#also he doesn’t explain the part where john took his shirt off

[javelinbk]

But by far the greatest Christmas gift John ever gave to Yoko—as well as to me—wasn’t anything he’d purchased at a store or recorded onto a cassette tape. It was an event, an enchanted twinkling of pure distilled joy, that he orchestrated just for the three of us during the waning hours of December 31, 1979.

A few days earlier, John had laid out his plans to me. He wanted to turn the newly acquired apartment 71 into a private club. John was not a huge fan of nightlife—crowds were problematic for obvious reasons—but he enjoyed the concept of an exclusive, intimate space, something like an old English men’s establishment... So, shortly after Christmas, he and I went shopping on New York’s Lower East Side, where there were dozens of secondhand shops, and proceeded to purchase enough cheap furniture and other decorations—overstuffed sofas, martini shakers, pink flamingo cardboard cutouts—to turn 71 into what John had by now begun referring to as Club Dakota.

After furniture shopping, we spent a few hours combing through vintage record shops, looking for old 78s to fill that antique bubble-top jukebox Yoko had given John. (We found Dooley Wilson singing “As Time Goes By,” Bobby Darin’s “Dream Lover,” Bing Crosby’s “Please,” Gracie Fields’s “Sally,” and scores more.) Then we headed to Canal Street and picked up moldy old black-tie tails and white gloves to wear on Club Dakota’s opening night, which John had decided would be on New Year’s Eve. Technically, John and I were to be the club’s only charter members, but he instructed me to write out a formal invitation to Yoko, which I would later hand deliver to her on a silver platter. Yoko was made merely an “honorary” member because, as John joked to me, otherwise she would immediately try to sexually integrate the club.

I have thought often about that night, about how best to describe it to those who weren’t lucky enough to be there (which, of course, would be the whole rest of the world). And the best I can come up with is that it was like spending a blissful interlude suspended in a magical snow globe. In my memory, we all seem to move in slow motion, as if gliding through glycerin-laced air. The three of us—Yoko in an elegant black evening gown, John and I in ridiculous old penguin suits (he paired his with a white T-shirt and his old Liverpool school tie)—danced and laughed (and smoked) together without a care in the world, the jukebox filling the living room with glorious old tunes from the ’40s and ’50s. I took dozens of Polaroid photos of them that night, but for some reason none of them capture the magic of the moment.

And then, at midnight, our reveries were interrupted by the pop and crackle of fireworks. We all stood by the windows and watched the skyline over Central Park light up with flaming balls and sparkling whirly fountains and a slew of other aerial bursts and barrages. I’d never seen anything more beautiful in my life. And I’d never seen John and Yoko looking more content and in love.

It was that rarest, most precious thing in life—a perfect moment.

It would also, as fate would have it, be John’s last New Year’s Eve.

Excerpt From, ‘We All Shine On’, Elliot Mintz

[adelaidedrubman]

HI! I’m a longtime lurker and first time asker, and i hope you’re having a good day!

What’s something that Jestiny does that drives John up a wall but also turns him on to no end?

Also, if your deputy was a GFH in the game, what would her dialogue be and what would she do?

HI BELOVED thank you so much for sending this and sorry it took so long, i ended up spinning my wheels over it a little more than i probably should have!! 

and god, that first question encompasses like. most of their relationship. for a more benign example, well… she wears those stupid fucking novelty shirts. and if the over the top tacky graphics weren’t bad enough, she insists on showing off by wearing them with no bra and sleeves ripped off. problem: she does have a really nice rack and big strong arms. what actually makes that a problem: impossible to appreciate those things without looking directly at the giant cartoon fish making an innuendo about swallowing. tacky fishing products and sex are now linked in his mind. he passes by a big mouth billy bass in walmart and gets a semi as a pavlovian response. he’s suffered more than jesus.

and as for my vision for gun for hire jestiny… (warnings for mentions of sexual situations and violence)

this was super fun to think about!! i imagine for a universe where she isn’t Thee Deputy she would instead be a fish and game warden. administratively she’s still considered part of the sheriff’s department, but nobody but whitehorse really knows who she is and she’s never seen around. it’s heavily implied she doesn’t really do anything but fish on the government dime and occasionally write citations (less for actual rule violations and more for getting too close to her fishing spots). 

as for her in game recruitment mission, the player can first encounter jestiny around the little mouth where orville creek lets out.

she puts out her first distress call from that location, less in the form of a call of distress and more in the form of radioing out sexually charged and graphically violent threats towards john in between single-handedly repelling an onslaught of attacking peggies. eventually, she finds a spare breath to also request anyone listening help her defend her treasured fishing spot and seek retribution. 

if the player engages the mission, they will help jestiny clear the remaining attackers. at the end of combat she will explain she was “minding her own goddamn business, enjoying a perfect day of fishing” when attacked by the cult. it seems the few peggies that survived made off down the river with her tackle box, likely headed to stash it at seed boat launch. she pledges her “casting and combat skills” to anyone who can go take back what’s hers and bring along with it the head of john the baptist on a silver platter so she can “skin his stupid fucking face off and use it to bait [her] hook” then “store [her] tackle in his empty fuckin’ skull.” 

or just... steal his boat, she guesses, if he’s not around. 

from there it would mechanically function much like the mission to get carmina or the widowmaker back. (which why didn’t they round out the stealing vehicles from john thing into a trifecta with a boat? rule of threes, ubisoft.) the player would travel to seed boat launch to search for jestiny’s tackle box (there would a side gag around picking out the correct tackle box of the many there belonging to her). after locating the correct tackle box, search for the key to john’s boat and take off towards jestiny, pursued by peggies captaining lesser vessels. 

on arrival at the meet point, jestiny is nowhere to be found. the player receives a radio call informing them she has been attacked by more peggies and forced to retreat up the cliffside the creek runs through (pictured below) to stand her ground against them. but don’t worry, she left a spare grappling kit behind, and rock climbing is almost as fun as fishing, right?

the player abandons the boat to begin swimming upstream, eventually tracking jestiny down to the wellington residence (pictured below) — where she is sitting outside, reclined, leisurely sipping a beer, no attackers either dead or alive to be found. 

she brushes this off with a “hm? oh, yeah. right. you should see the other guy” and gives a half-hearted thanks for the return of her tackle box, which she takes inside the cabin and stacks on top of a row of other, nearly identical tackle boxes without commentary. she then offers a more sincere thanks in the form of pledging that any enemy of john’s is a friend of hers, so give her a buzz anytime you want to make his life miserable. she’s certain he’ll need to be put in his place again within twelve to forty minutes. 

as for her combat mechanics, jestiny would primarily be a melee attacker, functioning as a sort of mix between the heavy armor and the brawler npc types, but with an axe rather than a baseball bat. if cornered or outnumbered, she’ll switch to more long range fire or explosive based attacks, usually improvised. her primary combat advantage is being able to absorb a lot of blows without being taken down, despite an absurd lack of actual armor. she’s good at starting stealthy, but not staying that way. all in all, not someone you want to send in for a “undetected” achievement, but she works well for sneaking in long enough to attract attention and absorb attacks.

aaand as for idle dialogue, responds to most people, places, and situations with “i’d rather be fishing.” the violent, obsessive, sexually charged monologues are standard fare for john’s region, naturally. lots of very descriptions of the ways she would gut him like a fish. henbane dialogue oscillates at the flip of a switch between irreverent digs about not being afraid of “miss church camp coachella” prancing around in her “easter best” and terrified, incoherent mumbling and screaming the moment she actually comes near bliss fumes. whitetails is a lot of comments about how she tunes out jacob because when a guy is trying to talk about the outdoors and starts saying shit like he says, you realize he has no goddamn clue what he’s talking about and walk away. that’s why he has to cage people, you know. nobody would listen, otherwise, on account of him not knowing fuck all or being funny.

as for match-ups with other guns for hire, she definitely gets along best and is happiest to be put with adelaide. she also does well enough and has entertaining banter with jess and sharky, although she will quickly begin to grate on jess’s nerves, and sharky will in turn wear on hers. she and grace are not each other’s first choice company, but they aren’t hostile, mostly thanks to grace’s professionalism and patience. she is outright contemptuous and rude towards nick and hurk jr., by no particular fault of their own.

and as for the fangs, she doesn’t care for boomer and wishes everyone would shut up about him, is neutral towards peaches, and respects cheeseburger but is bummed out about the fisherman’s life he’s missing and prefers to avoid him.

she is, of course, thrilled to be paired with hank.

[thebubblesareevil]

My Dad is from Mars

Okay so when j’onn met danny he was John jones. He was doing some grocery shopping when a young teen with a limp bumped into him, stealing his wallet.

John grabbed the teens arm to stop him and retrieve his wallet when his hand went through through the boys arm. John saw the scared look on the child as he took off, John pursued the child running through walls and watched in concern as the child appeared to be a Martian like himself. He stopped an alley where he witnessed the teen fall to the ground and simply vanish.

John then said how he was impressed at his camouflage skill considering how young he is and that he has no intention of hurting him he just wants to help him get home to which the child was NOT HAPPY screaming how he can’t go back there he won’t. The child is barely able to stand when his camouflage drops, j’onn sees the green and red blood coating his shirt where his jacket opens.

He looks to make sure no one is looking before shifting back into his Martian form and kneeling in front of the child. In the Martian language he tells the boy that he is only here to help if he will let him

He replies in perfect Martian you’re not a hunter, j’onn freezes at the knowledge that a Martian child is being hunted and is filled with icy rage. He calmly replies that no he’s not he’s a friend. The child reaches for him before fully passing out. J’onn takes him back to his apartment where he tends to his wounds. He is further infuriated when he sees the y shaped incision on his chest. He vows that this child is under his protection.

However not everything is as it seemed. When Danny woke up he was in a bed and his wounds had been dressed. It hurt to move but much less so than before. When he heard movement he panicked until he turned and saw the coolest superhero to ever live

MARTIAN MANHUNTER who just so happens to be anACTUAL martian from MARS. Danny just stare at him in awe. He can barely speak and the hero brings him some water and begins to softly ask how he came to be so far from mars and at such a young age and Danny just stares at him for a second before he just says I’m from earth, I’m human- kinda

J’onn is clearly confused. And asks if he’s a meta when Danny says no, he asks if he would be willing to explain Danny made him swear not to tell anyone, because how could he say no to Martian manhunter. He explains that he’s half ghost and how his parents were ghost hunters and when they found out he was a ghost they turned on him. They took him to the GIW where they… and at this point he cuts himself off with a terrified look on his face. J’onn places a hand on his shoulder and tells him he is safe here for however long he wishes to stay. Danny doesn’t believe him at first until he explains that when he came to earth he was also hunted for being different.

Danny is incredibly grateful and accepts the offer with the intention of leaving as soon as he is healed . A month goes by and Danny is healed he is hesitant to leave. One month turns to two and two to three and before they knew it they were moving into a bigger apartment so Danny could have his own room when J’onn asked Danny if he would like to be his son Danny nearly cried as he said yes (Bruce took care of the paperwork, he knows it like the back of his hand) not long after though Danny got sick and it wasn’t until j’onn was visited by a ghost with a clock in his chest that they realized it was because his core was sick and so they both travel to the ghost zone where J’onn learns more about ghosts as well as learning that he is apparently a grandfather, that was fun. Danny also found out he was going to be king that was less fun

They set up a schedule of days Danny would spend in the zone with clockwork learning about ghost politics and when he was on earth he would be homeschooled by J’onn, Danny’s favorite part is when J’onn would talk about mars and traveling amoung the stars.

It’s just before his 15th birthday that J’onn announces that they were going to visit mars Danny almost exploded he was so excited the whole flight there and when he arrived he met his half white martian cousins M’gann and him got along like a house on fire. He was sad when they had to leave and there were many promises to visit. Unbeknownst to them they had a stowaway on the ship. Both Danny and J’onn scolded m’gonn fpr running away from home but he was still happy to have his cousin on earth. She trained with her uncle to be a hero she often questioned Danny about why he didn’t want to train as well, because after 1 unwanted advance from a human when he was near and it was clear he could fight. He would always make a joke out of it and dodge the question. Eventually she stopped asking.

One thing that was made abundantly clear after moving in was the fact that her cousin is terrifying. Absolutely bone chilling and not always on purpose sometimes he was just so …. Still, quiet, unnerving. She started getting used to it and her uncle is immune at this point but she will never fully be immune. And there was one indisputable rule she was not allowed to use telepathy on Danny no matter what.

When M’gann joins her team she texts Danny about them all the time, he is well aware of her crush on Conner and he feels secure in the knowledge he could crush him if he hurt her. she doesn’t really talk about Danny much because he’s pretty private.

The first time the team meets Danny it is a call to arms sent by M’gann. On the night of the Halloween party. M’gann decided to call in back up to help them get back at the kid who was trying to prank everyone as well as give everyone a good scare. Danny arrives though no one actually saw him arrive but he most definitely made an impact. Years later the school would be call it the best scare of the century.

When they head back to the base they find Danny already there he runs picks M’gann up and spins around and gives her a hug and just as she is about to introduce him the zeta tube activates announcing Martian Manhunter, he asks if anyone would like to explain why there was an emergency call from a student from their school reporting that the dead have risen and are coming to take their bloody revenge? Danny,who had hidden behind Conner peaked out and says yeah sorry about that, that was me. J’onn gives him a look and Danny shoots back c’mon dad it was all in good fun, no one was hurt, and the kid was only SLIGHTLY traumatized. J’onn is not amused. M’gann is trying to hide her laugh Conner is relieved that he’s not a rival and Wally, well Wally was in shock because when did the Martian manhunter get a son?!?

Okay I feel like this is a good stopping point for now cus I need sleep, I’m gonna add more later,

Flash is next and then it’s a vote between Wonder Woman or superman

I’m not sure if I’m gonna do green lantern or the hawks cus I don’t know that much about them

[sourcherryandsprinkles]

Father, dear father | JJ Maybank x Reader

Summary: JJ always sees his dad when he least expects it

Pairing: JJ Maybank x Reader

Word count: 1096

Warning: Mention of violence/abuse

-

The rumbling of a motorbike resonated outside the chateau as you were piling up empty beer cans into a trash bag to busy yourself - and stop thinking about John B's death penalty sentence. You raised your head up, eyes on the door, knowing who was about to walk in.

''Where were you?''

''I went to see John B,'' JJ replied, the screen door flapping shut behind him. ''Orange doesn't suit him.'' If ithad simply been a joke, you would've laughed, but you knew JJ enough to see through his joke that it was a way to camouflage the emotions he was feeling.

''We're gonna get him out of there,'' you promised.

JJ looked down, nodding. ''I...I saw my dad too.''

You stilled at the mention of the one-who-shall-not-be-named. You hadn't heard from him since the day JJ stole the Phantom. You also hadn't seen his face at the gas station - which you work at - where he usually bought his beer and liquor in a long time.

''I saw him at the prison. He was with other inmates...as in, he is in jail.''

Good. Luke Maybank deserved to rot behind bars of a jail-cell until his last breath for all the shit he did to JJ. He was a thief, drug addict, a drunk and a shitty fucking father.

JJ opened his mouth, but was struggling to get words out. His eyebrows furrowed and water blurred his vision. ''Plumb said I'm gonna end up in jail just like my dad.''

His head hung low and your face twisted into anger. You weren't a violent person, but you wanted to punch her.

JJ had caused a lot of trouble around the island and made himself a name to the local cops. The Pogues often joked that JJ was going to go in jail one day if he kept being so reckless and stupid, but it was all jokes.

Plumb wanted to hurt JJ, she meant those words.

You refused to let him believe her.

Dropping what you had in your hands, you crossed the living room and held JJ's face so he'd look at you. ''You are not your dad, JJ. You're nothing like the shit-head, okay?'' You didn't miss the tears in his eyes as you spoke sternly yet gently. You wanted your words to stick and erase Plumb's. ''You're loving, brave and loyal. You're always looking out for me and your friends, always defending us at any turn. You're all those things your dad will never be.''

You felt his arms wrapping around your middle and you put yours around his neck and shoulders, allowing him to lay his head on your shoulder. JJ's hold was tight, but not so tight you couldn't breathe. You kissed the side of his neck and felt him smile.

When he pulled back, you searched his eyes for signs of tears and wiped it for him. ''You okay?''

JJ nodded. ''Yeah. I just had dust in my eye.''

You rolled your eyes at his bullshit.

He walked back you, heading to the kitchen, and you only now noticed his white shirt - its cuffed sleeves showing his toned arms - and snapback and fucking blue jeans. JJ never wore jeans. He was always in khaki shorts.

Your eyes followed him up and down with thirst. ''Since when do you wear jeans? Did you run out of clothes to wear and stole them from Pope?''

''I had to dress up to see my best friend. It's a special occasion, you know,'' he explained, closing the fridge and cracking open a beer. ''I had sunglasses too. Just wait for the full look.'' JJ put the aviators back on and- Christ.

''Honestly, I don't know if I want you to keep it on or take it off.''

JJ's lips curled at the corner, forgetting about the beer and setting it down. ''I'll make that decision for you.''

.

You heard a honk and looked ahead, seeing Kiara's dad's truck. Fucking finally.

''Oh, and speak of the freaking devil. Look who it is, the tortoise and the tortoise, just a couple hours late,'' John B pointed out, perched on top of the twinkie.

The van had water to its third by now and you had gotten attacked by an alligator - well, John B did.

''Where the hell were you, guys?'' Pope asked.

''Paternal complications,'' Kie briefly explained.

JJ got out of the truck and went to the trunk, grabbing the rope. ''Luke was at the chateau.''

You frowned. What the fuck was he doing at the chateau? Wasn't he in prison? You didn't say anything in front of the others as they didn't know JJ's dad was in prison.

Later, when it was only you and JJ, you decided to ask.

''How come was Luke at the chateau?''

''He was released for good behavior.'' JJ laughed dryly, having difficulty believing it. ''He busted a window in a pharmacy and stole from the pharmacist so the cops were after him. He hid at the chateau and waited for me so I could help him get out of the island - for good.''

Like always, JJ left some parts out. He didn't tell you the part where Luke had grabbed him from the back, hand over his mouth, as if he was going to kidnap him. Or, that he yelled at him and shook him. Or that he played with his feelings and head.

''H-he's not gonna come back, Y/N. I'm never gonna see him again.''

While it was mostly good that his dad was gone, a part of JJ was sad. He was still his dad.

''Now, all I have is you and the Pogues.'' His voice cracked and you reached out and took his hand, holding it between yours.

It pained you to see him like this. Hopefully, it was the last time Luke was causing his son pain.

''You'll always have me, J.'' You were still young and honestly didn’t know if you’d be together forever, but, at the moment, leaving wasn't in your future plans.

''It was hard watching him leave. Despite all the bad things he did, I love him, you know, in a weird twisted way.''

His old man didn't deserve JJ's love - not even a small part. All his life JJ wished to have a good relationship with his father. He forgave him over and over again; he was always hopeful that one day he'll stop taking drugs and drinking and abusing him. But he never did.

''You’re allowed to love him...even if just a little bit.''

''I shouldn’t.''

[maddiwrites]

The Hybrid (Prologue)

Pairing: JJ x Reader

Summary: The Pogues rekindle their friendship with their old childhood best friend and JJ’s first crush, Y/N. Old feelings resurface for JJ and Y/N, possibly leading to a summer neither one of them could ever forget. Due to past trauma, Y/N is reluctant to let anyone into her heart, but JJ never backs down from a challenge, even if he knows it will come back to haunt him in the end.

Note: So happy to be back with another series!!! I honestly really missed posting. Unlike Secrets of the Shore, updates will be slower because I don’t have them all written out yet. A couple things I wanted to let you know before you read. I based Y/N’s family off of Gilmore Girls. I thought they were the perfect fit for this story and the show in general and I just love their dynamic. (Including Luke who I renamed Steve for obvious reasons). Chapter 1 will explain more obviously but I wanted to give you guys a little snippet of the characters and relationships. So let me know what y'all think!

Word Count: 3.3k

Outer Banks. Paradise on Earth. It's the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses. Two tribes, one island. As you know, the Outer Banks is essentially divided into two groups. If we want to be blunt - it’s the rich and the poor. Figure Eight is home to the rich. Aka the Kooks. With houses bigger than necessary with extra rooms that go untouched, boats the size of homes on the Cut - the other side of the island. Most people who live on Figure Eight are your naturally raised assholes. People who don’t know the value of a dollar and take advantage of people who do most of their dirty work that lets them prance around the island with perfectly manicured fingernails. These hard workers are the Pogues. They live on the south side of the island where most Kooks wouldn’t be found dead. They serve fancy meals at the country club for shitty tips, mow lawns, and work their asses off at any other job for minimum wage. The drastic difference in lifestyles tend to cause many spats and arguments between the two communities. Especially between the teenagers who still don’t know how to control their raging emotions or know when to bite back their tongue. For the Kooks, every fight is a fight for dominance where as the Pogues fight for equality - to put the Kooks in their place. Many of these fights happen at summer parties where the two groups clash to find a good time with their friends filled with alcohol, drugs, and good music.

That’s where they find themselves tonight. The infamous Pogues. John B, JJ, Kie, Pope, and now Sarah Cameron. Although born a natural Kook, she’s earned her spot next to the adventurous teens and her boyfriend. Unlike her brother Rafe who basically is the leader of his notorious group. Topper and Kelce are his best friends who follow him blindly.

The Pogues watch them from their spot surrounding the keg. Kie purses her lips in distaste as the boys cat call for the ladies around them. Somehow most of them finding it flattering. Sarah sips on her beer to hide her embarrassment, often wondering how she and her brother grew up to be so different. Pope and John B stay mostly disinterested, only worried if they try to make a pass at an unwilling girl or fire a degrading comment at their short tempered friend. JJ Maybank is known around the island for his trouble making behavior. Usually if he gets in trouble for fights, no one ever asks who the other people were in the scuffle. Because if JJ Maybank is in the fight, he’s the one who started it, right? Wrong. In fact, JJ usually is never the one to start it. He’s good at keeping his head down and only speaking when spoken to when it comes to the Kooks - the only form of advice worth taking from his father. But his short temper is something the Kooks his age loved to take advantage of because they liked getting a rise out of him. It was like an adrenaline rush.

Luckily, tonight both groups were keeping their distance, either only talking to each other or random Tourons that have found their way to the party. This is usually JJ’s favorite part of a boneyard party. Finding his one fish in a sea of many that he can reel in just for the night and never have to worry about seeing them again.

He has his eyes set on a beautiful blonde making her way to the bonfire when all of a sudden Kie’s voice pulls him out of his trance.

“What’s she doing here?”

JJ follows her line of vision, spotting you walking down the wooden steps that lead to the beach, pulling your best friend behind you by his wrist. He first notices your smile and how it brightens up your entire face. Then of course his eyes scan down your slim but athletically toned body. You’re wearing a pair of jean shorts and a cropped white T shirt that says UNC across the chest. Who knew someone could look so good without even trying?

Well JJ did. He’s known it for a while.

“Careful. I think you’re drooling,” John B whispers in his best friend’s ear.

JJ pushes him away and mutters, “Shut up. No I’m not.”

But maybe he was.

Y/N Y/L/N is a unique resident of the island. Unlike majority of the island, she doesn’t fall in either Kook or Pogue category. She’s what everyone calls the Hybrid.

People who work hard for what they have but haven’t fallen to be Pogue status. Quite literally living in the middle in a place they call the Crest.

Your story is well versed among the gossipers of the island (which tends to be just about everybody).  And mainly that’s because of who your grandparents are.  Claude and Doris Y/L/N. Two of the riches people on the island, living in a three story house on the beach. Many people fear them, others envy them. Most feel both. Even Ward Cameron walks on egg shells around them, which is quite often, considering he works for Claude. They’re the kind of people who have never heard of Barefoot wine or Walmart. They keep their noses up and turn a blind eye to the suffering communities around them. Thirty four years ago, Doris gave birth to a daughter that couldn’t be more opposite than them. Lorelai Y/L/N was a wild child. A rule breaker. She snuck out at nights, dated boys her parents would never approve of, dabbled in breaking the law here and there. It didn’t matter how many times her parents disciplined her. She always managed to make her parents’ life a living hell. 

No one was surprised when word got passed around that Lorelai had gotten pregnant at eighteen. Although it was with another Kook, she brought shame upon her family name when she refused to get an abortion, even when her mom tried dragging her by her hair. 

Lorelai risked everything by running away from her parents’ home in the middle of a windy night. With only one suitcase, the baby daddy out of the picture, and less than a grand in her pocket, she managed to make a life for herself on the South side of the island. She worked two jobs, found an affordable apartment for cheap rent, and managed to save some money before her babies were born.

Yes, babies. As in more than one. Five months after running away from home, she gave birth to twin girls and they instantly became her entire life. With the help of her best friend Steve, who she met one month after being on her own, meeting him at his automotive shop when she very much literally rolled her junky car into the garage, she raised you and your sister on the Cut. The two of you are her greatest accomplishment. Every now and then, she mentally throws up a middle finger to everybody who doubted her, proud of who the two of you have become. 

Right before you turned ten, your mom took a business risk and opened her own Cafe. The Bikini Beans cafe, very popular amongst both Kooks and Pogues. The business did so well that she was able to move the three of you out of your shitty apartment into a beautiful one story home with three bedrooms in between the Cut and Figure Eight, aka the Crest, the summer going into your freshman year.

You actually used to be best friends with John B Routledge, JJ Maybank, and Pope Heyward. It was easier being friends with them than the girls, finding more joy in sports and rough housing than makeup and gossip. 

Doing the same summer that you moved, your mom pulled you out of Kildare County High and placed you in Outer Banks Private Academy. Aka Kook Academy. Around this time, your grandparents had also become more involved in your life, and you wondered if they had somehow bribed your mom into forcing you to transfer schools. You tried asking her during one of your many fights that started with you begging her to keep you at Kildare County High, but she quickly shut you down and told you to be grateful. That was ironic coming from the woman who ran away from the people giving her an expensive high school career. 

You had no choice but to do what your grandparents wanted and attend Kook Academy. Making friends was a lot harder there than it was in Kildare County High. You managed to make one friend in your freshman year. Andre Cortez. Due to an incident a couple years back, you built thick walls and Andre was the only one able to break them down. You were grateful for your friendship, but hanging out with him was nothing like hanging out with the Pogues. 

When you transferred schools, you lost touch with the Pogues slowly. Your life became busy with school and playing dress up for your grandparents and the boys were starting to work. Eventually all contact was cut and ever since, you’ve felt a void in your heart.

“Look,” You tell Andre. “I told you I would be your wing woman and I’m not backing down from what could possibly be the most important role in my life.”

You didn’t notice the Pogues or any of the stares around you. It’s true you’re not much of a party girl. I mean, you’ll go out here and there, have a drink or two, but you felt more comfortable at places where you weren’t surrounded by drunk and horny teenagers. 

“He’s probably not even here,” Andre says. He’s trying to look nonchalant but you notice the way his eyes dance from face to face of the people around him. 

“He told you he was going to be here, right?” You ask him with one brow raised. Andre nods. “Then, we’ll find him.”

Sarah and Kie never made any effort to talk to you at school, but to be fair, neither have you. You’ve heard mixed reviews, some people call them spoiled brats, ungrateful...some even go as far as calling them ‘The Cut Sluts.’ Of course you never take any of those things to heart. You can’t judge a book but it's cover. Plus, they’re friends with your old best friends. They can’t be that bad for John B and JJ and Pope to be hanging out with them, right?

“You think she'll come over here?” Kie asks. No one’s ever said it out loud, but her friends wonder if deep down, Kie was a little jealous of you. Because you were their first real girl friend. You were the first girl they ever let in and opened their heart too. That was a tough pill for Kie to swallow when she originally thought she was that girl. Of course the boys don’t like you any more than Kie and vice versa. But sometimes Kie wishes she could have grown up with the boys the same way you had. 

“Probably not. Unless she’s drinking,” Pope says and motions towards the keg they’re near. 

“I have an idea,” John B says and fills up a red solo cup. He hands it to JJ. “Why don’t you go offer her a cup.”

JJ snags the cup out of John B’s hand and glares at him. “Fuck off, dude.” 

“Do you guys ever see her around at school?” Pope asks the girls.

Sarah shrugs. “Not really. She doesn’t really get a long with my old group of friends.”

Kie rolls her eyes. “No one gets along with your old group of friends.”

Sarah playfully shoves Kie by the shoulder and they laugh. 

“I heard she turned down Raymond Easterling a couple weeks ago and he didn’t take it very well,” Pope says, remembering the words he heard from the kids in his class roaming the school hallways. 

Raymond goes to Kildcare County High with the Pogues. He’s known to be a trouble maker and a class clown. He works with JJ at the country club. The kid can make JJ laugh sometimes, but he wouldn’t necessarily say he likes him all that much. He can be an arrogant asshole with an ego bigger than it should be.

“She turns down everybody,” Sarah says. “Some people at my school call her ‘The Heart Sucker’ because she can pull people in with the snap of her fingers and break their heart just as quickly.”

Something stirred in the pit of JJ’s stomach.

“Hey! Where you going?” John B calls out to JJ who’s making his way deeper into the sea of people on the beach. 

“Taking advantage of a good boneyard party, my friend,” JJ calls back and slugs the rest of his beer. Looking left and right, he searches for the blonde he had eyes on earlier. Because right now, he needed a distraction. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The party starts to die down a little after midnight. Some people leave to find another party, some are passed out in the back of their cars, and others had already found what they were looking for - someone to leave with. 

The boneyard party wasn’t as bad as you expected it to be. You had found a couple of kids from your school who were nice enough to make small talk with you while Andre left to find a guy named Devon, a Touron he’s been talking to who’s renting for the entire summer. 

Now you’re waiting for Andre to come back so the two of you can walk home. You find comfort under a slanted palm tree towards the back of the beach, scrolling through random apps on your phone to pass the time.

“Y/N?” You look up from you phone and smile when you see your former best friend inching closer to you, squinting in the dark to see if it’s really you. 

“Maybank? What are you still doing here?” You stand up and pat the sand off your hands on you thighs. 

Your heart skips a beat in your chest when you look at him. He’s beautiful. Lucious blonde hair, perfectly tanned skin, piercing blue eyes. You always knew JJ was going to grow up to be gorgeous. He was cute when he was younger. At least you always thought so. 

“I was just leaving, but I thought I saw you sitting here and wanted to make sure you were all right.” He knows it’s not like you to stay this late at a party, especially all by yourself. When he first saw you sitting there, he didn’t know if he should say something. Mostly due to nerves of seeing you again. But the other Pogues had already left and he didn’t trust anyone else at the party to be near you alone late at night. It didn’t matter if you were sober or not. 

“Aw. Was JJ Maybank worried about me?” You tease. Talking to him felt easy. As if you never stopped being friends. A few years ago, you and JJ had the best banter. Despite constantly bickering back and forth, John B always swore the two of you would get married one day. The two of you just always clicked like a natural connection. And even now, when only seeing each other every now and then for a few minutes at a time, it felt normal. You smirk when JJ rolls his eyes. “I’m kidding. Yeah, I’m okay. Just waiting for my friend to come back from his little rendezvous,” You say. 

JJ nods. “Did you have a good time? I feel like I never you see at these things.”

“Yeah. Parties aren’t really my thing. But Andre was nervous to meet this guy he’s been talking to for a little while so I came for moral support.”

“Looks like he didn’t need much of the support.”

You shrug. “It’s better that way, anyway. I don’t mind waiting for him. What about you?”

“What about me?” 

“Did you have a good time tonight? I hear your quite the ladies’ man at these things.”

“Come on, Sparky. You know better than to believe everything you hear.”

Your face lights up at the mention of your old nickname. You use to always be busting out the seams with energy. On days where the boys just wanted to chill and play video games, you would drag them to the park for a game of kick ball. Or when they wanted to sleep in after a long week, you showed up at 8 am to drag them out of bed to catch the morning waves. So one day JJ started calling you Sparky, and it stuck with the rest of your little gang. You always pretended to hate it, but secretly you loved it. 

“Oh I don’t believe everything I hear. I do, however, believe what I see. And your arm around that tall blonde in the little black dress looked quite convincing.”

You first saw JJ at the party when he was making his way to the pretty girl by the water. Your teeth involuntarily clenched and there was a twisted feeling in your stomach you couldn’t shake whenever you looked at them. 

In that instant, JJ felt grateful for the dark sky. He felt the rush of heat rise up his neck to his cheeks before he could stop it. He knew the motivation to see that girl was because of you. He just wished you never saw it. But he didn’t know why. 

“I walked her home. She wasn’t my type,” JJ plays it off. 

“I didn’t realize you had a type,” You giggle, but a small part felt relieved to hear this. “So what is it? Your type?”

Hybrids with a Pogue attitude, bright smile, beautiful eyes, and a mouth that could make any sailor turn around, JJ thought. 

“I don’t know. Haven’t figured it out yet.”

You roll your eyes playfully. “Well, when you figure it out let me know.”

“Why? So you can transform into my ideal girl?” He teases.

Now you’re the one thankful for the dark sky. “In your dreams, Maybank. But so far, I do have the perfect wing-woman track record, so if you needed help -”

“I don’t think I need any help in that department. Thank you very much.”

You throw your hands up in fake surrender. “Ooo. Touchy subject.”

JJ rolls his eyes at the same time your phone pings with a text message. You pull it out of your shorts pocket and open the text from Andre, telling you to leave without him because he’s gonna stay out late with Devon and won’t know what time he’s going to be done.

“Everything all right?” JJ says, watching you read the message.

You lock your phone and stuff it in your back pocket again. “Like I said. Perfect wing-woman track record.”

“That was Andre?” 

“Yeah. He’s most likely not coming home tonight.”

“Lucky bastard.”

“At least one of us is,” You joke. 

JJ’s grin slightly falters but you don’t catch it. You have no idea how much he wishes the two of you could be equally as lucky. Together. 

“Well, I should probably go,” You say and bend down to grab your flip flops.

“Let me walk you home,” JJ offers. 

“Oh no. It’s okay -”

“You’re cute. It’s wasn’t up for debate. I’m not letting you walk back by yourself.”

You scoff lightly. “I’ll be fine.”

“Just humor me.”

You roll your eyes and smirk but choose not to argue. In fact, you’re excited to spend more time with JJ. It’s been so long.

“Fine.”

“And here I thought you might’ve grown out of your stubborn phase by now.”

You shove him playfully by the shoulder. “Shut up!”

And just like that, it felt like old times.

[boldlyvoid]

Amoreena | Chapter Five

Chapter Five

main summary: Heaven is a real place and it's located exactly 14.6 miles away from the FBI, Quantico Headquarters. Off behind a small park, under a fantastical willow tree surrounded by wildflowers, in every colour young minds can imagine.

Don't forget, heaven also comes with angels.

Chapter Summary: (fluff only) weekly Saturday reading only they are joined by an extra 15 lost boys, not just Spencer

Warnings (adding as they happen): fluff, hurt/comfort, depressed spencer, reader has a daughter, falling in love, strangers to lovers, library smut, oral (female receiving) lots and lots of fluff

word count: 3K

from the beginning <3

He woke up Saturday morning to the sound of a bunch of voices coming from beyond the walls of his room. Only it wasn’t his room, it was the room he slept in when he stayed with Y/N and Amoreena, he hasn’t left since he arrived on Thursday and he had no plan to either.

They still hadn’t told her about their relationship, not wanting her to come crawling into bed with her mom in the morning to find Spencer there too. She wasn’t ready to explain to Amoreena what it meant for Spencer to be in her bed, how they were in love and that she might need to learn how to knock before entering.

So he slept in the spare room, completely contently because he knew she was only on the other side of the wall, instead of 30 minutes away like she would be when he slept at his own apartment.

It had been a week since he saw them reading in the park, and now they were his family. It was incredibly fast, anyone who heard the news would say so. But that’s how his life worked, he blew through everything incredibly fast, it only made sense for him to skip every step in the book and become a stepdad overnight.

He woke up then, missing Y/N and Amoreena as he thought about the last week. Finally getting dressed and peaking outside, through the crack in the blinds, to see what was going on on the farm.

There were a bunch of men in the field with the cows dropping new cattle off in a big truck as a bunch of children ran around the yard. Y/N wasn’t kidding when she said her 7 siblings had produced 15 cousins for Amoreena to play with. Children all between the ages of toddler and 7-years-old, screaming while they ran after Rufus and the cats, it was a pure dopamine rush to witness.

He found Y/N in the living room, a book in one hand and a coffee in the other, “good morning cutie, all the ruckus on the farm wake you up?” She did her best fake southern accent as she smiled at him. Beautiful as ever in the early morning sunshine.

He nodded with a yawn, sitting beside her and snuggling into her shoulder. She placed her mug in his hands so she could wrap an arm around him and pull him in closer, letting him take a sip of coffee and become a real person again.

He noticed she was reading a book he had never seen before, reading the pages and not know the words. It was a first for him.

“What’s that one about?”

Y/N closed it to let him look at the cover. It was a hand-bound book, wrapped in green fabric that was at least 30 years old and in well-loved condition. The gold lettering reading Amoreena, along with a pressed gold rose and the author's name. He had never heard of it before.

“My grandma was an aspiring writer and the reason I love books so much, her name was Peggy and she had a dream once about a wonderful little girl named Amoreena and the magical life she created for herself. She wrote it all down and my grandpa had it typed and bound for her, she was so proud of this book,” Y/N gushed, smiling as she held it to her chest softly, thinking of all the memories Spencer didn’t know yet.

“Really?” Spencer couldn’t help but smile at her.

She nodded softly, “she loved Elton John, so much so that when my sister Ashley came out she threw her a party. Almost all those kids out there are Ashley's, by the way, she went down the adoption and foster root after I did IVF.”

She pointed out the front window at all the people gathered on her land, “Ben and Dylan dropped their kids off too while they help dad and Evan with the farm. Those are my brothers in case you didn’t know their names yet, there’s also Carver and Francis but they don’t live as close.”

Her little life was just so perfect, “did they want to come with us to read this afternoon? We need some lost boys.”

“They’d love that, are you sure you can handle 16 kids between the two of us?” she smiled, pure love spreading through her body as she held him.

“They’re not so different from psychopaths right?” He teased, watching her settle against him even more as they enjoyed their Saturday together.

“What else can you tell me about your grandma?” He snuggled into her more as he asked, wanting to know as much about her happiness as possible.

“She was always listening to music, she loved Elton's song Amoreena the most. It was the song she played for the majority of my childhood. It only made sense for me to name my little miracle Amoreena too, cause I wouldn’t have her unless nanny suggested I have a baby.”

“I would have loved to meet her.”

Y/N’s smile changed then, “she would have loved you and your big mind.”

“My mom wants to meet you and Amoreena,” he announces softly, he hasn’t really told her anything about his family yet.

“What’s she like?”

“She has schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s and she lives in a care home in DC right now, I try and see her when I can but she has her own schedule so I have to fit around when she’s having a good day,” it was hard to explain it to most people, but not to her. He didn���t feel any shame or fear in introducing them. Y/N was the most loving human, and Amoreena was just the same.

“When is she free next?” A simple question that made him feel incredibly giddy.

“Tuesday from 3-5,” he snuggled in closer to her as she wraps her arm around him.

“We’ll pick Amoreena up from school after work and take her over,” Y/N agreed, their lives intertwining like they were always meant to.

Like she was the ivy on his old cottage, she took him in and made him her own, wrapping herself all around him and never letting him go again.

He basically finishes her coffee while she holds him on the couch. The sound of the kids outside making them laugh every once in a while, dogs barking and cows mooing, the farm was alive and roaring while they enjoyed each other's company.

“Did you bring your costume for the reading today?”

He sat right up then, looking at her like she lost her mind, “of course I did, I wouldn’t have Penelope spend a week tracking down a Captain Hook costume just to forget it.”

Y/N’s jaw dropped, “you didn’t?!”

He simply nodded with a cheeky grin, “come on Tinker Bell, everyone knows she had a thing for Hook.”

“Who didn’t? He was the first and last bad boy I was interested in, I typically go more for Milo’s and Ariel’s; full of adventure and always learning something new,” Y/N teased him.

“Mhm, I always had a thing for Aladdin and Belle in search of far off lands and happy endings,” he mused, making her smile just as much as he was, “but for real it was between Hook and Wendy for my costume,” he made her laugh again, wanting to hear it for the rest of time.

“You still can, I have a blue nightgown you can borrow,” it was so easy for them to flirt, it fit into their conversation so simply it felt like they had been together forever.

He couldn’t help leaning in to kiss her, resting her back against the couch softly as she held onto him. He loved kissing her, she tasted like coffee and happiness every single time. She made the cutest sounds when they would make out like she was surprised by it or she wasn’t used to it at all.

She made him feel like he was young again like he was 21 and in love for the first time. All his trauma disappeared and that Spencer who used to stare back at him in the mirror was gone now. That guy packed his bags and left the farm to never be seen again.

Good fucking riddance is all he had to say.

He was happy, he enjoyed being happy and he was going to stay happy. It was the only goal he had going forward, and as long as he was in her embrace, surround by the laugher of her child and family, he knew it would be possible.

Amoreena came running inside then, finding the two of them making out on the couch before they could part from each other.

“Ewww!” She cried, jumping on top of the two of them and knocking the wind out of Spencer.

“Get off,” Y/N tried to speak as she was crushed by the two of them. “Mom down!”

Spencer picks Amoreena up then, taking her away from the couch and spinning her around like she’s an airplane. She cheers and cheers and doesn’t want him to put her down because it’s so fun. The next thing he knows he’s being dragged outside to twirl all the kids around like they’re Peter Pan, flying through the air on their way to Neverland.

He’s surrounded by giggles and tickles fights, he’s tackled down against the dirt as a herd of tiny children dog pilled him. Laughing until he cried, feeling more joy than humanly possible and then Y/N’s telling them all to get ready to he’d to the park.

Coming down the stairs in a pirate costume to a bunch of screaming kids was an experience and a half. Spencer couldn’t believe how happy it made them all to imagine Captain Hook had broken into the house and Amoreena, or Peter Pan as she corrected him, chased him outside with all the lost boys.

He took a moment to learn all their names, all 15 of them, however, unlike the cats, they had relatively normal people names.

Kate, Cade, Jet, Lauren, Cassie, Sara, Evan, Benny, Olivia, Jessie, Owen, Maddie, Gwen, August, and Parker, were the cutest little family of cousins. some looked like Amoreena, some looked like their own mothers, a handful of them were adopted out of the country, they were the most perfect cast of lost boys.

He's never had any cousins, no pets, no siblings. His life never felt lonely until he realized what he missed out on.

“Dad,” Amoreena whispered as she tugged on his shirt lightly, “look!”

She pointed towards the house where Y/N was standing. When she said she was going as Tinker Bell he really didn’t think she meant looking exactly like Julia Roberts at the end of Hook.

She looked magical in her beautiful white dress, curly hair with the most perfectly placed flowers and flawless wings wrapped around her shoulders. She was a vision standing on the porch, waiting for him to pick his jaw up off the floor and compliment her.

“Tink,” the words are more like air, soft and barely there.

“Is Captain Hook being nice? Or should we take him to the pond and let the Alligators deal with him?” Y/N teased, marching down the stairs and poking Spencer's chest.

“Ouch,” he teased her, holding his hand over his heart to make her feel bad.

But she didn’t, “some Pirate you are,” she teased, sticking her tongue out at him before taking Amoreena’s hand and running off down the trail towards the main house, everyone following her lead.

Nanny packed enough snacks for all 16 kids, and a little extra just in case. Spencer slipped the lunch box over his shoulder and they made their way towards the adventure. Y/N pulling a wagon just in case the littlest ones didn’t want to walk anymore. It was spectacular.

Y/N stopped then, pretending to stand like an army man turning around abruptly to look at the troop. “Lost boys, are we ready?”

“Yes, Tinker Bell!” They cheered back.

“On my lead, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4,” she marched, bringing her knees up high as they all followed her down the path. “We’re following the leader, the leader, the leader,” she began to sing.

Spencer was in awe, his heart felt like it was going to explode as he watched everyone follow her. Singing along as they marched their tiny little butts down to the park.

“We’re following the leader wherever she may go!” Amoreena yelled the lyrics back, leading the pack as Peter Pan should.

“Tee dum, tee dee, a teedle ee do tee day Tee dum, tee dee, it's part of the game we play Tee dum, tee dee, the words are easy to say Just a teedle ee dum, a teedle ee do tee day

Tee dum, tee dee, a teedle ee do tee dum We're one for all, and all of us out for fun We march in line and follow the other one With a teedle ee do, a teedle ee do tee dum”

It was like magic, they all knew the words and they sang the whole way down the path. Every verse and then repeating it. Not a single kid strayed from the path, no one complained about sore feet or hot backs, they loved their Aunty Y/N and so did Spencer.

“We’re off on an adventure, adventure, adventure,” Y/N changed the words, making him smile as she brought happiness into the world. “We’re off on an adventure to read out in the sun! Tee dum, tee dee, a teedle ee do tee day…”

Every single time he thought she had given him the best day of his life, she manages to outdo herself.

—

They barely listened to the story, it was a disaster of epic proportions but they tried. 15 kids is a lot to handle as an ex FBI agent and a librarian, they had lunch and instead ran around the field playing lost boys instead. It was still an amazing afternoon.

He was going to be covered in bruises the next morning. He had been kicked, poked, trampled, jumped on, the whole 9 yards. They were the most energetic bunch in the whole world, and then they came home to ice cream.

“Y/N,” Spencer finally pulled her aside when all the kids were preoccupied with their cold snack after a hot day.

“Yes, cutie?” It was a nickname that was sticking, much like pretty boy, and he didn’t mind it at all.

“We’re going to need more than 2 songs tonight to get her to go to bed,” he teased, stepping into that step-dad role with ease.

She couldn’t stop smiling at him, wrapping him up in her arms gently so he didn’t crush her fairy wings. “We’ll take her swimming, that’ll tire her out instead. Are you lookin’ for some alone time?”

“I love her dearly, but I can’t kiss you as much when she’s around,” he whispered before pecking her quickly and hearing the group of lost boys pretend to be sick.

“Just because he’s my dad doesn’t mean you have to be gross like your mom and dad, mom,” Amoreena’s smart mouth making them both shake their heads and laugh.

“What would you do if I did this?” Y/N teased before dipping Spencer back like a princess and kissing him, he stuck his foot out in shock as she held him there.

“Ewww!!” All the kids yelled as she returned him to his feet.

“Or this?” Y/N pulled him into another kiss, her leg popping like Princess Mia’s in the princess diaries.

Amoreena and her cousins were all screaming then, laughing at how gross their aunt and her new boyfriend were being. Used to it clearly, their grandparents were just as in love and watching from the porch as they held each other on the swing.

“I love you,” Spencer announced, loud enough for all to hear without a care in the world.

“You better,” she smiled. “I love you too, cutie,” she added before kissing him one last time.

His life felt perfectly complete.

Y/N’s brothers were incredibly kind just like her. He learned that Ashley was the oldest with 5 kids and her wife Susie, then Ben who was 46 and his wife Shannon, they had 3 kids. Dylan and Laurie had 4 and Even, her twin brother had 3.

Turns out her mom had 2 sets of twins back to back, 7 children and only 5 pregnancies. It felt crazy for him to think about having that many people in his life for his whole life, he wouldn’t have known what to do with anyone more than just his mother growing up.

Spencer helped Bob with the barbecue, they made burgers and hotdogs for all 16 of the children while they continued to run through the fields. They had enough energy to last them 5 straight days of chaos. It was amazing.

Y/N and Spencer managed to wander off while all the kids ate, sitting under a tree with their dinner so they could finally have some time alone together.

She was beautiful, sitting in the afternoon amber glow as she tried to keep her hair from blowing in her face. Tucking the strands behind her ears so she could eat her dinner in peace before spencer handed her the hair tie on his wrist. Then she got ketchup on her cheek, seemingly on purpose as she smiled at him and laughing as Spencer wiped it off with his thumb. He was so in love he felt stupid, smiling at her like he’s never seen another person before, absolutely enamoured.

“Derek and his wife wanted to come over tomorrow and have his son meet Amoreena if that’s okay?”

Her face lit up, “his son is the one named after you right? Not your godson?”

He nodded with yet another smile, his lips were going to fall off at this point. “Yeah, he’s the sweetest little guy, Hank’s never been to a farm before.”

“You tell them our gates are always own to new minds and pure hearts,” she smiled. “That’s what nanny used to say.”

He leans in and kisses her then, resting his forehead against hers as she held his cheek in her free hand, smiling ever so softly as she stared into his eyes, they didn’t need words, he knew she loved him too. A week of pure bliss had passed within the blink of an eye, and they still had forever to go.

Taglist: @shemarmooresfedora @spookyspence @spencers-dria @manuosorioh @reidsfish @mochionly (send me an ask if you want to be added to the tag list, I don't always see every reply! i love you guys thank you so much for reading)

[mersuperwholocked-lowlife]

“Forgive and Forget”

Word Count: 1,685

Characters: John Winchester, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Reader

Pairings: Dean Winchester x Sister!Reader; Sam Winchester x Sister!Reader

Warnings: ANGST, TW: Traumatic bonding, Abuse

A/N: Writer’s block sucks :/ also maybe part two?

Masterlist

“Dean, for the hundredth time, I’m okay,” you had an ice pack pressed against your forehead as Dean led you to your bed.

“I knew we shouldn't have left you alone with him,” Dean muttered to himself.

“He was just drunk,” you shook your head.

“That doesn't give him the right to hurt you,” you could see the anger in Dean’s face as you sighed, leaning into the bed.

“Where’s Sam?” you asked.

“I dropped him off at Bobby’s. He shouldn't have to see you like this,” he replied.

“Smart choice,” you sighed.

You winced slightly, feeling a growing pain in your rib as you sat up, probably an imprint from John’s boot.

“What else did he do to you?” Dean asked.

“Nothing,” you shook your head.

Dean gave you a look, as you rolled your eyes. Knowing you his entire life, he immediately could tell when you were lying, no matter how hard you tried to hide it.

You lifted your shirt slightly, as he gasped. Bruises littered your ribs, while Dean stood there in shock.

“Why didn't you tell me?” he asked softly.

“It doesn't even hurt that bad,” you lied.

You heard someone knocking at the door, as you gasped slightly.

Dean held his gun in his hand, looking through the small hole, before turning back to you.

“It’s Dad,” you pushed yourself up, holding in your screams as you took a deep breath.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Dean whisper-yelled at you.

“Open the door,” you replied.

He rolled his eyes, before opening the door.

“(Y/N), come with me,” John demanded.

You nodded your head softly, getting a look from Dean before you followed John out of the room.

“I just wanted to say sorry, kid,” he started.

“Forgive and forget,” you shook your head.

“Good. You can rest for the rest of the week. I need you first thing Sunday morning, okay?” he said.

You nodded your head, avoiding eye contact with him.

“I’m going to be leaving now. I’ll see you in a few days,” he walked back to the Impala, while you let out a breath of relief, walking back into the room.

“Well?” Dean crossed his arms.

“I’m going to sleep until Sunday morning,” you sighed.

“Is Dad gone?” Dean asked.

“Y-Yeah,” you started.

“Good, pack your bags,” he walked to his bag, picking it up.

“Why? Where are we going?” you asked, frowning slightly.

“Sam isn't at Bobby's house. He’s hiding out in Alabama and we’re going to him,” Dean started.

“What? Why? Dean,” you shook your head.

“We're running away,” he said.

“Dean, why?” you put your hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

“Are you… Look at your freakin’ bruises, (Y/N),” your face dropped slightly as you sighed.

“He was drunk, Dean, i-it doesn't count,” you said softly.

Dean sighed, before shaking his head.

“You can’t keep using these excuses for him,” he whispered.

“I-It’s not some excuse, Dean. He’s our father,” you raised your voice softly.

“He abuses us,” Dean scoffed.

“He doesn't mean to,” you shook your head.

“Are you really that blind? I can’t believe you at this point,” Dean rolled his eyes.

“Go to Sam. I’m not leaving Dad,” you said.

Dean threw his bag on the ground, running his fingers through his hair.

“I’m gonna go get Sam,” he sighed.

“Dean…”

“I’m not dumb enough to leave you here alone with him. I’ll be back by tomorrow,” he pressed a kiss to your forehead as your eyes watered slightly.

“Dean…” he wiped your cheek softly.

“You should get some rest. I’ll see you in a bit,” he gave you a small smile, before leaving the hotel room.

---

“I think you’re sick,” Dean pressed his hand against your forehead before you pulled away from him.

“No, I’m not. I’m okay,” you lied.

You could feel your eyelids heavy as you fought to stay awake. The room was cold, as you wrapped the blanket around yourself, holding in a cough.

You cleared your throat, trying to suppress it before turning to Dean.

“You’re burning up,” he pointed out.

“That doesn't mean I’m sick. Now, come on. Dad said we have to meet him…”

“You're sick.”

“Dean, I’m fine,” you rolled your eyes.

You pushed the blanket off of yourself before Dean put it back on.

“Dean, stop,” you groaned.

“No, you stop,” you were taken by surprise when he yelled.

“Dad's relying on us for this hunt,” you reminded him.

“Can you stand up straight for five minutes?” he scoffed.

“Dean, you can't even do that. What’s your point?” you raised an eyebrow.

“No. You're staying in bed. Get some rest. I’m going on this hunt by myself. I’ll meet Dad there and tell him you weren't feeling well,” he began to grab his gun, while you stopped him.

“Dean, seriously, I’m fine,” you shook your head.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll see you tomorrow. As your older brother, that is an order,” Dean kissed your forehead as you scoffed, crossing your arms as he left the hotel room.

After a few minutes, you knew you couldn't leave him all alone with John. You grabbed your gun, locking the door behind you as you left.

---

“Why didn’t you stay in bed?!” Dean whisper-yelled.

He held you on his shoulder while you limped to the bed, wincing softly.

“I’m sorry, Dean,” you said softly.

“You don't have to say sorry. Dad’s pissed,” your eyes watered slightly as you leaned onto Dean, feeling your wound dripping.

“Let me go get the first aid kit, okay?” you nodded while he got up before you heard loud banging on the door.

Your eyes watered slightly as Dean tensed up.

“(Y/N)! Open the door!” you could hear John yelling from the other side.

Dean opened the door nervously, as John pushed past him, grabbing you and pulling you up.

“What the hell was that?” he barked.

You groaned softly, feeling him push against your wound. Your skin was paler than usual, your eyes red and watery while you felt your heart racing.

“Answer me!” he yelled.

“Dad! It wasn't her fault!” Dean yelled.

“Dean, leave. Now,” you could see the anger steaming out of John as you felt a lump in your throat.

“Dad-”

“Out!” he yelled.

There was a scared expression on Dean’s face as he looked at you, then John before his eyes watered slightly. He grabbed his jacket and left the hotel room, leaving you alone with John.

---

“Hey, this is serious,” Dean snapped in your face as you jumped slightly.

“Sorry,” you apologized.

“What’s taking him so long?” Dean muttered, looking at his watch.

“Who are we waiting for?” you watched as he paced around the hotel room.

There was a knock on the door, while Dean let out a breath of relief, opening the door.

Your eyes went wide as you gasped slightly.

“Sammy?” you asked softly.

You ran to him, wrapping your arms around him tightly.

“(Y/N)! I missed you,” he said.

“W-What are you doing here? I-I thought you were at Stanford,” you said.

“I was. But… Dean needed my help,” Sam looked at Dean, before turning back to you.

Dean closed the door before the three of you sat around the table.

“Okay… are one of you dying?” you said.

“What? No. Look, we just want to talk to you about something,” Dean shook his head.

“(Y/N/N), have you ever heard the phrase traumatic bonding?” you frowned at Sam’s question, before shaking your head no.

“What is that?” you asked.

“I-It’s basically this bond, between two people. It's basically this psychological state of mind when a person is being abused by someone they care about. The person can break their bones, but when the abuser apologizes to the victim, it’s all forgotten,” Sam explained.

You ran your fingers through your hair, slightly annoyed by your siblings.

“What are you trying to say, you guys?” you asked softly.

“Dad always hurts you. But then he says sorry. Then you forgive him, and you think you deserve it,” Dean said softly.

You sighed before you looked at Dean.

“He hurts all of us,” you replied.

“He’s broken your bones multiple times. You suffer his abuse more than any of us. And you’re the only one who still cares about him,” Dean held your hand before you pulled away.

“Stop it, both of you,” you shook your head.

“I’ve watched you go through this for twenty-two years, (Y/N)! You can’t keep making excuses for him!” you realized Dean didn't mean to yell at you before he let out a shaky breath.

“I want you to be safe. That’s why Sam wants you to come live with him and his girlfriend in California. Dad won’t know,” Dean explained.

“Stop,” you said again.

“(Y/N)...” 

“No! None of that is true. I want you both to stop bringing this up, I don't know why you keep doing it but stop. Sam, go back to school, we haven't seen you for nearly two years, so please don't pretend to give a rat’s ass about me now. Dean… I’ve told you before that I am fine, and it’s the truth,” you clenched your jaw.

“You’re not fine! Stop saying that!” Dean yelled.

“Why do you think you know me and ‘what's going on with me’ better than I know myself?! I’m so sick of you acting like this constantly! I don't care if you’re my ‘older brother’ and you just want to protect me and keep me safe! I know what's best for me and it's you two leaving me the fuck alone,” you could see the pain in their faces, as you tried to ignore it.

You scoffed, before you grabbed your bag, stuffing your belongings in it.

“Where are you going?” Dean asked.

“There’s no hunt here. I’m going back to Dad,” you said.

“(Y/N),” Sam said softly.

“Goodbye, kid. Have a nice life or whatever,” you grabbed your bag in anger, exhaling sharply before turning your back to the two of them, leaving the hotel room.

[marcspectrr]

Omg intrigued by the mixed thoughts on the season two wardrobe

Ahdjdk this is one of those things that I'm not sure people will agree with but I'll try to explain :)

First off, I think Emmie (the costume designer) did an amazing job on season 2. I think if the show keeps up with consistency in anything it's in the wardrobe (for the most part). There are certain things that carry over from the first season and it's really fun to fixate on analyze. We see Sarah wearing some of John B's pieces to expand on where they're at in their relationship (a great show-not-tell) as well as some of JJ's wardrobe, which I'll get into in a second.

The thing I love about wardrobe is that if it's treated right, it can tell just as much of the story as any narration or dialogue can. Emmie has said in an interview how one of the challenges she faced in s2 was creating the new looks as far as the different weather and the Pogues going back to school. In s1 we have them lounging around in the sun, presumably some time around the beginning of summer after Hurricane Agatha caused a power outage, leading to a lighter wardrobe. She wanted to symbolize this transition (getting the power back and going back to school) into the clothes, with more colors and patterns and I think it definitely showed.

I thoroughly loved John B's wardrobe mostly because of the attention to detail, I'm pretty sure his was my favorite this season. Both Emmie and Chase were supposedly inspired by the early 90's and Kurt Cobain for his character, which translates very well into John B. I love that the patterned shirts and bandana making a comeback, along with the doodles on his shoes and even the sweater, they're just all very in-character. I also loved this hat for some reason (also, highly recommend this blog as well). Some of my favorite looks...

Out of all of the characters, John B and JJ are seen cycling through some of their wardrobe (their shoes, their hats, etc) which I really like because it's realistic for kids like them to be doing this, especially with being in the lower class.

Kiara's clothes was where I started getting picky. Her wardrobe was inspired by the 70's and overall I think it did her character justice. I liked how they kept the headbands/bandanas going, along with her friendship bracelets while adding in new jewelry that I think fit her character very well (the moon ring and the ying yang necklace, etc). And I absolutely LOVED the reappearance of her sweater from the pilot. These were my favorite :)

I hc that her mom really liked going shopping with her specifically because they had similar taste, she never pushed her into getting clothes that were trendy but instead took her to little thrift shops on the weekends and helped her pick out outfits she could tell Kiara liked. I didn't personally like too many pieces from s2 (s1 is where it's at) but, again, I think they fit her. The main thing that I couldn't move past was the layers. I understand it doesn't really get that "cold" in the obx so wearing crop tops/bralettes under jackets might make sense but to me it was a little confusing. Sometimes I can't help but feel, even though it's a summer teen show, that the clothing on the female characters is just to objectify their bodies.

I think they stayed true to Popes wardrobe too, for the most part. We still got the patterned button ups and I loved the choices on his shoes this season. There were a few shots that felt a little Kooky to me though lol I feel like there's a fine line between what the show has est as the clothes of a Kook and the clothes of Pope (both wear light button ups with maybe boardshorts, very clean looking) but I think the difference lies in the shoes. I also wish he had an accessory like the rest of the Pogues have -- they all have different variations of the bandana and friendship bracelets but I still feel like he could use something that just makes me think 'that's so Pope'. Some of my favorites from him were these.

JJ's wardrobe holds a lot of context for his character and ironically that was part of my problem. He still had his rings, his bracelets and his necklace, and he had his boots for most of the season, occasionally switching to sandals. He still had the bandana hanging out of his back pocket and still wore cut off shirts and ball caps and various T-shirts that have clearly taken some damage. My favorites this season were these.

My problem doesn't exactly reside within the wardrobe choices as much as it does with the shows writing and how they neglected to show/address where he was living. He makes a comment about how he didn't have a place to stay (which is impossibly hard to believe with John B back in the Chateau but whatever this show loves throwaway lines agdjfk) so we're assuming he's homeless after his dad went to jail. That would have a lot to do with what he wears because again, wardrobe should tell a story, and I think for the beginning it was evident he was wearing old clothes as opposed to Kie and Pope, who could've gotten new clothes for school and whatnot.

Overall I think I liked the wardrobe, I just have weird opinions on things and think they're a big deal when they're not. I obviously love the Pogues in plaid any time and I adore when they share clothes (hoping to see some of that with jiara).

[abesantiquesstore]

Dinner and a Confession

PARING: Jibson (Patrick Jane / Teresa Lisbon)

GENRE: Angst (but not really?)

WARNINGS: pre-smut that may be a little bit more than “pre” but not explicit 

WORD COUNT: 6019

SUMMERY: Jane and Lisbon have a fwb relationship before he leaves for Venezuela and he wants something more when he gets back, he just cannot make up his mind when he should tell her. When he gets the courage to, she is about to go on a date with someone else. Jane has to tell her before it's too late. or Jane tells his feelings to Lisbon at the hotel at dinner,

(Not really) Based off of the lyrics in VOWELS by HUNNY, but I wouldn't call it a songfic: "You can't spell pain, kiss, run away, or little mistake without me."

TAGS: Au, fw/b (kinda) / unrequited love. Angst, pre-smut, vega lives, some cannon but ehh, Dog Libson, jane actually tells lisbon at the hotel, not on the plane, kinda wrote in a past tense point of view. Mostly lisbons pov, but a little jane (third person)

[READ ON AO3]

When Jane first walked into the CBI building the thing Libson immediately noticed was he was a broken shell of a man, dead behind the eyes, and she wasn’t sure how he kept himself upright. There were some days where Libson could see a little sparkle in his eyes, like when he solved a case in a record time. That sparkle would make Libson’s heart skip a beat every time, she told herself it was only from the stress and relief of the case they worked.

The day he got her a pony as a gift, she kissed his cheek as a thank you although she doesn’t know why she did. The next day, in her office, they had an argument over something small that didn’t actually matter. Lisbon was about to tell Jane to leave her office, he must have known because he took a step forward, standing so close they were breathing in the same air. Jane put his hands on her arms asking “Why are we fighting, Lisbon?”

Suddenly they were kissing, neither one knowing who initiated it, with Lisbon walking Jane backward putting him between herself and the wall. Once it got to be too much to breathe they broke away. “Do you want to go try the new sandwich down the road? It’s been a long day and we both could eat.” Jane smiled.

“You’re still not going to seduce me over a meal, certainly not a sub sandwich.” Lisbon chuckled.

“I just want to get something to eat!” Jane put his hands up.

“Fine but I’m driving” Lisbon said while grabbing her jacket that was sitting on her chair.

“Yes mom.” Jane joked, opening the door for her, following her shortly after she walked through the door.

Lisbon smiled, happy to eat something, but also to hang out with Jane.

-

When Jane returned from Vegas, Lisbon was mad at him for leaving, and sad that he left her. In the interrogation room when Lorelei Martins told her that Jane and her were lovers, Lisbon saw red and green. She asked more questions but Jane kissed Lorelei's head and Lisbon was done with any more questions she may or may not have. Lisbon marched straight up the stairs after letting the guard know she was done with the interrogation now. She did the cop knock on Jane’s door, which he opened immediately, like he was expecting her.

“Lovers? Jane…” Lisbon started poking his chest to shove him into the room letting herself in, closing the door behind her.

“I had to let Red John think I moved on, and had a breakdown. It’s all part of the plan.” Jane explained.

“Was this the first since, you know…” she trailed off, “you know what, I don’t want to know.”

“Lisbon, I-” he was cut off by a pair of lips, her lips, touching his.

“Did it mean anything?” She asked, pulling back.

“No, of course not. Honestly, I was filled with regret instantly.” Jane breathed.

“Good.” Lisbon smirked, pulling him into a kiss pushing him onto his make-shift padded board bed. She climbed on top of him, removing his shirt in one move. She had a goal to show him how much she missed him, and wanted to erase his time with Lorelei from that mind palace of his. When they both had finished Jane was not thinking of Lorelei any more.

-

Red John wanted Jane to prove his loyalty to him by killing Lisbon, and bringing her head to him. Jane knew that Red John was trying to hurt Jane more, and Jane wasn’t going to let Red John hurt anyone he cared for again. 

“Lisbon, I have to tell you something and you are not going to like it.” Jane stopped Lisbon from leaving her office. “I’m going to have to “kill” you.” Jane said while doing air quotes.

“Jane, what the hell is that supposed to mean?” Lisbon stopped, shocked he just said that in a building full of cops.

“Well you know how I have been trying to get on Red John’s good side, trick him into thinking I have turned onto his side? Well he requested that I kill you and to prove it, bring your head to him in a box. I don’t want to kill you though, but I have a plan. I already told Rigsby and he said he’s in.” Jane prefaced.

“Well tell me, you know I want to catch this guy too. What can I do to help?” Lisbon let him more into her office.

“So I’m going to “kill” Rigsby, and it’s going to be that unknown body from the case we are working on. I’m going to “kill” you, carry your “dead” body out and meet Rigsby at the safe area I got from a guy who owes me too much money from poker that he’ll never give me. I’ll  put some fruit in a box and say it’s your head, hopefully by the time they notice it’s fruit, I’ll know who Red John is.” Jane explained.

“Okay, this could work.” Lisbon smiled.

Jane smiled as he saw Rigsby pulling the corpse into place. “I hope so. I love you, good luck.” Jane said before he shot the blank gun in her direction, grabbing her acting dead and running out of the building.

Later Lisbon asked Jane what he meant about what he said, his only response was he was too hyped up and didn’t remember what he said. The plan ended up failing when the FBI thought that Jane was Red John and intercepted the mission. 

-

When Jane started locking himself into the attic space refusing to speak to anyone, narrowing down his personal list of who was actually the man who killed his family, he had the dead look in his eyes, but the spark was still there. 

Lisbon noticed the dull look in his eyes was much deeper, when he started locking himself in his attic space, and helping with their cases. He had a mission, seven men who could be the man that took his wife and child from his life. The same man who put Lisbon in his life- but Jane can’t let Red John know this. 

The office was empty after everyone had gone home, and she should too. However, she made her way up to the stairs to the roof. Lisbon knocked on the door to the attic, softly at first, Jane ignored the knock but knew by the foot fall pattern it was her. 

“Jane, please? I need you.” Lisbon sighed after waiting a minute.

Jane opened the door, “Miss me already Lisbon?” he smirked, closing the door behind her.

“I need your help with a case jackass.” She smacked his chest.

“Okay, but only because you asked so nicely.” Jane smiled.

She showed Jane the case files, he saw something right away that they missed, she went to give him a kiss on the cheek as a thank you, but he grabbed her shoulders, and turned his head to make sure their lips met. Maybe it was the spark of him being so close to catching Red John, the anger she felt against him, or maybe they just missed each other but they showed each other that night how much they missed each other. Over the following weeks, it wasn’t unusual for the two of them to share that padded-foam bed a couple of days out of the week, before she left to go home.

-

But the day he caught and killed Thomas McAllister, Jane was so happy to finally have accomplished his task, he didn’t care what the consequences were. So he ran, but not before leaving a voicemail to Lisbon, thanking her for dealing with him for as long as she did, and ending the message with a “see you later”. He threw that phone in the trash can before walking away from Thomas McAllister’s dead body. 

The next year and a half was full of many emotions for Lisbon. She felt hurt and embarrassed with herself for thinking that whatever they had would convince him to make sure she was a part of his plans. Maybe he was going to actually bring her a gift instead of leaving her abandoned on that beach. That he wouldn’t go off and kill Red John when she specifically asked him to make sure she was there. She wanted to be there for Jane, it wasn’t going to be easy for him, and she did agree that Red John had to die, he would escape prison no matter what they did, and he does not deserve freedom. But mostly Libson was slowly realizing that she was starting to love Jane despite all his flaws, and she just wanted to be with him.

The first week she was under constant supervision from the FBI, barely able to get them away from her for long enough for her to use the restroom. When she was home, she closed the blinds so the guard wouldn’t see her crying. She cried for what felt like a week straight, her dog Charlie laying next to her, nuzzling his head into her shoulder to show affection to her in her time of need. Lisbon did get mad, she broke some mugs against the wall, and she would hit her balled up fists onto her thighs and a table occasionally. 

When the FBI finally wasn’t watching her every move and she was offered a job in small town Canyon Ridge, she took it, trying to forget him by keeping busy. Canyon Ridge did anything but keep her busy, she had so much time to think, she was miserable there, but at least she had a job. After a partially boring day she came home and grabbed the mail from the small pile on the floor by the front door and saw a plain white envelope with a capital letter ‘L’ on the front. She sat down on the couch and set the rest of the mail on the coffee table in front of her. She opened the envelope and skimmed through the letter fast, stopping at the ‘Love, U no hoo’, at the bottom of the page. She silently gasped and read the letter again and again until she had every word memorized and then read it once more. She had tears staining her face that night when she went to sleep. She knew whatever they had wasn’t real to him and seemed to just be a big mistake. As the weeks went by she got more and more letters from him, sometimes there was a small seashell with the letter, or some sand (she doesn’t think that was on purpose). She didn’t care what status they would have, but she just wanted to hear his voice, she thinks it has been long enough and she would like to see him.

-

When she got a phone call from Agent Abbott with the FBI, she was worried something bad had happened, and when he told her to pack a bag for a few days and come to Austin, she was even more worried. She sat in the nice interrogation room for a while waiting for who she thought would be Abbott, but instead saw Jane walking in the doors, her face fell. He was tan, toned, and had a look on his face that made her both want to punch him and hug him. Instead she settled on saying “Nice beard….”.

Jane  looked at her for a few seconds and pulled her into a big hug, “God. You have no idea how much I missed you Teresa.” He said still holding her for too long to be just friends, both of them forgetting they were standing in the FBI HQ. 

“How did they get you to come back?” Lisbon asked, curiously.

“I told them I wanted to work with you again, but I just mostly just see you again.” Jane smiled, reaching towards her hands but not touching. “Jane I have a life built somewhere else, I live and work in Washington now.” Lisbon said with a little too much anger behind it.

“Oh?” Jane started, “Well work this one case with me, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to stay. You can go back to your home, but you should come visit me in jail sometime.”

“Jail?” Lisbon asked, “Aren’t you going to be working here?”

“Not if you leave. We are partners, I don’t want to work with anyone else. I would rather be in jail for the rest of my life.” Jane took his hands off the table, clear she wasn’t going to take his hands.

Lisbon looked at him, studying his face, it was clear he was not the same man he was two years ago, but she wasn’t the same woman she was two years ago either. “I hope you don’t mean that. The going to jail part I mean.” she said almost too quietly.

“I do mean that.” Jane shrugged. “We should probably go find Agent Abbott for details about the case.” he stated while standing up, opening the door and holding it for her.

- They solved the first case in record time, like always. It only took one of those Jane smiles and a “Please, Lisbon?” and she decided she didn’t make much of a life in Washington anyways. She wasn’t sure when it happened, but he definitely was breaking boundaries on more than just the cases they were working, but also in their friendship. He would stand closer to her and practically sit on her lap when on the couch, not that she minded anyways. 

They had a minor argument over how far Jane could go to solve a case, and they ended up standing toe to toe,  and they both knew what would happen next if they were back at the CBI. Jane cleared his throat, took a step back, and apologized and told her she was right, if he wanted her to know he was serious, it was time he acted like it. He walked away, Lisbon was confused, and Wylie and Vega turned to each other with many questions, but they would not voice them out loud. 

On many occasions Jane was ready to tell her what his true feelings were, but something always had to happen where he just could not. One day he decided he was just going to say it no matter what. She was just coming back from the breakroom going to her desk, grabbing her jacket off of her chair.

“Lisbon! Hi, are you leaving? Do you want me to walk you to your car?” Jane asked, jumping up from the couch behind her desk.

Lisbon smiled, “Actually it’s-”

“Hey Lisbon, I’m going to go warm up the car, I’llI wait in the parking lot for you.” She was interrupted.

“Okay thank you Pike.” Lisbon smiled.

Jane’s smile dropped but he joked, “What’s going on between you two?”

“Pike asked me if I wanted to go get some pizza tonight, and I thought why not?” Lisbon kept looking at the elevator to not meet Jane’s eyes.

“The prick in the art theft department?” Jane shot.

“You don’t even know him.”

“Well neither do you.”

“And I’m trying to change that.” Lisbon said matter of factly already walking away to the elevator to bring her outside.

“Okay, just be safe. Text me if you need anything.” Jane sighed and sat back down on the couch. Well maybe not tonight, he thought, her happiness is more important, and she probably doesn’t feel the same way.

The next day Lisbon came in ten minutes late, and Jane stood at a respectable distance from her, and didn’t sit on the couch with her. Lisbon noticed he had that dull look again in his eyes, not like when he first walked into the CBI all those years ago, but close. Was he mad at her? Or just respecting her now that she is dating someone else?

-

Months went by with Jane ignoring her, and Pike and her becoming more serious. There was a case at a wedding venue that overlooked the Colorado River, which was very beautiful.

“Isn’t this such a nice view? I think getting married in front of a nice river or lake would be a nice experience.” Jane spoke, uttering the most words she’s heard from him in a sitting since that night of her first date with PIke.

“Hmm, yeah it would be nice.” Lisbon said, while her mind pictured Jane in a tuxedo in front of an altar with the river flowing nicely in the background of her mental image. She shook her head, trying to picture Pike instead, but it wasn’t working.

“Are you and Pike getting married soon? Or has he proposed yet?” Jane inquired, causing Lisbon to choke on air.

“Jane! I have been with him for six months! Are you crazy?” she asked, trying to regain her breath.

“I don’t know Lisbon. If I was dating you, I would have proposed after only a couple of months.” He shrugged, looking into her eyes trying to see if her eyes said what she was thinking. “You are a queen Lisbon, and I think you should be treated as one. You can call me crazy if you want, but if he hasn’t figured out that he is the lucky one, and if he doesn’t get you, someone else will.” With that Jane walked away smirking, like he knew what he put in her head.

Lisbon stood on her spot for a few minutes longer, shocked. She sent Pike a picture of the river in front of her asking him what if he thought it was beautiful.

His reply was almost instant, causing her to smile, ‘I wouldn’t eat any fish from there if I were you’ she read, her smile falling just as fast as it took for her to read the text. She put her phone back in her pocket walking back to where the rest of the crew was examining the body.

The next day Pike and Lisbon are eating dinner and he tells her he got a job offer in Washington D.C., and asks her if she wants to come with him. Lisbon smiles, but Pike lets her know she doesn’t have to make the decision now. When she gets home she takes her phone out, thumbing the screen as if she should call Jane or not, she looks at the clock, a little after 10, she knew he wasn’t asleep, but common courtesy says to not do that. The following day she gets to the office a little earlier than she has been coming in, noticing Jane laying on the couch, she walks up to him. 

“Jane.” she whispered, gently setting  her hand on his shoulder. 

“Good morning Lisbon.” He said without opening his eyes.

“Can we talk real quick? It’s about Pike.” Lisbon asked in a normal volume voice.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” He sat up fast, her hand coming off his shoulder, looking her up and down.

“No, no. Nothing like that.” She said, noticing Jane relaxing when she said that. “Last night he told me he got a job offer in Washington D.C.”

“Good for him! But why are you telling me this?” Jane questioned.

“Well regardless of what has been going on, you’re still my best friend and I wanted you to hear it from me first. Pike asked me to move with him.” She looked him directly in the eyes.

“Oh… I see… You’re my best friend too Lisbon, and I think you should do what makes you happy.” He smiled with sadness in his eyes.

That is not what she wanted to hear.

-

Jane is noticeably upset, but if she was going to leave halfway across the county, he would tell her his feelings first. Was it cruel to wait until she had her house packed up, movers scheduled, and job arrangements made, maybe, but Jane didn’t care. One insomniac night at the FBI he was going through cold cases and found one that he just might be able to help close, and use to his advantage. 

They are at a hotel in Florida, just Lisbon in Jane needed for some questioning and Abbott and Cho were expected before midnight that night due to another case that needed last minute assistance.

After Jane and Lisbon talked to four of the suspects, Jane knew who did it, but where is the fun in telling anyone now; plus he could use help with Cho and Abbott later that night. He had also reserved a table for him and Lisbon at the hotel lobby restaurant that he did not give her the choice to refuse, winking at her to wear something nice. 

The two of them walked up to their conjoining rooms, Lisbon telling Jane she would see him later as she walked into her room. As soon as she shut the door she just wanted to land on her bed and take a nap, but there are three dresses lying on the bed stopping her from doing so. This has Jane written all over it, she thinks reaching towards the phone to tell him this is too much. She stops dialing on the phone when she hears a knock on the door. She walks to her door and answers it, seeing Jane there, letting him in the room, shutting but not locking the door behind her.

“Hi Lisbon. Have you decided what you are going to wear tonight?” He asked sheepishly.

“Jane, what is this?” she dodged his question.

“What is what?” He looked around.

“This.” She said vaguely gesturing around the room.

“A hotel room?” He asked.

“Jane.” She cuts him off..

“I thought you might want to dress nicely tonight for… our dinner. I guessed that you just brought work attire and some pajamas” Jane starts to explain.

“Okay. But for what reason? Why would I want to dress nicely for our dinner tonight? We are just getting a quick meal and hanging out before I leave for Washington D.C. Or am I mistaken, and caught up in one of your schemes now?” She sighs, already over this conversation. . 

“I just want to spend time with my best friend and partner before she leaves half way across the country.” Jane hesitates, running his hands through his hair nervously. Lisbon has to fight herself to not grab his hand.

“But why?” she points to the dresses laying on the bed.

“Because I meant what I said.” Jane starts, “That you should be treated like a queen. That while it is killing me inside, if moving with Pike makes you happy, then that’s what matters.” He takes a deep breath in before finishing, “And I remember what I said before I fake shot you in your office, after I returned from Vegas, and I meant it, it just wasn’t the right time.”

Lisbon shifts her gaze away, just wanting to look anywhere but at him, she is sure that he would be able to see all of the too many emotions going on in her head.

“However, now I am choosing to be selfish for the night.” Jane states, “I would like to spend some time with my best friend before she leaves to the rest of her happiness.”

Lisbon reaches her hand up and moves Janes’ disheveled hair back into place as much as his hair allowed, barely noticing Jane leaning into her hand. After a few seconds she balls up her fist and lays it on his shoulder before sighing and telling him, “I hate you so much right now.” and dropping her fists to her side. Jane could not hide the look of shock and dismay on his face if he tried. “I already accepted a marriage proposal from my boyfriend, who is a really good guy.”

“But, you don’t love him…” Jane stated matter of factly.

“But he loves me, and he has promised me a future. What can you offer me? Lies that I have to accept if I want to be happy?” Lisbon finally meets Jane's gaze again.

‘Okay, that hurt.’ Jane thought before his thought was interrupted.

“And you know what’s even worse? I don’t even care if you lie to me, because I want to believe you and trust you, even if it hurts me in the end. The worst part of all of this, is that I don’t know if you’re telling me the truth but I do know I need to call Marcus and tell him it’s over and I need to cancel the movers. Damn it Jane!” Lisbon ranted before starting to turn away.

Jane reaches to lightly touch her forearms to catch her from turning away, “I told you I would not lie to you anymore, Teresa.” 

Lisbon faces Jane again, not moving her arm, relishing in his touch, whispering, “I want to believe you Patrick.”

“Do what you have to do.” Jane smiles, “But know that the invitation is to open to dinner tonight if you want to talk more. I have a quick errand to run.” He squeezes her arm lightly before walking out of her hotel room and shutting the door behind him.

Lisbon watches the door shut, then looks at the dresses on the bed, but eyeing the pink one the most, before she notices her cell phone on the bedside table.

Later that evening, Jane is sitting at the table in the middle of the restaurant lobby when he sees Lisbon walk down the stairs in the pink dress but turns to talk to the hostess. After a minute she turns back around and Jane stands up smiling. When Lisbon is closer to the table Jane pulls out presumably her chair for her and does not hesitate to tell her, “You look like a princess, Teresa.”

Jane moves to where he was seated prior to standing up, seeing Lisbon blush while telling him to shut up.

“So what made you choose the pink dress? I had a feeling it was secretly your favorite color.” Jane asked, still smiling, glad Lisbon did decide to join him for dinner.

“Jane.” Lisbon decided to just get on with the unavoidable, “I called Pike after you left.”

“Oh.” Janes’ smile dropped.

“Yeah, I let him know it’s over. He asked me if I finally figured out my feelings for you. He even told me he wasn’t shocked.” Lisbon took a sip of the water on the table.

“And what are your feelings for me?” Jane asked, his eyes widening slightly with curiosity.

“Like you don’t know.” Lisbon stated.

“Tell me anyway.” Jane retorted. 

“Well… Right now, I’m annoyed and upset with you for coming up with the elaborate scheme. Faking a threat to the FBI, Jane? Really?” Lisbon makes eye contact while asking. “Yeah, I asked the hostess about the towels in the room and she said that it was already included in the package that you paid for weeks ago.”

“Lisbon-”

“No. I am also sad that I may have ruined my only chance and the future kid me wanted. But I am also scared that I ruined it for a man that continues to lie to me.” Lisbon sighed.

“I didn’t lie to you. I told you that I would not lie to you anymore.” Jane remarked.

“See, you keep saying that,” Lisbon said angrily but quietly so as to not disturb the people around them, “ But what about this? Lying to the FBI?”

“I didn’t lie to you Lisbon, if you would have asked me if this was a scheme I would have said only a little. I know who did it. But, I also didn’t say I wouldn’t lie to anyone.” Jane said, starting to look over the menu, seeing the range of emotions between anger of being played, care of being told she was special to him, and shocked that he solved a cold case in a couple of days. “Would you like to get anything to drink?” 

“I want to throw a drink in your face and never speak to you again,” Lisbon smirks, “but a whiskey to drink may be better.” 

“I like the sound of that.”Jane smiles at her, seeing the waiter walk their way to take their drink order. They go ahead and order a few of the appetizers to share between the two of them. After eating a couple of bites of the appetizers they got Jane looks at Lisbon and says, “I’m sorry if I ruined your weekend- and your future.”

Lisbon looks at him for several moments, “I don’t think you did. You were right. I didn’t love Pike. I think I was in love with the idea of having the future I thought I wanted. I’m not sure what my or our future will be but-” Lisbon notices for the first time that Jane is not wearing his wedding ring. 

Jane notices her gaze and chuckles, “It wouldn’t be fair to you if I kept it on. I hope you know I am serious about you. I’m not sure I can promise you what he was promising you, but I can promise you that I will love you and tell you only the truth until you decide you don’t want to put up with me anymore.” Jane stands up walking past Lisbon letting his fingers trail on her shoulders as he passes, leaving her with just her thoughts. Does she love Jane, does she want that future with him? Or does she just like the idea of what she could have with him? Jane comes back a few minutes later after paying the bill and sits back in his spot.

“Jane, I-” Lisbon breaks her own silence.

“You don’t have to say it Lisbon, I wanted years to tell you, I can wait for you to be ready to tell me. May I walk you to your room?” Jane stands back up extending his hand out to her, which Lisbon immediately grabs his hand and threads their fingers together. They make their way back up the stairs, swinging their arms slightly until they reach the door to her room, releasing his hand with a sigh as she unlocks the door. The door to the room stays open for a moment before Lisbon turns around, smiling “Do you want to come in?”

“On the first date Teresa?” Jane replies coily.

“Good night Patrick.” Lisbon rolls her eyes and enters her room, feeling him grip her wrist with just enough force that if she kept walking her wrist would fall, which causes her to smile a little.

“Good night Teresa.” Jane kisses her cheek before turning around and heading next door to his room.

Lisbon finally shuts the door after seeing Jane walk into his room, leaning against the inside of her door bringing her hand up to her cheek where he kissed her, feeling like she was on cloud 9. She shakes her head after a moment, and starts taking off her dress before jumping into the shower to clean the day away, before changing into pajama pants and a tank top. Just as she was going to climb into bed she hears a door shutting nearby, curiosity had her get up and look through the peephole in her door to see Jane leaving. Lisbon unlocks her door and opens it quickly, loudly whispering, “Jane!” causing him to stop and turn around like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Hi Lisbon” Jane answers sheepishly, adjusting his vest.

“What are you doing?” Lisbon questions.

“Well catching a killer of course!” Jane exclaims.

“I’m coming with you.” Lisbon says as she grabs a jacket and meets up with him

After meeting Cho and Abbott at the meeting spot, getting a confession from the killer, and having Cho and Abbott take them back to FBI HQ for processing, Jane and Lisbon go to the nearby 7-11 for case-closed ice cream between the two of them. They are going over details of the case to put on file, quickly turning to jokes and just two friends having a good time with one another. Once back upstairs in the hotel, they both walk into Lisbon’s room without thinking about it, Lisbon shedding her jacket while Jane takes a seat in the chair adjacent to the bed. Lisbon walks over to the bed after grabbing two plastic spoons from the mini bar. “Come here.” Lisbon pats the bed looking at Jane, “You won’t be able to eat ice cream over there.” Jane hesitates slightly before getting up and sitting next to her, leaving an unusual amount of space for the two of them. “I don’t bite Jane.” she says, closing the gap between the two of them, handing him a spoon before opening the pint of ice cream.

“From what I remember, you do bite.” Jane smirked, causing Lisbon to playfully slap his chest but with a smile on her face. “Does that mean you still do?” Jane cocked an eyebrow while looking her in the eyes, licking the ice cream clean off the spoon. 

Lisbon doesn’t know if it was the day she had or the way Jane wasn’t breaking contact while working his tongue on the spoon, but she could feel herself melting like a ball of wax in the middle of a Texas summer. Lisbon cups Janes’ face in her hands and nibbles slightly on his lower lip for a few seconds, “You had some ice cream on your lips.” Lisbon smiled.

Jane wanted only one thing more than staying in that room, in her bed all night, and that was not ruining everything with Lisbon that he has been trying to fix since he came back from Venezuela. Jane stood up, throwing away the now empty ice cream container and spoons, seeing the alarm clock on the bedside table lighting up with 1:30 AM. “I think I should leave you to sleep now, goodnight Lisbon.”

“Wait, Jane, please.” Lisbon stood up, striding over to Jane pulling him into a hug, resting her head on his shoulder, “Thank you for tonight.”

Jane returned the hug still holding her, “No, thank you, for tonight. How about we get breakfast in the morning and talk a little bit more about… us?” Jane started to pull away but was stopped by Lisbon pulling him into another kiss. Jane held her again while returning the kiss with as much feeling as he could put into the kiss; eventually the need for air won and they pulled apart their foreheads resting together, smiling.

“Patrick Jane. Would you be my boyfriend?” Lisbon asked, not moving.

“Sounds a bit juvenile.” Jane cheekily replied before getting serious again, “Teresa Lisbon, I would love to be your boyfriend.” He barely got out before he was pulled into another kiss, this time he walked her backwards until the back of her legs touched the bed and they fell together on it.Jane worked his hands underneath her shirt, touching her back with his bare hands making Lisbon push herself closer to Jane wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. 

Lisbon wouldn’t say that night they made love per se, but it was much better than the angry sex they had on his make shift bed at the CBI. They fell asleep together, Jane finally getting some real sleep for the first time in a long time. In the morning they did get breakfast while Jane checked out of his room and extended their stay in her room. When they got back to her room, he made a second meal for himself between her thighs. The rest of the weekend they spent just enjoying each other, not worrying about what they would need to do when they had to return back to the world that consisted of FBI cases and having to pretend they were anything less than what they were.

~

AUTHORS NOTE: So in the CBI days, Lisbon had pictures of a dog on her desk so I included her to have a dog. also it's been like five years since I have wrote fan fic so please be easy on me, but if you notice any mistakes let me know and I will try to fix them! Also I have never been good with titles, hahah.

[weheartchrisevans]

BOSTON — So you're Tim Scott, the Republican senator from South Carolina who opposes Roe v. Wade and wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and you get a call from Chris Evans, a Hollywood star and lifelong Democrat who has been blasting President Trump for years. He wants to meet. And film it. And share it on his online platform. Can anybody say "Borat?" “I was very skeptical,” admits Scott. “You can think of the worst-case scenario.”But then Scott heard from other senators. They vouched for Evans, most famous for playing Captain America in a series of films that have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. The actor also got on the phone with Scott’s staff to make a personal appeal.

It worked. Sometime in 2018, Scott met on camera with Evans in the nation’s capital, and their discussion, which ranged from prison reform to student loans, is one of more than 200 interviews with elected officials published on “A Starting Point,” an online platform the actor helped launch in July. Not long after, Evans appeared on Scott’s Instagram Live. They have plans to do more together.

“While he is a liberal, he was looking to have a real dialogue on important issues,” says Scott. “For me, it’s about wanting to have a conversation with an audience that may not be accustomed to hearing from conservatives and Republicans.”

Evans, actor-director Mark Kassen and entrepreneur Joe Kiani launched “A Starting Point” as a response to what they see as a deeply polarized political climate. They wanted to offer a place for information about issues without a partisan spin. To do that, they knew they needed both parties to participate.

Evans, 39, sat on the patio outside his Boston-area home on a recent afternoon talking about the platform. He wore a black T-shirt and jeans and spent some of the interview chasing around his brown rescue dog. Nearly 100 million people didn’t vote in the 2016 general election, Evans says. That’s more than 40 percent of those who were eligible.He believes the root of this disinterest is the nastiness on both sides of the aisle. Many potential voters simply turn off the news, never mind talking about actual policy.“A Starting Point” is meant to offer a digital home for people to hear from elected officials without having the conversation framed by Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow.

“The idea is . . . ‘Listen, you’re in office. I can’t deny the impact you have,’ ” says Evans. “ ‘You can vote on things that affect my life.’ Let this be a landscape of competing ideas, and I’ll sit down with you and I’ll talk with you.”

Or, as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has appeared on the site, puts it, “Sometimes, boring is okay. You’re being presented two sides. Everything doesn’t have to be sensational. Sometimes, it can just be good facts.” Evans wasn’t always active in politics. At Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, he focused on theater, not student government. And he moved away from home his senior year, working at a casting agency in New York as he pushed for acting gigs. His uncle, Michael E. Capuano, served as a congressman in Massachusetts for 20 years, but other than volunteering on some of his campaign, Evans wasn’t particularly political.

In recent years, he’s read political philosopher Hannah Arendt and feminist Rebecca Solnit’s “The Mother of All Questions” — ex-girlfriend Jenny Slate gave him the latter — and been increasingly upset by Trump’s policies and behavior. He’s come to believe that he can state his own views without creating a conflict with “A Starting Point.” When he and Scott spoke on Instagram, the president wasn’t mentioned. In contrast, recently Evans and other members of the Avengers cast took part in a virtual fundraiser with Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala D. Harris.

“I don’t want to all of a sudden become a blank slate,” says Evans. “But my biggest issue right now is just getting people to vote. If I start saying, ‘vote Biden; f Trump,’ my base will like that. But they were already voting for Biden.”

(In September, Evans accidentally posted an image of presumably his penis online and, after deleting it, tweeted: “Now the I have your attention . . . Vote Nov. 3rd!!!”)

Evans began to contemplate the idea that became “A Starting Point” in 2017. He heard something reported on the news — he can’t remember exactly what — and decided to search out information on the Internet. Instead of finding concrete answers, Evans fell down the rabbit hole of opinions and conflicting claims. He began talking about this with Kassen, a friend since he directed Evans in 2011’s “Puncture.” What if they got the information directly from elected officials and presented it without a spin? Kassen, in turn, introduced Evans to Kiani, who had made his fortune through a medical technology company he founded and, of the three, was the most politically involved.

Kiani has donated to dozens of Democratic candidates across the country and earlier this year contributed $750,000 to Unite the Country, a super PAC meant to support Joe Biden. But he appreciated the idea of focusing on something larger than a single race or party initiative. He, Kassen and Evans would fund “A Starting Point,” which has about 18 people on staff.

“There’s no longer ABC, NBC and CBS,” Kiani says. “There’s Fox News and MSNBC. What that means is that we are no longer being censored. We’re self-censoring ourselves. And people go to their own echo chamber and they don’t get any wiser. If you allow both parties to speak, for the same amount of time, without goading them to go on into hyperbole, when people look at both sides’ point of view of both topics, we think most of the time they’ll come to a reasonable conclusion.”

“What people do too often is they get in their silos and they only watch and listen and read what they agree with,” says John Kasich, the former Ohio governor and onetime Republican presidential candidate. “If you go to Chris’s website, you can’t bury yourself in your silo. You get to see the other point of view.” As much as some like to blame Trump for all the conflicts in Washington, Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) says he’s watched the tone shifting for decades. He appreciated sitting down with Evans and making regular submissions to “Daily Points,” a place on the platform for commentary no longer than two minutes. During the Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Coons recorded a comment on Judge Amy Coney Barrett and the Affordable Care Act.“ ‘A Starting Point’ needs to be a sustained resource,” Coons says. “Chris often talks about it being ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ for adults.”

It’s not by chance that Evans has personally conducted all of the 200-plus interviews on “A Starting Point” during trips to D.C. Celebrities often try to mobilize the public, whether it’s Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross and Julia Louis-Dreyfus hosting the Democratic National Convention or Jon Voight recording video clips to praise Trump. But in this case, Evans is using his status in a different way, to entice even the most hesitant Republican to sit down for an even-toned chat. And he’s willing to pose with anyone, even if it means explaining himself on “The Daily Show” after Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas posted a selfie with Evans. (Two attempts to interview Trump brought no response.) Murkowski remembers when Evans came to Capitol Hill for the first time in 2018. She admits she didn’t actually know who he was — she hadn’t yet seen any Marvel movies. She was in the minority.“We meet interesting and important people but, man, when Captain America was in the Senate, it was all the buzz,” she says. “And people were like, ‘Did you get your picture taken?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I sat down and did the interview.’ ‘You did an interview? How did you get an interview with him?’ ”What impressed Murkowski wasn’t his star power. It was the way Evans conducted the interview.“It was relaxing,” she says. “You didn’t feel like you were in front of a reporter who was just waiting for you to say something you would get caught on later. It was a dialogue . . . and we need more dialogue and less gotcha.”

“Starting Points” offers two-minute answers by elected officials in eight topic areas, including education, the environment and the economy. This is where the interviews Evans conducted can be found. “Daily Points” has featured a steady flow of Republicans and Democrats. A third area, “Counterpoints,” hosts short debates between officials on particular subjects. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, debated mail-in voting with Dusty Johnson, the Republican congressman from South Dakota.

“Most Americans can’t name more than five members of the United States House,” says Johnson. “ ‘A Starting Point’ allows thoughtful members to talk to a broader audience than we would normally have.”

The platform’s social media team pushes out potentially newsworthy clips, whether it’s Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) discussing his meeting with Barrett just before he tested positive for the coronavirus, or Angus King, the independent senator from Maine, criticizing Trump for his comments on a potential peaceful transfer of power after November’s election. Kassen notes that the King clip was viewed more than 175,000 times on “A Starting Point’s” Twitter account, compared with the 10,000 who caught in on CNN’s social media platform.

“Because it’s short-form media, we’re engineered to be social,” says Kassen. “As a result, when something catches hold, it’s passed around our audience pretty well.”

The key is to use modern tools to push out content that’s tonally different from what you might find on modern cable news. Or on social media. Which is what Evans hopes leads to more engagement. He’s particularly proud that more than 10,000 people have registered to vote through “A Starting Point” since it went online.

“If the downstream impact or the byproduct of this site is some sort of unity between the parties, great,” says Evans. “But if nobody’s still voting, it doesn’t work. We need people involved.”

[maddiwrites]

Secrets of the Shore (Chapter 4)

Pairing: Pogues x OC, Eventually JJ x OC

Summary: This is just my rewrite of the show Outer Banks with my own twist by adding another main character which also happens to be John B’s twin sister.

Note: Changed my update schedule to two times a week (probably Sunday and Wednesdays) because three days was kind of overwhelming hahah. Again, thank you for all the wonderful reviews and feedback!! I appreciate every single one!!!

Word Count: 4.2k

Warnings: Being shot at?

Chapter 1  Chapter 2  Chapter 3

The Pogues come over later to hang out like usual. No one mentions last night's party. I don't know whether its because they don't want to talk about it or we're pretending like it never happened. I'm fine with either.

I sit next to Kie who taps her fingers on a bongo and bobs her head to her own beat. Pope's shuffling a deck of cards to my right and JJ sips on another beer across from me. It's hard to concentrate on what they're talking about. I'm too busy locked in my own head, thinking about what Peterkin said - foster care - what life would be like if we were taken away. Would I ever see my friends again? Would John B and I be in the same foster home? The thought of being separated makes me sick.

"Look, I'm calling it off. All right?" John B pulls me out of my thoughts. JJ rolls his eyes at my brother and glances at me. "Peterkin said if we stay out of the marsh, she'll help us with DCS."

"And you believed her?" JJ asks. "An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop."

John B sighs. "All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help me out. It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun."

Here we go.

"You know what I should have done? Just let Topper drown your ass."

"Topper was gonna drown me?"

"Sure looked like it."

"Funny," John B deadpans.

"Have you looked in a mirror?"

"Tell me some more. Come on." I can tell by the look on John B's face that he's getting annoyed. It's pinched and he keeps rolling his eyes.

JJ steps closer to him. "They always win, don't they, man? Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win!" He turns around and punches one of the small volleyballs we have tied in a string like a decoration.

"Look, it's okay!" Kie tries to calm him down.

"No, it's not okay! It's not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh." JJ comes back. "That means there's something valuable down there, and you know it." He turns to me and points. "I know you do." Then he looks at Pope. "I know you do. And I understand why you don't wanna go. You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk. And you -" He turns to Kie. "I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother? But you and me, and Marleigh, man, we got nothing to lose! We really don't all right?"

"JJ -" I sigh.

"And I know it didn't use to be that way for you -"

John B shakes his head. "I don't want to talk about this. I don't want to talk about it!"

"So that's it?"

John B shoves past JJ. "Just get out of my way, bro."

"John B, listen to me. I have a plan." Well thats never good. "You got the key to Cameron's big boat right?"

"No," John B says, already knowing where JJ's head is at.

"There's scuba gear. We borrow that, and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is what's gonna save you, man. You don't see rich kids going into foster care, do you?"

Here's the thing about JJ. He can be really convincing, which is usually the reason he and I get into the most trouble. Because I always fall for what he's saying. He gives me hope when I don't think there is any. He can be surprisingly optimistic sometimes. And when he is, I fall for his charm and agree with everything he says. If he told me to jump off a bridge, I probably would.

When he looks at me, my lips tug upwards into a smile. This creates a domino effect, and soon the other Pogues get excited. John B looks at me, trying to look disapproving but I shrug in response. I mean, JJ's right. What do we have to lose?

                                                       ~ ~ ~

I light a match and ignite my gas stove to make myself lunch. A can of chicken noodle soup that's been in my food closet for who knows how long. John B left to grab the tanks from the Cameron's boat, so the rest of us are waiting here until he comes to pick us up.

"You're eating soup? Its like a hundred degrees outside." JJ walks into the kitchen and lifts himself up on the counter next to the stove.

I stir the liquid around with a wooden spoon and smirk. "Do you see any other edible food around here?" JJ chuckles at that. He knows better than anyone how horrible John B and I are at food shopping. "I meant to go to the store today but..." I sigh. "I've been busy."

JJ pauses, causing me to look up at him. He's usually so quick with his wit and humor. Something I admire and love about him. How he always manages to put a smile on my face with some dumb remark or a sarcastic reply. Only now he's staring at me with curiosity. "Are you okay?"

"You mean other than the impending doom that is foster care that's going to hit me and John B in the near future?" I say sarcastically. I turn the stove off and grab two bowls out of the cabinet behind JJ's head. He ducks for me and my waist presses against his thigh. I pour half the soup in each bowl and hand him one with a spoon.

"Yeah, I mean other than that," JJ says. I blow on the liquid on my spoon to cool it down. The steam that comes up from my bowl already makes me feel hot.

"I'm fine," I tell him.

He gives me a look that says he's doesn't believe me, but I ignore it and he doesn't press me on it. Truth is, I am fine. I just have a lot of my mind but I'm going to do my best not to let it ruin my summer. JJ got me excited again. He's promising an adventure and possibly a fortune. He's right. John B and I have nothing to lose. If we don't go on the marsh today, DCS will find another reason to snatch us. So why hold ourselves back?

"Mar, JJ, he's back!" Kie calls out to us from my yard.

JJ sips the last of his broth out of the bowl and I shovel in the last couple of scoops into my mouth. We throw the bowls in the sink and run to the dock where John B and the others are waiting for us.

Pope directs John B to the part of the marsh where we found the wreck. I sit next to Kie in the front of the boat. She's looking at the two tanks that John B was able to snag off the Cameron's boat. Her brows are furrowed in confusion as she studies the gear.

"This is empty," Kie says, looking up at my brother who stops the boat when we find the sunken Grady-White. "You took empty tanks?"

"I..." John B says slowly. He definitely didn't look at it before he took it.

"Okay, this one's a quarter full," Kie says, pulling the tank to her left closer to her. "Its enough for one of us."

"Love it when a plan comes together," I say sarcastically and pass a look to JJ who rolls his eyes.

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kie asks.

I purse my lips and look around at my friends and brother. None of them speak up.

"Uh..."

"Anybody?" Kie asks.

"It's kind of a Kook sport," I say.

Pope raises his hand. "I...read about it."

"Great, Pope read about it so someone's gonna die," Kie says.

JJ walks towards us and picks up the mouth piece and shrugs his shoulders. "Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?"

Pope answers, "If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends."

JJ glances between Pope and the rest of us. "Bends like..." JJ bends forward, purposely sticking his butt out, "bend over and..."

Pope cuts him off. "The bends kill you."

JJ snaps straight up. "Right."

I roll my eyes and stand up. "I'll do it."

"Uh, I don't think..." JJ starts to say but my brother cuts him off.

"No. I'll do it."

"What, why?" I turn to my brother and send him a glare.

"Because Pope just said it can kill you and you don't listen to instructions very well." My brother glares back at me. I roll my eyes. He does have a point and evidence to prove it. I usually follow my own gut and ignore others' directions. And because I don't want him to bring up past events, I decide not to fight him on it.

"He has a point," JJ says, earning a punch in the bicep from me. He looks at my brother. "You can dive. I'm cool with that."

"Since when can you dive?" Kie says not liking the idea any more than me.

He shrugs. "I'll do it. It's fine."

"Let me do some calculations real quick," Pope says as John B starts putting on the scuba gear.

"You serious?" JJ asks.

"That boat's about thirty feet down. Okay? So it'll take twenty five minutes at that depth. Twenty five. Which means you need to make your safety stop at about...ten feet."

Contrary to popular belief, I do the actual listening to instructions, I just don't always follow through. But I process everything Pope just said and think of a way to make this easier for John B.

I shimmy out of my jean shorts and pull my top over my head, leaving me in a purple and white striped bikini. Without saying anything, I jump into the water with my shirt.

"Uh..." Pope says, looking into the water where I just disappeared. "What was that about?"

"I don't know. But I liked it. A lot," JJ says, staring at the same spot. John B slaps the back JJ's head and glares daggers in his direction. JJ pretends to clear his throat and turns away from John B.  "Uh, so..."

Pope pretends to focus on his calculations again, not wanting to get caught by John B for staring at his sister too. "Yeah. Uh, when you uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?"

I guesstimate how deep ten feet is and tie my shirt around the chain attached to our anchor. I look one last time at the blurry image of the sunken boat and pull myself back up.

"Hey," I say to grab their attention. They all look at me. "I tied my T-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop."

John B nods. "Cool."

I stay in the water, loving how the water feels around me like a protective blanket. I listen to Pope explain the important parts of diving. There's some kind of meter he has to pay attention to to keep track of time.

"Okay, how much do I need?" John B asks.

"Unclear," Pope answers. "Breathe as little as possible."

JJ slaps John B on the shoulder. "Zen. Think zen, you know?"

John B turns to the water, preparing to jump in next to me.  "Yeah. Got it."

"Hey," Pope says, stopping him. "If we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so better get a move on."

"No pressure or anything," I add.

"Copy that," John B says.

Kie approaches my brother and stands in front of him. She's really close to him, almost inches away from his face. Then she leans in and kisses his cheek slowly. Way more intimate than usual. My eyes widen in surprise and I look at Pope and JJ to see their reaction. They mirror mine.

"Diver down?" Kie says softly.

"Diver down." John B says just as softly.

"See ya, dude," JJ says.

John B jumps in the water and sinks down below me. I lay on my back in the water and bathe in the warmth of the sun above me. I even close my eyes, letting relaxation overcome me. I could probably sleep here if I wanted too.

"Shit, JJ," Pope curses, catching my attention.

"Guys, that's the police," Kie says.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," JJ says, glancing at me.

My eyes go wide with anxiety. I swim closer to the boat and look up at JJ. "JJ, they can't know I'm here. If they find me-"

"Hey, hey, hey. It's gonna be okay. They're not going to, just stay there."

I nod and press myself tighter against the boat.

"Just act freaking normal," Kie says through clenched teeth.

I can hear the sirens coming closer until I feel their boat bump against ours. I flinch against it and kick my feet faster to stay afloat. I look down at the water, but I can't see John B. My heart races at the thought of him running out of air.

"Evening," I hear one of the cops greet my friends.

"JJ, tie it off," Pope says.

"How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?" The officer asks them.

"No."

"No. Wow."

My friends play dumb. I look up, finding comfort in seeing JJ's long hair. I can tell he's trying hard not to look down at me.

"Why - why is it closed?" Pope asks.

"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down." The officer explains.

"Oh."

"See anything?"

"No." JJ purses his lips and shrugs.  

"No boats," Kie says. "No."

There's a pause and for a split second I think he's gonna call their bluff. But he doesn't. "Where are the other two kids you always hang with? The twins? They here?"

I bite my bottom lip hard in anticipation for what's to come. He knows we're here. He has to. I can tell by how suspicious he sounds. I look back down in the water, John B still invisible to me. I don't know how much time he has left, but he's definitely running out of it.

"They both had to work," I hear Kie answer.

"Hm," The officer hums. "I'm gonna check your little boat out."

Shit, shit, shit, shit. I look around for a place to hide, but the only thing surrounding me is water. I'm going to have to go under.

"Yeah." JJ coughs, risking one last look at me before pretending to help the officer into the boat. "Yeah, hop aboard."

I push myself under the water and swim directly underneath the boat. I open my eyes, ignoring the sting of the salt water. I can see John B's silhouette by my T-shirt and the blurry light of his timer.

Thirty more seconds pass. I swing my arms upwards, pushing myself deeper into the water. The shadow of the cops' boat is still next to ours. My lungs are screaming at me for for air like they're tearing into my chest. Just like John B, I don't know how long I'm going to be able to last down here.

My body reactively gulps for air, forcing myself to swallow the salt water. It feels like a stab in my chest, my throat on fire. I've got to pop back up to the surface or I'm going to drown.

Just as I'm about to reveal myself, the shadow of the boat drives off. I push myself up, coughing up the water I swallowed and gasping for air. Less than a second later, John B pops up next to me.

"Oh, god! Jesus Christ," Kie says with her eyes closed and her head looking up.

"Don't scare us like that!" Pope says.

JJ watches me instead of John B, concern laced into his features. As I feel my heart go back to its normal pace, I smile at him and laugh the anxiety off. "You good?" He asks me. I nod and let him help me back up to the boat. "How'd it go down there?" He asks my brother. "Did you find anything?"

"Did I find anything?" John B scoffs and holds up a dark velvet bag.

"Yeah, there we go!" JJ claps his shoulders. "That's my boy!"

"Jeez, dude," Pope sighs.

"You okay?" Kie asks John B.

John B pants as he swims closer to the boat. "Yeah, I ran out of air."

"You and me both," I tell him.

John B pulls himself up. When he stands, he's met face to face with Kie who shoves him back playfully. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Yeah, the cops were up here, but, uh...we took care of 'em." Pope says, trying to act like he wasn't going to piss his pants the entire time he was talking to them.

"My bad," John B laughs.

"You're all good."

"Yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother," JJ says.

I move to the back of the boat to ring my wet hair out when something catches me eye. Its another boat, but it doesn't look like the one the cops were just using.

"Hey, guys? Guys!" I call louder to grab their attention. "Bogey, two o'clock."

"What?" JJ comes up next to me and eyes the boat that's making its way closer to us.

"Do you recognize the boat?" Pope asks.

"I've never seen it," I answer.

A bad feeling settles in the pit of my stomach. I can make out two people, I think men, standing in the front. They keep their eyes straight on us. No laughing or talking like a couple of buds would on a boat day in the marsh.

"What are they doing here? The marsh is closed," Kie says.

"Let's not stick around and find out." JJ places his hands on my bare waist and pulls me to the side so he can pull up the anchor.

"JJ get the bowline," John B says, not realizing that JJ was already on it.

"Yeah."

"Should we wait on 'em?" Pope asks.

"No. No. We should leave now. Right now," Kie says, looking directly at John B.

"Go get the stern," John B tells me. "Go!"

I kneel next to JJ and help him. Similar to how I felt in the water, my heart beats violently against my chest and my breathing becomes static. I try not to think of the fear that creeps through my veins as I help release the boat from it's hold in the marsh.

"Guys, don't wait for us! Go!" JJ yells.

"Go!" Kie says.

"Pull out the stern!" Pope yells at us.

I yank the chain hard, revealing the slimy anchor covered in seaweed and moss.

"I don't like this," I mutter to JJ between clenched teeth.

John B pulls away from the wreck. JJ looks between me and the boat that still driving in our direction. "Are they coming for us?"

"Maybe they're fishing," Pope says.

"Go, go, go, go!"

"Go into the marsh," I tell my brother, constantly glancing between him and the other boat.

"Let's go," Kie says. I can hear fear creep into her voice and her hands shake around the drivers seat she's holding with a death grip.

"I'm going. Act natural!" John B hisses and revs the engine of the boat.

He takes a left turn into the marsh. I watch anxiously for the people in the other boat to make its move.

They turn left.

"Guys, they're following us!" Kie says.

"This can't be good," Pope says.

"Dude, you gotta go faster!" JJ says.

"I'm going!" John B yells back.

"Gun it!"

I look behind the boat. They're getting closer. Too close. Can't say I'm surprised. The HMS Pogue is no match for their boat that looks more expensive than my house. However, something catches my eye. Something long the guy in the passenger seat is holding and pointing right at us.

"Is that..." I mutter before I'm cut off by exactly what I was going to say.

The gun shot rings through my ears as if the person who shot it was standing next to me. Before I can react, JJ pulls me down to the floor of our boat by my waist and covers me with his own body. I gotta say, this isn't how I pictured him being on top of me. His left arm outlines my head, keeping me face down while other bullets pass our boat. The cries of my friends are dull through the blood pounding in my ears and my heart inching its way up my throat.

"Holy shit!" Kie shouts.

"John B, get down!" JJ yells.

I try looking up at my brother but JJ's hold is strong. John B's still behind the wheel, trying his best to duck from bullets without crashing the boat.

"We're gonna die!" Pope yells.

I try looking around the boat for anything we can use against these guys. Of course JJ decides to leave the gun he stole at my house for the day, leaving us practically useless against these two strangers.

My eyes find a net pooling in front of Kie's face as she keeps her head down. I try crawling out of JJ's embrace which only makes him tighten his arms around me.

"Kie!" I shout. She looks up at me with wide eyes. "The net!"

Immediately she understands what I'm trying to tell her. She pulls herself away from Pope and army crawls to the wide net. This only makes my friends yell at her, telling her to get down, but she doesn't listen.

"Get down, Kie!" John B shouts.

Another gun shot echoes through the air, making me flinch closer into JJ.

Kie throws the net overboard towards their boat and drops back down to her knees. The sound of the other boat's engine clanging against the net gets my head to perk up and I watch Kie's reaction. She's surprisingly smiling. When she looks at me, she lets out a breathy laugh and shakes her head in disbelief because that just worked. Their boats gets stuck.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go," Pope says.

One last gun shot rings through my ears before we make our getaway.  I pull myself off the floor and look back at the boat one last time. We severely underestimated how important finding that boat was. Whatever John B found was worth killing us for.

A couple minutes later, John B pulls the boat up to the Chateau and docks it by the wooden slacks that I used as a bed last night. My friends cheer and actually smile after what just happened.

"That was insane!" Kie says.

"Whoo!"

I look at my brother with adrenaline rushing straight to me head. I feel giddy about finding out what JB found - what must be so important. "What do you think it is?"

"Gotta be money, right?" He asks, looking at me.

"That or a couple of keys with street value to the low-to-mid-mills," JJ says, leisurely danglingly his arm around my shoulders.

"Can we please just open the bag?" Pope says loudly, forcing everyone's attention at him who now looks at us sheepishly.

"Wow, Pope," John B laughs. "That's a rare outburst of emotion."

"Okay, you guys are literally killing me with anticipation," He says. "Open the bag!"

"Jeez." JJ whistles.

"We almost died over this," Pope says like its an explanation. But he's right. We did almost die for this, which is why I need to know what's in it now.

John B opens the velvet bag. Something heavier than money falls out of it with a thunk. Its round and metal. Dirty and dented. Physically ugly and maybe priceless, but it looks familiar. I narrow my eyes at it, trying to study it and rack my brain through where I've seen it before.

"Oh, wow. Yup. That's about right," Pope sighs at the sight of our treasure. "Good job, everybody. We found a compass."

The word compass hits me like a train and my body goes slack like my limbs just turned into jell-o. John B is already looking at me, shocked at the real meaning of what we just found. I push myself in front of JJ and look down at the object he's holding. Priceless maybe true to the others but not to me. Not to John B. This means everything.

JJ looks between John B and I and laughs nervously at our reactions. "Dude, what? It's not worth anything."

My brows furrow together in confusion as I try to wrap my head around how we just found our dad's possession on another man's boat. A dead man's boat. But I feel blank. Like someone just wiped all my thoughts and memories.

"This was our father's compass," I say emotionless, keeping my eyes on JB who looks equally as terrified.

Tag List: @notyourcupofteax @acvross-the-universe @jjmaybankzz  @jeeperky​ @realistic-breadstick  @moniamaybank  @urbinoutfiters​ @brebear121​  @x-lulu​

[buckyownsmylife]

v e l o c i t y - chapter i

The one where John’s your true mate, but he doesn’t want you to be his.

In a universe where fate grants you a new mate whenever you lose yours, John has lived quite comfortably for many years with the knowledge that he was alone after Mary. That all comes crumbling down the second that he meets you. How could the universe choose someone so young to be his omega?

for general warnings and author’s notes, please go to the fic’s masterlist. It’s being constantly updated

Y/N’s P.O.V.

I could see Bobby moving around from the corner of my eyes, but I felt too tired to even just stop focusing on the bottle of beer I was holding between my hands. People were all around us - actually, exclusively men, but I didn’t really know them and didn’t really care to introduce myself.

A feeling of loneliness had covered me, like a blanket I wasn’t too sure I would be able to push aside. Because the truth was, I was alone. Now that my dad was gone, I had no one to really count on.

Just then, I felt someone squeezing my shoulder and I forced myself to smile, because I knew I was being unfair. I knew Bobby would never leave me alone, not when he was my godfather and had always cared so deeply for me. But that didn’t make any of this any less hard.

Breathing deeply, I forced myself to get up from the couch and stretch my muscles before deciding to escape through the back door just so I could get a bit of fresh air out on the porch. Too many alphas in a single house and any unmated omega like myself would start to get crazy, even when we didn’t necessarily have any reason to feel threatened. So I stood there for a bit, looking out into the plain field, just pondering about what the future would hold for me until I heard a commotion coming from inside. 

Curious, I walked back into the living room just in time to see three men being warmly welcomed by the hunter community that had gathered in Bobby’s house tonight. I vaguely recognized the one who seemed to be the oldest, but his back was turned to me and so I could only really take notice of a well-used black jacket, until a strong whiff of men’s cologne took over me and I felt like I was about to faint. What the hell was going on? My insides were hurting and I thought I was going to melt, so I held myself in a tight embrace in the hopes of keeping myself together when Bobby noticed me and while he tried to move me closer to the newcomers, probably intending to introduce me to them, the smell grew stronger and stronger until I was quite literally salivating to the arome.

Bobby extended his arm to get the familiar man’s attention and I immediately stretched mine to wrap around his wrist, in need of support. “Bobby, I don’t feel so well.” I knew his head whipped to look at me but at the same time, the man turned around and the last thing I remember before fainting was looking at eyes the color of honey.

It was already morning when I came to be. The sunlight softly penetrated the thin curtains on Bobby’s guest bedroom I was already familiar with and by the sight of it, I had been quite unceremoniously dropped over the still made bed, still wearing the same clothes from last night. That much was expected, not only since there wasn’t a single female in the house and I highly doubted Bobby would have let anyone see me naked, but also since yesterday's reunion had a purpose. The hunters gathered in my godfather’s house had a strict timeline to follow, if they wanted to get rid of the vampires that had murdered my father.

So I didn’t think much about it, opting to get in the shower and wash away the sadness and confusion over yesterday’s events. I still wasn’t sure about what had happened - I certainly hadn’t ever fainted before -, but I supposed the heaviness of what I was going through had caught up to me. I hadn’t really been feeding myself properly either, I suddenly remembered. Yeah. That must have been it.

So I put on a yellow sundress that was my mother’s in the hopes that its color would cheer me up and prepared myself to get some breakfast, because by now I felt like my insides were clawing at me, begging me to get something to fill the hole inside of me. As soon as I closed the door to the room I was sleeping in, that smell hit me again. The same one that had threatened to suffocate me last night. What the fuck was going on? How did this perfume open up my already animalistic appetite?

By the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, I was certain I was wearing a scowl on my face, something I had never once before sported.

“Sweetheart…” Turning to my right, I found Bobby staring at me with a deep frown.

John’s P.O.V.

I watched Bobby try to get a hold of her from afar, and a small part of me felt smug about the fact that he feared what I would do if he touched what was mine. Then I remembered I didn’t care about this girl and made sure the best scowl I had was plastered on my face for when she looked at me.

It didn’t help that she smelled so… yummy. I wanted to eat her up whole. Still, I knew I couldn’t. Shouldn’t. Didn’t really want to - I forced myself to remember.

Fuck.

It had been too long since I’d had to deal with a mate and I forgot how strong the urge to bond can be. It didn’t help that this time I had two kids older than my omega trying not to laugh at me from behind their mugs.

“Stop that.” I slapped the back of Dean’s head, effectively making him spill a bit of coffee over his shirt, which in turn made me grin. Now we’re talking.

When my attention focused back on the girl and Bobby, they were a bit closer to each other, only on the other side of the living room, and they were talking in low voices. Suddenly, her eyes met mine and I felt it rise in me again, the need to pounce over there and dominate her.

But then she focused back on Bobby and I was left confused.

He was obviously explaining to her what had happened and that we were mates, so why didn’t she seem bothered by it? In fact, she looked as far from it as possible. If her expression was anything to go by, she was… bored?

Before long, they approached us again, and I was expecting her to throw herself at me or at least to acknowledge me as her mate in any way. That’s what I was prepared for. I knew what I was going to say to let her down as gently as possible. But what actually happened is that she went around the table and directly into the kitchen, turning on the stove.

“How about eggs and bacon for breakfast? Does anyone want some?” I swear I could hear fucking crickets singing outside, despite the fact that it was early morning. Was she really going to completely ignore me? “Hello? Eggs, bacon, answer me or you won’t be fed.” My boys jumped to action at the threat and I tried to make sense of what was happening while forcing myself to ignore just how cute she looked with her head tilted and a hand on her hip.

She cooked in silence then, not even granting me a look. I was beyond surprised by now. What the hell was I supposed to do about this?

As the plate of breakfast was laid in front of us, she took her seat next to Bobby, which just so happened to be to my left, but even then, she didn’t even glance at me, opting to munch on her food quietly. I took notice of the fact that she had a healthy appetite, instead of being one of those girls who tried to diet for the sake of impressing men, but my mind was still all over the place. 

“Aren’t you going to say anything to me?” The minute the words escaped my mouth, whatever conversation my boys had been trying to maintain with Bobby immediately died down. Still, she didn’t look at me. The little girl had the nerve to seem unfazed by my presence and my question, even my irritation. She didn’t even raise her eyes to meet mine when she responded.

“Why should I?” The question caught me off guard, and the silence that followed revealed it to her. When no one intervened to break the ice, she chanced a glance up, her beautiful bright eyes meeting mine, and she sighed, at last dropping her cutlery before straightening up to talk to me. 

“I’m sorry if that came off rude, but the truth is… It’s very clear that you have absolutely no interest on me as an Alpha, and since it is your responsibility to take care of me, even if it was to let me down gently, I don’t see why I’m the one who has to take your feelings into consideration and pay you the attention you didn’t grant me.” 

God fucking damnit. She was already the most interesting woman I’d met in a very long time, and when I say a very long time, I mean way before she was born, when my wife - my first true mate - was still alive.

Y/N’s P.O.V.

John looked at a loss for words, and I took that as an indication that I could continue my meal without further idiotic demands. “Would you pass me the coffee, please?” I asked, pointing in the direction of the thermos, my eyes focused on my eggs. Dean reached out and poured some in my mug, which granted him a grateful smile.

“It’s huh… It’s very good coffee. Bobby tells me you’re the one who taught him how to make it like this.” That made me chuckle, and I chanced an amused glance to my godfather.

“Strong, you mean? Yeah, it’s the only way I know how to drink it.” Another uncomfortable silence. My absolute most hated thing. I quickly swallowed whatever food was left in my plate before pushing my chair away from the counter. “I have some stuff to do in the backyard… Leave the plates in the sink and I’ll clean them up when I get back. It was nice meeting you.” I nodded in their direction, stopping only to give a quick kiss on Bobby’s forehead, and left without another word or glance. 

I was only able to breathe again when the back door was closed behind me and I was already a few good feet from the house. Fuck. Suddenly, I felt the urge to cry, and I knew that despite the distress I had been put under the last few days, it wasn’t only the death of my father or the refusal from my mate that was making me sad. It was those stupid omega hormones, trying to force me to go back there and beg for a forgiveness I didn’t really want. 

Stupid fucking nature. I was stronger than that. I had to be. Even I had enough pride to stop me from throwing myself at the feet of someone who doesn’t want me. 

I tried to distract myself from whatever the hell could be going on inside the house while taking care of the few things I could do outside of it. Granted, there wasn’t much. But anything was better than being stuck in that place, having to smell that mixture of gunpowder, scotch and cinnamon that made my head twirl. Fucking John Winchester and that delicious musk of his. I didn’t fucking need him.

It was with that thought that I popped open the hood of one of the cars Bobby and I had been working on, trying to focus on something other than my stupid body and its stupid wishes. After a few minutes of actually forcing myself to do so, I was finally able to zone out of my real-life drama and get lost in the world of carburetors and grease.

“Have you figured out what’s the problem with the engine?” The familiar voice brought a smile to my face, despite all of my current circumstances, and I found myself whipping around to stare at the boy towering over me. 

“Jess!” The young beta smiled at me, always as excited to see me as I was. He’d been living near Bobby for years now, and I’d watched him grow up throughout my visits to my godfather. Now, despite being a year younger than me, he stood five inches taller, towering over my figure whenever he stood near.

“Hey there! Visitors?” He nodded towards the Impala, and I gave him a tight-lipped smile. 

“Something like that. Bobby had some… friends over last night, and those are the only ones left. They’re supposed to be leaving soon enough, though.” I returned my attention to the car’s motor but the lack of sound from my usually chipper companion made me raise my gaze up to him once more. “What?” I inquired, inadvertently already smiling as I waited for his question.

“Do you hate them or what?” Chuckling, I crouched to search for one of my tools before going back to work on the engine.

“Why the question?” I didn’t really mind answering it, I was always just curious about how Jess’ mind worked. I wanted to know if I had any major tells. As someone who had seen me practically every day for the last month, could he see that I’d met my mate? Had that encounter changed me somehow?

“You don’t seem very happy to talk about them. And you’re usually excited about everything and everyone.” The idea he had of me made me snort. I tended to be someone who saw the brighter side of life, that was true, but after my father’s death, I didn’t really think I’d been able to keep up that appearance. Guess I was wrong.

“I suppose you’re right.��� That’s all I said, sending a quick smile his way before returning to the task at hand. Jess helped, giving me the tools I needed when I asked for them, and I absentmindedly listened to him babble about his last year of highschool as I kept my focus on my manual work.

It was one of the reasons why I liked to help Bobby so much. When I was fixing a car, even if it was just a simple job, my mind was occupied with something else entirely. It was like my own form of meditation, only a bit dirtier.

I was almost able to forget about John Winchester and his stupid scent. Almost. If it weren’t for the periodical cramps that I tried to ignore in order not to alert my company - I definitely didn’t want to talk about it with Jess - I supposed I would have been able to forget about the Winchester men before they disappeared from my life forever.

That was, of course, until they left the house and gathered in the Impala, catching the attention of my very hyper friend. “Oh, wow. Those are Bobby’s friends? I can smell them even from here.

A very unattractive snort escaped me, and it caught Jess’ attention. “Tell me about it.”

“Oh, did they try to disturb you?” I had to smile to myself at how cute he sounded, so defensive for me. 

“Not really. I’m just glad that they’re gone.” And with one last look over my shoulder, just in time to watch John back up the Impala and leave, I added, “I hope I’ll never have to see them again.”

Chapter ii ➡

[just-jordie-things]

Unspoken Thing - JJ Maybank

word count: 2671 warnings: swearing summary: JJ and (y/n) have been in love since they were kids, yet never acted on their feelings.  But as they get older jealousy starts to seep into their ‘perfect’ friendship request: @sarcastic-space-weirdo: oooh can i please have jealous y/n thinking jj likes kiara and not her (she's oNe Of tHE bOyZz of course way more than kiara) but it was actually his intention just to divert(??)from the fact that he actually REAAAALLLY likes ₕᵤₕ ₕᵤₘ ₗₒᵥₑₛ y/n and doesn't want her to know or he's just dumb and a simp and doesn't know how to deal with his feelings?? so he frEAKING AVOIDS THE GIRL CAUSE IT'S TOO FREAKING MUCH AND MY BOY DOESN'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING ᵢₜ'ₛ ₗₒᵥₑ (also pls some angsty people crying) (a/n): its not as angsty as it could have been but it’s still there lol ___

It wasn’t really a secret that (y/n) had a thing for JJ.  From day one it had been fairly obvious, to the Pogues and most of the island, really.

The pair had been inseparable since they’d met in grade school.  She’d met him their first day of kindergarden.  Some Kook kid was picking on him, and she thought it was mean.

So she’d marched up to the kid and smacked him on top of the head, before telling him to back off.  And just like that, her and JJ were attached at the hip.  

They were fiercely protective of each other, so much so that all common sense went out the window when one of them was in any trouble.  But that’s how it always was.

Sometime in high school things changed.  (y/n) couldn’t quite pinpoint when it was, she just remembered that one day they were best friends who surfed together and smoked together, and the next they were best friends who shared a bed most nights and some of those nights she’d wake up and be in his arms.

Over time, they both became more affectionate.  Casual touches began to linger, normal nicknames turned flirty, and eventually neither of them could sleep well if they weren’t together.

(y/n) was certain that JJ didn’t know when things changed either, but it never really mattered.  There was always an unspoken understanding that there was something more than friendship between them.  They weren’t in a relationship, he wasn’t her boyfriend, but there was still something there.

Clearly, she should have clarified what they were before blindly assuming that he felt the same unspoken thing she did.

Because it really sucked to see him flirt with Kiara.

John B’s arm nudged into her ribcage, drawing her out of her thoughts and back to reality.

The Pogues had gone down to the beach to hang out.  The tides weren’t great today so surfing was pretty much out of the question, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t picnic and smoke still.

Kiara had been wading around in the water, admiring the little fish and the shells she’d find, and JJ had all-too-excitedly followed her to help.

(y/n) hadn’t cared- of course she didn’t care, they were friends, and she was not the jealous type.  Jealousy could get toxic, and JJ wasn’t hers in the first place, so there were no grounds for her to be upset.

John B still noticed.

“What?” She asked, turning to look at him.

She wasn’t as appreciative of his knowing look as he thought she’d be.

“What, John B?” She asked, slightly annoyed.

His eyes wandered out to where JJ and Kiara were standing, a bit too close.  Just a bit.

(y/n) followed his line of sight, but quickly shut her mouth and stared back down at her feet.

Her and John B had been lying around, soaking up the sun and just enjoying the silence between them.  But now he’d gone and ruined the good vibe.

“Come on, (y/n/n)” He said, nudging her ribs again.

She swatted his hand away.

“I don’t know what your problem is” She mumbled, pretending to be oblivious.

John B rolled his eyes.

He’d been friends with both (y/n) and JJ for a long time now, almost as long as they’d been friends with each other.  So he knew well enough how stubborn the pair were when it came to admitting their feelings.

“Why don’t you guys just call it what it is?” He asked, but (y/n) didn’t respond.  She just sat and stared at her lap.  “You both obviously don’t want to see other people-”

“Obvious, huh?” She retorted, glancing back at where JJ and Kiara were laughing and kicking water at each other.

Cute.

(y/n) grimaced.

She turned back at John B, a helpless look in her eyes.  He frowned at her.

“You know JJ doesn’t like Kie-”

“Do I? Do I know that?” She asked.  She wasn’t trying to annoy him, but she was just so frustrated with herself that she ended up taking it out on him.  “I’m sorry, it’s just- it sucks.  Cause I- I just thought…”

She trailed off, not wanting to admit what she thought to him.  It was embarrassing, thinking someone was all yours when in reality that wasn’t true at all.

“It doesn’t matter,” She mumbled.  “He’s not mine, and I’m not his”

John B’s frown deepened, and he slid a little closer to her.  She looked back at him, a bit confused, but when he held his hand out to her, she melted, and gave in.

She took his hand and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes so that she didn’t have to watch Kiara and JJ having a blast.

“He’s just being stupid,” John B reassured quietly.  “He doesn’t even know it, that’s how stupid he is”

(y/n) giggled, squeezing his hand gently.

“He is pretty stupid, huh?” She mumbled back.

“Very much so.  But you know how much he cares about you, it’s clear that he’s, yaknow, in love with you,”

She didn’t say anything, but John B knew that she understood him.

“He doesn’t know how to say it, that’s all.  JJ’s not good with his words, you know that”

“Yeah, I know” (y/n) whispered, starting to feel tired from being in the sun all day and now half-laying on John B.

“You better know, you’re the one who trained him” John B teased.

She laughed, properly now, lifting her head to smack him gently in the chest.  He hit her back, starting a small fight, before eventually she gave in and surrendered.

It was getting late in the day, and with all the pining and the heat, she was just ready to go back to the Chateau, have a big meal, and then pass out on the sofa.  That way she wouldn’t have to wake up to JJ crawling into bed with her.  She’s not sure she can spend the night with him tonight.

“I think I’m gonna head out,” She said with a small yawn.  “I bet Pope’s made something for dinner and I wanna get back before it’s cold”

“Alright,” John B said, watching her stand up and grab her towel and backpack.  “Would you rather go to The Wreck?” He asked as an afterthought.

“Right now?” She asked him, following his eyes as he stood up with her.

“Sure, we can get some food and then head home” He shrugged.

“Aright” (y/n) shrugged back.

She liked calling John B’s place home, because that’s what it was.  Since his Uncle T pretty much moved out, it’s just been him, her and JJ, and it’s been great.  She hated staying at home where her parents were always preoccupied with anything that wasn’t her, and JJ would probably never stay at home again, so it was perfect.

Her and John B left the beach together, deciding to just walk into town so they could talk more.  It wasn’t often that they got one on one time, and he was probably her best friend, so it was nice.

Plus, she hadn’t been able to talk about her feelings for JJ this much before, and he really helped her figure out what to do about their little situation.  

There were some tears, some laughter, as she tried her best to explain what she’d been feeling, but John B was there to hug her tight and remind her that her feelings for JJ were definitely reciprocated, even if he was a dumbass sometimes.

Maybe some of his advice was… boy-ish, but it was advice nonetheless.  And she didn’t get it anywhere else. ___

When JJ went back to the Chateau, he couldn’t deny that a small part of him was pretty fucking pissed off with John B.

Alright, it was a large part of him.  He was just about fuming when he went inside, ready to fight his best friend if he had to.  He didn’t want to, but he felt he was left with no other choice after the stunt he’d pulled.

What he found when he barged into the house instead, was (y/n).

She was curled up on the sofa, in her bikini and one of JJ’s shirts she’d stolen so long ago it was pretty much hers now.  If he asked her about it, she probably wouldn’t even remember that it was his first.

The sight made him soften for a moment, and for a moment, he completely forgot about his anger.  She looked so peaceful, like a little armadillo, it made him smile.

He wandered into the living room to grab one of John B’s throw blankets, so that she’d keep warm as she napped.  But as soon as he’d grabbed the blanket, John B himself came into the room, and JJ’s anger came back again.

“You son of a bitch-!” He yelled, but was just as quickly shushed by John B, who pointed at (y/n’s) sleeping self.

“Let’s go outside” John B said, already walking out to the porch, JJ right on his heel.

As soon as the door opened, he was yelling again.

“You knew I liked her, you knew I-”

“Hold on-” John B put a hand up, his brows furrowed in confusion.  “What the hell are you talking about dude?”

“(y/n), obviously!” JJ said, smacking John B upside the head.

“Hey-”

“What the fuck were you thinking? Flirting with her like that-”

“Okay, jesus, calm down,” John B groaned.  “I wasn’t flirting with her, for one, we were hanging out, because we’re friends.  And secondly, you were off all day with Kiara!”

JJ frowned at the accusation, even though it was a fair one.

“And if you had even an ounce of common sense, you would have realized how upset you made (y/n) today, but how could you notice when you were the one flirting with another girl?”

That hit him hard, he didn’t even know what to say.

But all of the jealousy fades away when he realizes what John B was telling him.  He’d made her jealous today, while he was trying to avoid his feelings all together.

“So what were you thinking?” John B asked.  “You know she’s in love with you man, and I know you love her too, so why would you-”

“I didn’t know what to do,” JJ answered lamely, before John B could even finish.  “I know that we’re something, but I don’t know what, and I don’t know what to do about it and… and I thought maybe it’d just be best if she didn’t like me anymore…”

“What the fuck?”

Both boys jumped, not having heard (y/n) approach, but there she was on the other side of the screen door.  She’d wrapped the blanket JJ had dropped on her around her shoulders, and she was staring at the blonde boy with a hurt expression.

John B cringed, opening the door to let her out on the porch, but she stayed on the doorstep.

“Why would you think that?” She murmured.

“I…” JJ opened his mouth to speak, but no real words came out.  He ended up gaping like a fish out of water.

“I’m gonna give you guys some space” John B said, quickly sliding past (y/n) in an attempt to get out of the awkward moment as fast as possible.

(y/n) stepped outside, shutting the door behind her as she stared at JJ.

“I can’t do this anymore,” She admitted before she could chicken out.  “I can’t do this whole ‘what are we’ game anymore, I didn’t care before but- but I do now,” Her eyes meet his, on the verge of tears in fear that he’s going to end this before it could even begin.  “And I guess how you really feel about me,”

She blinks the tears out of her eyes as best as she can, her hands holding tighter to the blanket around her, and she hopes- no- prays that he doesn’t end it.

“What are we, JJ?” She whispers out.

He looks at her, really looks at her, and he feels heartbroken, because she looks heartbroken.  It hits him how badly he fucked up today, and how he really let her down.  But this is his chance to fix it, and finally decide what they meant to each other.

And he took that chance.

He stepped forward, closing the space between them and taking her face in his hands.

Her eyes blow wide as she looks up at him, surprised by the action.  It had been years of playing this game, of dancing this dance, and finally, he’d made a move.

“You’re mine” He said softly, surely.  It was the one fact they’d both known their whole lives.

She smiled back at him, before leaning up on the tips of her toes to meet him halfway in a sweet kiss.

His lips were warm, and chapped, but soft, and everything she’d always expected them to feel like.  It hardly felt like a first kiss, it felt like she’d been kissing him all this time.

And she sure wished she had been, because damn she was missing out.

As she wrapped her arms around his neck, the blanket she’d been wearing like a cape fell from her shoulders, landing in a pile on the porch.  

They were oblivious to their friends in the window, gawking at them, and exchanging money from bets they’d made years ago.

When they parted, JJ caught sight of them, but with a quick glare and a shooing motion, they were out of sight.

(y/n) turned to see what he’d been looking at, but his hands reached for her waist, bringing her attention back to him as soon as his hands met her bare skin.

She grinned at him, hands sliding around his neck before smoothing over his shoulders.

“No more flirting with John B, alright?” He asked, and (y/n) chuckled.

“I don’t recall ever flirting with John B,” She told him.  “I do recall you ditching me all day…”

She was only messing with him, but the smirk on her face was intoxicating.

“Make a deal with me?” He asked, holding his hand out towards her.

She grinned back at him, waiting for him to continue.

“Not ignore what’s between us anymore?” He asked, quietly, like he was nervous, but it made her smile even wider, and placed her hand in his.

“Deal, Maybank,” She murmured, before grabbing her blanket from the ground.  “Now come on, I’m tired, let’s go to bed”

Like a dog, he beamed as he followed close behind her into the Chateau.

“Bed huh?” He asked, a little too eager.

“Calm down, blondie,” (y/n) giggled as he excitedly shut the guest room door behind them.  “I’m exhausted, we’re going to sleep”

She crawled into bed, not caring that she hadn’t changed into pajamas.  It had been a long day, and she wanted nothing more than to doze off in his arms.

“That’s fine, I love sleeping,” JJ replied, following her into bed, and quickly hastily pulling her into his arms.  She giggled again as he caged her in tightly against his chest.  “Sleeping is the best, it’s one of my favorite things to do-”

“Alright, hon, I get it” She said, wiggling out of his firm clutch to rest more comfortably.

Her head rested against his chest as her arms wound around his torso.  JJ let his hands wander a little further down her back than usual, but no one was complaining.

“You wanna go on a date tomorrow?” He mumbled into her hair, already feeling tired just from her holding him.

Her hand fisted into the material of the back of his tee shirt as she nodded.

“Where d’you wanna go?”

“I dunno.  The Wreck?”

“Hm,” She hummed.  “Or we can just go smoke on the beach”

“Fuck, I’m so in love with you, you’re my dream girl”

___

xoxo ~ jordie

[americancowgirl19]

The Good Stuff

Summary: There’s always been something between Bobby’s daughter, Y/n, and John’s son, Dean. It never went past lingering touches and flirting until Sam left for college and John started leaving Dean on his own more often. It started off with them being simple hunting partners until it wasn’t simple anymore. Then Dean sells his soul for Sam and begins acting different. One night Y/n snaps and they blow up at each other. Dean leaves Y/n in the motel and heads for the bar where he has an interesting conversation with the bartender.

Warnings: angst, fluff

Reader: Female Reader

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Fem!reader

Word Count: 2,014

A/n: This takes place towards the beginning of season three and is inspired by the song ‘The Good Stuff’ by Kenny Chesney

Masterlist

The rumble of the Impala is the only noise on the empty road. Dean grips the steering wheel to the point where his knuckles are white. His jaw is clenched so tight he’s surprised his teeth haven’t shattered under the pressure.

“I’m your family too, Dean! I may not be your blood but I’m family!”

This isn’t the first time him and Y/n have fought but it is the first time where a drive through the night on an empty road isn’t calming him down. If anything he feels himself getting more worked up as his mind replays the fight over and over again in his head.

“I am the only one who has been there for you for everything! Everything! And let’s face it Dean, you’re not exactly a peach all the time! But I stuck around! Me!”

His mind focuses on her voice. She had a sarcastic tone that quickly went enraged before it started cracking. 

“What about me Dean?! I can’t lose you but you’re not giving me a chance!”

Along with her voice he remembers her facial expressions. She kept a steady glare all throughout the fight but her eyes always gave her away. They were angry but most of all they were scared, terrified. His heart clenches as he remembers how tears puddled but never fell.

“All you ever care about is Sam and yourself! You don’t give a damn about me! I love you and you’re leaving!”

Grumbling under his breath he pulls into a bar. He’s thankful they’re in a small town and there’s hardly anyone in the joint. He turns off the Impala and slams the door after climbing out. Once he’s in the bar he makes a beeline straight for the closest stool.

Looking down the bar he notices the bartender, an older gentleman, is sitting in the corner practically falling asleep. Looking around he notices there’s only one other person in the bar and it seems to be a coworker. Clearing his throat loudly Dean gains the mans attention.

“What’ll it be?” The bartender asks walking up to Dean. Dean goes to respond but hesitates. He contemplates if he should have a beer trying to be responsible seeing as he had to drive back to the motel. However, he also felt a need for something a lot stronger.

“The good stuff,” Dean responds not really caring what the bartender brought back. When the man didn’t reach around for a whiskey nor attempted to pour Dean a beer he frowned his eyebrows. Dean felt a little awkward when the man seemed to tear up a bit.

“You can’t find that here,” He responded with a small smile. His eyes went distant as if thinking back on a memory. He lets out a little laugh and leans against the bar top. “Cause it’s the first long kiss on a second date. Mamma’s all worried when you get home late.” He lets out a huff of breath, a small smile still dancing on his lips. “It’s droppin’ the ring in the spaghetti plate cause your hands are shakin so much,” He continues to grin still lost in his thoughts. “It’s the way she looks with rice in her hair... and eatin’ burnt suppers the whole first year, asking for seconds to keep her from tearin up. That...That’s the good stuff,”

Dean sat there for a moment soaking up his words. His mind goes back to all the flirting he and Y/n did in the middle of Bobby’s kitchen. Whenever Dean stayed at Bobby’s they were always in the kitchen. It’s Y/n favorite part of the house and of course wherever she is, Dean’s not far behind.

His eyes close as he remembers their first kiss. It was before dad went missing, before Sam went off to college. They were all at Bobby’s and Y/n was cleaning up after a meal. His dad and Bobby had gone off to talk about something and Sam was in a food coma. 

She was washing the dishes singing her favorite song under her breath. Dean simply watched her from the doorway. He specifically watched her hips as they swayed to the beat of the song she was singing. He hadn’t drank much but it was enough to think it was a good idea to go up to her.

The instant his hands rested on her hips, she stilled. He buried his nose in her hair and breathed in deeply. A small smile appeared on his lips when she leaned back into him.

“What are you doing?” She whispers to him.

“Standing,” He whispers back, his voice an octave lower than normal. He smirks not missing the shiver that goes down her spine. He leans his head against hers and reaches around her to take the dish cloth from her hand. He replaces the dishcloth his his own hand and takes a step back. Spinning her around he pulls her into his arms. “Keep singing,” He urges.

Y/n lets out a small laugh as a bright blush settles into her cheeks. However, when she looks into his eyes she finds it impossible to deny him. She begins to sing the song again following his lead as they sway around the kitchen.

When she song ended he kissed her. It was soft, neither of them deepening it. It was innocent, neither of them pushing for anything more. Dean simply wanted to hold the girl he was head over heels in love with and kiss her before his dad forces him to leave in the morning.

“This isn’t a good idea,” Y/n whispers against his lips while looking into his eyes.

“Shh,” Dean whisper caressing her face. “Don’t worry about tomorrow,” Y/n smiles kissing him again. Dean smiles as well and holds her even closer.

When Dean’s eyes open he’s back at the bar. The bartender was washing the counter top. Clearing his throat, Dean tries to shake the memory away but doesn’t try too hard. It’s one of his favorite’s. Their second kiss wouldn’t come for another couple of years. 

Neither of them tried to further their relationship after their moment in the kitchen but they weren’t the same around each other either. They were closer. The flirting intensified, the looks became more obvious and the touches lingered longer. But like Y/n said, it wasn’t a good idea and they both knew it. They’re both hunters, they’ve both lost a lot. The last thing they wanted was to get involved only to lose each other. But love doesn’t care, it’ll come whether you want it or not.

When they kissed for the second time, Dean knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away. Y/n had her claws in him since they were kids but when they shared their second kiss he was a goner. She had him wrapped around her finger so tight he couldn’t escape and he didn’t want too. Hunting is a dark life and sometimes Y/n’s smile and her laugh are his only rays of light. He knew he was being selfish but he stopped caring. He wanted his light and he didn’t want to give her up. So, when she stuck around and didn’t try to leave, he held onto her even tighter.

A light beer appearing in front of him breaks Dean from his thoughts. Looking up he sees the bartender smiling at him. Dean nods his thanks and accepts the beer.

“Got a girl at home?” He asks. Dean instantly smiles and nods again. “She pretty?”

“Gorgeous,” Dean responds lifting the beer to his lips. “We got in a fight earlier,” Dean explains to him. “I was being... insensitive... an asshole... as usual,” Dean mumbles.

“We all have our moments,” He tells Dean.

“She puts up with a lot for me,” Dean says. “I’m not an easy person to get along with,”

“Most guys aren’t easy but women love us anyways for some reason,” He laughs a bit. “I’ve put my girl through some tough nights before,” Dean smiles slightly. “But as long as there’s something to fight for then it’ll work out,”

“Yeah,” Dean sighs taking another sip. His eyes scan along the bar aimlessly until he notices a picture taped to the mirror. The bartender turns around to see what had caught his attention. He instantly smiles and reaches for it. Taking it off the mirror he holds it between his fingers before showing it to Dean.

“That’s my Bonnie,” He explains. Dean grabs the black and white picture. “That was taken ‘bout a year after we wed.”

“Beautiful,” Dean compliments handing the picture back.

“Yeah, she was,” He nods holding the picture delicately. Dean’s face falls slightly. “I spent five years in the bar when cancer took her from me,” Dean lowers his gaze as he feels the guilt begin to come back.

“What about me Dean?! What am I supposed to do without you?!”

“But I’ve been sober three years now,” He says breaking Dean’s train of thought. “There’s one thing stronger than whiskey,” Dean tilts his head slightly. “The sight of her holdin’ my baby girl. The way she adored that string of pearls I gave her the day our youngest boy, Earl, married his high school love,” Dean smiles a bit as the bartender continues to look at the picture. “It’s a new t-shirt sayin I’m a grandpa.” His smile begins to fade. “Bein right there are our time got small and holdin her hand when the good Lord called her up,”

Dean looks down at his beer bottle. His mind is soaking up the mans story like a sponge to water.

“Yeah, man,” The bartender nods putting the picture back. “That’s the good stuff,” Dean finishes his beer and stands up. “When you get home she’ll start to cry. When she says I’m sorry, say so am I. Look into those eyes so deep in love and drink it up... Cause that’s the good stuff,”

Dean smiles slightly and slowly nods. He goes to pay for his beer but the bartender waves him off. Thanking the man, Dean practically races to the car before speeding back to the motel. He felt thankful that Sam wasn’t with them at the moment. He needed his girl to himself.

“You’re back early,” Y/n commented when Dean came barging through the door. “You’re usually out the whole night when we fight,” She says looking back at the research.

“I’m sorry,” Dean tells her.

“I don’t want to start this again,” Y/n sighs slowly. “Can we do this tomorrow?”

“No,” Dean shakes his head walking up to her. Y/n sighs again expecting another argument but Dean simply kneels in front of her. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for putting you through this. I’m sorry for being selfish with you. I should have fought harder for a better deal, I should have done things differently but when Sammy... When he died... I couldn’t think straight. Nothing else mattered but getting him back and I’m so sorry that I have to hurt you to get him back,” Y/n looks away from him as she tries to control her tears. “I’m so sorry baby. I love you so much. You’re my world. I should have never been selfish with you,”

Dean rests his hands on her thighs and slowly caresses them. Y/n sniffles and wipes her eyes before looking back at him. Dean smiles a bit and leans up to kiss her. Y/n weaves her fingers through her hair. Dean stands pulling her with him.

“I’m sorry too,” Y/n whispers. “I said things I shouldn’t have. I know you love me. I know you don’t just love Sam,”

“Shh,” Dean whispers grabbing her hand. Y/n smiles laughing a bit as Dean twirls her before pulling her back into his arms. “Don’t worry about it,” He says while swaying them slowly. Slowly, Y/n begins to hum the song she had sang before their first kiss. Dean recognizes it instantly and holds her against him tighter. He stares into her eyes not daring to look away. “I love you,” Dean whispers.

[agentsoftie]

Sleepless Nights ( S.R )

summary: Reid and Y/N aren’t the most fond of each other. So what happens when they can’t sleep, have to share a bed, and be married.

pairing: Spencer Reid and female reader

a/n: AHH okay so here it is! It’s my first au so it’s probably not the best. But big thanks to @anepiphany! Ani baby none of this would be happening without you! Thank you for you tips and making me not go insane! Also pls tell me if I slept something wrong cuz like, your girl not the best when it comes to it. Also there will def be a loophole somewhere in my case and if you find one, just let it slide because life is filled with loopholes ❤️ also this is gonna be a two parter!

warnings: mentions of a case, little angst (like the smallest amount), fluff really though

remember to like and reblog!!

You were always the type of person that got along with everyone. And by everyone you meant everyone. You were a people pleaser, always changing your personality for someone. To the security guard, you were a sports junkie, always catching the latest games. To the guy who worked at the bookshop, you were the classical girl. And to the barista, you were the girl who was always late but always paid 3 dollars extra tip. But Dr. Spencer Reid was the only exception. 6’1 and standing tall. Mr. Eidetic Memory and 187 IQ but oh God how you cared for him. You loved him, you loved him more than all the moons in the galaxy. But him? He hated you, so naturally, you hated him too. As the saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them.

“Guys we got a new case,” Garcia says.

You walked into the room and sat to the seat closest to the front where Garcia would be since she was your best friend. Ironically that was the seat farthest from Reid.

“Okay, so this is Mira Normen and her husband John Normen. They had gotten married 2 months prior to their deaths. Mira was 25 years old and she was a teacher at the local middle school. John was 26 and he ran a local pet grooming business. As you can see, but not me for obvious reasons, they were both stabbed once in their chest and then once in their thigh. Mira was shot once in the heart and once in the head and John was shot twice in the heart and twice in the throat. The M.E. found a ring stuffed into both of their throats. And not the cheap kind, I mean a year's worth of salary for one of us.”

“Okay, so this guy’s rich,” You said.

“Yeah, no shit sherlock,” Reid said.

“Guys,” Hotch said in a stern voice “Garcia do we know anything else?”

“Yes actually. They were both last spotted at an event for rich people. So like something Rossi would go to.” She said, chuckling at the last part.

“You and I both know very well that I do not go to those kinds of events. I stay at home for god sakes.” Rossi says causing you and a couple of other people to chuckle.

“Why does this case sound so familiar?” JJ asks, breaking the chuckles.

“Well there was a case exactly like this a couple of years back if my memory is correct, which it always is. We tried to solve it but we just couldn't so it ended up as a cold case.” Reid said.

“And everythings the same?” JJ asked.

“Yep, everything. Well except the city.” Reid said.

“Great, well i think we got everything. Wheels up in 30.” Hotch says while getting up.

-------

You sat alone, like always. At first everyone was concerned, like they had done something, but they then soon realized that you just liked to be alone and this was really the only time.

“Okay, so I checked if anyone had moved in the years and I have 5 names. Thomas Maddison, Stephanie June, Eliza Honeycutt, Devi Paradise, and Klaus Hiller. And only one moved to our little town and that would be Miss Eliza Honeycutt.” Garcia said.

“Can you ch-” Morgan was saying but got cut off when she said

“Already did ‘Hot Chocolate’. Miss Eliza moved a total of 3 months after the case. Looks like it was due to a messy divorce. Her and Mr. Maddison had not been going strong for the last couple of months and it looks like they decided to call quits just before you guys came to town.”

“Can you-” Morgan started to say but then was again cut off by Garcia.

“Already got you babes. The address should be sent to your tablets.” Everyone was still looking at her, “that means look at your tablets.” She says while gesturing her hands making them look down.

“We got it babygirl,” Morgan said without being interrupted.

“Great! Now, this is the time I leave and let you amazing little people do your jobs!” And with that, she was out and so were you.

-------

It was 10 pm when you got to the hotel. You weren't exhausted but you definitely were not in the mood to solve a murder or multiple in this case. You all had checked in now was your favorite time of all choosing rooms. You never bunked with anyone unless Garcia, but that's if she ever came on a case. Emily and JJ were already gone, same with Hotch and Rossi. You were about to grab the key for the single room but Morgan got it before you.

“Sorry hot stuff, I need room alone this time.”

“What!? Why!?”

“I don't need to explain myself to you Y/N,” Moran says, and just like that he was gone.

You and Reid grabbed the keys without looking at each other and walked in the elevator. You both did not make any eye contact until you got into the room. There was only one bed. You immediately called room service but they said that there were no more rooms available so you two were stuck with that one.

“Okay, which one of us is gonna sleep on the floor?” you heard Reid say.

“Excuse me,?”

“You heard me.”

“Oh stop being such a baby Reid. We both know that if you don't sleep on a bed or something remotely similar you get all grumpy and get headaches all day. And if I don't sleep on a bed or something similar I get high on caffeine and get paranoid. So for the sake of the team, we are gonna sleep on the goddamn bed together!”

He didn't know you paid attention to him like that. Sure everyone knew that he would get grumpy, but headaches? No one, not even JJ. He didn't like to tell people about them fearing of being babied around even more than he already is. Although he did know that whenever you don't get enough sleep not only do you high on caffeine, but you have nightmares. You never told anyone except Garcia of course. He’d realized that you had nightmares after a group holiday to Rossi’s beach house, he heard you talking in your sleep and there were not good things being said.

“Okay geez fine whatever. Are you gonna go shower first, or am I”

“Me obviously,” you say while getting your clothes.

The water was hot when you got in, just how you like it. You started to soak your hair in the water needing to cool down a little and prepare yourself for the days ahead of you. All you could think about was sharing the same bed with him. With the guy, you're in love with but doesn’t know. And will never know.

After 30 minutes you got out of the shower and changed. You wore a pair of shorts and a loose flowy t-shirt which you had knotted after putting it on because it was too big. After you brushed your teeth, did your skincare, and brushed your hair.

“Finally, how long does it take?” You heard Reid say while you were walking out of the bathroom. He didn't look up until you sat on the bed turning the tv on.

“It takes 40 minutes Reid, it always takes 40 minutes. But you would never know because you've never had a girl stay over,”

“Oh, you're so funny aren't you,” he says in an annoyed way.

“Yeah, I am.” You said smirking while looking up expecting to see him annoyed but instead greeted with a small smile which was then washed away quickly by the sound of his voice.

“Okay, I'm gonna go take a shower now. Don't wait up.”

“ I won't, don't worry.” You say while he goes into the bathroom. You swear you saw him smile. It may have been small but it was there.

-------

“You waited for me.” You hear while turning off the tv. He was wearing a pair of basketball shorts and a white t-shirt. His hair was an absolute mess, and you could tell that he had to take a shower in not the hottest water.

“Ha, yeah no. You took like 10 minutes, did you think I was gonna fall asleep in 10 minutes.”

“Yeah well, that's what happens when you take up most of the hot water.”

“I'm sorry, you should have gone in the shower first.”

“You wanted to go into the shower first!”

“Okay and? Look, can we just go to bed or something? We have a long ass day ahead of us.”

You felt the bed dip and got chills all over. He didn't seem to notice, thankfully. You were cold, but not cold enough to want to layer up. You looked over and the time and it read 11:15. You tried to sleep, but you just couldn't. So again you looked over and read 11:39, and then it was 12:06. You felt like you were going insane.

“Why are you still up?” Reid said in a raspy voice while turning over to face you.

“Huh? Oh, um, I couldn't, can't sleep.”

“Ugh, fine come here.”

“What?” Before you could say anything he had wrapped his arm around you and forced you to nuzzle up against his chest. It actually felt pretty nice. You felt like you were on top of the world and that everything was going to be okay. You put your arm on him after processing what was happening. He then pulled you in closer and when you looked up at him you realized that he was knocked out, gone like a light in one of those horror movies. And before you realized it you were out too.

-------

“Y/L/N wake up,” is all you hear. The sun was barely out yet, so naturally, you just wanted to go back asleep.

“5 more minutes”

“Fine.” Although he didn't want to say anything or admit in this case. This was the best sleep that he’d gotten in a while. At first, he thought it was because of the way he slept but he then quickly realized that it was because of you. With your legs intertwined with his, one of your arms on his chest and the other in his hand. Your hair, so messy, yet so perfect at the same time and he would give anything to fall back asleep with you. He was in love. He was in love and was falling, falling harder than ever.

“Y/N, come on it's been 10 minutes. We need to go, get up.”

“What? Oh. Wait, fuck, what time is it?” You say in your very raspy yet airy morning voice.

“6:13, now we have to get ready or we will be late.”

You didn't want to get up, you really didn't. You wanted this moment to never end, but sadly time was not on your side for this one. “We never speak of last night, got it.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Its agent.”

-------

“Miss Honeycutt, hi I’m Agent Y/L/N,” You say while sitting down for the interrogation.

“Hi yeah, why am I here?”

“Oh, no one’s told you yet?’

“Well yes the people who rudely (italicize) came into my home said something but I wasn’t really listening.”

“Oh okay then. You're here as a suspect for multiple murders.” Her face was in total and utter shock. “There has been a murder recently that connects to a murder that took place back a couple of years ago. You lived there when it had happened and then you moved. And now you’re here because a murder played out exactly that same way as the one that took place in the past.”

“Look, I have a valid reason for moving-”

“Divorce I know.”

“Yes, well you don’t know the reason.”

“Oh, and what would that be?”

“I was cheating on him, Thomas. He found out and then immediately filed for divorce.”

“Huh, is that so. Well, you kno-” You were cut off by the sound of the one and the only doctor himself.

“Y/L/N can I please speak to you.”

“Um yeah.” You walk outside of the interrogation room to face him. “What is it?”

“I don't think she did it. The way she’s reacting to all of this is way too natural to fake and she still hasn't called for a lawyer to be present. Normally in these types of situations the un-sub mostly always calls for a lawyer or anyone in that case.”

“I know, I know, I know. But she mentioned an ex-husband that could help us with this case.”

“So what you're just gonna “interrogate” her until she starts to talk about her former husband, or just talk about that and only that as a whole?”

“Yes, precisely.”

“You amaze me Y/N,” this was the first time he said your name in conversation naturally and not because he was forced to for an undercover assignment and shit. Well except for this morning but you can't decide if that was a small little fever dream or actual life so it doesn't count.

“And I you Spencer.” He noticed, oh he noticed and his heart practically burst from his chest because of the serotonin he got when you said his name. It was like every time you said his name an angel got its wings.

-------

“Hey Garcia, could you dig a little deeper on our little Thomas Maddison?” You ask her.

“Of course pumpkin. Okay so here's what I got. Thomas Maddison born May 30th leaving him to be a Gemini and you know how I feel about those. He moved from our fun little town too, well, um,-” was what she said before being cut off by Emily.

“What do you mean by ‘um’ Garcia?” She said with a puzzled expression.

“Well, ‘um’ means he disappeared from the face of Earth. Completely gone. No new dental records, no new home, I mean, not even a simple receipt. It’s like he just clicked ‘erase all’ after the divorce.”

“Is that even possible?” I ask.

“Well yes, but you have to literally become a new person for that to happen.”

“Garcia look into anything in his life that could possibly lead him to have hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Reid said.

“Okay, so it says here in one article that he owned a local jewelry store that got burned down around that time of the divorce. The local paper wrote it off as an accident but everyone thought he wanted to skip town after the divorce so he would just take all of the insurance money. Which I guess is kind of true. Um but anyway, yeah that’s really the only explanation. His parents didn't leave him that much money in the will, and he wasn't a drug dealer.”

“Okay, thanks hun! You've been of more help then you know. Call Hotch and everyone else in. I think we got the profile.” You said before ending the call.

* literally 5 or 6 minutes later *

“Okay, so the guy we’re looking for is very popular with the people. He always tries to make everything about himself. Your classic narcissist.” Hotch starts off with.

“This guy hates love though. He never brings up the topic and hates it when people bring it up. And although he hates love, he looks like the guy who could pick anyone he wanted, although he relatively picks on younger women.” JJ adds.

“Yes, and this guy is going to be a white caucasian male. Most likely in his late 20 or early 30s. And he is going to have wealth and will show it off as often as he can.” Emily says.

“Any questions” you heard Hotch ask.

“There’s an event tomorrow just like the one that Mira and John attended. Will he be there? And if so, do you think he will attack again? And if yes then what will do?” You see an officer asking.

“Well yes, we heard of that and already planned everything out. Tomorrow night Agent Y/L/N and DR.Reid will be attending the event.” Rossi said.

You were in complete shock, and frankly so was Reid. You guys never agreed to this, and as much as I love black tie events, they aren't really my cup of tea when there can possibly be a serial killer there. Not to mention the guy I fucking love more than anyone in the world would be there, with me (italicize). Like now I have to look badass and sexy (italicize) at the same time, although that wouldn't be that hard you thought to yourself.

“Guys, can Reid and I please talk to you all in private.” You give Rossi and Hotch very unobvious yet obvious death stares.

“Yeah, now please.” He says.

* again like 2 or 3 minutes later *

“Um hello, last time I never agreed to this and by the look on Reid’s face, neither did he.”

“Y/N you heard, our unsub likes younger women,” Derek says,

“Okay well then just send in Emily, or JJ, or both in that case.” You say in an angry tone.

“Oh baby, you think we're young? Were flattered but no. Sadly out of all of us, you look the youngest, and are the youngest.” JJ says while laughing along with Emily.

“And for you Reid, you out of most people should know that the murders happened between young lovers who got married. And Derek doesn’t call you pretty boy for nothing. Rossi says following JJs statement.

“We really aren't getting out of this one huh?” He asks.

“No. Now it's late so I want you all to get a good night's rest and be ready tomorrow. Reid and Y/L/N you guys can sleep in a little but you'll have to be ready by 4:30.” Hotch says. And with that, everyone goes back to their rooms.

“I fell in love the way you fall asleep; slowly, then all at once” – John Green, The Fault in our Stars

Part two coming tomorrow!

[justthehiddleswrites]

All Dressed Up | Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Summary: You and Tom have been a relationship for some time. While it used to feel exciting and fun, now feels like you two are stuck in a rut. You decide that Tom's wardrobe needs an upgrade. But will he appreciate your effort?

Warnings: maybe implied smut

-

“I think Tom and I’s relationship is getting stale,” you complained while you stirred your coffee.

Your best friend stared from across the table in some state of disbelief.

“I don’t buy that,” she replied, “the two of you are always trying new things.”

You grumbled as you picked at the blueberry scone on the plate. You let the crumbs coat your fingers as you thought about the first year of your relationship with Tom. The start had been thrilling and adventurous. The two of you had met at a BAFTA event. Tom looked devastatingly handsome in his single-breasted tux. The beginnings of his now full beard just starting to show themselves.

The two of you had wined and dined those first several months, whether at restaurants or at your respective homes. But all that faded into the background, once you moved in with Tom. Fancy suits and pretty dresses had given way to threadbare shirts and workout clothes.  “Well, I think the honeymoon phase is over. Most nights are TV on the couch and snoring in the bedroom. He doesn’t even try anymore.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well… when we first got together, we both put such effort in our appearance. But now, I’m lucky if he is wearing pants without holes in them!”

“Maybe he is trying to tell you something,” your friend replied with a wink, trying to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, that he needs new clothes! I swear Tom will wear something into the ground and just wish he would put more of an effort sometimes. it is like I am dating a hobo and not a world class actor.”

“Trying telling him that.”

Your eyes lit up as an idea popped into your head.

“I have an even better idea!”

You paid the bill as you said your goodbyes. Your best friend noticed that glint in your eyes. Your ideas rarely worked out. She just hoped you didn’t anything too stupid or crazy. But there was no use in trying to stop you.

***

As soon as you got home, you rushed into your shared closet. Instead of telling Tom you wanted he dress nicer, you thought you just show him. Tom was out of town for a few days, completing some reshoots on his most recent project. Just enough time to put your plan into action. First off, you grabbed all the jeans from his side, throwing them on the bed. Carefully examining each pair, you threw out any pairs with any holes. That left about three pairs. You repeated the process with his sweaters and shirts.

Once done,  you turned to the dresser. The workout clothes were the worst. Nearly everything had stains, holes, or rips. There was only one outfit worth keeping. You realized you would need to replace much of Tom’s wardrobe. But first you needed to get rid of the old clothes to prevent their re-entry into Tom’s wardrobe rotation. It took several bags and three trips to the dumpster.  Just as you shut the door, the phone rang.  It was Tom.  

“Hello, honey!”

“Hello, darling. You sound out of breath. What on earth are you doing?”

You panicked. You would rather not tell Tom your plans just yet for fear he would make you fish the clothes out of the bin.

“Just some spring cleaning. Just wanted the place to look nice when you get back.”

“That’s unnecessary, darling, but I appreciate the thought. I love our home as long as you are in it.”

You winced as the sweet words came from his mouth. Should you go through this? Maybe you should just talk to him? You thought about digging out his clothes.

“Darling? You okay?”

Tom’s voice snapped you out of your mental quandary and back to reality.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little tired. Hey, I was thinking about picking up some new clothes. Just to replace some worn-out things. Need anything?”

Tom contemplated a moment before responding.

“Not that I can think of. But have fun and don’t forget to pick out a dress for Ben’s party on Saturday. Shit! You had forgotten about Benedict and Sophie’s party. You can’t remember the occasion, but the dress code was cocktail wear. Your worry melted away into joy. This would be the perfect time to make your point.

“Thank you for reminding me. I think I will pick out something new.”

The two of you said your goodbyes and hung up the phone and wiped sweat from your brow, not sure if it was from the physical exertion or the act of lying to Tom. Convincing yourself the lie was for the best, you set off to finish your tasks.

***

You spent most of the next day in stores. First up was Nike, where you dropped what felt like a small fortune replacing Tom’s jogging attire. All black naturally. Now if you just get him to stop layering all at once in the winter. You hit up John Smedley and picked up two new sweater, one blue and one blue-gray. It was a new color for Tom, but you thought it would bring out his eyes. Not like he needed any help.

You scoured the shops for the perfect dress for Saturday; you finally found it at Coast. It was low cut but tasteful and the color complemented your skin tone and eye color. If this didn’t get the blood flowing, you didn’t know what would. You lugged all the purchases and set out putting it all away. You had just clipped the last tag and folded the last shirt when you discovered a key turning in the lock.

“Tom!”

You rushed down the hall and took a running leap at him. Tom dropped his bag just in time to catch you as you slid across the floor into his arms. He steadied the two of you before clasping your face and pulling you into a deep kiss.

“I have missed you,” he breathed as the two of you parted.

“I missed you too,” you replied, and you pecked his lips again.

Tom headed up to the bedroom to unpack, while you headed to the kitchen to start on supper.

“Darling!”

You heard Tom call to you across the house. His voice sounded neither happy nor mad but there was a tone of concern. You shuffled up to the bedroom to face the conversation you had been dreading. You arrived to see Tom staring into a drawer.

“What is all this?”

“Workout clothes,” you quipped back, ignoring the real question.

“I noticed. What happened to the old ones? Like my Nike sweatshirt and shorts.”

“I replaced them. With the same stuff. Just without the holes and stains.”

You avoided eye contact.

“But I liked the old ones.”

You could pick up an edge when he said liked. You may have miscalculated his attachment to the old clothes. Too late to go back, you trudged forward into what was looking now like an argument.

“I know but they looked so ratty so I threw them out,” you mumbled as you headed into the closet, hoping he wouldn’t hear or notice your words.

How wrong you were.

“You.. WHAT?!?”

Tom appeared at the door of the closet. His nostrils flared and a crimson color reached up his neck. You thought to cower, but you screwed up your courage.

“I. Threw. Them. Out.”

You enunciated each word, putting emphasis.

“Why in the hell would you do that? They were perfectly suitable clothes. You had no right to get rid of them!”

“They were not perfectly suitable! They were holey and ripped. You looked like a hobo! I’m tired of thinking like I am dating a homeless drug addict. I’m dating Tom fucking Hiddleston! You are better than this!”

“I either dress like I’m going to a red carpet event or like a homeless drug addict, there’s no in between!”

“Well, if I have to choose, I would rather take the red carpet! I think you don’t care anymore and where does that leave us?!” As soon as the words left your mouth, you collapsed into tears. You had never said it or even thought it, but it was true. If Tom didn’t think you were the effort to dress up, then perhaps your relationship was on its last legs. And the thought of your world without Tom in it was too hard to bear.

Tom’s expression softened and his anger turned to concern.

“Darling…” he started with hesitation. “What does my clothes have to do with our relationship? They are just clothes. And if you have seen any paparazzi photos, you would know I perfected the ‘homeless drug addict’ look years before I met you. But my feelings have and never will change.”

You gave him a weak smile.

“Except that I feel like I will hate my credit card bill next month,” Tom quipped as he gestured at the new clothes hanging in the closet.

You started laughing, and he stepped forward to envelope you in a hug. The two of you embraced and kissed. Tom held you out at arm’s length.

“Now why don’t you show my some of these new purchases? See what kind of damage you have wrecked before I send someone to go digging through the trash.”

With glee and pride, you took Tom around to show him each purchase, explaining your reasoning for each. Tom nodded and made the odd comment, but mostly was silent. You pointed out all the items you kept, including his well-worn gray boots.

“So…” you asked, turning your head as though preparing for a blow.

“I think…” Tom ran his hands through his beard in contemplation. “You put a lot of thought and effort in this. Thank you.”

With that, he kissed your forehead and headed back out to finish unpacking.

“That’s it?”

“Pretty much. I appreciate your effort and I love you for it.”

What a letdown, you thought as you left to return to the kitchen to finish dinner. You had expected more, but you were happy he was not still angry. As you finished up dinner, Tom’s favorite, and called him down to dinner. He came into the room, hands behind his back.

“It looks lovely, darling.”

“Your favorite.”

“I noticed. I also noticed that with your little clean out, we have more space in the closet.”

You cast your eyes downward.

“Yeah. I might have gotten a little overzealous. Sorry.”

You sniffled as you could feel tears threatening to reappear.

“Well, it is just as well because your new dress will take up a lot of space and my clothes as well.”

You put your utensils down, confused.

“I don’t understand. I already have my new dress for Saturday. You saw the bag hanging in the closet.”

“I don’t mean that one.”

With that, Tom slid a small red box onto your place setting. There was no stopping the tears now. With trembling fingers, Tom opened the box to reveal a beautiful solitaire ring.

“The plan was to do this on Saturday at Ben and Sophie’s but they will just have to deal with the disappointment. Y/N,” Tom kneeled down. “Despite your itchy trigger finger when it comes to my wardrobe, I love you with all my heart. And I can think of nothing I would want more than you as my bride. Will you marry me?”

You nodded your head as words failed you.

“Is that a yes?” Tom teased.

“Yes, you idiot! Of course, I will marry you.”

You throw your arms around his neck and he lifted you in a deep embrace. Tom lowered you so he could place the ring on your finger. A perfect fit. You stood there admiring your new hardware, and then you felt Tom nuzzle against your neck.

“What do you say we go to the room and celebrate properly?”

Tom swept you off your feet, literally, and carried you into the bedroom for some proper celebrating.

***

The following morning, you lie awake in bedroom admiring the ring in the light. It was a dream. You feel the rough scratch of whiskers on your shoulder. You turned to see Tom, now awake, but just.

“Tom?”

“Hmm, yes?”

“Where were you hiding the ring?”

Tom’s mouth stretched in a Cheshire cat grin.

“Well, until this trip in my workout clothes drawer, but I was afraid you would find it, so I packed it with me. Looks like I was right.”

“I guess you were. How mad are Ben and Sophie going to be?”

“Furious, I’m sure but they will get over it once I ask Ben to be my best man.”

You giggled and thought about Benedict getting mad at Tom only to turn around and forgive moments later at the request of being Tom’s best man.

“I’m sure. And I will ask Sophie to let the kids be attendants.”

“Sounds like an excellent plan.” Tom got out of bed. “Now if you don’t mind, I am going to go for a run.”

You turned on your side as Tom got dressed. As he headed out, he leaned over to kiss you. You turned to see Tom wearing some very ratty jogging clothes. You shot up in bed.

“Where the hell did those come from?”

Tom grinned and chuckled. “You forgot about my travel clothes, darling. And you will never get a hold of these.”

You lept out of bed and took chase after your fiance.

“Give those to me, Hiddleston!”

“Never!”

And with that, Tom slammed the door and headed for his daily jog while you sulked, staring at the front door.