#Anyways I want to hug him so badly. Let me put him in the backseat and take him somewhere safe please.

[caterpillarinacave]

[randomfoggytiger]

How the Ghosts Stole Christmas In-Depth (Part I): Mulder's Gothic Romance Stories

Per request of @welsharcher (here ya go~!)

Christmas Eve

Somewhere in Maryland

(Well, here we go, boys. We already know this is going to be a comedic doozy.) 

It's 10:13. The Christmas cheer of Bing Crosby's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" wafts from Mulder's radio-- which is a little something the episode (and series) plays with, his various media reflecting his immediate mood and relationship with Scully (thanks to @welsharcher for pointing this out~)-- while he chews on his sunflowers seeds and waits for Scully to pull up. 

Without a look exchanged or a word spoken, Scully rolls her eyes up and her window down, syncing it up with Mulder rolling his down also (because they have that unspoken.) 

“I almost gave up on you!” Mulder yells, delighted. 

Scully’s first line of the episode is characteristically Starbuckian: “Sorry.” It’s followed up with an explanation of where she was, rattling off her reasons for the Captain’s Log and ending it with a frazzled “if I heard "Silent Night" one more time, I was going to start taking hostages.”

“Hm,” Mulder chuckles appreciatively. 

Scully begins again “What are we doing here-” before Mulder jumps in with “Stakeout!” Off her incredulous “On Christmas Eve?”, he insists “It’s an important date.” 

“No kidding.” 

Mulder begins to wheedle. “Important to why we’re here. Why don’t you turn off your car and I’ll fill you in on the details?” 

“Mulder, I’ve got wrapping to do--”

Mulder peeks over, and, sure enough, all of Scully’s presents are already wrapped in the backseat. Which means she was either late getting herself completely prepared for a late-night Mulder mission-- and hoping it wouldn’t come to that-- OR she was making up perfectly transparent fibs because she wants to wheedle Mulder away from his stakeout to spend Christmas Eve with her without having to wrestle with gift wrapping as well.

“Oh.” Mulder responds, purposefully lingering on her Christmas bounty. 

Scully knows she’s been caught, staring out her windshield as she weighs her options. The one that allows her to escape with some dignity still intact is temporary compromise; so, she rolls up her window and joins her partner in his car.  

She is crisp, practically noir crack whip: “Alright, let’s hear it. Give me the details.” 

But Mulder is a slow-and-steady, set-the-mood kind of guy; and he gently prods with a little “Look, if you’ve got Christmas stuff to do I don’t wanna--” knowing full well Scully doesn’t, likely doesn’t care to, and is here because she is trying to escape the egg on her face. 

And he knows she finds him charming: he’s relaxed, joyful, jovial, and ready to spin a despairing tale-- Mulder-mancing (the only way to romance) with honeyed words and ghostly goose bumps. 

Scully knows he’s teasing her, tries to put him off with more bluster disguised as solid reasoning: “Mulder, I drove  all the way out here, I might as well know why, right?” She is enjoying herself though, little slivers of smiles peeking through despite her efforts to the contrary. 

“I just thought you’d be more…” Mulder looks away to collect a word, turning back to a Scully skeptical eyebrow, “curious.” He doesn't need to include a cute little head wobble and tilt to punctuate his point; but he does it, anyway, because Scully’s a details woman.  

“Who lives in the house?”

“No one.” 

“...Then who are we staking out?”

“The former occupants.” 

“They’ve come back?”

“That’s the story.” 

And he wants to tell it badly; but patience is a virtue, and Mulder loves the buildup-- his vague clues and slideshow projector and purposed missing details come to mind-- just as much as Scully loves a challenging argument. 

“I see,” Scully says, nodding, keeping a joke close to her chest. “The dark gothic manor; the, uh, omnipresent low fog hugging the thicket of overgrowth… wait!” she pivots, fully taunting in jest now, “is that a hound I hear baying out in the moors?”

“No, actually, that was a left cheek sneak,” Mulder rejoinders, actually moving his body to lift his left rear cheek and angling his arm towards it; which means (off screen) he pointed at the general area to prove his non-existent point. He’s so proud of this, in fact, that his smile (not unlike a possible smell) lingers. 

When Scully pleas for Mulder to not have called her out for a ghostbusting gig (side-stepping the gas joke after a reproving “Okay… Mulder”), her partner begins his technicalities speech: “Technically speaking they’re called apparitions.” 

Her mood has shifted. No, no she does not want to do ghostbusting on Christmas Eve. 

“Mulder call it what you want-- I’ve got… I’ve got holiday cheer to spread, I’ve-I’ve got a family roll call under the tree at 6 AM.” 

Right as she reaches for the door, Mulder pops in the locks. She’s not escaping that easily. 

Scully is not amused; and Mulder knows his window of nonsense is on a timer and closing down fast: “Scully, I’ll make it fast I’ll just give you the details,” he blurts as one sentence. 

Seeing how important this is to her partner, she sighs in heavy defeat and raises an eyebrow in preparation for debunkable ridiculousness. “...Okay…”

“Christmas 1917--” Mulder plows on, “--was a time of dark, dark despair.” 

Let’s talk some meta for a minute: this episode takes place sometime after Dreamland I and II, wherein Mulder comes home from a busted Area 51 visit with Scully to find a completely refurnished apartment (including but not limited to a waterbed and new mirror for his mirror bed frame, discussed here) and probably awkward tensions with Kersh’s secretary coupled with an odd feeling of something having happened... but maybe not.

This episode Mulder is desperate for Scully to spend Christmas with him: “tricking” her into the car, locking the door so she has to hear his story, and stealing her keys so she can’t leave. Despite being a good sport about it all-- to a point, Scully spends the episode trying to lay firm boundaries about taking time for herself and her “normal life” activities, an important and recurring theme of S6 up to The Unnatural. And this isn’t lost on her partner, who is overjoyed she showed up at all and resorts to unfair stratagems to keep her longer. 

Mulder beings his story with appropriate dramatic weight

as he reels Scully out of her skepticism (including an epically unimpressed face) and into his little soap opera. 

Of course, she makes a correction, pointing out his overuse of “a time of dark, dark despair”; and though a bit miffed at her interruption, Mulder takes this in stride as he winds up for and Maurice’s and Lyda’s part in all this old history. 

Picking his hand up from the pile of eaten sunflower seed shells he’d dumped… somewhere, he points to the mansion, “But here at 1501 Larkspur Lane for a pair of star-crossed lovers, tragedy came not from”-- slipping in some old-timey language construction for storytelling heft-- “war or pestilence, not by the bootheel or the bombardier, but by their own… innocent hand.”  

Scully is impressed by his out-of-left-field "bootheel" description, then schools her expression (not wanting to give her partner material to gloat over.) Mulder sees how impressed she is and gives a subtle pause before passing from bootheel to bombardier, reveling in her visual praise. She's is trying her best not to enjoy this… but the Mulder charm cannot be denied. “Go on.” 

The tiniest of smiles plays across his face at her encouragement. 

“His name was Maurice. He was a…” Mulder pauses significantly, head nodding at the mansion-- but more particularly at himself, “brooding but heroic young man.” Another significant pause. “Beloved of Lyda-- a sublime beauty with a light that seemed to follow her wherever she went.” He shrugs at this, unable or unwilling to disclaim these suppositions; but more importantly, he shoots his partner a third, significant look while a wistful, enraptured smile settles briefly on his face. 

While he may be retelling these events, Mulder very particularly picked this story and these words. This is what he wants for them: to explore a house-- and inadvertently themselves-- on a foggy Christmas Eve, seeing the beauty in each other reflected in spooky mirrors and cracked windows while creaking doors sing serenades to the rhythm of their steps. This is a normal life to Mulder, an answer to Scully’s question in Dreamland I (which what he does remembers from their trip): “Don’t you want to settle down? …Have something approaching a normal life?” Yet again they’re in the car; but Mulder has a story about lovers and pacts with sunflower seeds in his hands, a gun at his hip, and his girl at his side. What’s more to life than this?

Much more, if Scully’s disbelieving face is much to go by. 

Mulder wisely moves on from this point: “They were likened to two angels descended from Heaven whom the gods could not protect from the horrors being visited upon this cold, gray earth.” 

Scully, having a list of obligations to do (if Mulder isn’t going to leave his stupid stakeout) and knowing her partner's being a tad (read: very) hyperbolic, steps in to keep him on track (despite being wooed by his endless sincerity.) “And what happened here?” 

“Driven by a tragic fear of separation--” he continues, a serious undertone creeping into his sincere retelling, “--they forged a lover’s pact so that they might spend eternity together. And not spend one precious Christmas apart.” 

Two important things here: 

#1. Either Maurice and Lyda preserved a huge ego in the story of their legacy-- not unlikely... but-- or he’s using a lot of mumbo jumbo to talk up his and Scully’s work. Mulder is painting their epic quest as supernatural in and of itself, as cosmic and eternal-- worth its weight in heavy costs and beyond every conceivable price. It’s why this story gives him goosebumps: this is about him and Scully, sacrificing their lives for the Truth and for each other, perishing together if necessary by their own hands rather than by a random plague or tragedy-- or worse, being torn apart by war and desolation.

#2. This is all proven by Mulder’s carefully chosen descriptions: “from the horrors being visited upon this cold, gray earth.” As well all know, the earth is not, in fact, gray; but aliens with their calculating, gray reaches and cold plans for earth are. And his “Driven by a tragic fear of being separated…”, is an accurate description of his experience during the hallway scene in Fight the Future. The clincher to all of this is his flippant Christmas line: “...they forged a lover’s pact, so that they might spend eternity together. And not spend one precious Christmas apart.” That’s a Mulder love confession if I’ve ever heard one. 

And a third point, why not?

#3. Mulder and religion-- may not be the most explored subplot in canon is still given ample consideration, nonetheless. It’s curious that his disdain and disbelief for religion changes over the series as Scully’s scientific rigidity relaxes. In my opinion, he leans more agnostic than atheistic (a natural inclination, considering the weird reality he lives in and explores) but spits venomously at organized religion for their practices, injustices, and God that they preach as loving and all-powerful. In the face of his sister’s abduction, the lies his parents told and participated in, and the world cracking apart behind the gauzy curtain of regulations and Syndicate plans, a god that exists to counterbalance and yet (seemingly) won’t is a pill that Mulder can’t seem to swallow. And while this idea is not deftly handled-- shoving a foot in the door suddenly in S7 and jamming it in S8-- it’s at least an aspect of the character that merits a post of its own to be weighed fairly in future (so, look forward to that someday soon-ish, I suppose.)  

Scully misses all of this, instead focusing on his literal words. “They killed themselves?” Death, even in a possibly yellow-journalistic retelling, is always something she takes seriously. 

Mulder gives a “bingo” nod. “And their ghosts--”

Scully chuffs a laugh at this ridiculous follow up and at herself. She'd forgotten Mulder's premise after getting sucked into his story, in spite of the skeptical little barriers she’d erected from the start. 

Mulder, touched by his double narrative and her reaction, states “I just gave myself chills.” His victory is complete, he believes; and he’d gotten a special bonding moment with one Dana Scully to boot. 

Or so he thinks. 

“It’s a good story, Mulder. And very well-told; but I don’t believe it.” 

The magical music twirling around them is immediately gone. 

“You don’t believe in ghosts??” Mulder asks, incredulous, almost offended at her discredit. She believes in a Holy Ghost-- why not a ghost-ghost?  

Scully is incredulous herself: “That surprises you?” 

“Well…” He lapses. Blunt honesty wins. “Yeah.”  A little shrug. “I thought everybody believed in ghosts.” 

His partner closes her eyes, an unspoken “of course you did” blazing across her face. “Mulder, if it were any other night I might let you talk me into it--” admittance, thy name is Dana Scully “--but the halls are decked… and I gotta go.” 

Scully spills from the car; and Mulder stares after her in crestfallen confusion. 

Looking at the house, he screws up his mouth and forms a resolution. Being the Oxford graduate, VCU golden boy opportunist that he is, Mulder already swiped Scully’s car keys while she was in the throws of his tragic tale; and he now uses it as bait to lure his partner into the house (without overtly giving away his leverage. Deny, deny, deny.) 

When he gets out of the car hot on her heels, Scully looks over, confused herself. 

“My best to the family,” he says quietly, moving swiftly away in her eyeline while he has her attention. 

An interesting note: Mulder refers to the Scullys as “the family” rather than “your family.” Likely it’s a Chris Carter style choice (swapping more personal adjectives for a more generalized “a/an/the”); but if you want to overthink it, see it as Mulder’s tacit acknowledgement of his close ties to Scully’s mother at least (perhaps even younger brother.)

“What are you doing?” Scully asks with creeping dread. 

Mulder doesn’t say a word at first-- making sure he’s in the light so she can clearly see him put the keys in his pocket and put two-and-two together later-- until her stressed “Mulder, don’t you have somewhere to be??” rings through the night.

“Just gonna take a look,” he replies, punctuating his statement with a point. 

Scully’s confliction is apparent. She thought Mulder had Christmas plans of some sort (why? does he usually spend it with TLG? did he make up with his mom off screen?) but he seems bound and determined to get himself into trouble instead. Her face wavers between frustration, fear, and incredulous consternation; and when he gets further and further away, she starts to stress out.   

Scully recalls her plans, turning away. “I’m not gonna do it. My New Year’s resolution,” she speaks, attempting to make it true by voicing her promise aloud.

Mulder’s Law is a universal invariant, however, and cannot be so easily dismissed. 

Mid-pep talk,  Scully realizes her keys are no longer in either of her pockets, and gathers the facts quickly: her sticky-fingered partner Swiper-no-swiping-ed them and took off for the house before she could catch on and halt his shenanigans--

the same "brooding but heroic" partner who is opening the front doors with a loud, majestic creak and quickly popping on his burglar light to start prowling in the dark. The same partner who knows for an unspoken fact-- yes, that unspoken-- that his partner is coming in fast on her huffy heels, little legs indignantly shuffling after his trail. 

His “sublime beauty with a light that seemed to follow her wherever she went” does, indeed, arrive: foreboded by “the gods” -- as Mulder called it earlier-- with a thunder and lightning combo of greater majesty. 

“Change your mind?” her partner asks, hiding his jolt of fear behind a faux innocent question (and making up his mind to scare her back later-- even if it wasn’t her fault, Mulder.)

“Did you take my car keys?” his partner cuts in, fed up with this charade. 

“No,” Mulder lies. 

At this point, eternal life bound together by a lovers’ pact seems like the raw end of the deal. 

Not even Scully’s God can keep these two from the "horrors being visited upon this cold, gray earth" as they scamper right into the clutches of two malevolent, embittered old spirits. 

Thank you for reading~ 

Enjoy!

[snipsnsnailsnwerewolftales]

Blue Moon - Part 5

A/N: See masterlist for prompts used. (And the list of amazing people who have helped me with this.) This one gets kinda heavy again. Don’t blame me! Blame the season! But you might wanna recheck the warnings on the masterlist just to be sure, and know the Sourwolf lovin’ and content is coming! (And hope to high heaven that Jennifer Blake isn’t here to stay. Please. Release the Sourwolf, Ma’am.)

I do not own Teen Wolf or it’s characters. Sadly.

Warnings: See Masterlist

Word count: 3,693

Xxx

“You two are idiots!” you hissed after Isaac and Boyd as they made their way down the sidewalk in front of the McCall house, back toward Stiles’ waiting Jeep.

“Today would be nice!” Stiles hollered from behind the steering wheel, his fingers drumming impatiently while he waited. “I only agreed to do this because I owe Scott, and my car is already starting to smell like dog, so can we please move this along so I’m not late for school?”

Climbing into the backseat and sliding over to make room for your packmates, you reached forward and whacked the back of Stiles’ head. “No dog jokes.”

“You didn’t have to follow us, you could have stayed in the car with Stiles like you were when we got here.”

You leveled a glare on Isaac as he smirked at you from the seat opposite you. “I had to get out of the front seat anyway, so I figured I would see what the idiocy was all about.”

Boyd let out a snort from the passenger seat and shook his head gently, despite his small grin, before he turned and looked out the front passenger window. He didn’t talk much, especially since Erica, but he was always listening. That’s why he was always one step ahead.

You smiled at him briefly before Isaac snapped in front of your face, making you scowl in his direction again. “Go to school, Y/N. No need for you to be at the loft any more than you need to.” After hearing about what you saw the night they were all trapped at the motel, they had all been for you not going back there unless it was necessary. They didn’t exactly want to go, either, but their frustrations with Derek could wait for a time when everyone’s imminent safety wasn’t at stake.

“I still don’t totally get your plan, but I hope you don’t all wind up dead.” You shuddered. “This could go badly so many different ways….”

“Be optimistic, Y/N!” Stiles protested, looking at you in the rearview mirror as he pulled up in front of the loft. He turned in his seat to meet your gaze after putting the car in park, letting the engine idle. “If their plan works, hopefully you can move back to the loft once this all settles and get out of my hair.”

You ruffled his hair as you made your way out after your packmates, smiling at his cries of protest, and hesitating before fully getting into the passenger seat. Turning around you gave Isaac a hug, ignoring his groan and awkward back pat in return. “Just don’t do anything stupid.” Turning to Boyd, you wrapped him in an embrace, which he surprisingly returned. “I need you guys.”

“We need you, too, Y/N.” Boyd was even smiling when he pulled away, holding on to your shoulders. “Which is why you have to go to school and cover for us.” He turned you and gave you a gentle squeeze on the shoulders before lightly shoving you into the Jeep. “Remember what we told you to say?”

You grimaced. “Yes. Do I have to?”

“Only if you want this plan to work,” Boyd smirked.

“Fine,” you huffed, shutting the door, and leaning out the window to finish the conversation.

“And be as descriptive as possible,” Isaac snickered, and you glared at them both before it melted into a small laugh.

“You owe me. Big time.” Turning to Stiles, you saw that he had just finished fixing his hair, and it took all you had not to reach out and mess it up again.

“Don’t even.” Stiles held up a finger in warning at you.

“I didn’t do anything!” you cried, grinning.

“You thought it, and you know it, and lying is not a good attribute, Y/N.”

You turned and waved at your two friends, smiling as they chuckled and turned toward the loft, Stiles putting the Jeep into gear and pulling off in the opposite direction.

Xxx

The rest of the day happened in a whirlwind, coming to a screeching halt as you rounded the last set of stairs up to the loft.

You heard a scuffle, then suddenly the loft seemed to emit what looked like lightning. The twins left Jennifer by the door and walked inside, their footsteps sounding like they were walking through water. Isaac quickly leapt to Jennifer’s side and held her close.

You slowly approached the door, feeling as if you weren’t really living what you were seeing. To your horror, you heard Kali yell something, the twins sloshing around to grab Derek and force him into submission like a disobedient puppy. They forced his claws to stay extended, and Kali lifted Boyd up and onto them, the only noise a soft groan as his abdomen was pierced.

You saw Derek break. You felt it.

Kali said something, you weren’t paying attention, and she exited the loft with the twins, stopping and rolling her eyes when she had to step around you because you wouldn’t move. You couldn’t. Your feet were rooted to the spot. You stared at the twins as they passed you in the hall with a sneer. Keeping your head high, eyes narrowed at them, you waited until they were down several flights of stairs before you let out the breath you were holding.

A small smirk worked its way up your face knowing you’d gotten under the Alpha Pack’s skin, but it quickly vanished as you looked back up and to the loft doorway, where Isaac held a terrified looking Jennifer.

Even if she was lying about everything, she sure played the distress convincingly. Enough that you doubted some of what you knew to be true.

He met your gaze over her head, gently shaking his head to tell you what was waiting in the loft wasn’t good.

Boyd and Derek were exchanging some faint conversation, and while you wanted to rush and help, the moment felt special, almost sacred, and you didn’t want to break that.

Only moments later Boyd fell to the floor, and you heard no heartbeat from your fallen friend. A single tear slipped down your cheek, and you turned your gaze to Derek to see him staring at his hands as they shook in front of him.

Stiles, Lydia, and Cora all rushed past you, Lydia hovering in the doorway. Brushing past Jennifer and Isaac on the threshold of the loft, you stilled once again a few steps in at the scene you were met with.

Cora lay sobbing over Boyd’s body. Derek knelt right beside him, his hands covered in blood and held in front of him as if he didn’t recognize them as his own, or didn’t want to. Stiles was behind Derek, hand on his shoulder in comfort. No words were exchanged, the only sounds were Cora sobbing, Derek’s ragged breathing, and the water covering the loft floor lapping at any movement.

As if he could sense you, Derek snapped his head your way, looking you over from the ground up as if to make sure you were okay, before landing on your eyes and finally holding your gaze firmly. Something swirled in his eyes, something you hadn’t seen in months, since before you were turned.

You had been a long term resident of Beacon Hills and had met the Hale family on several occasions growing up, enough to know when Peter was scheming and to know Derek’s wide array of moods. This is one you’d only seen once before the fire, and anytime after when the fire was brought up.

Pain. Failure. Loss. A swirl of grief stared up at you with blood stained hands.

And without exchanging a word, you walked around behind him, putting a hand on his other shoulder, mirroring Stiles to your side. Slowly you knelt in front of him, careful to keep your hand on his shoulder, and brought your other hand up to his cheek. Purposely putting yourself between him and Boyd, and his grieving sister, you needed him to focus on one thing at a time before it all became too much.

Reaching down with both your hands, you took hold of his, and he flinched, trying to pull them back, but you held on tightly.

“Derek,” you whispered, not trusting your own voice.

His eyes went from the floor to staring at his hands again, and finally up to you. And when he met your gaze again, you almost broke completely. But you couldn’t.

So much pain and death and in general horrible things happened around him, no matter how he tried to do the opposite. People literally used his hands to kill someone else. And despite how hard he fought, and went against everything bad, he was still the one made to take the fall.

“Derek, this isn’t your fault.” Your voice was breaking with emotion, you didn’t trust it more than the small sound it currently offered. “It was Kali and the others. You fought. You fought trying to protect them, protect everyone, and you almost did, but they played dirty.” Giving his hands a tight squeeze, you pulled them closer to your chest and saw the hesitance in his eyes. Slowly lifting them up to sit on your shoulders, you placed your hands firmly on top of his, rubbing his knuckles with your thumbs.

Smiling cautiously, you held his gaze. “See? There’s nothing to be afraid of. Those same hands that won’t kill a spider for me are right here.” He smiled gently at the remark, and you let yourself return it. “These hands did not kill Boyd, Kali’s did.” You swallowed thickly, feeling the lump of unshed tears growing in your throat. “Now, I need you to do something for me.” His eyes darted all over your face, before holding your gaze once again with a gentle nod. “First, we have to take care of Boyd. We’ll put him by Erica? I think he would like that.” Derek nodded again after a moment of hesitation. “You know his ghost would haunt us if we didn’t.” Everyone in the pack let out a little laugh in agreement, letting tears fall unabashedly.

Pulling his hands down into the water that filled the loft, you rinsed them gently to remove the blood as best you could, speaking after a moment as you did so. “Then, after a proper send off, we need to get the water out of this loft. I have no idea how, but until then you should go stay with Peter in his apartment.”

“He can stay with me,” Jennifer offered.

Going rigid at the sound of her voice, you turned almost mechanically her way. You’d forgotten she was even here. Keeping your voice a monotone, you looked her dead in the eyes as you spoke. “I think it’s best that he’s with family right now.”

“I’ll make sure he gets there,” Cora said from behind you, sniffing loudly as her tears calmed down for the moment.

Looking over your shoulder, you smiled at her in thanks.

She returned the gesture. “I might even stay, myself. Family time, however dysfunctional, sounds nice.” You didn’t miss the way she eyed Jennifer with mild disdain, and Derek with unabashed concern.

Turning back to Derek, looking down to see his hands now clean, you turned your grip in them to hold them, fingers interlaced tightly with his, and a smirk rising on your face. “Then, this last part I know you’ll love - revenge. After we take care of Boyd, then the loft, then we plot our revenge, and get justice for our friends and everyone else they have made suffer.” Leaning in close to his face, you whispered, “And that includes you.” Giving his hands a final squeeze, you rose to your feet, pulling him with you.

Despite everything, you saw a glimmer of the old Derek shining through, and it was enough to give you hope again. That maybe Jennifer hadn’t totally brainwashed him. And she wouldn’t. Not if you could help it.

Xxx

Pulling up in front of the Stilinski house yet again, you sat in silence as Stiles put the Jeep in park, turned off the engine, and just stared out the front windshield blankly without saying a word.

You eyed him from the passenger seat, the silence tense, and the small popping sounds of the engine as it cooled down nearly made you jump each time. Steeling your resolve, you reached a hand over to place on Stiles’ forearm. He flinched gently away, but allowed the gesture with a sigh, placing his other hand firmly over yours with a soft pat. “It’ll be okay, Stiles. This sucks, I know, but we have to be there for each other. I lost him, too. Don’t shut me out.” You choked on the sadness that had been building in your throat, swallowing the small lump down, daring it to break you. You could only manage a small, wavering whisper after that. “Don’t you dare, Stiles.”

Patting your hand once again, Stiles smiled tightly, his voice heavily sarcastic. “Yeah, it’ll be okay, Y/N. We’ll be fine. I’ll just add it to my list of trauma from this week and move on. Sound good? Okay.”

Pulling away from your grasp, he opened the door and got out of the car, slamming it shut behind him. The action was so violent for Stiles, it made you jump.

He had only gotten this way a few times in the years you had known him, one of those being when his mom died. It was never easy to watch, and sometimes harder to handle, but grief had a way of doing that. And you weren’t about to let grief dictate this evening. At least, not anymore than it already had.

Climbing out of the Jeep slowly, shutting the door quietly, you followed your friend to where he held the front door open for you, his face a tight line, his gaze downcast and far away.

He gestured you through with a stilted motion, but you stood at the bottom of the steps looking up at him. Shifting your weight side to side, the squelching sound of your waterlogged shoes finally became too much in the awkward silence, so you reached down and slipped them off, holding them limply at your side on the tips of your fingers.

You’re not sure how long you both stood there, but it felt like an eternity before Stiles finally took in a sharp breath. “Are you ever going to come in?”

“After we have talked.”

“We can talk inside just fine.”

“You can distract yourself inside just fine.” Stiles let out a loud breath through his nose, looking away from you again. “We need to talk first.”

He let go of the handle and took the few steps down to where you were. “Look, I know what you’re doing, and I appreciate it, I really do. But we can’t talk about this out here, for a multitude of reasons.”

“So what if someone hears us?” Stiles scoffed disbelievingly. “In case you haven’t noticed, werewolves are kinda in right now. We might just become the popular kids.”

Stiles smiled despite himself, plastering his hand over your mouth. “You mean you would finally be popular. I would still be the skinny kid full of sarcastic jokes who follows you around.” You went to speak, but he wouldn’t remove his hand. “And that’s okay with me. Times like tonight, that’s just what Derek needed, a friend. Not someone with a supernatural agenda, not pity, or someone picking up on chemo signals or whatever. He just needed a hand on his shoulder to ground him, one not covered in blood, which, no offense, all of you seem to have at this point for some reason or another.”

Rain drops started to hit the top of your heads, and you looked up, blinking once or twice as it pelted your face.

“Plus, it’s raining, so……”

Stiles smirked, removing his hand, and went inside, one arm still outstretched on the handle as he waited for you, a sly grin on his face this time, his eyes meeting yours. Despite the facade, you saw his pain; tonight would haunt him for a while. Stepping up and inside, Stiles mumbled a “thank you” as you passed over the threshold past him and went directly up to his room.

“My dad is at work tonight, so we have the place to ourselves.”

“What are you suggesting?” You playfully wiggled your eyebrows. “I mean, I know grief can make you do some weird things, but…..”

Stiles held up a hand, shut his eyes, and shuddered violently. “Don’t ever-” he made a fake gagging noise- “joke about that again. I don’t need nightmares, thank you very much. I’m very successful at them on my own.”

You chuckled.

“What do you think Boyd and Erica would have to say to this situation?” You smiled ruefully, absently adjusting a pillow on Stiles’ bed.

“Oh, they wouldn’t let us hear the end of it. How we joked about it, and also, how disgusted they were at the thought of it.” He looked thoughtful for a second. “It might actually be the first thing we would agree on, come to think of it.”

Your jaw dropped, and you threw the pillow at him, which he caught with a chuckle. “You know I’m right.”

“You don’t have to be mean about it.” You cast your eyes to the side, eyeing the floor, before you flopped in the center on his bed. “You can sleep on the floor, asshole.”

“It’s my bed,” he argued.

“It’s your punishment,” you shot back.

Both of you were still in your soaked clothes, but he didn’t seem to mind. Grabbing a pair of PJs you had set out earlier in the day, he pelted them at you, hitting you square in the face. “Nice reflexes, wolf girl. Go change.”

Mocking his words in a ridiculous voice, you went to the bathroom to change, hearing him do the same, hopping around trying to get his soaked sneakers off, before he must have succeeded, only to whack himself somehow because he muttered an “ow” after a soft thud.

Walking out with your hands over your eyes, you asked, “Is it safe?” before opening them just a crack to peek with a smirk.

“Hardy, har,” he said sarcastically.

You launched back onto the bed, ready to relax, when Stiles pounced beside you and wrapped you up tight in his arms, holding your back to his chest. After the initial comfort sunk in, so did the events of the day.

“I can’t believe he’s really gone,” you said quietly.

“It was a really shitty move,” he agreed.

Finally letting your tears fall, they raced silent tracks across your face and onto the pillow. You felt a dampness growing on your shoulder, Stiles’ shaking behind you as he too tried to be strong, not wanting to let it out.

Once it started, it wouldn’t stop, and you knew to Stiles that meant having to take a moment and be still, which let everything else catch up to you that you did your best to run from.

Placing your hand on top of his that rested on your abdomen, you threaded your fingers with his and clutched his hand tight, letting him know he wasn’t facing it alone. Any of it.

Giving your hand a squeeze in return, a single sob came through, and it was all you could do not to match it. But you knew he needed to get out just enough to take the edge off the pain before he bottled it up for later. It wasn’t healthy, but it was how he processed things, and that was enough for you to let him. You’d be there for the fallout later.

He sniffed loudly, cleared his throat, then rested his mouth over the damp spot on your shirt. After a few moments of silence, he mumbled into your shoulder, “Sorry about your shirt.”

You chuckled, swiping at your tears with your free hand and feeling him smile into the fabric where he stayed. “It’s okay, Stiles. Sorry about your pillow.”

This time he laughed softly, the sound making you grin.

“Please stay in here tonight. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep if I’m by myself. Too much going on in here.” He gently rocked his head back and forth where it still sat on your shoulder to indicate his troubled mind.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” you said, realizing your pun when Stiles groaned and moved his forehead to the spot on your shirt, making you giggle.

“Your jokes are the absolute worst.”

“It wasn’t intentional!”

“That’s worse!” he cried, lifting his head up to make eye contact with you as you grinned over your shoulder.

Reaching up with your free hand, you wiped away the straggling tears. His eyes bloodshot, you caught a single stray tear that escaped on the top of your thumb. Pulling it back, you smiled sadly as you stared at the tip of your finger. “Say, ‘goodnight, Boyd’.”

Stiles side eyed you.

“Whenever I was sad as a kid, my parents would wipe away my tears and tell me to say goodbye to my worries as they dried away, and to blow them away like an eyelash. I dunno. They are weird people, how do you think I came to be this way? Stop looking at me like that.”

“Goodnight, Boyd,” Stiles whispered, before blowing the tear away.

Settling into the quiet, Stiles still held you close before he spoke quietly, a smile in his voice. “Did I ever tell you about the time Boyd got us the keys to the ice rink?”

“No….”

“Or when there was a werewolf smack down on the rink while Boyd was on the…. the…. the thing that smooths over the ice?”

“No!” You laughed.

“Too bad. He was a cool dude.”

“Yeah, he was.” You smiled. “I want to know these stories, now!”

“Tomorrow, Y/N. We already said goodnight, remember? Weirdo.”

Xxx

Tags: @mayahart02, @palaiasaurus64, @shydinosaurcandy, @lucyqueenofthestars, @c-breanne1999, @l4life, @ethereallysimple, @teenwolffan-with-nolife, @bellabadacadabra, @lilostif16, @wandas-love, @emily500, @babygirl-angel-love, @c-dizzle99, @itscheybaby, @fandomsfanman, @sunsetcurvej What’s This?

[thefloorisbalaclava]

pragma - part one

Pairing: Frankie “Catfish” Morales x Female reader

Warnings: none for this part

A/N: My brain wouldn’t let me rest until I started writing this story that’s been floating around my head for awhile. I hope someone likes it. And please let me know what you all think :)

Summary: Your lives took you in two different directions but when you meet again you realize time hasn’t done much to rid you of the feelings that once held everything together.

 pragma masterlist

The rain had been coming down in sheets the day you decided to go back to the place you had called home for eighteen years of your life. You swore you would never come back when you first left five years ago, but here you were—and nothing seemed to change. The house you grew up in was still standing and most of the mom and pop shops were still going strong—something that made you smile.

If anyone had asked why you left, you wouldn’t be sure what to tell them. The real reason was a childish one, now that you look back on it, but back then you were truly hurt. Now that you had lived through a marriage and were going through a divorce, you liked to believe you were stronger. You had done well for yourself and it wasn’t easy, but you always told yourself that relying on others was never an option.

You pulled into the parking lot of the small pub that you frequented with friends all those years ago. You wondered how they all were. The last you heard they were military men and that didn’t surprise you at all.

You got out of the car and turned on the alarm, cautiously eyeing the men who stared at you and your car in a way that made you suspicious. Yeah. It had been too long. That type of thing would have never bothered you back then.  

The bar was bustling—typical for a Friday evening, but you found yourself a table in the corner. You ordered a beer and took in your surroundings. Not much had changed except for the bartenders and the tables were nicer. You smiled when you thought of the time you and your buddies used fake IDs to get in and got found out immediately. It had always been you, Santiago, and…Frankie.

Frankie.

Now, we’ve come to the reason why you had avoided this place for so long. Yes. A fucking man. You had let a man get to you so badly that you ran far away and never looked back.

Until now.

Until now.

You sipped your beer and took out your phone to check your email. Most of them were from your divorce lawyer these days. You never knew it would be this hard to get a man to sign divorce papers. No matter how many meetings and mediations you two went through, he still found a reason to keep dragging this out. You didn’t want to think about how much money you spent over this these past few months. Just as you put your phone down on the table and put your head in your hands, someone called your name over the din of the bar. You searched for who it could have been but couldn’t find them until he called your name again.

“No fucking way!” he exclaimed as he made his way over to you.

“Santiago?!” You stood and he kissed your cheek before pulling you in for a long hug.

“Hermana…I can’t believe it’s you.” He held you at arm’s length and shook his head. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Just…visiting,” you said. Why were you there?

“How long has it been?” he asked.

“Too long. How have you been, Santiago?” You grabbed his hands and squeezed. You hadn’t realized how much you missed him until he was standing in front of you.

“I’m good.” His face said otherwise but you weren’t going to press it. He looked down at your hand, feeling the ring you still wore.

“Ah, look at that! My little hermana all grown up and married.”

“Eh…for now. What are you doing here?”

“Met up with Frankie for a few drinks.” You stiffened at the sound of his name. “Said he had to go to his truck for something…oh, there he is. Frankie!”

You couldn’t look up. Santiago still held your hands which kept you grounded for the most part but right now you wanted to run and hide.

“Look who I found,” Santiago said enthusiastically. Maybe he didn’t remember what happened all those years ago. But you hadn’t. You never would.

Frankie said your name and you finally looked up. “Hi,” he said awkwardly, putting his hands in his pockets. That hat. You got him that hat. He still wore it?

“Frankie…hey.” You forced yourself to smile though there were tears swimming in your eyes. Santiago had finally let your hands go and you grabbed your arm sheepishly. Frankie’s eyebrows shot up and you knew he had saw it—the ring.

“How you been?” he asked trying to look you in the eye but not being able to take his eye away from the rock on your finger. “Good it looks like.” He nodded at it.

“Oh…uh…yeah, I guess.” You tucked your hand into your jacket pocket.

“Let’s get a pitcher for the table.” Santiago walked away to order the beer and left you and Frankie standing there.

“How have you been?” you asked.

He shrugged and scratched at his scruff. “I’m okay.”

You sat back down but Frankie hovered until Santiago returned with the beer and glasses. “Cat, why are you just standing there? Sit down.” Santiago took the seat across from you, so Frankie was stuck sitting in the chair beside you.

“Santiago…”

“Why so formal?” he teased. “So, why didn’t we get an invite?” he asked as he passed you a glass of beer.

“Oh…um…it wasn’t a big thing…” That was a lie. It was a huge destination wedding.

“Maybe she was ashamed of us. Didn’t want us around all her new rich friends,” Frankie bit out. You rolled your eyes at him and drank your beer.

“You guys were all busy with your army stuff,” you said, and Frankie scoffed. “It doesn’t matter now anyway.”

“Well, are we ever gonna meet the guy?” Santiago asked.

“No.”

“Why? Are we not good enough?” Frankie snapped.

You turned and looked directly into his eyes. “Because I divorced him!” You stood and finished your beer before slamming the glass on the table and walking out. Your hands shook as you pulled your keys out and tried to press the button to turn the alarm off. The keys fell from your hands and you cursed loudly. As you bent to pick them up, you were met with a familiar pair of boots. You grabbed the keys and avoided his gaze as you stood.

“Look…I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Frankie mumbled.

“No, you were too busy trying to make me feel bad,” you retorted. You shook your head and sniffled. “What happened to you, Frankie?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just wasn’t expecting the woman who broke my heart to show up today.”

You wanted to scream at him and call him every name under the sun but instead you calmly approached him then pulled on the bill of his cap.

“It was good seeing you, Frankie.” You turned away but he spoke again, stopping you in your tracks.

“Why’d you do it? Why’d you leave?” he asked. The rain had begun again as if it felt your sorrow.

Because of you, you wanted to say. Instead, you shook your head and smiled sadly. “I was getting nowhere staying here.”

“I thought about you every day…all those years,” he revealed. “You ever think of me?”

“Of course I did.” You lowered your head. “I should go.” You got in your car and started it as Frankie knocked on the window. You rolled it down and waited for him to speak.

“You gonna be around?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Can I ask you something? Why do you still wear the ring if you’re divorced?”  

“I guess I just got used to wearing it.” You sighed before continuing. “And I’m not officially divorced yet,” you confessed.

“What does that mean?” He bent to stick his head in the window slightly.

“He won’t sign the papers,” you mumbled.

“Why not?”

You smiled then shrugged. “He loves me.”

“He’d be a damn fool if he didn’t.”  

You giggled shyly then reached into your pocket to pull out your phone. When you handed it to him, he looked at it then at you.

“Go on and put your number in.”

He smirked. “This is a little different than scribbling it down on a piece of paper and passing it around in class, huh?” He put his number in and handed the phone back.

“Yeah,” you laughed.  

“So…you better use it now that you have it,” he said pointing to the phone. “Even if it’s only for one of our late night/early morning talks. Remember those?” He smiled fondly.

“I was always getting in trouble for being on the phone with you…but it was worth it.” Something came over you and you touched his face gently. “You haven’t changed.” You still saw the boyish charm in his eyes that drew you to him in the first place.

“I changed a little…”

“Yeah, maybe the hair. And this scruff.” You pulled at it softly. “And look at that…someone’s a little grey,” you teased.

“Yeah, ha ha.” He pushed your hand away and rubbed at his beard.

“You guys should drop by some time. I’ll text you my address. It’s only about forty-five minutes away.”

“You’ve been forty-five minutes away this whole time?” he asked.

“Yup.”

“You gotta go like…right now?” There’s the Frankie you remembered. Not quite able to just say what he wanted to say.

“If you want me to stay a little longer just ask.”

“Alright. Stay a little longer, please? If you drink too much me and Pope will make sure you get home okay.” He stood up straight as you opened the car door.

“Just like old times.” You looked at him. “Speaking of old, I can’t believe you still have that cap.”

“I can’t believe it still fits my fuckin' head.” He held the door for you as you walked inside and headed back to the table where Santiago was still seated.

“What the hell were you two doing? I was ready to send a search party out.”  

“We were…catching up,” you said which was partly true.

“She asked for my number,” Frankie bragged. “I think she likes me.” You nudged him and you all laughed.

“Damn, I missed this,” Pope said.

You smiled at him then looked at Frankie. “Me too.”

****

After five pitchers of beer and a lot of conversation, you sat in the backseat of your car drunkenly listening to Frankie and Santiago argue about what they were doing.

“How the hell do you start this thing?” Frankie asked.

“It’s a push start…I think. Yeah…that button right there.” The car started and you laughed loudly. Both men looked back at you.

“Why do you have to drive such a fancy piece of shit?” Frankie complained.

“Oxymoron!” you exclaimed. “I think…”

“We taking her home?” Pope asked.

“I don’t know where she lives.” After some contemplation, Frankie spoke again. “She can, uh, she can stay with me. I got that empty room…”

You couldn’t keep your eyes open after that and gave into sleep.

You opened your eyes when you felt yourself being pulled then lifted. “Santiago?”

“It’s me. It’s Frankie.”

“Oh. You smell good.” You buried your face in his shirt as he carried you. “Are we home?”

“We’re at my place.” He struggled with getting his keys out and unlocking the door but refused to put you down.

“Why?” You suddenly remembered what happened the last time you were at his house years ago. You weren’t drunk though and there were a lot less clothes involved.

“You need to sleep this off. You can go home in the morning.” Once inside, Frankie carried you to the end of the hall and pushed the door open with his foot. “Here.” He laid you down and you held onto his hand.

“Are you gonna lay with me, Frankie?” He was tempted. God, was he tempted, but he shook his head and stood up straight.

“Not like this,” he said quietly. He covered you with a blanket and kissed your forehead. You reached up and scratched at his scruff. His eyes closed but he reluctantly pulled himself away. “Goodnight.” He waited until you fell asleep again before walking out of the room, leaving the door cracked just a bit. His dreams would be full of you tonight though he knew you wouldn’t dream of him.

But you did.

[two]

[xpao-bearx]

Part 1 HERE

NOTE: OMG I really wasn't expecting for the previous first part of Heavenly Sins to blow up as it did, but I just wanted to give a huuuge THANK YOU to all of you amazing folks!! 🥰🥰🥰 Your support truly means so fooken much to trashy ol' meh and y'all are the reason I am writing this story series in the first place :')

I do have my ideas, but I still don't know much yet of what to do or even how long (or short) this story will get. So, if you would continue to give me your mindblowing support, it would seriously mean the W O R L D.

I do, however, very much enjoy writing Negan in particular so far. He's one of my absolute fave characters ever and JEFFREY DEAN FUCKIN' MORGAN NEED I SAY MOAR?!? 🥵💕💕

But this second part will be focusing a bit more on our beloved sheriff Ricky boi! Of course, Daryl will also get some much deserved love and attention tho I think he will appear in the story a lil later on.

Also, if you ever feel compelled, you are more than welcome to take some inspo from this story and make your own imagines and such! I'd love to see 'em, so please tag me 😁

P.S. There won't always be long ass notes like this, only if I wanna say something or bring up whatever is important. Also, if you wanna be tagged on any new/future story parts, then just tell moi and I will dedicate the latest one to the people who wanted to be tagged!

DEDICATED TO: The wonderful @buttercandy16 💖

"Heavenly Sins"

Part 2

After your little spiel, you haven't spoken to Negan since then. But on the way home after church, you passed by his house and found him tinkering away on his motorcycle (which you previously learned he interestingly named Lucille) in the garage. Not being able to help yourself, you paused in your tracks and just curiously watched him for a while.

His leather jacket was off, revealing a plain white t-shirt. The shirt was quite tight, and you noted how it perfectly hugged the taut muscles of his chest. Your eyes then slowly trailed to his toned arms, adorned by tattoos you wished you had a better look at. He stopped briefly, placing his tools down before grabbing the hem of his shirt and wiping the sweat on his forehead.

You didn't even think twice as your eyes dropped, hyperfocused on his abs. He wasn't the buffest guy out there, but he was lean and fit and--to put it bluntly--hot. A part of you screamed bloody murder to get a grip on yourself, to just turn your stiff body around and proceed on home. But another part completely squashed down those protests without even a fight; as if your pathetic excuse of a resolve wasn't even meant in the first place.

"Take a goddamn picture, darlin'. It'll last longer."

Your head snapped up, meeting the tantalizing hazel stare of Negan. His lips were curled in a smug smirk, and nevermore in your entire life have you wanted to both slap and kiss someone so badly.

But you only clicked your tongue, shooting him a sharp glare before (at last!) turning and walking away as you hid your blush. In the distance, his amused chuckle begrudgingly sounded like the sweetest fucking music to your ears.

♡♡♡

You woke up at 7:05 a.m. like you typically did the next morning, Monday. It was the dawn of a new week, and while most people dreaded it you actually didn't mind it so much. You had your job to thank for that.

Sure, it wasn't always easy, but it was worth it in the end. You loved teaching and spending time with the children, and you were even more ecstatic since you knew Judith was going to be at the daycare.

As you finished eating breakfast and preparing for the day, you grabbed your bag then went out the door. You opted to walk again today, the weather far too beautiful to miss plus the daycare really wasn't that far away.

Eventually arriving at your destination, you approached the daycare building's doors with a little spring in your step. Once inside, a young woman with her blonde hair high in a ponytail smiled and waved.

"Hi, Y/N! Goodmorning!" Beth Greene greeted energetically.

"Morning, Beth." You chuckled, the girl's radiant smile infectious. You've known Beth for some time now, especially since the Greenes were one of the oldest families in Alexandria and they were well respected. But you got along best with Beth, you thought she was the friendliest and she was also the latest hire of the daycare.

Stashing your bag away in your personal locker, you fixed yourself up a bit before getting your nametag and sticking it on your top. Looking up at the wall clock, you read that it was 7:50 a.m. Perfect, just in time for the kids' drop-offs.

You waited outside with Beth and the rest of the daycare workers, until finally the parents started rolling in. It was the usual; some of the children were wailing, snot snivelling down their nose as their embarrassed parents tried to tug them away from clinging onto their legs. You could only offer a sympathetic smile as you tried to help, while other children were much more relaxed and didn't even spare a second glance at their parents as they were dropped off.

"Well, that's about all of them." Beth piped up.

"Wait, we're still waiting for Judith." You said, searching for the toddler. "Rick said she'd be here."

Beth checked her watch, her brows creasing a little in worry. "That's odd. Sheriff Grimes is never late when he's dropping Judith off."

Just as she said that, there was a honk that disrupted the peace. You and Beth both spotted a crying Judith being held by Lori, the woman appearing utterly exhausted before her eyes locked with yours and didn't waste another second dashing towards you.

"Please don't run when you're holding Judith. Also, no honking is allowed on the premises." It was hard for you to keep the malice out of your voice, but you mentally gave yourself a pat on the back since you miraculously managed to not make it sound the worst it could get.

Lori raised a brow at you, but only handed Judith over to you. Judith immediately quieted down when she saw it was you, you cooing gently at her as she giggled and snuggled up comfortably against your chest.

"Rick will be picking her up later." Was all Lori said, pressing a quick peck on Judith's curly little head before parting ways. As Lori rushed back to the car, you saw Shane in the driver's seat shamelessly attack her neck with fervent kisses and you couldn't restrain an eyeroll.

"Fucking bitch..." You grumbled.

"Uh-oh. Bad!" Judith giggled again, clapping her hands gleefully.

"Right, right. Bad. Don't copy me, okay?" You laughed, completely forgetting about your aggravation as you rubbed your nose with Judith's and went inside.

♡♡♡

The rest of the day rolled along splendidly. No one threw a tantrum and for the most part, all the kids properly shared the wide assortment of toys and even did their activities orderly and on time. So, you decided to indulge them with a small yet much sought after reward.

Painting.

When it comes down to children, painting can be utter chaos. But you figured since they were being so good, you'd allow it. At the daycare you worked in, painting was quite a rare occurrence and that only solidified how much the kids adored it.

Once the materials were set out, it was a dizzying flurry of excited hands grabbing anything it could latch on to. As the kids went about doing their creative business, you found Judith all alone sitting in the corner playing around with some blocks.

"Whatcha doin' there, Judi?" You asked, sweetly calling out her nickname. "You don't wanna paint?"

"I wanna, but not with papers." She replied, shaking her head.

"Oh? Then where do you wanna paint?"

"I wanna paint on faces, but no one wants me to!"

"If that's the case, then I'd be more than happy to let you paint my face." You smiled.

"Really?!" Judith's whole face lit up, jumping up and wrapping her tiny arms around you as tightly as she could. "Thank youuu!"

You chuckled, ruffling her hair and watching as she happily gathered some paint and brushes.

♡♡♡

It was finally the end of a long day, and your face felt a bit itchy from the paint Judith put on you. But it didn't matter; as long as the little girl was happy, it was the best damn day ever.

You were holding Judith's hand as you waited outside for Rick to pick her up, and once he came up with his car Judith beamed.

"Daddy!"

"Hello, sweetheart. Did you have a nice day?" His face looked tired, his greying beard making him appear slightly older than he really was, but his smile was genuine as he carried Judith in his strong arms.

"The bestest! Y/N lemme paint her face!"

"She did, huh? What did you pai--oh my god."

You bursted into laughter at his reaction, flashing him a toothy grin. "In the words of Judi: You're a pretty tiger! Grr!"

"Now that you mention it, I can see it." Rick joined in your laughter, nodding his head. "Looks like we've got a talented lil artist in our hands!"

"Daddy, I wanna paint your face next! You can be daddy tiger and Y/N can be mommy!" Judith proclaimed.

You and Rick flushed pink at the same exact time, but Rick was quick to clear his throat and change the topic. "A-Anyways, Y/N, how 'bout me and the kids give you a ride? Thank you for today, by the way."

"No problem, and sure! Thanks so much."

As you settled in the passenger's seat, two hands covered your eyes from behind. "Guess who~?"

"Hmm..." You hummed, making a show of thinking. "Are you an elf?"

"No!" The hands were removed, Carl popping his head out from the backseat to look at you as he laughed. "It's me!"

"Oh, sorry! You're just so short, I thought you were an elf." You teased good naturedly.

Carl huffed, sticking his tongue out at you. "Y'know, in a few years, I'll be way taller than you!"

Once Rick was done buckling Judith into her carseat, he took his place in the driver's seat and drove out of the premises. You just talked about anything that came to mind: work, the weather, Alexandria's local shops, etc. To anyone else, maybe it seemed like regular boring conversation. But speaking with Rick was truly one of the highlights of any of your days. He was extremely easy to talk to, and he never failed to cheer you up. And it was obvious Rick was the same. He was allowed to simply be himself around you; to loosen up, momentarily forget about the stress and sometimes even the woes that came along with being the town's upstanding sheriff.

As you were nearing your home, Carl decided to cut in.

"Y/N, can we stay at your house? It's been a while since we had a sleepover." Carl asked, his baby blue eyes identical to Rick's alight with hope.

It wouldn't be the first time Rick and the kids would be staying over. You were very close to the Grimes family, sometimes even almost considering them as your own. You didn't mind it. Since you lived alone, it can get pretty lonely. And having people around surely brightened up the house and made you keep your sanity.

"I don't mind, but you gotta ask your dad." You chuckled.

Carl turned to Rick, pouting and giving his best puppy dog eyes. Rick rolled his eyes, but couldn't suppress an inkling of a smile.

"Yeah, yeah. But let me drop you and Judith off with Y/N first. I'll be back, I just need to get some extra clothes and essentials."

"YAY!" Carl cheered, Judith following suit as they both raised their arms and hollered.

"You're so whipped for them." You laughed, shaking your head as you looked at Rick.

"I ain't denying that." He sighed dramatically, grinning.

[calpalirwin]

Hush, Hush

Request: Could you please write a Michael x Reader based on the song Hush Hush by The Band CAMINO? Where they have a secret relationship. Maybe include a scene where the guys find out because read accidentally LEFT THEIR FRIGGIN UNDERWEAR

Content: Heavily implied smut

Word Count: 3.6k

And away, and away we go!

__

Y/N spotted Calum easily as he tried to look as inconspicuous as possible in a plain black t-shirt, blue jeans, a hat covering his head of curls, and sunglasses pushed up on his face. “Hey, you! How was your flight?” he greeted as he wrapped his cousin in a hug.

“Long, but worth it to be here,” she grinned, returning the embrace with the same amount of warmth as the bright LA sun outside. “You fuckin’ take a page from the Avengers? You know this disguise is shit, right?”

“If I learned one thing from all the covid nonsense, it’s actually that this shit disguise works surprisingly well.”

“In covid we covered the lower half of our faces, ya dingus.”

“Works the same either way. Half the face covered is half the face covered. You check any bags?”

“Nah, I crammed as much shit as I could in my carry on and backpack.”

“Sweet, let’s roll.”

“So, you like living here in LA?” she asked as they made their way to his car.

“Yeah. Kinda hard not to. Nice weather. Good people. So, I know you’re here to look at houses and stuff, but Mum didn’t explain to me why you’re moving here. She was just like ‘pick up your cousin from the airport and be good’ like I was just gonna leave you to fend for yourself or some shit.”

Y/N laughed. “While I definitely appreciate you picking me up, and letting me stay with you this week, I’ll kick your ass if you start babying me. You may be taller, but I’m still older than you.”

Calum laughed along. “That’s what I told Mum but, she wouldn’t listen. I was like Y/N’s a big girl, she doesn’t need a chaperone.”

“That’s Aunt Joy for ya though. She misses you. We all do. Well except me, of course.”

Calum snorted as he clicked the unlock button on his car. “Yeah, I miss everyone but you too, so I guess we’re even. But what was it that sent you here?”

“Job relocation. Well… sort of.”

“What do you mean sort of?” he asked as he placed her suitcase in the backseat, the backpack following. 

“So I’ve been doing a lot more freelance work since my job’s been fucking me around since day one. And I finally said fuck it, I’m gonna make my own business. So while I’m here to look at apartments and shit, I’m also here to scout out business locations looking to rent out space.”

“Well shit, why didn’t you tell me before now?” he asked as they got in the front seat. “Moving’s expensive. Starting your own business is expensive. Living here is expensive. Doing all that shit at once? Geez, you a secret millionaire?”

“You’re not the only successful one, Cal. I make good money.”

“You know I don’t mean it like that. I just meant that you could’ve told me what was really going on. So that way I could’ve put you in contact with Andy and Sarah already, cuz they probably know some people who can help you out. Hell you can help them out by freelancing for them. They work too damn hard, they could definitely use the extra help. Plus you’re fuckin good at what you do. And I could’ve also told you that you don’t need to bother looking for a place cuz you could just stay with me.”

“That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you, Cal. I wanna do this on my own.”

“I’m not saying you gotta live with me forever, Y/N. I’m just saying you can while you focus all your energy and resources on what really matters which is getting your business up and running. Plus, I know you’re gonna pick like the most cheapass, run-down studio apartment anyway because you’re gonna justify it by saying you’re just there to sleep anyway. So why spend any money on some shitty apartment when you can just stay at my nice, nonshitty house for free instead? I mean, you’re only there to sleep basically right?”

Y/N’s eyes narrowed. She hated that he knew her so well. “There’s no way you’re letting this go until I agree to move in with you, is there?”

“Not a one.”

“Fine. But only until I get my business off the ground. Once that’s up and running, I’m getting my own place.”

“A decent place,” Calum pushed.

“A decent place,” she agreed with an eye roll. “I’ll even splurge for an actual bedroom.”

“You got yourself a deal.”

“You got yourself a roommate.”

~~~

Michael couldn’t keep his eyes off Y/N. He knew he wasn’t supposed to stare. A.) Staring was rude, and he wasn’t a rude person. And B.) Calum was his best and longest friend, and Y/N was his cousin which made her inexplicably off-limits. But there was something so tempting about wanting someone you knew you couldn’t have. And it didn’t help matters that every time he caught himself looking her way, she was already watching him.

“I’m Michael,” he introduced stupidly when they both ended up in Calum’s kitchen by themselves. 

“I know,” she grinned. “We already did introductions, remember?”

His cheeks flushed pink, and one of his hands rubbed at the back of his neck. “Right. Yeah. H-how long did you say you’re staying with Cal for?”

“Well originally I was only gonna be here for a week while I sorted things out. But Cal’s… strong-willed about things. So I’m staying with him indefinitely while I get sorted instead.”

“Mmm, right. With your new business and everything. So you’ll be around quite a bit, huh?”

“Loads,” she nodded with a flirtatious smile. “And I’ll probably be lonely. I don’t really know anyone here besides Cal. His friends seem nice though. And one of them’s really cute.”

Michael breathed deeply, and even from the small distance between them she could feel his hot exhale on her skin. “We can’t,” he sighed in defeat.

“Says who?”

“Says like every bro code.”

“Are you saying you don’t want this as badly as I do?”

“Want it so bad,” Michael admitted, his voice a low whimper. His green eyes looked around. While nobody from outside was peering in, they were still in everyone’s line of sight if someone happened to glance their way. Which meant that they only had two options, neither of which led to what they really wanted which was to slink away from the party without raising suspicion. “But we can’t. Not now, anyway. Not here.”

“Right. I don’t want to make anything weird between you and Cal. Or between me and him. And we don’t even know what we are. Maybe this is just an infatuation that’ll run its course if we don’t play into it.”

“Maybe it’s not,” Michael countered. “God, I hope it’s not, cuz I really want to play into this.”

“Me too. God, I hope you’re right.”

“Hope he’s right about what?” Calum asked, as he came in through the sliding glass door. 

“Uh, my business!” she blurted. “Mike was just telling me that he thinks it’s gonna do really well here cuz I’ll be able to get more connections with your help and stuff.”

Calum hummed in response. “Mike’s right ya know. Like you already did the scary part of moving out here. The rest is just doing your job. Which you already know how to do, and you do it very well I might add.”

Michael let out the breath he’d been holding as Calum disappeared off to the bathroom. “Fuck, that was close. You think pretty good on your feet.”

Y/N chuckled nervously. “Thanks. God, he scared the shit out of me, and we weren’t even doing anything.”

“Backing out?” Michael asked with a twinge of a challenge to mask the underlying brace for rejection.

“We’re fucked if we get caught.”

“So fucked.”

“Guess we better not get caught then.”

Michael grinned.

~~~

She smirked at the message. A painful month of sneaking behind her cousin’s back, and she only wanted the man with wild trouble in those piercing green eyes more with each hidden touch. Needed him the same way Michael needed her. From the doorway, Calum wolf-whistled at the outfit lying on the bed: a slinky black dress with a slit in the thigh, and a matching black lace bra and panty set. “Going somewhere?” he questioned in amusement.

“Yes!” Y/N said with indignation. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

Calum chuckled, raising his hands in surrender. “I didn’t mean it as a bad thing. It’s good that you’re going out. You going out with friends, or a guy?”

“Friends,” she lied.

“That’s a hell of a dress for a girls’ night out,” he chuckled again. “You could tell me if it was a guy, ya know. We’re not little kids. I’m not gonna be shocked if you’re getting laid. Be a little worried if you weren’t in all honesty.”

She bit into her lower lip, wondering briefly if it was better to come clean now. Y/N decided on half-admittance. “Alright, it’s a guy. But we’re still in that figuring it out stage. Enjoying each other’s company.”

“Yeah, I bet you are,” Calum smirked.

“Shut up,” she laughed. “And get out so I can finish getting ready.”

“He picking you up?”

She shook her head. “No, we’re meeting up at the bar.”

“So, you’re driving?”

“Relax, spazz. I’m taking an Uber. No drinking and driving here.”

“Good. And hey, do me one small favor?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Go back to his place. Don’t bring him here. Rather spare myself the mental image.”

“I wouldn’t dream of bringing him here, you’re good.”

“Good, good. And hey, if he ends up not enjoying your time anymore A.) he’s an idiot, especially if you’re meeting him dressed in that. And B.) Call me, and I’ll come get ya. No matter the time.”

“Thanks, Cal. Now seriously leave.”

20 minutes after Michael asked to meet in 15 minutes, she was climbing into his car. “Geez, what took you so long?” he questioned, leaning across the seat to press a heated and bruising kiss to Y/N’s lips.

“Cal walked by when I was getting ready. You know for the quiet one, he really doesn’t ever shut up.”

“Shit, think he’s getting suspicious?”

“Nah. I mean I told him I was sort of seeing somebody. But I don’t think he thinks it’s you.”

“Sort of seeing somebody, huh?” Under a passing streetlight, she could see the corner of his lips pull up in a smirk. “You can call me your boyfriend if you want.”

“Oh, is that what you are?” she teased.

Michael chuckled. “I mean not to be heavy, but we’ve been seeing each other a while now. I think this is becoming something more than passing infatuation. I’m not seeing anyone else besides you. I don’t want to see anyone besides you. But if you don’t want to label this because of Cal or whatever, I can respect that.”

“No, no,” she said, softly, fingers tracing across the thick tattooed band on his arm. “I’d like that. Plus, might make telling Cal easier? So we can stop sneaking around? Not that I haven’t loved this. But, I’d really like to not act like we don’t know each other around company.”

His hand brought hers to his lips to stamp kisses over it as he pulled into his driveway. “We’ll tell him soon. Until then, I’m gonna enjoy keeping you to myself.” His gaze turned to take her in, his next breath catching in his throat. “Fuck… Did I tell you how stunning you look, yet? Or was I too busy griping about Cal holding you up like an ass?”

Her cheeks blushed. “Too busy griping. But that’s okay.”

“I think I can think of a way or two to make it up to you.”

“Oh, is that so? Do tell.”

“I think showing you might be more appropriate.”

She shuddered at his words. “Humor me anyway?”

“Let’s just say if my neighbors don’t know me already, they certainly will by tomorrow, because I am going to thoroughly enjoy familiarizing myself with every inch of your skin. And listening to how good my name sounds rolling off your tongue, and how good yours tastes on mine.”

How they managed to make their way inside the house was a mystery to them both as hands tangled in hair, and tongues explored mouths and the column of the other’s throat. Teeth nipped skin, as Y/N’s fell back onto the couch, and Michael marked a path down her body. “Pretty,” his voice taunted from underneath the skirt of her dress as he snapped the waistband of her panties, before pulling them down and off her legs, spitting the lace fabric out of his mouth.

“M-Mike,” she panted, her back arching, searching for him.

“Aw,” he taunted more, his face inches from hers. “You can do better than that. C’mon, I’m sure I got a few neighbors who don’t know who I am yet. Don’t you want to tell them my name, pretty girl?”

“Mike!” The repetition of his name was louder, the desperation in her voice stronger as her fingers wrapped around his wrist and guided him towards where she needed him.

As they surrendered themselves to each other, their names mingled together in the air like the most profanity-riddled melody, each of them certain that by the time daylight broke through the curtains, the neighborhood not only knew his name, but hers as well. 

~~~

Michael tiptoed around the clothes scattered on the floor as he made his way to the dresser, a wide smile plastered on his face. Their first bout that had shook the foundation of the house had led to them curled up on the couch, whispering the sweet promises of budding love against each other’s skin, before retiring to the bedroom. Which then led to a much slower love making of hot moans panted against heated skin, fingers intertwined, and locked gazes swirling with desire, love, lust, and passion. Afterwards exhaustion set in, and they fell asleep in a tangled web of limbs and bedsheets. 

He’d woken up, sure that this had all been a dream, but much to his delight, she was still sleeping soundly in his arms. And after waking her up, he was grabbing her some clothes to put on before joining her in the shower. Or he would have if someone wasn’t banging on his front door.

Confused, he made his way to the front of the house, pulling the front door open to find Ashton, Calum, and Luke on the other side. “See? I told you guys we should’ve waited until he responded,” Luke said with a shake of his head.

“Aw, who gives a shit?” Calum asked rhetorically, shouldering his way past a still confused Michael to get inside the house.

“Uh? What are you guys doing here?” Michael asked, stepping out of the way as Ashton and Luke followed Calum inside.

“Saturdays are for the boys, remember?” Ashton grinned.

“Yeah, but like… did we have actual plans? I- sorry… still waking up.”

“Long night?” Calum teased with a smirk.

“I’ll say,” Luke answered, blue eyes zeroed in on a pair of panties half-wedged between a couch cushion. “You got a girlfriend, Mikey?”

“Holy shit!” Ashton choked, giggling at the sight of Michael with his face frozen in terror. “Is she still here? Is that why you’re so jumpy, mate? Ya got your girlfriend hidden somewhere in your mini mansion?”

“I- What? Pffft, no!” Michael sputtered, grabbing the panties and balling them up in his fist, his green eyes looking wildly at Calum for any indication that his friend might be on to him.

Calum misinterpreted the look as a plea to step in on Michael’s defense. “Aw, leave him be guys. We should be celebrating that he’s finally getting back out there, not giving him shit for it. So when are we gonna meet the girl? When she comes back to claim her lost panties? Or should we leave to not embarrass the poor girl, and meet her some other time?”

“That,” Michael chimed in, “is a great idea, Cal. You guys should leave, because this is part of a matching set, so I’m sure she’ll be by the moment she realizes, and she’ll probably be embarrassed enough as is. So it might be best if you guys aren’t around when that happens. No offense.”

“Matching set?” Calum asked with a raised eyebrow and Michael gulped. “Damn, that girl knew what she was doing.”

The green-eyed blonde chuckled nervously. “Heh, yeah. She’s really cool. I like spending time with her. We’re still kinda figuring some stuff out, but I’ll be sure to bring her around s-”

“Hey, Mike? Have you seen my pa- oh fuck!”

“Y/N!” Calum thundered, jumping to his feet, while Ashton and Luke sucked in their breath and Michael and Y/N looked like a couple of deer trapped in headlights. “The guy you’re seeing is Mike?! You’re fucking my cousin?! And I’m finding this out now?! How long has this been happening?!”

“Maybe now’s not the time to ask questions,” Y/N hissed, trying to make herself as small as possible as she clutched the large towel around her like a lifeline.

“GET DRESSED!” Calum barked, his mind racing.

Michael and Y/N bolted to his bedroom, Ashton’s and Luke’s unrestrained laughter finally breaking free in the background while Calum screeched at them that “IT’S NOT FUNNY!”

“It’s a little funny,” was the barely audible response between wheezes and gasps for air.

Behind the closed door in the safety of the bedroom, Michael and Y/N shared a frantic look. “Well… that wasn’t the way I pictured that going in my head,” Y/N mumbled as she pulled the shirt Michael offered her on over her bra.

“Luke found your underwear,” he mumbled back, handing her the wadded up lace. “Sorry, I wrinkled it.”

“It’s fine,” she told him, stepping into them and then taking the offered gym shorts and stepping into those as well while he pulled on a pair of grey sweats over his boxers. “Hey,” she said softly, reaching up to cup his face and focus his frazzled mind on her. “We’re fine. Right?”

He gave her a small smile, relaxing at her touch. “We’re more than fine,” he nodded, kissing her forehead, each of her cheeks, her nose, and then finally her lips. “I still want you. And if Cal can’t deal with that… well… I…”

“Shh, don’t think about it. Cal’s not gonna care. Just gotta let the shock wear off, first.”

He nodded, his forehead resting against hers, green eyes searching for any kind of hope that they weren’t about to self-destruct; that if it really came down to it, they’d at least hesitate to choose Calum over the other. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered, a tear sliding down his cheek despite his best efforts at self control. “This is all my fault. I- I just need you to know that this wasn’t a fleeting moment of infatuation for me. That I-“

“Ssssshhhhh,” she soothed, her thumb rubbing across his cheekbone. “Don’t do this. Don’t say goodbye before we have to.”

They slowly crept their way back to the living room, finding Calum in full interrogation mode. “Did you two know?” he was asking Ashton and Luke, whose bodies were still shaking from barely controlled laughter.

“Hand to God, we didn’t know,” Ashton swore.

“Honest,” Luke agreed before both men sputtered into a new fit of giggles.

Calum’s eyes narrowed, not sure what to believe as he turned on his heel, coming face-to-face with Michael. “Did they know?” he demanded.

“No. Nobody knew,” Michael told him.

“So what? Are you embarrassed to be with her, or something? Are you embarrassed to be with him?” The brown eyes shifted back and forth between the couple.

“No,” it was Y/N’s turn to answer. “We just didn’t want to come to you guys with the news before we figured out what we were to each other first.”

“And what are you to each other?”

“We’re dating.”

“And how long has this been going on?”

“About a month.”

“So, the whole time? Great… You’re a real pal, Mike.”

“Oh, leave him alone,” Y/N defended. “Like you go blabbing to the world whenever you start to get to know someone? No. You wait until you’re sure it’s not just a fleeting moment. Gimme a break, Cal.”

“So… this is like… for real then? You actually like like each other, and shit?”

“We really do,” Michael nodded.

“I see… Hey, Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Remember what I told you last night about not bringing the guy you were seeing home because I’d rather not have that mental image?”

“Yeah. What about it? Change your mind?” she teased.

Calum gagged. “Fuckin’ God, no! If you’re gonna insist on fucking Mike, do it as far away from me as possible. Also if you want to move out sooner, totally fine with that.”

Michael blinked in confusion. “Wait? You’re cool with this? With us?”

Calum shrugged. “If you make each other happy, you make each other happy. Not my place to tell you who you can and can’t date. But,” Calum’s tone changed to be as menacing as possible as he glowered at Michael, “break her heart, and it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

“What if she breaks mine?” Michael countered.

Calum laughed. “Then I’ll help you pick up the pieces, while secretly wondering what she ever saw in you because let’s face it, she’s too good for you.”

“I’d be more offended if you weren’t totally right.”

__

Tag List

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[red-becca]

Bringing A Smile Back To Her Face

This isn't how I normally envision Kevin and Red getting their husky, Bailey. But you know, I watch a cute Rosanna Pansino video once and I just... I wanted to write something like that for Revin. And it's a surprise thing too! Perfect for today's theme! XD

---

Kevin sighed in relief as he finally came back home, parking his car in the garage and grabbing the new equipment he just bought from the backseat before going inside the house. "Red, I'm home!" He yelled as he puts his stuff down on a table then took off his shoes.

Red immediately perked up from the couch, running towards him and tackling him down to the ground with a hug. She didn't say anything else as she just cuddled up to him.

Kevin screamed as he got tackled and landing on the ground, nervously laughing as he pats her back before slowly hugging her, as well. "Heh, I missed you too, Red... So, how did your day go?"

Red looks up at him with sad eyes, a large pout on her face. "Awful! Boring! I just wanted you to come back home as early as possible!" She went back to cuddling him.

The male tried getting up but was unable to with Red's added weight. "I'm sorry that I didn't come home sooner, then... There was a long line where I usually buy new streaming equipment... But, uh... Why didn't you go out and hang with your friends?"

She groaned loudly at his question, lying her head on top of his chest. "None of them wanted to hang out with me. They're all busy with their own things..." The girl then let out a sigh. "Plus, I'm still too bummed out to go outside..."

He simply pets the back of her head, already knowing what was bumming her out. Kevin badly wanted to cheer her up but didn't know where to start. "I know, Red... I know... But uh, anyway... Do you mind getting off me already? I promise you, we will cuddle as long as you want later. But I just really need to set up my new equipment for my stream later tonight..."

Red whined but nodded and sat up, giving him a sad pout. "Fine, only because I love you. But can I help?! Please?! I don't really wanna be left alone right now..." She pleaded at him, giving him sad eyes in hopes that he would say yes.

And because he's Kevin, he said yes to her, as always. "Yes, of course! There are things I bought here that I need extra hands in setting up... Come on." The male got up and carried one of the boxes he had bought. "By the way, did you seriously not go out once today? What about your job? Do you not have anything scheduled for today?" The redhead grunted a bit but was able to lift the other box for him, huffing as she looked down at the ground. "Oh, I have gotten a lot of offers, as usual... But I took them all down. And before you ask why, remember I'm still pretty sad about Serendipity..." She teared up a bit and clutches the box she held tightly, shaking her head and wiping her tears away afterwards.

"No, no... I still remember about that." Kevin softly said as he started walking to his office, Red following right behind him. "I just thought... I don't know... You would want to distract yourself from your grief... But I guess, the grief is just too much for you right now. Do I have that right?"

Red nodded, putting down the box she held down first once they got to his office. "Yes, you do. No matter what I do, my brain just keeps on reminding me of Serendipity and how she's..." She tried holding back her tears but was unable to, falling to the ground as tears streamed down her face. "Gone..."

The male instantly put down his own box and rushed to her side, making her lean on him as she lets out all the tears she's been holding in. "I know it's hard, Red... I'm so sorry... I wish you didn't have to feel all this hurt... I wish I could take all this sadness and hurt that you're feeling and give it to me..."

The girl let out a sad laugh at his words, wiping away her tears again as she pulled away from him. She looked deep into his eyes as she caressed his cheek. "I am so lucky to have such a sweet and caring boyfriend like you, Kev... But this is my grief. And I need to go through it like a big girl..." She leans on him again, wrapping her arms around him again. "Though I am thankful that you're here to help ease things a bit. It may not be a lot but I still appreciate you being here..."

Kevin gave a small smile as he wrapped his arms in a comforting manner around her. "You're welcome, Red... I would do anything to make you feel better, I promise..."

After Red had cried as much as she could, she ended up tiring herself and passing out in Kevin's arms. She was carried to their bedroom and tucked into bed by Kevin before he started with setting up his equipment for his stream.

When he started his stream, however, he looked clearly bummed out while playing a game. He couldn't stop thinking about what he promised to her earlier. "What to do... What to do..." He mumbled to himself before sitting up and pausing the game he was playing. "Okay, chat... Clearly something is on my mind right now, it's really hard to disguise it." The male cleared his throat. "Basically, my girlfriend is feeling really bummed out right now and I honestly want to cheer her up. But I don't know a good way to do that... You guys got any tips?"

Kevin waited for a good answer from his chat, raising a brow at one particular suggestion. "Watch boyfriends surprising their girlfriends with puppies? I don't exactly see how that's supposed to help but okay..." He searches what he was told to find, choosing one video and ending up watching a few videos than he expected. "Okay, those videos are really adorable. Thank you to whomever told me to watch those videos... But umm... Why did you tell me to watch those videos exactly?"

His chat went absolutely nuts after his question, Kevin squinting his eyes at one particular message. "Oh my God, Kevin... You dense dumbass... We're telling you to surprise your girlfriend with a puppy to cheer her up..." He read out loud, gasping once he finished. "Well, you didn't need to be rude!" He hummed as he thought about it. "Hmm, thank you guys, though! That actually sounds like a good idea! I'll do it now while she's still asleep! Sorry guys but stream is ending early today!" The male quickly ended his stream and rushed out of the house to buy Red a puppy.

It took him a few hours but he was able to buy a puppy. A Siberian Husky, to be specific. "Okay, I knew it wouldn't be that easy to get a puppy but I didn't know it would take that long... How are you doing though, pup?" He asked the puppy that was sleeping comfortably in his arms. "Good? That's good..." Kevin spoke to himself as he slowly got out of his car.

"Hopefully, she's still..." He slowly opened the door, sighing in relief when he saw Red still sleeping peacefully in bed. "Okay, good... She's still asleep. Go on then, pup... Cheer your new mommy up." The male puts the sleeping puppy down next to Red.

The puppy immediately woke up, stretching before approaching Red slowly and sniffing her. It walked away from where she laid her head, making Kevin pick it up and placed it near her head again. "No, no... Puppy, I need you to wake and cheer her up, please..." He points towards Red. The puppy then made it's way towards Red's face, licking it as much as it could which gets Red stirring in her sleep.

"Mmm... Kev, what the heck?" The redhead grumbled softly as she slowly woke up. "What are you- Ow! Ow! Ow! What the fuck?" She groaned angrily as the puppy walked over her face and started biting her ear.

Kevin laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Okay... This is not like the other cute videos of boyfriends surprising their girlfriends with puppies that I watched..."

"Huh? Surprising girlfriends with puppies? What are you-" Red was still pretty drowsy from having just woken up, gasping softly when she finally saw the puppy in front of her. "Oh my God... When did this adorable little puppy get here?" She sat up and gently picked the puppy up, giggling softly as the puppy continuously licked her face. "Woah! Okay! Okay! You sure an excited pupper, huh?" She gasped again as she covered her mouth. "Oh my God, Kev... Seriously... How did this puppy get here?!" The redhead giggles as she puts the puppy on her lap and pets it a lot. "Oh, hello, aren't you a cutie?"

The male chuckled as he watched her, sitting down next to her. "Well, you know I never like it when you are sad, in pain or any other negative feeling like that. And I also did promise earlier that I would do anything to make you feel better... So, I came up with the idea of buying a puppy to cheer you up! Well, technically my chat came up with the idea... But I took it and here we are! Puppy!"

Red was utterly speechless at his reasoning, her giggles continuing as the puppy played with her more. "I'll have to make an appearance in one of your streams and thank you chat, I guess..." She leans on him and hums softly, a smile on her face. "Thank you so much, Kev... I do feel better with this gift, I love him." She paused, looking up at him. "It is a him, right?"

Kevin hummed as he just let her lean on him. "Mhmm, it is a him. Speaking of which, are you gonna be giving him a name yet?"

Red looked down at puppy in her lap, lifting it up a bit. "Hmm... Names would usually be a struggle for me but I don't know why... Our puppy just looks like a Bailey to me... What do you think of that name, Kev?" She looks up at him again, a wide smile on her face.

Kevin smiled back at her, kissing the top of her forehead. "Absolutely perfect..." He said to both her name idea and the smile on her face, more than happy to be seeing it again.

[peacedolantwins]

Family

You woke up to the sound of your phone ringing. Checking the clock next your bed you saw it was three in the morning and wondered who could be calling you right now. Picking up your phone, you saw Ethan was calling you. 

Ethan. Ethan who you spent two years of your life with. Ethan who broke your heart and brought up one of your biggest fears and doubts during a stupid argument. Ethan who you hadn’t spoken to in weeks. 

“Hello?” You picked up the phone anyways. 

“Y/n, can you come over please?” 

“Ethan, no, it’s three in the morning, what do you-” 

“Please. It’s not for me,” you could hear the urgency in his voice. “It’s Sky, she’s asking for you. Please she has a fever and wont stop crying for you.” 

“I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Regardless of how you felt about Ethan, Sky was your weakness. 

Skylar was Ethan’s four year old daughter who had the both of you wrapped around her little finger. You came into her life when she was only two and you knew you would do anything for that little girl. The tiny toddler with dark hair and hazel eyes could bat her little lashes and you would cave. When things between you and Ethan ended, that meant you never saw Sky anymore which hurt more than it should have. But after all as Ethan reminded you that night, she wasn’t your daughter was she? 

You found yourself at the twins house with the gate open already waiting for you. You parked in what used to be your spot and quickly went inside. You could hear her sobs coming from Ethans room, which made sense since he probably was trying to calm her down in his own room. 

Knocking on the door frame quietly, you walked into the room. The soft knocking got his attention. He looked as saw you standing there in your sweatpants that were way too big on you and a tank top he assumed you had been sleeping in. Your hair was falling out of the bun you had on top of your bed and he recognized the look enough to know you literally got out of bed and came over, not bothering with appearances. 

“Y/n, I’m so sorry, it’s just-”

“Mommy!” Sky choked out when she lifted her head and saw you there. She immediately turned her body and held out her arms to you from where Ethan was holding her against his chest. Your heart broke at hearing her call you that. 

“Hi Sky,” you walked over and took her from his arms and placed her in your own.  

“Hurts,” she cried into your neck while you rubbed her back, trying to soothe her the best you could. 

“I know baby, I know,” you sat down on the edge of the bed and ran a hand through her hair, trying to tame her mess of hair that she definitely got from her father. You placed the back of your hand on her forehead and was shocked. You knew he said she had a fever, but she felt way too warm even for that. Something was wrong. 

“What hurts Sky?” 

“Tummy,” You gently pulled her away from your chest and gently put your hand on her stomach. When you put slight pressure towards the bottom she started crying even more. 

“Okay honey, I’m sorry, it’s okay,” you took your hand away and she curled up against your chest again. 

“Did she eat today?” 

“Not really, she had a little bit of soup but she threw most of it up,” Ethan ran a hand through his hair. 

“Get your keys. She has to go to the hospital,” you stood up slowly, not wanting to startle the little girl. 

“What? Y/n, she just has a fever, she’ll be okay. You’re being dramatic, I think I would know if something was wrong with my own kid.” That hurt. But now wasn’t the time to start that again. 

“Ethan, she’s sick! I just know okay! I’ll take her myself, move out of the way-” if he wasn’t going to take her because he thought you were being dramatic, you would take her yourself. You had made a promise to always take care of Skylar and regardless of your relationship, that promise was not going to be broken. 

“Fine! Lets go,” he grabbed his keys and went outside. You followed and got in the backseat of the jeep not wanting to leave her side. You buckled her into her carseat while he pulled out of the driveway. Her crying seemed even louder with the silence in the car. As soon as Ethan pulled into a parking spot, you were already out of the car with Sky heading into the emergency room. You went up to the desk and the woman working there glanced at you then to Sky in your arms. 

“She has a fever but she’s really warm. She’s way too warm and she’s in pain, help her please,” you pleaded with the woman. You knew you looked like a mess but you didn’t care. Ethan finally caught up to you two just as you were moving into a side room. 

“Excuse me, one of you needs to fill these out,” the woman stood there with a clipboard with paperwork. 

“I’ll do it,” you so badly wanted to stay by Sky’s side but you knew her dad should probably be the one with her right now the most. 

You finished with the paperwork and asked the woman where the little girl was taken so she could go back there. 

“Are you family?” 

“No, but I-”

“I’m sorry, but it’s family only.” She took the clipboard and turned away from you. You walked back to the waiting area and curled up on one of the chairs.

Not family. Not your child. That’s what it always seemed to come down to. You started thinking about what happened to your relationship all those weeks ago. 

“Y/n, did you set up the parent teacher conference for Sky?” Ethan just came home and wanted to talk to you. He had a long day at the gym and something happened with production. It wasn’t a good day, and seeing an appointment made for him on a day he had full of appointments didn’t help. 

“Yeah, when I picked her up her teacher had everyone set up the appointments.”

“You shouldn’t have done it without talking to me first. Now I’m gonna have to call and change it to another date,” he was more annoyed about that because now it was another phone call to add to the list of things he had to do. 

“I can go if you can’t make it, it’s okay,” you realized you hadn’t checked to see if he was even free that day and didn’t want to ruin whatever meeting he might have for that day. 

“And why would you go?” He scoffed at you. 

“What do you mean?” You knew you should have checked but you didn’t think he would be this upset about it. 

“Why would you go to her parent teacher conference? You’re not her parent, you’re not her mom Y/n, so stop trying to act like it. She’s my kid and I can take care of things for her.” As soon as he said those words he immediately regretted it. Ethan saw as your eyes became glossy and you quickly looked away to hide it. He knew you were scared about your place in his and Sky’s life and he just threw it back in your face when you tried to do something helpful. 

“Babe, wait, I didn’t mean it like-“ he tried to fix this when he saw you picking up a few of your things you had laying around. 

“Yeah you did. Otherwise you wouldn’t have said it,” you were walking towards the front door when you felt something clinging to your leg. 

“Mommy where you going?” You winced hearing her call you that and Ethan noticed. While it wasn’t the first time Sky had ever called you her mom, it was one of the first times she called you that in front of him. 

“I have to go honey, for a while okay?” You knelt down to be eye level with the little girl. 

“But why?” It was breaking your heart to see her so sad and confused. 

“It’s okay, Sky. You get to spend more time with daddy now! Are you excited?” She smiled and nodded her head rapidly. “Good, now can I have a hug?” She flung herself at you, almost knocking you backwards and you couldn’t help but laugh. 

Ethan watched as you wrapped your arms around his daughter. Why would he ever say you weren’t her mom? You took care of her and loved her more than anything in this world and although she might not biologically be yours, you were definitely her mother. 

You never minded picking her up from his office because he knew he was going to be there late. You would take her to the store with you because for some reason, she would never throw a tantrum there while she was with you. You knew her allergies and always made sure to carry medication with you in case something happened. You never complained once about being woken up at five in the morning because she wanted to go play. The list went on and on. And he had to go and ruin it all because he said something he shouldn’t have. 

“Y/n, please,” he wasn’t sure if you two were broken up or if you just needed space but he knew one thing and it was that he didn’t want you to walk out that door. 

“Why don’t you go back to bed Sky, daddy will go tuck you in okay?” She let go of you and ran back to her room. 

“Ethan, I need to figure out where I fit here, and that can’t do that here. I need to figure some things out. I’m not saying we’re done, but I need a minute to myself. I need some space right now,” you stood back up and headed outside. “I’ll call when I’m ready.”

Ethan came out of the room a few hours later to find you curled up asleep in one of the awful plastic chairs the hospital had in the waiting room. He went to wake you, but once he touched your arm he noticed just how cold you were. It’s January and you’re wearing only a tank top in a freezing hospital of course you were going to be cold. He took off his hoodie before going to wake you up again. 

“Hey,” You opened your eyes to see him holding out his hoodie to you. 

“It’s okay, I’m okay,” you shook your head at him. 

“Y/n you’re freezing. One of my girls is already sick, I don’t need the other one to end up here too. Just put it on please,” you took the hoodie and slipped it on, immediately feeling warmer. 

“Thank you, how is she?” 

“She just came out of surgery. Turns out she had appendicitis.” He can’t believe he didn’t bring his baby in sooner. 

“What? Is she okay?” You sat up urgently. 

“She’s okay, it didn’t rupture so that's good, she’s okay. She’s still just out of it right now, they say she should be up in an hour or so,” Ethan watched as you visibly relaxed. Despite how he treated you before things got as messy as they were now, you still cared about Skylar so much. 

“That’s good, thanks for letting me know.”

“You can come back and wait for her to wake up with me if you want,” he saw your eyes light up for a second but it was gone as fast as it came. 

“Family only,” you shook your head. 

“Y/n, you are family.”

“No, I’m not. You made that clear, remember?” You weren’t trying to start a fight, especially not right now. 

He sighed. He remembers clearly. He regretted saying what he did as soon as he saw your face fall. Nothing about it was okay because you were and still are family. You took on the mother role for his little girl without ever being asked to and there was nothing he could ever do to say thank you enough for that. And he threw it all back in your face. 

“I wasn’t lying that night. You’re not her mom.”

“Are you serious? Right now? Ethan-“ was he really going to say it to your face again?

“Wait. You’re not her mom. Her mom left her as soon as she was born. Her mom never stuck around for her. Her mom never held her to make her feel better. Her mom wouldn’t have noticed if she felt warmer than she should have because she couldn’t do it. But you’re not her mom. You’re her Y/n. You’re the one who stuck around. You’re the one who tucked her into bed when she was scared because she said the monsters were scared of you. You’re the one who didn’t even get mad that time she cut off a chunk of your hair and forced you to get a haircut. You’ve been taking care of her since the first day you met her in that store. So no, you’re not her mom. You’re so much better than her mom could ever be and I can’t ever thank you enough or tell you how sorry I am for saying that to you. You might not be her mom, but you are her mother. You took care of her when I couldn’t.” He held your hand as you started tearing up. 

“I love that she calls you mommy or momma or whatever she’s feeling that day. I love that she’s comfortable enough with you to do that. I love that she made that choice all on her own. Come back, please? Come home with us after this,” he moved and was now kneeling in front of you. He wiped away a few tears on your cheeks 

“Yeah, I’ll come home.” 

[draftingtides]

Dogfish

AO3

Words: 1368 Characters: Mike Crew, Martin Blackwood, Jonathan Sims, assorted s4 characters Relationships: Jon/Mike/Martin Warnings: Jon has a brief meltdown, Mike was buried alive but it’s not described in detail Other Tags: Getting together, Canon divergence, Autistic & ADHD Jon, Autistic Michael Crew, I dont actually plan to finish this so uhhh be warned for that i suppose, This is just a self-indulgent sandbox i wanted to play in Summary: “Why do you need a shovel?” Jon stares at his hands and giggles quietly, if a bit hysterically. “I’m going to dig up a grave.” Martin’s surprised he doesn’t crash the car. “Jon—” “Please don’t,” Jon interrupts. “Just… please.”

When Jon shows up at his flat at three in the morning, crying and hyperventilating, it’s all Martin can do not to bundle him into a hug and hold him until he calms down. As it is, he has to settle for toning down the disdain he’s pretended to hold towards other people since he made up his mind to trick Peter.

“Jon? What are you doing here? It’s three in the morning.”

“Yes, I—I’m sorry, I—I didn’t want to bo-bother you, but I ca-an’t—” His quick, shallow breaths cut him off and what comes after is unintelligible.

“No, stop, I can’t understand a word you’re saying.” Martin opens his door wider and gestures for Jon to come in. Jon obeys, barely looking shocked at all. Martin steers him towards the couch and tells him to stay there.

Martin finds a bottled water in the fridge and returns to the living room. Jon’s elbows are on his knees and his hands are clenched tightly in his hair, and he is rocking back and forth. He doesn’t look up when Martin stands in front of him.

“Jon? I got you some water.”

Jon releases his hands from his hair and holds them out. Martin hands him the water bottle. It’s a good thing he decided to go for the bottle instead of a glass; Jon’s hands are shaking so badly he probably would have just spilled the glass. He still dribbles some down his chin, but he wipes it away with his shirt sleeve. 

Martin waits for him to finish the bottle to say, “Better?”

His breathing has evened out, but he exhales deeply before he nods. His tears are beginning to dry on his face, and he wipes those away with his shirt sleeve, to.

Martin wants nothing more than to gently clean his face with a warm washcloth, but he can’t. “Alright. Tell me what you’re doing here.”

When he speaks, his voice is rough. “I… I need a ride.”

“I can’t. Ask someone else.”

Jon flinches. “I can’t. I—they won’t.”

“Who did you ask?”

“Um. Georgie. Basira.”

“That’s it?”

“M-Melanie would sooner kill me. Elias is in jail. Daisy is—Daisy is dead. I d-don’t know anyone else.”

Jon’s lower lip trembles and he bites it like that will make it stop.

Martin sighs heavily and stares at the ceiling. That reaction, at least, is not faked. Doing this could very easily tip Peter off that he’s not as committed to the Lonely as he “should” be, but if this drove Jon to his flat, and in such a state, it’s obviously important.

“You can’t take the tube?”

Jon shakes his head.

Martin sighs again. “Alright.”

Jon stares at him uncomprehendingly. “Al-alright?”

Martin gestures for him to stand. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Oh!” Jon stands quickly as Martin grabs his keys and wallet, then silently follows Martin out to his car.

“So? Where are we going?” Martin asks, his fingers poised to type an address into Google Maps.

“Ah… I don’t think a GPS will be able to find it. I can give you directions.”

Martin raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything.

A few minutes into the drive, Jon lets out a soft, “Oh.”

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just… I forgot to bring a shovel.”

Martin actually turns his head to look at him before quickly looking back at the road. “Why do you need a shovel?”

Jon stares at his hands and giggles quietly, if a bit hysterically. “I’m going to dig up a grave.”

Martin’s surprised he doesn’t crash the car. “Jon—”

“Please don’t,” Jon interrupts. “Just… please.”

Martin grips the steering wheel tightly and doesn’t say a word.

“Turn left here,” Jon says after a few minutes. “No—Martin, I said left.”

“I know.”

“Then what—”

Martin pulls into the parking lot of a supercentre and parks the car. “Wait here.”

“But—”

Martin leaves the key in the ignition and gets out of the car. When he returns a few minutes later, he has two shovels that he puts in the back seat. 

Jon stares at him.

“You’re not going to dig up a grave with your bare hands.”

“Right,” he says quietly. “Thank you.”

The rest of the drive is long. Jon says, “We have to walk from here,” so they park the car, grab the shovels, and walk into the woods.

Jon stops and Martin almost walks into him.

“We’re here,” he says, staring at the ground under his feet. There’s nothing there to indicate it’s a grave—no headstone, no freshly turned earth—but there’s no mistaking the certainty in Jon’s voice.

They start digging. Neither Jon nor Martin are fit for this kind of work, and by the time the sky begins to lighten, their palms are raw and red.

“Jon,” Martin says, “I don’t think there’s anything here.”

Jon stops digging, but he doesn’t look up. “I…”

“We’ve been digging for hours.”

“Martin, I know he’s here. He’s in agony, I can’t just—it’s my fault he’s here in the first place. I have to find him and get him out.”

“Him? Who are you talki—”

The ground shudders ever so slightly, and Martin’s mouth snaps shut.

“Oh my g-d,” Jon says, and he drops to his knees and scrabbles at the dirt with his fingers.

Martin is suddenly very apprehensive that something is about to go wrong.

“Jon—”

A few fingers break through the surface of the dirt.

“Holy shit,” says Martin.

“Martin, help me,” Jon orders.

Martin gets down on his knees and starts digging again.

The arm attached to the hand thrusts out of the dirt, quickly followed by a second arm, and soon enough Jon’s wiping dirt off of a gasping face.

“Mike! Mike, it’s—it’s Jon, it’s Jonathan Sims. Hold on, I have to—” Jon drags a gasping, spluttering Michael Crew out of the ground, dirt cascading from his skin and hair.

Martin drags himself out of the grave—it’s a bit crowded for three people.

Mike makes weak flapping motions with his hands. He leans forward, still making those awful sputtering noises, and dirt falls from his mouth. Jon pounds his back as gently as he can, and even more clumps of dirt fall to the bottom of the grave.

Once it seems Mike's expelled all the dirt he can, Jon says, “Martin, help me get him out.” Jon gently moves one of Mike’s arms over his shoulder to support him. “Mike, I’m going to help you stand, and Martin’s going to pull you out.”

Jon helps Mike upright. Martin kneels at the edge of the grave, loops his arms under Mike’s armpits and heaves up and back. He drags Mike out more than lifts him, but what matters is that he’s out. 

He drags Jon out next, stubbornly ignoring the fact that this is the closest they’ve been physically since they hugged before the Unknowing.

Mike is on his hands and knees, head hanging down, looking like he’s trying not to collapse.

“Okay, let’s get him in the car,” Martin says.

Jon helps Mike into the backseat of the car and climbs in after him, leaving Martin to get in the front by himself. Probably better like that, anyway.

Mike stubbornly refuses to put on his seatbelt, though he doesn’t say a word or—as far as Martin knows, at least—use his powers. 

“Your flat is too far out of the way,” Martin tells Jon, even though it really isn’t. “I can either drop you off at the Institute or at my flat, but you can’t stay at mine.”

There’s a whirring sound and the sudden rush of wind from the backseat. Martin peaks in the rearview mirror to see Mike has rolled down the window. He’s looking up at the sky, but the angle is such that he can’t see Mike’s face.

“The Institute is fine,” Jon says. He goes silent, then says, more quietly, “Thank you, Martin.”

“Yeah, well. I’m not going to help you with something like this again, Jon. Don’t expect me to.”

Martin refuses to watch the mirror and see the way Jon shrinks back when he mumbles, “Of—of course. Sorry.”

[aloevendetta]

the senior trip

ok so this is my first stray kids fic, i didn’t rlly edit it but i hope you all enjoy! 💕 this is jock! hyunjin x fem! reader, also a friends to lovers au of sorts :) ft the 00 line

On the last week of school, your best friend Felix came up to you and begged you to go on a road trip with him and his friends

After an entire day of insisting that you were “one of his best friends” and that he would “die without you”, you caved

His best friends were a wildly varying group of seniors at the school, some of which you were friends with, some of which you barely talked to

Hyunjin was the cliche jock

He literally could play ANY sport and be amazing at it,,,

You were slightly envious of him but you wouldn’t let him know that

And then there was Jisung

He wasn’t the most book smart, but when it came to music he was a genius

Nobody really knew since he kept it quiet, and only the chorus kids and his music theory class knew about his hidden talent

Again, you were jealous

Seungmin was that kid who could manage several ap classes like a champ

Also one of your best friends

He was kind of sassy at times but sometimes you just needed good ole Minnie to let you know you were being stupid

Seungmin and Felix openly discussed this road trip all through the school year but you never thought they’d ACTUALLy do it

“Hey y/n, Wanna come on our road trip?”

“Yeah, sure ‘lix.” You’d say, brushing it off as teasing

Until THE LAST WEEK

“Y/n, you’re packed for our trip, right?”

WHAT

HOLD ON

“Did you forget?”

“I-I didn’t think you were serious? I’m not sure if I want to go, I have a lot of plans this summer and I kind of want to relax and-“

Seungmin then plopped down onto a bench at your lunch spot, clapping a hand on your back

“If anyone needs to relax, it’s me, and this trip is the perfect chance. We’re going to a resort!”

how were you supposed to get out of this now ( ಠ ಠ )

“My mom-“

Felix shot you a look

“Y/n, YOURE 18!!! You can go without your mom’s permission”

“Let me think about it.”

The rest of lunch Felix and Seungmin dropped it

After lunch was over, the avalanche of questions started

You were solid in your decision until Felix added you to a group chat

you kept telling yourself the only reason you went was the spam

But Felix and seungmin both knew it was because of your silent pining of hyunjin

Aka the super gorgeous super talented super sporty super nice super smart best friend of your best friend

it was ALL FINE UNTIL

Hyunjin: y/n, you HAVE to come with us :(( it won’t be the same :(((

CRAP

from across the English classroom Felix watched your resolve crumble as you typed

Y/N: ,,,,, when do we leave

Never did you think you’d end up here, though

Jisung’s VW bus had broken down

(EVERYONE knew it was only a matter of time)

So now you sat crammed between jisung and hyunjin in the backseat of Felix’s car

Felix’s tiny car

His little

Puny

Honda Accord

Despite insisting Jisung took up little to no space and that it was far smarter for him to sit in the middle

he insisted that his knee had been bothering him and you should instead

being the little demon jisung is

He was laying with his head against the door and his feet pushing you closer to Hyunjin

U were rlly warm but it definiTELY wasn’t the car, just u :)

U were awkwardly pushed up against the dude you had a crush on all of high school

And you knew the 3 other boys in the car had planned it

When you glanced in the rear view mirror you were met with Seungmin’s grinning at you and a snort from Felix

You didn’t really mind though because Hyunjin was super sweet and didn’t mind you being that close to him at all

Instead, when jisung KICKED you over toward ur crush

And you PROFUSELy apologized

Hyunjin just laughed and said

“It’s okay! I’ve been around him my entire life, I’m not surprised, honestly”

(∗∕ ∕•̥̥̥̥∕ω∕•̥̥̥̥∕)

At some point during the ride you fell asleep and when you woke up on hyunjins shoulder

Saying you panicked would be an understatement

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry I can’t believe I fell asleep on you, oh my gosh Hyunjin you should’ve woken me up and told me to move I’m so sorry”

“Y/n, it’s fine, I promise I didn’t mind.”

Yeah that made you feel somewhat better until you felt the dried up drool on your chin

GREAT

Anyway, you guys had arrived at the resort you were staying at

felix and seungmin weren’t mean enough to make you room with hyunjin (tbh you’d die)

(also that’s too cliche let’s be honest)

though the moment the door shut and you threw your suitcase onto the suitcase stand, felix and seungmin were hounding you

“you slept on him, y/n”

“see we told you that you wouldn’t regret this”

“we’re the best wingmen ever”

“what would you do without us”

it took a sharp glare from you to get them to shut up but they were still snickering

after you unpacked, felix and seungmin shoved you out the door with jisung and hyunjin in tow

it was your job to buy and cook dinner apparently

when you got to the store you put jisung in charge of dessert and hyunjin was in charge of the vegetable

you had the main course

unsurprisingly, jisung came back with box of cake mix and funfetti icing

hyunjin, being the healthy he is due to his sports diet, came back with a microwave veggie bag

you were making one of your favorite dishes, maybe not the healthiest, but that was never a criteria for dinner

when u got back you put the boys to work

and surprise surprise

they protested as u told them to boil water and start making their food items

anyway, after u got them to actually start working (by promising you’d buy them the next game they wanted for felix’s switch), dinner quickly was served

u made a fancy pasta dish that was irresistible >:]

and you’re proud to say there were no leftovers

after you and the boys finished cleaning the kitchen, hyunjin approached you

“y/n, i’m gonna go on a walk to burn off some of the unhealthy stuff in that meal. i cant be looking puffy or gaining weight” he joked

“but if you,, uh, want to join me...?” he asked, smiling sheepishly

hyunjin was talking about BURNING CALORIES while you sat on the couch in pj shorts and an oversized shirt, watching tv and playing on your phone

ヽ༼ ಠ益ಠ ༽ﾉ really wanna make us feel healthy today, huh?

but it was hyunjin, so you got up, shoved your phone in your pocket and slipped into some shoes and went on a walk with him

he walked really fast, to be honest

you were jogging to keep up with him,,, and u were the one who wanted to do less exercise,,,, >:////

hyunjin would look back at you and laugh as your dragged your feet, wanting to take a break

“y/n~ we’re here”

“y-you took me somewhere? damn it, hyunjin, we could’ve taken the car (；¬д¬)”

“but that’s no fun!”

his puppy dog eyes made you sign in defeat before taking in the surroundings

hyunjin had led you to the resort pond reserve, where little ducks would swim during the day

at night, the onlt light pollution was from the city several miles away, and the stars reflected perfectly off of the calm water

“how’d you know about this?” you asked ur ‘workout’ partner

(like u could ever survive a workout with him)

“i saw it coming in and i thought you’d enjoy it. you were too busy sleeping on me but you mentioned stargazing sophomore year.”

ok 1) he thought of u

2) he remembers what you said about sophomore year

3),,, he brought jusr you?

could,,, could ur crush like you?

“i know jisung also likes stuff like this so i invited him but he didn’t want to stop the game he was in,” hyunjin added

and thus, the hope left

he just did it as a friendly thing, hyunjin was always friendly

you sighed and sat down on the grass, not really caring about the mud or grass stains

should,, you tell him?

it could ruin the rest of your trip and cause awkwardness between your friend groups and ruin your friendship with hyunjin

or he could (very unlikely) like you back

in which case,,, what do u do?

hm.... the logical choice was obvious; the first

screw logic though

“ah, hyunjin?”

he glanced over at you, shaking his bangs out of his face, but failing and spluttering to fix it, “yeah?”

“i dont want this to make anything awkward or whatever and i know this is really stupid because you’re you and i’m me and i like you but you’re all sport-y and handsome and girls love you and every one of those girls are prettier than me but i mean i couldn’t help it felix and seungmin tease me all the time and i got sick of holding it in because there was the off chance that maybe you liked me back but now all of this is coming out of my mouth and i realize how stupid i sound”

you cast your gaze down and played with. a strand of grass

“you like me?” hyunjin asked, earning a nod from you

“y/n.... i’ve liked you.... for the longest time, i thought you only saw me as a popular jock like the rest of my team or that you saw me as a brother or something...” his face went from shocked and morphed into a huge smile

you listened to him and your own smile formed before you tackled him into a hug

“oh gosh, i was so worried this would go badly. what will we tell the others? they’ll never let us out again” you laughed softly

hyunjin stood up, helping you up as well

“we don’t have to tell the others, they’re not stupid. for now, you’re here with me”

you scoffed at that. “ohmygosh, you’re so cliché-”

hyunjin cut you off with a kiss, and you didn’t really realize it before he pulled back

“was that ok? i didn’t mean to overstep any boundaries, i just, i dont know i just thought that maybe-”

you cut him off with a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing his hand

“we gotta get back to the boys before they think we died” you smiled brightly

“i suppose youre right. what would we do without the mom friend?” he teased, letting go of your hand and wrapping his arm around you as you both walked home

[of-a-chaotic-mind]

Miss “In Charge”

Summary: The reader gives John Winchester a piece of her mind but simply gets complimented for it.

TW/CW: Angsty, Maybe some swearing, Dean x Reader

A/N: This one is a little shorter but was inspired by Season 1, Episode 16, as well as, another imagine I read one time. I can’t remember who wrote it but I think it was called You’ll Make a Hell of a Winchester or something similar. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it! Requests and Asks are open as always!

P.S. I start back to college today so yeah.

Your POV

    As I sit and listen to the fight raging between Sam and John, I flashback to the night I last saw John.

    As I listened to the men in front of me discussing and arguing about John leaving, I took notice of the look on Dean’s face. He wanted to have his family back together so badly and now that he had them, he had to let his father go again. He looked devastated. I stepped forward and placed a hand on Sammy’s shoulder, “We need to go. You know we can’t stay with him.” John gave me an appreciative look as I tugged Sam and Dean to the car.  

    Before John got into his truck, he yelled back at me, “Keep them safe for me, (Y/n).” I fished the keys out of Dean’s pocket as I put him in the passenger seat. Sam took the hint and slid into the backseat.

    I drove us to a motel in the next state and helped them gather things as we headed inside. Once everyone had showered, I made them let me look over their cuts and wounds. Luckily, they didn’t need stitches but they were both still pretty spun out. “Go on to bed, Sammy. Get some rest,” I said and he nodded. I turned to Dean who looked close to bursting with tears. I hugged him close and played with his soft hair.

    Against my stomach, he mumbled, “Why did you let him go?”

    I thought for a moment to gather myself, “You know why, Dean. When you two are with him, you’re all in danger. Until that thing is caught, it’s best to stay far away from him.”

    I’m dragged back to the present as Sam shoves Dean off himself and into me. I help Dean steady himself and motion for him to sit down on the bed. Sam turns away from his father in frustration as I step forward to face John. I am tempted to hurl a fist at him but restrain myself. Instead, I chose my words carefully, “John, how many times has Dean had to be more of a father to Sammy than you have? How many motels have you left them in for days on end? How many times have you cussed Dean up one side and down the other because he made a small mistake? How many times have you tried to hold Sammy back from chasing his dreams?”  

    I pause letting my questions sink in. Taking a deep breath, I continue in a calm voice, “You have no right to criticize who they are. You made them that way. Your actions put these boys in a place where they had to figure out how to raise themselves and had no guidance as to who they should be besides to be your pawns. I won’t let you yell at them and put them down anymore. For once in your life, you will not cut them so deeply that they are scarred for the rest of theirs.” I turn to look out the window to mark the end of my speech.

    John chuckles behind me, “I sincerely hope that Dean someday figures out how to make you a Winchester. You’d make a hell of an addition to the family,” he says before whispering, “You remind me so much of Mary.

    I suddenly feel arms wrap around my waist as the smell of Dean’s cologne fills my senses. Dean holds me tight as he looks to his father, “I plan to marry her as soon as I can afford a ring she deserves.”

    John stands and places a hand on Dean’s shoulder, “Son, if she’s as much like your mother as I think she is, she won’t care about a ring. She’ll be happy with anything you give her.” John moves into my line of sight and I turn to look at him. He smiles, “Mary would’ve loved you. Thank you for taking care of my boys.” I nod as he turns to leave, “I’ll see you boys again soon. For now, listen to (Y/n). She’s in charge.”

    As he shuts the door behind him, Dean asks, “So Miss “In Charge”, where to next.”

Masterlists

[fandom-necromancer]

905. Why are you constantly carrying that thing around with you?

This was prompted by the awesome @markusandkaraandconnor! Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

Gavin had never been one for nervous habits. He did drink more coffee than regularly on bad days or when he was stressed. But fiddling with something wasn’t something he usually came to. That and the man’s absent-minded smile was something that let Tina stop as she passed by his desk that day. ‘Why are you constantly carrying that thing around with you?’, she asked, putting the documents she was supposed to bring down to the archives on his table. ‘I saw you playing with that the whole week. What even is this? Looks like some chip.’ Gavin looked up from his hands and grinned, showing her the perfectly symmetrical disk that was smooth on one side and had some bumps from metal connections on the other. ‘Oh, just a gift from Nines.’ He smirked, looking at it intently again. ‘Wait, isn’t that his LED?’

‘It was’, the android suddenly interrupted, but without any sense of anger. ‘Now it is Gavin’s LED’, he added with a soft smile he had spent months on perfecting. ‘Oh, I’m sensing a story here!’, Tina exclaimed in excitement. ‘Gavin, you need to tell me! How about getting a drink after work?’ The man shrugged, pushed the LED back in his chest pocket and looked at Nines. ‘That’s okay babe?’ Nines looked at him over the screen, brows furrowed. ‘Since when do you need my approval?’ ‘Ah, you know? You wanna come too?’ The android chuckled at that and leaned back. ‘No, I’ll stay a bit longer today anyways. A certain human slacked with the paperwork. I couldn’t drink anything, too.’ ‘You sure?’ ‘Yes. Enjoy your evening, you two!’, Nines nodded and threw them another smile. ‘Make sure he comes back home in one piece, Tina!’ ‘I will, Sir’, she saluted him in an overly exaggerated gesture, grabbed her documents and rushed towards the archives. ‘I’ll try to be home early’, Gavin reassured Nines, feeling a bit awkward to leave him behind. ‘Hey, I got you the complete rest of the day! I meant it when I told you to enjoy the evening.’ ‘Thanks, Nines, you are the best!’

Gavin had met with Tina in the parking lot of the DPD and they had taken her car to drive to the bar. It was one of these small cars Gavin would have been too embarrassed to drive, although he had to give it to Tina – it was cute. He remembered chasing a criminal in that car once, because it had been the only one his friend had grabbed the keys for. They had made it, of course, but there was something ridiculous about stuffing someone handcuffed onto the backseats of a VW beetle.

They drove to a bar that was relatively close to Tina’s flat, so they could leave the car parked there and walk or call an automated taxi. It was a cosy little place, dimly lit but not dark enough to let it appear dingy. They pulled into a booth in the back and ordered their drinks. Both stayed silent until they arrived, toasting each other, before taking a sip. Only afterwards Gavin realised he was looking at him expectantly with an expression in her face that just screamed un-obscured curiousness. ‘What?’, Gavin laughed. He remembered that face from back when he had to report to her about the men, he had taken home from bars not unlike this one. ‘Come on! You have to tell me everything about you and Nines!’ ‘Someone jealous the chaotic moron got a boyfriend before you?’ ‘Hey!’ She cuffed him in the side and Gavin grunted as it actually hurt a bit. ‘Come on, I have good chances with Stacy! You know… the receptionist android? She is hot as hell!’ ‘Best of luck!’, Gavin laughed. ‘Knowing you you didn’t even speak to her yet.’ ‘I did! Some small talk before entering in the morning and some more when leaving’, she pouted. ‘You are clearly meant for each other’, he grinned and took out the LED again, laying it on the table in front of them. ‘A really sweet gesture from him, when I think about it. Now I always have a part of him with me, literally even.’ ‘Aww I knew it! You are a sap deep down in that rough exterior!’ ‘Hey, you want me to tell you the story or not?’

-

It had been a rainy day, the ones you are happy about at first as there were little to no people outside you had to greet or -god forbid- speak to. But after walking a bit to go grocery shopping because some tin-can decided to reprimand you for not having enough food at home, the rain just added to his misery of going outside on his free day. Gavin knew this was just another way of Nines taking care of him. Making sure he moved the minimum amount not to feel tired and got some real food instead of heated-up leftovers and frozen pizza. Still, he wanted to be angry for a bit.

‘I’m back home, toaster! Got everything you asked me for, now let me enjoy my weekend, will ya?’ ‘Of course, Gav’, Nines whispered from far nearer than the man had expected him to be. He turned around as he hung up his dripping jacket and saw Nines leaning against the doorframe from the kitchen, handing him a steaming cup of coffee. Gavin accepted it gratefully but sniffed the air before taking a gulp from the cup. ‘Hey, what was that all about sending me shopping for ingredients if you already cooked? Am I- Wait. What did you do to your LED? Did you take it out?’ ‘Come on’, Nines just smiled at him and led him to the living room to sit down, a plate of perfectly cooked spaghetti in front of him. It was nicely decorated, and Gavin frantically thought about any date he could have missed. But their anniversary was only next week and what they had assigned as Nines’ birthday had already passed. ‘Hey, Nines, did I miss something?’, he quickly asked. ‘If I did, I’m sorry, I swear!’ Nines chuckled, hugging the man from behind the chair. ‘Relax, Gavin! You didn’t miss anything. This is just… I made my mind up about something and I have a gift for you.’

That didn’t do anything to calm his nerves but made him feel better still. What was Nines planning? He wouldn’t propose now, would he? Gavin wanted to be the one to propose so badly, he would definitely be pissed for a few seconds if Nines pulled that card now. But the android simply sat down at the table, reached inside his pocket and took out a little disk, laying it in front of him carefully. Gavin looked up to him sceptically before picking it up and turning it over. ‘So, I was right! You did take out your LED.’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Why? I mean, you can do what you want to, but was there a specific reason?’, Gavin held eye contact, trying hard not to wander up to the smooth temple. ‘I don’t need it. And I want you to have it. Turns out you are the only one who really looked beyond that thing and saw me truly. I found my human under all these people I met, and I don’t need anyone else to understand me as long as you are there. You are with me wherever I go, and I wanted to give you something back.’ Gavin held onto the little disk and was surprised as it suddenly flashed blue. A wide grin started to form on his face as he began to understand. ‘So, you made me walk through the rain and I grumbled to myself the whole way, when you were here preparing the best gift ever and a beautiful evening?’ ‘Are you still mad at me now?’, Nines asked, smirking. Gavin stood up walking over to the android who scooted back to face him. He moved to take a seat on the android’s lap, leaning in to kiss the damn tin-can. ‘How could I?’, Gavin murmured after they separated so he could get some air. ‘You literally gave me a part of yourself. I couldn’t even be angry with you in a normal setting. I love you, Nines. This is the best gift you could have given me, and I will keep it forever and ever.’

[singledarkshade]

Waverider Detective Agency

Part Ten – Final Chapter (Part Nine is here. Just to remind you that my medical knowledge comes from ER and Greys Anatomy. Enjoy                                ********************************************* John sat in the corner of the hospital waiting room with Kendra, while Joe, Eddie and Singh stood talking in another corner.

“Where is my son?” the familiar voice of Mary Xavier came from outside.

John caught Joe’s eye and they headed to rescue the hospital staff from the force of nature that was Rip’s mother. Reaching the nurses station, they found Mary staring down the poor nurse on duty.

“Mary,” a man John didn’t recognise stepped forward, “I can see Captain Singh, why don’t we talk with him first.”

Mary turned, “Quentin, I want to see my son now.”

“Ms Xavier,” the calming voice of Dr Caitlin Snow came, making them all turn to see her walking towards them, “Mary, your son is resting.”

“Caitlin,” Mary greeted the younger woman with a hug, John knew the two had become friends when Caitlin had been Gilbert’s doctor, “How is he?”

Caitlin squeezed her arm, “His ribs are badly bruised, as is his left arm, presumably from the car crash but it was probably exacerbated by whatever happened in the cabin. We’ve strapped his ribs and I’m going to put his arm in a sling to immobilise it for a while, just to allow his ribs time to heal.”

Mary let out a small sigh of relief, “What about Gideon?”

“She’s still in surgery,” Caitlin continued, “I will let you know the moment I can give you an update.”

“Can I see Michael?”

Caitlin nodded, “Nurse Evans will take you to his room.”

As Mary left with the nurse, Caitlin turned to them and motioned everyone to the waiting room once more.

“Alright,” she said, “Here’s what’s happening.

  Mary nodded thanks to the young woman who led her to the private room her son was in before she stepped inside. Looking down at the man asleep on the bed, Mary took a shuddering breath as she remembered that horrible night only a few years before when she’d sat by his bedside, praying he made it to morning. This time she knew that he would be fine, physically anyway and instead the young woman she thought of as a daughter was in surgery.

“Mother?”

“I’m here, Michael,” Mary soothed, sitting by his side taking his hand, “You’re in hospital and you’re safe.”

Michael squeezed her hand before asking, “Gideon?”

“Still in surgery,” Mary replied softly.

“I tried,” he whispered, “I tried to keep her safe from him, but I only managed to move the gun, she was still hurt because of me.”

Mary stroked his hair as tears filled his eyes, “It wasn’t because of you, Michael. You protected Gideon, and she’s going to be fine. It could have been so much worse.”

Michael stared at her, his green eyes filled with pain, “I killed him.”

“I know,” Mary sighed, “But you had no other choice.”

He turned to her, “I’m glad I did it. He took everything from me. I just wish it could have brought them back.”

Pressing a kiss to his forehead, Mary breathed, “So do I. Get some rest, darling. I’ll be right here.”

With a sigh, her son closed his eyes as Mary stroked his hair the way she would when he was a child.

  John winced when his neck cracked as he jerked awake when his name was called.

“Dr Snow?” Kendra demanded, moving to Caitlin as she stepped into the waiting room, looking tired but not sorrowful.

“Gideon is out of surgery,” Caitlin told them, “She was very lucky. Nothing major was struck and, although it will take some time, she will recover fully.”

The relief around the room was palpable.

“Can we see her?” Kendra asked.

“Not just now,” Caitlin replied, “She’s in recovery. I want all of you to go home and get some rest. Gideon won’t be able to receive visitors until tomorrow and Rip is sleeping now also.”

John wrap his arm around Kendra, “Come on, love we’ll go back to the apartment, get some rest and come back in the morning.”

Kendra sighed, “You know I could just go home now we know we’re safe.”

“You could,” John said before asking, “But do you want to be alone just now? Because I don’t.”

Sighing Kendra nodded, “I guess we could watch a movie if we can’t sleep?”

Hugging her close, John turned to the two detectives and two captains in the room, “Goodnight, gentlemen.”

                                 *********************************************

 The smell of antiseptic filled the world around her as Gideon came round. She felt a strange numbness around her stomach and shifted slightly to try to get comfortable. Forcing her eyes open, Gideon saw Rip sitting by her side. He had one arm in a sling and the other was holding a tablet that he was reading. When he glanced over and saw she was awake, he dropped the tablet and hit a button.

“Hey,” he said softly, “Just relax, you’re in the hospital. Do you remember what happened?”

“Shot,” Gideon croaked, her throat feeling rough and dry.

Rip placed a straw at her lips, and she drank the cold water feeling it soothe her throat. He was quickly replaced by a doctor. When the doctor left, Rip appeared at her side again.

“What did he say?” she asked confused.

Rip chuckled, “Just that the sedative and painkillers you were given might make you a little out of it.”

Gideon closed her eyes for a second and slipped back asleep without realising it.

  “Should you be here?” John’s voice made Rip turn to find the other man standing in the doorway.

“It’s been two days and I’m being released today,” Rip frowned at him, “Besides Dr Snow agreed as long as I don’t overexert myself.”

John chuckled, moving to Gideon’s side he gently stroked her hair, “How’s our girl?”

“She woke up for a bit,” Rip replied, “But fell asleep again almost instantly.”

“Caitlin said that’s to be expected,” John noted, “How are you doing?”

Rip sighed, “Sore but,” he shrugged, “I’ll get there. Seeing Gideon awake and home will do a lot towards that.”

John nodded in understanding.

“Do you want anything to eat or drink?” John asked, “I’m about to do a run for Kendra while she checks the office.”

Rip shook his head, “I’m fine. Mother is getting me a tea, although if you can check to ensure she’s not terrorising the canteen staff I’d appreciate it.”

John chuckled, “Mary is absolutely terrifying when she wants to be. And I’m guessing right now she is in full Mama-bear mode since her two cubs are hurt.”

Rip shook his head a small smile touching his lips, “You should have seen her when I broke my arm a few weeks after I moved in with her.”

“I can only imagine,” John chuckled, “I’ll be back soon.”

  Gideon’s eyes opened slowly but Rip could see she was more awake than she had been the past few times she’d woken.

“Rip?” she breathed.

“Hey,” Rip smiled at her, “How do you feel?”

Wincing Gideon grimaced, “Like someone hit me in the stomach with an iron bar. Are you okay?”

He nodded, “I’m just sore and bruised,” Rip dropped his eyes, “I am so sorry, Gideon.”

“Not your fault,” she slid her hand into his.

Forcing a smile on his face, Rip noted, “At least you’re getting rid of me.”

Gideon frowned at him confused, “What?”

“Now Druce is gone,” Rip explained, “I can go back to Star City.”

“What about our deal?” Gideon demanded, “We work together for a year.”

Rip frowned, “I thought…”

“Plus,” she cut him off, “I’m going to need someone to run the place while I recover. As part-owner it is your responsibility.”

“Not to mention,” Mary suddenly spoke up, making Rip turn stepping back slightly so Gideon could see her, “You’re still on special leave, Michael. And I will not be recommending to Quentin that he reduce that.”

Rip grimaced but nodded.

“And you,” Mary turned to Gideon, “I will be making sure you look after yourself until you’re fully recovered.”

Gideon smiled, warmth filling her that Mary cared so much. No one ever had before.

“So, I want you to rest,” Mary continued, “And listen to the doctor. Okay?”

“I promise,” Gideon smiled.

Mary turned to Rip, “And you…”

“Will do as you say, Mother,” Rip told her.

She patted his cheek, “That’s my boy.”

                                 *********************************************

 Gideon eased herself into the wheelchair with the help from Nurse Parkes. He smiled at her and grabbed her bag, resting it on her lap before pushing her out the room she’d been stuck in for the past week.

“I’ll take it from here,” John appeared suddenly.

Gideon smiled and nodded to Parkes that it was fine. He gave her a quick smile before leaving her with John.

“So, escaping today,” he said as he pushed her towards the exit.

Gideon shrugged, “Not exactly. My lease expired while I was in hospital and Mary has told me she’s set up somewhere for me while I recover. I’m slightly scared.”

John laughed, “You know how much Mary adores you, I wouldn’t worry too much.”

Reaching the exit, Gideon smiled to see Rip standing with Mary.

“You’re looking so much better, dear,” Mary hugged her gently.

Gideon smiled “Thank you, Mary but we both know I look like death warmed up.”

Rip, whose arm had finally been released from its confinement, chuckled before wincing slightly at the pain in his ribs.

“Alright,” John spoke up, “Let’s get this show on the road. Rip, take the bag,” he ordered handing it across before turning back to Gideon, “Okay, as slow as you need, Gideon we’ll get you into the car.”

Wincing slightly Gideon held onto her friend as she slowly stood and slid into the backseat of the car. Mary fixed the seatbelt across her before sitting at Gideon’s side while Rip took the passenger’s seat, John was driving.

Making sure they were ready John started the car and they finally left the hospital.

  “Where exactly are we going?” Rip demanded after five minutes.

“Patience, Michael,” Mary told him before turning to John, “Just turn left at the end of the street.”

John glanced at Rip before he followed the instructions and they turned onto a nice neighbourhood with mostly bungalows sitting in neat gardens.

“The house at the end,” Mary said, “You can park in the driveway.”

John drove up as ordered and just as they reached the gates, they smoothly opened allowing him inside.

Rip got out the car the moment they were parked and looked around, turning to his mother as she stepped out.

“Why are we here?”

Mary shrugged, “As Gideon needs somewhere to stay, and your lease is up to be renewed in the next week I thought this would be a good idea. There are no stairs for her plus a spacious garden to get fresh air.”

Rip stared at her confused, “Mother…”

“I can’t afford a quarter of the rent on a place like this,” Gideon said as John helped her out the car, “Never mind half.”

Mary shook her head, “There’s no rent.”

“What?” Rip, John and Gideon asked in unison.

“When I bought the agency with Gilbert, I decided I needed a place to live while here helping him,” Mary explained, “So I bought this place.”

Rip stared at her before demanding, “Then why was I staying in an apartment?”

“Because the people renting the house at the time still had some time on their lease,” Mary patted his arm, “Now, how about we go inside and get you both settled.”

“Mary,” Gideon said as John helped her, “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

“It is,” Mary insisted, “There is plenty of room so you won’t be falling over one another but it means Rip will be able to help you while you recover.”

Before Gideon could say anything else, Mary started them into the house, they moved her into the bedroom on the ground floor.

“Kendra and I packed everything,” Mary told her once Gideon was settled on the bed, “You can sort it once you’re feeling up to it. Michael’s room is upstairs.”

Rip sighed, knowing he had no choice but to go along with his mother’s plan. Looking at the pale face of the woman on the bed, Rip knew she couldn’t be alone right now, and he honestly knew that it was a good idea that he wasn’t alone either.

“I need to head back to the restaurant,” John told them, “Kendra will be over after she’s finished at the office.”

Kissing Gideon’s cheek the other man disappeared.

“Well, I will make us all some dinner,” Mary said, “While you both settle in.”

  Gideon sat on the bed feeling a little bemused.

Rip sighed, “She just ran circles around both of us.”

“I thought you’d be angry,” Gideon noted softly.

Chuckling Rip replied, “Honestly I’m used to it by now. And I also know,” he shrugged, “She loves you and wants to make sure you’re looked after while recuperating. Once you’re better you can move out but until then I could use the company.”

Gideon blushed slightly before confessing, “I wasn’t looking forward to staying alone in my apartment, especially after what Druce did to it.”

Rip offered her his hand, “So, roommates and partners?”

Gideon took his hand and shook it, “For now.”

                                 *********************************************

I really love this universe so I may revisit at some point in the future.

[benhardyisdaddy]

my plus one - part 3

MASTERLIST 

(welcome to part 3 omg this series is so fun to write lol) 

Word Count: 2,188

The car ride to the resort was filled with awkward silence. You didn’t realize your sister had rode with your mother to pick you up. That means you all had to share a car. You told everyone you would sit in the front seat, not wanting to be near Alex, but you didn’t tell them that. This only made your sister say she wanted to sit upfront. Your mother brushed her off and told you to sit there. In the backseat, all crammed together, was Ellie, Alex and Roger. You sat in the front as you took a quick peak back at him. He was staring at you with an annoyed expression that said ‘you owe me big time’. 

“I’m sorry.” you mouth to him, which just makes him narrow hie eyes even more. 

You turn back around and fight back a laugh as you press your lips together. The car ride wasn’t long at all. The resort was only minutes away and was absolutely beautiful. It was about fifteen stories tall and was enormous. Your mother pulled the car to the front entrance as everyone got out. You were greeted by people with warm smiles. Your mother gives the car key to someone as they get inside and move it to a spot after you have gathered your luggage. Roger stands beside you as you walk up to the entrance. Beautiful ladies dressed in stunning luaus were smiling at you and held out multicolored leis. 

“Welcome to Hawaii!” they say as they place one around yours and Roger’s necks. 

You look to each other and smile as you thank them. The sliding glass doors of the resort opens up and you’re in shock. The lobby was beautifully decorated in a beach theme with a huge crystal chandelier in the middle. You looked around and admired everything. 

“Wow.” whispers Roger as he walks up by you. 

“I know.” you whisper back. 

You’re both lost in your thoughts when your sister calls your name. You turn around and watch as she wiggles a room key in the air. 

“And these are yours!” she says cheerfully. “The rooms are beautiful! You both will love yours.” 

Roger’s eyes go wide as he looks to you fast. You can feel his intense gaze, but you ignore it. 

“Thanks. I’m sure we’ll love it.” you say as you lean your head against Roger’s shoulder and try to smile. 

You then turn around and walk away with Roger from your sister, leaving her there by herself. 

“You guys going to your room?” asks your mom. 

“Just gonna get settled in. Possibly take a nap.” you tell her, fighting back a yawn. 

She kisses your cheek and smiles as you walk to the elevator. You press the button and wait until it opens up. You walk inside with Roger and press the fifteenth floor. You wait for the doors to shut and then it happens. 

“What the hell was that!?” says Roger loudly. “You told them we were dating! Why would you do that? Do you know how thrown under the bus I felt? And then we kiss!? I didn’t sign up for fake boyfriend, y/n! I signed up to be your date as your friend!” 

You close your eyes and sigh as you turn to look at him with pleading eyes. 

“Roger, please,” you beg. “Please just go with it! You have no idea how badly I need this right now! You’re my best friend, please! I’d do it for you!” 

Roger goes to argue, but stops. He knows perfectly well that you would do this for him. He tenses his jaw and shuts his eyes. 

“I promise that when we go back home, you don’t ever have to talk to me again. Okay? Just, please.” 

He opens his eyes fast and half laughs. 

“You know I couldn’t go a day without talking to you.” he says. “For some weird reason.” 

You laugh loudly and lean in to hug him tightly. 

“Thank you, thank you!” you squeal. 

“I’ll take this vacation and free food as my payment.” he teases. 

“Have all the food you want, fake boyfriend.”

Your elevator beeps as the doors open up and reveal your floor. You both step out as you continue talking and search for your room. 

“Here it is.” you say, using the key to open it up. 

You both step inside and suddenly stop. Your faces fall as you stare at only one bed. Roger frowns as he raises a brow. 

“Like I said,” you say, looking at him with an apologetic smile. “All the food you want.”

***

“Is the mini bar free?” 

You’ve just gotten out of the shower and are wrapping a complimentary robe around yourself. You open the bathroom door as steam rushes out. You look in the room and watch as Roger’s on his knees and rummaging through the tiny refrigerator under the TV. You raise your eyebrows and smile. 

“For us it is.” 

Roger smiles and gets an arm full of tiny bottles of liquor. He tosses them on the bed along with tiny packets of snacks. You laugh and jump on the bed and sit cross legged. Roger sits next to you as you both open up a bottle. 

“Cheers.” he says, holding his drink up to you. 

“Cheers,” you say back. “To two fake relationships.” 

Your comment had made Roger almost choke on his drink as you both laugh like crazy. You both had another drink and another and another. Before you know it, the fridge is empty and you and Roger are laying on the bed in different directions, talking. 

“We’ve never kissed before.” you tell him, your words slightly slurred. 

Your sister had let you know that today was a lazy day and the only thing planned was dinner at an outdoor restaurant at the resort. 

“We kissed earlier today, you freak.” slurs Roger, causing you to laugh. 

“I mean before that! We’ve never kissed before that. Duh.” 

“Yeah, it was weird.” 

“You think I kiss weird?” you ask, sitting up fast and frowning. 

“What? No! Us kissing in general is weird. You don’t kiss weird. You kiss nice.” 

You narrow your eyes at Roger and playfully wiggle your brows. 

“You think I’m a nice kisser, Rog?” you tease. 

His face turns red as he shakes his head and laughs. 

“Oh shut up, will you? You know what I mean.” 

You smile and lay back down. 

“You’re not a bad kisser either.” you tell him. 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” 

You both lay there in complete silence as you listen to the waves crashing just outside. It was a peaceful moment until Roger speaks up. 

“Wasn’t dinner supposed to be at six?” he asks, looking over to the clock. 

“Yeah, why?” 

“Um, because it’s 6:30.” 

You sit up fast and look to the clock. He was right. 

“Shit!” you yell out as you jump from bed. 

You both run around like crazy and hurry to get dressed and around. It's a record breaking time when you both are running from your room and to the elevator. 

“Ellie’s gonna kill me.” you say as you wait to get to the lobby. 

“I’m too drunk for this.” says Roger, rubbing his head and ignoring you. 

“She’s gonna be so mad.” 

“We’re too drunk for this.” 

The elevator opens up and you both rush out. You make your way outside and search for the outside restaurant Ellie told you to meet them at. You spot it and hurry. You catch a glimpse of your moms face as you run up and smile to them all. It’s your mom, dad, Ellie, Alex, his parents and his sister. They all watch as you stop walking and Roger runs into you, causing you both to laugh loudly. You cover your mouth and try to form a straight face. 

“Hello.” is all you can say without busting out laughing. 

Ellie’s face is beyond upset. She’s scowling at you hard. 

“You’re late.” she hisses. 

“Oh, Ellie, calm down. They were clearly just enjoying themselves and lost the time.” says your mom as she smiles to you both. 

Ellie frowns even harder at your moms comment. 

“Hi, daddy!” you say loudly. 

Your father stands up smiling as he hugs you tightly. 

“Hi, baby girl! So happy you’re here.” 

He kisses your forehead and looks over to Roger. He walks forward and brings him in for a hug. 

“There’s our rock star!” 

Roger laughs as he looks to you and makes an ‘I told you’ face. You just roll your eyes. Ellie looks upset as you and Roger make your way to your seats.

“So, what did we miss?” you ask as you grab a glass of champagne in front of you. 

“Alex and I were just retelling our love story to everyone.” says Ellie as she smiles sweetly to him. 

You try to hold back a laugh as you snort slightly, causing Roger to cover his mouth and laugh. Everyone looks to you as Ellie’s face gets red. Roger puts his finger to his mouth and shushes you. You press your lips together and look down at your plate. 

“Anyways,” starts Ellie. 

“You know,” says your mom, interrupting her. “I’d like to know how you two finally got together?”

“Oh, yes.” says your father. “I heard you were dating my little girl, Roger.” 

Roger looks to you and swallows hard, forcing a smile. 

“Oh, um-” he goes to say. 

“I think it’s great. Finally someone good for her.” says your dad giving Roger an accepting smile. 

Roger lets out a breath and smiles as he looks over to you. You can tell how uncomfortable this is making Ellie and Alex.

“Alright, so tell us!” says your mom. 

“Oh, right. Um, well-”

“Well,” says Roger loud, cutting you off. “I played hard to get and it drove her crazy.” 

Your eyes go wide as Roger has this mischievous smirk on his face. Your mouth fell open a bit, shocked by what he’s saying. 

“She kept doing everything she could to make me fall for her.” 

“Which, by the way, worked!” you say fast. “Because I came home one day and Roger was on his knees with roses all over and the most pleading eyes I had ever seen. He begged me to be his and I said yes. The end.” 

Roger tightly smiles as he narrows his eyes. 

“Oh, is that how that went?” he asks you. 

You smile to him and bring your champagne glass to your lips. 

“It was as if it were yesterday.” you say taking a gulp of your drink.

Everyone’s staring at you with half shocked expressions.

“That’s your love story?” asks Ellie, her voice flat. 

“Ellie!” your mother scolds her. “Don’t be rude.” 

You bring the glass to your mouth once more and try to fight back a smile. Ellie begins talking about her story once more, but you don’t listen. The waiters finally bring out your main course and you’re starved. It’s crab legs and shrimp. Your stomach growls as you look over and Roger’s holding up two of the crab legs and making them dance on his plate. You hold back another laugh as he lowly sings a song and twirls them around. You two are looking at each other and giggling like crazy when Ellie speaks up loudly. 

“Y/n!” 

You both drop your smiles and looks over to her with serious expressions. 

“Are you two having fun?” she asks sarcastically. 

You smile and place your hand on high Roger’s thigh, causing him to clear his throat and tense up. 

“A freaking blast.” you say smiling to her. 

She frowns as your father speaks up. 

“Girls,” he warns. “Why don’t we just enjoy our food, okay?” 

You all agree and dig in. It’s dead silent as you awkwardly sit there and keep glancing at Roger. He rolls his eyes which makes you giggle. You dig through your purse and pull out your phone. You text Roger fast and wait for him to get it. You look up and spot Alex looking at you. He looks away fast the moment you catch him. 

Meet me in the bathroom five minutes after I leave. Can’t stand this. - Y/n 

Roger reads it and types something fast. 

Deal. - Rog 

You look to him and smile. You suddenly stand up fast, your chair making a horrible sound when it scoots back. Everyone looks to you as you flinch. 

“I… have to pee.” you say a little too loud causing your mom, dad and Roger to hold back a laugh. 

Ellie lets out an annoyed breath as you turn around and walk away. You hurry to the nearest bathroom you can see and walk inside. You shut the door and walk up to the mirror. You’re fixing your hair and makeup when you hear the door open up behind you. You laugh and continue looking forward. 

“Oh my god, Rog. If I sat there any longer, I might have exploded.” 

Before you finish talking, you turn around and freeze. You had expected Roger, not Alex.

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[loverichardarmitage]

Loving you

Summary: You and the cast of the hobbit planned on doing an evening full of games and spending some time together, because the next day you got time off of set. You meet up in Richard‘s trailer to play a game of truth or dare but all seats are already occupied, so Richard pulls you into his lap. At the end of the evening Richard confesses his feelings for you and you do the same.

Pair: Richard x oc

Warning: Fluff

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Today was the last day of shooting, before the whole cast did have a few days off, for everything is going the exact way Pj wanted it to go, so everyone got a few days off, but needed to be available should something change. It was one of those rare days everyone loved but also dreaded. Anyway before everything started I went up to Richard and asked him “ Do you want us to bring some snacks or so with us, or do you have everything?”

He smiled at me, and I swore my knees buckled for a short while but I did not let him see how his smile affected me, then he said “ Well you do not have to, but some wine, beer and a few chips would be a nice addition” , making me smile up at him and I gave a short nod “ Well I go tell the others and buy something, going to surprise you all” I said, giving a wink and a cheeky grin.

He chuckled in his deep baritone and I almost swooned but before I could embarrass myself I turned around and went to find Dean and Aiden, who were my best mates here on set. I got along just fine with everyone. Everyone was so nice and you could always joke around with them and hanging out with them was just as fun.

But when you were the youngest on set it was not that easy either, because everyone babyed you and it got on my nevers. I knew they only cared about me but I was very capable of doing my job. Sometimes they did that to annoy me and they knew I was twenty eight, but still the youngest on set and that made me their number one target, especially Dean Aidan Martin and Graham liked picking on me, but they knew they would get it back, so it was not that bad.

Then there was Richard. He did not baby me and he even defends me occasionally when the jokes were too low, which just made me fall in love with him even more. Anyway when I found Dean and Aiden I sneaked up behind them and then jumped onto Deans back screeching in his ear. He and Aiden jumped away, making me fall off of Dean’s back with loud laughter, while they both shot me an annoyed look.

I stood back up and gave both boys a quick kiss to the cheek as their expressions softened and smiles formed on their faces before Aiden asked me “ What’s going on? What do you need?” “ Oh, just wanted to ask you both if you wanna come along to get some things for tonight.” I replied cheekily, knowing full well that they definietly were coming along for it was their guilty pleasure, so they could get themselves anything they want.

Dean shook his head, grinning before he said “ Sure thing, but you owe us something for that little scare of yours,” “ Can do that.” I said, grinning and already turning around to walk to my car, Dean and Aiden hot on my heels. When they reached me, which didn’t take them long, they linked their arms with mine and together we walked, singing, to my car while everyone who was around laughed at our weird doings, for they already got used to our kind of childish behavior.

At my car I got into the driversseat while Dean got into the passanger seat and Aiden into the backseat. I drove off and to the nearby Supermarket. We got out of the car and again walked with linked arms into the shop. Once inside everyone made for their own way and found something for themselves. I found myself in the wine area, looking for some good red and white wine. I grabbed two red and two white wines, then I moved on to the real alcohol.

There I grabbed a bottle of vodka, Whiskey and several more. When I was done I walked to the check out only to see Dean and Aiden already there and both their arms were full with sweets. My eyes went big at how much they took. Anyway, I put my things down and paid for it. When Dean and Aiden saw me they looked up and smiled at me. With your shopping bags in hand we went back to my car and put everything into the trunk.

A look at the time told me that we had to be at Richard’s trailor in an hour, so I quickly drove back to where the cast stayed at and told Dean and Aiden to take the stuff with them and that I would take a short shower. They nodded at me and made their way to Aiden’s trailer. Back at my trailer, I looked through my clothes I had taken with me, for our free days, we got to spend every now and then. Richard was not always there when we got time off but I’m glad he chose to stay today.

After I took a quick shower I found myself a comfortable black jeggins and a white crop top and pulled over a gray cardigan. To sum up my outfit I wore black and white sneaker and a messy bun. When I was ready I took a quick glance at the clock and noticed that it was time to go over so I grabbed my phone and messaged Dean and Aiden. In my message I wrote ‘ Hey Boys, you guys ready? Gonna pick you up now,’ and to Richard I wrote ‘ Gonna pick up Dean and Aiden now, will be with you shortly.’

I smiled to myself when Richard send a short message in where he wrote ‘ Alright, gotta tell the others, see you soon, love.’ I don’t know why but he always called me love and I loved it and I was sure he knew it. I quickly put my phone into my bag and went out of my trailer, locking the door behind me, I made my way over to Deans trailer. For most of the time they both spend their time together in either of their trailers.

At Deans Trailer I knocked on the door and both of them appeared in the door, with the shopping bags in their hands and wide smiles on their faces. They were just as excited and happy as I was, for we did not have spend much time off of set together for a while now, so it was a good feeling to do just that.

They walked out of the trailer and they handed me over one of the bags and together we made our way over to Richards place and knocked on the door when we arrived. The door was opened by Richard himself and he looked good as hell. Out of the trailer we heard several voices, loud voices. Grinning to myself I looked up at him only to catch him already looking at me.

He smiled down at me and pulled me into his arms, giving me a quick hug and taking the bag out of my hand. He greeted Dean and Aiden with a handshake and signified us to go inside. Before I made it to the others Richard stopped when he gently grabbed my arm. Dean and Aiden looked back at us, with wide grins on both their faces and they left for the others.

I smiled up at him as he smiled down at me and gently pulled me into his arms again. I wrapped my arms around his neck and breathed in his manly scent. He smelled so good and before I lost myself in him completely I slightly pulled away, but not fully so I could relish in his warmth. He softly whispered in my ear with his deep baritone “ It is good to see you again, love.” “ It is good to see you, too, Richard.” I replied softly.

I then placed my hands on his chest and quickly brought a little space between us when I heard footsteps behind us. Before that person saw us I shot Richard a sorrowful glance. How much I had wanted to kiss him. I wanted to kiss him so badly and I felt that he wanted it too. He quickly shot me an apologetic glance before he placed one of his hands at the small of my back and lead me to the others.

“ Ahh there you are.” Martin said as he saw us coming into the room. Dean and Aiden just shot each other a knowing look while the others snickered at us, making me roll my eyes and Richard chuckle lowly. I then looked around the room that there was only one seat left over and could almost feel Richards burning look at the back of my head and the smirks on the faces of the rest of the group.

“Seems like you have to take a seat on somebody’s lap, because this is Richards seat.” Graham said teasingly and with a big smirk on his face which I so badly wanted to rub off his face. Even Martin took a liking to making me blush for he said the words I feared and loved the most at the same time, “ Yeah, you could sit on Richards lap for example.”

At his words my cheeks turned almost as red as a tomato and every guy in this room began to chuckle and when I heard Richard’s deep rumbling chuckle, I felt shivers run down my spine and goosebumps rise on my arms, but not in an uncomfortable way. His voice did things to me, it should not do, but my Body reacted so willingly to him I barely managed to stop it.

As I had been deep in thought I had not noticed how Richard had taken the seat between Graham and Aiden and now I stood there and no seat was available anymore and I would have to take a seat on someone’s lap. How much I hated the boys right now. Without a doubt they had planned this all out. Already being deep in thought again the last thing I would have expected, was Richard pulling me towards him.

With a confused and somewhat dumbed expression I had landed on Richard’s lap and everyone around had smirks on their faces and all I wanted right now was to be swalloed wholly. Richard behind me chuckled lowly before he leaned forwards and whispered in my ear. “ Relax love, I’m not going to bite you.”

I never knew Richard was that playful and I semingly began to relax and I leaned back against his well muscled chest, so I could see who was there. With us here were of Course Aiden, Dean, Martin and Graham as I mentioned before but also Adam Brown, Elijah Wood and Andy serkis. Those three were always there when anybody planned something fun.

“ So what are we going to do now.” I said seemingly nervours after a few minutes of awkward silence, at least from me while the others stared at me with wide grins on their faces and to my Horror Aiden came with an idea and everybody could have imagined what it was. “ How about a round of truth or dare?” Of Course Dean was already sided with Aiden as were Graham and Martin.

While only a groan came from Richard and I, almost at the same time which made everybody smirk in return, but Adam was also against truth or dare which he voiced loudly “ Do we really have to Play that?” Which earned him a nudge with the elbow from Aiden and Adam seemed to catch on and nodded, yet unwillingly.

So it now was seven to two. Richard and I lost and so we must surrender this time and do what the others have planned for us. I sighed quietly which only Richard heard and resulted in him chuckling quietly which vibrated through his chest I was still pressed against. A pleasent shudder ran through my whole Body.

Richard who sat close to me noticed this of course and he slightly wrapped an arm around my waist when I threatened to fall of his lap and he whispered softly into my ear. " Careful, love. Do not want you getting hurt now, do we not?" I giggled quietly and shook my head, leaning back against his chest.

‘ Why does he have to be so comfortable and all knowing' I thought to myself while I felt him rubbing circles into my waist, which set me calm immediately. I seemingly calmed down for when the others shot one another knowing smirks they seemed to have an idea which was happing but they of course were thinking wrong. All that Richard did was rubbing calming circles into the skin of my waist and it was so calming that even a quite content sigh left my lips which I quickly tried to cover with a cough.

I looked around but nobody seemed to have noticed, because everyone else was talking and telling who was going to start first, but when I looked back I saw that smug grin on Richard’s face. He looked so smug all I wanted to do was wipe that smirk off of his face. When I went to slap his chest he simply leaned back so I was not able to reach him and his smug expression turned into a real smile.

Not being able to be annoyed with him for long when he gave me that smile, I just sighed and leaned back against his chest which made him chuckle lowly again and he put his hands back on my hips, rubbing short and soft circles into my Skin one again. Oh how much I loved those little moments between us.

And damn was I happy to be able to play Richard’s love interest in this movie but sadly nothing too romantic had happened between us but the kisses, while shooting. How much I wanted to kiss those thin sinful lips, but everyday and not just during Shootings. I could pull my hair! It was so frustrating. I was so desperate for this man, his warmth, his voice, his smile. Just everything about him was intoxicating.

I jumped and woke up from my daydream when Richard pinched my side and only then I noticed that I must have stared at him, because he had this smug expression again, just like everyone else in the room. Blushing furiously, I looked down and went to get off of his lap, because it was just so embarrassing getting caught staring again and again, but two Hands around my waist stopped me.

Looking up I saw Richard smiling apologetically at me, making me nod again and he pulled me back against his chest and the whole room began to talk again. When they were done they turned to us and asked. “ Sooo ( Y/N ) may choose first, because she is the only Girl here.” Elijah began, while Martin continued “ Yeah (Y/N), who has to ask first?”

It sounded kinda taunting, so I narrowed my eyes at Martin and took myself some extra time, letting them all wait for always annoying me. From behind me I could hear Richard laughing, which made me smirk, before I finally gave in and said teasingly, “ Well if you all ask so nicely, I will be the first to question someone.”

That made everyone groan, everyone but Richard who just laughed louder now. ‘ Well if he seems to enjoy himself that much’ I thought to myself, a devilish grin on my face. I turned around to face Richard, the devilish grin still evident on my face, I poked my finger into his chest and said slyly but loud enough for everyone to hear. “ Well you seem to have so much fun over there Rich. So why don’t you start?”

He looked at me shocked, he probably thought that I was going to pick somebody else. He thought wrong. My smirk just widened and I stuck my tongue out at him, while he just shook his head and said just as slyly, obviously not wanting to come over like he had no guts. “ If you want me to, love.”

All I did was letting out a huff, making him and the other boys chuckle. I just poked his chest again and said cheekily “ Well then, you wouldn’t mind giving Aiden a kiss to the lips, would you?” Both men gulped loudly and looked at each other shocked. I grinned at them sticking my tongue out to each of them.

Aiden stood up and went over to us, I slighty scooted off of Richard’s lap but he kept a tight grip on my waist and pulled me back onto his lap, while he leaned forwards again, whispering in my ear. “ No, you will stay here. This was your Idea and you will have to watch it now.” I bit my lip and looked back at him. He Held my gaze for a little while, before I took my gaze away from him.

I don’t know why, but he always made me nervous and I hated it when he had me under his control. It was like I was under a spell, a spell he had casted upon me. Aiden now sat next to us, while Richard now leaned towards him at the same time Aiden leaned towards Richard and there lips met for a brief kiss, before they quickly parted.

Everyone in the room laughed, everyone but me, for I did not thought that they would really do this. When Graham saw that I was not laughing, like everybody else was, he began to grin, poking my side, making me frown at him slightly. With a slight frown on my face I turned away and got off of Richard’s lap, taking his arms from around my waist.

Then with everyone’s eyes on my person I made my way towards the toilet and closed and locked the door behind me. I sat down on the toilet lid, as silent tears fell down my cheeks. ‘ Was all that flirting no flirting or was he just playing with me the entire time?’ I thought to myself, not believing that a gentleman like Richard could do something like that to a woman.

I buried my head in my Hands, silents tears running down my face, while quiet sobs left my mouth. ‘ No he wouldn’t do that. No not him, but could it be that I just got the wrong idea and Richard wasn’t flirting with me at all?’ That seemed like the more rational thing.

When I heard footsteps from outside the door I quickly got up and turned on the faucet so nobody was going to find out what I really did in here. I jumped when I heard a knock on the door and a voice calling my name. “ (Y/N), is anything alright in there?” I sighed quietly and answered with an as steady as possible voice.

“ Yes, Richard. I’m fine.” I heard a sigh coming from outside the door and a rattling on the doorknob and jumped when the door flung open and Richard stood in the room, eyes wide. I stood there startruck, my eyes red and puffy, while tearstains were clearly visible on my cheeks.

He made a step towards me, but I just stood there and looked at him. He stuck a Hand out and tried to place it on my cheek but I stepped back and looked him in the eyes, new tears already falling down my cheeks again and I whispered with a somewhat strained voice. “ W- why didn’t you tell me, that you and Aiden were a pair?”

He looked at me shocked and confused, before and knowing smile came to his face and he leaned down, cupping my face in his large hands and and whispered back. “ (Y/N), there is nothing going on between Aiden and I. Him and I are just friends, nothing more and this whole thing was just an act, a dare.”

“Are you sure that there is really nothing going on with you and Aiden?” I asked carefully, while there were still tears rolling down my face, my eyes on his form. He nodded his head and pressed his lips to my forehead, then he slightly pulled away and mumbled “ Because there is already somebody else who my heart belongs to.”

That made me look up at him only to see that he was already looking at me, while his thumbs wiped my tears away. My expression must’ve looked really silly, because he chuckled lowly and then pressed his lips to mine, making me gasp, my eyes wide and filled with surprise. I felt him pull away after a while where I still did not have kissed him back yet and just as he was to pull away fully, I pulled him back to me and kissed him again.

I felt him return the kiss and smiled against his lips, while he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him, so close not even a leaf had space between us, as I felt him smile into the kiss as well. After a short while of kissing he eventually pulled away but not without resting his forehead against mine and whispering. “ You have no idea, for how long, I wished for that to happen.”

The smile on my face grew even wider and I whispered back with a smirk on my lips. “ I think I might have an idea.” He smirked back at me and a low chuckle left his lips, making my knees buckle lightly and I placed my hands on his chest for support, which just made him laugh more. I slapped his chest playfully, while he chuckled at my antics and pulled my close again one last time before heard someone call for us.

“  (Y/N), Richard, what does take you so long?” I could make out Dean’s voice, which made me giggle and pull away from Richard and I called back. “ We’re coming, now stop complaining.” Richard took my hand into his way larger one and together we made our way back to the others, who stared at our intertwined fingers, before all of them errupted into cheers and they all stood up and clapped Richard onto the shoulder and gave me tight hugs.

Then we all sat down again with me sitting on Richard’s lap once more, as I leaned against his chest while his arms were wrapped around my waist and his lips ghosted over my cheek just the slightest bit, making me smile widely and the others stare at us before I said. “ Mind your own damn business and concentrate on the game.”

The boys just laughed and I felt Richard’s chest vibrate against my back, from his deep chuckles, making my cheeks heat up and I blushed a deep red, which only made them laugh more and I pouted at them, before Marting began to calm down again. He was the first to speak up. “ Well, but at least you’ve got your man now, didn’t you?”

And that was when I realised that they all had planned it out, including Richard, so I turned around in his arms and shot him a dirty look. He calmed down again and leaned up, cupping my face in his hands again, before he slammed his lips against mine. At first I didn’t respond, for I was really mad at all of them, making me think that Richard was already with somebody else, before I gave in and returned his kiss.

He chuckled and pulled away, saying against my lips. “ I love you, (Y/N).” Which I returned with a wide smile. “ I love you too, Rich.” While Dean and Aiden whisteled at us, Graham Martin and Andy said. “ Finally! They made it!” And Adam and Elijah just smirked at each other.

The evening ended with everyone being quite drunk and Richard and I cuddled together in his trailer bed, while the others slept on the couches and the floor, because nobody could walk straight, anymore.

Remember this is not to disrespect Richard,  just some imaginations. :) Hope it is a good one though. :)))))

[atths--twice]

Chapter twenty... here we go! I hope you all are enjoying this story! 

Chapter Twenty

Christmas Calling 

Another Christmas has come and is about to pass. Scully has decided it’s time to reach out to Mulder with more than a simple text or email.

December 2015

Scully sat on the couch at her mother’s house on Christmas evening listening to the laughter and music coming from every corner of the room. Dinner had been eaten and everyone was enjoying another beverage of their choice. Scully held a near empty glass of wine and smiled as she looked at the people gathered together that evening.

Bill and Tara were unable to make it again that year. Not wanting it to be a sad or quiet affair with it being Louise’s first Christmas alone, Maggie invited Louise, her two children, their spouses and children, and her brother Jack to share Christmas with them, to ensure that she was taken care of.

Louise’s children, Marcus and Annie, had been friends of Scully’s since high school. In fact, she was very much in love with Marcus when she was a senior. They dated briefly, and attended prom together senior year. The story she told the faux Mulder about that night, was still something the real one teased her about.

Annie and her now husband, Paul, had been there that night. Annie still harbored anger toward Sylvia and her stupid prom date for building such a huge campfire and embarrassing them all by the need to ride back on that pumper truck.

Marcus married a wonderful woman and their kids were adorable, especially the new baby. Scully held him many times during the day, staring into his big brown eyes. He smiled and cooed and she sighed behind her own happy smile. He was a good baby and she could not help but feel the sadness of missing William. She thought of him every day, but the holidays were the hardest.

Scully looked up to see Annie coming over and joining her on the couch. She looked at her and Scully smiled. “You doing all right, Dana?” she asked.

“I’m okay, yeah,” Scully replied, smiling still.

Annie was always the coolest person she knew. She never backed down from a problem. She always stood up for herself and was not afraid to speak her mind. Scully was tough and she would scrap with the best of them, but there was something about Annie that was different. She was simply Annie and no other description was needed.

She and Scully would sneak out at night when they were in high school, a bottle of Annie’s dad’s alcohol in the backseat of her car. It never mattered what kind of alcohol it was. It was sneaking out and sharing it that made it so memorable. Annie smoked sometimes on those sneak out nights, but Scully never did after that one time she snuck the cigarettes from her mother's purse. The taste had put her off of them forever.

One night, when they were both back from college for the holidays, Annie picked her up and they went driving around, free of the burden of school for a little while. Pulling into the deserted parking lot of a state park, Annie took out a joint and for the first time, Scully tried smoking pot.

They sat in Annie’s car and talked about everything and nothing, sharing the joint between them. They sat for hours giggling and then sitting on the hood of the car, staring at the stars and wondering about the universe. When Scully could be trusted to not dissolve into loud giggles, they headed back home.

Annie and Paul got married when she and Mulder had been working together for almost a year. It was a crazy wedding, with a story poor Paul never lived down, worse even than the dreaded pumper truck story. He passed out and needed a few minutes to recover before the wedding could proceed. Someone also brought a dog that bit the drummer. Scully helped see to his bite, which was superficial, and Annie walked up and handed her the bouquet, much to the abject horror of the other bridesmaids. Everyone still teased Paul mercilessly about that story and he just shrugged and smiled.

Annie was now a caterer, and she loved it. She offered to make the Christmas meal as a thank you to Maggie for hosting the day, and Maggie had eventually agreed, but with the firm knowledge that she would clean it all up. Scully knew that was not going to happen, and she had been right, not with all the younger hands available and willing to help.

“So you’re still enjoying your work at the hospital?” Annie asked and Scully nodded.

“It’s hard at times, but seeing a patient recover and flourish when they may not have without the help, is truly amazing,” Scully said quietly.

“That’s great. I always knew you would do amazing things with your life, Dana,” she smiled and Scully smiled back. “I heard about you and Mulder.” Annie said quietly.

“Ah, well that’s not surprising,” Scully sighed.

“I’m sorry you aren’t together anymore. Have you … been seeing anyone else?” Annie inquired and Scully laughed.

“Annie,” Scully said, shaking her head. “It’s … I … saying it’s complicated does not come close to describing our relationship. He’s … no. I’m not seeing anyone else. I honestly don’t think I could.” She sighed again and rubbed at her forehead.

“Are you two talking then? Trying to work things out?” Annie asked kindly.

“We text and email, but haven’t spoken in a while,” Scully said, and she decided tonight would be the night that ended. She would call him and extend the olive branch and see what happened.

“I’m really sorry, Dana. I wish there was something I could do to help you,” Annie said, squeezing her hand. “You wanna get stoned?” They both laughed loudly, and Scully squeezed her hand.

“Thank you for the offer, but not this time. I haven’t done that in many years, maybe since we did it last time,” Scully said, remembering when they had, in Annie’s first apartment, laughing and de-stressing from finals. “You know, you’re the only person I’ve ever done that with, to this day, both times. God, what a wild life I’ve lived huh?” She shook her head and laughed at herself.

“Well,” Annie laughed as she stood up and Scully joined her, walking into the kitchen to put her wine glass on the counter. “If you change your mind, make sure you let me know.” Scully smiled and nodded, pulling Annie in for a hug. She held her tightly and then stepped back. “I hope you and Mulder find your way back to each other. I really like him.”

“Me too,” Scully said quietly and Annie smiled, squeezing Scully’s hands. She sighed and they left the kitchen.

“I’m gonna get going, but it was wonderful to see you again, Annie. Your family is, as always, beautiful. Your food is delicious and you have done great things with your life as well,” Scully said with a smile.

“Stop, you’re gonna make me blush,” she said with a roll of her eyes and Scully snorted with laughter. “Go on, get out of here and call that handsome man and talk to him.” She gave Scully a look and she nodded.

“See you later, Annie.”

“Bye, Dana.”

Scully made the rounds and said goodbye to everyone, gathered up her gifts, and headed to her car. She put her bags in the backseat and got in, starting the car and letting it warm up. Taking out her phone and being sure the Bluetooth was connected, she set it in the holder. Her stomach turned nervously as she thought of actually speaking to him. It had been so long since she had and she missed the sound of his voice.

Driving away, she had a sudden crazy idea to drive over to the house and see him face-to-face. As fast as it came, the idea left her. She felt nervous enough with just a phone call, seeing him now …

She drove for a few minutes before getting the nerve to press the talk button on the steering wheel.

“Say a command.”

“Call Mulder,” she said, and took a deep breath.

“Calling Mulder, cell.” The phone began to ring and butterflies took up residence in her stomach. One, two, three, four rings and the voicemail recording came through the speakers.

“This is Fox Mulder, leave a message.”

She heard the beep and the words she was going to say got stuck in her throat. “Uhh … it’s me. I’m … leaving my mother’s and … I wanted to tell you Merry Christmas. Maybe you’re out ... I don’t … umm. Merry Christmas, Mulder,” she stammered and hung up. God, that was embarrassing.

“Jesus Christ,” she murmured to herself. “First time calling after so long and you garbled your way through like that? You fucked that up so badly.” She shook her head and felt like calling Annie and taking her up on her offer to get stoned, hopefully forgetting that phone call ever happened.

Silence filled the car as she drove the rest of the way home. What a stupid idea to call in the car anyway, she thought, shaking her head again. She should have waited until she got home, she only had about fifteen minutes to go. The rest of the drive home, she chastised herself for her stupidity.

Pulling into her parking space, she turned off the car and put her head on the steering wheel, still so embarrassed. She leaned back, put her head on the headrest, and her phone began to ring. Jumping at the sound, she looked down to find Mulder’s name on the screen. Her heart flipped as she reached to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Scully? It’s me,” he said quietly and tears sprang to her eyes.

“Yeah, hi. Did you … hear my message?” she asked, praying to all the saints that he had not heard it.

“Message? No, I uh, just saw that you called and …” He trailed off and she let out the breath she was holding, and sent up a prayer of thanks.

“Well, do me a favor and just … erase it when you get a chance. It’s … just erase it, okay?” she asked and heard his low laugh.

“That bad, huh?” He laughed, and she groaned.

They were both silent for a few seconds that felt much longer. She could hear him breathing, and she closed her eyes, missing him so much.

“So, you coming back from your mom’s?” he asked. “Your brother in town?” She smiled despite the tears in her eyes.

“Yes and no. Bill isn’t in the country this year, again. My mother invited her friend Louise and her family over instead,” she said as she wiped her eyes and leaned against the headrest again. “It was good to see them again.”

“Louise? It sounds familiar, have I met her?”

“Yeah, her children, Annie and Marcus, we went to high school together-”

“Oh, do you mean the Marcus? Pumper truck, Marcus?” he teased her, and she laughed softly, tears still in her eyes. “Did he wear his cummerbund?”

“Yes, and I’m wearing my moire taffeta dress. His wife really appreciated the walk down memory lane,” she said sarcastically causing him to laugh. “I regret ever telling you that story.”

“I think you mean re-telling me the story." Came his standard reply. “You know, since the first time you did, I didn’t hear it.” She sighed and waited, knowing there was one last thing he always said. “Because it wasn’t me you were talking to that night.”

“I never should have told you that was what we discussed,” she sighed again, but with a smile on her face. She heard him chuckle softly and she closed her eyes.

They were quiet again and though not uncomfortable, there was so much that remained unsaid. She knew what she wanted to ask him, but did not want him to think she was calling just to nag him.

“You there, Scully?” he asked quietly.

“I’m here,” she answered just as quietly. “How are you, Mulder?” She held her breath and waited, finally asking him what she really wanted to know.

“How am I?” he asked, his voice remaining low. “I’m … I’m okay, Scully. No reason to worry about me.”

“I do, though,” she said, barely above a whisper. He took a breath and she waited again.

“I’m doing all right, Scully. Better than … before. My therapy sessions have ended and … I’m doing well,” he told her. “I wouldn’t have believed at this time last year that I would have said any of those words, but it goes to show how much it has helped.” He laughed softly and she exhaled a short breath.

“Did she … are you still taking your medication?” Her apology for not worrying about the sexual side effects running through her mind. It was on the tip of her tongue to say it, but felt it was not the right time.

“Still taking my meds, Doc. Told you, no need to worry,” he said, and she could hear his smile.

“I’m glad to hear it, Mulder,” she said quietly and he hummed his response. Quiet again and this time she broke it. “Well, I just wanted to … check in, wish you a merry Christmas …”

“Yeah. Merry Christmas to you too, Scully,” he said quietly and she knew she needed to hang up before she burst into tears.

“I’m on the early shift tomorrow, so I should be calling it a night. I’ll talk to you soon?” she said, waiting anxiously for his answer.

“Yeah,” he breathed. “We’ll talk soon. Thanks for calling, Scully. Good night.” And he hung up, without waiting for her answering good night. She sighed and opened her eyes. Putting her phone in her bag, she took the keys from the ignition and began to gather up her things.

Her arms loaded with gifts, she headed to her door. She dropped everything in the entryway, took off her coat, and put her keys in the bowl. She picked up the bags and put them in her room to deal with tomorrow. Changing into her coziest pajamas, she brushed her teeth, washed her face, and got into bed.

Replaying their conversation in her mind, she tried to find any signs of anger or annoyance. Finding none, she thought of it from a different side and found nothing but acceptance and the possibility of moving forward. She would call again on New Year’s and maybe they could watch the ball drop together, like old times. Yet different, as they would not be together. Sighing with a smile at the possible thought, she turned over and fell asleep.

That New Year’s call never happened. She tried, repeatedly, but he did not answer, nor did he return her calls. She tried the next couple of days too, and still no response. Texts went unanswered, as did emails. Finally, a few lines were sent her way.

Doing okay, Doc. Don’t worry. Just needed some time to think about some things.

She tried not to worry, tried not to be furious with him and go back to her life and doing what she loved, but he set up his claim, as he had always done, and she sighed. She did that a lot in the next couple of days, until a nurse walked in and stopped her heart with a few simple words.

You have a phone call … He says his name is Walter Skinner. Assistant Director, FBI.

________________________________________

So... here we are at the beginnings of season ten. I am excited to finally be here, although I have enjoyed the journey to get where we are now. I truly hope you all are also enjoying the journey. Them broken up is not right and I did not like seeing them that way. This... this was my way to fix that.