#Out here walking around that fine someone should arrest you

[amourtoken]

Lock him up. Put him away now. NOW.

[thyme-in-a-bubble]

the dead ringer

buttercup, chapter three

a/n: yeah, this did happen to me in real life, although it happened on a bus so i couldn't immediately get away... ANYWAYS! enjoy this hurt/comfort heavy chapter!

summary: “I think I know something that might help a bit.”

warnings: matt murdock x baker!reader, neighbours to lovers, rape recovery, ptsd, crying, panic attacks, matt using his superpowers for the sake of hurt/comfort, boxing

word count: 2057

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Drizzling the flour into the wide bowl, like a dusty snowfall, you watched the number on the scale carefully as you neared the desired number. Though just before you hit it, Walter’s head suddenly poked in through the doorway leading behind the counter and interrupted you and Howard’s all-too-important discussion on what the day’s music choice should be. 

“Hey, Y/n? There’s someone here to see you.”

Laying down the scoop still holding a bit of flour, you dragged your palms down the brown apron tied around your frame and exited the kitchen. A bright smile spread across your face and crinkled up your gaze as you spotted who was standing on the other side of the counter. 

“Matt, hey–, oh my god,” you then suddenly noticed the bruising that blossomed out from under his tinted glasses and stretched up over the patched-up scrape that split his left brow, “what happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just wasn’t paying attention last night, tripped and fell, that’s all,” he waved a hand, “I just wanted to stop by on my way to work, get a round of coffees to-go for everyone and perhaps some breakfast for myself, just whatever you think I’d like.”

“You’ll let me pick?” your eyebrows rose slightly. 

But Matt simply smiled and said, “I trust your judgment,” his grip shifted gently on the cane standing tall before his chest. 

As you moved to make the coffees, “alright,” you drew out a pondering breath, “are you in the mood for something sweet or savoury?”

Thinking about it a second, he uttered, “savoury.”

“Do you like sandwiches?” you popped the lids on the to-go cups. When he nodded, you placed the coffees in a little cardboard tray, “okay, I think you’ll like this one,” grabbed a brown paper bag and moved further down the counter, “it’s made with focaccia and has pesto in it as well as some tomatoes and cheese and stuff.” 

“That sounds amazing.”

“I also–, you know what? I’ll be right back,” you then abruptly turned and momentarily disappeared into the kitchen, grabbing a few of the pillowy buns still on the cooling rack into a bag. As you returned, you also snuck a hand into the display case and stuffed a few other goodies into the sack, “just for the others, if they want,” you placed the bundle onto the counter beside the coffees, “I just pulled them out of the oven a bit ago and they’re still warm.”

“What is it?” Matt tilted his chin. 

“Uh, some raisin buns, but I also threw two croissants in there in case they didn’t like raisins...” 

A soft smile warmed his bruised features as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, “what do I owe you?”

“Oh no,” your hands waved lightly before you, “it’s on the house.”

“Y/n, come on,” he cocked his head. 

“Fine,” you light-heartedly sighed, “if you really wanna sing for your supper, then I’ll cash it in at a later date. I don’t know, maybe if I get arrested someday or something you could help me out.”

“You don’t have to bribe me with free baked goods for that.”

“No, but it sure doesn’t hurt, does it?” you chuckled. 

“No,” he joined in as he reached for the bags, “I guess it doesn’t.”

“You want some help carrying it?” you asked, hope seeping through your tone, “I could take my break and walk with you the rest of the way.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, we just got through the morning rush, they’ll be fine without me for–, I don’t know, 15 minutes or however long it’ll take to walk to your office and back.”

“Alright, thanks,” he smiled, one paper bag hooked in the fingers that also clutched the cane.  

“I’m just gonna go grab my jacket, one second,” you said before ducking into the back to do so, letting your uncles know as you slipped out of your comfortable work clogs and into your sneakers. 

You ended up dividing the load, with you carrying the coffees and the last bag in one arm, though a few protests left you at first, begging him to let you carry all of it, they melted away as his free hand enveloped yours. 

When you reached his office, your arms wrapped around his frame as you hugged him long enough for your heartbeats to sync up, and just as you pulled away, his wide palms still warm on your back, you leaned in and planted a brief peck on his scruffy cheek. 

One of his hands swept up to meet the side of your face as your lips retracted. You pulled back so slowly that you weren’t sure you were moving at all, being drawn in by his warmth like a moth to a flame. 

His nose gently grazed against yours as he let himself linger, but just as your eyes fluttered shut in expectance that he’d kiss you, his warmth withdrew and he slowly breathed, “have a good day.” 

In a matter of seconds, you had gone from giggling, glancing down at some silly joke on your phone as you walked home, to panic instantly kicking in as a passerby’s voice pierced your soul and made your blood run cold.

Glancing around, you saw a stranger standing off to the side and yapping into his phone. It wasn’t him, it wasn’t Michael, but it sounded exactly like him, so much so that the tone sent your body right back to that very night as if no time had passed at all.

Willing your body to move, forcing it to conquer the short rest of the way home, once your front door shut behind you and your quiet apartment consumed you, painful sobs began to burst out of your trembling frame. Hyperventilating, you crashed into the nearby wall of the entryway directly across from the door, incapable of getting deeper into your home. 

Soon, a quiet and surprising knock found your door. 

“Y/n?” the worried tone of your neighbour sounded from the other side. 

Your shaky voice came out no louder than a whisper, “M-Matt?” 

There might not have been any other instances you could recall where accidentally forgetting to lock your door turned out for the better, because when Matt then tried the handle, it gently complied. 

Shutting it behind him, he rushed to you, “hey, hey,” he uttered softly, a hand soothingly finding your arm, “what’s going on?”

Attempting an answer, “I–, I–,” only incoherent sobs managed to seep from you. 

“Okay, alright,” he sucked in a controlled breath, one of his hands sliding up to the strap of your backpack, “how about we start by getting all the way inside, huh?” gently gliding it off you and resting the bag on the floor. 

You let yourself lean into him fully as he supported you on the short journey towards the couch. Wobbly taking a seat, his touch left you as he settled beside you.

Spine curving, you buried your puffy face in your trembling hands, letting the whole world drift away as small lakes were birthed within your palms from your pain. 

When the sobs eventually began to subsite, growing further and farther apart, your frame slowly unfurled. Instinctively flicking your hands before your form, you tried to physically shake even a fraction of the excruciating sensation off of you, but without success. 

Matt hadn’t moved an inch, simply stayed there right beside you. 

When your quiet voice eventually filled space, it came out broken and overflowing with emotion, “I thought it was him… it wasn’t, b-but it sounded exactly like him… I’ve done double takes every time I saw a stranger with the same haircut or felt nauseous every time I encountered the same name, but this really did sound like him. Same voice, same accent, same everything… but it wasn’t him… it wasn’t… it just sent me right back, you know?”

Hesitantly, you grasped his hand in yours, expecting the contact to only make it worse, to somehow taint and ruin his wonderful and soothing touch, but it didn’t, he didn’t. It was Matt. 

Trying to regain control of your breathing, you shakily sucked in deep breaths, feeling your gulps of air slowly become calmer and migrate from the very top of your chest, down to expand your sore stomach. Eyes only half open and utterly exhausted, you noticed that your head was now leaning against Matt’s shoulder. 

Glancing hazily down at yourself, you muttered, “fuck… I still have my shoes and jacket on…”

Reaching down, he offered, “here,” before sliding your coat off, resting it on the back of the couch, and leaning down to pull your shoes off. 

Curling your legs up onto the couch, the shift in your position offered you more relief than you’d expected. As you attempted to get as comfortable as you possibly could in the state you were in, you snatched up Matt’s hand once more. 

Offering your palm a soothing squeeze, he asked quietly, “what do you need, huh? What can I do?”

“I–…” you thought, your brain just as drained as your body was, “I don’t know… maybe–… maybe just be here a bit?”

Exhaling lowly, he flashed you a faint smile, “of course.”

Glancing down at his fingers, sweeping across your own, you said, “hey, Matt? Could you maybe–, uh… could you give me a hug?”

Not hesitating, his strong arms engulfed your quivering frame and a fresh wave of sobs swiftly bubbled out of you as he held you tight, though your cries didn’t push him away, he stayed steadfast, embracing you close till the eruption ultimately simmered down, leaving you nearly asleep against his tear-stained shoulder. 

As he gently lowered you down to lay on the couch, you tightened your grip on his shirt as he began to pull back, ushering him to sink down as well, allowing you to curl into his safe embrace and let slumber drift you away. 

When you finally stirred, the sun was nowhere to be seen. 

“Hey,” you blinked up at Matt still in the exact same spot as before. 

“Hey,” you replied groggily, “what time is it?” swiftly fishing your phone out of your pant pocket before Matt could conjure an answer, “oh, fuck… it’s nearly midnight… did you sleep as well?”

“Not really,” he shrugged, “maybe for a little bit, but no.”

“Oh…” you breathed, averting your gaze. 

“How are you feeling?” his thumb swiped your waist where his broad palm was planted. 

“…I don’t know…” you exhaled, “…exhausted… sad… angry… really fucking angry… so angry that it kinda scares me…” 

After a beat of silence, with only your woeful breaths filling the space, Matt then uttered, “I think I know something that might help a bit.”

Your gaze drifted from the faded paint on the walls to the worn punching bags as you and Matt sat on the edge of the central ring and his fingers worked at wrapping up your hands. 

“Do you come here a lot?” you asked, your vision gliding back to him. 

“From time to time,” he tilted his head slightly, “reminds me of my dad,” tucking the last end of the strip under the weave, securing it into place, he closed your hand into a fist and exhaled, “alright, you’re ready,” he adjusted your grip, briefly offering your wrist a squeeze as he said, “just remember to keep your wrist strong and your thumb right here,” he slid your finger down below your knuckles. 

You hadn’t gone into it with much hope, in fact, it was only out of your desperation just feel better that you even humoured the experiment. In the beginning, it did feel as silly as you’d imagined, nearly stopped completely, but at some point in the mess of it all, your punches grew more ferocious, they grew more brutal, and suddenly something inside of you snapped and unravelled. It wasn’t some magic pill, but the physical act did loosen something within you and gave away to a fresh release of sobs, though not the painful and unbearable kind you’d had to endure earlier. It was the kind that felt like relief. Even if it wasn’t permanent, in that very moment, you didn’t feel like you were drowning anymore. 

© 2024 thyme-in-a-bubble 

[fairysongs]

౨ৎ pretty scary﹕spencer reid .ᐟ

summary: you're having an awful day and your boyfriend is kind of the best person ever.

pairing: spencer reid x fem!reader

includes: reader struggles with bpd, reader has slight mommy issues, reader is referred to with she/her pronouns, depictions of overstimulation (NOT the sexy kind), reader has slight mood swings, established relationship, silly fluff, spencer reid is the perfect boyfriend, hurt/comfort KINDA? (reader is upset, spencer soothes her), lowercase writing sorry it's a habit/my preference, Fiona Apple Mention <3

word count: 3.1k

a/n: omg.. hiiii! this is my first silly post on this silly blog and its a very self-indulgent one as someone who has bpd and is told OFTEN how irritable i can get -_- .. im so nervous.com right now bcos ive never posted my writing on here but also excited..? yes yes.. on a huge spencer reid kick so if u liked this and have any requests they are open!! likes/reblogs/any feedback much appreciated :3!

today was just not your day.

the morning started out fine. it was actually kind of perfect. you spent the night at your boyfriend’s place, waking up just in time to see him getting ready for work. there was a smile that crept over your lips as you watched him adjust the tie hanging around his neck. you propped yourself up against the pillows as he caught your eyes in the mirror adjacent to the bed. your heart swelled at the sight of a small blush spreading across his cheeks.

“why are you staring at me like that, weirdo?” there was a little morning gravel in his voice but his tone was lighthearted enough to make you giggle. you fell back against the pillows, tucking one under your arm as you kept your gaze on him.

“what? i’m not allowed to stare at my boyfriend anymore?” you replied, a yawn falling off your lips. he playfully rolled his eyes in response, walking over to your side of his bed. he sat at the edge, one of his hands brushing some of your hair from your face.

“actually, no. they just passed that law last night while you were sleeping through coraline again.” you bit your lip, vaguely remembering begging spencer to put that movie on only to fall asleep on his shoulder twenty minutes in. you can only assume at some point he carried you from the sofa to his bed. you blushed at the thought, as if he hadn’t done it at least twenty times by now. clearly you weren’t used to the ‘princess treatment’ he liked giving you.

“oh, my fault then. please don’t arrest me, mr. fbi agent.”

“it’s dr. fbi agent, actually.”

“right…” you giggled again, beaming as he smiled down at you. “do you know if you have a case?”

“paperwork day.” his fingers started tracing small shapes against the skin of your arm. “of course if that changes, i’ll let you know. but hopefully it won’t. you can come over again tonight if you want. maybe we’ll finally finish coraline.” his voice was soft, ringing harmonies in your ear as you let your eyes flutter shut in the comfort. “need me to take you to work today?”

you hummed, reaching out to your phone sitting on his bedside table. you quickly rechecked your schedule and shook your head. “no, it’s okay. i go in a little later. it’s close enough to walk.” you tilted your head as you felt him tangle his hand in your hair again. spencer scratched delicately at your scalp.

“okay, my love. i washed the clothes you left here the other day. they should be in the second drawer of my dresser.” you nodded in response as he leaned in to press his lips to your forehead. you caught his jaw in your hands and pulled him downwards, giving him a proper kiss on his lips. he laughed quietly as you both pulled away. “have a good day, angel.”

“you too, baby.”

well to put it simply you did not have a good day. you got ready for your job at a local cafe and made it to work fine. it was when you got there that it started going downhill. you genuinely loved being a barista. you definitely had the personality for it. friendly, outgoing, kind and patient. it’s actually how you met spencer in the first place. but sometimes it was hard. especially with certain needy customers. most of your regulars were chill. you were actually friends with many of them, always asking about the new things in their lives whenever they’d come in. of course, though, there were always a few bad apples.

like this one particular older man. he came in every now and then and ordered the same thing every single time. black decaf coffee with a blueberry scone. he was always in a rather grumpy mood, not even your tender words could help that. so this morning when you gave him a black regular coffee by an honest mistake he made sure to let you know just how stupid and idiotic you were. you stood there at the counter, expression apologetic as he continued to berate you. eventually your boss told you to go in the back for a bit while she took care of things.

you practically ran to the bathroom, locking yourself in the tiny space as you tried to control your breathing. you could already feel the hot tears spilling down your cheeks. you absolutely despised how sensitive you could get. through shaky breaths, you pulled your phone from your back pocket, unlocking it with a small sob. you had a few texts and one missed call from your mother. one of the texts was from spencer, letting you know it was just gonna be a paperwork day and inquiring what you wanted to order for dinner tonight. the other texts were from your mother, reminding you about a family party that was coming up soon. there was another text after her missed call.

- Guess you’re too busy to talk. Just let me know if you can make it.

you closed your eyes, feeling the passive aggressive tone through the message. the best way you could describe your relationship with your mother was that she was both your best friend and your worst critic. she tried to support everything you aspired to do, but also hated the way you did them. it was... complicated but her text was enough to leave you in a sour mood for the remainder of the day.

you felt like you couldn’t catch up. you couldn’t get over that bump setting you back from having a good shift. your head felt like it was elsewhere and no longer attached to your body, your movements becoming monotonous and your words dull. to make things worse, your eighteen year old coworker was coming in for their shift an hour before you were leaving.

and you loved them, you really really did. often times you would joke about them being your work child, taking them under your wing. but they talked. a lot. most days you could keep up no problem but with the way your mind was on a downward spiral today, all you could feel was immense overstimulation as they yapped in your ear about the latest tv show they were binge watching. soon it was all too much for you to handle and you end up snapping at the poor kid.

“dude i’m sorry but i don’t really care. can we just be quiet for, like, five minutes?” you interrupted them mid-sentence, tired eyes looking over with a slight glare. you immediately softened, eyes wide with guilt as they looked towards you like a kicked puppy. you tried your best to stammer out an apology but was met with silent treatment until you clocked out.

they would soon accept your apology in the next coming days and you’d go back to normal because that’s how you guys were, but the guilt would eat at you for quite a bit. when you were a kid, your parents often praised you on how self-sufficient and respectful you were. in your adolescent years, with the help of an untreated personality disorder and your regular teen hormones raging inside your cage of a body, your behaviour would suddenly change. you found yourself more irritable. more prone to overstimulation. you internalized a lot of what you were going through because every time you tried to bring up your feelings, your mother would shut you down and it’d turn into a fight.

you expressed yourself through slammed doors and screaming matches. you bottled things up until they overflowed. it was how you handled the thunderstorms behind your skull. you would eventually get better in time, finally attending therapy and finding solace in little things like journaling. and when you started dating spencer, he helped a lot too. your brain could sometimes make a lot of irrational judgements and spencer would help you see reasoning instead. he was also insanely patient with you. especially in the first two months of you guys dating where you broke up with him upwards of five times. each time because you didn’t believe you deserved him. (you still don’t believe it, but at least now you’ve stopped trying to fight the good coming into your life.)

you would never forget the first time spencer met your parents. the night was going well up until dinner time when your dad decided to pull out your old high school yearbook. at first it was just classic embarrassment as spencer looked at your school photos. but then your mother, after one too many glasses of wine, brought up your old struggles with anger.

“be careful getting on her bad side, spencer!” she had said, waving a finger in the air. “she’s got a scary temper for sure! remember when we had to replace her bathroom mirror because she threw her hairbrush at it?" she spoke like she was a comedian telling her greatest joke in the world as she turned towards your father. "i can’t even remember what made her so upset! but i remember how expensive that fix was…”

“oh i’m sure i’ve dealt with far worse at my job, ma’am. i think i can handle her just fine.” he was quick to reply and the hand pressing on your bouncing knee beneath the table calmed any nerves of him looking at you differently. later that night he’d hold you as you sobbed in his arms, retelling different memories of your past. he made you a promise that he’d never see you as a bad person as long as you promised him you’d talk to him whenever you started to feel like one.

you were finally walking home after this exhausting day and it wasn’t until you were changed into your comfy clothes and curled in bed that you realized you hadn't texted spencer back at all. with your knees pulled to your chest and a low hum of a fiona apple album playing from your record player you reached across your bed for your phone. you had four texts from him and one missed call.

- Hi angel. Haven’t heard from you all day, just checking in. - Hi, you should be clocked out by now. Just wanted to know if you still wanted to come over? We can order from your favorite italian place. - One missed call from spencer ♡. - Are you having a bad day, my love? Or did I do something wrong? - I’m gonna come over. See you soon, angel.

your brows furrowed together at the last text, sent just about ten minutes ago. you could feel your eyes well with frustrated tears. you felt like shit for unintentionally ignoring him. you couldn’t even think of what to say to him, but you had to think fast because soon you heard a gentle knock at your bedroom door. with a sniffle, you stood to your feet and slowly opened it.

you met spencer’s eyes, they were desperately searching your face. trying to figure you out, trying to see what was troubling your mind. you hated it sometimes when he profiled you, but most times you were grateful he could just know when you weren’t doing okay. saved you the shame of having to actually vocalize your feelings. you stepped back as he entered your room.

“your roommate let me in. she said you went straight to your room after work and have been listening to nothing but when the pawn… by fiona apple.” he was still in his work clothes, the same ones you watched him get dressed in just that morning. felt like an eternity ago at this point. before you could even let your face fall to the ground, his hands were holding your jaw, tilting it upwards and keeping it in place. he always held you like you were made of glass. “bad day?”

“you could say that.” you words were short and you didn’t mean for them to be. you were just so exhausted. “sorry i forgot to text you back. it’s just been…” you let your words fall off, waving your hands in the air with an annoyed huff. you pulled away from his touch, slumping back into your mattress. he just watched as you ran your fingers through your hair, eyes shut tight as if you were trying to talk yourself down. he bit his lip, taking a cautious step forward.

“you look like you’re trying to compute a million things at once right now inside that little head.” he shrugged off the sweater draping over his work shirt, tugged off his tie and kicked his shoes off besides your bed. you laughed sarcastically at his words but bit your tongue from replying with a snarky comment. “did you know that one of the brain’s primary functions is to collect and process sensory information? it’s kind of like there’s a little guy in there, sitting at his desk and filing through every bit of information that gets thrown at you throughout the day.” your eyes were still shut but you felt a dip in your bed as his voice grew closer to you.

“when there’s too much sensory input, it can make the brain think there’s danger, sending off signals to the body to escape. that’s when your fight-flight-freeze response gets triggered. aka that little guy’s desk is suddenly on fire and every file has been thrown all over the place and the little guy, well, the little guy is running around screaming for help.” you feel two arms wrap around your waist and maneuver your body until you felt your head resting against the warmness of his chest. soon enough you also felt slender digits running through the locks of your hair.

“you seem to resort to a fight response i’ve noticed. your body feels like you can overpower the danger your brain thinks you’re in. resulting in intense feelings of anger. which can lead to irritability.” you feel him tracing shapes, the same ones he made on your arms earlier that morning, deep into the small of your back. he always did the same movement pattern and you always wondered if that was intentional or just a coincidence. “do you wanna talk about what’s going on in here?” he poked an index finger to the side of your temple. you shook your head. “okay. we don’t have to. but i will ask about it later, is that okay?” you nodded this time.

you didn’t realize it when it was happening, but the combination of spencer pulling you into his arms and his soft voice spewing factual information at you was enough to make your head feel almost empty. your body was melted against his, curled up in his touch. you let out a shaky breath, slowly raising your head, resting your chin on his chest as your eyes opened. “how did you do that?” you whispered, soft hues scanning his face as he just smiled down at you.

“a magician never reveals his secrets, my love.” you rolled your eyes, laughing quietly as his hand lightly brushed your cheek. he tucked a piece of hair behind your ear. your lips twitched in thought, a tiny frown suddenly taking over your features. spencer tilted his head. “what is it, baby?”

your eyes fell to focus on his chest, your finger tracing over the fabric of his work shirt. “do you think i’m scary? like… when i get upset?”

“scary?” he repeated, voice in small disbelief that you’d even feel the need to ask. “no, i don’t think you’re scary. i think you’re beautiful. and i think your mind can be pretty mean to you sometimes. but that’s not your fault. hey, look at me please.” you let him guide your head back up, eyes meeting each other again. he smiled at you and it made you feel warm. “why do you think you’re scary?”

your shoulder shrugged with an exasperated sigh. “because it’s what i’ve been told my whole life. when i get too overwhelmed and i just feel nothing but anger i… i feel like i can get mean and i hate feeling that way. like, i always get too snappy and i always say something that’s gonna hurt someone i care about and i…” your breathing hitches. your lashes quickly blink, trying to fight any tears from spilling yet again. “i’m so scared i’m gonna get that way with you and you’re gonna leave me.”

he was shaking his head, thumb swiping underneath your eyes at the few tears that betrayed you and fell down your cheeks. he sighed out your name. “i don’t think you understand just how much i love you. if you think i’d leave you at something so silly like that. you know, i started reading up on borderline personality disorder after that night i met your parents. i wanted to understand it more. i wanted to understand you.” he continued wiping away your tears as they kept falling.

“i can’t even imagine what you go through inside your own head every single day, but i can acknowledge how hard you’re trying to cope with it. i see it all the time. i see it in the kindness you like to spread to strangers. i see it in the way you push yourself to learn new things and the way you stopped beating yourself up if it doesn’t turn out perfect. i see it in the way you love me, and more importantly in the way you’ve allowed yourself to let me love you back. you’re such a beautiful person, my love. it’s okay to have bad days and it’s okay to let yourself be a little mean sometimes.” he laughed quietly, noticing the way your lips were fighting a smile. he leaned in and pressed a sweet kiss to the corner of your mouth. “as long as you just communicate with me when you’re feeling bad. that’s all i ask.”

you sat there for a moment, admiring the way his big brown eyes stared at you. your eyes fell for a moment before picking back up with furrowed brows. “i snapped at my coworker today.”

“the teenager?” you nodded. “ah,” spencer’s hand resumed circling around your back as he hummed. “they’ll forgive you, i’m sure of it.” there was a pause and then a small hum coming from his throat. “are you hungry? hm? let’s order some food.”

he ordered you your favorite pasta dish from your favorite italian restaurant and you fell asleep in his arms in the middle of coraline again. he couldn’t help but admire you resting so peacefully in his arms and continued tracing the words ‘i love you’ over and over again into your back for the rest of the night.

[mydearlybeloathed]

𝐈 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 ³

𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞, 𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞...

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: a ghost from your past makes a surprise appearance, dragging forth all the regrets and wishes you'd spent years trying to drown. and yet, some strange string of Fate keeps you and the future king of the pirates intertwined, for better or for worse.

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: opla!luffy x gn!reader

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 3.6k

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭: use of Y/N, gn reader, ANGST, alcohol, an existential crisis probably

𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬: the 1 (long pond), i want to live, son of nyx

series masterlist

If someone asked you how many years you’d been a marine, your answer would be uhm, well, less than ten, because the actual number was lost to you. But you knew it’d been less than ten. Being with the marines for more than a decade was a thought that shot nausea straight to your gut.

However long it’d been, things had reached a comfortable norm. You rarely saw Koby those days. Back when you were stationed on the same ship, you and he had grown close, finding something familiar in the soul of the other. Now Koby was a captain, you were just under him in rank as a commander, and the two of you were under different commands. 

You rarely noticed when a day passed anymore. It was all a numbing cycle of chores, reports, and arrests—repeat. Your cohorts had taken to a game they called Make-Y/N-Crack, in which they did everything in their power to draw any sort of reaction from you.

No one had won so far, your deadpan too seeped into your whole being that you’d near forgotten how to smile.

Your main indicator of a passage of time was the wear and tear of Luffy’s wanted poster, one of his very first, and certainly not his last. It was faded in some places and torn in a corner, but you held it close to you wherever you went, including the island your ship was stopped at for supplies. 

Given that the ship would be there for a few days, you and your fellows had one night to yourselves to roam the town and do as you pleased. 

“Commander—”

“We’re off duty, Nia. Call me my name,” you said evenly, cutting off the soldier girl. Nia burned bright red, mouth snapping shut. You sighed. “What do you need?”

“Well, I was just wondering why you’re going that way?” she asked, jutting her chin at the side street you’d been headed toward when she called you back. Behind Nia, a rowdy crowd of fellow marines waited for their friend to join, each casting you a contemplative kind of glower. “We’re all headed to the bar, if you wanted to come?”

They all hated you, for reasons you didn't bother to fathom. All except Nia, who was possibly too gentle to be a commissioned marine, in your opinion. “I’m fine. I know where I’m going.”

She nodded once and turned tail, jogging after her friends who nudged her shoulder with a tease you didn’t catch. You stood for a moment and watched them go; you watched their easy smiles and close camaraderie, and you missed that.

Koby flourished in this line of work, setting out everyday to make this world better. You felt you should be doing the same—that you were doing the same—but it all felt so useless. So mundane. Worthless.

You had yet to cross paths with the pirate Monkey D. Luffy. It hadn't yet been a decade, but what if ten years did pass? What then? Would you continue as you are, mindlessly walking a path you’d carved for yourself?

“I need a drink,” you muttered, turning back down the dimly lit street. 

You were somewhat familiar with the town, having been here once before around a year ago. Koby had been with you then, that being one of your last weeks together before he was promoted and moved to a different ship.

It was your intention to find the cozy tavern once again to maybe mull over some of your less-bitter memories. That thought had you running a hand over your face. What’s become of me?

Sometimes you forgot why you’d joined the marines, and then the poster tucked into the pocket of your coat burned with the reminder. Other times, you wondered why you stayed after all this time (you hadn't found a decent answer for that yet).

You found it was easier to get drunk than to wonder where your decisions had led you.

The moment you stepped into the tavern a wave of warm air hit you, along with the odor of sweat, alcohol, and bread. Not the most pleasing combination, but you trudged inside and beelined for the bar anyway. 

The bartender shot you a tight grin, stress lining her forehead. “What can I get ya?”

“Surprise me,” you muttered, setting some money down on the counter. She swiped it up and made to fetch a drink, but her eyes found your messy uniform first. She hesitated, glancing up at you, before warily continuing on her way.

You threw your head into your hands, heaving a sigh. You really should have changed before leaving the ship. Being a marine didn’t make you popular with a great many people. You liked it when town’s smiled at you even when they saw your uniform, but those occurrences were growing fewer and farther between.

If only you had Koby’s optimism. If only you had the guts to stand up. If only you’d gone with Luffy. If only, if only, if only…

He’d probably forgotten all about you, moved on with the sea in his hair and light in his eyes. 

“Here you go.” The bartender placed a drink to your right. You cast it a glance and pulled it closer, peering into the dark liquid. “Strong stuff. Ya look like you need it.”

You nodded through a huffy laugh. “Thanks, miss.”

After cracking your neck you tipped back your drink, grimacing at the sting and just plain awful taste. She chuckled as she walked away. “Told you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you mumbled into the cup, taking another swig and slamming it back down with a cough.

A figure plopped into the seat beside you, the ruffling of their coat meeting your ears. They let free a hefty sigh, and you swore you felt their exhaustion just radiating off their skin. 

“Brandy, if you please.”

You choked into your cup, this time not from the rancid burn. Stiff as a board, you stared daggers into the bar, hands tight around the cup. The bartender handed over a glass to the person beside you.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” That voice was gruff with a sly tilt to it. You knew that voice.

You didn’t want to turn, but you did anyway, wide eyes landing on the profile of a one armed, red haired pirate you thought for certain you’d never see again.

Shanks swirled around his liquor before taking a drink, slamming the cup back down a moment later. Really, you should have fled the site and gone to spend a miserable night with the other marines. But your whole body was seized up, eyes locked on Luffy’s idol.

“I—” you squeaked, cupping a hand over your mouth an instant later as Shanks cast you a side eye.

Immediately, he was curious, wondering why exactly this kid looked so familiar. He turned his head, disturbed by how you stared at him like you’d seen a ghost. scrutinizing your face, it hit him like a punch to the gut; in his mind’s eye he shrank you down a few feet, gave you a set of buck teeth, and placed you next to a little curly headed boy.

“Y/N?” He laughed. “What—You’re so big!”

Though he smiled, you couldn’t help but picture his face in a wanted poster. Your uniform felt all too hot and heavy all of a sudden. “Uh…”

“What’re you doing here, kid?” He clapped you on the shoulder and nearly knocked the breath out of you. “Where’s Luffy? I never thought I’d see one without the other.”

You hated to spoil his excitement at the prospect of seeing the boy, so you avoided the question altogether. “I’m here for work.”

He saw right through you, his smile losing some of its genuineness. “And Luffy?” You turned and tipped back the last of your drink, and Shanks finally noticed your attire, particularly the familiar emblem. “Shit—the Marines? Really?”

Annoyance crept up your mind. You held your cup in both hands, gaze hung. “Commander Y/N, at your service.”

“Commander… wow.” He shifted to completely face you, a grin working up his face. “That’s amazing.”

You had expected a shout, maybe the retrieval of his pistol. Not whatever that was. You faced him warily, catching pride flashing in his eyes. “You’re not angry…”

“Why would I be?” He waved for the bartender to bring him another drink, motioning two fingers at her. “You’re successful. Always knew you would be, Worm.”

A childish part of you fluttered at the mention of that old nickname. Bookworm. Hah. You hardly read these days, always too busy. The bartender put down two shot glasses and swept away. “But… My job is to catch pirates like you.”

He scoffed, nudging your glass toward you. “No offense, Commander Bookworm, but you’re not catching me anytime soon.”

“I wasn't going to try. Just saying.” You picked up the glass and watched him reach to clink his to yours. Letting slide a scant smirk, you accepted the cheers and shot back the liquid in sync with Shanks. 

You nearly gagged again as you set the glass back down, laughing. “God, I hate liquor.”

Shanks nudged you as he called for yet another drink. “Can’t say the same.” The conversation fell short, and Shanks cast you a glance as you fiddled with the fabric of your coat. “Mind if I ask how you got here? I mean, I figured for sure you’d be with Luffy. You’ve seen his poster, right?”

“Of course,” you snapped back, your hand passing over your pocket. “I, uhm… A while back, Luffy escaped…”

His eyes held a misty sadness. “And you didn’t.”

You found yourself shaking your head, hands closing into fists. “I chose to stay behind.”

Shanks waited for you to elaborate, blinking blankly. And when you didn’t— “Why the fuck would you do that?”

“Excuse me,” you startled.

“Why the fuck,” he enunciated incredulously, “would you stay behind? He’s gotta be beside himself.”

Straightening up, you narrowed your eyes at him. “Even if he was, it’s been years, Red Hair. He’s gotten over it—”

“Have you?” The question was instantaneous, no hesitation behind the dagger-like words.

“What?”

“Gotten over it. I doubt you have.”

You gaped at him. “You know nothing about me. Don’t think you’ve got me all figured out just because you ruined my life by giving Luffy all those stupid dreams—” You choked, huffed, and attempted to make a quick escape.

Shanks’ hand found your shoulder, gentle yet firm, and you plopped back onto your seat, eyes closed tight. “Let me go.”

“I’m sorry,” he said slowly. “Okay? I’ll back off.”

Without asking or saying anything at all, the bartender set another glass of that awful drink in front of you. You took a sip, shaking his hand off and taking a moment to breathe. “It was for the best, all right? I would only hold him back. Look how far he’s come. He couldn’t have done that with me lagging after him.”

“Why would you be lagging?” When you didn’t answer, only turning your face away, he nudged you with his shoulder. “Worm?”

That name made it hard to take anything seriously, but somehow, you managed, hissing out a sigh through your teeth. “It’s much easier to read about other people being brave.” Chewing your lip, “I like to read about heroes, mostly to remind myself why I’m not one.”

“You’re a marine. Surely sometimes you’re a hero.”

“Sometimes.” Throwing caution to the wind, you drank your whole glass in one swig, letting the alcohol simmer through your blood and turn your mind hazy. 

“What did you mean,” he asked. “When you said I ruined your life?”

“Oh. It’s nothing.”

“Tell me.”

You tried to slide off the stool again. “Goodbye, Shanks.”

He didn’t stop you this time, only shifting to watch you slowly trudge away. Shanks scoffed. “C’mon, Worm. What’re you so afraid of?”

Lots of things. You were afraid of spiders and falling, though not of heights themselves, and you quite liked the daddy-long-legs. You were afraid of losing, of failing, of being wrong. Of seeing Luffy again and having him be completely disappointed with what he saw. An all consuming fear that you can’t change what you are, that you’re too far down this road to ever think of turning back.

You hardly realized you’d stopped walking until Shanks was at your side, moving to catch your distracted gaze. “Kid?”

You swallowed thickly. “I was always content with my fate. Luffy wasn’t, and a lot of that has to do with you. The rest was his own passion.” That incessant burn resurfaced in your throat. “So I stayed because I wasn’t about to drag him down with me. He’s too good. I…”

Dammit. You’d been doing so well. You hadn’t cried in months. Trying to glare, you spat, “Goodbye.”

You made to walk past him and actually leave the building this time, but he caught your wrist. Whirling around, your curses were cut off by a quick and dangerous offer: “Come join my crew.”

Shanks was so sincere, nearly hopeful as he stared into your eyes. You wondered if this is how your father would look at you if he knew how to be kind.

Barely breathing, you shoved every word and every notion down to the pits of your mind, retracting your arm to wrap it around yourself. A singular tear fled your eye and was wiped away in an instant. Shaking your head, you backed away from him, trying not to stumble, and bolted out of the tavern. 

The worst of it was Shanks’ sad sigh you caught as you fled, like he’d expected this, like he was wondering why he bothered to ask.

Later, you found Nia and the others waltzing back up to the ship. Your face was dry and your expression a void, and Nia smiled as she raced toward you. 

“Commander!” She skidded to a stop, backtracking, “Sorry. Y/N.”

“What is it?” you said a little too harshly.

She wasn’t perturbed, grinning up at you. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

Your heart held this odd numbness you had come to equate with acceptance. Luffy’s poster burned like hellfire in your pocket. “I think so.”

Nia invited you to join the rest of them in the ship’s galley, promising good conversation and cheap wine smuggled on board. You told her you’d think about it, and she chased her friends up the gangway and onto the ship. 

The sea licked at the wood of the docks and the wind bit at your skin. And you stood solemnly, watching that crumpled wanted poster become saturated by murky water till it sank out of view.

You regretted it instantly, a recurring theme for you, apparently. 

How easy would it be to walk away from the marine vessel and find Shanks again? How simple would it be it to ditch this marine’s coat and set off on your own? Your hands started to tremble at the very notion. Not easy and not simple at all. 

Casting a glance up at the starry sky, you bit back a sob, and you made a wish on the first star you laid eyes on. Please, please don’t hate me.

Stiffening, you set your jaw and cursed yourself. You had to get a hold of yourself. Being a marine was hell for you, but you’d been doing it for years. Seeing a ghost from your past and having him give you a chance shouldn’t be so crushing. Honestly, you should be cursing Shanks for giving you an offer you didn’t deserve. This was all his fault, all Luffy’s fault—

And you broke, breath seizing as a silent cry fled your lips. 

You loved him—of course you still loved him. You would until you died, you think. And that was the problem. With your arms wrapped around yourself, you thought back to the day everything changed.

Luffy’s little broken boat, disappearing on the horizon, Vice Admiral Garp leering at your shoulder. Your first moments entrapped by fear. You’d been proud of that day, once upon a time. Now you weren’t so sure.

Was there any room to turn back, with years of running from your past behind you?

“Oh, Luffy. What have I done?”

A cord in your heartstrings snapped, and your feet scrambled away from the marine vessel. A gasp ripped from your chest, eyes aflame, and your fists tightened desperately around this bout of courage.

Back down the road, back to the little tavern, you burst through the double doors, certain you looked insane as your eyes sweeped the dim room. The bartender’s eyes snapped up from where she was cleaning the many glasses you and Shanks had left behind. A fistfull of beri had been left in his wake.

“Keep going left,” said the bartender. “You might catch him.”

A thank you slipped past your lips as you raced outside, raising your hands in two L’s to pinpoint the right direction, taking off down the street that faded from cobblestone to dirt under your footfalls. 

Over twigs and leaves, under trees that grew thick further down the path, your heart thundered against your ribcage. The sloping road grew thin before it gave way to a secluded beach lit only by the moon. Your chest heaved as sand kicked up behind you.

“Wait!” you cried. “Shanks! Wait, please! I'll go with you! Shanks…”

A little lantern illuminated the dingy too far away to hear you as it rowed closer to the ship anchored out in the bay. A whisper of his name fell off your tongue, throat suddenly dry and stomach sick.

You hit your knees, fists grabbing at grains of sand that slipped through your fingertips. “Come back. Please…”

For the second time in your life, you watched a ship sail away carrying with it the chance of freedom, leaving you on the sand empty and helpless.

જ⁀➴

Luffy rarely dreamed when he slept. When he did dream, he never remembered it, the wild scenes fading seconds after he woke. 

Which is why he startled awake, hands clawing at his hammock, straw hat falling off his face and into his lap. He clung to the sound of your laughter, of your touch grazing his cheek, of the feel of your skin under his hands—

He didn’t dream often, but when he did, he often dreamt of you. 

He rubbed at his sleep crusted eyes and ached for the quickly fading memory. The finer details of the plot were soon lost on him, but he knew in this dream you were happy. Luffy liked those dreams much more than the more common ones where you cried, too far out of his reach to comfort.

“Luffy?” spoke Chopper, his voice hazy with sleep as he yawned. “Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Confused, Luffy realized he was gasping for air. “O–Oh, I’m fine, Chopper.” He glanced down from his hammock to offer the reindeer a trembling smile. “I’m good, really.”

Not buying it, Chopper huffed and stood from his own hammock, making quick work of climbing up to Luffy’s. He sat across from his captain, worry all over his furry face. “Did you have a bad dream?”

“Nah, don’t worry ‘bout it.” He reached over to ruffle the tuft of fur between Chopper’s antlers. “Sorry for waking you.”

He smiled softly. “It’s okay.” Chopper started to snuggle into the fabric of the hammock, obviously having no intention of climbing back down. “I was having a bad dream too.”

Luffy leaned back, doing his best to calm his nerves enough to go back to sleep. “Yeah?”

“Mhmm. Nami was angry at me. It wasn’t fun.”

The captain laughed, promptly shut up by a voice from the hammock underneath. “Shut up, would ya?”

Chopper squeaked, “Sorry, Zoro.”

The swordsman sighed and rustled in his hammock. “It's fine. Go to bed.”

Soon Zoro’s snores filled the mens’ quarters, and Chopper’s calm breathing soon followed. Sanji and Usopp snored in tandem as well, till only Luffy remained awake, staring at the ceiling, trying desperately to recall his dream.

You couldn’t be happy, wherever you were. How long had it been? Far too long, though he wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed since he last saw you on the beach of Foosha Village. 

Would he recognize you? Would you recognize him? Luffy had to hope the answer was yes, and he had to hope one day he’d have the chance to rescue you, to set you free just as you freed him.

“I’ll find you,” he threatened the silence. “You can’t hide forever.”

Miles and miles away, kneeling on the sand, you swore you heard a familiar voice in the wind, but it couldn’t have been. You were halfway near drunk. That must've been it.

Luffy turned his head to look out the window of the cabin, and you tilted your chin to stare at the stars. The stars twinkled down on the both of you, promises and threats hung on the wind and sea that separated you. 

Some endings are always meant for tragedy. Some loves are meant for doom. It was how Fate worked. 

But Fate favored you and Luffy—forever working to save the other, forever aching for the day that would bring you side by side once again. 

>>

𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @its-not-too-late-for-coffee @khaleesihavilliard

[morganbritton132]

ahhhh i just spent the last three days reading every post on the emtts tag and im in love with your whole little universe. i kept meaning to make a list of all of the little things but i kept getting distracted and forgetting so i only started at april 18th bc i NEED (subject to your willingness to expand/care act this particular part of your universe) to hear more about all of the little stories of steve getting arrested (particularly hopper arresting steve?? and them breaking into steves parents house?)

thanks for this amazing space!! you’ve made a universe that ive been thinking about constantly and that expands on the characters in such a beautiful mundane way, its very cool!!

ps i just read one of the follow ups in the death threat part where steve admits he doesn’t want to stop teaching bc dustin asks eddie about it and i think im about to cry holy shit

pps on the death threat part with diane oh god. like just steve having to figure it out in front of her and her explaining to him and him admitting to just not being ok i just

First, thank you so much! This is all so very nice of you to say and props for getting through everything in three days. It is quite a bit! It’s honestly amazing how much has been written in such a short amount of time. I’m only going to cover Steve getting ‘arrested’ and I’ll touch on Steve and Eddie’s breaking and entering at a later date.

Steve started having seizures a little after they closed the gate on the Upside Down for good or, well. They started noticing that he was having seizures after they closed the gate. It was heavily implied in the undertone of his doctor’s voice that these seizures were likely going on for a while and that they likely not going to stop anytime soon.

Steve took this news as well as anybody could.

Everybody was kinda waiting for him to have a breakdown over it, but it never happened because Steve was – well, he wasn’t fine. Obviously. But it is what it is, right? If the worst thing to come out of all this Upside Down stuff is that he’s a little dumber than he was before than how could he complain?

Max was learning how to walk again.

What Steve didn’t take well was his doctor telling him that he wasn’t allowed to drive anymore. In fact, he did not take that news at all. He completely ignored it, and he ignored the looks that Robin when give him when he drove himself to work, and he would say, “It’s not like I’m driving the kids around or anything. It’s just me.”

“And that’s supposed to make me worry less?”

“I pull over if I feel weird.”

He wasn’t actually driving all that much anyways. Robin got her permit and Eddie got the all-clear to drive again, so no one needed to rope Nancy into lecturing him about ‘the dangers.’ He didn’t need Dustin’s complaining or Eddie’s ‘hey, maybe you should listen to them’ or Joyce stopping him on his way out the door. And he didn’t need Hopper.

Steve was learning to accept that sometimes he needed help. He was doing better, but Steve practically lived alone despite the jokes people were making about him being at Eddie’s all the time, and he wasn’t going to bother someone just because he needed toilet paper.

Steve was sitting in his car outside of the Fair Mart, trying to remember why he needed to go there in the first place, when there was a knock on his window. He startled and blinked hard twice before looking over at the drivers’ side window. He frowned.

Hopper was standing there and he looked annoyed. He gestured for him to get out of the car and Steve frowned more, fumbling with his seatbelt before pushing the door open. For lack of anything else to do once he was out of the car, Steve said, “Hey, what’s up?”

Hopper frowned more like he was annoyed with Steve which was, in itself, was really annoying because Steve didn’t do anything. He was just here to buy… He was here to get… Wait. “Huh?”

Hopper sighed loudly and repeated himself. Slowly. “Give me. Your keys.”

Maybe it was Hopper’s tone or maybe there was some stock in what his doctor said mood swings, or maybe Steve was just tired of everybody treating him like a baby that needed taken care of and watched. Just when Hopper reached to take the keys out of his hand, Steve shoved him away.

Everything kinda blurred at the edges and the headache that’s been wedged in the corner of Steve’s jaw pulsed. He didn’t really take a breath until Hopper shoved him against the hood of his car.

Hopper cuffed metal around his wrists and said, “Good going, Harrington.”

Steve yanked on his arm and snapped back, “You’re not even a cop anymore. You can’t arrest me.”

“Call it a citizen’s arrest.”

Eddie laughed for four minutes of Steve’s five minute phone call at the police station. He laughed so hard that Steve knew that he was holding his side where the bites were the deepest because they were still tender, and Steve just rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah. Yuck it up. Are you gonna get me?”

“Hm, yeah,” Eddie grinned through the phone. “Yeah. It’s a little ironic that the Prom K-“

Steve hung up the phone.

The ‘charges’ that Hopper (not a cop) threatened to ‘throw the book at him’ for were driving without a valid driver’s license. There was a part of Steve that knew that this was all just for show to teach him a lesson, but still argued that he had a valid license because no one took it away from him, and actually, “This is false imprisonment, right? Maybe I should call my family lawyer.”

It was even more annoying that Eddie – rolling into the building smelling like weed an hour later – agreed with Hopper. 

[lokilaufeysonslove]

𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫

𝐋𝐨𝐤𝐢 𝐋𝐚����𝐟𝐞𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞!𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜!𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐤!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

// Summary // you are Tony Stark’s niece, which automatically makes you sassy and you meet Loki for the first time.

// Warnings // orphanage, mentions of death, body and outfit description, slightest mentions of pedophilia (jokingly).

// Author’s Note // I’m sorry if this outfit is not what you wear or this music is not what you listen to, but let’s pretend for the sake of the story. This is not the first time I write something like this, but I’m still sorry if it’s shitty / divider by the amazing @saradika-graphics / gif by @sakura-haruka

MASTERLIST

You entered the Stark Tower, headphones in your ears, dancing and lip syncing to ‘Sweet But Psycho’ by Ava Max, tiny amount of blood faintly visible on your knuckles. Why was blood there? Well, you punched someone. Again.

When you woke up, you were very bored, so you decided to take a walk, but apparently your walk never goes without a fight.

It was a hot summer day and you decided to wear short black jean shorts, a black crop top and black and white air forces. To be honest, most of your clothes were black and white, but you had some red and blue here and there, sometimes you would even wear colorful graffiti shirts. It depended on your mood.

You got into the elevator and went to the top floor. You still didn’t understand why Tony built this whole ass tower, I mean who needs it? You preferred living in a house rather than a tower. You finally got to the top floor and exited the elevator.

What were you doing in the Stark Tower in the first place? It’s because of the tragic accident. Your parents died a year ago. Your father, a famous rich inventor, was the older brother of billionaire Tony Stark. Your mother was a Chanel model. You were exact copy of your mother, tall girl with beautiful e/c eyes and shiny h/c hair. Everything was fine, but your father, like every rich inventor, had enemies. One night, while they were driving home, someone shot them with a gun and killed them both. That person was later arrested. He said he didn't mean to kill your mother, it just happened by accident, but it didn’t matter anymore.

Of course you were devastated and had to go to psychologists for a whole year.

Fortunately, you were given the opportunity to choose who would become your guardian. You were close to your mother, but not to your mother's family. Instead, you were very close to your father's relatives. Tony and Pepper were your second family, so you chose to live with them.

This accident caused your personality to change. You were completely different person before this incident, quiet, calm, shy, but now you were bold, sarcastic, sassy, a total trouble maker, and some would even say crazy.

You barged in the living room, still singing and swaying lazily.

“Oh, she’s sweet but a psycho, a little bit psycho, at night she’s screaming I’m-ma-ma-ma out my mind. Oh, she’s hot but a psycho, so left but she’s right though-“ you stopped singing and started humming to the song.

Tony was standing at the bar, drinking a whiskey, Nat was sat on the couch near the TV, Steve was sitting next to Nat, chatting with her about something, Peter was sitting at the table, doing his homework, honestly, how was that kid doing his homework all day? Clint was sitting at the other side of the table, checking his arrow for any damage, Wanda was sitting on an empty armchair, levitating a pencil with her powers, Thor was standing near the large window, staring daggers into- wait, into who?

There stood a tall man with long, black hair, dressed in a green and silver suit. He was looking out of the big windows, his hands were folded behind his back. He should be from Asgard too, you thought to yourself.

“Sweet but psycho? Are you singing about yourself, kid?” Nat asked with amused expression on her face.

“You could say that.” You said with a small smile. The man turned around and now you were able to see his face. You would be a liar if you said he wasn’t handsome, hell he looked like a god. He had beautiful blue eyes and sharp cheekbones. You pulled out your headphones from your ears and slung them around one shoulder, walking towards the fridge to pour yourself some cold water, “Who’s this?” You asked, nodding your head towards him.

“I am Loki of Asgard, the god of mischief.” The man said with a smug look on his face, “And who might you be?”

“I am Y/n of Midgard, a mere mortal, your Highness.” You said with your best British accent and bowed dramatically, clearly mocking him. You have heard how Thor calls Earth Midgard, so you decided that now was a good time to use that word. Some of the Avengers chuckled at that.

You looked at him. You could swear that you have heard of that Loki somewhere. Oh! He is the guy who carried out the attack on New York few years ago!

“Oh, so you are that brother that causes havoc! Cool.” You said and grabbed a bottle of cold water, but instead of pouring some into the glass, you downed it in a one go. Damn, you didn’t realize you were this thirsty.

All of the Avengers looked at you with expression that said ‘seriously?’, rather tired than surprised. However, Loki was surprised by hearing this. He thought you would scream out loud, saying ‘you are a monster’ or ‘you deserve to rot in hell’ or something along those lines.

Suddenly Wanda gasped, “Y/n, is that blood on your hand?”

Shit. You completely forgot about that. “Oh, that…yeah, don’t worry, it’s not mine.” You said, trying to remove the remaining blood from your hand.

Clint looked at you with wide eyes, “Is that supposed to reassure us?”

“Explain.” Steve said sternly. That grandpa seriously got on your nerves, quite often, really. Tony was looking amused by all of this even if he is your uncle, not Steve. But Steve was acting as if he were your father.

You leaned against the counter and started telling the story, “I was walking down the street, minding my own business, when this guy- no, a fifty year old grandpa commented on my outfit, saying that I was asking for ‘it’, so I punched him in the face, ‘cause he was asking for it. To be honest, I’m kinda disappointed that his nose is the only thing I broke.”

“That is cool! But for your information, fifty year old is not a grandpa.” Tony said with a small smirk.

“Seriously Tony?” Steve said, disappointment visible in his voice, but he couldn’t deny that he was proud of you.

“Was he a pedophile, or whatever it is that you, Midgardians call them.” Thor chimed in with his arms crossed, seeming protective.

You looked at him with one eyebrow raised, “Thor. Are you seriously the one to bring up pedophilia? Dude you are one thousand and something and Jane is only 27, come on!”

Tony bursted out laughing, not even bothering to cover it, Thor gave you a death glare. Everyone else tried to cover their laughter, though they were not doing good job. Loki wore a small smirk on his face.

“I like her.” He said with his head tilted to the side.

“Everyone does.” You told him with a wink and left the leaving room, heading towards your room to get changed.

[glitchy-npc]

54 for whump prompts?

54: “You were right.”

Thank you @keltena for the same prompt!

Late afternoon, maybe an hour till sunset. 

The Boneyard is almost empty this time of day. Only a handful of people and their dogs, the last few stragglers trying to tire out their energetic companions before heading home for the night. 

Routine. Normal. Not that you’d know.

Is this what your life would have been like if you had been born human? A boring, safe, nine to five job and a dog to come home to? Something to care for, to guard you in return? Love, free from judgment.

It doesn’t matter, those thoughts are pointless. You’re not here for the dogs or their people, you're here to confront your tail. You don’t know who but you’ve felt someone tracking you the last few hours. Not direct thoughts but a prickle at the back of your neck, a feeling of being watched and you’ve survived too long to ignore those kinds of instincts. In an initial spike of panic you had been worried it might be the Special Directive, but waiting so long isn’t their style, they’re far too efficient. You doubt it's Ortega either, even if you can’t read him he’s never had any patience and he should be all too eager to confront you now after what you did to him. Stop thinking about Ortega, nothing good ever comes from that.

Did Hollow Ground send someone to babysit you? Watch you? Either way, maybe the presence of witnesses will keep things from getting messy.

You close your eyes and wait. 

It's not long before someone sits down heavily next to you. You don’t jump, you felt the familiar portcullis of the Marshal’s shields slam shut around his mind as soon as he entered The Boneyard, a bigger tell than even his heavy gait. His work legs you’d guess. That doesn’t bode well for you, neither does his silence.

“How long have you been following me?” Maybe letting him know you're not as easily ambushed  as the first time he met you here will level some of the playing field.

“What makes you think I’ve been following you?” Of course he answers a question with a question. Asshole. 

“Please,” you scoff. “Do you expect me to believe this is a coincidence? You're not even here with Spoon.” That thought makes you a little sad, you suppose you’ve lost your dog walking privileges now that you’re a known villain. That's a shame, Spoon is a good dog. 

The Marshal doesn’t bother to offer any other excuse. Maybe you don’t deserve one.

“So are you here to arrest me?” Might as well start with the worst possible scenario.

“No.” The admission is quick, the ‘not yet’ left unsaid. 

“Then what, just here to remind me not to fuck up?” Your laugh is dry.

“What makes you think you haven’t already fucked up?” You can feel his eyes on you but you don’t take the bait, you keep staring straight ahead. You wonder if he means your choice of career or the mess you've made of your friendship. 

“Shut up, you know what I mean. You’re fine with me off the leash for now but if I fuck up and get someone killed, that blood would be on your hands too.”

“There's already blood on my hands, for a long time” His sigh is heavy and tired. You sneak a glance as he clasps them together, mechanical fingers interlocking. “At some point you just stop trying to wipe it clean…and try to do better.”

“Do better…” You echo his words and shake your head. “Is that what this is? Honestly I’d prefer being arrested over having to sit here and listen to your platitudes.” It’s not much of a joke but it gets something between a laugh and a cough out of him. 

“Believe it or not, I’m not here to lecture you.” You're about to call bullshit before he continues. “I thought you might have questions for me.” 

“Sure, I got one, is cryptic bullshit just wired into your brain or something? You always do that.” Talking like you're supposed to know what he’s talking about, reading minds doesn’t work miracles. You roll your eyes but catch a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Maybe, but you’re smart enough to figure it out.” Ugh. Flattery? Asshole.

But he’s not wrong, it’s been almost six months after the crash and you haven’t seen any of the Rangers since – well, aside from a not so gentle reminder from Lady Argent that she’s getting impatient with your lack of progress on your little shared project, but the Marshal doesn’t need to know that. Instead you opt for something safer. Maybe you can spin this into information you can use. 

“Has Herald been keeping up with his training?” Somehow calling him Daniel feels wrong. That was a name he shared with Tegan, not Retribution. 

“I’m…not sure, he’s mostly been out on patrols.” Is that a warning? Maybe you should watch the skies more often. 

“You're just a wealth of information aren't you.” 

“To be fair, I thought you’d ask about Ricardo.” 

Fuck. As if that wasn’t the most dangerous topic between you. Maybe the Marshal will let you get on with your work so long as you toe the line, but you doubt he’ll keep letting you break his best friend's heart, not after last time. You wonder if he’d care if it's breaking yours as well. 

“Is he still mad about you keeping the photos from him?” The photos, what a quaint little term for the evidence of your torture at the hands of the Farm. Impossible to survive, maybe that makes them feel unreal. It’s a low blow shifting the blame, but then again, you are the bad guy here.

“We talked.” There's an undeniable tension in his clipped words.

“You mean you fought.” 

“I mean we talked. Yes, it got bad…and maybe he won't forgive me, but we cleared the air. It’s a start.”  

“Never would have pegged you for an optimist.”

“I‘m not but…are you?” You catch his quizzical look out of the corner of your eye.

“You have got to stop fucking doing that, I am litterally not reading your mind right now!” You curse yourself for losing your cool but it's really the most irritating thing about him. He never says what he means.

“Are you still angry? That I kept the photos from him.” He’s looking at you but you don’t dare look back, you can feel his gaze practically searing into your clenched jaw.

“When I was…recovering” A simple word for the agony that was being trapped in a medical bed in your base, helpless, hurting and all too vulnerable. “All I did was hate you.” If Ricardo had known, even suspected you were alive, maybe he would have tried to save you, maybe none of this would have had to happen. Maybe-

No. You’re long past maybes.

“And now?” There's something fragile in his question, not something you're used to hearing from him. Not fear, but something terribly adjacent to hope. 

Your sigh feels bone deep. You can only lie to yourself for so long. Even when it feels so much better than the truth. 

“No. You…you were right.” You wish it didn’t feel like pulling barbed wire from your skin to admit that. “He would have gotten himself killed looking for me…and I don't want that.” The last is said no louder than a whisper.

The Marshal nods, maybe he's made up his mind about you, or himself, you don’t know. You don’t want to. He stands up before the silence between you grows too long, looks like your interrogation is over.

“Take care, Tegan.” Your old name feels like a bruise neither of you will stop poking. 

The words slip out before you can stop yourself.

“Say hi to Spoon for me.” 

Chen hesitates, but doesn’t turn around.

“I will.”

[scrubbinn]

Mimic HRT: 19 months “Tiger & Help”

Sitting outside the auditorium doors of the THEMS support group stood Mayday. A mandatory requirement of ending her house arrest was either to speak with a therapist appointed directly by Erian, or the Hyper city government. Or to spend several sessions with a therian support group and pass a psych exam from THEMS. One of the options was a lot more pro-therian and less likely to be mocked for being inhuman than the other. And here she stood, right outside the doors that were the keys back to her life. She was several hours early and shaking like a leaf in a tornado, but she had to make a good first impression, otherwise everything would just go wrong again, just like all the other times. Did she deserve happiness if she's just going to spiral out of control again? Who wants to hear about that? It'd be the worst kind of rude to take over this meeting with her own problems. Perhaps she should just leave. She made it to the doors. And next time she'll step inside! Maybe. Hopefully. Mayday decided that for now, the best option was to leave.

As she turned away, a sharp creaking sound came from behind her as the doors opened.  “Ow…  Damn noise…  Need to get some oil or something for that…”  The voice was low, but feminine, belonging to a tall white tiger therian with long dark purple hair who was wearing dark, flowing clothing and walking with a cane.  “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there!  Do you need anything?  Were you out here waiting for someone?”

Mayday couldn’t help but jump in shock at the poor timing, Oh no, someone who could potentially relate to her problems! This is fine, just need to make smart and normal words come out of a mouth. “Yes, hello, I was standing here because I like to stand, I’ll be going now bye!” Great. Now Mayday has to flee not only in fear but in embarrassment as well.

“Oh, um, alright.  Are you sure you don’t need anything?”  The tiger therian was confused by the awkward reply, but wasn’t pursuing Mayday.  “Our doors are always open.”

This was her chance, this is her moment, she could leave now if she just kept walking, just say thank you and leave, that’s all she had to do. “I’m here for the support group.”

Oops.

“Oh, yes, of course!”  The tiger gave a grin; it was difficult to tell with her feline face whether it was meant to be kind or predatory.  “I’m afraid you’re a few hours early for the scheduled meet-up, but if there’s something on your mind, I’m available until then, or you could just come in and sit down if you like.”

“Um. Yeah, thank you. I’m… well I’m a bit nervous. I don’t.” Oh of all the times to suddenly get a frog in her throat why now. Ugh! If this goes on she’s going to think Mayday’s a weirdo! Ok, just calm down. Just relax and calm yourself Mayday. “Sorry, it’s been a bad past couple of months. I sort of spent a lot of it dealing with legal battles and lawyers explaining the dumbest concepts to me. Not that I’m a criminal! Just, well you might have heard about an incident and while back. About a bite.”

The tiger looked thoughtful for a moment.  “...I do seem to recall something like that in the news.  A… mimic otherkin, if I’m remembering right?”  She gave a look of sympathy.  “If that was you, then… I’m sorry.  It must have been terrible.”  She stepped to the side, holding the door open invitingly.  “Would you like to come in and talk?  Maybe have something to drink or snack on?”

“No snacks please, I’m not very hungry.” Mayday couldn’t help but view the room as massive. Simultaneously so much larger than herself yet bearing down on her in a claustrophobic death grip. “Being a mimic has been a lot more troubling than I thought it would be. I don’t just mean the recent events. I didn’t even originally want to be a mimic. I was taking what I thought was a slime HRT. I sort of just hoped it would end with spending most days sitting around not having to worry about a single thing in the world. Turns out no matter what, I’m still stuck in a human society.”

The tiger silently listened, concern spreading across her face.  At the end of Mayday’s explanation, she gave a solemn nod.  “That can be the hardest thing to accept about humanity removal.  It’s easier than ever to change our selves, it’s a whole lot harder to change the world around us.  You also aren’t the only case I’ve heard of where someone wasn’t getting the treatment they thought they were.  It’s… a bit scary, how much of a crapshoot humanity removal can be.”  She angled her head towards the room.  “Let’s at least get you sitting somewhere comfy.  I’m Alexis, by the way.  Resource Coordinator for THEMS.”

Mayday simply stood in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do or how to not stand out like a sore thumb. She looks around, trying to imagine this place, full of other therians and otherkin just like her. It's a pleasant image, but one she quickly shoos away. This isn't a good time to imagine pleasantries. “Others getting screwed over like me huh? I can only imagine what kind of messed up junk Erian has pulled on other people. I assume it's Erian at least. He's the only actual provider I know of.” Oh stars, this is the resource coordinator for THEMS. How do you talk to someone so important? “So, could I ask you a question? If that's ok.”

Alexis followed her in, and took a seat on a cushioned chair nearby.  “Yeah, it’s usually Theo-...  Usually Erian connected to the sketchier stuff.  I swear that man would be buried under lawsuits if he didn’t make us all sign stacks of liability waivers.  There ARE other providers now though, we keep a list of all the ones we’ve personally checked out so we can hand them out to anyone who needs one.  Oh, and go ahead.  Ask anything you like.”

“Well, I. How do I phrase this? Recently I made a decision to stay the way I am. Erian gave the whole crossroads talk after I already passed it. It’s caused problems, well you’ve already heard about it. I think a lot more like a mimic than a human, and I don’t know if that means I get to exist in human society anymore. I don’t want to go to a zoo, or get adopted by a friend. I want to live the life I had before. But I don’t think that’s possible anymore. I never thought about it before but what the heck do therians do to live among humans? What am I doing wrong? …Ok. Look, I understand our existence isn’t cursed, or wrong, or disgusting. But sometimes I hear people attack me so much now that I sometimes end up believing them. Maybe they’re right, why should they let a dangerous monster walk around next to them… Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that! I shouldn’t drop something that heavy on you. Oh universe, stupid Mayday, stupid! I’m sorry, I can leave.”

“Please don’t leave.”  Alexis held up a paw, trying to get Mayday to calm down, and breathe.  “It sounds like you have a lot to sort out, like you need someone who gets it, and believe me, I do get it.”  Her eyes fell downward, a regretful look on her face.  “You aren’t the only one who… lost control, and hurt someone.  I hadn’t even reached the crossroads yet at the time...”  She sat forward, leaning on her cane, and spoke softly, calmly.  “I’ve got a lot of opinions about the crossroads, I won’t get into it unless you want to hear them, but the point is that as big a deal as Erian makes it out to be, the crossroads isn’t a hard line.  It’s not ‘you must be this human to participate in society’.  You aren’t a monster, Mayday.  You’ve just got a new set of instincts that you’re not used to, and it’s going to take some time and effort to learn to live with them.  We can definitely help you with that.”

“I’m sorry, you’re right.” Mayday takes the time to practice her breathing and moves to find a seat. It’s obvious to anyone that she’s shaking even more now. It’s taking all her mental energy to move one limb forward at a time. “I sort of. Well I kinda figured the crossroads for me was a little, I guess blurry. I lost all my memories around, I think, more than half a year ago. It’s been tough adjusting to life after that. How do you figure out who you are during the biggest change of your life, the only change you’ve ever experienced. Figuring out if I’m Mayday or someone else has been something I keep putting off, and every time I think about it, I just… stop thinking about it. It’s been a tough half a year living in Hyper city, and moving back to my original home feels like an impossibility. I guess I just want to know if it does get easier. When the treatment is over, does everything just end up working out?”

Alexis took a long pause, thinking back on all of her own experiences, considering her next words carefully.  “The truth is, things very rarely ‘just work out’.  But… that’s just as true for anyone, human or therian.  I can’t say I understand what it’s like to lose all of your memories like that, but I’ve had a few identity crises in my time, and the way I’ve found to deal with them is, well… to let yourself exist as you are.  Let yourself exist as Mayday, let ‘home’ be where you feel comfortable being.  You are who and where you are right now, and that’s enough.  You are enough.”  She offered a reassuring smile.  “And to answer your other question, yes.  It does get easier.  Some days are worse than others, and sometimes it’s so slow you don’t even notice it, but eventually you look back at how far you’ve come, and you notice how much stronger you are.”

“That… It helps to hear that. Thank you. Like, sincerely, thank you. I feel like lately I keep learning this same lesson over and over again and every time I think I understand it, something new hits me like a speeding truck and I need to relearn everything again. It’s been rough.” Mayday’s shaking seems to slow and calm a little. She slows her breathing to a normal pace. “I have people here to help at least. Despite nearly killing her. My partner and even her family have been way, way too understanding of the situation. The kind of understanding that you can’t help feeling more guilty about heh heh. But there’s been other people too who keep reaffirming my choices. It’s so weird how quickly I’ve been making friends with total strangers. Funny story, I lived in the apartment system here for. Well I think since I first lost my memories, and I only recently learned about the support group from one of the previous attendees. I think her name was Aria. She seemed nice, if a little… spacy. Sorry, that's probably rude to say.”

Alexis continued paying close attention throughout, allowing Mayday to say whatever she needed to, but when she mentioned someone named Aria, Alexis’ expression immediately shifted to one of concern, perhaps even alarm.  “...Aria?  Couldn’t be…  Unless…”  Alexis seemed to suddenly remember where she was, and what she was doing.  “I-I’m sorry, that was rude of me…  I’m…  I’m glad you’re finding those connections with people, and it sounds like you’ve found someone very kind and forgiving for a partner.  It’s… understandable, to feel guilty, but if they’re forgiving towards you, it’s because they want to be.”  She seemed a little more awkward now, as if some of her thoughts were somewhere else.

Several eyes open around Mayday's body and head at the sudden stutter. Mayday's face of worry turns to one more of curiosity and cautiousness. “Is Aria not someone I should have brought up? Did you know her well or. Is this about that zoo place?” Mayday can't help but show a flash of fear across her face. Immediately anxious about prying into what is probably such a delicate topic.

“No, no, it’s not a bad thing!”  Alexis was quick to answer.  “You…  You might have just given me something I’ve been looking for, actually…”  She paused.  "It's... a long shot, but I have to ask, or I'm going to regret it.  The 'Aria' you met...  was she a lamia otherkin?  Blue scales, dark hair, yellow eyes?  And…  And you said she was at a zoo??”

An idea, no, an out. I mean sure Mayday is here to discuss her own problems and find a solution, but is that really true? Every time she's found happiness it's been ripped right out. Happiness is something she's just not allowed to have, right? At least that's how that new brain sees it. All she has to do is strike. “Yeah that sounds like Aria. I tried visiting the zoo again to see her, but after she ran away from her guards at the aquarium, I guess they had her somewhere else away from the public. It's honestly been long enough that I don't even know if she goes by Aria. She could barely remember this place to begin with.”

Alexis slumped in her seat, letting out a breath of relief.  "I feel like I owe you an explanation...  Aria was part of the online chat server that eventually grew into this support group, back before we found a home with THEMS.  She's actually the one who invited me to the server, back during my own species transition.  I probably wouldn't be a part of THEMS at all without her."  Her hands and voice were beginning to tremble.  "But... a while back, she disappeared.  She…  She left a message saying she was taking the crossroads, and said goodbye."  Tears began to well up in the tiger's eyes.  "I moved to Hyper City partly to try to find her, but I'd...  I'd almost given up on ever seeing her again."  Her eyes pinched shut.  “If she’s losing her memories, it might already be too late, but…  I have to try to see her.”  She opened her eyes again, giving Mayday a look of sadness, but gratitude.  “Thank you.  Thank you for giving me this.”

Mayday just looks horrified. She runs forward and takes Alexis's hands into her own. “I didn't mean to make you cry! I'm so sorry, I, well I'm glad I could help. Are you going to be ok? I didn't realize how big this was for you. Now I just feel like a jerk trying to pivot away to something I don't know anything about. I'll make it up to you somehow!” Mayday notices a mouth of hers slowly creeping towards her hands and pulls herself away before another bite incident can occur. “Oh, uh, sorry, I shouldn't get close to people when my emotions are too high.”

Alexis couldn’t help but smile at Mayday’s genuineness.  “Yes, I’m going to be okay, thank you!”  Alexis reaches up with a paw and wipes away a tear.  “You don’t need to make anything up to me, we’re here to help you, remember?  But if you really want to do something for me, just don’t forget to show up to the group later, okay?  You can participate as much or as little as you like, but I think it’ll do good for you.  It’ll help your instincts get used to being around people, too, so hopefully soon you won’t have to worry about your emotions running high.  You can also leave at any time if it gets to be too much, I promise nobody’s going to judge you for it.”

“Huh- Oh! Right! Yeah, that's why I came here, haha. Didn't expect things would get so emotional on the first day. Well before the first day I guess. It feels weird to think about how terrifying it'll be to join, but it's also weirdly exciting. I guess talking with someone really can help clear the head. It's nice of you to say all those things, and I'm sure I'll find what I need here, and if it's not too intrusive, I can let you know the next time I'll be trying to visit Aria if you want to tag along. Uh, but for now, I can help set things up for the group since I'm here so early anyways.”

“I think I’d really like that, going out with a new friend to meet up with an old one.”  Putting some of her weight on her cane, the white tiger got to her feet.  “And since you’re offering, I could use some help getting the furniture set up…  Leg’s not what it used to be, after my own ‘incident’.”

“Of course! I’ll make sure this place is perfect for everyone! I’m going to do my absolute best to support others in this group, just you watch! Wait hold on, where are the chairs? Um, how do I arrange everything? Uhhh, I guess we’ll just take it one step at a time.”

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Hey y'all, Navi here! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I mentioned in the 17th month chapter how much of an inspiration @tigergirltail is and so we got the chance to write a collaboration story. You have no idea how much fun it was to write this chapter, and at this point I've almost completed the next chapter because Tigergirltail is too good at filling our brain with ideas. So thank you again for being so amazing, writing this collab with us, and for writing your own amazing series.

And thank you to everyone who read this chapter. Here's hoping the inspiration train keeps pushing along and maybe I'll have the next chapter out by Sunday/Monday. See you there.

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Mention list: @a-shramp, @calliecwrites, @be702, @respectfulevil, @hyacinthdoll1315

@aster-is-confused, @bloodandbrandywyne, @glitchgloop, @nyxthewary, @lunadook

[wandafiction]

I'm Her Wife - Part 1

Warnings: Little bit of angst, maybe getting arrested (but only for like a second or two), fluff

Today was Scarlett's birthday, she had invited her friends around for a small celebration wanting some company because you had told her you weren't able to make it. You had been sent on a last minute business trip, and as hard as you tried your boss had told you 'you're the best one for the job'. So after telling Scarlett you would make it up to her, you quickly packed and left her and Rose to get to the airport. Apparently you were trying to convince new investors to, well, invest in your company and you had 2 or 3 meetings a week each week with a new company. There were 4 companies in total.

You left two weeks ago. 

You and her have called and messaged each other everyday, Rose was always there with her because she didn't want to go to bed without you telling her a good night story. It was sometimes difficult because you were in England for this job, your boss wanted to go international with his logistical company. 

 You felt terrible. 

Of course you did. 

This is why you're currently in an uber on the way to your house. How? So one of the companies had double booked and hadn't realised until you showed up at the front desk, that night your boss got a very angry phone call; and you can only expect the company who cancelled on you did too. The last company had said that they had already given their answer and emailed it over to the person who was dealing with getting these meetings set up, after you phoned them to set up the meetings for two week in the future. That person had left a few weeks ago and never forwarded any emails onto her replacement. 

So now you were jetlagged, angry and just wanted to get home to your wife and Rose. You also wanted to try and get home before her friends turned up because none of them apart from Lizzie, who had caught you two in a make out session in Scarlett's trailer, know you are her wife. They know she is with someone because she will mention the words 'my partner' every once in a while, but they are respectful enough to not ask questions. 

However, traffic is awful and as your uber pulls up outside your house you can see movement through the windows of a few people inside. 

"Thanks." You give your driver a tight lipped smile, as you get out of the car and grab your suitcase from the trunk. 

You walk up the steps of the townhouse, picking up the sound of the party on the inside. Soft music playing being muffled by the windows and doors. You lean your head against the door taking in a deep breath unsure if you should enter or wait for everyone to leave. You didn't want to cause issues for Scarlett by just appearing home in front of all her work friends, but the feeling of your legs and body about to collapse from being so tired wins you over.

"It's fine I will just sneak upstairs." You whisper to yourself as you put your key in the lock and slowly open the door. 

You push it open slowly, poking your head through the gap to make sure no one is going to spot you. As you open the door you step into the house, lifting up your suitcase so it doesn't make any noise and put it down just inside the door. You turn to close the door, hearing the tiny click of the lock you lean against the door and let out a breath. 

"Now just to get upstairs." You look up the stairs which are just past the door to the kitchen where you assume everyone is. 

You decided trying to get your suitcase upstairs was not an option because it was heavy and it would hit every step. You removed your shoes and took a couple of steps forwards to just before the open door frame. You take a breath before quickly tip-toeing past the door making it to the bottom step you think you've made until a voice behind you stops you. 

"Hey! What are you doing?" You roll your eyes at the voice bowing your head as you don't dare turn around. "Hey, I asked you a question."

"I'm just here to see Scarlett." You know he wouldn't believe you, but it was worth a try you thought. 

"Yeah, good joke. Now tell me the truth." You feel a hand on your shoulder turn your body around and push you against the wall, the face you're met with is an annoyed looking Chris Evans. 

“It is the truth. Get your hands off of me and let me go upstairs.” You try pushing him off but his other hand moves to hold onto your other shoulder, and you hear the music turn off and see people walking out of the kitchen. “Oh for fuck sake.”

“Chris, who is this?” Robert asks, causing Chris to roll his eyes.

“That's what I am trying to find out.”

“Well, ask them then.” Robert replies in a duh tone causing Chris to grumble.

“I have asked them and they didn’t answer.�� You lean your head back, with a small bang it hits the wall and you close your eyes.

“Actually you asked what I was doing here and I answered that question. But my answer didn’t seem truthful to you. If you just call Scarlett out here everything will be sorted.” You hear a laugh and peek your eyes open to see Jeremy shaking his head walking up to you.

“You think we are going to believe that. The minute we turn our backs you're going to run.” Once again the back of your head makes contact with the wall. “And anyway, Scarlett isn’t here so that trick isn’t going to work.”

“Wait, where is she?” Your eyes shoot open as panic overtakes your being, all those small voices in the back of your head becoming very loud and telling you something bad has happened.

“Why would we tell you that information? So you can stalk her. Is that what you are? Some psycho stalker who’s managed to break into her house.” Jeremy scoffs a look of disgust painted on his face, and all you could think was of course she had invited some of the men around and she wasn’t here to defend you against them.

“Look, I'm not a stalker. I’m not breaking into this place, I live here. But I wont answer anything else because it's not my place.” The three men look between one another before Robert pulls out his phone.

“Yeah, I believe this bullshit. I'm calling Scarlett.” 

“Oh thank god.” You relax slightly, taking a small breath knowing that everything is going to be sorted but Chris gives your shoulders a gentle shove causing you to wince slightly at the force he is using to hold you against the wall.

“Hey Scarlett. Yeah, yeah everything's fine. Well no it's not. No, we havent burnt your house down. No, we haven't drunk all the alcohol. No, no Chris isn’t drunk out of his mind.” You chuckle to yourself at the one sided conversation you are hearing. “No nothing like that. Just, someone has turned up looking for you and none of us know who they are. Uhm, no they aren’t someone from the black widow set and they look too young to be someone from a previous film.”

“Damn right I'm young, I’m 25.” You whisper to yourself proud that he has at least got something right in his assumptions about you.

“What? Uhm, they are in sweatpants and a hoodie. That’s what I thought, who turns up to a birthday in sweatpants and a hoodie. No they are being pretty stubborn. Sure, no problem. See you soon.” He hangs up, turning to look at Jeremy.

“She isn’t expecting anyone else. Call the police so they can come and deal with this. Scarlett is going to be another half an hour.” You feel the color drain from your face and your heart stops beating for a few moments hearing the words leave his lips.

“On it.” Your eyes dart to watch as Jeremy uses his phone, walking into the other room to talk to the person on the other end while Robert moves to stand next to Chris.

“You’ve gone awfully quiet. Caught red handed and you don’t even have an alibi.” You bite at your lip wanting to shout that you're Scarlett’s wife but know that it probably won’t help and she isn’t technically out to her friends so you don’t want to do that to her either. 

“Where is she?” You ask quietly in hope that they would actually tell you. You know she is on her way and she is safe, but you just want to know where she is because she hadn’t told you of any plans she had apart from spending it at home with Rose. “Wait, where's Rose?” 

“Yeah, not happening. Fucking creep asking after a child and her mother even after she just told us she doesn’t know you.” Chris spits through his teeth, his grip not loosening. 

“I’m her wife.” You blurt out, your hand rushing to your mouth too late to stop yourself.

“Yeah and I’m the easter bunny.” Robert snarks back. Before you can reply Jeremy walks back into the hallway.

“Police are 5 minutes out.”

♤♡◇♧

“Please come with me ma’am.” The officer pushes your hands into the small of your back, the chain of the handcuffs clinking together as you start walking. “My colleague will read you your rights while I gather statements.” 

He makes you sit down on the edge of the hood of the car, his colleague who looks nervous makes his way over to you and you can tell instantly that he was a rookie. He clicks his pen over and over as he mumbles a few words to himself as his eyes dart left to right looking at his notebook. You roll your eyes, grumbling to yourself knowing everything will take 10 times longer because the rookie would have to retake everyone's statements for training purposes. You huff out a small laugh as he finally looks up at you and makes his way over. 

“I'm Officer Stevenson. While my colleague gathers statements, I'm going to read you your rights and then we are going to put you in the car and take you to the station.” You roll your eyes at his quick ramblings as he blinks rapidly a few times. 

“Read that word for word, huh kid?” The rookies eyes flick up to yours and you see him swallow harshly giving you a quick nod,

“Protocol.” You hum with a small nod rolling your head around letting out a long sigh before looking back at the rookie,

“Okay, give it to me.” The rookies' brows scrunch at your words.

“Give you what?” You raise a brow in an ‘are you serious’ look.

“My rights, of course.” 

“Oh, right of course. Sorry.” You chuckle as he clicks his pen a few more times, closing his eyes for a second then opening them to look at you. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions. You have the right to have a lawyer with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. If you decide to answer questions now without a lawyer present, you have the right to stop answering at any time.”

“Done?” You ask just wanting to get this day over and done with. You would get a phone call at the station where you could phone Scarlett and get everything sorted, the main thing on your mind was that you could have a nap in the holding cell while you waited. You were so tired. 

“Uh, yeah.” The rookie quickly puts away his pen and notebook moving to pull you off the hood. 

“Are you not going to get their statements?” The rookie quickly shakes his head. 

“No, my mentor does all that. Says I'm still too nervous to even ask the right questions.” You hum to yourself nodding in silent agreement to his question. 

“Right, so straight to the station then?”

“Yes ma’am.” 

“Please stop calling me ma’am I am only 25.”

“Sorry Miss.”

“Still bad but not as awful.” You see the rookie laugh a little before a glare from his colleague makes him clear his throat and start leading you to the side of the car where he opens the door. 

“Watch your head.” He places his hand on your head to protect it from hitting the top of the door as you slowly lower yourself in but a shriek causes everyone to stop and turn to look down the road.

“Mama!” You breathe a sigh of relief when you see Rose running towards you, with Scarlett and Lizzie following quickly behind.

“Mama?” All the men turn to look at you in complete shock as Rose makes it to the door of the police car looking up at the rookie.

“Why are you taking my mama away?” She asks with her bottom lip quivering, using her sleeve to wipe at a few tears. The rookie's mouth opens and closes a few times before turning to his colleague.

“Er what do I do now?” You let out a small laugh, his complete confusion being the thing that brings a smile to your face. 

“We wait to see if the woman can identify her and if they can, then we can let her go if there is no suspicious activity.” The rookie nods, giving you an apologetic smile as he helps you back out of the car. 

Before you can even react you feel a pair of arms wrap around you, the force making you stumble backwards a few steps feeling grateful that the rookie manages to keep you both standing up. You feel Scarlett mumbling against your neck as her arms move to wrap around your neck pulling your head down slightly as her hands play with your baby hairs. You shuffle on your feet a little trying to get comfortable since your hands are still handcuffed behind your back.

“Mommy, why is Mama being taken away.” Scarlett pulls away from you, a few tears in her eyes, to look at Rose who is hugging Lizzie’s leg; Lizzie running a hand soothingly through Rose’s hair as she looks down to her.

“They aren't honey. It is just one big misunderstanding.” Scarlett wipes her eyes turning to the rookie;s colleague who never gave his name. “She’s my wife. You can let her go.”

“Wife?!” The men all question at the same time looking between you and Scarlett. 

“Yes, wife. Hi Lizzie.” You turn your attention to Rose and her godmother who has lifted Rose up onto her hip allowing the girl to bury her head in her neck. 

“Hey Y/n. Good to see you still like surprising your wife with getting home early.” Lizzie smiles as she watches as the rookie starts to uncuff you. “I would say it’s an odd way to catch up but I seem to remember bailing you out before this too.” 

“It was one time. Are you really going to hold it over me the rest of my life?” Lizzie giggles with a nod.

“You attacked Santa, in the mall on christmas eve.” You quickly shake your head.

“Firstly it wasn’t Santa it was an elf. Secondly, thank you for bailing me out. Thirdly, the elf deserved it, he jumped at me out of nowhere and didn’t expect me to punch him square in the face.” Your arms fall to your side as they are finally released from the cuffs and you give the rookie a small smile in thanks.

“Silly elf.” You smile as Rose removes her head from Lizzie’s neck and Scarlett rolls her eyes at you all.

“That’s right. Silly elf. Now is your godmother going to put you down so I can cuddle you or am I going to have to chase her again.” Lizzie quickly kisses Rose's forehead and puts her back down on the ground.

“Sorry sweet girl, but your mama can be very scary when chasing after you.” Rose looks up at Lizzie who is keeping her eyes on you to make sure you don’t run after her.

“Excuse me children, I am still right here.” You take your eyes off Lizzie to look down to your wife with a wide smile.

“Surprise.” You say in a squeaky voice turning your body to try and avoid Scarlett's hand, but she is too quick and hits your shoulder before you can even react. “Ow! What did I do?”

“You got arrested.”

“Because your friends wouldn’t listen to me.” Scarlett looks to the man before quickly walking over to each of them and giving each of their shoulders a smack.

While Scarlet is dealing with the men, Rose runs over to you and you bend down to catch her in your arms, your hands lifting her closer to you by her armpits. Rose's arms wrap around your neck and you quickly stand up, her legs wrapping around your waist to keep her in place. You move your arms under her legs and butt to keep her up as she buries her head into your neck; her body shakes slightly against yours. 

"Honey what's wrong?" You start to bounce her up and down gently, swaying side to side when you feel a few tears drip onto your neck. 

"I thought I was never going to see you again mama.” Rose hiccups a few times as she tries to calm herself down as you wipe away a few tears with your thumb that are rolling down her cheek. “I thought the police were going to take you away.”

“Nothing will ever take me away from you sweet angel.” Rose removes her head from your neck holding out her pinky finger in front of your face.

“Pwomise?” Her bottom lip juts out into a pout as her still tear filled eyes look up to yours.

“I promise.” You link your pinky with hers and kiss the top of your thumb as Rose does the same. 

“Okay, okay. This is sweet and all, and I love you so much but what are you doing here?” Scarlett’s voice brings your attention to the other people around you as she stands on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on your cheek.

“Well I came to surprise you on your birthday. The trip was a bust so I had to leave early. I did try to get here before the party started so I could avoid….this.” You nod your head to the men who are still looking at you dumbfounded. “But traffic didn’t allow it, and me being me thought I could just sneak upstairs. I was wrong.”

“Well you’re home now and that is all that matters. Let's all head back inside and open a fresh bottle of wine, and enjoy the rest of the evening.” Scarlett rubs at her eyebrows, a sign you know means she is stressed or overwhelmed. 

“Of course my love.” You give her a quick peck on the lips before walking back up the steps to your house, Rose still clinging onto you. 

“Thank you officer and sorry for the inconvenience.” You chuckle to yourself when you hear Scarlett scolding the boys once more and seemingly ignoring their comments about how she said to phone them if there is a stranger in her house. 

♤♡◇♧

You and Scarlett are curled up on the love seat, Scarlett sat sideways in your lap with her head resting on your shoulder. Her fingers tracing softly at your collarbone as she smiles to herself. You look down to her, pressing a small kiss to her forehead before looking over to Lizzie who has Rose in her lap. The young girl starts to fall asleep in her arms as Lizzie soothingly rugs her back up and down.

Lizzie gives you a small smile, once she sees Rose’s tired state, standing up from the couch, holding Rose on her right hip and making her way over to the two of you. She leans down so you and Scarlett can both kiss Rose goodnight, you move your hand to place a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“Goodnight sweet angel.” Rose rubs her eyes with the back of her hand as she smiles tiredly at you.

“Goodnight mama.” She barely manages to whisper out before looking at Scarlett. “Night mommy.”

“Goodnight honey, we will see you in the morning.” Scarlett places one last kiss on Rose's forehead before Lizzie stands back up straight. 

“Come one Rose bud, let's get you to bed.” Lizzie whispers softly rubbing her thumb over the tired girl's cheek.

“Can you read me a bedtime story?” Lizzie smiles brightly, nodding her head.

“Of course I can, honey.” Lizzie plants a small kiss on Rose’s forehead before walking out of the living room and heading upstairs, you turn to look at the man as they all sit up straighter now Rose is no longer present. 

 “Okay so explain everything because I thought you were dating that colin dude. And Rose calls you mama as well meaning you must have been together a while, because I know for a fact she is from when Scarlett was with Romain.” Chris scrunches his brows as you and Scarlett look at each other frowning at his statement.

“You thought I was dating Colin? And yes Romain is Rose’s dad, but Y/n has been a better parent to her than he ever will be and she chooses to call her mama; so that's the end of that conversion right now!” Scarlett looks at you then at Chris. 

“Well yeah there were all those articles last year of you out with Colin for months on end. I think it's amazing that she sees Y/n as a parent figure.” Robert points out before sending Chris a glare for even bringing up the whole mama thing.

“He was helping us with the wedding. He was my best man.” Scarlett easily explains as she looks up at you and gives the underside of your jaw a kiss; she always gets very sappy whenever you talk about your wedding. 

“He was her best man. Lizzie was my maid of honour.” You add on with a smirk as the men once again look between each other.

“Why did Lizzie get to know, and not us?” Jeremy complains as he takes a sip from his beer.

“Because Lizzie is family….. And she caught us kissing in my trailer and trying to make up an excuse wasn’t going to work but she promised not to say anything.” Scarlett turns her head slightly to look at the men who are all rubbing at their foreheads trying to wrap their heads around it.

“How long has she known for?” You attention once again back on Chris who seems to think he is Sherlock Holmes getting to the bottom of a murder mystery case with all the questions.

“Since we officially started dating basically.” You reply nonchalantly with a shrug.

“And when was that exactly?” 

“31st of October 2017.” Everyone's attention turns to Lizzie who is leaning against the doorframe. “At a halloween party I had organised. Had to sell the bed once I found out how they had made it official once I caught them in their trailer 2 weeks later.” 

“Lizzie!” You throw a cushion from the love seat at the woman, who is laughing as she takes in the faces of disgust from the men, hitting her square in the face but it only causes her to laugh more.

 “I’m joking but they did make it official at the party after seeing each other for most of the month.”

“I thought you were going to read Rose a bedtime story?” Scarlett mumbles quietly as she moves to bury her head in your neck, a telltale sign she is getting tired.

“She was out like a light before I could even put her into bed. I would have been reading to the spirits if I did.” You roll your eyes pulling Scarlett onto your lap more as Lizzie squeezes next to you on the love seat putting Scarlett’s legs on her lap. 

“What’s this?” Robert points between the three of you, you and Lizzie shrug at his question as Scarlett mumbles quietly. 

“She's like a third limb, can't get rid of her. She sticks around even though she can be a pain in the ass.” You laugh when Lizzie hits your shoulder in reply to your statement and you hit her thigh in retaliation.

"She loves me really, she just has a weird way of showing it." Lizzie pokes her tongue out at you before looking at Scarlett with a soft smile. 

"Right although I have enjoyed meeting you all, apart from the whole getting arrested part, I think we should call it a night. This one needs her beauty sleep otherwise she is a monster in the morning and my wife needs my cuddles." Once again Lizzie hits your shoulder with a look of fake hurt. 

"She is not lying Liz, you are a right monster if you don't get your 8 to 10." You stifle a laugh as Scarlett mumbles into your neck, looking to Lizzie to see if she goes to hit her but you scoff when Lizzie simply shrugs her shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. I will make sure the boys get their ubers but I'm staying the night." Lizzie lays her head on your shoulder and you move a hand to weave through her hair smiling when you feel her relax against you. 

"Of course. That's why you have your own room here you know." Lizzie giggles as you look back to the men who all still look very confused. 

"So is this like one of those throuple things that the kids are doing nowadays?" Robert deadpans and you and Lizzie look at each other, with scrunched nose and a slight look of disgust, before looking back at the boys. 

"You seriously don't know who she is?" Lizzie eyes look to the three men in front of her who all shake their heads, before looking back at you in silent question. 

"Might as well get all the secrets out." Lizzie’s eyes search yours as you give her a soft smile and a nod so she turns to look back at the boys. 

"She's my younger sister." You press your lips together trying to hold in a laugh as once again the men's jaws drop. 

"Wait, she's an olsen?" 

"Well I'm a Johansson now, but yes I'm an Olsen." 

"Okay, okay. One more question and we will leave you all alone." You nod at Jeremy for him to continue. "How did you two meet?" 

"All thanks to Lizzie. She invited me to set one day, and I was excited to see this side of her life. I tried my best to stay away from the Olsen name because I knew I wasn't ever going to go into acting so I didn't want any spotlight on me. Anyway, she was in Scotland doing that scene with Scarlett, Paul and Chris. I was over there for a work thing so it was the perfect opportunity. I was watching the whole scene in the train station go down and when they called cut Lizzie ran over to me all excited and rambling on about how fun it was to shoot. As we were making our way back to her trailer we bumped into Scarlett and the rest is history."

"Wait, how did I not spot you while we were in Scotland?" Chris rubs his hands down his face in slight frustration. 

"It kind of hurts you don't remember me Christopher." You put your hand to your chest in fake hurt and his eyes shoot to yours with a wide smile. 

"Holy shit you the food truck girl!" You smile with a nod, ignoring all the questioning looks as Chris chuckles to himself. 

"Baby I want to go to bed." You turn your attention to your wife who has turned her whole body so she is leaning against you completely and you send the boys an apologetic smile. 

"Okay. That's enough for tonight. We can do this again some other time but Scarlett is almost asleep and I'm exhausted from a day of travelling." You slowly stand up wrapping your arms underneath Scarlett's butt to keep her against you. "It's been lovely meeting you all. Good night."

A chorus of goodnights echo around the quiet living room as you make your way out. Scarlett's arms wrap around your neck a little more, her head buried in your neck and she takes a deep breath. You smile to yourself when you feel her place small gentle kisses across the skin of your neck, nothing sexual about the act just simply showing affection. 

"I love you." You feel it on your neck more than you hear her muffled voice but it makes you smile all the same as you start climbing the stairs. 

"I love you too cuddle bug." She giggles at the name, as she wiggles about in your hold trying to get closer to you. 

You make your way into the bedroom, the door already open, not even turning around as you kick it shut with the back of your foot. You make your way to the bed, bending down until Scarlett’s butt is on the mattress and you untangle yourself from her Koala like hold on you. You bite your lip to hide a giggle when Scarlett’s eyes flutter open and a pout makes its way onto her lips. 

“Why did you put me down? I was comfy.” Scarlett complains tiredly as she rubs at her eyes with the back of her hand as your hands move to rest on her knees.

“We need to get you changed. You can’t sleep in your jeans and blouse.” Scarlett only nods as she moves her arms above her head and you raise a brow at the action but don’t question it.

Instead, you stand up and undo the few buttons at the top of her blouse before moving your hands down to the hem of the item and slowly pull it up and over her head; chucking it on the floor to deal with later. You snake a hand around her back unclipping her bra with one hand as the other tilts her chin upwards so you can plant a few kisses on her forehead causing her to smile tiredly up at you. 

“Which shirt do you want?” Scarlett flops backwards onto the bed as you walk over to the chest of drawers opening up your drawer, when you don’t hear a reply you look over your shoulder to see Scarlett already looking at you. “What’s got you staring at my love?”

“Just you. I just love you so much. I’m sorry you had to meet my friends this way.” You smile softly as you shrug your shoulders.

“I love you too darling, and it’s okay we were planning on telling them soon anyway. Today was just very chaotic.” Scarlett hums with a nod, her eyes flicking from left to right as you hold up two of your button up shirts.

“The blue one.” You put the other shirt away and make your way back in front of Scarlett. 

You chuck the top over her face, a cute giggle passing her lips as her tired arms try to pry it off. You laugh as she struggles to pull it away from her face, the collar of the shirt stuck on her messy bun. Leaving her to struggle with the top, you unbutton her jeans and start pulling them off of her legs which she starts kicking out when the jeans get stuck on her ankles. You stumble backwards a few steps as the jeans suddenly become free from being trapped around her ankles and you are blinded at the same time as the top that was stuck on her head is now around yours not missing the laugh Scarlett lets out.

You drop the jeans onto the floor, and with ease remove the top from your head earning a middle finger from Scarlett. You roll your eyes as you take a few steps forward, ignoring the fact she just flipped you off, holding out your hand for Scarlett to grab onto. Once she lazily hits her hand into yours, you hoist her body back up so she is once again sitting up and you start to put her arms through the sleeve holes of the shirt. You crouch back down in front of her and start doing a few of the buttons up so it will stay on her in the night but not too many buttons that it feels like she cant move in it. 

“Knock, knock.” Lizzie’s voice is muffled through the door as she lightly taps on the wood, the fact she also says the words makes you and Scarlett giggle.

“Come in.” Scarlett replies as she starts to shuffle her body up to the top of the bed as Lizzie opens the door with a soft smile on her face.

“All the men are off in their uber’s so should be getting home safe. I just came to say goodnight to the two of you.” Lizzie shuffles over to you, wrapping her arms around your torso and pulling you into a small hug.

“Goodnight sis.” You  mumble quietly once she pulls away from the embrace , you make your way into the ensuite to get changed as Lizzie makes her way to the bed.

You quickly get changed out of your day clothes and into a baggy shirt knowing Scarlett will be craving the skin on skin contact. When you enter the bedroom you see Lizzie practically laying on top of Scarlett both of them falling into a light sleep. You roll your eyes making your way over to the bed hitting Lizzie’s foot with your hand causing her to jolt awake sending a scowl your way when Scarlett  groans and grumbles about being woken up….again. 

“Firstly, she is my wife, get your own Lizzie. Secondly, you need to clean your teeth my love. Thirdly, she is my wife so go cuddle someone else.” Lizzie rolls her eyes as she stands up from the bed, flipping you off before leaving the room and quietly shutting the door behind her, as Scarlett rolls out of bed so she can go into the ensuite and do her nightly routine. 

You climb into the bed while you wait for Scarlett to be done, almost falling asleep with how long she takes. Or it could be because you’re jetlagged and feel like you could sleep for the rest of your life. Either way you barely wake up when you feel the bed dip, before feeling Scarlett lay herself gently on top of you. 

Her legs tangle with yours as her head rests on your chest, one of her hands rests at the side of your torso while the other is placed on top of your collarbone; her finger tracing along the prominent bone. You smile when you feel her press a kiss onto your clothed chest before her body sinks into yours. Just before you can finally succumb to your sleep Scarlett’s soft voice fills your ears, your hand instinctively moving to the side of her abdomen at her words.

“When do you want to start telling people that Rose isn’t going to be an only child any more?”

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

[wonik1ss]

Take My Heart — Minji

pairing : non idol!minji x reader

song rec : just friends - jordi

summary : y/n goes on a tour of a college not sure if she wants to go but Minji convinces her

a/n : should basketball ball Minji be next?

“Anyone in there?”. You snapped out of your daydream as you looked up to see your college guide.

“Yup sorry I zoned out..”

“It’s fine! Let’s continue the tour now though!”. As you guide turned around you sighed as you followed them. This college had everything but somehow nothing at all. Maybe it was your guide or maybe the lack of one.

While to an onlooker you were getting a tour you really were just having someone point and name things before they moved on. No interesting facts or dates to be excited about just plain old facts.

“And here’s the cafe! Do you wanna get anything? I have to talk to one of my professors so I’ll be back!”. You were about to nod yes but your guide had already ran away. You sat and observed your surroundings. The cafe was small and cozy kinda reminded you of the one in friends. It looked and felt like a place you could just get lost in a book in.

Or someone’s eyes. Specifically the girls who just caught your eyes. Your eyes grew wide as the alluring girl looked you up and down and then smiled. You quickly tried to look busy while you heard a laugh and foot steps.

“Are your new?”. You looked up to see a girl in a letterman’s jacket hovering over you. Was it just you or was it getting hotter..

“Yes.. but no..”. The girl tilted her head in confusion giving you a better view of her face. Aphrodite blessed her good.

“I.. I’m just here on a tour..”

“Oh.. so you liking the school so far?”

“Not really.. all I’ve seen are old statues and places..”. The girl smiled and licked her lips before she went down into a squat.

“I bet you’d like it more if I toured you around”. You looked down trying to avoid the girls gaze out her finger tipped your face up so now you were staring at her square in the face.

“I.. I guess..”

Now that’s how you ended up holding hands with a girl you didn’t know across the college campus.

“That’s we’re Rina almost got a arrested and where Ri-ki tried to water board Jungwon”. Your eyes went wide as the taller girl laughed.

“There all fine thought don’t worry”. You blushed as the girl squeezed your hand and continued walking.

“I mean if anything you should go here only for the food! It’s delicious I swear!”. You tuned in and out of the tour. Seeing as this beautiful girl just whisked you out of a cafe and now onto another tour.

“Ok so anything else you wanna know?”. You both now sat on the grass the taller girl still slightly hovering over you.

“How’s your.. Merch!”

“Spectacular I mean do you see this jacket?”. You laughed as the nameless girl told stories about the weird things that happened at the school and why you should go there. You ended up completely forgetting about your other tour before you checked the time.

“Oh shit..”

“Oh.. do you have to get back to your half assed tour?”. You giggled while the taller girl helped you up.

“Ya.. it was nice talking to you though.. I loved your tour!”. The girl smiled but it slowly turned into a smirk.

“Take this.. as a souvenir!”. Your cheeks went red again as the girl handed you her jacket.

“Take my heart..”

“What?”. You thought you said that under your breath so you stood stunned.

“I mean I would gladly but can I have a reason first?”. The girl giggled at your stunned face as she got closer. Your heart beat quickened as she whispered in your ear.

“But I got tell you I won’t give it back”. You slightly smiled.

“Y/n! Where have you been?!”. You turned to see your guild your apologized saying you “didn’t know where the bathroom was”

“And Minji showed you?”. You nodded as your previous guide smiled.

“So you do want to tour people Minji”. The guide teased as Minji rolled her eyes.

“I got to go see you next year Y/n”. Minji winked as she ran over to a group you assumed was her friends as you stood smiling like a little kid.

“I see she got your heart too”. Your guide giggled as she started the tour again.

Let’s just hope Minji doesn’t give it back..

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Risky Business: Part One

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.2k

Summary: The repercussions of being in prison finally take a toll on you. You're yelling at everyone, short and curt, and you're in a constant state of wanting to cry. Will this bitter cycle ever end?

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

"Life is a game, play it. ... Life is too precious, do not destroy it." - Mother Teresa

Spencer makes two cups of coffee in the break room with an extra shot of something good for you. He looks over at you to see you staring at your computer with a far-out look in your eyes. He hates this. He hates not being able to help you. Screw going to prison. He doesn't care that you didn't let you see him. He cares about what it's doing to you. Maybe it's best if you didn't let him see you. Maybe he might have seen something worse in your eyes. 

He walks over to you and holds out the coffee for you but you make no move to grab it.

"I made you some coffee." You shake your head in response. "I promise you'll like it."

"Spencer, I said I'm fine," you snap.

The only reason your being short is because you're so fucking tired. Spencer doesn't let this bother him and leaves the coffee by your desk. This is breaking your heart. You hate this. You hate treating him like this when he doesn't deserve it. Prison ruined you and you're letting it affect everyone around you.

You watch Spencer go back to his desk and you sigh. You open your mouth to say something to him but you decide against it. You grab the coffee and taste it. Damn, this is good coffee.

JJ walks into work and passes by both your and Spencer's desks. She would stop by and say hi but she's on a mission. She approaches Hotch's office and waits for permission to go inside.

"I'm not sure what we have here, but I just got a call and some case files from Sheriff Samuel in Uinta County, Wyoming. Six nights ago, two different teens were found hanging In their bedrooms. Trish Leake was dead when she was found. Ryan Krouse was revived on scene but then died a few days later in the hospital. I know we don't handle suicides, but the previous Friday, two more boys a few towns over were found hanging on the backs of their doors."

"Four successful suicides in the same rural county in a week? That's way above the national average."

"I know. These kids don't fit the pattern. None of them had drug or alcohol abuse, no antidepressants, and no prior arrests. These are just plain good kids who decided to hang themselves at approximately the same time on a Friday night." Hotch doesn't say anything so she continues. "When someone feels trapped in what feels like a hopeless situation, pulling the trigger or swallowing pills or hanging yourself seems like the only way out. None of that seems to exist here. Something's wrong. Hotch, I can feel it. Look, all these events happened on a Friday. It's Wednesday. We're not on another case right now."

"Alright," he nods. "Generate an equivocal death investigation and get everybody on the jet. We will determine whether these are homicides or suicides. Even if they are suicides, there's definitely something wrong here."

When you get the news from JJ about the case, you meet everyone on the plane. Penelope is going with you for this one because Hotch knows there is a connection between these victims and the internet. She'll be useful going with you.

"Sir, it's not that I'm not glad to be coming with you, because I am, but I just don't understand the why."

"One of the aspects of an equivocal death investigation when suicide is a probability is an indirect personality assessment. Our victims are all internet-generation kids. There should be invaluable personal data on their computers to mine for the evaluation. If they committed suicide, evidence of it will be in their cyber world."

"So, I'm gonna snoop through dead kids' computers?"

"This plane seldom makes pleasure trips," Rossi chuckles.

"We've all been over the files. Let's talk about victimology," Hoch says when you're in the air.

"Okay, all four kids were decent students ranging from different neighboring towns but in the same school and the same county. All were active in sports and the community. Their families were intact with no mental disorders and no precipitating events."

"These are just average good kids. There has to be some underlying issue," Derek says.

"Besides relative proximity, there's no obvious connection between any of them. It seems to rule out an overt suicide pact."

"The first few days leading up to a teenager's suicide are usually very telling. Their behavior is transparent. There's a multitude of indicators," Spencer explains.

"Yeah, but the most common don't exist here," JJ argues. "There are no prior attempts, no period of deep depression, no withdrawal from family members, and no spontaneous proclamations of love."

"Spontaneous proclamations of love?" Penelope asks as she gets out her knitting stuff.

"Sometimes a suicidal person, in the days leading up to the act, will just blurt out 'I love you' to family, sort of like a goodbye. We'll start with the latest two victims. If they were suicides, let's find out what drove them to it."

The plane ride is going to last around four hours so Penelope knits to pass the time, and Emily takes out some sort of puzzle that piques Spencer's interest. It's a weirdly shaped 3D puzzle that can be taken apart and fitted back together. She takes it apart so that all the pieces are on the table.

"What's that?" he asks.

"It's called a star puzzle. It's basically impossible to figure out. You have to put all of the pieces back together to form a perfect star." Spencer grabs a piece to examine it. "The origin of it is kind of a romantic tale." Derek, Rossi, and Penelope listen to the story from their seats. "There was this young prince who wanted to win the heart of the fairest maiden in the land. He climbed to the top of the tallest tower in the kingdom and caught a falling star for her. Unfortunately, he was so excited that he dropped it. It smashed into all of these pieces so he frantically put it back together again to prove his undying love to her. He succeeded and they lived happily ever after."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"What do you mean?"

"You can't catch a falling star. It would burn up in the atmosphere."

You love Spencer. His words almost make you smile. Almost.

"Yeah, but it's not literal, Reid. It's a fable."

"There's no moral. Fables have morals."

"Okay, so it's a romantic little story. The point is, it's basically impossible to do because you have to take all of those pieces and put them together exactly--" As she talks, Spencer puts the puzzle together easily. He slowly puts it on the table and she sighs. He seems proud to solve it. "There's a lot to hate about you, Dr. Reid."

"Play poker with him sometime," Derek smirks.

"Try playing chess with him," Rossi says.

"Or Go," Penelope chimes in.

Spencer's spirit is dwindled a bit and you look at him to see a slight frown on his face. He feels a twinge of sadness. He knows his teammates are annoyed with how smart he is sometimes. However, feeling that sadness comes from him sets you off. It's your anger. It's how tired you are. You're letting it control you.

"Like you guys are any better," you snap at them. You look at Penelope. "You are always too happy." You look at Derek. "You always have some snarky comment to everything." You look at Emily. "You try too hard." You look at Rossi. "You are arrogant. We all have our flaws so leave him alone."

That sends an uncomfortable silence in the plane. You scoff and put your headphones in so you don't have to listen to them anymore. You're lashing out because you're hurt and scared.

"Sorry," Emily mumbles.

"No, don't be sorry," Spencer sighs. "She's waking up every night screaming and covered in sweat. She's scared and she's not getting any sleep. She didn't mean it."

"What the hell happened to her in there?" Emily asks quietly.

"She won't talk to me about it," Spencer shrugs. "She's writing in her notebook a lot but that's it. I hope therapy will help her because it's killing me to see her this way."

If you were at any other job on any other team, you'd be fired right now. They are doing their best to work with you and you're making it so difficult right now. No one says a word about what happened on the plane even after you landed.

"Hello, I'm Rhonda Samuel," the detective greets you when you get to the station.

"Hi, I'm Agent Jareau. We spoke on the phone."

"Thanks for coming out. My county's getting pretty shaken up. I got this reporter who won't stop calling. I'm holding him off but he's connecting the dots on the number of suicides. Should I call him back?"

"No, not just yet. We need to be very careful about when we release this information. Sensationalizing these deaths may cause a domino effect on other kids."

"The term is suicide contagion," Spencer says. "The spread of suicidal thoughts among a group of people that sometimes results in copycat acts. It's especially prevalent in teen cases, and studies suggest that media coverage is sometimes associated with more deaths."

"Is there a good place for me to set up?" Penelope asks.

"Yeah, but I don't have much of a command center."

"Oh, fret not. I have my own command center. I just need your juice."

"You got it," Rhonda nods.

"You're with me," Hotch says to you. "JJ, we need to interview the victim's families. We should start with Trish."

"They are expecting me to show up at their house. I'll gladly give that conversation to you."

"Come on."

Hotch is the boss. You and JJ follow Hotch to Trish's house to talk to her parents. There is nothing that suggests she was depressed from outside her house.

"Please, come in," Trish's mom says when you get there. She leads you into the living room where her husband is. "I can't believe she's gone. She was so excited about graduating high school next year. She couldn't wait for her SATs."

"Was Trish dating anyone?" you ask.

"No."

"Billy Sullivan," the mother says at the same time as the father.

"Is that who she's--"

"Yes," the mother sighs.

"What is it, Mr. Leake?"

"She ran up over $100 texting last month. We grounded her and took away her cell."

"Not we. Me. I did that. Why didn't you tell me she had a boyfriend?"

"Because you would have freaked out."

"No, I wouldn't."

"You are right now."

"Not because she had a boyfriend, because I may have caused--"

"Mr. Leake, if your daughter committed suicide, it wouldn't have been because of some punishment," JJ butts in. You sigh at her choice of words. If. "It's so much more complicated than that."

Both the mother and father look at each other and then at her.

"If?"

"Excuse me?"

"You said 'if' she committed suicide."

"Would you mind showing us Trish's room?"

"Sure. It's this way."

You look at JJ who looks guilty for suggesting that her daughter might have been murdered. You walk into Trish's room and see remnants of herself inside the room. She studied. She hung out with her friends. She got ready for big events. There is no indication--physical or spiritual-- that would suggest she was depressed. Not even close enough to take her own life. She was happy.

"Well, she certainly was accomplished," Hotch says when she notices her trophies and awards.

You grab her journal and start to go through it. Maybe there is something in here that will give you some sort of clue.

"There's nothing unusual in her diary," you say.

"Do you really have to go through all her personal stuff? She was such a private girl," the mother sighs.

"We are terribly sorry to have to do this. We care about Trish, and we want to make sure this doesn't happen to anybody else's daughter."

"Mr. and Mrs. Leake?" JJ stands by the entrance to the bedroom. "There's a form I need you both to fill out. Can you come with me?"

"If you need anything, please let us know."

"Thank you."

The parents follow JJ out of the room, leaving you and Hotch alone.

"There's nothing indicating that she was depressed here. She was a happy girl. I can feel it." You cling to that happiness and soak it in but it doesn't help you feel better. "Those poor people."

"I just hope we haven't made it worse for them."

"Could we? The personal touches show she was comfortable here. Not to mention what I feel and see. She's a low suicide risk if I've seen one. It's pretty obvious Trish had everything to live for."

"Maybe Garcia will find something on the laptop that we're not seeing here."

"Okay." You're about to leave the room and pause. You have to get this out. "Hotch, I'm sorry. I know I seem like such a disappointment to you."

"You're not. I can understand what you're going through. You have to realize we're only here trying to help so yelling at everyone isn't going to get you anywhere."

"I know," you nod sadly.

"I am more than happy to give you more time off if you need it."

"I'm afraid I won't come back if you do. I have to be here. If I'm alone, I'm reminded of that time."

"Okay. Please let me know if you need anything."

"Okay," you whisper.

x

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[chiefdirector]

Talking | Tim Bradford | The Rookie

Act One | Chapter 16

I’m in a&e (er for my American friends) so y’all are getting a chapter early

"So, Detective Bradford, what evidence led to the arrest of my client." Wesley asked, pacing back and forth, arms crossed behind his back. He looked at (Y/N) expectedly.

They had been going over trial preparation for the last hour or so. In exchange for his services, (Y/N) brought a take out for them, as well as Tim and Angela. The other two had retreated into the kitchen to have some beers so as to not bore themselves to death.

"The operating detective arrested Mr. Smith of the claim of him being found holding the murder weapon over his dead fiancé."

"That proves nothing. Could he not have just picked it up in the heat of the moment? It must have been pretty traumatic for him. People act irrationally in moments of crisis."

"He could've but he didn't." (Y/N) rebutted, leaning further into the couch. "He practically confessed."

"There's no "practically" about it, detective. Either there is hard evidence that my client did this or you have arrested an innocent man going through one of the most terrifying things that one could experience."

(Y/N) flicked through the case file she had been given to build her testimony around. The acting detective hadn't been all too thorough as they were sure it was a clean cut case. Letting out a small "ha!" She smugly presented Wesley with a sheet of paper. "Here you will find the prints we ran on the gun. Only one set, belonging to Mr Smith. Any more questions?"

"No more questions at this time," he said, finally sitting down and reaching for the beer Angela had brought through to him a little while back. "You did good. Just keep that energy up and you'll be fine."

(Y/N) sighed, "You think? Court was never my strong suit."

"Yeah. I'd challenge you in the courtroom any day."

"No thanks. This was hard enough." (Y/N) laughed, leaning her head back to look into the kitchen, watching Tim and Angela bicker about something. "You wanna call them through or should I?"

"Actually," Wesley stood up, "I should probably get her home before something stronger comes out. You know how those too get."

"Oh god, don't remind me."

It didn't take long for Wesley to gather Angela up and make a quick departure. Once Tim had closed the door behind them, he made his way back into the kitchen where (Y/N) had begun to clear up. Dishes were stacked up high in the sink and bottles littered the counters.

"God, how much did you drink," she said, turning to face her husband. "It looks like the remnants of a brewery made a home here."

"Hardly any and not nearly as much as Angela, I always forget how much that woman can drink." Tim moved forwards, pacing his hands on (Y/N)'s hips, bringing her body into his. Softly he kissed her, "Leave all this for tomorrow."

"And what will we do now," she said, leaning in to kiss him again.

Quickly, he moved his grip on to hold her waist. Swinging one arm under her legs, he picked her up bridal style, moving towards the bedroom. "I can think of something."

- - - - -

"You look happy," Angela teased as she walked over to (Y/N)'s desk. "Too happy."

(Y/N) didn't look up to respond to her, knowing the direction Angela wanted this conversation to go. She didn't want to humour her friend but she also knew that if Angela wanted to do something, it would happen. "Can I not be happy? Is that against the rules?"

"Not at this time in the morning you can't." She said moving round the desk to lean over (Y/N)'s shoulder, now whispering. "Somebody got laid."

(Y/N) let out a breathy laugh. Shaking her head, (Y/N) continued to type. "And someone's trying to live vicariously through me. Having a dry spell, are we?"

"Not at all. But as much as I like talking to you about this, I have a suspect on the store robbery; his name is Damian Barrett. I'm sending Harper and Nolan to bring them in..."

"Right, okay? What do you need from me?"

Angela smiled,  "Nothing. I just wanted to say 'hi.'"

"Bullshit," (Y/N) leaned back in her chair, finally turning to face Angela who had decided to perch on the surface, "Also, that isn't a chair."

Lopez rolled her eyes as she got down. "I do have a reason for coming here though. Patrice is on my case about this wedding."

"And Patrice is...?

"Wesley's mom." She took out her phone, scrolling through her messages to show (Y/N) "This is just from last week. I need help."

"Don't ask me, Tim and I almost eloped. A lot less fuss and mess." (Y/N) smiled as she absently played with her rings, "I say go to the courthouse and throw a party or something after."

"You're wedding was lovely. How did you do it?"

"I didn't have much to do with it. It was all Grey and Tim."

Angela raised her eyebrow, "Sargent Grey? Sargent Grey as in the Sargent Grey who works here and was your boss helped plan your wedding?"

"Yeah," (Y/N) said, smiling as the memory came back to her.  "Grey nearly lost his head when I mentioned eloping. Something about how it would be a 'tragedy' and that it would happen over his dead body."

"Great," Lopez sighed, moving back towards her desk. "You are no help."

"Hey," she laughed, "You asked me!"

- - - - -

It was only mere moments after Angela had returned to her own desk did she approach (Y/N) again, this time her easy-going demeanour had hardened into something more serious. She had their shared case file tucked under her arm. 

"Harper and Nolan found our friend and put in interrogation. He's waiting on us. Seems like bad news, but like I said, he's only a suspect and we have got nothing concrete. We're going to try for a confession," Angela said, taking off, not leaving (Y/N) to question her any further.

With a small sigh, she got up to follow Angela to the interrogation room. She was going to let her take the lead, it was her case after all, she only came onto the case as a consulting detective. Besides, by the looks of the case, (Y/N) thought it may be an easy win.

Act One | Chapter 16 | Chapter 18

Series Masterlist | Masterlist

Tags: @xceafh  @kmc1989  @buba424 @salty0cracker @iamasimpingh0e @malindacath @agentred27

Tags are open :)

[crazyk-imagine]

Backup and Retired Agents

Pairing: Kai Holman x Female!reader

Characters: Female!reader, Jane Tenant, Kai Holman, Lucy Tara, Jesse Boone, Ernie Malik

Warnings: Fluff, classic ncis hawaii things, mentions of murders, weapons use, reader making stupid decisions, Kai being a simp, angst, fluff, reader running into danger, Jane shipping reader and Kai, Jesse and Lucy being siblings, Ernie being an icon

Word Count: 2,453

A/N: I tried finding ncis: hawaii fics and uh- nothing came up so, here we are

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

You lean against the wall, pulling out your phone to call the one person you know can help.

"This is Tenant," she says, walking past her teams desks.

"Hey, girly."

She tilts her head, taking in your hushed tone. "You don't sound fine, everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah. I get into town for a brief meeting and then I'm being held down because some assholes want to-" You duck further into your hiding spot at the sound of footsteps. "Kill me."

Her shoulders tense up as she heads straight for the teams meeting room, already spotting them. "Where are you?" She places her phone on the table with everyone listening in, confused about their boss’s attitude. She gestures to Ernie to track the call.

"Abandoned mansion, I think?" You groan and grab your gun. "Jay, if anything happens-"

"Nothing's going to happen. We're going to find you."

"Not before they find me. I'm gonna have to split." You hang up and slowly step down the stairs. "Ernie?"

"I got her location but you're not going to like it."

"Why?"

"Isn't that where the drug dealers were?" Lucy chimes in.

"What is she doing there?"

"Based on the timeline of where the phone has been within the last two days, I'd say this is a kidnapping."

She sighs, knowing as soon as she saw that last name, she should have called you.

-

"Jesse, Lucy, you two take the front. Kai with me." Jane carefully steps ahead, searching all blind spots.

Kai grunts as his back hits the wall, bringing his arm up to elbow the guy punching his stomach.

Jane pulls the attacker off him and takes him down, giving Kai a few seconds to catch his breath.

In a team effort, they’re able to knock the man unconscious.

"We need to keep moving, we've checked every other room except the-"

The grunting and groaning of fighting drew the two into the kitchen.

You slide into the hallway, landing at her feet. You pull the emergency knife out of your boot and chuck it in the attacker's direction. "Tenant, get down."

She ducks as she and Kai pull you out of the doorway.

"Someone needs to go around back so we can catch this son of a bitch," you order the two.

"I'll go around back, you two stay here," Jane speaks to the two of you.

"I got nowhere else to go!" As soon as she rounds the corner, you look over your shoulder. "You cover me," you tell him.

He shakes his head. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Keep sight on my back then." You charge into the kitchen and tackle down to the main guy who grabbed you from the airport.

Kai pushes himself off the ground, following you. He wonders how someone as risky as you could know someone as collected as his boss.

As soon as you're pushed out of the way, he grabs the guy and brings his elbow up before digging it into his back and then raising his knee to aim for his ribs.

Kai is kicked away, landing on his back, staring up at the ceiling while trying to catch his breath before he can help you.

You jump onto the guy’s back, wrapping your elbow around his neck.

You’re thrown over his shoulder and he set his boot on your neck. You struggle to keep the weight off you, kicking your feet the more you lose air.

"Freeze NCIS."

You don’t think you’ve ever been as excited to hear someone being arrested more than in this moment.

He removes his foot and places his hands on the back of your head.

"You plan on getting up any time soon?"

You shrug, "nah. I like the ground, it's my friend."

Lucy and Jesse glance at one another.

Kai holds his hand out for you to take.

"If I must." You grab his hand and misstep, gripping his hand tighter as his other arm wraps around your waist. "Woah, little lightheaded, thanks, cutie." You turn to your longest friend and ex-coworker. "Jay, we have a lot to talk about."

"Damn, right we do."

-

You two walk down the hallway, to the front door. "If it makes you feel better, I'm only here to see you and save my family. "

"What do you mean?" She wonders if you know what happened to him.

"He got involved in drug running, wanted out once he met his girl. They didn't like that, especially when they knew his sister was in the navy and had connections to take them down. I came down when they called, and said they needed my help. What's a sister to do other than come back from an early vacation to save them."

"Then you got grabbed and called me."

"Yeah."

"What else can you tell us about the people who grabbed you?"

You glance around the room, checking over each of her teammates. "They were assholes, " You blurt out.

Everyone but Jane tried to cover up their humor.

"Anything that can help us find the rest of the crew."

" Yeah, actually." You reach into your pocket. "This was in the trunk where they kindly shoved me."

"This matches the stuff we found a few days ago," Jesse adds. "Why was your brother involved in this?"

"He's an idiot and needed the money. Everybody knew he couldn't hold a job. Mom was hard on him once dad left and it was just her. He got into trouble, I was the one who saved him and was someone he looked up to."

"He wanted out and the boss wasn't happy. So, someone knew he called you and what happened then?" Jane asks.

"He disappeared," you tell them, not divulging into any more detail than that.

"You find him?"

"No." You run your hand over your face. "That's why I came here in person."

"We can help you."

"I don't want you or your team to get in trouble."

"You called to help and that's what you're getting."

You purse your lips. "And you all agree to this?"

"Anywhere Tenant goes, we go," Jesse tells you.

You let out a nervous breath. "Okay."

-

You should have listened; you should've stayed put when Jane told you to.

But you don't regret your decision though because going in and getting your brother's daughter is worth getting a fist in the gut, maybe you'll say this after (if you make it out).

-

Jane calls for you in the ear comm, "Pinstripe, what's your position? Hey, pinstripe. What's your position?" She sighs, "does anyone have eyes on her?"

Ernie calls Jesse, "uh- guys."

"What's going on Ernie? We're a little busy right now, we lost her."

"Yeah, thing is, her brother isn't there."

"What do you mean?"

"He's been dead since he tried getting out of, well, this."

"Then why is she here? Why drag us into it?"

"They killed his girlfriend when she got to the island and have been blackmailing her because they have his daughter."

"She never told us he had a kid."

"That's because he didn't want anyone to know in case this would happen. They were both trying to prevent the girl from getting involved. She thought she could save them both but when they killed his girlfriend, she knew it was only a matter of time before they came for her."

"Why not go for his sister?"

"At the time she was deployed but since then, she’s put in a notice for an early retirement and cleaned out her savings so-"

"They could run."

"Or put her up for adoption while she sacrifices her life for the family."

"Does Tenant know?"

"You were the first person I called because everyone else's phone is off... and I was hoping you would answer."

"Okay, anything else before we go in?"

"Nope, go save the day."

"Tenant?" He calls for her through the comm.

"What is it?"

"She's in there for her niece, her brother's been dead for the last four months. They killed his girlfriend two days ago."

"She's-" she sighs, "how many in there?"

"Four total, two hostages."

"On my count. Jesse, you go through the front. Lucy, side way. Kai, you're with me."

The two make their way round the back and slowly step towards the open back door and enter the room.

Jesse and Lucy have the two in cuffs by the time you noticed back up arrived.

You groan as another punch lands on your stomach.

Kai and Jane step behind him. "Hands up, NCIS.”

The guy doesn’t move.

“Drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head."

You're grabbed and held close to him, the cold metal pressed against your head. "Drop it or she dies, like her brother."

You clench your jaw at the words.

"You've already taken the family, isn't this enough?" Kai asks, taking a small step forward.

The guy hold you stretches his arm out, giving the two the opportunity to shoot him.

Jane steps towards the man and kicks his gun away before checking his pulse.

You stare up at the ceiling.

Jane gestures for Kai to stay with you while she checks on the others.

"You okay?"

"Just peachy, almost died twice but peachy keen."

"Yeah, but just think you're still here to see your niece grow up."

"I mean, yeah."

"That's something to look forward to."

The corners of your lips twitch, "you're right."

-

"You should have been honest."

"I could handle it."

"You almost died, twice."

"Maybe that was a distraction."

"I know how you work."

"You would have gotten my letter about my death plan."

"That's not funny."

"It's not meant to be but it does mean, I only trust you."

"And I appreciate the sentiment behind that, but this is about your life. You almost died today and lied to me."

"I did, I'm sorry about that but you understand why I did it."

"I do but that doesn't make it right. I want you to talk to me and trust that I can help you."

"I do, believe me, I do." You rub your hands over your face, "I just- I didn't want your family to lose you because you're there for them. I didn't- I didn't want to be the reason you died if you helped me."

She reaches across the table, holding your hand. "It would have been my choice and not your fault. You know we work together because we have each other's backs."

"I," you sniff. "I don't know what to say."

"We can start off with thank you and then... I can ask what's going on with you and Kai?"

You wipe the corner of your eyes before furrowing your brows. "What?"

"Kind of tall, perfect for you. You called him cutie, I think?"

"The one that pulled me up. He's adorable but not ready for a girl."

Jane purses her lips, tilting her head. "He is and I think he likes you."

"What makes you say that?"

She smirks, raining a brow. "He's staring at you from his desk."

You glance over your shoulder and watch as he quickly busies himself with fake paperwork before turning back towards you, catching your gaze, and turning away again. You sigh and move in the chair, turning back towards Jane. "He's not going to want to get with a single aunt."

"Never judge a book by its cover."

You roll your eyes, "I'm pretty sure I was the one who said that to you."

"And how does it feel to have your words thrown back in your face?"

"Not nice at all." You leave her to finish her paperwork and whatnot, deciding it's time to get your new life started. You grab the car seat and start walking down the walkway, stopping when your name is called. "Yes?"

"Wh- are you heading home now?"

"Actually, to a hotel, at least, until I find a home for us," you gesture to the sleeping girl.

"Right, right. Uh- well, did- did you have any plans for dinner?"

"Not particularly. Why? You offering?" You ask jokingly.

"I mean, if you really want to."

"Okay, before I say yes or no. I have one thing to say, and you need to listen."

"Okay."

"Do you really want to go out with me? Even if it's just for dinner because my life has changed, and I don't want to drag you into this."

"Hey, hey. I know things have changed for you but just because you're going to be taking on the role of a guardian, for a little girl who is lucky by the way, doesn't scare me."

The corner of your lips twitch, "good answer. I'm afraid we're going to need to do an at home dinner."

"That's fine by me."

"Hey," Jane sticks her head out of the door. "Alex and Julie are home right now, I told them I'm sending you over just for the night until you figure something out."

You narrow your eyes to her. "Convenient."

"Very, see you later. Kai?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Keep them safe."

He glances at you and gives his attention back to her. "Of course."

"That's what I like to hear."

-

You two share a nice meal together while figuring out how to take care of a growing baby. "I can see why my mom sent you two over."

You turn to Alex, "what makes you say that?"

"For one, the house has a happy vibe to it and what better place to have a first date than with her homemade spies."

"You tell her everything?"

He shrugs, "maybe, maybe not."

"You can't bargain with me, kid. I worked with your mother."

"Fine but don't expect me to keep quiet about this."

"I know we're going to have a long chat in the morning."

-

You gently close the door behind you, not wanting to wake up your niece. "Tonight was fun," you put your hands in your back pockets.

"It was."

"This suddenly feels awkward," you chuckle.

"A little but I think this was- today was crazy but I'm happy to have met you."

"Thanks for lifting me up when you did."

"It was no big deal."

You take a deep breath, "I guess I'll see you at some point tomorrow?"

He nods, "definitely."

The longer you stare, the bigger the smile stretches across both your lips.

You lean in, giving him a hug. "Take care and get home safe, okay?"

"Always."

You pull back and peck him on the lips before making your way back into the house.

You lean against the door, tracing your lips. "Oh god. Oh god. Oh god!"

"Well, that was adorable."

"Shut up, Jay." 

[autocrats-in-love]

Can i please request again "Someone's in denial" part 4? i wanna see what happens😭 Your writing's so amazing and though of course i'm curious, there's absolutely no pressure if you don't want to❤️ Have a nice day!!🥧🍧

Someone's in Denial (Part 4)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

The villain’s car pulled up outside an old-looking home in a quiet neighbourhood. A bit run down, but nothing about it suggested it belonged to a criminal mastermind. Even the car had camouflaged itself as something older and dustier.

“Can it turn invisible, too?” The hero asked, undoing their seatbelt. 

“It’s supposed to, but I’ve never gotten it to work,” the villain said, giving the car a pointed look as they closed the driver-side door behind them.

The car whirred, seemingly annoyed.

“You have not tried.” The villain responded.

“Uh, this is all great, but shouldn’t we-” the hero pointed to the house. 

“Right.” The villain said. “Come along.”

The hero followed the villain to the door. The villain slotted a simple key into the keyhole, turned it, and opened the door.

The villain kicked off their sneakers--the agency randomly grabbed a pair of shoes from their closet before arresting them--and swept their hand out grandly.

“Welcome home, sweetheart.” They said.

The hero smiled despite themselves. They had left their diary in the car. They didn’t want the villain to be able to grab it and flick through the pages. They went to sit on the couch as the villain went past them to the kitchen.

“We should be safe, for now,” the villain said, looking for something in the cupboards. “Ah, here we are.”

The villain held it up for the hero. It looked like a small, red button. They pushed it. Nothing happened. The hero looked around, expecting to see or hear something.

“What did that do?” the hero asked. 

“I forget, but-” the villain tossed the button on the counter and walked into the living room. “-I remember thinking it was really important when I made it. So I push it whenever I come here.” 

They sat down next to the hero. The hero looked them over and was suddenly very self-conscious. They hadn’t had time to think about what they were wearing, with the kidnapping and the interrogation and the escape and the being shot at. But they had been arrested early this morning, while on a walk. They were wearing leggings and a very loose fitting t-shirt. The villain, on the other hand, had on ripped jeans, a tank top, and a zip-up hoodie they were in the process of pulling off. 

“Are you alright, there?” the villain said, amused.

The hero took their eyes off the villain’s shoulders.

“You said we would talk.” The hero said.

They rubbed their sweaty hands on their lap. The villain fiddled with a ring on their thumb.

“Yeah, I did.” The villain said.

They took a deep breath. The hero’s heart raced. They stared at the villain. They were always staring. Chronically obsessed with everything their enemy did. The villain would often stare back, usually with an entertained look on their face. A smile that the hero knew was for them alone. Now, the villain was looking at the floor.

“Do you remember last year, when I broke your ribs?” The villain asked.

“Uh. . .yeah,” the hero said, a bit confused. 

“You complained about it so much. You still had to fight me, and every time it looked like you were losing, you would whine about how I had an unfair advantage.”

“It was the worst time, too,” the hero said. “We were short on replacements and I was in the middle of moving house.”

The villain glanced up at them and smiled, genuine and sweet. 

“It was so cute.” they said.

The hero’s cheeks heated.

“What?” They asked, flustered.

“I know I love to joke, but wow, was it adorable.” The villain rubbed the back of their neck. “I kind of knew I liked you already, but I thought about you all the time after that.”

Everything was fine. The hero felt like they had just been lit on fire, but everything was fine.

The hero pulled on the fabric of their leggings, trying to keep their smile from getting too wide. 

“Really?” they said. “Interesting.”

The villain rolled their eyes but didn’t stop grinning.

“Alright, your turn.” They said, nudging the hero. “When did you realise how cool I am?”

The hero thought about it for a moment. “There wasn’t a single event that made me like you. It was a whole lot of things. I can’t really pin anything down.”

“And yet you’ve spent the last few years pretending to hate me.” the villain said.

“Yeah, so I didn’t lose my job! You don’t have anyone to answer to. I have at least a dozen superiors who wouldn’t react kindly to this news. And look, they didn’t!” The hero said.

“I can’t believe they want to kill you.” the villain responded.

“Me neither, honestly.” The hero ran a hand through their hair. “I knew they would have a big problem with it, but not enough to execute me. I never thought that clause would matter.”

“What clause?” the villain raised an eyebrow.

“In our contracts, there was something specifying they could-” the hero made a throat-slitting gesture. “-if we switched sides. I didn’t know this counted.”

“Your agency is messed up,” the villain said.

“I’m starting to get that vibe,” the hero responded.

The villain took the hero’s hand. It sent sparks of electricity all through their body.

“I promise I’ll stay with you. Protect you. It’s my fault.” The villain said. “We can just lay low for a while.”

We. The hero was on a high they hoped to never come down from. They shrugged.

“I guess. If you’re going to make a big deal out of it.”

They leaned in and kissed the villain. Their companion enthusiastically returned it. Their hands were running through the hero’s hair and gently holding their waist. The hero felt another blush coming on. It didn’t matter. The villain couldn’t see it. Even though the hero knew there were agents combing the city for them, they couldn't help but feel that all was at peace.

THE END

[stemwriter]

Pursuit of Knowledge - Chapter 4

Summary:

[Y/N] continues Act II of Mondstadt, finds out the worst thing about not having the ability to control time at will, and, along with Kaeya, takes a well deserved rest. What's something else that happens in Act II?

That's right! The Diluc trial run. Still, even that should be "normal", right?

Completion of story recommended: Akasha Pulses, the Kalpa Flame Rises (Sumeru Act V), Shenanigans and Sweet Wine (Kaeya hangout)

Also on Ao3 under StemWriter!

Word count: ~8k

You were part of the story now, weren’t you? No matter if the world your avatar was in was made from earth and sky or 1’s and 0’s, you were influencing it regardless. At this point, it’d probably be best to just go with the flow, but you had been thinking about what major event you would want to change, and you really hoped everything would stick to the script long enough to enable you to do that. Even if it meant you would end up upsetting people by hiding things from them.

The four of you hung around in the tavern for a bit just thinking, until Venti finally said to you, “Ah, [Y/N], it should be getting close to time now. Shall we get going?”

You looked at your phone to see the time. It was about 15 minutes past 6pm. It was time. “Oh- right, yeah, we should!”

“You two have somewhere to be? Since Kaeya and I have nothing more to talk about up here, I suppose I can go do other things. If you need me, I’ll be working the bar for a while.” Diluc said, crossing his arms.

“Everyone’s leaving already? Well then, I’ll be taking my leave as well.” Kaeya said, heading towards the stairwell.

He hung around for a second, seemingly expecting someone to say something, then left.

“Come on [Y/N], let’s go! Our prize is waiting for us!” Venti tried to make it sound like you weren’t about to try to steal a divine artifact, and become wanted criminals. 

Oh right, you were going to see Diluc again after this! You should probably give him a little hint on what’s going to happen.

“Alright, we’re going to go now.” You walked up to Diluc, and began whispering. “Hey Diluc,” He looked at you. “I promise it wasn’t us, it was the Fatui.”

He looked at you in confusion.

“You’ll get that later. Anyway, bye~” Your tone sounded a lot like Venti’s at the end there. You sighed internally when you thought about that.

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

“Alright fortune-teller, what’s going to happen?” Venti asked, eager to get a response from you. For some reason, it almost seemed like he already knew, and was just asking you to see what you’d say.

“Well… We’re not going to get arrested, I can tell you that. At least, not if we do this right.” You didn’t want to tell him it wouldn’t work.

“Is that all you can tell me?” He whined. “Fine, let’s go in.” He pouted after saying that. “But you have to tell me more later! I want to see how much you know!”

You went back in the Cathedral with him, making sure to be quiet. He stayed behind while you snuck your way to the Holy Lyre. You made sure to be very careful there, assuming the guards were actual people, and not the dumbest A.I. you’ve ever seen in any modern game. You looked at their movements on your way in, and they… still seemed robotic. Were they still AI? They can’t be, right? You looked at the face of one of the guards, and while his face had a few more polygons than the NPC’s you saw in the regular game, he had a blank stare as he paced back and forth. That’s… something to think about later. You kept going through the basement, avoiding being seen.

During your attempt at burglary, you remembered your soundboard. You hadn’t used that in a bit, and you knew a good moment to use it again is coming up. You got that ready as you made your way through.

As you entered the room with the lyre, an Electro Cicin Mage steals it, and teleports out. Wow! What a surprise! Thankfully, you just got teleported out of the building too, because you weren’t sure you could go back through the basement without getting caught.

“We’re busted! Run!” You and Paimon said at the same time.

Venti looked a bit confused for a second before leaving with you to the tavern. You made sure your soundboard was ready.

*Benny Hill theme*

The goofy music was fitting, considering the wind tunnel things you assumed he made threw you into the huge statue in the middle of the plaza, as well as the roofs of several buildings. Your grand escape wasn’t very graceful, but you made it safely. As you busted into the tavern, Venti gave you a weird look.

Next thing you knew, you were talking with Diluc again. Right before you headed upstairs, you decided to remind him of what you’d said earlier about the Fatui. In the version you remembered, he trusted the Traveler enough to not turn them in, but you still wanted to make sure he didn’t turn you in here. You listened as two Knights rushed in.

“Ah, Master Diluc. Have you seen two thieves around?”

“...What happened?”

“Haven't you heard, Master Diluc? Two thieves were trying to steal the Holy Lyre!”

“Oh? How odd… any ideas on who the culprits could be? Fatui, perhaps?” He remembered. Yes!

“We don’t know, Master Diluc. One appeared young, was dark-haired, and dressed in a teal green, and the other was… blond. We’re putting up wanted posters now.” 

You still didn’t know how they got so much from Venti and yet couldn’t describe Aether as anything else as “blond”.

“I believe they headed that way.” Diluc said, pointing out the door.

You went downstairs to talk to him, Venti running ahead of you. Diluc already seemed tired of Venti’s attitude, assuming he stole something. Not the Holy Lyre der Himmel, but a bottle of alcohol.

You forgot the Traveler and Paimon hadn’t met Diluc yet. Sure, you have, but they weren’t you. Thankfully, Diluc understood enough to where a quick “Ooohhh, right, they haven’t met you yet!” was enough to get the point across. He continued as you remembered, sneaking in an expected bash at the Knights at the end.

Diluc really didn’t like the Knights, huh? You understood that he felt that way because of trauma and stuff, but you wished he had a more… positive attitude about things like that. There weren’t any therapists in Teyvat, were there? Oh! New idea! Become the therapist. Were you qualified? Probably not. But at this point, anyone for these people to talk to would help. You sat back and listened to Venti’s stunning performance again, this time without the fancy cutscene to go with it. Diluc looked awe-struck, probably the same way you did when you first heard it.

You agreed to meet after midnight, when the tavern was closed. Great! Another six hours to wait! …That rhymed, didn’t it.

“Alright, I don’t really have anything to do, so I’ll probably just eat something and take a nap. Bye, see you later!” You said to them, leaving the tavern. You found a corner to log off, and left your bedroom to go “take care” of yourself. 

Your eyes hurt a bit from looking at the screen for so long, and your stomach growled with hunger. You’d been online for a good 7 hours, and you only now realized just how much you needed a break. Well, time flies fast when you’re having fun! ‘Was all of that really fun though?’ You asked yourself, before immediately pushing that thought out of your mind to go eat a whole family-sized bag of potato chips. Self care!

You snacked before… gracefully falling asleep, yeah, that, on your couch for a nap that would end up lasting way longer than you anticipated. 

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

As it turns out, falling asleep on an uncomfortable couch after binging on junk food isn't the best for the human body. You woke up on the floor, nauseous, and somehow even more tired than when you fell asleep, and you decided to go in the bathroom just in case. You checked the time on your phone, and it was already close to midnight. Thankfully, the nauseousness went away and you didn’t have to get worried about getting sick at the worst time possible. You washed your face, and headed to your bedroom to meet the others in the tavern.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before [Y/N] had left with Venti, they said something that Diluc had no clue what it meant until those Knights came running in, looking for the thief who stole the Holy Lyre. He had chosen to believe [Y/N] when they said they could basically see the future, and this only proved it more. 

The question was no longer if they were telling the truth or not. It was how to proceed. He had some time to spare while they waited until the tavern closed. He needed to investigate this on his own. “It was the Fatui”, [Y/N] said. If that was so, then he should start where all the Fatui in the city seem to stay. He headed to the Goth Grand Hotel, preparing for a search for answers.

He hadn’t seen Kaeya at all. He was normally still out and about at this time. Did he actually wrap things up at a decent hour? Or was he up to something?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Kaeya left the third floor of the tavern, he was hit with a wave of exhaustion. He was planning to stay in the tavern for a bit, and possibly wait for [Y/N] and Venti to do whatever they needed to, but he desperately needed rest. He left the tavern, beginning to walk to his room in the Favonius Headquarters. Wait, couldn’t he use the waypoint there? [Y/N] had taught him how earlier that day.

It was at the highest point, wasn’t it? He just needed to visualize the area, imagine himself there. Just feel it, and…

And there he was. He almost fainted from the sensation paired with his exhaustion, but he made it. He glided down to the door on the roof, and entered the building. It had been a long day, hadn’t it? He entered his room, took off the bits of armor he was wearing, and promptly passed out on his bed.

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

He woke up in the middle of the night for seemingly no reason. Everything told him that he wasn’t supposed to be up right now, but he didn’t feel like he could fall back asleep. He sat up, and realized how bad he felt. He was drenched in sweat, his hair was a mess, and his eyepatch had shifted, making his right eye visible. He quickly adjusted it. There wasn’t anyone else in the room, right? …Of course there wasn’t. 

After a quick shower, he changed into a clean uniform, minus most of the accessories. It wasn’t worth the time to put all of that on for the little he was planning to do. He figured he wouldn’t need it, since he could easily hold his own in a fight, should he get in one, but he decided to bring his Vision with him. 

He left the building, being careful not to make too much noise, and realized he had no destination in mind. Had the tavern closed yet? Ah, it probably had, it’s not worth it. Is it? Again, something told him to just forget stopping by, but it wouldn’t hurt to check, right? He planned to stop by the tavern to see if it was open, and if it was, to get a drink before leaving the city. After that? You know what they say in Mondstadt:

“Let the wind lead.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venti couldn’t believe Master Diluc wouldn’t serve him any more alcohol, especially when he was going to be in the tavern, in a room filled with wine barrels for so long. He was alone now, so maybe he could sneak just one more sip without him noticing… But that wouldn’t prove he was trustworthy now, would it? And besides, he wasn’t that addicted to it to where he couldn’t go a few hours without it. For now, he just started to come up with his latest ballad to pass the time.

Or at least he was going to, but he just couldn’t stop thinking about [Y/N]. From the very beginning, they knew who he really was. At first he thought it was because they recognized his voice from when he helped them battle Dvalin, but they supposedly have knowledge of future events. He was wondering how much they knew, but they wouldn’t tell him much at all. It seemed like a weird way to phrase it, and they acted like they knew a lot more detail than he did, but if they really were telling the truth, were they too, aware of the s-

Venti heard Diluc open the door to the room on the third floor. He immediately looked around at the wine barrels, making sure they weren’t touched. Good thing he didn’t try anything!

“Ah, Master Diluc, you’re back! Any news on the Holy Lyre?” Venti perked up. He already knew the answer to that, but he wanted to get the conversation started.

“It’s not where I thought it may be, in the Goth Grand Hotel, but I… persuaded some Fatui members to tell me where it is.” He adjusted his left glove.

“Well then, are we only waiting for [Y/N] and the tavern to close now?” Venti asked.

“That, and I was thinking of contacting one more person to help us. I know it’s late, but hopefully she’ll understand…” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Diluc stopped by the tavern to close up and check on Venti, and quickly set out again to find some others who could help. It was getting close to time, but he should be able to get someone. Hopefully Jean wouldn’t be too preoccupied with her work…

He opened the door to leave the tavern, and saw Kaeya walking away. Had he not gone to rest? Kaeya turned around after hearing the door open, and looked at Diluc with that same smug expression as always.

“Diluc, you’re still here? And here I’d thought everyone left already… I came for a drink, but I won’t bother you if you’ve already closed up.” He started to turn back around to leave.

“Hold on. I haven’t put everything away, you can come in for a bit if you’d like.” He could help right? Even though Diluc didn’t exactly get along with him very well anymore, he couldn’t deny that he got things done when he needed to.

“Oh, where’s this hospitality coming from? Do you need something from me, is that what this is?"

“I think you’d be useful to us here. I’ll discuss it with you more inside.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Diluc said he was going to contact people to help them, but Venti didn’t expect him to be back with help this soon.

He heard two sets of footsteps coming up the stairs, and then there were three in the room. The help he had found was Kaeya, who sounded almost… shy, like he didn’t feel like he should be there. When questioned about it, he got a little nervous and insisted it was just insomnia. From the looks of it, he thought he could cover up his emotions with clean clothes and perfume. Venti played along with him, changing the subject to what they were going to do next.

“So Diluc, where exactly did you say the Holy Lyre was?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You turned on your console, opened the program, and watched the celestial pathway for a while. It had been sitting there for quite a bit now, huh?

Verifying file integrity…

Why was that taking so long? 

Almost as soon as you noticed it, it went back to its normal speed, and the doors appeared. It probably wasn’t anything to worry about, but it scared you at first. You thought your game finally realized something was wrong, and was just going to either fix itself, and sever your connection to this Teyvat, or ban your account.

If you remembered correctly, Venti, Diluc, and Jean should be waiting for you inside Angel’s Share. You knew Jean couldn’t hear you, but you wondered if she would notice your avatar’s robotic movements. Apparently, she didn’t back in the Knights headquarters, but who knows? Maybe she just wasn’t paying much attention.

You walked in to an empty tavern, but after a few seconds, Venti jumped down from the second floor, landing right in front of you. He looked around, and you made Aether jump a couple of times.

“The mysterious [Y/N] has finally returned! Ready to go? Master Diluc can tell you where we need to go. Or, perhaps you already know?” He said, smiling.

He wasn’t going to stop bringing that up until you told him every little detail, was he?

You sighed, and said “Yes, I know. It’s near Springvale, isn’t it?” 

You had basically just woken up, so your voice didn’t sound the best, but you hoped he wouldn’t notice. Diluc came down the stairs, followed by… Kaeya? Did he come instead of Jean? That wouldn’t drastically change anything, right? Wait, was that why it took so long to load? Because the story had changed? This wouldn’t drastically change anything yet, right? No. It can’t. Not yet.

Diluc looked at your avatar, and answered, “You’re right about the location. If we’re all ready to head off, we should get going.”

Venti turned to you, you, not your avatar, and questioned, “Everything alright, [Y/N]? Is there something bothering you?” Did you sound nervous when you answered him?

“Yeah, I just took a nap, and… I didn’t exactly sleep well. But that shouldn’t matter too much, let’s go.”

You briefly explained to Venti and Diluc how you were able to teleport, and that they should be able to do it too, and then you all were at Springvale in the blink of an eye. Venti acted like it was nothing new to him, while Diluc was… fascinated, to say the least. Kaeya had to explain to him that yes, that feeling of having your soul torn from your body was normal for this.

Diluc had quite a bit to say about it.

“Those waypoints are all over Teyvat… If the wrong people learned how to use them…” He looked in the direction of the hideout. “That could spell catastrophe worldwide.” 

At one point, you had noticed Kaeya had a different shirt on. Or was it the same one, just with less of the flamboyant stuff on top of it? It was nice seeing people in different outfits, instead of the exact same clothing 24/7.

As you all stood at the entrance, you thought about what was in this domain. This was the one where you had to ask a bunch of different Fatui agents where the key to a door was, right? …And it was the one with the Diluc trial, wasn’t it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Add another thing to the list of [Y/N]’s powers… Not only could they possess others at will, and suddenly make people stronger, and tell the future, but they could teleport anywhere in Teyvat they wanted to. And apparently, anyone could do that last thing. Diluc was surprised no one else had found out about this, and frankly, he was glad. There was also something else he didn’t know about yet. The other two kept looking at a spot a little above and behind [Y/N]’s avatar when they were talking to them. It felt like something was there, but he couldn’t see anything. He doubted it was a secret, since chances are, they wouldn’t be doing it in front of him if it was, but he hadn’t had a chance to ask anyone about it yet.

He was about to go in the hideout with everyone when [Y/N] gasped, and said they needed to tell him something.

“Hey,” they began. “I know I probably should have told you this earlier, but remember what my system did with Kaeya that one time? Or, I guess technically two times, but whatever- Just, that thing where it forces someone into my team?” They sounded very tired saying that. He knew they had just woken up, but he felt they were also just… annoyed by that happening.

“Yes. It happened less than a day ago. …Why are you bringing this up now?” 

“So- I- Look, there’s nothing I can do about it, at least, not now. Maybe I can eventually figure out how to fix this, but-”

He sighed. "...I’m about to be forced into your control, aren’t I? You don’t have to tip-toe around it, I guessed that as soon as you brought it up. If you can’t do anything about it, do you at least know how long this is going to take?”

He trusted them, right? As far as he was aware, they hadn’t lied to him yet, and they were warning him beforehand. Still, it felt like he barely knew them. Should he trust them with his body? Did he even have a choice?

“Give me a bit, and I can check, but it shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes.”

“You make it sound like you can check any little detail with the snap of your fingers.” 

This was a very specific event of the future they were talking about, but it would just take them a minute to check it? They’d done it before with that letter, but he had no clue how. Either that meant they were a very talented hydromancer, or they were getting their information from some other power or source.

“Oh, uh, I kind of can, except I have to do a little more than just snap my fingers. I type the thing I want into a device, I find the media I want, and then I have it. Sometimes it’s pretty hard to find said media, but I can pretty much find anything you could ever think of. Aaaand here’s the thing I was looking for! One more second…”

“You have a device that allows you to view information on anything you want? I guess that sounds about right if your world also has the technology to see the future of other worlds… I’m sure you already know of this, but we have something called astrology that allows people to see the future using the stars. Does your technology take advantage of that?”

“I’ll tell you more about the device later, but no, the technology my world has doesn’t use that. Astrology does exist here, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work the same as it does in Teyvat. People in my world use it to give people ideas of what may be yet to come in their lives, but here in Teyvat it’s like astrologers can see fate itself. …Anyway, I think we’re getting off track here. Going off of what I’ve seen, it’s going to take a little over 10 minutes, give or take. It might be a little longer because I’ll be focusing more on your safety than getting through it, or it might be a little shorter because I have others to help me now. Are you fine with that?”

So it’s not astrology… What is it, then? …Whatever. They’re right, they’re going off track. 10 minutes shouldn’t be too bad, especially with others watching over him to make sure [Y/N] doesn’t do anything harmful. It’s not like he had a choice, anyway.

“That’s… fine. Just try to get it over with quickly. It’s fine if I get a few scratches, just don’t kill me.”

“Alright, I guess we’re ready to head in. I’ll check to see if the guards in there can hear me. If not, great, but if so, I’m… gonna need to rethink things.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…How were you going to explain to them what a phone is, and what the internet does? That’s a question for another time, but it still made you think.

You’d let Diluc know what was about to happen to him, and you just needed to tell everyone your plan, at least for this first part.

“One more thing, as soon as we go in, there’s going to be a rotating bridge with those cylinder torches or whatever they’re called on one side, and a clear path on the other. Once the bridge flips to the clear side, there should be just enough time to get all the way to the other side if we run like hell.”

Venti thought for a second before responding with, “Wouldn’t it be better for me to just… make a wind current at the start? Then no one has to worry about spinning bridges and torches at all~”

Oh. Right. You had others to help you. He could make a wind current and you could just. Skip over it. 

“...Yeah, that might be better. I guess I’m so used to having to rely on my own skillset here that I don’t realize others can help. Also, I’m probably just... tired. Anyway, after that first room, there’s a… door with a guard who acts like he’s about to piss his pants, but after that, there’s a big room with a bunch of smaller rooms inside and we’re going to have to find a key to move on. My question here is, should we split up or stay together while we search?”

Diluc was the first to chime in this time. “Normally I’d suggest we split up, but under these circumstances, it’d be better to stick together in case something goes wrong.”

“Alright.” You said. “We’ve been standing here for a while, I think it’s finally time to go in.”

Diluc adjusted his gloves, and you all went in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, Kaeya gets to witness [Y/N]’s powers of possession; except now, he isn’t the one experiencing it.

After everyone entered the hideout, Aether had vanished, and Diluc, now wearing a Fatui mask, stood in his place. Something about this whole situation seemed… familiar, for some reason. Nothing like this had happened before, right? …It’s probably just déjà vu. 

“Come on, let’s just get this over with.” [Y/N] said, nudging Diluc forward.

Now, Diluc had the same slightly-inhuman movement Aether had when [Y/N] was using him as their “avatar”. He was somewhat used to seeing it on Aether, but it was strange seeing Diluc move like that. When he was under their control, he could only move his eyes, and now, he couldn’t even see Diluc’s, as they were covered by the mask. 

Venti did as he said he would, and made a fairly large wind current to carry everyone over. He made it look incredibly easy. If it wasn’t for him hearing other Anemo Vision bearers talking about their experiences, he would have thought that was something anyone could do.

At first he thought [Y/N] had been hiding something from him, but he had a feeling they weren’t. Something was certainly… different about Venti. He couldn’t merely be just a wandering bard. Until Kaeya found out who he truly was, he figured he would stay on guard around him.

Diluc- No, [Y/N] walked into a small opening, thinking there might be something in the room it led into. There was a chest inside, guarded by 3 small Electro Slimes. They made quick work of them, unsurprisingly, but they weren’t paying attention to the fight, instead focused on something else.

They left the room and headed to a large door guarded by a very nervous-looking Agent, just as [Y/N] said. They went up alone to talk to him, and switched avatars to the Traveler, who was also wearing a Fatui mask. The Agent did not seem to notice the change.

“No, NO! Don’t eat me! Ah? You’re… You’re human? The entire floor’s defenses… have been broken. I thought it was the Abyss Order attacking…” 

[Y/N] said “Hey,” testing whether or not he could hear them. No response at all. They chuckled a bit, and he could swear Aether said something, though he couldn’t hear anything.

“AH- No, do- We hi- The place- I don’t kn-” 

“This guy-”

“Y-you- One of the Ele- Signora-”

The Agent pointed his sword at them in both fear and anger, still shaking, still not noticing the person he was speaking to change forms in front of him. So to get the key, they have to venture further in, also just like [Y/N] sai- Wait a minute, did he actually hear that guy say any of that? He definitely heard him say the floor’s defenses were broken… and then [Y/N] checked if he could hear them… and then they laughed for some reason… and then about 5 seconds later, the conversation was over. Something must have happened; there’s no way he could have said that much in that little time. He looked at where the man was again, only to see that… he was gone.

Kaeya turned to [Y/N], who now seemed nervous, and simply asked, “... Did you notice anything unusual there, by chance?”

“...Shit, you did notice. Uhhh, so remember when you first met Aether and you didn’t know his name until I told you because you didn’t hear it even though you knew what was said? I might have done the thing that does that again.” 

Which was what, exactly? They hadn’t explained it yet, but now wasn’t the time to get an explanation from them, so he reluctantly decided to move on from that.

They opened the door and though he couldn’t see her, Paimon decided now was the time to ask questions.

“Did he say Signora? What a strange name…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaeya had described to Diluc what it felt like, and although it did feel exactly as he described, he definitely wasn’t used to it. He felt something watching him that he didn’t feel before, but when he looked in its direction, there was nothing there. He didn’t think much of it, as Kaeya had mentioned something like this to him. It was likely where [Y/N] was looking at Teyvat from.

[Y/N] talked to a guard, and for that conversation, he was thrown out of his body, now watching the Traveler from a similar position [Y/N] was. Was this how they saw the world? Strange, but again, exactly what Kaeya described. 

Other than that, Diluc didn’t notice anything off with the conversation, but Kaeya apparently did. Diluc wasn’t the type of person to miss things, so he knew something weird was happening when [Y/N] responded to him in a way that practically confirmed something was off. He made a note to himself to ask them about that after this was over with.

He didn’t understand how that fairy thing- Paimon, was talking. Where was she?

“Number 8 of The Eleven. Goes by the name Signora. The fact the Fatui can run amok across the seven nations like they do is entirely because of The Eleven.”

That was his voice talking. Was that what he sounded like? …Whatever, it was just another thing Kaeya had told him about. He had been surprisingly reliable so far, but he still wondered if there was something important he was leaving out.

They entered a large hall, with a large door at the opposite end and two rooms on each side. There was a mechanism in the center that needed a key, and it presumably opened the large door. …If [Y/N]’s system hadn’t taken control of him, everyone could search one room on their own. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, so it was better they stayed together.

They first searched what seemed to be a storage room. No one was there, so they searched every nook and cranny without interruption. At least, until a few Pyro Slimes came out of nowhere, which his abilities couldn’t provide much help with. Sure, if everything was normal, he could use just his sword instead of his Vision, but…

Kaeya and Venti made quick work of the slimes, since Venti could make a massive wind vortex to suck all the slimes in. No key to be found in there. They moved on to the next room, which stood a single guard. He seemed to stop paying attention to anyone other than the Traveler once he started talking to him. The Traveler tried to convince the guy he was part of some alliance and wanted to “borrow” the Holy Lyre, but he obviously didn’t believe it, especially not when he offered a single apple in exchange for it.

A Cicin Mage appeared, and they fought. His Pyro abilities would actually do something here, but [Y/N] still wouldn’t engage in fear they would hurt him too, with how Pyro and Electro interact. It ticked him off a bit. Fight. He told them before they all went in, it was fine if he got a few scratches, just fight, don’t just run around like a headless chicken. Did this have anything to do with them being a pacifist? She’s already attacking you, just defend yourself. Fight. It’s an easy opponent, he could easily take care of her if he could just- fight. 

His body stopped for a second, then pulled out a sword he’d only seen in legend, sending off a fiery phoenix at her, setting the blade ablaze. Was he back in control?

[Y/N] screamed, before going completely silent. Diluc heard something fall to the ground with a clatter, and could feel someone watching him in fear. Was that the point Kaeya and Venti were looking at?

He still couldn’t do much. He was only able to mimic the same few repetitive motions, and even those were incredibly difficult. Every movement felt like breaking out of chains. But still, he pushed. How was he able to do this? Kaeya couldn’t escape it after hours, but he could do this after minutes? The mage was defeated, and [Y/N] finally spoke up again.

“I didn’t do any of that. …Diluc?”

He tried to move more freely, but he couldn’t do anything except that same moveset. How did he even do that? He looked around, trying to get the attention of someone, but he realized he was wearing a mask. He had no way to communicate with anyone. 

“I… I don’t know, maybe my controller just glitched? Let’s just keep going.”

…There goes any hope of being able to break out of it. He shouldn’t have thought it was that easy. Still, how was he able to control himself at all, even if it was just for a few moments?

They checked the last room that was downstairs, which had a chest with a few Cicins around it. Just like the other enemies here, they weren’t an issue at all. Thankfully, the key was in the chest, and the group managed to open the door. [Y/N] said there was one more fight, and then they could get the Holy Lyre, and this whole thing would be over.

“Hey, you wanna know the guy's name?” [Y/N] asked. They sounded more and more tired by the minute.

“You know his name?” Kaeya scoffed. “If you know that much, you might as well tell us what he says to us.” 

He was acting as if he didn’t believe they really could see such things, but he obviously believed it. He was just saying this to squeeze more information out of them, wasn’t he?

“Oh my god, fine, but I’m not going to be able to do stuff like this all the time. First of all, his name is, I hope I’m saying this right, Zamenhoff…? And as soon as we go in there, he says- wait should I do the voice? I’m doing the voice. ‘Where did you rats scurry out from… Signora is not going to tolerate this kind of interference in our affairs. So I'll be the one to take care of you - save her the trouble of having to deal with you herself.’ …I’m sorry. I think I need to go back to sleep.”

That was probably the least professional telling of the future he’s ever heard, but as they walked into the last room, it turned out to be accurate, just as everything else they’ve said has been. They were audibly exhausted, and he could only think of one time they’ve taken something completely seriously. Should he have let them take control of him? It hadn’t gone too horribly yet, and it was almost over, but he started to get a little nervous. 

They entered the fight, and once again, he tried to perform those repetitive moves. [Y/N] was actually fighting this time, but he wanted to contribute something as well. They didn’t seem to notice anything was off this time. The Agent was defeated, and finally, he was fully in control of his own body again. He immediately let out a large sigh. 

“Signora is going to end you. The songs bards sing of your demise will be so terrifying - the people of Mondstadt will never sleep again for the nightmares they give them.” Said the Agent, now escaping. [Y/N] mocked him while he was saying it, speaking at the same time as him, but in a far more dramatic tone. 

They mocked Paimon too, even trying to match her high-pitched voice. He will admit he found it a bit funny, but he kept a straight face, unlike the other two, who couldn’t help but chuckle. She shot them a look before vanishing again.

“You alright?” [Y/N] asked him.

“Well, I’m not dead, so that’s something.” That… definitely could have gone better.

“So… Back to the tavern now, right? Wait, Venti, aren’t you still wanted?”

“Ahh… That may be a problem… But can’t we just teleport back?” Venti sheepishly said.

“We can only teleport to waypoints, at least as far as I know, and the nearest waypoint is right next to the plaza with all of the shops. I know it’s literally the middle of the night, but I don’t think we can be sure there won’t be anyone out. I don’t want someone seeing people appear out of nowhere.” [Y/N] had a point. Doing that when someone was near may have consequences.

“So I suppose we’re walking, then? I’ll walk ahead, and make sure any Knights patrolling at this time are… looking the other way.” Kaeya said, already going ahead of everyone else.

No one said a word for a bit. Venti had a slightly worried expression on his face, as if he was hoping whatever plan he had would work. [Y/N]’s avatar had that same expressionless face as always, which was… creepy, sometimes, but they seemed like they weren’t paying attention to anything now. Normally Diluc wasn’t one to break the silence, but he had something to say now.

“That wasn’t an issue with your controller earlier, [Y/N].”

“...Hmm?” They replied. They sounded… completely out of it. “So you did that? How?”

“I don’t know. I hope you don’t take any offense to this, but your… pacifism doesn’t exactly suit the way I do things, so, I broke out of it, in a way. I wasn’t able to fully break it, but I managed to do something.”

“So the solution to breaking out of it… is to just break out of it. Wow…!” They sarcastically said, before walking their avatar into a tree.

“I don’t mean for it to sound like that. I’m guessing I had enough willpower to resist your system a little. Again, not all the way, but I think I was able to at least do what you could.”

“That’s so weird… I think I’m gonna have to set aside some time to take a closer look at my system and figure out what’s up sometime.” They yawned. “But definitely not tonight…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…God, you were tired. What the hell had happened in that domain? Somehow Diluc had managed to fight against your system, and do a bit on his own. How? No clue, but it was a nice surprise. 

You remembered that quest on that far-away island that you couldn’t finish the first day. After this, maybe you could beg Venti to take you there so you could finally finish it. There was still about… what? An hour and a half? before you were able to continue it. Yeah, never mind, screw that. There was no way you’d be able to stay awake that much longer. That nap just made you more tired. Guess that quest’ll stay unfinished…

The four of you finally got back to the tavern. Thankfully, Kaeya managed to keep any Knights from seeing you. You pulled up the Wiki again, and found your way to the page on the part of the quest you were at.

Sure, Kaeya was there instead of Jean, but everyone else’s lines were still the same. It looked like things would be on the right track. You repeated everyone’s lines as they said them, but only vocalizing Paimon’s, while just mouthing Diluc and Venti’s to not weird them out too much.

“From now on, you’ll be known as-” Oh, this part, where Paimon gives him a nickname and refuses to call him by his actual name ever again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Tone-deaf bard!” said Paimon and [Y/N] simultaneously. The bard didn’t seem too bothered by his new nickname.

So not only could [Y/N] could just pull up a word-for-word script of the “story” they knew whenever they wanted, but said story was accurate, also down to the word? That’s… concerning.

It had been a very long day… Kaeya hoped he could finally get some sleep. Everyone bid their farewells after agreeing to continue in the morning, and he left. Venti was still wanted, right? That may cause some problems. He made a mental note to tell Jean that the Holy Lyre was in safe hands first thing in the morning.

Again, he teleported to the Knights Headquarters, but now, he remembered why they didn’t teleport back to the tavern. Was anyone watching? He looked around, and could see no one. As for the last time he did this… He didn’t check, did he? …Whatever, it should be fine. He made his way to his dorm, and, now feeling he had enough energy to do so, actually did his nighttime routine rather than just passing out. He stayed awake for quite a while, making notes and pacing around before he finally felt tired enough to be able to sleep through the night.

Those thoughts of [Y/N]’s “story” continued as he drifted to sleep.

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

“But I shall not bow to the will of fate. I am no pawn in heaven's plan.”

…Here he was, acting in a play, as a character destined for tragedy. Seemed familiar. His character was supposed to simply accept it, yet “he” had decided to improv a section on defying fate. 

Despite this being “improv”, it was obvious all of this, scripted parts included, was supposed to reflect his own story. He’d noticed the similarities when he first heard of the story, though he didn’t fully remember when that was, but it seemed even more accurate now, looking at it from a different view.

The truth was, the improv was no less scripted than the rest of the play, nor anything else he’d experienced for that matter. This “play” began much before this street performance.

Even though it felt as if it had been years, he still remembered the beginning as clear as day.

When the Traveler first appeared in Mondstadt, he was unable to clearly remember anything prior to when they arrived. Hell, other than the most major events in his life, he couldn’t remember anything at all, and even those major events were fuzzy. He knew his interests, and his relationships with people, but it was like he had some strange form of amnesia. He’d wanted to tell someone about what he was going through, but every time he got a chance, he would black out, and wake up somewhere completely different.  

To him, it hadn’t even been that long since he’d first noticed, but already, days had gone by. He “woke up” again outside of Good Hunter, in the middle of a conversation with the Traveler about something he couldn’t recall thinking about. It had been days. The periods of time he was being knocked out for were getting longer. He had to say something as soon as possible, but he found he couldn’t control what he was saying.

He quickly realized that he was bound to some sort of script. Sure, “fate” served as a loose script, but this was word for word. He wondered whether this was happening to anyone else, but had no way to check, since he was either stuck to this script or unconscious.

It would sometimes be months at a time now he would be unconscious, almost like slipping into a coma. The Traveler was there with him wherever he was, so he assumed they must have something to do with it, but he hoped they didn’t know they did. Maybe then he could still tolerate them.

Over time, it seemed like the writer started to tease him more and more. It started with a few jokes from “him” hinting at it being some kind of story, and now it was a whole play.

He was an actor, playing a character, playing a character destined for tragedy. The only difference between this play and his experiences was that in reality, he was given no choice on whether to take the role.

This little improv session with Prince Qubad made the audience think he refused to accept the fate he was given, that he rejected it entirely, but the story still ended in the same way it was written.

As he looked at it now, he was no different from Prince Qubad in this story. Or at least, “Kaeya” wasn’t. He knew how Qubad’s story was similar to his, yes, but this improv session added something to it.

There were two layers to the scripting. One was fate itself. Destiny. Most people knew about this, and it could be seen fairly easily, only needing the help of some magic. This already seemed like enough restriction, as it was supposedly extremely difficult to change, but there was even more on top of that, at least for him.

It looked like in the future, “he” would have to make a very important decision, and end up choosing a secret third option. While this would be rejecting his fate in terms of what the people of Teyvat consider it to be, he would still be following the narrative this second, stricter script had for him.

…Oh, the irony. Just like the play, the character is written to refuse fate. Sure, the original script may not have included that, just as “his” original fate does not include what he’s likely to do.

He’d been wondering whether he should keep trying to break out of this. Obviously, doing so would grant him back autonomy, but it would also be following the whole “defying fate” path set for him by whatever scripted this. Either way, he was still playing right into its hands.

“Perhaps there's an inept god out there deciding everyone's fates... much like the Akademiya student drafting Darbil's scripts. Yep, "inept" is a good word for it. Honestly, it might even be a little too civil to describe a god who turns fathers against their sons and is bent on endless warmongering... don't you think?”

Either somehow, he had managed to change the script slightly with his thoughts, or the writers were mocking him.

…It was the latter, wasn’t it? “He” continued on about how someone doesn’t have to follow the script if they don’t like it, like it was just that easy. He’d made up his mind. He had to get out of this, no matter if that was what the writers wanted.

The conversation was coming to an end now, he could feel it. The Traveler was about to leave, and from what he knew about their journey, they likely wouldn’t be seeing him again any time soon. Any second now, the Traveler would disappear, and he would be knocked out for gods know how long. Couldn’t they just stay a little longer…?

[hyunlixsbbygirl]

Strawberry Coffee - Chapter Two

CW: Abusive behaviors mentioned, character death mentioned, mildly suggestive content (mains scenting in the presence of each other)

"Because I'm an omega..."

"It doesn't make a difference to me, as long as you feel comfortable around me, that's all that matters." Ray could hear the sincerity in Sand's voice, he knew this stranger wouldn't hurt him, he wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. "I'm Sand, by the way, if I'm going to be your knight in shining armor you should at least know my name." Ray's heart skipped a beat, he couldn't deny that Sand was incredibly hot, and when he smiled... it awoke something inside Ray that he hadn't felt before. 

"Ray, and if I didn't already say this, I appreciate you being my savior." This time, it was Sand's heart that had skipped a beat. Ray's voice was so soft and gentle, that it sent tingles down Sand's spine in the best way possible. He already knew that Ray was about to become a problem that Sand would be running headfirst into given the chance. "Okay, let's go find my bandmates. One of them is bound to be sober enough to take us to my place." he sensed the hesitation from Ray. 

"I know the club owners, it'll be okay. I promise." Ray nodded and allowed Sand to take hold of his hand and lead them out into the crowded club and over to the bar. "P'New, I need help." Sand yelled over the music and a particularly loud group of college guys who were howling like stray dogs behind him. "Sand baby, what are you doing here still?! You should have left hours ago and... who is this little one?" Ray hid behind Sand's shoulder, he didn't like being perceived by others. 

"That's what I need help with, Ray got stuck in the bathroom and can't just leave by himself. Do you know where my bandmates are? We need someone to take us home." New stood on her tiptoes and scanned the club, "Tul looks like he's walking over here with Boss. Sit down and blend in, I don't know who is here tonight but let's not find out the hard way huh?" Sand and Ray each took up a stool as they waited for Tul and Boss to make their way through the crowd. 

"Oh good! Sand, you're still here! Listen, I heard a few patrons mentioning that the cops set up a checkpoint on the road to your apartment. They're stopping everyone to look for minors out after curfew, we gotta get you out of here... who is this?" Boss asked, he was speaking a mile a minute the moment he got to the two. Tul came up behind him looking much more sober than he had an hour ago. "This is Ray and the reason we need help." Tul shook his head, his junior suddenly looking much younger than usual. 

"Another minor?! Jesus... okay, we need to figure out how to get you two home and past that checkpoint." Sand looked between Boss and Tul, his eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. "I can take them. I'll take the van, use the tarp to cover the drum kit and have them hidden underneath. As long as they don't check the van, we'll be okay." Tul pat his pockets looking for his keys, "Are you even sober enough to drive? They can arrest you for that and then we'll really be screwed." 

"Sand's right, it won't matter if the cops check the van or not. If you're arrested, they'll be stranded in the van for at least 12 hours." New states as she looks between Boss and Tul. "I'm fine. The last drink I had was two hours ago, the checkpoint will slow the traffic down a bit so it won't be hard to drive like normal. We don't really have another choice here." Sand nods in agreement. As long as Tul can keep up an act, they would be okay. 

"Okay, Sand you climb in first. Ray is smaller so he'll have to just fit himself in whatever space is left." Tul directs the two ten minutes later. Tul had driven the van up to the loading dock of the club and ushered them out under the guise of being roadies, it was easier than walking them to the van in the parking lot and it avoided any hidden cops that could be lurking about. Sand climbed into the back of the van and sat cross-legged right up against the kick drum. There really wasn't much space left so when Ray climbed in after him, he had no choice but to sit on his lap. 

"Now stay quiet and don't move, duck your heads a little so the tarp lays properly. Okay, this just might work after all." Tul states as he closes up the van and climbs into the front seat. The ride was anything but smooth, Sand had wrapped his arms around Ray's waist to hold him as close to his chest as possible, their heads tucked into each other's necks. "I'm not holding you too tightly right?" Sand whispers trying to adjust his grip on Ray's hips to not hurt him. 

"You're fine, sorry if I'm killing your legs." Sand smirks slightly. Despite being in a pretty serious situation, he couldn't deny that holding Ray like this was actually kind of nice. Sand was about to respond when the Van rolled to a complete stop; they weren't anywhere near Sand's apartment yet which meant they were at the checkpoint. Sand pulled Ray closer to him and tried to steady his breathing so it wouldn't be heard if the cops decided to check the back. 

Ray could feel how fast and hard Sand's heart was beating and wondered if the older could feel the same from him. "Good evening officer, I'm heading home from a gig. Yes, that's right. Just about 10 minutes down the 505. Yes sir." Tul's voice carried through the van, they couldn't hear what the officer was asking him. "Yeah, it's a drum kit! Kind of expensive you know, I use the tarp to protect it from dust. Would you like to see it?" Ray's eyes widened in fear. 

"Thank you, sir, you have a nice night as well. Stay safe out here." Sand nearly sighed in relief but counted to thirty before he actually allowed himself the pleasure of it. "That was close..." he whispered to Ray, his voice ghosting over his pale skin and causing him to shiver slightly. "That was terrifying," Ray whispers back, his lips lightly pressed against Sand's neck. The feeling of the younger being so close made that familiar warmth activate from inside once more. 

Now that they were out of imminent danger, Sand noticed just how dangerous this situation could be; for one, he was an unbound alpha in the middle of his heat holding an unbound omega on his lap who smelled intoxicating in the best way possible. Ray smelled sweet like strawberries, there was a hint of cigarette smoke that Sand assumed was from the club; the longer he focused on the younger's scent, the more he wanted to rub his nose into his scent gland. 

"I would have protected you." Sand finally states once his senses came back to him. Ray shifted his weight slightly, he knew Sand could smell him and he knew it affected him. It was his job as an omega to sense when a nearby alpha was in need but to his surprise, Sand didn't try anything. He just held him close and rubbed circles on his back comfortingly while they waited for the van to stop again at Sand's apartment. 

It wasn't long before the van stopped once more and Tul knocked thrice on the door to the van to indicate they were safe, "How did you two hold up back here? Everything okay?" he asked. Sand held Ray's hand as he lifted himself up and carefully climbed out of the van backward, "We're okay. A little shaken up thanks to you telling the cop they could sneak a peak at the drums but overall we'll be okay now." It took Sand a minute to get the feeling back into his legs before he could stand again. 

"Thank you for helping us, I was really scared that I was going to get caught." Ray bowed politely. Tul helped Sand out of the van before shutting the doors and taking a quick look at their surroundings just to be safe. "Don't mention it. Just be careful as you head up okay? You never know if someone is lurking around waiting to report minors to the cops." Sand nods and then takes Ray's hand in his and leads him towards the apartment building. 

"I hope he knows what he's doing..." 

Sand hastily unlocked the door to his apartment and took a sigh of relief upon closing the door behind them, "Safe and sound at last" Ray too sighed in relief as he removed his shoes, Sand holding his arm to help him balance as he called out to his roommate. "Nick?! You home!?" The sound of bare feet on the hardwood floor echoes out and the scent of oranges wafts through the air, "Well hello, is this the cutie you texted me about? Damn, I wish I was an alpha now..." 

Sand punches Nick on the shoulder and places himself in between him and Ray protectively, "Nick, this is Ray. Ray, this is my whore of a roommate Nick." Nick almost looked offended at the comment but then held his hand out to Ray, "That's king whore thank you very much and in case dick head didn't mention it yet, I'm an omega too." Ray took his hand and shook it firmly but looked slightly confused. "If you don't mind me asking, how do you two... like" 

"He has no interest in me, I have no interest in him. It's simple. My scent is a turn-off for him, he hates the scent of oranges. I guess that makes it easy for him to refuse my advances." Nick answers confidently. Sand rolled his eyes but seeing Ray be more at ease made him happy; he didn't blame the younger though, their dynamic was weird for sure. What alpha was able to live with an omega that wasn't bonded to him? 

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't trying to pry I just never heard of an alpha living with an omega without being bonded to each other. It's actually kind of cool." Sand smiles at Ray's response and leads him over to the couch, taking a seat next to him as Nick sits across from them. "So, are you going to sleep in Sand's room or... ?" Nick asks, Ray just looks at Sand with his big boba eyes, causing his heart to start racing again. 

"He can sleep where he's most comfortable. I can sleep out here on the couch if that helps." Ray grips onto Sand's arm at the thought of him leaving him alone, "No! I'll uh... we can sleep in the same room together. I trust you." Nick smirks, "Well sounds like you have everything figured out. Should I... sleep at Boston's or..." Sand didn't answer right away, he was distracted by how cute Ray looked but quickly realized what he was hinting at. 

"No, it's okay. We're just going to go to sleep." Ray nods in agreement and stands with Sand and follows him as they head towards his room. "See you tomorrow then" Nick calls out flirtatiously. Sand shakes his head, he knows what Nick is hoping will happen but he's determined to make Ray feel as comfortable as he possibly can. "I'm sorry about him, he's a special case." Sand states as he opens the door to his bedroom and gently pushes Ray inside. 

"It's fine, he seems like a great friend." Sand shrugs and then sits down on his bed, patting the mattress next to him for Ray to join him. "He is, he helps me a lot. Not just with rent but with life in general. He helps manage my work schedule, my clients, and my classes. He's essentially my assistant." Ray nods along, "I know he said he doesn't help you in that way but... does he?" Sand laughs, "No, I mean he offers but I can't allow it. I uh... have a fear of accidentally bonding someone to me for life against their will."

"Have you experienced that first hand? How did that fear come about?" Sand sighs as he thinks, should he tell Ray his whole life story or should he simplify it? Does it matter? What is he expecting to gain from this situation anyway? "My mother was bonded to my father by force." he begins. "They had a one-night stand and he mated her without knowing. They were too young to understand their warning signs so she became pregnant. At first, she just wanted to have me in secret and live her life as a lone omega but he found out about the pregnancy and forced her to bond to him." 

Ray clung to every word that came out of Sand's mouth, he wanted to know everything about him and maybe tell him his own life story too. "She hated him, he was abusive. He would hit her if she did something he didn't like. He was constantly cheating on her and never truly cared about me during the growth process." Ray instinctively reached for the older's hand, lacing their fingers together and leaning his head on his shoulder. 

"Before giving birth to me, she stabbed him in the chest and fled here to hide behind a disguise until he forgot about us. He's never tried to find us but my mother will always be bound to him whether they like it or not. She'll never be able to truly be happy with someone she loves." Sand's voice cracks with the last sentence. He's always been very close to his mother and always wanted to see her happy and in love with someone but knew it would never happen. 

"I feel for her, I understand what it's like to be in an abusive household." Sand looks down at the younger with wide eyes. "You do? Is that why..." Ray nods. His demeanor changes, he almost looks like a lost child before he explains. "My father is not a kind man. He wants everything to be perfect so that our family name remains pure." Sand wraps his arm around Ray's shoulder, pulling him closer, and comforting him. 

"He didn't want a son. In his plans for his life, he had a daughter. A princess that he could parade around and use to gain intel on his clients and his competitors, someone that he could easily manipulate for his own gain. He blamed my mother for birthing a son as if it were a choice." Ray's voice cracks slightly as he tries to hold back his tears. "He refused to acknowledge me as his son. He refused to name me as his heir and he told the rest of the family that I was a bastard, birthed from a maid." 

Sand heard the hurt and the anger laced in Ray's voice, he felt himself growing increasingly angrier as well. "Growing up was horrible, I couldn't fuck up even in the slightest or he would beat me. If I got a 99 on a test instead of a 100, he would throw me into the wall. If I broke curfew, he would slap me across the face. No matter what I did, whether it was right or wrong, he just ignored my existence or beat me." Sand balled his fists, he wanted to meet this guy and punch him in the face. 

Ray was still a stranger to him and yet Sand wanted to see his father dead. "My mother tried to stop him several times but he would just beat her instead. I was too young to help her at the time so all I could do was cry and scream at him to stop. I told myself that when I got older, I would find a way to protect her from him but it's too late for that." tears slowly flowed from Ray's eyes at the memories he tried so hard to forget. 

"She drank herself to death; at least that's what I was told when the maid came home from the hospital. My father didn't even bat an eye over the news of her passing, instead of comforting me or grieving her death, he just shoved me into my bedroom and went off to his flight out of the country. He disowned me before he got back and told me that I would be allowed to live under his roof until the day I'm bonded and then he wants nothing to do with me." 

Sand found himself crying for the younger, he had always thought his life was horrible but hearing Ray's story made him thankful for the life that he had. "I've been trying to find someone to bond me to them since I was 13 years old and to be quite honest I had started giving up and thinking about joining my mother instead." Sand's heart dropped to his stomach. Even with his shitty life, he never once thought about taking his own life. He couldn't even imagine thinking that way. 

Suddenly the thought of Ray no longer being alive hurt, Sand pulled the younger into his lap and hugged him tightly. Ray was surprised to see that Sand was softly sobbing into his neck as he held him, they hadn't known each other for longer than four hours and yet it was as though they had known each other for years and were just finally coming to terms with their hardships together. "How can I help you?" Sand asks softly. 

"Help me?" Sand looks up into Ray's eyes, the raw emotion behind them screams something that Ray hadn't ever seen before. "I know we just met but I want to help you, I want to save you from that horrible place." Ray didn't understand. Sand wanted to save him though they just met, but why? "I know it doesn't make sense but, I can't imagine someone as kind as you just disappearing from this world due to some dick head that never deserved you." 

Ray's heart rate increases, his scent releasing into the air and swirling around them like freshly fallen snow. The scent of freshly brewed coffee suddenly hit the air around them and it took Ray a moment to realize that Sand was releasing his own scent as well. "Are you saying that you'll bond me to you?" Ray asks cautiously. His heart drops when he sees Sand shake his head, "I would never bond someone to me who didn't want to be and I know you're desperate to leave that place but I refuse to bond you to me if there's a chance that your true mate is out there."

Ray understood Sand wanted to help without overstepping and he would be okay with that, at least for now. He didn't want to admit this out loud but Ray was convinced that he was in love at first sight with Sand and he now knew that it would take a lot of convincing on his part before Sand would even consider bonding him. "As long as I can be with you and out of that house, I'll do anything." Sand smiles and then places a kiss on the younger's head. 

Sand knew he was making a deal with the devil here; helping a desperate omega that wanted to be bonded to anyone while he was in heat and getting desperate himself was probably the dumbest thing he could do and yet... while he wouldn't allow himself to admit this yet, Sand was already completely and irrevocably in love with Ray.