#And jey just being a sexy distraction over here

[84reedsy]

[reignstormz]

✓WORK IT OUT ✓

|IMAGINE; PART ONE|

INTRO; You run into a handsome man at the gym, well, maybe in a different way than you had hoped. You never intended to go any further with him despite how interested you really were, but one touch led to another, and things got really nasty.

WORD COUNT; 5,023? (idk tbh Tumblr is tripping)

WARNINGS; Sexual content ahead, read at your own risk. Also, covid doesn't exist in this imagine. Also, there's a part two to this! Keep your eyes open!

CAST; You (Y/N) / Roman Reigns / Jey Uso /Paul Heyman.

🦋Tampa, Florida 🦋

🦋 February 20th, 2021🦋

You walked into EOS fitness gym, with absolutely no energy or motivation in your body. The emotions you felt all week had tugged you down, including this morning; Tired, gloomy, unhappy, nonetheless, heartbroken. It's been two weeks, or maybe one--you definitely weren't counting, since you had found out on Valentine's Day that your ex had been sleeping around with other women. Two in fact, and caught him right in the act. In you're house, in you're bed, meanwhile, you've given this man everything. A five year relationship, gone down the drain. You started to wonder what you did wrong, or what you could've done better to make him not make the mistakes he made.

Were you not pretty enough? Were you not pleasing him enough? Were you boring? Why did he treat you the way he did? and how could he betray you like that? All of those questions ran through your mind. In all honesty, none of it was your fault. The problem was, from the very beginning, you didn't love yourself. You didn't appreciate your value, and when you don't appreciate your value, you leave a window of opportunity for another person to do the same, and that's exactly what happened. However, you were still lost. You tried to do anything, absolutely anything to get this mess off of your mind. The last resort was the gym, and maybe that was just the thing to help for the time being.

It was about six in the morning, and rarely anyone was there except for about a three or five people. You liked it better that way anyway, working out when the gym was packed irritated you to the fullest. Walking further into the building made goosebumps rise all over your skin due to the air conditioning blasting throughout the gym. You sighed dreadfully, slowly taking off your jacket as you hopped onto the treadmill.

"I knew I should've worn a long-sleeved shirt," You scolded yourself. As you hit the button, putting the speed only on number two, you slid your earbuds into your ear and played the playlist of your liking while you walked. You stared the treadmill's screen ahead of you, until you noticed someone else walk into the gym. It was a man. You looked down briefly before you did a double take, gosh, such a beautiful man. It was like you were hallucinating, even though you weren't.

"Damn.." You muttered under your breath as you stared at the handsome guy. He was tall, muscular, had olive-like toned skin, black long hair that fell to his shoulders, and a beard that covered his angelic face. You're eyes traced his every move as he made his way over to the weights, where all the jacked, crazy fit individuals typically stayed in the gym. Today though, it was just him. He was wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt which caused his muscles to show through, including some black sweatpants.

It was too early in the morning for this, you thought. He dropped his bag next to the bench, and wrapped his hair into a neat bun. You're mouth watered at the sight at him, but you quickly snapped out of it. You needed a distraction, but that was far from what you needed, especially from another dude. Stay focused, you reminded yourself continuously. You decided to put the treadmill on higher speed, figuring that if you were at a running pace, then you would've gotten your attention back. Long story short, your resolution didn't solve.

You're eyes worked against you, slowly looking forward once again to see him. He had a heavy set of weights on his shoulders, while squatting over and over again. Not only did his capability of strength make you drool, something else did as well underneath it. His ass, was unreal. If you could just reach out and touch it, you probably would've. Deep down, you were a little mad at yourself for not toughing it out, but you couldn't help it. He looked so sexy, and you could watch him all day.

Little did you know, the beautiful man before you, was completely aware that he had an audience. Well, you were his audience after all. As he worked out, there was a mirror in front of him and he caught your glance in his reflection. Even though you were a little too far away to notice him looking, the mirror gave him a better view to look at everything that surrounded him. He smirked to himself, admiring the woman behind him. The fact that you most likely had no idea that you had his attention, made him chuckle a bit as his legs began to burn from the squats, but he decided to keep going, hoping that your attention would stay fixated on him.

Roman was also a single man, a mafia boss to say the least. He kept his identity more on the low, and rarely let anyone in his circle. His trust issues were thin, but he had a big heart that he deeply wanted to share with someone else. The Samoan had been with other women in the past, but never found someone that completed him fully; The money, relevancy, extravagant lifestyle, and everything in between he had, often found himself in situations where he was used, they were never with him because they truly loved him. Now, he's focused on himself for awhile and his empire he's been working on for years, however, if the right woman were to walk into his life, he wouldn't hesitate to give it a chance.

Before you knew it, something awful happened. You were so lost into the mysterious man, that you had accidentally stepped in front of your left foot, tripping yourself and you lost all of your balance. A huge thud echoed across the gym, and you held your head in pain after you slid off of the treadmill. The few people that were in the gym slightly gasped, and after a few seconds, awkwardly went back to what they were doing. Assholes, but you were too out of it in order to notice. You bit your lip, trying your best to hold back tears at how bad the fall was to your head. You're eyes were closed shut, and you were about to attempt to get back up until a large hand rested on the small of your back, stopping you.

"Are you okay, Mama?" The deep, montone voice asked gently. It was smooth like butter, yet chilling. You had no idea who it was still due to how unconscious you were.

You slightly turned around on your back, and your arm naturally rested around the person's neck as he lifted your body up with his arm. You're eyelids slowly lifted back open, but your vision wasn't all the way there yet. Who was talking to you? You turned your head to the left, seeing who had come to help you. Since you were still a little dizzy, you were seeing double vision of the person in front of you. Once your head finally stopped spinning for a second, you were finally able to determine who was it front of you, and it was him. His pretty brown eyes, stared into yours with concern as you stared back into his, nervous out of your mind. It couldn't get anymore embarrassing than this.

You gulped, avoiding his gaze. A lie was told by the nod of your head, despite being hurt, "Yeah, I'm fine-"

"No, stay." He warned politely as you tried to stand up fully. His arm was secure around your waist, and then his eyes trailed up to your head. The look in his eye softened even more, "You're bleeding."

You furrow you're eyebrows, going to touch your head. You sigh, looking at the marks of blood on your fingers, "Shit..I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" The man chucked, and rubbed a small circle on your back before getting up to get a paper towel from the nearby wall. He squatted back down to your level and gently put it against your wound. You winced a little at the pain, but took deep breaths in between. As he continued to wipe some of the blood off your head, you on the other hand stared at him the entire time. From far away, he was out of this world fine, but up close was even better. Looking at him was like being hypnotized.

"What's your name?" You asked bluntly.

He alternated looks between your eyes and your head, and smiled small, "Roman, and yours?"

Damn, and you thought he couldn't look anymore good. His smile was..

"So sexy.." You blurted out, thinking at first that you said it in your head, but you didn't. Shit, you thought. You lowered your head, closing your eyes from embarrassment. Roman paused from wiping your head, and stared at you a little bit from what you said. His lips turned into a smirk, with his tongue lightly brushing over them.

"So are you," He shoots back. What did he just say? Your eyes widened a tiny bit and you lifted your head up to meet his glance. Roman gave you a subtle wink before getting up, and throwing the paper towel in the trash can. He walked back to you, giving out his hand for you to take.

"Come on," Roman nodded his head towards the gym with a comforting smile. "Let's get out of here."

Depending on how hard you hit your head, you were still a little out of it and wasn't sure what to make out of this situation. Were you really about to leave with a guy you barely even knew? Despite how fine he was, a part of you thought this was a terrible idea, and made zero sense if you went through with it. However, you didn't care. The stars that you were seeing currently, especially when you looked at him gave you butterflies in your stomach that were unexplainable, and you just couldn't say no. Who was he? You needed to know.

A slow, small grin appeared on your face as you hesitantly took his hand, letting him take you wherever he wanted to go.

⏩

After about an hour or two of slumber, your eyes flew open, slightly closing due to the lights piercing through the ceiling. You blinked a couple of times, and realized there was something cold on the top of your head. You furrowed your eyebrows, bringing your hand up and gently touching the ice pack that was laid there. Then, you slowly sat up, setting the ice pack next to you as you looked around at your surroundings. You had a brown, fuzzy blanket wrapped around your body and you were laid against a long, white couch.

Not to mention, the living room that you were in was extremely huge. You had a hard time remembering exactly how you got here. All you remembered was that you were at the gym, you saw a handsome man; What was his name, Roman? You thought. After that you face planted on the treadmill, and he went to help you, anything after that was a complete blur. Where were you right now?

You turned your head to the left, and saw the night life outside of the window. Thousands of lights, and the settle stars of the night sky had you in awe. As you continued to stare at the view, a voice interuppted, "You alright, Uce?"

You jumped back a little, putting a hand on your chest from feeling startled. You looked ahead to see a brown-skinned, attractive man with unqiue tattoos on both of his arms and a gold chain around his neck. He was very swagged out, from head to toe. You looked him up and down, and slightly tilted your head, "Excuse me?"

"How are you feeling?" He repeated, looking at you weirdly. Did she not understand the slang? But the again, it was Samoan slang, not everyone understood it off the bat, He thought. You sighed, slightly face-plamimg your forehead gently before apologizing once again, "I'm sorry, Who are you? and how did I get here?"

"Jey Uso," He introduced shortly. I stared at him blankly, still having no clue who he was. He sighed, pointing at a picture of three children on the wall, "Roman's cousin?"

You looked at the picture, seeing Jey, another kid who looked exactly like him and Roman who I believed was in the middle. You wanted to coo at how adorable the picture was, but you were still confused. Damn, they're cousins? So is everyone attractive in his family or is it just them? Besides, why is he here anyway, standing there like some guard? Was he watching you this entire time?

"You guys are cousins?" I ask in disbelief. He nodded quietly, looking a little confused as to why I was surprised, "What, he didn't tell you?"

"No, because I just met the guy?" I say dumbfoundedly, "And I have no idea how I even got here in the first place. I need to go back home." You plead, starting to get a little nervous.

"Relax, this is Roman's place. He only brought you here because you got hurt at the gym and he didn't think it was safe enough for you to be driving back home." He informs, "I'll actually go get him, now that you're awake."

Before you could open your mouth to speak, he left the room. You sighed, and then thought a little about what he said afterwards. You knew that this was nice of him to do, and it did mean a lot that he cared, but you were still on the fence about being at a random guy's house you didn't know too well. Roman's intentions were in the right place, but this was the last thing you needed to be involved in right now. You were focusing on yourself, and yourself only, and it just hurt too much to have someone else in the picture at the moment. It wasn't the time to catch feelings or be interested in someone new, especially him, he was too fine and you knew it would be too easy to give in.

As you played with your fingers, the two gentleman stepped into the room, making you look up. Roman looked back at you with a soft, yet relieved expression as Jey stood behind him. He was wearing a dark blue muscle shirt, that showed a long, tribal patterned tattoo that covered his entire right arm, along with Jordans on his feet to match with his shirt. It's like this man had so many secrets about him that you had no idea about, the tattoo was like the perfect touch and made him look even more sexy than he already was, it also was identical to his cousin's. He turned his head, whispered something to Jey. He nodded his head and walked away, leaving you and Roman alone.

"Hey, sleeping beauty." Roman called you, which made you chuckle a bit, making you a less nervous. You watched him make his way over to you, and he sat down, putting the pack of ice on the coffee table in front of you.

"How's your head?" He asked, gently putting his fingertips under your chin, trying to get a good look at it which sent shivers down your spine. You licked your lips subtly, watching him but you sighed, closing your eyes. Get over yourself, Y/N.

"It's fine, um.." You trailed off, grabbing his soft, large hand and took it off of your chin. You really didn't want to let his hand go either, but you had to listen to your pride.

"Listen, I think I should go." You suggest, standing up from the couch and he looked up at you, clearly not wanting you to leave.

Shit, was I coming on too strong? Roman thought. This might've been an unusual way to approach a woman, but the moment he met you at the gym, he just knew he had to get to know you more. There was something about you, that pulled him in and had his full interest. You were beautiful, out of this world gorgeous, your body and the way the heavens shaped you drove him crazy, and the way you looked at him made Roman feel something that he doesn't feel everyday. Usually he was a bit more straight forward on what he wanted, and he wouldn't have to tell anyone twice for him to have it. He had a whole different side to him, that you had no clue about, but that's because you were different to him. He wanted to be careful with you.

Before Roman could respond, You felt around your neck and realized that it was completely bare. You froze and your blood ran completely cold. You remember going to the gym wearing a gold necklace that had your name written in cursive, which was a valuable gift of yours that you received on your birthday years ago. You never took it off, and you thought you might've lost it when you got hurt. Fuck, you thought, starting to feel upset all over again.

Roman realized a change in your mood, and he raised his eyebrow shortly, "What's wrong?"

You shook your head, not wanting to stress about it, even though deep down you were, "Nothing."

Roman looked at where your hand was, which was motioning at your neck. He then remembered the gold necklace that you dropped when you both walked out of the gym. He made sure to get it for you before you guys left.

"Are you missing something, gold maybe?" He teased playfully, knowing that you didn't want to worry him. Your eyes widened and you snapped his head at him, how did he even know that?

"You have it?" You say in a hopeful tone, with a brief smile on your face. He smiled back, with a light-hearted chuckle which made your heart melt, "Yeah, I got it. I'll go get it."

Roman stood up, and then looked back at you, "Just promise me you won't leave once I give it to you." You sighed in relief, and nodded agreeing. He left the room, leaving the room to get your necklace. You admired how kind he was, especially how much of a gentleman he was. He didn't have to help you at all or care about your well being, but he did. Give it a chance, go for it, you tried convincing yourself. It seemed like he also was interested, but then your insecurities kicked in, there was no way a guy like him would be interested in someone like you. There were you again, second guessing yourself. You just wished you didn't get yourself involved in this situation to begin with.

Roman went to his office, and picked up your necklace from his desk. He read your name quietly to himself, "Y/N..."

Such a gorgeous name, he thought. As if she couldn't seem any more perfect that she was. He smirked to himself, staring at your necklace for a couple of seconds before returning to the living room. Roman motioned you to turn around, and you followed, letting him put the necklace around your neck. Once it was, you touched it, thanking God in your head that you didn't lose it. You then turned around, facing him. You were more closer to him than you thought you would be. Roman stared down at you, looking into your eyes as you stared into his brown ones. The things you would do to him, you bit your lip and was able to pry away from his stare, backing up a away from him a bit.

Damn it, Roman cursed to himself. He cleared his throat, backing away from you, hoping he wasn't making you feel uncomfortable, even though you weren't. On the other hand, you were just hoping you wouldn't make a fool out of yourself again.

"I was just kidding about what I said earlier," He said. You looked back up at him, wondering what he was talking about. He smiled small, "If you still want to leave, I'd be happy to take you home."

You couldn't help but hold back a smile, finding his gestures heart warming. I guess showing your appreciation wouldn't hurt, in your way. You raised your hand to his cheek, holding it gently and tilted your head, kissing his other cheek sweetly.

"Thank you, Roman." You said appreciatively. His eyes were glued onto you, not being able to tear them off of you. Roman's blood turned warm, and his heart that was already racing began to go even faster. It's like there was a glow around you, that nobody else could see except for him. You were a diamond in the rough, angel in disguise, a woman that should be treated like a queen. He didn't know if you were seeing anyone else, but quite frankly he didn't care. You were going to belong to him soon.

"Are you good?" You asked, trying to get his attention. Roman nodded, trying to disregard his thoughts before he said them out loud, which he did most of the time.

"Yeah," He says. Roman picked up his keys off of the coffee table, and looked down back at you, not being able to look away from your beauty, "After you." He insisted, wanting you to go first. You nervously smiled, thanking him again silently before you walked in front of him. He took the opportunity take a look at your rear end, he bit his lip and sighed. All that, will be mine he said to himself in his head before he went and followed you.

➰

Tags; @gold--gucciempress @wwzentertainment @serenityfiretrash @flawlessglamazon @nicolewoo @romanreignshairdresser @sassymox @pennysky @msnikkimoneypenny @jazzy-tzw @lemonjvicey @thandiwethagirl @haharollins @reignsprint @rollinshield3 @sheerbeautyreigns @zaddyreigns @brookethegamer @glowinnbabyy

[rkpjy]

⭐️triple threat challenge performing overcome by nu’est  (00:00-00:26 // 01:23-01:56) april 21st, 2019

it all started with a drunken promise made to jei. jinyoung is not usually the type to allow himself to lose control like this but it seemed like they both needed the distraction, and the night ended in laughter, old stories from high school and the mutual promise to perform at trc’s triple threat challenge near the end of april. he woke up the next morning with a headache and the words written on his forearm, which at first had him freak out thinking he was so out of it he got himself  a tattoo. but it turned out to be waterproof, black marker that stained his skin for days but eventually faded.

being a man of his word, jinyoung first chose a song that landed on his playlist thanks to his corworker’s music tastes. he enlisted jaewon’s help with the choreography since that’s what he does for a living but for one reason or another, ended up changing ideas a few days later. it’s not because he doesn’t like song, but he was searching for a different kind of vibe to show triple crown. something that will immediately let them know what style he’s good at... hopefully.

he doesn’t have high expectations going there. there’s very little chance of winning or being remembered but at this point it’s not really what motivates him to go. there’s something he needs to prove to himself by performing, something he needs to validate and he won’t figure it out by staying in the shadows and waiting for opportunities to be handed to him. he has to work for it, sweat for it, and make it happen.

mina is supposed to be there somewhere among the audience but they both agreed it would be best not to attend together. they’re not careful about being out in public as a couple usually, freely walking hand in hand around campus and sharing kisses out in the open but... they don’t want to push their luck when it comes to events like these. just knowing she’ll be there watching him is enough support for jinyoung anyway, and they can talk about it when they meet up later at his apartment. he sees yugyeom’s head towering over others and smiles to himself, still unaware that his roommate will also perform after him. he meets briefly with jei too and makes sure she fulfills her end of the bargain. they’re in this together now.

“my name is park jinyoung.” he bows as a greeting, thin smile on his lips as he mentally prepares for what’s about to come. it’s been a while since he stood on a stage, three months to be exact. and musicals have nothing to do with being alone out there doing his own thing with nothing else but his talent to rely on. he’s been wondering if he has what it takes to make it. he wasn’t ready his first time as a trainee, with too many doubts keeping him from unleashing all of his potential. this time he wants it to go differently.

the song itself isn’t sexy, but it definitely has a few sensual parts here and there that he thinks he can pull off a lot better than he would something ‘cooler’. he wishes he could’ve cut out the rap part since he’s not really into that but he understands the purpose of the challenge and respects it. they want people who can hold their own in all three skills and while he definitely isn’t a born rapper, he didn’t choose a verse that’s out of reach.

잠든 네 옆에서 난 너를 꿈꾸고 (oh yes) 다섯 개의 햇살로 널 다시 깨운다

다들 나를 보면 차갑던 말투 표정까지 너의 미소에 녹는 ��인데 가끔씩 너 지쳐 보일 때 이 노랠 불러줄게

he is, of course, thinking of his girlfriend while singing. it says it all in the lyrics, how his world is filled up with her, how everything looks and feels like her. he wants to look in her direction only as soon as he spots her in the crowd but tries to engage with the rest of the audience as he knows how important it is for them to understand the message he’s trying to convey. they either need to feel like he’s singing to them or like they want to sing it to their special someone. if there’s no connection, the performance falls flat and gets easily forgotten no matter how talented the person is.

It’s alright girl 검은 가시덤불이 나를 상처를 주고 할퀴어도 Yeah 너의 기사가 되어 슬픔에서 구해낼 거야

his gaze gets more intense as he reaches the chorus, contrasting with the fluidity of his movements. he knows his personality can be quite stiff but when he’s dancing like this that’s when he really lets himself go and follows the flow of the music, body rolling in synch with the beat.

워 널 위한 주문을 외워줄게 Baby (마마) 마하켄다 프펠도문 잊지 마요 난 네 편이야

밤에 달빛이 사라져도 너만 있다면 너만 있다면 여기가 바로 my heaven

오묘한 너의 눈에 취해 갈수록 내가 위태로워져 내 작던 욕심이 자꾸 커져서 내 마음이 다 너로 가득 차 세상 모두가 너로 보여 다 주문에 걸렸나

It’s alright girl 검은 가시덤불이 나를 상처를 주고 할퀴어도 Yeah 너의 기사가 되어 슬픔에서 구해낼 거야

워 널 위한 주문을 외워줄게 Baby (마마) 마하켄다 프펠도문 잊지 마요 난 네 편이야

for someone who’s always so self-conscious, this time jinyoung performs like no one else is watching but the people that truly matter. even the judges expressionless faces have no power over him anymore, he doesn’t even see them. the only person he wants to impress is park jinyoung. when the last few adlibs come to an end and the music fades, jinyoung smiles and nods to himself.

[elusetta]

five photographs

Read on ao3 here!

It was in Jey’s favorite truck, the red one with four seats, that she first brought it up. Jess obviously hadn’t been expecting her to say anything- more often than not, these road trips were a well-deserved break for both of them, uninterrupted by talking.

The question had been bouncing around in Jey’s head for days now. Now was a better time than usual, too. They weren’t being shot at. It was sort of a weird question to ask under fire.

Jey cleared her throat. “So, uh, Jess…” Jess jumped slightly, but settled quickly, glancing at Jey with her usual stony expression. “What?”

Jey contemplated taking back the statement. It was too late. She knew Jess didn’t like small talk, but taking it back now would just irritate her more. She smiled more tentatively than usual. “Are you okay with having your picture taken?” Jess raised her eyebrows, face predominantly confused, but also the smallest bit shaken. “Why? You wanna put me on a magazine or something?” Jey laughed. “Bow Hunters Weekly. There’s probably an audience.”

A moment of blank silence passed before Jey realized that Jess may have actually wanted to know. She fidgeted on the steering wheel. “Nah, not a magazine. I just like taking pictures.”

“And you wanna take pictures of me?” Jess crossed her arms, leaning back in her seat in what Jey hoped was a thinking-it-over position. “Like, posing and stuff?” Jey almost laughed at the mental image of Jess in that weird hoodie striking a fashion-model pose, looking into the camera with eyes full of death. “No. Just, you know, being yourself.”

“Huh,” Jess said, looking out the window. “Well, sure, I guess. Prefer to be killing Peggies, but whatever.”

Jey smiled widely, watching the road twist and weave through the mountains. “Thanks, Jess.”

Jess mumbled something dismissive, and they fell back into silence.

--

Cult outposts were becoming further and further apart. At least, that was what it seemed like. Distractions came less often than they had originally, too. Now, for every reaping truck and hostage site, there was a celebrating patriot or a friendly dog to be pet.

So, to be totally honest, killing Peggies was at about number three on the to-do list right now. The pace of things was starting to slow down, and as they did, so did Jey. She hadn’t felt the real effects of everything she’d been doing for a while, but now it was all starting to kick in. She didn’t have the energy to liberate a cult outpost at the moment. Right now, numbers one and two on the to-do list were to take a nap and eat a goddamn vegetable.

But, of course, those weren’t going to happen right away, mostly because Jey had somehow gotten both herself and Jess stuck on top of a mountain. At the furthest point of the Whitetails.

She’d radioed the Militia, but it was going to take a while to send in a helicopter (and maybe even longer for the people who had received her call to stop laughing their asses off).

Jey sighed deeply and looked up at the sky. Yep, it was dawn and she still hadn’t slept. Way to go, Jey.

She looked over at her companion. “You okay, sunshine?”

Jess didn’t even look back at her. “I’m fine.” The cold silence resumed. Jey glanced around for something, anything, to break it. They were surrounded by a whole bunch of grass and trees, as well as the massive, smoking remains of three planes that had somehow managed to completely obstruct their way back. Hence the being stuck, and the helicopter, and the members of the Militia who honest-to-God could not stop laughing when Jey told them what happened.

Finally, the answer struck her. There was an outcropping of rock directly in front of the rising sun.

Jey jumped to her feet, startling Jess into nearly breaking the total cold shoulder she’d been giving the other woman since they’d gotten stuck. “Hey, Jess, go stand on that rock over there.” That was enough to confuse Jess into actually looking at Jey. “What the fuck? Why?”

Progress. Jey smiled to herself. “It’d make a good photo.” Jess muttered something about not sleeping for two days and just wanting to go home to Peaches, but still reluctantly stood up. “Fine. Which rock?” Jey took Jess’ arm, causing the huntress to wince, and trotted over to the rock in question. “C’mon. Face away from the sun.” “I’m not a fuckin’ moron, Dep,” Jess snapped, gingerly climbing onto the tallest part of the outcropping.

Jey inhaled sharply. It looked just as good as she’d thought it would. Jess looked like some kind of hunting god who was currently very pissed off. She took out the old camera she’d found somewhere- Henbane River, she thinks, but it’s honestly anyone’s guess- and snapped a picture, smiling brightly when the photo came out. “Hey, come here. It looks really good.” “I’ll pass. Does that mean I can get down?”

Jey’s smile faltered but didn’t die. “Yeah, go ahead.”

Helicopter rotors sounded overhead. Jey tucked the picture away and prepared herself for however long it would be until she could finally, finally eat a carrot and go the hell to sleep.

--

It was a few weeks later, in a different helicopter- not the one that gave them a helpful but very embarrassing rescue from the mountain- that Jey took the second picture.

Pretty much everyone she knew thought it was a terrible idea for her to leave Fall’s End so early. After coming back from her mountain escapade, she'd only barely made it to the Spread Eagle before passing out and sleeping for almost a whole day. Mary May hadn't let her leave for a few days. Said something about health. Jey had gone to Pastor Jerome for advice, but he'd just told her the same thing about taking care of herself. So she'd slept a bit more, had a good square meal, and left anyway.

It wasn't entirely for herself, either. Jess needed just as much sleep as Jey did- actually, probably more- but, being Jess, she had become extremely restless after the first couple of days. And Jey could only take so much pacing and mumbling before she had to do something about it.

Today, “doing something about it” meant calling Adelaide for a lift to some cult outpost in the north (with a request to, please, avoid the taller mountains). Which wasn’t exactly the best, considering that the whole point of leaving Fall’s End was to make Jess happy. And Adelaide did not make Jess happy.

(To be honest, pretty much nothing actually made Jess happy.)

Adelaide was rambling about another of her conquests- a “red-hot hunk of beefy sex vibes,” as she had so nicely put it- and going into a completely uncomfortable amount of detail about his pelvic muscles when Jey turned around in her seat to check on Jess. She’d been making the usual disgruntled comments, but had fallen silent for a few minutes (which was, coincidentally, how long Adelaide had been describing the more intimate details of her old boyfriend).

Looking at her, Jey could see why. An expression of pure, unfiltered, total disgust had settled so firmly on her face that she honestly looked like it would get stuck that way. Jey let out a small giggle that quickly turned into a half-suppressed laugh. Holding back tears of hilarity, she surreptitiously pulled out the camera and snapped a picture.

The sound of the camera gave her away. Jess turned her laser-eyes glare to the other woman. “What.” Jey stopped holding it back and let herself laugh until she was doubled over in the seat, wheezing. “I had to. Your face- oh my God-”

She held out the photo to Adelaide, who leaned over, took a look, and let out a laugh of her own. “Oh, sweetheart, you look like you smelled skunk.” Jess crossed her arms defensively. “You’re a skunk.”

Adelaide adopted an expression of faux offense. “Aww, darlin’, don’t you like Aunt Addie’s sexy stories?” Jess remained dead silent, so Jey replied for her, still giggling. “Adelaide, you’re the only person in this chopper who likes dudes.”

Adelaide raised her eyebrows suggestively. “Oh, I’ve done my fair share of exploration. You know, in 1976, I met this woman who-”

“We’re here,” Jess interrupted as loudly as she could.

Adelaide sighed theatrically. “Aw, damn, I was just getting to the good part.” She winked at Jey. “I’ll finish that story later, sweetie, don’t you worry.”

Jey smiled at her indulgently, opened the door, and jumped.

--

The third picture was Jey’s absolute favorite.

In another effort to cheer Jess up, Jey had taken Peaches along for the latest of their missions, and they’d taken a detour into the deepest south of John’s region to hunt for a few hours without being disturbed. From the little Jey could tell from Jess’s overall demeanor, it seemed to be working. The huntress had been making quips and shooting arrows with renewed strength.

After catching a couple of deer, Jey had sat down on the bank of the river and cast a line. It felt incredible to take a breather. Admittedly, her mind was never really off of everything she had to do, and she worried about Pratt regularly, but going at the breakneck pace she’d established without ever taking the time to breathe out seemed like suicide.

Jess didn’t like fishing all that much, so Jey had been expecting her to put up some resistance, make a few irritated comments or something. Instead, she’d quietly sat down next to the deputy and watched the water.

It was almost weird. She looked so… peaceful. Maybe the cult had something with all that “let the water wash away your sins” garbage.

Peaches stalked down toward them and stretched, doing one of those creepy huge cat yawns. To Jey’s surprise, Jess stroked the cougar on the head, and to even more of Jey’s surprise, the cat just laid down and put its head in Jess’s lap.

Okay. Jess was sitting on the bank of a forest with the head of a puma in her lap. If that wasn’t some kind of hunting-goddess animal magic shit, then Jey didn’t know what was.

More than that, though, the dark feeling Jess usually carried with her was gone. She didn’t look happy. She looked serene. Jey had seen “not angry” on her before, but this was something different.

Jey put down her fishing rod and took out her camera, focusing it for a moment before snapping a picture. As always, the noise startled Jess, but the shock quickly faded and she went back to petting Peaches. The cat seemed to be enjoying it immensely, purring loudly and stretching out so that it was practically flat against the ground.

The photo came out of the camera. Jey waited for it to cool off before tucking it into the pocket of her flannel.

“Why do you like taking pictures of me?” Jess said after a long minute. She glanced down at Peaches.

Jey cast the line again and thought about it. “I guess because I like you. You’re my friend. I wanna remember you when all this is over.”

Jess scratched Peaches behind the ears, looking exceptionally pensive for someone whose normal form of expression was racing around in the forest putting arrows through people’s heads. “I never had a friend before.” Jey laughed. “Well, you do now, like it or not. You have me, and Grace, and-” she gestured to the puma- “you have Peaches, if she counts.”

“‘Course she counts,” Jess said absent-mindedly. “She’s a good girl.”

Jey felt a tug on her line, but trying to reel it in startled the fish away. She fell back into the comfortable ambience of the forest.

After another few minutes, and even more uncharacteristically, Jess spoke again, still looking down at Peaches. If Jey’s eyes weren’t playing tricks on her, the huntress’s face had turned the smallest bit pink.  “Thanks for… for bringin’ me along, Dep.”

Jey smiled. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

The fish tugged again on her line.

--

The fourth picture was a little weirder than the first three. The picture itself wasn’t weird, more of the manner it was taken. Usually, Jey needed something to spur her into taking a picture. It was never really just for the hell of it. The rock against the rising sun, Jess’s expression, Peaches sitting in Jess’s lap. There was always something.

This time, they’d just been walking along the Henbane River, alone except for the nearly imperceptible padding along of Peaches. They weren’t really going anywhere. Sometimes, this was what the battle to save Hope County looked like- walking around, climbing on a quad occasionally, following the roads and taking down whatever the cult threw at them. In these moments, it was easy to forget. The mountains looked so peaceful, the trees were so pristine… it looked like a painting, not a battlefield.

It was a little harder to forget about the cult when an effect of it was walking along with you.

Jey had to admit that every time she looked over at Jess, she felt a surge of guilt. Maybe if she had gotten here a little earlier. Maybe if she’d used her connections, gotten the information about Eden’s Gate before they could take hold, she could have prevented everything that had happened. She’d even had daydreams where she, as her spoiled little ten-year-old self, came to Hope County with her parents and swept child-Jess away to Alabama.

Yep. Jey had gotten attached.

When she got too consumed with thinking, she had to consciously remind herself that none of it was possible- and that Jess was strong, could take care of herself. To be honest, the fact that Jess was as well-adjusted as she was spoke volumes about her resilience. It was sort of amazing.

Jess did like to say that one thing. “You’re lucky you got me,” in her rough tone, only a touch lighter than usual. It was true, after all. Sometimes Jey thought that maybe she was a little bit below Jess’s level. But, for whatever reason, the huntress still traveled with her. Put up with her bad jokes and her goofy smile. And didn’t freak out when she blew things up just because they were there.

Huh.

Jey glanced at her friend, and an undeniable warmth settled in her chest. She knew this feeling. It was that feeling of having Boomer jump up on her and lick her face, seeing Hudson for the first time in weeks in John’s bunker, hurrying Kim and Nick Rye to the clinic while taking completely unsafe shortcuts.

She pulled out the camera and took a picture. There was nothing really special about it. It was just Jess, face neutral, bow drawn.

Jey smiled to herself and slipped it in with the others.

--

The fifth photograph was a change.

Jacob’s blood was fresh on Jey’s conscience- not that it was any weight. Out of all the Seed siblings, she had hated him the most. What he’d done to Pratt was unforgivable. What he’d done to her was…

Well, Jey would prefer not to think about it.

But the depth of the fear and pain he’d put her through was nothing compared to the triumph that followed. It had begun in mourning- the loss of Eli had affected everyone- but slowly morphed into hesitant celebration. And when Jey left the Whitetails, her heart still heavy, there was nothing but overflowing joy from Fall’s End. Even Pastor Jerome, usually so solemn, had offered her congratulations.

Dutch had called her. Let her know that this was it; this was where it ended. She had been to the cult compound before, just to scope it out, but the thought of actually facing Joseph was something else completely.

In a way, it felt nostalgic. It had been maybe five months since the helicopter had crashed. For all his presence, all his influence, Jey had only seen Joseph once between then and now. This last mission, no matter how it went, would be like returning to that time before Hope County, moving back into the real world.

Jey knew something in her had changed. No matter what they’d done, you couldn’t mow down hundreds- maybe thousands- of people and come out the same. How long would it be until she could hear the roar of planes above her head without her hand snapping to her gun? How long would it be until she could hear a church song without flashing back to the cult? The answer to both of those things could very likely be never.

Maybe she couldn’t go back at all.

The dark thoughts sturred a lump in her throat. Jey forced herself to snap out of them. The Spread Eagle was dark, lit by its neon signs. Dusk fell outside.

She set down the beer she’d been having and left the bar.

She should be happy, but she wasn’t. Fall’s End usually felt like home. It didn’t now.

Glancing down at the radio on her belt, Jey sighed.

“You look fuckin’ sad,” said a sudden, familiar voice.

The tension went out of Jey’s shoulders and she smiled, a spot of warmth finally coming back to her. “Not really.”

Jess folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the peeling white paint of the bar. She stayed silent for a few moments, then tentatively raised her voice. “So, uh… I was thinking…” She trailed off for much longer than usual.

Jey smiled encouragingly. “Thinking what?” Jess fidgeted. “Uh- how it’s, you know, kinda unfair that you get to keep all the pictures you took.” “I thought you didn’t care about them,” Jey said, only a little bit teasing. “I can give you one, if you want.” Looking even more uncomfortable, Jess shook her head. “Nah. That’d be weird. Me having a picture of myself, that’s just-” She cleared her throat, looking up at the changing sky. “I was… well, I was kinda wondering if maybe I could take one. Of- of you, I mean.”

Jey’s smile dropped, but only because of pure surprise. Jess? Showing some kind of- well, Jey thought- affection?

That was new.

She shook off the stunned silence she was stuck in and replied, smile blooming even bigger. “Sure. Yeah. ‘Course you can.” Taking the camera off of its usual place by her neck, she handed it to Jess, trying not to look too happy.

Jess, who was a little bit more than red at this point, focused it for an unusually long time.

The shutter snapped and the photo came out. Jess looked down at it (was that a tiny little smile?), then tucked it into one of the many secret compartments on her jacket.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, Jey waited for a good half minute without talking. But eventually, she had to know. “Why’d you want to take my picture?” Without even making a sarcastic quip beforehand, Jess responded, still not looking Jey in the eye. “‘Cause I like you, and you’re my friend. Like you said. If we gotta say goodbye, I don’t wanna forget you.” She looked at Jey for a brief second. “You’re kinda the only thing I haven’t lost.”

The buoyant feeling in Jey’s chest became almost too much to bear. Without thinking, she pulled Jess into a tight hug that, to her surprise, the huntress didn’t reject. In fact, after a moment of awkward tension, Jess returned it.

Yeah. This was okay.

Everything would be okay.

Maybe she had found home after all.