#and just about everything works fine EXCEPT otis

[fereldanwench]

valerie is a tech + gun lady to her core but every time i see her with a cool katana pose I'm like... could i find a legitimate reason to also make her sword-wielding badass because damn girl

[carmylasso]

out of the woods (jason sudeikis x reader)

summary: after your boss sets you up on a date with your longest celebrity crush, you were pretty sure that was as wild as your friday was gonna get...turns out you shouldn't be tempting fate.

warnings: anxious thoughts, smutty inclinations, olivia.

a/n: so....i wrote the nanny thing? this is mostly fluffy and a lot self indulgent. obviously the kids are mentioned and will be making appearances in later parts, so if you feel uncomfortable with that, skip this one. 

hope you like it! (you can totally curse me for that ending. i know)

tagging some friends without who this would never see the light of the day @calzone-d @thisismysecondrodeo @tedssweaters

statistically speaking, you shouldn't be nervous: it's not like that's the first time you step into the house – by now you could probably say where everything is stored in that kitchen, or slid a joke over the fact that he's obviously organized the living room a bit before you came over tonight – or as if the man at the stove is a stranger by any means.

however, statistically speaking, the chances of you being here tonight, just you and jason, in a date, were never that great to begin with, so...

no, scratch that. up to 6 months ago, there was simply no starting scenario that ended up here, even if alexi never missed a chance to tease you about him whenever the man was brought up. one downside of being friends your boss, you figure. as the years passed, you gave up "hiding" your stupid, incurable celebrity crush on jason sudeikis, even around her and seth. it was harmless, after all. made your face warm with embarrassment when you overheard plans that included him being made? without a fault, but it usually granted you a night off if the man was coming to the house.

til they sat you down one morning to ask if you'd be interested in meeting his kids, seth's eyes gleaming with mischief as he held his hands together in a plea for you to not forget you loved their boys, who would miss you terribly if you sacked them for a hot, newly single comedian.

the three of you were laughing when you told him to kindly fuck the hell off.

except now jason's here, close enough to touch. he's here, and this feels like a whole lot more than flirty jokes late at night, more than stolen glances after a big award ceremony, his hair a mess, clothes askew. certainly more than the almost kiss that got you here in the first place, the feeling of his hand on the side of your neck as he said if he was gonna kiss you he'd do it properly still burning your skin days later. this is real, it's deliberate.

so fuck statistics, you're a mess.

"i need to tell you something" the voice brings you back to the moment, watching as he sets down a plate full of gooey cookies right by the glass of wine he poured you earlier "i'm a fraude. i actually can't bake to save my life" his face is full of guilt as he drops down on the fluffy carpet, the fabric of his trousers raising goosebumps on the exposed skin of your thighs. "if you said you wanted dinner, that i could work with. dessert...brought out the worst in me, i'm afraid" you're trying not to laugh at the man's proneness to the dramatics when he breaks one of the warm sweets in half, practically moaning around the first bite "worth it. so fucking worth it, yn"

"what did you do? these look amazing" it's chocolate ones, big and melting, your favorite kind.

"asked otis to take a pic of the box last time you got 'em from your favorite place"

"really?"

"i'm a terrible father, i know. in my defense, i did try making a batch before i resorted to cheating with help from my child, i promise you"

"jason! you didn't need to do that. we could have gone for ice-cream or something, that'd be just fine" the thought of him trying and failing to make you your favorite food was all too endearing, sweet and amusing to the same degree.

"you're picturing it right now, aren't you? it wasn't pretty, yn. smoke detectors went off, yet the things were still raw on the inside? i mean, how?" his body turned to you, knees bumping while your eyes trailed the way his long fingers broke bits and pieces of chocolate to bring it to his mouth. "these on the other hand..." you felt caught by the grin spreading over the man's face, so you took a bite too.

"fuck me!" the words rang in your ears a second too late to be taken back. if this wasn't the only thing that made it better somedays– you foresaw a long trip to john's in the near future, always one to drown your sorrows in sweets rather than the often sour taste of alcohol – you'd be cursing the place with more fervor right now.

"see, i had a feeling ice-cream wasn't gonna get me that" you felt yourself warm up when the guy winked at you, voice dropping an octave.

"i hate you" from the way he was still staring, he didn't believe your words for a second: sometimes it was good being a terrible liar, after all. "i'll have you know that the right ice-cream could get you this"

"really? where can i find it? for future reference, i mean"

"you'll be the first to know when i have it locked in. jury's still out" you snook in a little taste from different shops every time you had his babies, but he didn't need the details. if anyone was aware of how hard some days could be, it was him. the media frenzy seemed to get worse every week, not that you were keeping track (you definitely were. it was hard not to, harder once you got to know them)

"i'll be waiting"

was it possible to go through the whole spectrum of emotions in just a few hours? it had always been a silly type of question for you. you felt everything so deeply that switching up was never that easy, but, with some comedy playing on the tv, the nerves cursing through you were far different from the ones earlier: now, sprawled out on his carpet, the knowledge that jase was pressed up close didn't freak you out, it made you relaxed, even if were painfully aware of every little touch, every accidental nudge when laughter made his body shake, head resting on a Frozen themed pillow. you were surrounded by the man: the heat from his body, his scent, the way he pulled you back every time you started to drift away a few inches

you were almost drowning in him, yet all it seemed to do was make matters worse. you should've guessed it: if not for anything else, for the way your stupid heart picked up it's pace whenever you managed to make him laugh over the time you'd known him, the way every weird little thing you learned by being around seemed important. it would never be enough, not when it came to this man, would it?

"i...think i should go" before you got sucked in any deeper.

"wha' happened?" he sat up when you did, back pressed to the couch, eyebrows scrunching together as his mind played back the last couple hours. what had he done wrong? "yn. hey, what's it? was it me? did i do something?"

"no! jason, no. it's fine. you were wonderful" this felt all too easy, was the thing. nothing happened, you hadn't even kissed yet, but here you were, all in your head, getting carried away to some point in the future where this was some sort of routine to your days. stupid. it might feel easy, but it wasn't. it wouldn't be, not out of your naive fantasies, anyway. your phone was on top of the centerpiece, your purse hanging from the coat hack down the hall. good.

"you're running off like the house's on fire, sweetheart. i can't be that good" his laugh was humorless, his eyes earnest as he moved slowly, intertwining your fingers. "i'm sorry"

that did it. the way he was so quick to apologize for something that he didn't even know what was broke you.

"is it okay if i kiss you?" it wasn't much more than a whisper, all the bravado you had melting away when he didn't look away, nodding his head.

"only if you want to" this whole exchange was just short of giving you both whiplash, yet it was better do something insane than it was to just leave. if you kissed him, you would have that. even when he inevitably decided not to see you again. you would know what it felt like. "do you?" it felt like deja vu but it wasn't, his fingers caressing your cheek, the hold steady but gentle, like he knew you needed that point of contact as you brought yourself closer.

he tasted sweet, warm, the kiss tentative, each drag of your mouths together making a shiver run down your spine. for a moment it didn't go any further, then his lips parted a bit and you pushed yourself more into his space, tongue darting out as strong hands rumpled the material of your dress while yours pulled at the hair on the back of his head

one second you were awkwardly kneeling on the floor, trying to breathe and kiss and commit every second of this to memory, the next he was pulling you into him. onto him. like he wanted this as much you did, the scruff from a couple days without shaving causing you to moan into his ear whenever jason drew back to let you breathe, his mouth never leaving you, just diving down to your neck, your collarbone, any patch of skin he could reach without having to let you go before he came back up for more.

"off!" you're sure there's an ebb to be made about all those freaking layers but the one word is all you manage as you pull on the green hoodie he chose for the night, grinning when its out of your way, his sly smile morphing into something darker as you grind yourself into the man's lap, just a bit, seeking friction. he's hard under you, tense, like's he's trying to figure out how far he can take this tonight, how far you want him to. "jas..." whatever was about to follow that whisper of his name gets cut off by the harsh sound of his doorbell.

"fuck's sake" it's a deep groan, head flexing back to look at the ceiling, nervous laugh bubbling in your throat when his hold goes stronger for a second "a fucker, whoever that is. can you please get that?"

"gotta let me up first, sir" seems like a conscious effort to ease his grip, your legs a bit wobbly when you stand up, trying to reorient yourself with arousal burning deep in your veins.

if your knees were unsteady as you walked to the door, he didn't need to know.

"is jason home?" that voice is a like a bucket of icy water over your head, eyes blinking fast at the porch light glow illuminating harsh green eyes raking through you.

olivia. olivia is here. shit.

"yeah, he's..." she pushes you out of the way then, carrying a sleeping daisy in her arms through the hall, otis holding onto the back of her coat til he spots you.

"YN!" his voice is loud and excited, body crashing into yours in a tight grasp "did you know we were coming home?"

if only it was that simple, little guy.

[meximango]

Day 10 - Stable - Apogee - G

Summary: A prototype is made. Dawntrail Spoilers!!

I’m toying with the idea of making Apogee an Endless similar to Otis, except the experiment didn’t work. Apogee is still in a mechanical body housing their original soul, but the memory transference got corrupted.

=========================

“Miss–” “-s she–”

“-s it wo–k” “--u awake yet?” It takes a while for them to understand that the words are being directed toward them, and even longer to parse their meaning. Once the people in the room have determined they are conscious enough, the questions repeat rapid-fire: do you remember what you signed up for? How do you feel? What do you recall, before going under? Can you tell us what year it is, your nameday, and your full name? What is your profession?” One by one, the questions get answered, though they are still quite groggy and go about it pretty slowly. There must be a trick to it. By the serious and increasingly worried expressions on their faces, they get the feeling they’re failing a test. They’re bad at this, somehow. The answers aren’t what these people expected, and now they’re disappointed. Only just awoken and already letting people down. Somehow, it makes them want to play this off as a joke, to be casual and pretend it was all part of their plan. 

Surprise! Those were just fake answers to throw you for a loop! Everything is fine, see? Look at my smile. Oh, I don’t have a face like yours? Well, just trust me, then. I’m fine. Vitals are stable. Now can I go?One by one, the scientists run different tests and experiments to try to jog their memory, but it’s met with critically low success. Unfortunately, the name Ada Anurana means nothing to them. They don’t know anything about this Endless project, or their own time as a scientist. They don’t remember their family, their age, or their hobbies. Even Alexandria is a mystery to them. Their homeland! The war! Electrope? Never heard of it. A few scant pieces remain, for which they thank their lucky stars. They understand speech, can read and write, performing magic is second nature to them (though this body has limited aether channels, so even that is something they can’t do right ‘anymore’). They have a decent understanding of  machinery and building things–apparently they used to be an engineer–though they do not understand the math behind how parts fit together, and they can’t draw a blueprint. And that’s it. All that they are. Not all they will ever be, but all that remains, for now. A few other Endless end up getting created, and those work out, not a hitch in sight. Memories and personalities intact. There’s much cheering and celebration. There’s hope yet for their people to be remembered! They only feel bitterness at how things worked out for themself. 

With a shake of their heads, the scientists give up trying to figure out and explain what must have gone wrong with the memory transferral in this case. They even try a few more times to transfer the memories, but the results are always the same. It’s too late to relocate the soul without destroying or sending it straight to the lifestream, and the original body is dead, so there are no more second chances. Something got corrupted, the soul intact but the mind scrambled. 

After the continual disappointment, they don’t really feel like learning about Ada. It would just make everyone’s lives more difficult, trying to memorize facts and pretend. The scientists slowly stop offering details unless prodded. They do not ask. 

It’s strange and confusing and frightening, but mostly they feel frustrated. They hate being seen as a failure. They didn’t even do anything! They’re not given a chance to prove themself worthy of being celebrated, because they can’t fit into what’s wanted and expected. From their perspective, it was as though they were just born! They have to learn about this world and people bit by bit from scratch, like a child. And there is just so little time for that, with the war going on. Perhaps things would be different if the situation were not so dire. As it stands now, they are nothing but a failed project that can’t offer anything. These people knew Ada, and now all they get is– is–they need to start referring to themselves as something, but it doesn’t feel right to take the name of the soul residing in their body, when no memories remain. And as time goes by, it seems it will stay that way. The scientists mourn the person who will never return, it seems, and cast aside and give up on what remains. They are left to their own devices, to do as they please. They are given a file about Ada and told they can help with the Endless project or with taking care of the injured, or fighting the enemy, or anything else they desire. 

They have so little desire, other than to find a way to refer to themself–and above all, to prove their worth, that they belong and deserve to be their own person. They hope to cultivate more desires along the way. They may not be Ada, but they can use this soul to start a new life, even in these tumultuous times. Maybe they’ll learn how to build with electrope and invent something to help with the war efforts to keep their city of Alexandria safe. Ada’s file contains a lot of notes, research, personal diary, everything from her life condensed into a single thick tome. They’ll try to keep it safe, to at least remind themself that Ada existed. Everything referring to the plan to become an Endless had been filed away under a project name: Apogee. From their understanding, Ada had a hobby interest in the sky and celestial bodies, before the shroud of lightning covered everything. Looking up the meaning of the word, Apogee found it did not only refer to when the moon was as far away from them on the ground as possible, but could als be a way to describe someone’s greatest achievement: a climax or culmination. Of Ada’s life work, in this case. What a legacy…

In this one small way, they could honor Ada, while also choosing a name for themself. They like the potential in it: to become the greatest they can possibly be. It’s a worthy goal. Rather than be daunted by how they can’t possibly live up to it, they choose to put on an air of bravado and march forward steadfastly. They’ll prove themself, no matter how long it takes! Once Ada, then nothing, now Apogee. The new name feels right. Wanting to feel useful, Apogee gets to work studying and reaching out to help. They may not know exactly what they all want to do, and they have so much to learn–but whatever they decide, Apogee is going to be the best at it, and there’s no better time to start than today. 

[deluweil]

this sounds so wrong but i need a major character to get killed off this season. it’s a firefighter show and somehow no one has died, only significantly hurt. and even if somone gets significantly hurt, they usually skip the recovery part too. it’s getting so predictable. the finale for last season was honestly not my favorite. everyone was just fine in the end and they time skipped again. there’s no stakes with this show. it’s gotten to the point where everything is predictable and it’s tiring.

Hello dear Anon :)

To be honest, last season I said the same thing, the way the last episode was written was a sham. It looked like it was thrown together last minute, the important things got shoved aside for the grand call that had no emotional impact to it, so yeah, a character's death would have made more impact than some whatever the hell we got.

The physical part, obviously Oliver's damn good at, always impressive. But it was a 118 emergency, and there was very little emotion to it.

And don't get me started on the skipping the recovery parts, that the only ones we saw were Buck's and the only thing those stories did was break the 118 apart before miraculously making it better by glossing over it with a "family excuses all transgression without dealing with it or talking about it" policy and no real development on anyone's part.

Except Eddie's which is the only recovery story (which was only the ptsd not the actual injury recovery) that I loved, because it led to actual character development, Eddie of S2-3 is different than the one we got from one season to another.

All the rest are made better and more relatable by their relationship with their partners, Bathena love each other so much that they make changes for one another, Henren made an amazing recovery from Hen's betrayal in S2, she does her damnest to be better for her wife every single day of their lives which really makes them couples goals.

And Maddie made Chimney more relatable to me personally, because when he's not with her he does dumb stuff, like punching his future brother in law in the face. Which was swept under the rug too. I love Chimney, but some behaviors to me as a person are unacceptable in my eyes. Physical violence that is not in a boxing ring with a true opponent or done in self defense, is unacceptable and should be talked about, not normalized on national television.

But Madney is a beautiful pairing and I love JLH for insisting on Chimney instead of a romance with Eddie. Because really, I can't even imagine it nor could I in S2, long before I shipped buddie. Madney just works! And I can't wait for the wedding.

But fact to the matter is, we don't see the actual developments during the physical recovery itself which takes down the emotional value, we don't even see the bedside vigils in between, unless it's Buck or if Buck needs Chimney's finger print to get into his phone to find Maddie.

I want it to be clear, that I love Buck! I do, and tbh much like in Chimney's regard with Maddie, Eddie made Buck relatable to me, I didn't like him at first, I was fond of him, I didn't want him fired in S1, and I wanted to slap him silly with that lawsuit in S3, But I love him, Eddie made me love him, because we get to see him through Eddie's eyes.

I hate that while everyone else developed, Buck keeps getting slid back. I really wish the writers did him the justice he deserves by actually letting him grow into the person we keep seeing glimpses of and make it stick.

I get what you're saying, because a death, would give and emotional payout and set the tone in a hopefully more positive way, like Otis's death in S8 of Chicago fire, or Miller from Station 19 last season. (Still haven't forgiven Shonda for that).

But now, S7 feels like a reboot, so before we throw anyone to the dogs let's give them a chance to make an impact before we choose the nuclear option. 😉

A couple of days ago, I was talking with a mutual and told her that so far I am at a wait and see mode, whatever happens next, will decide whether I watch S8 or not, I'm manifesting a good season and a good conclusion to everything.

If not, well can't say we didn't give it the old college try. 😉❤️

[lebenspurpur]

Jealous otis sinclair smut???

bestie who the fuck is otis sinclair/hj

Anyway you're getting NSFW headcannons with the Sinclair brothers and Otis because why not.

ᴠɪɴᴄᴇɴᴛ ꜱɪɴᴄʟᴀɪʀ

Vincent has a pretty high sex-drive but he doesn't show it. He's scared that you don't want him and so he keeps on ignoring his urges.

We all know Vincent has a few dirty drawings laying somewhere. They're really good too since he knows quite a lot about anatomy.

Vincent literally doesn't care what you look like. Bodies are just instruments to him, no matter what shape they are.

Please pull his hair. Especially when he goes down on you. It awakes such an animalistic urge inside of him, it's astonishing.

Don't ask him for cockwarming because that man has patience. He has no problem sitting there for hours, maybe reading, maybe sketching, who knows.

He might never admit it but the thought of his twin hearing the two of you arouses him more than anything else. Vincent will try his best to make you scream to let his dreams come true.

Vincent is pretty much down for everything you want to try, except inflicting pain on you. Him receiving pain? Depends on the pain but he might be down.

Very big fan of cumming inside of you. It feels like he's claiming you with his seed.

Loves tying you up. Especially when it looks aesthetically pleasing.

ʙᴏ ꜱɪɴᴄʟᴀɪʀ

This horny, horny man. Bo has such a high sex drive, he can literally take you all day, every day.

An ass man through and through.

Loves doggy-style. The animalistic side of him comes out and the fact that he's 100% in control just arouses the shit out of him.

Very open with his sexual life. The amount of information that Vincent had to listen to is... really astonishing.

Fucking you to Marylin Manson in the gas station? Yes.

Doesn't care if Vincent listens. Kind of wants him to. Will definitely whisper You want Vince to hear us? in your ear when you're loud.

Teasing motherfucker. For someone so spontaneous and childish Bo has quite the patience.

I am so sorry but he gets horny when he's drunk. We all know drunk sex is not it. Have fun with that.

Sex outside is a must. Bo doesn't really care where exactly, he just wants to be outside.

He will also fuck you in front of victims, especially if they make him jealous.

ʟᴇꜱᴛᴇʀ ꜱɪɴᴄʟᴀɪʀ

Lester is often perceived as a sweetheart but he probably has more knowledge in the romantic apartment than both of his brothers. That being said, he's not innocent.

Also an ass man. Loves your bottom, no matter what it looks like.

This was always a headcannon of mine and idk why but Lester has the best rhythm. He's empathetic enough to be slow and aroused enough to be fast and that somehow works perfectly.

Suck him off while he drives. Maybe not in his truck because yk, full with dead animals but still.

Shower sex. Need I say more.

Very fucking kinky but no one expects that. Let's not forget that this boy has trauma too.

Totally fine with tying you up for the day and just let you wait for him.

Frustrated sex? Hell yeah.

Lester can be both, rough and loving. It really depends on his mood.

ᴏᴛɪꜱ ᴅʀɪꜰᴛᴡᴏᴏᴅ

Oh boy. Get your seatbelt on because this is gonna be one hell of a ride.

Necrophiliac. And a very committed one. He'll fuck you with a corpse lying next to you.

Everything about Otis feels like a fever dream. Sex is very interesting as well. If you're both not high as fuck, you might not be fucking Otis.

Always down for a threesome as long as he can kill the other person later. The more people, the more pleasure as he likes to say.

Extremely into outside sex. Especially when he knows that there are other people outside.

Very degrading, especially if you're a woman. Thrives if you cry.

Will slap you if you're down. Is also very big on spanking.

Want to get fucked by another person while Otis films it? He'll obviously kill the other partner later and fuck you in front of their dying body but still.

A little finger action at the dinner table with the family is one of his favorite daydreams.

Otis has his own porn stacked somewhere. And yes, he'll fuck you while watching it.

Never wears any kind of protection and that will never change.

[slasherhaven]

What about billy, michael and Brahms (and whoever else you’d like to do) with an s/o that’s also a killer?

The Slashers with a S/O who is also a killer

Thomas Hewitt

Judging would be hypocritical but...really...you? Thomas can’t judge you for what you do, he done things just as bad. He just couldn’t believe that you had done these things but you have...he doesn’t know how to feel. But in the end, he loves you more than anything. If you can love him despite the things his family do, he can definitely love you even with this new information. You’re still you.

More willing to let you help. Now that he knows about all of this, he doesn’t feel the need to shelter you from the morbidity of the family as much (he is still very protective of you, though). If you want to help out with that side of the ‘chores’, then he is more likely to allow it. That doesn’t stop him from worrying though.

Michael Myers

Okay. Why does he not react to anything?! Okay, there is a chance he already knew. This man can be quite the stalker when he wants to be, so he might have already found out. Either way, he’s not going to judge you for this, I mean...look at him. However, the first time he found out, he was actually surprised, he’s just good at not showing it. But he is also curious.

He likes to work alone...but he can make an exception. Michael likes working alone, he doesn’t want to have somebody tag along. However, he is curious as to how you would behave, how the two of you would work together, he wanted to watch and have some of that curiosity satisfied. So, maybe the two of you team up for a night or two before going back to your individual work.

Jason Voorhees 

You? There’s no way. Jason doesn’t even believe it at first. You’re so sweet and gentle and kind, there’s no way you’re a killer...right? He just sees you as his sweet S/O, the only person who has shown him any love or kindness. So, you can understand why it’s difficult for him to picture.

Worries about you. Not in a hypocritical way, it’s just dangerous work. Jason worries about you enough even before this information so now that he knows you put yourself in dangerous situations purposely, he frets even more. If you start working with him on dealing with intruders at the camp, he will worry about you no matter how capable you prove yourself to be.

Brahms Heelshire 

Hypocritical little bastard. As if he has any room to judge you for what you do. You know his history, about the nannies that came before you and how he had to deal with them when they didn’t accept him. You knew all of that, he had opened up to you about it, that’s why you told him the truth as well. He just needs some time to process this and remember that you’re still you.

As long as you’re still caring for him. He decides that as long as nothing between you both changes, he’s fine with it. As along as you continue to love him and care for him, he doesn’t care about all of that.

Bo Sinclair 

Doesn’t believe you. Straight up laughs in your face, shaking his head at you. Yeah, that was a good joke. No matter what you say, he thinks you’re just messing with him. He doesn’t think you could do it, he’s underestimating you.

Well, fucking hell, okay then. That’s pretty much his response when you prove it to him. Either showing him evidence of past kills or just straight up killing somebody in front of him. You weren’t joking, he gets it...and is almost impressed. Well, looks like you’re going to be doing a lot more to pull your weight around here.

Vincent Sinclair

He...doesn’t like the idea. The thought of you killing somebody doesn’t sit right with him but he’s also aware that he has no room to judge. He doesn’t like the idea of you hurting somebody or of you accidently getting hurt in the process. He’s more worried about it all than anything else.

He comes around to it. He just needs some time to process and accept it. In the mean time, just remind him that it doesn’t change anything between the two of you. Continue to show him love and prove that you’re still who he thought you were, he’ll eventually relax about the whole thing. Just please don’t get hurt.

Lester Sinclair

Honestly, it makes him a little nervous. He knows that you’re not going to hurt him, it’s not that, he actually trusts you with his life. It’s a natural reaction to finding out your S/O is a killer, but he won’t judge. I mean, how can he. While he doesn’t usually play a direct part in the killings, both of his brothers are killers. So, he can’t be too put off by you being one too.

At least you’ll fit in here, eh? This newfound information actually makes him think that you’re less likely to leave Ambrose (and, in addition, him) because the things that happen in this town aren’t too difficult for you to accept and get used too. He worries less about you seeing the dark side of the town. He can see how this could be a positive thing in a strange way.

Bubba Sawyer

Confusion and disbelief. He just can’t believe the person he loves so much and who shows him so much tender affection could be a killer. But you tell him that you feel the same about him. He’s so sweet and kind but he’s killed people before. Well, maybe it’s not so bad then!

Well, he can’t judge! Killing is pretty normal to him and, while he doesn’t you to get hurt or put yourself in harms way, he can’t judge. This just means that you are like the rest of the family, so that’s fine! And now you can help them deal with intruders if you’d like, he’ll just be watching so that you don’t get hurt. He worries too much about you sometimes.

Billy Lenz

Is actually very torn about it. I mean, how are you supposed to react when you find out your S/O is a killer, especially when you’re one too. He’s not judgemental because he’s in the same boat as you, but he just struggles to process that you have done stuff like that when you’ve only ever been kind and accepting of him.

As long as you’re nice to him, he doesn’t care. If this changes nothing between you both, he accepts you for who you are because you’ve done the same for him. He also gets this feeling of relief because you must understand him. You wouldn’t judge him, you’d understand and still be there for him. And that’s all he wants from you.

Asa Emory (The Collector)

Does his research. As soon as he finds out, he wants to know everything. Whether you simply tell him everything, from your first kill to where you are today, or he has to do some extra research on your kills. He wants to know how you do it and why you do it. What can he say? It’s an interesting subject. Plus, it helps him better understand you and learn more about you.

Mutual curiosity. Just as he’s curious about your kills, you’re interested with his. If he hasn’t already taken you to the hotel, he will. Maybe you could learn a thing or two from each other, maybe even help each other out. Either way, this is certainly interesting to him.

Jesse Cromeans (Chromeskull) 

Probably how you met. It’s likely that he caught wind of your kills and became interested. Of course, he had to investigate and learn more about this mysterious killer, only to find you. You’re just lucky that he developed an interest in you rather than wanting to eliminate any competition.

Partnering up. He just thought teaming up with you for a kill or two could be interesting, just a little bit of fun but the two of you enjoyed it more than either of you expected, so it became a regular thing. Eventually, it became official. You are quite the team...

Otis Driftwood

Tell him everything. He wants to know everything, every little detail. Just tell him everything. No details are too gory for him. In fact, he wants to know the gory details. He just wants to know it all and he will listen intently the whole time.

Otis likes having a partner more than he thought he would. When he found out that you’re a killer, the first thing he wanted to do was kill somebody with you. And he enjoys it even more than he thought it would. He likes terrorising people, whether it be on his own or with somebody else, but none of it compares to doing it with you. This is definitely going to become a regular thing. Side note: it shouldn’t be surprising that this all gets him going.

Baby Firefly

What a power couple! As soon as she finds out, all she wants to do is cause chaos with you and kill somebody with you. She truly believes that the two of you are unstoppable. And even if you’re not, the two of you are about to have a lot of fun together!

Just fucked up people doing fucked up shit. The two of you are definitely bad influences on each other. The fact that you kill anyone at all only encourages her to do it more because of how fun she finds doing it with you. And she just makes you all the more chaotic.

Yautja (Predator)

Not quick to judge at all. Killing is a perfectly normal thing in their culture, well maybe not just killing each other but hunting is normal and encouraged. So he’s accepting of it.

Teaches you their honour code. Honour is extremely important to the Yautja. If you’re killing innocent humans, that’s a problem. They aren’t worthy kills, they’re easy. Preferably you would aim higher, killing an opponent who is a challenge is worthy. Or you would kill people who ‘deserve’ it, that doesn’t exactly bring you honour if they were an easy target but you wouldn’t loose any either. He’ll pretty much train you if you’re okay with that.

[fighterkimburgess]

Prompt 19(General) hank voight x reader, the reader is a firefighter and she was in that ebola type bomb in Chicago med and hanks super worried about her getting sick and her being injured and in the aftermath when they get cleared its just fluff

General 19: “Hold onto me”

Warnings: age gap, canon typical injury and illness.

There was nothing you could do, and this was the worst part of all of it for you. You were sitting in the waiting room now that the panic had passed and the triage had happened, stuck hiding there and praying that everything would work out. You didn’t know if the disease was active, you didn’t know if you were slowly dying from the inside out.

Your entire truck team was sitting there, and waiting for news about Severide as well. Your brain was going crazy, and you almost didn’t hear your cell go off in your pocket. Your boyfriend was calling you, and you answered quickly.

“Where are you? Are you ok? I’m outside Med and 81 is here but I can’t find you.” Hank’s worry was immediate coming through the line, and you bit your lip to stop yourself from crying.

“I’m inside, Hank.” Your pause put all the seriousness of the situation into the words. “I was in here when everything happened. They’re waiting to find out what we were exposed to, but if they’re right…” You trailed off, unable to say the words. You faced your mortality every time you went into a burning building, but this disease was so much worse than that.

“We’ll get an antidote. You’re going to be fine, Sweetheart. You’ll be alive and you’ll be fine because we’ve got dinner plans tomorrow.” You laughed, a bubble of pure tension releasing at his words. You were probably going to be dead by the time your dinner reservation arrived tomorrow.

“Baby, I need you not to lie to me, ok? I know what’s going on. Promise me one thing?” You asked, hoping he’d give you just that one hope.

“Anything, you know that.”

“Find out who did this and put him away for good. I need you to promise me that. Ok?” You were giving up, the heavy atmosphere too much for you. You knew exactly what would happen over the next twelve hours, and you needed Hank to be on his game, not worrying about you.

“I’m gonna get him and I’m gonna have breakfast with you after your shift, you know that Sweetheart.”

“Hank, it’s ok. I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to think you’re betraying me when you find love again. I love you so much and I want you to know that.” You waited for his response, but there was a loud beep on the line. You stared at your phone, but the battery had died. At least you’d gotten the words out for him.

It took another three hours, all the while each of you was getting more and more nervous about what could be going on inside your bodies. But Halstead emerged with Herrmann, a grin on their faces.

“We’re safe. Whatever was in that bomb, it wasn’t active. We can lift quarantine, you can all go.” You stared up at them, a smile reaching across your face. You were going to be ok. You were going to be fine.

“51, let’s go. We all need to go home.” You followed your chief outside, heading towards your truck. You looked up and saw Hank staring at the fighting goat emblem, his hand touching a bullethole that had been in it since before you joined 51.

“HANK!” You yelled, and he turned and ran to you, lifting you off your feet and spinning you around. Your coworkers watched as he held you close, pressing a kiss to your forehead. “I have to go back to 51, I’ll see you when you get home?” He nodded, kissing you one last time before letting you get into the truck. You were in and had your seatbelt on before Mouch opened his mouth.

“So…you and Voight, eh? When did that happen?” Everyone except Otis was staring at you, waiting for your response.

“I went on a blind date, my date never showed. Hank was at the bar and we started talking. One thing led to another, and it’s been six months.” There was a chorus of awes through the truck, but you watched as your Lieutenant’s jaw tightened at your words. Hank had told you everything that had happened between him and Matt, how he wasn’t proud of what he’d done, he was ashamed of damaging Matt’s reputation.

You made it almost off the app floor on your way home when Casey caught up to you, grabbing your shoulder. You turned and looked at him, waiting for whatever he was going to say about Hank.

“Look, I know Voight and I don’t particularly see eye to eye…but I hope you’re happy with him. You’re a damn good firefighter, and a really good person. You deserve someone who makes you happy.” You smiled at your Lieutenant’s words, giving Matt a quick hug.

“Thanks, Casey. You’re as much a friend as a mentor to me, you know? Hearing that from you means an awful lot.” The two of you walked out together, and he walked you as far as your car. You and Hank had just moved in together, and arriving home was bliss. You sat on the couch in the quiet, relishing being alive and safe and so in love. It didn’t take long for Hank to arrive, and he sat beside you, opening his arms for you to crawl beside him.

“Do you need anything, Sweetheart?” He asked, his hand rubbing circles on your lower back where you held a lot of tension.

“Just hold onto me.” And he did.

Taglist: @ohitsnicolexo @redpoodlern @wanniiieeee @trishxtrix @mileika @melblacc @mcgreads @securityfriendly-jay

[violet-t-9]

Checking in on my (not very realistic) wish list for episode 133

1. Continued dungeon crawl starting with a relatively easy victory against the frost salamander thingy.

Fjord you battle genius! That was pretty easy I totally knew it-oh never mind lol there is another one. Also, Capeleb my beloved. Still pretty easy first combat though considering they took both salamanders out in 2 rounds.

2. They discover more about the nature of the “coldness” they experience in the ruins that keeps making them do constitution checks (is it just the brown mold? I don’t trust it).

I mean, seems like regular brown mold to me at this point! We got a full explanation of their effects as well! (Still don’t trust it though.)

3. Maybe they can discover some more cool relics/clues to what happened to Aeor, the nine eyes, its history or arcane and this mysterious ward.

They found the city proper! Cool stuff. They also found mummified bodies and pretty architecture. A weird body with metallic features and runes! A smooth orb power core? Weird blue and teal lights and dome. Who is that woman?

4. Confirm (via commune perhaps, let’s go team clerics) that the TT are in fact still gathering their crests/just got them so M9 still have some time to relax/plan.

Yay Jester! Go Jester! Shoot they are less than a day away though... but they still got some time to rest/plan. At least Trent and Co. are not pursuing close. Ah never mind they are actually here-

5. Seeing more of Essek’s cool dunamancy spells in combat and for other things (Matt please give me more of that delicious dunamantic flavour yum), also seeing his other fancy magical items.

Magnify Gravity hype! Magic missile description was also cool (love the colour scheme)! Sending stones made an appearance again! (Rip those rangers)

6. I will continue waiting for the Essek and Caleb one-on-one conversation until it happens eventually (manifesting). (Bonus: Essek meets winter Frumpkin)

Yes! It happened! They talked, in private. Literally everything I have ever wanted for weeks now, thank you critical role.

7. More Essek realization moments as he gets more and more convinced that he is surrounded by super powerful idiots. (Bonus: Essek gets either super impressed by M9′s battle skills or joins in their fun afterwards)

I’m counting the Capeleb moments lol, low int Capeleb is low int. (Again, Capeleb my beloved.) Also Essek joined them in their heroes’ feast and expressed his love of beef stew so I’m going to assume he had fun.

8. Finding a place they see fit, coming up with and deciding on a tangible plan for ambushing the TT and actually setting up the traps. (Bonus: discover the place where the TT plans to use to go to the astral sea)

I love ambush planning! They actually set stuff up! Wonderful wonderful. Did not expect them to actually confront the TT so soon, but hey, 3 down 2 to go. The real problem is the bonus part. 

9. Widogast’s Nascent Nein-Sided Tower (with renovations) the next night (let Essek see it before fighting the TT, come on). (Bonus: water slide woooooo)

Ayyyy “impressive” indeed! Caleb even gave Essek a short tour. What fun that this episode just keeps delivering. Water slides even got an honorary mention (they are in the rooms of requirements).

10. Dome cuddle pile shenanigans on this night, maybe some more one-on-one conversations between people on watch. (Bonus: the couples cuddle)

I mean technically yeah there was the dome too! Essek and Fjord had a very intense one-on-one conversation that I loved... so I’m counting it.

11. No more red eyes on Beau and Caleb in their long rest (I’m still hoping that their amulets are helping with that, honestly though that’s unlikely).

Well they never got a long rest, but no red eyes I guess so l will take it.

12. Caleb (from casting polymorph) and Veth’s (from spider climb) wild magic rolls from last episode have their effects revealed. (Bonus: the effects turn out to be not horrible or harmful for them)

I mean, no news is good news! They have been using a lot of magic but are fine so far. Hope that they keep getting the casual “you are fine”.

13. Fjord and Jester having more powerful battle couple moments (since last episode they were being very cute and flirty). (Bonus: Jester heals or refuses to heal Fjord)

Fjord and Jester were such a battle couple this episode! All the fire damage from Fjord, spiritual weapon and toll the dead from Jester. It was really awesome to see. They also went in first against the TT!

14. Yasha and Beau having more cute and flirty moments (since last episode they were being a super powerful battle couple). (Bonus: they kiss)

“Come on babe this is the hottest you have been” lol it worked! The strength check worked guys! It’s the power of love. Beau also gave Yasha a little kiss! 

15. Cad and Veth each gets at least one nice RP moment or battle moment (would love to see them interact more honestly, they have an interesting dynamic).

Cad got to fly around Aeorian town as a stealth agent, fun! Veth had a little moment with Caleb when they were doming up. Also, she got to kill Otis, so I’m sure she is pretty happy right about now.

16. At least one of the party members gets tempted by a strange, powerful or magical item/location/opportunity etc. and attempts to push the button.

I mean, Fjord was really tempted by exploring the rest of the Aeorian cityscape. Who could blame him though.

17. Everybody stays relatively happy and very much alive by the end of this episode (probably will end on a terrifying cliffhanger, AGAIN).

Hey, I will take that as a win! The cat-and-mouse game starts again, except this time they are the ones on the offensive! Most impressive.

Score: 14/17 fulfilled, this episode fulfilled almost everything on my wish list and delivered even more excitement! Wow, what an episode. I’m so excited for how this is going to turn out!

[stardust-walker]

High Hopes: Chapter 14

Previous Chapters:  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

word count: 3443

______________________________________________

Dove wasn’t sure how long she’d slept for, but the sun was already shining and the RV was moving when she opened her eyes. Bleary eyed and still feeling tired, she rolled over onto her back as Carol shook her awake. “Mornin, sleepyhead,” Carol smiled a little as she brushed Dove’s hair back off her face.

Dove sighed as she rose into a sitting position. “How long was I out for?”

“A decent time,” Carol sighed as she sat next to her sister. “They wanted to wake you up when we were setting things out for Sophia, but I told them that you needed your rest.”

Dove scoffed and ran a hand through her hair before she pulled a hairtie from her wrist. “You’re one to talk about needing sleep,” Dove mumbled as she held the hairtie between her teeth. She was pulling her hair back as she listened to her sister.

“Shush. Daryl held true to his word. Made a nice big sign on the back window of a car and all that. Said someone should try to circle back at least once a day until she comes back,” Carol sounded confident in the efforts of the redneck and Dove couldn’t help but agree with her.

A few moments later, they came to a stop as people came filing out of a big farmhouse. Dove followed close behind Carol as she descended the steps. The members of the household stood back and Dove couldn’t help but observe them once she heard that Carl was alright. The older man, Hershel, stood close to a small blonde girl and a boy who had to be her boyfriend by the way she clung to his arm. The woman from the woods who had spirited Lori away to be with her son, an older blonde woman, and a tall young man with curly black hair all stood on the steps of the house.

Dove’s attention shifted to Shane as Rick spoke. “We would’ve lost Carl if not for him.” Dove paused for a moment before she followed Carol over and embraced Lori right along with her. The last thing she expected was to be pulled into another funeral, but that was what life had in store for them it seemed.

The dark haired man cleared his throat before he looked at the man who owned the house. “Hershel? Now that this is all handled…think we can do that thing for Otis now?” His words were careful and Dove saw the older blonde start to tear up. She could only guess who Otis was.

Hershel was a well spoken man and gave a nice service, even if Dove wasn’t so sure what she believed in anymore. Dove’s attention shifted to Shane again as Hershel attempted to direct him to speak. “I’m not very good at it, sorry.” Shane twitched slightly and Dove moved her hand up to clutch her necklace. Something about the way he was acting was just…off. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it felt wrong.

“You were the last one with him,” Patricia began to cry again. “You shared his final moments. Please.” She began to plead and Dove stared at her feet. “I need to know his death had meaning.”

Shane stepped forward to speak and the whole group seemed to go silent. “We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limpin, it was bad. Ankle all swollen up. ‘We’ve gotta save the boy.’ See that’s what he said. He gave me his backpack, shoved me ahead. He said he would take the rear and cover me.” Dove’s gaze shifted around the group. 

The dark haired young man from before clenched his jaw as he stared across the group at Shane. Carol reached out and Dove reached back and instinctively gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “And when I looked back…”Shane stopped and walked forward. “If not for Otis, I never would’ve made it out alive. That goes for Carl too.” Dove’s eyes locked with Dale across the group as the man with the curly hair shook his head and began to stomp back to the house. Dale didn’t look like he bought it either. Maybe she wasn’t crazy after all.

~

“Hey,” Dove turned slightly at the unrecognizable voice, only to see the young man from before. She raised an eyebrow as he approached; he looked less miserable than before but she couldn’t blame him. “Sorry if I spooked ya, Hershel just told me I should come get ya. They’re talkin about goin to look for that little girl.”

“Sophia,” Dove stated as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Right, sorry…you’re her aunt, I think the sheriff said,” he raised an eyebrow at her.

“’S right. Name’s Dove…Sawyer,” she held her hand out and the young man shook it, maybe too enthusiastically.

“Julian. Julian Montgomery. Now you’re just gonna wanna head up to that silver car right up there. Maggie’s bringing a map for ya’ll to look at.” He pointed towards the small group gathered right in the spot he’d said.

“Thanks. Think you can help my friend Glenn over there put up his tent? He acts like he’s good at it but he really sucks,” Dove mumbled as she patted the younger man’s arm in thanks before she began to speed walk off.

“Sure thing,” she heard the man reply from behind her.

As she approached, she heard Hershel almost scold Rick. “Not you, not today. You gave three units of blood. You wouldn’t be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out. And Shane, push that ankle now, you’ll be laid up for a month.”

Dove slid into the space between Andrea and who must have been Maggie and spoke up, “I’ll take Rick’s spot.”

Rick shook his head, “No I don’t think that’s a good idea. You should stay here with Carol and…”

“And what? Mope around and wish that I was out there able to do something? Besides, Sophia might not respond well to everyone. She doesn’t,” she trailed off and took a deep breath, “she doesn’t trust a lot of people. Odds of her coming out of wherever she is if she hears my voice are a lot higher than some strangers. No offense.”

There was a pause before Shane sighed, removed his baseball hat, and ran a hand over his now bald head. “Bird’s got a point.”

Daryl let out an annoyed grunt as he reached out for the map. “Look’s like it’s just me, then.”

Rick sighed and pinched his nose, “Daryl…”

“I work better alone,” Daryl said as he surveyed the map.

“Well that’s too damn bad, Dixon.” Dove felt her anger at the man flare up again. “Because like I said. It doesn’t seem like alone is gonna bring Sophia out of hiding anytime soon.”

The tension in the air was thick before Daryl spoke again as he pushed the map back over towards her. Dove caught Andrea’s eye and raised an eyebrow at her. The older woman just shrugged her shoulders. “We head back to the creek then. Work our way from there.”

Shane was going to go back to the road and Dove felt a little bit better about everything before Shane spoke again. “We can’t have our people out there with just knives.”

“We don’t just have knives. Daryl’s got his crossbow, I’ve got my crowbar. We’re fine,” Dove planted her hands on the hood of the car.

“Not saying you won’t be fine today, but what about tomorrow. Everyone needs gun training. We’ve been promising them,” Shane said. Dove rolled her eyes and patted the hood of the car.

“Alright well, you let me know when we’re heading out,” she pointed across the hood at Daryl before she turned on her heel and caught sight of Carol. She caught up with her as she started to set up camp. “I just wanted to let you know…I’m goin with Daryl to look for Soph.” She looked down at her feet as she heard Carol stop moving.

Carol sighed. “Alright. Just…please be careful. I don’t need to lose you too,” Carol looked up at her younger sister from her spot on the ground.

Dove chuckled and gave Carol’s shoulder a playful shove. “I think the only thing I have to worry about it Daryl leavin my ass out in the woods if he decides I’m too annoying.” She caught a glimpse of the man as he walked towards the house, so she leaned closer to her sister, a devious sparkle in her eye, “Or he pisses me off and I give him an old ‘one-two’ with old trusty here,” she waved her crowbar close to Carol.

Carol rolled her eyes and slapped the weapon away from her, “Just behave yourself and be careful, please.”

“Yes, mom,” Dove called over her shoulder as she turned and walked off.

Julian stopped what he was doing as he saw Maggie approach. He raised a hand in greeting, “Hey, Mags! You meet Glenn yet?” He called and a glare from Glenn went unnoticed as the brunette woman shook her head.

“No, but I was lookin for him.” Maggie turned her attention to Glenn. “I hear you’re fast on your feet and know how to get in and out.” Julian let out a quiet snort of laughter as Maggie continued. “Got a pharmacy run. You in?”

Glenn didn’t seem to know what to say and, thankfully, Dale interrupted. Julian tried to bite back another laugh once Maggie walked off to saddle up a horse for the new guy. Glenn glanced between the three men around him, “Horse?”

Julian couldn’t hold it in anymore and laughed, “Ever ridden one before man?” Glenn shook his head as a look of concern washed over his face. “Don’t worry, dude. It’s just like riding a bike. Except the bike is alive and can buck you off if you…”

“Julian.” A loud voice from the house interrupted his as the small blonde stepped out onto the porch and waved him towards her.

“Ah, nevermind. Let me know if you guys need anymore help later,” he nodded at the members of the new group. “Good luck, Glenn.” Once the young man was far enough away, Dale spoke up.

“What a strange boy,” Dale shook his head.

T-Dog rolled his eyes, “Man almost threw up when he saw my arm last night. Don’t think they’ve seen other people in months. Just let it go, man.”

~

Dove wasn’t surprised that she almost missed Daryl leaving and it was only by the good grace of Rick Grimes that she was able to catch him before he left without her. “It puts you off the hook. You don’t owe us anything,” Rick called over to him as Dove stopped behind the man with the crossbow.

Daryl paused a moment, “My other plans fell through. C’mon,” he walked past her with an angry look on his face.

“What was that all about,” Dove took long strides to keep up with the older man.

“Nothin, don’t worry about it. Now be quiet. I need to be able to hear out here,” Daryl grunted as he walked into the tree line.

Dove sighed as she stepped into the trees behind him. “Sorry, guess I’m a bit of a nervous talker,” she whispered.

“Haven’t noticed,” Daryl hissed back.

Dove chewed on the inside of her cheek to stay quiet as best she could. She wasn’t necessarily in the mood to be on Daryl’s bad side today. So, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and wrapped her thin fingers around the pendant that the same angry person had given to her last night.

“You alright back there,” Daryl turned his head.

Dove’s eyes snapped open and she felt heat rush to her cheeks. With a shake of her head, she let go of her necklace and moved to catch up to him. “Sorry, didn’t realize that I’d fallen behind.”

“You best keep up. Don’t need your sister on my ass for losin you while we’re out here lookin for Sophia,” he looked her up and down as she stepped up alongside him.

Dove scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Shit.”

“What?”

“You fucking sound like Carol,” she rolled her eyes and motioned for him to get moving again.

Daryl huffed as he started moving through the trees again. It didn’t take too long for them to reach a clearing. Dove, however, was surprised as she stepped out into the bright sunshine. She stared ahead and her heart leapt as she caught sight of a house. “You think she could be in there,” she turned her head to look at Daryl.

“Don’t know, could be. Let’s go,” he spoke quietly before he motioned for her to follow him. “Keep that thing close,” he pointed to the crowbar in her hand.

Dove nodded as she tightened her grip on the weapon as they approached the home. Dove felt her pulse quicken as they walked through each room. She wanted to call out for Sophia but she knew that wasn’t the best idea. A walker could hear them, then they would all be up shit creek. It was as Daryl picked up a can of tuna that she heard it. Something moved in the closet. She stared at it as the man slowly rose into a standing position and began to move towards the sound. All the horror movies she’d ever seen told her it was an awful idea, but Daryl pulled the little door open before she could protest.

A sharp exhale left her as she felt her sense of hope deflate like a balloon. There was nothing in the cupboard except for blankets and a pillow. She stepped up next to him and stared down at the small pile on the ground for a few moments. A hand on her arm snapped her out of it and she turned her head slowly to see Daryl put his hand back on his crossbow. “C’mon. Maybe she’s outside,” he was already out the door, calling for her before she even had a chance to move.

Dove’s feet carried her quickly as she ran out the door and towards the opposite end of the clearing from Daryl. She yelled for Sophia over and over again for what felt like hours but was really only minutes. Her hazel eyes started to fill with tears as she turned around and spotted Daryl. He had a white flower in his hand. What the fuck.

Daryl must have great hearing, she thought as he turned around once she started to approach. “Can you hold this,” he held the flower out to her. Her eyes widened as she stared at his hand before her gaze shifted back to his face. “It’s for your sister. A Cherokee rose,” he explained. Dove stared blankly. “You know, right?”

Dove raised an eyebrow, “The…state flower of Georgia?”

Daryl rolled his eyes and shoved the flower into her grasp, “Can’t believe you don’t know the story.”

Dove sighed as she began to follow Daryl back to their new camp. “I…I think I wanna hear the story,” she looked down at the flower in her hand as Daryl peeked over his shoulder at her. “I mean, if you’re alright with talkin in the woods and all that.”

Daryl paused for a moment, just long enough for Dove to keep up and match his stride. “Just an old wives tale, I think. Heard it from school…my mom, don’t really remember. Just remember the story.”

Dove chuckled and nudged Daryl’s arm with her elbow as they walked, “I don’t mind old wives tales. Just as good as any other story. I wanna hear it. If you got this,” she held the flower up, “for my sister because of a story or whatever, it must be a good one. You don’t seem like a man who does or says much if it doesn’t have a purpose.”

Daryl squinted at her for a moment before he turned his attention forward with a nod of his head. “Alright. But I’ll tell ya when we get back. Don’t wanna repeat myself.” Dove rolled her eyes and kept her mouth shut the rest of the walk back. He was doing a lot for her family, that was the least she could do for him.

Dove let out a low whistle as she looked around the clean RV. “I cleaned it up. Wanted it to look nice for her,” Carol spoke from the small table. A smile crossed Dove’s face as Daryl reached back and took the flower from her. She was careful as she slipped past him and took a seat across from her sister.

“For a second, I thought I was in the wrong place,” Daryl replied. Dove reached across the table and gave Carol’s hand a squeeze.

“You’ve really outdone yourself this time, Care,” Dove patted Carol’s hand once more before she folded her hands on the table in front of her. Her eyes settled on the Cherokee rose that was now placed on the counter.

“A flower,” Carol asked.

“It’s a Cherokee rose,” Daryl motioned towards the flower. Dove raised an eyebrow at the older man expectantly. He had told her that there was a story, she didn’t want to have to ask. He sighed and stepped closer to the table. “The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the trail of tears, the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much ‘cause they were losing their little ones along the way.” Dove caught herself starting to chew on her thumb nail as she listened to Daryl talk. A glance over at her sister showed that she was just as caught up in the story. “Ya know, exposure and disease…starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers’ spirits, give them strength and hope.” Carol’s gaze settled on the flower on the counter, but Dove’s focus didn’t shift from the man as he spoke.

Dove was good at picking up lies. She had to be in her old life before everything ended. She could pick up the slightest tell in most people after knowing them for a little while. But Daryl didn’t seem like a liar or insincere. She felt tears start to form in her eyes and she raised a hand to wipe them away as he continued. “The next day, this rose started to grow right where the mothers’ tears fell. I’m not fool enough to think there’s any flowers blooming for my brother. But, I believe this one bloomed for your little girl.”

Dove let out a quiet laugh along with her sister as a smile finally showed on Carol’s face for the first time in days. Once Daryl had left, Dove took a deep breath and spoke. “Damn that was quite a story,” she chuckled as she wiped tears from her cheeks.

Carol nodded her head, “Did you know about that?”

Dove shook her head, “Nope. Daryl’s the one who picked the flower for you and everything. I didn’t even know what he was talkin about when he mentioned it in the woods…I get it now, though.” Dove smiled at her sister. “Unless it was just an excuse for Daryl to bring you a flower because he’s got a crush on you,” Dove wiggled her eyebrows as she ducked to avoid a swat from Carol.

The short-haired woman shook her head as she let out a laugh, “You cut that out!”

“Oh come on, he’s not that bad,” Dove laughed as she tossed a crumb of food towards her sister.

Carol raised an eyebrow at her, “You been spending some time with him the past few days. Are you…what do ya call it? Projecting?” A sly look was on Carol’s face as she went back to her knitting.

Dove let out a loud, incredulous laugh as she shook her head, “See now that? That’s taking it way too far!”

It was strange, but it was the most at peace that Dove had probably felt since Sophia had gone missing. Still, she couldn’t help but feel just a little guilty for it. “You were right, back on the road.”

“Huh,” Dove tilted her head.

“If anyone’s gonna find Sophia, it’s probably a tracker,” Carol nodded her head.

Dove stood up and walked around the table before she settled back down and leaned her head on her sister’s shoulder. “I hope you’re right.”

___

@crossbowking​ @momc95​ @chaotic-gary-king-stan​​

[funky-boat-zone]

“stars”, but for all the wrong reasons

(based on the salty’s lighthouse ‘verse, with the pov character being adapted from the diesel tug character that never made it into tugs. cw for discussions of kidnapping, missing people (boats?), and implied character death.)

“Do you need any help?” Ten Cents calls from across the harbor. You shake your wheelhouse, since you’re more than capable of pulling your barges by yourself.

It’s strange, being the very first diesel tug in Snugboat Harbor. It’s even stranger that most of the tugs were so quick to accept you as not only their coworker, but their friend; with the way they were acting, it’s as if they’ve known you for years rather than just having met you a few days ago.

-

“Oh— heads up, the sun’s going down and the fog will roll in soon! Do you want to sleep here for the night?” He offers once you’ve finished your jobs for the day. That.. doesn’t sound so bad, truthfully. It’s better than getting lost while trying to navigate a harbor you know nothing about or bothering one of the tugs to try guiding you home, that’s for sure.

“You barely know him, he’s only worked here for a day, and you’re letting him stay here overnight?!” Zorran protests.

Sunshine rolls her eyes. “Well, why not? It’s better than letting him navigate the fog by himself, at least!”

Zorran casts a furious glance your way, but the sight of his unfortunately-named fleet returning to port for the evening stops him from saying anything else.

Zug looks at the three of you nervously, sensing that he’s floated in at a bad time. “Zorran, c’mon! Captain Zero’s waiting.”

ZB adds, “Yeah, leave ‘em alone!”

Zorran looks around, quickly realizing that no one in the vicinity is on his side. “Fine. But he’s not staying at our dock.”

-

You enter the Star Fleet’s dock, quickly recognizing your next-dock neighbors from earlier. Thankfully, there’s no sign of Zorran.

The one with the raspy voice is the first to speak up. “Don’t listen to Zorran, he’s spouting a load of bilge—“

“Zak! Remember what Captain said about language!” ZB admonishes him.

“Hey, I’m just saying that what he’s saying is a load of bilgewater, I’m not actually calling anyone that! Anyway, he thinks that just because of what happened to Otis—“ A set of pointed looks from the already-docked members of the Star Fleet immediately gives Zak the hint to shut up. He looks away, guilty. “It’s, uh— never mind.”

-

Despite their efforts to just make friendly conversation with you, it seems that the mere mention of “Otis” really put a damper on the Star Fleet’s mood. They’re talking about absolutely everything except Otis, and at one point you catch Ten Cents frantically glancing between you and the rest of his fleet to make sure you’re invested in what they’re saying.

“Look at that, the moon’s already up.” Hercules remarks. “Well, better get some shut-eye now. We’ve got work tomorrow—“ he gives you a quick look, “And you should probably be up early if you want to get home before work starts.”

“C’mon, can’t we stay up a little later?” Ten Cents complains.

“Yeah, I’m not even tired yet!” Sunshine adds.

“We have to wake up early tomorrow.” Warrior says with barely-restrained frustration, which, judging by the look of fear on the switchers’ faces and how quickly they close their eyes, you can only assume is code for “shut up, drop the subject, and go to sleep now”.

You stay awake anyway, wondering what’s going on with this fleet.

-

“Hey, you awake?” You feel ready to jump out of your hull when Ten Cents alerts you to the fact that he wasn’t asleep… and probably hadn’t been for hours.

“Y-Yeah, can’t sleep. Got a big day coming up tomorrow.” You laugh nervously, trying to keep your voice down so as not to wake up the rest of the fleet.

“Me either.” Ten Cents sighs.

“What are you guys doing awake?” Sunshine asks, and Ten Cents jolts from where he’s docked.

“Sunshine, this is a private conversation! Now go back to sleep!”

“We were actually just talking about how we can’t sle— Oh.” From the irritated look he’s giving you, you’ve dashed his hopes of keeping Sunshine out of this.

“Doesn’t sound like anything worth keeping private, then.” She huffs. “I mean, I can’t sleep either.”

“Well, at least we have that much in common.” You joke. A glance toward the Zero Fleet’s (you still can’t believe they willingly call themselves “Zeroes”) dock reveals that Zorran made it home after all, and he’s sleeping next to the rest of his fleet. “So.. What’d I do to make Zorran so mad at me?”

Ten Cents sighs again. “It’s nothing that you did, he’s just touchy about new boats in the harbor since..” He looks to Sunshine. “Should I tell him?”

Sunshine looks uncomfortable. “I-I mean, I think Captain wouldn’t want us just blabbing this to any boat who asks— no offense.”

“None taken.” You smile nervously.

She continues, “But.. I think he should know.” She turns her wheelhouse back to you. “It’s not okay for him to treat you like that, I’m gonna tell Zero about how he’s been so rude to you as soon he gets here tomorrow, but I think it’s important that you know why.”

“Alright.” Ten Cents hesitates for a moment before asking. “You’ve already heard of Otis, right?”

“… Yes.” You respond.

-

Ten Cents begins slowly, hesitantly. “About.. I wanna say about five years ago, two tugs came into Snugboat Harbor and told Captain they were famous movie producers. If you think that sounds weird, well.. it is, but nobody thought that at the time. Even Captain was bought their story.

“Anyway— they gave her a long list of movies they’d produced and said they wanted an old boat to star in their movie. And I don’t mean ‘old’ as in ‘grown up’, I mean ‘old’ as in.. well, old. They didn’t say much about the movie beyond that, but Captain didn’t think anything was off and gave them the go-ahead to look around for potential actors.

“Otis was an old tug who’d been with our fleet for.. I actually don’t know, but he was the oldest boat in the harbor. Old enough to still have paddles instead of just a propeller. I remember him being kind of fickle and cranky sometimes, but the rest of the time he was nice enough, a lot of the older tugs were good friends with him. Of course, even if he was the biggest jerk in the harbor, he still wouldn’t have deserved what happened to him.

“At the time, his engine was shot, there was no way around it. I asked him to go to dry dock and get himself repaired, but.. He kept saying there was too much work to do, he’d be fine if he put it off for a while.”

Sunshine chimes in with her side of the story. “Then Captain asked me to go get him so he could meet those producers. So I did, ‘cause I didn’t know anything was wrong at the time and it was Captain’s orders.” She looks saddened. “In hindsight, I-I wish I’d asked her first. Maybe none of this would’ve happened if I didn’t go to find him.” Shuddering, she adds. “I bumped into Zorran on the way, and he said he wanted to show off for them, maybe even get a movie of his own. He complained all day the next day that Captain Zero didn’t let him go, but..”

Ten Cents picks up where his sister left off. “And then Otis blew out his engine. Smoke and soot everywhere, he wasn’t going anywhere unless he got it replaced. Sunshine and I brought him over anyway, since it was Captain’s orders. The movie producers came over, started spewing bilgewa— sorry, a bunch of nonsense about how he was perfect for the job and how they were gonna make him a star. He didn’t want the time off at first, but Captain said he could go, and after the movie was done, he could come back to work with the rest of us.”

“Never mind that they never told us how long he’d be gone.” Sunshine huffs, though there’s genuine fury in her voice.

“Sunshine and I were gonna take him to dry dock for a new engine, but the producers said it’d be fine, that’d be ‘part of the expenses they’d cover’ or something like that. It convinced Captain, so we let them take Otis, got back to work, a-and just waited for them to come back with him.” His voice suddenly breaks. “I should’ve stopped them! I should’ve at least stayed long enough to get him into dry dock, maybe then I would’ve realized something was wrong and told him not to—“

“Shh, we can’t wake up the rest of the fleet!” Sunshine whispers to him, trying to distract him so he doesn’t start crying. The last thing any of you want is to make a scene, especially at this time of night.

He quiets down, though few stray tears roll down his cheeks and his voice still wavers. “W-We waited about six months, since that’s— that’s how long these movies take, right? But we were having a bit of a hard time with work without Otis around, so Captain wanted to call them and try to ask if he could come home for a while.. and that was when we all realized at once that those ‘producers’ didn’t leave her with any way to contact them if we needed him back.

“Captain talks to Captain Zero about it, and the next thing we know, Zero’s calling the Coast Guard a-and Cappy’s rounding us up and asking us all these questions. It turns out that they didn’t even have Captain fill out any paperwork or tell her how long they’d be keeping him, and if they were a real set of producers they’d have at least a few members of a human crew to do all the negotiation stuff. Of course, she expected that for people making movies about boats. She didn’t know what the policy was for boats filming other boats, I don’t think— Nobody did.

“Cappy says he and the Coast Guard were gonna set out and try looking for Otis, but said there wasn’t a lot of hope by this point. It’d been long enough that they could’ve been anywhere by now, and without anyone remembering what the producers’ flags or emblems looked like, they couldn’t even call up their company to ask if they’d taken an old paddle tug in the recent months. I remember he said that the Coast Guard usually only looks for a boat for the first few months; after a certain point, he said, it’s time to start looking for.. parts of the boat, if you catch my drift, just to confirm that they’re actually gone.

“Five years passed, and apparently the case went cold after about one. Of course, Captain tried getting Port Authority involved in that time, and they said they’d look into it, but.. they couldn’t do much, for the same reason the Coast Guard couldn’t. She never told us or anything, but Hercules took me and Sunshine aside and said he thinks they gave up. If Otis is still out there one way or another, he’s probably unrecognizable by now.” Ten Cents shuddered.

“Word got around the harbor real fast in that time, and all the captains took their boats aside and told them to be on the look out for any suspicious vessels. Our fleet’s story became something of a cautionary tale, so I guess in a way, we got our own fifteen minutes of fame..” He chuckles bitterly through his tears before catching himself. “Yeah, I know it’s not funny.”

Sunshine looks close to crying herself. “Captain said that those producers probably took Otis for scrap, since they saw he was old and.. I hate to say it, but Zero told us that old, worn-out, broken-down boats are easy pickings for scrap dealers.”

“What’s this have to do with Zorran?” Ten Cents asks rhetorically. “Well, he took ‘suspicious vessels’ to mean ‘any new boats in the harbor’. And he’s gonna have my hull if he founds out I said this, but.. I think he’s scared. The only reason he didn’t go with the producers is because Zero wouldn’t let him. If he hadn’t run the idea by his captain first, there’d be two boats in whatever scrapyard they took Otis to. Of course, I know you’re not here to scrap anyone, and most of us kind of calmed down once we realized that what happened to Otis probably won’t happen again, not without someone catching them.” He suppresses a sob. “I just hate that it took something like this for it to happen.”

Figuring that’s the end of his story, you close your eyes and bid the switchers goodnight, trying to tune out the sound of Ten Cents’ crying.

None of you sleep well for the rest of the night.

[onthepageoftears]

Still Get Jealous (Maeve Wiley x Reader)//Sex Education

A/N: this one was a combination of two requests but it was still pretty short rip

Request: @maevesblush​ Can you do an imagine where Maeve secretly likes the female reader and y/n does too but she and otis are hanging out more and y/n feels like maeve has forgotten her and she becomes distant when really maeve was talking to otis and Eric about her and one night y/n confronts maeve with all angst and shit but with a happy ending and smut or fluff? You decide :) love your imagines with maeve :)

Hey please may you write another for maeve?your last was great! Maybe something like they’re both really into eachother and flirty until one day they just get sucked into the moment and kiss. If not totally fine !

Warnings: jealousy, slight angst, fluff, and minor language

Words: 833

Please Don’t Plagiarize My Work!

Every time you thought you were getting closer to telling Maeve about your feelings, you just felt it get pushed further away.

You and Maeve had been friends for a while. When you first met her, you knew she wasn’t going away from your life anytime soon. But the closer you got to her as a friend, the less confident you were to ask her out.

So, like any self-conscious teenager, you just didn’t. You bit your tongue whenever you wanted to tell her she looked beautiful, shoved down the urge to kiss her like it was just another hunk of saliva.

And then she started hanging out with Otis.

You had nothing against the boy. He was sweet — an idiot, but sweet. And he really cared about everything he did (maybe a little too much). Part of you wanted him to be a total, complete asshole, because then you could tell Maeve you thought he was bad news.

But he wasn’t. And that was a punch to your gut.

You had no reason to be jealous. Was he hanging out with your best friend more than you were? Sort of. Did he make her smile more than you did? God, you hoped not. So you watched from a distance as Maeve and Otis spent the time together that you wished you had with her. And that was fine.

Except, of course, it wasn’t.

It was just after one of Otis’ clinic meetings that you happened to stumble upon the two laughing about something that you had no business being mad about. They were just laughing, and even if it was more than laughing, you should have been supportive.

As soon as you and Maeve made eye contact, she knew something was up. She sent you a look, the kind you two could decipher without a second glance; you shrugged, hoping she would let it go.

“Oh, hey Y/N.” Otis waved slightly with a nervous smile. 

You nodded back. “How’d the meeting go?”

“Great.” He paused, feeling the slight tension in the air. “Well, I guess I’ll see you guys later.”

“Bye, dickhead.” Maeve turned away from the boy and began walking with a smile. Against your fluttering stomach’s intuitions, you followed after her.

Your mind told you to keep your mouth shut and stare at the concrete, to not make things more awkward than they already were. Though you liked to think your jealousy was hidden, it was almost completely transparent. Maeve could practically taste it in the air. She shoved you slightly, making you look up.

“What’s got your knickers in a twist?”

You forced a laugh and shook your head. “Your face.”

She stuck her tongue out at you, then nudged you again. “Seriously.”

“Nothing.” You licked your lips and mentally kicked yourself. You would seriously regret this. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Otis, hm?” You tried to make it sound casual, you really did. Instead, the jealousy seeped through your lips and practically smacked Maeve in the face.

She stuttered a laugh and stopped in her tracks. “You’re jealous!”

“I’m not-“

“Am I not spending enough time with you?”

“I didn’t say that-“

“You don’t have to say it, dipshit.” Maeve laughed. “I know you better than anyone.”

But did she? She hadn’t caught onto your feelings for years, even after all the hints you may have dropped.

You frowned. “You don’t know everything.”

“I don’t?” Maeve stepped forward, filling some of the empty space between you.

“No.”

“What don’t I know, then?”

You shifted your gaze up to Maeve. “You don’t know that…” Your smile helps me go to sleep at night. I wish every second of the say that I could be by your side. I am so proud of everything you’ve done, everything that you’re going to do. All I want to do is kiss you. All I want to do is kiss you.

You sighed dramatically. “I used to think the paper inside of Hershey kisses was edible until last year."

“Oh, shut up.” Maeve shoved your shoulder with a laugh; her hand slid down your arm and lingered just next to your hand. “You’re such an idiot.”

“You love it.”

“I do.” 

You felt your face heat up as her fingers gazed your own. Your eyes connected, and something around you sparked. She smiled, and then you smiled, and soon your faces were closer together and Maeve placed her hand on your neck — and then you finally, almost effortlessly, leaned forward enough to capture her lips in yours. 

It was so random, but so right, and everything you had ever imagined disappeared. Because this...this was your reality. Somehow, it had finally happened — and you weren’t complaining.

Maeve smirked as she pulled away from the kiss. You were still close enough to feel the breath that escaped her mouth as she poked you in the chest. “So that’s why you were jealous.”

You groaned. “Shut up and kiss me.”

[happys-crazy-queen22]

The Race Of Time

WARNING:Kidnapping, bombing. Taglist: @nocturnalherb16. "I can't believe you're running for PD, Y/N". Herrmann shook his head with laugh as he stood beside you.

"I have to run for my husband, next year I'll run for Fire. Sounds fair"?

"You're own blood". You rolled your eyes with a chuckle.

"Are you still talking crap, fireman"? Jay came up beside you, kissing your cheek.

"It's cool, I can take the old man's jokes".

"Old man? I'll show you old man". Herrmann started running as the gun went off, you weren't paying attention so you were behind.

The street was crowded with family, friends and supporters of the Chicago police and fire Department. You ran past your kids waving to them as they cheered you and Jay on.

You were hot on Herrmanns heels as you hit the corner of the street, you past Otis and Cruz who were acting like children as they ran.

"Come on babe, you can do this". You heard Jay in front of you, you knew he could run faster but he stayed with you. It wasn't really a race mostly raising money for the community and the stations had a childish war going on to see who was better.

"I'm coming, go ahead. I'll meet you there". You waved him off and he sprinted off. You were at the four mile mark when the road was filed with smoke. You tried running threw it but you started coughing. Then a bright light filed your eyes and you were thrown to the ground. Your head bouncing off the cement.

Jay panicked as he heard a blast from behind, he stopped to see. The smoke started to clear out and he could see bodies on the ground.

"Herrmann". He yelled, Herrmann stopped and saw what Jay was talking about. His jaw dropped and the both ran over to the victims.

The street was cleared quickly. Cops swarmed the place. Jay was worried about you but everyone said you're probably helping or with someone. They were right, you were with someone that was supposed to be dead.

"We should take her to the hospital. She looks bad". The voice echoed your head. Groaning as you say up, your hand went to your head and you hissed as you touched it. Blood covered your fingers.

"Where am I"? Looking around you were in a van and it was a moving.

"You're okay now". A males voice startled you as he came out from the back of the van.

"Who are you"? You asked blinking at the figure, he looked familiar but it couldn't be him. Could it?

"Well, let's say a blast from the past". He laughed bringing his face to the light.

"Evan? You're dead". Your voice trembled as you saw the man that you buried sitting right in front of you. The hair stood up on the back of your neck.

"Nice to see you too Babe". He spoke right before something metal hit your head, knocking you out cold.

"I can't find her anywhere. No one has seen her or heard from her". Jay paced the hallway of the hospital. He watched as the kids got checked over just to make sure.

"Jay, calm down. We'll find her". Will tried to calm his brother but it wasn't doing much.

"Are the kids okay"? Jay's head turned to the end of the hallway, coming down was Kelly.

"Yeah, just shook up". Jay bit his nails.

"What's wrong? Where's Y/N"? Kelly looked in the room.

"Jay"? Kelly's voice increased.

"I can't find her. After the bomb went off I couldn't find her. There's people out looking for her but no one's contacted me yet. I'm sorry".

"What do you mean you can't find her? She was with the runners right"?

"She was behind me. I think inside the bomb or at least close to it".

"So there's no body"?

"No". Jay whispered and Kelly let out a sigh of relief. This means you're still alive, hopefully.

"Can you take the kids back to your place? I don't want them alone with someone they hardly know"? Jay asked Will.

"Yeah sure. I'll get them checked out and we'll head there now". He walked off leaving Jay and Kelly.

"What do we do"?

"Voights brought in bomb squad and they're trying to figure out where the bomb came from".

"Okay. What do you need me to do"?

"Help me try to find out who took her". Kelly raised a eyebrow looking at Jay confused but Jay was serious.

"You're saying someone took her from the race after the bomb went off? Who would do that"? Kelly laughed at the idea.

"It is kinda crazy Jay. Wouldn't we have seen something? I was behind Y/N and I didn't see anyone out of the ordinary". Adam leaned against the wall.

"Then it must have been a runner. Blending in as one of us". Jay was so sure of himself.

"Who? Who could it have been"?

"We need a the list of everyone that signed up for the race. Maybe a name will trigger something in one of us. It could be a suspect we put away, a person with a grudge. Someone took my wife and I'm not stopping until I find her". Jay slammed his fist against the window.

"Wakey wakey". Evan shook you hard. Your head hurt like hell as he did.

"Please stop". You whimpered, trying to move your hands but you couldn't. Looking down they were tied to a chair so were your ankles.

"Why are you doing this"? You tried wiggling around but it was no use.

"You remember that day I found out about Logan and Laura"?

"Yes".

"I was so happy that I was going to be a father. Then I realized that I owned some bad people money and I couldn't figure out how to do both".

"So you faked your death? I mourned you for months". You screamed at him. "You have no idea what you put me through".

"Put you through? I couldn't see my kids be born or take their first steps. Then when the coast was clear I heard you moved on...with a cop". He got into your face.

"I didn't know you were going to come back. I wasn't going to wait around for a ghost".

"You're letting him raise my kids".

"My kids, not yours". You corrected him. "That went out the window when you supposingly died".

"I forgot how much of a bitch you were".

"If I'm so much of a bitch then why kidnap me? Why make me part of your plan"?

"I got your husband's attention didn't I"?

"So you're after Jay, what did he do"?

"You'll find out later once I've got everything worked out". He said going to the front of the van, you worked on the ropes around your wrist. You had to get out and fast.

"So I got the list of runners. All checked out except for two. One was a guy named Evan Bates the other is Norman  James". Mouse put the papers in front of Jay.

"Bates"? Kelly raised a eyebrow.

"Yeah, you know him"? Jay asked.

"Don't freak out but he's the twins dad".

"What is he doing here all these years? What does he want with Y/N"?

"Jay, he's died". Kelly's mind was blown and Jay was confused.

"Wait, he's died"?

"Yeah, we buried him before the twins were born".

"How did he die"? Jay nodded to mouse and he started typing on his computer.

"Car fire. I got a call to a wrecked car that was on fire. I got to looking at the car and it was his".

"Did they do DNA to make sure"?

"No, he was to burned to get anything".

"I got something. I ran the names and Norman is Tyler James's brother". Mouse pointed to the screen with a picture of Tyler and Norman.

"Tyler"?

"You arrested him for arson and he escaped and you killed him".

"So Norman's after me for revenge and Evan"?

"You taking his life from him"? Kelly thought that was the only explanation.

"Y/Ns being used to get to me. Do you think he'll hurt her"? Jay asked Kelly with worry in his eyes.

"I can't say for sure".

"We need to find them now".

"Pull over here". Evan told the driver.

"What are we doing"?

"Going to have a chat with Halstead". Evan pulled put a phone handing it to you.

"Call him". You did as you were told as it was ringing Evan swiped it from your hand and put it on speaker.

"Hello"? You heard Jay's voice and you sigh with happiness.

"Jay Halstead, I'm assuming that you have already figured out who I am since you're so smart".

"Evan Bates and Norman James".

"Correct. Now can you tell me where there are three other bombs at"? Evan chuckled as the line went silent.

"There's three more"? Jay questioned.

"Three, four, who knows. But you'll find out soon enough".

"Where's Y/N"?

"She's right here, looking lovely as usual".

"If you lay one finger on her"... Evan cut Jay off.

"You'll what? Kill me? You'll have to catch me first Jay Halstead".

"I will catch you and I'll make sure you don't see the light of day again".

"I see. And I thought we could be friends, well I have to go so I'll see you when I see you". Evan hung up and put the phone in his pocket.

"When I see Jay, it will be the last time you see him....alive". Evan push a strand of hair out of your face, you jerked at him. He chuckled and went back to the front.

"She's alive. Thank God". Kelly felt relieved.

"But there's more bombs and I don't know where to start". Jay ran his hand over his face.

"Most bombers put bombs where they'll be noticed. Places that remind them of something or someone".

"There's a festive going on at the high school today"? Mouse spoke up from his computer.

"Let's get some people there and circulate their pictures around. We have to find these guys".

"I pinged the number and it's bouncing off two towers". Jay looked and he knew right where they were. He grabbed his jacket.

"I'm coming with you". Kelly ran after Jay.

"I know you want to help but I cant let you get hurt too".

"You need someone with you. I can help".

"Fine. Just don't get shot or killed. I'll never hear the end of it". Jay smiled as Kelly laugh.

Jay followed his instincts and he was right. There was a van sitting in his drive way.

"I'll go around back". Kelly got out of the car and sneaked to the back yard.

Before Jay got out of the car he got a text from Voight, telling him to wait for back up. Jay cut his phone off and got out of the car. Walking up to the house, he looked through the windows. There you tied on the ground. Evan was sitting on the couch a gun in hand. Norman was out of sight, that made Jay's heart beat faster as he entered the house.

"Welcome home Jay". Evan said from the couch. Jay's eyes went to you, you nodded to him telling him you were okay.

"What do you want"?

"My family back".

"Sorry. They're not yours anymore. You gave that up".

Evan jumped off the couch getting into Jay's face. "They were taken from me. I did this to protect them and you came and stole them".

"You did this to yourself. Getting into bed with the wrong crowd. It's your fault".

"Well, I didn't come here to fight. That's Norman's job". Evan motioned for Norman to come in and he came in swinging. A punch landed to Jay face, knocking him unsteady. Evan sat back down on the couch.

Norman landed another blow to Jay's ribs with his leg. You cringed as Jay yelped. Jay faught back punching and kicking Norman. Evan was having field day as he watched Norman beat up Jay that he didn't see Kelly come in the house. Before coming into the house Jay gave Kelly a gun and Kelly wasn't going to use to but you were in the hands of a psycho.

"Evan". Kelly yelled bringing the attention to him, he pointed the gun at him.

"Kelly, so nice of you to join us".

Norman stopped fighting when Kelly put the gun to his head. Jay grabbed his hidden gun from ankle pointing it at Norman, taking his handcuffs and slapping them on.

"Get up". Jay ordered Evan, Evan sat still not moving.

"I said get up now". Jay gritted his teeth pointing his gun at Evans head. Evan moved slowly as he got up. Jay swiftly turned him around slapping handcuffs on him as well. He sat him back down on the couch and went to you. Taking put a knife and cut your ropes. You slung your arms around Jay kissing his lips as he helped you up. Your head was still hurting and you felt dizzy.

"You okay"?

"Yeah".

"We'll get you an ambulance". Jay wrapped your arm around his neck as you hardly could walk. He motioned his gun for Evan to get up and walk out the door. Kelly pushed Norman out the door. Voight and his team was pulling up as you got to the front yard.

As Evan walking he laughed, then thats when Jay saw the remote in his hand. Jay pushed you to the ground covering you as your house blew up. Wood shot out everywhere, car alarms went off and there was ringing in everyone's ears. Jay staggered to get up, he looked around Kelly was fine but Norman got a piece of glass in his throat, it sliced right threw his neck. Evan was lucky just a piece of wood threw his leg, he was still laughing. "I took something of yours now". Jay came closer to him. "I didn't lose anything. It's a house, it can be rebuilt. But you, you lost everything because of your stupidity". Jay walked back to you as the ambulance came. He picked you up carrying you to the EMTs. His family was more important than a house and stuff. More important than Evan. He had to make sure this never happened again. Voight came up to Jay as the ambulance was about to leave. "The bomb was at the high school, we got it in time". "Good". Jay closed the door. Voight and his team searched through Evans and Norman's stuff, they had planted two more bombs. One at Evans grave and one at Will's house. Thankfully him and the twins weren't home and they were at the hospital. Evan was serious about making Jay pay.

[sunflower-swan]

Wolfstar Chapter 15

A/N: Here’s what you need to know: I created this story for Writer’s Month 2020. Every day is a new prompt, and therefore a new chapter. This is an AU Wolfstar where Remus is a tattoo artist next door to Sirius who manages a flower shop. James and Lily are alive in this universe and own a coffee shop across the street. And to make parts of the story work with the prompts, Remus is about 10 years older than Sirius. It also takes place more or less in present time, minus Covid-19.

This is chapter 15 of a multi-chapter work. If you’d like to start from the beginning, here is chapter 1.

Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters. I just like to play with them.

Day 15 Prompt: Coffee Shop AU

Rating: Teen and Up

Word Count: 1448

Tags: humor, fluff, angst, smoking, cigarettes

Chapter 15

Remus

Otis Redding, “Cigarettes and Coffee”

But it seemed so natural, darling

That you and I are here

Just talking over cigarettes and drinking coffee, ooh now

Remus awoke on a hard concrete floor. His bones protested as he moved to a seated position. He leaned his back against the bars of the cage and let out an exhausted breath from the effort. Still seated, he Accio’d his wand, and began the arduous task of post-transformation clean-up. Once his skin was delicately pieced back together, he stood and turned around. It was only then he noticed Sirius lying on the ground outside the cage.

He stayed?

With a groan, he swung open the door of his cell.

“Sirius.” He nudged the man on the ground with his toe. “Sirius,” Remus repeated with a shake to his shoulder.

Finally Sirius began to stir. He let out an uncomfortable groan that only comes from sleeping on hard concrete. Unfortunately, Remus knew the sound well. One time he thought a mattress in the cell was a good idea. He had woken up to a destroyed mattress.

Sirius rubbed his hand over his face, then peered up at Remus standing over him. “Morning,” he croaked.

“Morning. How about some coffee?” Remus held his hand out to Sirius.

He grasped the hand, and Remus helped him to a standing position.

“You look like hell, Remus.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

~~~~~

After Remus took a shower and changed his clothes, the pair went across the street to the Cafe. Remus ordered the largest Cafe Mocha that James and Lily offered: an enormous mug of hot chocolate, with a shot of espresso, topped with an obscene amount of whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate syrup. Sirius ordered a small black coffee.

Sirius insisted on an outside table today. He chose a seat downwind of Remus, and as he sat down, he pulled out and lit a cigarette. He took a long draw with his eyes closed, then tilted his head back and exhaled so the smoke went behind him. Remus watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

Lily showed up with their drink orders. “Everything ok, fellas? Felt like a change of scenery?” She glanced awkwardly between Remus and Sirius.

“Everything is fine, Lily. Thanks. In about twenty minutes you can bring me another one of these.”

“Ok…” Lily raised her eyebrows, but didn’t question them further. She turned and went back into the Cafe.

Remus attempted to appear calm. He sipped his drink and watched his friend closely. Unable to handle the silence any longer he said, “I was bitten when I was young. Most employers are not generous or understanding in dealing with lycanthropes. It worked out to my benefit that I chose to be self-employed and can set working hours around the cycle of the moon.” It all sort of tumbled out at once, like word vomit. Better than actual vomit, that could sometimes happen the morning after. Might still happen anyway.

Sirius remained silent. He put out the butt of his cigarette and took a sip of his coffee. The bitterness caused him to make a face, but he took another sip.

“Sirius,” Remus pleaded, “please say something.”

“What do you want me to say, Remus?” He raised an eyebrow.

The irony of the question was not lost on Remus. Less than forty-eight hours ago, they had stood mere feet from where they were now sitting, and Remus had asked the same of Sirius.

“Fair enough.” Remus was shocked Sirius was sitting here at all. He was surprised when he found him sleeping on the floor outside the cage. Any sane person would have run the moment he transformed.

“Although...” Sirius tapped his fingers on the formica. “...it does explain the name of your place.”

The both looked across the street: ‘Mark of the Wolf, Tattoo Lounge’.

“I thought you were being artsy and deep when you came up with the name. Turns out I was wrong.” He looked back at Remus, and gave a lopsided grin. Sirius leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “You were being quite literal.”

Remus chuckled and picked at his fingernails. “Yeah.” He finally looked up and met Sirius’ sparkling eyes. “You’re one to talk though.” Leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table, he glanced across the street at the Flower Loft. “Dog Among the Daisies, Flower Loft. Bit on the nose, don’t you think?”

Sirius threw his hands out to the side and shrugged, before clasping them under his chin. “So we’re both hiding in plain sight. What’s your point?”

“I don’t have a point. Merely pointing it out.”

Lily appeared with Remus’ second Cafe Mocha, and a coffee pot to refill Sirius’ cup.

“Thank you, Lily,” Sirius said.

“One more after this one, Lils,” Remus added, “and some chocolate cake with that one as well. If you have some?”

“Sure thing, Remus.” She smiled and left the men again.

Suddenly, Sirius began chuckling. His shoulders shook and he played with his cup of coffee between his hands.

“What’s so funny?” Remus asked.

Sirius’ eyes were alight when he looked up at Remus. A half smile tugged at his lips. “Uh...good metabolism?” he quoted Remus' words from a few months ago back to him.

“It’s...not an untrue statement.” Remus shrugged.

The heavy weight in Remus' chest dissolved. He hadn’t even realized he’d been carrying it around until it was gone. Knowing Sirius knew about this part of him, and he wasn’t running for the hills, was a positive sign. His lycanthropy wasn’t his only secret, but it was the biggest one. Remus felt  he carried more skeletons than most. More than anything he wanted to be completely open and honest. One thing at a time, he reminded himself. 

“So, what sort of work would you have wanted to do if you didn’t have this...furry little problem?” Sirius asked.

Remus snickered. Furry little problem…? He glanced at the building which housed the Potter’s Wheel Cafe. “Well, I actually really wanted to work at Rising Phoenix Roasters when I was younger. See, they hire artists to design magical specialty latte patterns.”

“That sounds cool.”

Remus nodded in agreement. “Still,” he shrugged, “I’ve got the Tattoo Lounge. You know?”

“Do you ever think about what it would have been like to work at Rising Phoenix Roasters?”

“Well…” Remus rested his chin in his hand. “I imagine it might be something like…”

Remus sat in the back room. The ‘Creators Room’ is what the baristas called it. It’s where wizards like Remus designed intricate latte and cappuccino art. The baristas mused that The Creators sole purpose was to torture them with the most complicated patterns imaginable. They were right.

All of the Creators were highly skilled in the pour of a perfect latte. Occasionally one might prove as adept at customer relations as they were in designing, but they were the exception and not the rule. The owners tried to put Remus behind the counter once. It turned into a fiasco. No, he was very happy and content to remain in the Creators Room.

The sounds of porcelain clanking, steamers swishing, and people chittering, along with the smell of espresso brewing, served as the backdrop of his muse. He had been working on this dragon art for the past week. It’s wing flap wasn’t quite right yet, so he pressed on.

His alarm went off, indicating his shift was over. Without the alarm, he would keep working until they shut the lights out on him. It had happened once. Or twice. All things considered, there were worse ways to earn a living.

Sirius looked at Remus in wonder. “Wow,” he whispered. “So why didn’t you just open your own coffee shop?”

“Crowds. Not a fan,” Remus replied. “Plus, like I told you, a tattoo is forever whereas a latte is temporary. You drink it, it’s gone, you forget about it. Besides,” he took a deep breath and looked into Sirius’ eyes, “if I wasn’t a tattoo artist, then I may never have met you.”

He watched Sirius blush and look into his coffee. Then he ran a hand over the back of his head. “This is true,” he said with a smile. “I know you’re not opening up today,” he added with a sigh and a glance at the time, “but I am, and I need to get going.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Remus was sad to see Sirius go, even if it was only across the street. “See you later?”

Sirius stood and reached for his wallet. “Definitely. And Remus, I wasn’t lying before. I really don’t care about your...condition. It’s only one night a month. The other thirty and one-half days you’re totally fine.”

Remus heart soared at these words. “Thanks, Sirius.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 16

[dontdietwd]

Days 73 to 76

There was a quick knock on the door, the signal we’d agreed on to wake someone up when it was time for their watch. It was mine. Daryl woke up instantly as well, ready and attentive.

“Shh, it’s okay,” I told him and I sat up. “It’s just my turn to watch, don’t wake up.”

“You’re on tonight?” he asked, his voice sleepy and tired.

“Yeah, a couple of hours. Gonna be back at four to sleep some more.”

“’Kay… Careful out there.”

“I will. Just sleep, love…”

He answered with a sleepy hum and was probably already asleep when I quietly left the room. The house was silent and dark, it felt peaceful. The blue night light coming through the windows were enough to illuminate my way downstairs and to the back door.

There was nobody there. I looked back at the corridor and at the front door in the end of it, and there was Shane, standing with his side to me, staring. There was something in his eyes. He was on his spot on the lookout as agreed, but… I don’t know. There was just something.

“Who’s switching with you?” I asked quietly, jut loud enough for him to listen to me from across the house.

“My shift will be done in an hour. Dale will come down.”

I nodded, looked at him for another moment, and turned to get out through the door. The night was a bit chilly and it felt good after the heat of the day. Crickets were singing and everything was just so quiet, so still, and there was a smell of wild flowers in the air, it was hard to imagine the way the world was now. It all seemed to be so alright, so why the hell did my wrist ache like that? Why was my heart tight as if something terrible had happened?

From out on the backyard, I looked into the house and Shane wasn’t there on my line of sight anymore. He was patrolling. Just patrolling. I’d never been afraid of Shane before, why was I now? I could defend myself and Shane knew it, he saw what I did to Ed. Given, Shane was stronger and bigger… And trained. But why was I thinking about it? He was not about to attack me. I was just being stupid.

“We never get much of a chance to be alone, do we?” his voice came from the corner of the house. He had rounded it, leaving his post, and was walking slowly towards me, both thumbs on his front pockets, the other fingers resting by his groin.

“Your door’s unguarded, Shane,” I told him, my voice steady and my wrist burning.

“It’s fine, we can both see it from here,” he said as he stopped in front of me and looked into the house where the front door was visible at the other end of the hallway. “It’s alright. Night’s quiet. We can talk.”

“What you wanna talk about?” I said turning more to him but stepping back. I was uncomfortable with his proximity.

“You ‘n I, Sam? Never seen eye to eye, have we? Since the beginning, on the road.”

“You can put it that way.”

“But one thing we got in common… We both want what’s best for the group, even if we disagree on how to do it.”

“You seem more focused on just a part of the group lately,” I said and regretted it. He was being threatening, if not with his words, with his posture, and I was saying this kind of stuff to him? Bad move, Sam.

“You know Lori’s pregnant, right?” I nodded. “It’s my baby.”

“She says differently.”

“No matter what she says. It’s mine.”

“It’s hers in the first place, Shane.”

“Yeah…” he nodded, a dangerous smile on his face and I dared one more step back but he followed it. “Thing is, Samantha… Baby’s mine. Lori’s mine. And this whole fuckin’ group’s mine. And you’re out.”

Not a chance to tell him my name is not Samantha. Not a change to step away from him. Not a chance to react. A rag was out of his pocket and his hand was pressing it against my mouth and nose, his other hand cupping the back of my head, holding it in place.

Chloroform.

I fought. My arms were hitting him all around, my legs kicking and I was holding my breath but it didn’t seem to matter because the smell and the effects were happening anyway, and I screamed, called out for Daryl, except that I’m not even sure I was really screaming or if it was just in my head. Things didn’t fade away slowly into darkness, it was sudden. In a millisecond I was fighting, in the other I was not. I was… Nothing. Nowhere.

 * * *

 Where the fuck was I?

I was lying down, it was night, my head hurt like a motherfucker. It was all I knew for a long moment. Turning my head to the side hurt a lot, my eyes were burning, and what the fuck had happened?

Oh, right. Shane.

Son of a bitch.

I looked to my right side, a huge effort and my eyes took a moment to focus, but when they did, there was the fucker. Shane was up, a few steps away from he, and he was dealing with two walkers. If there were walkers around, I’d need to protect myself. I patted my waistband, nothing. Raised my hands to my shoulders, the holster wasn’t there. I was bare of any weapons. I had to get out of there before Shane killed the two walkers and could get back to me, but just as I tried to lift my head, what I saw coming right at me was a third goddam walker, a big male, and he was one of the worst I had seen. In the second before he fell over me growling a drooling, I saw his stomach was cut open and there were darkened, fetid guts coming out of the gash. He was on top of me then, my mind was too slow to jump up before he did. I’d have been much faster without the chloroform. The thing had its hands on the grass by my head and was growling and hissing trying to bite my face off. With no weapons, I screamed as I raised my hands to its face, pushing it up and away from me by its hollow cheeks but even dead it was strong, the instinct to feet giving it all the strength it needed.

I couldn’t kill it. I had nothing, my mind was fuzzy, I felt weak.

I was gonna die.

As a last resource I pushed my thumbs in the walker’s eyes. It kept on just as it was before, no sign of pain or the natural desperation any person would feel with someone pushing fingers into their eyes. It just wanted to eat me. I kept on pushing, deeper and deeper, until I felt the eyeballs pop and some sort of putrid liquid fall on my face, and still I kept on, keeping my mouth closed so I would swallow any of it, and deeper, stronger, until I felt my thumbs entering a mushy goo, a disgusting noise, and the walker stopped. That liquid and blood rained down on my face, neck, chest, I was covered in it, but the walker was dead and it hadn’t bitten me. Breathing hard, exhausted already, I pushed its body off of me and it rolled to the side.

But then Shane was there, standing up and looking down on me, also bloody and I hoped he’d been bitten. I tried to get up but he held me down. I fought him off but he sat on my stomach and held me down.

“Just give in, bitch,” he said with rage dripping from his tone, holding my hands down to the ground. “You took everything from me. Took everything I had. Spoke some shit ‘bout me to Lori, I know it was you, she liked me and the she didn’t and it was you! I should have never asked you to go with us. I should have left you to die on that road!”

I don’t know what I was screaming, I just know I was, and I was trying to grab him with my legs but he was too big and I was not on my right mind and I couldn’t. I had trained that so many times before, I knew I could do it but right now I was helpless.

“You’ll be found dead. I tried so save you but you got bit, all they will see is you waking around, undead. Not getting on my fuckin way again, bitch!”

“Like you did to Otis?!” I shouted up at him and his hands instantly let go of my wrists and found my neck.

“You got me all figured out, don’t’ ya? Yeah, just like I did to Otis. Greater purpose.”

He squeezed my neck and I couldn’t breathe anymore. My face felt like it was going to burst, I fought for air, fought to get him to let go but nothing worked. He was staring right at my eyes as he choked me, he was going to watch me die and take his pleasure in it.

I was dying.

I don’t know if people’s lives pass right in front of their eyes when they are dying… Mine didn’t. All I thought was of the present, just tonight, just Daryl telling he loved me. Just what my death would do to him, and that my baby was dying with me, not even a chance to live and fight and it was so fucking unfair.

Desperation is not a word clear enough to describe what I felt being strangled like that. I kept fighting, all I needed was a breath and I might have strength to fight Shane of, but the breath didn’t come. I was never coming again.

There was a far, faint sound that seemed like someone shouting Shane’s name. But I don’t know. I was probably never gonna know because I was about to die.

Everything disappeared around me and I was no more.

 * * *

 I thought maybe it was afterlife, because it was so confusing and fuzzy that I didn’t recognize anything at first. Took me seconds, maybe minutes, to start to understand I was still there, laying on the same meadow. My head and my throat seemed to be on fire, they hurt so much, and that was what made me understand I had not died. Next thing I noticed was the sounds. Moans and groans of walkers all around me, on every side just as I laid there, and I risked a glance to the side.

My heart clenched in my chest and coldness filled my stomach. I was in the middle of a herd. I was frozen, paralyzed, couldn’t move another muscle, just my wide eyes as I looked everywhere I could. Nobody alive, just the dead and me, and there seemed to be thousands of them. Some were dormant, walking around in circles, but most were going in the same direction, following each other to an unknown destination. After what felt like hours I dared to turn my head to the other side and it was only than I knew I wasn’t alone.

Or, well, I actually was. Because he was dead.

Shane was fallen right by my side, his head turned to me, eyes wide open, the rage frozen in his dead face, and on his temple there was a shot. Somebody had shot him. So somebody had been there. Somebody saw him, saw what he was doing, and shot him. Maybe somebody was still around.

This made me get the strength to sit up. Before, though, I looked up at the sky, took a deep breath, as deep as I could with the stench, and lifted my head, looking down at myself. I was covered in blood and guts and I remembered the walker I’d killed before and realized that damn walker had most likely saved my life, because the others couldn’t detect me now. I smelled just like them. And just as I thought it…

The first walker found Shane. He wasn’t transformed, so even dead he still smelled great to the walkers. It started eating him and chewing loudly. I froze, they were right my me, inches away, and another walker, then another, and if I stayed there I was gonna get buried in them. I had to go.

Even in panic, I sat up as slowly as I could for them not to notice I had the motion of the living. Everything hurt. It was like I was beat us and not just doped and strangled. Every muscle of my body complained, my head screamed, but still I got up to my feet and started walking away. Looking ahead to where the herd was going, I finally understood where I was.

The farm. Why had Shame brought me to the meadow at the farm? I mean, why?! That he’d wanted to kill me I got it, he hated my guts, but why the farm? Guess I’d never know because he was just turning into carcass right by my feet. But what I was seeing bothered me much more. This immense herd had reached the farm, there was movement there and I started hearing shots but it was all too far for and dark for me to recognize anybody. I kept walking and I was unsteady, feeling weak, like I’d faint from hurting and from panic at any moment.

But you know when you think things could never get worse but they just… Do? A moment you never see coming, but changes everything in your life, your future?

Someone screamed. Loud, desperate.

“NO!!!”

It was Daryl. I found him by following the sound of his painful scream, and he was still screaming it. I saw him. He was running to me, to this herd all around me.

No, Daryl, please, it’s too dangerous. They don’t see me but they’ll see you!

Then there was people holding him and I saw Rick, Glenn and Theo stop him and he fought them like hell to get away, to go to me, his screams turning to cries… And it hit me.

He thought I was dead. He thought I was one of them.

No, no, fucking no!

The others were dragging him away, most likely saving his live, but then they were going, fleeing from the herd, movement ahead at the farm house as others did too. They were gonna leave, they had too, but I was there, and I was fucking alive!

I started walking faster, as fast as I could, which wasn’t much, and raised a hand as I tried to call out, scream, and thank God my throat was too hurt to do it because I wasn’t thinking. I was surrounded by walkers, I couldn’t just scream! But still I tried to run, maybe Daryl would see I wasn’t walking like the dead, but the others had dragged him away then and he wasn’t looking in my direction anymore, his screams getting lost more and more among the dead’s groans.

This couldn’t be happening. No, just… No! Daryl thought I was dead. They were leaving the farm! They were leaving me behind not even knowing they were doing it.

I was fucking alive! I was still alive…

But maybe not for long now what I whimpered in desperation to scream, tears rolling down my face, and they saw me. At the same time, what felt like a dozen walkers turned their dead heads right at me.

For the third time that night I thought, that is it, I’m dead.

No weapons, no strength, no people, all I could do was look around to find the path that had the least walkers and run there. It was in the opposite direction, towards the woods. I started running and I was too slow, they’d catch me. I dodged a few of them on the way, pushed a few them away, and ran, just ran, my pace picking up slowly. I crossed the line of trees and looked back. No more walkers in front of me but many behind, following me. I couldn’t count but if I had to guess I’d say like fifty of them. I ran blindly among the trees, twigs hitting me, cobwebs gluing to my sticky skin, and I didn’t know where I was going or what was happening, but I just ran, my muscles screaming.

In my mind, Daryl was screaming. Kicking and fighting to get to me. I heard it over and over again. The agony in his voice pierced into my heart and I started crying even as I ran, getting even more blind to my surroundings.

What the fuck had happened? Who shot Shane? Why did the one who shot didn’t help me? Did they also think I was gone, that there was no more time? Was it the herd what made them not get to me? How did the others know what was happening? When did Daryl wake up at the house and got to the farm?

I had to get to the house, but to do so I’d have to turn around and go back to the farm and cross it, which I knew it was impossible because where were thousands of walkers there. I had to go around then, a long, real long way and in the dark I was most likely going to get lost, but it was my only option. But the walkers where still behind me, too many of them, I couldn’t make my way now. I needed to get rid of them. Their groans were too loud, which meant they were really close and really too many. I’d have to get them dispersed, maybe I could kill one by one if they weren’t too close to one another, and for that… I’d have to keep walking.

 Day 74

 When day rose I could see them better. They were a little less than I thought, but still a lot. I had been escaping them for hours, my legs were weak and trembling, the pain was unbearable, but still I walked in the same pace as they did, and they never gave up, they wouldn’t just let go, their instincts were gonna make them keep following me to the end of earth. I had to kill them. I had to kill over thirty walkers with nothing in hand and when I was near death myself.

So if I was gonna die anyway… I would fucking die fighting like hell.

Never stopping walking, I looked for something that’d help me on the forest ground. Before, when it was dark, it had been impossible to see anything, but now my eyes caught a long branch on the ground, broken from a tree, resulting in a splintered yet sharp tip. That was it. I stopped and turned, testing the branch weight in my hands, and when the first walker got to me and I pierced its brain with the tip, I saw this could work.

So I kept letting them come to me, not bothering to escape anymore.

There was a pile of nearly ten walkers on the ground already when the long branch broke and I was left with it much shorter, which made me need to get even closer to the walkers I killed, but it ended up working well too. There were still walkers coming at me, but they were sparser now, and I lost count of how many I had to kill as I started walking back the way I had come.

I needed to get back to the farm. I needed to know what was happening, where they’d all gone, if they were still at the house or had it been overrun too? Was anybody hurt? Was Daryl safe?

My heart hurt physically imagining what he was feeling. I put myself in his place and thought of how I’d feel if I’d seen him as a walker. Part of me would have died. My heart would have been unrepairable broken and I’d never be the same. And he loved me. He said it just last night… He loved me and he thought I was dead… And now I was crying as I walked, no more walkers at sight for now. I tumbled around, hoping I was on the right way, I didn’t know if I had been walking in a straight line, probably not, and I’d end up lost in the woods.

But among the thinning trees I saw I reached the farm. The sun was high in the sky and I calculated I had walked for around three hours in the dark, stopped to fight walkers and then walked all the way back, so it was probably around noon, which meant I’d been gone, dead, for the entire morning.

It’d been too long. Way too fucking long…

I stopped there and couldn’t go any further. Leaning on my side on a tree, a hand on my baby bump, please, please be alright, I remained there for a long moment, tears falling freely down my face because I had no strength to even sob anymore, as I watched hundreds of walkers all around the farm, on the meadows, around the barn, on the tent area we’d lived in, around the house, on the porch. They were everyfuckingwhere. It was impossible for me to get in there. I wanted into the house, clean myself up, have water, something to eat, but I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to swallow anything, my throat hurt so badly.

But I couldn’t just stay here watching the farm. I had to go to the house, maybe the walkers hadn’t got there, maybe there were all in, safe, maybe Daryl was there. So I restarted my slow, painful walk, going to my left as to go around the farm, at least cross the land through somewhere with no walkers. It was a really huge farm…

I found the stream. A God’s blessing, if he existed or was even looking at me. I all but fell in the water, drinking desperately, the pain on my throat not stopping me from getting the most needed large gulps. I got a bit more alive then. I washed my face, took off my shirt and tried to clean it against a rock. It didn’t do a good job but part of the blood and guts that were there did wash off. Then I rubbed my body with the shirt itself and felt a bit more human. My dreads were caked but there was no time to deal with them now, so I just knotted them as high and away from my face as I could, put on the dripping shirt back on, took a deep breath to muster the courage, and kept on my way.

I killed many more walkers on my way to the house. The spike had broken halfway there and I had to find another one, not as good as the first but it did the job. I was wandering robotically by now. I don’t know where my energy came from, I was miserable, hungry, hurt and hurting.

Shane… That son of a bitch, look at wat he’d done! He tried to kill me! Sadness gave place to rage as I thought about it and it helped. It was good to feel something other than despair. It kept me going. I wished Shane was alive just to I could fucking kill him.

It might have been late afternoon when I found the area of the house. It’d been difficult because had no idea where I was and when Daryl and I had found the house we’d been on other area of the woods, and the second time we came from the road with the cars. But I did find it and stopped at the line of the woods, watching.

No cars. No sounds. No bike.

Around the house, by the roses, inside the house, visible through the open door and windows, there were tens of walkers dormant walking aimlessly around.

Nobody was there. They were gone. Daryl was gone.

In a last flicker of hope, I thought they could be on the road where it all started. Where it all started… I was already dry in thirst again when I forced myself to move. I needed to walk to the road…

I need to get to the road. I need to find Daryl… Daryl…

 * * *

 Sophia, stay... We…

There was water and food, a blanket and a flashlight. Nobody had found it, Sophia obviously hadn’t, and if they had been there after escaping, they had ignored it. It was all still there, and I drained one of the bottles of water immediately. It was warm and nearly made me throw up. I grabbed the jar up peanut butter and opened it desperately, my last meal had been the turkey – oh Daryl… – and I ate it with my fingers as if it was a feast. Still eating it, I kept on walking among the cars, just… Looking. Looking for someone, some sign, some life… And there was nothing. They didn’t wait. There weren’t there waiting for anything. They had nothing to wait for, or to look for… Because I was dead.

Dusk found me sitting on the asphalt, crying and completely alone. My heart physically ached more than my head and my throat, it hurt like it never had before.

I’d been left behind.

 Day 75

 It was a good thing I’d still had the mind to crawl into a car to sleep instead of just lying there on the road because what woke me up was the sound of a walker by my window, groaning and leaving goo all over the glass, trying to reach me.

Fuck, just leave me alone for a fuckin’ minute!

Day was high by then, I probably slept a lot, many hours and my body needed to recover, and even though I still felt miserable I did feel a bit stronger. I still had no weapons on me, though, and the walker was right there. Looking out of the car through the dusty windows, I tried to find something that’d help, since the inside was clear, but there was nothing I could come up with. So I stopped and looked at the walker at the window.

That’s it motherfucker. Leaving through the opposite door, I rounded the car before it could follow me, opened the back door and grabbed the wanker by its neck when it reached me. Groaning, I maneuvered it to the open door and slammed it shut on its head. It still groaned after the first bow so I repeated it twice more, making her brain explode everywhere.

It was eerily silent after that.

I walked back to where the sign for Sophia was and on the way found a bag full of useless papers. They flew in the wind along the road when I tossed then away. The bag was filled with the rest of the food and water, the blanket and flashlight. Hanging it on my back, I walked.

Miles ahead, the jammed cars were sparser and the road elongated in front of me until it was empty of cars. Right there, at this mark between all the looted, abandoned cars, and the empty road, I stopped. There were track marks. Larger ones like in a truck or the RV and a single one like in a bike. They’d gone through here, and Daryl had been riding his bike. I mean, that if this was really them, those marks could have been there for a long time, but they did make me hope and keep walking, following them. Maybe I could still catch up, even though they were motorized and I was walking and it had been over a whole day…

No. Don’t. Don’t lose hope. It’s all you got now. Just go.

I stopped just once to eat from a tuna can, sitting in the middle of the road, and kept going. It was when the sun started to go down that I stopped seeing the marks. They were faded, as if they’d gained speed and not needed to hit the breaks for anything. There was nothing to track anymore, and it wasn’t like I knew how to track or if Daryl was here with me to do it.

Daryl wasn’t here with me…

God, I missed him.

I sat again, this time with my back against the guardrail, and I knew it wasn’t safe, I knew walkers could come up from the woods behind me, that people could show up, that I was being too loud, but I lost all control. I just lost it. I sobbed loudly, my heart broken, all hope gone. They were gone and I was alone and there was nothing else to do now but cry, but to feel all those painful feelings, but trying to find a why and a what could I have done. Why hadn’t I escaped Shane before he could put the chloroform in my nose? Why hadn’t I attacked him? How did I not see that he was approaching with bad intentions? Why didn’t I run to Daryl when I saw him, ignoring the possibility of getting bitten by all the dead around me? At least I would have tried… If I’d got bitten at least I would be here now, alone…

But then my baby would be dead too.

My baby… My little boy…

I stopped immediately, hugging my stomach. “Please be fine…” I whispered. “It’s just the two of us now. Please be fine…”

It was getting dark and I needed shelter. Time to stop with the self-pity.

Get the fuck up, Sam.

Minutes ahead I found a dirt road coming out of the main road and took it. A few miles on, there was a little wooden house, more like a cottage, with a dry hedge all around. I circled it carefully looking for signs of life or death and found nothing. In the backyard, a tree stump with half cut firewood was left abandoned, an old, long handled axe suck to it. So then I had an axe again, after so long. I remembered I had gotten well with the axe I had before letting it fall on the street in Atlanta when I ran to recover the bad of guns. That would do well.

The back door of the cottage opened easily with a strong shove. The whole space smelled like mold, but it was clean of walkers and seemed to be empty for a long time. That would do for tonight.

I sat at a corner, curved around myself as I ate from another can and had some water, and tried to sleep, wrapped in the blanket. I missed that bed… I missed the tent I’d slept in with Daryl.

My god, how I missed him…

 Day 76

 I emptied the last of the water I had when I woke up and ate one more can, this time of anchovies. I’d always hated anchovies, but well. With more light now, I looted the house a little but there was nothing useful to me. Leaving the house though the back door, I saw there was a pear tree with a few fruit and they seemed not to be ripe yet. Either way, I took the few I could reach and put them in the bag.

Getting back to the dirt road I saw this was actually a small neighborhood and there were houses all along this narrow road. The axe was in my hand when I reached the next door house and looted it as well. In there I found a slingshot and nothing else. I had never used a slingshot in my life, but I thought I could give it a try, so I tossed it in the bag. On the third house there were a few cans of soup but looking at it I saw they had been expired for nearly two years. This house had to have been abandoned since long before the apocalypse. Across from it, on the fourth house, I found a large jar of honey and sat at the kitchen table to eat a bit of it. My taste buds exploded at it and I felt the energy returning to my body at the presence of sugar. But now I needed water. In this same house I found also a jar of hearts of palm and canned peaches.

So I went to the next one, and after this fifth house there would only be two more to go. The front door of this one had been busted open already, so I entered carefully, axe in hand and raised. There was noise on a corner, like someone was hiding there. The house was dark even in daylight, with boards covering the windows, a strong smell of mold and dust making me want to cough. I walked slowly over every corner and was just considering leaving the house and letting it go when I was jumped on. Someone attacked, and it was dark and I held them at bay, pushing the away as strongly as I could so I’d have room to lift my axe and –

“Sam?!”

I froze and then…

“Andrea!!”

I had never liked her and the she’d shot Daryl but fuck was I happy to see her! My axe fell and we hugged tight, laughing in relief.

I found them! I’d found them!

“You’re alive!!” she exclaimed laughing as she let go and held me by my shoulders. “I heard you were dead, turned!”

“Where are the others?” I asked instead of answering, this was not a question that could wait any longer.

Her face fell, though, and I knew she was alone.

“I got lost from them… The herd, they... I had to run and they had to go. They left me behind.”

“Fuck…” I said. She was just as lost as I was. “How’d you know they think I’m dead?”

“Heard shouting. Daryl was… He was out of his mind and Rick kept telling him he couldn’t go there because you were gone, he’d seen you dead. But I don’t know much after that because I had to escape and I never found them again.”

Nodding and feeling the sadness that was getting old washing over me like rain, I let myself slide to the floor, my back against the wall.

“What happened?” Andrea asked as she sat in the middle of the hallway, facing me.

I told her all of it, since the lockout with Shane and what he’d done to me. She was tearing up when I finished and I was too, but I was tired of crying and time was flying. So I forced myself up, reached a hand to help her up saying, “Let’s check the rest of the houses for any signs of them and for food, and then we’ll go back to the road. It’s the last place we know they’ve been, so it’s where we gotta stay.”

 * * *

 They had been siphoning cars on the road for gas. I wanted to believe it was them, at least. Someone had taken all the gas from every car we found, none worked, so Andrea and I kept on walking. She had found water before and had a few bottles on a bag, so we were good on it. We stopped once to sit down and rest a little, eating what I’d found, but for the most part we simply walked. Walked…

Night was falling and we’d decided we’d stop at the next town or car we found to rest for the night. Here was a car a few miles after that, but now that we were not alone it would be safer since one could sleep while the other took watch. Andrea offered to take the first and I was glad because I was simply exhausted.

It was probably a couple of hours of sleep. I’d just disappeared into slumber, not even enough time to think of all that had happened before blacking out. I was woken up, though, and in the second I opened my eyes I knew something was wrong.

The back door of the car by my head was open and Andrea was there, crouched on the ground, calling me.

“Someone’s coming!” she whispered urgently.

“Is it –”

“Not them!”

I was wide awake in an instant, patting myself for my knives and guns, but remembered I didn’t have them anymore and Andrea had my axe. So I slid out of the car, grabbed her hand and pulled her urgently to the woods. We stopped just a few trees in, hiding behind a large trunk, and watched. Andrea handed me my axe as we did, in silence. It didn’t take a minute for us to see them: two man with flashlights were checking the car and, clearly as day, we heard them talk in the silence of the night.

“They ran through there,” one was pointing directly at us. “Two women I think.”

“Were they alone?” the other asked.

“Saw only them, guess so.”

“Good…” the other said and his tone sent chills all over my spine. “We getting ourselves some warmth tonight.”

Andrea and I looked at each other, her eyes wide in fear. Then the man left the road, entering the woods and coming right at us.

“Run!”, I mouthed to her and we took off, the men instantly seeing us, shouting and following. Once again I saw myself running in the woods in the dark without seeing where I was going, and I was sick of it, but this time it was even worse because these were people, and people could me so much worse than walkers.

They were fast and we were both too tired to outrun them. They’d catch us, unless we attacked first.

Unless I attacked first.

So I reached a hand for Andrea to make her stop and dragged her down onto the roots of a big tree. Not questioning it for a moment, she sat there and made herself small as was shaking in terror but kept quiet. I stood there, my back against the tree, breathing hard.

Don’t hesitate. Do not hesitate.

Their running footsteps were closer and closer and I prayed that I’d get the timing right. Closer, closer. My heart was beating loudly in my years, and still I heard them.

Don’t hesitate.

I swung the axe sideways with all the strength I could muster onto the path by the tree and it met his chest, penetrating him deeply right at the heart. He screamed in agony and loudly but just for a moment. I tried to hold on to the axe as he fell to the ground, motionless, but it had gotten stuck there and fell with him.

I’d just killed another man.

The other one came running than, enraged, and tackled me to the ground. I hit it hard, tree roots hurting my back bad and making the air escape my lungs, and for the second time in three days I had a man on top of me, trying to kill me. I’d be damned I let his hands around my neck, so I screamed and fought like hell to keep his hands at bay, but quickly enough I heard Andrea growl loudly just before she attacked him with the axe. It stuck to the back of his head and he was dead instantly. I froze for a moment, some blood showering down my face, but quickly recovered and rolled his body away from me.

Andrea had the axe in hand, breathing hard, eyes bugged glued on the dead man. I’d done this before, this was my second kill and both of them had been to protect myself. But this seemed to be her first time. I got up and carefully approached her, reaching out for the axe.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I told her quietly and she turned her wide eyes to me. “It’s alright. Just hand me the axe. Good, there you go,” I took it and rested it against the tree. “You alright?”

She stuttered before being able to say “I killed him.”

“You did,” I said holding her shoulders to keep her looking at me. “And you saved my life. You saved my life, Andrea,” she just blinked, saying nothing, maybe only now understanding that. “He was gonna kill me. Rape me most likely, and then kill me. You saved my life. Focus on that.”

She nodded weakly and blinked, so I took it as a good sign. I pulled her with me to go back to the road, talking the life savior axe with me before going. I was not in a much better condition than her, but I had to keep calm or she’d panic. My stomach was in knots and I felt a bit faint, but it was only when we got back to the car and she sat down on the back seat that I let go and threw up on the side of the road.

[hopehunted]

“ 𝐈𝐅 𝐖𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋, 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋. ” is that logan lerman? oh no, that’s ALEXANDER GREENE, born on the 8th of NOVEMBER, 2016. i heard HE (cis male) is a SERAPH/VIRTUE of THE PURGED. apparently, they can be GOOD-NATURED and INQUISITIVE but also known to be UNTRUSTWORTHY and WARY. spends most of their free time STUDYING OLD TEXTBOOKS, probably smells like PETRICHOR. is that a bite mark i see? no, must have been a trick of the light.

character inspirations: chidi anagonye (the good place), oliver hampton (how to get away with murder), otis milburn (sex education), tantor (tarzan), adrian monk (monk), beth march (little women).

you can find alexander’s stats right here, where i’ve also put all his links. there’s a good bit of info there, so i’ll just be fluffing him out a bit more here!

— 𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐆𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐂𝐔𝐏 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐄.

alexander is a golden boy. he’s devoted, obedient, proper. he’s everything everyone wants him to be, and doesn’t dare step outside of his preordained box. conforming offers him a safety and benefit of the doubt like no other ; two of the very most important things in this world. 

his mother is a fanatic, drawing hope and purpose from the purged’s way of life. she ushers her family into the light without hesitation, giving up her own son as an offering. it’s the only way she can see to protect them in this new world: they have to get in the oracle’s good graces, they have to be pivotal, they have to be spotless. 

immediately, she decides that alexander has to be a virtue. he’s no fighter — she’s seen the way he carries himself, the way he’s never quite liked anything too rough or too dirty. alexander has no choice, no voice to raise above hers. hers, the hot wire that wraps itself around his brain, squeezing and squeezing until he’s sure its embedded into his every thought. his mother’s convincing that way, applying pressure and pressure and pressure until he grows strong enough to carry it well. he has to succeed. people are depending on him; there’s simply no other choice to be made or entertained.

alexander tries to be good. he studies until his sight blurs. he spends his time helping others and performing house calls, even if they already have enough virtues on duty. he watches for any signs of doubt in the masses, ready to swoop in on that vulnerability at a moment’s notice. he’s one of the oracle’s many ears, a faithful follower intent on keeping their numbers high. he’s like a vulture that way, but that’s not how he sees it.

see, alexander learned the hard way early on that knowledge is power. he gets too close to another boy, too handsy, too intimate. he’s felt it before with others, but never quite like.. this. it’s new, and as such they fumble, make risky decisions. alexander’s mother catches on, only she isn’t like alexander: johanna doesn’t hesitate. in an effort to protect her son, she slanders the other boy ; drags his and his family’s name through the mud and accuses them of heretical acts. alexander, afraid and wracked with guilt — guilt over having been so stupid and naive, makes a vow that he won’t let that happen again. he sees now that his mother has never been all bark — if he steps out of line again, he’ll face her bite again, and again, and again. he can’t be selfish; not when it has such a high price to pay.

he has a kind face and an even softer voice. it’s easy to trust him, to feel like he could understand whatever it is one’s going through. maybe in another world he would, but that isn’t the world they live in. alexander is a rat. he passes on what others confide in him, pushes them back into the light before they can stray further.  he thinks he’s actually doing something good — as if saving them from a worse kind of punishment. the community comes first and they’re only as strong as their weakest members. if preserving that — preserving everything that they’ve worked so hard to build — involves a level of sacrifice then so be it. everyone has to pitch in somehow. he’s doing his part, are you?

— 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐎𝐃 𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐈𝐓.

ironically enough, alexander doesn’t like to be aggressive. he doesn’t like hurting people. could never stomach the concept of fighting. he knows that it’s necessary sometimes, but.. he can’t help but think: what right does he have to take another living being’s life? none. none at all. [ rip to this bitch if anyone ever runs up on him tho lmaooo ]

you can’t bring him anywhere. he’s so incredibly anal about cleanliness and.. everything else in the world. oh, you wanna go jump in a lake? you mean where there are all these bacteria and amoebas that could kill you? what, you wanna start rebelling? you mean do the thing that could get us all in serious trouble? i think not!! he’s prissy and he knows it. you can’t complain if you invited him, susan! 

alex: i’m Fine. i’ve literally never been better in my entire life, thank you. :) also alex: [can’t sleep / sleeps three-four hours a night, has shaky hands, overthinks everything at all times]

alex is very non-threatening and conscientious of others. he’d be a really good homemaker. he can be a bit of a bitch sometimes, but that’s only if you really just used up all of his patience. he, also, can come off a bit.. intense, when talking about the purged and their beliefs. he just cares a lot and really believes in what he’s saying, which can kind of come off a bit sanctimonious, too. 

he keeps dodging the whole getting married thing, but the closer he gets to thirty the more pressure those above him have been applying. he kind of toes the line between being resigned to the fact that he can’t have the life he wants, and looking on the bright side of it, which for him would be having kids. trying to imagine another reality is painful, however, and he’d rather just keep avoiding it entirely. wishing things were different doesn’t make them so, and he already spends his time worrying about so many other things. 

wanted connection ideas, 

friends! there has to be at least one person in the world that can put up with him, hehe.

enemies / frenemies. maybe alexander used something they told him against them and they don’t buy the whole “i did it to help you” argument of his. maybe something else happened, or maybe they’ve just heard of his rattery and they don’t want anything to do with it. alexander will still be courteous, even if just the tiniest bit passive aggressive. 

older / more experienced virtues that he could’ve trained under / with could be cool. 

give me allll of the relationships with other seraphim, too! he’s an active seraph; really cares about the purged and is devoting his life thus far to making sure they stay strong and prosper. 

if anyone .. wants to pick up that first real relationship connection, then that would definitely be interesting to explore! alexander would’ve totally iced him out after what happened, because of guilt and wanting to make sure that it didn’t happen again. whether they kept trying and still talk or if they just pretend the other doesn’t exist, etc, is all good with me! 

after that first relationship, alexander never really dabbled with anything serious again. he’s more of the fuck and forget about it kind of guy. and tbh.. someone catching feelings for him or being too tender / intimate would scare him off a little lol, because he doesn’t want them to get hurt, too, so that could be interesting to explore. 

someone that his parents are trying to push him on for marriage could be quite spicie. alexander would be mannerly as always, but [ in the same vein as above ] he isn’t really .. available, except this time it’s emotionally and physically. he’d be seen with them enough to get people off his back and then he goes back to being a pal, if that makes sense? whether she knows about him, has a secret of her own, or is completely oblivious is up to you! 

[ms-znodgrass]

Crossing the Yellow Line

Part 2 to Sweeter than Cake - you can read Part 1 here: https://ms-znodgrass.tumblr.com/post/182357384907/sweeter-than-cake

Thank you to the amazing replies I received from this, they were honestly so lovely and so I decided to bang this out.  

Again, requests are open. Enjoy! (Gif cred not mine)

Following yours and Otis’ escapade on the night of his 17th birthday, you solemnly swore not to talk of it. Otis returned from his bedroom to see you attempting to clear up the living room area, you didn’t want Jean to return the following morning to a mess, and you felt as if you owed it to Otis. That, and the fact that there were was a giant elephant in the room and you were doing everything to keep yourself busy.

“Hi,” Otis mumbled softly behind you, “you don’t have to clean up.” He leaned against the doorframe, scratching at the back of his neck. You swallowed.

“It’s fine really, the table’s sticky,” you chuckled.

“Let me get a wet towel or something,” he said, shuffling out of the room before you could say anything. You breathed in, and out, and in again. The room had gotten a little more humid, something unexpected in mid-January.

You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t see Otis appear at your side, wiping down the table. You began picking up some cups left at the opposite end of the table. Maeve and Eric were still sleeping peacefully, much to your dismay.

“Y/N, I-“

“It’s nothing, you know, what happened. Don’t worry about me thinking any different I’m very much on the same page as you, completely, one hundred percent,” you sighed, seemingly oblivious to the cup behind your foot. You’d stepped into it, and sent it flying behind you. “Shit!”

“I was just gonna say be careful of the glass,” he mumbled, “don’t worry about it.”

“No, your carpet!” You squealed, face turning hotter and hotter without your approval. His eyes widened as he spotted the brown liquid seep further and further into the cream carpet. You scrunched up your face in horror.

“Throw me the flannel, quick!” You begged. He threw it as far as he could, which was still a few feet from you. You looked between him and the flannel, raising your eyebrows.

“I have weak arms,” he shrugged, stepping towards you as you grabbed the wet flannel and dabbed slowly at the stain.

“You’re meant to scrub,” he said.

“No you’re meant to dab,” you argued, seeing a slight improvement – but nothing special. You stood up and turned to him, once again noticing the close proximity between you. Simultaneously you both stepped back.

“I’m so sorry about your carpet,” you sighed, wishing more than anything that the stained carpet would swallow you up. He smiled reassuringly, his soft lips curling up at the corners. Remnants of your lipstick tinted them a little.

“It’s fine, we’ll just… put something over it,” he murmured, placing his hands on his cheeks and squeezing them. “Give me a hand with the sofa.”

He took one side of the couch, whilst you took the other, and lifted. It was a hard job, trying to move the sofa over the stain. Not only were you both relatively weak, and tired, but Eric was draped across the entirety of the sofa.

“There, that’s fine,” Otis laughed nervously, examining the crime scene. Again you apologised, hiding your face behind your hands.

“Y/N?” Otis asked, his words laced with curiosity and amusement. You were worried that he was going to bring up your previous outburst.

You swallowed, “what?”

“Did you draw a dick on Eric’s face?” He chuckled, and you turned to see a poorly drawn penis on Eric’s cheek. Your finest work. You laughed with him, breaking the tension between you both.

“You should see the masterpiece on Maeve’s forehead.”

 It was mid-May, the sun was warming the skin on the back of your neck, sending a tingling sensation down your spine. You were sat on a picnic table, talking with Maeve, Eric and Otis. It was a Friday lunchtime, and everyone was raving about the bonfire party occurring in the field of some rich kid’s farm that evening. Luckily, you four had received an invite.

“I can’t show up looking like an orange again, that’s for sure,” Eric sighs, pulling the crusts from his sandwich.

“You were a pretty sexy orange,” you wink.

“Oh I know,” he smirks back at you.

“She’s just being nice, people thought you shat yourself Eric,” Maeve interjects with a devilish smirk. Eric throws a piece of crust at her in quick retaliation, which hits her square in the forehead. You could practically feel the anger radiating from her body, and apparently so could Eric.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, please don’t kill me,” he squeals, clinging onto Otis’s arm, almost as if to use him as a shield.

“That’d be too easy, especially with Otis as your protector” she grimaces. You let out a chuckle, Otis catching your eye with amusement lurking in his.

“Speaking of the party, I was going to invite Ola,” Otis smiles, looking at his water bottle.

“Oh good, maybe you’ll get a bit of action,” Maeve jokes, wiggling her eyebrows. You and Eric laugh in unison.

“Thanks Maeve,” Otis replies sarcastically.

“Oh we’re just playing, maybe a public kiss this time, you know, go official,” Eric nudges him. Your head snaps towards Otis. This was new information.

“You’ve kissed Ola?” You ask inquisitively, “you didn’t tell me.”

“I forgot to mention it, it’s nothing,” Otis shrugs, pulled at the shoulder straps on his rucksack.

“Well when was this?” You ask.

“Two months ago?” He guesses after a quick thought. You look between Maeve and Eric, who are both avoiding eye contact.

“Wait, everyone knew except me? Really?”

“I thought you knew,” Maeve admits, looking over to Otis, “you didn’t tell her?”

“It’s really not that much of a big deal,” he tells you.

“I asked after you both so many times, I just assumed it would’ve been mentioned,” you tell him. He shrugs again. Ouch, that hurt.

“It’s only happened a couple of times,” Otis adds. Oh great, so this happened on more than one occasion? You couldn’t put a finger on why you were so angry about it, was it the fact that you were last to know? That you felt deceived? You couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason.

“You trained him well Y/N,” Eric winks. Wait, what?

“What?” You and Maeve sing. You look at Otis, who is burning holes into the side of Eric’s head. . Eric notices the sudden change in atmosphere, and shakes his head.

“Nothing! Nothing,” Eric shouts.

Maeve looks between you and Otis. “You’ve kissed? Oh my god, when?” She’s half chuckling, probably in disbelief.

“At Otis’ 17th!” Eric blurts out, covering his mouth with a hand.

Otis shoves him and looks towards Maeve. “It was nothing, it was nothing!” He repeats. The words roll over in your head, circulating through your mind.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” Maeve laughs, elbowing your side.

“It was meant to be a secret… I was drunk and it just happened,” you told her, trying to act as if you weren’t furious.

“It was nothing,” Otis says again.

“Yeah! I think you’ve got that through to them Otis!” You say, standing up and throwing your bag over your shoulder. He looks up at you, his blue eyes wide and nervous. You sigh, shaking your head. “I’m going to class, I’ll see you all later,” you sigh.

Eric looks at you, confused. “But we’ve still got half of lunchtime left-“

“I’m going to class!” You yell, walking away before you explode with anger. How could Otis deceive you like that? And embarrass you in front of your closest friends with such ease?

You hadn’t noticed your cheeks were wet until you reached the toilets, and finally allowed the anger to seep from your eyes.

 “I just don’t understand it, you offered to kiss him so he could get his first kiss out of the way?” Maeve asks. You nod, collecting your things. You were meant to meet the others at the party in fifteen minutes, but realistically, you weren’t going to be there for a least half an hour. You grabbed as much as you could, giving yourself a once over in the mirror before stuffing your keys and phone into your pockets.

“Yes, in short,” you sigh, your head all over the place. You barely had time to process your feelings, and felt as if your brain wasn’t yet caught up with your heart. Maeve sits, perched on the edge of your bed with one knee tucked into her chest.

“Do you like him?” She asks, chin on her knee, she watches you intensely and you can feel yourself breaking under her stare.

“No!” You exclaim, throwing your hands in the air. You cross your arms, pacing the floor, “at least I don’t think so… I don’t know!”

“Oh this is getting good,” she says, lying back on your bed. “You could write a Netflix programme about this shit,” she adds, stretching her arms out. She peers up at you, “you didn’t fuck did you?”

“No! No! Just a kiss,” you sigh.

If it’s just a kiss, why do you feel so torn? You swallow, and look at her. “We need to go, we told the others we’d be there on time,” you sigh, clapping your hands and shooing her out of the room. She rolls her eyes.

“Stop tapping your foot,” she tells you.

You hadn’t noticed you were.

“I’m not!” You say, drilling your foot into the ground. Maeve inspects you.

“Look Y/N I need to tell you-“

“Maeve if it’s Otis related I don’t want to know. Please,” you plead, eyes becoming a little wet. She shuts her mouth and looks to the side.

“Maybe you need a drink,” Maeve proposes, “I mean you don’t have to, but one or two might make you feel better?”

You had rarely heard this soft tone from Maeve, and though her face showed no sign of emotion, you knew she cared. You smiled at her, thinking.

“Alright. Let’s have a drink before we go, but just one!”

Or two, or three, or four. You’d lost count after shot number six, and could feel your body begin to feel a little limp, a little more relaxed, a little more… fuzzy?

Maeve was laughing at you as you both attempted to walk along the yellow line on the side of the empty road. You weren’t doing too well, a few stumbles here and there, and the line seemed to be moving a little. “It’s not even straight!” You protested, squinting.

“I think I’m doing pretty well here,” Maeve called out in front. But as soon as those words left her mouth, her body met the floor. You almost peed yourself, you were in hysterics. Nothing else mattered apart from you, Maeve and the yellow line. That was until you arrived at Lawrence Fry’s farm.

“Fuck we’re here,” you muttered, looking across at Maeve.

“After you m’lady,” she chuckled, signalling for you to walk ahead. You took her hand and stumbled through the tall grass, both falling over unseen dips and molehills, each small blunder resulting in loud laughter. You could just make out a figure walking towards you: tall, blurry and wearing purple. Eric.

“Hey!” You yelled, walking towards him and greeting him with a hug.

“You’re swaying,” he says to you, “she’s swaying!”

“Nah, I think it’s the wind,” Maeve laughs. You turn and wink at her.

She retaliates with another wink, her eyes flickering between you and something behind you. She coughs, and widens her eyes. You turn, and step forward into a chest. Otis’ chest.

“Well hi there,” he chuckles, attempting to steady you by placing his hands on your arms. It doesn’t help much, the contact just causes your pulse to quicken. You look up at those blue eyes. His dark hair is pushed back into a quiff, held in place with the assistance of hair gel, and lots of it. He flashes a kind, white smile, the white t-shirt he’s wearing only making him look more… angelic.

That was when your head caught up with your heart.

“Hi,” you smiled, all anger dissipating from your being. It was almost as if he was the only person with you in a slight unpleasant smelling field of grass.

And… maybe not. A recognisable figure appeared next to him, “hi Y/N!”

“Hi Ola,” you smile, stepping back from Otis and seeing her smiling beside him. “You look pretty,” you say, and it was true. She did look stunning. You swallow the lump forming in your throat as you watch Otis place an arm around her waist.

“Thank you! So do you, as always,” she smiles. You step back again, deducing that the wind caught you off guard once again.

Maeve appears beside you, and pushes you back upright. “She’s a little drunk,” she announces.

“I’m a little drunk,” you echo, giggling. You catch Otis inspecting you, and can’t seem to read his mind.

Eric smiles at you and wraps an arm around your shoulder.

“Well, let’s get Eric on that level,” he smiles, walking you towards the crowd. You mouth a ‘thank you’ to him, to which he replies with a soft forehead kiss. He looks over at Maeve, “I can’t believe you both got pissed without me.”

Though Eric felt excluded previously, it didn’t take him long to reach your level. And before long, you three had all reached a pretty terrifying alcohol state. Thankfully, most of the other party-goers had too. You sat with Eric and Maeve around a giant bonfire situated in the middle of the field. The flames were hypnotic, and you couldn’t stop staring at them.

“Y/N I’m sorry if I embarrassed you earlier,” Eric slurs, tapping your leg lightly. “I just can’t help my mouth,” he laughs, leaning further and further back. You and Maeve have to pull him forward to stop him from falling off of the log. You shake your head profusely.

“It’s nothing! I’m glad I know you know,” you say, enunciating your words with equally poor diction. He smiles at you, and looks over at Maeve.

“At least I didn’t tell her they’ve done other stuff,” he tells Maeve. Her head turns towards you, an unreadable emotion lurking in her eyes. You blink.

“What?” You ask, nose tingling, eyes burning.

“That they’ve further explored their sexual healing, feeling, healing, whatever,” he murmurs, holding your hand. “He told you that right?” His eyes are half-closed, and he leans towards you to inspect your facial expression. Upon seeing your blatant shock, he gulps.

You clench your jaw, hurt from these constant lies, constant whispers.

“No, Eric. He didn’t even tell me about their kiss, of course he wouldn’t mention any other crap they’ve gotten up to!” You yell, tears brimming at the corners of your eyes. Maeve hits Eric’s arm, flipping him the finger.

Noticing the exchange, you stand up and look at her, “you knew?”

“Yes… I knew. But I didn’t know you didn’t know until today, he told me in confidence and begged me not to discuss it with anyone. I thought he did the same to you. But then today I realised you weren’t in the loop,” she sighs, standing up too.

“You could’ve told me today!”

“I tried! But you didn’t want to talk about it,” she tells you. A couple of people around the bonfire look at you both, you hadn’t noticed how loud you’d gotten. Or that Otis had appeared behind Maeve. You look at him, a stray tear dripping down your cheek.

Perhaps you should walk away, perhaps you should scream in Otis’ face, or tell him how strong your stupid feelings are for him. Perhaps you should sober up before any further damage is done. You should. But you don’t.

Instead you walk up to Lawrence Fry and lay a big, fat kiss on his unsuspecting lips.