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felixgirll · 3 months ago

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PART 3

A Start of Something Real

The morning of my exam started in a blur, and it hit me like a truck—I hadn't told him where to pick me up. Panic set in as I fumbled for my phone, my half-asleep brain scrambling for words. My thumbs flew over the screen:

"Hi! I almost forgot to text you. My exam is at King's College, Strand campus. Could you pick me up from the main entrance? It's easy to find, and I'll be done around 4 PM. Does that work for you?"

I barely had time to second-guess how overly formal or casual I sounded before his reply popped up, ridiculously fast:

"Perfect. I'll be there at 4."

Cue butterflies. For a moment, the weight of the day lifted, and I let myself smile like an idiot. But reality snapped me back into focus—there was still the little matter of a whole exam to survive.

I grabbed my notes and sat down, trying to absorb something, anything, about the theories I'd been drowning in all week. My brain felt like mush, but I powered through, telling myself it was almost over.

When I finished revising, I glanced at the time and realized it was go-time. The next hurdle? What to wear.

I stood in front of my closet, staring like my life depended on this one decision. I didn't want to be too casual—like, just crawled out of bed and couldn't care less—but I also didn't want to look like I'd dressed up just for him. I eventually settled on something that struck the perfect balance: effortless but cute. Something that said, "Yeah, I look good, but this? Totally unintentional."

As I grabbed my bag and headed out, I couldn't shake the tiny thrill in my chest. First the exam, then him. It was going to be one very interesting day.

So there I was, standing just outside the campus gates, feeling pretty good about myself. The exam had gone well—better than I'd dared to hope—and for a moment, life felt... light. A couple of my friends caught up with me, laughing and suggesting we head out somewhere to celebrate.

But I smiled and shook my head, trying to play it cool. "Can't. Got plans," I said, leaving it deliberately vague.

They teased me a little, but I waved them off with a quick goodbye. As they walked away, I checked my phone, expecting a text or maybe even a missed call,because i couldn't see him near ANYWHERE. My heart sank just a little, but I shrugged it off.

I tried waiting a bit longer, but as the minutes dragged on, my patience ran thin. It wasn't even about being annoyed—I was just anxious. Why hadn't he texted me? Where was he? Before I could spiral any further, I called him.

He picked up almost instantly. "Uh, hi. It's, like, almost 5," I said, trying to keep my voice calm and failing miserably. "Where are you?"

"Whoa, whoa, chill," he said, his voice warm and almost amused. "I'm in the black car. Do you see it? Parked near... um, that coffee place across from campus."

I looked around and spotted it immediately—a sleek black car that screamed celebrity trying to stay low-key.

"I can't get out of the car," he continued, sounding genuinely apologetic. "People will notice me, and, you know, too much attention. I'm sorry. I should've texted, but I figured you were still inside, or catching up with friends and didn't want to bother you.I've actually been here since, like, 3."

My jaw practically hit the ground. He'd been here for two hours?

"Oh my god," I stammered, my face heating up. "I'm so, so, so sorry. I didn't know, and I—ugh, I was so impulsive calling you like that—"

"It's fine," he said, cutting me off gently. "Just come on over. I've been waiting."

Blushing like an idiot, I muttered, "Alright, I'm coming."

I hung up and took a deep breath, steadying myself. Then, with my heart racing in a way that had nothing to do with exams or results, I started walking toward the car. As I crossed the street toward his car, my nerves were on overdrive. I could feel my pulse quicken with every step, my mind racing with thoughts about what to say—or worse, what not to say.

When I reached the car, the tinted window rolled down just enough to reveal him sitting inside, his face partially hidden by a baseball cap.

"Hey," he said with a small smile that was equal parts apologetic and playful. "You made it."

I bit my lip to stop myself from blurting out something embarrassing. "Yeah. Sorry again for keeping you waiting."

"Don't worry about it." He pushed open the door from the inside. "Hop in."

Sliding into the passenger seat, I caught a faint whiff of his cologne—subtle but completely distracting. I buckled my seatbelt, trying to focus on anything but how ridiculously close we suddenly were.

"So," I began, fumbling for something casual to say, "two hours, huh? That's dedication."

He chuckled softly, the sound doing all kinds of things to my already frazzled nerves. "Let's just say I had a good feeling you'd call me."

I rolled my eyes but couldn't hide my grin. "Smooth."

He laughed again, then shifted the car into gear. "Alright, where to? You're the one who just conquered an exam—celebration's on you."

"Oh, so now I'm in charge?" I teased, glancing at him sideways.

"Always," he shot back, his eyes glinting with amusement.

i couldn't come up with anything so,he had suggested a quiet spot on the outskirts of the city—a small park nestled between rows of old townhouses. It wasn't the kind of place that drew attention, and I liked the idea of being somewhere calm, away from the crowds.

The drive there felt surreal. He kept the conversation light, asking about my exam and teasing me for my earlier panic. "You really thought I'd bail on you?" he asked, glancing over with a smirk.

I gave him a mock glare. "I don't know, maybe you're the type to ghost."

"Not a chance," he replied, his tone surprisingly serious.

When we reached the park, it was just as peaceful as I'd imagined. A few benches scattered under tall, leafy trees, the faint sound of birds chirping in the distance—it felt like stepping into a different world.We walked side by side, the silence between us feeling comfortable rather than awkward. I hadn't been this relaxed in weeks, and I had to remind myself not to let my excitement get the better of me.

"Not bad, right?" he asked, gesturing to the park around us.

"It's perfect," I said, meaning it. "I still can't believe you managed to find somewhere this quiet in London."

He grinned. "It's a skill. Comes with the job—knowing how to disappear when I need to."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Yeah, must be tough when you can't even grab coffee without someone wanting a selfie."

"You'd be surprised," he said, leaning back against a bench we'd stopped at. "But it's not all bad. I guess you get used to it."

I sat down beside him, tucking my hair behind my ear. "I don't think I'd ever get used to that. Always feeling like you're on display."

"It's not so bad when you're with the right people," he said, glancing at me with a smile that made my heart skip a beat. "People who don't care about all that."

I swallowed, feeling a little self-conscious. "Well, I guess today you're safe from the chaos."

He chuckled softly. "Thanks to you."

We talked about everything and nothing—his matches, my studies, and the absurdity of balancing real life with big dreams. Every now and then, his phone buzzed with messages, probably from teammates or his manager, but he only glanced at it briefly before focusing on me again. It was hard not to feel flattered.

As the sun started dipping lower in the sky, he leaned back, stretching his legs out. "This was nice," he said, his tone quieter than before. "I don't get to do this often."

"Sit in a park and talk to a girl?" I teased, trying to mask how nervous I felt.

He laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Something like that. Most days, it's just football, meetings, and travel. It's... refreshing to be here, with you."

I looked away, hoping he couldn't see the heat rising to my cheeks. "Well, I'm glad I could help you escape."

"For now," he said, glancing at his phone as another notification came through. "But I've got training early tomorrow."

"Ah, the glamorous life of a footballer," I said, nudging him lightly.

He smiled, standing up and offering me his hand. I hesitated for a moment before taking his hand. It felt warm, steady—like I could trust it, trust him. As we walked, I couldn't help but wonder what this was turning into. It felt like the start of something, though I didn't dare let myself dream too much. For now, it was enough just to be here.after walking for so long he said:

" It's getting late, How about I drive you back to your flat?You said you live in Covent Garden, right? That's not far."

I nodded. "Yeah, just a short drive from here. But really, João, I don't want to put you out of your way."

He tilted his head, a smirk playing on his lips. "You always downplay things, don't you? I don't mind. Besides, it's safer—and I'd like to know you got home okay."

The sincerity in his voice made it impossible to refuse. "Well... okay," I said, unable to suppress a small smile. "If you're sure it's not out of your way."

"Not at all," he said, already reaching for his keys. "Come on. Let's go."

We walked together to where his car was parked—a sleek black vehicle that blended into the London night but still hinted at luxury. He opened the passenger door for me, and I couldn't help but tease, "Chivalry isn't dead, after all."

He laughed softly. "Only for the right people."

As we pulled onto the street, the city lights flashing past the windows, I realized how surreal the moment was. Sitting beside João Félix, having just spent an afternoon with him, and now heading home—none of it felt real. But as he glanced over at me between turns, his eyes warm and his smile easy, it started to feel... possible. The drive through London's streets felt almost surreal.

"So, no more exams?" he asked.

"Nope, I'm free for now," I replied, feeling a sense of relief wash over me. "What about you? Training tomorrow?"

"Always," he said with a small chuckle. "But I like keeping busy. It helps me focus."

We fell into an easy rhythm of conversation, the kind that feels both natural and exciting, where every detail shared feels like a small treasure. Before I knew it, we were parked in front of my flat.

"Here we are," he said, turning to look at me, his expression unreadable but soft.

"Thanks for the ride," I said, suddenly unsure of what else to say. My fingers fiddled with the strap of my bag.

"Thanks for today," he said, his voice low and sincere. "I had a good time."

The words hung in the air, and I felt my cheeks flush. "Me too," I managed, stepping out of the car but not quite wanting to leave.

"Goodnight, then," he said, his smile lingering even as I closed the door.

I waved as he drove away, the tail lights disappearing into the night. My heart was racing, my thoughts spinning. Today had been more than I could have imagined—and the best part? This didn't feel like an ending. It felt like a beginning.

#joão felix #felix #london #chelsea #stamford #covent garden #premier league #football #soccer #lovers #fanfiction #love

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sagen101 · 2 years ago

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slytherinbarnes · 4 years ago

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Sub Rosa [54]

ix. DNR

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 3.9k

Warnings: fighting, violence, death, language, self harm (kind of? not really? but wanna include this just in case, you can message me if u need more details), blood.

Summary: the discovery of the Second Dawn bunker leads to tensions in Polis, and Clarke struggles to keep the peace.

a/n: the taglist for this series is open! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!!!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

March 25th, 2150; just outside of Polis

After the discovery of the bunker, things quickly become chaotic as planning for the survival of the human race picks up again. Meetings are held around the radio, discussing what tech and materials from Becca’s lab need to be brought to the bunker, what materials need to come from Arkadia, and how to get nearly 400 Arkadians from Alpha Station to Polis in a timely manner. Kane decides to stay behind in Polis with the bunker, while Jaha and Monty go back to Arkadia to prepare the others to leave. On the Island, Raven, Murphy, and Emori stay behind to pack up everything you can’t take on the first trip, while the rest of you head to Polis with the rover and the truck, taking as much stuff as you can in one trip.

Miller drives the truck, seated alongside Jackson, while your mom, Roan, and Clarke sit in the back amongst the tech and supplies. Luna hitches a ride from the island in the boat, but parts ways with all of you as soon as you reach the other side. You drive the rover by yourself, talking to Bellamy over the radio most of the way, both of you excited to see each other soon. Once he arrives in Polis with the rest of your people, you’ll finally be reunited after five long days apart.

As the truck pulls to a stop in front of you, you stop the rover, watching as Jackson and Miller immediately jump out of the front and head towards Kane, who is standing near the entrance to the tunnels. The open back of the truck allows you to peer in, and Clarke and Roan start to stand, but your mother must say something to her, because Clarke lingers as Roan jumps out of the back and follows the others over to Kane. Your mom says something to Clarke, and her reaction is instant, her face pulling into a frown. Her eyes flash to you, and you reach for the door handle, sensing that something is wrong, before your mom’s words upset Clarke even further and she turns back towards her with a look of shock.

Clarke jumps up and heads for the back of the truck, holding her hand up at you and telling you to stay put as she jumps out of the vehicle and jogs after Roan. Your mom scrambles out of the vehicle and follows her, trying to catch up, as you open the door to the rover slowly, sliding out of the vehicle as quietly as you can. You leave the door open in case you need to make a quick escape, and you creep towards the front of the truck, using the large vehicle as cover as you peer around it and look at the scene unfolding in front of you.

Roan stands halfway between your mom and Clarke, and halfway between the rest of the group, his sword drawn. Trikru guards come stalking out of the trees, heading towards the Ice King, as Roan holds out his sword and yells, “What is this?”

Kane yells back, “There doesn't have to be any violence.”

Before the Trikru warriors even make it halfway to Roan, they are all hit with arrows that fly from the trees around them, killing them. Seconds later Azgeda warriors appear from the darkness, making a beeline for everyone in your group. Your eyes fall to Clarke, panicked, and she must sense your presence because she turns around and locks eyes with you, shaking her head once, and mouthing, “Run!”

Conflicted on what to do, but without a gun to help you, you watch as all your people are pulled to the ground and restrained. You watch on, working on a plan in your head when someone asks, “Where is Wanlida?”

Your breath stops in your throat and you don’t wait for an answer before you take off running back towards the rover, thankful you left the door open and the vehicle running. You hop inside and immediately put it into reverse, as arrows whiz past, aimed for you, and your tires slide in the snow as you sharply turn the rover away from danger. You can hear more arrows dinging and bouncing off the back doors, but you’re able to outdrive them easily, speeding away from them with reckless abandon.

Your hands are tight on the wheel as you speed towards Arkadia, checking the mirrors every few minutes, waiting to see any sign of Ice Nation warriors on your tail. Instead, you find nothing, giving you enough relief to frantically call Bellamy. “Bellamy, come in, do you copy?”

Static answers you, leaving you alone, and you frantically repeat, “Bellamy, come in! Do you read me?”

You glance at the radio in your hand in frustration, waiting for his response. “Arkadia, this is rover one, do you read me? We are in danger, someone answer me, damn it!”

But still, you hear nothing but silence. You slam down the radio in frustration, and turn your eyes back to the road, keeping your quick pace and hoping that everyone is safe as you head towards back up. It’s not long before the familiar roads around Arkadia come into view, and soon, so do the front gates. The guards let you in as you approach, recognizing you through the glass, and you park the rover just inside the gates before jumping out and yelling to the guard closest to you, “Give me your radio!”

He pulls his radio off his belt and tosses it to you, and you nod at him in thanks as you run through the camp, heading towards the Chancellor’s office, speaking into the radio. “Bellamy, do you read me?”

Bellamy’s voice comes through instantly, muttering your name in confusion. “How are you on this channel? This is for the short range walkies.”

“Meet me in the chancellor’s office.”

“Wait, are you here?”

You push past a crowd of people heading towards the hangar bay, bags in their arms, already beginning the packing up process. “Yes, I’ll explain when I see you.”

“Copy that.”

You run the rest of the way to the office, happy to see that Bellam is already inside, waiting for you. You close the door behind you as you step inside, and Bellamy turns towards the source of the sound, his face splitting into a grin when he sees you. You both run towards each other, the danger that the others are in temporarily forgotten as Bellamy lifts you in his arms and spins you once. He sets you down and kisses you, long and slow, until you're dizzy and breathless from the spin and his lips. He pulls away, his eyes bright with love for you, and whispers, “You smell good.”

You grin at him, thinking of the bottles of soap in your backpack, snuck off the island so you could share it with him. “I found soap. Good soap, not the recycled Ark soap we’re used to.”

He starts to open his mouth to respond when the radio behind him comes to life with Clarke’s voice. “Come in, Arkadia. Bellamy? La lune? Do you copy?”

You run over to the radio, the earlier danger coming back to you in a rush. “Clarke, I'm here, are you okay? What about the others?”

“We’re okay, for now. Indra was with Kane when they found the bunker, and he promised to share it with Trikru if they stood guard over it. Azgeda and Trikru are refusing to live in the bunker together, and they’re on the brink of war. I'm holding things down the best I can here, and we’re supposed to meet with Indra soon to see if we can all work something out, but tensions are high. You need to get back here as soon as you can.”

You turn to Bellamy. “When are we scheduled to leave here?”

“First light.”

You run calculations in your head, figuring it’s a few hours until then, and hop back on to talk to Clarke. “We’re scheduled to leave in a few hours, but it’s nearly a day’s walk from here to Polis, especially with the entirety of our people with us. Me and Bellamy can try to come ahead if you need us to, I have the rover.”

“No, our people are important. You both need to help Jaha get them here safely. Just get here when you can, and be prepared for a war zone. I’ll keep my radio on me, even through it’ll only work when you start to get closer. Just check in every hour as you walk this way, until we figure out the range on these things. I’ll keep you updated then.”

“Copy that. I’ll keep someone in here on the Chancellor’s office radio, call us here if anything big happens and you need us.”

“Copy. See you soon.”

“Be safe.”

You put the radio down, and Bellamy turns to you, looking shocked and confused. “What was that all about?”

“Roan was ambushed at the meetup point by Trikru, and then Trikru was ambushed by Ice Nation, who also took our people hostage. I managed to get out of there before they got me. I tried to radio on the way to warn you, but I couldn't get a hold of you.”

“I was packing up the armory with the others, I’m sorry.”

“Luckily, everyone is okay for now.”

“In that case,” he motions towards the door. “We should pack our bags. I already took care of everything else, except our room.”

You step towards the door, tuning to look back at him as you pull it open. “Niylah agreed to get Clarke’s stuff, we just need to get mom’s things too. My pack is in the rover.”

Bellamy nods and follows you that way, letting you take the lead back to the rover to grab your bag. You grab the guard from earlier and put him on radio duty before you and Bellamy head to your mom’s room to pack her things first. There’s not much she asked you for, just the few clothes she owns, and a few pictures she has that Clarke drew her, which you carefully pack in a file folder so they won’t get ruined. You and Bellamy head to your shared room next, making quick work of the few belongings you have as you update him on the luxuries of Becca’s Island. Once you finish, the two of you plop down on the bed beside each other, taking a quick break before you go find Jaha and update him on everything.

As you sit side by side, Bellamy looks at you, watching you closely. “So you’re a Nightblood now.”

He doesn't say it like a question, but you respond like he does. “Yes. Although Clarke says we should be careful about admitting that around the Grounders. Blasphemy and all that.”

Bellamy hums, and you look at him, trying to read his expression. It takes you a second to realize it’s curiosity. “You want to see?”

“What? Oh, no, that’s okay.” But you're already pulling your knife from its holster as he answers, and before he can object, you cut a small line on the palm of your hand, watching as black blood rises to the surface and pools into your palm. “Woah.”

You smile at him and his fascination. “I know right? Bummer that it’s untested, it would have been kind of cool to turn everyone into Nightbloods.”

Bellamy rips a strip of fabric from the sheet on the bed, wrapping it around your hand and tying it in place as he muses, “Guess I'll have to add that to the list of things that set you apart from everyone else.”

You smile and bump him with your shoulder. “Oh, stop it.”

You stand and offer him your non-injured hand, which he takes, and you pull him to his feet. Both of you grab your packs and head towards the door, stopping one last time at the exit to look over the space you shared together. You smile at it, thinking of all the wonderful memories you have here, before whispering into the empty room, “May we meet again.”

Bellamy reaches for your hand and squeezes it. “Onto bigger and better things.”

He leads you from the room and you walk down the hall together, hand in hand, searching for Jaha. You finally come across someone who tells you that he’s outside the hangar bay door with a group of guards, dealing with “unruly kids”. The phrase makes you look at Bellamy in confusion, and he shakes his head. “Jasper.”

You both make it to the hangar bay just in time to see one of the guards pounding on the closed doors, while Jaha and a group of guards watch on. On the other side, inside the locked room, Jasper turns up the music and turns away from your group, happy and drunk, and completely uncaring. The guard pounds again, and when that’s unsuccessful, he tries to pry the doors open, with no luck. He turns to Jaha with a glare. “It's jammed, same as the others. But this is the door to blow.”

Jaha looks at the guard, considering the plan. “How many gas canisters do we have?”

You and Bellamy both turn to look at them, not quite believing what you're hearing. “You can't be serious.”

Monty materializes from the crowd, coming to stand on your other side. “In Mount Weather, we beat the gas by using water. Jasper will be ready for that.”

Bellamy looks between Monty and Jaha, holding his hands up. “Just slow down, let me talk to them.”

“Bellamy, we have over 400 people ready to march.”

You and Bellamy ignore Jaha and head closer to the door, knocking on the glass. Jasper turns and sees you, his face lighting up a little at the sight of you, and he turns the music down slightly before walking over and pressing his hand to the glass of the door. Written on his hands are three letters that make your stomach drop. The guard behind you reads out, “DNR? What does that mean?”

You turn to look at Bellamy, saying the words to him, but making sure you're loud enough that the others can hear. “Do not resuscitate.”

The words make Bellamy panic a little, quickly turning to press the button for the speaker on the other side. “Jasper, open the door.”

“We're not coming out.”

Monty sees Harper walk into view, his girlfriend and his best friend both behind that door, and he walks over to the intercom, pushing Bellamy aside. “Are you really willing to die when there's a way to live? Are they?”

“That's just it. We don't think it's a way to live.”

Monty looks at them, in disbelief that they're choosing this, and Jaha turns to the guard. “We're wasting time, set the charge. You can go to guns. Do not fire unless fired upon. Is that clear?”

You and Bellamy spin around, both of you protesting Jaha’s orders, “No, just wait!”

You press the button, looking Jasper straight in the eye. “Jasper, people will get hurt. I know you care about that.”

The guard steps on your other side, sticking the charges on the door as Jasper looks back at the others, worried. “If you don't want anyone to get hurt, don't open the door.”

Jasper turns away and Harper follows, and they turn the music up again, drowning out anything else. You and Bellamy look at each other, lost at what to do, when the guard announces, “We're all set. We should clear the hall.”

Jaaha walks over to the intercom, and announces, “Mr. Jordan, I will not leave children here to die.”

You turn towards him, a flash of anger passing through you as you give him an incredulous look. “You sent them down to die! All of us were expendable to you then. The only difference now is that they have a choice, and so do you.”

Monty looks at you, not understanding. “What are you talking about?”

Bellamy, though, he understands what you’re trying to say. Because as much as it breaks your heart to leave your friends, your delinquents, your family behind, this is the choice that they made. Bellamy meets your eyes, then glances at the partying teenagers, and then locks eyes with Monty. “This is what they want.”

“They're wasted, they don't know what they want.”

Jaha considers this, long and hard, and you see him peering into the room at the teenagers. You see a flash of something pass over his face, and though you aren’t sure what it is, you get the distinct feeling that he looks like he’s seen a ghost. You briefly wonder if he’s thinking about Wells, which brings a pang of sadness to your heart, but you don’t get to think about it for long before the former Chancellor speaks up, his words surprising you. “Stand down, get ready to move out.”

“Yes, sir.”

Monty shakes his head, trying to stop Jaha. “What? No, you can't!”

“I'm sorry, son, but they’re right. We can't save them if they don't want to be saved.”

The guards follow Jaha as he leaves, leaving you, Monty, and Bellamy as the last ones in the hall. You and Bellamy peer in the door again, watching your partying friends, and Monty scolds you both. “If Octavia was in there, would you let her stay?”

“If Octavia was in there...at least I'd get to say goodbye.”

He turns to you, his last ditch effort. “And if it was Clarke?”

“It would break my heart to lose her, but you can't force people to do what you want. Especially this. Forcing their hand in this will only build resentment.”

You reach out and squeeze his arm, apologetic that you couldn't offer him anything more than that. Before you turn and walk away, you look at him. “We can leave the rover behind for them, in case they change their minds.”

Monty nods, “I’ll go unload it then, before I meet up with the rest of the group.”

You and Bellamy nod before you walk past him, maneuvering through the halls until you meet up with Jaha again. “I’ll lead them, you two bring up the rear and make sure no one else gets lost or left behind.”

“Will do.”

And then the exodus begins.

Jaha announces to those waiting that it’s time to go, and you and Bellamy stand in the hallways, waving people in the right direction for the next few minutes, periodically announcing important information. “Remember, right now it’s raining, but it's not black rain. It can turn at any moment, so keep the person with your assigned chem tent in sight at all times!”

The last few stragglers come into view, and you nod at Niylah as she walks past. You and Bellamy start to follow the group towards the door, but you both stop and turn around when you hear footsteps behind you. Jasper and Harper walk down the hall towards you, and you both start to walk closer to them, while Bellamy says, “Not too late to change your mind.”

“Yes, it is. You can still stay, you know.”

Bellamy shrugs, “I'm not a quitter.”

Jasper smiles, “Thanks for understanding.”

Harper looks around, searching for her boyfriend. “Where's Monty?”

You smile at her, “Unloading the rover. We're leaving it behind for you, by the way.”

Bellamy gives her a sad look, “He didn't say good-bye?”

She shakes her head, then whispers, “Take care of him for us, will you?”

“You know we will.”

She reaches out and hugs you, while Jasper and Bellamy hug, and then you switch, pulling Jasper in for a tight hug, your throat choking up with tears. “Thank you for the laughter, Jasper.”

He pulls back and smiles down at you, whispering, “Don't forget to laugh after I’m gone.”

You nod, and you and Bellamy step back, instantly reaching for each other’s hands as you crave each other's comfort. Bellamy looks between the pair and gives them a small smile, “May we meet again.”

“We won't.”

Bellamy counters, “Whatever the hell you want.”

You both give them watery smiles, trying to fight back your tears as you take one last look at your friends, before you turn and walk out the door, into the rain and onto the path of salvation.

You spend the first hour of the walk crying, your tears hidden from the others by the rain. Bellamy, however, is not so easily fooled. He comforts you the entire time, careful not to alert the others to your sadness. Each hour after that is increasingly less eventful than the one before it. You mark the start of each hour with an attempted radio call to Clarke, and it takes a while before you finally get through to her, but when you do, the only words she offers you are, “We’re safe, but things are worse than we thought. I’ll explain when you get here.”

The words leave you puzzled and eager to find out what she means, but it’s another few hours of walking before you find out. It takes a whole day of walking, and when you finally arrive, it’s late, well past midnight. Still, you get your people situated before you and Bellamy are led to a bedroom in the tower of Polis, on one of the lower floors. You throw your stuff down immediately, and follow the Ice Nation guard down the hall to Clarke’s room, who lets you in as soon as she sees you. “Let’s go to the balcony to talk. It's more private there.”

You nod your heads, following her to the balcony, and as soon as she's sure you're alone, she launches into an explanation of everything that happened since you left her nearly two days ago. The almost war between Trikru and Azgeda, Clarke’s attempt to stop the war by trying to become the next commander, Roan stopping her would be Ascension and proposing a Final Conclave, the winner takes a bunker. The news that Raven, now dying, has chosen to stay behind on the Island so she can take one last spacewalk and die in peace. That news saddens you, and you hate that you didn’t get to say goodbye to her. The last few days are full of loss, and you aren’t sure how much more you can take.

Clarke looks out at the dark city as she continues her explanation. “The entire city is the battlefield. No time limit, no guns. One warrior from each clan fights until only one remains.”

Bellamy looks at her, his jaw clenching, not pleased with this idea. “And the winner's clan takes the bunker, just like that?”

She nods, letting him know those are the rules, but he shakes his head. “Without guns, and without anyone trained in Grounder combat, there's no way we can win.”

“We fight or we die.”

You all peer out at the silent city, wondering what you’re going to do, when the sound of hoofbeats clap on the stone ground. You all look towards it, watching a familiar horse ride down the street towards the tower. She stops just below Clarke’s balcony, the answer to the problem you were debating less than a minute ago. Octavia Blake, trained in Grounder combat, full of bloodthirsty rage, looks down at the Flamekeepers that surround her. “I'm here for the war.”

And just like that, Skaikru has a champion.

next chapter

#the 100 #bellamy blake #bellamy blake x reader #the 100 rewrite #the 100 4x09

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diyunho · 4 years ago

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The Joker x Reader - “Ashes”

After The Joker’s daughter accidentally drowned, his relationship with Y/N fell apart: they were guilty of failing to protect what they loved, blaming each other and themselves to the point of no return. The sole palpable proof of Emma existence is her ashes encapsulated in glass pendants her parents wear and that’s hardly a memento able to help in such a difficult situation. Ashes are not meant to bring people together.

“Happy Birthday, Pumpkin Pie,” The Joker grumbles. “Here’s Charlie: I thought you would like to see him,” he places the purple hippo on Emma’s headstone.

Today his daughter would have been 4 years old. Instead of the usual party filled with laughter and presents he’s at “Eternal Peace” cemetery early in the morning for a different kind of festivity.

J never celebrated birthdays before yet once she showed up in his life the anniversary got a fresh new meaning: Y/N ensured that The King of Gotham was aware of how lucky they both were to have her. And he did learn to care about that tiny being he created who first called him something similar to “dada”, then a cute “da’y” and finally the word he craved to hear every single day until she was gone: “daddy.”

Being a father thought him a couple of things, but the most important was quite stunning: the index finger from his right hand wasn’t only meant for using a trigger; it was also his child’s soother.

Emma would keep it prisoner when she slept from an early age; of course all babies do it although in this case it didn’t go away once she got older.

And he misses that…

A lot.

Actually, he would give up on a robbery or anything that involves him holding a gun if she could clutch to his finger one more time.

That’s how much he misses The Princess.

“Sir, sorry to interrupt,” Frost gets him out of trance. “There’s movement at the South gate. We have to go…”

J snatches the plush animal and follows Jonny on a path behind the crypts when a woman walking on the alley leading to Emma’s grave catches his attention: although she has a red wig and sunglasses on, her disguise doesn’t fool him. It’s Y/N.

She’s carrying a small cake and intensely stares at the pavement, unaware of her surroundings.

The Joker can’t really tell what she’s doing once in front of the tomb, nevertheless he guesses she’s singing “Happy Birthday” while wiping the tears strolling down her cheeks.

He didn’t see Y/N in about 4 months. They went to the cabin by Moon Lake after Emma’s drowning and things were so rough he left immediately. She never followed, called or texted.

J didn’t either.

Why bother? They were guilty of failing to protect what they loved, blaming each other and themselves to the point of no return.

Today is extremely difficult to deal with, especially since the catalyst binding them vanished forever.

The sole palpable proof of Emma existence is her ashes encapsulated in glass pendants her parents wear and that’s hardly a memento able to help in such a difficult situation.

Ashes are not meant to bring people together.

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

After 2 Hours

“Hi,” The King of Gotham drags his feet on the porch and takes a sit on the chair next to yours.

“Hi…” you whisper, surprised to spot him after such a long absence.

Complete silence, then he utters:

“I’m here for the cake,” he points at the sweet treat resting on the wood table: vanilla- strawberry combo, your daughter’s favorite.

“Are you?”

“Yeah, I crave the taste…”

You lean over and cut two slices, sharing Emma’s birthday cake with her dad. It’s really painful to swallow the morsels knowing your baby can’t; it seems J is in the same boat.

“I can’t make anybody happy…” The Clown mumbles under his breath and the randomness of his statement makes you wonder what’s going on in his mind.

“Me neither… Sweet Pea was happy, wasn’t she? She was a happy kid…”

The Joker moves his plate towards you, hissing:

“She was and she would still be with us if instead of flirting you would have watched her!”

“… … W- what?!...” you glare at him, astonished he has the nerve to pop up and hurt you in such a manner. “Since when talking to somebody is flirting?! Where were you, huh? Where were you??? In your goddamn office plotting more schemes in order to get more money because nothing is enough!” you raise your voice and burst out crying in the next second. “She was ours to protect, the only treasure that mattered! I just… I just took my eyes off her for a few moments, I had no idea my baby was drowning in that pool …” you keep sobbing at the horrible memory, heartbroken. “I could have save her…Why didn’t I…?…”

The Joker can’t understand what you’re saying anymore, yet he doesn’t reply to your accusations or remorseful confessions.

How could he?

He’s equally responsible for Emma’s demise but it’s easier to attack her mother.

You abruptly get up and rush inside the cottage, abandoning J to his own demons. He doesn’t know if he should bail or stay, thus he continues to gaze at the lake numb to everything.

Still… The quietness is becoming unbearable so he finally gathers the strength to stand up and search for you.

“Y/N?...” he shouts. “Where are you?”

Silly question since the cabin is a little area with a kitchen/living room combo, one bedroom and bathroom: easy to find what you’re looking for.

No response but the shower is on which queues him Y/N must be there.

The Joker approaches the bathtub, unwilling to remove the curtain and talk to you face to face.

“It was my fault too…” he admits a fact that tormented him since the accident. “I should have kept an eye on her… I couldn’t predict she’ll sneak out to play by the swimming pool… I would give away a fortune if I could fix it… Do you believe me?...”

You sniffle and cover your mouth, trying to avoid his trap: if you engage, he will probably bite more and that’s the last thing you need.

“I have Charlie in the car; I thought you might want him tonight,” J reveals the true purpose of his visit. “Drop him off tomorrow at 3pm, I’ll be at the warehouse on 17Th Street. You can’t have the toy, it belongs in her room…”

You hear his steps receding and gasp for air, completely crushed by despair: the agony of grief is stronger than any consolation a stupid purple hippo could offer.

But it was Emma’s favorite and The Joker is willing to share a token of what you both lost; now that you think about it… you really missed Charlie…

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

Next Day, 2:05pm

“Where’s everybody?” you mutter whilst entering the code at the gates. Usually there are at least 8 henchmen guarding the fence and no sign of them so far. You drive up the unpaved alley, curiously checking out the landscape: same trees, bushes and trucks you’re familiar with, except you can’t discern a single goon patrolling the perimeter.

You honk to get the crew’s assistance without any success and you wonder if The Joker tricked you; I mean, you should have seen it coming: he is probably attempting one of his convoluted strategies to punish you for the tragic past.

You stop in front of the building, intrigued to notice it appears deserted.

Suddenly, a powerful blast shakes the ground and you watch part of the roof collapsing on the north side; a few windows shatter also.

You jump out of the car, totally confused at the strange occurrence.

“Hello?” you yell. “J???”

There’s smoke coming out of the opened metal door and you hesitantly walk in the warehouse, coughing at the suffocating odor.

“J?...” you scream. “J!!!!!”

A faint knock in the distance prompts your attention.

“Y/N!!”

“J??” you run towards the source of the noise only to find him under rubble next to the south entrance. “Oh my God!” you kneel by his feet buried under bricks. “What happened?!” The Queen frantically removes debris as he groans in pain.

“Explosives, that’s what happened. Shit, I think I fucked up my legs!”

“Where are the guys??!!” you inquire, managing to free his feet enough for him to move.

“I gave them the day off,” The Joker’s explanation puzzles Y/N. “Hurry up, please!! Another detonation will follow shortly!”

“Jesus Christ!” you quicken the pace and push the last bricks out of the way. “Can you stand?”

J rolls on his side, unable to comply.

“No, you’ll have to haul me out of here!”

“Come on!” you place your hands under his underarms and start pulling. “The exit is right there!”

You huff while straining to get to safety as The Clown aims to aid by lifting his body off the ground as much as he can.

“Behind the truck!” he urges once you’re out of the premises and you barely have time to hide behind the vehicle when a second bang levels half of the construction.

“This didn’t go according to plan,” J admits in a low tone, panting a storm after the ordeal.

You asses his wounds, pressing on the ankle and he immediately growls.

“The bone’s fractured,” you wipe your sweaty forehead. “What plan?”

“It’s actually your fault for all of this; I told you to swing by at 3 o’clock. You’re early!”

“Huh?”

“You were supposed to come when I told you then boom! Before you reached the building it would go up in flames: you would flip thinking that I’m dead and then I’ll show up and ask you to come back home. You would be so excited to see I’m alive you couldn’t refuse. Yet you ruined everything: you appeared out of nowhere, I panicked and messed up: you know I’m not good with this stuff!!”

You can’t even process the plot he’s throwing your way.

“What kind of plan…”

“I just told you I’m not good at this stuff,” he interrupts. “You know I’m not.”

You touch your chest, baffled at the ridiculous story.

“My pendant!” you exclaim when you realize the chain is not around your neck anymore. “It’s gone!” Y/N desperately searches the grass. “My baby, where’s my baby?” you part the green lawn on the verge of crying. “I can’t find my pendant! Maybe I dropped it the building,” you whimper and prepare to flee when J grabs your jeans, firmly holding on.

“Don’t go; the poles might cave in and whatever is left standing will squash you!!”

You don’t comprehend why he’s so worked up and his plea catches you off guard:

“Don’t go! I’ll give you half my ashes, ok?”

The Queen debates on The King’s proposal, conflicted by his candid offer.

After all, if ashes tear people apart, how come they can’t bring them back together?

Also read: MASTERLIST

https://diyunho.tumblr.com/post/153664676321/joker-x-reader-masterlist

You can also follow me on Ao3 and wattpad under the same blog name: DiYunho.

#the joker x reader #the joker fanfiction #the joker imagine #the joker jared leto #jokerleto #the joker #joker #joker fanfiction #the joker suicide squad #joker suicide squad #joker imagine #mister j #mister joker #dc #dcu

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plumbbae · 3 years ago

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today we got to go to our local tractor supply where they were giving out “disaster boxes”- MREs, “bottled” water, & a bag of ice.

If you’ve ever had an MRE, which i doubt most of you have unless you live in a disaster prone area or are in the military lol, you’d know that it’s hit or miss with taste 😂 It comes with a hot pack so you can “cook” the food-

This one is spaghetti w/ a banana apple “smoothie”

& even though a smoothie-in-a-bag might sound gross as shit, i’m willing to bet it’s probably 10x better than Smoothie King’s processed shit lol. they were also giving away FREE GAS at another location!!! My car and our generator are both full & we got an extra gas can full. I am so grateful to the ones who are donating to us; it’s such a relief and a weight lifted off our shoulders.

The parish next to us has power, but since we are right ON the parish line, we don’t. (The parish we are in has a floodgate that they close. if you live behind the gate, and they close it, you cannot leave. They do that so the rest of the parish doesn’t flood. We thankfully live on the other side of the gate. Right next to it. lol) But since the other side flooded, 5/6 feet btw, we won’t have power until they are good. BUT I am enternally grateful that there are people from all over coming to help us. We have power companies from CANADA who came down! The only bad part about it is the workers who did come…they have to sleep in their trucks because there’s no where to stay..it’s so heartbreaking and i wish i could help them all. I hope they can get it soon, I want them to be able to go home and sleep in their bed, in their ac.

But. Everyone is saying that this storms power situation was way worse than that of Katrina’s. & the cities that were affected by Katrina was out for months. But I’m going eat my packaged food & hopefully get the courage to take a bath even tho it’s ice cold lol. Love u!!!!

#pb&ida2021 #pb

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dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years ago

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Shandy Gaff

fic request for @gothlebedev

“Nono, the troops are coming back. We can hold them back easily, but I hear them calling reinforcements. I don’t know what ‘the Bomb is’ but it doesn’t sound good.”

Nono was in a records room in a German lab. She was almost invisible in her black bodysuit, skin tight to allow her to crawl through the tunnel necessary to find this place. Years ago it was used for research on dragons and hybrids and had spawned projects like “Delta” that produced the horrors of Black Swan. At this point, Nono was looking for a very specific record that might lead to the Dark King. She was standing in the basement hall below what was the building’s original foundation with a pin light. Her Profiling skill was active and her mind ran with ideas. They wouldn’t have such sensitive information in such an obvious place as a file cabinet or a desk drawer.

As she scanned around the room, her eyes fell on art and then they narrowed. It wasn’t unheard of for works of art to have important documents on the back. In fact, she remembered someone accidently finding a copy of the Declaration of Independence on the back of a painting.

But which painting?

“Nono, you have about 10 minutes.”

“Don't worry. I’m close.” Her eyes fell on the image of a devil being thrown from heaven. It had to be that one. She removed the picture from the wall and cut into the backing with her pin knife. Sure enough, files began to fall out. What she saw made her eyes widen in terror. It wasn’t files but photographs.

“Nono, did you find anything? You have to get out. The troops are retreating!” Caesar was yelling in her ear but she couldn’t respond.

The person in the pictures was Lu Mingfei. But the pictures were dated decades ago. She hesitates, unsure of what to do. She suddenly realizes that she wasn’t supposed to find this information. Lu Mingfei is closely related to the Dark King? There was no way Anjou couldn’t know this.

“Nono! Where are you?” Caesar asked.

She stood up. Part of her wanted to destroy all this information. At the beginning of the mission, she thought that what she would find was information on a Dragon King’s awakening. She imagined an egg or some sort of influx of Dead Slave monsters. Not her lackey.

Not him.

A sudden feeling of danger! Nono’s eyes widened and she jumped to the side just for some sort of black shadow of a small person to follow her! The wall where she was standing collapsed completely in a cloud of dust as this shadow collided with it. She staggered back and pulled her pistol, but the black shadow pounced, ignoring the flash of the muzzle. It’s eyes were blazing gold, it looked like it was nothing but a skeleton, but the bullets deflected harmlessly off its dark skin. It arced its claws right at her throat. Nono stopped shooting and leaped back. She lifted her foot in a savage kick but it latched onto her leg with all four limbs and bit down hard.

“Nono! Answer!”

Her leg was burning. The creature wasn’t releasing her leg but biting again and again! Nono lifted her pistol and fired point blank mercury rounds into its temple. Black pieces of flesh flew away from its head, exposing the brain to mercury and it flopped over and died.

Nono’s breath was accelerated beyond normal. She raised a shaking hand to her temple. Her heart was fluttering in her chest. She was going to black out. It was poison. It had poisoned her. She’d been bitten four? Maybe five times? Each time those fangs filled her with poison.

Gasping into the communication channel she forced her numbing tongue to move. She wanted to tell him that she loved him. That she was sorry. But all she managed to say was … “Caesar…” Before her lungs suddenly stopped.

“Where is she?!”

“I’m still showing her in the basement.” Lu Mingfei’s nervous and quiet response came over.

“I’m going in. Chu Zihang. Cover me.”

Her comm was full of the sounds of gunfire.

“Nono, I’m coming, just hang in there. Stay where you are!”

Her diaphragm was paralyzed. By the time Caesar arrived she would have suffocated. Even without oxygen, Nono’s mind raced, putting out the calculations. Even if he managed to obtain a vehicle, her brain would be hypoxic for several minutes. Unless he had an antidote for a strange poison in his pocket… she wouldn’t be able to breathe. CPR won’t work… if the blood has no oxygen….

Outside, Lu Mingfei got nervous. “Caesar! Come in Caesar! The retreat was false! They’re coming back with reinforcements!” Black trucks filled with vehicles were returning. “I don’t think I have enough ammunition for all of them!”

Lu Mingfei leaned on his sniper rifle. From his position, he could see the compound. It wasn’t that large, surrounded by a relatively simple perimeter fence. “Chu Zihang. What’s your position?”

“There’s a munitions depot. But all I have here are heavy explosives…”

Caesar’s voice was heavy. “Then that’s enough. Let them enter the facility and set them off.”

Chu Zihang paled. “These people aren’t dragons… school rules dictate…”

“If you won’t do it, then get out of my way.”

Chu Zihang fell silent, coming to the grim conclusion. “Mingfei, get out of range. You’re still in the blast radius.”

“Get out? But… you’re not serious about setting off all those explosions and killing all the soldiers? They’re just people-”

“Nono’s dead.”

“No… that's not possible.”

Chu Zihang sprinted across the facility where a truck was under a tarp. It was armored but there were no keys. He immediately got to work trying to hotwire the thing.

The soldiers flooded the facility looking for targets, aiming their black guns, looking for anything that moved.

A sudden powerful shot and a man fell despite wearing full body armor. Then his body caught on fire! Chu Zihang could see that the bullet was an alchemy round! Caesar had used alchemy rounds on a regular human!

The man’s body filled with evaporated fluids, swelled and burst apart. Caesar stood in the smoking ruin. The body of Nono was still in his arms, still limp, not yet seized by rigor mortis. In an instant, Scythe Itachi went out and he was aware of the position of every enemy soldier.

Chu Zihang scrambled to work faster on the truck. “Mingfei! Go! He’s not going to leave anyone here alive!”

“No! I can still save her!” Mingfei’s voice was a shrill scream.

“You can’t! Mingfei!”

No response.

Caesar’s skill with a gun was unnatural especially when using Scythe. He didn't have to move his head, just his arms, slight changes in the position of his wrist. His eyes were closed and his guns did not stop firing. Soldiers ran up to him and fell to the ground as though they were running into an invisible wall, or as though they were struck with a sudden sleepiness and lay down where they stood, each one killed by a neat bullet to the forehead. Caesar made his slow and steady progression to the weapon Depot.

The truck roared to life and Chu Zihang sat up and pushed the pedal to the floor. The soldiers fired but their bullets couldn’t pierce the vehicle. He smashed through the gate and onto the exit road. The lone figure of Lu Mingfei was recklessly running in the open towards the military base. Chu Zihang spun the steering wheel and blocked him. “Lu Mingfei!”

Chu Zihang’s heart stills. Mingfei’s eyes were blazing golden. He’d never seen that before in his life. Even though he had golden eyes and he could intimidate others, the eyes of Mingfei were otherworldly, something beyond even him. He was filled with fear and, while he worried about the coming explosion from the military base, he feared getting in the way of Mingfei Lu even more. He redirected the truck and kept going.

Not a single soldier survived that day. Not even the base survived. It was obliterated in a blinding flash of light. Every building was turned rubble down to the foundation and all the information in the basement was destroyed.

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

“Next item on the list, we have the preliminary budget for the lacrosse team. We had a stellar year last year and we’re looking forward to an amazing performance now that we’ve drafted Ignius von Merrida from Morocco to the team. He's a two time champion on his home turf and so far his career shows no sign of slowing down…”

Caesar’s eyes slipped from the screen in front of him to look at the photo at the end of his desk. Nono stood in a white sundress with a large straw hat. She hadn’t wanted him to take that picture but the sun was going down on the Gulf of Genoa and her eyes were so bright they outshined it. The photo didn’t do it justice.

Three years had passed. People had watched to see if Caesar would retire. While Nono was the love of his life, his life had a motivation outside her. He was still, at heart, a dragonslayer. He was still a family rebel. He still had his goals.

But Nono had brought a certain spark, a bright light and excitement into his life that was now lacking. Before she showed up sing-songing her challenging invitation to join her to go see Chicago, there was nothing truly special about his life. Other people had money, strength, property and prestige. But no one had her besides him.

His phone chimed. “Ceasar you won’t believe what I found. Look at this!”

It was a message with a photo from MC. She was standing in front of an X-Men arcade cabinet.

“I haven’t seen one of these since forever. Come on, come play with me!”

Caesar felt something inside him stir. He took one last look at the screen and turned off his video and muted himself and simply walked away from the meeting. He texted. “I’m on my way.”

When Caesar showed up at the half abandoned mall, his car turned heads. He walked in. Half the shops were empty and there were no customers. How MC found this place he’d never know. She was the only one in the arcade in cut off Daisy Dukes and a tanktop that showed off her muscular arms. She waved enthusiastically. “Yes! I’m so excited! Let’s get a bunch of tokens.”

“Heh. I’ll only need one.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know you’re good at games. But I also know arcade games are built and designed to eat quarters. I can’t wait to see you die to arcade BS.”

Caesar stood in front of the well worn cabinet. “Who are you playing?” He peered around. They had other classics like Mortal Combat and Galaga, but they also had The Simpsons and Turok.

“Storm. You?”

“Wolverine.” He turned back to the screen. “This is a pretty nice place.”

“It’s like… 50 years old.”

“It has good games though.” They moved through the character select screen.

For the better part of an hour, they jerked on joysticks and bashed on buttons and fought Sentinels and Sabertooth and other classic Xmen enemies.

“I haven’t died yet.”

“You will when we get to Magneto.” She said, shoving in another token for a Continue.

She wasn’t wrong. Caesar hissed in fury. “Okay I dodged that.”

“Told you!” MC cackled, flipping him another coin.

Caesar caught it, paused momentarily, and looked at the coin before shoving it in.

Finally, they defeated Magneto and leaned against the cabinet.

“Um…” The timid teenager who was running the place spoke up. “We’re closing in ten minutes.”

“After all that hard work, I could use a drink.” MC stretched. “There’s no good places here but right down the street there’s a pretty good bar. It’s a bit crowded though.”

“Sure.”

MC paused and looked up at him. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Nope. Let’s take my car. Leave yours here.”

The bar was crowded and Caesar and MC took a seat on the outdoor patio with a great view of a Target parking lot. The heat was radiating from it like it was a hot grill.

“So what were you up to when I was texting?” MC asked.

Caesar shrugged. “Just another Student Union meeting.”

“You left in the middle of the meeting?” She huffed. “Wow, thanks.”

“No, thank you.”

“Ha! Don’t give me that. I mean, it’s not like I have anyone else to play arcade with. Who else will meet me in the middle of the urban desert to play some million year old video game?”

Caesar looked at her in silence for several seconds.

What a lonely thing to say. But she had a point. MC had always been alone.

The server came with their drinks, one of them was something called Shandy Gaff, a mix of beer and Ginger Ale. MC took a deep drink of it and sighed.

“Can I try that?” Caesar asked.

MC blinked. “Uh… sure.”

Caesar took one sip and wrinkled his nose, handing it back to her. “Too sweet.”

“It’s a cheap drink, what do you expect? Nuance?” She glanced away, a slight pink hue came to her cheeks and Caesar realized he was meeting her eyes a lot more than normal.

“What to expect indeed. No, I should thank you. This is probably the spontaneous thing I’ve done… in a while.” He pulled out a cigar and she gave him her lighter.

He was still staring at her.

“Caesar… you’re making me nervous…” She looked askance.

“Why?” He huffed and leaned back, stretching his legs under the table. “I think you know what’s on my mind and that’s what makes this so annoying.”

MC hadn’t distanced herself from him after Nono’s death. She was never jealous of Nono and always supported their relationship and never made so much as a pass at him. He was comfortable in their friendship and that comfort was what he needed most in the years since. Other women glared at her because they viewed her as a potential rival for his attention. Other women were happy to take Nono’s place and MC’s presence was a shield of platonic intimacy. They were never sure where she stood and she prudently kept it that way, answering questions like, “So are you and Caesar together?” with a discreet silence.

If they didn’t know, they didn’t care enough about him to date him anyway.

The rumors flew and, as far as the grapevine was concerned, they were already a couple. So he resisted saying anything to her because it would just be one more layer added to the terrible predictability that had settled into his life since Nono had gone.

But now, sitting in the middle of the decay of suburban America he decided it was time to finally ask her.

“I hate predictability. I hate routine. You pulled me out of it. And it’s not the first time you’ve done it either. Are you okay with us… being official?”

She looked up at him, her black eyes sparkling. “Sure.”

#Dragon Raja

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cardest · 4 years ago

Text

San Francisco playlist

San Francisco - my favorite city in the world! The bands, the music, the songs are all here, in this playlist I created. I threw in a bit of Sac and went south by San Jose, Monterrey and up past Sausalito. Can we make it to 250 songs? Let me know what bands/songs I left out.

Have I left out a song or a band in this San Francisco playlist? Let me know! Cheers!

Play the songs here at this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC1-HLG9q5rZLsqs8EYh6bhu- San Francisco

001 The Dillinger Escape Plan w/Mike Patton - When Good Dogs Do Bad Things 002 Night flight Orchestra - California Morning 003 Quincy Jones - Call Me Mister Tibbs OST (Main Title) 004 James Taylor Quartet - Dirty Harry theme song 005 Faith No More - Seperation anxiety 006 Streets of San Francisco TV show theme song 007 Santana - Evil Ways 008 High on Fire - Electric Messiah 009 Metallica - Disposable Heroes 010 Hammers Of Misfortune - Dead Revolution 011 Buddy Guy - Hello San Francisco 012 Faith No More - Jungle 013 Isaac Hayes - Shaft 014 Orange Peels - Back In San Francisco 015 Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids - Message To My People 016 Thee Oh Sees - The Dream 017 Merle Haggard - Here In Frisco 018 Audrey Horne - California 019 Journey - Lights 020 Death Angel - Hatred United / United Hate 021 Mel Tor Me - Got The Date On The Golden Gate 022 Duke Ellington - Tourist Point Of View 023 Sons of Anarchy - This Life (Sons of Anarchy Theme Song) 024 Larry Graham's Central Station - Earthquake 025 LARD - I Wanna Be A Drug Sniffing Dog 026 Machine Head - California Bleeding 027 Neurosis - The Doorway 028 KING WOMAN - Utopia 029 Lalo Schifrin - Magnum Force OST Main Title 030 Forbidden - Adapt Or Die 031 DBUK - In San Francisco Bay 032 Jack Name - Werewolf Factory 033 John Carpenter - Theme from "The Fog" 034 Khiis - Saboor 035 Richie Havens - San Francisco Bay Blues 036 Metallica - Battery 037 Autopsy - charred remains 038 ExTREMITY_-_Crepuscular_Crescendo 039 The Otherside - Streetcar 040 Quincy Jones - Ironside (TV Theme) 041 Megadeth - Back in the Day 042 Sly and the Family Stone - Stand! 043 Faith No More - From Out of Nowhere 044 Willie Hutch-Vampin (The Mack OST 045 Orchid - Mouths Of Madness 046 Lalo Schifrin - Bullitt OST - On The Way To San Mateo 047 Vince Guaraldi - Woodstock's Dream 048 Fantomas - 4-11-05 049 Violation Wound - Fearmonger + State of Alarm 050 Primus - Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers 051 The Flower Pot Men - Let's Go to San Francisco (Part.1-2) 052 Bosse-de-Nage - Crux 053 Rod McKuen - The Beat Generation 054 Dionne Warwick - Do You Know The Way To San Jose 055 The Watchers - Sabbath Highway 056 Possessed - the eyes of horror 057 Scott McKenzie – San Francisco (Be Sure to wear flowers) 058 Tower Of Power - Oakland Stroke 059 Big Trouble In Little China OST - Pork chop express 060 Vio-lence - Calling In The Coroner 061 Black Oak Arkansas - The Big Ones Still Coming 062 Mr. Bungle - Love Is a Fist 063 VUUR - The Fire - San Francisco 064 Testament - The Haunting 065 Electronicat - Frisco Bay 066 Y&T - Mean Streak 067 Thee Oh Sees - Toe Cutter/Thumb Buster 068 Sweet - California Nights - Promo Clip (OFFICIAL) 069 Sadus - Swallowed In Black 070 Chuck Berry - San Francisco Dues 071 Sammy Hagar - Keep on rockin' 072 Fuzz - Sleigh Ride 073 Otis Redding - Sittin' on The Dock of the Bay 074 Pleasure Leftits - The Gate 075 BL'AST - Sometimes 076 Santana - Samba de Sausalito 077 Acephalix - Upon This Altar 078 Sun Ra - Lady With The Golden Stockings 079 Chris Isaak - San Francisco Days 080 Pointer Sisters - How Long (Betcha' Got A Chick On The Side) 081 High On Fire - Carcosa 082 Will Haven - When The Walls Close In 083 The Coup - Laugh/Love/Fuck 084 King Khan - Teeth Are Shite 085 Deafheaven - Irresistible 086 Glitter Wizard - Blood of the Serpent 087 Jefferson Airplane - It's No Secret 088 Cannonball Adderley - This Here 089 The Warlocks - Can't Come Down 090 Squirmy Sax Man - I Still Believe 091 Acid King - Coming Down from Outer Space 092 George Duke - Sausalito 093 The Lost Boys - Cry Little Sister (Theme From The Lost Boys OST) 094 Betty Davis - [They Say I'm Different] He Was a Big Freak 095 Fever Tree - San Francisco Girls 096 The Dillinger Escape Plan w/ Mike Patton - Pig Latin 097 Build Them to Break - Lucky Strike 098 Montrose - Rock Candy 099 PRIMUS - THE TOYS GO WINDING DOWN 100 Joe Satriani - Big Bad Moon 101 Sleater Kinney - Jumpers 102 GRUESOME - Dimensions Of Horror 103 Sly & the Family Stone - Everday People 104 Huey Lewis and the News - Back in Time 105 Hammers Of Misfortune - 2 17th Street 106 Jerry Fielding - Prologue _ Main Title (The Enforcer OST) 107 Metal Church - The Dark 108 Deftones - Ohms 109 John Lee Hooker - Frisco Blues 110 DRI - Go Die 111 16th & Valencia Roxy Music- Devendra Banhart, What We Will Be 112 MC Hammer - Too Legit to Quit 113 Dead Kennedys-Police Truck 114 Rancid - Adina 115 San Francisco's Shiver - Up My Sleeve 116 Bernard Herrmann - Vertigo OST - The Bay 117 Faith No More - Last Cup Of Sorrow 118 Blackburn & Snow - Stranger In a Strange Land 119 The Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes 120 The Grateful Dead - Sugar Magnolia 121 Cab Calloway - San Francisco Fan 122 The Charlatans - codine 123 Buck Owens - Want To Live In San Francisco 124 Sleep - Dragonaut 125 Death Angel - 5 Steps Of Freedom 126 Neil Young - Heart of Gold 127 Vastum - Reveries in Autophagia 128 Dead Kennedys - Moon Over Marin 129 EchoBrain - Colder World 130 Riz Ortolani - Lombard Street 131 Waylon Jennings - San Francisco Mabel Joy 132 Con Funk Shun - Confunkshunizeya 133 Chic - Hes the Greatest Dancer 134 Peace Creep - Radio Free Alcatraz 135 ABBA - Santa Rosa 136 Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks - San Fransisco 137 Together Band - California Curl California Girl 138 The Hellers - It's 74 In San Francisco 139 Pat Todd - No Place Like Home 140 Nancy Wilson - I'm Always Drunk In San Francisco (And I Don't Drink At All) 141 Anathema - San Francisco 142 Blue Cheer - Fool 143 Exhumed - Gravewalker 144 Darondo - Let My People Go 145 Exodus - Blood In Blood Out 146 Lalo Schifrin Dirty Harry OST - Scorpios Theme 147 Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues 148 Wild Light - California on my mid 149 Herbie Hancock - Man-child - Hang Up Your Hang Ups 150 Fantomas - Spider Baby 151 The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Headhunter 152 The Animals - San Franciscan Nights 153 Twilight - Dance with Me 154 THE POINTER SISTERS - Yes We Can Can 155 Residents - Hello Skinny 156 CCR HEADCLEANER - Eat This Riff 157 LEON WARE - Thats Why I Came To California 158 Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Put A Spell On You 159 Comorant - The First Man 160 Bosse-de-Nage - The Trench 161 Hell Fire - Free Again 162 Riz Ortolani - Golden Gate Bridge 163 Fleetwood Mac - You Make Loving Fun 164 Uther Pendragon - San Francisco Earthquake 165 Melvins - Zodiac 166 La Luz - California Finally 167 The Wyatt Act - Push 168 Santana - Soul Sacrifice 169 Cheap Trick - On the Radio 170 Electric Wizard - Venus In Furs 171 Led Zeppelin - Misty Mountain Hop 172 Tommy Castro - Callin' San Francisco 173 Viscious Rumors - Digital Dictator 174 Ghoul-Off With Their Heads 175 Diesel - Sausalito Summernight (Single Version) 176 Sheila E - A Love Bizarre 177 Starship - Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now 178 Jeffry Osboune - I Really Don't Need No Light 179 Nazareth - Alcatraz 180 Freak of Nature - Rescue Me 181 Metallica - Crash Course In Brain Surgery 182 10000 Maniacs - Hey Jack Kerouac 183 Faith No More - Get Out 184 URSA - Wizard's Path 185 Jefferson Airplane - Aerie (Gang of Eagles) 186 Tower of Power - Just Enough and Too Much 187 Fred Hughes - san francisco is a lonely town 188 Mamaleek - Eating Unblessed Meat 189 Moby Grape - Naked If I Want To 190 Exodus - Metal Command 191 Pig Destroyer - Alcatraz Metaphors 192 the Donnas - You Make Me Hot 193 Hot Tuna - True Religion 194 Heathen - Opiate of the Masses 195 Fanny - Come and Hold Me 196 Sadus - Hands Of Fate 197 Negative Trend - Meathouse 198 Forbidden - Forbidden Evil 199 Spazz - Crush Kill Destroy 200 Testament - The Preacher 201 HEXX - Morbid Reality 202 Vio-Lence - Phobophobia 203 Dead Kennedys - One Way Ticket To Pluto 204 Tom Waits - Get Behind The Mule 205 CRETIN - It 206 RAMONES - Judy Is A Punk 207 Full House - Intro 208 Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band - Kerouac 209 Primus - Dirty Drowning Man 210 Wooden Shjips - Motorbike 211 The Tony Williams Lifetime Ego - Clap City 212 Middle of the Road - Sacramento (A Wonderful Town) 213 Green Day - At the Library 214 Slayer - Gemini 215 Tetema - Cutlass Eye 216 Defiance - Death Machine 217 Brisco County Jr theme 218 Doug McKechnie - Crazy Ray 219 Ulthar - Furnace Hibernation 220 Mr. Bungle - ANARCHY UP YOUR ANUS 221 Dirty Ghosts - Let It Pretend 222 They Might Be Giants - San Francisco (In Situ) 223 Metallica - The Shortest Straw 224 OM - Unitive Knowledge of the Godhead 225 Laaz Rockit - City's Gonna Burn 226 Autopsy - Skullptures 227 Mordred - Spectacle of Fear 228 Sly & the Family Stone - Luv N' Haight 229 Possessed - Seven Churches 230 Machine Head - The Rage to Overcome 231 Thelonius Monk - San Francisco Holiday 232 The Units - The Mission Is Bitchin 233 Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - Mistadobalina 234 Arnocorps - Dead lift 235 The Grateful Dead - The Golden Road 236 DRI - All for nothing 237 Jim Martin - Disco dust 238 Thee Oh Sees - I come from the mountain 239 Death Angel - Discontinued 240 Starship - We Built This City 241 Captured! by Robots - Endless Circle of Bullshit 242 Pins Of Light - My revenge 243 Sun Ra - We Travel the Spaceways 244 Faith No More - caffeine 245 David Lee Roth - Just like paradise 246 San Francisco Fog Horns by Golden Gate Bridge 247 Abscess - Tormented 248 Mortuous - Bitterness 249 Dead Kennedy's - California uber alles 250 Twitch Angry - San Francisco 666 Neurosis - Water Is Not Enough

So, hop on a cable car, grab ice cream at Swenson’s or bark back at the seals down by Pier 39. Catch a Bear’s game at Berkeley and do some squirmy sax moves in the Haight after you down some beers at the Toronado and play my San Fran playlist! Here are the songs in the link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC1-HLG9q5rZLsqs8EYh6bhu-

#san francisco #san francisco playlist #Bay Area Thrash #haightashbury #high on fire #jello biafra #sun ra #metallica #mike patton #exodus #captured! by robots #om #jack kerouac #oakland #neurosis

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strangerthingsharrington · 5 years ago

Text

Can’t Fight This Feeling

-7-

"The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly," Robin and I spoke together.

"Why would they be talking about China if they're here in Hawkins?" I wondered, looking at the sheet of paper in front of us with the translated code.

I looked to Robin, she looked equally as confused, "I dont know...maybe they're working together on something?"

I sighed, shrugging my shoulders lightly, "But then why be in Hawkins? Russia is a lot closer to China, so why come all the way to Hawkins?"

Knock knock knock

Robin and I both looked at the back door of the store, she quickly looked to the front of the store before crawling gracefully though the partition and off the shelf where I was sitting, I slid off of it to join her.

"There's something here," I muttered quietly to her as we reached the back door, "they're in Hawkins for a reason, Robin."

"Agreed," she said quietly before opening the back door where a delivery man in a blue uniform was standing.

Robin took the clipboard from him to sign. I looked at the man and politely smiled at him before I looked down, as my mind continued to race.

Week is long. Silver cat. Blue meets yellow. Trip to China. Tread lightly.

Week is long. Silver cat.

"Thanks," Robin said quietly.

I looked up at the man before I caught the writing on his chest. Lynx.

I squinted before looking to Robin who had a bewildered look on her face. I looked back to the man who looked at us strangely before taking a step back and turning to walk away from us.

But not before I saw it.

He began walking down the hallway and I pulled Robin into the back hallway and pointed at his retreating back.

A silver cat.

We both looked at each other in amazement. Had we just cracked part of this code?

She pulled me back inside the shop and closed the door, locking it behind us.

"Holy shit," I whispered, looking at my friend.

She ran a hand through her short hair and looked at me with wide eyes.

“Holy shit," she agreed.

Realization set in. Starcourt. We already knew it was all happening at Starcourt. But clues and message were related back here. We would be able to crack this code because of the mall.

She lunged and grabbed the notebook and she ran from the back room with me right on her heels.

“Louise, you're never gonna believe who Dustin thought was a Russian," I heard Steve say, but I didn't even bother to look for him.

"You did too!" Dustin defended as Robin and I ran between the two of them.

I heard them calling both our names but we didn't stop. We ran into the middle of the sitting area and stepped up onto a bench.

"A trip to China sounds nice," we kept repeating to each other as we turned slowly in circles, looking to find the answer to this.

The florescent glow caught me. Imperial Panda.

"A trip to China," I smiled, motioning to Robin.

She nodded to me, "Tread lightly," she directed us to find this one next.

I suddently felt my whole body go warm at the same time. I was clenching my fists and releasing them over and over. We were so close to solving this. We were almost there.

"Lou!" Robin exclaimed, grabbing my hand, I looked at her and she nodded her head to the second level of the mall. Kaufman Shoes.

"If you tread lightly," she breathed out.

"When blue meets yellow in the west," I began whipping my head around trying to figure out this last one. I turned slowly and saw it. The big neon clock. A blue and yellow hand. When blue meets yellow in the west...at 9:45.

I latched my hand around Robins wrist, she had seen it too.

"When blue meets yellow in the west," we chorused.

"Holy shit we did it," I marvelled, looking at her.

She looked back to me with wide eyes, "We cracked it," she said as a small smile took over her face.

"Louise!" I looked over and saw Steve looking up at me with a perplexed look with Dustin next to him with the same look on his face, "Robin...what are you guys going?"

"We cracked it," she said quietly with a small excited smile, "we cracked the code."

Both the boys eyes went wide, "Seriously?" Dustin asked.

I nodded, grinning, "Yeah...we figured it out! We did it!"

A small smile took over Steve's face when we made eye contact, "You're a genius, Lou," he said before looking over to Robin where his face turned red, "both of you," he added hastily.

"Well come on," Dustin interjected, "let's discuss it in the privacy of the shop."

Robin hopped down from the bench and high-fived my awaiting brother.

Steve extended his hand towards me with a small smile, "Let me help."

I grinned and let out a small laugh, too excited about figuring out the code in such a short amount of time to even think twice about taking Steve's hand for the second time in two days.

I took his hand and let him help me from the two foot tall bench. He smiled back at me, "I'm serious...for you guys to figure it all out...genius."

I breathed out a laugh and let go of his hand to push some hair behind my ears. He used his suddenly unoccupied hand and ran it through his usual perfectly coiffed hair.

"Just a bit of dumb luck," I shrugged.

"Lou," Dustin said quietly from next to me.

I looked down at him and saw his big smile,

"Come on, let's talk about it at the shop," he said before leaving with Robin right next to him.

I took a few steps to follow behind them but turned to make sure Steve was with me. Which he wasn't. He was still standing at the bench in his dopey little Scoops uniform with his knee high socks. It was Steve. The same Steve I had known of my entire life. King Steve.

But in that instant he looked like a completely different person. Not the same one that I had known of forever. His face was relaxed and he had a small grin still there that seemed to grow when he realized I was looking for him to follow.

"Come on, Steve!" I called over to him, waving him over with my hand.

He was by my side in an instant and I, brazenly, wrapped my arm around his and walked side by side with him.

I was feeling almost euphoric walking with Steve because of figuring out the code. My heart rate felt accelerated and I felt like I couldn't get my brain to focus. I just felt so happy.

I let go of Steve's arm only when we got past the counter of the shop and we went in the back where Dustin and Robin were getting settled into chairs. I took a seat across from Dustin and Robin, with Steve taking the empty spot on my other side.

"Okay...so what are we looking at here?" Dustin asked looking from me to Robin.

Robin and I took turns explaining sections of the story, filling them in on the fully translated code, the delivery man, and finding the other parts of message within the mall.

Dustin and Steve listened intently with small smiles on their faces, every so often their brows would lift up in surprise.

"Holy shit," Dustin said once Robin completed the whole explanation.

"So, now what?" I asked, looking across the table at Dustin.

He sighed, "I'm not sure," he shrugged, "when blue meets yellow in the west is the time. So nine forty five tonight. We should probably check out the loading dock."

"So a stake out?" Steve confirmed, I looked to him and nodded.

"We need to know what they're bringing in there, the schedule and the comings and goings," Robin said, propping her foot up onto her chair.

“We have to go up there tonight," I stated, "we've come this far...we're checking it out and we're going to find out what's in there. What they're hiding and why they're in Hawkins."

—-

Steve and Robin rushed through their closing, we left the store with Steve closing the gate and locking it up. We walked through the doors that that led us through the back halls of the mall before we found the roof access. We all followed Steve up to the little door where he pushed it open and I could instantly hear the rushing of the water from the rain.

I pulled my raincoat close to me and pulled the hood over my head, Steve looked back to the rest of us, "Ready?"

I nodded back to him as Robin and Dust confirmed that they were too.

"Stay low," Steve reminded us.

He turned and ducked down before making his way to the ledge with us following behind him.

It was quite dark out and thankfully the rain would, hopefully, cover up any additional noise that we might have made.

We got to the ledge and looked over it, at the delivery people coming unloading trucks.

"Two guards at the door," Steve said, leaning over the ledge more.

Dustin went to his bag and pulled out his binoculars, he brought them up and kept watching.

I wiped away rain that had fallen into my face and began to shiver slightly, partially from the cold rain and the realization that this was a serious situation. It was kind of fun to crack the code and all that shit...but now we were looking for Russian spies and trying to find out what they were doing here. We were digging ourselves deeper and deeper and soon we wouldn't be able to dig ourselves back out of this hole.

"Make sure you look for Kaufman Shoes and Imperial Panda deliveries," I reminded Dustin.

He nodded and continued looking through his binoculars, I tried readjusting my raincoat but the rain was slowly starting to dampen my sweatshirt. I ran my hands up my arms to try and create some friction to warm myself up again, but it was useless.

"You okay?" Steve asked me.

I looked over at him, "Yeah," I said quickly, "just cold, I guess."

"Do you want my jacket?" he asked quickly, going to remove his coat.

I shook my head quickly, "I'm good, Steve. But thank you."

"Whistling man, ten o'clock," Dustin said.

"What do you think he's got in there?" Steve asked.

"Guns, bombs," Dustin started.

"Chemical weapons," added Robin.

"Whatever it is, they're armed to the teeth," Dustin said, I squinted and could see, clear as anything even through the heavy downpour that the two men guarding the door were armed with guns. Really big guns.

"Great...that's great," Steve groaned, wiping his eyes from the rain.

One of the guards went to the door and suddenly it opened. Maybe a passcode or key card?

"What do you thinks in there?" I asked.

"It's just more boxes!" Dustin said quickly, not pulling the binoculars away from his face.

"Let me check it out," Steve said, blindly reaching for Dustin's binoculars.

"No-I'm still looking!"

"Let me see it!" Steve insisted.

"Dustin, let him look," I calmly told my brother, wouldn't hurt to have Steve check it out too.

"No, in a minute!" he snapped.

Then the binoculars were slammed against the metal ledge making an extremely loud banging sound.

"Shit," I said quietly, just before the guards took on an alerted position, holding their guns tighter to themselves.

The four of us ducked down at the same time so we would be hidden from view of the guards. Even though I knew they would still come to investigate a sound that was so out of the ordinary.

I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped onto the loose gravel under my hands out of fear. The gravel was replaced by Steve's hand within seconds holding it tightly and squeezing.

I opened my eyes and looked over at him, he was staring back at me with wide eyes.

"We have to go, they're going to come look," I told him.

He looked from me to the door that led us up here and nodded, "Let's make a break for it guys," Steve said to us, before getting up and ducking low and running back towards the door.

Once we were back in the door I dropped Steve's hand again to brush off some of the water from my coat and push some out of my hair.

"Quick," I panted, as I began leading them back down the stairwell. We got the bottom but we came to a fork, and I knew that one of the guards was going to be coming up any second. I knew which way we came in, it was closest to where the guard would be, so I started heading down the other hall.

"Lou! This way!" Dustin called.

I looked back and shook my head, "He's going to be coming through that door! Trust me!"

I heard their footsteps scurry behind me, just as we reached another set of doors marked mall entrance we heard the faint sound of another door being thrown open.

"Good call, Lou," Steve gushed.

I smiled over at him, "Well," I began and looked to Dustin, "guess we found your Russian."

I pushed open the door and found ourselves on the opposite end of the mall from where Scoops Ahoy was. We continued speed walking over towards the other end.

We didn't stop until we reached the doors at the parking lot where Steve parked his car that morning. That felt like ages ago.

The four of us ran through the rain and into Steve's car, me in the front and Robin and Dustin in the back.

"We have to get in there," I said instantly.

"We've come this far," Robin agreed, "I'm finding out what the hell is in there."

"Tomorrow," Dustin stated, as Steve left the malls parking lot, "we'll figure out a way in tomorrow morning."

"I'll pick everyone up," Steve told us.

I say silently in the front seat with my thoughts. But the adrenaline was still pumping through my whole body. That was close. Too close. We have to be smarter tomorrow when we tried to get in the room and get to the bottom of this.

By the time we got to our house Dustin had come up with about ten thousand way to get it which included finding a way to disguise ourselves and get access and ended with him thinking we could dig our way in there.

Dustin offered a swift goodbye to Steve before leaping out of the car before it was fully in park and slamming it shut behind him.

I opened the car door, "See you tomorrow, Steve!" I said before taking a step out.

"Lou?"

I looked back to Steve, "Yeah?" I asked as my leg began getting soaked because the door was still open.

He hesitated and began rubbing the steering wheel, "Lou...you don't have to do this," he told me quietly, "this could be dangerous, you know? I...um, don't want you to get hurt or anything."

I stared at him and watched his eyes dart back and forth while he looked at me, I closed my eyes and smiled slightly.

"Don't ruin all the fun, Steve," I said jokingly, "I still need more information for my what I did this summer essay," I said, throwing it back to our first conversation in the back of Scoops Ahoy.

He smiled at me and nodded, "Yeah...yeah if you're sure then okay. I'll um, see you tomorrow then."

"Bye Steve," I said quietly before getting out of the car, shutting the door and running over to my door that Dustin had left open for me.

I went to shut it, only to find that, once again, Steve was still sitting in his car with the window down, surly getting drenched. He raised his hand in a small wave to me which I returned before he finally began backing out fo the drive way and I finally shut the door.

I walked straight to my room, the exhaustion was finally setting in after the events of the day and the lack of sleep from the night before.

But even though I was beyond tired, my mind continued to race at an alarming speed and I couldn't quiet it down. I kept running through everything over the past few days and it was filling me with fear, stress, anxiety, eagerness, adrenaline and excitement.

Russian code. Star court. Steve smiling at me. Guards. Imperial Panda. Steve grabbing my hand. Translation. Steve driving me home. Steve making me laugh. Maybe he wasn't a jerk anymore. Maybe he hides it more.

Finally, thankfully, my eyelids became too heavy and I drifted off.

—-

Title credit to REO Speedwagon and gif credit to owner!

#steve harrington #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x reader #stranger things #stranger things imagine #dustin henderson #netflix

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poc-movie-supremacy · 5 years ago

Text

Guardian Angel

Remember that post I made with Joey as beth’s guardian angel? Yeah I turned it into a fic. I hope you guys like it! Comments likes and reblogs are appreciated. Enjoy!

----

Joey opens his eyes to see a vast auditorium. He’s in a magician’s costume that mimick’s the one his father used to wear. The crowd is cheering, and applauding for him, but he doesn’t know why. He can’t really remember anything, and he’s freaking out.

The crowd asks for another trick and he gives them one like its muscle memory. The trick was complex. It was a trick he never learned.

Joey opened his mouth to call for his father. No sound came out of his mouth. The crowds cheered loudly for him, but it wasn’t happy applause. It had a dark undertone to it, and Joey kept performing tricks, scared of what would happen to him if he stopped.

After a few hours, probably, someone called for him. Hastily Joey bowed to the audience and followed the person backstage. “Dad, Mom!”

They took him to this house, theirs apparently. No one explained anything to him. When he hugged his parents, he realized his side was hurting. Joey asked his mom about it, but she just bit back tears and tried not to cry. He didn’t want to upset her further, so he decided to figure it out on his own.

The doors to the house opened up and he saw his grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles all waving excitedly at him. They ushered them into the house hugging them and talking happily as they went in. He winced as they continued to hug him on his bad side. Joey was confused. He went to all their funerals, or the ones who...

Died

When, he lost his card, and he knelt down, and..

Suddenly Joey shivered like someone stepped on his grave. Wait. Suddenly as he got a vision, or something, he could see his actual grave with someone kneeling on it. They were wearing sneakers, jeans and a blue sweater decorated with yellow stars. Their hair was in an afro-oh Joey realized that the person knelling on his grave was Beth.

He strained to hear what she was telling him. “I got you these flowers, I remember you said you liked them cause your aunt used to grow flowers. She was at the funeral. Cameron was there too.” Beth bit back a sob and put on a watery smile. “I think he misses you. His dad’s back in town too. They said it was weird. Ice on the roads, in the middle of fall. Anyways, I finished that book we were reading, the Witching hour. The one with the famous female magician. It was a good book. The girl, she’s so brave. Her father ended up being super proud of her. You would’ve liked it.” Beth had to pause to let a few sobs lose.

Joey felt like he was going to have a panic attack. He want to go to Beth, and comfort her. Tell her it would be alright, but his mind was already taking him to an old memory. It was the day they died, but the scope of the picture was wider than what he remember. In the trees there was a man looking like a cracked ice sculpture examining the scene before him. Joey wondered why this moment was important. Then Ice Sculpture man blew out and he saw his card move.

“No.” Joey didn’t think that could’ve been the reason he died. Then the man shifted and he looked like... Mr. Mahkent? Joey watched him further, through different memories to see what the hell was actually going on throughout Blue Valley.

~~~

So... superheroes were a thing. He watched proudly as Beth managed to save Yolanda from Mrs. Brooks. Joey really wished he didn’t have to see her in that outfit, though. Their fighting was incredible, although a small part of him did worry for Beth’s safety. He watched somewhat closely to make sure Beth was ok.

~~~

The ISA’s words echoed in his head. They wanted to kill the Junior JSA. Beth. Joey watched their every move more carefully to make sure Beth doesn’t join him anytime soon. Soon, he realized he had some control on the comings and goings down on earth. As he watched over them, he tested out his abilities.

Joey noted how much time the school delinquent, Rick Harris, spent with Beth. It was interesting to say the least. Rick seemed to almost soften with Beth. “You always were special Beth.” Joey whispered fondly.

Yolanda smiled more often now. A weight, even a tiny bit, seemed to have lifted off her shoulders. Now, she’s happy. Joey’s happy for her. He also notes that she has a special smile reserved for just Courtney. Joey smiles happy knowing that one of the happiest girls in school finally seems happy again.

He knew everything was going to go to shit the minute Dr. King woke up. He didn’t think it would be this bad, though. Dr. King is in cahoots with Mr. Mahkent and they plan on doing diabolical things together. Henry Jr. teams up with the JSA. Joey winces at Courtney’s choices, but it’s interesting to note how Yolanda handled the situation and why Courtney choose him. Joey wondered if Courtney ever got lonely in her childhood.

It gives him a headache to try and keep an eye on all of the JSA members at once. At first he kept his main focus on Courtney, Yolanda, and Henry and prayed that Rick kept an eye on Beth.

Soon though, he realized that Courtney and Yolanda worked well together and Rick was trying to release a seven-foot zombie. Thankfully, Joey doesn’t need to intervene because Beth’s voice filled with terror was enough to distract Rick from Solomon Grundy. They eventually met up with the others by a gate, the last obstacle from the main world. Meanwhile Joey took a minute to close the door to Solomon Grundy’s cage. It wasn’t open by much, but he’d rather be safe than sorry. When he caught up with them, Henry was facing his father while the other JSA members watched on in horror.

When Joey saw the tunnel start to rumble and crash down on him he used his powers to simultaneously protect the JSA and hit Henry King Sr. square in the head. Before going to see a former classmate, Joey made sure that Pat and Barbara picked up the JSA from the tunnels.

“Nice to see you again, Henry.” Henry King Jr. new ghost stared at him confused.

“You’re dead.”

“I’ll explain on the way. Come on, I get anxious if I’m not keeping an eye on the Junior JSA for a while.” Henry looked at him confused.

“You did a wonderful job protecting them and all.” Joey complimented Henry as they walked to Joey’s house.

After Joey assimilated Henry to the afterlife, Joey showed Henry a bunch of magic tricks as they let the lives of the Junior JSA play out in the background. “Do they like each other?” Henry asked Joey. Beth and Rick were sitting in one of the old cars in Pat’s auto shop. Beth was trying to understand how the car worked while Rick was examining his father’s notebook. In other words they were desperately ignoring the fact they saw their classmate die in front of them.

“Probably? But then again, I used to spend time with Beth and we weren’t dating.”

“You weren’t?”

Joey wonders if he should tell Henry that he’s actually gay, but he thinks that’s something to save for later. “No, Beth’s just... She’s one of a kind.” Henry nodded like he agreed with Joey and they continued trying out different magic tricks. Joey wanted to see what they could accomplish with Henry’s telepathic abilities. The possibilities are endless.

Henry looked torn when they found out about the ISA’s plan. “I died for- we died for this? This is why my dad murdered me? Why aren’t they just politicans?” Joey shrugged helplessly at Henry.

“My father is way too damn dramatic. You didn’t have to kill me for this stupid plan to work!” Henry screamed at the window to the other world.

“They are definitely too extreme in their methods. Come on and focus, Henry, they still want to kill our friends.” Henry nodded and he and Joey kept a close eye on what was happening.

“They’re splitting up in too many different ways.” Henry complained.

“Well, let’s focus on the guy’s in the tunnel and keep everyone else in the background.” Joey said. They watched as the JSA and the ISA versed each other. Joey was impressed at how much their fighting abilites improved.

Henry wanted to puke when he saw his dad masquerade as him to try and trick Yolanda. “He’s going to hurt her.” Henry panicked.

“Save her, use your powers, I’m going to keep an eye on the rest of them. “ Joey split the window in threes. One on Yolanda, one on the battle in the tunnels, and another on Beth. Henry channelled his ghostly powers to subconsciously warn Yolanda of his father’s trickery. She slashed his throat and she watched him die. Joey cheered happily, then gasped when Cindy stabbed her father. Henry and Joey looked at each other stunned.

“I mean, you shouldn’t gass your kids.” Joey reasoned.

Henry nodded in agreement. “Gambler’s releasing Grundy and sending Jordan after Beth.”

“You take Grundy and I’ll take Jordan.” Joey told him. The window was now split in two one on Grundy and one on Beth.

“Hey he’s taking off the robot arms!” Joey noted that Rick had four minutes left on his hour.

“Help me rewind the hourglass.”

“What?”

“Come on, put more time on his clock.” It took a lot of strength, but they managed to give Rick one extra minute. Sadly though, they didn’t realize how close Jordan was to Beth and Barbara.

They were too late to save Chuck, but Joey managed to heal Beth’s concussion from her slam against the wall. He stayed with her until Yolanda ushered her out the door to watch Jordan and Courtney fight each other.

Somehow Jordan managed to survive the fall. Joey looked for ways to somehow help the JSA when he saw it. Mike drove along the street haphazardly until Joey guided the car straight into Icicle. (It was the only straight thing he ever did). Not all the ISA members were taken down that day, but their heavy hitters were. Joey finally relaxed knowing that Beth and the others were safe.

~~~

Beth kneeled in front of Joey’s grave uncaring of the fact her jeans were now dirty. “Hey Joey. Long time no see. Sorry about that. It’s been a hectic few months. Jordan died. It’s funny in a horrible way, he also died getting hit by a truck. Can’t wait for the influx of drunk driving talks in school.” Beth paused as she thought. Rick waited calmly a little ways behind her. They had been planning on going to the ice cream parlor, but she wanted to take a detour. “I’m not as lonely as before.” She whispered to the grave. “I have friends now. Rick doesn’t mind my rambling, and Yolanda also read the Witching hour. She said we can discuss it together. I lost Chuck, but Rick says he can fix it. I hope he’s right. I have to go, but I thought I should say that I miss you. I hope you and Henry are having a wonderful time up wherever you are. Bye.”

Joey discreetly wiped tears from his eyes. “I miss you too Beth. We’re okay. Me and Henry? We’re okay.”

#stargirl #beth chapel #joey zarik #henry king jr #rick tyler #yolanda montez #beth & joey #ella's stargirl fics #we're all fic writers here

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poppibranchlover · 5 years ago

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Nine Lives, One Fight - Part 27

The story: Deep in the forest of Troll Town, there lies a mysterious tiny purple mushroom that has a secret magical ability. King Peppy calls this mushroom forbidden for all Trolls to go near it. One day, while Branch is out in the woods doing his survival research studying, he encounters it and, not knowing it is a regular mushroom, decides to harvest it and bring it home. But in the next morning, its magic effects transform him into a small blue cat! After being sent to the animal pound, his girlfriend, Poppy, finds him and decides to adopt him, although not recognizing it is Branch. Desperate to finish his research project due for a special event invented by Poppy, Branch is forced to learn how to behave like a pet cat and must figure out what caused him to become one.

You already seen what had happened in Part 26. Now get ready for Part 27!:

After attending the Troll Disappearance Investigation’s conference meeting, Poppy sat on a big red mushroom, sad and alone. During the meeting, the Trolls have decided to form an individual search party for the Archaeo morphisis mushroom and the missing Troll who had accidentally picked it up and left Poppy in charge to find more clues herself. But to her, she felt like if Branch were with her, he would have helped her.

Unfortunately, she already knew that Branch was not here for her right now. She slumped down on her red mushroom chair and sighed, still thinking about her boyfriend, when she heard the sound of big thumping footsteps.

Biggie, who was cradling Mr. Dinkles in his arms, approached Poppy. He saw her looking very sad and dejected. “Poppy, are you okay?” he asked, putting a hand to her shoulder. “I’m sorry that an investigation group had to recover the mushroom’s disappearance for you.”

“No, Biggie,” Poppy admitted sadly. “You were right.”

“I was?” asked Biggie. “About what in the who, now?”

“This is hard,” Poppy replied. “I know it is. But I just wish there is some other way we can do to find him.”

Biggie placed his hand to her back and comforted her. “Oh, it will be okay. That investigation agency seems to be doing all they can to go against everything Troll Village stands for,” he told her.

“Yes they do,” Poppy said, agreeing. She stood up from her chair and hung her head as the gravity of the situation took hold. “I spoke through the conference regarding the missing Archaeo morphisis mushroom’s whereabouts, and they told me that I’m in charge on reviewing their evidence once they find more clues.”

Biggie couldn’t believe his ears, and so did Mr. Dinkles. “Poppy, I can’t believe you are doing this,” he said in a scared voice. “How are you gonna prove that the mushroom can still be found?” For a big Troll like him, he was not a big fan of mysterious conspiracies.

“Don’t worry about my situation, Biggie,” Poppy reassured him. “It’s just that I’m now Queen and I know what I must do to set things right.”

“Why do you say that so sadly?” Biggie asked. He thought it was the most exciting he’d heard all year.

Poppy slumped on her chair and put her head into her hands. She always did what was best for her village’s history. She had never thought things would come to this.

“We have to keep looking for the last remaining Archaeo morphisis mushroom...and…Branch,” she explained. As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes and she hugged Biggie, feeling like she had missed Branch more than ever.

“Oh,....are you okay?” he asked.

Poppy wasn’t sure that “okay” was the right word. She felt sick to her stomach. “I could really use a bright side, Biggie.”

“Um?” He thought of something that was sure to cheer her up. Looking at Mr. Dinkles for any advice, he said “Worms can wiggle their sides through excitement, and maybe you’ll find a perfect solution.”

Biggie pointed to the right, where he saw King Peppy rushing towards them.

Poppy saw her father and frantically ran up to him. “Any word from the TDI?” she asked.

King Peppy straightened his cane. “Not yet, Poppy,” he explained. “Their search has just recently started shortly after our conference meeting. But since you’re the Queen, it’s your responsibility to lead them. Our backup is searching in every part of the woods for the mushroom.”

Biggie spoke up. “So, do we need to check the woods again?”

“I’m afraid not,” Peppy told him sadly. “That’s definitely the location we last checked a few days ago.”

“But Dad, what if we’re unable to find any more clues?” Poppy asked, raising her voice with worry. “I’m starting to think my job of research is losing confidence.” She hung her head and sighed. Being a queen was never an easy responsibility.

King Peppy walked closer to her. “Are you okay, dear?” he asked. “You need a break?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine,” Poppy confirmed, nodding. “It’s just that…everything is fine. Let’s hope our backup did their best they can.”

Peppy gave her a big hug. “There, there. It’s alright, Poppy,” he said gently. “Of course, we’ll find a way to solve these situations. But one day, you’re gonna do what’s best for your people. You know what I mean?”

“I think so,” Poppy whispered, unable to show her dad and Biggie that she couldn’t stop thinking about the one person she had loved. Deep down, she knew that Branch would always know what to do whenever there is a conspiracy happening in her village. She lifted her eyes to meet her father’s for a brief moment before she brushed past him to walk away.

“Where are you going?” King Peppy asked.

“With luck, forward,” Poppy said, turning back to him for a second. “I need some time alone in my room.”

Wiping her tears, she walked away to get back to her pod. Biggie and King Peppy sadly watched her go, having no idea what she did wanted.

Far from Troll Village, the garbage truck drove its way to the local village dump. It passed by a sign that read DUMP and entered the landfill site.

At the truck’s back loader, Branch and Wiggles held on to the edge as it rotated and began to back up before it suddenly lurched to a halt at a cliff.

Seeing how high this cliff is, Branch quickly jumped out of the truck and retreated to a rock to hide. Wiggles did the same as well, hoping not to fall down there.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!

As the two of them are no longer in the garbage truck, the back flap of it opened, releasing piles of garbage into the landfill. The face of the truck sighed as all the trash rained down from the cliff.

From their rock, Branch and Wiggles watched the garbage truck doing its work.

Looking around to see if no one saw them, Branch stepped out of the rock. Wiggles hopped right next to him, looking a bit concerned.

“Why are we here, Branch?” he asked. “I don’t think it is a good idea to enter the village dump!”

Branch spotted a toll gate leading to the entrance of the dump in the distance. “Yeah, I know it’s not. But I think the Archaeo morphisis might be in here,” he said, pushing the bunny aside.

“But...” Wiggles began. He wanted to get out of here before the Trolls see them entering their property.

Branch covered his mouth with his paw. “Shhh! Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll get back to the village soon before Poppy comes home. Let’s have a look around. Follow me!”

He sprang into action, running towards the front gate. Wiggles ran after him, not wanting to put his friend at great risk. They sprinted through the gate, where a security guard in the toll booth was sleeping. The Troll seemed unaware of the two animals passing by the gate as he was snoring with his eyes closed.

Making their way past the entrance, Branch and Wiggles sped toward the center of a vast landfill. Endless piles of all kinds of garbage such as leftover candy wrappers, spilled ice cream cones, bottles, cans, apple cores, banana peels, ruined cupcake wrappers and so many wasted junk like broken radios and worn-out DJ music players are all piled into mountains and scattered everywhere in the area. The stench of all these made Wiggles and Branch held their breath with disgust.

“Yuck! It’s so stinky in here!” Wiggles complained, holding his nose. “How are we gonna find the mushroom in here?”

“We’re gonna have to search carefully,” Branch said as he prepared to investigate. “Start sorting out the rubbish until we find it. You take the right while I search left!”

Then he ran off to the garbage piles to start searching for the magic mushroom. Wiggles rolled his eyes and hopped to the right side of the area.

Sorting through the mountains of rubbish, Branch navigated his way past them, sniffing the air as his paws moved along some scattered trash on the ground. Except when you’re a cat, trash doesn’t feel like trash. It feels nice and soft and gooey, and your paws don’t get so tired.

Branch prowled around the landfill area, sniffing around with his nose. It stank in here, but it works fine for him because he was a cat, and some cats are okay to search around the dump. Passing by a pile of junk behind him, he sprinted to the next area.

In one area, Wiggles pushed past some tin cans, barrels and others that were counted as garbage. He hopped from one pile to the other, doing his best to follow Branch’s instructions.

He continued on his way when he was suddenly face-to-face with a bird. The beaked animal had a ripped-part of a six pack ring on its neck and squawked with pain.

“What are you even looking at, feathers?” Wiggles asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

The bird was telling him to remove the six pack ring from its neck as it pointed a wing to it. Wiggles tried to take it off but the bird began pecking at his head. He swatted at the bird. It grabbed him and dragged him along the rubbish pile. Finally, Wiggles managed to remove the six pack ring from the bird’s neck and landed a good, solid kick. The bird pecked him again and then it flew off.

“Yeah, fly away, ya coward!” Wiggles shook his paw-fist in anger. Dropping the six pack ring back into the garbage, he hopped off to find Branch.

As he moved further away in the dump, Branch looked around as he trotted along, taking in the mountains full of discarded, rotting garbage. “Whoa, cool,” he said, amazed by the work the garbage-collecting Trolls have put through.

Passing piles of trash and molding fish bones, Branch pulled back from the stench of a dirty puddle and made a face. “Eeuagh!” he cried, disgusted. “Gross!”

He thought he should have not come here in the first place, but he’d somehow told himself to go there. Turning toward a big mountain of trash, Branch jumped to it and started digging, hoping that the Archaeo morphisis mushroom was in this pile.

Sweeping his paws through the rubbish, he spotted something purple from underneath it. Could it be it? Could it be the mushroom he was looking for? He picked the purple object up with his mouth and took it out from the dirty pile. Looking down at the object he was holding, Branch realized that it wasn’t the Archaeo morphisis.

Instead, what he was holding in his mouth was an empty shriveled purple-colored candy wrapper. Disgusted, Branch spat it out. “BLEGH!!! Ugh!” That was definitely not the kind of object he was looking for!

He hopped out of the pile and onto the ground. He had to keep looking for that Archaeo morphisis mushroom, and he wanted to search for it here to see if it had entered the dump after he left it behind near the dog’s trash can.

As Branch looked up at the full moon in the sky, he knew there wasn’t much time left. He decided to stay and keep on searching before time runs out and he’ll be completely cat forever. Narrowing his eyes with determination, he kept walking around the dump, desperate to keep looking.

Sprinting toward a space where there is not much garbage, Branch sniffed and cautiously looked around. Suddenly, he was bathed in light as he saw something coming toward him! “Huh?”

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!

A huge bulldozer was heading straight for Branch! He screeched in horror, with his back arching in the air. “MEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWRRRRRR!!!!”

Seconds before he was about to get swept up in a towering hill of garbage, a ball of white-grey fur slammed right into him, knocking him away from the bulldozer’s path!

“BRANCH!!!” Wiggles yelled as he pushed him to safety. “Hang on, little buddy! I got you!”

The bulldozer surged forward, pushing the pile of rubbish through a road. Luckily, it didn’t swept Branch away because he was saved by Wiggles, who was very worried for his friend’s safety.

Branch and Wiggles tumbled to the ground, safe from the dread of the huge bulldozer. Branch was panting so hard that he got very scared of the giant vehicle.

Wiggles got up on his legs. He didn’t look quite happy at his idea of entering the dump. “I told you that the dump is too dangerous to explore!” he shouted angrily. “I suggest we change the plan and head home. No purple mushroom to see here!”

Branch shook his head. “There’s no time, Wiggles!” he said impatiently. “It will be sunrise soon! We have to stay and keep looking or else I’ll be 'full cat'!”

Wiggles looked up at him in shock. He looked back at the toll gate, which is now far away from them, and protested “What about Poppy?! You don’t care about her, do you?!”

“She’ll be fine!” Branch argued, unable to take it anymore. He got up on his four legs and started walking. “We need to hurry!”

“But she’ll be upset if you end up getting caught out here!” Wiggles said, holding on to his back leg.

Branch shoved him away. “Poppy will be fine without me!” he had angrily screamed these words. “She’s taking a job in the TDI agency and doesn’t need my help anymore!” The pain pierced his voice as he shouted at Wiggles, who shrank back at his outburst.

Then, looking all calmer now, Branch told him “Let me continue on my own, okay?”

Wiggles doesn’t like where this is going. He wanted to make sure he is safe at home with Poppy, and he don’t want him to become feral again. “But…your brain will…” he started to say, but Branch cut him off.

“I can handle this, Wiggles,” he said, raising his head with determination. “I won’t mess up this time.”

Branch took a deep breath and scurried forward. Wiggles had no other choice but to follow him behind, worried that something might happen to him in the middle of his searching.

To Be Continued...

Stay tuned for Part 28!

#dreamworks trolls #branch #cat #cat branch #branch the cat #wiggles #wiggles the rabbit #cat branch story #nine lives one fight #fanfiction #poppy #biggie #mr dinkles #king peppy

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notyetneedcoffee · 6 years ago

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Place In The Woods

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x OFC

Bucky Barnes still doesn’t know who is, but he knows what he’s not. He’s not HYDRAs weapon anymore. He knows he’s not really the Soldier. He knows he needs to remember the man he was. He didn’t know that an encounter, no matter how brief, with a very special woman would start him down the right path.

Notes: Takes place immediately after the river scene in CA:WS. Explicit content. Swearing. Smut. And just a touch of fluff. No breaks in story cannon.

Warning 18+ angsty, fluff and smut to follow.

Few headlights past him on the rural road late in the night. Bucky Barnes just drove vaguely north in the stolen 2004 Ford F-150. He had no idea where he was or what may be nearby. Whenever a city seemed closed, he turned the truck in the other direction and stayed as far away from people as possible. Functioning on auto-pilot, he just put distance between himself and the scene.

After pulling Steve Rogers from the water, he found a hidden spot to observe. Part of him want to sit there with the stranger – the target and mission who knew more about him than he did. He felt a deep protective urge that nearly overwhelmed all his training, his common sense, even his fear. The conditioning in his head roared and railed, demanding he complete his mission.

Instead, he took up a position and waited. Bucky fought to stay himself, to hold on to free will. He battled to remain present and aware of his surroundings. He focused on the trigger that broke his bonds, this man who he knew but couldn’t remember. Sooner than should have been possible, Steve stirred. He lifted his head wearily and looked around before touching something in the wrist of his uniform. He laid back with a groan.

The sound of an engine had Bucky vacating the area, having no desire to be captured again. A beacon of some sort must be transmitting Steve’s location. He knew the rescuers could be using any number of scanning technologies and hiding would be useless. Sticking to shadows and alleys, avoiding traffic cameras and other people, Bucky finally found a locked back door to a pawn shop.

Once he snapped the lock in his left hand, the bolt not standing a chance against his prosthetic arm, he knew time was limited. Moving with expert precision, Bucky snagged a ruck sack, a leather jacket, a tactical knife, two 9mm handguns, extra magazines, boxes of shells, and a burner phone. In the office he found a petty cash envelope with $200 and hoodie that should fit. It would do.

All the emergency responders were busy at the chaos caused by the downed helicarriers, and everyone else seemed to be too busy trying find out what happened to pay much attention to a shadow skulking through the streets. He ducked into a beat-up laundromat where the few patrons gathered around the little television in the office beyond the counter. One of the gawkers looked to be about his size. The third drier Bucky checked was full of jeans and jerseys that would fit.

A rueful smile tugged at his lips when he noticed the open thermos, a copy Stephen King’s Dark Tower, and a set of keys, left forgotten amongst the excitement. The faded blue truck sat parked just around the corner. Bucky drove for nearly forty minutes before he found a remote place to pull over.

The old building looked like it may have once been a roadside grocer, but now the windows were boarded up and brush was over taking the drive. He pulled around back, hiding the truck from the road. He lucked out, finding water still flowed from the side faucet. He could clean up and change clothes.

With every piece of equipment he stripped off, strong memories of what he’d done seemed to clarify in his mind. Arm guards dropped onto the tail gate. He pushed his right forearm into the throat of a French ambassador, as he stabbed him. Holster unbuckled. Standing in the shadows of a Swiss banker’s flat, waiting for her to step through the door before shooting. Chest guard joined the pile. Hearing the man say “Bucky?” for the first time.

Suddenly his legs failed, he found himself on the ground. His chest felt too tight. The air too thick to breathe. He looked at his hands and they were shaking. He curled them into fists, but they wouldn’t stop. He panted, wanted to scream, to howl. Fuck, it hurt. He felt raw - like he was coming undone. He curled over his knees, burying his head under his arms.

I know him.

Flashes of memories assaulted his mind. The feeling of a strong hand on his shoulder. Blue eyes. A set of rickety stairs outside a building. A green and blue quilt that smelled like ivory soap and lavender. Potato soup, so hot that his belly felt warm. The smell of boot polish. Being back to back on a battle field. A red-headed nurse. Deep masculine laughter. Swing music. Coffee with milk and two sugars. Stevie laughing and calling him a jerk.

They were good memories. Bucky forced himself to breathe slower. They were all memories worth having. He wiped the tears and snot from his face.

“Get your shit together.” He told himself. “You are Bucky Barnes. Not some soulless fucking asset. You’re not a tool. You’re a person. You just need time to figure it all out. Get your ass up, change clothes, blend in, don’t get caught.”

Bucky followed his own orders. Cleaning up and changing into street clothes, he figured he’d need food and another form of transportation soon. Time to disappear.

It was beginning to get dark when Mattie Williams and Jack, her dog, made it to the cabin. It was tucked along the barrier to a state park. She would usually leave her car in the park and hike in. There were no real roads leading to the cabin, just a trails and one old logging road. Getting in with a vehicle took work. It was perfect. No one knew where she went. No one could track her.

Jack’s ears perked up as he approached the cabin. His tail went stiff. Without question, Mattie slipped her backpack off and dropped it on the wet ground. She pulled the pistol from the holster beneath her jacket. Aiming in the direction of Jack’s eye line, she tapped his back and he edged forward. Coming out of the tree line as silently as possible and hoping the light rain covered what little noise they made, she followed her well-trained dog. The cabin door was open.

She could barely see the outline of a man standing in the one room cabin, looking in the cupboards. Jack’s eyes were locked on him. He was alone. Good.

Mattie slipped closer to the door, gun held ready. “I don’t want to shoot you if you’re just hungry.” The man froze. “But I better like your answer, because out here I can kill you and no one will be the wiser.”

He turned, fierce blue eyes glaring at her from beneath long brown hair. He took one step. The dog took two, teeth bared and growling. He looked to the dog, then back at Mattie - really seeing this time. His shoulders lowered and he brought his hands in front of him in surrender.

“Better.” Mattie did not change her stance. “Best start talking. What are you doing here?”

“I didn’t think anyone was here. The place looked cleared out for the season. I was just hoping for a spot to sleep that was dry.” He spoke softly. His right hand dropped, palm up. “I’ll just leave.”

Jack padded forward, sniffing his hand. He pushed his muzzle in more, stepping closer. His ears relaxed, and tail swayed. He licked the offered hand and looked back at Mattie with a full toothy dog smile.

“Hmm.” Mattie lowered her weapon. She clicked the safety back on, but did not put it away. “Well, you past the first test. Jack.” She called and the dog came around to sit at attention on her left.

“You just going to think I’m okay because your dog licked me?”

“I trust Jack’s judgement in regards to people better than any human I know. He’s never done me wrong. Still doesn’t change the fact that you don’t look like a hiker. You’re not someone who’s living on the streets. You wouldn’t be out here.”

He stared hard at the floor. “I should go.”

Mattie heard the rain start to hit the tin roof with great ferocity. It was a forty-minute hike to the nearest park station and miles to the nearest road. “You hungry?”

He glanced up, question pulling his brows together. Then he nodded.

“Okay, there’s a woodpile around the side. Bring some in, and I’ll go get my pack.” Mattie walked out in the rain, wondering what the hell she was doing. Crouching beside her things, making sure everything was secure, Jack snuggled close. “You think he’s okay, huh, buddy? Yeah, I wonder if he’s a kindred spirit, too.” She scratched his ears. “But warn me if I’m being stupid just because he’s hot as hell, okay?”

Jack woofed and spun around. Mattie laughed.

When she stepped back inside, shaking the rain off her hair, the stranger was loading wood into the old cast iron stove. At least he knew what he was doing. She took a cleansing breath and slipped the gun back into its holster.

“What do you say we start over?” She dropped the heavy pack on the table. “Hi. I’m Mattie. You look like you could use a hot meal.” She extended a hand.

He stood, wiping his gloved hands on his jeans. He shook her hand, still serious and reserved. “Bucky. I’m sorry to intrude.”

Bucky waited for her to show some sort of recognition. He wasn’t sure, but his face had to be on the news somewhere. He’d read that all of Hydra’s secrets had been dropped onto the internet. Surely, they were looking for him by now. It had been three weeks since the battle in DC. Instead, the attractive petite brunette smiled up at him with welcoming big brown eyes.

“Pleasure to meet you.”

She had him get the fire going as she pulled packages of supplies out of her backpack. Jack circled the cabin, checking on them both. Bucky watched her open a storage area under a bench seat loaded with home canned goods, explaining why there were only dishes and pots in the cupboards. Before long a big cast iron pot of stew bubbled on the stove.

The rain created a steady clatter on the roof, but the cabin remained dry and warm. Still, Bucky stay bundled in his coat and gloves. Mattie offered him a cup of coffee, “Make yourself at home, Bucky. You’ve got to be sweating under all that.”

His left hand clenched. “I’m fine, ma’am.”

“Don’t do that, please.” She laughed lightly and slid into the seat across from him. “Just Mattie, okay?”

He nodded, sipping the coffee. Silence stretched out as she studied him closely. Bucky tried not squirm or rile against the close examination. He tried to remember he was a guest. “Thanks for let me stay.”

“Thank Jack.” She gave him a half smile. “So, what are you running from?”

Bucky went completely still.

Mattie casually got up and refilled their coffee mugs. “It’s just a guess, but you’ve got the same sort of tension I’ve seen in the mirror for the last six years. Alone. Alert. Off the grid. Running.”

He chewed his lip. “It’s better that you don’t know.”

“But someone’s after you?”

A single nod.

“Because of something you’ve done or something you know?” Mattie nervously picked at a chip in her mug.

“Both.”

“Are you armed?” Her brown eye locked with his blue.

“Yes.” He didn’t flinch.

“So, how is this going to work? Are we going to hold up here in an uneasy truce, or are we going to see if we can trust each other?” Mattie truly hoped they could trust each other. She’d been longing to have some to talk to, much less someone who looked like they could take care of whatever happened to be thrown at them.

Bucky desperately wanted to give in, wanted to take the opportunity to unburden himself of everything his mind had churned up in recent weeks. Fearing that once he started he would not stop, he held his tongue. Besides, she was kind and he did not want to bring her any more trouble. “I don’t know.”

“Alright,” Mattie pushed herself up. “Food should be hot.”

In silence, they dished up bowls of stew and ate slowly. The food was hot, tasty and filling. Mattie, gestured with her spoon for Bucky to help himself to more when he emptied his dish. Mattie rinsed her bowl and fixed Jack his food while Bucky ate his second helping.

She watched her dog munch away, and then just couldn’t stop herself. “I’ve had him for four years. Best decision I ever made. He’s smart, well trained, and great company. I can sleep if he’s with me. Before then, I never really slept. Every little noise would jerk me wide awake. Then I’d go until exhaustion got the better of me, and I slept too deep so the nightmares would come with a vengeance.”

Bucky held still, just listening. Afraid to break the spell, not wanting her to stop but not knowing what to say.

Mattie came over and picked up Bucky’s empty dish. Her hand rested on his shoulder and she squeezed. The sensation felt foreign and yet familiar. He closed his eyes against sudden and confusing emotions. “I promise I won’t do anything to bring you harm, and Jack will know if anything comes close before we will. Tonight, sleep hard and for as long as you want.”

Bucky didn’t trust his voice, nodding.

After doing the dishes, Mattie pulled on her jacket and took Jack out. She must have stayed on the porch because only the dog was soaked. As Bucky watched her towel him off, he considered what he could share and still keep her safe.

“I may have nightmares.” He stood nearby, hands buried in his jeans pockets. He’d removed his jacket and gloves, leaving him in the long sleeve hoodie.

“It’s okay. Me, too.”

“I want to tell you, but knowing is dangerous.”

Mattie suddenly looked very tired, “That’s what got me into this mess to begin with. Who ever thought the saying ‘ignorance is bliss’ would be so damn true?”

“Don’t know about that. Not knowing is just as bad.” Bucky frowned, think about all the lost time, all the lost memories, the chair and painful wipes.

“Were you military?” Mattie unzipped her boots and crawled onto the armchair, feet tucked beneath her.

“Not for years.” Bucky shook his head, sitting across from her on the small old sofa. Jack jumped up and put his head in his lap.

Mattie immediately noticed his left hand and made no secret of it. “Well, that’s some next level shit.”

He flexed his hand, “Um, yeah. I suppose.”

“Secret Service, CIA or something?”

“No.” His rubbed the dog’s head.

“S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

Bucky’s head snapped up in surprise. But he slowly shook his head.

“No? Hydra?”

“Stop.”

Mattie swallowed. Hard.

Bucky waited. She would tell him to leave. He berated himself for allowing her to go on. This was a stupid idea.

“Well, if you’re running from those bastards, we have more in common than you may think.” Mattie stood up, going to a cabinet and pulling out a bottle of whiskey. She took a swig straight from the bottle as she walked over. She held it out. He took belt off the bottle and gave it back.

She folded herself back into her chair. Mattie studied the light playing on the amber liquid for a moment before taking another drink. “I stumbled on to the wrong thing at the wrong time. It cost me everything. Those cockroaches have long memories, and I’ve been hiding ever since.”

He nodded in agreement, but she wasn’t looking at him. Her sight drifted off into the distant past.

“I was nurse once, working on humanitarian program in South America. We treating kids with birth defects – everything from cleft palates to heart valve repairs. Something happened, a battle of some sort, and our little hospital was overrun by these people. Hydra, I later found out. They had their own people to take care of and apparently the little ones were taking up needed resources.” Mattie took a large swallow of the whiskey. “Some of us were necessary, some were not. The patients, the babies and their families, were just in the way. They ordered everyone . . . neutralized.”

Mattie fought to push back the memories of the killings. The Hydra doctors ordering some of the children to be taken for experiments and the screams for the days that followed crept into her consciousness.

“But you escaped.” Bucky felt a little sick. Of all the assassinations he remembered, he thankfully did not recall any children.

“Barely, with one of the hospital workers who sometimes smuggled for a cartel. I really don’t know how I survived that first couple weeks. I learned really quickly how many eyes there are in any given city. I started patching up wounded gang members that couldn’t go to an ER. My skills came in handy. I started trading medical services for instruction on anything that would help me survive.”

She took a final swig off the bottle of whiskey before standing and offering it to Bucky. “That’s my story, glossing over some of the details, of course. It’s been sixteen months without them catching my scent.”

He took the bottle and drank down a hearty mouthful, even though the alcohol did nothing to his serum enhanced system. The burn reminded him he was still human. Bucky watched Jack get up to stretch as Mattie put the whiskey away.

“What do know about Hydra?” He asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

“A lot more now than I did a month ago.” She admitted. “They are a lot more powerful than I ever imagined. I spent a few unbelievable days digging through the data dumped online. Made my problems seem so unbelievably small.”

“Did you,” he took a deep breath, “see anything about me?”

“I definitely don’t remember reading about anyone with the name Bucky, and I don’t think I saw any pictures of you.” Mattie frowned, an ugly realization settling in. “You’re not just running from them. You worked for them.”

“Not willingly.” He ground out through clenched teeth.

“What did they have on you?” She asked, carefully moving to sit on the opposite side of the sofa from him.

“It wasn’t like that.” He hung his head.

“They fucked with your mind. Oh god.” Mattie breathed. She’d read about the technology after the files were dumped. She’d dug straight into the medical experiments Hydra performed. A morbid need filled her to understand the depravity of it, even though she held no power to stop it yet. “Didn’t they?”

His hands clenched together. Eyes locked shut. Conflict raged in his mind. He wanted to run out the door and get as far away as possible. He wanted to crumble onto the floor and tell her everything. He needed to go. This was dangerous.

Then Bucky felt her small hand rest on the back of his head. He released the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. Mattie barely heard him whisper, “They destroyed it.”

Bucky honestly could not remember last time anyone touched him with kindness, but he found himself leaning into the shoulder of this kind-hearted woman, who had every reason to not trust him. Yet, her arms wrapped around his shoulders and fingers caressed his hair as if comforting a child. He breathed in the clean, distinctly feminine scent of her. He committed every sensation to memory.

Mattie held him, heart breaking for this stranger. She could tell this simple comfort, this simple touch, surprised him. How long had it been? He leaned against her, but did not cling or grope. Mattie found herself squeezing him tighter.

“I’m so sorry. Do you want to tell me what happened?” She asked, stroking his hair.

He exhaled, warm breath tickling across her neck. He did not want to move, so he remained in her embrace. Although he knew he should not say anything, he wanted to. “They wiped my mind. They stole my memories. They made me their asset. They made my compliant.”

Mattie knew she did not fully comprehend the extensiveness of his confession, but she’d read enough to know it had to be a hundred times worse than her imagination could fathom. Her throat tightened. “But you got away.”

She felt him nodded. Hesitantly, his arms encircled her waist. They remained that way for a while, just absorbing the strength from each other’s presence. Bucky chuckled when a wet nose nudged between them. Mattie’s light laughter joined him and she scratched Jack’s ears. “Someone wants in on the group hug.”

Bucky sat back. “I don’t know why you are being so nice to me, but I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

“I’m sure I’ll think of something.” Mattie joked with a wink as she retreated to throw another piece of wood into the stove.

The moment gone, they settled in for the night. Bucky insisted upon sleeping on the little sofa, although his legs hung over the edge. Jack jumped up on the bed with Mattie, curling against her back. The steady clatter of rain and warm crackling of the fire surrounded them as they both dozes off.

Jack woke Mattie with a wet nose. She jerked, instantly aware. Jack whined and padded to Bucky’s side. She approached slowly, watching his face contort in pain. Mattie fought the urge to smooth the furrow from his brow, but knew that he would likely lash out.

“Bucky.” She spoke kindly but loud enough to hopefully wake him. “Bucky, wake up.”

He began to curl up, defensively, growling and grunting in his sleep as if fighting against something holding him down. The more she spoke his name, the more he thrashed. His left arm swung out, metal breaking through the wood of the coffee table. Jack barked.

Bucky sat up straight, eyes wild.

“Bucky?”

“I…” he looked around wildly before knotting his hands in his hair, burying his head into his knees. “Sorry. Nightmare. Sorry, I woke you.”

“It’s okay.” She sat closer to him touching his head, feeling how tightly his fingers were clenched in his hair. “They’re nightmares. Memories. Not real. You’re here and you’re safe. For now, tonight, you’re safe.”

Bucky released the hold on his head, lolling toward her lap. The feel of her warm hands on the back of his neck and her fingers in his hair practically drew a whimper from his chest. He pushed up, elbows on knees, and tried to lift his head. He pushed away the grip of the nightmare.

She stood, taking him by the arm. “Come on.”

“What?”

Mattie just pulled him along with her to the bed. He shook his head, but still followed. “I don’t want to hurt you. Look what I did to the table.”

She ignored his words, and just crawled on the bed and held up the quilt for him. Bucky sighed and lay down beside her. When she rolled over, he spooned up behind her on instinct. Mattie yawned and buried herself deeper into the covers. Her fingertips stroked the skin of his forearm.

Bucky closed his eyes, allowing the scent and sensation to lull him back toward sleep. A part of his mind still spun, alert and fearful. He now felt different, particularly holding this woman in his arms. It was an old feeling, the urge to be a protector instead of a creature of destructions. Feelings that still felt confusing and long forgotten stirred in his chest.

He felt Jack jump up on the bed and settle atop the covers behind his knees. Two weeks ago, the thought of being sandwiched like this would be terrifying. However, this felt warm and safe. Bucky breathed in the scent of her hair. He felt the rise and fall of her chest. Her bare toes found the exposed flesh of his ankle between his sweats and sock.

Waves of emotions, long forgotten, rolled over him. He battled to keep his breath steady, trying desperately not to panic from it all. Bucky wanted to enjoy this. He needed it. Still he felt the urge to run from the feelings, from the pain the memories, from the ache behind his eye. Bucky felt guilt for bringing trouble to this wonderful woman, but he did not want to let her go. He feared hurt her, and still wanted to crush her to him with all his strength. Part of him wanted to weep.

Mattie sighed, she rolled over in his arms. She did not look up at him, but wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his neck. “It’s okay.”

Bucky squeezed her tighter, feeling her soft hair against his face. He couldn’t breathe.

Her hands rubbed his back and shoulders. He froze. She did not stop at the raise scars where flesh met metal, she continued and murmured words of comfort. Bucky’s fingers knotted in her night shirt. Mattie felt his muscles begin to let go, allowing him to breathe. She didn’t need to see or hear the hot tears that slipped into her hair.

Sleep must have overtaken him, because Bucky awoke to the feeling of Mattie jerk in his arms. He looked down, through the dark seeing her face crumple in her sleep. A quiet whine and a shift at the foot of the bed brought his attention to Jack. “It’s okay, boy.”

He swept the hair away from her face. “Mattie.” He spoke low and calm. “Doll, wake up.”

It took a few more tries, but her eyes flew open. She didn’t thrash out or make a noise. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She stared at Bucky for a moment before touching the hand that held her face. “I’m alight.”

She sat up and looked at her watch on the bedside table. It was still the middle of the night. Bucky watched as she got up and put another piece of wood in the stove. Tears continued to flow down her face. She made no move to wipe them away, made no apologies.

When Mattie climbed back under the quilts with him, Bucky wiped away some of the wetness with his thumb. He surprised himself by asking. “Do you want to talk about it?”

They lay there in the dark, faces close and legs wound together, quietly sharing their nightmares. Neither backed away from the other’s terror or judged the other’s fear. Bucky found he could talk about his nightmares. They weren’t real even if they were born from memories. He could discuss the memories that came back to him in dreams. The conflict of his conditioning didn’t plague him as they spoke into the night.

Mattie awoke slowly, aware of the solid warm body curled around her. Soft lips and the tip of a wet tongue languidly rubbed along the back of her neck, behind her ear. A large hand supported one of her breasts, under her shirt. Clearer thought formed in her head, and she could feel the very hard erection pressed into the curve of her ass.

She could only marvel at what a wonderful way it was to wake up. Her heart rate picked up. She laid there, lazily, unsure if Bucky was really awake. Mattie pushed the logical part of her brain aside. This man may be dangerous, he may be broken, but he was strong and he understood something of what she’d been through. He made her feel safe. He felt amazing.

Bucky froze.

Mattie slipped her hand up to cover his where he held her breast. She nuzzled her neck closer to him. Bucky’s mouth kissed her neck again and she hummed in delight. He moved his hand to rest on her waist. The puffs of his breath in her hair tickled her ear.

“Doll, I...” He didn’t know what to say. Should he apologize? He wasn’t sorry. Should he say he wanted her? That he wasn’t sure what was happening?

Mattie rolled over and took his face in her hands. “What do you want?”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

She smoothed back his hair, smiling. “Thank you for that, but what do you want?”

Unable to resist, Bucky covered her mouth with his own. It was a soft, chaste kiss that carried more emotion than heat. He touched his forehead to hers, closing his eyes. His lips brushed the corner of her mouth again. “I don’t want to take advantage.”

Mattie actually giggled. He smiled at the sound, still keeping his eyes closed. He felt her kiss along his jaw and it made him ache. “Bucky, do you want me?”

He still her hands with his own. When their eyes locked, both were blown wide with passion. “I do, Mattie. I do, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me how?” She asked. “I’m not expecting anything-”

“No, Doll.” Bucky kissed her fingers. “I’m afraid of physically hurting you.” Confusion crossed her beautiful features. He sighed. “I haven’t - I don’t remember the last time – I was with a woman. I have a hard time keeping my mind my own. I’m worried that I could lose – that I wouldn’t be able to stop – that I couldn’t control myself and get – rough.”

Mattie slowly nodded her head, biting her lip. “After what you told me last night, I can understand. But Bucky, while you were sleeping just now you weren’t violent. If anything, you made me feel safe. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but I’m not afraid of being hurt by you.”

Bucky studied her, taking in the chocolate of her eyes and curve of her face. He believed her. The Universe should be beating him against jagged rocks for the things he’d done, and yet somehow, he’d found this calm harbor. Somehow, this amazing woman appeared like a balm against his weary soul.

His lips found hers again, gentle and searching. As their kiss deepened, he swallowed the whimper escaping her throat. She needed this just as much. Bucky kissed and nipped his way from her jaw to just beneath her ear. Her hands raked up his side, pushing his shirt higher. He involuntarily flinched. She stopped, but he nuzzled closer.

“Don’t stop.”

Mattie pulled at his clothes, tossing the shirt to the floor. She leaned over him, admiring the thick muscles and feeling his warm skin. She felt a pang in her heart for all the scars. He let out a shaky breath as her mouth trailed all the evidence of his pain as if she could kiss it away. When her tongue laved over his stomach, his hips involuntarily rocked forward.

“Fuck, Doll...”

Mattie crawled up his body, mouth wet and hair mussed. Bucky kissed her thoroughly, a gnashing of tongues and teeth, and she met his vigor with her own. Her leg swung over his hips and he moaned into her mouth when she sat back against him. He could feel her heat through their sweats as she rubbed against his length.

She sat up and tossed her shirt aside. Bucky’s mind went blank for a moment as he took in this amazing woman. His hand moved of their own accord, desperate to feel the soft flesh, the firm weight, of her breasts. Her hair fell down her back in a mass. A flush tinted her delicate skin. Most alluringly, a sultry wicked grin danced across her lips.

“You are gorgeous.” Her nails trailed down his chest and she bit her lip.

Bucky sat up, wrapping her in his arms. “No. But you are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” His mouth found hers again as he rolled them over. He took one hardened nipple into his mouth, fingers toying with other. Her nails scraped along his scalp and tugged at his hair. He wanted to devour her, touching and tasting everywhere.

As he reached the waist of her sweats, she lifted her hips in an eager attempt to be rid of the barrier. His mouth nipped at her hip, licked across to her inner thigh. Mattie’s legs opened wider of their own accord. The scent of her filled his head and he groaned. His fingers slipped through her folds, already slippery and wet for him.

He looked up, locking eyes with her as he leaned forward and lapped at her dripping cunt. The intensity in his blue eye while his face buried between her legs was the hottest thing she’d seen. It ripped the breath from her. “Holy shit.”

His tongue stiffened and flicked at clit. He sucked it in his hot mouth. First one, then two, strong fingers entered her. His strokes firm, curling as he felt her moan on the perfect spot. He hummed and groaned the most divine sounds, like he was in heaven. If this was out of practice for the man, Mattie was sure that Bucky at the top of his game would kill her.

The tension wound tighter and Mattie breathed deeper, not fighting it, not forcing it. She watched Bucky, listened to him. Drowned in the sensations. A warm flush filled her. “Oh god, Bucky, fuck. I’m about to. . .”

The pressure and the pace of his fingers increase and he sucked harder with a growl. Mattie came apart, flooding over his hand, being licked up by his tongue, shaking under his touch.

Her hand wound into his hair as he feathered kisses over her belly, a giant smile on his sex soaked face. “Come up here and kiss me.” She demanded. Their mouths clashed together, heated and desperate. Mattie’s hand reach inside his sweats, wrapping as best she could around his thick cock. He growled into her mouth and she giggled.

“Get naked.”

Bucky flopped onto his back, kicking off his sweats. Before he could move, Mattie settled herself between his knees. She massaged her hands into his strong thick thighs. Kissing along his hips, feeling her way closer. She pushed her hair over one shoulder and took his cock by the base. He watched her, open mouthed, as she ran her tongue from base to tip before taking him in her mouth completely.

“Fuck.” He groaned out a slow breath.

She began to fuck him thoroughly with her mouth, toying with her tongue and hollowing her cheeks, he knotted his fists into the sheets. Bucky desperately wanted to take her by the hair, wanted more, want to slam his dick to the back of throat and come. “Doll, you’ve got to stop.” He pulled at her “Or this will be over before it begins.”

Mattie nipped at nipple before moving to his jaw. “But I enjoy it so much.” She whined.

“I can tell.” He massaged her ass, feeling her rub against him. “Tell me you’ve got some sort of protection, ‘cause I really want to fuck you.”

She looked him in the eye, suddenly serious. “Did you mean it when you said this stuff they gave you, the serum, keeps you from getting sick or contracting or carrying anything?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’m clean and I’m on the pill.”

His brows drew together. She wondered if it was more quizzical than concern.

“I can’t get pregnant right now.”

A slow smile spread over his face, hips rocking. “Really?”

Mattie ran her tongue along his lower lip before kissing him. “Really.” She rolled her hip so just the tip of him pressed into her wet entrance.

“Sweet fucking Jesus.” Bucky’s right hand went into her hair, holding her head close his. His left took her by the hip and guided her down as she impaled herself upon him. She panted, moving slowly, experiencing the fullness, adjusting to him and relishing in the feeling.

He kissed her again as she rocked, moving more. Blood rushed through her veins. Breathing each other in, kisses wet and messy, his nose rubbed again her smooth skin. She bit his lip, pulled at his hair. His metal fingers dug into her hip, her ass.

It felt amazing, but not enough. Bucky flipped her over hiking her knees up over his forearms and sank himself deep into her, hard and fast. Mattie cried out. “God!” He froze. Did he hurt her? Her hands clenched his shoulders, nails scraped up into his hair. “Fuck me! Hard, Bucky, fuck me hard.”

He slammed into her, causing the bed to creak. Mattie’s breath rushed from her body. Her body pliant and alive under his. She felt like the waves of near pain and exquisite pleasure would drown her. All she could do was hold on for the ride.

Bucky would not last, it had been so long. He wanted this so bad. He released her legs, and brought his own knees up, angling her hips. Mattie began to make delightful mewing noises. He nipped at her inner wrist, tasting her pulse. His right hand kneaded her tit, pulling at the over sensitive nipple. He was fighting to hold it together. She began to quiver in his arms. Their eyes were locked until her eyes rolled back as her body clamped around his cock, flooding over him, hot and wet. He plummeted over the edge in violent releasing, leaving him breathless.

They lay there, wrapped around each other, smelling of sweat and sex. Neither wanting to move. Neither wanting the rain to stop or the moment to end.

Bucky’s eyes drifted open at the sound of water running. Maggie stood at the sink filling a large kettle, wearing nothing but an oversized red flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The back of her hair was a mass of tangles. The rain had stopped. Jack lifted his head up from the foot of the bed to look at him.

“Hey Doll,” he muttered, voice thick with sleep. “Whatcha doing?”

“No hot water here. I’m just heating some up for a bath.” She cocked an eyebrow as she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Unless you want to take a cold shower?”

He gave her a surprisingly easy chuckle. “I’m used to those. How about we just get dirty again?”

Mattie laughed, continuing her task. Muted sunlight filtered into the cabin, an early morning sun fighting to break through thick clouds. A kettle whistled on the stove and she set it aside to add the other. He watched her move about with easy. She had great legs.

“Come ‘ere.”

She crawled under the warmth of the quilt, giggling when he rolled her over and pinned her down with his body. His mouth covered her smile with a lazy kiss. The tip of her tongue traced the curve of his full lips, drawing rumble from his chest.

“How the hell did I manage to get so lucky?” Bucky nipped at her ear. “This time yesterday, I thought for sure I was in for a bum rap.”

Mattie giggled. His body felt amazing, solid and hot. His scruff rubbed along her neck as those sinful lips kissed under her ear. Bucky laughed low against her skin as Jack belly crawled over the blankets and on top of the two of them.

The dog whined.

“He’s either jealous or needs to go out.” Mattie giggled.

Bucky adored the sound. Jack barked. “Out it is.”

He rolled off of her and she got up to open the cabin door. He watched her as she stood in the open door. Dark worries, images of this kind woman being shot down from the woods for nothing more than harboring him filled his mind. Standing there, in the morning light looking beautiful and relaxed, she would make such an easy target.

Leaving would be the right thing to do.

“What it is?” Mattie asked, concern etched over her features.

He’d been too lost in thought to notice her stare. Bucky shook his head, frowning hard. He should get dressed and go. Still, moving seemed impossible.

She shut the door when Jack came back in. She moved the second kettle off the direct heat on her way to sit beside him. Mattie touched his bearded cheek, ran her fingers through his hair. “What just happened?” Bucky locked his eyes closed, shaking his head. He couldn’t admit to the images of her bloody form in the doorway. “Please. Something went through your mind. Did you remember something?”

“No.” He held her palm to his face, eyes still closed. “I just. This is dangerous. Bad things could happen.”

“Oh, Bucky.” She pressed her lips to the furrow in his brow. “Yes. This is dangerous.”

His eye opened to get lost in her sincere gaze.

“Dangerous. But everything about my life is. This,” She kissed him softly, “is a gift. I’m not fool enough to think this could be ‘ever after’ and I know that the longer we’re in each other’s company the better chance the people after you and the people after me may stumble over each other. But for now, for just a few quiet days, let’s enjoy the time we have. Please.”

Bucky tasted her lips. Mattie kissed him back, thoroughly. It was slow, wet, lazy. He pulled her down beside him, hands touching her reverently. She responded to each caress with little moans and mews. He lifted the flannel shirt off her. She wrapped herself around him, urging him further, pushing the dark thoughts away.

He went slow, taking his time, drinking her in, savoring every sensation. Mattie moaned deep, knotting her hands in his hair, when he slipped into her. She was wet and wanting, loving the feel of his weight, the touch of their bodies. They moved together, tasting, touching, staring into each other eyes.

The orgasm caused Mattie’s very core to quiver, every intense sensation washing over her at once. She buried her face into his neck and felt tears in her eyes. Bucky held her tight, wanting to drown in her. His own release followed shortly after. He kissed the sweat off her brow, but did not want to move out of her.

“Don’t move.” Mattie pleaded. “Not yet.”

“I’m too heavy.” He smiled against her skin.

“You’re perfect.” She breathed.

As their bodies cooled, Bucky rolled off of her, but still held her close. When she began to pull away, he took her hand. “I’m going to set up the bath.” She explained.

Bucky heard water running in the bathroom. Then watched her fetch the kettles. Mattie moved about, comfortable in her nudity. She drew him from the bed and into a deep, wide copper tub. The water was hot, but not scalding and he knew it would cool soon.

“You’re going to join me, aren’t you?” He sat up and made space between his legs. “There’s room.”

“Yes.”

She took his hand and slipped down in front of him. Bucky lathered up a wash cloth and gently cleaned her body. “I need to move on soon.”

“I know.” Mattie laid back against his chest. “Stay just another day or two. I can go into town, get you supplies. It wouldn’t take long.”

Bucky considered for a while, stroking her skin with his fingertips. Mattie took his left hand into hers, carefully examining the metal digits that brought her such pleasure.

“I will go tomorrow night.” Bucky said at last. “It’s not safe for me – or you – if I stay in one place any longer.”

“Then today I’ll head into town. What will you need?”

“You don’t have to -”

“I know I don’t have to,” Mattie flicked water in his face with a giggle. “But I’m going to.”

He laughed, wrapping his arms around her. “Fine. Food. A new burner phone, too.”

When Mattie and Jack walked into the woods, Bucky grabbed an energy bar and a bottle of water. He wondered a ways from the tree line until he came to the hiding spot of the cross over motorcycle he’d stolen. He checked his supplies. Nothing had been disturbed. Bucky climbed up into the branches of a nearby tree, finding a location with a good view of the cabin and the direction Mattie disappeared. Resting a gun in his lap, Bucky waited.

Mattie made it to her car much quicker without the rain. The drive into the nearest town didn’t take long. Jack stuck his nose out the window along the way, enjoying the wind. She swung into a super store on the outskirts of town to do some shopping.

After, she picked up a coffee and surfed the internet on the burner phone she’d picked up for herself.

Googling ‘Bucky Barnes’, the very first entry was from the Smithsonian. Mattie read, hand over her mouth. Page after page, told of the WWII heroes and their fight. She read about the only member of the Howling Commandos to die, James ‘Bucky’ Barnes. She stared at the black and white photos, knowing just how blue those eyes were in real life.

“Well, Jack.” She scratched her dog’s head. “Now all the old slang makes sense.”

On the hike back, she wondered how much he knew about himself. Bucky said he’d lost his memory. Hydra scrambled his mind. What else did they do to him? How was he still alive, and she smiled to herself, very virile. One thing Mattie was certain of, he was important. For heaven’s sake, the site called him ‘Captain America’s oldest and dearest friend’. Good side or bad, people were going to be desperate to find him.

She made it back to the cabin to find it empty. Damn. Mattie dropped her pack on the table.

Footsteps, heavier than necessary, came onto the porch. Jack stood at the door with his tail wagging.

Mattie rushed to the door and threw it open. “For a second there I thought you skipped out on me.”

Bucky ran his hand through his hair. “No, Doll. Just looking around.” She smiled brightly and grabbed the front of his shirt to pull him in for a kiss. “Nice to see you too.”

“I’ve gotten you something, and um, we need to talk.” She led him inside.

Mattie handed him a beer, still cool from her pack. He cracked it open and thanked her. “Okay, here’s travel food and that phone you wanted. I also got you this.”

Bucky took the medical supply box with a questioning look.

“It’s a sterile dressing for people healing from burns. It only goes to the elbow, but the it will cover your hand and forearm. A bandage is far less noticeable than the metal. It won’t be as conspicuous as a single glove either.” Mattie opened her own beer and sat down beside him.

“Great idea. Thank you.” Bucky took the dressing out, examining the flesh tone nylon.

“Bucky, do you remember the war?” She asked quietly.

Disjointed flashes of bombed out buildings and heavy wet wool uniforms and heavy rifles filled his mind. “I don’t know.”

“What about Captain America? Do you remember Captain Rogers?”

Bucky’s hand shot out grabbing her wrist painfully. He growled. “What?”

“Honey, ease up you’re hurting me.” Mattie said her voice flat, body still. His eyes widen and he snatched his hand away. “I did a little digging on the internet. Not much, but you two go way back. They two of you have a real history. He was your best friend once – ages ago, before World War II. Bucky, how is that possible?”

She watched a dozen emotions dance through his eyes. Finally, he looked at her sad and lost. “I don’t know what I remember. It’s all jumbled. I just see moments, flashes of people or things or places. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“He’s an Avenger now. He knows Tony Stark. If there’s anyone who get you the best help possible -”

“No.” Bucky clinched his fists. “I would be turned over to the authorities. I’ve done things. People will want me dead. Or worse, I’ll be their lab rat.”

Mattie’s heart broke at the pain and self-loathing in his voice. Her fingers ran through his hair. She couldn’t seem to stop herself from touching him. But he leaned into it, quietly accepting the comfort. “Okay. You figure it out your way. You should know, in the American History Museum in DC, there’s an exhibit. It’s all about your heroic time in the war."

Bucky’s eyes snapped up, mind reeling. He was in a museum, as a hero? He laced his fingers with hers, resting his forehead to their entwined hands. He wanted to remember.

“I got you something else.” She pulled out a brown leather journal with a pen in the clasp. “If your memories are coming in bits and pieces, then maybe writing them all down will help you put it all together. I know I wrote in journals to keep my head on straight when I was first running. Got it all out, you know. I couldn’t talk to anybody about it, so it went on the page.”

“I don’t know that I’m much of writer.” Bucky picked up the journal and flipped through the blank pages.

“No one will see it but you. Who cares? Hell, just make lists if that helps.” She smiled.

“Why?”

“Why journal?”

“No, why are you doing all of this? I don’t deserve it.”

Mattie giggled. “Well, when else will I ever get the chance to have a bonafide national hero in my bed?”

Bucky rolled his eyes, but grabbed her and pulled her on his lap. He nipped at her neck. “I’m no hero.”

“Super-hot hundred-year-old dude, then?” She giggled harder.

“Doll.” He tweaked her nipple through her bra. “You calling me old?”

“I’m just saying-”

Bucky stalled her words with his tongue. She moaned into him. His hand slipped up under her shirt. Mattie trailed her mouth along his sharp jaw to nip at his ear, earning a growl from his chest. He stood, depositing her on the table. He pulled his shirt over his head as Mattie began toss away her clothes.

Helping her pull her jeans off, Bucky dropped to his knees before her. He lifted her leg over his shoulder before spreading her legs wide, unabashedly marveling at her glistening sex. His cool metal fingers tracing through her folds, as he nipped his way along her inner thigh. Mattie leaned back on both hands as his mouth covered her.

Bucky’s licks and sucks became more fevered. Her moans failing to drown out his wet slurping and satisfied growls. His fingers slid in and out of her quivering cunt, pressing deliciously on sensitive flesh. Mattie’s hand wound in his hair tight. “Oh, holy shit!”

He suddenly stood, jeans down, and rammed himself deep in one trust. Mattie cried out. Bucky dug his fingers into her hips, pounding into her hard. “Yes, Doll.” Bucky growled. “Squirt all over my cock.”

She did, coming hard and soaking him. He didn’t wait for her to recover, but flipped her over belly down on the table, ramming into her again. His left hand pressed into her lower back, his right took a handful of her hair. Mattied cried out. “Fuck yes!”

Spurred on, Bucky pulled her head back, biting down on the back of her neck. Mattie’s second orgasm hit her completely by surprise. Her legs shook and her body spasmed. Bucky held her up, unrelenting. “Shit, Baby. So fucking good.” Words tumbled from his mouth.

He lifted her leg onto the chair, letting him go deeper, crashing against her wall. The sounds coming from her whipped him into a fever. So hot. Yes, she moaned, always letting him go on, lost in the heady smell of sex and nerves on fire.

Bucky almost lost it when she looked over her shoulder, eyes heavy, panting and giving him the sexiest, wicked smile he’d ever seem. She shook, her mouth fell open. He felt her clench his cock. “Oh god! Fuck yes!” She whined. Gripped hard, he fucked her rough, losing his rhythm as he came just after her.

Mattie lay face down on the table, shaking, panting for a moment. He turned her over to hold in his arms with gentle hands, but her knees buckled. He held her flush against him. She giggled, love drunk.

“You okay, sweetheart?” Bucky nuzzled his nose into her hair.

“Way better than okay. Amazing. Gimme a minute, though, I can’t seem to find my legs.” She kissed his chest.

He laughed, an easy and honest chuckle, erupting from his chest. “I’ve got you.” Bucky swept her up in his arms and kicked the jeans off his ankle. He carried over to the bed, lying her down and crawling up beside her. He rained gentle kisses across her neck and chest, over her breast and to her belly.

She felt boneless, completely relaxed.

“Mattie,” Bucky whispered, somewhat strangled.

She lifted her head to look down where he ghosted his fingers over her hips. A deep frown marred his beautiful face.

“Doll, why didn’t you say I was hurting you? These bruises are already showing.”

“Oh, Bucky.” She pulled at him until his face was close to hers. “I’m fine. You didn’t hurt me. Not really. Besides, if you would have stopped – I may have had to hurt you.” She smiled brightly.

“But,”

She cut off his words with a kiss. “No. No ‘buts’. That was amazing and intense and I wouldn’t have it any other way. You’re so fucking good. I feel incredible.”

Bucky kissed her back, gently and full of emotion. He’d let himself be lost to the moment, to lose control. He never wished to hurt her. But here she was thanking him for it. “You are one extraordinary woman.” A lopsided grin bloomed on his face. “You’re going to be sore.”

“And every time I feel it, it will make think about you fucking me senseless.” She smiled back.

He threw his head back and laughed. Mattie curled up to him, entwining legs and getting lost in his scent. She knew it wouldn’t last, but for right now she intended to lap up everything Bucky had to offer. Sleep tugged at her, and she fought to stay awake.

Bucky could feel her beginning to drift off and fight it. He kissed her, slow and lazy. “Don’t worry, Doll. I’ll stick around until tomorrow. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“Good.” She mumbled, falling to sleep almost immediately.

He lay there for a while, fingers tracing slow circles on her back. He would use the journals. He would document what he remembered. He would write down the bits and pieces of his old life. He would list what he knew of his time as the Soldier and remind himself that it was not him. He was no longer in their control. He was Bucky Barnes. First, though, he would write about the woman who reminded him what it felt like to be a man again.

Bucky thanked whatever power was out there that he stumbled across this little place in the woods.

#bucky barnes #winter solider fanfiction #bucky fic #bucky fluff #bucky barnes smut #mcu #captain america #bucky x original female character #bucky x oc #bucky angst

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honestsycrets · 6 years ago

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Locked In III: The Breeding Barn

❛ pairing | ubbe x reader, implied ragnar x reader

❛ type | multi

❛ summary | ragnar brings you to the breeding rings... err... farm?

❛ warnings | dub-con, abo, kidnapping.

Ragnar has this way about him. A way to know when someone was out of bounds. Rollo was way out of bound with his hand underneath your skirt, grinding your sopping pussy as you came down off of your heat suppressants. The pesky things never quite worked all the way, but you never appreciated them more than now.

“I’m sharing that one with Ubbe. Pick another.”

You would have bitten that bitch Rollo if you weren’t so tightly restrained, shackled to the seat in front of you while he flew the plane in toward the final destination. Which… honestly sounded just as scary as the movies when an alpha had his nose deep against your scent glands on your neck.

“We’re almost there. You can knot the first breeding bitch you see.” Ragnar glances back to his brother. He gets the message and good enough because, with Alpha males, they have this sort of fight in their system. They don’t back down. Neither do you.

But you’re saved by Ragnar when Rollo ceases his affections. Ragnar was a good guy for a guy that promoted his sons to trade copious amounts of drugs and women. Or maybe your reality was becoming distorted because you honestly don’t recall having such an appreciation for a man that respects your heats.

Rollo’s feet stomp onto the floor of the plane when Ragnar begins his descent. Alphas were known to hate any situation in which they weren’t in control. He definitely wasn’t. You think you might throw up, bobbing with the thought of the Ragnarsson who abandoned you.

You’re going to the breeding rings.

Two stringy rags make up your feet when you step off of that plane, that truck, that river spreading one crisp green land from another. Then suddenly, it's all luscious rolling green hills for miles. Rows of corn touch the deep sky.

“Where am I?” You ask the Alpha male, clearly the leader of his pack. Ragnar says nothing at first. You suppose there’s no reason to ask as anyone could tell that wherever you were, it wasn’t home now. Ragnar’s hand settles on the hot leather of his truck, rolling his window down for all too humid air to roll in. It’s caught in your throat like a mouthful of dry bread. The old man tacks his fat fingers onto metal buttons, clicking as they pop back up. A long beep chimes from what you can only suppose is the front gate.

“Welcome to The Breeding Barn.”

The air is wretchedly muggy, but the grass, sloshy like a bad bowl of French Onion soup. Your feet squish and slip past large rings with squealing pigs and follow Ragnar, your ankles slip in the mud.

This hardly looks like the institution you expected. You expected some… the basement of horrors. It looks like a farm on the sprawling five hundred acres you couldn’t count.

“The breeding barn? It’s a farm?” You ask the so-called king. He stays quiet, drawing his tongue over a jagged tooth.

“That’s what we would have you think.” Ragnar shoves you into an aged barn. The horns of some poor animal are mounted above you. Your bound hands collide with the splintered doorway, realizing that this place had been here some time. Ragnar plucks you up, grunting as he shoves you over his shoulder. Your fingers tighten against his smooth shirt as he moves past his prized mares, turning to where bound straw is kept. He moves each roll aside, tugging and huffing until he could toss them off a rod iron handle that he can lift the creaky door with his boot.

“Floki, close the door.” He calls. You squeal with every rebounding step, pounding down the wooden stairs. The door shuts with a strange, almost clownlike giggle. Ragnar disappears into a pitch black hall, with walls that almost pull together down upon the both of you. If the ceiling could move, you swore it would have. A jingling of keys unlocks another door-- then another, several feet down. Ragnar yanks the door back and synthetic light streams in.

“Ugh-- Ugh--”

The noises sound like a first-class porno, rippling in your ear so that your head pounds. The baying of willing omegas rooted deep in their heats. Since suppressants became safer, these noises in the middle of the night had all but disappeared. More than the noise, the smell hits you like a swaying rock. Other eligible omegas have the propensity to push a heat along. More than that, you think, it’s the smell of an alpha. Or a few, thick in the air. One scent stands out. It’s not Ragnar’s.

“Fuck.” Ragnar stills your rutting hips on his shoulder with a ringing spank, then voice booming, he commands the attention in the room. “That’s enough. Ubbe.”

“Who is this?” In a few achingly long, deep steps from the newcomer, you feel the man stand in front of Ragnar. His voice runs deep and heads straight toward your cunt as if your womb was pushing you into it already-- Alpha, there’s an Alpha, but a real Alpha you dumb bitch. Suddenly deeply attuned to his presence, you jerk as if you could hide on Ragnar’s back. A strangled protest chirps from your lips when strange hands reach out to cup your ass.

“Hvitserk’s newest acquisition.” He says, tracing his fingertips up the back of your thighs. You can differentiate Ragnar’s fingers from Ubbe’s. Ragnar’s are rough, tiresome and thick. He must have been in this business for years.

“One of Hvitserk’s?” Ubbe says, parting his lips in mock disapproval. “How diseased is this one?”

“You’re probably more diseased than I am.” You speak out of turn.

“She’s mouthy,” Ubbe says, almost absently. He flicks up the rim of your skirt, tracing the edge of your pleats from the panties that settle beautifully in between your cheeks. His index and middle finger trace down the slit of your pussy. Your hips jerk, then subsequently you kick out.

“Don’t touch me.”

“And disobedient.”

“Fuck off.”

“She has to be. She was a nurse. He was her patient,” Ragnar responds automatically, setting all of his weight on his right leg. Ubbe’s middle finger snakes around the flimsy fabric hiding your smooth skin. You jerk defiantly away from his fingers. Ubbe’s fingers curl into a fist.

“No wonder.” Ubbe husks.

You wonder what kind of ugly mug he might have. His brother was cute. Hvitserk had this puppy like energy to him, reflected in his uncle. Ragnar was handsome and in his youth, you would have been fawning over him outside of here. Not that he wasn’t desirable at all. He was… well, a daddy. You cease to find the dusty floor amusing, less so with nothing to look at but the back of Ragnar's boots.

Ragnar sets you down on two feet. He rakes his hands through your long hair, yanking it back so that you have to face Ubbe. That… was not an ugly face. In some baleful laugh, Ubbe looks over his shoulder, smoothing over his handsome ruddy beard

“Not what you expected, breeding bait?”

Breeding bait?!

You had enough. Not only had your whole life been effectively uprooted by this hell family but now they had brought you here to a place where you could hear the wretched moaning of women and men bound in pins of wood. Their hips on one side and faces on another. You don’t want to ask what exactly will become of you next. You hike up your leg, bound to kick him right where his precious cock was, but like many things, Ubbe was prepared. He hooks your leg under his arm, causing you to hop closer and closer until you can feel him against you. Ragnar throws his hands behind his head, barking at his son to stop playing around as he walks around him toward another area.

“You’ll regret that.” Ubbe growls.

You seriously doubted it. You hated him already.

@igetcarriedawaywithyou, @kylobien, @titty-teetee, @breathlessouls, @nejijjeoroo, @bcat1291, @readsalot73, @mslothbrok, @captstefanbrandt, @ailucascen, @michaeliskindahot, @cbouvier23, @naaladareia, @cbouvier23, @the-geeky-engineer, @lisinfleur, @tephi101, @akamaiden, @ethereallysimple, @venusloviing, @happylittlepuppydog, @beyond-the-ashes, @slutforrpg, @hipsternoionlylikeunicorns @sparklemichele, @alicedopey, @lif3snotouttogetyou,@noregretsandyeteveryregret, @deathbyarabbit, @unacceptabletatertots, @beyond-the-ashes (no sig), @babypink224221, @ivarandersen, @queen-see-ya-in-valhalla, @moose-squirrel-asstiel, @icarus-fell-in-spring, @end-of-night, @gruffle1, @lol-haha-joke @arses21434, @smileyparrots, @moosemittens13, @miss-artemis-wild, @two-unbeatable-beaters, @wonderwoman292, @wish-i-was-a-mermaid, @fangirls94, @killerb00sdeath, @heartbeats-wildly, @boo20017, @acacheofstrange, @shaelyn102, @astoryoffireandlight, @smokealone, @shaelyn102 @laketaj24, @peaceisadirtyword, @ly–canthrope @cris101071 @daughterofthenight117 @unassumingviking @ladyofsoa, @inforapound @winchesterwife27, @flokidottir-imagines-br, @sincerelysinister, @allvikingsfanfic, @faatassbitch @chinduda

#Ubbe x Reader #Ubbe/Reader #Ubbe Ragnarsson x Reader #Vikings imagines #Vikings imagine #Viking imagine #Viking imagines #ubbe's wolfpack #5cw #5cw: ubbe

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gwoongi · 6 years ago

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𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗅𝖺𝗌𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝗎𝗌 ✰ taehyung (6)

𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗅𝖺𝗌𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝗎𝗌 kim taehyung / reader genre: zombie apocalypse au words: 5816

“All things end,” he stated, as a matter of factly. “We won’t be here to see the end of this, that’s for sure.”

“Maybe it’s better that way.”

a/n: see the bottom for more spoiler-y notes :D ((also lowkey shit of me but i totally used y/n’s relaxing technique as a-level shakespeare revision lmao sorree))

warnings: panic disorder, death references, dark imagery, Things Are Too Good To Be True >:)

01. denver ↝ 02. holiday with me ↝ 03. sad forever ↝ 04. surely ↝ 05. scorpion ↝ 06. shakespeare ↝ 07. thrones

Trusting Namjoon was the easiest thing anybody could do in an apocalypse.

He moved with such confidence and power, his weapons newly re-stolen from the Weapons Containment, a flannel wrapped around his waist stained brown and rusty red. Every step was meaningful, pre-calculated, well thought out with distinct reason. He knew what he was doing. It made you feel at ease. Trusting him was easy.

Kyungmin stood close behind him, her own pistol in her hands, meanwhile Taehyung stood a little more to the right, with a new weapon in his hands, a large AK47 in his hands, his Scorpion pistol remained tucked at the back of his jeans. Huddled behind him, you couldn’t look away.

“It’s this way,” Namjoon called, not caring if his voice was loud. Up front, the sound of firepower and bullets attracted more dead than expected. It was a good enough distraction.

Crossing the width of the warehouse, Namjoon ushered the group down a small, narrow walkway between a series of large trucks, until pausing near a black truck towards the end of the driveway, the doors already open. Of course, he had the key, tucked in his bum pocket and he swiftly threw it up and caught it back in his hands: “get in, quick.” It was that easy.

With Taehyung already claiming shotgun, both Kyungmin and yourself pulled open the back doors to the jeep and climbed inside. It was cool inside, against the ebony leather interior of the car and as you pulled the jeep doors closed, the light is cancelled out by deep darkness. The only available source of light is the lofty slot separating the back to the front, where you could barely make out the shape of Taehyung’s head, and Namjoon’s hands wrapped around the wheel.

“What now?” Taehyung asked, adjusting the mirror.

Namjoon set the car into reverse, the dash lighting up. “Back gate. Never guarded, always closed. Saw it happen before, but the gate’s locked enough to keep the dead out, not enough to stop a van. Bust it open. Deadmeat will flood in, buy us some time to get out.”

“And then?” Taehyung enquired. He looked at Namjoon, “You have a plan, right?”

Namjoon waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, I have a plan. After everything we’ve seen here, I’d just like to go.”

“Can someone fill me in on what’s going on?” Kyungmin asked suddenly, and Namjoon leant over to slam down the shutter, cutting both of you out of conversation. Although not entirely silent, Kyungmin could no longer make out Namjoon’s words, or understand what was happening. Looking for answers, she turned to you, mildly mortified to see you hunched over with your head in your hands, dry heaving.

“Want me to hold your hair?” she asked sweetly and quietly, rubbing her thumb across your cheekbone. Glancing up at her, you barely nodded and her hands moved to hold back your hair. “‘sokay if you throw up. I won’t mind the smell.”

Distracted, you waved her off.

“Do you have anything to help you calm down?” she prompted, sounding worried. “Like a panic button? Breathing exercises?”

Exhaled breath. “Shakespeare.”

Kyungmin contained a smile. “Romeo and Juliet.”

The jeep lunged forward, and Kyungmin barely kept you on the seat. “Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too…” The jeep rocked, as if running something over. Namjoon cursed loudly from the driver's seat. “Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.”

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

“The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact.” Once again, the jeep jerked, making you bounce up and hit the top of your head off the roof of the jeep. “Kyungmin please tell me we’re out of the compound. I think I’m gonna fucking vom.”

Kyungmin let your hair fall like tumbleweed down the length of your back as she scooted across the bench, squinting through the dimmed glass window at the back of the jeep. Leaving behind the compound was a sight to see; she noticed the clumps of guards looking like ants further into the scene, and flashes of orange and white and smoke rising, thick black smoke, warnings. From what she saw, you hadn’t left the compound yet. The long line of military jeeps marked with “NORTHGATE SUPPLIERS” just kept rolling past.

“Not long now, Y/N,” she assured kindly. “King Lear.”

Half listening to you anxiously recite Act 1, Scene 3 of the play, Kyungmin turned back to the closed slot dividing yourselves and the boys and knocked heavily. Taehyung, with reluctance, pulled it down and peered through the gap.

“Everything okay?” he asked, his eyes leaving Kyungmin to stare at you next to her. “Why is Y/N reciting Shakespeare right now?”

“Coping mechanism,” Kyungmin replied as if it were nothing. It was nothing, in hindsight. “What’s going on? Are we almost out?”

“Just a little further, honey,” Namjoon interrupted, taking a sharp left around a group of guards running out of the back of the warehouse. They didn’t seem to care that a truck was leaving. Behind them, a small herd of biters slinked out of the double doors, their jaws disconnected, eyes hanging out.

Taehyung shut the slot once more, leaving Kyungmin to darkness.

She scoffed, returning to holding your hair. “Men think we can’t handle seeing what’s out there. It’s honestly bullshit.” Kyungmin shook her head, “Feeling better?”

You nodded in her hands. “Thanks, Kyungmin.”

Lifting your head, you found her hands hadn’t left your face. They continued to hold you, her eyes staring into yours. Although you were confused, you realised she was scanning your face for injuries and destress, her gaze lingering on several parts of your face and body before flicking back up to your lips, and then eyes. Maybe she hadn’t noticed, but her thumbs smoothed crescent moons across your face, her gaze unnaturally softened. Your hands had moved to her wrists.

It felt weirdly intimate, being given the luxury to simply gaze.

When the jeep jerked and bumped once more, you felt it was the best time to look away, looking backwards out of the dirty window to notice that you had indeed left the premises; the large barbed wire fence that divided dark civilisation from the idealistic, perfect reality had been busted down by the jeep, splinters of wire poking up like thorns on a rose bush.

As expected, Namjoon watched as a nearby flood of biters turned to the sound, half interested in the leaving jeep, eager to move into the compound. As quickly as the smile appeared on his face, it disappeared. Taehyung wagered it to the fact that a group of innocent people were back there. Probably good people, minus their anxiety and doubt and silly hope for the future.

Yeah, that was it, as Namjoon hit the pedals harder and pushed up the gas, speeding down the road, towards nothing, going nowhere.

It had been five hours since the “Great Escape”, as Kyungmin nicknamed it whilst bored in the back of the jeep. Namjoon had pulled the jeep up at an old abandoned trailer park, just down a wooden trail off the side of the main road you’d been headed down. Noticing the shift in light in the sky, it was his only other option, the stained sign covered in dust reading, “FERNLEAF TRAILERS” feeling somewhat reassuring, additionally secure.

Thankfully, it was empty, and quiet.

Stepping out of the jeep, after hours of being cramped in the dark, you had admittedly been surprised to see the location. Preserved by thick pine trees and lush emerald greens, this place seemed isolated from reality. It felt nice, to sink your feet after taking off your boots in the moss, and pillows of white flowers, tall stems of baby’s breath and ferns that had become dinosaur sized. The earth was oddly damp and wet and cool, nice to sink your feet into.

While Kyungmin and Namjoon decided to share a trailer closest to the jeep, Taehyung moved through the lines of abandoned trailers before picking safety over seclusion; he chose the middle trailer with two faded pastel deckchairs upturned by the wind, a ripped umbrella rested against the rusted wheels. The doors to each trailer faced one another, and Namjoon went back to the jeep to pull it between the two, creating a square of safety, blocked for the most part from anything on the outside.

By chance, the trailers were easy to unlock. Aside from the vesty smell inside and the flies gathering around unwashed dishes and spoiled tomatoes on the work surface, the trailers were in working order. Checking the bathroom and the bedroom, nothing seemed mysterious. The sheets were clean, aside from the dust, and mould grew in the bathroom. You were happy to see mould instead of a dead person.

The lights worked, although barely; a dimmed light burned in the living room of the trailer, and another in the back bedroom, appropriate for honeymooners, manipulative for survivors of an apocalypse. Everything felt...peaceful. Hovering near the doorway to the bedroom, Taehyung’s footsteps echoed across the flattened and matted carpet. Behind you he paused, looking over your shoulder at the tiny trailer bed, bigger than a single, only slightly.

“Looks cosy,” he commented, nudging your hip with his hand.

At that, you shuffled inside, looking out of the window and briskly shutting the curtains. It was better to be safe than to be sorry. The light could attract anybody, human or dead. Given your current circumstances, you couldn’t take the risk.

“You should get some sleep,” Taehyung said, his voice significantly quiet. As you turned you noticed him taking off his jacket, leaving it to hang over the back of the chair near the vanity- simply a mirror nailed to the wall, with a broken light above it.

“You too,” you frowned, testing the bed. It was hard. Better than the barn, though. “When’s the last time you slept?”

Taehyung shrugged, following you as you knelt on the bed. His weight caused the mattress to shift slightly.

“Not gonna lie, I slept okay in the barn,” he admitted, smoothing his hand across the sheets, “but a bed is nice.”

“Yeah, it is,” you agreed. By then, Taehyung had already lay down on the bed, testing the waters. His head rested firmly on the brick of a pillow, his neck at a weird angle and elevated from the rest of his body. He lay there, like a body in a coffin, not moving, until he started to laugh quietly. Half taking off your jacket, you glanced at him.

“Why’re you laughing?”

“‘S’nothing,” he muttered, looking over at you. “It’s just- this is a really uncomfortable bed.”

Agreeing, you grimaced, falling down to meet his eye-line on the pillow next to him. You couldn’t afford to sleep in anything other than the clothes you already had. Everything else you had looted from stores before Northgate had been confiscated, and most likely dumped with all the other clothes Taehyung said to have saw. Wearing a shirt that was stained with orange, and had a slight sour smell under the arms, it would just have to do. From the looks of how close Taehyung had shuffled to you, it looked as if he didn’t care about the smell either.

He let out a large sigh, his hand finding solace in the wild tangles of your hair. Although he tried, he ran his fingers through the knots, untangling them, occasionally getting stuck and pulling with numerous apologies. Eventually he just stopped, his hand still cupping the side of your face, utter relaxation on his features.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said quietly, moments after you had closed your eyes. Opening just one, you noticed he was staring at you in the dark, only a dimmed light showing his expression.

“I’m glad we’re okay,” you replied, reaching to hold the back of his hand. “I’m glad we left.”

Taehyung nodded against the pillow. “Me too. Namjoon’s a good guy, he knows what he’s doing.”

“Yeah. Kyungmin, too,” you added, remembering the back of the jeep. For whatever reason, you didn’t bother mentioning it to Taehyung. It felt like a personal memory, something meant for only you. You were sure he had some of those, too; memories stored away in a personal memory vault, forbidden to public access. You guessed you weren’t at that stage of companionship yet.

“I just want you to know,” he began to speak, but the words died out before he finished.

There was so much he wanted you to know. So much; so many details and trivial comments, observations made under the moonlight, promises he wanted to keep, memories he wanted to share. In that moment of staring at you from a second pillow, Taehyung felt the overwhelming desire to tell you everything. From his first memory, to his last thought. Everything was yours, if he only just spoke.

Noticing his own silence, he gulped and smiled quickly. “Actually, I don’t know. Never mind.”

“You can tell me anything,” you said quietly, smoothing your thumb over his hand. “Y’know that, right?”

His smile widening, Taehyung nodded against the pillow once more, shuffling to reach and plant a kiss on your forehead. “I know.”

“But for now-” He let out a sort of groan, rolling over on the bed with his arms wrapped around you, pulling you into a position where your head was tucked under his chin, legs entangled and bodies flushed against one another- “Let’s sleep.”

At around 3:30am, you shot awake. You knew it was 3:30am by the blinking red lights of the apparently working alarm clock, on silent, nonetheless blinking red numbers.

Beside you, flat out, Taehyung lay undisturbed. As you sat up, forehead sweaty and damp with anxiety, you noticed that he shuffled at the loss of something to hug, his arms struggling to grasp onto something new before falling still entirely, the scent of your neck lingering on the firmness of the pillow. Outside, through the thin curtains, the curve of the moon glowed, and the slightly open window allowed a soft breeze to glide through. Had you opened that window, last night?

You climbed off the bed, and pulled away the thick sheets, replacing them back over Taehyung. Then, you moved from the bedroom in silence, grabbing Taehyung’s jacket off the back of the chair, and quietly opened the door leading back into the throat of the trailer, and padding towards the front door. Through the pane of glass, you noticed the light on Namjoon and Kyungmin’s trailer shining brightly, and through the bay-window at the front of the trailer, the familiar colours of a low log fire indicated somebody else was up and outside.

As if on command, Namjoon’s recognisable voice coughed from in between the two trailers, and you opened the front door and stepped down onto the mossy slabs, noticing that Namjoon had pulled four soggy deckchairs from the back of the trailers to the sit around the small fire. Whether he had heard you or not, Namjoon made no effort to turn around. He just continued to stare at the fire, wordless, thoughtless.

You slid into the chair closest to Namjoon, opting to look at the rising flames even when he looked over to see your face lit up by orange. He sighed, then, comfortable to make more noise.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, although he didn’t expect any different answer.

“Yeah. Nightmares.”

He scoffed humourlessly. “Me too, Y/N. Me too.”

You looked up at him. He wore an expression of worry and doubt on his face.

“Do you wanna talk to me about it?” you decided to ask. Even if you didn’t want to talk, you figured it was better knowing that somebody, regardless, was there to listen. In weird ways, it was comforting.

Namjoon twirled a random branch of tree between his fingers, fingering the soft leaves. “We should have told the others. Back at the camp, about Daniel.”

It made sense; looking back, you realised with guilt that not once was it mentioned that Northgate had murdered Daniel. And Jenny. And Clara, the woman whose name you only found out through grief and panic. They were good people. Even Harry, with his hothead and trigger-happy energy, the group you had left behind were good. Kind. Compassionate and loyal. In the spur of things, nobody had considered how Namjoon and Kyungmin must have felt leaving them behind. In that moment you were selfish, caring more about yourselves over anybody else. It was the only way to live, now. With the horde of biters heading into Northgate as you left, it was obvious that thinking about them was time-wasting. They didn’t make it out.

“We had no other choice,” you explained quietly. You even reached out to hold his knee, “Namjoon, there was nothing more you could have done. Mentioning Daniel...it would have caused more panic and distrust. It may not seem like it, but you did the right thing.”

“Did I?” he answered bitterly, looking at you sharply. He didn’t mean to sound so brisk. “There was room for them to leave with us. And instead we left them behind. I left them behind. My people, good people, Y/N. Young people, barely twenty- old people, who aren’t fit enough to look after themselves. Against Northgate, against the deadmeat...they don’t- didn’t- they didn’t stand a chance. I left them to die in there. That’s on me.”

You didn’t reply, because quite frankly, you didn’t know what to say. Of course it had been hard on Namjoon, as he walked away from people he trusted for months before Taehyung and yourself. You felt guilty for not even considering it.

“You can’t keep blaming yourself,” you said, finally finding words appropriate to say. He didn’t say anything in reply, just hanging his head low, his hands rubbing at the nape of his neck for some sort of excuse. “You did what you had to do, and yeah, it was a rough choice to make. But, in this world, you have to make difficult decisions. You can’t let it get to you, you can’t afford to.”

“They had children, Y/N,” Namjoon answered, his voice quiet and defeated, like the way a balloon feels after all the helium has been sucked out. “They had lives. Human life.”

“So did we.”

He looked up. Saying nothing.

Between the two of you, the fire continued to roar, its mane of orange and blood red fluttering wildly in the wind. Up ahead, the leaves on the trees had transitioned into Autumnal colours, flickers of hazel and mustard yellow against burnt brown twigs. Without really knowing for sure, you gathered that Autumn was definitely on the way. Removing his hands from his head, Namjoon fished his pocket-knife around a slimy tin of salmon, close to expiry. He offered it towards you, unbothered when you refused a bite.

“Do you think this will end?”

If he was being honest, Namjoon hadn’t expected you to say anything after that. Hearing your voice, barely above the flames, he was surprised. Swallowing the last chunks of salmon, Namjoon tossed the can into a trash-bag littering the floor.

“All things end,” he stated, as a matter of factly. “We won’t be here to see the end of this, that’s for sure.”

“Maybe it’s better that way,” replied your quiet voice.

Looking over at you, Namjoon noticed your gaze focused heavily on the flames, the colours burning into your retinas. “It definitely is. I don’t want Kyungmin here when the world goes to full-shit. This is already bad enough.”

The conversation had ended there, having realised that nothing was good enough for a response. After some time, Namjoon had stood from his chair, the dent rising slowly like bread in an oven, and his voice had carried a whisper of goodnight, the final sound of the trailer door closing separating life from barely-living. You continued to sit, staring at the flames, staring in silence until water pooled in your eyes and slipped down your cheeks, only to dry like clockwork from the flames.

At 5:16am, Taehyung woke to the sound of scuffling feet across the floors, but settled back into the mattress at ease when the bed dipped next to him, the familiar stale scent of your hair assuring him that, for now, everything was where it should be.

It’s raining.

You lay there, awake, staring at the dampening spot on the ceiling of the trailer, expanding out wider, droplets falling like tears onto the corner of the scratchy, homemade quilt. At some point, Taehyung must have gotten up, leaving the bed bare and cold as consequence, his body disappearing as an outline on the covers. Somewhere in the trailer, a noise cluttered against the side of the wall, and you sat up, feeling for your surroundings. As your toes curled in the matted carpet, and your fingers spread across the blankets, it felt oddly similar to home. Or something similar to home - the feeling of home has never been a constant.

Have I ever had a home?

The thought wanders.

From across the room, the door opened slightly and Taehyung rested his weight on the doorframe. It made a scary creak under his weight, and he crossed his arms with a vacant expression and smile on his face.

“Good morning,” he said warmly. “You slept good, when you came back to bed.”

Back. “Yeah, I got up in the middle of the night. Nightmares.”

He nodded, as if in agreement. “Heard you come back in. You feeling okay?”

Rising from the bed, you made your way to his body, deterred when he didn’t move from in the middle of the doorway, blocking your exist. With your hands on his biceps, you sighed and attempted to smile, convincingly enough that he’d move. His gaze did not falter.

“I feel good,” you replied truthfully. Inhale- “did you make tea?”

That distracted him. Taehyung looked back in the direction of the small kitchen, his smile widening, showing a display of strangely white teeth. Out the corner of your eye, you noticed toothpaste and three toothbrushes standing in a baby blue cup in the bathroom connected to the corridor.

“Yeah!” His voice seemed elevated with excitement. You hadn’t heard that sound in a long time. “By happy accident, I found milk in the fridge. It looks like someone was here recently, it doesn’t expire until two months time. Maybe they came from a farm with cows somewhere. There’s some tea in the cupboards, a little bit of sugar. PG Tips OK?”

You nodded, licking your lips. “Definitely. My grandparents used to love that brand. My cousins would always bring some back when they came to visit from England.”

Taehyung smiled more, then. “Yeah? Where’d they live?”

“Huddersfield, somewhere,” you explained, muttering thanks when he handed you a mint-green cup, the paint peeling on the handle. After a hesitation, you asked, “do you think everywhere else is as bad as here?”

At once, Taehyung thought back to what his sister had said about South Korea. President dead. Country in chaos. Cities destroyed. England, too, wanted to elect fucking Loki as the new Prime Minister. He told these stories with laughter, wanting to remember good over bad. Leaning your lower back against the work surface behind you, you laughed with him, sipping from the scorching cup.

“Burdened with glorious purpose,” you echoed. “Yeah-” snort- “he’d make an okay Prime Minister. I’d vote for him.”

“Isn’t it weird, when you realise that celebrities who had been superior to us all our lives are now probably dead somewhere? Or in the same boat as us? Or roaming the streets, without really being aware that they’re no longer alive, just simply awake in a rotting body?”

You set down your cup at the same time Taehyung set down the small teaspoon. “Is Donald Trump dead, yet?”

“No fucking clue.” He looked around from his cup of tea, nodding towards the chairs looking out of the window, down to the view of an algae covered lake that you hadn’t noticed driving in. Had anybody noticed it, disguised in with the green of the forest? “Doesn’t matter now, does it? The erasure of politics...about the only good thing to happen out of this.”

You laughed to that, sipping tea. “I always think about actors who acted in apocalypse stuff. Like Steven Yeun- think he’s knocking around somewhere? I mean, with an eye this time.”

“Too soon!” Taehyung whined, nonetheless smiling. “I think the same, though. It’s funny- the world is ending and we’re still grasping onto fiction to keep us going. Has the world really changed that much?”

“We gave up. This is karma, for all the bad things we’ve done to the planet,” you theorised.

Taehyung agreed, initially. “Probably.”

You left that there for a bit.

“What will we do, now? We can’t stay here forever.”

Kyungmin and Namjoon had come over from the other trailer, sitting in a bunch on the sofa, that had been pulled out to make a bed, or in this case, extra-leg room. The duvets they had carried over survived the heavy rainfall, remarkably being only damp and not ringing wet. Wearing socks from a drawer inside the trailer, Kyungmin let her socks poke out from the end of the blanket.

From the kitchen, you looked over at the three others sitting on the sofa. The TV was completely busted, static being a visual excitement, and Namjoon rose to crouch over the antenna, trying to find a signal to at least play the radio.

“I’ll find the roads again, take us all to Georgia. I can’t promise we’ll all make it,” Namjoon started, and suddenly, he trailed off. He said something he shouldn’t have.

“What do you mean?” Taehyung asked.

Namjoon fell short, his arms hovering over the antenna. He frowned. “I don’t think we’ll find a boat that can take us to Korea, mate. If along the way, we find enough gas to fuel a plane...I know a guy. Somewhere in Mississippi, last time I saw him. He’s a pilot, he knows what he’s doing. If I can just get to him, he can fly us out there. I know- it sounds insane, but I have to get us back home. To our family.”

You brought over a tray, balancing cups of tea and you set it down on the extended couch. Sitting uncomfortably close to Taehyung despite their being room for you to sit elsewhere, you took the mint-green cup and again sipped.

“Okay,” you nodded. “It’s on the way. It should be doable.”

Namjoon smiled gratefully. “I appreciate it, you guys. And, while we’re all together...I wanna invite you guys to come. To Korea. It’s in good shape- North and South have sort of...merged together. Created an area where all the infected are pushed into. Korea’s the promise land- nowhere safer. I know you have a group in Georgia, but...think about it, at least.”

Without looking, you knew Taehyung had already considered it. His family were still there, in the good parts of Daegu. Even though he hated to think about it, the chances of finding his sister again were growing slimmer and slimmer by the passing second. But, no matter how much Taehyung wanted to go to Daegu and wish all his problems away, he knew it wasn’t possible. Not any more.

No matter what, you keep finding something to fight for.

Shuffling in his seat, Taehyung set his cup down on the small space between the sofa and the window. “I think we’ll head to Georgia. We’ve already come this far.”

His answer shocked you, that was undeniable.

“Are you sure?” Kyungmin asked, her voice small. Her hands barely fit around the circumference of the mug. “What if your group isn’t there?”

“Then,” Taehyung started, although he didn’t quite know how to finish.

What would you do if they weren’t there? Taehyung had already thought of thousands of scenarios, preparing himself for upset and disappointment, for grief if he found bodies, regret if he found walkers, delight if he found energy. Once you were on a boat, you could start new. Meet again as neighbours, looking over trimmed hedges drinking coffee that tasted bitter in the To-Go cups. Study together as students. Work together as colleagues. Grow closer over flowers in a vase instead of bones in a pile.

Or maybe you could find somewhere in the country. Somewhere further out to pretend that everything was okay. A ranch, or something, painted white surrounded by yellow grass and an oak tree with a swing, a fence surrounding the property, enough space to build a home. A family.

“Then,” he repeated himself, understanding now what he had to say. Taehyung looked over at you, curled up with your feet tucked between your legs, widened eyes looking up at him. “Then, we’ll find somewhere to stay. Somewhere where we can pretend to be okay.”

“Just as long as you’re both happy, then it’s okay with me,” Kyungmin beamed, settling deeper in the comforter and taking a long gulp of tea.

Finding himself looking back over, Taehyung met your gaze, confused by the way your eyes glassed over, in guilt, almost. He opened his mouth to question you, but fell short when you leant back into his armpit, his nose pressed to your hair only to be replaced by his chin, as he shifted to a position more comfortable. Namjoon carried on fiddling with the antenna.

“Give it a rest,” said Kyungmin, snapping to glare in her brother’s direction. He dropped with a heavy and loud gasp of breath, nudging the small TV with frustration. “What’re you doing, anyway?”

“Searching the lines,” Namjoon replied, as if it were obvious. Perhaps it was. “It’ll tune in and out.”

In reply, Kyungmin shrugged. She didn’t care what did or didn’t come up on the lines. Namjoon, however, did; even as he sat, half-listening to conversation, his gaze never left the TV. And when the lines fizzed and a quiet voice sounded through, he moved quickly, almost making Kyungmin spill her tea, lunging to turn up the volume.

“...don’t even know who still listens to this fucking shit anymore. But, I keep coming back to report, just in-case somebody is. Anybody.”

Kyungmin gasped softly. “Is that-?”

“Maybe I have new listeners today. Hi, shitheads, welcome to my podcast. I’m currently sitting in the disabled toilets in Huntsville International Airport. The locals around here call it Cuntsville, which I find really funny, because this area killed off all the women. I find that funny because it really captures how fucking shitty this planet has become.

My plan failed, guys. There are no planes here in Alabama. I had to endure a cassette loop of Lynyrd Skynyrd to get here, and for what?

I’m leaving Madison County, and I’m headed up to where-the-fuck-ever there’s another airport. Hoseok tells me that Virginia has planes. We’re going that way and I’m gonna get a plane and we’re gonna get the fuck out of here.

I’m calling, once again, to leave a message for my friends. Who may have made it, who the fuck knows. Point is, is that I’m willing to smuggle people out of America. We’re going to Korea, where it’s safest. Or Japan, they’re close, too, tighter borders.

Namjoon- if you can hear this, I’ll wait for you as long as I can. Forget Missy- I’m headed upwards, baby. Up and out the world. I hope you’re alive. I hope you’re okay.

See you soon. This is Kim Seokjin signing out.

May fucking God be with you, or whatever the fuck we’re saying now to keep us going.”

The signal cut off abruptly, and Namjoon let out a grand sigh and switched off the TV.

“Well, fuck.”

Later in the evening, when the sky deepened into ebony shades, you found yourself sitting with your knees tucked underneath your chin on the top of the caravan-sized double bed, fingering the loops in the blanket. The window was propped open slightly, the rain trickling down in patterns on the thick glass, a smell like the aquarium in your nose.

Taehyung closed the doors to the wardrobe, hanging up his wet coat and changing into a jumper from the left behind collection. He looked adorably warm, dressed in a teal jumper and uncomfortably tight jeans- there wasn’t much else to wear, in his defense. It was either jeans or nothing, and he wasn’t sure it would be decent to sit around with nothing on. Shakily lighting a candle burning with the scent of gingerbread, Taehyung moved to sit beside you on the blanket, his knees brushing against your feet.

“We can go,” your voice made him look up, puzzled. His lips slid to a frown. “To Korea.”

Taehyung swallowed his breath back in, afraid to sigh in fear of looking dejected, afraid to inhale in case he sounded afraid. “Our groups in Georgia.”

“I know. But, I’m thinking of the bigger picture,” you continued, letting your head fall to the side to gaze at him, the muggy light outlining your face with an overcast grey. Taehyung didn’t know what to focus his gaze onto. “What if Kyungmin’s right, and they’ve gone? Or they’re dead? You’ll only spend the rest of our lives thinking about what would have happened if we left with our group right now.”

He didn’t reply at first.

“And...honestly? I don’t care if we’re in Korea, Georgia, or stranded on the top of a tall building with no exit or food. I’m happy to be wherever you are. Even if it means we’re gonna die. I’ll just be happy to die next to you. Next to someone I care about. You’ve been with me through so much, and I’m sticking with you no matter what happens.”

It was then, and only then, when Taehyung lifted himself up from his position and fell forward, his arms gathering you up like a pile of sheets in his arms and he pressed his lips to yours in a quick, sweeping and gentle motion.

It barely felt real- so fast that it would have normally been missed. But the unmistakable feeling of his lips brushing and pushing against your own, dampened by his own saliva and the aftertaste of PG Tips...you recognised it as a kiss.

Your first kiss of the apocalypse.

Even when he pulled away quickly, the feeling lingered. The urge to finger your lips, to soak up the mere fantasy of kissing Kim Taehyung became unreal, but as you shyly looked up to meet his eyes, the sight of them made you cower away, pressing your forehead against his chest with your arms loosely hanging around his frame.

“I don’t care what happens,” Taehyung said quietly, his voice muffled by your hair in his mouth, “but no matter what, I’m with you until the end of the line. I swear.”

You smiled to that. “Are you quoting Captain America?”

“Aw, man, you caught that?”

Laughing, Taehyung realised he had never really heard that sound before. The sound of your genuine laughter; the mixture of your body moving up and down with every giggle, the muffled sound of a high-pitched cackle, softer than a witch but alike in vibration. He found himself laughing too, at the contagiousness of it.

“Me, too, Taehyung. I’m with you ‘til the end of the line, pal.”

notes: as the author of dork diaries once said...SQUEEE! i just wanna give a few notes bc i realise this can look a bit. weird? lemme explain: 1) their escape from northgate was easy for a reason and it’s gonna be further explored later in the series !! 2) this fic covers weeks and months and so the relationship between y/n and taehyung is not sudden; it’s actually really gradual and fair and believable? like imo it’s like 2 people who were forced to be together in an apocalypse sort of having nobody else to rely on and that translates into a sort of romantic love? 3) painting y/n as a stronger character in prior chapters but then as someone clearly very vulnerable now does not mean she is not strong- y/n’s panic comes from trauma from her past (father, mother’s death, origin story, yena....) and i actually think its super realistic to include mental illness and mental struggle bc thats not gonna vanish bc zombies are real 4) everything in this story has a purpose and just bc it’s not clear right away doesn’t mean it will never be explored because it will!!!! i promise!!!!!!!!

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