#and Tommy’s ‘be safe. be safe. be safe.’ is so palpable it’s like he’s trying to crush it into Joel

[cordycepspog]

desperately was wanting joel to say to tommy as they were hugging “you’ll be a great dad” 😭 would’ve been too on the nose, so much is understand that is unsaid in the show but still

YOU AND ME BOTH ANON 😭😭

Just— the way they hug each other so tight when they first see each other. Like they’re afraid they other is going to vanish if they don’t. And then later when they hug goodbye, there’s so much being said between them… WAUGH ; ;

[babsharrison]

Shadows and Sunlight - Thomas Shelby x Reader

Pairing: Thomas Shelby x Fem! Reader

Summary: In Small Heath, you navigate the challenges of motherhood while your husband, Thomas Shelby, becomes increasingly absorbed in his dangerous world. A tense encounter forces him to confront his priorities, leading to a pivotal change in their family dynamic.

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: I love Tommy so much that I had to write a fic about him 😭.

It was a quiet night in Small Heath, but inside the Shelby house, the atmosphere was tense.

You looked out the living room window, watching the shadows stretch as the sun set. In your lap, your daughter slept peacefully, her tiny fingers clutching a piece of cloth while a soft smile danced on her face. Listening to the gentle sound of her breathing brought you joy, but also a sadness that was building in your heart.

Thomas, your husband, had been distant. Over the past few months, he had become increasingly absorbed in his business, and the life of crime seemed to be consuming the man you loved. What once was a strong and caring partner was now a shadow, often absent and lost in worries you couldn’t comprehend.

The house, once filled with laughter, now echoed with Thomas's absence.

He had come home late the night before, with the familiar dark look in his eyes. Your little one, only a few months old, was starting to sense the difference in her father. When he wasn’t around, she would cry as if she felt his absence, and that broke your heart.

That night, as you rocked your daughter to sleep, you decided it was time to confront Thomas. The weight of his absence was becoming unbearable, and you could no longer ignore what was happening.

When Thomas finally came home, the moonlight illuminated his tired face. He seemed to carry the world on his shoulders.

“Where have you been?” you asked, trying to hide the worry in your voice.

“Business,” he replied, his voice low and distant.

You saw the internal struggle in his eyes, a mix of anger and pain. It was clear that Thomas was battling invisible demons, but that didn’t absolve him of his responsibilities as a father and husband.

“You can’t keep doing this, Tommy. You’re pushing us away. Your daughter needs you,” your voice faltered, the pain becoming visible.

He closed his eyes, a moment of vulnerability you rarely witnessed. When he opened them, determination was there, but so was a deep sadness.

“I do this for you. To make sure you’re safe,” he murmured, pulling you into a tight embrace.

From that moment on, things didn’t improve.

Thomas grew more reserved, and you found yourself struggling to care for your baby alone, trying to be a strong and loving mother. The emptiness in the house echoed the silence of your life, and you began to fear that Thomas was losing the battle against the world surrounding him.

One night, as you tried to calm your daughter, the doorbell rang. Your heart raced, and a chill ran down your spine. Opening the door, you found a man with a dark expression and eyes as cold as steel.

“Where is Thomas Shelby?” he asked, his voice low and threatening.

Fear surged within you, and an icy panic took over your body. The man was not just a presence; he was a warning of the dangerous world surrounding your family.

Before you could think to shut the door, he pushed it open, causing you to stumble and fall to the floor.

Your heart raced as you crawled backward, looking up at him with wide eyes. He was too close, the smell of tobacco and alcohol filling the air.

“Where is Thomas?” he repeated, now with palpable ferocity.

The little one in the crib began to cry, and you quickly turned to look at her, but the man was not interested. He advanced, and despair washed over you.

“If you don’t tell me where he is, you won’t like what happens to you and your little girl,” he whispered, his hand slowly moving toward your waist.

Panic gripped you as you realized he was holding a gun.

With a swift movement, he pressed it against your head, and you froze, the world around you becoming a blur. Your heart pounded frantically in your chest, and your hands trembled.

“He needs to know he can’t escape. It’s time to pay his debts,” he said, his voice calm, almost indifferent to your terror.

Tears streamed down your face as you looked at your daughter, who was crying inconsolably.

The scene felt like a nightmare, and you were desperate. In a final act of courage, you said, “He’s not here. He won’t be back for a while. Please, don’t hurt us. She’s just a baby!”

The man hesitated, perhaps by the sincerity in your voice or the fragility of the situation. But the anger was still there, and he only laughed, a dry and cruel sound.

“Everyone has a price, and you two are on your way to paying it,” he murmured. But before he could do anything, the door swung open with a crash.

Thomas walked in, his expression cold and determined.

“Get away from her!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the room. The man turned to Thomas, the gun still on you, but Thomas's courage was palpable.

“You don’t want to do this, friend,” Thomas said, tension rising in the air. “Put the gun down.”

The man hesitated, and you felt the pressure of the gun dissipate, even if just a little. Thomas slowly moved toward you, muscles tense, each step measured.

“You’re going to regret coming here,” Thomas declared, and with a swift motion, he lunged at the man, knocking him down and sending the gun flying away.

The sound of the impact echoed through the house, and you fell back, breathless, still in shock.

Thomas was on top of the man, his fists delivering blows with the precision of a fighter, and you stood paralyzed, watching as anger and despair blended in your mind.

Finally, Thomas stood up, looking at you with concern in his eyes. He quickly approached, checking to see if you and your daughter were okay.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice filled with anxiety.

As you looked at him, the tension began to dissipate, but the fragility of the situation still lingered.

“I... I am,” you replied, trying to stay calm as you looked at your daughter, who was finally starting to settle down.

From that moment on, Thomas began to change.

He realized he needed to make sacrifices and find a balance between the world of crime and family life. He started spending more time at home, helping with tasks, trying to make your daughter laugh, and enjoying the little moments you shared.

One night, while you were together in the living room, Thomas looked at your daughter, who was in your lap, and asked, “Do you remember when I promised I’d always be here?”

The baby, still too young to understand, simply smiled, flailing her tiny arms.

Thomas chuckled, the tension in his face easing.

“Let’s make this happen, my little one,” he said, looking at you with a smile you hadn’t seen in a long time.

Time passed, and life began to improve.

Thomas brought home flowers, helped with caring for your daughter, and slowly, the sparkle in his eyes returned. In one of those moments, while you were changing the baby’s clothes, he walked into the room and said, “I want her to know I’m here for her. For both of you.”

The next morning, you woke up before your daughter. As you made coffee, you smelled fresh flowers. Turning around, you saw Thomas entering the kitchen with a small vase, wildflowers gently swaying.

“For you, my dear,” he said, the smile now radiant.

In that moment, you knew he was determined to be the man you always believed he could be.

That night, as your daughter slept, Thomas lay down beside you.

“I never wanted you to feel this way, far from me. You and our daughter mean everything to me,” he whispered, wrapping you in his arms.

You smiled, feeling his warmth envelop you and the little one, a new beginning. The tension of the past life started to dissipate, and the love you shared began to shine once again.

And as the night fell, the soft sound of your daughter’s breathing filled the room, you knew that despite the shadows that had passed, the sun was finally shining on you again.

[punkshort]

Chapter warnings: explicit smut (I don't know how much detail I should go into without giving too much away, but let's call it porn with a sprinkling of plot), language

Chapter Fourteen

Pairing: Joel x F!Reader, pre-outbreak and post outbreak

AU (the only thing I kept was the outbreak, Joel, and Tommy's characters. Joel's backstory is different, and the way he finds Jackson is different. I may include Ellie one day, I just haven't planned that far)

Fic Summary: You worked for Joel and Tommy a few months before the outbreak. The outbreak happens, and you and Joel get stuck traveling the country and keeping each other safe. Neither of you spoke about the feelings you had for one another pre-outbreak, and in a post-apocalyptic world, it seems like survival should be your only focus. But feelings can't be ignored forever.

Fic tags: Explicit Smut (18+ MDNI), Smut, Language, Canon-Typical Violence, Alcohol Use, Age Difference (Reader is 10 years younger than Joel), slow burn, mutual pining, angst, trauma, SA referencing later but I will put a big warning on those chapters

The sun was bright as it beamed through the window, washing over your face and making you squint before you even opened your eyes. You groaned and rolled over, wondering how you had forgotten to close the curtains last night when you realized you weren't in bed, but on the couch in the living room. You cracked one eye open and looked around, spotting the wine glasses on the coffee table and the fire that had gone out long ago. Opening both eyes, you sat up and looked around the living room, then peered into the kitchen when you didn't see Joel. Looking down, you noticed he had covered you with a blanket at some point. You pushed it to the side and stood up to stretch, the side with your injury responding with a quick jolt, reminding you to take it easy.

You wandered into the kitchen looking for any sign of Joel. Anxiety set in as you wondered if he regretted last night, that maybe he was drunk, and you thought it meant more than it did. You paused at the bottom of the stairs when you heard water splashing from the bathroom off the master bedroom. He's probably just washing up.

You whipped your head around trying to remember where you put your backpacks yesterday, then spotted them in the den. You dug through your pack until you found a half-used tube of toothpaste. You squirted a glob onto your pointer finger and swished it around your teeth, cheeks and tongue as you walked to the kitchen to take a swig of water from your canteen and rinsed.

Trying to keep your nerves in check, you approached the stairs and slowly made your way up, listening as the sound of water stopped. You heard fabric rustling on the other side of the door when you entered the bedroom. The attempt at calming your nerves was a lost cause as you felt your heart hammering in your chest. You looked meekly around the bedroom, unsure what to do with yourself as he finished up. You wanted to sit on the bed, but you didn't want to look like you were just out there waiting for him to come fuck you. Finally, you decided to go into the closet where you kept some spare clothes so you could pretend to be busy folding them. You turned away from the bathroom and took one step in the direction of the closet when the door swung open.

He must have washed his hair because it was wet and slicked back. He had put a flannel on with his usual jeans, but he left the top two buttons undone on his shirt, giving you a peek at his tanned chest. Your mouth hung open as you took him in before finally meeting his heated stare.

"Hi," you murmured, the tension palpable. Joel took two long strides and grabbed your face in his hands, pulling you up to him as his lips found yours. He sighed against your mouth when he felt you return the kiss, massaging your lips on his, then granted you access when your teeth grazed his lower lip. He walked you backwards until you hit the wall of the bedroom, his tongue hungrily exploring your mouth, making you moan. He lowered his hands from your face to reach down and grip the backs of your thighs before yanking both your legs up to wrap around his waist, pinning you between him and the wall.

You squeaked in surprise and grabbed onto his broad shoulders to keep you balanced, your tongue swirling with his as one of his hands slid up your thigh to grab your ass, giving it a firm squeeze while his other hand braced himself on the wall behind you. He ground his hips into your aching core, making you break the kiss and cry out. Even through the thick fabric of your jeans, the contact sent a jolt from your cunt to your fingertips. You gasped as his mouth latched onto your neck, nipping up and down your throat followed by soft licks to soothe any pain he may have caused.

"Joel," you panted, raking your nails through his wet hair and gently over his scalp, making his eyes roll back in his head as he moaned against your neck. "Please," you begged, grinding your hips against his to try to find some relief. He removed his hand from the wall and lifted you up, turning you both around and walked the few steps to the bed, tossing you down to land on your back. He stood between your legs at the end of the bed, panting and staring down at you all sprawled out for him. You reached down to unbutton your jeans and shimmied out of them, tossing them on the floor. His gaze immediately locked onto your underwear, which were nothing special, just a pair of light blue cotton panties, but your arousal was evident by the darkness spreading at the center, making him groan loudly and palm his erection over his jeans.

You leaned back on your elbows with your knees bent and legs partially spread. His gaze flicked up from your pussy to look you in the eye. His lips were parted as his chest heaved, and his pupils were blown wide as he ran his eyes down your body again, drinking you in. Even with your shirt still on, you were beginning to feel self-conscious under his stare.

"Don't you want me?" you asked him sweetly, making him tear his eyes off your body and back onto your face. Lips still parted, he nodded eagerly, and palmed his cock again. He had yet to say a single word to you and you were growing impatient.

"Then tell me," you said, watching as he swallowed roughly, "tell me how badly you want me."

He growled as he leaned forward on the bed, placing his fists on either side of you to hold himself up, and gently pressed his lips against yours again, slowly applying more pressure to your mouth as he inched forward, pushing you to lay flat on your back as he brought his knees to rest between your legs. He released your lips and lifted his head up to look at you, taking one of his hands still fisted next to you on the bed to gently cup your face. His gaze was soft, and his eyes sparkled from the sun peeking through the curtains as he admired you. You sighed and closed your eyes, leaning into his touch.

"I've wanted you from the moment I laid eyes on you," he croaked, his voice thick with emotion. You opened your eyes to meet his gaze as he continued, his thumb brushing against your cheek. "I wasted so much time, fought it for so long," he said, shaking his head, "I never thought I could feel this way again, then you showed up, talkin' back to me in that meeting in front of everyone."

He smiled at the memory, running his thumb over your soft lips.

"Couldn't get you out of my damn head, you know that?" He leaned down to give your lips a tender kiss as you whimpered at his sweet words. "Then the world went to hell, and there we were, protectin' each other, carin' for each other." You smiled up at him now, trying not to ruin the moment with tears. You placed your hand over the one he held on to your face, rubbing circles over his damaged knuckles.

"I don't think I can put into words how badly I want you, sweetheart," he whispered, pressing his forehead against yours. "But I promise you, I ain't gonna waste another second spent with you ever again."

"Joel," you rasped, desperately trying to hold back your tears as he lifted his head up, and you looked back and forth between his eyes. You snaked your hand around to the back of his neck and pulled him down to kiss you, pouring all your emotions into every bite on his lip and flick of your tongue. Joel ran his hand down your side to the bottom of your shirt, pushing it up as he slid his hand up your stomach and over your ribs until he reached your bra. He tucked his fingers underneath the fabric to palm your breast gently before expertly rolling your nipple between his fingers.

You cried out at the sensation and tipped your head backwards, arching your back and pushing yourself into his hand further. He leaned back on his knees to lift your shirt over your head, followed quickly by your bra. You laid underneath him, almost completely exposed, while he was still fully clothed. You whined and pulled at the waistband of his jeans, preventing him from staring at the pink scars along your ribs.

He slid off the bed to quickly shed his jeans and flannel, leaving him in just his boxers as he crawled back on top of you, pressing his warm skin against your own. The air was making the arousal soaking through your underwear feel cold against your skin, and you shuddered. He buried his face in the crook of your neck and placed gentle nips along your collarbone. He held himself above you on one forearm next to your head while his free hand went back to cup your other breast, pinching your nipple between his fingers. You were pinned underneath him, hardly able to move, but you ran your hands up his arms, feeling his muscles twitching under your touch. Your hands landed on his shoulders, and when he gave your nipple a particularly harsh pinch, you dug your fingers into his muscles, rolling your head to the side and let out a yelp.

"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetheart," he murmured against your throat. "Let me make it feel better."

He bent his head down to latch onto the sore spot, sucking your nipple into his mouth and swirling his tongue over the tip. You moaned, threading your fingers through his drying curls. He released you from his mouth, hovering just over your breast, and gently blew across the wetness he left on your skin. The shock of going from warm to cold made your nipples harden even more, to the point where it was almost painful.

"Fuck, Joel, please," you begged him as he placed gentle kisses along your sternum. His eyes shot up to your face, taking pride in how unraveled you had become under him. Your cheeks were flushed, your lips swollen, and you were struggling to catch your breath. He hummed against your skin. He wanted to give you what you wanted, but he didn't want to rush, either.

"You're gonna have to give me a minute, sweetheart. I've been waitin' a long time for this." he said, sighing as his fingers danced around your ribs. He froze when he felt the shiny, uneven skin of your scars from when you were stabbed. Stabbed when you saved his life.

He lifted his head to get a better look at the injury, gently running his fingers along the edges, marveling at the way goosebumps raised immediately from your skin. He leaned down to press a soft kiss along each of the scars you carried, murmuring to himself after each one.

"What did you say?" you panted, struggling to focus on anything other than his touch.

He ran the tip of his nose over the scars before answering.

"I'm so proud of you, you're so brave and beautiful," he whispered. "I'd do anythin' to keep you safe."

You groaned, wondering if it was possible to have an orgasm from just words alone. You beamed from the praise and lifted your hips up to try to find friction, your cunt pulsing with need. Joel noticed the movement and glanced down between you, deciding to finally give in.

He rolled off you to lay on his side, then wrapped his fingers around the edges of your underwear, tugging them down to your ankles, where you kicked them off the rest of the way. He eagerly climbed back over you and nudged your knees open wider so he could kneel between them. He sat back on his heels and, using his thumbs, pulled open your folds. His jaw hung open, and with a long, drawn-out groan, dragged his eyes back up to yours.

"This all for me?" He drawled, his cock throbbing in his boxers. All you could do was nod, your chest heaving in anticipation. "You're soaked, fuckin' hell, you poor thing," he said, looking back down at your dripping cunt. "D'you want me to take care of you?" he asked lowly, his eyes a darker shade of brown you've never seen on him before. You nodded again, still gasping for air. He reached his bandaged hand up and lightly gripped the underside of your chin.

"Tell me," he growled your previous words back to you, as he struggled to restrain himself from just sliding inside you right away. He wanted to make it last, wanted to make you feel good. He wanted it to mean something.

"I need you," you gasped, your fingers gripping the sheets so tightly that your knuckles were turning white. "Please, baby, I'm gonna explode if - oh!" Your back arched off the mattress and your head tilted back, mouth agape when he finally slid a thick finger inside you.

"'Baby?'" Joel panted, "Oh, I like that."

You let out a filthy moan as he set a steady pace, plunging his finger in and out, his thumb brushing against your clit teasingly before he slid a second finger inside. You bent your knees as you rocked your hips along with his thrusts, his eyes never leaving your face as he watched you come undone. With his thumb, he pressed down on your clit, swirling it around slowly as he watched your pleasure building, your gasps for air became harsher, and your moans morphing into cries.

He leaned forward on his free hand, his fist pushing into the mattress next to you, as his other hand picked up the pace inside your cunt. His jaw was slack, and his eyes were glazed over as he watched your face contort in pleasure, your eyes squeezed shut, your lower lip trapped in your teeth, moaning his name. When he pressed onto your clit a little harder and began wiggling his thumb side to side, it set something off. You gripped his wrist that was next to you on the bed and your eyes snapped open, finally looking up at him.

"Joel," you panted, "J-Joel, I'm gonna, fuck, please," you begged, "please d-don't stop."

"You're doin' so good for me, sweetheart," he murmured, "I love watchin' you like this. I can't wait to feel this tight pussy around my cock, but I need you to come for me first," you felt the coil in your stomach about to snap and you did your best to keep your eyes open. When he said, "That's it, let go... come for me," your body stilled as you gasped, your vision went fuzzy and you covered your mouth with the back of your hand, biting down.

Joel removed his fingers and leaned down to plant a small kiss on your forehead, then your nose, and removed your hand so he could press his lips against yours before resting your foreheads together, waiting until you caught your breath and came back down to earth. You stared up at him lazily, trailing a finger over his shoulder and across his collarbone, noticing for the first time he was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. You looked back at his face as he smiled down at you, but you could see the restraint behind his eyes, desperately trying to give you time to recover, but he was struggling.

You reached down between you and slid your hand inside his boxers, brushing up against the tip of his cock. You made your way down to the base and wrapped him in your hand. He hissed and his eyes fluttered closed as you began to work him up and down, gathering his precum with each stroke.

"Do you like that?" you asked him quietly, twisting your wrist back and forth now as you pumped him up and down, his breath growing erratic and the arm that supported him began to shake.

"Yes," he rasped. His forehead rested on your shoulder so you could feel the tickle of his exhale on your neck. "But you gotta stop, or else this'll be over before it began."

You let out a low chuckle but did as you were told. Once you let him go, you hooked your fingers on the waistband of his boxers and pulled them down as far as you could reach. He lifted his forehead off your shoulder so he could fling them into the corner of the room, then settled back over you again, leaning down to give you a quick kiss as his knees nudged your inner thigh. You opened your legs up wider so he could settle his hips in between, his heavy cock pressed between you both, the length of him sliding between your folds as his hips gently rocked back and forth.

A deep groan rumbled in his chest as he felt your slick coating him. He was rubbing against your clit, and it was driving you crazy, already feeling the start of another orgasm building.

"Joel, please, I need you," you whispered against his mouth. He lifted his hips up and with his fist, lined himself up, the tip of his cock gently prodding at your entrance a few times before he pushed himself inside your aching heat.

"Oh, fuck," you moaned as he inched further inside you, stretching you out. He tried to go slow, but he couldn't hold back any longer. He buried himself inside you with one quick motion, making you both cry out. He gave you a minute to adjust before he leaned forward and rested his head back on your shoulder, rocking slowly into you as you raked your fingers through his hair.

"You're so warm, so beautiful," he murmured with his eyes closed. "You feel so good," his hand came down to squeeze the meaty part of your hip as he continued his steady pace. He didn't want to rush, he wanted to savor every moment with you. You bit your lip and lightly scratched your nails down his back, enjoying the feeling of him filling you up.

Joel lifted his head from your shoulder to press his lips against yours before peppering your jaw and sucking on the pulse point in your neck. You groaned as he lifted one of your knees up and pressed it against your chest, sliding out of you slowly before snapping his hips into yours, making you see stars. He created the perfect angle to hit your sweet spot when he brought your knee up, and it was dizzying.

He continued down your neck as his pace increased, leaving small bites along your collarbone. All you could hear was your skin slapping together and his quiet grunts that accompanied each thrust. You could feel your orgasm building in your lower abdomen, the familiar tension brewing as his pubic bone made direct contact with your clit each time he fucked into you.

"Joel," you whined, trying to warn him you were close.

"Keep takin' it," he grunted into your neck. "Just like that."

You squeezed your eyes shut trying to stave off your orgasm, but the noises he was making and the spot he was hitting inside was too much. You arched off the bed with a sob, digging your nails into his back. Your lips and fingers felt numb as your second orgasm washed over you, then finally you relaxed into the mattress. Joel sped up now, burying himself into you at a ruthless pace. He lifted his mouth from your neck and met your gaze.

"Tell me," he croaked again, his hair a mess and his face flush. "Tell me you're mine."

"I'm yours, Joel," you whimpered. You were becoming sore and overstimulated as he pounded into you, but you kept talking. "I'm yours. I've been yours since we met," you continued as his thrusts became sloppy and his jaw clenched, focused on your words. "I wish you fucked me on the table in the conference room that night."

That sent him over the edge, pulling out at the last minute with a guttural moan and spurting hot ropes of cum all over your inner thighs.

Joel had to fight to keep himself from collapsing on top of you, instead rolling himself to the side at the last minute, gasping for air. He wrapped his arm around your waist and tugged you into him, planting small kisses on your temple and eyelids as you hummed, trying to collect yourself after two back-to-back orgasms. You finally opened your eyes and looked at him, his neck still splotched with red from the exertion and the sweat drying on his forehead. You couldn't help yourself. You reached your hand up to grasp the back of his head and brought him down for a burning kiss, running your tongue along his with a groan.

He sighed against your mouth before forcing himself to stand. He went to the bathroom to wet a rag and brought it back, gingerly cleaning up your thighs as you laid spread out before him. Your spent cunt was all he could focus on for a minute before he cleaned up the mess between your legs, taking a moment to admire his handiwork, then dropped the rag in the sink before sliding back beside you in bed.

"We should probably get up," you said to him, your eyes still closed. "You need to find a car battery."

"Batteries aren't goin' anywhere," he murmured, tightening his grip on your waist in case you were going to try to get up and start the day.

You laid there for a while, unsure if he had fallen asleep or not, but you felt so relaxed you weren't sure yourself if you were drifting in and out. You rubbed circles with your thumb along the back of his hand that clutched your waist and watched the sunlight dance along the walls of the bedroom. For the first time in a long time, you felt at peace.

"You’re right, that was worth the wait," you whispered. His face was buried in your hair, his breath tickling your neck, and his soft snores lulled you back to sleep.

Later that morning, Joel ventured out to the various garages in the neighborhood, trying to find a battery with enough juice to power the radio. You tried to busy yourself with unpacking and repacking your backpacks, making sure you were fully stocked with first aid, clothes, food, ammo, and rags - anything to keep your mind off the last 24 hours and how things have changed. But hard as you tried, your mind kept wandering to the feeling of Joel's hands and mouth all over you.

You heard a soft rumble of thunder in the distance. Looking out the window, you could see the sky was getting dark quickly. You glanced up and down the street to see if you could see Joel nearby but saw nothing.

You were in the small pantry, organizing the canned goods you collected and deciding which you would use for dinner tonight when Joel strolled through the front door, calling your name. You popped your head out from the pantry to grab his attention, noticing two car batteries in his arms. He put them both on the kitchen counter and turned to you, your hands each holding a canned vegetable.

“I think one of these might work,” he told you excitedly, "Got back just in time, it's about to pour." You tried to hide your disappointment. You knew that getting the radio to work was the beginning of the end to your blissful, domestic life at Hidden Springs. You gave him a pained smile and put the cans on the counter.

“That’s great,” you said, avoiding his gaze.  “Do you want corn or green beans tonight?”

Joel immediately picked up on your mood, taking a step forward and gently took hold of your chin in his hand.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his eyes searching yours for answers. You shook your head, still dodging his gaze, trying to release his grip, but it only made him grab you tighter.

“I don’t want this to end,” you finally admitted, looking into his eyes for the first time. “I’m not ready to leave.”

His eyes softened as he looked at you, stroking his thumb along your jaw before pulling you forward to place his lips over yours for the first time since you left the bedroom. You moaned, wrapping your arm around the back of his neck to pull him closer and deepening the kiss. His tongue flicked against your lips, and you opened your mouth, allowing him to explore deeper. The desire damn near suffocated you as you ran your hand down his chest to his waistband, pulling him forward and groaning at the feeling of his stiffening cock against your hip. His hands ran down the length of you before settling on the back of your thighs and lifted you up to sit on the kitchen island. Joel broke the kiss and took half a step back to admire you, raking his eyes up and down your body.

“I had a fantasy like this, once,” he admitted, rubbing his hands along your thighs.

“Yeah?” you whined, chasing his mouth as he hovered over your own but stayed just out of reach. “Tell me.” He groaned at the now familiar command, gripping your hips tightly.

“I wanted to fuck you on my kitchen island,” he confessed, staring you dead in the eye as he watched for your reaction. “I wanted to sink my fingers inside you and watch you come, then I wanted to stuff you full of my cock and make you scream.” A rumble of thunder sounded closer now, the skies looking like they were about to open up.

Your head dropped to the side and your eyes rolled to the back of your head at his words, panting for breath now as you reached out to grab his shoulder and pull him closer to you. Your lips latched onto his feverishly, and slipping down from the counter, unbuttoned your jeans before breaking the kiss and turning around, pressing your ass against his hips. You looked back at him innocently over your shoulder.

“Show me," you told him, as the rain began to fall quietly outside.

That was all the permission he needed to unzip your pants and yank them down along with your underwear, tapping your ankle with his own to make you spread your legs as far as you could with your legs still caged by your jeans. You obliged, jutting your hips out to him, anxiously waiting for his touch. He ran his hands down your ass slowly before giving one cheek a firm smack, prompting a small cry from you. He wasted no time before he took two fingers to explore along your slit, feeling the wetness collecting there as you moaned and tilted your head back.

“Are you always this ready, sweetheart?” he mumbled in your ear, slipping one finger inside you as you gasped and shook your head.

“No,” you replied, rolling your head to the side, “only for you.”

He groaned at your words, pushing a second finger inside you, making you wail as he thrusted them in and out, his breath ragged matching your moans. He pumped his fingers inside of you from behind, your hips matching his pace as you tried to chase your high, his other hand digging mercilessly into your hip.

“Joel,” you whined, your eyes squeezed shut as you felt the pressure build. “I’m gonna come, baby, please!”

“Then do it,” he snarled in your ear, a flash of lightning reflected on the windows. His hand released your hip and went down to hastily undo his belt. “Come all over my fingers, then I’m gonna make you scream my name with my cock.” He pressed a finger on your aching clit two, three times before you came, gasping and throwing your head back.

He didn't waste any time, quickly removing his fingers from your cunt and pressing the tip of his cock against your opening, giving you only a few seconds to realize what was happening before he pushed inside you with a deep groan. This time, he hardly gave you any time to adjust as he snapped his hips against your ass over and over, making you cry out and bite down on your lip, gripping the edges of the counter. He leaned forward and sunk his teeth into your clothed shoulder as you bucked against him, your hips desperately trying to match his rhythm. The rain beat steadily on the windows now as you could feel beads of sweat beginning to form at the sides of your head, gasping for air at the intense pace Joel set. You turned your head as far as you could to look back over your shoulder at him, his jaw slack as he stared down where he pummeled into you, your ass rippling with each thrust.

"Was it like this?" you asked, panting for breath. He finally looked up and saw you watching him, a smile spreading across your face.

"No," he grunted, fucking into you faster, making you squeeze the edges of the counter even harder. "This is so much fuckin' better."

You groaned and your eyes rolled to the back of your head, your pussy squeezed around him, and he could tell you were about to come.

"That's it," he panted, pulling you up from the counter so your back was flush against his chest, the new angle sending you over the edge. "Let go. Let me feel it. I can't get enough."

As promised, you screamed out his name at the same time thunder roared outside. You felt a jolt go through your whole body as you came, your slick coating his cock, gazing helplessly at the ceiling as he rammed into you, chasing his own release.

"That's my girl," he gasped in your ear, his arm wrapped around your chest so you could barely move. "Fuck, you feel so good, like you were made for me-" He grunted and then quickly pulled out, making you whine at the sudden loss, but then you felt the warmth of his release coating your ass and dripping down the backs of your thighs.

You slumped forward over the island to catch your breath, and Joel followed suit, resting the side of his face between your shoulder blades as his hands slid down your arms down to find your own hands, splayed flat on the countertop, intertwining your fingers together. Your eyes fluttered closed, relishing the intimacy before he inevitably pulled away to clean you both up. After tucking himself back into his jeans, he kneeled on the floor to loop his fingers around the sides of your panties, still wrapped around your ankles, and pulled them up, peppering the backs of your legs with kisses along the way.

He began to pull on your jeans, but halfway up you reached down to take them from him, wiggling your hips as the denim slid around your waist. You turned around to face him, buttoning them back up before planting a bruising kiss on his lips. He groaned against your mouth, his hand coming up to cup your face before pulling back, resting your foreheads together.

"You're gonna wear me out, sweetheart," he murmured as his thumb stroked your jaw. You sighed, leaning into his touch and gazed up at him through your eyelashes.

"I can't help it, I just keep thinking about all the times we could have been doing this," you whispered, your hand coming up to cover his own. "You could have been bending me over the desk in your office a year ago, instead of a kitchen counter in the middle of nowhere."

He inhaled sharply at the visual of fucking you in his office, his hand covering your mouth as he railed into you.

"Filthy girl," he muttered, pressing his lips firmly against yours before adding, "I thought about doin' that constantly, drove me insane." He could feel the blood rushing to his cock again, wondering how it was possible to want somebody this badly.

You hummed as you ran your hands up and down his torso, reaching up to finally plant a kiss on that heart shaped patch of skin in his beard, his hand dropping from your face to grip your upper arm, and another roll of thunder echoed through the house.

"Here are those reports you asked for, Mr. Miller," you whispered, leaving a trail of kisses down his neck, the low groan in his throat vibrating against your lips. You were already soaking through your underwear again, sighing as you turned your head to press small kisses on the other side of his neck. "Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

"Yeah," he growled, his grip on your arm tightening. "Get on your fuckin' knees and suck me off while I hop on this conference call."

He felt the smile tug across your lips against his throat, reaching down to palm his impossibly hard cock over his jeans.

"Whatever you need, sir," you murmured. You pulled away and sunk to your knees on the floor, placing your hand over his belt when you froze. You thought you heard a shout outside, but it was hard to tell through the thunderstorm. You frowned, looking up at Joel to see if he heard it too, but he was already looking through the kitchen and past the living room out the front window, his eyes widening, then ducked down behind the kitchen island where you were already squatting.

"Shit," he whispered, peering one eye around the corner of the island to look out the window. He saw at least four men carrying rifles and shotguns, shouting to each other over the rain, kicking the door in across the street and waving their arms, motioning for two more men to follow, as they ran inside the empty house to get out of the storm.

"How many?" You whispered, even though you knew they couldn't possibly hear you.

"Six, maybe more," he said through clenched teeth. Once he was sure they were all inside the house, he turned back to you. "We gotta be quick. Grab our packs and coats, I'll go get our weapons and we gotta sneak out the back," he told you, jutting his chin towards the mud room door off the kitchen. "Once this storm lets up, they'll come back out." He saw the look in your eye, and he put a stop to it before you could even say anything.

"There's too many, we can't take 'em sweetheart, I'm sorry." He knew you didn't want to leave, but you both knew this day would come sooner or later. "Now, c'mon, go get our stuff, stay as low as you can so they don't see you in the windows."

You turned away from him and army crawled along the kitchen floor into the den, slowly pulling each of your backpacks towards you, staying below the windows in the room that faced the street. You slung yours over your back and hooked his around your wrist as you turned back, still flat on the floor, and pulled yourself back into the kitchen, shoving his pack near the back door and shrugging yours off to leave next to his. You noticed the door leading to the garage was cracked, and you heard Joel rummaging in the garage for your weapons. Lucky for him, there were no windows to avoid in there.

You continued to crawl towards the living room where you saw your coats draped over the arm of the couch, pulling them down slowly, thankful the rain was coming down so hard now that it was making it difficult to see outside.

By the time you made it back into the kitchen, he was already waiting behind the island with your weapons in hand. You tossed him his jacket and shimmied yours on, zipping it up before pulling your pack back on, now sitting behind the island with him.

"I just repacked these this morning while you were out," you whispered as he pulled his backpack on. "Whatever we're missing, we can get along the way." He nodded, handing you your bow and handgun, while he shouldered his rifle and slipped his revolver into the back of his jeans.

"You ready?" He asked, meeting your gaze. You nodded, trying to hold back your emotions, knowing it was stupid to get attached to a house. He reached his hand out to cup your jaw, knowing what you were thinking without having to say it. He leaned forward, pressing his lips against yours quickly, then dropped his hand to crouch along the kitchen floor, motioning for you to follow him through the mud room and out the back.

Under the cover of the sheets of rain and neighboring houses, you followed Joel through the backyard and towards the woods surrounding your little sanctuary, throwing one last look over your shoulder, committing the image of the white house with blue shutters to your memory before turning back and facing the dense forest ahead.

Chapter Fifteen

Tag list: @chiogarza, @sparklejumpropequeen-777, @shotgun-shelby

[ivys-cafe]

📠 don't go dark

pairings: newt x thomas, female!reader is only mentioned

summary: newt finds it hard to cope after the group got separated with y/n. thomas helps him find hope.

timeline: wckd lab during scorch trials

genre: angst, hurt, comfort

warnings: established relationship, mentions of pregnancy, devastated newt

author's note 🧇

i've always imagined what it would be like if my oc got separated from the group. also i made y/n pregnant here. sorry if anyone is finding difficulty relating to that. it's just i've wrote a whole story before about my oc, and in my version the oc is pregnant with newt's baby in the glades. but i hope it doesn't take anything away from this scenario. i really want to highlight newtmas' friendship and all of its fluffiness. if you have any feedback, you can message me or write something on my ask. i would appreciate it very much.

-ˏ͛⑅　‧̥̥͙‧̥̥ ̥ ̮ ̥ ⊹ ‧̫‧ ⊹ ̥ ̮ ̥ ‧̥̥‧̥̥͙　⑅ˏ͛-

Newt slumped down onto the cold metal floor, his head buried in his hands. He feel his heart beating erratically in his chest. How could they be in the safe hands of WCKD, while the love of his life was still out there? Was she alone, scared, and in pain? He could hardly bear the thought.

He thought of you, your stubbornness and unyielding nature. He knew that you had made the decision to stay behind in the maze, not wanting to abandon your best friend Gally, but he couldn't help but regret not forcing you to go. He should have gone back for you, he should have done something.

But now, it was too late. He was stuck in the hands of WCKD, with no way of knowing whether y/n was even alive. The uncertainty was tearing him apart from the inside out, his mind racing with all the possibilities of what could be happening to you.

Were you in danger? Were you being hurt? The thought of you suffering alone, with no one to turn to, made his chest ache with a pain he had never felt before. Newt's anxiety spike, his thoughts are driving him insane. He knew he had to find a way to get you back, but he didn't know how.

Thomas sat down next to him, looking just as exhausted and defeated. "You okay, man?" he asked, trying to break the silence.

Newt scoffed bitterly. "How do you think I'm holding up?" he snapped. "I don't even know if she's alive or dead, and we're stuck in this damn place."

Thomas placed a hand on Newt's shoulder, trying to offer some comfort. "Maybe she's out there. We'll find her, Newt."

Newt jerked his shoulder away from Thomas' touch. "Oh, of course. How could I be so foolish? We'll just stroll out of here, past the guards and their guns, and find y/n wandering around outside the building. Simple as that." He shook his head, fear latched onto his trembling voice. "Face it, Tommy. We're trapped here. And we don't even know if y/n's alive or dead."

"Y/n's smart," Thomas stated with conviction. "She can handle herself out there, Newt."

Newt's body trembled as he shook his head, anger and grief mixing into a boiling pot of emotions inside of him. "You heard what those bloody cranks say, didn't you?" He hissed at Thomas. "The Scorch will chew us up and spit us out like we're nothing. And y/n..." His voice cracked, the anguish almost palpable. "She's out there, alone and pregnant. And I couldn't do anything to protect her."

Thomas frowned, his face etched with concern. "I know it's not ideal, but we have to keep moving forward. We have to keep fighting."

"You don't get it," Newt said, his voice barely above a whisper as he struggled to hold back tears. "You don't know what it's like to feel like you've lost everything,"

Thomas's face fell, his eyes betraying the pain he felt. "I do, Newt," he said quietly, his voice thick with emotion. "I lost my memories, my family, my entire life. We were all in the maze, fighting for our lives every day. I know it's not the same, but I understand loss. And I'm here for you, man. Whatever you need."

Newt's anger began to fade, replaced by a deep sadness. He leaned his head against the wall, feeling defeated. "I just miss her so damn much," he whispered, tears streaming down his face.

Thomas could see the pain on Newt's face, and he knew there was nothing he could say to take it away. He put his arms around his friend, holding him tight as Newt sobbed into his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Newt. I'm so sorry," Thomas said softly. "But we can't give up. Not now. We have to keep fighting, for y/n, for ourselves, for everyone we've lost."

Newt pulled away from Thomas, wiping his tears with the back of his hand. "I know," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"We'll find her, Newt," Thomas asurres, his voice firm and resolute. "No matter what it takes, we'll find her and the rest of our friends."

end

2023 • ivys-cafe ☕️

all rights reserved

[nomsfaultau]

The Lambs Wolves Wear part 7

Dark SBI AU where Philza’s human children were replaced by monsters. Start of The Lambs Wolves Wear is here.

“You promise you won’t get mad?” “Tommy” asked nervously, pacing before him.

“I could never be mad at you,” Philza gently told the thing that had stolen his son from him. The shapeshifting demon dithered, wringing his claws. Then the towering beast crouched before him, piercing yellow eyes skewering the tiny mortal. The muzzle housing sharp fangs and rancid breath butted its nose against his chest. 

“Can you pleeeease make that a blood oath?” A growl hissed in his throat as Philza refused, but it turned into a whimper as Philza gave him a disappointed look. Philza wasn’t exactly sure how he’d gained dominance over a demon, but “Tommy” was utterly terrified of his wrath today. Strange. Usually he scoffed at mortal disapproval. The demon mulled his quandary over, then declared: “If you get mad at me, I shall slaughter you and raze your land. I shall curse your bloodline to a thousand generations so that your ancestors are ashamed and your descendants revile you. 

“What have I said about death threats?” “Tommy” snarled in a lash of embers, and Philza braced himself not to flinch. Fear only encouraged “Tommy” further, and any threat could be turned into a bluff if you challenged it bravely enough. Not that he was all bark and no bite; the beast had wicked fangs, but only if you didn’t evade in time. After months living with the expectation he would be ripped to shreds the moment he slipped up, Philza was far less phased than he used to be. 

“But it’s a special occasion. Can’t you make an exception this one time?” Philza stood his ground, and the demon’s eyes darkened, thunder rolling overhead. Body contorting in gut wrenching ways, the shapeshifter surged forward in a blur of morphing form. “Tommy” twisted himself into the disguise of Philza’s son once more, tears blossoming in his adorable eyes as the demon begged. 

It felt like the wind was sucked out of Philza as the arms of his missing son wrapped around his waist, nuzzling into his side. So rarely had “Tommy” worn the skin of Tommy after the deceit was revealed that Philza had forgotten how potent it was. The plaintive cries mewling out of his not-son-never-my-son’s throat pierced his heart as the demon manipulated the soul of the bereaved parent. With a shaking gasp Philza remembered to breathe. “Tommy, I said no.” 

“But I’m really, really scared, and if I was allowed to rend you limb from limb it would make me feel much safer.” 

“Unfortunately, sometimes we have to be brave and kind even when we’re terrified. It becomes easier the more you try.” When Philza carded his hands through the golden hair of the thing pretending to be his son, it didn’t destroy him like it used to. Quiet was the terror so palpable he once choked on it, the grief so soul wrenching he thought he should break down weeping. He’d spent so long surviving that the revulsion no longer registered. Now, it was simply a necessity. 

The boy in his arms unraveled with a growl, the giant demon towering over him once more. “Tommy’s” fangs snapped close around Philza, ripping into his shirt and dragging him upward like a kitten caught by its scruff. “Tommy” prowled away from the home, roaming over pasture and shying away when a hoard of “Technoblade’s” undead warriors surged out in waves of phantasmal forces to rebuke him for almost trampling the crops. “Tommy’s” growl reverberated Philza’s bones, narrowly avoiding dropping the dangling human and causing him to splatter on the ground far below. 

Eventually, Philza was dropped a nearly safe amount. Groaning, he peeled himself off the grass. Having grown comfortable with the demon, who hardly ate any of them ever, the cows didn’t even look up from grazing. Well, save for a young calf, who blinked with languid eyes and trotted up to Philza, nudging him for treats. “Tommy” dithered, pacing in a fashion that left scorch marks across the ground. He scowled at the calf and shoved it carelessly away from Philza. “--and, and you promise you won’t get rid of me. Right dad?” 

“I could never.” What type of power did “Tommy” imagine he had? The beast butted his horned head against Philza, and he stroked “Tommy’s” muzzle as scarlet slit eyes narrowed upon him. He’s never seen the demon so cagey, but his assurances seem to soothe his bristling spines. 

“Tommy” sighed as he was scratched behind the ears, and came to a resolve. Before he could react, a nova built in his maw, plasma crackling fiercely into blinding radiance. His jaw unhinged into bristling flames, and “Tommy” breathed out pure hellfire in an all consuming column, smiting the calf. Philza sighed. Sure. Why not. “Did you drag me out here just to barbecue a cow?”

“You said you wouldn’t get-!”

And then Philza saw the charred husk of the calf. Or rather, the lack of it. Because sitting in a pile of charred grass was Tommy. He crawled away to fresh vegetation, and continued happily munching grass. 

Philza whipped around to the demon. “You turned my son into a COW?!” 

“YOU SAID YOU WOULDN’T GET MAD!”

“What if I sold him? Or ate him???”

The demon paused. “...I didn’t think about that…” 

Tommy was incredibly disorientated as Philza helped him to his feet. He didn’t stop chewing the grass in his mouth. “Oh hey Dad, I had the weirdest dream…” the rest of his sentence was muffled by Philza wrapping him in a bone crushing hug. Philza sunk to his knees, clutching his child to his chest. He felt so, so cold, absent of the hellfire that coursed under the skin of the demon who wore his small body like a pretty mask. The real Tommy. His Tommy. He cradled the boy’s face reverently, soaking it in. 

“Huh?” Tommy blinked at him as Philza began to cry. “What’s wrong dad?” 

“Nothing,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to his son’s forehead. “Nothing at all.”

And then Tommy was ripped from his arms, “Tommy” snarling at him. “You said you wouldn’t replace me. You SAID–” The demon was cut off as Philza gathered him in a tight embrace. “Tommy” went utterly still, but Philza didn’t let go even as his skin began to burn, thanking the demon for returning his son. At his words, “Tommy” began to tremble. “I’m sorry. I’m really, really, sorry, I should’ve given Tommy back weeks ago. I thought– I thought you’d get rid of me once you had him.” He sounded guilty for his doubt, despite the fact that had been Philza’s plan for months. 

“Of course not. My heart is big enough for the both of you.” He held the both of them close. 

Tommy squirmed, not entirely sure what was happening. “Uh that’s nice Dad. Can I go back to eating grass now?” 

“Tommy” brightened. “Yeah! Now that you know you can stop worrying about him! He was really happy as a cow, I promise.”

“NO!” It snapped out harsher than Philza intended, and his stomach flipped. He couldn’t ruin this now that he had his real son back. In fact, it would only become harder now that he had to protect a vulnerable child incapable of matching the monsters wit for wit. A deep breath. Okay. “It’s not nice to turn people into animals, okay?” Tommy was at once enticed, demanding to know if the demon could turn the baker into an ugly toad. The pair’s mischievous smile matched perfectly, and Philza winced. “And, now that Tommy is back, I don’t want the two of you to get mixed up. It will be a lot easier if you pick a different name and form. We talked about indoor forms, remember? Like the cat? You make a very formidable cat, I think-”

“Nah,” Tommy dismissed. He stuck his tongue out, and “Tommy” matched it with a forked one. “I think I can work with this.” An evil grin spread over both Tommy’s faces.

Next>

[peakyltd]

New Endings - Part 3

Part 3 | Tommy Shelby x reader

A/N: Well this is posted later than I intended but I was struggling with this one and after working a little bit too long on it, idk what to think of it anymore 🥲 Anyway, I hope you'll still like it!

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of injuries, mentions of domestic violence/abuse.

Word count: 5.4k

MASTERLIST | PREVIOUS PART | NEXT PART

Tommy held his aunt's displeased gaze, if her angry tone didn't already gave away how she felt, her eyes would for sure. "Did you forgot who her fiancé is? Who says we can trust her?"

"It's (Y/N), Pol." Tommy's toneless voice objected, not impressed by Polly's words. "You think people won't change? It’s our company that’s connected to the house, it’ll become a fucking target." She confuted.

Tommy had gathered Polly, Arthur, John and Michael for a family meeting in his office in Arrow House. He had enlightened them on the new situation and found details about David. Much doubt arose when he announced that (Y/N) stayed at the old family home, mostly from Polly who questioned her intentions or that from her fiancé.

“Ah c’mon Pol, d'you really think she’d try anythin'?” John turned in his chair to look at his aunt, his eyebrows furrowed. Not believing (Y/N) would have any intentions to screw them over.

“She won’t.” Tommy interrupted them as he leant back in his chair. He hadn't expect the backlash he just received, assuming they would all just accept it. The words of his aunt lingered in his head, maybe he was taking a risk but at the same time he didn’t believe (Y/N) would go against him. Not in the state he had found her in.

“She stays there. I’ll find her a home in the meantime.” He looked at each of his family members, a dominant look in his eyes, a sign that there was no room for negotiation. Something that didn’t work well on Polly. “You’re blinded, Thomas. Remember how it worked out for you the last time.”

Tommy clenched his jaw at her remark, annoyed that she brought up his late wife and the way she had lied to him. Despite the betrayal it didn’t stop him from loving her and forgiving her. Something Polly never did.

“I’m helping her so that bastard doesn’t kill her.”

Michael cleared his throat, the tension between Polly and Tommy was clearly palpable and it made him feel uncomfortable. “With who is David involved with?” He wondered, recalling the information Tommy gave them earlier. “I don’t know yet.”

“We’ll keep an eye on that bloody bastard, right Tom?” Arthur looked at his younger brother, showing him that he got his back. “We do.”

Polly shook her head. “Isn’t this place big enough?" She referred to Arrow House. "You have plenty of space for a guest.”

“She felt safe at Watery Lane.” Tommy directed his attention back to his aunt. Polly narrowed her eyes. “That’s what she tells you.”

Tommy sighed as he kept his gaze on her. “Thank you all for coming.” His brothers and cousin got up to leave the office together, unlike Polly, who remained in her chair with her arms crossed.

“You’re dismissed Pol, free to go.” He bossed her while he put his glasses on his nose and took a folder with documents from his desk.

“You wouldn’t let her stay here, do you?” Polly sneered at him. He looked up over his glasses. “I wouldn’t want to give off the wrong ideas now, do I?”

A humorless laugh fell off her lips. “Please, Thomas don’t-“ Tommy slammed the folder on the desk, making Polly slightly jump at the sudden noise. “Listen to me, eh?! She's no bad news. We’ll go see her tomorrow and you’ll see with your own bloody eyes what happened. I’m not fucking stupid Pol.”

Polly let the silence after Tommy's finished sentence surround them for a moment as she stood up. She walked over to his desk and leaned over it, pointing her finger in his face. “You don’t realize what you got yourself into.” Her eyes were boring into his, showing him that she meant it.

Rays of sunlight streamed trough the small gaps of the curtain, touching (Y/N)'s face in a kind way. The soft light slowly awoke her from her peaceful rest. She snuggled into the blanket as she opened her eyes, carefully taking in her surroundings. Her mind took her back to the events of the day before, just like it did during the night until exhaustion took her into it's arms and gave her the rest she so desperately needed.

The room felt safe and if she could, she would lock herself in there so she didn't have to worry about anyone. Unfortunately things weren't that easy and she had to prepare herself for her new future, something new and unknown.

She sat up and put the pillow against the metal bedframe. While she got comfortable, she looked around the room. It was exactly how she remembered it, the flower pattern on the wallpaper, the chair next to the bedside table and the tapestry that hung next to the bed. It was as if the younger versions of both her and Tommy could walk trough the door at any moment. The sigh that left her mouth was slow as she reminded herself of easier times.

She got up and changed into the dress that Tommy had left for her before opening the curtains. The sky had replaced the somber grey colors for a calm blue one, clouds were dappled here and there. Golden threads of the morning sun directly shined into the bedroom, a smile tugged on the corners of her lips as she looked outside. It felt as if this was nature's way to tell her that she made the right decision. Or well, she would like to believe it was.

She turned away from the window and left the room to make her way downstairs where she got herself a cup of tea. The kitchen didn't offer her the same safe feeling as Tommy's bedroom did, making her feel like some kind of intruder in a place where she shouldn't be.

She looked up at the clock on the wall, no idea on what to do next. Her belongings were not with her, she didn't dare to set a foot outside and she didn't know when or if Tommy came back today.

The sound of footsteps made her snap out of her thoughts as her heartbeat exceeded. "Good morning, love."

"Polly..." She breathed out the visitors name while she tried to keep her composure, knowing her voice had probably betrayed her already. She hadn't expect to see Tommy's aunt, at least not yet. "Good morning."

"It's been a while." The dark haired woman looked at her as a small smile played on her lips. While she eyed the younger woman in front of her, she let Tommy's words play trough her head again. He was convinced that they could trust (Y/N) however there was something that didn't sat right with her.

"It is." (Y/N) returned a small smile. "Would you like some tea? I just made some." She asked Polly, her hands trembled slightly while she put her cup on the table.

"I'll get it myself." Polly answered before taking off her coat and hanging it on the rack. "How have you been?"

"Well..." She let her hands rest on the back of a chair that stood by the table. "I'm alright."

"Alright?" Polly filled a cup and turned to face her. "If you were alright, I don't think you would be here." She pointed out while she sat down at the table. "I-"

"Please take a seat." Polly interrupted her, directing her with her eyes. Her gaze did not leave the woman in front of her until she sat down. "I heard you were engaged."

"I am. For a while actually." (Y/N) confirmed while she twisted the ring around her finger. She felt her palms getting sweaty, unable to tell why she felt so nervous all of sudden. Polly had always been good to her and they got along from the moment they had met.

Polly sipped on her tea, letting the silence linger for a while before she spoke up again. "You're living in London now?" (Y/N) nodded in response. "Yes." She wasn't able to stand the long silences Polly used after her answers. "It's been very different from what I was used to."

"Better?" The older woman asked her. (Y/N) shrugged. "In some ways."

"I think London is convenient for your fiancé's work, isn't it?" Polly's head was slightly tilted backwards as she looked down at her with a raised eyebrow, (Y/N) broke the eye contact and looked down at the table. "It is. Easier for the distribution of the car parts."

"I see." Polly noticed that the behavior of the woman in front of her was different, nothing like she had remembered. She noticed the bruises in her neck and on her arms, which she had tried to cover up with the dress she was wearing. Her confident appearance was replaced with fear and shame. "And now you're here."

(Y/N) felt Polly's gaze almost burning into her skin. Her questions made her wonder what else she knew about her life or David's. She just nodded, thinking about a way to tell her without making it too complicated for herself. "I couldn't take it anymore." Her voice was soft, almost too scared to admit it.

"Tommy told me." Polly's expression softened as she started to feel pity for her. "I didn't expect him to help me." (Y/N) dared to look up at her again as she heard a soft laugh coming from her mouth. "He's full of surprises lately."

The sound of the front door alerted both of them. She felt her body tense as she looked at the opening that led to the small hallway where a familiar man had showed up.

"Did I miss the tea party?" Tommy's low voice filled the room while he walked in, giving his aunt a stern look.

"You did." Polly shot back at him, unfazed by his attitude. "Very eager to come see her, eh?" He sneered, annoyed by the fact his aunt didn't listen to him. "I thought she'd like some company." Polly fake smiled at him, knowing exactly how to push his buttons.

Tommy took his cap off and put it on the table in front of him before sitting down. "Would you like some tea?" (Y/N) questioned, already getting up to get him some.

"No. I won't be here long." He leaned back in the chair, looking at her the way Polly did, waiting for her to sit back down. "Oh, okay." She sat back on her chair. "I guess you've already discussed a few things?" Tommy asked, referring to Polly's early visit.

"We did." Polly answered before drinking some of her tea. "Good." Tommy redirected his attention back to (Y/N). "We might have a house for you, it's not much but it's safe. You'll be able to move there in a few weeks."

"A house? Tommy..." While she was lost for words, she tried to let the new information sink in. Tommy took a wad of cash out of his pocket, shoving an amount of it, her way. "This is for food and clothes. Finn can get you some groceries." He assured her while glancing at his aunt who's dark eyes were almost burning holes into his skin. "And I'm sure Polly wouldn't mind to buy you a few dresses."

"No. No I can't take this." She pushed the money back to him. "You did enough already, I don't even know how I have to pay you back." She was taken aback by his gesture, it was way too much.

"You don't have to pay me back. Just take it." He shoved it back to her way, putting the rest of his money back in his pocket. "I know it's not the same as your belongings but this is what I can do for now."

"Oh no... Please don't worry about it. I'm... I just don't know what to say." It didn't felt right to take his money. She wasn't sure if it was because it came from Tommy or that things just went way too fast but either way it made her feel uncomfortable.

"You don't have to say anything. It's yours." He assured her while he got up, grabbing his cap off the table. (Y/N) looked up at him, shaking her head. "I can't-"

"You can." Tommy put his cap back on his head. "Can I at least invite you dinner for tonight? I can't just take it without doing anything back." She offered, it was the least she could do.

He looked at her in silence while blinking a few times. "If you insist." She nodded. "I insist. 7 PM? "

"I’ll see you tonight."

Plates were neatly put across from each other and the bottle of whiskey was already waiting to be opened. Food was almost finished and even though she was a bit late there was no need to hurry since there was still no sign of Tommy.

Knowing he was always on time, she started to worry. Maybe something had happened to him or maybe he changed his mind about the dinner. But if it was the last thing, he would’ve let her know. Right?

She cleaned her hands after she turned the stove off and peeked trough the window. The streets were pretty calm, except for a few people here and there but none of them was the one she was looking for. She decided to wait a little longer and sat down at the table, opening the book Polly had brought her, along with her new clothes and groceries.

It was a welcome distraction for the time she had to kill because much later than expected, Tommy finally entered the house.

She put her book down and looked up at him. "Is everything alright?" She asked him while he took off his cap and coat and sat down at the table. "Everything's alright." He looked at her when she gazed quickly over at the clock. "A little inconvenience at one of the factories." He added, addressing the fact why he was late.

An embarrassed feeling went trough her body when she noticed he caught her looking at the clock, not wanting to give him a feeling as if she was anxiously waiting for him. "Oh, no don't worry. I already thought that it had something to do with... business." She half lied, leaving out the fact that she was worried.

Tommy nodded as he observed her, noticing her new dress and the make up she was wearing. "I like the dress." He boldly told her, making her smile in response. "Thank you. I like it too, Polly got exactly what I wanted."

"I'm glad." He replied as he watched her get up. "You must be hungry." She assumed when she got his plate and took it to the stove. "I made roasted chicken and baked potatoes with cheese."

"It smells nice." He admitted while she put his plate back in front of him. She opened the bottle of whiskey and poured him a glass. "Thank you."

When she got herself a plate as well and had poured herself a glass of wine, she sat across from him. An uneasy feeling crept up on her, it felt weird to have dinner with him after everything that had happened. The only thing that made her feel better was that he didn't seemed as tensed as he was that morning.

"I hope you'll enjoy your meal." She politely smiled at him as she cut a piece of her chicken. "I think I will." He responded before taking a sip of his whiskey.

"Were you able to get some sleep last night?" Tommy wondered, he had noticed that she looked less exhausted than the evening prior. "Yes, a bit but enough to feel better than yesterday."

He nodded as he calmly ate his food. She eyed him carefully, becoming more aware of the things she had already seen in The Garrison. The tired look on his face and the lack of happiness in his eyes were a big contrast to what she had remembered. She thought back at the words he had said to her in the pub, their kiss and how she hit him after. She had felt a yearning to go back and undo what was done. What she did was equally as bad as the things David did.

"I'm sorry." She blurted out, earning a confused look from Tommy. "For what?"

She looked down at the table, feeling insecure under his intense stare. "Hitting you. You know... at The Garrison. After you-." She stammered, feeling stupid that she wasn't able to get out one proper sentence.

"It was very painful, y'know." He deadpanned. She looked up at him, a hint of guilt in her eyes until she realized he was joking. "I'm serious Tommy." He leant back and took a sip of his whiskey. "Me too, that ring hurts."

She parted her lips to speak up but didn't know what to say. A small smile appeared on his face. His attempts to be funny didn't gave her the chance to explain her feelings. "I felt really bad."

"Don't." He assured her, his way to ease her feelings. "You're not angry about it?" Tommy shook his head. "No, 'm not."

She was relieved that he wasn't mad about what she did although his short answers didn't gave her full satisfaction, wondering if he maybe didn't want to talk about it. While Tommy continued eating the food she made, she wondered if the silence had become a family thing since the conversation with Polly wasn't really flowing either. "So..." She awkwardly started, trying to bend the conversation into a different subject.. "How's the family been?"

"Good." He put the cutlery down. "Arthur got married, John became a father again, Ada and Finn are doing well." Her eyes widened in surprise. "Really?" She marveled with a small smile on her face. "That's great news."

"I guess it is." Tommy filled his glass with whiskey once more. His comment made her wonder what he meant but she decided to leave it. "Finn must've changed a lot."

"He did grew up, yeah."

"I remember I caught him smoking when he was just a little boy." She chuckled softly. "Probably wasn't the first and the last time." Tommy snorted lightly as the corner of his lips turned slightly upwards. He couldn't keep count on the numerous of times he had caught the young boy with a cigarette in his mouth.

(Y/N) shared a little more about her memories of the Shelby's as it seemed to be the easiest way to make a conversation with the one in front of her. While they finished their dinner and drank some more, he attentively listened to her stories.

"Well, I think I'll have to thank you for dinner, eh?" Tommy had turned his chair to look at her while she was doing the dishes. He had taken his suit jacket off, leaving him in his dress shirt and vest. "You're not staying for a drink?"

"I've already had a few." He stated as he saw how her lips turned into a smile. "I can get you a glass of water." Her witty comment made him think of the many she used to make all the time. "I'd rather not."

While she dried the last plate, she turned to look at him. "Then at least stay for one more?" She asked him. Despite their dinner starting off awkward, she ended up enjoying it and she wouldn't mind to chat a bit more. "Alright then."

Once she finished, they both moved to the small living room where they sat across from each other. The fireplace warmed the room and a few candles were spread trough the place, the flames glowing on their faces.

"The whole house is exactly like I remember it." She giggled, the wine had given her a little more confidence but also helped her to feel at ease. Tommy looked around, nodding his head slowly. "Not much has changed."

"It's weird to think about how it looks like time stood still while everyone's lives has changed so much." She concluded as her eyes fell on a picture of the three brothers, Tommy was no older than 19. Tommy's gaze moved to the picture before looking at her. "Everyone's lives or our lives?"

(Y/N) turned her head to meet his eyes and shrugged, not expecting his question as it seemed he wanted to keep a distance in every conversation that night. "Both, maybe." Tommy swirled his whiskey in his glass. "Do you think you'd be still living around here, if you didn't meet David?"

She thought about his question. "Maybe, yes. I don't think London is where I belong." She pulled her knees up and let her legs rest on the sofa she was sitting on. "It's too busy, I guess. The people are different as well."

"How did you meet him?" Tommy asked while he leaned his arms on the chair, curious about how she met him. "At a party, in a club. Also in London." She took a sip of her wine. "A friend invited me. He was there with a group of his friends and he came to the rescue when some Italian was bothering me." She smiled at the memory. "We hit it off pretty well and it turned out the Italian was friend of his who had a few too many drinks."

Tommy nodded once more, replaying the words in his head. This could be information that would help him find the missing link he was looking for, it confirmed his suspicion.

"For how long have you been engaged now?" He continued asking about her relationship. "6 months. He promised he'd do better so I said yes."

"But he didn't." He concluded. "No." She looked at the fireplace as she thought about the past few years. "For how long have you been married?"

"A few months." (Y/N) saw Tommy's eyes change, although his expression remained the same. "Did you love her?"

"I did." He sighed after he finished his whiskey. "Yeah.."

"I'm sorry Tommy." She immediately apologized. She didn't want her curiosity to be the reason behind a ruined night as it appeared to be a sensitive topic. He shook his head, his eyes finding hers again. "No, it's okay."

They both remained silent, thinking about their lives and how things could've ended so differently. (Y/N) decided to get up and get herself another glass of wine. She passed the chair where Tommy was sitting and gently took the glass out of his hand. Their fingers touched briefly, sending a kind of warm sensation trough his body. He looked up at her, her eyes meeting his as they locked their gaze for a moment. His electric blue eyes stared directly into hers, just like they had done many times before. A familiar feeling found it's way in her stomach before she looked away. "I'm- I'll get you a new one." She mumbled before making her way to the kitchen.

Her heart was beating faster as she leaned against the counter, not fully understanding what her body tried to tell her. While she took the time to get herself together, she decided to just blame it on the alcohol.

When she returned with their drinks, she found him smoking in his chair while he let his head rest on his other hand. His eyes were staring at the table. She stopped in front of him, getting his attention as he looked up. “Are you okay?” She asked before handing him his glass.

He blew smoke out of his mouth while he sat up. “I am.” Her hand found its way to his cheek as she gently stroked his skin with her thumb, a way to comfort him. Their eyes finding each other again while she continued. He had missed the genuine and gentle touches of solace. The contact of her skin on his, made him crave for more. Just as he wanted to lean into her touch, she pulled her hand away. Taking the comfort only she could give, with her.

She hadn’t expected to be so drawn to the urge to touch him. Usually she wouldn’t dare and she wasn’t even sure if he was okay with, although his intense stare almost assured her that she was doing something right. The increase of confidence from the alcohol was helping her more than she realized, it could be a good time to use it while it lasted.

“Can I ask you something?” She sat back on the sofa as she watched him finish his cigarette. “You can.”

“Did you mean it what you said? That the ring on my finger should’ve been yours?” Tommy blinked a few times before nodding slowly. “You know I did.”

“Then why did you let me go in the first place?” She let her fingers slide over the stem of her wineglass, the wait for his answer forming an unknown feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Because this life’s not a life where you belong. We'd be better off without each other.”

She remembered the countless arguments that started that last conversation which broke her heart. She didn’t want to give up on him, on them but he forced her to. He forced her out of his life as if it was nothing, as if she was nothing but just an erased memory.

She remembered the evening he told her it was for the best if they didn't saw each other anymore. It was for the best he said but in the end nothing turned out for the best.

She remembered how he told her how life was going to be from that moment, that she had no choice if she stayed but that the exact life within her choice, wasn’t one she belonged to. His words were harsh and his demeanor was cold, as if he didn’t want to understand her feelings or might as well pretended that he didn’t. Only to make it easier for himself.

She remembered how she called him a selfish bastard, how she hated him and how he just stared at her, saying nothing.

“You could’ve protected me and still let me live my own life.” Tommy shook his head as stubbed out his cigarette. “You hated how there were people always watching you, remember the many times you told me it was suffocating you? It only became worse after that, you wouldn’t be happy.”

She couldn’t deny the suffocating feeling it gave her, knowing that everywhere she went, there would be someone watching her. Good or bad, it didn’t matter. But she loved him deeply and a part of her didn't care anymore, as long as she could be with him. “I loved you, do you realize that?”

He sighed softly at her words before taking a sip of his drink. “You think I didn’t love you?”

“No… not the way you left me heartbroken with a shit explanation in the middle of the same fucking kitchen we just had our dinner in. If you really loved me, you would’ve listened to me but you never did.” Her words held the anger she had for years but still came out calmly. "And don't even get me started on how quick you fucking replaced me, that's not love."

Tommy clenched his jaw, his eyes narrowing slightly. “I listened (Y/N). I always fucking listened but I knew it would never make you happy. I never would. And talking about replacing, eh? I fucking told you I didn't replace you. Have you forgotten how I went looking for you after you left?"

She scoffed as she listened to him. “Oh yeah, because you were so sorry. So sorry for yourself, that you ended up alone again." Her voice became louder, just like the anger within her. "If you really wanted to find me, you would. Just like a few weeks ago."

"You didn't want to be found." He defended, getting annoyed at her accusations. "Not after what you did, no."

He shook his head as he put his glass on the table, a little harsher than expected. “You wouldn’t be happy but I wanted you to be.” He pointed his finger at her. “I didn’t want to throw away the years we had and I didn’t want to break your fucking heart but I knew how much you loved your fucking freedom and I didn’t want to be the person that would take it away from you.”

She looked at him, his words hitting her in a way she didn’t expect. His voice was strong and determined. She wasn't sure if it was anger or not. “You were always that strong, independent woman. Always out there to do whatever you wanted. Who the fuck was I to take it away from you, eh? You know it would’ve made you unhappy. Love wouldn’t have changed that.”

“I still am.” Her words sounded soft as she disagreed with his statement. “What?” His eyebrows furrowed at her comment. “I’m still the same woman. You said were.”

“Please, have you looked…” Tommy didn’t finish his sentence, instead he took a deep breath and leaned back in the chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. Her body tensed and her eyes narrowed as she waited for to finish his sentence. “Have I looked, what?”

“Have you looked at yourself?” He continued his abruptly stopped sentence. He sat up straight, his voice picking up the same tone as before. “You’re far from that. The woman I knew would’ve dared to yell in my face if I deserved it, she would speak up when no one else would and she wouldn’t take shit from anybody.”

(Y/N) gulped at his words, tears brimmed in her eyes as she kept his gaze, listening to the other things he had to say.

“The woman in front of me is a ghost of all of that. The spark in your eyes is gone and all I see is fear. You changed in the worst way and it’s because of him. He fucking ruined you (Y/N).”

She sniffled softly, as she tried not to break down in front him. He was right.

Tommy's eyes did not leave her frame. She tried to take a deep breath, ready to speak up but she couldn't. He moved to the edge of his seat to place a hand on her knee, squeezing it gently.

"You're nothing better." She choked on her words as she watched his thumb moving in patterns over her knee. "I would've ended up the same as I stayed with you." Of course he wasn't the same as David but her life wouldn't have looked much different than from what it did now.

Her mind took her back to David who told her so many times how much he loved her. Who always made it up to her after his outbursts, telling her how sorry he was and that he would do better. He did, even if it only lasted for a few days until he fell back in old patterns. Despite it all, she still loved him, or at least she thought she did. Perhaps it could be the fear speaking, that when she told herself she didn't, he'd come find her.

Tommy shook his head as he felt himself losing his temper. There were many people who held grudges against him and those also brought many accusations however being compared to David was something completely new.

"If you ended up the same, then please enlighten me on the last time I caused this." He grabbed her arm and lifted her sleeve a little harsher than intended, revealing her bruised arm.

She gasped and looked up at him with widened eyes. "Stop, Tommy." While he let go of her arm, she quickly pulled her sleeve down. "I never laid one single finger on you, now tell me again that I'm nothing better than that fucking bastard!" His voice was harsh and full of bitterness. "I don't understand why you keep fucking defending him while nothing like this looks like the love you've been desperately looking for."

She watched him get up and looked up as he towered over her. His words hitting her like he hoped they did, an attempt to wake her up and make her realize what she was doing.

"If you want to go back to him, then please go but remind yourself that if you stay with him, you'll end up six feet under within a year. And he wouldn't even be sorry."

Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think!

Taglist: @cyphah @kissforvoid @liter4ti

[ponyosmom35]

King Steve

Bittersweet chapter four

Steve Harrington x fem oc

synopsis: Indie has her first interaction with the boy she's loved her entire life, and it's not what she was expecting.

warnings: king steve, steve is mean, bullying, cursing

link to masterlist: https://www.tumblr.com/ponyosmom35/733401347573088256/simon-ghost-riley?source=share

The fluorescent lights of Hawkins High School flickered overhead as students poured out of the building, their chatter a dull roar in the late afternoon. Indie walked beside Jonathan, her face weary but determined. They had spent the day distributing flyers for Will, trying to piece together any clue that might lead to his safe return. The weight of the past few days had begun to take its toll, but she was resolute—if there was any chance to find Will, she was going to give it her all.

Jonathan’s shoulders slumped slightly as they walked, his exhaustion evident. Indie could see the strain etched into his features, a reflection of their shared worry. They had just finished their shift and were heading home when a group of familiar faces emerged from the crowd—Steve Harrington, Tommy H, and Carol.

“Hey man” Steve called out, his voice dripping with a casual arrogance.

Indie stares at the older boy in shock as he’d never addressed either one of them before. Steve shoves his hands in his pockets and moves into Steve’s face. 

Jonathan turned, a mixture of surprise and apprehension on his face. “What’s going on?” 

“Nicole here was telling us about your work” Steve answers 

“We’ve heard great things” Carol answers

“We’d just love to take a look, as lovers of art” Steve says 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Jonathan says trying to push past them

Tommy pushes his shoulder and grabs the bag off of his shoulder and holds it up with a smile. Steve smirks and crosses his arms. 

“Hey! What are you doing?” Indie demanded, stepping forward. “Give it back to him!” 

“Easy ginger snap we’re just gonna take a look” tommy says 

“Just give it back” Jonathan snaps.

Tommy throws the bag at Steve who catches it easily. “Wow he’s really trembling, must really have something to hide”

Steve takes out a stack of photos and waves them at Johnathon “ah here we go”

“Aw man” Steve says in shock

“Yeah this isn’t creepy at all” Carol says 

“I was looking for my brother” Jonathan says 

“No this is called stalking” Steve retorts

Indie’s eyes widened as she saw the photos Steve was holding. They weren’t just of places they had been; they included some candid shots of Steve’s house, where he and his friends had been drinking and partying. Her stomach dropped as she realized what Steve had found.

“What’s going on?” Nancy Wheeler asks as she walks over to the group, her eyes staring at Indie in concern.

“Here’s the starring lady” Tommy smiles

“This creep was spying on us last night, probably gonna save this one for later” Carol says handing Nancy the photos. 

“You can tell he knows it was wrong, but you see that’s the thing about perverts, it’s hard-wired into them, can’t help themselves,” Steve says, ripping the photos up and letting them drop to the ground.

“So you just have to take away his toy” Steve finishes, walking back over to the bag and picking up the camera. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Indie asks, stepping forward, only to be stopped by Tommy who holds her arm. 

“No please not the camera” Jonathan begs 

“Tommy calm down, let her go” Steve commands “here you go man” 

He holds the camera out to Johnathon, as he reaches for it - Steve drops it on the ground. All of them watch as it shatters and the others laugh. 

“Come on lets go - the games about to start” Steve says

Steve Harrington stood amid the shattered remains of his camera, the pieces scattered across the asphalt like broken dreams. His anger was palpable, an intense heat that surged through him as he looked at Indie, who had just thrown a piece of the camera at him. Her words cut deeper than he expected, and he could feel the sting of her disdain gnawing at him.

Steve’s head throbbed from where the camera shard had struck him, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the ache in his chest. He whipped around, his eyes locking onto Indie’s fierce expression. “What the fuck?” he snapped, his voice tinged with frustration as he clutched his head.

“You’re disgusting,” Indie sneered, her voice dripping with contempt. “I can’t believe I ever thought you would be different.”

Her words hit him like a ton of bricks, each syllable laced with bitterness and disappointment. Steve’s mouth worked silently for a moment as he struggled to find a retort, his pride wounded by her scathing critique. “hate to disappoint... sorry, who are you?” he replied, his tone sharp and dismissive.

Indie’s anger flared even more. “You walk around here thinking that you’re the best thing to grace the halls of this school, but you’re not! You, Steve, are just another boring man who’s gonna peak in high school! So enjoy it while it lasts because once you’re out of here, the only thing people will remember about you is that you used to be something in high school!” Her voice was a venomous whisper. “You make me sick.”

Steve’s chest tightened, a jarring mix of humiliation and confusion twisting inside him. He had always been confident, wrapped up in his own world of popularity and easy charm. But Indie’s words struck at the core of who he thought he was, revealing a vulnerability he wasn’t ready to confront.

As Indie’s face flushed with rage, Steve’s gaze flickered to Nancy, who had just arrived and was watching with a mixture of shock and concern. Nancy’s eyes met Indie’s, a silent understanding passing between them before Nancy reluctantly followed Steve as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders—a gesture that felt more like a shield than a comfort.

Steve’s mind raced, trying to process why Indie’s words affected him so deeply. It was as if her scathing judgment had shattered a carefully maintained facade, exposing the insecurities he usually kept hidden. The anger and frustration that had burned so brightly now felt like a dull, lingering ache. He was used to being admired, adored even, but Indie had seen through that veneer and exposed him for what he feared he truly was—a fleeting high school star destined to be forgotten.

The pain in his head was a sharp reminder of his own shortcomings. He had always prided himself on being untouchable, but now, faced with Indie’s raw disdain, he felt more vulnerable than he ever had. It wasn’t just about the broken camera or the insult—it was about realizing that his carefully constructed image might be more fragile than he had ever admitted.

As Steve walked away, his arm draped around Nancy, the sting of Indie’s words lingered, gnawing at his thoughts. He tried to dismiss it, to bury the discomfort beneath a veneer of indifference, but the truth remained: her words had pierced through his bravado, leaving him to grapple with a reflection of himself he wasn’t ready to face.

In the quiet of his own mind, Steve grappled with the dissonance. How could someone he barely knew affect him so profoundly? The anger he felt was mingled with a strange, unsettling sense of self-awareness. For once, Steve was forced to confront the possibility that he might not be the person he had always believed himself to be.

Jonathan stood frozen, clearly caught off guard by the confrontation. Indie’s anger simmered as she watched them walk away, her vision blurring with frustration. 

“Are you okay?” she asks, placing a hand on his arm

“Fine Indie” he snaps before getting into his car and driving away. 

She sighs and walks over to where Barb would normally park and noticed that her sister’s car was gone. There was no way she would have left without her. Indie walks back towards the school looking for her sister everywhere. As she moves through the halls she notices Nancy walking quickly away from Steve, Carol, and Tommy H. 

Indie makes direct eye contact with Steve, who stares at her with an unreadable look on his face. 

“Wait!” Indie called out, running after Nancy. “I’m worried about my sister. Can we talk?”

Nancy turned, her eyes softening with concern. “Sure, let’s find somewhere to talk.”

They found a quiet spot near the school parking lot where Nancy’s car was parked, still in the same spot from earlier. Indie and Nancy searched the nearby area, the creeping twilight adding a sense of urgency to their search.

As they moved through the overgrown grass, a rustling sound startled them. Both women jumped, their hearts racing as they turned to look for the source of the noise. The shadows seemed to move with a life of their own, and with a mutual scream of fright, they fled back towards the parking lot.

Indie’s breath was ragged as they reached the car. “I just—” she began, but her voice caught in her throat. “I just wanted to make sure my sister was okay.”

Nancy gave her a sympathetic look. “I understand. We all need to keep our heads up. Let’s get back.”

When Indie finally arrived home, the house felt different, colder, as if the walls were closing in on her. She recounted the day’s events to her parents, her voice trembling as she spoke of Steve’s callous behavior and her fears for Barb.

Her parents listened with a mix of concern and confusion, but Indie could see that their worries were already deeply rooted in the search for Will. Their focus was elsewhere, and Indie felt a pang of loneliness as she realized she was once again alone in her frustration.

As the night settled over Hawkins, Indie lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. The illusion she had held about Steve Harrington—the perfect, untouchable figure—had been shattered. The bitterness of reality tasted sharp on her tongue, and she couldn’t shake the image of Steve’s smirk and the rage in his eyes as he destroyed Jonathan’s camera.

In the quiet of her room, Indie made a silent vow. The world she had once admired from afar had revealed its darker side, and she would navigate it with newfound resolve. For the first time, she was seeing things clearly, and it was both a painful and necessary awakening.

[k1ng0fn0b0dy]

❤ Silence Can Be Loud

Request by @monomari : "...Can I request a c!Techno x male reader? Techno had the Voices demanding blood and lost control so afterward the reader comforts him and patches him up..." [paraphrased]

[900+ words]

[He/him pronouns]

Description: You head off for some errands but by the time you get home, somethings happened to Techno. [Technoblade x M!Reader]

[Read more under the cut]

{《☆》}

Technoblade is frowning as you sift the bag on your shoulder. His voice is gruff with the lingering cold he had gotten over just a few days ago, "I don't see why you'd need to visit Tommy."

"I'm just going to drop a few things off, Techno, chill," You chuckle softly, standing on your toes (because damn it Technoblade is a very tall piglin brute) to press a soft kiss to his cheek. "I'll be back before you know it, Techno. Just get some rest, you're still getting over your cold. You need it."

"Alright," He grumbles reluctantly. He passes you a totem anyways. "Just in case."

You grin fondly. "Alright, take care now."

You can tell that Technoblade still watches you head off anyway. Even with your attempts to mollify him, he'll always be just a tad bit overprotective. It's frankly a bit adorable though, so you don't mind quite as much as you probably should.

{《☆》}

You're walking back to Techoblade's after a frankly chaotic evening with Tommy and Ranboo, who apologized quite a few times for taking up so much of your time. Poor boy was way too anxious all of the time. You prop the door open with your foot as you enter because the inside is a bit too warm before you notice just how trashed everything inside was.

The door falls shut behind you and you can't help but flinch at the loud thud it makes as it slams shut. You bend down to cradle a sharp piece of a vase you had made for Technoblade ages ago, more just crumbling the longer you touch it.

Technoblade. Your heart falls to your stomach as you realize that maybe someone had done this trying to hurt Technoblade, maybe trying to find you. You weren't a particularly hated individual, not by the server's standards, but you still had enemies.

"Techno! Techno, are you here! Please," Your voice feels like straight syrup pouring down your throat. That so-sweet-it's-bitter taste and the not being able to swallow. "I need you to say something."

It's quiet, so fucking quiet for just a few moments before the noise of something crashing upstairs has you sprinting to the ladder, fumbling to make your legs work and to actually move.

You feel palpable relief when you're standing at the doorway to a room so thoroughly trashed that the downstairs looks clean. You almost fall to your knees as your eyes meet Technoblade's maroon red and so pitiful eyes as they stare at you blankly. He croons softly at you, voice weak as blood marks every inch of his arms and is smeared over his chest. His face, his usually pearly white tusks, both are stained in a similar deep red.

"Oh, Techno," Your voice is a soft whisper. He croons again as you fall to your knees in front of him. "Oh, darling. I'm so sorry. Come here, dear, you're okay."

Technoblade falls towards you, all muscle mass and towering height, and you catch him just as easily as he trusts you. You brush the hair from his eyes. gently shushing his pitiful whining. You wipe at the blood on his face, "You should've told me they were being loud. I'm so sorry I wasn't here."

He nudges his nose into your cheek softly, disagreeing with a quiet chuff. You brush a hand slowly through his hair, trying not to tug too hard at the clumps that the blood has made in his hair. "You're going to be okay darling. You're safe with me, you know that dear."

"Always," He whines softly into your ear, barely legible but a good sign anyway. You nod, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek. He chuffs fondly at you, pressing his eyes closed at whatever the voices have to say about you.

"We need to patch you up, Techno." You murmur softly into his scalp. He chuffs in understanding but his arms still tighten around your middle, almost childishly. "You need to let me go so I can grab the first aid kit."

Technoblade reluctantly lets go, though his eyes are on you the entire time. You tug a loose floorboard out and pull the hidden first aid kit out of the tight cranny that Technoblade had specifically created for hiding places like these. He lets out a pleased little whine when you're back in his arms, though it's a looser hold now that you're working on wrapping the wounds up.

They're mostly flesh wounds, nothing to immediately worry about, so you take the extra time to soak the bandages in regeneration. Technoblade chuffs in approval, gently pressing his head to your shoulder to bonk it in an appreciative gesture. You wipe the blood from his arms carefully as your waiting and he lets you because you are quite possibly the only person he trusts with this. With himself.

You know how hard it is for him, especially with the paranoid voices whispering in his ears, and you press a sweet kiss to his forehead, right between his brows. He nuzzles into you again and by the time you've finally wrapped up his arms, he is putty melded against your side. He tries to pull you down with him but you just giggle softly, shaking your head. "I'm not sleeping in a blood-stained bed."

Technoblade whines but lets you lead him to your room, with clean sheets and absolutely none of the blood that his room had. "There we go darling, there you go. So good for me, dear."

He whines at your loving tone, pulling you in close to nuzzle your head with absolutely no control over himself. It's adorable and you lift your head to press a fond kiss onto his lips. "Go to bed darling. I'll protect you."

Techno chuffs softly in agreement and falls asleep curled around you.

{《☆》}

[Yoooo! Welcome back gamers to today's letplay— okay yeah no. Anyways I'm gonna keep this short. Life has been eh-ish, writing schedule is fucked, but overall school is only half-way kicking my ass.]

[Anyways loves, I hope you all make your day/night a good one. Take care of yourselves, drink water and eat food and sleep 8 hours. People care for you and one day you won't need parasocial block men relationships, PEACE ♡♡♡]

[L0VE, K1NG]

Masterlist

Taglist: @creatorofstars

[transphilza]

ok i’m not lucid enough to comment anything about what that finale was actually about, but is that moment where c!tommy hits c!wilbur with the sword the most scared we’ve ever seen c!wilbur? thought i’d consult our resident wilbur analysis expert lol

i loved this question so much i kept it in my inbox for answering while i took months to gather my thoughts about the final stream — i’d say it’s fair to say yes, it was the most outwardly scared we ever saw c!wilbur, and i wanna talk about why this is a great interpretation for that moment

the thing about wilbur is that he’s always afraid — if the spiraling paranoia of the pogtopia era wasn’t explicit enough for you, you don’t need to look much further than the neuroticism speech to understand that anxiety and fear are primary motivators for wilbur. (frankly excessive elaboration under cut)

it’s why he feels such a strong urge to protect those he cares about, to even a possessive degree (talking particularly about c!tommy here), because he is afraid things will slip from his control and he won’t be able to protect what he values (and as such it makes sense why losing l’manberg after the election damaged wilbur so deeply — among other things, the nation provided him with a sense of safety and control over his life and the lives of his family that kept his anxiety relatively manageable)

but my favorite thing about this moment isn’t that it might be the most scared he’s ever been, it’s as nonnie phrases it: it’s the most scared we’ve ever seen him

prior to his revival, the most explicitly we are shown wilbur’s anxiety is right after the Let’s Be The Bad Guys speech, where he mentions the reason he’s doing all this is because he needs to feel safe (and safe = in control)

after his revival, wilbur is slightly more self aware, and with that change we have vulnerable moments like this popping up more willingly, under less duress, but they’re more shallow, particularly as he slips back into old habits. i think of his intense and genuine expressions of love toward tommy as he spoke about family while simultaneously lying to him about many other things — or his being incredibly vulnerable around ranboo and expressing his fear openly in a way we hadn’t seen him describe before, but then acting on his destructive anxious impulses and encouraging ranboo to do the same directly afterward

but particularly after the events of The Wilbur Van, the moments of genuine fear he expresses are all heavy with the hopelessness of suicidality, and the despair (which is certainly driven by fear, perhaps the fear of having to live in limbo forever where everyone he loves can never see him as anything but his mistakes) is the most visible emotion (i think of what he says to phil in the Bust stream about trying so hard and never getting better — despair driven by fear)

it’s a lot easier to identify this despair rather than the fear underlying it in how wilbur behaves, and this is true for the entire duration of his storyline on the smp — that is, except this one moment that you mention, where he sounds purely and utterly terrified

all this long winded rambling to say: why? why is the despair and hopelessness that usually sticks out the most not as palpable here?

it actually comes back to this; the factor that by this point, during this final scene, wilbur has begun to reconcile with himself and reconsider his own fate. sending friend back to ghostbur was an act of kindness toward himself, and i’ve talked about that before, about how these small moments of care and love toward himself are monumentally important in changing how wilbur sees the world around him — in changing how he sees his own life, not as a hopeless tragic narrative but as a dynamic human existence with highs and lows and a chance for hope in the future

all this to say: this is one of the only periods in the story when wilbur has been truly, deeply afraid to die, and the reason he’s so afraid is because finally, finally, after all this time, he thinks he wants to live.

he’s figured a way out, he’s found a third option between death and limbo and for once in his life he thinks he can imagine a future worth living for, or at the very least a future where he is free to shape it on his own, where he is no longer a character trapped in a never ending cycle of loss and suffering

and in a less abstract way, it’s a change of scenery that isn’t full of ghosts and zombies and ruins of people and places he once loved. it’s someplace he can be on his own where he doesn’t have to anxiously ruminate about how his actions are constantly and perpetually disappointing and harming those he loves. a place to heal, or maybe just a place where he can consider what exactly healing means — and tommy is hitting him, and it hurts, and he doesn’t want to die, he doesn’t want to die,

of all things he just wants to go back to fucking utah

[demonboyhalo]

The Technoblade Conspiracy

Even before Dream claimed there was a traitor in Pogtopia, there's been a lot of...suspicious activities happening in Techno’s streams. Others on the SMP are already distrustful of him, and the fans are as well, but I believe that we’re focusing on the wrong thing here. This thread isn’t quite a traitor theory, but rather a dive into what Techno has been hiding at large. I can say with utter confidence that the extent of what Technoblade has accomplished on the Dream SMP is being greatly underestimated.

I recommend looking at the sus Techno moments thread by @piggytechnobarb on Twitter for some of the stream clips I'll be discussing.

This is going to be fairly in depth, so the rest is under the cut!

1. There is another room under what Techno calls his "secret base"

I won't talk too much on how strange his choice of "secret base" is for now, but please do keep in mind how out of character it is for man-who-tracked-down-Squid's-college to settle for a home base so unprotected and close to Pogtopia's very well known location.

So, for some reason, there is Polished Blackstone Brick under the floor of Techno’s wall. He accidentally reveals this when a donation asks him to mine the exposed redstone in his wall, acts a bit strange for a good 15 seconds, and then never mentions it again. Sight of the brick prompts him to silently zoom in, fill the hole with stone (not cobble), and say "Don't ask questions".

This is only so strange because there's no real reason for him to have stone at the ready, or any blackstone brick at all. Techno is NOT a builder, and if a creeper blew up down there, he'd fill it with cobble and not give a shit about aesthetics. He doesn't use smooth stone in his base, and has never built with blackstone on stream. Not only are they unusual items for him to have, it's unusual for him to make a point to not have the viewers question it. Yes, it could just be Techno being dramatic, but why did he go silent for a straight 5 seconds at the sight of the blackstone?

Considering who he is as a player, it is completely in character for Techno to build a second base. The lake he lives under is incredibly near Wilbur and Tommy, and he's well aware that all an enemy has to do is watch his stream to infiltrate his base. Techno goes to the extremes when they aren't even required (Ex. His insane skill in party games, beating Skeppy in as niche of a game as Grinch Simulator, etc.) So I don't think it's a stretch for him to go the extra mile, and hide a bunker/resources/extra armour and what have you from even his own viewers.

2. The overpowered illegal villager farm

For those of you who don't watch Ponk, he recently stumbled across an area that is supposedly banned on the Dream SMP - a villager farm. In the clip, his voice is astonished and his confusion is palpable, and he goes so far as to say "It's a full scale arms race" because of how many good trades there are. The location is laced with traps, though he doesn't mention what exactly he had to get past to find the farm. Ponk's reaction is far too genuine for the farm to be his, but then that begs the question, whose farm is it?

...Who is willing to risk Dream's wrath by breaking his rules? Or, alternatively, who is capable of making a secret pact with the server owner to allow such a farm? The answer could only be Technoblade.

Ponk says it himself in the video, he does not have the time to build this. Whoever made this had to have carved out a hidden cavern, lead at least 14 villagers down there, breed them until only the ones with the best trades were left - all off stream, and without another player catching them. Whoever made this had to spend hours of work with no content to show for it, and who do we know has been grinding for DAYS on the server? Technoblade. Not to mention, all the villagers are numbered, and all but one are fletchers.

The signs above each stall are so important, because going so far back as SMP Earth, Techno has a history of dispassionately breeding mobs to his benefit, and then killing any mob not performing well enough. For example, his horse farm: where the horses stay in numbered rooms rather than all being named. The villagers in the screenshot above are numbered rather than named.

Wanna hear a fun fact about Fletchers? They're well known for accepting sticks for emeralds, but will also take string for that trade as well! And guess who has been seen waiting at the spider spawner collecting string by Sapnap, Awesamdude, Quackity, and multiple other players? Technoblade.

Technoblade also has every reason to be breeding villagers for special arrows and crossbows, because he's said on stream that he wants to try spamming multi-shot crossbows in combat to take out huge groups of enemies. He said at a later point that he had run into trouble with getting multiple crossbows with the enchantment multi-shot, and implied it wasn't going to happen. But has he ever been the kind of person to be stopped by something being challenging? Absolutely not.

Think of literally anything Techno has done - his Bedwars win streak, beating MC with a steering wheel, the Potato Wars - what I believe is really happening, is that Techno is lying about how equipped he is so that no matter what side he ends up fighting for, his enemies will have no true way of knowing how powerful he is.

3. Dream might be his secret ally (AKA The Glowstone Incident)

This brings us to a...confusing moment in Techno's stream that sparked a lot of questions. It pointed me towards 2 different, but not necessarily exclusive, theories.

The Glowstone Incident precedes as follows: Techno needs glowstone but can't find any in his chests, so he puts on his BRB screen. He says that he is "hacking" and asking Dream to use game mode to give him the glowstone. Typing can be heard, and then multiple chests are opened. Techno takes off the BRB screen and he now has three stacks of glowstone dust. This was absolutely bewildering to watch live, and was one of the most blatantly suspicious things he has done in front of his viewers. (You can find the exact clip on the thread I mentioned, it is...so weird)

Theory A: Though unlikely, Techno could be Dream's secret ally, and Dream really did use creative to give him the stacks. Or, he potentially gave Techno OP permissions so that he could get the glow stone (and any other materials he’d want) himself.

We all remember their meet up on that ocean hill, where Dream gives Techno golden apples, diamonds, and other such materials for the battle against Schlatt. It seemed to be a one-off gift that was more for Wilbur's benefit than Techno's, but there's potentially the chance that Dream saw an alliance to Techno to be more beneficial than working only with Wilbur, and contacted him off screen to make deals.

Going back to the Village Farm - for a player to get the exact enchantment they want for a reasonable price, breeding them is the most logical option. It's the route Techno would take regardless of Dream's rules on the SMP too, as he tends to show little regard for what the creators want (Ex. Taking over SMP Earth, exploiting Hypixel Skyblock, etc.) However, it could also be possible that Dream gave Techno permission to do this, and so the reason Techno is keeping the farm secret is so that the viewers don't know of their alliance.

Theory B: Techno has hidden resources in his base that he doesn't want anyone to have even the chance to see. Whether it is to hide from enemies watching (or to hide from Dream in particular because Techno knows he's breaking the server's rules) there are secret chests that Techno has with extra resources that can be heard loud and clear in the video.

They could be simple ones hidden in the walls...or in the blackstone brick base hidden under his floors. Saying he’s “hacking” rather than the reality of him just checking all his chests again is on par for Techno’s usual dramatics - yet we can clearly see that there’s no glowstone in any of his chests. This is why I believe he got the glowstone from some unseen resource. With the BRB screen on, Techno prevents his viewers from actually seeing how he got the 3 stacks of powder, and it keeps the location of his hidden materials safe.

Personally, I feel theory B is more likely, but there have been moments where Dream has acted Sus so...be on the lookout y'all.

4. Techno not participating in MCC

For those of you who watched Techno during the Potato War, many will remember that MCC 6 had a stressful undertone. Because of how much effort and time Techno had been putting into farming on Skyblock, taking a break to compete in another event was distracting. It ultimately led to him losing time that, from his perspective, would have been better off spent farming.

Techno might not be as blatantly grinding on the Dream SMP as he did with the Potato War, but it's undeniable that other streamers have seen him online for stretches of 10 hours and more. When asked about why he wasn't participating in the next MCC, Techno didn't say he was taking a break - something that'd be entirely reasonable and honestly well earned - he said "I don't want to."

It could be awkward phrasing by virtue of Techno's personality, but what I think is more likely is that Techno has learned from his past mistakes. Rather than "waste" time competing in MCC, Techno might be planning to use the time everyone on the SMP is gone to his advantage. He could sneak into enemy territory, set traps in certain areas, or maybe even perform some illegal acts that Dream would never allow. Either way, I suspect Techno has something planned for the 14th.

Honorable Mentions:

Dream poking fun, or blatantly covering for Techno?

This clip of Techno's secret Something??? next to the spider spawner, undeniably suspicious

Techno had around 5 stacks of wool in his inventory at one point - he absolutely could be bed mining the nether not only so that he has multiple sets of OP netherite, but possibly because he's preparing the gear for another person (cough cough Philza) or people

Techno's collection of ghast tears. He's studied Crystal PvP and made plenty of 2b2t references in the past (Look up FitMC for more info on those things) So it could be possible that Techno is hiding stacks of end crystals so that he can decimate multiple players in an instant

All in all, I'm 100% convinced that Techno has some serious plans hidden behind the scenes that he's not going to share until it's time for him to unleash utter chaos. We know he's keeping secrets, we know he's had the time, and we know he's capable.

I hope you all enjoyed my research and feel terrified of what Techno could possibly have done off camera :D

If anyone else has different theories, corrections to what I wrote, or other moments where Pink was Sus, feel free to comment!

[princecharmingmendes]

Heart by Heart | Chapter XI | Raul Mendes

                                             *secret agent AU*

Y/N and Raul have been friends ever since they could remember. And falling in love with your best friend can be pretty tricky and messy 99% of the times, add that to the fact they're constantly risking their lives side by side on the field since they're both secret agents, and the best team that's ever existed. Perfect recipe for disaster.

Hello, can't believe this series is almost over! This is the eleventh chapter of this series and I'm sorry in advance, too many cliffhanger, I know, but at least this is a positive one, right? You can find the first ones here. Please read the warnings on this one, if you don’t feel comfortable with the contents listed on the “warnings” section, please read something else, there are a lot of other works on my masterlist and on the “fic rec” hashtag on my blog. Please give me some feedback and I hope you guys like. Happy Reading!

                      previous chapter | masterpost | next chapter

*Word Count: 3.4K+

*Warnings: cursing, violence, mentions of blood and guns, kidnapping, hostage situation, angst, and another cliffhanger (a good one though!).

Please don’t read it if any of this subjects make you uncomfortable, feel free to check my masterlist for other writings.

*Posted: September 23rd, 2021.

                                                 -*-

Y/N felt her conscience slowly coming back, blinking her eyes open and closing them again at the throb on the back of her head. She groaned at the stiffness of her muscles as she tried to apply some pressure on the sore area, and tried to sit up straighter. As soon as she was able to open her eyes and for them to adjust to the darkness, she swept her gaze around the room, trying to identify any differences from the last time she was awake. She was quick to notice Tommy sitting, now conscious, agains the wall he was tied to, watching him stare as a random spot on the floor. 

She sighed in relief before calling his name softly, her voice hoarse from the lack of use and lubrications from water, her throat burning at it “Tommy, you okay?” she was only able to notice the black eye, that was on his face ever since she found him on that basw, was getting darker due to the normal process of inflammation and healing. 

His head snapped up in her direction and relief flooding his senses was palpable “Oh my God, you’re okay, holy shit” making her chuckle at his surprised tone.

“Yeah, I’m okay, are you hurt? Did they hurt you?” she asked trying to identify any important wounds as he shook his head “did anyone come here to talk to you?”

“No, but someone came to check on you” he replied and she nodded.

“Did I took long to wake up?” 

Tom shook his head “I mean, I was also unconscious, but ever since I was up, maybe an hour or two, it’s hard to be 100% sure in here” he confessed and she nodded in reply “we’re you up before?”

“Yes, Geonoff came to talk to me a while ago, he got pissed at me and knocked me out again” she said with a shrug as Tom’s eyes widened at that. 

“I’m so sorry, Y/N, I should’ve never come to this mission, I only fucked things up and you’re in danger because of me, I’m so sorry” Tommy started rambling and begging for forgiveness.

But before he could take things too far, Y/N gave a brisk shake of her head, which she regretted almost instantly as the pain returned stronger, making her wince. 

“It’s not your fault, he already knew, and it’s okay, everyone makes mistakes, I can’t count how many times I had to save Raul’s ass and it’s okay, it’s our job” she said watching his shoulders slump even more.

“He’ll never forgive me for getting you involved in this, if we even get out of here, but I promise I’ll do everything I can to get you out of here safe” Tommy promised in a rush. 

Y/N’s eyes softened at that small confession “Tommy, he doesn’t blame you, he never could”

“How can you be so sure?” he asked, his voice small and a little broken. 

“Because I know Raul better than anyone” she said gently, giving him the best reassuring smile she could manage “you’re a lot more valuable than you think, kid, ‘sides, you’re in our family now, and Raul would never let me die when I’m clearly winning out little bet, he’s coming for us, both of us”

Tommy nodded his head still a bit discredited, before a curious gaze replaced partially the worry frown on his face “what bet?”

She smiled at the memory of their first year on the company “Raul and I have been friends since our childhood, right?” and Tommy nodded at that “and ever since our first training I was a great shooter, and Raul the ever cocky thing he is, decided to bet he was better at it than me, so we placed a bet, every time we hit a target we earned a point, and we’ve been scoring ever since, and I’m winning”

Tommy laughed shaking his head “of course you are”

“He’ll come for us, don’t worry about it, we just have to find a way to get out of here in case they take too long to figure out where we are” she said with a sigh.

“Well, I think I noticed a pattern on the people on this floor” he said with a shrug and she smiled at him. 

“I’m listening”

                                                -*-

“Raul, you should probably take a nap and relax for a while, man” Jack said as he watched his friend running his hands through his curls, his shoulders slumped and posture visibly tense.

“I need to get them out of there, and to do that, we need to know where they might have been taken” he said with a sigh, rubbing his eyes before looking up and Peter and Janet, that were both staring at him with soft and worried eyes. 

Celine was the first to speak after a couple moments of silence “okay, let’s try one more time, and then you’ll rest for at least thirty minutes, deal? We’re here for at least four hours, Mendes”

“Okay, fine” Raul conceded with another sigh as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table in front of him.

Celine wasn’t lying and he understood his coworkers worries, he knew they’re all trying their best to get Y/N and Thomas back, but he still felt like he needed to do everything he could to help everyone. They’re locked in a small room, with a single computer as he went on and on, listing every single place they saw him going or coming from for the past weeks, Celine and Jack helping, Janet trying to add others they haven’t mentioned and Peter typing down and trying to track activities. 

But they’re weren’t able to come up with anything. 

They’ve been sitting around a small wooden table taking notes, Peter’s fingers flying over the keyboard, as Celine sat on the corner of the room on top of a counter and Jack paced around. Janet, despite the clear distress in her eyes seemed the most composed one, while Raul was a mess. 

Everyone was visibly drained and needing a break, but Raul was going to try at least one more time before giving in and taking some time to rest. So he started again, listing on chronological order all the places, from his work to the gym Geonoff went, he told Peter again, but nothing knew came, and he stated the last one with an annoyed huff. 

“Anywhere else? Maybe an accidental meeting or something when you weren’t on the job?” Peter suggested and everyone shook their head.

Jack groaned rubbing his temples “that rat is smarter than he should be, that gross son of a bitch gets away with everything, even when he tried flirting with Y/N in front of Raul and you didn’t lose your mind, when I did that as a joke you almost punched me”

“Geonoff was hitting on Y/N?” Janet asked with an arched brow, to which Raul nodded silently. 

Celine rolled her eyes before adding “he was kind of obsessed with her, he even talked about her when she wasn’t anywhere near him, we were lucky he wasn’t a stalker, probably thanks to Raul”

“How do you know he wasn’t a stalker?” Jack questioned turning to Celine. 

With a shrug she answered simply “because he never showed up whenever they’re just hanging out at random places around town or at her building”

And that’s when it clicked. Raul snapped his eyes that were previously focused on a tiny spot on the floor to Celine. 

“That’s not true” he was quick to say “when we were on our day off, I took her out to dinner close to the docks”

“That date night thing?” Jack asked and Raul nodded “and he was there?!”

“No, we went there to a nice restaurant, and as we were done, we went to a shop next door for ice cream, and as we were having it outside, talking by the water, he came out of a boat with a couple of men and came to us”

“A boat?” Janet asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah, I’m not saying he was following us, but I don’t remember any boat activities being tracked, maybe she’s at his boat or something” Raul guessed but Janet shook her head. 

“My grandfather had a boat hangar thing on the other side of down and a marina on the docks where you went with her, I’m almost sure it got closed down when my grandfather passed, but maybe he never sold it and it’s still there, just empty and slipping out of our radar” Janet suggested almost cheerfully.

“Peter?” Celine asked.

“On it” he mumbled, eyes glued to the screen in front of him “do you remember the number of the storage?”

“Twenty seven” Janet replied quickly. 

Raul’s heart was almost beating out of his chest, waiting for his brother’s analysis in silence among the others. Peter’s eyes never left the screen as he checked for any sign of suspicious movement or even the image Geonoff himself around the area. 

“Are you one hundred percent sure it’s deactivated?” Peter asked turning to their boss with a frown on his features, to which Janet nodded “well, then this might be the place”

“What?!” Jack squealed. 

“I can’t prove anything or be too sure with what I found, we’d need to watch the area a bit better, cause the movement is almost insignificant, but is there, here, look at this” Peter pointed at his screen “this person is walking by, right? He was supposed to come from here” he said switching cameras “but he didn’t show up on the other side, which is weird”

Janet was on her feet in a second, leaving the room quickly, her voice echoing down the hall as she ordered the other agents to investigate every millimeter around the hangar they just found and report immediately at any suspicious movement and/ or man around the area for the past 48 hours. 

Celine squeezed Raul’s shoulder, making him look up at her “we’re gonna get them back” he was able to give her a small smile with a nod “now let’s rest for a couple of minutes, at least until these computer nerds find something worth invading and breaking, which is what we’re good at, yeah?”

“Hey!” Peter interrupted without looking up at them.

Celine chuckled at him “nothing gainer you guys, you’re cute even, we’re the dumb brute ones around here” she said with a wink, making Peter’s face tint pink, making Raul and Jack laugh. 

                                                -*-

In less than three hours they were able to find enough movement around the storage from Janet’s family for it to be suspicious enough and be enough evidence that Geonoff might have kept Y/N and Thomas in there somewhere, probably in the lower level. So in that time they’re able to come up with a tactical force to extract them both, and another team to wait for a signal so they could invade and find as many Reyes’ men they could to arrest, and maybe Geonoff himself. 

Raul would be leading the small team, mostly Celine, Jack and two other experienced agents, to retrieve their coworkers and send the signal as soon as they’re found and armed to leave. While that happened, Janet would be waiting to lead another larger team, with agents that had just arrived with that purpose. Peter would be replacing Y/N this time to guide them inside better and coordinate the arrests with local and national authorities as well.

Raul was unable to rest properly, but was forced by his friends to at least lay down for half an hour so he could at least relax the tiniest bit possible under those circumstances. 

But as soon as Peter informed there was enough reason for them to invade, he was up on his feet, already helping plan every movement the team would make and offering himself to do whatever they needed to get this done. Soon enough he was in his tactical gear, weapons strapped to his chest and an earpiece securely in place. 

The initial jitter he felt ok the beginning of this mission was gone, now the reason for his bouncing leg, nervous tugging on his curls and generally agitated state was for a completely different reason. Raul just needed to mae sure Y/N and Tommy were okay. Not because he was in love with her or saw himself as some sort of protective figure in Thomas’ life. Of course that counted, but the main reason was that he felt insanely guilty for abandoning his teammates when he was the captain, he should’ve never done that. It was his job to get them back into safety and he failed. Both of them.

And he knew Y/N would be scowling at him if she was around, listening to him whine about how bad of a captain he was, she would’ve poked him in the chest telling him to “shut up and stop acting like a baby, ‘cause he did the right thing and that’s all that matter, that he couldn’t control everything and it was part of the job”, or something like that. He needed his best friend back. 

So they hoped on a van and we’re taken to the place, stopping a couple of blocks before arriving so they’d be less likely identified before entering the building. Peter guiding them through coms so they could be caught in any surveillance cameras, since Geonoff’s men could be using them to watch for anyone that could possibly want to invade. And with not so much effort, they’re able to climb in through a small window on the back, unnoticed until that moment, as they searched quickly around before moving forward for the investigation. 

“The basement is two floors down” Peter’s voice ringed in Raul’s ear.

And despite the news he felt of reaching Y/N as fast as he possibly could, he led his team as carefully as he could, avoiding every movement that indicated there was some close by on watch. After a couple of moments they hit the bottom floor, searching quickly inside the few rooms around, but being met with only darkness and silence. No sign of them. No sound, no source of light or anything, not even guards around. 

Raul looked back at Celine, who looked a lot more distressed than he was used to seeing, as he gestured at the last room around, Jack quickly approaching and trying to break the lock, but only to take a step back with a confused frown on his face. And before they could ask him what was going on, Jack only pushed the heavy door open, hun in hand as he stepped inside. Raul and Celine shared a look before following him.

The room was almost pitch black, their flashlights making the silver of chains shine as they flashed on then. Raul approached the wall, seeing both pairs tossed around and poorly opened, seeing clear signs of struggle near them and small droplets of fairly fresh blood on the floor, making his stomach sink. They’re there, not long ago, but they’re nowhere to be found and Peter didn’t catch them on any cameras inside and out the hangar. 

Celine let out a tiny gasp as realization hit her, Jack being quick to grab her arm “don’t jump into any conclusions, we have no clue of what happened in here and no evidence of the worst either”

“What is there to miss, Jack?!” she asked in a hushed tone, pulling her arm back and keeping it close to his chest. 

Jack sighed as he walked to Raul “hey dude, we gotta keep going, if we stay here for too long they’ll find us and this won’t help Y/N’s case at all, we can keep on looking”

Raul shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around it, but before he could say or do anything stupid, Peter’s voice sounded in his ear “Geonoff is on the second floor! Everyone needs to go now!” but he couldn’t move a single muscle. 

“Come on, guys” Jack was quick to call, tapping Raul lightly on the shoulder and moving to the door, but as soon as he realized his friends weren’t behind him, he turned back to find them placed exactly where they were “guys?”

Nor Raul neither Celine answered. She kept her wild gaze on Raul’s face, as if she was waiting for his orders to follow, and he was pretty sure that if, in that moment, he asked her to unleash her anger on anyone standing in front of them, she would without questioning. But he knew they had to keep moving, he couldn’t put their lives at risk as well, so he shook his head.

“Come on” he said abruptly and Celine nodding and turning to follow Jack into the narrow corridor again, moving in the direction of the stairs.

But as they’re approaching the stairs, they heard the sounds of boots thumping against the steps moving in their direction, and he knew those weren’t their agents, those were probably the enemy, coming into a small space where they’re clearly outnumbered and had no place to run to or hide.

“Raul, you guys need to get out of there, there are over seven man approaching you and you can’t draw too much attention or Geonoff’s gonna flea” Peter called through his ear piece and he knew, he agreed, but he didn’t have much to do, but he nodded either way.

He signaled for Celine and Jack to get ready and squeeze as hard as they could against a wall to try and hide as best as they could behind a locker so they’d at least have the element of surprise in case of an attack. And as he heard the low voices in hushed tones of men approaching, he uncollected the safety and nodded to Jack and Celine to prepare. Raul took a deep breath and waited for the first shadow to appear by his feet, but it never came.

Instead he heard several hard thuds, grunts and the sound of bodies falling to the floor before anyone could complain. The three of them stood there hidden with wide eyes, not knowing what to do, since they had no clue what had happened and were still apparently flying under the radar. And before he could come up with any crazy idea to get them out of that situation, he heard a heavenly sound of a soft giggle.

Raul’s eyes widened as his heart threatened to beat out of his chest and burst into a million pieces at the same time, his legs almost giving out. But at the sound of her sweet voice, he almost fell down to his knees, leaving his partially hidden spot only to be met with Y/N and Tommy standing a couple of feet away from him with a triumphant smile on her lips, the seven men lying unconscious by her feet. He swears he died and was in heaven. The thought quickly pushed aside as he heard Celine and Jack’s shocked gasps at the sight in front of him. 

“Took you guys long enough” she said with a shrug and they kept staring at them in shock “what?”

“How did-” Celine started but cut herself off still in shock. 

But before Y/N could answer, Raul took three long strides avoiding stepping on anyone and pulling her into his arms tightly, feeling finally at peace as he felt her body molding to his in their embrace. 

Y/N let out the tiniest giggle, before pressing a kiss to his hair “it’s a long story I’ll tell you guys later, now we have to go” she added tapping Raul on his shoulder, bringing him to look at her “by the way, you need to score three more points for me, I’m still winning out bet” she finished with a wink.

And in the first time in more than twenty four hours, Raul felt the weight living his shoulder as Tommy snorted next to her and he huffed out a small chuckle, squeezing the young man’s shoulder with a smirk on his lips, without letting go of his girl. Now all he needed to do was take that son of a bitch before heading home with his family. 

                                                 -*-

*Please reblog or like this post if you liked it so I’ll know.

*I’m sorry if there are any spelling mistakes.

*Please do not repost this without giving me the credit, this is a completely original piece and I do not give permission to copy this!

*Hope you guys enjoyed it!

*xoxo

-🌙

[hickeys-dickey]

Pls share your thoughts about the gays in THAT scene… I would love to read them!

Ahh you are too kind, I am but a little swiss cheese brain but I'll try my best to sum up my thoughts, I have too many! I wanted a chance to grab some screenshots too! I'm going to put a read more because this is a long one buckle up lads.

So obviously the whole punishment for Hickey is designed to humiliate him (I would imagine this is one of the reasons his punishment isn't explained to him, because if Hickey truly was a naval petty officer he would know, and I think it's another way for Crozier to essentially say "I see you" and not in a good way). The fact we're not shown the other whippings shows the importance lies in the scene with Hickey.

I've seen a bit of discussion about his charge of "dirtiness", which isn't listed initially when we see him being questioned by the Captains, and whether or not it alludes to homosexuality but on a quick cursory search it does seem to have been used as a euphemism where an outright accusation of sodomy would mean a death sentence. The way Crozier throws it out there, no doubt to heap the humiliation onto Hickey and add crimes to the list to cover the fact he added lashes on to the punishment essentially for a bruised ego (but that's another matter), suggests a whole lot of venom to the accusation. Hickey's pointed look at Irving and Irving's quick shift of his gaze down suggests they both know exactly why Crozier has listed this among Hickey's list of crimes, and Hickey looks furious for it.

But I think this is also ultimately where the panic begins to set in. Again, there are far greater minds than me who have made excellent posts about queer coded characters in the terror, and I think it's no surprise that most of them are the faces that are focused on in this scence. It is clear long before this moment that Crozier's leadership is lacking, and people have already begun to voice concerns fairly loudly. Tozer for one is livid in the wake of Heather being injured, and the marines have clearly started distancing themselves from both the officers and the men. I feel like this scene, for a lot of characters is a point of major shift in either allegiences or character.

Tozer and the Captains are the first faces that are panned to in this scene and I think the expressions speak for themselves.

Tozer is visibly upset/concerned after the first lash. I do think guilt probably has a part to play, in that is was him whole told Hickey where Silna was, and presumably approved enough of the plan to not rat him out to anyone. Again, very probably part of Tozer's anger at Heather being injured due to what he sees is Crozier's poor management. Fitzjames is stoney faced, but is also the only one looking. As a man who many have noted pushes himself to pick emotional scabs, I think it would make sense for someone who is also notably queer coded and stuggles with trauma to make himself look directly at someone being whipped for a crime he himself might commit. Crozier isn't even looking, whether out of suddenly doubting his harshness or simply triggering something in his own memory it's not clear. I think the end of this shot also speaks for itself.

(Fig 1. Three Concerned (very likely not straight) men contemplate)

The lads at the back behind Mr. Johnson are all looking Directly At the whipping as it is taking place. Interestingly none of the men at the front near the table are looking. This is the stewards, officers, and marines. Whether out of respect or also Concern at their own skins (I think every one of these characters has been addressed as being queer coded at some point, minus the marines who are all, except Tozer, fairly nameless characters).

I'm not a gifmaker which is unfortunate for this section, though this is what is gifed in the beautiful gifset by sashneeka I reblogged (x). Tommy is also visibly upset, whether because he knows Tozer was involved in the plot to kidnap Silna and is concerned for him and any of the rest of the crew who had assisted in someway or voiced support. Billy interestingly does look briefly, and sets his jaw after in a way that suggests he's trying to fight the guilt of being the one to tell Irving about the whole affair with Hickey to paint himself in a better light. It could just as easily be Billy there on that table being lashed, but he somehow rationalises it in his head (probably because Hickey is a little bastard) that he was right in what he did. He does look down fairly guiltily after this, so maybe he hasn't quite settled on an opinion. Jopson also looks incredibly concerned/unsettled, and interestingly looks at Hickey right up until the whip hits where he flinches, and not for the only time in this scene. From what we know about Jopson's past, though not at this point, it may well be he is remembering similar punishment/mistreatment and like Fitzjames looks enough to pick the scab open and flinch from his own trauma.

The closeup of Hickey shows the full extent of his rage and humiliation building, and as I think Adam himself said, they whipped something out of Hickey that day and let him reach this potential that lay inside him (to become an even bigger bastard). He's fully severed all ties and feelings of loyalty after this and it becomes full on train to manipulation station from this point. I have a lot of Thoughts about Hickey also (which I am sure you are all aware of) but I think there was some semblance of Hickey attempting to start afresh on this journey, or at the very least keep his head down and go unnoticed. The trouble is, he notices Crozier as a flawed man, and one not from the upper classes like himself, and his ego can't help but think we're not so different, that could be me with the right connections. Well surprise lads, its murder time now and he's gonna make this old man pay for not recognising initiative but punishing it. I do wonder if Crozier wasn't booze sick and rattled from losing even more men under his command, would he not have come down so harshly for someone clearly defying the Articles to do what he thinks is right and save the men (a la Crozier and his fuck you I'm directly contradicting an order and leading this rescue party myself).

Tozer gets another wee closeup here and again looks like he has resolved something in his head too. Most likely that he thinks Crozier an unfit leader, and admiring Hickey for having the balls to do what he did (Hickey also never reveals anyone else who came with him, and when he talks about Hartnell and Mason's part in taking Silna it highlights their skill and bravery and (he thinks) commends them to the Captain. It's probably the only time we see him building up and applauding others). He looks dead ahead here and seems to have a very steely gaze, like yep fuck it looks like I'm going it alone now. It is interesting that Tozer goes from this to notably disliking Hickey (both at the start and when they are packing up - "you've just given me an excuse to give a big shove". This might be anger at Hickey having caused all the issues with Silna after the fact when Heather gets killed at Carnivale), but still follows him in the end. Hickey has the ability to kill, manipulate, steal, basically do whatever needed for their group to get ahead, which means Tozer can be part of the group and not have to dirty his own hands. I think Tozer probably has a complicated relationship with Hickey, but he does fall for the charm hook, line, and sinker, and the fact he seems concerned for him here suggests how easily he is sympathetic to those he sees as being wronged.

Gibby getting Hickey's blood on his hand (ayy) seems to visibly make him blanch, and I do find it interesting that the shot then pans to Tommy as though they are looking at each other when they are stood side by side. The similarities between them maybe? (I've seen and reblogged a lot of discourse about Tommy loving Tozer, maybe another nod to no one being so different to the man on the table?) Irving doesn't get much of a close up in the rest of this scene but bless him he looks equal parts terrified and guilty (another man who has been noted as having a list of many things to distract from the Gay Thoughts like why do you need to distract from Gay Thoughts Irving?). He also has the Far Off Look of trauma about him, probably because he too could just as easily be on that table.

I have many many thoughts about the way Hickey turns to look (and fucking smile???) at Crozier next, which is when Crozier is looking directly at him and Fitzjames looks at him. Like if I were Crozier I think my fucking blood would chill, look at this man. Being humiliated and lashed still hasn't broken him, if anything he has just become fully unhinged and looks at Crozier as though to say "did you really think this would work?". I would also say, this man has fairly quite for someone who is at this stage something like 22 lashes in? Like what the actual fuck Hickey?? I fully belive Hickey to be a psycopath, and most of what he does in the beginning of the series is an attempt to stay hidden until they get to Hawaii and he can ditch the crew, but I think it is fairly safe to say he isn't hiding it any more.

And he knows this is going to make the men doubt Crozier - I can't do a proper search because I am using my work laptop atm, but I seem to remember reading that a punishment greater than 12 lashes required a court martial (probably why Little steps in to say so when Crozier orders his punishment as well as them technically being lost at sea), which would be another strike against him as a Captain. Not only that, but Crozier does seem to grant him some mercy in letting him only be lashed I think 23 or so times? Probably because the tension is fucking palpable in this whole scene and Crozier can either choose to claw back some sense of control on the matter, or deal with the consequences of many people admiring Hickey for what he has done for the crew and start a mutiny. I think this is the first time Fitzjames sees the damage Crozier is doing to himself with his choices as Captain, and is probably just as concerned at the look Hickey is giving him. He knows this has unleashed something in this tiny rat bastard too, and that he will become the physical manifestation of Crozier's self-destructive tendancies. Crozier perpetually comes to everything just a fraction too late to change anything - he never saves any of the men, only comforts them as they die, and a lot of this has to do with his own ego and bad decision making, and I think this is the first example here of the fact his actions are having an effect on others to the point it will be his downfall.

Anyway, to round it off, I think this scene really epitomises the notion that Hickey is a mirror to the rest of the men, and they see their flaws in him. Those who have questioned Crozier's captaincy look concernced knowing they too could be being lashed. They too would have tried to get Silna to stop the Tuunbaq hunting them. Those who are queer or queer coded know they too could be being lashed for it. Crozier himself sees his unwillingness to follow the Articles in him, sees his own insubordination, and feels what Sir John meant when he said his position afforded him deference. Hickey may as well be a metaphor for all the men being lashed, theres not one among them who haven't voiced wanting to do what he has done. Let them without sin and all that. This is make or break for who holds loyalty to the Captain, and the turning point for who is going where. I think everyone except Jopson, Irving and Fitzjames ends up in the mutineers camp, and Irving ends up killed and mutilated by Hickey and Fitzjames is scavanged by them. Theres not one of them that isn't haunted by what happened in this scene, and Hickey would end up being the death of every single one of them. The only one who remains loyal after this is Jopson, who thinks his care and duty to the Captain can outweigh his other sins. Fitzjames and Crozier have a stronger relationship once he recovers from his withdrawal, yes, but Fitzjames also keeps him in check now (I'm thinking of Edward Little being threatened with flogging again because of course I am), and it is another step too late for Crozier's self-destruction. I've seen a Hickey/Fitzjames Christ analogy on here before too, so I hope you'll forgive me in comparing them, but Hickey in this scene really does get punished for everyone else's crimes in this scene, and becomes a sort of Christ-like figure, reborn as a complete version of the worst of himself from the pain of being lashed. They whipped something out of him!! Anyway, that about sums it up!

[slutsofren]

Danger Days Chapter 8: Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back

summary: finding shelter in an abandoned home, you try to keep your wits about you and care for the still unconscious Joel until some trouble comes knocking

word count: 3,792

content warnings: mention of gore and impromptu medical care, more canon-typical violence, death, murder, arrival of.... cannibals, y'know the deal hurt/comfort

notes: i didn't mention it last time but yeah, your shit really can kill you if you get your lower intestines punctured lol it's a real thing and gnarly af

read on ao3 / masterlist

You woke up in a start. Heavy breaths taking hold in your lungs. The small, barely considerable amounts of sleep were getting to you as they had been for the last month as more and more night terrors racked your brain. Rubbing at your eyes, you pushed yourself up to begin your usual routine.

It had been a couple weeks since your little group found yet another abandoned home and it took some hell of maneuvering to get Joel into the basement but it worked. The winter snow was coming in full force and it was peritive you all kept Joel as warm as possible, there were too many odds stacked against him.

Walking over to his prone body, you checked on his wounds once more as you did practically every couple of hours. He was looking worse for wear, even changing out the gauze could only do so much. Whatever small amounts of clean water the three of you had went to cleaning it out, hoping to stave off the infection.

Joel was, by all means, not doing well.

To top it off, even with your meager amount of medic training from your days with FEDRA could never prepare you for the long-term haul you were in with Joel, he was dying. The bastard was dying and you couldn’t help but feel it was your fault.

Night after night you were haunted by the image of him falling off that balcony, the sounds of his groans of pain still lingered in your head even when you were awake. It fucking sucked.

He was asleep now, he barely woke up since everything went to shit at the university then at the mall. That in and of itself felt like a lifetime ago. You put a hand against his forehead, feeling how his fever still hadn’t broken. With the chill in the air as winter was fully settling in making your fingers cold as ice, he didn’t even flinch away. You closed your eyes and sighed, still not wanting to give up. Not for Ellie, not for Tommy, not even for the grumpy man himself.

A quick glance out the small basement window told you it was nearing dusk which startled you. Ellie had left when the sun was at its peak, sometime around noon, surely. She had been gone much much longer than she normally would have.

Usually it was you who left to go hunting for food once your supplies dwindled but Ellie wanted to help relieve the burden from your shoulders and you reluctantly agreed. Yo hated to admit you needed a break. She had argued she wanted to get better with her bow and arrow and she certainly did, often bringing back animals of various sizes. It was her way of coping with potentially losing Joel, something she confided in you that was one of her biggest fears.

Thoughts of Ellie swirled your mind and you paced back and forth, chewing at your fingernails. A nasty habit you suppressed most days. A part of you wanted to go find the girl, follow Callus’ tracks in the snow. Another part of you didn’t want to leave Joel by himself.

Fuck, you thought.

Compartmentalizing you figured if she didn’t return within an hour, you’d go looking for her. If you couldn’t locate her within a mile radius, a strict rule you enforced her limited hunting zone to, you’d hunker down with Joel and wait until morning to find her and scold her for being irresponsible.

You stopped your pacing to look at Joel’s face, seeing how his face was still warped in the painful scowl he hadn’t let go of. His features were beginning to slowly become gaunt as the small amounts of food you’d been able to get him to eat the rare times a day he’d wake were coming far and few in between. Even his usual tan skin was slowly softening to a cooler shade of bronze. He looked like death.

Joel, by all means, was a handsome cowboy. Even with his patchy beard that was littered with grey hair in a few spots. Now he just looked like a ghost of himself.

Okay, fine, you admit to yourself. With Joel down, you’ve kind of missed the fool. You missed the banter and arguing with him about stupid shit. He irritated the daylights out of you because he always wanted to jump headfirst into things without a care for his safety clearly but dammit, the lack of his presence was palpable. You hated it.

You sat beside Joel, removing one of his hands from under the blanket to hold. His hands still rough and calloused, mirrors of yours if you weren’t missing a finger. Once upon a time, you remembered hearing that coma patients could sometimes hear what people said to them, that it helped. Maybe talking to him now would help not just him but you as well, to keep your mind occupied. Maybe pass the time a little. Maybe.

“Hey, it’s me, you grumpy bastard,” you started off lightly. “I don’t know if you can tell but you’ve been puttin’ that girl and I through hell and back trying to keep your ass alive.”

A hollow laugh escapes you, feeling a little more choked up than you’d ever dare to admit. Composing yourself you tried to use playful banter. “How do you do it, cowboy? Ellie is a goddamned handful. Shit, I thought I was bad when I was a teenager,” you sniff, feeling your voice waver.

“When I first laid eyes on you two, I think it would have saved me a whole lotta trouble and pain if Maria let me shoot you,” you sigh dramatically. Even though there was a smile on your lips, it didn’t reach your eyes. What did were the tears that were slowly forming. The added stress of Ellie being missing was really wearing you thin.

Amongst other things.

“Y’know,” you sniffled, “you really hurt my feelings back at the university. When you thought I led the two of you into a trap.” You took a sharp inhale. “As much shit as you and I put each other through, that was the one thing that stung. More than anything.”

You squeezed his hand and sighed, closing your eyes. Admitting that was hard, stars know you’d never say that to Joel while he was conscious nor in front of Ellie.

“Don’t die, you asshole,” you begged softly, wiping away the light tears that coated your lashes, reluctantly letting go of Joel’s hand as you tucked the blanket around him tightly.

After you said your piece, your mind became overrun with the little turd you grew fond of. The more you began to worry about Ellie, the more your thoughts swirled rapidly into worst case scenarios.

Before you worked yourself into a much deeper frenzy, a loud metallic bang echoed from upstairs. You ran up the steps and came face to face with Ellie, looking just as frantic. She raised her hand and in it, a tied white rabbit, so white it was nearly silver in the dim lighting. “I got food,” she said breathlessly.

“And,” she shoved you aside and took off to the basement, “I got this. Can it help?”

Ellie reached into her pocket and pulled out a syringe and orange bottle, she handed it to you while kneeling next to Joel as he shifted in his sleep. You were still rather shocked to see Ellie who looked faintly bloodied and tired, before you could comment on the new rifle on her shoulder, you took the bottle and were damn near milliseconds from riding into her until you read the faded label of the glass container.

Penicillin.

“Where the fuck did you get this, Ellie?”

Without waiting for her to answer, you dug in your pack and pulled out some disinfectant alcohol and a gauze pad to clean the syringe and a spot on Joel’s arm. Ellie refused to look up from where she kept her gaze focused on Joel’s face, “‘s not important.”

“If I wasn’t so mad at you right now, I’d kiss you.”

Throwing away all the questions you had for her, you administered the antibiotic as quickly as you could, he sighed as the medicine entered his body. Although, it was likely you were giving him too much, truthfully, you didn’t think it would hurt him worse than he already was.

As he relaxed underneath your hands, you looked down at his wound one last time for the evening. The haphazard stitches were taut on his stomach where the swelling was, hopefully by morning, he’d be better.

You didn’t look up from Joel as you laid into Ellie, “I don’t want excuses about where you were, only that you promise me to be more careful in the future, please.”

“Ye- yeah, I promise.”

“Good,” you covered Joel back up, “Now go get some rest. I’ll take care of the rabbit and wake you when it’s done.”

You turned your back to Ellie, it wasn’t that you wanted her to feel bad for her little disappearing act. You just needed some space to gather your thoughts. Between being Joel’s caretaker, Ellie’s temporary guardian, and keeping yourself sane, you were a wreck. You needed a moment.

Before you took a step on the stairs you paused. “Good work on getting the medicine, kiddo. Joel would be proud of you too.”

She didn’t respond as you walked away, the implication that although you were upset with her, you were still proud lingered in the air. Mindlessly, you focused on the rabbit, doing what needs to be done to cook it for dinner, pushing away those lingering worries. Ellie was safe, you reminded yourself, she came back.

It didn’t take you long to finish with your meager dinner, still pretty damn proud of Ellie’s evolving hunting skills. Maybe you’d offer to teach her a couple snares in the morning to leave out overnight. Although they tended not to gain anything bigger than a rabbit or a squirrel, something was better than nothing and you’d figure it would help Ellie focus on something other than Joel’s condition.

You bounded down the stairs, bringing the freshly cooked meat with you. A small shake to her shoulder and she was awake, “Dinner’s ready.”

Ellie didn’t bring her gaze up to look you in the eye, likely still ashamed. The two of you still sat in silence eating, occasionally looking to Joel for any changes or whenever he shifted in his sleep.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice sounding small.

“I know, Ellie. I’m sorry too, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I was just worried.”

Once again, the silence encompassed you both like a blanket, warmer now than it was before. You broke it first, “I was thinking about teaching you a couple snares in the morning. How does that sound?”

Ellie wiped the grease from her fingers on her jeans and looked up, “I think I’d like that.”

Just like that, the two of you were on even footing. It didn’t feel right to be mad at each other, not when Joel wasn’t there to diffuse. Either way, it was much like when you were the one in between their own fight that day you’d met them, it wasn’t healthy when you all had to rely on each other for survival. At least with Ellie, she was quick to forgive and forget in the face of the larger picture. A quality you kind of admired in the young woman.

Both of you finished with your portions of the meat, saving the rest for the morning or for Joel if he wakes in the night. Simultaneously you shuffled through the remaining ammo together, doling out some spare bullets to Ellie for her shiny new rifle, still not going to ask how she acquired it. Let her have her space.

She took the bullets graciously, reloading her sidearm and long range weapons and placing them in her backpack before getting ready for sleep. You stayed fiddling with your own weapons for a few moments longer before calling it quits too.

You laid down on the opposite side of Joel, biting your lip and hoping for the best. You tossed and turned, not knowing if you could take facing Joel’s sickly frame but you also couldn’t turn your back on him and Ellie who laid on her backpack on his other side.

Please, you wished, let the medicine take.

These kinds of wishes filled your mind until you slowly drifted to a fitful night’s sleep.

By morning, you happened to find yourself shaken awake with Ellie’s face close to yours, “Wake up, I need you awake!”

You jumped up, onto your knees. “What is it,” you ask startled, afraid Joel was worse than he was when you fell asleep. Looking at Joel, he didn’t look like he deteriorated in the night, but he also didn’t look like he improved any.

“I was tracked,” she says as if that explains anything. Both of you have your hands on each other's arms in a failed attempt at communicating the other’s panic.

“What do you mean ‘tracked’, Ellie?”

“Those people I got the medicine from, David and-and James, they fucking tracked me!”

“Ellie, what the fu-.”

“Look, listen, I’m gonna draw them away. Keep an eye on Joel,” she tells you in a rush, letting go of you and bolting up the stairs, grabbing her backpack on the way out.

“Fuck,” you practically shout while getting up and looking out the window. Outside you see silhouettes of a few men, searching the nearby area. Frustrated, you kick the washing machine.

Shit, shit, shit.

You don’t know what to do, you feel tied down once again because of Joel’s condition and Ellie’s neverending saviour complex. You mumble out a few more expletives at this situation just as you see the girl bound down the street on Callus shouting for the intruder’s attention. As she rides away, you hear bullets being shot at her, getting further and further away from you.

You carelessly threw your denim coat on and opted to grab your knives instead of guns, hoping to kill anybody who came close without alerting the others. Out the basement window, you could see a few of the men still lurking about, choosing not to follow Ellie.

Just before you followed Ellie out of the house, you doubled back to Joel, kneeling forward and giving him a kiss on the forehead. “We’ll come back, I promise you Joel. Just please, don’t die on me now.” Another kiss on his warm skin and you left without stopping, barricading the basement door as if it was left unoccupied.

Everything in you wanted to panic, your muscles were screaming to fold in on yourself and heave what little food remained in your stomach but you couldn’t give in. Not when Ellie was in danger. She may have been a pain in the ass, but she was your pain in the ass.

After your conversation last night, you’d be damned if anybody hurts your girl.

Taking a deep breath, you shook your worries free and cleared your mind. Although you were a field medic by title with FEDRA back in the day, working with them turned you into a killer. It was a toxic mindset for you, even when you had joined the Fireflies, they took advantage of your ability to focus on one thing and one thing only, turning it into their own game - death.

It took years to shake off that blank emotionless part of you, even Tommy was afraid of it when he saw the horrendous things you were capable of, what the Fireflies exploited from you, but Tommy wasn’t here and the people you loved were hanging on by a thread.

It was easy to see the outlines of the few straggling men who searched the nearby homes, whatever Ellie did really pissed them off. Now, these people only pissed you off.

You stayed lurking within the shadows of the homes, even with the sun just getting ready to set, it wasn’t too difficult to stay hidden. Especially to those who weren’t familiar with the layout. It was easy to spot how the few men tended to remain within a handful of yards together, opting not to venture out into the buildings alone. Alert and yet unorganized as you could see how they would often turn their backs on each other, giving you such a delicious opportunity to sneak in and out, weaving through them and taking them down one by one.

Was it absolutely horrible this was your instinct? Maybe. But you had two people you wanted to protect, two absolutely annoying yet selfless humans who gave you hope. You did love Joel and Ellie, even if you hadn’t admitted to it yet. Besides, you had a whole lot of stress burdening your shoulders and you wanna hit something.

You watched as the small group approached one of the homes off to the left, allowing you ample room to get close without having to cross the street in the open. You took off running, not bothering to try and conceal your footprints in the snow as you got to the house besides the targets. You entered through a broken window - a common for every single house on this block. Taking lighter footsteps, you ducked by the windows and reached the second floor landing.

The homes in this area were built within close proximity to the others, making it easy for, say, somebody needing to jump between windows without being seen. Perfect.

You listened hard and close as the men shuffled and tossed things around the first floor, looking for any sign of Ellie and ‘those two people she was with’. You growled lowly, really hating the implication that these people knew about the three of you.

Taking another assessment, you noticed there were two men standing guard out the front of the house, idly walking to-and-fro, their conversation remaining on wishing they were chasing Ellie instead.

A deep breath in and you jumped with an ‘oof’, trying to make as little as noise as possible, aiming for a wide open window with a snow covered bed on the other side. Between the snow and the mattress, the noise was cushioned to only a small thud, thankfully concealed by the thuds of the men downstairs shuffling through rooms. You quickly got up and went to the doorframe and saw there was only a hallway and stairs leading down.

You took deeper breaths again, trying to center yourself for what you were about to do as you heard one person come up the stairs - alone.

Placing your body flush against the wall, you waited in stark concentration, drawing your knife from its sheath. The footsteps came close, nearing the room you were hiding in and just as an armed gunman came in, you rushed him. Putting one hand against their forehead, you pulled the other hand and dragged the knife into their throat, essentially cutting off the person from making a noise and ending their life. You pulled and lowered their body as they began to choke out, laying them on the floor gently against the wall, carelessly hiding the body.

Downstairs you could still hear shuffling of the other invader and you made your way to them, silently assessing.

From what you could tell, the other person was banging around in the basement. So you rounded a nearby corner to where the open basement door was until finally, finally, somebody came through. You took him down just the same as his buddy.

So unorganized, you thought. If they were really looking for you and Joel, they were doing a piss poor job of it.

You swiped a bottle from the kitchen as you strolled past, taking aim out a broken window. Giving it a nice little toss, it shattered against the other house and without fail, you heard the tell-tale signs of one of the other men asking ‘what was that’. You ducked behind the faded curtain until one of the targets came into view, watching how he was pensive and alert, fortunately he was by himself which made the next part just as easy.

As soon as the man walked by the window, you jumped out from your hiding spot and jabbed your hunting knife straight into the soft squishy part of his eye, surprisingly facing little to no resistance.

You pulled it back and repeated the motion again once the man made an audible noise, probably alerting his friend. In only a slight rush now, you jumped out the window and removed your blade, now stalking towards the front when you could hear the other man yell the other’s names.

Wrapping around the corner of a house in a whirlwind, you surprised the last one when you stood face-to-face with him. He looked at you, astounded, mouth agape and dropped his weapon - a handgun. Looking down at his body, he whimpered as he took in the sight of your knife now buried deep in his stomach as you yanked them up into his chest piercing his heart.

Copper scent filled the air as the hunter’s body gave out. His blood spilling down your front. Under normal circumstances you would’ve likely vomited all over yourself but considering the innate need to protect Ellie and Joel, all that shit is blown out the window.

All in all, maybe thirty minutes have passed, you wanted to check on Joel but the distant gunshots were making you worried. At the very least, the longer they went off, the longer you knew your little fighter was alive.

Okay, think, you tried to get yourself to focus. You came up with a rapid-fire plan and before you could second guess yourself, you ran. Refusing to stop. Each step in the plush snow found you closer and closer to your hideout.

Entering the home through the garage, you gave Whiskey a pat as you walked on by and headed straight for the basement. You pushed the undisturbed barricade from the door, grateful it signaled that Joel was safe. Entering the downtrodden room you grabbed your holsters, strapping them maybe a little more tightly than you should’ve and throwing your backpack over your shoulders. You double-checked your weapons, making sure they were fully loaded.

Once again, you kneeled next to Joel as he laid on the dirty mattress, huffing from the rising pain from the stitch in your side. “Joel? I’m gonna go back out and find Ellie. I’m gonna go get our girl,” you said.

You hoped you were telling the truth.

[firefly464]

The Real World - Chapter 6

Ok I’m really curious to see what you guys think of this one. Let me or Pami know what potential theories you may have because thats always very interesting 👀. 

Also I dunno if I’ve mentioned this before but constructive criticism is always welcomed and very much appreciated! I’m always looking to improve as a writer, and I’ve found that critiques 

Made in collaboration with @i-have-this-now

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~~~

Dream stepped into the small building that had been dedicated to peace negotiations. It wasn’t much other than a single room with a long table, but the tension inside could have been cut with a knife. On one side of the table sat George, Sapnap, Punz, and Eret. All four were tense, ready to attack at any moment. It was completely different from the joking, playful atmosphere that has surrounded them that morning. Sapnap glared at the masked man as he entered the building, likely considering just how many different ways he could strangle him. Dream was once more thankful for the mask covering his face, as he turned away with a grimace. 

On the other side sat Tubbo and Fundy. The L’Manberg side of the table was filled with a very different atmosphere. They both wore expressions of very hesitant hope. Tubbo turned to Wilbur as he walked in, his eyes asking a silent question. 

The older man gave a small nod, his face revealing nothing. A of disbelief spread over Tubbo’s face. “What's the catch?” he asked hesitantly, staring at the masked man for an answer. 

A very small smile formed on Dreams face, although it was hidden to the younger boy. He shrugged, saying, “None. The Dream SMP surrenders to L’manberg.” 

The skeptic look on Tubbo’s face only increases. 

A low growl emerged from Sapnap’s throat. “Dream, you can’t do this,” he hissed sharply.

Dream ignored him, pulling the document from his bag. He rolled it out on the table. On the top of the document, in big, bold letters, read “Treaty of Surrender.” Under that, the words “By signing this document, the Dream SMP hereby recognizes L’manberg as its own, independent nation.” Below, in smaller print, was a list of different agreements. It wasn’t complex, mostly just outlining the basics of any peace treaty. But everyone knew what it meant. 

A quill sat in a small inkwell on the table. With a steady hand, Dream picked it up, and signed the paper. He had nearly started to sign his actual name, but had managed to catch himself last minute. Setting the quill down, he glanced at the men sitting at either side of him. “I require that at least one of my own men signs this treaty as a witness,” he declared, staring them each in the eye individually. 

The resulting silence was palpable. Not a single person stood, offering to sign the document. ‘They’re all too prideful. They don’t want to admit defeat,’ Dream thought as he looked at them. 

2 to 3 minutes passed in silence. Then, something surprising happened. Eret stood, staring at the paper with a furrowed brow. “I’m still becoming king, right?” he asked.

Dream nodded. He had figured that Eret had been promised the position by the other Dream, so he had made sure to include it. “Of course.” 

“Then I will sign.” In a swift motion, Eret signed the document and tossed the quill onto the table in front of Wilbur. 

Dream sent his friend a relieved smile. “Thank you Eret. Now then. Wilbur, it is your turn to sign.” 

Wilbur quickly read over the terms of surrender and signed the document, Tommy signing as well as witness. 

The entire room seemed to hold its breath as the quill scratched against the paper. It felt like the entire world had let out a huge sigh of relief the moment Tommy picked the quill back up. Dream smiled and rolled up the document. “Well then. The treaty shall be kept in here for safe keeping. You guys are good to go if you want,” he said, trying his best to sound official and important sounding.

Apparently it worked. Tubbo stared at where the document had been sitting moments before. In a soft tone, he whispered, “we did it…” 

Wilbur placed a hand on Tubbo’s shoulder, and very quietly replied “Yeah. We did it”

~~~

Dream watched as Tommy, Wilbur, Fundy, and Tubbo all left the small building. He had been hoping to leave as well, but one look at the people around him told him that wasn’t going to be an option. He gulped nervously. 

The moment that the L’manberg soldiers were out of view, Sapnap was on his feat, sword in hand. He stormed over to Dream, pinning him to the wall, blade across his neck. His face was twisted with anger and rage. “You son of a bitch what the hell was that about?! What the fuck were you thinking?!?!” 

“I have my reasons Sapnap,” Dream choked out. It was the second time in 24 hours that someone had held a sword to his neck, and it wasn’t a trend that he particularly enjoyed. Hopefully, it was a trend that wasn’t going to continue. 

“Bullshit! You swore to me that you were going to win this war! Not that you were going to fucking surrender!” He cried, pressing the blade into Dreams skin. Small beads of blood started to form where metal met skin. “We had them! We fucking had them and you went and threw it away like a coward!” 

“I didn’t realize that letting people live was such a crime Sapnap!” Dream shouted back. “I didn’t fucking realize that it was illegal to feel pity or sympathy!” 

His friend stared at him, before putting even more pressure against the blade. Dream was starting to panic slightly “I didn’t follow you to be lectured on granting mercy, Dream. I followed you because you swore you would win.” he took a step back, allowing Dream to fall to the ground at his feet.

Dream coughed several times, trying to recover from his windpipe being crushed. He pounded a fist to his chest, trying to clear his airway. When he looked up at Sapnap, he was greeted only with a kick to the chest, sending him sprawling across the floor. The mask, so carefully fixed by someone he had thought of as a friend, had flown across the room. Dream didn’t care. He wanted that mask gone. 

He lay there on the ground for a minute, trying to desperately catch his breath. “Wh-why…?” he asked, the words coming out as desperate gasps for air. 

“Heh. Never thought I would see the day when the great Dream lay at my feet, begging for mercy. Oh how the mighty have fallen,” Sapnap said with a chuckle. He turned towards the door. “I’m leaving. If you have any need of me again, you know where to find me. Just next time, I expect some actual fucking results.” 

George walked around the long table as Sapnap left, looking at his friend in concern. Eret and Punz had already left, leaving just the two of them. “I really hope you have a plan,” he said. His eyes were full of pity as he walked away, leaving the gasping man alone on the floor. 

~~~

“Dude, are you serious?” It was late at night, around midnight. Dream and Tommy were back at the training grounds, each trying to learn how to fight. Of course, they didn’t exactly have anyone to teach them, so they were both just practicing basic moves that Dream had seen George use. The results were… varied, to say the least.

As they spared, Dream had told Tommy what had happened earlier that day after the conference. “I mean, I knew Sapnap was a little bitch, but I didn’t realize he was that much of a dick here”

Dream shrugged. “He used to joke that he was like a mercenary, and only in it for the money. Guess that it’s less of a joke here.”

“I feel like anything that was jokingly on stream held some sliver of truth here. Including everyone’s personalities,” Tommy chuckled as he blocked a strike “that’s probably why no one trusts me here. I kinda acted like a complete idiot on stream”

“You still do.”

“Oh haha. At least I wasn’t a fucking psychopath”

Dream shook his head “I still don’t get why I was apparently so scary…”

“You literally sent us a voice clip saying that you would burn L’manberg to the ground if we didn’t surrender”

Dream let out a sigh “yeah… Yeah I suppose I did” 

Sensing the sudden mood shift, Tommy quickly tried his best to change the subject. “So… What about George? Is he any different from back home?” 

“George is…” Dream’s voice trailed off as he thought, trying to figure out how to put his thoughts into words. 

“George is no different from how he’s always been,” said the man in question as he stepped out of the shadows. For the third time that day, Dream found himself with the blade of a netherite sword against his throat. “Now then. Would either of you care to explain who the hell you are and what you’re doing here?” 

Tommy dropped his wooden training sword and raised his hands into the air, trying to look as harmless as possible. “George, how much… How much did you hear?” He asked, keeping his voice calm, despite the fact that he wanted to scream.

George shifted the blade so that it was now pointed at the teenagers throat, shutting him up rather quickly. “I heard enough to know that neither of you are who you say you are. What the fuck is going on?” 

Dream took a small step towards his friend, his hands up as well “Look, we’re still Tommy and Dream, I promise.” He knew that he couldn’t try to lie his way out of this one. To be honest, their best option was probably to tell the truth and hope George could keep his mouth shut. 

“Exactly!” Tommy chimed in, trying to be helpful. Dream glared at him. 

“Please. I’m not an idiot. I knew something was wrong from the moment you shot Tommy during the duel. The real Dream never would have taken off his mask, much less show any sort of regret,” George said, stepping forward so that his blade rested against Dream’s neck, in the exact same spot Sapnap had cut earlier.

“I’m still Dream, I swear! Just because I’m not fucking insane doesn’t mean I’m a different person!”

“Maybe, but the real Dream would know how to fight. He wouldn’t be flailing around with a sword like a chicken with its head cut off.”

Tommy snorted “He’s got you there. You do look really stupid.”

Dream made a choking sound in surprise “I- You look just as dumb!”

“Maybe, but at least I’m not supposed to be the world's greatest swordsman” 

“As a child, your opinion is automatically invalid”

“As a child, I automatically don’t give a shit.”

George’s eyes darted between the two, as if he were watching an intense tennis match. “Enough!” he finally yelled, shutting them both up pretty quickly. “All I want are some fucking answers!” He pressed his sword more against Dreams throat, opening the thin cut and allowing a small trickle of blood to form.

Dream gulped and looked at Tommy. Normally he would have taken control of the situation himself, but he didn’t exactly trust himself to not anger his friend. 

Tommy nodded, and started to explain their story. He told George how the two of them had suddenly been transported from their home to the SMP world. He explained how neither of them knew what was going on, or why they couldn’t leave. He even explained how back home, everyone had been friends. The war had been nothing more than a game, a show that they had put on for the sake of entertainment. As he spoke about his own home, he could feel tears start to pool up inside his eyes. He hastily tried to wipe them away, but it didn’t matter. George had already seen. 

The man lowered his sword, not once taking his eyes off either of them. “So you’re telling me that you come from a world where all of this,” he gestured around him towards the world as he spoke, “is completely fake.”

“Yeah, that sums it up pretty well,” Tommy replied, rubbing the red scar on his neck. It was a nervous habit that he had quickly picked up from Wilbur, despite the fact that he hadn’t even been there when he had received the scar. 

Dream stumbled back, using his jacket sleeve to try and stop the stream of blood from his neck. There was already a dark stain on the cuff from earlier that day. God, he was going to get a lasting scar if this continued. “We just want to get home,” He told George, “I promise, we don’t mean anyone any harm.”

George pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “You both do realize how unbelievable this all sounds, right?”

“Yeah, we know” 

“I really don’t want to believe you… But this explains so much. Is that why you trashed your base?”

“I told you I was feeling stressed. I just may have failed to mention what exactly I was stressed about”

“I knew you weren’t feeling well… I just didn’t realize it was because of something like this. That's why neither of you know how to fight anymore, isn’t it?”

Tommy shrugged “Sword fighting isn’t exactly a common sport in our world. I’ve never even touched a real sword before this week.” 

“Oh my god… Does anyone else know?” George asked.

Dream looked over at Tommy, silently asking a question. Tommy shook his head “The only person who knows something is wrong is Tubbo, and he thinks I just have amnesia from a weird enchantment or something.” 

“Are you serious? I thought we agreed not to tell anyone!”

“This was before I even knew you were here! How else was I supposed to get any information? Besides, Tubbo’s my bro. I trust him not to tell anyone.” 

“What about Wilbur…? Does he know?” George asked, his brow furrowed in thought.

“Nope. I mean, he clearly knows that something is up, but other than that he has no idea.”

“That doesn’t seem right… Wilbur should know that his second in command is missing.”

Tommy cried out in outrage, “What do you mean? I’m right here!” 

“He means the other you. You know, the one that actually lived here?” Dream said calmly. 

“Exactly. That other Tommy is currently missing. Who knows where he could be. Wilbur deserves to know.” 

Tommy let out a groan of annoyance “ughhhh fine! I’ll tell him tomorrow. 10 bucks he isn’t going to believe me.”

“No way am I losing 10 bucks like that,” Dream replied. 

“Killjoy,” The teenager muttered. 

George was once more watching them both with confusion. He looked down at his feet, trying to weigh his options. That’s when he noticed the discarded training swords. An idea sprang into his head. “What if I tried to teach you both sword fighting? I’m not the best, but the other Dream taught me, and he was the best of the best.” 

Dream grimaced. Just another reminder that he was just an imposter. Still, he forced himself to nod. “That would be good. Thanks.”

~~~

“Please, I just want to go home…” Tommy said into the phone. It had taken a bit of work to convince Wilbur and Tubbo that he wasn’t insane and definitely knew what a phone was, but they had eventually caved. 

Wilbur hadn’t wanted to question his younger friend after who knows what had happened to him. It would have just stressed him out and made everyone more upset. So he had allowed Tommy to borrow his phone to call Dream. Now, him and Tubbo were sat at the table in Tommy’s backyard, hearing only snippets of the one-sided conversation.

“What do you mean? Why not?! I won’t do anything I promise!” A couple seconds of silence. Tommy’s face went slack in shock. “You can’t be serious. No, no no no you’re joking, aren’t you. Y-you wouldn’t dare.” More silence. “Fine! I won’t, I swear! Just please don’t do it.” 

Wilbur watched the conversation with concern. He could hear Tommy’s raised voice from where he was sitting, and what he was hearing was definitely good cause for concern. He glanced at Tubbo, who looked just as worried. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I will. Bye.” A long, drawn out tone sounded from the speaker. Tommy sighed and walked back over to Wilbur and Tubbo, trying his best to hide his tears. It didn’t work.

Tubbo was instantly on alert, trying to check on his friend. “Hey man, are you ok?” He made sure not to get too close after getting hit in the jaw. 

“Y-yeah. Yeah I’m good. Just… just a bit in shock still. A lot has happened in the past week…”

“You want to talk about it?” Wilbur asked gently.

Tommy shook his head violently “No. No I really don’t. Don’t worry guys, I’ll be fine. Thanks”

~~~

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[of-tatooine]

mercy. | chapter 12 - coffee

remnants from your past could change your future.

"You know there is no turning back from this."

Those gray blues you had grown to care for over the years of surviving together rose their stare from the splayed out, tattered map, to focus their gaze on you.

“I know.”

The beads of metal in your palms grew colder and colder by the second, the chain slipping gently around your fingers, as if feeding on all the icy tension in the air of the old office. Your gaze kept shifting from the man that stood behind the large wooden desk towards the map he was pointing at, a big red cross marked over the Denver quarantine zone, notorious for ruthless guards and government rules, whatever was left of them, at least.

It was supposed to be a routine task for him. Being a self-made mercenary, a good one at that, had put him in the frontlines - he had planned these sort of operations way too many times before, knew the best ways to cause commotion and attract attention, even if it meant destroying whatever was left of the military and their equipment, if he was lucky. Went in and out of quarantine zones, undetected and uncompromised, brought all his men back to base safely. From what you had observed over the couple of years that you had gotten to know the Texan, if there was one thing you could say about him - he always seemed to know just what he was doing.

The slight treble in his voice only hinted that then, he did not.

What he was asking out of you, if you had been completely honest with yourself, scared you. The mere prospect of leading a team into their potential demise, only to detonate a couple of bombs to mess up the military tanks and maybe take out a couple of uniforms along the way - gave you this tangible unease so palpable that you could feel the knots in your stomach.

Marlene may have turned him into a valuable asset in combat, strategic enough to cause stirring in the remaining military forces and make the Fireflies even more notorious than you all were perceived to be - yet, you were no pertubrator. Over the first decade of the damned apocalypse, you had done enough killing to get to the spot you had with the organization, to finally get a chance to do what you were born to do - try to help and cure people. Tend to their wounds. Be there when they are bleeding and hold their hands as they struggle through the pain. Only taking lives when you were forced to do so, when you were left with no other choice.

While you were more than ready to try your best to help him out as he made his departure from the Fireflies, you could not help but let unease engulf your body - your jaw clenching and your stare growing solemn. Mind wandering to all of the ways it could all go wrong.

Deep in thought, you knew from the back of your mind that there was no other way around this ordeal. If you both wanted out, there was only one way to go about it in this damned world.

And that always came with a certain price to pay, you would think as you nodded softly.

“I’m in.”

The uneasy thudding of soles over linoleum tiles turned into the crunching sound of colorful fall leaves, horseshoes cackling against the stone as you advanced through the gated campus.

University of Eastern Colorado - never did you think you would end up in here again. After years of holding on, treating friend and foe, cutting through flesh and organs, performing experiments just to find the sliver of a hope for a cure - like nothing else mattered. The interior hallways on the other side of the brick walls were filled with years worth of selfless moments of exertion and memories - some haunted while some comforted you. The feel of belonging to something greater which soothed you, up until the moment you had to fire another bullet into the skull of an infiltrator.

But then, as you made your way to your science building with the horse right beside you, the alien eerie atmosphere sent chills down your spine.

Something was wrong.

Maybe it was the silence of the falling leaves and autumn, wind blowing against the worn-out brick. Maybe your memory of years ago had faded, letting you believe that the place was more lively than it actually had been. Maybe your mind had been playing tricks on you.

Maybe it was the fear of leading the ones walking beside you into a road of unknowns.

“How do you know Tommy?”

The gruff yet genuinely curious voice originating from the man walking right beside you was enough to make you turn your head a bit, looking up at him due to his superior height over you. You should have seen the question was coming sooner rather than later, yet to your surprise, his demeanor was not a hostile one as the words slipped from his mouth. With Ellie collecting leaves in the courtyard a couple steps ahead of you both, you reckoned he waited for just the right moment to ask you, unsure if Ellie should be hearing this conversation. With a little reminiscent nod as you took your eyes away from him and stared into a far corner of your vision, you would readjust your jacket over your shoulders, walking in the chilly fall air. “We go way back. Used to work together in this very base.”

To measure his reaction, you would then shoot another brief glance at the man - those green amber eyes of his thoughtful and curious as he nodded slowly, himself staring onto the excited figure of Ellie with such an unknown yet lovely spark in those orbs. You found yourself doubting if what Tommy said was true - you trusted his word with your life then and now, but the soft emotions in Joel’s eyes every time he would look at her were certainly hard to miss. Beneath the survivor, in those little glimpses of light in his eyes that he managed to hide most of the time, all you saw was a man who was willing to go to the ends of the earth to protect someone - someone he cared about.

All those months of trailing beside the pair, though some of it against your liking, it was a long-forgotten feeling of ease that started to develop whenever you were around them - it was all in moments like these, when a certain softness of humanity would emerge. It made you want to trust the man and the little girl, just like the way you trusted his brother. The survivor in you still knew you could not give too much information away about you even if you wanted to, some things were only meant to be buried deep within your chest for no one else to know - yet that feeling of warm ease was pushing you to open up, even just a bit.

“He is a good man. I used to trust him with my life - still do,” you would trail off in a soft voice, one hand gently petting the horse as the other held onto the reins. To that, Joel’s hardened face was adorned with a slightly arched eyebrow, hearing you speak with a certain gentleness in your voice. The woman beside him had been a big dilemma since day one, yet with every new journey you trailed along for, he seemed to be uncovering bits and pieces of information about you - the mere fact that his baby brother evidently trusted you so much even after all those years put some ease into his usually rampant and doubting mind.

The worst part was, with every little thing he discovered about you, something inside him yearned to just find out more.

“Why did you leave?” came yet another question, in a lower voice this time, considerate of Ellie’s close proximity as you neared the gate of entrance to the science building - which gave you weird palpitations just by looking at the familiar giant mirror of a construction.

“It was all getting outta control. I, uh - ” you would pause and take in a breath, your gaze focusing into his eyes again. “ - helped him get the hell out of here. Think you know the rest of it,” you finished with a ghost of a sad smile across your lips, a far away look in your eyes.

Had it been any other survivor or stranger, he would have trouble believing what you were saying was actually the reflection of truth. Yet, from what he had seen with you - even though you hid things just like any sensible person who had managed to survive that long, he knew you did not lie and your word was genuine. At least towards them. He had seen you murder two of your own just to get you lot across the state border. Seen you shoot down stragglers that infiltrated Tommy’s without an ounce of doubt in you - when they needed help, you had been there.

And deep down, he was grateful. It was that hardened man engulfing the soft fire in him that made him not show it too much, too often - and the best he could give you then was an understanding nod thrown your way.

“C’mon Ellie, it’s right this way,” you would direct the pair into the science building - the beautiful fall weather and the breeze fading away just like a switch was flipped as you left the horses outside and walked into the now darkened compound.

From the very first step you had taken onto campus, you knew in the depths of your very being that something had gone wrong here, not too long ago, and the icy cold atmosphere inside accompanied with the remnants of broken glass and empty halls further added to your anxiety. Jaw clenched and heartbeat quickening with each move, you would shoot a worried look at Joel, who had an equally confused look in his eyes.

They had been gone.

“What the hell happened here?” the little girl spoke up, her young voice echoing off of the concrete walls as you all climbed up the stairs leading into one of the main labs. You had been pondering the question yourself - Marlene had put so much faith and hope into making this place the way it was. Now the cabinets were ransacked, operating tables turned upside down, marks of the infected blood and guts coating some walls. The place that you had escaped from, helped Tommy escape from, had been unrecognizable - it was cold, daunting and rummaged to every single corner and crevice. Joel’s hand was stroking through his salt and peppered beard as he slowly took the lead of the small group while you trailed a bit behind.

The curiosity within got the best of you as you entered a certain room with a wooden door, hand on your holster just in case, as the familiar creek even after all those years filled your ears. The moldy and stale air hit you, far from sterile, yet the room looked clean from the infected you had to encounter previously as you first entered the campus through the dorms.

There it was. That damned mahogany desk you previously sat with Tommy, scratched and damaged yet still there. The map that used to be sprawled out on it still visible in your vivid memories - before the inevitable happened, before the fire and before the escape. A sharp pain reminiscent of the past ran down your body as you took steps towards it, a finger trailing along the edge of the wood. According to the dust on your finger, it had been quite a damn long time.

Biting down your lip in curiosity, you would tug onto the drawer on the side of it, which opened up in a thudding and creaking sound of rusty metal only to reveal the one personal item you had stashed down in the office you used to frequent - a very old bag of ground coffee.

It had no doubt gone stale and possibly tasted absolutely horrible, yet you could not help but smile sadly as you held onto the pack - which had been untouched, to your surprise. Finding the one item that managed to light a spark of joy inside in the midst of all the chaos and uncertainty, you would push the drawer close and head out of the room to find the pair, bag in hand as you would toss a parting look at the one office where you slept, woke up, and planned so many operations back in the old days.

These were different times now - it would only prove to be more difficult as you stepped into the main laboratoy you used to help run experiments in, only to find the pair situated around the counters, with Joel advancing towards the table near the windows.

Ellie, who sat on a little stool, upon spotting the little bag in your hand would shoot you a slightly meaningful look and then turn her gaze to Joel knowingly - the meaning of which you could not comprehend so you would just shrug it off as you shot a small smile at the little girl in return, your fingers working to place the newfound treasure into your backpack.

That was before you had a chance to look over the room you had been so habituated to - broken vials of glass coated the floors as chairs were all over the place, flyers and old books torn apart on the ground. The sad atmosphere was only made worse as you spotted a damn corpse near the windows - wearing your old uniforms, the metal pendant entangled in whatever was left of his fingers, with Joel approaching it as he muttered audible curses beneath his beard. You let out an inevitable one of your own as your ally grabbed onto a voice recorder, the ones Marlene made all of you carry around as a safety measure in case something happened to a member, and pressed play - a deep, crackling voice resonated through the emptiness.

“If you’re looking for the Fireflies, they’ve all left.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Ellie spat, browsing through an old journal as you took steps closer to Joel in an attempt to hear the recording better and see if you recognized the voice. Kneeling slightly to check the name on the pendant, you would realize that he had been one of the less-experienced doctors you had seen walk around the compound - straight out of medical school when this entire outbreak started.

“Fuck,” you would mutter under your breath as you got up and rested your hands on your hips, watching Joel’s expression sour away with each word echoing out of the old recording, realization that this entire journey on horseback had been futile all along. Your old kin had left, leaving nothing behind, maybe dispersed into the woods or something for all you cared. The reason you had agreed to Tommy’s plan in the first place had been resurfacing again, reflected off of the words of your old ally in corpse form - it all led to nothing. There was no immunity for this hell-sent fungal infection. No matter how many you cut through and extraced tumors out of, it only led to more destruction, blood and carnage. A part of you was relieved that the Fireflies had closed down the one facility that was adequate enough to make some sort of medical progress, if there ever was any, and another part of you kept on wondering - was it that easy? Would Marlene let everything go in a moment of realization that this was not working anymore? Would she let go of the men and women and children she helped survive all along?

“… if you’re looking for others, they have all returned to St. Mary’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.”

As those words cackled from the static of the voice, your head shot up - and the three of you stood there, bodies rigid with anxiety of the unknown, simply exchanging worried and confused glances with each other but you could swear to the heavens above that you saw the little glimmer of hope in Ellie’s eyes - compared to Joel’s hardened, stoic ones.

Why Marlene had moved whatever was left of the team to a hospital in the middle of an abandoned quarantine zone all the way in Utah did not make any sort of sense to you. It felt like avoidance, like denying the inevitable, fighting a battle the Fireflies knew they would lose. It baffled you that you have not thought of their relocation before - recalling people around the base mention the hospital’s name here and there. Maybe you would have found them, returned back and just maybe you would have a clearer idea as to why the fuck they had been looking for you in the first place.

Then again, you still could.

“Is it far?” came the unavoidable question, causing the man to shake his head in thought before speaking in a voice hoarser than ever. “It ain’t close. I mean, on horseback…” he would trail off just as your peripheral vision would catch a quick flash of sharp lights that did not belong in an abandoned science building.

“Get down!” you hurriedly reached towards the girl and pulled her down in a groan, your heart racing as bullets started raining over you in their sickening, richocheting sounds.

Just who the fuck where these bandits, you could not help but think as your body was pressed close to Joel’s, breaths mixing in between the three of you as you huddled close to the table for cover. Revolver in hand, you would take on the mission of shielding Ellie just like you had been all this time along - a quick, hurried nod and look at Joel confirmed this as he slowly made his way out of the dead end of the room, to take on the battle head first.

It took a good amount of fighting and yelling Ellie to take cover as you smashed the butt of the gun against one’s skull and send a bullet flying inside the other, until the hallway you were stationed in had been cleared out. Chest heaving and your fingers working nimbly to reload the gun, your trained eyes kept on scanning for any enemy activity, all the while extending a hand out to guard Ellie as you advanced towards the grand indoor hall, only to be greeted with agonizing screams and groans that could only belong to one person you knew.

Heart instantly dropping, you and Ellie would run to the source of the sounds, only to find one of the most gruesome sights you had ever seen in your entire life - Joel, bloodied and bruised, impaled onto a metal rod. In that moment alone, you seemed to have forgot all those years of medical training, aiding in surgeries and saving patients - it was a sight of pure agony. Pure hopelessness. As you ran towards him in a sprint, you could tell Ellie was going through the exact same emotions, seeing his face distort in pain like that.

“Ellie,” you tried to say as calmly yet as firmly as you could, not wanting the girl to worry more than she had to, trying to push the negative thoughts away though they seemed to be staring you right in the face. “I need you to cover us, okay?”

Teary-eyed, she nodded before tossing a look at Joel, who was mumbling and groaning. You could see the utter panic in his eyes mixed in with the pain, no doubt worrying about the girl even during his lowest of moments. “I’m gonna need you to pull,” came the low, low groan from the man, his hand extended out as it trembled. Immediately you nodded, grabbing onto his hand with your both, using whatever strength you have left.

“I got you, c’mon,” you encouraged yet your face spoke of the horrors as you groaned, pulling him up with all the strength your body could muster to be done with it in one go, that way he could ease the pain. A painful howl filled the vast space as you gritted your teeth, muttering curses, watching the metal leave his abdomen in a sickening noise. You could only hope the rod did not touch major arteries, yet that was a question for later - if you managed to get the hell out of there alive.

“Hold onto me,” you almost ordered, the weakened man ready to collapse onto the ground, his blood leaking everywhere and coating your garments. “Put your arm around me, c’mon Joel,” came the dominant voice you sported during operations and with another growl of pain, his arm was around your shoulders and you did your best to carry his weight - with Ellie clearing the path for you, her green eyes with such a fear in them tossing glances at you that spoke volumes as you neared the exit amongst gunshots and smoke.

His breath in your ear and almost limp body slumped over your much smaller frame, you felt your mind go numb and your body exerted itself to the limits. At that moment, the one conscious thought you had was you praying from the depths of your heart and soul that this man right here would live to see another day.

And that maybe, you would be right there with him.

[lettersofwrittencollective]

In Your Arms (1/3)

Author: @lettersofwrittencollective

Pairing: Thomas x Reader

Word Count: 1975 

Warnings: None 

Prompt:   Safe Haven Thomas  “You fainted, straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention, you didn’t have to go to such extremes.” via @stiles-o-dylan24

A/N: So I had posted a few days ago that I wanted to write something for Thomas and had gotten a couple ideas. So this is the first of some of them. This one, in particular, is a three-parter but I have no idea when the next two will come out.  

As always please feel free to give me your thoughts and opinions. 

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The world was somehow starting to recover. Or at least, that’s what it seemed like here in the Safe Haven.

After everything that we had all been through, we were finally in a place where there was no WCKD coming after us. No Cranks to worry about. No fighting with others just to try and stay alive in the small moments.

The heat had still hung around for a while but the last few days it had cooled down substantially and large clouds had rolled in. Most of us hadn’t experienced rain outside of our respective mazes and so there was a palpable excitement to the air.

The first drops of rain had come in a light drizzle and everyone had laughed as they enjoyed it. You, yourself had joined them, face pointed towards the sky as you allowed the water to cool your hot skin.

As the rain picked up, you had outstretched your arms and reveled in the feel, as so many others had. While you stood there, feeling the rain against your skin, your boyfriend had come up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist.

You’d relaxed and turned around to plant a kiss on his lips, “Hey you,” you’d whispered against his lips.

He merely picked you up, lifting you high and making you laugh in the process before placing a kiss on your forehead his way of saying he’d missed you throughout the day. He pulled you towards the hut he shared with the boys, under the roofing, “Did you ever think we’d get to see something like this?”

“The rain?” you shook your head and were about to elaborate when he cut you off.

“No, this,” he gestured at the tents around you and the people. It occurred to you that he was talking about the Safe Haven itself.

Cupping his face, you pulled his attention back to you, “Of course I did.” At the confusion on his face, you leaned in to kiss the wrinkle in his forehead, “You see, there was this greenie that came up once. He took one look at us and bolted. He was almost as fast as Minho,” you smirked at him, a teasing lilt to your voice as you continued, “before he fell flat on his face that is.”

When he went to interrupt you, you placed a finger to his lip. “Turns out the guy had a knack for breaking the rules but all those broken rules. One night, he ran into the Maze to try and save some of my friends. I don’t know if Newt told you, but he, Chuck and I all stood at that gate until it opened that next morning. We talked about it that night and we came to the realization that if anyone was going to get us out it was you. And you did, you got us out of that Maze, got us through the scorch and in and out of WCKD to save one of our best friends.

“So yeah, I figured we’d be at some place like this at some point. I just never imagined that it would be with all these other people,” you told him before placing a kiss to his lips.

Pulling your body flush against his, Tommy, kissed you back, almost hungrily. Your hands fell to his shirt and, grabbing fistfuls of the fabric, you pulled him closer to you. You can feel his arms tighten around you as the kiss gets hungrier.

The crashing sound of thunder surprises both of you and, in your shock, you jump away from him. A chuckle escapes your lips and as the two of you go to kiss again, wolf whistles interrupt you.

Groaning, you put your head on Tommy’s shoulder. “Tommy, I hate them. I hate every last one of those shanks.”

You can feel his laughter against your chest more than you can hear it. Feeling him press his lips to your temple before he’s telling the others to knock it off.

Sighing, the moment ruined, for now, you pull from his embrace and the two of you make your way towards the chow hall with the rest of the boys. As the group of you were walking and the smell of food began to drift into your nose you realized just how hungry you were.

You had skipped breakfast this morning as you’d woken up late and you hadn’t been feeling all that great when dinner was served last night so it had been almost a whole day. Honestly, you were surprised that you hadn’t noticed it sooner but with as busy as everyone had been trying to build up the Safe haven and then enjoying the rain, you weren’t that surprised.

When you made it to the mess hall, you were excited to finally get some food. The grumbling in your stomach making you more aware of your hunger. Just as you were about to get in the chow line though, Vince called you.

A groan escapes your lips, you leave the line that would lead to the wonderful food and make your way over to him. As one of the few med-jacks that had survived to make it to the Safe Haven and one of the only ones to actually have had any kind of medical training, you were usually called in when someone got hurt.

This time, one of the builders had managed to slice into their arm pretty deep and needed some stitches. The other med-jack, Robert, was dealing with some shuck who’s temperature still hadn’t broken and, besides, you had a steadier hand. So, following Vince, you made your way across the Safe Haven and towards the med hut.

You hadn’t realized it but Tommy had followed you and watched as you went to work. He would never be able to really explain what it was that happened to you when you worked but it was amazing to watch.

A look of determination would come across your face and he could see the way that you would take in the information you had been given. Before you’d even gotten to the room, he already knew that you had gone through the entire process of what you would have to do.

When the trio got to the room, Thomas stepped to the side and watched as you quickly pulled water from the distilled tub they had and washed your hands. You’d called for someone to get you the kit and since Vince was closer, he was the one that had grabbed it for you.

You gathered some of the anti-septics that they had stockpiled and a cloth to clean the Builder’s arm. Thomas couldn’t help but be proud as he watched you work. You were steady and efficient. He knew that some of the other med jacks would have rushed the process and left the boy with sloppy stitches but he watched as you made a tourniquet on the boys upper arm and then made sure that there was nothing that could get stuck within the stitches were spaced correctly and that the cut would heal.

As she finished with this, someone ran in and informed that the kid with the high fever was now seizing and Robert needed her help. Thomas watched as Y/N followed the kid out and towards one of the sick huts.

As soon as she went in, she shoo’d out everyone who wasn’t a med jack.

Thomas stayed outside and when either she or Robert would ask for anything: water, more cloth, certain medications, he either got it himself or he made sure that someone would go and fetch it. He wasn’t sure how long he stood out there but he did. He waited until Y/N came out of the room when the sun was rising again.

As she walked out of the room with Robert, the relief on them was palpable. Robert gave him a small nod before he made his way towards his hut. Thomas turned to Y/N and took her hand. The tired smile on her face became a full-on grin that made his heart skip a beat.

“Ok so I am exhausted but I am also starving and if you don’t feed me soon, I am going to become a little gremlin,” she grumbled at him, playfully, before leaning up and pressing her lips to his.

Cupping her cheek with his free hand, he chuckled and kissed her back. Pulling away from the kiss, the two of them made their way towards the chow hall. He was sure that one of the cooks would already be up, working on breakfast and could be convinced to feed his girl.

As they were walking, Y/N pulled him to a stop. He turned to look at her and that’s when he noticed that while the sun was peeking out, it hadn’t fully risen. She had, though. She always noticed these little moments and would make sure that he would take the time to appreciate them with her.

They stood there for a few minutes, watching the sun rise over their new home. The water reflected the light and, when he knew she’d be enraptured, he turned to look at her. It was a sight that he would always love. She was always beautiful, but in these moments, when she was in awe of the things around her, she looked like she had no care in the world, her beauty was just elevated.

When she closed her eyes, he wasn’t worried about it. It was something that she always did, but when she began to fall, he immediately grabbed onto her waist and pulled her towards him.

You’d been watching the sunrise, enjoying the morning with Tommy. He was always so busy that it was sometimes difficult to get any time with him so when you did, you tried to make sure you both appreciated the small moments. The ones that most people took for granted. You knew he was watching you but didn’t say anything about it - let him enjoy his own moments as he wanted to you figured.

The lack of sleep, lack of food and the now non-existent adrenaline in your body meant that you were beginning to feel just how tired you were. Taking slow deep breaths, you focused on trying to relax your heart rate, which hadn’t gone down since you’d walked into the sick room.

You’re not even sure what happened but suddenly, you felt yourself being jolted. A gasp escaped your lips and you put your hand up to try and push away but relaxed when you noticed Tommy's scent in your nostrils. Looking up at him, you asked,  “What happened?”

“You fainted, straight into my arms,” he responded with across his beautiful features that made you laugh.

“I just need some sleep and food and I’ll be fine. I did not faint,” you denied with a shake of your head. “Maybe I just wanted to be in your arms a bit? Hmm? Did you think of that?”

You felt his lips upon yours a moment later and before you could return the kiss, he had moved to kiss your nose and forehead before whispering in your ear, “You know, if you wanted my attention, you didn’t have to go to such extremes.”

Turning your head, you kissed his cheek, placing one on each of the moles that dotted his cheek and jawline. “I’ll have to remember that.”

As a yawn escaped your lips, you stepped away from him, “It’s been a long day so come on, we’re getting me some food and then I want to spend a couple hours in your arms before we have to get back up for work,” you tell him as you drag him towards the chow hall.

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tag list: @stiles-o-dylan24 @riseandshinelittleblossom @lucifersnipnips @mrs-mitch-rapp93 @screamxqueenx94 @nicole-lynne

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