#also the place he got kicked out of after getting caught by security that one time instead of just saying hey im running this place pfft

[orbmanson7]

Also pretty sure this is where ranboo kept streaming from when on set leading up to the premiere, considering this is where the big green screen is and it had a better wifi signal than their hotel room

Also explains why there was always an echo, considering how big this damn area is

[couldeatthatgirlforlunch]

OMG I have an idea

What if a villain hit reader with a love potion and the Yandere JL has to deal with reader being obsessed with one of them until it wears off🙏🙏😭(I LITERALLY LOVE YOUR YAN JL WORKDGHBJB)

A Day in Life: Love Pollen

Synopsis: A day in your life where you get hit with love pollen, get kidnapped, and are rescued by the Justice League.

Pairing: Yandere!Justice League X Assistant!Gn!Reader

Tw: 18+; PDA; Dry humping; Kinda public sex bc they're in a deserted island’s beach, so it's basically out in the open but no one’s around; Dubcon/noncon bc, you know, love-and-kinda-sex pollen; Also maybe drugging bc of that; Writer is the Justice League's weakness; Hal Jordan is a little shit; Needles; English is not my 1st language.

Word count: 2,1k

Requested? Yes.

Extra notes: I imagine the League’s marketing will have a hard time after this little stunt, I mean, there's no way no one caught that on camera

General masterlist | A Day in Life - Series masterlist

The Legion of Doom had a plan. They invaded a political event in Metropolis, with the presence of the Justice League as the president’s security team, the League being the target. First, Poison Ivy release pollen throughout the whole city, as a distraction, making people hallucinate that they were in love with one another. Crazy in love. It would be okay, if her experiment didn't cause chaos. All over the streets, some people were having sex out in the open, some were fighting and killing because of jealousy and cheating, some were committing robberies to give their “loved ones”. It was pure chaos and only the quick reflexes, powers and gadgets from the League spared the team from getting hit.

Half the team went to deal with the distraction, saving and restraining people, giving them the antidote, etc. The other half, took care of the villains. After a few hours, the Legion of Doom was taken down and the city’s security and health workers took over the job, the chaos being a lot easier to contain since they were spreading the antidote through the air, it would take at least an hour to spread it throughout the whole city, and then the ones who somehow weren't able to breath it, but mostly, just the mess left behind was the real issue.

You were standing with the rest of the crew on the event, watching the League and the politicians discoursing for the press and TV. When the mayhem started, for the first few seconds, you got startled and froze. Looking between the League, the scared crowd, and the villains invading the place. Suddenly, you breathed some thick smoke and your eyes shot to the heroes, silently urging them to do something, when your eyes locked on Green Lantern’s, the pollen’s effect kicked in. You got dizzy, something snapped, and then everything changed.

Wait, when did Green Lantern's jaw got so sharp? And his muscles so defined? Oh, and he was so big and tall. Did he do something to his hair? Wow, his ring is glowing now and he's flying. He's so cool and powerful. A true hero. Shit, he's coming in my direction. Hehe, he's using a construct to lift me and my coworkers to a safer place as if it was nothing. Imagine flying with him every day. How does he look without the mask? Ugh, must be perfect, if his jaw and lips were anything to go by. I can't even see the color of his eyes! And- and please stop looking me in the eyes and touching my shoulders and asking me if I'm okay, of course I am, I'm with you. No. Nooo. Come back here! Let the others deal with the bad guys, I'm right hereee! Nooooo!

You were depressed and deflated the whole time your soulmate was away. A journalist team from outside the city arrived at some point and you were able to watch the fight — Normally, Lois Lane would do the transmission, but she's too busy making out with her cameraman, she was in the crowd too. —. You started crying watching your lover fighting with Sinestro. When he won, and everything was fine, was when you finally calmed down and just started anxiously waiting while ignoring your colleagues strange antics, one of them even hitting on you. Didn't she know you and Green Lantern were in love?

When the League was back, the paramedics were starting to give the crew the antidote, you were next in line, however, as soon as you saw the heroes, you broke into a sprint.

— Green! — You yelled, catching everyone off guard. Even more so when you jumped and hooked your legs around the brunette’s waist, your arms around his neck, and kissed him passionately.

Hal was so shocked that it took him two seconds to reciprocate the kiss, ignoring completely the gasps from his friends. You moaned against his lips, mumbling a jumbled mess of “I love you”, “I missed you”, “was so worried”, “so glad you're back”.

Someone groaned.

— Batman, just give them that damn antidote before I lose it. — Batman grunted and Hal struggled but managed to separate your faces for a moment. You tried to push your face towards his again, but he grabbed your jaw. You kept forcing your face against his hand and whining. It was really cute, and your willingness and the previous sensation of your lips ignited something in his belly, yet, he looked to the side just in time to see Batman preparing the needle, the rest of the League sulking on the side and glaring at him.

His mind worked rapidly, ignoring the texture of your soft lips pampering kisses against the skin of his hand. When he felt the tip of your tongue, he made a decision.

A bad one.

— Yeah. I don't think so. — Green Lantern conjured several chain constructs, chaining the League's arms and ankles to the ground. It wouldn't hold off the ones like Superman and Wonder Woman who were strong enough to break it, and Martian Manhunter who could just invade his mind or use his intangibility, Flash was also pretty capable of taking him on, but Hal was smart and sagacious. Still holding you, he made a rocket construct around you both and took off.

Really, a terrible idea.

Superman and Wonder Woman, in a cry of rage, broke the chains. Diana unsheathed her sword, her feet not even touching the ground anymore, flying, ready to go after the traitor. Martian passed through the construct, while Superman went to break Batman and Aquaman free, Flash vibrated fast to rearrange his particles and also escaped.

— We need a plan. — Batman’s voice stopped the amazon warrior from going in a hunt for blood. He was already stressing over what the marketing team could do to fix this.

— A plan? We can defeat the enemy and retreat my darling if we go now! — Wonder Woman barked.

— Green Lantern is impulsive. If we go now we can destroy the whole state and hurt (Y/N) in the process. He won't give them up easily.

— Batman's right. — Superman agreeds. — Flash, follow them and see where they’re going. — The speedster nodded and took off.

Barry shook his head, cursing his idiot best friend the whole way.

Between the whole team, Hal was clearly the only one who would be okay with you falsely loving them. The rest wanted something more genuine for you. Some of them would settle for you not loving them as much as they loved you, some wanted you to feel exactly the same amount of what they felt. Hal still loved you just like them, but he always had that certain level of insecurity that craved to be better than anyone, to impress, making everything a competition, and the sensation of being the only one to have you could certainly cloud his judgment and accept your love, even if fake. He just thought he could compensate by treating you the right way, and not just using that opportunity to do whatever he wanted with you, just because he could and you wouldn't complain. He could make this about you both, and not just about him.

Either way, every one of them (thought) they deserved their fair chance at winning you over.

— Manhunter, can you still read his mind and tell what he is thinking? — Manhunter nodded and his eyes started glowing, there was a second of silence before he spoke.

— It's getting weaker as he gets more distant. It's purely impulsive thinking. Green Lantern isn't considering the consequences and means no harm against Earth or us. — Batman nodds.

— That's a shame. I mean harm. — Wonder Woman mutters, Batman glared and Superman side-eyed her. Batman turned his communication on.

— Flash, tell us when they stop moving.

— If he touches them, I will personally kill him. — Aquaman darkly states. Superman took a step in his direction, facing him head on.

— No, you won't. — The two stared at one another intently, until Batman broke the silence.

— Focus. We don't have time for this. — The dark knight stated.

— We need to be collected and work as a team to act smoothly on our plan. — Martian reminds them. Wonder Woman steps down again and sheats her sword. They all form a circle and start planning.

The sky was never this blue and the sand never this warm and soft. Even with the warmth of the sun being so intense, you were laying on a palm tree's shadow, and the air was flowing just fine. What was actually making you sweat was the dry humping you and your soulmate were doing.

You don't remember ever getting so aroused in your whole life, and can't remember ever desiring someone so much. You could kill someone if they dared to try and steal him away from you.

Hal felt you carding your fingers through his hair and pull slightly, giving him shiver, and he squeezed the flesh of your hips. You moaned against his lips at a particularly stronger wave of pleasure. The clothes were a curse, stopping you from feeling the real him, so you desperately started clawing at his clothes. Green Lantern breathily chuckled.

— Relax, hot stuff, we have time… — He whispers with a smirk. The man held your hands and laid them on the ground, above your head. You just moaned, more needy, and pushed your hips against his, eliciting a hiss from his red and swollen lips.

His hands started unbottoning your shirt and freeing the fabric out of your pants. You kept your hands were they were and watched, eyes wide open, when he descended kisses from the middle of your chest, going south, only pausing at your waistband.

As much as you wanted to feel his mouth more, seeing him so covered and not being able to properly touch him was making you restless, so you sat up, surprising him, and started pulling up the fabric at the back of his neck. Hal chuckled and shook his head, humoring your needs. He helped you take it off, then pushed your own shirt down your arms, until it was off.

You paused, admiring his adonis body. Your heart raced and eyes watered, never having seen something so perfect your whole life. Even his scars were beautiful. His chest hair and happy trail looked really soft and somehow he looked even more muscled, strong and beautiful. You wonder why you rejected him before.

Hal Jordan basked in your amazed gaze, loving to show off, especially while doing nothing. He frowned weakly, and gave a reassuring grin when you pouted, slumped and frowned.

— What's this, sweetheart? I thought you were enjoying this. — To lift your mood, he started running his hands up and down your sides.

— I wanted to see your face… — Hal remained silent for a few seconds. They would tell you their identities eventually, and that fact kept being brought up on reunions. They all knew at some point, you would have to know, to really start a relationship, yet, Batman, and his paranoia, kept them all from telling you. Sometimes, it felt like a sabotage, but mostly, it made sense, since the guy had a bunch of kids, who could be in danger if the information somehow got leaked, still, you couldn't trust to let them in, if they didn't let you in. That was the only reason you didn't trust them, of course.

Also, a face was not a name. Hal wasn't famous, so how bad could it be? Especially if it would turn you on so much, and when you looked so damn cute. His own lust was also influencing his critical thinking, which was already second place to his impulsiveness.

Hal bit his lower lip and brought his face closer to yours, a few centimeters away from having your noses touching.

— Okay… Take it off… — You let out a happy squeal and reached up with both hands. Your heart pounded with anticipation, making you go slower to savor the intimacy even more. Hal closed his eyes when he felt the gentle tug, against his wishes to watch your eagerness and your lip biting in anticipation. His heart was also pounding.

You saw his right eye closed and his thick eyebrow, when suddenly, a loud noise rang out, scaring the shit out of you and prompting Hal to fix the mask again, get up and assess for danger.

He finally fell to his senses and realized something.

He just took the worst decisions ever.

Everything happened too fast. Flash was on your side, holding a needle to your arm, and Green Lantern was being thrown around by a red and blue blur. Only the feminine rageful scream gave you the hint to who it was.

You got up, ready to die for your soulmate, when the antidote kicked in.

You threw up.

Comment, like and reblog 🥰

DC Taglist:

@wandalfnation @vadersassistant

[lyjen]

Connection | Eddie Diaz

Summary: After Eddie saves a woman named Lila from falling down a building, she keeps on stopping by the firehouse every time when he’s on shift. When Eddie tells her to stop doing it, she storms out. When (Y/n) leaves the firehouse from visiting her husband, she gets attacked by Lila, making Eddie pay for the things he said.

Request

Taglist: ( @oliviah-25 @shauna-carsley

9-1-1 Masterlist

______

With his eyes locked onto the giant white building, covering a large amount of blue sky, Eddie hopped out of the fire engine. A woman was dangling on a sign, hanging on the a side of the apartment building of twelve, maybe fourteen levels high.

“Yeah, what's the plan?” Buck’s voice brought Eddie back to reality as he quickly closed the door shut behind him and got a bag with a harness and rope out of the compartment. 

“Eddie, Chimney, I want you on the floor below. Kick out that window so we can bring her through there.” His captain was shouting orders as Eddie and Chimney waited for him to finish explaining their task. 

“Copy that, cap.” Eddie confirmed their task as he and Chimney made their way inside, getting to the eighth floor. 

Chimney and Eddie entered the apartment with the window on the Alpha side of the building. 

On calls like this, timing was incredibly important. The woman was already hanging some time, so how much longer can that woman hold her own weight? 

So keeping the team, and the captain updated about where you were, what you were doing, was necessary. 

“Just entered the unit cap.” Eddie said through the radio. “About to anchor off and remove the window.” He added as he let go of the speech button, while walking towards the Alpha side of the building.  

“Copy that” Their captain's voice sounded through the radio again to confirm that he knew what Eddie and Chimney were up to. 

“Okay so, you harness up and I’ll pop out the glass.” Chimney said as he pointed between the two of them. “Copy that” Eddie confirmed as he shrugged off the strap of the bag off his shoulder. 

Eddie got out a line and quickly scanned the room for the best suitable point to secure his line on. His eyes fall onto a large concrete pillar on the corner of the Alpha to Delta side of the building. 

That’ll have to do. 

He opens the black bag and fishes out the bright blue line. He quickly secures the line around the concrete pillar and tightens it, while Chimney tries to carefully pop out the window. 

“Just finished securing the lines, cap. I’m all harnessed up.” Buck's voice sounded through the radio as Eddie stepped into the harness, making sure he was safe and secured. 

“Coming down now.” Buck added. 

Eddie placed his helmet onto his head and clicked the two pieces together. 

Just as Bobby copied to Buck’s update, Hen’s slightly, yet also calm voice came through the radio. “Cap, we have a problem. We got to move now. That sign is not secure!” she said through the radio, while Eddie secured the rope to the anchor point.

There was something about these kinds of calls, the ones with time pressure, where Eddie could never get used to. He may look calm and all, but on the inside his stomach made a dozen kinds of backflips. 

“Alright thirty seconds, Buck’s coming down.” Bobby tries to keep calm through the radio. “Chimney, how is that window?” he asked as soon as he finished that last sentence. 

Chimney was holding both glass removal tools on the glass window, ready to move it, as he used one of his hands to speak through the radio again.

 “In progress” Chimney said, as he grabbed both tools again and carefully removed the glass from the window frame. 

While Eddie saw Chimney carrying the window towards the other side of the room, he put on his last glove and moved towards the window. Ready to guide the woman inside as soon as Buck got the rescue strap around the woman. 

Eddie walked towards the now glassless window, as he caught some screaming in combination with Buck's calm voice. 

What the hell was going on? Buck was within reach now he guessed, especially after Cap told Hen that he needed thirty seconds, and he already crossed those. 

He placed the palm of his hands on the window frame as he took a glance, to get a vision of what was happening a few floors above him. But just as he popped out his head through the window frame and stepped with his feet onto the window sill to get to even height, he could hear the woman screaming in agony. 

He could hear a loud scream coming closer, and closer. That’s when he realized. 

She was falling. 

Eddie immediately opened his arms, as he could see the woman coming closer towards him. Before he knew it, the woman had her arms locked around his neck, as his arms were locked underneath her armpits. For a split second it felt like he was playing god. 

His stomach was being crushed by the window frame he was hanging out. He could feel the woman starting to slip away as gravity was doing its job.

 “Chimney!” he groaned as he tried to keep himself and the woman from falling down. With one foot he was standing on his tiptoes on the windowsill, the other was trying desperately to find some kind of ground to be placed on.

“Geez!” Chimney’s voice shouted as he realized Eddie was holding the falling woman through the window. He quickly dropped whatever he was holding and ran towards the window to guide and assist Eddie and the woman inside. 

Eddie could feel Chimney pulling him back by the back of his harness. But as soon as Eddie felt that he was falling towards the inside of the window, he couldn’t find his balance. His legs gave in on the weight he was carrying and he fell down onto his side. 

“Oh my god, oh my god” the woman gasped through her cries, holding onto Eddie like she was the only thing that could save her. How did he pull this off? Chances like this are one in a million, maybe a billion. 

The woman finally let go of Eddie, trying to remember what the hell just had happened.  Eddie pushes himself up with the palms of his hands, trying to catch his breath.  “You saved me!” she gasped as she took another look at Eddie. She fell into his arms again, curling her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her body, nearly crushing him. “Thank you! Thank you!” she panted. 

Eddie awkwardly padded her back softly, “Just doing my job, ma’am” he says, trying to suppress the groan in his voice, her arms pushing all of the air out of his lungs. 

Her arms loosened around his neck, as she placed her hands onto both his shoulders firmly. “Please, call me Lila” she said with a smile on her face. “Thank you..” she said questioningly, as she waited for Eddie to tell her his name. “Eddie” he added. 

“Thank you Eddie” she sighed, pulling him into one last hug. 

______

“I swear, she shoved me at first, then pushed me and punched me in the chest when she saw me.” Eddie told Buck as he walked out the kitchen, towards the couch where Chimney and Hen were chilling in between shifts. 

”You’re kidding right?” Buck answered as he jumped over the back of the couch, taking place next to Hen as he grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl on the table. 

“I mean I get it, Karen would’ve done the exact same to me. It’s not everyday when your husband gets held hostage in an ambulance.” Hen said as she locked her eyes on Eddie. 

Eddie sat down on the armrest of the couch Chimney was chilling on. He could hear Bobby coming up the loft as Buck shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth. “But everything between the two of you is okay, right?” Buck asks, with a mouth full of popcorn. “Yes, I explained everything to her and now we’re good.” Eddie said, as he felt two eyes burning into his skin.

“Eddie, you have a visitor” Bobby’s voice sounded as he joined the group on the loft. Eddie’s brows furrowed in confusion, who was asking for him? It couldn’t be his wife, right? Normally (Y/n) would ask if she could come over, she would never pop up unannounced. 

But when Eddie read Bobby’s face, he knew immediately who it was. 

“Speaking of the devil..” Chimney laughed as he threw one piece of popcorn into his mouth. “Oh! Is it (Y/n)? I’ve been dying for that cheese cake she made us last time.” Buck asks Bobby. But he didn’t answer, Bobby’s eyes were locked onto Eddie.

Eddie’s expression morphed into an annoyed one as he thought about the woman who was downstairs. “No. It’s Lila.” Eddie’s voice sounded low as he ended the answer with a sigh. 

“You still didn’t tell her to stop coming here?” Hen asks as Eddie placed his hand on his chin, thinking about how he was going to handle this. He shook his head, “I hoped it would blow over.” he admitted. 

He hoped this was some kind of phase that would last two or three days. But right now they were on day six. Even someone from B-shift told Eddie that some woman was looking for him, and it turned out to be Lila. Somehow, she found out when he was working. Or maybe he was going insane, and it was pure coincidence. 

 “Wow, what chapter did I miss? Who’s Lila?” Buck asked as he looked around the room, waiting for someone to answer his question. “Lila, is the woman that Eddie saved through that window.” Chimney added as he kept his eyes on the news.

“Anyways, the shift after that call. She stopped by, thanked me and gave me a box of cupcakes. Last shift she was here too, but I told her to leave because we were ‘busy’.” He said as he quoted the word busy with his fingers. ”I heard she even came over by B-shift, looking for me. But I guess she figured out my schedule.” he added.

He stood up from the armrest, “This is the third time.” Eddie said as he folded his arms over each other. He didn’t want to be rude towards her, but this was getting weird and annoying. Everyone was welcome, walking in if they needed help, but she didn’t need help. Not anymore. He got that she wanted to thank him, but one time would be enough. 

“This has to stop. I need to end this” he said determinedly as he gave himself a nod and walked towards the stairs. 

As he walks down the steps of the stairs, he spots the woman standing between the fire engine and the fire truck. With a plastic container in her hands, looking around the firehouse, taking in the environment she was in right now. 

When she spotted Eddie walking towards her, a wide smile spread across her face as she sent him a small wave. 

Eddie didn’t want to be rude, so instead of doing nothing and completely ignoring her, he pressed his lips into a thin line and awkwardly pushed the corners of his mouth up. So he gave a kind but simple sort of smile. 

“Hi” she said softly when he was close enough, standing across from her. “Hi” he quietly greeted her back. “I made you some new snacks” she smiled as she held the Tupperware box filled with brownies a little higher for him to see. 

After the incident with the marijuana brownies a few years back, they decided to throw everything they’d get from strangers right into the trash bin. And since Lila was still practically a stranger, they’d do the same with her homemade products. You’ll never know what they’d put in it.  

Eddie tried his best to be polite, “Oh, that’s sweet of you” he said, as his eyes wandered from the box back to the woman’s face. “Um, can we talk?” he asked, Lila nodded and answered his question with a small “sure”. He motioned with his head to her as a sign to follow him. He held out his arm to guide her into the right direction, which was in front of the fire engine, out of the line of sight for his team to see them. He had nothing to hide towards them, but still, if he wanted to help this woman to get out of this dream she was having, he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

With his hand placed partly over his mouth, in some kind of thinking spot, he was figuring out what he wanted to say.

A sigh left his mouth as he dropped his hand and folded his arms over each other. “Lila, what are you doing here?” he asks, already knowing he was going to get some simple answer to his question. Her eyebrows narrowed, “Just stopping by to say hi, and dropping off some snacks” she said with an innocent smile, as she gave him a look like: duh. 

“Why?” he instantly reacted, he felt this kind of storm inside of him. He needed this nonsense to stop, but with her acting so innocent, he was starting to lose his patience. He had his lips pressed into a thin line, once more, telling her that he wasn’t particularly happy with her visit. 

“I wanted to see you” she said, as slowly her smile disappeared from her face, at the sound of him sounding that serious. She didn’t expect him to be like this, she just wanted a small conversation just like the other two times she came here. 

Eddie shook his head as he placed his hands onto his hips now. “Lila..” he sighed as those words left his mouth. “You can’t come here.. I’m at work.” he continued his sentence as he tried to get through to this woman. 

“I just wanted to talk with you.” she said, with that same innocent look spread across her face. Maybe his point didn’t get through, or she didn’t want it to come through to her. The number of times she was visiting the 118 was becoming annoying and weird.

Another sigh rolled off Eddie’s lips, he looked at the ceiling, asking the gods why. Why was this woman becoming so obsessed with him? Why did it have to be him catching Lila? Why couldn’t she just leave him alone? Why…

“Look.” Eddie started as he clapped his hands together. He was going to break that dream she was in, and get her back to reality. “This is the typical hero story, I save you, you are so happy that I saved your life and now you think you’re developing feelings for me.” he continued as he pointed at himself and back at Lila. 

“But those feelings you’re experiencing, aren’t real Lila.” He added. It sounded harsh, cruel, maybe even vicious. But he needed her to understand what was going on, and being all nice wasn’t going to get her out of that reality she made up for herself. 

She was silent as she let those words come down on her. 

With her eyes locked on Eddie, he could see her eyes change. “I thought we had a connection..” she spoke as she found her voice again. 

Eddie shook his head instantly. “No, there’s not.” he said, as folded his arms over each other again. He just added a harsh refusement to her words. “I was only doing my job, that’s it.” He continued, as he watched her gaze locked on something or someone else that wasn’t him. 

It almost looked like she was zoning out, but he needed to keep going. Explaining that this was never, ever going to happen again. Otherwise she would just keep popping up. He moved his head so he was in her vision again, and he knew when her eyes moved back to him. “This whole, stopping by the station to see me, needs to stop. There’s no connection between us, and there never will be Lila.” he explained. 

With her lips pressed into a thin line, as she was thinking of a response, she nodded. “Well, that was straight to the point.” she said. Her voice sounded emotional, as if Eddie touched the right snare. 

She shook her head as her tongue was placed on the upper part of her teeth. “Here” she said bluntly, as she shoved the Tupperware box filled with the brownies into his hands, harshly. 

She started walking towards the garage doors of the station, but just as she passed Eddie she mumbled silently “You might regret this”. Words Eddie couldn’t catch, he just stood there, with the box in his hands, as he turned on his heels to watch her walk away, out of the firehouse. 

She was going to make sure he was going to regret this.

______

“Delivery for firefighter Buckley!” (Y/n) called through the firehouse as she walked through the garage doors of the 118.

Eddie told her that Buck had been begging for that cheesecake she made for the team the last time she came over. And it had been a while since she visited the firehouse and the team. Of course, she would see them at parties Bobby and Athena would throw at their house, or special occasions, but that was it.

She was a teacher, and whenever she had time over she loved to bake. It was kind of a hobby that’s gotten a little out of hand.

The last time (Y/n) came over at the firehouse had been, maybe like a month or two. She didn’t want to bother her husband when he was at work. She thought it may give the impression towards the other firefighters that she couldn’t be alone, and besides, Eddie would text her from time to time when he was on shift, or call whenever he could.

But since Christopher was now at a friend's place, having a sleepover, (Y/n) figured this was the best time to make a cheesecake and deliver it personally to the firehouse.

Her eyes found her husband who was placing items into the compartments of the firetruck. As Buck was cleaning the outside of the fire truck with a rag.

Eddie’s head shot up as the sound of his wife’s voice infiltrated his ears. His eyes started to sparkle as soon as he saw his wife walking in between the engine and the truck, with a plastic container in her hands.

“Mi amor, what are you doing here?” he asked as she stopped a few feet from the two firefighters. “Well, I had some time over so I thought, why not make a cheesecake and deliver it personally?” she said as a smile spread across her face.

“Ah yes! You’re the best!” Buck said as he got rid of the rag filled with dirty stains, which he placed on one of the compartment boxes. “That’s sweet of you” Eddie smiled as he walked over to his wife and he took place next to her, placing his arm over her shoulder, and pressed his lips onto hers.

Eddie rubbed his thumb lightly over her upper arm as he placed her chin between his index finger and thumb with his other hand.

Someone clears their throat. “Shall I take the box from you?” Buck’s voice asked as (Y/n) felt like she was getting lost, lingering into her husband’s eyes. Just like a snap of two fingers she came back to reality as her eyes wandered towards Eddie’s best friend. “Sure” she said, and Buck took the plastic box from her, and walked away to give the two of them some privacy.

“Estás preciosa” Eddie whispered into her ear, meaning: you look gorgeous. It was one of the little things of the Spanish words or sentences she knew, because of Eddie. His warm breath was tickling her skin, giving her goosebumps as her stomach filled itself with butterflies. The way those Spanish words rolled so easily from his lips, almost made her weak at the knees right on the spot.

He retrieved his arm and placed both his hands onto her waist as he took place in front of her. With a small smile projected on her face, she locked her arms around his neck. It almost looked like they were about to shamble on a dance floor.

“I needed to see you” Eddie mumbled as he looked into her eyes. A small laugh came from her mouth as she let one hand on his neck and with the other one she went through his hair on the back of his head. “Long shift?” she asked softly as she almost felt herself drowning into his deep brown eyes.

“Too long. It feels like this shift isn’t coming to an end” he said, as he pushed a lost strand of hair behind her ear. “But I’m happy you stopped by.” he continued as he planted a small kiss onto her forehead. Something he always did, the forehead kiss.

Eddie slid his hands off her waist as he took her hand. “You want to say hi to the others? Maybe get a slice of your cake?” He asked as he motioned his head towards the loft.

A small smile appeared on her face. “I was just stopping by to drop it off, I really have to get to my doctor's appointment. Which is in…” she stopped as she took a look at her smartwatch, “thirty minutes.” She finished her sentence.

He gently squeezed her hand, “Are you sure?” He double checked with her, looking at her with almost puppy eyes. She nodded, “I don’t think my doctor would be amused if I canceled my appointment because of a cheesecake.” she laughed.

She knew Eddie was just trying to keep her longer to his side. He was only on hour number seven of his twenty four hour shift, so he had a lot more hours to go.

“Call me when you’re done?” He asked her, on which she nodded. “Yes, I will.” she said softly, barely audible.

He smiled as he pulled her into his chest again, pulling her into a hug. With one of his arms wrapped around her neck, he placed a kiss on the back of her head. “And remember-“ he murmured against her hair.

She pulled her head away from his lips, breaking their connection, as she looked into his eyes. “Yes.. yes, if you don’t pick up, you’re on a call. I know, I’m not ten Eds.” She said, placing both her hands onto his chest, trying to create some distance between them.

“Are you sure?” Eddie asked, with a smirk and his eyebrows furrowed. She gasped, “Puto” she said as a laugh escaped from her mouth and she pushed him in his chest, breaking free from his hold.

Eddie laughs as he places his hands onto his chest pretending like he was hurt on the spot where his heart was. “Oh te amo," he grinned as he watched his wife stepping backwards, wanting to make her way out of the firehouse.

But just as she took one or two steps back, she quickly stepped back towards her husband, and planted a quick kiss onto her husband’s lips. Her hand was placed on his cheek, “Love you” she said, as she now for real turns around and walks towards the exit.

She lets out a sigh as she walks between those two giant trucks again, she needed to get the last groceries to make dinner. (Y/n) walked through the bright red station doors as she looked both ways to see if it was safe for her to cross the road.

(Y/n) quickly ran towards the other side of the street where her car was parked. But as she unlocked the car and grabbed the door lever, she noticed something was off.

Her eyebrows narrowed as she became a kind of FBI agent on the spot. She walked a little circle around her car, and noticed all four tires were flat like a pancake on the ground.

When (Y/n) crouched down on the sidewalk, she took a look at her tires. She placed her hand onto the rubber inspecting what made her tires flat. “You’ve got to be kidding me..” she mumbled as she could see and feel the large split in the rubber of her wheel.

It looked like someone had cut through the tire on purpose. This couldn’t just happen because she drove through glass or something. The split was on the side of the tire, the part that never even touched the asphalt.

“Fuck..” she whispered to her self as she grabbed her phone from her purse. She wasn’t going to ask her husband to help, even though he was just across the street. He was working and she didn’t want him to focus on anything but his work, which was already tough enough.

Still crouched down she scrolled through her phone, searching for the right contact. “Can I help?” a female voice suddenly asked. (Y/n)’s eyes wandered towards the female voice, the woman was standing just on the side of the sun, making her look like a silhouette.

The woman was wearing a beige cap, she had her dark coloured hair in a ponytail and she was wearing a set of sports clothes.

“Only if you have four spare tires..” she sighed and squinted her eyes closed to try and see through the bright light of the sun.

“You got a flat tire?” The woman asked immediately as soon as she had eye contact with (Y/n). She nodded, “Someone slashed them.” She concluded as she took one last glance at the tires and let her hand slide over the rubber.

“Looks like I pissed someone off really bad, unintendedly.” she sighed as she stood back up, and placed her free hand onto her hip. She was trying to figure out some kind of plan inside her head.

(Y/n) started scrolling through her phone as she tried to find the number of the garage she used to bring her car to. “No doubt about that” the woman mumbled, as she was just observing (Y/n).

“Excuse me?” Her eyes furrowed at the mumble of the woman she heard. She didn’t hear what she said, but there was something that didn’t add up. “I was just saying my cousin is a mechanic, if he knows how to fix this I can too.” She lied quickly.

“Mmm.. I’m sorry, who did you say you were? I didn’t quite catch your name.” (Y/n) asked, as she scanned the woman with her eyes. Maybe with a little bit of a judgemental expression over her face.

“Oh, I’m Luna” she said with a smile that almost seemed too happy. Maybe she was too enthusiastic, maybe that was her character. (Y/n) didn’t know.

“I’m going to take a look in my trunk. I think I still have a car jack and a wheel brace!” Luna said, as (Y/n) tapped on the phone number of her own mechanic from the garage.

“Oh, you really don’t have to do that, I’m about to call my garage.” (Y/n) said as her eyes wandered back to the slashed tires. Crouching down, she inspected the wheels once more. Who would do this to her? Who did she piss off?

With the phone ringing against her ear for the third time, her hopes were starting to get lower by the second. Why weren’t they answering? Should she just go back into the firehouse? Asking her husband for help?

“The number you’ve tried to call is not reach-” a sigh left her mouth as she clicked on the red button displayed on her phone. Just as she wanted to stand up again, a cold, hard object connected harshly with her eyebrow.

A small yelp fell off her lips as she lost her balance and fell onto her bum on the asphalt. The phone she was holding fell out of her hand. Her hand instantly reached out for the painful spot just above her eye.

She touched the painful spot around her eyebrow carefully with a finger tip, but as she looked at the finger she realized blood was coming off the wound. The wound stung, and was throbbing, which made her hiss at the feeling.

It felt like her eye was almost trying to come out of the socket. She tried to regain her vision back as she looked into the sun, where Luna was standing. “You have something that doesn’t belong to you.” she said.

What the hell did she mean? (Y/n) didn’t even know the woman? What could she possibly have that wasn’t hers but Luna’s? She should’ve listened to her gut feeling and just walked right back into that firehouse.

“What?” (Y/n) gasped as Luna crouched down grabbing a handful of (Y/n)’s shirt and pulling her roughly towards her. Lifting her upper body from the asphalt. Adrenaline was spreading itself throughout her body as she kept a cold face expression projected on her face.

“That little romance you’ve got. He’s mine.” she hissed dangerously close to her face. She could smell the woman’s breath, which made her squeeze her eyes closed out of fear.

Eddie? How did she know about him? Hell, how did she know about them? Even if she had never seen her before? There was this fire roaring inside of her as soon as (Y/n) realized who she was talking about.

(Y/n) had to get out of here.

She wanted to call out for her husband so badly, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t find her voice and the volume to yell.

She didn’t think this time and yanked her leg up, causing Luna to lose her balance and fall on top of her. Luna let go of (Y/n)’s body to try and catch her own body, but before she could react, (Y/n) already made her next move. She grabbed Luna by the shoulders as she pushed her weight onto her, making them switch places.

But before (Y/n) could hit Luna in the face, she got pushed off of her by Luna’s foot. She got kicked into her shoulder, making her tumble backwards.

She didn’t have a second to be hurt, she needed to get up and fight. Slow but steady (Y/n) got onto her feet again, as did Luna.

Luna’s eyes were looking like she was ready to drink (Y/n)’s blood. She was pissed. But had that terrifying smile on her face, the one you’d see in horror movies. She fished out a small black folded pocket knife as she yanked it open, popping out the knife part.

She didn’t have anything to protect herself. And besides she had never fought before, she didn’t know her own powers, her weaknesses. But everything to survive, right?

A sigh fell from her mouth as she placed both fists on both sides of her face. She just needed to get across the street. She could do that.

Luna gets closer towards (Y/n) as she quickly points the knife multiple times towards (Y/n), which she manages to avoid. Just as Luna walks towards (Y/n) again, making a slashing move towards (Y/n), she turns on her heel and kicks Luna just underneath her armpit, hitting one of her ribs she assumed.

Luna’s hand immediately reached out for her side, bent slightly forward. She gathers herself back together, “Oh you’re going down” she hissed.

Once more, (Y/n) got into the fighting position. Just when Luna lashed out with the hand including the knife, (Y/n) kicked high enough to hit her chest.

Luna fell down on one knee with both her hands resting next to the knee, trying to breathe.

This was her moment. She had to run, otherwise she’d end up the one who lost. She didn’t think twice as she ran past her. But just as she passed Luna, the pocket knife found her skin.

She pushed the knife into her stomach and pulled it out quickly, almost unnoticeable. But the stinging, sharp pain and the red stain through her white shirt was a dead ass give away.

(Y/n) couldn’t stop now. She whimpered and gasped as she just blindly crossed the street, hoping no one would run her over. She pushed her hands against the stab wound as she saw those oh so familiar red station doors came closer and closer into frame.

She stepped over the threshold as she walked between the fire engine and the fire truck. Trying to keep her legs from buckling, she held the engine as some kind of guide.

“Eddie!” She called out for her husband. Her voice sounded like she was being killed, it sounded terrifying, like a scream straight out of a horror movie.

As soon as Eddie heard his wife calling out his name in a way he’d never heard before, he felt something was wrong. She never screamed that way for her husband.

Eddie pushed open the door of the locker room as he stormed down the sound of (Y/n)’s voice. “(Y/n)?” he called out, hoping she’d answer him.

But as his eyes fell onto the space between the truck and the engine, his heart dropped down to the floor.

His wife was standing there with an arm locked around her shoulders and the blade of the knife pressed down on her throat.

“What the hell?” he mumbled as he stopped in his tracks, changing his direction towards the two women.

He scanned the situation with his eyes, but as he took a step forward, the woman yelled “Stay back!” As she pointed the knife out towards Eddie and after a few counts back on his wife’s throat.

Lila. It was Lila who was holding that knife to her throat.

There was an ugly wound just above (Y/n)’s eye, and a red blood stain was soaking into her shirt.

“Eddie.” Bobby warned him as Eddie put his hands up slightly, nonverbal telling her that he wasn’t armed, and didn’t mean any harm.

Eddie could see movement on the engine, Buck had moved from the compartments to the top of the fire engine to clean, since there were some ashes spread on top of it. He made quick eye contact with Buck, somehow with one look, his best friend knew what to do. It just took him one second of eye contact.

“Eddie, help” she cried softly, it sounded like she couldn’t breathe. (Y/n) had her hands slightly raised up in the air, and her head was pushed back due to the knife pressing into her skin as tears poured down her face.

“Shut up!” She hissed as he pushed the knife in her skin a little more, so to the pressure a red line would appear.

“Lila.. what is going on?” Eddie asked as he tried to start a conversation with the woman.

Lila? So her name wasn’t Luna, her gut feeling was right. How the hell did Eddie know this woman? Was he the reason she became a target?

“Lila, you need to let her go.” He said as he took a small step forward, hoping he’d get closer to his wife. Lila pressed her lips into a thin line as she shook her head. “No.” She said determined.

It stung. The wound that was made because of the knife she was stabbed with. It stung, it was like the wound was giving her micro shocks. With every breath she took, her breathing became more trembling.

Meanwhile Buck silently climbed off the truck, trying so hard to keep his boots silent and not squeaking in the ground of the firehouse.

He squeezed his eyes closed as he touched the lever of the compartment box where the medic bag was and tried to softly pull it open.

“She didn’t do anything, Lila.” He goes on, trying to get her free. Eddie could feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins. How was he going to get her as she was being held and threatened.

“You’re wrong!” Lila yelled back at Eddie, fire was burning in her eyes and her voice was filled with aggression. “She took something that isn’t hers” she added as she came dangerously close to (Y/n)’s face.

(Y/n) whimpered as she tried to turn away her face from Lila’s. “You’re upset.. I get it-“ Eddie spoke up as he took some more steps forward, as she was focussed completely on (Y/n).

Buck had opened the medic bag successfully, without making a sound, as he took out a needle, filled with Versed. A medication they used to sedate people who were a danger for themselves and for others.

“Shut the fuck up!” Lila snapped at Eddie as he tried to get inside of her head. “You don’t know what it’s like!” She continued as she grabbed a handful of (Y/n)’s hair, making her stand awkwardly with her back bended.

A yelp fell off (Y/n)’s mouth as she hissed at the pain that was spreading on her head. Eddie could feel the scream of his wife going through bone and marrow.

“When you feel a connection with someone and they come and take it away from you” she hissed as she kept her eyes on (Y/n).

“Lila, please. This isn’t you.” Eddie said. He needed to touch that one sensitive spot. “Listen.. sometimes you’ll feel something for someone..“ Eddie continued as he could see movement in the corner of his eye again.

Buck was crawling underneath the fire engine, with the prepped needle in his hand. When he finally reached the end of the engine, he waited for Eddie’s sign.

”And the feeling might not be mutual.. but there’s someone out there who feels the same way.” Eddie promised.

When the entire expression on Lila’s face went from thunder to a little more calmer, and she was clearly thinking about the words Eddie just told her.

Eddie nodded in the direction of Buck as Lila was unfocused again. Buck yanked himself a little further from underneath the truck and stabbed the needle into her ankle. Pushing the meds through her veins, she was startled by the sudden pain in her ankle, brought by Buck.

For safety Buck quickly pushed himself back underneath the truck as he got out underneath it on the other side.

“What did you do!” Lila screamed as she pushed (Y/n) onto the ground out of reflex. (Y/n) tries to break her fall with her hands, when her body was met with the floor.

“Just something that will help you calm down” Buck said as he walked around the truck. Lila’s eyes began to roll as she slowly was losing her balance and consciousness. She dropped her knife to the ground, as quickly the rest of the team ran towards Lila, catching her before she could hit the ground.

Eddie made his way towards (Y/n), sliding both his knees on the ground, he placed his hand on her back to silently tell her he was there. “I'm here mi amor” he said as he quickly scanned the situation.

He could hear her breathing heavily, with her hand she searched for his arm, when she found his forearm she placed her hand onto his skin. Small sobs falling from her mouth as she realized what was happening finally came to an end.

She tried to crawl her way into Eddie’s lap, placing her head onto his thighs. Eddie couldn’t do anything else than soothing her, telling her she was okay, that he was there for her, and rubbing his hand over her back and the other one over her arm.

“Can you stand up? I need to check you out” he asked as her breathing calmed down. “Can you do that for me?” he added as he didn’t receive an answer to his first question.

She slowly disconnected her head from his lap as she nodded just as slow. Eddie grabbed with both his hands, both her forearms to support her as she stood up. She hissed at the sharp pain in her stomach as she was on her feet again.

“Let’s sit you down okay?” he said as he helped her walk slow but steady towards one of the benches. The ambulance was out, since Hen and Chimney needed to drop Lila off at the hospital, where she’d be under supervision by the LAPD. Which meant Eddie had to use the medic bag from the ladder truck and maybe some first aid boxes from the firehouse.

He gently helped her sit down. Just as she was seated, he ran towards the truck and came back with the medic bag. He placed the medic bag onto the floor, with one knee connected to the floor and one leg in ninety degrees, he took place between her legs.

Eddie got some gloves from the bag and put them on. “Okay, let me see this” he said softly as he pulled the fabric that was clinging to the wound off, making (Y/n) groan at the pain. She took the fabric from Eddie, holding the t-shirt high enough so he could do his work.

“Eddie.” she groaned through the shots of pain, making him look up at her face, but she was looking at the ceiling, trying to keep strong. She was saying his name only because of the pain.

He grabbed an alcohol wipe from the bag as he started to clean the wound. Making her body shocked at the connection between the alcohol and her wound. With her free hand she grabbed Eddie’s shoulder, pinning her nails into his skin as he cleaned her wound. “Sorry” he said as he looked up with his big brown eyes.

“So, you know her?” she asked as she got used to the pain. Eddie placed the wipe next to her on the red bench. “Yeah, unfortunately I do.” he said as he got another wipe, and tried to clean the wound on her forehead. Gently he dabbed the wipe on the wound. “Lila, she’s the one I saved from falling off that billboard. With some dumb luck.” he continued as he got the wound on her forehead all cleaned too.

“And?” She knew there was more to the story. His eyes fluttered up from the wound he was focussed on. “No sign of internal bleeding, but you’ll still need to make a stop at the ER to get some stitches.” he concluded as he grabbed a piece of gauze from the bag.

(Y/n) looked at him with a face expression that said: really? He knew she was asking about Lila. When he heard her becoming quiet, his eyes fluttered up to her face again. He sighs as he places the piece of gauze on her skin, “She came here a few times when I was on shift. Last shift I told her to back off..” he sighed as he took four pieces of tape and pasted them on the sides of the gauze, to keep it in its place.

“I guess that explains all of this..” she said as Eddie cluttered through the bag, searching for a band aid. When he opened the packaging around the bandaid he held it between his fingers. With his elbows he leaned down on (Y/n)’s knees, “I’m sorry I let this come so far.. I should’ve told you” he said with his head down.

“Eddie..” she sighed as she let a hand go through his hair, making him look up again so their eyes met. “You did your job, it isn't your fault she turned out to be a psycho” she added. She wasn’t accepting an excuse from her husband, he didn’t do anything wrong.

“But she found you because of me.” he answered, looking like a little boy apologizing to his mother. She tried to smile through all the emotions she felt, and let her hand wander back to his cheek. “Hey.. don’t be so hard on yourself..” she said as she rubbed her thumb against his skin.

Eddie laid his hand onto the wrist of the hand she used to cup his cheek with. “I’m just.. disappointed in myself, for not telling you sooner.” he admitted, and placed a kiss into the palm of her hand.

“It’s okay..” she whispered, looking a few moments into her husband's eyes. Eddie let go of her hand as he pasted the bandaid onto the wound on her forehead, and placed a small kiss on it.

“Now.. get your el culo to the ER” he said, as he patted her thigh with his right hand. “Yeah, about that..” she awkwardly smiled, as Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed at the sudden change of her tone.

“You might want to call a tow truck.”

[justcallmecj]

Seeing Your Dragon Form: Dormleaders

Heyyyy~ Back with another chapter! Here, this is when they saw your full dragon form for the first time. Now, this chapter is a bit special. It'll be separated into 3 or 4 parts. One for the Dormleaders, one for the vice's + Ruggie and Floyd, another for the first years and a last one for anyone left. I'm also thinking about one for the teachers + Crowley. This one is the Dormleaders. You can take this as romantic or platonic, your choice.

Also, I'm gonna describe what you look like in Riddle's section so I don't have to in others. Just refer back to his section for imagery.

Riddle

He was certainly shocked, that's for sure.

He's only seen dragons in drawings or in the media, and even then they were mostly the mainstream kind of dragons. Ice isn't the first thing people think of when they think of dragons,

You had taken him to a small clearing of trees in the forest behind NRC since there was plenty of space where you didn't need to worry about hurting someone.

You towered over him, and he himself is pretty short so it made the difference even greater.

The usual cold air that followed you had increased in temperature, making it harder for him to be close to you.

Your horns became larger and sharper, like huge icicles. Spikes ran down your back just as sharp as your horns. Your tail swayed behind you and your eyes gleamed a dangerous e/c color.

Despite all this, you showed no signs of being hostile towards him. When he looked into your eyes, he saw a playful glint in them. Like you were studying his reactions and getting a kick out of it all.

He quickly put himself together after the initial shock.

You brought yourself down to his height and placed your head peacefully on the grass in front of him. He slowly made his way closer to you.

Gently, he placed a hand on your head. Despite the cold feeling, it didn't hurt. He sat next to your head and found himself quickly easing into a sense of safety and security. You laid your wings around him, enclosing the space and basically trapping him, but he didn't mind.

You made gentle, humming noises and he found the shaking feeling began to make him sleepy. He no longer was shocked about how you look like this and the drowsiness of his daily activities caught up to him. He curled up in the crook of your long neck.

"Thank you, for trusting me with this sight. I know how you feel, but you don't need to worry around me. Have a good nap, Y/N. I'm not to far behind you anyways."

Leona

You truly are an oversized lizard, huh?

He did whatever he could to keep the shock off his face, and it worked. You would've believed him, if you hadn't known him so well.

He didn't realize, but his tail stayed close to the grass, his ears twitch in your direction. More than a few of his muscles tensed.

He wasn't scared, just weary. He's always wondered what would happen if Malleus got pissed off at him enough to turn dragon mode. Now he just associates the thought with a sense of danger.

You could pick up on this though. You've always had a strange ability to do that when it comes to Leona. Your next goal? Be as non-threatening as possible.

Your tail gently curled around your hind leg, you sprawled your wings out in the grass around you and you brought your body close to the ground.

When he looked at you, he could clearly see the message you were trying to tell him. He understands you can't talk in this form.

He approached you. His muscles loosened when he touch your snout and your eyes closed, showing contentment.

Gently, he ran his hand up and down your scales. The skin on his hands pricked from the cold, a feeling he still wasn't used to.

His ears picked up on the faint hum you made. A smirk found its way on his face, and he didn't try to hide it.

He spent a bit of time petting you. He saw it as revenge for all the times you pet him with no warning. But, much to his demise, you didn't see it as anything spiteful. You quite enjoyed the attention.

"Hm. Fine. I'll stay with you for a while. But that's only because Ruggie won't come get me if I'm with you while you're like this."

Azul

He was...hesitant..to say the least.

He was nervous to see what you'd turn into. That's not meant to sound mean or judgemental, he wouldn't judge you. You don't judge him, why would he in turn?

More so, it's just that he doesn't know how he himself will react and doesn't want to hurt you with a negative reaction.

He knew you were nervous about yourself for a long time. But, you decided that if he saw you comfortable with yourself, he'd become a bit more confident as well.

It took a lot of convincing from you to lead him into the forest clearing. Even more for the Twins not to follow.

Once you two were there and he backed up to give you space, seeing you transform was the most stunning things he's ever seen.

A white mist covered you and a dark shadow on the inside(you) grew and changed shape. Into the shape of a dragon. When the mist cleared, he saw you.

Your e/c colors stared him down. You did what you could not to freak him out, but you didn't have full control of every habit of yours.

He could feel a few flight reflexes kick in. He stayed in place though. (You praised him for that later)

You sat. You kinda reminded him of a dog with the way you sat and waited patiently. Your tail rested motionless, wings calmly at your sides. Your head tilted to the side. To Azul, it was kinda cute. Like looking at a sea guppy.

He stepped closer, but kept a slight distance. You weren't offended, you knew you needed to take things slow. And you knew he was more worried about you than himself.

In an attempt to show him that there was nothing to worry about, you stretched out one of your arms, careful to watch your claws, and held it in front of him. Like how a human reaches out a hand to a scared animal. (Ironic since he was more human than you rn)

He got the message. He approached you and placed a gentle hand on your arm. The cold was somehow a comfort. It sorta reminded him of the cold waters in the Coral Sea. Slowly, he leaned into your touch and found himself calm. All worry faded away and you came close to him and gave whatever your equivalent of a smile is. It warmed his heart.

"I see. I hope none of my actions hurt you. You were very brave to show me all this. I hope one day, I can be like you with myself."

Kalim

He was certainly the most excited to see your dragon form.

He's never seen a dragon before, and The Land Of Scalding Sands doesn't have any legends or stories regarding dragons, so it's been an obscure concept to him.

He, without hesitance, followed you to the clearing in the forest and patiently waited for you to feel you were ready.

He held his breath as you transformed and only released it when he saw you were okay.

The dragon he saw standing in front of him. Blew. His. Mind!

Even before you could entirely orientate yourself he quickly threw himself onto you and wrapped his arms around your long neck, which was barely close enough to the ground for him to reach. (Especially since he's short)

He talked to you about everything and anything for 2 hours straight. He didn't mind that you couldn't verbally respond, it actually gave him enough time to learn what different ques you made meant. You nodded and shook your head for yes or no questions, you flopped your tail when you meant 'maybe', and your wings flutter lightly when you don't know how to respond.

He even learned what the meaning behind certain sounds meant.

"Sorta wish I had seen your dragon form earlier, but better later than never! Right?...I wonder what Jamil's doing right now?" Cue to Jamil who's freaking out because Kalim didn't tell him he was leaving the dorm.

Vil

He had come to know you pretty well. Despite that, he realized that he never actually asked you anything about your dragon form.

He's definitely thought about it, but never wanted to ask you for fear of making you uncomfortable.

When you told him you really wanted to, he worried that you may have been forcing yourself for him. You quickly reassured him that that wasn't the case. He then agreed to come with.

Seeing you morph was beautiful to him.

You were beautiful.

Your beautiful white scales tinted blue when the sun hit them at a certain angle. Your horns glistened with an icy nature, your eyes shone with a slight glaze of white over them. (Rook explained to him how this protects your eyes from the sun)

All he saw was pure, icy beauty. In a way, he couldn't comprehend why you've been self-conscious about how this form looked. Then he remembered how he gets when people comment negatively about how he looks, and how it can take a toll after so long.

He came to a resolve. To make sure you never again see anything negative about your dragon form!

With quick, confident strides, he approached you. Looking up to meet your eyes, he gave you a sweet, caring face.

He then began to fawn over you. His usual uptight behavior fell to allow his more caring side to take hold so that he could make sure you knew just how beautiful you looked. He commented on how well you seem to take care of yourself, your huge size meaning there was more to admire. Your horns looked like you took gentle care of them. Your snout looked adorable to him. The spikes running down your back, were sharp to the touch.

Those are all examples of how he expressed that he saw and took notice of all your beauty.

He sat on the grass in front of you and allowed you to place you snout in his lap as he gently rubbed your head while whispering sweet compliments to you.

"I hope that, never again, do you see anything wrong with your own beauty. And if anyone tells you other wise, just send them my way."

Idia

You want him to leave his room??? Whyyyyy?

He always thought seeing you in your dragon form would be the coolest thing ever. But he didn't think he'd be dragged out of his room by you and forced into the forest.

We couldn't have just done this somewhere at Ignihyde?

Then you transformed, and he no longer remembered why he was upset.

The fantasy loving weeb in him came out and he started to freak out.

He had a split second of hesitation, ice and fire don't mix and he could feel the ice on you, but his weeb took over and he rushed over. He was no longer shy with you.

His mind was going a million miles and hour and he asked you question after question. Until he realized that you couldn't talk. Which honestly bummed him out a bit but he quickly recovered.

Soon, he took to simply admiring you while you soaked up the attention he was giving you.

His warm fingers lightly slid across your cold scales, sending a shiver up his spine every time, but he didn't mind.

It shocked him when you reached out an arm and pulled him close to you. You held him against your side while you curled up like a puppy.

"Um, okay then. I guess we can stay like this for a bit. But, I do still have some games I need to play later, so not all day, okay?"

Malleus

You had zero problems with him. It actually went the smoothest with him.

When you two were having a conversation a while back, he had questioned if you had a dragon form like he did. You had explained to him that you did but you were to shy to show anyone. He had asked why and you told him that after so long of people bad mouthing you about how you look in fae form, you became hesitant for anyone to see you as a dragon.

He talked about his form in an attempt to help you feel comfortable. He also told you that you'd never need to be scared with him because he's just like you. That made it easier for you to get where you are now. Finally ready to show.

You took him to the clearing and asked him to back away so you wouldn't hit him.

The way you transformed was different from his. He created a puff of smoke around him, you made a mist of ice.

Once the mist faded, he quickly took in every detail about you. How sharper your horns are compared to his, your serrated claws. The white and blue tint of your scales while his a black with purple tints. (Well, that's what Lilia has told him.)

He immediately took to feeling your scales and tough skin, wings and tail. You didn't mind, not like you had a lot of feeling in those areas. He's a dragon to, so he knew exactly where he needed to avoid.

You were a lot more different from him than he was expecting. His scales were rough while yours were smooth. Your horns sharp, his rounded. Your wings were more angular and his were longer.

He didn't mean to get as analytical as he did, he was just really curious. After realizing how he was acting he took to talking to you. Unlike others, he could understand majority of your draconic growls and rumbling. You could actually hold a proper conversation with him.

Eventually, you began to get tired. Your eye lids drooped and you struggled to keep your head up. He saw this and told you it was fine to fall asleep.

He actually turned into his own dragon form and curled up next to you, intertwining your tails. Together, you both fell asleep there on the grass.

"I never thought that I would meet someone so like me, even if we are different. Thank you, Child of Dragons, for coming into my life."

[russellsppttemplates]

All right there (Lance Stroll)

You don't need much - just a relaxed Lance and a comfy bed

Note: english is not my first language. I was in the mood for some fluff 🤍 I always feel and know I have to put this - for those who are here and have stayed, thank you for being so patient and for staying - I hope this is good enough ✨️

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm not taking requests right now, so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to send them in but know that I don't know when I'll be able to get to them!

my masterlist

Cw: alludes to media hate

Tag list: @myloverjk-blog @hiireadstuff @c-losur3 @sltwins

The sun was setting over the circuit, casting a warm golden hue across the paddock as the roar of the engines had subsided, leaving a peaceful moment after the adrenaline-fueled chaos of the race as all of the teams gathered their equipment and got it ready for transport for the next destination.

Lance had just secured a hard-fought points finish, climbing out of his car happy with the race but the exhaustion was evident on his face as a tired smile broke through, sending a wink your way before he was ushered to the media pen.

You were waiting for him at the lounge area of the hospitality, book in your hands to keep you busy considering Lawrence was in a meeting and, given that Chloe had just welcomed her baby boy, no one else from the family was around. It had been a challenging race, and you caught glimpses of the relentless media swirling around him, scrutinizing every aspect of his performance and character. Today’s finish was not just a good place on the grid - it was also a reminder that he belonged among the best in motorsport.

Lance dropped you a text telling you to meet him in his drivers' room, saying that he won't be long after this last interview.

From the moment he got out of the car, Lance couldn't wait to get to you, every interview seemingly taking longer than that the last one as the reporters made sure their message got through.

So, when he finally reached the room, the tension of the day melted away as he saw you look up at him. Lance pulled you into a hug, burying his face in your neck as you hugged him back, "I couldn’t have done it without you," he murmured, voice slightly muffled.

You pulled back just enough to smile up at him, your heart fluttering as you cupped his face, "you did it, Lance, you're proving all of them wrong".

After tidying everything and gathering your things, you made your way back to the hotel, glad that you only had to fly out in the morning. Lance flopped onto the bed, his body spent, and practically melted into the soft sheets, and as you settled beside him, kicking your trainers to the carpeted floor, he sighed contentedly, his eyelids drooping.

“Are you going to fall asleep on me?” you teased, running a hand through his tousled hair after a chuckle.

“Maybe just for a moment” he sighed, his breath evening out. You watched as his face relaxed, the stress of the day slowly vanishing as he succumbed to the calmer environment you found yourselves in.

You took this opportunity to grab your phone, heart racing as you tried be quick and capture this cozy moment. Even though you had the privilege of attending a race here and there, it wasn't often that you could get to be with your boyfriend like this, always rushing between flights, meetings and PR events.

You clicked a few pictures, focusing on the way his eyelashes brushed against his cheeks, how the corner of his mouth curled up just slightly in his sleep and how it was slighty agape. He looked so peaceful and vulnerable, like a gentle teddy bear and that was a sight you wanted to remember forever.

You couldn’t resist. Each photo you took made your affection for him swell even more as you tried to keep silent, failing when a small giggle escaped your lips as he shifted slightly, pulling the blankets closer to him and letting out a soft snore. Between each click of your camera, your thoughts lingered on how the media had portrayed him lately—unfairly and harshly. But here he was, just a man, working hard and achieving great things with each race he did.

With a grin, you opened your instagram app and began to upload the photos, writing a thoughtful caption that wouldn't get anyone in trouble (you certainly didn't want the PR team chasing you down) but one that would set the media straight. You posted the photos, each one showing Lance in his most endearing moments and ones that you were sure his fans would melt when they looked at them.

As you set your phone down, glancing back at him, you felt a warmth in your chest. The world may try to define who he was, constantly throwing harsh words at him and assumptions they had no business making, but you cherished the moments where the rest of world faded away.

With the fading light outside and the soft glow of the room, you settled in beside him, gently resting your head on his shoulder as you snuggled him, not caring about the fact that you were wearing your outside clothes on the bed, “sweet dreams, my love,” you whispered, not wanting to wake him.

Somewhere in his dreams, you hoped he knew just how much he was loved - both for his racing skill and for the love he brought into your life. For the giggles he got out of you, for the way your heart fluttered whenever he called you by your nickname you only allowed him to use, for the way he carefully picked up the pieces whenever it got too much.

And as the stars began to twinkle outside the hotel room window, you found comfort in the simplicity of being together, away from the glare of the cameras and the weight of expectation. You had it all right there.

[berryhobii]

Baby Girl: Show Out (ksj x reader)

Pairing: SugarDaddy!Kim Seokjin x SugarBaby!Brat!Reader

Word Count: 2.7K+

Warnings: established relationship(reader and Seokjin are technically together), smut (18+ but I don’t control what you consume, oral(m and f receiving), orgasms(f receiving), exhibitionism, getting caught but not caring, mentions of ruining furniture from s*x😝, reader’s definitely a bitch in this but I love it, Seokjin’s also violating so many company policies but remember this is fiction.

A/N: Hi hi! Here’s another one shot for my BabyGirl couple. I feel like I don’t read enough fics where reader is a mondo bitch so here’s my contribution🫣reader is in fact dark skinned in this and their style is Y2K and AaliyahCore if you didn’t know already. It’s just something about bad bitches in tiny skirts that I absolutely love😭anyway, please enjoy and stay safe🩵🩵

~

Blowing a bubble with your fruity flavored gum and then popping it, you strutted down the clean and spacious hallways, only the thought of that new Sanrio pop up that just opened downtown on your mind. You had seen an Instagram post about it earlier and your eyes could have bursted with rainbows and glitter. A Cinnamoroll plush in a bear costume? Yes! You needed it!

The only problem was you had spent the last of your allowance on a new Telfar purse and every color of those Bailey Bow UGG boots. Why exactly did you need every color? Obviously because the company made every color, duh. Why make multiple colors if they didn’t want people buying all of them? It was a smart business tactic that you’d fall for every time.

With those packages on the way and that Cinnamoroll calling your name, it was time for you to do what you do best.

Flutter your lashes and sweet talk your sugar daddy into giving you his credit card.

And deepthroating. You were good at that too. Maybe you could do both.

As your bright red MoonBoots(gotta get into the holiday spirit!) carried you down the hallways, you could feel the loathing stares and hear the gossiping whispers of each person you passed in the halls.

Unlike most sugar daddies and sugar babies, you and Seokjin didn’t hide your relationship at all. Everyone knew who you were and what your relationship entailed. Initially, Seokjin kept you under wraps; only coming to see you in the dead of night, renting out places for your dates so that no one would see you together. Sometimes, he’d make you wear masks and sunglasses when you’d enter and exit his condo. It was going pretty well.

However, after an employee at a restaurant he brought you to secretly snapped a photo of the both of you and posted it online, the secret could no longer be hidden. So after suing that employee and addressing multiple news outlets out his secret relationship, you were allowed to parade around freely. With the news of South Korea’s biggest bachelor having a sugar baby, you had to be more careful in public. Seokjin assigned you a driver and he tried to get you a security guard but you insisted that would pull more attention to you. He wasn’t sure but after giving him a blowjob and signing up for self defense classes, he relented.

Since you didn’t have to hide yourself anymore, you waltzed into Seokjin’s office like you owned it. Always dressed loudly and fashionably, a designer bag swinging on your arm and Tiffany studs in your ears(never less than 18 carats), you were the head bitch. New York would be so proud of you!

And every jealous woman’s stare only stroked your ego further.

You reached the desk of Seokjin’s personal secretary. While you didn’t have to stop to talk to her, you got a kick out of pissing her off. No one knew except you and Seokjin but he told you that Rina had confessed her feelings to him a little bit after you two had initially started your relationship. He had politely rejected her and there was no awkwardness from his side. He still treated her kindly and relied on her as his secretary.

Then the news of you came to the light and all of those bitter feelings of rejection evolved into pure anger and transferred right to you.

She lifted her eyes from her computer, face immediately dropping at the sight of your wide smile.

“Good afternoon, Rina. How are you today?”

Rolling her eyes, she let out a frustrated sigh before gritting out a, “fine.” She wanted nothing more but to tell you to get the hell out of her face but everyone knew you had Seokjin wrapped around your finger. Any disrespect towards you was practically asking to get fired. And Rina liked this job and it’s benefits too much to let you ruin it.

And you knew that.

“Do you like my new purse?” You held up the bag in her face. “It’s from the new Marc Jacobs collection.”

Her lips formed a sneer, eyebrow twitching slightly. “Is it? I couldn’t tell.”

“Yeah. It’s probably not in your price range so I get it.” You shot back with a bitchy smirk. Smoke could have came out of her ears from how red her face became. “Anyway, is Seokjin in?”

Swallowing down the rising insult in her throat, she gritted out, “he’s busy right now.”

Checking your nails, totally ignoring what she just said. “Alright then I’ll go in. Oh do me a favor?”

She watched you take the gum out of your mouth and stick it right on the pad of sticky notes on her desk. You shot her a quick wink before walking by her, leaving her jaw dropped and blood boiling.

Opening the door, you strutted inside the spacious room. You spotted the new leather couches off to the right. Those were your idea; leather was easier to clean. You and Seokjin absolutely destroyed those fabric sofas he had with your antics. Did furniture warranty’s cover acts of kinky sex that would make a nun faint? They should.

That aside, your focus went to the objective of this visit.

Posture slightly hunched and deft fingers typing over his keyboard, Seokjin was absorbed in whatever work was in front of him. At the sound of the door opening and closing, he lifted his gaze. His eyes immediately brightened at the sight of you, thick lips stretching across beautiful straight teeth. You reciprocated his cheesy grin, happily skipping over to his desk with a newfound pep in your step. Placing your purse on the corner of the desk, you leaned both of your palms on the wood.

He pushed down the screen of his laptop, his spine straightening as his mood immediately improved. “Baby girl. What a surprise.” He couldn’t stop himself from taking a glance at your cleavage that was on display in the red bra you wore, a black mesh long sleeved distressed shirt under it which just barely helped hide your pebbled nipples. He always thought you looked cute but this look was just on the edge of sexy. As if the black mini skirt and garter belt wasn’t enough, the red choker around your throat made him go crazy.

His stare didn’t go unnoticed by you.

“Am I interrupting anything?” If you were, you didn’t really care but you weren’t anything if not a polite baby girl.

“Of course not. I was just sending a few emails. I was about to take a break anyway.” He moved his chair back a little, patting a hand on his lap. You smiled, rounding his desk to take your rightful place on his lap.

He wrapped his arms around you, leaning in nose at your shoulder and press a few kisses there.

“You look beautiful today.”

You cupped his cheek to lift his head, rubbing your nose against his. “Thank you. So do you.” Wrapping your arms around his neck, you pulled him into a hot and lip gloss sticky kiss. He sighed contentedly against your mouth, his fingers squeezing at your hip and thighs. Taking the initiative, you tilted his head back to kiss him deeper and to play for dominance just a little bit.

Seokjin smirked into the lip lock. He’d never admit it but he loved when you took control. You were submissive through and through—his good girl. However you had your few moments where you could get a little bratty, a little brave and he couldn’t deny the small thrill it sent through him. It sparked his own inner dom and made him want to gently push you back into that submissive state.

Then again, this was pretty hot too.

He let you kiss him how you wanted for a little bit, just relaxing and letting himself melt into you and your affection.

After a little making out, you parted from him, giggling at his slightly flushed cheeks and pouty lips. Your thumb swiped over his spit slicked bottom lip.

“I’ve missed you.”

“Mhmm. How much do you need?”

Welp, guess that deepthroating was off the table.

Dramatically gasping, you held a hand to your chest in faux shock. “How dare you? I came here to have an engaging conversation with you.”

He rolled his eyes, not believing you for a second. While you two have been together for a while and have shared many intimate and romantic times together, the sugar daddy/baby dynamic still remained at the base of all of that. You visited him at work every often, normally for lunch dates or to show him a new outfit but you only had that bounce in your step when you came to ask for something.

He also had never seen that purse before which probably meant you had spent your allowance.

Ugh. You were spoiled and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Fine then. Start the conversation.”

You opened your mouth but no words came out.

Damn it. He got you.

Slumping in defeat, you sighed, jutting out your bottom lip. “Okay fine. I spent my allowance and I want to go to the Sanrio pop up downtown.”

His grin was as endearing as it was heart fluttering. Either way, it was dangerous for your heart. Why did he have to be so damn handsome? How could you charm the pants off a man that had you like putty in his hands just from a simple smile?

“What if I told you I was already planning on taking you there tomorrow?”

Your smile was so wide you could have sponsored Colgate. A squeal of glee came from your throat, your arms yanking him into a hug as you bounced on his lap.

He laughed at your reaction, returning the embrace with the arm that was behind your back.

“Really?! Oh my goodness!” You pressed multiple pecks across his cheeks and nose, covering every inch of his face in your gloss.

“But while you’re here, why don’t we have lunch together? There’s a nice buffet that just opened not too far from here. I think I have a meeting in a little while but we can go when I’m done.”

“That sounds amazing.” You hummed, sweetly kissing his lips again.

Hands began feeling, kisses began getting a little more desperate, and eventually, your panties were soaked.

What could you say? Money made you horny. Quoting the wise words of your president Yung Miami and her vice president JT: “don’t nothing but a bag make this pussy talk.” Ah, you should get that framed and hung on your wall.

Your acrylics scratched at the nape of his neck, your tongues swirling around each others in a battle for dominance. He won, of course but only because you let him.

You pulled away, tugging on his bottom lip with your teeth and biting just a little before releasing it.

“What do you say?” He started for you, eyes hypnotic and luscious lips slightly parted. You wanted to kiss all the air out of his lungs.

That seductive glint in your eye paired with that coy smirk…..

“Thank you, daddy.”

You drove him fucking insane.

Boisterous giggles came from your mouth as he hauled you onto his desk before sitting back down in his chair. You instinctively spread your legs for him, giving him a front row seat to your pussy lips.

He groaned, erection beginning to strain against his dress pants.

“No panties? You bad girl.” His thumb ran across your folds, smearing your wetness to your clit. “What if someone would have seen?”

You bit your lip. “I might have flashed a man downstairs….”

That confession warranted a light slap to your clit making you jump.

Seokjin’s eyes were dark and his smirk was smug, cocky almost because he knew that only he could touch you.

“Naughty girl. Will daddy need to punish you? Flashing what’s mine to people.” He scolded with a tut, both thumbs moving to spread your puffy lips apart so he could see your winking hole.

You whined, wiggling your bottom. “I’m sorry, daddy. It was an accident. I’m a good girl, I swear.”

His hot breath blew over your clit, tongue flicking out to tease it.

“That’s right. Your daddy’s good girl.”

The licks to your clit were calculated and firm, your head falling back as you were finally getting some much needed relief. You hadn’t seen Seokjin for 3 days and the strict No Touching rule he gave you meant that your pussy was feeling a little neglected.

But now he was about to give you exactly what you needed.

When his plush lips wrapped around your precious little clit, your back arched and you let a whiny moan out into the air. That same sinfully flexible tongue trailed down to your gushing hole, digging further to all the splits he could reach. Your arms couldn’t hold you anymore, your back meeting his desk and your head hanging over the side.

Your viscous arousal tasted so god damn good on his tongue. He couldn’t control his own moans as his mouth worked you higher and higher.

And you were making the prettiest noises; your gasps for air and whiny squeaks whenever he’d give you a deep suck to your clit. They just made him want to absolutely devour you, just to pull more of those delightful sounds from you. His arms wrapped around your thighs to pull you closer, loud slurps and licks filling the space next to your moans.

He felt your hand loop through his hair, letting you take over a little and chase your high. Not that he needed any help getting you there, you always got lost in pleasure, desperate to climb that mountain and tumble off of it.

Seokjin was so absorbed in your juicy cunt that he didn’t even hear the knock on his office door.

Through your hazy and half lidded eyes, you noticed the door open, a familiar face peeking inside.

Rina.

“Sir, are you-“

Her body froze at the sight of you laid out across the rich mahogany desk, her boss’s face buried between your legs. She knew you two weren’t very secretive about what went down. Hell, even she wasn’t dense enough to think you two didn’t get frisky in multiple parts of this office. The main gossip during lunchtime was about people hearing you and Seokjin having sex in places like bathrooms, private conference rooms, even the break room that one time. She didn’t care about it considering she didn’t like you very much and hated giving you the satisfaction that you irked her soul.

Actually catching you two in the act was not in her Bingo card this year.

It was in yours though.

Smirking, you let out a pornographic moan.

“Oh my god, daddy! You’re gonna make me cum!”

Rina watched stunned, your eyes locked with hers in a display of dominance and arrogance that could only come from someone like you.

Pampered. Pretty. And a spoiled bitch.

You loved your life.

Seokjin hummed, lips wrapping around your clit again. “Cum in my mouth, baby girl.”

“Yes daddy!” Your back arched as the waves came crashing down on you, the hand tangled in his air keeping him in place against your clit. He stayed where you wanted him, delivering little kitten licks to your bud to help you ride it out. He greedily slurped up every sticky drip of wetness you had, more pouring from your hole.

When you released him, he sat up, your juices dripping down his chin and his kissable lips cherry red from all their hard work.

Your chest rose and fell with deep breaths as you lifted yourself from his desk. Grabbing his chin with one hand, you bent down to capture his lips in a kiss.

“Thank you daddy.” You whispered against his pout. “Why don’t I repay the favor?”

“Get on your knees, baby girl.”

“Yes daddy. I also think Rina wants to talk to you.”

Slipping down from his desk, your knees hit the floor and your hands went for his belt.

That’s when Seokjin finally took notice of his secretary. Running a hand through his messy hair, he acknowledged her. “Yes Rina?”

As if his call of her name pressed the play button on her universal remote, she broke from her state of shock.

“I-I….uh….you-your m-meeting is in 10 minutes.” She stammered out.

Nodding, he looked down at you who had already began slobbering all over his cock, your hand pumping at his shaft.

“Heard that baby girl? 10 minutes.”

“That’s all I need.”

[desceros]

For infinite singularity, I was wondering, after Donnie takes reader out of the office through the portal…

What happens to the..crime scene and our psycho coworker? Especially what did the rest of the brothers do?

(Btw love ur work, ur a total inspiration! ✨💞drink water, steal sum sustenance, take care of yourself 💗)

As soon as you and Donnie are through the portal, Leo gets to work. 

Mikey’s in charge of keeping your coworker from doing anything stupid. A task he enjoys greatly, as it means he gets to sit and giggle on the guy’s chest and pretend he can’t hear him wheezing for breath where Donnie nearly choked him. Meanwhile, Raph is sent off to take care of getting the power back on. He’s no Donnie with tech and never will be, but he’s getting decent at stuff like this. They don’t need it, but it’ll make it easier when the cops finally show up to wipe up the mess.

“So, what exactly was the plan here, huh?” Leo asks your coworker. “You get kicks out of roughing up pretty girls?”

“She’s not some random girl. She’s my soulmate,” your coworker spits, vile descriptions of the things he planned on doing to you cut off when Leo gets a foot on the clown’s broken forearm. 

“Wow, that’s so weird. Here I thought she was my brother’s soulmate,” Leo says, waving his hand in the air and watching the rage purple your coworker’s face. “What with the whole can’t stand to be apart and gazing sappily into each other’s eyes thing they have going on.”

“My pure little dove wouldn’t fuck a monster. He’s forcing her.”

“Buddy, I can promise you, first hand account, she did. Also, kind of ironic considering I’m pretty sure you got caught with your hand in one hell of a cookie jar, don’t you think?”

Raph comes back. “Power’s on,” he says, his word the only indication that’s the case since he left the lights off. Better for them, just in case. 

“Good job. One last thing,” Leo says, putting more of his weight on your coworker’s arm and feeling the bones splinter beneath his heel. “What’s TCRI doing sending out hit squads? Last I checked, business wasn’t supposed to be this cut-throat.”

Between heaving breaths of agony, your coworker groans in wretched agony before he just starts to laugh and laugh and laugh. “You’re a funny guy.”

“Right? Everyone keeps saying it’s my brother, but man, I’m telling you, my lines are killer,” Leo says, a grin that’s all teeth slashing onto his face as he grinds his heel into shattered bone. 

“He ain’t gonna talk,” Raph says after a minute more of your coworker just laughing each time he stops gritting his teeth in pain. 

“I can make him do it,” Mikey says cheerfully, a smile that doesn’t match his eyes pulling into place. 

“…Raph’s right. We’re not going to get anything out of him,” Leo says, pulling his foot off your coworker’s arm. “Knock him out and call it in.”

“I’ll find her again,” your coworker grits through his teeth. “She’ll never be able to hide from me. I’ll haunt her forever. Even if it’s like this, it’ll only ever be me she thinks about. Forever and ever and—”

“Ohh, my god, shut up,” Mikey groans, and with a thwack, your coworker goes silent. He then looks up at Leo, tilting his head. “…I didn’t know you believed in soulmates, too, Leo!”

“…Of course I don’t,” Leo brushes off, turning to inspect the security camera, putting his shell to his brother’s gaze.

“Cops’re on the way,” Raph says, and the two watch as Mikey gets your coworker trussed like a turkey. 

“We’ll have Donnie send them the security footage. Doesn’t look like he tampered with the cameras,” Leo says. Cutting a portal, he jerks his head. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

Reappearing in the lair, Leo pulls up his phone.

neon leon (6:11 p.m.) hey hermano. everything okay over there? how she doing

neon leon (6:12 p.m.) bud? you good?

neon leon (6:15 p.m.) nerd says whaaaat

Narrowing his eyes, Leo starts to tap out the next message—dude if you don’t answer in two minutes i’m coming over and—before he freezes in place, thinks for a moment, then groans in disgust. 

“Did you get a hold of Donnie?” Raph asks, tilting his head in confusion when Leo brushes past with a wrinkled beak.

“Let’s give ‘em an hour then try again. Fuckin’ rabbits.”

“…Rabbits?”

Mikey pets Raph’s shell consolingly. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“Wh—B—I’m the oldest?!”

[justagalwhowrites]

Yearling - Ch. 6: Shoot

Ellie asks for help and Joel takes you shooting. A continuation of Yearling ch. 1-5 found on Tumblr here.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader

Warnings: Past SA (vaguely described), past captivity, child loss. No use of Y/N. Minors DNI 18+ Only 

Length: 6.5k 

AO3 | Chapter One | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

It took until the door was closed and locked for the panic to kick in. 

The force of it caught you off guard as you shoved the heavy cedar chest in front of the door and turned off the light in the entryway. It was like your mind had been holding it at bay until you were alone, your heart shooting off like a rocket the second you were, gulping down air, head swimming. 

You made it to the kitchen and chugged a glass of water before opening a bottle of liquor with trembling fingers. You drank it straight from the bottle, wincing at the burn of it even though this was nothing new, and sank to your kitchen floor, pressing your head back against the cabinets as your arms clutched your knees to your chest. 

He’d been so close to you, so fucking close, because you’d let him. You’d walked up to him, stood right in front of him, close enough that you could feel his body heat and smell his skin - he smelled like the coat did, just stronger, and you’d wanted to be closer to him - and it was the closest you’d been to a man because you’d chosen it in years. 

And it was stupid. So stupid, so immensely stupid to be that close to him. It didn’t matter that Joel felt safe - or close to safe, anyway, you weren’t sure that anyone felt safe - he wasn’t. He couldn’t be. 

You didn’t know a damn thing about the man beyond the fact that he brought you into Jackson, he was estranged from Ellie - the only friend here you had - and that he was big. Big enough that, if he backed you into a corner, you wouldn’t have a say. And you’d been right next to him. And you were going to go shooting with him tomorrow. Your stomach churned. 

You drank more than you should have and moved to your living room, sitting against a speaker after you turned up the bass as high as you could go so you could feel the music inside you and drown out any sounds of your creaking house that set your whole body on edge. 

Eventually, you knew you had to sleep. There was work to be done at the stables in the morning, you’d have to be alert to shoot with Joel and you hadn’t slept well the night before, either. You had to sleep. 

So you went to bed. 

When you’d moved into this house, you’d done things to make it livable. Not that it wasn’t comfortable - it was certainly that. And you’d gotten lucky in that there was an incredible stereo and music collection. 

But the house was big. Three bedrooms, two of which you obviously didn’t need. Lots of windows - which were pretty but were also ways for people to get inside. The main bedroom was huge, with a vaulted ceiling and a king sized bed and it was too open for you to calm down enough to sleep in it. It took you just a day to drag one of the twin sized mattresses from one of the other bedrooms to the main floor and wedge it into the closet under the stairs. The space was small and enclosed, you could hear anything coming and going and it wouldn’t be the first place anyone would look for you if they tried to break in. 

It had gotten better since you’d been in Jackson. You’d felt more secure over time, eventually moved into the main bedroom and slept in the big bed - usually piled high with pillows - but you still defaulted to the closet when things were rough. 

It was going to be rough. You could feel it. 

You did everything you could to head off the worst of it. You got changed but not into pajamas, into a clean set of jeans and the one thing you’d had for more than 20 years - Justin’s shirt from the night of the outbreak. It still brought you comfort, even in its threadbare state. You put the coat back on - the smell still calming even though the coat’s original owner is what had made you panicky to begin with. You even put on pair of shoes you never wore outside the house so you could feel something on your feet, something that made you feel like you’d be ready to run if you had to. 

You tried to sleep and not think about life before Jackson, about what had you so afraid to begin with. 

You failed. 

October, 2025 

It was fall. You thought it was, anyway. It had been a while - months? - since you’d been outside and they kept the windows covered in old newspaper. Just enough to let some light through but not enough for you to see outside. But you were cold a lot now, which meant it had to be cold outside. 

It was hard to keep track of time, the only thing you really had to judge it by was when someone brought you food and water. That was twice a day. Besides the food drop offs, it had been at least three days since anyone had been to see you. 

Which was fine by you, but it was to the point that you were getting nervous. They only ever left you on your own this long when they were gone and they were only ever gone this long when shit didn’t go well. 

The main guys always went out on raids, leaving you and anyone else they were holding behind with a handful of low level muscle as security. Those pricks weren’t allowed to touch you, that much you knew. You belonged to Mitchum and him alone - though he was fine sharing you with the favorites of his band of assholes. But when shit didn’t go well, he took it out on you. And you were sure things weren’t going well. 

It was shitty enough for you when things were going well. They kept you chained to the wall by an ankle but there was enough slack that you could move around parts of the room. You found ways to pass the time. You did a lot of pushups and squats to make sure you could actually use your body if you ever made it out of there. You scratched a pattern into the floor with your thumbnail, tiny little lines worn into the wood until your finger bled. You closed your eyes, crossed your arms and pressed guitar chords into the flesh of your bicep, hearing the song in your head. You tapped out music on the mattress on the floor - the one piece of furniture in the room - either pretending you were playing drums or a piano, depending on how much you felt like hitting something. 

But mostly, you slept. Which didn’t help you differentiate the days and the weeks and the months and the seasons, either. You weren’t sure how long you’d been with them - a few years, at least. Definitely more than one winter, though it all blurred together now. Almost stubbornly surviving, much to your own frustration. 

It wasn’t that you’d tried to live through it, not after the first escape attempt landed you chained to the wall and branded, nothing more than property that had wandered off like errant livestock on your father’s ranch. It was just that your body didn’t seem to want to let you die. After a while, you gave up trying to fight with it and instead tried to make it so you might be able to get out. It had been a struggle at first, you’d hardly moved in months, let pain and despair swallow you whole. But you kept at it, something in you trying to survive. You weren’t sure where it came from, what the fuck was left out there to try to live for, but you were stuck living for it all the same. 

That, you were certain, was the only reason the raiders who had you had let you live as long as they had. Before they’d moved you to the camp you were at now, you’d shared a room with a rotating number of other women. They gave up so fast, either dying or going so numb that they didn’t respond and the men got bored. You envied them that, the ability to slip out of their body that way and just leave it behind. Instead, you were stuck here. 

There was a creak outside your door and you lifted your head to watch as it opened, your whole body stiff. 

“Hey, baby doll.” 

Baby doll. When Justin had called you that, it had been sweet. Now it was tainted. And what an apt name for you. Wasn’t like you were anything more than a toy to them. Worse, even. Children, at least, took care of their dolls.

You dropped your head back onto the mattress. At least it was Cody. If you had to pick a favorite monster of the monsters you were with, it’d be him. He didn’t like hurting you, anyway. He liked it best if you pretended to enjoy it, which was more work than zoning out but better than Mitchum, who got off on making you cry and scream in pain. It was a low bar but you took what you could get. 

“Hey,” you said, staring at the ceiling. 

“Sorry we were gone so long,” you didn’t need to look at him to know he was getting undressed. “Shit went south, Mitchum got shot…” 

Your head shot up off the mattress at that and he smirked as he pulled his shirt off. 

“He’s still alive, don’t look so excited about it.” 

“Oh.” You dropped your head back down. 

“Sit up, take off the shirt,” he ordered and you obeyed, holding out your wrist when you were done. You knew the drill. He took the cuff from your ankle and put it around your wrist and pulled your pants off, leaving you naked and exposed. You didn’t wait for him to tell you what to do, lying flat on your back. He nudged your legs apart and dropped to his knees between them, running his fingers over you and moaning. 

“You missed me,” he said. “I can tell.” 

You just hummed and hoped he interpreted it the way he wanted to. He usually did. Your body went loose as he took what he wanted and you stared at the ceiling over his shoulder. He kissed you when he finished and started getting dressed again, leaving you naked and cold with him leaking out of you. You folded your hands over your stomach and pressed your thighs together. He gave you back your pants and you pulled them on before holding out your wrist again. He moved the cuff back to your ankle and handed you your shirt. You pulled it on and sat with your back against the wall, your knees against your chest, and sighed. 

Cody liked to talk after. As though you were friends or lovers and you weren’t enslaved by his boss. He sat next to you, back against the wall, too. He took a deep, slow breath.

“I think I can get you out.” 

You looked at him so fast that your hair snagged on the rough wood of the wall behind you. 

“What?” You asked, frowning. 

“I think I can get you out,” he said again. 

You just blinked at him for a moment, not fully processing what he said. 

“It’s not right,” he shook his head. “What they… what we do to you. It’s not, I know it’s not and… Look, it might not seem like it but I do care about you. And I think I can get you out of here. If you can trust me. Can you trust me?” 

You looked at him for a second, tried to touch some part of you that knew how to connect with another person. You weren’t sure that part of you still existed. 

Instead, you thought of the worst case scenario. If it was a lie and he told Mitchum of your misdeeds or his plan failed, it likely wouldn’t get you much worse treatment than you already got. Or it would just get you killed, which had its own appeal. But getting out, having a life and a body that was your own again, being able to look for… 

“I can trust you,” you said quickly. “I’ll trust you. Just tell me what to do.” 

You got to the stables far earlier than you needed to be there. You’d hardly slept, phantom hands everywhere on your body every time you drifted off. The brand on your hip itched. Eventually, you gave up. At least the horses were good company, their bodies large and warm and safe. 

Animals you could trust. Yes, they might get you killed but it was never out of cruelty. They weren’t capable of that, not like humans. With so many people, the cruelty was the point of it all, the longing to rip and tear and unmake whatever they could reach just to prove their own power. Animals didn’t bother with that shit. 

You let yourself get lost in the work of getting the stables ready for the day and saddling up a handful of horses to go out on a small morning patrol that would be back in the evening. You rushed through the process of getting the horses out of the stable. It was too many people, they were too close, it made your skin crawl and your stomach turn but you had to get through it. When the patrol was gone, you got into Renaissance’s stall with her and pressed yourself against her side, listening to the thick, heavy sound of her heartbeat until you felt like you could breathe again. 

For a bit, you thought you were feeling close to normal. Until a clear, loud voice called through the stable in the late morning. 

“Bambi, I’m desperate!” 

You about jumped out of your skin, spinning to face the source of the sound, your heart in your throat. Ellie rolled her eyes. 

“When are you going to remember that I don’t bite?” She asked, dropping her bag next to Shimmer’s stall and perching on the half wall that separated the horse from the rest of the stable. 

“When I start believin’ that you don’t,” you said, setting the bucket you’d been holding down as your heart rate tried to return to normal. “What’s got you desperate, kid?” 

“I’m going to start this by saying I don’t expect you to actually know this,” she said. “But… I have basically no one else to ask so… do you know how to dance?” 

You blinked for a second, taken aback. 

“Dance.” 

“Yeah,” she winced. “Look, I don’t think you’ll know but there’s that dance next weekend and I was thinking about maybe seeing if I could go with someone and I don’t want to be a total fucking dumbass out there and I’m sure you don’t…” 

“I know how to dance, kid,” you laughed a little as Ellie’s eyes went wide. 

“Wait, for real?” She asked. 

“For real,” you nodded. “It’s been a while since I had to use any of that shit but it was drilled into me pretty hard when I was about your age…” 

“What the fuck for?” She gaped at you. You laughed. 

“My mama was what some might call a ‘society lady,’” you put the words in air quotes. 

“The fuck is that?” 

“Someone who is way too concerned with wealth and social status,” you smiled a little. “So she made me do cotillion when I turned 16…” 

“OK what the fuck is a cotillion?” Ellie asked. “I didn’t expect a vocabulary lesson here…” 

“A cotillion is where stuck up assholes introduce their daughters to the society world as glorified breeding stock,” you said. She looked surprised and like she was about to ask another question but you cut her off. “Sorry, that might be a little extreme… it’s a fancy party where, back in the olden days, girls formally entered society and boys could then try to court them to marry them. By the time I did it, it was a stuffy party for rich assholes with no real purpose. But there’s a dance and so I had to take dance lessons for months.” 

“So you like… wore a dress and shit.” 

“I wore a dress and shit. A white one. It looked a little like a wedding dress, actually.” 

“I can’t picture you in a dress,” Ellie crinkled her nose. “That’s just unnatural.” 

“Kid, my mama put me in beauty pageants when I was real little,” you said. “I got my hair done, glitter on my eyelids, wore a bright fuckin’ purple dress…” 

“Aw man!” She pouted a little. “See, now the worst thing about the outbreak is that there’s no way to get pictures of you dressed up liked that…” 

You laughed and jerked your head at her. 

“Hop on down,” you said. “C’mon, I’ll show you how to waltz. It’s the easiest dance.” 

She obeyed and you pointed for her to stand a few feet to your right. 

“You planning to lead or follow?” You asked. “Usually the boy leads but that’s bullshit, you can lead if you want. Don’t even have to dance with a boy.” 

“If no one else knows how, I’d have to lead, right?” She frowned. “Shit, I didn’t think about that…” 

“It’s OK,” you said. “Waltz is in 3/4 time, you know what a time signature is?” 

“I’m not stupid,” she rolled her eyes. 

“OK,” you smiled a little and tried not to laugh. “Well, it’s real easy, alright? If you’re leading, you start feet together. Then, take a step forward on your left foot,” you demonstrated and Ellie followed suit. “Then step to the side on your right, bringing your foot up so it’s about parallel.” Ellie copied that, too. “Then just bring your left foot in to meet the right so your feet are back together. Then you just do it again but leading with your right foot and you go back and forth between the two.” 

“That’s it?” Ellie looked at you, incredulous. 

You laughed. 

“That’s the steps of it, yeah,” you said. “But there’s hand placement and shit and then the rise and fall that you do as you’re moving and shit. It’s not hard but it takes practice before it’s second nature which is what you want it to be.” You planted your feet again and Ellie copied you. “Alright, let’s do it again, a few times.” 

You counted and led the way. Her steps stuttered a bit at first, especially when she forgot what foot she was supposed to be leading with, but it wasn’t long before it was all flowing together. 

“See?” You smiled. “You got there.” 

“Can I try it like… with you?” She winced as she asked it. You just stared at her for a second. “It’s got to be different with a person, right? Please?” 

Your chest was tight. Dancing with someone meant touching them. But it was just Ellie, your friend who sometimes felt a little like a daughter. She wasn’t a threat. And you wanted to be able to touch her without it hurting, be able to hug her hello and goodbye or reassure her. 

“Yeah,” you said. “Yeah, OK.” 

You turned to face her and forced yourself to ignore the alarm bells ringing in your body that there was a person and they were too close to be safe. 

“So if you’re leading, your left hand goes up, about eye level,” you took her wrist and raised her hand, arranging her arm. “And your partner’s right hand goes on your left.” You put your hand on hers, your stomach tight. “Then your right hand will come around and go on my left shoulder blade…” Ellie obeyed. The fact that her hands were small was reassuring, keeping you from panicking too much. She wasn’t going to hurt you. You repeated it to yourself in your head again and again. “And your partner’s left hand will go on top of your shoulder and their arm will kinda cover yours, like this.” You set your hand on Ellie’s shoulder and she nodded, a serious look on her face. You relaxed a little bit more. It was Ellie. You could trust Ellie. “You lead and I’ll follow.” 

“What’s that mean?” She frowned, looking down at your feet. 

“Means I’ll be the one goin’ backward and you’re gonna be the one pointin’ me in the right direction,” you said. “Don’t worry about me, when I learned girls all had to follow so it’s what I know best anyhow. You go when you’re ready.” 

She nodded and took a deep breath before stepping forward and you followed her lead. She only stuttered once this time, when she forgot what foot was supposed to lead next, and before long she was smiling as she confidently waltzed through the stable. You showed her how to time the rise and fall and she was giggling - actually giggling, in a way that you’d never heard her do before, in a way that seemed like a teenaged girl should - when someone cleared their throat behind you. 

Your body reacted before your brain did, jumping between Ellie and the perceived threat, your arms flying behind you to cage her in and keep track of where she was, shielding her from whoever it was who just came in. 

Joel put his hands up, a rifle over his shoulder, frozen where he stood. 

“Sorry,” he said, voice gentle. “Didn’t mean to scare ya.” He leaned a little, trying to see around you. “Hey kiddo. Not sure what you were doing but it looked real good…” 

You relaxed a bit, your arms falling back to your sides. Ellie came and stood alongside you, her eyes narrowed. 

“Bambi was teaching me how to dance,” she said. “A waltz.” 

“Don’t know much about dancing,” he said. “But it looked like you were getting the hang of it…” 

“Yeah, well…” she just stood there for a second before she turned to hug you, catching you off guard. “Thanks for the lesson.” You froze for a second before you slowly, cautiously, hugged her back. 

“No problem.” 

She pulled away from you and got her bag, brushing past Joel on her way out. He watched her go before he turned back to you. 

“I really didn’t mean to scare you,” he said after a second. 

“I’m just real jumpy today.” 

“Right,” he nodded for a second, his hands in his pockets. “Ready to go shoot?” 

You looked at him for a second, your heart pounding against your ribs, tension running through your body. You weren’t sure if you wanted to run from him or run to him and you were rooted to the ground with the fear of it. 

“Ready.” 

***

Something had you on edge today. 

Not that Joel was going to pretend that he knew you well. He didn’t. He’d just spent half the night staring at his ceiling going back over every part of his conversation with you the day before. He’d memorized you like you were his favorite song or passage in a book, turning you over and over again in his mind and he knew - viscerally, intimately - that something had you scared today. 

You were back in that threadbare oversized shirt. The one he’d found you in, the one you’d worn when the council had given you the stable job. You hardly looked at him as you saddled up your horse and you kept your eyes almost stubbornly focused on the street in front of you as the two of you made your way out of town. 

“Can I have a gun?” You asked as you neared the gate, looking at Joel for the first time since Ellie had left. 

“When we get to the range,” he shrugged. 

“I mean now,” you said. “Going outside… I’d feel better if I were armed.” 

Joel frowned for a second. He wanted to believe that leaving Jackson was all the problem was but something told him that it wasn’t. 

“Here,” he pulled the pistol from the holster at his side and held it out to you. You reached forward, cautious and slow at first and then quick to snatch the weapon from him, settling back on Renaissance quickly. You checked the safety and tucked it in the back of the waistband of your jeans. 

“Thanks.” 

He watched you out of the corner of his eye. He tried to write it off as what he should be doing. He was, after all, out here to evaluate whether or not you’d be able to handle going on patrol. He was supposed to be watching you, keeping tabs on you. 

But that’s not why he was doing it. 

Something was off with you and he was desperate to know why. To try to help you with it because he wanted to carry some burden for you. For himself, too. Because it seemed like the odd draw he felt for you didn’t lessen after he spent time with you. No, it just grew, already to the point that he wasn’t sure what to do with it all. All of this wanting had to go somewhere and you were the only place for it. 

“You OK, Bambi?” He asked after the two of you had been riding for a few minutes, the sound of the town now quiet behind you. You frowned and looked at him. “Just seem… off.” 

You watched him for a moment. 

“Different from yesterday, I mean,” he said after he couldn’t take not saying something, needing to fill the silence. 

“I’m fine,” you said eventually before you shook your head slightly, like you were trying to clear your mind. “Actually, would you mind if I opened ‘er up? Been a long time since I got to really run on a horse for a bit. At least, when I wasn’t trying to bleed out, anyway. I’ll circle back around to you, won’t go anywhere…” 

“Don’t need my permission,” he smiled a little. 

You smiled a little back and adjusted your grip on the reins before nudging Renaissance forward. Joel watched as you took her into a trot, then a canter and eventually guided her into a gallop, your body moving with the horse’s in perfect rhythm. 

He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen anything quite like it. Joel spent a lot of time with horses before making it to the QZ in Boston, plenty more since he’d come to Jackson. When he rode - when the people he worked with rode, too - the animal was a tool. Something that required care and had wants and needs but was a means to an end. 

You were different. 

You and Renaissance moved as one, anticipating each other’s actions

You couldn’t move like that with something that wasn’t an extension of you, something that you didn’t deeply know and understand. Almost like you were more an animal than you were a human being, the things you found kinship with wild and other. 

Joel understood that. Knew what it was like to feel so outside the thing you’d been born as. He’d been like that, too, for a while. More than a third of his life, really. The 20 years since the death of his daughter until he met Ellie were dark. He wasn’t sure what he was then but, if you’d asked him to identify what made him a person, he wouldn’t have been able to tell you. In many ways, he felt like he had more in common with the bodies he burned in the QZ than he did with the people living in it. He’d been a person once, like those corpses. But that humanity had died with his daughter, he’d left himself behind with her body. Part of him wondered if he’d done it on purpose, so Sarah wouldn’t be alone. He’d have cut out his heart if it would have helped her, pried it out of his ribs with his own hands and offered it to her. It seemed small, abandoning something like himself when he’d lost something so monumentally huge. 

For years, he’d tried to take it out on whatever other person he seemed to come into contact with, hurting and taking what and when he wanted to. He wasn’t proud of that time. The QZ was different. He found someone else who was a ghost like him and they moved in tandem, scratching out a corner of existence that wasn’t meant for the people who could still take full breaths and feel something beyond their flesh. But it wasn’t human. It was other. 

You were other, too. But he didn’t think you’d left your humanity the way he had. He was able to find it again, to pick it back up after it was carried back to him in the form of a spitfire of a girl that he couldn’t deny even if he wanted to. Yours seemed stolen. The way you hung on the edges of Jackson with nothing to tether you to the place showed that you wanted it back. You were searching for it. You just weren’t sure where to find it. 

You looped around Joel’s horse, coming close enough to him that he could properly see your face as you rode and he caught a glimpse of your eyes as you passed. They were soft and open and deep, without the sharp protection that usually guarded your gaze. You were free like this, found something close to yourself again on the back of a horse that was allowed to run. 

Eventually, you rode back alongside Joel and slowed to match his easy pace, leaning forward on your mount, draping your arms around her neck and sighing contentedly, your cheek pressed against her mane. 

“Sorry,” you said, still leaning over the horse, watching him now. “It’s just…” 

“It’s OK,” he said, watching you back. You looked a little more like yourself now. Or who he’d seen you to be, anyway. 

You sat up and gave Renaissance a scratch. She chuffed and bobbed her head happily in response. 

“So,” you looked straight ahead again. “How’s this work?” 

“Shooting range ain’t far,” he said, nodding toward it. “Go there, see how you do with the rounds we got, I report back.” 

“It’s just target shooting then?” You asked, looking over at him again. Your eyes were closed off again. “Not like… I dunno, some obstacle course shit or something?” 

“No,” Joel laughed a little. “No, nothin’ that difficult. But we’ll see how you do with the rifle and the handgun, you’ll probably need to use both at some point.” 

“And you gotta test it out because you think I managed to survive the apocalypse for 20 years without knowin’ how to use a gun?” 

Joel laughed once. 

“Figure you know how to use a gun,” he said. “But not like I know shit about how you survived, Bambi. Haven’t told me. You can if you want…” 

“I’d rather not,” you cut him off, looking straight ahead again. 

It was quiet again for a few minutes before he glanced your way. 

“What part of Texas you from?” He asked. You frowned, your brows knitting together. 

“How’d you know?” 

“Accent,” he replied. “I know what home sounds like and I know you spotted me as a Texan already.” 

“Yeah,” you smirked a little. “I did. About an hour west of Fort Worth, near Mineral Wells. My daddy had a ranch out there. You?” 

“Arlington, originally,” he said. “Austin, eventually.” 

You nodded slowly. 

“Miss it?” You asked. 

“Miss a lot about what shit used to be,” Joel said after a moment. 

“Well yeah,” you rolled your eyes. “We all fuckin’ do. But I mean anything about the place in particular, not what humans made it be. Like this time of year, I always look for blue bonnets to start croppin’ up. Don’t matter that I haven’t seen a fuckin’ blue bonnet in almost 25 years, that’s what I look for. I miss that.” 

“Damn,” Joel shook his head. “Haven’t thought about blue bonnets in… Fuck, decades.” 

“The shit you forget,” you said. 

He led you to the shooting range and handed you the rifle. 

“You can shoot the targets however you’re comfortable,” he said. “Just get set and let me know when you’re ready.” 

“What percentage are you lookin’ for here?” You asked as you got down with the rifle, setting it atop the fallen tree that Joel used when he practiced out here. 

“Better than 60,” he said. “Don’t have to hit every target, Bambi.” 

You nodded once and got set with the rifle. Joel gave you this much, you knew how to set up the shot at least. You probably hadn’t learned on the fly after the outbreak, he realized, you’d been taught. 

“First few are gonna be shit until I get used to the sights,” you warned. You started shooting then, starting with just one and taking a moment to adjust before firing the next shot. You were at least hitting the outer edge of the targets. He’d seen worse. 

After the first four, you glanced over at him. 

“Now if they’re shit it’s on me.” 

“Fire away,” he smiled a little. 

You obeyed, shooting faster this time. You were a good shot, missing only every fourth shot or so, plenty good enough to be added to the rotation for patrols. But you frowned as you sat up. 

“I’m rusty,” you said, handing the gun back to Joel as you got to your feet. “Used to be better.” 

“Did great,” he said, taking the weapon from you and slinging it on his back. “Anyone patrolling with you will be lucky to have you with ‘em.” 

You shot a little worse with the hand gun, getting closer to the 60% mark but still passing. You flinched every time a bullet missed the target. 

“Always more of a sawed off shotgun girl,” you said, shaking your head after you exhausted the magazine. “Don’t got a lot of practice with a gun like this.” 

“Hopefully you won’t need one,” Joel said. “Most of the shit we take out on patrol is long range, bein’ good with a rifle is the more important skill, anyway.” 

“Well that’s good at least,” you sighed, tucking the handgun away again. “Rather not get my ass handed to me while on patrol because I couldn’t get a fuckin’ shot off.” 

Joel smiled a little. 

“Don’t think you need to be all that worried about that.” 

The ride back to Jackson was quiet but Joel caught you out of the corner of his eye looking like you were about to say something before you seemed to think better of it. 

He wished you’d say it. 

“How’d you learn to shoot?” He asked after you opened and then closed your moth for the fifth time. 

“My dad,” you said. “Grew up on a ranch and that means a lot of risks, animals that go after livestock so it’s good to know how to take them out. Plus I think he was convinced I’d always have a gun on me in case I ran into some boy who couldn’t keep his hands to himself…” 

“A father’s dream,” Joel smiled a little. 

You laughed. 

“Only ever used it for that once,” you said. “And the pest control turned a little different after the outbreak. But it’s good he taught me. I’d probably have dropped dead a lot sooner if he hadn’t. How about you?” 

“My dad, too,” he replied. “Went hunting with him when I was a kid. Then, after the outbreak, Tommy helped me get better. He was in the army, so…” 

You just nodded slowly. 

“It was nice of you,” he said after you’d been quiet for a bit again. “To teach Ellie to dance. Lord knows I’d have been useless…” 

“She’s…” You paused, a distant look on your face for a moment before you shook your head slightly. “She’s a good kid. Got a hell of a mouth on her, though.” 

“Yeah,” Joel laughed. “Yeah, she’s definitely got that.” 

Joel found himself wanting to linger in the stables after returning with you but Tommy got to him quickly, wanting help with a building project, so he said his polite goodbyes to you, expecting that to be the last time he saw you that day. 

But he was wrong. 

It was dusk and he was reading on his couch when Joel heard his porch squeak. He frowned as there was a soft, hesitant knock. You were there when he opened the door but you weren’t on his porch. Instead, you were standing on his front walk, your hands in your pockets, looking up at him. He came out and leaned against the railing of his porch. 

“Bambi,” he said, giving you a small nod. “Can I help you with…” 

“I’m sorry,” you said quickly, closing your eyes and shaking your head. “I wanted to… I thought I could… I can’t, though. Sorry I bothered you, I…” 

You turned and walked so quickly away you were practically sprinting. Joel frowned, closing his door and following you, running for a moment to catch up, his hand taking your elbow without thinking. You yanked it back as though he’d burned you. 

“Don’t touch me,” your eyes were wide again. 

He stepped back quickly. 

“Sorry,” he said. “Not trying to… Are you OK?” 

“Fine,” you replied. “Just… Changed my mind. Goin’ home.” 

“Changed your mind about what?” He asked, still walking alongside you. 

“Don’t worry about it.” 

“Bambi…” 

“I wanted to borrow your damn guitar, OK?” You snapped, stopping in the street and turning to face him. Your hands were in the back pockets of your jeans. “But I had a shit night and I can’t… I thought I could but bein’ on your porch was different and I freaked out because I’m nuts, alright? So just leave it.” 

You turned to leave but he put his hands in his pockets, too. 

“Not nuts,” he said gently. “You can change your mind about whatever you want with me. Really. S’OK.” 

You looked at his shoes and he felt it again, the drive to want to touch you, hold you, take your problems into himself so you weren’t carrying them on your own anymore. 

“I’m trying,” you said quietly. “With this whole place, I really am, I just…” 

Your voice trailed off and you kicked a patch of dirt in the road. 

“Don’t have to try with me if you don’t want,” he said. Your eyes came up from the ground and met his. “Don’t need you to try, just need you to be. OK sweetheart?” 

He hadn’t meant to call you that. Fuck, why had he called you that? 

Your eyes drifted to his lips for a moment before going back to meet his own. 

“OK.”  Next Chapter

A/N: Bambi is making progress, I promise! And she is going to get a guitar in her hands soon. She'll talk herself into it eventually.

Thank you, as always, for being here and for reading. It means so much that you spend your time with these stories.

I do have a taglist. If you're interested in being added and letting the Tumblr Gods decide if the tag will actually work because it's a crapshoot, comment below.

Thank you thank you thank you! Love you!

Taglist: @ashleymsnodgrass@planet-marz1@kalea-bane @juneswonderlust@ilovepedro @h-annahayy @starstruckmusiciansartghost@beccerjune@mumma-moonchild@netonetoneto@mellymbee@purplelye@n7cje@flugazi@evyiione@randomhoex@aliengirl99@orcasoul@reds-ramblings@pedropascalsbbg @fupoola @tinypotatothing @knopes-waffles @lilmizmoz @ayamenimthiriel@jenispunk@panda-pascal@sarap-77

[runningincircl3s]

Nothing Ever After

Noah Sebastian x Reader x Vinny Mauro

Chapter One

chapter warnings: none :)

yippee the first chapter is here!! pls bare with me it gets better, as i'm posting this i’m currently writing chapter 12 and personally i’m giggling and kicking my feet <3 i’ll also be cross posting this on ao3 when i remember my password!

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"Y/n, are you listening to me?" Bryan asks over the phone.

You were in the middle of making lunch, so your phone was left on the side on speaker as you got the bits you needed out of the fridge, shutting the door with your hip as you walked back to the counter.

"Oh sorry, what did you say?" 

"I asked if you wanted to join me and the boys on tour this summer. It'll be good to get some experience, not a lot of bands hire photographers who haven't had any touring experience, and I could certainly do with the help."

"You've got to be kidding.” You slammed the cucumber you were holding on the kitchen counter, shaking your head. “Bry, this is a joke, right?"

"No? Why would I be joking?"

"You're asking me to come on tour with you- with Bad Omens? Isn’t that in a week? You want me to go on tour, next week?!"

"Yes...?” He chuckled, "what's so unbelievable about it? You're my best friend, y/n, I wouldn't ask anybody else."

"Holy fuck." You threw your head in your hands. "I've only met the guys once before, Bry, and you know how that went down!"

"That's why I'm asking you this now. We can fly you out to stay with us for a week or so in California before we leave so you can get to know everyone properly. At least that way it won't be awkward when we're all forced to sleep on each other in the bus." Bryan laughed, knowing the thought of sleeping with at least probably 6 guys on a bus was the last thing you'd want to be doing this summer. 

"Well you guys can sleep on the bus, I'm booking hotels."

"So is that a yes...?" 

You paused and thought for a moment. This was an opportunity you would never be offered again in a million years, people would kill for this and you’d never forgive yourself if you turned it down.

"You fucker." You grinned, "I'm in."

Bryan booked you a flight that afternoon to LA, leaving the next night. You rushed around your apartment, throwing bits into your suitcase, most likely over packing because you couldn't help but panic that you would forget something. 

You couldn’t sleep that night, half of you feeling like you were going to throw up from nerves, half from excitement. The next day you sent a text to Bryan when you got in the taxi to leave for the airport, and he arranged for Matt to pick you up once you landed. 

To save even more costs, Bryan said that Noah had a spare room at his house, Jesse had recently moved out and he was happy to let you stay whilst you were there. The thought of staying with Noah made you feel slightly anxious, to say you had a little crush on him was an understatement. Ever since Bryan started working for them you'd been absolutely smitten by him, he was quite possibly the most gorgeous man you have ever laid eyes on. 

Bryan gave Matt your number, so you could text him when you landed. The flight went by pretty quick as you caught up on missed sleep and listened to a couple new albums from your favourite artists that you hadn't had the chance to listen to yet.

Once you'd gotten your bags back and gone through security, you let Matt know you were here and he was already on his way to pick you up. 

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"Y/n!" Matt called out, and all of a sudden you spotted him getting out of his car. "Great to see you again." 

He took your suitcase and bags, putting them in the car, opening the passenger door for you too. 

"It's been a few years," you smile, "how are you? How are the dogs?"

"I'm doing pretty good. I moved recently, and the dogs love the new place, there's so much more room for them to run about and play. Me and Alyson are actually thinking of getting another one."

"Awh cute! So you guys are still together?"

"Yeah, I can’t believe it's been 5 years now. We have our ups and downs but I can't see myself with anyone else." You notice he can't help but smile as he talks about his girlfriend. 

"What about the guys? Are any of the others in relationships?"

"Ruffilo and Jolly have partners. Folio’s still getting over his ex and Noah's just Noah," he chuckles, "what's your love life currently like then?" 

"Well... it's non-existent. I've been working so hard for the last couple years I haven't had time to date or anything. I download and delete dating apps every other week, I don't like using them but there's no other way I'd meet anyone."

The rest of the journey back to Noah's house you continued to catch up with Matt. Besides Bryan, who's been your best friend since you were at school, you spoke to Matt the most out of the guys from the band since he was always active on social media. You often interacted with Folio and Nicholas (sometimes Jolly), but it wasn't ever much more than a happy birthday each year, or comments on each other’s instagram posts. Noah was an entirely different story. 

Finally, Matt pulled up to Noah's house, parking on the driveway. You felt nervous, you wanted to tell the guys somethings come up at home and quickly book a flight back, but then you heard the wheels of your suitcase rolling over the ground as Matt handed it to you and the door to Noah's house opening. 

"Y/n!" It was Folio, you immediately grinned back at him as he stood at the door, holding his arms out to welcome you with a hug, "it's great to see you again! How long has it been? 3 years?" 

"I know, it's crazy! Look how tatted you are now!" You felt like a grandma commenting on how tall their grandsons got. 

"You're lucky Bryan asked in advance for you to stay in Jesse’s old room," another voice spoke as you walked into the house, and then you spotted him, "Folio's now sleeping on the couch." Noah laughed. 

"Shit, sorry Nick," you chuckled, "but thanks for letting me stay, Noah. I was gonna book a hotel but when I told Bryan the price for just one night he didn't let me."

"Hey, no worries," he smiled, getting up from the sofa, "we can't wait to have you with us this tour. It is your first, isn't it?"

"Yep!"

"Cool,” he took your suitcase from you and led you up the stairs, “here’s your room, it’s actually the biggest in the house. I was contemplating switching so it could be mine but I haven’t had the time,” he chuckled, “but I think it works better now as the guest room.” 

“It’s lovely, thank you Noah.” 

“No problem! I put fresh sheets on this morning and everything… Also we’re getting the bathroom redone up here as there’s something wrong with the plumbing. But feel free to use the one connected to my room, and there’s also one downstairs but I’m sure you don’t wanna be going all the way down there in the middle of the night.” 

“That’s okay, I’m just grateful for the room.” You said, looking around. It was a rather big room, almost as big as your entire apartment. The walls were painted grey, with a few framed art pieces on the wall. The bed was against the wall by the window, the white sheets complementing the wooden frame. There was a tv on the wall and a dresser beneath it with a few Naruto funko pops decorating it.

“You don’t have to keep thanking me.” He smiled, and you felt your stomach do backflips. Noah looked a lot different to how you remembered him, his long hair was now short, his nails he had painted black were now plain, the skinny jeans were replaced by black joggers, but the most noticeable difference was his face, which seemed a lot more structured now, it's as if the haircut had changed everything. Sure, you had seen pictures of him on social media, but it was nothing compared to seeing him in person again. 

“I do, I’m essentially a stranger to you.” You chuckled, but he shook his head. 

“No you’re not, we met before, remember? Bryan’s 25th, in New York?”

You were slightly surprised he remembered the details, but then you remembered what happened at Bryan’s 25th birthday party in New York, and by the look on Noah’s face you could tell he also remembered. 

“Don’t bring that up!” You hid your face in your hands in embarrassment. 

“I basically had to babysit you!” He laughed, “a 23 year old woman who couldn’t handle her alcohol, spewed all across my jeans-”

“Hey, I got it on my dress too! And that was fucking expensive.” 

“I know, it was all you kept saying.” He laughed. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t even know if I apologised to you that night.” 

“You didn’t, but Bryan did. We had to kick Folio out of his hotel room that night because you were in no state to go anywhere without us, he had to share with Jolly in the end.”

“Poor guy probably hates me at this point.” You laughed, and Noah smiled. 

“I’ll leave you to unpack, I’ll be downstairs. There’s some things I need to double check with Matt before Thursday.” 

“Okay, thanks.” You smiled as he left, shutting the door behind himself. 

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Later that night, the guys were all downstairs watching some movie they’d been talking about for a while. You came down not long before it ended, as Noah said he was ordering food in for around 7pm. 

You sat down on the couch next to Noah, although there was a big gap between the two of you. You checked your phone for a moment, seeing if anything happened in the time it took you to walk down the stairs.

“So is anyone else coming to stay before tour?” You asked as Orie turned the movie off after watching the scene that played after the end credits. 

“Uh, I think Nicholas is coming the day before we leave.” Noah answered, reaching for his phone. “Jolly only lives down the street now with his girlfriend so he doesn’t need to travel too far, and Ash lives nearby-”

“Ash?” You question, not having heard that name before. 

“My personal trainer, he comes on tour with us as security when he’s available.” Now that he’s mentioned it, you realise he does look pretty buff. 

However, you quickly snap out of your thoughts as the doorbell rings and Folio (as he was closest) gets up to answer it. 

“Guys, foods here!” Folio shouts from the kitchen as he puts it down on the counter. 

You all get up and make your way to the kitchen, you help Folio to work out whose is whose as Noah gets out some plates and Orie gets the forks. You take it through to the living room and Noah passes you the remote to put something on whilst you all eat. You settle on some random show as you know it’ll just be background noise, you have a lot of catching up to do. 

“So, Nick, you still go fishing?” You asked, shoving a forkful of food into your mouth. 

“Yeah, I actually went at the weekend with some of my friends before leaving to come here.”

“Wait, so where do you live now?”

“Back in Maryland, baby!” He grinned, grabbing his beer from the coffee table, “I’ve been thinking about moving again though, the only reason I stayed was because… well-” 

You realised where this was leading.

“Why don’t you think about it whilst we’re touring? About moving, I mean. A fresh start might do you good.” You sent him a smile, which he reciprocated. 

“That’s what the guys keep telling me, and now Noah has a couple rooms free I’ve said I’ll think about it.” 

“So what about you, y/n?” Noah asked, “would you ever consider moving somewhere like here? I mean when your career starts taking off after this, it’ll be better to be somewhere where you can travel more easily and there’s more connections.” 

“I haven't even thought about that…” You admit, “and it’s if my career takes off. I don’t want to get too excited and then not get booked for years, or to go on this tour and find that I hate it.”

“Hey!” Folio looked genuinely offended, “you’re not gonna hate it, I promise you that.” 

“It’s just… I don’t know what to expect, and there’s nothing I hate more than the unknown.” 

Noah moves his hand to rub your knee as you were sat beside him with your legs crossed, your plate in your lap, as if to comfort you, to reassure you- but it only took your breath away.

“Everything will be okay, y/n. I know where you’re coming from, I’m the same. Every morning and night we go through the plan for the day, where we have to travel, how long it’ll take, how long the breaks will be, if we’ve booked a table to go to eat. I promise we’ll all look out for you... It’s not like I haven't done it before.” He smirks. 

“I told you not to bring that up!” You slap him playfully, and the other two guys in the room look over in confusion. All Noah had to mention was ‘Bryan’s 25th’ and they both got it. 

“God, how could we forget.” Folio laughed, and Orie just watched in confusion. 

“Fuck you guys.” You said, reaching for your pepsi, “maybe on this tour you’ll get so drunk that I’ve got to take care of you!” You raise your eyebrows at Noah. 

“Hm, only problem is I don’t drink anymore so I don’t see that happening.” 

“You don't? Wow, sorry Noah I didn't know that. That's got to have been tough.” 

“It was in the beginning, but now it doesn’t bother me. I like waking up with a clear head in the mornings.” 

That smile was going to be the death of you.

——————————

@miss570 @miamore0570 @lma1986 @rumoured-whispers @thisbicc @dominuslunae @jilliemiw86 @collisionofyourkissmakesitsohard

[virtualcarrot]

[KKIR] Modern AU - Teaching Pains Pt9

Part 8

-

The fight is over as soon as it begins. Kakashi kicks the dropped knife so far that it ricochets, dazes Mizuki with a second slam into the locker, and flings him to the ground.

By the time the teacher thinks to struggle, he’s already pinned down with his arm twisted back and Kakashi's leg over his shoulder, socket straining and ready to pop if he so much as twitches in the wrong direction. He settles for hurling curses and threats, which he finds them all entirely indifferent to with no blade wielded as incentive.

In truth, the hardest part is resisting the urge to check on the injured. Gai ducks for a roll of packing tape from Iruka’s classroom, and they make short work of wrapping Mizuki’s arms and legs with the whole roll’s worth, slapping a couple of pieces to his mouth for good measure. Only once they're done securing him does Kakashi finally deem it safe to look away.

Iruka’s on the floor, looking faint with relief and likely also pain, if the way he’s holding himself against the wall is any indication. His hair’s a mess, his clothes rumpled. A mean looking bruise’s already purpling on the side of his face.

Naruto’s completely unharmed, for which Kakashi feels a rush of dizzying gratitude.

Gai gets his attention with a touch to his shoulder, the phone in his other hand already dialing emergency services.

“I’ve got this. You go check on them,” he assures with a jerk of his chin at the shaken duo sitting on the floor.

For good measure, he also gives a reassuring thumbs up. He then proceeds to drag Mizuki’s trussed up body across the floor to give them all privacy, perking up at a greeting on the other side of the line.

“Ah yes, hello! And a good evening to you! I’d like to report an incident…” Kakashi hears him say before tuning out the one-sided conversation and making his way over in the opposite direction.

Naruto’s eyes go wide and shiny at his approach, in a way Kakashi can’t help but ruffle his hair for.

“It’s over, you’re fine,” he says with what he hopes is a reassuring smile, crouching to their level.

Naruto returns it with a wobbly one of his own and scoots aside to make room for him.

This up close, there's an unmistakable small cut to Iruka’s upper lip. Kakashi's hand reaches out seemingly without a conscious thought. He watches it land on the unharmed side of Iruka’s face, thumb drawing gentle, barely-there swipes against the peak of a cheekbone.

Then the enormity of the events catch up to him and he bows under their weight until the hairs strayed from Iruka’s ponytail brush against his own forehead.

“What the fuck, Iruka,” he murmurs shakily in the soft place between them.

Iruka’s skin is warm and slightly clammy, his breath short against Kakashi’s wrist, his lips too dry from the exertion. His eyes flutter shut when Kakashi runs his thumb along the edge of the old scar across his nose.

“As you said, it’s over,” Iruka whispers.

He also looks tired and wobbly, in the ways of the tail end of an adrenaline rush. Kakashi allows himself a few more seconds of indulgence and pulls away.

“How are you?” he asks.

Iruka gives a one-shoulder shrug then pulls a face like he regrets the gesture. “Hurt. But not in any danger.”

At this point in the evening, Kakashi’s gone from sharing after-work drinks with a friend to watching a colleague pull a knife on people he’s grown disturbingly fond of. It’ll take more than that to reassure him.

He narrows his eyes. “Hurt where?”

“Urh. All over, I guess. My leg. My chest,” Iruka replies, moving his hand from his knee to his midsection. He hisses at the motion and clasps his sides with a grimace.

For a moment, Kakashi sees it all over again, the shape of the knife pointed at Iruka, Naruto wrestling behind him, terrified his teacher might die for him, and Iruka, bargaining for their lives.

The blade was already out when Kakashi caught the scene.

“Did he stab you?!” he asks, urgently moving Iruka's coat out of the way to check under.

He must have been too abrupt about it because Iruka winces, wrapping his fingers around Kakashi's wrist.

“No,” he says, catching and holding Kakashi’s gaze. “From the bookshelf. It fell on me.”

Little fist tightening around Iruka’s sleeve, Naruto gives a small nod of confirmation. And well, Kakashi did wonder what could have caused the headmaster’s office to fall into such disarray.

Seemingly satisfied with his slump of relief, Iruka releases him.

Kakashi may have overreacted.

He scratches his cheek. “Ah. Yeah, I saw. Quite the mess, that,” he admits, distracted by a darker stain under the folded edge of Iruka's coat. He frowns and brushes it, moving feather-light this time. “What's this, then?”

Naruto peers over with a worried frown, while Iruka proceeds to clumsily pat himself down, and then his coat. He pulls out a bundle from an inside pocket, mashed beyond recognition. From the furrow of his brows, even he seems to have trouble identifying it.

Then he huffs sheepishly.

“Ah! I think it’s the cake I put aside for Naruto. Never got to give it to him.”

Naruto promptly bursts into tears.

By the time they finally hear approaching sirens, Iruka’s sideways hug has done wonders shutting off the waterworks. Gai throws Mizuki over his shoulder and they all stagger downstairs, though Kakashi would be hard pressed to say whether Iruka or Naruto is clinging the tightest to the other.

Ibiki greets them in the front yard with his arms crossed and a foreboding stare.

“What have you done, now?”

It's unclear which of them he's actually addressing but before they can figure it out, Gai drops Mizuki at his feet like a proud hound presenting its catch and Iruka gets whisked away towards the ambulance. While two police officers go through the trouble of getting Mizuki out of the packing tape and into the patrol car, it falls to Kakashi to give Ibiki a summary of the events Iruka recounted while he hugged a sobbing Naruto to his chest and pretended his ribs didn’t hurt.

By the end of it, Ibiki looks entirely unimpressed.

“I’ll have to talk to the kid,” he says.

“Not right now, you won’t,” Iruka retorts from inside the ambulance. His scowling face peeks out while a long-suffering paramedic follows after him with her stethoscope. “His legal guardian isn’t here and also it’s late.”

Even from his heights of intimidation, Ibiki doesn’t seem inclined to argue against Iruka’s bullheaded protectiveness. He heaves a sigh.

“I want him at the station, first hour tomorrow morning,” he begrudges.

Iruka pulls a face, though it’s unclear whether that’s from Ibiki’s words or the paramedic releasing his arm so he can cover himself up. A massive bruise is already darkening his ribs. Kakashi can’t help a twinge of sympathetic pain.

“It’ll probably be in the afternoon,” Iruka says, adjusting his rucked up shirt back into place with clumsy tugs. He sounds just contrite enough to be polite, but not so much that it might hint at any leeway to change his mind. It’s a tone that Kakashi is at once painfully and hilariously acquainted with.

Ibiki doesn’t seem unfamiliar with it either, because he growls: “ fine ,” and leaves it at that.

Appearing satisfied, Iruka turns to Kakashi, seeking his eyes from afar, and drawing him in just as easily.

“Hey,” Kakashi says once he's within speaking distance, leaning against the ambulance door. His own voice comes out embarrassingly breathy but Iruka’s face softens in kind, so he figures it’s all right.

“Hey,” Iruka echoes with a faint smile. “Could you keep an eye on Naruto? Maybe even take him back--”

In the ambulance, Naruto jumps off the seat he had laid claim on, flailing distressingly close to the fancy equipment on the walls. “What, hey, no, I’m staying with you, Iruka-sensei, you can keep an eye on me!”

“Kid,” the paramedic says, steadying a hanging tube with a spark of exasperation.

“No! No, Iruka-sensei, I’m not leaving you, you can’t make me!” Naruto yelps, all but climbing over the medical kit to get to Iruka, who reaches out to grab his hand in a stern hold.

“Naruto,” he snaps, just sharp enough to break through the haze of panic. “I need to get my chest checked. There’ll be doctors, we’ll all be too busy.”

“Please, Iruka-sensei, I’ll be so good, I won’t make any trouble, I swear!” Naruto’s eyes well up in that way Kakashi knows Iruka’s tend to mirror. “I need to make sure you’re okay, it’s my fault--”

Having reached Kakashi’s side, Gai calls for his attention with a silent pat to his shoulder. He drops his car keys from an open fist, leaving them swinging from the keyring around his finger.

And well, if Gai’s offering…

“Naruto,” Kakashi says, pitching his voice loud and clear enough that Naruto looks up from Iruka’s reassuring petting of his hair. They both look equally blubbery.

Joke’s on Kakashi for finding it endearing, he supposes.

“How about we meet Iruka at the hospital, uh? Gai’ll drive us,” he proposes, and purposefully doesn’t expand on the unhinged quality of Gai’s driving.

That seems to do the trick. The paramedic gives him a look of jaded gratitude, Iruka agrees, and soon after the doors of the ambulance close.

Naruto watches it drive away with a trembling lip. Yet it’s with surprisingly dry eyes that  he turns a scowl on Kakashi.

“You better keep your word,” he warns.

Even the sight of Gai’s old, beat-up Alto Works doesn't discourage him. He clambers up to the backseat and crosses his arms.

‘’So? What are you waiting for?!”

He's not looking anywhere near half as self-assured around the time Gai screeches to a halt in front of the ER. Kakashi watches him stumble out looking distinctly greener than before.

“Very spirited kid, that one,” Gai says while they watch Naruto lean against a tree to ground himself. “Very youthful.”

Recognizing it for the approval that it is, Kakashi huffs, clicking out of his car belt. “Yeah.”

“Should I come with?”

“Nah, we’ll be fine. But Gai? Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Gai rewards him with a thumbs up and a gleaming smile. “It’s nothing that my Esteemed Rival wouldn't have done for me in return.” He pauses. “Also you can take the tab next time we go out.”

Bullying his friends into paying for him is usually one of Kakashi's hobbies, but that seems a fair price to pay. He nods with a parting pat to the top of the car and pulls away, because Naruto’s recovered enough that he’s expressing his impatience anew.

“Come on, what are you doing , Iruka-sensei’s waiting for us!”

Inside, the receptionist gives them the number of a hallway, where they’re given new contradictory directives, until they’re finally sent back to a waiting room because apparently Iruka’s going through a scanner. Naruto looks so lost and wan at that knowledge that the last nurse they asked for directions puts a hand on the top of his head.

“Your…” She trails off, seeking Kakashi’s gaze. “Brother? Cousin?”

“Teacher,” Kakashi provides.

To her credit, she barely raises an eyebrow. “Your teacher isn't in any imminent danger. We just need confirmation.”

Because it’s long past dinnertime and none of them has eaten, Kakashi gets them both a sandwich from the vending machine, and then a third one for Iruka just in case. Naruto eyes the ham with distrust, claims he isn’t hungry, and ends up finishing the other half of Kakashi's after he's done with his own. The sandwiches are alright, as far as vending machine fares are concerned, but rising nerves are coiling in Kakashi's stomach the longer they wait to hear from Iruka, and also in spite of the mask the hospital smells are ruining any appetite he might have left regardless.

Naruto’s dozing off against his shoulder when the nurse comes back to get them. They find Iruka struggling to get his arms inside his coat while another nurse tries to help him.

“--late already, you could just spend the night here,” the nurse is saying.

“I appreciate the help but I can't, I have to--oh, Naruto!” Iruka says, the tired lines of his face pulling into a smile.

Apparently it's all Naruto had been waiting for, because Kakashi narrowly manages to catch him by the back of his coat before he flings himself against Iruka’s bruised ribs.

“Iruka-sensei, Iruka-sensei, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Iruka says with a chuckle, until Kakashi’s insistent look drives him to elaborate. “Two cracked ribs, a knee contusion and a very mild concussion. Nothing that some rest, ice and a few painkillers can't cure.”

The brave face he's putting on seems to reassure Naruto, but Kakashi hears it for the understatement that it is. It’s a relief, then, when Iruka answers his look of sympathy with a good-humored wince over Naruto's head. Good. He'd hate for Iruka to have unrealistic expectations of the weeks to come. Best to brace for them fully informed.

“Daikoku-sensei agreed to let you sleep at my place,” Iruka tells Naruto once he's done getting dressed. He's bundled his sweater vest in a hand, likely not having found the pain worth putting it back on. “He'll pick you tomorrow.”

Naruto, it’d seem, had already decided the sleepover was going to happen, with or without consent, because he doesn't bother looking any way about that information.

It's well past midnight when they're finally free to go. Kakashi hails them a cab that they all pile into, lets Iruka give his address, and tries not to get lost in thoughts of tragic what-ifs during the ride.

They're halfway up the stairs leading to Iruka's floor when Iruka jolts against his side, bringing them all to a halt.

Kakashi steadies him with a grip of his waist. “Are you alright? Did I hurt you?” he asks, but Iruka only shakes his head, flustered.

“You paid for the--how much did the cab cost?”

They both stare at him, Naruto from where he’s been leading the way up the stairs with Iruka’s keys, and Kakashi from his careful press against Iruka’s side.

After long seconds of disbelief, Kakashi motions Naruto to go ahead. The kid obeys without any argument. Even his seemingly boundless reserves of energy must be longing for a safe place to rest and refill.

Free from any other witness to the fact, Kakashi presses his nose against Iruka’s temple.

“Iruka,” he murmurs, mindful of the slight tension that runs against him, “you’re a moron. You’re very smart, but you’re a moron. Alright?”

About a floor and a half above them, Naruto’s receding footsteps come to a stop. There’s the jingle of a busy keychain followed by the characteristic clinking of someone testing unknown keys against a lock.

With a sigh, Iruka angles his head until his nose brushes Kakashi’s.

“Alright”, he whispers back.

Something in Kakashi’s throat goes tight, then. It remains so all the way until the final landing.

Part 10

[banjjakz]

notes: major character death; gojo satoru is not a good person (we know this); direct continuation of geto suguru's route; if you have not completed the good end may you rest in pieces.

➡ Sneak out of the fire escape.

The thought of trying to navigate your way even further through the deep, dark bowels of this strange place fills you with a fearful repulsion – and not the good kind. While you got off quite lucky with such a faithful encounter with Geto, you shouldn’t get cocky. After all, the security guard from earlier could still be lurking around…imagine if he caught you in such a state of obvious erotic disarray: hair mussed, knees scraped and bruised, face flushed, lipstick smudged…you can’t imagine that would go over well.

Steeling your nerves to do something truly unhinged, you begin to search for the fire escape.

At least you aren’t jumping out of the window, or something insane like that – albeit, sneaking out of the fire escape is a little out there, even for you.

But you no longer inhabit the normal and upright world. It is almost as though you are now floating through reality, your soul wandering through life in an ambiguously disparate state, hopping from absurd situation to absurd situation, motivated by little more than the capricious nature of your arbitrary whims.

It's not like you have much left to lose, after all. The most important thing to you – perhaps the only important thing to you – in your life is ShinShow. And you’ve just achieved the highest goal of any dedicated fan: ultimate recognition.

The eventful evening’s erotic high and the delusional adrenaline coursing through your veins gives you the courage not only to locate the fire escape, but also to slip through the dingy, rusting door and shimmy down the rickety, narrow steps. Even by Japanese standards, the contraption is quite small. Several times, you almost lose your footing and go tumbling down over the railing. Instead of instilling you with healthy fear, the near-accidents only serve to propel you forward with renewed vigor each time you brush closer and closer to impending mortal injury.

As soon as your chunky platforms hit the worn concrete, now back on solid, stable ground, you find it difficult not to deflate a little bit. What a night! What an experience! And you have Geto Suguru’s personal LINE ID to show for all of it…how are you supposed to return to your ordinary, mundane life after such an experience?

The thought depresses you. Work, school, family, friends…it all pales in comparison to the evening you and Geto shared together. Oh, if only every night could be that way!

But that would be selfish of you. Geto is a leader, after all; an inspiration to many, and an idol to all. To usurp him for your personal pleasure and only yours alone would be doing a disservice to his life’s work. You recognize that you must share Geto-sama, as much as it might pain you to do so.

“I don’t wanna share him,” you mumble to yourself, aimlessly launching the decrepit corpse of a crumpled beer can across the alley with a limp, half-hearted kick. “Geto-sama should be all mine…”

In the desolate boughs of this seedy in-between limbo sandwiched between towering buildings of various questionable services and wares, your pathetic utterances should be private, unheard by only your own self-pitying ears.

Operative word: should.

“Haha. That’s a funny joke!”

Your heart drops faster than you can turn around. By the time your body processes the shock at not being alone (seriously, when the hell did someone else get here? You’ve been loitering for several minutes, at this point!) the owner of the unfamiliar voice is already entirely too close for comfort. One moment, the snarky quip bounced off of the aged reinforcements of a residential building several paces away – but now, as you pivot on your heel to confront the stranger, your nose is but a hair’s breadth away from painfully colliding with a wide, solid chest clad in nondescript black cloth.

When you finally glimpse his face, the first thing that comes to your mind is that he’s definitely a douchebag. If the bleached platinum faded undercut weren’t bad enough, this asshole is wearing sunglasses at night. His over-six-foot stature is worn with a sort of self-reverential pride; he carries himself like he knows he’s probably the hottest guy in any room at any given point in time.

How annoying.

This is why, outside of ShinShow, you don’t really care to interact with the male species. They’re all cocky, self-assured, greedy, immature, uncaring, inconsiderate morons! Nothing like your hard-working and self-made idols…ugh.

Just being around this dude makes your skin crawl. Not in the sexy way.

“Excuse me,” you mutter, cutting him a sharp glare with wide, whaling eyes as if to actually convey the more sincere message you hold for him within your heart: get the fuck lost, creep.

But when you go to rush past him, his body moves – again with that mind-numbing, preternatural speed – and you run straight into his annoying firm and solid abs.

Oh God, is this it? Is this really how you are meant to depart from this world? You would’ve preferred to be sent to hell by Geto’s hand over anyone else’s…

Despondent and kind of over it, you direct a firm stare upwards at this asshole’s infuriatingly unbothered smirk. “What’s your problem?”

“You,” says the stranger, simply, distracting you with his blindly white smile so that it is far, far too late by the time you realize that both your wrists are now incapacitated by one of his large, strong hands. “Don’t struggle. It won’t make a difference. Or do! It would actually be kinda funny to watch.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” You demand, instinctively jerking away and finding his grip to be even more iron-solid that it had initially seemed – if that was even possible. “Let me go!!”

When you go to kick him, you find that your perception of reality shatters apart like glass skittering across kitchen tile in a million, tiny, irreparably disparate fractured pieces.

Your foot cannot connect with his body.

The more force you put behind your futile defense against your assailant, the more frustrated and exhausted you become. How can this even be possible? It’s like there’s an invisible paper-thin shield dividing you and him – and yet, despite the thinness of the protective layer, the intimate proximity of your limb and his infuriatingly chiseled torso, there is an endless ocean of space that separates you. No matter how hard you try, you cannot touch him.

You cannot win.

How this is even possible, you haven’t the faintest idea. Some sort of illusion? An advanced kind of electromagnetic technology?

Horror dawns upon you like a red sun on the horizon: there’s no way you can escape this.

The stranger is a seasoned and well-trained predator, that much is for sure. He senses the fight leaking out of your body as a shark might follow the intoxicating scent of blood in the water. He pursues your misery with a keen appetite, one that threatens to devour you whole.

“You’re almost cute,” breaths the strange white-haired man, crowding you up against the brick wall with little more than the oppressive force of his presence. “I can see why he thought you’d be easy.”

A stab of familiarity pierces clear and true through your thundering innards. Surely, he couldn’t be talking about… “Do you know Geto-sama?”

The bastard has the audacity to laugh in your face. His breath is annoyingly minty fresh.

“Oh, wow. You actually call him that? I thought it was just an inside joke between him and the fans, or something. Hah! That’s really good. That’s just too good…” He, honest-to-God, wipes a tear from his eye, underneath his sunglasses.

Even the precarity of your dangerous situation is not enough to cow the bullish indignancy that flushes through you, hot and temperamental, at the suggestion of a perceived slight against your (new?) oshi.

“Hey,” you grunt, chin checking up towards the sky, “you shouldn’t talk that way about Geto-sama. He’s really hard working, and such a good leader…the best there ever was or could be.”

“The best,” mulls the stranger, one large hand descending to stroke his jaw. You can’t tell if the gesture is more a mockery than it is a genuine display of sincere pensive contemplation.

“Tell you what. I’ll let you in on a little secret.”

And then he leans down, easy and natural as breathing, as blinking, lips coming to ghost along the crest of your quivering, hypersensitive ears:

“I already know that.”

With viper-like speed, his fist shoots up to close around your throat. “You don’t think I know that?” You’d sputter out a response if you could breathe. Or think.  “Sweetheart, I’ve been here before that statement could even be said to be true. You could say we’re high school sweethearts. My one and only, he is.”  

Oh, fuck.

Oh, God, oh, fuck.

Did you just mess with an OG fan?

Crap, this is bad. This is really, really bad. Never did you think you’d fall victim to the string of violent, sometimes deadly assaults that ravaged the streets of Kabukichou. But pissing off a dedicated wota by getting caught fucking around with their ultimate oshi is one of the fastest ways to find out!

S-sorry, you try to mouth as your weak, floundering hands doing nothing to persuade his grip into loosening, even just the tiniest bit. Didn’t know!!

“Don’t care~,” sing-songs the stranger, strangely cheerful given the circumstances. He’s not normal. It hits you quite belatedly. Even for a superfan, he isn’t normal. “No one told you to go around playing with other people’s toys~”

You don’t stand a chance. This is the end.

His next retort slips out as a simpering purr: “Good girl. You’ve accepted your fate.”

Can he read your mind, or something? This is seriously a scene out of some horror movie…

“For that, I’ll spare you. Quick and painless death it is! Simply deleted from existence. All your icky atoms and particles will end up somewhere in Timbuktu, probably. Hopefully. How does that sound? For a masochist like you, that’s almost a worse fate, I suppose.”

Huh?

“Huh?”

“Bye-bye~”

The last glimpse your poor, foolish mortal eyes catch of this cruel world are the slight peek of his startlingly blue over the rim of those opaque, black sunglasses. As you lose consciousness, in the split second before your existence is entirely wiped out from this chapter of reality, your vision blurs, doubling, then tripling, his bright, cerulean eyes appearing to you not as two, but six. They are everywhere, all-seeing, surrounding you, bearing down as the heavens might itself upon the woeful frame of a mortal slated for smiting. Soon enough, the six double, then triple, then multiply so fast that all you can see are rows and rows and rows of wide, unblinking, omniscient eyes. Staring. Judging. Tracking.

Why does it feel familiar, this sight?

[MAY YOU REST IN PEACE.]

ENDING ACHIEVED: GETO SUGURU BAD END 2

SECRET ROUTE UNLOCKED: RYOMEN SUKUNA.

> PROCEED TO ROUTE [coming soon!]

[marias-assumption]

This is such a sad song for me… it just has curiousest lyrics but w the profoundest meaning. —> Have i found you flightless bird? like… is it you? the one that won’t run away? have i found you already? or isn’t you after all?…

but at the same time is actualy a plaid for her to actually be the end-game for him.

and it says some weird stuff ab fat house cats, pissing on magazines 🐈 which i’ll explain 😝

first starts with “i was a quick wet boy diving too deep for coins all of your street light eyes wide on my plastic toys” which means i was a poor little boy who spend way too much time outside the house, even playing with my toys in the street, knowing all the people are there to stare… with surprised or horror. very driven and moved to “Do stuff” to find meaning of live but at the same time not believing much in miracles (skepticism- not valuing the coins of the miracle’s fountain) with more of a materialistic ambition, and also with “quick wet boy” makes an allusion to “quick witted” which means smart… so i was a very driven and smart kid hoping for too much, not putting too much faith into heaven but driven to find myself in the world.

Then concludes that w “Then when the cops closed the fair I cut my long baby hair, stole me a dog-eared map And called for you everywhere” meaning, then time got me and i was growing up, and realized i need to “cut my long baby hair” long time being an immature person and realized i need to find this other bigger than myself stuff, and realized i really wanted someone, not keep on playing w my toys on the street… also the disapproval of peoples got a hold on time and was tired anyways.

(yeah. deep)

then the chorus suggesting he has been in the field, searching for its partner. bc it says “Or lost you? American Mouth” which alludes to just another lips i kissed. fast-lived. pointing out that the American culture can be so detached and filled w ill-used relationships, but he does lives this as a loss bc he also says “or lost you- “ is a loss for him. and ends with “Big pill looming” the fear of loss, or the threatening “another failed experience thrown into the trash” and he can sees the pills prescriptions coming. like is just another paperwork. But also, alludes at the saying “that’s a big pill to swallow” which could also refer to as the threatening unpleasant truth that appears its coming, a hard truth which he is not ready to accept yet

Last verse “Now I'm a fat house cat Nursing my sore blunt tongue, Watching the warm poison rats, Curl through the wide fence cracks, Pissing on magazine photos Those fishing lures” meaning that now he’s comfortable with her, kind of playing too comfortable, so comfortable that kind of forgot to take care of the relationship or himself. If you are blunt, you say exactly what you think without trying to be polite, so he was nursing his blunt tongue, words were a little too sharp. a house fat cat is a tamed animal, so he’s watching the rats run (the toxic things) just “happening” without doing much.. again. a little too comfortable. getting comfortable on the big creeks the house fences has, the door was open, it wasn’t a secured future yet, bc they were getting through tough times. is now or never- get through this. but he was “sleeping” on the cracks. Being passive-aggressive (like cats when they piss on places where they shouldn’t lol), but not trying to get into conflict, so he’s not fighting for her. He “caught” all those fishing lures the devil was throwing at him, they looked like food but it hurt, he engaged into all the vices being tricked, falling on the trap of laziness and gluttony.

but then he got kicked out sleeping outside: “Thrown in the cold and clean, Blood of Christ mountain stream”, and then he even went to ask for the forgiveness of his sins, hitting rock bottom, realizing his bad habits and looking up to God. Took him to believe in religion to really repent, and realizing what he was ab to loose (bc the cat slept outside, is not fully over)- He had matured, was not a skeptic little kid anymore. he’s now respectful of the fountain of miracles and he takes life seriously, he was sleeping on it.

Last chorus slight change “Have I found you? Flightless bird - Grounded, bleeding - Or lost you? American mouth Big pill, -stuck going down-“ Meaning now that he repents he’s asking if even after all this war, all this bad times, could she stay with him forever and be the flightless bird? he feels sorry for her bc now that he truly sees her he can see the damage done, and he knows asking her to stay forever after all this is like a flightless bird wounded, bleeding. Now believing in repentance, mentioning “blood christ mountain stream” he swallows the blood of christ and maybe even ready to get married (thing he was being so lazy for before- thinking she was asking too much), so he asks again “can you stay? i know you’re wounded but i promise to solve this” (have i found you flightless bird .grounded. bleeding), he doesn’t feel good offering her this not-so tempting future w him, also alluding the guilt and regret he feels. Bc he repented he is ready to fully be what she needs, he will do it with the right way (alluding religion, sins, forgiveness, church, marriage maybe as well)… but he also gives her the the option to leave, because she’s free to decide, but if she does, this will be the big pill that’s gonna get stuck going down. like “have i lost you…? no. i’m not ready to believe it. it’s too hurtful to imagine now. you’re not gonna be just any hard pill to swallow, you’re gonna be the pill that’ll get stuck in my throat…” meaning, he will never be able to get over her.

So it’s like a realistic love song, after the hard times has passed… you can see he really loves her, putting the other person above your needs, or your selfishness, is really love… this song is a whole journey, talks ab his learning on learning how to love and how to live

**finishing writing this actually tearing up a little*** 🥲

[innytoes]

57 for Willex + Lancelot

Of course this is set in the Care and Feeding of Dragons verse.

"Morning, Dad!" Willie called, all but skipping into the kitchen. His dad was sitting at the kitchen island nursing a coffee, glaring at him blearily. He'd never really gotten used to the fact that no matter what time Willie got up, he was go-go-go. It was still just as funny now as it was when he was a kid. He started grabbing stuff from around the kitchen, maybe making a little more noise than necessary.

"What's wrong with cereal?" Dad complained, as he started measuring out flour.

"Alex is coming over for breakfast today," Willie told him. "So I'm making pancakes."

"Is he now?" Dad asked, before leaning over to give him sad puppy eyes. "What about your beloved father? Does he get pancakes?"

"What's wrong with cereal?" Willie snarked back, laughing when Caleb threw him a glare. "I'll make you pancakes if you promise to leave us alone to eat ours."

"Oh yes, I wouldn't want to interrupt your romantic date," Dad said. "You can have the dining room all to yourselves. I'll stay in here, with the coffee maker."

"Deal," Willie agreed. He went on to make the pancakes, loudly mixing (in the metal bowl for maximum noise) while Dad sipped his coffee. He was just pouring the first pancakes out on the griddle when the doorbell rang.

Just as planned.

Listen, it wasn't Willie's fault that Dad hadn't caught on to Alex living with them yet. Alex was too worried that Dad would say no and kick him out, which would mean he'd have to go live in the garage that Sunset Curve rented as a studio. Willie had tried to convince him that Caleb totally wouldn't mind, especially not with Alex' sad 'my parents don't want me back because I'm gay' backstory, but well, the anxiety brain weasels in his head won out.

Also, like, Willie kind of liked the chaos and sneaking around so he didn't push too hard. So every morning Alex would slip out of Willie's window, over the porch roof down one of the fancy support beams and pretend to come over, and every night Willie would say goodbye and then sneak him back in. Or, if Dad was working, just hide him in his room and pretend to be asleep when Dad got home. Or stage it so he'd been alone in the living room all evening.

So maybe he had to make some extra noise to drown out the sounds of Alex climbing down out of his window, with Dad already up. Not exactly a hardship for Willie. He liked being loud.

"I'll get it, don't leave the stove unattended," Dad said, bringing his coffee to the door and greeting Alex. It was always cute, the way Alex still stumbled over 'Caleb, Mister Covington, sir' after how long they'd been dating. Willie grinned, leaning over the island to press a kiss to Alex' cheek as Caleb made him a cappuccino with his fancy coffee maker.

He listened to his boyfriend make awkward small talk with his dad about 'if he got home alright' last night, going from Boring Normal Pancakes to Fun Pancakes with the last of the batter. A bat for Dad. Some (slightly lumpy) drum sticks for Alex. And a skateboard for himself. He placed those on the tops of the three stacks.

"Okay, done!" he said, dumping Dad's plate in front of him before dragging Alex to the dining room with him before he could roll his eyes.

The dining room, which was set up nicely, with a table cloth, the fancy silverware, and a small bouquet of flowers. On the seat opposite to Willie's, there was a fancy-looking box.

"Did I forget an anniversary?" Alex squeaked.

"Not unless I forgot it too," Willie said, going over to the Mysterious Box. It had Alex' name on it. He put down his plate, turning to Alex. "It's for you!"

Alex slowly approached, apprehensively shaking the box a little. It didn't sound like a bomb or anything. "You promise this isn't some kind of prank?"

"Hotdog, I swear it's not. Not from me, anyway." Did Luke and Reggie manage to break into their house? Dad had a great security system. Even though Willie had sometimes felt it was more to keep him In than it was to keep burglars Out. "Open it!"

"Okay," Alex said, putting the box on the table and using a fork to carefully lift the lid off at an arm's length. Willie hid behind him, peering over his shoulder, just in case it was some kind of glitter bomb.

When nothing happened, they moved closer, peering into the box.

Willie gasped. Inside was a soft, perfect, light pink dragon. It was the same one as Lancelot, except not squished and cuddled and spilled jam and glitter and paint on and washed for more than a decade.

"He's perfect," Alex said, gently lifting the dragon out of the box and hugging him close.

"Dude!" Willie said. "There's something on his tail!" He gently undid the ribbon. It was a key. A very familiar looking key.

"Well, if you weren't going to give him one, I thought I would," Dad said. He was standing just outside the dining room, leaning on the door frame, obnoxiously sipping his coffee. Keeping his promise, while still trolling the heck out of them.

"You knew?" Alex said, sounding scared.

"You boys aren't as subtle as you think," Dad said, smirking. "And if Alex is going to be living here, he needs his own stuffed animal."

"That's right," Willie agreed. "We take stuffed animals very seriously in this house."

Alex still looked a bit lost, hugging his dragon close. "You mean I can stay?" he whispered.

"Of course," Dad, coming into the dining room and putting a hand on Alex' shoulder. "You're always welcome here, Alex. How about we discuss the details after your romantic breakfast?" He winked at Willie.

Willie didn't even pretend to be mad, just catching his dad in a hug. "Thanks, Dad." All the sneaking around had been fun, but he'd known it would end up like this anyway. Well, he figured there's be more shouting first, but this was better.

"Wait, if you take stuffed animals so seriously, does that mean your dad has one too?" Alex asked Willie, as Dad retreated to the kitchen.

"Oh yeah, he has a big squishy bat I won for him at the fair when I was eleven," Willie said proudly. It still lived on Dad's fancy armchair in his bedroom.

"I use it to scream my frustrations into when my son does things like sneak his boyfriend in and out of the house for weeks!" Dad called.

"DAD! Stop ruining our romantic breakfast!" Willie called back, and Alex laughed, gently placing his new dragon on the chair next to him.

Yeah, things were going to be fine.

[mungroveslovechild]

Part 1

Billy woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. He groaned, keeping his eyes shut tight as he buried his head in the pillow below him.

When Billy finally peaks his eyes open and looks around the room his heart catches in his throat. Memories of last night came flooding back to him of his dad, showing up at the byers, smashing a plate over Steve's head, getting drugged and finally, showing up to Eddie's trailer half out of his mind.

Billy sighed before mustering all his strength to sit up. He looked around the cluttered room and realized this was the first time he'd see the super seniors room in the daylight.

He took a moment to take in the room, convinced he'd never see it again after Eddie kicked him to the curb. He looked around at the half painted figurines on Eddie's bedside table before his attention was caught on the silver rings littered all over the table.

Surely he wouldn't notice if one was missing, right?

Billy swiped his favorite ring from the others collection, rationalizing that he just wanted to steal it but he knew, knew that he couldn't stand to never see Eddie again without at least taking a small piece of him.

Once the ring was securely in his pocket, Billy heaved himself off the bed and made unsteady steps toward the door. The blonde took a deep breath before carefully creaking the door open only to get hit with the smell of bacon and coffee.

The teen made his way down the hall, cautious of his noises as he approached the kitchen. The closer he got, the better he heard the hushed whispers between two people.

"-hes not- it's not like that Wayne."

"All I'm saying is, he must like you an awful lot if he came here after being beaten to a pulp."

"He had nowhere else to go."

The kitchen fell silent before Billy decided to make his entrance. Eddie was hunched over a pan, stirring some eggs that were done 5 minutes ago and someone Billy didn't recognize was sitting in a chair, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.

"You're awake." Eddie mumbled, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Guess so." Was all Billy could grunt out before he was heading to the door, trying to save face as best he could while his heart was aching.

Eddie stood still at his spot at the stove, froze with indecisiveness. He felt stupid that maybe, maybe, billy would want to stay here, with him. Eddie scolded himself, he knew Billy was straight and he just needed a place to crash last night.

"Where you goin?"

Wayne's gruff voice cut through the quiet trailer as Billy reached his hand for the door. Billy tensed, the hairs on his neck standing on end.

"Home, sir." Billy responded stiffly.

The chuckle that rang from Wayne made Billy flinch, not that his laugh was mean or full of malice. The opposite really, it was full of humor.

"You can call me Wayne, son. You can also stay for breakfast if you'd like. You think that foods for me?" Wayne tilted his head toward Eddie blushing at the stove.

Blue eyes meet brown across the trailer. A thousand words are exchanged between them. Hope. A promise. A future.

A future Billy isn't sure he deserves.

Hope Eddie isn't sure he can hold on to any longer.

A promise of safety.

[scarisd3ad]

To the end and back | Daryl Dixon x f!reader

Chapter 12 - born to die

Masterlist

Taglist

Buy me a coffee <3

Previous >> next

Summary - after the world ended you were sure you’d never find love again but a certain archer catches your eyes and changes the entire trajectory of your life.

Warnings - death of a child, regular twd warnings

'Pretty much dead already'

S2 ep6

its early morning, and carol has cooked eggs for our group. we're all sitting around eating, mostly silently. Shane was fine unfortunately. after what happened last night, he was only left with a minor limp, a bruised-up face, a broken nose and the closest thing to a restraining order I can get these days. I'm sat in a fold out lawn chair next to Daryl with a plate of eggs in my lap. I didn't sleep much last night; I might have gotten an hour at most. I keep staring off into the distance, not at anything particularly just kind of zoning in and out, but I get woken out of it each time by Daryl who pats my knee and whispers "eat yer food." 

I stare down at my plate slowly spooning tiny amounts of eggs into my mouth. I look up to see Shane who is at glaring at me. his whole face is swollen, it almost looks like his entire face is just one large bruise. I kick Daryl's foot and look up at Shane to get Daryl's attention. it's not a problem to me, Shane is just staring but having the perks of one large man who will beat up any man who even tries messing with me was amazing. Daryl glares back at Shane, almost as if it's a threat. carol walks over to Daryl and scoops a little more eggs into his plate. "thanks" he mutters with a mouthful of eggs in his mouth. I watch as Glenn gets up and walks over so he's Infront of all of us. he's got his hands stuffed into his front pockets, and he just looks on edge, or maybe just nervous? "u-uhm guys..." he stutters out as he rubs at his jaw nervously. once he's got all of our attention he says "soo.." 

he lets out a long sigh before continuing "the barns full of walkers." 

we all look up at him brows furrowed. that's why he had been on edge the previous day. that's why he had been watching the barn all day. that's why Maggie wanted me to leave so they could talk. 

-

our group all ends up at the barn with Shane looking into it through a gap in the wood. now the growls, and groans of the walkers are way more apparent. I'm surprised Glenn was the first one to realize it, not Shane or rick it was Glenn. Shane normally was really cautious about new areas, he scoped out every area before letting anyone near it, I'm surprised he hadn't caught onto the barn sooner. Shane walks back towards up "you cannot tell me you're alright with this" Shane says to rick as Shane walks past rick. "No, I'm not, but we're guests here. this isn't our land." rick replies back. "This is our lives!" shouts Shane as he throws down his hat in frustration. "Lower your voices" Glenn warns. I can hear the walkers getting closer, they can hear us. if were not careful their going to try and break down the wall. "We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea says. I've got my arms crossed over my chest as I look at the barn. the doors are chained shut, which looks secure but how long will that hold up. just a few to many walkers pushing up against it could break it, and it would be just our luck if we were here when that happened. "It ain't right. not remotely."

Shane is pacing "okay, we either gotta go in there, make things right or we've just gotta go. now we have been talkin' about fort benning for a long time" Shane says stopping Infront of rick. "We can't go." rick hisses. we can't go because Lori's pregnant, if we go we're risking her life by not only not having a somewhat safe place to stay, but also were just throwing away the medical care we have through Hershel. he's got all types of medicines and experience in the field; we can't just throw all that away because of walkers in a sealed-up barn. "Why rick? why?" carol quickly cuts in "because my daughters still out there." Sophia was still out there too. we can't just leave her out there. no matter how much faith the others have in her, there is still a chance she's still alive. "okay" Shane scoffs as he cups his hands around his mouth "okay I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."

"We're not leaving Sophia behind!" I say, Daryl marches forwards "I'm close to findin' this girl I just found her damn doll two days ago!" Shane laughs sarcastically like it was funny to him that we were all so concerned about the little girl. "You found her doll, Daryl. that's what you did. you found a doll!" Daryl's brows furrow angrily it's like he's really begun to care for the others in the group unlike he used to. before he only got food for us because he got to get away from everyone, now he really cares.

"You don't know what the hell you're talkin' about!" Daryl shouts, rick holds his arm out really just to keep Daryl and Shane away from each other because Shane's 2 words away from getting his shit rocked again. "Look I'm just sayin' what needs to be said! you get a good lead, it's in the first 48 hours!" 

"Stop Shane!" rick says raising his hands trying to start the more violent confrontation we knew was going to happen. Shane doesn't listen to anybody but himself though so Shane shouts "let me tell you something else man. if she was alive out there and saw you comin' all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!" Daryl immediately starts walking towards Shane with is pointer finger pointing angrily obviously trying to fight. good thing rick was already in the middle of the two, rick holds Daryl back but he still try's coming at Shane. "I'll beat your ass if you come at me again!" shouts Shane. it takes a few of us holds each man back to stop the fight. I'm holding onto Daryl's arm tightly while Andrea is in front of him. it's easier to hold back Daryl than it is to hold back Shane. "Back off!"

I guess Lori had grabbed Shane or something which prompts Shane to say "keep your hands off of me" with his finger in her face. Shane starts to stomp off with Lori following shortly behind. "Let me talk to Hershel" rick says which makes Shane turn around "let me figure it out!" rick adds. my hand is still tightly wrapped around the area between Daryl's upper and lower arm. "What are you going to figure out?!" Shane shouts as he charges at rick. Lori steps in between the two placing her hand on Shane's chest. "If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. this is his land!" shouts rick. "Hershel sees those things in there as people- sick people. his wife, h-his stepson." dale says kind of trying to explain why Hershel keeps them. they were people but not anymore, they've been dead since they turned, we learned that the CDC. maybe if one of us explains to him that scientists had proved they were dead since they turned maybe he'd understand. "You knew?" rick asks with his brows furrowed in confusion. "Yesterday I talked to Hershel." dale explains.

"And you waited the night?" Shane asks. what if those things got out overnight, waiting over night was a bad decision on his part, on Glenns too. "I thought we could survive on more night! we did." dale says defending his decision. yeah, we did but there was still the risk of something happening especially with all the noise we had made last night. "I was waiting till this morning to say something, but Glenn wanted to be the one." dale says gesturing towards Glenn. "The man is crazy rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or no!" Shane gets worked up again and starts stomping his way towards rick. someone really needs to get that man some type of drug to calm his ass down. everyone freezes when the door starts the rattle, and the walkers behind it start to groan and growl louder, and angrier. Shane really needs to calm his ass down; all his screaming and whining has riled them up. 

-

I'm leaned up against a tree reading a book I've read what feels like a million times. its feels like I could read it with my eyes closed if I really wanted to. I'm reading to try and get my mind off of the barn, but it doesn't help much. I want to leave now, I used to feel like it was safe here, but now I feel like I'd be safer out on the road. I flip the page and I'm about to start reading the first sentence when I spot Daryl lugging a saddle out towards the horse stables. I groan as I drop my book beside me and push myself up off of the ground. he's really doing this shit again going out by himself with a horse, while he's barely healed enough to walk, let alone ride a horse and go out by himself. he's stressing me out. he's barely able to carry the saddle I don't know why he thinks he'll be able to go out and look for Sophia. 

I follow him into the stables and watch as he's barely able to put the saddle onto its stand. he grunts as he throws the saddle on top of the stand. he's worrying me there's no need for him to go out right now because rick is going out later. "You can't" I say, he limps his way over to some of the horse equipment and says, "I'm fine."  I roll my eyes and say, "Hershel said you need to heal." he grabs something and begins to limp his way over towards one of the horses "yeah, I don't care" of course he doesn't care but I do, and I don't want him going out by himself anymore. if the same thing happens again, I wouldn't be able to live with myself because that would mean I knew the risks and still let him go. "Well, I do. ricks going out later to follow the trail." I say trying to convince him that he doesn't need to go. "Yeah well, I ain't gonna sit around and do nothing" I don't know what to say to convince him he's done more than enough already. I just don't want him to get hurt again, I don't want him to run into the same problem again and not make it out alive this time. it was a miracle he was able to do it last time, but his luck is going to run out one day. "Daryl, you're gonna go out there and get yourself hurt even worse" I say, he ignores me. I don't know what to say to him to get him out of this mindset, I don't know what to say to myself to get myself out of the same mindset that I'm not doing enough, that no matter what I do it's not enough. I've been trying to convince myself that were going to find her so is Daryl, but I think we need to understand that that might not happen. I love Sophia to death, and I hope she's out there surviving but I need to understand that there is a chance that she might not, and that scenario is way more realistic now a days. Daryl might have been able to survive in the woods when he was Sophia's age, but Sophia has so many more obstacles in her way. 

"Daryl, we don't know if we're going to find her."  Daryl slowly turns my way with his brows furrowed "we don't" I repeat. "I don't..." I whisper he starts to approach me brows furrowed "what?" he asks. "I don't want to lose you too" a tear falls down my cheek. I've lost my family, my friends I can't lose him too. I can't let him go out there and die for a little girl who is most likely dead by now. he walks away like he's disappointed in me "Daryl I've lost my brother; I've lost everyone I can't los-" he stops in front of the saddle stand and looks back at me before picking up the saddle and chunking it with a grunt. he quickly doubles over in pain though gripping at his abdomen. I quickly rush to his side "are you alright?" I ask placing my hand on his back trying to help him, but he shoos me away "just leave me be!" he stays as he stumbles away from me "stupid bitch" he grumbles which makes me stop trying to follow him. "asshole" I mutter as I wipe the stray tear that had fallen down my cheek. I go back to my tree reading because I didn't really want him to be any madder at me than he is right now. I can't tolerate Daryl while he's being stubborn. he'll never admit I'm right no matter how right I am. 

it feels like he doesn't understand that I can't lose any more people, I can't physically take it anymore. I've lost my brother, my grandparents, and my friends I can't lose him too. if I lost him that would be the thing that would push me overboard. that would be the final thing to push me over the edge and he doesn't understand that I know that he is strong, and he could push his feeling down into his ass if he really wanted to, but I can't. if I lost him, I wouldn't be able to handle life anymore. I feel like the only other person I feel like that with I Glenn. if a lost Glenn I wouldn't be able to live anymore as well. both of them don't understand that and they just keep putting themselves in danger and it stresses me out.

I don't know how long I sit there reading but I go chapter by chapter getting more and more engrossed with the book as time goes on. I don't really even put the book down until I hear someone cough. I look up to see Daryl "hey" I mumble as I put the book down next to me. I'm not mad at him, but I'm disappointed that he doesn't care more about himself. he takes a seat on the ground next to me, gasping a little once he's sat down. "Be careful" I whisper as he picks up the book on the ground. the dust jacket had been ripped off ages ago when the book was gifted to my mother just leaving the maroon-colored hard cover. he looks at the back and then the front before he says "whatcha readin'?" I shrug as I grab the book from his hands and placing it to my right. "Hey, I'm sorry about early alrigh?" he asks I nod "it's fine" I say leaning my back against the tree. "You were mad" I add "you're allowed to be mad" I say grabbing his hand and caressing the top of it with my thumb. he's still a little tense with physical affection like holding hands, kissing, and stuff. I look up at him and smiles "I forgive you Daryl" I whisper leaning myself into him. I'm assuming he's never really experienced this type of relationship with a person before which makes him a bit awkward about it but it's alright. the awkwardness and tenseness melts off of him soon enough though. "If you really want to go out and look for her, I'll go with you. I just don't want you going out by yourself right now." I say. I turn back towards him and cup his face in my hands. his brows furrow together in confusion before I press my lips against his. my arms fall around his neck as he places one of his hands on my cheek.

we end up going back towards Hershel's house because we've both really haven't seen any of the others in our group since early this morning and didn't want to worry them. when we make it to Hershel's front porch carl is sitting on the porch with some of Hershel's family and Glenn, and Maggie are sitting on the steps. t-dog and Andrea are also walking towards the house just like Daryl and I. I don't see Lori, rick, dale, or Shane though. I just assume dale is up on his rv, but I can't really guess what the others are doing. "Do you know what's goin on?" t-dog asks as Glenn gets up from his place next to Maggie. "Where is everyone?" Andrea asks. both of their questions aren't answered by anyone. Glenn only replies with another question "you haven't seen rick?" I haven't really seen rick since this morning "he went off with Hershel. we were supposed to leave a couple hours ago" Andrea says. I wouldn't expect rick to just go off like that without telling someone. he wasn't like Shane, Shane goes and leaves as he pleased if he went out for water, he wouldn't tell anyone, if he went out for a run he'd only tell the select few he took with him. 

"yeah, you were, what the hell" Daryl says which makes t-dog and Andrea turn their heads towards us. rick had told us he was going out earlier before we all split up after the barn incident, and rick wasn't the type of person to go back on his word without talking to us as a group. "Damn it. isn't anybody taking this seriously?" Daryl says as everyone just kind of stares at us. "We got us a damn trail." Daryl says turning around and pointing angrily. now we see Shane walking up towards the house. he's got the bag of gun over his shoulder "oh here we go" Daryl says as he begins walking towards the man. there's something off about Shane though...there's always been something off about Shane ever since I met him, but it just seems like he's done something he knows we won't like, or at least something ricks wouldn't like. 

"what's all this?" Daryl asks as Shane takes a shot gun out of the bag and holding it out for Daryl. "You with me man?" Shane asks and Daryl takes the gun with a breathy "yeah." 

"Time to grow up you already got yours" Shane says to Andrea. we all know what he's talking about. clearing out the barn. I know rick isn't going to like this, Hershel isn't going to like this either. we're going to get our asses kicked out and we have a pregnant lady who needs all the medical attention we can get. if we get kicked out were going to have to do this all on our own, and that means there's a bigger chance of not only the baby dying but Lori as well. "Yeah...but where's dale?" Andrea asks a little skeptically, "he's on his way" Shane is being very vague about where dale is, and it makes me nervous. "Thought we couldn't carry." t-dog say as Shane hands him a gun. "yeah, well we can, and we have to." the people that had been sitting up in chairs on the porch have now gotten up and look a bit stressed especially Hershel's people. 

"Hey look, it's one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. but now we know it ain't." Shane begins to walk towards Glenn "how about you, man? you gonna protect yours?" Shane asks holding out a gun. Glenn looks to Maggie and then to the gun before letting out a sigh and grabbing it. Shane is satisfied with that answer so he turns to Maggie "can you shoot?" Shane asks. Maggie's brows are furrowed together angrily as she says, "can you stop? you do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight." we need this Lori needs this we can't just go around shooting up a storm because there's some walkers locked up in a barn. "What about you y/n?" he asks standing in front of me with a small handgun i shake my head he rolls his eyes before forcing it into my hand "We have to stay, Shane" carl speaks up. Lori rounds the corner "what is this" she asks confused as ever. 

"We ain't goin' anywhere, okay? now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand." Hershel isn't going to understand this though, Hershel is an old man who thinks those things are still people because they look human. he thinks they are people because they were people, they were friends, and family, but he needs to learn they aren't. we can't risk teaching him that though maybe in 9 months when Lori has given birth but not now. "Okay? he- well, he's gonna have to" my arms are folded over my chest. I can't believe so many of our people want to risk losing the safety of Hershel's farm. I know that most of them don't know about Lori, but Glenn does, and he still willingly took the gun. I know they are scared but we had lived out in the middle of nowhere with not shelter where walkers could get to use at any time, at least there isn't many over here and the majority are in Hershel's barn locked up. I'd rather stay here than go anywhere near a big city ever again. Shane takes his small handgun and begins to walk towards carl "now we need to find Sophia. am I right?" Shane says as he kneels in front of Carl, he's using Sophia to his advantage to get what he wants from Carl. he knows Carl cares for Sophia so he's using that to get Carl on his side.

"Now I want you to take this. you take it, carl, and you keep your mother safe. you do whatever it takes." Lori begins to rush towards her son because she doesn't need her 12-year-old son to protect her. when carl doesn't take the gun Shane says "you know how. go on, take the gun and do it" Lori pushes her son away from Shane and says "rick said no guns. this is not your call. this is not your decision to make." 

"Oh shit."

we all look over to see t-dog staring at rick and Hershel leading some walkers towards the barn with the help of one of ranch hands jimmy. Shane gets up from his kneeling position on the ground and begins to run towards rick and Hershel. we all follow after because they've got two walkers that they are leading towards us. "What the hell you doin!" shouts Shane as he pushes the metal fence door open and continues running towards rick. "Shane just back off!" rick warns as he pushes the walker away from Shane. "Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asks. Shane is kind of pacing as he shouts, "are you kiddin' me!? you, see?! you see what they're holdin onto!!" Shane rounds back around towards us as Hershel shouts "I see who I'm holding onto!" which angers Shane even more. "No man, you don't!" 

rick is trying to calm Shane down but there really isn't any use because when Shane's all riled up like this there is no getting him down. "Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk" rick tries reasoning with him. "Let me do this and then we'll talk" but Shane wants to do something now and the thing he wants now is the clear the barn. "What you want to talk about, rick!?" shouts Shane. Daryl has his gun pointing right at one of the walkers, it's kind of strange seeing him with a gun and not with his crossbow. I've got the gun Shane handed to me held tightly in my left hand. I'm just as scared as everyone else but I'm just as much scared of getting kicked out of here. "These things ain't sick. they're not people! they're dead! ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, is they kill!" Shane shouts. Shane paces back and forth angrily "these things right here, they're the things that killed Amy! they killed Otis! they killed your brother!" Shane shouts while pointing at me when he mentions my brother. I shouldn't have told him about that. it embarrasses me a bit because it feels like he's calling me out. "they're gonna kill all of us!" I look back to see Lori and carl walking up towards us. she has Carl's hand in hers and both their brows are furrowed up in confusion and concern.

 "Shane, shut up!' rick shouts which isn't really effective because Shane continues to talk. I look back at Lori pleading for her to save me, or at least save herself and her son before something bad happens. "Hey Hershel man, let me ask you something." Shane stops and pulls his gun out "could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?" he loads the gun before pointing it at the walker.

POW POW POW.

"NOO!" 

he shoots the walker three times in the chest, and it basically just walks it. it has no reaction but the little jolts from its body when the bullet first hit the walker. "STOP IT!" shouts rick, again Shane doesn't listen and just continues shouting "that's three rounds in the chest! could someone who's alive, could they just take that?" he sounds crazy screaming and shouting. "Why is it still coming?!" shouts Shane before raising his gun again.

POW POW POW.

"that's its heart, its lungs! why is it still coming?!"

POW POW POW.

the walker groans as it gets pushed back a bit by the bullets. "Shane! enough!" rick defending Hershel pisses Shane off even more. "Yeah, you're right, man. that is enough" he says walking past them, and shooting the walker in the head right as he passes by. the walkers head jerks back before falling to the ground. were all dead silent, were still a little shocked by the confrontation that just took place before our eyes. Shane's not done yet though, so he turns back around "enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone!" Shane shouts as he stomps towards the barn. we all know what he's going to do, it's been his plan since he found out about the barn this morning. "Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us! enough! rick it ain't like it was before!" he marches a bit forward before continuing shouting "now if yall want to live, if you want to survive you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now!" Shane begins to run back towards the barn.

 rick holds out the snare pole in his hands "take the snare pole! Hershel! Hershel take the snare pole!"  Hershel is on his knees, he seems like he doesn't really know what's going on "Hershel, listen to me, man, please!" rick pleads "take it now. Hershel!" ricks desperately crying out for Hershel to just take it. Hershel is still in this dazed like state though. "Hershel! take it!" Shane takes a pickaxe to the lock on the barn doors. "No Shane! do not do this, brother! wait!" Shane keeps going at the lock, hitting it over and over again despite our desperate pleas for him to stop. after several failed attempts to break the lock, he just takes the tip of the pickaxes and breaks the lock off. once the lock is off, he grabs the wooden slab and throws it to the side. we're still screaming for him to stop, but he doesn't. Shane bangs on the door and shouts "come on. come on we're out here!" Shane backs up and pulls his gun out. the door creaks open and out comes the walkers. I've got the gun gripped tightly in my hands ready to shoot but only if I need to. 

there's so many in there I actually can't believe it. they just keep coming out and when I think there's no more out comes a few more. the people closer to the walkers are shooting at them. all I can hear is the sounds of gunshots. I don't know what to do, should I go up and help or just stay here. it looks like Shane, Andrea, t-dog, Glenn, and Daryl's got it covered. I'll only shoot if I really need to. there's so many I'm not sure I've ever seen so many walkers in one place, well other than in the city. Shane turns back towards rick before shooting the walker rick had. Lori has carl on the ground covering his ears. I'm frozen, I can't move and I'm terrified, I can't breathe it feels like I'm holding my breath but I'm not. there's a pile of corpses in front of the barn and I don't think I've smelt something this bad. once we think there's no more, and everyone lowers their guns the door creaks open, and a smaller very recognizable walker stumbles out. everything from the shoes to the hair cut is recognizable. the blue shirt with a rainbow she wore that day is all tattered and dirty now. 

she's recognizable but unrecognizable at the same time it's her we know it, but we never expected to see her like that. She's dead. even though I had said earlier that she could be dead I didn't want that to be the case. I wanted her to beat all the odds, I wanted to find her in some random home alive, I wanted to take her back to carol and witness the long-awaited reunion of the mother and daughter. carol runs up sobbing "Sophia! Sophia!" and Daryl has to hold her back. I actually can't breathe now. all the air is caught in my throat and tears are building up in my eyes. how long had she been in there? had she gotten bitten the same day she went missing? she died alone. all I can think about is that little girl died alone without her mom to help her. Sophia stumbles through the piles of corpses towards us. rick takes one for the team and begins to walk towards Sophia. he pulls out his guns pointing it at her before shooting her right in the head. carols sobbing as Daryl has his arms wrapped around her torso holding her down.

Previous >> next

Taglist

@rivversin @soul4death @furiousheartpoetry @silicone-bonez @your-shifting-gurl @maziejay08 @oi-itse @nezukos-number1fan

[ducki3qua3k]

Chapter 1: Welcome to Banban's Kindergarten

A/N: So by now I'm sure you must've heard of Garten of Banban, but if you haven't already Garten of Banban is an indie mascot horror game. It's become pretty popular recently with big streamers and YouTubers such as Markiplier, CaseOh, and other people playing it.

I first caught wind of it when the first game was released and I thought it was pretty good, so I continued to watch as the other games were released.

It's safe to say I have grown obsessed with it and it has almost become a comfort game for me. It's just too campy to hate, y'know. Anyways let me get back on topic, I decided to join the hype train and write a fanfic of it. I basically wanted to expand the world and give it a little more context.

I originally wrote it from a fem pov, but I'll try to write more gender-inclusive stuff in the future. I also decided to name your son Andy, but if you don't like it you can always change it. I mainly wanted to name him Andy after Andy from Child's Play and Andy from Toy Story (I also left a small Toy Story reference somewhere in the text lol).

Let me stop rambling and just cut to the story. I hope you enjoy this and if you do I might consider continuing this and dropping some other stuff if you're interested.

I don't even know where to begin... I made a lot of mistakes in life. Like a lot of mistakes.

For example, falling in love with my high school sweetheart, got pregnant, decided to keep the baby, and then had my parents kick me out. To top it all off, my high school sweetheart broke up with me, leaving me to navigate being a single mother alone.

But one mistake I never regretted was my son, Andy.

For a long while, I debated just giving the baby up for adoption and begging for my parents to take me back in. That was until I saw and held him in my arms for the first time. I instantly fell in love and knew I had to take care of him, no matter what happened.

I had managed to secure two jobs that helped pay the bills and found a small apartment for us to live in. The walls may have been thin, and the furniture may have been secondhand, but it was ours, a place where Andy could grow and thrive.

My scholarship was a saving grace, easing the financial burden of pursuing my education. Even though the days were long and exhausting, I pushed through, fueled by the determination to give Andy a better future. Juggling assignments, late shifts, and early mornings with a baby in tow was no easy feat, but every moment spent with Andy made it all worthwhile.

The sideways glances and hushed whispers that followed me as I navigated through the day were like a constant buzz in the background. People judged, people talked, but I had learned to tune them out. Their opinions didn't matter; what mattered was Andy's well-being and happiness.

As Andy grew older, he became a ray of sunshine in my life, his laughter filling our small apartment with warmth. Despite the challenges we faced, his presence brought joy and purpose to my days.

After finally settling into a routine of balancing work, school, and caring for Andy, life seemed to be slowly falling into place.

That was until recently...

Andy turned five, a milestone that brought both excitement and apprehension to my heart. As his birthday approached, the reality of enrolling him into kindergarten loomed over me like a dark cloud, casting shadows of uncertainty and worry.

I knew the time had come to take the next step, to send Andy off to his first school experience. It was a moment I had been dreading, knowing that once he stepped into that classroom, he would be taking a leap into the world beyond our little cocoon of safety and familiarity.

It was during one of our routine walks around the neighborhood that I first caught wind of the new kindergarten opening up near us. The news spread like wildfire among the parents, whispers of a state-of-the-art facility with promises of innovative teaching methods and a vibrant learning environment.

The air was heavy with tension, filled with the murmurs of worried parents and the occasional sound of a ringing phone. Every passing minute felt like an eternity, each second dragging on in agonizing silence. I couldn't bear the uncertainty, the gnawing fear that gripped my heart like a vice.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, a stern-faced officer called my name. My heart leaped into my throat as I stood up, my legs trembling beneath me. I trailed behind him as we walked down a lengthy corridor, the bright fluorescent lights flickering above us, offering a glimmer of hope in the darkness.

We entered a small, dimly lit room, and I took a seat across from the officer, my hands trembling in my lap. He fixed me with a serious gaze, his eyes searching mine for any hint of emotion.

"We've been investigating the school," he began, his voice steady but grave. "And I'm afraid to say that we haven't found any trace of your son, Andy, or any of the other children who were in the kindergarten that day."

My heart plummeted into the depths of despair, an icy chill spreading through my veins. Andy, my sweet, innocent boy, was missing without a trace. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I had to stay strong for Andy.

"Please, is there anything else you can tell me? Any leads, any clues?" I pleaded, my voice barely above a whisper.

The officer shook his head solemnly, his expression pained. "I'm sorry, ma'am. We're doing everything we can to find out what happened, but it's like they've all vanished into thin air."

I felt a surge of frustration and helplessness wash over me. How could this be happening? Where was my precious Andy? The officer promised to keep me updated with any recent developments, but as I left the station, a heavy weight settled in the pit of my stomach.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into a torturous eternity of not knowing. The constant ache of uncertainty gnawed at my mind, driving me to the brink of madness. I couldn't bear the thought of never seeing Andy again, of never hearing his laughter or feeling his small arms wrapped around me in a tight hug.

And so, fueled by a mother's love and desperation, I made a decision. As the darkness of night descended upon the city, I gathered my resolve and set out to uncover the truth behind Banban's Kindergarten and find my missing son, no matter the cost.

I got past the gate and endless police tape before reaching the door. I took out a lock pick, and after a couple of attempts, finally opened the door.

I took a deep breath in and prepared myself to discover whatever was going on with this school and find my son.

As I entered the building, I couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. The once colorful and warm interior filled with excited kids racing through the halls now felt lonely and unnerving.

I glanced at the mural on the wall of the school's mascots. From what you remember Andy telling you, there's Banban, Banbanleena, Jumbo Josh, Stinger Flynn, Opila Bird, and Captain Fiddles.

It was a strange batch of characters that would make most children excited, but you just found them unsettling. Especially Banban, the supposed leader and main character. You've always found something off about him, especially with his weird obsession with pancreases and the fact you weren't exactly sure what he was. Some kind of devil or red monster?

I brushed it off and carefully began to explore the area. I noticed most of the doors required a key card to get past, and one door seemed to be a maintenance room.

I looked around for the key to the door, before finding a blue key card sitting on the reception desk. I unlocked the door and found a remote and drone waiting inside.

Unfortunately, it needed batteries, but fortunately enough, I found a note with familiar handwriting. It was Andy's.

I quickly skimmed it to see what he could've possibly written. It read: 'Dear Mommy, I am hiding in a room, but I have to fight the monster. It's the only way to make Claire like me' with two stick figures which seemed to be him and another girl Claire, trying to fight some strange bird.

I quickly put a hand over my mouth to choke back a sob. I felt so relieved to know he was alright, but now I had to worry about finding him.

With renewed determination, I set out to locate the batteries for the drone. I scoured the cafeteria area, my eyes scanning every corner until I spotted two batteries tucked away in a forgotten corner.

Returning to the maintenance room, I swiftly inserted the batteries into the drone, a soft hum filling the air as it came to life. Since I couldn't reach the button, I decided to use the drone to push it instead and somehow it worked.

As the doors of the mysterious kindergarten creaked open, I couldn't help but feel a surge of pride at my quick thinking. The drone had come through for me, pushing the unreachable button and granting me access to the unknown corridor beyond.

However, that fleeting sense of pride quickly dissipated as the doors swung wide open, revealing a dark, empty corridor that seemed to stretch on endlessly.

Before me lay a large indoor playground, designed to mimic a forest setting, complete with artificial trees and foliage. In the center of the room, I saw the bird once more, perched in front of a boarded-up ball pit. This time, however, it appeared to be a lifeless, animatronic figure rather than a living creature.

That's when I noticed a message scrawled on the wall behind the bird, written in bold letters: 'Opila Bird mission! Opila Bird is unbelievably hungry! Find all 6 eggs to get your prize.'

I figured that finding these eggs would somehow open the blocked-off room, so I searched around for any of the eggs.

I managed to find all of them and fed them to the Opila bird. With a mechanical whirr, the bird's eyes glowed a bright red, and a high pitched, shrieking noise emanated from its beak. It opened its maw and, to my surprise, spat out a yellow key card onto the ground.

I pocketed the key card and made my way towards the classroom across from the playground.

The door creaked open with a soft groan, revealing a small, brightly colored classroom.

My eyes scanned the room, taking in the familiar sight of colorful plastic chairs and tables arranged haphazardly around the space. A whiteboard stood at the front of the room, the words 'the end is near' scrawled across it in messy handwriting.

In the corner of the room, a solitary chair sat surrounded by a low barrier of yellow glass, a sign above it declaring it as the 'naughty corner. The idea of a child actually being forced to sit there rubbed you the wrong way, but you supposed it was a much more humane type of punishment than the ones you've heard of.

My attention was drawn to a yellow card reader mounted on the wall near the time-out corner. Remembering the key card I had obtained from the Opila bird, I inserted it into the reader. A button lit up, prompting me to direct the drone to press it once more.

As the button was pushed, a blue locker in the corner of the room clicked open, revealing its contents.

Inside, a crumpled note with the words 'distraction 1' caught my eye, accompanied by a sturdy hammer resting beside it. The significance of the note eluded me, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it held a clue to the mysteries surrounding this strange kindergarten.

Recalling the boarded-up ball pit in the playground, I knew the hammer could be the key to unlocking the next phase of my search for Andy. I pocketed the note and the hammer before making my way back to the playground.

I stepped forward, raised the hammer, and began to methodically pry away the wooden boards with each thud of the hammer against the wood reverberating through the room.

As the last board clattered to the ground, I cautiously stepped into the ball pit room, my eyes widened in shock at the sight that greeted me.

The room was dominated by a gaping, dark hole that seemed to stretch endlessly into an ominous abyss. The darkness within was so deep and consuming, it felt as though it could swallow me whole.

Questions raced through my mind in a frantic whirl. How could such a perilous void exist within an elementary school? What if a child accidentally stumbled and fell into this treacherous pit of darkness? The mere thought sent a shiver down my spine, a chill that gripped me with a sense of foreboding.

After a momentary pause, I noticed another yellow key card reader and inserted the card.

Suddenly, a faint whirring sound filled the air, and to my surprise, a ski lift descended from the ceiling, its metallic frame gleaming in the dim light. The unexpected sight left me momentarily stunned, but I quickly composed myself and took a seat, the soft hum of the lift's machinery resonating around me.

Pressing the button on the wall, the ski lift ascended slowly, carrying me above the dark expanse below. The lack of railings made me squirm a bit in my seat, the precariousness of the situation not lost on me. Every creak of the lift, every sway, felt like walking across a tightrope.

As the ski lift came to a halt, I disembarked, my heart racing with a mix of apprehension and curiosity. Before me loomed a puzzling challenge. The mascots of the kindergarten lined up with the enigmatic question, 'What's my color?' scrawled on the wall. Banban, Banbanleena, Opila, each with their distinct hues, their animated eyes seeming to follow my every move.

Furrowing my brow in concentration, I racked my brain, recalling the colors of each mascot as if my son's fate depended on it.

From what you recalled, Banban was red, Banbanleena was white, Jumbo Josh was green, Captain Fiddles was light purple, Opila was pink, and Stinger Flynn was orange.

My answer must've been right, because the lights all lit up green and unlocked the locker. With cautious optimism, I reached out to grab the orange key card that emerged from the newly opened locker.

However, my fleeting moment of triumph was abruptly shattered by the low hum of machinery coming to life. A chill ran down my spine as I turned to see the familiar, ominous figure of the bird from earlier, now looming closer as it was carried towards me by the mechanism of the ski lift.

Its red eyes gleamed malevolently in the dim light, and I could feel the weight of its gaze bore into me. The air in the room seemed to thicken with tension, and a sense of urgency gripped my heart. This was no time for celebration; danger lurked just around the corner, ready to pounce.

Instinct kicked in, adrenaline fueling my actions as I swiftly pocketed the orange key card and scanned the room for a means of escape. The ski lift groaned ominously as it drew nearer, the bird's presence casting a shadow over my every thought. I needed to act fast and think faster.

Without a moment's hesitation, I grabbed my trusty drone, its familiar hum a comforting buzz in the midst of chaos. With a steady hand, I maneuvered it towards the looming bird, a bead of sweat trickling down my temple.

"Come on...Come on!" I whispered urgently, willing the drone to hit the button with precision. Time seemed to slow as the drone closed the distance, the birds advance relentless. The weight of the moment pressed down on me, a symphony of fear and determination playing in my veins.

And then, with a sharp click, the button was pressed. A surge of relief flooded through me as a pathway materialized out of the wall. Without hesitation, I leaped onto the newly formed path, my heart pounding in rhythm with my frantic steps.

The bird, now in hot pursuit, its presence a looming threat at my heels, drove me forward. The urgency of the moment was palpable, each heartbeat a thunderous drumbeat in my ears. The other side beckoned, a glimmer of hope amidst the chaos.

With a final, desperate leap, I cleared the gap and landed on the opposite platform, my breath ragged in my chest. The emergency stop button caught my eye, a last resort in the face of danger. With a swift motion, I inserted the orange key card; the mechanism whirring to life at my touch.

A cacophony of screeches filled the air as the bird, now thwarted in its pursuit, plummeted into the dark abyss below. The resounding thud reverberated through the room, a grim reminder of the peril that lurked within this twisted place.

As the sound of the bird’s demise disappeared, I paused to compose myself, calm my racing heart, and gather my resolve. I finally got up and decided to continue on my journey.

The adrenaline from narrowly escaping the relentless Opila bird still pulsed through my veins as I approached the door at the end of the hallway.

With a deep breath, I inserted the orange key card into the slot, the metallic click echoing in the empty hallway. The door slid open with a faint hiss, revealing a dimly lit room beyond.

Steeling myself, I stepped inside; the door shutting with a soft thud behind me. The room was smaller than I expected, barren except for a few mismatched chairs and a desk with a computer perched on top.

My eyes landed on a card reader hidden under the desk, its red light beckoning me forward. Without hesitation, I activated it with the orange key card, not knowing what to expect next. Suddenly, the ground trembled beneath my feet, and before I could react, half of the floor slid down, revealing a hidden elevator shaft.

I watched in awe as an elevator ascended from the depths below, its metal doors opening with a soft ding. Hope surged within me as I realized this might be the way to find my missing son, Andy. Without a second thought, I stepped into the elevator; the doors closing behind me with a mechanical hum.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly until the lights abruptly started flickering a sinister shade of red, bathing the small space in a crimson glow.

A low, guttural growl reverberated through the metal walls, sending shivers down my spine. Panic welled up within me as I frantically searched for the source of the ominous sound. Suddenly, a massive clay hand clamped onto the railing of the elevator, causing it to lurch and shake violently.

I staggered, trying to maintain my balance as a colossal figure loomed into view. It was Jumbo Josh, but this version was grotesque, almost monstrous, in its clay-like form. Before the situation could escalate further, the elevator plummeted, sending us both into a free fall, the world spinning around us in a dizzying blur.

The sudden drop stole my breath, and as darkness closed in around me, I could only brace myself for what awaited at the bottom of this unexpected descent.