#All My Fault Chapter 29 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jiminjamms · 2 years ago

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sex therapy :: 16. liar, liar

chapter tags/warnings: infidelity/adultery...lots of it. multiple partners mean many fluids in the action. mentions of rough sex. mentions of breeding. guilt-driven sex. nonconsensual acts. manipulative undertones. humiliation. strong language. classism.

word count: 4.0k

notes: thank you for the comments i've received about my graduation and for your patience in this update! likes, comments, and reblogs are much appreciated. xoxo

fic masterlist | 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

Eleven missed calls.

All of which came from your husband.

With your phone placed away, you had not realized this deluge of notifications until Choso dropped you off at your apartment lobby.

“Bastard still thinks you’re his good lil’ wife,” Choso snickered when he peered over your shoulder, scanning the messages as well.

Driven by post-coital bliss, his mood had improved dramatically on the drive back, and he grinned stupidly beside you. At some point, you had to push his smug face away so that he would stop gloating over the words on your screen.

Where the fuck did you go? I’m still at the restaurant looking for you, one of Naoya’s bitter texts read followed by another sent twenty minutes later: I’m already home now, goddamnit.

Oh, the dread.

The raw dread that filled you, knowing that you had a husband waiting for you at home. A dream for many, yet a curse for you...which was why once Choso bid you goodbye, this awful trepidation only intensified now that you were once again nothing but alone.

The long elevator ride up to the penthouse didn't help either, your anxiety consuming you as the numbers on the floor display ticked higher. Sometime before the elevator reached the twentieth story, you caught sight of your reflection in the mirrored walls.

Wow, with this new wild hairdo, you looked like a tornado survivor.

Oh, but before Naoya saw you, there was something else you should be more concerned about.

You stumbled towards your closest reflection, your breaths coming to a stop as you slowly—very slowly—peeled up your dress.

“Please...no,” you silently prayed but nothing could stop the gasp at your lips once the hem was pulled past your hipbone, revealing the purple bruises on your outer thighs and the prominent swelling at your ass.

“Oh my,” you winced when you ran a finger over one particular welt.

Naoya must never get a glimpse of this.

Shame burned at your face, which had marks of their own.

To justify this most recent escapade, you convinced yourself that this was what Naoya deserved after his hurtful words during dinner. Furthermore, if what the therapists said was true—if Naoya was truly cheating on you—you definitely merited rights to your own (reverse) harem, right? An eye for an eye.

Okay, there were faults in this logic, but you must suspend beliefs if you hoped to feel better about yourself.

When a telling ding signaled your arrival at the sixtieth-second floor, you scrambled, pulling your dress over the blemishes and patting down some stubborn baby hairs. Once the elevator doors parted, you paced briskly to the penthouse entrance, the unit’s usual jasmine scent greeting you followed by the overhead lights that flickered on.

You thought that you were the only one in the apartment until you spotted Naoya in the living room. He had a long day, but he was awake rather than asleep, sunken into the sofa. From the back, he appeared bored, shuffling idly through different channels on TV.

“I’ve returned,” you announced unceremoniously, slipping off your heels.

When your husband turned to look over his shoulder, you half-expected him to erupt in fury—to degrade you, to command you, to do everything to emotionally hurt you until he pleased himself using you. After all, that was the typical response that you had grown accustomed to.

In fact, Naoya almost seemed to have ignored you had it not been for how he stood up from his seat, revealing the tall silhouette that blended with the cityscape background behind him. Hands tucked into his pockets, he strode languidly toward you on long legs and silent steps until he stopped a mere foot away.

“What’s that?” he inquired about the shopping bag you just placed down. He peered inside and surely recognized the dress that Choso had so graciously returned. “Had you gone somewhere?”

“Picked this up from the dry cleaner,” you babbled only to immediately wish that you hadn’t. This was an awful fabrication that was formulated from impulsivity rather than wit, confirmed by how Naoya narrowed his eyes.

“I see,” Naoya hummed in acceptance, likely trying to understand why you decided to make a spontaneous nighttime trip to the dry cleaner when you were supposed to be on a dinner date with him. Then, he added very casually, “You didn’t respond to my texts, by the way.”

Neither did you, you wanted to retort. When he had vanished into thin air these past few days, did he bother to look at the many messages that you sent him? Of course not. Rather than stir a commotion, you merely uttered, “Sorry.”

“Just don’t do that again,” he advised. For a moment, he glanced to the side—almost like he was about to burst from frustration—before he calmly said, “I was worried about you.”

Now this you were not expecting.

Your chest even fluttered given that your husband rarely voiced his concern for you. Had you responded to his texts, would he ever tell you something like that?

His mood was pleasant—far too pleasant because this was Naoya Zenin in the question, a self-absorbed husband whose indecent wife missed each of his eleven calls because she was too busy getting her pussy stretched (but he didn’t need to know that last point, right?).

On that note, guilt tugged hard at your stomach.

While you had planned to confront Naoya about his potential infidelity, the idea suddenly seemed too out of place, and you were ashamed that you doubted faithfulness at all.

That was when you reminded yourself: Naoya would always be the endgame. The fuck session earlier tonight was only to get your mind off the husband that you were hung up on. Naoya was who you truly wanted in the end. The fresh change with Choso—you justified—was to lift your mood, so you could forgive Naoya for his earlier insults.

Nonetheless, this guilt was much too heavy to swallow.

This wretched feeling only intensified as Naoya closed the distance, gently leaning over to seal your lips closed. I’ve missed you, his kiss seemed to say.

Earlier tonight, he might have confessed how his intention with you was purely sexual, a statement that trampled on your already aching heart. But, in the end, Naoya was whom you were expected to spend the rest of your days with.

You gripped onto his shirt as his lips traveled to your jaw, the quiet smacks ringing softly in your ears before you felt him kiss the side of your neck, and his warm exhale excited a slight shudder down your spine.

Whether his actions were driven by emotion or duty, you didn’t know. But what you did know was how much you wanted to give yourself in to him, to sink into the arms that encircled your waist, to let him caress and then use you—all in an attempt to relieve you from your sins.

If only life was that simple.

“This smell,” Naoya murmured, lips vibrating against your collarbone as he spoke, “comes from another man.”

Your blood turned cold.

“...What?”

Caught completely off-guard, you could feel your sympathetic nervous system kicking in, your cold fingertips and widened eyes telltale signs of your fright. Before Naoya could look downward, you pulled at your dress to hide the bruises by your thighs, which would be a surefire giveaway to the dirty deed you had done earlier. However, you were not thinking, perhaps downright possessed even, when you tried to save yourself by adding, “That isn’t what you think it is.”

Although Naoya was still by your neck, even you could see how he cocked a brow at the comment.

“’That?’” he repeated, then pausing briefly. As his confusion waned into dubiety, he straightened up slowly and loomed over you. “That what?”

Oh, no—

“That what?” Naoya said again, except his tone this time around could cut like a sharpened blade. His face deepened and darkened for every second that passed, his expression souring into a frown with furrowed brows. Even his lips tugged between a smile and a jeer as if he seemed tied between derision and disbelief. He certainly made his mind, though, when he caught your hand shielding a certain bruise. “What...are you hiding?”

That was when panic swallowed you whole.

“Nothing. It’s just...I didn’t mean to—” Terror locked words in your throat, but you certainly made the wrong move when you blurted, “I had told him not to—“

“Him?”

Oh, now you really aroused Naoya’s curiosity, not to mention that he looked furious because why should he ever love a wife unfaithful to him?

“No!” you shouted when Naoya tore your arm towards him. Efforts to free yourself quickly proved futile given his firm clasp. Rather, Naoya first stared at your hand, studying the cuts across your palm before his gaze trailed down to the much more obvious marks on your thighs and knees.

For several silent moments, he appeared deep in thought...pondering and pondering...his flat expression too difficult to read. Only when the seconds turned into a full minute did Naoya cautiously loosen his grasp around your wrist, releasing you from captivity.

Relief swelled over your system because you assumed you were safe, that Naoya was actually a more forgiving husband than you had originally given him credit for. You even backed away from him knowing that you were now liberated from his scrutiny.

Until your husband very calmly added, “Seems like I’ve missed out on something exciting.”

You froze.

For a man red hot with anger mere minutes ago, Naoya was now so amused that you found his change in tone too eerie, his expression so stern that you must promptly avert your gaze to the hardwood floor.

“I...don’t know what you’re talking about.” Vainly, you tried to play down the weight of the matter. “Just headed out for a bit. Nothing for you to be concerned with.”

“Oh really?” The inflection in Naoya’s pitch was incredibly insulting and incredulous. “To the dry cleaners? Or don’t tell me that my beloved wifey lied to me because she had actually gone somewhere else? Because you sure were desperate to cover up for something that ‘wasn’t anything important.’”

Fuck.

“I—” A gulp.

Naoya did not need long to notice the backward shuffles in your steps. He followed you, stalking forward like a mountain lion closing in his pathetic prey. Ideally, you would like to tell him to stop, that you could barely think with him at such proximity, but the potential consequences of telling him off seemed too dangerous.

“Well, tell me,” he urged. With one last step, he cornered you such that your back pressed against the wall, his hands planted on either side of your head. He exhaled deeply, and remnants of his tequila whirled in the little space between you two. “Did my dear Mrs. Zenin have a lot of fun?”

Your mouth grew dry at the question, and you remained keen to drill your eyes into the ground.

“I...” You bit your inner cheek, remembering the tears that had rolled off embarrassingly from your face. “I...wouldn’t exactly call that fun.”

“Aw, not fun?” Naoya cooed and curled one finger around a loose lock of your hair. “Why not, darling? All because my baby’s got some booboos? What do you want me to do, hm? Want me to crawl onto my knees to kiss the bruises that another man gave?”

“N-No.”

He contemplated the answer, looking lost in thought as he twirled your tresses. “Then how far did you get with this lucky guy?”

At the confrontation, it took all your willpower to not crumble like potted soil turned dry. Wracked with humiliation, you decided to ignore the question, thinking that that was the safer option until your husband tugged your strands gently.

"Hey.” There was a spark of a raspy growl in his voice. Understandably, he was irritated, and you didn’t blame him for being impatient when he warned lowly, "Don't make me repeat myself."

You swallowed one hard lump.

“We didn’t go far at all.” A lie through your goddamn teeth. Yet, you had to say something if you ever hoped for him to let you off the hook, especially when—

“Ow!” you groaned at the forceful yank at your hair. Instinctively, your hands flew to your scalp and rubbed at where the sting burned the most. “The hell was that for?!”

“I just want you to tell me the truth,” Naoya advised coolly, which implied that he already had some idea what this ‘truth’ was. Whether or not he did, you could feel how he was dangerously toying with your strands again, ready to teach you another lesson if you disobeyed. “C’mon,” he challenged. “Test me. Who would have thought that my wife would have this much trouble being honest with—"

“We fucked over his car...”

The room went instantly silent as your words sunk in, the only sounds being your uneven breaths that were a by-product of your horror.

Did you really just say that?

Though you have yet to meet his gaze, you hated how your stomach churned with uneasiness, only exacerbated by Naoya’s overbearing presence beside you.

“Over his car?” Naoya quoted, his interest piqued. “As in, the car hood?”

For a long moment, you considered how to answer in the most diplomatic manner until your eyes slipped closed and you finally said, “...Yes.”

“And did you like it?”

“N-No.”

A gentle tug. “I can tell when you lie,” and by now, you could tell that he truly meant it. “Try me again, and I’ll—"

“I...loved it.”

You thought that Naoya Zenin finally derived the satisfaction that he wanted when his fingers ultimately loosened from your locks, only for these hopes to prove naïve when his dark chuckles rumbled from above. What started as a small snicker soon unraveled into a taunting laugh—an impassionate uproar—as your husband threw his head back, cackling wickedly into the air.

You were too absorbed in disgrace that you didn’t even notice Naoya approach you again, his right hand moving to grab your face. And when he finally forced you to turn to him, you see that his hazel eyes are ablaze with an unscrupulous sort of entertainment, tears from laughter pricking at his outer corners.

“Oh, ho ho!” he mused. His strong clutch on your jaw allowed him to revel in your distress, squandering your opportunities to look at anything else but him. “This is fucking hilarious! To think that everyone thought that Miss Prim-and-Proper over here is a good sweet girl when she’s been a slut all along.”

Naoya chuckled as his eyes crinkled with mirth, and you squirmed uncomfortably in his hold.

Rather than humiliation, your heart began to fill with chagrin.

Why was your very husband the only person who would intentionally work up so much frustration in you?

Ironically, the timing in this realization could not be more perfect as Naoya brought his face all up in yours.

“This wasn’t the first time, wasn’t it?”

Obviously, your first inclination is to lie, but you second guess yourself when you think back to his previous warning: I can tell when you lie.

“Not the first time,” you breathed slowly, and the rumbles in his laughter were wholly off-putting.

“So, did you spit or swallow tonight, you little whore? Well, you seem more like a spitter, you quitter. Unless...” He then covered his mouth for theatric effect. “Don’t tell me he came inside of you?!” he crowed and reveled in the glare you sent. “Bingo! He did, didn’t he? He came deep inside my wife, and I’m sure you loved that too!” At this point, Naoya was guffawing like a maniac on the ground, bent over to hug at his stomach. “I’m guessing you creamed all over his cock too! Boy, oh boy. What would your daddy say when he learns that his little girl’s been frisky? Oh, oh! Even better! What would the papers say when a little birdie informs them about your tiny secret?”

“Or about yours.”

Naoya’s laughter, which had bellowed through the penthouse just moments ago, immediately dissipated at the comment.

Your husband crawled up from the floor. He half-stumbled on his way up and met your deterministic gaze.

This, so far, was the bravest you have ever been. Never have you dared to even think about confronting Naoya. Yet here you were now. Even if you trembled with nervousness—his frame towering many centimeters above yours—you did your best to be the one staring him down instead.

While you expected repulsion, Naoya just stared pointedly at you.

“How did you know?”

Strangely enough, his unflappable composure was what upset you the most. He was calm and collected, so unperturbed such that he didn’t even bother to deny the accusation. Because compared to you, Naoya probably did not feel guilty in the slightest, instead viewing your awareness as nothing more than an inconvenience.

“So, the cheating rumors are true then,” you breathed, and when your husband nodded so nonchalantly, there should be no reason for you to experience a heartache that you knew wasn’t worth the pain.

Besides, you should have been prepared for this. The signs were so blatant and obvious: his ridicule, his actions, and his contempt all presages that pointed towards an underlying reason behind his behavior. For crying out loud, even your therapists, who probably never witnessed a second of interaction between you and your husband, were the first to suggest the idea of Naoya’s infidelity.

And like a fool, you had rushed to defend your husband.

But why were you so obsessed with upholding a failed marriage when your husband could barely care to do the same? Why were you so desperate to salvage any possibility of amending the bond between husband and wife when your other half could not care for the same? The entire reason you sought sex therapy was that you valued this marriage more than anything else, hoping to forge a physical connection with your husband that lied beyond obligation.

But were you really that disillusioned?

The shame that had churned within your chest had given way to pain as you eked out, “How long has this been going on?”

“Almost a year.”

In other words, well before he tied the knot with you.

You appreciated his honesty, but the truth did not stab any less into your heaving chest.

No wonder Naoya had always been callous, ruthless even. From day one, he never belonged to you. In this marriage, his heart, his soul, and his every waking second had always been dedicated to someone else while you foolishly clung on to hope that he would one day warm up.

“Then...why didn’t you just marry her?”

“Look,” Naoya started, only to pause as a thousand emotions flashed across his face, reaching to massage his temples before he lost total control of his temper. “Things are complicated, okay? Listing all the reasons would take an entire damn day because there’s a fucking million of them.”

“Just tell me what they are.”

“Goddamnit, woman!” Naoya shouted, thrusting his arm down in exasperation and startling you. “Since when can you order me around?! Can’t your tiny ass idiot brain tell that I’m not in the fucking mood right now to talk about this shit?”

“But you’re going to keep seeing her?”

“Yes!” and his response was so curt that there was undoubtedly no regard for your feelings in his reply. There was so much more to know, but negotiating with him for details was fruitless given his current mood.

“You’re not worried that I’ll tell someone about this?”

“Well, you won’t,” Naoya accosted with crossed arms and the most unbothered shrug. “Because you know what’s going to happen if you tattle tale, right?”

You sucked in a deep breath.

I would just tattle tale too, the glint in his eyes answered, and nothing could stop him then. The knowledge of your affair had emboldened him and provided him with justification to do the same, especially since he could now laud all this over your head like some twisted trophy.

“Look, it’s fair and square,” he justified. “We’re even now. Frankly, I don’t care and won’t care to know about your business so long as you don’t mess with mine. Do us both a favor, alright? Keep that loudmouth of yours shut, and I might just do the same. Our families spent much effort to secure this ‘picture-perfect’ relationship in Japan, so we wouldn’t them finding out about our part-time flings, now would we?”

The worst bit was how Naoya was correct.

Because you thought about your father-in-law, who would harbor no qualms about cutting you from Japan’s most affluent family for good. You also thought about Mai and Maki, the Zenin twins who would be heartbroken to learn how Naoya had been mistreating you all along when you had previously told the girls that he wasn’t. And most importantly, you thought about your father, who would resign from his position to support your decisions, no matter how grave.

If disclosed, news regarding the scandals—both yours and your husband’s—would bear headlines for weeks, and the two households would certainly then fall out from bad publicity.

As a result, there was only one answer.

“No, we wouldn’t them to know.”

“Then, you’re not going to snitch?”

“No, I won’t...” you trailed off, and—from the corner of your eye—you could see Naoya grin with victory.

The differences between you and Naoya may be irreconcilable, yet there still existed a silent but mutual goal to not disappoint each other’s families. While the thought of being second place in Naoya’s heart could tear through your own, you staved this emptiness away by justifying this as a small price to pay, given that thousands could at most dream about being in your place.

“So, you’re a well-behaved woman after all,” Naoya hummed happily, resting one arm suggestively on your hip. “What a good wife.”

A good wife—the main reason Naobito Zenin wanted his son to marry you to begin with. As a ‘good wife,’ you were expected to love your husband, respect him, and provide for him. Real love may not ever exist in your marriage, but you were still obliged to fulfill your duties as his lawful spouse.

So, when your husband carried you into the bedroom and brought you to bed, when he stripped you carefully from your clothes and squeezed at your breasts, you willingly let him turn you into his filthy fuck toy.

“On your back,” Naoya whispered at some point, pushing your shoulders back such that you landed on the mattress with a soft thud.

His gaze darkened salaciously upon inspecting all the crescents and markings on your ass, right before he pressed his lips onto your skin just to confess how he might actually like sloppy seconds like you.

He wished to take you in missionary as usual. What surprised you, however, was how he encouraged you to keep your legs closed this time, an idea he never proposed before. With an order that resembled more like a purr, he urged you to cross your ankles, explaining that this would allow you to squeeze his cock with both your vaginal and pelvic floor muscles, which would make him come faster. And when he started working into your insides—fucking used cum back into your tight little hole—his hand grazed along your bruises, causing you to hiss and squirm.

For a guy who pounded into your skull that he had no interest in you beyond sexual, Naoya sure knew how to make you feel every bit like the stupid breeding cumslut you wanted to be. That was perfect since you believed that the only way to be useful was to let him use you as he wanted, without thought for your own satisfaction.

As long as this marriage prevailed, he was yours, and you were his.

From here, there was no way out.

Or so you thought.

last chapter || next chapter

end notes: This chapter is a rollercoaster and has been incredibly difficult for me to write, largely due to the various emotions I had to convey from both Y/N and Naoya. Pissed-off Naoya is one of my favorite dialogues to write, but I also enjoyed propelling Y/N's emerging confidence in confronting her husband.

taglist: @dissociatingdiva @httpsplanetmarsdotcom @pulchritxde-blog @huangfairy @shadowarchon @203steph @agentdedf1sh @cloudybabes @hinativity @lynn-writes-things @illicitwriter @7oji @kikuchimi @piqer @nobody289x @chaoticjojofan @musicisme333 @vvestwoodrose @kumocchin @s-guru @mwahilovemylife @hey-gurls69 @cloudsinthecosmos @moon-mumu-moon @kazscara @obitohno @skilerfrostfairy @funicidals @nico707 @proteovaldez @nemoyr @tsukiyohanayome @marimoares @tokyometronetwork @downtown-roponggi @the-cosmos-network

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lilac-ravenclaw · 9 months ago

Text

Let me introduce my Hogwarts Legacy MC, Raven Fawlty. I love her so much and want to share her adventures with everyone.🪻

Art Trade? Yes, please! Just please tag me with your drawing. In return I’ll draw your Hogwarts MC! 👩🏻‍🎨

Instagram | DeviantArt | ArtStation

✨ artof.ravnbee on Ko-Fi ✨ Thank you!

The Picnic 🧺 - 3k words / fluff

📖 Traces of Lilacs - Ao3

Ch. i - Miracles

Ch. ii - Orphan’s Overture

More chapters coming soon!! ✍🏽

If anyone is interested, I created a playlist inspired by Raven. I'll continue to add songs as time goes on. Hope you enjoy! 🎧 Spotify Link 🎧

General Info

Name: Raven Fawlty - { reason for her name for me } “Ravens” often represents ancient wisdom, transformation and intelligence. The name “Raven” means “dark haired or wise”. “Fawlty”… honestly this was a gimmick at first. As I love the show, Fawlty Towers with John Cleese. Ran in the mid-late 70s with only 12 episodes, and was hilarious imo. it was the first name I could think of when creating my character.

Birthday: January 29, 1874 { The Raven was published in Jan 29, 1845 }

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Sex/Gender: Female { she/her }

Ethnicity: Latina and English

House: Ravenclaw

Wand

Stalk: Dark Brown

Wood type: Willow

Core type: Unicorn Hair

Flexibility: Reasonably Supply

Wand Length: 12”

Handle: Checkerboard - Blue

Patronus: Black Bear

The Black Bear is known for their adaptability and resourcefulness. Others will see her as a fierce opponent who will protect herself and those close to her. Only those close to her will know of that softer side she usually keeps hidden away.

Physical Appearance

Eye color: Light Violet

Skin color: Tan/light brown, with olive undertones.

Hair: Long length and black, usually worn in a braid.

Height: 5’1” (155cm)

Weight: 110lbs (49kg)

Body type: Hourglass and petite

Birthmarks: small mole on the face, left cheek

Fashion style: Loves wearing a comfortable trouser, but will still wear a button up blouse and a skirt. Doesn’t care for the traditional school robe, but favors a nice blazer/jacket when needed.

Accessories: Pierced ears for small earrings, (wears a pair of snake gold snake earrings Sebastian gave to her as a birthday gift).

History

Place of birth: Somewhere in the UK

Childhood: Grew up in orphanage in London. Doesn’t know who her parents are, or her real name. She has a love for literature and took the name “Raven” after Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, The Raven. The orphanage she resided in was very strict and had a harsh living environment. The caretaker was mean to the children, much like a Miss Hannigan from the show Annie. So much so, that is how Raven acquired her last name “Fawlty”. A homonym for “faulty”, meaning of faults, inadequate, or wrong. (Which is also why the show, Fawlty Towers, got its name too.) Unknowingly to be a future Ravenclaw, took the insult of a name as a challenge to succeed and learn all she could and be the best version of herself.

Family history: Her father originally from South America and went to Castelobruxo, a wizarding school in Brazil. Being from the heart of the Amazon rain forest, he had a profound love for magical creatures. Which is where Raven gets her love for magical creatures as well. He had traveled all over the world and eventually made his way to Europe where he met Raven’s mother, was also traveling abroad as well. She had also attending Hogwarts in her youth, being a former Ravenclaw too. She loved astronomy, and music literature (her mother, Raven's grandmother, was a music instructor). It is unknown what happened to her parents in their untimely death, and how Raven ended up at the orphanage. **Keep in mind, Raven herself doesn’t know this. I just wanted to write this down to know where she gets her personality and interests come from ☺️**

Notable events/milestones: Raven always knew somehow.. she was different. Though, according to the wizarding world’s standards, it took a little longer for her powers to emerge. Even small things would happen here and there, without her realizing what had happen and that she was the cause of such strange occurrences. Until one day when the orphan keeper (the person who runs the orphanage) was “disciplining” one of the children and Raven stepped in to protect them and that enough was enough. She had forced a large shelf to fall over onto the orphan keeper… it was as if what she was thinking became a reality. Afraid of what would happen, Raven ran away, seeking shelter where she could. As Professor Fig was assigned the task of giving Raven her letter and bringing her to Hogwarts, it still took no time at all for Professor Fig to find Raven even though she was missing from the orphanage. She was hesitant at first but overall wasn’t scared at all, and actually was relieved to know there were others like her. A whole world like her just waiting to be apart of and that was the happiest day in her life.

Other notes: She had studied with Professor Fig for the duration of the summer before starting at Hogwarts. Having only gained her powers after the school year had finished. He had become the first father figure to Raven.

Psychological Traits

Personality type: INFP (Mediator) is a personality type with the introverted, intuitive, feeling and prospecting traits. These rare personality types tend to be quiet, open-minded, and imaginative, and they apply a caring and creative approach to everything they do.

Personality traits: intelligent, witty, adventurous, warm, courageous, emotionally intuitive, and quick-thinker.

Introvert/Extrovert: Sometimes both. Loves to be around her close friends, but doesn’t mind spending time alone reading a good book or flying on her broom.

Hobbies: Star-gazing, tending to the magical beasts in the Vivarium, reading, and singing. Doesn’t audition for the school choir til her 6th year. She doesn’t tell anyone except Poppy if she should try out, as Raven was 100% nervous about it and never sang in front of people.

Loves: Flying on her broom and singing in the choir.

Morals/Virtues: Values being compassionate and always being there for her friends/loved ones at a moment’s notice. Tries to do right by them and stand by their side when times are tough. She knows what it feels like to be alone in certain situations and doesn’t want her friends to go through the same thing.

Phobias/Fears: Being trapped in a “cage” and being forgotten.

Relationships

Love Interest: Sebastian Sallow… From the very beginning she felt like there was some sort of connection, but was a bit too oblivious to see it at first. He’s very charming and almost flirtatious with other girls, so figured she wasn’t any different. Sometimes she will catch him sneaking a glance in her direction during class, while studying in the Library or at mealtimes in the Great Hall. It was so easy to stand by him and help him find a cure for his sister without even a second thought. It may have been foolish, but Raven knows what it’s like to have no support when at your lowest. To feel like all hope is lost. She can understand losing your parents at a young age.

Parents: Deceased, Names Unknown

Grandparents: Unknown, Names Unknown

Best friends: Poppy Sweeting and Natsai Onai

Friends: Ominis Gaunt, Garreth Weasley, Amit Thakker, and Imelda Reyes

Rivals: Leander Prewett, not in a bad way. It's mostly a friendly competition when playing Summoner's Court.

Enemies: Peeves the Poltergeist, damn him for catching them in the Library!

Clubs: Crossed Wands, Summoner’s Court, and Hogwart's Glee Club ( was super hesitant in trying out for the school's choir, but her best friend Poppy gave her the confidence she needed to try out).

If you’ve made it this far then thank you so much for reading. Hope you enjoyed learning about my MC✨

#hogwarts legacy #portkey games #hogwarts legacy mc #ravenclaw #ancient magic #hogwarts legacy fanart #procreate #digital drawing #ipad pro #character design #character sheet #character art #artists on tumblr #illustration #raven fawlty

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satureja13 · 1 month ago

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And while Saiwa and Jeb were not woohooing in their quarters, Jack and Vlad didn't woohoo either - they had other worries. Something was heading directly towards them! Vlad: "What is this 'thing'? A space junk yard? Why is it so fast!?" Jack: "Or it's a giant garbage ball from launched via mob-obtained rocket into space in 2052, in an attempt to alleviate a crippling rubbish problem?" (That was an episode of Futurama ^^')

It was Vlad and Jack's first shift together at the bridge and they'd been so excited to command a space ship - and now this. Starfleet protocol hadn't prepared them for this either... Since the communiction system and many other crucial systems and devices of the ship had been destroyed by a raging cat alien, they don't have many options.

Jack: "Whatever it is - it's on collision course! It will hit us! Are our Photon Torpedoes operational?" Vlad: "This is a science ship, I'm not sure if we even have any torpedoes - or other weapons..." Jack: "What now?" Everything about space had been more exciting in the Star Wars movies...

Vlad and Jack were just trying to alter their route in the autopilot, when that 'thing' raised a panel which said: "RUBYN SENT ME"

Jack: "Omg! Rubyn sent someone to help us!" Vlad: "Let's call the others and open the dock!"

They gathered in the cargo bay and greeted their savior. Dayn: "Hi, I'm Dayn. Rubyn is so worried! She thought you'd starve. But I see you have livestock on board." Saiwa: "What? No! They're our friends. We don't eat them. They'd rather eat us ^^'"

After they introduced themselves, the curious cat creature also came over to see what all the commotion was about. Dayn: "Omg Lenny! You're here! Albaleyh and the kids are missing you!" (So that's the pet that went missing! And his name is Lenny.)

Dayn: "But why did you run away? The kids are so sad they lost their father and then you ran off without a word!" Lenny: "Mau mau-mrauf. Mreouuwl!" Dayn: "Oh! I see. Since it was kind of your fault B.D got arrested while he searched for your friend, you felt guilty and you wanted to participate in rescuing him? And you ran away without a word because Albaleyh would have stopped you?" Lenny: "Mref!"

Saiwa: "You can understand him?" Dayn: "You don't?" Saiwa: "Eh... no?" Dayn picked Lenny up. Dayn: "You could have messaged us after the ship started." Lenny meowled again. Dayn: "Oh, you couldn't because you'd been so afraid of these Boys? I see." Saiwa: "We'd been afraid of him too ^^'"

Saiwa: "But why does Lenny feel guilty?" Dayn: "I thought Albaleyh told you what happened? Lenny's friend, the vaccum bot, vanished in the transporter beam and on their search for him, B.D got arrested because he stole that shuttle and a TIE fighter from the first order..." (The whole story starts -> here) Saiwa: "A vacuum bot? B.D got arrested while they searched for a vaccum bot for a cat creature?" Dayn: "No. They were searching for a good friend of a very precious crew member. Right, Lenny?" Lenny: "Mreaouw!" Saiwa sighed.

to be continued...

TMI: Dayn and Lenny are so happy to meet again. They go a long way back. Seven years! Lenny had been a stowaway on Dayn and Cecilia's ship ^^'

'She don't wanna say Where she's gone away But she's on replay In my, in my brain I'll do what it takes Any time or place We can turn a break up into an outbreak'

The Vamps - Oh Cecilia Original by Simon and Garfunkel

From the Beginning 🔱 Underwater Love 🔱 Latest

Current Chapter: starts ▶️ here Last Chapter: 'Here comes the Sun' from the beginning ▶️ here

📚 Previous Chapters: Chapters: 1-6 ~ 7-12 ~ 13-16 ~ 23-29

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canirove · 4 months ago

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Rice, Rice, baby | Chapter 29

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Masterlist

“Thank you very much for this trip, Declan.”

“You're welcome” he smiles.

We've been on the road for a while now, and things haven't been awkward between us after what happened the night before. And with that, I mean the best make out session ever, and we've shared a few.

Once we managed to break apart we just went to our rooms, both of us smiling like idiots. And in the morning while having breakfast, we still were like that. Smiling and feeling in cloud nine, enjoying our last moments together before having to go back to the real world and talk about what all those kisses meant and whatever he also wanted to tell me last night.

“Also, the playlist you made is so good. Banger after banger, no skips. Well, maybe just… Careful!” I scream when a car suddenly invades our side of the road.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Olivia!” my mum says, storming into the room. “Oh, Olivia.”

“Hello, mum” I reply while she hugs me as if her life depended on it.

“How are you? Are you alright? And the baby? When the hospital called us and told us that you had been in a car accident I feared the worst.”

“We are fine, mum. Don't worry.”

“Then why are you keeping you here?” she asks.

“They want to make sure I don't go into early labour. It apparently can happen after big moments of stress.”

“And what is he doing here?”

“Oh, dad. I hadn't seen you there with mum squeezing me” I say with a nervous laugh.

“I'll ask again, darling. What is Declan Rice doing here?”

“What?” my mum says, finally letting go of me and looking around the room. “Olivia, what…”

“I… He… I…” I mumble, trying to look for an excuse. Can the bed open and swallow me? Please? Or maybe the baby could choose to come now. Anything to avoid giving them an answer.

“I was the one driving” Declan says, the tone of his voice making me look at him and stop freaking out. I think I had only heard him talk like that in interviews after big defeats, when he's on captain mode.

“You were doing what?” my dad says.

“Driving the car, sir.”

“So the accident was your fault?”

“What? No!” I say. “Declan actually acted super fast and thanks to him nothing serious happened to any of us, the other driver included.”

“You still hit a tree, tho” my dad says, his eyes fixed on Declan.

“Better that than the other car” I reply.

“But why was he driving, Olivia?” my mum asks. “Weren't you going away with Kennedy?”

“I… I… I lied” I say, that last word almost a whisper.

“You lied? Why?”

“Because… Because I…”

“Olivia, were you away with him?” my dad asks. He's used my name, he hasn't called me darling. And he only does that when he is angry with me. Shit.

“I… yes?”

“Are you dating him?” he asks again. He still hasn't looked at me, he only has eyes for Declan.

“No.”

“Then why were you away with him?”

“Because… Because I… We…”

“Olivia, stop rambling and answer me” he says, finally looking at me. Though I wish he hadn't, because I had never seen him this mad and it is scary as hell. “Why were you away with Declan Rice?”

“Because… Because he's the baby's father.”

“Olivia!” my mum gasps.

“Is that true, boy? Are you the father?”

“Yes, sir” Declan says, taking my hand on his and giving it an encouraging squeeze, the confidence on his voice making me once again look at him. He is standing like he always does before a game, all serious and focused. I usually find that super attractive, and despite the circumstances, the feeling hasn't changed. It probably is stronger than ever. Because there also is some… protectiveness in him. Something that tells me that everything will be ok and that nothing will happen to me or the baby as long as he is there.

“Let's go” my dad says, turning his back to us.

“What? Where?”my mum asks with a confused look.

“Home.”

“We can't go home, Louis. What if Olivia goes into labour?”

“I don't care.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I don't care” he repeats. “She's betrayed me. Us.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She got pregnant from an Arsenal player!” my dad says, looking at us again. “That baby has blood from the enemy!”

“Oh, c'mon, dad! Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously! And as if that wasn't enough already, you've been lying to us for months, Olivia. Making us believe that Alex was the father, making us imagine a future where both our families finally become one as we've always dreamed of, playing with our feelings. You lied to us all, and that's something unforgivable.”

“All that is Alex's fault! I was planning on explaining everything, but he told you I was pregnant before I was ready and then lied about being the father because I hurt him when I said no to being his girlfriend. He was bitter and jealous of Declan and did it all for revenge!”

“Alex would never do something like that” he says.

“Oh, so you now believe him over your own daughter?”

“He hasn't hidden from her parents that she was dating a fucking gooner and that she was stupid enough to let herself get knocked up!”

“There is no need to yell or insult her, sir” Declan says.

“Oh, you shut the fuck up, you bastard!”

“Louis! He is the father of your grandson, show some respect!” my mum says.

“He is nothing to me. None of them are anymore. So when they let you go…” he says, looking at me. “Don't come to us. You are not welcomed in our house.”

“You can't be serious, dad” I say, tears starting to roll down my cheeks.

“You are not welcomed, Olivia. Neither of you are” he says, looking at Declan before walking away and leaving the room.

“Dad… Dad!” I cry.

“Don't listen to him, Olivia… Liv” my mum says, cupping my face and making me look at her. “Don't listen to him. He is saying that because he's angry and hurt, but he loves you more than anything. You and the baby. He just needs time to process it all. We all do” she says, looking at Declan.

“Rose!” I hear my dad call for her from outside.

“I better go. But Olivia… We love you. Both of us. Never forget that.”

“Ok” I sob.

“Will you take care of her?”

“Of both of them, ma'am” Declan says.

“Thank you. I know you are a good boy, and Louis knows it too, but… Football” she sighs. “You know how intense it can get.”

“I know, ma'am.”

“Call me when they send you home, Olivia. And please take care of her, Declan. She'll need you.”

“I will, ma'am. You have my word.”

“Please call me Rose. We are family now, aren't we?” she smiles. “And I better go. I love you, Olivia.”

“I love you too, mum.”

“Ok…” she says, kissing my head and then caressing my bump before leaving.

“Declan…” I whisper when the door closes behind her.

“It's ok, Liv” he says, sitting on the bed and hugging me, the feeling of his arms around me being what finally breaks me and makes me start crying like a baby. “I promise you I'm not going anywhere, that I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm with you, Liv. I'm with you now and always, you hear me? Now and always.”

#declan rice #posting a dramatic chapter the day he's finally given us model Declan feels weird 😂#declan rice fanfic #declan rice x reader #declan rice imagine #football fanfic #football imagine

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whimsicallyenchantedrose · 1 month ago

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Christmas Reruns 2024–Day 9: A Pirate’s Christmas Carol (1/2)

Merry Christmas if you celebrate it and happy holidays if you don’t! One of the things I love about Christmas is watching reruns of all the old classic Christmas movies–Christmas is a big time for nostalgia. A few years ago, I decided to incorporate that tradition into my fandom life and post my CS holiday reruns. So here you go! Enough holiday (mostly) fluff to get you to New Year’s Day. (With a new story posting on Christmas Day.)

Word Count: 2511

Other chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Note: This fic was written in 2016. At the time, it was a “future fic”, but now it’s more of an “alternate” canon fic. A Pirate’s Christmas Carol (pt. 1 of 2)

Killian admired the Christmas tree from his perch on the couch. The colorful lights shown to full effect in the last hours of the night when all was still and dark and silent. Tomorrow was the feast of Christmas, and Swan and the lad were so excited they could barely contain themselves.

Killian had to admit he was curious about this Christmas holiday. What an odd tradition to bring a tree into one’s living room and decorate it with lights and colorful baubles of all kinds!

The Swan-Jones family had spent a pleasant Christmas Eve with the Charmings. He and Swan were both strangers to the love and joy of family, and so the traditions of the season were both foreign and delightful to them. It warmed Killian’s heart to see the incandescent joy on his wife’s faces as she watched her parents open the gift she’d selected for them.

It was all he’d wanted for such a very, very long time—to be with the one he loved, to belong to a family.

At least it was all he’d thought he’d wanted…until the day some seven months past when Swan informed him that he was to be a father a month into the new year.

To say he’d been elated at the news was quite the understatement. The thought of having a child of his own was a dream he’d long since despaired of realizing. He loved Henry as his own son, of course, but there was something fitting and beautiful about creating a new life through the True Love he shared with Swan.

Killian reached for his flask, lying on the end table. He took a long sip and waited for the burning liquid to calm his frazzled nerves. Swan slept peacefully in their bed, their unborn son nestled warm and peaceful inside of her, but Killian found sleep eluding him on this Christmas Eve night.

He was happy about the approach of his little one’s birth; of course he was, but he was also bloody terrified. What did he know about being a father? His own father had been a piss poor example of what a parent should be. Killian knew his faults; knew he had a tendency to let emotions rule logic, a tendency toward impulsiveness. Would he prove to be as much of a disappointment to his son as his father was to him?

The thought made his stomach turn. Raising a child with Swan—this was one adventure he could not stand to muck up.

Killian had no idea how long he sat there worrying about his inadequacies as a father, but eventually the twinkling lights on the tree and crackling of the fire in the hearth lulled him into an uneasy sleep.

~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~

“Wake up, Little Brother!” someone said as a gentle hand shook Killian’s shoulder.

“Leave off, Liam!” Killian said sleepily…before the shock of what he’d just said—what he’d just heard—penetrated his sleep-fogged brain and woke him completely.

“Must have been dreaming,” Killian muttered to himself, rubbing his eyes with his good hand. Likely the day spent with family brought his own lost brother to mind.

A deep chuckle interrupted his musings. “It’s not a dream, Killian,” came the very definite voice of Liam Jones. “I’m quite real.

Killian turned, staring open-mouthed as his beloved brother, the man he’d personally seen move on to his eternal reward, took a seat on the opposite end of the couch in his and Swan’s living room.

“H…how are you here, brother?” Killian croaked, too shocked even to feel the intense joy he knew would hit soon.

“Technically speaking, I’m not,” Liam said cryptically. “I’m nothing but a shade, a ghost if you will. Your distress has not gone unnoticed. I’ve been sent to help you, to be your guide of sorts.”

“My guide?” Killian asked, brow furrowed. “I’m afraid I don’t follow, Liam. My guide to what?”

“Your past,” Liam said, getting to his feet and extending a hand. “You could call me your ghost of Christmas past. Come. I’ve much to show you this night.”

“But, Emma…” Killian said as he got to his feet as well. “She’ll worry if she wakes to find me gone, and in her condition—you’re to be an uncle, Liam!—I hesitate to cause her any more distress than is absolutely necessary.”

“Fear not about that, little brother,” Liam said with a gentle smile. “Your wife and babe will be quite well while we’re gone. I can promise you they won’t even know you’re gone. Take my hand. Do you trust me?”

“Always,” Killian said, finally taking the proffered hand.

Killian suddenly felt weightless, as though he’d taken flight. He looked down and saw the world below him spin away, as though he were moving faster than the airplane Swan had convinced him to board on their honeymoon. Were he being guided by anyone but Liam, he’d likely have called out in fright, but he’d spoken truthfully. He knew he could trust his beloved brother to have his safety and best interest at heart.

Killian had scarcely the time to wonder where they were headed before he and Liam landed gently right in the middle of a jungle. Killian’s heart dropped to his stomach. He would never in his life be able to forget this place.

Neverland.

He turned betrayed eyes to his brother, but before he got the chance to reproach Liam, a full regiment of Lost Ones whooped and hollered as they tore through the forest…stopping just outside Baelfire’s cave.

“Pan’s waiting for you,” the leader, Felix, called into the opening of the cave. “He’s ready to play. Are you ready to play Baelfire? It’s not wise to keep Pan waiting.”

Killian stepped forward, hand fisted, hook raised, but before he could confront the psychotic bullies, Liam stopped him with a hand to his sleeve. “They can’t see or hear us, brother. We merely watch events already transpired.”

The thought was surreal…but not nearly as surreal as watching himself, fully attired as a pirate, complete with vicious scowl and finely sharpened hook bound onto the scene and step between Baelfire’s cave and the Lost Ones.

“Not today, mates,” the Hook from the past growled, raising his signature weapon threateningly. “You’ll have to do without Bae for your sport.”

“Think carefully, captain,” Felix snarled. “It’s unwise to cross Pan.”

“I’ll take my chances.” Hook said. “Now return to your demon master, lest you feel the bite of my hook.”

Felix looked as though he wanted to argue further, but then his eyes fell onto the sharpened hook. Evidently deciding he didn’t wish to go up against the infamous Captain Hook, the Lost One turned away, motioning his followers to do the same. “You’re going to regret this Captain. Pan will not be pleased.”

Hook watched until the Lost Ones were out of sight, and then gave a sharp rap to the stone surface that functioned as Baelfire’s front door. A moment later teenage Bae came into view, looking as though he didn’t know whether to thank Hook—or to go off on him.

“Thanks,” Bae said finally. “Thanks for making them leave.”

Hook waved off the thanks, reaching up to scratch at the spot behind his ear. “It was no trouble, lad,” Hook said. “Things may have gone…badly…at our last meeting, but I wish you no harm. I wish to ensure your safety while we are trapped on this accursed island. It’s what your mother would have wanted.”

Bae shot him an inscrutable look. “How can I trust you? Just yesterday you let the Lost Ones take me from your ship!”

Killian reached into his bag and pulled out a large pastry. “I mean you no harm, Baelfire. I never have. Please accept this cake as a token of my commitment to protect you.”

Bae continued looking at Hook, mouth set in an angry line, but finally he nodded ever so slightly, reaching out to take the proffered gift. “Thanks,” Bae said

Killian felt a tap on his shoulder, and he turned back to look at Liam.

“Come little brother,” Liam said. “We’ve yet one more stop to make.”

~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~

Killian felt the soaring, speeding sensation once more, and when he came to a stop, he found himself in the Charmings’ loft. He looked around and saw himself and Swan seated together on the loveseat, their hands entwined.

“Now if you need anything, anything at all don’t hesitate to call. If you can’t get ahold of me, you can always call your father at the sheriff’s station,” Mary Margaret said, agitation clear in every fiber of her being. “Oh I hate leaving like this! If I didn’t still have Christmas shopping to do, I’d never go, but…”

Emma got to her feet, went to her mother and patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Mom! Killian and I will be fine. Little bro will be just fine with his big sis.”

“And though I might not have as much experience with newly born babes as one might wish,” Killian said, standing and putting an arm around Emma, “I look forward to spending time with the little prince. No harm will come to your lad while your daughter and I are caring for him.”

“Besides,” Emma added. “It’s Christmas Eve! Even the Snow Queen wouldn’t dare attack on a day as magical as today. Go! Enjoy your shopping.”

Snow looked unsure for another moment, and then she nodded, giving first Emma and then Killian a hug. “I won’t be more than an hour. And don’t forget! Call me if you need anything!”

“Goodbye, mom,” Emma said, gently steering Snow toward the door. “And don’t rush. Killian and I are excited about staying with Neal. Enjoy yourself!”

With one last worried look back at them, Snow finally left the apartment.

Killian smiled as he watched the hour unfold.

“Pleasant memory, brother?” Liam asked.

“Aye,” Killian said, nodding to his other self, holding a sprig of mistletoe over Emma’s head and then leaning in for a long, slow kiss. “As you can see the first quarter of that hour, while the prince finished his nap, was spent in quite the pleasurable manner.”

“So it would seem,” Liam said with a sly grin. “My prim and proper lieutenant brother has learned how to comport himself around the ladies.”

Killian grinned back. “Aye, so he has. Although this particular woman, my true love, never ceases to keep me on my toes.”

“As I said back in the Underworld, Killian,” Liam allowed. “I was wrong about Miss Swan…or should I say Mrs. Jones? Love quite becomes you, and I have my charming sister-in-law to thank for that.”

“More than you know, brother,” Killian said, thinking about the years of pain and vengeance he’d given up when he met Emma.

A cry shattered the tranquility of the apartment, and Emma pulled her mouth free from Killian’s with a groan. “Guess someone’s up, and he doesn’t sound like he’s in the mood to be patient for his lunch. I better go get him.”

Killian stopped her with a hand to her arm. “Let me, love. You’re far more expert at using the miniature heating box to prepare Neal’s bottle, and I’ve developed quite a fondness for your tiny brother.”

Emma laughed and pecked him once more on the lips. “It’s called a microwave, Killian,” she said, moving in the direction of the kitchen.

“What a thoroughly illogical moniker,” he responded as he headed toward the little nursery off of the Charmings’ bedroom, the sound of Swan’s continued laughter following him about his task.

“Let’s follow,” Liam said, heading toward the nursery, “this is the moment I particularly wished to bring to your memory.”

Killian walked expertly to the cradle, reached in and maneuvered hand and hook beneath the infant, lifted him, and then placed him in the crook of his arm. Neal stopped crying as soon as he was in Killian’s arms.

“There you are, my little prince,” Killian crooned to the child as he slowly walked back toward the apartment’s common area. “Have you a smile for your Uncle Killian this afternoon?”

The little one continued peering up at his sister’s boyfriend, content but stoic.

“He’s too young to be smiling yet,” Emma said, coming up behind him and looking at Neal over Killian’s shoulder. “Won’t start that for another month or so.”

“So it seems,” Killian agreed, turning his head to kiss her gently.

“Want me to feed him?” Emma asked, reaching out for the baby.

Killian sat back onto the couch. “That’s quite alright Swan,” he said, reaching for the bottle, “I’d quite like to do it myself.”

“Suit yourself ‘Uncle Killian’,” Emma said, curling up next to him, laying her head on his shoulder, and reaching over to hold little Neal’s hand.

“Come, Killian,” Liam said, putting an arm around his shoulders, “it’s time we return to your home.”

A moment later, Killian found himself back in his own home, seated once more before the fire and the magnificent Christmas tree. Liam stood before him. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but he looked less solid, less corporeal than before.

“You sense it, do you not, brother?” Liam asked.

“Pardon?”

“You sense that my time with you is nearly over,” Liam said. “I’ve completed my task, shown you what you needed to see.”

“No!” Killian said, getting to his feet, trying to reach for Liam; his hand went right through his brother. “I’ve only just found you again.”

“I’m afraid I must go, Killian,” Liam said with a bittersweet smile. “Paradise calls to me. But brother, I know what’s troubled you this night. I know your fears about your coming son. You mustn’t be afraid; you will make a tremendous father. Until I see you again in the life to come, brother. Farewell.”

And with that Liam faded gently away, his exclamations of delight the last thing Killian heard as his brother returned to his place in Paradise.

Notes:

–So this story is obviously based off of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol”. That’s always been one of my favorite Christmas stories (and movies), so I thought I’d see if I could turn it into a CS story. In this version, of course, the returning “ghosts” haven’t come to convince Killian to give up his miserly ways before he ends up dying miserable and friendless (and taking a one-way ticket south), but rather they’ve come to show Killian that he doesn’t need to fear his coming fatherhood.

–Up next: Killian is visited by two more ghosts—one showing Christmas present and the other showing Christmas future. Will these ghosts—one a face very familiar to all of us, and one of them not—succeed in calming Killian’s upcoming fatherhood fears?

NEXT CHAPTER->

#cs fanfiction #cs christmas reruns #my fanfiction #a pirate's christmas carol

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fanficshiddles · 5 months ago

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Eternally Mine, Chapter 29

Chris had arranged to meet with Louise in the park just after lunch time, it had quickly become one of their favourite places to go.

This time though, Chris was a nervous wreck, he knew he had to tell her about what he did, but he was terrified this was going to be the end. That she would never want to see him again. He had arrived far too early for the time they were meeting, he sat on the bench and kept nervously running a hand through his hair and wringing his hands together.

When he caught a whiff of her scent, he leapt up to his feet just as she came into view. God, she was so beautiful, she always made his heart skip a beat. The smile that spread across her face when she saw him, the way her eyes lit up… He felt awful for what he was about to tell her… for the monster he was.

‘Hey!’ She smiled widely as she rushed straight to him and embraced him, he tightened his arms around her as she buried her face against his chest.

Chris pressed his face into the top of her head, inhaling deeply. This was possibly the last time he’d be able to hold her like this…

‘I need to tell you something.’ Chris and Louise both said at the same time when she pulled her face away from him.

Chris raised an eyebrow in surprise, and she looked surprised, too.

‘What is it?’ They then both said together, making them both laugh lightly.

‘You first?’ Louise asked.

Chris sighed and ran a hand down his face, making her worry a bit. She realised he was a little uptight and didn’t seem quite right.

They sat down on the bench, Chris could barely look at her as he took her hands.

‘I… I really fucked up last night. I said I won’t lie to you, and I meant it. Which is why I need to tell you… I’ll understand if you never want to see me again.’ He swallowed hard as he felt a lump in his throat.

‘I went into a bit of a frenzy yesterday, I tried to control it… but I hurt… killed… seven humans.’ He managed to get out, still unable to look at her. ‘I didn’t even go to Toshi to help find humans that deserved a death. I just… went for the first ones I could find. I know I fucked up so badly, and it’s unforgivable. I can’t apologise enough.’

He was met with silence, Chris took a moment before he dared to look at her face.

Though she didn't move or try to take her hands away from his, he did notice shock flash over her face and her heartbeat spiked for a moment as she processed it, the realisation sinking in more just how dangerous vampires could really be. What was just a mere minute or two, felt like hours for Chris.

Louise felt his grip on her hands tighten a little, like he was worried about her letting go. She could see how beat up he was about it. It just took time for her brain to process everything, for her to also try and rationalise the situation.

He was a vampire at the end of the day. One of the originals, too. With much stronger feral instincts. Then she remembered their conversation the other week and she calmed a little more.

‘Chris…' She sighed a little. 'You told me before that you wouldn’t lie to me, and you told me that you couldn’t promise you’d never hunt innocents again… While it’s not great, morally. You are a vampire, it’s in your instincts, and I understand that. I really do. I know that it’s not easy either being around your soulmate and not able to carry out your urges…’

Chris just stared at her in disbelief for a moment, then he blinked and cupped her face, pressing his forehead against hers. ‘You don’t hate me? You don’t want to run away from me forever?’ He asked, his voice shaky.

‘No, not at all. Did you think I would?’ Louise asked, eyebrows up.

‘I did. I know it’s not good what I did.’ Chris leaned back a bit.

‘No, not really… Though you tell me not to apologise for something that’s not my fault. You need to take that advice too… It’s not your fault that your vampire urges and instincts needed to do that. I guess us sleeping together probably didn’t help?’ She asked quietly.

‘Not exactly… At the time, I felt so at peace and calm with you. Though it started to kick in afterwards, the strong feelings… The urges. I needed an outlet, I was scared I was going to do something bad or wrong towards you. That I’d take things too far… I had to make sure that wouldn’t happen, so I took it out on the first humans I could find.’ He said honestly.

‘Well, I won’t act like everything is absolutely peachy because I know it’s not ideal from a human point of view… I know that you are trying though, that this is a different situation for us. I know I’m not helping matters by holding off.’

‘No, no. It’s not your fault at all. This is my issue, even if you were to never want to get intimate that is your choice, not for you to worry about.’ Chris said firmly as he gently cupped her cheek.

‘Never get intimate? That won’t be the case… Have you not seen yourself?’ She blushed hard as she smiled.

Chris laughed. ‘Well, even if it’s years down the line, we will only do it when you are one hundred percent ready.’

‘I know… Though I know it’s not helping your situation out, we can’t deny that. I want to… I just… With him as soon as we got intimate in the bedroom that’s when things went to shit. And I absolutely know and trust you, I know that won’t happen with you. There is just this small niggling bit in my brain that just won’t let me yet. Like I’m scared this happiness will suddenly vanish, which I know is so stupid… I will get over it, I just… don’t know when.’ She said sadly and looked down.

‘You don’t need to explain to me, pumpkin. I understand completely, and like I said I will wait for an eternity if that’s how long you need.’

‘See, this is you… Yesterday was just a little slip up. Please, don’t beat yourself up over it.’ Louise pleaded.

Chris smiled and brushed his thumb against her lower lip. ‘What on earth did I do to deserve you as my soulmate, hmm? The most beautiful being and soul.’ He said softly as he leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips, making her heart flutter.

‘I’m guessing you’ve not told Loki?’ She asked.

‘No… Toshi and Severus said I probably shouldn’t.’ Chris said sheepishly.

‘No, definitely not. Let’s not tell Claire, either. I mean, I think she’d understand too, but she might slip around Loki. I wouldn’t want her to have to keep something like that from him.’ Louise said determinedly.

‘Are you sure? I wouldn’t want you to be put into a position where you have to lie to your sister.’ Chris frowned.

Louise shrugged. ‘I just won’t mention it. If she asks me outright if you did it... Then I’d maybe struggle, but I doubt she will. I guess people will just think it’s rogue vampires again?’

‘That’s what I’m hoping for. Are you sure about this?’ Chris asked.

‘Absolutely.’ Louise nodded. ‘I also… I don’t think it will happen again, well, not as bad maybe anyway.’

‘What makes you say that?’ Chris frowned.

‘Well… I’ve been thinking... and I spoke to Claire a little bit about it, too. I want you to bite me, to feed from me.’ Louise blurted out excitedly, though she tried to keep calm.

Chris’ eyes widened like saucers. ‘You… what?!’

‘I want you to bite me.’ She repeated, a bit more shyly this time.

Chris’ heart started racing and his mouth began watering at the mere thought, though he mentally slapped himself and kept calm. ‘What… Are… I… You…’

He coughed to clear his throat and try again, Louise giggled at his flustered-ness.

‘I hope you’re not just saying this after what I did?’ He asked.

‘Not at all, I have texts to prove I was speaking to Claire about it this morning if you want.’ Louise said honestly.

Chris chuckled lightly and shook his head. ‘I believe you, pumpkin… I just… It’s not something to be taken lightly, it’s probably more intimate than sex is, to be honest. For me, anyway.’ He rubbed the back of his head.

‘I thought it would be… I do really want to let you, though. I’m ready. Plus, if it does help to calm things down with you, then, why not?’ Louise asked.

Chris tapped his knee in thought for a moment. ‘You’re sure you’ve thought this through thoroughly?’

Louise nodded. ‘I’ve been thinking about it since I came back after Christmas, non-stop thinking about it.’

He knew she was being truthful, he could tell by her heartbeat. While it was a little faster because he could tell she was a bit excited talking about it with him. He knew she wasn’t lying.

‘I won’t lie, I’ve thought about sinking my fangs into you from the moment I first laid eyes on you.’ He purred, making her stomach jolt. ‘I know you’re going to be irresistible, so you will be unleashing the monster. I won’t be able to get enough of you.’ He said in a playful tone, though with warning too.

‘Claire has told me a little about it, I'll be prepared.’ Louise blushed.

Chris went silent again, pondering. ‘Ok, one condition though. We wait and do it Friday night? I want to make sure you’re ok after it, so at least we’d have the whole weekend for you to recover and I can look after you.’

Louise’s heart melted completely. Though then she worried a little. ‘Would it really take the whole weekend to recover?’

‘Not entirely. It depends on multiple things. How much I take from you, if you’ve eaten and hydrated well or not. Usually recovery is just a few hours, if that. If done right. Though I just want to be extra careful, you are so precious to me, I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you.’ Chris said as he picked up her hands to kiss.

‘Well… Friday it is then.’ Louise smiled widely. ‘Your place or mine?’

Claire let out a squeal of excitement as she read a text from Louise, causing Loki to jump out of his skin and drop the book he’d been reading, it fell down the side of the bed onto the floor.

‘What? What’s happened?’ He asked, alarmed.

‘Chris is going to bite Claire on Friday!’ Claire said excitedly.

‘Oh Jesus.’ Loki groaned and ran a hand down his face as he sank back down to the pillow.

‘What? It’s a good thing, isn’t it? They’re taking another step in their relationship, plus it might help calm Chris down.'

‘Yes… Though Chris is going to be a bloody nightmare to deal with for the whole week.’

#tom hiddleston #loki #loki x ofc #loki fic #vampire loki #Chris Motionless #Chris Motionless x ofc #vampire Chris Motionless #the redbridge hunts #eternally mine

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dilemmaontwolegs · 2 years ago

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Running from the Flames {29}

Pairing: Pierre Gasly x OFC Warnings: 18+ only, smut, labour

F1 Masterlist || Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

I woke to soft kisses on my shoulder and Pierre’s hand catching the foot that kicked wildly. Dawn had already broken and he should have been getting ready for race day but I was thankful to have him all to myself for a few minutes before I had to share him with the world.

“I was having a good dream,” I murmured as I snuggled back against his chest and the warmth his bare skin offered.

“Yeah? What made it good?” he asked between the kisses that inched their way up my neck.

He gently sucked the sweet spot below my ear and my breath left my lungs with a soft moan. “You.”

“What was I doing?” he whispered in my ear, his fingertips travelling slowly down my waist and over my hip leaving goosebumps in their wake.

I rolled over to face him and he pulled my leg over his hip, the thin material between us needing only a small adjustment to make my dream spill into the real world. Unfortunately one of us had to be responsible and it fell on me as I brushed his wild hair back from his face. “Things you're not allowed to do on race day.”

A low growl rumbled in his throat at the reminder and he pulled me closer, grinding his hard length over my soaked panties. “If I have to be horny all day, so can you.”

All thoughts of being responsible were erased when he rolled his hips again to tease me. It wasn’t really my fault with how erratic these hormones made me, one moment I could be crying because I couldn’t find a matching sock in the washing pile and the next I was climbing on Pierre’s lap with a burning need to be filled.

“You vowed to satisfy me every day for the rest of our lives,” I said as I hooked my leg around him to stop him from rolling away to get out of bed.

“Cherish, love and obey,” he chuckled. “I’m not sure the priest would’ve let me say satisfy.”

“Then obey your wife, and make love to me,” I muttered against his lips before I captured them and felt his hand reach between us, pulling my panties aside.

“You are a terrible influence,” he smirked, his fingers dragging slowly through my folds and feeling just how wet I was for him.

“The worst,” I sighed softly as he prepared my body for him, but I was more than ready to take him. “Please, Pierre, I need you. You can take your time with me tomorrow.”

The sun was out, the Suzuka circuit was in its optimal condition and Pierre was having an amazing race. It couldn’t have been more exciting with big challenges going on with every lap as I sat on the wall beside Otmar, my headset connected to the team comms.

“Go baby, go,” I whispered to the muted microphone as he hit the DRS zone fractions behind Fernando. Pierre swung out of the slipstream and with the drag reduction open he was flying past the Aston Martin. I leapt from the chair with a scream as he pulled into fourth position and turned into the speed trap corner perfectly while Otmar punched the air with a grin.

“Great work, Pierre, keep that up, you’ve got your wife jumping out her seat,” Otmar praised before he turned to me but I was busy staring at my dress, or more importantly, the small puddle of water dripping at my feet. “Oh, shit.”

“What? What is it?” Pierre asked in a hurry.

“Don’t!” I hissed at my godfather when he opened his mouth. “There’s only 4 laps left. Please, don’t tell him.”

“Nothing, just spilled my drink in the excitement,” Otmar answered and I could see he wasn’t happy with the lie before he muted his microphone. “We need to get you off the wall now and to the hospital.”

“It’s too early…what do I do?” My voice broke as his arm hooked into mine and he looked down the pits to see if any teams were preparing a stop.

“Don’t think about that right now, you’ll be in good hands.” After he was satisfied it was clear, he walked me across the asphalt and caught the eyes of the paramedics who usually checked the crew if someone got injured.

“Get her in an ambulance now,” Otmar ordered them as he grabbed my bag from the pile of belongings on Pierre’s shelf. “I’ll call Damien so he can bring Addie and Pierre.”

A huge cheer filled the garage and I spun around to see the screens replaying another overtake. Pierre was in third place with two laps to go, just ahead of Charles, but he was still too far from the Red Bull cars to catch unless there was a flag. There was no way I could stop him now, not when he was going to find himself on a podium.

The tight sensations I had felt on and off since arriving at the paddock were no longer just uncomfortable but becoming painful. These were not harmless braxton hicks contractions anymore and more water was running down my legs with each one. That was when the panic set in.

“Talk me through what’s happening, Bri.” Amber said as she opened her medical kit and pulled out the blood pressure cuffs. Ever since my pregnancy was announced they had been kept up to date with my progress for this very situation and I had thought it was silly at the time, now I would have to thank Otmar for indulging Pierre’s request.

“My waters have broken and I’m guessing that the back ache I’ve had all day isn’t actually a back ache.” I hunched over as another wave of pain clenched the entire span of my stomach and a low groan escaped my gritted teeth. “Fuck, that hurts.”

“BP is a little high but that’s expected when in pain. Sounds like baby is definitely coming a little early so I’m going to call one of the standby ambulances to come and get us alright.”

My hands trembled as I held my stomach protectively and watched her make the call through her walkie talkie. “I’m only 34 weeks.”

“Japan has some of the best medical care in the world, they are equipped to handle this,” she assured me as she received a reply that the ambulance was coming down the pitlane.

Pierre’s POV

“Tires struggled on this lap,” I commented to my engineer as I checked my mirrors to see Charles’ red car falling further behind. “Hello?”

I had pushed the medium tires more than I should have but I had the pace to get ahead of Charles so I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity while it was in my grasp. Instead I would just have to be more conscious on the corners with the grip getting worse.

I rounded the last corner before hitting the home straight and spared a glance to the pit wall in case the comms had gone down and the team put a sign out. What I saw instead made my heart skip a beat.

“Why is there an ambulance? Hello? Can you hear me?” Each second of silence that passed left my palms sweaty and my attention torn between where I was and where I wanted to be.

The comms crackled to life in my ear and my engineer finally answered. “Just manage the tires the best you can for the final lap.”

“The ambulance,” I repeated as my eyes darted around the track searching for any flags being waved but the stewards held nothing. “Why is it in the pit lane?”

“Focus on the race, babe.” The relief my wife’s voice brought was fleeting as it didn’t hold the same warmth and the tone was clipped like when she was distracted, or in pain.

“Box, box, I’m coming in,” I rushed as I hit the button on my console to confirm I was returning to the pits at the end of the lap.

“You can’t finish in the pit!” Bri argued before she groaned in pain and my mind was set as I pushed the limits of the tires to get back to her even sooner.

“Try stop me,” I muttered.

Determination set in as clusters of marbles were thrown from my tires on every corner, blue flags waving as I passed Logan's car and then Oscar’s next. There was no elation when Karel let me know I set a new sector record or that I was closing in on Danny. There was nothing but the need to get to my family.

I could see the chequered flag waving, the finish line up ahead and the crowd on their feet. I hated to disappoint the fans, but my family would always come first. It was them who would still be standing by my side when I no longer raced, not the fans, of that I had no illusion.

I pulled into the pits, ignoring the speed limit, and found the teams had created a path that usually would have been swamped by the media. A path that led all the way to the ambulance waiting outside my garage.

The wheels locked with how hard I came to a stop and I barely registered cutting the power before I was tearing the console from the steering column and jumping to the asphalt.

I was no stranger to adrenaline but the fear that cut through me was unlike anything I had ever experienced when I saw Bri on the stretcher, her brows pinched in pain and her hands cradling her stomach. The thought of something bad happening to either of them caused a chill to creep into my body.

They had to be alright, or I would never be able to alright again.

“Give me your helmet and go,” Otmar ordered as stood at the door to the ambulance.

“Adelaide?”

“Damien’s with her and they’ll find you at the hospital.” Otmar frowned and pressed the headset closer to his ear before looking down the pit to the entrance where Charles was pulling in. “What? All of them?”

I didn’t wait to find out what was happening as I climbed the steps into the ambulance and grabbed my wife’s hand. “Le bébé?” My throat seemed to close at the question and I tried to keep my mind busy as I waited for an answer but then I saw the skirt of those floral sundresses she loved so much. The bright material was dark with the liquid soaking it.

“I don’t know.” Tears welled in her eyes at the whispered admission and I took the seat beside her, pressing my lips to her forehead so she didn’t see the ones that filled mine too.

“It’s okay, shh, it’s alright, amore,” I murmured weakly as I looked at the team medic and prayed I wasn’t lying.

“BP is still rising but the baby's heartbeat is steady so they are stable for transport,” Amber said as she watched the readings on the monitor. “Shiroko Women’s are preparing a theatre for our arrival. They’re in good hands, Pierre.”

Her words gave me a glimmer of hope that I clung to. I needed that to be true for my own sanity.

Amber got up to close the back of the van after relaying the information to a translator who passed it onto the hospital and the air left my lungs as I saw the line of cars down the pit lane, the Williams and McLaren I had overtaken on the last lap just pulling in at the very back.

“FIA can’t DNF 18 drivers,” Bri said as she saw the same thing and squeezed my hand tightly. “They’ll be forced to use the pit entry as the final positions. They’re making sure you get your podium.”

“I don’t need it,” I said as I leaned back in the seat to see the driver putting the van in gear. “I need you and our baby safe.”

A loud bang sounded on the back door just as we started to roll forward and I shouted to the driver to stop at the familiar voice calling out.

“Let him in,” Bri begged Amber, though the space was already limited.

Amber opened the door quickly and Yuki stood panting from the full out sprint he had made along the pit lane to reach us. “I thought you might need a translator,” he said as he scratched his head and looked me dead in the eye. “Your japanese is fucking shit.”

The small chuff of laughter from Bri lightened the burden in my chest and I glanced at our entwined fingers resting on her stomach before looking back at my friend. “I could use all the help I can get.”

Click here for chapter thirty.

Tagging: @my-only-way-tocooperatewithlife @prrttysposts @alwaysclassyeagle @dr3lover @adalynneva

#pierre gasly #pierre gasly x poc!oc #pierre gasly smut #pierre gasly fanfic #pierre gasly x oc #f1 imagine #f1 smut #f1 fanfic #f1 rpf #running from the flames

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mosscreeper-ao3 · 4 months ago

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October 2024 writing challenges directory

Flufftober (prompts from @flufftober)

Pairings are in green. Please be mindful of the difference between "/" (romantic or sexual) and "&" (platonic) pairings

Lost pet meet cute-Kaidan & Rocky (his dog from my main mShenko series)

"Left, other left!"-mShenko

Favorite scent-Kaidan & the Normandy crew

Market day-MFE friendship

Acorn, pinecone, chestnut-Jaith

Mistaken identity-Keith & Shiro (Broganes)

Hoodie weather-Jaith

Chopping and piling wood-mShenko

"Don't do that." "but-Jaith

Bet, game, contest-Jaith, Veraxca, MFE friendship

Ingredients and spells-Paladin friendship

"This is spooky." "Really?"-Klance

Attic, cellar, hidden room-solo Keith

Fantasy AU/Mundane AU-Jaith

"What are you wearing?" "It's laundry day."-Jaith

Yes, no, maybe-Jaith

Rainy Day (alt prompt)-Jaith

Bewitched-Jaith

Yarn-mShenko

Paw-Keith & Kosmo

Bonfire-mShenko

Heirloom-solo James Griffin

Stormy night-Jaith

Comfort food-MFE friendship

Haunted house-Klance

"I can't find it."-mShenko

Afternoon stroll-mShenko

Lucky charm-MFE friendship, Jaith

Time capsule-Paladin Friendship

"Forever?"-Jaith

"Make a wish."-Jaith

Whumptober (prompts from @whumptober)

This one is mostly split into two fics with each prompt being a chapter. One exploring James' emotional state after Keith leaves and the other exploring Keith being captured during a BoM mission.

A few prompts are turned into one shots and drabble collections.

Keith's fic (Dear Agony) covers the following prompts

Day 1-race against the clock/search party

Day 3-set up for failure/wrongfully arrested

Day 4-hallucination/sensory deprivation

Day 7-only for emergencies/unconventional weapons

Day 8-sleep deprivation/forced to stay awake

Day 12-starvation/"just a little more"

Day 16-necrosis/wound cleaning

Day 21-body horror/spirit possession

Day 22-bleeding through the bandages/reopening wounds

Day 24-radiation poisoning/equipment failure

Day 26-nightmares/parting words regret

Day 29-fatigue/"who said you could rest?"

James' fic (Terms and Conditions) will cover the following prompts

Day 2-trust issues/role reversal

Day 5-sunburn/heatstroke

Day 6-not realizing they're injured/unhealthy coping mechanism

Day 9-obsession/broken window

Day 11-seeing double/loneliness

Day 13-team as family/"death will do us part

Day 14-left for dead/“Because I want you to know what it feels like to be haunted”

Day 18-revenge/loss of identity

Day 23-forced choice/broken pedestal

Day 28-denial/CCTV

Day 31-asking for help/"I'm alive, I'm just not well"

Jaith drabble +ficlet collection (Twin Skeletons)

Day 10-blow to the head/"I can't think straight"

Day 15-childhood trauma/"I did good, right?"

Day 17-nowhere else to go/"we had a good run"

Shiro drabble collection (I've Grown Tired of This Body)

Day 25-surgery/"it's for your own good", solo Shiro

Day 27-voiceless/muzzled, solo Shiro

Day 30-recovery/"what have I done", solo Shiro

One shots

Day 19-blood trail/"is there anybody out there?", Paladins

Day 20-emotional angst/"it's not your fault, Shiro & Keith (broganes)

Kinktober below the cut

Kinktober (prompts from @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction)

Pairings are in green.

Edging-Jaith

Love bites-Jaith

Breath play-Shiro/Curtis

First time-Allurance (all Allurance will have trans Lance)

Nipple play-Allurance

Mirror sex-Jaith

Secret reltionships-mShenko

Fingering-Romelle/Allura

Sex pollen-Jaith

Scissoring-Allurance

Threesome-Kallurance

Kneeling-Jaith

Shower-Klance

Begging-mShenko

Surrender-mShenko

Public-mShenko

Praise kink-Jaith

Psychic bonds-femShep/Liara

Fuck or die-Jaith

Whipping-Shiro/Curtis

Bondage-Shiro/Curtis

Shotgunning-Jaith (college AU)

Blindfold-Allurance

On the desk-Jaith

Sleepy sex-Shiro/Curtis

Marking-Jaith

Body worship-mShenko

Face sitting-Romelle/Allura

Hair pulling-mShenko

Afternoon delight-Shiro/Curtis

Free space, swimming-Jaith

#voltron #james griffin #keith kogane #jaith #vld keith #vld shiro #takashi shirogane #mshenko #Shiro/curtis #allurance #kallurance #kaiden alenko #mfe pilots #ao3 #writing #mosscreeper updates #flufftober #whumptober #kinktober 2024

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just-my-latest-hyperfixation · 7 months ago

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WIP Weekend

Weekly WIP upate:

Currently working on ch 4 of The King's Gift. This is where the plot will slowly start to pick up, and I'm looking forward to getting some action and drama in.

@cuips-not-cute has already gotten started on some first sketches for Updraft, and let me tell you, I am in LOVE! Planning on getting chapter 4 done by the end of this month.

18 out of 29 celebration requests are done, with more coming early next week, once I finish my ficlet for this month's pop-up round of the @steddieholidaydrabbles

Send me an emoji and I'll write and share three sentences from that project.

🏰The King's Gift

⚙️Updraft (my @steddiebang2024 fic with art by @cuips-not-cute)

🥳Celebration ficlets/holiday drabble

Snippet from 🏰

Speaking of Max, she’s already in the yard when he arrives. She's holding two horses by the bridles - a large and imposing-looking black one and a slightly smaller one with a beautiful, light tan coat - and deep in conversation with a scowling Eddie.

“I don’t care about your excuses,” he hears her say as he approaches. Since she has her hands full with the horses, she can’t poke a finger at Eddie’s chest, but Steve has an inkling that she absolutely would if she could. “I want you to return them in top condition. Not a hair out of place, you hear me?”

“You wound me, Red,” Eddie slaps a hand to his chest, all dramatic affront. “When have I ever handled your precious animals with anything but the utmost care?”

She measures him with a withering look, jerking her head at the black horse, which moves its ears nervously, almost like it’s sensing they’re talking about it.

“Yeah? Was or wasn’t he practically caked in mud the last time you brought him back?”

Eddie scowls, suddenly very interested in the tips of his boots.

“‘s not my fault he likes rolling in it.”

“Oh, so it’s mine? Is that what you’re saying?”

“What? No,” Eddie groans, raking a frustrated hand through his mop of curls - sloppily tied back with a string of leather today. “C’mon, Max, you know that’s not what-”

She talks over him.

“You know what, I don’t care. But if you bring him back looking like a pig, you can clean him up yourself. No running off on important king business, no urgent matters suddenly demanding your attention. You take care of your own messes, do you-”

“Steve,” blurts Eddie, who has finally spotted him standing a few feet off, following the argument with wide eyes. “You made it! Robin found you then!”

He flounces over, leaving Max to glare daggers into his back, smile wide and overjoyed as every time they see each other.

“Yeah, obviously,” Steve retorts. He shakes his head exasperatedly, but can’t quite help the fond little smile that tugs on his lips. When Eddie entwintes their fingers to pull him over to where Max is still waiting with the horses, he doesn’t flinch or pull back his hand. He’s slowly starting to get used to Eddie’s very physical ways of showing affection. “What is this about? She said you had some sort of surprise for me?”

“Couldn’t keep her mouth shut if she tried, that one, huh?” Eddie huffs good-naturedly, and Steve resists the urge to point out that he can’t talk, exactly - not with the way his own mouth tends to go a mile a minute when he gets into a topic he’s really excited about. “As a matter of fact, I do. C’mon, let me introduce you.”

“Can I go then?” Max asks as they approach. Her face is set into her usual, annoyed frown, but when Steve smiles at her in greeting, she cracks a toothy grin in reply. “I have better things to do than watching you two being all lovey dovey.”

“Hey, we’re not-” Steve starts to say, but Eddie pushes past him, taking the bridles out of her hands and shooing her off.

“You go ahead, I’ve got it.”

Max flashes Steve an obnoxiously smug grin as she skips off into the stable buildings.

“Have fun,” she says. “Don’t let him roll in the mud.”

“For fuck’s sake, that was one time,” Eddie groans.

“I was talking to Steve,” Max calls over her shoulder, and then she’s gone, the stable door slamming behind her.

#steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steddie fanfic #steddie brainrot #fanfiction writer #fanfiction #fanfic #my writing #wip ask game #wip weekend

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mekachu04 · 2 months ago

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29. Date

Kidd - 18 | Killer - 21

Tags specifically for this chapter:

discussions of minors and sex

Kidd confronts Killer on him leaving

Killer struggles with Kidd's age

discussions of teenagers and age gaps

would they actually talk about this irl/cannon - i dunno...

probably not... but then again, they are soft about the other

be ready for an awkward fight that they've been needing to have a for a few years now

but also needed to wait to have until Kidd matured a little bit

Read at A03 linked above or here below cut

Drabbles from Pocket Jack's KiKi-tober Prompt list

They were supposed to be going out on the town, the island they'd docked at having a wide selection of restaurants and concert halls and other amusements. They'd been loitering in the area past their departure as the days slowly ticked away in the second week of the new year, specifically for tonight. Instead, Kidd and Killer found themselves drinking in the quiet galley, sharing gossip and reminiscing about an island that never quite felt like home there at the end.

About the wild exploits of The Kid Boss of the Heaps - a teenager that had managed to unify the unmanageable, and how even Killer's Boss had sat up and took notice before their group had imploded.

Kidd had had a few times where the same had almost happen to him too, before he really came to understand the power he'd found himself responsible for - "People only fear you for so long before they hate you enough to do something about it." Which was terribly profound when you realize a 16 year old had come to understand this before the adults around him did.

"At least you had some charisma that got you a few people that had your back. Nobody followed me because they thought I was going to be a good Boss. I was just the poor bastard left standing with the dust cleared. As soon as they realized they had other options, it was an exodus. Most of them defected to you or Wire pretty fast."

"I did notice an uptick of sycophants after that one meeting we had."

"I believe I warned you about that."

Kidd nodded. "Yeah... yeah, you warned me about a few things. You were right - about using my fruit around people. It being a bad idea."

"... I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well. Live and learn."

"I hope you smeared the assholes to paste."

Kidd chuckled darkly, "I did indeed. They were worthless; be glad they ditched out on you."

"It was only a matter of time before they left. They all do." Killer conceded, sipping his beer though a straw Dive had found... somewhere. "Just sorry you had to deal with them."

"You left me." He hadn't meant it accusatorially, not really. Just a statement of fact. But once it was out, Kidd felt a little angry about the whole thing. Killer just going on about being left behind, oh woe is me, but he did the same damn thing.

Killer frozen in place, before slowly putting his mug on the table. Kidd could feel him looking to the galley exit, calculating how to leave.

Fuck that.

"Was I that awful to be around?"

Killer rubbed his palms on his jeans, and Kidd swallowed thickly around the lump forming there.

"Oh."

"Look.. It..." Killer got up then, and Kidd watched him start to pace, feeling more and more uneasy with each anxious step Killer took. "It wasn't you, it was me... Well, it was you but it wasn't your fault."

"I have no idea what that means."

Killer's head is tilted up like the ceiling holds the answers.

"Killer, what the fuck does that mean?"

Killer shook his head, and Kidd stood up abruptly, ready to block him from fleeing.

"Killer! What did I do?"

"It wasn't your fault." Killer reiterated, and that didn't make anything clearer, and they both knew it. "You were just... You were kind of a lot... at.... that age..."

"I was 14! What are you on about?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Kidd had a sickening feeling starting to form in his gut. It must have shown in his face, because Killer glanced at him once before quickly looking away.

"You... got a little.. handsy. At night."

"Handsy?"

"A lot handsy. And.. clingy?" His voice pitched like a question, like he was trying to find a way to word Kidd's apparent behavior while downplaying it at the same time.

Kidd slumped against the table they'd just been enjoying drinks at. "How bad was I?"

"Four Blues, Kidd - you were awful." Killer groaned, "Every fucking night, three times a night, minimum, you'd be all over me."

"I... I.."

"Every time I thought it safe to drift off, you start making these little noises and I was so sleep deprived, Kidd. So sleep deprived. I'd leave in the morning purely to go sleep in Ceannard's office for a couple hours."

"I was 14!"

"When I was 14, I would get up and fucking take care of it - you just.." Killer voice had a panicky edge he'd never heard, before pointing wildly at him, "Every fucking morning, I wake up and had to deal with you getting off dry humping me. And you didn't even have the decency to be awake!"

"So you should of woken me and told me to knock it the fuck off!" Kidd paused, head cocking to the side as he studied how Killer had tensed up, bad shoulder touched in - "You didn't want me to wake up. You didn't... you didn't want me to know. Why?"

The mask hides a lot - Killer was always too expressive - his face an open book. But the mask didn't hide everything. Not from Kidd at least.

"You were into it."

Killer shook his head. Not a denial of Kidd's words, a denial that they were being spoken in the first place. He was coiled up so tight Kidd wasn't sure he was even breathing anymore.

"You liked me all rubbing up on you." Kidd almost wanted to preen at that, anyone else he would be puffed out proud. Instead a knot formed in his gut. You got off on it He keeps himself from saying, the thought tangling in his throat, forcing him to swallow thickly. Or you wanted to at least...

Killer made to widen the gap, but Kidd wouldn't let him, crowding him up against the wall.

"Then why would you leave?" he cried, not understanding at all, "I was horny, you were horny, what was the problem? We coulda fucked around a little, so what?"

"Because Killer might be good for a quick fuck, but nobody sticks around long after!"

Kidd started at him quietly, stunned, step back like Killer's words had been a physical blow. Killer hunched in himself, slouching back, surprised by his own confession.

"Killer..."

"I thought... I thought if I left first it would hurt so bad. You were getting along with the other Heaps' and you had a reputation for being an tough asshole so I thought... I thought you'd be okay."

Kidd pressed his fingers up on the bottom lip of Killer's mask, a request not a demand, his brows pinched unhappily.

Killer relented, and pulled the helmet off. But Kidd surprised him by taking it from him, holding it in his hands thoughtfully. He studied the interconnected plating, planning on how he'd make the next one different - better ventilation and more internal padding around the ears.

"I really liked Vicky." He started solemnly, "The three of us. Hanging out together. And sure, I wasn't thrilled about the two of you ditching me all the time. I thought maybe I was jealous of you for a long time, getting to hang out with her alone. And maybe I was... But I think I was also jealous of her. But then she was gone." Kidd spoke to the helmet, easier to say this to the empty drill marks than the man in front of him. "But that was okay because I still had you. And .. And I really liked being with you. I always felt safe, and waking up every morning with you right there... and then.. and then you weren't anymore. Even before you left, you started to be distant, and I hoped maybe you just got a new girlfriend and after the novelty wore off things would go back to how they were."

Killer was quiet, watching his hands fiddling with the metal, before he gently took the mask back.

"But it was me. You left because of me."

The worst part was Killer couldn't even disagree. He turned away from Kidd to put the helmet aside. "I left because I didn't know how to tell you no. I left because I rolled over and let anyone fuck me for a kind word, and I knew that I'd let you too, if you wanted. But you were 14 and you're my kid, and it got all weird and complicated and I didn't know how to see you as someone who wanted sex yet and .. And I was scared if I gave in, if let you take what you wanted, you'd toss me aside too once you were satisfied... so I ran away before you could."

"And if Vicky hadn't died... would you have ever talked to me again?"

He watched Killer's hand caress the line of white and blue. "No." He said finally. "No. You were doing so well; I was so fucking proud of you. You turned into this great man: You united the Heaps, made them believe they were people again. You had all them following you because they saw you were someone worth following. And I knew that I didn't have anything to do with that. That was all you. And I didn't deserve to talk to you anymore."

"Excuse me?" Kidd frowned, "What the fuck do you mean - you didn't have anything to do with that? You don't deserve to talk to me? What are you on about?"

When Killer didn't answer, Kidd grabbed his elbow and forced him to turn back, "Look me in the face and say that bullshit again!"

Killer stubbornly remain quiet.

"No!" Kidd growled, "I've gladly bashed the face in of anybody who talked shit about you. Don't think I'm gonna let you say it either."

Killer opened his mouth to start to say something but then stopped again.

"Killer!" frustrated, Kidd grabbed Killer's face in his hands, forcing him to look at him, "Say it to my face. If you're going to insult my friend, have the balls to say it to my face."

Killer met his eyes this time, blue to orange, complementary and contrasting in equal parts, and Kidd frowned at the pained pinch at the corners, the shame Killer wore in his features. He didn't understand, and no searching helped him find the reason. "Why would you ever say that you aren't the reason I got this far in life?"

Killer tried to escape his look by closing his eyes, but Kidd shook him softly; Killer's long lashes brushing his thumbs when he opened them again.

"Why did you leave me?" he tried again.

"You were 14...."

The light went on this time, Kidd breathing out a soft, "Oh" as Killer tried to look away again. Kidd rubbed his thumb against Killer's cheekbone, tipping his head back until their eyes met again. "I'm not anymore."

Killer was starting back at him, a fearful guarded look. But now, now Kidd thought he understood. He smiled back, tone soft, "Can I kiss you?"

The fear was still there, but Kidd would show him. He waited until Killer lowered his gaze, but nodded, a soft, "Okay" that was both defeated and begging.

Kidd smiled, hands sliding up Killer's cheeks to brush his bangs away and placed a soft kiss to Killer's forehead, smirking at the red painted lip marks left behind. Killer was looking up at him curiously though his lashes. Kidd rearranged Killer's bangs until the mark was hidden under wild hair.

"It's my birthday... come have dinner with me?"

"Okay."

#kikitober2024 #eustass captain kidd #massacre soldier killer #my work #fanfic #fanart #one piece #TW: age gaps #kiki #kidd x killer #kidkiller #dead dove #it's mild but I'm not shying away like i did on earlier chapters #so i'm going to clarify something here because i'm not sure if i managed to get it to come across clearly in the work itself #if you hadn't noticed in the subtext of this whole piece - Killer has a toxic relationship with sex in general #i want to attempt to explore this still in a bonus piece #but that's later #short of it - for Killer sex is less about attraction and more transactional #4 years ago - he was *not* sexually attracted to kidd #but he would have absolutely would have let Kidd fuck him #and he at least knew that that was a new level of fucked up #even for him #and that's why he left #personally i see kidd and killer are both asexual #but on *very* different parts of the spectrum #キキ #キドキラ #punk aibou

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kalmiaphlox · 10 months ago

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I'm Better Now, I Know My Faults Masterlist

Summary: Tav didn't leave Astarion with much, save for a shattered heart and one very special gift: Their daughter, precious and sweet, all the things he isn't.

He's still picking up the pieces almost three years later but a new face threatens to shake up their routine, for better or worse.

And what about the return of older, familiar faces that just aren't welcome anymore?

Astarion just wants to leave the past in the past.

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Spawn Astarion / Original Female Character

Chapter 1: Bad Omens

Chapter 2: Easy Eats

Chapter 3: Playing With Fire

Chapter 4: Feathers and Scales

Chapter 5: Bleeding Dragons

Chapter 6: A Meal Fit For A King

Chapter 7: Hateful Words

Chapter 8: Unknown Intentions

Chapter 9: Friends For Thee

Chapter 10: Bejeweled

Chapter 11: Mirror To The Soul - Kalmia POV

Chapter 12: Crush, Crush, Crush - Astarion POV

Chapter 13: Death Becomes Him

Chapter 14: A Simple Plan... Or Not

Chapter 15: Curses, Curses

Chapter 16: How Far? - Kalmia POV

Chapter 17: Heavy Coercion - Astarion POV

Chapter 18: Only The Best

Chapter 19: Disagreements

Chapter 20: Chasing The Sun - Kalmia POV

Chapter 21: Sweater Weather

Chapter 22: Give and Take - Astarion POV

Chapter 23: Inner Beauty

Chapter 24: Playing House

Chapter 25: Truths - Kalmia POV

Chapter 26: Space For Two - Astarion POV

Chapter 27: Just A Taste - Kalmia POV - Explicit

Chapter 28: The Cycle Repeats

Chapter 29: Give Me Your Blood - Astarion POV

Chapter 30: Give Me Your Love

Chapter 31: I Want It All - Kalmia POV - Explicit

Chapter 32: Our Secrets

Chapter 33: Family Matters - Astarion POV

Chapter 34: Respect Thy Father - Kalmia/Astarion Pov

Chapter 35: Still Feel Alive - Kalmia POV

Chapter 36: New Beginnings

Chapter 37: Under The Skin

Chapter 38: The Body Remembers - Astarion POV

Chapter 39: Blood In The Water

Chapter 40: All That Glitters

Chapter 41: Dancing With Dragons

Chapter 42: Stripped

Chapter 43: A Hobby Well Kept - Tav POV

Chapter 44: What Lurks Beneath - Astarion POV

Chapter 45: Burn the Heretic - Kalmia POV

Chapter 46: Thank You - Astarion POV

Chapter 47: What Doesn't Kill Us

Chapter 48: Epilogue: The Way You Give and Take

Shortfics:

Crash Landing - Batstarion Content

Practice Makes Perfect - Hair Braiding

If You Give A Vampire A Polymorph Scroll - Part 1, Part 2

Your Body Is My Canvas - Swimming Lessons and Playing in the mud - Explicit

Art:

Kalmia and Astarion and his big lapdragon - @radsity

Astarion meeting his Mother-in-law and Astarion tired of the rowdy dragon - @a-spawn-on-my-lawn

Kalmia Bust - @adharaphoenix

Astarion and Kalmia Bloody Cleanup - @infestedstar

Kalmia in Armor - @sniickerdoodlies

#astarion #bg3 #astarion ancunin #dadstarion #astarion fic #astarion fanfic #wip: im better now #masterlist

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l00na24 · 10 months ago

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I Got Your Six - Chapter 6

Warnings: PTSD (very brief appearance), Anxiety

Word Count: 11.5k

A/N: We're back :D This time with a huuge one thanks to me not being able to keep the intro as short as I wanted and just couldn't cut the entire thing for reasons... you will probably see why 😅

Enjoy reading! 😋

29 Minutes later, 7:01 PM, Brazil

After I don’t know how many miles because I eventually stopped counting, we finally reached the place we agreed to meet. It seemed an eternity away with how long the drive still was until we were there, not helping my thinning patience at all.

I couldn’t remember the last time when I was so on edge than right now and I hadn’t even met them yet. Every nerve in my body was literally on fire and my stress level past every limit already, like we were on a mission completely gone out of control. For those who knew me absolutely no good conditions for a confrontation like this, especially with my past. But I covered it with the masquerade I had improved to perfection, to hide my rapidly diminishing confidence and all my previous accumulated anger turning into an even faster rising anxiety with each passing second. I wouldn’t let anyone see my weakness.

When our vehicle came to a slow stop, I wished we would have had at least still hours to drive instead of being here. Not making an effort to move when the three boys exited, I drew in shorter breaths and flinched slightly when I heard the car doors closing. My head coming up with something I thought I had buried a long time ago only to surface in the worst possible moment.

Loud shouts, motor sounds, car doors opening and closing with a bang from the force, the movements of a car…

Shit. I couldn’t get a panic attack right now. I’d get through this, whatever it took. It’s just a job like any other.

Lying to yourself won’t help you.

It was far from it.

Willing my breathing to even out a bit and shaking my head to get rid of these unnecessities, I opened my door and got out after I had unbuckled my seatbelt. The men of our team were patiently leaning against one side and the hood of the car, giving me the needed time until I was ready to make the first step.

As soon as they heard me leaving the last temporary safe space I’d get for tonight and shutting my only opportunity to escape, their eyes shifted to me. Ignoring the discomfort it caused, I tried to act totally unfazed by the very situation I had tried to run from for all these past years because I knew I couldn’t face it.

The truth was: I was scared shitless. How they would react, how they would look at me, what they would say, if they would do anything at all…

With an unusual hesitation I forced my feet step for step forward, fighting with all the strength I had left against the impulse to run away yet again, but with the significant difference it was amplified at least ten times more now than before. An unmistakable red flag of my body I was about to cross a line I shouldn’t, under no circumstances.

You can’t always run away. No one will come to help you, this is alone YOUR own fault.

It was an open secret that my boys could see right through the false facade I had put up and the smallest movements I made, from the uneven rise and fall of my chest to my fingers starting to nervously twitch and shake.

Sensing the waging battle the girl of their group was fighting with herself internally when she followed soundless behind them, Alex wanted nothing more than to put her out of this agony she carried with her for far too long. Hating to see the various indicators written all over her and being forced to helplessly watch how it continued to destroy what was left of her, if there even was still something. He had enough about pretending that everything was ‘okay’ when they could see it clearly wasn’t. Not this time and not now in this absurd situation they had been thrown in.

Normally he was the person instilling fear on his enemies but right now he felt it creeping up his spine and every thought went in circles around the most important question: What if this broke her for good? If she wouldn’t recover from this?

There was no way in hell he would let that happen, Alex owed it to his best friend he had known since childhood to protect his girl and be there for her. Maybe he wasn’t doing it entirely for him if he was honest but a little for himself too… but this wasn’t important right now.

The top priority was to shield her from the possible damage these five people could cause. And he’d do everything in his power to make sure of it. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt her even more than she already had been.

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to…” Our group halted when Alex turned around to me, gaining the attention of his brothers beside him and mine. The care on honest display, unfortunately for him, hit a nerve because I couldn’t stand it in my current state, not able to accept it.

“You can’t protect me from everything!” I blew up at him with a hateful glare before he had fully ended, the pressure I was under mixed with my anxiety getting the best of me and announcing itself in an uncontrolled outburst. Immediately regretting my reaction, I cast my sight downwards to avoid the result edged on his face. I didn’t intend to strike right the point I knew would hurt him the most but it was my natural defense mechanism kicking in.

“Sorry.”

They shouldn’t care about me at all and they shouldn’t hold onto me so much like they did, trying with everything they had to keep me off the ledge I was continuously seeking. They deserved everything but me. If I wasn’t here, they would probably live a happy life and their best friend would be still alive. I never wanted to drag them down with me in this hellhole but fate obviously had a different opinion, wanting to punish them for not giving me up and yet none of the boys did even consider it in the slightest. How could they be so foolish?

Sometimes these three were too smart for their own good, the cracks in my defense visible to them as if a light would make me stand out to call out my false play.

It took not more than a short exchange of their sights to have the same thought.

“Come ‘ere.” Mick spoke up and beckoned me with a hand gesture over to him, spreading his arms to the sides in the process.

Not sure what he aimed to accomplish with this, I stood there a little baffled while I contemplated what I should do and trying to gauge his intentions behind it. I was in no mood for any kind of empathy.

“You really wanna leave me hanging here?” He asked when I still hadn’t made a move, pulling up his best sad look and tilted his head with raised eyebrows in hopes it would convince me. He knew exactly what he did. Little shit.

There was nothing I hated more than to see them sad or hurt, especially if it was because of me and if he had gambled on that, his plan was working.

Reject him. Don’t. Give. In.

Letting out a huff, I came to him and put my arms hesitantly around his body. Laying the right side of my face carefully on his chest, assuming he offered himself for a hug.

“See? Isn’t that bad, is it?” Putting one hand on the back of my head to stroke it slowly and the other respectfully on the side of my waist with the utmost care to not place it too far backwards to keep the lines in which I allowed them to touch me.

I couldn’t deny his simple gesture was actually relaxing my nerves a little bit.

“So… we all know I’m not good with this emotional stuff but…-” Mick began after a moment, only to be cut off by Luc.

“Horrible is more accurate.” He corrected him with a smile directed toward me, making a little wink at the end.

“I’m trying to cheer her up, dude! Can you not butt in?” The man currently holding me to his large body retorted in a fake offended tone before he continued, focusing back on me.

“Where was I? Ah! Right, as I was saying… regardless what they say or do, it will not change anything between the four of us. You have my word, okay? Forever and always. Like we promised, little wolf.”

At the mention of the nickname my gaze shot up in lightning speed till it met his, my face blank. I could feel him tensing up a bit, probably because he wasn’t sure how I would take what he said and if he was overstepping a forbidden boundary.

I hadn’t been called this term in literal ages, but it was engraved in my brain for eternity. The very name he had used to tease and mock me in the beginning or when he made fun of me or… to express his affection between the lines.

Mick felt my hold tighten slightly and took it as a good sign, also since I hadn’t pushed him away from me yet, which was very likely to happen at any given moment depending on what he would do. The odds for it happening were even increased given the situation, so he had to navigate his every move very carefully if he wanted to avoid this scenario and ruin everything.

“Remember what he used to say? ‘The strength of the wolf is the pack.’ And we’ve been one ever since you came to us. That’s exactly what we gonna show them. We are all standing behind you on this and won’t leave your side.” It wasn’t a common occurrence of somebody making me speechless but right now Mick had managed to do exactly that. I had forgotten how good with words he actually could be if he wanted, reminding me not to underestimate his diplomacy skills similar to Luc’s.

But what was a pack without its true leader?

The ‘goofball’ out of the four, as she had so fittingly named him after his best and also worst trait, couldn’t watch her struggle any longer. If he could take the smallest amount of weight off her she carried, he would do it without a second thought and give her some air to breathe to keep her from drowning.

He had made it his personal mission straight from the start, but even more so after the tragic loss they had suffered - especially her, to preserve and keep that spark inside they had seen in her. Even if it was through the faintest hint of a smile, real or not, all effort put in was worth it regardless. And whatever he or his brothers had to do to stoke those flames their former leader had ignited in her, they would be there to keep them alive, 100%. They would keep her alive.

That’s why he was the self-proclaimed backbone of the team, with his ever positive and lively personality but also blunt directness. Always a cheeky comment on his lips to lift the mood of the situation and his teammates. He was the unmatched motivator out of them, despite his comical and non-serious, or what some people called annoying, appearance. The lightness he carried with himself a huge benefit for everyone when they needed it, as well as his seemingly unlimited energy that had been equal with their captain’s, after their girl had enhanced it in Vic.

“You know, you could at least pretend I’m doing a good job here.” Mick whispered lowly to me, attempting to convey his message inconspicuously, so nobody would notice but being caught red handed the second he opened his mouth, not acting suspicious at all of course.

“Feel the fear, let it be your friend and it will guide you. Don’t be afraid of it.”

It didn’t take long till I couldn’t tolerate his hug any longer, retreating myself from his embrace without a word when he got the hint and reluctantly withdrew his arms to give me space. The second person close to me I disappointed in a matter of seconds. I could make a world record with this.

“You’re right. Let’s show them that no one fucks with us.” I said when I had brought some distance between us and walked past him down the way leading to the bar. Letting them know I was done talking.

Mick blinked a few times in her direction, not quite sure if it was the reaction he had been aiming for. He had believed he had done everything right, had been careful enough, well, maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned the last part, but how fast the situation had taken a complete turn and his well-meant support ricochet back left him dumbfounded. He should have been used to it by now since it wasn’t the first occasion this happened, but none of them probably would ever get used to her unpredictable, fast-switching duality from one moment to the other.

“You only wanted to help, she knows that. It’s not on you.” Luc followed his friends’ gaze to the back of their girl with concern in his narrowed eyes. His sneaking suspicion, he had hoped would prove itself wrong, turning out to be true more and more. There would be nothing they could do to prevent the inevitable if it was what he thought, from his knowledge all the signs she had shown pointed to it so far. Her more frequent, sudden mood changes out of the blue, the tension and nervousness in her body language, her touchiness in general, as well as most importantly, she shared way more physical contact with them than she would under normal circumstances. And this fact alone was more than worrying.

��Let it fulfill you.”

It had been the most terrifying lesson a certain person taught me, but it gave me the needed courage to fight back my anxiety as best as I could for now. To use it as a weapon instead of being used by my fear.

I hadn’t been on an endless amount of battlefields, ran too many times into hails of bullets, put my life on the line for enough people that weren’t even worth it, had made friends with death more times than I could count, ended lives without giving a shit about them and the amount of blood I had on my hands and hadn’t done unspeakable things, only to be brought to my knees now by the very men of my old team.

Nobody in the entire world would ever get me to break the one holy oath I’d die for before desecrating it: I wouldn’t kneel for anyone. Only my enemies will.

Entering the area of what I presumed was an outside bar, the first thing I did was carefully assessing the place. Spotting not much besides a lit-up area on the right looking like a combination of a bar and a market stall with two people sitting at the back of the bar and the barkeeper standing behind the counter. Regals full of various bottles lining the wall behind him just as a multitude of vegetables and fruits on the ground on the opposite side. Whoever would buy these things in the middle of literal nowhere.

To my left the actual bar, built on a wooden construct and a stairway on the right with some fairy lights hanging from the edge of the roof to give this shady appearing place a more trustworthy look. Its height and a fence made of thin planks of wood allowing to overlook the whole area from each table.

And then a car parked in between. The same car we had seen not too long ago.

Its sight alone making my stomach churn and heighten my senses to full alert. Not wanting to give it any more attention than I had, I kept moving forward while making sure to stay close to the bar to avoid getting noticed just yet from above.

As if on queue when I had crossed over half of the way, loud laugher from multiple people suddenly filled the air that instantly stopped me when I jerked away from the sound of the familiar voices and stripped me of every false confidence I had managed to gather up. Feeling the anxiety skyrocketing but also shifting into a mix of fierce anger and hatred directed at myself because I couldn’t even do the simplest thing. I was so pathetic.

“Is this all you got? Do you give up that easily?”

“Stop being so mean to her, Vic. Can’t you see she’s trying her best?”

“Trying is not enough, we’re not in kindergarten here. Do it better!”

My nails dug themselves into my palms at the memory.

Movement in my periphery snapped me back into the present, registering Luc, Alex and Mick who had walked past and blocked my way with their bodies. It was so unnatural to see them this tense, especially about the awaiting situation, both their posture and faces didn’t have the usual relaxedness I was used to and it stressed me out even more.

They were ready for battle and wanted to make sure I was too with this silent conversation between us before they would allow me to continue. My very last chance to back out of all this.

As always, the first nod came from Mick, shortly followed by Alex and then Luc, giving me their affirmation that they were only waiting for my “Go”. It was like they had known I had exactly needed this to give me the drive to move on and spur the wolf to get ready to pounce.

With the encouragement through my team, I took the time to take in a long, deep breath to gather myself before I gave them my confirmation with a firm nod of my head and sharing a last sight with each other for assurance about our next step.

Our engineer decided to take the lead as ‘the first line of defense’, Luc taking the second position after checking me up and down with his scrutinizing gaze before he left Alex with me who was waiting until I got going too before he went ahead last.

I couldn’t thank them enough for not forcing me into another verbal conversation and instead choosing the option that conveyed so much more than any word ever could and taking a bit of the pressure from me to have to express myself.

Just when we had reached the stairway, I came to a halt and looked upwards.

You finally get what you wanted…

Please be with me. I need you, I can’t do this without you.

Accepting I couldn’t delay the confrontation I had wanted to avoid ever since any longer, I forced myself to tear my sight away even if every fiber in my body resisted doing it. The emptiness I continuously felt came crashing down like a tidal wave above me without mercy, pushing me back under far out of anyone’s reach to the place I just couldn’t get out of no matter what I did. The very place I had never wanted to be in again after I was shown how it was to touch the sky on the other side. Until I got pulled back under and buried at the bottom with no life left to fight for.

Three sympathetic smiles were directed at me when I looked to the stairs in front, noticing a hand stretching out to me in the same moment. First I wanted to refuse Alex’ gesture but thinking for a second about it, what a bitch I was earlier and what it meant that he was still showing how much he cared about me when he offered to be the anker I could ground myself on – knowing what it took for me to even make this step – I didn’t have it in me to deny him.

Without much protest I reciprocated his gesture, feeling the warmth of his skin seep into mine and giving me some safety. The smile on his face stretched a tad wider when he had my physical assurance I wouldn’t shut him out again and let him help, returning it with his own and brushing a few times over my hand. We are here. You are not going through this alone.

“Don’t jump at each other’s throats.” With a quiet but steady voice I gave them my permission to engage, steeling myself and shoving all emotions in the dark corner where they belonged.

A quiet snort escaped Mick’s lips, conjuring a grin about the irony of my words. There were only two ways this was gonna go, either war or peace. There was no in between.

And knowing my boys, they wouldn’t even let them anywhere near me - not that I wanted it anyway.

I could only hope for the best and that they could control their temper because I would fight tooth and nail for those three and protect them with my life no matter who I was up against.

If any of my ex-mates dared to pick a fight with them, they had to survive the feared wolf first and then things would get ugly very fast – for them.

Let’s not get started if they found any of my triggers…

Before my thoughts could come up with every possible scenario, I chose to distract myself with something way more important, to check I had everything covered I didn’t want them to see while we were slowly ascending the stairs step by agonizing step. Making sure my braided ponytail was hiding most of the unmistakable, angry red scar on the right side of my throat before everyone’s eyes and my two necklaces were concealed under my black shirt. Going lower till the waistband of my jeans in the same color to find my gun and knife in the places where I had put them, ready to use in case anything should happen.

The grip on each other’s hand hardened when we reached the end and entered the bar, sharing a tight squeeze while we walked one after another in a row. All my senses automatically zeroed in on this very moment, making it almost impossible to keep up the mantra I was telling myself over and over.

I can do this. I can do this… I can… do this… I-

I stayed as close to Alex as I physically could to hide myself behind him in hopes it would give me more time until they realized who I was.

The paralyzing fear I had tried to fight in vain before came stabbing me in the back harder than ever and turned my body against me. Feeling like someone was squeezing my throat so tight I could barely breathe. Every step forward being at least a hundred backwards for my strength and self-confidence which had been so laboriously built up. My muscles moving on their own despite the weight manifesting on my feet.

“FIGHT! FIGHT BACK!!”

“Vic, it’s ENOUGH!”

“You’re so pathetically weak…”

Not daring to take a look from behind his back, I kept facing away from the scene to not cave in now and show everyone present how weak I indeed really was.

The atmosphere shifted as soon as we had stepped foot into the place, the one before a storm was about to break lose any minute with us in the epicenter. The hot and cold signals my body was sending me together with the humid climate didn’t do me a favor at all, the sweat clinging to me grossing me out and I wondered why Alex hadn’t let go yet and didn’t seem to care about the stickiness of my hand.

Was he regretting being here? Was he rethinking his choice of agreeing to this? Was he already hating me for dragging them into things they didn’t have to do anything at all with? Would they leave me as soon as we were done here to deal with my past alone? Were they only still with me because they thought they owed it to their dead friend?

What was I doing here? I should have never suggested this mission. What did I thought it would do? I should have ignored this god damn letter. I wasn’t supposed to even be here. Why couldn’t I just go back??

“Y/N?”

The moment my very name shot through the silence like a bullet, the chaotic whirlwind of thoughts was gone and I instantly froze into place. Not making any movement and praying I was mostly hidden for them, so they would hopefully ignore me thinking they had mistaken me.

But luck – fate – wasn’t on my side as always.

Of course they wouldn’t give me more time.

I couldn’t delay the inevitable any longer. It was over.

As slowly as I could I moved around, the hold on me tightening while I revealed myself and shared a fleeting glance with Alex who had his eyes already on me from over his shoulder.

I had to do this now. I wouldn’t cave.

I couldn’t run away anymore.

My pulse accelerated with every passing second and the only thing I wanted was to disappear, desperately clinging to my anker.

It was never meant to happen like this. In fact, it was never meant to happen at all if I could have helped it.

Forced to face the five men from my past after so many years spent to run from them, I hesitantly looked in their direction and deeply regretted it when five sets of eyes found mine. Bringing back up everything again, first and foremost the day I had left them.

Ben, Will, Santiago, Frankie and Tom were also brought back to the fateful events leading to the loss of the most important part of their team at the sight of the person they had never expected to see ever again before their very eyes…

8 years ago…

5:09 AM, Central America, Nicaragua

Moving uncomfortably around on the chair he was sitting in, Ben woke slowly from his sleep, stretching his limbs and blinking a few times with his eyes. It wasn’t definitely the best idea to try to sleep on the piece of furniture that was too small for his large body.

Noticing the room was still dark, he guessed it was still night, maybe close to early morning.

Trying not to be too loud and wake the other person in the room with him, he tried to shift into a more comfortable position and ease his muscles up he could feel hurting already from laying in this awkward position for probably a few hours.

Ben’s eyes automatically went straight ahead to the bed in front of him, checking if their girl was sleeping soundly under the covers he draped over her before he took the first shift of watching her. That in case something happened or she had a nightmare, one of them was there to help. Just in case. They would make sure they would be there this time.

Still mostly asleep and wanting to close his eyes and turn around again to get a bit more sleep, he listened for anything that would indicate a nightmare or that she wasn’t okay but the room was silent and he also couldn’t make out any violent movement on the bed through his half closed eyes. He was nearly off to sleep again as a thought hit him like a lightning strike.

The bed was empty.

His blue eyes shot open wide and his body followed, nearly tumbling to the floor in the process from jumping abruptly out of his seat in his sleeping but now wide awake state.

The dirty blonde’s gaze shot to the bathroom next, spotting the door wide open and no light shining. Looking back at the bed and trying to figure out if he was dreaming or not.

“Honey?” he asked in his rough and raspy morning voice, waiting for any form of response that never came.

Faster than light he ran over to the switch next to the door and flipped it on. The whole room illuminating and confirming his fear that felt like someone had just poured a bucket of ice water over him. There was no way she was gone.

Frantically he searched the room for anything that belonged to her, like her baggage she brought with her the first day but came up emptyhanded. Nothing. Not a single thing.

Ben had never felt anything like he was feeling now. First the whole thing hours ago and now this? It couldn’t get any more worse, right?

His heart was pounding hard against his chest as he ripped open the door, not caring about anything but her right now and bounding out to the one next to it.

“Guys! Open the fucking door! Wake up!” He screamed loudly, waking the whole hotel in the process.

His knocking only stopped when the door opened and his brother Will was standing before him, not knowing what happened to have Ben this wound up in the early morning hours but already on high alert.

“What the fuck, dude? What’s going on?” Blue eyes already searching each other.

“She’s fucking gone, man!” His little brother was not even waiting a moment to respond.

The opening of another door not far away could be heard and another voice joined them.

“Can you tell me, what you think you’re doing? You’re waking the entire complex, Ben!” Tom’s annoyed voice sounded from the other side of them.

“I just woke up and wanted to check she was okay but she wasn’t there!” Ben explained, making wild gestures with his hands and arms.

“Let’s not discuss this out here, come in.” Will said quietly and gestured with his head to Tom and Frankie to come over in his and Santiago’s room, who followed his request and walked over.

“You better have a good reason for this, hermano.” Santiago warned, sitting on the front of the bed he was previously sleeping till he got so rudely awakened by the young man’s screaming voice.

“We need to go look for her. Something could have happened or what if someone-?” Ben started again but was halted by his brother.

“Calm down, okay? Maybe she has taken a walk or just needed some fresh air.” He suggested, going already over all possible options in his head.

“What is even happening?” Frankie, the only one of the group that still hadn’t really caught on at was happening asked, leaning against the table on the wall and folding his arms.

“Y/N’s gone! That’s what’s happening and all her stuff too!” Benny shouted back, nervously running a hand through his strands.

Frankie’s eyes grew wide at the reply.

“Her stuff too?” He asked, not believing what he was hearing.

“Yes! Like she was never there in the first place!” The dirty blonde said, shifting constantly around on his feet.

Well, a walk was off the table with that. Will grinded his teeth together hard. This was not good, it was far from good actually. The way things had developed in the past hours only increased the boiling inside him further. Not knowing what was going on, being kept in the dark and things happening that were so out of character for the girl they were serving with for years now. Nothing of all this was making sense.

“Okay, we get it. Let’s all not make any hasty assumptions here.” Will tried to reason and keep everyone from panicking.

Santiago shook his head and angrily spoke something while standing up and shuffling around, probably some curse in Spanish.

“What are you doing?” Frankie eyed his brother.

“Getting ready to look for her, pendejo. What else?” He replied back and unzipped his bag on the ground in the corner to get some clothes.

“Fucking finally!” Ben breathed out and was ready to go, not wanting to waste any more time than they already had. Too much in his opinion.

“You can’t just walk out there like this. We’re still on a fucking mission!” Their captain decided to join in on the conversation to remind them that their reason for being here was not a vacation but way more serious and they still needed to be careful even if they were leaving today, or so it was planned.

“He’s right. We don’t know where she is right now and we can’t just aimlessly walk around here. And we also have a flight to catch.” Will backed up Tom’s opinion on their plan, looking around the group.

“What do we do then? I ain’t fucking sitting around waiting if she comes back or not and I don’t give a shit about that flight, I’m not leaving without her!” His little brother was clearly done with talking, his decision what he’d do already written on his face.

“If she left, someone must have seen her. Let’s try asking around first and see if we can find out anything that will help, okay? She couldn’t have used the car because I still have the keys, so she could’ve only left by foot or a cab.” The other Spanish man in the room voiced his thoughts to the group, trying to intervene before it escalated into a more heated argument.

Everyone looked at each other for a moment, exchanging looks before Tom nodded and straightened his position.

“Alright. Let’s get ready and meet downstairs in 10 minutes.” He confirmed with one more look around them before starting to move toward the door with Frankie and Ben in tow.

Not needing the full 10 minutes to get ready, the group met 5 minutes later in the lobby of the hotel.

“So what’s the plan now?” The younger Miller wanted to know, already scanning the environment around them in search of their missing girl.

“We split up and try to ask around. Stay in the building, we’ll meet back here in 20.” Tom explained and everyone nodded as confirmation before they began to split, each one taking a different direction to begin their search.

The Minutes passing by and still no success for each of them, Ben stormed annoyed past the lobby a second time. Huffing from the frustration that grew bigger by the second. They needed to find her. Right fucking now.

“Excuse me? Are you looking for something?” He heard a voice from behind.

Halting his steps, he turned around.

“Yes! Have you seen the girl that was with us when we checked in?” He immediately answered. Registering the female receptionist not far from him now, that was also there when they checked in the first day.

“Yes, of course I did. She paid and checked out already 4 hours ago. Said that someone would still be in her room that was supposed to check out today.” The young brown-haired woman answered politely, offering him a slight smile.

“She- What?!” Ben felt like his legs would give out underneath him at the revelation he just heard and all color left his face.

“Do- do you know where she went?” He choked out, trying to get as much information as he possibly could.

“She took one of the cabs outside but I don’t know where she wanted to go. Probably the airport with the baggage she had with her if you ask me. But that’s all I can give you, I’m sorry.” She elaborated and gave him an apologetic look. Sensing that there was probably a not so nice reason for her leave alone but not wanting to interfere with their privacy.

“That’s enough already, thank you so much!” He thanked the receptionist, turning around and walking a few steps back, tapping his feet impatiently while waiting for the boys.

A few minutes later, the rest of the group turned up at the lobby again where Benny was already burning holes in the floor with his shoes, finally stopping when his brothers came into view.

“She checked out 4 hours ago!” He told them before any of them could ask something.

Not expecting something like this all of them needed a second to process what they just heard. They felt like someone had punched them in the gut.

“Checked out?” Frankie repeated in complete disbelieve.

“Yeah, the receptionist there told me that she paid for the room already too and that she took a cab. Probably to the airport or somethin’.”

“She’d never go alone on a fuckin’ plane, man.” Santiago joined their conversation. Not believing their female teammate would go voluntarily near anything like that because of her anxiety.

“Where else would she go with all her stuff? Another hotel?” The younger Miller shot back.

“You said she took a cab, let’s go and ask the drivers then. I saw some standing outside.” Will said, already turning around to go outside and ask there.

Without protest the others followed hot on his heels, marching out with quick steps and looking for the cabs that waited outside the entrance of the building.

Starting with the first to their left, they moved down the line as a group, asking each driver if they had driven a woman from the hotel somewhere in the last few hours.

Ready to nearly give up, they came to the last one in line. Stopping and repeating their questions for the fifth time now in a matter of minutes, not really believing this one would turn out any different than the others.

“Let me think… hm, yes. I did, actually.” The driver, an older man answered, leaned next to his car.

“Where did you drive her?” Ben wasn’t sure if he should be happy or not, that they at least had a lead where she was now.

“She’s your girl?” The man eyed him questioningly, not sure if he could trust the men in front of him, considering the woman they were looking for seemed to have left them without their knowledge. Normally a clear sign to what this could be leading to.

“Yes, she is.” He answered without hesitation, not needing to think over what he was saying. For him she was and always would be his. No question. She always had been and he wouldn’t let anything change that. Even if he’d never admit it.

Catching the other guys a little bit by surprise upon his answer, they tried to compose their faces, so the man couldn’t see their reactions. All of them knew how Ben was feeling about the only girl in their team, there was enough history between them to tell what was going on. But hearing him saying it out loud, even in a different context, still caught them a little off guard.

“I really hope for you, that you and your friends didn’t do something to her. Otherwise I have to call the police.” The driver threatened them, narrowing his eyes at the group.

“We’d never, I swear! She’s important to all of us and we just wanna know where she went, so we can go and look for her.” Ben answered honestly and looked the man in the eyes with a seriousness you only see when he was in mission mode.

“You’d better. I took her to the airport, looked a bit off and wasn’t really paying much attention, being quiet the whole drive.” He finally told them, adding the little details he had noticed.

The boys exchanged worried and confused looks at that, giving them pause for a moment.

“Thank you, sir. You really helped us a lot!” The younger Miller thanked him and walked back in the hotel followed by the others, making a straight beeline to the elevator.

“Any ideas?” Santiago asked while pressing the button of their floor.

“Our flight’s supposed to be in 5 hours.” Will informed, always the one in the group to rely on when it came to numbers. Her time missing making his stomach turn more with each second he counted passing by.

“Fuck that, we’re going to the airport now!” Ben huffed, slamming his fist against the wall of the elevator in frustration.

“She’ll be alright, okay? It won’t help if we’re loosing it.” Frankie jumped in, patting his friends’ back reassuringly a few times.

“Fish’s right. We’ll get our things packed up and go to the airport. But there won’t be a guarantee that we’ll get another flight.” The older Miller brother confirmed while stepping out and walking to their rooms.

“We meet at the car in 10.” They heard Tom’s voice in the distance while everyone spread out to their respective rooms, packing up everything in record time.

Before Benny could enter the empty room he carelessly left behind an hour ago, he was stopped by his brother.

“Y/N’s gonna be alright. Whatever is going on with her, we’ll find it out, okay? Everything’s gonna be fine, Ben. There will be an explanation to all of this.” Will came closer and brought him in a tight brotherly hug, holding his little brother to him. Trying to sooth his strained nerves and allowing him to finally break down and let out everything he desperately tried to hold back.

Feeling Benny slowly pulling back, he looked at him intently, not once breaking eye contact.

“Can you help Fish load the car while I get everything sorted with our checkout?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll see you downstairs in a few.” Will gave him a slight smile and a last pat on the back before walking off to his room.

After everything was taken care of and their luggage packed in the car in an amount of mere minutes, they were off to the airport.

Under normal circumstances Frankie would drive safely, but their situation was far from anything close to it and he drove a bit faster than he should and “missed” a few stop signs along the way till they stopped after a 10 minute drive in the large parking lot of their destination.

Each of the Delta soldiers was practically jumping out of the car when they were parked, grabbing their things and speeding off, minus Tom, who’s mood had soured over the course of their not planned way back to base.

“She’ll better have a very damn good excuse for this.” He grumbled annoyed while they were on the way through the building, but the rest decided to ignore his comment. There were more important things to be concerned of right now than his pissed-off mood.

“I’m gonna go over to the counter and see if I can rebook our flight to an earlier one. Maybe someone has seen her too.” Will announced shortly after they stopped in front of a few seats.

“I’ll come with you.” His little brother said and was right beside him in an instant, needing some closeness to him right now to keep him grounded.

Already knowing what was going on, the older blonde accepted his silent request without any protest and gave him a quick nod before walking off together to the ticket counter.

“Hello, how can I help you?” A red-haired woman in probably her 30’s greeted them with a smile.

“Hello, excuse me but we’re looking for a woman that probably booked a flight here to North Carolina a few hours ago. Have you seen anyone maybe?” Will greeted her.

“Wait, I have a photo of her.” Benny added and took it out of the pocket of his blue shirt, showing it to her.

It was a group photo, made when they were back at base after their first mission together, all of them exhausted but happy and smiling. The boys were standing in a line, arms over each other’s shoulders with their girl in front of them, having the brightest smile on her face they’d ever seen toward the camera. The colonel had taken it for them, being very proud of his best team he had in Delta Force. He had given all of them a copy of it after. Everyone knew from that moment on that they would be a team forever. Ben would never forget that day, would never forget that smile she had back then. The need he felt there to always make her smile like that again.

The woman behind the counter looked at it for a few seconds until she gave it back to him.

“Yes, she wanted the earliest flight when she arrived here.” She answered, remembering her from before.

The Miller brothers shared an alarmed look. She really must have taken a plane on her own, besides her really bad fear of heights.

“Thank you really much for the information ma’am.” Benny thanked her after breaking eye contact and looking back at her with a slight smile.

“No problem. Is there something else I can help you with?” The woman wanted to know and looked at them questioningly.

“Yes, we have a flight that was booked for later. Would it be possible to rebook it to an earlier one?” Will asked and handed her the tickets and his passport to confirm his identity.

“Let me see… yes, the last free possible flight will be in an hour. Will that be okay with you?” The woman said while looking at her computer, typing away and back up when she found something.

“That would be nice, we take it.” Will answered, letting out a breath of relief. Thank god, they didn’t have to wait for hours here or otherwise we wasn’t sure if he could stay calm any longer. He was close to the line he not wanted to cross and didn’t want to risk overstepping it. He needed to stay strong for Benny and the rest of his brothers, be the rock they needed right now, even if it wasn’t easy despite his own worries for their girl and the anger against himself for letting something happen like that. He’d make sure they got on that plane and do everything he needed till they knew she was okay and she was safe. Till he could hold her in his arms again and apologize for what they had done.

“Here you go, just look out for the announcement. The gate is down the hallway and then to your left. Have a safe flight and a good day.” She smiled and handed him the new tickets and the passport.

“Thank you for everything. Have a good day too.” He said goodbye, giving her a fake smile.

“Do you really think she would go on a plane without us?” Ben asked unsure out of nowhere, looking at Will with stormy blue eyes, that grew darker by the second like his brother’s.

The older man wished he would know the answer himself but every information they had gathered so far was pointing toward it. There was no other possible option in this moment. Why did she come here asking for the earliest flight she could get then? It wouldn’t make sense if she went somewhere else and the woman on the counter would have probably told them if she left without taking her new-booked flight. But she’d never go on a plane without at least one of them, hell it was even a thing on its own to even get her to go into it. And now she should have done that alone all of a sudden? Out of nowhere, like it wasn’t bothering her in the slightest and her anxiety didn’t exist? Will’s head started to hurt from all the overthinking he wasn’t able to stop.

“I don’t know, bro. The only thing I can say is, that everything looks like it.” He answered his brother’s question after a short silence with a sigh.

“How did it go?” Frankie greeted them and searched both of their faces for answers.

“Our flight’s in an hour.” Will answered and handed out the tickets.

“Anyone seen her?” Santiago followed with his question, hoping they’d get more information.

“The woman on the counter said Y/N wanted the earliest flight when she arrived here.” Ben explained trying to temper his mood, lifting his backwards cap to run a hand through his hair and putting it down again.

All of their movements halted and their eyebrows rose comically high on their foreheads.

“Imposible. (Impossible.)” Frankie grunted out in Spanish, not able to hold in his disbelieve any longer at the thought. Turning around with a shaking head while walking a few steps and crossing his arms over his chest.

What made her do that? What was going on with her that she would do something like that? It was so unlike her and in this moment, they felt like they didn’t even know her.

“So, what you wanna tell us is, that she went on a plane all by herself with her anxiety? The same girl that needs at least an hour till we can convince her to get into a fucking thing like that? That would rather walk by foot instead of flying?” The other Spanish man in the group spoke up to voice his thoughts about their newly found out information. Sharing the same feeling with the pilot.

“Look man, I don’t know what the fuck is going on but that is the only thing we’ve got right now and you’re not the only one who thinks how fucked up all this is. All of us know she’d rather die than go near anything that can fly but what if she really did it? There’s no other option what she could have done, otherwise that woman would have told us if she didn’t take her flight.” Will countered with slight agitation in his voice.

“All we can do now is wait anyway.” The captain of the group added and leaned back in his seat.

Not wanting to fuel the tension, the rest of the boys decided to follow Tom’s example and take a seat and wait till their flight would be announced. They’d have 6 long hours ahead of them where they could do nothing but wait and maybe try to get some more sleep.

8 PM, North Carolina, Fort Bragg

When they arrived back at the familiar soil of the Delta Force base 6 hours later, they didn’t know what bomb would be waiting there for them, ready to leave a devastation in its wake none of them could have been prepared for.

“Look who finally decided to join us!” Deryll piped up smiling upon seeing the missing Delta soldiers returning, still on the security shift with his best friend Marc.

“Did they jail your asses in that airport?” Marc joined his friend, greeting the boys laughing and giving them a wave with his hand.

Quick hugs among the men were exchanged, giving each other a pat on the back.

“The fuck are you talking about?” Ben asked afterwards, not knowing what they meant.

“We were worried we had to take care of your girl now.” Mark continued with a wide grin on his face.

The group of five exchanged confused looks for a moment. Knowing they were clearly missing something here.

“You better watch your mouth, hermano.” Santiago threatened him with a serious gaze.

“So you’re letting her fly on her own now, hm?” Deryll threw in while also grinning at his friend across.

“What is this all about?” Tom asked, having enough of being kept out of whatever this was.

“You’re joking right?” Marc said, still amused over the reaction of the men in front of them, not believing their seriousness.

Another round of looks among the boys was exchanged.

“No, we’re not. So would you mind telling us what’s going on here?” Ben spoke up, making his point clear that he wasn’t joking.

That took the two security men by surprise. Sharing a weird look with each other.

“Y/N said there was an issue with your flight, so she took the earlier one when she turned up alone here a few hours ago and we asked her about you.” Deryll explained, his smile slowly fading.

“An issue with our flight?!” Will repeated, making sure he heard correctly.

“Yeah, why?” Marc confirmed it almost in an instant, getting serious now too upon their reactions.

“Where is she?” The younger Miller brother butted in, his voice growing more desperate and serious.

“Calm down man, she’s somewhere in there.” Deryll told him, making a motion with his head toward the entrance of the base.

“Was talking and joking around with us when she arrived here, so no need to worry, dude.” Marc added to his friend’s comment, hoping it would ease up the sudden tension.

“This just gets better and better.” Tom commented sarcastically, shaking his head heavily and running a hand over his face.

“I don’t know what you’re on about but get your asses in there and look for yourself if you don’t believe us. We’ll see you later.” Marc said, crossing his arms now and opening the door for them.

“Yeah, shouldn’t keep your girl waiting!” Deryll shouted after them as loud as possible with a laugh after they walked through the entrance.

“The fuck was that?” Frankie asked confused as they walked through the base toward their bunks.

“Don’t have a fucking clue.” Will replied, shaking his head at him and shouldering his luggage a bit higher on his shoulder.

“Whatever it was, I don’t like it.” Benny commented quietly and mostly more to himself, clenching his jaw.

“We should probably teach them a lesson next time if we get a chance.” Santiago added, letting his sight wander around the base.

“There’s time for that after we reported back to the colonel. Drop off your stuff and meet at the colonel’s office.” Tom ordered and broke off to his bunk when they reached them.

“Yes, sir.” All of them said in unison before splitting and going to their own.

A few minutes later, the boys met in front of the building the colonel was in.

“Let’s get this over with.” Tom sighed and walked in first, followed by Will, Santiago, Ben and Frankie.

The group stopped again at his office, waiting patiently while Tom knocked a few times at the door.

Being beckoned in with a “Come in!”, they all entered and shut the door behind them.

“They finally let you go, hm?” They got greeted by Colonel Sanders, standing up from his chair and nodding at them. Motioning for them to take a seat if someone wanted but all declined his offer, making themselves comfortable while standing next to each other.

“I’m sorry?” Tom asked, surprised by his greeting.

“I heard about your ‘flight issues’.” The colonel elaborated, closely observing his boys.

Their once blank faces changed slightly at that and of course Sanders noticed it right away. There was something wrong, just like he had supposed before.

Standing there in silence for a very long moment, he decided to continue.

“I guess by your reactions that there weren’t any, right?”

The Delta soldiers didn’t quite know how to respond, not knowing themselves what this was all about.

“No, sir?” Ben decided to speak up but actually cringing at how it sounded.

“I thought so. You’re here to report back then?” The colonel answered, walking away a few steps from his desk, his gaze still fixated on them.

“Yes, sir.” Will confirmed, giving him a nod.

“Is there anything you wanna tell me first?” Sanders carefully asked, straightening his position and eyeing them more intently than before.

The boys’ faces immediately fell when they thought back to what they had witnessed in the smuggler’s hideout.

“There was a little ‘incident’ when we cleared the hideout of the smugglers.” Tom answered, trying to not make a big deal out of it.

“A ‘little incident’?!” Ben shouted out angrily and glared at their captain, not believing how he could downplay so easily what they actually had seen.

Colonel Sanders heard enough to know it must have been something really serious, for Ben and the others to act like this.

“Y/N didn’t tell me anything when I asked her. So I wanna know from you what’s going on.”

“Where is she?” The younger Miller asked with worry in his voice, ignoring the comment from the colonel and only thinking about their girl in this moment.

“None of you is leaving this office before someone has told me what the fuck happened on your mission!” Sander’s voice grew louder, making it clear how serious this conversation was and catching the guys off guard by the tone of his voice.

“We… don’t really know.” Frankie answered after a moment, looking to the ground with a guilty expression on his face.

“You don’t know?!” The colonel repeated, not knowing what he should think about it.

“We had cleared the building up to the 6th floor and were checking the 7th. Everything looked clear, we even checked it twice each but then she told us to hold our position because she thought it was not clear. We were convinced that the floor was safe too after checking it multiple times and decided to move on despite her warning and not responding through her com anymore. We got to the last floor without any problems or encounters on the way. There were just a few more guys and our target on the last one that we took care of. After making sure we were done, we headed back down where we were coming from and then… we found her on the floor below.” Will explained cautiously, fully knowing what the colonel’s reaction would be.

“Found her?” Sanders calmly asked, hating where this was going.

“She… was just laying there… with all those bodies and the blood around the floor.” Ben tried to get out, the same feeling he had back there, creeping up his body and making him sick to his stomach again.

The older gray-haired man in the room tried to keep his composure upon hearing the revelation, going back to his chair and needing to sit down for a moment.

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He trusted his boys with his life, they were his best team for a reason. How could they let something like this happen?

“When we got to her, we immediately checked if she was alive and if she had any serious injuries but we found nothing. She only had an anxiety attack and a complete breakdown right after but besides that, she physically was fine somehow. Only a slight scratch on her throat. She slept through the whole drive back to the hotel, where we took care of her gear and cleaned her up a bit since she and her clothes were completely soaked in blood. After, we decided that each of us would take turns to watch her till the next morning to make sure she was okay. Ben woke us a few hours later in the middle of the night, saying that she was gone. That’s all we knew until we tried to find her. We decided to ask around for her in the hotel first and the receptionist informed us that she had paid and checked out already hours ago and took a cab. So we asked some of the drivers outside if they had seen her and one of them said that he took her to the airport, so we went there next after we got everything sorted. My brother and I went to the ticket counter to try and ask for her, which turned out positive. The woman explained that she had been there, wanting the earliest flight when she arrived. That’s everything until we landed and went straight back here.” The older Miller continued his report, making sure to tell everything he knew and lowering his head with an almost pained look.

Now her behavior made at least a little bit more sense but still didn’t explain why she not wanted to be with them anymore.

Colonel Sanders let out a heavy sigh, folding his hands in front of him, trying to think about the best way to tell his boys what their girl had requested from him.

A deathly silence settled over the office until he decided to speak.

“I… have to tell you something.” His gruff voice already a bad omen, sounding like he was about to tell them about her death.

The rest of the men in the room all immediately picked up on the sudden change in his voice, not being used to that kind of tone but already feeling fear creeping up their spines. Not able to say something.

Sanders looked around at each of them before continuing. Making himself ready to drop the already ticking bomb over their heads to explode.

“She requested… to be moved to another team. Immediately.”

Right as the last word had left him, Benny nearly lost it completely. Clearly not expecting anything like this.

“What?!” It was the only word he was able to choke out before he felt his legs nearly giving out under him. He felt like someone had forcefully ripped his heart right out of his chest and left him to die.

His brothers didn’t take it in any different, the ground having been pulled away from right under their feet quite literally. Each of them taking in a sharp breath and needing some support from the wall behind them to keep them upright on their feet. Frankie and Santiago grabbing their caps and lowering them slowly from their heads in front of their bodies.

“This… is all just a bad joke from you and her to get back at us for what happened, right?” Ben tried to convince himself, denying this could be actually true. There was no way in hell that she actually had meant what she said.

“Do I look like I’m joking?” The colonel asked him, his expression unchanged and the same seriousness in his voice than before.

“No…. no, no, no, no, no! That’s- that can’t be…” The devastation was crystal clear in Benny’s voice. His mind completely blanked. He didn’t know what to do with what he had been told a few seconds ago.

All of their faces had turned deathly pale, completely drained from their color in a matter of a second. None of them knew what to say, what to do with that information. They just felt like someone had shot them straight in the head. Never once had any of them even thought about the one impossible thing happening.

“Why?!” The younger Miller screamed and sank on his knees to the floor with tears in his once bright blue eyes that were now swallowed whole by the same darkness that crept up inside of him in that very moment.

“Did… she say anything?” Will didn’t know how he managed to get any words out right now but somehow, they left his mouth without fully registering it.

Colonel Sanders left another heavy sigh and hung his head, knowing full well how his Delta boys must be feeling right now.

“I can’t tell you anything more than this. I’m sorry.” He apologized, hating to have to keep the promise he had given their girl.

“This must all be a mistake! This can’t… be…!” Ben continued sobbing, not being able to hold in his emotions any longer and starting to hit the ground with his right fist he had curled so tight, he could feel the nails digging in his palm and drawing blood.

“I’m so sorry. I wish I didn’t have to tell you this.” Sanders apologized again, not knowing himself what he could do to be there for them.

“Where…? Where… is she?” Having released some of his anger, Ben looked up at the colonel, tears still running down his cheeks.

“I don’t think this is a good idea right now.” The colonel sighed, knowing they probably all wanted to see her but it wouldn’t lead to something good until they at least had cooled off.

“I don’t fucking care! I wanna see her right fucking now!” Benny screamed again, raising suddenly with lightspeed to his full height with his completely shaking body.

Before he did anything he’d regret later, Will was by his side and tried to hold him back and appease him.

“Ben. You need to calm down.”

“No! How can you even stay so fucking calm after this?! Do you even fuckin’ care at all about her?!” His little brother knew fully well that he was crossing a line with this that he shouldn’t but his emotions were all over the place and he couldn’t think straight.

It was the last thread that Will had been hanging on the entire trip back. He couldn’t restrain himself any longer and finally snapped too thanks to his little brother accusing him of not caring for their girl, that was way too precious to him as well.

“You really think, I don’t fucking care about her too?!” He wasn’t able to control his rage anymore, that had been building up gradually more and more inside of him in the last minutes.

Santiago, Frankie and Tom snapped out of their paralyzed state when both of the Miller brothers were about to charge at each other. The look in their eyes one, that promised nothing but death and destruction. But before anything could happen, they intervened. Frankie grabbing and holding back Ben with all his strength and Santiago did his best together with Tom to keep Will separated from his brother.

“You gotta stop, hermano. It’ll be okay. It’ll be fine.” The pilot reasoned with him, looking him dead in the eyes.

“Stop! It won’t help if you jump at each other’s throats! You know that!” Santiago on the other side tried to get through to his friend, knowing he was the more reasonable one of the two right now.

“Enough!” Before anything more could happen, the colonel raised his voice loudly enough to get the attention of all.

“You can be thankful that this has no consequences because of her! Y/N defended all of your stubborn asses with her life when I asked her about what had happened! She even said that it wasn’t your fault!”

His statement felt like another heavy punch in the gut for the boys. Coming back to their senses again, Ben and Will looked guilty to the ground and stopped fighting against the hold of their friends that loosened their grip on them when they felt them relaxing.

None of them dared to say another word, feeling like absolute shit. So the older gray-haired man took it upon himself to continue and try to soothe them at least a little with his words, even if it wouldn’t help the deep gaping wound each of them now had inside.

“Do you think it was an easy decision for me? You think I don’t know how you feel right now too? I tried to convince Y/N to think about her decision at least for a day but she insisted and I can’t deny her that. But we all know that this girl would go through hell and back for you. She’d do anything for her possible to save your asses from whatever mess you drag yourself into. So please try to accept her decision and give her some space and time to think about it. I know it’s a lot right now but you can’t change anything about it in this moment. Go to your bunks and get some rest after all you’ve been through in the last hours. Give yourself some time to process everything and try to stay away from her for the time being. I will keep an eye on Y/N until she decides that she wants you back, you have my promise.”

The boys knew he was right, rationally. But emotionally this whole ordeal was a completely different thing. Especially for Ben, not being able to be with her, hear her voice he loved so much and could listen to from day to night and her laugh that would make his entire day when he heard it, feel and touch her soft skin on his and assured him that she was there with him, to see her smile and knowing it was because of him. All of it had been violently ripped away in a matter of seconds. He never wanted to be a second without her, always wanted to have her by his side and being reminded that someone cared about him, that she was happy and safe. Ben didn’t know if he was able to live without her, how he was supposed to continue from this.

The colonel stood up from his seat and rounded the table to give each of them a long hug, letting them know they weren’t alone in this.

“I’ll see you back here in the morning.” He said and walked back behind his table, watching them as they slowly made their way out with hanging and defeated postures. None of them capable of more than a nod as goodbye.

They went back to their bunks and waited…

…for 8 long years.

A/N: The flashback part had been sitting in my drafts for ages ever since I wrote it along the first chapter of this fic because I wasn't sure when it would fit nicely into the story or if I even wanted to incorporate it at all. But I'm excited to share it with you now and hope it was a good choice to place it here and shed some light to what actually happened from the boys' side of things! 🥰

Buckle up because we are about to go down the rabbit hole! 😎

If you enjoyed feel free to reblog, like and comment! 🥰

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#benny miller #benny miller x reader #will miller #william miller x reader #santiago garcia #santiago garcia x reader #francisco morales #frankie morales x reader #triple frontier x reader #triple frontier #triple frontier fanfiction #garrett hedlund #charlie hunnam #oscar isaac #pedro pascal #IGotYourSix

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