#I swear i scour through everything but somehow I still miss them

[maybege]

End Credits

Summary: You and Boba start your new life together. (Part 14 of Midnight Special)

Pairing: hot dad!Boba Fett x fem!Reader

Wordcount: 6.0k | Rating: E (18+ only!)

Warnings: lots of fluff, explicit sexual content, dirty talk, cream pie, more fluff, lots of domesticity

Finishing up a story is always something that encourages you to look back on the journey that this story took. Midnight Special is a story that originated on the old blog – a few asks joking around about sleeping with a hot stranger who turns out to be your friend’s dad – and what started out with a smutty one shot in March 2021 quickly turned into what was meant to be a short and filthy story about the carnal adventures with hot dad!Boba which in turn morphed into a 14 part story (+1 alternative ending) that felt very real, raw and emotional to write. I want to thank each and every one of you for reading and supporting this story, whether you were here form the very start or joined when a few chapters were already out. It truly means the world to me that I got to share this with you.

Special thanks go out to @ayybtch because Sam truly is the reason that Midnight Special is the way it is: a series, a love story, and so very hot at times. Thank you, Sam, for always letting me gush about hot dad!Boba, listening to my ideas and never being shy to bring in your own. This story would not exist without you and I am forever indebted to you. Thank you.

Without further ado, here is the very last part of Midnight Special.

masterlist | crossposted on AO3

“You can put that here,” you instructed the movers, watching them with hawk eyes as they carried your most precious possession to the empty spot in the living room, “Yes, that is perfect!”

The men nodded, filing out of the house and back to the truck where some of the last boxes were still stored. You took the chance to look at your couch in Boba’s living room – now your living room. There had been this irrational fear that maybe the things wouldn’t fit together, that somehow there would be a divine sign to warn you that what you had was not going to last.

But the couch looked great in that spot and you knew the old one had found a great second home in Rob’s and Poppy’s garage.

“It already looks much more comfortable,” Boba stated, crossing his arms in front of his chest. You allowed yourself to get distracted for a minute, admiring his bare forearms in the rolled-up sleeves of his flannel. He had taken the day off today, preparing the house for your very official move-in day and scouring through the garage in search of tools. He looked absolutely delectable, you found, with his dark shirt, stained jeans and the little bit of belly that had his shirt stretch a bit wider.

“Like what you see, princess?” he grinned smugly and you swore he was flexing his bicep just to tease you.

“Very much,” you quipped, turning on your heels, “now, excuse me, I need to – oh!”

“Not so fast,” he growled in your ear, pulling you against his chest, “The movers are on their lunch break, in case you missed it, and I,” he pressed a kiss against your neck, “am hungry for something else entirely.”

His words made goosebumps erupt all over your skin and you leaned back into him, your hands landing on his broad ones. It seemed so long since you had felt his touch.

You had taken a week off work in preparation for the move and while that usually meant that you could spend much more time with your boyfriend, you had spent more time in your old apartment packing everything up than at home. And with Boba still at work, you hardly saw him anyway, both of you too exhausted to really talk and instead just curling into each other and enjoying a few blissful hours of sleep.

Boba’s mouth landed on your shoulder, his fingers nimbly pulling down the thin strap of your summer dress. “Do you know what this does to me?” he mumbled against you, “Seeing you waltz around in that skimpy little dress, I swear if you bend over one more time –“

“Boba,” you gasped, wiggling your ass against the prominent bulge in his jeans, “We don’t have time.”

“Oh, I know,” he chuckled, his big hands cupping your chest and you sighed dreamily, letting his fingers play with your nipples, “I am just warning you what you’re in for when all of this is done.”

“You think we can bribe them to skip lunch?” you joked, tilting your head to the side to give him more access.

“Patience, little one,” he whispered against your skin, “Patience.”

*

It was pitch dark by the time everything was unloaded, unpacked and put together in the living spaces. (The office was another story altogether that you would tackle the next few days, you had decided.) Having dropped off the keys at your landlord’s office, you were now sitting on your new couch, a pizza carton open on the coffee table and a canned cocktail in your hand.

“To our new home,” Boba said, bumping his beer against yours. He was sitting next to you, his entire side pressed against yours, comfortably warm.

“To our new home.”

You took a sip, letting the sickly sweet and fruity taste wash over your tongue before raising the cheesy slice of pizza to your mouth again. Your body was thrumming with the kind of exhaustion that guaranteed a good night’s sleep. The day had been so full of work but now you could see that all of it had paid off, most furniture pieces had found their new home and Boba had started sorting through the maps he wanted to put on the walls.

In the background, the TV was muted but you caught the familiar frames of an earlier The Nanny episode, smiling at Fran Fine’s loveable antics.

It was quiet and peaceful and for the first time in a long time, you felt fully settled. This was your home with Boba. This was your life with Boba.

As if he could hear your thoughts, the man next to you slung his arm around your shoulders and you leaned into him, resting your cheek on his shoulders.

“What are you thinking?” you asked quietly, closing your eyes when his fingertips brushed over the dip between shoulder and neck.

“How happy I am,” he replied just as quiet and you could feel his body moving under yours with each breath, “How much I love you.”

“I love you too,” you smiled, the tip of your nose brushing over the stubble on his jaw, “I love you so much.”

* Two weeks later, you were putting up laundry in the garden when you felt someone behind you.

You turned around, half expecting to see Poppy as the older women liked to come over and chat with you. Sometimes she brought a cup of coffee over, sitting down with you on the patio. You were so grateful for her kind presence, her small talk keeping you grounded and making you feel accepted when you were still very much dealing with the big life adjustment of the past few weeks.

But it was not Poppy that stood there behind you, a happy smile on her face. It was Nat.

She looked like she always did. Like the last few weeks had not happened at all and it made you angry and sad because you felt like her words had left scars all over you and here she was, looking nervous, yes, but not hurt.

“Hey,” she greeted and you were taken aback by how shy she sounded. Maybe your initial impression had been wrong.

“Boba is not here,” you managed to bring out, anxiety bubbling up because you could not take another confrontation. You simply couldn’t.

“I know,” she said, “I wanted to talk to you. Do you, uh, do you have a minute?”

You nodded.

“I wanted to apologize,” she whispered, “Truly. For my behaviour these last few weeks. It, uh,” she looked around uncomfortably, shuffling her feet, “It wasn’t fair to you or – or my dad. I was hurt and felt betrayed and – and to be honest, when I look back, I don’t – I don’t recognize myself anymore. I think maybe … when I figured out it was him that you had been meeting and that both of you knew, I just … it felt like you were doing it to play me a fool and I – I wanted you to know what that felt like. I know that’s stupid now, of course. The truth is,” she swallowed thickly, tears in her eyes, “I am so sorry. For everything. And I hope that you can forgive me one day because I … I miss you. I miss being friends with you and having lunch with you and telling you all about Will and – and – and I miss you in my life and I am so happy, truly, for both of you. Just … just don’t tell me gross stuff about my dad, please?”

You laughed, out a sob, tears already rolling down your cheeks.

“I can totally do that,” you cried, “And I’m sorry, too. We should have told you much earlier. I so understand how betrayed you must have felt and we never,” you hiccupped, “We never wanted to hurt you, I swear.”

“Okay,” she nodded, cheeks ruddy from tears and as if both of you thought the same thing, you fell into each other’s arms.

Hugging your friend for the first time in what felt like a decade, immense amounts of relief coursed through you. Like you were now able to heal the hurt that had been left between the two of you and carefully move past it.

“Do – would you like to come in for a coffee?” you offered, “I, uh, I don’t know if you know but –“

“You moved in, yeah,” she nodded, sniffling, “My mom told me. And a coffee sounds great.”

You breathed a silent sigh of relief, the idea of having to tell her of this drastic life change frightening you beyond belief. But now it was taken care of already. She knew. And she wouldn’t be here if she couldn’t accept that as well.

The walk up to the house was quiet and you tried to calm your nerves, opening the sliding door for Nat to step in first. It will be fine. It will be fine. It will be fine.

“No way,” she called, “This looks great?!”

“You think?” you asked shyly, still a little nervous about having her here, “I, uh, well, I did some changes when we moved in together. We – we wanted to make it our own.”

She looked at you, slightly raising her eyebrow and you smiled, knowing she was serious.

“It looks amazing,” she said, “Care to show me?”

“You want to?” you asked, unable to hide the excitement in your voice. You loved redecorating and other than Boba there had been no one in the house until now. Now it was Nat, your best friend, and you could not wait to show her all of your ideas.

“You kidding?” she laughed, “Mom and dad tried to convince him to hang up his maps for years. He was always too shy to display them. And finally, here they are!”

Hearing Boba being called shy made you laugh. That really wasn’t an adjective you would have chosen for him, especially the first few times you had met him. Now, though, you kind of understood what she meant. Even a man as self-assured as Boba had his weaknesses. And his maps were one of them.

“Well, they were collecting dust in the office,” you shrugged, motioning to a few of the frames you had brought from your old apartment, “And they fit so well with all the travel prints, this is the perfect place for them to be admired.”

“And you repainted,” she pointed to the kitchen, “I love that colour.”

Feeling more confident, you nodded. “Yeah, we also got rid of that old couch and, uh, put mine there instead. It really fits the space a lot better and it’s bigger which is nice for guests.”

You got the coffee machine going, getting two cups from the cabinets as Nat settled at the kitchen island, looking around curiously. She seemed relaxed, not as tense as the last few weeks and you took comfort in the fact that she was just as relieved as you.

“So, we just keep talking about me,” you mentioned, pushing the full cup towards here, “But what’s been going on with you? Any news?”

She cucked her head, an involuntary smile on her face that made you lean forward curiously, “Tell me more.”

“Do you remember Will?” she asked cautiously, “From the vacation?”

“Do I remember him?” you asked, “I remember someone buying a bathing suit specifically to impress him.”

“Oh, shut up” she hushed you, taking a sip from her coffee to hide her grin.

“So, I gather it’s been going well with him?” you inquired, wriggling your eyebrows suggestively.

“Very well, actually,” she indulged you, grinning over her cup like it kept the biggest secrets in the world, “We’re exclusive now.”

She looked at you and before you knew it, you were both squealing, throwing your arms around each other like you were in a 90s sitcom. “I’m so happy for you!” you laughed out, “This is amazing, Nat!”

“It is!” she screeched, “You should have seen him when he asked me, he was so nervous!”

A car pulled up in front of the house and the conversation died down. Your heart skipped a beat when you recognized the model. After all, you had watched this car pull up on this driveway more times than you could count. “That’s dad,” Nat recognized and you both watched through the living room window as the older man arrived.

It was almost comical, seeing him get out of the car like normal and suddenly freezing in his step, presumably having spotted Nat’s car down the road. You had never seen him this fast, hurrying up the steps and storming into the house.

You could see the frown on his face from a mile away, the concern etched into the features of his face and even though you knew it was a false alarm, you couldn’t blame him, really, considering the last few times Nat had been in this house there had been major conflict situation that had left everyone distraught.

So, when he stood in the middle of the living room, still in his suit and, looking between both of you as if he was gauging the situation, Nat and you could only laugh. Which visibly confused him.

“That is not the welcome I was expecting,” you could hear him mumble through your giggles. But his body relaxed as he made his way towards you, pressing a quick kiss against your temple.

“It’s all right,” you assured him both you and Nat laughing through our tears, “It’s all right, Boba.”

“It really is, dad,” Nat grinned widely, looking at you and then back at him, “It really is.”

“I am glad to hear that,” he finally said, going around the island to hug his daughter and your heart clenched when you saw both of them holding onto each other tightly. You didn’t know who needed it more: Boba or Nat.

“Now,” the redhead sniffled, grinning so wide her cheeks dimpled just like his, “Will you tell us about your map collection?”

Boba groaned, “I should’ve known this is what happened when you get together again.”

*

“Do you think they will like me?”

“Honey, why are you so nervous?”

“Well, the last time someone found out about me and Boba, things didn’t exactly go smoothly, now did they?”

Nat winced, her eyes still focused on where she was trying to get her earrings to hold. “That really wasn’t one of my best moments. I am so sorry.”

You sighed, fiddling with the bow of your dress. “I do. I just … These are all of his friends and they were so nice last time and what if they think I am weird now?”

“Look,” she turned her head, “They adored you during the vacation. And they adore my dad, they want nothing but the best for him. And you,” she pointed her finger at you, “are the best for him. If anything, they’ll thank you for getting him so happy all the time.”

You smiled, hearing Nat talk about your relationship with Boba in such a positive way was not something you had ever expected to happen after how things had initially gone. But now that she said these things, she seemed to be your #1 supporter and it warmed your heart every single time.

Now with the end of summer and the warm weather quickly approaching, the local tradition seemed to be having a giant bonfire BBQ in the garden and Boba had suggested it as the perfect first event for you two to attend together as a couple. And while you agreed, you were also a teeny tiny bit anxious about it all.

“Ah, there you are!” Poppy’s head appeared, “Will, was looking for you, Nat, do you know where your father put the cooler by any chance?”

“Driveway,” you replied, “I think Boba and Rob wanted to put it there for when Will comes back from the store.”

“Ah, thanks!” the older woman smiled, “And you look lovely, by the way!”

You smiled back, your fingers still fighting with the wretched wrap dress you may have bought just for this occasion.

To say that you were nervous would be an understatement.

“Come on,” Nat sighed, helping you adjust the bow for you, “I know you are nervous but they will love you. I mean, you already know most of them anyway!”

Taking a deep breath, you tried to settle your thoughts. Of course, she was right – Nat often was – and you also needed to remember that Boba had already told his friends. They knew. This was just the first time you would meet them as the girlfriend.

Oh, stars.

Nat clicked her tongue, “I know that face and the best way to help you is going out there right now. There are already some of his friends there, I am sure it will be tons better when you’ve greeted them.”

“Are you sure?” you hated how small your voice sounded.

“I promise,” she replied, tugging on your hand, “Now come on, I have to make sure Will doesn’t mix up the salads!”

The wide garden space between your house and Poppy and Rob’s was already filled with a good amount of people. You spotted Will and Poppy at the little buffet, setting everything up, when you and Nat emerged from your house. It was still warm enough that you could be out barefoot and you were relieved to see that you were not the only one who had decided to ditch the shoes in order to feel the soft grass under your toes.

Boba was standing with two men at the bonfire, a beer in his hand as he talked with them. You remembered seeing them before, one of them a single dad to an absolutely adorable kid and the other one just sheer gigantic.

Nat nodded at you encouragingly and you smiled (even if it wavered a little) as you made your way towards him. The hem of your light dress was swirling around your calves and you focused on taking one step at a time, looking at the way his face moved when he talked, how he gestured with his free hand, how he turned when he spotted you from the corner of his eye, how he beamed at you.

“Hey, love,” he greeted you, his eyes roaming over your figure, “There you are.”

His thick arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you in for a kiss and for a moment you forgot all the people around you. It was instinct, the way your mouth moved against his and how your hands came up to settle on his shoulders. He was warm against you, warm and solid and so affectionate, it made your heart melt.

“Finally, we get to meet the woman who put that smile on you!”

You flinched, pulling away from him in embarrassment at having been caught so … so in love. Boba just smiled, seemingly unbothered by the teasing comment his tall friend made and instead just pulled you closer.

“These are two of my friends from work,” he introduced you, “This is Din Djarin and Paz Vizsla.”

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” the bigger of the two greeted you with a grin, holding out his hand for you to shake.

Finally? You eyed Boba, surprised, while shaking Paz’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too.”

Din only nodded at you before picking up a child that had been just been about to race by. “Grogu,” he warned the boy, “How many times have I told you not to run near the fire?”

The dark-haired boy showed a toothy grin, “Sorry, Dad?”

Boba’s arm tightened around your waist and you looked up at him.

“You want a beer?” he asked, nodding to where the cooler had been set up, “Paz needs to get one, maybe we could all sit down?”

“Hell yeah,” the large man rumbled, his hand landing on your shoulder in a friendly pat, “Let’s go sit down, I am starving.”

You followed Boba and his friend, watching the way he turned back to look at you and smile. Maybe it would all work out.

*

“Oh fuck,” you hissed, throwing your head back, missing the wall by mere millimetres.

“Quiet,” Boba warned you in the dark, two of his finger pushing into your open mouth, “Don’t want to wake everyone up now, do we?”

You shook your head quickly, cheeks hollowing around his thick digits as his cock thrust into you again and again.

It was your first vacation with all of them since Boba had introduced you as his girlfriend and while all of them had taken it well, you still had been nervous about spending two weeks in a house with them. But, like most times in the last year, your worries had been unfounded.

If anything, all of it was so much easier now that it was clear you were with Boba. You had been allocated a room together, the same one he had had last year with the hot tub just a few steps away. You had even driven here together, making a little mini road trip and spending the night in a small boutique hotel you had found online.

Truly, it was even better than last year. The sun was warm, the water was cool, and the people you were here with were so nice and supportive, it felt like you had been part of the group for much longer already.

But that still did not mean you wanted them to wake up from how good Boba was fucking you. He was lying behind you, holding your leg with one arm while the other hand was busy filling your mouth, his fingers thrusting down your tongue the way his cock was thrusting into your cunt.

You whined around him, your walls clamping down. Wet sounds echoed in the small room and you were sure your inner thighs were a mess with how wet you were.

Busy sucking on his fingers, you tried to follow them when he pulled them out of your mouth, chasing the salty taste of his skin. Boba chuckled, quickly pulling out of you.

“On all fours, princess,” he instructed gently, his hands pulling your hips up until you followed his movements, “Spread them for me, there we go – good girl.”

Your pussy clenched around nothing.

“It feels so good, Boba,” you gasped, pressing your chest down, opening yourself up to him, “Please fuck me, please please please, I need –“

“And here I wanted to see your pretty tits swing,” he teased you, positioning himself behind you. The tip of him rubbed along your dripping folds and you inhaled sharply, rocking back against him to get him inside you again.

“Can you pinch your nipple for me?” he panted, his chest brushing against your back as he slowly pushed inside you, filling you to the brim, “Yeah, can you do that for me?”

“Uh-huh”, you were mind- and boneless at this point, Boba’s deep voice coaxing you to slip your hand between your chest and the blanket, your fingertip running over your nipple again and again, “Please don’t stop, sir.”

“I won’t,” he assured you, his lips brushing you’re your ear as his hips pulled back only to slam back against yours, “Stars, you are so tight like this, little one, you just love being filled, hm?”

You nodded, unable to form words as he rubbed against a spot that made you shudder in the best way. The bedding bunched under your knees, Boba’s thrusts strong enough to push you up and down on the soft mattress.

“Love it,” you gasped, “Love your cock, Boba, p-please, I want –“

“I know what you want,” he grunted, his fingers tightening on your hip before he snuck one down between your thighs, his thumb circling your clit, “I give you what you need, don’t I? Don’t I take good care of your little pussy, princess?”

You babbled, rocking back against him frantically, chasing that feeling of pure euphoria that seems to course through your veins. Your core tightened, your pussy clenching around his thick shaft.

He chuckled, “I know I do, little one. Now you just need to come for me, hm? Just come all around my cock, princess, soak me.”

His words edged you on and with his fingertips rubbing over your clit, you felt the first wave wash over you, your whole body sinking into the bedding. “Fuck,” he groaned, leaning down to muffle his moans against your shoulder while he pushed into you again and again.

“Come inside me,” you whimpered, your hand searching until you felt the skin of his thigh under your fingertips, squeezing encouragingly, “Please come inside me, sir.”

You weren’t even sure if he heard you speak when his hand tightened on your hip, digging into the soft flesh as his movements sped up until he buried himself in you as deeply as he could. Hot spurts of come filled you and you sighed.

“Thank you for coming inside me, sir,” you mumbled, turning around with a drowsy grin to kiss him.

Boba was still above you, his chest heaving as he came down from his high. With the moonlight streaming in from outside, you could see the way his eyes softened as he looked at you. He leant down, carefully resting his entire body on yours and kissing you.

You could feel his come running down between your thighs but you did not care when you could feel his cheeks stretch under your fingertips with his grin. “I love you,” he rumbled, his kisses raining down on your mouth and cheeks and neck, “This is my favourite vacation I’ve ever taken.”

You could only agree.

*

“Say cheese!”

“Cheese!” you grinned, frowning when you didn’t hear another voice joining you.

“You have to say it too, you know?”

Boba looked at you so softly it made your heart ache. His arm was heavy around your shoulder and you felt the warm sunshine on your back. “Sorry, princess,” he rumbled, leaning closer to you, “I’ll try better next time.”

He turned back to Nat, “Do we need to take a second one?”

The redhead grinned, shaking the phone in her hand. “No need,” she said, “You two are sweeter than Mom and Dad on V-day.”

You laughed, your cheeks filling with blood at the compliment. But you would take her joking about you looking lovesick any day over the madness she had felt at first.

“I can live with that,” Boba smiled, his hand gliding from your shoulder down your back before taking your hand, tugging you with him to the group.

“Do you guys want one?” you asked Nat when you took your phone back, “A new phone background perhaps?”

“That’d be great,” she smiled, turning to her boyfriend, “C’mon, Will, picture time!”

Will made his way across the sand, holding up his hand to cover his eyes from the sun as he grinned widely at you both. “Whatever my queen demands.”

You took a picture of them just like she had done of you two, both of them smiling in the sun, wearing their beachy outfits as the rest of the travel party prepared to get back to the cars and back to the house.

Boba was waiting for you by the car, holding the door open as you skipped across the sandy parking lot. “Thank you,” you smiled, pressing a quick kiss to his lips, “Such a gentleman.”

“Only for my lady,” he replied jokingly, closing the door for you.

You sighed, leaning back in your seat as you enjoyed the reprieve from the beating sun. Thank the stars for whoever had invented ACs.

Boba walked around the car, a gust of hot wind following him when he sat down in the driver’s seat. After a whole week on holiday, he looked relaxed and rested, his wide smile making the corners of his eyes crinkle. His warm hand landed on your knee as he started the car.

“Nat was right when she said this beach is amazing,” you commented, watching the long stretches of sand pass by, “Now I understand why she was so sad I couldn’t see it last year.”

“Even better that you could see it now,” he teased, “Without a migraine and with your very handsome boyfriend.”

“Very handsome, you say?” you grinned.

His fingers on your knee flexed, gently trailing upwards until he brushed the inside of your thigh. “Extremely handsome,” he nodded, “And very much in love with you.”

*

“Are we redecorating the fridge again?”

You hummed, holding up two leaflets. “I want that vacation picture to find its place,” you explained, “Which means that one takeout menu has to go – Greek or Thai.”

It was your favourite picture of the two of you, you smiling into the camera, the “cheese!” still on your lips while Boba with his arm around you wasn’t looking at Nat at all. He was looking at you, his gaze so in love, even you could see it. And it made you feel all kinds of warm.

Seeing it on the fridge, made everything so real, so domestic, you couldn’t wait.

“I vote the Thai one,” he rumbled, “I’m fond of that Greek place.”

It did not escape your notice that that was the one where you had eaten from during your motel dates and as you smiled knowingly at him, he leant away from marinating the meat to press a long kiss to your lips.

You hummed, opening your mouth willingly even when he stepped away just a second later. “What’s gotten into you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You are even more touchy than usual,” you said, eyeing the way his hands paused his work.

But Boba was not the master of deflection for nothing. “Just wait until I’m done with this and I’ll show you how touchy I can be,” he growled, eyes mustering you up and down in a way that had you feel a little warmer.

“The others will be here any minute,” you reminded him, letting the leaflet fall into the bin, “We have no time for – for –“

Boba raised his eyebrows expectantly, clearly amused at your attempt to be responsible. “No time? You know all I need is five minutes with you in a closet to have you come on my fingers.”

Your cheeks filled with heat as you tried to avert his eyes. How could this man have such power over you just with his words?

“I do know that,” you acquiesced, stepping closer to him. You caught a whiff of his cologne, the familiar scent wafting in your nose. “But this is the first time we are hosting the bonfire together and it is important to me that we make a good impression.”

The yearly bonfire. Last year that had been when Boba had introduced you to everyone as his partner, the night ending with lots of booze and lots of laughter and quiet kisses in your bed.

And this year, Poppy and Rob had asked if it would be okay if you were the ones to host it since they just got back from vacation and, honoured that they had even considered it, you had said yes. Which meant that your living room was now the buffet headquarters and Boba had gotten out his family marinade recipe for the best BBQ results.

He looked like he wanted to say something but before any words could leave his mouth, the front door opened and you could hear familiar voices.

“Long time, no see!” the tall man greeted you, holding out a pie, “And apple pie as requested!”

“Hi Will,” you greeted the man, giving him a hug before taking the offered dish from his hands, “Thanks!”

“Family recipe,” he explained proudly.

“It is so good,” Nat nodded, her arms laden with salad dishes and a paper bag full of bread, “Even though our kitchen is a mess now.”

“Talking about messes,” Boba grunted, walking over the sink, “Will, could you take that plate to the grill, please? My hands are a mess.”

“Sure thing,” Will grinned, taking out the plate as requested while Boba washed his hands, “This is gonna be so much fun!”

*

Will was right. The night was a lot of fun.

As the night cooled down, everyone gathered around the bonfire and Boba did not wait long to pull you into his lap. “You have cleaned up enough,” he rumbled, “Let it wait until morning when I can help you. You need to relax now.”

Your body relaxed against his and you pulled your cardigan closer, trying to trap the warmth against the front of your body while you felt his heat against your back.

But Boba seemed to have something different in mind.

“Let’s play a game,” he whispered into your ear, “It’s been a long time since we played one.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Each one of us says something that is completely honest,” he suggested and you smiled. This was a very familiar game, the one you had played that very first night you had met. The one that had started your life together.

“Yeah?” you asked him cheekily, leaning back into his chest as you watched Nat enthusiastically retell one of her. Will was gazing at her, completely enraptured by his girlfriend and you were so happy that she had a partner who appreciated her as much as she deserved. “You start.”

“If I’m completely honest,” he rumbled, “there’s this woman that I really like. Met her in a bar one and a half years ago and I never stopped thinking about her since.”

You smiled, tilting your head to the side so you could feel his stubble on the sensitive skin of your neck.

“If I’m completely honest,” you replied, humming when he pressed a kiss behind your ear, “There is this man that I am utterly in love with.”

“Utterly, huh?” he teased you and you giggled.

“Yeah, he is the best man I ever met,” you continued, your fingers playing with his hands, “And I hope he knows how grateful I am for him in my life.”

Boba hummed, silent for a while until you thought that the game was over already. But he also did not seem too engaged in the conversations that were going on around you. You knew him long enough now to know when he was in thought, and he really was.

Just when you were about to ask him what was going on, you could feel him shift, his belly and chest expanding against your back as he took a deep breath.

“If I’m completely honest,” he said, resting his chin on your shoulder as his hands wrapped around you, “I could see myself spending the rest of my life with her.”

Your heart stood still.

Was this what you thought it was? Was this what he truly wanted?

Tears filled your eyes and you gulped for breath as felt like a thousand butterflies were dancing the rumba in your stomach. Boba wanted to spend the rest of his life with you. He wanted to marry you.

And stars, did you want to marry him.  

“What do you say?” he asked, a hitch in his breath letting you know that he was not as confident as he often seemed, “Will you marry me, princess?”

The emotions were so overpowering you could only nod, your hands tensing on his. His fingers came up to turn your chin so you could see him. The warm glow of the bonfire, the crinkles next to his eyes as he smiled so brightly and so proudly you could only reciprocate. Your heart beat so far in your chest you hardly knew what to do. This would be your secret for a while, enjoying the before you shared it with your friends and families.

Boba pulled you in for a lingering kiss. It was soft and loving and when his tongue brushed over your bottom lip ever so slightly, it sent shivers down your spine. His arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer and you cupped the back of his neck, moving your lips against his.

“Ugh, I hate couples!” Nat shouted from across the fire and the group laughed.

Boba chuckled against your lips but as you pulled away from him with a smile, turning your attention back to the people all around you, his arm imperceptibly tightened, keeping you close. “I hope you know you just made me the happiest man on earth,” he whispered against the nape of your neck, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” you answered, just as quietly, and as you looked around, Nat grinning at you, Will’s arm around her shoulders, the realization set in that this was only the first of many bonfires you would attend together.

And that that warm feeling in your chest would now accompany you forever.

[crystalcow]

𝑆𝑎𝑝𝑛𝑎𝑝𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑//𝑆𝑎𝑝𝑛𝑎𝑝 𝑝𝑡 4

Masterlist // child reader ML //

Sapnap x reader !p !child reader

Pronouns used: none specified!

Warnings: swearing, mentions of death, casinos

➳➳➳➳➳┄┄※┄┄➳➳➳➳➳

𝐊𝐢𝐧𝗼𝐤𝗼 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝗼𝐰??

Quackity was telling you all of his plans

He rambled on for hours of his ideas for casinos and how he was going to marry Karl and sapnap

It sounded great

He had his whole plan set up! He even had Sam helping him with the building

But then he left

Just like everyone else

But that was fine! You were just with sapnap

Before Karl came running over rambling on about needed to move his library

He had a library?

“[Redacted] you need to stay close, please”

You looked at him weirdly

Who the fuck was [redacted]

“Karl my names Y/n you idiot” “flame..” “sorry”

He didn’t even notice it and then you had to spend the next couple days hauling over 100 books

“Oo hey what are these! The covers look really weird”

You had found his time travel books

Woops

That man raced over and in the kindest way possible, snatched it from your hands

“Don’t touch those, they are my special books”

You just shrugged and let him be, he freaks you out enough

So you all traveled to this area in the spruce forest and built a really ugly mushroom hut

But hey it’s fine! Foolish thankfully came around later that day and made everything better

So you stuck around

Maybe you needed this, this new start

Oh but prime knows that wouldnt last long

Karl started forgetting

At first it was simple things as just forgetting where he was or little stumbles with names

But eventually he was going away longer and longer

He started calling you by these strange names, some that sound Victorian and western and others that are unlike you

One day he didn’t call you by your name at all

You were hanging around the Sakura trees and the big yin Yang pond waiting for sapnap to come back with George

Then you saw Karl exit the library, running up to him for a hug

It’s been two months since you’ve seen him

You fucking hated it but you couldn’t help but consider him another parental figure

He loved it

But he just stood there as you wrapped your arms around him

Expecting the usual “[reda]- Y/n, I’ve missed you so much my sweet flame!”

But there was nothing just a sad one sided hug

“Hello? I’m sorry but do I know you?”

You were ready to cry

“I’m sorry, I uh must’ve mistaken you for the wrong person” “No that’s fine! Hugs are nice?”

So you left and ran into the library

Scouring throughout all of the books until you found them

The same 8 books you shrugged away

You read through all of them along with Karl’s other journals

You didn’t like going through his stuff especially, a whole invasion of privacy

The more you read the worse it got

What were you gonna tell Sapnap?

Who the hell is James, and [redacted]?

And why couldn’t he stop

It’s no use anymore

You were simply just forgotten

𝐋𝗼𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐬

The closer you got to the large building, the sicker you got

Kinoko Kingdom was supposed to be your free pass

But somehow you always end up here

You called for Sam on the comms waiting for the beep

The inside looked great to say the least

“What are your past relationships with the prisoner?” “No answer.”

“Where are you currently resided?” “No answer”

“Do you believe the prisoner deserves his sentence?” “Maybe”

You put all your shit in the locker and followed him through all the safety checks

“I’m glad you didn’t bring anything with you”

You stood on the platform heart racing as the lava went down

It was like a ticking time bomb

The small squeaks and scratches of the hovering bridge

He just stared at you

That sick stupid mask was broken by tommy that day in the black stone room

So you had to look into his face

Lets just say he looks good in Orange

“Barrier up or down?” “Down”

He backed up into the corner as you stepped in

Smiling

Once the lava cascaded down your smile turned into a sick frown

“Hello” is that all he had to fucking say?

“Screw you. Fuck you. Damn you”

He just looked you a small chuckle escaping from his lips

“Those all mean the same thing.” “Well I’ve been living in cinnamon town for the past couple months, and I’m ready to fucking burn some buns”

Yeah he just laughed

“I’ve missed you Hot shot”

“You ruined our damn life!”

Someone went quiet

“If you didn’t have to have a petty little war, or criminalize children we could’ve been fine! It could’ve just been you, dad, me, and George.”

You were pissed, everyone just kept leaving you.

Tommy and Tubbo, Quackity, Karl, Dream, and hell even Wilbur

“You come and visit me, after not having seen me for months and you just yell? Not a hello or ‘how are you dream?’ ‘How’s prison dream’ ‘how can I help you get out of this damn place’ “

You just sat down ready to just walk out into the lava

“I’ve been stuck here for months! None of you even cared enough to visit me, hell even Tommy came around.”

You might have felt a little bad after leaving him

The prison was cold even tho lava was flowing right there

“Why would you leave the discs alone..” “Because I had to end it.”

What were you doing here

What were you planning on saying?

“So, what do you do in prison”

“I have a clock.”

You got up to go look at the pretty clock

Then threw it at his face

“Ow” “deal with it bitch”

The longer you stayed the worse the feeling in your stomach got

so you buzzed for Sam waving goodbye

“Wait.. Do they miss me?” “Can’t say, but I think this may be for the best.”

He wanted his best friends

But he just got the annoying teenager

Oh but that wouldn’t be the last

𝐋𝐚𝐬 𝐍𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬

You got a letter in the mail one day

Who the hell uses letters??

You were shocked to see the address and the small post card

“Come around some time”-Quackity

Ans on the back it had the cords

Oh well what did you have to loose? Sapnap was focused on Karl

and well Karl didn’t even know you

So you set off

It took you a couple hours travel by horse to get to the desert area

The large sign blaring in the red text

You gotta admit the place looked beautiful

There was a giant dick and different shops

You were shocked to see this random un human like guy

“Hello, I am Charlie a totally human guy!”

Yeah totally not slime

“I’m uh, Y/n?” He reached out for a handshake sort of thing

“Dap me up!” “Another time Charlie”

Maybe when you had hand sanitizer

“Ohh so your Y/n! Mister Quackity talks about you all the time, come on in!”

You were skeptical but followed anyways

Stopping in your tracks when you saw Fundy

“Furry?” “Fire shit?”

You went over to give him a side hug, ruffling his fur

“What the hell are you doing here ginger boy!” “Oh you know, just escaping nightmares”

You were confused then just let him be

You walked to the entry way of the place

A beautiful pond with flowers and an arch

“Did what the place where Mr. Quackity was going to propose!”

Going to?

You shrugged it off following inside

You hated to admit it, but you were excited to see him

Yeah you really needed a parental figure in your life at the moment

So when you saw him, he immediately pick you up in a hug

You didn’t fail to notice his change in appearance

That beanie stayed the same tho

Thank god

“Hey hey! Let me show you around the place, we can also go for lunch and talk.”

The casino looked great to say the least

Loud music booming from the speakers, along with the live jazz band on the side

Slot machines were going off every minute

“Have a chip, something to remember this by”

He handed you a red poker chip

It was a cool one tho, in the middle has a blocky sort of smile

Creepy and dopey.. sick!

So you put it around a spare silver chain

“So how have you been kid? ‘Ts been a while hasn’t it.” “Could be better..”

You both walked around the city in silence, offering to go in the super model shop

“No” “why not” “keep walking”

On your way to lunch you had to squint at what you were seeing

“Oh my goodness you’re still alive?!” “You’re alive!?”

You and revivebur just stared at one another

“Yeah he came back after I died!” “you what now-“

You just stared at Tommy and back to Wilbur

Oh god those shrooms were messing with your head

You should’ve gotten out of there a while ago

Quackity came over placing his hands on your shoulders

“Do I have to execute you both? Get off my damn property”

“Sorry Q. Say, Y/n wanna join Lmanburg 2.0?”

You back away holding your hands up

“I denied that offer once, and I’ll do it again. Fucking zombie freaks”

You obviously muttered the last part

Why the fuck did dream revive those two shits??

When did Tommy even die??

Your visit here has just gotten weirder and weirder

𝐌𝗼𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬

Quackity got you away from the brits as quick as he could

So he brought you over to his office

“So kid, how’s your dad..”

Ah you expected this question

“How the fuck am I supposed to know. He’s living his life, Karl’s time traveling! Oh yeah did I mention he doesn’t even remember me.”

He looked at you with wide eyes

“So I’m not the only one they forgot..”

You slammed you hands on the fable dramatizing the situation

“How would you feel about moving here? I mean you could work for me in the casino!”

You thought about it for a second

You have two options

1. Live in shroom town with bubbles

2. Move to las Nevada’s with Quackity

You were sure Sapnap wouldn’t mind

I mean would he even care?

He hasn’t for the past couple months!

“You feel abandoned there, over here there are hundreds of people. You’ll have the time of your life”

You thought about it for a sec

“Alright hand me a contract”

So you signed

Making deals with the devil huh

Little did you know it would cost you your life

Devils little soul

➳➳➳➳➳┄┄※┄┄➳➳➳➳➳

and this is the finale! I will take requests for sapnaps child, and I’ll do some shit with Quackity and the casino and go in more depth if wanted!

As always request and ask anything! And ask if you want to be on a taglist (child reader or general)

For those on the taglist I don’t know if you wanted to be tagged for all child reader shit or just dreams child.. so please tell me :)

@creatorofstars @georgenctfound @samistheidiot @smolbox-png @ghostlysenses @stellarinstigator @bobaducky

[cocochannel00]

Only Wish (This Year)

All Y/n wants for Christmas this year was Harry to be home... so what happens when Harry can’t make it? (a part of the ‘Christmas song fic challenge’)

Word count: 3k Pairing: Harry Styles x reader

A/N: hello my loves! This is my submission for @goldenbluesuit​’s christmas fic challenge, Christmas is literally my favorite holiday of the year and I’m so happy I got a chance to do my first fic writing challenge based on the absolute bop that is Britney Spear’s “Only Wish (This Year)”. If you want to read more great Christmas fics by some amazing writers checkout the Christmas Song Masterlist Here and if you want to read and more of my writing check out My Masterlist Here. I hope you enjoy!! 

"Love I think the tree looks a little crooked"

"No, it's not! It looks fine," you grumbled as you tried to fluff one of the branches that was limping to the left a bit. You had just gone out with Anne yesterday to the Christmas tree farm to get it. The two of you spent nearly two hours walking around the field looking for the perfect tree to put in the living room and after your fingers and toes had officially gone completely numb the two of you gave up and settled for the lanky one in the corner of the field that no one wanted. The tree towered over you quite a bit and had a bit of a tilt, but it reminded you a bit of Harry and this Christmas that was what you wanted, him.

"The reindeer you just hung up is about to fall off, Love" he mumbled from the screen of your computer as he face-timed you from the studio in LA. Rushing over to the left side of the tree, you scooped up the ornament quickly just as it was beginning to slide off of the scrawny branch you had placed it on earlier. As you less than gracefully began to pick yourself off the ground, you heard a wolf whistle come from your husband.

"On second thought, if you keep bending down like that I think I might actually like this tree" Harry stated with a smirk as you gave him the middle finger. "Your mom and I picked it out yesterday cause we thought it looked like you. A little lanky, a little scrawny... looks like he just rolled out of bed" you replied with a laugh.

"I'm going to spare my ego and pretend you didn't just compare your beautiful, loving, and supportive husband to that sad drooping tree you have in the corner."

"(Y/n) is that Harry you're talking to in there? Tell him he better be making it home for Christmas Eve dinner or I'm going to be having a stern talking with Jeff" Anne shouted from the kitchen where she was finishing up some cookies for when Gemma and Michal' today.

You could see the color drain from Harry's face as he scratched the back of his neck. You and Harry have been married now for a little over a year but had been dating for well over three, so you know his every tick and giveaway and when Harry begins to scratch and rub at the back of his neck you know it's bad news.

"I've got this really good chorus started with Mitch, but were still trying to figure out whether-"

"Harry"

"We spent all of yesterday  working through the tracklist and I think I've narrowed it down to-"

"Harry"

"I think I'm going to end the album with the song I wrote on our honeymoon. I tweaked the melody but it's still-"

"Harry" you whispered for the last time before he finally stopped his rambling. You could see him by the way he was avoiding your stare that he didn't want to say the words you both were dreading. He isn't coming home for Christmas. You both knew it was a possibility when he flew out to LA nearly five weeks ago to finish the album before the new year. Despite Harry's offer of having you come to LA with him, your job didn't allow you the luxury of taking off that much time especially during one of your busiest times of the year. You had held out hope that Kid Harpoon and Harry could tie up all of the loose ends ahead of time, but clearly, that wasn't going to happen.

"I tried baby, I really did. There are just too many little things that need to get done here. I promise I'll try and make it back next week, we can have our own little Christmas together in London" he stated trying the lighten his crushing words. This was supposed to be your first Christmas as a married couple together so to say you were disappointed would be an understatement, but you knew that if you let Harry know he would be on the first flight out to London.

"It's ok, we both knew this could happen. I'm sure Anne and I will spend way too much time fussing over Adelaide to even notice you're not here" you replied back trying to lighten the mood a bit more by mentioning Gemma's adorable two-year-old daughter.

"Stop rubbing it in" he joked as Jeff called his name in the background. "I need to get back in before they all have my head for keeping them here past midnight again. I'll try and sneak another call later tonight if you're still up"

"So good, H. I love you"

"I love you too, (Y/n). See you soon" Harry replied back as he hung up. You closed your laptop and continued your quest to finish decorating your slightly distorted Christmas tree. Securing the lights onto the tree had somehow become the hardest part of decorating the tree, so while you were wrapped in a mess of bulbs and strings you didn't even notice Anne come in with two cups of hot chocolate.

"Oh dear let me give you a hand" Anne muttered as she placed the mugs on the coffee table before rushing to your side, delicately untangling you from the lights while placing each string perfectly in its place. You gave her a quick thanks before you walked over to the couch to admire your work.

"He texted me to check up on you, that crazy son of mine. Swear I love him, but sometimes he's got just no sense of priorities. Leaving his wife all alone for the holidays, just not right" Anne said as she passed you a mug and sat down next to you.

"I appreciate you belittling your son on my behave, but reset assured that I am ok. I'm sad we won't be able to spend our first Christmas together as a married couple, but I'm sure we'll have our own little Christmas once he gets back. Besides, I still get the full week off of work and I get to spend time with you and baby Adelaide for the next couple of days and it will be great!"

"Well if you ever need me to put him in his place you let me know, ok sweetheart? Can't have my favorite daughter-in-law feeling upset" she said as she wrapped her arms around you.

"Thanks, Anne" you replied as you gave her a tight squeeze, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"Anytime dear. Now quick, turn on channel Hollywood Gossip before Gemma shows up,  she never lets me watch this show. I heard Lily James was spotted with an ex-boyfriend again"

The two of you spend the next hour catching up on some gossip and making lists of everything that still needed to be done before Christmas in two days. If there was one thing you were certain about, it was that you were going to make the most of your situation and try and have the best Christmas possible

**********

It was Christmas eve and you had spent the entire morning cooking and prepping for the large family meal you and Anne were hosting for Gemma and Michal and a couple of close friends. The two of you had been absolutely buzzing and Christmas tunes had been playing throughout the house since you both woke up bright and earlier at 7 am. You had scoured your suitcase for the perfect Christmas outfit but after spending 20 minutes trying on outfits in the and had settled for one of Harry's red cardigans and some dark washed jeans. The smell of the vanilla candle that smelt just like Harry that Anne had left in your room last night made you miss him even more as you finished getting yourself ready just in time to hear the doorbell ring downstairs.

You peeked out the window and saw Gemma and Michal standing at the door with little Adelaide at their feet and quickly ran to the door to greet them. Once you opened the front door a pair of small arms wrapped themselves around your legs as Adalaide screamed your name.

"Well hello, my sweet girl. I missed you so much! Did you miss me?" you asked as she nodded quickly. You picked her up carefully and smothered her face in kisses just as Anne came over to greet everyone.  The five of you made your way out of the foyer and into the kitchen as Gemma wrapped her arms tightly around you and dragged you to the far end of the kitchen.

"Good afternoon my favorite sister. How is the married life treating you? Any surprises I should be worried about this Christmas?" she asked as she stole a Christmas cookie off of one of Anne's various dessert displays.

"It's been very nice, thank you. I don't think you'll be having any surprises from me this Christmas"

"Pitty I was hoping they be able to be in the same class as their cousin could go to school together," she said nonchalantly smirking at you as you stood there confused.

'What do you mean cousins? Adelaide already in day-care and I don't-- Oh my gosh Gemma are you -"

"Shh don't say it out loud, but yes. About eight weeks along, but we haven't told anyone yet. I'm telling you because last time I told you everything went well, so I think you're my good luck charm... and I need you to drink all of the shots Chloe tries to feed me tonight" She mumbled as you laugh and give her a big hug.

"Well congratulations Gem, I wish you both the best. Hey Adelaide, did you know what special person is going to be joining you really soon?" you asked the little girl in your arms as she played with the butterfly necklace Harry had gotten you for your second anniversary together.

"Santa"

"You're right baby Santa is coming tonight. Why don't you help me and Nana Anne finish decorating these last cookies before everyone gets here"

**********

The night was fantastic. After all of the guests had arrived, you all sat down to eat the wonderful roast Anne had been making all day. The room was filled with laughter and smiles as people recounted their most embarrassing Christmas stories. Your favorite was Michal's who as a child got so excited about seeing Santa at the mall that he actually peed on Santa's lap while telling him what he wanted for Christmas. Gemma discreetly slid her shot glass to you numerous times throughout the night and despite the questioning looks coming from Chloe, no one questioned Gemma's excuse of being the designated driver this year. Overall it was by far one of your favorite holiday meals to be a part of, you only wish Harry could have been there to share it with you.

"Me pants are about to explode, but does anyone fancy a little Christmas Eve stroll outside?" Michal asked as he cuddled a sleeping Adelaide to his chest.

There was a chorus of agreements and your large group slowly began to clean up their placemats and prepare themselves for the trek out in the snow. You helped Gemma load the dishwasher as Anne distributed Tupperware for everyone to take leftovers home with them before running upstairs to grab your winter jacket and boots. After everyone was all bundled up, you all headed outside into the snow, Gemma, and Michal leading the way as walked along the sidewalk. You watched the way Gemma placed a snowflake on Adelaide's nose and waited for the little girl to giggle before quickly wiping it off just to do it all over again. You continued to watch the interaction with a yearning in your heart at the thought of having your own kids with Harry and being able to take them on walks and show them ordinary things like snowflakes. Just as you had begun to drift off into your subconscious world Anne came up next to you and wrapped her arms with yours.

"That will be you someday, I can just feel it" Anne stated as she squeezed your hand tight. You gave her a small smile and nodded your head.

"I hope so. Just have to get your son to stay in one spot long enough" you joked as you rubbed your hands together for warmth.

"That man worships the grown you walk on, Love. If you tell him you want kids right now he'll drop everything"

"Hopefully when I get him back next week we can talk about it all a bit more" you replied as Anne nodded her head.

Your walk lasted about a half-hour until Adelaide began to cry saying she was tired and wanted to go to bed. You all preceded to head back into Anne's home for a bit to warm up before everyone would drive back to their respective homes to continue to celebrate their Christmases. Being the busy body that you were, you began to make tea for everyone in the hope of avoiding the dreaded interrogation about Harry and your's relationship that always came towards the end of these gatherings, but it never came. You think Anne must have warned them that you were feeling somewhat sad about Harry not being there because they managed to avoid the topic throughout the rest of the night. Just as the clock struck midnight everyone slowly began to say their goodbyes and exchanging any last-minute gifts that needed to be given. You helped Anne gather everyone's things and waved your last goodbyes before heading into the living room to relax a bit.

"I'm a bit wiped out dear so I think I'm going to head to bed early. Will you be ok here by yourself?" Anne asked cautiously as you scrolled through some pictures Harry had sent you the other day of him at the studio.

"Yes, I think I'll be ok. Have a good night Anne and thank you for a wonderful Christmas"

"No thanks needed dear, you're family now and always will be. I'll see you in the morning".

You waved a quick goodbye as Anne left upstairs to her room. The silence downstairs was only making your feelings of missing Harry worse so you decided to put on the TV and watch a Christmas movie to lift your spirits a bit as you cuddled Harry's picture to your chest. You know he was having Christmas Eve dinner with Jeff's family now and you didn't want to bother him so you decided that you would suck it up and wait until tomorrow to call him and tell him how much you really miss him. All you wanted this Christmas was to have him sitting next to you, sipping on a couple of hot chocolate and making fun of your weirdly patterned socks.

You hoped that flipping through the tv channels would help distract you but the minute you started channel surfing and Love Actually popped up on the screen in front of you, the waterworks began. You cried because you missed Harry. You cried because you didn't get to share all of your happy memories of today with him. You cried because you could cuddle him to sleep and wake up to his delicious scent. There you sat in his childhood home wrapped in a fuzzy blanket crying. You sobbed into the blanket as quietly as you could in the hopes of not waking up Anne and after what felt like an eternity, you finally fell asleep on the couch

*********

You were peacefully asleep on the couch until the sound of music blasting from the kitchen speaker startled you awake. 

“I signed my letter that I sealed with a kiss I sent it off, and just said this...”

"Oh, fucking shit. Stupid fucking Tom calling me at..." you heard as a crash came from the kitchen.

You jumped from your curled up position on the couch and turned around to see where the noise was coming from. As you sank deeper into the couch hoping not to be seen, you saw a silhouette moving around the kitchen searching the drawers. Your pulse began to race as you start to run all of the potential ways in which this intruder could kill you right now. Just as you were about to reach for your phone to call 999, the intruder turned on the light and you saw a familiar head of curly hair.

"Jesus fucking christ Harry nearly gave me a heart attack" you stated as Harry nearly jumped out of his skin.

The two of you stared at each other for a while before you finally processed what was going on. Harry was here. Harry had made it. He was here for Christmas. He came. You all but sprinted off of the couch and launched yourself at him, hearing release gasp as you latched on to his body like a koala.

"Nearly gave me a heart attack there, love" he stated as he wrapped his arms around you and ran his hands through your hair.

"I could say the same thing. Who comes home after midnight and doesn't say anything, especially when said person said many times that they weren't going to be to make it home"

"Wasn't supposed to be home but then mom said you looked upset after our call yesterday so I told Jeff I would finish the rest in the London studio and zoom call any last-minute details. Excited to have me home?" he asked with a smirk.

"No" you stated trying to hide your excitement.

"Come on Love, don't lie to me. I'm excited to be home. Get to spend Christmas with my beautiful, smart, kind, amazing wife.  Get to shower her with gifts. Best Christmas ever"

"Definitely best Christmas ever" you mumbled back as you leaned in and kissed him, savoring the taste of his lips after so long.

"I have one more surprise for you that I think you'll like" he stated as he broke away from the kiss.

"What" you whined as he laughed at you.

"Told Columbia that I'd make the record, but that I'm not releasing it till the end of next year. Want to settle down a bit more, gain more stability in case..." he trailed off as he cheeks turned pink.

"In case what?" you asked innocently even though you knew exactly what he was insinuating.

"In case you want to try for a baby like we talked about on our honeymoon. Said you wanted more stability from me before we started trying so this me giving you that. Don't want to pressure you or anything and this is your choice and I don't- "

"Yes," you whispered.

"Yes?" he questioned before you nodded your head and wrapped your arms around his neck.

Tears appeared in his eyes as he spun you around the kitchen. You laughed as he chanted "baby baby baby" quietly as to not wake Anne but the joy in his expression spoke volumes. You were both ready for this next chapter in your life and whatever happens next, as long as you were together, you knew everything would be ok.

“Hey babe” you whispered as Harry continued to cheer quielty. 

“Yes, Love?”

“Is Britney Spears your ringtone?”

“Maybe... It’s festive!” he defended as you laughed

“Ok love, whatever you say” 

Hope you all enjoyed and happy early Christmas to all who celebrate and a Happy Holidays everyone!!

[tsukikento]

What’s Their Name Again? (Miya Atsumu x GenderNeutral!Reader)

Summary: In which Miya Atsumu quickly becomes infatuated with you and hits someone in the face with a volleyball because of it.

Word Count: 4,877

Warnings/Genre: fluff, the slightest bit of angst, cute stuff :) no warnings except maybe swearing and osamu and atsumu being argumentative twins lol

Notes: I posted this on ao3 yesterday and now it's here! I could not get this idea out of my head and just had to write it! Please let me know if you like it! I love to hear your feedback! <3

(masterlist)

The first time Miya Atsumu saw you was in his first year of high school. He had been walking onto the court to play a game at the Spring Interhigh Nationals when his wandering eyes fell on your own. He couldn’t even remember the other team’s name he was about to face. However, he could remember the deep blue and gold tracksuit you were wearing a couple of courts over. He practically stopped in his tracks as he watched you talk to a manager from another team.

Your eyes shined brightly and the smile that graced your lips had him reeling. Needless to say, he was rather speechless with your angelic appearance. The stadium was too loud to hear the laughter that came out of your mouth, but he was sure it was perfect. His eyes scoured over your body, looking you up and down.

Wow, he thought, tempted to watch you for as long as he could, before something bumped into him.

His eyes were dragged away mercilessly from your figure and to his brother’s.

Miya Atsumu groaned loudly as he looked at his gray-haired twin. His frustration boiled over easily as if in too small of a pot and it resulted in him chasing after Osamu until Kita gave him a look that told him to behave. Oh, yeah, we are at nationals…

“Tch,” He mumbled before looking back at you. Or at least, where you had been standing.

You were gone.

And he was too entranced by your looks to see what school you went to. Atsumu looked back to his team and held in a groan as he forced himself to focus on the game that was soon to start.

~~

The next time Miya Atsumu was graced with your appearance was during the Winter Interhigh for his second year of high school. His team had once again made it to nationals, and it seemed yours had too.

In fact, you were currently standing opposite him on court B, while he stretched out his limbs.

You seemed much more confident in yourself than last year. The small, nervous blush that was permanent on your cheeks last year was gone. Your hair was shorter than before, no longer hiding over half your face, and it made you look way too good.

He stared at you as your team ran around the small court.

Tanuki High, he read off the jerseys.

Although he wasn’t happy to be facing off against your team on the first round of nationals, he tried to look at the bright side. He could impress you.

He found himself frequently looking at you as he warmed up, hoping you were looking at him. However, his now blond hair didn’t even help him stand out in a crowd. Rather than looking at the gorgeous setter that he was, you were looking at a player from your own team.

The boy had short black hair and green eyes. He had a smirk practically plastered onto his face and it made Atsumu want to hit him. Not a punch that could make his precious hands and knuckles bleed, but maybe a swift kick or elbow of the stomach.

He could not figure out why you were looking at that other guy so much. From what he could tell, the green-eyed bastard was also a setter and much worse compared to his own skill.

Atsumu groaned as he watched you look at that idiot with such a kind smile. He hated how beautiful he thought you looked and how much he craved for you to look at him that way.

And I don’t even know your name, he thought.

Once again, Atsumu was torn away from you by his brother.

“You like ‘em?” He asked, nudging Atsumu and looking at you.

Atsumu didn’t reply and simply walked away.

“Ah, so you do?” Osamu pestered, becoming that much more incessant.

“Shut it,” The blond twin spat back, “I need to practice my sets, toss them to me.”

Osamu didn’t bother to say anything else and simply followed along.

~~

It was about halfway through the game when Atsumu’s blood began to boil.

Tanuki High was not a bad school. They had a great defense and an ace who practically shut them out. However, Atsumu was able to keep calm and levelheaded until he saw you looking at that black-haired setter.

For most of the game, you had been dutifully noting down every point, block, and whatnot. It helped that you weren’t staring and giggling at the setter like before. Except, as everyone shifted positions and Atsumu moved to serve, he watched the opposite setter move to be standing closest to you.

Back left, Atsumu thought.

He watched attentively as the green-eyed boy looked at your sweetly and waved.

You waved back shyly.

Atsumu saw the other setter mouth something he couldn’t hear and your face went red immediately before you giggled.

The blond groaned as he took his steps back. When he looked up, you were still smiling like an idiot at the other setter. The referee whistled, signaling that it was okay for Atsumu to serve. He didn’t even bother silencing the cheer team, subconsciously knowing it would draw attention to him. He ran forward, jumping just in time, and smacked the volleyball as hard as he could.

It took less than a second for the ball to connect directly with the black-haired bastard’s face.

The referee once again blew his whistle and multiple people rushed over to check if he was okay.

Smirking, Atsumu walked up to his brother who was standing at the front as said, “Serves him right for not paying attention.” He knew he was an ass, he knew it was a little much to purposefully do a jump serve right into someone’s face, but it was a split-second decision.

Osamu chuckled and Atsumu felt a sense of pride rush through his veins until he saw your eyes snap up at him.

Like any manager would, you had rushed over to check on the player. His nose was bleeding and tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

When you heard that comment from the blond you had just served, you looked up in disgust at him. Your eyes held a fury that was rarely seen and Atsumu stepped back tentatively.

“You monster. How dare you,” You spat at Atsumu with venom dripping from your voice.

Atsumu could barely pay attention as he watched you usher the setter out of the gym and most likely to the infirmary.

Well, that backfired, he thought, now missing your kind presence that previously filled the gym.

The game ended quickly after that, Tanuki High being low in spirits. Although Atsumu wasn’t that much better either.

His heart felt like it ripped apart as you came back just in time to see your team lose. You were not accompanied by the setter and sadly shook your head as he watched the coach ask you a question.

Was my serve really that strong? He questioned as you sat down.

Atsumu simply followed the motions as he perfectly set the ball to Aran and watched closely for any possible blocks. It didn’t matter though.

He heard the smack of Aran’s powerful serve hitting the floor before he registered much and the ref's whistle blow.

End game.

He watched you calmly put your clipboard down before looking up to meet his eyes.

There was still so much anger in your eyes, but you hardly looked at him, barely spared him a glance, before going up to the players and hugging each and every one of them.

Atsumu stared at you with a foreign feeling. It felt different than the jealousy that ran through his veins when he saw you talking with that black-haired idiot from before. This feeling made him feel empty, but at the same time made him crave to fill that hole with your smile.

Oh, that gorgeous smile. You had lips that he would beg for a chance to kiss. The perfect shade of pink that matched perfectly against your skin tone to the slight laughter lines. Your smile was not joyful currently, it was more so filled with a pity directed at the volleyball players, a sorry attempt to cheer up the players.

He knew he should, but the second-year was way too nervous to actually go up and apologize to you. However, after a small cheer he shared with his team, Kita and Aran did force him to go and bow and apologize to the entire team.

“I’m very sorry for hitting your teammate. Please give him my sincere apology and know it was never my intention to hit anyone,” He partially lied, while bowing down to a 90-degree angle. He flashed a remorseful smile directed at you in hopes for pity.

You had none.

~~

Atsumu did not see you during the Spring Interhigh National games. He didn’t know if it was because your team did not make nationals or if you just didn’t cross paths. Regardless, he didn’t want you to see him lose in only the second round and was grateful for the absence.

~~

Atsumu finally saw you again at the Winter Interhigh National games.

Your tracksuit somehow fit even better than in years passed and Atsumu almost immediately walked up to you because of how profoundly gorgeous you looked.

However, what stopped him was the black-haired idiot. Or more so the lack of him.

He must have been a third-year, Atsumu thought as he watched you talk to the players. He was quite sure you were giving them an endearing and powerful speech. The passion and fire in your eyes outshined everything else. He absolutely adored how passionately you looked. If he looked closely, he would have noticed that you were also teary-eyed.

Atsumu continued to watch over you as he debated what to do. He was more confident than he was before, confident enough to walk up to you and ask for your number.

But what if you aren’t single? He thought, knowing full well that the alumni setter had flirted so freely with you and most likely asked you out.

“Stop being such a wuss.”

Atsumu looked away from you and to his brother.

“You have been looking at ‘em since our first year,” Osamu reasoned.

“No, I have not!” Atsumu countered, ready to hit his brother in the head.

Osamu barely ducked away in time from the attack before laughing, “Yeah, and you totally didn’t hit that guy in the face with a volleyball last year because he was flirting.”

Atsumu groaned, knowing that he was right. “Shut up, ‘Samu.”

“Whatever,” Osamu replied. “Just don’t come crying to me when you finally work up the courage and can no longer find ‘em.” His brother shrugged and walked away to go and talk to Suna.

Atsumu immediately turned his head around, worried you would be gone like before. He would theoretically only have one more chance to see you, that was if your team even made it to nationals. Atsumu groaned, knowing Osamu was right.

You were currently kneeling on the ground by the back wall and packing up some things in a bag, getting ready for your team’s game to begin. With most of your team busy warming up on the court, it gave Atsumu his best chance to talk to you privately. Most of his team was also leaving the court so none of those idiots would interrupt him either.

Before he could even think about what to say, his legs began approaching you. He inched close and closer but stopped when he was about five feet away and simply watched you.

Shit, what the fuck am I supposed to say?

“Can I help you?” You asked, looking up at him, worrying that he was going to be one of the many volleyball players from a different school that simply asked you out because they didn’t have their own team manager. You had a suspicious look on your face that heavily juxtaposed the sweet smile you gave all the players in Tanuki High.

“Oh, uh,” Atsumu stumbled over his words, not realizing you would notice him. He tentatively stepped closer, suddenly much more anxious than he was a few moments ago. However, he also found your confidence and bratty attitude so goddamn attractive. “I’m uh—"

“Oh!” You stood up from the kneeling position you had been in and pointed at the blond. “You’re Miya Atsumu, right?” Your eyes scanned his features and he wondered if you knew him from his noticeable, sunken eyes and bleached hair.

Atsumu immediately felt his face heat up, something he had yet to experience in his academic career. Despite being sought after by many people from his own high school, those people only liked him for his talent.

He never cared much for people who couldn’t befriend him for his personality but were happy to ogle him while he played. Nevertheless, he also still found himself enjoying their praises while he played.

Any of the people he tried to date in the past, a whopping three people, ended up breaking up with him because of his personality. The explanations ranged from him being too loud to being too obsessed with volleyball.

Either way, he was much more cautious than before, and yet you still grabbed his attention and made him want to learn more about you.

Atsumu would have looked away from you and toward the ground, except your eyes were sparkling too brightly for him to possibly miss a second. Fuck, he thought as he tried to figure out what to say.

“Y-you know me?” He finally asked. He pointed to himself in shock, eyes wide and unsure of himself.

“How could I forget the number #1 setter who hit Tadashi Kou in the face with a volleyball?” You ecstatically spoke, leaning back casually onto the wall and smiling with a confidence that made Atsumu’s heart rate increase.

Atsumu figured you were talking about the setter from last year, especially because he did not make it a habit to hit people with volleyballs. However, your voice, although not dripping with honey, did not have any anger in it as it did previously. He thought that if you remembered him for that, then you would be more upset with him. Your blatant compliment told him differently.

Regardless, Atsumu found himself sheepishly rubbing the back of his head and apologizing. “Yeah, sorry again about that,” He mumbled, looking down to the floor.

“Don’t apologize,” You waved him off, sheepishly scratching at the side of your face for making him feel bad.

“Oh! Um, but why?” He asked, silently thankful. The conversation wasn’t flowing perfectly, it was filled with awkward pauses and exclamations, but that was better than nothing. In fact, Atsumu wondered if your awkwardness was because you liked him, the same way his awkwardness was because he found your more beautiful than anyone he had ever seen. He reminded himself not to jump to conclusions, a normal person would not fall that fast and he was only beginning to understand his own feelings.

“Tadashi Kou is an asshole,” You swore. “That bastard totally deserved it.” Your voice echoed itself from that day last year. Except, almost angrier. It dripped with a fury Atsumu was unfamiliar with and he was glad he didn’t hear you speak this exact way to him last year.

“Oh,” Atsumu awkwardly replied, not quite sure what to say. What did he do to you? He wanted to ask but feared stepping over a boundary.

“I suppose you are wondering why,” You mumbled more so to yourself.

They know me so well, Atsumu thought, well aware that anyone would think that. However, he decided to let himself dream a little bit more, relish the good feelings he got from talking to you.

Even just your voice was gorgeous. From the way it dripped with honey as you talked to your teammates to the excitedness behind it when you guessed who he was. Even the sassiness and anger that your voice held at certain times made him shiver in new ways.

He realized how much he liked a confident person. No person who had shown interest in him before was the confident or teasing type. They were all confident enough to confess to him, but not confident enough to stop him if he was doing something dumb. Which was rather frequent, unfortunately. But your confidence made him hopeful that you would be willing to joke around with him and stop him when he was going too far. He found himself grinning wildly at just how quickly he was falling for you.

When you looked up at him, he realized his mistake. His eyes were glued to you, but he was thinking of something completely different and you definitely noticed.

Shit, I must look like an idiot. How long have I been not saying anything?

The smile on his face was wiped away because of his nerves and he was sure his face was red. “Uhh, yeah, but I don’t want to make you,” He mumbled back, wanting to forget about this awkward instance. However, your sparkling eyes looking directly at him with such curiosity made it almost worth it.

“Well, the whole world should know he’s an ass,” You replied, shrugging your shoulders, and moving so gracefully that no one would realize the swear that came out of your mouth. “He cheated on me if you must know.” Your voice was flat and blatant.

“Oh, shit,” Atsumu replied without thinking.

“Yeah,” You shot back.

Atsumu wanted to say something, anything, to cover up the silence that quickly took over your conversation. He moved closer to you, now only being a couple of feet away. “Well, I knew he was an ass from the beginning, so…” He trailed off, not sure what his point was.

You, however, still sputtered out a laugh that made his heart skip a beat. Once your chuckles died down, you looked up at the blond with a glint in your eyes that anyone would realize was flirtatious. “Oh really? And what made you hit him in the first place? I assumed it was an accident.”

Atsumu scoffed, replying quickly with, “What makes you think it wasn’t an accident?”

You scoffed back, equally as quick-witted, “Because I’ve seen you play. Coach made me watch hours’ worth of videos when we were going to play you last year, so I know you pride yourself on your serves. You wouldn’t try to hit someone unless provoked, especially because it would make it seem like you didn’t have almost perfect control over your serves. So, I just assumed it was a freak accident.”

Atsumu smirked, “You watch me that much, huh?” On this inside, he was screaming. He was going absolutely feral. You were way too much, and he was about ready to ask for your hand in marriage.

You simply shrugged once more. However, Atsumu, who was watching you intently saw you smirk at him. “So, was it an accident?”

Atsumu smiled and shook his head.

Your smile somehow widened. “And are you gonna tell me what provoked you to hit him?” You wanted to know so bad. What could possibly make Miya Atsumu forgo professionality?

Atsumu, who was busy staring at you, slightly shook his head to bring him back to focus. “You really want to know?” He asked, moving even closer to you, and forcing you to look up at him to meet his eyes. The angle was rather perfect, it gave him an ideal view of your face and he was so tempted to lean in and kiss you.

Either he was an idiot, or you were flirting with him. And he was really hoping you were flirting with him.

Atsumu smirked boldly and you visibly swallowed and tried your best not to breathe completely in his face.

“I do,” You breathed out, barely trusting your voice.

Atsumu hummed low in his throat, an action he knew worked well in getting a rise out of people. “Well,” He leaned back slightly, giving him some more room to talk. “You’re right that I pride myself on my serves. However, I’m not so prideful that I wouldn’t intentionally hit an idiot in the face. In fact, I have a lot of practice aiming my serves directly at my brother's head.”

He paused and smiled joyfully as you shot your hand up to your mouth and laughed. However, your laughter died abruptly stopped as the blond setter once again leaned forward. This time, he put his left arm against the wall behind you, effectively trapping you in closer than ever to him. Atsumu felt lucky that there were a lot of people in the stadium, making it easy for him to hide. Just imagining his team mocking him for this moment almost made him regret it.

He looked into your eyes, so innocent and simply looking directly at him. What he would give to hear your thoughts right now…

“You never told me what made you hit him,” You finally spoke, your throat dry, but still determined to know why.

“If you must know,” Atsumu spoke, looking directly at you and tentatively licking his lips. Your eyes shined with intrigue and your lips were slightly parted. As a last-second decision, Atsumu leaned forward again, brushing his lips against your right ear. He gently breathed out, noting how you shivered easily against his actions. “I couldn’t help myself when I saw how he was flirting with you.”

He was lightheaded.

It was very unlike him to act like this.

Sure, he thought about how to flirt with people, but actually doing it was different. In fact, the last person he dated laughed in his face when he tried to flirt.

He was sure you were about to do the same.

Except, you didn’t shake with laughter. You gasped and turned your head just slightly to meet Atsumu’s eyes as he moved away from your ear. He could feel the heat radiating off your face and see the light blush on your cheeks.

Atsumu smirked, hiding his own nerves. He was so ecstatic with your reaction, but at the same time anxious to see how you would reply.

“Fuck,” He heard you swear. It was so quiet as if coming out as a meek breath. He wouldn’t have heard it if he wasn’t so close to you still.

Being so close to you felt suffocating at this point. The air was hot and the temptation to lean down and kiss you was way too high. He wanted to take this slow, at least for now. Atsumu slowly pulled back, just enough so the air he was breathing was no longer yours as well.

Quickly, you looked down at your feet and fumbled with your hands.

“Don’t look away,” Atsumu sadly whined. He wanted to see your face and your reaction.

“But you made me nervous,” You whined back, causing Atsumu to smile wildly.

“So cute,” He simply spoke before moving his hand to gently cup your chin. He tilted your head up and smiled kindly at you. He could tell you were just as nervous as him and hoped his actions didn’t intimidate you.

You looked into his eyes expectantly. You weren’t sure what he would want from you. Unlike people from his school, you didn’t know much about him. You knew he was popular though. At least, a popular athlete. You clearly remembered the multiple women who cheered for him and held up signs for him during games.

You wondered if he was only flirting with you for fun. Or maybe he was hoping you would entertain him for the night. However, the idea of him literally hitting someone in the head with a volleyball simply because they were flirting with you made you think it might be something more.

However, the long, pregnant pause that had you both reeling in nerves and teenage feelings was stopped when your name was called.

You looked over, Atsumu’s head also turning when yours did.

Your face met the face of one of the first years. A sweet boy with pale, blond hair. He still had a little baby fat on his face, but he was quickly becoming an excellent player despite his innocence and cheerfulness.

Those factors made this moment all the more awkward.

Atsumu’s left arm tucking you into the wall and his right hand holding your chin. He towered over you in a way that made this look even worse.

You gulped down the lump in your throat. “Yes, Watanabe-kun?”

“The game is starting soon, and Coach wanted to talk to you,” He mumbled, his eyes only looking into yours, too nervous to look anywhere else.

“I’ll be there soon, okay?” You replied. Atsumu hadn’t moved in the slightest. He simply only watched Watanabe like he was a potential threat.

The first year nodded and jogged away.

You turned back to look at Atsumu how met your eyes. “So,” You mumbled.

“So,” Atsumu repeated as your voice died down into nothing.

“I have to go,” You finally added.

“You have to go.”

It was clear that you were both reluctant to separate. Atsumu didn’t want to move because he worried that you would leave and he would not see you again.

“Can I have your number?” You finally asked, surprising Atsumu.

“Um,” He finally pulled back and looked down. He tapped at his shorts, realizing he was still in his jersey. No pockets, no phone. “Do you have your phone on you?”

“Yeah,” You replied, and moved down to the bag you had been previously packing up. You unzipped the small, front pocket which helps your phone, and a small first-aid kit.

You quickly unlocked it and opened up to add a contact. You handed your phone to Atsumu and watched as he put in his number. You expected him to simply hand your phone back to you, but he suddenly moved to phone up high. He looked into the lens, smiled, and held up a peace sign before taking a photo of himself.

When he handed you back the phone, you saw he not only added a photo but also entered in his name. TsumTsum <3

“TsumTsum?” You questioned, looking up into the blond with an inquiring look.

Atsumu sighed and flopped around rather humorously. He acted like he couldn’t control his arms and whined out, “I thought it was cute!”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t!” You shot back, laughing at his actions.

Atsumu whined again, “Then why did you look at me like that?”

You simply shrugged, a beautiful smile on your face as you looked down at your phone and typed something out. Once done, you showed him your fine.

‘Hi TsumTsum <3’

Atsumu smiled proudly at the text.

“There, now you should have my number too,” You explained before tucking your phone away into your back. “Hopefully, I’ll see you tomorrow.” You smiled at Atsumu and gave him a quick wink before turning away and walking over to your team.

Atsumu smiled happily, so glad he was finally able to talk to you. In a haze, he finally left the gym and walked down the hall to where his team was supposed to meet up. Most of them were sitting around the small area, either on their phones or trying to sleep.

Atsumu had already given them a short speech about how they played today so they had most of the day free until after dinner when they would watch the recording of them playing and go over it with their coach.

Atsumu plopped himself down onto the ground next to his bad and Osamu. He immediately chugged his water and grabbed his phone out of his bag.

He giddily unlocked his phone to look at the text you sent him. His noise made his brother look over his shoulder and to his brother’s phone.

“Oh, did you get their number?” Osamu asked, turning around to see Atsumu’s phone more clearly.

Atsumu immediately moved to hide his phone. “Yes,” He abruptly replied before looking back to his phone and moving to add you to his contacts. However, as Atsumu’s fingers hovered over his keyboard, he realized something. “I didn’t get their name,” He spoke, looking up to Osamu as if he would have a solution.

The gray-haired twin immediately began laughing at his brother.

“Shut up, ‘Samu!” Atsumu exclaimed, moving to kick his brother.

Osamu hardly dodged his brother’s attack, unable to move swiftly from laughing so hard. “You’re such an idiot, ‘Tsumu!” Osamu said in between his laughs as he moved over to get to Suna.

Atsumu groaned loudly and turned to be by himself. He looked down at his phone, debating what to put as your contact.

Would it be too weird to put a pet name, he wondered.

Finally, after debating for some time, he decided to simply put your contact names as ‘Baby’.

Maybe I’ll change it once I know their name, he reasoned before turning back to his team and interjecting himself into Suna and Osamu’s conversation.

He never did change it though.

[darlingpetao3]

House of W (Multiple!Wells x Reader, Chapter 5)

Rating: T

Summary: After having to deal with the deaths of an infinite number of Harrison Wells in the Multiverse, you, a magic-wielding meta, have a breakdown and unwittingly create a happy, fictitious sitcom life with some of your favourite men. In a world of comedy and cameos, can Team Flash and an out-of-town magician break through your powers to save you? And what if you don’t want to be saved...?

Tag List: @fandomdancer @bluesclues-1234 @crissymadlock @firstofficer-tilly @disneyoncerlover815 @marvel-lady10 @thecaptainsgingersnap @noctvrnalmoth @alexxlynn @dontbedumb3 @heyl0lwhatsup @ryou-cosmos @arianalilyblack @sonnensplitter @imagine-yourself-happy @stuckysdaughter​

PROLOGUE | CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4

“Honeyyyyyyys…?” you call out in the house. Naturally, four handsome men come running.

“What’s happening?” Nash, in his jean shorts and Hawaiian themed shirt, asks you urgently.

“What’s happening is I am the worst mother ever!” you yell. Cue four sweet and simultaneous denials of your belief. “But I am—I can’t find the twins!”

How can someone lose two tiny babies? You had only looked away for thirty seconds and poof—Liberty and Belle were gone! They couldn’t even so much as crawl yet!

“Everyone, spread out,” a suspenders-wearing H.R. conducts the family, “they can’t have gone far.”

Harry moves closer to you to rub your back with small circles. “It’s going to be okay. You’re a wonderful mother. We just have a couple of troublemakers on our hands, it seems.”

You give a slight nod and begin to scour every place you haven’t already checked in the house. Everything is going to be fine, everything is going to be fine…

A pair of foreign giggles come from the closet by the alcove. How strange. You follow the sounds, and sometimes you’ll hear a “Shhhhh!” followed by more snickering. When you open the door to the closet, you’re entirely shocked to find two little girls who look to be five years old—one in overalls and the other in a dress.

“Libby, Libby, Libby! I told you to be quiet!” Belle scolds her sister.

“But your hair was tickling my face!” Liberty tries to explain.

Meanwhile, you’re still stunned to see your babies have grown in such a short amount of time. It really should be such a surprise considering the shortness of the pregnancy, but still!

You try to find your voice by beckoning your husbands. “I-I found them!”

“Hi, mommyyyyy,” they say in such adorable unison. Their perfect little faces look up at you and you feel like you’re staring into a mirror-time-portal. You crouch down and open your arms.

“I was so worried,” you tell the girls. “I thought I’d lost you.”

Sherloque, H.R., Harry, and Nash soon appear behind you and gawk at their rapidly aged daughters.

“How are they five?” H.R. whispers his question to no one and anyone.

“A very good question…” Sherloque, in his white trousers and blazers with a sharp purple shirt underneath, strokes his chin.

You wipe a tear from your eye and clear your throat. “Why don’t you two hooligans help your Pops with something in the garage?”

“You got it, dude!” Belle shoots you adorable finger guns before grabbing her sister’s and Nash’s hand. And then, in a flash, they’re gone. Indeed so quick that your voluminous hair flies every which way—books and papers suddenly strewn all over the house.

“Did Belle just…?” Harry starts to ask but falters.

“Run Mach one in my house? Yeah, I think she did…” you reply, figuratively and almost literally blown away. “Oh!”

H.R. holds your hand in comfort at the sound of your weepy noise. “What is it, Honey Bear?”

“I can’t believe it. I missed their first steps, their first words. So many firsts. They’re five!”

“There will be plenty more firsts that we won’t miss,” Harry soothes, “together.”

“If ma Belle ‘as the ability to run vitement,” Sherloque wonders to the rest of you, “what does this mean pour ma Liberté?”

This makes you think—remember things that you’d rather not remember. But, what if…?

You take quick strides towards the garage through the kitchen, your remaining husbands following closely behind. Peering out the window, you spot Liberty using her glowing purple hands to float a socket wrench over to Nash from his toolbox. His eyes are wide, but happily so, at the magic presented by his daughter.

“Little chips off the old block, aren’t they?” H.R. notes, putting an arm around your shoulders and Harry’s (the latter picks up and drops his doppelganger’s arm off of him).

“Yes, I suppose they are.” You sigh in contentment. “What do you three say to a little quiet time on the couch?”

The men don’t even need to voice their approval of the idea, only follow you devotedly out of the kitchen. Sherloque pulls up the rear but stops short at the refrigerator. The appliance is strangely already covered in artwork, with barely any free space available on the appliance. And then… there’s something else that sticks out amongst the vibrantly coloured scribbles.

He leans in a little closer to inspect a piece of paper. Sherloque notes the hurried scrawl of the letters:

You’re on a TV show. This isn’t real. We’re trying to help you.

The puzzled detective continues to analyze the strange message. What does this mean? he wonders.

He tries his best to remember what his life was like before he married you. What was life like? It takes every ounce of brainpower to attempt the recollection, but Sherloque unfortunately comes up short with answers.

Something he is both not known for and hates.

He checks around the room to see if anyone is watching him, but no one is in sight. Regardless of his lack of findings, he waves in the direction of one of the kitchen walls as if someone was watching. Sherloque then marches into the living room where you’re snuggled up with Harry and H.R.

“What is this?” he demands of you, flashing the note in front of your face. You, of course, have no idea and voice as such.

Harry snatches the piece of paper and proceeds to study it. “This is a joke, right?”

“I think someone must be playing a prank on you, my love,” you tell your suspicious French husband.

“And I think you are lying to us, ma petite,” he replies. Sherloque turns his attention to the other men on the couch. “Dites-moi, what is your earliest memory?”

Harry and H.R.’s foreheads scrunch in thought.

“The first thing I ever remember is showing up here for dinner a few nights ago,” H.R. says slowly. “But it feels much quicker than only a couple of nights…”

“And you, (Y/N),” Harry adds, “I feel like I’ve known you my entire life, and yet my first memory was the same as this jackwagon.”

“Aww, Harry, I feel like I’ve known you my entire life too,” you say sweetly. “All of you!”

Sherloque squints at you. “Stop that. You are hiding something. Eet is the way you swallow with difficulty and perspire. Aussi the tapping of your foot.”

“I am not hiding any-”

“-You lie!” Sherloque raises his voice. H.R. and Harry stand up from the couch and face you with crossed arms, pulling his blue plaid shirt tighter against his chest.

“Is it true?” H.R. asks you, looking ever so much like a puppy dog. It pains you to see him look so hurt. They both seem to take Sherloque’s word for it. And over yours?

“Is any of this real?” Harry finishes his opposite-self’s question, then points in the direction of the garage. “Are they real?”

“Of course our daughters are real!” you find yourself shouting at the notion otherwise. “They’re parts of us!”

“Then what have you done to our memories? You’re keeping secrets!”

At this point, Nash enters the room with Liberty and Belle, clearly not expecting an argument from their idyllic family unit. His hands on their shoulders. They must have heard the fighting…

“Listen,” you try calmly, “I did this for us. You don’t want to know what happened before our lives together here. You just don’t.”

“You do not get to choose for us,” Sherloque counters sternly.

The tension can be cut with a knife, and the proverbial knife that does the cutting comes in the form of a sound—the doorbell.

“Who is that, (Y/N)?” Harry asks you.

“I don’t know. That’s not me, I swear it,” you tell him, very much confused yourself. Each of your husbands stands with their arms still crossed, waiting. It hurts you to see them so upset with you. This was supposed to be perfect. This was supposed to be easy.

Your feet that feel like lead somehow manage to carry you over to the door. Twisting the doorknob, you open the door to reveal another extremely familiar face…

“How’s it hangin’, Miss (Y/L/N).”

What? No… It can’t be him?

Looking the epitome of cool—dressed in stone washed jeans, a yellow button-down shirt with a black leather jacket thrown over top—stands the man you never thought you’d see again. Especially in your own safe little world.

Eobard Thawne.

The man walks right in the house like he owns the place with an incredible amount of swagger.

“So, what’s a guy gotta do to get a drink around here?”

[impaladolan]

What if y/n tried to sneak out again and ends up opening a door and it’s literally a conference room and grays ins sitting head of the table and it’s filled w mafia men lmaooo and she’s just like oh sorry was looking for the bathroom which is an obvious lie cos girl has one in her room and she runs away and one of them catch her and take back to grays I mean does he punish her in front of the men girl that’s up to you but even if he doesn’t I feel like it’s like a lowkey funny concept like poor girl she just tryna escape hahaha

Anonymous said

i think it would be fun if y/n just constantly winds up him now in hopes he will get sick of her antics and just tell her everything hehe like maybe one day she steals his rolex, smashes all the plates lmaoo idk now that i type that out i feel like he won’t care and just spank her ass every time (which i highly doubt she’s gonna complain about lol)

Capture - Grayson Dolan [7/-]

summary: y/n has always been a curious women, but when she stumbles upon something she’s not supposed to.. things become too much to handle...

warnings: swearing & humiliation/degradation..

a/n: do y’all want to do tags @?? and also, thank you sweet anons for the prompts! love you all 💕

The events to which had pertained early this morning continuously played on a loop in your head. Rerun after rerun, and you never ran out of film. It really made you question your decision-making skills, or rather any of the skills and manners you have acquired in your short time of living. You couldn't help the "imbalance of homeostasis" moreover your impulsive, fluctuant feelings that would come over you like a rushing water at times. It really made everything a bit more difficult to understand. In shorter terms;

What the hell even happened?

You couldn't deny or even feel guilty for the wrongdoings of this morning, but nor could you exactly excuse them. Yes, it was a heat of the moment type of thing and you really should have expected him to come barging in like that, but it still had taken you off guard. Although, when you think back to what happened, you don't regret it.

You miss it.

You miss the way it felt, to be sat atop of him and needing for his scared touch. He was like a drug. An addictive, life sucking drug that wouldn't wash away from your mind. He was all you could think about.

He is all you can think about.

The wanting demand to know his name, the request to see his godawful handsome face, the aching of his touch. Everything about him was mysterious and daunting. He drew you in, like a magnet against steel. The burning desire you have for him doesn't make sense.

How could you be in love with someone you barely know? Someone who had taken you away from everything you've ever known. A man that knows the ins and outs of you, yet you couldn't even recognize his name?

It feels like a game. A stupid, twisted fucking game that you're bound to lose to.

Sighing to your intrusive thoughts, you blow a wavering piece of hair from your face. You were stuffed under the lengthy duvet and your eyes were directed at the spinning ceiling fan above. The industrial, artificial wind-making machine upwards reminded you of a similar one placed in your room at home. Of course, this one didn't have a squeak but it still made the pit of your stomach drop in an agony-filled remembrance of home. It feels like forever ago when you used to run every morning. The feel of the harsh wind against your cheeks and the subtle pumping of your heart was washed away with the same old gray walls that you were enclosed by every single waking moment.

The sudden thought of just that sparked energy within you.

You were pretty exhausted from prior events and you thought you’d be able to get a nap or two in. But your overthinking and legitimate thoughts clouded your head and you just couldn’t find a way to sleep properly. Although now, you were ready to explore.

Well, explore the kitchen.

The mere thought of a tall glass of iced water sounds satisfactory. Especially for your often dry throat. So, you hassled out of the flooding white covers and marched straight to the door, pulling down the only thing that covers you; a large white t-shirt— presumably his. The urge to soothe the parchedness that swirled within you only strengthened as you trekked past the door and into the ominous hallway. You werent for sure if he was home or not, but at this point it really didn't matter. You were thirsty and you were gonna do something about it, one way or another.

You retraced your steps from only a few days beforehand, when you had tried to escape, which had ended in complete failure. Thinking back to it, it surprises you that he actually knew you were in the walk-in pantry the entire time.

It seems like he knows just about everything.

Like you remembered, the hall opened up into a large, modern looking kitchen that could possibly sustain an expensive restaurant if it really had to. Before you could pause in absolute awe by just gaping at it, you get straight to work in finding a glass. You swung open most of the cabinet doors, opening to mainly spice racks and pots/pans that looked pricier than your own vehicle. You finally found something that could fit the desired contents and you went straight for the fridge. Just as quickly, you dip your cup in the little boxed formation and listen to the ice cubes soothingly fall. You didn't even worry about the deafening bangs of the cubes as they fell from the dispenser, or the crackling or the cool water slipping down and around their entirety.

God, it looks like heaven.

You bring the cylindrical shape up to your lips and let the freezing water slip down your tongue and throughout your body. It cured any and everything that seemed to be wrong, at least for the moment. You dont stop your drinking until the water is fully ingested and the ice begins to burn the tip of your nose. You place the glass carefully on the counter and deeply inhale, shutting your eyes for a brief moment to think.

You’re tired of staying in that room all damn day, and you need a change of scenery. You know there’s got to be way more in this house than just the couple rooms you’ve ventured in, and what’s the worst that could happen?

Aww, he spanks your ass again?

Like that would solve anything anyway. He should know by now that it affects you differently. He seems to know everything else about you. It’s actually really frustrating. For him to know all the details and you’re left in the weird gray area that’s clueless and dumb. It makes you so aggravated and angered, and you wanted to oh so bad, put your foot down in some way.

So, that’s what you’ll do.

A devilish grin comes across your face as you leave the kitchen, waltzing into the dining area with scouring eyes. What could you possibly do to make the “almighty capturer” upset? The first thing to come across your head was unorganization.

He seems like a perfectionist, someone who likes everything put in their exact places and to not be tampered with. You share that similar quality, but you aren’t an extremist like him.

You first lay your eyes on the dining room table, the centerpiece along with the runner looking a little too nice. With a sense of urgency, you decide sabotage. Firstly, you grab the extravagant-looking art sculpture and set it on the floor. After, you crumple the cloth underneath it. With an odd smirk, you pull out all the chairs in not so orderly fashion.

Wow, Y/N, you really did some damage..

Taking a couple steps back to look at the petty mess you've made, a chuckle erupts from your mouth and you sigh yet again. You shrug the simplicity away from your head and continue your walking. You come about a spiraling staircase and instantly begin to climb it, eager to see the upper floor’s decor. Your hand slides against the railing as you become steps closer to your desired destination, another chic and modern looking domain before your eyes. Unlike the downstairs, this room held a lot more art work and a certain professionality you couldn't begin to explain, but you continued to move forward. You approach another hallway, except this one withheld a deadend, large double doors that open outward. It somehow gained your attention and you couldn't help but want a quick look inside. Nothing was really stopping you and there are no signs of him around, so why not?

You didn’t really need an answer, you just went ahead and did what was on your mind. Exerting the small amount of force needed to push down the handles, you pull the doors open wide and focus your eyes on the room’s interior.

Men, sat all along a table that led all the way up to him.

Your eyes widen in immediate shock and your jaw drops open. All of their heads turn in the direction of a barely dressed girl standing in the doorway, disrupting the importance of a meeting with their leaders.

You.

Papers were strung all over the long piece of oak and there was bustling before you rudely interrupted their transactions and communicating, but you were too frozen to react or runaway.

“What the fuck are you doing up here, Y/N?” He said your name with such a deep and dark mannerism, it made your pussy throb unexpectedly. “I- Uhm, I.. Bathroom?” Words wouldn’t come out straight, no matter how hard you tried. You felt the stares of a million, but you could only focus your gaze on him.

And he looks furious.

What could you do to escape all of this? Well, running actually. You take off just as you see him get up from his seat. You speed back down the hallway you first walked down and curved through the different paths you had taken prior. The faint “go fucking get her” that spilled from his lips had made it to your ears and a certain fear ignited within you.

You could hear the footsteps behind you, but you didn’t stop. You were almost down the steps, until that menacing touch of someone grabbing you right before freedom— immersed around you. You knew it wasn’t his arms wrapped around you, but you didn’t dare look back to see whose it actually was. You wanted to cry, struggling to stay in his grasp as he lifted you back up and into the meeting room from whence you came.

“Let her down, Marc.” His wondrous voice filled your ears and you’ve never felt so secure yet troubled in your entire lifetime. The large arms unraveled from around you and you were softly placed on the ground. You didn’t dare to look up, but instead focus on the ground beneath you.

“Get your ass over here, slut.” His dark voice filled the quiet room, and your heart plummeted at the sound of such a slur. Sadly, you could only listen to him, so you walk carefully around the table, making your way to his perch. You weren’t even fully near him until his arm reached out and clutched your wrist, forcefully pulling you towards him. He roughly laid you over his lap, in front of everyone, and pulled up the bottom of your shirt, allowing every eye to see you lower half nakedness.

And just like the early morning prospects, an echoing slap to your ass filled the room’s silence. “This is what fucking happens, Y/N. When you disobey me.” You could tell his jaw was clenched and his face was red with anger by the way he was talking. Tears began to form in your eyes, but not from the pain, but from the embarrassment.

How’re you supposed to face all the people in this room, after getting an ass whooping for the second time today?

“Guess you don’t know how to fuckin’ listen well, do you Y/N?” He kept saying your name like it was some kind of extravaganza, which humiliated you all the more. You didn’t want everyone to know who you are, laid across a grown man’s lap and getting seriously aroused amidst people.

Out of the blue, he wraps his hand around the back of your neck to pull you back up to face him, a dark red spread across your cheeks. “Lucky I don’t make you suck my fuckin’ cock in front of all of ‘em. Then they’d know you aren’t such a bad little girl, wouldn’t they?” He whispers against your ear as he sets you on his knee, facing the direction of the stone cold men veering their eyes on everything but you— away from the awful scene.

You shake your head to his words, feeling his large hands linger under your shirt. “Don’t think so? Would that embarrass you, sweetheart? Cause I couldn’t give a less fuck about that right now.” His hands continue to travel upwards, wrapping around the both of your unclothed breasts, the thin shirt material not doing much justice.

“Please, no. I-I’ll do whatever you want, just please— not here.” With those words of plea, you cross your arms over his hands and train your eyes to the floor in humiliation.

“Get back to you room, and don’t leave it. You’re on thin fucking ice, princess.”

to be continued...

a/n: don’t ask me why, i really don’t know why he has such an affinity for spanking her 🤷‍♀️ and it’s also 1:00 am that I finally finished this.. procrastination at its finest..

[pandoraborn]

Cruelty of the Beast - Part 16

( previous. )

-----

Characters: c!Puffy, c!Phil, c!Techno, c!Dream Word count: 1776 Content: blood, violence, mention of war, brief family reunion, major character death, grief

-----

Puffy scours the ‘battlefield’. There are already explosions being set off around her, with buildings being destroyed. In the days between Quackity finding Tommy and now, she has to wonder if they’d snuck back to plant more TNT.

Or had they come beforehand?

Around her, people are screaming and running. People she wouldn’t normally give a second glance to, but she recognizes a few of them, in varying states of panic and anger. Niki goes flying past her with an iron sword, and Hbomb is following behind, shouting for everyone to follow him.

Puffy considers joining the pair, but she marches along the prime path, wincing at every explosion happening nearby. She doesn’t know where Tubbo or Quackity are, and she has no idea where Sam went. 

Puffy hopes her friends are safe.

The dragon is a lot closer now, and Puffy’s starting to realize how big it actually is. Dread pools in her stomach, causing her to stop and stare up at the sky. Everything else is background noise for a split second, as all she can see are those menacing purple eyes, and the purple fog that the dragon breathes out.

When someone jostles her, Puffy lurches forward and turns to see who is next to her. It’s Phil. Phil’s already armed with a sword, though he’s using his hand to push her back.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Puffy,” Phil says. “But that dragon doesn’t discriminate.”

Reaching into her inventory, Puffy immediate dons her armor. It’s all iron, as she hadn’t had a chance to craft netherite yet. She keeps her gaze on Phil though, watching every movement.

Her sword though, that’s made of netherite. Pulling that out next, Puffy lifts her sword, pointing the tip in his direction while also stepping back. “I’m not running,” she insists. “You’re all insane, you know that?”

Phil merely grins. “I was trying to give you a chance,” he responds. “I’m more than happy to cause chaos. Done it before, doing it again.”

“Haven’t you done enough damage?” Puffy asks. “The last time you caused this much damage, we lost an entire country. Your son built that!”

“My son?” Phil tilts his head to the side, letting a brief silence settle over them. “Correct my memory here if I’m mistaken. You were there at the prison the day Dream broke out, right? Tommy and Ranboo both said everyone was there.”

“Do not talk to me about Tommy!” Puffy snaps. “You all hurt him, over and over again!”

“Were you or were you not there?”

“I want you all to take your dragon and leave us alone,” Puffy says stubbornly. “We did nothing to you.”

“Anyway.” He’s speaking as if she hadn’t said anything. “You all watched Wilbur exit the prison. Wil, who worked with Dream long before his death, long before the revolution. They were apparently in cahoots when Pogtopia was operational. This wasn’t my idea.”

“You can’t blame Wilbur for that,” Puffy snaps. “He wasn’t in his right mind! He needed help and no one was-”

She cuts herself off there. Something is shifting into place in her mind, and she doesn’t like what conclusion she’s reaching. Rather than dwell on it, she drops her sword and attempts to do something she probably shouldn’t:

She lunges for Phil with her fist. She should have remembered that Phil is far older than her, with far more practice, and far more allies on his side that the last time he set off explosives. He’s side stepping her, and within a blink, he’d moved behind her, twisting her arm behind her back.

Struggling against his grip, Puffy starts swearing loudly. “Let me go! I swear I won’t hesitate to kill you!”

“You really think you can kill him with your bare hands?” That voice isn’t Phil’s, it’s Techno’s. He steps within her line of sight, smiling wildly. He looks wild, eyes far too wide, smile too big with too many teeth showing. This is clearly his idea of a fun time, and Puffy nearly recoils.

“I can sure as hell try,” she mutters through clenched teeth. “After what all of you did to Tommy, I’d love to see all of you burn in your own dragon’s magic breath.”

Techno starts laughing. “You think Tommy was being held against his will or we dragged him here kicking and screaming?”

Puffy wants to hold onto the mental image of Tommy. Sweet, obnoxious Tommy who always had a witty retort ready and a fire in his eyes. She wants to still hold out hope that Tommy will return to her. Them.

“This was Tommy’s idea,” Techno continues. “ See, he was pissed about Quackity shooting him with an arrow. Sure, it was an accident, but you know what they say about a broken person with nothing left to lose.”

She doesn’t want to hear any more. This is slander. Techno had always hated Tommy, she’s sure of it. Rather than lash out verbally, Puffy kicks her leg up, hoping to hit Techno right in the jaw. She wants to see him stagger back in pain.

Unfortunately, a third hand grabs at her leg and holds it in place. Techno backs up, still grinning wildly, though now he’s staring at the newcomer. With a frustrated scream, she tries to wretch her leg from the person’s grasp, only for them to squeeze her ankle hard enough to almost hurt.

“Hello Mother Duck,” comes the voice. This stops Puffy. Going limp against Phil, she stares out at the person attached to the hand. It’s Dream. He’s wearing his usual outfit; the bright green shirt, black pants, and instead of wearing his mask properly, it’s resting against the side of his head.

“Dream,” she says softly. “Dream, what have you done?” Tears fill her eyes. This is the first time she’s seen him since...since before Tommy was released from exile. She had thought she moved past him, but seeing him now brings tears to her eyes.

“Is it cool if I call you mom?” he asks. “I know that we’re not officially family, but you did kind of adopt me. I wanted to check up on things.” Dream’s wearing a more serene smile. He doesn’t look like a maniacal villain, he looks like her duckling: peaceful, happy, and calm.

For a second, Puffy almost believes. She can almost believe that the world around her isn’t going up in flames, and that there isn’t a dragon attacking the SMP. Right now, it’s just a mother duck and her duckling, reuniting at last.

“What have you done?” Her voice sounds foreign to her own ears, filled with despair. The world comes back into focus, and behind her, she can hear someone scream.

“What I should have done ages ago,” Dream says casually. Bending down, he picks up her sword. “The problem wasn’t L’Manburg.” Dream scoffs. “The problem wasn’t the countries or the buildings or even Tommy. Tommy wasn’t the one who brought attachments, all of you did. All of you were so selfish about everything. From buildings to random items, even pets. It became a cluster fuck of everyone blaming everyone else, and people kept getting forgotten or left behind.”

“You messed up the most!” Phil’s grip on her loosens enough for her to straighten up. Puffy wants nothing more than to take Dream into her arms and hold him close. She also wants to drive a sword through her stomach. “You hurt the most people, you have to pay!”

“Believe me, Mother Duck, I am paying. I’ve been paying for it, and I’ve decided I’m tired of paying for it. Which is why we’re here.”

“I’m going to stop you,” she replies flatly. “It’s my duty.”

“It was your duty to protect people, and you did a lousy job at that.” Dream spins the sword in his hands. “Believe me when I say I do love you. For a brief time, we had a happy family, until you replaced me with Foolish.”

Her blood chills. “Don’t touch Foolish.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Everyone’s going to suffer, he’s not special.” Dream continues to wear that same smile, almost matching the mask he’s wearing. “But sometimes things have to be done a certain way in order to achieve our goals. You of all people know that.”

“Dream...” She’s pleading with him now. Begging for him to come back, begging for him to instruct Phil to let her go. She almost misses that Techno had already left somewhere during this conversation.

“I’ll tell Tommy you thought off him. Phil, step back.”

The pressure on her immediately leaves. Nearly falling back, Puffy stumbles to keep her balance before facing Dream again, arms dangling at her sides. She’s confused on what Dream meant, in regards to Phil, but the answer-

-oh.

She has on diamond armor. It’s meant to protect her, it’s meant to help her when there’s danger nearby. But somehow, Dream had managed to find the cracks in the armor, the tiny little exposures. It was enough that he rammed her own sword through her stomach.

Puffy stares down, unable to talk. She’s unable to comprehend why she’s bleeding, but feels no pain. Confusion blots out all coherent thought, and instead, stares at her duckling.

Is it her imagination, or is Dream crying? Are those tears streaming down his face, or are they tears blurring her own vision?

It doesn’t matter, anymore.

When he yanks the sword back, she falls forward. Puffy’s jumbled thoughts are of the people she’s come to love: Foolish, Bad, Tommy, Eret. Sam. They all held a special meaning to her, and were all lovely people.

Niki. She’d cared for Niki in a special kind of way. More intimate, even if toward the end they barely spoke. She’d miss seeing Niki’s smile.

And Dream...

Dream’s arms around her, catching her fall. His arms slowly lowering her to the ground, his arms cradling her, wiping blood from her mouth.

“Duckling...” Puffy tries to reach for him, but she’s so, so tired now. It doesn’t hurt anymore. It didn’t really hurt to begin with. Dream’s holding her and crying, and Phil’s somewhere to the right of Dream.

“I’ll see you soon,” Dream says gently. He kisses her forehead, and then leaves her. She’s laying on the cold ground and watches as he and Phil walk away.

With the remaining strength she has left, Puffy turns her gaze to the sky, just in time to see the dragon fly overhead. The dragon breathes down on her, encasing her with the most beautiful purple haze she’d ever seen. The last thing she’ll ever see.

And the war rages on.

[vintagedolan]

sweet creature (egd)

ethan hates when he has to leave you for even a few days, so when he gets back, he has a little surprise planned

word count: 4.3k

warnings/tags: fluff, and then some smut to round it out WOO we goin through it today ladies and gents, harry styles (music) is involved :) 

dedicated to my bruna bby ( @ethanhes​ ) who is so strong and the sweetest girly I know. I love you!!

feel free to send in requests! and check out my masterlist if you wanna :)

Like hell you were gonna make another trip - you slid the last grocery bag onto your arm, ignoring how they were digging into your skin as you started your walk into the house. If anyone had watched you try to navigate your way in the door, it probably would have been quite the sight. But you succeeded, emerging into an empty kitchen, heaving the heavy bags up onto the counter.

Usually, you’d yell down the hall, summon the boys to help you unpack. But it would be futile - no one was home. Not even Sterling was around - the three of them were off on Wakeheart business, at the factory in Arizona where everything was actually produced so they could approve all the candle production.

You’d gotten a few pictures from the trip - bright colorful sunsets, Grayson and Sterling smiling from across the table at breakfast. But your favorites were the stupid little selfies he kept sending. Your phone buzzed in your pocket as if on cue.

Another snapchat from Ethan, this time of him with a metal straw trapped between his teeth and big smile on his face. Adorable, as always. 

cold brew mood. miss you x was the caption that flitted across the screen. You screenshotted it just in time. The next buzz was a text from him.

:(

why you screenshot

cause you looked cute

send me one back, I miss you

You rolled your eyes at that, deciding to make him wait for a minute while you started to put the groceries away. You’d only unpacked two bags before your phone buzzed again.

hey

show me ur face

omg gimme a minute 😂

im putting away the obscene amount of oat milk I just bought

DID THEY HAVE THE GOOD KIND

yep. bought three cartons

holy shit I love you

gray says he loves you too 

but I love you more

You sent him a quick snapchat to appease him, unsurprised when you got the notification that he’d screenshotted it. He always got like this when he was away - even more clingy than usual, constantly wanting to communicate with you somehow. You had to admit, you loved the idea that you were always on his mind when he wasn’t with you, even if it did mean you felt like you were constantly on your phone.

what else are you doing today?

idk might lay out by the pool for a while

without me? 😔

you should go shopping

You frowned at your phone, looking at the few boxes of pasta you had left to put away before you typed back with a huff.

I literally just got back from the grocery what do u mean

not that kind of shopping

fun shopping. like for clothes

The thought was tempting - with everything going on, you hadn’t gotten anything new in months. To be fair though, you hadn’t really needed anything new - you were just hanging around the house anyways. 

do you want me to go so I’ll stop wearing all your clothes

yes

kidding baby you know I don’t care. but you should get some new stuff, you deserve it! just use my card

I hate using your card

It wasn’t a lie. Ethan had gotten you a credit card linked to his personal account for emergencies almost six months ago, and you’d only used it a handful of times when he insisted. You never wanted him to ever think that you cared about him for his money. 

I’d be buying whatever you find if I was there, it’s the same thing

You grinned to yourself, plan already hatching. He didn’t say what you had to buy. You’d just get something small - a pack of socks, or a basic tee - with his card, and pay for the rest of it yourself. 

alright alright, fine

But his next text had you rolling your eyes. He knew you too well.

and you have buy real clothes. like at least one dress

Even though he wasn’t there to see it, your eyes squinted in accusation. 

why a dress?

you’re being sus what’s this about

you’re so stubborn holy shit. I was gonna buy you dresses for the harry concert so I want you to pick some out for yourself

Damn. You’d almost forgotten that the concert was supposed to be that night. Ethan had bought the two of you tickets back when they went on presale, using his connections to get the two of you amazing seats. E had been almost as bummed as you when it got postponed, disappointed that the night he’d had planned for you had fallen through.

it got rescheduled to august baby, we can go shopping then!

i’m impatient

omg really? I had no idea 

just go buy some dresses and send me pictures. we’re back at the factory, gotta go. I love you!

love you too!

Knowing that if you sat down you probably wouldn’t get back up, you turned back to the door with a sigh, grabbing your keys and wallet from where you’d just stowed them, heading back out to the car.

You climbed into Ethan’s Tesla, hitting your preset button on the door so the seat moved forward to where you could reach the pedals. He always insisted you take his car if he couldn’t drive you, always wanting you to be the safest you could be. It was still a bit intimidating to drive something so expensive, but you did it anyways, heading to the mall that housed most of your favorite stores with your mask on.

It turned out to be one of those days where nothing caught your eye. You really looked, scoured through the racks, hoping to find anything that looked remotely appealing or like your style. You even tried on a few that you had hopes for, but they were a bust. 

Feeling defeated you stopped for a while and got some coffee, sitting and people watching as everyone passed in their masks. Your eyes wandered to another store, one you rarely went into - it catered to your style perfectly, but everything was far out of your price range. 

But looking couldn’t hurt. Right?

That backfired as soon as you walked in, smelled that perfect fragrance that seemed to dust all the soft fabrics in the place. 

Before you knew what you’d done, you had so many options thrown over your arm that it was starting to ache. 

You stopped looking, headed to a dressing room to try and narrow down your search. Some of them were automatic no’s, the cut not flattering or the color clashing with the undertones in your skin.

But there were three winners - a tight green one that hugged your curves, a casual denim overall number that would look adorable with the right shirt, and a blue sundress that tied into a bow at the back, the fabric brushing your upper thighs.

You snapped pictures in each one, knowing Ethan would help you decide. Your bet was on the green one - he was a man, after all. But his response just made you roll your eyes.

you look hot as fuck

buy all three

no

yes

they’re expensive

I didn’t ask how much they cost. You like them all. therefore, you buy them all

it’s simple really

ethan

y/n

just tell me which one is your favorite please

if you don’t buy all three i’m just gonna go back and buy them for you later

or I’ll order them and have them shipped to the house

stop

getting online now 😌

stop it

placing an order 😌 😌

ethan grant

last chance

fine

im sticking my tongue out at you. you can’t see it but I am

ouch, im hurt

are you headed home after you buy them?

well I’m sure as hell not spending anymore money, so yeah. why?

just wondering where my girl’s gonna be. drive safe. you took the tesla right?

of course I did.

good. hurry home. but don’t hurry too much. safety first

You quirked an eyebrow at the last text - he was being so odd. He’d only been gone for two days, usually it wasn’t this bad for him. Who knew what he’d be like tomorrow before he got home.

Changing back into your clothes in a hurry, you put your rejects out on the return rack and carried your three choices to the register, trying not to listen to the total before you put Ethan’s card in the reader. 

You left the mall swiftly after that, trying to ignore the eyes on you. In reality, no one was probably looking at you, but you felt like everyone was staring as you carried your expensive bag and got in a fucking tesla. You never understood how Gray and E could walk around with such expensive things and not be fazed in the slightest. 

The drive home took longer than you would have liked considering the traffic you got caught in, but you just turned your music up, humming along as you crawled down the road towards your exit. When you finally got there you let the tesla take over, pulling you off the interstate and starting down the smaller roads that led to the house. 

Your first clue was when the song changed. At first you didn’t think much of it - you had every Harry song saved to your library, it wasn’t unusual for one to come up. 

But then, one verse into Fine Line, it skipped, the intro of Two Ghosts starting. 30 seconds later? Falling started to play through the car. 

“What the fuck?” You muttered, quickly switching off autopilot, afraid that the car may be glitching. It was only a few more minutes until you got to the house, and in that time the song switched again twice, all Harry songs. 

When you pulled into the driveway and put the car in park, your phone buzzed with your second clue.

welcome home baby

omg are you watching the cameras? that’s creepy as fuck

also the tesla just got super weird but I swear I didn’t fuck up your car

just come inside

You obliged, grabbing your bag and heading into the house.

Clue number three was that the pasta boxes you’d left on the counter were gone, put away no doubt on the shelf that you couldn’t reach. You froze.

Someone was in the house.

You only had a moment to be scared before Ethan appeared around the corner, your favorite grin adorning his face.

“Boo.”

You dropped the bag, running the few steps it took to get to him before you threw your arms around him, breathing him in as he hugged you to him tightly. 

“You guys weren’t supposed to be home until tomorrow!”

“Caught an early flight so I could surprise my girl. Gray and Ster are still in Arizona.” He leaned back so you could look at him, shrugging as if it was no big deal that he’d cut his trip short just to come home to see you.

“Didn’t you have stuff you needed to do?” 

“No, we knocked it out today.”

“Then why didn’t Grayson come ba-”

His lips were on yours then, catching your words as he kissed you hard, a hand coming up to your cheek, thumb running over your cheekbone. “Are you gonna keep asking me questions, or are you gonna let me actually surprise you.”

“There’s more?” The butterflies that only he could bring fluttered in your stomach, and you bit your lip, looking up at him. He leaned down past you, reaching for the bag you’d dropped, placing it back in your hands.

“Maybe. Go put on one of your new dresses, then come out back.” He pressed a quick kiss to your lips before he let go. “Hurry.”

“Okay!” You were practically giddy as you hurried back to Ethan’s room, laying the dresses out on the comforter and trying to decide on one. It took a few minutes, a few switches of holding them up to you in the mirror before you settled on the blue sundress, situating the big sewed bow in the middle of your back. It had a built in bra that was surprisingly comfortable, making it the easiest choice.

Shoving your dresses back in the bag, you didn’t even bother with shoes. You just headed straight for the backyard - but you froze in the living room, taking in the sight through the doors.

The sun was setting on the horizon, painting the sky a baby purple, the clouds a pop of pink as they floated, scattered around. The city was starting to light up below you, and the moon hung high above it. But your eyes were on something - someone - entirely different. 

Ethan was standing in the grass, wearing one of his nice pairs of shorts and a short sleeve patterned button down - you hadn’t even noticed his outfit earlier, you’d been too excited to see him. He was holding a bouquet of sunflowers in his hands, the petals bright yellow even in the dim light.  

He caught sight of you through the glass and immediately hid the flowers behind his back as he stood up straight and smiled like a guy coming to the front door to pick you up for prom.

You pulled the door open, stepping out into the cool California air. It felt almost cold against your flushed cheeks as Ethan looked you up and down, letting out a low whistle.

You just laughed, stopping a few steps in front of him and waiting for whatever he had planned. 

He whipped the flowers around with a grin, holding them out for you with one hand, leaving his other arm tucked behind him. “Happy concert night!”

What you didn’t see was the remote in his other hand. He clicked it with his thumb, and the whole back yard lit up. There were twinkling christmas lights lining the roof and wrapping around the tree to the side of the house. He’d brought out Grayson’s projector and pointed it at a white sheet he’d hung up - you watched it for a moment, laughing when you realized it was projecting a slideshow of the pictures you two had taken together over the last year. And finally, you noticed the speakers had turned on, starting to play one of your favorite songs. Sweet Creature.

“E-”

“I know it got rescheduled, and we’ll have so much fun when we go. But, I still wanted to make tonight special. So, it’s kinda just date night, but... Harry Styles edition?” 

Closing the gap with a few steps you threw your arms around his neck, flowers and all, so you could kiss him. 

“I love you so much,” were the only words you could find, and you hoped he knew how much you truly meant them.

“Love me enough to dance with me?” 

You froze at that - you weren’t much of a slow dancer, and Ethan had even less experience than you did. But the thought of staying so close to him made your heart flutter, so you nodded, letting go for a moment so you could sit the flowers down safely in the grass.

He pulled you back into his arms, hands settling on your waist as yours went around his neck. His fingertips ghosted over the bare skin on your back below the bow, sending shivers up your spine. 

It didn’t matter that Sweet Creature was a tiny bit fast for a slow dance - the two of you weren’t doing more than swaying back and forth anyways, foreheads touching, totally lost in each other. 

He spun you a few times, even throwing in a little dip that made you both laugh before he kissed you, leaving you a bit breathless when he pulled you back up to standing. 

“You bring me home,” he sang, slightly off pitch and so quiet you could barely hear, but it was so sweet that it even brought a few tears to your eyes. You blinked them away so you could see his face as you both smiled. 

The energy picked up a bit as the songs continued to shuffle, Carolina coming on next. You both jumped around hand in hand, looking like total idiots you were sure, stomachs sore from laughing at and with each other by the end. You paused a few times throughout the next songs to watch the slideshow, laughing at some of the pictures he’d chosen, remembering the stories behind them.  

When Sunflower came on, Ethan opened his arms again for a dance and you quirked an eyebrow.

“You know, Mr. Styles doesn’t have as many romantic songs as I thought he did. This one’s not bad though,” Ethan mumbled as the two of you swayed back and forth quickly, spinning around and around.

“This song isn’t even romantic, it’s about him missing his ex,” you explained.

“You analyzed those lyrics hard huh.”

“Oh don’t act like you haven’t dissected every Cudi song five times over.” You squinted your eyes at him in accusation and he just laughed.

“Touché, touché. Maybe the sunflowers weren’t the best Harry related gesture then huh.”

“I still think they’re beautiful,” you reassured him. 

“Thought it would kinda be weird to give you a watermelon. Though, I guess that would have sent a much clearer message.” 

The mischief in his eyes told you he knew exactly what that song was about.

“A little on the nose, don’t yah think?” You scrunched up your nose at him as if to prove your point. He reached out for your hand and you laced your fingers with his.

“Never.” 

And then he was walking, half pulling half guiding you back into the house, through the glass doors, down the hallway, into the bedroom. Your skin was hot, partially from the change in temperature, partially from the hands that were wandering over your skin as soon as the door was closed.

Ethan’s hands traced down your arms, fingertips over skin, then over fabric when he got to your waist, further down to your thighs and then you were gasping as he found his way under your skirt. His hands spread out, large and commanding over your ass, resting there for a moment, squeezing before he moved north, fingers hooking into your panties, guiding them down until they fell off and you could step out of them. 

Your fingers found the buttons of his shirt, blindly undoing them as he kissed you. You found yourself pausing, hands tracing over the new yet familiar skin that revealed itself with each one you managed to loosen until finally, finally it was open and you could push it off his shoulders. 

His hand found the bow, roughly starting to tug until you reached back and caught him.

“Baby don’t pull. It’s sewed, it doesn’t come undone,” you cautioned, barely pulling back, unwilling to put any space between the two of you. 

“Stupid,” he grumbled, pouting a bit until he realized that he could pull the fabric off your shoulders, freeing your chest. He hummed a bit in satisfaction, hands moving to squeeze your tits, and then he was kissing them, sinking lower, lower until his knees hit the floor.

“Oh fuck,” you squeaked, knowing exactly what was about to happen. 

Ethan looked up at you from his knees with a teasing grin and a quirked eyebrow, waiting for your permission. You nodded, trying to breathe as his hands ghosted up your thighs, up to your hips. 

And then he ducked his head so he could get under the fabric of your skirt, ready to get to work.

Your knees buckled as soon as you felt him, tongue warm and flat against you. One of his hands came down, tracing over your skin until he got to your calf, lifting it just barely and pushing it out to widen your stance.

You whimpered as he sped up, his satisfied hums adding to the sensation in a way that had your legs starting to shake already. Your hands dropped to his head, and you pushed the fabric off the top of it so you could get to his hair, tugging. It just made him go harder, burying himself deeper. You folded forward, bracing on his shoulders, overwhelmed as you alternated holding you breathe and gasping for air, squirming.

“E, Ethan stop, my legs are gonna give out, wait,” you gasped, pulling on his hair. 

He paused, ducking out from under your dress and smiling up at you, lips swollen and pride booming.

“That’s the best compliment you’ve ever given me I think. But I’m not done yet, lay down.” 

You did as he said, turning around and climbing onto the middle of the bed before collapsing onto your back, rolling over and looking for him. Ethan was one second behind you, crawling above you to hover over you then duck down to kiss you hard yet somehow sweet at the same time.

It was instinct to reach down to his waist, let your fingers ghost over his waistband, tuck underneath it in a blind search. He sucked in a breath through his teeth when you wrapped your fingers around the tip. He shook his head at you, making you pout.

“Tonights about you, not me.”

“But I want to.”

“Raincheck. Best fucking raincheck ever, but raincheck. Just lemme take care of you.” 

He kisses you until you forget your argument - you’re putty in his hands as his lips trail back down. He pushes all the fabric of your dress together so it’s just a band around your tummy and then he picked up where he left off.

“Fuck E, just like that, oh god.” You were squirming again in a matter of moments, his stubble rough against your thighs as he worked you over. He felt your body tense up under his hold, smiling as he gave it all he had, giving that extra little push that sent you tumbling, clenching, writhing over the edge. 

He peppered kisses to your thighs as you caught your breath, and then he reached up, fists closing around all the fabric of your dress.

“Lift your hips up,” he instructed, waiting for you to bridge up so he could wiggle the dress off over your hips. He tossed it towards the closet, moving back up towards your face, bed dipping down with his weight.

“No fair,” you pouted, reaching down to tug at his shorts and boxers. 

“And I’m the impatient one.” 

He stood back up off the bed, quickly shoving down the clothing he had left and stepping out of it. 

“Much better.” You grinned wide when you saw he was blushing at your words. “C’mere.” 

He happily listened, crawling back above you and dropping a bit of his weight down as he sunk to his forearms. 

“So missionary is the way to your heart huh? So vanilla.” He bumped his nose against yours.

“You have a pretty face, sue me,” you laughed, bringing your hands up to his neck and pulling him down for a kiss as he dropped his hips, searching for just a moment before he pushed inside. 

You’d lost count of how many times the two of you had been just like this, intertwined and enthralled with each other, but you knew you’d never get tired of it as long as you lived.

“I love you.” It came out as a breath when he bottomed out, his lips resting on your shoulder, back curled up at an angle that let you feel every muscle, every ridge of his body. 

“I love you. You’re my dream, you know that?” He started to rock his hips, unwilling to go too far from you as you clung to his back, relishing in the feeling of him on you, in you, all around you. 

This would always be your favorite way to be with him - sweet and soft, just your bodies together, nothing else. You couldn’t think of anything better.

He shifted just barely, thrusting in at a different angle. You knew he was searching, and you gasped when he brushed against your g spot, your whole body shuddering.

“There she is,” he whispered, a prideful grin on his face as he hit it over and over. Watching you come undone below him would always be one of his favorite views. “Look at me baby, I wanna see you.” 

You did your best in your blissed out state to listen to him, turning your head from where it had fallen against the pillow to look at him while he picked up pace. Your legs curled around his back, holding him to you, urging him as deep as he could go as you chased the orgasm that was building in your gut.

He stared at you for a few moments, and then as if he couldn’t help it he ducked down to kiss you, open mouthed and rough as he pulled his hips back, thrusting forward with more force than he’d used yet. 

“Oh fuck Ethan, fuck,” you moaned, holding onto him for dear life. When he snaked one hand between the two of you to find your clit, you were done for. 

His breath caught in his throat as you clenched around him and you heard the whimpers through your cloudy haze, mixtures of pleasure and your name as he came undone, hip stuttering and then stopping when he finally hit his high. 

Once he’s caught his breath he rolls the both of you over so you’re resting on his chest, listening to his heart rate settle back down under your ear. 

“I’m so glad you came home early,” you sighed, hugging his bare torso as he chuckled.

“Me too baby. Me too.”

[rishi-eel]

Dominoes on Rishi Station HCs

domino squad was directly sent to rishi, with the exception of fives (the dialogue in Rookies suggests he hasn’t been there as long) 

they’re all Really Glad to Have Him Here (TM) when he’s finally transferred, practically showering him in affection (and competing for his) 

hevy might hate rishi station but he sure loves complaining about it

“the moment we’re sent to the battlefront, he’ll complain about that and start missing rishi” cutup teases

echo interrupted hevy’s rant to fives about rishi to sell its merits this one time and now there’s this (mostly one sided) cold war between the two over who can sway fives’ opinion

fives wrote to his brothers’ during their time apart, echo especially. he thinks echo made the place out to be far more beautiful in his letters than it actually is, but comes to share his appreciation for rishi’s sky full of stars and the delicate blue of its horizon

(”see that bright star over there? that’s home. and over here, near the galactic core, is the heart of the republic. there’s a black hole at the very centre of the galaxy, can you believe that?" echo says, beaming as he faces this window on the galaxy. it’s a sight to behold, although something in fives’ gut can’t help but feel uneasy at its enormity) 

despite following the instructions to the letter, echo still has trouble getting the electronics working as they should. this amuses hevy to no end, who’ll come in and mess around until the problem is fixed. while it’s become a bit of a joke, echo has come to accept it. he’s quick to call for hevy’s help if needed

cutup once joked that hevy has a special touch with the machines. at this, hevy silently removed his forearm armour and threw it at him

they’re all continuing to discover their individuality, but are also remedying the distance that grew between them in their last months as cadets when they first began this quest for their personhood

droidbait has this tendency of withdrawing from the group. experiencing struggles in forging his own sense of self, droidbait has a hard time seeing himself as anything more than a burden

the other dominoes come to notice this and are careful to herd him back into the group so he doesn’t soak in his own misery

rishi station has its own training facilities and it’s becoming increasingly clear that droidbait excels at long range shooting. his squad mates praise him for it in order to boost his confidence (hevy, hollering: “looks like droidBAIT is becoming the droidWRECKER, watch out, seppies!”)

they’re also trying out nicknames for him, like DB or Dee, to see if it makes him more confident

fives and hevy did each other’s tattoos

echo doesn’t really get the appeal of facial tattoos (or any tattoos, really) and can’t stand to watch

hevy teases echo for “not understanding the need for individuality” but deep down he believes echo “doesn’t get it” because echo’s always had a strong sense of self, without ever realizing it, and hevy envies him for that

he would never desert his brothers, especially not after having promised 99 he wouldn’t go AWOL, but hevy likes to imagine what his life would look like if he left the army as he falls asleep

the clones at rishi base tell stories to pass the time, (space) urban legends being a favourite. it becomes a bit of a game to see if you can successfully scare your brothers or if you’ll succumb to fear yourself. it definitely makes the darkness and quiet of rishi moon less than boring...

the elusive rishi eel falls under the category. it often props up in tales of missing equipment (humorous) or missing troopers (less humorous). they’re a personal favourite of hevy’s, who along with cutup turned “the eel took it” (the dramatic line from the original tale) into a stock response to anyone looking for a lost object (fives: “where’s my caf?” hevy, drinking from a stolen cup of caf: “the eel-” fives: “hevy i swear to god”)

fives finds it annoying and doesn’t believe the rishi eel even exists, either (echo: “but the reg manual says-” fives: “come on echo, nothing can survive out there. they just dont want us outside. don’t believe everything you read”)

echo likes to read the reg manuals because (among other things) he likes to know why the rules are what they are. rishi station has its own, specific  set of regulations and he’s been able to learn quite a bit about the moon and its surroundings by scouring through it

cutup has beat hevy at arm wrestling more times than he’s beat him

rishi station somehow gets paints sent to them along with their supplies. fives thinks o’niner has something to do with it, because he made a funny face when fives said they didn’t get that at his last emplacement. 

fives is worlds away from having any objections though because he’s always loved painting. o’niner shows him a few techniques and in these moments o’niner feels more like a brother than a boss

fives totally falls for orange pigment. he can’t remember having ever seen anything quite like it (anything quite as beautiful) back on kamino. he paints a lot of naboo handmaidens, who’s robes are, he’s heard, orange (the holo devices on rishi don’t display true colour). fives is amazed at the thought that there are places in the galaxy where there is so much orange that you would make a servant’s dress such a colour 

[tripleaxeldiaz]

don’t wanna hand you all my trouble (don’t wanna give you all my demons)

TW: descriptions of nightmares about eddie's time in afghanistan, description of a panic attack

read on ao3

The nightmares don’t start after Afghanistan. They start when Eddie is seven and there’s a monster under his bed.

It wakes him from a dead sleep, and he swears he can hear the scratch of claws on the hardwood, the gnashing of teeth just beneath his head. He yells for his mom, who comes racing in like a knight in shining armor, even if her armor is just a bathrobe. She scours the underside of the bed and finds nothing, but stays with Eddie until he’s asleep again. He knows if that thing comes back, she’ll protect him no matter what.

He yells for her every time, and every time she comes.

Until one night, his dad comes instead.

That night, he sits Eddie on the edge of his bed, tells him that monsters aren’t real, and that boys shouldn’t yell for their mom every time they’re scared. That boys will one day turn into men who will have to fight off truly monstrous things on their own, so it’s best to start now so Eddie is prepared.

He stops yelling for his mom, but the monsters don’t stop coming.

They change as he gets older — from creatures in the night to fears of losing his friends or his family to worries about failing classes to worries about his future. Sometimes they’re so abstract he doesn’t remember details beyond the ice cold terror in his veins. They wake him every time, sometimes several nights in a row, and every time he fights the urge to yell, to find comfort somewhere other than himself. Reminds himself that he’s a man, and that men have to save themselves. He breathes deeply, tries to slow his racing heart and go back to sleep. He gets better at it, at calming himself down, until he eventually forgets he ever needed someone else to help him in the first place.

Then he goes to war. He sees the monstrous things his dad warned him about, and he’s not even close to prepared.

By the time he comes back, he’s seen and done things that would keep the scariest, gruesomest monster from sleeping soundly. He’s left chunks of himself behind in sand dunes and medic tents, drying into dust, disappearing into the desert. And he’s waking up in a cold sweat almost every night, mind foggy with images of the people he couldn’t save, everything he did wrong. But he still can’t make himself cry out for help, because he still remembers that he has to save himself. Even more so now, because saving himself means saving the people he loves from being exposed to every terrible thing that he sees every time he closes his eyes. 

So the nightmares don’t start after Afghanistan. But they don’t get any easier, either.

~~~~~~~~~~

He gets a few years of peace. Maybe less peace and more pure exhaustion from working nonstop and raising a kid on his own. He rarely falls into a deep enough sleep to feel rested, and there are still some nights where he wakes up to a vague feeling of panic sitting like lead in his stomach. 

The whirlwind of moving halfway across the country and starting his life over again keeps him just as tired. They’ve been in Los Angeles for six months before Eddie finally starts to feel settled. Chris loves his school, they have Carla, and Eddie has the 118. His new family and his new...Buck. For the first time in a while, he feels like he’s on his way to something like happiness.

So of course, one day, one seemingly good day where calls are light and Buck keeps shooting sunny smiles his way, he goes to take a nap in the bunks and is met with blood and screams. He’s trying desperately to move nameless bodies to safety, but he’s not fast enough, not strong enough. They’re screaming his name now, trying to get his attention as they’re picked off one by one. They get louder and louder and louder until—

“Eddie!”

He wakes with a start, doesn’t see bodies any more, just Buck, his brow furrowed in concern, hands held out placatingly towards Eddie. His head whips side to side a few times, remembering he’s at work and he’s safe. He sits up on the bunk, still shaken, crossing his legs as Buck moves to sit down beside him, slowly, like he’s waiting for Eddie to tell him to leave. Eddie doesn’t.

“Sorry Buck, I didn’t mean—”

Buck shakes his head. “You don’t have to apologize. Are you okay?”

It’s been a while since anyone has asked him that.

“I’m fine, just a bad dream.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

No one’s ever asked him that.

And the thing is, his first instinct is to say yes. Because he does — he wants to expel some of the pent up terrors so that maybe he can sleep soundly again. He wants to drain it from his mind, watch it all swirl down the sink and into the ocean, get rid of it for good. 

But he knows it’s not that easy. And he still hears his dad’s voice telling him to save himself.

“I’m alright man, but thanks.” Buck doesn’t look like he believes him, but he lets it go, heads out of the bunk room with one last glance at Eddie, brow still furrowed. The door shuts behind him, and Eddie falls back on the bed. Lays there for another 30 minutes but can’t fall back asleep.

He stops napping at work after that. It’s easier to deny the nightmares when no one can see them.

But then Shannon comes back. Then she’s gone for good. Then Buck gets crushed by a ladder truck. Then he almost loses Chris and Buck to a tsunami.

Suddenly real life is more of a nightmare than anything he sees in his sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

The solution, it seems, is exhaustion. After back to back shifts, after staying up with Chris as he cries through his own nightmares, Eddie is able to sleep for at least a few hours at a time. He hesitates to call it “peaceful”, but he doesn’t hear any screams, at least. 

But as Chris slowly starts sleeping through the night again, he has to find other ways to tire himself out. Sometimes it’s a midnight workout in the living room, sometimes it’s deep cleaning the kitchen at 1:00am. Sometimes it’s just staring listlessly at the TV until his eyes are too heavy and he passes out on the couch, woken by sunlight and reruns of Golden Girls. It’s not perfect, it’s probably not healthy, but it keeps him rested enough to make it through the day, and he doesn’t feel ice anywhere.

He should have known it was too easy, too good to be true.

He turns off the TV, spreading a blanket over Buck where he’s dead to the world on the couch, passed out halfway through the baseball game they were watching after Chris went to sleep. His curls are soft on the pillow and he looks relaxed like this, far more relaxed than Eddie can ever remember seeing him when he’s awake. It’s overwhelmingly tempting to run his fingers through those curls, trace down his jawline, over his birthmark, but Eddie shakes the thought from his head and quickly heads toward his room. He sticks his head into Chris’s room, smiling as he hears his heavy breathing, sees him star-fished on his bed. As he gets into bed himself, he can’t help but marvel at how normal tonight was. His best friend and his son eating dinner together, watching a movie, sharing easy jokes and laughter like the past few months hadn’t scarred the both of them, physically and emotionally. And Eddie got to witness it all, felt a contentment settle in him that follows him as he closes eyes, that almost makes him forget what can happen when exhaustion isn’t forcing him to sleep.

Almost.

He feels the bullets whizzing past him, feels the scratch of sand underneath his hands. He looks around at the carnage, but the bodies aren’t nameless this time. It’s his platoon, the 118, Shannon, Christopher. Buck. They’re all lying motionless and it’s his fault, their blood is staining every inch of him and he can’t scrub it off. He hears screaming and crying, doesn’t realize it’s his own until his throat is raw and he tastes salt. He failed again, and no amount of tears will fix it.

He’s still crying when he wakes up, gasping for air, still feels sand between his fingers. He tries to calm down, taking shuddering breaths in and out, but it’s too much and not enough and he feels light-headed. He hears movement down the hall and quickly slips out of bed and into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him, sinking to the ground. He’s shaking so bad his teeth are chattering, and he clamps a hand over his mouth as another scream threatens to fall out of him without his permission. 

This is far and away the worst he’s ever been after a nightmare, and he’s not sure what to do. He feels even more lost and helpless than usual, and he has no idea when it will stop.

The first knocks are so soft he misses them, mistakes them for his body shaking the door as he leans against it. The second knocks are louder, a little more urgent, followed by a twist of the doorknob.

“Eddie? It’s me, can I come in?”

Eddie doesn’t answer, just shifts to lean against the bathtub so the door can open. The knob turns again and there’s Buck, looking wide eyed and a little scared himself, like he too just woke up from some horror in his sleep. Eddie meets his eyes and sees them soften as he takes him in — he’s not sure what he looks like, but his face feels puffy and he can feel dried tear tracks, so it’s probably not pretty. He looks away as Buck moves towards him, sliding to sit next to him against the bathtub. He’s close but they’re not touching, which is good because Eddie is fighting down another wave of agony, another scream is trying to claw its way out, and he doesn’t think he can handle any kind of interaction just yet.

Buck must feel it too, somehow, because he waits. Doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t say anything, just waits.

Eddie calms down — not completely, but enough to feel like he can function — and leans his head back against the cool edge of the tub, taking a deep breath. He chances a look over to Buck and sees him watching. He tries to smile, reassure him that this is nothing, but it feels like more of a grimace. It’s too much this time, even for his well-conditioned brain, and he can’t fake it.

Buck’s eyes search his face, and Eddie sees his hand twitch toward him out of the corner of his eye. 

“Can I touch you?” Buck asks softly. Eddie freezes — he hadn’t ever really considered that that’s a thing you can ask at a time like this, something he could say no to — before nodding, because his whole body is still buzzing and he thinks Buck might be able to ground him. 

He usually does.

Buck reaches his hand out slowly, wrapping long fingers around Eddie’s before sliding them together. He brings Eddie’s hand into his lap, holding it between both of his, slowly tracing his thumb over Eddie’s knuckles. He still feels like a live wire, but he doesn’t want to scream anymore. He meets Buck’s eyes and sees understanding and sadness and other things that Eddie’s always hoped to see but can’t process right this moment. He hopes he’ll get to see them again soon.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

There’s that question again. 

And Eddie does, actually truly does. It’s clear he can’t save himself like he’s been told he’s supposed to, and maybe he shouldn’t have to, so he wants someone’s help. He knows Buck will help him, will protect him from whatever he can’t handle on his own.

He always does.

But Eddie’s tired and ripped open and doesn’t want to think about or relive anything right now. He squeezes Buck’s hand where it’s still tightly clasped. 

“Not yet. But I will.”

Buck’s shoulders relax just a bit, like he’s relieved it wasn’t an outright refusal. They stay on the ground together until Eddie moves to get up, holding tighter when Buck tries to disentangle their hands. They walk towards Eddie’s bed together, and Eddie scoots to the far side, still not letting go.

“Will you stay? Please?” Eddie asks, whisper loud in the quiet room.

Buck pauses for a moment before climbing in as well, settling under the covers on his side, facing Eddie. Buck looks nervously down at their hands then back up to Eddie.

“Can I—”

Eddie’s grabbing Buck’s shirt before he finishes, pulling them as close together as possible, wrapping his arms around Buck’s waist and burying his face in his chest. Buck doesn’t hesitate to press his face into Eddie’s hair, hands rubbing is back slowly, soothingly.

“Of course I’ll stay, Eddie. I’ll stay as long as you’ll let me. I promise.”

For the first time in too long, Eddie falls into a dreamless sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, he talks. Not much, but more than he has since he was seven. He feels a little less tense afterwards, breathes a little easier.

The next day, he talks more.

The next week, more.

So on and so on.

And Buck stays. Just like he promised.

[soulheartthewolf]

i am... so sorry

i... i made it. might as well just straight up submit it to you, eh?

---

Caustic is a patient man. On par with Bloodhound with how calm he is.

But the new addition to the league of Legends?

He was testing him.

  “Going here—follow me and I’ll gut you like a fish!” the new subject called out, sprinting ahead into the obviously-already-scoured Drill Site, where open doors and unlocked Supply Bins emphasized how already searched this place was. Caustic scowled and followed Revenant, ignoring the threat from the latter. Their third teammate, an unremarkable newbie that almost died six times, follows suit, nervously trailing Caustic.

Revenant, of course, reached the ping faster than the rest of them, having both made the ping and sprinted there. He threw open a door and fired into the building, shooting the small Silencer ability he had. Suddenly, he spoke into the comms, “Whole squad down. Waitin’ like sitting ducks, really.”

“You should have waited for us—they could have—”

“Shut it. Their blood is on the floor and not mine. That’s what matters most,” the simulacrum snapped, irritation bleeding into his voice. He took mostly everything from the deathboxes, and slipped onto a roof, leaving Caustic to plant traps in a house he was soon to leave.

Soon enough, another Squad that had just fled the torturous space outside the Ring headed into the Drill Site, desperately searching for cover. One of them—Wattson, Caustic realized sadly— headed into the booby-trapped house, immediately choking on the new-and-improved hydrogen sulfide gas. She fell quickly, the Ring having depleted her health significantly. Fortunately, the gas emitted from the traps hid her face as she fell, weakly reaching for the nearest human.

Caustic stepped over the lifeless corpse and looked outside, seeing that his teammate had—once again—fallen, what little blood they have gushing out rapidly, quickly killing them. Revenant, however, was holding his own easily, peering through his fully kitted Sentinel, sending round after round in the already-weakened Squad. Eventually, the two of them finally realized that peeking the quick, efficient robot might not be the best idea. So, they hid.

Revenant scoffed, and slung his Sentinel on his back, taking out the EVA-8 he wasn’t much of a fan of. Both him and Caustic stalked towards the small building, the latter priming his ultimate, taking the small gas grenade and preparing to throw it.

A frag grenade flew past them, poorly thrown. Then, Caustic threw his grenade inside, the ghost of a smile under his mask. Revenant threw open the door and fired at the coughing and choking subjects, the ammo ripping them apart. When both of them fell and the cloud of gas dissipates, the two victors stand above the dying victims. Revenant slipped behind his target and snapped their neck, while Caustic stepped towards his frightened target, and punched them thrice.

Their deathboxes appear and the two victors set to work looting them.

After a few minutes, Revenant says, “I saw Sparks go into your death house. Did you kill her?”

“Yes.”

The simulacrum picks up on the lilt of sadness instantly. “Don’t feel bad. She’s just another skinsuit—”

In an instant, the skeleton-esque robot is pinned against the wall, a boxcutter nearly digging into his eye and a Devotion about to shatter his limbs. “I can tolerate your vulgar and unnecessary comments. I can tolerate your views towards teamwork. I even share some. But you will not insult—”

“Touched a nerve?” Revenant laughed, before a receiving a shot to the stomach, or where it would be if he was human. He fell, wires and faux blood pooling underneath him. A wheezing noise punctuated by static emanated from his voice box. Caustic stepped on his neck and snapped it, destroying the connection between the rest of Revenant’s body and his brain.

“I know you’ll live through this—I’ve yet to invent something to melt metal. But I hope you have fun.”

Then, the chemical scientist strode out of the building, leaving Revenant to silently be consumed by Ring, sacrificing a win in the process.

    When they both returned to the Ship—where every official Legend lives until the season ends, when they can visit loved ones or go home for a bit—Caustic immediately went to his room, where he reveled in the satisfaction of breaking the smug bastard. After shedding the gear and slipping into more comfortable clothes—a t-shirt with the periodic table and grass-green sweatpants, as well as galaxy crocs— he walked into the hallway that connected everyone’s room, only to be shoved back into his room by a particularly pissed-off Revenant.

“The fuck was that?!” was his first question, slamming the door shut with an audible ‘bang’. Faintly, Caustic heard Renee ask, “What was that?”. Pathfinder, oh-so-helpfully, replied, “Revenant! He’s probably just going to talk with friend Caustic!”

Nox responded, “I could ask you the same thing.”

Revenant, who had orange sparks flying off him and a distinctly burnt look, wrapped a hand around Caustic’s throat and lifted him into the air, fuming. “What. Was. That. You snapped my fucking neck, you—”

Renee opened the door, saw the scene before her, and closed the door promptly. Revenant dropped Caustic, leaving the man to regain his breath. “I told you I did not tolerate you insulting people I care about. Leave.”

“Not a chance—I’m gonna rip you limb from limb you miserable skinbag—” Revenant lunged at Caustic, who quickly grabbed a hammer he kept from a project and swung it at the robot, who’s midsection crumpled under the force, damaging the electric flow that allowed him to move. In a flash, the robot disappeared, an orange trail from where he fell to his room.

“Not as impressive as he was made out to be.”

In a moment, the door was thrown open again, and Nox swung again, the crunch of metal breaking informing the scientist that he had hit his mark. Revenant crumpled to the ground, his face horribly disfigured and bent. He swore, and was respawned in the Medbay.

And there started a feud—one that span across hundreds of matches.

The system designed to set up teams seemed biased, always having Caustic and Revenant together, along with a random.

Caustic always won, eventually destroying the simulacrum.

A crunch under the boot, an experimental gas that melted the wires that let him move, a quick snap of the neck… Every time, a swear that he would get him next time and a ‘recover banner’ right next to his fallen squadmate’s face.

Until, for once, Revenant got the upper hand.

  In the Epicenter, Caustic rushed into the center building, bullets trailing him, hitting the building and door as he shut the flimsy defense and moved to a more secure part of the building. He was about to throw a trap when someone knocked him over, sending him to the floor with a kick. Nox, disoriented, flipped over to face his attacker, only to realize it was a squadmate. Revenant stood over him, pinning his limbs and laughing hysterically. “Finally! Fucking finally! Oh, I’m going to make this slow for you.”

Caustic, as opportunistic as ever, revealed a notepad and pen from his apron, an excited light in his pale green eyes. “Fantastic. I will take notes on your methods—”

Revenant snarled and knocked the materials out of his hands, excited hysteria souring into irritation. “Smug fucker. It’s going to be even worse—”

“Even better! I have a remarkable memory anyway,” Nox interrupted. Revenant remained silent, his fingers twitching with the desire to render his adversary blind. He stayed still, even as a grenade was thrown through the broken doors behind him.

Then, the simulacrum realized with a horror, he didn’t want to kill him. Sure, he spited the smug way in which he was about to take notes on his own mutilation, but…

A shot to the back quickly eliminated Revenant, while a well-placed thermite burnt the scientist to a crisp.

  [MATCH: FINISHED. You now have a two-day break from the Games to recover and plan for future battles. The Medbay will be closed after 9PM, so please leave as soon as you revive. Lights off is at 10PM. Have a nice evening.]

  Revenant thought he had forgotten his humanity. The residue of when he still thought he was a human. As he rushed out of the Medbay, he hurried into his room. His room was barren, not yet having been decorated—not like he had any real desire to decorate, as the other Legends do. With a disappointed huff, he laid down on the stiff bed. He didn’t need to recharge after a match, as Pathfinder does, but he also doesn’t need (or want) the plush bed that most of the human Legends like. So, whoever set up this room decided that a cheap twin bed was good enough for the murder robot.

Said murder robot covered his face with his hands, a very human gesture, as he tried to…think. Just hear himself think. Part of him was screaming that he was failing. Most of him was chiding him on how he missed an opportunity—and the lack of opportunism would ultimately ruin him.

Eventually, he fell asleep—something he was somehow still able to do.

  Caustic almost never slept on weekends, devoting the time under the moon to research that would take a while. Mixing chemicals, fixing his traps. Little things that took hours. He hated using up daylight for things that could be done at night. The little things would also often make a lot of noise, and since the rooms are all soundproof, no one would hear him as they slept.

His work stopped when, in the room adjacent to his, a static-filled scream startled him. The lab wasn’t soundproof, so he heard it clear as day. He set down what he was working on and walked to the source of the scream, opening the door to Revenant, covering his eyes with his hands.

Night terrors are common when you’ve died as many ways as the former hitman has, and the feeling of his eyes melting out of their sockets lingered longer than it should have. Caustic tilted his head slightly at the sight, confused.

“Leave me alone.” Static made his voice louder, an attempt to scare the scientist.

“Not after you’ve disrupted my work,” Nox scoffed. “Whatever you’re going through—”

Revenant lunged forward again, hand around Nox’s throat, one hand still covering most of his face. With a growl, he said, “I’m not ‘going through’ anything!”

“Clearly.” Nox sighed, and gently moved the simulacrum’s hand from his face, only to get a glimpse of the skeletal robot… crying? A saline solution had made teartracks of sorts down the skull-like face of the robot, orange light from his eyes glinting off of it.

The scientist froze, as comfort wasn’t his specialty. “I’m—”

“Leave!” Revenant snarled, loudly, before shoving the scientist out the door, shutting and locking the blackened bronze between them.

Nox didn’t move for a minute or so, trying to process what the fuck just happened, before returning to the lab. He sat down, thought for a minute, and muttered to himself, “Could there be any worse way to realize you have a crush on the murder robot?”

DUDE YOU JUST WROTE A WHOLE DANG FIC IN ONE NIGHT XJEJ! ITS GREAT!!! Thank you for submitting 💕💕💕

[1dfangirls35]

Voir Dire (N.H.)

A fake dating OU about contracts, soulmates and risking it all for love

Masterlist // Tell Me What You Think!

twenty-one

Niall couldn't help but feel out of place. 

As he sat in the near silent waiting room, surrounded by mother's cradling their baby bumps, holding hands with their partners beside them, and chasing after children, he began to wonder how he'd ended up in this place, sat beside Krystal as they awaited her very first OB appointment.

His palms were sweating, which probably had something to do with the fact that with every passing minute this became more and more real. He was going to be a father. In six short months he would have a child; a miniature version of him staring back at him.

It wasn't that Niall didn't want to be a father. He'd always pictured it as part of his future. Chasing a giggly toddler around the living room. Kicking a soccer ball back and forth in the green grass of his backyard. He'd even envisioned himself changing a few smelly diapers. But when he'd imagined it, it had always been with someone he loved beside him. A child created because he loved someone so much that he couldn't wait to bring another person into their life together. He'd never thought he'd become a father in this way- knocking up his fake girlfriend in a one night stand because both of them were lonely.

Niall looked over at Krystal. She was twirling a piece of her long blonde hair around her finger, over and over again, her eyes fixated on the blank beige wall in front of them. She hadn't said a word since Niall had picked her up this morning, well, except for a very soft 'Krystal Hoffman' to the lady at the front desk. Niall knew that for every ounce of fear he had in his body, the number was a thousand-fold in Krystal's. This wasn't what she'd planned either. She was supposed to be getting ready to land her first acting gig, not preparing to have her life changed forever by a child.

He reached his hand out, placing it on top of hers with a reassuring squeeze. Krystal turned her head and gave him the smallest of smiles, but Niall saw right through it. Her eyes revealed that she's just as terrified as she was when she broke the news to Niall almost four weeks ago.

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

After their "hook-up", Niall chose to act like it never happened, and lucky for him, Krystal chose the same stance. Maybe they'd both realized it was a poor decision, made in a vulnerable, emotional moment. Things returned to normal for a few weeks, they went on their last few PR dates, they maintained their friendship, and Niall still  returned home at night feeling like his life was in shambles. The light at the end of the tunnel was that the end of the contract was in sight. The promo was done, the concerts sold-out, all that remained was one final blockbuster-worthy break-up to get Niall that last ounce of publicity.

But then something changed. One day Krystal was cracking jokes with Niall as they walked down Rodeo Drive hand in hand; three days later she was nearly mute, speaking only when absolutely necessary. She seemed unfocused- like her mind was in an entirely different place than her body. He'd tried probing her, thinking that maybe she'd talk to him about it- the boy that was on her mind or the audition she was stressed about . Instead he was answered with a sharp "It's nothing. I'm fine" and the most forced smile he'd ever seen.

Niall attributed it to the nerves of this all ending. He told himself that Krystal was simply looking into auditions, trying to find her next step after the split from Niall. Niall didn't even consider the idea that there was something bigger eating her up inside. Much bigger.

"We need to talk," Krystal said one evening on a PR sighting out to dinner, her eyes shifting to look out the window.

"Go ahead, I'm listening," Niall laughed. They were talking. That's all they'd been doing at this table where a few paparazzi had come to take some pictures. The media had died down slightly, perhaps because the newness of Niall and Krystal had faded. Perhaps they were on to the next celebrity couple- at least for the time being.

"I think this is a conversation that would be better to have in private." Krystal's voice shook every so slightly as she spoke, and Niall couldn't help but notice that she can't seem to look him in the eyes.

"Okay," he responded cheerfully. His insides, however, churned in anticipation of what Krystal could possibly have to say to him in a private conversation.

His insides continued to churn. While they exited from the restaurant with Krystal's hand intertwined with his. While they drove in near silence back to Niall's house. And now, while Niall sat impatiently on his sofa as he waited for Krystal to speak. 

She was staring at the black and white framed photo of The Eagles positioned on Niall's wall and Niall could have sworn that she hadn't blinked since they'd arrived. He watched as Krystal twirled a piece of her hair inbetween her fingers, her chest rising and falling in deep even breaths as if she's concentrating on her own respirations.

"I'm pregnant," she blurted out suddenly, her words leaving her mouth so quickly that Niall's not even sure he heard them correctly.

At first, Krystal's statement didn't even register in Niall's mind. It made sense to him- why Krystal would be acting so anxious, why she seemed like her mind was on something else. And then suddenly, his brain comprehends why she's telling him this. His stomach lurched. It couldn't be.

Niall's mind scoured for any recollection from that night. But there were hardly any pieces to be found. He remembered Krystal showing up at his door, her remembered comforting her, and he remembered laying in bed afterwards feeling like he'd been punched in the gut- but the in between? That was all a bit blurry, like his emotions had blocked it from his mind.

"But," Niall began, as if protesting what Krystal had said would somehow make it less true. "Didn't we use..."

"I don't remember," Krystal spat, as if she'd suddenly gotten her voice back. "But I'm on the pill and I mean I guess sometimes I forget or a miss the alarm but I swear I always take it when I remember and..." Krystal began to ramble.

Niall didn't hear the rest of what she said, her words sounded muffled, like Niall was underwater. He certainly felt like he could be underwater. Like he was drowning- the outside world slowly slipping from his grasp. 

"Fuck," Niall muttered under his breath. He felt his pulse quickening, his head  pounding, and his breathing becoming ragged. He couldn't be in here, in this space with this announcement. He rushed towards the back door, flinging it open with a bang and rushing out onto the green lawn.

"Where are you going?" Krystal shouted but Niall didn't even hear her.

He stood there for a moment, inhaling and exhaling deeply. He felt like he was not even in his own body. Like he's watching a movie of his life- a very bad one at that, where everything that could possibly go wrong for the protagonist does. Niall looked up at the blue Los Angeles sky. He figured that at any moment, the skies would open up in a torrential downpour, to really set the mood. They didn't. Instead, the sun shined back at him and he felt that maybe he should curse at the world for all the bad cards he'd been dealt as of late. But he couldn't do that either, because this -this was all his own doing. It's the wake-up call that Niall  had needed for so long. The shock to his system that finally made him realize that he was on a path to self-destruction. And in that moment he realized that his life was never going to get better if he didn't start taking back control. And that started with facing the consequences of his actions. 

Niall heard Krystal sniffling as he re-entered the house. He watched as she quickly tried to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand, but even that couldn't hide the puffiness that now surrounded them. He instantly felt guilty for running out on her like that. She'd probably been terrified to tell him in the first place, and here he was bolting like a total dick.

Niall didn't say anything at first, sliding onto the couch next to Krystal and wrapping his arm around her shoulder. She laid her head against him as he whispered "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left like that."

He half expected her to lash out at him. To yell at him for leaving after she just told him something so serious. To lecture him that his actions were nothing like that of a father, and that he had a long way to go if he wanted a place in this child's life. She didn't.

"It's okay," she responded in a shaky voice that proved that it was far from okay.

There were a million questions racing through Niall's mind, including the looming question of whether or not this was even his baby. He knew it was a possibility, but it was a small one right?   They'd only ever slept together once. 

"It's mine?" Niall asked, "You're sure?" Niall wasn't sure what transpired that night, but he swears he is starting to remember grabbing that foil package from his bedside drawer. He was always careful. Always.

Krystal  quickly nodded. "I've looked at the dates a million times and it... it just adds up that way." Niall could have sworn he heard some hesitation in her voice, but maybe that was his brain trying to hear things that weren't there, searching for a way out of this. Krystal wouldn't lie to him. Not about anything this important. Not about something that would change the course of  both their lives. He suddenly regretted ever asking about the paternity, thinking it likely made him look desperate for a way out. 

"I'm sorry, I debated not even telling you, and I know we have the contract meeting next week and..." Krystal's eyes began to glaze over again. "I just want you to know that I completely understand if you want nothing to do with this. I'll keep quiet about it- even to your management."

Niall looked Krystal in the eyes. He could see the fear filling her hazel irises, and he began to think about just how much strength it had taken Krystal to tell him. The turmoil that had likely been going on inside her head day in and day out . And though every ounce of him wanted to be angry, at himself, at Krystal, at his management for every putting him in this situation in the first place, all he could feel was an ache in his heart for Krystal.

"Krystal, look at me," he said, taking her hands into his.  "I will support you in whatever decision you make. You aren't going to go through this alone."

Krystal nodded, but her eyebrows were still laced with concern. "I'm going to keep it," she murmured softly, as if she was hesitating to vocalize her decision aloud. "Maybe my mom's right and I've made a terrible mistake and I'm ruining my life, but maybe it's a blessing in disguise? " Niall could tell that Krystal was still trying to convince herself of that last part. He wanted to press her about her mother, but he knows know is not the time.

Instead, he wraps his arms around Krystal, hugging her tight. "You're going to be an excellent mother, I just know it."

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

Niall and Krystal came to the conclusion that they had to mention their news to Niall's management, especially since their upcoming meeting was supposed to be all about how to break things off. Not to mention the fact that Niall was supposed to be on tour during the time Krystal's online due date calculator indicated the baby would be arriving. Niall found it a bit ironic, for so long he had longed for the day when he would be free to spend time with whoever he chose again, and here he was willingly giving Capitol a reason to continue to dictate his personal life.

Mr. Michaels was perched behind his desk with a sinister grin plastered on his face like always as Niall and Krystal entered his office to discuss the status of the contract. Entering the Capitol Office never got any easier, and Niall wondered what bombshell Mr. Michaels had to drop on Niall's plans this time. Niall wasn't thrilled with the idea of extending the contract, but he wasn't sure what else there was to do at this point. He was trying to do the right thing. And if the right thing meant continuing to fake a relationship with Krystal- that's exactly what he would do.

He took a seat in the chair next to Krystal, rubbing his palms against his grey trousers as Mr. Michaels began to clear his throat. "As you both know, the contract is about to expire. So we need to discuss how we will wrap this relationship up," Mr. Michaels announced.

"Before we discuss that," Niall interrupted hesitantly, noticing that his voice cracked. "We have something to tell you that may...influence how the ending of this is handled."

Mr. Michaels raised an eyebrow, clearly confused.

"I'm pregnant," Krystal blurted out before he had a chance to ask questions.

Mr. Michaels was silent for a moment, and Niall took small satisfaction in knowing that for once he had caught the man off-guard. "I see," Mr. Michaels paused, tapping his pen against the metal surface of his desk. "Well in that case we can certainly extend the contract as needed, although  it's not what we had planned for promotion I can't say that this won't generate its own set of publicity..."

"No," Krystal said suddenly, causing Mr. Michaels to look up abruptly.

"I'm sorry," he asked, giving Krystal a confused glance.

"No, I won't sign another contract," Krystal repeated, her voice firmer this time. "I'm simply notifying you so that you can alter your plans. If Niall wants to be part of this child's life, I want it to be by his choice and on his terms."

Mr. Michaels looked startled, like that was the last thing he expected to leave Krystal's mouth. Niall wondered if he looked shocked too, because he also hadn't even considered the fact that Krystal would refuse signing the contract. 

"You didn't have to do that," he said as they entered the elevator to leave the Capitol building, having come to an agreement with Mr. Michaels that their relationship in the public eye would fizzle out without any outside interference and that Niall's tour dates from mid-February to March would be rescheduled. 

"It was the only thing I could do Niall. I don't want this contract dictating your life anymore, and I certainly don't want you to resent me or this baby because of it."

"Thank you," Niall replied softly, but he knew even those words weren't big enough to express just how grateful he was to finally be out of Capitol's control- or at least partly. 

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

In the time since they'd met with Capitol, there had been many rumors circulating. Rumors that Niall and Krystal had broken up when their sightings together disappeared. Rumors that they were expecting a baby triggered by the suspicious rescheduling of some of Niall's tour dates. Even rumors that the two had broken up because of the baby. 

They weren't together- not in a romantic sense- but Niall had committed himself to being there for Krystal in whatever way possible, especially after learning that her mother had effectively disowned her when she learned she was pregnant. He knew he was doing the right thing- but that didn't make the right thing easy.

He often laid awake at night wondering if this is what his life would become, a platonic co-parenting relationship with his former fake girlfriend. Fearing what this would do to his career. Imagining what this news might do to the person who still had a grasp on his heart, no matter how much time had passed. A part of Niall wondered what would have happened if all those months ago, Capitol hadn't decided he needed a girlfriend to promote his record. Would he be where he was now? Or was his life always meant to be this way?

"Krystal Hoffman," the nurse called out, entering the waiting room with a clipboard in hand and snapping Niall back into reality.  Krystal stood abruptly and Niall noticed her hand shaking as she reached to grab her purse. He reached out, setting a hand on the small of her back and leaning over to whisper in her ear. "We can do this." 

But he's not sure who needed more convincing- Krystal or himself.

Tag List: @awomanindeniall​​ , @ihearthemcallingforyou​ , @niall-is-my-dream​​ ,​  @stylishmuser​​​ , @thicksniall

[tonydadisbestdad]

Making Her Cry

Peter ParkerxReader

Dad!Bucky

Word Count: 2,116

Request by anon: hi could you maybe write something where the reader is bucky’s daughter + dating peter and peter says/does something really stupid that makes her cry and bucky’s ready to kick some ass?

A/N: Sorry it took so so so long. I haven’t been able to catch time to sit down and bang this out. Anyway, here’s something a little different than I’ve done before. I never thought of dad Bucky to reader tbh. Enjoy.

Also ignore the excessive spacing because I DO NOT KNOW WHY IT LOOKS LIKE THIS and I ain’t fixing it.

When you and Peter started dating, it was a dream come true. As the years progressed, things started getting exceedingly more difficult. You’d been together for 4 years (longer if you considered the snap). High school had passed now and you were two years into college.

Between classes, Peter being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to New York, and you dealing with top secret missions with the team, well, things weren’t exactly getting any easier.

Plus the fact that your dad, James Buchanan Barnes, did not like Peter did not help either.

But even with all the bad, the two of you still tried to have a date a week.

Except you were currently going on your fourth week in a row that Peter’s blown your date off. Normally, you’d understand but this time felt different. You’d waited an hour at the restaurant in the city you’d picked. Always giving leeway, you waited. When an hour hit you called him. It rang once before going to voicemail.

Which was strange to you. It meant he either had his phone in hand and rejected the call, or he was in his suit and he didn’t have his a.i. tell you he was unavailable. Either way, it meant that he rejected your call.

You wouldn’t have minded so much if he’d just let you know somehow what was happening. But as you called again and again, the same thing happened. The phone would ring and you’d be sent to voicemail. Sometimes it rang longer or shorter, but the end result was voicemail. You even texted him, but still nothing came back.

It hurt, and you tried to understand something was going on but something in the back of your mind was causing you doubt.

You ordered dinner for yourself and went back to the tower. You checked to see if Peter was there, but you didn’t find him. So, you went and changed before going to bed. Hoping your boyfriend was alright.

The next morning you were eating breakfast alone, when a fairly happy Peter walked in. His face fell upon seeing you.

You looked away from him, deciding to give him the cold shoulder ass he did you the night before.

“H-Hey Y/N,” he greeted, rubbing the back of his neck.

You continued ignoring him, you didn’t want to start yelling and lose your cool so quickly.

“Come on, don’t give me the cold shoulder, I can explain…” he went over and sat across from you.

You looked at him again, letting the hurt show. “No answers, no calls, no texts… nothing Peter. So, please tell me what I did to deserve to be stood up for a fourth week in a row and without even receiving an excuse this time!” So much for not flipping your lid, you thought to yourself.

He looked like a kicked puppy but you felt like he was stomping on your heart.

“I’m sorry I didn’t answer… or get back to you… something came up and I forgot and I didn’t answer because I didn’t have time to talk… if I remembered it was supposed to be date night I wouldn’t have ignored you.”

“Only if you remembered it was date night?” You countered. “So it’s alright to ignore me any other time is it?!”

He winced. “I didn’t mean it like that…”

“But that’s what you just said. So please, tell me what was so important that you couldn’t even just send me a quick text, hm?”

As he sat there, your lashing out made him realize that no, he didn’t have a good excuse.

You rolled your eyes at his silence. Shaking your head you stood. “What the fuck are we even doing if you can’t even tell me we have to change a date again? If you didn’t want to be with me I'd rather you have said it than stand me up and let me sit in a place for over an hour alone.” The tears slid down your cheeks before you could stop them.

He called after you as you rushed off. When he didn’t follow after you, you just assumed that what you said was true. That he didn’t want to be dating you anymore. It hurt terribly so and had you sobbing on your way back to your room.

Peter’s eyes and chest were filled with panic, his spider sense was raging in the back of his skull. He’d gotten up to go after you, but was stopped short as Bucky round the corner from the hall you hadn’t just gone down.

His glare was hard. Peter had been on the end of his glare plenty, your father hated him, but this glare was murderous. And Peter knew, if Bucky wanted to end his life he would without a care in the world. He’d hide his body and no one would ever find him. Super villains be damned, none of his foes were as killer as your dad was.

Bucky waited until he heard your door shut. The sounds of your sobs as you ran down the hall broke his heart and urged his rage on.

“M-Mr. Barnes…,” Peter started, backing up slowly, ready to run if he needed to.

“Parker,” Bucky ground out, taking a step towards your boyfriend.

“P-please just… let me explain before you attack…”

“Seems to me like you didn’t want to explain to Y/N, so why should I give you a chance to make up some lie that you’ll beg me to believe? Why shouldn’t I strangle the life out of you this very second for making my little girl cry and feel like she’s worth nothing to you, hm?” He stalked closer. “Because I am this close,” he pinched his fingers of his non-flesh arm together in front of Peter’s face. “To knocking your jaw off your face.”

“I-I know I don’t deserve it b-but I lied to her… b-because if-if I told her the truth I’d really ruin everything…”

“Do you think that matters to me? You made Y/N cry. Truth or lies… Ha, like I care. Seems your truth would have screwed everything up either way, so why should I even give you a chance?”

Peter’s panic rose to it’s breaking point as Bucky had gotten even closer to him and in his face. He looked away from the man, wincing. “I-I was gonna propose.” His words came out quickly.

Bucky was almost sure he didn’t hear him correctly, “What?”

Seeing a chance with the surprise he laid on your father he continued. “I was gonna ask Y/N to marry me but I was panicking, which made me late, but then Rhino was causing trouble not far from the restaurant and so I went and well while I was dealing with him I lost the ring and kept sending Y/N to voicemail because I knew if I answered she’d know something was majorly wrong and-and I just couldn’t deal with having to handle her being super disappointed with me for missing another date when I was literally scouring 3 blocks of the city to find the ring. And I couldn’t tell her all that because I didn’t want to ruin something that was supposed to be more than just a date I-I couldn’t, but I-I didn’t think she’d think it was because I don’t want to be with her, so please, let me go talk to her at the least before you strangle me to death or whatever torture you want to put me through because I need her to know how sorry I am.”

Bucky barely caught more than 10 words of what Peter said. He was going to propose to you. He wanted to marry his little girl and he hadn’t even asked him. Of course, Bucky knew why, he’d just say no because of how much he hated Peter. But he could at least have the decency to have tried before doing it.

The moment was tense and quiet. Neither man wanting to break the silence.

But Bucky finally did. He grabbed the front of Peter’s shirt. “As much as I hate you… Go fix this, because I won’t be responsible for taking her happiness away if you’re what makes her happy.” He released Peter. “But I swear to God. Make her cry ever again and we’ll be having a much different conversation.”

Peter took the chance. “Thank you!” He ran off towards your room and knocked on your door.

You’d been curled up in your bed crying. When you heard the knocking at your door you wondered why he was coming now, so after the fact.

“Y/N please answer! I’m sorry I didn’t come after you right away! Your dad cornered me! Please just let me explain everything!”

You got up and opened the door. You wiped at the tears on your face. “Just go Peter, we don’t need to talk about any of this… If we’re done, we’re done…”

“We are not done, He answered quickly. “I never want us to be done. I love you. I love you with everything I’ve got and I’m sorry for everything. I never meant for my lie to make it seem like I don’t love you. I… I’m gonna tell you the truth because nothing can be worse than you thinking we are somehow breaking up… or that I don’t want to be with you… It killed me last night to blow you off… I was freaking out and running late because of it and I ran into Rhino and I-I lost something really important that I needed and I couldn’t answer you because I knew you’d know something was wrong and you know I don’t have a filter when I’m freaking out about something and I didn’t want to spill what I was doing because I didn’t want to ruin anything…” He took a breath as he watched your face for any kind of reaction. He rubbed the back of his neck.

You look was rather unforgiving. You didn’t want anymore lies from him. Nor did you care about his truth now. He’d hurt you either way. Even just for making you believe that’s what he wanted when he didn’t follow you.

“I would have gotten here sooner to explain,” he rambled on as if he was reading your mind. “But your dad started threatening me in the kitchen and I couldn’t get away until I explained it all to him. Doesn’t it mean something that he let me come find you to explain? You know he’s been waiting for a chance like this…”

You rolled your eyes. “How do I know you’re notl lying to me right now?”

“You can’t,” he said truthfully. “But you can talk to your dad later. Right now I need to know we’re okay. I need you to know how much I love you.” He took a step closer to you.

You took a step back.

“Y/N,” He said quietly. “I will get down on my knees and beg if I have to.”

“Do it then.” You weren’t sure why you said it, but you wanted him to work for your forgiveness.

He didn’t even hesitate, which surprised you slightly. You knew he had to be serious, so you asked the question nagging you.

“What happened that you didn’t want to answer me?”

His nerves began to get to him, but he still managed to dig in his pockets. “I lost something that I needed and I didn’t want to ruin the surprise I had but I needed what I lost so I had to search 3 streets to find it. And I lied this morning because I still didn’t want to ruin it. But no chance do I want to break-up. I love you. And if… if you can forgive me…” He switched to be on one knee instead of two. The ring in his palm to be between his fingers. “If you can forgive me, would you marry me?”

Your eyes widened and it felt like your heart stopped. Tears sprung back into your eyes.

He was looking at you with such a worried look, he didn’t want to lose you.

You could feel it. You sunk to your own knees and hugged him tightly.

His arms wound around you, like he’d lose you if he didn’t hold on tight enough. “I love you, so much.”

“I love you too, Peter,” you said. “Of course I’ll marry you.”

“Man,” Your father’s voice said from down the hall. “I was really hoping you’d say no! Are you sure I can’t change your mind?”

You and Peter both chuckled softly.

Wanna be tagged? Just ask! Will tag when I am able to but I’m posting from mobile and it’s annoying

[fernwehbookworm]

Haunted- Chapter 2

As soon as Kara gets back to CatCo, she pitches her idea to her editor, Snapper Carr. He stares at her for a solid four minutes before grunting out a response. “Fine. But you better do this right. Just the facts. We don't need a eulogy. We need an article that will blow the other four out of the water. Get going, Pony Tail."

Kara escaped his office as fast as she could before Snapper could change his mind.

It was already the end of the day. Kara had spent so much time at L-Corp she had worked through her lunch, very rare for her. With her stomach growling, Kara packed up a few things she thought she might need on her desk and decided to head home. While Kara walked the five city blocks back to her apartment, she ordered more takeout then she would probably eat but everything sounded so good right now. It was better leftover anyway. She is barely through her door when the delivery guy knocks. The smell of Chinese food permeates the entire apartment and Kara can barely focus enough to pay and set up her laptop before diving in.

When the first few bites settle into her stomach and take the edge off her hunger, Kara can actually pause to log into her computer and start researching. In between bites, Kara scrolls through article after article on Lena Luthor. Really, there is nothing about her up until her brother's arrest. There is one short piece back when she was four and being adopted by the Luthor's, her tiny hand is obscured by her father's as the now family of four leaves the courthouse after signing the papers. The occasional mention on various projects for school fairs but Miss Luthor is always listed as 'not pictured.' The next picture Kara finds is of Lena graduating high school as Valedictorian at the age of fifteen. She had refused to give a speech, stating 'who am I to speak about our high school experience when I was barely here even two years? They laughed and cried together. They have grown together in ways I will never understand. Let one of them tell them of a hope for the future as they look fondly on the past."

Which Kara thought was a pretty good speech in itself.

Then Miss Luthor was gone again, only resurfacing in research papers and a start-up application with a man named Jack Sphere,  who Kara finds is the now CEO of Spherical Industries. Shortly after that is when Lex Luthor is arrested. After scouring those police reports, Kara finally finds how. Lena Luthor turned her own brother in. Her public statement says that she suspected something had been off with her brother. At first she assumed it was the pressure of taking over LuthorCorp, which he quickly renamed to LexCorp, after their father had died. But it continues even as the company went into a period of growth and prosperity. Investors were practically knocking down Mr. Luthor's door.

Miss Luthor noticed a heavier rotation of women through her brother's life. There had always been a new woman every couple of months because Mr. Luthor had been known to get bored easily. He was a very intellectual man, he even claimed his sister was his only match for wits. Then it seemed like a new woman every week. Miss Luthor worried about a scorned woman trying to blackmail her brother and said so to him. 'He just chuckled real lowly. And said there was nothing to worry about. It was all taken care of.' A quote from the police report.

She didn't know then, that he was wooing these women, giving them everything they could ever want, paying off their debts and dressing them in the finest clothes, and just when they would say they couldn't be happier, he would kill them. He would drug them and tag them like farm animals or game. Then hunt them like those very animals in the huge forests on the Luthor estate. Miles of undeveloped trees that were privately owned. Police still don't believe they have found all the bodies of the missing women who are presumed dead by Lex Luthor's hand. He buried them where he killed them. Still in torn designer dresses with diamonds around their necks and bright orange tags punctured through an ear.

Miss Luthor had started to see signs of the deeds slowly. Blood on a dress shirt carelessly left in a bathroom. A hunting cabinet left unlocked. Dirt tracked into Mr. Luthor's bedroom because the maids had been dismissed for the week. That's when she started spying on him. As a child, she had hid from an verbally abusive mother and knew all nooks and crannies of the Luthor estate. When she finally caught him drugging the next victim, she knew. She took what evidence she could to the police and cooperated fully. Lex Luthor escaped before being taken into custody and no one knows where to. As Miss Luthor gave the federal agency access to LexCorp’s financials, a whole other slew of accusations were leveled on the former CEO. He had been selling weapons on both sides of wars around the world, profiting from death and destruction. His list of crimes went on and on.

Kara begins to write, switching between tabs on the internet browser. It takes hours just to get her notes into a semblance of order and a skeleton of a rough draft. Kara even uses her found pen to take physical notes and jot down ideas as well. Kara works until her eyes start to burn and half her food is gone. By eight, Kara was also halfway through a bottle of wine. She pushes past that, diving in and losing herself in the research and the stories of Miss Luthor’s employees.

Kara blinks hard to try and rid the sleep from her eyes, she is too in the zone to stop now. When she opens them again, she startles at the woman sitting next to her at the table. Kara instantly recognizes her with the long dark hair and piercing green eyes. She’s even still wearing the lab coat that she was in the video.

“Okay, I’m dreaming. I have to be.” Kara mumbles to herself and rubs her eyes.

“Oh, yeah. You are definitely face down on your laptop. It’s quite adorable. Too bad all those ‘F’s’ are going to take up your pages. I hope you auto saved.” Kara watches the phantom of Miss Luthor laugh and then she ties up her hair in a high ponytail, exposing the sharp jawline that Kara saw in her company portrait.

“Yeah definitely dreaming. I think I’ve been thinking about you too much.”

“Honey, no one ever thinks of me too much.” Miss Luthor raises an eyebrow and flashes a smirk Kara’s way.

Kara blushes. “Well since this is all not real, care for an interview? Maybe my subconscious can tell me something.”

“I don’t know. I’m pretty sure I’m here. I mean, I feel real. But I have never met you before. But I’ve been watching you for a while and all of a sudden you can see me.”

“Sounds very dreamish to me. So, Interview?”

“I don’t think that’s how dreams work.” Miss Luthor says with a laugh.

“I don’t think I could dream up that laugh, Miss Luthor.”

Miss Luthor winces, “If this isn’t real, then please call me Lena. Miss Luthor makes me feel like I am in a Boardroom.”

“All right, Lena then. I’m Kara.”

“Really? I thought it was Pony Tail. At least that's what that angry goblin man called you.”

“You saw that?”

“I’ve been with you almost all day. I've seen everything.”

“Everything?” Kara’s voice gets a bit higher.

“Don’t worry, I stayed out of the bathroom stall.”

“Oh good, my subconscious lets me have my privacy.”

“Still don’t think that’s true, but tell me, Kara, why are you doing this? Why are you trying to make me look so good? You don’t even know me?”

“I’m not trying to make you look good. You were good. The things you were doing for your employees and National City is amazing. Not to mention your charity helping third world countries. Like, What weren’t you doing?” “I wasn’t living. I was working myself until I couldn’t think to fill the void of loneliness that I thrust upon myself by turning in my brother and cutting my mother out of my life.”

“Wow, intense. But you didn’t find joy in anything you did.”

“I did. But it was always just so temporary. And I had no one to share it with. I never understood why people would talk about sharing their lives with significant others but when the machine malfunctioned and I saw the bright light. It all hit me at the same time and then I was there, watching you interview with Jess.”

“Man, I really wish you weren’t dead. I would have loved to meet you.”

“But I don’t think I am.”

Kara jerks awake, scattering her papers and pens to the floor. She casts about for Lena before realizing she was in fact just dreaming. A glance at her computer screen does reveal a stream of F’s going on for way too many pages. The sun has long set and Kara looks at her watch to see that it is now three in the morning. She groans, she has less than four hours to sleep before getting up again.

Kara is dead on her feet the next morning, she bought two caramel ice cappuccinos for herself and drank them both before they had a chance to melt. Kara has to do a double take when she sits at one of the cafe tables. She swears Lena is sitting across from her, but when Kara blinks, she’s gone. Kara shakes her head and chalks it up to the lack of sleep. On the street, as Kara works on her vanilla cream-filled doughnut, she almost drops it because someone runs into her, she has an apology half way out of her mouth before realizing that the person is long gone.

Eyebrows drawn together, Kara finishes her trek to work and hides in her cubicle. Luckily, Snapper seems content to allow her to work on the Lena Luthor story and leaves Kara alone for the morning. It’s nearing noon when Kara’s phone buzzes.

Noonan’s?

Alex knows her sister very well. Noonan’s sounds perfect.

20 min? Kara responds.

A thumbs-up emoji comes in response and Kara begins saving her place so she can head out to meet her sister. Kara logs out and stands to swing her bag onto her shoulder, somehow knocking her pen container to the ground in the process. Kara groans to herself and stoops to pick them up. Someone giggles at her misfortune but Kara can’t pinpoint which one of her coworkers it was.

Kara shakes her head and lets it go.

“Hey Alex,” Kara greets as she sinks into the seat across from her sister at Noonan’s.

“Hey Kar… you look exhausted.”

“Gee, thanks. Good to see you too.”

“I’m your sister, I’m supposed to call it how it is. What’s up?”

Before Kara can respond, their waitress interrupts. “The usual, dears?”

“Yes,  thanks, Carol.” Kara says.

“So?” Alex asks, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s nothing, really.” Kara tries to wave off her sister’s concerns but Alex continues to stare her down. “It’s just this L-Corp article. I stayed up way too late researching and fell asleep at my computer.”

“You have got to stop doing that to yourself.”

“I know, I know. I even had this super weird dream about Lena Luthor.”

“Weird how?”

“She was just there in my apartment, sitting at my table, and we just started talking. But then she kept saying how she didn’t think she was actually dead. It just felt so real. I don’t know. It was weird.”

“Sounds like you have been really focused on this. You were probably just overtired.”

“Maybe, but forget about me. What’s new with you?”

“Not much. I’m thinking about asking Kelly to move in.” Alex winces at Kara’s high pitched squeal.

“Not much?! That’s huge Alex! Really? I’m so happy for you!”

Alex laughs at Kara’s enthusiasm. “It’s not that big of a deal. She hardly ever goes back to her apartment anyway, mine is closer to both of our jobs and she already has half my closet space.”

“But still! That’s great. I love Kelly, well not how you love Kelly, but like I love Kelly as a very possible future sister-in-law.”

“Whoa, slow down sis. Let’s take this one step at a time.”

“Sorry, I just excited for you. It will be great. We should have a dinner party after you ask to celebrate.”

“Here you ladies go,” Carol set’s down the plates of food, Kara’s piled high with extra fries and a couple of extra pickles next to her burger.

“Thanks,” Alex accepts her club sandwich with a hungry grin. "Want my pickle?"

"Always," Kara grins as she grabs the spear from her sister's plate.

As Kara settles back into her chair, she does a double-take. She could have sworn she had seen Lena Luthor watching her from the door. But when she looked again there was just a woman with dark hair waiting for a seat.

"What's wrong?" Alex asks, noticing her sister's confusion.

"Nothing. Just, jeez, I must be really thinking too much about this article. I keep thinking I see Le- Miss Luthor out of the corner of my eye. It's happened a couple times today."

"Well, maybe when you finish this article, you should put in for some personal time. You haven't taken a day off since you became a reporter two years ago. And you have been pushing really hard this past couple of weeks. We even canceled the last two game nights, which, by the way, Kelly wants to have on Friday."

"Oh! Yes! I met a new friend interviewing for this article. Winn, he asked if we could hang out sometime so I told him he should definitely come to game night."

Alex raises an eyebrow at her sister.

"What?" Kara asks through a mouthful of fries.

"Kar…"

Kara swallows. "What?" She asks innocently.

"I think that poor man was trying to ask you out."

"Wha-? No. Wait." Kara rethinks their last interaction. She frowns hard and then shrugs. "He isn't really my type, plus I'm a little put off of men still. Don't get me wrong, I am still attracted to them but after Mike, I think I need a break from them."

"Hey, you won't find any arguments from me. Women are prettier anyway." Alex laughs.

"All right you big lesbian, yes they are. But I'm not really feeling the dating thing anyway. I just need some 'me' time."

"I don't need to know about your 'me' time. Some things are just best for sisters not to know.”

"Ugh, Alex! Not like that. Well… a little like that, but not the point. Okay changing the subject. How are you asking Kelly to move in?"

<><><><>

Kara was really starting to hate this feeling of being watched. It had nagged at her all day. Like someone was just behind her, watching everything she did. It followed her all the way home and into her apartment. Kara was trying to just chalk it up to lack of sleep and overthinking but then she just thought about it more and it became a vicious cycle. The back of her neck prickled as she locked her front door and Kara only hesitated a moment before chaining the door along with the deadbolt. Kara knew she should sleep, but this article needed to be done and prepared for whatever new information L-Corp sent out when they concluded their investigation. To Kara though, that information would be last. She really wanted to focus on Lena's life instead of her death. Kara ordered pizza and began to dive deep into her research again. Each new charity or fundraiser event leading to a new one. There were some that Kara could not find clear evidence of it being Lena so she emailed Jess who responded promptly with a list of events and organizations that Lena decided not to be listed on or listed as a minor contributor even though the exact opposite was true.

Around 9, Kara can feel her eyelids growing heavy as she shakes off sleep and takes another bite of her half-finished pizza. Or she tries to. Darkness envelops her consciousness and panic feels like it wraps around her heart.

“Where am I? Come on… come on. I have to find a way back. There… There! I have to—”

Kara jerks awake, knocking her pizza box onto the ground and nearly punching her computer screen. Though the confused, muddled images fade, the fear keeps her heart pumping. Kara isn't really sure what she was just dreaming of but it raised goosebumps on her arms.

Kara stands and shuts her computer. Even as she is telling herself how ridiculous it was, Kara checks all the locks on her windows and balcony doors. She even rechecks her front door. Satisfied, Kara goes to brush her teeth and climbs into bed. She still can’t shake the dream. Kara lays awake, listening to every noise of the city and her neighbors.

Kara must have drifted off at some point because soon she is woken again by a rattling noise. It’s slow, coming back to consciousness, but when she does, her knuckles tighten on her comforter as she remains as still as possible and held her breath to pinpoint the cause of the noise.

The rattling continues and seems to be growing more agitated. Quietly, Kara gets off her bed and grabs her baseball bat from her closet. Alex had insisted on her having  something to protect herself when she moved out on her own. She had laughed at the time but she wasn't laughing now. Kara tiptoes back out into the living room, bat half raised as her eyes straining in the darkness. Luckily, the moon is full and illuminated the living space enough for Kara to look for anything out of place. The rattling noise came again and Kara's head snaps in that direction, lifting the bat higher.

With a laugh, Kara releases the breath she is holding. Streaky is perched on the fire escape swatting at the window to be let in. The stray cat had selected Kara's apartment to escape to when he sensed storms coming or drops in temperature.

Kara sets the bat against the couch and unlocks the window to let the demanding feline in.

"Hey bud, trying to scare me to death?"

Streaky just lets out a meow of protest at how long it took for Kara to allow him entry.

"Yeah, yeah," Kara says to him. "Come on, I'll put some food and water down. Then, you have to let me sleep. I only have three more hours."

Kara digs in the bottom of her pantry for Streaky's bowl and food. She fills one half with the dry food and the other with water. She has to concentrate not to trip over the cat circling her ankles. Kara sets it down with a scratch behind pointed ears and earns a contented purr.

By the time Kara is crawling into bed to try and sleep, Streaky is making himself comfortable at the foot of it.

Kara's alarm blares all too soon and she is starting to seriously consider time off like her sister suggested. Kara rubs the sleep from her eyes and looks at Streaky. He is sitting up with his back to Kara. He is too stiff for his normal behavior. As Kara watches him, Streaky's head slowly pivots to the right, then back to the left, as if tracking the movement of something. But he isn't looking at the ground. Streaky is looking straight ahead, if even a little up.

"Hey…". Kora mumbles, trying to break the creepy behavior, she taps him with a foot. Streaky doesn't even budge from his watchful stance.

"Okay, weirdo."

With the sun rising, most of the anxiety from the night before had faded, but the cats strange behavior still set prickled at Kara's neck.

She decided a shower would help clear the night from her mind and the sleep from her eyes. The hot water soon had the bathroom steaming and Kara lets her tense shoulders relax under the water pressure. She knows she can’t stay in all morning but boy, is she tempted to. Streaky is protesting at the closed bathroom door, hating being shut out of a room. With a groan, Kara turns off the water and grabs the towel from the bar next to the tub. A quick pat down before stepping out to wrap her hair up.

Kara turns to wipe the moisture from her mirror and freezes with her heart.

Help Me!

[lowkeyaesthvtic]

Evil Karma - Chapter 7

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Word Count: 1,883

Summary: A quick look into Sofi’s past ends in a messy room

Pairings: OC x father!OUAT Peter Pan, poly!Harry x OC x poly!Uma

Rating: PG (no swear words but some angsty content)

Warnings: description of child death, mention/description of physical abuse, basically Peter Pan is an abusive douchebag and Sofi deserved much better

Tags: @hookedradge @descendantofthesparrow @curse-brekker @newtshairdryer @amityravenclawelf @kirbiejayhook

Author’s Note: Not gonna lie, I’m a bit nervous about this chapter. I just wanted to say that I take all kinds of abuse incredibly seriously and that it’s not something to be glamorized/romanticized. What Sofi endured from her father happens to people every single day and it’s for that reason that I proofread this a million times to make sure it was taken seriously. Also, if you need help or someone to talk to, my DMs are always open.

Ironically enough, I had fallen asleep shortly after telling Uma that it was something I didn’t usually partake in. Uma must have stayed awake, as when I woke up I was not lying on the chair that I was in before I had drifted off. The three of us now lay in a brown, mildly dusty bed with a thin blanket draping over us. Somehow, I had ended up in the middle once more. My arm was draped over Harry’s chest and my head rested gently in the nape of his neck, inhaling his scent with every breath I took. He smelled...different than usual. Rather than carrying the scent of crashing waves trying to tear a ship apart, he smelled like a ship calmly drifting through an even sea. His hair was just as messy as before, if not messier. He definitely was not a still sleeper. I could feel Uma behind me, dancing her fingers across my back, tracing circles and hook-like shapes as if I were her empty canvas. It felt nice, truthfully, but it was all so...new. “I bet you got this treatment all the time back on Neverland, didn’t you, Island girl?” I hear Uma mumble behind me. A small laugh huffs out in response.

“Nothing like this…” I could feel my voice drifting as I cast my mind back to the crowded island I once called home.

It all started off so wonder-filled. I was the second person to be born in Neverland rather than being taken there by the Shadow. People were still wondering how it all happened, my own father included. For the first eight years, I aged as regularly as any child would. Obviously, I don’t have much recollection of it, but one of the older boys once told me that I was relatively peaceful and I could make even my own father crack a smile. I wish I could go back to it all, just to remember it again. There was only one thing about my childhood that I could recite by heart.

Her name was Delilah. She was the first to be born on the island. Her mother fled home soon after, just as I believe my own mother had done. If the boys thought I was peaceful as a child, Delilah was an angel. Her skin was fair and practically blemish free apart from small brown freckles splattered across her nose and the apples of her cheeks. Her hair was not light enough to be called ‘blonde’ but nowhere near as dark as mine. I swear her smile could light up even the darkest regions of the Echo Caves. She made me want to be a better child. If Neverland were some kind of movie, she’d be the leading lady there to steal everybody’s hearts.

Even as young and naive as I was, I was rendered surprised when she was so eager to be friends with me. The first thing I remember hearing from her was her asking if I wanted to race her to the shoreline. “Last one to the beach is a crocodile!” She yelped out. She almost always won. Maybe because she was faster than me, maybe because I just loved seeing the smile on her face when she got there first. Either way, she was a winner. Soon, we started doing everything together. We’d eat together, swim in the ocean together, I had even persuaded my father to let us share a tent. From that night on, we were inseparable. The boys would try everything they could to get us to crawl out of our tent and hunt with them, but to no avail.

One night, a blistering storm came rushing through the island. Pan had commanded everyone to stay in their tent no matter what, promising that he would take care of dinner and anything else the boys needed to rest easy. Everyone quickly obeyed, knowing the dangers of the island’s angry rain. The only one I had yet to see come into their tent was Delilah. It worried me to my very core. When everybody had fallen asleep, I snuck out of my tent to look for her. I had climbed mountains and scoured the forest and even dug through the sand to find her. But, there was one place that I had yet to look. The Echo Caves encompassed the darkest area of the island. Delilah would tell me stories of how her mother went to the Echo Caves to steal pixie dust and fly home. From what the boys had told me about those caves, Delilah’s mother might not have been the only one. Boys had tried to fly from the Echo Caves, believing that the power of their homesickness would bring them home to their families. What nobody ever told me was what happened if they failed. I found that out myself when I found Delilah’s body bloodied and bruised at the edge of a cliff by the Echo Caves’ entrance. In her cold hand was a bottle with a letter inside.

“Dear Delilah,” it read. “I don’t know if you’ll ever see this, but if you do, you need to read this very carefully. Neverland is not the paradise you think it is. Your mother, your uncle Michael and I all ventured there as kids under that same belief. We didn’t want to grow up, either. But we started to miss home, your mother especially. Pan wouldn’t let her leave. That’s why you were born here. He’s a curse, Delilah, a demon that will do anything for power and control. Go to the edge of the Echo Caves and cut one of the vines, a black liquid will start coming out of it. Put the black liquid into this bottle but do NOT let it touch your skin. Then, when Pan is drinking, slip the liquid inside while he isn’t looking. After that, you’ll be able to do whatever you want. If you want to come home, write us a letter and seal it with a kiss. Your uncle Michael and I will come and get you along with anybody else you want to take. We love you, Delilah Darling. Be careful. Sincerely, your Uncle John.” It wasn’t until after I had read the letter that I saw the black liquid oozing from her wounds.

Since that night, I didn’t want to be young anymore. A part of me thought that if I could grow up, I could leave. The other part of me was telling me that if I didn’t grow faster, stronger, and smarter than I was as a child, I’d end up just like Delilah if not worse. At first, I followed the island’s logic. If you believe in it hard enough, it will come to you. I wished to grow up each and every night for what could have been years, but nothing happened. So, I did what I thought was the only thing left to do. I went to my father.

“Dad...can I ask you something?” I asked, quietly peering into his tent. He was drinking wine, a usual hobby for him. A husky scoff erupted in response.

“What is it, Sofia? You clearly see I’m busy with something.” He turned his chair around and faced me. I never realized it when I was younger, but he was always angry with me. Every time he looked at me or even said my name, there was a glint of rage in his eyes and in his voice.

“Well...I really want something. I’ve tried believing in it, like you’ve said, but I’ve been wishing for this for a really really long time and nothing has been happening.”

“Get on with it, child.”

“I...I wanna grow up. I don’t want to stay a child forever anymore. It’s scary.” Silence. He swiftly stood and towered over me, glaring down with a laugh so deep and sinister you’d think he was a tiger hunting its prey.

“You think eternal youth is..scary? You stupid child!” A burning pain arrive on my right cheek as his backhand sent me to the ground. “Do you have any idea how hard I work to keep this paradise for you and the boys? Now...you’ve come to tell me that you don’t want it? I should throw you to ocean and see which of the mermaids is fortunate enough to snatch you for lunch!” He turns back around and walks to a desk by his bed. At that moment, I didn’t know what to focus on. I didn’t know if I was going to live or die, but I was so scared that I couldn’t move to escape. The next time I saw his face, he had a tiny bottle in his hand filled with a purple shimmering liquid. “Fine...you want to grow up? Drink this, and you’ll be the only person on this island who won’t be young forever. But I’ll tell you now, dear Sofia, all magic comes with a price. If you don’t pay it like a good little girl, you’ll end up just like Delilah. You hear me?” He throws down the bottle with near enough force to break it. “Now pick up your waste of space potion and get out of my sight before I really give you something to be scared of!”

“Sofi..? Sofi? Sofi!” I was shaken back to reality by both Harry and Uma’s voices calling to me. By the time I was back in reality, the room we were in had been near completely trashed. My knuckles had become bloody and any glass surface in the room was shattered. Moments after coming back, my knees buckled and I collapsed to the floor. I didn’t want them to see me cry. Nobody is supposed to see me cry. Crying is a weakness and if you possess weaknesses, you won’t survive anywhere.

“Hey, duckling...it’s just us. Your dad’s dead, remember?” Harry leaned down and took one of my hands into his. They were big, veiny, strong..but somehow, in this time, they held such a gentle air to them. They were warm in a room that couldn’t be any colder. Then, it came to me.

“How much did you hear?” I tried to keep my voice strong and deep, but it couldn’t help but quiver and crack. There’s no way they would ever see me the same. “I’m not weak..I promise you I’m not weak-”

“We know, Sofi. We know. Honestly, you’re probably the strongest girl I’ve met. Next to myself, of course.” I let out a small laugh. She had a point. “We don’t know everything you’ve been through, Sofi. You don’t know everything we’ve been through, either. But if there’s one thing that I know, it’s that the three of us are the strongest this Isle has ever seen. Nothing from our past is going to change that. Okay?” I nodded my head and felt my breathing return to normal. Harry helped me up to my feet and walked me to a tall, dilapidated wardrobe.

“Let’s go ahead and get dressed. I think Lady Tremaine’s place is due for a quick robbing, don’t you, duckling?” I smirked and nodded my head.

“Let’s get into some trouble.”

“That’s my girl,” Uma replied as she placed a gentle kiss on my cheek.

[thewhumpstuff]

You and I, Me and You [31]

[CW: References to: Human trading/trafficking, implied non/dubcon in the past. Vivianne (Vivi-Anne/a) presents with a constellation of personality traits and identity-defining choices/compulsions that are unique to her and this world. (Attributed to her past and involving experiments with sci-fi drugs) She does NOT represent any disorders or conditions] 

[Teaser and Master List] [Archives of our Own] (Lost and Found: Chapter 6)

[<– Previous] ~ [Next –>]

Fooled Around?

Today, there was something comforting about the consistency of the concrete around him as he ambled to the cafeteria. The grey was there. It was solid, assuring and necessary. He did not know the compound well and kept an eye out for signs that could guide him. A platoon marched by; he ignored the cohort of people as much as they ignored them. Jared was grateful for the shroud of darkness. In his black tracksuit, he was just some agent – and not the Red Knight.   He processed the argu- discussion with Shira. He was not wrong, and neither was she. Cepheus had challenged him similarly a mere night ago. Jared was not fully conscious of just how much agency he had lost. Just how many choices were made through him, but not completely by him and almost never for himself. Of how many times… he had chosen silence and still did. And yet, Akira wanted to be with him, with whatever he was... Who am I anyway? 

And yet, the commander general of Q.B. was willing to trust him with the post he offered. Anyone is a big step up after Ezekiel though. Jared could not really seek any assurance from that. But he did want to make things work. He did want to find a way through all this. He could see more of Akira’s reasoning, but pieces of her were missing. Parts of her that he knew of, but had not held, had not really seen. Akira probably felt the same way. His parts were skeletons in his closet. Her parts felt tamer, easier to behold. Just then, Jared’s cursory gaze found the sleek bubble-gum hair. No, her parts were not all that tame either. Perhaps, she did have her own skeletons too. People here at Q.B. had ‘scarred-and-marked’ her just as much as Scar-and-Mark, me, right? Vivianne was a reminder that Akira had suffered in unexpected ways too. And in ways that he had seen at the hands of Ezekiel. Suddenly, in his head, he was the victim and advocate for SpecSyn and she was the victim and representative for Q.B, as he grappled with his options. He did not mean for it to become this way. He also did not need any signs to his destination anymore. His gaze never left the striking pink hair and strode towards Vivi, in a quick pace. His steps fell before his reason and mind had a chance to catch up. “You.” Vivi responded to many things, but ‘you’ certainly was not one of them. She had strolled into the cafeteria with more of a purpose than she usually did, and that distraction kept her from spotting Jared, or attributing any significance to his call. “Vivianne.” She whipped around already correcting the caller sharply as he graduated from you to her full name. “Just Vivi – Oh! If it isn’t The Red Knight himself!” She had not been seeking him, but he felt like a good find. Vivi felt obligated to tell him about Zizi, it did involve Novara after all. She had gathered they were friends. Plus, it looked like Tariq could use the help. But Jared had other matters on his mind. The cafeteria was too crowded, and a few people had already started staring after her loud greeting. The conversation he wanted warranted some privacy. “Follow me.” Vivi did not have to. She did not usually respond to orders outside of combat and Jared held no rank here. Not yet, not that she knew of the offer at all. But she did. Out of curiosity. Easily distracted, she fell off course quickly. His hands were fists in his pocket. It was difficult to remain collected through the surge of his flaring temper. He kept careful distance as they rounded into an alley behind the cafeteria. “So, you like playing with knives and cigarettes then?” His tone was deliberately flat. He wanted answers and explanations, not revenge. But he did want to see some consequences. And he ought to know how things happen if he was to take up SiC. He had seen a glimpse of Vivianne’s flair in the bus, it did not take a genius to see her odd sense of fascination. And, one way or another, despite what she had done, she had also potentially saved Akira’s life.  Doesn’t make it ok though. Vivi cocked her head and corrected him again, “Anna, likes to play with her scalpel. I suppose I like knives sometimes… and cigarettes. From what I have heard, so do you.” Jared took a deep breath and really could not tell if she was being deliberately obtuse. “On people?” “Yes. On people… for you too, right? You don’t happen to have one on you, do you?” She sounded excited, like the least he could do was offer some sort of kinship and share a smoke. She leaned against the wall behind her and propped her foot on it casually. And then she went on almost like she was judging him. He missed it entirely.   “Anna and I usually only use those when someone wants it or needs it though… Like that time in the bus. And…” “Yes, but Shira didn’t want it.” He replied hotly and he was curt. She let out something between a snort and a churlish giggle. “Didn’t stop you either… from what I’ve heard…” It took him a moment to make the connection. Eze must have divulged his knowledge about the SpecSyn training debacle. That stupid day is going to haunt me forever. I should not have… At least it would always serve as a good reminder for him to never cross lines again. As tempting as it felt right now. In that spirit, he took another step back. She was good at filling the silence the space left between them, answering the unasked questions.   “The day you came along… She didn’t want things anymore…” Vivi lamented, like he was in some way responsible for what happened. And like she had not expected him or her little act of vengeance to put a damper on things the way that they had. Jared blinked. “You… you two-” “Fooled around? Yeah. And I promise, she liked it. Her response to fear…” She smacked her lips together and winked. She had diminished what she shared with Akira because it felt unattainable now. Vivi did still hope that it had something to do with everything else that happened. There was too much that had happened. She did not linger on it though, because she was in a good mood after having dealt with Ezekiel, – who did largely seem responsible for this… everything else.   Him! That woman… “Oh! I think Novara and Tariq need a little help… and… someone else.” The blankness on Jared’s face was instantly replaced with concern and fury. His clenched fingers tightened in his pocket and he could not help but close in now. There was still some hesitancy in his steps. His palm rested on the wall next to her, he was dangerously close to doing something he would regret. Vivi was entirely unnerved and unperturbed. She was rather hooked onto the various emotions that danced across his face and was not scared of the one that had settled for the time being, like others would be, perhaps.  “Vivianne, I swear if you did-” She cocked her eyebrow, still unfazed and likely to remain so. “Just Vivi! And calm down Mister, I had little to do with it. I’m actually trying to help… I need to get food.” Most people didn’t take so long to fathom Vivi-Anna as Vivianne’s preference. A pricked Vivi slipped by Jared, ducking under his hand and walking towards the cafeteria. He let her and followed; his urgency not reflected in her motions. “Apparently… Eze had some woman locked in a hidden room and Nova experimented on her or something…” Her words this time, were soft. She was smart enough to remain out of earshot. Jared stopped walking. Vivi turned to look back at him with impatience. “I need to get food for her… Are you going to join me, or not?” Jared did not expect someone to be more practical than him in the face of crisis. He was more worn than he wanted to admit. He nodded and followed in a hurry as she brought some bottles. “This woman… Is she fine?” Wrapped, in mentally flipping through all the implications of what Vivi had just shared, Jared forgot that he was meant to be buying food too. But, Jared was not going back to Akira anymore, he needed to find out more about what happened. “Not injured at least externally… Unless you count the missing arm and leg. But she is weak… And hungry, I think. Should probably have someone MediScan her…” Jared’s mind scoured through possibilities given what Vivi shared. She led him towards Ezekiel’s house, he tried to prompt her into hurrying, it did not change much.   The grandiosity of Ezekiel’s homemade Jared nauseous. Q.B. sure had spared a lot for him. From a political point of view, it made sense. Ezekiel had become as much a face for them as Jared had been for SpecSyn. And Ezekiel brought in hard cash and good deals for the military. Post-Supremacy, Jared’s contributions felt lacklustre—a spyware designer and a shitty mentor… Regardless of whether he had been good or bad, Jared did not see himself making the kind of demands Ezekiel clearly had. “Where was he keeping her?” Vivi clammed up for the first time. Not out of guilt or fear, but simply because she was not sure what details were safe to share with Jared, regarding their adventures with Ezekiel. “Oh, just in some hidden room… I managed to hack the lock.” She still spoke with an effortlessness that did not leave Jared in doubt. So that is what she meant by help. “I don’t really need to be here right? You’re here… and…” Vivi handed him the drinks as she sought to make herself scarce, the fun parts were all done. BuzzBo could use a new advert – A drink for all your malnourishment needs. Briefly, Jared was irked that he was the last to find out about this. That somehow, Nova had involved Tariq and Vivianne, but not him. Then he realised that he had not exactly left himself accessible. In the past this would feel worse than it did. For a moment though, a certain part of him ached in concern for Akira. Enough to hesitate but not enough to abandon what felt like his duty.

Jared paused and scanned the slice of the study room visible through the frame of the door. The books in the shelf to the left were slightly jostled and Nova knelt in front of him. She sat like a statue, like any movement would result in some catastrophe. Jared did not make his way inside yet. He rapped at the door softly to draw her attention. Their eyes met. The ex-SpecSyn BioHacker practically leapt off her spot on the carpet, her eyes darting deeper into the room for a second, before she approached him on padded feet and pulled him away from the threshold of the study. Tariq noticed and followed her, pausing when he noticed Jared. He waited within earshot. “You have to understand he made me-” She drew a shaky breath. He was about to reassure her. “Her… her name is Zizi. I… Excuse me.” As selfish as it seemed, he almost stopped her, only so that he could ask her to check in on Akira. But Nova left in a rare, seemingly self-indulgent hurry. She never asked for anything for herself, much like him. It was apparent that she had been through a lot, so Jared could not possibly hold this against her.   Little did he know that Novara was on her way to Ezekiel. To fix him, which he did not deserve, but in a way that he would not forget in a hurry. [Tags: @lettuceknighted, @quirkykayleetam]