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lightseoul · 4 days ago

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CHAPTER 2 | ALL OUT OF LUCK

w.c. 3.8k

tags. fem!reader, pro-hero!katsuki, aged-up (26), some cussing, adult themes (not smut lol) (yet) (jk) (unless...), the mission finally starts, so much plot from here on out y'all so buckle up

a/n. i didn't get to include the most important bits that were supposed to be presented in this chapter because i got carried away with the buildup lol. exciting times ahead y'all. i have so much in store for you with this series. don't be a stranger and let's talk!

links. masterlist, ao3 (coming soon)

You can only stare back at the woman peering at you, her face painted with a thick layer of makeup, her hair styled to staged ‘effortless’ perfection, and her body wrapped in an outfit that’s equal parts provocative and refined.

Her image is so flawlessly curated—so much so that you barely notice the apprehension that’s hidden amidst her features, if it weren’t for the fact that that woman is you.

You can barely recognize yourself—and perhaps that’s the point of all this.

Asahi and Moriyama didn’t have to explicitly state it yesterday—they need you to put in every ounce of effort to make sure that you succeed, and that includes doing everything you can to supplement your quirk all the while keeping your real identity lowkey.

Even if it means looking like this.

You’re about to give in to your second thoughts and change out of the black, low-cut tank and beige cardigan you have on when an array of knocks echo from what you think is your front door, and you freeze.

With a cautious glance at your bedroom’s wall clock, you think you’re supposed to feel a wave of relief wash over you when you see that it’s 9:00 PM on the dot, the exact time Bakugou said he’d pick you up, which means no villain or mal intentioned person is at your front porch, but that doesn’t come.

Instead, the sense of dread that’s been stirring in your gut ever since you got swept by Asahi’s men yesterday only magnifies, leaving you a bit cold and…are you shaking?

You don’t get to dwell on that, though, because another round of rapping resonates from your foyer again, which somehow pulls you out of your nervous stupor. You hurriedly run to the door, not even bothering to check through the peephole, opening it with a turn of the knob to see Bakugou.

Wearing a white face mask and decked in a fitting black hoodie, with his ash-blonde hair peeking through the sides of a dark baseball cap.

His fist is frozen mid-air as he stares at you, eyes slightly widened in shock, as if he didn’t believe you’re capable of this thing called punctuality. He promptly brings it down, though, schooling his expression into a neutral one, but not before giving you a quick once-over.

“Hey,” he offers, voice gruff and way lower than you remembered it back in high school.

“Hello,” you counter, looking back at your messy apartment out of habit. “I’m almost done. I just need to grab my purse.”

And, because you genuinely need to know for the sake of what you’re about to do, you ask: “Do I look okay?”

He must’ve not been anticipating that question, because his eyebrows furrow ever so minutely like you just caught him off guard. “Yeah,” he eventually replies after studying the entire length of your body once again.

And, you may have just imagined it, but you swear to god his eyes linger on your chest for a beat longer than necessary before he meets your gaze.

“You clean up…” he pauses, like he’s grasping for the right adjective, before settling with: “…decent.”

At that, you feel yourself deflate a bit. Maybe you wanted a more affirming answer, definitely not because you want that from him, but because you need to look good. However, if there’s anything the rumor mill told you back when you were still teenage students, it’s that Bakugou Katsuki was a man of few words when he was serious, let alone appreciative, so you take his comment in stride.

Besides, in comparison to how you looked yesterday, anything is an improvement, really.

“Thanks,” you respond, and you debate for a second whether or not to say the next thing but ultimately decide on it. “…And you look mildly disguised.”

That seems to ruffle Bakugou’s feathers. “Mildly?”

You shrug, suddenly feeling unsure about your honesty. “I get the hoodie and the cap and the face mask, but there’s no hiding your hulking frame, man.”

And really, there isn’t. How are you supposed to conceal a torso as large as that?

You gesture to his chest and shoulder area for further emphasis. “I don’t think you can pass up as a regular citizen but like as a non-descript athlete, maybe?”

To your dismay, Bakugou merely grunts before shaking his head. “This’ll work.”

Apparently already over your suggestion, he glances past your shoulder as he shifts his weight on his other foot. “Can you grab your purse now? We’ve to get going.”

Now, you’ve got half a mind to argue and try to convince him that maybe going for a better disguise is better in the long run but you’re silenced by his domineering gaze. So instead, you nod before rushing back to your bedroom and grabbing the bag you already prepared beforehand, as well as your phone that’s charging on top of your bedside table.

Although it won’t be of much use later, or in the coming few weeks, if everything goes according to plan.

“Ready?” he asks when you return to the doorway with your things in tow.

“Yup,” you retort as you lock the door behind you, and just like that, you’re well on your way to a potential death sentence.

You’re in the elevator going down to the ground floor by the time he speaks up again. “We’re commuting,” he starts, not looking at you but instead scrutinizing the barely hanging on floor buttons. “Can’t risk raising suspicion by driving there.”

“Where are we going, exactly?” you ask just as the elevator dings, signifying your arrival.

The doors burst open, and he steps out. “You’ll see.”

The commute to wherever the hell it is you two are going is quiet.

Bakugou didn’t divulge any further details as you stepped out of your building, wordlessly ordering you with a stern look to just follow. Frankly, you don’t like how you’re being kept in the dark, but you don’t contend. You’re acutely aware that you have a limited number of cards to play with Bakugou, and you have to play them right, if you want to even survive this mission without your partnership falling apart and jeopardizing the entire thing. Wasting a card on stupid information would be downright foolish on your end.

Even the walk to the bus stop is silent, and so is the entire ride. Despite it being quite late into the evening, the vehicle is still somewhat crowded, which you chalk up to it being a Friday night. You find yourself relaxing in your seat as the realization dawns on you—perhaps there was no point in getting too riled up about getting noticed.

And besides, you’re taking extra precautions, too. You’re not sitting next to each other, because he’s trying to stave off attention while you’re straining to catch it. Maybe not of these strangers, but of the people you’re going to meet later on.

Roughly 10 minutes and a short subway ride later, you climb up the underground stairs to a stop you vaguely remember hearing from your coworkers about. You recall how she described an old party district right in the middle of Musutafu, and sure enough, the text on the street signs match the name she recounted during one of your lunch breaks.

“Over here,” Bakugou calls out from a few feet ahead of you. You quickly quit your observing and follow suit, mindful of keeping an appropriate, not at all questionable distance between the two of you.

After what felt like walking five blocks from the subway, you see Bakugou halt and make a left into a poorly lit alleyway. You hesitate for a second, having been on autopilot and going straight for the last how many minutes. You’re able to swiftly gather yourself, though, steering in the same direction.

The moment that you do, it instantly registers to you that you’re not just in the party district anymore. If the dingy signages and the palpable seediness of the alley are any indication, you’re most likely in the red-light district now.

Suddenly, everything feels a bit too real, and you barely catch yourself stumbling back on your feet. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Bakugou, who instinctively moves to reach out for you from where he’s standing. He pauses, though, when you’re able to regain your bearings with a slightly embarrassed smile.

“Sorry,” you offer meekly.

He eyes you with the very same inexplicable expression from before. “You good?”

You’re not about to tell him you’re scared shitless, so you give him a half-hearted nod. Turning to study the exterior of the small building, you take in the lightly peeling paint and the booming music emanating from it. “This the place?”

“Yes,” he answers without missing a beat. “Are you sure you’re good?”

You whip to look back at Bakugou, who, if you didn’t know any better, is now looking apprehensive.

You decide then and there that you have to get your shit together.

Bravery is contagious, but so is fear.

For a second, you contemplate using your quirk on yourself to calm your nerves down, but eventually decide against it. There are much bigger fish to fry tonight, and what’s the point of learning all those damned breathing and grounding techniques if you’re not going to use them?

“I’m ready,” you finally tell him after a moment of both of you standing there. “Let’s go in before we start looking unusual out here.”

If Bakugou notices the unease you’re sure you’re radiating, he doesn’t comment on it. Instead, he gives you a curt nod, before turning to open the door.

And when he does, you’re almost instantaneously flooded by the music that was just escaping through the cracks and crevices of the run-down building. You fight the instinct to cover your ears as you step into the large room behind Bakugou, eyes quickly darting all over the place to drink in the scene before you.

Right in the back of the space is a stage that extends in the center as a runway to the middle of the room. The orange and pink mood lights illuminating the area are relatively dim minus the bulbs lining the set and walkway. And, beneath the elevated platform are what have to be pleather seats littered all over the floor—all of which are occupied by decidedly rambunctious men.

You resist the urge to wrinkle your nose as their boisterous laughter fills your ears, opting to face Bakugou instead.

“Hey,” you call out to him, who stops in his tracks to look at you. You sneak a glance at the people at the bar nearest the two of you, just to make sure they’re not listening in, before you continue. “Are you sure this is the place?”

You don’t have to peek beneath his mask to know he’s now scowling at you.

“What am I, a dumbass? I told you, this is it.” He then shifts away from you, far enough that you barely hear his next words. “…It has to be.”

Well.

That’s not exactly comforting.

Your discomfort only heightens when the already faint lights dim further, and the music switches from a pop song to which you know a bit of the lyrics to a rap that, if you were to base it on the first phrase, is all about having explicit, unprotected sex. The crowd of men cheers in anticipation, and as if on cue, a woman dressed in nothing but a two-piece lingerie emerges from the back of the stage, confirming your speculation of what the place is.

A strip club.

You watch as the woman confidently struts towards the center, and apparently, you’re no better than any of the men here because your gaze slowly roves over her slim and toned body, eyes catching at her cleavage that’s leaving nothing to the imagination. You can’t help it—you look down at your own chest, sinking in disappointment at the contrast before promptly looking up in embarrassment, only to find Bakugou studying you closely.

“It’s a strip club,” you blurt out, flustered at getting caught in the act. His eyes only narrow in a way that tells you what you’re already telling yourself: Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Bakugou doesn’t say anything, much to your relief, only moving to the far corner of the room where there are miraculously two seats unoccupied. You follow him with no further questions asked, plopping in the chair to his right, thankful you’re wearing black trousers so that your skin doesn’t have to go into contact with the sticky furniture.

You take the opportunity to clock the rest of the room, cataloguing the bar at the other end of the area near the entrance where a barista is swiftly taking and making orders all at the same time, while the men seated on the stools struggle to decide whether to look at the man or at the stripper now performing an elaborate dance around the pole. Amidst the decorated wall adjacent to the bar is a door with a restroom sign on it, and you squint just enough to see it’s only one stall for everyone. You make a mental note to hold in your pee, at least until you get out of here.

And, because you’re feeling nice, you shift to regard Bakugou with a good-natured smile on your face. “I hope you peed right before leaving your house.”

“What?” he says loud enough for you to hear him over the noise they’re calling music. “I can’t hear you.”

“Shit, right.” You lean in ever so minutely, and Bakugou mirrors you. You try to ignore the new-found proximity. “I said,” you repeat, with a little more volume this time, “I hope you peed right before fetching me. I bet the toilet’s filthy as shit.”

To your delight, not that you’d admit that to him in this lifetime, Bakugou smirks at your little quip after confirming the lone comfort room with his own eyes.

“Don’t worry about me, princess,” he starts, and you stiffen at the nickname, “I’m not the one who has to sit on one.”

You’re about to retort with something along the lines of what if he has to poop out of the blue, or at least try to, because the pet name has you gagged against your better judgment, when a ridiculously tall man clad in all black appears out of nowhere, startling you.

“The f—”

“Dynamight,” the behemoth of a guy cuts you off, eyes trained on the pro-hero beside you and completely ignoring your presence. “We’ve been expecting you.”

“Took you long enough to approach me,” Bakugou sneers, oozing with the confidence you can’t find within yourself right now. “I hate sleazy places like this.”

To that, the man only bows his head slightly, face solemn but devoid of remorse. You watch him as his eyes finally drift to you, albeit for only a split second, before looking back at Bakugou. “Follow me, sir.”

The ash blonde does so, perhaps a tiny bit begrudgingly, and you speedily get up along with him. The two men turn to move, and you’re about to take a step closer towards their direction when a long arm shoots up in front of you, keeping you in place.

Any protests die in your throat when you look up and see the guy’s menacing glare.

“If you don’t mind,” he grits through his teeth, “Only Dynamight is needed.”

“She’s with me,” comes Bakugou’s commanding tone. You chance a glance at the pro-hero, whose countenance is so serious you’d be afraid if you were the one he’s talking to.

“But, sir—”

“It’s the two of us or we’re leaving,” Bakugou demands.

The two engage in a stare down which you witness for what feels like a few minutes before the man finally looks away, frustration etched across his intimidating features. He glares at you once more, as if you’re the one who’s insisting on being Bakugou’s plus one, and you’re about to be convinced that he’s mentally chanting a spell to make you disappear when he gestures for you to follow him with a flick of a head.

You gradually release the breath you didn’t know you were holding as you shadow them as they enter one of the doors on the wall perpendicular to where you were just stationed. It leads to a staircase that swerves in the middle, and you lock eyes with Bakugou as he makes the turn ahead of you. Neither of you says a word, opting to keep on trailing the man, even as you land on the second floor, which looks more and more like a prostitution den.

Once again, your conjecture is confirmed as you walk down the hallway and past several sets of doors on both sides, from which emanate a cacophony of sensual moans and groans. You wonder what Bakugou’s thinking right now, although you can’t get a read on him as you can only observe his backside.

Finally, after what seems like a tortuous eternity, the man stops right in front of the door at the end of the hallway, and you pause right behind him.

He looks back at Bakugou and you with what you’re pretty sure is caution, before knocking on the door twice, and then another two times but in rapid succession.

“Come in,” is what the muffled voice on the other side says.

And so you do.

You’re not entirely sure what you were expecting, because you’ve never actually been in a service room before, but you at least anticipated a bed on which certain…activities can be done.

But what you’re met with instead seems to be a refurbished lounge room with floor-to-ceiling brick walls, black and red quilted couches, and a bar at the far side all lit up with moody orange lighting.

And smack dab in the middle of it—sprawled so languidly all over the furniture—are three individuals.

Three individuals who immediately look at Bakugou.

It’s them, alright. You don’t need your extensive training in reading people to know that these are the ones you came all the way here for.

You quickly take note of their appearances. The seemingly old man who has to be in his late 50s is seated—quite relaxed—in one of the scarlet solo chairs. He’s slim, bordering on frail, but the glint in his eye as he peers at Bakugou tells you that it’d be unwise to rule him out as one of your main threats.

Juxtaposing his age which is further revealed by his shoulder-length salt and pepper hair is the young woman plastered on the couch adjacent to his.

Or maybe ‘woman’ is a bit too generous…

It’s not obvious at first glance, but you immediately notice how some of her body parts appear to be outright robotic in the literal sense. Perhaps it’s her long, pin-straight, jet-black hair that softens her entire look, but there’s no mistaking what seems to be an artificial left eye, a metallic right arm, and angled, silver lips. She’s wearing long pants so there’s no telling which other parts of her are made up of what you think is steel, but the ones visible to you already tell you enough.

And then there’s the third and last man, who, in comparison to the other two, is remarkably…plain.

There isn’t an air of age-induced wisdom around him, nor is there anything peculiar about his body. He looks like just about any other 40-year-old-ish Japanese man you know, with short black hair, an unassuming face, and semi-formal clothes that are quite loose on his not-buff but not exactly thin body either.

But to your surprise, it’s him that the hilariously huge guy from earlier directly reports to.

“Pro-hero Dynamight, sir, as you requested. And…” the ‘escort’ trails off, and for a split second, you feel kind of sorry you’re here and making things complicated for him. “…he brought company.”

“Finally,” the plain-looking man pipes up from his seat, and even his voice is generic. “And here we thought you were never going to come meet us.”

Placing what suspiciously looks like a glass of whiskey on the table in front of him, the man shifts to fully regard Bakugou. “I see that you’ve deciphered the messages we’ve been sending you?”

“No shit,” comes Bakugou’s blunt response, and for a beat, you seriously consider using your quirk on him to make him calm the fuck down.

You decide against it.

To your chagrin, he drones on. “Y’all gotta do better. That was barely even a code.”

At that, the old male barks out a laugh while the plain-looking man only chuckles. “Of course, we expect nothing less from the #2 pro-hero. But…” the latter trails off, eyes finally landing on you. You quickly put on the most endearing smile you can muster, suddenly regretting not touching up your makeup upon sitting earlier. Thankfully, though, he smiles back, before redirecting his focus back on Bakugou.

“I see you brought precious cargo. Is there any reason why she’s here with us?”

“We want in your organization,” Bakugou replies without hesitation. “The both of us.”

And when none of them say anything in response, Bakugou presses.

“You need me, right? I heard you’re planning an attack. I want to join.”

“Yes,” the old man finally speaks up, not even denying it yet his voice is riddled with misplaced humor. “We do, in fact, need you. But what use do we have of this girl?”

“She’s got a useful quirk,” Bakugou supplies, before turning to look at you and then back at them. “Luck. She boosts the success rate of anyone she works with.”

“Luck?” the old geezer says back so incredulously, you feel your eye twitch in annoyance. If he only knew what you were fully capable of. He can’t, though, if you want to get out of this entire situation alive. “I don’t think we’ll need that as long as we have you, boy.”

“Well, tough luck,” spews Bakugou, a little bit too sarcastically for your comfort. “Because, as I’ve told your little lackey here,” he gestures to the definitely not little guy from earlier, “It’s both of us or I’m out.”

“The both of you, huh?” muses the plain-looking man who’s seeming to be more and more like the leader of the group by the second.

Once again, silence envelopes the room when none of them utter a single word, with you and Bakugou watching in anxious (you) and impatient (him) anticipation. You observe their facial expressions as they have a wordless exchange, and judging by how the ancient and the robotic girl are looking at the ordinary man, you guess your hunch about him is right.

Eventually, they appear to reach an agreement, and the leader adjusts just enough to look at the both of you directly.

You brace yourself with bated breath.

He flashes you a modest smile.

“It’s a deal, then.”

˖⁺‧₊ as always, reblogs, replies, and tags are appreciated <3 feel free to drop an ask, too—i'd love to chat with you. have a nice day!

tagging. @bunnysaursushii @yawnzzzzzzzz @cholios @kashee-h @iluv-ace @lotuslovers @elarakive @sugurusmoon @napbatata @k0z3me @h0ngh0ngh0ng @honeyoru @yoongiwithglasses | @junehasnotbeenfound @sugalarity @haechansbbg @sikuthealien @reiniella3 @ita606 @xoxoblueyy @mutsu422 @eyesforbkg @kalulakunundrum @venus-xxoo @lemuhr @pinkpantheris @ashers-playpen @bakugouswh0r3 @certaindreampost @3ve88 @tsumuus @4acoffee @anonymity-222 @lousypotatoes | @matchat3a @harryzcherry @h0nestly-though @cc1306 @gold24fish @bakukags @zennypiee @wannabewolf @kameko-ko @lovra974 @arc6021 @kooromin @surprisemodafakas @ilovedenk-i @st4ntwic3 @j1tterbugaboo @call-memissbrightside @arael-asuka @bakugosgothhoe

#btw just a friendly reminder to pls be nice esp when asking to be included in the tag list!#maintaining it is quite taxing and it doesn't help when people are not exactly kind about it and/or disappear entirely after requesting :')#depending on how high-maintenance it gets i might scrap it tho #anw pls enjoy this chapter! i worked hard on this <3 #bakugou x reader #bakugou x y/n #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou imagines #mha imagines #bnha imagines #mha scenarios #bnha scenarios #bnha x reader #mha x reader #bakugou x you #bakugou imagine #bakugou fluff #bakugo x reader #bakugo x y/n

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anki-of-beleriand · 6 months ago

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A heart Made of Glass ch.12

Summary: Ten years ago you left Wanda and the Avengers to heal your broken heart. You never stopped being a hero, just as you never stopped being in love with her. But life had to go on.

Now, after all that time, she is back and with her is a young woman needing help and an enemy that may not be as afraid as Wanda to lay a claim on you.

Pairings: Wanda Maximoff x Powered!F!Reader - Scarlet Witch x PoweredF!Reader - Past Wanda Maximoff x Vision

Warnings: Angst, drama, mentions of cheating, fluff, violence, smut, Switch!Reader, internalize homophobia, hurt, comfort, Wanda being a complete mess, anger management issues, jealousy, Requited/Unrequited love, idiots in love, swearing, mentions of alcohol. More tags as the story progess.

Author's Note: This story is a continuation of Dirty Little Secret I was really surprised at the response I got for the story, I did all the tags you guys ask for but if I forgot someone please do not hesitate to tell me. Thank you for the support.

Okay, this chapter had some tricks in it that are surronding Reader and Wanda, this is their story and this time around Reader would need to make the right decision if she wants to get what she wants and what she needs.

Please, do remember English is no my mother tongue so forgive my grammar, spelling and funny mistakes.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Epilogue

Chapter 12

In a different world

The universe started with a spark of bright golden light.

Loki Odinson had seen it several times, he had witnessed the birth and death of multiple universes and timelines that were destined to perish in a myriad of colours that would soon be forgotten. He had sat on the throne, and while he was not a King himself, he could recall the faces of all of those poor souls that disappeared into the nothingness, just as he could remember the beauty behind the first spark of life.

However, what he was experimenting right now was nothing like it.

Whatever, or whoever had decided to intervene had messed up with his own spell and everything had exploded into nothingness. A single spark of red, green and golden then, nothingness. Black spaces that disappeared without any traces left behind.

Loki started at the empty space that was Wanda and Y/N’s basement before he sighed. He sat down shaking his head, a headache approaching just as he thought on the oncoming conversation he would need to sustain with the Avengers.

“Fuck.” The word rolled out of his lips in such a natural way, he could do nothing but leaned back against the wall.

What the hell just happened?

What did he do?

What did Wanda and Y/N do to get this reaction?

The silence soon became deafening, Loki located the book Strange had died trying to recover. He frowned while leaning over to pick it up, the spell was done correctly with all the right wording as well as the right drawings on the ground. So, why did it go wrong? His eyes scanned the pages, re-reading the passages over and over until his heart dropped at one particular line, something he had overlooked the very first time he read that passage.

“…this, however, may be counterproductive if there is a magical or multiversal energy interference, the amount of energy converging at one point may created an unexpected result and…”

Loki knew the rest by heart, he knew there could be troubles but…well, how many energies were involved in the spell? He had counted on those signatures coming from Wanda and Y/N, he had even counted on his but…was there anybody else out there? Was there anybody else at the other side of the multiverse?

“Shit.” Loki stood up fixing up his clothes before flickering his hand to open a portal. He needed to face the consequences of his acts, and the first stop would be the Avengers Tower and Steve Roger’s office.

The former Captain America was going to enjoy telling Loki ‘I told you so’, just before hitting him in the face.

With one last glance to the basement, Loki turned around and left the place.

He never worried to test the energy fields around, or to tap into the timelines flickering in front of his eyes. It never occurred to him that, as soon as the explosion happened, a new singular timeline appeared right before his eyes just to blend itself with the other timelines flickering in front of Loki.

No one but the Watcher could see it, The Watcher stood in the sidelines furrowing his brows and waiting.

The world would either collapse in itself, or it would fix the anomalies by itself.

Either way, he was watching history, and the future of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

_________________________________________

Darkness had always been your friend.

You were born in it, and it had been your weapon and your refugee in the hardest of times. That was the main reason you didn’t panic at first, everything around you was filled with the purest form of darkness with a single touch of coldness that sneaked inside your clothes. The hairs on your arms stood up, a shiver went right through your muscles making you groan as you finally experience the pain in your body.

Your mouth opened inhaling deeply filling your lungs with gusts of cold air, your chest contracting itself just before you started coughing. It was then you opened your eyes, and the darkness that you had experienced moments ago was nothing but you woke up from unconsciousness.

The first thing you noticed were different white dots in the sky winking back at you. You tried to grasp a single thought, seeking around your mind for a coherent idea but it was almost impossible to do so when the rest of your body was finally receiving different stimulus in the way of pain and coldness.

“Y/N!” A familiar voice called to your left, you tried to sit up but a single hand placed itself on your shoulder pressing you to the ground.

“Ease there, pal, you were really hurt back there.”

Even if you didn’t get a chance to sit up, your world started spinning around. The voice was so familiar, yet so different to what you were used to; with some reluctance you turned your face to the right and soon you found yourself looking at yourself.

The other woman offered a tentative smile, though the way she was squinting her eyes and the pursed of her lips told you she was just as confused as you were at the moment. Soft footsteps approached you, America Chavez was wearing a single cut on her cheek and a bruised eye, this time around you didn’t let you counterpart to stop you, you sat up to check over the teen kneeling beside you.

“America, are you alright?” Your eyes rolled back for a moment, your knees fell harshly on the ground while you held yourself with a single hand placed on your leg.

“Y/N, please…” America winced lightly glancing at you then at your counterpart. “I think you were the one that suffered the most…”

“It was my fault, actually. So, sorry?”

You blinked a couple of times, shaking your head made the headache worse and the dizziness settled on your lower abdomen. You lifted your face blinking a couple of times before checking America over, the young woman softened her features with her cheeks colouring pink while her lips tried to offer a single smile. You tried to ignore the other Y/N for as long as you could before turning around to settle your eyes on her.

Just like America, she was wearing a single cut on her forehead with her clothes dishevelled but otherwise nothing else. With some reluctance you lifted your eyes looking deep into those eyes that you knew so well.

“This is the weirdest shit I have ever had to live to date.” You finally said shaking your head, “I hope it is the last weird shit ever.”

“Agreed.” Y/N tilted her head furrowing her brows while giving you a quick glance. “Before this happened, I’m afraid I was in your body fighting with someone that got lucky…so…”

“So, that’s why I feel like this?” You cracked smile, your counterpart nodded mirroring the smile on your face. “Okay, got it, so…what the hell is going on?”

America and Y/N glanced at one another then at you, it wasn’t until then that you decided to take a good look at the surrounding area. The place in itself was nothing strange, yet you got a feeling that this was not your universe or even that of your counterpart.

The sky was completely dark filled stars but as you got to observe them above your head you realized there were not your stars. The constellations you had come to know thanks to Natasha and Carol had been changed and were replaced by different forms you did not recognize. With a single frown you lowered your eyes to find yourself in a plain of land filled with dried grass that extended beyond what the eyes could see. It was an empty land, with nothing beyond the darkness of the night without any moon it was hard to actually see something that could give you an idea of your location.

The sound of whistling called your attention, and soon you found yourself being wrapped tightly by two pair of arms. Before you could protest or ask what they were doing, you experience the sharp bite of wind, A cold, merciless breeze that soon turned into a whirlwind that left as suddenly as it had come.

“Wh-what the hell?” Your eyes opened wide, your teeth chattering while America and Y/N leaned back wincing.

“We need to move.”

You furrowed your brows shaking your head, “move where? I can barely see you two, how are we going to see the path or…where the hell are we?”

America sighed standing up, she stretched her hand to you offering a tender smile.

“You haven’t figured it out?”

You stood on weakened legs, your mouth opened ready to protest until you finally realised it. While it was true there was nothing much to see beyond the darkness and the starry night, you could see America and your counterpart just fine. It took you but a few minutes until, you lifted your hand and the shadows followed you giving you a good glance of what was around you.

“We can manipulate shadows, the night in itself is darkness and filled with the main source of our power.” Y/N stated matter-of-factly while standing before you, you nodded curtly feeling foolish for not even thinking about it.

“Are you guys going to tell me what’s going on?”

America grabbed your hand, then turning to Y/N she shrugged also grabbing her hand as well.

“We may as well update her while we continue walking.”

“We saw lights coming from what we think was a village a few kilometres away, were trying to get there until these weird whirlwinds came in and we couldn’t carry you anymore.” Y/N explained shrugging. “We’re guessing once we get to some sort of place filled with civilization we will know more…”

“Why didn’t you try to travel through the shadows?” You asked ready to do so when the warning tone from your own voice stopped you.

“I couldn’t do it without leaving America here, and I have a bad feeling as soon as I tried it…so…” Y/N shrugged looking ahead of her, “I always follow my instincts, they have never failed me.”

The comment sent a sharp pain straight to your heart.

Your instincts had never failed you either.

Nothing else was said after this, the three of you were following the direction America had pointed out but you were just lost not really knowing if this was the right path or just a wild guess. The temperature was dropping even more, soon your teeth were chattering alongside those of America and the other you. You felt a sharp pain through your head, whatever had happened before you woke up had left your body quite bruised and right now all you wanted was to find a bed, an analgesic and something to eat. For a brief moment, an intrusive thought came forward in the form of Wanda, panic rose through your chest and filled your mind but before you could ask anything about her your counterpart spoke.

“I still don’t understand how everything came to be,” she spoke with a tone of voice you were familiar with, you let your eyes wandered around the landscape holding onto every word resounding into the darkness of the night.”

“I remembered when Wanda and I saved America the first time, and then trying to safe her from these creatures chasing her down.” Y/N trailed off with her memories making her falter, with a single shake of her head she continued, “I know I was out for a while, so you can guess how surprised I was to wake up in the arms of someone that wasn’t my wife…”

“Not really.” Your reply was filled with coldness, tension building up in your body, “I have always had the luxury of waking up alone in my bed.”

America winced lifting her head to glance at you, her dark eyes begging you to listen before jumping in whatever discussion you wanted to start.

“Agatha Harkness.” The name reached the inside of your mind with the memory of the file you read on her, not only that, but also the different videos you saw surrounding her story inside of Wanda’s world.

“That was the woman you woke up to every day, Y/N.” America chimed in shyly, she lowered her gaze squeezing your hand tenderly. “She had been dragging Scarlet and Wanda around, draining them of their powers and leaving them defenceless for quite some time, and since…well, since Y/N was under her spell…”

You opened your mouth to speak, you wanted to say something but finding your counterpart’s eyes on you whatever argument you had built inside your mind came crumbling down and soon you were given their side of their story. Little by little the story started making sense, the building of a different world and the intrusive dreams you were having in the last couple of weeks, the purple and red magic surrounding you on that day as well as the mixed-up realities that ended up with you thrown into another’s body. You had always known that Wanda was special, and powerful, you never imagined just how much.

America had been a part of the plan, of course. Her powers would be very beneficial to someone like Agatha, and your powers would make sure no one would ever find her. Everything was about the most basic reason of all: Power. You pursed your lips disgusted; you were dragged into a confrontation with Wanda because there was a woman chasing after power. You had been running from Wanda for more than ten years, and all it took was this woman to ruin everything.

And now, now you were walking down the darkness of the night with a girl that could travel through different universes and your counterpart, a woman that got the life you had dreamt of a long time ago.

“Life is not fair.” Y/N stated glancing at you out of the corner of her eyes, “but it is what we have, and we must…”

“…deal with it, take what it is being offered and try to be happy with it.” You finished shaking your head.

“Ah, so not everything is lost, I see.” Y/N allowed a single smile to break on her face, you pursed your lips snorting.

“You don’t know the story.”

“But she does, that’s why she told you those very same words, didn’t she?” Your counterpart stopped all of a sudden, you let out a heavy sigh before turning to face her.

America was standing in between the both of you, her brows knitted together with her gaze travelling around the terrain before settling on the both of you.

“Look, I know that you and Wanda had a different experience than mine, I’m glad you did because…” You trailed off holding onto your emotions, “I don’t wish on you the pain I went through…”

For the very first time ever you saw your own face breaking into a broken-hearted smile, with those eyes losing all light and those lips curving into a crooked smile. It was you looking back, and you understood right there and then that you weren’t the only one.

“You forgive her?” You asked with a hint of hope in your voice, you hated how the question left your lips and how your counterpart understood what you meant.

“How could I not if my heart beats for her?” She replied clenching her eyes closed, her hands rested upon your shoulders before you found yourself looking into your eyes. “There is a difference, though, isn’t it?”

“You guys were not together…” You started but she merely tilted her head.

“You know it wouldn’t matter if we were a couple or not, she chose someone else when we have always chosen her.” Y/N squeezed your shoulders lightly. “The difference is that I gave her a chance because I want to do so, you didn’t because…”

“I don’t believe in second chances! If I have done so she would have broken my heart all over again when she went into her imaginary world with Vision!” You exclaimed enraged, surprising Y/N and America.

The other woman furrowed her brows, she was ready to argue back with you and asked questions about the imaginary world. It was quite evident a lot of things had happened in this strange world and Y/N could only imagine the pain and rage engulfing your heart at the moment.

America could see darkness surrounding the three of you her eyes opening wide almost losing into the shadows until her eyes caught glimpses of red and purple right ahead.

“Guys?” America stuttered lifting her hand and pointing to the distance.

You two stopped your discussion turning around to see the same sparkles of red and purple. It was a formation of dusty colouring breaking into the darkness of the night sky, you turned to the left to see Y/N frowning with determination and America shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

“It’s not that far away, I mean it could be at least one kilometre?” Y/N faced you holding onto the previous tension of your conversation with her, you clenched your fist shrugging.

“Looks that way.”

“Are we…” America started but you lifted a hand to silence her.

“Before we jump in to do something I think we need more information, we don’t even know what we are going to find over there.” You looked out of the corner of your eyes; the lights were still gleaming pretty much intensely but you could tell your two companions didn’t want to stay still and do any planning.

“What do you propose?” Y/N asked lifting her chin, “you know pretty well those sparks of crimson are Wanda’s, and we know this woman, this Agatha has been using purple magic. Are you really suggesting we stand here or keep walking in circles?”

“No! All I am asking is to first think about what we are going to do! We’re not even sure where we are much less what we are going to find there.” You asked back lifting your hands in the air and stepping back, the pain you had forgotten in favour of the discussion came back making you winced.

“Look I know you guys think the world of Wanda, and that’s cool, I guess your Wanda,” this time around you pointed to your counterpart trying to remain calm, “she is all love and kindness and that’s fine. The Wanda in world had a total breakdown that enslaved a bunch of people in a reality she created for herself and that microwave she called husband, so forgive me if I’m not going to jump in without any additional information.”

Your tirade echoed through the night, your voice carried by the wind with a dropped in the temperature. The moon that had been travelling with the three of you flickered all of a sudden, and the darkness grew around the three of you. America didn’t miss the flickering lights of crimson and purple, but she couldn’t stop herself from grabbing your hand in hers, the warm she shared with you made you shivered and with some reluctance you lower you stare to her. Even in such a darkness you could see her brown eyes gleaming with emotions.

“You still love her.” America mumbled squeezing your hand tenderly.

You clenched your jaw tilting your head to the side, America bit her lower lip glancing from you to Y/N.

“I don’t know why this has to be so complicated, but she needs you.” America took a deep breath stepping closer to you. “Wanda is sad, and I know she messed up and that forgiveness should not be given just because you feel that way. But she really needs you, she and Scarlet.”

“Look, I don’t know what happened between the both of you.” Y/N stepped in making sure you could not look away from your own eyes. “But the woman I love is out there, being it in this dimension or another Wanda Maximoff would always be MY Wanda and I won’t leave her out there to get hurt. If not for you, then at least do it for me.”

It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by darkness and coldness that your heart finally gave in. With a nod, your dropped your shoulders in defeat missing the smile coming from America but never missing the satisfied glance coming from your counterpart. The three of you finally turned to the source of the magic, and without a simple plan you three started making your way to the source.

You were not prepared for what was waiting for you over there.

Agatha Harkness smirked at the woman kneeling before her.

In less than a year she had made it possible to crumble away the legend of the Scarlet Witch while placing herself as the most powerful witch in the multiverse. Her smile never faltered, not even when the world spined around changing into a familiar setting; a place and time Agatha had suffered before but that now she could alter with a single flicker of her hand.

The place was filled with passersby ignoring the presence of the two women; nobody seemed to care that one of them was on her knees with a single neck shackle made of light red and blue tied to a crimson necklace Agatha wore on her chest.

“What do you think about this arrangement, dear?” The dark-haired woman asked, her eyes dropping to the kneeling Wanda who was shooting her a stare filled with anger. “Personally, I think this could be more lively, but don't worry soon enough we will have a show to die for.”

Her laughter was accompanied by a flash of violet, and soon the scene changed and they were transferred to a great marketplace located at the centre of the village. Everyone had reunited around four pillared pyres that were guarded by at least ten knights all dressed in black.

Wanda lifted her face, her ears twitched hearing the sound of angry screams cursing someone she couldn't make out yet. Agatha stirred in excitement; her smile grew until it was a crooked grin with just a hint of madness behind it.

“Here they come…”

The crowd spread around just as four figures came in walking on naked feet wearing red robes and bruised faces. The hatred and fear coming from the crowd was quite evident as the torches and the pitchforks drew wild patterns above the townspeople’s heads. The light of the torches ignited the night, Wanda tensed under the grip of the woman standing beside her, the hairs on her arms raising up while her eyes narrowed to follow the events unfolding in front of her.

The four women were pushed forward, each one of them had a single knight standing behind them with heavy hands they were dragged to the four pillars tied to them facing the crowd. It didn’t take her too long to guess what was about to happen, and what exactly were those pillars; the pyres had been set up to ensure everyone could see the women died. The crowd cheered cruelly, laughing and cursing while the four women glared at the people with more bravery than they actually felt.

“This was my coven.” Agatha spat out, her hands sparkling with a mixture of red and purple, “they saw my power, they read my intentions and instead of supporting me they dared to try and stop me…”

“I wonder why.” Wanda couldn’t hold the sarcasm behind her voice, Agatha pulled harshly on the ropes holding her neck making Wanda fall on her back.

“You really are more daring than your counterparts, dear. I would be careful, if I were to be honest I don’t need you alive.”

Agatha caressed the necklace smirking at Wanda, the woman couldn’t hide her anger and the magic that was pulsating inside her was not enough to protect her from Agatha’s anger. Soon Wanda let out a scream of pain, her body twitching painfully until he couldn’t keep her eyes open and all she could think about was the searing pain on her limbs.

“It has been so long since I was just a lowly witch like them, afraid of fire and the angry crowd. I grew to be magnificent, to have power beyond anyone’s imagination…” Agatha continued with his rambling observing with gleaming eyes as the Major of the town stood forward proclaiming the sins of the four women.

“I just had to find you, Wanda, you and that so-called Scarlet Witch.” Wanda took a deep breath, half hearing the woman while watching with horror as the night above her head flickered from one setting to another.

“It was not easy, you know?”

Agatha flickered her hand to the right and soon Wanda was on her knees watching as the world around her changed. It was like watching a movie in a dome. The world changed to day and night flickering images of Agatha dragging her burnt body through the ground whispering spells that only she could hear. The image soon changed showing the passing of time, Agatha looking around the world and stealing the magic of others while seeking something out of desperation.

She finally found it after more than a century.

Wanda opened her eyes at the familiar setting, Kamar Taj stood under stormy winds and heavy snow. Agatha sneaked around, distracting the inhabitants of the temple by provoking landslides that would certainly have killed innocent people if it hadn’t been by the protectors of the temple. She had enough time to steal a single book.

“Y-you…you stole the..th-e…the Drakhold.” Wanda leaned forward resting her hands on the ground, she was shocked to find the snow under her hands was real and that everything she was seeing was not an illusion but a real event.

Her mind was trying to comprehend what was really happening. Her knowledge of the Darkhold had not been as broad as it had been for Strange and even Loki. But she did know one thing or two about the origins of her powers, Chaos Magic had been called and it gave her the power to bend reality and life in ways not many could access to. The darkness inside her had been contained by her family and her loved ones, but the same could not be said by others, apparently.

“I did.” Agatha finally answered tilting her head, soon the scene changed and they were taken to a place Wanda was familiar with.

Westview.

“Yet, I was still not strong enough, or the only one with powers beyond our imaginations.” Agatha made a face, stepping forward strolling down the streets with Wanda following her. “When the Avengers showed up it was quite evident that people with powers could no longer be hidden. It was my time to shine until you, my dear Wanda, showed up.”

Wanda saw herself in a building in Sokovia, it was a place she was familiar with yet the story that was unfolding in front of her had nothing to do with what she had lived once. Her other self struggled to control her powers, to live her life, to be who she was supposed to be but failed every single time. Agatha had never been too far from those events, and whenever Wanda failed, Agatha would clutch the young woman closer to her. The red and purple magic intertwined without anyone noticing.

“What did you do?” Wanda asked, finding herself in the middle of the square in Westview. It was a beautiful day, with the sun shining right above their heads and not a single cloud in sight.

Agatha smirked, her eyes changing colours to one of deep crimson, “I finally became who I am supposed to be, and soon my dear I will have all the power to bend the universes at my will. And now, I will finish what I started all those months ago with your pathetic counterpart and you will help me out with this.”

The world suddenly exploded around them, Wanda clenched her jaw closed, lifting her eyes to the sky to see the runes above her head.

“You…” She gritted her teeth, her eyes closing right away trying to gather her thoughts and power to stop the woman standing beside her.

Agatha chuckled darkly, her gripped on Wanda tightened allowing the influx of memories to invade the mind of the redhead. It was a life she was no familiar with, a suffering she had not experiment in the same way but that generate in her an understanding of the mess this world was in. She could see the moment Agatha entered the story, the failures and the almost victories until finally she got what she wanted.

A weakened Wanda Maximoff without anyone in the world to stand by her side.

Power.

And a way to get away with her plan.

“You…you won’t win.” Wanda finally got out; her eyes gleaming dangerously at the other woman who made a face rolling her eyes.

“I already did, dear. You just haven’t realized it yet.” Agatha let go of Wanda stepping away.

The brunette straightened up lifting her arms in front of her, her hands creating a purple mist while the necklace she wore zealously around her neck gleamed with intensity. Those eyes that moment’s ago had been brown, were now a deep black and the world around Wanda trembled under the electric shift of power the witch was gathering around her.

“Now, I have all the pieces in place, in my world…under my rules.” Agatha stated tilting her head to the side, “I will bend everyone to my will…and you, Wanda, will be nothing but a bad memory.”

The sky above their heads changed into darkness, the temperature dropped and Wanda felt the heavy weight of the atmosphere overwhelming her. She could sense her counterpart weakening inside the prison Agatha had chosen for her, her thoughts were still a mixture of memories she couldn’t quite place while the heavy emotions running through her soul threaten to overwhelm. Wanda could read the intentions behind the woman standing before her, she could read the hatred and violence behind those dark eyes. Lifting her chin to the sky, and her eyes showing off her own magic she decided if this was going to be her end, she would face it with defiance.

The ball of energy flickered in Agatha’s hand, the world stood still and the with smirked ready to give the final blow.

Agatha was so concentrated in her final goal, she never noticed she was no longer alone and what she though was illusions of her own invention were actually three people she didn’t think would be a problem until one of them stood right in front of her shielding Wanda from an imminent dead.

You had crossed the protective barrier around the strange town with a single thought in mind. Your intention was to get this over with and go back to your life on Norway, your heart beating fast while your mind protest for the easiness in which you were trying to go back to a life in which you were ignoring the woman that had never left your heart. It looked easy, just do your thing and then fixed whatever mess you were in and then…go back.

But the universe and the Powers That Be decided that it wouldn’t be just as easy as a flickered of your hand.

As soon as the three of you crossed the barrier you were face to face with flashes of memories that presented you with a film of the lives of Wanda and Agatha. The stories of the coven and the search for power, as well as the fall of Sokovia and Wanda’s struggles with her powers and her life.

“This is so wrong.” Y/N stated clenching her fist while stepping forward until she was finally standing beside you, the both of you stood on an empty street hearing the sounds of muffled conversation.

“Any plan?” You finally stated ignoring the piercing pain in your heart, your counterpart shrugged nodding to the darkened street that was flashing a mixture of red and purple.

“I think the best approach is a straightforward one.”

“Humph, so go there and just start fighting?” You replied with your lips breaking into a single smirk.

“Yep, pretty much.”

“That doesn’t sound like a solid plan.” America mumbled unsure, she furrowed her brows turning to you and then to your counterpart.

You turned to America placing a hand on her shoulder, “but it is what we have. You are going to stay here and wait.”

“But…I can fight! I can help!” America stepped back frowning, “I won’t be left behind…”

“I know you can fight, kiddo.” You replied tilting your head, “and that’s why you are staying behind.”

America opened her mouth to protest but Y/N came forth shaking her head.

“You are our backup, America. If anything were to happen to us and Wanda…” Y/N stated dropping her gaze for a moment, she turned to you until finally she locked eyes with America. “You need to do anything you can to ensure Agatha won’t scape, you understand?”

America pursed her lips, a part of her understood the mission but another part wanted to go straight ahead and face the woman that had been chasing her through the multiverse. America clenched her fists before nodding curtly and stepping back. You offered a single smile, your hand squeezing comfortingly the shoulder of the teen.

“There would be time, America, for now just watch our backs.”

“I will.”

“Good then, let’s go.”

You nodded curtly allowing your powers to spread in front of you, there was resistance when trying to reach the shadows and for the very first time you understood what your counterpart meant about your instinct. Everything in your body was screaming danger as soon as you came into contact with the shadows, your body shivered under the piercing weight of a million needles. You clenched your jaw closed stepping into the shadows with a single thought in mind.

Wanda.

Without any hesitation and moving through the invisible obstacles in that universe you appeared right before Wanda and Agatha just in time. Your eyes went black with your right arm lifting in front of you and creating a protective barrier just as Agatha’s hand came into contact with your shadows.

There was a flickering of power, the older woman snarled a curse lifting her left arm in the same fashion and launching a second attack. Your eyes opened slightly only for your shadows to slithered away grabbing the woman’s midsection to pull her away.

The world crumbled for an instant; Agatha was completely shocked to see not only you but your counterpart standing right in front of her. The woman straightened up, sweat rolling down her forehead while her right hand closed around her necklace and her other hand summoned the Darkhold.

“You really are a pain in my behind, but at least I won’t have to go around looking for you.” Agatha stated tilting her head to the side, her annoyance giving way to a confident smile. “Now, how about the two of you are good girls and give up, I would hate to spend my time submitting you to get what I want.”

You spread your feet positioning yourself in a fighting pose, your eyes narrowing slightly while the woman in front of you got her magic ready. But before Agatha could do anything at all, another set of shadows grabbed her arms putting them back making her woman lose her grip on the necklace and the Darkhold, your body tensed when Wanda stood up behind you, her voice quivering slightly as she pronounced your name with reverence and love.

“Hey, I hope you didn’t forget about me, Agatha dear.” Your counterpart said winking at Wanda while flickering her hands away, Agatha grunted freeing herself with a blast of energy and stepping a few feet away.

“Hn, I didn’t expect this.” She stated summoning the Darkhold, the world around the four of you changed, shaping itself in a familiar setting you had come to hate in your mind.

Westview.

Agatha never wavered in her confidence, if anything it seemed to grow the same way her magic was doing at the moment. You took a fighting stance, your shadows flickering around waiting for your command. You glanced out of the corner of your eye, Wanda had been trying to stand up but her knees and feet seemed uncooperative. Before you could offer any help, your counterpart came in wrapping her arms around Wanda while placing her forehead against Wanda’s one.

“Hey, love.”

“Hi.” Wanda replied with easiness, Y/N sighed in relief before placing a single kiss on her wife’s cheek.

“I miss you.” Y/N said softly, your heart shrank with emotion when your mind caught up with what was really happening.

You furrowed your brows, sweeping around the place until your darkened eyes fell on Agatha who was smiling playfully at you, her right hand playing absentmindedly with the necklace.

“Where is…Wanda?” The question left your lips before you could stop it, Wanda and Y/N both glanced at one another before they set their eyes on you.

A sinking feeling settled on your lower stomach, you were afraid of the answer when you realized this Wanda was trying to look everywhere but you. Tilting your head, you finally got a good look at your surroundings where the suburban houses filled out the imaginary world; the Wanda you had come to know from another universe held onto your counterpart tightly though right now her green eyes had been focusing straight ahead of you.

“Where is she? Wanda?” You asked again, this time around there was a demanding undertone that the other woman couldn’t ignore.

“Agatha has them under her control, she is using a powerful and dangerous book, Y/N.” Wanda could tell her answer was not of your liking, she stepped forward ready to join you and her wife in the fight glancing at you out of the corner of her eyes.

“You don’t know where she has Wanda?” You asked again never taking your eyes off of the older woman standing before you.

“I have my suspicions but I’m not sure how to interfere with that.” Wanda winced trying to ease out the pain on her neck, you frowned pursing your lips while taking a closer look at Agatha before your eyes found the same house you had come to know as Wanda’s place.

“Well, then let’s get this over with and get Wanda back.” Your arms stretched to the sides, the silent command spurred into action the shadows around you flying straight ahead to try and get Agatha.

Before your counterpart and the other Wanda could help you out, the creatures summoned by Agatha launched their first attack. A great explosion was heard while you evaded the flashing balls of power sent over by the witch.

The fight soon broke over, you didn’t notice it but the dome surrounding this part of the universe tremble sending waves of energy all through the world until they came into contact with the timeline and America. The young woman lifted her head, her eyes gleaming brightly as she tapped into her powers; bouncing on the balls of her feet she waited. America could hear the sound of explosions and the muffled sound of conversations and screams, she glanced at her hands thinking about the lessons she had been learning in the last couple of months. She closed her fists, opening them again before lifting her face. This people had been putting their lives on the line for her, they had been trying to protect her without expecting anything in exchanged. It was about time she helped them.

With a glance to the sky, America took a deep breath closing her eyes for a brief moment. As soon as she opened them, her lips curled into a single smile.

Time for payback.

The street had been completely destroyed during the fight.

There were no more homes standing up, or nice cosy gardens decorating the suburban setting. The world soon became a mixture of nothingness with the flickering holograms of reality that you could not touch. Agatha had learnt a thing or two since fighting with Wanda, you could see her ability to hold onto her powers while also making use of those she had stolen from your Wanda.

You shook your head hating the thoughts running around in your head, the overwhelming emotions that seemed to try and govern your decisions. You tried to focus your energy on what was right in front of you, the problem you were facing went beyond your own emotions. There would be a time for you to deal with them.

Agatha lifted her left hand above her head before letting it fall fast to her side, the sharp pain of your skin being pierce made you grunted. You could feel the wounds on your arms, your eyes igniting in a deep black that soon went right ahead to engulf the witch in front of you.

At some point, Agatha had become faster than your attacks, she stepped aside flickering her hands and soon two more creatures appeared out of nowhere.

“Is that all you got?” You asked almost losing your concentration when you heard the voice of your counterpart in the back.

“Get away from my wife!”

Agatha smirked grabbing her necklace, tilting her head she settled her eyes on you.

“Oh, dear, you would be surprised with the number of tricks I can bring on you.” Agatha stepped forward, her feet never touching the ground. “I could make your dreams come true; I can be what Wanda never was for you.”

You pressed your lips together taking into a fighting stance.

“You know nothing about my dreams, and I am certainly not looking for a replacement.”

Agatha snorted her hand gripping tightly on the necklace, soon a red mist grew from the space between her neck and chest and the world around her turned crimson. Agatha stretched out her arms and the whole world vibrate around you changing in the blink of an eye.

“Are you sure? I can tell by the pathetic way you are always looking at her, but the way you talk about her that there is nothing else you want more than her…” Agatha’s voice rose above the new scene, your eyes flickered around while your stomach dropped when you realized where she had taken you to.

For a brief moment you could make out the screams and grunts of the fight going on right outside this small world. You took a deep breath trying to get a hold of your powers ignoring the runes glowed above your head a clear sign that this was still being controlled by Agatha. You creased your brows knowing that your options were limited if the other woman decided to use her magic at its full potential. She was playing with you, leading you on and one until it was quite clear she was mocking you by placing you right in front of a memory that had broken your heart at some point.

It was playing in slow motion, the video and the room with everyone just as shocked as you were to see Wanda in the arm’s of another. The passing of time, every single moment that you had suffered the betrayal while facing your sadness alone in a world of pure darkness. Your fit closed, the shadows on your feet stirred violently sensing your anger when you heard Agatha laughing. Mocking you.

“How did it make you feel knowing she was happier with a man?” Agatha purred making sure to be as far away from you as she could. “How did it feel knowing you were never going to be chosen in this world? In this universe? I bet it pierce your soul knowing you were the one destined to be alone.”

“Shut up.”

“I can make it go away, I can help you out…say the words, and I will make sure you get what you want.”

Your knees gave under your weight, furrowing your brows you tried to close yourself to the mocking film playing around you trying to focus on the fight. Agatha chuckled tilting her head, this time around the runes above her head pulsated and the two creatures grew before your eyes attacking viciously at your counterpart and Wanda making sure that your conversation and fight with Agatha wouldn’t be interrupted. Agatha centred her eyes on you, her hand grabbing the necklace while the same video seemed to be on replay.

“She won’t be a problem for you anymore, and after I’m done with you…you won’t have to worry about the pain of your broken heart, dear.” The laughter sent shivers down your back, but it was everything you were waiting for.

Your lips curled into a smile, your right hand twirled clockwise and the shadows broke into waves catching up with the witch. Just as you had located her, ready to give her a lesson, the woman was ready to use the magic Wanda and Scarlet were giving to her to make sure the next stage of her plan could be completed.

It never happened, though.

Your attack never stopped reaching out to your objective, while Agatha tried to return the hit she was surprised by a sudden punch to her face. The punch glow white, and her body bounced back and forth until she lost the hold on the necklace, America Chavez didn’t stop there and your shadows went straight to hold onto the witch to bring her down.

Everything happened so fast, your eyes went from America to Agatha and finally to the object on the ground. The necklace bounced on the ground, and without thinking too much you went right ahead to grab it. The object was warm to the touch, you could tell by the vibrations that magic had been contained between the object and this magic could only belong to one person. You closed your hand around it, you could sense Scarlet deep inside your mind. It didn’t take you too long to recognize the woman that had been haunting your dreams as of late, right with her you could also sense Wanda trying to hide, trying to survive.

“NO!”

The scream coming from Agatha was everything you needed to drop the necklace and stomp on the piece of jewellery creating an explosion that blew you and everyone around you away.

“Humph…” Your mouth opened letting out a shaky breath, your body hurt all over while your eyes got use to the sparkling lights that appeared before them when your head hit the ground.

“Y/N!!” You tried to sit up, a pair of arms held onto you for a brief moment until you were capable of making out the figure sitting beside you.

America had her brows creased; her eyes shone with worry while she tried to hold you up. The fighting was still ringing inside your ears, your counterpart was finishing the last of the dimensional creatures while you could spot her Wanda holding back against Agatha. For a brief moment, panic rose inside you the sudden need to throw up became almost to much just as you leaned forward trying to stand up your eyes looking frantically for the women that had been haunting your dreams and reality as of late.

“They are unconscious…” America started but she could not finish her sentence as you stood up without any warning.

“Wanda…” Her name escaped your lips without meaning to, at that moment with your body exhausted and your mind already carrying the weight of so many memories and thoughts all you could do was staggered forward until you reached both women.

You stood on shaky legs glancing from Wanda to Scarlet, both of them unconscious wearing the same bags under their eyes and the bruises all over their faces and arms. You hesitated not really knowing where you should focus your attention until, as an afterthought you went to Wanda. Turning her to the side you ensure she was comfortable, her lip had a deep cut and her forehead had traces of a scratch that left her with blood and dirt. She looked thinner than you remember, with her face wearing still the same defeated expression she wore to your home all those months ago.

“Wanda.” You said her name again, this time around firmer and demanding, your hand trying to help her out until you heard her exclamation of pain. “Wanda, are you alright?”

The young woman stirred in your arms, her eyes flickering slightly until she opened her lips and let out an exclamation of pain. You put her back on the ground, turning around you could see Scarlet was stirring awake as well while the fight seemed to have no end.

“Y/N…” You turned to see Wanda’s eyes fluttering open, her green orbs looking back at you with sadness and tenderness that had your heart beating a tad bit faster.

“Hey, are you alright?” You leaned in but Wanda looked away helping herself up, you tired to assist her but your body froze for a moment unsure on how to proceed with the woman sitting before you.

“I…I am a little sore.” She replied, her eyes never leaving the form of Scarlet, Wanda furrowed her brows glancing at her hands then back at the other woman. “She…she is…Scarlet Witch.”

Her words trembled as she pronounced them, her face lowered thinking to herself knowing full well your attention was on her. She remembered the moment she had separated herself from the legend, the words of Agatha had haunted her at that moment when she realized there was something inside her giving her powers a deeper meaning. She had hated that idea, and the world that had been created out of it.

When Wanda finally dared to look up she found herself looking into your eyes. Her heart stirred with emotion, the words that wanted to pour out of her mouth entangled around her throat for she knew it was not the time for a heart-to-heart conversation. She wished everything had turned out different, but after her confrontation with Agatha and everything she had discovered whiled trapped in that reality she knew what she needed to do.

“Can you…help me up?” She asked shyly, you nodded curtly stretching your hands for her to take them.

She was cold under your touch, and a little sweaty.

Her cheeks coloured pink, and her eyes glanced everywhere but at you. You felt a piercing pain going through your chest, but you ignored it while helping the other woman up. For a brief moment, you thought she could walk on her on until Wanda’s legs trembled and almost gave up on her. You caught her just on time, her body pressing against yours making your traitorous heart stopped for a brief moment.

“How convenient, Wanda.” Scarlet was on her knees; she had sweat falling down her face breathing hard and glaring at the two of you though her eyes were completely focused on Wanda. “You…you don’t do nothing, yet you get to be with her.”

Wanda tensed in your arms, she took a deep breath while pushing you away taking one step at a time until she was standing before Scarlet. You lifted your eyes to see America just as focused on the two women as you were, the sound of the fighting was till rumbling in your ears but it was almost impossible to pay attention to something else that wasn’t the scene playing out in front of you.

Wanda held herself up, conscious of the hatred inside the eyes of Scarlet.

Inside her own eyes.

“We don’t get to be with her.” Wanda mumbled dropping her shoulders, tears gathering in her eyes as she spoke. “I’ve been trying to make amends but I just…”

“You always failed, and you make it worse.” Scarlet spat out lifting her chin in defiance, her position on the ground was not an inconvenience. If anything, it gave her the power that Wanda couldn’t show at the moment.

“I tried to reach out to her, to make her world and mine…to…”

“I know.” Wanda offered a weakened smile, looking out of the corner of her eyes she could see you had your attention on the both of them. “I tried to do the same. I just…I can’t do it alone, and I’m tired of failing every time. I don’t…”

Wanda swallowed down her tears, she leaned in lifting her left hand until she was cupping Scarlet’s cheek. Red mist appeared in Wanda’s hand, and soon her eyes as much as those of Scarlet were shining brightly.

“It hurts so much.” Scarlet said letting the tears rolled down her cheeks. “I just…

“I don’t want to be alone, and I don’t want to be without her.” Wanda finally said her own tears falling down her face.

You clenched your jaw, looking away for a moment while your chest felt a myriad of butterflies fluttering inside.

“But I can’t keep fighting alone, or divided.” Wanda stated, she wiped away Scarlet’s tears before adding. “I think we need to be one, you saw just how powerful we are together and…”

“You need to fix this, or we would never…”

“I know, but this may not end the way you want it.”

Scarlet drifted her attention to you, her eyes found those of yours and in there you could read everything you had been so afraid to interpret the first time. There was pain and sadness, emotions that broke into her heart in ways you could only imagine, and then there was love. You looked away stepping back under the intensity of such a stare, you missed the broken smile on Scarlet’s face and the defeat she wore while facing Wanda again.

“I know, I think we will cope when the time for that comes.” Wanda nodded in understanding; her hands gleamed brighter than ever while Scarlet placed her hand on top of hers.

“I promised you I won’t give up.”

“Good, then let’s do this.”

The crimson mist grew around them glowing with a bright, red light making you trembled under the intensity of the magic. You could see America kneeling down, her eyes going wide open as they stare the scene unfolding before her eyes.

Wanda and Scarlet were no longer two different entities.

Standing before you was a single woman, her head was adorned with a red crown that made match with the bodice and the black leggings. Wanda stood there with magic coming from her hands, her eyes a deep shade of red that gathered the power you had always known she had in her. The woman stood still for a moment, she glanced at her body and her hands before her face lifted to stare at you.

You tried to hide your expression, your lips parting to speak but not words came out. Wanda hesitated before nodding her feet moving slowly until she turned around making her way to the fight.

“Is she gonna be okay?” America stood right beside you, squirting at the woman now using her magic to help her counterpart in the fight against Agatha.

“I think so…” You trailed off finally realizing that even though the both of them had finally become one, Wanda was still wearing the bruises and the exhaustion on her face.

“Are you okay?” America asked quite concern, you turned to her offering a half smile.

“I will be.” You sighed scratching the back of your neck. “Stay here and be careful.”

“What are you gonna do?” The teen asked slightly scare, you offered her a half smile turning towards the fight that was a tied between the Wandas and Agatha.

“What we came to do, just stay out of trouble and be ready to help us go back home, okay kiddo?”

America doubt there was anything she could do, but she didn’t contradict you. With a single nodded of her head she watched as you ran towards the fight, your shadows already creating a protective barrier around you and Wanda. Something, America though, you probably were not aware of.

_____________________________________________________________

Loki rolled his eyes once more, he was tired of hearing the fight going on in the meeting room while he stood by the window waiting for the right moment to intervene.

The world outside was highly active, Monday had always been one of the busiest days in the calendar and that day was not the exception. The young god leaned forward, his fingertips touching the window while his eyes observed the golden and green lights of the timelines. His eyes soon fell upon the one he did not recognise, a red line that he could not tamper with but that he was certain contained the answers to the questions everyone in the room were posing.

Loki turned around his eyes finding those of Billy who had not leave his side ever since Pietro brought him into the Avenger’s Tower. The young boy had his eyes narrowed, his hands playing with invisible threats only he could see.

For a brief moment, Loki stood there observing the child with growing curiosity. Billy was tapping the air with his fingertips, concentrated in something only visible to him. Loki frowned with his mind already forming an idea of what exactly was happening.

“Billy, what are you doing?” The question was low enough for the child to hear it but not for the rest of the room to notice it.

Billy lifted his face this time around his eyes went wide opened showing off the innocence of his age, but also the brightness he had inherited from both his mothers.

“Mommy always says to follow my instincts.” There was conviction in his tone, his hands tapping still as if waiting for something.

“And, what are they telling you?” Loki knelt to be on the same height of the child, Billy tilted his head creasing his brows before answering.

“Uncle Loki, momma and mommy need my help…look!”

Loki looked in the direction Billy was pointing to, he gasped with his eyes wide open and a smile forming on his lips.

“Billy you are a genius.” Billy offered a timid smile glancing at Loki shyly.

“Really?”

“Yes, and I think thanks to you we are going to be able to help Wanda and Y/N.” Loki could see the excitement in the little boy, he couldn’t help but smile back.

Without giving to much attention to the room, Loki sat right beside Billy closing his eyes before letting his magic to spread around. Billy was slightly confused at first, he had continued working on invisible threads trying to get into contact with them. Now there was something different, with his uncle sitting beside him Billy could sense the magic. He pressed his lips together before sitting down and, imitating Loki, he closed his eyes and just went with his instincts.

_____________________________________________________________

Whatever power she had tried to drain from Wanda and even Scarlet was no longer active to give her the stamina or even the strength to keep up with the fight. She was not even up to sustain the world she had created by tampering on the Chaos magic she could barely tolerate.

Wanda Maximoff gathered her power while circling the woman in front of her, she could feel the hurt she had created for her counterpart had reached out beyond the boundaries of the multiverse and it was something she would not tolerate. Beside her she could sense Y/N, a close shadow that was ready to jump in when necessary to offer protection and support; Wanda couldn’t help but smile.

“You won’t win.” Agatha tried to put up with a fight, she tried to hold onto the last threads of power inside her to get into the fight but she could no longer hold onto her powers for far too long.

You came from behind her your hands wrapping around her wrists while your shadows covered her feet spreading through her legs and body. Agatha was struggling, her eyes going wide open just as she started chanting in a language you did not recognize. Wanda opened her eyes wide, she stepped closer spreading her arms and chanting just the same, the runes trembling right above your head just before a myriad of images surrounded you breaking the darkness before going completely white.

“NO!” Agatha let out a guttural exclamation, her elbow hitting you square in the face but whatever strength she had in her to fight was haltered by your counterpart finishing what you started.

Wanda knew at that moment why she had been feared by Agatha, the power that was held inside her sent electric waves through her body. The power concentrated on her hand, and soon a single jewel showed on her palm while her counterpart continued with the ritual. The runes appeared right above her head, and without any indications, she started chanting as well.

You stepped back falling on your ass, blood rolling down your nose just as you saw the black figured being swallowed by the jewel. There was a moment of flickering lights and then, it stopped. Both Wanda’s stood right in front of the other, the jewel resting comfortably on the hand of Y/N’s wife.

The jewel took into a purplish colour, falling to the ground with a single thump.

The world went silent.

The darkness around you grew, with the stars twinkling right above your head.

Everything was still, with only your hard breathing breaking the tension around your ears. Your body was aching, your mind filled with memories of the past and the present all of them pilling up to overwhelmed you line of thoughts. You closed your eyes trying to forget and wait for everything to be back the way it was in the last year.

But you knew it was just an illusion.

Your world had been shaken up the moment Wanda and America showed up at your doorstep. The fight with Agatha brought back the memories you had tried to forget, it brought with it the truths you were not ready to face. You had always thought that you could outrun your motions, but the world has always taught you this was not possible. Not for someone like you, and certainly not for someone like Wanda.

When you opened your eyes you saw Wanda, your Wanda staring at you, but before anything could be done or said her eyes rolled back passing out of exhaustion. You caught up to her on time, her body falling on yours your face a mask of pure concern just as you ensure she rested comfortably on the ground.

You knew everyone was looking at you, but you decided to ignore them while checking Wanda over to make sure nothing else happened to her.

“Are you alright?” The other Wanda came to you, her voice sent shivers down your back, you didn’t dare to lift your eyes for fear of revealing far too much.

Instead, you nodded taking deep breaths while feeling the ground under your knees, without thinking too much about it, your hand brushed Wanda’s hair tenderly. The attention you were giving to her was something you never thought you would do again. The woman standing beside you shifted her weight and soon she was sitting right beside you; this time around you did turn around only to see her staring at you with big, curious eyes.

“She is still unconscious, but I believe she is no longer two halves of the same person.” Wanda lifted her face to the sky, her lips parting slightly. “Her magic is still erratic, but I believe she would be okay.”

“What about Agatha?” Your question entangled in your throat, scrunching up your nose you decided to conceal your emotions not ready to face the conversation or to address the white elephant hanging around you two.

“She will be trapped in this jewel until you and her decided what should be done with her.” Wanda handed over the jewel, you pursed your lips in disgust before grabbing the artifact.

“The book she had with her, it is the Darkhold, isn’t it?”

“It is.” You nodded this time around locking your eyes with hers.

“Are you taking it with you?”

Wanda broke into an easy smile shaking her head, “it’s not mine but yours. It would be better off in your world, where it belongs.”

“It should be destroyed.” You leaned back resting your hands on the ground.

“It should, but that would be your prerogative not ours.”

Your eyes drifted around the place before they settled on America and Y/N, both of them were engaged in a heavy discussion and you could teel this was the moment America had been waiting for a very long time. The feelings of guiltiness and sadness had been quite evident in her when you two met, right now this was the chance the young woman was waiting for to make amends. To reach for forgiveness.

“So, any idea how we are going to leave this place?”

Wanda nodded leaning back until she pointed to America and your counterpart.

“She is ready to use her powers, I believe she is the only one that can help us right now.”

Not sooner had Wanda said this the world started to tremble, the light of the stars flickered until they disappeared one by one. You straightened up with Wanda standing up as soon as she noticed this.

“I guess…we should try it right now.” You stood up turning to glance at the darkened world, everything was coming in and out of reality with the ground shaking for small periods of time.

“It was a matter of time.” Wanda placed a hand on your forearm, you couldn’t help the tension on your muscles the other woman softened her features stepping closer. “You will be back, and she will need help to recover from this.”

“I know.”

“Are you ready for that?” The question caught you off guard, you knew what was expected of you and what you could do with the woman that had broken your heart at some point.

You could hide behind that excuse until the end of time, but it would run out of any validity at some point. Sooner or later, you knew you would have to face Wanda and decisions must be made. The Wanda standing before you softened her features, her words would made your mind pound with the imminent decisions you would need to make.

“How deep is your anger, and how deep goes your love for you to not face what your heart already knows?” Wanda leaned in and you found yourself in a embrace you didn’t know you miss. Her voice was just a whisper, but it was everything you needed at the moment. “I won’t tell you what to do, but I will tell you my love to follow your instincts. They had never failed you.”

America glanced around the group with a nervous smile.

She glanced at her hands then back at you and Y/N, the words of encouragement were ringing inside her head while she tried to gather the courage to move onto the next step.

“Just think about it, kiddo.” Y/N stated grabbing the hand of her wife, America almost winced at those words because her mind had been a myriad of thoughts since they delegate the task of going back home on her.

You fixed the unconscious woman in your arms, putting her closer to you while looking over at America. The young woman closed her eyes, ready to open the portal when Wanda stopped her.

“Wait, America.” The redhead stepped closer placing her hand on America’s shoulder. “Remember, it is more than opening a portal, is about opening the right one.”

“I know, I know…it’s just…easier said than done.” America pursed her lips, she took a deep breath closing her eyes.

“Then, let yourself be guided by your emotions and what you remember of the place you want to go to.” Wanda squeezed the shoulder of the teen tenderly, and for that brief moment America felt it.

It was vague but it was there.

The same kind of energy she had felt on Wanda and Y/N, it was familiar yet different. She had felt it when she first fell upon that universe, the twins had carried with them a strange kind of energy that seemed to engulf the best of Wanda and Y/N.

America closed her eyes and, without thinking to much, she followed the familiarity of that energy. Her mind bringing over the memories of her time in that land, finally easing out her fears and trusting in the women she had surrounding her.

The young woman clenched her fist, and with a single punch she opened the star-shaped portal.

All of them were ready to go home.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

#fanfic #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff #wandaxreader #female reader #imagine wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x female reader

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swarvey · 5 months ago

Text

paper rings | harvey x f!reader

summary -> you convince harvey to go in the maze with you; harvey has some trouble sleeping. warnings -> not nsfw: mention of shane's cliff scene | nsfw! mdni. p in v, oral sex (reader receives), reader and harvey share a drink before wc -> 5025

a/n: i swear this chapter just. wrote itself. i think i blacked out writing half of it but i hoped y'all enjoy!!!, if there is any chapter where i recommend you to listen to the song in the title, it's this one!!! pls <333

also i'd love to hear where you guys think this is going heh

ch. 7 | ch. 8 | ch. 9

paper rings masterlist

chapter eight: i can see you -> "but what would you do if i went to touch you now?"

Harvey wouldn’t necessarily say he was a terrible sleeper.

Sure, he had his nights where the blankets wouldn’t feel quite right and the pillows refused to agree with him, but even then, he would typically fall asleep one way or another. Eight hours of undisturbed sleep was always his goal, and a couple of cups of coffee throughout the day would never fail to give him the push he needed. Although he used to be quite the night owl during his time at university — to the point where he had a regular rotation of energy drinks in his fridge — Harvey found he now preferred waking up early and having a slow start to his day.

That night, though, the clock struck an hour he hadn’t encountered in years.

3:43 A.M.

He knew it was going to hurt him throughout the next day, especially when he would inevitably have to open up the clinic and prepare for any patients. He knew it was unlike him, that logically, he should be reaching for his bottle of melatonin and taking a couple of pills to lull him to his dreams. He knew, of course, he knew, he was a doctor — he’d heard all of it throughout med school, how essential sleep was in everyone’s daily routine.

But how could he?

How could he allow his worn, blurry eyes to close and sink into the exhaustion weighing down his body, when you were fast asleep beside him?

It was wrong. Everything about the situation was completely and utterly wrong.

First off, he was absolutely not supposed to be in his bed, watching you peacefully doze with the blankets half-covering you. He resisted his urge to scoop you up into his arms and pretend the scene was normal.

Secondly, your clothes were not on your body, but instead were scattered across the bedroom. Harvey could feel your bare back just barely grazing his arm with every breath you took. As he glanced to the floor on his side of the bed, he could vaguely make out the shape of your bra, blushing at the memory that tagged along with it.

Thirdly, he should be asleep — he should have been asleep hours ago.

Yet, there he was, contemplating what choices had led him there in the first place.

A few hours earlier

“Harvey,” you said, crossing your arms and giving your best friend a deathly stare, “stop being such a baby.”

“Y/N, you of all people know I have never been fond of Spirit’s Eve,” he reasoned, holding his hands out in defense. “I am not stepping foot in that maze again. I refuse.”

Suddenly, you felt as if you were ten again, scowling before dragging Harvey off your farm. Your pet looked at you and wagged its tail as you bolted past it, tilting its head at the man who was begrudgingly letting you take him with you. You’d invited him to dinner at your place before the festival as a “treat,” though you really just wanted the opportunity to persuade him. After all those years, though, it seemed your friend was still the same ball of anxiety he’d always been.

“Please, I even tried doing it by myself last year, I couldn’t make it past the first turn. I’ll do anything else!” Harvey all but begged, and you glanced back at him with a skeptical stare. “I swear.”

You paused your steps, the cold, Fall air blowing on the back of your neck. “Really?” you asked, thinking of ways you could test his promise. “Anything?”

“Anything.”

Kiss me.

“Come to the mines with me.”

“What?! Absolutely not! I’ve treated the wounds you’ve gotten from that place — after countless reminders to be careful, mind you,” he chastised, and a smile twitched on your lips at the sight of his concern. “I wouldn’t last five minutes!”

“Exactly,” you responded bluntly. “But I bet you’d make it at least five minutes in the maze.”

He frowned, and when he didn’t reply, you decided you had to pull out your ultimatum.

Sighing, you turned around and forced yourself to hold back a grin at the sound of Harvey’s knowing groan.

“Oh, not this, Y/N, you can’t pull this again—”

“It’s fine!” you interrupted, beginning to walk away from him. “It’s totally fine, Harvs. I’ll just go in there, alone.”

“Please, this trick has worked on me enough in the past, but I won’t budge this time around.” Sure. As if you couldn’t already hear his determination wavering.

You shrugged. “Alright. Hopefully I’ll have fun in there, all by myself.” You stopped, turning your head slightly so you could emphasize your voice. “Without my closest friend. Who I haven’t gone to this festival with in years.”

You could practically see his defense crumble, closing your eyes and smiling triumphantly as he defeatedly walked up to you. “Fine,” Harvey sighed, and you peeked with one eye to see him shaking his head. “Let’s go.”

“Yes,” you laughed, grabbing his arm once more and excitedly heading to the festival you’d waited all year for.

As a kid, you had always loved Spirit’s Eve — the music, the food, the costumes, and, most importantly, the maze. You didn’t get to experience it too often, since you usually had to head back home by that time of the season, but when you did, it’d been some of the most fun you’d ever had. Before getting to know Harvey too well, your grandfather took you through the maze every year, keeping your hand tightly in his as he calmly took the lead. Whenever you flinched or shied away in fear, he would stop and reassure you. You still remembered how he’d kneel in front of you, meeting your teary, wide eyes with his own loving gaze.

“You don’t have to be scared, kiddo,” he said, patting your shoulder. “Your grandpa’s here to protect you. Besides, soon enough, you’ll be strong enough where you’ll need to protect me!”

He never failed to get a laugh out of you, no matter the place or time. It was back then you’d decided you would always try to be brave, and before you knew it, you were tackling the maze all by yourself, walking out triumphantly with the treasure in hand each time.

That is, until you met Harvey, and your visits to your favorite attraction were put on hold.

You couldn’t really complain, not when it meant you got to do arts and crafts with him at the kids’ table instead.

At your age, though, Harvey wasn’t allowed to have any more excuses. As the two of you entered the plaza, you were prepared to head straight to the maze, making a beeline for it when—

“Oof!”

“Oh my, I must apologize!”

You recognized the overly formal voice almost immediately, rubbing your forehead as you looked up at Elliott’s apologetic face.

“Are you alright?” he asked rapidly, grabbing your shoulders and checking you up and down. “I hope I didn’t startle you too much, especially on this already frightening night! Ah, Harvey, you are of medical expertise. Please, check our dear farmer and make sure she’s fine.”

“Elliott, please,” you laughed, shrugged off his hands, and nudged his arm. “It was an accident.”

“And she’s survived worse things,” Harvey chimed in. “I see you’ve already begun to enjoy the pumpkin ale?”

“What?” the poet questioned, running a hand through his silky hair. “Just what makes you think that, my friend?”

“Hey, if it isn’t the doc!” Shane seemed to answer his question for him, his voice a little too bright to be sober as he walked over beside Elliott. He perked a brow at you. “And he brought the farmer, too. Shocker.”

“Hello to you, too, Shane,” you greeted, noting the half-empty glass of ale in his hand. “You going to behave tonight?”

He huffed, offering the rest of his drink to you. You gladly took it, taking a sip and relishing in the delicious hint of sweet pumpkin. “You’re just a damn ray of sunshine, aren’t you?”

You gave Shane a satisfied smile as he shoved his hands in his pockets, the three of you listening to whatever ghost story Elliott was blabbering on about. All jokes aside, you had been a bit worried about Harvey’s friend. You’d known for a while he had a drinking problem, even sitting with him on the dock one night to have a few drinks with him, but never knew the extent to its severity until you found him beside a cliff one stormy day.

Since then, you made sure to check in on him once in a while and drop off a basket of peppers at Marnie’s whenever you got the chance. Your acts seemed to pay off, as the once cold man seemed to have finally warmed up to you, and as much as you despised the company he worked for, Shane proved to be a good friend. You knew him as much more than the town drunk, but as the pepper popper-loving, chicken caretaker who cherished those close to him.

Which is why you didn’t miss the curious glance he gave Harvey, to which the doctor quickly looked away and flushed pink.

Huh. Interesting.

“Some say, to this day, if you enter the Cindersnap Forest past midnight, you’ll—”

“There she is. We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” You sighed out of relief at the sound of Haley’s familiar tone, practically melting into her as she grasped your arm. “Ugh, is he telling you the story about the woods, or whatever?”

Elliott gasped in offense. “Haley, I assure you, the story has much more meaning behind it than that.”

Before he could go on, Leah poked his arm, sparing the group of another tangent. “That’s enough, El,” she said amusedly. “Come on, weren’t we headed to the maze?”

“I thought you’d never ask!” You surged forward, gesturing for everyone to follow. “You promised, Harvey!” you called out, and the look you threw at him dared him to run away.

You heard him begin to protest once again, but he was cut off by a much louder, enthusiastic voice.

“Are you guys going into the maze, too?” You turned to meet Alex, accompanied by Sam’s bright grin. “You’re not scared, are you, farmer?” he taunted, leaning forward so his eyes were right in front of yours.

“Me?” You pressed a hand to your chest, looking back at him in shock. “Of all people? No way.”

The jock shrugged and backed off, flashing you a confident smile. “Whatever you say. If you need a bodyguard, you know who to call.” With that, he and his friend walked into the entrance, bumping into each other’s shoulders as they joked around.

Haley scoffed. “What an idiot. You could definitely kick his ass.” Leah laughed, and you noticed the soft smile that sat on the blonde’s lips at the sound. Who would’ve thought? Suddenly, you felt like you were third-wheeling.

Thankfully, Harvey came to your rescue, marching in front of the three of you with a renewed passion in his step. He looked over his shoulder, and you almost didn’t recognize the look in his eyes.

“Well?” he asked persistently. “Are we going?”

Harvey knew he was being painfully obvious at that point. He also knew Alex didn’t have bad intentions at all, that, if anything, the two of them had a common goal: to keep you safe.

He’d be lying if he said he cared, though.

If you’d told him a year ago he would be leading a group of people into the maze he’d feared pretty much his entire life, he would call you a liar. If you added in the fact he was doing it to impress you, he would tell you to set up an appointment with him so he could check your head. Yet, there he was, egging you and everyone else on to get their asses in the attraction already so he could prove you didn’t need some gridball player to protect you.

The second he stepped foot through the entrance, though, Harvey seriously questioned if it was worth it.

He never liked scary things — he was an awful person to watch horror movies with, and he had always been easy to startle, as you liked to prove time and time again. He didn’t really see a point in them. Why would he want to be terrified, when he could relax and enjoy himself instead? Logically, there was no real appeal to be scared.

Although, it seemed all logic was out the door, seeing that he’d already zoned out and gotten lost.

Fuck.

You’d been right there moments before, he swore on it. As Harvey frantically looked around him, though, he found he was alone, surrounded by the thick brush of the maze’s walls and chilling noises that gave him goosebumps. Sometimes, he truly questioned how he’d earned a college degree and even passed medical school with a brain like his. It seemed to stop working every time you were in the picture. I am an unbelievable idiot.

“Harvey?”

He blinked. He wasn’t being tricked, was he?

“Harvey, is that you?”

As the voice grew closer, Harvey realized it was not, in fact, a trick, and that he recognized the figure in front of him.

“Maru,” he breathed, shoulders slumping in relief. “God, I’m so relieved.”

She laughed at his reaction, and Harvey faintly remembered a time when his heart would have pounded at the sound. That was in the past, though, when he’d first moved to the Valley.

When he thought you had slipped from his grasp.

“What are you even doing here?” she asked. “I thought you hated this place.”

“Yes, well, uh, Y/N has always enjoyed it, so I thought I would give it another go.”

She glanced around them. “So, you came here with Y/N?”

“Yes, along with Leah and Haley.”

“Uh-huh. And just how did you get this lost?”

He sighed. “You tell me. Mazes have never really been my forte.”

She laughed again as she walked in front of him, gesturing for him to follow with a wave. “Come on, we’ll find them together.”

“Thank you, Maru.”

“Anytime, Harvey.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they trekked on, both listening for any familiar voices. Harvey had to admit, he felt much better with Maru there; her confidence as she walked reminded him of you. He couldn’t help but notice, though, the odd look in her eye, as if she were thinking something he didn’t quite understand.

“Are you alright?” he asked, slowing his pace. “You look a bit bothered.”

She didn’t reply right away, but paused her steps to look at him. “You . . . really like the farmer, don’t you?”

Oh, no. “Wh-What? I mean, of course I do, we’ve known each other for such a long time—”

“You know what I mean, Harvey.” There was no hostility in her tone, no bite. If anything, she sounded amused. “I think everyone’s seen it except you two.”

“I—” He paused. What was the point? “I suppose you��re right,” he admitted.

“Well,” Maru started, placing her hands on her hips, “you better treat her properly, okay? Honestly, if you felt that way, you should have asked her out in the Spring! What’s with all this dodging around and pretending you don’t feel it? Before you know it, it might be too late.”

There was an edge to her tone with those words, but Harvey didn’t have time to process it, distracted by the large shadow approaching them. Instinctively, he grabbed Maru and pushed her behind him, his own fear making his heart feel as if it were about to fly out of his chest.

“Is that you, Harvs?” At the sound of your voice, he could have cried in relief. “Seriously, how can someone get lost so quickly?”

You walked up to him with your two friends by your side, immediately eyeing the hand he had wrapped around Maru’s wrist. He dropped it, grateful the darkness hid his embarrassed face.

“I guess I got a bit ahead of myself,” he said, clearing his throat. Haley was glaring daggers into his skull. “Sorry for worrying you.”

You shook your head, sighing. “I mean, weren’t you the one who was terrified of coming in here in the first place? What’s gotten into you?”

“Actually,” Maru interrupted, stepping out from behind him, “Harvey was just talking about how he isn’t feeling very well.”

You perked a brow at him. “Really? Please don’t tell me you’re going to throw up in here, again.”

Harvey side-eyed Maru quickly — who refused to meet his glance — before nodding. “I am feeling a bit nauseous,” he agreed, and honestly, it wasn’t a complete lie. He was sure one more scare would cause the dinner you made him to end up on the side of the path.

“Gross,” Haley commented, taking Leah’s hand and continuing on with her. “I am not sticking around to deal with that. Come on, Maru.”

“Wait, where are you—”

“Drop him off, Y/N! Come find us when he isn’t about to yack all over the maze.”

Harvey gave you a sheepish smile as you gave him an exasperated look. “Come on, then, you big baby,” you said, though he managed to catch the smile that took over your scowl. “Let’s get you home.”

The walk back was somehow worse than he remembered. Harvey swore the route changed every turn, but you seemed to walk confidently through each pathway. He had always admired how level-headed you were in such tense environments, unable to fathom how you were able to tackle such places like the mines or the woods at night. Then again, you’d always been the braver one.

“You know where we’re going, right?” he questioned, just to make sure.

“Oh, I have no idea,” you replied, a bit too relaxed for his liking. “We’ll figure it out.”

“What?!”

Snap!

Harvey let out a shout and jumped. Despite his antics, his arm still shot out in front of you protectively, and you immediately began looking around to find the source of the sound.

Suddenly, the path wasn’t dark anymore.

A glowing, blue light filled Harvey’s eyes, and it took a moment for him to adjust to the brightness before he saw what was in front of him.

There it was. The blue spirit he’d seen under your steps the day you moved in.

“Blue? What are you doing here?” you asked it casually, pushing his arm down and kneeling to greet the small figure. “You nearly gave him a heart attack, you know.” You nodded your head towards him, and the Junimo directed a small squeak upwards in apology.

“You . . . you’re friends with a Junimo?” he clarified incredulously. He dropped down beside you and stuck his hand out, eyes widening as it touched his finger.

You smiled. “Harvey, this is Blueberry. Blueberry, Harvey.”

“You’re friends with a Junimo,” Harvey softly repeated, looking at you in awe. “You never cease to amaze me, truly.”

You didn’t respond, instead keeping your eyes on the spirit. “Care to show us the way out?” After letting out a responsive squeak, Blueberry turned around and began to light the way.

As the two of you followed your tiny friend, Harvey couldn’t help but keep track of each time his hand brushed against yours and the way your eyes kept darting over to his. The entire situation was tempting him; you, in the dark, alone with him. A scenario filled his head before he could even register what he was thinking — images of you, your back up against the hedges as he pressed his lips into your neck, his arms wrapped around you as you cried out his name, over and over as he took off your top—

“Hey, is that it?”

Harvey’s thoughts were cut short by your voice, looking down to realize Blueberry was no longer there. Looking into the distance, though, he could see the light of the entrance, the sound of people talking and kids laughing flooding his ears. He let out a deep breath he didn’t realize he was holding, gladly matching your quick pace out of the cursed place.

“Finally,” he breathed. Harvey had never been more glad to see Pelican Town’s bustling plaza. “I thought we’d never make it out.” An exaggeration, sure, but it was the only way he could express his feelings.

You scoffed lightly, patting his back. “Please, stop being so dramatic. You owe me, by the way. I totally would have gotten the treasure by now if it weren’t for you.”

He paused. His fantasy still lingered on his mind, and for once, just once, Harvey decided to be a little impulsive.

“How about a glass of wine, then?” he offered, trying his best to look at you as naturally as possible. “I ordered a new one from a winery and it just came in, unopened. I think you’ll like it.”

You hummed in thought, then nodded. “I think that’ll do,” you replied nonchalantly. Was that a hint of pink in your cheeks? “Just a glass, though?”

He chuckled, then began to walk towards the clinic. It’s just a drink, that’s all. Nothing more. We’ve drank together before. This is normal.

“However many you’d like, Y/N.”

Maybe his answer should have been different, more precise.

Maybe, if he’d forced himself to have more self-control, he would have walked you home after the two of you finished the entire bottle.

Maybe then, he wouldn’t be spilling the rest of your drink onto your shirt as he kissed you, absentmindedly grabbing the glass and setting it on the coffee table as he pressed you into the couch, lost in the flavor of the wine mixed onto your lips.

“Harvey,” you gasped out, your hand grasping his hair as he lived his fantasy and moved down to your neck, sucking on a spot that made you moan as he hummed into your skin. “God, fuck, Harvey, please.”

The buzz of the alcohol gave Harvey the courage he needed to slip his hands under your shirt, working his way up your sides before grazing over your breasts through your bra. He made quick riddance of your top, throwing it somewhere he couldn’t care for as he finally lifted his head to take in the sight he’d been longing to see.

You were more gorgeous than he’d imagined, especially with your stained red lips and flushed face.

“You’re gorgeous,” he said out loud, voice slightly out of breath and rough.

“So are you,” you replied, sitting up and pressing a quick kiss to his lips as you stood, “and we are not doing this on the couch.” He couldn’t have agreed more.

Seeing you lay on his bed was something Harvey never thought he would actually get to witness, making him all the more committed to making you feel pleasure you’d never experienced before as he unclasped your bra. He managed to stir a couple more beautiful sounds out of you as he dragged his thumb over your nipple, pinching it lightly between his fingers. Then, you gently pushed his chest away and began unbuttoning his shirt, tossing it off the bed.

This is happening. This is actually happening.

Suddenly impatient, Harvey licked into your lips again as he pushed down your pants and kicked them away. He slipped his fingers over your underwear and groaned at the wetness he was already met with.

“I think these can go, too,” you suggested, tugging at his belt loops.

He laughed, a giddy feeling he hadn’t felt before filling his chest. “Yes, ma’am.” Just like that, he found himself naked in front of you, his hard member hitting his stomach as he knelt at the foot of the bed and dragged you forward. A smile lingered on his face at the sound of your laugh, though it quickly melted into a whine as he spread your legs and licked up your thigh. He knew it was mean; he could see how needy you were, how much you wanted more, but he desperately wanted to bring you as close to the edge as he could before he fully indulged you.

Harvey continued his movements, slowly moving further up before he finally reached the place you’d been begging him to touch, closing his lips around your clit. Your legs, thrown around his shoulders, tightened around him at the feeling of his unrelenting mouth. His arms locked around your knees to keep you in place as he stuck his tongue into you, using your loud cries as encouragement.

“Yes,” you moaned, hand grasping the sheets beneath you tightly. He groaned into you as he licked into your soaking entrance, bringing a hand up so he could sink a finger into you. “Fuck, yes, just like that.”

“God, you taste perfect,” he gasped out, watching your reaction as he worked his hand. You squirmed at his movements, eyes shut and mouth open in a silent cry. Wordlessly, he added another finger. “You look so pretty for me, honey.”

Your eyes opened at that, meeting his gaze with a look he was sure would be engraved into his head for the rest of his life. “Say it again.”

“You,” he bent down again, his lips grazing over your pulsing heat, “are beautiful.” His mouth joined his fingers, persistent on your clit as his fingers pressed into a spot that made you cry out. Your hand reached down and dug into his hair, pushing him closer to you as you came.

After a few moments, Harvey slipped his fingers out of you and wiped your slick off his chin with the back of his hand, getting back up on the bed to meet your lips. His cock was practically begging for release, sensitive to the touch as it grazed against your lower half. He moaned into you, breaking away only to rummage into the nightstand drawer beside his bed for a condom.

“I need you,” you panted, and it only encouraged him further to quickly rip the packaging and pull the condom on. “C’mon, hurry.” Your legs found themselves around his torso as he let out a breath of laughter.

“You never were the most patient, were you?”

Before you could retort, he pressed the head of his cock into you, both of you gasping at the motion. God, you were tighter than he’d ever imagined, and so warm. He swore you were made for him and him only, watching as you seemed to suck him in. Harvey’s eyes closed when he bottomed out, opening to see you teary-eyed and biting your bottom lip. His heart skipped a beat — had he been too rough?

He stopped. “Are you alright?” he asked, voice threaded with worry and guilt. He pulled out slowly, biting back a moan at how good it felt to move. “We can stop, I’m sorry—”

Your legs drew him back in with a force that made him lurch forward and grab the headboard for balance, and upon looking down at your face, Harvey realized he had never quite seen you that angry before. He swallowed nervously.

“Harvey,” you gritted out, “I swear, if you stop again, you won’t be seeing the light of day tomorrow.”

Part of him wanted to test your threat, but he decided to save it for another time, focusing instead on how inviting it was to sink back into you. His brow was knitted in pleasure as he started to move, his hips moving at a steady rate as they met yours. You moaned at the feeling as he leaned down to kiss you.

“Fuck, sweetheart, you feel so good,” he groaned, picking up his pace. “Can you hear yourself? Hear how good you are for me?” You nodded, attempting to hide your eyes behind your arm as the sound of him pounding into you filled the air. He quickly moved it and met your eyes which were hazy with pleasure.

“Harder,” you breathed out.

When had Harvey ever said no to you?

He lifted your knees and pressed them to your chest as he found a new rhythm, caging your body in between his arms as his thrusts became deeper. Then, he moved an arm down to massage your clit with his thumb, managing a half-smile at the loud reaction it elicited from you.

“Fuck, there!” you cried, your hands flying to his back and no doubt leaving marks — not that he was complaining. “Right there!”

“There you go, honey, come on—”

“Harvey—!”

You let out a wordless cry as you tightened around him, and Harvey was sure he had never felt so good in his entire life. He could feel your release wet the inside of your thighs. His thrusts became long and deep as he finished shortly after, a low moan escaping his lips as he came. He stilled inside of you as you both panted, sweat dripping down his face.

Harvey winced as he pulled out, mindlessly tying off the condom and throwing it in the trash beside his bed. He managed to find his pants in the darkness of the room and put them on before walking over to the kitchen for water.

“Are you alright?” he asked, handing you the cup.

“Never been better,” you mumbled tiredly, gladly taking a few sips before setting it aside.

“You sure? Do you need anything?”

“Stop worrying, Harvs, just go to bed.”

He smiled, grabbing the sheets from the bottom of the bed and dragging them over you. “I’m guessing you won’t be making it back to the farm tonight, then?” Harvey questioned, though he didn’t get a response. Your eyes were already shut. He wasn’t surprised — the mixture of wine and sex was getting to him, too, a wave of exhaustion beginning to hit him.

As soon as his head hit his pillow, though, realization set in, and thus began his sleepless night.

There he was; half-naked with you beside him in bed, and no clue how to approach you in the morning.

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azrielslightintheshadows · 1 year ago

Text

Princess

Azriel x f!Reader

One of the series I’m currently working on. Enjoy!

Summary; Reader is Mor’s new friend that she found in the winter court while she was away for business. Y/n has been raised as a princess since her parents wanted to wed her to a noble fae in order to climb the social ranks. When her parents are brutally murdered y/n is left alone without a clue about the harsh reality or the brutality of the world. Mor finds her and takes her back to Velaris afraid of what might happen to her if she was left to live on her own. Will y/n survive the hate she will receive from certain members of the inner circle -including her mate- regarding the way she grew up?

Warnings; angst, mentions of abuse, trauma and death, swearing

Masterlist.

Princess Masterlist.

Chapter 9

“He really said that?” Aeden gaped at you, and you nodded before grabbing your glass and gulping down the wine.

“Why did that bitch tell him?” He exclaimed.

“Don’t call her that!” you gasped “They all consider each other family I was stupid for telling her”.

“I guess you’re right…” he hummed “I can’t understand what’s his problem”.

“That makes two of us” you sighed and poured more wine in your glass. “What are you planning to do?” he asked.

“Hide here for as long as I can and keep training by myself. At some point I must return there, I don’t want to offend the High Lord and his hospitality. But when I return, I want to be stronger, to be able to fight for myself.” You explained and he nodded with a proud smile.

“If you need a sparring partner I can ask Clover, he has fought in two wars”.

“Thank you” You smiled and moved closer to the fireplace but froze when you saw a shadow slithering by the window.

“Shit” you breathed and hid behind the couch.

“What?” Aeden glanced around.

“Shadows” you whispered “Window.”

Aeden got up slowly and approached the window leaving a gasp as soon as he peeked outside.

“What?” you scream-whispered.

“They’re everywhere, you can’t even see the street. Oh shit the sky too” he exclaimed wide-eyed.

“I’m screwed, he will find me” you whined a bit louder.

Aeden shushed you and you slapped your hand over your mouth and nose trying to stay as quiet as you could. The adamant wall around your side of the bond was still intact but you could feel Azriel trying to claw his way through.

“When I tell you ‘now’ I want you to run and hide in the closet” Aeden said.

You hummed and waited, staring at the bedroom door.

“Now!”

You got up and ran like your life depended on it, you opened the closet and jumped inside slamming the door shut and controlling your breathing. You could hear Aeden running around, tidying up the place and spraying his perfume. Suddenly the door opened, and he gave you a pleading look.

“No matter what you hear don’t come out. If you care about my life don’t do it.” He said breathlessly and stared into your eyes.

“Why?” you asked.

“When you said ‘he will find me’ some shadows pounced on my window, I think they heard you but even if they didn’t, they saw me and I know that the shadowsinger will come here.” He explained. “Even if he starts beating me don’t come out. If he finds you here I’m dead.”

“I’m so sorry” you teared up and he smiled softly.

“It’s okay dollface that’s what friends are for”.

He closed the door again and left.

Your whole body trembled, and you sat down pulling some of his clothes on you to cover your scent.

Suddenly a crushing noise filled the silence and you flinched.

“Where is she?” Azriel’s deep and raspy voice boomed through the small apartment.

“What the fuck?” Aeden shouted “Who?”

“Don’t play games with me blondie!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, if you explain I might be able to help” Aeden snorted.

“Where the fuck is y/n?” Azriel growled. “In the house of wind? That’s where she usually is” you knew that he had furrowed his eyebrows.

The door of the closet cracked open, and a shadow slipped in, caressing your cheek and slithering back out.

“No come here”. You pleaded and almost gasped when it did.

“Please don’t say anything! I just need some time to think. I will come back when I’m ready.” You whispered and the shadow darted out.

You were on the verge of tears until you heard Azriel.

“If she comes, please tell her that I only want to talk with her. I won’t force her to come back.”

It didn't tell him. You thought. “Of course.” Aeden said.

You heard the door close and started removing the clothes.

“You can come out” Aeden said and knocked on the door.

You exited and started fixing his stuff.

“Thank you so much.” You spoke.

“I didn’t do anything and to be honest I’m surprised he didn’t beat the fucking shit out of me” he chuckled.

You opened your mouth to speak but quickly shut it when you noticed a shadow slipping through the door.

“Oh shit” Aeden cursed but you shook your head, for some reason you knew it was the one that found you in the closet. It approached you and climbed your body to rest on your shoulder and tickle you behind your ear.

You giggled and whispered “You’ll stay with me?”.

It caressed your cheek as if to say yes.

“That thing is your friend now?” Aeden exclaimed and you nodded. "I don’t think they allow pets in here. What does it eat?”

“It’s a shadow” you quirked your brow.

Tell him that I eat souls. A cold voice rang through your mind, and you flinched, the shadow seemed to freak out as well as it floated away.

“WHAT? Did it bite you?” Your friend freaked out. “No it informed me that it eats souls” you snorted.

“It eats WHAT?” Aeden took a few steps back almost tripping over the couch.

“Oh come on it’s a shadow don’t freak out.”

“You better keep this away from me.”

“Okay” you sighed and sat on the couch with the shadow on your shoulder again.

You can hear me?

“Yes” you said.

But you’re not a shadowsinger.

“I know… Azriel is my mate though.” You shrugged.

I’m here to protect you.

“I know”

“Are you having a conversation with it?” Aeden asked and the shadow hissed.

“Yup and it doesn’t like you” you stuck your tongue out to him, and he made a vulgar gesture.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

“I can’t fucking find her Rhys” Azriel paced in Rhysand’s office “What if someone took her?”

“We’re in Velaris Az.” The High Lord rolled his eyes.

“That didn’t stop Hybern’s army. What if the Illyrians took her? They are still bitter about letting the women train. That bartender used to hang out with some Illyrians during the war and his brother fought by their side if I remember correctly, maybe he told them about her and they took her.” Rhysand had never heard his brother talk so much.

“Okay you can search the camps, do you want me or Cassian to come with you?” he sighed.

“No I’m good.” The shadowsinger exited the office with a determined expression and Rhysand pinched the bridge of his nose.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Three days passed, Aeden took care of you, and you managed to work on your fighting and self-esteem. You were stronger than before, you could take your own decisions and talk back but still there were some moments that you hesitated. You knew that you had to work harder but it didn’t stop you from celebrating the small victories. Azriel was on your mind constantly and you blamed it on the bond, and the shadow who was constantly by your side.

Aeden came back from the store, his face was pale and his hands were shaking.

“What happened?” You gasped and hurried to grab the bags from him.

“Someone burned down five Illyrian camps, we don’t know who.” He said and sat on the couch.

“What? How do you know?”

“Me and my brother have some friends there….” He rubbed his face.

“Who could do something like that?” your breath hitched at the thought.

“We don’t know yet. Y/n you have to go back and ask the High Lord to do something… please.” Aeden looked devastated and your heart ached. You didn’t want to go back but your friend needed you and you couldn’t say no, not after everything he did for you.

“Okay, I will.”

“I’m sorry for asking you to do this but…”

“It’s okay” you smiled and gathered your few stuff. You hugged him goodbye and left.

For the first time the streets weren’t busy.

They probably heard about the camps. The shadow whispered and you nodded.

“There’s the shadowsinger’s whore” a deep voice sounded from behind you. You span around and were met with the sight of two huge illyrians and Clover. The shadow floated in front of you and hissed at them.

“Well maybe we should burn her like he did with our camps” the other one smiled and Clover nodded.

“Clover…” you whispered.

“Your mate murdered my friends” he gritted his teeth.

“Please…” you whispered again and took a few steps back.

“No one can help you” the tallest one said and pounced on you. You dodged him with a grunt and elbowed his side.

“You whore” he snarled and the other one ran towards you, the shadow covered his eyes buying you some time to punch him.

“Come here” Clover screamed and grabbed you from behind. Your body moved on its own, all the advises Cassian gave you rang in your mind and you hit his nose with the back of your head, his grip loosened and you kicked his crotch before running away.

“You’re not going anywhere” the first one growled and hit your head with the handle of his sword. You saw the shadow splitting in half, one part darting away and the other slipping in your shirt before passing out.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

You smelled oil and suddenly an excruciating pain, you screamed and opened your eyes. Horror, your blood froze as you watched your hands burning, the flames wild and angry. You watched the shadow frantically patting the flames trying to extinguish them. Someone poured water on your hands and then patted them with a blanket. “Good you’re awake” he smiled wickedly.

“Now they will match” another one spoke, and you watched your flesh coming off and landing on the floor in front of you. You were tied on a chair with your hands stretched in front of you with chains keeping them steady.

“He burned five of our camps.” The first one said.

“Yeah, I guess we have to burn more of her to call us even” the other snorted and moved closer with the bottle of oil.

"Please find me" you whispered and opened your side of the bond.

If I forgot to tag someone please let me know <3

@glitterypirateduck, @zara-aliza08, @mika-no-sekai-blog , @purpleshoelaces , @act1839 , @fasoaurore , @pinksmellslikelove, @bunnyredgirl, @lectoracronica , @tuggboatfishin, @sunnysideup000 , @blessthepizzaman,, @raisinggray, @ssmay123 , @kalulakunundrum, @justasillylittlegoofyguy , @tsunami-of-tears, @just-a-social-casualty-1, @thelov3lybookworm , @saltedcoffeescotch, @justdreamstars, @strangersunghoon , @sosuitcandy , @cat-or-kitten , @ohthemisssery , @starsinyourseyes

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georgeclarkewifey · 6 months ago

Text

Inconvenience | g.clarke

Chapter 4: Tough Day

Summary: The boys try and help Noa with a new project

Word Count: 1.2k+

Warnings: swearing, George being a dick (again)

Roughly a week or so had passed since Noa moved into her new apartment, and her hopes that George would warm up to her hadn’t been achieved yet.

Even though she spent most evenings with the boys, he would still only talk to her if the others were there, and whenever he could he avoided her at all costs.

It was beginning to bother Noa. She couldn’t understand why he was acting this way towards her, and after thorough discussions with his other roommates, they confirmed that she hadn’t done or said anything to cause this behaviour.

Luckily, Arthur Hill and her got on like a house on fire, and being one of the better housemates at DIY, he aided in building most of her new furniture whenever he wasn’t recording a video or working on his new song.

“So when’s it coming out? I feel as if I can only listen to the same sound bite before I go crazy.” Noa said, glancing up from her laptop to look at Arthur, who was sitting on her kitchen counter.

“Should be done in a couple of weeks, just trying to iron out the wrinkles and sort the bridge out.” He replied, taking a long swig of tea out of the mug that she had leant him. “What are you working on? I feel as I can hear your brain whirring.”

Noa grumbled and massaged her temples. It was moments like these that she wished she had an influencer job, with complete creative freedom and a flexible schedule, instead of her gruelling 9-6. “Trying to find as many different types of ancient column design as possible. Well, not too ancient because the clients want their building to look modern enough.”

Arthur gave her a sympathetic look. “You really are bottom of the food chain in your firm aren’t you?”

“Yep. That’s what you get when you’re the new kid, all the tasks that no one else wants.”

“But at least you’re not having to make coffee and do paperwork right?” He asked hopefully.

Noa raised her eyebrows at him. “Why do you think I’m having to do this at home, and not in the office.”

“Ah.”

“Ah indeed.” She muttered, scrolling through another page of Grecian inspired pillars. “Honestly, sometimes rich people have too much money to spend. I mean, who needs a foyer with the three types of alternating pillars, that match the fountains? Do you know how expensive that is Arthur?”

He winced. “I’m guessing a lot.”

“Correct.”

“Noa!” Chris yelled, swinging the door open. “You, me, George and the two Arthurs and the club. Yes?”

“Chris, it’s a Thursday night.”

“Exactly! Thursday night, do you have anything better to do?”

Noa blinked at him. “Be up in the morning with ample amount of sleep ready for work?”

“God I forget you have a boring actual job.”

“Someone has to remind you guys there’s an actual world out there.” She muttered, typing quickly on her computer, eyes widening as her stomach let out a low growl.

Chris and Arthur slowly turned their heads to look at her. “Okay, new plan. Order takeout and watch a movie?”

“I could be up for that.” She said quietly, absentmindedly chewing on the end of her pen, before going to jot down some notes. “Just need to finish working.”

Chris’ eyebrows raised. “And when will that be?”

“Before the end of time.” Noa said. “Or at least I hope so. I’ve gotta figure out the best combination of these pillars and then I’ll be done.”

“And how many combinations are there?”

“Well there’s eight main types, but then there’s different patterns within those. I might have actually lost count.”

Chris moved so that he could peer over Noa’s shoulder, and winced at the number of tabs open she had on her computer, as well as the scribbles that adorned her notebook.

“Gonna be honest. I’ve got no clue at what looks good. But I believe in you Noa, if anyone could figure it out it’s you.” He said reassuringly, patting her head. “Right, Hill let’s order food, at this point in time Noa will probably eat whatever we put in front of her, so what are we feeling up for?”

arthurhill

liked by arthurtv, maxbalegde and 28,039 others

arthurhill everyone drop your favourite pillars and columns to help with Noa’s latest design

Comments open

fan1 everyone knows the correct answer is doric

⮑ fan2 booo temple of winds supremacy

maxbalegde scared and confused at this comment section

⮑ noamurphy they’re all just architecture nerds like me

arthurtv correct answer is ionic

⮑ noamurphy no it isn’t I promise

⮑ arthurtv one day you’ll see

⮑ noamurphy sure. also we’re getting take out if you wanna join

⮑ arthurtv I am running to the elevator

fan3 noa in the ikea vlog is everything 😫🤌🤌🤌

⮑ fan4 she is a divine queen

⮑ fan3 her and George in the bed 🤌🤌

⮑ fan4 nooo that was the most forced and uncomfortable thing I couldn’t with it-

gkbarry_ we stan a hardworking queen

⮑ noamurphy love you boo

⮑ gkbarry_ okay now girlie take a break

“Okay Noa, maybe take Grace’s advice and stop? Surely it would be better to rest up and then be able to finish it when you’re not exhausted?” Chris asked gently, reaching to slide the laptop away from her grip.

Noa glared at him and swatted his hands away. “No Christopher. No.”

Chris gave her a stern look, only looking away when the door slammed open again, revealing Arthur Television in his pyjama trousers and hoodie. “Food, when?”

“The one with the law degree decides to speak like a caveman.” Chris muttered, shaking his head, as a much calmer George walked through the door.

Walking into her apartment, George was hit with the realisation that he’d never been in Noa’s apartment before - she’d always been at theirs, or if Chris and Arthur where heading down he’d give the excuse that he was busy planning videos.

He was pleasantly surprised. Well, he didn’t exactly know what to expect, but it definitely wasn’t a light and airy apartment. Maybe he thought there would be neon lights everywhere, like the ones that adorned Chris’ room or stacks of books like Arthur.

The living room was cosy, and he recognised the two sofas that they had picked out in Ikea, as well as a plush rug, with a coffee table that matched the dining table and chairs. A couple of pictures adorned the walls, a simple beach watercolour as well as some cinematic shots of her playing football with Arthur and Chris.

His brow furrowed. Neither of them mentioned that she played, and since she’d arrived they had filmed a football video for Chris’ channel, but she didn’t take part. Surely if Noa was good enough to warrant her to have photos of her playing, then surely Chris would want that talent in his videos?

George cast his eyes to Noa, who was hunched over her laptop, still trying to finish the designs. Arthur TV sat next to her, and the pair were discussing which column designs worked the best together.

“Maybe that person was onto something bringing temple of winds into the conversation…what if you put them with some Doric pillars, then…” Arthur trailed off, stumped.

“You see? Finding two designs that go together is easy, but a third? A fucking third?” Noa sighed, resting her head on the keyboard.

“How rich are the clients, ie, what’s the budget?”

“Yeah, are they Ronaldo rich, or so rich that you’ve probably never heard of them?” Arthur Hill asked.

“The second one.” She muttered. “Which is why it has to be perfect, because they are paying us a lot.”

Noa sighed and pulled up the designs of the fountains that had been chosen. She studied them meticulously, trying to find a hint that could help her. Even though it was strenuous work, this was one of the reasons that loved designing buildings, once you found all the right pieces, it perfectly fell into place like a puzzle. It was incredibly satisfying, and seeing the final projects always made her heart swell with pride.

But this was really trying her patience. Why couldn’t she figure it out? It didn’t also help that she had a live audience watching her stress over it. “Do you know when the food’s getting here?”

“Should be about five minutes.”

“Thank god.”

“Oh never mind, the guys here.” Chris said, slipping his shoes on, that had been previously abandoned by the door. “Arthur can you help carry it?”

“Sure.” Both of them replied, following Chris out of the door, leaving George alone with Noa.

She was silently cursing the three that had just left, physically wishing all the curses and ailments upon them for leaving her with George. Who, was silently leaning against her kitchen counter.

George didn’t know what to do. Ever since the trip to Ikea he hadn’t been close to Noa again, not that he wanted to, but he wasn’t sure if he should mention it. Why should he? If she hadn’t mentioned it then surely she was fine, right?

Not that he even wanted to talk to her.

George couldn’t fully see into Noa’s room, most is it being blocked by the angle at which he was looking in, and from what he could tell, it was just like the rest of the apartment, except with more decorations. He wasn’t sure why, but he was curious about what was inside, how Noa had organised her bookcase, what perfumes she used, how she kept her jewellery, the way her plans laid out on her sketching desk.

And he didn’t know why.

As far as he was concerned he actively disliked Noa, and so he couldn’t fathom why a part of him was so interested in her, why he wanted to know the little details of her life.

Noa closed her eyes. She was genuinely considering giving up, but she knew she couldn’t. This had to be finished that evening so that it could be sent to her supervisor ready for the next morning. Pushing her chair back, she stood up and paced into her bedroom, unknown to her that George’s eyes followed her every step, hoping that one of her books would provide her with some inspiration.

But it wasn’t any of her architecture books that caught her eye. It was the battered copy of the third Percy Jackson book - it was her favourite of the series, and would read it religiously as a child. Partially, as a child it was her dream to become a Hunter of Artemis, and so she could read the book over and over again without tiring of it.

Somehow, this was the prompt she needed to let the puzzle pieces fall into place. “OH MY GOD!” She exclaimed, sprinting out of her room and skidding on the wooden floor to the table. Noa grinned whilst nearly destroying her keyboard at how quickly she was typing.

“FOOOOD!” Chris called, carrying the plastic bags and setting them down in front of Noa.

“Dude give me two minutes I’ve figured it out.”

“Really?” Arthur TV asked excitedly, pulling the chair next to her out, so he could see what she was working on. “Caryatids? Noa that’s genius! They match the f-“

“Fountains yeah, because they’ve got marble women carved into them, and so they’d match perfectly.”

“Have we ever said you’re a genius?” Chris asked, smiling proudly at her.

“Only when I do genius shit.”

#arthur frederick #arthur hill #chris dixon #chris md #george clarke fics #george clarke imagine #george clarkey #george clarkey x reader #uk youtubers #youtube

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hugmekenobi · 6 months ago

Text

S3: The Bad Batch (9)

Chapter Nine: The Harbinger

Gif by @barissoffee

Hunter x femaleJedi!reader

Series Summary: Ever since Eriadu, Clone Force 99 had been a fractured squad. Months have passed but you're finally back with the Batch but Omega is still out there and you won't stop until you find her again.

Chapter Summary: As you're all awaiting word from Fennec, an unwelcome but familiar face comes to your aid

Masterlist for S1 and S2

<Previous Chapter

Genre: Friends (idiots) to Lovers (we're in the lovers stage now)

Chapter Warnings: Canon-typical violence, swearing, angst (reader and Omega fall out), fluff, limited (y/n), Ventress and reader get into it a bit, brief mention of blood, emotional hurt/comfort, nickname (sweetheart), reader being described as strong cause Hunter can't get enough of that lol, kissing

Word Count: 9K

Author's notes: Yet another chapter that gave me more trouble than I would've liked but I think it came out alright! Yet again @burningfieldof-clover came to my aid and I appreciate it sm! Hope you reader enjoy!

It was an unusually gloomy day by Pabu standards. Fog and dark clouds cast a shadow over the island but that didn’t stop the people from going about their jobs.

“Well, that’s the last of it.” Wrecker said as he lowered the crate for Crosshair to finish transporting into the sailboat. “Go catch something big to eat!” He tossed the fishing line to the fisherwoman.

“You got it, Wrecker.” She replied cheerily. “Thanks for the help, Crosshair.”

Crosshair only acknowledged the thanks with a grunt and toss of his head as he walked off.

Wrecker gave Crosshair’s shoulder a playful slap. “Aw, look at that. You made a new friend.”

“We checked the ship’s comms. Still no word from Fennec.” You said as you and Hunter came down the stairs to join the other two at the docks.

“Since when do we wait around for intel?” Crosshair queried.

You suddenly had one too many horrible flashbacks to your time with Cid.

“Well, she’s the only lead we have. If her contact can tell us what an M-count is besides what we already roughly know, we might figure out why the Empire’s targeting both Omega and you.” Hunter explained with a glance in your direction.

“We already know why they’d be after me. It’s Omega…” You trailed off as you saw the look Hunter was giving you. The two of had gone round and round in this debate since Teth when you’d also appeared on that target register. You maintained the position that you were unrelated to Omega and Hemlock so you shouldn’t be a priority, but Hunter thought that it was too risky to assume that now and so you both needed to be careful.

“Besides, does it matter? We’re not handing them over.” Crosshair said resolutely.

You inclined your head in both thanks and agreement at the sentiment.

“Can’t be prepared if we don’t know what we’re dealing with.” Hunter said before the four of you set off to go find Omega.

“Batcher, wait!” Omega called after the hound as she ran off down the beach, but the dog paid her words no attention.

Omega jogged after her to see her come to a sudden stop and her whines were filled with anxiety. “Batcher? What is it? What’s wrong?” She asked as she gave Batcher some reassuring pats.

Batcher turned towards the dark cave and let out a low growl.

Omega brought out her torch and examined it. “It’s just the cavern. We’ve been in there plenty of times.” But the dog seemed insistent that something was amiss. “Okay, okay, I’ll check it out.”

Omega wandered further into the cavern, and it was then that she came across something very peculiar. “Where did that come from?” She thought aloud as she stared at the unfamiliar ship in the cave. She ran up to give it a closer inspection, but Batcher’s retreating whines made her turn around. “Batcher? Where are you going?” She hissed but a chill ran down her spine as she turned and shone her light on the stranger that appeared.

“Hunter.” Crosshair pointed in the direction of Batcher who came running out in the distance, barking urgently in your direction.

“Where’s Omega?” You voiced worriedly.

The four of you didn’t wait to come up with an answer, instead you ran to meet up with Batcher and you came to a pause as you saw a strange woman dragging Omega out of the cavern.

“I wasn’t doing anything!” Omega grunted as she tried to loosen the stranger’s grip on her. “Let me go!”

“Hey! Let her go!” Wrecker ordered as you all made your way down to the cavern entrance.

“You heard her. Let her go.” Hunter repeated, his voice a low threat.

But you weren’t paying attention to the hold the woman had on Omega.

Instead, you took in her face as she stepped into the light and your heart stopped as you stared at the figure. She may have grown her hair out but there was no mistaking what you saw.

There was no mistaking the disturbance you sensed in the Force.

You recognised that face.

You recognised that raspy, sultry voice.

But what you couldn’t comprehend was the fact that she was actually standing in front of you.

You’d heard word that she’d died.

It may have been a futile gesture because if you could recognise her, she probably recognised you, but you moved your lightsaber out of sight anyway. You didn’t want to give her the temptation and you didn’t want to endanger the others with the confrontation that could unleash.

The figure subtly flicked her eyes over to you but said nothing. It wasn’t the right time yet. Instead, she responded to the clone’s demands. “Gladly.” She released her hold on the child.

Omega dashed over to the four of you.

“You know, for a rogue squad who are trying to lay low, you’re failing spectacularly.” She commented, unimpressed with the group in front of her. “Especially that one.” She looked down at the kid.

“And who are you?” Crosshair asked guardedly.

“Fennec sent me.”

“We never gave her our coordinates. How’d you find us?” Hunter questioned.

“I have my ways. I hear you’ve been asking questions about M-count.” She came closer to you all and crossed her arms. “Very reckless to inquire about such things. It attracts the wrong kind of attention.”

“And why is that?”

“That’s the real question, isn’t it?” She shot back. “First, tell me why you want this information.” But she was met with a firm silence. “Consider it my payment.”

“We already paid Fennec for the intel.” Hunter said.

“Not my problem. Either talk or I go.”

No one talk, no one talk. You begged internally as the others all crossed their arms and stayed quiet.

“It’s for a friend.” Omega said hastily.

It took a lot of willpower to hold back the expletives than ran through your head.

“The Empire’s after her, and she thinks it’s because of some M-count experiment they’re doing.” Omega continued, stumbling slightly over the words. “But we don’t know what that means.” She didn’t divulge what you’d already theorised and dismissed because that could endanger you.

You loved Omega, but fuck did you wish she could be a little better at lying. You then noticed the icy blue ices flit towards you again, but it was so quick, you knew the others hadn’t picked up on it.

“It’s something in the blood. Everyone has it, but at varying levels. Those with a high count, were believed to be more capable of wielding the Force.”

“The Force? You mean Jedi.” Hunter realised. He and Crosshair closed ranks whilst Wrecker put his hands protectively on Omega’s shoulders.

You stayed rooted to the spot, but felt the confused glances being sent your way and no wonder- that had been the one thing you’d ruled out instantly and now it was being suggested again. There was no way you’d been that blind… you couldn’t have been that blind to something like this, could you?

“You’re saying I’m a Jedi?” Omega gasped excitedly before she realised that she’d already given the lie away. Then another type of realisation hit her. She looked over at you only to find you frozen where you were, the only sign of life being the look of alarm on your face. “Wait-”

“Of course not. Your blood doesn’t make you a Jedi. You’d have to be trained for that. And I’ve never known a clone to be Force-sensitive. But clearly, none of you are normal.”

Okay, that was supporting what you’d already said at least.

“You got that right.” Wrecker said proudly.

“The Kaminoans did make millions of you. So I suppose it’s possible. But if you do have a high M-count, consider yourself warned. The Empire will hunt you down.”

Again, those eyes darted between you and Omega.

“There’s your intel.” She finished and turned to walk away.

Omega shrugged out of Wrecker’s hold and darted in front of her. “Wait!”

“Move, child.”

“So is that why the Empire’s been after me?”

“I can’t determine your midi-chlorian levels without testing you.”

“Then test me. I can handle it.” Omega insisted.

Your stomach dropped to your feet and your blood ran cold as you heard those words. “No.” You blurted out.

The others all looked at you in surprise since that was the first time you’d spoken or moved since arriving.

“No. You’re not testing her.” You said again, more forcefully this time and you walked closer to the two of them and placed yourself between her and Omega.

“(Y/N), stop.” Omega tried to get you to move but you weren’t budging.

“You should listen to her, child. The truth is rarely comforting.” The woman stalked off and waited further inside the cave. She already knew the outcome of what was to come.

“Why can’t I get tested?” Omega demanded, her brow furrowing in anger as she looked at you.

“Because she’s dangerous!”

“But she wants to help me!”

“She’s not just anyone, Omega. That’s Asajj Ventress and you’re not going near her!” You said protectively.

The name meant nothing to her, and Omega just shook her head. “Or is it because you don’t want me to be like you too?”

In a way you didn’t because you knew the added danger that would put her in, but you knew that wasn’t what she was implying with those words. You took a step back in shock, “No, Omega, I swear I-”

“You never told me about these tests. I need answers and she’s the only one prepared to give them to me! You could have but didn’t!”

And that very fact was going to haunt you. You looked at her imploringly. “Omega, please-”

“I need to know what I am, and you were never going to let me find out.”

Your throat closed up as you heard the betrayal in her voice. “Omega-” You breathed as you attempted to reach for her, but she stepped away from you.

“No. You had your chance.” With that, Omega and went to stand in front of the woman she now knew as Ventress.

“Just remember, you asked for this.” Ventress said to the young clone.

Hunter tried to catch your shoulder, but you just powered past him.

Stay with Omega and do not let her out of your sight. You said to him as you shoved through the rest of them.

Hunter still found himself torn as he watched you leave. He took a half step in your direction before he paused and turned in the direction of Omega and Ventress.

“I’ll go.” Crosshair offered. “We need to check Tech’s files to see if she’s right and you two should stay here first.”

Hunter nodded his thanks before he and Wrecker followed Omega and Ventress into the cavern.

You anxiously paced up and down the corridor of the Marauder. How had you messed up this badly? The answer had been staring you in the face! But instead of covering all your bases, you just rejected it without thinking! In your urge to keep Omega safe, you had done the very opposite and you’d hurt her. The one thing you’d never thought yourself capable of doing and you’d done it. And now you had pushed her in the direction of a Sith assassin! “Fucking dammit!” You shouted as you punched the wall, the emotional turmoil you were experiencing in the Force meant the area you had hit caved in on itself.

“Oh, good. I never liked that wall.” Crosshair drawled as he stepped on board.

You heaved an irritated sigh as you rectified the dented metal. “Why are you here? You need to be back at the cavern.”

“You dropped a pretty big name. We need to make sure you’re right. I mean, we can’t just take your word for it anymore- in case you’ve forgotten why we’re now in this mess.” He added pointedly.

You turned your head to sharply in his direction, “I’m very fucking aware.” You snarled as you retreated to the cockpit and started pacing again.

“So, you got something wrong, it happens.” Crosshair said nonchalantly as he pulled out Tech’s datapad and brought up his old files.

“This is a pretty big something, Crosshair.” You snapped as you collapsed into a seat in the cockpit, but your leg continued to bounce restlessly. “But it’s definitely Ventress and she shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near Omega.”

“Or you.” Crosshair reminded you as he continued to scroll through the files.

“I don’t fucking matter right now.” You said angrily as you stared at the floor.

“There are four people that would disagree.” Crosshair replied before he went still as he found the correct file. “Well, you can at least say you were right about this.” Crosshair showed you the older image of Ventress but there was no mistaking the similarities. His body language and voice were more serious now.

“Get Omega out of there but do not engage Ventress.” You wished you could go with him, but if you went back in your current emotional state, there was no telling what might happen.

“This is the test?” Omega asked as she struggled to maintain her balance. She had done as Ventress had instructed and stood with her arms out and one legs raised whilst the other foot stood on the wet rock. She was supposed to balance like this and keep the fruit on top of her head, but she kept sliding.

“One of them.” Ventress replied as she stood behind her.

“But the rock is…” Omega grunted as she had to catch her balance again. “…slippery. Can we go someplace else?” But Ventress didn’t answer so she asked another question, “How does standing on one-leg have anything to do with M-count?”

“You’re focused on the wrong things. Stop trying to have balance. Let go of your conscious mind.”

“ ‘Conscious mind’?” Omega repeated. “I don’t even know what that means.”

Ventress merely sighed and caught the fruit mid air as Omega fell forward. “Try again.” She tossed the fruit back to her.

“Come on, Omega! You can do it!” Wrecker cheered supportively as he and Hunter stood further back in the cave.

“Why don’t you two make yourselves scarce?” Ventress requested as she looked at them.

“She doesn’t leave our sight. And neither do you.” Hunter replied coldly.

“How fun for me.” Ventress said dryly as she kept her eyes on them but caught the fruit as Omega fell over. “Again.” She brought her focus back to the kid and gave her the fruit back.

Omega did find herself curious as to how you already knew Ventress and how she was aware of these tests. “Since you know about these tests, you must be a Jedi, right?” She placed the fruit back on her head.

“No, but I know some of their ways.”

Omega’s brow furrowed in confusion. “But how do you-”

Ventress gripped Omega’s jaw and covered her mouth. “Enough questions. Concentrate.”

Omega inhaled and exhaled deeply and worked on grounding herself in the current moment.

Hunter and Wrecker kept their eyes on the two of them as they wandered over to meet Crosshair who had re-entered the cave.

“I checked Tech’s files from the Republic archives. She was right.” He showed the others the screen. “Asajj Ventress.”

Hunter took that in before he got ready with his next question, “And how’s-”

“As you’d expect.” Crosshair responded. “But she’ll be fine once we deal with this.” He said as he jutted his chin over to Ventress.

“Why would a Separatist assassin be helping us?” Wrecker wondered.

“Who says that’s what she’s doing?” Crosshair countered.

The distrust that Ventress had already been sensing from them was now coming to a point and she readied herself for what was about to happen. But first, she needed the kid out of here. “Well? What happened?” She asked as she heard the child fall over yet again.

Omega sighed, “I told you. It’s too slippery.” She gratefully took Ventress’ outstretched hand. “I’ll start over.”

Ventress saw out of the corner of her eye that the three clones had advanced towards her. “No need. We’re moving on to the next test. There’s a weeping maya tree up in the colonnade. Retrieve one of its white blossoms and return before the sun sets.”

“It’s too far away.” Omega protested. “And- well the sun’s already started s-” The look Ventress gave her silenced any further arguments so all that was left to do was start running.

Ventress kept her back to the clones. “Now that she’s gone, let me give you some advice. Whatever you’re planning on doing won’t end well for you. The one that could actually challenge me is no longer with you.” She turned and felt into the Force around them, and the words got reaction she expected, but there was a different type of intensity from the clone with the skull tattoo and that intrigued her. She walked a few paces. “Think carefully. How do you want this to go?” She studied the unfriendly faces. “You asked for my help. Remember?”

“That’s before we realised who you are.” Hunter said. “Now leave.”

“You know, she knew very well who I was, and if she’d done her job right, I wouldn’t need to be here.” Ventress goaded.

“Leave.” Hunter repeated firmly, doing his best to keep his reactions steady.

But he couldn’t control the ripple in the Force around him that Ventress picked up on and she grew even more curious as to the relationship between the two of you. “I’ll consider it, once I’ve finished testing Omega’s abilities.” She saw the shared looks between them and decided it was time to test how far their protectiveness extended. “Or maybe I’ll stick around here a bit longer.”

“Wrong. Get in your ship and go. Before we make you.” Wrecker threatened.

“You can try.” She crooned.

“We’ve taken down worse.” Crosshair retorted.

“So have I.” She summoned the Force and took their blasters from them. “No cheating.” She said in a sing-song voice before she welcomed their attack.

You were feeling more level-headed now and decided to head to the cave since there was no sign of the others yet and if there was anything you could do to help with the process, that’s what you were going to do.

You stepped out of the Marauder and lightly jogged down the winding levels of Pabu, but a figure bumped into you just as you came down one of the staircases, panting hard. “Omega? What are you doing here?”

“Can’t talk. Need… to find Batcher.” Omega said breathlessly as she tried to dart past you.

“Hold on.” You caught her upper arm. “Why? Where are the others?”

“They’re… back… at the… cave.” Omega managed to get her breathing under control. “Ventress told me to go. It’s the second test and I’ve got to get to the maya tree and back before sunset!”

“Ventress sent you out?” Alarm bells started ringing in your head. “And the others are still there?” You double checked, your panic growing by the second.

“I just said that! Now I’ve got to go!”

But you’d already released her and had started to sprint in the direction of the cave.

Omega watched you go in confusion. That hadn’t been the reaction she’d expected- you had looked… worried? She didn’t have time to linger over it. She whistled for Batcher as she heard the familiar bark. “Hey, girl. I’m gonna need some help. I need to get to the Archium, and fast.” She hopped on Batcher’s back.

The sight of the three of them at her mercy sent a stab of cold fear through your heart. Crosshair was hunched over and holding his ribs in agony but what terrified you more was the fact that Ventress had Wrecker in a Force-choke whilst her blade was pointed at Hunter who was sprawled on the cave floor.

And while your mind may have jumped to slightly more ill-timed and inappropriate scenarios upon seeing Hunter’s legs spread like that, you quickly brought your concentration back to the issue at hand.

You called on the Force and pushed Ventress into the cave wall. You then heard Wrecker’s coughs and gasps for air, and you saw in your peripheral the way Hunter attempted to stand up. Stay down. You told him as you kept your eyes fixed on Ventress.

Ventress pushed herself up off the floor and wiped away the blood that dripped from a fresh cut on her mouth. “I was wondering when the Jedi would come out to play.” She sneered as she reignited her lightsaber.

She advanced towards you once more. “I wonder if you’ll even provide me with more of a challenge than that lot- not a very impressive bunch. I could do you a favour by ridding you of them, particularly that one.” She scorned as she looked to the clone with the skull tattoo. She sniggered at you as she sensed swell of emotions in the Force around you that proved her suspicions.

You glared at her and clenched your jaw but said nothing, you only unclipped your lightsaber and ignited it. The blue blade came thrumming to life as you let the connection between you and the weapon flow through you.

Ventress swung her lightsaber towards the centre of your chest.

You blocked her move and the fight between you got underway.

The others could only watch the two of you in quiet awe. Yellow and blue blades clashed against each other in well-timed and well-placed strikes. Both of your movements were so fluid, it looked like the two of you were engaged in a coordinated dance- only the stakes were much greater in this. And it was far more tense to just watch.

You were on the back-foot, there was no denying that fact, Ventress had a higher skillset, and you were out of practice. You’d only really been able to work on deflecting blaster fire and going over the different stances and fight positions could only get you so far.

But what did give you an edge was that you were fighting for your family and the people you loved and that gave you a different type of strength which kept you in with a shot.

Ventress continued her aggressive assault, but you were blocking her strikes with a degree of finesse she hadn’t been expecting. You weren’t backing down as easily as she thought you might. She had thought the argument with the child and seeing the clones in danger would unbalance you, but it seemed to fire you up and there was no loss of control. Clearly emotions didn’t distract you like they used to do with your fellow Jedi, so she had to push them in a different direction, “Falling for a clone? What would your precious Jedi Council say?” Ventress provoked again as she swung her blade around for another strike.

“Well, lucky for me they’re all dead.” You snarked back as you redirected the next jab of her lightsaber into the cave floor before you flipped over her head. But you didn’t turn in time, and she was able to land a harsh kick to your side that sent you stumbling to your knees.

You barely had time to stand up before she was on you again. You angled your blade up as she brought her blade down towards you. Your front left leg bent forwards whilst your other leg was in a lunge behind you, your knee down towards the ground and your back arched as she pushed yours closer to your face.

“I remember you. Your master died on Felucia didn’t he? During a recon mission.” Ventress said cruelly as she held her blade on top of yours.

You felt your foot slide behind you as she pressed her blade against yours, but you weren’t going to let her words unravel you- she wouldn’t win that particular fight with you. “I’d rather that than know he got bored and just left me for dead.” You smirked as you saw the words had the intended effect. You felt the wave of emotion that surged around her, and you felt the pressure against your blade drop which meant you were able to push back against her.

You pulled your blade away from hers and landed a sharp kick to her stomach to create some distance between you both. “What’s the matter, Ventress? Still not over Dooku dropping you without a second thought?” You mocked.

Ventress snarled and lunged for you again.

Her moves were becoming more undisciplined, so they were easier to block and gain the upper hand. “I don’t know how you still showed your face after that, if my master pulled something like that, I’d be pretty fucking humiliated.” You continued to press as she now became the one who had to block your strikes.

Ventress backed off for a moment to regain the composure she was surprised to find she’d so quickly lost. She’d underestimated your emotional control and you’d managed to turn things around rather rapidly. If she wasn’t careful, the outcome of this would not be favourably for her.

You didn’t give her much time to recover. “And since you want to talk about falling for people, why don’t we talk about Quinlan?” When you’d first heard rumours of her death, that had been a familiar name to go along with it, so it had been a gamble to use it, but it worked. It had been the breaking point you needed to hit.

Ventress released an enraged shout and lunged forwards.

You ducked under her uncoordinated swing, but it was a move that also left you vulnerable and she gathered herself quicker than you’d anticipated.

As you rose and jutted your blade out, it stopped by the side of her neck just as hers stopped by yours. You could feel the heat from the blade as it hummed against your skin, but you did not flinch.

You did not falter.

You held her stare.

And waited.

“I’ve got the white blossom! Wh- what’s going on? Stop!” Omega shouted as she re-entered the cavern and saw the way her lying on the rocks, brothers were beaten and sore, and how you and Ventress were standing off– your blades at each other’s throats.

“She’s been lying to you, Omega. She’s a war criminal.” You said you did not yield to Ventress yet.

“Times have changed. Something you all should be familiar with.” Ventress replied.

“We are not the same.” You growled.

“No? Clones and Jedi were pawns in the same war as was I. And we all lost.” She disengaged her lightsaber first and stared you down. “The Empire is more dangerous than you could possibly fathom. I’m many things but I am not your enemy. Not anymore.”

You breathed heavily as you looked at her, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do it, not when she could’ve killed them and decided not to. For that reason, you found part of yourself believing what she said. You deactivated your blade and watched her go to her ship.

Omega dashed over to the others to make sure they were fine.

You reattached your lightsaber and placed your hands on your hips as they all got to their feet. “Everyone alright?” When they nodded, you spoke more sternly and more seriously than you ever had with them before. “Good. All of you get to the Marauder right now.” You turned on your heels and made your way out the cave.

“Uh… are we in trouble?” Wrecker asked Hunter apprehensively, his throat still slightly sore from experiencing what he just had.

Hunter let out a knowing sigh as he watched you go. “Yeah, we’re in trouble.”

The others could only watch and listen from their seats as you strode up and down the cockpit- each step punctuated by a new reprimand.

“Of all the irresponsible…”

“Thoughtless…”

“Misguided…”

“Reckless…”

“Idiotic…”

“Foolish…”

“Rash…”

“And downright stupid plans that you could come up with… that was by far the worst one!” You stopped mid stride and faced them all. “You do not go up against a Sith assassin with just three people and blasters! That was a fight you were never going to win!”

“Hey, we were just getting warmed up.” Wrecker protested but your answering glare had him looking down at the floor sheepishly.

“And you! Exactly what part of ‘do not engage’ was unclear?!” You said heatedly in Crosshair’s direction who just shrugged and continued to chew his toothpick, but you saw a flash of regret behind his eyes. “She could’ve killed you guys; do you understand that?!”

“Sweetheart-”

“No!” You shook your head at Hunter to stop him before you continued, “She could’ve killed you all if I hadn’t shown up in time!”

“You did.” Hunter reminded you gently.

“But I didn’t!” You tossed your hands in the air and then gestured to each of them, starting with Hunter. “She had a lightsaber pointed at your neck!”

You then focused on Wrecker. “She was choking the life out of you!”

Then you shifted to Crosshair. “And you were out for the count keeled over in pain, and it wouldn’t have taken much for her to finish you off!”

You addressed them all as a group again, “I don’t know why she didn’t follow through, but she could’ve ended everything right then and there, and I wouldn’t have arrived in time to stop it.” The thought took the wind right out of you, and you inhaled sharply and braced your hands on your knees. “You are all I have left. I can’t lose-” You straightened up. “I can’t lose any of you.” You repeated softly. “Not like that.”

Hunter slowly got to his feet and walked over to you. He put his hands on your shoulders to reassure you, “We’re okay.” He said, his voice a quiet murmur as he looked at you. “We’re okay.” He whispered again as he brushed the back of his fingers against your cheek.

You felt some of the stress and upset evaporate under his touch, “Do you have any idea what it’s like to have to owe someone like that something?”

“Can’t imagine it feels great.” Hunter acknowledged, a half-smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

You managed a small smile of your own before you pulled away and looked over at Omega. “You’re done. No more tests.”

Omega frowned at you. “No way! I passed one of them and she still has more she can show me!”

“Omega, I’m telling you she can’t be trusted. You don’t know the things she did during the war. All of us do.” You replied, doing a broad sweep of the space to the rest of the squad.

“Okay, but it’s like you said, she didn’t kill them when she had the chance. She can’t really be as bad as you say.” Omega rebuked.

You hung your head with a sigh, “Omega…”

“I don’t know much about the war, but things are different now. People can change.”

“You’re being naïve.” Crosshair chimed in.

“I never gave up on you, did I?” Omega pointed out.

That made Crosshair pause and reflect more on the situation than he would’ve initially liked.

“I say we give her a chance.” She then looked glumly down at the floor, “Besides, Ventress hasn’t held anything back from me.”

Your breath caught in your throat and suddenly the ship began to feel incredibly small. You hurried outside.

Hunter immediately got up to follow you out, but he stopped and glanced down at Omega. He knew how badly she needed to know the truth of her situation and it outweighed the concerns the rest of them had. “I trust you. We won’t interfere but at the first sign of trouble, it stops. Understand?”

Omega nodded gratefully.

“But you need to ease up on her. She knows she messed up, but she cares about you, Omega, don’t forget that.” Hunter said before he walked out the Marauder and over to the maya tree where you were now sitting.

“She’s right. She’s completely right.” You said as Hunter approached and sat down next to you.

“You need to imagine how Omega feels. To her, it seems like you deliberately kept something from her that could give her more common ground with you. She looks up to you, if she knew there was a chance of something that could bring you and her closer, of course she would want to latch onto it. You can’t blame her for wanting to know.” He said honestly as he squeezed your thigh in comfort.

You brought your head back against the tree trunk and stared up at the night sky, “And that’s what kills me. I should’ve been the one to help her find out the truth, instead I just kept her in the dark and thought I knew best.”

“You’re putting too much blame on yourself. You’re human and you made a mistake. It doesn’t-”

Your frustration got the better of you and you got to your feet. “Who else am I supposed to blame, Hunter?! This is on me! I hurt Omega! I let her down!” You blinked back the angry tears that threatened to spill from your eyes.

Hunter stood up and tentatively reached for you. His eyes softened in concern as he saw the anguish written across your face and it pained him to see you so affected by this. “Sweetheart-”

You began your distressed pacing again, “I could’ve tested her; I know how to, and I didn’t! If I hadn’t just rejected the possibility of her being like me and actually done the tests, Ventress wouldn’t have stayed, and we’d be no worse off than we are now! Instead, Imight as well have guided Omega to her! And I endangered the rest of you in the process! All of you could be dead because I couldn’t do one simple thing!”

“Stop.” Hunter caught your wrist and stepped in front of you, but you averted your eyes from his. “Look at me.” But you ignored him. “Please, look at me.” He said soothingly as he delicately tilted your chin up.

Your throat bobbed with the effort of keeping the tears at bay.

Hunter stroked a hand through your hair, “Everything is going to be okay. Omega’s a good kid, she’s just hurting right now. Give it time and you two will be alright.” He pulled you to his chest and held you close. “She’s still a clone, still one of us. Loyalty runs in her blood. She’ll come around.”

It was automatic the way you relaxed into his hold and wrapped your arms around his back. She’s doing another test tomorrow, isn’t she? You asked as you rested your head in the crook of his neck.

“We can watch from a far but we’re not interfering unless we have to.” Hunter murmured as he pressed his lips to your temple.

You heaved a deep breath but accepted that that was to be the course of action.

“Come on, we should get some rest.” Hunter released his hold on you and intertwined his hand in yours as he led you back to the ship.

“No chaperones today?” Ventress observed as the young clone came to stand next to her as she waited by the docks.

“Nope. You said, ‘no distractions.’”

Ventress only glanced down at the hound that remained by the girl’s side. “I’m surprised you came to find me. I can’t imagine your Jedi friend is particularly pleased about this. They all must have told you about the things I’ve done.”

“They did.” Omega said animatedly. “But you also stuck around instead of leaving, so I think you’re trying to help me. And you may have history with (Y/N) but you like us. I can tell.” She added victoriously.

“You’re an odd little clone.”

“Thanks.” Omega replied cheerily. “So what did the tests tell you?”

“You failed the first one.” Ventress said as she passed her by and headed for the boat.

“But I passed the second. That has to mean something, right?” Omega reminded her optimistically.

“Hmm. We’ll see.” Ventress boarded the ship. “Get in. Time for your final test.”

Omega bid Batcher farewell before she too stepped aboard and offered Ventress a warm and sincere smile.

“Stop smiling. It’s unsettling.” Ventress griped as she clicked the controls that would set the boat in the direction of the open sea.

“Should we be out this far?” Omega asked. She could barely see Pabu anymore; the clouds had grown darker and there was more of a fog out here.

“It’ll be easier to concentrate.”

“On what, exactly?”

“Many who wield the Force have an affinity for nature. They connect with things that respond to their energy.”

“Oh! I know about that! (Y/N) has done it a bunch of times!”

“And yet she never thought to show you.”

Omega glanced away to mask her reaction to the comment.

Ventress rolled her eyes. The attachments between you all were so glaringly obvious, it was no wonder the child had not been exposed to the potential of a Jedi way of life. You undoubtedly didn’t want to risk her safety any more than what was at play already. “Now’s your chance to give it a try.” She brought one of the rudders up to the surface for Omega to stand on.

Omega stepped onto it and awaited further instructions.

“Close your eyes and reach out.”

“For what?” Omega queried uncertainly.

“Everything.”

Omega took the cryptic advice and began.

Wrecker lowered his macrobinoculars. “I don’t like this. We should be out there with her.” Wrecker said with an uneasy sigh.

“We gave Omega our word we wouldn’t intervene.” Hunter reminded him, taking his sights away from his own binoculars.

“You did.” Crosshair interjected.

“Besides, Ventress won’t do anything right now. She’ll know you’re watching.” You said unhappily as you leaned against the stone column, one foot braced behind you, arms crossed.

Wrecker raised his binoculars again. “We’re so far away, there’s no chance…” He trailed off with a shocked gasp as he saw Ventress looking directly in his line of vision. “How’d she know we’re watching?!”

“Same way I’d know.” You grumbled.

Omega released a frustrated grunt and opened her eyes. “Forget it.”

“Giving up so soon?”

“This isn’t working. I don’t feel anything. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing.” Omega replied, her voice rising in aggravation. “This is a waste of time.”

“I blame those four overprotective shadows for your lack of training and discipline.” Ventress said critically.

Omega turned to her and rested her hands on her hips indignantly. “I am trained.”

Ventress got to her feet. “This is different than being a soldier, something you’d know had the Jedi told you of your possibilities. Even if you have Force potential, they can’t show you how to tap into it and she certainly won’t- she’s too worried about what other danger that could put you in to allow you to explore that.”

Omega lifelessly jumped back into the boat, sat down, and crossed her arms. Even if Ventress was right, you were all still her family and she couldn’t just dismiss that.

“Since you seem content with that, perhaps this is a waste of time.” Ventress mused.

“I bet you don’t understand any of this either. (Y/N) even struggles to explain it sometimes.” Omega argued. “So, why should I listen to you?”

Ventress simply glided to the edge of the boat enacted the instructions she had told Omega before. She listened to the wind around her, the sounds of the waves lapping against the boat and felt beneath the water for the thriving life that lived there.

Omega watched in awe as schools of luminous green fish appeared from the deep. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, you both may not be able to always coherently explain how it worked but what you did say clearly meant something.

“I’m not the one holding back.” Ventress said, exhaling deeply and letting go of the connection.

But then something shifted, there was a low bellowing sound coming from the deep and both of them watched in confusion as the fish hurriedly swam away.

“What happened? Why’d they go?” Omega asked.

Her question was soon answered as a giant sea creature crashed beneath the bottom of their boat, making is spin out of control.

“Did you summon that?” Omega asked as she stared at the creature as it broke to the surface with a piercing screech, yellow algae dripping from its mouth.

“Not intentionally.” Ventress programmed the boat to head back to the docks.

You pushed off the column as you felt a creeping disturbance settling in your veins and Crosshair’s words confirmed it.

“Well, that doesn’t look good.” He stated as he saw the action through his scope.

“Get to the Marauder.” Hunter ordered.

The boat didn’t make it very far. The vessel was completely capsized by the creature, and they went flailing into the water.

They treaded water for a moment before Omega felt a tentacle wrap around her leg and pull her under.

Ventress dived after her and dodged the other tentacles as she ignited her lightsaber and cut through the one that was pulling Omega further down. She grabbed her and made a break for the surface.

Omega gasped for oxygen as she reached the open air and the two of them quickly swam to their upturned boat and stood on top of it. They watched as the Marauder came flying into view and fired down on the creature but, judging by the enraged screeches and flailing of tentacles, that seemed to only anger it further.

“Your friends are making things worse. I can do this on my own!” Ventress yelled above the chaos. She let the tentacle that came for her wrap around her body and bring her closer to its mouth. She didn’t focus on the danger of the situation, she only focused on bridging the connection between the animal and her.

Omega brought out her comm, “Hunter, stop firing. Ventress can handle it.”

“Doesn’t look like it from up here.”

“You’d trust (Y/N) in this situation, you should trust her too!”

Hunter glanced beside him to where you were sitting in the co-pilot’s chair expecting to see disagreement but instead- despite the reluctance on your face- you nodded your head.

Omega looked on in admiration as she saw the creature quiet down and let out an affection rumble as Ventress pressed her hand against its face.

“You actually did it.” She breathed as the animal set Ventress back down and retreated back to the depths. She’d never seen that gift be used to actually calm a threat before, she’d only ever see you do it on non-threatening animals and it gave her a true indication as to what you could be capable of too.

“Don’t sound so surprised.” Ventress quipped.

The Marauder came back around, and Crosshair descended the steps. He reached a handout to Omega to help her up before he offered the same courtesy to Ventress.

The group of you were back at the cavern as you anxiously awaited the results from Ventress.

“Did you figure it out? Do I have a high M-count?” Omega inquired as Ventress exited her ship and came towards you all.

“From what I’ve seen? No.”

You held back the massive sigh of relief that threatened to leave your lungs but despite apparent good news, something about it still didn’t sit right.

Omega hung her head in disappointment. She was still without the answers she so desperately wanted. “Then why’s the Empire after me?”

“Believe it or not, I don’t know everything. But seeing as how a high M-count would make you a target…” Her eyes shot over to you. “…Consider yourself lucky.” She looked back down at Omega.

“But I’m already a target.”

Wrecker walked up and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Uh, don’t worry about it, kid. We’re gonna figure it out. Come on. Let’s go get some chow.”

Omega sighed, “Thanks. For trying.”

Ventress gave her a small nod in acknowledgement before the kid walked away and she turned her attention back to the three of you that stayed behind.

“You’re lying.” Crosshair stated suspiciously.

“About which part?” Ventress replied coyly.

Hunter narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, “You tell us.”

“If Omega did have that potential, she’d have to be trained, which would mean leaving you behind.”

“That’s not happening.” Hunter said immediately.

“And it wouldn’t need to.” You added firmly.

“I don’t think you realise just how unique you really are.” Ventress said to you. “But even with your affinity for handling attachment, you let it get the best of you when it came to the child. You let your urge to protect her cloud your better judgement and that undoubtedly would be a problem in training her. So, what you want is irrelevant. The fact is, the Empire is after her and they’re after you…” She then looked between you all, “And they won’t stop.”

“And are you going to help them?” You challenged.

“Don’t insult me, I have no interest in the Empire’s agenda towards our kind. Plus, I don’t fancy getting into another brawl with you all even if I wanted to turn you in.” Ventress added as she saw the way the two clones tensed up and your hand drifted back to your lightsaber. She addressed you all as a group again, ��So, if I were you, I’d leave this place. You’re not as safe as you think you are.” Ventress turned her back on the three of you but before she left, she said over her shoulder, “Our business is done.” She carried on walking away.

“I still can’t figure out what side you’re on.” Crosshair said.

“My own.” She responded calmly without stopping.

“You’re not worried about the Empire coming after you?” Hunter called to her back.

That made Ventress wait. “They can try. But I’ve got a few lives left.” She said cryptically.

You all made your way back to the Marauder as her ship took off.

Crosshair and Hunter paused as they saw you halt by the steps.

You nodded to them to go head in. Omega, can we talk?

Omega gave a small wave of farewell to Wrecker and the others when they entered as she left to join you outside the Marauder. She saw you open your mouth to speak but she jumped in ahead of you, “I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time. I just…” She trailed off as she saw you shaking your head.

You crouched down and rested your hands on her shoulders, “You have nothing to be sorry for, Omega. Absolutely nothing. I’m the one that needs to apologise to you.” You took a breath, “I’m sorry I never told you about the tests.”

Omega tilted her head at you, but she saw genuine remorse in your eyes. “Why didn’t you? Why did I have to hear about them from Ventress?” She asked, a hint of sadness in her voice.

You inhaled deeply and Ventress’ words lingered in your head, “I love you, kid, I just want you to be safe. I think in my urge to do so, I neglected to do the things that could truly ensure that. I got too concerned with what risks of the results of those tests could mean that I felt it was better to not even entertain the possibility.”

“I mean, you were right. I’m not Force-sensitive and we still have no idea what an M-count means for me.” Omega said gloomily.

“I may have been right…” You said gently, “…but I should’ve been more thorough and told you about the tests and carried them out. I shouldn’t have kept you in the dark and for that I am so sorry. I got what protecting you meant all twisted in my head.”

Omega looked down and scuffed the ground with the toe of her boot, “So… it wasn’t because you didn’t want me to be like you?” She whispered.

Your heart went out to her immediately and you hated that you had ever given that impression. “Oh, honey, no.” You brushed through the loose strands of hair that came to rest just past her forehead. “My only concern with it was that it would put you in more danger than you’re already in. It’s not easy being a Jedi in the best of circumstances, let alone how things are now.” You affectionately brought her chin up so she would meet your gaze as you said warmly, “But if you had been, I would’ve loved to share that experience with you.”

Omega’s expression softened as she heard the sincerity in your words. “I’m not that lost kid you found on Kamino; you don’t have to make choices for me. I can handle more now.”

Ventress may have been right about you in this situation, but it wasn’t one you were ever wanting to repeat. You could change. You would change. “I won’t make decisions like that for you anymore and I won’t hide things from you, you have my word.” You promised.

Omega exhaled a breath of relief, “I don’t like falling out with you.” She said quietly, a forgiving smile on her face.

You chuckled lightly. “I don’t like it either.” You brought her in for a hug. Let’s not do it again, okay?

Omega hugged you back tightly in answer.

All was quiet in the Marauder, save for the familiar snores coming from Wrecker’s bunk and the occasional whine from Batcher as she dreamt but nothing felt amiss.

You and Hunter were yet to fall asleep. The night was when the two of you had an opportunity to switch off for a moment and be in each other’s company without having to worry about the others seeing and commenting. It was a time where the two of you didn’t need to be Sergeant and Jedi or think about the Empire but where it could just be you and Hunter.

You were laying on top of his arm as he hugged you into his side. One of your legs was hoisted over his lap as you nuzzled into him and touched the necklace on his chest that sat proudly on display over his sleep clothes. The two of you were sharing in light, delicate kisses between breaths as you lay together.

“Did I mention how impressive you looked going up against Ventress today?” Hunter said quietly against your lips into the silence of the ship.

Do I not look like that anyway? You teased as you left featherlight kisses along the column of his neck.

“Yes, smartass.” Hunter breathed as he focused on the sensation of your lips on his skin.

Well, no you didn’t, but I’d rather you never gave me a reason to have to do that in the first place. You glanced up at him with a playful scolding expression.

“Hmm, well if you look as strong and capable as you did today, I might just have to risk it.” Hunter kidded as he kissed the crown of your head whilst his free hand ran up and down your thigh.

You narrowed your eyes at him but there was an amused smile on your face. You traced your lips along his jaw. Oh really?

He hummed in an affirmative answer before he brought his lips to yours in a soft, tender kiss like the ones before- one that did not have to lead to anything more. But as he felt your twist your hands in his shirt and heard your breath hitch, he cradled the side of your jaw to encourage you to open up to him more.

You sighed happily into the kiss and pressed yourself tighter to him and went to fully straddle his lap, but he beat you to it.

Hunter, without breaking away, rolled you so that you were on your back, and he was on top of you. He kissed you with the passion and love he could only express when the rest of his family were not around before he pulled away from your lips and began pressing doting kisses along your neck.

You felt his teeth graze your pulse point. Don’t get too carried away. You said, weaving your hands in his hair as you held back a groan and resisted the urge to roll your hips against his. The words were also a reminder for you- you both needed to remember where you currently were.

Hunter huffed out a disgruntled moan against your neck, but he stopped. However, he didn’t lie down next you again, he opted to rest his head on your chest instead.

His weight on you always acted as a secure and reassuring presence, so you always welcomed the position. It was also him offering you a degree of vulnerability and trust that he so rarely allowed himself to enjoy so it always made your heart swell when he showed this side of himself to you.

Hunter listened to the steady beat of your heart, each thump reminding him of what he was fighting for, of what he had to protect. “We need to keep you and Omega safe… and I think- I think Ventress is right. We can’t stay here.” He whispered.

“We’ll talk about it more tomorrow.” You murmured as you tenderly ran your fingers through his hair and across his scalp. You felt him release a relaxed sigh at your actions. “Right now, we need to get some sleep.”

“I love you.” He mumbled sleepily as he got lost in your touch and let the tiredness overwhelm him.

“I love you too.” You replied as you closed your eyes.

Next Chapter>

Tagging: @noeasyisnoisy, @arctrooper69, @dominoeffectsworld, @andreaaxy, @notgonnaedit, @superbookishhufflepuff , @jellybeanstacey0519 , @nightmonkeysstuff

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astupidweeb69 · 11 months ago

Text

Unrequited (Yandere! Ticci Toby x Reader) Part 9

Links to Previous Chapters: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Author’s Note: I've been rereading this chapter for about a week trying to edit it, but decided I'd just go ahead and post it. Happy holidays everybody!

Cross-posted on my Ao3 account, which I update more frequently.

Warnings: Swearing. Descriptions of Gore. Some threats of violence. (2,070 words)

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Leaves crunched underneath heavy boots, ragged and irritated breaths came out in clouds against the cold.

Toby was not pleased.

Not pleased with how things were going with you.

And not pleased with being texted by Tim.

Apparently there was some work to do and he had to ‘get his lazy ass over there’. The young proxy didn’t even know the details of what needed to be done. A supply run? Some more random campers in the area? Either way Toby was itching for a fight.

He could feel anger in his system bubbling and ready to boil over. Just imagining Tim’s smug face waiting for him, probably ready to spat some nonsense about how ‘he’s late’ or make a snide comment on his appearance. His face twitched furiously at the idea, and if anyone was unfortunate enough to see the way he walked through the woods now, they’d surely run in the other direction. There was murder in the man’s eyes.

It wouldn’t take long for Toby to find his teammate. That’s how things always worked though, they had a connection to find each other when they were supposed to, all he needed to do was walk mindlessly in a direction and let the forest guide him.

“Someone’s in a pissy mood.”

The smell of smoke let him know he found who he was looking for. Tim leaned on a tree, a wry smile on his face, a lit cigarette burning away at his fingertips. It was practically an extension of his hand at this point, the fucking chainsmoker. Toby learned to hate the scent of tobacco.

“Where’s Brian?” Toby frowned, ignoring Tim’s comment.

“Had something he needed to do.”

Tim looked disinterested in the conversation. Getting him to actually tell Toby what was going on was like pulling teeth. And Toby knew first hand how hard that could be.

“Suh-so? Why’d you cuh-call me out here?” The younger proxy fidgeted with the ends of his gloves.

Tim sighed, letting the last part of his cigarette drop to the ground, putting it out with his boot. “There’s been some weird things happening out here. Brian said you should come with me to investigate.”

Toby made note of how he said ‘Hoodie’. Tim’s way of hinting that he didn’t want him there. Typical.

“Wuh-what do you mean weird things?”

Tim motioned with his head for him to follow, walking away into some bushes, Toby raised one of his eyebrows before complying. There was a rancid stench in the air when he started following him, like something died. Not uncommon in the forest, but it was hard to stomach even for the most experienced woodsman.

They followed the smell of rotting flesh, down a small embankment. The dead leaves on the ground made it hard not to slip and fall, and Toby snickered when Tim lost his footing a couple times, making the older proxy shoot him a dirty look.

“There up ahead.” After walking a few paces, Tim pointed to a mangled pile of fur splayed out against a group of pine trees.

Toby’s eyes narrowed at the bloody mess in front of him, turning to the other man in irritation.

“You dragged me out here for a duh-dead deer?”

“Take a closer look, Rogers.”

Toby shoved past Tim, making a point to bump into his shoulder for using the nickname he hated. He pulled up the mouthguard hanging from his neck to cover his nose, but it didn’t block out the smell nearly as much as he’d hoped. It took a lot of willpower not to gag.

He scanned over the remains noting different sized bite marks and scratches that tore through the animal's belly, viscera pooling out and its black lifeless eyes staring up at the sky. A swarm of maggots had already started the process of decay.

Toby could see the red of Tim’s flannel out the corner of his eye.

“Well?”

“Okay, it’s a luh-little strange. I’ll give you that. The bite muh-marks look like they came from a human.”

“Anything else, detective?” Tim mused, clearly noticing something else but liked toying with the kid.

“Just fucking spit it out.”

The older man kneeled down, motioning to two different spots on the deer's hind legs. “They’re all different sizes, meaning more than one person did this.”

“Cuh-cool.” Toby deadpanned. “So what does that mean for us?”

“It means we need to keep an eye out for groups of ravin’ lunatics.”

“Don’t we already duh-do that?”

Tim rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. This is the second animal we’ve found like this in a week.”

“And yuh-you only thought to tell me now?”

“I was busy.” Tim shrugged, the corner of his lip curling up slightly. The man did not give two shits about warning Toby sooner. Probably didn’t even want to tell him now. If anything, Brian most likely had to convince him to.

The younger proxy scowled at him, tempted to escalate things, to cause another one of their fights ending with the two trying to claw the others' eyes out. Not that it would hurt him, and Toby always got some sick amusement seeing Tim in pain. But it would be dark soon, and he was itching to get back home. The thought of you back there tied up on his bed was making him scratch at his scar.

He needed to spend more time with you. The look in your eyes as he paced around the cabin…. The look of fear and hatred. It wasn’t unexpected, but it still bugged him. You were… a bit more of a firecracker than he’d hoped. And level-headed unfortunately. You were catching on a little too quickly, to just how…. Temperamental he could be. The memory of you staring at his hatchets came back to him. He needed you to see his softer side, needed you to warm up to him before the truth, the real truth, about what he was came out. Maybe if he stole an old TV and got some of those movies you liked….

“Rogers!”

A finger snapped inches from his face. Toby blinked.

“Wuh-What?”

“I told you we need to get goin’” Tim pushed Toby forward impatiently. “It’s almost night time. Come on.”

He could hear Tim muttering “Fuckin’ useless kid.” under his breath as he led the way.

Toby’s stomach twisted. That phrase got to him. Was something he’d heard a lot, from somewhere before, something in his past. Something familiar. Tim taunted him in ways that sparked a deep resentment, like an itch he could never fully scratch. A scab that wouldn’t heal.

They walked back the way they came in, up the hill and through the thick bushes, without saying a word. One thing they could agree on was the less they talked, the better.

Luckily Toby’s cabin wasn’t too far. Fiddling with the ends of his jacket, combing his hair, absentmindedly, he was glad to be rid of the old fucker finally and get back to what was important.

But things never worked out the way he wanted.

Toby felt a hand on his arm. Tim lit up another cigarette, his eyes narrowed at Toby, before taking a long, deep, drag into his lungs. .

Smoke billowed from the man’s mouth, surrounding him in a thick cloud as he spoke.

“Before you go, I need somethin’ from your cabin.”

Fuck.

Toby stared at him for a moment. His mind went blank, before finally speaking up.

“Wuh-what do you need?”

He’d just act normal. It wouldn’t be a big deal. He could figure something out.

“Hoods and I are running low on some supplies. We know Kate keeps some of her stuff in your basement. Figured we’d borrow some things.”

The boy twitched and fidgeted under the pressure, trying to come up with ways to get out of it. If Tim saw you… Toby didn’t even want to think about what he’d do. He honestly didn’t know.

“What… kuh-kind of things-sss?” Shit. His stutter was getting worse.

Tim raised a brow. Likely annoyed by how standoffish the other proxy was being at something simple.

“Like food n’ ammo. We’ve been too busy to go into town.” Tim paused, and looked almost accusingly at him. “And I know you’ve been leaving the forest a lot recently.”

Toby chewed on the side of his cheek. Of course the other proxies sensed his disappearance. He’d been too preoccupied with you to even think about that being a possibility. That didn’t mean they cared when he was gone, they weren’t his babysitter. But now Tim had him over a barrel. There was no way he could deny him supplies now, without admitting the reason he went into town was for… something out of the ordinary.

“Fuh-fine.” He sighed, trying to collect his thoughts. “Just duh-don’t touch any of my stuff.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

______________________________________________________________

The cabin was just up ahead. Toby kept glancing back at Tim who seemed too preoccupied in his own thoughts to notice.

“Whuh-wait outside for a second. There’s suh-something I need to take care of first.”

Tim eyed him carefully. They both stood on the porch, tension rising, Tim’s body stiffening and his hands balling into fists for a brief moment. Toby fully expecting him to lash out.

Tim always thought the boy was weird. Fucked up in the head. Overly-emotional, unstable, obnoxious, and he’s seen the worst of Toby’s manic episodes. He was almost certain the kid engaged in some light cannibalism, from the way he mumbled to himself in his delusional states. He was so fucking glad they didn’t live under the same roof anymore.

Finally, after a few moments of staring the other down, Tim relaxed. “Whatever, just don’t take too long.” The older man decided he’d do whatever it took to get the fuck outta there, even if that meant having to obey. Despite how much that bruised his ego, he just wanted to go home and sleep.

Toby quickly went inside, slamming the door behind him, and Tim sat on the steps of the porch with a reluctant grunt.

Twitching anxiously, he ran into the room where you were tied to the bed. You jumped, obviously startled, by the door aggressively being opened. Normally he’d mock you, wanting to give a fake ‘awwww’ at how freaked out you were by his presence. He was still mad about how you've been treating him. But he didn’t have the time for that right now.

He opened the drawer to his nightstand, getting out an old t-shirt.

“Wha-” You started to question, but he cut you off by shoving the cloth in your mouth painfully. He tied it around your head, a little too tight, but he needed to make sure you were properly gagged and wouldn’t be heard.

Toby leaned down to your ear, speaking in a low hiss. “You nuh-need to be fucking quiet. I have a guest. He’s dangerous, so don’t get any ideas. No one’s coming to save you.”

He gripped your jawline tightly. “Do you uh-understand?” You stared back at him. Toby narrowed his eyes, tightening his hold on your face even more, until you finally nodded your head.

He released his hand and exited the room, mentally preparing himself to interact with Tim again, and with a deep breath, opened the front door.

“Okay, you can cuh-come in now.”

Tim groaned as he got up to follow him inside.

Toby couldn’t help letting his eyes dart to his bedroom door when they walked past. He led Tim down the hall where the basement stairs were, which he started keeping locked the day he captured you. He didn’t need you to see what was down there. Hopefully not ever.

After Toby unlocked the door and showed him the various backpacks stolen from victims, Tim rummaged through a couple before collecting the items he needed. Mostly food, a couple old boxes of ammo. Nothing special.

His heart was pounding when they climbed the stairs again, so close to getting this over with. Wanting nothing more than to have him out of the house. Away from you.

But without warning, Tim stopped in the hallway,

It was so sudden Toby almost bumped into his back.

“Whuh-what is it?”

There was a dangerously long pause, before Tim’s head turned to look behind his shoulder. Toby's eyes widened in fear.

“Did you hear that?”

#ticci toby #creepypasta #ticci toby x reader #toby rogers #yandere creepypasta x reader #yandere ticci toby x reader #unrequited #yandere #fanfiction #my writing #masky creepypasta #ticci toby creepypasta #ticci toby x you #yandere creepypasta

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rorywritesjunk · 1 year ago

Text

I can't tell where the journey will end But I know where to start

Prequel to my Kid Buggy fic, set about 11-ish years before that story. Buggy meets you by chance when he needs his buttons sewn back onto his jacket. He's young, up and coming, and he thinks everyone should cower before him wherever he goes, but all you do is smile at him. Rating: PG-13ish just for some swearing. Warning: Buggy's in his early 20s. He's an asshole. He just is because I wanted to write him loud, demanding, everything. There's 3 new characters thrown in because why not? Future Wife gets a name as well! A/N: I have no idea when Buggy became a Captain, so he's a fresh faced captain in this. No clue how long this fic will be. I just started on the 4th chapter but I'm excited to write it out! I had fun with the original fic and decided to write the prequel to how they met. Enjoy! Title comes from "Wake Me Up" by Avicii. TAGLIST (if you want to be added just let me know!): @lostfirefly @ane5e @kingofthemfingpirates (I didn't add others from the previous story because I didn't want to assume you'd want to be added, so please let me know if you want to be tagged<3)

Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 + Chapter 3 + Chapter 4 + Chapter 5 + Chapter 6 + Chapter 7 + Chapter 8 + Chapter 9 + Chapter 10 + Chapter 11 + Chapter 12 + Chapter 13 + Chapter 14 + Chapter 15 + Chapter 16 + Chapter 17 + Chapter 18 + Epilogue

Chapter 1

He burst into the shop like waves crashing against the rocks: loud and violent. The door slammed open, catching the two teen girls by surprise while your boss looked at him disapprovingly. The young man glared at her as he stomped up to the desk, removing his jacket with a flourish before throwing it down onto the counter.

“I need this repaired now!” He demanded as he dropped three buttons down on top of the fabric. “These damn things fell off!”

The older woman glared at him and crossed her arms. She wasn't bothered by some demanding young pirate like him. She was used to it having her shop in a town that was frequented by pirates of all experiences and ages. The upside was that the pirates paid well for her shop’s services, but the downside was the up and coming pirates with egos the size of the sea.

“And?” The shopkeeper retorted. “You come in here demanding help like that? Why should we help?”

He didn't expect the pushback and it showed on his face. “B-Because my coat is ruined and needs to be fixed!” He pointed to the three buttons that had fallen off, loose threads still attached to them. “I need these to be put back on!”

“Hm, one of my girls could do it, but I don't know if I want your business.”

“Excuse me?!” The pirate exclaimed. “Do you know who you're talking to?!”

“No, not at all.”

Before the pirate could explode into a tirade you stepped into the shop from the backroom, frowning as you came to see what the noise was about. There was your boss, not taking any shit from the young pirate who looked like he had steam coming out of his ears. The other two apprentices were working at a table nearby, watching the exchange take place.

“What's going on?” You asked as you walked over to your boss. You saw the coat and reached out to touch the fabric. “Oh, this is lovely. What's wrong with it?”

“The buttons fell off.” The pirate told you, jaw clenched as he glared at your boss. The older woman didn't back down, arms crossed as she stared right back at him.

“Oh, I can fix that.” You said as you collected the buttons and picked up the coat. You smiled at the pirate; he swallowed heavily and looked uncomfortable with you taking his things away like that. “Can you give me about an hour?”

Your boss turned her attention to you with her eyes narrowed. “You don't have to, I was about to kick him out.”

“I don't mind.” You said with a smile. “We shouldn't turn business away.”

Your boss grumbled and looked at the pirate. “Tell me your name and then come back in an hour, do you understand?”

He didn't hear her at first, too busy staring at you as you walked away with the buttons in one hand and his coat draped over your arm. Why did you offer to help after he just made a scene? The boss was glaring at him and waved her hand in front of his face.

“Young man? Your name?” She insisted. He finally looked at her, a scowl on his face once more.

“Captain Buggy the Clown.”

She said nothing as she wrote his name down on a claim ticket. She tore the ticket and gave one half to him. “One hour and you better have berry to pay.”

He snatched it out of her hand, glaring at her as he turned to storm out of the shop. Your boss just shook her head. She loved having you around but at the same time you caused as much trouble as the ruffian pirates who came by. Hopefully he would just be a one time customer.

When he returned an hour later, you were at the counter. His coat was hanging up behind you, the buttons reattached and shining like new coins. The rest looked brand new as well. He frowned as you looked up from your book. You smiled brightly when you saw him and he avoided your gaze, turning his attention back to his fixed coat.

“You're back!” You beamed as you turned to get the coat for him. “I fixed the three that fell off and made sure the rest were properly sewn on as well, so you shouldn't have any problems with them.”

Buggy took the coat from you, inspecting the buttons by tugging on them. They were secured, even better than before, and they all looked like they had been polished by how shiny they were. He looked at you suspiciously as he put his coat back on. You walked around the counter to him and he took a step back. Without a word you smoothed out the shoulders of the coat, ensuring they laid flat before you reached down to lift the hem of the coat up, pointing to the inside.

“The lining was starting to come undone so I mended that for you as well.” You pointed out before dropping it and straightening back up. Buggy’s face started to redden as he continued to scowl.

“I'm not paying you for extra work!” He snapped. You smiled at him and shook your head.

“It's a courtesy.” You told him as you went to grab his bill. “You're paying just for the three buttons I sewed back on, everything else I chose to do.”

He took the bill from you, scowl now a frown. “Why?”

“Hm? Why what?”

“Why did you do all that extra mending?” He asked, suspicion in his voice as he reached into his pocket for payment. “What do you want from me?”

“Oh!” You chuckled and shook your head. “Nothing, but pirates pass through here all the time and I don't want you to have to come back for more services, you know. I figured if I got your coat into a newer condition you wouldn't have to come back.”

Honestly, you were providing the ultimate customer service to him, but Buggy thought it was almost insulting you didn't want him to come back. Sure, once he got back on his ship he wouldn't come back this way, but at the same time…

He glared at you and grabbed your hand, slamming the payment onto your palm. His cheeks were red like his nose at that moment, and before you could check to see if he paid the right amount he hurried from the shop, door slamming behind him. You shrugged and went behind the counter, counting out the berry. He paid over what the cost of services were and you sighed. He didn't even wait for his change.

“He was scary.” Livia whined over dinner that night as you stood at the stove, stirring the soup while Edith set the table. “Is that pirate going to come back?”

“No, I don't think he will.” You assured her as you flashed her a smile. “I made sure his coat was like new, so don't worry.”

“Why were you even nice to him?” Edith asked with a frown. “He was a jerk to Miss Pins.”

“I was taught to be nice to everyone because you don't know everyone's story, you know?” You told the younger girls. They were newer apprentices for Miss Pins while you were nearing the end of your 10 year apprenticeship. The two were only 14 and 15, whereas you were about to turn 24 with your birthday a few months away. “He could be really nice and just having a bad day.”

“Or he's just mean “ Livia said, making a face. “And did you see his nose? D’you think that was real or fake?”

“I bet it was fake.” Edith said as she sat down. “It seems like a lot of pirates have themes and stuff. I heard there was one who had a crew called the Black Cats and I think his ship has cats on it.” She looked over at you. “So that clown pirate is probably wearing it just for show.”

You just shrugged as you checked the flavor of the soup before adding in some ginger to it. “I wouldn’t know, but dinner is ready. Livia, can you go get Miss Pins? And Edith, can you slice some bread for us?”

Livia pushed away from the table and bounced out of the kitchen to go find their caretaker. Edith looked at you as she started cutting some slices of bread.

“He was really mean, you know.” She said as she put the pieces on a plate. “I don’t think you should have been so nice to him. What if he comes back?”

“I’ll still be nice to him because there’s no reason not to be.” You told her as you went to the table to grab the bowls one by one, filling them with soup. “And he wasn’t a threat, just loud.”

“I didn’t like how loud he was.” Edith sighed.

“If he comes back, just call for me and I’ll help him.” You assured her. “Honestly.”

The younger girl didn’t look convinced but didn’t say anything. Livia returned a few minutes later with Miss Pins and everyone sat down. Dinner was always a peaceful affair, discussing how the day went and what to expect for the next day. Mostly it was assigning the younger girls chores and tasks while you helped Miss Pins with the running of the shop. You had some errands to run in the morning before the shop opened, grabbing groceries and just stretching your legs.

When everyone finished, you took care of cleaning the kitchen while the two girls went to their shared room. Your boss looked at you from her place at the table.

“If that pirate shows up again, you turn him away.” She told you. “I didn’t like him one bit.”

“He’s not the first one to act like that.” You replied as you wiped down the counter. “And he won’t be the last.”

“I didn’t care for him.”

You grinned at your boss. “You don’t like anyone who comes in the door if they aren’t kissing your feet and saying how wonderful you are.”

“Well, they should be saying how wonderful I am since I’m the only one on this damn island willing to help those pesky pirates.” She retorted as she glared at you. “I’m serious, if he comes in you turn him away.”

“Okay, okay. If he comes in I’ll tell him we’re closed.” You smiled. “I don’t think he’d believe me but I’ll make sure to tell him.”

#buggy the clown #buggy the clown x reader #buggy x reader #buggy x you #buggy the clown x you #opla buggy the clown #opla buggy the clown x reader #opla buggy x reader #opla buggy the clown x you #opla buggy x you #buggy the clown x oc #buggy x oc #opla buggy the clown x oc #opla buggy x oc #sunny x buggy #one piece #one piece oc #one piece fanfiction

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luvangelbreak · 9 months ago

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Deprived | Sixteen

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 matthew sturniolo x layla venita (female!oc) summary: everyone knows the story of the bad boy and the good girl but what happens when the school's most popular boy, Matthew Sturniolo, and the girl who notoriously is never there, Layla Venita, cross paths. warnings: swearing, drug use (weed), mentions of drugs (cocaine, weed), suggestive, NOT PROOFREAD!! word count: 4.8k a/n: dramaaaaaaaaa. i was really on a roll with this chapter it’s so long LMAO

pov: layla

"You doing anything after school?" Matt asked me as he stole some of Nick's fries, causing his brother to hit him on the arm and I shook my head.

"No, but you are," I pointed out and he furrowed his eyebrows for a moment, "Training, Matthew."

"How did you forget you have training when you have been playing hockey for the last 5 years but she remembered?" Nate chuckled in disbelief from across the table and Matt shrugged.

"Oh Layls!" Allie chirped up from beside me, interrupting her own conversation with Mia who was sitting on her right, "Do you have a dress for prom yet?"

"Uh, I'm probably not going," I told her honestly and her face dropped sadly.

"What? Why not?" she asked, disappointment clearly in her tone and I shrugged.

"It's just not my thing," I answered honestly and she pouted slightly.

"Come on, it will be so fun! I can help you pick out a dress and everything," she pleaded with me and I gave her an apologetic look.

"She doesn't wanna go, Allie. Drop it," Mia grumbled from beside her, making my face drop at the rudeness of her tone.

"I'll think about it, okay?" I said kindly and her face lit up again before nodding, "Are all of you going?"

"Yeah," Chris nodded, clearly seeming unimpressed but agreed to go nonetheless, "No thanks to Al."

"You could've said no," Allie shrugged, smiling at him widely and he smiled, shaking his head and I leaned over, placing my hand under Allie's chin.

"How can you say no to this adorable face?" I asked sarcastically and Allie tapped my hand away lightly, a snicker falling out of her mouth.

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes playfully and Matt nudged my thigh with the back of his hand, making me look at him.

"You wanna come over after training?" he asked and I pursed my lips, giving him an apologetic look.

"I can't. Maybe tomorrow though," I told him and he nodded before turning his attention back to the group, "Nick, we still need to get our suits."

"I can't get mine till Allie tells me her fucking dress colour because we have to be matching," Chris chimed in again and I looked at Allie with raised eyebrows.

"You are going together?" I asked and she nodded happily.

"He said the only way he'd go to prom is if I agreed to go as his date that way he isn't stuck with anyone he doesn't like," she laughed and I smiled, nodding my head before I glanced at Chris.

"Matt," Mia chimed in catching not only Matt's attention but mine, "Remember your tie has to be red because my dress is red."

I felt a wave of jealousy pulse through me and I looked at the table before me. I had no right to be jealous, Matt and I weren't together in any capacity and he and Mia had been friends for years. It was just the fact it was Mia he was going with that pissed me off.

Of fucking course he's going to prom with Mia.

"Right," Matt nodded, seemingly ignoring Mia for the majority of the day. My brain had been wracking what they could've talked about to make him give her the cold shoulder like he was, I wanted to know if I caused it.

I didn't care about Mia but I knew Matt didn't want to lose her as a friend. So instead of starting an argument or causing a fight, I remained silent and chewed at my lip.

"Nick," Nate spoke up again catching Nick's attention and I pushed my food away from me, suddenly losing my appetite completely, "Are we matching too or what?"

"I thought you were going with Gemma?" Nick asked, clear confusion on his face and Nate shook his head, taking a sip of his water.

"Decided not to. Would rather be with you guys," he shrugged and Nick nodded in response.

"Why don't one of you take Layla?" Allie spoke up and I turned my head to look at her with a frown, "That way she also has a date because we can always bring someone else."

"Allie, I don't even know if I'm going yet," I responded and she shrugged, looking at me as she sipped on her iced tea.

"Just as a backup plan," she answered and I chuckled with a shake of my head.

"I was planning on bringing Jake since Nate said he was already going with Gemma," Nick answered honestly and Allie raised her hands triumphantly.

"Great! Nate, you can take Layla that way we all have a date!" Allie cheered and I looked at Nate, studying his reaction and he shrugged.

"I'm cool with that. Layls?" he asked, seemingly unbothered about whether or not he had a date.

"If I'm going, then sure," I shrugged in response and he nodded, taking another sip of his water.

"What colour dress are you thinking?" Allie asked, whipping her phone out of her pocket and I gave her a deadpanned look before her gaze met mine again, "In case you want to come! Nate is buying a suit regardless so might as well match it to a colour you like if you do come."

"Probably black," I shrugged, not wanting to argue with her and she nodded, tapping away on her phone.

"Makes my life easier," Nate shrugged, an amused smile on his lips and I smiled at him, both of us finding humour in the situation.

"What about this?" Allie leaned over, shoving her phone in front of my face catching me off guard as my eyes adjusted to the screen. It was a sparkly black strapless dress and I shrugged. I looked at the price and my eyes widened.

"Allie, I can't afford that," I answered quietly and she dismissed me with a wave of her hand.

"Don't worry about the price. I'm looking for dress styles you like," she answered quickly before tapping away on her phone again. Matt tapped my thigh once again before leaning over.

"Are you really gonna go with Nate?" he asked and I turned my head to look at him, a small expression that showed he was displeased written on his face.

"I don't know if I'm going at all yet. This is Allie's doing," I shrugged and he hummed, looking down at the table again making me smile as I leaned up to whisper in his ear, "Now who's jealous?"

"What about this one?" Allie once again leaned over, showing me a photo of a black halter neck dress that seemed to be a silk material. I shook my head knowing the shape of the dress would look awful on me, "Okay we need to figure out what kinda dresses you like."

"I don't wear dresses Allie," I gave her a half smile as Matt wrapped his arm around my shoulders and she nodded.

"Even more of a reason to find a dress you actually like," she announced as she went back to her phone making me smile in amusement.

"You could just not wear anything," Matt whispered into my ear and I punched his thigh making him groan.

"Don't be such a guy," I rolled my eyes, a smile still on my lips as I looked up at him. He shook his head, a slight smirk on his lips. He placed a kiss on the side of my temple.

"What's going on here?" Nate asked causing us to turn our heads to look at him.

"Oh, Matt didn't tell you guys?" Chris asked, a malicious smirk on his face and I let my smile drop.

"Chris," Matt said in a warning tone but Chris, as per usual, didn't listen.

"They fucked last night," Chris said casually and I threw my hands to my face, my cheeks lighting up red.

"What?" Allie gasped next to me and I didn't dare take my hands away from my face.

"For fucks sake Chris, don't say that! We didn't!" Matt protested and I curled closer to him, the embarrassment making me hide like a child.

"So you didn't sleep there last night?" Chris retorted and Matt sighed, running a comforting thumb up and down my arm.

"Yes, I stayed there bu-"

"And you said that you did stuff," Chris taunted further and I sighed, not wanting to look at the judgment on their faces yet.

"Chris, shut the fuck up," Matt mumbled through gritted teeth and I finally pulled my hands away from my face. Nate's face just looked surprised and Allie looked somewhat happy but Mia had the biggest scowl on her face I'd ever seen.

"Are you fucking serious?" Mia screeched causing Matt to whip his head to look at her, "You had sex with her?"

"I didn't!" Matt said in the same tone and I closed my eyes, heads turning to look at us from all around the cafeteria.

"And I'm supposed to believe that? Look at you!" she replied loudly motioning between us and I looked at Allie who was frowning at Mia.

"Mia, calm down. It's not the end of the world," Nate raised his eyebrows at her and she scoffed, rolling her eyes dramatically.

"I guess whoever wrote that shit on your locker was right. You are a slut," Mia mumbled so quietly I almost didn't catch it but when I did, my blood ran cold with nothing but rage.

"Mia, what the fuck?" Allie said in disbelief of her best friend saying such a crude thing.

I took a moment to think whether or not it was worth it to fight her and get myself expelled. I had been trying so hard to keep up with school and I wasn't going to throw it away for her.

So instead, my mind travelled back to when I saw the locker and looked around the room. I never once saw Mia and I know Matt had gotten rid of it by the time I went back to get my things for English.

"Hey, Mia?" I said, grabbing her attention and she looked at me with annoyed eyes, "How do you know what was written on my locker?"

"I saw it," she squinted her eyes at me and I nodded, leaning forward so Matt's arm slid off of my shoulders, now wrapped around my lower back.

"When did you see it exactly? Because I didn't see you anywhere when I first walked into the school," I raised my eyebrows and she stilled for a moment, "Did you guys see her when I went to the bathroom?"

I looked around the table and everyone shook their heads before I looked back at Mia who grumbled, "I saw it before you guys got there."

"Why were you there before us? You never come to school early," I pointed out and she once again stilled, her pissed demeanour turning nervous as she glanced between everyone.

"I had to do some stuff for cheer," she shrugged, trying to play it off and before I could speak again, Allie interrupted me.

"Practice isn't till after school. No one ever comes to school early for cheer, Mia," Allie deadpanned, calling her own best friend out and Mia shook her head.

"What are you trying to say? That I did it?" she asked, placing a hurt hand on her heart.

"Nope. You made that connection on your own," I told her, not letting my rage shine through at her as the guys just looked between us like a tennis match with slack jaws, "It's a funny coincidence though, isn't it? The one time you were at school early there's shit written on my locker."

"I didn't do anything!" she huffed and I hummed, nodding my head once again as I smiled at her sweetly.

"For the record, Mia, Matt and I didn't sleep together. In fact, the people that I'm rumoured to sleep with I never have. I can't say the same about you," I shoved away from the table, picked my bag up from the floor and walked out of the cafeteria without another word.

"Mia, what the fuck is wrong with you?" I heard Matt's voice yell at her as I walked out of the cafeteria doors and towards the exit of the school. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, sending Matt a quick text to say I wouldn't be at school for the rest of the day before I exited the grounds, beginning my trek home.

+++

After messaging Wes and telling him I was going to deliver for him earlier than originally planned, he agreed it was a good idea and invited me to stay for a bit.

"Why does it look like someone shit in your breakfast?" he asked as soon as he opened the old green apartment door, paint falling off at various places.

"Just had a shit day," I shook my head, stepping inside the small compound before I closed and locked the door behind me, "You wanted two ounces, right?"

"Yeah. You got the coke too?" he asked and I nodded, picking up the two ounces of weed out of my bag and throwing it on his kitchen counter before I pulled out the small bag of coke.

"He only had an 8-ball but I can get you more next week," I told him honestly and he nodded, counting up the cash before handing it to me and I placed it in my bag. I went to turn around and exit the building again but I was stopped.

"Where you goin'?" he asked and I spun around, looking at his long mop of blonde hair, "You look like you had a stressful day, babe. Chill with me for a bit."

"I don't know Wes," I trailed off, not knowing if I wanted to hang around here for too long.

"Come on. I got this new shit from Chase. It will make you see God," he said, holding up a small bag of weed and I chewed my lip, really needed some sort of a relief.

Unfortunately, I caved and said, "Fine. But I'm only staying till six."

"Fine by me," he nodded, taking the packet and throwing himself on the old leather couch. I sat beside him since it was a two-seater, not allowing much space between us but I was used to it at this point.

I'd been delivering to Wes for 2 years now and he never once made me uncomfortable, except for the time he smacked my ass 2 months ago because he was high off his ass and thought it would be funny. Since then, he'd apologised multiple times and I let it go.

"More shit at school?" he asked in regards to my tense demeanour and I nodded, falling back into the couch as he grabbed the rolling paper.

"Just some bitch saying stupid shit," I mumbled angrily and he hummed, quickly rolling a joint like I'd seen him to hundreds of times.

"Rich?" he questioned and I chuckled, nodding immediately and he rolled his eyes, sliding a filter into the joint, "Of course."

"There's this guy though," I told him honestly as he began sealing the joint with the moisture from his tongue as he looked at me with raised eyebrows, "He stayed over last night."

"Look at you! Finally getting some dick," he chuckled to himself and I shoved his shoulder with a roll of my eyes, "They grow up so fast."

"Shut up, dude. We didn't go the full mile," I rolled my eyes and he chuckled once again.

"It's a start. I don't remember the last time you told me about anyone," he pointed out and I shrugged as he picked up one of the many lighters littering the coffee table in front of us.

"Yeah well," I trailed off at he lit the end of the joint, "His friends are nice too. One of them wants to take me dress shopping for prom."

He took a hit of the joint, keeping the smoke in his lungs for a moment before he passed it to me, "I thought you hated that shit."

"I do," I replied as he handed me the joint and I took a hit before continuing, "But she really wants me to go for some reason and one of their friends said he would take me as his date if I do go."

"Why isn't Romeo taking you?" he asked as I took another hit before I handed it back to him and I let out a bitter laugh.

"The girl who's being a bitch is one of his friends and they've been planning on going together way before I came into the picture," I explained and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, taking a moment to inhale before he spoke again.

"I'm so glad I dropped out this shit sounds way too confusing," he mumbled and I took the joint from him again, taking two more hits in a row, "Alright chill out. You're gonna green out if you're not careful this shit is strong."

"I'm fine," I shrugged, handing him the joint again as I sunk back into the couch further, the effects of the drug already hitting me, "I needed something to take the edge off anyway."

"You already finished that bag I gave you?" he asked and I nodded, rolling my head to the side to look at him as he joined me in sinking back into the couch.

"Dad took half of it so yeah," I replied and he rolled his eyes, jumping off the couch and walking to the kitchen. He returned moments later with another small bag in hand and threw it into my lap, "Wes, I don't need it."

"Take the fucking bag, Layla," he smiled down at me and I pursed my lips before nodding, sliding the small plastic-wrapped weed into my bag.

"Thanks," I gave him a thankful smile as he took another hit, sitting back down on the couch beside me, handing me the joint once again. We continued handing the joint back and forth in silence until it was down to the filter before he threw it in the ashtray on the table.

"Ya know," he started, making me turn my head towards him lazily, "You're always one of my favourite people to smoke with. We should do it more."

"Because I'm just so charming," I smile at him dopily making him chuckle, the drug taking its full effects slowly on both of us.

"You're just chill," he shrugged, sliding further into the couch and I chuckled, laying my head back on the top of the couch as my eyes began blurring in and out of focus, the ceiling seeming so far away.

"You think I should go to prom out of spite?" I asked, my words mumbled from my dry mouth the drug had created and he hummed.

"Show up hot as fuck, make her mad and make him regret his decision of not taking you instead," he laughed to himself and I smiled, nodding my head in agreement even though I wasn't sure he could see me.

"Sounds like a plan," I answered and he hummed in response, my body going limp from the strong weed, "What is this shit?"

"Blue Dream," he responded and I lifted my head to look at him, "Isn't it sick?"

"Dude," I squinted my eyes at them as they now felt heavy, "You know this shit is supposed to make you mad horny, right?"

"Oh fuck," he began laughing to himself and I couldn't help but smile at his idiocy, shaking my head in disbelief, "I had no idea. Chase just said it's hella strong."

"On that note," I leaned forward and stood up lazily, "I'm gonna go."

"No come on," he whined and I looked down at him, my eyelids heavy and my breathing laboured.

"I'm not about to stay here and watch you get a fucking boner," I laughed as I picked up my bag, "I like you dude but not that much."

"Next time we'll smoke something else I swear," he leaned forward, holding out his hand for a fist bump which I quickly reciprocated, "You gonna be good to walk home?"

"Yeah, no worries. I'll see you next time," I waved as I unlocked the door, swinging it open before closing it behind me. I waddled down the steps of the apartment, making my way onto the road where the sun was starting to go down.

As I walked down the pavement, my legs wobbled and my vision became less focused. I was used to walking around high but I'd never had Blue Dream and I could tell its effects of horniness were hitting me. I could barely focus, the wind around me swaying me as I walked. I almost tripped onto the road and I sighed, deciding to sit down on the curb for a moment.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, realising it was already 5:30 and Matt would be done with his training by now. Through my foggy thoughts and wanting to be with someone right now, I clicked on his contact and waited as it rang in my ear.

"Hey, Layls," he answered after two rings and my fave immediately lit up, the sound of his voice bringing joy to the chemicals in my brain.

"Hey baby," I mumbled, the words falling off my tongue like honey, "Whatcha doin'?"

"I just got out of the shower. Are you okay, pretty girl?" he asked, sounding confused by my tone and I nodded regardless of if he could see me.

"I'm great! I just miss you," I whined, throwing my head down onto my knees that were pulled to my chest. A car drove past me quickly and I lifted my head, the sound startling me.

"Where are you?" he asked, his voice laced with concern but all I could focus on was the rasp of his voice, heat travelling directly between my thighs.

"On the corner of Valine and West Street," I mumbled, throwing my head back down onto my knees and I heard shuffling on his end of the phone.

"What are you doing there?" he asked, his voice still laced with worry and I sighed dreamily.

"I just had to drop some stuff off to a friend but my legs are tired. I don't wanna walk home," I whined loudly and I heard him hum, doors closing before a click.

"I'm coming to get you, pretty girl. Can you stay on the phone?" he asked and I hummed in response, my stomach igniting at the thought of seeing him right now.

"I'll do anything for you," I responded, my voice filled with seduction and lust before I giggled at myself.

"What did you take?" he questioned and I rolled my head to the side, the cold breeze feeling nice on my skin.

"Just smoked a little bit," I answered honestly and he sighed before mumbling something I didn't catch, "Can you keep talking to me?"

"I'm almost there. I'm like three minutes away, okay?" he responded and I sensed a slight annoyance in his tone but I brushed it off as I hummed, squeezing my thighs together, "Are you alone?"

"Yeah," I sighed, lifting my head and looking around at the lifeless street around me.

"Okay, I'll be there in a sec. Just don't move," he answered hurriedly and I sighed dreamily once again.

"I like your voice," I mumbled, closing my eyes as I listened to the sound of the engine revving as he drove and I heard him chuckle, my heart filling with joy at the sound.

"Thanks, pretty girl," he answered and I could hear the smile in his voice making my smile widen.

"I just like you in general. You're really nice to me," I mumbled, a dopey smile on my lips as I let my eyes flutter open and I once again heard him chuckle.

"I like you too," he answered softly and my smile widened, "I'm a minute away."

"Thank god," I let out a breath of relief, making sure my bag was on my shoulder as I began standing up, losing my balance briefly, "Whoops."

"You okay?" he asked and I hummed, regaining my composure, sliding my bag further up my shoulder as I pressed the phone to my ear. I looked up to see headlights coming towards me before Matt said, "Hey, pretty girl."

I smiled at him, despite being blinded by the headlights before I waltzed over to the car, hanging up the phone as I pulled the passenger door open, "Heyyy."

"Oh my god," he shook his head with a smile as I jumped in the car, slamming the door behind me before I clicked my seatbelt in.

"You look good," I smiled at him as I leaned over, pressing a kiss to his cheek. My eyes scanned his body, noticing that he was wearing a white hoodie, blue plaid pyjama pants and not shoes, "You didn't even put shoes on."

"Shoes weren't exactly my concern when I left the house," he raised his eyebrows at me and I pursed my lips, holding back a giggle.

"Sorry," I bit my bottom lip and he shook his head, a soft smile on his lips, "Can I be honest?"

"Of course," he nodded and I smiled up at him dopily again.

"I'm really high," I giggled, tucking my messy hair behind my ear.

"Really? I didn't notice," he answered sarcastically and I hummed, leaning over the console as I placed my hand on his jaw, pulling his face towards mine. I pressed my lips against his, the feeling of his body so close to mine making heat travel directly between my thighs.

"I missed you," I mumbled against his lips and he took that as an opportunity to slide his tongue in my mouth dancing with my own. I got lost in the feeling of his mouth against mine, my heightened sense making it feel like I was in heaven.

"Okay," he pulled away from me before placing another quick peck on my lips, "I'm not about to get into this while you're high."

"No," I whined, pulling his face to mine once again and he snickered against my lips making me smile once again before he pulled away again.

"Baby," he whispered, placing his hand on my cheek to lift my head to look at him, the pet name making my heart swell, "I'm not doing anything unless you're sober."

"But I'm so horny," I whined, leaning my head on his shoulder and I felt his chest shake with a laugh.

"I'm aware," he said through a laugh before I lifted my head to look at him with a pout, "But that's because you're high."

"Why do you have to be such a morally right man?" I rolled my eyes, a smile still on my lips and he brushed my hair behind my ear as I melted into his touch.

"You want me to drop you home?" he asked and I shook my head, my face turning sour at the thought of having to face my father.

"Can I stay at yours? I don't wanna deal with my dad," I frowned and his face softened, "I don't wanna go home."

"You can come to mine, it's okay," he began stroking my cheek with his thumb and I let my head slump against his hand, the touch making me feel calm again, "You can lay your head on my shoulder, pretty girl. I gotta drive."

I nodded lazily, moving my hand off of his hand and placing it on his right shoulder. He took the car out of park and drove down the road. I hummed to the song playing on the radio and he used his right hand to reach over the console, placing it on my thigh and running his thumb up and down.

"Don't do that," I mumbled, moving his hand further down so it was closer to my knee, "You're just gonna make me wanna fuck you even more."

"Sorry," he said through a chuckle as I closed my eyes, adjusting my head on his shoulder, "You have no filter when you're high."

"Why do you think I made you put my hand up my hoodie the first time I was high around you?" I mumbled, smiling to myself and he hummed, "Wes didn't tell me the strain until after we had it and he didn't know it made you horny."

"Wes?" he asked and I forgot he didn't know who Wes was.

"Mhm. Been friends with him for two years," I explained and he hummed, sounding slightly annoyed, "I left after he told me though. He had no idea."

"I'm sure he didn't," he grumbled and I smiled, looking up to see a frown now covering his face as he drove with his left hand.

"Don't be jealous. He's like a brother to me," I leaned up, kissing his jaw lightly making him sigh.

"Mhm," he hummed and I trailed kisses down his neck, sucking the flesh under his ear making him let out a heavy breath, "Layls."

"Yeah?" I mumbled against his skin, getting lost in the way his body reacted to me.

"I'm driving," he mumbled, his grip on my thigh tightening slightly making me smile against him.

"Then focus on the road," I smirked into him and he let out another breath, tilting his head to the left to give me more access. I continued to suck and kiss all over his neck as his breathing got heavier.

Suddenly, the car turned a corner before coming to a halt and I looked up to see we were already at his house. I pursed my lips, hiding my smile as I looked at the purple dot I had created on his skin.

"Let's go," he said, pulling his hand off of my thigh as he turned the car off before jumping out of the car and I followed his actions as he walked inside quietly.

tags:

@ilovechrissturniolo1 @leprechaunbirthdaygirl @sturnfix @lilsstvrn @sturniololol @dsturniolo @sturniolowhore @jebbie-project-blog @chrisstankyleg @lov3bug @pinklittleflower @thatcrazybitch-69 @trinity2058 @alorsxsturn

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awkward-tension-art · 6 months ago

Text

Darkness on Umbara Chp.10 (Rex x Reader)

Chapter 9. Chapter 11.

Mayhem and Chaos

cw: Rex x Reader, Reader is a medic, incorrect military procedure, graphic descriptions of injuries, blood, swearing, death and battle, Spoilers for the Umbara Arc, Pong Krell is an asshole, reader insert, names of non-canon dead clones, Mentions of breakdowns, reader is gender neutral, no use of (Y/N), if i miss a tag LMK

Minors DNI

As predicted, Fives and Hardcase were causing trouble. Were you going to stop it? No. Would you get involved? No.

Would you standby and watch? Absolutely.

At some point Kix had also joined in, aiding the troopers in their toying with the starships.

You sat back, hoping you didn’t have to use life saving measures on any of these lovable idiots.

“All right…” Fives typed away at a console next to the ship Hardcase had chosen. After some tinkering, the ARC trooper looked back up, “Okay, there. Should be a little easier.”

Hardcase rolled his wrists, adjusting to the controls. After a few moments to prepare, the Umbaran fighter lifted into the air, hovering unsteadily. You weren’t entirely sure what they had changed from the first time, but you really really hoped nothing was going to explode.

After a couple of moments however, the ship jerked forward and the trooper inside overcorrected backward. One of the wings slammed into a stack of crates, sending them flying into the far side wall. Fives ducked, narrowly avoiding getting struck by the ship as well.

“Hardcase! What are you doing!?” He shouted up.

“If I knew I wouldn’t be doing it!” Hardcase snapped back, clipping another umbaran fighter and dislodging from its holdings.

You grabbed Kix and dove out of the way, barely dodging the thing as it hit the ground and knocked over shelves of metal boxes. The ship was out of control, spinning in the air and nearly hitting two other troopers.

“Look out!”

“Move!”

Fives gripped the console and shook his head, “Great. This can't get much worse!”

As if on command, an intercom from a different dashboard buzzed before Krells voice boomed out, “Trooper, what's going on down there?”

The ARC trooper shoved the soldier out of the way, “Er... Yes, sir. Everything's fine in the hangar, sir.” He answered sounding as unconvincing as possible,

Hardcase slammed into two other starships, sending them to the ground with loud clangs. You flinched, knowing this was going to be hard to explain.

“Then why have the alarms been triggered?!” The Jedi snapped over the console.

Fives stuttered before barely coming up with a response, “It's just a drill, a safety drill, sir!”

You and Kix managed to get behind a knocked down pile of crates. Both of you watched helplessly as Hardcase spun out of control, ramming into the wall and bouncing off of it.

“Safety check occurs at 0600. Who authorized this drill?!”

The ARC trooper choked on his words before coming up with another excuse, “Uh...We are decrypting the alien hardware, sir. Standard operating procedure!” He finally found an answer to tell the General.

Clones can not lie for shit! You threw a dumbfounded look at Kix before running to another spot for safety.

Hardcase hit an already downed ship, sending it bouncing in one direction before screeching to a halt. Apparently things could get worse because the damn starship began to rapidly fire green bolts everywhere.

“Shit!” You ducked down behind an open metal crate, next to Jesse “Hardcase, can you land the fucking thing!?”

“Let me try!” He called down to you. After a twist of his wrist, one of the large cannons attached jerked slightly and charged up a bright bolt, “No, no, no, no, no!” Hardcase desperately tried to undo…whatever he triggered, but was too late.

The bolt launched, hitting directly into the hangar doors, causing a burst of light and the metal to melt into ash.

“They’re dead. Krell is going to kill them.” Kix mumbled, sitting next to you, and Jesse, who was laughing too hard to speak.

You had your face in your hands when Hardcase managed to land the Umbaran fighter, “Got it. I got it. It's easy. Just level your hands.” He had a proud smirk when the ship was fully on the ground and the cockpit opened.

Five dashed forward, exasperated at what happened, “What, are you crazy? You could've gotten us killed! Not to mention ruining our hopes of flying this mission!”

“It's a malfunction, no harm done.” The other trooper tried to calm his friend. Before he could say anything else, another voice cut through the air.

“Explain this,” Krell demanded as he stomped towards the clones, “Now.” He was followed by captain Rex who looked more concerned and confused than mad.

Fuck! Clones really can’t lie for shit! You shot up, instantly speaking, “It was a trap, sir!” You could hear Jesse repress his snickering as you continued, turning the Jedi’s ire to you, “They were decrypting the enemy craft when what appears to be some sort of preventative failsafe went off.”

Rex’s eyes widened at you, but he remained silent, praying the Jedi wouldn’t see right through you.

“A trap!?” The General leaned forward at you, glaring.

“Yes sir,” Hardcase spoke up, covering for your lie, “The fighter went haywire and had I not been able to get control of it, and aim the missile at the doors, something worse might've happened.” He was standing at attention as the besalisk stared him down.

You kicked Jesse who hadn’t managed to stop his laughing. Rex, on the other hand, looked damn near stupefied. Kix had his face in his hands and you swear you could hear him praying.

Krell put his arms behind his back, a critical gaze on the troopers in front of him, “Is this true?” His question was directed at Fives who flinched at the sudden attention.

After a second to stutter he nodded, “Yes, sir. That is what happened, no doubt.”

The jedi General huffed, “Well, Captain Rex, looks like I was correct. The Umbaran fighters are dangerous and not fit for flight,” He turned and began to walk out of the half-destroyed hangar, “Lock down these fighters. I don’t want anything else exploding.”

Rex shook his head and cast a look at Fives and Hardcase before turning to follow the general.

You sank to the floor, putting your face in your hands. Jesse managed to calm down enough to get up and give a friendly clap to the two soldiers, “I thought the plan was to destroy the enemy ship with the fighters, not blow up our own hangar.” He had a grin as he put a hand on his hip.

You were about to say something when your comm beeped, “Doctor, you're needed in the medical bay. A patrol’s been injured.” Without waiting another beat, you dashed out of the hangar, Kix close behind you.

The two of you had arrived to a broken patrol of 5 men.

The most healthy was Cloud, holding a broken arm. But he was standing, and not your concern at the moment.

Blue had a hand over his charred shoulder. His helmet was off and he was breathing, awake and aware of his surroundings, However, next to him was a trooper laying on the floor. You could see the blood seep from under the helmet and pool onto the sterile white tiles.

Forty. His name is Forty. You remembered, spotting the ‘40’ he had written on his helmet.

Bind was on the floor, normally white plastiod stained a deep red. His helmet was off, jaw barely hanging on to his skull by shredded muscle and ripped tendons. It looked like he took a blaster bolt directly through the mouth, melting his tanned skin.

In his shaky arms was Thrall, heavy amounts of blood streaming from his stomach and chest. It looked like he had been ripped open by a beast and then thrown around. He was unmoving, and you weren’t even sure if he was even breathing.

“Kix, take Forty!” You commanded, immediately leaping into your training. Within minutes you had Thrall on one of the medical beds and hooked up to life support machinery.

Visually, you assessed the damage. To be safe, you used your new umbaran scanner to confirm.

Broken ribs. Ruptured diaphragm. Collapsed right lung.

Your medical mind put the pieces together. You prioritized.

Stabilize the lung, restore oxygen. Then, control the bleeding. Repair the diaphragm. Stabilize ribs.

So you got to work. Your hands were fast and efficient, setting the chest tube correctly to inflate the lung. From there, you focused on the sources of bleeding. However, your repairs weren’t quick enough.

Thrall’s heart rate took a nosedive. You fought against his death as long as you could, using a cardiac massage and other life restoring methods to keep him alive. As hard as you struggled and tried to save him, his body gave out.

Thrall succumbed to his wounds, and the list of the dead forced its way into your head.

Fyre. Vim. Oz. Ringo. North. Gabe. Tro. Tess. Zeb. Sante. Reign. Pheon. Dawn. Nim. Jamie. Hek. Recon. Mav. Zeo. Fisher. Hinge. Trident. Iron. Mesh. Steele. Bruno. Zeke. Jumper. Aura. Dia. Silk. Thrall.

“I’m sorry, He’s gone.” You informed the others before getting to Bind’s side. Kix was still working on Forty, and you couldn’t see exactly what the medic was dealing with.

Bind was breathing heavily, clearly in agony over the damage that was done to him. He was trembling, terrified and now grief stricken from losing Thrall.

“Bind, don’t worry, I got you.” Your voice took a soft tone as you injected him with the strongest painkiller available to you, “What happened to you five?”

“Krell sent us to a backroad West of here,” Blue responded shakily, “Said it could be used as a supply route, but…”

“He didn’t tell us traps were set over there.” Cloud finished his comrades sentence, “When we commed him for a scanner to sweep the area he said there wasn’t time. We needed to secure the road.”

“Krell…” You growled.

Bind flinched, jumping slightly when your finger brushed over an exposed nerve.

Immediately you felt sympathy. As someone who, just a rotation ago, had your own nerves exposed to open air, you knew his pain, “I’m sorry Bind.” you murmured softly, “I know it hurts…”

He stared at you, brown eyes filled with unshed tears.

Soldier bravado…of course…

“Blue,” you called to the trooper, “Come here, and let him squeeze your hand. He’s in a lot of pain.” You hid the true intentions of your request.

Hold his hand so he doesn’t feel alone.

Blue did as asked, clasping his trembling brother's hand.

Kix slammed his hands down on the surgical table. He swore, sweeping the medical supplies onto the tile floor where they clattered, “He’s gone.” His voice was trembling from emotion.

Forty.

Cloud slid onto the floor and ripped off his helmet before throwing it. It bounced a couple of times on the ground, “I fucking hate Krell!” He snapped. You didn’t comment when you saw the tears on his cheeks, “He’s purposely trying to get all of us killed!”

Kix sat down next to you, aiding in Bind’s jaw. This time, Blue spoke up, “How many men have we lost?”

“Too many.” Your answer didn’t seem to make him happy, so with a sigh you told the truth, “Assuming any MIA are casualties…almost a third.” You’ve seen the numbers. You’ve seen the names. The list you replayed in your head were only those who died under your hands that you blamed on Krell. There were many more. Those you couldn’t get to. Those who perished in the field that would remain as they decomposed. Those Kix lost.

There were too many that have died on Umbaran soil.

With Anakin and Ahoska, these numbers would never get so high. When they would lead, Kix and you were enough to handle the 501st with the Venator on standby to take the more seriously injured off the field.

But with Krell? It was clear that two medics wasn’t nearly enough.

If you had known this was going to happen, you would have contacted those you knew in other legions for support. You were sure General Plo would have gladly given his medics in the 104th to support the 501st.

Fuck, if General Plo was leading the 501st, you were sure Kix and you wouldn’t even have injured to help.

“One third.” Cloud whispered, “one third of our brothers…”

You stabilized Bind’s jaw and let Kix finish up. Wordlessly you went to the emotional trooper's side to begin to help his broken arm. Before you did so, you reached up and wiped his tears from his cheeks, “I’m sorry,” you whispered, “When we get out of this, and we will get out of this, I’m going to reach out to some contacts to punish Krell for all of this.”

“Will that even work?” Blue asked from where he was, now being tended to by the clone medic.

With a sigh you gave an honest answer, “I’m not sure,” you admitted, “But I know some senators. Even helped a few, so I’m sure they’d be willing to at least listen to me.”

“Just give up, Doc.” Cloud sniffled, looking away from you, “No one cares about us. We’re clones. We’re meant to be thrown onto the battlefield and then thrown away like trash.”

“Not if I can help it.” You responded, “I’ll become a senator just to stop that from happening if I have to.”

Blue snorted, “I’m gonna tell you, Doc. it's talk like this that has Captain Rex in love with you.”

Oh, shit did they know? Play dumb. Kix glanced up at you before looking back down at Blue’s shoulder.

Your words were steady and calm as you spoke, “He’s not in love with me, we’re just good friends.”

“You might see that,” Blue continued before wincing at something Kix had done, “But every time you turn your back, the Captain gets this lovestruck look in his eyes. He looks like a puppy, I swear to the Maker.”

Bind nodded in confirmation.

You couldn’t help but laugh softly. Oh if only they knew the truth.

Then an idea came into your head.

“What else does he do?” You asked playfully, taking full advantage of this.

“Well, that last planet, on Sataran.” the trooper continued, “there were three women and two men that tried to get with him. And not only did he turn them all down, he was looking for you directly afterward.”

You remembered that. Poor Rex had been so flustered to have been flirted with so aggressively.

“He’s in love with you, doctor.” Cloud chimed in quietly, “You make him happy.”

These guys needed a distraction from their grief. That much was clear. It's why Blue was so quick to start gossiping about their captain. All you could do was smile softly.

“All set,” you stood once Cloud’s arm was stable, “Bind, I want you to stay here, take the bed on the far left. Blue, Cloud, you two can go to the barracks to rest.” They all gave you a salute before following your command.

Once Bind was under the effects of painkillers and sedatives, you took a deep breath, “How long was that?”

“Couple hours at least,” Kix murmured, sitting down on a stool next to one of the medical consoles, after a few moments he sighed, “So one third of the 501st is dead?”

You confirmed with a nod.

“Maker, we suck at our jobs.” He mumbled, rubbing his face in his hands.

With a bitter snort, you began to evaluate the other soldiers. You use the scanner you cracked earlier. Their wounds differed of course. Severe burns, broken bones, head injuries, but the anomaly in their brains was consistent.

Perhaps it’s just a clone thing…

As you were working, the doors opened again. Dogma and Tup walked into the med bay. The longer haired trooper looked tired, as if he had been woken up against his will and dragged here by the former.

“Are you two alright?” You spoke first, thinking perhaps they needed something for their sleep. It wasn't unheard of for troopers to need medicine in order to get a proper amount of rest.

“Well, doctor,” Tup cleared his throat, “We-”

“Where did Hardcase, Jesse, and Fives go?” Dogma demanded.

Oh boy…

“If you two are just here to waste our fucking time, you may as well leave.” Kix snapped, standing to face them.

Dogma, however, didn't seem entirely phased by the medic, “If you know where they are, you need to tell the General. Otherwise it's insubordination.”

Poor Tup looked like he didn’t want to be here. You noticed the trooper looked extremely uncomfortable and unsure.

Your anger spiked, “Fine,” You approached the demanding trooper and grabbed his wrist, “Let me show you what we’ve been doing.” Your steps lead you to the surgical table that Thrall was laying on under a sheet. Still holding his wrist, you threw back the white cover, revealing the dead trooper.

“That!” You snapped, glaring at Dogma as he yanked his wrist back, eyes wide. “We don't know where those three are because we have been trying to fix that!”

Your emotions surged. Your vision blurred with tears.

Fuck. Calm down. Keep yourself together!

“Your ass kissing of an incompetent General hasn’t done anything to help us.” you seethed, “So get the fuck out of my sight and don’t bother me unless your fucking dying!”

He scrambled out of the medical bay, most likely to find Rex. Tup stopped in front of the door before looking back, “I think you're doing the best you guys can.” He sounded genuinely sorry for the situation, “Thank you for working so hard, and…I’m sorry.” He left quickly after Dogma, maybe hoping to talk him down.

Kix sighed and shook his head, “You ok?” He asked quietly.

No. I’m not. You thought before lying to your medic friend.

“Yea, just…yea. I’m fine.”

#reader insert #captain rex x reader #rex x reader #star wars tcw #star wars x reader #the clone wars x reader #tcw x reader #captain rex x you #captain rex #clone trooper hardcase #arc trooper fives #clone trooper jesse #clone trooper kix #clone trooper dogma #clone trooper tup #pong krell #umbara arc

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missvelvetsstuff · 1 month ago

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The Situation Room

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: After a mission almost gone wrong, Tony brings back Bucky's former assistant, who is also Bucky's ex. Can they work together without hurting each other? Will the whole truth about their break up finally come out?

Avengers AU where Thanos never happened.

Chapter 9

Warnings: swearing, angst

Radar tossed and turned all night, the session with Raynor had brought back so many memories that she had worked for years to bury.

Even Bucky didn't know many of the details of her past, just the major plot points.

She still believed deep down that she bore some responsibility for all of her troubles. That she could have done something different, or not done something, to have a better outcome.

Bucky didn't know that either and Dr Raynor had only reinforced that belief, making her feel like she was weak and a coward for leaving when things went bad.

At 3am she gave up and took a shower before going to the kitchen for something warm to drink, hoping it would help her relax. Of course, Bucky was already there.

Without a word he poured some of the cocoa he made into a mug for her, topping it off with some whipped cream.

Once she sat down and took a sip, he broke the silence "Are you ok, doll?"

Radar looked at him sadly, shrugging as she nodded "Sure. I'm still here, sometimes that's the best I can do."

Bucky nodded in understanding "Nightmares?"

"Yeah, your shrink is kind of a bitch and brought back a lot of memories I've tried to force down."

"I'm sorry, doll. She's got some tough love act that seems to make things worse before they get better. I shouldn't have asked you to come with me so soon."

Radar shook her head "It's not entirely on her, I have a lot of baggage. Most that you don't even know about."

She sighed "I don't know, it's stuff I've never told anyone else about but maybe that's part of my problem."

He nodded, "I understand, I'm not good at sharing my shit either, don't want to be a burden. But I'm here and I'll listen, anytime you need me. I know I fucked up taking John and Sharon's word about what I thought happened and I won't let that happen again."

She gave him a small smile "Yeah? I guess that's a start."

Then proceeded to fill in all the blanks that he didn't know about her past.

***Flashback***

Her father died in a terrible car accident when she was 7, or so they said. When she got older she realized there was something off about the whole situation, they said his brakes failed but he'd just had his car serviced.

It didn't take long for her mother to finish mourning him and find someone new. Not even a month.

Her half brother, Christopher, was born less than 6 months later. Y/N didn't understand the implications of the details until she was older.

The abuse from her stepfather, Rick, was just as much emotional as it was physical. Until she was 14 and it all came to a head.

It was a Friday night, her mother having a girls night out with her drinking buddies. Rick was working, he was a bartender at the local police watering hole. Her little brother, Christopher- 4 years old, was asleep in his room.

Y/N had a friend sleeping over, Diana, and they were hanging out, listening to music and talking about the boys they liked, Dave and his friend Will. When there was a knock at the front door, Y/N looked thru the peephole and saw the boys in question, making her giggle. She looked over at Diana, nodding with a grin on her face before opening the door.

The boys entered the house, hugging both girls.

"I'm not supposed to have boys over when my mom isn't home but you guys can hang out for a little bit."

They talked and Y/N danced with Dave while Diana and Will chatted on the couch. Dave leaned in to kiss Y/N when the front door slammed open, making her jump. It was Rick, spoiling things like he always did.

Rick looked at them and started yelling at Y/N before chasing Will and Dave out of the house.

When he came back inside, he pushed her up against the wall "Just wait, you little bitch. I'll tell your mom about this and you'll be grounded until you graduate."

He then went into a rant, telling her how awful her father was and how she'd be a loser like him.

Y/N was near tears as Rick threw every vile name and insult he could think of, at her "Why can't you just leave me alone, Rick?"

Rick laughed "I'll leave you alone when you get the fuck out of my house."

She shook her head "It's not your house, my dad bought this house!"

He scoffed "Details. I'm the man of this house now and you goddamn well better listen when I gave you an order. Now. Get. Out! Or I'll pick your ass up and throw you out."

She went to her room and filled her duffle bag with her clothes and her favorite items from the bathroom, she didn't have much. A plush Winnie the Pooh that her father had given her when she was little and a few pictures of him were the most precious. Then she drew a crayon stick figure picture of her and her brother with a heart around it and hid it in his favorite toy truck.

Diana's dad was waiting out front for them, having hurried over when his daughter called him.

Y/N spent the night at her friends house and woke up to hear Rick yelling at Diana's dad, Ernie. Ernie let Y/Ns mom inside to talk but stayed outside with Rick. An hour later her mother left with Rick, after telling Y/N that she wasn't welcome in her home anymore.

After that, Diana's parents took her in and took care of her until she finished school. She graduated high school and completed an associates degree online before enlisting at 19.

She hadn't told Bucky the whole story. He knew she had an abusive stepfather and enabler mother and that she enlisted to get away. She had told him bits and pieces of her childhood but said they had all died in the crash that killed her little brother, Christopher.

Her mother and Rick were still alive, still together to this day. His drinking and cheating were all out in the open because after he had served almost 10 years for DUI manslaughter in Christopher's death and her mother had been waiting for him he knew she would stay no matter what he did. Besides she had a decent job and it was hard for an ex-con to find work. He stayed home drinking and watching TV except when he was out drinking and taking random women to cheap motels. Often returning home reeking of alcohol and other women but his wife said nothing.

Radar's friends back home always gave her the local gossip and her parents were always one of the top 10 subjects.

Her dreams had been full of her little brother and the accident that killed him.

Her mother had been holding Christopher in her lap in the front seat, no car seat, and the airbag broke his neck, killing him instantly. Somehow her mother and stepfather had survived barely harmed but she only hated them more. There had been charges filed and her mother spent a short time in jail but nowhere near what Radar thought she deserved. The jury fell for her crocodile tears, even though Rick went down for it.

It would have been bad enough if the trauma ended there but she often felt like it followed her around, her own black cloud.

Y/N hadn't told Bucky all of the cruel and humiliating things John had done that lead to her leaving the Army. Drugging her wasn't a new thing for John when he helped destroy her relationship with Bucky, except it had been worse.

When they were together, he would drug her, then take advantage of her and let his friends have a turn. She didn't know until she found the pictures, that were so much worse than what Sharon showed Bucky.

John insisted that if she loved him, she would do whatever it took to make him happy.

Their C.O. had waved it all off as normal couple issues that were being exaggerated by a hysterical woman.

Then Radar had been passed over for a promotion that was promised and past due, and another, making her realize that making a complaint about her unit's golden boy had put a target on her back.

After they broke up, she received orders for her new assignment in the Arizona desert and had enough. As soon as she moved there, she spoke to the C.O. about resigning when her current enlistment term ended in 18 months. Her new C.O. was a woman and understood, regretfully accepting her letter of resignation and writing a recommendation for the CIA.

The CIA had been great for her, feeling like she was still serving the people and being useful, until her back injury. She wasn't made for desk duty and hadn't intended for her friendship to become romantic but the thrill of keeping an affair with her supervisor secret gave a similar rush to putting herself in danger in the field. Until they were discovered.

Of course her supervisor was given the opportunity to keep her job and title but Radar, being lower in the pecking order was let go.

Looking back she knew she was lucky that her service record kept them from blackballing her completely and she was recruited by Nick Fury to help rebuild SHIELD into SWORD.

***END Flashback***

Radar was exhausted after spilling the details of her past but she felt somehow lighter for having shared that burden.

Bucky held her as she cried, rubbing her back and murmuring softly into her hair "its ok, doll. I've gotchu. I'm right here."

He pushed down the rage inside him, wishing Steve hadn't pulled him away from Walker. He didn't want Rader to feel it and put it aside to deal with later.

When her crying calmed, Radar looked up at Bucky with red eyes "You see? Raynor is right. I'm a coward who runs away when things get rough."

Bucky shook his head "No! That's not true. You tried to fix things, make them better and when it didn't work you were brave enough to walk away and start over. Sounds like real courage to me."

They talked for a short while longer until Radar fell asleep against his shoulder. He tried not to chuckle when he heard her soft snores and stretched his legs out before falling asleep himself.

@unaxv @calwitch @buckitostan @cjand10 . @vicmc624 @sandrab02

Chapter 10

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #james bucky barnes x reader #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes x you #angst with a happy ending #james bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x female reader #the situation room

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cuubism · 7 months ago

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If you’re still doing it you KNOW I’m a slut for the physical therapy au 👀👀👀 (🤘five-and-dimes)

@five-and-dimes I had to go and actually WRITE more but here it is XD. don't know if this is in the end of chapter 9 or if there'll have to be an epilogue. fuck.

Dream is fidgeting. Shifting back and forth on the balls of his feet, rubbing his fingers together. Hob watches this for a few minutes before finally saying something. “Are you worried he’s going to show up? Because I’ll throw him out.” “I know you will,” Dream says. Still, he keeps watching the room nervously, all the people meandering around, chatting amongst themselves. “It’s not that. It’s… what if they all hate it?” Hob takes his hand and squeezes it. “Did you used to get nervous before?” “Sometimes. But I knew, at least, that I felt confident in what I had made. What anyone else thought of it was of less importance.” He looks up at the painting they’re closest to, a large, cool-toned piece. “I still feel sometimes that it is not right, now.” “Maybe it’s right for now,” Hob says, and Dream looks at him questioningly. “Didn’t most famous artists have seasons? They didn’t always work in the same style for their whole careers.” “I suppose that’s true.” He sighs. “I am still getting used to it.” “You also don’t have to sell them, if you don’t want to,” Hob points out. “Remove that whole bit from the equation.” “I want to know that I can,” says Dream. “That this, as a career, is not hopeless.” “I’ll buy them,” Hob swears. “One, that would result in a net of zero money coming in. Two—” his lips twitch up— “you can’t afford me.” “You’re right, I can’t. You should have tipped your physical therapist, then maybe I could.” “I’m already sleeping with my physical therapist, now I have to pay you as well?” “Sex can’t buy paintings, Dream,” Hob says sadly. “Well, unless…” “Hmm. Perhaps I’ll just do a portrait of you for my next exhibition,” Dream muses. “A nude one.” “Hell yeah,” Hob says, and Dream, evidently anticipating a no, starts giggling. “Just don’t sell it. Makes me feel weird to think of some random guy with one of my nudes above their mantlepiece.” “One of your nudes?” Dream asks, raising an eyebrow. “There are others I’m unaware of?” Hob just winks at him.

#dream's exhibition #physical therapy fic #ask #five-and-dimes #:)

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bella-rose29 · 10 months ago

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Deck the Halls (and not your partner) - part 9

this has been a long time coming but it's finally here! have some simping over lockwood's hands to make up for the wait (there's more next chapter too 😉)

Word count: 5k words

Warnings: swearing, Steph (HUGE WARNING, I HATE HER IN THIS BUT IT'S NECESSARY FOR THE CONTINUATION OF THE SERIES, SHE MADE ME WANT TO THROW UP), a lot of simping over lockwood's hands (also he's wearing a ring), innuendos ig? references to not so sfw times, vague references to body image issues and related things, I think that's it?

family photos and a gingerbread house competition (part 1)

series master list

(couldn't pick between these two so I put them both, you're welcome, also thinking about it they both match the vibes that lockwood has in this part)

“Remind me why we're doing this?”

“Because it's a tradition, Anthony. I would have thought this would be right up your street!”

“Well it is, but I don't see why we have to be stood next to Steph and Linda.”

“That's just Mum's positioning. She says it looks best that way and nobody argues with her.”

Anthony hummed, looking around at the family members gathered in the living room. The fire had been set up a few minutes ago, Ben stacking up the kindling like building blocks and setting some larger pieces of wood around them, striking a match and closing the door. Most people were already ready for the family photo, and Anthony and Y/n were sat on their loveseat while they waited for Steph and Linda to come downstairs.

Predictably, the two of them were still in their bedrooms fussing about the fact they had to do this, but Emma was taking full advantage of the fact that nobody could leave and had forced them into joining them.

"I don't know why they're so upset, really,” Anthony mused, trailing his fingertips over Y/n's shoulder. The way they were sat with her curled into his side made it a slightly awkward angle, but he could put aside the pain in his own shoulder if it meant he was closer to her. “I think that you look adorable in that jumper.” Y/n frowned, scrunching her nose up and glaring up at him.

“Adorable? I look like I've been shoved into a charity shop and been pulled out backwards through the racks!”

“The dancing reindeer really take the cake, if I'm being honest.”

“Stop it. They look deranged.”

“They look happy, darling.” He paused, taking in the wide eyes and toothy grins of the reindeer that decorated the matching red jumpers that the whole family were wearing. “And possibly like they've seen too many deaths. But they're smiling, and they've got... what is that, chocolate bars?”

“I think it's beer, Ant. The deranged reindeer are drinking beer while they're being wrapped up in a net of Christmas lights.”

"Christmas lights... that actually light up," he grinned, pressing the button on her jumper to demonstrate his point. Y/n sighed, trying to look cross with him, but the small smile on her face gave her away.

“You're such a ridiculous idiot sometimes,” she said quietly, gazing fondly at him. The lights on her jumper were still flashing, decorating her face in different colours.

“Yeah, but I'm your ridiculous idiot.” She snorted, then kissed him gently on the lips. If they hadn't been in the presence of most of her family members, Anthony would have held her there for hours.

As it was, however, she reluctantly pulled away a few seconds later, smiling widely when he automatically chased her mouth.

“Alright, love birds, stop making the rest of us feel so single and lonely,” Will called out, attempting to sound annoyed. Anthony knew that the man couldn't be happier about his little sister getting a boyfriend, and that he was easily settling in to his newfound role of teasing them about their relationship.

“Shove off, Will,” Y/n rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her brother, and he responded by sneakily giving her the middle finger.

“Right,” Emma declared, looking around the room at everyone gathered. “Where's Linda? And Steph?”

"I think they're still upstairs, Mum," John replied, not looking up from the sofa as he sat on top of Sam and whacked him around the head with a pillow. Sam looked like he was being slightly suffocated under his brother's weight, but nobody seemed to take much notice. The two of them fought like that a lot, and Anthony supposed that everyone was used to it now which was why nobody intervened.

“John, stop killing your brother for five minutes and go and find them. Tell them they need to come down right away or I'm dragging them. And putting flour in their hair.” John went to complain, but at the glare that was sent his way he quickly shut his mouth and headed out the room, not before delivering one last hit to Sam's head for good measure.

Within three minutes John was back, Linda and Steph in tow as they grumbled about the jumpers they had been forced into.

“This is disgusting. And we're all wearing the same ones? Really, Emma? It's bad enough that you made your own sister wear this... monstrosity, but forcing it on all of us? Unbelievable.” Anthony barely hid his scowl as Linda talked down on her sister, and if he didn't think Emma could defend herself he would have leapt to do it himself.

“You can take it off the moment we're done here, alright? But this is my house, Linda, and you're playing by my rules. It's not like you can go anywhere, so you might as well shut it and take the damn photo with us.”

Linda opened and closed her mouth like a fish for a few moments, before deciding against responding and moving to where her sister had pointed for her to stand.

“Thank you,” Emma sighed, finishing setting up the camera. “Right, everyone get into position please, no squabbling!”

Anthony smiled as Y/n huffed and stood up, stretching out her limbs after being curled up in his lap for the past however many minutes, and within the next five minutes (that felt much longer than that) all family members present were in the places that Y/n’s mother had assigned to them, and she was clicking the button on the camera to take the photo. She rushed to take her own place next to Ben as the timer started counting down, plastering on a wide smile a second before the flash went.

“Can we go now?” Steph whined from where she stood to Anthony’s left. She’d had to squeeze in to fit in the picture, and the sheer amount of perfume she had on was making Anthony suffocate slightly.

“Uh, hang on. Let me check that it’s a good photo. Ugh, Tom, honey, you’re meant to be smiling, not staring at the camera like you want to kill it. Let’s try again. Sam, don’t be making stupid faces this time, alright?”

“Yes, Mum,” Sam said, stifling a laugh when Will poked him in the side. Nana Jean ruffled Tom’s hair, much to Emma’s chagrin (it had taken her ages to get it somewhat neat), but the action gained a smile in response.

They tried again, the flash going off a second time, and when Emma gave the all-clear Linda and Steph immediately moved to take off their jumpers. “Hideous things,” Linda muttered, clearly not in the holiday spirit.

“You two had better not go anywhere,” Nana Jean said, pointing a crooked finger at them when they went to leave. “We’re building gingerbread houses next and if nothing else it’ll be a competition where you can attempt to destroy everyone else, so get your asses in the kitchen!” Anthony had been pleasantly surprised at how much energy the 80-year-old woman had, especially since her knees were basically completely ruined, and he had found himself engaged in lively conversation with her on more than one occasion. She wasn’t entirely fond of Y/n’s choice of work, but from what Anthony could tell that was more to do with the fact that she was very fond of her granddaughter, and would rather not receive a letter in the mail telling her that Y/n was dead.

“We’ll go together, right?” Y/n asked, looking up at him while everyone was getting into pairs. He was just about to answer when Nana Jean appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his arm. He looked down at her in surprise (she was quite a small woman), confusion all over his face.

“I’m taking this one, you can go with your Gramps. I’ve never won with him, not once. This’ll be my year, I can feel it! And your lover boy is going to help me!”

“Good luck, Nana. I don’t think Anthony can cook toast, let alone gingerbread.” Y/n was smirking, crossing her arms as she let triumph seep into her expression despite not having started the competition yet.

“Oh really? You also didn’t think I’d be any good at snowball fights. You’d be surprised what I can do with my hands, darling.” He immediately blushed at the look on Y/n’s face, and steadfastly refused to look at either her or Nana Jean. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he muttered, shaking his head and hoping the situation would end so he could go and bury himself in blankets and hibernate for years. He felt someone nudge his side and his cheeks got hotter still when he saw Nana Jean smiling up at him with a cheeky look on her face.

“I’m sure Y/n/n knows all about what your hands can do, love.”

“Nana!” Y/n cried, exasperation in her voice. “You can’t say that!”

“Well I don’t think I’m wrong! You’ve been together eight months now; I married your Gramps in less time! Come on, Anthony!” She cheerfully turned and headed out the living room, dragging Anthony behind her and leaving Y/n to stand staring incredulously after them.

~~~

Y/n still hadn’t fully recovered from Anthony’s comment (and then Nana Jean’s addition) about his hands, and she was meant to be making gingerbread.

Her Gramps had settled at the dining table with tracing paper, a pencil and far too many rulers, while she was measuring out the ingredients and mixing them together in a large bowl. He’d been an architect before he retired, helping draw up the plans for the Fittes Building and providing sketches for housing that had helped when people were on the streets at the beginning of the Problem because their houses were unsafe. Y/n had listened to him talking about his job a thousand times, but she still didn’t know what the purpose of all the different rulers were.

“Gramps, you know you don’t have to get that technical about it, right?”

“Oh yes I do! I’m not letting Jeanie win this year, oh no! She thinks I’ve lost my touch with architecture, but I was doing badly deliberately because I knew, one year, she’d get fed up and go with someone else! She has no idea what’s coming!” Her Gramps chuckled, shaking his head and clutching his side as he thought about how deceptive he had been. Y/n smiled, remembering all the previous years where Nana Jean had become so exasperated at his apparent incapability that she’d given up all hope of winning with him. It had had no impact on their marriage, and the two of them were just as in love as they had been when they first got married, but Nana Jean also had a healthy love of winning things, and gingerbread was one of her specialties.

“Focus, love, you’re tipping the mix out the bowl,” her Gramps said, nudging her in the arm. Y/n looked down to see the mess that she’d made over the table, and cursed softly under her breath. “What were you thinking about to make you zone out like that?” She flushed, and cast a quick glance over to where Anthony was stood at the island in the kitchen carrying out the same job as her. Without thinking, her gaze drifted down to where his hands were mixing the ingredients together in the bowl, and when her Gramps coughed she snapped her focus back to him and realised that she hadn’t actually given him an answer. Damn her Nana for saying what she said about Anthony’s hands and putting thoughts into her head!

“Sorry,” she muttered, trying to ignore the weird look he was giving her and the heat that was now permanently in her cheeks.

“That’s alright, love. Just scoop it back up, like this, there we are. That’s looking pretty good I’d say. Go ahead and add the next bits now, and I’ll finish drawing up these stencils.”

~~~

“What do I need to do now?” Anthony asked, holding his hands just above the bowl. Nana Jean looked over from where she had finished cutting up the last of the stencils and smiled.

“Ah, you’ve added in the butter mixture, good lad. Looks perfect to me, so let’s get it rolled out and we can start cutting. We need to make sure we get to the oven before Richard and Y/n do, because then we’ll have a head start on the decorating.”

“Alright.”

“You might want to wash your hands first though, what with all that mix on there. Make sure you get as much as you can in the bowl before you go and scrub ‘em.” Anthony nodded, starting to push off all the gingerbread mix that had clung to his fingers while he’d been bringing the ingredients together. He heard laughter from across the room and immediately recognised it as Y/n’s, which was strange because he didn’t think that he’d heard her laugh so unapologetically since coming here. Normally it was forced, or real but contained, and although they hadn’t got along before this entire situation had happened she had still laughed like she was currently (normally when he fell over from tripping on his coat). She was gorgeous when she smiled widely, and even more so when she laughed, and Anthony paused in his actions as he watched her be properly happy around her family for one of the first times this holiday.

He knew that she got on well with her Gramps, despite his reservations about her job and some of the comments he made about her being ‘too much to handle sometimes’, but clearly they could forget about that when they were baking together, without the pressure of Steph and Linda watching their every move.

No, Anthony had that pleasure, and Steph’s eyes hadn’t left his face for the past thirty minutes.

He felt the weight of her gaze now, and after sending a small wave to Y/n when she looked over and saw him (she’d stuck her middle finger up in response, but had immediately blown him a kiss when he acted hurt) he sighed and turned to Steph. “Can I help you?” He asked, resuming his previous actions of taking the gingerbread mixture off of his hands and depositing it into the bowl.

“I think you can,” she answered, plastering on a sickly sweet smile and slowly walking over to stand on his left. She stopped barely a hair’s breadth away from his arm, and the perfume she had on was swarming his senses and making him want to gag. It was just as cloying as her smile. “See, I’ve been thinking a lot recently,” Steph started, and Anthony bit back his retort of ‘careful, don’t strain yourself too much’ and tried not to flinch when her hand came in contact with his shoulder. “I think that we haven’t really had a chance to… get to know one another. Properly. And I really would like to… get to know you, Anthony.” Her fingers danced down his arm, and he couldn’t help the grimace that came across his face at her tone. He stepped away a little, trying to not knock Nana Jean while still putting some distance between Stephanie and her wandering hands (that had since moved to his chest).

“I’m not sure I follow,” he frowned, turning and moving to the sink. He’d gotten as much of the sticky gingerbread mixture off of his hands as possible, and now all that was left was to douse them in water. Steph followed him, gripping his arm tightly and restricting his movement. He was too good of an agent to panic - panicking in his line of work meant almost-certain death - but he could feel unease creeping up his spine and a chill working its way into his bones like miasma.

“Why don’t we take a minute? Out in the hallway?” He really didn’t like the way she’d said that, all low and what seemed like an attempt at seduction (he couldn’t tell because it was so bad, but from the look in her eyes he could make a guess), and he shook his head.

“I’ve got to stay here, help out Jean. Shouldn’t you be making your own gingerbread?”

“Oh, that thing? No, we never win so what’s the point? I’d much rather spend some time with you… alone.” Anthony finished washing his hands, trying to ignore how Steph’s grip on his arm had somehow grown stronger in the last minute, and turned back to the island. His eyes scanned the kitchen and dining room, desperately searching for someone that would see he’d been accosted and would come to his rescue, but everybody was busy making gingerbread houses.

“A minute and a minute only. No more than that,” he said, giving in. Steph’s smile turned smug, and she dragged him out of the kitchen, at which point Nana Jean did look up, sending him a questioning look. Anthony mouthed ‘sorry, back in a moment’ just in time before the kitchen door shut in his face. He sighed, closing his eyes and clenching his jaw in preparation for whatever the hell Steph wanted. “Right,” he started, opening his eyes again and looking around for her. “What’s so urgent that you needed to-” He was cut off by Steph practically lunging at him, grabbing his face and pushing her lips onto his. It took him roughly a second to figure out what was happening, and he quickly got over his initial shock and shoved her off. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth, looking at Steph with disgust.

“Oh come on! I know for a fact that you and Y/n aren’t actually together, so what does it matter? Besides,” she continued, sidling up to him again when he took a step back, “I know that deep down you want this, Anthony.” He frowned, both at her words and at how she was still coming towards him, and the previous chill that had settled on him was now a raging storm. He kept it contained, not wanting to cause too much of a scene when anyone could hear what was happening on the other side of the door (that was now blocked by Steph), but the anger was evident when he spoke.

“I’m not sure where you got those ideas from, Stephanie, or why you think that I will ever want you when Y/n is in my life, but you need to stop.” She tried to contain her shock at his rough tone, but the way her eyes widened gave her away.

“Wha-”

“Let me finish. First of all, why do you think we’re not actually together? Are you so disbelieving of the fact that Y/n is a genuinely incredible person and could absolutely get anyone she wanted? Because I consider myself lucky that she even tolerates my presence half the time, let alone wants to date me. Second, even if we weren’t together, it would matter to me. I’m not the sort of person who switches loyalties that easily, and I will always, always, put my relationship with Y/n before any kind of attempted civilities with you. As it happens, she is my girlfriend, and quite honestly the fact that you think I’ll ever leave her for you is laughable.” He was being mean, he knew, but he was too done with Steph’s behaviour to worry about being nice and charming now. He’d pieced together the last of the puzzle that had been bothering him since he first got here too, connecting the dots between Linda and Steph’s comments and Y/n’s subsequently strange behaviour since arriving here. “So no, I do not want this. What I want is for you to stop bullying her, and belittling her, and making her feel like shit all the damn time, because she doesn’t deserve it,” he seethed, jabbing his finger in her face. “She doesn’t deserve any of it at all. All the comments about how much she’s eating, or her body shape, or giving her a gym membership as a Christmas present, or telling her she’s not pretty enough because she doesn’t look like you, or because she wears the same dress two years in a row, all of that needs to stop. Because you make her act like an entirely different person when you’re around and that is not alright. Because Y/n is ten times the person that you will ever be, Steph, because she isn’t a bully. She’s genuine, and kind, and loving, and the most beautiful girl in the entire universe, and she doesn’t deserve a single iota of the hate that you give her.”

Steph was quiet for a minute, processing everything he’d just ranted about. “I overheard you,” she finally said, not looking at him. “That first night when Y/n stormed off upstairs in some stupid tantrum-”

“She stormed off upstairs because you were being a bitch.”

“Right,” Steph didn’t looked too bothered, but she at least had the grace to flinch at his icy tone. “Well after you went up, I followed, because yeah, you’re right, I am very disbelieving that someone as good-looking as you would ever go for someone as ugly as her when you know you could do at least twenty times better, and I thought there was something weird about it! And there was a very large period of time when I couldn’t hear anything, which was really annoying because my legs were getting tired from-”

“Steph, hurry it up.” He had barely any patience remaining now, and her voice had gone all whiny and irritating.

“Oh, yeah. Well, then I heard you two talking about how it was really hard pretending to like each other or something, and you were arguing and saying that you were pretending to date.” Anthony froze for a moment, but rapidly recovered and eased himself into his normal ‘customer service’ persona, plastering on a pitiful smile. Before he could say anything though, Steph was moving towards the kitchen door, one hand on the handle. “It’s been quite fun, really, watching you fake a relationship to everyone. I’ve been trying to work out when the best time to bring it up was ever since Christmas Day after you had a go at me. So, either you tell them all, or I do. You’ve got nowhere to hide now, and I am going to enjoy watching this whole thing collapse on Y/n. I’ll give you until after the competition’s been judged; I wouldn’t want to ruin the festivities.” Her smile was even more sickening than it had been when she’d first started this conversation back in the other room, and after she disappeared into the kitchen and closed the door behind her, Anthony let out a shaky breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding.

He needed to talk to Y/n before the end of the competition, and figure out how the hell they were going to deal with Steph.

~~~

She couldn’t stop staring at his hands.

Since coming back in from whatever hallway conversation he’d had with Steph, Anthony had gone right back to helping Nana Jean with a smile on his face, despite the wary glances he kept throwing towards Y/n’s cousin. She hadn’t seen the two of them step out, but she had noticed that Anthony was gone, because she’d gone to look at his hands again and he wasn’t there.

Her Gramps was helping her cut out the shapes they would need for their gingerbread house, and she’d been doing just fine until out of the corner of her eye she’d seen Anthony slip back on the ring he always wore.

He had taken it off earlier when Nana Jean told him he needed to mix the ingredients with his hands, not wanting to get the metal coated in gingerbread mix, but now that his hands were clean again he was adjusting it back on his finger.

Why couldn’t she stop staring at his hands?

She’d nearly cut a piece of gingerbread entirely wrong just now because she had been too focused on how the metal band looked against his slender fingers while he rolled out the gingerbread, and her Gramps had scolded her by chucking a bit of flour at her face.

“Pay attention, love, you’re very distracted today. Is everything alright?”

“Oh, uh- yeah… yes. Everything is… is fine.” She hadn’t taken her eyes off of his ring, which meant she didn’t see either her Gramps’ concerned look or Anthony’s bemused one until Will was calling across the kitchen.

“Keep it in your pants, Squeak! You can take your Lover Boy to bed after the gingerbread competition!” Y/n flushed as her gaze snapped up to meet Anthony’s, finally noticing that she’d been caught blatantly checking out his hands.

“Alright, Will,” her mother scolded, although there was a hint of amusement behind it that made Y/n want the ground to swallow her up. Anthony just raised his eyebrows at her, smirk on his face, and she didn’t have it in her to fight back, instead turning back to the gingerbread in front of her and cutting out the last of the shapes.

~~~

“Hey,” Anthony said, finally getting a chance to talk to Y/n. Pretty much everybody either had their gingerbread shapes in the ovens, or they were waiting for a space to free up, so he had been excused by Nana Jean for a while.

“Oh, hi!” She hadn’t seen him walk over, but the second she realised he was there she reached up and planted a quick kiss on his mouth. He felt himself blush, despite it being over faster than most of their kisses, and she let out a snort. “Really? All I did was give you a peck on the lips, Ant.”

A wave of confidence came over him, and although the heat stayed on his cheeks he leaned down to murmur in her ear. “Well I wasn’t doing much with my hands but I still had you blushing, didn’t I darling?” Y/n had no answer to that (not that it had really been a question; he’d seen her staring earlier and he was almost certain her thoughts had drifted somewhere other than something innocent), and before he pulled back Anthony pressed a lingering kiss just by her ear.

“You- y- you can’t just say that, Ant! Jesus!” He laughed, wrapping his arm around her waist and bringing her into his chest while she hid her face in his neck. He hummed, happy, until he caught a glimpse of Steph out of the corner of his eye.

“Darling?”

“What?” she replied, although it was somewhat muffled since her head was still buried in his christmas jumper.

“We need to talk about something really quickly, do you want to step out?” Y/n lifted her head, frown crossing her features. Anthony wanted to press kisses to it until it disappeared, but the conversation he’d had with Stephanie was at the front of his mind.

“Okay… is everything alright?” she asked as he led her out of the kitchen by the hand. He didn’t say anything until they were in the library, safely away from all other family members. “Ant, seriously, what’s going on?”

“Steph talked to me earlier.”

“Right… how was it?”

“Awful. She kissed me.”

“WHAT?!”

“Darling, it’s fine, it was less than a second and I shoved her off and-“

“What? Oh! Oh, no, I’m not angry with you, Ant. I’m pissed at her for kissing my fucking boyfriend!”

“Ah. Okay. Well that’s not actually the thing I wanted to talk about.”

“There’s more?!”

“She knows. That we’re not… that we weren’t… that we were faking it. She doesn’t know that we stopped doing that and started actually dating, because she walked away before I could tell her that, but she’s known since the first night and she’s been waiting ever since. She gave me an ultimatum, and said that either we fess up or she does, right after the competition has been judged. Seemed far too happy about watching you suffer, to be honest. I think she might need to see a doctor.” Y/n stared at him, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she shut it completely.

“So, Steph knows. Steph has known basically the entire time. And Steph has done nothing?”

“Yes. She said something about wanting to ‘watch the whole thing collapse on you’ and that she would ‘enjoy it’ or something?”

“That bitch. Well what are we gonna do then? Because whatever happens it sounds like my family is finding out about this whole… thing,” she flapped her hands between them before sighing and pressing them to her face. “I was right. This is a shitshow.”

“Hey, hey. Worst case scenario is Steph tells everyone, yes? But then we can just tell them the truth. Will knows, and he’ll back us up, right? And I’m fairly certain that Nana Jean knows but I’m not sure how, she just kept making these little comments while we were baking earlier and winking at me and I just - it just feels like she knows.”

“Nana Jean’s just like that, I suppose. It would make sense if she knew. Okay. You’re right. We can do this. We’ll just wait until Steph tells everyone, and then tell the truth.” Y/n paused for a moment, looking down at the floor while she chewed her lip. “I don’t think I can tell the truth,” she said, and when she brought her gaze back up her eyes were shining with the tears that were threatening to fall. Anthony stepped closer, framing her face in his hands and planting a soft kiss to her forehead.

“You don’t need to tell the whole truth. Not if you don’t want to. Just the bit about us being in a proper relationship now if you like, and I can do that if you need me to. But whatever you choose, darling, I’ll be with you. I will be right by your side, Y/n, always.”

“Thank you, Anthony.”

“Anytime, my darling. Anytime at all.”

He hoped she knew just how much he meant it.

part 10

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#deck the halls (and not your partner)#lockwood and co #lockwood & co #anthony lockwood #anthony lockwood x reader #anthony lockwood x you #lockwood x reader #enemies to lovers #fake dating #christmas

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ofstoriesandstardust · 10 months ago

Text

chapter 9 - i know it won't work (b.r.b.)

a/n: after ten months of this chapter being at an absolute standstill, i have finally, finally finished this chapter. as always, @gretagerwigsmuse was an extraordinary human being for reading through all of it for me. i don't know if anyone is still interested in this series, but i'm posting it for anyone who is

summary: You're convinced it won't work, despite's Bradley persistence.

flight risk masterlist

warnings: alcohol, insecurities, swearing, this one is a bit heavy but has a hopeful ending

word count: 3.8k

"i've had the thought, tried to work it out through anxious pacin'/what if i'm not worth the time and breath i know you're saving?"

The front door opens as the plate clangs in the dishwasher, forcing you to cringe. You hold your breath, hoping it's not enough to catch the attention of Bradley.

Not just yet.

You aren't ready.

You know you have to talk to Bradley at some point. Tonight, preferably. But still, you're worried that staying might have been the wrong choice, that he doesn't want you here after this morning.

You're afraid to hear him tell you that you have to leave.

Bradley cautiously slips into the kitchen, not quite meeting your eye, almost like he's afraid. His face is hesitant as he cautiously looks up from the floor, to see you standing there, bent awkwardly over the dishwasher you'd been loading for him.

"You're here." He breathes out, almost unsure. "You stayed." He stays put, seemingly thinking that if he takes another step forward, speaks any louder than he currently is, you'll dissipate into thin air. You grimace at the thought that your continued reaction of leaving did that to him.

You shut the dishwasher, wincing as the ceramic plates clang together as you do, before standing straight, wringing your hands together. "Yeah." You breathe, unsure of where to look. "I- I didn't want to leave things between us like that."

He almost looks surprised by that answer, taking a cautious step forward. "So you wanna work things out?"

You lean up against the counter, eyes falling away from his. "I don't know if we can."

He lets out a forced laugh, something underneath you can't read, something that you want to say might be disbelief. "Come fucking on, Sunshine. You're supposed to be in fucking Boston right now. But you're not. You're here. That's gotta count for something, right?"

You push yourself away from the counter, turning away from him. "I don't know, Bradley. Don't you ever think that-" You pause, worrying your lip.

"What?"

You shrug before turning to face him again. "Don't you ever think that if we were supposed to be by now, we would've been?"

Bradley's face softens under his hesitancy. "Sunshine, we were kids when we met. We both had our own baggage and problems; we didn't know any better!" He steps closer to you, closing the distance by almost half. "I firmly believe that if we had gotten together at UVA, we would've blown it."

You huff, rolling your eyes. "Great."

He reaches out for you this time, bringing you back to face him even as you try to turn away again. "Sunshine, please stop reading into everything I say as if I mean the worst. I mean that we were kids and we were young and stupid and traumatized and both just trying to survive. Anything we felt as kids, it wouldn't have been enough for us to persevere against what the real world would've thrown at us." He squeezes your forearms, finally letting you go. "Look at what happened to fucking Tommy and Ella, yeah? They were the perfect couple with the perfect family that ended in divorce because they were kids when they did all that. But look at Eli and Bailey-"

"We're not them." You say, eyes narrowing as you cross your arms. "Stop fucking comparing us to people who don't give a shit about me."

He sighs. "That's not what I meant." He takes a step backwards, running a hand through his hair. "Sunshine, I was not equipped or emotionally available enough to be with you while we were at UVA. I was halfway convinced I was unlovable." His voice breaks as he looks at you pleadingly.

"Bradley, I-" You blow out a breath, shaking your head.

"Sunshine, I've never kept a solid relationship. You know that, a million people have told you that. Even when the other girls were perfect, they weren't you. I have always wanted to be with you Sunshine. I craved you like I crave flying a jet, or spending time with Maverick. You're an integral part of my life and who I am Sunshine, that's never going to go away."

You're unable to bring yourself to say anything, just look at him. Tears are stinging at your eyes for the umpteenth time in the last 24 hours, the emotion crawling up your throat, hearing him talk about how much you mean to him.

"Do you love me?" He whispers softly. “Because I love you - so much.”

You scoff at his question, that Bradley could have ever had any doubt how you felt about him. "Of course I fucking love you. I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you since I was 19 and in a shitty relationship you were begging me to get out of. I was in love with you when we were on a fucking camping trip and woke up to you cuddling me. I was in love with you when you were 25 and called me to tell me you were going to Top Gun for the first time and I was in love with you three months ago when you called me and asked me to come visit you. I was in love with you then and I'm in love with you now. I've never stopped, I don't know how."

He frowns as a beat passes. "Why do I get the feeling there's a but coming?"

"It's not realistic, Bradley! It would never- it would never work. We live on opposite coasts. I-" You cut yourself off, unsure of how to vocalize all the doubt you're feeling.

"Isn't the way we feel about each other enough?"

"No!" You nearly shout. "This isn't some Disney movie Bradley, where we all just get a happy ending! We live entirely different lives on opposite coasts. What do you want me to do? Give up my career? Sit here and play happy military wife forever? I can't just- drop everything to come here because I love you."

“That’s not what I’m saying! I’m not saying that you- you have to give up everything for me, much less be confined to the title of your marital status. I’m just saying- you made a sacrifice once before for me.”

"That's not even in the same stratosphere of being the same thing."

He cocks his head. "Then fine, I'll drop everything to be with you."

You scoff again. "Bradley, no."

"Why not?" He demands. "I don't care what it takes. I just want to be with you."

"Bradley, I'm not letting you give up your career, your friends, your relationship with your godfather! You just got Maverick back, for fuck's sake. I can't-" You pause, your throat beginning to feel tight. "I'd never forgive myself if I took that from you." You struggle to swallow around the lump in your throat as a hot tear rolls down your face. "You have a really good thing going here Bradley. I would never ask you to give that up."

"You're not asking! I would give it all up if it meant I got to keep you, to have you."

You tilt your head. "You know that's not true." You whisper hoarsely. "You know that I'm not- I'm not the girl you should give it all up for."

Bradley’s face falls, a look of defeat replacing it. "What will it take for you to see that you're all I want Sunshine?"

You shake your head, turning away from him as you walk towards the kitchen window. "I can not believe I ended up here." You mutter. "How did I end up here?"

Bradley doesn't say anything.

"You know, I always swore I would never get married and because of some stupid decision we made as kids, I did. I swore I would never fall in love and yet because I trusted some stupid kid, I did." You groan, hands reaching up to rub your temples. "I should've been smarter."

"Woulda, coulda, shoulda Sunshine." Bradley says, but you barely hear him, the panic playing out in your mind.

How had you ended up here?

"I'm fucking stupid for doing this to myself, I know how this ends. My parents fucking hate each other and they had kids who hate them and each other. I've got no idea what good love looks like and-"

"Sunshine." Bradley says firmly, stepping back into your swimming vision. "You are not your parents, do you understand me? You're not like, destined to fuck this up, okay?" He reaches out softly, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear before kissing the top of your head softly. "Please, Sunshine. Just let me love you. Please, that’s all I’m asking right now.”

“And then what happens? What happens after I’ve let you love me and I’ve fallen even more in love with you? We won’t be able to make dinner together every night or snuggle up on the couch watching TV. I won’t be able to sleep beside you or run errands together. No - no, Bradley. I don’t even have all of those things fully now, I’m not gonna let myself have the dream of it happening one day.”

The defeat in Bradley shows in his stature before you ever see it on his face.

His shoulders slump, exhaustion showing in the lines on his face. He takes a step back from you, hands falling to his sides as he looks at you. Really looks at you.

“You’re gonna leave again, aren’t you?” His voice is so soft, you’re surprised you can hear the way it cracks in the middle.

“Bradley.” You respond, voice just as soft as his.

There is nothing more than you want in that moment to stay, to tell him you’d stay with him forever, to do whatever it took.

But that fear, the fear that had kept you and your feelings at bay all these years, is stronger as you look at him.

“It would never work.”

“It could.”

“It can’t.”

The sheer devastation that crosses Bradley’s face at your surety is almost enough to make you second-guess your own words.

“Please don’t make me say goodbye to you again, Sunshine.”

Yoru throat is tight as you feel the familiar sting of tears in your waterline.

“Bradley, I can’t.”

Bradley’s eyes are glassy, haunted.

It’s a look that haunts your dreams all the way back to Boston.

You set the phone back down on the coffee table, switching music on as you blink away the sting of the lack of notifications on your messages app.

You don’t know why you keep waiting – expecting, really – for Bradley to text you.

You think you made it pretty clear how you feel about him. About where the two of you were going from here.

The Archer plays softly in the background as you grab the bottle of wine out of the bag, scrunching your nose as the chocolate at the bottom of the bag.

You didn’t even really like Ferrero Rocher chocolate but apparently the you that had been throwing yourself a pity party an hour ago was miserable enough to buy it.

You sigh, uncorking the bottle as the song on the tiny bluetooth speaker that sat atop your stove switches over and floats out through your kitchen.

You pause as you recognize the first few keys of the song, groaning as you set the bottle back down on the countertop before walking a few feet to grab your phone.

Sure enough, the familiar album cover of good riddance looks back up at you as you quickly swipe away from the song that had come up on your shuffle.

“Fucking Spotify.” You mutter, slipping your phone into the pockets of the sweats you’d been dying to put on all day.

Three months of traipsing around San Diego in shorts and leggings all the time had ruined you from ever comfortably wearing slacks again.

You only just barely make it through your pour before the buzzer goes off, causing you to flinch.

“Jesus.” You mutter as you re-cork the bottle.

You sigh, picking the glass up and taking a sip of the shitty five-dollar bottle of wine you’d picked up on the way home from the office. You hear the main door open from downstairs and part of you wonders if your boss followed through on her threat of giving you a fruit basket.

(“So, how was San Diego?” Your boss asks.

You sigh, glancing up at her from your monitor before looking back at the email you’re typing out.

“That bad, huh?”

She shuts the door of your office behind her, sitting in the chair across from you.

“Was expecting you to come back with some good news, especially with you taking a few extra days.”

You swallow, closing your tabs you turn your attention back to her.

“I- uh, married this guy in college. It was really- spur of the moment. We were young and stupid and-” You shake your head, swallowing around the lump in your throat. “It just ended up not working out. I went to San Diego so we could get a divorce.”

“Oh shit.” She mutters. She shifts in her seat before she nods to herself.

“What if I sent you a fruit basket? Would that make it better?”)

You wonder if chocolate covered pineapple will taste good with cheap white wine as you fish your phone out of your pocket, typing out a text to her to ask if she had indeed sent you a fruit basket when there's a knock at the door.

“Coming.” You call out before you sigh, setting the phone down on the countertop as you walk a few paces over to the door, before pulling it open, wine glass in hand.

And then you almost drop it.

He hadn’t, not for a second, considered that following you to Boston was a poor choice.

Not when he had to ask Ice to pull strings to get him approved leave.

Not when he booked a last minute flight in the base parking lot on a newly-downloaded Delta app.

Not when Mav had to gently suggest he book a hotel room in case things didn’t go as planned.

(“B, I think you should consider maybe booking a hotel room in case this all goes to shit.” Mav says, sitting down on his bed as he packs his duffle bag.

He freezes, looking at his godfather.

“Fuck, I didn’t even think of that.”

His godfather heaves an overexaggerated sigh, nodding. “Yeah, I figured.”)

Not when he spent a majority of his time in the San Diego airport trying to figure how to take the T from the airport to your apartment in Brookline.

(You’d explained it to him once, something about a blue line and a green line and a Maverick stop, but he’s pretty sure he was admiring the way your eyes sparkled in the sun as the two of sat on the grassy lawn of the courtyard in Balboa Park and decidedly not listening to what you were telling him.)

Not when he took a detour, getting off at a different stop to go to the hotel room Mav and Penny had booked for him and not when he’d taken another stop to get you flowers.

Not when he’d pressed the buzzer for your apartment and not as he walked up the wooden stairs to your third floor apartment.

No, the first time he second-guesses any of his decisions of the last forty-eight hours is when you open your front door, wine glass in hand, music playing in the background, and stare at him.

The flowers feel sweaty in his hand, the brown paper crinkling as he swallows, suddenly forgetting everything he wanted to say.

“I- shit, are you busy Sunshine? I- sorry, I didn’t even think-”

You shake your head, turning to set your wine glass on the entryway table as the music softly plays in the background. “Bradley, what are you doing here?” You ask, shaking your head again as your eyes flit over him.

He takes a deep breath, steadying himself.

“I thought, at first, that maybe you didn’t- you didn’t love me back or care- care about me in the way I did you. But after that last night-” He shakes his head. “I know now that it’s not that you don’t love me. You keep saying that this could never work. And I- I need to show you that it could. It can work, and we will make it work.” He licks his lips, glancing down at the flowers in his hands.

“Bradley-”

“No, Sunshine, I need you to hear me out. Please.” You give a little nod, eyes wide, and he sighs again. “I have it all mapped out, all the weekends I’m free to come visit you here. I get home around 6 every night, which is only 9 your time here. You’ve always been a bit of a night owl, so there’s at least a few hours each night we can FaceTime while I make dinner. We can even do dinner dates on the weekend and call each other while we cook together. We can make this work. We’ve made it work enough for the Navy to believe us all these years, now- now it’s just doing all the things we said we were doing all along. I want to be with you and I don’t care how long it takes, we will get this right. We can do this for however long we need to, for however long it takes, I just- I just want to love you.”

He swallows as his hands jerk out, offering you the flowers as he finally lets himself breathe. You glance down at the flowers and back up to him, eyes wide.

He glances down at them, realizing you aren’t going to take the flowers from him and his next words leave him without his allowance.

“I just want to kiss my wife. Just once.”

The seconds tick by without you saying or doing anything.

It’s excruciating.

He feels his face grow warm as he suddenly realizes how ridiculous this all is. This, the flowers, the showing up announced, the flying cross country, all of it.

“I’m sorry- I shouldn’t have- Okay, I’m- I’m sorry for bothering you Sunshine. I should go.”

He nods, going to turn, when you surge forward, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling his lips down to yours.

The flowers fall out of his hands as he scrambles to cup either side of your head.

The kiss is soft as it is passionate, a juxtaposition you never thought could come from a kiss. His lips are chapped against yours and at the angle you’ve got him at, his nose is nudged against your cheek and yet it’s still the best kiss you’ve ever had. It’s dizzying, the relief and peace that comes from finally knowing what it’s like to kiss him.

It’s the movement of one of his hands down to your shoulder that grounds you, causing you to pull away. You don’t go far, just enough to look him in his eyes.

“I can’t believe I just did that.” You say after a beat, a giddy half-laugh escaping you as the adrenaline thrums through you. “Come inside.” You say, tugging on his shirt. “We should stop giving my neighbors a free show. Mrs. Robinson’s probably watching us through her peephole.”

Bradley lets out a small laugh at the mention of your nosy across the hall neighbor, before bending down to scoop up the flowers. He turns to you as you gently shut the door behind him.

“Do you have a vase for me to put these in?”

“Do I have a- Bradley, what do you take me for? An adult?” He laughs, a real laugh this time, and the sound warms your heart. “Here.” you walk a few paces into your kitchen, Bradley trailing behind you. You open up one of the cabinets, pulling out a tall pint glass.

Bradley’s eyes grow at the sight of it. “Is that the cup from when we went to Oktoberfest? While we were in college?”

You nod, filling the glass at your sink before turning back to him.

While at UVA, your group of friends had gone to Oktoberfest. You’d been too young to drink at the time, a year younger than the rest of them, and Bradley had taken pity on you, giving you his pint glass at the end of the day since you wouldn’t be able to get your own.

You take the flowers from him, trimming the stems off before setting them in the water. You grab the glass, nodding your head to your couch.

“C’mon, let’s sit.”

Bradley follows you as you sit down, if a bit hesitant.

Hesitation, caution, carefree laughter, kindness, love, they’re all looks on Bradley you know well.

But this, the timidness, in his eyes, in the gentleness of his movements, in the lines around his small smile is not something you’re familiar with.

“What’s wrong?” You ask, scooting closer to him once he finally does sit down next to you on the couch.

He swallows before glancing around your place.

“This is cute. Cozy.”

“Better in person than in the pictures I showed you, I bet?” He nods, before glancing back at you. “B, I can’t believe you’re here.” You whisper softly, resisting the urge to reach out and thread your fingers through his.

“You still haven’t told me if you want to try.” He whispers, hazel eyes meeting yours. There’s that timidness again, hidden his voice. “I really want to try, Sunshine.”

This time, you don’t resist the urge and take his hand in yours. You crawl closer to him, placing yourself gently in his lap. His hands automatically wrap around your middle, even if you can still see the nerves in his eyes.

“Bradley, I want to try.” You whisper softly. “I-”

You falter, struggling to find the words to articulate why you had changed your mind.

Maybe it was the love Bradley had for you, was so openly displaying.

Maybe it was the determination he’d had that this could work.

Maybe it was the effort it took to follow you out here.

Maybe it was the knowledge that your fear would deny you the best thing you’d ever had, the best person you’d ever had.

Maybe it was all of it, knowing you’d spend the rest of your life regretting it if you didn’t.

Bradley would be your one that got away. He’d be the one you’d think of what ifs when he inevitably got married to another girl, had kids, and a picket white fence future.

“Sunshine?” Bradley prompts softly.

The thought alone makes you nauseous. You couldn’t let that happen.

“I wanna try, B. I wanna try so bad. I have to try.”

The smile Bradley gives you in return is soft, yet no less sweet and full of love before he presses another kiss to your lips.

“Then we’ll try.”

#bradley bradshaw #bradley bradshaw fic #bradley bradshaw x reader #top gun: maverick #top gun: maverick fic #flight risk

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