#AND SQUASH THEM WITH THE HANDS UNTIL HE MAKES A FISH FACE

[aiza-luna]

Ok everyone... HEAR ME OUT-

Is it just me, or Aiden's face is really squishy?

[klausinamarink]

The Munson Jinx

rating: T | cw: Eddie’s near-death experience, blood, mention of anxiety attack | tags: hurt/comfort, happy ending, getting together | wc: 885

written for @steddieholidaydrabbles | Dec 10: First kiss

Eddie hates first kisses.

In his experience, kissing a stranger’s lips always goes wrong. You can ask Isabelle Thesault, the first and only girl he’d kissed who never spoke to him again after he threw up on her face in seventh grade and ruined her Barbie t-shirt. Or Riley Nicks, who immediately punched him in their freshman year. Or David Young, a drunk jock who threw up in Eddie’s mouth and ruined his appetite for two days. Or Mortimer Lee, who bit Eddie’s lower lip and tongue too hard. Or that one older guy at the Bloomington bar which gave Eddie an explosive anxiety attack. Or-

You get the gist.

Hence, first kisses have snuck into the Munson Doctrine. You shall not passionately make out with another man. Remember the Isabelle incident if you’re tempted.

That is not to say that Eddie still yearns for that kind of romantic connection. There’s really nothing more intimate than letting the barriers down and allow another person to come close and gently kiss you. But that’s all Eddie can do: imagine a perfect scenario where nothing happens and the Munson jinx doesn’t foil another kiss.

Then the Munson jinx seems to move on from let’s make Eddie’s every first kiss horrible to let’s turn Eddie’s life a literal nightmare where bone-breaking interdimensional wizards exist.

At least Steve Harrington’s in it this time.

To be honest, Eddie doesn’t have much to say about Steve. Sure, he thought the old King of Hawkins was a douche, but after seeing him try and help out with Eddie’s new life as a murder suspect and kill a demon bat with his bare hands-

To say that Steve is a nice guy might be an understatement.

But he squashes down the newborn puppy crush. He’s seen how Steve’s gaze lingers on Nancy recently, back on the boat and here as they walk through the Upside Down. He thinks about how lonely Steve had been a couple years back after the breakup. So Eddie tells Steve about going for that second chance and this time, Nancy Wheeler will stay.

Except while Eddie is talking, he notices that Steve’s just looking at him. His eyes are briefly unfocused, flickering twice to Eddie’s lips-

Oh no.

Eddie just stands there with wide eyes like an idiot, panicking internally, thinking back to Isabella and Riley and that Bloomington man as Steve starts to lean closer-

When a tremor sends them falling on their asses, Eddie’s thinking how lucky he is that this happened before Steve’s lips touched his.

They don’t talk about it. It’s been a blur of frantic panic and cold planning to kill Vecna once and for all that Eddie kind of forgets about the incident.

Until he lies bleeding on the frigid ground with Henderson weeping over him, only for Steve’s head to shove into Eddie’s blurry view.

The first thing he feels is Steve’s lips on his, breathing a lungful into his coppery mouth.

Immediately, Eddie jerks away. Stupid flashbacks of spoiled kisses flash before his eyes, which were way worse than his own life.

“Don’t move, idiot!” Steve shouts at him, hands pressing firmly against one of Eddie’s bite wounds on his side.

Eddie tries to say something back, but instead spits out a gross glob of blood and mucus and promptly blacks out.

—

“Any five’s?”

“Go fish.”

Eddie grumbles and drops the cards on his lap, “Now this is unfair. Taking advantage of a hospital patient like this.”

Steve gives an amused huff as he takes Eddie’s cards and reshuffles the deck. It’s been part of a weird routine once Eddie had woke up and slowly regained his motor muscles. Steve visits, they talk about whatever (mostly the kids or Hawkins gossip), play some cards, share a questionably tense staring contest, and Steve leaves.

This time, Steve breaks it and asks, “Are you still okay with me?”

Eddie blinks at him, fighting off exhaustion, “Hm, what?”

Steve just stares down at the cards. “You know that I tried to kiss you. Back at those woods.” He says with clipped words, almost like he’s trying to suck out any hint of emotions. “Just say you’re not comfortable with me and I’ll get out of your hair, man.”

Eddie stares at him. Steve, the man who tried to kiss him once and then again just to save Eddie’s life even as he nearly choked on his own blood. Steve, who does everything for his kids and friends, including Eddie who’s still too new to this shit.

Steve, who sees something desirable in Eddie and wanted to kiss him.

Before Steve can get up, Eddie shifts closer and cups the man’s face with his palm. He closes his eyes, barely catching Steve’s startled look, and leans in.

For a moment, nothing happens. It’s good because nothing is going to be ruined. But then it’s bad because Eddie can feel how stock-still Steve is. However, just as he starts to pull away, Steve seems to spark to life and his lips chases after him. His hand gently grips onto Eddie’s bicep, making Eddie smile at the contact.

As they safely make out in the sterile hospital room without either of them throwing up or freaking out, Eddie mentally gives the finger to the Munson jinx.

[avastrasposts]

Big Sky Country - ch. 10

This chapter was a long time coming and I've been struggling with inspiration to write the final part of this story. There is only the epilogue left after this, but I can't say when I'll have it done. But, at least, I'm wrapping up Frankie and Aisling's story now, leaving them in a happy place with a lot of future ahead of them.

Plot: In Big Sky Country we meet a cowboy version of Frankie as he returns to New York to patch things up with his "maybe girlfriend", but he also makes a connection with another woman, who makes this lost cowboy feel welcome in her Brooklyn bar. life doesn't follow straight paths.

Cowboy!Frankie x OFC Aisling

Warnings: None, this is all fluff

Word count: 4.6k

“Fish!” 

The loud whoop could be heard through the closed windows of the truck as the engine went quiet. 

“What the fuck are they doing here?” Frankie said, shaking his head while Aisling gave him a confused look.

“Do you know them?” she asked and Frankie nodded, pushing the door open. 

“Yeah, my friends from the army, but I don’t know why they’re here,” he said and got out as a tall blonde man bounded down the steps.

“Fish!” he yelled, a big grin on his face, but as Aisling opened the door on her side and stepped out, a look of confusion flashed across his face before he smiled wide at Frankie again. He was on him in a couple of long steps and Aisling couldn’t help smiling as he effortlessly picked up Frankie in a bear hug. 

“Benny, you’re fucking squashing me,” Frankie laughed, patting the man on the back to get him to let up on his bone crushing grip. Behind him two other men had stepped off the porch, another blonde man almost as tall and big as the first, but older, and a shorter dark haired man who caught Aisling’s eye and smiled at her. 

“Hi, I’m Santiago,” he said, coming over and putting his hand out to her. His handshake was firm and warm, she could feel the calluses on his palm, and it reminded her of Frankie. 

“Aisling, nice to meet you,” she replied as Frankie got a hug from the other blonde man and Benny came over with a bright, curious smile with his hand out. 

“Hi, I’m Benny,” he grinned down at her and she had a moment to think he really was the biggest man she’d seen until the other blonde man offered his hand and introduced himself as Will. It was like standing in front of a wall of men. The three of them, especially the blondes, wide as barn doors, all built in the same broad shouldered form as Frankie. He came over to her side just as she introduced herself to Benny and Will and got a big hug from the man called Santiago. 

“Good to see you, Pope,” he mumbled as the other man clapped him on the back. 

Frankie stepped back and stood next to Aisling, his hands deep in his pockets and looking utterly uncomfortable and confused under the brim of his Stetson. 

“Love the cowboy hat, Fish,” Benny chuckled, swiping it off his head and swapping his own cap for it, tilting the brim at Frankie with a two fingered “Howdy.” 

“Fuck off, Benny,” Frankie sighed with a smirk, “What are you guys even doing here?” 

“You invited us, Fish,” Santiago said, his eyebrows furrowing, “I sent you the details two days ago.” 

“Yeah, for the 15th, Pope,” Frankie replied but Will immediately shook his head. 

“No, the 5th, I booked it,” he said and Frankie pulled out his phone, getting Pope’s message out and seeing that the date was indeed the 5th. 

“Fuck….” he sighed, “I messed up the dates, I’m sorry.” 

“Yeah, we were kinda confused when you didn’t pick up the phone, but that explains it,” Will said, “We met Herb down at the ranch and he told us you were out on the trail today.” 

Frankie shook his head, his face deeply apologetic, “I’m really sorry, I wasn’t focused when I read your mail, Pope. I…I had other things on my mind,” he stuttered and no one missed his quick glance at Aisling who was starting to feel uncomfortable. 

“Yeah, we can see that, Fish,” Pope smiled at Aisling who felt her cheeks heat up as all four men were suddenly looking at her. 

“Sorry, I kinda showed up unexpectedly a couple of days ago,” she said with a grimace, looking over at Frankie. 

“So, how’d you two-” 

“Fish, show us your cabin and let’s get the grill going, we brought food and beer,” Will interrupted Benny, stepping between him and Aisling and grabbing hold of Frankie’s arm, propelling him towards the house. Pope stepped round them and easily hooked an arm around Aisling’s shoulders and got her walking towards the house with him, leaving Benny to catch up. 

“It’s nice to meet you, good to see that Frankie’s got some company out here,” Santiago smiled, “let’s see if we can dig out that grill, I think I saw around the side earlier. 

Thankful for Santiago’s distraction, Aisling helped him set it up while Benny hauled a couple of coolers from the back of their rental truck. Setting up a camping table next to the BBQ, they soon had it going just as Will and Frankie returned outside with plates and utensils for the BBQ. 

“Any outdoor seating, Fish?” Santiago asked and Frankie shook his head. 

“No, just the bench on the porch and a couple of deck chairs, stairs’ll have to do.” 

“Alright, man, sounds good. Cheers!” Santiago held his beer up to the group and everyone followed suit, clinking bottles and taking long swigs. Frankie caught Aisling’s eyes over the brim of his bottle and she gave him a small smile. He knew he’d have to field a lot of questions from the guys and he wished he’d had a moment to talk to her before they started asking. 

“Frankie, before I forget,” Aisling suddenly said, “Can you help me get my bag down from the closet, I couldn’t reach it this morning and I’ve got my sweater in it.” 

Frankie looked confused for a second while Aisling nodded towards the cabin and left the guys standing by the BBQ. Then it clicked. 

“Yeah, sure. Give me a second, guys, be right back.” 

He hurried after Aisling and followed her into the cabin. He knew her bag was on the floor of his bedroom, and not on top of any closet, and now he followed her in there.

“I’m sorry about this, Ash,” he said as soon as he’d closed the door behind them, “I had no idea they’d turn up today.” 

“It’s fine, ‘Fish’,” she smiled at him, “They seem really nice. I just wanted to ask you what we tell them? Do they know we met in Brooklyn?” 

Frankie shook his head as his hand flew up to rub his neck while he grimaced at her with a pained expression. 

“No, I haven’t talked to them in a while. Pope knows Eva and I broke up, I talked to him just after I got back from New York. But I didn’t tell him about you.” 

“Which one is Pope?” Aisling asked, taking his hand from his neck and threading her fingers through his.

“Santiago, Pope’s his call sign, like mine’s Catfish,” Frankie explained, “Will is Ironhead, Benny is just Benny.” 

He sighed and wrapped his arm around her waist, leaning his forehead against hers, “I wanna tell them everything, if you’re ok with that. Or at least, that we met in New York, that we’re….” Frankie trailed off, giving a small shrug before he continued, “I mean, we didn’t talk about this yet, what we are? Are we dating?”

“I’d say we are, Fish,” Aisling replied with a small smile, “And…I don’t know, they’ll figure out I’m staying with you so just tell them I came out here to stay with you for a bit? We don’t have to tell them all the details about New York.” 

“Pope knows I came back here from New York after Eva and I broke up, but he doesn’t know about the abortion. I’ll tell him eventually, but not now,” Frankie said, shaking his head. He knew he wanted all three of them to know the whole story eventually, so that they understood why he wasn’t with Eva anymore. But it had been such a long time since all four of them had been together, tonight shouldn’t be about him. “I don’t want to bring it down, or make it weird, just make it…easy? And I don’t want them to think I made some sort of rash decision with you and that this isn’t real, you know? I want them to know you and like you and it’s just been so long and-” 

Aisling cupped her hands around his cheeks, stroking her thumbs over the scruffy bear, “Frankie, it’s nothing to worry about,” she could see the anxiety in his eyes as he went through fifty different scenarios in just a few seconds, his head starting to reel, “If they ask, we just tell them we met in Brooklyn while you were there, and now I’m here to stay with you for a while and see where it leads, how about that?” 

Frankie took a deep breath and closed his eyes, letting his mind calm down as Aisling continued to stroke his cheeks, the soft touch grounding him. 

“Yeah, sounds good, sounds like a plan,” he sighed, opening is eyes and looking down at her, “What the fuck would I do without you, Ash?” he asked, giving her a small smile. 

“Without me all these questions wouldn’t be popping up,” she smiled back, leaning in and giving him a kiss, “But I don’t mind fielding them, I’ve been a bartender in New York, three ex-military guys is a piece of cake. C’mon, let’s get some BBQ going,” she grinned at him and put her hand in his again.

She still had a firm grip on it as they returned to the front porch, the smell of burning coal already drifting from the grill. Will glanced up and noticed, his mouth pulling up in a quick smile while Benny hauled the cooler of beers to the edge of the porch stairs. 

“The coals will need some time to get nice and hot,” Will said, giving the BBQ a final look before he came over to the stairs and sat down on the bottom one, stretching out his long legs as Aisling and Frankie sat down too. Frankie leaned back as he scratched through his sweaty curls and hooked his arm around her waist. Benny passed them both beers and Pope lifted his, clinking it with Frankie’s. 

“Salud, el pececito,” he said with a grin, “Good to see you again, man. And it’s really nice to meet you Aisling.” 

“Don’t fucking call me that,” Frankie huffed with a chuckle, lifting his bottle to Pope too, “And same, it’s good to have you here.” 

They all raised their bottles and echoed the sentiment, Ashling joining in and getting a warm smile from Will. She already liked him, he seemed stable and quiet, and in tune with what the other three men were feeling. 

“What does that mean?” she asked, “El pececito?” 

“Little fish!” Pope declared with a grin while Frankie sighed. Aisling laughed and patted his head, she was sitting a step above him and he’d put his arm around her as he leaned back. 

“So ‘fish sticks’ isn’t so bad then, huh, Fishy?” she teased him as he groaned, knowing what was coming. 

Benny nearly choked on his beer as he snorted, spraying beer over his shoes as Pope and Will laughed, Will also reaching up and slapping his brother’s back. 

“Oh shit, beer totally just came out of my nose but it was worth it,” Benny coughed, wiping his grinning face, “‘Fish sticks’? I’m using that!” 

“Only Ash is allowed to call me that, Benny,” Frankie sighed as he playfully poked Aisling, “You are in so much trouble, cariño.” 

She winked at Frankie as Benny continued to laugh, “I like her, Fish, good catch.” 

“Any more fish references and you’re getting kicked out,” Frankie said with a mock serious tone, “Besides, I’ve heard them all before you know.” 

“Yeah, you need to update your repertoire,” Pope nodded, “No repeating decade old jokes.” 

Benny just shook his head, flipping Pope the finger while sipping his beer again. 

“So you guys met in New York?” Will asked, his tone casual but Aisling had the feeling he was subtly starting the interrogation part of the conversation, “Are you from there?” His clear blue eyes were friendly as he looked at her and she didn’t mind his questions. 

“Yes, on both accounts. I grew up in Brooklyn and I met Frankie when he walked into the bar I was working at, looking very much like a lost cowboy.” 

“I didn’t look that much like a cowboy, and I wasn’t that lost,” Frankie protested, “I just had some time to kill and your bar looked nice.” 

“You were wearing cowboy boots and a belt buckle the size of Texas,” she pointed out, smiling down at him as he chuckled. 

“Yeah, fair point,” he admitted, scratching his beard as he thought back to the day he’d walked into the bar. He’d been pretty lost, not physically lost, but mentally. He could still remember the feeling he had in his body as he walked down the street to Eva’s apartment, the long hours on the bus in his limbs, the worry in his head about how to handle the prospect of a child with her, how to live in New York. The temporary relief he’d felt in Aisling’s company from the start had been unexpected but flooded him and calmed in a way he’d never felt before. He looked up at her sitting next to him now on the stairs of his cabin, something he’d thought was an impossible dream just two days ago, and something loosened his chest. She continued telling the guys the story about their first meeting, and he moved himself just a little bit closer, tightening his arm around her hips. She felt it and dropped her hand to his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze in response as she smiled at his friends.

“You guys should’ve seen his face when I told him the price of the beer he’d just had, he almost fell off the stool,” she grinned, giving his shoulder another squeeze as she looked down at him with warm eyes. 

The guys laughed as Frankie shook his head in protest, but he was laughing too. 

“This little minx sold me the most expensive beer on the menu, claimed it was her favorite and then charged me fourteen fifty without even blinking,” he said, giving Aisling’s side a teasing poke as she snorted, “And then she had the balls to ask me if I wanted another one.” 

“It was a great beer!” 

“Yeah, but not worth fourteen fifty,” Frankie said, his brown eyes almost disappearing as he grinned up at her and she grabbed his chin between her thumb and fore finger, tugging at it lightly as she gave his nose a quick peck. 

“Totally worth it, I tell you, since you got me too.” 

Frankie looked as if he was mulling that over for a couple of seconds before he slipped his hand behind her neck and pulled her closer for a kiss. 

“Yeah, ok, worth it,” he smiled against her lips. 

“Enough,” Pope laughed, “this beer,” he waved his bottle at the two of them, “might not be fourteen fifty but I’m trying to keep it down, you know what I’m saying?” 

Aisling felt her cheeks heat up as Frankie pulled back a little, but his hand moved down her leg and he was still holding her close, his arm around her waist. 

“How’s ranch life then, for a New Yorker?” Will asked, taking a swig of his beer, the same easy tone to his questions. 

“I’ve only been here two days, but it’s good,” Aisling smiled at him, “Frankie gave me riding lessons yesterday and today we went out on the trail up into the mountains, it’s really beautiful and I haven’t gotten over how big and open it is out here, it’s just endless.” 

“Better than New York?” Pope asked, and something in his tone made Frankie look over at him, but the dark haired man just quirked his eyebrow back at him as Aisling nodded, she could guess what he meant too and she smiled at him. 

“So much better, on all accounts,” she said, looking over at Frankie, “Frankie showed me photos of this place before I came and I thought it was beautiful then too, but nothing compares to seeing it first hand. It’s just…” she shook her head like she couldn’t find the words to describe it, “I don’t even know, it just feels so much better, the air, the sky, the surroundings...” 

“The company,” Benny butted in with a grin and Aisling laughed. 

“Yeah, the company too,” she said and ruffled the top of Frankie’s head as he gave her leg a squeeze. 

Aisling looked over at the other three men again and grimaced, wrinkling her nose, “I…I guess it’s kinda weird for you guys to come here and find some strange woman in Frankie’s life,” she said, glancing at Santiago before meeting Will’s steady gaze, “You guys don’t know me and you’ve never heard of me, and I understand if you wonder what the fuck this is and who I am…” she trailed off but Will nodded. 

“I didn’t expect Frankie to have a new girlfriend, and I think we were all surprised to meet you, but it’s not a bad thing,” he reassured her, “We’ve know Frankie for a very long time, and I think we can all see the difference in him today compared to when we last saw him back in Florida. Whatever you’re doing, it seems to be working.” 

“It is,” Frankie cut in, “When things with Eva didn’t work out, the last thing I needed was to meet someone new, but with Aisling, it’s been easy from the start, well….” he stopped himself and looked at Aisling who had raised her eyebrows with a small smirk, “Ok, maybe not easy, outside circumstances made it difficult, but I never had to think about if you were right or not.” 

Aisling smiled at him, “You know I felt the same,” she said and wrapped her arms around Frankie, giving him a big kiss on his cheek as he grinned and the rest of the guys chuckled. 

Will shifted in his seat and took a sip off his beer while he looked at the two of them, seeming to consider his next words. 

“You look happy, Fish, really happy,” he said, pausing and looking between the two of them with a thoughtful look and seemed to change his mind about what he was going to say next as Pope glanced over at him. Instead he drank from his beer again instead, a small furrow between his eyebrows. 

But Frankie guessed what Will was thinking about, “She knows about my addiction, the PTSD, everything. I even told her about Colombia,” Frankie said, “I had to tell her, I need to go into this without any secrets.” 

Aisling nodded next to him, “This, between us, is…really new, but it’s good. It’s really good and I’m not scared by Frankie’s past, but I’m not going into it blind, I know he’s got a lot to work on.” 

“And you’re still clean, Fish?” Will asked. 

“945 days,” Frankie said without needing to think about it, pulling a small bronze chip from his pocket, “Never again.” 

“That’s awesome, Fish!” Benny exclaimed, reaching over and giving him a clap on the back, “You worked hard at it, it’s great to see something good coming into your life too.”  

“Thanks, Ben,” Frankie replied, rubbing his shoulder, “just a bit too fucking hard.” 

“Welcome to the mayhem, Aisling,” Pope laughed, “Never accept hugs from Benny.” 

“Fuck off,” Benny shot back but he couldn’t resist flexing his thick arms, showing off his physique. 

“I hope you’ve got a trip up on the trail with the horses planned for us too, Fish,” Will said, “we brought the gear for it.” 

“Yeah, of course, I planned with Herb after Pope called. We can go tomorrow if you’re all up for it?” Frankie replied, “You think you can handle another day in the saddle, Ash?” 

“Yeah, if we go slow. I’d love to go up there again,” she nodded and Frankie smiled, giving her hip a squeeze. 

“How about camping up there?” Benny asked, excitement showing on his face but Will just sighed and Pope cursed. 

“You want to go camping? Haven’t we all spent enough nights in tents?” he asked as Will pushed to his feet to check on the BBQ. 

“Yeah, seriously, Benny, I’ve done that enough,” he sighed, lining up the hot dogs and burger patties on the grill, “No more. 

“C’mon, I bet Aisling’s never been camping,” Benny pushed, pointing at Ash who was nodding. 

“I haven’t actually, and Frankie was gonna plan a camping trip for me, so maybe we can all go?” She looked at Frankie and then over at Pope and Will. Pope groaned and Will chuckled. 

“I’m not saying no to Fish’s girlfriend on the first night, I guess we’re going camping, Pope.” 

“Awesome,” Benny grinned, giving Aisling a quick nudge, “You’ll love it, we’ll get a big fire going, I make the best s’mores!”

The evening went on with the same theme, the guys were joking around, poking fun at each other and re-telling stories for Aisling’s benefit, their loud laughter echoed around the surrounding countryside as darkness fell. She sat tucked in under Frankie’s arm on the porch swing, Pope on the other side, while Frankie rocked the three of them back and forth. She looked over at him as his eyes disappeared in his face, doubled over with laughter from Benny’s story. He was telling them about a date he’d been on last month that had started with him bringing his date lilies, which she turned out to be allergic too, and ended when he brought her to a steakhouse, only to find out she was vegan.  

“I think I could’ve saved it after the lilies, I got her allergy tablets on the way to the restaurant, but the vegan thing….” he shook his head as the rest of them laughed, “you should’ve seen her face when we pulled up to the place and there was a big bull’s head above the door.” Benny made a grimace that sent them all into laughter again and next to her Aisling her Frankie almost choked as he took a sip from his beer. He winked at her as she patted his back, looking the most relaxed she’d ever seen him. It was easy to see that hanging out with old friends, sharing stories and just easy laughter, was doing him a lot more good than he probably realized.  

As the evening began to wind down, plans were made for the camping, the guys would go into Big Sky first thing in the morning for supplies while Frankie got the gear on the ranch ready. Aisling decided she needed some better clothes for camping so she’d join them too. Frankie shot her a worried look when she said that and Pope laughed. 

“Frankie’s scared we’ll tell you all the embarrassing stories if you go alone with us,” he chuckled, “don’t worry, Fish, we’ll save that for the campfire.” 

“Very helpful, thanks, Pope,” Frankie replied, beginning to stack the plates as he rolled his eyes, behind his back Pope winked at Aisling, “We should get a move on though, early start tomorrow to get all the gear ready.” 

It took a while longer, but eventually the three guys piled into their rented car and headed back to the ranch. Aisling yawned widely as Frankie locked the door to the cabin behind them and flicked off the kitchen light. She waited for him at the door to the bathroom and wrapped her arms around his waist. 

“You’ve got really great friends,” she said and Frankie smiled, nodding in agreement as he walked her backwards towards the counter, his arms on her shoulders. 

“Yeah, they’re good guys,” he said, “it was great seeing them, it wasn’t as weird as I thought it’d be.” 

“You’ve got people around you who care about you, Frankie, but you seem to be pretty good at forgetting that sometimes,” Aisling said in a soft voice as she caressed his back, lightly scratching as he hummed in agreement. 

“You’re not the first one to tell me that,” he admitted, “Herb has told me many times too, but I get too much in my head and think they’re better off without me, or that they don’t want me around while I’m a mess.” 

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re  dumb ass, Frankie,” she scoffed with a smile as she tugged at his chin, “a total dumb ass sometimes.”

She heaved herself up on the counter next to the sink and grabbed her toothbrush. 

“Gee, thanks,” Frankie snorted, but he was smiling too, “and you’re not the first person to call me a dumb ass, but hearing it from my girlfriend is always very heartwarming.” 

“Just making sure you’re aware, pass the tooth paste, please,” she replied, leaning forward as handed her the tube, and giving him a kiss on the cheek, “and I like it when you call me your girlfriend.” 

“I noticed,” he smiled, “it made your cheeks go all pink when I did it tonight, I’m gonna have to use it more often.” 

“If you do, I won’t call  you ‘fish sticks’ in front of Benny again,” she smiled and started brushing her teeth as Frankie rolled his eyes with exaggeration at her. 

“I will never hear the end of that, you have no idea. These guys do not forget. Gathering information for black mailing is literally part of our training for special ops.” 

Aisling grinned around her toothbrush and Frankie gave her forehead a peck before he began brushing his own teeth.

“What was that for?” she asked, tilting her head back to stop the toothpaste from escaping her mouth. 

“Yorrkuut,” Frankie slurred and Aisling giggled and rinsed her mouth, spitting in the sink. 

“No idea what you just said.” 

Frankie spat too, “You’re cute,” he repeated with a smile as Aisling slid off the counter. 

“Not as cute as you ‘Fish sticks’, see you in the bedroom.” 

Frankie gave her butt a quick swat as she slipped out of the bathroom, he could hear her giggling as she rummaged around in her bag next to the bed. He put away his toothbrush and grabbed the mouthwash as he looked at himself in the mirror. The man who faced him looked different, he was smiling widely, and even though the lines around his eyes were still there, his patchy beard changing to gray faster than he’d like, he looked brighter and happier. It was a change that had come in just two days and he knew it was because he was starting to see a future a lot different from the one he’d envisioned less than a week ago. And he felt different, he could feel it in his chest, in his stomach, and above all, in his head. It was all calmer, steadier, and he felt level in a way he hadn’t in a very long time. It wasn’t just a maybe now, it was starting to become reality, a reality he could trust in to be more long term even if there was work to be done. 

He rubbed his hand over his jaw as he rinsed the mouthwash around his teeth, studying himself; dark curls that were getting long, the gray at his temples, deep lines on his forehead, the faint scar on his left cheek and all the thoughts he could see rolling in his head. He spat out the mouthwash and inhaled deeply, still looking at himself, still calm. There was no flare of panic at thinking about the future, no fear. Just a steady confidence that he could do this.

You’ve got this, Morales, you can handle it. Whatever ‘it’ is, you can handle it because you got this far and she believes in you and so do your friends. 

He gave himself a crooked smile in the mirror, and flicked off the light, making his way down to the bedroom and Aisling waiting for him.

Tag list: @harriedandharassed @inept-the-magnificent@sheepdogchick3@readingiskeepingmegoing@noisynightmarepoetry@survivingandenduring @vabeachazn@amyispxnk@oberynslady @amyispxnk @thewiigers @lady-bess @missladym1981@peppermintfury@typewriter83 @anoverwhelmingdin @vabeachazn

[valdiis]

FFXIV Site Write #3: Tempest

After seven years of living with it, Onaerion figured he should be used to the frustration of not being able to dress himself entirely. The few times he grew too fiercely independent and tried anyway, he tended to end up flopping onto his bed with his pants around his thighs, unable to balance on one hand, lift his hips up, and pull his pants up with the other. Someone might've taught him the skill of it, were they not so dependent on his dependence for a job. One of those someones was helping him dress and it was ramping up his fury word for word as he let himself be manhandled into a pair of woolen slacks.

"I hear that Master Daephrin returned," chattered his valet, Ivrant. "Never did like him much. Like Lucarian always said, he's a bit of a wastrel and rebellious to boot. I can't imagine he had much useful to say. Why would he dare show his face around here aft-"

"Shut up, Ivrant," Rion grunted.

The valet completely ignored him and continued talking about what a terrible person his older brother was. Rion figured he should be used to that too. His condition made him all but invisible, even to his caretakers. His desires were infantilized, his opinions dismissed. He ran the House's fortunes because no one could deny his sharp mind for numbers, but when it came to day-to-day existence, he might as well be a silent lump of flesh for all his talking did for him.

"Ivrant," he said, his tone a warning. But the valet turned away and went to the armoire to pick out a shirt. Rion grumbled, "Get me one of the pull-over ones."

"But sir, those are for casual nightwear. When you dress for the day-"

"No one is visiting today. No one cares what I'm wearing. I want to be comfortable." The dark-haired Elezen glowered as his valet pulled out a button-up shirt anyway.

"I swear to Halone, Ivrant, get me a comfortable shirt or you're fired."

It wasn't the first time the valet had been threatened so. Or the housemaid. Or the cook. Everyone knew he needed them too much to actually get rid of them.

Rion growled as Ivrant returned to his side and reached for his wrist. "I can still lift my arms, thank you very much!" Rion barked as he jerked his hand away. To Ivrant's credit (maybe), the valet held the shirt out for Onaerion to put his own arm in the sleeve. He hated wearing button-up shirts. They had to be tucked in to look nice and that meant more lying around while someone he didn't like fished around in his pants.

The drone of Ivrant's complaints continued until Rion was quite sure he was about to snap. "Enough," he gritted through his teeth. "You're making a tempest in a teapot. Dae was here to apologize. And his boyfriend had some useful suggestions for me."

Ivrant sniffed disdainfully at the mention of a boyfriend. "Probably yet another aether-addled quack like that woman from Gridania. You shouldn-"

"Halone's frosty hell, if you don't shut up, Ivrant, I'm going to start throwing things at your head." As threats went, it wasn't the greatest, as he wasn't yet in his chair and able to wheel himself towards anything throwable. A pillow wasn't going to do nearly the damage he hoped.

While the valet helped him roll onto his side so he could tuck the back of the shirt in, Rion couldn't help but think about Jaxon Tavard - his brother's boyfriend - and the suggestions he'd made. Riding a chocobo? Absolute nonsense. There was no way he was going to sit chocobo-back when he couldn't use his thighs to steady himself. Another doctor? It would be kinder to send him another conjurer, just so he knew to toss them out on their ear right away. It hurt to think of the little flutter of hope he'd felt when his brother so earnestly promised to do everything he could to help. Hope was something he'd long since squashed.

Rion was greatly relieved when Ivrant pushed his chair close to the bed and held it steady for him. Of all the things he demanded from his staff, this one was inviolate - he would put himself in his own damn chair. He used his arms to scoot right to the edge of the bed, then reached back for the arms of the chair. One good heave of his arms and flex of his spine and he slid into the seat, his legs slithering down the side of the bed to follow. He could feel his own weight settle, some small bit of feeling left in his hips and arse (which really just meant he could feel pained when he'd been sitting in the chair too long). Seven years of frustration settled down with him and he let his shoulders round with weariness.

"You're dismissed, Ivrant."

"Don't you want me to wheel you int-"

"No. My arms work just fine. Go away."

In the first wise thing the valet had done all morning, Ivrant bowed to Onaerion and left the room. Leaning his head back in his chair, Rion let out the sigh he'd been hanging onto for the last bell. If anything, he wanted his brother and Jaxon back because they treated him like he was still a person. Visible. Audible. Someone to listen to when they spoke. Being the lord of the House was supposed to be a position of power, wasn't it? So why did he feel so damned helpless?

[honeydots]

"You could have died, you know." Kaze & Saizo, 752 words twitter request, from this ask game

Kaze sits beside Saizo at the base of a collection of small jade springs, gently flowing in from a nearby creek. It’s a cool fall day in Hoshido, the air crisp with red leaves wafting through, all settling onto the water’s still surface. They’re alone, and Kaze is breezily enjoying the company of his brother.

Together, they’re eating very fine cuts of fish that were a gift to Saizo after he aided a fisherman’s voyage. A three-day trip, sailing into foul weather that left Kaze frowning at the gray sea until the ship was in his sights again. They all came back in one piece, their vessel just slightly worse for wear, and the rewards were generous.

Though, Kaze has his doubts. “I’m surprised you took on that job,” he says, watching a leaf drift down to its watery peace. Saizo doesn’t usually extend himself far outside of the palace, and certainly not for strangers. “You could’ve died, you know, in a storm such as that.”

Saizo, who tends to frown even if he doesn’t intend to, frowns even more. “I wouldn’t have.”

“Ah,” Kaze says with an inhale. “Overconfidence is the first step to under-performance.”

Saizo doesn’t reply, only takes another bite of his hard-earned fish. Kaze doesn’t comment any more either, deciding to simply take in the incoming evening. Hoshido is quite refreshing this time of year, the blistering summer heat coming down to a tolerable haze of cool northern winds and morning frosts.

The change of weather, of course, also comes with a change of patterns. The storm Saizo faced was predictable for this time of year—just because the summer monsoons are over doesn’t make other torrents any less difficult to navigate. The sky isn’t clear now, even. Though Kaze doesn’t suspect rain until the nighttime.

Saizo exhales. He’s never been one to be uncomfortable in the quiet, often initiating it himself. But perhaps he is one to know when he’s left something quite unanswered.

“The boat owner,” Saizo begins, piece of fish finished and now folding his arms, “he’s from Igasato.”

“Is he really?” Saizo gives a short hum. Kaze had no idea. He glances down at their meal, and finds he might be enjoying it a little more. Perhaps it tastes more like home. Though he may be imagining that, as well.

Still, Kaze takes another bite, and if nothing else appreciates to know more about who provided it for him. It can be nice to know who’s hands went into the work, even from such a distance. To give him a chance to admire the effort which was made.

“Is that why you helped, then?” Kaze asks, and Saizo lets out a gruff sigh of air.

“I suppose.”

Kaze smiles. “Good on you,” he says warmly. Saizo shakes his head, but Kaze’s being quite genuine. “Truly. I’m glad to see you engage with our people.”

Saizo glances down at the rest of their food—piled neatly in a picnic basket, fondly packed with rice and squash blossoms—and takes another piece of fish. He still pauses, not eating yet, mouth pressed in a firm line.

“…To watch Lord Ryoma lead Hoshido has—brought some enlightenment to me,” Saizo begins, voice low. “His leadership is boasted from both above and beside his people. I voiced my critique at first. However… Results have left me to think there might be sound reasoning behind it.”

Kaze can’t help but grin at the sentiment, watching as Saizo takes an all too irritated bite. It’s his own way of enjoying a meal, Kaze supposes. Even if Saizo might benefit from savoring it more. Sighing into himself, Kaze shuts his eyes briefly.

“I almost feel you’ve gotten softer, now that the war years have past,” he says, and hears as Saizo huffs to himself.

“If Lord Ryoma wishes for peacetime, I’m in no position to deny him precisely that.”

Kaze nods. “If you’re able to find any more of your own peace, brother, I hope you won’t deny it either.”

Saizo only sighs, and continues to eat as if Kaze didn’t say anything. And Kaze, too, lets the silence sit between them, tranquil and comfortable.

He wishes only that he had the foresight to bring tea. But the stillness of the moment is enough to keep Kaze quite satisfied anyway. With hope, there will be many more autumns to come, just like this.

They fought for it, after all. Basking in the peace they founded is the natural way to follow.

[chemdisaster]

another cd au fic that i never posted. in which scar is scared of insects, so big tw for insect-related awfulness + bullying. like all cd au fics, this one is utterly devoid of context

The Isaacs are plotting something, Scar can feel it. 

It's a bad idea to get involved, but they're sending looks his way and he can't stand it—he knows that, whatever it is, at some point he'll end up the victim. And if he's going to cry himself to sleep today, then, well—

Might as well just get it over with.

"What you got there?" he asks, false cheer lifting his voice, as he approaches. The heroes are standing huddled together, sniggers being shared every once in a while as they look at something held in Gideon's pale hands—there is no way that this means anything good.

At his innocent question, Gideon looks up.

"Oh, nothing much," he laughs. His smile turns mean, "come have a look."

Scar feels familiar dread rise up within him, but before he can do anything he's yanked forward by his hoodie and roughly jostled as Gideon shoves something at his neck and down his shirt. Fingers shaking, he pulls his collar aside—

And ice shoots through him when he feels something small touch his abdomen.

"I, uhm," he says, breathless, trying and failing to keep his voice level, "get it off me."

The heroes burst out laughing. Tears prick at Scar's eyes and he asks again, louder, "Get it off me. Please get it off me."

Egg Yolk snorts, "And why would we do that?"

"Be—because—because—" Scar stutters, losing air as the thing crawls on his skin. Desperate, he looks up, begging wordlessly, but all he's met with is more laughter and cold gazes and—

"You're a hero, aren't you? Deal with it yourself."

They begin to walk away and panic grows inside his throat.

"No, no, wait! Please, get it off, please, please, please," he trails off, he can't breathe, the thing is on him, it's on him and it's touching him and it could be anywhere by now and he can't breathe, he can't breathe—

"Hey, are you okay?"

Frozen with his limbs splayed out, all Scar can do is sob pathetically as he feels the thing move. He's not okay, he's going to die, any second now it's going to get inside his body and he's going to die—

Warm tears make tracks down his cheeks. He needs—

He needs help.

Instead of answering whoever is standing in front of him, Scar forces his arm to move and jerks his hoodie up, crying turning into wheezing gasps again when he sees a black dot fall to the floor. He's going to die. He's going to die. 

"Oh, uh—"

The person—another hero no doubt—fumbles to fish a tissue out of their pocket. Crouching down, they follow the floor for a moment until—

"Aha! Gotcha," they mumble under their breath, then hold up the tissue. "Here, it's dead. Would you like to see?"

Shuddering, tears dripping off his chin, Scar nods. The hero unwraps the tissue, but makes no move to hold it out towards him, so after a moment of careful consideration he steps closer and peers at it through the hair obscuring his face. 

It's—it's dead. Squashed. Crushed. Pounded. Gone.

Scar sags in relief. He wants to thank his saviour for their help, but his vocal cords won't cooperate and his mouth won't move. Instead, he nods rapidly, feeling further relieved when he glimpses what might be kindness through the blur of his vision.

"Glad I could help."

With no further words, they begin to move away. Surprising himself, Scar calls out, "What's your name?"

He does not specify whether he means their real or public name, and half expects them to ignore the question for as silly as it is and leave; but the hero stops, turns around—and smiles.

"Impulse. My name is Impulse."

[everythingcanadian]

No Longer Empty

Pairing: Thomas Barrow/Tom Branson/Jimmy Kent/Philip Duke of Crowborough/Edward Courtenay/Guy Dexter/Chris Webster/Richard Ellis/Henry Talbot

Rating: T for some suggestive content

No Warnings

Summary and Notes:

The nine of them are at home, in the dinning room, getting their hands dirty for Halloween. This is a universe where Thomas gets all his men at the end and they live together at Wittenberg Manor Day 8 of Promptober: Empty (you thought I was gonna make this sad, didn't you?)

Jimmy had had his hands shoved inside of a pumpkin, fingers sticky and slippery with the guts of the squash coating them and up his forearms. He had used his hands to gesture as he talked to his lovers and had flung a chunk of innards and seeds up into his hair.

They had all watched it happen too. Thomas had outright giggled at the disgruntled look on Jimmy's expressive face. Nose scrunched up, mouth down-turned at the ends like a fish, eyebrows almost coming together with a little bump coming between them. His smile lines were deep. It had Thomas’s heart aching in a good way as he explained what happened to Edward beside him. Edward chuckled along as he helped Thomas with a second pumpkin to gut out.

Chris was laughing at him from farther down the long table in the dining room, his own arms covered in seeds and stringy orange pieces up to his elbows. The apron he was wearing was just as covered. 

In fact most of them had goo and guts over their hands and arms and the protective aprons Thomas and Tom had insisted they get for themselves. It was a wise choice. 

The only ones that didn’t have pumpkin on them were Tom and Philip. 

Tom because he wiped his hands after every couple scoops; putting the stringy and seedy blobs into a bowl just beyond the pumpkin he was emptying for Edward and Richard to go through after to collect the seeds. 

And Philip because he had shot down every attempt the other eight had made at getting him to participate in pumpkin carving. Instead he was seated next to Guy, chair pushed out, reading telegrams the morning post had delivered for him about his affairs as Duke.

Richard shook his head with a smile and abandoned his own pumpkin at the table to help their youngest lover. "C'mon. Over to the sink, darling boy. Lets get that cleaned up."

Jimmy whined and followed Richard over to the open door and through to the kitchen. They could all hear the sink turn on as Richard washed his hands first. 

"Isn't this the second year in a row he's done that?" Henry smiles softly, looking up through his lashes at the others. He was just finishing cleaning out the green and yellow-orange pumpkin in front of him. “Always manages to get something on him. Be it gardening, cooking, or this.” The warmth with which Henry said it settled over them. The affection they all carried for each other warmed the dining room they had all sequestered themselves in. 

Guy’s soft chortle followed Henry’s comment. “I remember the honey incident a couple springs ago.”

“Don’t remind me.” Tom groaned. He slopped another small section of sticky strands onto the newsprint they had all laid down to keep their table from getting the full brunt of their carving. “The kitchen workbench and the cupboards, the upper cabinets. All-.” He made a yuck sound, “Took a full day to get it all clean. Chris and I were exhausted after.”

“He did make it up to us in the end though.” Chris finally finished scooping out everything until the squash was empty. “Sweet boy that he is. Almost like a ghost in the night, came to each of us on a separate occasion, and made sure we knew it was appreciated that we cleaned up the mess. We told him he didn’t need to-”

“But I wanted to.” Jimmy finally came back through the open doorway, the front swoop of his hair wet but re-worked into the soft waves he liked to have. His hands and arms had been rinsed off too, and his sleeves re-rolled likely by Richard who followed after him. “I know you two worked hard on it. I could have done it too, would have taken me longer but I’m not one to leave messes.”

All eyes snapped to him as movement paused. 

“At least not those kinds of messes.” Jimmy rolled his eyes and smiled. Stepping back to his spot he began again and only needed to take out a little more before it was good to carve.

Thomas smiled down at the pumpkin he was drawing on in pencil. He liked planning the faces he’d carve. This was after all the first of three he wanted to make. “You’re our messy boy. And we love you, even with those messes.”

“Agreed. And then some.” Edward’s soft smile lit up his face, head tilted just so towards Jimmy’s voice at the table. They all saw the sweet look Edward had, face soft and brows raised slightly. An offering of love to fill Jimmy’s chest with fuzzy warmth.

“I love you all too. Don’t forget that part.” Jimmy’s voice was as soft as Edward’s face.

Philip spoke up then, looking around at the nine of them all. “This manor holds a lot of love in it. We do our best to share the wealth with each other.” He relaxed back into the wooden chair, a creak sounding out. “It’s seen a lot of it too, from all of us. It’s bursting full with it even. And I, for one, can say I love you all very much as well.”

Thomas’s chest swelled with it all, as each of them said their piece with love. Even with emptying gross innards, he himself was never empty of his men’s love, affection, and trust.

[hunty627]

Here’s the script for Annie’s Kitty Catastrophe.

One sunny day, me and the Little Einsteins were watching cute and funny cat videos on my computer. We made big anime eyes from the kitty’s cuteness and we laughed at the funny felines. But then the sound of the cat videos was drowned out by a very loud noise! In flew Big Jet. I asked him if he was here to watch cat videos too, but he said that cat videos were completely boring. We were just about to tell him it wasn’t a very nice thing to say, when suddenly, Big Jet brought out a friend he made. It was the witch! The very same witch from when Leo and Annie rescued Hansel and Gretel! She waved her magic wand and casted a spell on Annie, turning the 4 year old girl into a little white kitty cat! The witch and Big Jet laughed and they flew away. Annie didn’t want to be a cat. She loved it best when she was a girl. Leo didn’t want his little sister to be sad, so he picked her up and told her that Rocket and the rest of the team can help us stop those two meanies. All we have to do is get the wand away from the witch and I can use it to change Annie from a cat and back into a girl. So, we got on board Rocket and blasted off! We searched everywhere for Big Jet and the witch. Luckily, Annie heard them because cats have incredible ears, which have lots of muscles inside so they can turn their ears to the sounds they’re listening to. We found out they were hiding near the pancake rocks of New Zealand. We soon found them, when all of a sudden, Big Jet had the witch use her wand to make sticky blobs of chewing gum, causing Rocket to get stuck to the floor and one of the big pancake rocks was going to fall and squash us like a bug! So June helped Rocket get out of the sticky gum trap by doing the wiggle dance. Rocket wiggled and wiggled and wiggled until at last, he was free! And they were just in time too. They left New Zealand until Annie smelled jet fuel. That’s because cats have a great sense of smell. She knew Big Jet was near. He and the witch were at Daytona Beach in Florida. Rocket tried to catch them, but the witch used her wand and made a giant cage made out of Swedish fish candy! We were trapped again! Rocket tried to get out, but there was no door. Luckily, I knew what to do. I made a door by eating my way through the Swedish fish cage’s wall. I ate and ate and ate until we were free! Then, Rocket used his look and listen scope to find that Big Jet & the Witch were now at the big woods of Arkansas. So, we raced there super fast! At that moment, we landed, and Annie knew what to do. Since she was turned into a cat, she was able to walk very quietly. She creeped quietly and slowly. And then, she pounced on Big Jet! She used her cat claws and scratched Big Jet’s face! Big Jet was in so much pain, his tail bumped into the witch, causing her to fly far away and drop her magic wand. And I caught it in my hand just in time! Annie jumped off of Big Jet and landed on Rocket’s roof. Good thing cats always land on their paws. Big Jet flew away to treat his scratches. Then, I used the witch’s wand to change Annie back into a girl. Annie was so she gave me a hug. Ellie took the witch’s wand to be put away so she can’t use it again. And being the kind big brother that he is, Leo allowed his little sister Annie to wave his baton. Annie thanked her big brother and she said those faithful words, “Mission completion!” The end.

[jade-byrd]

Launch || Ruby Red

Caged. It wasn't so different to how he felt his whole life, but now, in the physical form, it made his heart beat a little faster. He caught on quick, always on alert, and began to look for the key to his lock as soon as the countdown started. He couldn't say for certain what would happen once the gong sounded, but he could tell it wouldn't be good, and the last thing he'd need was to be stuck within these metal bars.

Once he'd checked the ground beneath him, and surveyed the top of the cage, he spotted the X and twisted the iron to reveal the key. Ezra slipped the key into the padlock and opened it, glancing around him to make sure nobody else was watching - he'd worked it out, but maybe others hadn't, and he was not about to help any of his competition, not even the few allies he might have made.

This was it, the bloodbath, the chaotic fight between twenty four tributes who all wanted to win the ultimate prize-- life. This is where Arlo had lost out, where a knife entered his chest and his last breath was taken. He thought back to that day, as the family watched in horror, and it only spurred him on, ready to run, or swim, by the looks of it, ready to survive unlike his brother, ready to break the bad luck that the McCoy's endured only once.

He was a good swimmer, of course. The academy had a pool, a good cardio work out, up and down, up and down, lap after lap until he couldn't breathe. This was different though, the water wasn't still, it was cold and irregular. He got to the cornucopia quickly regardless, pulled himself up and instantly went towards the weapons.

The boy from six appeared almost out of nowhere. He tried to sneak past, grab the first item he could, but Ezra was faster. He grabbed him from behind, big hand around his small neck. He turned him, so that they could look into each other's eyes-- his grandfather had always taught him to respect his opponent, look them in the eyes before you make your kill, see that they are human like you. It might have sounded counter-productive, but Ezra understood now. The McCoy's weren't cowards, they weren't murderers because they enjoyed it, they were victors, and this was just part of it. As he snapped Colm's neck and the life drained from his body, Ezra's stomach flipped, but in almost an instant he realised he was one life closer to winning and that was the goal-- to win. He dropped the boy like a sack of potatoes and moved on, eyeing up the fishing line.

His hand reached it first, but the silly girl from nine went to take it from him anyway. He knocked her over with an easy push, and as she tried to scramble to to her feet, he stood over her. He could let her go, he'd got what he wanted, and she was harmless, shaking in her boots under him. But letting her go didn't make any sense, she had to die eventually, if he was to be crowned victor. Why prolong it? Why waste time?

He leaned down, cupped her face in his hand, holding her cheeks tight so that her face was squashed under his grip. He gave it a second, a muffled sob escaping her mouth before he used all his strength to bash her head off the wooden structure beneath her. He waited, to see if she'd move, blood pouring from her nose almost instantly. Ezra let her head go, and it fell to the side, lifeless. His stomach flipped again, but this time not as harshly, and he stepped over her, stashing the fishing line into his pocket.

This was it, the bloodbath over. And he'd made it out. No knife in his chest, two kills under his belt. He brought his wrist up to his mouth and kissed the ruby charm on the bracelet to let him know he was thinking of him, a moment of sincerity before he looked ahead, squinting to see if he could spot Mars or Helios, unconsciously doing his best to avoid a run in with Slate or Callisto.

[heyclickadee]

Oh, yeah, no, I totally agree that ‘plan 99’ isn’t just code for, “YOLO, time to die,” because that’s not a plan. I’m guessing it’s more along the lines of, “I’m going to take this risk so you don’t have to. If I die I die, and if I live I live, but don’t come back for me either way.” And if that or something like that is the case, Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo would absolutely know that, and I could see each of them going in a couple different directions with it.

I could see Hunter (assuming he’s not explicitly in on it) wanting to hope that Tech made it out alive. But he could either be unable to bring himself to hope that far—he may be the sergeant of the impossible-odds squad, but it sort of feels like everything after order 66 has squashed his capacity for optimism—or he is privately hoping for the best, but still hedging his expectations for the sake of his squad, and Omega especially, right up until he sees those goggles and gets crushed all over again.

And then Wrecker—he’s a mess. Maybe he’s keeping that hope up and doesn’t quite get hit with despair until Hemlock pulls those goggles out, and that his little shake of the head when Omega begged him to tell Hunter that they should go back was him saying that he wants to go back, too, but they can’t, and it hurts. That’s possible. Alternatively, and the thing I personally lean towards with Wrecker, is that he maybe wishes he could hope that Tech made it out, but he just can’t. He can’t get the image of Tech falling out of his head, and he’s as stuck in that moment as a good chunk of the audience was (and still is).

Echo, on the other hand—I really don’t know about Echo. We see the least of his reaction, and other than him being sad and thoughtful and needing to be alone, I have no clue where he is on the ‘hoping Tech made it out to believing Tech is gone for good’ scale. It’s possible that it’s just one more loss in a long string of losses, and that this one hurts badly because it’s someone he was close to, but that he’s so tired of losing that he can’t find the energy to have hope. Or, maybe, he’s sitting there ruminating about how everyone thought he was dead for a while, too, and how they left his body behind, too, so what if…?

Whatever everyone’s thinking, I also completely agree that Hemlock was using the goggles to fish for information. If he really just wanted to make Hunter hurt, or if he really had proof that Tech was dead, and if he was really only trying to use Hunter’s grief as leverage to get Hunter to hand Omega over, he could’ve brought out something more substantial than the goggles. But he doesn’t, and he doesn’t even mention Tech being lost until after he sees Hunter react. He’s a sadistic son of a bitch, sure, but he’s got the specific goal of grabbing Omega here, and wasting time talking to Hunter almost cost him that. He had to have another motive, or Tarkin breathing down his neck demanding to know where all the clones who invaded Eriadu are and why none of them have been caught yet, to take that risk. Getting to inflict some emotional pain was just a perk.

And I also still think that’s part of why Echo had to be somewhere else during this whole scene. Yes, Omega’s supposed to go find him and run, but it’s established that Omega can fly the Marauder on her own, more or less, so he wouldn’t have to be on the ship for her to have the possibility of getting away. Echo couldn’t be there in the room with Hemlock because he’d see through the whole ploy. Wrecker’s too deep in his grief, and Hunter tends to take things people say at face value, but Echo? The strategy guy? He’s calling bullshit and drawing up the rescue plans.

So I haven’t actually gotten to any of them in my rewatch yet, but those little moments in season one where they hint that Tech really misses Crosshair stand out a whole lot more in the context of season two (and I’m maybe having thoughts about @niobiumao3’s ‘Tech faked his death so he could go after Crosshair alone’ theory)

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Home Intrusion Pt 2

Kara watches the masked men prop Lena upright on the edge of the bed, staring at the care they take to keep her lolling head supported until she's draped over one of the men's shoulders. She sees the moment Lena loses her fight for consciousness, her form sagging as the last of her muscles relax into sleep.

"Where're you takin' her?" Kara slurs, fighting to keep the intruder who'd spoken in sight as he paces to where an accomplice stands. She watches as quiet words are exchanged before the leader returns to where he'd stood at the far side of the bed.

"Don't worry about that," he returns evenly. "Do as we say, and we'll release her. Simple as that."

Kara wishes she could activate her laser vision and incinerate the man on the spot. She wishes she could fill the room with her freeze breath, icing them all in place. But her powers have been gone for months now, burned out in a fight that had nearly killed her. Despite the panic tightening her chest, she feels no resurgence of her abilities.

She's helpless.

"Sleep it off," the man says. "We'll talk in the morning."

Against Kara's best efforts, her heartbeat slows, and her breaths even out as her eyes blink heavily, and don't open again.

---

When she wakes, the first thing Kara notices is that they've closed the curtains. The second thing she notices is that she's no longer in her bed. She's been moved to the couch, her bound hands uncomfortably pinned behind her. She shifts, easing the pressure on her shoulders and biceps. The movement catches the attention of the intruders.

"Good morning," says the man who had spoken the night before. His face is obscured by a black balaclava, but his eyes are sharp yet congenial.

"What do you want?" Kara cuts straight to the chase. With Lena now presumably off site, she doesn't have time for pleasantries.

The man, for his part, doesn't seem to mind her curtness.

"Your cooperation," he responds simply. "As I said, we have no desire to harm either you or Lena. Just play along, and you'll both be fine."

Kara simply glares at him until he continues.

"Our clients are concerned about an upcoming story CatCo intends to run in next week's issue. They want you to squash it."

"Which story?"

"An article regarding the disposal of lithium batteries in the Pacific Ocean. Kill it, and Lena will be released. You won't see us again."

As far as Kara knows, no such article is in the works. However, having been editor-in-chief for only a few months, it's possible Cat has been driving it without her knowledge.

Kara desperately fishes for a response. If the article is on the verge of publication, and if it's important enough to warrant abduction and coercion, she knows it's vital it see the light of day. She won't let them get what they want.

But she can't risk Lena.

"It's not as simple as saying no," she says finally. Setting the stage to buy herself time, a plan begins to form. "Once Cat Grant decides to print something, she doesn't change her mind easily."

"Convince her," comes the response, ever patient. "Keep in mind it won't be you who pays the price if you fail."

Panic mingles with dread in Kara's chest.

Lena.

"What's next?"

"You go to work. We've tapped your cell and your desk phone, and we'll fit you with a wire. Make any attempt to inform anyone of your.... situation, or try interfere with the equipment in any way, and Lena dies."

Kara takes a deep breath. Now comes the biggest risk of all.

"My sister and I are supposed to meet up for coffee before work--"

"Cancel it." The man pulls out a cell phone, which Kara recognizes as her own. Without her having to say a word, he pulls up Alex's number and dials it before putting it on speaker.

"Hey, what's up?"

Alex's voice is bright and awake, a stark contrast to the dire situation. It reassures Kara nonetheless.

"Hey," she responds, just loud enough for her voice to reach the phone's speakers. "Just calling to let you know I won't be able to make it this morning."

There's barely a hesitation as Alex registers the message-- they didn't have any coffee plans today.

"Again?" Alex responds, almost a whine. "Kara... you've had my sunglasses for a week. You promised--"

"I know, I'm sorry, but--- something's come up at work. And I don't think I'll have time to swing by for a few more days."

"What about Lena? Can't she drop them off?"

Kara hears the hidden message: is Lena safe?

"Lena was pulled out to office last night. Some kind of emergency in Tokyo. She has to fly out later this afternoon."

Not safe.

Kara hears her sister sigh. "Fine. But you owe me."

Relief spreads through Kara. The hard part was over, and now she just had to buy enough time for Alex to find Lena-- without tipping off Cat.

The masked man twirls his finger, silently prompting her to wrap it up.

"Thanks, Alex. I'll make it up to you. Love you."

"Love you too."

[tarosin]

the great adventures of y/n tommy and jack

requested: yes/no

pairing: platonic jack/tommy/reader

summary: jack and tommy convince y/n to leave the house

content warning: cursing

an: wrote way more than i intended to

from the moment you woke up your day was already chaotic, you checked your phone to see several missed calls and texts from tommy. still half asleep you decided to finally answer the call

“the fuck did you wake me up for?”

“I'm outside your house please let me in. Some old man keeps telling me to get into his car, gotta go be quick!”

“TOMMY DON'T YOU DARE GET INTO HIS CAR!”

as soon as you opened to door you were met by your two friends wheezing

“you should have seen your face y/n you looked so worried!”

“you little shits don’t do that again,” you said, scolding the two boys who were now crying with laughter.

the car ride was just as chaotic.

you were screaming at all the cars that were ‘going too slow’ and yelling at jack how to drive, despite the fact you don’t know how to drive.

tommy kept putting his hand close to the steering wheel in an attempt to honk the horn.

“CARPOOL KARAOKE- AAAAAA..OH THE FEDS!”

“FUCK THE POLICE!”

“tommy, y/n, we are going to get arrested.”

the journey was then silent for a few minutes until your new boyfriend could be heard from your phone.

“here we go lads!”

it was a miracle you all survived the car journey, especially since tommy found it hilarious to put his phone in front of jacks face as he was driving.

“oh shit..were at tesco’s?”

you must have zoned out during the car ride because the sound of tommy, finally being allowed to honk the horn, pulled you back to reality.

the three of you debated filming your day together, but ended up deciding against it, wanting to spend time together, especially since you had been busy going to college 5 days a week.

everything was going well until an announcement from customer service echoed,

“good evening ladies and gentlemen, we have a teenager here named y/n l/n looking for their father and older brother, if you are them please come and collect them from the customer service desk.”

you couldn’t help but laugh at how embarrassed tommy and jack were as they came to customer service.

“you must be their...parent??”

“no no no no they’re our friend. they must have wandered off and then got lost it’s their first time visiting this tesco.” it was around 1pm when you finally left tesco, but the adventure wasn’t over yet.

the car ride back was another adventure, tommy spent most of the ride talking about how he found donuts for £3, and how jack squashed them by throwing biscuits at them. it was only when you realised you were going in the wrong direction to go home you spoke up.

“you’re going the wrong fucking way, home is in the other direction.”

“i’m not taking you home, we’re going to a lake!”

“YOU’RE KIDNAPPING ME?!”

“no we’re going fishing.”

“oh-”

“this isn’t a lake?”

“it’s a fishing shop!”

as the three of you walked in, tommy instinctively put an arm around you, keeping you close as the shop was rather busy, and you were already questioning exploring the shop on your own.

“there is no customer service here and i'm not running around here trying to find you. if you run off- OH LOOK SUNGLASSES LETS GET MATCHING ONES!”

you raced tommy back to the car, “HA DIBS ON FRONT SEAT!”

“BUT Y/N I WAS THERE FIRST!”

“sucks to be tommyinnit i guess!”

time went by quickly, you were almost there. you spent the entire time bickering with jack about how you could drive better than him and how the road was too bumpy.

the sound of tommy yelling the word pheasant caught you off guard, causing you to flinch.

“could have had it...”

“WHY WOULD YOU KILL IT MANIFOLD?!”

“he’s nicked the spot.”

“rival fisher?”

you suggested screaming till he left, tommy loved that idea however jack wasn’t too sure it was a good idea.

“let’s run him into the lake with your car!“

“let’s do it!”

you covered your face with your hands hiding the fact you were crying with laughter, they would never tell you this but they loved and missed seeing you this happy. they hadn’t seen you in a while due to the fact you were busy with college, and the times they did see you it was clear you hadn’t been sleeping much and that you were incredibly stressed.

you and tommy went around hunting for sticks to throw into the lake. after a while you chose to sit on the grass watching the pair fish. you were just happy to be out spending time with your best friends, then you heard a train pass and were determined to find it. as you walked away, you heard tommy laugh at jack who was complaining about how he stole his wrap, and was trying to feed ducks sweet corn.

“where did y/n go?”

“i’ll go find them.”

tommy ended up asking strangers if they had noticed you pass by, luckily someone pointed out that you went straight on and was mumbling something about a train.

“can i get a ticket to go on the train please?”

tommy couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“make it two tickets. I also want to go on the train.”

as soon as you both paid and were handed the tickets you grabbed tommys hand, draging him away before he could ask questions about you wandering off.

jack sat fishing on his own, arguing with ducks till his phone rang.

“IM ON A TRAIN WITH TOMMY BE BACK SOON- I THINK I DON'T KNOW WHERE IT GOES, MISSING YOU ALREADY!”

before he even got the chance to speak you hung up laughing.

“what the hell where are we?”

“it’s train time tommy!”

after a few minutes you realised this was going to be a long journey.

“this fucking train is going 1 mille an hour bloody hell.”

you placed you head on your friends shoulder, it had been a long day and you were exhausted.

“oh fuckkkk i have work to do when i get home.”

tommy felt awful for you, noticing you were stressed and starting to get upset, he pulled you in for a hug. the pair of you stayed in the position talking about anything and everything until the train came to a stop.

“let’s go brag about our journey to jack!”

“he’s going to kill us.”

“worth it.”

It was a long day but you were thankful your two closest friends decided to make you leave the house and spend time with them. a few days later you had your exams, then a few weeks later you got your results and couldn’t wait to message the gc.

yn : I PASSED BOYS!!!

tommy: I knew it!!

jack: nice one!

tubbo: does this mean we can go on an adventure?? I couldn't go last time.

yn: yes.

[reikoackerman]

Off Days with Levi (iii)

Characters: Levi x Rei (me)

Genre: Modern!au

Warnings: SFW, fluff. Extremely self-indulgent. Does not follow present timeline (aka there are no Ackerman Juniors, just Levi and I with our three dogs and two rabbits XD). Mentions of a FPS game.

A/N: I was doing a clay mask at 5pm and this stupid idea just came into my head I am sorry. Also..... I might write a continuation to this.......... hahaha.

It was a lazy afternoon, and Levi and I had nothing to do. We've cleaned the house, done the laundry, and even cleaned the dogs and changed the hay for the rabbits' cages. It was also raining heavily and we couldn't go out as well.

Levi was in his study room, playing CounterStrike with Erwin, Mike, and Moblit. I would usually join them during their games, but I suck at playing first-person shooter games and they managed to get Moblit to substitute me.

Rolling around in bed, I was scrolling through Instagram and I came across an advertisement about sheet masks. Just then, I had an idea. I went to my drawer and searched for a tub of clay mask that my cousin bought from Sydney. I excitedly clipped my fringe up with my Hello Kitty hair clips and went to the toilet, putting on the clay mask.

Returning back, I saw Levi lying on the bed. I didn't know his game ended so soon. Levi saw me returning and jumped.

"What the fuck is this greyish green shit on your face?"

"It's a clay mask, amour. The one I'm doing is supposedly good for moisturising my skin." I lay my head on Levi's chest, looking up to see what he was reading on his phone. It was a walkthrough on how to clear a certain chapter in his game.

"I know something else than can mosturise your skin better than this gross-smelling thing. It probably smells better too." Levi smirked and I rolled my eyes, hitting his thigh.

"No, Levi, I am not putting your cum on my face. Also, you should do it too. Your skin is looking kinda meh recently." I sat up right and went back to my drawer, fishing out another tub of clay mask. It was bluish unlike mine. I also took out a fluffy white headband with rabbit ears. Going back to the bed, I pulled Levi up and he complained his way from the room to the toilet.

I forced him to sit down on the toilet seat and made him wear the headband while I applied the clay mask on him.

"This is supposed to help your skin become glowy," I giggled. Levi looked like someone from the Avatar movie instead, his grey eyes and bluish skin making him look like an alien.

"And how long do I have to put this shit on my face? I want to continue gaming. We were taking a break and Moblit and I are about to kick Erwin and Mike's ass." Levi grumbled and wrinkled his nose again.

"Until the clay dries," I dragged Levi back to the bed, "and in this shitty weather, maybe 25 to 30 minutes. Also, no headphones during gaming. You're going to squash my rabbit headband." Levi groaned. I pulled him back to the room and he sat down on the chair, pulling out the wires of his headphones unwillingly.

Soon, the four of them were back online and continued playing their game. It was funny watching Levi, because there were a lot of times where he wanted to scratch his face, but he resisted the urge to do so because he didn't want to dirty his hands. I sneakily took a photo of Levi's face and sent it into my group chat with Erwin's, Mike's, and Moblit's spouses, giggling because I was anticipating their response. Levi gave me the side eye when he saw what I was doing, but he couldn't say anything because the microphone was on.

"Tch, that was easy," Levi muttered after 30 minutes. His game ended and they were all taking a break again. "can I wash this stupid thing off now?" I giggled and nodded, bringing Levi to the toilet, I helped him to wash off the clay mask and as he dried his face with his towel, he kept looking into the mirror. I sniggered and washed the mask off my face. My husband can be so vain sometimes.

"I told you, this will help your skin become glowy," laughing, I dried my face and did my skin care, "anyway, I'm not done with you yet, amour." Levi rolled his eyes again.

"What kind of weird shit are you going to put on my face again?" I gave him a small smile.

"I'm going to give you a facial tonight." Levi rolled his eyes.

"A what?"

"A facial, amour. It's good for your skin. You're going to love it, and you're going to thank me for it."

Levi continued to look at his face in the mirror, touching his jaw. His skin was indeed looking a little dry and dull. He looked at me while I was putting on my moisturiser. When I turned to look at him, Levi gave me a small smile.

"... okay."

"Yay!" I flung my arms around Levi, giving him a hug. "You're going to love it, really. And I promise you, you're going to ask me to do it again for you next time."

"We'll see." Levi followed me out of the toilet and we went back into the room. Levi took his phone and after a while he frowned. "What the fuck?" I peeped over his shoulder and laughed. Erwin sent him a message saying "nice mask" along with the photo I took of him. Erwin's wife, Mia, must have showed him the photo I sent in our chat. Mike replied saying "didn't know you were this vain, bro." and Moblit sent a laughing emoji in their chat. Levi rolled his eyes.

"Aww don't worry, they're just jealous," I joked, earning a flick to my forehead. Levi climbed onto the bed and pulled me into his embrace.

"Mon cœur." Levi spoke after keeping silent for a while. I gave a small hum in response. "Do that facial for me tonight." I laughed hearing him.

"Why, can't wait to show off to them?" I chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm going to make them jealous that my wife can do this for me." He sniggered and pulled me tighter into his embrace. We cuddled for a while more before Levi pushed himself off the bed. They were about to play their next round. "And for now, Moblit and I are going to kick their asses again."

As Levi continued playing his game, I couldn't maintain my excitement. In my head, I was already thinking of the skincare products I was going to use on Levi tonight, and how nice his skin is going to look after the facial. I couldn't wait for tonight to come faster.

[nicknelsonhugs]

I ❤️ Nick Nelson

This is an excerpt from my latest Heartstopper fanfic! You can read the rest on A03 here.

///

There are moments when Charlie regrets rejoining the rugby team. Like right now - they’ve only just started the first half and he’s already soaked to the bone from the pouring rain. They’re playing another speciality sports school, which means the other team’s players are literally double his size. Every time he gets the ball his job is to run like hell. His main goal should be getting the ball past the end zone, but in reality he's trying to avoid getting tackled and squashed like a bug.

Of course, there are also moments when Charlie enjoys being back on the team. Like when Charlie scores a touchdown, which earns him a cheer from his teammates and one of Nick’s speciality hugs, Nick scooping him up in his arms, twirling them in a circle.

Yelling from the field snaps Charlie’s attention back to reality, just in time to notice the ball is being thrown his way. He barely catches it, the ball slipping out of his hands from how slick it is with water.

Turning, Charlie runs. He dodges a few tackles, gaining confidence and speed as he closes in on the end zone.

Just as he’s about to cross the end zone a Flanker appears out of nowhere, coming from Charlie’s right. His opponent ducks his head, the top of it colliding with Charlie’s stomach as he wraps his arms around Charlie’s waist. The force throws Charlie off course, his feet getting tangled underneath him.

A bright flash of pain screams through Charlie’s body before he crashes to the ground, landing directly on his back, the force of it pushing all of the air out of his lungs. His head bounces off the wet ground, stars blurring his vision.

Rain falls on his face, pooling in his eyes. Blinking away the water, he opens his eyes to find dark forms floating above him. They’re speaking but their words are muffled, as if they’re under water. Slowly his vision and hearing clear, allowing him to see Sai, Christian, and Otis bending over him.

“Charlie?” Sai yells, “Are you ok, mate?”

Opening his mouth to respond Charlie realizes there’s no air in his lungs to give voice to his words. Instead his mouth opens and closes, making him look like a gaping fish.

“Oi, mate? You alright?” Otis asks.

“Charlie!” Nick appears, pushing his way through the layers of people gathered around him. “Charlie!” Nick’s down by his side in an instant, kneeling down in the mud. His hands perform a nervous dance over Charlie’s body, wanting to comfort him but at the same time trying to avoid making any of his injuries worse. “Are you hurt!? Are you okay!?”

Charlie can only gap, still unable to fill his lungs with air.

When Charlie doesn’t say anything, Sai jumps in, “I think he’s gotten the wind knocked out of him.”

“Oh,” Understanding, Nick bends over Charlie, their eyes locking. “Charlie? You’re going to be okay, alright? We just need to get you up into a sitting position ,” Nick grunts, sliding one arm under Charlie’s shoulders, lifting him up.

Cradling Charlie in his arm, he takes hold of one of Charlie’s hands as he bends down to whisper, “I know it hurts and it feels like you can’t breathe, but you just need to take it slowly. Okay?”

Charlie nods, tears pooling in his eyes. Nick’s right. It does hurt. His chest aches and there’s pain radiating from his ankle. But what’s scaring him the most is the fact he can’t get his lungs to work.

“Slowly, Charlie,” Nick says, clearly seeing the pain and fear in Charlie’s eyes. “Take a deep breath-”

Charlie takes a deep breath.

“Filling your lungs,” Nick continues to coach.

Charlie keeps sucking in air until it feels like his lungs are on fire.

“And out, slowly.”

Charlie exhales, his lungs cramping.

“Slowly,” Nick reminds him.

They go through this a few times until Charlie can breathe without his lungs seizing.

Charlie huffs, giving Nick a small smile. “Hi.”

[dreamwritesimagines]

Twisted 20 - The Compass [Spencer Reid x Reader]

A.N.: Thank you so much for your wonderful support my loves! Here’s the next chapter, I hope you will like it as well, and please let me know what you think of it! ❤❤ Ily, kisses! ❤❤❤

Series Masterlist

Warnings: Murder, serial killers, violence, manipulation, mentions of sex, drinking, smoking, blood.

Word Count: 4000

Summary: Coming home can be unpleasant.

After getting a phone call from the FBI, you were now sure of one thing:

Karma really needed another hobby other than messing with you, and this break up was definitely not going the way it was supposed to go.

For starters, people who broke up with each other were not supposed to see each other this much. You had different lives, different social circles, different jobs and somehow universe kept pushing you two in each other’s space.

To make things worse, the last time you talked to Garcia she had offhandedly mentioned Luke dragging Spencer to a nightclub much to his displeasure and introducing him to a friend of his. Naturally, your mind was full of images of Spencer in a happy relationship, eventually moving to a house in the suburbs with her and having kids and all that.  

“I don’t know what Luke is thinking,” Garcia said, “But I’m two seconds away from pulling him aside and giving him a piece of my mind. Reid is obviously still not over you, ambushing him to introduce him to a girl won’t change that.”

Needless to say, you had been in a terrible mood for the last couple of days.

“What’s taking her so long?” you checked your wristwatch and Nolan looked at you over his newspaper.

“Oh she’s talking to the board of the charity auction,” he said, “There are some last minute changes, apparently.”

You heaved a sigh and checked the time again, “I can’t stay for long,” you murmured and Nolan raised his brows.

“Oh? In a hurry?”

“Me and Spencer and…well, some of his team will go by the woods,” you said, “They found some bones near dad’s cabin close to the weekend house and they think it might help me remember where the rest is buried.”

He made a face, “That’s disturbing.”

“Nah, I thought going on a dead body remains hunt with my ex in the woods near one of my childhood trauma places would be romantic,” you deadpanned, “You don’t do that with your exes?”

“Not really?”

“Oh man you’re missing out.”

He let out a chuckle and shook his head, “I take it things haven’t improved on the heartbreak front?”

“I wouldn’t know, apparently his friend is setting him up with someone.”

“Mm, let me guess,” he mused, “Your plan is to do nothing about it?”

“No, I’m actually following your example,” you smiled at him sweetly, “I’ll just wait for decades and hope the girl turns out to be a serial killer.”

He tilted his head. “Touché.”

“Aw thank you,” you pushed at the food in your plate, “No seriously, what can I do? I can’t just go to him and tell him not to date other people. We broke up— I broke up with him.”

“You could explain the reason behind that.”

“I can’t do that.”

He clicked his tongue, “Well then, I suggest you get ready just in case he happens to ask for your help planning his wedding.”

“You’ve been absolutely no help at all Nolan, I appreciate that.”

“I’m offering you my wisdom and you’re not taking it,” he held up his hands, gesturing surrender, “I also suggested to get his superiors to fix a meeting with him to talk to him about certain boundaries and mistakes but…”

“Get his superiors— I’m sorry, what?”

“I play poker with the head of the department he works under.”

“Of course you do.” You sipped your coffee, “When did you suggest that exactly?”

“Oh not to you, to your mother,” he nodded to himself as he saw the look on your face, “Yeah. But then I saw how it could not only damage some professional relationships, but also it’s better to let young people solve their own problems, no matter how easy it is to solve them with an outsider’s influence.”

You pulled your brows together.

“Try again.”

“I asked your mother and she said no.”

“Oh thank God.” You pinched the bridge of your nose, “Yeah no, don’t do that. We’re not in high school, you know?”

“Could’ve fooled me,” he smiled slightly at the scandalized look on your face.

“Whatever,” you waved a hand in the air, “It’s strange that mom said no though. She doesn’t really like him nowadays, and she keeps listing all his….disadvantages whenever I talk about him.”

“Disadvantages?”

“Mm hm. The other day she said it was maybe for the best in the long run, because he’s an FBI agent so considering his paychecks, we would eventually fight about our future children’s tuition fees.”

Nolan thought for a moment, “She does have a point, considering what FBI pays their agents…”

You blinked a couple of times, “Right,” you said, “That’s exactly why I broke up with him. Because who would be paying for our hypothetical future children’s future tuition fees, yeah. Deal breaker, that one.”

“It could be a contributing factor though—“ he started but you heard your mother’s heels approaching and soon enough she walked into the living room and pressed a kiss on your cheek.

“Darling, I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting,” she told you before pecking Nolan on the lips, making him smile, “This whole charity auction, honestly…”

“Do I have to come to that thing?” you looked between them, your brows pulled together in an attempt to make them take pity on you but your mother tilted her head.

“Yes you do.”

“It’s just that…” you heaved a dramatic sigh, “You know, I’m going through a break up—“

“You’ve been going through a break up for more than a month now, you’re not allowed to use that as an excuse.”

“My heart is broken!”

“Good, focus on charity then.”

You rolled your eyes and turned to Nolan, “What’s the real reason she’s dragging me to this?”

“Oh no, I’m not getting caught in this crossfire.”

“Mom?”

She cleared her throat and sipped her coffee, “The other day when I visited Nolan at work, he happened to introduce me to this very handsome Chief Marketing Officer who’s handling—“

“Oh no.”

“Keep in mind that we pay him more than what FBI pays his agents.” Nolan stated, laughing up his sleeve as if he found it hilarious and you scrunched up your nose.

“Nolan, I know you were born in the eighteenth century but that’s actually not a problem we have these days.”

“He’s single,” your mother said as if she wasn’t even listening and you threw your head back, letting out a whine, “He loves dogs and squash—“

“Jesus Christ.”

“Don’t worry, he’s not sitting at our table,” your mother said, “I fixed another surprise for you at our table, and I figured you’d want to keep your options open.”

“Besides, if your ex boyfriend is moving on…” Nolan trailed off and your mother raised her brows.

“Oh, Spencer has a girlfriend now?”

“No!” you said way too loudly and then cleared your throat, “I mean—I don’t care. But I don’t think so, I would’ve heard it.”

“See? More reason for you to meet other people.”

You pouted, “I hate this so much. I can’t believe I’m being dragged into this nonsense only because you guys are making me, this is seriously bullshit…”

“Y/N, do you want some cookies?” Nolan interrupted your grumbling, “One of my assistants brought them from France the other day.”

You scoffed, “How old do you think I—” you paused for a moment, then shrugged your shoulders, “Actually yeah, I’d love some cookies right now.”

                                                  ***

Unfortunately, when you left your mother’s house you had overestimated the traffic and how long it would take you to get there so by the time you had pulled over by the road leading into the woods, you could only see one FBI car. You didn’t have to wonder who was in it when your eyes caught the sight of Spencer leaning against it and your heart skipped a beat.

“Fuck…” you murmured to yourself and considered for a short second to drive away until others got there, but it was too late. Spencer turned his head, saw your car and stopped dead on his tracks so you heaved a sigh and pushed open the door to step outside. You looked around before you pulled yourself up to sit on the hood before you fished your cigarette pack out of your purse.

“You’re early.” Spencer said and you raised your glances to look at him for a second before lighting your cigarette.

“So are you,” you put the lighter back into your purse, “Came by yourself?”

“Luke is talking with the police.”

“Lovely,” you exhaled the smoke and he crossed his arms, looking up at the sky for a moment before stealing a look at you.

You had no idea what to say to him. After that one day of truce, it was like you were back to being enemies and ignoring each other. The fact that he might have been ready to date another person made you feel even worse if it was possible, especially after that phone call between you. He had said that he was a mess just like you were, he had said you had taken a part of him when you left him, and—

You didn’t even know what you hoped for. You knew it wouldn’t change anything, and yet the thought of him being with someone else was more than enough to make you feel like you were falling off a cliff.

Maybe it was just the truce talking. Maybe he didn’t mean any of that.

Your phone vibrating in your purse made you snap out of your thoughts and you looked at the caller I.D., then frowned and answered.

“Hey, I’m a little busy at the moment.”

“On a Sunday?” Lincoln’s voice reached you, “Who’s the workaholic now?”

“Still you Linc,” you said and Spencer’s head shot up, “What’s up?”

“I just called to let you know that they just moved me to your table.”

You pulled your brows, “I’m sorry, what?”

“At the charity auction. My table was 3, they just e-mailed me to say I’ve been moved to 1.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re the surprise?” you asked, pinching the bridge of your nose, “Somebody needs to stop my mother.”

“Hm?”

“Nothing,” you said, “I…That’s great, we’ll sit together then. If you like sulking the whole night, we’ll be just fine.”

“Come on, it could be fun.”

“I doubt that.”

“Hey, at least you’re not alone.”

“I’ll drink throughout that night, you sure you can keep up?”

“Do you even know who you’re talking to, you amateur?”

“Oh it’s on.” You smiled slightly and he chuckled.

“I’ll see you at our table then. With drinks.”

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” you said before you hung up, and put the phone back into your purse before you felt Spencer’s burning gaze on you, so you looked up at him.

“What?” you asked and he scoffed a bitter laugh, shaking his head.

“Nothing.”

“Professor.”

“I didn’t say anything,” he said, his gaze fixed on the woods and you tilted your head.

“Fine.”

He sucked a breath through his clenched teeth, as if trying to decide whether to say anything or not before you could ask again, Luke approached you two, another car pulling over by your car.

“Hey there.” You greeted Luke as you jumped off the hood and he tilted his head.

“Why are you shorter?”

You motioned at your sneakers, “I figured since we’re going into the woods, heels would be a bad idea.”

“Is this the first time I’m seeing you without heels?”

“Probably.”

“Should we get going?”

JJ stole a look at Spencer and you, then turned to Luke, “Actually, do you mind coming with me to the car for a moment? There’s this file I want to get your opinion on.” She nodded at you, “You guys go ahead if you want.”

You pulled your brows together for a second, trying to understand what was happening but then decided you wouldn’t question it and stepped into the woods, a shiver running down your spine.

It looked way too familiar.

You gritted your teeth and started walking, and it didn’t take long for Spencer to catch up with you.

“So I never got to ask you,” you managed to say after almost ten minutes of complete silence, “That…that blood vial in that petal bowl, whose blood was it?”

“Anthony’s.”

“Right,” you murmured as you kept walking, “Was it….was it something my dad did back then?”

“No.” Spencer said curtly and you looked over your shoulder.

“So then what does it—“

“Are you dating other people?” the words left his lips in a hurry as if he didn’t know how to stop them and you stopped dead on your tracks.

“I beg your pardon?”

He opened his mouth for a moment like he was trying to find the right words but then he closed it and shrugged his shoulders.

“Never mind,” he murmured, walking past you and you gawked after him for a while before you rushed after him.

“No, what was that?”

“Nothing.”

Maybe your whole theory about Spencer being a genius therefore not being able to be jealous wasn’t exactly the truth.

“I’m not— is this about Lincoln?” you held up the phone in your hand before you sped up to catch up with his long strides, “There’s this stupid charity auction bullshit and we’re both attending it, that’s it.”

“Alright,” he murmured, still walking and you let out a breath.

“Spencer!”

“What?” he turned around to look at you, that fire burning in his eyes again, “I said never mind, okay?”

“I’m not dating Lincoln!” you exclaimed “And I— even if I were, at least he’s not someone I met at a nightclub my friends forced me to go, unlike some of us.”

“What does that-” he started but it hit him in a second, “Garcia told you.”

“It came up.”

He raised his brows, “Yeah? How?”

“It just did.” You managed to say even if your cheeks were burning, “So what? You’re going to stand there and ask me that when you’re moving on already?”

“I’m not moving on!” he said as if you had just insulted him, “Besides, you broke up with me remember?”

“Yeah and you wasted no time Spencer, congratulations.” You murmured as you walked past him but as soon as your eyes caught the sight of the huge cabin by the small hill, your breath got caught in your throat and you took a step back, the memory flashing through your mind so fast that the headache hit you out of nowhere.

Your father tugged you by your hand through the woods as you yawned, rubbing at your eyes.

“Are you sleepy honey?”

You nodded, looking up at him, 

“Daddy I thought we were going to come here tomorrow, with mom and Mina.” you said as you hugged the huge teddy bear you had brought with you when your father had woken you up and told you that you would be taking a small trip to the cabin.

“We are,” he said, “We will go back home after our hunt is done here.”

“Yeah but mom says Mina and I can’t be outside the cabin at night,” you murmured, “The lake is too close, remember? We might fall in, she says.”

“She’s right, no leaving the cabin by yourself when it’s dark outside,” he said, “Or else no chocolate for a week, you know the rules.”

“Okay, okay…” you yawned again, and your father knelt down so that you could look him in the eye.

“Petal honey, I want you to pay attention,” he said, “Look around. Let’s say you’re in the woods by yourself and you’re hunting. You know how we hunt, right?”

You took a deep breath, “Stab the prey, twist the knife, pull it back and watch them bleed.”

“Very good,” he said, “When you’re hunting in the woods, what’s the first thing you do?”

“Look up at the sky,” you said, “That’s how I know where I am.”

“Good start. How about if your prey is running to get away from you? How do you chase them?”

“People aren’t calm when they’re being hunted,” you repeated what he had told you, “They make noises. I follow that, and wait for them to tire themselves out.”

He nodded, then you both climbed the stairs to the front door of the cabin.

“And what’s the one thing you remember?”

“To stay calm and patient.”

He smiled at you and opened the door to the cabin so that you could see the bloodied person tied to a chair, screaming through the gag.

“Good,” he said, “Let’s go over what we do with the prey, shall we?”

“Y/N!” Spencer’s voice cut through the memory, almost grabbing you and pulling you back to the reality and it was only when you realized you weren’t standing anymore, instead you were on the ground on your knees, gasping for breath.

“I can’t—“ you choked out, pressing a hand over your chest “I—I can’t breathe—“

“Yes you can,” he helped you sit and lean your back to the tree trunk, “You just need to focus on me, alright? Can you breathe with me?”

You sniffled, trying to match your breathing with his and he nodded,

“There you go,” he said with a smile, “You’re doing great. Is it okay if I touch you?”

You nodded your head, still desperate to cling to anything that would protect you from that memory and he entwined his fingers with you.

“Keep your focus on me,” he said as he wiped the teardrop off your cheek with his free hand,  awakening a fire right beneath your cheekbone, “Here’s what we’re going to do, you will inhale when I squeeze your hand, exhale when I stop. Can we do that together?”

You inhaled when you felt his grip tightening around your hand, then exhaled when it became loose again.

“Y/N?”

You let out a shaky breath, “Hm?”

“Why are public proposals so bad?”

A teary laugh escaped from your lips, “Professor…”

“No, I want you to tell me,” he said as you inhaled again when he squeezed your hand, “Why are they so bad?”

“Because they—“ you exhaled, “They’re not private.”

“They could be romantic.”

“But they’re not,” you protested, “They’re not romantic. They’re pretentious.”

“Pretentious?” he squeezed your hand once more and you took another breath.

“If you need an audience for something like that, you’re pretentious yeah.” You said as the nausea slowly retreated and he pushed your hair behind your ear before his knuckles brushed over your neck, it lasted only a moment but it was enough for you.

“Thanks,” you mumbled and he offered you a small smile.

“Anytime.”

“Brings back the memories, huh?” you leaned your head back to the tree trunk and he nodded.

“Yeah,” he murmured, “Yeah it really does.”

You pressed your lips together, “Spencer, why are you helping me?” you asked him, taking him by surprise, “With….all this. I thought you hated me.”

He swallowed thickly,

“I can’t hate you,” his voice was almost a murmur, “I wish I could. Trust me, I tried.”

“Guys?” you heard Luke’s voice and you turned your head to see them approaching, “What’re you—what happened?”

“We’ll meet you there in a second,” Spencer said, shooting JJ a look and she nodded.

“Okay,” she said, “Come on Luke.”

They walked past you to the cabin and you looked up at the sky for a couple of seconds before willing yourself to focus on him again.

“You remembered something,” he said and you nodded.

“A memory,” you managed to say, “I…Spencer, there are dead bodies in there.”

“I know, we found bones in the backyard—“

“No,” you cut him off, “You don’t understand. There are dead bodies in the cabin.”

He pulled his brows together and you pulled your hand out of his before standing up on shaky legs, still holding onto the tree for support.

“Y/N, we can wait-” he said but you shook your head and made your way to the cabin until you reached the stairs. Every cell in your body was screaming at you to run away, but you managed to force yourself to climb the stone stairs and stopped for a moment at the door as Spencer stepped to stand next to you. Everything looked exactly the same as you had left them all those years ago right before your father was arrested.

A shudder went down your spine, the same as the one you had gotten when you woke up in your apartment after being drugged. Something in here was way too dangerous for you and it wouldn’t rest until you were at its mercy so you had to get away before it could dig its claws under your skin, but-

You had to do this. You could do this.

You had been through much worse than this before.

You had survived your father, you had survived his copycats, you had survived everything thrown your way so far, you could survive this as well.

You rolled your shoulders back and stepped into the huge living room, the memory pushing at your mind but you shook your head, forcing yourself to focus.

“We can leave if you want,” Spencer murmured and you dug your fingernails into your palms hard enough to hurt.

There was a reason why police couldn’t find anything in this goddamn place when they first checked. You had repressed the memory just like you had repressed the rest, and now that you were here…

The memories about the cabin were swirling in your head, each more terrifying than other.

“Luke.”

Luke turned his head, “Yeah?”

“Do you mind stepping aside for a moment?” you asked, “Actually, if no one could—if no one could stand on the rug that’d be ideal. Thanks.”

JJ shot you a look but nodded at the two other agents walking around the living room and you slowly approached the magnetic chess board by the coffee table, holding out your hand over the pieces for a second. Panic roared through you but you gritted your teeth and moved the pawn, then put the bishop where your father taught you to put it way back then.

“It’ll be like a treasure hunt, but you need to keep it a secret,” he had told you, “Pinky swear?”

You turned the queen in hand your for a moment, then put it right next to the bishop and the small basement trapdoor which was impossible to see even if someone was looking for it clicked under the rug. Spencer froze for a moment before he and Luke pulled the rug off the floor and pulled open the hatch but the smell coming from downstairs made you cover your mouth.

“Stay here,” Luke told the agents as he went downstairs and Spencer followed him right before JJ did. You stalled there for a moment, trying to repress the fear pinning you to your spot before you stepped closer to the stairs leading down to the secret basement.

“Miss—“ the agent said but you ignored him and made your way down. JJ and Spencer already had their flashlights on as Luke held his gun, ready to pull the trigger at any unexpected movement.

“You can’t be here.” Spencer told you but you weren’t even mood to snap back at him. You dragged your fingertips on the wall until you found the switch and turned the light on, the smell getting worse and worse.

There were three huge boxes by the wall, all tightly shut and you had a feeling—

No, not a feeling. What you had was a memory and you knew exactly what was in them.

Spencer turned to you, apparently ready to tell you to go upstairs again but as soon as his eyes caught something over your shoulder, he froze, his jaw clenching. You could feel your heartbeat getting faster and faster as Luke stopped dead on his tracks.

“Y/N, go upstairs.” Spencer said, his tone way too controlled until you turned your head, “No wait, don’t look—“

But it was too late. The bloodied message on the wall made you gasp as you took a step back, unable to look away as that familiar dread filled you once more, the simple line causing goosebumps to rise on your skin;

Welcome home Petal.

                                 Chapter 21 

[watercolorfreckles]

Thanks for the Ride - Part 2

Part 1 Here

TW: asthma attack, slight angst, mention of blood and sc*rs

((Civilian’s name is now Kaira. Villain doesn’t have one yet.))

Kaira pushed open her apartment door and stepped inside. A flurry of snowflakes gusted in after her, dusting the welcome mat in her entryway as she shoved the door shut. She shivered and slid her boots off, shrugging off her coat next and hanging it up. She leaned heavily against the door to catch her breath, digging her inhaler out of her pocket and taking two puffs.

It had been a month since the incident, and she was left without a vehicle right as the weather turned frigid and biting. Just her luck, as well, that cold air triggers asthma. Kaira coughed and wheezed her way to the kitchen, putting the kettle on to make herself some eucalyptus tea. Her doctor had recently told her that it might help alleviate some of her symptoms. Still struggling to breathe, she dropped herself into a chair at the kitchen table, squeezing her eyes shut. She tucked the inhaler back into her pocket without opening her eyes.

Kaira stayed there until the kettle squealed, forcing her lead-heavy limbs to get up and finish making her tea. She took a few sips though they scalded on the way down, and bent down to scoop some of her cat’s food into her bowl. She coughed and took another sip of tea, shaking the bowl a bit as she ventured further into the apartment. “Missy! Here, kitty.”

No response. That’s odd… Her stomach sank as she realized the tv was on in her bedroom. The muffled chatter and buzz were unmistakable. Had she forgotten to turn it off before going to work? 

She padded across the space, inching closer to the bedroom--though it was barely any use trying to be quiet. The ragged wheezing noises probably gave her away rather unceremoniously. Finally approaching the door and just about to cross the threshold, her cat hopped down in front of her, startling a yelp out of Kaira. The mug and food bowl in her hands crashed to the floor.

Kaira slapped a hand over her face, heart pounding all over again. “Missy. What did I do to deserve that?” she mused between strained breaths. 

She picked the remote up off of the dresser, lifting it to turn the screen off when she noticed what was playing on the news, and listened. More about the villain. The media coverage was constant, barely wavering since the villain’s “death” a month prior. The city clung to the hero’s victory, celebrating with parties and rallies and parades and barbeques. “Superhero finally managed to inject Supervillain with a revolutionary new toxic serum that drained his powers away and rendered him helpless. Superhero triumphed over the monster and fulfilled his duty in keeping our city safe! The crime rate perpetrated by powered individuals has decreased significantly as they all now live in fear of the hero’s new bioweapon. Let’s hope they stay underground where they belong.”

“The thing about Hero’s little serum,” a second voice cut through the silence, making Kaira jump and whirl around, “is that its effects are temporary. Poison a villain, take his powers, incapacitate him, kill him while he’s down. It’s quite the cowardly approach, don’t you agree, Kaira?”

Kaira froze in place like prey, staring at the villain sprawled out casually on her bed. He lifted a hand and lightning crackled over his palm like a second skin. Her mouth had gone unbearably dry and all she could do was stare and try to squash down the harsh rasps of her wheezing.

Villain flashed a smile, looking thoroughly pleased with himself as he sat up, leisurely. “Your firstborn and I have gotten acquainted.” He wiggled his fingers and made kissy sounds, drawing the orange tabby closer to him.

Kaira inhaled sharply and took a step closer, freezing again at the look Villain cut her as he scooped Missy into his lap. “Do you truly think I would harm your cat?” He tsked. “You must truly think me a monster.”

She swallowed again but it did nothing to aid the dryness scratching her throat. “How-How do you know where I live?” she whispered.

Villain stroked Missy’s back, who purred and curled up on his lap. “You had some bills in your glove compartment--your insurance is overdue, by the way. You might want to pay that.” His lip curled in a teasing smile though his gaze rested intent and unwavering upon her.

Panicked, she fished her inhaler out of her pocket without taking her eyes off of him, inhaling a third puff. “I...I haven’t told anyone about you. I swear I haven’t. I-I didn’t even want to raise questions about where you left me, so...I didn’t call a cab until I, um, walked back to the main road. No-Nobody knows what happened, or that you’re alive, I promise.”

The villain hummed, straightening all the way. 

Kaira’s gaze flicked down to his torso where she could see a deep red seeping through his shirt. “You’re...bleeding.”

“And you’re the only one who knows I’m alive, so. Do be a dear and bring me a first aid kit?” His smile widened, all amusement for now.

Kaira blanched and stepped toward the door when Villain lifted a finger to halt her. “Ah-ah, better have you toss your phone over to me first. The best relationships are built on trust, you know?” he purred, blatantly relishing in the glow of pink that spread over Kaira’s freckled cheeks.

She pulled her cellphone out of her other pocket and tossed it onto the bed, waiting for his nod of approval before staggering wide-eyed into the kitchen to fetch her first aid kit.

Oh my gods, oh my gods, the villain is in my house, oh my gods…

Kaira’s hands shook as she returned, easing herself lightly onto the edge of the bed beside him. She gingerly lifted her cat off of him and set her back onto the floor. “You’re bleeding on my bed,” she murmured. She carefully reached for his shirt and flushed red. “Um...can I?”

The villain grinned, wolfish. “Wishing to undress me so soon? By all means.”

Kaira spluttered, floundering briefly before reaching forward again, unbuttoning the bottom half of his shirt. No need to expose more of his chest than necessary, especially after that comment. Wow, he has a lot of scars…

She traced a finger featherlight over one of the pale slices of skin. When she realized what she was doing, her gaze snapped up to meet his. His laser focus made her feel like a bug splayed on a corkboard. “S-Sorry....” She looked away and opened up the first aid kit and gently examined his bloody wounds. “It...looks like you need stitches...is that okay?”

“Ah, what’s a couple more scars. Just clean them and bandage me up.” Kaira could feel the sudden electricity sparking the air as the hair on her neck stood on end. He smiled prettily, though his eyes were sharper, edging on dangerous. “Please.”

Kaira nodded quickly. “O-Okay, yes. Sure. No need to get, um...zappy.” She smoothed down a few pieces of hair that had been suspended by the static thick in the air like smoke. The energy released suddenly once she agreed, expelling like a popped balloon.

She released a breath through her teeth and got to work with trembling hands. “If nobody knows you’re alive, then who hurt you?”

Kaira jumped as the villain brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. “Sorry, dear, I don’t kiss and tell.”

Her face burned all over again and she avoided his gaze, focusing on the task at hand. When she was done, the villain abruptly stood and crowded close, stealing the breath from her lungs.

Villain bracketed her in place with an arm against the bed on each side of her. “Thanks for the patch job.” He flashed another predatory smile, eyes twinkling, and dangled her car keys in front of her face. “Care to give me another ride, dear?”

Part 3

Thank you for reading!

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