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ramp-it-up · 1 year ago

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Football Season

Summary: It’s Football Season. But you want to play.

Pairing: Beefy Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word count: 2K

A/N: it’s the first day of Kinktober! Hope you enjoy! You can read this as a companion piece to Party Games

Warnings: 18+ Only, Minors DNI. SMUT! Read at your own risk; curate your own experience. Sportsball. Mostly pwp. Established relationship. Thigh riding, praise/degradation kink, P in V, creampie. Not Beta’d. All errors my own.

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I Do NOT Consent to my work being reposted, translated or presented on any other blog or site other than by myself.

It was your first football season living with your boyfriend. You moved in with him in the spring and had wonderful weekends in bed and hanging out with friends. Steve and Sam warned you about Bucky’s obsession, joking that you would be a football widow.

You laughed at the jokes and Bucky pulled you close to him, kissed your temple and said, “Don’t listen to these punks. I would never ignore you, Doll.”.

You believed him. Bucky was so supportive of everything in your life, your job, your hobbies, your family, that you wanted to let him have the perfect supportive football girlfriend on opening weekend. Steve was away for work and Sam was in Louisiana visiting his sister and attending a Saints game. You were going to prove that Bucky wouldn’t miss out on having the guys with him to watch his team.

Bucky looked so fine sitting on the couch, in a t-shirt and basketball shorts with his team’s logo on them and that made you want to serve him the best homemade sandwiches and beer ever.

After you went to the grocery store, you slipped into the bedroom and slipped on your surprise for Bucky, a custom black jersey with red trim from his favorite team with Barnes 001 on the back. You had it made for him, so it hung down your thighs, which were covered by the tops of thigh high red socks. The kicker was what was underneath the jersey, but that was for later.

Now was the time for some food. It was almost kickoff.

Bucky glanced up at you from his fantasy football app as you placed the tray of food down on the coffee table and did a double take at you in the jersey. Bucky beamed at you as he leaned back and spread his legs.

“What do we have here, Doll?”

His eyebrow raised as he asked the question. You tried to ignore his man spread, even though it was your weakness.

“Just a present for my favorite football fan. I thought I’d break it in for you while we watch the game.”

Bucky grinned at you.

“So thoughtful, Doll. You look great in it. I might never wear it, honestly you look so hot.”

You winked at him as Bucky reached for you. He pulled you onto his thigh and kissed your forehead, temple, nose and mouth. The jersey was tucked under your bottom so you weren’t bare thonging it on his thigh, but you could feel the power there. But now wasn’t the time.

“I love you, Doll.”

You winked at him, kissed his cheek, stood up and padded back in the kitchen, dodging his hand as he reached for the hem of the jersey.

“Watch your game!” you called.

“I’d rather watch you, Doll.”

Bucky’s head followed you for a moment, but he was soon distracted again when his team got possession of the ball.

Once you got him set up, you sat up on the couch with your head on his shoulder and your legs thrown over his.

Bucky was entranced in the game, drinking beer, pumping his fist and throwing up his hands when his team lost or gained ground, and it was so cute to watch. You man was in his happy place and it made you happy too.

You snuggled his arm and kissed his bicep, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, when during a particularly energetic show of emotion, Bucky’s hand came down with a slap on your thigh.

“Ow!”

You laughed as Bucky looked at you with concern as he rubbed your rapidly reddening limb.

“Sorry, Doll. You okay?”

“I’m good, Jamie. Just let me get my lick back.”

You reached over and pulled up Bucky’s shorts from the thigh closest to you and delivered a sound smack to the corded muscles there. You shifted as you looked at his thigh ripple slightly. He was so fucking thick and the whore in you awakened. Bucky just flexed and smirked at you as you lusted after him.

“I thought you were actually gonna lick it.”

That grin.

“Hmmmph.”

You gave him a side eye and snuggled in again as he returned to his game, the idea of licking his thigh, and other things, taking over your brain. You shifted, the red thong you had on under the jersey now uncomfortable in your wet folds as Bucky got engrossed in the game again.

This was turning into a situation.

You didn’t know if you could be still for two more hours. It was only the first quarter. You stared at his thigh at the muscles shifting and moving as he did, and you didn’t realize it, but you were shuffling down his arm, your mouth nearing his muscular leg.

You snuck a look up at him to find him smiling down at you.

“You good, Doll? What are you doing? Why do you look like you’re about to commit a crime?”

Bucky could read you like a book. And you loved it.

“Hmmm. I just want a little… snack…”

With a mischievous smile, you fully committed and leaned down to lick a long stripe from his Bucky’s knee until your head was halfway covered by his shorts. Your mouth nose bumped his ball sack and you felt him jump.

“What the…?”

When you resurfaced, Bucky looked at you, sky blue eyes wide.

“You said you wanted me to lick it.”

You shrugged your shoulders and took a drink of water.

“I said I thought you were going to…”

Bucky eyed you gulping down the glass and stopped trying to explain himself.

“You thirsty Doll?”

You wiped your mouth with the back of your hand and nodded, smiling back at the man who was not paying attention to his game anymore.

“Liquid is collecting places, need to replenish.”

Bucky leaned back, and hiked the leg of his shorts even higher.

“Are you wet, Baby Doll?”

That name. Bucky had you.

You nodded, your mouth open slightly to breathe. He had you open.

“Well, you already got me wet, little Baby. Might as well finish the job.”

Bucky patted his thigh.

“.. But.. the game, Jamie…”

“I can still watch the game while you use my thigh, Baby. Climb on.”

You stood up and lifted the jersey to pull down the thong but Bucky stopped you with a whistle.

“Shit Baby Doll. Look at how you’ve ruined that pretty little red thong. Turn around.”

You did as you were told and Bucky picked up the thong from between your ass cheeks and snapped it back into place. Then he smacked your butt.

“That is one lucky piece of material. Nestled in all that ass so pretty.”

He turned you around with both hands and then stared at your crotch.

“You’re so wet that you are making this red thong even darker.”

Bucky picked up the thong from the front and ran his finger down to the wetness, then he pulled so it moved even tighter between your legs. That, coupled with him giving you that ice blue sex god stare almost made your knees buckle.

“I think you need to keep this on and use it to help you get off. Climb on.”

Bucky leaned back again and slowly sucked his finger into his mouth, slowly pulling it out for you to see. He knew that got you hot.

You did as you were told, using your hands to brace on his broad shoulders. You were down closer to his knee and he reached for you, placing his hands on your waist to drag you closer to him.

“Careful with that knee, Doll.”

The warning made you giggle, because one false move would not be so good for Bucky’s balls.

“Get comfy for me.”

You shifted, widening your legs, so that your knee simply slid along his wide open other leg as you moved, nice and slow, grinding your core into his hairy, beefy thigh.

“That feel good?”

You nodded quickly, biting your lip. You surprised yourself at how close you were so quickly and you balled Bucky’s t-shirt in your hands as your hips moved faster and faster.

“There you go. Good Girl.”

He reached up under the jersey and tweaked one nipple, teasing your rapidly heating body.

“Now, stay quiet and don’t cum, because I’m watching the game. It would make too much noise. But don’t stop moving either Doll. Can you handle that? Don’t cum until I tell you.”

You nodded again, not caring that what he said didn’t make any sense. You were already lost in the feeling.

Bucky looked back up at the tv screen, as if he was really watching the game.

You moved, your slick allowing your folds to skate along his thigh, the flexing he was giving you the perfect compliment the your dripping, throbbing flesh that you owned. You felt his cock, hard now against your own thigh and you shuddered, a new need awakening.

Bucky hands slipped under the jersey and both hands teased your hard nipples.

“Mmmmmmhmmmm, Buckyyyy.”

You arched your back and went faster as you felt your clit quiver against his flesh. Your pussy reacted instinctively.

“Damn, Baby Doll,” Bucky took a drink of beer. “Your pussy is clenching on my leg like she could take it inside her. Fucking whore for my body, aren’t ya? Wanna use me any way you want, huh?”

You shuddered again, Bucky’s filthy words making you even closer to the edge.

“Look at you, arching your back like a slut.”

Bucky pulled the jersey off of your body and his eyes raked over you.

“My beautiful little slut.”

Bucky leaned over and started sucking your nipples, hard, alternating sides and sensations between sicking, licking and biting.

“Look at you, riding my thigh and holding it like a good little slut. So obedient. So good for me.”

“Ahhhhh! Bucky! Mmmmmmmm.”

“Love it when you moan for me. Being such a good girl. My best girl…ah ah ah.. Hold it.”

Bucky was feeling you quiver and shudder on his thigh, not able to move anymore because you felt like sparks were shooting from where you were connected. He reached for you and grabbed you, dragging your soaking wet slit down the insistent ridge of his thigh.

“I didn’t say you could stop moving. Do you want to come? Tell me?”

“Please…Bucky…”

Bucky grabbed your throat.

“Not. Yet.”

Bucky was staring at you as you bit your lip, trying with all of your might to control your release. He watched the tears start to fall and he licked them from your cheeks.

You were so mesmerized by his eyes that you didn’t notice that he’d pulled his cock out from his shorts. He lifted you up by your neck and you stood on shaking legs and practically impaled yourself on him.

“Come on my cock then, Baby Doll. Come all pretty for me.”

You slid down to the base of him, wider than you expected although you’d had him hundreds of times before and shuddered from the stretch.

“Oh fuck. Take my cock, Baby Doll. Fuck.”

That shudder led you into an intense orgasm, partially because Bucky was holding you down, making you feel him stretch you out.

“Look at you. I don’t even have to move and you come all pretty all over my cock.”

You started sucking his neck as you came, vibrating all around him.

“Oh shit, give me that orgasm.”

Bucky started moving then, the obscene sound of your wetness filling the room.

“Yeah, yeah, of fuck, yes, yes, yes…oh God yes…”

You were mewling and whining as he pounded into you, your orgasm extending, blooming and growing.

Bucky pulled pack to look at your bouncing breasts and you realized that it was you fucking him now, and he was enjoying the show.

“Yeah, Baby, fuck me. Show me who I belong to. Don’t stop, don’t fucking stop until you cum…”

You put your hands on his chest and bounced up at down a what seemed like warp speed. Bucky cupped the base of his shaft as you fucked yourself on him and fingered your ass and your cunt as you moved.

“Oooohhhhhh! Bucky!”

“Oohhhh my Good goddd!”

Bucky roared as he spurted hot come in your pussy, and you didn’t stop moving until he was soft and slipping out of you.

You collapsed on his chest listening to his heart thump. Suddenly you heard the game again. A roar came from the crowd and Bucky pumped his fist.

“Yes! Amazing Score!”

You laughed as you kissed Bucky’s cheek and moved to go put the jersey back on.

Bucky kissed the top of your head as you leaned on his arm again. He put himself back in his shorts as he put his arm around you.

“My fucking good luck charm. My best girl.”

“Love you too, Bucky.”

And you dozed until he woke up with his head between your legs at halftime.

As always, if you liked it, please reblog! ❤️

#kinktobermaybe #kinktober #kinktober 2023 #bucky barnes #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x black!reader #bucky barnes x female reader #beefy bucky #beefy bucky barnes #beefy boyfriend Bucky

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merry-kuroo · 3 months ago

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Rook's Birthday - A Lucanis x Rook Birthday Fic

Hello everyone :)

Today is my birthday and I decided to gift myself a Rookanis fic :)

Characters will probably be OOC and if any of the Dragon Age lore is wrong...I apologize. I just got into Dragon Age in June so I still get information mixed up.

Okay I hope you all enjoy <3

Thank you @thebookworm0001 and @tkwritesdumbassassins for the support

Warnings? Uhhh may be some grammatical errors or weird sentences since I didn't get to spend time editing this like I wanted. Maybe some spoilers?? No Spite...sorry y'all :( He'll be included in my future Rookanis fics.

Words: 3,576

Lucanis Dellamorte had experience wrapping presents. Vials that released poison once the box was opened, making the target suffer a slow and painful death was a assassination method for the Antivan Crows. It wasn't his favorite or preferred method, but it got the job done in certain situations. During one job, he watched Illario wrap a box to look like a present, but it was empty except for an ominous note warning of the target's impending death –a flare for the dramatic that was Illario’s idea. The wrapping looked like shit, so Lucanis tore the wrapping paper off and redid it.

This present was different.

Lucanis couldn't make a decision about the wrapping paper color, the size of the bow, and whether he should add curling ribbon. The other members of the Veilguard–Harding, Neve, Bellara, Emmerich, and Taash–were in the library wrapping their birthday gifts for Rook. He occasionally heard some laughter from the room. Lucanis decided to wrap Rook’s presents in his room.

Lucanis opened up the slate gray jewelry box and stared at the large, silver hoop earrings lying within. When he and Rook went shopping at a night market in Rivain a couple of weeks prior to her birthday, she had stopped at a jewelry stand and marveled at the earring's simplistic yet elegant hoop design. They were shaped like ovals. Lucanis was sure she would buy them–she touched her empty ear lobes as the vendor tried to goad her into buying them. Being a member of the Lord of Fortunes, Rook had a penchant for jewelry and anything that looked shiny and valuable. She always wore earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and anklets.

She considered the earrings for another moment or two then declined and hurried away from the vendor. On the way back to the eluvian that would take them back to the Crossroads, then the Lighthouse, she hardly spoke. Lucanis knew she was upset, but he didn't think they were close enough for him to ask her why she was upset.

When they were back in the Lighthouse, she admitted to him that the earrings were the same kind her mother wore and that had brought up a homesickness for her village, her family, and friends she grew up with. Later on that evening, when Rook was distracted by teaching Manfred a complicated card, Lucanis used the eluvian to go back to Rivain and buy the earrings from the night market vendor.

“I’m glad you’re buying something for your wife. Sometimes it's nice for a husband to buy his wife something pretty,” The vendor said as he placed the earrings in a box. “Do you want me to wrap this for you?”

“She isn’t my wife,” Lucanis said, much harsher than he intended. The vendor swallowed and gave Lucanis the box before he attended to the next customer.

That’s right. Rook–Ava– was his companion. She led the Veilguard and he owed her a debt for breaking him out of the Ossuary. She was also helping him find Zara Renata. She was a good person and a good leader–something that Lucanis was happy to see her keep balanced despite all the hardships they’ve faced for the last few months. It was exactly for that reason why his eyes lingered on her a little longer when she was done speaking, and why a burst of joy sparked in him when she praised his cooking and demanded seconds. It felt like a balancing act. He felt like he’d known Rook all his life and yet he didn’t know anything about her.

It was Bellara who announced that Rook’s birthday was coming up and that they should do something for her. Hence why he was obsessing over wrapping paper and ribbons and bows of all things. Maker, spare him…

At least Rook wasn’t here. Davrin had volunteered to distract her and take her away from the Lighthouse so everyone could wrap their gifts. After Lucanis was done wrapping the gifts, he’d have to start making a cake, but he’d only do that after Rook went to bed. If she came back from her excursion with Davrin and caught him baking a cake, she would insist on staying in the kitchen as “the chef’s taste tester”.

Lucanis finally settled on purple wrapping paper and a green bow and ribbon. Rook had mentioned to him once that purple and green were her favorite colors, which is something he didn’t expect because she always wore blues, reds, and yellows–the typical colors of the Lords of Fortune.

Night fell and Davrin and Rook came back. She announced that she was going to bed early and bid everyone goodnight. Everyone else had finished wrapping their presents before she came back and placed the presents in their rooms. Lucanis began baking a vanilla cake with a cinnamon sugar filling and icing. He used the icing pipe to draw a Rook on the cake. Once it was done, he put it in an ice box. Lucanis’s eyes found themselves looking at Rook’s present again. A pair of earrings didn’t feel like enough. What the vendor at the market said bothered him. Something pretty…the earrings were simple, but pretty. Rook loved jewelry, she made that very clear with the way she wore different necklaces and bracelets everyday and the studs and dangling earrings that started in her earlobe and traveled up her ear.

Wait. Didn’t she like…

Lucanis went to his trunk and pulled out a silver dagger. One day when he was cleaning his daggers, Rook had wandered into the pantry for a snack and she saw him. She didn’t say anything as she sat on the floor with him and watched him meticulously clean each dagger. Rook touched one that had a dark blue gemstone embedded in the center of the hilt. She ran her fingers over the gem, smiled, and said, “This is beautiful.”

Rook never used daggers in combat, but she was proficient in using a sword and shield. Maybe giving her a dagger so she could have another weapon on hand wasn’t a bad idea. Lucanis placed the dagger back in the sheath and placed a bow on it. He grabbed the earrings and dagger and headed towards Rook’s room.

Once he arrived, he lingered at her door. It was past midnight meaning he could wish her a happy birthday now. The plan was for everyone to give their gifts to her tomorrow morning. He didn’t want to give his gifts in front of other people. Lucanis rarely felt embarrassed, but Rook brought these feelings to the surface. He sighed and placed the presents in front of her door. She’d see them first thing in the morning. He didn’t place a namecard with his signature on the presents, but he hoped that she would know it was from him.

Lucanis turned away and headed back to his room, hoping to get a few hours of sleep before Rook’s birthday celebration began.

—------

Ava was still awake in her room. She twirled a pen around her fingers and stared at the strip of paper she had torn off her journal.

When she was a child, her parents would have her write down her birthday wish on a piece of paper then she'd place it under her pillow. Her mother said her wish would come true if she slept on it. It was a silly thing she did as a child and she hadn't done it in years. But this year had been a lot–the elven gods broke free of the Veil, she was leading a group of people from different factions to fight these beings, and her mother was sick. Her mother was sick but Ava couldn't afford to take care of her because of all the aforementioned reasons.

Ava sighed. She was thankful for the Crossroads and the eluvian that took her to Rivain and teleported her close to where she grew up. Because she did check up on her family when time allowed, maybe she could be a bit selfish with her birthday wish tonight.

Ava wrote her wish down on the slip of paper and placed it under her pillow. She was going to be thirty years old tomorrow. Her 29th year in this world had brought hardships, but it also blessed her with incredible companions.

Her thirtieth year may be even more tumultuous but she was confident it'd be okay as long as she had the Veilguard with her.

—-----

Taash volunteered to get Rook from her room when everyone arrived in the dining room with their presents. Everyone sat at the dining room table, leaving the spot at the head of the table available for Rook. Lucanis sat at the far end of the table. Neve took a seat across from Lucanis and Davrin sat to his right. Lucanis started bouncing his leg.

Neve looked under the table, then looked back up at Lucanis and smirked. Lucanis’s leg stopped moving. “Nervous?”

“No.”

She chuckled. “If you say so.”

Before Lucanis could ask her what she knew, a blindfolded Rook walked into the dining room. She was holding Taash’s hand and frowning.

“Taash! Seriously, where are we going?” Rook whined.

“Okay, take your blindfold off,” Taash said.

Rook pulled it down and everyone said, “Happy birthday, Rook!”

She gasped, then began laughing. Her dark brown eyes shined with amusement. “Thank you everyone! You didn’t have to do this.”

“Well, I know how crazy things have gotten with fighting the elven gods and dealing with darkspawn, Venatori, Antaam…” Bellara counted the adversaries they faced in the last few months on her hand. “But it’s always good to take a breather and celebrate something, right? So we didn’t want to miss the opportunity.”

Rook wiped a couple of tears from her eyes. “Thank you all. I’m so lucky to have you all.”

“Okay, okay, enough with the sappy shit. Come open your presents,” Taash said as she led Rook to the head of the table. She was seated between Harding and Bellara.

Lucanis noticed her bare earlobes, and he pushed the disappointment aside. Was it wrong to think she would have put them on first thing in the morning? He watched Rook take Harding’s present and shake the box lightly, trying to guess what was inside before she opened it.

Neve cleared her throat. Lucanis felt a small box and a dagger sheath being pushed into his hand. “Give it to her in person. Don’t just leave it in front of her door. That’s not how you’ll get her to like you back,” Neve whispered.

Davrin turned towards them and nodded his head in agreement. He whispered to Lucanis, “Assan had the presents in his mouth when I woke up this morning. Even he knows you need to give these to Ava in person.”

Ava.

It wasn’t a secret that Rook and Davrin were close, but he didn’t expect him to call Rook by her real name. Lucanis thought about calling her Ava too, but she seemed comfortable being called Rook. But did she like it when some people called her by her real name? Lucanis's frown deepened.

The sound of wrapping paper being shredded snapped Lucanis back to the present moment. This was about Rook and celebrating her thirtieth birthday, not him and his feelings. Rook smiled as she opened Harding’s present–a blue scarf to wear since the weather was becoming colder, bath salts, and lotion. Bellara handed her present to Rook next. Rook unwrapped it to reveal a fluffy pink blanket. Rook immediately wrapped it around her shoulders and sighed contently.

Emmerich passed her his present. The present elicited an excited squeal from her. It was a gift basket filled with Rook’s favorite coffee and tea flavors from Rivain. She stood up and hugged Emmerich while thanking him profusely. Lucanis suddenly found the notch on the table very interesting.

Taash gave her a bracelet, also from Rivain. It contained her birthstone in the middle and Rook immediately slipped it on to her left wrist. Neve gifted Rook the next installment of her favorite detective romance novel series. What made Rook emotional was that it was translated into Rivaini and not the trade tongue, which Rook had been reading most of her novels from recently.

“Thank you. I’ve missed reading books in Rivaini,” Rook said as she flipped through the pages.

Davrin’s present was a wooden carving of Rook, who looked like a little girl, and she played with a dog. Rook had a dog in Rivain and she had mentioned multiple times that she missed him. Rook hugged Davrin, and a flash of irritation ran through Lucanis. He ignored the knowing look Neve gave him. One again, Lucanis found the notch on the table very interesting.

Then everyone was staring at him. Waiting for him to give Rook her presents. He had no doubt Davrin and Neve told Harding, Bellara, Emmerich, and Taash about him leaving Rook’s presents in front of the door. They all looked at him knowingly, and Rook looked at him…expectedly. Then a flash of hurt appeared on her face. His hesitation made her think he didn’t have a gift for her. He would give her the gifts, but now wasn’t the time. It didn’t feel right.

“I made you a cake,” Lucanis said, cutting through the awkward moment. He pushed Rook’s presents into Davrin’s lap with a little more force than he intended. He stood up and walked to the ice box to grab the cake.

He brought it to the dining room and Rook’s eyes lit up. “Wow. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a cinnamon sugar cake. Thank you, Lucanis.”

The back of his neck grew warm. He didn’t respond as he placed the cake on the table. Emmerich and Neve brought the plates and cutlery from the kitchen. The first and largest slice of cake went to Rook. She placed a spoonful of cake into her mouth.

A moan escaped from her lips and she closed her eyes. Lucanis almost dropped his plate. Maker, the sound that came out of her was…Lucanis swallowed and he said through a thick voice, “I guess you like it?”

“I love it,” Rook exclaimed. She took another bite and moaned again. “I’m going to eat this for lunch and dinner.”

“Hey, save some for us too–” Taash said as she cut a large slice as well.

“Taash, that’s like half of the cake!” Bellara protested. “Cut that in half.”

As the Veilguard tousled over the exact cake proportions, Lucanis’s eyes stayed on Rook. She ate slowly, savoring the cake. Her fingers were sticky from the cinnamon sugar. She put one of her fingers in her mouth, licking the sugar off. His heart skipped a beat and his stomach flipped. What was this? Excitement? Dread?

This was ridiculous. Was he really this happy just from seeing Rook happy?

His thoughts were cut short by Davrin shoving the presents back into his lap. He nudged Lucanis and tilted his head towards Rook. Rook was currently in an animated conversation with Harding and Emmerich.

The moment still didn’t feel right. He realized what he wanted. He wanted to make her smile and laugh–and for no one else to see a moment meant just for them.

Lucanis gripped the presents under the table and tried to enjoy the rest of the party.

—-----

Rook’s birthday was almost over.

Lucanis found himself outside of her door again holding her wrapped presents. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He heard the squeak of the bed and soft footsteps pad across the floor. Rook opened the door and Lucanis took in the sight of her in pajamas. She wore a pink top with thin straps and a matching pair of pajama shorts. A black silk robe was tied around her waist, but hung loosely off her shoulder. Her black hair was pulled into a bun. She always wore her hair down or in a ponytail. Her hair pinned up looked nice.

“Good evening Lucanis,” She said. “Is something wrong?”

“No.”

“Oh, then do you need something?”

Lucanis pulled the presents from behind his back and handed them to Rook. “Happy birthday.” His voice sounded strange and thick like it did earlier. His nerves were growing worse as he anticipated Rook’s reaction.

Rook looked surprised–not happy like he’d imagined. Was he wrong to think the presents could make her happy? That he could make her happy? Lucanis was about to excuse himself when Rook held the door open wider and beckoned him inside. Lucanis stepped into her room and felt himself being overcome by a multitude of senses. Lots of floral and vanilla scents. They were coming from the perfume jars on her dresser.

Rook sat down on her bed and began opening the presents. The first thing she grabbed was the dagger. She slid it out of its sheath and turned the blade over, admiring it. She touched the blue gem in the hilt, just like she had weeks ago. “This is beautiful,” Rook said. “Is this the dagger you cleaned a few weeks ago?”

“Yes,” He answered. He was so nervous that he couldn’t string together a coherent sentence. Rook still wasn’t smiling, but she wasn’t frowning either. What was going on in that head of hers?

She placed the dagger back in its sheath and grabbed the second present. She opened it up and held up the silver hoop earrings. “Lucanis,” She said, surprised. “This is–”

“You were looking at them the other day at the night market in Rivain. I went back and bought them. I thought you wanted them. I–”

“I did,” Rook answered, her voice thick with emotion. “I really did. But looking at them made me miss my mother so much.” She held the earrings up, her eyes shining. “That was silly of me. I love these earrings so I should wear them, right?”

Rook undid the clasp of the earrings and slipped them into her earlobes. She touched the hoops and smiled at him. “How do I look, Lucanis?”

“Beautiful,” He said. A strong, clear thinking Lucanis wouldn’t have said that. However, this day had been strange for him and he wasn’t used to feeling all of these emotions at once. The nerves were making him act this way.

A smile finally appeared on Rook’s face. She stood up and walked over to him, and enveloped him into a hug. He was taken aback. By the time he realized he should be hugging her back, she was already pulling away. A small noise of disapproval escaped from him.

“Lucanis, I’m going to ask you something and I want you to be truthful.” She took a deep breath. “You and me. We’re friends, right?”

“Yes, I consider you a friend,” Lucanis answered. His feelings for Rook were blossoming into something else, something he couldn’t control. But at this moment in Rook’s bedroom with no one else to see them…he could let himself admit that he had these feelings and as their mission to bring down the blighted gods continued, he knew these feelings would grow. His feelings for Rook may never disappear.

Ava gave him a sly smile. “That’s good. I consider you a friend too.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “A good friend would show me how to use that fancy dagger over there. If you don’t, I’ll have to use it as a decoration and place it next to my perfumes.”

“What a waste,” Lucanis murmured, which made Rook laugh.

“You know what else good friends do?” Rook laughed. “They give birthday presents to each other in person and not leave them in front of doors or hide them under the dining room table.”

“How did you know?” Lucanis sighed.

“I’m very observant,” Rook said. “I thought about calling you out in front of everyone earlier today, but I didn’t want to embarrass you. I knew I’d get my presents eventually. I just needed to wait.”

“And…was it worth the wait?”

“It was.”

Lucanis wanted to stay–wrap Rook into his arms and listen to her talk. He could fall asleep to the sound of her voice. But he didn’t want to cross that boundary. Perhaps he never would. Right now, this moment between them in her bedroom was enough. Seeing her wear the earrings he bought her was enough. Spending time with her to teach her how to use a dagger was enough too. If he got too greedy, then they would both get hurt.

“Goodnight, Rook,” Lucanis said as he headed towards the door. “I’ll show you how to use the dagger tomorrow morning after breakfast.”

“Call me Ava.” She cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck. “We’re friends, aren’t we? You can call me Ava too when we’re alone–I mean when we’re just talking casually, ya know?”

“I’ll do that then. Goodnight, Ava,” Lucanis said. He stepped out of her room and closed the door behind him.

What Lucanis didn’t see was Ava Laidir jumping up and down in a quiet cheer. She went to the mirror over her dresser and looked at the earrings Luanis gave her.

Beautiful.

Lucanis called her beautiful. Perhaps her love wouldn’t stay one sided for long after all. It looks like the birthday wish she wrote down last night–Grow closer to Lucanis Dellamorte– came true after all.

#happy birthday to me #I'm not turning 30 like my Rook but I'm getting close #I'm just thankful to still be here :)#and I'm thankful to live at the same time as Lucanis Dellamorte 😂#lucanis dellamorte #rook laidir #lucanis x rook #rookanis #dragon age the veilguard

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bqstqnbruin · 1 year ago

Text

The Party's Over, Go Home

Hello hello here I am with my fic for @wyattjohnston's winter fic exchange!

I had the pleasure of writing for @sc0tters I hope you like it!

Shoutout to @kat-hearts @matthewtkachuk and @raysofcrosby for reading through this and getting mad at me :)

This is inspired by Intrusive Thoughts by Natalie Jane, Deserve by Jake Clark, and the Gilmore Girl's episode from season 5 called The Party's Over

Warnings: swearing, alcohol, family financial issues, this is angst, the spacebar on my computer is starting to break so typos (I tried)

WC: 11k

__________________________________

“We should do something tonight.”

“I was going to go to bed early, actually.”

“You do that every night.”

“What, are you stalking me now?”

“No,” Kendyl draws out. “You stop texting me by like, 8:30 every night. Your phone is on do not disturb half an hour later. Either you’re asleep early, or you’re ignoring everyone by then.”

Ellie narrows her eyes at her coworker. They still weren’t close enough that she felt she could comfortably hang out with the people she worked with outside of the workday. She had only been at her new job for a month, still getting the hang of things, trying to get to know people and figure everything out. Spending time outside her apartment with people who were practically strangers when she could be in her warm bed with her flannel sheets that she loved more than anything on this planet? “I don’t like that you picked up on that.”

“Well, too bad,” Kendyl says, sitting down on Ellie’s desk. “A bunch of us are going out tonight, so why not?” Ellie hesitates to answer. “If it sucks, you can go home at ten. You’ll be in bed by 10:30, two hours later than normal. And it’s Friday, we don’t have work tomorrow for you to use that as an excuse as to why you have to get up early, and you already told me that the only thing you planned on doing this weekend was laundry and cleaning.”

Ellie let out a long sigh. Maybe Kendyl did know her well enough to be able to call her out on her shit already. “God.”

“I don’t know if you’re religious or not to know if that’s a yes.”

“Fine,” she says, shuddering at Kendyl’s squeal of excitement. “But you’re buying at least one round and I get to leave at 9:30 if I want to.”

“Deal.”

Ellie’s day was full of dread, from spending the rest of work distracted about having to go out with seemingly everyone at her job, so the stress involved with getting ready and trying to look like someone who was actually 24, not the ‘1980’s power boss bitch without the hair and shoulder pads’ as Kendyl had described her multiple times, even down to walking to the bar that Kendyl had picked that felt way too conveniently down the street from her apartment.

“I’m surprised you even had someone convince you to go out,” her younger brother, Alex, says on the other end of their phone call. As soon as he saw Ellie leaving her apartment on Find My Friends, he called her panicked that something was wrong. “You never went out in college. I had to beg you to go to that one party the time I visited you.”

“That’s because you were still seventeen and Mom would have killed me if she found out you went.”

“She knew I was going to try anyway.”

“I’m going out because I was promised free drinks and the prospect of going home early if I want to. It’s not like I’m being forced to go out against my will.”

“I promised you free drinks.”

“Alexander.”

“Eleanor. Just be safe, ok? Let me know when you get home.”

“You sound like Mom.”

“If I were Mom, I would be yelling at you for not wearing a jacket.”

“How do you know I’m not wearing a jacket?”

“You never wear a jacket. Mom has been yelling at you about that since you were five.”

Ellie lets out a laugh, a sudden chill coursing through her when she realizes she can see her breath. “How is Mom, have you checked in on her?’

“Yes, Ellie.”

“In person?”

“Yes, Ellie. She’s good. At least, she says she is.”

The two of them stay on the phone in silence for a moment, knowing what he really means. Ellie and Alex hated the topic of how their mom was doing, but if they didn’t talk about it with each other, who else did they have? Their mom and Alex still live in the same area even if Alex was away at college and living in a dorm rather than with her. Ellie was on the other side of the continent now, for a job that she barely had any friends at, in a city she still barely knew, surrounded by things she wasn’t used to.

“Hey, I’m outside the bar now, I’ll talk to you later?” she ends the call, taking in one last deep breath before heading into what she was sure was going to be

“You came!” Kendyl yells once Ellie finally manages to get into the bar. “Here’s the first drink.”

Before Ellie could even tell Kendyl she wasn’t ready yet to start drinking, the drink was pressed to her chest and nearly spilled down the front of her. Despite it being early enough in the night that no one should be drunk by now, Kendyl and the rest of her coworkers seemed to be well on their way with Ellie needing more drinks than she could count to catch up.

The night goes by slowly, the drinks going away fast, and Ellie sitting in the corner while her coworkers, who are obviously close, talk about a bunch of inside jokes from before she was hired that Ellie was unable to participate in.

“Remember when he ordered the wrong cake?” Wesley slurs, punching Doug in the shoulder.

“I swear she told me to say, ‘Happy Retirement,’” Douglas defends himself.

“It was my 28th birthday, not my retirement?” Hazel says, everyone except Ellie bursting into a fit of laughter.

“What about when Sammy dialed 911 during the meeting?” Kendyl adds through wheezes, the remains of her drink nearly spilling on Ellie’s shirt, again.

“It fell out of my pocket and bounced weird!”

“How does a bouncing phone dial 911?”

“That’s the set up to a bad pick up line.”

“More like the setup to a story that makes no sense,” Ellie mutters, thankful that her coworker's howling laughter was too loud to hear her.

She gets up from the table, draining her drink on her way to the bar. It was only 9:15. She promised Kendyl 15 more minutes. The least she could do was down another drink in that time before pulling her classic Irish exit to go home and get in bed.

“Rum and coke?” she asks once she gets up to the bar, the sticky wooden counter acting as anything but inviting for her to lean on.

“Me, too, and put it on my tab,” someone says behind her, Ellie’s face immediately turning sour at the thought of some guy buying her a drink to probably get her to hook up with him.

“My friend is paying for it, actually,” she turns to him, surprised to find a seemingly innocent-looking guy around her age and not the middle-aged gross man she thought he would be. Anything was possible, and looks can be deceiving.

“Which friend, the one who almost spilled her drink on you or the one of the ones who have been ignoring you the entire night and letting you sit in silence while they have a good time around you?”

“I already don’t like you.”

“My friends pointed you out and said you were me when they drag me out to bars.”

“So you’re the friend who they barely know and who they only invited out of pity?”

“That’s dark. But also, kinda hot,” he says, the pink rushing to his cheeks as he turns away out of embarrassment. “Sorry, um. I’m going to go sit down now.”

“You haven’t gotten your drink yet,” Ellie points out, his sudden bashfulness making Ellie soften for him. “I just moved here. I don’t really know any of them too well.”

“I know what that’s like,” he tells her, leaning against the bar.

“You’re not from here, either?”

He shakes his head. “Born in Orlando, moved to Boston, then moved to Toronto, and kept going from there.”

“That sounds unstable,” she says, passing one of the newly appeared glasses of alcohol to the guy in front of her.

He shrugs, lifting the drink to his lips. “Well, they say you are a product of your environment.”

Ellie lets out a laugh, the first one that she had let out all night. “That’s dark. But also, kinda hot,” she repeats, the pink returning to his cheeks again.

“I’m never gonna live that down, am I?”

“Depends on how long we keep talking.”

“Hopefully it lasts past tonight.”

“It can’t if you don’t tell me your name. I’m Ellie.”

“I’m Quinn.”

Ellie loses count of how many drinks Quinn gets her, how long they’re talking, and when all of her coworkers leave the bar, not even telling her that they were leaving without her.

She could feel the warmth of the alcohol coursing through her body, the bar getting busier the longer she and Quinn stood there. Someone shoves in between Ellie and whoever is behind her, pushing her into Quinn’s arms without her being able to catch her balance. His hand falls to the small of her back, spreading out to hold her steady. They stood there in silence, the rest of the bar a world away from them.

“Are you ok?” Quinn whispers in her ear, his breath tickling her skin.

Ellie stammers for a second, trying to process what just happened. The alcohol was making everything foggy, and the room starting to spin slightly around her as if Quinn was rocking her back and forth. “Um, I, yes?”

His eyes flickered down to her lips, the distance between them closing with each additional person, he was so close to kissing her.

“I should go home,” Ellie says before he can, knowing that kissing him now would not be a good idea for either of them.

His grip on her doesn’t relax, the disappointment Ellie expected to show up on his face not there at all. “I’m walking you home,” he tells her, slipping his hand into hers before she can protest.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.”

The difference in temperature between the bar and outside hit Ellie faster than she could process it, her lack of jacket her brother had scolded her for earlier biting her in the ass harder than the cold was in the moment.

Ellie didn’t even process Quinn taking off his own coat, the one she didn’t even realize he had been wearing the entire time, and putting it around her shoulders before wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close.

She was on autopilot, unsure how she managed to navigate her way to her apartment when her mind was on Quinn’s body pressed against hers. She just met him. She didn’t know much about him. She didn’t even know what he did for work and only knew that he had two brothers who lived in New Jersey even though that wasn’t one of the places that he mentioned living before.

“Here,” Ellie barely gets out, surprised with herself for managing to get back to the right place.

“Do you want me to walk you to your door?” Quinn asks, shoving his hands in his pockets when he finally lets go of her.

“No, it’s fine.”

Ellie goes to take off the jacket and give it back to him, the warmth something her drunk self quickly realized she was going to miss. “No, keep it. It looks better on you anyway,” Quinn tells her, pulling his things out of his pockets before turning away to head off.

She stands there for a few seconds, trying to process what had happened that night.

“Wait, no,” Quinn says, appearing again in front of her. “I can’t leave without getting your number first.”

“I couldn’t even tell you what my number is right now,” she admits, handing him her phone instead.

Quinn laughs, putting his number in. “I want to see you again, Ellie.”

She smirks at him. “We’ll see, Quinn.”

___________________

“What do you mean you’re not bringing anyone?”

“No one said I had to bring anyone.”

“Everyone brings someone. You have to bring a date to the holiday party.”

“Then why was one of the options on the RSVP ‘no’ to the question ‘will a guest be accompanying you?’”

Kendyl whines, earning a cringy look from Ellie. “You have no one you can bring?”

Ellie rolls her eyes, leaning back in her desk chair. “Let’s see, I’ve been here for like, what, two months? I knew no one when I got here, I hate going out and don’t have anywhere to meet anyone, and somehow none of you here know anyone either. Who would I bring?”

“What about that guy you met at the bar that one time? I see his name popping up on your phone all the time.”

Ellie snatches her phone from her desk and holds it against her chest as Kendyl cranes her neck to see that her statement is actually fact, three messages from Quinn, a fourth appearing while they were talking. “You need to learn what a boundary is.”

“And you need to learn what the Focus feature is on your phone when you’re showing me things because his name always shows up.”

She couldn’t invite Quinn to the party. She barely knew him, she couldn’t throw him into the party with a bunch of her coworkers who she also barely knew, putting her phone back on the desk without thinking. “He’s probably busy.”

Kendyl rolls her eyes, snatching Ellie’s phone from her desk before she can protest, fiddling with it while Ellie tries to process what could possibly be happening in front of her. “He’s not.”

“What?”

“He’s not busy.”

“Ken, what did you do?” Kendyl hands Ellie back her phone, a quick conversation with Quinn on her screen, ‘Ellie’ asks him what he was doing the night of the holiday party and he immediately answers that he is free. “Why are you like this?”

Kendyl shrugs, slowly backing away from Ellie’s desk. “You had fun talking to him at the bar, enough fun that he responded to you within seconds of being asked if he was free.”

Ellie looks back at her phone as Kendyl finally leaves her alone. The whole idea of having to bring a date seemed archaic in a way that Ellie couldn’t quite put her finger on. Why did she have to bring someone she barely knew to a party with more people she barely knew?

But she really did know Quinn better than she was letting on. She still didn’t know what he did with his life, him weirdly making her promise not to look him up, which made Ellie immediately question if he was a serial killer. He wasn’t, allegedly, but that still didn’t make sense.

She knew that he was from the States, went to school there until he left early for whatever job he had. He has two younger brothers, and apparently is known amongst his friends for looking like he was having a nonstop existential crisis, while also being nicknamed ‘Huggy Bear.’ She also knew that he was sweet, and listened to her when she went off on a tangent about something, him following right along and matching the energy she had. She knew that she wanted to see him again every night since she had met him that first time, and that he wanted the same thing.

His name came up on her phone, a call from him. “Hi, sorry, it’s easier to talk than text right now.”

“Why are you out of breath?”

“Workout.” Must be nice to have a job where he can just go and work out in the middle of the day, Ellie thinks to herself. “So, the 18th?”

“Yeah,” Ellie lets out, suddenly nervous. It felt like she was asking him for something much more serious than just going with her to an office party. “It’s the holiday party for my company, and apparently everyone needs to bring a date.”

“And you want me to find you one?”

Ellie’s jaw drops at his comment. “No, idiot, I wanted to bring you.”

“Oh, thank god. I was running through my friends who would go and none of them are good enough for you.”

Ellie could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks at his comment. Did he consider this a date? Was it a date? Was it bad if she considered it a date and he didn’t? What if he didn’t? Why was her mind running at a mile a minute while Quinn was there on the other end of her phone waiting for her to say something else? “So that’s a yes?”

“Of course, it’s a yes. It’s one of the few nights I have off, I want to spend it with you.”

The next days went by in a blur, Ellie freaking out over everything from what she was going to wear, texting and calling Quinn even more, wishing that they could see each other sooner.

“It’s not obsessive, is it?” she asks Kendyl, staring at herself in the mirror. Kendyl insisted on coming over to Ellie’s place to get ready, telling her that her roommate had their partner over that night and the last thing she needed to do was try to use the bathroom to get rid when they had a habit of taking it over for more than a few hours.

“No, El, you just like him. I think it becomes obsessive when you start to stalk him and you show up to where he works unprovoked.”

“Why do you say that like you’ve either done that or you’ve had that happen to you?”

“I’ll let you decide which one is better. What time is Quinn coming?”

“He’s supposed to get here in ten minutes.”

“Just breathe, El. You’re going to have fun.” Kendyl left her to finish getting herself ready, her date already waiting outside to take her to the party. They could have all gone together, as pointed out by Kendyl, but it was better to not throw Quinn directly into the fire that was her closest coworker.

Ellie’s phone starts ringing, not checking but expecting it to be Quinn calling to tell her he was early. She pops out of her seat to head to the door, picking up the phone and answering with an excited “Hi!”

“Eleanor?”

Ellie stops in her tracks, her mom’s voice coming over her phone speaker. “Mom?”

“Sweetie, can you do me a favor?”

Ellie felt her heart drop to her stomach, already knowing what her mom was going to ask her. It was the same thing that her mom always asked since she first got a job when she was in high school, every time she answered the phone while she was getting her degree, no matter where Ellie was in her life, it was never a call that a mother should have to make to one of her children this often. “Mom,” she lets out, knowing that she couldn’t say no.

“Please, Eleanor. I need the money. I, I-”

“Mom, you promised,” Ellie cuts her off, not wanting to hear anymore even though she knew her mom would keep going.

“I thought I would get a raise before they sent the eviction notice this time.”

“Mom,” Ellie says, more exasperated this time. “You have to stop doing this. You do this to me every time.”

“Alexander can’t help this time.”

Ellie heard a knock at her door, not even processing the fact that she should be looking through the peephole to make sure it wasn’t a murderer, opening it, and letting whoever it was in. Thankfully, it was Quinn, waving him in and motioning to give her a moment.

“Alex is still in college, already struggling because you’re no help. He shouldn’t have to give you anything in the first place.”

Quinn stands there, clearly uneasy at listening to only Ellie’s end of the conversation but following Ellie into her room regardless. He stands in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed while he watches Ellie continue to get ready.

“But you said last time that I couldn’t ask you again.”

“I didn’t mean for you to ask my little brother.”

“Eleanor, please. He’ll have nowhere to come home to. I’ll have nowhere to go home to.”

“What happened to everything you had last time I asked you?”

“It went towards all of the other bills, I promise. I’ll send you every confirmation for every bill I have.”

“You’re not lying to me this time?”

“I’m not, I swear!”

“How many months did Alex cover?”

“Only half of one month.”

“How many months are you behind?”

“I swear I used everything I had to pay-”

“Mom, how many months are you behind?” Ellie knew she was raising her voice, forgetting that Quinn was even behind her. She stopped putting her makeup on at this point, knowing that the tears that were about to fall were going to ruin what she had already on, anyway.

“Four.”

“Fuck, Mom.”

“Please?” her mom’s voice comes through, small and on the brink of breaking. “I know I’m still paying you back from last time. But what else am I supposed to do?’

“I’m sending it now,” she tells her, hanging up before her mother could say anything else. Ellie forgot Quinn was standing there in her doorway, putting her phone down on her vanity and putting her face in her hands. This couldn’t be happening again. Not again.

Quinn clears his throat, causing Ellie to jump. “Should I go?” he asks, creeping into her room.

Ellie wipes the tears from her cheeks, cursing herself mentally for now having to redo the makeup she already took too long to do the first time. “Uh,” she stammers, “No, no. I’ll be ready in a second.”

“Ellie,” Quinn kneels on the floor next to her, gently placing his hand on her thigh. “We don’t have to go to this.”

“No, it’s fine, I’m fine.”

“El.”

Ellie finally turned to him, the genuine concern on his face causing her to burst into tears. He reached up and pulled her close to him, his one hand on her back, the other holding her head on his shoulder, letting her cry on his white shirt. She hears him let out a quiet shushing noise, trying to comfort her in the way she had needed for so long. She cried for so long that she didn’t know how much time passed. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he whispers when she finally stops crying, not moving from their position. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She never told anyone about the stuff with her mom. Ellie had been holding it in for years, going from friend to friend, place to place, never letting this out with anyone who wasn’t her younger brother, the one person who would understand and who she knew also understood what it was like.

But there was something about Quinn. She thought she could trust him, for whatever reason. She never told her ex-boyfriends in college or high school, despite the fact that this had been going on since then.

Ellie takes in a deep breath. “The only people who know this are me, my mom, and my brother, do you understand?” she asks him, watching him nod. “It started, I think, when my dad left. I was probably 10? Alex was 6, maybe? I don’t even remember, honestly. This probably started before Dad left, Alex and I think it’s why he left. But our mother is absolutely shit when it comes to money. Like, put us in debt every few months that then somehow fell to us as her children to bail her out.”

“God,” Quinn lets out, Ellie continuing over him.

“I think we realized it was getting bad when she told us we were moving somewhere smaller right before I was starting high school, out of the blue, when we had already moved to ‘somewhere smaller’ three times in four years. Normally she said she had been planning it because we, of course, needed somewhere to live, and she didn’t like where we were, but that was weird. I didn’t realize it was because we had been evicted every single time until I found the seven eviction notices my second year of high school from the last three times and a notice that we were getting evicted that year, too.”

“Ellie, I’m so sorry,” he tells her, pulling her back in for a hug.

She sighed, knowing that there was nothing more he could say. “At this point it’s normal, it’s just still frustrating when she tells me and Alex that she’s fine and that she has the money for everything, and then out of nowhere, tells us she hasn’t paid the rent for her current place in four months. Like, do you know what it’s like to have your mother owe you nearly a hundred thousand dollars because of how much she keeps needing?”

“I can’t even imagine.” The two of them sit in silence for a moment, neither of them sure what to do next.

“I’m glad you can’t. It fucking sucks,” she says, turning back to her vanity mirror. “God, I don’t even want to go to this stupid party anymore.”

“Hey, we don’t have to go if you don’t want to. We can stay here, we can go to my place, we can go somewhere else, we can do anything.”

“We?”

“I don’t want to leave you, Ellie. I came tonight because I wanted to spend time with you,” Quinn tells her, taking her hand in his. “If you’ll let me, I’ll take you wherever you want.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Ellie, I want to be with you.”

___________________

“Kendyl, I told you, I’m hanging out with Quinn and the rest of the guys tonight.”

“Can I please come?”

“Absolutely not.”

“But you’re dating the captain of the fucking Vancouver Canucks. You have to bring your best friend along with you.”

“Alexander can’t come tonight either.”

“Ok, rude.”

Ellie was already nervous about meeting Quinn's teammates. It had taken a while for her to wrap her head around that he was not only a hockey player, but a professional one, and the actual captain of the team. Honestly, she didn’t see it coming. She had heard so much about Elias and Brock that she felt like she knew them at this point. She hadn’t even met them. As close as she had gotten to Kendyl in the last six months she spent at her job, and as much time as they spent together outside of work when she wasn’t with Quinn, she didn’t need Kendyl mixed into the group.

“Let me meet them first, then we can talk about you meeting them, ok?” she tries to assure her, hearing a knock at her door. “I’ve gotta go, Quinn is here.”

She hangs up on Kendyl before she can protest, slightly worried that she would use the ‘Find my friends’ feature to just stalk the house they were going to and end up on the doorstep uninvited.

“Hi,” she opens the door, stopping for a second to take him in. God, she hated how hard she fell for him in a short amount of time. He was perfect to her at that moment.

He pulled her in for a kiss, one that made her wish they were staying in rather than heading to spend time with his friends. “Hi,” he whispers, kissing her again before pulling away. “You look amazing, as always.”

“I’m wearing jeans and a sweater,” she counters.

“And?” He could say anything to her with that stupid smile on his face and make her swoon. “Ready?”

They head out to his car, Ellie’s heart racing as they get closer and closer to Thatcher’s house. She wasn’t great with meeting large groups of people all at once, despite being in a new school nearly every year of her awkward teenage years and being forced to interact with new people every time.

“Hey,” Quinn says, resting his hand on her thigh as he drives down the highway, giving her a gentle squeeze to try to calm her down. “You’re going to like the guys. And they’re going to love you.”

“Yeah?” she says, her voice shaking slightly.

“How could they not?” he asks, taking her hand and bringing to his lips, his eyes glued to the road in front of them so he couldn’t see her melting at his words and his touch. “You’ll get along great with Elias.”

“He’s the one from Sweden?”

“Yeah,” Quinn tells her, pulling into the driveway of a house so massive Ellie wasn’t sure people could actually live in it. It was certainly bigger than anything she could have ever dreamed of being near, let alone being invited to. “He’s got kind of a dry humor. You’ll like him.”

Ellie takes in a deep breath, feeling incredibly inadequate just getting out of his car and standing on the pavement of a place like Thatcher’s house. Maybe she should have invited Kendyl.

Quinn takes her hand, pulling her along to the door when everything inside her was telling her to turn around and just run. There was no way she was good enough to be in this house, not with everything in her life, not when Quinn and his teammates had everything they could possibly want at the tips of their fingers.

He stops at the door, pulling her close to him, dropping her hand, and cupping her face to kiss her again, calming her immediately. “Hi,” he breathes when he pulls away.

“Hi again. What was that for?” she asked, his hands slipping down to her waist, sending a shiver through her entire body as he traced her sides.

“I’m going to want to do that so many times tonight, but I know the guys will tease us for it. I’ve gotta do what I can now.”

That shouldn’t have made her feel the way it did. He could say or do anything at this point and she would melt.

They go inside, the house loud and full of people despite Quinn telling her that it was just supposed to be a ‘small get-together.’ Everything in the house looked expensive, Ellie’s anxiety immediately spiking. She followed Quinn blindly through the house, all of his teammates talking to him and him introducing her to all of them while she stood there nearly mute over the sheer stimulus overload that was all around her. She barely noticed the drinks that found their way in hers and Quinn's hands, drinking once she saw Quinn drinking it, as well.

“Elias is right over here,” he whispers in her ear, his hand still in hers and giving her a reassuring squeeze as he leads her off into one of the side rooms. The room was quieter, the lights dimmer, and had a lot less people than any of the other rooms.

“You got here half an hour ago and you’re just making it in here?” one of the guys asks as she and Quinn sit next to each other on the couch. “Ellie, you have to get him to go faster through the greetings next time. I cannot be left alone with Brock for this long.”

She looks at Quinn, confused as to how they already know her name.

“You know I have to say hi to everyone, I’m captain.”

“As captain, you should be able to do one big greeting and let that be it so you can seclude yourself in a separate room where you don’t have to talk to everyone else,” one of the other guys said.

“Every time you talk, Brock, you add more to the long list of why you would make a horrible captain.”

“I would be a great captain.”

“Elias, Brock, jeez.”

“You know you can’t leave us alone for too long.”

Ellie gets lost in their conversation, not even being able to contribute to what they were saying because their verbal sparring is so fast and so specific to their history with each other, she wouldn’t even know where to begin. Quinn puts his arm around her, pulling her closer to him by her waist. He looks at her while Brock and Elias continue bickering, smiling at her and giving her a soft kiss on her forehead.

The guys interrupt them, jeering and teasing them to the point where Ellie has her face buried in Quinn’s shoulder, trying to hide from the embarrassment. “So, Ellie, what do you see in El Capitan here?” Brock asks, giving the most obnoxious facial expression possible.

“You do not have to answer that,” Elias tells her. “Brock has no idea how to interact with anyone, just ignore him.”

“That’s not true.”

“You thought a good pick up line to use on a girl was ‘you dropped something, my jaw,’ the other night and then were shocked when she just turned and walked away,” Elias says, earning a laugh from Ellie and Quinn.

“You have definitely taken a girl out on a date and then talked about yourself the entire time,” Quinn adds, Brock shrinking further into his seat.

“You look like the kind of guy that would go to a bookstore and pretend to look lost to see if a girl would talk to you,” Ellie adds, sending the guys into a frenzy.

“He wouldn’t have to pretend to be lost,” Elias says, poking a pouting Brock in the leg. “You should come around more, Ellie.”

“She’s spent too much time with Quinn already,” Brock whines, Quinn pulling her so she’s practically in his lap, kissing her cheek.

“I told you,” he whispers, just loud enough for only her to hear. “I need you to come around more, too.” Ellie turns to him, her cheeks burning before they both burst out laughing. “That sounded horrible.”

The four of them fall into an easy conversation, the three boys doing everything they can to make Ellie feel included, not shying away from teasing her like they were each other earlier. She felt comfortable.

Ellie eventually excused herself to go to the bathroom and get more drinks for her and Quinn, the alcohol finally hitting her. She barely finds her way back to the room the guys were in, Thatcher’s house seeming much bigger now that she wasn’t sober and much harder to navigate without Quinn taking her around.

She didn’t mean to listen to their conversation, standing on other side of the opening without them seeing her.

“Brock, I swear, if brains were dynamite, you wouldn’t be able to blow your fucking nose,” she hears Elias say, stiffling a laugh as Brock mumbles something about not meaning to spill his drink on Elias.

“Anyway,” Quinn grunts, sounding like he was getting off the floor.

“Ellie is awesome, by the way,” Elias says, Ellie sure she missed some sort of segue that could have led the conversation from Brock to Ellie.

“She’s snarky,” Brock adds, Ellie hearing a smack and Brock letting out a cough. “That’s not a bad thing.”

“I met her by accident but I cannot think about what it would be like without her now,” she hears Quinn say, Ellie trying to figure out if she actually heard him right. That sounded like he was much more serious about her than she thought he was.

“Woah, Quinn,” Elias says. “You met her a few months ago.”

“God, I know,” she hears Quinn let out. “But you know how you just know sometimes? You run into this person one day and they just make your life better?”

“You guys made my life worse since I met you,” Brock mutters. “I say goodnight to her every night and I can’t wait until I can say good morning to her the next day.”

“You’re a simp.”

“Can you blame me? She’s perfect.”

Ellie finally enters the room, trying her best to pretend that she didn’t just hear everything Quinn told his friends, the ones he told her he would trust with anything. It had to mean something that they already knew who she was before coming and that he could tell them those things unprovoked.

Quinn lights up at the sight of her, giving her another kiss and wrapping his arms around her when she sits down. “You took a bit,” he comments.

“This house is confusing,” she lies.

Elias and Brock continue to bicker while ignoring Ellie and Quinn. Ellie eventually finishes her drink, along with the third one that Brock had managed to hand off to her at some point, sinking down so her head was in Quinn’s lap.

“How often do you think about the future?”

“I mean, I’m normally thinking about what I’m making for my next meal once I finish the one I’m eating.”

Ellie groans, their hands intertwined and in constant movement, suddenly regretting how much they had both had to drink. She looks up at him, a smile on her face despite the look on his that told her he had absolutely no thoughts behind those eyes. “Like, us in the future. Our future.”

“Huh,” Quinn starts, “I don’t know. I like us right now where we are.”

Ellie nods, trying to hide the disappointment that she felt. Why could he tell Elias and Brock what he thought about her, but not tell her? He hadn’t even called her his girlfriend to her face, yet. Were they even boyfriend and girlfriend yet? Was it too early to even ask, or should she even ask at all?

They were staying over at Thatcher’s house at this point, neither of them in the position to drive, Elias and Brock electing to stay on the couches. Quinn pulls her up and kisses her, a yawn escaping her after he pulls away. “Want to head to bed? Thatch said we can snag one of the guest rooms.”

Ellie nodded, Quinns hand in hers as he lead her down the hallway. She should be nervous, the first night they were spending together completely unplanned and in one of his teammates house instead of somewhere special.

But it was with Quinn.

She was fine.

___________________

“When are you going to be ready?”

“When I am.”

“You’re taking way too long.”

“I am not taking too long, you got ready too quickly.”

“Kendyl, I took an hour to get ready to meet Quinn and his friends, and you started getting ready before I got here,” Ellie groans, lying down on Kendyl’s bed. The group chat Ellie had with Quinn and the guys was blowing up, asking where Ellie and Kendyl were. After meeting Kendyl a while back, Quinn was convinced she would be the person to set Brock straight. Ellie wasn’t convinced, but what was the harm of introducing them?

“I’m meeting a Canuck, tonight, El, I have to look good.”

Ellie sits up, looking at Kendyl in her mirror. She knew her friend was nervous. No matter what she could say, nothing would change. “I promise you, you could wear nothing more than a trash bag and Brock would be drooling over you.”

Kendyl took a deep breath. “Are you sure?”

“Ken, you’re beautiful. You’re funny. You can verbally spar with anyone to get what you want at any time. If you decide you want something to happen with Brock, there’s no way he wouldn’t agree to it.”

Kendyl nods, finally getting up and grabbing Ellie’s hand and her coat to drag her out the door.

“Are we sure we’re going to have fun?” Kendyl asks, the shaking in her voice something Ellie had never heard before.

“You sound like me now.” It was still winter in Vancouver, the below freezing temperatures combined with the warmest bar appropriate outfits they had not enough to actually keep them warm as they walked through the city to meet all of the guys.

“What are they like? I only know Quinn.”

Ellie has to stop and think for a moment. How did she even begin to describe them? “I think you just have to wait and see. Quinn is nothing like them.”

“Oh, my god, you hate your boyfriend's friends.”

“No, what?” Ellie asks, unable to hide her laughter. “I really like his friends. I’m getting closer with Elias and Brock is definitely good for a laugh when you need it.”

Kendyl nods, both of them shivering as they walk. Quinn had such a warm jacket, Ellie thought back to the night the two of them met. She wouldn’t have been able to see herlife with Quinn coming. She thought Kendyl was just an annoying coworker, Quinn would be just a hook up, and that she would end up having to move home because of her mom and Alex. She never thought it would be this.

They get to the bar after feeling like they were walking forever, Quinn making a beeline to Ellie as soon as they made eye contact. “God, I’m happy you’re here,” he slurs, planting a sloppy kiss on her cheek.

“Wow, you’re already drunk,” she points out, trying to push him away slightly. Quinn had told her they were going into a break in the season, so getting drunk was necessary. She had seen him a little drunk, more tipsy than anything, but never like this, and never in public. “Let’s get you some water, babe.”

Quinn lets out a giggle, slinging his arm around Ellie while she focuses on him instead of getting Kendyl over to Brock. She looks around the bar for her friend, or at least one of the guys to hopefully help her make sure he doesn’t go much farther than he already was with the alcohol.

“Ellie, right?” she hears from behind her as she sets Quinn down at the booth in the back where the rest of the guys were seated. She turns around, one of the new guys in the office standing behind her, glass of beer in hand.

“Uh, yeah, hey. Dylan, right?”

“Declan, actually,” he corrects her, a quick apology escaping her lips. “Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, I just saw Kendyl over by the bar and she mentioned you were here. I wanted to say hi.”

Even though it was darker in the bar, Ellie swears she saw him blushing, fidgeting and acting nervous in front of her. The guys didn’t seem to notice she was even standing there, but Declan seemed to be trying to take in everything about her.

“Are you here with anyone?” she asks, feeling Quinn pull her into his lap, Ellie falling without an ounce of grace down towards him. “Sorry, this is my boyfriend, Quinn, and some of his friends.”

“Uh, hi,” he says, Ellie feeling Quinns arms wrap tighter around her as Declan talks, “I’m here with my roommate, but I lost him about half an hour ago.”

“You should join us then,” Quinn says, moving him and Ellie further into the booth to make room for Declan. The tone in his voice told her he really didn’t want to do that.

Kendyl finally comes back with drinks, Quinn taking the beer that was meant for Ellie and downing it much faster than he should have. Brock was already captivated by Kendyl as soon as she sat down, Elias rolling his eyes as he was making a fool of himself, Kendyl finding it weirdly endearing.

“So, Deacon,” Quinn starts, much louder than he should have been. “How do you know my girlfriend?”

“Uh,” Declan says, as caught off guard by Quinn’s sudden shift in mood as Ellie is, “I work with her. Just started about a month ago.”

Quinn nods. “What did you do before this?”

“I was a nurse in the ICU at Vancouver General.”

“Couldn’t handle it, Derek?”

“Quinn, what?” Ellie scoffs.

Declan coughs, clearly getting uncomfortable fast. “It was a lot, so no. I liked helping people, but seeing traumatic thing after traumatic thing takes a toll on you really fast. So I went back to school and ended up with Ellie and Kendyl.”

“Ah, a college degree.”

“Quinn,” Ellie hissed. She didn’t like where this was going, Quinn holding on to Ellie like he was marking his territory.

“I actually don’t have my degree, yet.”

“Interesting thing to brag about?” Declan says, nervously sipping on his beer.

“Well, it’s hard to finish when you get called up to play with the Canucks, you know?”

Declan shrugs. “Is that the CFL team? I don’t follow sports.”

Ellie gets off Quinns lap, pushing Declan aside and dragging Quinn along with her. She didn’t need to hear what Quinn was going to say next. He was starting to act like a jackass and she didn’t want to see more.

The two of them end up outside, the cold hitting Ellie like a slap in face. “What is wrong with you? He wasn’t doing anything for you to act like that to him.”

“I don’t like him,” Quinn pouts.

“You just met him.”

“I don’t like people who are trying to take my girl.”

Ellie can’t help but scoff. “‘Take your girl?’ What, am I your property? Did you get a good dowry? How many sheep did you have to give my family in exchange for your hand?”

Quinn rolls his eyes. “Come on, Ellie.”

“No, Quinn, you come on. He wasn’t hitting on me. He doesn’t even know me to like me.”

“Of course he likes you, Ellie, look at you.” Quinn takes a step closer to her, suddenly getting softer towards her. “You’re so pretty. You’re so smart. You know what to do with everything.”

“If he likes me, that doesn’t matter,” Ellie snaps, still annoyed with him. “I don’t like him. I like you. I’m dating you. That should be enough for you to not act like an asshole towards him.”

Quinn hangs his head. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be saying that to him.”

The two of them stand there in the cold in silence, Ellie not wanting to budge and Quinn wanting her to go with him. “Come with me?”

Ellie bites her lip, her mood ruined because of him in just a short amount of time. “I think I’m going to go home. I’m tired, anyway.”

“Let me walk you?” Just like the night they met.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll let you know when I’m back.”

They stand there for another moment, Quinn making the first move to pull Ellie in for a kiss. “I love you, Ellie.”

Ellie hadn’t been thinking about love with him yet. She wasn’t there yet. “Goodnight, Quinn,” she told him, turning and walking away, leaving him there on the sidewalk.

___________________

“Have you ever loved anyone?”

“Uh, you.”

“Not that kind of love, idiot.”

“Oh, um. I was in love with Tess Virtue for a while there.”

“While I get that, I still don’t mean that kind of love, Alex.”

Alex laughs on the other end of the call, Ellie getting ready for work while he got ready for class. “El, you’re the older sister here, aren’t I supposed to be asking you this?”

Ellie and Quinn were in a weird place since Ellie left that night. She had hoped that Quinn was too drunk to remember that he had told her loved her and Ellie’s response was just to walk away. She didn’t know if she was in love with him. She knew she wanted to be with him. She didn’t know if she loved him.

“I mean,” Ellie starts, not sure where to go.

“Are you and Quinn ok?” Ellie tells her brother everything that happened, Alex staying silent for a few seconds after she finished. “Ellie, you did this last time.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Not to go psychology major on you,” Alex says, earning a groan from his sister, “But I think you’re more messed up from Dad leaving than you like to admit you are. You have what sounds like a solid relationship with this guy but you’re afraid that if you let him love you and you let yourself love him, that he’s going to leave just like Dad did. He left us with Mom and we never got that love back.”

Ellie takes a deep breath. “Jesus. At least I know your degree is worth it.”

“I could be wrong. I’m only six semesters into this degree, after all.”

“I hate you.”

“I love you, too, El.”

Everything goes back to her parents. There’s no reason she couldn’t love Quinn.

She was in a daze on her commute to the office. Does she love him? Regardless of Alex’s psychoanalysis, even if their dad leaving them with their mom made her think anyone who would love her would leave, is she able to love him?

She wanted to be with him, but she didn’t know what it was like to love him.

“You look horrible,” Kendyl says, Declan trying not to make eye contact with her at their little desk clump, probably trying to not agree.

“Thank you, for that,” Ellie huffs, dropping her bag on the floor before she falls into her chair. “I just had a weird morning. Don’t really want to talk about it.”

The morning passes by in a blur, the menial tasks of her job at least giving Ellie something to take her mind off Quinn. Anytime her mind would start to wander, anytime she thought about him in any way, she would just switch back to work mode and force herself to do whatever it is she needed to do.

“Hey,” Ellie thinks she hears from behind her, someone sounding just like Quinn. She ignored it, figuring it was just her imagination and her officially losing her mind over what was going on in her relationship. “Babe?”

Ellie jumps, thoroughly surprised that Quinn was actually standing behind her. “I thought you were leaving for Florida today.”

Quinn pulls her up, kissing her hello, a soft look on his face that told Ellie that everything was ok. “We leave in a few hours, so I wanted to come by and surprise you. Do you have a minute?”

Ellie nods, following Quinn down to the lobby of the building. She knew that if she went somewhere in the office, Kendyl would probably have her ear glued to the other side of the wall of whatever room they were in to try to listen to their conversation.

“So, you don’t love me,” Quinn lets out slowly, pausing a little between each word, breaking Ellie’s heart each time.

“God,” she lets out.

“It’s ok.” They stand in silence, what they had with each other when they first met already somehow dying off between them. “I’m ok.”

“I want to love you. You know I have other things going on that are messing with my mind. You know me.”

Quinn rolls his eyes, Ellie taking a step back. “What, the stuff with your mom?” Ellie gives him a small nod. “You can’t keep using that as an excuse, Ellie,” he snaps.

Ellie recoils at his words, the person in front of her not the same one who told her would always be there for her when she needed him, that he would help if she would let him and that he wanted to be there, for her and with her, for everything. This was someone who wouldn’t do any of that. “It’s not an excuse. It’s my life, Quinn. You grew up never having to worry about coming home from school and learning that the lights were turned off, or getting scared that the heat would get cut off in the middle of the winter, or that you were two days away from living in a car,” she nearly yells at him, catching him off guard. “I’m sorry that it messed me up and I’m trying to fix it and at least be honest with you about it because I want to be with you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, you idiot. I want to be with you. But I don’t know what it’s like to be loved by someone who stays. I don’t know what it’s like to love someone who wants to stay. I think I love you, but I don’t think that my work is the place to figure it out.”

Quinn smiles at her, hugging her and holding her tight, every part of her relaxing as he does so. “That’s all I need. That’s all I want.”

___________________

“Ok, if we have to stay all night, then we’re ordering food.”

“I never agreed to staying all night.”

“Ellie, we have to get this done before we go home.”

“Yeah, but I have plans tonight. I’m not staying all night, extra pay or not.”

Declan groans, a stupid smile on his face. “Are you driving to these plans tonight?”

Ellie gets a bad feeling in her stomach, one that puts a smile on her face regardless. This project had forced them together much more often than Quinn probably would have liked if he found out. The client was demanding it be done three weeks faster than anticipated,which meant they had to get it done before Monday. “Nope. Why?” Declan gets up from the table the two of them and Kendyl are sitting at in the conference room to give them more space to spread out, running over to his desk and yanking one of the drawers open. “Dex, what are you doing?” Ellie calls.

The three of them had already been in the office much longer than everyone else, the rest of their colleagues having left early for the weekend while the three of them stayed behind.

Ellie had plans with Quinn that night for the first time in a while.

“Getting this,” Declan says, pulling her out of the spiraling thoughts she was having about her relationship.

He holds up three plastic red cups and a bottle of rum, the one alcohol that Ellie could stomach without any mixer, a sociopathic tendency as Kendyl would call it. “Why is that there?” Kendyl asks.

Declan shrugs, popping open the bottle with ease and pouring way more than a single shot into each of the cups. “One of the clients gave it to me as a thank you.”

“We never get alcohol as a thank you,” Ellie scoffs, Kendyl agreeing.

“Men,” Kendyl rolls her eyes.

Declan laughs, raising his cup to Ellie and clinking it against hers, downing it in a few seconds as he watches Ellie do the same. Both of them cough, the liquid burning down their throats much more than they were expecting, neither of them breaking eye contact with each other while forgetting Kendyl was there with them. “Alright, we work until we’re done. We refill when we need to.”

Ellie smiles at him, the warmth of the alcohol already coursing through her. Her phone starts buzzing, a call coming in from someone whose contact she can’t quite make out. “No phones.”

The three of them get to work, the sun setting without them realizing it as their phones keep buzzing over and over again. They weren’t even entirely sure what the project was that their boss was asking of them, but then again, when were they ever?

They had to have been working for at least two hours straight without moving, feeling like they hadn’t even made a dent in the amount of tasks they had for the project. “I need to go home,” Kendyl groans, rubbing her hands over her face.

“We need to finish this,” Ellie points out.

“We need more alcohol.” Declan gets up, already somehow emptying the bottle into their three cups. He winks at Ellie, yet again ignoring Kendyl and sending a chill down Ellie’s spine before heading back out of the conference room without another word.

Kendyl squeals once he’s out of earshot, shaking Ellie’s arm. “Oh, my god, he is so obsessed with you.”

“He is not,” Ellie insists, the heat running to her cheeks at the thought of her coworker liking her. She’s dating Quinn. Dating a coworker is out of the question. Dating Delcan isn’t even a thought.

“Ellie, I’m not even here when he’s around. You two are flirting so much.”

“I’m not sure you know what flirting is.”

“What about Quinn?”

Ellie’s stomach churned at his name. “Quinn and I are fine,” she tells Kendyl, trying to ignore how high her voice got involuntarily.

“El.”

“Ken.”

“You’re lying to me.” Ellie bites her lip, hating that Kendyl knew her well enough to tell. “What’s going on with you two? You were off last time I saw you together.”

Ellie sees Declan out of the corner of her eye shifting around the desks outside the conference room. “I have no idea.” Kendyl stays silent, Ellie feeling like she has to fill the space. “We see each other less and less now, part of it because of both our jobs right now.”

“Well, that makes sense, that happens.”

“But when we do spend time together, we don’t say anything. We barely talk anymore at all. It’s like we ran out of things to say.”

“Who has nothing to say?” Declan interrupts, plopping down in his chair with another bottle of rum.

“Ellie and Quinn. Why do you have another bottle?” Kendyl asks.

“I have many bottles. Who’s Quinn?”

“Ellie’s boyfriend.”

Declan just nods, giving Ellie an uneasy feeling as they both take a sip of their drinks again, the eye contact between them mixed with the alcohol making her mind spin. “We’re just going through a weird phase right now. We’ll get through it.”

Kendyl recaps what Ellie told her, unprompted, to Declan, who infuriatingly just sits there, the alcohol making him look way too attractive for Ellie’s liking. “You don’t want my opinion, do you?” he asks.

“Kendyl gives me hers all the time when I don’t want it, you might as well give yours.”

“You’re both busy. That happens.”

“See?” Ellie prods Kendyl.

“But,” Declan starts again, Kendyl sticking her tongue out at Ellie like a child, “Being busy could also mean not being willing to make time for each other.”

Ellie took in a deep breath, hating what he was saying. It wasn’t like he said that much, but he said enough. The room suddenly felt too small, the work too overwhelming, the alcohol hitting her all at once. “I’m going to go to the bathroom,” she says, practically running out of the room.

Are she and Quinn not making enough time for each other? Are they just ending their relationship without saying that it’s over? She didn’t think she wanted to break up with him, but at this point, what was staying with him doing for her?

Ellie looks at herself in the mirror. She didn’t know if it was the alcohol distorting her perception of herself or if it was the mirror that probably hadn’t been cleaned in a while, but she didn’t look like herself. She looked off. She had felt off for a while, but she had no idea why.

Was it because of Quinn? Ellie had heard that to be loved was to be changed, but what happens when you don’t like how you’ve changed? How much should she fight to get things back to the way there were when they first started seeing each other? What has to happen for her to just give up instead?

“Hey, sorry,” Declan startles Ellie, causing her to lose her balance and stumble against the sink. “I’m sorry that I upset you.”

“No, uh,” Ellie starts, wiping a tear from her cheek she didn’t even know had fallen, “You didn’t upset me.”

“Can I ask you something?” Declan’s voice is gentle as he takes a step closer to you, waiting for her to nod. “If you aren’t happy, why are you still with him?”

Ellie shrugs, not wanting to look at him. If she looks, she’ll fall apart. “I love him. I do. He knows me better than anyone. I’ve told him things I haven’t told anyone outside of my family, not even Kendyl. But sometimes,” she takes in a breath, her voice shaking. “Sometimes I wonder if it was all for nothing. We have no time for each other anymore. I see Kendyl more than I see him.”

“Ellie,” he says, his voice low as he steps closer to her. She was sure he could hear her heart racing.

She was dating Quinn.

Quinn.

“Oh, fuck,” Ellie practically yells. “What time is it?”

“Uh, 8:30.”

“Quinn was picking me up at 8:15.” Ellie runs from the bathroom, leaving Declan calling after her. She grabs her stuff from the conference room without saying a word to Kendyl.

She hears Declan in the background, calling after her as she runs down the stairs, dropping things in the stairwell that she doesn’t bother to pick up. She was rattled, Quinn already waiting for what had now become twenty minutes without her so much as texting him back the entire time.

Declan catches up to her, everything she’s dropped in his hands when she bursts through the front door of the building, Quinn’s car at the curb with him leaning against it scrolling on his phone. He looks up, his eyes going between his disheveled girlfriend and the one guy that she talked to that he was worried about, equally out of breath and carrying her things, both of them looking panicked.

He could tell Ellie was drunk. He knew she was drinking with him.

“What is this, Ellie?” he asks, trying to keep a calm tone in his voice as best as he can.

Ellie starts stammering, the alcohol not helping her at all. “We were doing that project I told you about, we lost track of time. I know I’m late but I wasn’t looking at my phone so we could finish as fast as possible.”

Quinn takes in a deep breath, looking up to the sky so he didn’t have to see her reaction to what he was about to say. “Ellie, I know he likes you. I told you likes you the night I met him. And, I know you like him, even if you don’t realize it yet. What am I doing here?”

Ellie steps toward him, her legs starting to shake as she tried to process what he was saying. “Quinn, you’re taking me out. You said we were meeting the guys tonight.”

“No, Ellie. I am. You’re gonna stay here.You’re gonna finish the project. You’re going to spend the night with Declan. You should be with someone who has time for you.”

“Quinn.”

“We’ve both been busy. We’ve both had way too many things going on to focus on each other. We deserve better. You deserve better.”

“Quinn,” she repeats, standing right in front of him. She reaches up to his cheek, him leaning into her touch as he finally looks at her. “What are you saying?”

“You know, Ellie.”

They stand there, forgetting Declan behind them and ignoring the world around them. Quinn cups her cheeks, kissing her like he did the very first time. “Bye, Eleanor.”

“Bye, Quinn,” Ellie whispers, not wanting to let go.

Everything happened so fast. Ellie stood on the curb, wanting to drop her things right on the sidewalk and chase after him as he got in his car and drove away. She didn’t move as Declan came up behind her, gently putting his arm around her to try to comfort her. She didn’t hear him say that he wanted to get her back inside so that Kendyl could be with her, so that she’d have someone she trusted to talk to after what just happened.

She just stood there.

___________________

Quinn was miserable. The guys were all with their partners, while Quinn sat in the middle with no one by his side. All he had was the beer in front of him that he didn’t even want to drink.

He should be happy. They were already having a great season. They had already secured a playoff spot. The team was playing to have fun and winning was coming because of it.

Brock comes up to him with Kendyl, the two of them still going strong. Quinn liked Kendyl, but seeing her still reminded him of Ellie, even if the two of them didn’t work together anymore.

“Come on, buck up. There are plenty of girls here that you could at least talk to,” Brock tries to encourage him.

Quinn just shrugs him off, slowly turning the glass of beer around on the table. He wasn’t in the mood to be there, but there was no way the guys would let him leave this early.

Brock leaves to get another round of drinks, Kendyl staying behind. “She’s doing ok, you know,” she says, barely above a whisper.

Quinn sighs. “I miss her.”

Kendyl puts her hand on his shoulder, giving him a sympathetic smile. “I know.”

They sit for a moment, both of them unsure what to say next. What do you say to someone who was still broken over something that should have never shattered in the first place?

“Hey, isn’t that that Dexter guy you work with?” Elias comes over and asks, pointing to the other side of the bar.

Quinn feels the air escape his lungs, Ellie and Declan together, Declan holding on to her as a guy moved past them, pressing their bodies against each other. She didn’t hesitate to take the opportunity to drape her arms on his shoulders, getting up on her toes to kiss him, their foreheads pressed together when they pull away while they looked at each other like they were the only people in the world.

“She’s happy,” Kendyl says.

“She’s happier,” Quinn corrects her, his heart breaking at the fact that he couldn’t do that for her.

#winter fic exchange 2024 #quinn hughes #quinn hughes one shot #quinn hughes fic #vancouver canucks #canucks

169 notes · View notes

moonrisecoeur · 9 months ago

Note

heheheheheh re6 vampirehunter!leon meeting vampire!user and he’s like so cocky and arrogant only to be absolutely ruined and submissive to vampire!user i’m giggling n twirling my hair

omg anon sorry this took so long to answer i had to wait until my brain was working again but like. wow. love this concept!! i feel like i might have seen this before i think it might have been a cai bot??? not sure but whatever the case u are so big brain

i lowkey kinda hate this but i hope u don't lol

his whole life he's been taught to kill a vampire on sight, no exceptions. they kill innocent people!! and steal their blood!! so obviously being the selfless hero that leon is, he takes up the role as a vampy hunter and tries to keep his village safe. he's killed dozens of vampires in his life, keeping his family and friends safe. he doesn't care that it's a risky profession. he has people to protect.

but when he hears rumors of a vampire living on the outskirts of town, in an abandoned building that no one dared to enter, he knew it was his job to take care of this vampire.

and yet he goes to find them and they are just absolutely not what he expected. most vampires try to be all sultry and seductive to distract him, or some become violent right away. but this one, you, just spoke to him like a regular person.

"stay where you are," he says, his silver dipped knife to your throat.

'come now, human boy. let's not good too ahead of ourselves' the last one had said to him. they taunted him, tried to seduce him.

"i don't understand why you are after me. i haven't killed a human in... hundreds of years," you say to him, letting him keep you in a vulnerable position. there's this air of arrogance to you that leon can't help but despise.

"you're a vampire."

"and yet, you humans only seem to come after me."

"i am not going to be swayed with words," he scowls, "you're a monster."

"then why haven't you killed me yet?" you tilt your head back to gaze at him, glaring to be more precise, but you weren't planning on him being so attractive. when did human men get so pretty?

he blinks, almost confused. he expected a bit more effort to get away, but it almost seemed like you knew he wouldn't.

and, for some reason he can't describe, he eventually releases you, and you immediately struggle for the knife, throwing it to the other side of the room, and within a millisecond he's underneath you, your glaring red eyes peering down at him. he's not showing it, but he's petrified.

"this is... much more comfortable," you chuckle.

"wait, shit, i'm sorry, please don't..." he stuttered. poor thing, he's actually scared.

your fangs are inches away from his neck and he seem to be begging with his eyes for you to please, oh god please have mercy on him. he looks so ripe for the taking, it would be so easy to pierce his skin with your fangs and just... just ruin him. leave his body a lifeless corpse... or potentially make him like you. that would be a perfect irony, wouldn't it? a vampire hunter being turned into a vampire? how tragic.

he can't help the sob that escapes him, "please, i- i don't want to die.." he cries.

and you know what? maybe he's doing it to get your guard down, feed your ego. i mean, he obviously knows yours is large. and yet... some part of you thinks it's not an act, that he's genuinely scared. but whatever the case, it does feed your ego.

"will you be good, human?"

he nods, desperately, afraid for his life. and when you get off of him, and offer him a hand to get back up, he doesn't know whether to be wary or grateful, or both.

your arrogance makes you... hard to get along with, but leon can tell you're much more powerful than any of the vampires he's killed in his entire life.

but he supposes you're not completely awful. you didn't kill him. you let him escape the first time, clutch his sliver knife to his chest as he ran out of your home. you eye him cautiously. something in you.... liked that human boy.

he returns again, this time to apologize. he felt the need to kill you because you were a vampire even though you weren't threatening anyone. you were oddly docile for such a scary, and insanely powerful vampire. you were truly nothing he'd seen before.

this time, though, he doesn't hold a knife to your neck, instead just nervously wandering around the place you have made your home. it's almost sad to him how lonely you must be.

in any case, even a human man trying to kill you counts as company, so you haven't been completely against his presence in your life.

plus, when you finally do end up seducing him, as he knew you would. he's incredibly pliable, somewhat nervous, and while obedience doesn't seem to come easy to him, you make it easy for him.

andddddd then u proceed to fuck his brains out until he can't do anything but lie there uselessly while you suck the blood out of his body but i digress.

you obvi try not to kill him when you take his blood but he's so yummy!! how could you not!! such a delicious little human.

#anon #resident evil #leon kennedy #sub leon kennedy #resident evil smut #leon kennedy smut #leon kennedy resident evil #sub leon kennedy smut

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oliverljones · 7 months ago

Text

~to be updated when I post a new fic, so I have them all in one place~

you can find me as bucksclipboard on ao3 💕 kudos and comments make my day!

bucktommy fic masterpost here

be someone (T, 2.4k) | ao3 | rebloggable

A call leaves Buck wondering if he’ll ever be a parent. Not just a donor, a dad. A great dad. Chimney tries to convince him of his qualities – and Eddie has a hard time staying quiet.

or: eddie thinks buck already is someone to chris

will you remember me? (T, 4.5k) | ao3 | rebloggable

You know the trope: Someone suffers from amnesia and they don’t remember their partner. Well, this is the opposite. Buck doesn’t remember a thing – except that he loves Eddie. How is Eddie supposed to tell him they’re not actually together?

for summer of buddie – week 5: break the cliché

nobody compares (G, 1.3k) | ao3 | (ambiguous bucktommy/buddie)

"Sorry", Eddie said and scrunched his nose.

"No, you’re right", Tommy admitted. "I don’t want that. I want to give him something he’ll love."

"Well, then not a gift card. Look, I’ve been a terrible gift giver in relationships, so I’m not judging. But you look like you’re getting a migraine, so maybe… let me help you?"

A deep sigh escaped him. "How?"

or: eddie helps tommy shop for buck's birthday gift and inadvertently makes things worse

unless you're choosing me (T, 4.4k) | ao3 | rebloggable

"Could you check that?", Eddie called from the kitchen. He had insisted to make something for them tonight instead of ordering their usual pizza and ice cream dinner.

"Sure", Buck replied and snatched the phone off the coffee table. He knew the pass code – it was the day Eddie had started working at the 118. There was no new text, just a message from his phone provider, but an earlier conversation was still opened. Before Buck could place the phone back on the table, something caught his eye. Why was Eddie talking to Hen about him?

or: buck reads a text he wasn’t supposed to read

when it all melts down (T, 2.2k) | ao3 | rebloggable

Buck thinks a beach day is the perfect distraction from an empty house and a lack of summer plans. Eddie thinks if Buck walks out of the ocean like a Greek god one more time, he might just lose his mind.

or: there’s only one cure for a frozen tongue after too much ice cream

I wish I could help (E, 2.1k) | ao3 | rebloggable

Eddie is so pent up he can barely focus on his job – and Buck is all too happy to help. That’s just what friends do.

or: I couldn’t find any smut referring to *that* scene in 7x05, so I wrote it

thanks, babe! (T, 1.8k) | ao3 | rebloggable

Eddie accidentally calls Buck babe and refuses to have a meltdown over it. It was just his subconscious betraying him because they were surrounded by couples, right? Right?!

or: I love “accidental” tropes, how did you know

more under the cut

do you want to know a secret (T, 3.2k) | ao3

Buck overworks himself and his family worries. When Eddie overhears a conversation between Maddie and Chimney, he learns he might just have caused Buck’s change in behavior. The good news is – there’s something he can do about it.

or: maddie and chimney worry over pining!buck – eddie takes charge

it's just the thought of you and what I leave behind (T, 6.4k) | ao3 | rebloggable

As the cruise ship starts to sink, Bobby and Athena aren’t the only ones in desperate need of saving. The 118 goes on a high-risk mission and a close call brings Buck and Eddie together.

or: 7x03 reimagined

I let my guard down for a moment (M, 6.5k) | ao3 | rebloggable

"It didn’t stop. Buck went from hoping the packages were from someone special to suspecting someone was toying with him. The hopeless romantic in him was slowly wilting. When he opened the latest letter, suddenly he was not so sure his secret admirer was of the good-natured kind. "

or: who needs police protection when you have eddie diaz by your side?

hold tight, you're slowly coming back to life (T, 3.1k) | ao3 | rebloggable

Eddie runs into Natalia at the grocery store. He learns something about her and Buck’s breakup that gives him the final push to take care of his own complicated love life.

or: what if buck didn’t tell eddie the entire truth

how's your head? (haven't had any complaints) (M, 2.3k) | ao3 | rebloggable

When he glanced over, Buck had already drifted off to sleep. He looked so innocent, Eddie almost couldn’t believe what had come out of his mouth mere seconds ago. Almost. Because he was 100 percent sure he’d heard it.

or: you can’t just make this kind of joke and forget about it

rose-colored boy (T, 1.6k) | ao3 | rebloggable

Buck is draped across an armchair, rambling about rosefinches and Eddie just can’t help himself. In some kind of out-of-body experience, he gives his best friend a completely casual, meaningless (lie!) forehead kiss.

or: yes, another accidental kiss fic because I don’t think there can ever be enough

we should be at the club (E, 2.8k) | ao3 | rebloggable

When Buck hears that Eddie has been going golfing to put himself out there, he offers to be his wingman. The world’s worst wingman. Although, to be fair, Eddie brings his best friend to the club and leaves with a new boyfriend.

or: just an excuse for them to wear tight pants and take them off

8 days a week (E, 6.3k) | ao3 | rebloggable

A sweet moment of weakness helps Buck and Eddie get together. While Eddie doesn’t expect much to change about their relationship, Buck slips back into old patterns.

or: eddie notices all the ways buck tries to make himself smaller

don't blame me, love made me crazy (E, 1.6k) | ao3 | rebloggable

Steam was fogging up the room and Eddie cursed inwardly. Was Buck trying to cook himself? Eddie wasn’t one for steaming hot showers but Buck ran cold even on his best days and this wasn’t one of those. He must’ve been desperate to warm up and soothe the pain his bruises were causing him. Eddie was suddenly very aware he was intruding on his best friend's privacy, even if he did need help, and decided to announce himself. “Buck, it’s me, I-“ He stopped in his tracks when Buck came into vision and met his gaze. Worry turned to lust quickly. Buck was hard. Incredibly so.

or: eddie joins buck in the shower (plot? what plot)

I only ever want you (E, 2.7k) | ao3 | rebloggable

When a handsome guy flirts with Eddie, Buck can’t stand to watch. He leaves the 118’s bar outing in a hurry, only for Eddie to follow him to the loft and confront him. A misunderstanding of why Buck is so jealous leads to a confession – and more.

or: there’s jealousy, there’s fighting, there’s delicious makeup sex

love is stored in the picnic basket (T, 4.9k) | ao3 | rebloggable

Buck participates in the 118’s basket bidding on Valentine’s Day and things go exactly as (Bobby) planned. When Eddie is done standing on the sidelines, he makes the grand gesture Buck has been dreaming of.

or: buck’s heart (um, picnic basket) is up for auction and eddie is ready to pay

whose peace are you keeping? (G, 3.9k) | ao3

Buck tells Eddie about the Buckley-Han family dinner and how odd it felt hearing his mother call him a “miracle baby”. Why can’t he trust his parents’ support when that’s all he’s ever wanted? He doesn’t know that Eddie lost his temper with them when they visited the firehouse two years ago. Now it’s time to come clean. A call that feels all too familiar interferes but a good night’s sleep brings them back on track.

or: it’s actually incredibly easy to love evan buckley – and eddie told his parents as much

my heart is trying to crawl out of my chest to get to you (G, 2.1k) | ao3

Buck is released from the hospital and while the rest of his family is understandably on edge about his recovery, Eddie throws himself back into work. He refuses to be a part of Maddie’s “operation buck up buttercup” and Hen grows suspicious. Listen, it’s not like Eddie isn’t worried, quite the opposite actually. He just found a better way to watch over Buck, without having to spill any of his secrets. Unless technology plays a trick on him, as it usually does, and his foolproof plan goes wrong. But Buck might just surprise him.

or: the one where eddie takes buck's recovery a little too seriously

and my attempt at rpf if you're into it:

closer than ever – ryliver (E, 2.k)

if you made it to the end of this post, thank you so much for reading!

#evan buckley #eddie diaz #buddie #buddie fic #buddie fanfic #911 #911 abc #911 fic #fic masterpost #911ramblings

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anadiasmount · 1 year ago

Text

expect the unexpected - ruben dias.

an: i decided to remake and edit the first part of this fic series i did for ruben! i hope you all enjoy! <3 this is slightly based off the book of the spanish love deception! ❣ link to OG!

quick sum: fairly new to your job at the club Manchester City, you find yourself in some trouble. ruben overhears you talking to john stones about having to travel for a wedding with no date. he’s willing to do the extreme even though you two are closer than expected…

wc: 2.8k

It had been an issue you wanted to avoid, but lately, it’s been hard to push it away. You had less than 3 days to figure out what and how you were going to resolve it. You had it all planned out of course, but that was before finding out your boyfriend of six months cheated on you with your best friend.

Of course, you were devested, losing two people at once wasn’t quite ideal. Your family in Spain looked forward to meeting him, as you spoke so highly of him. How were you supposed to prove that if he wasn’t in your life anymore? You can’t lie because it was clear you were going as a pair, a couple like you had told them. He even helped you pick out the black satin gown for the night. An elegant gown by the way…

During your short fifteen-minute break your thoughts distracted you once again. It was an unnecessary cycle that made your heart race. You slowly took sips of your warm coffee mug, looking over last-minute paperwork. “You don’t look so good Y/n,” A voice too familiar said, you peered up from the white paper sheet to blue eyes. “Jeez thanks, John,” you said, playfully rolling your eyes.

“Hey, I’m just saying,” he defended raising his arms in a surrounder way. “What’s up? You can talk to me you know?” you sighed and slumped back into your chair. Dragging your fingers across your forehead to the bridge of your nose. “So you know how I’m leaving soon?” John nodded taking a seat in front of you.

“I kinda-, well, so basically-” you rambled fidgeting with your rings. “I told my mom Jace would be attending the wedding. But due to what happened I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do now. Everyone, I mean everyone is ready to meet him. My own mother gave us the guest house to stay in while there! It’s driving me crazy-” You let out. John’s eyes slightly widened as you spoke louder, but he knew it was your frustration.

“First of all breathe. Have you tried to talk to her about what things happened?” he questioned. “She doesn’t let me. She puts this pressure on me, saying how everyone is ready to meet this man. That she’ll be disappointed if things go wrong. That she is extremely happy I found someone. That I shouldn't let this man go” you groaned. “I leave in less than three days and I’m going to show up alone…” Silence took over the room no one knowing what to say.

You begin to laugh hysterically, your stomach cleansing as you throw your head back. John cocks his head to the side smiling and chuckling confused. “Of course, this would happen to me.”

Ruben stood outside the small break room listening to the conversation. Due to being injured, he was doing slight therapy and recovery work to get back in shape. He and you were close, to some people, it looked like you were a couple. He had no idea about the wedding making him rethink a couple of things.

He was there during your breakup which was over a month ago. He let you sleep in his arms, have movie nights, eat ice cream, and take walks around Manchester. He was developing these unknown feelings that scared him a lot. He cared for you too much and John saw that. You were slowly becoming one of the most important people in his life.

He was still so confused why he didn’t know. You had known for a while he figured, how come he was never aware? So many late nights where you talked about everything, so many opportunities where you could’ve told him. But what held you back? He had his shoulder propped against the wall, smiling and shaking his head when he heard you laugh.

He knew you too well, you did this when nervous, faking something, or like right now, panicking. Something inside him to just go for it, be that person. Your eyes drifted off to him as he leaned against the doorway. You too felt bubbly inside whenever you saw him, you couldn’t get enough of him. His personality, big brown eyes, the way his forehead would crinkle when talking to you.

Part of you felt something for Ruben, something you never got to experience in past relationships. “I’ll be your date,” he said so effortlessly, not even questioning the outcome of it. John decided at that moment to stand up and leave, saying goodbye of course, “I'll see you two around.” he smirked.

Ruben strode over to the chair John once sat in, making your heart race as you noticed him. He was a bit sweaty, wearing a tight Nike training shirt, with his shorts running dangerously high. “Ruben. As much as I would love that, I can’t let you do that.” You shook your head acknowledging what he finally had said to you. His eyebrows furrowed, “Why y/n? You desperately looking for a solution, there’s nothing bad about it. Think of it as going as friends! Just a couple of nights then boom, back to normal.”

How do you tell your best friend you are unsure of how it would affect you? How you see him more than a friend? “But Ruben you have your job here, you need to get better before the international break,” you tried coming up with more excuses. “I need a break from that right now, the physio said I’m recovering and soon can start training with the team. Just agree, I have a suit ready. Plus I’ve wanted to visit Madrid, this would be the time.”

He stared into your eyes, looking at the uncertainty, the overthinking. Ruben knew because a small vein on your temple popped out. He knew you couldn’t disagree at this point, it was true you were desperate but with this offer on the table… it will change things. “It’s a week we’re staying there. We’d have to act like a couple, a couple who are deeply in love. Are you sure you want to do this? My family expects high expectations for no reason, I don’t want to make you feel pressured or uncomfortable.”

Ruben knew how your family was. He didn’t understand why you of all people would get mistreated. You had provided for them, took care of them, and even did abnormal things no one would even think of, yet you were unappreciated. They were ungrateful he thought, but never said aloud, he thought you deserved better. “I’m a thousand percent sure, I’m sure I can manage.”

He was up for the challenge, he wanted to be there for you. Who knows maybe this trip could change things between you? You stood up and went over to his side, he looked up at you standing up as well. You hugged him tightly wrapping your arms around his broad body and setting your head on his chest. You swore his heartbeat began to beat faster. Hesitantly he wrapped his arms around you as well, setting his chin under your head.

“Thank you, Ruben, you don’t know how much this means to me! I will make it up to you I swear,” you promised. “You don’t have to make anything up, take this as a favor for helping me while injured,” he muttered, you felt the vibrations of his voice when he spoke. You pulled away going back to work. He as well as he went to talk to Pep for the week off. His thoughts lingered a bit more, now more than ever determined to find out why you did not say anything about the wedding.

Later that evening, you and Ruben had agreed to go out for dinner, a small unknown Italian place that was hidden, your favorite spot. You ordered a small pizza since you were in the mood for it, along with some white wine to relax the nerves still present. You didn’t dress up fancy, something casual and similar to what Ruben wore.

“Can I ask you something?” you nodded taking a sip of the crystal wine glass, Ruben's brown eyes became soft, his outer corners slightly wrinkling. “Don’t take this the wrong way, or that I'm going to get upset, Well I kind of am but it's okay if you had a reason… how come you never told me about the wedding?” he said confused and slightly conflicted, that accent you adore so much coming out, his voice weaker rather than the deep voice he had.

You drop your eyes down to the empty plate, not knowing what exactly to say to him. Ruben had done so much for you the past month the last thing you wanted was to become a burden for him. You hated feeling like that, people feeling like they’re forced to like you, it's the last thing you wanted Ruben to feel since he had a lot on his plate as well. You also didn’t want to tell him for this reason, him being insistent to accompany you.

“I was going to eventually, right before you got injured but I didn’t say anything because you've been there for me. Way too many times, I guess I didn’t want this to be in that pile… It's not because I didn’t want to I did, but this would just be added to the plate of stress you have going on,” you rambled. But Ruben shook his head letting out a small scoff in disbelief, your gut dropping.

“How many times have I told you, that you can come to me for absolutely anything? I think by this point we've established that we're always there for each other no matter what,” he emphasized. “You’ve helped me through my recovery process physically and mentally, and I couldn't be more than grateful for that. This would've not been stressful to me, I care for you, and I wish you could see that more often,” his voice now gentler than when he was ranting.

“Yes, I know that, and I care for you that's why I didn't say anything. It wasn't that big of a deal until just recently when I began to stress about it more,” you say. The waiter comes by with your plates of food, him being in a cheery mood unaware of the tension that you and Ruben were having. “Am I missing anything?” to which you both shook your head no, “Great, call if you need anything else.”

“Sorry, I was just kinda upset and confused you didn't tell me, since we tell each other everything. We’ve known each other for little time but i’ve grown to trust you so much Y/n, it's a feeling I can’t explain. I feel at home with you…” Ruben soughed, becoming tense at the thought of you not feeling the same way and him oversharing.

“Since we're being honest, when I'm with you I can just be me. Not the girl who I was forced to grow up as or the professional Y/n at the training grounds. The Y/n you know and those around me whom I trust. Ive never also felt like this, the feeling of being at home, it's only been you who released that feeling, not even Jace made me feel that way” you say, bringing him out his worries and fear, the reassurance he was looking for, but you take notice at the way his jaw clenches at Jace’s name.

Ruben hated him. He hated the way he made you feel, the way he treated you after you remained loyal and loving through your relationship. How can someone do that to a pure and innocent perfect? With your best friend too? Anytime you mentioned or cried over him he saw red, he hurt you and the only thing he desired was to beat the shit out of him. But Jace didn’t have you anymore, you were Ruben’s, and only his now.

To cheer the mood up you change the subject, not wanting to talk about the wedding or the feelings the two of you confessed out loud. Hell, you weren’t in Spain yet, but the air between you shifted a lot…

“Madrid is gorgeous you’ll love it. We will be staying outside of Madrid for the first three days and then go explore the city. We can visit the plaza and buy reservoirs, go to the royal palace, go to museums, and do some hiking near this camp. And we will for sure that the late night walks through the city, just like we have been doing…”

Ruben finally smiles, the frown no longer there. You were best at that, bringing the good and not strict professional Ruben was. The man with routine as he claimed to be. You let him be loose and worry-free. “Can we visit the Bernabeu or is that too soon?” he joked. Your mouth opened wide at his comment, referring to winning the semi-final this year, and the UCL. But also to when City lost last year.

“You sure you can handle seeing the great success of Real Madrid and their fourteen Champions League trophies?” you teased, to which Ruben let out a loud laugh. “Will that be Madrid’s fanbase comeback and excuse when we call them out or attempt to humble them?” he says, continuing the banter. You shrug your shoulders and lean back, taking a sip of your wine once again, “I don’t know… Guess you’ll find out once we're in Madrid…”

The once harsh tension that was there before was now long gone. The two of you enjoy a peaceful dinner like planned, continuing joking and tease each other about the teams, but also rejoicing and sharing the favorite memories from your earlier childhood. Ruben laughed as you told him about a time you faked being sick so you wouldn't have to attend a ballet dance recital and the times when you snuck out to get drunk with friends at a nearby park. He drove you home after walking through Manchester and sharing a cup of ice cream, kissing your cheek goodnight, promising to always be there for you.

Three days later you found yourself waiting for Ruben to pick you up to go to the airport. You insisted on Uber but he wouldn’t take your ‘No’ for an answer. You had your suitcase ready, along with your carry-on, filled with your electronics, blanket, and some of your and Ruben’s favorite snacks. Your mother had called the night before making sure once again to remind you about your boyfriend.

Ruben honked outside distracting you from your deep thinking. The night before you couldn’t sleep, you had admitted you were pretty scared of this. You knew what you felt for Ruben wasn’t going to go away. You hoped maybe someday he would feel the same. He as well couldn’t sleep, his thoughts drifting of how you two were going to pull it off.

You greeted a good morning, hearing his deep and slumber voice as he greeted back. “Ready?” he asked then laughed when you shook your head. “Never, but here goes nothing.” The drive was filled with both of you singing to the playlist you created, somewhere between that you intertwined hands, feeling your skin burn at his touch.

After parking in the reserved area, you two made your way inside, checking in bags and getting your boarding passes. “Just to let you know, I brought your favorite snacks so you wouldn’t have to buy them…” you said as you sat down in the lounge. Ruben felt his heart warm up as you thought of him, smiling when pulling out the Scooby-Doo graham cracker cookies and the rainbow goldfish cheesy snacks. He had tried them during his pre-season tour with Benfica in America years ago, and he quickly loved the snacks.

“Thank you… Girlfriend.” You giggled at his words, blushing at the thought as well. He intertwined your hands once again as you made yourself inside the plane. He looked better than ever, wearing a white shirt underneath his black hoodie, a baseball cap, and sweats. “Just to let you know I’m super tired, so I may fall asleep right here,” You raised his brows at his choice of words, quickly understanding after.

He leaned over placing his head on your right shoulder, crossing his arms across his chest. You chuckled enjoying the feeling of being close again. “In that case, I’m falling asleep here,” you leaned over placing your head on top of his, covering your bodies with the blanket. He sighed comfortably soon drifting off to sleep.

Ruben couldn’t stop staring out as you guys landed in Madrid, he fell in love with the city so quickly, even more so as you reached your destination. Before he got out you stopped him, “Wait! Listen my family isn't… so kind at times. If they say something I deeply apologize, they can be a handful.” Testing the water a bit he leaned over pecking your temple letting his lips linger on there for a bit before reassuring you.

“As long as you’re here, that matters most.”

#ruben dias #ruben dias x reader #ruben dias x y/n #ruben dias imagine #ruben dias one shot #ruben dias blurb #ruben dias fanfic #ruben dias imagines #ruben dias x you #man city #mcfc #football x reader #football imagine #football fanfic #football one shot #footballer

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crybyemissamericanpie · 1 year ago

Text

Old friend - Mike Schmidt x gn!reader (angst)

TW:Mention of suicide attempts,Mention of abuse,Bit of cursing

The office was thick with tension as Mike met their gaze, the lingering smell of coffee seemingly in line with the general ambience of the room.

While others may have assumed there was a deeper layer of resentment at work, the truth was that there was simple too much pride involved between the two of them to acknowledge any animosity.

Mike spoke up first, voice low and carrying a hint of tension in it, “I’m doing my job perfectly fine, I don’t understand why they brought you in."

They were no strangers to eachother and they had some history too,they knew each other way back in high school,they weren't in good condition now for sure

"You fell asleep on the job"They says looking at Mike with a calm face

“I was resting my eyes…” Mike murmured,annoyed “They look just the same as closed ones, anyway.”

He shifted in his seat, the chair letting off a slight creak. Mike hated this place with a passion, the night-shift being too quiet and lonely for comfort, so he had always taken to having a nap whenever possible. It was a wonder the boss hadn’t caught on by now…but suddenly an old ex-friend of his decides to show up,and get the job just to be with him“You and I have been through this song and dance before…”He said.silence fills the room

"We both fucked up okay?you don't have to always bring up the past"They say,frustrated.Looking down at Mike who is sitting infront of the desk with the cameras to the whole place

“What exactly have I ever done wrong?” Mike demanded, voice low - although more out of his general dislike of speaking.

The truth was, he and them had always been the same,both just as stubborn as each other and too proud to concede on anything.

“I’m not the one who left my responsibilities to chase a boy.” Mike muttered,looking away from their eye trying not to hold eye contact.

Mike and Their fathers really liked each other so they grew up together,but when both of their parents died, something clicked inside of them

They stays quiet for a moment,looking at Mike

"I was going through something too, you know what it was...And yeah I chased a boy! Yeah! I left my whole life behind me for a boy that just ruined me,cheated on me and abused me physically and mentally and I was left broken."They burst out

"I didn't get in contact with you cause I knew that I couldn't even take care of myself not even you and Abby,i didn't wanna give both of you another hard thing, to deal with also with me. When I accepted of what happened I tried helping cause I knew that I could finally help and not just be a distraction"They says,their eyes full of hope

Mike stayed stone-still as he listened to your sudden and lengthy explanation, mind racing with different thoughts and reactions. His own mothers hadn’t been fond of them either, although there weren’t any concrete reasons for their dislike they simply “had a feeling”.

He considered their words for a long moment.he understood their struggle, and understood why they did what they did. But they couldn’t run from your responsibilities when it came to family, and leaving Abby behind didn’t help any.

“You could’ve tried a bit harder.” Mike muttered eventually.

They sigh"mike.listen here, I tried to kill myself a lot in that time but do you know why I didn't do it?Because of you and Abby,cause I knew and thaught that if I'm in a better place of mind I could help and you would accept it"They confesses hardly and a bit harshly,their eyes darting into his trying to not shed a tear

“I understand that….” Mike mumbled, shifting his weight uncomfortably in his seat. He hadn’t known that they had dealt with anything close to that, but now he could see the toll it had taken on them.

Mike didn’t want to seem weak, despite his true thoughts and feelings on the situation, “It’s still not great that you just left us like that. What if I needed you?”

"I would have been a distraction,I couldn't help you or Abby if I didnt know how to help myself,I would have been just another ton of weight on your back for you to worry about"They say,trying to keep their breath steady

“And I wasn’t a distraction to you?” Mike demanded, voice louder than before out of spite.

He couldn’t help but feel hurt by some of their words - they were true, yes, and they had certainly done the right thing by staying away at that time, but it still sucked that they hadn’t kept in touch with him or Abby.

“You left me, and Abby, and we didn’t hear anything from you for years!” Mike pointed out.

"Bullshit,I sent birthday cards and holiday cards everyday with a small stupid qoute on it and my name!"They said fighting for justice ,for mike to realize that they arent that bad that mike think they are

“You think cards meant anything to me? You know Abby, she loved those cards, she used to read them over and over as if they were some kind of message of hope,” Mike said, voice softening.

“But for me? They only served as a reminder that my best friend had left.” Mike murmured.

"I was ashamed of who I was of what have I become,I moved country side,I had food delivery,I had a job that I didn't have to talk to people and stay in my house and just write, I would have never had a thought that maybe I could show up to your guys house"They whisper and admit,they were dreaned at the time,mentally and that made them sick

they wouldnt get out of bed,brush teeth,eat,work out,cook.

do anything.basically.

But Mike didnt know that even after they confess,he would never understand,he saw them just as a person who cut him and Abby out of their life without saying goodbye and now suddenly wants to come back or...

Mike thought about it for a moment, considering their words and what they had gone through.

He knew the feeling of shame, and the weight that accompanied it, and knew how hard it was to escape from that place.

Still, no matter the reason, they had left his only sister for years without a word although they had suffered, what right did they have to do that to not even Mike but Abby?

“Why did you come back?” Mike asked,raising an eyebrow as he looks up at them

"im-..."They sigh"im here to help you guys,i talked to Abbys teacher and im worried and finally i can help"They say

silence.

Mike furrows his eyebrows,a bit of guilt washes over him but he tries to ignore it

"you dont have to accept,if you want me to never talk to you or abby ever again and just keep sending cards,ill do it."They say as they look into his eyes

He sighs"We dont need your help.You can leave"Mike mutters under his breath

They nod and walk out of the office.

The guilt was still on Mikes heart but he didnt trust them now,he didnt want them to come back to their life and then leave like a building

Mike just sat there and thought was he right was he wrong?questions filled his head but his choice was final.he sees them leave throught the cameras,getting into their car ,then driving away...

61 notes · View notes

darling-i-read-it · 1 year ago

Text

Sorry

Phillip Graves x fem!reader

Word Count: 5.8k

Warnings: mw2 spoilers, spoilers for the new packs and online campaigns and things, (me knowing NOTHING about the military. I just be googling words. I am very sorry if they are wrong! I also didn’t play the online stuff so I had to read on that too. So much work for u philip), the reader leaving price and ghost behind technically, grief, heavy insinuation to smut, VIOLENCE like a lot. Reader kills people and has a mini extensional crisis about it, let me know if I missed anything!

Author’s Note: me: i’m so normal about him. Also me: writes a six thousand word fanfiction about my delusions

Summary: You and Phil had been together when he ‘died’ in the tank. You’ve been grieving him ever since, not knowing he was still out there.

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director/creator

(not my gif)

When he was up in the air, sometimes Phil Graves thought about home. He thought about the way the air felt in the south. The heavy humidity of a late night around a fire with family and friends. His childhood home, a two story house with some land. The feeling of flannels over his shoulders, wind against his face when he rode the truck late at night, stupid country songs playing through the radio. He only let himself have these moments briefly. When he was up in the air and everyone was quiet with anticipation. No one wanted to talk about the moments before a descent, the seconds before disaster.

That was when he let himself think of home.

He thought of the world he used to call his own. He loved his job and he thought he was doing good with it. But sometimes he wondered what would’ve happened had he stayed back after high school, instead of hoping on the military like it was a moving train.

Whoever that was, he was gone now.

Shadow 0-1. Commander. That’s who he was now. That’s who he was always meant to be. That’s who he had been when he betrayed 141’s trust. That’s who he was when he got out of it. That’s who blew up in the tank in South America. That’s who misses you.

“You good boss?” Phil snapped out of his thoughts. He nodded once.

“Golden, Sparks. Thinking about dinner when we get back tonight.”

“You makin barbecue?”

“I sure am. Got a damn fine steak to cook.”

“You really oughta have more get-togethers, like old times.” Phil gave his subordinate a thin lipped smile. He fondly remembered the times when he would bring his closer soldiers around, cook for them, listen to shitty music, drink beers. In the back of his eyelids he could see you, handing him the tongs, making a joke about his dad barbeque. He would tease you about children.

He had stopped having them after the mission where he left some behind. He hadn’t wanted to; the strain in his voice was clear. But he had.

“Maybe when I’m legally back from the dead,” he countered. Sparks chuckled and Graves stood up. It was far better to be back in the commanding position with his guys, the same ones who would follow him into fire. It distracted him from the rest of it. The house he lost, the home he no longer had.

He had this.

You brushed your hair out of your face. You messed with the glass in your hand, rolling it around the ring on the wooden table. The ice had melted into the alcohol, making it watery and less effective. It was cold outside, fall finally taking hold. You were wearing a thin jacket that seemed useless.

This drink was Phil’s regular. You remembered it like the back of your hand, ordering it when he was caught up behind the crowds. It tasted like his lips after a long night out. It was warm, like his breath on your skin.

“You listinin’?” You lifted your head. You had been staring at your half drank glass. Simon Riley’s eyes met yours. They were objectively beautiful. You would never understand why he kept them mostly covered up.

“Yeah. Sorry.” He let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry. I just got lost in thought. What were you saying?”

“I was asking what you thought about Price going back out there so soon.”

“You of all people know what it’s like to be married to your work.”

“You aren’t irked he’s going without you?” His accent was thick. It was rare to get him to talk like this but you had known each other so long, it felt ormal now. He seemed unnatural when he clammed up in missions.

You shook your head.

“I’ll get back into it,” you told him. You cleared your throat. His eyes narrowed down, staring at you. His long face felt threatening, though you knew better. You stared back at him, tilting your head and raising an eyebrow. “Stop staring at me like that.”

“How many times does Soap have to apologize for you to get over it?” You bit the inside of your cheek, shaking your head.

“Stuff it Simon.”

“I won’t. It’s been a year. We’ve given you your time, we’ve apologized, we’ve been nice and cordial about it. You need to realize who Graves was and that what happened to him was warranted. There’s only so many times we can spell it out for you before we stop babying you.” As he spoke, your head continued to shake. It felt like the words were rattling around in your brain, bouncing off your skull. He was right, you knew that. But the words still stung.

“You don’t understand,” you protested. He cut you off.

“I know I don’t. You’ve told me.” You leaned back in your chair, your glass landing with a light clang. “Love,” he muttered, leaning forward. “It’s time.”

You wished you could be done with it. You wished that his words could will all the pain to subside. You wished you didn’t have to suck it up when Soap followed Phil to the tank and blew it up. You wished you could forget about the moment you held your tongue, knowing that if you spoke up you would be a traitor too. You wished everything was different.

You didn’t want it to hurt anymore. You didn’t want to wake up and think he was next to you, even now. It got better as the time passed but it never fully went away. You knew it was never going to subside completely, always stuck to you like a stain you couldn’t get out.

“I’m trying,” you promised. “I’m trying.”

“You need to come to the next one.” Everytime you put on a headset you could hear Soap's words. Graves is KIA. How’s Price? He moved past it with such grace you almost missed it the first time.

“I’ll try.”

“You need to do more than that.” You swallowed hard.

“I know.” -

“I’m glad you’re here.” Price's voice was low but gentle. Careful. Like you were an object that would break if he spoke to you the wrong way.

“Me too,” you said, nodding. Your voice sounded fake and you knew it. You only agreed to this because you knew you had to. You had Price here and Ghost promised he would do all the heavy lifting. It would be nothing. The men you trusted would have your back when you flew out to enemy territory. “You didn’t have to lobby for me, you know.” You had become a liability the second Graves became a traitor. The already rocky relationship with the Shadows was broken clean in half. You were a problem now.

“I wanted to. You’re one of my best shooters.”

“Did Simon tell you to?”

“He gently nudged me.” He had his helmet on, the strap under his chin. It had been a while since you saw him in uniform.

“Where are we going again?”

“You should really read the debriefs.” You shrugged. You used to, religiously. You would tell Phil classified information like it was pillow talk. He would give it back to you after coffee in the morning. You cleared your throat.

“I do. I just trust you more than the papers,” you joked halfheartedly.

“Don’t worry too much. It’s all scouting, no shooting.”

“Why’re you bringing me and Ghost then?”

“I like hanging out with you guys.” You laughed, this time for real. He gestured forward. “Let’s head out.”

You could only see the blocks of land below you in the plane. You wondered who was living in the little houses the size of dots. You wondered if they were happy. You could feel the sweat piling in your uniform.

“There’s some guns held in a storage facility. They shouldn’t be heavily guarded but will be servilenced,” Price said. He spoke above the noise in the plane, loud and rumbling. “Ghost, you’ll go ahead. I’ll be down there outside the building, watching your six. Y/L/N, you’re up here on guns.”

“It’s boring up here,” you complained. “Can’t I come with you guys?”

“We need you on your A game to be on the ground,” Ghost said, coldly. You gave him a look but couldn’t read his expression with the mask. Price was avoiding your eyeline on purpose, you could feel it. It almost felt like a fake mission, something to get you back out there without putting you in real danger. Though you were vaguely insulted, it was nice to know they cared. You tried to shove your feelings aside.

“Alright,” you said finally. “Fine.”

“You’re good on guns,” Price said. “An Eagle eye will ensure everyone's safety.”

“I already said alright Price,” you said as gently as you could manage. The plane started to slow down to a hover. Price stood up, using the railing above to steady himself.

“You ready?” Simon questioned, coming up behind you as you stood up. You nodded once. Muscle memory would kick in before your panic would. Everything would be fine.

“As I’ll ever be.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“I know.”

Ghost gave you one last pat on the back before he walked towards the back of the plane. You watched him go, his hand on his side, looped around his belt. Price followed behind. He turned back to look at you, the wind rushing towards the front. You tried to keep your face neutral, professional. Your bones ached with familiarity. This was okay. This would be okay.

You turned towards the guns. The plane had a designated corner for them, buttons lining the walls. You zoomed in on the house that was holding the guns, turning it to infrared. You sat down at the chair, leaning over it. You didn’t need to put on all your gear to push some buttons but you refrained from complaining.

“You hear me clear up there?” Ghost’s voice came through your ear piece.

“Yes sir. Loud and clear.” You could see Ghost’s little figure as he landed. “I’m seeing two hostels outside of the building. On either side of the doors, they both have guns.” “Roger,” Ghost said. You followed his heat signature. Price had also made his way to the ground.

“What’s the house looking like?” he asked. You moved your camera along, narrowing in on the building. You could see men walking. Patrolling. You couldn’t help but wonder how many guns were being held there. The building was larger than Price made it seem. Were they in the heart of the building, with the clump of men?

“Lots,” you admitted.

“Give me a ballpark,” Price responded. You could see Ghost down there, taking out the men. He was always quick with it. Sometimes you forgot that the man you shared drinks with was a cold blooded murderer. You would not want to be at the other end of his knife.

“Ten upstairs. Can’t tell how many downstairs. Probably 20?”

“That’s quite a few people for some guns,” Ghost chimed in.

“No kidding,” you muttered. “I can see some on the balcony. I’m ready to hit whenever Cap.”

“Roger,” Price responded. You went to hone in, aiming just in case Ghost needed back up quicker than you could aim.

The plane jerked right, causing you to lose focus. You cursed, shutting one eye to get a clearer view. You painlessly lined it back up. Just as you had it, the plane jerked again.

“Hey man!” you called to the front. “Steady!”

“You seein this?” the pilot called. You turned back towards the infrared. Ghost hadn’t made it inside yet. You got out of your chair and pushed aside the door to the cockpit. Through the large window you could see another plane making its way towards you. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. How could someone know you were here?

“Enemy plane?” you asked.

“Not on any paths,” he admitted. “I’m willing to bet.” You quickly pivoted back towards the infrared.

“Hey boys, we got some company up here.”

“We need to secure this area,” Price said. His voice had gone rough. Professional now.

“If they’ve got more men, we aren’t securing shit,” you told him.

“I’m going through the downstairs,” Ghost added. With his voice you could hear gunshots and commotion. You cursed and sat back down.

“Do I have permission to shoot Price?”

“Yes,” he responded, quickly. You pushed down on the trigger, taking out the men on the balcony. They fell with ease. You looked back towards the cockpit. The plane was only getting closer. You could hear the pilot trying to contact it, like it was a civilian plane. The menacing figure loomed in the air.

“How much longer?” you asked.

“Five minutes,” Ghost responded.

“Fuck,” you muttered. “We don’t have five minutes.”

“Make five minutes.” You stood back up and went back to the cockpit. You put your hand on the chairs.

“It’s an AC-130,” the pilot called. “Military.”

“I’m going down,” you yelled. “Get me down there.” There was little protest from the pilot. You grabbed your gun off the chair. The back hatch lowered. The wind rushed towards you. The air was threatening with how fast it blew. It was like the whole world was going to be sucked into the plane.

You took a deep breath. Life or death. Your friends would die if you didn’t do something.

You turned back towards your safe spot in the plane. It looked more dangerous by the second. Each moment you hesitated was a moment wasted.

You turned back towards the entrance. You grabbed the leftover parachute and buckled it tightly.

And you jumped.

There was a moment of sheer panic. You forgot the reason you were in the air, you just knew you were freefalling. You were rushing towards the hard ground, towards the sound of gunfire. Everything felt fake for about ten seconds.

Then you pulled on the parachute line and drifted towards the ground.

“What’re you doing down here?!” Ghost said in your ear. You wondered if he could see you through the window.

“Helping!” you called back. Price was right. You were one of his best shooters, handicapped or not. You rushed forward, shielding yourself with a large rock. You looked down at the gun, the familiar feeling in your hand. You took a deep breath, checking to make sure it was loaded and ready. Then you turned around and started to shoot.

There was so much going on that it was almost simple. You couldn't focus on one thing so you tried to just breathe. Each shot was a breath. You didn’t think about how that was a person's life. Each shot a family member, a father, a sister. You forgot all of that as you focused on your breathing and your aiming.

“They’re deploying from the plane!” Price said in your ear. You still had no idea where he had gone.

“We should call for backup!” you said back. “Gaz’ll be here in twenty minutes!”

“Soap is closer,” Ghost said. He was in the house. You could tell by the amount of silence around him. He must have cleared the floor.

“Call someone!” you yelled. Price’s voice started to drone on but you didn’t pay much attention. You moved closer to the house, sticking close to cover. Blood was smearing your clothes now. How many people were here? How many people would come?

You looked up at the enemy plane. There had been a constant train of people but now they were slowly diminishing.

You came to a startled stop beside a body that had landed next to cover. You reloaded, your back against the wood, your eyes looking towards the body without thinking. Your head snapped back up but when it registered something familiar, it looked back at the body.

You kneeled all the way down. Your fingers brushed a Shadows patch, engraved on the lifeless soldiers' clothing. Your head started to blur. You hadn’t seen that symbol in months. Its patchwork was now smeared with blood, likely your doing. You ripped off the soldier's helmet.

You recognized him.

Sparks. He had come over for a barbecue. He helped Phil cook. The taste of brisket hit your tongue. The smell of a campfire.

You scampered onto the ground, almost falling over to get away from him. The sounds of gunfire started to muffle. Your breathing grew ragged. Was someone speaking? You held your gun tightly, like it was the only thing holding you to the ground. Was that Price’s voice? You looked around, the sun suddenly blaring. You should’ve come at night. There were clouds. How dare there be clouds when people were dying? You wanted Simon. You wanted Phil.

Someone came around your cover. You raised your gun, a fumble really. You raised it to the soldier in front of you, finger on the trigger, fully intending to shoot. The man in front of you had halted completely. His gun stayed on you, capable of killing you easily, but it remained. He had a helmet on. The glare of the sun covered his face.

Your hands were still shaking.

Suddenly things felt very quiet. A subtle movement of the soldier revealed a glimpse of his face. A face you knew very well.

It all flashed in your mind. His morning snoring, the shitty dad jokes, his guttural laughter. The sound of his truck starting. His mom’s phone number. The first thing you bought for your shared apartment. The taste of his lips. The feeling of his hands on your skin. HIs eyes in the moonlight. The feeling that you could never shake when he died.

He turned and ran. You stood up. You gathered your bearings and followed him, almost slipping on yourself to do so. He couldn’t get very far. People were shooting at you but you had him as a cover. You shoved him down and disarmed him. It usually wouldn’t have been easy to do. Maybe he let it happen. You pulled his collar so you could land behind a discarded car. He struggled against you as you ripped off his helmet completely, disconnecting whatever comm he was using.

His hands reached forward for yours and he took it off, not even bothering to unbuckle your chin strap. His touch felt like a ghosts. The same calloused hands that promised you the world. Your eyebrows furrowed, recognition in your eyes. You reached forward, not thinking. You cupped his face, your fingers sprawled on his cheek and neck.

“Phil?” you whispered. He couldn’t hear you over the commotion but he could read your lips. He knew what his name looked like coming from your mouth.

He didn’t know you were going to be here. If he had, he never would have come. He can’t do this, he can’t blow his cover like this. He had been told maybe Price would make an appearance but you had been out of the field since his death. He was breathing heavily. He couldn’t come near you because he would cave. It was hard enough being without you, checking his phone like you would text him.

“Y/L/N?! Y/N!” Your comm was going insane. It was on the ground though, forgotten.

He was alive. Phillip was alive. His face was there and it was moving, all flesh and blood. You never thought you would see him again except in pictures and videos, ones where you had memorized all his movements.

“Phillip Graves?”

“Yeah baby. Yeah.” His voice was quiet, like he was in disbelief too. You fought the tears rising to your eyes.

“How..how are you here?”

“Long story. “

“I wanna hear it.”

“Your men are shooting my men right now,” he said, like it was a minor inconvenience.

You snapped back into reality. Suddenly all the sounds became crystal clear again. Time resumed. You grabbed your comm and put it to your ear.

“I’m okay! I’m okay!” you said.

“Come back with me,” Phil said quickly.

“What?” He grabbed your comm, putting it in his back pocket.. You reached for it like a child, even letting out a gentle unintentional whimper.

“Come back with me,” he repeated. “Get in my plane.”

“You’re dead. You died in a tank in South America!”

“You should know MacTavish couldn’t take me out.” He cupped your face with both his hands. You had never felt something so good. “Quickly. Yes or no.”

He dreaded a no. He knew Shepherd would have you killed or kidnapped. You couldn’t go back to your friends, knowing what you now knew. They could come up with a retaliation before Graves had even gotten on his feet again.

You had been waiting months for him to come back to you. The answer, despite your morals and your stress, seemed to slip off your tongue easily.

“Yes. Yes I’ll go with you.” He smiled, a genuine smile, covered in dirt and grime.

“C’mon baby. Follow me.” He put his comm back in his ear and grabbed your hand. He held it tightly, like you would slip away. “I’m going back up. How’re we lookin?”

“Significant casualties. The shooter on the edge is killing us.”

“I got her,” he responded. He looked back towards you and you both stood up. He nodded towards the plane, which still had the latter hanging down. “The guns?”

“The house is being defended. We haven’t been able to break through.”

“We can’t afford to lose those. Do what you have to.” He held your hand tightly, dragging you through the battlefield. You passed those that had died in the rubble. You wondered if you had been the cause. Your head was spinning, looking towards the house. You couldn’t even think yet, things were going so fast. All you knew was Phil and his hand in yours.

He grabbed your hips, helping you onto the first step of the ladder.

“I’m comin back up,” he said into his comm. “Someones ahead of me, foreign. Do not shoot. I repeat, do not shoot.” There was a muffled reply. He climbed all the way to the top with you, helping you up onto the plane floor. You pulled yourself up and stood in the middle of the hanger. There was barely anyone left up there. You looked towards the window.

Price. Simon.

You had left them. You hadnt’ meant to. You hadn’t even thought for longer than a moment about it. You put your hand flush against the glass, looking down. You wanted them to make it out okay. They would surely think you had died.

You hadn’t thought this through.

Your favorite ghost had returned and asked you to go to hell with him. You hadn’t even thought.

“Price. Ghost,” you said, quickly. You turned to Graves, panicked. “Let them go. Don’t hurt them.”

“I need those guns.” You had heard his work voice before, the slur between charming and serious. At that moment, his voice was all game. He was giving you an order.

“I need them to live.”

“They shouldn’t have come.”

“I came.” Phil pursed his lips, chewed the inside of his cheek. He looked towards the pilot and the men still in the plane. Your eyes were back out the front window, seeing the plane you had just come out of. You had just been there, standing in that cockpit. The feeling was eerie, tingling in the back of your neck. “Phil please.”

Graves thought for a moment. He looked towards you, your pleading puppy dog eyes. He could see you in the morning, when he said goodbye before work. He could see your back in the bathroom mirror, foggy from a shower. Your favorite cereal on his taste buds. The way you had your coffee.

“We’re losing numbers down here!” a voice came in his ear. He looked back down towards the house. Ghost was taking his men out one by one. Price was likely sneaking behind them, sniping from somewhere.

But Phil was a proud man. He wasn’t going to let those people die for no reason.

“Those men are dead down there,” he said, evenly. He approached you. His hand gripped your arm. “They can’t have died for nothing.”

“Let me call them off. Give me something to call them off,” you pleaded. He groaned in retaliation but gave you your comm back. You put it in your ear.

“I’m getting overwhelmed here!” Ghost exclaimed.

“Get out of there! Get out of there!” you said, desperately. You turned back to the window. “There’s too many of them. They keep coming.”

“She’s right,” Price said, voice gruff. “We need an exit. Soap is on his way.”

“To help?”

“Not enough manpower right now. We have to take this loss.” You could practically hear Ghost’s annoyance. He had done all this and it would’ve been for nothing? He groaned. You stood there, deathly still. “Get to the southside of the building,” Price demanded. “Both of you.” You looked back at Phil, who was staring eagerly. You nodded once. He patted your back, turning back to the pilot.

“Set up post.”

Some men made their way back up to the plane. Others stayed down below to hold down the fort. The ones you recognized starred as they passed you, sitting in the front seat, just behind Graves. He made no comment on you being there. Didn’t talk on the way back to base.

He knew he would have to face Shepherd about it. He just happened to figure he would win. Shepherd couldn't do shit with the Shadows until Graves got back. He was useful and he was a good soldier. Breaking this rule would be okay, he was sure of it.

You followed him onto the tarmac, your body close to him. The plane landed unceremoniously. People gently spoke about their win. Most mourned their losses. No one had managed to get it in their head that you had probably killed their best friend. Most everyone just ogled you in confusion.

“We’re going back to my room,” he explained. You wanted an explanation. You wanted to yell at him. You wanted to scream.

“Okay.”

He led you through the twisting turns of the facility. You had never been in the Shadows main buildings before. They were high tech and likely dangerous.

Graves opened the door to his room. It was larger than the others, for being the Commander. He didn’t have to sleep in bunks or share a room when he was on base. He had called you from this room dozens of times. The phone he used had been crushed, unable to receive anything. He missed it. It had all the pictures of the two of you.

The door clicked shut behind you. You wanted to fight him but in the moment, you could only melt. You wrapped your arms around him and he held onto you for dear life. His touch was fiery and aggressive. He was digging his fingers into your sides, breathing in the scent of your hair. He had missed you so much. More than he had been able to let on. He never wanted to live without you again.

“I thought you were dead,” you whispered. You hadn’t realized the tears had steadily made their way back until you felt them on your cheeks. Graves had his face buried deep into your neck. “I mourned you.”

“I know baby,” he muttered against your skin. “I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry.”

He was crying. When was the last time you had seen him cry? He sniffled, though he tried to make it subtle. He pulled back, turning away to rub his eyes. You grabbed his shoulders, not letting him.

“What happened?” you asked quietly. Speaking any louder than a whisper seemed like a crime.

“Shepherd.”

“You weren’t in the tank?” He shook his head. You let out a sigh of relief, despite the horrors you had been through over the months you had believed he was in there. He grabbed your hand.

“I never wanted to leave you,” he promised. His eyes were red, stuffy. He wasn’t sobbing but there were clearly tears forcing their way through his hard exterior. “I did it because I thought it would keep you safe. It would keep you out of the way.”

“You’ve just been out there?” you asked, voice hinting of betrayal. It broke his heart.

“Missing you every second of every day.”

“Did you know where I was?”

“I wasn’t allowed on missions with you confirmed to be in it. It was supposed to be Price, maybe Ghost, maybe Soap today. It wasn’t supposed to be you.”

“I was a last minute addition.”

“And thank God for that.” His hands were staying on you, lingering. “Bringing you back was selfish,” he admitted. “But I couldn’t leave you again.”

“When they told me you were dead,” you started, swallowing your emotions. “I couldn’t eat for a week. Simon had to come force me. I had to pack up all your clothes in the closet, give them to your mother. I had to go to your funeral, the funeral of a federal traitor. I had to see the man who killed you everyday in the hallway,” you spilled. Your voice felt fluid. “I had to..I had to tell Price I was getting better when I wasn’t. I had your drink every time I went to the bar. I haven’t had barbeque in months. I had to go on shitty first dates with people Soap set me up with. I slept in your flannel. I..all my plants died.”

Phil’s voice was quiet. He was pleading, lips wet.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” He tried to grab your hands. Ground you. You let him. You stared at him, breathing heavily, reliving every moment you had without him. “I’m sorry.”

“I can’t…I can’t do that again.”

“Me neither. Trust me.” You both were still covered in blood and dirt. You could feel the grime between your fingers. You could see the muck on his face, his perfect face. You put your hand on his cheek.

“Promise me.”

“I promise. I swear to God,” he whispered.

And you kissed him.

And things had never felt so right.

His lips were frenzied, desperate. He had never tasted something so good in his life. You were all he had been craving, every moment of every day. His hands were practically shaking as he touched you. Long lost was his Commander front. He was just Phil.

You hadn’t been so desperate for him since you first had him. Your anguish pushed forward onto his skin, holding him as close as you could get him. He tasted like beer and cologne and dirt.

Phil turned you on your heels so he could sit down on the bed. You straddled him, hands cupping his face, running through his hair. You were both too bulky for this kind of making out. You hadn’t stripped of any gear, still wearing weapons of mass destruction. You pulled away, to verbalize this, but he spoke first.

“Baby I need you. I need you,” he breathed. He kissed you chastly. “Please don’t stop.”

He used to hold back his pleading. He thought it made him look weak in front of you, unattractive. But he couldn’t do it now, when his defenses had been long shattered.

“We need to take all this off,” you said. You looked down into his eyes. They were so beautiful and needy that it hurt your chest. You kissed his lips again, as a promise. “We gotta take off the grenades at least.” He chuckled. He had forgotten all about that. You brushed his hair back, out of his face. “Phil,” you muttered. “Philllip Graves,” you mumbled, a borderline moan. He groaned in need.

“Quickly. Quicker than that.” You laughed. It was the first time you had heard your laugh in months. It was genuine and filled with life. It felt good. You slid off him and started to strip.

He studied you with such intense eyes it felt like you were the most beautiful woman in the world.

You almost couldn’t fall asleep. You traced his features with your gaze, even with his closed eyes. The scar on his cheek. You traced it lightly with your finger. His hair was still wet from the shower. You had both slipped and slid around the bathroom, limbs remaining intertwined. He had made it a point to always be starring or always be touching. You were his. You would never be anyone else's.

He had an arm lazily around your side. You had so much to worry about, so much to do. Were you technically behind enemy lines? What would happen when you woke up in the morning?

Phillip groaned and pulled you closer, smushing you against his chest.

“Woah there cowboy,” you whispered. He smiled, eyes still closed.

“You remember when you used to take my hat?” he asked fondly. You did. The cowboy hat rule. If you wear his hat, you ride the cowboy. You giggled, nodding against the pillow.

“I do.”

“We should do that again.”

“We can do whatever you want,” you told him. “Whatever you want.” He nodded.

“Go to sleep. I’ll figure it out in the mornin.” He put his chin on your head. “I got you.” You believed him.

You hadn’t had such a good sleep since he died, exhaustion over taking your body and forcing you into darkness.

#call of duty fanfiction #phillip graves x reader #Phillip graves imagines #Phillip graves x fem!reader

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afteriwake · 3 days ago

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Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah (A "Just Pieces On The Board" Story)

I absolutely adore headcanoning Darcy as Jewish, and as Hanukkah begins tomorrow at sunset, I want to do some Hanukkah fluff as well. I hope it's okay that her friends are celebrating with her even though they aren't Jewish. I'm not Jewish but I thought her family would like to make her holiday better.

Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah - Darcy's friends decide to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah with her.

READ @ AO3 | SERIES PAGE

“We’re going to have the best damn first night of Hanukkah for Darcy this year!” Jane said. “Besides. I have a pregnancy craving for latkes with applesauce.”

“Latkes with applesauce I can make!” Darcy said, her cheeks flushing as she surveyed her found family. Jane was there, Thor was there, Brunhilde was there and Loki was there. It was the first night of Hanukkah and they’d decked the apartment out in silver and blue ornaments and even given her a new menorah for the occasion. Well, all but Loki had decorated for the day; it had been his job to distract her.

“We have dreidels and we have reptile safe Hanukkah candles for Jörmungandr, and we just know you get overwhelmed with all the Christmas stuff. Last year we sucked at it, but this year we wanted to change things and celebrate with you,” Jane said. “Is that okay?”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m a practicing Jew for the most part,” Darcy said. “But really, thank you. Hanukkah is my favorite time of the year and this is the second year in a row I didn’t get to go home to celebrate.”

“Well, let’s get to work!” Thor said enthusiastically. “Darcy, tell us what to do.”

Soon the kitchen was a flurry of activity, as Darcy directed her friends in helping to make all the goodies from her childhood Hanukkahs. It was great to see her friends so invested in making her happy. The year before she’s been truly alone, as Loki had still been helping his brother take care of the Asgardian migration, and hadn’t shown up until New Year’s Eve. Jane had bought her a gift every night of Hanukkah, and she’d gone to the synagogue for the first time in ages, but things just hadn’t felt the same.

This year, however, just felt right.

When the food was done they served it up and Darcy taught them the intricacies of the dreidel and the other aspects of Hanukkah she loved so much. Then they lit the first candle of the menorah and exchanged gifts, with Darcy getting the lion’s share. How they had all gotten her perfect Hanukkah gifts she’d never know.

When it all settled down, Darcy settled in next to Loki to watch “Eight Crazy Nights” with the others. He’d been more introspective than jovial, and she wondered what was on his mind. “Hey,” she said quietly, reaching up to touch his face gently. “You okay, Loki?”

“I know so little about your religion,” he said. “I’m hoping to make it a point to learn.”

“Well, if we ever have any kids, either via magic or adoption, they’ll be Jewish because I’m Jewish,” she said. “I don’t really study the Torah or go to the synagogue except for the big holidays, but you’re welcome to come with me next time? We can go tomorrow, since I’m not expecting another big bash like tonight.”

“I’d like that,” he said, giving her a soft smile.

“Good. I’d like that too.” She shifted her position so her head was on his lap and she was stretched out on top of Brunhilde and Thor, with Jane sitting in the chair next to the sofa, nibbling at another latke. She took it all in and felt warm and happy. While the Avengers as a whole was one big happy family, this was her family, these four people who she’d never have met if Thor hadn’t been banished to Earth. She loved them all, and loved what they had done for her tonight, she thought as she turned to look at the menorah on her fireplace mantel. Her Hebrew was a little rusty, but she remembered her father’s favorite blessings for first times. “Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Haolam, shehechiyanu, v’kiy’manu, v’higianu lazman hazeh,” she said out loud.

“What does that mean?” Brunhilde asked, tilting her head. “I’m not familiar with Hebrew.”

“’Blessed are you, the Eternal our G-d, Ruler of the Universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this moment’,” Darcy said. “It’s a blessing for first times that my dad loved. I thought it was appropriate.”

“I think it’s great,” Jane said with a smile. “Maybe we can do this every night of Hanukkah?”

“Oh my goodness, I would love that!” Darcy said, sitting up. You guys are the best, seriously.” Jane got up and gave her a hug, and Darcy melted in it. How had she ever gotten so lucky to get this found family? She’d never know, but she was happy with them nonetheless, and that was all that mattered.

#darcy lewis #tasertricks #loki x darcy #hanukkah fic #fanfic #fanfiction #my stuff #jane foster #loki laufeyson #thor odinson #brunhilde

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overcaffeinated-aro · 5 months ago

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hey this is gonna sound weird but whats yr thoughts on correcting behaviors without yelling

ok so like. full disclosure I got like 4 hours of sleep and then spent my afternoon in an emergency dentist appt so I really hope I can make this make sense. I also have a lot of thoughts so I apologize if this one gets away from me

(also for context, this is about a post on children misbehaving or causing distractions in public, and parents causing an even bigger scene trying to correct their behavior. it should be the post immediately after this on my blog)

it got away from me, adding a cut

also just to start, there’s obv a difference between raising your voice to be heard/get attention, and screaming at a child who’s already in front of you while in public. there’s also a lot of space between the two. and I really don’t think there’s a lot of justification for most of it beyond strictly getting a child’s attention.

yelling or screaming at your child, especially in public, isn��t that much better than hitting them. it depends a bit on the age, but what’s getting communicated to the child in that moment is a lot less of what you’re actually saying when you yell and mostly just the intense feelings of fear and disempowerment that come with being cornered and punished, and in some cases publicly ridiculed. hell, you don’t even need to yell to do this. and depending on the parent, this may or may not be intentional, using humiliation as a method of trying to reinforce some kind of ‘lesson’ or discourage a behavior.

it was, in fact, a pillar of my mom’s parenting for many years. I know first-hand how much it can wreak a child’s self esteem, and can make them fearful of further violence from you, even without any other precedent. I started to have nightmares about being hit or kicked out, even knowing that my mom would never go that far, and even years after she stopped. She pretty effectively proved to me that at least in those moments I was beneath her, I didn’t deserve to be treated with dignity in front of others (especially in front of others, as she never yelled at me in private) including in front of family and my friends. it broke a lot of trust that I should have been able to have with her, and even now at 25 and having been moved out for 4 years there’s a lot of trust we have to rebuild in order to have a functional adult parent/child relationship.

this will not be the case for every child, but as an example: I was most frequently yelled at in public for austistic behaviors that I couldn’t or didn’t know how to control. what I needed was help, to be taught coping mechanisms, quieter or alternative ways to stim, and emotional regulation. being yelled at made me quiet, fearful, and full of shame. it appeared to fix the issue, but really only locked it away with my ability to feel and process emotions. but ofc your mileage may vary, everyone responds to trauma differently.

a lot of parents yell because they’re overwhelmed. my mom yelled because she has adhd, my behaviors were overstimulating, being in public/socializing was overstimulating, and she didn’t know how to cope. in fact once I grew up I taught her what adhd actually looks like, and helped her find resources that have greatly improved her life. This Is Still Not a Good Excuse. shit happens, parents have problems, but losing your cool at your child is not excusable. forcing your child to grow up fast enough to teach *you* emotional regulation is Not Good. as a parent, it is your job to be in a place where you can consistently and effectively be The Parent. if you aren’t there, it’s your job to recognize that and work on it!

finally, for the point that you were probably asking for: what can you do instead of yelling? what if your child won’t stop?

honestly, a parenting book will probably be a better help than I. I’ve taken 1 college course on developmental psychology and some scattered research over the years so I’m by no means an expert, or really even a hobbiest. but for what it’s worth, here’s my 2 cents:

work on yourself, especially especially emotional regulation. never take your frustration out on your child. 9/10 times your child is not trying to upset you. literally why would they do that, they depend on you for everything. even in cases when you child is trying to upset you or push back, it’s not really about You. they might need help with something, or not know how to communicate or deal with a problem. as a parent, it is in fact your job to be the bigger person.

once you have a child’s attention, anything you can communicate by yelling you can also communicate in a normal tone. for older children, it will probably be more effective to intervene just enough to stop the behavior, and then discuss the issue in private later. it’s important to be focused on solutions and what could be done better next time, not on punishments. there’s so much research showing that punishment and negative reinforcement doesn’t work.

I haven done an excessive amount of research, but from what I’ve seen so far I really like the ideas behind the Montessori method. it really strives to treat children as full individual people, and meet them where they’re at developmentally while doing it’s best to ask age-appropriate consent for everything applicable. Jessica out of the closet on youtube has some great videos on how she and her wife have been putting the method into practice with their own child, and even going into her own struggles and solutions with parenting while multiply disabled—and still refusing to compromise on the way she treats her child

and while I have this soapbox: parenting is not for everyone!! some people should not be parents, or teachers, or otherwise in a position of power over children. it’s a hard job. and, it really shouldn’t be done alone. even the most patient person will have trouble keeping their cool 24/7. it’s important to take breaks, and find ways to lean on the people or community in your lives. And, if you’re a community member who interacts with children, it’s still important to learn these skills! with any luck you’ll simply be another kind and trustworthy adult in a child’s life. but for some you may be a lifeline

#answered #petrichlorine #.txt #also just noting that I know that more and more research is finding evidence that autism and adhd are linked #and may in fact be the same thing #I for sure have adhd as well and I think my mom is also autistic. though she would never admit it #she actually insists that she has add and not adhd despite the fact that that’s an outdated diagnosis based on a misunderstanding of #what causes adhd and instead seperated it i to two different disorders based on symptoms BUT ITS FINE ITS WHATEVER #she definitely couldn’t have adhd bc she’s not ‘hyperactive’. like uhuh. sit still for 5 min and say that again #ANYWAYS #I made the distinction mostly because of the specific symptoms that clashed the most

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jankandjonch · 2 years ago

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Reasons for Waiting

This was requested by my sister. You can blame her for the pain. *Based off of Dorothea by Taylor Swift.

words: ~1000 content warnings: sad, friends to almost-lovers to strangers

_______________________________________________________

“Hey, honey?”

“Yes, Daniel?,” you huffed. He knew you didn’t like him calling you that in front of anyone. Let alone his whole family, and all of the Kiszka’s too. Not that they could hear, you’re definitely out of earshot and he’s speaking low and slow.

“Are you gonna miss me?,” he sounds hopeful, but still so sad and small.

“Of course I will, Danny. I’m going to miss you every second of every day. That’s not even a question,” your hand found his, tangling your fingers together.

He was the lucky one. He was going to have constant distractions, being on the road and traveling the world, being around his brothers and meeting millions of… girls. You’ll be stuck here, back home in Michigan. Waiting around for him. It’s not like you could ever move on.

“We were so close, weren’t we?,” he’s got tears in his eyes now, to match the ones in yours.

“And so, so far,” you let out an unamused laugh.

“So far from where we wanted to be, but we still had a good run, right?,” he brushed a tear off of his cheek with the back of his hand.

“We did. I guess it wasn’t really a run, though. Since you never pulled the trigger,” you dropped his hand from yours, instead favoring to tickle his side a bit to make him laugh, before wrapping your arm around his back.

“You didn’t either!,” he laughed, tears still streaming out of his eyes. He lets a beat of silence go by, just enjoying the feeling of your fingers as they find the hem of his shirt and skirt underneath it to touch his warm skin. “Long distance would be a really, really tough way to start a relationship, honey. I don’t think either one of us is strong enough for that.”

“I know, baby. I know.”

“I wanted to give it all to you, you know? I pictured us getting an apartment out in Saginaw. Working some dead end jobs, just to make a life together work. I never pictured this. I never thought the band would actually make it,” he’s crying in earnest now, you are too. Chests heaving for breath, clinging tighter onto each other. “I almost want to just..”

“Daniel Robert, don’t you ever say that. Music means so much to you, and I would never allow you to throw it all away for me,” you had a hand on his face, making him look into your eyes. Sharing just how much hurt was hovering between the two of you.

“I know,” he mumbles, dropping his face into your neck and taking a shaky breath. “Look, it doesn’t have to be forever, right? I’ll wait for you if you’ll wait for me. Me and the boys, we can go to Nashville and get the band really going. Make some good money, and I can afford to support us both with it. You can move down there with us,” he knows he’s dreaming, but damn does it feel good to have a sliver of hope somewhere in his heart.

“Yeah,” you smile softly against his forehead, knowing it was a farfetched dream too. “I’ll always wait for you, Dan.”

You knew you meant those words. It’s not that he didn’t mean his too, but you weren’t naive enough to think that him launching a rock n roll career was going to keep him humble and waiting. You knew he would do his best to keep in touch, for as long as possible. It’d be a month, maybe six, maybe a year. But it would fizzle out. He’d make new, interesting, shiny, musician friends. You’d keep him as close as possible for as long as you could, though. Vowing not to waste a moment.

It was four months, one week, and 4 days.

He started out FaceTiming you every day, showing you his moving in progress into his and Sam’s apartment. Taking you grocery shopping with him so you could remind him what ingredients he needed to make that stir fry you always made him that he liked so well. Propping his phone up in the studio, just to feel your presence while he and the boys played, something they all seemed to enjoy — waving at you, asking you how you felt about a certain lyric, and of course Joshua asking you to take his side in every argument.

It shortened about a month in, to texts every day, but FaceTimes maybe once a week. Then those turned into empty promises of calls, and eventually around month three it was only sporadic texts. Albeit they were lengthy, filling you in on days or weeks worth of information at a time. Month four was when you knew it was going to end soon. You had seen the video a mutual friend posted on instagram, Danny in the back corner laughing and play fighting with a girl. You weren’t jealous, not even sad. You had known it was going to happen.

Above all else, you were ready for the end. To be able to finally let out the breath you had been holding onto for all these years. The boy that was never yours, who almost was, only when it was too late. One week and 4 days later you got text, assumably a drunken one.

“Just wanted to say thanks for always being there. You made my roots something to be proud of. I’ll carry a piece of you with me forever.”

You found yourself smiling as you cried, mourning the death of the friendship you had with him, but feeling so, so incredibly proud of the man you watched him become.

“If you’re ever tired of being known for who you know, you know you’ll always know me. I love you, Daniel.”

#danny #danny wagner #daniel wagner #daniel r wagner #daniel robert wagner #gvf #greta van fleet #danny wagner angst #danny wagner blurb #gvf angst #gvf blurb #greta van fleet angst #greta van fleet blurb

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cartoonfanaticmonsterrobotalien · 1 year ago

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Solar Opposites: Unleashed Episode #10: “Life at The Party Pt. 1”

One fine afternoon at lunch time, Amy Wheeler is sitting with her friend Suzy. But, she is distracted by something

Suzy: Is these people eat these, it’s considered feeding this stuff to prisoner noticing Amy eating school burger How could you eat that? It’s like a meat from another planet.

Amy: But I like it.. Look at her. cuts to Monica Waybright heading out invitations Miss Popularity!

Suzy: I know right?

Sonya starts to overhear the conversation while eating lunch with Jesse, Monica M., Stacy G and Parker.

Sonya: Huh?

Suzy: sigh Oh come she’s just hamming it up because of tomorrow. You be Miss Popularity too if your dad rented a water park for your birthday party

Amy: Birthday Party?

Suzy: Uh, yeah. The whole school’s talking about it.

Amy: What do you mean?

Suzy: Yeah. The invitations she stuffed in her lockers. Like the ones those nerds have over there

The scene then shows Jesse looking at the invitation while eating lunch with Stacy G and blushing once Stacy G feeds Jesse a white chocolate covered strawberry.

Suzy: Didn’t she give you one?

Amy: I don’t get it. I’m smart. I’m funny. And I’m pretty

Suzy: And modest too.

Amy: Ugh. This is the worst day ever! I mean they all pluck all around her and not me

Suzy: Believe me. Popularity is an all time job. She’ll be working overtime at her party.

Amy has an idea.

Amy: You know just once I would want to throw Waybright out of the spotlight. I like to do something Monica could never do.

Suzy: Yeesh. I think you did.

Amy: What do you mean?

Suzy: You ate a cafeteria hamburger…

Hearing this Amy gaps in horror and starts freaking out.

Amy: Oh my God! Why didn’t you tell me?! This is gonna screw up my DNA runs off

Suzy sighs. But then, Amy crashes into another student, who crashes into a table with fancy food flying on the kids, then a cook slipped on pudding and then the pudding and a carton of milk was thrown on Amy as she screams. The kids clap and cheer and applauds her. Human Jesse tries not to laugh.

Monica W.: comes up to her Nice show Wheeler. I love it if you can do an encore at my party. puts invitation in between Amy’s boobs

As soon as Monica W. leaves, Amy growls as she crumbles up the invitation.

Amy: to herself You do know of course that this means war….

Meanwhile, Super Shlorpian Korvo flies into the Wheelers’ house and turns back into his normal self while wiping off the blood from his face as he takes a deep breath and puts his contact glasses back on. He then turns into his human self and walks downstairs.

Human Korvo: takes a deep breath I hope it goes well..

Then she sees Diane waiting for Mrs. Goodfellow and her assistant Maureen as they got out of the car.

Diane: Thank you for coming. I am so glad my coworker Korey and I can discuss our monster epidemic program.

Mrs. Goodfellow: M-hmm

Human Korvo: It is an honor, not gonna lie.

Diane: Um when the county supervisors told us you were interested.

Mrs. Goodfellow: Oh interested is much too strong of a word, Mrs. Wheeler.

Diane: Oh yes

Mrs. Goodfellow: The program you seem to run is too expensive. I don’t give my money to just anybody.

Human Korvo looks away nervously.

Maureen: Th county supervisors were at first skeptical too, Korey. But, Korey has shown us some stats-

Mrs. Goodfellow: Statics don’t interested me, Maureen, you can’t do what they do and quite frankly I’d be frank.

Diane: I see why pull punches now.

Human Korvo sighs.

Mrs. Goodfellow: I don’t feel like you represented the proper image in the city. Your family is a bit too unorthodox

Human Korvo: Um…

Diane: That is a lie. I-

Then, a monster turns back into a human fell from the ground while Mundane Terry hides and turns back into his normal Shlorpian self and then turns human without anyone looking.

Mrs. Goodfellow: Oh my goodness. What happened?

Human Korvo: to himself Terry… Oh must be another monster problem taken care off sighs lovingly knowing what Terry did plus our family as perfect as it should be

Diane: Oh yeah. Totally.

Human Korvo: Okay um, so um we’ll talk later bye. sighs lovingly about Terry

Mrs. Goodfellow: Very well.

Human Korvo heads inside and smirks upon seeing Human Terry cleaning off some blood from his mouth.

Human Korvo: So, what have you been upto, mister macho Shlorpian?

Human Terry: Oh not much. Just kicking ass.

Human Korvo chuckles. Phoebe then comes in.

Human Terry: Okay. finish cleaning off the blood of his neck

Phoebe: So, how was your days?

Human Korvo: Oh mine was good.

Human Terry: Yeah. My mine was just kicking monster ass and-

Suddenly, Human Yumyulack, Human Jesse and Sonya comes running screaming in joy as they head upstairs to their bedroom.

Parker: comes in Oh hey Korvo.

Amy comes in while Diane comes inside as well

Human Korvo: Hi, Parker.

Amy: Hey mom…

Diane: Oh honey, what’s wrong?

Amy sighs sadly.

Diane: Oh honey tell me what happened…

As Amy sighs and is ready to tell her mom everything, the kids head to their bedrooms while laughing in joy and getting excited.

Human Jesse: I bet the Sea Kingdom is showing mermaids!

Human Yumyulack: I bet they have awesome giant water slides!

Sonya: YEAH!

But then, Sonya looked at the invitation and grows scared upon a seeing Kraken behind the sea castle on the poster.

Human Yumyulack: Aw don’t worry, they don’t be showing krakens this year Sonya.

Sonya: Hopefully…

Human Jesse: Yeah. I know how much they scare you.

Sonya: gulps nervously M-hmm.

The scene cuts to Human Korvo heading in his lab while working on something with Parker. Then, Amy comes in.

Amy: Hey Mr. Opposites? Can we talk?

Human Korvo: Sure.

Amy: Now that Mrs. Goodfellow will be here tomorrow, I haven’t seen anything that unexpected. Now my mom is calling that woman to beg for mercy.

Human Korvo: Sure…

Human Korvo sighs as Parker starts something.

Human Korvo: Yeah. I’ll be doing the same favor later tonight. So uh, what do you wanna talk about? What’s the problem?

Any fidgets a little

Amy: Me. My life.

Human Korvo: What kind of problem?

Amy: Monica Waybright’s having this awesome party and everyone is invited.

Human Korvo: You’re not going, are you? I mean if…

Amy: I-I know what you mean.. last time I went to swim party I almost took six life guards with me

Human Korvo: M-hmm. So basically you can’t swim?

Amy: But I am going to this swim party to prove a point. I can’t be humiliated.

Human Korvo: Aw who cares about that stuff? I’m sure you have some other talents? You do great?

Amy: I hope so

As Human Korvo gets to work….

Amy: That’s why I need your help. What happened to that stuff you were making for the cruise line at the labratory. To keep people from drowning?

Human Korvo grows shock while Parker grows confused.

Parker: What?

Human Korvo: Shit.

Amy: You know that cream you were talking about two months ago

Human Korvo: Yes? What about it?

Amy: Hmm?

Human Korvo: Oh yeah. The fish cream. It has a DNA stimulate to sea mammals to awaken some kind of DNA in a human that turns them into something. But we had to keep it hidden because of the epidemic.

But then Human Korvo stops talking as he grows shock.

Human Korvo: Oh now what this is about? No! You cannot borrow that cream! I haven’t tested it yet! It might be dangerous!

Amy: But-

Human Korvo: I am so sorry but I think it’s best if you leave…

Amy growls. As Amy leaves with Diane, the kids look out the window as they grow concern about his. Later, that night, Amy sneaks in to the lab, she got on a labtop and prepares to transfer the cream in small container. Then, Sonya comes in and gasp in shock.

Sonya: What the?

Amy: Oh hey Opposites. I believe you are excited because I am about to take the fish cream that will totally kick Monica Waybright’s ass tomorrow

Sonya: Put that back.

Amy: Pfft. Fuck no. And you are not gonna try to stop me!

Sonya: What? No I am not! I’m telling Korv- I mean Korey what you are doing, he’s gonna be upset

Amy growls.

Amy: Or I will tell Bobby Rockwell the time you squirted milk at your nose when you grow so into him

Sonya gasp and then backs up what she said a bit.

Sonya: Then again it’s all yours

Amy smirks. Amy then uploads the cream as it pairs in a container. Then she puts the lid on the container as she leaves. Sonya looks nervous as she watches Amy leave. Then, the Pupa comes in and sees a piece of the cream as he splash his hands on it. The next day, Human Korvo and Human Terry drives the kids to the swim park where the party is at. Then, the kids got out the car.

Human Terry: Have a great time!

Human Yumyulack, Human Jesse and Sonya: Thank you Terry and Korvo!

Human Korvo: Bye! We love you! Stay safe!

As Human Korvo and Human Terry drive away, Human Korvo can’t help but seduce his husband.

Human Korvo: So after my meeting with Mrs. Goodfellow, you wanna have a little fun later?

Human Terry bites his lip.

Human Terry: Oh ho fuck yeah, you beautiful blue stud.

Human Korvo parks the car in a parking lot and the two husbands makeout but unknown to them, gills appear on Human Pupa. Back at the water, Amy watches the rest of peers having fun and then sees Monica jumping off of the board and dives into the water. A perfect 10.

Amy: scoffs Showoff.

Monica W.: Hey Wheeler, hope you have a nice swim! Better not wait for a lifeguard.

Amy mimics Monica W. quietly as Monica leaves. Then, she looks at the cream. Back at the Solar Opposites house, Phoebe was getting tea and scones while Human Korvo and Diane were talking with Mrs. Goodfellow while Maureen writes down in her journal. Mrs. Goodfellow takes a sip of her coffee.

Human Korvo: So glad we finally get to talk to you. How is things going?

Mrs. Goodfellow: sighs Not good.

As they started talking, Human Terry then sees medals and the logo of the water park on Maureen’s purse as he grow shock, but then grows suspicious when he notice familiar in Maureen’s eyes. Then, he heard Pupa screaming as he head upstairs

Human Terry: Pupa?! Pupa?! What’s wrong?!

But then, he gasp in horror upon seeing the Pupa, now with fish gills and scales as the Pupa starts crying.

Human Terry: Shit! I gotta tell Korvo!

But then, he hears a dolphin chirping and looks at the computer where he sees the DNA and realizes someone broke in.

Human Terry: What the? Who broke in?!

Then the scene cuts to Amy putting on the cream as it makes some kind of motion in her as she sighs in relief

Amy: It’s showtime

Then, Amy heads up on the board as everyone looks up and sees her

Monica W.: Be careful Wheeler! That’s a big drop!

Amy jumps off the board as water splashes on everyone and then she starts doing moves dolphins do.

Teens: Whoa

Sonya sees Amy and gasp.

Sonya: Oh no.

Sonya then had enough and decided to go talk to her siblings. Back with Human Korvo, Mrs. Goodfellow is still talking to him.

Mrs. Goodfellow: I’m afraid our deal might be cut off because I heard there was some kind of cream you made two months ago during the pandemic

Human Korvo: What?!

Diane: What are you talking about?

Mrs. Goodfellow: I heard about from the science community. I heard that cream wasn’t tested and is heard to be dangerous.

Human Korvo: I know it hasn’t been tested but-

Human Janiz comes in while Human Terry grabs her and whispers something in her ear. She grows terrified as they approach Human Korvo.

Human Korvo: What’s going on?

Human Terry: whispering We need you for a second quick!

Human Korvo: Uh, I’ll be right back!

Human Korvo leaves and then Human Terry and Human Janiz grows nervous and shows them Aqua Pupa.

Mrs. Goodfellow: Ugh, make it quick.

Human Korvo leaves and then Human Terry and Human Janiz grows nervous and shows them Aqua Pupa.

Human Korvo: screams Oh my God! My baby!

Human Korvo starts breathing in and out.

Human Terry: Someone broke in and took the cream! And one of the samples must’ve gotten on Pupa!

Human Korvo: Oh my God! Amy! She took the cream! I don’t know how! But we got to stop her!

Human Janiz suddenly get a phone call from Sonya.

Human Janiz: Hello?

Sonya: Auntie Janiz! It’s Sonya! Is Korvo with you?

Human Janiz: Oh yes? Why?!

Sonya: Put him on! Please!

Human Janiz: Okay okay!

Human Janiz hands Human Korvo the phone.

Human Korvo: Hello? Sonya is that you?

Sonya: Yes! It’s me! Something crazy happened!

Human Korvo: What is it?! Tell me?! Did Amy took the cream

Sonya: Yes! She did! She put it on!

Human Korvo: What?! Oh my God!

We then cut to the water park where Human Jesse and Human Yumyulack are having fun.

Human Jesse: sliding down the slide Woo-hoo! This is awesome!

Human Yumyulack: sliding down the waterslide BEST! DAY! EVER!

Suddenly Sonya runs up to them.

Sonya: GUYS! GUYS! WE GOTTA STOP AMY!

Human Jesse: What? Why?

Human Yumyulack: What did she do?

Sonya: She took the fish cream!

Human Jesse and Human Yumyulack gasp.

Human Jesse: Oh no! We have to stop her!

The scene then cuts back to everyone cheering for Amy.

Monica W.: What is wrong with you people?! This is my party! You should all be adoring me!

Monica W. then sees the cream, reads and grins as she puts it on. After feeling something happening to her in her body, she smiles and heads up and jumps off of the diving board and into the water where she starts to do the same abilities Amy does. Monica W. cackles evilly.

Amy: quietly Bring it on!

Then, the scene cuts to Human Korvo, Human Terry, Phoebe, Human Janiz and Human Aqua Pupa, in a fish bowl heading to the sea park.

Human Korvo: Oh I hope we’re not too late!

Human Aqua Pupa starts splashing in the water while laughing. Phoebe sighs.

Phoebe: Oh I hope the kids are alright! I still can’t believe Amy would do that

Human Korvo suddenly snaps.

Human Korvo: GRRR! I SWEAR! IF SHE DOES ANYTHING TO HUMILATE MY KIDS, I SWEAR TO GOD-

Human Terry gasps and soothes his husband.

Human Terry: stops the car It’s okay it’s okay. Shhh…. I’m here…

Human Korvo feels his body changing.

Human Korvo: turning back into his Shlorpian self Oh no! Not now! Terry quick! Get me somewhere to hide!

Human Terry: On it!

Luckily, the adults made it to the theme park and Korvo heads inside a private restroom so no one can see him transform while Human Terry, Phoebe and Human Janiz heads in there, while Human Janiz carries the fish bowl with Human Aqua Pupa in it. The scene cuts back to Amy and Monica as they head up to the surface gasp for air.

Monica: You wanna go for another round, Wheeler?

Amy: Hell yeah I do!

Human Janiz: HEY!

Popular Guy: Hey Monica! Let me help you up!

But as Monica grabs the hot guy’s hand, her skin suddenly shed which made everyone gasp in horror

Popular Guy: Aw! God! Look everyone! Monica’s shedding! throws skin to the ground

Mr. O’Finscales, the owner of the Sea Park sees the girls and hides behind the wall.

Mr. O’Finscales: Very interesting.

Amy: What’s the matter?

Monica looks at her hand, that that into a fish scale hand and screams in horror. Human Yumyulack, Human Jesse and Sonya sees the girls and gasp as they help them out of the water but then, Amy and Monica W.’s hands them turn into fish scale hands, for a mermaid.

Human Terry: Kids!

Human Jesse: Korvo!

Sonya: Where is he?! Where’s Korvo?!

Phoebe: He’s in the restroom! Long story!

Human Janiz: Come on! We gotta go!

Amy: Terry! Help Us!

Monica W.: What’s happening?!

Then, suddenly, the girls’ legs turn into mermaid fins as they gasp in horror.

Human Jesse: Awesome!

Monica W.: Somebody do something!

Human Terry: I think it’s already been done

Human Yumyulack: Shit!

Amy: Guys!

Human Terry: We gotta get you outta here!

Human Jesse: Amy?!

The family then gets the girls out here while panicking. Then, they got in the truck but are waiting for Korvo

Human Jesse: Aw man, where is he?

Human Janiz: Where's Korvo?!

Then, Human Korvo comes out after calming down and is overjoyed to see the kids alright.

Human Korvo: Kids!

Human Yumyulack, Human Jesse and Sonya: Korvo!

Human Korvo hugs his kids while weeping.

Human Korvo: I am so happy you are okay

Human Jesse: Us too Korvo. hugs him close

Sonya giggles.

Human Yumyulack: Now come on! Drive Terry!

Human Terry: On it!

Human Terry steps on the gas pedals and the cars starts speeding up while Mr. O’Finscales follow them in his truck. Mr. O'Finscales smirks. Then, a few minutes later, the Solars made it home and have put Amy and Monica W. in a jacuzzi while Human Korvo leaves. Then, he looks at Diane.

Diane: Bad news. Mrs. Goodfellow canceled the partnership

Human Korvo: What?! Why?!

Diane: Well…

Then a doorbell was heard as Human Korvo comes up to get it.

Human Korvo: Hello? sees Mr. O’Finscales What the? Gordon O’Finscales?

Mr. O’Finscales: Hello, old friend.

Human Korvo: Uh, what the fuck are you doing at our house?

Mr. O’Finscales: I am here to make a deal.

Human Korvo: What deal? crosses his arm

Mr. O’Finscales: A deal that involves your husband.

Human Korvo: Uh, excuse me?

Human Terry: Honey, what’s going on?

Human Korvo tries to lie.

Human Korvo: I have no idea what you are talking O’Finscales! What is this bullshit?!

Human Terry: Uh yeah, why kind of bullshit is this?

Mr. O’Finscales: You'll see.

Human Terry: Uh, if you’re asking me a shady deal that might endanger innocent lives, then no thank you.

Phoebe: What’s going on?

Human Terry: Nothing.

Mr. O’Finscales: Aw come on. I know you have mermaids in there! Think about they could make profits!

Human Korvo: We don't have anything! Now go!

Mr. O’Finscales: Oh come on! Think about it! I’m sure we can make-

Human Korvo slams the door in O’Finscales’ face as he and Human Terry sigh in relief and kiss. The husbands make out as they moan. Meanwhile…

Amy: Ugh! This jacuzzi is so crammed!

Monica W.: Oh shut the fuck up you sea cow! splashed water at Amy

Amy: Chicken of the sea! splashed water at Monica

Human Jesse comes outside.

Monica: Siren Whore! splashed water at Amy

Amy: Oh you wanna go?!

Monica W.: Bring it you stupid ugly skank!

The girls scream in fury as they continue to splash water at each other while the Human Replicants watch in dismay.

Human Yumyulack: Yep. Everyone would definitely want to see this

Human Jesse: Oh, for God's sake.

But, as the girls keep splashing, the water spreads around the floor when suddenly a vile appears on the doorstep. Then, Sonya comes out with snacks.

Sonya: Okay guys! Got you two some- slips on the water as the container containing the cream fell on the floor and gasp Oh no!

Sonya then slips on the clip and then steps on the vile combining with the cream as she screams and falls into the jacuzzi, which made Monica W. and Amy stop fighting and scream in horror.

Amy: Oh my God! screams

Monica W.: Help! Blood! screams

The grown ups hear Amy and Monica W. screaming and heads outside.

Human Korvo: Whoa whoa whoa! Calm the fuck down! What the fucking hell is going on here?!

Amy: TAKE A WILD FUCKING GUESS!

Sonya pops out while trying to swim up to the surface but starts drowning.

Sonya: KORVO! TERRY! HELP! I’M HURT! HELP!

Human Terry: SONYA!

Human Korvo: HANG ON SONYA! DADDY’S COMING!

Human Korvo jumps into the water.

Human Terry: I’M COMING TOO KORVY jumps in the water

Human Korvo and Human Terry pulls Sonya out of the water.

Human Korvo: It’s okay Sonya I got you.

Human Terry: does cpr by pushing Sonya’s stomach with his hand, then he does it with his mouth which caused Sonya to cough out water and awaken

Human Jesse: Sonya!

Human Terry blushes at seeing how sexy Korvo's hair is when it's wet. Human Korvo then shakes his hair back and forth which made Human Terry blush even more, then they heard Sonya’s groans.

Sonya: Korvo? Terry?

Human Terry: Sonya!

Human Korvo: Sonya! hugs Sonya Oh baby we were so worried about you!

Human Terry brushes a strand of hair behind Human Korvo's ear and flirts with him.. Sonya giggles as Human Korvo kisses her on the cheek

Human Terry: Y’know I do love it when you hair gets all wet Korey

Human Korvo blushes and gets flustered.

Human Korvo: Wow. You have so turned on. Terry, come here you big sexy hunk

The two husbands then makeout while holding Sonya in their arms carefully.

Human Jesse: Come on! Let’s get Sonya to the hospital….

Human Korvo: Oh right!

Later at the hospital, the doctor is helping tidy up Sonya’s foot while wrapping a bandage on it

Doctor: There we go

Sonya: Thanks.

Human Korvo: Thank you for helping our daughter? Is she gonna be okay?

Doctor: I’m sure she will. She just need to rest her feet while letting it heal for a bit. Anyway, she is gonna be fine

Human Korvo: Thank God.

Human Terry: Come on kids let’s go home.

The family then heads out of the hospital while Human Terry carries Sonya as he looks at her in concern.

Human Terry: Hey honey. You feeling okay?

Sonya: Not really...

Human Korvo: Don’t worry honey. You’ll feel better once we get home and you get to rest. I’m sure the pain will go away. Now let’s get you home. kiss Sonya on the forehead

Sonya giggles. Later that night, Sonya starts growling in her sleep like some kind of animal. She then starts seeing visions of ocean in the fast motion with sea creatures and sea mammals swimming around. The next morning, Sonya wakes up as she yawns.

Sonya: What a weird dream...

Suddenly, Yumyulack and Jesse wakes up and gasp in horror after seeing Sonya.

Sonya: What?

Yumyulack: Sonya! Your face! Your ears!

Sonya: What about them?

Jesse gets out a mirror and it shows reflection of Sonya, with the colors of Sparkling Mermaid ice cream colors gills on her face and her ears have turn into kraken ears. Sonya screams.

Korvo: comes in the room Sonya! What’s wrong?!

Korvo sees Sonya's face and ears and faints.

Terry: comes on the room Oh my God! Sonya! What the fuck happened to you?!

Sonya: I...I don't know!

Korvo: Hey hey hey! Don’t worry stay calm down! Just hide the effects at school and Terry and I will figure out what is wrong with you! Just go have a nice day school and stay the course! Everything is gonna be okay Sonya! I promise!

Sonya snaps.

Sonya: No it is not! It not gonna be okay! These girls have ruined my life! breaks down in tears

Terry: Oh Sonya...

Korvo and Terry put their arms around Sonya as they started to comfort her.

Terry: Shh…

Sonya weeps a little.

Sonya: I'm just a freak...that's all I'll ever be.

Korvo: Oh I don’t think you’re a freak. I still think you’re a beautiful girl on the inside. It’s nothing to be afraid of you. You just have to hide your appearances in the meantime okay?

Sonya: Okay...

Korvo and Terry and the Replicants put their arms around Sonya as she continues to weep a little.

Korvo: Shh… there there Sonya… it’ll be okay…

Sonya: How do you know things will be okay Korvo?

Korvo: Because, I am coming up with a cure to help you! And trust me! This will work!

Sonya: Okay.

Sonya hugs Korvo as he laughs.

Jesse: Okay but before we go to school…

Later at school, Sonya is now wearing ear muffs and a scarf to cover her gills while walking to class with Human Yumyulack and Human Jesse.

Human Jesse: Okay, now let’s make sure no one can see Sonya: Got it!

The three siblings then head inside class. Then, Sonya sees Bobby and starts blushing Sonya giggles. Then, the Stacies came and slammed her desk

Stacy H: Oh my lard. Is Opposites seriously staring at Bobby?

Sonya: Uh no. blushes nervously

Stacy K: What a loser.

Stacy F: I know right?

Human Jesse: Leave her alone!

Human Yumyulack: Yeah! You three bitches leave our sister alone!

Stacy K: Make us Opposites!

Human Yumyulack growls. But then takes a deep breath upon realizing his stress emotions will cause to transform. Then, Sonya snaps her pencil in her anger as she growls. Human Jesse is shocked.

Sonya: Then why don’t you take a hike you skank?

Ms. Perez and gasp upon seeing what happens to Sonya’s face and ears. Ms. Perez walks up to the Stacies.

Ms. Perez: What are you three doing to your classmates?!

Stacy H: Nothing!

Human Jesse: They're making fun of Sonya.

Stacy K: Shut up you skank! punches Human Jesse in the nose as the kids gasp

Human Jesse starts crying as Human Yumylack comforts her. Sonya then finally snaps and growls and throws Stacy K to the desk which surprised Ms. Perez, Principal Cooke and Miss Frankie and the others kids.

Stacy K: AAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Stacy F: What the fuck is your problem?!

Sonya: LEAVE MY BIG SISTER ALONE YOU MEANIES!

Miss Frankie: Uh oh

Principal Cooke: Oh shit! Something is definitely wrong!

Human Jesse and Human Yumyulack try to hold Sonya back.

Ms. Perez: Okay that’s it Stacies! Principal Cooke’s office now!

Stacy G gasp and comes up to Human Jesse.

Stacy G: Baby! What happened?!

Human Jesse: tearfully I got punched in the nose!

Stacy G: holds Human Jesse’s face as she cleans it with a clothe Shh… it’s okay. I’m here…

Human Jesse blushes and giggles. The two girls kiss and then Ms. Perez comes up with a solution.

Ms. Perez: Okay. I think it’s best if you guys take your sister home and go someplace like on your rooftop and figure out the problem

Human Yumyulack, Human Jesse and Sonya nod. The three siblings then head home. Later on the rooftop on the Solar’ house, Yumyulack gets a scanner out and Sonya is feeling nervous

Sonya: Are you sure this can figure out what is wrong with me

Human Yumyulack: Of course. We just need a scanner.

Jesse: Here you go

Yumyulack: gets the scanner Now hold still sis

Yumyulack activates the scanner. The scanner then scans all over Sonya’s body. But then, horrifying results came as Yumyulack gasped in horror.

Jesse: What is Yumbear?

Sonya: What are the results?!

Yumyulack: You're...you're...faints

Jesse got out the scanner and gasped

Sonya: What is it Jesse?

Jesse: You're half-kraken!

Sonya gasp in horror as she starts having a panic attack like Mei when she found out 4*Town is the same night as the ritual

Sonya: NO! A HALF-KRAKEN?! A HALF-KRAKEN?! WHAT?! breaths in and out frantically

Jesse: Sonya, chill. It's okay.

Sonya: No it isn’t! I can’t be half kraken! I’ll lose control! But oh my god! I’m gonna hurt people! No no no! breathes in and out frantically

Suddenly…

Aidan: Hey, Baxter!

Sonya’s eyes suddenly starts glowing the color of the Mermaid Sparkle ice cream and growls while Yumyulack and Jesse privately turns back into their human forms without anyone looking.

Jayden: What are you doing?! We’re filming here ever since Mark left us for you!

Aidan: to Human Yumyulack Don't think we forgot about why you took Mark away from us!

Human Jesse: Buzz off jerkface! We’re busy!

Human Yumyulack: He left you guys because you were dicks all the time and that he loved me.

Mark sees what is happening with the other kids and comes up to them. He then grow upset over what the headphone guys are doing to his boyfriend and his sisters.

Katie: Oh snap!

Gerald: What are you gonna say that, Aiden?

Jayden: You want us to leave you three alone?! Then get your ass down there now!

Human Jesse: Fuck this filming! And fuck you guys!

Sonya growls.

Mark: Guys leave my boyfriend and his sisters alone!

Aidan: Stay out of this, traitor!

Jayden: What is your deal?!

Human Yumyulack: Shove your deal up your ass, Aidan, Braiden and Jayden!

The kids: Oooh! Snap!

Aidan: FINE! GET OUT OF HERE! GO BACK TO YOUR PSYCHO NANNY AND YOUR FUCKING CRAZY DADS YOU CUNTS!

Sonya finally snaps. Sonya roars and pounces on Aidan.

Sonya: GRRRR! Take it back! Don’t talk to my family like that you stupid jerk!

Human Yumyulack: Sonya!

Human Jesse: You’re hurting him!

Sonya: AAAH! I HATE YOU! I HATE-

Human Terry: offscreen SONYA! STOP!

Then, Human Korvo, Human Terry, Human Janiz and Phoebe comes out.

Human Korvo: What the fuck is going on here?

Sonya snaps out of her rage.

Aidan: crying I’m sorry. Just get the fuck of me… please…

Sonya gasps. The kids, except for Mark and Bobby, backs away from her in fear. Sonya looks down at her hands as she becomes terrified over what she has done. Later….

Aidan’s Mom: I can’t believe, you would let your daughter do this!

Aidan’s Dad: Do you understand what she did to my son, huh?

Phoebe: I am sorry. She's never been like this before.

Aidan’s mom starts crying while holding her son’s face.

Aidan’s Dad: No no I don’t wanna fucking hear anymore of your apologies okay?!

Human Korvo: We don’t know what came over her. Sorry again….

Aidan's Mom: She is a fucking animal!

As they left, Human Korvo looks at the kids and it’s appear he was going to them and got mad. The kids squint in fear, but as they open the eyes, Human Korvo went past them and is actually approaching Amy and Monica W. in fury.

Human Korvo: I can’t believe you girls would do this to her!

Amy: It wasn't my fault! Monica started it-

Monica W.: We would never do anything to her!

Sonya: What?! gets stopped by Human Korvo

Human Korvo: I knew you were trouble! Putting all those thoughts into Sonya’s head. Messing with her around. Now she is infected, going savage she attack a defenseless boy! You think this is a fucking joke?! Didn’t I tell how dangerous the cream was?!

Monica W.: But-

Amy: We’re sorry… we didn’t mean to… I just wanted to show off Monica at the sea kingdom-

Human Korvo: SEA KINGDOM?! YOU BLACKMAIL MY DAUGHTER FOR A RIDICULOUS TEENAGE COMPETITION?!

Human Korvo's eyes turn aquamarine.

Amy: No! Sonya wanted to-

Human Korvo: Don’t you dare try to blame her! eyes turn back to normal Sonya is a good girl! And you took advantage of her!

Amy: No we didn't!

Monica W.: Sonya, tell them!

Sonya grows scared as she looks at Human Korvo, who looks at her in concern. But after being upset over being blackmailed by Amy, turns away and hugs her father.

Amy: What?!

Monica W.: Dude… sighs sadly

Human Korvo: Come on, Sonya.

Sonya looks down sadly as Human Korvo held out his hand.

Human Korvo: Let’s go…

Sonya takes Human Korvo’s hand and sniffles. The family drives away while Amy and Monica W. watches sadly. Sonya looks down with tears falling down her eyes while Human Terry strokes her hair softly to comfort her.

Human Terry: Ssh…ssh. You’re okay.

Sonya then starts crying as Human Jesse and Human Yumyulack and Human Pupa comforts her.

Human Jesse: Oh sis…

Human Yumyulack: We’re so sorry…

Sonya: It’s my fault.

Human Terry: What do you mean honey?

Sonya: I think I’m turning into a half monster… looks down at her hands that have turn into kraken hands I don’t think I should go to school

Human Terry: Don’t worry… you don’t have to… your father and I will figure out a way to fix this… I promise… kiss her on the forehead while Sonya sniffles

Human Korvo smiles but then it turns into a sad expression. Back with Monica W. and Amy, the girls are asleep in the jacuzzi, suddenly a shirt drops at the floor. Then, Amy hears a man cleaning his throat and looks up in shock as she gasp. It’s Mr. O’Finscales.

Mr. O’Finscales: Hello girls…

The scene then fades to something pouring in an excluder in the ship’s lab while Korvo is asleep on the keyboard with a blanket on him. Terry and Phoebe came in with Phoebe putting down a cup of coffee next to Korvo while Terry kiss Korvo on the forehead that wakes him up.

Korvo: Mmm, Terry?

Terry: Good morning my sweet sleeping peepy. kiss Korvo on the cheek

Korvo smiles and the two husbands makeout. AISHA then came.

AISHA: What up guys?!

Korvo: I just finish making the antidote. Luckily, it will reverse the effects. Oh Pupa?

Pupa giggles as he comes in. Pupa then jumps in a water tank as he laughs and splashes water.

Korvo: sing-songy Hold still!

Korvo pours the antidote into the water as it turns Pupa back into a normal pupa as he giggles

Terry: Pupa! Oh come here you sweet adorable bubble guppy! Did you have fun in the water?!

Pupa: giggles

Korvo smiles lovingly at his husband.

Korvo: kiss Terry on the cheek Now to check the details on the girls! checks the details on Amy, Monica and Sonya Okay. Amy and Monica are easy to fix, now check for Sonya… sees the details and gasp Oh no! No!

Terry: What? What is it?! What’s wrong?!

Phoebe: Korvo!

Korvo: Sonya must’ve stepped on another monster vile combined with cream! It’s now a permanent life source! She’s half-kraken now!

Terry: Shit!

Phoebe: gasp Oh my God! We better hurry on the girls!

Korvo: Don’t worry! As long as Amy and Monica are still on the jacuzzi, we might be able to pull this off.

But later, Sonya came out with breakfast for the girls, only to see them gone as she drops the tray and heads off to warn the others. Later, the family comes out and gasp as they look around for clues.

Human Jesse: See anything?

Human Korvo: Nope!

Human Yumyulack: Not yet! Keep looking

Suddenly, Human Terry sees a shirt. He reads it and growls as his eyes glow orange, because he now knows who took the girls.

Human Korvo: Terry? What is it?!

Human Terry: growling Look! shows the family the shirt

Human Korvo gasps. Then, the rest of the family looks at the shirt and gasp.

Human Yumyulack: Oh shit! The girls have been kidnapped and taken the same park we went for Monica’s party!

Human Jesse: Oh shit!

Human Korvo starts breathing in and out.

Phoebe: calms down human Korvo with a comfort hand on his shoulder We gotta stop him guys!

Then, Human Terry starts growling as his finger tips starts turning black.

Human Yumyulack: Right after we calm down Terry!

But it’s too late because Human Terry turns back into his Shlorpian form and turns into his Mundane form. Human Korvo gasp and comes up to soothe his face, which made Mundane Terry snarl as he looks at his husband.

Human Korvo: Shh… it’s gonna be okay Terry…

Mundane Terry starts breathing in and out as he began to calm down. He then whimpers which made Human Korvo in comofrt touch Mundane Terry’s face and Mundane Terry finally calms down as he turns back into his Shlorpian form and turns back into his human form as he smiles at his husband. The two husbands then makeout while moaning in love.

Human Jesse: Ew, gross!

Human Korvo: Now that’s better. Come on let’s go before- suddenly hears a crash

The family turn around and gasp see Sonya suddenly grown a bit bigger and grew a bit muscular and it has shown that she smashed the jacuzzi as she starts snarling. The family gasp

Human Korvo: Oh no! Sonya!

To be continued….

Special thanks to @themagicwolf6677, @avaveevo and others for ideas and support.

5 notes · View notes

narrans · 2 years ago

Text

Everyone Needs a Little Hero | Better Together?

For the rest of the day, Hero felt terrible about the incident with Rey and Sam. Hero didn’t know Rey had come so close to being hurt by a human since he never said anything about it. On the other hand, it wasn’t really something a Borrower would want to talk about casually.

Still, Hero hoped Rey would give him and Sam another chance. After Rey started talking with Sam, everything ran smoothly as though nothing bad happened.

Distracted for the remaining part of the day, Hero decided to reduce his heroing work to helping around the house for the rest of the day – and it was a good thing he did. The whole Rafter family seemed to have a persistent cough and was groggy for the rest of the day. At first, Hero didn’t think anything of it. Everyone got a cough from time to time.

He had to eat his words the next morning though. When he opened his eyes after a not-so-restful slumber, he felt like he was being rushed from the inside and chills kept him shivering to the point where he had to fish out his winter poncho. What was more alarming was that he was the least sick of his whole family.

Despite his burning desire to crawl back into bed, he had a job to do. Sam still needed help on his science project and Watney needed a model to sketch for one of his art projects.

So, leaving Cali, his oldest sister, to help tend to the family and the house, Hero left under the pretense that he was going to go find food that was good for someone who wasn’t feeling well when he was actually going to find something to make the family feel better.

He made his way through the rafters and beams, finding it difficult to balance on some of the wider beams, until he made it to the familiar trim piece above Sam’s cabinet. The wood didn’t even squeak when he pushed it open. Bright green eyes groggy but alert, Hero slipped out on top of the cabinet and inched to the edge.

Sam, his human friend, was at his desk working away on the surface of the volcano, making it look realistic for his project. A quick check for a closed door and Hero felt safe enough to call out to his friend.

“Sam,” he said, voice raspier than he thought it would be. Sam’s head instinctually turned to the little trim piece and a smile spread across his boyish face.

“Hey Hero,” he grinned as he wiped off his hands and jumped up onto his bed, hand outstretched for Hero to use rather than the small teen having to use his hooks and lines. Without hesitation, the Borrower boy walked across the slightly dusty top of the wooden structure and stepped onto Sam’s hand, dropping into a crouch instinctually. Carefully, Same knelt and descended from his spot on the bed and walked back to his desk.

“How’re you?” he asked, keeping his voice low so his parents wouldn’t hear him speaking to the small, handheld boy.

“I’m-” but Hero was interrupted from saying he was good when a fit of coughs ambushed his lungs.

“Woah,” muttered Sam. “That doesn’t sound good.” Hero recovered from his coughing fit just in time for Sam to rest the pad of his finger on his forehead. “And you feel warm.”

“I’m okay,” Hero said reassuringly, though not quite feeling confident in his declaration. “It’s just a cough.”

“Plus a fever. You need to rest and take it easy. Um… you might want some medicine too. Mom always gives me this weird grape tasting stuff when I get the shivers and a cough,” said Sam. Hero smiled and chuckled lightly to himself. Sam, noticing, stared curiously at Hero, prompting a response.

“It’s just… I’m glad you know this. Your offer basically proves the point I was trying to make to my friend when we were talking on our way here yesterday – that it would be a better world if we could all live together and out in the open,” said Hero as he positioned himself more comfortably in Sam’s hand.

Hero expected to hear Sam’s agreement moments after his conclusion, but Sam was quiet. The human boy looked concerned, as though something distracted him slightly about what Hero said.

“Oh yeah… is he okay? Your friend I mean? He seemed really upset yesterday. I… did I do something wrong?” asked Sam. Hero sighed and shook his head, a little off-put that Sam didn’t really answer his question. Still, it was sweet that Sam was worried about Rey.

“Yeah, he’s okay. He had a bad memory of getting stuck when he was little, and it all came back to him when he fell on the volcano yesterday,” stated Hero. A pang of momentary guilt hit him for telling Sam something sensitive and, quite possibly, private about Rey, but he didn’t want to lie and did manage to omit the specifics.

“That’s terrible. I hope he’s doing better. I didn’t mean to scare him. He was really upset when I pulled him out of the glue,” muttered Sam bashfully. “Is… that weird?”

“No, I don’t think it’s weird to feel that way. I think Rey goes by a different set of rules than I do,” stated Hero, but Sam shook his head.

“No… I mean… being held. Is it… weird? Do you… not want me to?” asked Sam, his hand tensing and relaxing a few times awkwardly under Hero. The Borrower teen shook his head.

“No, it’s not weird. I mean… it was a little odd at first, but it’s nice. I kind of like it now actually,” smiled the aspiring hero as he leaned against Sam’s thumb to support his back. Sam smiled in response and flexed his fingers to better cup the small person in his hand.

“That’s good to hear,” Same replied, relaxing with his friend’s reassurance. After a few minutes of quiet between them, Hero’s question came back to the forefront of his mind.

“You… didn’t really say what you thought,” pointed out the Borrower teen. “About living together out in the open. Do you… think it’s a bad idea? Or do you think it’s a good one?” Sam once again was quiet, much like how Rey had been quiet the day before when Hero had posed the same scenario. When Sam finally turned his eyes back to Hero, the answer was apparent.

“I… don’t know. I mean, I think everyone has a different opinion, right? If you want to live out in the open, you should be able to. If you don’t want to, then you shouldn’t need to,” stated Sam. Hero stared quizzically at his human friend before sighing and slumping slightly in Sam’s hand.

“You sound a bit like Rey. You don’t think it’s a good idea, but I don’t understand why,” muttered Hero.

“Well, I mean… your friend seemed really freaked out, meaning he was scared. Wouldn’t others feel the same? Didn’t you ask me not to tell anyone about you? Was that because you were supposed to? Or because you were scared?” asked Sam. Hero felt a pang in his chest. It was true that he was initially fearful of Sam but trusted that Sam would treat him with respect once he showed him that he was intelligent. He was also afraid that others humans would be interested in hunting down his fellow Borrowers if too many humans found out about them. Sam continued as Hero’s thoughts quieted. “I don’t know. I think it would be nice, but not for everyone.”

“I see. Well, I think it would be nice,” muttered Hero, wishing the answer Sam gave him was different. There was another silence between the two of them before Hero’s eyes lulled. He felt a sudden wave of exhaustion come over him. Sam readjusted his hand under the Borrower boy before speaking again.

“Do you want to take a nap? I can put you in my hoodie pocket while I work. I’d let you use my hand, but I need it to finish my project,” said Sam. Hero, liking the idea of a warm, covered place to take a nap, nodded and let Sam place him into his hoodie pocket. The surrounding warmth and minor jostling of Sam’s body when he worked was enough to put the young Borrower boy to sleep.

Hero wasn’t sure how long he was asleep until he poked his head outside of Sam’s pocket and glanced at the clock. He had been there for nearly three hours!

Not good, he thought. He still needed to make it to Watney’s place before the end of the day. He wriggled free and said his good-byes to Sam who, after Hero asked politely, gave him some food to bring back home as well as a tablet of something that he said would help them stop coughing, explaining that he just needed to mix a little into some flavored water and drink.

Hero, already feeling better, hurried back into the walls and made his way up to Watney’s home.

Thankfully, the artist was already home and had everything set up when Hero arrived.

“I just want to say thanks again, Hero. You’re seriously a huge help,” applauded Watney as he quickly sketched the Borrower’s body. Watney had Hero pose belaying down a part of a shelf. Watney let Hero take frequent breaks and let him stay close to the desk, picking himself up every once in a while to get the pose just right.

While the human artist sketched, Hero asked Watney the same question he asked Sam about living together in the open. Watney, unlike Sam, thought that it would be a better world. It would take some getting used to; however, Watney, like Hero, believed that there were more kind people in the world who would accept living together with the littles rather than being cruel to them.

Reassured, Hero continued to pose for the sketch until, finally, Watney was mostly finished. Sure, he needed to touch up a few things here and there, but the overall concept was there. Hero stared in complete amazement at his human friend’s sketch, marveling at the details he threw in such as the wrinkles in Hero’s shirt and the way his hook was just a tad bit bent on the end.

Even though he didn’t want to leave, Hero knew he was gone way longer than he would’ve wanted to be. He apologized and promised he would be back soon, asking bashfully to see the final product when the time came.

Hurrying home, Hero couldn’t help but think about his question like a competition. So far, he had a no, a maybe, and a yes. His vote technically didn’t count since he was asking everyone else what they thought, but the answers were so spread out, it was hard to tell how everyone felt about it.

Surely Ashlynn would agree with him, and probably a few others thought the world would be better if they could all live together. It would make his heroing work so much easier. Supplies would be bountiful, and the community collaboration would be through the roof. Borrowers could easily help with recycling and finding use for things that human might otherwise throw away, and small hands could help with building certain projects and solving problems. Borrowers wouldn’t get sick as often, and humans wouldn’t be as forgetful and lose things in narrow places.

Speaking of which, he concluded his thoughts just as he remembered he needed to help his family get better. What kind of hero would he be if he couldn’t help his family get better from some silly little cough. It wasn’t until he got home that he realized that this “little cough” was a lot more severe than he thought.

Everyone was practically out of commission. Even his oldest sister, who had one of the strongest spirits that he had ever encountered, was doubled over coughing. She would’ve scolded him for staying away so long if his haul, courtesy of Sam, weren’t so good. He managed to slip the medicine Sam gave him into some lemonade his mom made and began passing it around to everyone, who complained about an odd aftertaste.

While Hero began picking up the slack around the house that he had neglected while he was away for the morning, he noticed something. He noticed it on the way home too, but it was more noticeable now while he was bustling about their home. There was an odd, stale smell lingering in the air that smelled sour. Hero wanted to know more, but he would have to put that on the back burner for now.

Right now, his family needed him – they needed a hero – and he was just the person for the job, even if it was just doing the laundry.

~~~~~^*^*^*^*^~~~~~

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Prompt

ASK ME ANYTHING

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