#I need Thomas himself to look me dead in the eyes and tell me it wasn't intentional before I stop believing

[lokiusmybeloveds]

pro tip: don't watch the first Thor movie when you are still heartbroken over the Loki finale because the Thor/Jane and Loki/Mobius parallels WILL make you feel like you're being physically torn apart <3

[cherry-cola-on-ice]

Can you write a story that has Thomas Hewitt getting jealous at a guy flirting with his S/O please love your work🙏🙏🙏🙏

Jealousy Jealousy

It shouldn't bug him so much. Especially after all this time.

It wasn't your fault after all. Anyone with eyes could see how beautiful you were. Everything about you was crafted by some higher being, sculpted from the stars and the skies. And you were so sweet, so kind. You brought a smile to even Uncle Monty's face.

And most of all, he knew you loved him. He repeatedly told himself, saying it over and over again in his head like his own personal mantra. As long as you loved him, he didn't need anything else.

Thomas's eyebrows furrowed as you laughed at the joke. He couldn't tell you jokes. But this stranger could. This handsome, younger man with perfect teeth and perfect hair. He looked like one of those men on the front of the harlequin novels Hoyt steals out of suitcases.

You laughed again, head thrown back. God, you were perfect. Too perfect for him. This stranger was the type of man you deserved.

From the back room of the gas station, Thomas shifted his weight nervously. He knew he should have left you at the house. It was a bad idea, just like Hoyt said. You brought to much attention to yourself. Unknowingly and unwittingly, of course. Never your intention.

But you had a magnetic power around you, drawing people in.

Your soft eyes were what made him fall in love with you. When his family first found you, hiding out in their barn, crying your eyes out, he felt a pang in his heart that was new to him. You looked scared and you were alone. Everyone else had left you, all meeting their ends by his chainsaw.

He asked you why you didn't struggle and you always shrugged "I guess they were never really my friends to begin with. They tried to leave me for dead. "

And he didn't question it at first. After all, it all brought you to him. You were his now.

But-

You should hate him. You should fight him. You shouldn't be able to stand the sight of him. You were better off with this man, this stranger who could give you the life you deserved. The overwhelming feeling of despair hit him like a shot to the stomach.

But then you turned to him. And smiled. That sweet smile, the one that lit up a room and light up his life. And it was directed at him. It was his smile.

And for a moment, all was right in the world. You chose him.

But then-

"So, I gotta wonder... What's a sweet thing like you doing in a shit hole like this?"

From afar, Thomas could see you bristle, your demeanor change from jovial to defense "What's that supposed to mean? There's nothing wrong with here."

The stranger laughed "Yeah, it's cute in tetanus shot kinda way. But nowhere such a hot piece of ass such as you should be. "

Thomas ought to punt this creep straight into a grinder. His fist balled up and he began stalking towards him-

Except you beat him to the punch. Quite literally.

The stranger fell to the floor, holding his bloody nose. Whimpering. Thomas was surprised, he didn't think this guy would go down that easily. The man wasn't as tall as him, but he was still a sizable man. And you floored him.

Looking back to you, he watched as you shook your hand out, cursing under your breath "Fucking hell, dude! Your face made out of concrete?!?"

"YOU BROKE MY NOSE, YOU BITCH!"

"Yeah, and I'll do it again if you don't get your ass outta here!"

The man, holding his bleeding nose, lifted himself off the ground, shooting daggers at you. Instinctively, Thomas placed his body between the two of you, glaring back at him.

The stranger, though looking absolutely terrified, feigned confidence and scoffed as he walked by. You grabbed Thomas's arm, shouting as the stranger left the store "Yeah! Get out here, you-"

Thomas spun you around, grabbing your face in his hands. He looked you over, looking for any signs of harms. You scrunched your nose "I'm fine, Thomas!"

Thomas huffed, pulling you close to him. You laughed in his arms, standing up on your tip toes to press a kiss to his mask. Thomas looked down at you, taking in the lovestruck look in your eyes.

Yeah, he had nothing to worry about.

[catoslvt]

Gally (TMR) x Reader

Death cure based with major spoilers.

You and gally were together back in the maze. It's been 3 years since he "died"

This is very long, but there is smut at the end 😜

As I stare at the masked man, I can't help but recognise him, well obviously not his face because he's wearing a gas mask, but I recognise his posture, his body language, just generally the vibes he's giving off, and it reminds me all too much of Gally.

But that's impossible, Gally died, I watched him die. I let him die.

As the van we were forced into goes over a small bump, it annoys me only more.

"Sit there all mysterious then." I grumble as I cross my arms and glare at the three of them.

"Are you guys just gonna sit there all mysterious, or are you gonna take those stupid masks off?" I spit at the three masked men, mainly aiming it at the one that resembles Gally, and Thomas and Brenda turn to me and let out small laughs whilst the masked men stay silent and continue to stare at the three off us.

Once we were let go from the vans, Jorge stumbles out of one of them, pinning down one of the masked men and hitting him across the face repeatedly.

"Where is she!?" He screams as I walk around him to reach newt, I know it's bad to have a favourite best friend, but Newt and Brenda are most definitely mine. He was there for me whilst I coped with Gallys death, and he never scolded me for grieving an "asshole" but gally wasn't an asshole, he was just misunderstood, I understood him though, and he understood me.

"Who are you?" Thomas asks as I wrap newts arm around mine and drag him to stand beside Thomas.

"Don't worry, we're all on the same side." The man says, and although his voice is muffled, it sounds like Gallys voice.

"What do you mean, all on the same side? Who are you?" Thomas quizzes, and suddenly the man takes his mask off, and my jaw drops.

"Hey, greenie." Gally says with a small smile, and my knees feel weak as I go to stumble backwards, but Newt quickly catches me, and in the few moments my eyes leave gally, Thomas has him on the floor hitting him.

"Frypan, hold y/n." Newt says, and frypan quickly holds my arm as Brenda clears her throat.

"I'm so confused. Who is he?" Brenda asks frypan and he shakes his head.

"My boyfriend." I gasp, and Brenda turns her head to stare at me, and I just shrug.

"An old friend from our maze." He tells her and I shake my head.

Once Newt has dragged Thomas off gally, I stare at him and he smiles at me.

"Hi y/n." He laughs, and I push frypan off of me and run to gally, pulling him in a tight hug as the tears begin to stream from my eyes.

"I thought you were dead." I cry as my arms tighten around his neck as his arms slowly make their way around my waist, and I just take a deep breath, taking in his new all too familiar but also unfamiliar scent.

"Without saying goodbye to you? Never." He whispers, and I just laugh before I remove my arms from his neck and cup his face with my hands.

"Holy shit it's actually you." I gasp as I stare at his face, it's been three years since I last saw gally, and as much as he's changed physically by shaving his hair, putting on more muscles, growing taller and well obviously aging, he's still the boy I met all those years ago in the glade.

"It's you too." He laughs before I roll my eyes and kiss him, and he kisses back before Brenda claps, and I awkwardly pull away from gally and stand beside him, facing my friends as Brenda smiles and shoots me a small thumbs up, she's heard every single detail about Gally and I, she heard every detail about gally himself probably over a thousand times, to the point where she said it feels as if she knows him personally.

"Why are you guys here anyway? Wckd is after you lot, like majorly." Gally asks as he looks at Thomas with his eyebrows raised slightly.

"We need to get into Wckd. They have Minho." Thomas answers and gally lets out a small laugh.

"Do you know how dangerous that is?" Gally asks and Thomas furrows his eyebrows.

"Look gally, can you help us or not? We need to get back to our camp soon, and if you're not helping us, then we're leaving." Thomas states, and I grab gallys hand and glare at Thomas, in a way that says,'I'm not leaving him.' And Thomas rolls his eyes slightly, but I just shrug him off as I turn my head to stare at gally with a smile and all the feelings come flooding back, all the feelings from when I was just a silly girl who didn't know anything, now I'm still a silly girl who knows quite alot after everything I've been through.

"Fine." Gally says as he grabs my hand and drags me deeper into wherever we are, Thomas and everyone else following us.

"After the maze, I got picked up by a group headed to the city." Gally tells us, as he's now at the front of the group, and I'm now walking with Brenda, still smiling at the fact my boyfriend is alive..

"They realised I was immune, patched me up, then brought me here. Lawrence. This group has been at war with Wckd ever since they took control over the city, but wckd couldn't hide behind those walls forever." He continued and I stare at him, Thomas or newts head ocasionally getting in the way but I don't care, even just being in his presence is enough to keep me smiling.

"The days gonna come, and they're gonna pay for what they've done." He finishes before he turns around to stare at the group.

"Listen. He doesn't get a lot of visitors, so let me do the talking, alright?" Gally asks, and we all nod.

"And try not to stare." He then adds which makes me scrunch my nose in confusion but we all follow him into the room anyways.

The room is a beautiful room filled with all types of flowers.

"Gally, glad to see you made it back. Jester told me what happened." The man exclaims as gally sets his gun down and walks towards the man.

"It was a slaughter. There was nothing we could do against those guns." Gally tells him as his hands reach up and sit on his vest, his fingers sliding underneath.

"No, but they can only poke a hornet nest for so long before they get stung." The man whispers as he raises a red rose to his nose and smells it, as Brenda, Newt and I all shoot each other a small 'what the fuck?' Look.

"Who are these people? Why are they here." The man asks, or more demands.

"we need to get into Wckd." Thomas says as he steps forward, ruining gallys full 'let me do the talking' rule, which makes me glare at him slightly.

Don't get me wrong, I love Thomas, but he thinks he's the leader of the group. All he thinks about is Teresa, really, Brenda is so clearly head over heels for him, but all he talks about is Teresa.

"Gally said you could get us through the walls." Thomas then adds and Gally just stares at him, clearly slightly annoyed.

"Gally should know better than to keep promises he can't keep." The man says, and I let out a small laugh, but I quickly stop myself before anyone turns to look at me.

"Besides, that wall is only half your problem." The man continues as he grabs the rack that is pumping something into him as he begins to walk to us.

"Getting inside wckd is impossible." He finishes and gally shakes his head.

"There might be a way now, but it doesn't work without Thomas." Gally announces.

"Is that so? You know what I am, Thomas? I am a businessman." The man says, leaning close into Thomas' face to whisper those last words

"Which means that I don't take unnecessary risks, why should I trust you?" The man asks and Thomas just stares at him.

"Because I can help you. You see if you can get me through those walls I can get you what you want." Thomas says and I turn to Brenda confused but she just shrugs her shoulders.

"So what is it that you think I need?" The man quizzes.

"Time, every last drop." Thomas states and the man turns his head to the side almost as if he's laughing.

"Is that something we both need?" The man sneers, and Thomas just continues to stare at him, almost as if he's staring through him.

"Wckd is something we both want." Thomas tells him, and he man just nods.

"I'll tell you what, two can go for now, the rest stay down here with me. Just a little insurance to make sure you'll find your way back." He tells Thomas and everyone in the group look at each other and shrug.

"Do we have a deal?" The man asks Thomas as he extends his hand for Thomas to shake, which he does, and he man just smirks.

"Gally show them the way." The man then says before gally quickly shoos us all out of the room and shows us the entrance to Wckd, which is a literal sewer drain,and I stare at gally with a smile as he lowers a ladder down into the drain, I quickly crouch on the floor next to him as he drops to the floor ready to climb down.

"Gally, take care of these two." Frypan says and gally just nods.

"Yeah." He says before he looks at me.

"Stay safe, don't get lost or hurt." I warn him and he smiles.

"Cmon y/n, you know me." He says before he kisses me and begins to descend down the ladder, and I smile and watch him go down, smiling to hide the nerves.

As one of the now non masked men lead Brenda and I into a room, he stands at the door with his arms crossed.

"This is where you'll be sleeping whilst you stay here." He says before he slams the door and leaves, and Brenda throws herself onto one of the single beds, me copying her actions.

"I can't believe I finally got to meet Gally." She says with a small laugh.

"You can't believe it!? I thought he was dead! I watched him die." I tell her with an even larger laugh and she just nods.

"You must really love him if when you saw him, you still knew the love for him was there." Brenda tells me and I just smile.

"The love for him never left, I had plenty of opportunities to find someone else, like when I was captured by Wckd there was a few boys who showed interest in me but I couldn't stop thinking about gally, in the glade I thought i loved him, but when I lost him that's when I realised I did love him." I quietly say, and she just stares at me, but then shakes her head.

"But, you thought he was dead, so why didn't you move on?" She quizzes and I shrug.

"I asked myself that almost every day, but a part of me knew he wasn't dead no matter how bizarre it sounded to say out loud." I tell her and she just smiles widely.

"I'm really happy you've got him back y/n, I could see how much you loved him when you spoke about him." She tells me with a genuine smile on her face.

"Even with him back, it doesn't mean I won't spend time with you. You're still my best friend, Brenda, you know that. You know i love you." I tell her, and she laughs.

"I love you too, not as much as I love Thomas, though." She says and I just laugh

As we sit around the table with paper spread all over it, Thomas shakes his head.

"Nope, there's got to be another way in." He says and gally laughs.

"But how? You've seen the building, she is our only way in." Gally states as I stare at him.

"You really think she's gonna help us?" Thomas asks but my gaze then falls on newt who looks as anxious as ever as he plays with his fingers.

"I don't plan on asking for her permission." Gally laughs and Brenda clears her throat.

"Am I missing something? This is the same girl who betrayed us, correct? Same dick?" She scoffs and gally looks at her with a smile.

"I like her." He tells us as he points at Brenda before he looks at me and smiles.

"What's going on?" Brenda quizzes as she looks at Thomas, and I can see the anger growing on newts face, somethings wrong with him, I can tell.

"What are you afraid that your little girlfriends gonna get hurt? Hmm?" Newt growls as he stares at Thomas through knitted eyebrows.

"This has obviously never just been about rescuing minho." He continues and I nod my head.

"Exactly." I agree, but nobody listens apart from gally who just chuckles.

"Who are you talking about?" Thomas asks as he approaches newt, who quickly slides off his chair so him and Thomas are both at eyelevel with each other.

"Teresa." He spits as if her name was poison.

"I mean, she's the reason Minhos even missing in the first place, and now we finally have the opportunity to get him back, and you don't want you because of her?" Newt asks as he's walking directly into Thomas, so Thomas has been pressed against the wall. If a deaf person was watching this play out, they'd definitely think that something else was going on here.

"Because keep down inside of you. Do you still care about her? Just admit it." Newt grumbles.

"Newt, no." Thomas answers and Newt grabs both of Thomas' shoulders and pins him tight against the wall.

"Don't lie to me!" He screams.

"Don't lie to me." He then spits and Brenda and I slap a hand over our mouths in usion, each for different reasons.

She did it out of shock, I'm doing it because I'm trying not to laugh.

Newt quickly steps back and shakes his head.

"Sorry." He mumbles.

"Sorry." He then says as he turns to face us all, and I remove my hand from my mouth and stand up from my chair and quickly approach him.

"Are you alright?" I ask and he just stares at me before he walks out, and I turn to everyone in the room, mainly pointing at Thomas though.

"I'm gonna go speak to him, I'll be back in a minute, alright?" I say to the group and everyone nods before I follow newt, quickly realising he's heading for the roof, and as I follow him I watch as he sits down and dangles his leg off of the building, clutching his right hand with his left.

"Newt, what's wrong?" I ask as I slowly sit next to him, my words coming out gentle, as I don't want to startle him. He says nothing and instead pulls up his right sleeve, revealing black veins, which you only get if you have the flare.

"I should've told you sooner." He mumbles, and as I stare at his veins, I feel tears brimming my eyes, but I quickly blink them away as i smile at him, trying to act fine even though inside I was breaking.

"No, no, newt, it's okay." I say as I grab his left hand in mine and give it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm happy you told me now." I say and he just nods at me.

"We're gonna get you the cure, okay? You're gonna be alright." I whisper, and he sadly smiles as he blinks away his own tears.

"Can you get Thomas, please?" He asks, and I nod but pull him into a tight hug.

"I really love you newt, you're my best friend, keep fighting for me, I'll get you better." I say as I stand up and run downstairs back to where everyone is and tell Thomas that newt wants him, and once Thomas is far enough away, I burst down into tears, nobody knowing why until I tell them.

"He'll be fine y/n, you know newt. He's a fighter." Gally says as he pulls me into a tight hug, his hand on top of my head as he gently plays with my hair.

"We're gonna get him the cure when we get into Wckd." Brenda calls before her, frypan and jorge all join in on the hug, which makes me let out a sad laugh as I hold onto them all.

Once I've calmed down, gally just grabs my face and stares at me, like I did when I first saw him again.

"I've missed your stupid face." He says with a large smile, and I just glare at him.

"I miss your hair." I cry as I stand on my tip-toes to feel at his now bald head which makes him scoff.

"It'll grow back." He remarks, and I sigh as I then burst out laughing.

"Actually, I think I prefer this hair." I state before Gally pulls me into a kiss, making frypan gag.

"Can you guys make out somewhere else!?" He screams before Thomas quickly runs in.

"I'm going into Wckd, gally you need to come with me, were getting Teresa." He states, and just like that, gallys gone.

Only an hour later, we all stand in front of Teresa, gally Ripping the bag off of her head as we all glare at her.

"gally?" She gasps but gally quickly quiets her by talking.

"Here's how this is gonna go. We're gonna ask you some questions, and you're gonna tell us exactly what we need to know. Well, start off simple. Where's minho?" Gally asks as he grabs a chair and slams it backwards in front of Teresa so that the back of the chair is facing her as he harshly sits down on it and throws his arms over the backrest.

"You guys seriously don't think -" She says as her eyes fall past gally and onto Thomas, which makes gally laugh.

"Don't look at him? Why are you looking at him? Look at me. He's not gonna help you. We know you have minho in the building. Where?" Gally demands, and I let out a quiet gasp as my knees feel weak when I hear how demanding gally now is.

"he's with the others we're holding. At level three." Teresa answers.

"How many are there?" Newt asks, and Teresa gulps.

"twenty eight." She tells us, and we all turn around to Brenda as she plays with cards.

"I can make that work." She tells us happily with a smile.

"No, no, you guys don't understand the whole level is restricted. You can't get in without a thumbprint ID." Teresa states, and Thomas stares at her.

"That's why you're gonna come with us." Thomas tells her, and I stand up from where I'm sitting and grab the scalpel that's on the table and begin walking towards Teresa.

"Well, I don't know. You don't necessarily need her, right? Not all of her. We just need her finger." I sneer, an evil smile growing on my face as I almost pass gally, but he holds an arm out, so I bump into it, him signalling I'm taking it too far.

"y/n back off." Thomas warns from behind me, and I turn to him and glare.

"What are you squeamish? I guarantee you she's done much worse to minho." I question, and he points a threatening finger at me.

"Not the plan back off." He warns yet again, and I groan and give gallys shoulder a comforting squeeze before I walk back to the table and hand Thomas the scalpel.

"it won't make a difference. Do whatever you want to me. You still won't get through the front door. The sensors will pick you up." Teresa says, now clearly panicking after the scalpel comments I made.

"we know. We're tagged, property of wckd. You're gonna help us with that, too." Thomas says as he holds up the scalpel.

As I sit on the chair in front of Teresa as she pulls my shirt down at the back of my neck, her fingers carefully graze my skin.

"Try to relax. This is gonna sting." She says slowly before gally walks over and gives me a warm smile before crouching on the floor in front of me.

"I don't want to see you flinch. You're my tough girl y/n remember." He says with a smile, and I nod, I remember.

As I run out of the maze, tears pouring from my eyes as I grab tightly onto minhos shoulder, trying my hardest to make it as far away from the maze doors as I can before I collapse, when i was running back from in the maze my leg got caught in one of the walls as it begun to move, i pulled it out but my ankle got caught and the wall got caught in it, making my ankle make the most deafening crunch noise you'll ever hear, and my scream got minhos attention as he spirited back and pulled my ankle free of the wall, and when I try to put my ankle on the floor I can't do it, so this is how minho has ended up carrying me back to the glade.

"HELP! Someone get Clint and Jeff!" Minho screams as he sets me on the floor, out of breath from running whilst practically carrying me.

Gally must've heard minhos cries for help, because he sprints over and falls to the floor next to me and when he looks at my ankle he gasps, and he's not even a medjack so it must be bad.

"Y/n, y/n, don't cry. You're my tough girl I don't want to see you cry." Gally warns as he presses a kiss to my head.

I'm snapped out of my memory with Teresa handing me a tissue.

"That's you done." She says, and I nod and get off the chair, allowing gally to climb on it as I sit on the floor like he done with me as I use one of my hands to dab the blood off of my neck using the tissue.

"How are you alive, gally? We watched you die." Teresa asks as she focuses on cutting his neck.

"I wish I knew." Gally says flatly as he reaches out one of his hands to cup my chin, lifting my face only slightly so he can stare at me, which causes me to smile and blush.

"I'm happy you two have each other again." She then adds and I laugh.

"We never lost each other." I say and gally begins to smile again.

When we all get ready for our plan, I smile at everyone.

"We're gonna kick Wckds ass." I exclaim as I do a small happy jump which causes frypan to laugh.

"Y/n, I've never seen you so happy to basically go on a death wish mission." He tells me with a smile and I shake my head.

"Nono, they're going on the deathwish mission, brenda and I are being the drivers." I say as I motion to Gally, newt, and Thomas with a smile.

As Brenda and I sneak our way into the carpark and climb on a bus, I stare around looking for any Wckd workers, but as of right now there's none so I smile slightly.

"Why did we agree to this?" I ask with a small laugh, and Brenda gives me the 'you know why' look and I just stare at her confused, I really don't know why.

"I just thought that if Thomas saw me doing something this brave, then he might actually like me." She sighs and I gasp.

"Thomas should like you anyway! You don't need to risk your life to be good enough for some boy." I state, and she shoots me a thankful smile.

"I wish that was true." She whispers and I shake my head.

"Brenda, you're already the bravest girl I know, you survived the fucking flare for god sake! That's braver than this." I tell her as I grab her shoulders and shake her.

"You're braver than me." She argues, and I shake my head yet again.

"It's not a competition, Brenda. If Thomas doesn't like you for you, then he's not worth it." I say as I give her shoulder a tight squeeze and she then smiles widely at me.

Minutes later, gallys voice rings through the walkie-talkie, asking where we are, and instantly, as he turns the corner, he almost runs face first into our bus, which causes me to laugh.

"Come on let's go!" I exclaim as Brenda opens the doors and the kids begin running in.

As I run to the other door and open it, I stare at gally confused.

"Where's Thomas?" I quiz and he stares at me confused.

"I was hoping he was with you." Gally says and I quickly step out of the bus, but gally grabs me and pushes me back in.

"No y/n, stay with the kids, wait here. I'll find him." He promises, and I just stare at gally, but quickly pull him into a kiss, which makes a few of the kids giggle before I break the kiss.

"Just wait for us, okay." Gally says as he pulls his mask down and then runs off.

I quickly climb on the bus as panic fills my stomach, I can't help but to think that something is gonna go wrong.

"Everyone, alright?" I ask as I turn to all the kids in the bus who just stare at me but all nod.

"I'm y/n, my friend who'll drive the bus is Brenda, were not a part of wckd and were here to take you somewhere safe, alright?" I ask, and all the kids cheer before Brenda gasps.

"Get down!" She exclaims, and I drop to the floor, all of the kids ducking in their seats.

"Stay quiet." She whispers, and i crawl next to her and watch carefully as armed guards approach the bus.

"Sorry, Thomas." I hear her say before she quickly jumps in her seat, me coping her because I know she's about to drive and i don't want to fly to the back of the bus.

As the bus starts, she screams to everyone to hold on as she begins to drive, bursting through barricades as she navigates the city seats, Wckd cars now driving behind us.

"We're fucked!" I yell as I let out large fits of laughter whilst all the kids behind us scream extremely loud.

"You'll all be alright! Just hang on!" I scream to them as Brenda continues to swerve and drive around.

"Jorge is a shit driving instructor." I tell her through large laughs.

"Oh yeah? Didn't he teach you how to drive too!?" She asks, and I just nod.

But whilst we're driving, Wckd cars behind flying at us from all angles and Brenda swerves the car, and now I'm panicking aswell as the kids, but we come to a stop on the middle of the road, and Brenda exits rhe car whilst I stay with the kids.

"We're gonna be alright guys, this is our plan." I tell them all, and they just let out worried cries and whimpers.

Our plan is set in motion once Brenda let's off her flare and connects the rod to our bus and screams to everyone to hold onto something, seconds before the bus is lifted into the air, dangling by the front as we crash into buildings and spin around.

But my laughing comes to a hault when I realise that the rod is slowly but surely Ripping the bumper off of the bus, meaning we're going to fall.

As we all begin screaming and crying, frypan quickly drops us, which sends us hurdling to the ground, but we don't actually fit the ground until the rod fully rips the bumper off of the bus, and the bus lands on the backdoors, until it tips forward and Brenda and I quickly motion for all of the kids to climb out and follow us, but first we had to wait on frypan.

Once we run back to Lawrence's lair thing, we run around trying to find everyone, but nobody is there.

"Where is everyone?" Frypan quizzes before him and Brenda take off in a sprint, leaving me with all the kids, I love taking care of kids, I think kids are funny.

"Is everyone alright?" I ask as I turn to stare at them, and they all nod.

"Thank you for saving us." The youngest boy of them all says, and I stare at him and smile. He reminds me of Chuck.

"Nobody deserves to go through what they put you through." I tell him with a large smile as I crouch down to his size, and he laughs and hugs me, which almost makes me cry as I hug back.

As we pull the kids into the main part, Thomas begins to talk through the walkie-talkie, but she's too far for any of us to hear, so I divert my attention to the kids again.

"Our safe space, is gonna be perfect. Much better than anything Wckd had." I promise as I look at all of them.

"Really?" A girl asks and I nod.

"Mhm, so much better, and you guys can help with building it. You can design your own rooms and pick who you want to share a room with. It's completely up to you." I say, and they all clap and cheer, clearly excited for this promised safe haven I'm talking about, and I hope it'll be as good as I'm making it sound.

"Will you be sharing a room with that boy you were kissing?" A different girl asks with a small 'oooo' rising from all of the other kids.

"Maybe, if he doesn't annoy me." I tell them and they all laugh.

"I used to share a room with him, well more of a hammock, and he always used to steal the blanket from me during the night so I'd wake up freezing." I groan and all the kids continue to laugh.

"Did you get them back!?" One gasps and I nod.

"I pushed him out of the hammock and took all of the blanket for myself." I answer.

Suddenly, I hear an aircraft outside and I run to check it out with Brenda and Frypan, and I realise Jorge has brought our ride, and all the kids quickly run out after us running inside, where we see Vince, and once we've flown near the tunnel we fall back down to the ground waiting for everyone to come, but they don't. So we all run out of the aircraft to see the Wckd city getting burned down.

"We can't stay here Brenda." Jorge states as he turns to her.

"Don't worry, they'll be here." She argues as she shakes her head.

Only seconds later, I hear Teresa's voice ring through the speakers, and I'm practically sick hearing her talk. Even though she helped us get into wckd, I hate her, I don't even listen to what she has to say. I just block her out.

As we get back into the aircraft I play around with the vial of the cure around with my hands, being careful not to drop it, when minho and gally run at the aircraft.

"Where's the serum!?" Minho yells, and I hold it up in my hands, and I instantly know what I have to do, I instantly begin running through the Wckd city, missing bullets only merely and jumping through fire as tears stream down my face, I need to get this back to newt, even if it kills me in the process.

As I twist and turn through alleys and different streets being so close to them, my ankle begins to hurt, as in the ankle I hurt four years ago by now, but I push through it, only to turn the corner and see newt, dead on the floor, Thomas crouched over him.

"No!" I scream as the tears begin to pour harder as I sprint to newts side, dropping to my knees on the floor as I cup newts face with one hand and shake his shoulder with the other.

Thomas says nothing as he stands up and walks away, giving me time to give newt the serum, but it doesn't work. He doesn't wake up and laugh, he doesn't even blink.

"Newt no, please. Please!" I scream as frypan, gally, minho and Brenda surround us.

"Y/n, he's gone." Brenda says from behind me, and I shake my head.

"No please! He's not gone the serum just hasn't kicked in yet." I cry as I continue to shake him.

"Newt, it's me y/n. Please wake up, please." I beg, although it's obvious he's dead, but it was also obvious gally was dead, so why can't newt come back too.

"Y/n, come on we need to go." Minho says through his own tears.

"No, I can't leave him here. What if he wakes up!?" I exclaim, my sadness now turning into anger towards everyone.

"You know he won't y/n, he's dead." Brenda says from behind me.

"He's not fucking dead!" I scream as I continue to shake him, my tears blinding me as everything continues to go blurry, as I feel my body being hoisted up off of the floor.

"Y/N, if we don't go, we're going to be burned alive." Gally says sternly as he throws me over his shoulder.

"Gally, please, no! I can't just leave him here!" I scream as I begin to thresh against gallys hold, but he's too strong.

"Y/n, it's okay." Brenda coos and I shake my head.

"No! You're all sick. You're leaving him here to be killed!" I scream, but I feel someone hit me over the head with something and everything goes black.

When I open my eyes, the room is so painfully bright that I let out a small groan as I shield my eyes from the light as I sit up and take in my surroundings.

"Y/n?" I hear Brenda say from beside me as she begins to stir from a sleep. And I turn my head to the side and see her sitting up and rubbing her eyes, and I realise I'm in a hospital room.

"Where am I?" I ask and she smiles and reaches out to grab my hand.

"We're in the safe haven y/n." She tells me with a large smile, and I just nod before she quickly stands up.

"I should go tell gally you're awake." She says before she runs out, leaving me questioning why my stomach is all bandaged.

When gally walks in, his eyes light up when he sees me.

"Y/n, are you alright?" He gasps as he quickly runs and sits on the edge of the hospital bed, pulling me into a hug whilst being careful of my stomach.

"What happened to my stomach?" I ask as I hug back.

"When you were running to give newt the serum, you got shot. We all noticed, but somehow, you didn't. Your adrenaline was too high. So when you were screaming over newt, making your heart race, it was pumping more blood out, but you still didn't realise." He tells me and I just stare at him and nod.

"I didn't want to knock you out, but I had to. Otherwise, you would've died due to blood loss, im sorry." He frantically tells me, and I sit up and rest my head on his shoulders.

"You saved me gally." I whisper before I gasp, which hurts my stomach, but I shake it off.

"So we're at the safe haven now?!" I exclaim and gally nods as he stands up.

"You want to see hm?" He quizzes before he takes my hand and carefully stands me up before he shows me around the safe haven, and I stop at the rocks with everyone's names carved into it, my heart stopping when I see Newts name, but my eyebrows raise in shock when I see Teresa's name.

"Teresa died?" I ask as I turn to gally.

"Saving Thomas, actually." Gally says as he slings an arm around my shoulder.

"Well shit." I whisper as I begin to feel bad for all of the grief I gave her after she betrayed us, all for her to die saving Thomas.

Suddenly, my eyes fell on minho, and I realised I totally forgot we saved him, so I ran at him full speed, throwing my arms over him in probably one of the tightest hugs ever.

"Careful there." He says as he hugs me back, also being careful of my stomach.

"It's good to see you again." He then tells me with a laugh and I just nod.

As we all sit around the bonfire, all of us, Vince begins to speak.

"We've come along way together. So many people sacrificed so much to make this place possible." He begins.

"Your friends." He continues, and our group all look at each other and smile, all of us nodding in agreement.

"Your family." He adds, and Brenda looks at me, as I turn to face her from infront of her, gally and I sitting infront of her, minho and Thomas and she grabs my hand, and she mouths 'my sister' which brings a few tears to my eyes.

"So here's to the ones that couldn't be here." Vince continues as he raises his glass, and tears begin to spill when I think of newt.

"Here's to the friends we lost." Vince says as I raise my glass high, everyone doing the same.

"This place is for you. it's for all of us." He continues and gally looks at me, and when he realises I'm crying, he wraps an arm around my waist pulling me closer to him.

"But this, this is for them." Vince says as he points at the rocks with everyone's names on them.

"Welcome to the safe haven!" Vince then screams and we all clap and cheer, and from the corner of my eye I see Brenda and Thomas kissing, which makes me snap my head to them, letting out a large 'What!?' Which makes everyone around us laugh, before I taste whatever in my cup, and I let out a massive gasp which takes all the oxygen out of my lungs.

"It's your drink!" I scream to gally, and he nods before pulling me into a deep, meaningful kiss.

"It sure is." He says with a small smile before we go down to the front with Vince and start the massive bonfire, where we all talk and laugh all night, but gally is way more touchy, infact he's toucher than ever tonight.

"You know, we have our own room now, no more sharing a hammock in front of everyone." Gally says once the bonfire has died down and there's hardly any people around us.

"Wait, really?" I ask happily, and he nods.

"Yeah, would you like to see?" He quizzes, and I nod.

"Are you sure you won't mind leaving the bonfire?" He asks and I just shrug.

"Hardly anyone here now anyway." I say, and he grabs my hand and leads me to our room, which I just gawk at.

"Holy shit it's so nice!" I exclaim as I jump on the bed, only paining my stomach a little bit as I smile, and gally copies me, but he grabs my waist and pulls me on top of him, pressing small kisses to my lips.

"Gally." I say with laughs in between kisses, yes sure gally and I have made out before, but this is different, I can tell it is.

And I'm really not complaining.

"Do you want me to stop?" He asks as he leans his head into the pillows to break the kisses.

"No." I state as I smile at him.

"Good." He tells me before he flips us around so he's on top of me, which makes me blush, and I slowly feel a pit in my stomach growing, and I feel myself becoming wet.

"God, you're so gorgeous." Gally mumbles before he presses lips against mine, this time not breaking it, and instead, he deepens it by pushing his tongue into my mouth, which causes me to let out a small moan.

I can't remember if I've ever done anything like this before the maze, but if i have, it'd be really weird seeing as I would've been like fourteen or fifteen.

Gally smiles into the kiss as his hand slides under my shirt and makes its way to my bra, where he gently gropes my tits through the fabric of the bra, which only makes my moans slightly louder.

"You like that, hm?" Gally quizzes with a small chuckle before his lips make their way to my neck, as he begins to suck and bite it gently.

"Oh my god, gally." I groan as I wrap one of my legs around his waist, trying to pull him closer, but he's clearly still being careful of my stomach.

When gally stops kissing my neck, he looks up at me as he takes his hands off of my tits as it makes its way down to the button of my jeans, and I quickly kick off the sliders I'm now wearing, god knows where my trainers are because I wasn't even wearing this outfit when I last remember being awake.

"I missed you so much, yknow, not a day went by that I didn't think of you." Gally tells me as he unbuttons my jeans and unzips them, my breath hitching when he begins to pull them down my legs, his eyes not leaving mine.

"I always thought of you every day. I knee you were alive." I say to him, and he smiles at me.

"Oh yeah? What did you think about?" He asks before he pulls down my pants and slowly presses a finger to my clit, gently rubbing circles on it.

"Oh god- I thought of us. What would've happened between us if you lived." I tell him, moaning after almost every word, I'm a full virgin, like I've not ever even touched myself, I mean, how could I? I've never been left alone.

"Oh? What would've happened if i made it out with you guys?" He teases as he raises one of his fingers to his own mouth and carefully sucks it, before he slowly slides it into me.

"I had always thought that we could've got married or some shit, no matter how fucked the world was." I tell him with a small laugh and he smiles as he slowly begins to slide his finger in and out of me, causing me to turn into a moaning mess.

"And what about this? Did you ever think about us doing this?" Gally teases as he adds another finger into me, causing me to throw my head back into the pillow.

"Yes, oh fuck yes." I cry as his fingers reach deeper into me and its true.

"When?" He asks with a small smirk.

"All the time at night in the glade, I used to think about us sneaking into the deadheads and just doing it there, and then the night where I first saw you again I wanted you there and then." I tell him.

"Awh." He coos before he kisses me, and I shake my head and break the kiss.

"Gally, I want you." I whine, and he smirks at me as he pulls his two fingers out of me and sliding them into his own mouth, still maintaining eyecontact with me as he removes his fingers from his mouth, and his hands begin to work on his belt, but I swat his hands away and begin to unbuckle his belt myself, and once his belts fully gone, I take off his jeans, and then his boxers, and I audibly gasp when I see his cock.

I always knew gally was big, we had changed infront of each other before and I always saw the outline of his cock against his boxers, but now that its there infront of me, I'm gobsmacked.

"If it hurts, or if you want me to stop, just tell me." Gally warns and I nod as I lean back into the pillows and spread my legs as gally positions himself ontop of me as he begins to position his cock directly with my enterance.

"Are you still sure you want to do this?" Gally asks, and I carefully grab his face and nod.

"I'm sure gally." I promise and he nods before he slowly begins to push his cock into me, and I bite down hard on my lip.

It hurts. Don't get me wrong. But it feels absolutely perfect. I squeeze my eyes shut once he's fully inside of me, and I let out small moans when he lets out a small grunt.

"Is this okay?" He asks, and I moan and nod as he begins to thrust in and out of me.

"Fuck, it feels perfect gally, faster please." I beg and I watch as he nods as he begins to thurst faster into me, reaching deeper each time which sends me into full bliss.

"Do you know how much I thought about this?" Gally groans as he continues to thrust into me, going at a pace that's comfortable for both of us, and it's absolutely perfect, I stare at gally with a smile as I continue to moan, my eyes not leaving him.

"My handsome boy." I quietly say to him, and he looks at me with lit up eyes.

"You think I'm handsome?" He asks, his thrusts getting slightly faster.

"I think you're the best-looking boy to ever exist, gally." I tell him truthfully, and he presses a hand next to my head on the pillow as he stares down into my eyes, he's sweating slightly now.

"I think you're the most beautiful girl. Nobody could compare to you." He states and I smile weakly, his words pushing me over the edge as I come undone, gally quickly groaning and pulling out just intime to cum on my stomach.

"I love you gally." I sigh as he presses his forehead against mine.

"I love you too. I'll love you forever." He promises with a weak kiss to my lips.

[astridthevalkyrie]

a weak heart | rafayel x reader

“Let’s go all the way, tonight, no regrets, just love,” she sings, and her voice is a little pitchy but Rafayel could listen to it all day, “we can dance, until we die, you and I, we’ll be young forever!” How very wrong she is about that last part. It’s almost funny. Someone with such a weak heart shouldn’t be this cocky.

cw: reader has she/her pronouns, fluff, light angst, rafayel being bratty but also down incredibly bad

word count: 1.4k

There’s a dip in the bed that alerts Rafayel to her presence. He’d already known she was inside, even though her footsteps were hushed. He’d heard her walk in and feed Reddie, and he almost gave up the vow he made to himself not to engage with her just so he could snark about how she was more invested in seeing the fish than in seeing him.

(Of course, she very well may have gone to the studio to look for him and decided to feed Reddie while she was already in there, but. He doesn’t want to be reasonable right now. He wants to be upset with her. And she gives him so little to get upset with because she is and always has been some kind of angel descended from the heavens with an embarrassingly weak heart, so he needs to take whatever chances he can get.)

A soft touch to the back of his neck is followed by a quick kiss to his cheek. “Rafayel?”

He doesn’t answer.

“I know you’re awake, Raf.” Well, his eyes are open so. Great observation, idiot. “You’re not even gonna talk to me?”

The window he’s staring through is so fascinating all of a sudden, all bright and stale with an afternoon light he’s painted a billion times. Literally a billion. That’s how old he is. One would think he’d learned to be patient in that time, but one would also think that after waiting for a woman for centuries, she could cut him some slack and not make him wait any longer.

(Not that she knows that but. Still.)

“It was really last minute.” She kisses his cheek again, hovering over him and he wants so badly to gaze up at her, because that will be something he’s never painted before—he’d title it Requiem For A Bland Thursday and Thomas would sell it for a couple hundred million and he’d tell her that and she would only ask him to buy her a rainbow popsicle because there isn’t a greedy bone in her body.

“I was going to text, Raf, I promise I was, but I’d pulled a night shift already and my phone was dead and Xavier and I both left our chargers at home, and we didn’t have a chance to stop and charge anyways.”

Always an excuse. Always a valid excuse that he can find no fault with. But it isn’t fair. The people she works with—Tara, Xavier, Captain Jenna who she’s definitely a little in love with—get her attention and her time every hour of every day. If there’s a mission to do, she’ll drop everything and do it. And Rafayel gets the crumbs, the vacation days and the after hours, whenever she remembers him enough to spare her time.

What’s worse than that is the fear. He doesn’t let it show through text, always opting to send whatever he thinks will make her smile, but everytime hours pass without a response from her, fear seizes his poor heart. All the twisted and cruel things that could possibly happen to her start playing on repeat in his head.

“Rafayel,” she pleads, tilting her forehead against his temple. “Please, look at me?”

His chest burns hot.

When he finally looks up, he finds he’s absolutely correct in his hunch. She presents like a masterpiece, hair mussed from whatever fights Xavier clearly couldn’t protect her from. Her eyes shine tiredly, lighting up when they gaze into his. And Rafayel’s heart releases a painful thump, thump, thump because if he could spend eternity with her looking at him the way she is now, he’d easily live the rest of his immortal life the happiest person in the universe.

She leans down and pecks his lips apologetically. “I’m sorry for making you wait.”

(It’s what she always does.)

“It’s what you always do,” he says, not harsh but definitely blasé enough to make her wince. “Why should this time be any different?”

A sigh escapes her, and he starts to feel that old guilt again. To hold her up to a standard because he fell in love with two other versions of her, and to give her grief for being late as though she wasn’t doing an incredibly important job keeping people safe—it’s not exactly fair. To either of them, but specifically to her.

And yet, it’s not like he spends his time with her imagining a princess running through the sands calling his name. This version of her makes his heart pound all the same, whether she’s absolutely beating his ass at the card game in the cafe, or resting her head on his shoulder from behind while he paints, or when she’s in his bed just like this.

The biggest similarity is that damn sick bleeding heart.

“What do I need to do for you to forgive me?” She tilts his chin up with her index finger, pressing a soft kiss to his jaw. Rafayel could never imagine being spoiled like this even if he was to be sitting on the throne in Lemuria right now, with jewels and gold surrounding him and beautiful maidens offering their hands. 

Somehow, this is more. Somehow, this is better.

“There’s nothing you can do,” he answers flatly, “and there’s nothing I can do. So let me be mad at you in peace.”

Her response is to brush the bangs from his forehead and drop a kiss to his forehead as well. “You make me feel like I’m in high school all over again,” she teases quietly, a small smile playing on the corner of her lips now. “My teenage dream.”

He groans. “Don’t—“

“Let’s go all the way, tonight, no regrets, just love,” she sings, and her voice is a little pitchy but Rafayel could listen to it all day, “we can dance, until we die, you and I, we’ll be young forever!”

How very wrong she is about that last part. It’s almost funny. 

Someone with such a weak heart shouldn’t be this cocky.

“Is this my punishment?” His nose wrinkles. “To hear you sing terrible renditions of already overplayed songs?”

Her giggle is the real music to his ears. “You’re an artist, you should know talent when you hear it.”

“I do,” he insists, realizing too late that he’s giving in. The lightness in his stomach is a bit frightening too. This is the same woman who carved out his heart. This is the same woman who needed to do nothing but flutter her lashes at him to make him give in to her any request. If, tomorrow, she were to ask him to rip his own scales from his body and place the bloody pieces in her palm, he’d do so without question.

Her hand comes up to rest on his cheek and he leans into it with a soft sigh almost on instinct. Such power she possesses, over the God of the Sea, and she’s the only person who would never even fathom abusing it. 

“You’re cold,” she murmurs, caressing his cheek. “Why do you always keep your house so cold?”

(So that she can warm him up so that she can warm him up so that she can warm him up so that she can warm him up so that she can warm him up so that she can—)

“It’s better for blood circulation.”

Her thumb gently brushes over his lower lip, like she’s mapping out her quest to treasure. “That’s like, objectively not true, Raf. My friend’s a doctor, he told me that cold is better for short-term pain and warmth is better for—“

“If you’re cold,” he interrupts, “get under the sheets.”

A brilliant, blinding smile lights up her face as she does just that, slipping under next to him and laying down at a slightly elevated level so she can tuck his head into her chest. Warmth runs through him like a flood, even the leather of her uniform is comforting because it’s smooth and light and smells just like her. Her lips press to the top of his head.

“I really am sorry,” she whispers, running her fingers through his hair, “I’ll do my best to text you and let you know next time, okay?”

And if she doesn’t, Rafayel thinks, curling into her more, they will still end up like this, quiet words and mutual teasing, memories of the past that he will forever be cursed by and she will never be burdened with, a heart that dances to the tune of her commands, wrapped up in each other, and absolutely nothing will change.

Because who really has a weak heart?

(It’s not her.)

[trainsandkitties]

"Too late Icarus realized

his wings were melting. He had flown too close

to the Sun. With every desperate swoop of his

arms, more feathers fell and soon his arms

were almost bare. Down and down and down

went Icarus…"

(for best experience, play the video linked below in the background)

"With the entire world as our witness, the Countdown begins at Cape Canaveral, Florida" says a deep man's voice, the camera pans out, showing the launch team. The image is grainy and the voice echoes through the dark room. Only light coming from the telly.

The documentary goes on, recounting the events of the 1962 Friendship 7 mission- the first time a human orbited the earth. 5 years later, on a cold autumn evening, one soul seems to care for the broadcast. Observing with envy, as John Glenn set foot upon the spacecraft that would take him around the orbit. Glenn. That man refused to be confined to the Earth's face. How lucky he was. How lucky indeed. For so many are not only confined to the planet, they're confined to their beds, sometimes, their own bodies too.

The countdown begins. The clock strikes 9.47 and Friendship 7 ascends into the sky.

-Christ, are you watching that thing again?- Thomas entered the room

He was a stumpy lad, cheeky little pest. He hid his guilt well, as he felt at fault for his colleaugue's nearly fatal accident. Had he not mentioned streamlining to Sir Topham Hatt, maybe nothing would have happened. The race would have ended in disappointment, maybe even joy! Not such a tragedy. A tragedy that shook Britain to it's core.

He remembered those weeks that felt like years, when he avoided the gaze of The Flying Scotsman. A man he truly admired, but now- you could say feared. How could he look into the eyes of someone this distraught? The man who just 5 years ago buried his little sisters, now with another possible loss looming over him, all because of Thomas. All because of his pride and need to win.

-Must you all complain?- Gordon croaked -First Scott, then Victor and now you. What's wrong with watching it again? It's one of the very few things that make me happy.-

-Hey man I didn't mean it like that.- Thomas scratched the back of his neck- I just would have gotten bored already. So uh.. How- How are you feeling?-

His question was met with a look that could only be described as a visual representation of "if I could, I'd shove a crutch up your sorry arse."

-Nothing's changed.- Gresley murmured -Whole month's been the same. I think I'd rather sleep through it though.-

-Shucks, I think you've had enough sleep.- Thomas chuckled -Though I saw a guy down the corridor who's been sleeping for a few years now. Am I glad it's not you.- he paused -You're not hurting as much as you were though, right? Did Victor say when you can go back to work? Err.. I don't mind Rebecca!-

-I think I'm better.- the man looked down -Victor doesn't know yet. I'd say he thinks I won't work again.. You... you can go tell Rebecca she has a permanent job, I suppose.-

-Oh. Oh no, man, I'm not telling her that. You'll go home soon, get all better and you'll be back with your express.- Billinton seemed panicked -You're not going to just- give up, because your fucking leg hurts!-

-My crew is dead. And I don't want any dead passengers,, I don't want to die! I wish I could go back, but I can't! I won't recover. Nobody has ever recovered from a goddamn boiler explosion! What if it happens again? What if I can't do it because of the pain? Life isn't some fairytale where you bounce back from everything it throws at you! Sometimes.. You don't bounce back and.. you just need to accept it.- Gordon turned away from his friend and wrapped himself in the sheets -Goodbye, Thomas. I'll see you when I go home..-

-But..-

-Goodbye. It's time you leave.-

"Across Africa, races Friendship 7, at 17 545 miles per hour, 300 miles a minute, 4 miles for every heartbeat of John Glynn. Frienship 7 streaks through the nigth of tomorrow, and to the dawn of yesterday..'

[yourlittlebunnyy]

a court of shadows and darkness

masterlist - previous chapter

chapter five

summary: Selaene, Rhysand's sister, Azriel's mate runs away after the High Lord of Spring tries to kill her.

warnings: none

enjoy!!!

"Vane, do you realize that you never told me about Thomas?"

"And you realize you never told me about Azriel?"

The two friends laugh, Selaene speaks first, "You start."

Vanessa becomes more serious before beginning the story, "I miss him so much. We had accepted the bond just a few months ago, and one night we thought we would check to see if we could winnow into animal form, and well, that's how it ended. He was-no, he is the best person I know, Elle. If I ever come back, I won't be upset if he continued to live."

"You mean... You mean when you come back, not if. Right?"

Fae cannot see her friend but imagines the sad smile that would show on her face.

"Sure. Now tell me about Azriel."

Selaene chuckles, though a twinge in her chest makes her sad. Nevertheless, she cannot help but smile.

"He is... perfect. I would have accepted the bond that very night, probably. I would have cooked him his favorite food and then we would have gone to his cabin and started a family. I hope with all my heart that he's moved on, because I know him and I know that when he loves ... he loves with everything he's got, and sometimes he risks destroying himself."

Vanessa does not respond, but the darkness they have learned to live with envelops them like a blanket.

"We used to sing together. He is a Shadowsinger, and I simply like to sing, as you already know. That's how we fell in love; the bond snapped after that."

After a moment's pause, the tiger speaks.

"You know, Elle, I have seen you only a few times and briefly, but for me you're the Moon."

Selaene cannot be seen, but she smiles bitterly, "My mate used to tell me that too."

And that is how they end their talk, silence settles over them, and Selaene's eyes close involuntarily.

She is running across a meadow, the light of a summer day now almost at an end illuminating the field in which she prances, she feels the sun kissing her skin, such inviting warmth. Behind her she hears the laughter of a male, no. Her brother's. Rhysand. It is a memory, she realizes, from when she was a child. She was only a decade old at the time.

"Rhysand!"

"What's the matter? Do I have a bug on me?"

Her brother laughs, but when he sees his little sister's tears, he does not hesitate to run to her and ask her if everything is all right.

"Selae...what's going on? Are you hurt?"

When his sister does not answer him, he becomes seriously worried.

"Rhysand... are you," a sob interrupts her, "really you?"

"Selae, but are you okay? Do you want me to call mom?" Concern is evident in his tone.

The sister watches her hands, as if in disbelief at what she sees. "That's not possible..."

"Wait here, I'll go get her."

"No! Please don't go."

This is her chance, she thinks. If his brother knows she is alive, if he has even the slightest chance, he knows he will look everywhere to find her.

"Rhysand, you need to wake up."

"What are you talking about?"

"Rhysand. Please, you're dreaming."

"Did you hit your head?" Selaene denies with a wave of her head, and then begins to feel her body again. She is running out of time.

"Rhysand, you may not understand now, but when you wake up I want you to remember what I'm about to tell you now. I am not dead. I'm stuck in....."

But the fae cannot finish the sentence: he is already gone and the light is replaced by darkness once again.

Selaene wakes up startled and out of breath. She expects to be on a flowery meadow with the sun warming her muscles and her brother beside her, but she has to come to terms with reality. She had never dreamed before. No, it was not a dream.

It was a memory of an unforgettable day for her, she still remembered that late summer afternoon. Her father had finally given in to the child's pleas and taken her to the Velaris River along with her mother and brother, but he had not stayed with them. He had not allowed Rhys's friends to come, however.

But Selaene had been content and had played among the fields and water as never before. It is one of the best memories she has with her brother.

The dream leaves bitterness on her palate, and she has to swallow a knot in her throat before turning to Vanessa, hoping she is still asleep.

The two of them have this silent agreement: if one is awakened by the other crying, or having a nightmare, they are silent and pretend to be asleep, to leave some private space.

But this time Vanessa is awake, and although she cannot see her, she knows that he is staring at her.

"What is it?" The younger fae asks, her voice stymied.

"You haven't... you've never had a nightmare the almost five centuries. Do you want to talk about it?"

All Selaene is able to see is darkness, but nevertheless she still rolls her eyes. She doesn't want to talk about it. Neither of them has ever wanted to. Why now?

"I don't want to talk about it."

"It might help you..." Vanessa's tone is sweet, and it turns her stomach. She doesn't want her sympathy.

"I don't need someone to feel sorry for me."

The tiger snorts, a sound more animal than human, "I didn't say that. But when I have my nightmares, I'd like to have someone to talk to about them."

"What?"

The tension in the air between the two gets so thick it could be cut with scissors. Vanessa thinks hard about what to say before she speaks again, but nothing good comes to her mind.

"Vanessa. I thought we had a silent agreement."

"And we do. It's just that I've been here almost six fucking centuries. I just wish someone would tell me we're going to get out of this and it's going to be okay, but instead I'm always the one who has to comfort." The words entered from Fae's ears and went straight to her heart, breaking it even more than it already was. She wanted to get angry, to scream at them to get over it, to leave her alone. But somehow those words hurt her more than they should have, hit her right in the center.

She had never realized-she had never thought that her sister, while showing herself strong and hopeful, was suffering as much as she was, for even longer than her. She never said anything comforting to her, nothing sweet, never listened to her vent, or never consoled her. At this point she doesn't know if she can call herself her sister, her friend.

"Vane..." A sob comes out of the depths of her throat, sudden and violent, and tears away the one small healthy part of her, the only unbroken part of her.

"You leave me alone now. I don't want you to comfort me just because I told you to. I would have liked you to do it spontaneously. Sister to sister."

Selaene hesitates to respond, the crying still unabated, and the worst thing-the thing that keeps her from stopping-is that Vanessa does not approach her, does not give her warmth with her fur or try to comfort her. She ignores her. And somehow it is even worse. Somehow, these four and a half centuries she has been locked up in the UnderWorld are all being felt now, creating an excruciating pain in her chest, at the level of her heart. Her friend probably feels the same way, but in contrast to her, she has never had anyone to encourage her.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry Vanessa. I'm so sorry..."

And she would like to say more, she would have liked it so much. She wished she could have told her that if there was anyone in that place who deserved to go back to the top, then it was Vanessa. That she deserved it more than anyone. That if it wasn't for her, she would have gone crazy. That even if Selaene was not, the tiger for her was the best sister she could ever ask for. That if they had found a passage, Selaene would have sent her first, would have given her that opportunity because it was hers to take.

Instead, tearing those words from her throat, for the first time in nearly five hundred years,is a passerby passing so close to the violet-eyed fae that she loses her balance. And so, just as in only a moment she ended up down here, in only a moment she is also back up. Without Vanessa.

Rhysand wakes suddenly, his eyes wide open and out of breath. He does not want to wake Feyre, who lying beside him seems so peaceful now that she has finally managed to sleep a full night without being woken by Nyx.

He sits on the edge of the bed and sighs exhaustedly. With one hand he strokes his face as if to ascertain that he is real, that he is not dreaming.

He thinks back to the dream. Or what he thinks is a dream.

He never dreamed of his sister. He lets out a snort before getting up and heading to his study. When he gets there, he takes care to lock the room before throwing himself down in his chair with a thud, dead weight.

Why after all these years? Why did his mind have to play such tricks on him?

In the dream she ... was a child, but she spoke as if she were alive, not as in the memory of that beautiful afternoon at the river. As if the memory was just a way of communicating, a conduit.

Rhysand tries to calm his breaths. He has come a long way in accepting the death of his loved ones. In forgiving himself for not being there to protect them. His breaths become labored as he feels that wound in his heart slowly reopen as he replays the dream in his head.

It was so strange, so destabilizing. Selaene begged him to wake up, as if she was alive and knew he was dreaming the same thing. For a moment, a thought flashed through his mind, but he did not allow it to stay, or to think about it. Too many years have passed. She cannot be alive. Azriel himself has heard her die.

A soft knock distracts him from his thoughts. With a sigh he rises from his chair, and he does not like the heavy feeling invading his body.

He opens the door and finds himself facing his mate.

"Rhys... is everything all right, honey?"

Rhysand does not answer her, but throws himself into her arms, leaving her a little surprised.

"I miss her so much, Feyre." He finds himself saying through tears, his face buried in her hair.

Feyre does not respond, but stands there with him on the doorframe and supports him, holds him up and offers him a shoulder to cry on.

next chapter

[taestarii]

✎ find a way - minho

[minho (tmr) x fem!reader]

synopsis - y/n runs into the maze after minho

warning! swearing outside of glader slang, mentions of death

is the tmr fandom still alive?? these movies were my whole childhood and i just rewatched the first one and needed to writeee

Something was wrong.

"Are they not here yet?" The entire glade was standing by the door waiting for Minho and Alby to arrive. They were never this late before, and it was almost sun down. The doors would be closing soon.

"Are they going to make it?" The greenie, Thomas, asked.

"They're gonna make it." Newt said.

"What if they don't?"

"They're gonna make it."

The sun was dipping lower below the walls with every agonizing minute. Your leg bounced anxiously, checking every shadow down the corridor for signs of Minho. The worst thoughts started to fill your head. What if you really lost you best friend? What if the person that means the most to you is lying on the concrete of this god-forsaken maze fighting for his life?

Newt's reassuring hand on your shoulder did very little to reassure you.

Another minute passed and the gladers were started to lose hope. They we're getting restless, some were already leaving. You knew, you just knew he was still alive in there. Your Minho was a fighter, fighter until the last second.

"There!" Someone pointed. Everyone held their breath, searching the shadows. Minho emerged, dragging himself along with every last ounce of willpower. Everyone erupted into cheers of encouragement, but you knew something was up.

"Is that Alby?"

He was slung, limp, over Minho's shoulder. They weren't gonna make it.

The ground started to shake, the aching rumble of the stone sounded as the doors inched closer.

"No!" you cried, as if your screams would reverse the doors. "Minho, you can do it!" You saw the pained expression cross his face at your voice, he knew he wasn't going to make it.

The doors were on the verge of closing as you took a step forward. This door was the barrier between your life and your death and you were right on the edge, deciding your fate.

Your time was running out as your heart acted faster than your head. The boys screamed after you as you pulled away from the gladers, ripping away from your life and throwing yourself into inevitable death as you ran through the narrow opening towards darkness. Towards your fate. Towards Minho.

You barely made it, collapsing on the floor as the doors shut behind you. "Congratulations, you just killed yourself."

"What?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Y/n?" Minho looked up at you with an unreadable expression. You stood up and dusted off your pants before taking in your surroundings. It just clicked how utterly stupid you are. You ran into a dark maze you've never even stepped foot in before, not to mention no one has ever spent a night in the maze and lived to tell the story. You must have been batshit crazy to run after Minho, that, or crazy in love.

"Minho, what do we do?" You asked, running your hand over some ivy that decorated the wall. It felt oddly.. fake.

"Nothing." He replied, letting his head fall.

"Are you serious?" You asked. You waited for him to give any sign that he was just joking, and that he had a plan.

"You did this to yourself, Y/n." He wasn't.

"I ran after you, Minho."

"No one asked you to do that." His voice was raising, yet he stayed calm and unwavering.

"You can't just give up, Minho!"

"Then what am I supposed to do, Y/n?" He looked up at you with tears in his eyes, his voice getting shakey. "I don't know what to do, Y/n. I'm scared. I'm scared, and lost, with no plan and no chance of surviving." He bowed his head again. "You ran after me and now were both here, both dead. You're dead because of me."

Your breath slowed as you approached him. "Living won't be living without you. We're not dead, and I will do everything in my power to get us through the night and out of the maze." You kneeled beside him and drew in a deep breath. "I ran after you because I love you, Minho. You being in here alone sounded like a nightmare, and I couldn't-" he cut you off by taking your face in his hands and pressing his lips to yours.

You felt the pressure of three years in the glade, three years by Minho's side every day and three years of liking him wash away in one kiss. "We'll have plenty more time to do that once we get out of here." Minho said, standing up and offering his hand.

[nomoreusername]

Drunken Idiots

Pairing:Platonic Ivy Trio x gender neutral reader

Summary:When Newt, Thomas, and Minho drink more than intended, you end up taking care of your idiot friends again.

Newt is usually very responsible when he drinks. Minho is usually very sour looking. Thomas is usually annoying.

That's not a good combination. On its own, it’s a handful. Together? It's an everything full. No, seriously. Just when I figure out one issue, someone else has to bring up another.

Tonight would be no different. I had been aware of that from the beginning and had been internally prepping for it all day. Also, a little bit externally;making sure my hut didn't have anything for them to trip over, that I had enough blankets for some of them to collapse on the floor, and that everything sharp had been hidden away. We don't want another hair cutting incident.

Newt was five drinks in and was already out. He was holding his head in his hands as he grumbled under his breath about all these “buggin’ shanks that need to be quiet”. I know. How kind.

“You should probably leave then,”I suggested. At my words, he attempted to stand up. Already knowing what would happen, I caught him and hooked his arm around my shoulders as he almost stumbled to the ground.

“Thanks,”He slurred out.

“Yeah. No problem,”I said quietly so I didn't make it worse.

Completely leaning against me, he already seemed to be half dead. That's a good thing though. The sooner he's asleep, the sooner I can check on the other chaos causers.

This is an interesting trio to be a part of. That’s for sure.

“My head hurts,”He complained.

“I know. Maybe don't drink so much next time?”

“It was only one,”He insisted, stumbling over his own feet, almost sending us to the ground. Catching him just in time, I forced him upright again. Resting his head on my shoulder, he mumbled something incoherent. Choosing not to hear it, I opened my door with my knee and dragged him through it. Groaning something else I couldn't make out, he was already shutting his eyes.

Pulling him over, I lifted him up and placed him in my hammock. Essentially growing limp, he just stared at my ceiling as I tossed a blanket over him.

“Drink,”I ordered, handing him a bottle of water. Grabbing it from my hands, he started chugging it. When he finished he cuddled it to his chest and kept staring at my roof. “You have to shut you eyes to sleep,”I reminded him. The second he did he turned on his side and just started snoring. Good. One down, two to go.

Walking out, I left my door cracked. Heading back to the dying bonfire, I looked around at the few people up. Gally was glooming in the corner. Fry was just chattering away with a fully sober Chuck. Alby was standing there, making sure nothing got out of hand. Winston was pointing at the slaughterhouse and telling Jeff something. Zart was staring and picking at the grass, leaning over every now and then.

Finally, I found the two sitting on a log. Thomas was giving Minho the best side hug he was capable of as Minho glared at the fact that humans exist.

Deciding one at a time was the best answer, I approached them.

“Hey Thomas,”I greeted.

“Y/N,”He grinned, standing up. Catching him, I held back a sigh as he wrapped his arms around me. Cuddling his face into my neck, he insisted on standing there and hugging me.

“Come on. It's time for bed,”I instructed. Before he could argue, I picked him up bridal style. Letting out a “yay,” he put his arms around my neck and rested his face on my shoulder. “I love you,”He slurred out.

“I love you too,”I said back.

“But like a friend. You're my friend.”

“You're my friend too,”I echoed as he grabbed onto the back of my shirt to keep himself up. Letting him, I just opened my door with my foot.

Realizing I was about to let him go, he clung to me more.

“No,”He argued.

“I’ll be right back,”I assured him.

“No.”

“Thomas-”

“No, no, no,”He kept going.

“I’ll cuddle with you when I go to sleep?”I bargained.

“Yes,”He agreed, trying to throw himself out of my arms. Before he could, I held him while just dropping his legs. Kneeling down, I laid him on the ground and his head on the pillow. When it was the right spot, I sat him up and handed him a bottle.

“Yay. More drink,”He celebrated.

“Yes. More drink,”I nodded. If feeding his delusions is what gets water in his system, I’ll become Fry.

Taking big gulps, when he was done he tried to hold my hand.

“I have to get Minho first,”I explained, putting his head back on the pillow. As I threw a blanket over him he complained about Minho under his breath. Patting his head, I left him to vent to the air as I repeated the process. Walk out, crack the door, walk to Minho. As an added bonus, note that basically everyone else has gone to bed.

“Hey Minho,”I greeted. Scowling at the air, he didn't look my way. Already expecting that, I took a seat beside him. “Newt’s already out. You know how he is,”I started, planting that little seed in his head.

As he glanced at me, I knew it was working. Keeping my face neutral, I shrugged as I added something about him always being tired. While it wasn't at all true, he wasn't exactly in a state to think completely rationally. He was too busy hating everyone.

“I think I’m gonna head to bed too. What about you?”

Standing up, he answered for me as he just passed out. Catching him, I groaned at how much heavier he was than the other two. “Why do you have to be a Runner?”I complained, dragging him by his shoulders.

“Dunno,”He slurred. So he's not unconscious. Just a pain in my ass.

Giving a weak kick to my door, I opened it. Dragging him closest to Newt and furthest from Thomas, I laid him on the ground. Letting out a thankful sigh, I threw a blanket over him too.

“Minho?”Thomas asked excitedly as if he wasn't talking about how much he sucks less than ten minutes ago.

“No,”He said simply.

“Yes you are,”He insisted.

“Leave me alone,”He groaned.

“All of you shut up,”Newt jumped in.

“Newt? Hi Newt.”

“It's time for bed, Thomas,”I told him. Before he could argue, I curled between him and Minho. Instantly laying on top of me, he was more than content invading my personal space.

“Minho?”He asked, trying to reach for him.

“Leave me alone.”

“Minho.”

“It's time for bed,”I hushed. Nodding his head, he then was knocked out as if he hadn't been the most obnoxious thing. Figuring this was probably the best outcome, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as he pretty much strangled me with a hug. In the meantime, the other two were out and snoring.

Yay. I just love my idiot friends.

“Thank you, Y/N,”Thomas mumbled. Patting his head, I hugged him back to tell him he was welcome.

Yeah. I do love my idiot friends.

[goldfish-afterhours]

Genshin Characters During Finals Season (College AU)

Characters: Zhongli, Thoma, Venti, Xiao, Albedo, Bennett, Childe, Kaeya

Type/Genre: Bulleted headcanons, comedy

Warnings: Foul language, slightly suggestive humour/for comedic purposes

Zhongli

Calm and collected at first

As the days go by, Zhongli would start looking more and more like a tired dad

Walks around slightly frowning, bags under his eyes from all nighters, and clutching a mug of coffee so hard that people are afraid it’s gonna break, but even more afraid to tell him to be careful

Has heat compresses on the back of his neck and forehead to ease the headaches from the lack of sleep

Probably told Childe to shut the fuck up and mind your own business when he warned him about his cup

“Childe, if I do not kill this final I will kill you in its stead. Leave me be.”

Thoma

Probably part of one of those student care organizations that makes care packages for other students

His smile when he hands out the packages is so bright and healing it could bring back the dead

Always motivating his peers and tries to keep everyone’s spirits up

Offers to get everyone in the study group coffee

He’s not the best at school but he has a lot of friends that are willing to tutor him and do his assignments help him with his work

Likes to snack while he’s studying

“No giving up yet! Let’s take a snack break, you’ll think better with something in your belly.”

Venti

Chills at a coffee shop with a big friend group to “study”

They do jack shit

Probably spends more time staring at the drink menu than his exam notes

Grade A procrastinator, does all his homework the night before it’s due and studies for exams the morning of

Due tomorrow do tomorrow amiright

Always seems to do okay tho?? People wanna scold him for his bad study habits but he actually does okay in school so they can’t really say anything

Doesn’t study hard but parties 100x harder

“Come on, live a little! If your exam is at 2pm, you can just start studying at 9 tomorrow morning and you’ll be fine.”

Xiao

Pulls all nighter after all nighter after all nighter after all nighter after-

No one can ever find him during the day on campus or in his dorm—it’s like he despawned and just does not exist

Only time he is spotted by others is always at 3am in the morning like a cryptid and he looks like a zombie

He’s actually working a part time job along with going to classes and helping others with their work. An angry looking good boy.

Studies in the lecture halls by himself, blasting music as loud as he can on his headphones to keep himself awake

Mf going to go deaf is2g lower ur volume boi

“…hey. I’m getting a coffee, do you want one?”

Albedo

Plans his time meticulously. Has an extremely organized planner where he writes out exactly what he’s going to do at every hour of the day so he can maximize his week

Includes mealtimes, breaks, and poop times relaxation periods

Usually studies in his room, but for some reason people keep barging in on him to ask for study help so he has to find different hiding places to work in peace

So far, the best place has been the graduate students lounge. No he does not belong there, but no one questions him because it looks like he does

“If you really need my help, I have twenty seven and a half minutes between lunch and my bathroom break this Thursday. Come find me then.”

(Rejected quote: “What’s my masters in? No no, the only thing I’m a master of is your mom.”)

Bennett

The type of person to have the “please don’t talk to me I have work to do and if you talk to me I won’t stop” sign on his back while working in the library

Fell asleep while completing an assignment

Missed the midnight deadline for said assignment

Slept through the exam the next morning

At this point just let him sleep at least he won’t have to deal with it then

“That was a good nap…now I got the energy for my assignment and the exam!”

Childe

Would be a good student if he wasn’t bothering other people so often

Probably bakes when he’s stressed. His roommates are always awoken at 4 in the morning to the sound of the oven beeping and the heavenly smell of freshly baked cookies

Has a friendly rivalry with Zhongli. He always asks when Zhongli will be turning in an assignment, and what mark he’s aiming for for the final exam

Turns in the final paper at least a week before it’s due and aims for ten percent higher than Zhongli on the exam

If he needs bonus marks to reach that then so be it

Otherwise slacks off a bit

He’d be a really good student if he wasn’t so competitive with Zhongli all the time

“You good, Zhongles? You trying to squeeze a better grade out of that mug?”

Kaeya

This man probably used red bull as the liquid for his instant coffee

An absolute menace and loves messing with people

Tells them that the exam is on a whole other different thing than what they were studying for, or that the due date of a big assignment was changed

Nobody goes to him for help

If you do genuinely need help with a concept, though, he’s more than willing to help

Just make sure to provide adequate compensation for him ;)

By compensation I mean more red bull this man has drank 3 cans in ten minutes please stop him

“What? If they do shit, that only helps with our bellcurve, right? Their fault for trusting me anyways~”

[missmagooglie]

Prefacing this by saying this is not what I EXPECT to happen in 7x09 and 7x10, it's just one specific scenario that I feel particularly feral about right now... so with that said, I'm gonna throw out a dream scenario for the end of S7:

Tommy and Buck are dating and it's going well. Buck is just sort of blossoming in his new identity as a queer man. There's a self-confidence and assuredness to him that we haven't seen before

Meanwhile, Eddie has broken things off with Marisol and is quietly going through his own reevaluation of his sexuality. His awareness of his queerness happens pretty simultaneously with his realization that the way he loves Buck isn't entirely platonic, but he keeps it to himself because Buck is happy with Tommy

Episode 9 finds Eddie and Buck together off duty. Maybe they're having an argument. Maybe on the surface they're arguing about something small but somehow it feels much bigger

Mid-argument some emergency strikes. Buck and Eddie are trapped together and it's BAD. They're both in mortal peril, but it's worse for Eddie. Eddie hopes help will arrive in time to save Buck, but he's pretty sure he won't be alive to see it

(And I just want to stress - I feel like it's essential that they are off duty when this happens. They are in sync on the job, it's how they fit together outside of the job they're still figuring out)

So Eddie gets Buck's attention - because Buck hasn't given up yet. He won't. He CAN'T. He's frantically searching for solutions as Eddie repeats his name in a weakened voice, until finally he cracks and says, "Evan, please. I need you to hear this."

And in the final seconds of episode nine, Eddie Diaz looks Evan Buckley dead in the eye and tells him, "I love you"

Episode ten opens on an unrelated disaster, just to keep us gnashing our teeth a little longer

Maybe we throw some flashbacks in there for good measure

Check in on the rest of the firefam frantically trying to coordinate a rescue effort

But FINALLY they cut back to Buck and Eddie in mortal danger and replay the last few moments of episode 9. And believing these are the last words he'll ever say, Eddie tells Buck how much he loves him. He says he's sorry he realized it too late, but he could never, never regret loving him

Somehow there's a callback reference to Mitchell and Thomas, and the way Buck looked at their clasped hands as they died, and Buck realizing that dying together was never the point of their story. Living together was

And Buck is full sobbing and begging him not to give up yet because Christopher needs him and the team needs him and finally saying "and I need you, Eddie. You can't leave me. You can't-"

We get the sense that Buck is on the cusp of a love confession of his own, but before he gets the words out he's cut off by the sound of helicopter blades overhead.

Their miracle rescue arrives in time, led by none other than Buck's starting-to-be-something-serious boyfriend Tommy

After the rescue, we see Eddie in the back of the ambulance, stable and out of danger, and Buck's about to go over to him but Tommy comes running over and sweeps Buck up in his arms and kisses his temple and says, "thank god you're ok. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you"

And Buck lets himself be held, but his attention is over Tommy's shoulder looking at Eddie

Eddie, who's gonna be ok

Eddie, who loves him

Eddie, who is the absolute center of Buck's world, but Buck has never allowed himself to think of That Way

And Eddie meets Buck's eye over Tommy's shoulder and gives him a sad smile that lets Buck know he intends to go back to quietly loving Buck at just a little bit of a distance so that Buck can be happy with someone else

And just to really twist the knife, we get an overheard piece of dialogue in which Eddie refers to Buck as his "best friend" for the literal first time ever (I'm pretty sure? Up til now, any time the "best friend" label has been used it's been by Buck, but please correct me if I'm wrong.)

And the season ends there

Cue the entire fandom going APESHIT for the entirety of the summer hiatus

[severalforraelee]

The Wedding: Thomas Shelby x Reader

Photo credit to the.shelby.followers on Instagram

Word count: 2,072

Written by raelee / Posted Sep 6

Masterlist

Peaky Blinders Masterlist

I stare at myself in the mirror, dabbing a bit more blush onto my cheek.

“Can’t you just say that you love me, Tommy?” The tears fall down my cheeks as I stare at him, desperation written all over my face. He just stares back at me with a blank expression. “You- you don’t even act like it.”

“What do you mean I don’t act like it, ay?” He asks, taking a step forward. His eyebrows furrow, showing anger, however it’s a hint of emotion. “I bought you that necklace you couldn’t stop staring at the other day.”

“Just buying me things isn’t the same thing as showing me that you love me, you use it as a way to shut me up every time this conversation occurs.” I throw my hands up in frustration.

I could repeat that a hundred times- in fact, I have, but Thomas Shelby is never going to understand what he doesn’t want to understand.

“You know what, I can’t do this anymore,” I stomp towards the door.

“Do what?”

“This, Tommy,” I shout, turning around to face him for the last time. “Be in a relationship with you. You’re too focused on your Peaky Blinders shit to ever pay attention to me, and I deserve more than that. Well, I’ll give you all of the time you need, because we’re done.”

I shake myself out of the memory, quietly cursing once I realize that I put on too much blush. My hand reaches for the brush to blend it in.

This is my wedding day. My wedding day to Oliver. Tommy is the last person that I should be thinking about.

Tommy and I had that passion and intimacy, everytime that I was near him he would reach for my hand to hold to rub his thumb on the back of, or wrap an arm around my waist to squeeze. I could always rely on Tommy to feel like I was protected.

But I can rely on Oliver to actually be protected. Tommy lived a dangerous life, head of one of Britain's biggest gangs, while Oliver is just a banker. But being just a banker is okay because I don’t have to worry about staying alive every single day.

I can go to school and teach without having my partner’s safety on the back of my mind all day, and then go home and spend my evening with him without having to go to the bar every other night.

A loud bang goes off on the other side of the door, followed by screams and shouts. I rise from the chair in front of the vanity, staring at the door with fear and curiosity.

Do I leave the room to find out what’s going on? Or do I stay in the safety of the room, waiting for the danger to find me?

Before I can make a decision, the screams and shouts stop and it’s dead quiet again. I still have a decision to make of when I leave this room. My feet turn me around and I’m staring back at myself in the vanity’s mirror.

My white dress is on, my hair is curled, my makeup is done, and my ring is on my finger. I’m ready to get married.

My heels click on the tiled floor as I make my way through the church to the great room. My father stands in front of the large wooden doors, facing them.

“Papa?” I call out softly.

He turns around and smiles lightly at the sight of me. That’s not what I’m focused on, though. I’m focused on his pale skin and the sweat covering his forehead.

“You look beautiful,” he compliments.

Despite it, I frown. I step closer to him, gripping the bouquet of daisies tighter in my hand. I don’t even like daisies, but Oliver’s mom grows them so they’re my bouquet.

“What’s wrong?” I ask him.

“Nothing’s wrong,” he stutters out.

“Are you sure? You just look… disheveled.”

“Everything will be alright, Y/N,” he tells me. 

His tone is reassuring, but it’s difficult to distinguish who he wants to reassure, himself or me. But why would he be trying to reassure me? What’s going on?

He holds his arm out and I lock mine in, both of us facing the dark wood now.

The doors open and the church music begins to play. My eyes are forward and a bashful smile is on my lips before it drops completely once I see who’s standing at the altar.

There’s not the familiar blonde hair or brown eyes of Oliver. There’s no shy smile that I’ve become accustomed too, or his tall, lanky frame. Nor the powder blue suit that we’ve been planning he would wear today for months.

Instead, I’m facing familiar brown hair and blue eyes. The cold, blank expression that he’s become known for is on his face- surprisingly, a cigarette isn’t hanging out of his mouth, but I’m sure in five minutes it will be. A full navy blue suit sports his frame, the chain that I got him for his birthday last year decorating his torso.

It’s Tommy Shelby.

“Papa, what’s going on?” I whisper softly, anxiety starting to flood through my veins as my eyes flit around the room.

My family and friends are still here- all seated on one side of the room and appearing petrified as they look back at me. On the other side, though, Oliver’s family is not to be seen. Instead it’s filled by Tommy’s friends and family and all of the Peaky Blinders.

My eyes return to Tommy and he gives me a small smile once he sees the gears in my head begin to shift.

“Just walk for now, darling, don’t think about it,” my dad’s words are reassuring but his voice breaks, telling me that whatever’s going on right now isn’t good. I could’ve guessed that by the way my stomach dropped as soon as I walked into the room.

I follow his advice, keeping my eyes on the cross behind Tommy as we walk down the aisle. I avoid eye contact with everyone, unsure of what’s going on and what everyone knows that I don’t.

“Tommy,” I whisper as we reach him and he reaches out for my hands. “What are you doing?”

“Let’s take that off,” he grabs my left hand, tugging off the gold band with a diamond on it, holding it behind him. “Arthur.” Arthur grabs the ring, throwing it on the ground and instantly stomping on it. My eyes widen at the action and I hear several gasps of shock from the people seated on my side of the aisle.

Tommy pulls a ring out of his suit jacket’s pocket, sliding the silver band with a much bigger diamond onto my finger.

Finally, he looks at me, smiling. “Marrying you.”

“Tommy, I-”I look around nervously, then speak quickly. “I’m supposed to be marrying Oliver, you and I broke up-””That doesn’t matter,” he harshly interrupts me.

I stare at him in shock, both from what’s occurring right now and the tone that he spoke to me in.

He clears his throat.

“None of it matters,” he speaks more smoothly now. “What matters is that we’re in love, we’re going to get married, and then we’re going to build a family and a life together.”

“I don’t know if I’m in love with you,” I confess gently.

His grip on my hands tightens then loosens. “What do you mean you don’t know if you’re in love with me?”

“It’s just, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Tommy. I mean, the last time we saw each other you couldn’t even say that you love me and now you want to marry me?”

His facial expression doesn’t change. “You’re right, I can’t say that I love you. But I can show it.”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “We’ve talked about this-””You’re right, we have. Fine. I love you. Is that what you want to hear?” He asks, anger lacing his tone.

“You shouldn’t have to be pressured into saying it,” I argue, “You should want to do it because it’s true and you want to tell me, not because we’re fighting about it.”

Like he read my prior thoughts, he pulls a box of cigarettes and a lighter out from his pocket, plucking one out and lighting it.

I’ve always hated it when he smoked, but I know that it’s a hard habit to break. He says that he smokes so much because he’s stressed all of the time- and I understand why this conversation is stressing him out.

But this conversation shouldn’t be happening in the first place. I’m supposed to be marrying Oliver today, god forbid he’s still alive, but Tommy says that I’m marrying him instead.

“I can’t marry you today, Tommy,” I confess.

He tilts his head, an unasked question.

“We have so many problems and a negative history. I’m supposed to be marrying Oliver,” I remind him.

His face darkens at the mention of Oliver. “Well, now you’re marrying me, love.”

“What if I don’t?” I whisper out.

His face darkens even more. “What if you don’t what?”

My breath quickens, unsure if I want the words to escape my lips. Tommy will definitely have a negative reaction, but just how bad I’m not sure of.

“Go on, speak up,” he encourages mockingly.

“What if I don’t marry you?”

His hand reaches out, gently caressing my jaw. Just by that soft action, I know how much I fucked up.

“Oh sweetie,” he talks softly, like he almost feels sorry for me. “I think we both know what will happen.”

And I do. I know that he would burn down my flat, get my father and brothers fired from their jobs, threaten the local grocery store into not selling to my mother, and have Peaky Blinders follow me around so that I’m constantly paranoid and checking over my shoulder.

In fact, I’m surprised that didn’t happen when I first broke up with him.

But I guess I didn’t matter that much until he found out that I was marrying another man.

“So what do you say? Do you want the priest to start the ceremony?”

A single tear rolls down my cheek as I stare back at the man that I once loved, his cruelty now controlling his personal life as well as his professional life.

“Yes.”

~

“I haven’t gotten the chance to tell you how beautiful you look tonight,” he whispers in my ear, arms wrapped around my waist. Mine are around his torso, resting my cheek against his chest as we sway slowly to the gentle romantic tune that I had picked out as Oliver and mine’s first dance song.

“Thank you,” I whisper back.

Thomas Shelby is a troubled man. He has dangerous enemies all around the globe trying to find out his weakness to use against him, hoping to gain power and control.

Thomas Shelby has never had a weakness. He’s physically in shape and active so his body’s not weak. He’s cunning and intelligent so his mind’s not weak. His family is just as tough as him so they’re not his weakness. 

His enemies have been waiting for years for him to get married, hoping that a potential spouse and children would be his weakness.

And I know we will be.

It makes me angry that Tommy put me in this situation where I have to always be looking around for someone who might end my life. I want to be able to walk to the coffee shop and meet a friend, or go for a walk around the local rose garden without looking over my shoulder or having a peaky blinder assist me.

But… he’s Tommy. And he’s been my Tommy since the day that I first laid eyes on him. His cold exterior is what drew me to him, the curiosity of what hardened him, keeping me hooked on him for a year before our break up.

It still draws me to him.

When he gives me that look that he reserves just for me, I know that there’s a sweet man inside who just wants to feel my love surround him.

And that’s why I lean up, kissing him on the lips in front of all of our friends and family.

[hiraya-rawr]

so i betrayed you, my love– (3/5)

Xiao Version || Childe Version || Thoma Version || Gorou Version || Ayato Version

synopsis !! Part 2 of “You Were The Enemy All Along” featuring the aftermath of betrayal and confrontation, with more depth to their stories! (Part 1 of each character was also included to make reading convenient.)

contains !! some character lore spoilers / a little violence / dialogue heavy in some scenes / reconciliation but also complicated relationships mending together / cameos of other characters! / might be easier to understand if you knew the lore of the characters 

notes !! This was commissioned by the wonderful @mh8 who allowed this to be posted in public for everyone to enjoy! thoma's part was written on a plane and during my exams, so i hope the mood isn't too chaotic.

THOMA

wc !! 1.6k

Stares at you in disbelief before trying to make sense of the situation; were you forced? Why were you doing this? are you in need of help? Even with how obvious your betrayal is, he begs you for an answer, desperately looking for any excuse.

"You know I'll take your side if you could just– tell me why," It's a plea from his lips. Even when you bring out your own weapon, he hesitates to fight you. He'll only do so in self-defense, blocking every fatal blow you throw at him but he's too distracted with the way his heart aches that you actually hurt him for real.

Even with an injury, he can't bring himself to use his vision against you. Ayato has to intervene, quickly coming to his aide and once you're gone and away, Thoma sits there feeling lost. The healers tend to him and he doesn't even flinch at their ministrations, eyes staring distantly at where you last were.

He thinks of you often.

No matter how much he tells Ayato and Ayaka that he's fine, that it's over with, and that he's gradually forgetting you ever left a mark in his life— he still thinks of you often. It's in passing moments and every close of his eyes, he sees you and remembers— not just your betrayal, but everything. You and him laughing, you and him doing chores, you and him carrying out classified missions at the dead of the night (missions you would eventually relay to an informant, who would then relay it to Watatsumi’s army. You traitor, you traitor, you traitor—).

“How is your injury, Thoma?” Ayato breaks him from his trance. This isn't good, he's thinking about you again. Sometimes he wonders if he could deal with this better had he been more sound of mind; less sensitive, less attached, more tough. If you were here, you’d scold him and say that he's amazing just the way he i— again! You on his mind!

“Thoma?” Ayato repeats.

“It's getting better, Waka. It doesn't even bother me when I do my chores!” He plays off and -as if to prove himself- he rolls his left shoulder in little circles, ignoring the tinge of pain it sends.

“Hmm. . . alright. I’d still rather you stop doing chores altogether and wait for a full recovery but I’ll trust your judgment.” Ayato sighs. No, it isn't that he trusts Thoma’s judgment— heck! Thoma would do chores even if the injuries made it impossible. The only reason Ayato and Ayaka agreed for him to continue working would be because he –with all the shame in the world– acted like a lost man. Recovering from his injuries meant sitting still, sitting still meant looking up at his bedroom ceiling, watching out the window, thinking.

~

“What if we decorate your ceiling?” You once asked, leaning on his chest as he gently strokes your head. It was an exhausting day which led to a calm night of cuddling. Simply basking in each other’s presence.

“Why would we do that? What would you even add to it?” He asks nonchalantly, almost humming.

“It’ll make nights like these more interesting. More things to see when we lie down together.”

~

Thoughts. It's you again. This happens every time he stops working, every time he gives himself a minute to think, you slip inside his mental barriers and try to break him down all over again.

He wonders when did he lose you. Was it the day he found out? The day you first met? Or perhaps, he never had you to lose you in the first place.

It was the beginning of the cracks; Watatsumi and Narukami, head to head with growing tensions. Nothing was clear about the situation, just that news of Watatsumi rebelling against the newly placed decrees turned the relationship between the two islands to turn sour. Kokomi, who always planned ahead for every “what if” scenario, placed you exactly for the likelihood of unexpected tension. You took the job believing you could foster peace. It was every hero's idealized dream— with you disseminating information to the army, perhaps this little rebellion could end without worries. 

But like cracks on the walls, you underestimated how much it would spread— and how terribly violent it turned out to be. Soon enough, people were dying, committing war crimes, civil feuds. The information you sent became a matter of life or death.

Death to Thoma’s side, Life to yours. Until—

“We're working with the Watatsumi army?!” Thoma exclaims, hand on the table as he looks at Ayato, baffled. “But– the Shogun! The Sakoku decree! The guards!” And you. Your name is on the tip of his tongue and it almost slips out. There's you and how you turned your back on them (on him). How could he just bury that? No way could Ayato have forgotten!

“I understand where you're coming from, Thoma, but this was a decision made after much consideration. Ayaka is already aware of it and even contributed to forming an alliance. Besides,” Ayato pauses to look at Thoma, almost deliberating whether he should say it or not, “We should not forget. . . Kazuha. Our families have been allies for generations.”

Thoma knows the name that Ayato was supposed to say to convince him, but he's a time bomb and even the young commissioner is unsure whether your name could bring good weather or cause a storm in Thoma.

So he relented, “. . . Yes, Waka.”

It's odd to transition from thinking about your betrayal in every waking moment to thinking about this. . . alliance. Regardless of the Yashiro Commission’s silent support, it doesn't change the fact that they stood on a fence, waiting for the best benefits. You betrayed them and that was that.

Breaking your loyalty was one thing. Never having any sort of loyalty to them was another.

It was unforgivable.

~

It's been a while since the fall of the vision hunt decree and the opening of borders; A month since the start of peace talks and trade relations. You've grown used to attending the long meetings, mostly fueled by tension and backhanded insults, each side wishing to reap as much benefits from the other as possible. However, this was the first meeting you get to attend in Narukami Island. Kokomi and Gorou insisted on needing your knowledge of the area and it proved useful for navigating and discussion.

While you were proud to be included, the role you played was insignificant enough to escape to the courtyard without notice. It was exhausting to even breathe the same air as those politicians in that room.

~

He sees you first before you see him. Dressed in his retainer uniform, it seemed like he dropped Ayato off at the front before taking a stroll through the intricate courtyard.

He sees you first and his heart clenches. Ayato once told him disloyalty was unforgivable and he repeated it like a mantra in hopes of learning to hate you.

He sees you first and you see him second but the world stops all the same– fluttering butterflies and falling petals don't exist in the space you've both made as your eyes met, the world froze over.

You looked terrified, if not drowning in your own guilt. Yes, you worked for a good cause, but that didn't change how you used them. What would he say? How will he say it? Your mind runs on anxiety as you replay all the times you broke his trust (his trust, Thoma’s trust! How could you do that to someone so kind? So loving?). Will he call you a traitor? Ask you brokenly why you did what you did? Coldly look away from you? (You don't think you could take it if he turns the other way. Please don't turn the other way).

His steps rush towards you, hurried and face void and indescribable. 

Do you hate me now, Thoma? You think as anxiety spikes up, your feet frozen in place. ‘Will you scream? Demand why I’m here? Ask why I did it?’

At the last moment, right when you readied yourself for the inevitable, his arms reach out to you instead.  An embrace that encompasses warmth, as genuine as his pyro vision. You can't help the violent flinch at his touch but he doesn't let go, reassuring. It was simply an embrace. 

“I missed you,” He whispers when you didn't think he'd say anything, his grip tightening, “So much.”

And the floodgates begin. It's nonstop, the way your tears stream down your cheeks as if you've been holding back all this time. You grieved when you lost him. It's guilt that builds in you; climbing from your stomach to your throat to the tip of your tongue. Guilt desperately tries to escape you in words, and it does—

“I’m sorry, Thoma,” You cry, gripping onto him with equal desperation, “I'm sorry, I’m sorry, I'm sorry,” You repeat like a mantra, “Archons, I’m so sorry, Thoma, I’m sorry I had to-”

He shushes you softly, cupping the back of your head to his neck. Comfort. “It's okay, I know, I know, I understand why you had to–”

“No, no,” You sob, shaking in refusal. Don't give me kindness now, you think, how dare you be so understanding? So sweet? “No, I hurt you. I hurt all of you and I’m really so, so sorry, Thoma–”

He falls silent, only resorting to gently rubbing your back with his hand, the other hand unable to release its grip on you. You're here now, you're back to him.

How could you ever deserve someone like him? Curse his empathy, his quiet forgiveness, how could he be so kind when you've beaten yourself up over and over for what you've done and how you've hurt him?

“I. . . know there's a lot we have to talk about. And a lot of things happened,” He starts clumsily, holding the back of your head to the crook of his neck in comfort. “But it's okay,” There's a lump in his throat which he tries to hide, “We’ll figure it all out. We have time.”

~

“And here I thought you despised disloyalty.” Yae Miko raises an eyebrow at the blue haired male as she looks away from the courtyard. They sat in the upper tearoom, the warm light contrasting the cool moonlight outside.

Ayato merely hums as he sips his tea, “I’m not as shallow as to disconsider the context. At the end of the day, Thoma is quite dear to me. I wouldn’t have planned this meeting otherwise.”

+ + +

thoma // honestly hard to write for because i was so stuck on imagining him mad, i completely forgot that thoma is capable of forgiving everything bc he’s selfless that way. He might run from his problems tho, which is why ayato makes such a good partner, helping him put everything together hnfjegni

[evita-shelby]

The Ghost of New Year's Past

Or Polly decided to pop in and now its about Tommy & Diane(oc child) & ghost!Polly who has unfinished business.

Cw: Tommy’s canon depression and guilt over Polly’s death and baby's first contact with the dead(applies to both Tom and Diane)

Could be read as witch!Reader being Tommy’s wife or Eva since no name is mentioned.

He can’t bring himself to drink anymore.

He died that night on the field because in his heart he knew Polly had died because of him.

He sees her and hears her amongst his family as they celebrate the new year and Tommy leaves before it becomes too much.

Tommy has no idea where he is going when he passes by the children’s rooms and hears his eldest daughter, Diane, whispering to someone.

The children had been allowed to stay as late as they wanted but most had already been put to bed by now. In fact he’d personally tucked his little witch into her pink bed and kissed her goodnight hours ago.

“Can I tell daddy you’re here?” the little girl asks as her excitement has her talking just loud enough for him to hear her as he stops at her door.

Tommy cannot guess who would be here with Di, but none of them would be a good idea even if they were harmless little girls. Allie Solomons, Bianca Sabini, Janey Dogs, the little Gold girl who hates him for Aberama’s death, that friend of hers from school, the list goes on as Diane is ---unfortunately--- everyone’s friend.

“Di, sweetheart, I thought you said you were tired.” He comes in to find her sitting on her little table alone with biscuits and cake that she’d somehow gotten downstairs. He knew it was a bad idea to let her learn ballet, now the little witch moved as silently as she got up to mischief.

A trait she inherited from both him and his wife.

There is flash of light ivory satin on the bed in the corner of his eye, perhaps a dress or shawl Diane had taken out to play, but the room is otherwise empty.

“I was, but Aunt Polly came in and I asked her to stay.” The little girl with blue and brown eyes smiles widely and looks at the bed and he follows her line of sight. “She says she can’t have cake and biscuits because ghosts don’t need food like we do.”

“Hello, Thomas, did you miss me?” the ghost of his aunt sits there on the pink bed in the French dress his grandma stole, smoking a cigarette as if nothing had changed.

As if he hadn’t killed her and Barney and Aberama a year ago today.

“How?” he asks doing his best not to panic but feeling every hair on the back of neck rise in fear.

“Hmm, even with a witch for a wife you still do not believe we have magic in our blood.” Polly smiles and gestures him to sit on the bed.

“See I told you he wouldn’t believe it even if he saw me.” She turned to his daughter who tries to calm him with her small doll like hand in his.

“It’s okay, daddy, it’s just Aunt Polly.”

He can’t speak, his tongue feels heavy in his mouth and his head spins. Tommy has never fainted in his life and now he tries to hold into something as he feels light-headed.

“And your dear old mummy thought none of you inherited her gifts.” The ghost woman chuckled but refused to touch him.

“How?” he asks again as he shut his eyes and hears Diane leave him alone here with whatever Polly is now.

“Our magical blood allows me to visit those with our gifts and sweet little Di is the most magical of all.” His aunt, his second closest confidant explained. “and I cannot ascend as I have unfinished business, dear nephew of mine.”

“What do you need to pass on?” he asks thinking perhaps if he helps her pass over to the other side he will have peace.

“I need you to swear you won’t kill my son. Even if my Michael believes you killed me, I need you to show him mercy and kill the fucking people who did.”

But that includes me, Pol, he wants to say.

“That is the guilt speaking, Tom. You didn’t kill us, or me least of all. Swing just knows how to get under your skin.” She reads minds now, but Polly always knew him better than he knew himself. “So, Thomas Shelby, do I have your word?”

“Will you never come back if he says yes?” Diane asked with a quivering lip from the door, she’d not left as he thought she did.

“No, sweetheart, I can’t leave until the bad people are gone. And when I go to heaven I will come every All Soul's Day.” The ghost answered softly and the girl calmed down long enough to rejoin them on her bed.

“So, Thomas Shelby, do you promise to do as I asked?” she turned to him again, a bit sterner somewhat impatient as they hear Arthur and John coming up with John’s children.

“Yes, Pol, you have my word.”

[flavored-soda]

crawling back to you, if that's what i must do

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Mentions of death, injuries, blood, all that nasty stuff, panic attacks and anxiety

Word Count: 1.4k

Pairing: BuckTommy/Tevan/Kinley

Summary: Tommy's helicopter goes down and he is officially MIA for all of 17 hours. Buck panics until his lover is returned to him.

read on ao3 | heed the warnings and tags | posted for @bucktommyweek

“Mayday! Mayd–”

Pop.

“This is Firefighter Kinard.”

Hiss.

Crackle.

“Coming from…”

Pop.

“Crash-landing somewhere near…”

Crackle.

Hiss.

“RA units…ASAP.”

The line went dead. Static on the other end. 

“Firefighter Kinard.”

More static.

“Kinard, do you read me?”

There was a click and then the line cut off with a shriek.

Firefighter Thomas Kinard was officially M.I.A.

---

17 hours. 

That’s how long it took to locate Tommy’s chopper and send help. 

17 hours.

For nine of those hours, Buck was on shift, responding to calls and fighting fires, with his phone off and mostly away from him. He wasn’t even made aware of the situation until they got back from a call. The next shift was already there and clocked in, as the call ran over the end of the shift. They had all unloaded from the engine and ambulance, loading into the locker rooms to hit the showers and change.

Buck was talking with Eddie when Bobby came in and asked him to meet him in his office. At first he shrugged it off, thinking it was just something simple, something small about the shift like paperwork, but as he was making the short walk from the locker rooms, he started to spiral. It wasn’t until he was in the office with Bobby telling him to close the door that he really started to worry.

He had checked his phone after he got out of the shower, noticed a few missed calls from an unknown number. It wrote it off as spam, but as he heard the door click as it shut he started to think differently.

“So–uh–what’s up, Cap?” He asked. 

“Buck, sit down.” 

Bobby was sitting himself as he motioned to the chair across the desk. Slowly and reluctantly, he moved towards the chair.

“O-okay.” He mumbled as he sat down, rubbing his hands on his thighs.

Bobby paused for a second, looking down at his desk before folding his hands and looking back up to Buck. 

“I got a call when we got back from the station.” He said.

“Um…okay? I’m not–I’m not really sure what that has to do with me.” 

His hands went back to rubbing up and down his thighs, his leg bouncing. What was so important about this call? And why did Bobby feel the need to talk to him about it?

“It was from Harbour.”

Buck’s face fell. His movements stopped.

“Buck, Tommy is missing.”

There was a pause between the two of them. Bobby letting Buck process, and Buck trying to get his brain to stop moving at a mile a minute.

Buck spoke first, “How long?” 

“Since 11:00 last night.”

“He’s been missing for nine hours?” He replied.

“Buck–”

“Nine hours?! And no one said anything to me?!” He was standing now, starting to pace as his voice raised in volume. 

“We were on shift. You didn’t have your phone–”

“I–I know that we haven’t been…together long, but…” He trailed off. “Nine hours?”

“They tried calling your cell when we were on call. Dispatch told them we were out and they called me when we radioed that we were back at the station.” 

Buck sighed, he was holding back tears. He sniffled before wiping his eyes.

“Do they–do they know anything? Are they…uh…close to finding him?” 

He was looking away from Bobby, watching the ceiling and trying to focus on anything other than the man in front of him. He knew if looked towards Bobby he would see that pitiful look on his face, one full of worry and sadness. He couldn’t handle that look right now. He just couldn’t. It would just open up the floodgates and he needed to stay put together right now. Needed to focus on Tommy, doing what he could to help.

Bobby had moved from behind the desk, walking towards Buck, slowly. He continued to stare at the ceiling, keeping his eyes off of his Captain, until he felt Bobby’s hand on his shoulder.

“Buck.”

He shook his head.

“Buck, look at me.” 

He brought his eyes down to meet Bobby, eyes welling with tears and biting his lip. He watched Bobby shake his head before he let himself break down.

---

It was at hour fifteen that Buck really started to lose it. They had found Tommy and were going to get him now. Buck’s mind was racing of all the possibilities of what they would be walking into and what they would be bringing back. Every horrible call that he’s ever been on was coming back to him in waves, all the bad car wrecks and just how much damage they could do to a person. He couldn’t imagine what a helicopter crash could do.

Well, actually, he could imagine it.

He was imagining it.

And it was doing nothing to ease the panic he was currently feeling. His leg started to bounce more and he let his head fall as he tried to catch his breath. He felt a hand on his back as it started to rub circles into it.

“It’s gonna be okay, Buck-a-roo.” Athena mumbled as she pulled him in for a side hug. 

He started crying again, silently letting the tears fall as he waited by his phone. He was waiting for a call from Bobby or Harbour or a hospital, really anyone that would have any information for where Tommy was and how he was doing.

He sat there, shaking and silently crying for the last two hours. Athena rubbing circles into his back and offering reassuring words. Hen had come over at one point, offering the same comfort, but she had to go home eventually. Chimney and Maddie were blowing up his phone with texts and when Buck didn’t respond they called Athena and Bobby to check on him. He overheard the conversations but he didn’t ask to speak with them, too much on his mind to try to get his mouth to form words.

It was 4:30 PM when his phone rang. It shook him out of his state. He snatched his phone off the table and answered it before it could get to a third ring.

“Hello?”

Athena offered to drive him, probably breaking too many traffic laws to count on one hand with Buck egging her on. He was grabbing the back of the driver and passenger’s seats, leaning forward and watching the road as Athena raced there. He would have started shouting our directions and orders if he wasn’t so focused on staying positive.

They told him that Tommy was alive. 

Not only alive, but responsive.

And that’s all Buck could’ve asked for, all he needed. 

Buck was out of the car and bursting through the hospital doors before Athena could stop the car. He didn’t wait up as he marched to the front desk. 

“I’m here to see Tommy Kinard.” 

His feet started moving before he even fully processed the room number he was given. He could hear footsteps following behind him, presumably Bobby and Athena. He grabbed the doorway as he entered the room to stabilize himself, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when he saw his lover sitting up in the bed and alert.

“Evan?” 

Buck nearly jumped his boyfriend at that, the only thing stopping him was seeing the state he was in. Tommy had one arm in a cast and a sling. His foot was in a cast and it was elevated on some pillows. His lip was cut deep enough to probably leave a nasty scar and he carried a matching cut on his forehead through his temple. From the once over, Buck assumed that it looked worse than it actually was. There were a lot of bandages and bruises, but Tommy was alert and whatever head trauma he faced didn’t seem bad enough to cause any amnesia. 

Buck’s eyes welled with tears again, as he moved into the room. He reached out and grabbed his boyfriend’s face in between his hands and pulled him in for a soft kiss, resting their foreheads together when they pulled away.

“Thomas Kinard, don’t you ever do that to me again.” He let out in a half laugh, half hidden sob.

Tommy let out a breath of a laugh back before pressing a peck to Buck’s lips.

“You got it, baby.”

Yeah, everything was going to be alright.

[weepinglavenders]

Staying Put: Kill Me (Part 8?)

If Newt still had his gun he would have shot himself in the head right there. He knew he was alive, knew that something had saved him, again. He didn’t want to be saved. He never wanted to be saved. He didn’t need to be saved. How hard is it to shoot someone in the damn head? It’s a pretty big target. How do you mess that up?

He sat up, glaring at the white room, a doctor inside. They looked at him and went to say something but Newt just flipped them off.

“Slim it. I don’t need you to tell me what bloody happened and no I’m not grateful that you shucks saved. Get me an IV with either a really good drug or poison to kill me with, you can decide.”

He finally looked at the lady who stared at him in shock, he just gave her a blank expression before sighing and standing up from his bed. He walked over to the door, raising an eyebrow as he found it was unlocked and he stepped out of the room. He was in a clean sweater and jeans, which he was thankful for because it was cold as hell in the hallways. His shoes were gone, much to his disappointment. On a whim he opened a door, looking into the room to see it was a storage room.

Newt rolled up his sleeves, seeing that all the bandages were gone along with his black veins. He walked up to a locked glass door, staring detached at the contents, eyes landing on a bottle that looked like a thick liquid. He grabbed a metal chair and slammed it into the glass without a second thought, grabbing the bottle and sighing quietly as it sloshed against the walls.

Not morphine but it was definitely something. He looked at the small writing on the back, popping it open as he saw the word alcohol, not really caring if it was drinkable or not. He drank it, walking out of the room to see people walking by. Sirens went off and he sighed, getting a bit annoyed at all these security breaches. He followed the crowd in the direction they were running to, sipping from his bottle as he walked. An explosion made the building shudder.

I wonder who that could possibly be.

He hummed quietly, his body feeling numb as he watched the WCKD staff be shot at.

“Newt?!”

It was Gally. Of course it was. He ran over to him, covering him as he took out more of the staff.

“You’re supposed to be-”

“Dead? Yeah, I’m disappointed too. What the hell are you shanks doing here?”

“Saving the immunes and Thomas.”

“Oh he got caught?”

“As part of the plan. You’re not sour about us leaving you in the berg, right?”

He laughed, giving Gally a warm smile.

“No of course not!”

He smashed the bottle into the side of his head and grabbed the launcher from him as he staggered back, clutching his bleeding head.

“Is what I would say if I was a bitch.”

He shot him in the chest, launching him backwards with the jet of electricity. He walked over and looked down at his seizing body.

“You just stay here, it’s for the best, you could blow the whole thing.”

He said sweetly, using the words that his ‘friends’ had said to him. He knew he was being insanely petty but he just couldn’t find it in him to care. They had left him behind again, he had been saved, again. He was sick of it.

“And just to put it on record, this is very personal.”

He stepped over him and slipped past the fighting, humming softly to himself, the alcohol making him feel calm and slightly fuzzy though he’d only drank half of the bottle. The next person he ran into was Ava Paige and he grinned as he spotted her.

“Newt? You should be recovering not-”

“Where’s Tommy?”

He asked, voice void of any emotions, standing right next to her, glaring, his launcher aimed at her heart.

“Why would I-”

“Because I know you shanks have him. Where is he? And God save you if you don’t tell me I will shoot you so many times your heart will have to restart three times before it finally kills you.”

He hissed and the Chancellor's face paled at his threat.

“He’s going back into the maze to get the rest of the immunes. We don’t need them anymore, there’s a flat tram from them to escape through.”

“You don’t need them?”

“No, we have enough data.”

“Oh, then where is the flat tram?”

She gave him directions and he walked around her, hearing her sigh of relief. He turned around and shot her in the back, watching her fall flat on her face before he walked away, humming again. He followed her directions and sure enough, there was Tommy, helping people get inside the flat tram. Newt looked behind him and saw Janson who stared in rage at the boy.

“YOU! YOU MISERABLE CHILD!!”

The Crank screamed and Newt shot him, aiming at the other two nameless guards.

“Give me your goddamn guns or I’ll break your legs with my own shucking hands.”

Instead, they pointed them at him. A shot rang out from behind him and one fell, blood shooting out of their forehead. Newt turned around and there was Thomas, looking at Newt like he was seeing the dead, relief filling his eyes as he walked up to him, looking like he wanted a hug but Newt hefted up his launcher and pointed at him, making Thomas freeze.

“I begged you. I trusted you.”

“Newt, I shot you.”

“And you managed to not kill me.”

Thomas looked at him, hurt.

“I don’t understand your pain, Newt, but dying is definitely not the right answer to get away from it. Please, come with us, we can recover from this, together.”

“Together? Like how we went into Dever together or how we went together to get our friends? That type of together?”

His voice was cold, slowly turning into pain and anger. He was so sick of them leaving him but not letting him leave them.

“I’m sick of it! I’m sick of waking from nightmares and having to see them again! I hate the feeling of knowing I will never see Alby or Lizzy or my parents ever again! There’s no place in this goddamn hell hole of a world that is safe from those fucking nightmares! I DON’T WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS ANYMORE!”

Hot tears ran down Newt's face and his grip turned white on his weapon, staring at Thomas.

“Please don’t make me stay here Tommy. I can’t do it anymore.”

The launcher slipped out of his hands and hit the floor loudly and Thomas rushed forward, wrapping him in a hug and falling to the floor with the boy’s body as Newt sobbed in Thomas’s chest, clutching to his shirt. He stayed silent, fingers tangling into his blonde hair to keep him close, pressing his forehead to his head as he fought back his own tears.

“Don’t make me do this again, Newt. Stay with me, please. We can work through this, and I won’t leave you behind again.”

Newt didn’t respond, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs. Minho ran over as the building shuddered again.

“We have to go!”

He picked up Newt, who didn’t protest, as they ran into the flat tram. Gally barely managed to make it in time before the building collapsed.

[aneurinallday]

Green Eyes

Chapter 17: An Audience With Mister Shelby

War was coming - the only question was who would fire the first shot. Sensing trouble in the air, the residents of Small Heath retreated into their homes, locking their doors and boarding up their windows. The factories closed early, the legions of workers trudging home in subdued silence. The police were conspicuously absent, knowing that their best option was to let the gangs tire each other out without interference. The streets which normally bustled from dawn until dusk entered a state of limbo, an unnatural hush falling over the shops and pubs.

The city was holding its breath in expectation of the inevitable plunge.

A chilly morning found the offices of Shelby Company Limited on high alert, wary eyes watching every rooftop, window, and alley. Thomas had gathered up a posse and driven into the wilderness in search of caravans, hoping to enlist reinforcements from among their travelling kin. John and Arthur had been left holding the fort.

John had just hung up the telephone, concluding a call to Sergeant Moss, when he heard Arthur’s voice calling from outside.

“Hey, Johnny. Come take a look at this shit.”

John stepped out onto the street to see that Arthur and a handful of Peaky Blinders had gathered, their attention focused on something in the distance. He followed their gazes to see that Alec Cobb was standing at the far end of the street, motionless. He’d been waiting to be noticed.

“You’re fucking joking,” John muttered.

“Should we scare him off? Fire a warning shot?”

“Nah, let’s see what he wants.”

With their hands near the holsters, John and Arthur walked out to meet him. Alec fidgeted nervously as they approached, shifting his weight from leg to leg, hands clasping and unclasping in front of him.

“You got a death wish or are you just fucking stupid?” John greeted him as they drew closer, “Tommy warned you not to show your face again. Did you fucking forget already?”

“I don’t want any trouble,” Alec assured them, “I just want to talk.”

“Cobb got you delivering messages now? He’s too gutless to come and talk to us himself, so he sends you instead?”

“No. Nobody sent me. Mister Cobb doesn’t even know I’m here.”

“Is that right?”

“I swear.”

“We’ll see about that. Open your coat.”

Alec hurriedly undid his buttons, holding open his coat to show that there was no weapon holstered inside. Up close, they noticed that his clothes were uncharacteristically plain and shabby, and too thin for the cold season. There was a red mark on his right temple from being struck.

“Cobb didn’t take kindly to you coming back, I see,” John said, “Arthur, check him.”

Arthur nodded and ordered: “Hands up.”

The young man obeyed.

“Don’t fucking move,” Arthur warned him, and began a rough pat-down, turning all of his pockets inside-out.

“Anything?” John asked.

“Nothing. He’s unarmed.”

“Fine.”

With eyes full of threat, John closed the distance between them, causing Alec to take an instinctive half-step backwards, avoiding his gaze. His hands instinctively lowered to protect himself, but then he thought better of it and raised them again.

“What the fuck do you want?” John demanded.

“I’d like to see Mister Shelby, please. It’s important.”

“Why?”

“I…I need to speak to him.I need his help.”

“His help?” John echoed, “You lied to him, betrayed him, and now you want his help?”

Alec drew a deep breath to steel himself, and began to recite an entreaty which he’d clearly been rehearsing.

“I know I’ve wronged your family. I know I’ve got no right to ask anything from any of you, but - ”

“Maybe we should tell Cobb you’ve been sneaking around, visiting us behind his back,” John interrupted, “I’m sure he’d be interested to know.”

“No, please don’t. He’s already angry with me as it is. He blames me for what’s happening.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about him much longer,” chuckled John. “Cobb’ll be dead soon.”

Despite everything - despite the years of exploitation and abuse - the prospect of his father’s imminent death only deepened Alec’s visible distress. Perhaps in an attempt to de-escalate, Arthur interjected.

“How’s the kid?” he asked.

Alec didn’t answer, but a look of wild desperation entered his eyes.

“Let me guess,” said John, “She’s sick and you need money, right? That’s always how it goes. Always some sad story.”

“She…” Alec hesitated, glancing over his shoulder as if half-expecting to find Cobb standing behind him. “…She needs help. I need help.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Please. Your brother loved me once. And he loved my daughter. I know he did. He’d want her to be looked after.”

“And wherever she goes, you go, right?” John scoffed, “That’s all she is to you, isn’t it? A free ticket to a cosy life.”

“No, that’s not true. I love her. I love her more than anything. I - ”

“Hey, lads!” John interrupted, raising his voice to draw attention. “Cobb Junior is here, and he wants an audience with Mister Shelby!”

The nearby Peaky Blinders laughed. Alec winced, but offered no retort, perhaps hoping that by enduring John’s mockery without complaint, he would earn some goodwill.

“So, will you let me see Mister Shelby?” he ventured.

“Tommy’s busy. Your boss started a war with us, in case you forgot.”

“Is he here?”

“No.”

“Will he be back soon?”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

Alec had lowered his arms to his sides and unconsciously begun to wring his hands.

“Will he have time to see me?”

“How the fuck should I know?”

“Can I wait for him? Please?”

“Suit yourself. You make one wrong move, we’ll put a bullet in you. And don’t be surprised if Tommy has you chased out of Small Heath.”

“Thank you.”

Alec perched uncomfortably on a low brick wall nearby. They left him sitting there, his hands clasped timidly in his lap, his green eyes darting anxiously up and down the street. And there he stayed for the rest of the day, under the distrustful eyes of the Peaky Blinders.

As time crawled on, they found their hostility gradually fading. The longer he sat there, polite and patient, the harder it was not to feel a measure of pity. Judging by his pale face and the condition of his clothes, life without Thomas wasn’t being kind to him. Being forced to return to poverty and prostitution, after having experienced luxury and safety for the first and final time, couldn’t have been easy.

Hours passed, yet still he waited. The hope of seeing Thomas slowly left him, until he was slumped, his head bowed. He no longer looked around, but down at his lap.

“Look at the state of him,” Arthur muttered to his younger brother as they looked out of the window, “Moping about like a whipped dog. Should we bring him inside?”

“Nah, let him stay out there.”

“We can cover his eyes. As long as he’s in the

“Fucking hell, you’re soft. Let him stay out there.”

Suppertime came and went, darkness falling quickly, but Alec didn’t move from his spot. By now, he was shivering, and his clenched hands were pressed tightly between his legs for warmth.

“Fuck it,” John finally said, “We’ve put up with this long enough. Time for him to go.”

At the sound of approaching boots on the cobblestones, Alec lifted his head. Seeing the Shelby brothers approaching, he rose to his feet, looking both nervous and hopeful. Arthur was first to speak.

“Right, off you go,” he said.

“But what about Mister Shelby? I don’t mind waiting - I’ll wait all night if I have to.”

“He won’t be coming by tonight.”

“What about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow neither.”

“But - ”

“Look,” Arthur sighed. “It’s getting late. After dark, it won’t be safe around here. Hell, it’ll never be safe around here. Not for you.”

Alec attempted to step around them, but they blocked his path. He craned his neck desperately, trying to catch a glimpse of Thomas, who was nowhere to be seen.

“Mister Shelby!” he called out.

“Don’t fucking bother,” John said, “He’s not here. He can’t hear you.”

“Mister Shelby, please!”

“Give it a rest. You look like a fool.”

John grabbed his arm and bundled him away from the premises. Alec resisted weakly.

“Don’t make a fuss,” Arthur cautioned him, “You don’t want to get on our nerves.”

“But what about my daughter?”

“She’s your business.”

“Please, just let me see Mister Shelby. Just let me speak to him! That’s all I want. I won’t cause any trouble, I promise.”

“Look,” Arthur sighed, “Come back another day and maybe you’ll get lucky. Maybe you’ll catch him in a good mood.”

“I doubt that,” John cut in, “Don’t give the boy false hope, Arthur. It’s best he doesn’t come back here at all. In fact, if he knows what’s good for him, he’ll leave Birmingham altogether.”

Alec swayed beneath the weight of despair.

“Please,” he said, making a last-ditch effort. “I know you have kids too. If they needed help, you wouldn’t want people to turn away, would you?”

Rather than sympathy, the mention of his children only roused a protective anger within John.

“Fuck off,” he snapped, giving Alec a forceful shove. “Don’t you talk about my fucking kids. After everything you did, you’re lucky we don’t kill you on the spot.”

Defeated, Alec began to walk slowly away. He hadn’t reached the end of the street when a harsh voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Oi!”

Alec turned to see Arthur striding towards him. The Shelby brother held out his hand, causing Alec to flinch backwards. Between Arthur’s thumb and forefinger glinted a pound coin.

“There,” said Arthur, “Take that and buy yourself a new shirt. Or some supper and a taxi home. Whatever the fuck you want. Just don’t come back here again.”

Alec looked down at the coin.

“I don’t want money,” he said, “I want to see Mister Shelby.”

“Well, he doesn’t want to see you. And trust me, it’s a good thing he wasn’t here today. He would’ve had you tarred and feathered, or worse. Take my advice and get out of Birmingham.”

“But I…”

“Just go. It’s better off this way.” Arthur’s gruff voice softened ever so slightly. “Go home to your kid. Worry about her, not Tommy.”

Pain crossed Alec’s face. Without taking the coin, he turned and limped away down the road. Arthur watched him go until he was lost amid the stones and smog of Small Heath, and doubted that he would ever see him again.