#and I’m sure if either of us were in a situation like jacks then some things just would not matter to us lmao

[soullessjack]

sorry I truly don’t understand how people treat dean not knowing ‘the basics’ for Jack to be admitted to a hospital as some kind of argument for him being a bad father lmao.. Like numero uno he lived his entire life completely independent of any actual medical attention so what the fuck would he know to tell a receptionist and numero dos: the entire episode he is stressing the fuck out about Jack’s condition and anxious to get help for it without all the legal distractions that’s Literally it

[freeabortionslol]

being best friends with the hughes and jack having always been in love with her and everyone knows but her. they finally get together and when jack tell everyone’s no one’s believes him and thinks he joking

okay...so i may have done like way too much plot for this but I honestly cant help myself. i also don't know if this was a request for a fic or a text but I wrote a fic (oops drop it in my inbox if you wanted it as a text and I'll do it)

it's nice to have a friend(jack hughes x bsf!reader)

summary: fluff! pining (from jack ofc), bsfs to lovers, luke being an absolute child, basically jack picking you up on a rescue misson

warnings!! cursing, kissing

wc: 3k

“Y/n L/n drunk and crying on the curb. You’re in your element.” Jack smiled at you out the passenger window from the driver's seat. You had been out with your friends for a girls night. It was supposed to be fun and you were supposed to let loose, but instead you found yourself chasing your wasted friends around all night. You were too busy making sure they wouldn’t do anything stupid to have any fun of your own. When you went to the bar to get a drink you turned around and they were gone. They left you by yourself in the city in the middle of the night, and being scared to ride in an Uber alone, you decided to call your best friend, Jack.

“I’m not drunk, asshole. I’m barely even tipsy.” You got up to stand, walking towards the car door, hopping in with one swift motion. You climbed into the seat, slamming the door behind you, and crossing your arms. Jack’s gaze lingered over you for a moment watching your misery which he hated more than anything. He graced you with an empathetic half smile before turning his hazards off and driving the car back onto the road. 

He sighed deeply, turning the radio down slightly “What happened?” he asked softly.

“Maria and Chloe left me in the bar alone. Some creep was all over me at the bar and I guess they assumed I was good with him.” You sniffled out, wiping your eyes with the back of your hand. “I spent the whole night chasing them around.” Jack placed a hand on your shoulder, rubbing it comfortingly. “I just wanted one night of my own to let loose and have fun.” You flailed your arms in the air letting tears escape your eyes. 

“Hey, the night is still young.” You turned your head to look over at him, noticing how perfect his jawline looked through the street lights. “We can still have fun. Luke’s staying with Quinn in Vancouver. We'll hang out just the two of us like old times.” Jack’s words settled in, and you couldn’t help the small smile tugging at your lips. Despite the situation, he always knew how to lift your spirits.

You glanced over to him, letting out a deep breath. “Yeah? Sure you’re up for it? It’s already almost one.”

Jack scoffed playfully and squeezed your shoulder. “Of course I am. You’re my favorite person and we can’t have you sad on a Saturday evening.” 

The drive back to the apartment was silent for the most part. You watched out the window, the familiar streets making you feel more at ease. You and Jack walked through the apartment complex in silence, watching as he fiddled for his keys in his pocket. You stepped through the door, letting the scent of the cinnamon candle fill your nose. You felt almost immediately at ease as you flopped onto Jack’s bed, letting his soft duvet entrap your body.

“Get out of my bed.” Jack laughed, pulling you up by your arm.

“Why? I’m so tired.” You pouted, giving him puppy eyes.

“You know the rule, no outside clothes in my bed. No makeup either, you’ll get it on the white sheets.” Jack smiled as he walked over to his dresser, pulling out a devils t-shirt and a pair of boxers for you to wear.

“Nuh uh. Your dick has been in those.” You crossed your arms, glaring at Jack who had the clothes in hand.

“They’ve been washed. Don’t get your panties in a twist.” He threw them over to you.

“Correction, don’t get these Jack Hughes gray Calvin Klein boxers in a twist.” You said, making your way towards the bathroom. You slipped your sweaty black dress off your body, stealing some of Jack’s deodorant before pulling the shirt over your head. You took a moment to stare at yourself in the mirror, analyzing everything that had gone wrong tonight. You felt a small sense of betrayal from your friends as sadness crept up on you. You wondered what kind of friend would leave you alone in a bar with some random man in the middle of the night with no ride home. Jack would never do that, no he would’ve never let the guy get within two feet of you. Suddenly relief washed over you, realizing that you were safe at Jack’s house and not sleeping on the floor of Chloe’s apartment. He wanted nothing more than to make you comfortable, though you couldn’t tell why. You pulled the boxers up and began carefully wiping your makeup off with the neutrogena makeup wipes that Jack kept at his place for you. You started to glance around the bathroom noticing that he kept a lot of things here for you. You always knew they were there because you used them, but you never really took attention to the gesture. You looked down at the sink seeing your pink toothbrush, whitening strips, cerave face wash, and your expensive mouthwash he knows you like. You turned your head to the back of the toilet where Jack had put various feminine products in glass containers. You glanced at the shelves in the shower at your shampoo, conditioner, sugar scrub, shaving cream, and your razor. That’s a lot of things that cost a good bit of money. You thought to yourself, this place screams “I have a girlfriend” do girls not notice these when they come over? Come to think of it, Jack’s never really mentioned girls around you. You knew he had them of course from Luke and Quinn, but you never bothered to ask him thinking it may cross a line. You however, spent endless hours talking his ear off about your male conquests. Guys from work, home, bars, hinge, you name him and Jack’s heard about him.

“You good in there?” Jack knocked on the door.

“Y-yeah i’m alright just finishing taking off my makeup.” You replied, his voice breaking your trance.

“Just making sure you didn’t pass out.” You couldn’t see him, but you could sense his sly smile through his voice.

“I’m not drunk, Jack!” You shouted, kicking the door which resulted in several giggles from him. You wiped the final streak of eyeliner off your face and made your way out of the bathroom. You immediately caught sight of Jack lounging on the bed in his sweatsuit, computer in his lap. He looked up from the screen to subtly stare at you in his clothes. His eyes softening at the sight of you, his shirt fit comically large around your frame, but it was perfect to him in some way.

“Gonna keep staring at me like some fuckin’ weirdo?” You raised your eyebrows at him.

He scoffed, “Sit down, pretty girl.” He scooched over so you could lay beside him, your shoulders brushing against each other as you took your spot.

“No, pretty girl left a few seconds ago when I took off my makeup.” You turned your face slightly to look at him. A smile was already growing across his face.

“Impossible. There’s one looking at me right now.” The two of you held your gaze for a few moments, neither of you sure what to do next. Your heart began to pound as you thought of the possibility of him kissing you. You quickly turned your face towards the laptop screen.

“So what are we watching?” You cleared your throat, your head finding its place to rest on his shoulder.

“Not one of those stupid romcoms you like.” You smacked his shoulder playfully and scoffed.

“You love those movies!” 

“Wrong. I liked Ten Things I Hate About You.”

“So, that's the pick?” Jack groaned, throwing his head back.

“Fine! But no crying.” He started typing the movie into the search engine, clearly pretending to grumble about it. You settled against him, head on his shoulder, letting yourself sink into his skin as the movie started. His arm wrapped around you, pulling you closer, and you tried to distract yourself from the way his thumb absentmindedly traced patterns along your arm. You could feel him stealing glances of you as the movie went on, his head shifting slightly. You felt the warmth of his gaze and couldn’t help to sneak a few back, each one resulting in a smirk or a soft laugh from him. It was enough to make your heart race. As the poem scene began playing, you couldn’t help but let tears fall. You shifted to wipe your eyes, feeling silly but not caring.

Jack chuckled, pulling you in closer, his voice low and teasing “I thought we agreed no crying.”

“Shut up.” You mumbled, hiding your face in his shoulder. “I’ve seen it so many times, but it just gets me y’know?”

He rested his chin on your head, giving you a gentle squeeze. Your heart thudded as he pulled back slightly to look down at you, his face closer than ever, his blue eyes scanning your expression trying to read your thoughts. You felt a rush of courage and held his gaze, feeling the redness rise to your cheeks. Finally, Jack spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Y’know you don’t need makeup for me. You’re perfect the way you are.” You blinked, catching your breath as his words sunk in. He brushed a strand of hair from your face and before you could think twice, you found yourself leaning in to close the gap between the two of you. Maybe it was the confidence of the alcohol, but that had almost entirely worn off. Jack’s eyes flickered with something unspoken as he met you halfway, his lips pressing softly to yours for a lingering kiss. The two of you held the kiss for a moment, his teeth subtly biting your bottom lip gently. His hand moved to cup the back of your head, as yours moved to his arm. The kiss intensified in an instant, releasing every amount of tension that kept it hidden for so long. You both pulled back, foreheads resting against each other, each of you breathless. He stole one last kiss, before pulling away entirely, smiles growing slowly as the realization hit.

“I love you.” He cooed out, his hand still resting on the back of your head. You let out a soft laugh, moving to rest your forehead in the crook of his neck, wrapping your arms around his body.

“I love you too, Jacky.” He quickly moved his hands to wrap around your waist, pulling you in closer to his body, letting the scent of your perfume entrap him. Your legs were tangled, letting yourself drift off to sleep as the tv played softly in the background, neither of you watching any longer. Jack waited until you were asleep before moving you over, so he could spoon you letting himself breathe. He pulled his phone from the nightstand with his freehand to text his brothers about tonight's victory.

Jack: Guys I did it. She’s mine. Told her I loved her.

Luke: Who?

Jack: Y/n

Quinn: HAHA no way

Jack: Yes way

Luke: No. Number one you're too much of a little bitch to ever tell her, two she would never ACTUALLY go for you.

Quinn: As much as I want you to go for it, you never would

Jack: I DID I SWEAR

Luke: Yeah okay pal cya tomorrow

The night was peaceful, you and Jack were wrapped in each other throughout your sleep. The morning light was harsh on your eyes which Jack took notice of, and got up from the bed to close the blinds. You subtly shifted your body onto the pillow at the sense of Jack’s absence. He chuckled softly and moved his way to the kitchen to start preparing breakfast. Luke was coming home today with Quinn alongside him. He didn’t expect to have you over last night, but my goodness was he happy about it. Jack began mixing batter in a bowl for the pancakes, letting his mind drag him to the memory of you sound asleep next to him in his bed. He wanted every night to be that way. He glanced over to his door hoping that maybe you would stumble out of his room, but he knew you were tired from the night before. He was in the middle of flipping a pancake when he heard the front door open, followed by the familiar voices of his brothers. 

“Guess who's back!” Luke shouted, walking into the apartment, throwing his bag on the couch. “Ooh! Pancakes!” Luke ran to the kitchen trying to get in Jack’s way, to which he responded by pulling the plate of finished pancakes out of Luke’s grasp.

“Uh uh! Go wash your hands first.” Luke groaned and made his way to the closest bathroom, which was Jack’s.

“You’re such a mom.” Quinn remarked, taking a seat at a barstool. “Funny joke last night, but seriously you need to tell Y/n how you feel. Even if she doesn’t feel the same, it’ll at least stop you from following her around like a lovesick puppy.” Jack slammed the stack of pancakes on the counter, pulling out four plates instead of three which Quinn didn’t take notice of.

“I’m not joking. I actually did it.” Jack scoffed.

“Uh huh sure, and I quit my job last night.” Quinn laughed out as Jack sent him a middle finger. The scene was quickly interrupted by Luke storming out of Jack’s room, running towards the kitchen. “Woah, Luke. Slow down.” Luke was panting, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath from the run he just took.

“There's…A…” He took deep breaths before every word.

“There’s a what?” Quinn questioned, pulling a pancake from the pile onto his plate.

“There’s a girl in Jack’s bed.” He panted out. Quinn’s eyes widened, immediately shifting his gaze to Jack who was smirking.

“So mr I confessed my love to Y/n last night has a girl in his bed?” Jack threw his head down at the stupidity of his brother. “Knew you were lyin”

“WHO DO YOU THINK THE GIRL IS?” Jack yelled, a wide smile across his face. Luke’s mouth dropped immediately, forgetting about the pancakes he ran back to Jack’s room, Quinn following close behind. Luke didn’t think twice before jumping on the bed throwing his body over yours. You awakened in an instant, you rubbed your eyes and looked up to Luke who was wearing a sly smile. 

“Gross Luke. How much axe body spray did you put on?” You groaned out, your eyes still not fully opened.

“No! Gross Y/n. You kissed our brother!” Quinn stated as he moved his way onto the bed, lying down next to you, propping himself up on his elbows. You squinted your eyes, trying to find the strength to keep them open. 

“She’s in his bed, they definitely did more than kissing.” Luke laughed out and you sent him a hit to the shoulder.

“Get off me you asshole!” You pushed Luke off, climbing your way out of the bed and towards Jack's dresser. 

“After all this time I can’t believe he actually did it.” Quinn let out with a chuckle as you pulled one of Jack’s hoodies from the drawer.

“What are you talking about?” You said pulling the hoodie over your head.

“Dude, Jack’s been in love with you since like seventh grade.” Luke shifted his position to the edge of the bed as you turned to face him.

“Are you serious?” You squinted your eyes, crossing your arms.

“Are you kidding? You never knew? He made it so painfully obvious.” Quinn chuckled, throwing his head back slightly. You stood there still processing what Quinn said, your heart pounding at the revelation. Jack had been in love with you since seventh grade? How did you miss that? All those little gestures, every time he was always there when you needed him, the way he’d listened to you talk about every guy you dated, even if you could sense his slight discomfort. It all made sense now.

Luke, still lounging on the bed, watched your reaction with a mischievous grin, “So do you like him back, or was last night just some…experimental sleepover?”

“Luke, stop. It’s- complicated.” You turned your head trying to hide your blush, knowing damn well that it wasn’t complicated. You just didn’t want to have this conversation with Jack’s teasing brothers who just so happened to be your best friends.

“Complicated?! He literall-” Luke started but was cut off by Jack walking in the room looking mildly confused and a bit exasperated.

“Hey hey! Let’s not harass Y/n right when she wakes up.” 

Quinn laughed and stood up, clapping Jack on the back. “Look, lover boy, we're just helping her process the last decade of weird repressed feelings the two of you have. She had no idea how obvious you were being.”

Jack turned pink, giving you an embarrassed smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I wasn’t that obvious.” he mumbled, but you could see a hint of vulnerability in his eyes.

You stepped forward, reaching for his hand. “Actually you might have been, and I…I might’ve been really bad at picking up the hints.” You laughed softly, squeezing his hand, feeling the warmth of his palm on yours.

“Finally!” Quinn groaned out, Luke flopping himself back into the bed.

“Now we don’t have to watch you guys be grossly oblivious to each other anymore.”

Jack rolled his eyes slightly, keeping his gaze on you, a gentle smile on his face. “You wanna go for this?”

“Absolutely.” You nodded, heart pounding with happiness. Jack pulled you into his arms, planting a soft kiss to your forehead.

“Good. Because I wasn’t planning on letting go anytime soon.”

Luke groaned loudly from the bed, interrupting the moment. “You guys are disgusting. Breakfast is getting cold.” You and Jack let out a subtle laugh before walking to the kitchen, hand in hand.

[ladycaramelswirl]

It Happened in Texas

Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader ❤︎ Chapter 1: Apparently you have a magnet for shitty bosses

series masterlist

A/N: For plot purposes, Haley is not in the picture, but Jack does appear later in the story. Also I gave Strauss some of Linda Barnes’s personality so she’s really annoying :)

Tags/Warnings: mentions of violence typical to Criminal Minds. This becomes a comedy in chapter 2, but chapter 1 is very world/character-buildy, sorry 😭 It gets funnier I swear 🤡

The case in this chapter is loosely based on s3e8.

word count: 2k

Enjoy! 🤍

❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎

“Absolutely not”.

The dark-haired man tries to rein in his barely concealed anger at his boss, who, honestly, you weren’t exactly a huge fan of right now either. He gestures to you.

“I don’t know anything about her. It’s my job to decide whether someone is a good fit for the team”, he scowls. Frankly, you’re impressed that he hasn’t exploded.

“Agent Hotchner, I have hired her because I think she’s perfectly capable of doing the job”. 

You swallow a scoff. Sure. That’s why.

“My decision is final. And you have a case to get to”, Strauss snaps.

Agent Hotchner glares at her as she walks away. Then he turns his stare to you. 

“We’re leaving for a case in 10 minutes. Do you have your go bag?”, he asks, not unkindly.

“Yes sir.”

He nods and walks towards the BAU bullpen. You follow him. 

“I trust you’ll keep this altercation between us”, he tells you. “I don’t want the team to be distracted”.

“Yes, sir”.

“Just call me Hotch.”

“Yes, s- Hotch”.

He’s being pretty nice given the situation he’s been put in. But you wonder, not for the first time today, if you should have turned down this job.

————————————

15 minutes ago

“Come in”.

You step into the office of the blonde woman you’d interviewed with. She had been quite pleasant then.

“Assistant Director Strauss”, you greet her.

“Agent. Take a seat. I’d like to discuss some things before I introduce you to your unit chief”.

You wonder what the unit chief is like. You’d heard great things about Aaron Hotchner from your former colleagues. 

“As I’m sure you know this position at the BAU is a highly coveted opportunity”, she starts.

“Yes ma’am”.

“I’d like you to be comfortable here, so I hope we can work together to make that happen”.

Oh?

“Thank you ma’am. I’ll do my best.”

“Excellent! I’ll be expecting an additional personal report for all of your cases.”

“I’m sorry?”

She smiles at you like you’re stupid.

“Agent Hotchner might run a tight ship, but it’s my job to make sure it runs smoothly”, she tells you. “So I just need you to give me details about your cases. No need to mention it to Agent Hotchner, just write the report and send it straight to me.”

“You want me to report on the team? Without telling them?”

This was not what you signed up for.

She laughs mirthlessly. 

“It’s just a report agent. Think of it as a … peer evaluation. I just want to make sure there’s no issues. I’m sure you would understand. Especially after what happened in Houston?”

You grit your teeth. Of course she knew.

“Yes ma’am”.

You try to smile.

“I knew I was right to hire you”, she says. 

You both know you’re only here because she was the only one who accepted your transfer request. 

“Agent. If this conversation leaves this room, you’ll have to understand why I can no longer keep you on this team”.

Fantastic. You were already getting threatened on your first day. 

You plaster on a smile.

“Of course.”

She smiles back, just as fake.

“Great. Now I’ll introduce you to Agent Hotchner. You’ll have to forgive him for his … attitude”, she says contemptuously. “He’s going through a rough time”.

And now your boss was moody too? You were regretting come here by the second. 

Strauss presses the intercom button on her phone.

“Send him in”.

The door is opened by a tall, handsome man. He’s maybe in his late 30s, and he’s well dressed. He has authority figure written all over him, but he looks confused to see you.

“Assistant Director?”, he greets. You suspect it’s not often that he’s walked into a situation where he doesn’t know what’s happening. An exception being right now.

“Agent Hotchner, come in. I’d like you to meet Agent Y/L/N”.

He stretches a hand forward and you shake it. 

“Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise”.

He looks at Strauss. 

“What is this about?”

Strauss looks like she’s holding back a grin. 

“She’ll be joining the BAU effective immediately”.

Agent Hotchner looks like he’s just been handed a bomb.

———————————— 

Present

He doesn’t talk to you at all as you’re climbing into the jet. The team don’t pretend to hide their shock at your arrival. Hotch quickly introduces you and then takes a seat at the back. You politely smile at their wide eyes, but inside you try to fight the urge to turn around and go kick Strauss in the shin. She didn’t even tell them she was hiring you. Unbelievable. This day could not get any worse. The team starts asking you all sorts of questions. Hotch cuts them off.

“That’s enough. Brief us on the case JJ”.

They all follow his directive immediately. A pretty blonde woman who must be JJ hands everyone on the team a file. There’s a pause as everyone realises you don’t have one, because she didn’t know you would be here. A dark haired woman who introduces herself as Emily offers to share hers with you. You smile at her gratefully and try to be invisible as JJ briefs the team. 

—————————

Your first case is in Bridgewater, Florida. A girl has been found with her body eaten by alligators, her fingers cut off and a pentagram carved into her chest. It’s not exactly a great first day welcome. Hotch comes back from the coroner’s office with news that the victim had been force fed fingers before her death. And that none of them were hers, and six of them are index fingers. Remember when you thought your day couldn’t get any worse? This was definitely worse. You wince at the news and Emily looks at you with concern.

“You okay?”

You nod, but notice JJ and Agent Morgan discreetly share a dubious look. The latter turns to face you. 

“Field offices aren’t exactly the same as the BAU. If you’re not up to it-“

“I’m fine. I’d just like to catch the guy that did this”, you tell him. 

You refuse to look weak or feed into the suspicion that you don’t deserve to be here. Morgan stares at you before nodding in agreement and moving away to look over some files. You do the same to avoid any more conversation, and then notice something strange. You pull out a photo.

“This crime scene shows the books the victim was carrying were arranged into a neat row. This specific placement could suggest the unsub was at some point in a mental institution”.

Morgan looks doubtful, but still takes a look. 

Agent Reid springs up. “Of course! When the severely mentally ill are institutionalised, they’re taught to keep things clean and neat to promote order, exactly like the books in that photo!”

You’re a little speechless at his enthusiasm, but it seems his confirmation convinces the team, who now look a little less skeptical about your abilities. They call Garcia to check for names and update Hotch. Garcia calls back about a specific mental institution for a case like the one you’re looking for. Hotch immediately stands up to leave.

“Reid, let’s go”, he orders. The young genius scuttles after him. 

They find a name for the unsub, Floyd Feylinn Ferrel - a cannibal that believes he’s possessed by a flesh eating demon. He was also at the search party earlier to look for a missing girl. The team finds him, but one victim is still missing - Tracy Lambert. Floyd refuses to talk without Father Marks, the priest at his church. They bring him into the interrogation room with Morgan while you and Rossi pore over the sign in sheets from the search party. You frown. 

“Somethings wrong”, you mutter. The older agent looks at you in confusion.

“He signed the volunteer sheet, but not the search team sheet. It doesn’t make sense”, you say, handing him the papers. Usually unsubs joined the search team. Why would he just volunteer to be there?

“Father, I feel so alone. Like God has abandoned me”, Floyd laments. 

The priest shakes his head kindly. “You are not alone, my son. God is in all of us”.

Your stomach drops as you see exactly what Floyd had volunteered for - the food station. 

“We need to stop the interview”, you panic, flinging open the interrogation room door. 

Floyd stares right at you and grins. 

“So is Tracy Lambert”.

—————————

The plane ride back is quiet. You thankfully hadn’t eaten anything at the search, but you still feel nauseous. Is this what all BAU cases were like? Maybe it wasn’t too late to reapply somewhere else? Your unit chief interrupts your thoughts.

“Good job today Reid, we wouldn’t have caught him if you hadn’t noticed the books”, he says. You freeze in your seat, but the younger agent doesn’t notice your discomfort. In fact he barely looks up from his book to correct the unit chief. 

“Actually it wasn’t me that figured it out. It was y/n”.

Hotch looks taken aback and he turns to you, which leads to some awkward eye contact. He looks pained, but he gives you a nod and then moves to the back of the plane. 

Emily nudges your elbow from her seat next to yours. 

“You did good today. He’ll come around”, she tells you. 

“I really didn’t know that no one was informed of my transfer-”, you try to explain, but she stops you.

“I know better than anyone how you feel right now. As long as you do your job and are loyal to the team, everything’s going to be fine”. 

You nod. 

“Look, today was a rough case. We’re going for drinks when we land. Want to come?”, she offers.

You think about the report you’re about to write for Strauss tonight, detailing everything that just happened today. It’s going to take you hours to make sure it doesn’t incriminate anyone on the team. 

“No, I’m tired, but thanks. You guys have fun”.

On the drive home, you realise that you won’t ever be friends with them. You were a spy, even if you didn’t want to be. 

You had come here to escape. Instead, you had just traded one prison for another. 

————————————

Emily enters Penelope’s office to pick her up before drinks.

Penelope greets her with a guilty look.

“Ok. I did something, but don’t be mad. I looked into her file”.

“Pen!”

“What? She’s new, I don’t like new. And we don’t know anything about her. Don’t you want to know how she got hired without Hotch’s approval?”

Emily raises an eyebrow.

“I was hired without Hotch’s approval.”

Penelope gives her puppy eyes and Emily gives in.

“Fine. What did you find?”

The analyst practically lights up.

“Ok, so she graduated the FBI academy with high scores. Went straight to the Houston field office and she was very good at her job - excellent peer reviews and high scores on all of her evaluations”, Penelope starts, putting all of your personal data onto her screen. “Almost everything about her is perfect. Except-“, she clicks on a file. “About two months ago she suddenly requested a transfer to basically every department that was hiring and got rejected by almost all of them. Except ours”. 

Emily frowns. “She has stellar performance evaluations but no one wants to hire her? And why was she so desperate to transfer?”

“Yeah, I thought that was weird too, so I looked into it, but there’s nothing. Except that in her last month at Houston, she isn’t listed on a single one of their cases.”

“None?”

“It’s like she didn’t exist, but she was there every day, I checked her attendance and it’s flawless”.

Emily presses her lips together. She remembers how much she had tried to seal her own history. 

“I don’t think we should be looking anymore. If whatever happened isn’t in the database, then we aren’t meant to see it. She’ll tell us when she’s ready”.

Penelope looks apprehensive, but she closes the files. 

“She’s really nice! And she’s good, she helped us solve the case today”, Emily tries to convince the IT specialist. 

“I’m telling you something is fishy”.

Emily might not say it out loud, but she definitely agreed.

❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

Chapter 2

[iheartgeto]

𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 | 𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢

𝙘𝙬 : mild fluff, explicit smut, stomach bulge, unprotected/rough sex, pussies, creampie, slight edging, grinding, blood, biting, suggestive/graphic language, slight exibitionism, mutual pining, plot w/ smut, “baby” nickname

𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮 : sunato banda x f! reader ; banda finally meets someone with similar taste.

𝙬𝙘: 3.4k

𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 : nsfw ; unedited 

The rough wad of a paper towel itched your skin as you crumbled and lightly threw your marked napkin in frustration.

“fuck this all” you muttered, gripping your hair—slight pain casting on you from the tightness of your pull.

The second to last circle you had drawn out on the napkin had finally been crossed out. You used this puny tissue to keep track of your days, in hopes you’d never run out of them. However, you had one circle left, and only a day left on your visa.

kicking the gravel along the wide path, you eyed the large blimp floating atop this place of confinement. A jack. The jack of hearts— Not a queen or king, but the “easiest” of the face cards. actually- don’t even kid yourself. you picked the dry skin off your fingers in a nervous fit as you walked through the gates of the penitentiary. you zipped up your jacket, covering the bikini top (complimentary from the beach, a place that served you basically no purpose other than surviving these games) that revealed more than your liking.

whatever, that place was long gone thanks to chishiya, kuina, and the rest of his crazy gang. gladly you had been on decent terms with them, even going so far as to help him gain parts for his weird invention. he required a specific part that seemed to be needed to spread heat? probably made some stupid crap to smoke or cook up a barbecue, whatever weird shit that freak was up to.

Making your way through the entrance, you came to a stop. The white luminescent lights buzzed through the empty hallway as your heart beat was getting faster and faster. Albeit your immense nervousness, you kept a rested expression. The game hadn’t even started yet but you were shaking. this was exciting.

“Put on a collar and go upstairs to the central guard room”.

two black collars rested in front of you. The glossy table stared up at you as you contemplated your decision in joining. Not like you had a choice, it was either this or the red beam of death from the sky. might as well try to live, regardless of how shitty this situation was. you wouldn’t let your misery consume you. or at least that’s how most people would approach life.

you simply strived to live. if you were gonna die, it would be through one these stupid fucking games—not from drowning in the depths of your own self loathing. even then, you still didn’t want these randoms to be the cause of your anticlimactic death. this world was quite beautiful anyways. the intensity, complexity, and structure of this newfound world was simply beautiful. this elysian paradise was addicting. because of this, you would let yourself have fun. just win this game for the small reward of life and some entertainment.

finally, a place for you to let loose and have some real fun.

Suddenly, the faint sound of footsteps grew closer and closer, knocking you out of your short-lived daze. the man stopped next to you, slowly observing the beautiful scenery of dirty bleak walls and prison cells. he smirked, and closed his eyes with a serene look. it was as if he was home. you observed his face with jealousy— you longingly wished for your nerves to wash away and feel this lost sense of serenity.

“do you think this will be fun?” you asked, a polite smile etching your face as you observed his features. his broad shoulders covering you even while trying to make small talk. “i really hope it will”.

“most definitely” he replied, eyes curling into mini crescents yet his overall face remained unphased.

“hm, i agree. but would you mind helping me with this? i’m not sure how to close this lock” you looked up at him. your doe eyes glistened in the white light as he stared you down.

“of course, come closer” he said. his voice was low and smooth, the kind you could listen to all day. his hot hands moved your hair away from your neck to allow the lock to clasp. however, his hands rested on your throat a little longer than expected. he slowly massaged the place where the lock had clasped and bent down to your ear, his hot breath skipping over your skin. he sees your hands trembling and grasps them to stop it as he caresses your palm.

“it feels nice to know someone else is excited to play this game, it seems to me that we are quite alike” he whispered lowly, as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear this reveal.

you knew damn well how to lock this simple little collar, but why miss your chance with a man who caught your attention.

“maybe we are, thanks and good luck then”, you smiled cheerfully, patting him on the back, walking past him into the main prison area. he stared at your back, grinning at his newfound infatuation.

as you made your way into the main area, you glanced at the crowd around you. the majority was tense and filled with fear. you almost burst out laughing after seeing this blond haired man. chishiya seemed to be alive and well. good for him.

“long time no see, never’d expect to see you here chishiya”, you stood next to him.

“there's many places i’d rather be” he replied, not looking back and staring at the screen in front of him. there was no need to catch up as you both knew the situation. you both understood that the catching up could come after the game.

“you may pass time anywhere you like until it is time to enter a prison cell”

There was an awkward silence going around, until people decided to start grouping up and leave.

“hey let’s tell each other” a timid man in overalls and a yellow shirt turned to you and chishiya. you nodded in agreement—sounded like a decent idea.

“If you want to survive you need to observe everyone closely, do you want to know what they were doing before the game began?”, chishiya remarked, the three of you turned in the direction of a couple in suits. chishiya went on to explain in graphic detail, causing the poor man to cringe.

“that guy’s confidence won’t let her get involved with anyone else”.

“I was thinking the exact same thing”, you said with amusement.

Watching from above, the three of you observed a pair that seemed to be making a deal. The man from earlier, and another one with a dark aura. Glancing at the screen you find out their names are banda and matsushita. The girl with a blue dress then asked the three of you to join her team. The three of you didn't mind, so you decided to join. Chishiya, overalls, and you exchanged signs and just tagged along with the group.  And that was the end of the first round.

“Hurry up and tell me, fucker!” a rough voice screamed, throwing a poor man in front of everyone. banda went to his rescue and whispered into his ear. sly bitch. you and chishiya glanced at each other, as you knew you saw the same thing.

The group of people then continued on with their antics of telling eachother their signs. From across the room you met his cold gaze. He was seated on the floor, staring blankly at you. You stared back, harnessing a smile in which he returned and waved. Chishiya observed the two of you, a little freaked out by your “kind” facade. And if chishiya was freaked out, then the poor guy next to him was petrified at the interaction in front of him.

The group migrated to the snack room, and from there the game went downhill. Everyone slowly began lying to each other, leaving only your group of three and the two pairs. However, your kind friend could not handle the intensity of the game. an explosion being heard a few cells away from yours.

“he was far too kind hearted for this game” chishiya sighed. You glanced at his bloodied body through the holes of the cell.

“he’s the kind of person i want to be”, you replied. heaving a long exhale of slight sadness at the sight of the poor boy.

“It’s not too late for that, but i think it's about time we start socializing, '' he replied with sarcastic enthusiasm.

“funny coming from you” you scoffed, but understood what he meant. Chishiya would stay in the snack cellar while you would go upstairs and watch. As you started up the stairs you passed by matsushita, paying him no mind as you knew what this meant. banda would be by himself. Being in such a rush you trip on yourself, bracing yourself to fall face forward til someone stops you.

Banda catches you, pulling you in tight for an unexpected hug. “thanks for catching me there”,  you smile, your warm hand meeting his, as he holds you in his embrace. “you even helped out that poor guy who was being bullied— i mean he’s gone now but what did you say to him anyways, some words of encouragement? you seem like such a nice person”.

“thanks, but i’m not fucking stupid” he replied with a silent smile. “drop the act y/n. judging from the way you’re approaching me— you know damn well what i said, c’mon you’re a smart girl right?”. he grabs your wrist, pulling you up as he then corners you against the wall, a dark area of the prison covered by a turn.

“I’m actually pretty dumb” you paused, banda laughed. lowly chuckling at your poor attempts to conceal your true self. “so tell me, why would you encourage him to lie?— you made such a mess of everyone and now we’re the only ones left” you stare up at him, his patronizing gaze looking down at you. you were so close his breath barely touched you. “you aren’t the jack, are you?”.

“who knows? why are you in this game anyways? you don’t really seem like the type”. this conversation was amusing him, you could see it in his expression that he was enjoying this to the fullest.

“what do i seem like then”, you asked. pure curiosity leaking out of your statement, placing a hand to your chin, mocking his question.

“a cute girl who’s letting on less than she really is”, banda relayed, a cold expression etching his face.

his response caught you off guard. “so what if i am? better to appear lower than others than have people at my neck trying to bring me down”, you replied with haste. god, you were so adorable when you were worried. this was getting him excited.

“well smart girl, what do you really think about this game? this place even?”. he kept questioning you, making you feel on edge. you couldn’t tell where this was going.

“I don’t care how you view this place banda, but for me i feel free. i can do whatever i want as long as i play these fun games— i mean sometimes they aren’t so much fun, it’s like a hassle i guess, but it’s a fair price —and they always lead me to interesting people like you”, you replied, slightly afraid of being judged.

banda watched you speak with ease. he was so intrigued with your tinge of confidence and slight intelligence. he also thought you were really damn cute for thinking you could fool him. not knowing how to lock a simple collar? c’mon you were better than that baby. he knew you wanted him, but he wanted you more.  he wanted to corrupt you. fuck your cute little brains up and make you his. mold you to match his lovely thoughts on the borderlands. you both already enjoyed the place and you were just too entertaining to not keep around.

“we really are similar”, he said with a crazed relief, caressing your cheek and staring at you in awe. “until now, i’ve never been in a land as beautiful as this one, nor met two people so worthy of my trust”.

“i suppose matsushita is just as agreeable as i am then?” you joke, pulling his hand off your cheek and lengthening the distance between you two. he was making you feel a type of way. you felt your body  getting warmer and your breath getting ragged.

“no, not him at all— he’s a very condescending individual, but i guess that’s the only redeeming quality of his. i met yaba a while ago, we are equals in which we agree this place is a true paradise and that we trust each other enough to deduce who the jack is”. he pauses, and continues to keep his focus on your face. “matsushita’s confidence kinda reminds me of you” he jokes.

“god, my “confidence”— or whatever the hell you’re even referring to doesn’t mean anything. don’t group me with people like matsushita, I didn’t even have to speak to him to tell he was a cocky bitch!”, you became defensive and bursted out.

“there’s the y/n i was looking for”, banda commented. you sensed some sarcasm and wished to settle whatever he was going off about. you hated that he felt the need to tease you—honestly maybe you enjoyed it, you just wanted to be on decent terms.

“i really don’t think i’m better than you—if that’s what your insinuating, but i do feel like we have similar tastes. and for that i trust you—want to be friends?”. for a moment you stared at each other as you awaited for his response. you wanted to be friends? how naive could you fucking be? banda wanted to erupt with laughter and slap you in the face as he ruined you.

“oh we’re gonna be more than friends” he whispered. your cheeks became redder as he kept getting closer, and you were letting him. “let’s make a deal, i’ll tell you your symbol if you help me”. his hard tent rutted against your leg as you felt him knee your soaking pussy. His leg began applying pressure to your needy clit.

“c- chishiya would tell me my symbol so why—

“then this is just an excuse to fuck your soaking little cunt. i like you”, he confessed, as if he was a schoolboy asking out a girl for the first time. his face was flushed red as he started sucking your neck, leaving a trail of purple kisses down to your chest. Banda unzipped your jacket, revealing the bikini from the beach. his rough hands slid your bikini under your boobs. you felt heated up as he sucked your tits. His head tilted as his mouth kept continuing to lick your buds, groaning as you grew sensitive to his touch.

“i- i like you too”, you whimpered, airy breaths leaving your mouth. “please..!” you mewled, as he continued to suck.

“please what? gotta use your words baby” he smirked as his thumb circled your airway. he sensually massaged it as his lips met yours, his teeth sinking into the flesh of your soft lips.

"A-Ah..!" you gasped, a small trail of blood leaked down the corner of your lip. his mind clouded with lust as he lapped up the red liquid. “you taste so fucking good” he groaned. “what do you want my sweet girl?”

“ i want- need you so bad- please!”, you continued to whimper his name, constantly reciting it as if it were a sacred prayer. “i want you to ruin me with your fat cock!” you quietly screamed. you couldn’t take it anymore, you needed him so bad. he suddenly began removing his pants, the fast sound of his buckle dropping to the floor echoed throughout the hallway. you glanced in awe, he was big. how the hell would he even fit? his meat slapped the lower area of his stomach as his tip leaked with pre cum. he pumped his veiny length, lathering it in his own liquid, and stuck his long fingers in your mouth.

“mmgph!” you almost choked at how deep he stuck them in. but it tasted too good. so sweet and musky.

you circled your tongue his fingers, lapping up whatever he gave you. this caused him to smirk as he released his fingers from your mouth, causing a pop sound to echo. he slowly sunk his cock inside of your soppy cunt, hands gripping your waist as his hard length went inside you. he bit his lips, and his eyes were laced with ecstasy as your right walls shaped around him. you were so fucking tight.

“god you were made for me—your all mine- shit” he groaned, intertwining your hands and kissing you hardly. you replied with sweet moans, and watched his pace get faster and his strokes get deeper. lewd pants filled the hallway as his heavy balls slapped your clit, pounding you against the wall. you were both so oblivious to your surroundings, clouded only with the thought of each other’s touch and the feeling of release. you felt every one of his veins as he took you raw. his large cock shaped your pussy, as a bulge could be seen. banda groaned at the sight, lightly pressing down on it as you both moaned in pleasure. tears dripped from the corner of your eyes as banda watched you in ecstasy. you were so fucking beautiful.

you arched your back as he finally hit that spot. “r-right there banda please- please don’t stop” you sighed. “you feel so good princess ugh fuck” he groaned out, continuing his rough pace. your tits bounced up and down as he rammed into you, fucking you with a pure high. he felt as if you were a drug, one that he could never get enough of.

“i- i’m so close, i’m gonna cum!” you exclaimed with a volume. banda smirked, letting go of your hand to rub the edge of your pussy. the two of you were covered in sweat and saliva. “come for me y/n”. then it hit you hard, like a tsunami. you threw your head back, biting your lips in attempt to contain your deep moan. you let out silent screams as he continued to harshly ram into you, chasing his own high. your tongue lolled out of your mouth and eyes hazed with pleasure as the only thing you could think about was banda.

his eyes stared at the messy sight before him as he suddenly choked out a deep groan. “fuck baby mmph- you took me so well”. your white pleasure gushed around his cock, leaking out of your cunt. a white ring of cum covered his length as he continued to ram into you. and then his orgasm hit, filling your cunt with thick cum as your pussy pulsed and your body spasmed. his legs shook at how hard he came, and he pressed his forehead against yours, the both of you basking in each other’s heat. your brains were fogged from the intensity the both of you had just endured.

“i- i really like you y/n, i want to be with you forever”, he whispered over the two of you catching yours breaths. you would’ve drifted off to sleep if banda hadn’t insisted the two of you go back to the main area. helping you get dressed, the two of you head back to the main hall. he kissed your forehead before watching you head back down to the snack cellar to talk to chishiya.

“hahahahahahhaa” a crazed laugh escapes from matsushita’s lips. he thinks he finally won.

However, chishiya had emerged from his cell, and you followed suit. Strong arms wrapped around your body as a banda had come out of his cell as well. the four of you had deduced matsushita was the jack. Chishiya, banda, and yaba had explained their tactics to matsushita as they started to corner him into a cell.

“hold this for me baby?” he asked with a soft tone, holding out his scalpel. you grabbed it as he affectionately patted your head and grew closer to yaba. yaba took off his blazer, preparing for their violence and hopefully new information about the borderlands. “It’s unfortunate that i can’t kill you, but i can still have fun with you”.

i need more banda content, it’s so dry out here. :,) | sorry if anything was incoherent its late rn LOL

[brainddeadd]

young player x devils are so cute🥺🥺

okay maybe she’s sick and jack becomes mother hen and nico is just a very worried captain

Sick Day

It was a rare day off for the New Jersey Devils, but instead of relishing the free time, Jack Hughes found himself fidgeting as he checked his phone for the hundredth time. Yn—his teammate, and someone the boys had practically adopted as a little sister—had been under the weather for the last couple of days, and Jack wasn’t having it.

Jack, ever the mother hen, had texted her first thing in the morning: "How are you feeling? Need anything?"

The response, though, wasn’t immediate. Jack frowned, and Nico Hischier, the ever-worried captain, noticed his unease. “She hasn’t answered yet?”

“No, and that’s not like her. She usually replies right away,” Jack muttered.

“She’s probably just resting,” Nico said, though the furrow in his brow gave away his own concern.

Luke Hughes, Jack’s younger brother, and Dawson Mercer were sprawled out on the couch nearby, equally aware of the situation. They had grown protective of her too. She was the youngest player on the team, and from the moment she joined the Devils, they’d all taken her under their wing.

“She’s tough, Jack,” Dawson said, trying to reassure him. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. Probably just tired.”

“But what if she’s too sick to take care of herself?” Jack shot back, pacing around the room. “I should just go check on her.”

“You’re overreacting, man. Just give her some time,” Luke said, though he was starting to glance at his own phone more frequently now.

Nico sighed, pulling out his car keys. “I’m driving. Let’s go check on her, just in case.”

Jack’s face lit up, while Luke and Dawson exchanged glances, knowing they couldn’t just sit back now either. So, all four of them piled into Nico’s car, with Jack already texting her, "We're coming over."

When they arrived at her apartment, Jack was the first one out of the car, practically sprinting to the door. He knocked, a little too urgently, and the door creaked open after a few moments.

She appeared, looking pale and wrapped in a blanket, but she gave them a small smile. “You guys didn’t need to come over.”

“You didn’t answer, we got worried,” Jack said, his voice gentle but his eyes scanning her face for any signs of distress. “Have you eaten? Drank water? What’s going on?”

Nico gave her a look that could only be described as 'captain mode,' his protective instincts kicking in. “You should’ve told us if you were feeling this bad. Have you seen a doctor?”

She waved them off with a weak laugh. “I’m fine, really. Just a cold. I didn’t want to bother you guys.”

“Bother us?” Luke chimed in, crossing his arms. “You’re part of the team, you can always tell us.”

Dawson shot her a warm grin. “Yeah, we’d rather you bother us than sit here alone feeling like this.”

Jack, already moving around her kitchen, started rifling through cabinets. “Alright, you need tea, something warm to eat, and rest. I’ll make some soup or something.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Since when do you know how to cook?”

“Since right now,” Jack said, determined, and Nico let out a small chuckle as he sat down next to her, still watching her carefully.

“You’ll be back on the ice in no time, but until then, we’re here,” Nico said firmly. “No arguments.”

She looked around at the four of them—Jack, hovering around like an overprotective mom, Nico with his captain’s watchful eye, and Luke and Dawson looking just as concerned. It was overwhelming, but in a way that made her feel like she truly belonged.

“Thanks, guys. Really.”

“No thanks needed,” Jack called out from the kitchen. “Just promise me you’ll tell us next time. Now, who wants some terrible soup?”

The room filled with light laughter, and for a moment, she forgot she was even sick, surrounded by her boys—her team, her family.

[https-harlow]

Fight The Feeling 18 Exposed

Summary- You and Jack find out that someone told TMZ about Jack cheating on you.

Warnings- hints at eating disorders and talk about weight

You and Jack had told your teams that you wanted a minimum of three months where you didn’t focus on work. So when Neelam and Claire showed up at your apartment six weeks in, you knew it was serious. Jack answered the door, letting them in, Maple at Jack’s feet, barking at them. 

Neelam walked in first, looking at the dog then looking at Jack confused.

“Since when did either of you have a dog?” Neelan asked.

“This is Maple, I got her about three weeks ago,” Jack said, picking up the dog to calm her so she wouldn’t wake up Madelyn from her nap that you just put her down for. Even though your managers said it was urgent, you both made them wait until Madelyn was down for a nap, which you were all still getting onto a schedule, but you were able to get her to fall asleep in time.

“I have so many questions, but that’s not what we’re here for. Where’s Y/N?”

“She’s checking on Madi, she’ll be out in a second.” Jack said as the three of them sat in the living room. You walked out of the hallway a few minutes later.

“Hey, what’s going on?” You asked as you sat down next to Jack.

“Someone is contacting TMZ about the cheating story. They are trying to make money off of the situation and all the attention you two are getting right now. We don’t know who it is, luckily I have a good relationship with them, so they brought it to me first, but they are running the story. Who knows about the cheating?” Claire asked.

“Us,” Jack said, referencing to the room, “Urban, Alexa, not many people know, I can’t see Alexa telling, Urban for sure wouldn’t, we’ve kept it very secretive so it doesn’t get out.” You saw Claire’s face go a couple shades paler than she usually was.

“Well, we wanted to warn you two, Claire said the article is coming out tonight, so we wanted to also see if you were willing to do an appearance in a few days. It doesn’t have to be anything big, but some fans are picking up on your relationship being fake, so now with this article coming out, I don’t even know what kind of backlash we’re going to face.” Neelam said.

“Can’t we just drop all this fake relationship shit now? Our relationship isn’t fake anymore, I don’t know why we need to keep this shit up. Why can’t we just live our lives?” Jack asked.

“Because if it was up to the two of you, you would never show your faces in public again?” Neelam teased and Jack opened his mouth to say something but you cut him off.

“She’s not wrong.” 

“Anyway’s, I have to leave, but we just wanted to give you guys a heads-up,” Claire said before saying her goodbyes. 

“I’m staying because I want Madelyn cuddles, but I also wanted to talk to you about Claire. I feel like something’s weird about this.”

“You felt that way too?” You asked and Neelam nodded.

“What do you mean?” Jack asked.

“I mean, for one, she says TMZ told her about the article, but I didn’t get told, no one on our side did. She kept mentioning to me that other people must have known. I really feel like Alexa wouldn’t have told anyone either, she’s not going to get anything but backlash from this. She’s the one who wants to keep this going, I’ve been trying to find ways to get you out of this, but she always shuts everything down. Is it that wild of a thought that the reason she has such a good relationship with TMZ is because she gives them information?” Neelam explained. Even though you hadn’t known Neelam for a full year, you felt more comfortable with her than you did Claire, even though Claire signed you at 16.

“But why would she do this now?” Jack asked. 

“I tried to get out of my contract early? Maybe it’s retaliation?”

“But why would she retaliate against her own client?” Jack asked you.

“Claire and I have never had a good relationship. She’s always acted like my friend, but I know that she doesn’t care. Like, when I found out I was pregnant for example, she didn’t care that I was pregnant, she just cared that I was delaying the meeting. Even after the meeting all she cared about was making sure I didn’t gain too much weight before my upcoming shoots.” Jack reached over and grabbed your hand. “I know she doesn’t have to care about me, and that it’s her job to be focused on my career, but it’s hard to not let that impact me sometimes. I mean, she even has a diet and work-out plan she wants me to start once I’m cleared by my doctor.”

“Don’t you have lawyers to help get you out of your contract?” Neelam asked, you shook your head.

“No, all my lawyers go through her, they are technically my lawyers, but they cover her too,” You explained. “My contract's almost up anyway, it’s okay. I don’t want to quit, I just wanted to take a break, but I’ll just work for a couple of months and then take a break.”

“Get her my lawyers,” Jack told Neelam. “If you want out of your contract, my lawyers can get you out of your contract.”

“Well, they can try,” Neelam cut in, not wanting to promise you anything.

“If they can’t, we’ll figure another way to get you out of it. Why have you not told me any of this?” Jack asked.

“I didn’t think it was worth mentioning if there wasn’t anything I could do about it,” You sighed. “And I’ve been dealing with her since I was 16, it’s not like it was like this at the beginning, and I thought it was normal for a while. It wasn’t until I was around the two of you that I really noticed it. You care about Jack as a person, not just as someone who makes you money.”

“The fact that someone can spend so much time with another person and not care about them, is so shocking to me.” You heard the sounds of Madelyn waking up coming through the baby monitor you had placed on the end table. “Can I go get her?” Neelam asked excitedly, she hadn’t seen Madelyn in a couple of days, and she missed her already.

“If you want to change her diaper, sure,” Jack said, before Neelam shook her head.

“I’m okay, I’ll see her in a few minutes,” She said and Jack laughed before standing up and walking to Madelyn’s room, leaving you and Neelam alone.

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to help me just because Jack wants to-” You stared talking, but she cut you off.

“I’m helping you because I want to. I know how bad some managers can be at controlling the people they represent, and I’m sure you’re downplaying the situation to Jack because you don’t want him to flip out, but I’ve hated every interaction I’ve had with her, and I can see the way she treats you, and I hate that as well. I think Jack noticed it too, he’s made comments to me about it, but he didn’t want to seem like he was controlling you. I mean, he even only took three months off because that’s all you could get, and he didn’t want it to rub it in.”

“Yeah, but our jobs are different, he has songs that can be released any day, modeling isn’t like that.” You don’t know why you were defending Claire. You had forgiven her hundreds of times for the way she treated you over the years, and you wanted to stop forgiving her. 

As cliché as it sounded, having Madelyn changed you. You knew if someone had treated her like Claire treated you, you would never forgive them, so why did you let her treat you badly and forgive her. Forgiving Jack was a bit different. Your relationship was doing really well over the last few months, and you didn’t want to backtrack on any of the progress you made, but you knew if he ever messed up again, you weren’t forgiving him.

“Stop justifying it. You want a break, that’s a perk of the job. I think time off would do you and Jack good, focus on your relationship, your family. Some things are more important than work,” Neelam said as Jack walked in carrying Madelyn. Jack handed Madelyn to Neelam who instantly cuddled her.

Neelam hung out for about an hour, before she left, you walked her to the door.

“I know Jack likes to fix things, and you like to be independent, but let us try to fix this, okay?” Neelam asked and you nodded.

“Okay.”

“I’m going to do my absolute best to get you out of your contract and you out of your relationship contract. If I can’t, I know Jack will find someone who can. He would do anything for you.”

“I know,” You smiled softly.

"I'm going to figure out who sold the cheating story too."

Tag list @jackharloww @harlowcomehome @nattinatalia @hoodharlow @itsyagirljaz @heavyhitterheaux @harlowsbby @awhore4moree @harlowslefttoe @twerkforambrose @jackmans-poison @ilovenudy @taniapri @killatravtramp @easternparkway @macey234 @toocriticalharlow @lightsoutstyles @rachxc13 @iknowdatsrightbih @idktbh101 @blossomluvv @middlechild404 @hufflewhore128 @christinabae @lafavoritaangel

[baxteravenue]

HOW TO FAKE IT

pt ii.

summary: when jack and yours management team come together to create a perfect pr relationship you and jack must do your best to keep it as professional as possible... but when you have to spend a year together the lines between real and fake can become a little blurry.

STAGE ONE: Planting The Seed

You could feel the goosebumps rise against your skin as you sat in the cold conference room watching as your manager spoke with a shorter woman, before pointing back at you. You looked away scrolling back on your phone. You knew why you were here, you didn’t really agree to it but he was on a roll in his career right now and he didn’t need anything stopping it soon which is where you came in. 

You were an up and coming singer, you were happy with your fans. You weren't the biggest but you had no complaints. You understood why they wanted this for you, why your label was going out of its way to make you the next Taylor Swift or Ariana Grande. You just didn’t understand why it had to be this way.

“Y/N…” Your manager taps at you making you lift up your head, next to her stands Jack Harlow. “This is Jack, I’m gonna leave you two here to get to know each other and stuff while me and Neelam discuss some stuff.”

You nod, giving her a small smile as she walks out. The room feels warm now, and you can sense the sweat building at the bottom of your back.

“Hi.” Jack says from across the table, he decides to make the first move. 

“Hi.” You respond.

It doesn’t last long because it’s quiet again and awkward, very awkward. 

“Look, I think we should talk and like discuss some things… we are gonna be dating I guess.” Jack rubs at the back of his neck and for the first time you can tell that he is nervous as well. 

“Okay, what do you want to talk about?” You ask.

He leans over, crossing his arms over his chest. “Well first of all are you okay with all of this? I don’t want to do this if you’re not okay with it.” 

You raise an eyebrow at him, “This was your idea?”

“What? No.” He shakes his head, “But I’m not against it. I want a Grammy Y/N and there's… Look, let's just say that some people don’t want me to have one. I’m sure you want one too.” 

You did. It was one of your biggest dreams but in order for that to happen you had to do something about it, and the industry was cut throat. 

“Fine.”

“Fine?” Jack smiled.

“Yes, fine.”

He nodded, “I like your music by the way.”

You laughed. “Yours isn't too bad either.”

Your manager came back into the room as the two of you were in conversation, coming up with things you wanted to do and didn’t.

“Ready to do this?”

You and Jack looked at each other, before nodding. 

Within the next week the four of you had multiple upon multiple meetings coming up with terms and conditions that both you and Jack would be fine with. 

“And one last thing, no one can know. Only the four of us,” Your manager starts looking over at Neelam who continues.

“Not even Urban Jack, no one. To everyone else outside this room the two of you are a real couple and you must act that way.” 

You and Jack sign for a year, enough time to get some exposure on his new album that revolves around love rather than his usual fuck boy persona, and so that the audience can put a face to the alluded person and so that you can kickstart a long and accomplishing career. 

You spend the first few weeks slowly getting used to each other. He follows you on Instagram and you follow back maybe two people notice but you don’t get a huge reaction besides a random account getting excited that two of her favorite artists follow each other.

The two of you are steady with texting about random things, wanting to at least become friends before things get more serious for the public eye. Within a month you’re flying out to Louisville to stay with him for a bit. 

“How do you like it so far?” Jack asks as the two of you eat ice cream in his apartment. 

You take the spoon that was full of chocolate ice cream out of your mouth, “Louisville or this situation?” You blubber through the coldness.

“Both.”

“I don’t think we’ve gotten far enough for me to really feel a certain way, but I haven’t been called any degrading names on the internet so I think it’s fine?” You shrug, “And I haven’t seen much of Atlanta besides your guest room and the Whole Foods down the block.” 

“Let’s do something then?” Jack looked over at you.

“Can we?”

“I don’t see why not? It’s already been a month, a little sighting wouldn’t be too bad.” Jack sits up, “Plus there's a place I really want to show you.”

The place Jack wanted to show you was only just a five minute walk around his apartment complex. A park right under a highway that overlooked a river. The moon twinkled over the water, it was really pretty. 

You looked up at Jack, “Do you come here a lot?”

Jack adjusted his hoodie, shrugging. “Not really. Not these days at least.”

“It’s pretty, and close. I think I'd be here a lot.”

Jack looked at you, “I’m headlining a festival they have here in a few months.”

“Really? That’s so fucking cool!” You smile at him.

“It’s pretty nuts, I remember sneaking into it and then when I first got my slot to perform at the smallest stage with a small crowd of mostly people that knew me from high school– Feels unreal still.”

You nod, “I can’t wait to experience that… Don’t get me wrong I love my little fan base so much and I love playing intimate shows where I can really connect with my audience but I also want to experience a crowd so big I can’t even see where it ends.” You nod.

Jack puts his arm around you, bringing you in closer to him and your heart jumps a little surprisingly, “If this goes as planned I'm sure you will.” 

“Oh my god, Jack Harlow!”

And suddenly him wrapping his arm around you makes sense.

JACKHARLOWUPDATES: Jack is currently back home in Louisville!

|

JACKHARLOWFAN: he looks so cutie in that picture

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STACYGREENE5: hey! that’s me, he was so sweet even if i was acting a bit crazy lol!

|

GAZEBOSTAN: why was he by himself at the waterfront?!

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STACYGREENE5: he wasn’t! he was with a girl… i’m pretty sure they’re dating bc he had his arm around her!

JACKHARLOWUPDATED: Jack and Y/N in Louisville tonight!

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USERNAME: wtf 

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USERNAME1: This is so random

JACKMANTWTAS: Y/N is credited as a writer on multiple albums, including Mac Miller, so I’m sure they’re working on something together.

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USERNAME: if it’s true, i’m sure this will be his best album bc she helped mac with swimming when she was only 17

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

of course

***Spoilers for the Stitch summer event below the cut!***

Of coooourse Azul and Floyd jump on the opportunity to extort their classmates while they’re stranded on a deserted island 😭 Such an Ursula moment when Azul asks the group what they’re willing to do to be rescued… 😭 Not Floyd suggesting they all be Octa’s errand boys until the end of time 😭 AnD NOT hIM CALLiNG AzUL NICE FOR LOWERInG iT TO “just” A WEEk???? 😭 Why are fish like this—

This is even funnier when you look back at Birthday Union/Jacket vignettes, where some characters are asked “If you could bring one person with you on a deserted island, who would you choose?”. Of the 6 characters featured in Lost in the Book with Stitch, Jack is the only one who was asked this question. He at first says he can survive on his own, and though he eventually provides Epel as his answer. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT??? Jack also states in the interview that he would not want to be stuck with anyone in Octavinelle because “they seem like the types to ask for compensation whenever they have to do something” 🤡 Which. Isn’t far from the reality they’re now experiencing…

Addendum: In Jack’s Labwear vignettes, Floyd asks Azul if they can “keep him”, as though Jack were a stray dog. Again, Floyd’s affinity for dogs reappears in the Stitch event, where he doesn’t want to hand Stitch over to Gantu.

Other related points from Union Birthday/Birthday Jacket vignettes (the other 5 were asked “if you could pick any student from NRC to be your sibling, who would you choose?”): Ace would pick Azul to essentially get free stuff I bet he’s regretting his decision right about now, eh, Floyd would pick Ace so Ace can take the fall for him in sticky situations why do I suddenly have a bad feeling for what’s to come, and Lilia would pick… FLOYD 😂 because Floyd is mischievous, challenges people, and keeps surprising him with unexpected things… Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure plenty of “unexpected things” are going to happen, whether the boys like it or not 💦

On a more serious note, I do find it interesting that we get formal confirmation that merpeople in human forms need to remove their clothes before returning to their true forms. (This was always assumed before, but was never explicitly brought up in scenes where they actually had to revert back, such as book 4, Vargas Camp, and the first Halloween event.) However, Azul and Floyd say that the Beachwear clothes must be magic because they can’t be removed. I’m assuming either it’s unsafe to revert while still wearing clothes or the magical clothes just prevent them from bursting out of it a la Vanessa to Ursula in The Little Mermaid:

It’s also implied that their human forms are not suited for swimming long distances (or at least they are not used to swimming long distances in human forms yet)?? Which makes me think their anatomy and physiology must become entirely human when they drink their usual transformation potion??? Like, I’m assuming there aren’t gills on their human forms (because they’d serve zero purpose) which could hinder swimming as a human. (For that one scene in book 3 where Azul joins the group at the Atlantica Museum, I always assumed he just drank one of those “breathing underwater” potions he gave out earlier in the book!)

Side note: thanks to this event for gatekeeping us from potentially getting a peak at Azul’s non-OB octomer form/j ����

[bubbleddisasters]

So I saw a cool ship edit with Cater and Che’nya, and that has given me the confidence to talk about my favorite crackship/Rare pair!

(This is pretty long, sorry!)

Che’nya and Idia!

It originally started out as a joke like “Over Powered Cat Boy x Cat Loving Gamer Boy”, but then I realized how actually good they could be for eachother.

Although they never technically talk in canon, they do meet in Glorious Masquerade for like 6 seconds, but I shipped them prior lol.

Basically, Che’nya would be extremely good for Idia in many ways, I hope its not a bother, but I’ll just list my personal ideas!

(Keep in mind that in Alice in Wonderland, Its stated in “Through the Looking Glass” the Cheshire Cat is the second most powerful being, next to the personification of Time, So I envision Che’nya is pretty op, and theres some evidence to prove that but i’m not going to get in to that right now)

Starting off from Idias side:

One: Lets say Idia refuses to eat or care for himself, Che’nya could teleport away his consoles until he does, or teleport the food to him.

Like : “You won’t shower? Gee I wonder where your routers went.” “Won’t sleep? I opened a portal on your gaming chair that teleports you to your bed” “Won’t drink water? Damn, that figurine near the edge of the table looking real pushable right now.”

We also know that Idia has a huge soft spot for cats. Che’nya is most definitely the most cat like person in the cast. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a cat form. So thats definitely some sway there.

Also, if he does or even if he doesn’t have a cat form, he has a big and floofy tail, and if he does have a cat form, I imagine it to be Mainecoon like (since Che’nya is pretty tall and lanky) so free floof to pet/brush when Idias stressed (also A Whisker Away AU?)

Another thing is Che’nyas invisibility: He can be a comfort for Idia without being seen, so Idias less judged for his anxiousness. Like if Idias in a stressful meeting or something in STYX, He can be there to comfort or calm him without anyones notice. Also, If Idias in a stressful social situation, Che’nya can teleport him or them both away, or make them or just him invisible.

Plus, judging from the most definitely self made artwork on Che’nyas pants, I think its safe to say he’s probably an artist of some sort, and I think he’d be more than willing to indulge/read/play/watch Idias recommendations, and maybe draw something for him. (The requirements are either cuddles or Solving Che’nyas riddles three)

Finally, judging by the fact Che’nya casually waltzes through NRCs magic barrier, which took SEVERAL HIGH TECH STYX STRIKES TO CRACK, often enough for Riddle to be able to say “The Intruder” and everyone just knows its Che’nya.

Also, RSA is THE ENTIRE ISLAND AWAY AND ON A GIANT FUCKING MOUNTAIN, so this means Che’nya is very casually teleporting across the equivalent of atleast a small country without producing jack shit in terms of blot, while (from what we can see on his design) not wearing a mage stone.

He’s also been detaching his own body parts, flying, going invisible, etc since age 5, and from Rollos story we know that amount of magic use would indefinitely kill 80% of people, especially a kid, so knowing that, I’m pretty sure its somewhat safe to say if Che’nya got into S.T.Y.X atleast once so he knows where it is, he’d be able to teleport back in and out (the security team fucking hates him and the blot research team wants to experiment on him.)

With that, Idia wouldn’t feel as if he’s trapping Che’nya down there if they were to tie the knot, and gives the possibility of being able to teleport out to shore for in town dates.

On Che’nyas side, Idia is someone who’s very fun once he sort of lets himself go, and god forbid if those two team up on April Fools.

He’s also someone that is already pretty lonely by nature and I find it extremely plausible Che’nya feels slightly replaced by Cater, and although he definitely still cherishes Riddle and Trey, its nice to have someone that you don’t fear might find a replacement.

Also, at RSA, we know he’s good friends with Neige, but because of Neiges fame, that must be hella stressful when you’re trying to hang out and get jumped by fans or paparazzi.

Not to mention Neige is likely very very busy due to the same factor. I’d also wager most people at RSA are not as much fun to him, considering it’s mentioned they always seem to be perfect and pristine at events.

That cycle of semi- perfect paradise like school days would probably bore him, along with the very bland or stereotypical reactions I can imagine his pranks getting.

So we have on one side the stress of being friends with someone in the limelight at all times, and the stress being chased around when you go to visit your childhood friends + being lowkey replaced.

So someone you can pretty much always count on to be available and a dorm that won’t chase you out (probably too anti-social and/or Socially anxious to do so) and is somewhat willing to indulge in your chaos from time to time, or just play games with.

I could also see Che’nya and Ortho getting along very well too, with Ortho being the most aggressive wingman for Idia. Also, if Che’nya gets Ortho in on pranking Idia, it’s going to turn into a prank WAR.

Also, fun idea, Lilia, Cater and Trey being Che’nyas Wingmen.

I like to imagine Che’nya and Lilia are extremely good friends (They call themselves the Pink Bats and Purple Cats Jumpscarers) and since from what we know, Che’nya only has his grandfather, Lilia emotionally adopted him after Che’nya unintentionally fell asleep in his Cat form in the woods and Lilia told Silver to bring him back because “he was concerned about the high magic levels he sensed” and basically did the equivalent of

—-

Silver: “Father, It might not be a stray-“

Lilia, fully aware its a fae beastman : “Finders Keepers :) “

——

Basically this snowballs into Che’nya getting invited into the dungeon runs with Idia, and yea.

Trey’s wingmanning is 40% trying to make sure Riddle doesn’t catch Che’nya, 20% trying to make sure he doesn’t blow up the kitchen trying to make something for Idia, and 40% being the sane consultant of date ideas, making sure Cater doesn’t go overboard with ship posts, and the preventive measurer to the date ideas recommended by Lilia.

——

“Please do not have a sword duel for a date.”

“Nya? I’d be fun!”

“I don’t see why not. I did that with my lovers back in the day. Melanor in her training uniform was quite a sight to behold, Ravaene also looked fine, I suppose. Poor him was always too easy for us to take out however-“

“Lilia, thats uh, not the point. I don’t trust either of them with weapons.”

“Hm? Silver got his first sword when he was 10 or so. Baul and I refereed Sebek and Silvers first real duel when they were…12, methinks? For all Bauls bragging about his grandson, it was my son who won in the end-“

*Camera pans to a very concerned Riddle in the doorway.*

“What kind of a discussion is going on here?!”

—-

Yea, thats pretty much it!

(If you recognize some of the beginning spiel from a comment section on tiktok yes I wrote that and I got mildly lazy and thought past me explained it pretty well so I copy and pasted a few pieces)

[heavyhitterheaux]

Lose You to Love Me

First Lady of Private Garden Fic

AN: Get ready for a wild ride between our favorite couple

Synopsis: There is still tension in the air between the two of you regarding the last incident with Anitta and how everything unfolded. The wedge between the two of you becomes even greater when Jack reveals a secret that he had been keeping from you.

Pairing: Husband!Jack Harlow x Wife!Reader

First Lady of Private Garden Masterlist

Before reading this, read Let Them Know What’s Mine, She Gets the Last Word parts 1,2, and 3, Off Limits, Please Kiss and Make Up, and Trouble in Paradise

Please Do Not Repost My Content Anywhere

It had been a few days since your birthday and the two of you were busy once again. Jack was doing Jingle Ball while you were making multiple appearances. Even though the two of you had somewhat made up after the last Anitta incident, there was still some tension and you could feel it. Anitta never fully came out and said that she wanted to press charges and you were wondering what made her change her mind. But, you wanted to put your focus on other things and focus on being a better wife, a better friend, and a better person overall.

Jack was currently in L.A. in the studio to take his mind off things, when Neelam had told everyone to take a fifteen minute break and pulled him to the side.

“What’s going on with you? You’re here but you aren’t here.” She asked concerned as she pulled up a chair next to him.

“I… I don’t want to put this on you.”

“But you need to tell someone because this is affecting you. I’ve known you for how long now? Do I need to call Y/N?”

“NO!”

“What the….?” Neelam was confused as to why Jack reacted like that because any time your name was mentioned, it was the exact opposite.

“It has to do with her and I need to tell somebody this before I fucking explode.”

“I’m listening.”

“I know people look at me sideways with the whole Anitta thing because of how I was so quick to shut down Giveon, but not her.”

“For the life of me, I can’t understand why. It’s a double standard, Jack. Even though it’s speculation, I know you beat Giveon’s ass and PG were the witnesses but of course you won’t admit it so I’ll just let it slide. And you really hurt her feelings when it seemed like you didn’t have her back when all of that happened. I’m not talking about the last time, I’m talking about every time. From the outside looking in, it almost looks like you like Anitta and want to be in a relationship with her. That fucking instagram live took the damn cake.”

“NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS WOULD I WANT TO BE WITH HER! She has it in her mind that I want her when I damn sure DO NOT. So, about that. After the first incident on the set of first class and everything, Y/N decided to send Anitta a portion of our sex tape, I guess to show her I’m off limits. Since then, she’s been threatening to release it and has been hanging this over my head and I know if I say anything to her, she’ll have no hesitation to do so. That is the last thing that either of us need right now.” 

Neelam opened and closed her mouth several times before saying anything back to Jack who had now become nervous.

“Jack….. You…..  you have got to tell Y/N. That is serious and it’s blackmail which is ILLEGAL! Even if she sent it to her or not!”

“I know! I just…. I haven’t found the right time to tell her.”

“Haven’t found the right time?!?! Jack! You could have told her this when it first happened because we probably wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in now! She is going to want to MURDER you.”

“I know! And I just feel that even though we kind of made up, there’s still tension. I can’t even imagine what she’s going to say when I tell her.”

“Okay word of advice. I’m not married, however, I’ve been in relationships before and it might sound cliche, but Jack come on. You know honesty is the best policy. And she has told you time and time again that whatever comes your way that you’ll handle it TOGETHER. Y/N loves you and you love her but I’m not going to lie. Sometimes I think the fame is starting to get to your head and you’re forgetting who was by your side in the damn trenches with you that helped you get to where you are now. Like even to this day, she has her own career, but she STILL puts you first. I know that’s how her heart is, but still. I get it you don’t want it released to ruin your reputation and not to mention that would be a PR nightmare but you need to tell your wife the next time you see her. Tell her in person and not over the phone.”

“Now, you made me feel even more shitty.”

“I’m not trying to do that by any means and it’s coming from my heart because I care about the both of you. I admit that sometimes I’m worried about her because I saw her true colors with how she came at me when you were first signed. I admit that was my fault, but it’s over and done with. She doesn’t think first and just uses her fists to solve the problem. It seems like her actions are rooted in something deeper than what we think. She is too old to still be doing that. This isn’t high school and I’ll continue being honest, when Drama first signed her and I heard about it, we weren’t all that close. I actually went to him and said that her anger issues might end up being a problem and causing us bad publicity, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer because you insisted on her being signed. It has now caused us bad publicity and I just want her to get the help she needs. I sent her a few therapist recommendations that I got from other people, but she hasn’t said anything about it.”

“I just want to fast forward to 2023, but at least we have the wedding to look forward to. Right before Christmas.”

“Jack, you need to tell her this before you two walk down the aisle for the second time. Do not bring this into 2023.”

“I promise, I will.”

Just then Jack got a text from you saying how you were in L.A. and that you brought a surprise with you.

Wifey- smushhhhhh, I’m in L.A. and I cannot wait to see you! And I brought a surprise!

Smush- I owe you a dinner date, and what’s the surprise?

You then attached a picture of you and Maggie and it looked as if you had taken it when you had both landed.

“Fuck!”

“What’s wrong?!” Neelam asked while turning to him.

“She’s in L.A. and she brought my mom with her.”

“You need to tell her sooner rather than later.”

“This is about to be a fucking mess.”

—- 

Jack had taken you to dinner as promised, while Maggie said she was going to do some Christmas shopping for gifts for the two of you. You couldn’t help but to notice that Jack had been off the entire night once you both got back to your condo.

“Jackman.”

At that moment, his eyes went wide because any time he heard you say his name with such a serious tone he knew that it was important.

“Yes, mamas?”

“Come here.”

Jack made his way over to you as you were sitting on the couch and you opened your arms signaling that you wanted for him to lay on you.

After the two of you got comfortable, you started playing in his curls before saying anything else.

His entire body was tense and you were going to get whatever it is out of him sooner rather than later.

“What’s going on with you, baby? Something is off and I know my husband like the back of my hand.”

All Jack did was sigh and he hugged you closer to his body before answering you.

“I have to tell you something and I should have told you when it first happened and I don’t know how you’re going to take it.”

“Whatever it is, we’ll get through it together like we always do. This is forever, you know that.”

“It has to do with Anitta.” Jack now felt your body tense up before you answered him.

“Go on.”

“There’s a reason as to why I don’t really say anything towards her after all that’s gone down and I want to tell you the reason why.”

“I would definitely like to know because in my eyes you are a huge hypocrite. Does Giveon ring a bell at all?”

“Baby girl, just let me explain and please don’t interrupt me.”

“Go ahead.”

“She’s threatened to release our sex tape on multiple occasions. The one you sent her after you kicked her off the set of first class. I’m trying to do everything I can not to piss her off so that she doesn’t release it.”

Jack could feel that your heart rate had now sped up and you were quiet.

“Baby, with all the shit that’s happened this year with her, that is the last thing we need.”

You still hadn’t said anything and Jack then looked up at you from his place on your chest.

“Y/N, please. I know you’re mad at me and I should have told you. I know I shouldn’t have kept this from you.”

“You kept this from me since May. It is now December.”

“Babe….”

“All that time I spent fucking crying after I actually did fight her because I essentially broke a promise to you and you were mad as hell at me. Acting outta fucking pocket on social media when in fact you were holding onto this?”

“I know, not my best moment.”

“That’s putting it lightly.”

You were now fuming and made a motion to stand up with Jack moving to the side.

“We can fix this, mamas.”

“You should have fixed it in May when it first happened!”

Just then the door opened and in walked Maggie and Urban who were both looking confused as you were shooting daggers at your husband.

“We’re not getting married again.” You muttered while crossing your arms and looking down at the floor.

"What did you just say to me!?"

"That come December 21st, we're not getting married again. You fucking heard me."

Jack was quiet for a few minutes before looking back over at you.

"We need to first fix our marriage before we even think about doing any of that. You kept this from me!"

"Do you even want to be married to me anymore?"

You looked up at your husband in utter disbelief not believing that he would have the audacity to ask you that.

“Jack, if I didn’t want to be married to you, I would have been gone a long time ago.”

“OKAY! What is the problem between you two!?” Maggie asked, looking confused as Urban made a beeline for his bedroom to put the gifts he bought away. Urban never got in the middle of the two of you when you argued and this time was no different. He already knew that you would come find him to talk about it after anyway. 

“Ask your son.” You said responding to Maggie.

Maggie then turned to her oldest son with her arms crossed waiting for an explanation.

“Anitta has a sex tape of us and is threatening to release it and that’s why I haven’t really said anything to her publicly. In the hopes of her not doing it.”

“Jackman, you are aware that what you just told me is ILLEGAL!” Maggie said, looking at him in disbelief.

“I know! But..!”

“And this has been going on since May and it is now DECEMBER!” You added while shaking your head in disbelief.

“I know I was wrong and I don’t have a good answer on why I kept this from you but you know that I will do anything and everything that I need to do on this earth to protect you!”

“Protect me or protect yourself?” You asked him while looking up at him and he looked at you in disbelief.

“Don’t start that shit, Y/N. You have been my entire world since I was 14 years old and that is NEVER going to change.”

“You know what, I noticed? That I go so hard for you and the rest of PG and I am constantly putting myself second. I can’t even tell you how many nights I have lost sleep to make sure that people all around the fucking world knew your name! And I still do that! And for what? For you to keep something as big as this from your wife?! I would do anything for you and you KNOW that.”

“Baby! I am thankful for everything that you have done for me and I apologize if I made you feel like I wasn’t appreciative of you. I….just I told Neelam earlier because she saw there was something bothering me and she said I needed to tell you as soon as possible and I was tired of staying quiet on this.”

“YOU TOLD NEELAM BEFORE ME?! YOU TOLD HER BEFORE YOUR WIFE?!”

“Babe, she’s my friend too and not just my manager!”

“Yeah, your friend who at one time had it out for your wife and was coming sideways at me and almost got her fucking ass beat.”

“I needed someone else’s perspective! And you two are close now!”

“I’m not doing this anymore.”

“Wait, doing what?! Babe, don’t walk away from me. We can get through this.” Jack said while trying to take your hand but Maggie shook his head at him telling him to let you go.

“Jack, I love you. You know I do, but I cannot be around you right now. I just can’t. The wedding is off.”

Maggie immediately followed you and was attempting to calm you down. The tears were cascading down your face at 100 miles per hour. While Jack simply sat back down on the couch with his head in his hands.

For the first time in ten years, he actually broke your trust in him.

“You need to breathe, Y/N. Come on and sit.”

You did as you were told and started to take some deep breaths before turning to your mother-in-law.

“How could he keep that from me?”

“I don’t have an answer for that, at all. I’m not defending him in any way, but I know that to him it probably felt like the best decision at the time.”

“He also said that we have cracks in our relationship that need to be fixed before we have children.”

Maggie simply nodded her head prompting for you to continue.

“Like he said I hide things from him and I don’t!”

“Hold on baby, let me stop you right there. You do hide things.”

“What have I hid from him?!”

“The fact that you could rap, your role in P Valley, the feature with Giveon and not telling him when you were first asked, and not to mention the 12 pets...”

“I didn’t think...”

“You might not have noticed at the time but it was a big deal that had a big impact. And not to mention that you have GOT to stop fighting.”

“I’m not even that bad!”

“Y/N Y/M/N Harlow you are a whole adult who is almost 25 and you have been fighting since you were in elementary school. I know this because your mom told me. That gets old really quick and there are plenty of other things you can do except fight.”

“She came for my man, mom! She deserved to get her ass beat and the way she was being disrespectful towards me, it was unnecessary.”

“It might have been unnecessary, but you’re going to basically fight millions of girls? When he only has eyes for you?”

“Well no...”

“Okay, then. See, Y/N you don’t think you ever do anything wrong.”

“Jack said the same thing… and Urban.”

“It’s tough love, but I have got to call you out on this because I love you and only want the best for you and Jack. So, I know I usually side with you but this time you’re both in the wrong..”

Your eyes were beginning to water, not truly realizing how much you had missed right in front of your face.

“Hey, come here. Don’t cry. Just try to be a better woman than you were yesterday. I know that you can do it and be the wife my son deserves and the mother my grandchildren deserve, okay?” Maggie said while pulling you into a hug.

“Jack has got to stop spoiling you so much and learn to tell you no from time to time too. Literally no one tells you no and you’re spoiled.”

“Damn, you’re just laying it all out huh?”

“Because you’re my daughter and I want to be honest. Take a few minutes for yourself and I’m going to go talk to that son of mine.”

You nodded your head as she left the room and you immediately grabbed your phone to text Brandi.

You- I’m leaving out of L.A. tonight to head to Miami for the show

Brandi- So soon? You literally just got there a few hours ago. Is everything okay?

You- Yeah, why wouldn’t they be?

Brandi- Because you went to see your husband and knowing you two I thought you would be breaking headboards

You- We’re both busy and I just wanted to check in on him. We’re good.

Brandi- Flight will be ready tonight

You- Brandi, can I leave sooner?

Brandi- Y/N, you have me worried

You- It’s just a lot that I need to get done before Christmas and I want to get a head start on it

Brandi- Be at the airport in an hour

You- Thank you

Maggie went back out to the living room to see her son with his head in his hands and she simply went and sat next to him.

“I want you to listen and to not interrupt me, okay?”

All Jack did was nod.

“The two of you have created such a big mess that it isn’t even funny. Between the two of you keeping things from each other, the whole Anitta thing, Giveon, and it’s like you two forgot that you’re married but the world is watching the two of you. The way you’ve been acting towards her is unacceptable and I raised you better than that. How do you even expect this marriage to last if you aren’t putting in the work for it? Because at this rate because of what you just told her, I don’t see it lasting another year.”

“She called off the wedding…. This was supposed to be the year we were celebrating five years of being married and hopefully adding a child and I’m convinced she doesn’t want anything to do with me. I cannot lose her, I just can’t.”

“She would have left a long time ago if that was the case. I know that you two love each other, anyone can see that, but protect your marriage at all costs. And she was right to call it off. The two of you are renewing your vows in two weeks and this is the bombshell you dropped on her?”

“I didn’t want to go into 2023 with this hanging over my head.”

“I know she appreciates your honesty even though it was months too late, but give her time and also in that time the two of you need to see a marriage counselor. I know it’s hard to hear, but it’s tough love.”

Just then the bedroom door opened and you emerged with all of the suitcases that you had brought with you less than four hours ago when you landed. This caught Jack’s attention.

“Where… where are you going? You just got here.”

“Jack, I love you and as hard as this is for me to say because I never thought that I would have to say this in a million years, but, I need time away from you. I can’t put into words how much it hurts that you kept that from me. I know that I’ve hurt you too and I’m definitely not innocent at all but… I need to put myself first for once. I’ll see you at Christmas, I guess.”

“Y/N…. wait….”

“No, because you need to let me do this. I have always put you first and it’s my turn. Maybe time away from each other will do us some good so that we can begin to fix whatever this mess this is that we call a marriage. I just need time, okay?” You said as you were trying to keep your tears from falling and that’s when you felt Urban come up behind you. He had been listening the entire time and just knew that once you left, Jack would be a mess and be hard to console.

You saw where Jack’s eyes began to water and because he didn’t trust his voice enough to speak without cracking, he simply nodded his head before you came up and hugged him.

He was holding onto you for dear life and you were doing the same.

“I’ll love you until the end of time and even after that.”

“I know, right back at you.” You said as Jack leaned down to kiss you.

Liked by allthingsy/n, jackharlowsource, jackandy/naremyparents, saweetie, druski2funny, cozane, mortirolo, and 3,436,298 others

theshaderoom: We have breaking news about our favorite couple jackharlow and y/ninsta. Remember how we were all excited for their destination wedding this December? Well apparently sources close to the couple have said that the wedding is now OFF. You heard it here first, the wedding is OFF. We just hope they can work through it and that they repair their relationship

saweetie: WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? jackharlow y/ninsta GET YOUR ASSES IN HERE NOW OR ANSWER THE FUCKING PHONE

theestallion: I SWEAR THAT THIS BETTER BE ANOTHER PRANK

lilnasx: WHAT IS HAPPENING?

normani: I don’t like this game anymore

sza: but....????

allthingsy/n: stop playin. this is a joke. it has to be. Jack and Y/N are forever

jackharlowsource: I’m holding out hope at least it didn’t say that they were getting divorced

jackandy/naremyparents: WHAAAAAAAATTTTTTT

Liked by danivalentine, mortirolo, jackharlow, champagnepapi, cozane, urbanwyatt, 2forwoyne, and 3,208,976 others

y/ninsta: my sister danivalentine always has my back. thank you for loving me the way you do.

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Liked by jackharlow, danivalentine, urbanwyatt, claybornharlow, saweetie, mortirolo, softtcurse, yungskylark, and 2,860,945 others

y/ninsta: one of the greatest feelings in the world is being on stage performing for my beautiful fans. I love yall so much 😘💖

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“Y/N, that is the third time you’ve thrown up today. Do you feel okay?”

“It’s probably just a stomach bug or something. It’s probably nothing.”

All your sister was doing was eyeing you as you continued to pack in order to get ready to go to the next city which would be one of your favorites, New Orleans.

“Y/N…”

“Dani, what? I have to hurry up and pack.”

She didn’t do anything except hand you a walgreens bag which you were confused about.

“Danielle… what is going on?”

“You’re pregnant. Take the test.”

You shook your head in disbelief at your older sister and rolled your eyes.

“No, I’m not.” You said while throwing the bag to the side and she lightly grabbed your wrist.

“Look, I know that things are very touch and go with you and Jack right now, but I honestly think you might be. It wouldn’t hurt to take it.”

“If I take it, will you leave me alone?”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

You once again rolled your eyes at her and proceeded to go into the bathroom and take the bag with you.

Once you had finished taking the test, you set a timer on your phone to go back to look at it and continued to pack all of your things.

“Have the two of you even talked?”

“Sort of.”

“No, Y/N, you two need to sit down and talk about this.”

“Dani, I can’t right now. I need to take some time for myself before I do that.”

“You don’t get days off when you’re married.”

“I know and I know that we have a lot to work on.”

“Then why are you not with your husband doing that?”

You didn’t have an answer for her as your alarm on your phone went off signaling that it was time to look at the tests you took.

You peered down at the bathroom counter to see all three tests staring back up at you and it was the last thing that you were expecting.

“Y/N?” Dani called for you and when she didn’t hear you, she made her way over to the bathroom. She peeked over your shoulder to see why you had gone quiet.

Positive.

All three.

You immediately bursted into tears.

This was supposed to have been a happy moment, but there were a million things running through your head at one time.

“It’s going to be okay, lil bit.” Your sister said while bringing you into a hug.

“How? Me and Jack are barely even speaking. And now I’m pregnant?!”

“One thing at a time, okay. But we need to get you in to see a doctor so we can see how far along you are. We have time to do that before we leave for NOLA, okay?”

You simply nodded your head and your sister continued to wipe away your tears.

You just couldn’t seem to catch a break.

Brandi was a miracle worker and was able to get you in to see an OB/GYN two hours before your flight was supposed to leave. It was cutting it close, but it was better than waiting until you got there to find out what was going on. 

“Hi Mrs. Harlow! I’m going to be doing your ultrasound today so we can see what’s going on in there.”

You nodded your head as you pulled up your sweatshirt so that she could place the gel on your stomach.

“Okay…. And…. here we go! Let me just get a good picture and I can print some out for you and…. Oh…”

“Oh? What do you mean oh?” You asked suddenly in a panic. 

“It’s um… wow. There’s more than one baby in here.”

“EXCUSE ME? WHAT?”

“Relax, Y/N.” Dani said while eyeing you and trying to stay calm in the hopes that you would too. 

“I am terrified to ask this question, but how many are in there?”

“Three. You’re pregnant with triplets! Congratulations!”

All of the color then drained from your face.

You- Jack, I’m scared shitless. I didn’t want to do this over text but I needed to tell you this as soon as possible. I’m pregnant. WITH TRIPLETS. 

Taglist:

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[gothidecorem]

Not Alone

A Tom “Iceman” Kazansky x reader comfort one shot

1362 words

A/N: I’ve been dealing with waaayyyy too much the past few days and needed to get my emotions out somehow. The way I see it: big bad horrible Navy man dies, I need sweet ray of sunshine Navy man to swoop in. I used the gif of his dress whites because besides the fact that he’s adorable in them, the only time we see him in his blues is…

I also included the scrapbook pics I mentioned at the end of the story.

TW: mentions of abuse, allusions to sexual abuse, generational trauma, grief. Most of the story is under the cut.

About face

“He will truly be missed”

Present arms

“Your grandfather was a great man”

…military honors…

“He sure loved to be in the cockpit of a P30”

Fire

It was all starting to become too much. The pavilion was feeling 100 times smaller with each passing second. Everyone had something nice to say about him which made you wonder if you had fallen into an alternate reality. In your reality, he was none of these things. He was a horrible man.

“He was a father who cared deeply, and could be strict at times.” You mean when he threw your mother to the floor in front of her siblings? When he would… No, bite your tongue, now’s not the time.

“He showed up to all of the boys’ football games, when he could.” Of course you were hearing this second hand but as far as you knew, he didn’t show up for jack shit. Maybe he went to your cousins’ games but otherwise he was too self-centered.

Hearing all of these things massively contradicted everything you had known about the man. It contradicted all of the trauma he caused for your mom and aunt. If anything, this man should have won an Oscar for how well he hid all of the smarmy shit he’s done in his life. One of your cousins was beside himself because he didn’t know how to feel. He didn’t have a relationship with the man either and he didn’t know how to process it. But with him being 13 years younger and not quite old enough to learn all of the family trauma, you try your best to console him but feel like you fell flat when he needed you.

The entire situation was suffocating and you needed some air. Finding a spot on the far side of one of the cremation walls, you collapse. Just needing to somehow catch your breath. Taking in your surroundings to ground yourself; counting the trees, counting the birds, closing your eyes and pretending you just don’t exist for a few moments. That was, until you felt a hand on your shoulder. Looking up, your eyes locked onto another set that were all too familiar.

“I was wondering where you ran off to.” Tom said, sitting down next to you.

“Careful, don’t mess up your uniform.” You say, wiping away some tears.

“I’m more worried about you right now.” He says, giving you a look. Having known Ice as long as you have, he knows most of the story about why you don’t have a relationship with your grandfather. You could even see him trying not to make a face during the ceremony.

“Aside from the lies and finding my pictures in his photo album yesterday, I’m-“

“I’m sorry, you what?” the world seemed to slow when you heard the tone change in his voice from concern to anger.

“My pictures. He had pictures of me from when I was 3, 6, and 7 or 8 in his scrapbook. I couldn’t even explain the feelings that have been swirling around in my head since then.” Other than the fact it made you want to vomit.

“Do you know how he got them?”

“No. Neither mom nor I know how because she sure as shit didn’t send them to him. He even had a newspaper clipping from my grandparent’s anniversary announcement. I mean, I get at one point they were in laws but it doesn’t make it any less disturbing.”

“On the bright side, it’s all over. You don’t have to worry about running into him anymore, having to hide your daughter from him anymore, it’s done.” He says, standing up. After brushing his uniform off, he offers you a hand, helping you up from the ground. “Speaking of which, where is she?”

“She’s off, running around with the cousins.” As soon as you say that, the 4 kiddos came racing around the corner.

“What’s eating at you?” Tom asks, looking down at you noticing the far off look on your face again.

“The same question that’s been playing over and over again in my mind since I was about her age…” you say, pointing at your daughter.

“You’re not disposable. I promise. You’re worth more than you realize.”

“It definitely doesn’t seem that way. My grandfather used & abused my mother and treated her like scum therefore I didn’t have a grandfather. My dad thought that life was better 3 hours away and he finally had sons instead of a daughter, so I’m more or less an afterthought. My ex thought making up some whack job story about how he was kidnapped by men with guns was the proper way to get out of the relationship instead of talking to me about what was going on in his head. Both of them also deciding their relationships with my daughter wasn’t important either. No one ever stays, they always leave.” At this point you were on the verge of tears and holding them back was about to not be an option. Before you could even muster another thought, a strong set of arms pulled you in tight.

“Look at me.” Tom said, pulling an arm away so he could lift your chin up to look at him. “You are not responsible for any of their actions. None of that is your fault. You can’t blame yourself for them not knowing what they had and lost. Not everyone leaves. I’m still here for you and I’m not going anywhere.”

“You say that, but the other shoe is always waiting to drop.” Before you could say anything else, your full name was flying from his mouth.

“I’m. Not. Going. Anywhere.” He emphasized every word. At this time, Ron rounded the corner.

“Hey, I was wondering where you two ran off to.” He said, then noticing the tight squeeze Ice currently had you in. He gave you both a knowing look.

“And besides being stuck with me, you’re stuck with this one as well.” Tom said, smirking.

“I’m like glitter. Just when you think I’m gone, POOF, there I am.” That garnered a giggle from you.

“I love you both, I truly do.” You say, side hugging the both of them.

“One of us, maybe a bit more than the other.” Tom joked, placing a kiss on your cheek. Ron scoffed, playfully.

“I can’t believe you’d question my love for her. I’d protect her like she was my own-” Tom, living up to his callsign, shot Ron an icy glare. Ron, living up to his, tipped his hat and slid his way out of the conversation.

“Is this your way of asking me out, Kazansky?” You ask, playfully, but blushing at the same time.

“Not the time or place, darling. But, if you’d be up for it, maybe I’ll officially ask when we’re out of here.”

“While I enjoy the thought, there’s a little someone you might need to get permission from first.”

“TOM!” you hear your little girl yell at the top of her lungs, just now realizing he was here. She ran over and practically jumped into his arms.

“Hey kiddo! You probably didn’t recognize me in full uniform, did ya?” he asks as she grabs his hat and places it on her head.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here.” You say, as he readjusts your daughter to sit better on his hip and using his other arm to wrap it around your waist.

“Mom, I’m starving.” Your 5 year old says.

“Since it’s a long drive home, yes, we can stop and get food.”

“Sounds like you’re taking me up on that offer.” Tom whispers in your ear.

“Zip it, Kazansky.” You say playfully, placing a kiss on his cheek.

“GET A ROOM!” You hear Slider yell across the parking lot. Whipping your head around to say something, you look back and see that Maverick & Goose have already taken care of it for you, simultaneously smacking him in the stomach.

You didn’t know what the future held, which terrified you. But in the present? You had your daughter, you had Ice, you had your friends, and that’s all that mattered.

The scrapbook pics I found:

It’s been a couple days and the feeling still makes me massively uneasy. But, as stated, he’s gone. I don’t have to worry about him anymore.

[screechthemighty]

More fanfic updates?? What is this, the blog of a productive writer??? It happens sometimes. Note that this chapter pretty heavily features an OC for this canon, so if you haven't read "steal my heart and break my pride", her showing up might not make sense. But also with the fandom being made up of ten people and a shoe, I assume you guys already have, lol. Anyways, on with the show!

crash and burn (and then return again) | a titanfall 2 fanfic part four

The first thing Cooper did when they entered Harmony’s orbit was contact Alicia. He’d already confirmed she was stationed there—a fact that cast the planet’s near-demise in a new and more terrifying light—so it was just a matter of contacting the right department and asking if she was in.

“Jack?” Alicia said.

Hearing her voice again made him suddenly, fiercely homesick. “Hey,” Cooper mumbled. “So, uh…guess who’ll be in town soon?”

“Hang on.” Cooper heard her phone being put down and the distant sound of a door closing. When Alicia returned to the call, she had the same tone she used whenever the local farm gossip was especially juicy: “Dude, did you guys really blow a hole in a planet?!”

Cooper made a strangled noise that felt like either a laugh or a sob. Not even he was sure which. “I…” He took a second to collect himself. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to answer that.”

“In that case, I won’t ask. Just promise me I’ll be the first one you tell when it’s declassified.”

“Okay. I promise.”

“Are you okay?”

“Physically, I’m fine. Emotionally…” He had to take another second. “I understand if you’re busy, but if you have time…I could really use a familiar face.”

 “Absolutely.” She heard the sound of a keyboard in the background as she kept talking. “What time are you landing?”

“Hour or so, but I know I have to talk to some other people first. I can meet you wherever you are if that works?”

“Sounds good. I should be able to get off early. A few people owe me one." She gave him her number and instructions on how to find the main supply headquarters. “There’s a lot of signage, so you shouldn’t get too lost. Give me a call whenever you’re available. I can always come to you if anything goes wrong.”

“Copy that. See you in a bit.”

“See you, Jack.”

At least he’d have that to look forward to. Cooper tried to focus on the upcoming meeting, not the negatives of what landing would mean.

It was hard when he had to put back on his old rifleman gear—the only other clothes he had—and carefully fold up Lastimosa’s gear. He might have been a pilot now, but wearing Lastimosa’s gear when he went to see his family felt wrong. He didn’t want to get Cassie’s hopes up.

What do I say to her? What does anyone say in this situation? He wasn’t sure who to ask. He’d actually dug up a blank death report as they approached the planet, just to get an idea of the script. The form felt so impersonal, cold. That wasn’t going to work at all. Not when Lastimosa had meant something to him, too.

Maybe start there? We both lost someone important to us. Could be a point of connection.

Hopefully it would read as empathetic and not that he was trying to make it all about him.

Cooper joined the rest of the SRS as they readied to depart. He tried not to make eye contact with anyone. He tried not to look at any of the Titans. He kept his arms wrapped around Lastimosa’s gear and tried to rehearse what he’d say to Cassie.

I’m sorry…he died a hero…no, not that, it doesn’t make any of it better.

I’m sorry. He saved my life. That just makes it my fault, doesn’t it?

I’m sorry. I know what you’re going through. No, no, that does feel like I’m making it all about me…

The doors opened, letting in a flood of late afternoon sunlight. There were people outside, families and friends of the other people. There was a lot less decorum this time; everyone departed in a formless crowd, running to the people they recognized. Cooper stepped out slowly, carefully scanning the clusters of people.

I’m sorry. He was a good man. I only hope I’m half the pilot he is…

His heart caught in his throat.

He’d seen Cassie’s picture once. It was an older picture, but she hadn’t changed too much since it had been taken. She was standing next to a blond woman in a technician’s jumpsuit. Cassie looked right past Cooper as she scanned the crowds; the blond woman looked right at him.

She knows. Cassie doesn’t. So he would be the one to break the news to her. Cooper swallowed hard as he approached. Cassie finally noticed him as he got closer, then noticed what he was holding.

“I’m sorry…” Cooper croaked out.

“No,” Cassie interrupted. “No.” There were tears in her eyes immediately; when the blond woman tried to rest a comforting hand on her shoulder, Cassie shook it off and bolted.

Do I go after her? What should I do? Cooper looked helplessly at the woman Cassie was with, but she was frozen, too, her eyes shut tightly. “I’m sorry,” Cooper repeated.

“It’s not your fault.” The woman shook her head. “I should go after her. I was hoping to have a word, but it can wait.”

She must have been the woman from R&D that Briggs had mentioned. Cooper was glad she wasn’t going to try and go through with the meeting. He didn’t have it in him to talk right now. “That’s fine,” he managed to choke out, though he wasn’t sure she heard. She was already jogging in the same direction as Cassie.

That was that, Cooper supposed. Some homecoming.

Someone approached him. “You okay?” Briggs asked.

He wasn’t.

“Can I go?” Cooper asked.  It wasn’t very professional, but he couldn’t be there anymore.

“Of course. We’ll send you your room assignment. Do what you have to.”

Cooper nodded and walked off, hugging Lastimosa’s gear to his chest. He didn’t think he’d be able to talk, but all he could think about was seeing Alicia. Just having someone around who really knew him.

He didn’t want to be Jack Cooper, freshly minted pilot and hero. He just wanted to be Jack.

.

Alicia was able to give him very clear instructions on how to get to employee parking. She was already there when Jack arrived, standing next to a motorbike. She hadn’t changed all that much since he’d seen her last. Cooper knew she’d cut her hair, but she’d worn it up all the time back on Persephone, so he didn’t really notice a difference. It was a relief to see that at least one of them hadn’t changed. “This is all I’ve got,” she said apologetically. “Are you okay to ride double, or do you want me to find something else?”

Cooper had hoped he’d be up for talking when he saw her again, but no dice. Alicia caught on quickly, though. “Right hand for bike, left hand for other?” she offered. Cooper raised his right hand. “Cool. Hop on.”

If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend they were home, sharing a ride because the other person’s bike had broken down or another family member needed it. He allowed himself to dwell in that fantasy while the ride lasted, to imagine that he could smell the crops and hear harvesting machines off in the distance. He was almost hesitant to open his eyes when the bike stopped, but what he saw when he did wasn’t awful. It looked like a public garden, one not too occupied, either. It wasn’t home, but he could work with it.

Alicia led him to an isolated corner near a fountain. They sat together on a bench, staring out over a sea of green and brightly-colored flowers. The temperature here really was good for growing, Cooper noticed. If he’d been in a better headspace, he probably would’ve tried to identify some of the plants in sight. All he could do now was appreciate that they were still there.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Alicia said, “and I’ll be quiet if that’s what you need. But I’m really glad you’re okay, Jack.”

Cooper nodded. He kept his arms wrapped tightly around himself and closed his eyes. He let the quiet and the presence of his friend settle over him. He couldn’t say that he felt peaceful, but he slowly started to feel better than he had. Eventually, he was able to speak.

“I can’t talk about it yet.”

Alicia nodded. “That’s fine. Whenever you’re ready.”

“Some of it might be confidential. Have to worry about that now.”

“Well, that sucks.”

“Hmm.”

“You’re pretty good at keeping secrets, at least. Are you hungry yet?”

Cooper took a deep breath and carefully considered the question. “Not yet. Might have to force something. I can’t…actually remember when I ate last.”

“I can make congee. Show you my place. It’s not a bad little apartment, all things considered. Bigger than my room at home, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah. I’d like that.” He could probably handle congee. “Might fall asleep on your couch.”

“You won’t. It’s an awful couch. Trust me. You’d be better off on the floor.”

He’d fall asleep on a pile of rocks at this point. Anything to make the aching feeling in his body go away.

“You’re not alone anymore, Jack,” Alicia added. “You’ve got me now, too. Just…try to remember that.”

He was glad she hadn’t said like before. Nothing about this situation was like the good old days. They could never go back…and honestly, the good old days hadn’t been that good since he was a kid.

But he’d take any improvement he could get. Especially since it involved her.

[toreii]

Lost in the Book with Stitch part 3

Disclaimer: This is a fan translation. I apologize for any mistakes. I’m by no means fluent in Japanese, but I try my best. Please, support the official translation when it comes out.

…The sound of waves?

What happened?

Uninhabited Island - Beach

Grim: “Funaa…..”

Grim: “Ngh……what happened…?”

Everyone: “Uugh…”

Azul: “Where…are we…?”

Jack: “It smells unfamiliar…”

Ace: “Ow…what happened?”

Riddle: “Grim’s weird book…ugh, I can’t remember.”

Floyd: “It sounds really familiar to me…”

Lilia: “What the, it’s so bright…”

Everyone: “…………”

Everyone: “WHAT ARE YOU WEARING!?”

Yuu:

“What happened to your clothes!?”

“That outfit suits you!”

Ace: “You’re one to talk! You’re in high spirits!”

Ace: “…Wait, I’m also dressed differently!?”

Riddle: “Jack, what’s with that flashy look? Sloppy. Fasten that shirt properly!”

Jack: “Riddle-senpai also looks risky! You even have flowers around your neck.”

Floyd: “Ahahahaha! Azul, those sunglasses are super suspicious! They really suit you.”

Azul: “I do not want to be told that by you. People avoid you when you look suspicious walking down the street.”* (T/N: I’m not sure about this second line.)

Lilia: “Wha, what happened…?”

Lilia: “Yuu! What’s going on with me right now? Am I at least cute!?”

Yuu:

“It’s rather cool.”

Lilia: “W-What the heck…this is a big deal. Will the course alter from here on out…?”

“It’s really cute.”

Lilia: “Well then! I’m relieved.”

Grim: “Why is everyone dressed like they’re having fun!?”

Grim: “Ace is more chatty than usual. You’re so cheeky!”

Ace: “Haa!? I’m not usually chatty!”

Ace: “I don’t want to be told that by some guy wearing a bright red, patterned shirt!”

Ace: “Look closely, Yuu and Grim. We stand out when we line up together.”

Jack: “Hey…we were all wearing uniforms up until a moment ago. When did we change clothes?”

Riddle: “Perhaps by someone’s magic. However, I don’t remember anyone casting magic.”

Floyd: “Aside from the clothes, where is this place?”

Floyd: “We were all in the library…”

Floyd: “…No matter how I see it, the sea is right in front of us, right?”

Azul: “That’s right…the scent and sound of the waves is unmistakable. It’s really the sea.”

Lilia: “This isn’t the shore of Sage’s Island, either.”

Lilia: “Look at the flora around you. The trees and grass are tropical.”

Ace: “That means…this isn’t even Sage’s Island let alone the library!?”

Jack: “How did our clothes and the place turn out like this? I’m lost.”

Floyd: “Uh-huh. The last thing I remember was Baby Seal-chan opening up the book with the mirror.”

Floyd: “The book suddenly flashed and was enveloped in light.”

Grim: “Yeah. It was really bright!”

Lilia: “It’s hard to believe, but…it seems that this whole situation is because of that mysterious book.”

Floyd: “So then, that means the book brought us to this place?”

Lilia: “I can’t think of anything else. It’s reasonable to think so.”

To be continued…

[purity-the-one]

The Joining of Another

OOC: This is Part Two of "The Fall of Purity and Pyxis", so please go read that first before coming here if you'd like context. Otherwise, feel free to continue!

TW: Angst, Religious Themes, mentions of death

Purity gulped and nodded, calming down their nerves. Their voice mostly returned to its mono-tone state, but there was still an edge of nervousness and concern as they spoke. “Alanixians weren’t always so… uniform as I made them. We used to be a species of hunters and predators. In our planetary system, we were essentially top of the food chain. We didn’t think any better of it, just running off of animalistic urges. Some of us weren’t as blood-thirsty, it was quenchable with enough hunting or affection surprisingly enough. What is it that you call them… canines… dogs yes. We could be trained like dogs. But there were still a handful of those that called themselves the “higher Alanixians”. Both Thirteenth and I are a part of the true Higher Alanixians. And we are the only two. The others who brandished themselves as “higher Alanixians” were simply ones who wanted to keep the bloodshed, the violence. In the three thousand and eight hundred years that I ruled, there had only been twelve to stray from my teachings of purity, unity, and grace. However, Unity and Grace changed their titles to Serenity and Equality. Out of fear of us returning to our old ways, I had the twelve executed publicly, and Thirteenth was the last one we attempted to execute. I spread the word that the highest unity one could achieve as a pack of hunters, was to remain exactly the same. To brandish ourselves as a singularity. Only two didn’t fall for this, I brandished them as Gods despite being normal themselves. But the twelve who began to show emotion were not given chances. They were executed, as I am sure Pyxis told you.” Purity explained calmly, clearly not having any regret for their actions, they would still stand by what they’d done. “But if Pyxis is exhibiting these behaviors, it means that they will likely have these behaviors for the rest of time and space.”

“Okay, so obviously you don’t believe people can change. Isn’t that fucking great. You know, you’re going to blend in just great with a specific group of people here on Earth, and that isn’t a compliment.” Scraps huffed, still holding Pyxis in his lap as he returned the pendant back around their neck, running his hands through their matted and knotted hair. “News flash, Purity. It isn’t all black and white. Which is exactly why the Ruby Suns were created. We’ve been having Alanixians flooding here either to get revenge on Pyxis, or to join the Ruby Suns. We are two-hundred strong now. And you called me high priest earlier. Unfortunately you’re correct.” He continued, shifting as he kept holding Pyxis in his arms, staring at the muzzle. “This isn’t a good look. Why are you here, Purity?” Scraps growled slightly, not exactly pleased with this whole situation. “Ruby Suns… I suppose that name will do. Let us say I’ve had a… change of heart. I no longer wish to make myself an enemy. I’d been hoping that the Thirteenth would be willing to accept my own change, but they attacked before I could speak. How is it that you’re controlling them like that, High Priest?” Purity still kept their distance, but seemed interested. “I’m not controlling jack shit. Maybe if you weren’t a fucking ass-wipe, Pyxis wouldn’t jump you every time you took a breath. They’re actually quite affectionate with others. This is… the first time I’ve seen them this bad. And I’ve seen a lot. Not that you need to know that though.” Scraps gruffed, his eyebrows furrowed. “And use my name. Names are celebrated on Earth. It’s Scraps.”

“High Priest is a title and a name, however if you so desire that I call you something, I suppose bug will do. Now then, bug, take me to your followers. These Ruby Suns.” Purity stood up, dusting off their clothes. “Fuck you and fuck no. I do what Pyxis says, not you. You want to be a part of them? You start as a member. Not as a God. You learn human nature, you learn to control your emotions, and you learn to be not a piece of shit. Then we can talk.” Scraps stood up, carrying Pyxis in his arms still. “Take it or leave it, Purity.” Purity blankly stared at Scraps, clearly not expecting the sass or any of what he’d said. But they didn’t argue as they stood back up. “If that is what it takes, very well then. I will be a part of the commons, bug. But the moment I can become a God again, you will be my High Priest as well.” “In your fucking dreams, Purity. Get out of those clothes.” He opened up his pouch and threw a set of clothes at Purity, a white and red plaid flannel, jeans, and a plain white undershirt. “How do you get the muzzle off?” Purity barely caught the clothes and stared at them before snapping their fingers and instantly changing into the clothes. “The muzzle? Oh, yes that will come off automatically once they’re no-longer blood-thirsty. It runs on their emotions. Once they’ve calmed down, it will disappear.” “Wow, you are a bitch. You better pray it does, otherwise Pyxis is going to cut off your head and play soccer with it. Now get the fuck out of my sight. I’ll find you in a few days. Go figure your shit out the hard way.” Scraps waved his hand and dismissed the other God, standing in the center of the gold stained ground. Purity silently blinked and turned on their heel, walking off in the opposite direction towards the road they’d come from, disappearing for the time being.

[https-harlow]

Fight The Feeling- 3 We Have So Much To Talk About

Part 1 Part 2 Summary- Jack apologizes for his previous actions, you and Jack go on your first "date" that was set up by your managers, and end up having a conversation after.

Word Count- 3.1k

You heard a knock at your door, and you sighed, walking over to answer it. You hadn’t seen Jack since the night at your apartment and now he was at your door while you were getting ready to go on a date. Not a date by choice but a setup date and not a fun setup blind date. You knew who you were going on a date with, and you weren’t exactly any happier about it then when you found out. You opened the door to see Jack, sighing softly.

“Hi, you can come in. I’m almost ready.” You told him, Jack nodded, greeting you as he took a step inside. 

“Take your time. I was hoping to talk to you before we left though.” Jack said and you closed the door behind him. 

“Let’s talk after dinner, okay? I don’t want this to be any more awkward than it has to be.” You told him, and Jack nodded.

“I just want to apologize first, but we can talk later. I shouldn’t have asked you if the baby was mine because you’re right, I do know you better then that. That shouldn’t have been my only response. Out of everything I thought you wanted to talk about, a baby was the last thing on my mind, but I’m sure it was the last thing you were expecting either, so I want to apologize and tell you that even though I didn’t act like it that night, I do want to be involved.” Jack told you and you smiled softly.

“Thank you, Jack. I don’t know if I forgive you right now, but that does help. If you do keep your word and are involved then I will forgive you because you are right, I wasn’t expecting it either. I don’t know how I would have responded if I was you.” You told Jack honestly. 

“None of this is ideal, but no matter what, were dealing with it together. The pregnancy, this situation.” Jack said pointing between the two of you. “You don’t have to forgive me, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to go through this alone.”

“But you could leave Jack. You’ve left once, how am I supposed to know you’re not going to leave again?” 

“That’s different, it was better for us if I left last time.” Jack insisted and you sighed.

“I know why you left, but let’s not get into that right now.” You told Jack, and he nodded, you told him you would be right back, you walked into your bedroom, grabbing and putting on your jewelry and shoes before walking back out, holding a necklace in your hands.

“Can you help me put this on? Then I’m ready to go.” You told Jack, holding the necklace out as Jack took it from your hand. Jack looked at it for a moment, before placing the chain around your neck as you moved your hair out of the way. Jack clasped the necklace before you fixed your hair in the mirror you had by your front door.

“Thank you.” You grabbed your purse.

“You’re welcome, let’s go before we miss our reservation, and both get in trouble.” Jack joked and you laughed softly, both of you walking out of the door.

The car ride to the restaurant was short and there was an awkward silence in the car. It really hit you that you were really going on a “date” with your ex-boyfriend.

Once Jack pulled up in front of the restaurant to valet park his car you both let out a breath you were holding, Jack turning to you. A couple paparazzi waiting outside of the building, turning their attention to the car as you pulled up but due to the tint on Jack’s windows they couldn’t see inside.

“Ready?” Jack asked you and you shrugged slightly. 

“Do I really have a choice at this point?” You asked as you laughed softly.

“I guess not really at this point.” Jack laughed softly before you both got out of the car, Jack meeting you near the front of the car, his hand going to your lower back as you walked into the restaurant. 

As you walked inside, some of the paparazzi started to take pictures, while others took videos of the two of you. Jack used his body to shield you from the cameras while you both ignored the questions you were getting asked, and your names being called. You had to make it look like you were trying to maintain privacy in your relationship but needed to give them just enough to still be interested. Even though Jack was shielding you from some of the cameras you both knew that they got what they wanted.

Jack’s hand dropped from your back as soon as the door closed behind you, forgetting for a moment that you two had to also pretend to be a couple inside the restaurant. You pretended to bump his arm with your hand as a reminder and he placed his hand onto your lower back again. 

You both got led to your table, which was at least in a private area away from the other tables. Not for either of your sake, truthfully if your managers trusted you enough to make it through the night without any slip ups, they would have gotten you a table where you could be seen by other customers, it would have hopefully gotten more people to talk about you two, but neither of them trusted you that much.

At first, the conversation between you two was awkward, but quickly started to become more comfortable.

“Oh, since I haven’t told you, congratulations on the Grammy nominations.” You told Jack, looking around briefly to make sure no one could hear you. “I know things have been weird in-between us.” You said quietly. “But I know you put a lot of work into it, and I mean it when I say you deserve it.”

“Thank you, I couldn’t have done it without you truly, my little secret.” Jack said, making you laugh but roll your eyes, Jack letting out his own laugh. “That was stupid, wasn’t it?” Jack asked and you teasingly nodded.

“Flirting with your own song titles? Yes.” You teased.

“Who said I was flirting?” Jack asked. “But seriously, I couldn’t have done it without you, you were the inspiration for the songs, you gave me reassurance when I needed it, the album wouldn’t have been the same without you.” Jack assured.

“Yeah, and you even had a side piece.” You muttered underneath your breath, quiet enough that Jack couldn’t hear you. Jack had managed to convince you that the song was old, just that he was going to put it on the album so people didn’t get suspicious of any relationships, and maybe there was some truth to that, maybe the song was old, you would never know. It did seem to fit your relationship a little too well though. 

“What was that?” Jack asked.

“Nothing, just that I’m proud of you, and I always will be. No matter what our relationship is.” You told him and he smiled softly.

“Thank you, that means a lot.” Jack said honestly. “Are you going to be my date to the show?” Jack asked.

“Well, do I have much of a choice?” You asked, making Jack laugh softly as you both ate your food.

“Good point.”

“I’m sure Claire and Neelam will be glad they don’t have to force me to go now.” You said and both of you laughed.

“I think they will just be glad we’re getting along.” Jack said.

“Not even that, I think they will just be glad we didn’t argue all night.” You agreed.

“That’s probably why they got us this table away from everyone else, just in case.”  Jack said and you nodded in agreement.

“I’m surprised too honestly.” You admitted.

“That’s why I wanted to talk before we left, we need to talk about other things too, but I figured this would be more pleasant if we weren’t currently arguing.” Jack said. Jack saw the waiter start to walk over out of the corner of his eye, picking up his drink and taking a sip before placing his hand on top of yours.

You both changed the topic to something random, Jack telling you a story from tour, you laughing at some joke he made. Jack noticed how you pulled your hand away from his and wrapped your arms around yourself.

“Are you cold?” Jack asked you and you nodded slightly.

“Yeah, I forgot a jacket but I’m okay.” You told Jack who was already taking his own jacket off. Jack waited for the waiter to finish clearing your plates and drop off the check as you both thanked him. 

“Here, take mine.” Jack told you, trying to hand you his jacket as you shook your head.

“No, I’m okay, thank you though.” You said, as Jack sighed.

“Just take it, please?” Jack asked and you shook your head again.

“I’m not even that cold, I’ll be fine, aren’t you cold?” You asked and Jack shook his head.

“No, I’m fine, I’m not cold.” Jack told you. He knew you weren’t going to take his jacket willingly so he stood up from his chair and walked around the table to your chair, placing his jacket over your shoulders and before you could argue he walked back to his own chair and sat back down.

“Jack.” You sighed softly. “You didn’t have to do that. But thank you.” 

“You’re welcome. I didn’t need it anyways.” Jack told you. You let Jack pay for the meal, already knowing he wasn’t going to let you pay. Once he paid you both got up, you slipped your arms in into the sleeves of Jack’s jacket while he walked around the table to meet you. 

“Ready to go?” You asked and Jack nodded.

“Yeah.” Jack placed his arm around your waist, resting his hand on your hip. You both walked towards the door, seeing the crowd outside had at least doubled in size. Jack asked for his car to be brought to the front so you both didn’t have to wait in the crowd. 

As soon as the car was waiting for the two of you, you both stepped out, the sound of cameras starting immediately.  Jack kept his arm around you, leading you to the car. You kept your head down as the paparazzi called your and Jack’s names. Once you reached the car Jack opened the passenger door for you, letting you get in the car before closing the door and going over to the driver’s side to get in the car himself. Jack drove away from the restaurant and started to make his way back to your apartment.

“Do you still want to talk?” Jack asked and you nodded.

“Yeah, if you still want to.” You told him, glancing over at him.

“Yeah, I mean, we need to talk about our relationship eventually, might as well do it now.” Jack said and you nodded in agreement.

It didn’t take long until Jack was parking in front of your apartment building, both of you getting out of the car and Jack followed you up to your apartment. 

“We have so much we need to talk about.” You sighed, setting your bag down on the entryway table before making your way over to the couch. Jack following you.

“Well, we haven’t talked about us yet, so let’s start there?” Jack suggested and you nodded, hugging his jacket tighter around your body, almost as if you were trying to guard yourself.

“Can I ask you something?” You asked Jack and he nodded.

“Of course.”

“Did you actually love me?” You asked quietly, almost hoping Jack wouldn’t hear your question because you weren’t sure you wanted to know the answer.

“Of course I did. Did I make you feel like I didn’t?” Jack asked you.

“Then why did you cheat?” You asked, suddenly gaining some sort of confidence to ask the question you never thought you would ask.

“I didn’t-“ Jack started before you cut him off.

“I know you did. Don’t try to claim you didn’t I saw the texts, I have confirmation from other people. Is that why you didn’t want to go public with our relationship? So you could fuck other girls without them knowing that you were in a relationship?” You asked.

“No. I really did love you, I promise. I just I thought I was ready for a relationship when I wasn’t. I don’t know why I cheated, but it was a stupid mistake, I’ve regretted it ever since I did it. I know that doesn’t make it okay, but I never wanted to hurt you like that, I didn’t want you to find out. I thought it was going to be a one-time thing, and I could hide it until I was ready to tell you and I could explain better. Then things just progressed, I didn’t know how to get out of it. When you weren’t there, she was. It was easy. Easier then hiding our relationship.” Jack tried to explain.

“How many girls?” You asked.

“2.” Jack answered honestly, he figured there was no point in lying now.

“How many times?”

“One girl was on and off for a month, maybe a month and a half, the other girl was a one-time thing.” 

“Did you love her?” Jack immediately shook his head.

“No, not at all, not like I loved you.”

“Then why did you do it?” 

“Our relationship was hard, I always thought I wanted a private relationship, and in a way I do, but the level of privacy we had, was nice, but impossible to maintain.” Jack explained.

“You don’t think our relationship was hard for me too? I was more than willing to go public with you. Then I found out you were cheating on me. I knew for 2 weeks before we broke up Jack. I waited for you to tell me. I didn’t want to break up with you, maybe if you would have told me, we could have figured something out, and maybe that’s stupid on my part, but I would have done anything for you. I loved you. I saw us spending the rest of our lives together. I saw us starting a family one day, and not like how we are now.” You told Jack, holding back your tears, but the added emotions due to your pregnancy didn’t help and you ended up letting your tears fall.

“I’m sorry, I really am. I saw all of that for us too. I just thought I was doing what was best for us. I mean, I would have told you eventually, I just didn’t know how. Then you mentioned not hiding so much, and I guess I just saw an out in a way that I didn’t have to hurt you as much. I did think that we needed to focus on our careers, but I knew we could do both.”

“You still hurt me, Jack. You can’t claim you didn’t tell me so that I didn’t get hurt if you didn’t want to hurt me you wouldn’t have cheated in the first place. Even if you would have never cheated on me, you broke up with me. You broke up with me because you couldn’t handle a relationship and instead of trying, you ended things. That hurts.” You admittedly didn’t handle the breakup very well at first, but who would have? You were in love with Jack, clearly more in love with him then he was in love with you. You really did see Jack as the guy you were going to spend forever with and coming to the realization that he had cheated wasn’t easy.

He wasn’t even exactly trying to hide it from you. When you saw the texts, you weren’t snooping on his phone, he had given you his phone to order food when the texts came through. At first you didn’t think anything of it, not wanting to admit that Jack would ever cheat on you, but it stayed in the back of your mind. You never brought it up to anyone, until Urban told you and confirmed the suspicions you had. 

“I know. I just want you to know how sorry I am. I don’t expect you to ever love me again, or even trust me, that would be selfish of me. I want us to at least be friends. Not even friends if that’s not what you want, but we have to get along without fighting.” Jack said and you sighed. You agreed with Jack, but you didn’t want to.

“I don’t know if I can ever trust you again, and that’s hard because everything we’re doing requires trust. I want to be able to trust you, I don’t want to have a child with someone I don’t trust, but it’s going to be hard for me.” You told Jack, you had a hard time trusting him at the beginning of your relationship just because of his reputation, but as you got to know him you learned that his reputation didn’t match who he was as a person, or at least you didn’t think so at the time.

“I can’t see myself ever loving you again Jack, I don’t. I would love for us to be happy, and in love, and not have to raise our child with two parents who aren’t together, but I just don’t see that for us.” You said, though you weren’t sure if you believed your own words. There was still a part of you that loved Jack, and as much as you hated that part of yourself, you also understood that the kind of love you had for Jack, wasn’t a kind of love that would just go away. You always told yourself that someday it will go away, and you won’t love him anymore. 

Jack sort of felt the same way, there was a part of him that still loved you, but he cheated. He ruined the relationship. He felt it was unfair for you to know that he was still in love with you after everything he did to hurt you, so he had no plan of ever letting you know.

Jack knew you didn’t deserve what he did to you, and you didn’t think he deserved your love anymore. Some people might say that love is the strongest emotion you can feel, but you both thought you could fight that feeling. 

Tags- @jackharloww

[dotlookstired]

Third update on my Supernatural/Vampire chronicles crossover

"I can’t believe we fell for that!" Dean angrily shouted as he stomped down the stairs into the bunker, with Sam following closely. "What happened to you guys?" Cas asked in his usual monotone gravelly voice.

"We are idiots! And next time I see those asshats, they are going down!" Dean shouted in response as he stormed into the kitchen, presumably to grab a beer. Sam explained the situation to Cas and Jack, who had joined them at the library table.

“Why didn't you guys tell me? I would have been happy to help,” Cas asked.

Sam hesitated, unsure what to tell the angel. Just as things were about to get awkward, Dean walked in. “Because we don’t have to tell you every little thing we do,” Dean lied.

Cas was taken aback by this sudden cold response from Dean but figured he was still probably agitated about what happened at the grocery store, so he chose to let it go.

“Alright then. But it sounds to me like they are completely aware of what you’re doing,” Cas told the brothers.

“How could they possibly know? We’ve never had this issue with other vampires,” Sam replied.

“That’s not true. The Alpha vampire knew what you were up to, and he could also read minds. Maybe these ones can as well,” Cas stated.

“Yes, but only the Alpha could do that, and he’s dead,” Dean sighed in annoyance. “We don’t know for sure yet if they’re even vampires or if they even had anything to do with the missing people,” Sam announced in annoyance.

“They climbed through a bathroom window. People who are innocent don’t run away through bathroom windows,” Dean shouted in frustration.

“You and Sam climb through lots of windows,” Jack pointed out.

“This doesn’t concern you,” Dean sneered at the Nephilim.

“I understand you’re stressed, Dean, but you don’t need to take it out on Jack,” Cas warned.

“For fuck’s sake, Cas, of course I’m stressed! We’ve got a stray Leviathan running around, pancake-eating vampires, a whole list of missing people, and now the weird freaky hybrid child is trying to involve himself!” Dean exclaimed.

Sam was feeling awkward just sitting there witnessing the argument, so he beckoned Jack to follow him into a different room. But Cas grabbed Jack as they were making their escape and held him by the shirt sleeve.

“Jack is my son, Dean, and if you love me, you will learn to love him!” Cas shouted. “Now, I can temporarily make it so the suspected vampires can’t detect you for a little over a week, but it’s going to take a lot of power. So, you and Jack will spend some time together spying on the vampires, and Sam and I will track down the Leviathan,” Cas said before reaching out and touching Dean and Jack's foreheads, using his powers.

“I am not going hunting with Lucifer's child!” Dean stated firmly.

“Lucifer stole his powers and ran off to Chuck knows where. Jack is my son! And it’s not like your father was a saint either, Dean,” Cas said in a serious tone.

Dean went quiet. “How dare you, Cas!” he shouted.

“You're pissed because you know it’s true,” Cas calmly replied.

“He wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t the fucking devil!” Dean yelled.

“By human standards, both of your parents were flawed, but if anyone ever treated my son the way John treated you and Sam, they’d get an Angel blade straight through the chest,” Cas growled.

“Fuck you, Cas,” Dean bitterly said.

Cas gripped Jack's sleeve harder and shouted, “I can’t do this anymore, Dean! I gave everything up for you, I sacrificed so much, and I just can’t handle it anymore! I’m leaving. I'm going to stay with my brother!”

“What brother? All your siblings are either dead or hate you!” Dean shouted.

“And whose fault is that, Dean?” Cas said with a sad, almost crazy laugh.

Dean said nothing. “Goodbye, Dean,” Cas said before summoning his shadowy wings. Jack began to struggle to get out of Cas’s grip. As Cas took off, Jack managed to free himself. With tears streaming down his face, the boy ran into Sam's arms.

Cas appeared alone in a forest, in front of the dilapidated ruins of an old cabin. Confused that Jack wasn’t with him, he couldn't sense the boy anywhere in the universe, so he assumed he was still in the bunker with Sam. He trusted Sam enough to care for his son and protect him while he got things situated in what would now be their new home.

He walked up to what was left of the rotting wooden door and knocked to the Casa Erotica theme song. Gabriel appeared on the other side. “Cas!” he happily exclaimed, before becoming serious and glancing around their surroundings in paranoia. “What's the emergency?” he asked.

“I got into an argument with Dean,” Cas plainly stated.

Gabriel dramatically sighed and facepalmed. “Castiel, I told you how to find me for emergencies. A squabble between you and that fool is not an emergency,” Gabriel said in an annoyed tone.

Cas looked ashamed for a second. “I know, but I want to move out of the bunker, and I couldn’t think of anywhere safer for me and Jack to stay,” he pleaded.

Gabriel’s expression of annoyance turned into one of realization. “Wow, it must have been a pretty bad argument if you’re this serious,” Gabriel said in amazement.

Cas just nodded and started to tear up. “Aw, Cas, it’s going to be okay. I’ll take care of you and the kid,” Gabriel said before pulling Cas into a hug.

“Thank you,” Cas replied.

Gabriel rubbed his back, trying to comfort him. “Would it make you feel better if I were to smite him?” Gabriel softly asked.

Cas let out a sad laugh and shook his head.

During the rest of the week, Sam spent most of his time with Jack, who was so upset he wound up sleeping in Sam's room. The Nephilim felt like it was his fault that Dean and Cas were not getting along, but Sam assured him it wasn't. Dean spent that time mostly getting drunk in his room.

At the end of the week, Dean approached Sam. “Get ready to go. We’re going to continue following those bastards,” he ordered.

“I don’t think that's a good idea. I think we should test Cas’s theory about them not being normal vampires,” Sam calmly replied.

“I am not taking the kid,” Dean angrily whispered so Jack wouldn't hear.

“Yes, you will, and you're going to at least apologize for arguing with Cas in front of him. And you're also going to explain that it’s not his fault you and Cas aren't getting along,” Sam demanded.

“First of all, it’s more than just not getting along. Cas and I are over. Second, it is Jack's fault. If he didn’t exist, everything would be just fine,” Dean yelled.

Sam calmly shut his laptop, walked up to his brother, and punched him in the face, knocking him to the floor. Sam bent down, grabbed Dean by his shirt collar. “Was it your fault when Mom and Dad stopped getting along, huh? I’m sure having us stressed them out. And if I didn’t exist, Mom would have never been killed. But none of it was our fault. You didn’t ask to be born and be caught in the middle of their arguing, and I didn’t ask to be born only so a yellow-eyed asshole could fuck with me,” Sam angrily said before letting go of his brother, standing up, and going back to his laptop.

Dean stayed on the floor, completely stunned. He was mad, but also, Sam had quite literally knocked some sense into him. He laid there and thought about what Sam had said and then what Cas had said. He decided they were right. None of any of this was the kid's fault. He didn’t ask for any of this.

Eventually, he got up and walked over to Sam. “Jack and I are going to follow the vampires,” he said plainly.

Sam nodded. “Yes, and you’re going to apologize to him. And if you find out they are vampires, you’re going to call me before you do anything, right?” Sam told him.

Dean just nodded.

“Thank you. Here, take this,” Sam said as he handed Dean a shiny metal coin-like thing.

“What is it?” Dean mumbled.

“It’s an AirTag, a tracking device. I figured it might be useful for this,” Sam replied.

Dean put it in his pocket and headed down the halls to get Jack. On the ride to town, Jack was quietly sitting with his hands in his lap, chewing a piece of gum, clearly uncomfortable. Dean awkwardly cleared his throat. “Um, I just wanted to apologize for what happened.”

“It’s okay. I understand why you hate me,” Jack sadly replied.

Dean was so caught by surprise he dropped the cassette he was about to play and nearly lost control of the car. “No, it’s not okay. I don’t hate you. Although I can definitely see why you’d think I do, with how much of an ass I've been. I'm sorry for that. And it’s not your fault your biological dad is a crazy asshole, and it’s not your fault Cas and I got into an argument. You didn’t ask for any of this shit, and I'm just sorry about everything,” Dean sighed.

Jack seemed to relax a bit. “Thanks, Dean,” he said.

Dean parked the car in a secluded area. He and Jack walked into the middle of town and waited. Eventually, Armand wandered past, completely unaware he was being watched. Dean and Jack inconspicuously tailed him around town all night. He didn’t do anything suspicious, until from around an alley corner, Dean and Jack saw him stop, pull out his phone, and dial a number.

“Hello, Daniel, I'm about to head home. Do you need anything while I'm in town?” the auburn-haired boy asked.

“Okay, I’ll be home soon then. No, I haven’t seen our stalkers. I haven’t seen them in a while. I think they gave up,” he said with a laugh before hanging up and calling an Uber.

“Shit, the Impala’s all the way on the other side of town. How are we going to follow him?” Dean said.

“Did Sam give you that AirTag he bought?” Jack asked.

“Oh yeah, but he’ll recognize me if I get too close to the car, and I have nothing to attach it with,” Dean said as the Uber pulled up.

“Give it to me. He’s never seen me before,” Jack said, holding his hand out.

Dean hesitantly gave the kid the tracking device. Jack pulled the piece of gum out of his mouth and stuck it to the device before casually rounding the corner of the alley. Dean watched as Jack casually walked past the Uber and stuck it to the outer corner of the car's trunk right before the car drove off. Dean felt a bit proud of the boy.

“Good job!” he excitedly told him before high-fiving him. Jack smiled, happy he was able to be useful.

“Do you know how to use that thing to find their location?” Dean asked.

Jack nodded and pulled out his phone. They watched as the car drove toward the lake. Eventually, it stopped moving at one of the houses on the more secluded far end of the lake before turning around and coming back to town.

“We’ve got you now,” Dean laughed.

Daniel had just finished typing up the first draft of the first chapter of his new story. As he leaned back in his chair to stretch, he took a look around to admire the cozy little workroom that he and Armand had made together in the attic of the little lake house they had purchased.

Daniel didn't have much of an aesthetic sense, but he knew he wanted it to be a warm, comfortable space. With that information in mind, Armand had gone through Pinterest and made a board of rooms and furniture Daniel might like. He then found items similar to the aesthetics in pictures from various places around New York and had them delivered to the lake house. However, something a lot of the pictures had in common that Armand had really taken a liking to was fairy lights. He had bought a few different types: some shaped like stars, some like the moon, and some like the sun. They had strung them from the rafters of the attic, which only added to the cozy and almost magical atmosphere of the room.

The rest is on my ao3