#Not to mention the constant poking and elbowing my arm when I say something she doesn’t like when I’m sitting next to her

[https-florian]

Honestly I’m starting to hate my dad, he’s a horrible person but why is he nice sometimes it makes me sick because I know he’s doing it to manipulate me and my mother

[dreamescapeswriting]

Curiosity Killed The Cat ~ LMH & LF [M] [Request]

WORD COUNT: 4.9K

PAIRING: Minho x Fem!Reader x Felix

GENRE: consensual smut, Hitman au, mentions of death, assisnation, bombings, blood, face riding, oral, threesome, M/F/M, after care, no protection

A/N: Please I had so much fun with this! I love writing AU’s so much!!! 🥺🥰💗 Hope this is okay for you my lovely little anon!

"If you don't stop tapping that pen I'm going to shove it so far down your neck you'll whistle when you breathe," Minho growled in Felix's direction as they sat together in an old beat-up car. All Felix had done for the last four hours was tap and click the pen over and over again deciding that he was single-handedly going to be the one driving force that made Minho want to quit his job.

"I don't see anything else to do," Felix countered as he stared back at his partner who simply glared at him before looking out of the window again. It was a stupid idea to stake out a university it looked suspicious that two men were waiting in a car outside but it was the bosses orders. Stake out the school and wait for the suspect to come out but it felt creepy. Although it was a university and most of the students were their age it was strange to them both.

"Have we actually seen him go in?" The truth was no one had seen the guy that they were after in almost seven months, he was good at hiding which was why he was nicknamed "The Chameleon," something Minho hated. Why give the bad guy a name it was only going to boost the ego even more. 

"He's supposedly acting as a student," Minho handed the folder over to Felix keeping his eyes on the door, the Chameleon could walk out right under your nose and no one would have an idea it was him. 

"Why a student? Surely it would be feeling for him to be a teacher," Felix flicked through the folder the guy was a serial bomber that his company had been after for years. He'd killed almost over 100 people with no remorse whatsoever. It was as if the guy was a robot, he didn't care who he hurt as long as he got what he wanted, not that anyone knew what that was. His clues were always so vague. One thing for sure, it wasn't money that he was after. 

The government had tried to pay him to stop the needless killings only for the guy to blow the bag up in the middle of the street. 

"Easier to hide...Won't be so obvious when things go missing around the school...The student we're looking at fits his usual MO." Minho sighed taking a deep breath and looking at Felix for the first time in an hour. It was beginning to worry him the closer the two of them got to catching the guy. Their job wasn't a simple catch him and arrest him, no, they were the last resort. Kill him on sight as soon as they know, without a shadow of a doubt that it's him. Assassins or as they were better known as now, Hitmen. 

"Transfers in the middle of the year, things from the science department go missing and then there's the-" Right as Minho was about to explain that there were constant fire drills the alarm began to blare out through the school. 

"Those," He mumbled staring back over at the double-doored exit from the school. There was no use sitting at the entrance when they knew he liked to hide from everyone, if he was the one doing this they needed to find him and quickly before anyone else got hurt. 

"Another drill?" You mumbled looking to your left to see your best friend Mina smirking at you, you rolled your eyes knowing why she was so happy. Thanks to the fire alarm she was going to get out of her final exam and pass it no matter what, 

"It wouldn't surprise me if you were the one pulling them," You mumbled sarcastically as you pulled your satchel over your shoulder, looking around for her so-called boyfriend. 

"What did you do? Get Farara to pull it?" You teased as you jabbed your elbow into her side, walking out into the courtyard and taking in a deep breath, 

"You need to relax, we've just finished exams and you're still studying," Mina rolled her eyes at you, it was always the same with her. She wanted you to let your hair down and relax while you wanted to focus on things that were important to you, like actually passing your course. 

"I have another two years to go, you're done. I'm just getting started." You reminded her as you looked around, you loved Mina with all of your heart but since meeting Farara she seemed to be getting in trouble more. Not only with the university but with the police. Just last week you'd been called down to the station to bail her out because she was caught driving around in a stolen car with enough products to set a whole house on fire. 

"Take a year off, come with me and Farara to England. He's going to take me away and spend time with his family." The more you heard about the guy the more worry began to grow inside of you. She'd hardly known him and yet she was planning to run away to a different country with him,

"What does he even do for a living? To get all of this money?" You questioned hoping she wouldn't get too annoyed with you asking her about him. It seemed as though whenever you asked questions she would get pissed at you, claiming that you were just trying to poke holes in their "relationship,"

"What does it matter?" She stared at you with a disgusted look on her face, 

"Hey, baby!" A voice cried out as a pair of strong-looking arms wrapped around Mina.

"Snuckums!" She practically squealed making you jump as she turned around and began making out with him grotesquely in front of everyone. 

"That's my cue to leave," You said loud enough for them to hear, turning to head home to your dorms when Mina grabbed your arm. 

"Party tonight. Come with us," She begged looking at you with pleading eyes, as you were about to decline Farara scoffed at the thought of it. 

"Y/n? At a party, don't make me laugh. She's the party pooper baby, she doesn't know how to have fun." For some reason, the anger bubbled up inside of you and it seemed to annoy you more. If Mina had been the one to say it it wouldn't have bothered you as much but from him, you wanted to prove him wrong. 

"I'll be there. Text me the details," You smiled smugly in his direction but he just seemed to smirk, it made you feel uneasy to see him smirking at you like that. 

"This will be great! A going-away party right baby!?" Mina squealed before making out with him once again.

After spending almost four hours trying to pick something to wear you finally felt ready to go and headed straight to the party. It was at the frat house Farara had been living in since he got to the university. The whole walk over from your dorms you could have sworn someone was following you along. 

"Glad you could join us, take this." Mina handed you a drink and then laid a flower necklace around you before disappearing into the house leaving you alone. 

The whole house seemed to be partying hard, loud music was blaring for different speakers each of which was playing a different song. People were already yelling and dancing drunkenly along the floor and not to mention someone throwing up in a flower pot. 

"You came pretty late, didn't think you were going to show," Farara smirked once he caught sight of you in the kitchen. You hummed before putting down the cup Mina had given to you, there was no way you were going to drink that night. Not unless it was water at least. You didn't know anyone besides Mina and she was clearly preoccupied with other things.

"We have juice boxes in the basement," Farara joked earning a laugh from someone else in the kitchen but Mina pushed him softly. 

"Leave Y/n alone, she came and that's all that matters. Come on, let's go dance." She pulled you straight into the living room without giving you a chance to answer her. 

"Isn't this fun?! I'm so sad you never got to have parties all year," She pouted at you, wrapping her arms around your waist as she swayed in time to whatever song she heard first. The mixture of the songs and stench alcohol all starting to hurt your head the longer that you stood there but you were at least going to wait an hour before heading home. 

"What the fuck are we doing?" Minho mumbled as he stared down at the jeans and shirt he was wearing, Felix had dressed in the same outfit only a different coloured shirt. When Felix suggested going to the party Minho didn't think he meant actually attending it.

"We're blending in." He chuckled laying one of the flower necklaces around Minho's neck who stared at him with a filthy look the moment it touched his chest. 

"What better way to find out information than going to the people that know the guy." It still didn't make Minho feel any better about being at some kind of dumb University frat party. Everyone was drunk and drooling over one another except for the girl that they had followed over, you. 

"Look," Minho nudged Felix and nodded in your direction as they watched you heading for the bathroom alone. You stood out amongst the rest, instead of dancing or drinking you were simply looking for a bathroom and keeping your head down. They only knew about the party because they'd overheard you and Mina talking about it earlier that day. 

"She looks like she could be here to help, we saw them speaking with one another earlier," Minho reminded Felix but he shook his head,

"She does look like she wants to be here, they didn't look like they liked one another." Minho shrugged his shoulders as he thought back on it, 

"All good acting," The two of them weren't sure if Farara had a partner this time but in all of his other bombings, he had someone. Someone who would take the fall for him, usually the good girl gone bad once they met him and fell for his traps. Promising them a life of happiness in another country, planning everything out so it would seem as though he truly loved and cared for them when he didn't. 

"I'm just saying we find The Chemelon, take care of business and leave," Felix whispered as they made their way through to the kitchen when they saw him. A loud laugh spread through the air that physically sent shivers down their spines, watching as he left out of the kitchen door and down the back garden. 

"Follow him," They said in unison as they headed out of the same door, keeping their heads down as they tried to see what it was he was doing. 

Stepping out onto the back porch you took in a long deep breath of the cold air, it felt nice to have it circulating through you instead of the stuffy air from inside. Mina had begged you to stay once she caught you trying to leave, making you promise her that you wouldn't go anywhere until she found Farara who had run off leaving her in charge of the party. In your mind, he was out fucking someone else since he seemed like a player but you weren't about to tell one of your best friends that. 

The longer you stood there the more you wanted to go home but as you looked down at the end of the garden you frowned. Inside the small shed, there was a flashing light coming through the window and you could have sworn you heard someone grunting. 

"I swear to god if this is Farara I'll murder him," You mumbled to yourself as you began to walk towards the building. All you were going to do was look through the window, if it was him you'd find Mina and tell her. If it wasn't him you'd just act as though you hadn't seen anything but the closer you got the more uneasy you began to grow. Something inside of you was telling you to turn back but you weren't about to let your friend get cheated on by some good for nothing low-life.

"Tell us what you're planning and maybe we'll let you off easy," Felix whispered in Farara's ear from behind him. They'd followed him out and found him packing up a suitcase which meant the bombing was sooner than expected from him. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," The boy stuttered as he stared between the two men in front of him, both of them had guns on display to intimidate him into speaking. As if being strapped into a chair with garden rope wasn't scary enough for him.

"Look, we know who you are. Just tell us where the bomb is," As soon as the word bomb left Minho's mouth he heard a gasp and branch snap from outside the shed. His eyes met with Felix and he nodded over to the side door where Felix could easily get out without being seen. 

Stepping back from the building you tried to move out of the way but ended up backing into someone who pushed you back to the window. Forcing you to stare through it as the man inside shot Farara in the chair he was strapped to. There was no sound from the gun you just saw a blur before Farara dropped forward, lifeless in the chair as blood pooled from the small entrance wound in his head. A small scream was building up in your throat but before you could say a word a hand was covering your mouth and you were ushered into the shed. 

"Clean up to Agents 322 and 366," The man who had killed Farara said down a small earpiece looking over at you with a small smirk on his face, 

"What a curious little kitten," Felix purred in your ear as he ran his fingers up and down your cheek making you shiver, 

“Curiosity Killed The Cat you know,” Minho chuckled as he looked over at you from his phone.

 "I'll ask you once, and only once." Minho lowered himself to your level, looking you in the eyes. 

"Do you know who he's working with? Your friend maybe? Could she have known what he was planning?" Bile rose up in your throat as you watched the blood pooling onto the floor, running along to Mino's shoes as he stood there. 

"Mina. S-She wouldn't have know...I don't think," You looked back at Minho, the gut feeling inside of you seemed to subside as you looked at him and Felix who was now standing in front of you. 

"You don't seem scared that we just killed your friend?" Felix questioned looking from the body and back to you, your eyes get dancing to and from Farara, half expecting him to jump up and have this be some kind of joke. 

"A friend? I didn't know him and he did nothing but belittle me...What was it you said about a bomb?" Curiosity began to build in Minho as he watched you, there wasn't even an ounce of fear towards them from you. 

"Have you heard of the Chameleon?" The realization hit you as you stared at Farara. 

"He fits the MO." You mumbled shocking Felix who just seemed to stare at you in disbelief. 

"You're training to be in the forces?" Minho asked as he laid a garden sheet over the body, your eyes staring back at him this time. 

"My father was an FBI agent, I know some things...I know you're not FBI." A smirk plastered across Felix's lips as he watched you and Minho interacting the way you were. It was the first time he'd ever seen Minho act so casually with someone in months, not to mention he seemed laid back. 

"How do you know that?" Felix quizzed looking over at you as he folded his arms over his chest. 

"For starters, neither of you have a badge otherwise you would have shown me by now, your guns aren't standard issue for agents...So you're hitmen...That or random psychopaths." Minho blinked at you before standing up straight when he heard a knock on the door. 

"Clean up crew," Minho pulled the door open and ushered you out with Felix on your other side. 

"Do you need help with her?" A female voice asked as you turned your whole body to see a female staring at you. 

"No thanks, you go and clean up. We'll take her home." Your eyes shot up to the one with the deep voice, Felix, and you frowned. 

"We'll make sure you get home safe," Minho added when he could see how confused you were. 

Leading you over to their car you stared at it, it was the same car that had been following you earlier. 

"You followed me here," The back door opened and you crawled inside, looking around at all of the empty food packets. 

"Ignore the mess, we were on a stakeout," Felix chuckled as he got into the front passenger seat and glanced back at you. 

"I'm Felix and this is Minho," He shook your hand and you felt a spark ignite inside of you. The way his hand fit around yours made you shiver a little, 

"Look at that, someone liked your touch Lix." Your eyes shot to Minho started up the car and smirked at you through the small review mirror. 

"Give us your address kitten," The small nickname made you clench your thighs as you could feel an aerosol building. After giving them your dorm address you began trying to pull yourself back together, you'd just watch them kill someone and yet you were getting wet at the thought of them calling you kitten. It didn't help that they were insanely attractive, Felix's muscles could be seen through the thin white shirt he was wearing and Minho's ass looked like he worked out an awful lot. You blinked, ignoring the growing wetness that was pooling between your legs. 

"Look at that, we haven't said one suggestive comment and you're squeezing your little thighs together," Minho chuckled as he reached a red light, turning to look at you from the front seat and licking his lips at the sight of you. Completely innocent and sitting there rubbing your legs together as if that was going to give you any kind of satisfaction that you were desperately craving. 

"My guess is she's going to go home and touch herself to the thought of us," Minho teased as he began to drive once again, watching Felix as he turned to look at you. His eyes locking with you as he reached behind to rub your knee softly. 

"I mean she doesn't have to think of us, we could do it for you princess." The car stopped outside your dorm but you made no attempt to move as the car was shut off. 

"Would you like that?" Minho questioned turning his body to look at you. The need to press your thighs together built up but Felix kept them apart, licking his lips as he waited for you to answer the question. A finger trailed up and down your knee and you shuddered, 

"Yes! Yes...Yes, I would like that," You spoke loudly as you stared at both of them, the two exchanged a smirk with one another before climbing out of the car and holding your door open.

"Then who are we to let a pretty little kitten go home needy," Felix growled in your ear, holding your arm as you all walked in the direction of your dorm room.

Neither of them wasted time when they got into your room, attaching their lips to either side of your neck as you let out small whimpers of pleasure. You could already feel each of them smirking against your skin, Felix's hands around your waist while Minho kept his on your breasts, massaging them softly with his hands whenever you would whimper. 

"Here we thought you were the good girl," Minho whispered making you jerk away from him, 

"I'm not. I'm sick of people saying that to me," You spat at him your eyes locking with his as he tilted his head to the side, a smug look on his face. 

"Prove it to me," Without another word you pushed him down onto your bed sinking to your knees in front of him. You pulled down the jeans he was wearing discarding them behind you, forgetting about Felix behind you until he laid down on the floor. 

"Up," He ordered, you rose to your knees and he slid under you so his breath was right against your core. 

"Looks pretty," He whispered referencing the bright pink thong you had worn under your dress that night, 

"But it needs to go." One snapping sound later and you felt a cool breeze on your core,

"Dripping wet Minho, you should see her." A finger began to trace along your folds making your hips jolt forward, 

"So wet, pretty and-" A small kiss was placed on your clit and your eyes widened, 

"Tastes define." Felix moaned out in a deep voice, you whimpered looking at Minho. 

"The confidence seems to have faded from you kitten," You ignored him pulling his cock free from his boxer and smirking at the length. He was larger than you expected but you slowly pumped him in one hand, looking up at him smugly as he jerked. Minho shifted a little, leaning back against the bed letting his elbow prop him up. Running your fingers over the indent under the head of his cock your smirk grew wider as he moaned out.

"Good girl," He breathed out as your tongue began to caress him, swirling around the head of his cock before you took him into your warm mouth pumping your head back and forth while your other hand rested on his thigh. 

"My turn," Felix whispered pulling you to sit down on his face as you let out a moan around Minho's cock who seemed to moan out in pleasure. Hollowing out your cheeks you ran your tongue over the indent you'd found earlier and he cried out gripping onto the sheets around him. 

"Oh shit!" You moaned out as you could feel Felix's tongue running through your folds while he worked two fingers in and out of you, curling them up to meet your g-spot making you cry out again. 

Minho thrust up into your mouth as you took him back, moving your head faster this time setting his whole body aflame. Each thrust of your head caused his whole body to stiffen and he looked at you, holding your face as he began to thrust a little more. You smirked around him nodding at him to let him know it was okay and he slowly began to thrust into your mouth. 

"S-Shit she likes that Hyung, clenching around my tongue." Felix chuckled as he continued to eat you out aggressively as you rode his face, your hips bucking little by little as you felt an orgasm beginning to build up inside of you. Minho thrust up once more before his whole body shook and he let out a moan of your name, cumming into your mouth as he rolled his head back. You swallowed every last drop and focused on the pleasure Felix was giving to you, gripping onto the bed as you rocked your hips in time with his licks. 

"So pretty when your face contorts like that," Minho chuckled as he began kissing you softly, holding your neck in his hand lightly as he forced you to look at him, 

"Do you like this? Two strangers fucking you?" You nodded as you let out a choked moan, pulsating around Felix's fingers as he continued to thrust them into you at a rough pace. 

"Cumming!" You screamed out as your hips continued to buck as your orgasm ripped through you, your legs shaking as you tried to stay upright on your knees instead of falling to the floor the way you wanted to. 

"Y/n?" Felix whispered as he pulled himself into a sitting position, watching you as you ripped your dress off from your body, you were ready and you needed one of them inside of you. Now.

Lips met yours over and over again as Minho pulled you up onto the bed, sitting back against the headboard as you straddled his lap. Kissing him wherever you could, lips, neck, collarbone, anywhere you could get your lips on him. Felix sat behind you naked, his cock pressed against your ass as you let out a whine. 

"Still so wet," Felix chuckled as he teased your entrance with two fingers, meanwhile Minho had worked his fingers down to your clit circling slowly. 

"Holy fuck," You breathed out as your head fell forward to rest on top of Minho's. Your brain was in a fog as they continued to tease you with their fingers until Felix sank two inside of you and Minho applied the pressure that made you cry out pushing your hips back into Felix. 

A third finger was added and your whole body felt as though it was on fire, your fingernails dug into Minho's arms as you cried out a mixture of both of their names. 

"Someone is ready for us," Minho chuckled as they removed their fingers making you whimper at the sudden lack of touch from either of them. Felix moved to the edge of the bed and sat in the same position Minho had before. 

"On the floor kitten," He whispered as you got onto your knees in front of him, this time Minho sat behind you with his cock at your entrance causing you to clench around nothing. 

"You sure?" You ignored the stupid question as you sank down onto Minho's cock crying out as you adjusted to the size of him. 

"That..Oh shit...That's a yes Felix," Minho moaned out as he held onto your thighs, grunting at the tight feeling as you wrapped around his cock. Smirking to yourself you looked up at Felix, taking him into your mouth and began to bob your head as you had done with Minho. The two men moaning out in pleasure as you controlled them, moving your hips up and down at a slow pace just to torture Minho that little bit more. 

"Fuck," Minho's hands gripped onto your waist and he thrust up harder and faster into you, his breathing jagged as he moaned out your name. Felix's cock twitched into your mouth as you began to roll your tongue around the head of his cock, reaching your hand down between your thighs to circle your clit. 

Fire was beginning to build in your stomach with both moans from men titling you over the edge. 

"Just like that," Felix cried out as you moved your head in time with Minho's fast thrust. The room filled with wet sounds and slapping skin as you cried out around Felix's length. Felix's hand rested on your cheek as he began to thrust into your mouth, grunting as he came down your throat holding you around him until his hips stopped jerking. 

"M-Minho! I-I’m cumming! I-I’m cumming!" You screamed out as he continued his sinfully fast thrusts until he came into you touching you deeply as your head rolled back against his chest. Clenching onto anything you could get your hands on, screaming out his name. Cumming around him as you pulsated in pure bliss, your whole body felt as though it was shaking. 

Minho smirked as you slept in his shirt, they'd managed to clean you up with a warm wet cloth and got you into bed. 

"Poor thing must be exhausted," He smirked running his fingers over your face as your frowned in deep slumber. 

"That was a nice reward though for finishing our job," Felix laughed as he looked at your body, you were curled up in a small clutching onto the sheets and he smiled. 

"We should get going, paperwork to report and all that," Minho mumbled grabbing a hoodie from your wardrobe as he turned to leave.

The morning you woke up images of what had happened flashed before you and if it hadn't been for the achiness between your thighs. You would have thought it a dream and yet, you were laying there in a shirt that wasn't yours and a note beside your bed,

Until next time Curious Kitten x 

Written at the bottom of the note were two numbers with the boy's initials by the side of them, you clutched the note against your chest as you laid back. Enjoying the memories of the night before. 

Tagline: @minholuvs​ @taestannie​ @sw33tnight​ @acciocriativity​ @mwitsmejk​ @taeechwitaa​ @justbangtanthingz​ @stillwithlix​ 

[nemo-of-house-hamartia]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Hi everyone!! It's been SO LONG since I last shared a WIP from my story and since today is WIP Wednesday, I thought "WHY NOT TODAY"???

So, here you have, a short WIP of the 4th Chapter of "In The Heat Of The Moment"!!

You have no idea how excited I am to finally being in 1868, and finally starting to write and explore all the adventures of my precious babies!! So many new ocs coming in, so many so beloved by yours truly. I am truly excited!!😁😁😁😁😁

well, without further ado, here is the Wip!!

Hope you will enjoy it!!

(....)

“Well, with Queen Charlotte’s ball approaching and your debut, you will have plenty of opportunities to find a gallant young man that shall take proper care of you,”

Dorothea pursed her lips at that, furrowing her brows. Being taken care of. As if she wasn't a young woman with a mind of her own, but a child needing constant guidance through all aspects of life. As if she was a doll, to be gifted away to some stranger just because that’s what she was born to do. She sighed, trying as much as she could not to let any of her aggravation transpire from her face.

“Mother has mentioned many changes, as soon as I returned home. In the last letter she wrote, she said Father had a few surprises for me. I wished she had been more precise about what these surprises relates to,”

Phillip pursed his lips, looking toward the city, the Big Ben finally in sight, standing high above the chaos of roofs and chimneys in front of them. When she saw that he didn’t answer, she turned to face him, and saw a twinkle in his blue eyes.

“You know something, Phillip, don’t you?” she asked.

“Who, me?” he said, feigning nonchalance. “I think you are mistaken. I would certainly recall if such information had been relied to me by Uncle Crawford?”

Dorothea smirked, crossing her arms against her chest. “I know that look, cousin dearest: you can fool your business partner at the Alhambra, but not me. It is your job to know what is going on around you,”

“Even if I concede that you do bring up a fair point, darling Dora, I cannot deny nor confirm any of your assumption," he answered, clicking his tongue in annoyance, and giving her a look of fake aggravation that soon melted in a warm smile. "Even as a child you were so pestiferously enquiring, always putting your nose where you shouldn't have and following me and Charlie around,”

Dorothea couldn’t help but giggle at that last sentence.

“I cannot take all the credit for myself, Phillip, for I found the greatest teacher in you: ’The Master of Secrets, the one that knows all that goes in London and who is consorting with whom’. You should be proud of your pupil,” she jested, poking his arm with her elbow.

The man scoffed, adjusting the Templar Cross hanging at his neck.

“I wouldn’t call myself a Master, just merely devoted to my profession,”

“Or maybe you just like being a nosy gossiper?”

Phillip brought a hand to his chest, feigning outrage, and Dorothea couldn’t help but muffle her laughter behind her hand.

“Why, my dear Madam, I assure you, I would never meddle with anyone’s business but my very own! What a preposterous insinuation, i dare say!”

Dorothea cocked an eyebrow, and smirked even wider.

"You have such a penchant for the dramatic you ought to be an actor, instead of a businessman,”

Dorothea saw the pained light flashing for one moment behind his bold face. When he spoke, his tone had lost all traces of facetiousness, and despite its neutrality, she could feel the sting of hurt lying underneath.

“If my father had not threatened to disown me -several times, infact, the last in a letter he deigned to send me just to remind me about the precariousness of my own inheritance- I’d probably done that,”

Dorothea pursed her lips in sadness, and without hesitancy, she took his hand once more, gently keeping it in hers, and gave it a small reassuring squeeze.

“Uncle Alfred could sometimes speak words of truth and wisdom, but those that concern you are the farthest from the truth. He does not know you, not at all.” She murmured with a sharp voice, looking at him straight in his eyes. He sighed, shaking his head.

“If only I were more like Charles-”

“Charles is Charles. You are you, and both me and your brother love you dearly for that exact reason. You know we wouldn’t want you to be any different than who you are,”

(....)

--Nemo

[shurisneakers]

shut in [epilogue]

Summary: When your high profile mission goes terribly wrong, you’re forced to hide in a safehouse with a man you’ve never met before. With seemingly nowhere else to go, you’re forced to work together to figure out who is trying to have you assassinated before it’s too late. (Sam Wilson x Reader, Hitman AU)

Warnings: anxiety, ptsd, swearing

Word count: 4k

A/N: annnnd we’re done :)) thank you to my resident bully @midnightsunfae for really getting this fic off the ground and helping with the planning. ily upo and thank you to everyone who’s read this series over the 5 months it’s been going on. it’s meant the absolute world to me :’)

Previous Part || Shut In Masterlist

Your fingers tapped rhythmically against the table, an indicator of the nervousness that was building to a crescendo in your chest.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” he asked, hand placed gently on your forearm.

You nodded, eyes downcast. If you looked at him, you wouldn’t be able to find it in yourself to follow through with it.

“I am,” you said quietly, swallowing to get rid of the lump in your throat.

“Okay,” he confirmed, letting his arm drop gently.

Ten minutes to go. You took a sip of water nervously. The glass had already found itself shifting back and forth on the table in search of the perfect place. It was a fruitless quest anyway.

The door was painted a dark green, steps leading up to it from the pavement.

“Are you sure he won’t mind?” you asked quietly, standing a stair below him in apprehension. Neither of you had contacted him or sent a message, just showed up at his place exhausted and covered in a thin layer of dirt.

“I know he won’t.” Sam raised his fist to knock thrice, a pause before knocking two more times.

A code.

He turned around slightly, checking to see if you were fine. The longer you stood out there, the more afraid you were of someone spotting the both of you, putting an end to your life before it even began. You had a feeling that paranoia would continue for a long time.

The door swung open, revealing a tall man with blonde hair leaning against the doorway with one arm. There was a nick above his eyebrow, an old scar that hadn’t faded over time. Even though his other hand was concealed behind the door, you could tell that he was holding something by the way his muscles were clenched. Years of training wouldn’t disappear overnight.

"Sam." Surprise overtook his face in a second. "You're alive."

"Don't sound so happy, I can't handle it." Sam rolled his eyes, an affectionate smile on his face. "This is Y/N, we need a place to stay."

“It’s just been a while since I heard from you, man. Coming from a hit?” Riley didn’t think twice about moving aside, scrutinising dried blood on your person as you walk past. “Nice to meet you, I’m Riley.”

It was a cane in his hand. Sam’s mention of his limp flashed in your mind.

You gave him a small wave and a quiet re-introduction of yourself, following Sam into the house.

“You could say that.” Sam paused, a hand on Riley’s shoulder as he says something out of your ear shot to him.

Riley’s face turned stoic immediately, a nod of his head and a deep exhale soon following. “Stay as long as you need.”

“Thank you.” You pressed your lips together in a straight line with a corner quirked upwards, a half smile of sorts.

“Bathroom’s down the hall, to the right.” He pointed out the direction. “I’m getting you some food. Gumbo still your thing, Wilson?”

“Anything other than peanut butter.”

Riley was a blessing you could have never prepared for; knowing exactly what you both would need and anticipating emotions you had no idea you’d be feeling. For someone who had guests show up completely uninvited to crash on his couch, he was ready as ever, given that he had been through the same thing a while ago.

It was difficult. Fuck that, it was one of the hardest things to go; not pretending like everything around you would fall into soon and that you would be fine because you had to. You had worked too damn hard for you not to be.

But you knew things weren’t going to be fine right off the bat and it would be foolish to think it was.

“Sam, look at me,” you commanded gently, but there was an edge of firmness to your tone. You were sitting on the bench near the entrance of the park.

“I’m sorry, things were going good and I thought-” He shook his face that was hiding in his palm, elbows resting on his knees.

His attacks didn’t come nearly as frequently as yours. It was easy to think that he had no trauma just because he learnt how to deal with it better.

“Look at me, Sammy.” It was just a walk in the park, a stroll that should have lasted twenty minutes tops. You had been on that trail before for the same purpose but something triggered him today, someone’s gaze who lingered too long on the both of you.

He clenched his fists, lifting his head to meet your gaze.

“Breathe with me.” You exaggerated the movements to have him follow, a system the both of you had come up with when anxiety attacks used to hit at random. A temporary solution to an aftermath that would go on for hours, days even.

It took him a few staggered breaths to get there, finally falling into routine with you. He could feel his heartbeat slow to what it was but the pit in his stomach wouldn’t subside for a while.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“You have nothing to apologise for,” you reassured, still making sure he was breathing with you. You were nervous too and your eyes were still darting about to survey your surroundings, but he needed you at that moment. “We’re safe. We’re okay.”

“No one’s here,” he mumbles, interlacing your fingers and bringing it to his forehead to lean against your hand.

“We’re okay,” you repeated, giving him the space he needed. “We’re okay.”

“Will someone be joining you?” The waiter prodded softly. If it wasn’t your incessant tapping at the table, the clammy palms and constant checking of your watch was a clear giveaway that you could use a bit of kindness that day.

“Yeah, any minute now.” You smiled at her. She simply nodded, refilling your glass of water before leaving you alone.

You looked at your watch and sighed.

Seven minutes.

Things were fine. Things were good.

Sam and you were… undefined. Labels almost seemed too constrictive for now and it wasn’t like the both of you didn’t know what the other felt. It was kind. It was soft. Sometimes you kissed his cheek when the sunlight bounced off his face while he watered the succulents and the smile he gave you was addictive. Other times he snaked an arm around your waist and leaned his head on your shoulder while you watched the street from the kitchen window.

It made you happy, and so you tried to force away the stem of doubt that creeped into your heart.

Riley had introduced the concept of movie nights and the occasional mob movie would make it in there just to poke fun at. He showed you around the city, inviting you to go grocery shopping with him at the farmers market, the best places to get a glimpse of the music scene or to subtly point out potential date night spots.

He was a genuinely nice guy, and if you thought Sam was fun to hang out with, you were not prepared for the both of them together. You could tell why Sam adored him.

“Y/N, I don’t know how you stayed with him for all that time and didn’t murder him in his sleep.” Riley glared at Sam who had once again left his collection of music CDs strewn around on a couch. It was all in jest; it was well known that Sam found an anchor in music that kept him up late at night for a sense of calm.

“It was a close call sometimes,” you added playfully, giving Sam a grin.

“You weren’t exactly easy to survive with either.” He scoffed. “How many times did we watch Megamind in a row? Eight?”

“You wouldn’t stop watching Die Hard,” you accused, arms crossed over your chest. “It was payback.”

“You made the rule saying we couldn’t watch things more than twice in a row and you broke it first.”

“I’m gonna go,” Riley interjected. “But y’all keep at this. I heard it’s good for your soul.”

“Stay there,” Sam demanded, pointing to where he was standing a second ago. “You’re gonna be play judge since you started this shit.”

“I really don’t want to.” He shook his head, staying put nonetheless, amusement clear as day on his face.

“The laundry.”

“The dishes.”

You both narrowed your eyes at each other. His argument didn’t hold a match to yours.

“You know what, I was wrong,” Riley announced to no one in particular. “I’m pretty sure you guys would kill each other under any other circumstance.”

The smile on your face faltered but you straightened it back out with a clearing of your throat before firing a comeback.

It was barely a second, almost unnoticeable. But Sam caught it.

Four minutes.

Almost time.

The tapping became more intense, and the rate at which you pulled out your phone to check the time increased.

Fuck, this was a bad idea. How were you supposed to behave with him after all this time?

Something was wrong. Something was off.

Sam wasn’t blind to it. He could see it under the smile you eased into at game night, the complaining when too much food was ordered for three people to eat, the good natured teasing when he rolled over to your side of the bed at night to steal your blanket.

Something was eating at you, gnawing at you from the inside.

His suspicion was confirmed when you whispered at 2am one night to what you thought was an asleep partner that you wanted to move out. Find a place of your own.

His stomach dropped instantly but he didn’t so much as move a muscle.

“I need to get out. I need to have a life,” you sniffed, doing your best not to wake him up as you traced circles into his skin lightly. “I don’t know what it’s like to be independent. I won’t know unless I figure it out myself.”

The air had a chill to it and it was one of the times you had asked him to sleep in the guest bedroom with you instead of on his own, knowing that it was one of those nights where you could use a little extra warmth.

“Even when we were in there I couldn’t stop thinking about whether this thing between us was just because we were forced to stay together. You said it wasn’t, and I know that but I can’t help but think-” Your voice cracked. “Would you come back to me if things were different?”

He didn’t answer, even though he knew what he wanted to say with all the certainty in the world. Your fingers continued to draw on his skin. He continued to let you.

Sam didn’t even bring up the conversation that morning, or that week. Instead, he held you a bit closer whenever he could and gave you the space to hopefully open up to him on your own time, letting you know that he’d be there to listen.

It took a while. You both were in the middle of watching a movie that wasn’t Die Hard when you told him that you needed to talk to him about something. The hesitancy in your voice and the fixation your fingers had with the hem of your sweater was painful to witness.

He understood, of course. He always did. That you needed to experience what it was like to live, not survive. That decades of living with other kids, living under an abuser, living in a safehouse for months, was restrictive and suffocating and you needed to find what made you happy.

And so did he. It was something both of you had to do eventually, exit the bubble you had been staying in under such ardent protection for those two months.

Riley was wonderfully supportive of it, vowing to find you the best apartment that New Orleans had to offer. You didn’t doubt it.

His place had been colourful and bright and everything you could have asked for after the monotone walls you were used to. But it wasn’t yours.

A few weeks later you had moved out. Sam left a lingering kiss on your forehead, a sign to say that he’d be here whenever, whatever.

You made a Shakira joke. He laughed.

A completely fresh new start. If you failed now, it was all on you.

And what a terrifying thought that was.

It had been four months since you had left Riley’s apartment behind.

Four months since you had seen either of them.

The cafe was starting to feel too small for this event. Too intimate, too-

When the bell above the cafe chimes, something at the back of your mind instantly wakes up, sending you on high alert.

“Y/N?” he called out from behind you.

You knew he’d be early.

“Sam.” You breathed out, standing up to face him.

Video calls didn’t do him any justice. He had a particular glow to him, an aura of confidence that wasn’t there the last time you saw him. His beard was neatly trimmed and the smile that tugged at his lips the minute you caught his eye was beautiful.

You didn’t realise how different he looked until the time apart. Months of makeshift workouts and peanut butter as your only source of protein had done a number on him. You remembered him being leaner, and what you now realised was the constant burden of fatigue on his face.

“You look good.” An understatement escaped you, but he did.

He had a deep blue shirt on that hugged him in all the right places. Months of seeing him only black and grey had you damn near drooling when he wore other colours after you got out.

Not that you were staring, but his biceps had definitely made a wonderful return.

“You’re not so bad yourself.” Sam sent you a smile that instantly put you at ease. “Independence looks good on you, sweetheart.”

You gave a small laugh, gesturing for him to take a seat. Should you have hugged him? Shook his hand? Kissed hi-

“It’s been a while,” he politely interrupted your overthinking. “How are things going?”

You let out a small breath. It was a big question, one that you had answered over text and call a few times but it was different now. He was in front of you now and you couldn’t bullshit the way you used to on call occasionally.

“Weird,” you admitted. “I don’t know what to do with myself now that I have all this time.”

“It takes some gettin’ used to.” He nodded in agreement, leaning back in his chair.

A lot of your time went into trying new hobbies. Knitting, pottery, drawing- anything that you could get your hands on. Things didn’t always catch on, some discarded just after the first week. Others stuck, bringing you bits of triumph every time you moved forward with your newfound skill.

“You still seein’ your therapist?” He flashed a smile at the waitress who filled his glass of water.

Ah, yes. Dr. Bishop had been one of the first people you sought out.

“Yeah.” You took a sip of water. “See her weekly.”

You still had money left over from all the hit jobs that you had done. As much as you wanted to leave every inkling of that life behind, you needed the cash to live. You had enough for the time being, but you knew that eventually you had to start working; if not for the money then for the peace of mind.

“How’s that goin’?”

“She thinks I talk in elaborate metaphors. The gang’s what I call my toxic family, he was my abusive father, stuff like that.”

There were moments where you thought you saw someone you knew standing at a corner, vendors giving you icy looks from across the street, footsteps outside your door that seemed too damn loud. But nothing ever came of it.

“Thanks for the tip, by the way.” You extended a smile to him in appreciation for the idea.

“Worked with my therapist, figured it would be the same with yours.” He shrugged casually. It wasn’t like you wanted to lie to her, and you weren’t. But some things were better left in the dark.

“But I think it’s helping.” You exhaled deeply, eyes downcast. “The nightmares are reducing.”

“That’s a lot of progress.” The corner of his mouth quirked upward in pride.

Several feelings erupted from that look, some that you’d spend the whole day revelling in if you didn’t force yourself to move on.

“How about you?” you diverted the subject back to him. “How’s Riley?”

“He says he misses ya.” Sam laughed. “Says he can’t handle me alone, that he needs you back to save him.”

“What have you been doing to that poor man?” you teased, easing back into your seat. “He was fine when I left him.”

“He’s got a fancy new job now and it’s been going to his head. Needed a little humbling.”

“You’re not going too hard on him, are you?” Even though you knew he wasn’t, it was fun to make sure.

“Nah, I’d say it’s just about the right amount.” Sam grinned and you felt the familiar flutter return to your stomach. “I’ve been doing good. Working on getting my license.”

“Oh yeah, how’s that going?” You were thrilled when he said he was going to look into becoming a youth counselor, knowing that it was something he had been genuinely wanting to do for ages.

“With my background, or lack of it, it’s a little trickier than I thought it would be,” he divulges a bit more seriously. “Riley’s been pulling a few strings and I got a few contacts but it’s gonna take some more time.”

You bit your lip, worry rising for him. He deserved it, he earned it. It fucking sucked that it wasn’t going to be an easy, direct path.

“We’ll figure it out,” you said quietly, reaching out to intertwine your fingers with his in reassurance.

The contact brings with it a small spark. You wondered if he still felt it.

“Yeah. We will.” He sent you a soft smile at your action, not making any effort to move it. “You been on any dates lately?”

You let out a snort at that. “Loads. Have fellas lining up at every corner for me.”

“I bet.” He’s more bold, a bit more open than he was in the first month when you both got out. “How many of them do I have to fight off?”

“I’d say six as a rough estimate.” Your expression mimicked one of consideration. “I hope you’ve been getting your hours in at the gym.”

“I’ll kick it up a notch,” he promised, hands raised in surrender.

“You better. We’re supposed to go for laser-tag.” A dumb callback to a joke he made on one of your last days there.

“Or paintball.” He remembered. It made you unnecessarily giddy. “I added an escape room to the list too.”

“Hilarious,” you fired at him, rolling your eyes slightly but the happiness on your face proved otherwise.

His laughter died down eventually, paving the way for the comfortable silence that lingered between you both. Your eyes fell down to where your hand still held his, biting your lip to conceal a smile.

“Y/N,” he called out, pulling your gaze back to his. “Jokes aside… how are you?”

You let out a breath at his question. You knew it was coming.

“Riley found me an apartment,” you murmured.

Sam looked up from his phone. “Yeah?”

“It’s a nice place. Lots of sunlight. Quiet too.” You toyed with your fingers. “But it’s about an hour away. More if you consider traffic.”

Sam set his phone down gently on the bedside table, indicating that you had his full attention.

“I don’t want you to think I’m abandoning you, because I’m not. I wouldn’t, I just-”

“Hey,” he interrupted calmly, twisting his body to face you. “I don’t think you’re abandoning me. If this is what you need, then you should do it.”

“I don’t know if this is what I need. I don’t know what I’m doing, I’ve never been-” the frustration in your voice only increased as you went on. “-I don’t even know if this is going to work. What if I hate it?”

“Finding out what you hate is just as important as what you like, I think.” He watched you toy with the fidget square he had gotten you. “And you know that if you don’t feel like it, then you can come back here at any moment.”

“I know.” It was a comforting thought. A safety net.

“But would this make you happy?” That caught you by surprise.

It wasn’t something you had thought of. You thought of the negative consequences, the devastating effects it could have on you, how it could be the worst possible decision you’d ever make.

“I don’t know,” you mumbled, a new anxiety setting in. “I guess we’ll see.”

You liked the neighbours who played the piano way too loud at 2am, the really terrible coffee at the therapist’s office and the feeling the paper plane on your dresser gave you when you occasionally looked at it.

You didn’t like how hot the apartment could get, especially during the afternoon, or the guy who sold magazines down the street who cursed at everyone for no reason, or the gentrified Indian food they served at the mall.

But Sam was right. Figuring out what you didn’t like was just as beautiful a journey as figuring out what you did.

“I’m happy.” You breathed out. “Or I'm working towards being happy. But it’s there.”

He doesn’t say anything to that. Simply slipped his palm under yours to lift your hand, pressing a kiss to your knuckles.

“I’m proud of you.”

If anyone could feel the heat that rose to your face they would probably think you had a fever.

The fear that you had, the one of what things would be like if you weren’t forced to survive in a confined space together, had begun to fade the minute he called out your name that day.

It was Sam. Your Sam.

You shake yourself out of your train of thought with a small smile, making a move to gather up your belongings without letting go of his hand for a second.

“Well, c’mon then. Those paintballs aren’t going to shoot themselves.”

“Are you saying this is a date?” There was a smirk on his face that wasn’t there a minute ago.

“Would you still consider it one once I annihilate you?” You tilted your head in a challenge.

“That would never happen, first of all.” He scoffed. “Second… I was thinking that maybe we could do something normal for a change.”

That had you more interested than the prospect of adventure sports. You had enough of it for a lifetime, frankly speaking.

“Lead the way, Cinnamon.” He only rolled his eyes at the nickname, sending you a vaguely threatening look. You just laughed.

“This place got good coffee?” He looked around at the establishment and its patrons.

“One of the best.”

“Then I don’t see why we have to go anywhere else,” he offered and you nodded, relaxing back into your place with the same sense of warmth in your heart that only intensified with his proposal.

He raised his hand up to flag the server, the same girl who had been helping you out since you got there, asking for two menus.

The smile he sent her was infectious. It was good.

“Sam,” you began quietly. “I missed you.”

His eyes softened, the sunlight reflecting in it making it shine like dravite. “I missed you, too.”

“Ready to order?” The waitress stands beside you with a notepad.

He looked at you and you nodded with a smile.

Things were different. You were different.

And he still came back to you.

--fin--

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <3

thank you so much for reading!

[bluecookies02]

Alpha!Overhaul x Reader-give you pups

/NSFW/

summary: he has hands shush. We gonna pretend that scene never happened. Anyways...been sick for a few days and had the urge to have my insides misplaced...but ~gently~

warnings: A/B/O dynamics, breeding, heat, and all that stuff.

✼ •• ┈┈┈┈๑⋅⋯ ୨˚୧ ⋯⋅๑┈┈┈┈ •• ✼

Kai always thought of Omegas as something so unsanitary and messy, his nose scrunching up each time they would be mentioned in any conversation or included in missions.

Yet eventually he wounded up with an Omega on his sleeve and in his bed at night.

They've been dating for a while, previously being close friends until Kai picked up on the way his breath would hitch when she would walk past him, his heart rate picking up only slightly and a low instinctive rumble coiling in his throat.

It took him a while to court you, inviting you to his office more times than necessary, his gloved hand "accidentally" brushing against yours as he pointed at some details on the building plan. Sometimes, too many times for it to be an accident, he would offer you his coffee, insisting that you look exhausted and tired. The thought of you putting your lips somewhere his mouth has been made him grip the table for a split second before continuing his pointless meeting.

One day he would bring you on a mission with him, pretending to not have an organized place to stay for his negotiations with the league.

He wouldn't believe his actions at first, feeling weirded out by the fact that nothing repulsed him that much as long as you were with him.

You would end up hidden in the woods in a relatively secluded cave, the cold air biting at your skin as the wind blew from the outside.

You would keep your distance, giving him his space until you found yourself snuggled inside of his coat, his warm gloved hand draped over your shoulder.

You knew him for a long time and it was obvious to you what he's been doing, yet you still yearned for more confirmation.

"Kai..." your voice would be calm and gentle, looking up at him as your breath ghosted over his mask.

He would slowly reach his arm up, tugging at the elastic and finally placing the mask in his lap.

Your breath would hitch in your throat as you leaned in slowly, looking for any sign of disgust on his face.

When none came you placed your lips softly against his, his eyes closing as he let out a long sigh of relief.

"It doesn't feel bad." he would mumble, his gloved hand cupping your chin as he deepened the kiss.

So by default, it took him a while to get used to being touched. Experiencing hugs and hand holding for the first time in his life.

You always paid close attention to being hygienic more than necessary, brushing your teeth and taking constant showers in extreme quantities, afraid of him being disgusted by you in the slightest.

While Kai did appreciate that, he began craving your natural smell and taste, your clothes dry cleaned almost every week, making it extremely hard for him to go through his ruts with your clothes against his nose.

And finally, it happened, your heat taking over you while you were locked in your own room, small whimpers leaving your throat as you struggled to not scream for your Alpha.

He would smell you from miles away, your scent piling up and luring him into your room. His cock instantly straining against his boxers.

He would lock the door behind him, drinking in your body sprawled on the bed, your hand kneading at your panties as you rubbed your thighs together.

You would immediately snap your eyes to his form, jumping to your feet and trying to rush to your bathroom to clean up, tears of embarrassment pricking at your eyes almost instantly.

He towered over you, locking you in place after throwing you back on your bed.

"I think I made it pretty clear that you're the only thing I find absolutely, wholeheartedly pure...therefore everything about you is perfect, the way you smell the way you look and the way you...taste" his mask was long forgotten and his gloves off as soon as he opened your door seconds ago.

His tongue swiped over your neck, your trembling form making him frown.

"What's the matter? Am I not doing something right?" you would whine against him, your hips bucking up to meet his and your neck pressing against his teeth.

"Oh...Are you sure about that 'mega?" he would question, leaving a chaste kiss at your neck before gliding down your body, the question not really reaching your need driven mind. You took off your own clothes hours before, the warmth on your skin being almost unbearable that you even considered getting some ice from your fridge and laying on it.

Kai's hand would grip at your hips, his tongue lolling out to lick a long stripe over the cotton material of your panties, the cloth already soaked from your slick. His lips wrapped around the material, sucking on the tasty fabric as a few drops of liquid coated his tongue. He'll definitely make use of them in the future, stuffing your pretty mouth with your own sweat and cum, because you've definitely came in them a few times already.

He would then slip them off of your legs before returning to your cunt. As soon as he slid his tongue between your folds, your hips bucked up, your legs instinctively wrapping around his head as you tried to push him closer. Your hands tangled in his hair, racking your nails in his scalp as he slurped at your hole.

He would let you ride his face, slick coating his chin as you gushed over his mouth. He craved it, his brain barely functioning properly from the lack of oxygen. He would lap at your cunt , his nails digging into your thighs as he tried to squeeze them tighter around his head, eyes closed and mind focused on engraving your taste and scent into his brain.

You throbbed against his lips, glancing down to look at him, his hips gliding against the mattress in time with your thrusts, his bulge threatening to spill over his pants, a particular wet spot prominent at the place his tip would be.

"Mate. Mate. Mate. Mate" seemed to be the only word you managed to choke out before throwing your head back and cumming on your boyfriend's tongue, tears pricking at your eyes as your cunt still ached in need.

He made quick work of his pants and the coat, pressing his forehead against yours as he took a deep breath.

"I don't think I'll be able to stop myself once I fill you up, so please say something now before I sink my teeth into that soft skin of yours." His cock twitched against your entrance, patiently waiting for your reply as he dipped his head in the crook of your neck, breath ghosting over the mating spot.

You nodded eagerly, baring your neck even further and gripping at his shoulders with great force.

"Mate~" you would breathlessly mumble as he pushed into you, stretching your walls and bottoming out in one deep thrust.

Soon enough you would struggle to hold onto him, his hips ruthlessly slamming against yours as he pushed your legs further and further apart.

He fit so perfectly into you, every ridge and vein prodding at exactly the right places as he sunk into your sloppy cunt. Bending you to his will as he plowed in and out of your tight hole, the sinful sound of your pussy gripping around him each time he stuffed you full sending into a frenzy.

His thrusts were frantic and desperate, his wolf finally getting what it craved for so long.

He was so close to cumming, so close to marking you inside and out, the thought of making you full with his pups clouding his mind, thinking about the way your tummy would bulge up as he filled you up with his seed over and over and ove-

You cried out when you felt his teeth sink into your neck, his hips stilling as he pulled your frame on his cock, holding you tight as warm spurts of cum filled your insides, his knot painfully stretching you out as it inflated and locked itself in its place.

His eyes were hooded as he watched you with adoration, your jaw slack and your tongue poking out of your mouth as you struggled to catch your breath.

His hand would reach for your mouth, swiping away the drool that pooled at the corner of it.

He would collapse on top of you, holding himself up on his elbows just slightly so he wouldn't squish you with his weight. He would then take note of the way every curve of your body looked when relaxed, grasping the chance to kiss and lick at any spot his mouth could reach, the salty flavor melting on his tongue before he swiped it over your bloody neck.

Soothing the bite, he licked over the new mating mark on your flesh, a swell of pride dancing in his chest.

As the both of you relaxed agains each other, your chuckle pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Do you really want to try for pups?"

He did not say that outloud. Did he? He didn't...He did...

He looked at your belly, imagining it round with his children, bearing small versions of you. He wanted another chance, ready to try and make up for everything he's done, although he knew that maybe he'll never do enough for that to come true.

"I think so...Do you?" you nodded, cupping his face with your hands.

"Well then mister we'll have to do this over and over again since I'm currently on the pill"

A grin broke on his face, giving a teasing thrust, making you whine.

"I'm good to go 'mega"

I felt really soft, so I had to make this cute lil thing, much love, tell me whatya think

link for my ko-fi is in my bio if you would like to commision me something 💕 dm me for prices and discounts- much love🦋

[firstfullmoon]

Do you have favorite quotes related about the importance of small details?

“The precious intimacy of little things.”

— Daphné du Maurier, I Will Never Be Young Again

“On my windowsill when I got home, there was a tumbler with pink jelly in it, and embedded in the jelly, sliced strawberries and bananas… [my neighbour] cooks at odd hours. She must have made the strawberry jelly this morning. When I buy baklava, which is not often because I eat too many, I leave a few for her on her windowsill, with a headscarf over them so the wasps don’t come. For these little gifts we don’t thank each other with words. They are commas of care.”

— John Berger, From A to X: A Story in Letters

“I suppose I could spend time theorizing how it is that people are not bad to each other, but that’s really not the point. The point is that in almost every instance of our lives, our social lives, we are, if we pay attention, in the midst of an almost constant, if subtle, caretaking. Holding open doors. Offering elbows at crosswalks. Letting someone else go first. Helping with the heavy bags. Reaching what’s too high, or what’s been dropped. Pulling someone back to their feet. Stopping at the car wreck, at the struck dog. The alternating merge, also known as the zipper. This caretaking is our default mode and it’s always a lie that convinces us to act or believe otherwise. Always.”

“One of the woman was gently arranging an older woman’s collar beneath her sweater, freeing it from the cardigan’s neck, using both of her hands to jostle it free but also seeming to spend a little more time than necessary, creasing the fold of the collar, the other hand kind of resting on her shoulder, the two of them chatting the whole time, sitting there holding each other, nodding, my head twisting toward them like a sunflower as I finished the stairs and walked by, so in love was I with this common flourish of love, this everyday human light.”

“but her need to share the photo with me [...] smiling and looking at it, smiling and looking at me looking at it, me smiling and looking at her looking at it, which is simply called sharing what we love, what we find beautiful, which is an ethics.”

— Ross Gay, The Book of Delights

“He’s got a fever. He’s all alone. So I’m gonna buy him something to eat.” “The congee downstairs is quite good.” “He doesn’t want congee.” “What does he want?” “Can’t taste anything so he wants sesame syrup.” [...] “What are you cooking?” “I had a sudden craving for sesame syrup.”

“Why did you call me at the office today?” “I had nothing to do. I wanted to hear your voice.”

— In the Mood for Love, dir. Wong Kar-Wai

— Danusha Laméris, “Small Kindnesses”

“It all matters. That someone turns out the lamp, picks up the windblown wrapper, says hello to the invalid, pays at the unattended lot, listens to the repeated tale, folds the abandoned laundry, plays the game fairly, tells the story honestly, acknowledges help, gives credit, says good night, resists temptation, wipes the counter, waits at the yellow, makes the bed, tips the maid, remembers the illness, congratulates the victor, accepts the consequences, takes a stand, steps up, offers a hand, goes first, goes last, chooses the small portion, teaches the child, tends to the dying, comforts the grieving, removes the splinter, wipes the tear, directs the lost, touches the lonely, is the whole thing. What is most beautiful is least acknowledged. What is worth dying for is barely noticed.”

— Laura McBride, We Are Called to Rise

“I’ve never told you this,” she said. “But there’s something about taking the cart back instead of leaving it in the parking lot. I don’t know when this came to me; it was a few years ago. There’s a difference between leaving it where you empty it and taking it back to the front of the store. It’s significant.” “Because somebody has to take them in.” “Yes. And if you know that, and you do it for that one guy, you do something else. You join the world…You move out of your isolation and become universal.”

— Andre Dubus, “Out of the Snow”

“It’s true that, in Vietnamese, we rarely say I love you, and when we do, it is almost always in English. Care and love, for us, are pronounced clearest through service: plucking white hairs, pressing yourself on your son to absorb a plane’s turbulence and, therefore, his fear. Or now—as Lan called to me, “Little Dog, get over here and help me help your mother.” And we knelt on each side of you, rolling out the hardened cords in your upper arms, then down to your wrists, your fingers. For a moment almost too brief to matter, this made sense—that three people on the floor, connected to each other by touch, made something like the word family.”

— Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel

— Ada Limón, from “The Great Blue Heron of Dunbar Road”

“I’m doing a balancing act with a stack of fresh fruit in my basket. I love you. I want us both to eat well.”

— Christopher Citro, from “Our Beautiful Life When It’s Filled WIth Shrieks”

“One of the primary ways we connect with each other is by eating together. Some of the connection happens simply by being in the same place at the same time and sharing the same food, but we also connect through specific actions, such as serving food to one another or making toasts: ‘May I offer you some potatoes?’ ‘Here’s to your health and happiness.’ Much of our fundamental well-being comes from the basic reassurance that there is a place for us at the table. We belong here. Here we are served and we serve others. Here we give and receive sustenance.”

— Edward Espe Brown, Tomato Blessings and Radish Teaching

“Attention is the beginning of devotion.”

“Now in the spring I kneel, I put my face into the packets of violets, the dampness, the freshness, the sense of ever-ness. Something is wrong, I know it, if I don’t keep my attention on eternity. May I be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe, tiny but useful. May I stay forever in the stream. May I look down upon the windflower and the bull thistle and the coreopsis with the greatest respect.”

“it is a serious thing

just to be alive on this fresh morning in this broken world.”

— Mary Oliver, Upstream: Selected Essays / from “Invitation”

— Wendy Cope, “The Orange”

“After learning my flight was detained 4 hours, I heard the announcement: if anyone in the vicinity of gate 4-A understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately. Well—one pauses these days. Gate 4-A was my own gate. I went there. An older woman in full traditional Palestinian dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly. Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her. What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be four hours late and she did this. I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly. Shu dow-a, shu-biduck habibti, stani stani schway, min fadlick, sho bit se-wee? The minute she heard any words she knew—however poorly used—she stopped crying. She thought our flight had been canceled entirely. She needed to be in El Paso for some major medical treatment the following day. I said no, no, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just late. Who is picking you up? Let’s call him and tell him. We called her son and I spoke with him in English. I told him I would stay with his mother until we got on the plane and would ride next to her—Southwest. She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it. Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out, of course, they had ten shared friends. Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her. This all took up about 2 hours. She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life. Answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies—little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts—out of her bag—and was offering them to all the women at the gate. To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the traveler from California, the lovely woman from Laredo—we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There are no better cookies. And then the airline broke out the free beverages from huge coolers—non-alcoholic—and the two little girls from our flight, one African American, one Mexican American—ran around serving us all apple juice and lemonade, and they were covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friend—by now we were holding hands—had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing with green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere. And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought, this is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in this gate—once the crying of confusion stopped—has seemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too. This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.”

— Naomi Shihab Nye, “Gate A4″

“Then there are the things, if you are particularly lucky, that this person has done for you while you’re away: how in the pantry, in the freezer, in the refrigerator will be all the food you like to eat, the scotch you like to drink. There will be the sweater you thought you lost the previous year at the theater, clean and folded and back on its shelf. There will be the shirt with its dangling buttons, but the buttons will be sewn back in place. There will be your mail stacked on one side of his desk; there will be a contract for an advertising campaign you’re going to do in Germany for an Austrian beer, with his notes in the margin to discuss with your lawyer. And there will be no mention of it, and you will know that it was done with genuine pleasure, and you will know that part of the reason—a small part, but a part—you love being in this apartment and in this relationship is because this other person is always making a home for you, and that when you tell him this, he won’t be offended but pleased, and you’ll be glad, because you meant it with gratitude.”

— Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

[marshmallow-phd]

Healing Touch

Part of The Untamed - EXO Wolf Universe

Genre: Wolf!AU

Pairing: Yixing x Reader

Summary: Medical school abroad was the last line on your to-do list before starting the rest of your life. Everything was going according to plan. Everything, that is, until tragedy strikes your campus. In the wake of a professor’s untimely death, you’re partnered with the cute boy with a breathtaking smile in the newly combined labs. You find yourself unable to resist the dimples and shy glances, but his life is here with no plans of leaving. Will you continue on as planned or will you accept the hand that Fate had dealt you?

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I Final

**

The smell had not changed in all the years that you used to call this place home. Pinecone potpourri mixed with traditional cooking spices and a hint of citrus from the constant dusting. Your aunt had always been a bit eccentric, a bit off beat. It had made being raised by her both adventurous and anxiety-inducing.

In the privacy of your home, her random dance parties and unfiltered way of speaking made you laugh. But when you were in public and she was pretending to be a mannequin in a window display, you ran away to the food court to hide behind a cup of boba. The explanation was always the same no matter what antics she was pulling: she wanted to break you out of your shell. It seemed like a lost cause. You were comfortable in your shell. It protected you and kept you warm.

“I don’t see how you expect to go trialing off to a place you’ve never been before,” your aunt had complained when you first told her about applying to the far away college.

“They’re two entirely different situations,” you had argued. “I can go to class and go back home without any issues.” These days there was your phone if you ever got lost or in need of food but didn’t want to leave the comfort of your apartment. Modern conveniences only enabled your shut-in ways.

“But what about, you know, friends?” She looked at you over her stylish, cat-eye glasses that she had no use for with her perfect vision.

“I have those,” you insisted. So, you might not have had a best friend, but you had people that you occasionally hung out with and collaborated on. Then there was Victoria and Amber from high school. You still spoke to them regularly, despite them going to different colleges out of the area. Your aunt didn’t realize that not everyone needed multiple circles of friends to bounce between.

Pushing her glasses back up her nose, your aunt pouted. “I just worry about you, that’s all. You still don’t like getting into cars, especially by yourself, and if you happen to be studying late….”

“I don’t mind taking the bus.” A bit of a stretch. You did mind but would still take it if the situation were dire enough. Walking was good exercise. And better for the environment. Someone had to look out for the little bunnies.

“Alright,” your aunt huffed as she sipped on her now lukewarm tea. “It is your life. I’m just a spectator of it.”

“At least you have premium seating,” you teased.

That had made your aunt laugh. She was back to her more carefree self.

“Is that my favorite niece?”

“No, it’s your least favorite nephew.”

Your aunt poked her head out of the hallway, the edge of her pink fuzzy robe telling you that she was getting ready to go out.

That was the exchange the two of you always had when you came to visit. The first time around, you had rolled your eyes and given the sarcastic answer for the cliché greeting. As your mother and aunt were the only siblings in their family and your father was the single offspring from his parents, there were no other nieces or nephews to put above or below you.

Without prompt, your aunt passed through the living room and onto the kitchen. When she came back, she had two wine glasses filled with bubble pink liquid. After handing you the lesser filled glass, she sat down on the couch while you opted for the loveseat, letting your purse drop to the hardwood floor by your feet. Your aunt leaned back on the arm rest with one elbow as she sipped on the wine. “It’s watermelon,” she informed you when you hadn’t taken a drink. “Try it.”

Shaking your head, you did as she asked. Oh, no. It was delicious. That was dangerous. You took another, larger swig before putting the glass down on the coffee table.

Growing up, you’d felt bad for your aunt. Sometimes you still did, though not as much after her many lectures as to why you shouldn’t.

She’d always been the carefree one. As a marketing consultant, she was constantly flying all over the globe, having adventures in between work meetings and bringing those experiences back to you in the form of expensive souvenirs. When your parents volunteered to go help a poorer nation with their health crisis, your aunt was quick to lend her babysitting services. It was only supposed to be temporary, after all. Then tragedy struck

Your parents never came back and suddenly your aunt was now your permanent guardian. The carefree spirit took it in stride. She shifted her strategy to more web-based conferences until you were in high school and able to be on your own for longer periods of time. She never turned into your mother; she never wanted to. For that, you were even more thankful. She was still the spontaneous, forever young aunt that you had always known. That stability in her personality was exactly what you needed. Too much had changed in your world on a dime, the less that was altered the better.

“What prompted this little visit?” she asked, a curious half smile on her lips.

You shrugged. “I hadn’t seen you in a while, so I thought I’d stop by and say hi. It looks like you’re getting ready to go out, though.”

Your aunt waved her hand limply. “Not for a few hours. Besides, anything can wait for you.”

Shifting in your seat, you smiled at the affection she had for you. “I finally heard from the university,” you told her.

Her eyebrows shot up. “You did? They finally decided to stop dangling the carrot and just give it to you, did they?”

“Not exactly,” you cringed. “They said they wanted to see how this semester went and then they would let me know.”

Your aunts face fell into a scowl as if something awful smelling had made its way into her nose. “What sense does that make?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. But at least it’s not an outright no.”

Clicking her tongue, your aunt leaned forward so she was now balancing her elbows on her knees. “You know, there are still other options. Closer options.”

“I know,” you said with a monotone voice. “But Plan A is my focus. I’ll look to other options if that falls through.”

That knowing look you were all too familiar with formed on her face. A long, reminiscing sigh blew out from her lungs. “You are so much like your mother. It’s scary sometimes.”

You never knew how to respond when she said things like that. Should you be happy at the comparison? Sad because your mother wasn’t here to tell you herself? You were a child when your parents passed away. You remembered vague moments, birthday parties and movie nights. But when you’re that young, you don’t get a good idea of your parents’ personalities. You don’t learn what they like or don’t like, how they act in crowds versus a small group of people. You have to rely on the memories of those left behind.

You stayed at your aunt’s house for another hour or so, talking to her about her latest clients and nights out with the girls. You told her how your days were going and how you were adjusting to the new routine with the combined class. The news of Yixing sat on the tip of your tongue, but you couldn’t bring yourself to mention him. Her reaction would have been too predictable.  She’d ask when the two of you were going to go out and when you explained that it wasn’t like that, she would ask why not. For that, you didn’t have an answer.

While you wanted to say that the two of you were just friends, it didn’t feel like the truth.

You saw more of Yixing than of anyone else, including Ran. He would walk you to class multiple times a day and the two of you would talk. Not about anything too deep. You weren’t at that level yet. He was funny and charming, never speaking a word that wasn’t kind. You learned that he lived in farmhouse in the woods with eight other people, all men. He swore it was never too crowded and that he actually enjoyed the company. He got lonely easily.

He also told you about how he took a few years off of college to figure out what he wanted to do. You’d asked him how he came to the path of becoming a doctor. He said he simply wanted to do something that would help people. He thought about opening a low-income clinic once he had his degree. Suddenly your heart was pumping under your sternum. When he asked why you went pre-med, you gave a shrug and said your parents and left it at that. These conversations were usually nice and lighthearted, you didn’t want to be the downer.

Yes, spending time with Yixing was nice, the highlight of your day, sometimes. But he also felt like a secret. One that you should keep to yourself for now. Good things didn’t always last. You wanted to see if this was a long-term investment for him before you invited anyone else in.

The next day, you needed some fresh air, so you decided to take a walk in the nature center on the edge of town. Although the woods would be a no-go area since they still hadn’t caught the animal terrorizing the area, the center would be full of people and should be quite safe. It couldn’t really be considered part of the woods given the infrastructure and the observation building, could it? Deciding to go anyway, you packed your bag with a few notes, snacks, and a water bottle. As your hand landed on the doorknob to leave, your eyes fell on the jacket lying on the back of the couch.

You hadn’t worn the comforting fabric since that day. The weather had been nice and putting it on would have seemed a bit obnoxious in your eyes. But this morning the weatherman had mentioned a chilly breeze. It wouldn’t hurt.

Arms through their designated holes, you left the apartment and started the walk to the outskirts of town. It wasn’t too far of a walk, maybe thirty, forty minutes at the most. You thanked yourself for wearing the jacket. A “chilly breeze” was an understatement. A few families and couples were dotted among the trails of the nature center that wound near and over the small creek. You passed by them all until you came to a spot that was deserted. Resting your legs, you sat on a bench with your back to the trees. The sun was shining up above. The only noise seemed to come from the rustling leaves and trickling creek. It was peaceful, just what you needed.

With your bag beside you, you took out a piece of paper with yesterday’s notes and started to review them. Some of the words were smudged and the edges were already crinkling, but you could make most of it out. The paper flopped in the wind. You thought you had a good enough grip on it, but a gust of air proved you wrong.

The paper went flying over your head and straight for the trees. Panic made you jump up, slinging your bag over your shoulder as you ran after it. The wind – now relentless – was enough to keep the paper continuously out of your reach.

It finally came to a stop when it caught on a tree root sticking out in the ground. You snatched the paper up and stuffed it into the bag to keep it from running away again. Straightening up again, your eyes settled on the horizon.

Then you screamed.

**

Yixing’s eyes snapped open.

He was no longer a wolf. He was human again. Sitting up, he brushed off the leaves from his arms. What time was it? Was it even the same day? He’d blacked out again. At this point, it was almost routine. His only consolation prize being the fact that he was alone. He still needed to figure out what was happening to him. He wasn’t ready to take this to his brothers. There was enough to worry about at the moment.

Getting on his feet, Yixing headed in the direction of where his things were stored. In order to avoid the others wanting to run with him, he’d entered the forest from a different area, storing his things in a bush to get back to later. He flicked his jeans to get the dirt off before pulling them on and then stuffing his feet in his shoes.

A piercing cry for cut through the air.

The hair on the back of Yixing’s neck stood up.

“Help! Somebody help!”

It was your voice.

He gasped. Then he took off. If anything happened to you-

Yixing skidded to a stop when he saw you kneeling in the grass. A body was laying in front of you, the clothes ripped and stained dark. It was lying face down, but Yixing could tell that it was a man and that he’d been attacked.

“(Y/n), what happened?”

You stared at him with wide, confused eyes. “Yixing? What are you doing here?”

He ignored your question, more worried about your own wellbeing. “What happened?” he repeated.

You shook your head as you dropped your eyes to the man lying on the ground. “I don’t know. I just found him like this. He’s still breathing but I’m not strong enough to move him.”

Yixing analyzed the situation. His car was only on the other side of the trees. The man was still alive. From Yixing’s point of view, he could make it, but they needed to act fast. Slipping his arms under the man while careful not to move him too much, he picked the man up and motioned with his head for you to follow.

He said nothing and you asked no questions as the tree line broke. Yixing scanned the parking lot of the nature center until he found his car. He rushed to the vehicle with a few glances over his shoulder to make sure you were keeping up with him.

“(y/n)?”

“Yeah?” You were huffing. Had he been running? He’d tried to go at a pace that you could keep up with.

“In my front right pocket are my keys. Can you fish them out and unlock the doors?”

You nodded. Yixing could feel your fingers trembling as they slipped into the denim opening. The shaking was even more obvious once the keys were free, the house and car keys clinking together as you searched for the fob to unlock the doors. Without prompt, you opened the back door to allow Yixing to slip the man into the bench seat. He told you to get in the front. You tossed him the keys and the two of you rushed to the hospital.

A pair of doctors rushed out of the automatic doors as soon as the car pulled into the emergency entrance.

“We found him in the woods,” Yixing explained. The doctors quickly examined the man as two more nurses came out with a stretcher.

“I think that animal attacked him,” you added.

Yixing’s eyes flickered over to you with worry. The doctors nodded in acknowledgement then helped the nurses move the man to the stretcher. The two of you followed closely but were forced to stay behind in the waiting room. Yixing sat next to you in the uncomfortable plastic chairs that were connected to the wall.

“You never answered the question.”

Yixing frowned. “What question?”

You turned to look at him with your eyebrows furrowed, making him want to reach out and smooth the creases they created. “What you were doing out in the woods.”

Yixing stiffened. He pressed his foot into the tile floor to keep it from bouncing. “I was… hiking.”

“Without a shirt?”

He looked down. Crap. He hadn’t even realized that he wasn’t finished getting dressed before he took off. “I get warm easily.”

Your eyes narrowed suspiciously. Yixing fought to keep his face neutral. It was a pathetic excuse, he knew it. But you didn’t call him out on it. Instead, you leaned forward, unzipping the polyester bomber that was easily recognizable as his own, taking it off, and holding it out to him.

“I’m fine,” Yixing said, ignoring the jacket.

“You really should put it on. I heard the front desk call the cops. They’ll be here soon, and it’ll look suspicious. What would you tell them the reason was for you not having a shirt?”

A cheeky answer came to mind. Yixing bit down to hold it back, even if it would have caused your face to heat up in an adorable fashion. The instinct of making sure his mate was okay was almost too great to ignore. You were the one who needed to stay warm, stay protected. But you had a valid point. And you were inside, out of the wind. So, he accepted the jacket and ran the zipper almost up to his neck to hide the lack of shirt underneath.

The police arrived about twenty minutes later. They separated you, making him anxious. Over the next hour or so, Yixing gave his side of the story to the officer. They took him at his word that he was strolling through the woods. The doctors had already informed the officers that the wounds were clearly animal made. While severe, they weren’t life threatening. That gave Yixing a small amount of relief.

“Would you two like to see him?” one of the nurses asked another hour later. You nodded eagerly. Yixing stayed a bit behind as the nurse led you through the halls to a large room that held several beds separated by plastic curtains.

The man was awake. Black stitches covered his arms. Three claw marks ran down the left cheek. From what Yixing knew of the other victims, this guy was lucky. He was talking to a nurse when he looked to see who his visitors were. As soon as his eyes landed on Yixing, the heart monitor spiked and his breathing quickened.

“Hey, it’s okay, these are the people who found you,” the nurse said to try and calm him down.

“Oh.” The man’s heart rate started to slow again. Each breath was deeper until they were back to normal. “I’m sorry.”

“How are you feeling?” you asked, taking a step forward. Yixing fought the urge to put himself between you and the man you’d rescued. He was probably harmless, but he had also been through a traumatic situation.

The man nodded. “I’m… alive, at least. Thank you.”

You gave a small smile. “I’m glad I came along when I did. Did you,” you bit your bottom lip nervously, “happen to see what attacked you?”

Yixing held his breath.

“It was a large gray wolf,” the man answered. “Huge. Like a mutated one you would see in the movies. He came from nowhere, knocked me down. I thought I was going to end up like the others as he clawed at me. Then he was gone.”

Yixing’s fist tightened at his side, his throat constricting. He forced down a swallow. He couldn’t panic. Not here.

You frowned. “I wonder what scared him off.”

“Maybe you did?” Yixing said with a slight tease. It was more to keep his own mental state calm than for the benefit of everyone else.

“I’m not that frightening.”

“Whatever it was,” the man shook his head, “I’m thankful.”

“He should really rest now,” the nurse said sternly. Yixing nodded in agreement and, after the goodbyes were given, led you away.

Once outside of the hospital, Yixing stopped you. “I can take you home.”

“That’s okay,” you countered, “I can walk.”

He didn’t like that one bit. Besides, he really needed you by his side right now. “Where do you live?”

“In an apartment near campus.”

No way. “That’s nearly halfway across the city. I can take you. It’s not a big deal.”

You shifted form foot to foot, refusing to meet his eye. “I don’t… really like cars.”

“You made it here alright.”

“That’s because I was too worried about him to think about it. The adrenaline blocked everything out.”

“I’m a safe driver, I promise.”

“I believe you. I just-” You blew air out between your lips, which ended in a growl. It was actually kind of cute. Yixing pushed back a grin. It wasn’t appropriate right now. “My parents were killed in a car crash, so they kind of freak me out.” You sucked in your lips as if you hadn’t meant to reveal that vital information.

Oh. That explained… a lot actually. At least, in terms of what you had been holding back from him. He never wanted to push, but he felt better knowing more about you.

“I understand,” he said sympathetically. “Can I walk you home then? I can come back for my car later.”

You shook your head. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Maybe so. But I need to make sure that you get home safe.”

You weighed his alternative for a minute or so. Yixing kept his patience. He refused to push you farther than you were willing to go. He just needed to see you walk safely into your building and then he would be okay until he saw you again.

“Okay,” you sighed. “You can drive me home.” He could have leapt with joy.

Yixing waited for you to get in the car before sliding behind the wheel himself. The death grip you had on the side handle didn’t escape his notice. He made sure to slow down easily and to take each turn with care. The only words you spoke were to give him directions. It wasn’t until the car was in park outside of your building did you finally relax.

“Thank you,” you told him in a strained voice.

“Any time.”

“I’m sorry if I was a little dramatic. I—” the growl of your empty stomach interrupted your speech. You groaned from embarrassment. Yixing couldn’t help his laugh.

Knock, knock, knock.

Leaning over and looking through the passenger window of his car was a strange girl Yixing had never seen before. He rolled down the window barely enough to be able hear what she was saying.

“How the hell did you get (y/n) into a car?” the girl gasped. You visibly cringed in the seat, sinking down a few inches.

Yixing blinked, unsure of how to respond. “Um, I—”

“Yixing, this is my roommate, Ran,” you interrupted, saving him. “Ran, this is Yixing. We have class together.”

“Oh!” The inclination behind her exclamation was more than obvious. And Yixing didn’t object to it. “I just ordered pizza and I know (y/n) usually gets hungry around this time. Do you want to join us?”

You flashed your roommate a panicked look, but Yixing couldn’t resist the opportunity. “That sounds great.” He caught you flinching, so he added, “As long as (y/n)’s okay with it.”

“Yeah,” you relented. “It’s the least I could do. For the ride.” You flashed an annoyed glare at Ran before getting out of the vehicle.

Yixing shouldn’t be this elated as he nearly sprung from the driver’s seat. He walked around the car slowly and let you and Ran lead the way, in case you changed your mind. You didn’t, thankfully, and Yixing walked up to your door with anticipation so great that he almost was able to forget what the man had said back at the hospital.

Almost.

[itsthemoofacewriting]

Amongst the trees

So. I’ve been having horrible writers block, the worst I’ve ever had, but then I saw b00giewara’s art on twitter. It’s so soft and pretty that finally, my mind and fingers ran. (Also, just the thought of post time skip Sanji in Water 7 outfit has me foaming at the mouth).

This sits in the same universe as Potato Peeling, for no reason other than I want it to.

Summary: On a lazy afternoon, there was nothing Sanji would rather be doing than helping Nami with her trees. Rating: T. Slightly suggestive. 

This can also be found on AO3 and FFN. 

Enjoy!

Sanji had been in the kitchen for a few hours already. Everyone had been fed for breakfast and lunch (Luffy a few more times since between then) and he’d used the lulls in-between to do his weekly inventory. He’d made more progress after lunch, only pausing to serve drinks.

The pantry was done, which took the most amount of time, and he was just about to wrap up with the fridge. As much as he didn’t mind doing the inventory, sometimes it was a nice quiet task, today he felt a bit restless. It was a beautiful day, sunny with the occasional soft breeze that took the edge off from the heat and he’d much rather be out there for once than in the kitchen counting supplies. It was his own fault really; he’d decided to do this.

However he quickly found a good reason to leave when he noticed the mikans were starting to look a bit low.

And thinking about mikans, naturally his mind drifted over to Nami. Which then lead to him thinking about how he hadn’t seen or heard Nami for a few hours either. It wasn’t overly unusual, during the day they both had things that had to be done but considering the lull- it was strange.

Poking his head out of the kitchen door and looking out onto the deck, there was no sign of her. Luffy, Chopper and Usopp were fishing, Franky was tinkering with something, Brook was down for his afternoon nap, he could hear Mosshead’s obnoxiously loud weights from the crow’s nest and Robin was sunbathing. But the sun lounger next to her was empty.

Nami’d mentioned in the morning that she’d wanted to catch up on her maps. Perhaps she was using the quiet afternoon to do that. He’d give her a tiny bit longer so that he didn’t distract her from her maps, but if she hadn’t appeared by the time he was finished, he would take a drink to her and coax her into a break.

With that in mind, he grabbed an empty wicker basket from the pantry and climbed up the ladder to the upper deck.

It was peaceful up there, only the soft wind and distant sound of the crew from the lawn deck could be heard. At first, he’d thought the humming sound was from the crew, it sounded far away, but the closer he got to the mikan trees, the louder it got, and he was starting to piece together where Nami actually was.

It was confirmed when he reached the trees and turned to see Nami bent over and doing something with the soil on the furthest tree from him. She hadn’t seen him yet, too engrossed, and angled away from him. He may have used the opportunity to gawk at her a bit. He may have also taken a few quiet steps to the side so he could get a good view of her behind. But they were together now, so it was acceptable.

“Taking in the view?” She asked, glancing over her shoulder at him and belatedly he realised the humming had stopped. Of course he couldn’t sneak up on the cat thief herself.

“It’d be rude not to.” And even though he’d been caught red handed, he still tilted his head like he hadn’t.

She shook her head at his antics, and his view was cruelly taken away from him as she stood to walk over to him. He could hardly sulk when it was replaced with her sunny smile.

“What brings you into my neck of the woods then?” She asked, taking off a gardening glove to brush a piece of hair out of the way. He wasn’t quite sure why she ever bothered with gloves, she always ended up covered in soil, something that was proven now with the stains on her dungarees.

“We’re getting low on mikans, so I thought I’d take advantage of the good weather to come pick some.” He caught her bare hand in his to press a kiss on the back in greeting, lingering for a second being letting her hand go.

Her cheeks pinked. “Great minds think alike. The weather’s perfect for taking a bit of time out for the trees,” she explained fondly. It was no secret amongst any of them how much they meant to her or how much she enjoyed doing this.

“What are you doing right now?”

“Well, Usopp gave me some compost for the soil, so with that done I’m moving onto pruning.” She’d turned to face the trees, already pinpointing branches and leaves that needed to be taken off. “Want to help? I think I saw Usopp’s shears somewhere around here.”

That was the last thing he’d expected her to ask him, and he was a bit stunned by it, so all he could muster up was a nod as he went in search for the shears.

It wasn’t entirely new territory. He’d helped her with her tress countless times. Held the basket, pointed out fruit she may have missed or perhaps a bad twig that needed to go; it was always assistant work.

Having his own set of shears was a whole new playing field.  

As far as he was aware, no one helped with cutting her trees, not even Usopp or Robin and they were the other green thumbs on board. He’d never been bitter or offended by it, it was no secret how much these trees meant to her and he’d respected that.

But this. This new ground made him a bit giddy, how far they’d come since knowing each other and especially since they’d got together. How much she was trusting him. He was more than aware of how big this was.

He quickly found the extra set of shears from where she’d said they’d be and joined her back at the trees, his basket long forgotten.

“Show me what to do, I don’t want to mess this up.” Whilst he was still giddy, he was gradually getting more and more nervous. This was important and he didn’t want to screw it up. He felt like he was keeping his cool on the outside though as he stood next to her, even if he felt like he was about to have a meltdown internally.

Perhaps he wasn’t being that smooth with the knowing look Nami gave him, but she soon eyed his jacket instead. “Firstly, I think you need to look more the part. Let’s lose the jacket, you don’t want to mess that up.”

He followed her command, taking off his jacket and draping it across the railing. It was a pleasant enough day that he wasn’t worried about it being lost to the sea.

“Let’s leave the waistcoat on,” she said, trying to look innocent but he saw straight through it, although he was more than happy to let her have her way. “And the tie, it might come in handy later. But we could roll up the sleeves.”

Before he could do that himself, her hands were at his wrists, nimbly undoing the button and rolling the fabric up to his elbows. Despite the warm weather, goosebumps erupted along his forearms as her fingers grazed along the skin. They’d been together for a few months now, so touch was nothing new between them, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to the casual touches he shared with her now. Don’t get him wrong, everything about their relationship was exciting to him, but it was the simplest touches and how comfortable she was around him that pleased him the most.

“That’s better.” She nodded to herself, hands lingering on his arms before pulling away and taking the shears out from one of her pockets.

“Thank you.” He smiled down at her tenderly and the flush she’d just managed to get rid of bloomed across her cheeks again. He found it adorable how the softest gestures flustered her the most.

“Right,” Nami said, clearing her throat and focusing back on the trees, “it’s quite simple actually. Cut any branches that are damaged, unhealthy or crossing over one another.”

“Like this one?” He pointed out a withered branch.

“Yes!” She confirmed brightly. “If in doubt, it probably needs to go, otherwise you wouldn’t have noticed it.”

He nodded in understanding and with that, they both started pruning. Nami had left him to have a tree all to himself as she worked on the one beside his. She moved confidently, barely batting an eyelid as she snipped away. He, on the other hand, moved more cautiously, considering each branch before cutting it off. She said not to overthink it, but he couldn’t not. He wanted to do a good job; he’d been entrusted with a whole tree.  

A few branches in and his free hand was becoming full of branches he’d cut off. He glanced to the side, wondering where Nami was putting hers. She must have read his mind, because she met his curious gaze, smiled, and moved a basket between the trees they were both working on.

“Throw anything you chop off into the basket. Usopp likes them so he can add it to the compost he makes,” she informed him.  

Sanji snorted at that, of course Usopp did. He wondered if the three green thumbs on board traded tips.

“Which, by the way, I’m pretty sure he’s sneaking coffee out of the pantry to use for his plants and to add to the compost,” she breezily informed him, already knowing what reaction she’d get from him.

“I knew it!” He said, outraged. His inventory checks had been off for ages and he’d been trying to figure out where the extra coffee had been going. “Now I have to fight Luffy off from the fridge and Usopp from the pantry. The one place I thought was safe.”

Nami laughed at his turmoil. “I’ll adjust the budget.”

He smiled at her gratefully for that.

They descended back into silence after that, and it was nice. It was just as relaxing as some of his tasks in the kitchen, but with the added bonus of fresh air and the sun warming his skin. He’d also say the company, but she spent a fair amount of time in there with him now anyway. But it was a nice change of pace to partake in one of her activities together for a change.

Nami’s hands didn’t falter as she softly broke the silence, “The first few weeks after leaving Cocoyasi village, I thought I was going to lose the trees, the constant change in weather made it hard to look after them.”

Sanji was silent as he let the information wash over him, it’d never crossed him mind before, but now he thought about it, it made perfect sense. “I never thought of that,” he said in awe.  

Nami hummed in agreement and shook her head. “Me either! Normally in the winter they need more care and, in the summer, less, but with the fluctuating weather they were all over the place.”

He cut away another branch, throwing it into the basket before moving around the tree. He tilted his head to indicate he was still listening.

Nami continued, “It took a bit of figuring out and by the time I could get a book on it, I’d already figured it out. They’re like temperamental children, I just had to keep my eye on them a bit more than normal.”

Of course she’d figured it out, she was one of the smartest people he knew. “I’m glad you worked it out, the ship would look empty without them.”

“Me too, I don’t think I would’ve dealt with it very well back then if I’d lost them. Everything’d changed so suddenly back then but they were a constant for me, it helped having them.”

He frowned at that; he could only imagine how stressful that must’ve been, but she’d never said anything.

“Not to worry though, it resolved itself and now look at us,” she said, trying to ease the look of concern on his face and changed the topic swiftly, “You’ve done a good job.” She looked at the tree critically but nodded to herself.

She stepped forward and cut off a few additional branches that he’d hesitated over. “Maybe a bit overly cautious, but I knew you would be, that’s why I let you have the shears.”

He beamed at her praise and they moved onto the final tree, working on opposite sides until whatever they could reach was done. They both stepped back, proudly taking in the much neater trees, until they looked up.

“Any chance you’re tall enough to reach the top?”

He wanted to say yes so badly but as he eyed the height, he knew he wouldn’t be able to without actually scaling the tree. “Sorry Nami-san, I don’t think so.”

“Don’t worry, I knew it was a stretch.” She put her hand on his arm in understanding and looked up at the trees. “Bell-mère used to stand us on her shoulders to reach the higher branches she wanted to prune or pick off the fruit. She said it was good for us to learn, but I’m convinced she just didn’t want to haul the stool around with her.”

He laughed with her at that and briefly imagined how adorable the sight would have been until an idea came to mind. He crouched down in front of her and when all she did was blink at him, confusion written all over her face, he elaborated, “I can’t offer to stand you on my shoulders, but I can do this.” He patted a shoulder, trying to encourage her.

She was silent for a moment, stunned at the offer. “As much as I trust you and don’t doubt your strength whatsoever, are you sure you’re up for this?” She asked cautiously.

“Huh?” He blinked at her.

“My thighs are about to be either side of your head. I don’t want to brain myself on the deck when you go down like a sack of potatoes,” she deadpanned, eyebrow raised as she looked down at him.

“It wouldn’t be the first time my head’s been there,” he quipped, leering up at her, eyebrows wiggling suggestively.

She barked a laugh, hand slapping his shoulder half-heartedly in retribution but overall, she was too amused to be angry.

It took a bit of more reassurance to convince her, but as soon as he’d convinced her, he positioned himself and helped her get onto his shoulders. He smoothly rose to his feet, barely wobbling.

Hands down it was the best decision he’d never made. If he could assure Nami’s safety, he could die happily right now. There was so much of her everywhere. Her thighs snuggly sat either side of his head, he could feel the slightest brush of her breasts against the top of his head and her hands were in his hair whilst she adjusted to the new position.

“You okay down there?” She asked, half amused and half cautious, testing the waters to make sure he was okay.

“More than okay,” he replied happily, tilting his head to the side to pillow into her thigh. She was so soft; he was in heaven.

Nami snorted above him, shaking her head and tentatively removed her hands from his hair. When he stood solid, she reclaimed the shears from her pocket and started to snip again.

Before they could dip into silence, he asked, “How often did you tend to the trees together when you were younger?” He loved hearing about her childhood with Bell-mère and took any opportunity to ask about it.

Nami was more than happy to share. “We had a big orchard, so it was almost daily. It could be pruning, picking fruit, or tending to the soil. Although, me and Nojiko spent more time running through it playing games, not so much helping.”

His hand stroked up and down her calf absently, encouraging her to continue whilst he listened. He moved to the side after noticing she’d finished with a section before she had to ask.

“We definitely over pruned when we did help, but she never scolded us,” she continued, throwing a branch down into the basket at Sanji’s feet. “After that she just kept a sharper eye on us.

“Sounds nice.”

“It was,” Nami agreed, “I always ended up covered in dust and dirt. Kind of like now actually, not a lot has changed it seems.”

“It suits you.” And it was the truth. Whether she was in skimpy bikinis or dirtied dungarees, she was the most attractive person he’d ever laid eyes on.

They moved onto the last tree and by now the bucket was almost overflowing with branches and leaves. Usopp would be thrilled, no doubt.

“She sounded like an amazing woman,” he said after a moment, letting the stories Nami had told him of her Mum play in a loop in his head. In a different world, he wished he could’ve met her, to see how similar they both were and see that part of her life.

She didn’t need any prompting to understand what he was talking about. “She was,” Nami agreed, voice filled with warmth. “She’d have loved you -little to the left-” and he took a step to the left, “-she would’ve seen your smooth talk coming a mile away, mind you, but she’d have found it amusing.”

“Like Mother like daughter,” he quipped, squeezing her calf teasingly. Nami gave a snort above him and muttered something he didn’t catch, but continued, “I’d have loved to cook with her.”

“She never would’ve let you leave.”

“I have no complaints about that.” Her home sounded like it held so much warmth, Sanji thought to himself.  

“What about you?” She asked, trying to sound confident but there was a waver in her voice. Sanji found it sweet, after all this time she didn’t want to bring up that part of his life. He didn’t mind, especially with her.

“Well, Zeff you’ll win over easily. He tries to deny it, but he has a soft spot for women too. He’ll just spend his time trying to embarrass me instead.” The day would come, he knew it, but for now he was safe. “I don’t remember a great deal of my Mum; I was too young. But I have no doubt that she would’ve loved you too. She was kind like you.”

“See, it’s that smooth talk that would’ve won you brownie points.”

“Even with you?”

“How do you think we got here?”

He couldn’t see her, but he knew she had that smart look on her face that he adored, and he rested his head back on her stomach. If she hadn’t been on his shoulders right now, he definitely would’ve pulled her into a hug.

“Okay, I’m done.” Her hands were back in his hair, shears stowed away in her pocket.

In a similar fashion to convincing her to get on his shoulders, it also took some persuasion on how to get her back down. They went back and forth, until Nami finally agreed (“If you drop me” “Never, Nami-san”) and then she was sliding over his one shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck, and falling into his outstretched arms. To his credit, he stood solid.

“Reminds you of old times, huh?” He cheeked, beaming down at her in his arms.

“At least I didn’t have to fall through the air this time.”

He let her down onto her feet and he expected her to move away, onto the next task but she didn’t move. Instead, her hands dusted over his shoulders, trying to take off any soil that had transferred from her dungarees.

“It’s been a while since you’ve worn this shirt. I like it.” Her hands smoothed across his shoulders, feeling the texture of his orange pinstripe shirt and the way it fit him snugly. He’d filled out in the crew’s two-year gap, so where it used to fit loosely, it sat tighter across his shoulders. He would throw it away, because really, he knew he was pushing his luck getting into it, but when she reacted like that, he was more tempted to never take it off.

“I like your dungarees,” he said softly, his hand fingered the denim straps as hers rested at his waist. There were dirt stains littered across them, but there was something quite charming about that. Although that might just be because of the person wearing them more than anything.

His hand moved from the strap of her dungaree and swept an errant lock away from her neck, his hand filling the empty space, thumb soothing across her pale skin. The quiet, the rustling of the trees and their afternoon spent together all added to the atmosphere until it had them leaning in closer.

They’d done this so many times before that they read each other like a well-oiled machine. Her hands tightened on his waistcoat and he was going left as she went right until their lips met in the middle. It was slow, unhurried, like they had all the time in the world and really, they did. It felt like they did anyway as they embraced, with only the gentle breeze accompanying them on the upper deck.

They parted slowly, and in his case reluctantly, but the feeling soon passed when he opened his eyes to the sight before him. Nami looked truly relaxed, face nothing but content, half lidded eyes looking back at him and wind playing with her orange hair.

That soon changed when he leaned back into kiss her and was promptly denied. Gone was the serene expression, in its place were alluring, teasing eyes. The sudden shift would give anyone else whiplash, but Sanji knew what that look meant- it would only end well for him.

Her hand was on his tie, taking a step out of his embrace and promptly turning on her heel. She pulled him after her, which she didn’t really need to do because he was glued to her back in an instead, but he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t a turn on.

They didn’t go very far, only walking around the trees to occupy the gap between the trees and the main mast. In all honestly, Sanji had never really taken notice of it before, but he was glad for its existence when she pressed him up against the mast and heavily leaned into him. His body pinned between it and hers.

It was intimate and if anybody wondered up there, they’d be hard to spot. She positioned herself between his legs, something he more than encouraged as he made more space for her there.

If Sanji thought she looked breath-taking before, it was nothing compared to the angelic beauty before him now. The sun filtering through the trees casted her in a golden halo and her hair looked like molten gold, oozing around her, and making her look otherworldly. She was surrounded by orange blossoms and it was the perfect backdrop to encapsulate her, she belonged there.

Sanji wanted to burn the moment into his brain but Nami had other ideas.

Their next kiss was anything but slow, it was full of purpose. It was the kind of kiss they usually shared in private, not for someone to stumble upon by accident, but he definitely wasn’t going to complain. He matched her enthusiasm, lips sliding against each other’s and his hands found themselves in the back pocket of her dungarees as hers burrowed themselves into his hair.

“Good spot, right?” She murmured, not waiting for a response before reconnecting their lips.

If he’d had the chance the response, he wasn’t sure he’d have been able to actually verbalize his agreement. He was dazed, head spinning, trying to keep up, and although they’d done this a million times before and more, he didn’t think he’d ever be over it.

Although they couldn’t start anything out here, his body didn’t seem to know that as he shifted, ready to roll his hips into hers and hopefully progress to the bedroom if they could make it there undetected, until he felt something press into thigh.

“Is that shears in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

It was a stupid joke, and it ruined the mood, but it was worth is when Nami broke into peeling laughter. Instead of throwing her head back, she burrowed into the crease of his neck, smothering her laughter so they didn’t attract attention. His arms left her back pockets, winding around her waist, pulling her into a hug instead. It wasn’t what he wanted, but they wind this down.  

“That was such a stupid joke,” she said as she started to calm down.

“Yeah, it was,” he said fondly, still soaking in the warmth of her laugh.

“Although I suppose we should stop, otherwise you’ll be in a similar predicament and I still have things to do.”

“Me too.” He looked up at the sky and from the way it was starting to descend, he knew he should really start thinking about dinner. Except neither of them moved, but Nami did rest her hands more causally around his shoulders, matching his hold on her.  

“Didn’t pick much fruit in the end, huh?” She joked, looking off to the side at the empty, abandoned basket.

He’d completely forgotten why he’d gone up there in the first place. “This is much better than what I’d expected.”

“Because you had your head between my legs?”

His eyes lit up and his grip tightened on her hips. “One of the perks, of course.”

“Maybe we could do something similar in my room later,” she suggested, in a provocative whisper, leaning closer.  

This woman. She was everything he ever wanted. He didn’t give a verbal answer, he was pretty sure he couldn’t without wheezing a few times, but his enthusiastic nodding got the point across well enough, and it made her grin.

She rewarded him for his candour with a slow kiss that was over far too quickly for his liking.

“You free tomorrow? I can probably pencil you in for some fruit picking.”

“You’re too kind, Nami-san. Making time for lowly me in your busy schedule.”

“I’m nothing if not kind, Sanju-kun,” she agreed, winking at him. “Right, I really do have to go, see you after dinner?”

She was out of his arms and walking away before he could reply, grabbing the basket full of branches to sit at her hip as she went.

She knew the answer anyway- it was potato peeling night after all.

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

Urrrrrrrrrgh. I am so soft for these two, they’re so much fun to write being all soft and in love. This was so self-indulgent, and the story doubled in length because of it.

Usopp, Robin and Nami definitely get together to talk about plants/flowers.

I based my research on orange trees, so if there’s some differences, don’t come at me.

For some reason, my writers block has really exaggerated my imposters syndrome, so if this wasn’t your cup of tea, please keep it to yourself. Not sure I could handle it right now.

Also, just to tease because I’m definitely going to finish them, I had two other pieces planned for SaNami week before the writer’s block, they’ll be on the way.

As always, please excuse any errors.

Thanks for reading.

[musings-from-mars]

I don't remember what the prompts were so I am picking a random one! Whiterose for Number 36

((Y’all mind if I uhhhh...project onto Ruby a little bit?

This got really long so I added a read more lol

You know what, heck it, this is it’s own AU now. Rosebloom AU!))

One accidentally runs into the other(s) while… 36. At a party

Ruby was not a party girl. She had never actually been to a party, but she didn’t need to to be sure of that. The idea of just milling about a crowded space while loud music played did not appeal to her at all, not to mention the potential sensory issues such an environment might cause (or definitely would cause). But she tried anyway, because she was in high school now, and high school kids party, right? And she desperately wanted to fit in at her new school and not be the same weirdo she had been in junior high. Yang had told her that she didn’t have to come if she didn’t want to, but Ruby insisted both to Yang and to herself that she could handle it.

Twenty minutes after arriving at the party, she was scrambling out the back door to escape the loud music and constant droning of conversation, finally starting to get overloaded despite her efforts to carry on. Inadvertently getting separated from Yang didn’t help matters as she stepped onto the back porch and held her fists to her forehead, clenching and unclenching her hands rapidly as she pressed the bases of her wrists against her eyes, focusing on the darkness and listening to the relative calm.

Once she began to calm down a bit, she sighed and sat down on the wicker chair on the back porch, her back to the wall. She took a deep breath, then let out a groan. “Damn it...”

“Are you okay?”

Ruby flinched, gripping the arm rests of her seat as she turned toward who had just spoken. “H-HUh?!”

The girl who had spoken stepped back, standing at the bottom on the steps to the porch. She had long white hair that seemed to shine despite the low light of the crescent moon and the light that escaped the windows behind Ruby, and her blue eyes seemed to take whatever light hit them and reflected it back twice as bright. She clutched a small light blue purse to her chest, making it easy to notice how the purse matched her sweater and pleated skirt. “Sorry for startling you,” the girl said, not looking directly at Ruby as she walked up the steps.

“It’s...fine,” Ruby said, relaxing a bit, letting her arms rest at her sides again as she watched the girl climb the stairs, noticing her black leggings and red hightops. “I thought it was just me back here.”

“So did I,” the girl admitted, now standing awkwardly by the front railing of the porch, facing Ruby. “I’m...not much for parties.”

Ruby chuckled, nodding as she looked away from Weiss, getting nervous being under her gaze. “Me neither.”

“Are your eyes okay?” She asked. “They look really red. I saw you rubbing them.”

“Huh?” Ruby asked, but then felt her face get hot and her heart leap into her throat. “That was...I just...I do that when I’m...” She shut herself up, knowing not to let herself stammer.

Weiss blinked at her, then nodded. “Just...nervous?”

Ruby nodded. “Yeah, nervous,” she agreed. Not exactly accurate, but not completely incorrect either. She let out a sigh after involuntarily holding her breath for a spell.

She hadn’t realized how cold it was, and her jacket was still in the locked cargo box in Yang’s motorcycle, leaving Ruby in just her red t-shirt and black jeans. She gripped her elbows, trying to stifle a shiver. “What’s...your name?” She asked. Totally normal thing to ask, right? Especially if this girl was going to keep looking at her, awkwardly, beautifully...

“Weiss,” the girl answered. “And yours?”

“Ruby,” Ruby said. “Uhm...what’re you doing out here?”

Weiss shrugged, lowering her purse from her chest to in front of her, relaxing her shoulders at last. “I came to this party hoping to meet new people. I just moved here so I don’t know anybody.”

Ruby chuckled, glancing at the empty backyard. “Not going well, huh?” She immediately regretted saying that. Am I seriously teasing her? That was so mean! What the fuck is wrong with me?

To Ruby’s surprise, however, Weiss chuckled, smiling as she glanced toward the grassy yard as well. “Not at all. I feel so out of place.”

That was something Ruby could relate to. “Same,” she admitted. “I don’t like parties.”

“Neither do I.” Weiss shrugged, leaning her elbow against the porch railing behind her. “People don’t really talk to people outside their little groups, do they?”

Ruby hadn’t noticed, she was more worried about the idea of someone actually talking to her, and having to come up with something to say that wasn’t awkward or weird, and then trying to carry a conversation with someone she didn’t know and probably shared zero interests with. Ruby sucked at talking to people, unless she was talking to friends over voicechat while playing Minecraft at home, or...to Yang or her dad. That was it, pretty much.

“I’ve actually said more to you than I have to anyone else tonight,” Weiss continued, chuckling again. “So...thank you for that.”

“Hm?” Ruby hadn’t done anything really. Oh, wait. I have actually been talking to her. Weird. “Oh, yeah! Thanks to you, too.”

Weiss smiled at her. Weiss smiled at her. “Do you go to Beacon High as well?”

Ruby nodded, feeling her face warm again, but not so much that it was distracting or unbearable. “Yeah, it’s my first year. I...kinda came here for the same reason as you, to meet people, but...yeah, I’m not good at...meeting...people.”

“I mean,” Weiss shrugged. “You met me.”

Ruby opened her mouth, but struggled to put her response together at first. “I...guess you’re right. Huh.”

“I’m a junior, but I was homeschooled up until this year, so I guess I’m sort of in the same boat as you,” Weiss said, fidgeting with the handle of her purse. “Not knowing anyone despite there being literally hundreds of other people at school feels...alienating.”

Ruby nodded. “Yeah, it kinda d-does.” She stuttered as she shivered a bit, having tried her best to hide how cold she was but beginning to fail at that.

Weiss tilted her head a bit. “Need a jacket?” She asked.

“I’m okay, mine’s in my sister’s bike, and she has the key, and...I don’t know where she went.”

“Oh, that was your sister,” Weiss remarked. “She seems...pretty popular.”

“She is.” Ruby nodded.

Weiss looked to the side, then set her purse on the railing. “Here.” She began to tug her light blue sweater off.

Ruby’s face felt like she was nose-deep in a toaster oven by this point. Is she taking her top off?! “What are you...?”

Alas, only a bit of Weiss’ midriff actually ended up exposed. She pulled off her sweater, leaving her in a white v-neck t-shirt. “I don’t want you to freeze,” she said with a chuckle, extending the sweater towards her.

Ruby stared at the sweater and shook her head. “No no, I’m fine, really.”

“I don’t get cold that easy, no worries,” Weiss insisted, nodding towards her sweater. “Go on.”

Ruby sighed, face still burning as she reached out and took the garment from Weiss. “Thank you.” She gingerly began to slip it on, and as she pulled it over her head, she faintly smelled lavender laundry detergent and...perfume? It kind of smelled like chamomile, like the kind of tea her dad would make when she or Yang got a sore throat. Ruby tugged the sweater down, her head poking out the top, and she immediately felt more comfortable, and much warmer.

Weiss giggled. “Not too small, is it?”

Ruby shook her head, tugging the sleeves down over her wrists. “It’s, like, the perfect size, actually.”

“Okay, good,” Weiss said with a nod, smiling.

Ruby looked up at her, making eye contact, and a lump formed in her throat inexplicably. Then she started to panic a little, trying to find something to say, but not coming up with anything, but she had to say something so she just started talking. “It’s really warm and it smells like—”

She was cut off when the back door opened and Yang stepped outside. “There you are, sis!” She said when she spotted Ruby. She was wearing a yellow and white stripped halter top and light blue jeans, her hair in a ponytail. “I’ve been looking all over the place.” Then she noticed Ruby’s newfound sweater, then turned and looked at Weiss for the first time. Then she pointed at Weiss, then at Ruby. “Do you know each other?” She asked.

“N-No!” Ruby said, then blushed when she realized how rude that might have been. “I mean, we just met and we’ve been talking about how much we don’t like parties and stuff. And...she gave me her sweater. Because I was cold.” She put that last sentence out in a pointed rush, trying to quell any ideas from forming in Yang’s head. “And, uh...her name is Weiss.”

Yang glanced back at Weiss, a faint smirk on her face. “Weiss, huh? Are you new?”

Weiss nodded, face red for more than just the cold, probably. “Yeah, I am. I just moved to Beacon.”

“Cool! I’m Yang!” She reached a hand out, which Weiss took and shook. “I’m Ruby’s sister.”

“I’m Weiss,” Weiss said, then stammered a bit. “You...already knew that.”

Yang giggled. “No worries.” She pointed at Ruby. “I just wanted to check on you. You doing okay?”

Now? Yes, she was just fine. Earlier, not so much, but there was no point in telling Yang that now. “Yeah, I’m good,” Ruby said.

Yang nodded. “Cool. Just text me if you need anything, okay?” She then waved to her and Weiss. “I’ll leave you two alone,” she teased before disappearing into the house again.

She just had to add on that bit at the end, huh?

“Your sister...seems nice,” Weiss said, her face still red.

“She is,” Ruby rattled off, not looking at Weiss now, fidgeting with the cuffs of Weiss’ sweater instead. Wait...Oh shit, Yang got the wrong idea from seeing me in her sweater, she must think me and Weiss are... She tapped both feet on the floor in quick succession over and over, doing her fist clenching thing again but keeping her hands on the armrests.

“Are you okay, Ruby?” Weiss asked, noticing her stimming.

“I’m good,” Ruby said, not meaning it so much as that was just a rehearsed answer to that type of question.

“Am I making you nervous?” Weiss asked, holding her purse to her chest again. “You can be honest.”

“No!” Ruby shouted. Why did I shout?! That came out WAY too quick.

Weiss flinched a bit at Ruby’s sudden response. “I...if you need me to leave you alone for a moment, I can.”

Ruby gritted her teeth. I’m acting so weird, fuck. She wanted to run away right at that moment, but she had nowhere to go. Home was miles away.

Weiss gripped her purse, pressing her lips together. “I’m sorry, I’ll...” She reached for the door.

“Wait!” Ruby reached out suddenly, grabbing Weiss’ wrist just before she reached the door handle.

Weiss gasped, looking between Ruby’s hand and her face, appearing worried.

Ruby blinked, then inhaled sharply and drew her hand away, tucking it against her chest. “I’m sorry, I...I don’t mean to...do that. I...” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry...”

“Hey,” Weiss said, sounding restrained, putting a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “It’s okay.

“I’m just being weird and I’m sorry, I’m sor—”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

Ruby stopped, opening her eyes, freezing for a moment. She felt a small wave of relief. Okay...okay, she’s not actually that weirded out...is she?

“I...” Weiss began to say, then her voice trailed off. She took her hand off of Ruby’s shoulder, then reached into her purse, pulling out her phone. “What’s your phone number?”

My phone number?!

“Uh...” Ruby struggled to respond for a moment. “Uhh...right, my number, it’s...” She told Weiss her cell number, and Weiss entered it into her contacts. “Why...do you ask?”

“I just...” Weiss put her phone away in her purse. “I can tell you...aren’t really comfortable here, so I figured I could text you sometime so we can talk that way, and...I don’t know, we could hang out sometime, somewhere a bit more...our style,” she shrugged, smiling awkwardly.

Ruby stared at her for a moment, then nodded. “Oh, yeah, totally.” She took a moment to listen to the music playing inside the house, then got an idea. “Or we could...go somewhere else right now?”

Weiss’ mouth hung open for a moment, glancing toward the house as well, then smiled, giggling. “I guess you’re right. Uhm...where did you have in mind.”

Ruby perked up a bit, but then deflated just as quickly. “Well, my sister is my ride so I can’t exactly take you anywhere.”

“I could hail an Uber,” Weiss said.

Ruby blinked at her. “Ohh...I’ve never been to oovoo javer.”

Weiss chuckled, then snorted, then laughed even louder. “Oh wow, that was attractive of me.”

Ruby giggled, holding a hand to her mouth as she did. “It was cute!”

Weiss sighed, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, her laughter fading. “So yeah, I’ll...” she took her phone back out, face red all the way down her neck. “I’ll call that Uber.” She turned away from Ruby, obviously embarrassed, as she tapped away at her phone screen.

Ruby kept giggling softly, mentally patting herself on the back. She made her laugh! Without even meaning to. Her brain had just played a split-second game of Word Association: Vine Edition and spit out a response. The planets must have been aligned in a certain way, because Ruby was sure she would never pull off something like that again.

Hold up...why am I so happy about making her laugh?

“Wait, where are we going?” Weiss asked. “Kinda need a destination if we’re calling an Uber...”

“Uhm...are you hungry?”

“A bit,” Weiss admitted.

“DQ?”

“DQ?” Weiss asked. “I’ve...never been.”

“You’ve never been to see the Queen of Dairy?” Ruby asked, astonished.

“I’m afraid not,” she chuckled, but input the location of the nearest Dairy Queen. “But I’ll give it a try. The driver should be here soon.” There was still a faint red tinge to her cheeks. Actually, she was beginning to look cold being without her sweater.

“Would you like your sweater back?” Ruby offered.

Weiss shook her head, waving a hand. “I insist.”

Ruby nodded, biting her lip. “Okay. Oh, I should probably text Yang and tell her I’m leaving.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and started to type a message to Yang.

“You...” Weiss muttered. “Do you listen to Red Hallow Manor?”

Ruby froze. Weiss had probably seen the logo for the Red Hallow Manor podcast on her phone case, but the only reason she had that case was because she was so certain no one would recognize it, it was such a niche thing. But somehow Weiss had? “Yeah?”

Weiss chuckled. “I literally just binged the first two seasons a couple days ago.”

“Really?” Ruby asked, sitting up straight in her seat. “No way! We could listen to the next season together! I mean, I’ve listened to the entire thing at least three times, but I’d totally want to listen with you and hear what you think!”

Weiss smiled, laughing. “Sure! That sounds like fun.”

“Awesome!” Ruby said excitedly, hopping to her feet. “Sorry, I just...I’m, like, obsessed with RHM. Like, really obsessed. I never thought I’d ever meet someone in-person who listened to it.”

Weiss giggled at Ruby’s enthusiasm. “Yeah, I had just heard about it and I was curious, so I listened to a couple episodes, and then I listened to more, and...” She shrugged. “I ended up staying up way too late. I had to force myself to go to bed after listening to two seasons.”

“That’s awesome!” Ruby said, eyes wide, shining in the moonlight. “Do you like it? Who’s your favorite character? What season one or two better?”

Weiss held a hand up to steady her. “How about...you interview me while we’re at DQ, huh?”

“Okay!” Ruby nodded, stimming but for a positive reason now, doing a side-to-side dance in her seat.

Weiss smiled at her. “You’re cute,” she remarked.

Ruby’s face heated up, halting her movements. “Oh, thanks,” she said, voice wavering.

Weiss blushed. “But like...just, yeah, I...” She hurried to pull her phone back out. “The Uber is just around the corner, we should go out front.”

Ruby stood from her seat. “Okay, uh...” she glanced at the back door to the house. “Could we...go around? I don’t want to go back inside.”

Weiss nodded. “Sure,” she said, heading down the patio steps with Ruby behind her.

They walked around to the side of the house only to find that there was no gate, just more fence. “Uh...” Weiss shrugged. “I guess we have to go through the house.”

“Why not just climb over?” Ruby asked.

Weiss looking at the fence with an uncertain glance. “Climb?”

“As one does,” Ruby chuckled, taking a couple steps back, then running and leaping at the fence, using the horizontal beams to climb up, then sat down on the top (the fence was flat on the top, so thankfully no pickets in the butt). “Like that!”

Weiss stared up at her, dumbfounded for a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t think I can do that.”

“What, have you never climbed a fence before?” Ruby asked.

“I’ve never had to?” Weiss shrugged.

“Okay, I’ll help you,” Ruby said, hoping back down.

“Uhh,” Weiss glanced at the fence uncertainly, but then looked back at Ruby’s goofy smile and sighed. “Alright, I’ll try.”

“Cool, I’ll boost you,” Ruby said, taking a knee and holding her hands out. “Just step up and I’ll lift you.”

Weiss took one more uncertain look at the fence, then nodded and gingerly ran forward, planting a foot one Ruby’s hands and stepping up, just as Ruby lifted her with a grunt. Weiss yelped, completely missing the highest horizontal beam and ending up stomach-first on the top of the fence, top half on the other side with her legs kicking on Ruby’s end. “Gah, that didn’t work!” Weiss yelped.

Ruby stopped herself from giggling, instead scrambling back up the fence. “I got you!” She said, leaping over with ease to the other side. She made eye contact with a very concerned looking Weiss and smiled at her. “Just flip over to this side and I’ll catch you.”

“Flip over?” Weiss asked incredulously.

Ruby extended her arms. “I got you!”

“I’m slipping!”

“Now or never then!” Ruby said.

Weiss held her breath, then leaned forward, doing a half front flip. “AHH!” She screamed, but landed in Ruby’s arms, bridal style.

“Gotcha!” Ruby said with a proud grin. She allowed herself to enjoy holding her for just a moment, then set Weiss upright, her feet securely on the ground. “Not so bad, huh?”

Weiss regained her bearings, then straightened her skirt, face flushed. “Yeah, I guess not,” she said, obviously flustered.

Ruby rubbed her back of her neck. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” Weiss said, chuckling. “I’ve done something new already.”

“There you go.” Ruby nodded, but was interrupted by a familiar Beep! Beep! nearby. She turned and spotted Yang leaning on her yellow motorcycle. “Yang?”

“Hey, sis!” She waved, then raised Ruby’s red jacket in the air. “You might want to take this with you.”

“Oh, right, thanks,” Ruby murmured, suddenly conscious of what Yang might have been thinking about her being with Weiss. She came over to Yang and took the jacket. “Uh, me and Weiss are going to DQ.”

“Sweet,” Yang nodded, giving Weiss a look, then a smile. “Don’t be out too late, but have fun!”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah, I’ll be home by curfew. Just like you will be, right?”

Yang shrugged. “Mayyybe.”

A black sedan pulled up behind Yang, an Uber light on the front windshield. “This is it,” Weiss said, walking toward the car, glancing one more time at Yang as she walked past.

Yang smiled at Ruby, giving her hair a ruffle. “Maybe give her your jacket? Fair trade, right? Would be a smooth move.”

“Smooth move?” Ruby asked, glancing around her as Weiss climbed into the backseat of the Uber. Then she realized what Yang was insinuating and took this opportunity to put whatever ideas Yang was getting to bed. “We aren’t...dating or anything, okay?”

“Who said anything about that?” Yang asked, smiling.

Ruby sighed. “Okay, fine, but...don’t get any ideas.”

“You’re the one feeding me ideas,” Yang teased.

“Just...” Ruby sighed. “I feel like I’m making a friend. Please don’t make me feel weird about it.”

Yang blinked, smile disappearing. “How would I?”

Ruby glanced toward Weiss, seeing her with a leg still outside the car, waiting for Ruby to follow. “I gotta go,” she said, stepping past Yang.

Yang watched her walk past. “Be safe,” she called to her halfheartedly, then remained leaned against her bike, in thought.

[captain-tch]

All That I Can Give

summary: kiko is a struggling business owner thrown into the chaos of the borderlands. when she makes a mistake that will threaten her life, she learns just how far she will go to keep herself alive. 

TW: DEATH, MENTIONS OF ATTEMPTED SUICIDE, MENTAL HEALTH, TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS, VIOLENCE

chapter 10: little firecracker

previous chapter

Kiko bolted upright. Her hand flew to her chest as she cast a panicked gaze around the room. Tetsu was still asleep on the sofa, a light snore filling the silence around them. The door was still firmly locked as it was last night. From what she could tell everything looked normal. 

So why did she fly awake so suddenly? 

She shrugged it off. Maybe something in her dream startled her so much her brain pulled her back into reality. Not that she was sure what it could have been. Her dream had been polluted with a never ending cycle of her hands slamming the paper weight into Ryuk’s face. The loop brought a slight frown to her face. If she thought hard enough, she could still feel the ghosts of his blood and viscera on her skin. 

Lying back down, she tried to turn her thoughts away the dream she was having. She prayed she wouldn’t return to the world where she could relive one of the greatest moments, and greatest shames, in her life. Her eyes had started to drift close when she heard it. 

Voices. 

Kiko jumped to her feet. Her heart raced with each passing moment. She tried to gently shove Tetsu awake, going as far as lightly slapping his face. All he did was turn around in his slumber. Kiko muttered a strong swear word under her breath. 

She lunged for a nearby pan, holding it in a vice like grip. Creeping her way to the door, she sneaked a glance at the pharmacy. Inside, there were a group of five people. Men and women poked around their supplies, sweeping their arms along the shelves and stuffing as much as they could into their bags. All of them carried a weapon of some sort. 

Kiko couldn’t contain her gulp when she saw the sniper rifle. 

These people weren’t playing games. 

She turned back to look at Tetsu. The bruises looked even worse today. Her heart ached as her mind flashed to the game the night before. She wasn’t going to let anyone hurt him ever again. 

It was only going to be a matter of time before they started searching the entire pharmacy. These people take what they need, then steal everything they want. Kiko had a unsettling instinct that that included people too. Maybe she could distract them, or scare them away? Not that the latter was likely, her only weapon being the kitchen utensil gripped tightly in her hands. 

Kiko placed her hand on the door handle. Sending a silent prayer to whatever higher power was mocking her, she opened the door and slammed it shut behind her. 

All five intruders spun in her direction. Kiko suppressed the urge to shudder as the sniper rifle sight was trained on her. The man holding it leered at her, his pierced tongue darting out of his mouth. 

“What do we have here?” 

In the strongest voice she could muster (which was still riddled with a scratchy rasp), she commanded the room. “Take what you need and leave.” 

No one moved. 

Kiko raised her pan in an offensive position. She couldn’t imagine how pathetic she looked - a kitchen appliance against one sniper rifle, a katana and semi automatic weapons. The bruise on her neck and bandages covering her hand and elbow did nothing to support her case. Still, she stood her ground, trying to ignore how her knees shook. “I told you to leave.” 

“We’re not going anywhere.” The man nodded to one of his friends. Immediately they surged forward, stepping closer to Kiko. 

She spun around to face them. “I’m warning you!” 

They ignored her, moving forward and reaching for her. In one smooth move, she slammed the pan into her attackers head. They stumbled backwards, gripping their bleeding forehead with a curse. 

Simultaneously, Kiko heard the sound of three distinct clicks. 

“Leave. Now.” She prayed her words were as solid as her resolve.

“You’re a little fire cracker, aren’t you?” The man with the pierced tongue laughed. 

From the corner of her eye, she could see the man with the katana moving towards her. She subtly took a step back. Her weapon was nothing against his katana. The distance he had meant she would be skewered the moment she tried to attack him. 

“I’d be careful if I were you.” Kiko tensed her muscles. “Get too close and you’ll get burned.” 

With those words, she darted forwards. She ducked out of the way of her attackers, flying behind the shelves as a shield. Without a second thought she flung herself out of the shattered window, glass slicing into her legs. 

A shot rang out. 

Kiko fell to the floor. She groaned, pulling her head off of the concrete. She tried to pull herself upwards, only for a foot to land on her back. A cry ripped out of her throat. 

“Careful little firecracker.” The man whispered, metal pushed into her spine. She froze. “You’re coming with us.” 

“Hey, Niragi!” A new voice shouted. Kiko tried to crane her neck to see, wincing at the pain igniting in her body. “Guess what we found.” 

Kiko’s blood turned cold. It wasn’t long before Tetsu’s broken body was thrown besides her. Her eyes scanned him for any new injuries, struggling to differentiate between the old and the new. His chest was rising and falling. 

Kiko sighed a breath of relief. At least he was still alive. 

“What should we do with them?” 

Kiko clenched her jaw. 

“Let’s take them back. We could always use some fresh meat.”

With those final words, the butt of a gun slammed into the back of her head. The world around her melted away. 

                                                             *

Kiko awoke with a start. Her head banged with a blinding pain. Liquid was running down her arm. The bruises on her neck pulsed. She groaned, rolling her head to the side. 

She caught sight of Tetsu, his body limp in a chair. His hands were tied behind his back and his legs roped against a chair. The events of the last day came rushing back to her. 

Kiko thrashed against her bonds, groaning as more liquid moved further down her arm. The looters. The gun shot. The darkness. 

“Where the fuck are we?” Kiko muttered. She finally looked up to take in the rest of the room. Two of them tugged at a memory of the back of her brain. She swore she could remember encountering someone with those muscles, and that hoodie at her spades game. The more she tried to think, the more intense her headache got, until she was nearly crumbling in her seat. 

Giving up on those two, she surveyed the remainder of the room. She recognised some faces, sneering at the memory of them looting her temporary home. She couldn’t hide the smirk she saw at the cut on one of their foreheads. At least she managed to do a little damage. 

“You’re awake!” An eccentric man appeared in her line of vision. She had to control her expression, feeling an urge to raise her eyebrows at his robe and sunglasses adorning his face. “My name is Hatter, pleasure to meet you. How are you feeling?” 

Kiko remained silent. 

“Niragi here tells me he found you while they were on a supply run. Living in a pharmacy?” 

Her lips remained sealed shut. Hatter sighed, a dramatic hand falling to his forehead. He spun away from her, his robe swishing with the action. Already she got the vibe he had too high of an ego. She was itching to put him back in his place.

“How am I expected to help you, when you don’t speak to me?” His gaze turned to somewhere she couldn’t see. He gave a small motion of his hands. 

Kiko’s mind raced with the possibilities. Was that him delivering a silent kill order? Was that code for torture? 

She quickly found out as a finger pushed into her shoulder blade. Kiko’s body instinctively doubled over, a high pitched shriek forcing itself from her. More liquid rushed down her arm. She saw her own life drip to the floor, marking the carpet an ugly red. 

The gun shot. 

It hit her then that she must have been shot. The adrenaline of the attack must have diluted the pain. That, coupled with a constant, low pulsing agony all over her body, must have erased the injury all together. She was definitely feeling it now. Kiko clenched her jaw to stop herself from screaming - in pain or fury, she wasn’t sure. 

The pressure left her wound. Kiko gasped for breath, her body still crumpled. Hatter crouched down so he could meet her eyes. She fixed him with a steely glare. “You were living at the pharmacy, am I correct?” 

The memory of the blinding agony lingered as she reluctantly nodded her head.

“My men found some playing cards there.” Hatter pulled out an array of cards, including the seven of diamonds and two of clubs. Amongst the pile, she spotted a hearts card. Kiko’s interest piqued - that wasn’t one of hers. “Are these all yours?” 

“They’re ours.” Kiko cleared her throat. She jutted her head to Tetsu. “Some of those cards are his.” 

“I have to say, it’s quite an impressive collection.” Hatter flitted through them, assessing each one as if it held the secrets to life itself. “Can I ask you a question?” 

“Go ahead.” 

“How are you still alive?” His gaze wandered over the wounds littering her body. Compared to Tetsu, she was perfectly healthy. This didn’t go unnoticed by Hatter.

“Because I have to win. To get back home.” 

Hatter’s face lit up in a bright smile. “We need more people like you. Niragi, you were right to bring them here. I don’t necessarily, um, agree with the method.” He looked at Kiko’s bleeding shoulder. “Try not to shoot them next time.” 

Kiko resisted the urge to make a smart remark. It wasn’t like they were brought here by choice. 

“I have a proposition for you and your friend. If you’re willing to accept it.” Kiko subtly leaned forward. “I want you to stay here. You play games for us, and in return, we provide you a safe haven where you can do whatever you like.” 

“What’s the catch?” 

“We have three rules here. To maintain order, we all need to follow them. One - everyone wears beach wear. It’s harder to hide weapons.” Kiko’s eyes must have involuntarily moved to the muscled man’s gun for him to continue. “Only the militants can carry weapons.”

Once again she had to bite her tongue. It clearly wasn’t the best idea, considering her attackers seemed to have an addiction to spilling blood.

“Rule number two - turn in all playing cards you earn. And three... death to all traitors.” 

Kiko gulped. She had a feeling if she rejected this offer, she would be deemed a traitor. It was clear by the rules he was clearly unhinged - what other options did she have? 

“What is it you want with the playing cards?” 

The man spun around, pulling open a curtain Kiko didn’t notice earlier. Along the wall, was a diagram of all the possible playing cards. Some had crosses through them, while others remained unmarked. “Once we have a full set, one person can go back to the real world.”

Kiko glanced at Tetsu, still unconscious. The only thing reassuring her he was still alive was the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Her mind flashed back to her own brother, the cheeky glint long gone. Now with Ryuk out of the picture, she was determined to get that back. This was a chance to go home. A chance to see Riku again. 

“We accept.” 

She wasn’t sure how Tetsu would feel about her agreeing on his behalf. He was the one to say do anything you can to find your way home. They just had to follow the rules, and everything should be fine. As she told herself this, an uneasy feeling settled at the bottom of her gut. 

The man’s smile grew tenfold. He clapped his hands together. “Welcome to the Beach!”

[five-rivers]

Interview with a Ghost (part 4: Strange)

Sort of a tenuous connection to the prompt.  Oh, well.  

(PART 1) (PART 2) (PART 3)

.

.

.

They had asked the Fenton parents for an interview with Daniel Fenton to ask him about things he might have seen at school. They had agreed, heartily, but had insisted on staying because 'the kids are a little biased towards Phantom, teens, you know,' and they wanted to keep the record straight.

The other two children had, with extreme reluctance, gone home. His sister, however, had refused to leave, saying that she knew just as much about things at the school as Danny, and they might as well question her at the same time. Collins couldn't really argue with that, and he had elbowed Paterson when she tried.

Daniel looked very small and meek against the large armchair he was perched on. Nothing at all like Phantom, who projected personality and confidence even when nervous.

Collins could see how he had gotten away with... whatever he had gotten away with... for so long. He still wasn't entirely convinced that Fenton was Phantom. It seemed pretty incredible, and there wasn't any physical evidence. Especially with the body gone.

Paterson took out a pad of paper and a recorder. "Do you mind if I record this?" she asked. "For record keeping purposes."

"Not at all!" said Jack, grinning. "We're glad to be of help!"

Daniel looked at the recorder as if he thought he'd be ill. He looked pale. Almost green. Was that because he was a ghost, or was he really just that nervous?

"Alright," said Collins. "Do you see Phantom around Casper High?"

"Not really," said Daniel.

"Everyone does," said Jasmine.

The siblings glanced at each other.

"I try to stay away from the ghost fights," said Daniel, shrugging.

"Yes. Your classmates seem to think that you have some kind of sixth sense, as you always leave class right before an attack."

Daniel's eyebrows pinched together in genuine confusion. "They think what?" He shook his head. "I just leave when I need to go," he said.

Paterson looked up from her notepad. "Go as in...?"

"You know, go," said Daniel, a blush dusting his features with pink.

"I see," said Paterson. Daniel blushed harder.

"Have you ever spoken to Phantom?" asked Collins.

"Yes," said Jasmine, crisply, to murmurs of disapproval from her parents. "He saved me from from Spectra. The ghost who masqueraded as a psychologist."

"I remember that," said Paterson. "Old Elroy had that case." It was from before the existence of ghosts had been widely accepted, even in Amity Park. "You were one of her victims?"

"I'm the one she tried to blow up."

"Ah," said Collins. "And what did you talk about?"

"With Spectra?"

"With Phantom."

"Nothing much," said Jasmine. "Not that I remember, anyway. It was over a year ago."

"Try to remember," said Collins.

Jasmine shrugged. "I think it was basically just agreeing that Spectra was terrible."

"Have you had any other interactions with Phantom?"

"None worth mentioning," said Jasmine.

What a strange way to phrase that. Collins decided not to call her on it, yet. Even with Paterson pointedly poking his ankle with her toe.

"Daniel, what about you?"

"It's Danny," the boy corrected. "I've never really talked to him. Unless you want to count things like 'look out!'"

"Nothing about his origins, then?"

"No?" said Danny.

"Have you heard anything about his origins from anywhere else?"

"We already told you about that," interrupted Maddie, frowning. "His origins are unknown, but he's existed for hundreds of years, at a minimum."

"Yes, but we'd like to hear from Danny and Jasmine," said Collins, giving Maddie his best professional smile. He turned back to Danny, expectantly.

"Someone once told me they thought he was a plague doctor, but, like, updated. I don't remember who, though."

"Right," said Collins. "Now, we'd like you to think back to about two years ago. Call it late summer, early fall. Did anything strange happen around that time?"

"Yeah," said Danny. "The Lunch Lady attacked the school for the first time. I don't remember the exact date, but it was right before the meat-vegetable protests."

"It was that early?" asked Collins, surprised. "That's months before the first recorded attack! Are you sure there was a ghost?"

"Pretty sure, yeah," said Danny, crossing his arms.

"Hey! That's about when we saw Phantom for the first time!" exclaimed Jack.

"Is it?" asked Collins.

"Yeah! He stole our prototype Fenton thermos! I still don't understand how he got it working." The last was a grumble.

"Interesting. And did anything strange happen other than that? Anything out of the norm?"

"Well," said Maddie, thoughtful, "we got our portal working about a month before that. Danny did, anyway."

"Did he? How?"

"Knocked a loose wire back into place!" boomed Jack, laughing. "That's my boy."

Danny's face was whey-colored again. Interesting.

Oh, hell. The portal definitely had something to do with all of this, didn't it.

"How does your portal work, exactly, anyway?"

"Excellent question!"

Fifteen minutes later, Collins had no better idea of how their portal worked except that it involved a great deal of ectoplasm and electricity, both of which they had found on the corpse. He couldn't help but think that he had finally discovered how Phantom had died.

And hearing Jack and Maddie, the boy's parents talk about the portal with such obvious pride while Danny squirmed in the armchair, looking for an escape...

"Thank you," said Collins, quickly, while Jack drew a breath. "I think that's all we need for today."

"But-" started Paterson.

"It's really all we need," repeated Collins. He saw Danny relax, marginally. "Just one more thing. Do you know anything about the break in at the city morgue last night?"

Various expressions flicked over the Fentons' faces. Jack's and Maddie's were blank. Danny's was was angry. Jasmine's was, surprisingly, guilty.

Did she steal the body? Collins would have never guessed it. The image she presented was too neat and mannered.

"Was it a ghost?" asked Maddie. "I'm afraid we can't do anything about it, otherwise."

"Right," said Collins. "We'll contact you if that evolves to be the case. And-"

"Oh, I can't take it anymore!" exclaimed Paterson. She pointed at Danny. "Are you Phantom?"

Danny jumped about a foot. "Wh-What? Nooooooooo. No, I'm not Phantom. I'm alive, aren't I?"

Damn. If that wasn't all but a confession.

The other Fentons started to laugh. The adults heartily. Jasmine uneasily.

"You've been listening to what's-his-name, haven't you? The West boy?"

"Weston," corrected Maddie. "No matter how many times we explained things to him..." She sighed. "I think there's something wrong with him, to be honest. But just to assuage your doubts..." She stood up and walked over to Danny. "Danny, do you mind."

"Nope," said Danny, standing up and holding out his wrist.

Maddie beckoned the detectives forward. "Here," she said, "feel this." She tapped her fingers on Danny's wrist.

"Go ahead," said Danny, staring up at him with a mix of apprehension and determination.

Collins put his fingers on Danny's wrist, on his pulse point. Danny's skin was smooth and cool, but not at all corpselike, or what Collins imagined a ghost would feel like.

"I have a pulse," said Danny. "Ghosts don't." Sure enough, Collins' fingers detected a slow but steady thump thump thump.

Maddie nodded. "Their closest equivalent is more of a constant rush. I could explain the science... but you were just leaving."

"Yes. Sorry about that. My partner can be a bit susceptible to conspiracy theories. I had to talk her out of hiring a psychic, once."

"Thank goodness you did," said Maddie, smiling. "Almost all psychics are fake."

.

"They don't believe it," said Danny, watching the detectives pull away from the curb below from the window of his room.

"Mom and dad? Of course not," said Jazz. "They won't believe you're Phantom unless you show them outright."

"No, the detectives. They don't believe I'm human. They still think I'm Phantom."

"Danny," said Jazz, cautiously. "Don't do anything rash."

"It isn't like I can make this any worse," said Danny. "I'm going to talk to them."

.

"What was that?" complained Paterson. "I never tried to hire a psychic!"

"Yeah, but you did agree that we wouldn't out Phantom in front of his parents. He said he doesn't want his family to know about him, and I don't want an angry ghost trying to throttle me! He can bench press a bus! I don't want his hands anywhere near my throat." He inhaled deeply and sighed. "At least we know what did him in."

"Do you?" asked a very cold voice.

It was a testament to Collins' steely nerves and rigorous police training that he didn't immediately crash the car upon finding a ghost in the back seat. Paterson nearly threw herself out of the car.

"Hi, Phantom," he said, instead, looking at the young ghost in the rear view mirror. "I don't suppose you know what happened to your body."

The ghost scowled. "It wasn't me. I told you to stop messing with stuff."

"Who, then? Your sister?"

Phantom's scowl deepened to something like rage. "Leave her out of this."

"Oh, god, you really are Fenton," said Paterson.

In her defense, Collins hadn't completely believed it, either.

Varied emotions passed over the ghost's face. "Come on, you don't believe Wes, do you?"

"There's other evidence," said Collins, voice wavering just a little. "I don't know how you're keeping up a pulse, or the rest of your human disguise, but you died in that portal, didn't you?"

Phantom was silent for a moment, then he reached through Paterson's chair and neatly plucked her recorder from her jacket, along with her phone. He tossed the phone into the seat next to him and crushed the recorder. Then he started riffling through Collins' pockets.

"Is that really necessary?" asked Collins. He guided the car to the side of the road and put it into park.

"You made it necessary," said Phantom. He pulled out Collins' phone as well and gave it a once over. "Look," he said. "I'm sort of," he paused, "upset that you guys dug up my body and then freaking lost it."

"Lost it-"

"Fine. Got it stolen from you by one of my enemies. One of my most dangerous enemies. Okay? Happy? Are you starting to understand why I wanted this left alone?"

"Are you trying to say that this isn't about your family not knowing you're dead?" asked Collins.

"Of course it's about that!" exclaimed Phantom. "It's just about half a dozen other things at the same time! You knowing about me could get me killed. Knowing about me could get you killed. The only reason Wes isn't dead is because he's completely ridiculous and no one believes him! You're credible!"

"By that enemy you mentioned?" asked Paterson, having regained some composure.

"Yeah," said Phantom. "He's got an interest in it not getting out."

"Why?" asked Paterson.

"Reasons," said Phantom, stubbornly.

"Does he have the same thing going on as you?"

Phantom crossed his arms and shrugged.

"One second," said Collins, "what do you mean, kill you? You're already dead."

"It's a figure of speech," mumbled Phantom. "Either way, the GIW would be more than happy to cut me open. Do you have any idea what they do to ghosts?"

"You- you're not actually dead, are you?" asked Collins. "Holy-"

"Yes, I am," said Phantom, quickly.

"How did you manage the pulse trick, then?"

"Lots of ghosts can do that. My parents don't know everything."

"You're a terrible liar. How the hell does that work? This- Ghost powers while alive?"

"I am dead," repeated Phantom. "How do you explain the body?"

"Half of it was missing," said Paterson.

Silence.

"I'm begging you to let this go," said Phantom. "People are going to get hurt. I'm going to get hurt."

"You don't think we'd let the GIW have you?" asked Paterson.

"I don't think it's a matter of 'let.' I-" he sighed and buried his face in his hands. "Ugh, I can't believe I made this even worse. What are you going to do?"

"We-" said Collins. Honestly, he had no idea. He looked at Paterson, who shrugged. "It isn't up to us, it's up to the captain."

"You can't tell more people!"

"Then you tell him. Come with us," said Paterson. "It's just one more, and he knows all of our suspicions, anyway." That wasn't completely true.

"If you really wanted to convince us not to, you could tell us more about your terrible enemy who may or may not be like you."

Phantom shook his head. "It's not worth it," he said, floating halfway out of his seat. "I'm going home."

"Wait," said Collins. "Your accident- It really was an accident, wasn't it? Your parents didn't-"

Phantom's face scrunched up. "Of course it was an accident. I was messing around someplace I shouldn't have been because of a dare. Are we done, now? Right up until you decide to ruin what's left of my life, anyway."

"Do you have a cell phone?" asked Paterson. "So we can call you, instead of your parents, if necessary." She offered up her notepad.

Phantom jerked it out of her hands and scrawled something on the paper. "Goodbye," he said, shortly, before flying out of the car.

Paterson swore, loudly.

"Yeah," agreed Collins. "Yeah."

[nanagoswife]

For You? Always.

Chapter Ten

Summary: The party is a go, and we also learn something new...

W/C: 4.6k

Warnings: mentions of sexual assault

<<Previous, Next>>

For the beginning of the week, there wasn’t as much work to do as there usually was. Because of this, it was one of the rare Mondays that you didn’t need to work late. You were glad it was though.

When you turned your computer off, Ben had just arrived at your door, giving it a soft knock. As he walked in you flashed a smile.

“You ready?” 

“Always,” you replied. His smile was one you’d never forget as you mirrored it. There was a lot of anticipation throughout the day. 

Leaving your usual work bag in your office, you joined Ben and Paisley, who was waiting just outside. Siara met you as the elevator went down to her floor. The others were going to meet you there.

The four of you were met by an enthusiastic Rick, waving hello at the front of the restaurant. As Ben looked down at you, you saw a look that told you he called Rick, telling him of the occasion. A feeling of immense happiness filled you as the anticipation of the night creeped in even more. 

Freddy and Brian were already inside at a table set up for the six of you. They had left two seats for you and Ben to sit beside each other, with Brian and Siara in a position to sit across from each other. Both of the men got up to greet you with quick hugs and a saying of a happy early birthday. 

Rick made sure you were all settled before saying, “For tonight’s occasion, all of your meals and two drinks each, except for my lovely Rosebud, will be on the house. Happy early birthday, Rosebud.” Your smile was grateful when you thanked Rick as he turned away. 

“Thank you,” you quietly said to Ben who had his arm wrapped around the back of your chair. All he did was smile, and it was all he needed to do. Besides, Paisley had started her usual excited talk that she expected you to listen to. 

The night was one filled with laughter and an opportunity for the guys to all get to know each other. Like you had thought, they all got along very well. They shared many stories with each other. The one Ben seemed to get along with the most was Brian. Even though you weren’t expecting it, it wasn’t too uncalled for either. 

Without thinking, you placed your hand on Ben’s knee. As it had surprised you, you froze while you waited for Ben’s reaction. He only cracked a grin as he continued his conversation with the others, bringing his hand up and resting it on top of yours.

Even though it’s been two months, you had never done this. Looking at it, though, the two of you had only really been out together. This meant that the two of you usually sat across from each other. The few times you sat beside each other, it was very early on in your relationship.

Rick suddenly came striding over with a slice of cheesecake with a candle that was lit. On que, everyone at the table, and the staff and other guests of the restaurant, started singing happy birthday. 

Through your slight embarrassment, the one voice you paid most attention to was Ben’s. His voice was one you could listen to all day as his angelic voice soothed your mind. After the song was done, he continued to hum quietly as he kissed the side of your head while Rick placed the plate in front of you.

“Have a great birthday, Rosebud,” Rick said as he crouched to give you a hug. Then he whispered to you, “He seems perfect for you.” He gestured subtly towards Ben. A warm happiness went through you as you got a second affirmation from someone you so fiercely trusted. 

Rick stood up, letting you make your wish and blow out the candle. Before you did, you saw him give a small nod with a smile at Ben. That was when you knew exactly what your wish was going to be. Taking a deep breath, you blew the single candle out that arose a cheer from the ones watching.

Siara then tapped her glass as she stood, “I have a toast.” Paisley stood up as well, making her way beside Siara. “Here’s to the best friend we could ever ask for, the one who is always there to make us laugh and be the one to listen to us when we go through tough times.”

“We love you, and we’re always here for you as well. Thank you to the person who also made this all happen last minute,” Paisley said as she wrapped her arm around Siara and gestured her glass towards Ben. As you all took your glasses, you lifted them in a cheers and drank.

Overwhelming happiness filled you to the brim from their words. You leaned against Ben as he put his arm, that was around the back of your chair, around you. Once again, you placed your hand on his knee as he pressed a kiss to your temple. 

The rest of the time at Rick’s was spent talking about past stories and jokes until you had to leave. All of the extra drinks that you all ordered were paid for by Siara who refused to have it any other way. In her words, “It’s your celebration, Ben made the call, and Paisley, well, she doesn’t need to pay for that.” It made you laugh as Paisley had an offended reaction.

Saying bye to Rick, you, Ben, Siara, Brian, Paisley and Freddy made your way out, but the night was not yet over. You all continued the conversations as you all walked in groups of three as the guys split to their own conversation. That left you with the two girls, who were talking about some show you didn’t know. All you did was laugh at the few things that they disagreed on.

Eventually, they changed the topic, splitting back up to walk beside the men. Ben quickened his pace to catch up to you as you headed the front of the group.

“What do you think of tonight so far?” he asked as he took your hand. Compared to the previous conversation you were listening to, his voice was quiet and a lot calmer.

You looked up at him with a gentle grin, “It’s been amazing.” Ben’s eyes were thoughtful and his smile was caring. Leaning down, he gave you a quick kiss. You heard a small squeal from Paisley, who was behind you, which made both you and Ben chuckle. 

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. There’s still an entire evening ahead of us.”

“Hopefully the rest is as perfect as it is now.”

Ben only smiled in response and gave you another quick kiss as the other two couples caught up and started more conversation. You had wanted more time with Ben, but you have the night and the whole of tomorrow for that. 

Making a quick stop at Ben’s apartment so he could grab some things, you and the others waited outside. You were all about to make your way to the park by your house so that you could have time to talk and rest at the same time. It was still relatively early in the evening. So, you all made a unanimous decision to keep the night going.

With Ben coming back down, you all set off. If anyone saw your group, they would probably judge you as you were travelling in a chaotic group of movement. The occasional yelling in excitement and the rapid shifting of the group as conversation changed all added to this. You were all having fun, so you wouldn’t have noticed the judgement if there were.

When you got to the intersection that led to your house one way and the park in the other, you let the group head to the park as you and Ben quickly stopped at your house to drop his bag off. 

“I didn’t realize how dangerous it would be getting the whole group together,” Ben said with a laugh after dropping his bag in your room.

All you could say was, “Welcome to the group. You’re no longer safe from this.” You poked your elbow into his side as you joked. Together you walked out towards the park laughing. 

Clinging to his arm and leaning your head against his shoulder, the trip was spent in a comforting silence. A silence, you noticed, that was well needed before the constant loudness that was about to continue the night. 

Everyone was waiting at the beginning of the path as you arrived. They moved to let you lead the way to where you wanted, which was the usual area you always went to. Once again, the boys went to their own group and stayed on the pathway while you, Paisley and Siara sat on the patch of grass. 

The three of you discussed how nice it was that they were all getting along when Freddy made his way over, “Is it okay if us guys take a small walk around?” Paisley and Siara left the decision to you.

“Of course. You boys go have fun.”

 “Sweet, thanks,” he said as he made his way back up.

Before they took off, Ben took off his dress coat and put it over your shoulders. Giving him a quick kiss, he walked off with Brian and Freddy. 

Seeing him get along with them made you happy. Now he had people to go to that actually lived here.

-

As Ben walked away from you with Freddy and Brian, he felt slight guilt, but he imagined that Paisley and Siara had things to talk about with you. He turned his attention back as Brian started to talk.

“Ben, I have never heard Siara rant on about someone that was in Y/N’s life ever. Not only that, but I’ve never seen Y/N that happy,” Brian said as he placed a hand on Ben’s shoulder.

Ben gave a shy grin in response.

“I agree. Paisley rants all the time but she’s never been more excited than this. And that’s saying something.” The three men laughed as they all agreed. Ben ended his off with a small nervous sigh.

“There’s just a bit of pressure, you know,” Ben said after a short silence. “With what happened all those years ago.” Brian patted Ben on the back before putting his hand back on his shoulder.

Freddy gave Ben a reassuring push, “Yes, but that shouldn’t put more pressure. Just relax, be yourself. She’s a caring soul and as long as you leave big steps to her, it’ll be okay.”

“Exactly,” Brian chimed in with a slight squeeze to Ben’s shoulder. “I’ve known her for a while now and I know that Freddy is right. Gaining her trust that you won’t be the one to ruin what you have is what will ensure everything will be alright.” Ben started to relax with what he was being told.

There was just one question he wanted to ask that he desperately hoped they knew, “Do you know what happened with her ex? I know he cheated on her, but I feel like something else happened... before that.” 

Brian and Freddy looked at each other with concerned expressions. Ben wanted to desperately know, hoping it wasn’t the answer he was thinking.

“Well, yes. Sadie told me, with Y/N’s permission, herself during one of her visits. Siara also confirmed it as she was at the party that it happened at.” Brian said this solemnly, voice quivering at the memory of the story. Ben looked down in grief. “I actually met Y/N and Siara not long after Y/N broke up with him.”

“I suggest you should wait until she’s comfortable to tell you herself. We’re definitely not the ones who should tell you what happened. Or, if she feels comfortable with it, ask Siara or Sadie. She probably won’t because she blames herself for the way it happened,” Freddy said in a grim tone. The air was heavy around them as they walked slowly.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Ben said and the other two rushed to tell him it was fine. 

Changing the topic to lighten the mood, they brought up the fact that Freddy was going to propose soon. “I wanted to do it with everyone around. Would you guys be okay with doing this in about a month?” Ben was cheered up quickly as he agreed, Brian following suit.

After a bit more conversation, they made their way back. Brian took Ben aside quickly to say, “If you ever need a place to stay, not saying anything will happen with the two of you though, Siara and I would be happy to set up one of our spare rooms for you. She already has it ready for you since you may have to due to work.” Ben smiled to himself. Brian continued, “Also, I’m not as busy as I used to be. So if you need anybody to talk to, send me a message or call me.”

“Thanks, Brian.”

“Also, Siara is less likely to spill any secrets you have,” he said with a joking tone. They laughed as they made their way to Freddy to finish their walk back to you and the other girls. Ben’s mood had been lifted back up just enough to enjoy the rest of the night.

-

While the three boys were gone, you were stuck with Siara in dealing with Paisley’s still energetic manner. Thankfully, you were able to add conversations in between, but Paisley brought it back to how happy she was that you finally were in a relationship, even with it being months old news.

“Paisley,” Siara started, “we’re all happy. Just calm yourself.” This caused a laugh from you all, but Paisley finally did calm down. 

They asked what was happening in the next two weeks and you explained what you could. 

“Honestly, I don’t truly know. All I know is that she doesn’t even want to talk details until the last few days of the visit.”

“That is probably the strangest one I’ve heard about,” Siara chimed in.

All of you went silent as you slowly nodded. You assumed that all three of you were trying to think of a solid explanation of this.

Finally, you were saved when you heard the sound of the talking coming from Ben, Freddy, and Brian. Gazing over at them, you saw Brian’s arm wrapped around Ben’s shoulders as they were in deep conversation. Ben’s gaze met yours for a moment and he smiled at you as he continued his response to Freddy. 

“Did you three have a good time?” Siara called out as they made their way closer to you. Still in their conversation, they just nodded in response. The conversation finished as they reached you girls.

Ben stepped up beside you, letting you take his hand as he sat down beside you in the group’s circle. Smiling at him, he laid down and put his head in your lap. You giggled to yourself and played with his loose hair. Until now, you didn’t realize that he didn’t use any product in his hair. It were delighted because it made it easier to mess around with the soft strands.

The next couple of hours were spent talking, you playing with Ben’s hair the whole time. His only movement being a small shift of comfort. Eventually, the others had to leave as they still had to work tomorrow, which left you and Ben alone on the patch of grass under the moon. 

“Tonight was amazing. Thank you, Ben.” He looked up at you from your lap with a smile. It looked almost comical with his messed up hair. Bringing your head down, you smiled before giving him a kiss with your hands on the sides of his face. He brought up one of his own to do the same.

Ben moved his hand from your face to put it over one of yours as you sat back up. You continued to play with his hair with your other hand and linked your fingers with his with the other hand.

“Hmm, I do believe it is still too early to thank me.”

Then, he turned onto his stomach while kissing the top of your hand and propping himself up on his elbows. His crazy hair made you laugh as he tried to shake it. It only made it look worse.

Fixing it slightly, you put it back in a comb-over style. “How does it look?” Ben said as you fiddled with it a bit more. Looking at it, there was something different, but it suited him better. 

You didn’t know why, but a darkness of the past crept up on you. Was it because you thought about things similar about Ben then as you did now? You had no clue. They were just... there.

The smile you had slowly fell. It was very clear that Ben saw this.

“Y/N, are you okay?”

The thoughts you started to have were dark, but you felt you needed to tell him. You didn’t want to bring the night’s mood down but he needed to know. Would you tell him about how you felt about him all those years ago? Probably not. He did deserve to know what happened just after he left.

“I need to tell you something. Something I wanted to tell you years ago when you left high school early.”

You watched as confusion crossed his face. Yet, you didn’t miss the small look of knowing show as well. He was most likely assuming it was about the night of prom.

“What is it,” he said gently as he sat so he was right in front of you. Needing the comfort, you grabbed his hands and held them. 

For a moment you looked down as tears started to fill your eyes, “Back in high school, something happened with-” your voice caught for a moment. The memory was still painful. “With my ex.”

Meeting his eyes, Ben nodded. He have a gentle squeeze to your hands giving you comfort and a feeling of safety.

“We were at a party and... and he got drunk,” your voice was starting to waver. It only got worse as you continued, trying to hold back the tears. “The night before, we had a conversation where I told him how I was starting to question the relationship due to...” you trailed off for a moment.

Should you tell him that you could’ve been together all those years ago? That by now, you may have had more than just these couple months? You decided not to.

Noticing your inner turmoil, Ben gave another comforting squeeze to your hands. “You don’t have to tell me,” he said quietly, rubbing small circles into the back of your hands with his thumbs.

“He started getting aggressive but I turned a blind eye to it. Siara was with me that night and tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen. Even with the day before, I loved him too much to believe it.” You broke.

Ben quickly pulled you in to an embrace, your head resting on his shoulder as your tears fell. “It’s okay,” he whispered gently. To help soothe you further, he rubbed gentle patterns on your back, pulling you in tighter when your cries got louder.

Being held by him was the most comfort you had felt while telling this story. Unlike most of the others, he just listened except for the quiet reassurances as your tears soaked a spot on his shoulder. He didn’t mind. He would never mind.

After a moment, you gathered yourself back up. He needed to know. “I- he pulled me aside and brought me to an empty room. At first, I thought he just wanted to talk. An- and then, h-he then started to rip off my clothes, and forced himself on me.” 

You tried hard to keep the breaks in your voice at bay, but it was near impossible. Especially in front of the man in front of you who had such a soft, comfortable, reassuring expression as you continued to rub circles on your hands.

You took another moment to compose yourself a bit more. Ben moved to tracing your knuckles with his thumbs to help comfort you further.

“Had it not been for Siara and her friend, Ken, he would’ve raped me. That night is also why I don’t wear makeup anymore because-” you trailed off as you remembered the words.

“Because of things he said,” Ben said under his breath. He looked up and met your eyes. 

“Yes. He said it was me who caused it. And I believed him. In a way, I still do.”

Ben’s eyes went wide. “Darling, that was hardly your fault.”

When he called you darling, a warmth filled your heart for a moment. Unfortunately it was short lived, “But I ignored Siara’s warning. I ignored how obvious it was that he was trouble even with the whispers of his other side. I ignored how I truly started to feel about someone else. Ben, I was so ashamed that I stayed with him until I caught him with another girl!”

For a moment, confusion filled him at the mention of how you had feelings for someone else. There was no way for you to see this, as it was only a split second facial change. That was not what this moment was about.

Instead, when you looked at him, his eyes were so warming, helping you feel a bit better. He then pulled you back to him, pulling you in close to the safety that was his arms. “None of that was your fault,” he started to softly whisper in your ear as your head once again rested on his shoulder. “You only wanted to believe he was good because you loved him. The blame is on him for taking advantage of your kind love.”

Once again, your tears flowed but softer than earlier. His words only continued to make you feel better along with all the soothing movements and touches. 

Ben pulled you in close, one hand on your back and one on the back of your head. He placed a lingering kiss to the side of your head while letting you cry in his arms.

After a few wonderfully quiet and warm moments, you heard, more like felt, as Ben started to hum a song you didn’t know. The melody was beautiful, though, and it helped to calm you further. Between that and the protective hold he had, you felt a sense of solace flood through you.

“Thank you,” you whispered. He answered by pressing another kiss to your head, continuing humming the sweet melody. 

Slowly, you brought your head up and rested your forehead against Ben’s. His humming didn’t stop, but he did wear an expression that said don’t thank me yet. All you did was smile at that.

So, you continued to listen to his sweet humming. Although you didn’t recognize the song at first, it started to sound familiar.

“Ben?”

He looked into your eyes, the tune not stopping but his full attention was on you. The blue was magnificent even in the limited light.

“What song is that?”

Instead of answering, he changed his humming to singing. Then you knew. I’m With You by Avril Lavigne. 

“Take me by the hand, take me somewhere new,” he sang as he took your hand in his. This is where he stopped the song. The discontinuation of the line was a perfect description of the current moment.

Every moment before this was the beautiful build up in your story. His sweet tune and words going through the soft moments of your relationship. The melody was the way you both cared for each other. Slow, but sincere and heartfelt. All of it leading to the cut off. Take me by the hand, something he had done literally. At the same time, it was a way of saying how your hearts were woven together. Take me somewhere new...

He brought his free hand up and wiped your remaining tears away with his thumb. As you sat like this, an overwhelming feeling came over you. Everything about this man has only ever made you feel secure. He’s done nothing but show you how good of a person you are. Ben, for the first time in years, made you feel truly happy and safe.

Your heart was pounding in your chest. That overwhelming feeling: love.

“Ben, I-”

“I love you.”

A smile spread across your lips, “I love you too.”

Ben’s own smile showed before pulling you into a kiss. The passion behind it was a new one, but one you enjoyed far more.

It broke as you started to chuckle, Ben looked slightly confused. “You beat me to it,” you said, brushing your lips to his.

“I apologize, my darling,” he smiled, “I guess something in me wanted to say it first.” Both of you chuckled before locking lips again. This moment couldn’t be more perfect.

Once you needed to catch your breaths, you both rested against your foreheads together once again. Despite trying to hold it back, and having Ben’s warmth, you shivered from the cool night breeze but also his gentle touch of his fingers to your cheek.

“Shall we go home?” You asked. Ben gave a small smile and nodded.

Getting up, he offered you his hand and helped you up. After you had slipped your arms through his coat sleeves, you clung to his arm while you walked back. The short walk was spent in a somewhat silence, the only noise being a soft hum of a new song from Ben. 

When you got to your house, you let Ben get ready before you. You didn’t let him convince you to switch the order, using the excuse that it was your birthday celebration so you made the executive order. Knowing he would be quick, you stood outside of the door as you waited to switch around.

After his predicted quickness was over, you gently placed his dress coat on the top of the shelf before closing the door behind you.

You told him he could come in when you pulled your shirt down, and you knew he caught a small glance of your skin. Ben was the first one to get into the bed, leaving you to turn off the room’s light before making your way to your bed. He had already pulled back the blanket for you, putting it back over you when you took your place beside him. 

He moved his arm so that your head would rest on it and it draped around your back as you snuggled up to him. When you placed a hand on his chest, he took it and brought it to his lips and kissed your knuckles. He brought your hand back to his chest and gave a quick kiss to the top of your head before settling into the pillows.

Subconsciously, he started to hum again, adding a few words here and there. They became more incoherent as you both drifted to sleep.

Next>>

@stardancerluv @jaydenwoo @madmax2003 @alyssa-skywalker

[homebody-nobody]

you wanna play with fire (stick and poke tattoo)

Jax did you actually write a whole nother fic?? Why yes, dear reader, I did. This is porn, blame @hvitstark​ and @aarchiess​ and the rest of the jiara gc for filling up the Sin Bin with inspiration every day. PLEASE interact with this post I work really hard on these fics and seeing them get like ~30 notes and then dying drains my soul.  ------------------------ ao3 -------------------------

‘Come home on time or don’t bother coming home at all!’

Her mother’s words echo in her ears as Kiara stomps away from the house in the late-summer heat. Tears well and sting in her eyes and she wipes them away, refusing to let them fall. She doesn’t understand why her parents don’t get it. Her dad grew up in the Cut. Her mom fell in love there, had Kie there, got married there. She belongs there, so much more than on Figure Eight or anywhere else in kooklandia. There’s an honesty to the Cut that evaporates the closer you get to the country clubs and McMansions on the other side of the island. Her heart feels open there, loved and loving. What happened, to make her parents forget all that? Is money really that important, that corrupting and all-consuming, that they would forget what loyalty feels like? What family is? 

JJ’s sitting on the porch when she gets to the Chateau, a paperback folded in half in his left hand and a soda dangling from his right. He stands up when he sees her. “Hey,” he says. He’s wearing one of his absurd cutoffs, cargo shorts slung low and no shoes. There’s a cigarette tucked behind his ear and his hair is a ruffled mess, like he’s had his hands in it, thinking too hard. He looks like some ridiculous parody of a vagabond, every bad boy the after-school specials always warned her about. 

Taking a deep breath, she nods to the book in his hand. “I didn’t know you could read,” she says. It’s easier to make fun then show the way her heart opens and bleeds at the sight of him. 

He smiles, lopsided and quiet. “Good to see you, too.” 

She mounts the stairs to the porch without asking, even though with every step she takes closer to him, she’s less sure of how to act. They haven’t talked since the night John B died, since the last time she was here. They had sex, the night the Phantom went down. It was fast and messy and a little awkward, because she was still Kie and he was still JJ, and fucking your best friend for the first time is never easy, now matter how long you’ve been waiting to do it. 

It’s barely been a week, but it feels like longer, and since she got home that next morning, her parents have been tiptoeing around her, waiting for something to break. It was the simplest thing, really, Kie wondering aloud about JJ, about how he was doing and how she might help him pay off his restitution. (Now that Plan A has spiraled down to Plan L and that failed, besides.) It was her mother and her thinly-veiled scoff, the way it tugged at Kie like calloused skin on fresh sheets. It was Kie mentioning dipping into her college fund to help him, and her parents promptly flying off the handle. 

And then, the threat of boarding school, of taking her away from everything she knows and everything she loves, shutting her up in the mountains like some hysterical family member in a victorian asylum, sending her to some institution claiming to be a high school but is basically a finishing school prepping spoiled debutantes for husband-hunting at the ivies. She won’t be one of those girls. 

JJ greets her with the usual handshake, and when he goes to sit back down, she grabs at his fingers before she loses the courage, because she doesn’t want to think about any of it anymore, not John B or Sarah, not boarding school, not the tenuous future her parents are planning for her and how little she wants it. He stops, frozen, and every one of her senses is trained on the minimal brush of skin, the tension in his back. She wants her hands on him, her nails dragging down his arms, the taste of his sweat and the burn of his gaze. She wants to be lost in him, because touching JJ switches everything else off. He’s like a magnet for her attention, everything blurring until it’s just his mouth and his hands and his -- 

“Kie,” he says, a warning in his usually jovial voice. His gaze is locked on her hand, her slender fingers tangled in his, gentle things, held between strength and violence. “You said --” 

“I know --” she says, pausing for half a second, surprised by her tone and the immediacy of her response. How quickly she wants to forget the lies she told herself about being able to stay away from him, after knowing what his tongue feels like on her clit and the way he fits perfectly inside her, like they were meant to come together. “What I said.” She’s looking at their linked hands as well, but she’s imagining his between her legs, wants to pull him forward and put it there, just to stop feeling so fucking human, because he makes her feel celestial, instead. 

“So?” he asks, licking his lips, his breath picking up like he can read her mind, see her the way she wants to be, naked and underneath him. 

“So maybe,” she says, her heartbeat rising in her own throat, taking half a step toward him, tucking her bottom lip between her teeth. His eyes betray him, flicking up to her face and following the motion. She looks up at him, and the second her brown eyes land on his, he’s done resisting, done even considering it. He melts, when she looks at him like that, so grateful for it, after waiting so many years convinced it wouldn’t ever happen. “I changed my mind.” 

The air hangs heavy and charged as JJ’s rational side, weak to begin with and driven deep with years of half-thought-out decisions and anticipated-yet-ignored consequences, scrambles to pull him out of her orbit, to get him to let go and stop her from burning up in the periphery of his constant firestorm. But her eyes are on his, and she’s touching him, and she’s asking, and the moon could fall without him noticing, right now. 

She pulls, and he follows, and they’re crashing into each other, a kiss that starves before it is even born. Paint flakes and dust fill the air when she slams back against the side of the house, her arms looped around JJ’s neck, one of his tight around her waist, the other braced on the siding, fist clenched, forearm taught. The second he touches her, the world stops spinning, or maybe just they do, because she’s dizzy and soaring under his mouth, chest to chest and sharing breath between teeth and lips and tongues. Victory rises in her chest, pride and anticipation simmering just below the beautiful, vacant hunger that comes from JJ kissing her like this, and it’s that pride that bruises, just a little, when he pulls away. 

“You can’t just jump me when you’re upset,” he says, but it’s into her neck, practically a growl as his hand flexes against the small of her back, gathering up her shirt, his fingernails just grazing her skin. 

“Can’t I?” she answers, canting her hips up a fraction, pushing against him, demanding his return to ravishing her indecently. 

“Fuck, Kie --” he says, and he’s nipping at her neck in bursts, like he knows they should be talking about this, but he can’t help but touch her, overwhelmed with the need to taste her skin and leave her wanting. 

“Fine,” she says, sliding her forearm against his shoulder until her hand buries itself in his hair, pulling him back up and kissing him fiercely. “We’ll talk about it,” she sighs, before diving back in for another hard, demanding kiss. And then, “After.” 

“Yeah, okay,” JJ relents, pushing off the side of the house and dragging her toward the front door. It’s not a choice but a capitulation, a giving in to the unstoppable force that is Kiara tugging at his soul. Because he’d do anything for her, anything to her that she asks, no matter what he tells himself. He slides his teeth over her bottom lip and pulls away, panting. “After.” They slam through the screen door, stumbling over a broken ankle tether and the trash JJ had been meaning to take out, not even bothering with the farce of trying to make it to the bedroom. Her calves slam into the pullout and she topples backwards, taking her with him. 

Kissing JJ is a little like waiting out a hurricane and finally hitting the eye. Thrilling and terrifying, surrounded by power and strength, destruction and damage, but finding peace and respite, and a promise, a hint of the sun. Once he has her underneath him, he slows down, settling his weight between her legs, keeping himself propped on his elbows while he kisses her, solid and hard in his intent. It’s torture, him dancing above her, licking into her mouth only to back off and press kisses across her face, her jaw, and down her neck, sucking damning, claiming marks before scraping his teeth over her ear with the slightest pressure, teasing her, pulling obscene noises from her throat and driving her insane. She pushes her hips up again, and he responds with a deep, heavy roll of his, and she can feel his cock, hot and already half-hard, through the layers of fabric between them. 

She wants to feel it, in her hand, her mouth, pressing torturously, deliciously inside her, and he’s still fully clothed and taking way too much damn time. Surging up against him, she flips the two of them over, dangerously close to the edge, and straddles his hips, dragging her hands down his chest. Tossing her hair out of her face and pulling it all to one side, she risks glancing down at him, afraid of the vulnerable drop of her stomach every time she meets his eyes. JJ’s an eclipse in totality, pupils blown wide, shining underneath her, beaming in her shadow. His lips are slightly parted, red and wet, hair disheveled, hands coming down to slide up her thighs, and the image is so hot, so perfect, her chest aches as her cunt throbs for him, a dangerous, terrifying combination. She takes off her shirt. 

The sigh he lets out is entirely involuntary, reveling in the warmth and the weight of her, in awe of the smooth plains of exposed skin and the soft curves of her body. She leans down to kiss it out of his mouth, his hand coming up to cup the back of her head, the other sliding around the back of her arm as she holds face. It’s too gentle, too kind and slow, so she sinks her teeth into his lower lip until he groans and tightens her fist in his hair, pulling her with him as she straightens. His hands frame her hips as she grinds down on him, and he ducks his head to lay kisses across her collarbones, his hands sliding up her sides, electric on her bare skin. Letting her head fall back, she takes in the feeling of his lips on her chest, his thumbs tucking under the band of her bra. One stays to brush back and forth over the side of her breast while the other  reaches around and pinches apart the clasp in an expert move. Her stomach drops at the thought of JJ doing this with other girls. 

Taking her hands from his hair to cup his jaw, she redirects his attention back to her lips as her bra slides down her arms and her nipples pebble in the cool air. She holds on just a little too long, presses into him closed-mouth and soft, and he melts under her touch, his hands framing her ribs, her hair falling around them in a peach-scented curtain. When he initiates moments like this, she runs from them, too scared of what she might feel if she falls in like she’s falling now, heart pounding, her thumbs skating over his cheekbones. He leans up into her touch, one of his arms dropping to her waist and pulling her in closer to him, holding her tight. She pulls away from the kiss, keeping her forehead pressed to his. 

“Kie,” he sighs. Her breath hitches at the sound of her name from his mouth, like it almost always does, except he’s never close enough to notice. The silence that follows holds too much for the small space it occupies, and while she has no idea what he’s scared of saying, it almost falls from his lips anyway. Before he can make too much of an idiot out of himself, she pulls her arms back out of the straps of her bra, reaching between them to toss it to the side. As she does, she keeps his eyes on his, the smallest pockets of relief opening as his gaze drops to her tits, and then the heat in her stomach picking up again as he licks his lips. He ducks his head again, taking one of her nipples into his mouth like a sacrament, like she’s holy, closing his eyes and moaning, deep and satisfied at the taste of her skin. It goes straight to her cunt, and she feels wetness gathering there, even more than before. 

This, they’ve already done. There’s still fading bruises across her chest from the first night they spent together, when he ate her out til she screamed and then fucked her senseless, and while that seems to be the course of action he’s aiming for here, she has other ideas. She slides her hands back into JJ’s hair -- God, she could spend hours playing with JJ’s hair -- and tightens her grip, her blunt nails scraping gently over his scalp. In return, he teases his teeth over her nipple, and when she arches and gasps at the motion, tries to flip himself back on top. 

But Kiara has a goal, and she tightens her thighs around his hips, flattening her hands on his chest and pushing back, shaking her head playfully. He raises his eyebrows and flashes her half a smile, as if to say ‘oh, really?’, but settles his hands on her hips and lets her take charge. Her first order of business is getting him just as naked as she is; he holds up his arms obediently as she tugs his shirt off of him, and this is different now, than when it started. They’re taking their time with each other, grateful to drop the guise of desperation and explore every secret spot and inch of forbidden skin. It should scare the shit out of her, and it sort of does, but it’s also…  kinda fun. JJ makes this shy vulnerability so easy to sink into, knowing that any teasing has no real heat behind it, that he’ll be gentle and kind and listen to what she wants and what she likes. Yes, the bar is on the floor, but this boy is her best friend for a reason, this loving, crazy dumbass, that would set himself on fire to keep her warm. And that trust, those years of rapport and familiarity, make moments like these so much more comfortable, easier with a net underneath the thrill of flying high, trading touch for pleasure and knowing that he’ll be there to catch her on the comedown. 

She leans down and kisses him, soft at first and then deeper, licking into his mouth and rolling her hips down onto him, stretching her arms above his head and dragging her tits up his bare torso, smiling against his lips at the sound he makes. Ducking her head against his neck, she leaves her own trail of marks and then shifts her weight off of him to the side so she can reach down and pop the fly of his shorts open with one hand. He hisses in a sharp inhale when she reaches her hand between the layers of clothing and palms him over his underwear, giving him a second of satisfying contact before backing off, teasing him with her fingertips. He rolls onto his side, angling himself over her, kissing her hungrily. 

“Fucking hell, Kie,” he says, tucking his face into the side of her neck. “You got no fucking right to feel that good.” He’s warm and solid against her chest, hot and hard under her fingers, and something opens in her chest as he kisses her again, slow and sensual but not rushing, not pushing for things to go further or asking for anything she’s not willing to give. She pushes his underwear down as best she can, and he shudders as bare skin meets. The feeling of his cock in her hand sets her skin alight as he muffles moans in her neck, and she twists her hand over the head of it, spreading the wetness she finds there over the shaft. 

JJ surrenders to her, relaxing against her side as she works her hand over him, leaning into her, muttering half-formed praise into her skin like a prayer. She bites down a smile at the words, trying to hide how much she enjoys having him so vulnerable under her touch, how hot she gets listening to him react, feeling the soft skin over hard muscle. Kissing him firmly, she pushes him onto his back, leaning over him as she strokes his cock, one of his arms coming up to hold her, the other hand pushing into her hair. She hadn’t had time to do this the first night they were together, too focused on her own desperate need to get lost in him, so she takes her time working her way down his bare torso, sinking her teeth into his chest, leaving red and purple marks in her wake. 

He stutters on an inhale when he realizes what she’s doing, and when she curls her hands in the waistband of both shorts and boxers, concern fills his dear, blue eyes. “You don’t have to --” he breathes, caught between concern for her and the deep, furious want pulsing in his blood. “Just because I --” 

Kiara licks her lips, and JJ watches the movement, powerless not to. “I want to,” she says, realizing the truth of it as she says it, and the resulting look on JJ’s face puts butterflies in her stomach. (Which, like, she really doesn’t have time to think about right now.) So, in answer, she pulls his pants and underwear down and off, tossing them to the side and settling herself between his legs. It’s a little intimidating, JJ spread out naked before her, his cock eagerly awaiting her attention. She knew it was big, of course. After last time, the rumors had been confirmed true; JJ Maybank was excellently skilled with both hands and mouth, in addition to being ridiculously well-hung. It isn’t fair, really. But it’s one thing when he’s fucking her, and another when she’s face to face with it. 

He senses her hesitation and reaches down, brushing his fingers over her face in gentle reverence, and the touch shocks something inside her she’s not ready to confront. Instinctively, she pulls away, and, when concern colors his storm-sky eyes, she smiles, and ties up her hair. JJ’s breath catches in his chest as the sight, and it bolsters her confidence. She leans forward to kiss him one more time, twisting her hand over the head of his cock, solid and determined, and before he can recover, she ducks her head and takes him into her mouth. 

He grasps at the sheets as she swirls her tongue curiously around the tip, letting spit and precum drip down the shaft, spreading it towards the base with her hand. “Fuck, yes,” he sighs,  his eyes falling closed, his head dropping to the pillow. It’s satisfying, and triumphant, and hot, to see him so at her mercy, helpless and prone in the oldest kind of worship. After a while of torturous teasing, she takes as much of him as she can into her mouth, pressing her thumb into her palm to push down her gag reflex -- a trick Sarah told her about that she’s never needed til him. He keens, and the noise has her pushing her hips against the mattress, rocking into the seam of her shorts. Bobbing her head, experimenting with pace and angle, she flicks her tongue smartly against the underside of the tip of his cock, and the moan that follows that move is very interesting indeed. She tries it a few more times until he’s gasping out a warning, and she draws back until her lips just wrap around the head, swallowing neatly as he chokes out her name. 

She comes up smiling, and he half sits up, reaching for her, sated and grasping. He kisses her soundly, pulling her back down next to him, one hand in her hair, one arm around her waist, his favorite way to hold her, it seems. Settling her on her back, his tongue meets hers and he groans at the taste of himself. “You,” he says, pulling back to press kisses down her neck. She can’t keep in the happy, smug giggle that works its way out of her chest. “Are so fucking hot.” 

“Not too bad yourself,” she laughs as he tucks his face between her tits, the last word followed by a sharp gasp as he wraps his lips around a nipple, like he can’t help but have his mouth on her, can’t help but taste her skin and send her heart racing. 

“I knew you were looking,” he says, propping his chin on her sternum and looking up at her with a shit-eating grin, mischief and post-orgasm glow sparkling in his stupid, stupid blue eyes. He’s been paying attention to her, thinking about this. The thought flips something over in her chest, and she shoves his head playfully. 

“Shut up,” she says, trying to keep her voice light. She picks her hips up, trying to keep him focused on the event at hand. Yeah, JJ’s easily distracted, but she’s half-naked in front of him, She kinda hoped that would avoid unnecessary conversation. “And get back to work.” 

“Yes ma’am,” he says, half-kidding -- but his eyes darken just a shade too far to be all tease. (Which, she thinks to herself, is certainly something to be investigated.) He devotes his full attention back to her chest, licking and sucking and biting at her nipples, loving the soft, small noises she makes under his touch. Her tits aren’t usually so sensitive, but JJ knows what the fuck he’s doing, and it’s unfair how much he’s able to work her up with her pants still on. Blowing him was already incredibly hot, and, when his hand finally slides into her underwear, he curses at the wetness he finds between her legs. “Holy hell, Kie,” he sighs. 

“Maybe a little more hell,” she says, gripping his arm as his finger drags slowly up her slit, “and a little less holy?” She bites her lip as he teases her, dipping in and out of her folds, tracing his fingers over the lips of her cunt, because he wants her to keep making those godforsaken sounds. Because he can. 

“Anyone ever tell you you’ve got a smart mouth?” he asks, raising his head to suck a mark directly under her ear, smiling against her skin at the resulting gasp. 

“Maybe, ah --” she cries, when his careful fingers find her clit and his calloused fingertips explore the sensitive area, “once or twice.” 

This is… way more talking than last time. Last time was desperate and grief-stricken and needy, a request for heedless escape in the wake of the unthinkable. Now -- it’s still a distraction, but there were other courses of action available when she showed up at the Chateau as the sun started to sit low in the afternoon sky. She didn’t have to jump him. He didn’t have to let her. JJ kisses her, deep and filthy, putting himself back in charge, angling his body over hers as she presses back into the thin mattress, arcing into his touch, one hand braced on his (very nice) bicep, the other tangled in his messy, golden hair. 

He focuses on her clit, spreading the wetness up from her entrance and toying with different pressure and motions, paying attention to what she likes, and she directs him with the sounds she makes, every small moan a ‘yes, please, more of that.’ He’s the most responsive partner she’s ever had, focused on her and her only, his main purpose to make her feel good, not work her up just to fuck or speed past foreplay to move to something more. It makes it better, and when he finally slides a finger into her, he gasps, too, because it’s a privilege for him to feel her, hot and wet and waiting. 

“Oh, god,” she whines, as he pumps his finger slowly in and out of her, his thumb on her clit. 

“God’s a little formal,” he says, lifting his head to look at her, his expression teasing even as kindness and something else big and unwanted settles in his eyes. “You can stick with JJ.” She tries to smack his arm for that, but ends up sinking her nails into his skin as he slides another finger inside of her a little too easily. He goes slowly, curling his fingers up into her g-spot with every stroke, kissing her lazily and alternating to her neck when she can’t help but gasp at his touch. 

It’s torture, the way he takes his time, and after a while she’s begging. “Fuck me, JJ,” she pleads. “God, fuck me, please,” and his spent cock twitches against her leg because fuck if that isn’t something he’s been waiting to hear. His hand speeds up as he decides his next move. When he takes his hands out of her pants she lets out a sound she’d rather he didn’t remember, but based on the way that he smiles against her skin, he won’t be doing that any time soon. He doesn’t even have time to pause at her waistband as he kisses down her body, because she’s very enthusiastically supporting what’s about to happen next, shoving both shorts and underwear down. 

He chuckles and tugs them off, tossing them somewhere that’s future Kie’s problem, and heat rises in him again as she spreads her legs for him. Settling on his stomach, he hooks his arms under her thighs, miles of bare skin pressing together with a quiet whisper of faith. She runs her fingers through his hair as he kisses up her legs, taking his time, reveling in the sight and the smell of her. Foolish smiles meet in shy glances and chuckles that are half breath and half disbelief. JJ radiates warmth from his bare skin, broad and powerful below her, and she hooks a leg over his shoulder, sliding her foot up his back and biting her lip as he raises his eyebrows in response, drawing closer to her hot, aching center. 

He starts lightly, dragging the tip of his tongue up her slit, just to taste the wetness there, to make her squirm and curse and ask for more. It’s hard to resist the way she begs for him, and he sets in with a purpose, flicking his tongue over her clit and fitting two fingers inside of her, mouth and hands working with a skilled harmony. She clutches at his hair, not afraid to drag her fingernails over his scalp, vocal and unapologetic in how much she’s enjoying this, how much she wants him. When he finds a combination of hooking his fingers against her g-spot and brushing the tip of his tongue over her clit, her legs clamp around his head as she begins to climb, a deep pull starting low in her stomach. 

“Don’t stop,” she pleads, “fucking hell, JJ -- God, just like that, don’t fucking stop. Please don’t fucking stop.” He doesn’t, and the sound that comes out of her as she crashes over the edge is loud and guttural and possibly the hottest thing that’s ever fucking happened to him. She cums against his mouth furiously, her stomach flexing and her legs shaking, and he’s a little proud of himself, honestly, as he brings her down gently, sliding his fingers out of her, soothing her with long strokes of his tongue. When her breathing finally slows, he presses kisses over her thighs and then her stomach as he rises back up to meet her. 

She kisses him, awestruck and grateful, not minding her own taste as she pulls him down against her, wanting as much bare skin to be touching as possible. She tucks his hair behind his ears and strokes her thumb over his jaw before he falls on his side next to her, staring, tracing his hand up her side in veneration and wonder. It’s hard, the weight of his gaze, so she closes her eyes, drops her forehead against his. “Literally how,” she sighs, and laughs, one arm tucked under his neck and hooked around his shoulders, the other draped over his trim waist. 

“It’s not hard,” he promises (falsely), cheshire grin in full force. “Just paying attention.” He kisses her before she has a chance to respond, mostly gentle but with a sense he’s holding back a little, inviting her to take the next step forward. She deliberates for a moment as she sucks on his lower lip, scraping her teeth gently, cataloguing every noise he makes and what move precedes it, learning him. She could go home, now. She’s been sufficiently distracted. She feels a little better, like maybe she can talk to her parents without screaming her head off or bursting into tears. But the pull of the boy next to her is strong and tempting, miles of tan skin with rippling muscle shifting underneath. 

The secret is, she always wants to touch JJ. Something about him is magnetic, like a gravitational field she can’t resist. Whenever they’re in the van or on the Pogue or even just chilling on the couch, she finds herself shifting closer. She’s always stepping just behind his shoulder, would prop her chin there -- if she didn’t know that he would freeze up and question the physical contact. Sometimes, she feels jealousy ache in her stomach at his casual physicality with Pope and John B, always slinging his arm around their shoulders or play-fighting or latching onto them, just to be annoying. He’s still physical with her -- she doesn’t think he knows how not to be -- but it’s different, restrained, and sometimes she sees him half-move, reaching out instinctually, only to second guess himself and let his hands fall. 

She shifts into him, pressing herself as close as she can, appreciating the gasp he lets out at the press of her bare chest against his, her leg sliding against his dick, already half-hard again. They kiss for a while, and it would be lazy and slow, if they could let themselves relax; but JJ’s still biting something down, and Kie starts to get frustrated trying to draw it out. Finally, tired of waiting, she licks into his mouth with a sudden push, and he’s not surprised, but annoyingly expectant, glad his baiting has finally worked. There’s a moment of tension and pushing as they silently argue who’s going to be on top, and Kie wins when she reaches down and wraps her hand around his cock. 

He falls back, and she climbs on top of him, biting down a wide grin of her own. She sits back on her heels, sticking out her chest a little, stroking him slowly, reveling in the way he fights to control his expression. He starts at her tits, palming them with work-roughened hands, before sliding his palms down her body, lingering on the curve of her waist, brushing over her ass, running down her thighs and back up. She lets her head fall back, drinking in his touch, closing her eyes so she doesn’t have to meet his. She can feel him staring, though, unrelenting and hungry, merciless in the way he worships her. She can’t look at him, can’t take the kind of want and lust seething in his eyes, so settles herself over his cock, sliding her cunt up and down his shaft, her hands braced on his chest, his hands gripping her hips, fingertips sinking into her skin. 

Part of her wants him to leave bruises, even though she knows he’s not holding her roughly enough for that. He’s being so kind, so soft and respectful, everything she never thought he would be in a situation like this. She loves the tease, the slow build, but she wants him now, viscerally so, rocking her hips over him, hearing him shudder and moan, feeling him clutch at her. She wants him to beg for her, keen her name like she did his. Leaning down to kiss him, she pushes herself all the way up his cock, the tip just brushing her entrance, and he moans, long and filthy. “God,” he gasps, barely coherent. “Fuck, Kiara, please.” 

She smiles at that, sitting up, standing on her knees and taking him in her hand. They’d talked about being clean, about her IUD, the first night, and while she’s grateful she doesn’t have to have the same conversation again, it sets an unnerving precedent. The first time was supposed to be the last time. And now there’s today, and she’s not certain she wants to give him up, yet. She doesn’t know what that means, doesn’t know what he’s feeling or what anything between them would look like in a world so tempest-tossed and half-destroyed. But this -- this part will always be easy.

Taking him inside her feels like a prayer. She goes slowly, sinking down, giving herself time to adjust to his size, his hands flexing on her hips. He fills her perfectly, and she’s never believed the bullshit about soulmates or needing someone else to be complete, but with JJ’s cock inside her, his hips, narrow and strong between her legs, she feels a hell of a lot closer to whole. She starts to move, slow and deep, squeezing him on the way up, bottoming out on the way down. He curses and clenches his teeth, wound so tight she can see it, and she wants him to snap, to flip them in a single move and fuck her into the mattress. 

He watches her, lets her set the rhythm, thrusting up as she pushes down, but the movement is still tight and controlled. She knows this boy inside and out, knows that he’s holding back for her, afraid of hurting her, of losing her trust or making her feel objectified or powerless. She knows he wants to be careful, to not fuck this up -- because this is a this, now, neither of them have any say in that anymore -- but she also wants his raw power, his strength and abandon, and maybe that’s what drives the next words to fall from her mouth. “Come on, JJ,” she groans impatiently, raking her fingernails down his chest. “Aren’t you gonna take what’s yours?” He’s confused for exactly half a second before she shifts her weight pointedly to the empty space to their left, and before she even registers that he’s moving, she’s on her back, her hands pinned above her head, JJ’s hips slamming obscenely into her own. It’s intense and desperate and fast, and she tugs one of her hands free, bringing it down to her clit to rub hard circles there in pace with his wild hips, knowing he won’t last long like this and chasing that cherished high, just behind him. 

He comes before she does on a sharp, animalistic cry, tensing above her and filling her with warmth. She doesn’t have time to be disappointed, because he swears, pulls out, and replaces his cock immediately with his fingers. His cum makes it easy to fit three fingers inside her at once, dextrous and skilled, focused on making her orgasm just as good as his. It doesn’t take long until she’s grabbing at his shoulder, panting and moaning and almost crying, he feels so good, and when he bats aside the hand on her clit in favor of ducking between her legs and replacing it with his mouth, she screams, riding his face and his hand as wave upon wave crashes over her, feet pushing her hips off the pullout, legs quivering and stomach tense. He stays with her, merciless, flicking his tongue across her clit over and over again, until she has to shove his head away with trembling hands, collapsing into the bed in holy, sated exhaustion. 

It takes her a second to open her eyes, and when she does, he’s back up next to her, pushing the three fingers into his mouth to suck them clean. “You’re disgusting,” she says, but she’s still panting, out of breath while her chest heaves, and it carries little heat. 

He brushes gentle fingers over her temple, tucking away a stray curl. “But we taste so good together,” he teases, his breath fanning across her face as he leans down to kiss her. Their mouths move in lazy harmony, finally at ease, and, of course, he’s right. “C’mon,” he says, tucking his face against her neck, his floppy blond hair falling into her eyes. “Shower?” 

“Mmmm,” she hums, thinking she might be anchored to the bed at the base of her spine. “Maybe in a sec.” Honestly, she doesn’t think she’ll be able to stand, but she doesn’t want to give him the satisfaction of hearing that. He chuckles, knowing exactly what he’s done, and shoves himself up as she curses his never-ending, boundless energy. He brings her water and some paper towels to clean herself up, and, when he sees her sitting up, searching for her underwear, digs in the duffel on the armchair and tosses her a pair of boxers. 

She raises an eyebrow at him. “What?” he protests, tugging underwear and a pair of basketball shorts up over his ass. (Which she’s a little disappointed to see disappear beneath layers of fabric once more). “They’re clean.” She puts them on without standing up before rolling over to her stomach and stretching her arms out, tucking them underneath her head. Sweat cools on heated skin as golden hour stretches across the Chateau’s living room, and she wants to live in this moment forever. 

JJ lowers himself onto her back, scattering kisses across her shoulders, and she giggles and turns underneath him until they’re pressed chest-to-chest, his weight braced on his elbows on either side of her head. She looks at him, now, her hair a mess and eyes shining, skin still heated from his touch. He leans down to kiss her, and she lets him, even though this is dangerous territory, blurring hazy lines between friends and friends-with-benefits and lovers and ‘together’ and all the other things they could call themselves. The kiss is slow and sweet, and when he pulls back it’s to kiss her cheeks, her closed eyes, her nose. It’s silly and soft and so incorrect to the image of JJ she’s always had in her mind, that she laughs under his attention. 

“What?” he asks, laughing with her, dive-bombing her with kisses to her face and neck, her arms coming up around his neck, her fingers in his hair. 

“You’re so dumb,” she says, still laughing as she shoves him off. He doesn’t go far, just crashes down next to her, their legs still tangled, one arm tucked back under his head, the other resting on the curve of her waist. Her hands trace his arms, shoulders, chest, mapping them like territory she intends to settle. 

“Yeah, but --” he says, and then stops, because the rest of that sentence carries a different weight now. The ‘you still love me’ hangs in the air anyway, and it means something else than it did the last time he tossed it out -- after leaving her stranded on the marsh with Sarah Cameron, a day that feels like years ago. 

She curls her hands into fists on his chest before spreading them out again, breaking eye contact and biting her bottom lip. “Yeah,” she sighs. Because she does, even if she can’t define how anymore. 

“So you gonna tell me why you came here?” he asks, when the moment stretches on into too many seconds and the weight of it threatens to crush them both. 

Kie sighs, heavy and tired, as the memory of earlier that day comes crashing back down, chasing out the golden afternoon and pulling her back to all of the guilt and anger and frustration she’d asked JJ to distract her from. “Do I have to?” she asks, still avoiding his eyes, too tired to dodge it any more carefully than that. 

“C’mon, Kie,” he urges, “you said you’d talk about it.” She hates him for a second, because isn’t this JJ’s whole thing? ‘Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies,’ right? ‘Deny, deny, deny’? There are a million things he’s said, just over this summer, that she could pull out on him right now. But also, she’s not him, and she likes to talk things out, has to, or else whatever it is that’s bothering her consumes every waking thought. Maybe he knows that. Maybe he’s just being a really good friend at a really bad time.

So she tells him, because she’s avoiding Pope and John B’s fucking dead or lost at sea or whatever the fuck he is, and so is Sarah. And even though Kiara would never have considered going to her before -- everything -- maybe she would now, if she had the chance. “My parents want to send me to boarding school,” she says, dropping it whole on his chest and hoping he can breathe under it. 

“Oh,” he sighs, like this admission has shoved the word out of him. “Holy shit.” 

“Yeah.” He doesn’t say anything else, so she keeps going. “So I freaked out, and I left.” She keeps flexing her hands on his chest, keeping her eyes there even as they threaten to fill with tears. “And my mom --” she chokes, and he pulls her close, putting his lips on her forehead. “My mom said that if I didn’t --” she swallows, trying to keep it together, “that if I didn’t come home on time, not to --” she takes a controlled breath, willing the tears away. “Not to bother coming home at all.” It sounds silly, saying it to him, when she knows, now, what he’s been through. What his dad does to him and why he’s here, instead of his own house. It sounds petty and inconsequential and she’s never felt more like an ignorant kook in her life, so she sniffs, and takes her hands off him. 

JJ chews on the information she’s given him, tracing his fingers down her arm, over the curve of her elbow and back up to her shoulder. “You’re still gonna go home, right?” He asks, uncertainty and maybe longing in his voice. She realizes, then, that of course she is. Her parents love her, even if they don’t know how to show it, don't understand what the Cut and its inhabitants (and one in particular) mean to her. Of course, she’s going to go home. Because JJ doesn’t get to. Because she still can. 

If she’d had this conversation with anyone else, there would be stomping and cursing and yelling, indignant demands as to why her parents can’t understand her, why they can’t see how they suffocate her, and hold her down. But this is JJ, who doesn’t get to have problems like this, who doesn’t get to have parents that love him or watch him too closely. At least if Luke Maybank threatened to send JJ to boarding school, it would mean that he cared about JJ’s future. It would mean that he’d looked at his son, spoken to him, seen the anger and hurt and desperation to be seen. It would mean, at least, that he was paying attention. 

“Yeah,” she says. She’s still scared, of being powerless to control what they want her to do with her life, of being seventeen and helpless. But she’s not going to say that out loud, not when JJ knows what that feels like on a level she can’t even comprehend. He feels like he should say more, and part of her wants him to, but JJ’s always been shit at comforting. This, his presence, is enough. His light touches, his lips pressed to her hairline -- it’s all he has to do. When she starts to nod off, she asks him to hand her her phone, and stumbles out to the porch to dig in her bag for it. She curls on her side, sends a text to her mom about being sorry and that she’ll be home in a few hours, and then sets an alarm for thirty minutes before curfew. 

She’ll go home, but she’s going to spend as much time with him as she can. She still doesn’t think he should be alone, and she doesn’t want to be either. He fits himself in behind her, his chest pressed to her back, one arm under her neck, the other tight around her waist. They don’t talk. She doesn’t want to and he doesn’t know what he’d say. She’s exhausted and warm and JJ’s arms around her feel a little bit like armor, like when he’s holding her, the rest of the world can’t get in. Just before she falls asleep, he squeezes her tight, tucking his face into her neck. 

“You aren’t going to boarding school,” he whispers. “I promise.” She feels his lips press against her skin. She wants to turn in his arms, kiss him slow and sweet and kind, the way he deserves to be loved. But sleep tugs at her, unrelenting. Just before she slips under the waves, she hears him whisper one more thing.

“I won’t let them take you away from me.” 

[ijustwant2write]

Sweet Boy-Bonnie Gold x Reader x Finn Shelby (Part 3/?)

(GIF credit to @tommyshhelby)

Part 1/ Part 2 

Masterlist

Taglist: @stressedandbandobessed7771 @bethany-taylo @lovelynerdytraveler @savvy7392 @kingarthurscat @smallheathgangsters @soleil-dor @alyse45 @bloodorangemoonlight @amirahiddleston @captivatedbycillianmurphy @jenepleurepasbaby @haphazardhufflepuff

Summary: The rest of the Shelby's have noticed the tension rising between the two boys, worried that its going to effect them at work. (Y/N) realises how serious the situation is, wanting to help, but somehow she makes it worse.

Characters: Bonnie Gold x Reader, Finn Shelby x Reader, Polly Gray x Reader (platonic), Thomas Shelby x Reader (platonic), Arthur Shelby x Reader (platonic)

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of violence, arguing

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

(Y/N)'s P.O.V

My heart was beating incredibly fast as I walked to work the next morning. I had felt so embarrassed after the boy’s argument in the pub. People knew who Finn was, and they may have known who Bonnie and I were as well. I had panicked that someone like Tommy would find out, and I knew we wouldn’t be in a huge amount of trouble, but it still weighed down on my mind. As I stepped onto the street where the shop was, I spotted Bonnie in the distance. It felt horrible, but I started to walk quicker, wanting to get into work before him so it didn’t look like we came together. He called my name, and I ignored it, not even glancing at him.

I kept my head ducked down as I sat at my desk, instantly looking through any papers that had been put on my desk. Stupidly I took a risk to look up, seeing that Bonnie was already looking at me. Before I could even look away, he was already making his way over to me.

"Did you not hear me?" He asked, a small smile on his face.

"Hm?" I faked confusion.

“Oh, never mind.”

It hurt to see his smile drop, but he quickly recovered it.

“I’m sorry about yesterday again, (Y/N).” he said, removing his cap from his head, and smoothing out his hair.

I shook my head at him.“Don’t worry about it Bonnie, I just want to forget about it.”

The door opened again, this time Finn walked in. Excusing myself from Bonnie, I gathered up the paper, not actually sure what they were or what I was meant to do with them, and scurried away; until Polly blocked my path that is.

“You finished with those already?” she said, raising an eyebrow at me. 

“Uh, no...I was just about to...” I couldn’t think of a lie, especially with Polly looking down at me like that.

“Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Pol, I swear, I didn’t want things to turn out like this.”

“I know. But you also know how things may have turned out once you started seeing Bonnie.”

“I’m not seeing him, Polly. He’s just being a good friend.”

“I raised all of my nephews, boys get jealous very easily. And you’re a smart girl, don’t pretend you don’t see what’s going on here.”

“In my defence, Finn has started the arguments when I’ve been there. I just don’t understand why he won’t leave me alone, he’s the one who said he didn’t love me anymore.”

"Yes, no one can work out that unsolvable mystery." Polly sarcastically said.

"Come on Pol, I'm not about to start some drama around here."

"I'm afraid you already have."

As she walked away, my shoulders slumped, hating that she was right. I could easily stop all of this, let down Bonnie, tell him that we couldn't go out; but I knew he would be persistent and the bickering between the boys would continue anyway. And on the other hand, why should I bow down to Finn and let him control my love life? Not that I was in love with Bonnie anyway, but I was sure that Finn would act the same towards any man that tried anything with me.

Finn's P.O.V

I smirked as I watched (Y/N) dismiss Bonnie. I knew that look, she was trying to avoid something (rather someone), faking a smile and trying to get out of everything and anything quickly. Bonnie watched after her as (Y/N) practically ran away, and even from his posture, I could tell he was upset.

"Finn." Tommy called me from his office.

I whipped my head around, seeing him already walking away from the open door. I entered his office, closing the door behind me, shoving my hands in my pockets. Tommy sat down, lighting a cigarette. As usual he took his time before speaking.

"Got a job for you. Need you to get names out of someone." he explained.

"Alright. By myself?"

"No. You'll take Bonnie."

I scoffed as I rolled my eyes."No."

His eyebrows furrowed."What?"

"I'm not having Bonnie follow me around. Why can't I take Isaiah?"

Tommy leaned on his elbows on the desk."Am I missing something here?"

"Tom, I want to do the job. But I don't want Bonnie there with me."

"Why?"

I averted my gaze."Just don't."

"For fucks sake, Finn. Just tell me what's going on."

"Nothin' Tom-"

"Finn."

I sighed, not wanting to give in, even if he was burning a hole through my head with his eyes.

"What is it, eh? You lost a fight to him? You lost a card game to him? Look, whatever it is, get over it."

Someone knocked at the door, and I could have sworn when Bonnie's head poked in.

"You wanted to see me, Mr Shelby?"

Acting the golden boy, why wasn't I surprised?

"Bonnie, I'm sending you on a job with Finn."

Bonnie hesitated to answer, glancing between Tommy and I."Yes Mr Shelby."

Tommy threw his arms in the air, leaning back in his chair."Someone explain what's going on. Now."

Both of us stayed silent, looking around the room as we avoided eye contact with Tommy. He huffed again, waving his hand dissmissively at us.

"Right. If you don't want to talk about it, then get on with the fucking job."

Bonnie's P.O.V

It had taken all of my strength to keep my mouth shut as Tommy explained what he wanted us to do. I was basically Finn's backup, his bodyguard in case the guy we were after tried anything funny. Although it irked me to have to listen to Finn, I had to think about the position I was in; I was a Peaky Blinder, I worked for these guys, and they could easily take away any chances of me boxing.

Finn went to grab his coat and cap, leaving me alone on the shop floor. As I waited, I instinctively looked over to (Y/N)'s desk, but she wasn't there. My mind flashed back to that morning, wondering what was wrong with her. Something was off, her reaction didn't feel genuine.

"Bonnie," Polly broke me out of my thoughts,"you alright there lad?"

I nodded."Yes Miss Gray."

She looked me up and down, before getting closer."You'll still look after Finn, despite everything going on?"

"N-nothing is going on. And, of course I will, he's my mate."

Her eyes squinted at me, staying there for a few more seconds before walking away. I couldn't let this take over my work, or let other people know. I knew it sounded childish, the fact that Finn and I were fighting over a girl. But it wasn't just some girl, it was (Y/N).

"Bonnie, let's go." Finn commanded.

I rolled my eyes behind his back, catching up to him as he walked outside. This was going to be a long job.

(Y/N)'s P.O.V

Another tense hour went by, and my stomach was twisting with nerves. Once I had escaped Polly, it felt as if the shop had gotten smaller, that there were more people, and they were all looking at me. Things got round the workers quickly in here, we were literally close, so secrets sped through ears like lightening. Whenever someone walked past my desk or handed me papers, I would almost cower away, hardly saying a word. There was an ache in my shoulders as I finally relaxed, watching a majority of the workers leave for the day.

I stood from my desk, stretching out my back."These are done with Pol, I'm going to head home-"

"Where's Finn?" Arthur interrupted, bursting through the front door.

"He was doing a job for Tommy. They left about two hours ago." Polly explained.

"Fuck!" Arthur seethed, banging his hand against the wall.

"What's happened? What's happened to Finn?!"

"He's not come back yet, we were supposed to meet a half hour ago."

"Where was he sent to?"

"We've sent men to look for them, haven't got anything back yet." Tommy emerged from his office, coat in and Peaky cap in hand.

"Tommy, where have you sent that boy?" Polly snapped.

"What about Bonnie?" I piped up.

They all turned to face me, a look of guilt washing over then before the panic set in again.

"Arthur, we need to leave." Tommy commanded before walking out.

"What can we do?" Polly shouted after them.

"Stay put, in case they come back!"

The door slammed shut, and Polly sighed, one hand on her hip as the other ran down her face.

"Pol, do you want me to stay?" I calmly asked, not knowing if she was going to blow up.

"No love, I'll be fine here. Go home. They might turn up at yours."

"Why would they come to me?"

"It's a bit obvious to come back here, or to any of us. You're a good hideout."

I scoffed."Oh, so they could bring the trouble back to me then?"

Shit, wrong thing to say.

"I'm sorry Polly, but, I've been through this before and-"

"We all have!" she raised her voice."Just go home. Maybe you'll be some use to us there."

Quickly gathering my things, I darted out of the shop, not wanting to show her how upset I was. Not at her shouting at me, but at the comment I had made. It was stupid. Of course she knew how I felt, she had been living this life a lot longer than I had. And I was also thinking about the boys. Those petty arguments were suddenly buried deep under the constant worry about them. Where were they? Were they hurt? Were they even still together, or were they split up? And the worse thought of all...

What if the fighting between them (fueled by myself) had effected their choices on that job? Perhaps Finn didn't protect Bonnie, or vice versa, when things started to go south. This was exactly what I had been fearing, and once again, I was stuck waiting.

[justniaaa]

Unravel Me (4)

Gif by: @blackisblackisblack​

Rating 18+NSFW

Work Count: 3.4k

Pairing: Christopher “Rio” Martinez xblack!oc

Warning: Swearing, mentions of a gun

A/N: Hey my loves! I’ve missed you guys so much, so sorry for the late update. I’m not going to lie and say it wont happen again because it most likely will but I wasn’t expecting to be gone for so long. Anxiety/ Depression is a fucking bitch bro and like I said before even if my posting isn’t constant, I always want to make sure to give you guys content. Thanks for you for rocking with me and Enjoy chapter 4! Happy reading and please dont forget to like, comment and reblog <3

Summary: Toni forms an unsuspecting friendship with Christopher that turns into something more. As her feelings towards him continue to grow she starts to  unravel the secrets that surround him and in return, he unravels her completely.

Chapter 4: Let the games begin

After the eventful night between Toni and Chris, it was like the days went by rather quickly and before she knew it, Friday was here and Toni’s nerves were coming along for the ride. When she came home that night and told her girls about what transpired with her and the mysterious business mogul they gave out beaming smiles and all three of them jumped around, excited that Toni was going out on a date. And of course, don’t even get her started on Aaliyah, the woman was more than elated, and every chance she got she made sure to bother Toni about her new “boyfriend.”

Toni was walking in from work at Print Monthly and let out a yawn. Working two jobs, and writing a new article was slowly catching up with her, but with enough caffeine, she thinks she could make it through. She took off her heels and placed her keys on the entrance table trying to stifle yet another yawn, that was on its way out of her mouth. As she went further into the apartment she didn’t hear any movement from either of the girl’s rooms so she figured she was home alone. Toni went into her room not caring to turn on the light since she had a small night light in the corner and shut the door. She dropped her purse on the floor and took off her clothes, only leaving on her bra and panties. Toni sighed and shuffled to her bed, face planting into it as she wrapped her sherpa throw around her body. Since the AC was fixed the day before her place was nice and cool and all she wanted to do was take a small nap.

But before she could float away to unconsciousness her door was rushed open and the light flicked on, “Oh no bitch, get up!”

Toni groaned hearing Rocky’s voice and covered her face with the blanket, wishing for  a couple of minutes of sleep, “Antonia Kelis Thompson, up now!”

The blanket was ripped away from Toni, and she put her face into the pillow, “Just five minutes,” she groaned.  

“No, get up! Sage made you a smoothie to help with your energy before she left for the grocery store and you need to drink it so we can get you together for tonight.”

Toni turned her head and looked at Rocky, she was standing next to her bed with her eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip and the other was outstretched with said green smoothie in her grasp.

“It’s only six Rocky, we meet up at nine.”

True to his word, Chris hit her up and they set up a time and place to meet up, the place being an escape room to which Toni was particularly thrilled about. She had always wanted to go to one and she vaguely remembered mentioning it to him on one of their morning talks at the cafe. After they arranged their night out they continued texting each other throughout the day and it felt good to have that feeling of giddiness whenever she heard her phone ding and it possibly being him.

Toni huffed and sat up, sitting cross-legged on her bed and took the drink from Rocky’s hand. Taking a few sips she scrunched up her face from the taste but soldiered on when she saw the look Racquel gave her. When she finally finished the last bits of the smoothie, she put the glass on her nightstand and turned back to her friend.  

“All finished, what’s next on the list warden?”

Racquel rolled her eyes, “So damn dramatic, go take a shower and I’ll dive into that mess  you call a closet to find you something to wear.”

Toni stretched her limbs as she stood up from the bed while Rocky shooed her to the bathroom grabbing her towel from the back of the door in the process.

“And don’t forget to shave bitch!” Rocky yelled out.

“I shaved my legs yesterday, why the hell am I going to do them again?” Toni said poking her head out from the doorway, her confusion was evident.

“I’m not talking about your legs, girl,” Raquel said, winking. Toni didn’t plan on sleeping with Chris tonight but with how crazy the attraction was between them anything was possible. So with understanding and gratitude, Toni simply nodded and backed into the bathroom, closing the door and getting to work.

After the long half-hour of exfoliation, shaving, and showering, Toni came out of the bathroom feeling fresh and squeaky clean and walked into the sight of her bed strewn with clothes. She took in the sight of her best friends arguing with a piece of clothing in their hands about which outfit would work best. She chose to ignore them knowing that whatever they picked would be applicable and tightened the towel on her form, going to her vanity to do her makeup and hair. The girls interrupted her a few times showing her what they chose and Sage helped Toni curl her hair in the back. Music and bouts of laughter were heard throughout the home and the minutes ticked by getting closer to when Toni was deemed to leave. She was just putting on her light blue jeans when her phone went off, interrupting the song that was playing on her Bluetooth. Rocky and Sage continued talking about whether she should wear heels or sneakers, and Toni finished buttoning her pants walking over to her device. The name Chris was on her screen, and before the voicemail picked up she answered.

“Hello,” she said.

“There she is, thought you weren’t gonna answer,” Chris’s smooth voice came through the phone, making Toni’s stomach flutter with butterflies. She could vaguely hear noises of machinery in the background but she didn’t think anything of it because as quickly as the noise came it was gone, like he went into a separate room.

“I mean I didn’t have to pick up, especially since you're interrupting me getting ready for my date,” Toni sat down on the bench at the end of her bed.

“Oh, word? Who’s the lucky man?”

Toni looked down at her nails, “Some guy I met a couple of weeks ago, he ain’t all that but I decided to have mercy and give him a chance.”

Chris laughed into the receiver, “I bet he’s hype as fuck to take your pretty ass out.”

Toni shrugged like he could see her, “I mean, I am kind of great.”  

“That you are Antonia, that you are.”

Toni covered her mouth with her fingers, trying to control the megawatt smile that was threatening to break out. They knew each other barely a month and already the way Chris made Toni feel was slightly alarming. “Is everything okay though, because if you need to change the time or something that’s fine.”

“Nah we good, just wanted to check up on you. And make sure I wasn’t gonna do an escape room by myself.”

“No worries, I’ll be there,” Toni said grinning.

“Aiight, so I’ll see you soon yeah?”

“Yes, sir nine o’clock.”

Chris chuckled, “Aight mama, later.”

Toni hung up and put her phone back on the charger, “I’m guessing from all the flirting we just heard, that was him,” Sage asked.

She shook her head, “Yeah, he was calling to make sure we were still on tonight.” Toni went and looked at the shoe options they picked out, thankful that her friends lended out a helping hand.  

“We think the all-white Nike’s would look great with your outfit. Plus it will give your feet a break from the heels and you can run around as you play the game with your boyfriend,” Rocky smirked when Toni gave her a dirty look at her use of the “B” word.

“I agree,” she told them. After bending down to put her sneakers on, Toni stood up and examined her outfit in the mirror, liking how it looked. The white bodysuit accentuated her curves and the light blue jeans and sneakers really brought everything together, making her feel comfortable but be cute at the same time. Toni sprayed her perfume and got her crossbody bag and phone, listening to her friends give her a pep talk as she walked to the front door.

“We put some wipes in your bag and some mints as well just in case your breath gets hot,” Sage said, following behind Toni.

“Oh yes and some pepper spray if he decides to get handsy,” Raquel continued, bringing up the rear, “You never know he can turn into an asshole when the clock strikes twelve.”

Sage gave Rocky a glare and nudged her, “I doubt it will come to that, Racquel but it is always good to be safe.”

“Yes, it is,” Rocky grumbled, rubbing her sore side. Sage may be small but her elbow had some power behind it.

Toni turned to them when they reached the door, “Thanks guys for all the help.”

“We got your back girl, you know that.”

“And have fun tonight please, you deserve it and it will do you good to get some dick. It might help you stop being so damn uptight.”

“Sage!” Toni gasped, hitting the girl’s arm while Rocky stood next to her nodding in agreeance.

“I can’t stand you guys.” Toni picked up the keys she left on the small table by the door and opened her arms, “Alright give me some loving.”

They all came in for a group hug, just like they always did back in college, “Love you hoes,” Toni murmured.

“We love you too,” Sage and Rocky said together.

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

Pulling into the parking lot Toni texted Chris letting him know she had arrived and while she waited on his reply she stared down at her phone and went through her social media. Suddenly a knock on her window made her jolt in the seat and look up with a hand to her chest. She let out a breath when she saw it was Chris at her window, his eyebrow raised and his mouth curved into a smirk.

“Geez Chris, you scared the shit out of me,” Toni exclaimed through the closed window.

She reached next to her, to get her purse and took her keys out of the ignition, placing them and her phone into her bag. She unlocked the door and he opened it for her, a smile still residing on his lips, “My bad ma, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Toni side-eyed him as she got out, “Liar, you know damn well it’s too dark for your ass to be playing games.”

“Oh shit, don’t tell me big bad Antonia is scared of the dark.” Chris closed her car door behind her and Toni hit her key fob locking the vehicle. They began walking through the sparsely lit up parking lot, heading towards the building that had MadeYa Look Escape Room in bright lights at the front.

“Listen, frightening things live in the night, so don’t shame me.”

Chris chuckled as they walked side by side, his hands behind his back, “Nah, no shaming here baby. I used to be the same way, years ago.”

Toni felt a jolt at this new nickname, she hadn’t been called baby from the opposite sex in years and it made her feel warm inside to be hearing it from him. Toni decided to play it cool and not show how much the term of endearment affected her, but she secretly promised herself she would gush about it later in the privacy of her home.

“What made you stop being scared?” Toni asked as they finally reached the entrance.

She went to open the door but his ring covered hand was suddenly on top of hers, making her palm sweat on the cool metal of the handle, “When I became the scary thing to the monsters.”

Toni noticed the sudden shift between them as she gazed into his dark brown orbs. You would think after a statement like that she would be afraid but she felt perfectly fine, safe even. She didn’t know what to think about that, so she intended to not think about it at all.

“I forgot to tell you earlier but you look beautiful,” Chris said, his eyes not leaving hers, he was close enough that he could hear her breath stutter but didn’t comment. Toni bit her lip and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear.

“You got your nose pierced,” she said, surprised. Toni saw the faint glint of the piercing from the glare of the lights and even though she never dated a guy with one it was different and it fit him perfectly.

Chris took note of the change of subject but he nodded anyway and ran his tongue across his bottom lip, making it shine, “You like it?”  

“It’s cute,” She said with faux disinterest. Just like last time, with the close proximity they were in Toni could smell his cologne that was dark and subtle. They would kiss if she stood on her tiptoes.

“You ready for me to whoop your ass in this game?” Chris teased, and just like that the spell was broken and the light-hearted flirting came back into play.

Toni scoffed, grateful for the break from the tension “Please, the question is are you ready?”

With her hands still encompassed in his, they both opened the door and went to the front desk to pay and get instructions. The brunette clerk who they later learned was named Debbie was none the wiser to the something that transpired moments before, as she explained rules and questioned which room they wanted to play. While the middle-aged woman was talking, he had his hand rested on the small of Toni’s back and tried as she might she couldn’t focus on anything else but the heat of his palm. Luckily, another couple came in after them and they were able to play against the pair in the zombie apocalypse escape room. Before the game started Toni and Chris set up a bet for whoever solved the most clues even though they were on the same team. Toni ran her hand through her loose curls to put her hair up in a ponytail waiting for the countdown and noticed Chris’s outfit, “You don’t think you’ll get hot running around in your jacket?”

As per usual Chris was clad in all black but he had on a jean jacket over a black shirt this time rather than a regular button-up.  

“I’m straight,” Chris said nonchalantly. Before she could interrogate him further, Debbie’s voice came onto the intercom letting them know she was starting the countdown. Quickly, ten seconds turned to one, and the game began.

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

The couple walked out of the room breathless and delighted with how well the game turned out. They beat the newlyweds by a landslide with one minute to spare, and unfortunately to Chris’s exasperation, Toni solved most of the clues and now she had full reign over tonight.

“Congrats guys!” The clerk complimented as she handed them two free t-shirts for winning and even offered to snap a picture of them to put on their winner board. Chris declined grumbling about how he hated taking pictures but of course, when Toni gave him puppy dog eyes and reminded him she was the captain of tonight he grudgingly relented. Only on the grounds of them taking the photo on their personal phones and that Toni promised not to rag on him the rest of the date.  

Toni gave the woman her phone already opened to the camera app and they both took their place in front of the winner’s board. She didn’t know where to position herself, not wanting to be too much in Chris’s personal space if he wasn’t comfortable with it, but he made the decision for her when he put his arm on her shoulders and brought her in close, making Toni’s palms sweat. She quickly decided to wrap her arms around his waist praying he couldn’t feel her heart practically beat out her chest when she leaned against his side. They both looked at the camera with big smiles earning an “Awww you two are adorable!” from Debbie.

As Toni went to pull away, she brushed against something solid and what felt oddly like steel under his jacket. Stepping back Toni pondered over the fact that the object that she touched was most likely a gun and that was probably the reason why he didn’t want to take off his jacket before the game.

“Here you go hun,” Debbie said, passing Toni her phone.  

Toni graciously thanked her while she took the device and tried to school her features. She knew people had guns, even her father had some locked away at his house but something about him hiding it made her stomach roll.

They went out into the cool night and Toni walked next to Chris quietly still thinking, “So where to boss, since you running shit now.”  

A beat passed and she could see Chris in her peripheral take a look at her, wondering why she wasn’t responding.

“You good mama?” He inquired.

 She was acting like such a dumb ass, it wasn’t like he was her boyfriend he didn’t have to necessarily tell her why he had a gun and she was fine when he told her the monsters were afraid of him. So why did the gun affect her so much?

Toni looked over at him seeing his brows knitted in worry and decided to push the issue aside for a second. “Yep, but the real question is are you good after that ass whooping I gave you? Mr. I’m gonna win just watch.”

Chris groaned, “I thought you promised you wasn’t gonna flame me.”

“Obviously I lied, I just wanted you to stop whining and take the damn picture.”

“Nah, I just think you wanted a pic so you could look at it and fantasize about me all the time.”

Toni snickered and pushed him, “Please, don’t flatter yourself.”  

They were still talking when they finally reached her car. Toni leaned against her door, she could see his Range a couple of spaces from hers. “So what now Antonia?”

He asked while he stood in front of her, his hands in his pockets.

“Not sick of me yet?” Toni wondered, tilting her head.

“Never that darlin’.’”

Toni cleared her throat feeling her cheeks burn, damn him, he knew exactly what the hell he was doing. Not wanting to put it off any longer she made the choice to just ask him about the gun, not wanting to proceed with the night without being in the know.  “Can I...ugh this is probably so stupid but can I ask you a question first before we leave here?”

He straightened when he heard the way she stuttered like she was worried about questioning him, “Go ahead.”

Toni crossed her arms, “You can tell me it's none of my business and honestly it’s not that big of a deal but is there a reason why you didn’t want to tell me you were carrying a gun? I felt it while we were taking the picture.”

She was expecting him to get upset about her interrogation  but his posture went lax, seeming happy that that was what she wanted to ask.

“I didn’t say anything ‘cause I wasn’t sure if it was gonna freak you out. I use it for protection only and I should have told you instead of assuming.”  

Toni sighed and rubbed her forehead, “No, I apologize it just took me by surprise is all. I knew someone that carried and it always seemed like he used it more to showcase how much of a dick he was rather than use it as a safety precaution.”

“Hey,” Chris raised Toni’s chin, making her focus on him. “Don’t ever be scared to ask me somethin’.  Even if I don’t like the question, imma always try and give you as much of the truth that I can, aight?”

“Okay,” Toni said.

“Okay,” Chris dropped his hand and grabbed Toni’s holding it in his grasp, still looking at her, “So we gonna chill in this parking lot all night or we gonna go to the next spot?”

Toni lightly squeezed his hand with a mischievous glint in her eye, “I know the perfect place.”

“Aiight then,” Chris walked to the passenger side of her car waiting, “Let’s go.”

“You’re not gonna drive your car?” Toni wrinkled her nose, puzzled whilst unlocking the car.

Chris opened the door and simply said, “Nope I trust you,” before getting into the vehicle leaving Toni speechless.

Toni let out a harsh breath and whispered “This man is too fine,” getting into the car as well. It seemed like their night had only begun.

Tag list: @aria725 @kikilovesdankmemes​ @briannab1234​

[kshep106]

Working Title: Bonds of Blood

How far are you willing to go for family?

There’s a metallic taste in my mouth as something drips from my head. A ringing screams in my ears as I crawl to my knees before stumbling upright. I face my opponent, fists clenched and chest heaving. A punch flies to my face. A feint. Another to my stomach. I block it with my knee and grab the other, twisting my momentum and rip the boy off his feet. Drenched in mud, he rises. We circle around. He’s left an opening and I tackle him into the mud. Knees pressed into his chest, a hand around his throat and a fist pointing between the eyes, he surrenders. I win. My vision is darkens and the world tips on its side.

               ‘They’re raising it by two hundred,’ Mum says.

               ‘What the hell are we supposed to do then,’ Skylar shouts.

               ‘Well, we’ll be out on our ear then,’ Mum shouts back. I stand there watching, sipping a juice.

               ‘So, we’re fucked then, aren’t we?’

               ‘Maybe, if we sell some things…,’

               ‘Enough with the selling stuff crap. It’s not going to do anything,’ I knew they were just going to go back and forth eternally unless I mediated.

               ‘We need jobs,’ I said. Skylar scoffed.

               ‘How exactly do we pull that out of our arse?’ she said, grabbing a juice, ‘I can’t fucking stand up for long periods of time. How hard is it for you to understand Lela?’

               ‘And I can’t exactly do much with this,’ Mum said, holding up her stuck stiff hand, ‘not to mention that everything has taken a hit with this pandemic. The benefits just aren’t enough to afford things, but I don’t have the experience required for childcare.

               ‘Then I’ll join the army. I have good health, fitness, my records from school and it pays over sixty grand a year while I’m training. Seventy after,’ I say. Mum looks unconvinced.

               ‘Do you have a better idea?’ She didn’t have an answer for that.

               ‘Do you even know what you’re signing up for?’ Skylar asks.

               ‘Employment.’

 The sun casts streaks through the blinds and my eyes snap open. I fling my feet to the floor and rise. The nurse rushes over. She grips my shoulder while making a noise of disapproval.

               ‘Recruit Warrick, I must ask you to remain on the bed,’ She says. I protest.

               ‘Nurse Errapel, it’s beyond late in the morning. I have to get to training.’

               ‘You’ve been unconscious for twelve hours. You’re staying here for monitoring.’ Her tone leaves no room for argument. She eases me back onto laying on the bed. A door opens and in comes my favourite platoon sergeant. He scans the room, spotting me and walking over. He looks me over. I straighten up in bed and salute. He waves it away.

               ‘Warrick, what the hell have you done to yourself?’ he asks.

               ‘It’s nothing. I’m fine.’ I say. He shakes his head and turns to Errapel. Sensing his question, she starts to explain.

               ‘We’re just going to be monitoring her for a day to see if its anything serious, Conall.’ He nods in acknowledgment then turns back to me.

               ‘If you’re fine tomorrow then I will see you at training. Early of course.’ He smirks afterwards.

               ‘Yes sergeant.’ I salute. He leaves.

               ‘Get some rest recruit,’ the nurse says, reminding me of her existence.

               I flop backwards, groaning. The day had just begun, and I was already bored. The footsteps of nurses and patients sound around me with a constant quiet chatter. I ignore it, choosing to stare out the window and watch the hours pass by. As a blessing night comes, and I fall asleep ready for tomorrow.

 I awake to the dark and catch the nurse’s attention. She looks me over before giving me approval to thankfully join today’s training. I race to my room and the barracks, dress and make my bed. I think I set a record in that moment. I stand for daily inspection with the rest of my room mates. Gaining approval, we set out for the breakfast hall. They’re serving bacon and eggs. I sit at the bench seats, listening to mindless chatter before it finishes and it’s training time. We make our way to the field and there stands Sergeant Conall. We all salute and so does he.

               ‘Morning recruits today is the time for an obstacle course,’ he says, dropping the salute. Around me there was a lack of enthusiasm, though I was ready after the boredom of yesterday.

               ‘First though, we’re going for a warmup run. Two kilometres. Starting…now,’ he clicked a stopwatch and we all set off. The running track is mostly flat field but there are a few holes to trip in. I finished in six minutes and thirty-four seconds. Which is nothing compared to the two fastest in the platoon, both with five minutes, which is insane. As everyone was catching their breath Conall came over.

               ‘Right. Now onto the course. It’s a treat.’ He smiled after saying this. Slave driver.

               We all stared as he explained what went into it and the safety.

               ‘Right, we’ve got a mud pit covered with wire to crawl through—’

               ‘Oi, what’s all this we business. Unless we get to see you covered in mud Sergeant.’ A voice calls from behind. It’s Fox. The cheeky bugger. Conall calls him on it.

               ‘Sorry recruit, however, you get to experience the wonder twice.’ We all laugh although Fox takes it well. Nothing phases that guy.

               ‘Anyway, you,’ he says, emphasising the ‘you,’ ‘also have a rope swing, the wall, ladders and at the end a flying fox to victory. This will be timed but don’t worry it’s a starting point, you’ll have this again later.’

I hear the quiet mutter of ‘wasn’t worried’ behind me from Fox. I hid a laugh. We got started.

I fling myself into the mud and start crawling. Just about climbing up my backside are five of my platoon mates but we all look like weird golems who just came from mud town. I had mud down my shirt which may be the next worst thing to wet socks. Finally dragging myself from the hellish bog, I run for the rope swing and sail across. A splosh sounds behind me, but I’m too focussed on victory. Next up is the wall. I’m just behind the girl whose bed is next to mine. We both jump for the wall and as I pull myself up a boot collides with my cheek. Gravity makes its appearance as I pitch backward into the dirt. At least it’s not mud. My lungs seem to decide that now is the time to take a vacation. They’re currently being strangled in a vice as I gasp for breath like a drowning person. I can’t breathe. My arms aren’t responding to my commands. Move, dammit. My head is throbbing. I hear voices but they sound far away.

               ‘Sergeant, come quick,’ a voice screams. This time it’s a lot closer. Thuddering footsteps sound. Ah, they’re beside me.

               ‘Recruit, why is Warrick on the ground?’ Conall asks.

               ‘I kicked her off the wall accidently, sir. She hasn’t gotten up.’ It was that girl. She sounded upset. The Sergeant crouched beside me.

               ‘Anything feel broken, kid?’ He eyed me in concern.

               I wheezed out a no.

               ‘Can you stand?’ I nodded and the two of them help me to stand. Unsteady and with a forming bruise. Air was still limited in my lungs.  I knew Conall was going to send me back to the nurses.

               ‘Welp, back to observation for you.’ He sounded amused. Bastard. I just looked at him miserable. He turned to the girl fretting beside me. ‘Can you take her Morrigan?’ She nods. Conall then leaves to watch the rest of the obstacle course. Morrigan turns to me.

               ‘I’m sorry for kicking you.’ She looks contrite. I smile at her.

               ‘It was just an accident. No worries.’ She forms a small smile at this. I grin at it.

               ‘I’m Lela,’ I say, holding out my hand.

               ‘Winifred,’ she replies, taking it. She then wraps her arm around my shoulders.

Winifred supports me under the arms as I slump against her, enter the main building and we hobble along to the Nurse’s station. She strikes up a conversation.

‘So, what brings you to the Armed Forces, Lela?’ She asks, seeming to test out my name.

‘Existing,’ I say. She looks at me with a raised brow.

‘Well with the world gone to shit—’

               ‘Implying the world wasn’t already in a terrible state.’ She frowns at my expletive.

               ‘You’re right. Gone to even more shit, I needed a way to put food on the table,’ I look at a wall frowning, ‘I think this is the fastest it’s globally been fucked.’

               ‘A record truly.’ We both laugh. It’s not funny but its needed. We arrive at the Nurse’s station where Errapel greet us, arms crossed and frowning. I grin.

               ‘Hi, Errapel. Good to see you,’ I say, waving. The poor nurse sighs.

 After getting me set up Errapel leaves, citing other patients to attend. I notice Winnifred still with me, hovering by the foot of my bed, unsure. I turn my head to her and wave her to a chair at my bedside.

‘Hey, thanks for helping me,’ I say. She blinks, inclining her head.

‘It was my responsibility as a result of injuring you.’ I laugh.

‘I’m still grateful,’ I say, smiling before a thought enters my head, ‘did you have to get back?’ She frowns.

‘Do you wish for me to leave?’

‘No, I want to keep talking to you, but I also know that Conall will rain hell for missing training.’ She looks surprised before melting into a mask of disapproval at my language again.

‘I want to stay,’ Winnifred says, quiet as a back road at midnight, looking at the wall. ‘Besides, she says, turning to look at me, ‘I believe the Sergeant would be far harsher about just leaving you like this.’ She gestures to my bruised and battered body. I scoff.

‘Please, I’m fine.’

‘Indeed.’ She stares at me amused. I poke my tongue out like a mature person. She giggles. It sounds like bells. Why the hell do I think that? I put it out of my mind and decide to return the favour from earlier.

‘So, what’re you in for?’ I ask. Her giggling cuts off and she goes back to a neutral expression.

‘It was expected of me.’ I look at her and tilt my head. Catching my confusion, she continues.

‘The Morrigan family have a proud history of service and as such I was required to join when I came of age.’ She says it like giving a report in front of class. I nodded in acknowledgement.

               ‘So, you joined for your family, huh, looks like we have something in common,’ I say, nudging her with my elbow and smiling at her.

               ‘It would appear so, however, I believe they differ. Selflessness and expectation.’

               ‘Aww, Winnie.’ I have no idea where that comes from. She glares at me.

               ‘Do not call me that.’ Okay, whatever, I’m rolling with this. Besides I have to after she says this.

               ‘But it’s cute just like you.’ She goes bright red, unable to meet my eyes and tries to hide by looking at the wall. I grab her pale hand. She jumps and whips her head back to me.

               ‘No, don’t hide,’ I say, between giggles. She proceeds to rise from the chair as if to leave.

               ‘If you’re just going to tease me, I’ll take my leave.’ She hovers out of the chair, blinks and glances down, realising I’m still holding her hand. She goes even redder, somehow. I shake my head, rubbing my thumb across the back of her hand.

‘Stay, please,’ I look her in the eyes. I’ve never seen anything that blue.

She stays.