of your minds. “What are you going to do to us?” 

The fear in his voice would make you smile if you weren’t practically shaking in your boots yourself. 

“As you know, in Transfiguration, I am going to be having everyone work in teams this year. I was going to let you choose your partners, but you two have not earned that privilege.” 

You turn to face Jungkook. He’s staring back at you in wide-eyed horror. 

“You both are now partners in Transfiguration. Sit by each other and complete the projects together. I will not tolerate any misbehaving in my class, and if you don’t work as a team, you will be risking your own grades.” McGonagall stares at the two of you with the smallest of smiles, disgustingly smug. She’s enjoying this, and you hate her for it. 

“But-”

“Professor!” 

“I won’t hear it!” She shouts. Jungkook recoils. “This is final. If you have a problem, you should’ve thought about that before brawling like wrestlers in Potions.” 

You hang your head, staring at how the end of your robes skims your shoes. You don’t like to be dramatic, but this sure feels like the end of the world. The rest of your year is probably ruined, thanks to McGonagall essentially sentencing you to Jungkook duty. Not to mention Transfiguration is your hardest class, even without having to compete with Jungkook. You don’t doubt that this would make everything so much harder. 

“That’s all I have to say to you. Please leave,” McGonagall says, pressing a thumb and index finger into her forehead. 

The two of you file out of her office, stumbling down the empty hallway. You walk in silence, thankful that classes aren’t out yet. You stop a few corridors down, and Jungkook stops next to you.

You look at him, really look at him. Other than the bruise on his face a la you, he has a sweet face and kind eyes. You remind yourself that it’s fake. 

You take a step closer to him, and he tilts his head at you, nonplussed. 

“Y/N?” 

You brush a hand on his cheekbone, where you hit him. 

“Does it hurt?” You ask. 

The hallway is empty, but Jungkook still looks both ways before responding to you, as if you were a car hurtling towards him on the street. He gulps at your proximity to him, how he can feel your breath mingling with his own and your fingertips’ gentle pressure on his face. 

“A little,” he says, quieter than you. “You really know how to use your fists, huh?” 

He laughs. To your ears, it sounds forced. You smile. Checkmate. 

Without warning, you grab his tie and jerk his face down to yours, leaving just a breath of space between your noses. You lean even closer to Jungkook, and a smile ghosts your lips when you feel him moving closer to you at the same time. You wait for one more moment, letting your warm breath hit his skin. The moment he closes his eyes, you whisper, “Good.” 

His eyes flutter back open, confused, and you take your foot and slam it down on his. He all but howls in pain, nearly knocking his head into yours as he hops away. 

"What was that for?"

"If you still don't know, then maybe I need to step on you again." You narrow your eyes at him, still close enough to register the clean linen smell of his clothes. “Do not cross me again. I need a good grade in Transfiguration this year, and I won’t let you ruin that for me.” 

"McGonagall is right there. I could go tell her," he threatens. His eyes are wide, and you pick up on the slightest fear under his façade of arrogance. 

"Okay, do it. See if I care, asshole." 

You spin on your heel and storm down the corridor, leaving a stunned Jungkook in your wake. 

[haikyuu-scenarios-drabbles]

Shower Friends (Miya Atsumu x F!reader)

The dorm you live in has co-ed bathrooms. Why that’s remotely a good idea is beyond you; and recently, your precious shower time is being interrupted by a certain blonde haired setter for the volleyball team. When he lies to his teammates that he has a girlfriend, somehow you get roped into his scheme. 

genre(s): college!au, fake dating, angst, fluff, mutual pining, enemies to lovers (kinda), eventual smut (maybe) words: 3.8k

a/n: i got so carried away with this and i don’t even know if Atsumu is in character or not so please be gentle. chapter 2 coming tomorrow 🤗

taglist: @apollochjld @kurosarium @vicassa

Chapter One

All you want to do is shower in peace. It’s the reason why you wait until the dead of night to avoid any unwanted visitors. You don’t let yourself admit that another reason you wait until the entire floor is asleep is that you live in the building that has a co-ed bathroom. Why anyone decided that was a good idea is beyond you. Throwing a bunch of horny, drunk college kids in the same bathroom seems like a disaster to you, but that’s not really your problem.

Thank goodness they had the sense to put two doors in front of each of the showers. One complete door with a lock leading to a small space to dress and hang your towels before a much flimsier shower curtain. If it had just been the curtain you might’ve resorted to taking showers in one of your friend’s buildings that is not co-ed.

Though about five minutes into your shower in the silent bathroom, you hear the curtain of the stall next to you slide open and the shower turn on. Without thinking, you blurt, “Do you have to choose the one directly next to me?”

Atsumu jolts at your voice, forgetting he can’t just assume the other person in the bathroom is a guy. Muffled by his shirt being pulled over his head he retorts, “This one gets the hottest.” Honestly, he wasn’t expecting anyone else to be in here at this hour.

You nearly drop your shampoo at his voice, hyper-fixating on the fact that you’re practically standing naked directly next to this guy, the only thing separating you being the shower wall and the lock on the outer door. It’s just a few weeks into the semester and up until now you haven’t had a problem with someone showering right next to you, most people deciding to leave a stall between you, both of you doing your best to ignore the other. And definitely not speaking to each other.

Though, you suppose you were the one to speak first here when you could’ve kept your mouth shut and pretended like it didn’t bother you.

“Can’t you go one night without burning your skin off?” You say, knowing full well the stall next to you is like water from hell.

Atsumu can’t help smirking despite that you can’t see him. “Nope, already naked.” Something clatters on the other side of the wall and he stifles his laugh that you must’ve dropped something.

Snatching your dropped body wash, you angrily scrub yourself clean and decidedly do not think about the person next to you.

Thankfully, neither of you speak a word to the other for the remainder of your shower.

Though your stomach drops when you both turn the water off at the exact same moment.

“Please tell me you didn’t do that on purpose,” you groan, hurriedly grabbing your towel to wrap your cold body.

“Okay,” he says with a shrug. “I didn’t.” He knows that doesn’t sound very believable, but he’s pretty sure no matter what he said you wouldn’t accept it.

Scrubbing at your hair you try to keep your voice level. “I’m not leaving until you do.”

“Now it sounds like yer tryin’ to get a look at me.”

You ball your fists, resisting the urge to just storm out of the bathroom. Like an idiot, you’d assumed nobody would shower at this hour and all you have with you is your towel. Normally you bring a change of clothes with you, but of course the one night you don’t, you have a shower buddy.

The brooding silence emanating from your stall is enough for him to let out a small laugh, then conceding, “Alright, alright—I’m gone.”

“Thank you,” you breathe, feeling your growing anxiety about this entire situation melt away. At that, you hear his door unlock and the soft padding of his feet walking away. On his way out, he takes one last glance at the final stall where you’re still waiting, then blows a wet strand of his hair out of his face and heads out.

You wait a few minutes after his footsteps have faded then peek your head out of the stall to a blissfully empty bathroom. Letting out a deep sigh, you hold your towel tightly to your chest and scurry back to your dorm room knowing you’re going to go to sleep tonight thinking about the strange boy you met in the shower.

Hopefully you never have to deal with that again.

~

Of course, you’re very wrong. Not even a week later, you enter the bathroom only to ram directly into someone exiting. And this person is shirtless, their lean muscular frame on display for anyone to ogle at, a towel slung around his hips in just the right way that makes your heart pound without permission.

He catches you so you and all your bathroom supplies don’t tumble to the floor and you reflexively steady yourself with your palms on his chest before you realize what you’re doing. He smirks down at you, eyes glinting mischievously and drawling, “Ya know, I think you might’a done that on purpose.”

Immediately, your heart stutters to a halt in your chest recognizing that lilting, teasing voice. Pushing yourself off his chest and slipping into the bathroom behind him you snap, “You wish.”

Atsumu’s eyes widen, connecting the dots. Though the expression is transient, quickly settling back into a smirk that you think is even more irritating than before. “Takin’ a shower at this hour again, you sure yer not looking for me?”

You frown. “I take showers this late to avoid people!” Then you turn on your heel, done with this conversation and step into your favorite stall (which Atsumu astutely notices is the same one as last time). You take a quick and admittedly angry shower, doing a poor job of trying to forget your newfound annoyance.

Something about him is familiar. And you can’t put your finger on it. Not until you get back to your dorm room and your roommate is practically bouncing off the walls. You stare at her confusedly and she exclaims, “Did you see Miya Atsumu on your way to the bathroom? Oh my god—please tell me you did. He was wearing a towel and that’s it!” She squeals and tips back into her bed hugging a pillow tightly.

You don’t know why, but your initial reaction to realizing your shower nuisance is Miya Atsumu, is to laugh out loud. Your roommate gives you a startled expression until you say, “Yeah—yeah I saw him.” While she blabbers about how “insanely hot” he is, you shake your head at yourself. Miya Atsumu, the setter for the university’s volleyball team that lives on your floor and that your roommate is an avid fan of. He also has quite the gaggle of girls that are in love with him. Thankfully, your roommate isn’t so infatuated with him that she’s a member of the fan club but judging from her demeanor right now she’s well on her way there. You huff, admitting that yes—by looks alone he’s a head turner but you can’t imagine that personality being a winner amongst the club. Or maybe that’s his charm, you don’t know.

Though, after attending a volleyball game a week later, you’re certain his fan club is based on his looks alone. You have to keep yourself from snorting when he’s about to serve and raises his fist to silence the crowd, everyone complying except a few fan girls who cheer for him as he serves. Afterwards, he shouts at them from the court, telling them to ‘keep yer traps shut!’. They listen for the rest of the game and surprisingly, are no less in love with him then they were before.

What you find even more impressive than his ability to silence an entire crowd, though it pains you to admit, is that he’s good at volleyball. Really good. And your roommate seems to be the Atsumu fact machine as she tells you that he’s on Japan’s radar to play professionally and is here on a sports scholarship. She tells you she wouldn’t be surprised if he has to stop playing for the university in order to start playing professionally.

“How come you know so much about him?” You ask offhandedly, chin resting in your hand as your eyes are trained on the court below. You forced her to sit with you near the back of the stands in hopes he won’t see you because if you ever run in to him again in the bathroom you’re sure he’ll never let you hear the end of it.

She flushes at that, toying with a strand of her hair and mumbling, “Um, I went to Inarizaki High where he went and uh—kinda had a huge crush on his brother. He has a twin.”

You lift your brows at that information. No wonder she’s squealing over Atsumu, who probably looks exactly like his brother. You decide to prod a bit further asking, “So was the fan club just for Atsumu back then too?”

Now she laughs. “Nope, it was the Miya twin fan club. Terrifying really. Imagine that,” she nods her head towards the group at the front of the stands, “But double.”

“Fun.”

You haven’t told her about your run-ins with Atsumu in the bathroom yet. And part of you wonders if now would be a good time. You’d been holding off in fear that she was secretly in love with him or something, but now that you know it’s very much the opposite, you really want to tell her. As you open your mouth, the whistle blows calling the game, and you’re overwhelmed by the need to leave before the team lines up to thank the spectators in fear the Atsumu will recognize you. It’ll have to wait until later you suppose.

~

The second you hear someone enter the stall beside you, without even seeing him, you know it’s Atsumu. And for a few blessed moments, you’re led to believe he’s going to keep his mouth shut for the duration of his shower.

When Atsumu entered the bathroom, upon seeing that the last stall on the left was occupied at this hour, he could be pretty certain it was you. And who was he if he didn’t take the chance to push your buttons a little bit? You make it so easy for him, it’s hard to resist. Your hopes are crushed when you hear him say, “Enjoy the game last week?”

This time, you fumble with your shampoo not because he startled you but because of all the things he could have said, that was the last thing you were expecting.

“My roommate wanted to go,” you say, glad he can’t see you and your flustered expression. It’s the truth, and you’re definitely not going to admit you were a little curious yourself.

“Oh, did she?” He asks, brows raised as he lathers his hair with soap.

Judging by his tone, he doesn’t believe you. So, some part of you decides to dig your hole even deeper without realizing it, trying to explain, “She went to your high school, so she wanted to see you play again.”

You foolishly thought that would take the suspicion off of you. However, it does the opposite. Now he’s even more interested. “And what did she tell you about me, hm?”

You freeze, scrambling for something that doesn’t make you sound like he’s been on your mind. Though you convince yourself he’s only on your mind because he’s annoying and you try to avoid him every time you take a shower nowadays. “She told me your school was really good and that you have a twin brother.”

He frowns momentarily, unsure how Osamu somehow weaseled his way into this conversation when you’ve never even met him. Instead of letting that piece of rivalry he’ll carry with him forever show, he prods a little further, hoping to get a ruse out of you before you inevitably storm out of the bathroom and he has to wait until your next unplanned meeting to talk to you more. “And what’d ya think? How good am I?”

You laugh, shutting him down immediately. “I don’t know a damn thing about volleyball.”

Though you don’t think you really have to know much about volleyball to see he’s good. That notion backed up by the information your roommate gave you that he’s here on a sports scholarship and is being scouted by professional teams. But you keep your mouth shut, unwilling to boost his ego any further.

Turning the shower off, you step out and start drying yourself off. Not entirely sure why, but you continue the conversation much to Atsumu’s surprise. “I liked watching though, it was fun,” you say quietly, pulling your pajama’s on, regretting saying anything at all instantly and wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

A grin rises to his lips, but before he can get another word in, he hears the door of your stall unlocking and the telltale sound of your footsteps walking away. Scrubbing at his hair, he can’t help wondering what this strange little relationship growing between the two of you is.

~

At this point, you’re beginning to think he’s doing it on purpose. You can’t imagine anyone else wanting to shower this late unless it is solely to come bother you like he seems intent on doing.

“What are you just waiting around for me now?” You groan at the sound of the bathroom door opening, not even waiting for him to enter the stall beside you, already certain you know exactly who it is.

He scoffs, “No, practice went late and I’m tired and sweaty. Maybe I think yer the one waitin’ around for me.”

“Gross.”

“That’s what the shower’s for, sweetheart.”  

“Let’s agree not to talk, shall we?” You huff, intent on ignoring him this time.

“Watch it, I might start to think you like me or somethin’,” He teases, but he’s only met with silence. He lets it go, too tired to care much or carry on a conversation anyways. After washing his hair, he grabs his body wash and realizes to his dismay that it’s completely empty. He can barely get a lather out of it. He stands there for a few minutes debating if he should bother you again, eventually deciding to hell with it.

Out of the blue, he says, “I’m out of body wash.”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

He ponders that for a minute, truly not sure what he expects you to do about it. “Can I borrow some?”

“You’re going to smell like a girl,” you laugh, actively shoving down the small voice saying: ‘and he’ll smell like you’.

Without thinking, he replies, “Well, maybe someone will think I’m fucking one then.”

The silence that yawns between the two of you is deafening as you try and wrap your head around what he’s just said. He balls his fists, mentally yelling at himself for letting something like that slip.

“You’re not?”

“Is that hope I hear?” He teases, shifting the conversation back to more comfortable territory.

You groan. “Please.” Then step out of the shower and reach under your door to slide your body wash under his door.

“Smells nice.”

“Shut up.”

He puts forth a valiant effort to not think about you while the pleasant scent fills his shower, forcing his thoughts towards volleyball. Different drills. The new play he learned today at practice. How the ball feels in his palm when he spikes it. Anything but you and this damn body wash that smells like you that he’s lathering across his chest at the moment.

In the end, it’s a pretty futile effort.

And maybe he goes to bed thinking about how he smells like you and he…likes it.

~

Unable to get a hold of his emotions, he refuses to go back to his dorm where he’ll be subjected to the same treatment from his roommate. After all, his roommate is on the volleyball team too. So, the only place he can think of to go to cool off is the bathroom. He haphazardly shoves the door open, the thought that someone else might be in here at this hour—namely you—is drowned out by the rage clouding his vision.

Retrospectively, that was a mistake. Honestly, shouldn’t he know by now?

Regardless, he storms in, yelling “Fuck!” his hands curling into his hair in frustration. Lately, the team has been relentless in their jabs that he can never get a real girlfriend, even with a whole group of them clambering over each other for his attention. And he only made the jabs worse today by somehow pissing off his fucking fan club making the entire team adamant he can never have a serious girlfriend. Not with how much of an ‘asshole’ he is.

He groans, tugging at his blonde strands, regretting everything that came after that. He’d done a stupid thing. A really stupid thing. He’d told them he does have a girlfriend.

And he very much does not.

Atsumu scares the shit out of you, barreling into the bathroom, roaring at the top his lungs in frustration. You were at the tail end of your shower, pulling on your pajamas and at the sound of his voice you banged your head on the towel hook with how fast it whipped up.

Furious, you rip open the stall door shout, “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

His head jerks up, landing on you standing there in your pajamas, caught off guard that someone else is in here and of course it’s you. Of all the people to see him like this, you are the absolute last he wants to see. You both stand there staring at each other for a moment before he composes himself, letting an easy smirk cross his features and shoving his anger far enough down that he’s able to reply, “Practice was shit today. Nothin’ to worry yer little heart about.”

His stomach twists into knots as your expression doesn’t change, clearly not believing him. You can’t explain it, but there’s something deeper swimming in his eyes that makes you think he’s lying. And it’s enough for you to press further, doing your best to ignore the fact that you might actually care.

Shoulders drooping, his smile fades and he grimaces, not wanting to admit to you his mistake. But you just stand there, arms crossed, expecting him to give you a real answer and eventually he cracks.

“I did something stupid.”

“Tell me why I’m not surprised,” you deadpan, but continue to stare at him expectantly.

“You could at least pretend to be surprised.”

You’re relentless. “Spit it out Atsumu.”

He blinks, unsure if you’ve ever actually addressed him by his name before. But the thought is fleeting as the embarrassment of what he’s about to admit to you overwhelms him. Knowing you, you’re just going to laugh in face. And what’s the point? He’ll just be solidifying what he’s sure you already think about him.

After a moment, he tells you anyways. “My teammates think I’m too much of an asshole to have a girlfriend.”

He watches your expression morph into confusion. “I don’t see the problem here.”

Gritting his teeth and gripping the edge of the sink, he can’t even bear to look at you. He feels so fucking ridiculous. Why do you even care? Your only interactions with him thus far have been laced with annoyance, why have you now suddenly decided to take interest in his life when you so clearly don’t like him?

“I told them I have one.”

He tries not to groan when you reply, “I’m still not following.”

Does he need to spell it out for you? “I don’t have one,” he manages to choke out, a lot quieter and more pathetic than he’d like.

If this had been the first time meeting him, you might’ve laughed. Hell—you still kind of want to laugh. But seeing him like this is so jarring, you aren’t quite sure what to do with yourself. It’s clear this is something that bothers him deeper than he’s admitting. And a couple weeks ago, you would’ve never thought you’d be standing in a deserted bathroom with Miya Atsumu discussing the failures of his dating life.

“Why don’t you just ask one of the girls dying for your attention?” You ask, feeling a little grimy about the suggestion.

He seems to feel the same. “I don’t…it doesn’t feel right. They’d think it’s real.”

You keep it to yourself that despite what his teammates have said, that is a very non-asshole-ish thing to do.

He keeps staring at you, gears turning his head. Asking someone in his fan club feels wrong to him…but asking someone to fake it seems like a better option. And who better than the person standing in front of him right now? But you can see exactly what he’s thinking, beating him to it and crossing your arms saying pointedly, “No.”

“Aww come on! Why not?”

“Don’t you think that isn’t fair to me?”

He ponders this a moment. “What—you got yer eyes set on someone else or somethin’?”

“N—no! I just,” you splutter.

He has to hook you, otherwise he’s thoroughly fucked. The thought of enduring the brunt of his teammates teasing for who knows how long if he shows up tomorrow empty handed is enough to make him offer, “I promise to stop taking showers at night!”

Your brows lift, turning the idea over in your head. The prospect of taking quiet, uninterrupted showers is too good to pass up. And it isn’t the end of the world to pretend to date him for a few weeks. What could possibly go wrong?

So, with that, the deal is sealed. You and Atsumu are officially fake dating and your story is not far from the truth. You met in the bathroom a couple times and hit it off, it’s believable enough. Your roommate might be a bit chuffed you kept it from her, but she’ll get over it. Probably the second you divulge her in any insider information about Atsumu she’ll forget you were hiding him from her.

He tells you to meet him at the gym tomorrow afternoon. “Wear somethin’ cute!” He shouts at you as you exit the bathroom.

Over your shoulder, you give him a look that unexpectedly makes his heart stutter in his chest as you cheekily say, “Shouldn’t my boyfriend think I look cute in anything?” Then you disappear around the corner and he has to shove the thought that you do look cute in your pajamas to the back of his head.

[robinofinashiro]

sypnosis: sometimes, you just need to listen to your own heart. 

characters: narumiya mei x fem! reader

request status: OPENED / all fandoms I write for are pinned to the top of my page as well as my rules! feel free to request as you’d like! just please be respectful of my rules and if you have any questions, personally message me!

being the only manager to a team like Inashiro was hard. they had you up and running six am, right along with the team, and made you stay over time when playoffs or nationals were coming up and as much as you loved the team, the schedule sometimes killed you. 

the five thirty alarm rang through your room as you growled loudly. you were in no mood to wake up, especially after the night you had with Narumiya. 

the two of you were on and off again ‘friends with benefits’ as you liked to put it. you called him when you were feeling alone and wanted someone to come and comfort you and he did the same thing. the one thing that stopped you from actually dating him was you yourself. 

you never felt right dating Narumiya for various different reasons. you didn’t want to be seen as the girl who only joined the team to date the players nor did you want to ever be compared Narumiya in the first place. 

Inashiro carried Narumiya as if he was their god. he had girls flocking him left and right. Narumiya knew the status he carried around the school but whenever it was just the two of you, he had always told you that you were worth more than any of the girls that surrounded him. he would date you in a heartbeat but your brain was your own worst enemy and denied him every time he asked. 

you took out your manager uniform, deciding to just wear that for the day as Inashiro staff allowed any managers or sports students to wear uniforms on a day where a game was going to be played. the uniform was just Inashiro’s version of a tennis skirt and a red button colored shirt with white shoes and the teams sweater. 

after you brushed your teeth and grabbed a quick breakfast from your fridge, you ran out onto the field, getting the equipment they needed for their morning practice.  you knew that Shirakawa and possibly Carlos would be on the field but you knew the king would be late....as usual. 

“morning guys!” you said tiredly to the boys. Shirakawa gave you a head nod as a hello as Carlos actually decided to help you out with the equipment, “were you the reason why our pitcher snuck in last night?” Carlos asked, wiggling his eyebrows jokingly. 

you rolled your eyes, not bothering to answer. you grabbed the stack of papers that were reminders for the team about the upcoming Japan Series Sports Gala. it was a uppity dinner that Japan athletics threw every year to honor everyone who participated in their sports or helped manage them. 

“remind me to hand these out to everyone before the team begins practice or else I’ll forget,” you asked Carlos. he nodded, putting them off to the side as you, “you going?” Carlos asked, looking at the flyers again, “if someone asks me. i’m not about to go single and dateless,” you replied. 

“have Narumiya go with you,” Shirakawa said. you gave him the finger, not really in the mood to argue, “um, that’s kinda why I asked if you were with him last night,” Carlos murmured, scratching the back of his neck. you gave a look, as to indicate for him to continue, “he invited Amy to the gala this Saturday,” he confessed hesitantly. 

you let out a laugh of disbelief, not believing what you were hearing. you knew Narumiya could be an ass but not to this extent. just as you were about to let out a scream of annoyance, most of the team arrived to the field, Narumiya being dragged right alongside them. 

they sat on the patch of grass where they usually did as you picked up the notes you had to read off before they started their practice. with the boys having a scrimmage game in the afternoon, you knew you had no time to read anything off to them before hand. especially since they were Hokkaido again. 

“morning everyone! remember, the gala is this Saturday. it’s free entry for players and managers but anyone bringing dates must pay for their ticket coming in. secondly, the game against Hokkaido starts at five today. if you’re late, that is not my business to handle for you,” you read off the sheets, “now, practice runs until seven and we’re all expect to be in class at the beginning of the hour. if you’re late, that’s on you!” 

you closed the binder, sitting down on in your usual spot, finishing up last minute homework as they started practice. Carlos and Shirakawa looked at each other knowing what Carlos had said must’ve upset you since you were not as happy as you just were. 

“how’d you sleep last night?” Narumiya asked, giving you a smirk, “fine. now leave,” you threatened, not bothering to play his games. he gave you a surprised look, not expecting your attitude, “what’s wrong?” he asked a bit more seriously. 

you gave him a look, one that frightened him more than he was willing to admit. “Narumiya, I’m really not in the mood for you shit this morning so do us the favor of just practicing before I cause a scene and you wouldn’t want that to happen in front of Amy, would you?” you insinuated as you pointed to the black haired girl. 

Narumiya sighed, “so you heard?” you nodded as he tried to figure out an excuse for himself, “well, you kept denying me and I needed a date for the dinner on Saturday so I asked her! I don’t know what you’re so worked up for,” he said, instantly knowing what he said was going to bite him in the ass. 

“you know what Narumiya?” you said, trying not to seem angry, “there’s a reason why I never dated you. it’s out of respect for me, for you, for the team, and when you say things like you said to me last night, I took it to heart because I thought hey! maybe does genuinely like me but clearly I was wrong and maybe there are better people for you,” you said without skipping a beat, “but you know what? clearly Amy is better for you and maybe I did the right thing by not saying yes.” 

Carlos who had overheard the entire conversation was stunned. he had no idea you felt like this and Narumiya especially had no idea. he grabbed your wrist but you quickly shook it off, trying not to spend anymore time around him. you got up, giving him one more tired look before going onto the field to do your duties. 

+

the end of the day came faster than you had wanted. you were in no mood to see Narumiya but considering they were going to play Hokkaido, you knew they were going to need you more today than any other day in the week. 

you dropped your bag off in your room before running back to the field before you were late yourself. the only thing you had on you was your cell phone and wallet for dinner after the game. 

“ready boys?” you screamed, trying to hype up the team. they nodded excitedly, Carlos and Shirakawa surprised at your attitude, “lets go kick some Hokkaido ass!” you yelled, earning a yell back from them, “don’t focus on the past, focus on the now!”

before you could continue your small speech, Fukui walked in, “uh hey, ( your name), Renji from Hokkaido is actually looking for you in the dugout,” you gave him a bewildered look as everyone gave you a surprised expression, “do you know for what?” you asked. 

Fukui shook his head no. you quickly excused yourself but before you could, you grabbed Carlos by the wrist to come along with you. you had no idea what their catcher wanted so you grabbed Carlos for moral support. “what do you think he wants?” he asked rhetorically. you shrugged your shoulders, reaching the dugout to see Renji right alongside Hongou. 

“hey, you’re looking for me?” you asked Renji with a small smile playing on your face. he was holding flowers with a nervous expression on his face as Hongou basically kicked him in the back of the leg for not responding, “oh, uh, yeah! as you know, the Japan Series dinner is this weekend and while I know it’s impossible for us to date because of our schools and schedules, I knew you’d be attending this event on Saturday and was wondering if...you’d like to go as my date?” your mouth dropped as Carlos covered his mouth in surprise. 

this was was the farthest thing you were expecting to hear from Renji as he held the flowers out for you to hold, “oh, that’s surprising!” you replied, “but of course! thank you so much,” you said trying not to stutter. he laughed, before getting dragged by Hongou back to their dugout. 

Carlos gave you a look before the two of you started laughing from surprise. “wow, Renji?” he asked in disbelief, “yup, Renji,” you replied before the two of you started laughing again. 

the entire team, stunned from what Fukui had said earlier followed you and Carlos secretly to hear what the Hokkaido catcher wanted and were shocked to hear what he had said. Shirakawa instantly looked to Narumiya and wanted nothing more than to laugh when they all heard what he said. 

Narumiya was pissed. pissed didn’t even begin to explain what he was feeling. he knew he had no right to get upset for accepting his date invitation but with the conversation you both had in the morning and the fact that you were going out with a rival team did not help him at all. 

“serves you right,” Shirakawa murmured, “you’re lucky they don’t attend the same school or maybe Renji will get lucky Saturday night if you know what I mean.” 

Narumiya stared at his friend, not trying to believe what he was saying. he knew a relationship with him for you would be nearly impossible because your schedules but the fact that you were still going out with him bothered him to hell. 

the announcers called everyone to the field to shake hands with each other but Narumiya was beyond the point to be friendly with any of them. he saw the way you were giving a look to Renji every now and then and when it was your turn to shake his hand, instead of shaking it, he did a slight bow. 

“he must really like you, huh?” Narumiya whispered to you. you gave him a smirk, returning the one he gave you in the morning, “course! someone has too,” you replied before going to the bench as the ref blew the whistle. 

the entire game, you could sense Narumiya’s anger through his pitches. you knew Renji’s hand was going to hurt before the end of the game if he continued to throw that way. Shirakawa, who had gotten benched for getting a hit to the shoulder, laughed at Narumiya’s attitude. 

“you gonna keep up the act?” he asked, kicking his leg up to rest on the bench in front of him, “probably. I mean, all of you heard the conversation so to pursue a relationship with him would be useless in the long run but it wouldn’t hurt to have a little fun, would it?” 

Shirakawa laughed at your pettiness but knew you had a right to make Narumiya suffer, even if it was just for a night. 

+

when Saturday night finally arrived, everyone going to the gala took the last train out of the city to get to the venue on time. one of the perks of all of this was that they were sending students back on busses once the gala ended and no one could sneak away secretly. 

you hadn’t seen Narumiya all day but you knew you were going to run into him at least once into the night. you had been texting Renji all day, making sure the two of you got the outfits to match so you wouldn’t look like a bunch of idiots if they took photos. 

the train stopped a few blocks from the venue but lucky for you, Renji and Hongou who had been begged to attend the gala by the team were waiting for you at the station. you waved to Renji who had another bouquet of flowers for you in his hand. 

“thank you,” you whispered to Renji as he nodded as a response. he swung his arm around your shoulders as the three of you walked to the venue in no rush. what you had no knowledge of was that Narumiya was right behind you. his heart sunk to his stomach as he watched the way you were talking and smiling with Renji. his heart screaming and wishing that was him in his place. 

Carlos looked at the longing stares Narumiya was giving you as he saw you taking pictures with Renji. it looked like you weren’t having any thoughts of Narumiya and while Carlos wanted to rub it in his face, he knew it was not his place to do any of that. he could tell how hurt he was feeling as Narumiya had even told two days prior that he had told Amy to no longer come along. 

he thought it was a brace move by Narumiya and looking at how hurt he was feeling now, he could tell Narumiya was genuinely hurt with you accepting Renji’s invitation. 

“listen,” Carlos said later into the night, “what you do is your business but what she said that day about her dating you is right. she would carry a lot of rumors on her back if she dates you. i’m not saying that if you explain whatever it is you’re feeling right now, she’d accept your feelings but she has a point in being hesitant on dating you. every girl at Inashiro kisses the ground you walk on and if they heart she’s dating you, that’s going to cause a lot of unnecessary drama on her end. I can’t tell you what to do but god damn is it tiring to see you this way.” 

Narumiya sighed knowing what Carlos was saying was true. every now and then, he would look to the table where you were sitting with Renji and Hongou and sigh in envy. of course, to you, you could feel Narumiya’s stares through the entire night. 

it wasn’t hared to tell that you were basically making Narumiya suffer. his face said it all and every time you went to the floor to slow dance with Renji, Narumiya’s face ran red with anger. a part of you wanted to drop the act to hear what Narumiya wanted to say but another part of you was going to wait till Renji left so you could talk to him. 

Renji was a sweetheart, you couldn’t deny him that. he constantly brought you the drinks you asked and danced when you asked but he knew that a relationship with you wouldn’t work and it would be useless to even try to make it work. maybe in the future he would have his chance with you but as of right now, you weren’t close enough for him to pursue anything. 

finally, once the night was drawing to a close, Renji and Hongou had to catch the earlier busses back to Hokkaido as there were hardly any busses for them in the first place. being that the venue was a bit closer to Inashiro, there was going to be more than a few busses for all of you to catch a ride in. 

“I enjoyed tonight,” you murmured to Renji, bringing him into a hug. he smiled, grabbing your hand softly, “me as well. I hope we can do this again in the future,” he replied, giving it a kiss. 

you smiled, giving him another bus before hearing Hongou screaming at him to get on the bus, “you have my number, don’t forget that,” you playfully said before heading back inside. you saw Narumiya at the end of the street, looking at you sadly. 

Narumiya walked up to you slowly and saw the way your attitude chance as he approached you, “what?” you asked with no emotion in his voice. Narumiya, taking all his chance grabbed your hand and basically dragged you to kiss him. you were stunned into the kiss and while you wanted to pull away, you let it happen. 

after Narumiya let you go, he stared at you longingly. 

“I know what I did was horrible. I’m not good with feelings, especially when it comes to romance and I thought that if I took Amy as a date, it would help me get over you. I should have asked why you felt that way and why you kept denying me and I understand why I look like the asshole here but I can’t.  I can’t see you dating anyone else or anyone that isn’t me. call me selfish, call me ignorant, I don’t care but please, you need to understand that even though we’re third years, you’re it for me. you’re the only one who truly understands me.” 

you sighed, not knowing how to respond to his confession but you eventually fell back into reality and sighed again, “Narumiya, this shit isn’t a joke. my feelings aren’t a game or something to play with. you know better than anyone how I feel about this entire situation,” you tried to say as Narumiya instantly cut you off, “I know, Carlos reminded me today and I will try my hardest to get rid of anything you’re scared of but please,” he begged silently, “I want a chance with you!” 

you gave Narumiya a look before bringing him into a kiss, “I’m scared, scared as hell actually. whatever happens, I guess we’ll deal with it whenever we get there but if you do anything to fuck this up, you’ll be out of my life faster than you can throw a ball,” you finally said. 

Narumiya’s face instantly lit up with happiness as he smiled. he brought you in for another kiss but this one was a lot more slower and dare you might say, a bit more sexual.

“come on, lets get back inside before Carlos or the busses leave us,” you joked as Narumiya grabbed your hand and held it tightly. he gave it a kiss, right where Renji had put his, “and that’s what Renji gets for kissing what’s mine,” he murmured before the two of you ran to where Carlos was to get onto the last bus. 

“are you both?” he asked slowly. you nodded yes as he sighed in relief, “finally! holy shit. it took you long enough! please never make any of us suffer that shit again!” Carlos exclaimed, texting the entire team the news that Narumiya was no longer being a pain in the ass, “but seriously, if he wasn’t being such a whiny idiot, you should have kept that up for a bit longer,” Carlos joked. 

you rolled your eyes playfully as Narumiya growled before trying to hit Carlos which he dodged easily. 

[streetlight11]

Nets and Bandaids | pt 2

Summary: They were the strongest members in their respective teams and everyone looked up to them. Except, they could never seem to get along. One day when an incident happened during the seasonal championship, that changed everything between them.

Theme: University au, volleyball players au, enemies to lovers

Genre: angst, fluff

WC: 3.6k

Pairing: Lee Minho x Reader

~~~

Previous || Next

Thursday came but Y/N and Seungmin were running late for training due to being held back by their lecturer so Y/N sent a text to their group chat.

The two of them were nearly 45 minutes late as they got changed before rushing over to the sports hall to avoid wasting more time by changing after they got there. The rest of them were just training with their own teams which means the guys were on one court while the girls were on the other court.

The two players jogged into the hall not forgetting to flood their apologies to their coach for being late but all the man did was smile and pointed towards the bench where their belongings were at.

Minho, who was initially standing outside of the court, guiding the rest of the guys, soon found his gaze locked on Y/N as he followed her figure. She was wearing something different today and maybe that’s why he couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away from her.

She was wearing a dark blue and orange jersey that wasn’t Hankuk U’s volleyball team jersey, it was a quite fitting shirt too. She also wore navy blue running shorts with her knee pads and a pair of black and white Nike trainers.

Y/N and Seungmin did a quick warm up as they jogged around the hall 5 times before doing a few stretches together.

Once they were done with warm ups, they joined their own teams only for Coach Kwon to tell them to practice passing the ball to one another in the correct technique. “Pass!” Y/N called, asking Jihyo to pass the ball to her only for her to spike.

A few passes later, Jennie managed to dump the ball from the opposite side of the net, causing the ball to strike Y/N’s side. Winning a solid score for Jennie’s team.

“Great job Jen!” Y/N giggled as she gave her friend two proud thumbs up, earning a laugh from the girls.

“I’ll get it.” Y/N said jogging past the guys who were on the court behind her. The ball had already flown across the hall but she managed to retrieve it. She was just jogging back when a ball came bouncing towards her just slightly off to the left.

She hopped sideways towards it only to catch it in her left hand swiftly.

That’s when she saw Minho walking towards her direction but stopping not too far from his court. With that, she did a low toss to him and the ball swirled in the air before he caught it perfectly in his dominant hand which was his left.

Minho watched as she threw the ball high over their heads at a powerful speed before Lisa caught it in her hands. Y/N continued to walk and once they were almost side by side, she spoke up with a sarcastic tone.

“Yeah, you're welcome.”

He scoffed as she walked past him to join the boys in the court, pretending to replace Minho’s spot.

“Alright boys, let’s go.” She teased, making the boys laugh. Chan easily served the ball straight to her. She passed the ball to Jisung as he tossed it to Felix and then to Changbin. But instead of Changbin tossing the ball towards the opposite team, he passed the ball to Y/N. She jumps and dumps it, earning a score for their team.

“Woo! You’re crazy noona.” Hyunjin said with a satisfied tilt of his head. She giggled as she shrugged her shoulders at them. She rolled her eyes, ducking under the net, only to run back to the girls.

After practice was over, they cleared the hall and soon packed their stuff before saying goodbye to their coach. They were scattered around, walking in clumps as they made their way to the doors only for Chungha to speak up, asking if they wanted to grab a quick bite before heading home.

Most of them agreed to it but Minho was quick to reject.

“I’m heading home.”

With that being said, some of them were asking why and was practically begging him to join. Just then, Y/N took this as the perfect time to make a witty comment.

“Why? Afraid to sit in one table with me?”

This was enough to make the rest of them howl in excitement at the sarcastic comment that was made by her. Minho turned to her once they stepped outside the hall. He turned to face her directly while the others stopped to witness the exchange.

“Afraid? Please. What am I? A coward?” Minho asked as she smirked, raising her eyebrow slightly to taunt him.

“No, I like ‘jerk’ better.” With that being said, a series of surprised coughs and even muffled laughter were heard from the rest of them.

Minho snarled as she gave him a little smile before she walked past him, taking her hair out of her ponytail before asking where they wanted to eat. After Jihyo told her the location, Y/N nodded to her friend, telling her she would meet them there before she walked to her sports bike.

“I really don’t understand how you’re capable of hating her when she’s that hot.” Chan mumbled under his breath to Minho. The latter could only burn a hole in the back of Y/N’s head at the moment.

Nevertheless, Minho didn’t join them for dinner as he couldn’t bear to look at her after that confrontation.

A few more training sessions went by, and the two captains seem to bicker less and less these days despite still fighting every now and then. Sometimes their fights would tend to get out of hand but their co-captains would do a pretty good job in stopping the fight.

And as of right now, today was no different.

“Is it that hard to run faster?” Minho asked Jisoo in an annoyed tone, making Y/N butt in.

“And is it that hard for you to not focus so much on speed but instead, the techniques?”

“I wasn’t talking to you, baby girl.” Minho said sarcastically, earning a scoff from her.

“If you don’t drop this stupid theory of speed being the only important factor in every single game, I’m making sure that you’re not gonna take part in that final game if we ever got qualified.” Y/N warned, seeing that he rolled his eyes at her right after.

“Well, too bad cause both captains are required in the teams for the final games.” 

With that, Y/N growled as she harshly threw the ball at him with a force that was too powerful. The ball slammed into his stomach but he barely managed to block it with his hands. He grunts in pain while she walks off, going to her bag in search of her bottled water. 

A few weeks passed, the annual Volleyball Championships had finally arrived as they made their way to Yonsei U campus grounds where the tournament would take place this year.

Both the boys and girls championships were starting soon and there were a total of 7 schools competing in this year's tournament.

After an hour of stressful rounds for both the boys and girls teams of Hankuk U, both teams had successfully made it to the finals which means they had to play the final round twice. One for the girls championship and one for the boys championship.

Coach Kwon divided them into two teams to represent each championship and so the boys championship final team were Y/N for Setter, Minho for Left Side, Changbin for Libero, Jisung for Left Side, Lisa for Middle and Jeongin for Right Side. The girls championship final team were Yeri for Right Side, Chan for Setter, Chungha for Libero, Jisoo and Mina for Left Side and Hyunjin for Middle.

“Now, remember all our training sessions and what you’ve learnt. Remember, teamwork is important and communication is key. Put aside whatever negative thoughts and feelings, and just give it your all. Understood?” Coach Kwon said as they said ‘yes’ firmly in unison before doing a group cheer.

The finals for both teams were going to be played at the same time so they went to their respective court. They went to their designated spots on the court only for Y/N to speak up.

“Okay guys, let’s crush it tonight no matter what.” The rest of them smiled brightly as Y/N’s eyes finally settled on Minho who was standing on the other side of the court, nearest to the net. With that, she decided to mouth to him a little reminder.

“Just for tonight.” She mouthed at him.

He gave her a small nod right before the whistle was blown, only for Sogang U to serve. Both teams were currently neck to neck after an intense 20 minutes.

All of a sudden, the white ball came at Y/N from the opposite side of the net at such a high speed. She barely had time to react as she held her hands out to stop the ball. But instead, the ball slipped under only to strike her in her lower stomach.

Because of the powerful impact, this made her fall backwards with a very loud thud. 

The game was called to a stop as her teammates came rushing over to her who was tightly clutching onto her abdomen as a pained groan left her lips.

“Y/N! Are you okay?!” Changbin asked desperately as he and Lisa kneeled down on either side of Y/N’s body.

“Get Jennie noona to swap with you.” Jisung suggested. They carefully helped her up but she shook her head stubbornly.

“N-No. No it’s fine… I can still play.” Y/N said as she was about to take a step forward when Minho stopped her by standing right in front of her smaller frame.

“Uh uh. No way am I letting you play in this condition.” He said.

“Move aside Minho, I don’t have to be fast to-”

“This isn’t about being fast or not. You just got hit by a ball, there’s no way in hell I’m gonna let you stay on the court.”

“I told you I’m fine.”

“Why are you so stubborn?!” He asked, his voice slightly raising in annoyance but he realized this a few seconds too late.

“Just play your position. I’m fine.” Y/N said coldly as she soon made her way back to her spot on the court, making them do the same but a small unsettling feeling resided in the pit of his stomach after seeing her get injured.

Even with the sharp pain in her abdomen every now and then, Hankuk U took the trophy home for the girls championship. Not long after, they took home the trophy for the boys championship as well, making them the first school to win both leagues.

After packing their stuff, they made their way back to the bus bay to head back to their campus.

Y/N, Minho and Chan were loading all their bags in the cargo of the bus. Once they were done, the three of them went to the front to board the heavy vehicle.

Chan climbed in first, followed by Y/N. But before she even made it on the first step, she collapsed to the stairs when she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. Minho caught her waist as he got genuinely worried for her.

“Woah, are you okay?” He asked softly as she nodded weakly.

She soon climbed the bus with him following closely behind her. Most of the front seats were empty since they had already taken up the back of the bus.

Y/N couldn’t bring herself to go all the way to the back so she opted to sit in the window seat on the third row. Minho watched her carefully, deciding to take a seat directly beside her, startling her slightly.

“Why are you sitting here?” She asked, genuinely confused but he simply told her he got lazy in finding a seat.

Despite her confusion on knowing there were many other unoccupied seats around her, she decided not to ask further. The bus soon pulled out of the bay and drove off the campus grounds. The drive back to their campus would take about an hour without traffic and probably close to two hours if the traffic was bad.

Unfortunately for them, they had just gotten through 15 minutes of their journey back to Hankuk U when they were caught in heavy traffic. Which means that they would be stuck in traffic for quite a while.

It was currently 20 minutes past 8 as some of them were already asleep in the back. Some were listening to their music, while some were chatting amongst themselves, apparently they still had enough energy left in their bodies.

The two captains on the other hand, were sitting side by side quietly. Minho scrolled through his Instagram while Y/N was just hugging her lower abdomen loosely. Her head was turned to look out the window.

Her eyes were threatening to close as she tried her best to ignore the light pains in her lower abdomen.

Just when she thought she could go another hour without suffering, a sharp pain strikes her lower left torso where the ball had hit her earlier, making her legs automatically jolt up and her body curling inwards.

A hiss left her lips as Minho turned to look at her. She pressed her forehead against the glass window, struggling to sit up straight.

“Is it really painful?” He asked, only for a soft whimper to leave her lips. She nodded weakly at him as a form of response.

With that being said, Minho got up only to disappear down the aisle. She was too caught up in the pain that she completely missed the fact that he asked their coach if he had any type of cream or oil that was meant for pains and cramps.

Minho came back with a small bottle of heating oil that leaves a warm sensation on the skin to soothe any types of muscle pains.

“Here, rub this on the painful parts.” He said, handing her the bottle as he felt her grab it weakly.

She tiredly applied the oil and soon, the warm sensation seemed to indeed help with soothing the pain. She passed him back the bottle allowing him to return it to Coach Kwon before coming to sit beside her again.

The bus was moving at such a slow speed, it almost felt as though they would only arrive back at Hankuk U tomorrow morning.

A few minutes later, Y/N tilted her head towards her left, feeling her eyelids droop close. Just then, her head accidentally bumped against the glass window, jolting her awake. Minho couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle before he spoke up.

“Would you feel better if I let you rest your head on my shoulder?” She looked at him briefly, only to feel her heart flutter.

“You’re okay with that?” She asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

She got quiet as she stared at him blankly, causing him to gently reach up. He guided her head down to rest on his shoulder.

“Get some rest.” Was all he said but she couldn’t bring herself to question his sudden display of kindness.

With that being said, she soon relaxed against him. Her eyes closed shut a few seconds later before falling asleep on his shoulder. About an hour passed and they were still stuck in traffic. They were about 45 minutes away from the campus now so they waited patiently on the school bus.

“Hey guys, should we celebrate our victory by hosting a mini celebration with just us this Saturday? We can have a pool party?” Changbin asked those who were close to him and also awake at the moment and those people were Chan, Jisung, Mina and Yeri.

“Ooh! That sounds fun!” Yeri squeaked in excitement.

“That’s a great idea.” Chan said.

“Yeah! We can have a mini pool party with a mini buffet at the side. That sounds good.” Mina said, earning a high five from Jisung.

“Let's ask our captains.” Yeri said as she got up and began walking down the aisle quietly, careful not to wake the others up.

“Unnie. Oppa. We were wondering if- ohh…” Her words got stuck in her throat when she arrived just a foot behind them when she saw Y/N’s head on Minho’s shoulder. With that, she carefully tip-toed forward, only to smile when she saw the scene in front of her.

Both of them were sound asleep. However, because Y/N had her head laid on Minho’s shoulder, his head naturally rested against hers. 

Not only that because somehow, her arm was tucked under his left arm, only for her fingers to end up brushing against his palm that was laying on top of her thigh. Yeri couldn’t contain her excitement, taking her phone out to snap a few pictures before going back to her seat, with the two captains completely unaware of what just happened.

When Yeri went back to her seat, the rest of them who witnessed this from afar couldn’t help but ask why she was taking pictures. The minute she showed the picture to them, they couldn’t help but get excited.

“I knew they would come down to this one day.” Chan smiled.

“Can you believe that Y/N never once talked bad about Minho outside of training?” Mina said.

“Not even once?!” Jisung loudly whispered, only for both Yeri and Mina to shake their heads in unison.

“Wow… Come to think of it, Minho never did that too.” Changbin said, glancing towards the couple seated far down the aisle.

“Let’s see what happens then.” Chan said as the rest of them nodded.

After a long two hour journey, they finally arrived at Hankuk U campus. Minho stirred awake first when he heard Coach Kwon’s voice announcing to them that they’ve arrived. They were all slowly waking up as some of them were still in deep sleep.

Minho shifted slightly, only for the heavy weight on his shoulder to stay still.

That’s when he looked down, seeing her right hand fingers loosely intertwined with his while her left hand rested on top of his left forearm. This made his heart pounded against his chest as he tightened his grip on her fingers before squeezing it gently to grab her attention.

“Hey… Hey, wake up… We’re here.” He whispered, realizing she took a while to stir awake. However, right when she finally pulled her head off his shoulder, she felt the gentle touch on the back of her hand. Causing her to glance down at their hands.

She caught him staring at her and she got lost in his tired eyes for a moment before she retracted her hand from his softly.

“Umm, s-sorry…” She apologized but he told her it was okay.

They soon got off the bus and began to collect their bags from the cargo. Once they had collected their belongings, they said their goodbyes to their coach before heading to their respective vehicles.

However, before Y/N could go far, Chungha called out to her friend, making her turn around. “Y/N, are you sure you can ride home?” Chungha asked as some of them had their eyes trained on Y/N.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I’m feeling slightly better now. See you tomorrow.” Y/N said as she waved to the others, making them do the same. Just then, her eyes landed on Minho’s soft ones, letting her gaze linger on him a second longer before turning back in front to go to her bike. 

[equestrianwritingsstuff]

OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO CONTINUE THE DROWNED SERIES, IT'S SO DAMN GOOD

Thank you for the ask, it makes me excited to see that people are still interested.

Drowning Part 10

@shydragonrider @asrasmysoulmate @sunflower1000

This one is kind of short, and probably makes no sense, but it starts to explain the story line a bit more and what my goal is with Supervillain (and perhaps the reason I am not having him rescued... yet 👀). Anyway, not edited.

Ask games for this series are here and here.

Masterlist

Warnings: referring to person as "it", altered state of reality, dehumanization, muzzled, talk of surgery, weaponizing a human, fear

~

"Okay thank you for your cooperation," the director said as he stopped the recording. He looked up, smiled, and began to pack away his things- an array of various instruments to enable both Villain and Hero's voices to be clearly heard all the way at the Hero Facility.

"Yeah well, I expect my pay within the next two days," Villain crossed his arms and swung his leg over top of the other one.

"That may not be-"

"Director. I am doing this for you guys. I have my record cleared, Hero in my custody, and a billionaire. I don't need to this for you guys."

"But you are in love with the cash," Hero chimed in, rolling her forestry green eyes. Not with attitude or snarky annoyance, but out of pure loathing.

Villain shot her a glare the second she closed her mouth and stood up, pacing. "I want my pay, fifty-thousand for a mere conversation isn't something you come by everyday," he said, rubbing his hands through his blonde mane.

"Yes but-"

"The only reason it was fifty-thousand," Hero interrupted the director. "Is because you pushed it that far." She didn't exactly understand her exasperation. After all, she agreed to do this with him- not that she had a choice. She was, in fact, thankful for him for breaking her out of the facility, even to the point of restoring friendship.

"Well they consented..." Villain's voice trailed off as he stopped his aimless walking. He sneered, a mischievous look dawning on his face. "I could, just for the record, break Supervillain out of his cell easily. Actually, I bet a novice could."

The director stiffened, fingers tapping the screen on his phone, prepare to call the authorities. Hero smiled slightly. After her aided escape, the heroes didn't bother to recapture her or Villain. And it was all because her rescuer threatened the Hero Facility if they tried to reclaim her. It was like he controlled the heroes- and maybe in a way, he did.

"Okay you will get the money! Write him a check or cash him over some. I don't care, just give it to him."

Villain snickered at the director's desperation and fear.

Hero watched as a young girl scribbled a check and handed it to Villain. Then, after than transaction, the whole team wrapped up and left without another word.

"Hmm," Villain said, eyeing the check he possessed.

"What do you want for dinner?" Hero asked, repeating the lines her current maid position required of her- not that she had to, Villain was not strict enough to enforce rules, but cleaning and cooking seemed to put his explosiveness at ease.

"Nothing. I have a date."

A date?!

"You have a girlfriend?" Hero chuckled. "Who is the unlucky damsel?"

"That's besides the point, but she is quite pretty."

"How long have you been dating?"

"This is our third date within the course of two months."

Two months... that was duration of time since she and Supervillain were kidnapped.

"Not that consistent then," Hero commented instead of voicing her curiosity.

"She works as a nurse, so she is quite busy," Villain replied, folding the check and placing it in his jean's pockets.

"I see," Hero replied. "Where is your date? Please tell me you are not taking her to McDonald's."

"That coffee date in the park sounded great," Villain replied. "Then I was thinking Taco Bell."

"No, no, no!" Hero scolded, pushing herself to her feet. "You are not taking this poor girl on a date to a fast food restaurant. You are a billionaire, Villain. Take her to one of those places where they serve an ounce of food for thirty dollars and spoil her."

Villain blushed, pulling at his fingers nervously. "You know a couple months ago I thought I would be taking you on a date."

"Me too," Hero sighed, placing her hands on her hips.

"I guess life took a turn, didn't it?"

"Yes," Hero replied, extending her arms and wrapping Villain in an embrace. Before she let go, she whispered:

"Torture was in that turn to, wasn't it?"

Villain's muscles tensed, he coughed and pulled away. "See you tonight," he said and ran up the stairs to go get changed.

《~~》

All at once, a piece of light, a string of consciousness sprouted through the dark unconsciousness of the patient's mind. It swirled, bombarding lidded eyes with intolerable brightness. They strained, trying to shut, but it was as if the motor lost control- or gained control, depending on which side of the metaphor you are one.

Then the light formed into various shapes, some holding objects of humanoid form whereas others were cubical, rectangular and circular- making the world around the patient pixelated and blurry. Colors rounded to the basis of their hue- cyan swirling into blue, pale yellow whisking itself into an off-white- until the world was a pallette of bland coloring.

The noise, lolling in a sense, but also increasingly obnoxious. Beeps and rings, rumbles and grumbles, but all the vowels and consonants equaled a series of off-tune words, some faded, others marked with clarity.

Not safe, were the only cognitive thoughts. Not safe not safe not safe. He tried to thrash, anything to get away from the looming danger, though his protruding limbs were too weak, will devoid of any resolve.

More sounds rumbled and purred around him as equally slow restraints grappled at his arms and legs- or were they fast paced? The man didn't know. The perception between reality and unreality was dim, as was his ability to process sleed and direction. Heck, he didn't even know his own name, just the anticipated danger.

He coughed, or tried to, some form of blockade in his mouth inhibited any sound, cough or otherwise, to escape. Tears pricked at his eyes, later streaming down his cheeks- he wanted to go home. Home to that dank apartment that couldn't seem to leave his very intellect. He wanted home, needed home...

The shapes around him once again began to evaporate, but this time instead of mixing into like shades and tones of color, they all shifted to one mass of brown-colored mud before it all vanished into blackness again.

《~~》

"Vitals?"

The doctor's voice ran throughout the room as nurses scrambled to check Supervillain over. The room soon sung with a chorus of "Good".

"Then everyone is dismissed other than Doctor and Medic," a new voice, equally as authoritive yet significantly much more of a feminine type.

All the nurses practically galloped out of the room as a hoard, not daring to look at the woman who just stepped in.

"Leader," the doctor greeted the woman. "What brings you here?"

"I've come to look at the project. I heard it just underwent surgery?" The lady spoke, walking up to the bed where the unconscious patient rested.

"Yes, knee replacement surgery," the doctor replied, joining Leader by the bed. Medic appeared across from them, tenderly rubbing her fingers over the supervillain's hand.

"Fifteen hours on the table," Leader continued to speak, observing Supervillain with contempt in her gaze. "Why?"

"We had to replace the entire knee cap with a newly engineered material made from cells of donors and a type of substance formed from titanium to enhance strength and durability. Then we had to connect the nerves and ligaments to the knee so he can control it like normal."

"Also known as a high-tech prosthetic? Why, may I ask, did my project have to get one?"

"Broken knee..."

"Shattered, Doctor," gray eyes darted around to meet the doctor's humble brown ones. "Not broken, but completely shattered. It needs to be fully operational by the end of the month."

"Ma'am, the recovery is going to be rough-" the doctor tried to protest.

"We have serums for that," Leader groaned, throwing her head into the air.

"It is not safe to drug him with much. His cells and blood need to adapt."

"I don't care. I put a lot of time and effort and money into this project. The enemy is going to launch an attack soon, our spies have gathered enough data to anticipate it by the end of the month. You have been soft Doctor, in his training."

"It's been working," the doctor reasoned.

"It's submission, not training. Ever hear of conditioning?"

"I have done some research into it and I believe that we need to take a more-"

"Yes you are right," Leader smiled. "I don't want a bodyguard. I want a weapon with one, single purpose. Eliminate Hero."

"I don't get that," Medic spoke up, her voice soft, yet filled with courage. "Why get rid of Hero when she is not the enemy?"

Leader chuckled, eyes thinkling. "What an ignorant little girl, so cute though. Did you do your make-up today? Hmm." The baby talk rapidly switched to a more serious tone, "She is a threat, even bigger than this newfound enemy. The moment she joins sides, which we know she will, the odds will be... let's say any attempt to stop them will be suicide."

"We contained her once before..."

"She will be mad, you'll see," Leader acquired a distant look in her dreary gray eyes. "Start weaponizing it. Immediately."

《~~》

Run.

Duck.

Jump.

"I love you."

"Love you more."

Punch.

Supervillain was panting for breath by the time he collapsed on the ground, exhausted to the highest extent. Sweat beaded around his hairline- recently trimmed in a convenient, yet flashy style, with a lightning bolt shaved into the side.

"I love you."

"Love you more."

Supervillain groaned, rubbing shaking hands over his face. Turn it off turn it off turn if off...

Everyday started with a morning workout in the gym. The gym had a track running around the whole thing with obstacles for him to duck under and jump over. The center only had a punching bag and a benchpress, but equally sweaty and daunting.

Suddenly, the loudspeaker rang, signaling that Supervillain could leave.

Once, of course, training was done.

Workouts weren't training, they were extra credit designed to get him further, to get him a higher GPA.

The doctor entered the room, so Supervillain stood up- respect, expected and therefore delivered.

"How many laps?"

"Twenty-five, sir."

The doctor took note of that on his clipboard, frowning before asking his speed.

"5 miles per hour, sir."

This time, the doctor smiled. "Good," he praised, then looked at the benchpress.

"Three hundred pounds," the doctor tapped the dumbbell with his pen, still grinning widely. "Nice work, but yesterday you did three-fiftey."

Supervillain whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut. He failed he failed he failed he failed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, proceeding to walk towards the nearby intern to receive the needed correction.

The intern raised her hands, holding a contraption of metal and leather, and slipped it into Supervillain's mouth. He whimpered upon feeling the cold metal slid onto his tongue. A leather strap held it in place, tightly buckled in the back of his head. From that extended more leather that went over his nose. A chain was linked through the nasal strap, more cold metal on warm skin.

Abruptly, he was pulled forward. The metal pinched that nerve- the one that always ached from the commonly given treatment.

The intern pulled him into yet another white room.

Yet this one contained the most dreaded torture implement.

[softboywriting]

Hate To Love You | Poe Dameron

Summary: You and Poe have been friends since you arrived at the Resistance base three years ago. Well, friends who often want to strangle each other as much as they want to take the other to bed. After a solo mission gone wrong you get teamed up with Poe for a follow up mission on Canto Bight. The two of you together under the right circumstances may lead to something neither of you can resist, and confessions that can’t be taken back. [Star wars universe] [nsfw themes no smut] [fluff] [fr-enemies to lovers [[sort of]] 

Word Count: 6k

|Masterlist In Bio|

You find yourself in a bad area of Kajimi while on an intel mission for Leia. There is supposedly a man with information about the location of an abandoned First Order fleet ship that would be an excellent salvage opportunity. Stars above know the Resistance can use all the weapons and ship parts they can get their hands on. You went in alone, opting to leave behind your usual partner Daya, while she was laid up from a blaster burn. It was supposed to be an easy job. You go into Kajimi City, go to a cantina called Knicks and meet a man in an emerald green robe. He would give you a holopad and you would leave. Of course that does not happen.

You enter the cantina and immediately note that it is absolutely packed from wall to wall. It's loud, as most are, and you make your way around, looking for the man in the emerald robe. It's hard to see as it's barely lit. It's a divey place, sketchiness oozes from every inch of the establishment. Bad things, illegal things, happen here. You keep your head down, pull your hood up and keep moving.

"Oh look at her! Hey honey, gimme some of that body." Some guy hollers as you pass him.

You step forward and push past two big aliens that are conversing in grunts. You cannot stand being hit on. It's so irritating. You wore baggy jumpsuit pants and one of Poe's jackets to make yourself seem shapeless. Apparently that didn't work as well as you hoped. You wish the contact would show up or make himself seen because you're not keen on asking the barkeep about him. Last time you did that it ended badly, as the person you were after was not well liked.

There isn't much time to worry about all of that when a loud boom shakes the cantina, causing a hush to fall over the crowded room.

"First Order! Run!" Someone yells and then panic erupts.

You're jostled around as patrons begin to hurry for the exit. This sucks, there is no way you're going to get the intel now. Fuck it. You head for the exit, squeezing past a few droids to get out into the cold night air. Sure enough there are stormtroopers everywhere grabbing people left and right. You duck into an alley and head for anywhere that is not the middle of town.

The alley goes to a dead end that has an open sewer tunnel grate. It's better than nothing. You'll camp out in the tunnels and wait until things settle down topside. You slide past the bars and head into the dark passageway, pulling your flashlight out for a better visual. Unfortunately you don't make it too far before you come face to face with a blaster as you enter a dim lit tunnel.

"How'd you find this place?" The woman on the other end of the blaster says. "You're not part of the crew."

"I ran from the stormtroopers and slipped through an open sewer grate. I don't mean any harm."

"That jacket, where'd you get it?"

You look down and back up. "Uh, someone gave it to me?"

The woman walks forward, blaster still trained on you. "I know this jacket. Who are you?"

"I'm with the resistance. I can leave, I will find another place to stay until the stormtroopers clear out."

"What's your name?"

You swallow thickly. Why does your name matter? And why is she obsessed with this jacket? "Dameron. My name is Dameron."

"Dameron? Poe Dameron? Are you related?"

Oh fuck. She knows Poe. Shit. Fuck. He told you he once had bad luck on Kajimi, but he also said he had friends there. He never specified exactly what bad luck meant, but of course you'd run into someone who knew him. It's a fifty fifty chance, either this person is a friend or an enemy and you're gonna have to roll the dice. "He's my...husband?"

She scoffs. "He's alive? That son of a bitch. I should tea-"

"Zorii! They've taken Burnham!" Someone shouts from down the tunnel.

The woman makes a noise of annoyance. "Listen, you tell Poe if he ever steps foot on Kajimi again I will have his head on a platter and serve the rest of him to a sand worm. And if I see him outside if Kajimi it's on sight. Got it?"

"Yep. Got it." You turn and head back to the entrance of the tunnels. Sweat runs down your back and you walk faster, feeling the wall for guidance. You're too afraid to turn your light back on in case Zorii comes after you. You're done taking chances today, it's time to get back to your ship and get back to base. Fuck the intel.

_____________________

"Hey! You made it back!" Poe cheers, clapping you on the back as soon as you enter the command center. He's the only one in there, seemingly going over the latest attack plans on a First Order base. "How was Kajimi? Did you get the coordinates?"

"No, I didn't." You pull off your hat and gloves, slapping them on the table. "Do you know a woman named Zorii?"

Poe's face pales, eyes wide. "Perhaps, why?"

"I ran into her on accident. She recognized your jacket!" You pluck at the leather collar. "I'm fairly certain I'm lucky to be alive."

"Whoa hold on, did you say it was mine?"

"Sort of? I don't know, she asked my name and I said Dameron because I didn't want to give my real name because safety and whatever and I didn’t think any more of it. But of course she knew you! And she seemed to think you were dead. Wanna explain?"

"You gave my name?!" Poe grabs his hair and turns away, pacing the length of the star chart console. "Fuck! What did you tell her? I need to know. Did you say you were my sister? My cousin? My child?"

"First of all I'm too old to be your child you idiot. I said wife."

"Wife?! Oh for ewoks sake. You told her I was married?!"

You shrug the jacket off and throw it on a console. "I took a chance Poe! I had no idea if she was a friend or a foe!"

"Oh you took a chance alright. I'm so fucking dead now."

"Why? She was pissed but how bad can it be?"

Poe laughs debilitatingly. "Faking my own death to get out of the crew and join the resistance? Is that bad? Or hold how about this, I faked my death and we were seeing each other at the time I did."

Your jaw drops. "Poe Dameron! You did what?!"

"Yeah! Yeah, no I know! I'm a huge piece of shit but I did what I had to do to keep my ass alive."

You throw your hands up and turn away, walking toward the seating area. "You couldn't just break up with her like a normal person? No?"

"It wasn't about her, it was about leaving the crew."

"Then just leave!"

"Just leave? You have no idea how much shit that would put me in. I faked my death to sever all ties. Spice runners don't let people just leave when you know about their production and-"

"SPICE?!"

"Yeah that's what I said. We all have a past, don't start with me." He groans and sinks down into a chair. "I'm so fucking dead."

"You're only dead if you set foot on Kajimi. Just don't go there."

"Ah, yeah sure. Didn't plan on that regardless. The point isn't that I want to go back to Kajimi one day, it's a shit hole anyway, it's that Zorii knows I'm not dead and I lied to her. She's going to be furious and probably come after my ass."

"Well she can't miss it."

Poe gives you a death stare. "I'm aware my ass is big. Believe me, the seats in the falcon remind me every fucking time. I don't need this right now." He stands and heads for the exit as a few Captains enter. You watch as he leaves and turn your chair toward the console behind it, burying your face in your hands and sighing heavily.

______________________

"Poe?" You call out tentatively as you enter the area of the hangar where he's been working on his x-wing for the last several hours. It's been a day since you got into it in the command center and you feel horrible for making him angry. He's your commander, and you'd even say friend though you butt heads a bit, but at the end of the day you do care for him. A lot. More than you probably should, even if he is a real pain in your ass. He gets under your skin and makes you hotter than any man ever has. It's a fine balance of attraction and irritation.

Sure enough he's laying across the top of his x-wing, foot hooked into the opening of the cockpit, stretched out reaching something inside the engine. He's got on just his cargo pants and a black tank top and you cannot help but stare at his ass. Yes, you teased him about it earlier but in all honesty you love it. It's so...grabable and sexy. He has no idea. Or maybe he does. It seemed like a sore subject earlier but you had been teasing him so that's your fault.

"Poe?" You say a bit louder and he pushes up out of the engine, arms holding him up against the mainframe. His hair is curled beyond belief, the humidity and sweat most likely.

"What now?"

"I wanted to say sorry for yesterday morning."

He pushes himself up farther and repositions himself to slide off the edge of the x-wings body to stand in front of you. He wipes his hands on his tank and crosses his arms. "Why'd you say you were my wife?"

"Huh? I told you, because-"

"No. No, you could have said sister or cousin, anything. But you chose to say wife. Why?"

"I guess I thought it was the safest option." You shrug and dig your boot into the dusty concrete. You definitely haven't imagined what it would be like to be his wife. To be his girlfriend even. Definitely not.

"You thought- oh." Poe hums. "Well I got news for you, wife. We have an assignment together."

"What? Why?"

"Because our friend with the coordinates has taken refuge in Canto Bight."

"The casino resort city? Why the fuck would he go there?"

Poe shrugs. "It beats me. Maybe the guy has a gambling problem. Either way, you and I are going and we are getting those coordinates."

"Why do you need to go?"

"As your partner."

Your heart sinks. Leia knows you blew it on Kajimi. It wasn't supposed to be a solo mission but you said you could handle it. Not that it was your fault the first order decided to raid the city. But why Poe? Why not send someone else with you? Daya? Rose? Wexley?

"Why?"

Poe jumps and hits the release for the hood of the x-wing to fall closed. "Why, because Leia said so."

"Why you? Doesn't she need you here for stuff?"

He smiles and hooks his thumbs in the belt loops of his pants. "It's gonna be me because I asked for the mission."

"You're messing with me aren't you? This is some kind of retribution for outing your fake death."

"Maybe, maybe not." He wraps his arm around your shoulders and pulls you against him. "Pack your bags, because it's honeymoon week on Canto Bight."

"What?!"

"Oh yeah. They're only letting couples in and seeing as you're my wife now..."

"POE DAMERON!"

"Mmm?"

You shove him and he cackles. "You asshole! You are so petty for this."

"Yeah well you signed my death warrant. The least I can do is get even just a little bit."

"I'm not going to sleep with you!" You shout back as you walk away. "I'm not your real wife!"

"We'll see about that!"

_____________________

Poe Dameron can clean up nice. Galaxies he looks like a model when he peels off the fighter suit and runs his hand over his curls. He's in a red silken dress shirt, the top three buttons undone and showing off his gold chain beneath that dips down low on his chest. Black slacks that are definitely tailored because they hug his butt and thighs like they're made for him. Fuck.

"Are you going to change?" Poe asks, gesturing to your flight suit. "I don't think they'll let us in if you're in that."

"Of course I'm going to change." You tug at the velcro of your suit and peel it open to reveal your dress beneath. It's not too fancy, just a simple black dress, knee length and short sleeved. You don't have a lot of nice clothes, they just aren't something you keep around. You do have a necklace from your mom, a nice silver chain with a blue gem pendant. You don't look nearly as nice as Poe does.

"So our cover is that we're a newly wed couple who can't keep their hands off each other. I'm more likely to get noticed here. I can hide my face in your neck and hair. People don't care much for PDA so they will hopefully just ignore us and-" Poe stops mid briefing and you look over at him. "Oh damn." He mutters softly. "My wife looks hot."

"What? Shut up." You toss the flight suit into the cockpit and attempt to fix your hair in the reflection on the windshield. "You're being an ass."

Poe lays his hand on your lower back. "I give you a compliment and I'm an ass? What kind of backwards planet are you from?"

"It was not a compliment. You said wife. Which is not a compliment, it's teasing, so you are an ass."

He leans in close and you press against the x-wing. You can see him in the windshield behind you. Your eyes meet in the reflection and you refuse to look away. His voice comes close to your ear, eyes still boring into yours as he says, "My partner looks stunning and beautiful and I cannot believe I get to do this mission with her. Is that better?"

Your stomach sinks and your heart stops. "You're not bad yourself."

He chuckles, still close to your ear. "I know."

"Confident much?" You press back against him to move away from the x-wing and he wraps his arm around your waist, holding you tight against his warmth. Your body flushes, heat pooling in your stomach. Flashes of what you'd like him to do race through your brain. Galaxies what you wouldn't let him do to you. No. You have to get your mind out of the gutter. You have a job to do.  "Let go, Poe."

"Better get used to it. We're going to do a lot of touching." He purrs before he releases you.

You roll your eyes and he smirks.

"Don't think I can't see that blush." He walks beside you as you head to the grand entry way of the Canto Bight resort. "I know you want me."

"In your dreams, Dameron."

He chuckles. "I do have lots of dreams." He matches your pace and slips his arm around your back. "Fun dreams. We should share them sometime."

You cut him a glare and he grins. "You're really playing into this cover."

"Who says I'm playing?"

______________________

As soon as you're checked in, the hunt is on. You can't help but wonder how many of these people would just leap at the chance to throttle you and Poe for simply being part of the Resistance. There's only one way to get this rich in the galaxy and that is weaponry and sympathizing with the First Order. After an hour or so you and Poe head for the elevators that go to the game rooms on the top floor. It's the roulette rooms to be exact. You got word from base that the contact is a roulette player, always betting black.

"I hope we find him." You say to yourself as the doors to the elevator close. It's only you and Poe inside, which is fine with you. At least you don't have to act when no one is around. The last hour has been an excruciating test of will power. You want this to be over, to never have to touch Poe again because it is killing you inside. You know this won't last.

"As do I."

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. I still feel like we're flying a little blind."

"We'll find him."

You look over and Poe has his arms crossed, staring straight ahead at the reflective doors. You look at the doors and take in the two of you together. He looks like he belongs here and you don't. People are going to know you're fakes. This isn't a mission for you, you're not a good actor and you're barely dressed for the part.

"You look great, stop worrying." Poe says softly.

"What? I didn't say anything?"

"You're staring at our reflection intently. I know what you're thinking and you're wrong. You look great."

You fold your arms over your chest and lean against the wall. "You're staring too."

Poe turns and steps directly in front of you. "I'm staring at you."

"Well stop."

"I can't." He catches your chin between his thumb and forefinger and your hands start sweating, heart going wild. "I wanna take it all in while I have it."

"You think I'm not going to dress up ever again?"

"Maybe. I've known you for three years now and I've never seen you like this."

"Don't get used to it."

Poe releases your chin as the elevator dings, signaling your floor. "I won't. But I'm going to relish it while I can."

"Yeah, you do tha-ah!"

He grabs your hand and pulls you out onto the game floor, tugging you against his chest. He slides a hand into your hair and your knees go weak. "Remember our cover?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Newly weds." He drops his lips to your ear. "That can't get enough of each other. You can touch me again, it's okay."

You rest your hand against his chest and his heart is beating fast and hard. He's really into this. "How are we supposed to find the contact if we're all over each other?"

"We will. Just follow my lead."

Poe wraps his arm around your back and guides you to walk with him to a table. He crowds you against the table in front of him, lips going to your neck. "Ask what the buy in is?"

"What's the buy in?" You smile sweetly, looking at the dealer. You're trying not to tremble but Poe is really making you feel weak kneed. He's taken to sliding his hand across your stomach and massaging his thumb just over your ribcage.

"Twenty thousand Madame." The dealer says happily. "Shall I put you on the board next round?"

"Uh.."

"Yes." Poe says more lustfully than helpfully.

You shiver and nod. "Yes please."

The dealer gives a nod and begins to set out a marker for you while the roulette wheel spins away.

"How exactly are we doing this?" You hiss at Poe and he chuckles. "Seriously what money do you-"

"He's here."

"What? Where?" You look around the table and no one matches the contact's description. "Where?"

Poe bites at your neck and you let out an embarrassing little noise of pleasure. He's hitting all your sensitive spots and it's driving you mad. "Table at our two o'clock."

You look over and sure enough there is a man in a long emerald green robe. "Great let's go talk to him."

"Not so fast." Poe murmurs, fingers flexing on your stomach. "We have a game to play."

"No we don't. We have no money." You seethe and he hums against your back. "Seriously what are you-"

Poe lays a bundle of tokens on the table and your eyes go wide. "Don't lose." He presses a kiss to your cheek and pulls away.

"Don't- how the fuck am I supposed to-" You look back and he's crossing the game room to get to the table where the contact is. You look back at your own game and white knuckle the edge of the table. You don't even know how to play roulette.

"Madame? Your bet?" The dealer calls, looking at you.

"I- thirteen?"

"The color Madame?"

"Black."

"Very well."

You watch as the wheel spins and the little ball bounces around inside. It's insufferable. You can't watch. You know it's going to cause you to lose this stack of tokens Poe just slapped down out of nowhere. Why does he have so much money? You look up and find him standing near the contact. He doesn't appear to be talking, just observing.

"Winner!"

Your eyes snap back to the table and the dealer is pushing a large amount of tokens toward you. "What..."

"Thirteen black, straight bet. You've taken the majority of the pot Madame. Shall I put you down for another round or cash you out?"

"Cash out."

The dealer stacks your tokens into a carrier and pushes the small box toward you. "Best of times madame."

You gather the box and make a beeline for Poe. The moment you're in range you lay a hand on his back and he turns, scooping you against him and pressing his lips to your cheek. "I-...Okay?"

"The contact is a spy from the First Order," Poe whispers, kissing along your jaw and your mind goes fuzzy. "This is a trap. We need to stay low, contact Leia and find out more information."

"H-how do you know?" You stammer, brain split between wanting to focus on the mission and getting Poe alone in a bedroom.

"He's wearing a ring that only First Order commanders have. I've seen it before."

You slide your hand down his back and rest it on his ass. It takes everything in you not to squeeze. "We should talk elsewhere. Like you said, we need to get ahold of Leia."

"Did you lose my money at the table?"

"No, and on that subject, where the fuck did you get that much in tokens? Since when do you just have an extra twenty thousand laying around?"

"Don't worry about it. What did you win?"

"I don't know?" You move away and hold up the carrier full of tokens. "The dealer just gave me this."

Poe takes it and his eyes go wide. "Holy sh- this is way more than I laid down. Okay first things first we cash this out and get a room. Then we call Leia."

"Sounds good."

_____________________

The room is huge, a suite for a small family. Seriously you could house at least four people in there comfortably it is so large. You take a seat on the end of the giant gold and black bed in the center of the room and Poe starts rolling up his sleeves. It's way hotter than it should be and your brain wanders. It'd feel so good to have him pin you down, kiss you until you can't think straight anymore. His tongue is probably so skilled and-

"Hey, hello, you alive?" Poe says, touching your shoulder. "Did you bring the communicator?"

"Yeah, yeah it's in my purse."

Poe looks around and spots the small purse you had been carrying. "This could have been very bad."

"Do you think he would have tried to kill us?"

"No. I think he would have given us the coordinates and lead us into a death trap." Poe dials out the command center code. "I knew this abandoned ship was too good to be true."

You flop back and stare at the ceiling while Poe talks to Leia. It's painted gold with black stars imprinted throughout. It's interesting, ritzy and obnoxious, but still pretty. You smile to yourself. You've never been in a place this nice. Never in a million years did you think you would find yourself in Canto Bight. Heat rises in your stomach as you reflect on the last hour or so with Poe. He was so willing to touch you, to make you squirm under his attentions. Does he feel some type of way for real? Is he playing the part? You know one thing, you are never going to recover from this. You're going to have dreams for months.

"You know your dress is leaving little to the imagination."

You snap out of your thoughts and sit up, staring at Poe who's standing at the end of the bed looking down at you. Galaxies it's so sexy, his eyes are trained on you and you can't look away. Your dress is hiked up to your thighs, so laying down he could probably see your underwear. "Maybe you should look elsewhere."

"Maybe I don't wanna." He smirks and your blood pressure skyrockets. He reaches out and flips the bit of fabric laying on your leg and exposes a bit more skin.

"Poe!"

His big hand covers the top of your thigh and he gives a little squeeze. "Tell me to stop."

"Poe...what're you doing?"

His other hand finds your opposite thigh and he slides them up under the dress. He's just touching your legs and you're getting riled up. He presses his face into your neck and you let out the most feeble whine of pleasure. "If you don't want this for real, tell me now."

"We shouldn-"

He gives a little bite and you fall backwards, body no longer able to handle it. "Yes or no sweetheart, I need to know if you want this?"

"Yes. I want you." You bite your lip and it's all over. Poe climbs over you, holding your wrists just like you imagined. His lips find yours, kissing you hungrily while you squirm beneath him, aching to touch him in return. You know it's going to be a long night and that's just fine.

____________________

Sometime in the middle of the night you wake up, eyes opening to the darkened room. For a moment you cannot sort out where you are. The bed feels unfamiliar, the air smells different, nothing is right. Then it hits you. Canto Bight. Poe. You roll over and sure enough there he is beside you, arm over his face.

Last night comes back to you. Oh man. That's why you're sore and naked. You turn back over and Poe shifts on his side. An arm wraps around your chest, pulling you flush against him under the blankets.

"Go back to sleep sweetheart."

"You're awake too."

His hand slides up your chest and settles against your throat. You shiver, remembering last night. A wave of heat courses down your body and settles between your legs. He must know this because he chuckles softly. "Quiet now aren't you?"

"Shut up."

"That's not what you told me last night." He kisses along your shoulder and rubs his thumb back and forth across your throat, applying gentle pressure. "I believe the words were, harder please."

"Poe we just woke up. Do you really need to do this now?" You groan and he slides his hand away, settling it on your chest instead.

He nuzzles against your hair and places another kiss to the back of your neck. "I don't want it to end."

"What?"

"Us, this."

You turn over and face him, nearly nose to nose. You can feel his breath and you stare at each other for a long moment. "You want this?"

He nods. "Please?"

"Okay, I'm down for exploring this." You smile and he leans in to kiss you gently. "I guess I wasn't so far off when I said I was your wife."

Poe cards a hand through your hair. "Easy now, we could make that a possibility. There's a dozen union halls here."

"We're not getting married!" You laugh and he does so in turn. "Fuck a guy once and he wants to make you his wife. Damn, how long has it been Poe?"

"Shut up!"

"No seriously, how long?"

"A while."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Sure. It's your fault."

You narrow your eyes and he's grinning. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means, it's your fault I haven't gotten laid." He flips your nose with his finger and you swat him away. "I'm spelling it out here."

"No you're not? How is it my fault exactly?"

"Because I'm...inlovewithyou." He mutters the last bit, and stares diligently at your pillow.

You touch his cheek and turn his head up to look at you. "Run that by me again?"

"You heard it."

"I heard the impossible. So I know I heard wrong."

"Fuck you, impossible."

"Then say it again!

"I love you!" He takes in a shaky breath. "You're the only woman I've ever met that goes toe to toe with me and gets under my skin to the point I just want to rip your head off but also fuck you so hard you're begging for it. I look forward to seeing you every morning, I look forward to talking to you every day. When you go on missions I can't eat or sleep because I'm so damn worried you won't come back. Fuck, you're everything and I-I must look like an idiot."

"Poe."

"Don't say it. I know it's fine. You don't feel the same and-"

You lean forward and kiss him to make him shut up. He catches on immediately and cradles your face as he returns the kiss. "First things first Dameron..."

"Yeah?" He mutters, eyes closed as he chases your lips as you speak.

"Don't ever tell me how I feel."

He grins and opens his eyes, staring back at you with burning fire. It's passion, challenge, interest. So many emotions you can't settle on one. "Can I tell you want to do?"

"What do you think?"

"Yes?" He slides his hand down to your throat, not squeezing, just touching. "You seemed to like me telling you what to do last night."

You bite his lip and he groans. "Maybe sometimes."

"I'll take sometimes." He pulls you against him, tucking your head under his chin. "Can I take you to breakfast?"

"Like a date?"

"Yes."

"Sure, but you gotta tell me where you got those tokens last night."

He chuckles. "They're fake."

"Fake?! You gave me fake tokens?!"

"I told you not to lose didn't I?"

"You son of a bitch."

"No my mother was a kind woman, thank you."

"I hate you."

He kisses your head and holds his lips to your hair. "No you don't."

You grip his back, pressing your face into his chest. "I don't. Not even a little."

_____________________

Three days after you and Poe return to base things don't seem to have changed. Poe doesn't seem to hint at wanting to be together, he doesn't say anything about what happened between you two on Canto Bight. It's weird. You had such a good night and a lovely breakfast. As far as hook ups and first dates go, they were some of the best you've ever had. You thought things were going well, that you were going to be a couple when you got back to base, but that isn't happening and you don't know why. It's a little annoying and you wonder if Poe is embarrassed to be with you. Or maybe he doesn't want people to know because he wants to keep his options open. You feel played and it is not sitting well.

"Bout time you got back." You say as Poe walks up to the supply cart you're stocking in the hangar. He has been out on a mission with the black x-wing team. Some sort of attack on some stormtroopers invading a resistance friendly settlement.

"Miss me?"

"Yeah, sure." You roll your eyes.

Poe grabs the handles on the cart and leans forward as he speaks. "Is there a problem?"

"I don't know, is there?"

"Don't start with me."

You slam down a pack of fuses and lift your eyes to meet his. "Don't start with you? Oh no problem, you already didn't start it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh fuck you."

Poe raises his eyebrows. "Fuck me? I'm not doing anything. You're coming at me for who knows what. Tell me what I did!"

"Nothing! You've done nothing Poe! Since we got home you've barely looked at me twice. We spent an incredible night in Canto Bight and for what? For what Poe?!"

"That's what you're mad about?!"

"Yeah! I feel like I've been played!" You laugh angrily, stepping away from the cart and walking around a pile of scrap parts in boxes. "Is Poe Dameron too good to admit he fell in love?!"

"Fuck all, you don't need to shout that across the base!"

You narrow your eyes at him. "You want me to shout? Oh I'll shout." You turn your back to him and face the open expanse of the hangar. "I'm in love with Poe Dameron and he is in love with me! We fucked on Canto Bight and it was amazing!"

A few pilots and crew nearby make noises of encouragement.

Poe grabs your shoulder and turns you around a little rougher than you expect. He backs you against the wall and your heart goes absolutely wild. "You want something to scream about? I'll give you a reason to scream my name."

"Put your money where your mouth is Dameron."

He leans in close, caging you in with his hands on the wall beside your head. "Call me by my last name again and I'll make sure you scream it too."

You stare at him in heavy silence for a moment. The tension is teetering on thin ice. "Tell me you love me. Say it again."

"I love you." He presses his forehead against yours. "I love you until the stars burn out."

"Then why have you been putting me off for the last three days?"

"I've been working through some personal shit."

You swallow thickly. You feel like an asshole now. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't know." He drops his hands from the wall and holds your face. "I promise I'll tell you everything one day, just bare with me."

You grab his wrists and rub your thumb over the back of his hands. "Are you okay? Like...y'know?"

"Yeah."

"You're sure?"

Poe nods. "It's just my PTSD and some other stuff. Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Do you really love me like you just shouted to the base?"

You smile and he bumps your noses together. "Yeah Poe. I love you."

He leans in and kisses you, smiling into it as he does so. "You're really hot when you're angry."

"You are too." You grin back as you slide your hands over his butt. "Maybe we should work on communication."

"Mmm. Then let me tell you how much I want to get you alone right now."

"What's stopping you?"

"Nothing." He grunts as he slides his hands under your legs and lifts you up. "I'm taking you straight to the commander's quarters for punishment."

You grip his back tightly as he walks you out of the hangar. "What's my offense?"

"Verbally attacking a commander and stealing his heart."

"You're cheesy."

"You love it." He purrs, placing his lips against your throat. "You love me."

"Yes, yes I do."

---------

End

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Header pic by delicate-venus

*****Note: none of my works should be posted anywhere outside of my linked accounts. I do not give permission to repost with or without credit to my accounts. Please notify me of any reposted works.*****

[thesearchforbluejello]

Imagine a "Star Trek: Lower Decks" style sitcom in the Stargate universe. Stargate: SG-47... the crew that follows up on all the really boring planets SG-1 goes to once and never again. They always debrief with Walter instead of the General. They annoyed the Nox once and now they show up to pull pranks on SG-47 in revenge. Minor Goa'ulds catch them and are depressed they're not SG-1 or someone more important so they just release them.

My notifications ate this ask; I don't know when it's from, but I'm just seeing it now. Please accept this totally unedited bullshit fic as my apology and thanks for how hard this ask made me laugh. I'm definitely not supposed to be writing a final right now. And I know you said minor Goa'uld but like I couldn't resist this opportunity. Also, me, using a minific to talk about my obsession with what the hieroglyphs in a Goa'uld ship could be? More likely than you think.

​A Soldier, a Linguist, a Botanist, and a Biologist Walk into a Ha'tak

Major Lissa Cannon emerges from the event horizon into the bright, clear sunlight of P4X-737. She takes a deep breath and immediately sneezes. "Great," she says.

Dr. Jess Abubakar passes her on the right, heading down the stone stairs of the gate platform without hesitation. "Better get used to it," he says with a cheerfulness that she doesn't-- and any reasonable person wouldn't-- share.

"Jess, I swear to God," Dr. Beth Rosenberg says as she follows him down the steps.

"You're just salty you have to help us collect samples," Jess counters, more affable than Cannon would have expected anyone to be before she actually started working with him.

Beside her, Dr. Chris Richardson just gives a wry smile before heading down the stairs after their teammates. Cannon sneezes again.

"It's the pollen!" Jess says as she joins the group. "Initial samples brought back by SG-1 indicate that it's at least twice as potent as anything we have on Earth."

"How is that a good thing," Cannon gripes even though she'd sat through the briefing and already listened to Jess and Bill Lee go on about how important it could prove to be.

"I mean, just think of the possibilities!" Jess says, more than happy to repeat himself. "We could synthesize new antihistamines, or even make existing ones more effective. We could develop new crops that are potentially more resistant to blights or unfavorable growing conditions."

"Yay," Beth says, drier than the climate on this planet has likely ever been.

"You're just mad because there are no indigenous people here to talk to," Cannon points out.

"You could talk to the plants," Jess says.

"Studies have proven that talking to plants encourages growth," Chris adds, soft-spoken as always.

"I'm not talking to the plants," Beth says.

"Why not?" Cannon asks. "With this much pollen in the air, after a few hours they might start talking back."

"Oof, like when SG-7 was on P8Q-984," Jess laughs. "That's not an experience I want to have for myself."

"Those were spores, not pollen," Chris corrects amiably as the team starts into the forested area beyond the field in which the gate sits.

"Sentiment's the same," Jess says.

Cannon hears a rustle in the undergrowth and raises her P-90, her team stopping immediately in defensive positions behind her. After a moment of nothing but birdsong and her own breathing, she relaxes. "Must've been an animal," she says.

"SG-1's initial exploration didn't indicate any indigenous animals on the ground," Beth says.

"Well, that's why we get their leftovers, because everything is just 'initial,'" Cannon points out. She takes the lead as they continue between the trees, rifle still ready in her hands just in case.

"Bloodthirsty squirrels is not on my extraterrestrial exploratory bucket list," Jess says.

"Yeah, mine neither," Cannon agrees. She's barely got the sentence out of her mouth when she hits a force field, face-first. "Motherfucker," she tries to say, a natural reaction, but the syllables come out muddled because her face is suddenly very numb. She drops to a knee and raises her rifle, looking for whatever danger has to be in the forest with them. Around her, her team drops the specimen cases they'd been carrying and raise their own weapons. They're not armed for this; SG-1's previous mission and the UAV surveys hadn't revealed anything dangerous enough to warrant coming through armed with anything more than Cannon's P-90, a couple of flash-bangs, and an assortment of 9mils and zats carried by her and her teammates. Except for Cannon, they're scientists, not soldiers.

"Lower your weapons," a voice commands from the trees.

"You lower your force field," Cannon calls back.

"I think not." Around them, Jaffa begin to materialize from the forest.

"Fuck," Cannon says.

*

The Jaffa strip them of their gear, tossing their vests, holsters, and packs in a careless pile on top of the specimen cases they'd dropped when the force field had initially gone up. They're surprisingly respectful about it, which Cannon almost laments because she's pissed off and ready to fight, even if she knows it's a fight she won't win. She watches their gear disappear from view in a flash of light as they're beamed up to a ship she knows must be waiting above.

Gold walls and a polished floor illuminated by dim lights materialize around them. Another group of Jaffa is waiting. One of their captors reports to a man Cannon assumes is his superior. She tries to pick of bits and pieces she recognizes from the language but doesn't get much.

"Wait," Beth says, "can you say that again? That's word isn't in the lexicon we've been developing."

The Jaffa looks at her sidelong in confusion before his superior barks an order.

"This way," he says. The Jaffa behind them push the team roughly forward.

"Yeah, I heard him," Cannon says, her face still numb and her words muddled, "relax."

They spend the next several hours sitting in a cell. Beth whips a notebook out of one of the pockets of her pants and starts making notes on the glyphs in their cell.

"Does that actually say anything?" Jess asks. "I've never been on a Goa'uld ship before."

A chorus of variants on "yeah, me neither" precede Beth's answer.

"It does, actually, though most of it just repeats. A lot of it is just vague, seemingly formulaic stories of someone's victories and conquering and blah blah blah, but the name has been chiseled out," she says, tapping a glyph that's clearly been destroyed deliberately.

Cannon turns her head against the wall from where she's sulking with her arms wrapped loosely around her knees. "Why?"

"My best guess? Whoever owns this ship now stole it from another Goa'uld and had their name erased. Think damnatio memoriae."

"Huh," Jess says, setting his hand of cards down to Chris's obvious annoyance. "But they kept the part about the victories?"

"Why not? Obviously they had someone spend all the time necessary to do this to the whole ship, so keeping the rest saved a hell of a lot of work. Plus, if they bested the guy this ship used to belong to, that's quite a flex." Beth shrugs and goes back to writing in her notebook. Jess picks up his cards again and Cannon can tell by the barest quirk of Chris's lips that they have the winning hand.

"You know what I'm thinking about right now?" Cannon says. "Mashed potatoes."

"Ugh, the mashed potatoes in the mess taste like plastic," Beth says without looking away from the wall.

"I know; once I start eating them, they're so disgusting I just can't stop myself. It's like the flavor gets grosser with every bite."

"They're not bad with the roast beef," Chris says.

"That's because the roast beef is the only palatable thing the mess serves besides jello," Jess points out.

"It was lemon chicken today," Cannon sighs. She rests her head against the wall again. "My vest had all my granola bars. What could these guys possibly want with us," she complains.

"Do you think they've realized that we're only number 47 because they want any potential enemies to think there are more SG teams than there really are?" Jess asks.

"I don't know," Cannon says stiffly, "but say that again a little louder and I'm sure they will."

Jess holds his hands up in placation, tipping his cards towards Cannon. Chris is about to destroy him with that hand.

"Well," Cannon sighs, "the good news is that I can feel my face again."

Heavy footfalls sound in the hallway and Cannon stands, shifting her weight to ease the stiffness in her legs. Beth hurriedly stuffs her notebook back in her pocket and Chris and Jess shove the cards into the pocket of Jess's pants.

"You will come with us," the Jaffa says.

"Sure," Cannon says as she leads her team after him. "I don't suppose you guys have any snacks on board this thing? You've got to eat, right?" He doesn't answer. "Didn't your mom ever teach you to share?"

The Jaffa ignores her and leads them into an open room with a throne at the fall wall. Ba'al surges to his feet as they enter. "Fool," he spits at the Jaffa beside him, who Cannon recognizes as the leader of the group that had captured them. "This isn't SG-1."

"My lord--"

"Who are you?" Ba'al interrupts.

"Major Lissa Cannon, leader of SG-47," she says, raising her chin.

"Forty-seven," Ba'al says in disbelief.

"We're a science team; we were studying the flora of P4X-737 when you so rudely interrupted."

Ba'al just looks at her. "You're scientists."

Jess raises his hand. "Doctor."

"Doctor," Chris agrees.

"Major," Cannon says with a shrug.

"Doctor," Beth says.

"I've seen this episode of M*A*S*H," Chris says.

"I did also once make a baking soda volcano for a sixth-grade science fair," Cannon adds.

Ba'al sits back on his throne, crossing one leg over the other and resting his elbows on the arms, looking the picture of a carefree megalomaniac.

"Bring them back to the surface," he orders the Jaffa with a lazy wave of his hand, without so much as raising his arm from the throne. "Finish studying your plants," Ba'al says, "I have no use for you."

"That's kind of rude," Cannon says.

*

The Jaffa drop them on the planet's surface and beam back up to the ship. Cannon pulls her vest off the pile, slings it over her shoulders, and pulls a granola bar out of the pocket. She rips it open and stuff it into her mouth, chewing as she zips her vest and secures her holsters around her legs.

"That was easier than I expected," Beth admits.

"Sometimes I think the only reason the Goa'uld try to capture SG teams is just because SG-1 pisses them off so much," Jess adds.

Cannon snorts at that. "Let's get our samples and haul it back to the gate before the mess runs out of mashed potatoes."

"You realize that's extremely unlikely, right?" Chris deadpans.

Cannon shrugs and stuffs the wrapper of her granola bar into her pocket. "Even so, let's get a move on."

[thejolexgroupchat]

the one where they met in med school - part sixteen

hospital mergers and new friends

Hi everyone! Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. We are so excited for you to read this next part. Let us know what you think in the comments. Happy reading!!

@iamtrebleclefstories​ @doc-pickles​ and Nat!

———

(July 2008) 

"Today's the day," Jo announced as she walked into Meredith's hospital room, a bowl of soup in hand. She placed the steaming bowl on the bedside tray in front of Meredith. "I saw a whole bunch of people in orange scrubs swarm into the lobby when we walked in. I didn't feel like socializing with them so early, so I changed quickly and I decided to come see you."

"I know. I saw them all walk past my room. I can't believe I'm stuck in this bed while the Mercy-Westers try to steal our jobs," Meredith groaned. "I just had to go and donate part of my liver to my father so that my sister wouldn't lose another parent."

"And Lexie loves you all the more for it," Jo grinned. "Look, if it's any consolation, I made everyone promise we'd come in to update you on how things are going."

“Thank you,” Meredith clutched Jo’s hands gratefully. “Wait, isn’t today your first day as a resident? Why aren’t you in the lounge?”

“Because Webber is assigning each of us a resident from Mercy West that will shadow us today to get familiar with and I really do not want to be shadowed by the enemy today,” Jo huffed in annoyance. “I’m already frustrated because Izzie interrupted Alex and I this morning because she wanted to borrow one of my long sleeves. So, I never got laid.”

Meredith laughed, “I hope that Derek and I are still as crazy about each other as you two are after four and a half years together.”

“You know, before Alex, I never knew it could be that good,” Jo thought back to the early days of their relationship. “I swear I had more sex that first week of our relationship than I’d had in my entire life, up until that point. I’ve had great sex before and it’s not like I didn’t love sex before, but I swear, Meredith, Alex awoke something in me that I didn’t know existed. It was just… different with him. And it still is. Every single time I feel like I might burst at the seams.”

“Wow, Wilson. Alex is that good in bed?” Meredith chuckled as she teased her friend a bit. 

“Even better,” Jo hummed, joining in on Meredith’s joke. “You really have no idea. He is… talented.”

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there because I definitely do not want to hear what Alex is like in bed," Meredith shuddered. "You need to go to the resident's lounge and find your Mercy-Wester. Don't want to be late."

"Ugh, fine," Jo frowned and stood up from where she had perched herself on Meredith's bed. "I'll be back later with updates." 

***

“Hey,” Jo met up with Alex in the hallway and smiled. “I thought you were in the lounge.”

“No, I dropped off my stuff while Webber was giving them the tour and his speech so that I didn’t have to associate with them,” Alex said as he smoothed down his scrub top. “I left my pager in my cubby though, so I had to come back.”

“Well, you know you’re getting assigned a resident from Mercy West right?” Jo reminded him. 

“Dammit,” Alex frowned. “I forgot about that.”

As they approached the lounge, they heard some commotion coming from inside.

“I said take it out.”

“Great. I got the crazy one next to me.”

“Oh, you want to fight? Cause I will.” 

Alex and Jo walked into the lounge and watched Izzie stand up in front of a woman in orange scrubs. The pair raised their eyebrows and called out to her, “Izzie! Iz.”

“I will fight you. You’re pretty tiny,” Izzie’s tall frame loomed over the pixie-haired woman’s. “I could take you down in just a couple of seconds.”

Alex reached out to grab Izzie’s arms, pulling her back from the other resident, “Come on. Come on.”

“Stop!” Izzie protested.

“Come on,” Alex continued to pull her back away from the group and pushed her out the door, Jo grabbing his pager and following them out the door.

“They took George’s cubby,” Izzie finally explained as she, Cristina, Lexie, Alex, and Jo stood over the balcony, watching as the orange scrubs moved around the hospital. 

Jo put a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Okay, I say we go hang out in Mer’s room.”

“Sounds good to me,” Cristina turned and led the way back to their friend’s hospital room.

“They’re locusts,” Meredith said as they finally arrived and updated her about this morning’s occurrences. “Comfortable locusts, feeding on our surgeries.”

“It’s rude,” Izzie popped a grape into her mouth. “There should at least be a couple days where they act like guests before they put their feet up on the coffee table.”

“And what’s with orange scrubs?” Lexie peeked through the window into the hallway. “What, ours aren’t good enough for ‘em?”

“We ran out. They’re on back order,” Jo informed. “Randall from the supply company says they’ll be here in a week.”

“Why bother ordering new ones when we can just give these to our replacements?” Cristina deadpanned. 

“We’re not gonna be replaced by anybody,” Alex shook his head. 

“They’re here. It’s over,” Cristina sighed and sat down in one of the chairs. 

“Hey. We are not some stupid hosts. They can’t invade us,” Meredith shook her head. “They can’t attach themselves to our faces and then while we’re eating spaghetti, explode out of our chests and skitter across the floor. This is our ship. This is our ship.”

Lexie wrinkled her brow, “Excuse me. Are you—are you quoting a Sigourney Weaver movie?”

“Shut up,” Meredith shrugged.

Izzie chuckled, “That’s what happens when you live here. You watch a lot of TV.”

“We own this hospital,” Meredith looked around the room at her friends. “We were born in this hospital. And we will hold this hospital with our last gasping breath. Go out there and go get surgeries before they take them. Go! And I want a full report by the end of the day.”

“Fine.” The doctors sighed and shuffled out of room, leaving only Cristina behind to sulk with Meredith. 

***

“Okay, where do you want us?” Jo asked as she, Alex, and Lexie walked into the ER. 

“Uh, at this point, anywhere is good,” Hunt looked around the crowded emergency room. 

“At Mercy West we do zones. When it’s super busy, we just give everyone a zone, a space. The nurses put a person in that space, you know it’s your patient. Helps you get to them quicker,” the male in orange scrubs suggested, putting his stethoscope around his neck as the two women behind him nodded in confirmation.

“Yeah, well, this is the ER not a school yard. We’re not playing four square,” Alex rolled his eyes.

“I like it,” Hunt announced. “It’s a good idea. Let’s try it. What’s your name?”

“Jackson Avery.”

Owen shook Jackson’s hand, “Dr. Avery, I’m Dr. Hunt. It’s all yours. Zone away.”

Lexie, Jo, and Alex all exchanged a look. Jo let out a groan, “Ugh. That’s the one. That’s the resident that’s supposed to shadow me.”

“That guy?” Alex pointed and made a face. “I can already tell he’s a jerk.”

“Takes one to know one, I guess,” Lexie mumbled, causing Jo to snicker. “I know we’re supposed to hate them, but is it wrong of me to say that he’s kind of hot? Like really hot?”

“Um, yes,” Jo looked at her friend strangely. “Besides, aren’t you with Sloan?”

“Hey! I can look,” Lexie waved her hands slightly. “I just won’t touch.”

“Let’s go,” Alex motioned for the girls to follow him. 

***

“You were right. I hate him,” Jo slammed her tray down on the table as they reconvened for lunch in the cafeteria. “But not because he’s a jerk. Because he’s really freaking nice!”

“This blows,” Alex placed his tray next to hers and sat down. 

“Getting your ass kicked?” Cristina asked. 

“Shut up,” Alex responded, his mouth full of food. He looked over to Jo. “I heard yours got a standing ovation in the ER.”

“Yours is the one who saved the whole ER from the maniac with the hammer?” Lexie looked up from the little book she was reading. 

“Okay, he didn’t save anyone,” Jo shook her head in annoyance. “He did some stupid ninja leap and then tripped a guy. I used actual medicine to stop a person from dying.”

“At least he’s pretty to look at,” Cristina shrugged. “I’m too depressed to practice medicine today.”

“Well, mine has a notebook, a notebook that she takes notes in. Notes of a very personal nature, and I stole it,” Lexie held up the tiny pink book for them to see.

“You what?” Cristina’s eyes widened. 

“Give it,” Alex stuck his hand out.

“No. No, I—I’m not sinking down to their level,” Lexie put the book in her lab coat pocket. “They are vindictive and they are aggressive and—and they are not team players. And if we are not careful, that spirit is going to infect our hospital. We have to fight it.”

Cristina nodded, “Which is why you stole the notebook?”

“And read it?” Alex added. 

“And now you’re hiding it from us?” Jo looked at her friend, amused.

“Well, she’s not a very nice person.”

“Hey,” Izzie walked up to the table, two coffees in hand. 

“Ooh! Can I have that?” Alex reached out to grab the coffee. 

“No. This isn’t for you,” Izzie slapped his hand away. 

“Who’s it for then?” Jo asked. 

“Charles.”

“Your Mercy-Wester?” Cristina exclaimed. 

“They’re handing us out asses on a plate, and you’re serving him coffee?” Alex made a face. 

“Charles is actually kind of awesome,” Izzie shrugged. “If you all could get past your sad, little egos, you would realize you can’t write off all the Mercy West residents just because you feel threatened.”

“We don’t feel threatened,” Jo called out as Izzie turned and walked away. She looked back at the table. “Okay, maybe a little threatened.”

***

At the end of the day, Jo was exhausted. She’d spent the entirety of her first official day as a resident getting her ass handed to her by pretty-boy Avery. All she wanted was to change out of her scrubs and get back to the house and maybe finally get laid. 

She had pulled her scrub top off when she heard some noise behind her. Glancing back, she saw Avery and a few of the other Mercy-Westers walk in to leave for the night. Ignoring them, Jo continued to change out of her scrubs and into her street clothes.

“Hey, Wilson.”

Jo turned at the sound of her name, her shirt only halfway on and huffed, “What?”

Avery gave her a quick once over and cracked a charming smile, “Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot today. I think it’s safe to say that I overstepped and should’ve backed off a bit. What do you say we start over?”

“Ya think?” Jo finished smoothing down her shirt and crossed her arms. “Okay. I guess we can start over.”

“Great,” he extended his hand out to her. “Hi, Dr. Wilson, my name is Jackson.”

Despite herself, Jo cracked a small smile and shook his hand in return, “Hi, Jackson. Call me Jo.”

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 67 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Previously: Bianca introduced the world to her scandalous new girlfriend (in spite of strong disapproval from her friends, especially Fame), and Violet worried about Sutan’s friends accepting her.

This Chapter: Team Adult gather at Fame and Patrick’s for their annual chosen-family Christmas party.

***

“No, no, not that one!” Fame stepped in front of the catering girl, picking up the wine glass she had just put on the dining room table. Fame held it up, catching the rim of it on the light, a smudge of white haze clearly clinging to the glass.

“Look at this!” Fame handed it to the woman, “Rewash. Now.”

The girl ran off, and Fame sighed, annoyance at the inconvenience of it all crawling under her skin. It was incredible how she always had to go through everyone's work with a fine-tooth comb, the ability to do things right the first time worryingly rare.

The dining room was almost complete, a crisp white table cloth spread out, glittering baubles in silver and glass placed in between plates and cutlery.

They would start the evening in the parlor, the bartender she had hired ready to make drinks for everyone as waiters moved through the crowd with trays of hors d'oeuvres. After that, they’d come here to the dining room for dinner, while dessert would be served in the living room.

Fame had perfected the seating chart, making sure to put Raja and Sutan on separate ends of the table so they wouldn’t speak Indonesian all night, Karl and Raven kept separate as well so they wouldn’t snap at each other, while Bianca had been sat as far away from Detox as possible so he couldn’t question her about anything related to the very unfortunate situation of Courtney.

(Fame had every expectation that it would all crash and burn, and honestly, the sooner it happened the better, Bianca’s newest brain damage doomed to fail from the start.)

She moved a fork with the tip of her finger, making sure it was perfectly straight, another wave of annoyance rolling over her at the thought.

“Having a good time?”

Fame looked over her shoulder, just to see Patrick stand in the doorframe, a smile on his face, his hair still wet from the shower he had taken after Charles’ evening walk. He was wearing the outfit she had put out for him, the blue wool sweater making him look absolutely fantastic, the new chinos she had ordered perfect on his legs.

“Are you giving me attitude too?” Fame fought the impulse to roll her eyes, Patrick always poking fun at her attention to detail, even though he never complained when she made sure their life ran like clockwork.

“Oh never,” Patrick pushed away from the door, the smile still on his face as he walked over. “But you deserve it sometimes.”

“You’re so fortunate I promised for better or worse when we got married.”

“If this is for worse,” Patrick leaned in, placing a sweet kiss on her lips. “I’m sure I can manage.”

***

Karl braced himself from the cold as he pressed down the doorbell, a piece of opera he didn’t recognize playing out because Fame never did anything halfway, ever.

He had come directly from London, only stopping at his hotel for a quick shower and a change of clothes, the catnap he had taken in his first class seat barely enough to tide him over. He’d planned a week in New York to see his friends and get some work stuff done with the American head office of Elite before going home for Christmas with his family.

The door opened, and Karl looked up to see Patrick stand there, a big smile on his face.

“Karl!”

“So good to see you,” Karl smiled, responding to the tight hug Patrick gave him, the man quickly taking his coat and directing him upstairs to the parlor.

It was always exciting to see what theme Fame had gone with, the live string quartet that was seated in a corner promising him one of her more extravagant moods.

In spite of his desire to always play it cool, a smile immediately broke out on his face at the sight of his friends.

God, he had really missed them.

Raja and Detox were standing near an enormous white Christmas tree decorated with silver ribbons and glass baubles, the usual Persian rug exchanged for a pure white one he was fairly certain had been bought just to fit this year's Christmas aesthetic.

“Raja, De!” Karl grinned, his friends greeting him with hugs, Raja pressing a kiss against his cheek, the patchouli scent that always clung to her wonderfully familiar. She was wearing a blue suit with a deep neckline, several golden necklaces hanging from her neck, one of them so long it was tucked between her tits. She was stunning as always, but he loved Raja’s bitchiness most of all. The years had made her more diplomatic,however, the judgemental asshole was still in there--now, it just took a cocktail or three to get her out.

“Love the hair,” Karl raised an eyebrow, trying to convey how sarcastic that compliment was, Detox’s hair a shade of bright, fire-engine red. “Dyed it for the holidays?”

“How’d you know?” Detox smirked. He was reliably the worst-dressed in every room, tonight donning a red velour blazer, white shirt, red bowtie and white pants, hair only slightly more horrible than the entire ensemble. “It’s gone over better than the Halloween green.”

“Much better,” Raja drawled with a grimace, and they all laughed, which drew Fame over.

“Karl!” Fame smiled, opening her arms. “Oh look at you!” She pulled him in for a hug, pressing a kiss against his cheek, her hands as always surprisingly cold.

“Look at you,” Karl took a step back, holding Fame’s hands in his so she wouldn’t run away, Fame constantly fretting and correcting in her evergoing quest to be the perfect hostess. “Fucking stunning.”

Fame giggled, the flattery clearly getting to her, and Karl couldn’t help but love her. She was wearing her signature white, a structured dress ending just above her knees, the neckline classy and sexy, her blonde hair in a curly updo.

“Where’s your drink?” Fame tilted her head, her teeth biting into her red lip.

“I’ll go get one.” Karl released her, making his way across the room, but first stopping when he saw Adore. She was in a black dress and her typical loosely-tied combat boots, hovering over a waiter to snag appetizers from his tray. It was comforting, Karl realized, how much these people never changed.

“It might be time,” Karl slung an arm around her neck, his cufflinks almost catching on her hair, “to start paying a little attention to your diet, hon.”

“It’s the holidays,” Adore grinned, her mouth full, and Karl couldn’t help but laugh.

“You don’t have to listen to me,” Karl released her with a shrug. “But when you’re fat, I will have no sympathy.”

“I just love you fashion people,” Adore rolled her eyes. “Obsessed with superficial nonsense.”

“Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels, my dear,” Karl smiled.

“Well that’s a fucking lie,” Adore grinned, pushing her hair over her shoulder as she took his arm and led him towards the couches. “Have you ever had the cheddar biscuits at Red Lobster? Or any form of fried cheese?”

“Oh god,” Juju groaned, already sitting amongst the plush white pillows, her belly basically a perfect ball on her tiny frame. “I would kill for those cheddar biscuits right now. But I guess I’ll settle for you...Hi, stranger!”

Juju reached her arms up towards Karl and he laughed, bending over to kiss her cheek.

“Nice to see you too, Juju. You’re looking...uh…”

“I’m a fucking whale, you can say it,” Juju sighed, shaking her head.

“Nah, it takes all the fun out of it when you say it first,” Karl told her with a cheeky grin.

“Leave her alone, bitch! She’s glowing and gorgeous!” Raven came up behind them, looking exactly like the supermodel she was, not a hair or an inch of fabric out of place. She handed a full plate of appetizers to Juju, adding, “Here you go, love.”

“Really? You didn’t have to!” Juju smiled brightly, taking the plate. “You’re the best.”

“Come on Juju,” Karl grinned, tapping her leg. “You know she’s only doing that in case she ever gets pregnant, so we all have to kiss her ass and wait on her hand and foot.”

“Hey!” Raven exclaimed, a hand on her hip. “I resent that.”

“Am I wrong?”

“Well, no.” Raven laughed, leaning over to give Karl a hug and a kiss.

They chatted for a bit, catching up on everything that had happened since he was last in New York. If anyone had told him twenty years ago that his closest friend group would be mostly lesbian women and straight couples, he’d have laughed in their face. But now, years later, here he was, hearing about Adore’s newest lesbian punk band, Juju’s pregnancy, and Raven’s search for the perfect wedding invitations.

“Karl!” He turned around to see Fame, arms crossed and brow furrowed, voice scolding as she asked, “You still don’t have a drink?”

“Sorry, sorry!” He laughed, making a sweeping gesture towards Adore, Raven and Juju. “I guess I just got distracted by all this feminine grace and beauty.”

“Eat a dick!” Adore retorted, mouth full once again.

“Happily,” he shot back. “Who’s serving?”

Fame wrinkled her nose, taking Karl by the shoulders and gently guiding him towards the bar, where he was met by a bizarre sight, Patrick and Bianca standing side by side and chatting, both smiling and drinking what looked to be schnapps.

Karl had honestly expected Bianca to be public enemy number one of the friend group right now. Raja had caught him up in an email after he saw the pictures of Bianca with her newest blonde, who was apparently Fame’s assistant, Raja always the one to go to if you needed a detailed update on the alliances and altercations in the friend group.

He wouldn’t lie--he was a bit excited to witness the drama of it all. Unfortunately, in this moment, everything seemed disappointingly copacetic.

He was just about to say hello to Bianca when a blood-curdling scream came from upstairs. Detox took off, running up the stairs two at a time to attend to whichever one of his twins was having a meltdown.

When Kelly was little, Karl understood why they had to drag her around to events. But now, both Detox and Juju had established careers and plenty of money to afford child care at home, so it made no sense to him that they were there with the nanny instead of home with the nanny--though at least they knew enough to keep them blessedly out of sight, probably parked in front of a TV upstairs.

“Jesus christ,” Bianca groaned, and Karl nodded, the screams of children surely their own category of horrible.

“I was thinking the same thing,” he chuckled, and Bianca grinned, pulling him in for a hug.

“We need to get him a drink,” Fame said to the bartender, apparently unable to relax until he was properly lubricated.

“You’re been spending a lot of energy trying to get me drunk,” Karl said. “You don’t have any ulterior motives, do you?”

Bianca guffawed. “You two would truly be a match made in hell, huh?”

“You’d know all about matches made in hell, wouldn’t you?” Karl asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Bianca narrowed her own eyes at him for a second, then laughed slightly, shaking her head. “Good one, bitch.”

“Karl,” Fame whined, gesturing towards the bartender.

“Alright, alright. Uh, can I just get a triple tequila on the rocks?” He turned to Fame, asking, “Happy? This’ll catch me up quick.”

Fame gave a satisfied nod, but then Karl was distracted by his name being called from across the room.

“Karl!”

Karl turned around to see Sutan at the top of the stairs and he instantly abandoned everyone at the bar to go greet him.

“It’s so good to see you!” Sutan smiled brightly, pulling him into the tightest hug and holding him close, the two men locked in an embrace.

Karl had really truly missed Sutan, emailing or calling not the same as actually being with his friend, even though they were in contact almost every single day. He was so overjoyed that he almost didn’t notice the dark-haired woman standing at Sutan’s side, a pair of crutches under her arms.

“Violet, this is Karl, one of my closest friends who unfortunately abandoned us to go live in London,” Sutan said, punching him affectionately on the arm. “Karl, meet Violet.”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” Violet said, balancing one of her crutches to shake his hand.

If anything positive could be said about Sutan’s dreadful taste in women, it was that they generally had a strong sense of personal style, and this one was no exception. She wore a deep green dress with a high neck and long sleeves, the cut flattering on her slender frame and hiding her cast.

For a moment, he was almost impressed- until he noticed that she was barely paying him any attention, her eyes all over the room behind him like she was looking for something.

“You too, Violet,” Karl said. “I love this dress. Is it Versace?”

“Yes.” Violet glanced at Sutan, who put an arm around her, looking very proud of the incredibly mediocre first impression his girlfriend had just made. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” After a moment of awkward silence, Karl gave a tense smile.

Good lord, this girl was dull as rocks.

It never failed to astound him how Sutan wound up with such basic bitches. He supposed that it had something to do with how laid-back he was: he almost never chose the girls; they chose him.

Although if his idiotic grin could be believed, he was strangely gaga over this one.

Karl knew he should have told him to just call Violet back in September, being ignored by her clearly terrible for Sutan’s critical thinking skills and decision making.

“Karl, you left without your drink,” Fame said, handing over the glass, and suddenly Karl was grateful for her relentless hounding, taking a huge swallow and letting the tequila burn down his throat.

“So…” Karl looked back at Violet. “I hear you two have been shacking up.”

He loved Sutan with his entire heart, but the man wasn’t easy to live with since he always put work first, wasn’t easy to be around - not even with a broken foot. But if Sutan’s emails were to be believed, there hadn’t been any issues at all, which meant Karl had to do his own digging.

“How’s that going?”

“It’s been great,” Sutan laughed, “Right, lovely eyes?”

Karl had to use all of his strength not to retch at that particular nickname, studying Violet’s reaction. Upon closer inspection, her face was not quite as pretty as she looked at first glance, especially the set of her lips--resting bitch face was an understatement, everything about her mean and distant.

“Yes. Great.”

Karl couldn’t pinpoint it, but her tone was terrible, dry and uninterested, like she’d rather be anywhere else.

“Can I-” Violet looked around the room. “I need to sit down-”

“Right. Sorry!” Sutan looked around, spotting empty seats near the bar. “Come on Karl!”

***

Bianca wandered towards the girls with her drink in hand, dropping a kiss to the top of Juju’s head before gesturing to the sofa.

“Mind if I sit?”

“Go ahead!” Juju smiled up at her, one of her hands resting on her belly, “Although at the rate I’m growing, there may not be room for you much longer.”

“Ha!” Bianca sat down, placing her drink on the side table. “So I guess I shouldn’t ask how you’re feeling?”

“I’m feeling like a cow,” Jujubee complained, though she was rubbing her thumb up and down, gently petting her belly. “Thank God this is the last one, and that there is only one this time. Another set of twins would have killed me.”

“I’m very glad to say I can’t relate,” Bianca laughed.

“Oh, come on, Bianca, you’ve been a mother,” Raven said, her voice silky smooth, lashing fluttering as she continued, “I mean you practically raised Adore and just adopted a new baby, right?”

Bianca knew, of course, that this was Raven’s sad attempt at a joke about Courtney’s age, and she rolled her eyes, asking, “Wanna get to the punchline, cunt?”

“There’s no punchline! I just think you’re a great person for being so generous with today’s youth,” Raven said proudly, and Bianca responded with another eye roll.

“Where is your little conquest tonight, anyway?” Juju asked, sitting up straight as Detox came back down the stairs, thankfully without a toddler on his arm.

“Working.”

“Oh...what a shame,” Raven clucked. “I was really looking forward to having her catch me up on Sesame Street.”

“Princess please, she’s obviously watching a big girl show like Dora the Explorer,” Raja cut in, settling down beside Raven on the loveseat.

“You know what, you’re both assholes.”

“Maybe we just think you can do better, Bibi,”  Raja shrugged, putting an arm around Raven.

“Exactly,” Fame piled on, perching delicately in a chair. “I mean for god’s sake, Bianca, I’ve seen her wear neon. You can’t be with someone like that.”

“Yeah, well, neons are back,” Bianca grumbled.

“Neons are great,” Detox grinned, settling beside his wife. “Very in amongst high schoolers.”

Bianca attempted a smile, but it came out more like a sneer. She’d been expecting this, of course, but it was still annoying. She looked around, craning her neck to try and spot her sister.

Where was Adore? Surely she’d be just as annoyed at everyone talking shit about her best friend, but she was probably sneaking a cigarette on the back terrace or hiding upstairs with the kids.

“I think she’s great,” Juju said, and Bianca was grateful for at least one person on her side, ignoring the eye rolls from the peanut gallery as Juju continued, “She’s sweet, smart, spunky, I totally get why you like her.”

“Thank you! See, this is why you’re my favorit-”

“But she’s too young for you,” Juju finished, and Bianca scoffed. She should have known there’d be a ‘but’ coming.

“I’ve always hated you,” she said flatly, taking a swig of her wine as the others laughed. “But come on. She’s in her 20s, what’s the big deal?”

“She’s on the wrong end of her 20s,” Juju said with a light grimace, Detox nodding at her side.

“No, she isn’t. She went to school with Adore. So she’s what, mid 20s? That’s not even-”

“She’s 21,” Adore said, choosing that moment to return, flopping down onto the floor next to the sofa with a full plate of snacks, casually adding. “She graduated early.”

“When are you flying to New Orleans again?” Bianca asked, and Adore laughed.

“Listen, don’t be mad at me. I totally ship it; you know that,” Adore said, handing Bianca a napkin with a mini quiche as an apology.

Bianca took it, chucking her sister on the cheek before barreling on.

“By the way, you’re all a bunch of hypocrites, because nobody gave Tan shit like this when he started dating Violet!" Bianca gestured towards the bar where Sutan and Violet were chatting with Karl and Patrick.

“Wait, we didn't give him shit?” said Juju. “Oh man, I gotta think of some jokes.”

“Bianca, listen,” Fame said. “The real problem is that she’s barely competent-”

“Rude,” Adore muttered, and Bianca rewarded her loyalty with a shoulder squeeze.

“I’m just saying, she already has enough trouble focusing on her work. I don’t need you breaking her heart,” Fame said pointedly.

“Look, she really has improved since she first started,” Raja said, continuing with an arrogant wave of her hand. “I see her growth, as minimal as it is to me. I just don’t think this is the best idea you’ve had regarding relationships.”

“Duly noted,” Bianca snapped, gripping her glass tightly, more than ready to change the subject.

When they finally moved on, she did her best to follow the conversation about everyone’s vacation plans, but found herself still feeling tense and irritated. She excused herself from the group to go get another drink, then instead headed upstairs to have a moment of peace and quiet.

***

Courtney pulled her coat tighter around herself, grateful that at least she now had protection from the freezing cold wind and rain whipping around her.  It had been a long couple of days--weather miserably gray, full of stressful end-of-year fire drills. She’d finally finished putting together the long list of Miss Fame’s business contacts so that she could approve gifts and holiday cards, and was anxious to get home.

Her stomach clenched when her phone began to buzz in her handbag, praying that it wouldn’t be some urgent task that required her to turn around and go back to the office. Surely Miss Fame had her hands full tonight with her party.

When she saw that it was Bianca calling, a big smile broke out on her face. She stepped under an awning to answer.

“B! Hi!” Courtney exclaimed, “I figured you’d be busy with your friends all night.”

“I decided to take a break from the festivities,” Bianca said flatly, and Courtney laughed.

“Having fun, huh?” She tilted her head, hand twirling a lock of hair.

“Oh yeah. What about you? Are you still at work?”

“No, I’m walking to the train,” Courtney said.

“How would you feel about hopping into a cab and coming to my place instead?” Bianca asked.

Courtney looked at the time on her phone, confused. There was no way they already ate dinner, it was barely 8.

“Aren’t you gonna be there for awhile?”

“I think I’m gonna skip out early,” Bianca said with a sigh. “I’m just not feeling it tonight. So, whaddaya say? Thai?”

“Are you sure?” Courtney asked, holding her breath. Of course, dinner and an evening with Bianca was about a thousand times better than the night of cup-o-noodles and Netflix on her phone that she had planned, but she also knew how important Bianca’s friends were to her. “I don’t want to take you away from them if-”

“I’m sure. Please come. I really want to see you.”

Warmth filled Courtney’s chest as she took a deep breath, her smile now so big that it threatened to crack her face in two.

“I’m on my way.”

“Great. See you soon, angel.”

***

“Where do you think you’re going?” Fame demanded, a hand on her hip. She’d noticed Bianca slip from the room earlier and had followed her, her friend now coming downstairs, coat on and cell phone in hand.

Bianca looked down at Fame, a slightly guilty expression on her face and Fame instantly felt her stomach clench.

“I’m...I’m sorry, blondie, I’m just not feeling up for the whole thing tonight.” She let out a sigh, adding, “I’m sorry.”

“You said that already,” Fame informed her, brow furrowed. She had no idea why Bianca was being like this. Of all people, Fame would think that she’d be the first one to be able to take a few jokes about her ill-fated relationship.

She’d certainly dished it enough to all of them over the years.

“Well, I am,” Bianca said, but made no move to remove her coat or put it back as she came down the last few steps, still clearly planning to leave.

“Wait Bianca, what about dinner?” Fame exclaimed, finding it easier to focus on food than her feeling of being abandoned by someone she considered her closest friend on such an important night, her stomach in knots. “We haven’t even had the first course!”

“Would you rather I left in the middle of the meal?” Bianca asked.

“No, I would rather you stayed and had a good time and stopped being so...so…” Fame was looking for the words, anger and fear and worry swirling in her guts.

“Please,” Bianca pressed a kiss to Fame’s cheek. “I’ll owe you one, okay?”

“No. No. This is not okay!” Fame burst out, refusing to accept how this conversation was going, how Bianca was being so incredibly selfish, the fact that she already owed her several ‘ones’ clearly forgotten by her friend. “It’s not okay. I really don’t understand this, we’re just looking out for you.”

“I know. But I’d rather skip ahead to the part where you guys are happy for me.” Bianca sighed, rolling her eyes, and it hit Fame like a punch to the stomach. “Which I assume you will be, eventually.”

Fame groaned. It seemed like Bianca was determined to take this little fling way too seriously, daring to prioritize someone completely new over all of them.

Fame only hoped that when it all crashed and burned, she’d have a functioning office. She shook her head, resigned to the fact that Bianca really was leaving early, skipping out on what was usually her favorite night of the year.

“Merry Christmas, blondie.”

“Merry Christmas,” Fame grumbled back, barely patting her on the back when Bianca hugged her goodbye.