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azertyrobaz · 2 years ago

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Satellites (4/7)

What if Grogu hadn’t returned to Din in The Book of Boba Fett? What if he hadn’t been given a choice? – Modern AU setting: Grogu is now twelve, and he has to rely on his memories as a young child to track down the person who changed his life. The only person he knows who will be able to protect him from the bad man. The bad man who precipitated his separation from the only family he’s ever known. He embarks on a road trip to piece together his past, and reconnect with the people who might help him find his family again.

Read below or on ao3.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

************

“What’s 648 plus 1257?”

“1905!” Grogu answered almost immediately.

“Correct!” his dad replied, after checking the calculator. “7845 minus 332?”

“7513, easy.”

The man chuckled, keeping one eye on the road, and one eye on the small screen of the plastic calculator he’d bought for cheap at a gas station. Grogu loved playing that game with him. It helped pass the time in the car.

“Alright, get ready, this is getting more difficult: what’s 128 multiplied by 41?”

Grogu had to think a little more about that one. Ahsoka had given him a book that he loved and which explained how to see the numbers in his mind even more clearly. It was called the Trachtenberg system, a name he couldn’t hope to pronounce out loud but looked fancy on the cover.

“5248,” he eventually said, completely certain. “The square root is 72 and a bit.”

“God dammit!” his father exclaimed, slapping the steering wheel, and the boy grew slightly fearful. Had he done something wrong?

“Hey, it’s okay,” the man quickly reassured him, his tone turning softer immediately. “I’m not mad at you, you did good. More than good, you did amazing.”

Grogu beamed – praise coming from his dad always felt like a warm blanket enveloping him.

“You’re very special, kid. We’re gonna find that place you belong and they’re gonna take real good care of you, I promise.”

The child looked down, but nodded. This was for the best.

Grogu opened his eyes. He hadn’t meant to close them. They were still driving. Reaching Bo-Katan’s house had turned into quite the journey. Ahsoka hadn’t admitted yet that they were lost, but this was the third time they passed that sign advertising whale watching tours and they both knew it.

At least she hadn’t said anything about his outburst earlier and hadn’t questioned his simple ‘Let’s go,’ when he’d rejoined her in the car after his dramatic exit. They’d stopped at a rest area for a stale sandwich and burnt coffee – she’d run out of the good one in her thermos – then had exited the highway and were now trying to find the correct road.

“You sure you’ve been here before?” he asked, thinking he’d remained silent long enough.

“Yes,” Ahsoka replied with a sigh. “But it wasn’t in the middle of the night. It’s somewhere along the coast north of here.”

Grogu could hear the ocean when he opened his window, but it was so dark that the Pacific remained invisible. Just a black shape out there. Immense and menacing despite what its name suggested. They might reach Canada at this rate if they weren’t careful. He didn’t exactly look forward to seeing Bo-Katan anyway. Now that there was an actual possibility to see his dad, and soon, he’d grown weary and uncertain.

Would he even want to see him? Had he changed his mind after six years? Or would he try to ditch him at the first opportunity? Grogu closed his eyes again. No matter what, he knew he would at least help regarding Moff Gideon. And then… And then he’d go back to the institute, probably. And do whatever they thought he should do. Going to Sorgan was a nice prospect, but he didn’t think he belonged there – that wasn’t his place. His place was the institute, and that’s where his father had told him to go.

“You were at a school like the institute when you were my age, right?” he asked, facing the window and not seeing Ahsoka’s stunned reaction. “When did you leave?”

“I was a bit older than you,” she said. The words coming surprisingly easily. “But not that much older.”

“And you still think it was the right decision?”

“Yes, that place wasn’t for me. Or at least, it wasn’t for me anymore.”

Grogu hummed. He appreciated the fact that she wasn’t trying to sell him a lie.

“It wasn’t easy, though,” she warned him. “Outside.”

“It isn’t easy inside. I don’t really know what people want from me anymore.”

“Well, what do you want?” she asked, sounding interested as she made yet another random turn at a crossroads.

“Me? I want to become an astronaut.” Ahsoka laughed. “I’m serious!”

“I’m not laughing at you, I think it’s great!”

Grogu looked at her – she seemed to be telling the truth. He wondered if it was such a good idea to talk about this with her, but then who else could he share it with?

“I don’t think that’s what they expect from me, though. Some of the other kids say I should just be grateful I got accepted in all those programs and I do still like math and everything but… Well, it’s not really fun anymore, you know?”

It had been so easy at the beginning. And pleasing his teachers had been rewarding in its own way. Deep down, he had thought it would matter in the long run – if he was the smartest kid out there, they’d let him do whatever he wanted. They’d let him go back to his dad once they had taught him enough. But it didn’t work like that. And there was always one more thing he needed to learn. One more thing he needed to prove.

“I know. And I’m really sorry, I thought it would be different for you and now I feel like I forced you into it.”

He was still angry at her for preventing his dad from seeing him when he visited, but it would be wrong to lay all the blame at her feet, and he was glad to hear her acknowledge it at least – he didn’t think professor Skywalker would ever admit to being wrong about anything ever. Though maybe he was wrong there too. Maybe it was just easier to sulk. Hell, he probably deserved to sulk for a bit longer.

“You didn’t, not really, my dad wanted me to go too, and… It was cool, at first. And I liked that people were happy. And I guess it’s nice to be good at something. But that doesn’t mean I want to do that forever.”

“Being an astronaut definitely sounds better than getting the Fields Medal,” she smiled, and Grogu nodded.

“And I also don’t really want to rush it, you know? I want to take my time. I want – ”

I want to be normal, why can’t I just be normal? Then maybe my dad wouldn’t think my place isn’t with him.

“It took me a while to get where I am now,” Ahsoka admitted. She didn’t remark on the fact that he hadn’t been able to finish his last sentence. “It wasn’t a straight path, far from it, but I don’t regret all the detours I had to take along the way. Well, most of them.”

“What are you now?” Grogu wondered. It was only recently that he’d realized his father worked as a black ops mercenary. Who knew what she was? Probably something quite scary too. Something illegal. And she might not even give him a truthful answer.

“A private investigator,” she replied immediately.

“Oh, that sounds… pretty normal, I guess.”

“I like normal. But you can’t be too normal, or you’d be boring.”

Grogu wondered about that. She might be right. His father wasn’t normal either. Not really. And with him being alive, maybe he’d get a chance to explain things. Maybe they could have a conversation and he could show him that they could be a family again. If he let him. If he didn’t reject him.

“He loved you, Gregory,” Ahsoka interrupted his thoughts – of course she’d known where his mind had been. “In his own way. And I’m sure he still does. It was so clear to see then. And I’m sorry I didn’t pay more attention, but don’t let anyone tell you different.”

It wasn’t the first time he heard those exact words: ‘he loved you in his own way’. Omera had also said that. Peli had used similar terms. But what did it mean? It puzzled him just as much as that other phrase he kept hearing: ‘he didn’t think he was good enough for you.’ What a dumb thing to say! Honestly, the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to tell the man who’d saved him time and time again that he was being stupid. And not stupid as in he couldn’t perform arithmetic computations super quickly like he did. No. Stupid as in stubborn and blind and annoying and –

“It’s Grogu, by the way,” he told Ahsoka to stop himself from thinking too much about his dad. “I don’t really like Gregory.”

“Alright, Gr – Oh, we’re here!” she exclaimed, and braked hard.

Grogu couldn’t see anything. But as they neared the end of a track and he worried they would drive straight into the ocean, he spotted an old building right on the edge of the cliffs. It looked impossibly old and foreboding. The kind of house doomed characters always made the mistake of visiting in horror films.

“Has it always looked that way?” he wondered once the car had stopped. Neither of them had opened their door yet.

“You mean scary, cold, unwelcoming and grand? Yes. It’s been in her family for generations and she’s the only one left.”

“Great,” was Grogu’s answer.

************

It was difficult to figure out whether Bo-Katan was happy to see them or not. Sure, it was just after 3AM and she’d clearly been asleep given her reaction when she’d opened the door, but her and Ahsoka were old friends he’d been told. The house was even more impressive and ancient from inside and Grogu expected some kind of butler or valet to show up any second. It certainly would be nice if someone were to pop up and ask him if he wanted something to eat. A shower. A bed. A chair. Anything, really. He was just so tired.

“And that couldn’t wait until morning?” the red-haired woman grumbled, arms akimbo, once Ahsoka had explained they were looking for his father. “I don’t even know where he is right now, he’s not returning my calls.”

“But he’s alive, right?” Grogu rushed in to say, his exhaustion forgotten. The green eyes that flashed in his direction turned slightly softer. Maybe he wasn’t as good at hiding his feelings as he thought.

“He was still alive as of five months ago, yes,” she replied. “And I would have heard about it if he was dead.”

Grogu nodded – it would have to do.

“I need some tea, let’s go,” she declared with a slow exhale, turning her back on them and expecting them to follow. It was a good thing she was leading the way, because Grogu wasn’t sure he would have been able to find the kitchen on his own.

“This place is massive!” he whispered, admiring the many paintings and tapestries they walked past.

“A massive pain to maintain, you mean,” Bo said, and he tried not feeling too bad for having spoken his thoughts out loud.

The ceiling was so high he wondered how many floors there were. Far too many for one person, that was for sure, and he spied many closed doors on the way – she didn’t need so many rooms, he guessed. Ahsoka had said she was the only one left, and he imagined that meant she had no other family and lived there alone, but Grogu thought it was wiser to shut up and not ask that particular question. He couldn’t really think over the sound of his grumbling stomach anyway. That last sandwich felt like ages ago, and if he wasn’t to sleep then food would have to do to stay awake.

The kitchen was just as grand as he’d expected, the stainless-steel appliances shiny and spotless – there was definitely a butler somewhere, he thought. But Bo-Katan seemed familiar with everything, and was already precisely measuring tea by the time he and Ahsoka had found a spot at the counter. Grogu dropped his backpack at his feet and had to resist the temptation to cross his arms over the table and rest his head. He was certain he’d be asleep in seconds.

“How old are you now?” Bo asked as she poured boiling water over the tea leaves. She hadn’t been looking at either of them, but he assumed she meant him.

“Twelve,” he replied.

“You look younger than that.”

“I know,” he sighed. “I’m small for my age, that’s all.”

“Would you like some soup? I can warm you up some.”

It took Grogu a little while to realize that she wasn’t making fun of him but actually suggesting food, so he nodded.

“It’s really nice,” he thanked her later. The soup was creamy and filling, exactly what he’d needed. She’d also provided toasted bread and butter. He tried not feeling too guilty for having compared her hospitality to Omera’s. She wasn’t a mom – he didn’t think so, at least – but this was still pretty nice of her.

“It’s a family recipe,” she commented, warming her hands over her mug of tea. She’d stayed standing across from them behind the counter. This was her home after all, she could do what she wanted. Even if it made her look more intimidating – but that was probably the point.

“I’ll call Luke,” Ahsoka stated, rising up.

“Could – ”

“Don’t worry, I’ll only tell him that I’m still following you and that you’re safe, nothing else,” she said, squeezing his shoulder on the way out. Grogu nodded, satisfied, even if he’d rather she didn’t say anything at all.

“Is he that bad, this Luke?” Bo asked, looking very serious, and Grogu shook his head with a small smile, feeling immensely better now that he’d eaten.

“He’s my teacher, and he’s not bad really, not at all, it’s just… I prefer him not knowing where I am just yet.”

“You think he won’t like what you’re doing?”

“Well, I did leave without telling anyone where I was going, but I had my reasons.”

“You look about ten, he had reasons to worry,” she added with an arched eyebrow.

“I did manage to get here on my own, I’m not completely helpless,” he countered, grabbing his tea mug for a sip – he burned his tongue, but pretended he was fine.

“Ahsoka found you, she’s the one who drove you here,” Bo remarked. There was no smugness in her tone, she was merely stating facts, but Grogu had a hard time seeing that.

“She only drove me here because she told me you might know where my father is, otherwise I was perfectly fine working things out on my own.”

“Fair enough. More bread?” Grogu’s aggravation slowly evaporated at her statement.

“Yes, please,” he mumbled.

Over more buttered bread, he finally found it in him to ask her about his dad.

“How was he the last time you saw him?”

“Injured.” Grogu’s heart was beating fast. His head pounding. His mouth so dry he wanted to try that tea again. Maybe this conversation was a bad idea.

“How badly?” he asked in a small voice, eyes locked on the mug of tea he didn’t think he should touch anymore, not after the number it did on his tongue the first time.

“Pretty badly,” Bo admitted, and his head rose up. “Relax, like I said earlier, he’s fine as far as I’m aware. He was well on the mend the last time he deigned picking up his phone.”

“Oh,” Grogu sighed in relied. “Alright.”

“You asked me how he was the last time I saw him, not the last time I spoke to him,” she remarked with a small chuckle, and Grogu resisted rolling his eyes. Were they really going to play semantics? Was she that bored in her big empty house? Probably.

“How did he get injured?” he asked next, vowing to word his questions more carefully.

“Djarin always gets injured,” she stated, though again there was no malice there. “But then he’s the best at what he does, and yes it pains me to say it. I’m certainly not that reckless, and I’ve been called worse, let me tell you.”

This didn’t surprise Grogu in the slightest. He’d always known his dad to return from his missions with various scrapes, bruises, cuts or more serious wounds.

“He’d grown too bold, even for him. I guess he reached his limit with that last job we were on together, and I don’t blame him. We’re not getting any younger.”

“What happened?” Grogu asked with a frown – she was both telling him a lot and not saying anything. It was very frustrating.

“S-mines. ‘S’ stands for shrapnel. Those are old-school. Real bastards. One of them got him right in the chest despite his vest,” she described, pressing her palm over her heart to show him.

“That sounds awful.”

“Knocked him out cold. If he hadn’t stepped in we probably wouldn’t have made it out alive, though. It was all thanks to him. But I won’t lie to you and say it wasn’t touch and go for a while, the first medic was miles away from where we were.”

“You said he pulled through, right?” he pressed, doing his best not to imagine the blast and the blood and the pain and failing.

“He’s a tough guy, your dad, but he’ll run out of skin soon if he’s not careful, know what I mean? So I hope my assumption that he dropped out of the game is correct, and that he’s not working with another crew instead.”

And Grogu knew exactly what she meant. More injuries meant more tattoos. For his so-called armor. And more tattoos meant less available skin. But more injuries also meant more pain, and more risk-taking. There was no winning with this. And he hated it.

“What makes you think he quit? You said he’s not returning your calls?” He wanted her to talk about where he might be. His goal was still to find him – learning so much about his work was not something he particularly enjoyed. Not like this at least.

“That last job was almost nine months ago, plenty of time for him to get back on his feet. But every time I call to suggest something, even something small and barely even dangerous, he tells me he’s not ready, or he’s too busy. Busy doing what? And now he’s not even picking up anymore, and because he’s so paranoid, I don’t have an address for him. I know he has a house somewhere, he said so in passing. But all I have is that satellite phone number, nothing else. That’s why I told you earlier I didn’t know where he was: that was the truth.”

There was anger and frustration there, it was plain to hear. And Grogu thought he understood why. It probably had a lot to do with this big, cold, empty house and her desire to leave it. And speaking of houses, he was surprised to hear that his dad had one. It made sense he guessed after all this time, but they’d never had a home, and now he felt nostalgic for something he’d never even experienced before. What did that house look like? Would he like it? He bet it was small. But that was fine. No. Better than fine. That was perfect. They didn’t need a big house. Big houses were spooky. And they seemed to be a lot of work.

“So you’d prefer it if he didn’t quit?” he wondered, deciding not to dwell anymore on that new revelation. Better not to start imagining something he might never even see.

“He’s really good at what he does, Djarin. Yes, he’s too stubborn, but there’s not a lot of people I’d trust with my life. And the others from our regular crew are slowly dropping out as well. Like I said, we’re not getting any younger, but I’m not ready to say goodbye to that life just yet. And I’m not sure your dad is either. He never struck me as someone who could sit still for long.”

He wasn’t sure she was completely right there – but maybe she’d never seen him like he had. Because Grogu had very clear memories of watching his father taking things slow and enjoying it. Tinkering with the Crest. Taking a nap in the sun. Teaching him how to fish. Doodling goofy-looking creatures in his many notebooks. Creatures he’d found equally goofy names for. Mythosaurs. Blurrgs. Mudhorns. Lothcats. Massifs.

Ahsoka chose that moment to rejoin them and he was dying to ask her about her conversation with professor Skywalker – he thought it had lasted too long and part of him started to worry again – but he was growing even more sleepy now that his stomach was full and his head filled with pleasant memories. He was no longer even listening to what the two women were talking about, up until something Bo-Katan said caught his ear.

“He mentioned you, once.”

“What, my dad?” he made sure, sitting up. “What did he say?”

“We were trying to figure out how to get inside a locked room that one time – tricky situation because of a well-timed security program. It took us a while and we got pretty frustrated. He said his kid was smarter than all of us put together, the whole crew, and he would have figured it out in seconds. “

Grogu could almost hear his dad’s voice in his mind saying those words, and he grinned. He wanted to ask her more questions. Had this really been the only time he’d mentioned him? Surely he’d dropped hints regarding his house. Did she have absolutely no idea where it could be? But Ahsoka and her were back to reminiscing some other thing and he didn’t know how to interrupt. He also kept staring at the recliner he could just make out through the French doors separating the kitchen from the next room. Maybe he could lie down for a bit? It was so late, and it wasn’t like he could be on his way anytime soon, address or no address.

He must have been very obvious about it, because Ahsoka was eventually the one who gave him a nod and a small smile, having also noticed the more comfortable looking furniture in the next room. Those kitchen chairs were certainly very stylish, but there was no way to find a cozy spot sitting there. And so he grabbed his backpack and moved next door, as the two women were catching up, and he fell asleep to the memory of a rancor – a fearsome reptilian creature he’d invented with his father, and which had been the star of many a bedtime story in the past. Funny, he hadn’t thought of them in ages.

************

“…it’s not just about that, I heard what you said to him, I think they’re both miserable.”

“And why are we supposed to help them?”

Grogu woke up disoriented and with a crick in his neck. He grumbled and sat up, the last few hours coming back slowly to him.

“Because it’s the right thing to do! They should be together!”

He stopped trying to comb his hair and listened to what Ahsoka and Bo were talking about next door – his watch told him he’d only been asleep for a couple of hours, but they sounded like they were right in the middle of an argument.

“You’re only saying that because you feel guilty for splitting them up in the first place.”

“And you’re refusing to help because you don’t want him to have anything else in his life.”

Grogu frowned – it was hard to make sense of their words but he thought he got the gist of it. And he didn’t like it one bit. Also, it was far too early for this, and he really needed to pee. Who knew where the bathroom was in such a place?

“Djarin is a soldier,” said Bo-Katan. “Always will be. Just because his kid is being a needy brat right now, it won’t make any difference. His place is on a battlefield, far away from here – that’s where he belongs.”

“And where does his kid belong in that scenario?”

“I don’t know, that school of his? Why aren’t you driving him back there already?”

“Luke wants me to, and I understand why, but – ”

“I’m not going back,” said Grogu, bursting into the room – he couldn’t stand it any longer. Bo-Katan’s words didn’t surprise him much, but Ahsoka? She thought he should be taken back to the institute? Was that what she’d been discussing with Luke? “Because Moff Gideon knows I’m there.”

“Moff Gideon?” the two women exclaimed, turning towards him with identical looks of outrage on their faces.

“He’s out?”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Does Luke know?”

“Do you think he followed you?”

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

“Was he alone?”

“Did he hurt you?”

Grogu covered his ears and shook his head – he couldn’t keep up with all their questions. They were moving closer to him, still looking plenty furious.

“I don’t know!” he eventually yelled, thinking that about covered it. “He just showed up and I escaped!”

“But – ”

“ – Moff Gideon?”

“You sure it was him – ”

“You didn’t just make this up because – ”

“No! I didn’t!” Grogu bellowed.

“If he’s out Cara will know,” said Ahsoka.

“Cara’s out of the picture,” Bo informed her.

“Really?”

“Really. I need to assemble my crew, this is important. We can’t risk it, he could pick things up where he left them.”

“We know where some of his associates are, we can start there.”

And now there were ignoring him, both typing away furiously on their phones. Grogu raised his arms in surrender. Now what?

“We need Djarin,” Bo sighed.

“We needed him before that,” Ahsoka pointed out.

“Well, now we actually need him.”

“So where is he?”

“I told you already, I don’t – ”

“Where’s the bathroom? And can I use your landline?” Grogu managed to ask just before they launched into yet another rapid fire exchange, and he followed the directions Bo gave him, abandoning the noisy kitchen with a relieved sigh.

It took him less than ten minutes in total, bathroom break included – that and getting lost upstairs and missing the correct door for the study.

“I know where he is!” he announced triumphantly, stepping into the kitchen again – during this short interlude, they’d still managed to cover the table with maps and scribbled notes, undoubtedly trying to figure out where Moff Gideon was, but none of this mattered anymore: he’d found his dad, all on his own, and he wanted to savor his victory for a few seconds. Needy brat to the rescue.

“Greef Karga gave him a deed for a cabin, and he told me where it was!”

There was only one small hitch.

“So, can either of you drive me back to Nevarro?”

#the mandalorian #grogu #din djarin #ahsoka tano #bo-katan kryze #fanfic #star wars #mandalorian #modern au #angst with a happy ending #found family #my fics

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patb-goose · 1 year ago

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Sleepy Time ~ Brinky fic

Pinky is an early riser. Brain is not.

A03

—————–

The light had barely come through the window of ACME Labs. Morning was here but just barely. The facility was empty save for the test subjects napping in their respective cages. All but one early riser; Pinky. He always liked being up early to get in his exercise. It didn’t matter that he and The Brain had been up all night carrying out his scheme. He always seemed to have endless reserves when it came to energy. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing..

Unless you were Brain, currently trying to catch up on as much sleep as possible before your day was stolen by scientists and their ridiculous experiments and you were very, very tired.

On an average day, Brain did not care what nonsense he got up to when they were doing separate activities as long as he remained quiet. But this mainly applied to the waking hours, and in this certain circumstance—even though Pinky wasn’t actually saying a word—he was being anything but quiet. That accursed wheel, which was in desperate need of 3-in-1 oil. The squeak was penetrating.

Brain tried to ignore it, unwilling to let go of sleep. He rolled over once. Squeak . He rolled over another time. Squeak. He spun once more, laying flat with a pillow stretched over his head.

Squeeeeeeeeeak.

His eyes cracked open, bloodshot. It was much too early for this. He got out of their shared makeshift mattress, reluctantly but with purpose. His eyes were shut again—his grogginess wanted them to stay that way lest the slumber potential leave him. They opened just a slit when he made his way over to Pinky’s wheel where the sound was even more grating, accompanied by Pinky’s humming now it would seem. “Oh, Brain! Zort! You’re up earl—”Pinky greeted him as he ran along with an upbeat tone, but didn’t get to finish. He gave a tiny shout of surprise when he lost balance and fell forward after Brain grabbed his tail. He blinked a few times, coming back to himself and was confused when he didn’t get a lecture or any kind of vocalization from Brain. Not even a growl. Then, Pinky noticed he seemed to be moving and saw Brain dragging him away from the wheel. “Ohh..” Pinky whined, “But I was finally getting somewhere. Poit.”

Brain let go of his appendage when he pulled him into bed. Understanding dawned on Pinky’s face, though Brain didn’t see it. He spent what fatigued focus he had on making sure Pinky was in bed to stay. Brain covered him with their purple blanket and then clung to him. He wouldn’t be able to go back to that silly wheel if he was restricted by what Brain’s more wakened mind would reprimand him for calling a cuddle. It was a sacrifice he made for a few more hours of sleep.

“Brain…?” He heard, though his voice was quiet. He heard it a couple more times but then things went completely silent. He felt Pinky’s arms wrap around him.

Brain smiled.

Because he won.

Not because he enjoyed the gentle embrace. Or the fact that he pulled him closer to his warm chest so he could properly nuzzle him. A tactic he employed only to keep Pinky from going anywhere to make more noise. Yes.

He sighed with contentment, his fingers idly combing through Pinky’s fur. It was interesting how much more cozy it was to sleep this way…Not just the lack of unwanted disruptions, but the way Pinky functioned as what he could only describe as a more comfortable pillow. He turned his head just slightly and his ear was primed against him in such a way that he could hear his heartbeat. It was such a loud and fast thump, which matched its owner completely. He found himself not minding this sound, however. Brain began to drift.

“Sleepy time, Brain?” Pinky asked in a whisper.

“Sleepy time, Pinky..” Brain replied, though it was more of a deep mumble.

Pinky seemed to accept the answer and showed no urges to return to his previous activity, settling in with his smaller companion, clinging to him with both arms and tail. He even angled to place the tiniest of kisses on Brain’s head, which Brain was too tired to pretend he didn’t like. Before long, soft snores filled the space as both mice succumbed to the comfort they found in each other—whether one of them admitted it or not.

#brinky #pinky and the brain #animaniacs #patb #my fic #Pinky #Brain

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writings-of-dumpy · 2 years ago

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Separate Ways, Worlds Apart 3: The Lake House

Warnings: major character death, gore/horror, swearing

Eddie barely slept a wink. He kept waking up and checking on Rebecca, who was sound asleep a few feet from him. By the time he finally decided he wasn’t going to get back to sleep for any amount of time, she was so close to him that when she stirred, he could feel her gently brush against him with her movements. Eddie’s heart fluttered at the sight of her sleeping in the dawn light, which he attributed to his lack of sleep delirium. He saw her body shiver slightly, and he looked around the shed for something to keep her warm in. He found an old and tattered picnic blanket that was large enough to wrap both of them in, and he gently draped it over her sleeping form. After a few minutes, she stopped shivering and Eddie let out a breath. He was borderline starving right now, so he ate a granola bar quietly as he watch the sunrise. He thought about what Dustin had told him about the Upside Down and he never would have believed that Hawkins was harboring an alternate dimension had he not seen Chrissy’s gruesome demise. Flashes of her mutilated face invaded his mind as he sat by the window of the shed. He hadn’t known her very long, but she seemed nice enough. Nice enough to warrant Rebecca’s fierce protection. Eddie wondered what would earn her protectiveness and if after this she’d think of him as needing her.

After this. Eddie was more unsure of his future now than he had ever been. He was never convinced that he’d make it out of high school, not to mention his 20s. And now with a monster on the loose killing people and Eddie being blamed, he wasn’t sure there would be an “after this” for him.

Rebecca startled awake and Eddie’s head whipped over to her.

“You okay?” he asked lowly.

She looked at him with a clammy face and nodded. “Yeah… yeah I suppose.” She looked at the blanket that covered her with a furrowed brow and looked back up at him. Eddie shrugged as he looked at her and then out the small window.

“You looked cold,” he said. He saw out of the corner of his eye Rebecca smile slightly and told the blanket up.

“Thank you… Did you sleep at all?” she asked him after a moment.

Eddie shrugged and let out a breath. “Well… not really.”

Rebecca’s face softened. “I’m sorry. You could have woken me up…”

“That’s okay, you needed to sleep,” Eddie assured. “Dustin should be here soon with some food.”

“That’s good…” Rebecca replied.

Even though he was expecting it, he still tensed up and brandished his broken beer bottle as a weapon against Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Max coming back with several bags of food.

“So, we have some good news and some bad news. Which would you like first?” Dustin asked as Eddie and Rebecca started to eat the food they’d been brought. Eddie didn’t realize how hungry he was until he started chowing down on honeycomb cereal. Rebecca dug into her own box as well.

“Bad news first, always,” Eddie scoffed with his mouth full.

“Okay, bad news… We tapped into the Hawkins PD with our Cerebro and they’re definitely looking for you guys. Also they’re pretty convinced Eddie killed Chrissy,” Dustin said.

“Like, 100% kind of convinced,” Max chimed in.

“What about me?” Rebecca asked in a small voice.

“They think Eddie’s either killed you and has hidden your body or that he kidnapped you and is planning on killing you. After they talked to Jason, they ruled out the theory that the two of you were conspiring to murder Chrissy,” Robin explained with a solemn voice.

Eddie’s face was blank, he was sure, and he looked to Robin and Steve. “And the good news?” he asked almost sarcastically.

“Your name hasn’t gone public yet. But if we found out about you, there’s only a matter of time before others do too. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is going to be gunning for you,” Robin said.

Eddie’s heart sank into his stomach and he barely held himself together as he spoke again, “Hunt the freak, right?”

“Exactly,” Robin agreed.

“Shit,” Rebecca swore.

“So before that happens we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence,” Dustin said confidently.

“That’s all, Dustin? That’s all,” Eddie asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Dustin replied simply.

Robin then explained that this sort of thing wasn’t their first bout with the Upside Down and Eddie had a small amount of confidence in them.

“We usually rely on this girl who has superpowers, but, uh… those went bye-bye, so, uh…” Steve began with Dustin nodding emphatically.

“So we’re technically in more of a…” Robin trailed with hand gestures to have a word come to her.

“Brainstorming phase,” Max offered.

“Brainstorming!” Steve confirmed with a snap.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Dustin said in a manner that Eddie felt he was mostly trying to convince himself of the words he spoke. Eddie’s face dropped to one of questioned confidence.

“What if we think of something different? What if we find Vecna and don’t kill him but make him confess. That way Eddie won’t be wanted for murder. I get that I can’t just show up and say ‘hey I’m fine I was just hanging out at Eddie’s friend’s house while we waited for Vecna,’ but there has to be something more that we can do, right?” Rebecca asked. Eddie looked at her and saw a half-eaten box of lucky charms and a couple of empty orange juice bottles surrounding her.

“We’re going to figure it out, okay? The best thing for you two to do is stay hidden right now. We don’t need to have to worry about whether or not the cops have found you,” Steve said to his sister with a worried look.

“Or Vecna for that matter,” Robin interjected. Eddie’s spine froze at the thought of his own body being twisted and snapped how Chrissy’s was, and he felt sick at the thought of it happening to Rebecca, another person he couldn’t help.

“Here. Sit tight and we’ll communicate with this, okay?” Dustin said and handed Eddie a large hand-held radio.

Suddenly, sirens blared and Eddie’s senses went into high alert. He tried to figure out if the sirens were narrowing in on him or just passing through.

“Tarp! Tarp, tarp!” Robin snapped and gestured for Rebecca to get in the boat and Eddie to cover them. She climbed into the boat and the pair laid down quickly as Eddie covered them up with the tarp. Eddie could feel Rebecca’s body tense up against his and her breathing shallow. Acting on instinct alone, Eddie gently let his thumb caress a spot on Rebecca’s arm by her elbow to comfort her. Her skin was soft and felt like silk beneath his calloused thumb, and he felt her relax into his touch slightly.

“Coast is clear, guys.. but I have a bad feeling,” Steve said. Rebecca moved the tarp and sat up to look at her brother.

“What do you mean?” she asked him as he helped her out of the boat.

“I mean I think another kid is dead. There were like 4 cop cars and a coroner van,” Steve said grimly. A silence fell over the group as the thought of another brutal killing faced them.

“Well, let’s see if we can find any clues to Vecna. Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve dealt with a crime scene,” Dustin reasoned and Max smirked.

“Good idea. You two stay put and stay out of sight,” Steve ordered as the group prepared to leave the shed.

“Please be careful,” Rebecca said in a small voice.

Steve nodded and the group left Eddie and Rebecca alone again. They sat in silence for what felt like several minutes, but the sun told a different story. Eddie’s concept of time was completely backwards and the only thing that kept him grounded to what time it is was his watch. It showed military time so luckily he knew when he woke up at 6 it was the morning and not the evening.

“Eddie..?” Rebecca’s small voice said from across the room. He looked at her face, dirty from the floor of the shed and her expression as though she was about to cry. Eddie’s heart ached at the sight of her so broken.

“Yeah?” he answered calmly and watched her play with her fingers.

“I’m… I’m sorry I called you a freak. You didn’t deserve that, you don’t deserve to be judged for your hobbies or how you dress. Nobody does,” she spoke softly. Eddie’s face fell into a slight smile at her genuine apology.

“Well… You know, I’m sorry for belittling you and making fun of your friends,” he said. “I forgive you.”

Rebecca said nothing and hung her head as tears started to flow down her face and a soft whimper escaped her chest. Eddie was taken aback and his eyes went wide. He wasn’t too sure what to do about this, he was never good at expressing or dealing with others’ expression of emotion. All he knew was what he’d read in books and mirroring from his friends, and on rare occasion he acted on his intuition.

“Um…” he let out lowly. ‘Eddie, think. When Arwen was crying, what did Aragorn do?’ He thought of the half-elf woman described in his favorite book series and put himself in the Ranger’s shoes. Not that he thought of Rebecca as Arwen and himself as Aragorn, but… maybe he wanted to.

Eddie took a deep breath and slowly approached her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and smoothed it along her back to pull her into his chest. Eddie felt no resistance from her and he completely enveloped her in his hold. She sobbed for a few moments more and Eddie gently held her against him as she cried.

“It’s okay…” he comforted. He felt her hands slide under his jacket and hug him back gently and he couldn’t help but smile. He wasn’t happy that she was so upset, but he was glad to be there for her to hold and be held by him.

~*~

“Fuck,” Rebecca muttered as she looked through the bags once again.

“Nothing? All gone?” Eddie asked as he looked for any food that they may have missed.

“We really should have rationed it better, huh?” Rebecca sighed and looked over at Eddie.

He shrugged. “Well, we can just go up to the house and see what Rick’s got for now. Have to get to higher ground anyway for this to work,” Eddie said as he held up the radio. Rebecca looked outside and saw the sun was setting.

“Do you think he’s got a shower? I feel disgusting,” Rebecca said as they prepared to make their way to the house on the hill.

“It’ll be nice, yeah. And that bed again, why didn’t we do this earlier?” Eddie whispered as they hunched over and ran toward the house.

“Because it wasn’t safe, remember?” Rebecca whispered his words from a couple days ago back to him.

Eddie snorted with a smirk and opened up the back door for her and the two of them walked inside. The sun was fully set now and the two of them moved about the house in the dark. Rebecca managed to find a bathroom with a shower and nearly cried in relief.

“I’ll um… I’ll stand outside the bathroom,” Eddie told her. “In case you need anything..”

“Thanks, Eddie,” Rebecca said and turned on the shower. She got lost in her thoughts as she let the water wash away the sweat, blood, and dirt from her. She finally felt some semblance of normalcy even though after this quick rinse she would have to get back into dirty clothes. She didn’t want to think about that right now, though. She just enjoyed her time in the water, but worried about Eddie being alone. After their apologies yesterday, neither one of them were particularly stable and Rebecca didn’t like the thought of being alone for too long and thought the same for Eddie. She dried herself with a nearby towel and got her clothes back on. She opened the bathroom door and found Eddie sitting across the hall from her with his head resting on the wall and his arm on his knee that was positioned upright.

“You want a turn? Might be nice,” Rebecca offered him. Eddie looked at her for a moment and then nodded. They switched places and after Eddie’s shower, they found the bed they had previously slept in a couple nights ago and attempted to sleep.

“This is ridiculous. I’m relatively clean and this bed is comfortable… why can’t I sleep?” Eddie groaned after several minutes of tossing and turning.

“I think our minds are a bit preoccupied at the moment,” Rebecca offered. “I’m having trouble sleeping, too.”

Eddie hummed in agreement.

“Maybe try to think about something else? If we can?” Rebecca suggested as she looked up at Eddie from her position on the bed.

“Normally when I can’t sleep, I try to write campaigns until I can,” Eddie said.

“You’re running for office..?”

Eddie laughed loudly. “No. A campaign is a storyline for Dungeons and Dragons. As DM, I make the story and the players go through it. It’s like a whole new world.”

“That’s got to take some talent,” Rebecca complimented. “What else do you do?”

“Play guitar,” Eddie shrugs. “Wait a second…”

Eddie sprang out of the bed and started shuffling through the closet until Rebecca heard a musical strum and she could see through the darkness of the room Eddie with a large guitar in his hands. She couldn’t see his face, but she knew he was grinning.

“I’ll play us a lullaby. Any requests?” Eddie giggled as he sat cross-legged on the bed.

Rebecca laughed. “Nothing I can think of.”

“May the Bard’s lullaby give you a restful slumber,” Eddie said in a sing-song tone and began to play a soft melody in the guitar.

“I don’t know what that means, but you play beautifully,” Rebecca said.

“You should play D&D some time. I’ll teach you everything,” Eddie said with a smile in his voice.

“Even how to play guitar?” Rebecca asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“Well, that’s not part of D&D but I am a guitar god, so if you want to learn, I’d be happy to teach you,” Eddie replied as he continued to strum.

“Wow, that’s a pretty big ego you have there,” Rebecca laughed out.

“What can I say? I call it like I see it. Jeff’s not bad, either, but there’s a reason I’m the frontman,” Eddie said and Rebecca could feel his wink in the darkness.

They continued to talk about Eddie’s band, music, and other hobbies, and Rebecca felt that sense of normalcy she felt in the shower, now with Eddie. She had no idea that he could be such good company and she felt herself growing fond of him. He eventually laid down next to her and they faced each other as they spoke and told jokes. Rebecca eventually felt herself drifting off to sleep with Eddie’s voice rambling about a time when Dustin and Lucas had saved Gareth from an ogre on a bridge that Eddie was impressed with.

Rebecca awoke to the sound of Eddie milling about in the kitchen. She walked out and saw that Eddie had found a can of Spaghetti-Os and was munching on some of them for breakfast as he walked around the house with the radio in hand.

“Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished… You there?” he said into the radio. Silence was heard over the other end. “Dustin, can you hear me? Dustin?”

Once again, no answer. Rebecca helped herself to a bowl of the pasta and started eating as she watched Eddie pace about the living room growing irritated with the silent treatment.

“Hey, it’s Nancy,” a tired female voice responded. Nancy Wheeler was involved in this? Since when?

“Wheeler, hey! We’re going to need a food delivery, like, really soon. Unless you want me going out into the world…” Eddie began.

“No, don’t do that. Stay where you are, we’ll be there as soon as we can,” Nancy said over the radio.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, can you pick me up a six pack? I know it’s stupid as shit drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves,” Eddie asked. Rebecca smirked and rolled her eyes at his request.

“Excuse me? No, you’re not going to get drunk when you’re on the run with my sister, okay?” Steve’s voice said over the radio. “By the way, where is she? Is she okay?”

Eddie handed the radio to Rebecca with a huff. “I’m fine, Steve. We’re just hungry and there’s not a lot of food left here.”

“Yeah, we’ll be there soon. Sit tight and stay hidden, okay? Love you, sis,” Steve’s voice said in a calmer and gentler tone.

“Love you, bro,” Rebecca echoed. Eddie pulled the radio out of her hand and started to talk, but was cut off by Nancy saying that she’d have to call him back.

“No, no, don’t you dare—shit,” Eddie said frantically.

“There is so much moonshine out in the shed, Eddie. I don’t think you need beer,” Rebecca told him with a grin.

“Well you heard your brother, I’m not allowed to drink anyway,” Eddie said as he sat next to her. “You sleep okay?”

“Yeah, actually. Did you?” Rebecca asked.

“I did. Finally,” Eddie said with a smile.

Rebecca looked at the clock and raised her brows. “Wow, it’s almost noon, we slept a long time.”

“We needed it,” Eddie chuckled.

The pair decided to spend the day inside the house and move back to the shed that night, but just before dusk, Rebecca heard a car pull up in the gravel driveway.

“Dustin?” Eddie asked her and she looked out the window to see Jason’s car. Her heart leapt out of her chest as adrenaline surged through her. If Jason found her and Eddie here, he would kill Eddie.

“We have to get to the shed. NOW,” Rebecca whispered frantically as she pulled Eddie’s hand toward the back door and they swiftly made it through to the shed.

“What the fuck is your fucking boyfriend doing here?!” Eddie asked in a panic.

“Looking for you, no doubt! You’re wanted for my murder, remember?!” Rebecca reminded him.

“Shit,” Eddie said and started talking on the radio.

“Dustin? Wheeler? ANYBODY?” he called into the radio. No answer. In a more pleasing tone, he said, “Dustin, please! Are you there?”

His gaze stopped at the boat and Rebecca could see the wheels turning him his eyes.

“Eddie…” she said in a warning tone. “Don’t do anything stupid…”

“If they find us here together, that’s it, I’m a goner. But if they only find one of us… then there’s a chance. You can swim, right?” Eddie began.

“Eddie, I’m not leaving you,” Rebecca decided. “Jason will KILL you.”

“Yeah, if he finds us together! Across the lake is Skull Rock, you know it, right? I’ll meet you there, but you have to go NOW,” Eddie said.

“Okay… okay,” Rebecca said and with one last look at Eddie, dove into the water. This, by far, was the most terrifying thing she had ever done. The black water was unforgivingly cold and she swam as fast as she could for as long as she could until she heard Jason’s voice yelling at Eddie, who was on the boat headed in a similar direction but away from where Rebecca was swimming.

“Hey, freak! Where do you think you’re going?!” Jason yelled. Eddie started rowing faster after a failed attempt at starting the engine of the boat. Jason and Patrick started to take their jackets off and got into the water.

“Fuck,” Rebecca swore and started to swim faster toward Skull Rock. She distanced herself between the scuffle that Jason and Patrick had begun with Eddie in the water when suddenly Patrick’s body lifted out of the water high enough for Rebecca to see over the fog. And his limbs twisted and cracked with so much force that Rebecca could hear it from how far away she was. She managed to see Eddie fall into the water and start to swim towards her as Jason was left to watch Patrick’s mangled corpse fall into the water. She wanted to call out to Patrick, to tell him to stop pranking her and how devastated Chrissy would be… Chrissy. And Jason, having witnessed Vecna’s curse had to let go of the idea that Eddie was responsible, right?

“Andy!! Andy help!!!” Jason desperately bellowed. “Eddie got Patrick, he’s getting away!”

Rebecca’s heart sank and she saw Eddie swim closer to her frantically. she couldn’t reveal herself to be safe with Eddie. Jason had been twisted in grief and now he was hysterical. Now wasn’t the time to reassure him that she was okay. Reluctantly, she turned her head from Jason and Patrick and started swimming the rest of the lake’s length toward Skull Rock. She sat on the shore for several minutes before Eddie caught up with her and sat next to her. The sirens in the distance got louder as Eddie stood up and offered his hand to Rebecca. She took it and the two of them worked their way inland toward the landmark.

“Shit.. Radio’s dead,” Rebecca said after trying to turn the device on to reach Steve.

They sunk down next to each other under the stone figure and sat in silence for a while. Rebecca was stunned and pondering the events that had just unfolded.

“It… it has to be me,” Eddie’s broken voice said through sobs. “There has to be something about me that brings death. Maybe I am a vessel for Satan or Vecna or whatever.”

Rebecca’s face crumpled in empathy. She had those same thoughts about herself. She moved closer to Eddie as he was slouched in defeat and sobbing.

“No, Eddie…” she soothed with a gentle voice. She hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “It isn’t you. You didn’t kill Chrissy, and you didn’t kill Patrick. And you certainly haven’t killed me.”

Eddie looked up at her with bloodshot eyes and nodded. He hung his head again and let out soft sobs. “Then why is this happening to me?”

“I don’t know. Just bad luck, I guess? But we’re going to figure this out, okay? We’re going to get through this and prove your innocence,” Rebecca promised him. Her hand moved to his cheek and he looked up at her with large brown eyes. “I promise.”

Eddie’s eyes searched hers in the dull moonlight and he leaned into her hand as he nodded his head. “Maybe I should just be a scapegoat. Then you don’t have to keep being hidden and Dustin can figure out how to stop Vecna without worrying about me getting in the way. Maybe that’s for the best.”

“Are you kidding me? Listen to me, Eddie Munson. You are innocent. And you will not go to jail for the rest of your life because of some supernatural wizard terrorizing a backwoods town, okay? Chrissy didn’t die for that. We’re going to figure this out. I’m with you,” Rebecca told him in a determined tone and held his face in her hands so he’d look at her. Eddie let out a breath as a tear rolled down his face. Rebecca wiped it away gently and let go.

Rebecca sat next to Eddie and she offered her hand for him to hold as a token of her promise. Eddie cracked a small smile and purposefully took her hand in his larger one. His skin was damp and soft despite the callouses from years of guitar playing and his palm warmed hers. It was a feeling she enjoyed. She had only ever held Jason’s hand or Steve’s when they were younger and he was tasked with looking after her, but the sensation she felt with holding Eddie’s hand now was one of a deeper meaning, like they were bonded. Their hands clasped together and they sat against the warm rock in a weak attempt to hasten the drying of their clothes.

“So… now what?” Eddie asked. “We just wait and hope this all blows over?”

“We have to find a radio. Any one will do as long as it can get different channels on it,” Rebecca said.

Eddie nodded. “There’s a construction site down there, I’ve seen them use radios before. I should be able to snag one in the morning when they show up to work.”

“Okay. I’ll take first watch, get some sleep,” Rebecca suggested.

“I doubt I’ll be able to,” Eddie shrugged.

“Same here… just figured I’d offer,” Rebecca agreed. They shared a small smile.

It was early morning when the construction workers arrived and slowly but surely an increasing amount showed up. Eddie thought he’d have the best shot by the bathroom and he was right. He easily grabbed a worker’s radio off of his belt that he’d taken off and soon they were in contact with Dustin.

“Holy shit, Eddie! Are you okay?” Dustin’s voice asked. Eddie and Rebecca both let out a relieved sigh and Eddie balled his fist in celebration.

“No, no, man, I’m pretty damn far from okay,” Eddie said with a shakey voice into the radio and a hand in his face.

“What about my sister, is she there with you?” Steve’s voice demanded.

“I’m here, Steve, don’t worry,” Rebecca said into the radio.

“Where are you?” Dustin asked frantically.

“Skull Rock, you know it?” Eddie said.

“Yeah, uh, near Cornwallis and—,” Dustin began and Steve finished.

“And Garrett. Yeah, I know the way,” Steve said over the speaker.

“Hold tight. We’re coming. We’re coming,” Dustin assured in a determined voice. Eddie nodded against the radio with his eyes closed in hope and he hung his head.

“It’s going to be okay,” Rebecca assured Eddie with a pat on his shoulder. Eddie nodded and put his hand over hers.

With every rustle in the woods, Rebecca and Eddie responded with hope, but that got dull after a few moments.

“Very Peter Pan-esque, you know. With the lake, Skull Rock, running away with the leader of the misfits,” Rebecca teased with a small smile. “Aside from the whole dead friends and being wanted for murder thing, this is quite an adventure.”

“You know, that thought did occur to me. Means I’m Peter Pan, right? Bet you I can climb up there faster than you,” Eddie smiled devilishly.

“Are you five?” Rebecca grinned at him.

Eddie grinned and mimicked Peter’s craw from the movie in a normal volume to not draw attention to them. Eddie gestured for Rebecca to follow him and the pair climbed up onto the rock with Eddie leading her. Once they reached the large apex, Eddie sat down cross-legged in the middle and beckoned her with his hand. Rebecca smiled and sat next to him carefully and looked out over the scenery. They were reasonably high up and could see the majority of the water and surrounding shore without seeing the construction site below them. She hadn’t realized how far inland they had gone from Lover’s Lake, but she could make out its shape from where she was. Sunshine from midday into early afternoon cut through the various clouds in the sky and illuminated the land before her in a way that made the foliage dream-like. The water that was so intimidating last night now glittered in the sunlight and was accented by the surrounding trees that had become lush and green with springtime approaching.

“Wow…” Rebecca said with an impressed smile. She never knew something so beautiful existed in her small town.

“It’s a pretty nice view,” Eddie said while looking at Rebecca with a soft smile.

“I get why you wanted to race me up here, it’s incredible,” Rebecca chuckled as she drank in more of the beautiful scene before her.

“Oh, yeah. I won that race, didn’t I?” Eddie concluded. “What’s my prize?”

Rebecca smirked and raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you want?”

“Well, since I’m Peter Pan… A kiss,” Eddie said confidently with a cheeky grin.

“A…. A what? From-from what? Who?” Rebecca stammered with her cheeks feeling red hot. Eddie’s grin only got wider as she fumbled with her words and he laughed heartily.

“…Skull rock! In your face,” Steve’s voice grew louder from behind them. Eddie’s laugh dropped and he and Rebecca whipped their heads in the direction the sound was coming from. They started to climb down from the rock with Rebecca’s blushing face quickly forgotten.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Dustin spoke from behind Steve.

“Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you in the face, you can’t admit it. You just can’t admit you’re wrong, you little butthead,” Steve said. Eddie and Rebecca landed on the ground behind Steve and Dustin.

“I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead,” Eddie said with a slightly annoyed tone and a slight glance at Rebecca.

“Jesus, we thought you were a goner, man…” Dustin said and he went in to hug Eddie.

Steve’s attention turned to his sister and he approached her with arms outstretched. Rebecca accepted his hug gently and tried not to cry at seeing her brother.

“I brought you a change of clothes if you want,” Steve said to her when they separated.

“Thanks. I’m not changing in the woods and I know the second I go to change, the cops are going to find us because that has been my sort of luck these past three days, so I’ll just stick with this for now. Besides, I took a dip in the lake last night and Chrissy’s blood is off of me now, so at least there’s that,” Rebecca told him. He smiled slightly at her and his eyes held sadness.

“What happened to you guys?” Max asked and handed Eddie and Rebecca their respective bags of food. The pair sat down and started to eat whatever they could find in the bags. Rebecca and Eddie took turns recapping the enemy’s from last night. When one couldn’t say any more, the other picked up the story.

“When we got to shore, we tried calling you guys, but the walkie was busted, man. Drenched,” Eddie said after taking a drink of water.

Rebecca nodded and continued as Eddie ate, “So we came up here and did the thing that we do now, apparently… We hid.”

Eddie and Rebecca shared a sarcastic smile and the group in front of them appeared to be questioning the pair’s sanity.

“Do you know what time this was? The attack?” Nancy asked.

“Oh, yeah, I know exactly what time it was. The walkie wasn’t the only thing that got soaked,” Eddie said and tossed Nancy his watch.

Nancy caught the watch and nodded as she looked at the time. “9:27…”

“Same time our flashlights went kablooey,” Robin confirmed.

“Which means what, exactly?” Steve asked.

“That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick,” Nancy concluded.

“Well, we’re one step closer, we know how Vecna attacks,” Robin stated.

Rebecca looked past the group to where Dustin was pacing back and forth incessantly and gestures to Eddie with her head flicked towards the boy as Max suggested sneaking into Vecna’s lair in the Upside Down and killing him.

Eddie didn’t seem to notice as he was involved now in listing different ways to kill Vecna.

“A bullet should work in him, right?” Eddie suggested.

“I say we chop his head off,” Lucas suggested.

“We can’t do that. If we do that then there’s no way to prove Eddie’s innocence. We need to pull Vecna from the upside down and make him confess to killing Chrissy,” Rebecca said firmly. Steve looked at her with sympathy and she realized the rest of the group was looking at her the same way.

“We can’t risk that,” Robin said after a moment.

“If we bring Vecna into our world we have no idea what he’s capable of. And he’s after Max. We have to find another way to prove Eddie’s innocence,” Lucas added.

“You said the Upside Down is a parallel universe of sorts. So if he’s a scary dark wizard monster thing in the Upside Down, what is he here? A regular guy?” Rebecca asked. “He can’t be worse here than he is there.”

“Trust us, he can be,” Steve said.

“But… what about Chrissy? What about Patrick? Don’t they deserve justice? And Eddie doesn’t deserve to be blamed for this. There has to be a way to get Vecna to confess and prove Eddie’s not guilty,” Rebecca argued. Eddie stood up to meet her eye level and just as he was about to speak, Dustin bellowed into the sky, interrupting all of them and took a step forward.

“Bada… bada… boom,” Dustin said with a purposeful stare and finger pointed at Steve.

Steve wordlessly shrugged and held a blank stare at Dustin.

“I was right. Skull rock was North,” Dustin said and Steve’s jaw dropped with his arms crossed.

“Seriously? You’re serious?” Steve began insistently.

Dustin nodded with a grin, “Mm-hm.”

Steve continued, gesturing to the boulder behind them, “This is skull rock, okay? You are totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now!”

“Yes. And no,” Dustin began.

“Oh my god,” Steve sighed with an eye roll.

All eyes were now focused on Dustin, who explained, “This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers’. It was correct when we got in the car on Curly, but it started to slip the farther east we went. Now? It’s WAY off. When I was leading us here, I wasn’t wrong, the compass was.”

“So you’re using faulty equipment. You’re still wrong!” Steve insisted. Rebecca looked at him with a quizzical smirk and her attention came back to Dustin, who was now explaining how his compass was affected by an electromagnetic field .

“But we’re nowhere near the lab,” Nancy reasoned.

“What if there’s another gate? A hate that we don’t know about?” Dustin posited.

“A gate?” Rebecca asked.

“To the Upside Down,” Dustin said. “It’d have to be smaller, way less powerful.”

“How? Why?” Rebecca asked him.

“No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance and the last time we’ve seen anything like it, it was a gate,” Dustin said. “And I hope it is because then we’d have a way to Vecna and a shot at freeing Mac from this curse and proving Eddie’s innocence.”

“You mentioned the attacks had a surge of energy, what if it’s just left over from that?” Rebecca suggested.

Dustin thought for a moment and he looked at her with a pondering gaze. “The energy that would be required to leave such a lasting effect on something such as a compass would have had to be incredible.”

“Water can diffuse the field’s electrons, though, right? What if it stemmed from the lake and it’s just taking more time to diffuse because of the water?” Rebecca suggested.

“Are you saying that there’s possibly a gate inside of Lover’s Lake?” Dustin asked. Rebecca shrugged.

“Patrick was in the water when he was attacked…” she told him.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out. Let’s go,” Dustin said and began to walk away.

“Hey, hey, where are you going? Eddie’s still a wanted man, we can’t just go for a hike in the woods!” Steve reasoned.

Rebecca and Dustin looked at Eddie, who was crouched down.

“What say you, Eddie the Banished?” Dustin asked. All eyes turned to Eddie, whose gaze was an expression that Rebecca couldn’t read.

“I say you’re asking me to follow you into Mordor, which… If I’m totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire… the Shire is burning,” Eddie said and he looked up briefly at Rebecca before fully straightening himself up and looking back at Dustin. “So Mordor it is.”

Dustin grinned happily and jumped up and down at Eddie’s agreement and the group set off into the woods to follow Dustin’s compass.

“What is Mordor?” Steve asked under his breath.

“It’s a mythical land from The Lord of the Rings books. Eddie told me about them,” Rebecca told him, recalling one of their conversations about books and music they liked.

“Good grief,” Steve grumbled.

They trekked through the woods following Dustin’s compass and Eddie made every effort to help Rebecca over logs and rocks, to Steve’s annoyance. Rebecca was grateful for the help because even though she had eaten some, her legs were ready to give way underneath her.

It was well into the dark of night when Dustin’s compass went haywire.

“Something’s happening…” Dustin said excitedly and rushed toward where the compass was pointing him.

“Dustin, can you slow down? Dustin!” Eddie called after him like an annoyed older brother. Rebecca smiled at Eddie’s protectiveness of his friend.

“I think we’re getting close!” Dustin called to the rest of the group with his head turned back and walking forward.

“Hey! Watch your step, big guy,” Eddie said as he gripped onto Dustin’s backpack to prevent him from stepping into the lake.

“Oh, man…” Steve groaned. “Becca was right. You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

“This is confounding,” Dustin breathed out.

“Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna’s the same way?” Nancy suggested.

“Only one way to find out for sure,” Steve said.

The group found the abandoned boat that Eddie used to try and escape Jason and Patrick the night prior, and both Steve and Eddie got to work settling it into the water for boarding. After a small amount of squabbling from the two boys, Eddie stood in the boat and helped Robin onto it. Dustin attempted to get on, but Eddie stopped him.

“Hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds three people tops, okay?” Eddie reasoned.

“Okay. We’ll stay here with Max and keep an eye out for trouble.” Nancy said.

“No way, I’m coming, too,” Rebecca protested and tried to get in the boat but both Eddie and Steve stopped her.

“It’s my god damn theory!” Dustin protested.

“You heard Nance,” Robin said.

“Who put her in charge?!” Rebecca asked.

“I did,” Steve said. “And you’re going to stay here.”

“Sorry, Wendy,” Eddie said with a shrug.

“No, I am coming with you. I’m either going to swim or be in this boat but if there is a gate down there, I’m going to be there with you to find it and you absolutely cannot stop me, Steven Adam Harrington,” Rebecca declared firmly.

“She’s in charge,” Dustin smirked and handed her the compass. Rebecca held up the compass in her hand with a flat line for lips and raised brows.

“I swear to god. No, she’s not. I am,” Steve said with an exasperated sigh and snatched the compass from her hand. You are NOT coming. No complaints. Stay on this shore and out of trouble. When we find it, we’ll come up with a plan and strategize, okay?! Stay. Here,” Steve seethed. Rebecca had never seen him so angry or protective or whatever he was. She stepped back and crossed her arms as the boat took off with Steve, Eddie, and Robin. Lucas kept a lookout with his binoculars as the rest of them waited for a sign.

“Guys, what’s going on?” Dustin asked into the radio after Lucas worried that they had stopped. “Come on guys, talk to me, what’s going on?”

“Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital ‘aah!’,” Robin’s voice said over the other end.

Rebecca watched as her brother stood up and started to take his shirt off.

“Ugh, when did Steve get to hairy?” Lucas complained.

“Right? I keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle, but he claims the ladies dig it,” Dustin added.

“Let me see that,” Nancy said and pulled the binoculars out of Lucas’ grasp.

“Me next,” Max said with a small grin.

Rebecca’s face fell in disgust at Nancy and Max ogling her brother and made a sound partway between “ew”, “ugh”, and “blech”. She watched as Steve dove expertly into the lake water. He had always been a strong swimmer, but watching him disappear into the depths made her worry and remember how terrified she was when she did the same.

“You guys realize that if there’s a gate down there… it’s technically a water gate,” Dustin said after a moment. He grinned widely at Lucas and Max, who looked at him in mild disgust. “Watergate!” Dustin clarified with a childish, high-pitched chuckle.

“I’ve heard nearly all of Eddie’s jokes over the past 72 hours and nothing was as awful as that, Dustin,” Rebecca groaned with her head in her hand.

“Jesus Christ,” Nancy groaned. “How long is Steve going to be under there?”

“His record is two and a half minutes underwater, so I’ll give him until then,” Rebecca assured as the air thickened around them.

“Come on, Steve…” Nancy muttered worriedly. Rebecca always knew that Steve was never over Nancy even though she was miles ahead of him in maturity, and she never thought that Nancy would still be stuck on him after their breakup, but looking at her now and how worried she was, there had to be more there than just friendship.

Suddenly, the sound of radios clattering and voices yelling invaded the silence. The five of them looked over and saw flashing police lights and flashlights.

“Oh shit! Get down!” Rebecca said and flattened herself against the ground next to Lucas.

“It was on this shoreline!” a male voice yelled.

“Becca you are a god damn Einstein, Steve fo—“ Robin’s voice blared over the radio but was quickly shut off by Dustin.

“Cops,” Max determined with a whisper.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Dustin swore.

“They’re going to find us. Our story is that you guys just happened to find me wandering along the shoreline, okay?” Rebecca thought aloud.

“That doesn’t make any sense, why were WE out here?!” Mad spat.

“I don’t know, midnight swim?!” Rebecca spat back. “You just can’t let in that you’ve known where I was or you’ll all be in huge trouble!”

“Okay, we got it,” Nancy said as the radios got nearer.

“Shit they’re heading towards the shore. Follow my lead,” Mac said and got up. She then yelled, “Hey! Officers, over here, I found Rebecca Harrington!”

Rebecca rolled over and pretended to be unconscious to help Max come up with a story before they could be talked to individually.

“She’s still breathing, she’s alive. Get a medic. What the hell were you kids doing out here anyway?” Officer Powell said as he placed a hand on Rebecca’s neck to check her pulse.

“We were helping her brother, Steve, he’s been worried sick trying to find her,” Max said.

“Okay, well I think it’s best that you kids come with us. We’ll take care of her,” Powell said.

“I just think she’d really want a familiar face when she wakes up given what she’s been through,” Nancy said. “She and I are pretty close so I’d like to stay by her.”

“Nancy, is that you?” Rebecca grogged out.

“I’m here, Becca,” Nancy said in a soft voice and put her dainty hand on Rebecca’s as Rebecca stirred and sat up.

“What’s going on?” Rebecca asked weakly. She wanted to say she was a very good actress, but she truthfully felt awful. She could only imagine how Eddie must be feeling.

“We’re taking you to the hospital, honey,” an EMT said.

“I don’t want to be away from Nancy,” Rebecca said with tears in her eyes. “I’ve been lost, please don’t take me away from her.”

“Um… okay, Nancy can come,” Powell ceded. Rebecca knew he was a sucker for tears.

“Well, the thing is, I’m in charge of Dustin, Max, and Lucas… I’m kind of babysitting right now,” Nancy said with a small grin.

“Okay fine. We’ll go to the hospital and once Miss Harrington is discharged, I need a statement from all of you,” Officer Powell sighed.

After what felt like hours of medical testing and probing, Rebecca was discharged and the five were escorted by police to the Wheelers’ house where Dustin’s mother, Lucas’ parents and sister, and Nancy’s parents were gathered.

Rebecca noticed an additional car outside and Jason was stood with his normally neat hair slightly disheveled and looking in hope at the police car that was pulling up. Rebecca expected to feel overjoyed as she reunited with Jason, but the feeling fell slightly flat. She was happy to see him, of course, but the overwhelming feeling of relief that she felt when she saw Steve wasn’t there for Jason. She was probably just tired.

“Becca, baby, oh my god,” Jason breathed out and ran to embrace her. “I was so worried…”

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Rebecca assured him as he held her close to him.

“No, baby, you’re not okay, but I can help you,” Jason told her with his hands on her face. “I can see it in your eyes, you’re not okay. And who would be after what you’ve been through? It’s okay, I’m here.” Rebecca wanted to be comforted by his words, but she mostly just wanted to get back to the lake to make sure Steve made it out and what their next move was for defeating Vecna.

“Thank you…” Rebecca whimpered out.

Rebecca and Jason made their way inside the Wheelers’ house where Max, Dustin, Lucas, and Nancy were all questioned by the police.

“You can sit up in my room. I’ll be up when I’m done, okay?” Nancy said and gently squeezed Rebecca’s hand. Jason took her up to Nancy’s room and the pair of them sat on the floor.

“I don’t know if you know this, but… Chrissy, she… We had her funeral yesterday…” Jason said delicately and placed a hand on her back.

Rebecca’s eyes went wide and they started to well up with tears. “Her funeral?”

“She was killed a few days ago. By that freak, Munson,” Jason said through gritted teeth. “He took Patrick from us, too.”

“No,” Rebecca whimpered and held her face in her hands as she cried. She knew this information, she watched it happen. But hearing it from Jason and hearing how raw his emotion was made her feel like she was hearing this for the first time and truly starting to process the death of her dear friends.

“I’m so sorry, Becca… I know she was like a sister to you. They were our family,” Jason said and he held her close to him as she cried. “But we’re going to stop him. I understand if you’re not up for joining us, but the whole town is on your side, babe. We’re going to find that cult leader Eddie and make him pay. For Chrissy. For Patrick. And for you. I know he hurt you, and I can’t imagine the kind of pain you’re in, but believe me: we’re going to put an end to him. Him and the devil. I promise. You’ll never have to be scared again.”

Rebecca’s face dropped in horror at his words. Jason’s mind has been twisted by grief and tabloids’ talk of Satanism. She thought back to Eddie’s scared expression and broken voice at this very scenario imagined. Her gut twisted and contorted in a way that made her want to puke all over Jason. She felt sorry for him, but she was mostly afraid of what he’d do if he found Eddie.

“Hey, so we can’t get ahold of Steve. He must be searching real hard for you. Do you have a place you can stay tonight?” an officer asked Rebecca from the doorway.

“She’ll stay with me,” Jason said. “I can keep her safe.”

“Actually, I.. It’s just that Nancy already offered and I told her I would and she went through all this trouble to make room for me… and I don’t want to get in your way, Jay,” Rebecca said and squeezed Jason’s hand gently. “Especially after you’ve offered to defend me.”

She felt sick saying those words, but she had to convince him to let her stay with Nancy. She couldn’t deal with breaking up with him right now, so she had to work the other way.

Jason’s face softened and he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear for her. “Whatever makes you feel comfortable.”

With a quick kiss to her cheek and a confession of his love, Jason left. For the first time since Chrissy’s death, Rebecca was alone. And she felt it. She felt the emptiness of the space beside her and the pit in her heart where the memories of Chrissy resided and the memories of the Jason she once tried to love faded to. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. When she did, the first image to pop in her mind was none other than Eddie asking her for a kiss with a cocky grin. She felt her face heat up at the thought, but allowed herself to think it, she was too tired to fight. The thought of that moment uninterrupted, would she have let him? Would she have enjoyed it? She wondered what his lips felt like. She knew the roughness of his hands and the warmth of his chest from the few times they’ve embraced, and she wondered what he would feel like in other places. She felt guilty for thinking about this so soon after Chrissy’s demise, but she honestly just let her mind wander. It wandered to the lost boy that found her and helped her get through these horrible last few days and the support he provided. In their short time together, Rebecca learned all about him. His hopes, his secrets, and some of his dreams. And she liked him. She really liked him. She… loved him?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Dustin, Lucas, and Erica bursting into Nancy’s room with a light-up toy.

“What the hell…” Rebecca asked in a low voice.

Steve, Robin and Eddie went through Watergate and they’re trying to get out. Help us put the lights in this,” Dustin said frantically.

Rebecca sprung up and helped put the lights on the board. Frantically, Lucas brought the cord and plugged it in at the nearest free plug and the lights came on brightly.

“Okay you guys seeing this?” Dustin bellowed.

“They can hear us?” Rebecca asked. The toy’s bulbs raised and lowered in intensity a few times.

“Holy shit!” Erica cheered as Dustin cackled victoriously.

“We’re not going to move it, but we’re going to unplug it, okay? Stand by!” Dustin yelled again. He turned to Lucas and told him, “Yank it.”

Lucas unplugged the cord and the lights went out. After Dustin called for them to try again, the word “Hi” lit on the board.

“That worked!!” Dustin cheered.

The word “stuck” then appeared and the four of them started talking.

“Okay, they’re stuck in the Upside Down,” Lucas concluded.

“Okay.. okay, you can’t get back through Watergate?” Dustin asked loudly.

After a moment, the word “No.” appeared and Rebecca could hear Steve’s expression in the words she was sure he was writing. Other letters started appearing and Dustin read them as they lit up.

“Guar..? Guard, oh guarded,” Dustin said. “We have a theory that can help with that. We think that there’s a gate at every murder site.”

The lights lit up a question mark.

“Oh my god, just go to Eddie’s house, we will meet you there!” Rebecca yelled.

The next letters that appeared next were “OK” and the four of them cheered.

“Okay, we have to get to Eddie’s…” Dustin said. “And grab Nancy and Max. You guys go out the window and we’ll meet you down there with our bikes.”

“I’m so glad I’m wearing pants now,” Rebecca said to herself and she and Lucas shimmied down the side of the house’s makeshift fire escape of metal bars against the brick. It wasn’t the most efficient way, but it worked and shortly after grabbing the bikes, the five were off to Eddie’s trailer.

#eddie x oc

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midnightbears · 8 months ago

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i want my teeth to rot to the point the dentist understands,

can we have gyomei (and maybe some of the other hashiras) reaction to dear y/n cupping their face?

✿ their s/o cupping their face

#STARRING. himejima gyomei. rengoku kyojuro. shinazugawa sanemi. x fem!reader [separately!]

#TAGS. none just tooth-rotting fluff. slight suggestive themes in rengoku’s IF you squint. i love this man. hes probably ooc

#NOTES. ahhh hello! since you didn't specify which hashiras you wanted i just picked the ones i'm most comfortable writing (aka my faves). i hope this was to your liking! i know its really short but im getting my laptop fixed so im writing from my phone and im just not comfortable using it. thats why i wanted to get this out as soon as possible <3

the stone pillar . . . himejima gyomei!

your husband liked to pray with you by his side. it was a small tradition you'd both come up with ever since you asked to keep him company one evening during his prayers. of course, how could he say no when his wife asked so sweetly?

tonight was no different. the dim light of the room cast soft shadows as gyomei knelt in his usual spot, hands clasped in prayer. you sat beside him, nursing a cup of tea, absorbing the peace of the moment. the rhythmic cadence of his prayers was soothing, gentle murmurs that wrapped around you like a comforting blanket. oftentimes, your husband had to carry you off to bed after his voice would lull you into the land of dreams.

tonight, however, you felt wide-awake. you couldn’t stop staring at your hulking husband. perhaps it was the serene atmosphere or the overwhelming sense of love you felt for him, needless to say, you were simply enraptured. words alone couldn’t express how much you adored this man, and you had to channel it through some other way. without thinking, you reached out and gently cupped his face. his skin was warm under your touch, a stark contrast to the cool air of the evening.

gyomei’s eyes fluttered open. though his blindness kept him from seeing you, he could sense the tender emotion in your gesture, feel the beat of your heart from your fingertips. his large hands slowly moved to cover yours, enveloping them in a gentle yet firm hold.

"is everything alright, beloved?"

you nodded, even though he couldn't see it, and whispered, "i just wanted to feel close to you, dear husband.”

a serene smile spread across his beautiful features, a rare but heavenly sight. he paused in his prayers, allowing himself to fully immerse in the moment. the warmth of his smile seemed to light up the room more than any candle could.

"i am blessed to have you by my side," he murmured, kissing your wrist, nuzzling against your palms. "you are a prayer in its purest form.”

the wind pillar . . . shinazugawa sanemi!

for all his might and fearsome reputation, your husband turned into a big softie behind closed doors, whispering sweet nothings meant only for your ears or caressing your body with a tenderness that would make others believe someone had swapped skins with the wind pillar.

sanemi's rough exterior melted away in these moments, and you cherished the rare glimpses of his softer side. nestling closer to the natural furnace that was his body, he gently ran his fingers through your hair. your heart swelled with love, knowing that this was a side of him reserved solely for you.

without warning, you cupped his face in your hands, catching him off guard.

his eyes, although closed, softened. a rare, genuine smile tugged at his lips. "what are you doing?"

“just admiring you.” you simply smiled back, brushing your thumb over his cheek, voice barely above a whisper.

sanemi's tough facade cracked further as he leaned into your touch, a hum escaping the confines of his throat while savoring the feeling. he then opened his eyes, his glacial-like plum gaze locking onto yours with an intensity that sent shivers down your spine. "i don't deserve you.”

still smiling, you shook your head, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. "you deserve all the love in the world," you whispered against his skin, feeling him relax even more in your embrace. he sighed contentedly, the tension in his body easing away.

"sometimes i wonder how i got so lucky," he confessed, his voice low. in the quiet that followed, you intertwined your fingers with his, your thumb tracing gentle circles on his palm.

"maybe it was fate," you teased, nudging him lightly with your shoulder. "or maybe you just have a really good eye for picking the perfect wife."

sanemi chuckled, the sound a deep rumble in his chest. “nah, you chose me.”

“in every lifetime i would.”

and he wouldn’t dare question it.

the flame pillar . . . rengoku kyojuro!

something about watching your husband train was massively addicting. droplets of sweat sliding down his toned frame, vocalized grunts from spending the better part of the morning training, his steadfast flame-like eyes and serious expression, the rippling flesh of his muscles whenever he happened to flex them… you often had to pinch your thigh to remind yourself that this man was yours.

kyojuro, though proud of the muscles that he had achieved through hard work and perseverance, had to admit that he sometimes trained shirtless just for the satisfaction of having you ogle at him. despite his concentration as he trained, he never missed the way your eyes followed his every movement, all comfortable and resting on the engawa of your shared home. goodness, you were a sight for sore eyes.

“enjoying the view?” you asked, resting your chin on the palm of your hand. kyojuro hadn’t realized he’d been staring.

smiling, he left the wooden katana by the training rack, then slowly began to walk toward you.

“i could ask you the same thing,” he deliberately said, kneeling in front of you.

you grinned, reaching out to cup his face in your hands. his eyes widened slightly in surprise before he broke into a broad smile. "just what are you up to, my flame?"

"me? i’m just admiring my hardworking husband," you teased, your thumbs brushing over his cheekbones.

kyojuro chuckled, leaning into your touch. "is that so?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "i must be doing something right, then."

"you always do," you replied, grinning, your cheeks gaining warmth. "especially when you train like this."

he laughed, brightly and boldly, slowly winding his arms around your legs, kissing your knee. "well, i do aim to please,"

"and you succeed," you said, pressing a quick kiss to his nose, giving him an appraising look. kyojuro's smile widened, and he pulled you closer, his hands settling on your waist.

“you know," he began, his voice low, "i might start training shirtless more often if it means getting this kind of attention."

you laughed, shaking your head. "always looking for an excuse to show off.”

"only for you.”

#midnightbears #demon slayer x reader #kny x reader #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #kimetsu no yaiba x reader #kny #rengoku kyojuro x reader #rengoku x reader #kyojuro x reader #himejima gyomei x reader #gyomei x reader #shinazugawa sanemi x reader #sanemi x reader #sanemi shinazugawa x reader

3K notes · View notes

genshinluvr · 3 years ago

Text

Crave 3

Pairings: Various Genshin Men x Isekai'd!Reader, Itto x Isekai'd!Reader, Xiao x Isekai'd!Reader

Summary: After Itto had carried you out of the bathhouse, it was now Itto's turn to show you what it's like to actually have sex (no offense to the other men). After Itto had wrecked your insides, and you struggled to walk, Xiao assists you to your room! A notebook catches Xiao's eyes and his curiosity got the best of him, only for him to find himself balls deep inside of you.

Note: This part won't be a threesome like how it was for Zhongli and Diluc. Xiao and Itto will get their own separate smut in this part instead. Some smuts for the men will be different from each other. Either it's a threesome or just one on one kind of smut. I can throw in a foursome, but I don't know how that will work out LMAO ☠️ As previously stated in Parts one and two of Crave, I tried to keep the smut as gender-neutral as possible. Still, this smut (and every other smut I have written on this blog so far) does lean more towards AFAB!Reader/female-bodied reader. Minors, DO NOT INTERACT! To my new and returning readers, I post on AO3 as well, so if you have an AO3 and see a work similar to this, it's me (Aaliah_exo on AO3). I don't post anywhere else but on Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and on AO3 (Aaliah_exo).

Warnings: Horribly written smut, Itto spits in the reader's mouth, Itto has a monstrous cock (are we surprised? The man is an oni for archon's sake), cum eating, oral (reader receiving), cervix fucking, mating press, Itto leaving claw marks on the reader's thighs, slight breeding kink, soft dom!Xiao (idk if it's soft dom!Xiao, but it's dom!Xiao either way), hair pulling, biting

Word Count: 9.9k

Crave "Chapters": [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]

Itto kicks his bedroom door open, causing the wooden door to fly open and slam against the wall. You yelped and held onto Itto tightly, afraid that the door was going to fly back to your face. Itto grabs you by your waist before tossing you onto his king-sized bed. You attempt to cover your naked body with one of his blankets, only for Itto to yank it off of you completely. You shuddered at the cool air brushing against your nipples, causing them to harden up. You feel your face become red when you see Itto’s eyes scanning each and every part of your naked body. His red-yellow eyes took in the sight in front of him hungrily. Itto’s tongue darts out of his mouth, licking his lips hungrily as he gets on his bed and crawls towards you like a lion stalking its prey.

“My, my! You’re looking very delicious right now.” Itto purrs, his large hands running up your legs, causing you to shiver at the feeling of his hands rubbing your legs gently. Itto lightly squeezes both of your thighs with a tiny smirk on his face.

“Itto! We shouldn’t be doing this right now! I’m still tired from what happened earlier today.” You whined softly, feeling your body tense up when Itto’s hands got closer to your groin. You squeezed your eyes shut when Itto began to poke and prod your sullied entrance. Itto hums to himself before slowly sticking his right index finger into your hole, causing you to tense up at the sudden intrusion.

“I-Itto!” You whimpered as Itto started to finger your heat, causing you to become wet. Well, you couldn’t tell if your entrance was wet from Itto’s doing or if it was from your and Childe’s mixed cum that was still inside of you. You feel your face heat up when the sound of squelching fills Itto’s bedroom, causing your face to become red.

“Aw, look who’s becoming shy!” Itto laughs, his left hand reaching up to caress your face in his hands. A soft smile appears on his face, “No need to get all shy around me now, cutie. I’m just getting started.” He purrs, leaning his face down before burying his face into the crook of your neck. You let out a small gasp when you feel Itto’s warm, wet tongue lapping at your neck. As Itto is licking and sucking on the skin of your neck, Itto continues to plunge his large, thick fingers into your heat. You felt a sharp prick in your neck, causing you to let out a surprised yelp and whine.

“Itto! Did you just bite me!?” You whined, attempting to push him off of you. Itto hums against your neck, licking the area where he had bitten you before pulling away from you. You can see faint traces of blood on his lips and jaws. Itto flashes you a toothy grin before wiping his mouth with the back of his hands.

“You know, I don’t really like that you still have another man’s cum inside of you,” Itto states, putting both of his hands on his hips as he looks down at your cum-filled hole. Itto presses his lips together before saying, “I’m going to scoop it out of ya.” Itto states, catching you off guard.

“You’re going to what!?” You squeaked, looking up at the tall oni in complete shock, pressing your legs together on instinct.

“I’m going to scoop it out of you! What’s so hard to process?” Itto asks, raising an eyebrow at you before he sits down in front of you. Itto parts your legs with his left hand before reaching down to your groin, lightly rubbing it before inserting his index finger into you. Itto curls his finger inside of you, causing you to squeak and arch your back. You couldn’t help but squeeze your eyes shut tightly as Itto continued to plunge and curl his fingers up inside of you. Itto then inserts another finger into your sopping hole, stretching you even more. A strained gasp and whine leave your mouth, causing Itto to fasten the pace. You gritted your teeth and held onto Itto’s wrists while he hit all of the right spots with his index and middle finger. After what felt like a long time, Itto has finally pulled his fingers out from your entrance.

Itto lifts his cum covered hands up to your lips, “Suck.” Itto ordered, waiting for you to suck on his fingers. You gulped and opened your mouth slowly; Itto smirked before pushing his fingers into your mouth, almost touching your uvula, causing you to jolt and gag on his fingers. Tears pricked your eyes while your lips trembled around Itto’s fingers. You begin to slowly suck on Itto’s fingers, almost visibly cringing at the taste of your and Childe’s combined cum on your tongue. You never understood how people could willingly swallow human bodily fluids. You had to fight back the urge to spit the substance out of your mouth, continuing to suck and lick Itto’s cum covered fingers.

“Oh, there’s still some left in you.” Itto murmurs, pulling his fingers out from your mouth before inserting the two fingers into your warm cavern, curling both of his fingers up inside of you before slowly pulling his fingers out. You let out a loud “ow!” startling Itto.

He looks up at you with wide eyes before asking, “What’s wrong?! What happened?!” Your face contorted in pain, your hand hovering over the area where Itto had accidentally jabbed you.

“You accidentally poked my insides really hard with your pointy nails.” You squeaked, slowly cracking your eyes open to look at the oni in front of you. Itto’s eyes widened in fear, quickly pulling his fingers out of you, causing you to squeal at the sensation.

“Here, quickly suck on my fingers. I’m going to do something.” Itto says.

You give Itto a wary look before complying. You grabbed Itto’s wrists and put his fingers into your mouth, sucking and licking the cum off of his fingers while he knelt in front of your spread legs. Itto’s face gets close to your hole, and he grabs you by the waist with one hand before pulling you towards the edge of the bed.

Before you could ask Itto was he was going to do, you were cut off by letting out a sharp, surprised gasp when Itto buried his face between your legs. Itto’s index and middle finger fall out of your mouth. Itto grabs your hips with both of his hands, pulling you much closer to his face, almost smothering him. Itto flattens his tongue on your entrance before poking and prodding your hole with the tip of his tongue. Itto was eating you out as if he hadn’t eaten anything in days. Itto was swirling his tongue, licking stripes up and down your entrance, slurping up your juices. You had your hands buried in Itto’s hair, pulling and tangling your fingers in his white hair as he continued to lick and slurp up your essence. Itto’s fangs brush against the small bud lightly, causing you to jerk underneath him.

“Oh? What is this?” Itto asks, pulling away from you and poking the small ball of nerves. You whimpered and jolted at the feeling. Itto gets off from the ground and wipes his mouth with his hands, “As much as I would like to make you burst and see the stars with my amazing oral skills, I need to be inside of you immediately, or else I’ll go crazy!” Itto says, giving you a seductive smirk.

Itto starts taking off the spikes, his fingerless gloves, his belt, and his coat. Halfway through undressing, Itto was beginning to struggle to take the other accessories off of his body. You can see frustration starting to grow the more time goes by. Itto groans and rolls his eyes, and before you could even process what was going on, Itto starts tearing and ripping the complicated accessories off his body.

“Itto! You didn’t need to rip them off!” You squeaked, looking at the oni in front of you with wide eyes. Itto ignores your comment as he continues to tear at every piece of clothing and accessory that was once worn on his body. The more Itto pulled these items off of his body, the more skin was exposed. You couldn’t help but admire the marking on Itto’s body; it makes him look even more attractive than he already was. You felt yourself almost salivating at the gorgeous and breathtaking sight in front of you. The last thing that Itto took off was his boxers with mini onikabuto patterns on them; just seeing them almost made you giggle to yourself.

“Archons, you’re so effortlessly cute.” You think to yourself, eyes scanning his almost naked body with hunger. Sure, your organs were rearranged by Childe moments ago and by Zhongli and Diluc the day before; you’re looking forward to seeing what Itto has in store for you. You’re both titillated and nervous because of the enormous bulge in his boxers. What could he be hiding underneath those onikabuto patterned boxers of his?

“Well, I’m obviously not going to rip my most favorite boxers,” Itto says jokingly. You giggled softly and watched Itto slowly pull down his boxers. Once Itto’s boxers pool around his ankles, Itto’s dick springs up and slaps up against his abs. Your eyes grew twice the size at the sight of Itto’s erect cock. Dear archons, that thing is HUGE! There was no way in hell his dick would be able to fit inside of you without ripping you apart! Just when you thought that Foul Legacy has a massive dick, Itto outdid the Foul Legacy. Then again, the sex with Foul Legacy was just a wet dream—a very vivid one, at that.

Not only was Itto’s cock lengthy, but it was also girthy. That thing would stretch you and probably tear you apart if the two of you weren’t careful with putting it inside of you. You just know that it will hurt going in the first few minutes, but it’ll feel so good once you’ve adjusted to the size and when Itto is plunging in and out of you.

“Are you ready for your insides to be obliterated?” Itto asks; a smirk appears on his face while he is tapping and rubbing his member between your legs. You feel yourself clench around nothing while you squeeze your eyes shut. Even though Itto has somewhat prepped you for the impending penetration, you couldn’t help but worry that he would wreck your insides just by putting the tip of his penis inside of you.

“Obliterated!? What do you mean by— ack!” You choke on your words when you feel the tip of Itto’s dick poking your entrance, preparing to breach inside of you.

“Try not to squeeze, or else I won’t be able to enter.” Itto grunts, gradually sinking his long, fat cock inside of you. You let out a loud wail, your hands clawing at Itto’s biceps, unintentionally clenching around his dick. Itto groans loudly, his nails digging into your waist as he slowly thrusts his cock into you, sinking into you inch by inch.

“Itto! It’s too much! It’s too much!” You whined, fresh tears pooling around your eyes, slowly cascading down your flushed cheeks. You clench your jaws, your eyes shut tightly, your thighs tensing up every time Itto sinks further into your heat. “It hurts! You’re too big!” You screeched loudly when Itto sent a sharp thrust. You gasp loudly, wrapping your arms around Itto’s broad shoulders tightly.

“Come on, cutie! You can do it; the tip only made it inside.” Itto moans, tightening his drip on your hipbone so tightly that you’re sure that it’ll bruise very soon. The bruise wasn’t on your mind at that very moment; the only thing you could think about was Itto’s trying to bury his massive cock deep inside of your sopping wet hole. “F-Fuck!” Itto stutters, burying his cock further into you. Your thighs were trembling at the feeling of Itto’s monstrous member sinking deeper and deeper into your entrance.

“Baby, stop clenching! Relax.” Itto grunts; he pins you to his massive bed, his arms caging you against his bed, his chest hovering above your face. You let out a series of whines and yelps as Itto lightly thrusts inside of you, hoping that the gentle thrusts will help loosen you up a bit for him to slip inside of you to the hilt of his dick. “Come on, baby, relax. It’ll be okay. I know it hurts. Just, please, relax.” Itto pants propping himself up with his hands, he looks down at you.

The sight of you laying on his bed, sprawled out, flustered, teary-eyed, whimpering, and occasionally moaning, did something to him. Itto feels blood rushing to his cock, causing him to harden even more. You froze when you felt Itto harden inside of you; you look up at the oni with wide eyes, speechless. Without thinking, Itto grabs onto both of your legs, lifts them, and pushes them back. You bit down on your lips and covered your mouth to prevent you from moaning too loudly. Itto has your left and right leg pinned beside your head on the bed, leaving your cock stuffed entrance on full display for Itto to see.

“You have no idea how hot you look right now, baby.” Itto purrs, licking his canines while giving you a wolfish grin. “Brace yourself.” Itto states. You blink up at Itto, trying to process what he had just said to you. What did he mean by ‘brace yourself?’

“Wait, Itto— FUCK! ITTO!” You screamed, clawing at his muscular back when he plunged his huge dick into your entrance, his hips pressing down against yours. You subconsciously reached up to Itto’s horns and grabbed onto you, catching him off guard. Itto lets out a loud moan, bucking his hips against yours with a forceful thrust; your jaws fall open, letting out a silent scream when the bulbous tip of his cock reaches the deepest part inside of you, hitting that sweet spot.

“Oh! Fuck!” You whimpered, tightening your grip on Itto’s horns.

A mix between a groan and a growl rumbles deep within Itto’s chest. Your legs were beginning to turn numb from having it pinned beside your head on the bed, causing your thighs to become sore. “Itto! Move!” You kick your legs in the air. Itto pants against your ears, and his chest is rising up and down at a rapid pace. Itto completely forgot to tell you that his horns are very sensitive, and it makes him even more hornier (hehe, get it?) than he already was. You grabbing onto those horns of his is causing his cock to harden even more inside of you— if it was even possible.

“Oh, I’ll definitely move.” Itto grits his teeth. Itto slowly props himself up with both of his hands before he begins to thrust in and out of your entrance. At first, it started off at a slow pace, giving you some time to adjust to Itto’s lengthy and girthy cock. Every time Itto thrusts into you, you feel the fat tip of his dick hit that spot inside of you that causes your vision to black out while stars temporarily dance behind your closed eyelids.

“You’re.” Thrust. “So.” Thrust. “Tight!” Itto slams his cock deep inside of you. A loud wail rips from your throat, your left hand clawing down his muscular back while your right hand has a firm grip on his left horn. “Baby, don’t flex! You need to relax, or else it’ll hurt you even more.” Itto grunts. His right hand was reaching down to your pubic bone before gently massaging the area. Your breathing was labored as you tried to force yourself to relax and not tense around Itto. You feel your body beginning to relax slowly, your thighs becoming limp in Itto’s hold.

“There you go.” Itto coos, reaching up to the hand that was grabbing ahold of one of his horns. Itto held onto your hand, intertwining your fingers with his before pressing a delicate kiss on your knuckles.

“Itto, it still hurts.” You whisper, squeezing his hands tightly as you bite down on your trembling lips. You don’t think you can last any longer; you feel like you are going to burst if Itto continues to be inside of you. Itto coos softly; he leans down and starts pressing gentle kisses on your face, causing you to crack a smile. Even during a very intimate moment, Itto never fails to make you feel loved.

“It’s okay, baby. It’ll all go away soon once I start moving.” Itto says, pressing one last kiss on your forehead before pulling away from you. At first, Itto starts off with a slow pace. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head every time Itto hit that one spot inside of you, causing you to tighten around his cock. With every passing minute, every time Itto plunges in and out of your hole, you feel yourself beginning to adjust to Itto’s size. The pain and discomfort melted away and were replaced by the overwhelming feeling of pleasure. Soon enough, loud moans and labored pants replaced the sounds of your whimpers and yelps.

“Harder, Itto! Harder!” You panted, lightly tapping on his biceps with trembling hands. Itto looks down at you with wide eyes, staring at you in astonishment. Slowly halting his thrusts, his chest heaving with every breath he takes.

“Baby, you don’t know what you’re asking for.” Itto laughs. You were about to ask Itto what he meant but was interrupted by Itto pulling his cock all the way out until only the bulbous tip of his cock was still inside of you. He gives you a quick wink before slamming his cock back inside of you. Your eyes widened and let out a strangled gasp when Itto plunged into your sopping wet hole, the fat tip of his cock kissing your cervix. Itto almost blacked out at the immense pleasure he felt, gripping onto your hips so tightly. Itto starts to claw at your thighs while hammering into your entrance. With each powerful thrust, your body would shoot up the bed, almost slamming the top of your head to the wooden headboard of Itto’s bed. You placed both of your hands on the wooden headboard to prevent yourself from getting your head repeatedly slammed on the headboard.

“Itto, Itto! Slow down! My head is going to hit the headboard!” You squealed, your eyes screwed shut.

Itto slowly stops his thrusts before letting out a snort. Itto pulls you off the bed and lifts you up into his arms, and he grabs both of your legs wrapped around his waist. You wrap your arms around his shoulders and situate yourself in his arms before he continues to ram himself up into your hot entrance. You squealed, grabbing onto his long hair tightly, your face nestling up where his neck and shoulder meet.

Itto wraps both of his arms around your waist and starts to slam you down onto his cock; your arms were almost flailing all over the place with each thrust. The sound of skin slapping against one another, your moans and gasps, Itto’s deep groans and growls echo in his bedroom. The room was hot and humid; the smell of sex and sweat lingered in the air, your and Itto’s breath mixing.

Itto grabs you by your chin before slamming his lips against yours. You tangled your fingers into Itto’s hair, kissing Itto back. Itto slips his tongue into your mouth while pistoning his colossal cock into your entrance, his pace never faltering one bit. Itto quickly breaks the kiss and pulls his dick completely out of you, causing you to let out a whine.

Before you could protest, Itto tosses you back on his bed, flips you over on your stomach, yanks you to the edge of his bed, and positions you on all fours with your ass facing him. Itto licks his lips at the sight. You were about to turn your head back to ask Itto why he suddenly pulled out when you were rudely interrupted.

SMACK!

“Itto!” You squealed, your head falling between your arms. Your right ass cheek was stinging from the sharp slap that Itto had placed upon your soft cheeks. You grumbled incoherent words to yourself. Itto grabs you by your hair before ramming his cock back into your entrance. You screeched at the sudden feeling of his cock penetrating deep inside of you. You unintentionally clenched around Itto’s cock, causing the oni to growl.

Itto tightens his grip around your hair before he starts pounding into you at an unimaginable speed. You shut your eyes tightly, your eyebrows furrowing in pleasure, your mouth agape, your tongue rolling out of your mouth, and your eyes roll to the back of your skull. You didn’t even know what you were seeing behind your eyes anymore.

Your vision would briefly turn white with each hard thrust; you would see stars in your behind your eyelids each time the mushroom tip of Itto’s dick repeatedly kissed your cervix. You can feel yourself coming to an end, and your lower abdomen was starting to tighten while your hole was sucking Itto in each time he pulled out, wrapping around his cock so tightly that it was almost impossible for Itto to pull out.

“Fuck, baby! It seems like you don’t want me to leave at all.” Itto lets out a breathless laugh. He leans over you and wraps an arm around your naked torso while the other hand plants on the bed. “I’m going to put a baby in you.” He whispers, causing your eyes to widen. Your entrance pulses around Itto’s member, making him hiss lightly. “Looks like someone likes the idea of me breeding them.” Itto coos, planting a kiss on your cheeks while thrusting into your warm hole, craving for the feeling of Itto painting your insides white with his thick cum. Itto pulls on your hair; his thrust was becoming erratic, his chest rumbling with a snarl, his eyebrows furrowing with focus.

“Fuck, baby! I’m going to cum.” Itto groans, slamming your waist back against his cock. You release a loud moan when the tight rope in your lower abdomen snaps, causing you to tighten around Itto’s cock and cover his dick with your cum. Itto moans into your shoulders, his face burying into your shoulder blades as he releases thick ropes of cum inside of you, painting your walls white with his spunk. You whimpered at the feeling of his hot seed spilling inside of you and beginning to leak out of your entrance and slide down your sweaty thighs.

You waited for Itto to pull out, but he remained inside of you. Realization hits you in the face when you notice that Itto’s cum continues to fill you up. You turn your head to look at Itto with wide eyes, “Are you still cumming inside of me!?” You squeaked.

“That was the best and hottest sex I’ve ever had! Of course, I’m going to be cumming a lot when I had the best person to fuck.” Itto says, slapping your ass cheeks lightly. You jolt at the feeling of Itto’s palms meeting your sore buttcheeks. You groaned and let your head fall on the mattress while Itto’s cum continued to fill you up and spill out of you and onto the bed. Itto grunts when he slowly pulls out of you; you whimpered at the sudden emptiness. You collapsed on Itto’s bed, the feeling of exhaustion hitting you like a train.

“You tried me out, Itto.” You breathed. Itto snorts and plops down beside you, pulling you against his bare chest and wraps his arms around your waist, snuggling up against you.

“I would say the same thing, but I’m an oni, and we have pretty high stamina!” Itto says, pressing his lips against your shoulder. You mumbled to yourself, letting yourself get comfortable in Itto’s arms. You feel yourself start to slowly drift off to sleep as your eyelids grow heavier and heavier. Itto gradually adjusts you in his arms, having you rest your head on his biceps while clinging onto this forearm. A shy smile appears on Itto’s face; he brushes your hair away from your face, pressing a kiss on your temples before reaching over to grab a pillow to lay his head on. Itto tightens his grip around you before drifting off to sleep beside you.

The next day, when you woke up from your sleep, your entire body was sore, especially between your thighs and the area where Itto had spanked you and bit you. You yawned and stretched your legs and arms out, almost letting out a moan when doing so. You scratched your head and slowly sat up on Itto’s bed, only to plop back down. Your limbs felt like jelly, and you could hardly get yourself to sit up without wanting to collapse. You hear the door open; your eyes dart over to the entrance of Itto’s bedroom.

“Morning, sunshine! Everyone is waiting for you downstairs for breakfast. I quickly went over to your room to grab something to wear before bringing you to the dining room.” Itto sang, trotting over to where you lay happily. He tosses your undergarments and an oversized t-shirt, catching you by surprise.

“I don’t remember owning an oversized t-shirt.” You said, holding up the plain white shirt while looking at Itto with a questionable look.

“Of course, it’s not yours! It’s mine, and you’ll be wearing it downstairs!” Itto gives you a broad smile and lightly ruffles your bedhead.

“Since when did you wear shirts? You’re usually shirtless most of the time.” You sighed, slowly getting off the bed. Your knees automatically lock beneath you, causing you to crash to the ground. Since Itto was within reach, he was able to catch you before you could meet the floor of his bedroom.

“I do have shirts! I just choose not to wear them!” Itto says, rolling his eyes playfully before helping you sit at the corner of his bed. “Are you okay?” He asks, looking down at you worriedly.

“I’m okay, Itto! I’m a bit sore from yesterday, and my legs feel like jelly.” You answer, looking away from Itto shyly while heat was creeping up your neck and face.

“I’ll carry you to the bathroom, and whatever you need me to assist you with, I’d be happy to help!” Itto says, kissing the top of your head.

You sighed in relief and gave Itto a small smile, “Thank you, Itto! I really appreciate it.” Itto lifts you up and carries you to the bathroom that was connected to his bedroom.

After Itto had set you down on the edge of the bathtub, Itto left the bathroom to give you some privacy. You quickly did all of your business in the bathroom— used the toilet, took a shower, scrubbed your body from head to toe while being careful around the areas where Itto had bitten you and clawed at your thighs.

You can see bruises blooming at your waist from how tightly Itto was holding onto your waist while wrecking your insides. After your brief shower (it was actually almost 30 minutes long because of how many times you nearly collapsed in the shower due to your legs feeling like gelatin), you dried off your body with a fluffy towel. You put on your undergarments, then the oversized t-shirt that belongs to Itto. You didn’t bother drying your hair after brushing it, so you opened the bathroom door, only to see Itto waiting for you on his bed. You noticed that Itto had changed his bedsheets, and the previous bedsheet was tossed into the hamper, waiting to be washed and cleaned.

“Need me to carry you downstairs?” Itto asks, getting up from his bed before walking over to where you stood. You think for a moment. At the same time, you’re shy about having Itto carry you down the stairs for breakfast where the other men are waiting, but you can’t go down the stairs, or even walk for that matter, without your legs giving out on you. If you were to walk to the dining room on your own without Itto’s assistance, you would topple down the stairs before your feet could touch the first step of the stairs.

“Yes, please! I don’t think I’ll be able to walk out of this room without falling or stumbling all over the place!” Itto crouch down in front of you with his back facing your direction. You hopped onto Itto’s back and wrapped your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist. Itto holds onto both of your legs before standing up straight; he adjusts you on his back before looking at you over his shoulders. “Hold on tight. We wouldn’t want you to fall and hurt yourself.” You nod your head and tighten your grip around Itto.

Itto walks over to his bedroom door and grabs onto the door handle before twisting the knob. You felt your heart beginning to hammer against your chest when Itto steps out of the room with you on his back. The more Itto walked down the stairs, the more nervous you got. The week hasn’t even gone by, and yet here you are, fucked by four out of fifteen men so far. It was like you have a checklist on who you’re going to fuck with next. I mean, maybe you do, perhaps you don’t! Even if you were to have a list of who you want to fuck next (you don’t), that “list” will get rearranged in a different order with random pairs you’d never imagine to be in the same room doing the same scandalous things. Man, imagine if the citizens of Teyvat knew what was going on behind the closed doors of the abode. They would be clutching their Sango pearls in shock and horror.

“Gentlemen! I have arrived with [Y/N]!” Itto announces once he steps foot into the dining room with you on his back. You peeked from Itto’s shoulders shyly, praying that no one heard you and Itto yesterday.

“Oh, [Y/N]! How was your sleep?” Venti asks, giving you a cheerful smile as he takes a sip from his glass cup. You’re assuming that he’s drinking alcohol again. He’s a bit chipper today as well, a little bit chipper than he usually is.

“I actually slept pretty well, surprisingly.” You reply nervously, getting off of Itto after he squatted down beside an empty chair at the dining table. You presumed that this is where you’ll be sitting for breakfast. You pulled the chair out from under the table and quickly sat down on the chair before your legs could magically become gelatin and cause you to fall to the ground in front of everyone. Yeah, the men witnessing you being weak to the knees because of Itto will surely make them upset.

“Yeah, I bet you slept well all because of me!” Childe says, a smirk appearing on his face as he leans back in his seat with his arms over his chest.

“But were you the one that was able to get [Y/N] to scream at the top of their lungs so loud that it startled the fowls and boars?” Diluc asks, raising an eyebrow at Childe.

“Can we not talk about this while we’re eating?” Scaramouche deadpans, stabbing the pancake in front of him with the knife and fork.

“Seriously, I just want to be able to eat breakfast without people talking about how loud I was.” You grumbled, grabbing your fork and knife before cutting into the pancake that Thoma had made for you. While you were slicing your pancake and taking a small bite out of them, you couldn’t help but feel like there were eyes staring holes right into you. You slowly bite down on the slice of pancakes and lift your head up, only to see the men staring at you closely. Their eyes zeroed in on this one specific area on your neck. You pulled the fork out of your mouth, chewed on the pancake, and swallowed the pancake while looking around you quizically. You reached for your cloth napkin and lightly wiped your lips with it, hoping that your sudden movement would snap them out of their daydream, but it didn’t seem to be working one bit.

“What are you guys staring at?” You spoke up.

“What is that on your neck?” Dainsleif asks, leaning forward in his seat slightly as he squints his eyes to get a much closer look at your neck.

“What is what on my—” You reached your hand up and placed it over the spot that the others were looking at. You winced when your hand made contact with that particular area. “— neck.” You blinked, lightly tracing your fingers over the same spot again. Xiao leans over the table to get a closer look; his eyes darken before he slowly turns over to Itto and the rest of the men.

“A bite mark,” Xiao states, looking over at Itto with a glare.

“A bite mark!?” Zhongli asks, his eyes widening at Xiao’s statement before glancing over at Itto, who was smiling sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck; the color pink dusting his cheeks was slowly creeping up to his ears.

“You bit [Y/N]!?” Thoma gasps, his mouth agape from shock.

“Well, yeah! Who wouldn’t want to mark up this cutie?” Itto says, reaching over to you and lightly pinching your cheeks with a smile on his face.

“I thought we all agreed not to mark [Y/N] up since they belong to all of us.” Kaeya sighs softly, propping his head up on the table with his right arm, his eyebrow raised at the oni.

“Oh, I assumed that marking [Y/N] meant branding them.” Itto laughs. You stared at Itto in horror, then looked at the others with wide eyes.

“Come on, Itto! You know that some of us are possessive over [Y/N].” Gorou says, looking at Scaramouche, Zhongli, Childe, and Ayato from the corners of his eyes.

“Possessive, you say?” Ayato hums softly. A fake smile appears on Ayato’s face; if anyone were to look at Ayato very closely, they could barely tell that Ayato was clenching his jaws. Underneath his gloves, Ayato’s knuckles were turning white from how hard he was squeezing his fist shut on his biceps.

“I believe that this type of conversation is best to be discussed after breakfast.” Albedo hums, chewing on his almost cold pancakes.

“I agree with Albedo on this one. We wouldn’t want utensils to be flying at anyone’s head during breakfast, now, do we?” Baizhu asks, raising an eyebrow at the men around him.

“It would be a tragedy if someone were to lose their eyeball during breakfast,” Kazuha murmurs, sipping on his tea alongside Zhongli.

You sighed dramatically and rested your head back on the chair. Again, even if you were to sleep with everyone in the abode, it doesn’t stop the possessiveness these men hold. You wouldn’t be surprised if someone ends up putting a collar on you with the words “PROPERTY OF ______ ♡” on the back of the charm. Needless to say, breakfast was pretty awkward, and the silence almost suffocated you. Occasionally, the men would ask you questions here and there about whether you were enjoying breakfast, or they would ask you what you planned on doing today.

“I think I’m going to rest for today. I’m really tired and really sore.” The fourteen men shoot a glare over at Itto for a brief moment before looking back at you. “Since I showered today already, I’ll be resting in my room with a book or something.” You answered, finishing your last bite of pancake.

“That’s good to hear! As long as you let yourself rest and not overexert yourself, you should be fine!” Thoma says, getting up from his seat before grabbing your plate along with his. Before you could protest, Thoma had already disappeared into the kitchen with both of your dishes and utensils.

“Do you want me to get you any pain medication to help ease your pain of any kind?” Baizhu asks softly, placing his left hand over your right hand. The thirteen men narrowed their eyes at Baizhu’s hand, almost glaring holes into them.

“I don’t know.” You said, slumping down in your seat with a defeated sigh. “If there’s any medication that can help ease the soreness, then that would be great. But I hope that it won’t be too much of a hassle.” You murmured.

“Oh, [Y/N]. Helping you out is never a hassle.” Baizhu gives you a smile; he brushes your hair away from your face before standing up. “I will be heading down to Bubu Pharmacy very soon to get you medication to help with any aches and pains. Although I believe that there should be some pain medication left in the medicine cabinets.” Baizhu murmurs, disappearing into the kitchen with his plate in his hands.

“Do you want me to assist you to your bedroom?” Xiao asks, appearing beside you in thin air, startling you a little bit.

“Yes, please!” You give him a grateful smile before slowly getting up from your seat. Xiao has his arms wrapped around your waist while your left arm is tossed over his shoulders. You and Xiao ignored the other men’s grumbles before heading up the stairs to your bedroom. Each step you took was almost agonizing. You let out a strained whimper, pausing in your steps, almost collapsing down the stairs. If it weren’t for Xiao, you would’ve fallen down the stairs already.

“I guess I went a little bit too rough on [Y/N].” Itto laughs nervously, almost shrinking in his seat when the men glared at him.

“A little too rough on [Y/N]?” Venti asks, looking at Itto skeptically.

“I think you took the term ‘rearrange their guts’ too seriously, Itto,” Albedo says, stroking his chin with his thumb and index finger.

“He might have done way more than rearrange their guts,” Kazuha mutters, getting up from his seat abruptly, grabbing his empty plate before walking into the kitchen where Baizhu and Thoma are at.

“Are you sure you can make it up to your room on your feet?” Xiao asks, looking down at you worriedly. “I can carry you to your room if you’d like for me to do so.” Xiao offers, tucking your hair behind your ears.

“Considering I can barely make it up the stairs without feeling pain, I might as well take up on your offer.” You said softly, looking up at Xiao with those doe-like eyes of yours.

Xiao gulps before anxiously picking you up bridal style, causing you to let out a soft squeak. You wrap both of your arms around Xiao’s shoulders as he marched up the stairs, carrying you up the stairs as if you weighed like nothing.

Once the two of you make it to your bedroom, Xiao lightly kicks your bedroom door open and carries you inside of your room. Xiao placed you down on your bed and walked over to your window, opening the blinds to let some sunlight into your room. You leaned over to your nightstand and grabbed a new book you started reading not too long ago. At first, you assumed that Xiao would leave your room after he was able to bring you to your bedroom safely, but he remains in your room. While you were leaning up against your bed with your back propped up on tons of pillows and plushies, Xiao walked around your room to get a much closer look at your bedroom decor. Plushies that were gifted to you lined up on various shelves, books on mini shelves that were nailed to the wall, pictures of you and the men at the beach, Windblume festival, Lantern Rite festival, and the Irodori festival hung on the wall near your desk.

On your desk was a small open journal with writings and sketches in it. A small picture frame sat on your desk; it was a selfie of you and the fifteen men behind you. They were utterly knocked out asleep while you were sticking your tongue out at the camera with a cheeky smile on your face. Xiao slowly walks over to your desk and picks up the picture frame, and notices a much smaller image in the corner. It was a photo of you and Xiao, completely knocked out on the hammock together. You were laying on his chest, face nestled into the crook of his neck, his arms were wrapped around your waist, while his cheek was resting on top of your head. Xiao slowly places the picture frame back down on your desk before his eyes linger over to your notebook and pick it up.

Xiao looked over his shoulder to make sure you weren’t looking. You were occupied with the book in your hands, your index finger in your mouth while you bit on your nail, immersed in the book. Xiao slowly looks back down at the notebook in his hands, and his eyes begin skimming through the words written on the page. His eyebrows furrow in confusion, and his head tilts to the side as he continues to read the words that were written in your journal. Xiao flips the page to continue reading, only to realize that he is reading a story that you have written down yourself. Once Xiao got to that scene of the book, his eyes widened, and his face turned scarlet red before accidentally slamming the notebook back down on your desk, startling you.

“Xiao?” You call out his name from your bed, slowly closing the book in your hand. “What was that?” You ask, gradually moving to the edge of your bed.

“Nothing. You shouldn’t be moving. You’re going to hurt yourself.” Xiao states, crossing his arms over his chest with a huff of breath. Xiao subconsciously looks over at the notebook that he had unintentionally slammed down on your table; the tips of his ears were red, and so was his face.

“Did you see something you weren’t supposed to?” You inquired, raising your eyebrows at Xiao skeptically. Xiao scoffs and looks away from you, his eyes scanning your desk while trying to ignore the holes that were being stared into his back. You knelt on your bed to look over Xiao’s shoulders from where you were, but the minute your eyes landed on your closed notebook, your eyes turned wide.

“Did you read through my notebook!?” You screeched, stumbling out of your bed and marching over to where he stood.

“What!? No, I didn’t read through your notebook!” Xiao denies it, looking away from you with his nose sticking up in the air. You stood beside Xiao and stared down at the notebook that is now closed and faced down on your desk. You slowly turned your head to the side to face Xiao, your face bright red from embarrassment.

“You did read through my notebook, Xiao! My notebook was opened earlier, and it wasn’t faced down on my desk!” You said, lightly punching him while whining softly.

Oh, dear archons! This is so embarrassing! Xiao must’ve read the story that you have been working on for weeks! You couldn’t help but want to die from embarrassment and completely disappear off of the face of Teyvat because Xiao must have read the smut scene of the story! Why are so many embarrassing things happening to you so much lately?! Xiao lets out a quiet ‘tsk!’ before grabbing your arms and pulling you against his chest, causing you to stumble on your feet and crash into his chest. You look up at Xiao with wide eyes, your face turning into a much darker shade of red from the close proximity between the two of you. You can feel his muscles flexing underneath the tight white shirt he was wearing, along with his racing heart.

“The stuff that you wrote down in your notebook….” Xiao trails off. Xiao hesitates for a moment, not knowing how else he should continue. Should he make a comment about the sex scenes in the story, or should he comment about how certain sketched-out characters resemble the fifteen men but are made into one person?

“Forget about what you saw in the notebook!” You spoke up, swallowing the lump in your throat. “I think it’s best for the both of us to forget about it.” You give Xiao a weak smile before attempting to limp back over to your bed, but Xiao has a firm grip on your wrists.

“Are you mad at me?” Xiao asks. Oh great, now he looks like a kicked puppy. How could you ever be mad at someone like Xiao? Plus, it’s not like he intended on reading what was going on inside your notebook! It just happens to be wide open on your desk, and anyone could accidentally read what was written down in the notebook, not just Xiao.

You shook your head before caressing his face in your hands, “No, no, no! I’m not mad at you, Xiao.” You whisper softly. “How could I ever be mad at you for something you didn’t do on purpose?” You gently stroked his cheeks with the pad of your thumbs, giving him a small smile.

A shy smile appears on Xiao’s face before he presses his forehead against yours. You smiled and closed your eyes, melting into his arms. You felt Xiao cup your face in both of his hands; you slowly opened your eyes and looked at Xiao curiously. Xiao’s eyes were focused on your lips while he lightly ran his left thumb over your bottom lip absentmindedly. Xiao looks up at you through his thick lashes, a faint glow coming from his eyes. Xiao’s eyes flutter close before leaning in towards your face. Your eyes slowly shut, meeting Xiao halfway. When your and Xiao’s lips meet, the kiss that is being shared between you and Xiao is delicate.

Xiao’s left hand slowly trails up to the back of your head; he weaves his fingers through your hair and lightly grabs your hair at the roots before lightly pulling your head back, breaking the kiss between the two of you. He tilts your head to the side and begins to press light kisses on your neck, slowly kissing down to your collarbones. Xiao ignores the teeth mark where your neck and shoulder meet before lightly sucking on your collarbones. Xiao hears a soft gasp coming from you, and he can almost hear your racing heartbeat if he were to listen really closely. You wrapped your arms around Xiao’s shoulders, head lolled back, neck, and collarbones exposed to Xiao’s soft touch and lips.

He cups your face in his hands once more before pressing his lips against yours. You reach up to Xiao’s hair and entangle your fingers through his soft hair. Xiao places both of his hands on your thighs, moving up towards your waist beneath Itto’s shirt. Itto’s shirt.

Xiao mumbles against your lips, “Jump.” You did as you were told and jumped. Xiao wraps your legs around his waist and carries you over to your bed. Xiao laid you down on your bed and caged you to your bed, both your chests heaving from the lack of air. Xiao reaches for the collar of the plain white t-shirt and grips it hard with both hands before tearing it open, revealing your bare chest beneath it. Your eyes widened when you heard the shirt rip loudly, staring up at the yaksha in shock.

“Xiao! That was Itto’s shirt!” You whispered. Xiao grumbles under his breath before ripping the shirt off of you completely. Xiao held up the torn shirt in their air for you to see more clearly before tossing it over to the other side of your bedroom. You looked over where the shirt landed, then back over at Xiao.

“And? I don’t like it whenever you wear another man’s shirt.” Xiao shrugs his shoulders, his eyes narrowing when he catches the sight of claw marks on your thighs. Just when he and the others thought that Itto biting you was the worst thing, Itto did more than just bite you. “It’s not like he’ll care if his shirt is torn up. He doesn’t even wear shirts at all.” Xiao mutters, grabbing your waist and pulling you up your bed further until your back touches your pillows and plushies.

The minute your back touches your pillow, Xiao bites down on the tip of his glove before yanking them off one by one. Xiao tosses his gloves to the ground before reaching up to grab your chest, catching you by surprise. His fingers brush over your nipples, making you arch your back slightly. Xiao raises an eyebrow at your reaction before lightly pinching your nipples and rolling the bud between his thumb and index finger. Xiao leans down and latches his mouth to your neglected nipple, and begins to suck on them while pinching, squeezing, and rolling the other.

“Xiao! Stop teasing me and just fuck me already!” You whined, patting his head softly to grab his attention. Xiao releases your nipple with a loud ‘pop!’ before looking up at you, his hand still squeezing, pinching, and rolling your nipples. He gives you a look before reaching up to your face and pinching your cheeks with a faint smile on his face, “Someone’s impatient.” Xiao teases, causing you to do a doubletake. Since when did Xiao like teasing you?

“Xiaooooo~ Please fuck me, don’t keep me waiting!” You pouted, lightly tugging on his pants. Xiao sighs in defeat and gets off your bed before beginning to strip every single thing that was on his body. From his tight-fitted shirt to his shoes, his pants, and accessories. All Xiao was left now were his black boxers. You saw his muscles rippling with the slightest movements; Xiao was lean and thin, but his shoulders were broad. His gorgeous skin was littered with scars, some were old, and some were new.

Xiao knelt on your bed and crawled over to where you lay. You reached up and began to trace over Xiao’s scars; Xiao placed his hand over yours and laced his fingers with yours before pulling your hand up to his face and pressing a soft kiss on your knuckles. Xiao leans over you and presses his lips back onto yours while reaching down to your underwear. You quickly lifted yourself up to let Xiao remove your underwear, not breaking the kiss while doing so. Once Xiao was able to take your underwear off, his hands immediately went to your lower region. You whimpered softly at the feeling of Xiao’s fingers poking at your entrance before slipping inside.

“I would much rather have you stretch me out with your cock than your fingers,” You sulked, letting out quiet moans each time he thrusts his pointer and middle finger in and out of your heat.

“You’re quite tight,” Xiao mutters, scissoring your hole, making you gasp at the feeling of being stretched out by his fingers. “Even the oni can’t stretch you out.” Xiao continues to plunge his fingers inside of you until you are in tears, begging him to just fill your insides up with his cock.

“Xiao! Who cares about whether Itto, Childe, Zhongli, or Diluc had stretched me out! Just fuck me already, please!” You whined, pulling at his arms.

Xiao lets out an audible hum, “If that’s what you want, then I guess that’s what I should give to you then.” Xiao pulled his fingers out of you and held them up for you to see. Xiao’s fingers were covered in your slick. Xiao stares at you right in the eyes before sticking his tongue out, licking his slicked-covered fingers. Your pupils were blown wide when Xiao cleaned your slick off of his fingers. A faint smirk appears on Xiao’s face when he sees the reaction on your face, feeling a little bit satisfied with getting a reaction out of you. Xiao reaches down to the waistband of his boxers and yanks his boxers off, tossing them to your bedroom floor.

The second that Xiao had pulled the waistband of his boxers off, his dick slapped his lower abdomen. The tip of his cock was red, pre-cum was oozing from the slit of his cock. You subconsciously licked your lips at the sight of Xiao’s pulsing member. Xiao grabs you by the fat of your thighs and pulls you close to him, the tip of his cock poking your entrance, smearing his pre-cum on your hole. You shuddered at the feeling of Xiao’s hot dick lightly rubbing against your exposed groin.

“Let me know if it hurts.” Xiao states; you nodded your head mutely, waiting for Xiao to stuff you with his cock.

Xiao grabs your right leg and tosses it over his shoulder, and keeps your left leg on your bed. Xiao holds onto the base of his shaft and lines up at your entrance, the bulbous head of his dick prods at your entrance. Xiao lets out a sharp breath while slowly inserting his dick into you. You bite down on your lower lip, and your head falls back to your pillows, feeling your walls clamp down around Xiao’s thick cock. Xiao rests his head on your shoulders, sinking more and more into your sweltering heat. The warmth of your hole almost made Xiao cum on the spot.

Xiao was able to bury his cock deep within you; his eyes rolled to the back of his skull from the immense pleasure he was feeling. Your chest was rising and falling at a fast pace because you were panting from the feeling of Xiao inserting his cock inside of you and feeling the entirety of his cock sheathed inside of you.

Xiao begins to ram his member inside of you slowly, his lips attaching to the base of your neck, and he begins to suck on the juncture of your neck. Xiao lets out a quiet moan, starting to pick up the pace of his thrusts. Your body jerked with each thrust; you tried to keep your moans and whines to a minimum while Xiao was plunging his cock deep inside of you. Xiao unlatches his lips from your neck before moving to the next area on your neck, proceeding to suck on the new spot on your neck, leaving a faint purple-blue bruise on your neck by sucking your neck.

You wrapped your legs around Xiao’s waist, pulling him closer to your body. You wrap your right arm around his shoulder while the left arm is snaked around his slim waist. An idea popped up in your mind when Xiao was plowing into your heat. Your left-hand hovers over Xiao’s buttcheeks; you place your hand on his buttcheeks before squeezing his cheeks. Xiao jerks against you, making the mushroom tip of his dick kiss your cervix. You squealed loudly when the bulbous tip of his cock punched that spot deep inside of you, causing the spongy walls of your insides to clamp down on his cock.

“W-What was that for?!” Xiao unlatches his lips from your neck and looks down at you with wide eyes, and his face is bright red. You couldn’t tell if his face was red because of the heat or if it was from the embarrassment that he felt whenever you squeezed his ass cheeks.

“Squishy.” You squeaked, letting out a tiny giggle. Xiao paused his thrusts to stare down at you in disbelief, not knowing what else to say or how else to respond to your comment.

“You squished my ass, only to comment on the squishiness of it?!” Xiao asks, looking at you incredulously. You nodded your head happily, squeezing your thighs around his waist, making Xiao thrust into you.

“You have a squishy butt, but it’s not as squishy as Zhongli’s bubble butt!” You giggled loudly when Xiao narrowed his eyes at your comment. You didn’t know if Xiao’s reaction was caused by your comment or if it was because you mentioned Zhongli’s butt. Before you could open your mouth to ask him what was wrong, Xiao tightens his grip around your ankles and starts plowing his beefy cock in and out of your entrance. You wailed and dug your nails into his pale butt cheeks, your body jerking with every thrust.

“Do not mention another man’s name or his ass while I’m balls deep inside of you!” Xiao growls, leaning down and pressing his lips on the spot under your jaws. He begins to mark you while forcing his member deep inside of you, the leaking tip of his cock repeatedly striking the most sensitive spots inside of you.

“I’m sorry, Xiao! I’m sorry!” You screeched, your face contorting with pleasure as the knot in your lower belly started to form and tighten each time the mushroom tip of his cock hit the sacred spot inside of you. Xiao’s grip around your ankle tightens, and his thrusts become even more erratic. The sound of wet skin slapping, labored breathing, whines, moans, groans, and yelps resonate throughout your bedroom. You were sure that the men were able to hear both you and Xiao.

“Fuck! I’m going to cum.” Xiao grunts deeply.

“I’m cumming! I’m cumming! Don’t stop, Xiao! Don’t stop!” You whined, tightening your thighs around Xiao’s waist. Xiao couldn’t contain his moans as he reached over to your wooden headboard and grabbed onto it before slamming his cock deep inside of you a few more times before he feels the pressure in his lower abdomen burst. Xiao lets out a loud gasp before collapsing on top of you, his cum filling you to the brim. You feel the knot in your lower stomach burst, making you clench around Xiao’s member before cumming around his now softening dick. Xiao breathes deeply before slowly pulling out of your cum-filled hole, collapsing right next to you on your bed.

“Holy shit.” You breathed, looking over at Xiao with wide eyes. Xiao snorted before wiping the sweat from your forehead with his thumb. Xiao pulls you into his arms, and you rest your head on his chest, snuggling up against Xiao. Xiao pressed a kiss on top of your head before resting up on one of your pillows and plushies. Wait, plushies.

“We just had sex on top of my plushies….” You trailed off, looking up at Xiao with wide eyes. Oh, your poor, poor plushies! They’re now traumatized and soiled with your and Xiao’s sweat and cum. Well, it looks like you’ll have to put all of them into the washer soon. And you’ll have to find a way to explain to Itto about what had happened to the shirt he had lent to you.

Note: Holy crap, part 3 of Crave is finally here!! I hope you all liked this part because part 3 is the longest "chapter" within Crave! I can't believe that I typed out 3.9k words of smut just for Itto himself ☠️ Anyway! I hope you all enjoyed this part! I am going to go to sleep now because I have church tomorrow! Yes, going to church right after I have typed out pure sin ☠️ For those who are wondering, I will be adding Aether, Heizou (and maybe the new male harbingers) to Crave soon! They'll be the last ones, though. I know this gets really annoying, but please keep in mind that I ONLY post on my Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and my AO3 (Aaliah_exo)! Nowhere else except Tumblr and AO3!

Taglist for "Various Genshin Men x Isekai'd!Reader" and my overall taglist: @xxkatsusjinsux, @urcatbf, @plumpkie, @crazyrichdaughter, @sucker-for-angst-and-fluff, @patata52, @honeybedo, @thedivinepriestress, @pencil-of-ashes, @samarill, @bakuhve, @yukima, @chaosinanutshell, @emperatris-rinaka, @neilify, @ksjjkthpjm, @jaisithebird, @mouchie, @emerald-smile, @jixlem, @the-blob-fish, @jiminscarmex, @bananazzzen, @thelost-in-time, @kryloxen, @ayolk, @tomansimp, @lordbugs, @c-camellias, @chihawari, @lilliansstuff, @zhongloml, @sweethcnvy, @wolf-chan2134, @simp4-fictional-men, @dai-tsukki-desu, @trash-queen-af, @tamayakii, @spo0k-mxchii, @hispasian-otaku, @stygianoir ((if you were once tagged and are now removed, it is because your settings for people to tag you in posts are not on)

Taglist is currently closed right now due to tagging limitations on Tumblr, Masterlist can be found [here]!

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skyfallslayer · 3 years ago

Text

It Was Supposed To Be Endgame (Part 1: Reunion)

(Bucky x Daughter!Reader, Steve x Child!Reader, Avengers x Child!Reader)

Author’s Notes: Just a heads up, this is part 3 of 1 of the ‘Paint It Black’ Series. Please read 'Over The Edge and A Civi, War’ that’s on my masterlist. This chapters a little more heart warming than what's about to happen next (*Evil Laugh*).

There's a reason I split this into two parts, and that was because I wanted to separate the fluff and the angst (And I guess to torture you guys a bit). So sorry if this seems short :(

Also, since this an AU, I combined the dialogue from Black Panther's post credit scene and the Bucky recruitment scene from Infinity War. Just because I thought it went well together :)

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summary: It's been two years on the run, and (Y/N) Barnes has finally been reunited with her father. But how long will that last?

MASTERLIST

Main Masterlist

Warning: Implied references to night terrors and minor angst. Read at your own risk

(Also, all gifs are NOT mine)

Bucky woke up once again in the middle of the night from your crying. He sighs tiredly, throwing the covers off his body, and staggers towards your crib. Your face was red, eyes full of tears as you squired out of the lilac blanket he wrapped around you. As carefully as he could, he picked you and held you close to his chest.

He shushes you softly and quietly, bouncing you a little. He muttered soothing words as he walked around the room. It was just you and your father inside the whole house, the rest of the family was away, and Steve unfortunately was out sick as well; And no matter how many times Bucky tries to get Steve just to stay over so he could keep an eye on the both of you guys, the blond kept on insisting that he didn’t want to get you sick. So Bucky, after many bickering fights of going back and forth, eventually lets it go.

He sighs again just as your cries calmed down. “Okay…” He breathes, looking down at you. He watches you stare back at him with your curious eyes, cooing quietly at him. He couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Okay, (Y/N). How about you sleep with your dad tonight?” He says, kissing the top of your hair.

He gently laid you down in the middle of the bed, before doing the same, even shifting his body to look at you better. He watches with a fond look as you try to wiggle around on your back to look at you too.

He snorts tiredly. “Do you have ants in your pants, or something?” He asks, reaching out to steady you. Your small hands quickly latch on, before you start gnawing on one of his fingers. His eyes widened in surprise, feeling small bumps in your gums that he hadn't noticed before. “Oh, now I see. No wonder you're so fussy. I’ll have to get you something to teethe on other than my hand.”

You made another cooing sound again, almost like you were responding to him, which made him feel bittersweet about this moment. He suddenly felt that cold and lonely feeling like the day your mother left. It was a horrible, stinging feeling deep in his chest.

Bucky only wishes he could give you a normal family. One where he didn’t have to give you over to his mother so he could work down at the factory long days for extra cash, or one where he didn’t have to rely on Steve when something came up. He hated how he had to rely on everyone for help. Hated how sometimes watching you sleep was the only ‘quality’ time he could have with you. All he wanted was to live a normal life with you. Was that too much to ask?

“And I wouldn’t have to worry about my numbers coming in.” He whispers, stroking your cheek slowly, trying to lull you back to sleep. “I’m sorry, (Y/N). I’m sorry you don’t have a mother. I’m sorry that I’m not around that much. I just want us to have a stable future. Maybe we’ll be able to be on our own one day, won’t that be nice?”

He watches your (Y/E/C) eyes start to drift close, body relaxing under your father’s touch. He shakes his head at himself. “What am I saying? I just need to enjoy my time with you before you're suddenly an adult. At least that’s what my mom keeps saying. Hmm?”

With another soft touch to your cheek, you eventually fell back asleep, leaving Bucky to kiss your forehead one more time. He stays close, and protectively, as he tries to let himself get some rest before the early morning sun.

“Goodnight, baby doll.”

He was awoken by three small children staring back at him, and the moment he started to stir and push himself up with his one good arm, they ran off in a fit of laughter. Bucky lets a small smile play on his face as he stands up to stretch. These last two years have gone by fast, and it was all worth it to have his mind fully free. He couldn’t wait to see you again. He wouldn’t have to worry about being triggered and hurting you like he had so many people.

He makes a move to step out of his small hut, taking in the fresh air and warm sun. It was so…

Peaceful.

But he was surprised when he found the King’s sister standing a few feet away. She hasn’t visited him in a while, so he wonders what the occasion is. He walks over, and she greets him with a kind smile.

“Good morning, Sergeant Barnes.” Shuri said. His title gives him a little more hope than the one HYDRA gave him, but still, he felt like he didn’t deserve to be called that since it’s been so long since the 40s.

“Bucky.” He corrected her, politely.

She nods in understanding. “How are you feeling?”

“Good.” Which was the wholehearted truth. However, he could tell something was off, but didn’t want to jump into any conclusions just yet. “Thank you.”

She smiles, and touches his shoulder. “Come.” Shuri says, walking away. “Much more for you to learn.”

There was suddenly a sinking feeling in his gut, and tries to wash it away as he took one last look at the golden sun. She guided him to a more secluded area, away from the rest of the civilians who lived near him, that should have been a dead giveaway for him; He should have known right away that something was wrong when he saw the Dora Milaje coming towards him, or that the literal King of Wakanda was standing right before him.

For once, instead of having a never ending smile bestowed on his face, Bucky actually finds himself frowning again. He didn’t even question anything as T’Challa stayed silent as one of his people placed a case on a log, opening it to something he wasn’t quite ready for.

He bites the inside of his cheek, keeping himself together. He knew he had the freedom to say ‘no’, but there was still a part of insecurity that was taking over yet again. He didn’t even dare look T’Challa in the eyes, he didn’t want to see the desperation he could sense on his face.

“Where’s the fight?” He asks, and couldn’t hide the slightest tremble at the end.

“It’s on its way.” T’Challa replies, sadly. “And so is Steve Rogers and his group, along with your daughter.” He actually got Bucky to look up at him at the mention of you, and felt pity. “I know this is not the reunion you expected, but this is all I can give you right now. This… enemy, is something I never expected before. Are you in, Mr. Barnes?”

Bucky swallows, hoping his day to come fight again wouldn't come so soon. But a promise to see everyone again, to see you again, was enough to put his fears behind.

“I’m in.”

////

You nervously tapped your foot against the floor of the Quinjet, you were anxious of what could be happening down below. You saw a lot of things over the years, but fighting aliens from another world took the cake for you. Or you could say Steve was fighting aliens. You were stuck behind in the jet for safety, which you guess you could understand. He was technically your guardian for the time being, but still. You are an assassin for crying out loud! You could hold your own. You had the super strength, speed, and reflexes. Sure you’re still trying to figure out how to willingly walk through walls, but you’ve been practicing!

You sighed, throwing your head back so it rested against the wall.

Maybe when dad’s better we can practice together. You wondered, maybe you could two-V-one with Uncle Steve or even Sam. Now that’ll be fun.

Right on cue, the rebels (a nickname you came up with after Steve and Natasha broke everyone out of the raft), came strolling back in with the last two people. One of them you haven’t seen in a few years.

“Alright, Sam. Let’s get this thing in the air.” Steve announces. “We gotta get Vision as far away as possible from these people.”

“Roger that, Cap.” Sam said, closing the bay door and starting the flying process.

“Why do they need Vision?” You asked, confusedly. When you got the distress call from the witch, you were all confused on why the Black Order was going after the android and not anybody else.

“The stone on his forehead. These people need to give it to their boss.” Natasha replies, taking a seat.

“But why? What’s so important about the stone?”

“We don’t know. Hopefully we won’t find out.”

“And we won’t. I won’t let them take it.” Wanda said, determination in her veins as she sets Vision in his seat. Her face soon softens upon seeing you. “(Y/N), you’ve gotten so big!”

“Hi, Wanda.” You said, smiling as she cups your cheek. The gestures kind of reminded you of your Aunts. “Long time no see.”

“It has been. How old are you now?”

“Ten.”

“Wow. Your father would be so happy when he sees you again.” She smiles too and looks over her shoulder to her lover. “Hey, Vis. This is Bucky’s kid I was telling you about.”

Vision gives you a fond look, and a small wave. “Hello.”

“Hi.” You reply, before facing Steve. “So what’s next, Uncle?”

You could see the wheels turning in his head. You knew he meant all business right now which meant this whole thing was super serious. You just hope this had a better ending than the Avengers’ civil war two years back.

“Home.” He says, which meant the only place you could think of. “We’re going to need all the help we can get. I can already tell this is going to be something big.”

////

The Avengers HQ is something you’ve heard stories about from the team, but never actually been to. Ever since Zemo dragged you into their civil war, you were immediately deemed as a traitor. Your father was left in Wakanda to help clear his mind, which left you in the care of his best friend. From there you met all the people you could trust.

Natasha was nice. She was very motherly towards you, and extremely patient. At the beginning she helped you fall back to sleep when nightmares plagued you with a sweet Russian lullaby, or she taught you little things about the modern world that’ll stay intact forever.

Then there was Sam Wilson, who was a very boisterous, but kind man. His stories and jokes got you to laugh, which was something that took a while for you to get back because of HYDRA.

And before they went their separate ways, you briefly met Scott Lang, Clint Barton, and Wanda Maximoff. Scott managed to home with only a house arrest, and even Clint got off with just going home to the family, all while Wanda went off to search for Vision.

So after those two were out of the picture, it was two long years of just you, Steve, Nat, and Sam. It was one shitty motel after another, but you somehow managed to stay hidden for a long time. And now, the only reason you are heading out of the shadows was apparently to stop a global threat. Which you still couldn’t wrap your head around. Aliens? Flying ships? Stones that held extraordinary powers? It was all too surreal (Your head almost exploded when they told you about an actual god on the Avengers).

Now you were standing side-by-side with the small squad, walking towards a man you were told was named James Rhodes, or Rhodey, aka War Machine. Apparently he was becoming your ally. All of you had stopped walking when Rhodey and -that jerk of a hologram- Ross faced you.

You watched as Steve gave the man a small glare. “Mr. Secretary.” He said, and you sensed the anger underneath it.

Ross looked dumbfounded as he marched over towards you and the group. “You got some nerve, I’ll give you that.”

“You could use some of that, right now.” Natasha quips, hiding her anger as well.

Ross almost scoffed at that, before his eyes landed on you. “Who the hell’s the kid?”

You stiffen a little, and opened your mouth to speak.

“She’s none of your concern.” Steve cuts in, holding his arm out in front of you. Ross already tried to take away your father, he wasn’t going to let him do that to you.

The secretary stayed quiet at that, before continuing on with the matter at hand. “The world’s on fire, and you think that all’s forgiven?”

“I’m not looking for forgiveness.” Steve replies, keeping his steady look. “And I’m way past asking for permission. Earth just lost your best defender. So we’re here to fight, and if you want to stand in our way, we’ll fight you too.”

Oh damn… You thought, holding back a laugh upon seeing Ross’ face. You forgot how stern and scary your Uncle can be sometimes, and the secretary was not going to have that.

You mentally scoffed. Good luck, dude.

Ross opens and closes his mouth before turning around to face Rhodey, you could see the smoke practically coming out of his ears. “Arrest them.” He said, calmly.

Rhodes nods. “All over it…” He swipes Ross away, completely fed up. “That’s a court-martial.” He seemed a little sad, but it vanished upon seeing an old face again. “It’s great to see you, Cap.”

Steve smiles, shaking his hand. “You too, buddy.”

Natasha steps forward and gives him a long overdue hug.

Rhodey looks around, happy as can be. “Wow.” He begins, taking in their appearances. “You guys… really look like crap. Must have been a rough couple of years.”

“Yeah, well the hotels weren’t exactly five stars.” Sam replies, smiling back.

“Especially that last one.” You add, remembering the literal holes in the walls, which made Sam chuckle.

Rhodey looks at you, puzzled. “Uh… do one of you have a kid I don’t know about?”

“She’s-” Steve begins, knowing your existence was going to be a long story, but before he could go on, a familiar voice broke through.

“I think you look great.” Bruce said, entering the room from the other side. Everyone around you seemed surprised by his entrance, which made him nervously laugh. “Yeah… I’m back.”

“Who’s he?” You whisper to Sam.

“Oh, well I never personally met him, but that's Dr. Banner. He turns into the big green guy.” Sam whispers back.

“Oh!” Your eyes light up. So this was another OG Avenger. How exciting.

Bruce seemed to have the same question Rhodey had, and gestures to you. “Who’s the kid?”

“I’m (Y/N) Barnes.” You reply, decided to speak for yourself on this one. The quicker you get acquainted, the faster you can stop whatever is coming.

“Barnes? Like… Steve’s friend?”

“It’s a long story. Which we’ll have to explain some other time. Right now we need to head somewhere safer and prepare for battle.” Steve said, already divicing a plan. “I already contacted King T’Challa of Wakanda. He’s going to help us out.”

You perked up at that, spinning on your heels so you're facing him fully. “Wait, we’re going to get my Wakanda?”

“We are.” Steve replies, earning a huge grin from you. He could help but feel the same way as well. “He already informed me he’s getting your father.”

Now this wasn’t exactly how you thought your reunion would go, but seeing you dad after all this time was something you desperately needed. And knowing that it was probably free from HYDRA’s controls by now made this reunion even better.

“Hey, look at that, Firecracker. You can finally see your dad.” Sam said, which you playfully stuck your tongue at him from the nickname.

“Wait…. Tony’s in space, Wizards real, Barnes has a kid and he’s in Wakanda?” Bruce said, rubbing his temples. “Okay, you guys are going to have to explain what’s been happening while I’ve been gone.”

His confusion made everyone laugh, as Steve replies that he’ll explain everything as long as he tells them where he’s been for the past two years.

////

You were met with broad daylight when the bay door opened, you stayed close to Steve and Natasha like you always did, and followed them to meet T’Challa and the Dora Milaje.

“Seems like I’m always thanking you for something.” Steve said, shaking the King’s hand.

In the corner of your eye you saw Bruce bow, making Rhodey smirk. You quickly realize that the ex-military man was a jokester.

“Uh, we don’t do that here.” T’Challa said, making you stifle a laugh at the look of disbelief and betrayal on the Doctor’s face. “So how big of an assault do we expect?”

“Uh, sir, sir!” Bruce said, as they all started walking for the main building. “You should expect quite a big assault.”

“How are we looking?” Natasha asked.

“You have my King’s guards, the Buddha tribe, and the Dora Milaje.” T’Challa said, before pointing to someone in the distance. “And-”

“A semi-stable one hundred year old man.” Your father said, strolling over with a smile you haven't seen since your time in the 40s.

Steve copied his expression, giving him a big hug and a pat on the back. “How have you been, Buck?”

“Uh… not bad for the end of the world.” He jokes, his happy face never faltering. Which was a good sign for you. You chuckled and started running towards him with your arms out.

“Dad!” You shout, watching Steve step out of the way for you.

“(Y/N)!” Bucky said, bending over a little to envelope you completely.

He takes you all in as a new sense of joy that he could not express enough. He takes your face in his hands, not scared of using his left anymore as he brushes some loose strands out of your face. You look so much bigger than the last time he saw you, a little mature in your ten year old face.

“How are you?” He asks, as you touch his hands to keep them in place.

“I’m good. I had fun with Uncle Steve and his friends.” You reply, honestly.

“I bet you did.”

T’Challa clears his throat to get your attention. “Not to break this tender moment up, but we have to get moving. You guys can talk more inside.”

“Right. Of course.” Bucky said, holding you close as you all went inside.

////

Bucky kept his arm slinged around your shoulder as you two stepped off to the side for some privacy, one where you could overlook the city. You guys still have some time before actions must be taken.

You took this moment to take in his appearance. He looked so much livelier and healthier, and was sporting a new arm that no longer had the sins of the Winter Soldier written upon it. He didn’t even mind touching you with it, so that was automatically a good sign for you. He was even smiling and laughing like you haven't heard in such a long time. It felt good to know that he was going to be okay in the long run.

“Hey, Dad?” You said, curiously.

“Yeah?” He said, his eyes flickering from the scenery to you.

“Are they all gone?” You needed to be sure. You couldn’t imagine another year without him.

The hum he gave you as he pulled you closer was another good sign. “Yeah they are. I’m free, doll. What about you? How are you feeling?”

You give a warm look, comforting his fears of HYDRA’s control on you. “They don’t work. T’Challa suggested we wait a year to try them out, thinking that maybe they’ll just go away because I’m a kid, and he was right. I’m free as well.”

His chest felt warm, and kissed the top of your head. “That’s wonderful to hear. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks, dad. I’m happy for you too.” You reply, but your smile falters a little. “Although… I still have a lot of night terrors…”

He frowns too. “Well… unfortunately that's understandable. I do too.”

He strokes your hair softly, you almost felt like you could fall asleep right then and there. The warming and loving touch of your father (and no offense to) was nothing compared to Steve or the others. Although you greatly appreciate all they’ve done for you, you would choose to cuddle up next to your dad any day of the week.

You nodded into his touch, a cloud of sadness floating around the both of you. HYDRA’s done so much to you both, and even though their controls on you are gone, their impact has left a lot of damage behind. Damage that was going to take time to fix.

Which is what your dad promised you next.

“(Y/N).” He begins, his voice soft and gentle, just like he always is around you. “I don’t know how long, but we’re going to get through this. Whenever this whole… alien invasion is done, you and me are going to settle down a pick off right where left off.”

He gives you a bittersweet smile, and you could see his eyes glazing over just like yours. Now this was the dad you knew before HYDRA.

Bucky continues, “I’m not perfect, (Y/N). I wasn’t perfect back then, and I’m even more imperfect now, but god knows that’s not to stop me from doing my best to help my daughter. When you need me, I’m going to be there for you, I promise. Seventy years is where I put my foot down from being away from you.”

His words broke you, as you let out a small sob and a few tears before you threw yourself at him. You buried your face into his chest, his arms latching on around you just like yours.

You suddenly felt so small again.

You suddenly felt like your age, and not the older and mature facade you had to put on in order to survive.

You could finally be you just like you meant to be, and not a weapon for killing.

You sobbed again, squeezing him closer. “I-I’m not perfect either, d-dad. I want y-you to know that you’re n-not alone. I’m going to help you too. W-We’re going to get thr-through this… to-together.”

You felt droplets fall on top of you head, and your sensitive ears could pick up that he was crying quietly himself.

“I hold you to it, baby girl.” He said, placing another kiss on your head.

“I love you, dad.”

“And I love you too, (Y/N). Now-” He pulls back, wiping his cheeks clean as well as you own, and even leaned into his touch again. Determination flashed in his blue eyes as he said, “Now let’s go win this thing so we go home.”

////

And that’s what you planned on doing.

You and the others start devising a plan to protect Vision and fight against the Black Order and Thanos. You and your friends were determined to win this. You were determine not to let them get the mind stone cause who the fuck knows what’s going to happen if they do.

It didn’t take long after the strategy meeting was coming to an end that pieces of a ship started crashing into Wakanda’s shield. They exploded on contact, rocking the city to its core, but the team was not going to let that scare them just yet. They were the Avengers for crying out loud. It was time for them to do their job.

“God, I love this place.” Your dad said as the two of you looked out the window.

Maybe we should settle down here. You almost suggested, because you have to admit, it was a cool thing to see. But it wasn’t going to last forever, and you feared that may be soon.

Luckily Steve’s voice broke through your unnerving thoughts.

“We gotta get moving.” He replies, knowing that the clock was ticking fast.

“No, it’s too late. We’ve gotta destroy the stone.” Vision said, weakly as he pushed himself upright on the table.

You could see the panic in Wanda and many others as they tried to get him to lie back down, so much that even Natasha told him, “Vision, get your ass back onto the table.” Which you would have snickered at under better circumstances.

“We will hold them off.” T’Challa announced, ready to leave as he nodded to the Captain for approval.

“Wanda, as soon as that stone’s out of his head, you blow it to hell.” Steve told her.

“I will.” She said, knowing what she has to do once the process is done.

T’Challa starts to round up everybody while barking up orders. “Evacuate the city, engage all defenses-” He points to your Uncle. “And get this man a shield. And everybody else who needs weapons.”

The world started to move rapidly around you, knowing that this was indeed going to be the biggest fight you've ever been in (And probably everybody else too).

One of the guards opened a weapons case in front of your father, showing off the many gun choices they had to offer. He quickly grabs what he needs, and that’s when you decide to speak.

“I’ll stay here.” You reply, making him pause. He didn’t expect you to say that. He expected you to be stubborn and argue, but not that, so you continued your reason on why, “I’ll stay here to help protect Vision. That’s… probably what you want me to do anyway. You know… off the actual battlefield.”

You knew he would probably want you out of harm's way, so staying here was your best option. Besides, at least you're being useful by providing protection for your friends. He stares back at you emotionless, which kind of scared you, but that all changed in the next moment.

“Here.” He says, giving you a small handgun. You looked at him in surprise, confusion too which he took in check. “I know you can use it, and I know the super strength won’t always be enough, so… just use it when you feel like you need to.”

You examined it along with the magazines for it, before giving your dad a warm smile. “Thanks, Dad. I’ll be careful.”

“I know you will.” He said, returning the expression. He leans in and gives you a quick kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be back. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

You watch him and the others leave, and you nearly missed the way your heart sank to your stomach. You just brushed it off as the nervous jitters, but little did you…

That was the last time you were going to speak to him again.

(TBC in ‘PART 2: GOODBYE’)

Taglist: @vicmc624

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writertitan · 4 years ago

Text

Heat

pairing: levi x reader

word count: 2660

themes: modern au, smut, sexual content!! mature and 18+ readers only!!

For the past two days, your radiator had been making a god-awful noise whenever it turned on. Had being the keyword, until the early hours of today when it decided it couldn’t take it anymore and died on you completely. The winter morning air was frosty and you had woken up in the middle of the night to a loud and sad sputtering noise as the radiator said its goodbye, leaving you in a bit of a conundrum when you quietly got out of bed to try and see if there was any saving it. There wasn’t, and you were internally freaking out.

Now here you were, glancing at a phone screen that read 3:23am with the chill of winter already seeping into your little apartment. The sleet outside didn’t help either; that awful mix of snow and rain was only bound to make your apartment even colder.

You weren’t the only one who had been startled awake either, and you frowned in dismay when you saw Levi sitting up in bed with an annoyed, still sleepy look on his face.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked in a husky voice, making you feel even worse. Levi was an insomniac by nature - tonight he’d been getting an okay night’s rest, only to be interrupted by your damn radiator crapping out on you.

“It’s my stupid radiator. It broke,” you whined, voice not even above a whisper as you gave it a pathetic kick with your feet.

You heard Levi sigh in exasperation and looked to see him pulling back the covers for you as a silent beckon to come back to bed. You didn’t need to be told twice now that goosebumps had already started flourishing on your exposed skin, and immediately snuggled up next to him to preserve warmth.

“I’m just cuddling for a minute,” you murmured, stroking his bare torso. “I’m gonna grab us some actual pajamas and some more blankets. I doubt my fucking landlord is going to respond to a text at three in the morning to come take a look at the damn thing.”

Levi made a grunt of disapproval and held you to him tighter, shaking his head as he nuzzled it into your neck. The motion made butterflies swirl to life in your stomach and you giggled at the ticklish feeling of his bedhead, kissing it sweetly as your arms wrapped around him.

“It’s gonna get real cold real fast,” you warned, “and we’re hardly dressed for that.” Levi only had his boxers on and you weren’t much better off, clad in only an old shirt of his and your panties.

“Don’t you know any basic survival skills?” he said suddenly, his voice and his eyes taunting you, finally gazing up at you from his place at your neck. “We should be shedding clothes. Helps preserve warmth better.”

“Bullshit,” you scoffed, but the idea was already planted, and you knew exactly what Levi was getting up to when his hand strayed from your hip to caress your thigh instead. He was so warm, his skin and his touch, and it made your head spin.

“I’m being serious, you little brat,” he mumbled, his lips grazing your neck as he spoke. “I know exactly how to keep us warm in your shithole apartment.”

His little jab at your apartment didn’t hurt. He’d been asking you when you were moving out for months now and had been asking you to stay over at his place more often, using his, “My apartment is better than yours” excuse each time.

You instead answered him by pressing up against him even more, hands exploring his torso and then moving up to his hair to pull his face towards yours. In an instant your lips were captured in a heated kiss, tongues and teeth clashing as Levi maneuvered to get on top. He straddled you easily, a growing erection prodding at your stomach as his hands gathered the hem of his borrowed shirt on you to pull it up over your breasts and leave the fabric bunched up above them. His lips broke from yours and you whined, trying to follow him as he sat up fully, but his hands pinned you down by your shoulders.

A blush rouged your cheeks as you watched him scan over your body, hands slowly moving from your shoulders to cup your breasts once he was sure you wouldn’t move, and you rolled your hips up slowly to tease him. You saw that primal glint in his eye appear as you did that, his gaze finally flickering back to yours, but he shook his head.

“Don’t move,” he demanded, hands moving over your nipples that had perked up from both arousal and the cold, his eyes examining the goosebumps appearing over your body. He gently tugged his shirt off of you completely, discarding it amongst your pillows before his hands returned on their journey along your skin.

“Keep me warm,” you whispered, voice saturated with desire as you watched him. You stayed still apart from your wandering hands that found his chest, his abdomen, and then finally, the tent in his boxers. He swallowed thickly but didn’t say a word, hands moving from your breasts to your hips in one languid motion, fingertips toying with the elastic of your panties.

“Levi,” you breathed out, “...please...” That familiar smirk ghosted at his lips and, after what felt like an eternity ,a hand slipped under the fabric of your panties. You groaned in satisfaction and rewarded him with a gentle squeeze between his legs, his own groan mixing with yours. His free hand grabbed the blankets that were curled around your waists and tugged them up so the two of you were now completely covered and shielded from the increasingly cool air in your bedroom, the confined space somehow even more erotic. It was only the two of you, nobody else existed underneath those covers, the world was all but gone, and you were grateful for your little bubble as your breathing grew heavier and your mewls got louder.

Two of his fingers danced around your clit, sliding between your slick folds as he played with you and you played with him. Your hand had worked its way beneath the cloth of his boxers to stroke his length slowly, matching his pace with you as you stared into each other’s eyes hungrily, lips parted and chests heaving for air.

When Levi finally pressed into your clit with both fingers, your back arched and your eyes fluttered shut, pleasure piercing through you. His lips found yours again in another passionate kiss, lips fumbling together as the two of you stroked each other, Levi growing harder in your hand as your fingers trailed from his base to his tip, thumb gently pressing against the head of his cock occasionally. Moans were stifled into the kiss as you parted your lips and allowed his tongue to find yours, each of you needy and writhing in the other’s hand. Levi broke away for air and you gasped out to fill your lungs as well, but your lips found his neck only seconds later and your legs nimbly swathed around his hips to pull him closer. The hand that wasn’t around him trailed up so your fingers could get lost in his hair, a lock of it twirled around your finger as you nipped and suck at the most sensitive spot at Levi’s neck.

“Fuck,” he grunted, hips bucking into you when your teeth grazed along his flushed skin, the whispered curse only fueling you.

“Off, please,” you pleaded with him against his neck, referring to the thin fabric still separating your groins. You heard him whine when your hand slipped out of his boxers to tug them down around his knees, letting him kick them off the rest of the way. You also couldn’t help the little whimper that left you when his hand did the same to you, both of you exposed to the other now.

Levi didn’t waste any time in taking hold of his length and guiding it to your folds, earning a loud moan of pleasure from you as he slid himself along you, tip of his cock pressing teasingly to your clit. There was no need or desire to bother to stifle the needy whine of his name as he rubbed his shaft against you, the pleasure almost overwhelming you when his head ducked down to take a breast into his warm mouth. A string of curses left your lips and you barely registered his free hand moving down as well, only noticing when a finger slipped inside you with no warning.

Again your back arched and you writhed beneath him, and the peculiar sensation of a finger in you and a cock rubbing your clit, rather than the other way around, had you seeing stars.

“Fuck, you’re wet,” Levi mumbled against your breast, a string of saliva trailing his lips as he came up for air again. His eyes were half-lidded, clouded with lust, both of you on cloud nine. Your hands kept busy and stroked his skin, both of you showcasing a slight sheen of sweat from the intense heat you’d created in your little cocoon of blankets. There wasn’t a single coherent thought in your head as your lips crashed into his again, needy as ever as your hips squirmed and bucked.

“Levi,” you whined against his mouth, letting him swallow his name.

“Use your words,” he teased back, adding a second finger to pump into you while his length slipped into your folds.

But you could barely sound out his name, let alone form a coherent sentence. He knew this was exactly the case and got off on it, leaving you to mewl and whine and writhe under him as you scrambled to get it together.

“Want you inside of me,” you gasped out finally, bucking your hips up roughly as his fingers curled inside of you.

Levi’s lips were at your ear in an instant, breath hot as it fanned the side of your face. “I am inside of you.”

“Your cock,” you nearly cried out, legs spread wide and heels dug into the mattress as you tried to find the balance to lift your hips into his. “Want your cock inside of me.”

And Levi didn’t need to be told twice. His fingers left you in an instant and, before you could protest, he filled you up by slamming into you roughly, already almost to the hilt. Your legs enveloped his waist as a groan scratched out of your throat, nails digging into his upper arms as he waited and stretched you. Both of you swore loudly, hips bucking into each other, and you pressed your forehead to Levi’s and rolled your hips to let him know you wanted him to move. He knew you like the back of his hand, knew what every action meant, knew what you were telling him without having to actually tell him. Just like he knew all of that, he knew exactly what kind of rhythm to fall into, already relentlessly pounding into you once you were adjusted to him. It was slower at first, with Levi putting in the effort to almost completely pull out before pushing back in, over and over, skin slapping against skin as he did so. The erotic sounds from your throat were nonstop now, one moan melting into the next, and Levi’s own noises soon joined with yours as he picked up speed. Your hips met his effortlessly, bodies in sync with one another, the familiarity apparent in the way you just knew each other.

Sweat slicked your forehead and matted your hair to it, Levi’s appearance mirroring yours, the heat almost unbearable if not for the knowledge of the cold and biting air that threatened to penetrate your bubble. His hips rolled into yours, entire body pressed to yours now with no room for even an inch of space between your skin; you didn’t know where you ended and he began, and you didn’t want to know. Being connected like this, you were a single being, striving for the same jaw-dropping, toe-curling goal.

Levi gripped one of your thighs to push your knee almost to your chest, changing your position just enough for him to bury himself deeper and hit the spot that made the coil in your stomach tighten instantly. His name left your lips repeatedly, the only thing you remembered, the only thing that mattered in that moment. Levi, Levi, Levi…

He pecked your lips between the little whimpers you gave him, leaving you absolutely breathless, so close to finally reaching the edge. One of his hands forced itself between your colliding hips to give your clit attention, the touch of his fingertips catapulting you closer to your orgasm, unable to resist for much longer.

“Fuck...Levi...close…” you panted into his mouth, hands alternating between gripping his hair, gripping his shoulders, gripping the sheets.

“Me too,” he gasped out in a low murmur. His free hand cupped your face to pull you in for another deep kiss while his fingers worked your clit, dancing around it sometimes, and then rubbing it directly, always in those slow, tantalizing circles. He nipped at your lower lip, whispering the word you needed to hear so badly into your parted lips.

“Come.”

Between his needy kisses and his fingers and his throbbing cock inside of you, with Levi so unyielding and constant with everything he did, never faltering, it threw you over the edge into an intense orgasm, walls squeezing around him as you cried into his lips that were still smothered into yours. Your thighs pressed into his hips to keep him there inside you and you shuddered in delight when he came only moments later, both of his strong hands grabbing your hips and pinning them down so he could ride his high out, right into you.

It took several more moments before the two of you could calm down, hips eventually lulling to stillness so he could rest on top of you, nearly putting his whole weight on you. But it felt good, it felt so good to feel him on you, in you, both of you catching your breath in the stuffy enclosure of your blankets. His mouth pressed a final kiss to yours before finding another favorite place to be - at the curve of your neck, to pepper short, endearing pecks to your skin.

Levi didn’t make any moves to pull out of you so you stayed in that position, reveling in the afterglow of your orgasms, while you stroked his hair and breathed him in, head tilted so he could have full access to the expanse of your neck.

“I guess you were right,” you whispered with a smile, eyes closed. Levi hummed in question and you giggled, a hand caressing his lower back. “We did need to shed clothes to stay warm.”

That earned a chuckle out of Levi but he didn’t respond right away. Instead, he continued leaving kisses along your neck, slowly pulling out of you and shifting so he could be at your side instead of on top of you.

“I’m always right,” he finally said, pulling you into his chest to snuggle, “Just like I’m right about you getting the fuck out of this shitty apartment.” His arm kept itself wrapped around your shoulders even when you swatted his chest, his other arm resting happily at your hip. You traced his chest with your fingertips, legs intertwining as sleep began to overtake you, the exhaustion of sex heavily seeping into your bodies.

“So you would rather have me on the streets with no home to go back to,” you mumbled jokingly, sleepily, and then snickered when Levi’s scoff fills the air.

“You’d have a home, brat.”

You shivered as Levi adjusted the blankets to let some fresh air in, the coldness cracking through at last, but your shivers were easily abated by Levi nuzzling into your hair and pulling you closer, fingertips dancing over your back to soothe you to sleep.

“Love you,” you mumbled, moving your head so you could press your ear against his chest to hear his steady heartbeat. You were already drifting off, warm and content and blissful, but you didn’t miss the quiet, “Love you, too.”

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triptuckers · 4 years ago

Text

Like a dream - Kaz Brekker

Request: yes “Hello dear! Could I request an x reader with Kaz Brekker where he and the reader touch for the first time? I know that his touch aversion is a big deal so I imagine touching for the first time is a huge goal.” Pairing: Kaz Brekker x reader Summary: You had a dream in which you felt Kaz’ fingers on your skin, and it felt real but too good to be true. Until you tell Kaz about your dream the next morning. Warnings: mentions of Kaz’ touch aversion but that’s it Word count: 2K A/N: I still cannot get over the fact that freddy is the PERFECT kaz everyday I wake up and go hmmm yea he’s the perfect kaz <3 enjoy reading!

Nights off in Ketterdam are rare. Normally, you always run off to do whatever activities you couldn’t do on a daily basis. But tonight, you’re tired. You don’t want to waste a rare night off by sleeping.

But given you’re too tired to actually do anything, and too stubborn to go to bed, you’re currently sitting on the couch in Kaz’ office. You’re curled up on one side and reading a book.

Or rather, you’re trying to read a book. You keep re-reading the same words and occasionally your chin drops to your chest. But you fight off your tired body, telling yourself you should enjoy this rare peaceful moment in the Barrel.

Kaz is sitting at his desk, frowning as he looks over several detailed maps of the city, silently mouthing words as he’s thinking. Every once in a while, you lower your book to sneak a glance at him. He’s so concentrated he doesn’t notice you. At least, you don’t think he does.

Every time you look at him, Kaz feels your eyes on him. He then waits a minute or so before looking your way.

Kaz rarely has a good night’s sleep, and everyone knows he’s not the one to just take naps during the day. He can tell you’re not like him. More than once you’d fallen asleep on his couch, and he doubts tonight is going to be any different.

After a couple more minutes of you trying to read but not turning a page of your book, Kaz speaks up.

‘You can stay here tonight, if you’d like.’ he says.

You look up to see him looking at the maps in front of him. You smile and shake your head, though he doesn’t see it.

‘No, it’s fine.’ you say. ‘I’ll just go to my own room before I fall asleep.’

Kaz nods and you turn your attention back to the book in your hands. Though you’re tired, you don’t feel like going to your own room just yet. Moments like these with Kaz are rare, and you intend to enjoy every minute of alone time you can get with him.

Most of the times it’s hard to get his mind off business even when it’s just the two of you. A lot of the conversations you have somehow always end up to be about whatever job he was planning in his head.

But moments like these had always been your favorite. Both you and Kaz just doing separate things, but still enjoying each other’s presence. You wished every night could be like this.

Your eyes move slower and slower across the page, looking at the words but not remembering them. Your blinking turns into shutting your eyes for several seconds until eventually, sleep takes over.

When Kaz doesn’t hear from you or feel your eyes on him for a while, he looks up at you. His features soften when his eyes fall on you, asleep on the couch, still holding the book you were reading in your hand.

He takes the small watch out of his pocket. You fought sleep off longer than he thought you would.

Kaz stands up and walks over to you. He carefully takes off your boots, trying not to wake you. After placing them on the ground next to the couch, he takes the book out of your hands, marks the page and sets it aside as well. He shrugs off his coat and places it over your body as a blanket.

You stir and mumble a very sleepy ‘m not tired’, which makes Kaz smile. Soon after the words left your lips, your breathing turns slow and steady, and Kaz makes his way to the sink to was his face and hands before getting ready for bed as well.

He takes his time as he slowly tugs off the gloves and washes his hands. Kaz splashes some water in his face and runs a hand through his hair. When he crosses the office to get to his room, he stops to look at you one last time.

You look very peaceful, asleep on his couch and with his coat covering the majority of your body. He walks over to you and notices that one of your hands is on the couch next to your head.

You knew of his touch aversion, and Kaz is convinced he couldn’t find anyone else who was as patient as you are. You’d been together for quite some time, but hadn’t done as much as holding hands. You’d never even felt each other’s skin.

Often, Kaz felt guilty about it. You both had human needs and desires, and he’d told you time and time again you should just find someone else who could give you what he couldn’t. But you always smiled and told him you’d rather wait a thousand years for him, than leave him for someone else only because they would be able to touch you.

You’d tell him touch was just one form of a love language. And his love language simply wasn’t touch. You'd tell him about all the times he’d shown you he loved you without touching you. Looking out for you, having your back on jobs, small gifts or even just bringing you coffee in the morning.

But now that he’s looking at you, Kaz feels yet again guilty. He wants to give you everything you want, he wants to touch you, but he just couldn't. Every time he’d touched someone’s skin, it had almost catastrophic results for him.

His eyes focus on your hand as he thinks of you. He wants to touch you, to feel your skin.

After standing there for what feels like an eternity, Kaz slowly inches closer to you and reaches out a hand towards yours. He takes a few deep breaths in, trying to calm himself and pushing the memories away.

He lets his index finger hover above your hand. And then he slowly lowers his finger, until his finger tip touches the palm of your hand. Kaz takes a deep breath and softly traces his finger across the palm of your hand.

While still sleeping, you unknowingly curls your pinky around his finger.

Kaz slowly pulls away, but with a smile on his face. It wasn’t much, but he didn’t have a panic attack, he didn't faint, he didn’t completely lose it. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

Feeling somewhat relieved, Kaz enters his room to go to sleep as well.

When you wake up the next morning, the first thing you notice is Kaz’ coat. It smells like him, and it makes you smile to yourself. You know this is something he’d never admit to doing if he was around others. He only ever let his guard down around you.

You get up, wrapping his coat around you as you tiptoe over to the door to his room. You carefully open it, trying to make as little noise as possible. Kaz is till fast asleep, sprawled out on his stomach. You resist the urge of snuggling up next to him and close the door again.

After putting on your boots and leaving Kaz’ coat behind, you head downstairs to get a pot of coffee and two mugs. Luckily it’s not that busy this early in the morning, and no one notices your messy hair or the fact you’re still in last night clothes. If anyone would see you, you just knew they would tease you about it for the rest of the week.

You head back up the stairs, holding the coffee in one hand and the two mugs in the other. You can hear stumbling in some of the rooms you pass on your way up as the residents of the Slat starts to wake up.

Upon arriving at Kaz’ floor, you push the door open with your shoulder. While you were downstairs, Kaz had woken up. He’s standing next to his desk and putting on his gloves.

‘Morning.’ you say as you walk over to the desk and set the coffee and the mugs down. ‘I was early, so it’s still fresh.’

You sit down in the chair in front of his desk and pour the coffee in the mugs. Kaz sits down behind his desk as you hand him his coffee. You take a sip of the warm drink and close your eyes.

‘You always do that.’ Kaz points out. You open your eyes to look at him. ‘I always do what?’ you say. ‘Closing your eyes when you take that first sip of coffee in the morning.’ he says. ‘Well, what can I say, everyone needs their coffee in the morning, so why not enjoy it?’ you say.

Kaz takes a sip of his coffee and pulls one of the maps he had been studying toward him. At the sight of his gloved fingers, you suddenly remember last night.

‘I dreamt about you last night.’ you say. ‘Hmm did you?’ mumbles Kaz as he looks at the map.

‘Yea.’ you say. ‘I dreamt you touched my hand, without gloves.’

Kaz looks up at you but you’re focused on your hands. You’re tracing one of you fingers over the palm of your hand.

‘You traced your finger over my hand, like that.’ you say, repeating the motion. ‘It felt so real, for a moment after I woke up, I thought it wasn't a dream. But that’s a stupid thing to think.’

‘It’s not stupid.’ says Kaz. ‘Because it wasn’t a dream.’

You finally look up at him. He looks at you in that same calm way he always looks at you. Your eyes widen as you realise what he’d just said.

‘It wasn’t a dream?’ you say, repeating his words. ‘But why- how?’

Kaz shrugs. ‘You seemed so peaceful last night. I couldn’t resist.’ he says.

You start to grin after hearing his words, making him raise his eyebrows in question at you.

‘Kaz Brekker, you couldn’t resist touching someone’s skin?’ you say. ‘You never touch someone’s skin, not even mine, and now you’re telling me last night you couldn’t resist it?’

Kaz takes another sip of his coffee, as you’re waiting for his answer.

‘I can’t help but to let down my walls around you.’ says Kaz. ‘You’re the only one who has ever seen my hands.'

‘I’m going to count that as a love confession.’ you say and Kaz shakes his head but chuckles as well.

‘I’m proud of you, Kaz.’ you say after a while. ‘That must have been everything but easy for you.’

‘It certainly wasn’t easy.’ admits Kaz. ‘But I’m willing to try and see how far I can go. For you.’

You smile and take a sip of your coffee. The two of you finish your coffee in silence, enjoying each other’s company before the daily chaos of the Slat starts. You’re looking out the window, your chin resting on your hand.

‘Y/N?’ says Kaz, getting your attention, and you turn to face him. Your eyes follow his line of sight and you notice he’s taken his gloves off.

‘Kaz.’ you say, gentle but firm. ‘You do not have to do anything you don’t want to or aren’t comfortable with.’

‘I know.’ says Kaz, still looking at his hands. ‘But I trust you.’

You watch his hands as one of them slowly inches closer to your hand on the table. Neither of you is saying anything, the both of you just silently watching your hands.

And then you feel Kaz’ fingers brush over yours. It’s only a few seconds, and then he pulls away again, immediately pulling his gloves back on. You smile as you look at your fingers, trying to hold the moment of the feeling of his fingers against yours.

‘It’s not much but-’ ‘It’s enough for me.’ you say, interrupting him.

Kaz looks at you and you smile at him. ‘You are enough for me.’ you say. ‘This is all I ever want, Kaz, you’re all I want.’

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rules Here’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Marit

#*sobbing* kaz my beloved <3 <3 #there's nothing I wouldn't do for him #kaz brekker #shadow and bone #grishaverse #kaz brekker x reader #kaz brekker x you #Kaz Brekker fanfiction #Kaz Brekker fanfic #kaz brekker fanfics #kaz brekker fic #kaz brekker fics #kaz brekker oneshot #kaz brekker oneshots #shadow and bone fanfiction #shadow and bone fanfic #shadow and bone fanfics #shadow and bone fic #shadow and bone fics

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avenirdelight · 4 years ago

Text

Number Seven | PART 2

Jack Grealish

Part 1 | Part 3

It didn't come home.

Jack couldn't describe the feeling he was feeling right now, all he knew was that he was heartbroken and completely devastated. His chest just felt so heavy and there was a lump suffocating his throat that he just couldn't shake away.

They lost the Euro final. They hoped that today was going to end in a sweet victory, but it turned out that they needed to swallow the hard reality that they couldn't bring the trophy home.

The atmosphere in Wembley was strange, there was immense sadness hanging in the air. The fans were silent and a lot of them had even left their seats as soon as the penalty shootout ended, so the players and staff were giving the lap of appreciation to the ones that were patient enough to stay and share the heartbreaking moment with them.

Jack quickly scanned the stands when they were approaching the family stands and could easily find who he was looking for.

In an England shirt number seven, she stood proudly right there beside his friends, giving him a round of applause to show some appreciation to the amazing team that had done the country proud, especially to the player she was representing.

Jack saw her looking at him and giving him a smile, but he just couldn't smile back as his chest felt heavier and heavier. He eventually looked away from her, feeling too ashamed to be under her gaze despite the distance separating them.

He felt like he had failed everybody. He had failed her, the one who had always been beside him through this camp and motivating him to keep going. He was disappointed in himself for not being able to win it and make everyone's dreams come true.

The players were allowed to go in the stands and meet their family and friends after the event was done, and Jack was having mixed feelings about it. Having some comfort from them would be nice, but he was covered in a blanket of guilt and it was just so hard for him to be proud of himself right now. He didn't want to present this version of him in front of them, especially not to her.

But they all welcomed Jack with open arms. Jack fell to his parents' embrace; they couldn't stop telling him how proud they were of him. His siblings gave him the biggest hugs and the brightest smiles. His friends gave him hugs and pats on his back, telling him to chin up and giving him other kind words to cheer him up. He greeted them one by one. Patrick, Edmund, Laura, Joe, Brad... And then there was only her left.

She was standing there looking at him with a fond gaze and his lips perked up into a sheepish smile. He froze right there for a second, wondering what he wanted more, to fall into her warm embrace and shed a tear or two on her shoulder, or to vanish from this place.

Jack was tight-lipped. Most of the time he always knew what to say but now not even a single word crossed his mind. There was only a simple thank you and sorry at the tip of his tongue, but he didn't even have the strength to say it.

Their eyes locked on to each other as Jack's concerned mind wandered around trying to figure out what to say, but she shattered it by taking his hand on hers.

Without thinking twice, Jack pulled her by her hand, closed their distance, and hugged her so tight as if his life depended on it. He managed to whisper "I'm so sorry" in her ear, before burying his face on her shoulder.

He knew he was getting stares from everyone around him. His parents would probably be surprised, his family and friends would definitely have questions to ask, his teammates certainly would wonder who this mysterious girl was, but he didn't care. He could do the explaining later.

There was a little worry on his mind for the potential shock he was giving her, but the thought was gone as soon as it came, when he felt her pair of arms moved and was now wrapped tightly around him.

"Remember what I told you last night? No matter what happens, we will still be proud of this team. Always. You've made history, you did us proud," she whispered in his ear as her hand rubbed his back gently, giving him some sense of comfort that Jack needed more than he knew.

There was a storm breaking inside his head and all he could do was hold on to her, hoping that it would calm down. He tried to fill his mind with the feeling of having her in his arms, the smell of her perfume, and how warm it was to be embraced by her in this awfully cold night.

He didn't know how long he had been hugging her in silence. She took her arms away and pushed him gently by his sides. Jack was reluctant to let her go and didn't actually want her to see his face, because he could feel his eyes were starting to water and he was afraid that the tears were going to fall any second. So he hung his head low and took a long deep breath to try to calm himself down.

"Hey, Jack?" she said softly, trying to get his attention. He was too scared to look up.

Then he felt her pair of hands running through his hair, fixing the strands of hair that were out of place. Her hands then went down to his face. She cupped his face and rubbed her thumbs on his cheeks, and her gesture surely caught him off guard.

Jack finally looked up and his eyes immediately met hers. Those beautiful eyes were gazing at him lovingly and her warm smile was painted on her face once more. The lump on his throat was suddenly there again and he bit his lower lip to stop his tears from coming back. Their relationship was indeed complicated, but she had always shown him her support and never failed to comfort him when things got rough. Today was just one of those days.

"I am so proud of you. And you should be proud of yourself too."

He didn't know what he was thinking, but he quickly removed their distance again to put a long kiss on her forehead. His hand went to the back of her head and he gently stroked her hair. He could feel her dropping her hands to his shoulders, giving them a light squeeze.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Jack, you hear me?" She said as Jack pulled away. She found his eyes again and Jack nodded.

"Promise me you're not going anywhere?" he asked, his hands fiddling with her hair.

She raised her eyebrows, seeming to be surprised with Jack's question. "Why would I? I thought you were taking me on a date?" She said gleefully, trying to make the mood a little bit better. And her words surely did put a little smile on his face. She giggled seeing his eyes crinkled, as she leaned closer to give a peck on his cheek.

—

your interests on the first part have been amazing and it's definitely my fic that has done the best so far. thank you so much❤️

i wanted to write something after the final, whatever the result would be. at the end i just decided to make a second part of this because i needed to pour out my feelings.

My Masterlist🤍

#avenirdelightwrites #jack grealish imagines #footballer imagines #football imagines #jack grealish one shot #footballer one shot #football one shot #footballer fic #football fic #imagine #one shots #fanfiction #england nt #aston villa fc

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sequinsmile-x · 3 years ago

Note

AHHH!! Happy early birthday my friend!! I am so thankful to know you and I throughly enjoy our friendship. Your writing never ceases to amaze me!!

I love you so much. Can I request prompt 5 and 13 from list 1 please? 💕

Ahhh thank you friend!! <3 I love you too, and really enjoy our friendship (and that you'll just accept that I send you tiktoks that call us both out!)

The prompts for this one are:

“Did you call me sweetheart?”/ “Sorry for borrowing your clothes.” “Don’t be, you look great in them.”

Couldn't tell you why, but this immediately screamed Demonology to me, and I know you love some hurt/comfort - so here you go <3

-x-

Tranquility

Words: 2.6k

Warnings: Discussion of abortion

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

Aaron wants to call her, wants to drive over to her apartment to make sure she’s safe, that she's doing as ok as she can be after the last few days. But he doesn’t think she wants to hear from him, the text he had sent remained unanswered, not even an acknowledgement sent back in his direction.

It had been the first real test of the separation of their personal and their work lives, the first time since they’d started dating after Colorado. The almost physical pain he felt at hearing her getting hurt and not being able to do anything about it made him re-evaluate his feelings for his now girlfriend. It had taken him longer to work up the courage to ask her out than he would have liked, a smile on her face and a “took you long enough” on her lips after he finally cracked after the Viper case. The sight of her in that dress was too much for him to bear.

Aaron couldn’t help but feel that he had failed the test, at least in her eyes. He was by the book, she knew that, that had already bent the rules a little for her anyway, letting her chase a lead over Matthew’s death that he was sure was nothing at first. The sight of her distressed and wet from the rain was hard to take, her usually carefully constructed persona she wore at work like a mask cracked, a bit of the Emily he got to see outside of the office peeking through. He hadn’t been able to reach for her, to hold her like he wanted to, all too aware of their surroundings, no one but the team aware of the shift in their relationship, so he’d done what he could. He had to draw the line somewhere, even for her, even though he’d tear his heart out of his chest if she asked him to.

It was hers to do as she wished with anyway.

He keeps himself busy, doing unnecessary chores around his apartment, his phone in his pocket in case she contacts him. He isn’t sure how long he has been home when there’s a tentative knock on the door. He frowns, wondering who it could be at this late hour, and when he sees it's her through the peephole he almost rips the door off its hinges to let her in.

The sight of her makes his chest ache, she’s upset, clearly not trying to cover it from him. Devastation splashed across her face like a morose painting. She’s clearly soaked to the bone, melting snowflakes in her hair and on her shoulders, a shiver passing through her that he doubts she’s noticed.

What catches his attention the most is the blood just below her nose, dried to her skin, as brightly coloured as her grief.

“Em,” he breathes out, ushering her into his apartment, wincing at the cool, wet, feel of her coat, “you could have used your key.”

He isn’t sure why it’s his first thought, why that is the first thing he says to her, but it makes one corner of her lips twitch in a smile.

“I don’t have anything with me.” She chokes out, and her voice cracks. “I didn’t…I didn’t want to be alone.”

“You can always come here.” He says, undoing her coat buttons and easing it off of her, quickly hooking it up with his, “now, let's warm you up.”

He leads her over to the couch, grabbing the blanket he kept over the back of it as he goes. He remembers the last time she’d been here, only days ago, sat next to him and wrapped up in the same blanket, complaining that just because he was always warm didn’t mean he had to keep his apartment cold. The touch of the fleecy material against his skin brings the memory back to life, like she was permeated in everything in his life, not just on his very being. He sits her down and wraps it around her, making sure it was tight around her shoulders, determined she didn’t lose any more body heat.

“I’ll get the blanket all wet,” she says, her teeth chattering slightly, the cold really settling in now she was indoors, “it will get ruined.”

“I don’t care about that,” he replies, barely taking his eyes off of her as he grabs a paper towel from the kitchen, wetting it under the sink as he joins her again, sitting on the coffee table in front of her, “all I care about is you.”

He half expects a retort, a comment that he had a funny way of showing it, but he knows it won't come. That despite her earlier anger at him she understood the position he was in, that he truly had done all he could for her and more.

He knows Strauss will have something to say when she finds out he’d called the Vatican.

He’s gentle as he reaches out for her, his hand cupping her chin as he reaches out and wipes the blood away from her face.

“Want to talk about it?” He asks, disposing of the paper towel next to him on the table.

“Yes.” She replies, pulling the blanket tighter around herself.

“Ok, we can do that,” his hand slips to cup her cheek, this thumb delicate against her skin, stroking where dimples would show when she smiled at him, “do you want to eat?” She shakes her head in response to that. He nods and he stands up, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he does, taking her hands and encouraging her to stand too. “You go have a shower, ok? I’ll make you some tea, meet you in bed.”

She smiles tightly at him in response, and she leans up to kiss his cheek, her lips cold against his skin, and she moves away towards his bedroom.

Aaron releases a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding as he watches her walk away. He checks the door is locked before he heads to bed for the evening, and brushes past her still soaked coat as he does. He knows it won’t be dry by morning, that despite a number of her belongings making it over to his apartment this was the only outerwear she had here, so he decides to put it in the dryer.

He checks the pockets on the short walk to the laundry room, a habit he had picked up due to Jack often leaving small toys in his pants, and he freezes when he pulls out a folded-up photograph. He unfolds it and is greeted by a picture of a young Emily, a boy on each side of her that he would put money on being Matthew and John. Aaron sighs as he puts the coat in the dryer and turns it on, the photo still in his hand.

His mind whirls with what could have happened, what had made the three happy teenagers in the picture fall apart into whatever mess this last case had been. He sets it aside, making a mental note to wipe the dried blood off of it in the morning, and heads to the kitchen to make her the tea.

He might not be able to stop a teenage Emily from going through whatever clearly had happened, but he would do his best to make sure his Emily, the one currently in his shower, felt better. ___

Despite the hot shower, Emily swears she doesn’t feel any warmer as she steps out of it, immediately folding herself into one of the fluffy towels Aaron kept in the bathroom. She looks at herself in the mirror, wiping away some of the steam to see her own reflection properly, how tired she looked coming across even in the slightly distorted image. She sighs, drying herself off quickly and pulling on a pair of Aaron’s sweatpants and one of his sweatshirts. She had her own clothes her, her own toiletries in his shower, but she needed the extra comfort, the feeling of him wrapping around her.

It’s why she’d used his body wash instead of her own, as if she thought the scent of him on her very skin could undo years of heartache.

She didn’t have to tell him. She knew that. That as her boss he didn’t need to know what had pushed her over the edge with this case, what had driven her usual professionalism away.

But she wanted to tell her boyfriend.

Wanted him to know this deeply guarded part of herself that now the only other person alive who knew it existed was John.

She just hoped he didn’t judge her for it, although Aaron had never given her any belief that he truly would.

She walks out of the bathroom to find him already in bed, on the side designated as his, and he smiles reassuringly at her, his eyebrow raised when he takes in her appearance.

“Sorry for borrowing your clothes,” she says, knowing he liked it. That she could convince him of just about anything sat on one of their kitchen counters wearing nothing but one of his button-downs.

“Don’t be,” he says, pulling the covers down for her to climb in next to him, “you look great in them.”

She gets into bed, immediately snuggling up to his side, the warmth she’d been craving immediately starting to seep from him into her. They silently settle further into the bed, and she ends up with her face pressing into his chest, her arm and leg slung over him as she tries to get as close as possible. He wraps her up in his arms, one slipping under her, both of them on his side of the bed, and the other cupping the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her still wet hair.

“I want to tell you,” she says, her cheek against the thin material of his t-shirt, his heartbeat underneath soothing her, “but I’m worried it might change how you think of me.”

“Nothing could ever do that, Em,” he says, kissing her forehead, “nothing.”

She smiles sadly, not knowing if that was strictly true. Having to physically shake her head to get rid of thoughts of the smell of smoke and danger, both interchangeable to her now, and a pair of ice-blue eyes that haunted nightmares she occasionally had to lie to Aaron about.

This, however, she was sure he was right about.

“When I was…” she starts, having to blow out a shaky breath, closing her eyes briefly to steady herself before she begins again, “when I was 15 my mother got stationed in Rome. That's where I met Matthew and John. I didn’t make friends that easily and with them, it felt different,” she swallows thickly, and focuses on the feeling of his hand in her hair, his fingers delicate against her scalp, “and I so badly wanted to keep what I found that I, well I was 15 so I did just about anything.” She half expects him to interrupt her, to cut her off like Dave had earlier, but he doesn’t. He’s figured it out if the way he tightens his hold on her is anything to go by, but he remains silent, lets her go at her pace. “And I got pregnant.”

Even now she could still remember the choking fear she’d felt when the tests came back positive, the way she’d had to press her hand over her mouth to stop herself from crying too loudly. It felt like it was yesterday, not half her life ago.

“I got an abortion.” She says simply, waiting for a reaction that doesn’t come before she carries on. “Matthew helped me,” she says her fingers playing with a loose thread on Aaron’s shirt, “he found the clinic and everything. Held my hand,” she chuckles mirthlessly, “He saved me and I couldn’t do the same for him. I let him down.”

“Sweetheart,” he says, finally interrupting her, and he kisses her forehead again, “that’s not true. You got justice for him, that’s what matters.”

She nods against him, not sure if she agrees, but she can’t bring herself to look at him yet, not sure what she’ll find in his eyes.

“Was Matthew…”

“The father? No. It was John. He freaked out when I told him. Yelled at me. Said it was my fault.” She feels his arms tighten around her, and she doesn’t have to look up to know he’s scowling. Anger directed toward the man whose life they had just saved. “I stopped being angry about that a long time ago. He was a kid too.”

“He got to walk away though,” Aaron says, his lips against her forehead. He’d walked away then, and he’d do it this time too. As sure a sign as any that Emily needed to know the universe wasn’t fair.

“Yeah,” she breathes out, “he did.”

They lapse into silence again for a moment before he speaks again, a tone she recognises from countless interrogations in his voice.

“I wish you’d told me before,” he says, his hand trailing through her hair, “I would have given Father Silvano five more minutes with him.”

She laughs, the first joy she’d felt in days flooding through her chest, releasing the first knot caused by the news of Matthew’s death. She pulls back and looks up at him, their eyes meeting, and she feels relief. Nothing in his eyes except the love she always saw, the love neither of them had said out loud yet but knew was there. She reaches up to cup his cheek.

“No, you wouldn’t have, because you’re a good man,” she says, her thumb running back and forth over his stubble, the scratch against her skin grounding, “it’s one of the many, many reasons I keep you around.”

He kisses her properly then, his lips warm against hers, and she shifts so they can look at each other properly.

“Thank you for not…well for not judging me.” She says, more of a shake to her voice than she would like. “No one knows except for Matthew and John,” she frowns slightly, “just John now.”

“Your mother?”

She shakes her head. “God no, she would have locked me up in a convent somewhere. I would have been made to give the baby away.” She smiles sadly at him. “It’s not what I wanted.”

He nods in understanding and cups her cheek, making sure she’s looking at him before he speaks.

“You’re the bravest person I know, sweetheart,” he says, stroking her jawline, “even back then. You were 15 years old and you did the only thing she could.”

She smiles shakily at him, and breathes out, the sound catching on a sob, “I’m sorry I made the last few days so difficult.”

He shakes his head at her before leaning his forehead against hers. “Don’t worry about it, I’m just glad you’re ok.”

“You’re here,” she says, her hand reaching out for him, landing at his neck, “of course I am.”

He kisses her, and she wonders if it’s so he doesn’t tell her that he loves her, a pointed effort that she wouldn’t remember it being linked to this. She’s grateful for it, wants it to be something just for them.

They wordlessly settle into their usual sleeping positions, his chest against her back, and she feels the most content she has in days. She replays the conversation over in her head again, his acceptance of her and her past another cornerstone of their relationship that they had built. She furrows her brow slightly, something occurring to her that she had missed before. Another step in the direction she hoped they’d never stop walking, a nickname slipping free from him in a way she didn’t think even he had noticed.

“Aaron?” She asks quietly, wanting to bring some of their usual playfulness back, something she wasn’t sure how she ever lived without.

“Yes, Em?”

“Did you call me sweetheart?”

-x-

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garbagevanfleet · 4 years ago

Text

Brightest Blue (series)

PART FOURTEEN

Pairing: Josh x reader Warnings: mentions of sexual content, feelings, cigarettes Summary: Things are changing. New state. New school. New roommate. You just pray things are going to click into place.

Notes: HI EVERYONE! I’m sorry I’m so inconsistent lately. I promise that the next chaptered fic I write, I’ll only start posting it when I’m done writing it. I hope you like this chapter - its incredibly sappy because I’m on my period lol

As always, big thanks to my beta, @lantern-inthenight <3

taglist: @valleyd0ll @satingrass-maidensfair @guitarfingers @thebohemianpenguin @peaceisouranthem @oblvions @hansonobsessed @myownparadise96 @anditsmywholeheart @kill-fear-the-power-of-lies @bigblack-catattack @dharma-divine

MASTERPOST

“Remind me again why you want to ride separately from your brother?” You looked pointedly over at Josh, who was smiling as he ran a soapy rag over the plate you’d just finished eating off of.

“I already have to spend my whole winter break with my family, no need to rob myself of alone time with you,” he explained like it was obvious.

A huff escaped your lips. You pushed away from where you had been leaning against the counter and wrapped your arms around his neck from behind. You laid your head in between his shoulder blades, feeling him turn to nuzzle his nose against your arm as it laid on his shoulder.

“We spend so much time together - like every day - which I’m obviously grateful for,” you said, half-muffled by the material of his sweater. “But don’t you think it just makes more sense to carpool?”

You couldn’t see his hands, but the movements you could feel told you he was wiping the extra water off of them before turning around and pressing your chests together. His lips lightly brushed your temple as he spoke.

“You’re right,” he agreed, though you knew him well enough to know he wasn’t about to just relent. “It does make more sense - I just don’t want to.”

You let out a breath, frowning as you tried to figure out if you should say what you were thinking. After a moment of working up the courage, you cupped his jaw with your right hand, knowing full well that the sweet gesture would help him swallow the discomfort your words would cause.

“Josh,” Your voice was low and quiet, but as you met his eyes, you chickened out. They were so honest, looking at you like your presence was the only thing keeping him grounded - like if you left, he’d just cease to exist. You made a mental note to have a talk with him about that at some point, but you decided it would have to be after you’d returned from Christmas break.

“Hm?” You must have been contemplating too long, prompting his features into a look of concern. You couldn’t bear it.

“Jake is going to ride with us,” you said decidedly. “I already told him he could.”

That was a bit of a lie - he had mentioned it a few days ago and you had said you’d run it by Josh, but you had just made up his mind for him.

He huffed a laugh as he rolled his eyes playfully at you. “Sounds like you’re already communicating better with my family than I have in months.”

“Well,” you started, giving him a pointed look - the kind you only give when you feel confident that you’re right. “I think that would mean communicating with them at all. Honestly, Josh, I know you-”

You were abruptly silenced as he placed his forefinger across your open lips, a half-smirk on his face.

“It’s okay,” he assured simply. “He can ride with us.”

A smile spread across your face underneath his finger. “Good. Have you started packing?” Your words were muffled under his touch.

“Eh,” he replied with a noncommittal shrug, lowering his hand to brush his thumb across your chin.

“Do you want help with that?” you inquired cheekily. “Because, you know, we leave in two days.”

He appeared to consider it for a moment before nodding. “Actually, yeah, that sounds nice. You can sit on my bed and watch while I pack really inappropriate clothes for the occasion.”

You half-snorted out a laugh, rolling your eyes because you knew that’s the reaction he was aiming for. “How about I just pack for you?”

+++

For the first time since knowing him, you saw Jake Kiszka wearing a jacket. It was long and dramatic and nearly brushed the top of the snow as he made his way out to your car with a leather duffle bag in his left hand.

He opened the rear, passenger-side door and tossed his bag in next to yours and Josh’s before sliding in next to it.

You greeted him cheerily, to which he shot you back a smile as a reply.

“You’re actually wearing a coat,” you noted as he pulled the seatbelt over his form and buckled in.

He hummed amusedly, reaching into his pocket and popping a stick of gum in his mouth.

“I’ve found that he doesn’t usually dress like a slut to go home,” Josh replied instead as he turned a lighter around in his palm, absent of the task.

“And if I didn’t wear a coat home, I’d never hear the end of it.”

Josh nodded in agreement, and then you watched a shit-eating grin spread across his lips. “I’m kinda surprised Kate isn’t coming with us today, to be honest. Are you waiting until Easter just to make sure?”

You were busy pulling out onto the road, so you didn’t see it, but you could imagine Jake deeply rolling his eyes at the question.

“I would bring Kate home - it would make me truly happy to physically see Mom die a little inside when she starts trying to talk about amphibious breeding cycles at length during dinner,” he mused, voice clear of any kind of sorrow. He finished simply and with a smile, “But she isn’t my girlfriend.”

“I don’t know, it seemed a little sus when I showed up at her house in the morning and you were already there, chillin’ with her dog,” you replied in a sing-song voice.

“I wasn’t already there, I was still there.” You felt him place a hand on your shoulder, and slap his other one against Josh’s. “Not all of us have the luxury of just being able to pop down the hall.”

“Fair enough,” you relented, feeling your face flush warm.

“Or the shower. Or the kitchen that one time,” Josh added unhelpfully, making your eyes immediately pop open.

“Josh,” you scolded and quickly considered reaching over and slapping him, but decided it was unsafe to drive and strike a passenger at the same time.

“No, this is good,” Jake assured through a smirk you could hear. “Let him get it all out before we get there.”

Josh snickered back, “You’re such a prick.”

+++

The Kiszka homestead was almost impossibly cozy. There was a basket of blankets by the big sofa (much nicer and fluffier than the blankets at your apartment, which had been flattened and matted to the point of complete defeat) and the furniture was centered around a glowing, stone fireplace. Josh’s mom had hugged him for a long moment upon your arrival - a gesture that made your throat feel tight as you watched her fingers flex in the material at the back of his shirt.

She was sunny and kind to the point that you could clearly see Josh’s mannerisms reflected in hers, and the dinner she laid out on the dining room table seemed impossibly large to you, having come from a home with just three people in it.

When she asked you how you liked Midwestern cooking, you gushed about it for - what was undeniably - too long. You’d never say, but you weren’t positive that part of it wasn’t just not having had a real home-cooked meal in months.

You had come to decipher that Josh had told his family that you were just a roommate that didn’t have a place to go for winter break, but you were pretty sure you’d be able to tell the nature of your relationship if you were on the outside looking in - you seemed to be magnetically drawn to wherever Josh was these days.

Everyone cleared out of the living room pretty quickly after dinner and conversation, and you finally got the chance to ask the question that had been on your mind all day.

“Do I sleep out here?”

You were posted up on the couch, your legs crossed one over the other with Josh staying a few inches farther away from you than you were used to.

“No,” he replied. “You can take my room and I’ll sleep out here.”

You had asked mostly as a formality - you hadn’t figured that you’d actually have to sleep separately. Through a slight frown, you said, “Oh, man. It’s been a while since I’ve had to sleep alone. What if I freeze to death?”

He flashed you a smile. “I thought ahead and laid a heated blanket out on the bed for you.”

“Heated blanket? This whole time heated blankets were an option?” you whispered harshly.

“Okay, in my defense, by the time I remembered that they existed, we were already sleeping in the same bed every night.”

The suspicious way you stared at him for a few moments had him biting back a laugh - one of those unguarded ones that seemed to be reserved for people he was really comfortable around. Which seemed to just be you most of the time.

“Will you at least come get ready for bed with me?” you asked, subtly looking up at him through your lashes.

“Of course - no puppy eyes necessary,” he assured with a snicker.

This room was decidedly different than the one back in Ann Arbor. Josh’s space back in the apartment was mostly made up of Earth tones - either picked by choice or having just dulled over time. There were little pops of color scattered around the room, like the golden yellow rug that spread across almost all of the wooden floor, or the string of flags that spanned the entire wall above his bed.

This room was different. You could tell that his parents had tried to clean it up since Josh had moved out, but there was still evidence of spots where posters were hung on the maroon red walls. A stack of comics laid on the dresser - the surface of which was covered in residue and paper where he had placed stickers and then tried to peel them off.

You eyed a well-used keyboard placed along the far wall, and what appeared to be milk crates full of sheet music and the idea of him sitting in front of it and practicing for hours brought a smile to your lips.

He hauled both of your bags up onto the bed and you both picked through them for the sleep apparel you’d packed. You watched him change into a short-sleeved tee and a pair of loose flannel pants through the bathroom mirror as you brushed your teeth across the hall, and when he caught your eyes, he gave you a smirk.

You’d been half expecting him to change his mind and just crawl into bed with you, but instead, he helped you clamber under the covers and pulled the comforter up to your chest.

“Wow, full service tuck-in and everything,” you teased, but quickly shut up when his thumb brushed over your lips.

“Well,” he mused, voice low. “Not the full service.”

You gave him a sour grin as he backed up to the door and flicked the light off.

“Good night, Joshua.”

+++

The next couple of days came and went easily. You were starting to get actually acquainted with his family - chatting with his mother and sister over morning coffee, and getting pinned between his brothers on the sofa while Christmas movies played in the background.

You really hadn’t realized how much you missed being around family until it hit you at dinner one night. You watched out of the corner of your eye as Josh unscrewed the lid on the salt under the lip of the table and then asked Sam if he wanted any.

Josh was just about to slide it across the beat-up wooden surface when you snatched it out of his hand, pointedly tightened the lid, and then slid it over.

When you peeked over at him, Josh was glaring at you, but he wasn’t able to stop the mischievous smirk that his mouth took the shape of.

Sam huffed a laugh that sounded more like a scoff, having figured out the plot quickly after seeing the look on Josh’s face.

“Samuel, do me a favor and dump the whole shaker of salt on your potatoes,” Josh requested in a faux-sweet voice. “Please and thank you.”

“Piss off.” Sam’s reply came through a mouth-full of food, but somehow, he still managed to look lovely while saying it. However, that didn’t save him from his mom’s scolding look - though whether that was in response to the harsh language or speaking with a full mouth was anyone’s guess. You guessed that a person never got to grow out of being “the baby”.

It was then - that simple moment - that you realized how oddly welcomed you felt in this setting. It hadn’t been awkward or uncomfortable even once. You’d never felt out of place despite how different it was from your own home experience.

After you were settled into bed that night, you laid awake thinking about nothing and everything. You didn’t feel particularly tired, but you had decided to turn in when Josh started dozing off on the couch while you were watching the tv on low volume.

You had no clue what time it was, as your phone was charging across the room, but at some point you heard the distinct sound of a door creaking open. It was just down the hall - that you could distinguish - but you weren’t positive which room specifically. The person made their way down the hall, and then up a creaky set of steps, though you could tell that they were trying to move quietly when they got to the next floor and the cadence of their steps changed to something lighter.

You thought about it for a moment before pushing the covers off of you, crawling out of the warmth of the nest you’d made, and slipping your feet into a pair of Josh’s fuzzy slippers that were just barely peeking out under the bed frame. Trying to be as quiet as the last person had been, you crept up the stairs in the low light, having to strain to see the steps in the unfamiliar space, lest you lose your footing.

The room at the top of the steps was a study, and on the other side of it was a large, sliding glass door. And on the other side of that, was Jake, sat out on a covered patio with a cigarette in his hand.

You crossed the room, grabbing a blanket off of the worn leather sofa and wrapping it around yourself as you moved.

He barely turned his head to look at you as you slid the glass open and stepped out onto the porch. The brisk air hit you hard enough to nearly knock the breath from your lungs, so you pulled the blanket up your body until only your head was showing.

“Sorry if I scared you.” The volume of your words were just above a whisper as you bent to sit next to him on the cold wood. “Or if I’m intruding.”

He hummed around his cigarette before ashing it into a Coke can. “You didn’t, and you aren’t.” He looked you over for the first time then and frowned deeply at you. “You are going to freeze to death though. Where the hell is your coat?”

“I’m fine, I’ve got the blanket, see?” you assured, though you had to admit that the cold cut right through the thick material.

He ran his eyes up and down it, rolling them affectionately at you. “Okay,” he replied, though it sounded nothing like he believed you. After a few silent moments, he spoke again.

“How are you liking it here?”

A genuine smile spread out over your lips. “Michigan is lovely, if that’s what you mean. Cold to the point where I’m not sure why anyone would want to live here, but. Lovely, all the same.”

He smiled back at you, oddly warm in nature for him. “And what about the family? Do you find all of us lovely too?”

“Absolutely,” you agreed, pulling your knees up to your chest like you were in a cocoon. Another few long moments ticked by as you watched the snow fall. The night was so still that you swore you could hear the flakes as they settled on whatever surface they happened to land on.

“Can I ask you something?” You flicked your eyes over at him to assess his expression. You knew your brows were threaded close together in worry, which he seemed to take into account before he answered.

He nodded as he took another drag. “Sure,” he replied, smoke and steam glowing with the light of the cherry on the end of his cigarette as he exhaled.

You were silently trying to figure out how to word it for long enough that he looked over at you expectantly.

“Do you think Josh would have come home for Christmas if I...weren’t around?”

He met your eyes and huffed a humorless laugh. “I think that he would have spent a week or two anxiously deciding whether he could handle it and then, ultimately, he would feel too guilty to say no. And from there, I think it would have been a repeat of last year - he would have come home here, found it exhausting, and then screened everyone's’ calls for a couple of months again.”

You weren’t sure what to say, so you just stared at his face, your teeth pressed into your bottom lip until you could feel they’d left an indent as you ran your tongue over it.

“But it’s weird, right?” he continued, biting back a smirk that made you a little uneasy about what he was going to say next. “He seems to be almost blissfully happy this year.”

You held your breath for a moment as you tried to organize your emotions, and then exhaled in a rush once it became uncomfortable. “Look, I. He’s obviously a lot of things to me. A best friend, a room mate, a...romantic partner?”

Jake shot you a disbelieving but highly amused look at your wording.

“But I’m worried that he’s tying himself to me too tightly.” With your eyes, you tried to portray the emotions that that thought evoked in you - how compressed it made you feel.

He seemed to chew it over as he stubbed out his cigarette on the damp wood and then - near instantly - materialized another from behind his ear like a magic trick.

“I love seeing him happy, but I’m scared that I’m the only thing making him happy,” you finished, voice admittedly a little shaky. You didn’t ask first - though you should have - but you slid closer to him until your shoulders were touching, and despite not knowing him all that well yet, it still managed to make you feel more grounded. “It’s not that I expect this to end - whatever we have - but what if it does?”

Jake’s eyes flitted around your features like he was trying to map your face as you anxiously waited for him to tell you everything would be alright.

“You know,” he started, voice low. “When we moved away for school, he was the one that decided we wouldn’t room together. I mean, I didn’t blame him or anything, but I always just assumed we would. He used to be so outgoing. I mean, he never missed a party. People would trip over themselves to be next to him. He used to take his ex out any time he could - it didn’t really matter where, because he’s always had a way of making even the most monotonous task seem fun.”

You didn’t try to suppress a smile as it found your lips.

“So, his ex broke it off with him. I don’t know what happened really - only what I’ve been able to pry out of him - but it fucked him up pretty good. And then as he was just starting to get over it, his roommate had some kind of mental break and just moved out one weekend while Josh was gone. It’s not like they were best friends or anything, but they got along.”

“Fuck,” you whispered, resting your head on Jake’s shoulder and not caring whether or not it was polite to do so anymore.

“Yeah,” he agreed, simply. The tone of his voice was something very somber - the kind you’d use if you were giving a eulogy. “I tried to help. I offered to move in with him. I showed up at his apartment all the time, but he got pretty effective at dodging me. Not just me, actually, but everyone. Worried the fuck out of our mom.”

“What then?” You were not-so-secretly hoping that Jake was going to find a way to make you feel better, and the pitch of your voice reflected it. The core of your body felt like it was stuffed full of stones, weighted and heavy. “What happened?”

Jake hummed. “Well, he started to level out a bit. After a good couple months he started at least answering the door when I came to see him. Sometimes he’d text me back after a day or two. That went on like that for a while.”

He titled his head to look over at you then for the first time in a while. You felt oddly vulnerable after hearing all of that, but you tried not to duck away from his eyes.

“But then, suddenly, you were there. He didn’t tell me a thing about you, or even that he was getting a new roommate until well after you were already moved in.”

You huffed a laugh. “If it makes you feel better, he didn’t tell me anything about you either really. Imagine my surprise when I open the door and you were a twin. Uncanny valley territory.”

“I think he learned how to compartmentalize the people in his life. Seems like it’s easier to manage relationships that way when you’re an extremely guarded person like he had suddenly become.”

He took a pause to take a long drag, simultaneously running a hand through his silky hair.

“But to answer your question - I don’t think you’re the only thing making him happy,” he continued, meeting your eyes with an intensity that you understood to your core. “I think you’re just reminding him that there are things to be happy about.”

You weren’t sure what you were expecting him to say, but you were suddenly choking back tears and a tight, hot feeling in your throat.

“You’ve just got to give him time to remember what it’s like.”

When you opened your mouth to reply, you realized you’d been holding your breath for a moment too long, causing you to suck in a shaky breath. “I intend to give him all the time he needs,” you promised.

Jake offered you back a smile as he moved to stand, stretching out his muscles and then extending a hand for you to take. He helped you clamber up off the floor before tucking his lighter back into the pocket of his fleece sleep-pants.

“Good to hear.”

#brightest blue fic #Greta Van Fleet #greta van fleet fan fiction #greta van fleet fic #josh kiszka #josh fic #josh kiszka fic #josh x reader #writing

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