#and she kept telling me the psych emergency room is always open | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rikumorimachisgirl · 4 years ago

Text

Title: Eyes on you

Pairing: Shaw x You

Genre: Fluff

Word count: 2,901

A/N: You (Y/N) are not the MC in MLQC. This is a plunny that's been bugging me for quite a while, I had to write it. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own MLQC or its characters, but I do own the concept of this fic.

There were a few mysteries in this world that the esteemed Archeology Graduate Professors at Loveland University can't explain - for instance, the formation of the Stonehenge, the exact location of the lost city of Atlantis, the origin of the Nazca lines… and your presence at the Metro Art Gala dressed to the nines, positively gleaming as you strode arm in arm with your classmate and Thesis partner Shaw, who seemed like the perfect gentleman that evening. Thanks to your work at the Loveland Museum, you scored two invites to the gala featuring the recently discovered works of a well-known artist - an event any Archeology fanatic wouldn't let pass. The two of you walked along with LFG's Exhibition Hall, pausing occasionally to admire one of the recently discovered sculptures by the Renaissance artist D'Romani. As you both looked at the intricacies of the artwork in front of you, your charming companion would lean in slightly and whisper something in your ear, causing you to roll your eyes or stifle a giggle.

To the guests in the prestigious gala, the two of you looked like two young people at the cusp of falling in love, but the members of the Faculty of the Graduate School of Archeology saw it differently - this was a real-life mystery if they'd seen one.

As your eyes swiftly swept through the entire room, you could see that your professors only had one question in mind - how'd this happen? How did two people as different as day and night, who argued with each other throughout Graduate studies, end up amiably enjoying each other's company tonight?

You drew a sharp breath and sighed. The answer was simple: Your Thesis defense was right around the corner. You needed him to cooperate, you were willing to go to great lengths to make it happen. And your Thesis partner (unfortunately) was ready to take full advantage of the situation.

***

"Tell me why we're doing this again, " you said through the door that separated you and your date, as you were putting on the dress you bought (or invested on, as he casually stated) for tonight's gala, which he insisted on attending with you. It was six in the evening on a Friday, and you had just arrived home after cramming your workload at the Loveland Museum and foregoing your meal breaks just so you could leave work at exactly five-thirty.

"I already told you a couple of times - you want me to cooperate with you so you can pass our Thesis, and I need a reason to be around her," the purple-haired man waiting at the other side of your bedroom door called out nonchalantly. "You can drop your fantasy about me asking you out because I'm attracted to you."

You hissed silently at his snarky remark and counted to ten. You haven't even left your apartment yet you already wanted this night to be over. "How do you even know she's gonna be there?"

She - the Miracle Finder Producer, the object of your Thesis Partner's fantasies, and as fate would have it, his brother's girlfriend.

"They're doing a show featuring our Thesis adviser. Didn't he tell us about it during our last consultation?" He asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"I wasn't listening," you shot back, as you took off your ponytail and started styling your hair with your curling iron. You chose a one-shoulder fitted black dress that stops right above your knees, so you thought of wearing your hair down for a change.

"Ah, yes. You were too busy looking at your notes, trying to prove me wrong as always."

You closed your eyes, as you continued to make big beach waves and prayed to the gods you wouldn't commit murder tonight.

"How much longer are you gonna take?"

"Excited much?" You asked, smirking while you now removed your glasses and put on your contacts. "You sound like a teenager excited to see his crush in a school fair!"

"Don't compare me to you!"

"I don't have designs on anyone in the party," you called back. "Unless your brother's attending the event, that is. From what you've been telling me, he seems like a great guy."

Silence. You arched an eyebrow as you strained your ear to listen for any sign of life outside your bedroom door. What must your grunge-rock skater boy-turned-date-for-the-evening be thinking?

"Do you want to pass our Thesis or not?"

You struck a victory pose at his remark. Finally, one point - you, Shaw - about twenty.

"Are you done yet? This suit is really uncomfortable. Damn, why do people even wear these?"

"Because they're decent?" You shot back. "You know, you can always go home if you're not comfortable in your attire because when we get there, you need to act decent, too. Can't have your usual swagger in a formal affair."

"Just hurry it up already!"

You rolled your eyes as you applied your nude-colored lipstick to finish off your look before putting on your black stilettos, and stuffing your phone, wallet, and your makeup in your purse.

"All done," you replied, as you finally emerged from your room.

***

A part of you wished that the dynamics between you and Shaw were different. While he was a pain in the neck, and too carefree for his own good, you also thought he made for a good intellectual sparring partner, quite attractive, and it was hard to deny that he's got your heart beating double-time whenever he got too close for comfort like he was at that very moment.

"My, you two kids seem to be having fun tonight."

You gasped, at the sound of the voice behind you, and you felt your date nudge you ever-so-subtly while straightening.

"Hey, Professor Adler," he said in his usual unruffled tone, his lips stretched into a smirk as he held his hand out to your Anthropology professor and Thesis adviser, who watched you both amusedly. His gesture made your eyes shot wide open, you thought they'd fall right off. Shaw shaking someone's hand? That's one for the books.

"Shaw. Fancy seeing you here," the stout middle-aged man greeted while shaking your date's hand. "This isn't your usual scene though."

"Yeah, I know, but I can't exactly turn a pretty lady down, can I?"

"I can see that," your professor said as he looked at you appraisingly. "Well, well, you clean up well, Miss (y/n)."

You fought the urge to squirm at the older man's words when you heard your date cluck his cheeks with his tongue and suddenly felt his arm around your shoulders, pressing you protectively close to his side.

***

"All done!" You happily announced as you stepped into the living room of your small apartment where your date was impatiently waiting for you.

You could've sworn he was stunned for a second or two before he shook his head and tried to regain his usual impassive expression. Finally, he stood and walked closer to assess you better.

"You're not wearing your glasses. I thought you said you're practically blind without them?"

You cocked your head to one side. Out of all the things he could've complimented or called out, that's the first thing he noticed?

"Wouldn't it look awkward if I wore glasses to a formal event?"

"Your hair is all curly," he continued as if you didn't say anything. "And your shoes are so tall, won't you trip? Also, surely you have a jacket to go with that dress, right?"

You stared at him in disbelief. Why did this carefree, bass-playing skater boy turn into your dad all of a sudden?

"Uh…"

"Well, at least you're not wearing red lipstick. You don't have to try too hard to look sexy. Geez! I've got plans of my own this evening, so don't expect me to be your bodyguard," he continued to mumble as he circled around you. Before long, you felt something warm and heavy on your shoulder. His coat?

"It's just until we get to the venue," he shrugged as he led you to the car he borrowed for tonight. "I don't want people seeing you freeze to death."

You sighed, your shoulders slumped as you followed your date to the car. You already expected he wouldn't throw you a compliment for looking like a proper human tonight, and you cursed yourself for feeling gutted over it anyway.

***

"So, which one of these sculptures did you like best, Professor?" You sighed in relief as Shaw changed the subject, his arm still wrapped around you, making you blush furiously.

"Oh, I have to say I liked Eros and Psyche best. In case you haven't seen it yet, it's located a little further down the hall near the bar area," the older man was starting to explain when someone tapped his shoulder from behind.

"Excuse me, Professor Adler," a gentle voice called out, making both the professor and Shaw jump. From behind the old man, a pretty petite with brown hair and big brown eyes, and the biggest smile on her face stepped up. "My name is MC from Miracle Finder."

Almost immediately, Shaw withdrew his arm around you, almost causing you to stagger backward. He straightened up and feigned disinterest.

"Hey. It's a little rude how you stepped in while I was talking to the Professor," he said, his tone teasing.

"Oh, I didn't notice you here. Do you mind if I talk to your Professor? We've invited him for an interview about the exhibit," the girl said sweetly.

Based on how unconsciously coy she acted around Shaw, and the way he kept egging her, there was no doubt that this was the girl he was crushing on. You felt like the odd person out all of a sudden and needed to step away.

You backed away slowly, careful not to rouse their attention because it would probably suck if you knew how Shaw would introduce you to his little crush. As soon as you were in a safe distance, you turned and walked aimlessly down the hall, pausing briefly at paintings or sculptures that caught your fancy, looking at its intricacies as you did so earlier. But somehow, it wasn't as fun as it was before, so you moved on quickly, to give way to the other guests who also wanted to view the artwork.

Finally, you came upon the bar and decided to rest your tired feet at the far corner, hidden from the rest of the world. Sighing, you slipped your feet off your stilettos and quietly watched as the guests around you - mostly couples - happily chatting away as they enjoyed the beauty of the art around them and the wonderful music that filled the air. You knew somewhere in the crowd, your date was fawning over his lady love, probably getting in the way of her filming your professor.

Tch.

You knew he liked her - he always told you he did. And why wouldn't he? MC was pretty, seemingly sweet, and dainty - the kind of girl any guy would like to protect. And you. You were the opposite. You lived for your work, were 'one of the boys', and didn't need anyone to protect you - that's just how you were - and now you started to realize that maybe guys don't exactly like that. At least not Shaw.

Wait, what were you thinking? You scolded yourself as you shook your head. Why were you even thinking of what he liked when you don't even like him to start with. Or did you?

"Ugh. What the hell is wrong with me?" You groaned when a cold bottle of beer and a frozen glass was placed in front of you.

"I was gonna ask you that myself."

You straightened up in your seat and shot a look at the guy seated beside you. Dressed in a nice grey suit, he smiled as he raised his beer bottle in front of you.

"You look like you needed a drink. I hope the beer is okay. They don't have fruit beer or soda," he said calmly, his amber-colored eyes never leaving yours.

"Y-yeah. Beer is perfect," you replied while pouring the amber liquid into the glass. "Thanks," you muttered before raising the glass to your lips to gulp down some liquid courage.

"I saw you with Shaw earlier -"

The name on his lips drove you to a coughing fit, as you choked on your drink. "Sorry, " you mumbled in between coughs.

"No, I'm sorry," the brown-haired guy said, as he cautiously and politely patted your back. "I didn't mean to bring that up. I was just curious."

"It's fine," you replied when you finally regained your composure. "Yes, we're just classmates in Grad school who decided to check this exhibit out for the heck of it."

"Classmates, huh?"

"Yeah, that's what we are," you said, taking a sip off your glass. "Grad school classmates."

"Are you telling me or telling yourself?"

You looked up and saw him smiling. There was something about Dreamy McHandsome who was seated beside you that felt so familiar yet different at the same time, but you couldn't point a finger at what it was exactly.

"We're classmates, and we're working on our thesis together. But we're not friends - far from it even. We hate each other's guts."

"Can't blame you for doing so," he shrugged as he drank his beer.

"Yeah. He dragged me here so he can get with someone he's been crushing on for so long," you rambled on, frowning.

"Oh? And who might that be?"

"The Miracle Finder Producer. You know, the pretty girl in a blue top and white skirt. He's been going on and on about her for weeks…"

"You mean my girlfriend?"

His girlfriend. You choked on your drink once again. "Y-y-your girlfriend? You mean to say…" You gasped. Has the beer made you stupid? You've barely drunk half of it, you thought as you fought to regain your dignity. This was Shaw's brother you were talking to - and boy, we're they blessed with good genes…

… And the same social awkwardness, you noticed, judging by how he kept his hand at your back, but not exactly touching it, as if trying to assess if he had to pat you or not.

When you finally calmed down, he cleared his throat and gave you a small smile. "Don't worry. She talks to me about their conversations. I know what that guy is playing at, and I most definitely know he's not after my girl," he said, his voice broke no room for doubt. "My name is Gavin..."

"Yeah, I know…"

"You - what?"

"Oh," you said, tapping on your glass nervously. "Shaw kinda mentioned it in passing before."

"I see."

"So, what were you saying earlier about Shaw?"

"Oh. From what my girlfriend tells me, he's got his sights set on…"

"Ahem," you heard someone say loud enough for you and Gavin to turn your heads around. And there, standing behind you, was an angry-looking Shaw. You sat up, your gaze shifting between the two brothers as the air started to thicken with tension. "I talk to someone for a minute and the next thing I knew, my date walks out on me and right into the one person I'd hate for her to meet."

"Well, if you were just honest with her as with a lot of other things in your life, maybe she wouldn't have left your side earlier," Gavin retorted flippantly. "Is she finally done with filming?"

Shaw simply grunted in reply as he watched his older brother finish his bottle of beer and stand. "Well, Miss, there's a lot I've heard about you. Seems somebody couldn't stop talking about you, but I'll leave it at that."

With a wink and a mischievous smile upon his face, the brown-haired guy sauntered off to look for his better half, as you and Shaw watched in awkward silence.

He cleared his throat and glanced at you. "Hey."

"Hey," you replied, shakily.

"So, about what that jerk said -"

"Yes?" You asked, feeling your heart hammer against your chest by the second.

"Whatever he said is not true," he said dismissively, as he took his coat off and draped it over your shoulders. "I told you before, I don't find you the least bit attractive."

You felt tears starting to sting your eyes, as he continued with his harsh commentary. "You're tough, highly opinionated, and you always want to come out on top. I don't find those attractive at all," he said. "I prefer a damsel in distress. I want someone clingy… someone, needy."

"I know that -"

"Oh do you?" He teased, his amber eyes twinkling. "You seem to know a lot about me."

"We've been working together for months now," you said. "Of course, I'd know more about you."

"I see," he said, as he took a step closer to you and touched your cheek, rubbing the stray tear that had managed to slip down the side of your face. "So, you must know I'm also a good liar. After all, I've kept all these feelings to myself for quite some time."

He snickered when he saw your frown deepen and he bent down just as he had done so earlier, to whisper. "I made you think I liked someone else when in fact," his low voice made you shiver. "I've always eyes for you."

The End.

#mr love queen's choice shaw #mr love queen's choice #mlqc fanfic #mr love fanfic #mlqc shaw #shaw x reader #mlqc gavin #iris writes

80 notes · View notes

p-artsypants · 4 years ago

Text

I’ll Handle This (6)

In Which Plagg is Annoying

So, my beloved Fiancé really likes Magic: The Gathering. He’s taught me how to play it, and talks about it a lot, but I still don’t really understand it. It’s a complicated game. So this chapter has sections of me purposefully badly explaining the game, sorry if that bothers you lol.

Ao3 | FF.net

—

Adrien awoke curled in a ball. His bed was extremely soft, and he sunk right into it.

Oh, except it was a pillow. He was still in Plagg’s tiny Kwami body. Great.

He yawned and stretched, realizing that he was alone in his bed.

“Plagg?” He asked the room.

There was no answer, but the bathroom door was closed.

Plagg was most likely getting him ready, or his human body, ready for school.

Before Adrien could imagine the worst case scenario, the bathroom door opened, and Plagg emerged.

Adrien stared, and then declared loudly, “NO.”

“Yes!” Said Plagg, flouncing into Adrien’s closet.

“How—why? When?!”

Plagg brought his pre-chosen outfit into the main room, and started to get dressed, carefully slipping the purple tiger striped shirt over his expertly gelled Mohawk.

“Did you not see me buy that ultra super strong hair gel yesterday?”

“I didn’t see anything you bought yesterday,” said Adrien with frustration. “I was in your pocket the whole time, remember?”

“Oh, then you’re in for a treat!” He slipped on an over shirt, that was black with orange leopard spots.

“Oh god...”

“You should have been more careful about what you brought home from shoots,” Plagg sang. “Love the leopard spots. Though I’m just a black cat, mixing up my coat on occasion would be fun.”

“I kept that shirt because I thought it was funny, or it would be good for a costume. You can’t honestly wear it!”

Plagg blew him a raspberry. “Oh suck it up buttercup! It’ll be fine!”

Adrien watched with other things on his mind as Plagg finished dressing. Brown pants, rolled up with mismatched argyle socks, and then the same green sunglasses to cover his cat eyes.

“I think I have a photo shoot with Lila after school,” said Adrien.

“And?”

“And you should probably attend it. I know you want to piss off my dad and blow off responsibilities that aren’t Miraculous related, but modeling is my job. I’m still under a contract and I get paid for it. That money goes to my college fund, which I intend to use to pick my own career.”

“What’s one missed shift to the son of the company?”

“A strike against me, and a loss of around a thousand euros.”

Plagg swiveled his head to look at him. “That much? Is Lila making that too?”

“No.” Adrien chuckled. “I am in high demand and so I make more. She makes around 15 euros an hour. That’s why she always drags photoshoots on for so long. Me and some of the other models get paid per gig.”

Plagg scoffed. “That’s stupid.”

“So will you behave for three hours?”

“No,” said Plagg, smoothing his shirt and hair. “But I’ll participate in the shoot and play nice with the photographer. Lila, on the other hand, I have plans for.”

Adrien looked at him warily. “...alright.”

Doing a once-over, Plagg declared, “just one more accessory, the piece de resistance...” he reached into a plastic bag from his shopping yesterday.

Adrien gaped in horror. “NO. NO NO NO!”

—

Gabriel walked from the kitchen back to his office, coffee mug in hand. Dealing with Adrien’s rebellion had been a PR nightmare, but he was able to spin Adrien’s outfit yesterday, as out of character as it was, as merely a phase. A phase which he would grow out of soon, but one that was necessary for Adrien to grow, to explore his own style, to learn fashion in his own mind. The media ate it up, and several articles would be coming out in the next week or so.

Then the boy in question streaked by him in a kaleidoscope of color.

Gabriel sputtered on his coffee, staining his suit with the brown liquid, but not caring a bit.

“Adrien?!” He shouted, beyond horrified. He couldn’t tell what was worse, the patterns? The colors? The hair? NO.

“Where did you get crocs?” Gabriel asked, as Adrien reached the unfortunately unlocked door.

He turned for just a second, long enough to shout. “Ask my butt, old man!” Before the door shut behind him.

Gabriel had to call those magazines back.

—

Plagg arrived at school, drawing the attention of every student mingling there. Some stared in horror, while others held in laughter.

A student passed Plagg and raised a fist. “Nice duds, dude! Stick it to the man!”

Plagg responded with a gleeful grin and matching fist bump.

“Oh my god,” said Nino, as he arrived. “You look amazing.”

“My dad spilled coffee on himself this morning, and the look on his face was totally worth it.”

“God, I wish I could have been there.” Nino sighed.

“It was pretty amazing, not going to lie.”

“Oh, while we have a second...I was hoping to have a sleepover this weekend. Marinette and Alya would come over for the evening, and then leave in time for dude’s night. You in?”

“Just you and me?”

“Yeah, if that’s cool.”

“Absolutely! After school tomorrow?”

“Yeah! Marinette said your schedule was open.”

“Marinette knew that? I didn’t even know that.”

“I think she keeps track of that stuff for class activities.” He cleared his throat, not looking at him. “And for no other reason besides that.”

Plagg chuckled to himself. God, Nino was the worst liar. “I understand. Someone’s got to know my schedule if I don’t.”

“Marinette is the best, after all.” Nino puffed up his chest, doing his damndest to be a good wingman.

Plagg didn’t think he needed to try so hard, but props. “She is the best, isn’t she?”

Nino smiled widely, like he had a secret joke that wouldn’t make sense to anyone.

A pair of arms wound around his own, squeezing tightly like a boa constrictor. “Good morning Adrien!” Lila chirped.

“Morning,” Plagg returned, playing casual in front of Nino.

“I need to talk to you about the photoshoot after school.” She turned to Nino. “Can I borrow your buddy for a minute?”

“You can have him for five minutes.” Nino winked.

Lila giggled, sounding pretty realistic to an untrained ear. “Thanks Nino!” Without waiting for Plagg’s permission, she dragged him away to a sequestered corner of the courtyard.

Before Plagg could even ask what was in her mind, she turned and faced him, expression full of vitriol and rage. It was not a face he’d seen on many mortals.

“Don’t think I can’t see what you’re trying to do, Adrien.” Her voice was cold, sharp, and harsh.

Adrien shivered in Plagg’s pocket.

“And that would be...?”

“Trying to weasel your way out of our little agreement.”

Plagg blinked, remembering the arrangement they had prepared a while ago. It’s what had gotten Marinette un-expelled. Just schmooze with the brat and she’d leave Marinette alone. But it was very apparent she was ready to take any violation of this agreement as an invitation to jump right back into her conniving ways.

Plagg would hold out for now, play the long game. He had a plan, and if that failed for some unexplainable reason, then he had another one lined up. It was just a matter of finding out what bait Lila would take.

He feigned a gasp, as well as she would, and laid a hand on his chest. “Oh Lila, whatever are you talking about? I’m just having a little disagreement with my dear old dad. It’s nothing against you! Honest!”

She squinted at him. “You’re still on the schedule to model with me later today, so I’m assuming you didn’t actually quit modeling. If you had, this would have turned sour.”

“What do you mean?”

“Modeling is our ‘fun friendship’ activity, and if you try to get out of it, I’m going to assume you don’t care about Marinette after all.” She shrugged.

He laughed, a dark sinister laugh that didn’t belong on his handsome, sweet, cherubic face. “You mortals are just so cute when you think you can win against me.”

The look on Lila’s face was perfect. Part confused, part terrified. “What?”

He spoke with a voice older than time, conjuring magics from the ancient unknowns. “Dos valok th’um krosis!”

“Did...did you just cast a spell on me?”

“I don’t know, you tell me. How do your lips feel?”

She pursed her lips. “I don’t know, a little—“

“CHAPPED?” Provided Plagg, with a shit-eating grin.

“Oh my god.”

“Do not test me, Lila Rossi. You won’t win.” He gave her a pleasant little smile.

She stared in bewilderment, before chuckling right back. “Boy, you had me for a second.” She pulled out a tube of chapstick and applied some. “Are you trying to psych me out? Cause it’s not going to work.”

“Well darn,” said Plagg with a little snap of his fingers. “Thought my necromancy could spook you off. Well, if that didn’t do it, I guess you really do want to be my friend, no matter how quirky I can be.” He gave a happy little sigh.

Lila was immediately suspicious. “Sure, I want to be your friend...?” It wasn’t supposed to be a question, but Lila wasn’t convinced.

Unless Adrien really was that naïve.

“Great!” Plagg clapped. “I have to go talk to Marinette, but we’ll hang out at the shoot! It’s going to be so much fun!” And he hurried off.

Lila narrowed her eyes back in his direction. There was definitely fishy about that exchange. She couldn’t very well text Gabriel and say, “there’s something suspicious about your son. He actually wants to be my friend. Also he chapped my lips.” That would be too confusing and send all the wrong messages.

So she resigned to wait until the photoshoot after all. Since, of course, he couldn’t keep up this act for several hours in a row. She could, but she was a professional.

Her musings came to a halt as she heard the wonderful noise of Marinette’s scream. “MY EYES!!”

Lila hurried from her nook to find out what had happened. Had someone sprayed her with mace? Pocket sand?

No. Adrien was merely striking poses in front of her, and she had recoiled in horror.

“Adrien!” She stated, aghast. “How could you?!”

He posed again, butt in her direction. “You like?”

“It’s foul. Are those crocs?!”

“Yep! I contemplated on getting the little ladybug plugs for the holes, but I didn’t really think it was worth it. After all, how often do you look at a man’s feet?”

“In that outfit, it’s going to be too hard to tell what part is the worst.” Her eyes bounced over the competing patterns and made her dizzy. “Well here,” she handed over a hanger covered with a trash bag. “Your sin against fashion has been committed. I’m willing to do more, but don’t attach my name to it.”

Adrien just laughed. “Don’t worry, Pooh Bear, your secret is safe with me.”

Lila’s lips curled in disgust at the nickname. Obviously, she would tell Gabriel that Marinette was enabling his behavior. Maybe she could spin it as her influence all together. Yes, yes, that would work. Two stones and all that.

—

After school, Lila rode with Adrien to the photoshoot.

Boy, if she wanted a taste of what the day would be like, she certainly got it. And she should have taken the chance to run.

“So Nino and I started playing this game with the guys in class,” Adrien had begun, without so much as a greeting. “Have you heard of Magic: The Gathering?”

“...no?”

“Oh okay, so I’ll tell you all about it.”

As a master manipulator, Lila understood the masterful art of conversation. There were several strategies she had developed over the years. Her favorite was ‘talk passionately and allow for natural lulls in explanation so they can ask questions’. It made people feel engaged and kept them coming back for more, while she was perceived as interesting and smart, but also humble.

However, it seemed that Adrien was utilizing the beginners mistake of ‘poorly explain a subject you’re not really passionate about without letting the other person talk’. Like an underpaid substitute teacher filling in for a class they don’t know much about.

“So like, there are these cards with different landscapes on them, and they’re all different based on color, right? So there’s water or islands for blue and mountains and stuff for red, right? And each one is worth mana. And you have to use mana to play a card. Except for lands, I think. You can play those whenever, except you have to draw them, you can’t just go searching through your deck. Unless a card tells you you can.”

Finally, they arrived at the shoot, and Lila nearly fell out of the car in her haste to get away for some peace and quiet, just for a second.

Who knew that boy could talk so much?

—

Plagg and his mohawk were led to the makeup trailer. Thankfully for the hairstylist, it came with a salon sink, so Adrien didn’t have to go home and shower.

“Sorry, Mr. Agreste,” the stylist said as she draped a cape on him. “We have to flatten the mohawk.”

“That’s alright,” Plagg assured with a polite smile. “It served its purpose.”

“It was very well done, honestly,” she said with a laugh. “For not having the sides of your head shaved, that is.”

“I had to work with what I had.”

The stylist just hummed in understanding, as she started to rinse his hair, the gel melting and washing down the drain.

The stylist sighed, and gave a little huff to herself.

Plagg normally wouldn’t care, but if his meddling had inconvenienced someone else’s job, that would reflect poorly on Adrien. So, he asked. “Is everything alright?”

“Umm...” she paused, biting her lip. “Look, we’re friends right?”

Plagg didn’t even know this person’s name. “Of course.”

“Are you close to Miss Rossi? I know you guys are friends...”

“I hate her guts.” Plagg declared with a broad smile.

“Oh good!” She relaxed. “I really really hate working on her. And so does everyone else, and last time she was here, she was just—Ugh, the worst. I got so frustrated because Giuseppe and your father like her, so even if I complained, nothing would happen. Likely, I’m the one that would get in trouble. You remember Alexander, right? The lighting assistant?”

No. Not one bit. “Yeah?”

“Well, she yelled at him one time during a shoot, in the back. Apparently, she wanted coffee and he wouldn’t get it for her, even though that’s soooo not his job. So she complained to Giuseppe and got him fired! Honestly, I don’t know how he didn’t get akumatized over that.”

“I don’t either!” Plagg said, with surprise. “I knew she was a pain, but yikes...”

“I think you’re a really cool kid, Adrien. But she’s going around and telling everyone you got her this job and—“ she sighed. “People are getting resentful.”

Now Plagg was mad. It was immediately apparent that Lila had a ‘if I can’t have them, no one can’ attitude, turning the staff on Adrien if she couldn’t win them over with her outlandish lies. Adrien couldn’t afford having that many enemies. He was too soft.

“Actually...” Plagg began to explain how Lila had wound up with her job, lying to Nathalie and Gorilla to get access to his house, lying to his father to get on his good side, and all the things she did to Marinette, who he took the bullet for to protect. “She means a lot to me,” Plagg said, in regards to Marinette. “So I didn’t mind having to pretend to be Lila’s friend if it meant she could come back to school and not be harassed anymore. It seems that Lila has a loose form of friendship.”

The stylist wiped her eyes. “Oh Adrien, you’ve got such a heart of gold. I’ll set everything straight with the team. Don’t you worry!”

“I actually have a plan, that you might let everyone in on. And I apologize in advance.”

“Lay it on me.”

—

By time Lila was called in to get ready, Plagg had been groomed into a normal looking boy with normal looking hair and clothes. Though normal protocol usually had Lila in hair and make-up alone with the stylists, Plagg sat in a chair nearby, separated from her by a curtain.

“Adrien? Shouldn’t you be out there?”

“Oh it’s okay, I wanted to keep telling you about this game.”

“Oh, well, you shouldn’t keep Giuseppe…”

“He won’t mind. So, there’s a bunch of colors, right? Red, Black, Green, Blue, White, and…one more. I think there’s one more.”

A sigh was heard from the other side of the curtain.

“No, no I was right, there’s only five. But you can combine them. But not like, mix them? It’s like, Blue-Black, and Red-Black. And Green-Blue. And so different colors have different themes, right? And the themes are different based on the set. Oh yeah, there’s different sets and Wizards of the Coast release like, two or three sets a year. I think. Like they had this one that was all about Dinosaurs and pirates. But they usually aren’t that wacky. Unless it’s a joke set. Which that one wasn’t. I can’t remember the name of it right now, but it started with an ‘I’.” And he was off, explaining all he could remember of the game, from what Adrien had told him, to what he had heard while the boys played at school. If he could find a point to elaborate on, he did.

Every once in a while, he’d make eye contact with a staff member, who would in turn grin and give a secret thumbs up.

He started to run out of steam while Lila was in makeup.

Thankfully, one of the technicians with a grudge noticed, and helped him out. “Would you ever play competitively?”

Through the mirror, Plagg could see the lightbulb go off over Lila’s head. “You know, my grandfather was one of the chess masters of the world. He won lots of tournaments, and I’m sure he’d love to give you some pointers if you were interested, Adrien.”

The technician answered for him. “Chess? We’re talking about Magic: The Gathering. Two totally different games. The tournaments are pretty fun too, but I really enjoy playing at pre-releases. They usually only allow you to play with the set you’re buying, so you can’t look at them beforehand…”

Plagg beamed at the guy, thrilled with how quickly he had shut Lila down.

Lila, however, was undeterred. She met the eyes of the female stylist and just shrugged. “Boys, right? So, this weekend—“

“Shh,” the stylist hushed. “I’ve been trying for weeks to learn this game.”

Lila crossed her arms and sat silently for the rest of the session.

Once the models were all dolled up, they were escorted out to the set, and Giuseppe got to work with posing.

Here’s where Lila tried to make up for lost attention.

“Oh Giuseppe! I had such a wonderful idea for the shoot today! Since the gardens are in full bloom—“

“Which reminds me!” Plagg snapped his fingers. “Green-Black combination cards are really unique because they create a bunch of minions. Like, the cards in them have the ability to spam the battlefield with like a bunch of little guys called tokens that take a lot of extra work to get rid of. Well, like, not a ton of extra work, because they only have like one HP, but like, it's more work then you would have had to do. Wait, white, not black. Actually, I think white is the best at tokens, my mistake.”

Despite her best efforts, Lila could not suppress a full body eye roll.

It was exactly what Plagg was waiting for, and he jumped in for the finisher. He turned his sad kitten eyes to her, looking like Puss in Boots from Shrek, and asked, in the most pathetic voice he could muster. “Am I annoying you?”

Lila stared at him, as the staff and Giuseppe looked right at her, to see her response.

“I…I…” she stammered. “N-no, not at all, Adrien. I…love hearing about this game.”

He beamed. “Good! Because I have to tell you about my favorite combination of Blue-black. It’s really high in conditions and making things difficult for the opponents, right?”

Lila’s nostrils flared, but she held back any other sign of frustration. It was remarkable, really.

Plagg was quiet while Giuseppe gave directions, and during the actual shooting, but in between takes, when he didn’t have to be ‘professional’ he filled in the silence with whatever jargon he could find. He was wearing her down.

“Alright,” Giuseppe finally said. “We’re all done with you, Lila. Now it’s just Adrien’s solo shoot. But you can stay if you like.”

Lila was already halfway to the trailers. “I’m so sorry Giuseppe, I have somewhere I have to be this evening, so I’m going to head out. I’ll see everyone next time!” And she practically sprinted off set.

Once she left, Giuseppe gave a loud sigh of relief. “Now let’s get some real work done.”

—

Later that evening, when Adrien and Plagg had returned to the mansion, Adrien sat on the desk as Plagg scrolled online. Homework had been completed with ease, and it was still too early for bed.

“What are you reading?” Adrien asked.

“I’m trying to slog my way through the lore of that video game you like, the one with the Dragons. I have to have more ammunition the next time I deal with Lila. I almost ran out today.”

“Is that what I sound like?”

“What?”

“You today, when you were talking about Magic. Is that what I sound like to you? Do I ramble on?”

Plagg screwed up his lips in thought. “Mmmm, sometimes.”

Adrien hunched in on himself.

“But look. Culture and creative medium has grown astronomically in the last 200 years since I’ve been asleep. I want to know about what’s out there. I like hearing about things that you enjoy. Even if it is annoying sometimes, I still care about you. The reason I pulled this strategy is because Lila likes to talk, and she doesn’t like to listen. Even if I was talking passionately about something I knew a lot about, I doubt she would have cared. I hear how often she interrupts class.”

Adrien hadn’t thought about it like that.

“You know who Pavlov is, right?”

“Uh, the guy that did the experiment with the dog, right? He rang a bell and gave his dog a treat, and eventually the dog came to associate the bell with treats.”

“Precisely. Humans are the same way. Knowing this principle is the easiest way to win people over. You have to make them associate you with good feelings. If you treat people well, be friendly, courteous, and funny, eventually, people will like to be around you. The same works in reverse. If I can associate myself with frustration and annoyance for Lila, she won’t want to be around me. Being straight up mean to her won’t work because she’ll see that as a challenge.”

“So you have to be subtle,” Adrien concluded. “Thats…that’s genius.”

“I know.”

“So you don’t think I’m annoying?”

Plagg rubbed him between the ears. “I only found you annoying when you would complain about Ladybug, your dad, or Lila. But now, in your shoes, I’ve realized how easy it is to get frustrated about these things. But hopefully soon enough, you won’t even have to worry about it.”

Adrien smiled brightly. “Thanks Plagg. I hated this at first…but you really are making some progress.”

“Told you. Now, help me pack. You have your first sleepover tomorrow night.”

“My first sleepover, and I’m going to spend it crammed in a bag!”

#miraculous ladybug #ml #adrien agreste #plagg #I'll handle this #fanfiction #adrienette

25 notes · View notes

syms-things-5 · 4 years ago

Text

Clear The Area - Chapter Seventeen

Previous Chapter Here

Warnings: Strong language and an air of discomfort.

Notes: I hope this reads OK as it’s quite dialogue-heavy.

Tags: @kelbabyblue @jennmurawski13

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The night shifts weren’t all bad. From time to time, they were even as good as “pretty straight forward”. They proved especially useful when trying to finish patient notes and random admin that always got left to the very end of the shift. Perhaps they’d endure a tidy-out of the stock cupboards if the crew was feeling generous. Since O’Brien had taken up his post at the hospital years earlier, he had insisted upon mandatory training updates for the ER units every three to four months (the national average was about once a year) so the team were regularly reminded not to set fire to their computers and not to leave boxes in places people could trip over. You’d be surprised how often both those things happened in an emerging crisis.

“I swear he thinks we’re idiots half the time.” Complained Jack, his head now glued to the palm of his hand. Jack was hurtling towards an early retirement thanks to an ever-increasing distrust of the corporate environment ER departments found themselves in. We trained to save lives, he’d say, not file stat reports. He was so right, it hurt.

The crew was sat round the reception desk. The ER was empty except for a local homeless man the team allowed in from time to time to sleep off his latest drunken adventures.

“Who doesn’t know how to bend their knees when lifting something heavy?” Jack asked again.

“Ryan for one.” Sarah joked, pointing her cold cup of tea towards the fellow nurse in question. Ryan was a tall and skinny guy, not dissimilar to Alexander Skarsgard in the right light but with less charm although he had left a few of the interns swooning of late. Shanna quite liked him, too.

“One time, Sarah. One time and I suffered for it greatly.” Ryan remarked, spinning a full 360 in his swivel chair. “Did you tick ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ for question eleven?”

“Oh, if you don’t tick ‘strongly agree’ even if you only ‘agree’, they mark you down a couple of percentage points.” Entered Audrey, slamming down a pile of files on the desk beside Sarah. Their nightly routine just got more interesting. “Just get it over with. It’s not worth the effort. It’s just O’Brien being obsessed with stats again. He turns everything into a competition. I swear it’s unhealthy.”

Ryan looked momentarily confused before returning to face his computer screen. He re-read the question for the fifth time and rubbed his eyes in resignation. Something about 3am made this far too complicated.

“When did you even find time to do this, Aud?” Jack asked, turning back to Sarah and Audrey in time to witness their shared look self-satisfaction. “I’ve been sat here for half an hour and am still only part way through the first section.”

“I logged in at home earlier.” she responded before catching Sarah’s quizzical look. “Well, Michael did most of it for me.”

“Fucking hell!” exclaimed Jack, chucking his pen on the table, giving up. “Got no chance then, have I? Michael’s a bloody genius. Hey, how much for him to do mine?”

“Normally I’d say $100 but he’s pretty cheap these days.” shrugged Audrey. “Probably a fancy cigar would do.”

“He still grumpy about the you-know-what?” whispered Sarah to her friend when the guys started joshing between themselves.

Audrey leaned back on the desk beside her and took the mug from Sarah’s hands to take a sip, grimacing slightly at the sweetness. For some reason, Sarah had to have at least three sugars in her tea if she was drinking it post-midnight. It helped to keep her more alert apparently. She didn’t drink it like that at any other time of the day. “No more than usual. Seems like we’re both unlucky in that department at the moment.”

Sarah smiled at her in acknowledgement, lips thin before biting the inside of her cheek.

Following their last meet-up, Chris had been decidedly quiet. Too quiet almost. It was weird. He hadn’t messaged her. He hadn’t called or visited their apartment except to collect a parcel he had left. Sarah has been out for a run at the time and had felt silently glad to have missed him. He hadn’t updated his twitter and there had been multiple sports events occurring that would have guaranteed a humblebrag or five. Shanna had pledged to buy rib-eye steaks for a Saturday night meal during a Celtics game and he had cancelled at the last minute citing an interview he had conveniently forgotten. Even Audrey thought it was weird. If anything was guaranteed to get his attention and bring him out of whatever funk he was in, it was the promise of sports and a ‘Grade A’ barbeque.

Shanna merely put it down to his laziness or him having something better turn up. Scott had started replacing Chris around their apartment, wanting to get some of his own distance from the tricky Zach situation and it helped her feel better knowing he was at least in touch with him if Shanna wasn’t. He was evidently still alive.

Sarah decided to swap a couple of daytime stints to partner up with Audrey for the nights. She needed the comfort of working with a good friend to calm her down from whatever ledge her anxiety had placed her on.

“You know that he’ll come back, right?” Audrey interrupted her thoughts. Maybe Sarah spoke too soon. “Haven’t you got that birthday thing for Lisa coming up?”

That trip was a couple of weeks away yet. She was trying to bank some reasonable excuses but everything sounded lame in the cold light of day and Lisa was never going to accept her not coming as well. Surely things would have smoothed themselves out by then?

“This won’t just fix itself, hun, you’ll need to speak to him eventually. And the sooner the better.”

It was like Audrey had a hotline straight into Sarah’s psyche. It was unnerving at the best of times. Sarah knew she was right of course. It’s just, a little bit of distance would be a good thing, right? Even Chris himself had offered that advice from time to time, and stressing herself out at this point almost seemed counterintuitive.

“I reckon you could go in an hour or so if you wanted.” Audrey offered, nudging her friend with her elbow to bring her back into the room. “It’s dead out there.”

“I hope not.” Sarah joked, trying to lighten the mood. “We’d be shit at our jobs if that was the case.”

Audrey laughed for the first time since Sarah could remember that day. It was moments like this that reminded her of why she enjoyed working alongside her so much, and why she didn’t mind if it resulted in overtime.

“You wanna take patient referrals while I take the EPRs?”

“How can I refuse an offer like that?” Sarah picked up the dozen or so documents sat in front of her and grabbed the nearest chair. Audrey told her she’d put the kettle on and nudged the guys still glued to their screens. Ryan had pretty much given up logical thinking and was now ticking random boxes. Jack was cursing under his breath. O’Brien was going to be in for a real treat when he could finally tabulate the responses.

It was nearing 6.20am when Sarah and Audrey finally packed up to go. Matt and Stephanie had just arrived to take over for the morning, bringing a fresh perspective for the day. There wasn’t much for them to catch up on so it should be a smooth few hours at least. Sarah even ran a mop through the staff locker room as an added gift – Steph was a notorious clean freak – nearly tripping Greg up in the process.

He’d been on leave for the past fortnight and his hair was a little longer than she remembered. A five o’clock shadow graced the lower part of his face and it suited him more than she thought it would. He had kept up with the informal tie-less attire and he seemed to be, dare she it, enjoying himself.

“God, I’m so sorry.” She held her hands up in a mock mea culpa. “I was just gonna put it away before heading out. It was a stupid place to leave it.”

“Did you not take the Health and Safety refresher?” he joked, rebalancing himself and trying to play down the redness creeping into his cheeks from the embarrassment of temporarily losing his footing in front of her.

“You gonna rat me out to O’Brien? ‘Cos you know as well as I do that he doesn’t need yet another reason to know he’s right.” She shifted the mop and bucket and placed them back in the supply closet before reaching for her bag again.

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” He moved passed her before turning to face her again. “Tell you the truth, I ghosted the last couple of tabs myself. Who knew there were so many ways to ask questions about standing in elevators?”

Sarah rolled her eyes in acknowledgement. “Yeh. I can’t wait to have the team meeting when he realises we’ve all pretty much done the same thing. That’s gonna be fun. I might finally take some of my holiday.”

“Yeh, good plan. Hey listen,” His words stopped her in her tracks, feet from the exit. “Um, I know it’s been a while but I was wondering if you might want to reschedule that tennis match some time? Or if not, we could get some dinner or something? There’s that new sushi place on Reagan Street. It’s meant to be really good if you fancy it?”

She was indeed familiar with that very restaurant thanks to the glowing reviews she had been unable to avoid since it opened. Audrey had only mentioned it a mere thousand times in her presence. Word was that bookings were now months in advance so she wasn’t sure how Greg was hoping to find a table unless he wanted to make plans with her in November. Given the number of commitments he always appeared to have going on, it wouldn’t be completely outside the realm of possibility.

“Wow, I thought that place was fully booked?”

“Yeh, it is, but I went to college with one of the investors and he’s promised me a one-off.”

Of course he did. Sarah bit her bottom lip to stop herself from chuckling out loud, imagining Audrey’s face when she would inevitably find out. To be honest, she was genuinely surprised he was still showing a minor interest in her. When she finally made eye contact with him, his earnestness was practically shining. Had he always had perfect skin?

“Um…” That was a good start, she thought.

“Honestly, it’s not a big deal if you’d rather not.” He helpfully pre-empted her awkward rejection but she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. “I’ve been meaning to go is all and I knew you liked sushi and figured it might be fun? They have live Jazz on Sunday nights.”

When did he find out she liked sushi? And live Jazz? Just how much had Audrey told him about her?

Realising she probably looked perplexed, she shuffled her shoulder strap back up onto her shoulder and tried to relax the awkwardness setting in between them. It was still quiet and no one was within earshot that she could figure out of her peripheral vision.

“It’s not you, Greg, I promise. It’s just, I’m not really looking to get into anything right now. With anyone. Plus, we work together and…I’m sorry. I hope that’s OK?”

“Hey, look, I promise it won’t be awkward. There’s absolutely no expectations from me and if you change your mind, just let me know, yeh? I literally know no one else who likes Sashimi so I can’t waste my only chance to get a table.” He chuckled and she felt more at ease.

“If it’s any consolation, I’m a pretty crap date.” She smiled at him as she edged herself down the hall, putting space between them both literally and figuratively. “You wouldn’t be missing out.”

“Oh, I doubt that somehow.” He returned her smile. “I’m serious, though. Just let me know. Anytime. No expiration date.”

And with that, she had been left dumbfounded by two men in the space of a single week.

It would have been easier to get the early morning bus home at this time, as tired as she was starting to feel. She hadn’t slept well in the last few days and she had a creeping nausea from the lack of proper rest. The walk and crisp, fresh air might do her some good. It was practically full daylight even at this hour, and it was sometimes fun to watch people on their own way to work, huffing along, trying not to drop their coffees.

The out-of-town school bus passed her a few minutes out from her apartment and as she rounded the corner, she got this weird sense that someone was watching her. Another corner turned and she could see her building in the near distance. Still, she couldn’t shake it. She stopped, pretending to fumble for her phone in her pocket and turned around swiftly to see a sweaty Chris stop a few steps behind her.

It took her a moment to register it was in fact him, his beard fuller and a Red Sox cap pulled down low over his eyes. He had sweats and sneakers on and looked like he was on a run. Honestly, if someone else had spotted him from this distance, they would have worried he was going to attack her.

“Hey,” she said, turning to fully face him. “What are you doing out at this time?”

He didn’t respond at first. He shuffled from one foot to the other before grounding himself and taking a couple of steps towards her. Again, he shuffled back a step like he was rethinking his move. She didn’t appreciate seeing him like this, so unsure of himself.

“Five months out from filming some pre-shoots so figured I’d make a start.” He finally spoke. Not a really a smile but he at least sounded OK.

“Cool.” She said, nodding back at him. “Um, I’m not sure if Shanna is awake yet but do you want to come inside for some water or coffee?”

“Yeh, that’d be great. Thanks.”

She turned to continue walking on. For a few long moments, he stayed walking slightly behind her. A couple more strides and he had decided to catch up. The last time it had taken this long to walk this same street, she had been so drunk she had narrowly avoided falling into her neighbour’s front garden.

“Five months? You’re not that out of shape.” She tried to make a joke. It was the only thing she could think of. Audrey would be eye-rolling like a champ if she could see them now.

Chris knew she was trying to make small talk now so he decided to indulge her. It was a fair response, he thought - he was doing OK - as he followed her up the stairs deliberately keeping two or three behind her in an effort to keep it casual.

“Oh, y’know. I fluctuate pretty easily. A few pizzas here and there and it’s game over.”

They walked into her kitchen and she had been right in assuming Shanna was still asleep. Unless she had awoken really early but that was highly unlikely, unless there was a sale at Ted Baker she didn’t know about.

He lingered in the doorway while she searched the fridge for a bottle of water. Grabbing one from the back, she turned to hand it to him expecting him to be within an arm’s reach from her but he had been distracted by something down the hall before turning back to her. Gratefully, he accepted it and walked into the kitchen to take up his usual spot leaning against the counter.

“Sorry, did you say you wanted a coffee?” She offered.

“Nah, I’m good. Can’t really take caffeine until this afternoon.”

“Sorry. I always forget how strict it is.” She apologised, offering him a sympathetic smile.

He took a long swig from the bottle, not breaking eye contact from her. “No need to apologise. You OK? Night shift?”

“Yeh. Pretty quiet, thankfully.”

“I’ve always meant to ask but what is it like, a night shift? I can’t work out if it would be worse or not.”

She understood what he meant and laughed. “It can go either way to be honest but it’s been quiet the last few nights. Nothing crazy. I caught up with some paperwork, so…” She shrugged again, acutely aware of how boring she must sound.

He nodded at her. “Aren’t people supposed to be crazier in the summertime?”

“Well, kids are around more and families tend to spend more time together, so…”

The apartment was unnervingly quiet now which was weird. She could hear the uptake in traffic outside which provided some relief that perhaps he couldn’t hear her heart beating out of her chest. She could make out some small sweat patches on his hoodie and it did something to her that she wasn’t expecting. Shaking the thought from her head, she turned to switch the kettle off.

“What?” He asked.

She jerked her head back around to face him. “Huh?”

“You were thinking of something. Your neck just went red.” He smiled, tilting his head at her and relishing the look of surprise making its way over her features, knowing he’d caught her out.

That was news to her. She knew she had “tells” but a red neck was not usually one of them. How come no one had ever told her about this?

“I can’t tell if you’re joking with me or not.” She inquired, playfully narrowing her eyes at him in an effort to lighten the mood.

He shrugged a shoulder at her, a smirk starting to cross his fine features. Joshing with her was good. She’d take that. A small step in the right direction.

“Sometimes, it’s really obvious. You get it when you’re embarrassed about something, or when you try to lie. I’d never really noticed it before, but...” He paused. His expression started to turn more thoughtful and she wished he’d just continue to make fun of her instead.

“Guess I won’t be playing poker anytime soon.” She finished the thought for him.

“Yeh, no, you’d be rubbish at that. Just terrible.” He took another swig from his bottle and waited for her to throw something at him.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

The room went quiet again. She stirred her mug of coffee and offered him another chance at one which he politely refused although his discipline was waning slightly now he could smell it.

“So this is fine.” He said after a couple of minutes, nodding in a slightly exaggerated manner. He looked out of the kitchen window. “We can do this, right? No awkwardness. No embarrassment. Just normal, everyday conversation.”

“’Course,” she nodded in agreement.

“Start as we mean to go on, right?”

She nodded again. This felt like a trap and she couldn’t put her finger on why. Chris had a knack for saying and doing two different things at the same time, an intimidating ability that often put people on edge if he thought it would serve his purpose, whatever that may be. Probably the actor in him. When you called him out, he would aggressively defend himself which only served to prove the point you were making in the first place.

Scott was the only one, truly, who knew when it was happening. It had taken Sarah years to get to a similar position but now, she wasn’t sure she was remotely close to it.

“It’s as good a starting point as any, I guess.” She shrugged again, sipping from her cup.

“So there’s no need to ignore me then.”

“I haven’t been ignoring you, have I?”

“You tell me. I’m just pre-empting it is all. I’m just saying we can still interact, you and me, if we need to. Like, it doesn’t always have to be in social settings with other people around.” He took a final drink from his bottle and turned to locate the recycling pot stashed away in the corner. Even with a mundane task, he always looked cool doing it.

“So don’t worry about it.”

“Alright then. That’s good to know.” She shot him a raised eyebrow which he caught and returned with a sly smirk. “I’m just trying to be sensible. We have to get this right or else there’s no point.”

“I know, I get that, too.” If he wasn’t attempting to be serious before, he was now. He had a hand on his hip and seemed to have grown a few inches in height. “What do you think I’m trying to say?”

“I…think I’m on the backfoot again and it’s weird.” She held a hand up in defence.

“Hey, I’m just doing what we agreed, OK? I’m just following your rules.”

“They’re not rules.” She struggled to regulate the volume in her voice in case she disturbed Shanna. “And you’re making it sound like I’m controlling the situation when I’m not. We both agreed on this. There’s no point being difficult about it.”

Was he being difficult? Yes. Obviously, he was. He wasn’t happy. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling but happy definitely wasn’t it. Things were out of sorts and he hadn’t been able to eat carbs or sugar for four days so the withdrawal symptoms certainly weren’t helping. He should go easier on her. She was doing the thinking for the both of them. He should learn to be more grateful for that.

He scratched the back of his head and let out an audible sigh in frustration. “I’ll try harder, I promise. We’ve got that cabin thing coming up with Mom, so…I promise I’ll be good.”

He imitated the scout salute and she smiled at him, a smile not quite reaching her eyes.

Another night shift and Audrey and was starting to get suspicious. No one willingly switched for a night shift. For one thing, there was a disproportionate amount of recovery time. A couple of night shifts often took in excess of a week to recover from; a week that a nurse definitely did not have to spare.

“He been buggin’ you?” she asked, finally growing tired of the silence.

“Who?” Sarah looked up from the cabinet. “No, not really. We haven’t really spoken.”

“So why are you ignoring him?”

“I’m not ignoring him! Why does everyone think that?”

“Who’s everyone?”

Crap. Audrey had her there. Sarah open and closed her mouth without a sound coming out. She took a breath. “He’s not bugging me. He’s not. I’m just trying to limit the times we’re in the same place at the same time.”

“Huh, you’d think he would at least allow you to have peace in your own home.”

“Well, to be fair, he hasn’t been around all that much, but…at least I don’t have to worry about him showing up unannounced. It’s stupid but I feel way more awkward about him than I thought I would. It’s like I can’t even stand to be under his gaze.”

Audrey glanced at her friend, wishing she could offer some words of comfort. Even for someone as verbose as she normally was, she was finding it a struggle. Sarah wasn’t much looking for words of comfort at the given time either. She was all too aware of the predicament she was in and how much responsibility laid at her feet. In her mind, waiting it out was the only logical solution she could come up with. The only logical solution that didn’t require more conversations with someone who could feasibly run rings around her “theory” that if they just stayed apart for a little while, they would suddenly and magically forget about the past couple of months.

They stayed filing documents in silence again, the air seemingly getting thicker.

“You ever spoken with someone and it’s like they’re thinking the complete opposite of what’s coming out of their mouth?” Sarah huffed while shoving the cabinet drawer closed.

“Not really. That person’s usually me.”

“But why?” she asked. “Why can’t you just be normal?”

“I mean, it’s not my go-to response of course. It’s normally reserved for occasions when I am trying to indulge someone because I know they’re talking bullshit. Like, when I know Mike has been gambling but he tries to deny it? It’s just easier to figure him out that way.”

Sarah froze to the spot, looking at her friend. She breathed a heavy sigh and turned to lean back on the table behind her and crossed her arms. She stared at her shoes for a second.

“Chris is a smart guy. I’ll give him that.” Audrey muttered loudly so she was sure Sarah could hear.

“Give me something! I’m your friend here.” She implored her before chuckling to herself at Audrey’s face and her own apparent lack of self-awareness.

“You know what I think? You’ve probably got withdrawal symptoms from the all the amazing sex you’ve had and now you’re sulking. I think you should get back on that horse and let him fuck you again. That’s what this is.”

Sarah eyed her friend again. For once, she would love to hear someone tell her that she was right. “That’s really not helping, y’know.”

“And this is?!” Audrey’s shriller tone cut through the dry air, smacking Sarah right in the face. “Honey, this isn’t healthy. You hiding out in the hospital and treating it like your own solace is not healthy at all. I love you but you are your own worst enemy.”

“Alright, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for your unswerving efforts to be honest with me at all times and not, like a normal pal, be comforting in any way.” Sarah comically bowed to her friend before considering leaving the office. She would have followed through with the idea as well if it wasn’t for the cosy warmth of O’Brien’s office versus the coldness of the ER department thanks to a leaking pipe. “It’s difficult. I’m sorry. I don’t wanna fall out with you, Audrey.”

Audrey just smiled at her. “I don’t know why you think you have to be the beacon of morality all the time, Sarah. Take a look around. No one else is. We all out here just trying to live our lives as best we can and a part of that is taking advantage of moments of happiness when we find them.”

Something about what Audrey was saying did resonate with her but comparing two months of happiness with Chris to ten years with Shanna was not something she could in good conscience do. Shanna was her security blanket. She provided a comfort of living with someone with shared life experience, of knowing how little you thought about yourself because you were given up as a baby. Honestly, from the very first day they had met, Sarah felt lucky to know her.

Yes, Shanna could be immature at times. Maybe a little selfish. She would often get carried away with trivial things and wasn’t the most reliable person, but what Sarah got in return was worth that and more. Her family enjoyed highlighting the maternal care Sarah would have to provide to someone who was seven months older than she was, but honestly it didn’t matter.

Maybe this was one of the rare occasions where Audrey was wrong.

Chris was a fling at best, Sarah told herself, when she was lying in bed struggling to fall asleep. When she was cold and missing his arms around her. They were both having shitty times and they both got something out of it. That was what Chris had said himself at the very beginning.

Chris 08.15am: You home? Shanna said you were working late again

It was like he knew she would be thinking about him.

Chris 08.17am: I really dont want u ignoring me all the time. This is hard for me right now as well

Fuck.

Sarah 08.21am: I kno. I’m so sorry I made you feel like that :(

He didn’t respond. She thought she saw the tell-tale three dots of him writing something but nothing appeared. Giving up on sleep, she got up and headed into the kitchen. Shanna had left her some bacon in the fridge and a fresh bread bun on the side so she turned on the grill and set about making some coffee.

She felt strangely awake for this time and the apartment was nice and warm from the bright sunshine streaming in from all corners. Maybe a run would help. Or a cold shower.

Chris 08.44am: I wanna be honest with u but I dont think u want that

Chris 08.45am: so what do i do??

Fuck knows.

Chris 08.51am: Can I come over?

Sarah 08.54am: that’s not a good idea

Chris 08.55am: cos you know what will happen?

Chris 08.56am: what does that tell you??

She was sure he was nursing some kind of hangover or, quite possibly, he was still a little bit drunk. There were two responses she could give, she figured. The first would be her usual denial and perhaps an excuse that she was busy or working later than planned. The second, and ultimately the one she opted for, was to agree with him.

Sarah 09.05am: I know what it tells me. That’s why I’m saying you shouldn’t come over

Another three dots followed. There was only so many times they could go around and around in circles and as much as Audrey’s words made sense to her, it felt like she had to make the effort to regain some normality.

He didn’t respond. She stared at her phone for an age but nothing came through. Maybe he got the message? Maybe he had fallen asleep. She was both relieved and suspicious; Chris wasn’t someone who backed down from an argument when he thought he was right. He had said as much himself.

She turned the grill off, having lost her appetite. A run might make more sense and could help clear her head.

She couldn’t sit around waiting for Chris to make his next move.

#Chris evans #chris evans fic #evans fic #fanfiction #clear the area #sarah bernette #chris evans x original female character

23 notes · View notes

thoughtfullyyoungduck · 5 years ago

Text

I know him

A/N: this was requested by anon, I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

summary: could you do a reddie x daughter where she sees apparitions of penny wise but keeps it to herself. but one day when she’s w all the losers they mention pennywise in a short joke and she says she knows who that is n they all freak out wondering how she knows and ask her questions to confirm and somehow she knows everything that happened

warnings: fear of being stuck in an elevator so I guess small spaces, pennywise, a brief mention of vomiting and curse words

The old elevator scared her for as long as she could remember, it’s old doors creaking and closing leisurely, and the inside of it coated in a filthy substance that your dad avoided at all costs and urged you to do the same. Many horror story that roamed the building hallways originated from said moving lift, endless cases of people getting stuck in there and injuring themselves, some minor wounds, some majors.

In one particular case, a man from apartment block B4 broke his hand while trying to escape the grimy space, reaching for help outside of the lift only to have the doors ruthlessly crushing his bones, inducing agony so severely that he had to have his hand amputated.

Or another one during which a woman found herself trapped in it’s confinements while a thunderstorm was happening, and ended up electrocuting and dying before morning dawn.

It’s possible that Richie made those story’s up however, and Emma is the first one to admit that her pops does have a track record of pulling pranks on her, but there is a sliver of truth behind the stories.

Several people reported the elevator for malfunctioning, and the tenant always promised to fix the issue, but he never did, and so the thing continued to be a problem. Emma rarely used it, and if she happened to make use of it’s services, she made she was always accompanied by someone who could help in case of an emergency.

June twentieth though, she returned home from school, secretly excited about the prospect of being on her own for the evening, as Richie and Eddie were going out on a date to celebrate their anniversary, and she already imagined all the junk food she bought and would eat throughout the night, when she stumbled upon a problem.

The apartment Richie, Eddie and her lived on was located at the top floor, the furthest away from the prying eyes of the public, in lieu of their future home being renovated, which meant that taking the stairs was a painstaking chore that left her drained of all energy by the time she made it up.

Normally, she occupied the escalator anyway, but she slipped and twisted her ankle at school that morning, and despite it not hurting too bad, Emma figured that using the elevator was still the better call, so her ankle had time to rest.

She hesitated only briefly, before confidently walking in the lift, and pressing the bottom for the eight-floor. Emma tried to make light off the situation, using humor the way Richie had thought her, telling herself that she better take a large gulp of air, just in case the door refused to open again once they slid shut.

‘I got this I got this I got this’, she murmured to herself, psyching herself up before panic overtook her. Using the elevator was an irrational fear she had, and no amount of times riding helped any good in overcoming it. Realistically, the worst thing that could happen was that she locked in, waiting until a neighbor also needed to use the elevator and noticed that someone was in there, then effectively helping her out, but the thought of spending even five minutes with no way out gave her chills, so she suppressed that thought and waited patiently until the lift moved up.

Only it didn’t. The doors latched shut, but no movements upwards preceded. Clearing her throat, Emma hit the floor number again, rationalizing that she pressed the number too soft to be registered, but the eight lit up and yet again no movement took place.

Emma laughed antsy, breathing in and out deeply, still convincing herself that everything was fine, and a firmer hand was needed to get the lift moving, but when nothing happened, she hurriedly thumbed the open button.

With a screeching sound, the doors began to open, wide enough that tears welt up in Emma’s eyes from relief, but then the doors unfolded just enough to see through them into the open hall, not big enough for Emma’s form to fit through, and then shut again.

Terror infiltrated every pore of her being, rendering her a anxiety riddled mess, her breathing shaking too much to properly inhale. Black spots danced on the edge of her vision, becoming faint enough that Emma stumbled backwards and had to grip the railing bar tight in order not to fall.

The temperature read 35° degrees Celsius, the room hot enough that sweat drops formed on Emma’s forehead, and she lost her cool, her mind conjuring up the worst case scenarios.

She repeatedly pushed the open button, wheezing fresh air in the nik of time, while begging to whoever was listening to save her from this mess. Changing tactics, Emma attacked the alarm bell, but then over-analyzed that too. She had no clue whether or not she was supposed to hold it for a longer period of time, or release it and attempt multiple times.

A phone that connected to the main office was also present, and when Emma perceived that, she lunged for it and held it to her ear as close as possible.

‘Hello, please help me’, her voice cracked, ’I’m stuck.’ Nothing but static greeted her, no person on the other line to help her or comfort her, no help on the way.

The tears began bolstering down her cheeks then, a single one leading the way for many others once the dam was finally broken. In spite of not receiving an answer, Emma repeated the same word over and over again anyway, unable to think of any other way out.

She feared that if she kept opening the door, that that too would stop working, and then the heat building would suffocate her. Or the elevator may crash down, killing her instantly, or starvation and dehydration would take her out before anyone finds her and saves her. The fears may sound un-rational, but to Emma they were very real, and she worked herself up into a near panic attack.

‘Please, please, please, I want my parents’, she continues to sob, hoping against all hope that someone apprehends her message.

Her prayers seemed to have been answered when a white glove creeps through the elevator slot, the fingers wiggling back and forth.

‘Take my hand Emma, I’ll help you out.’

Inhibitions aside, Emma allowed said hand to wrap around her wrist, and urged her closer to the edge of the lift, another gloved hand pushing the lift apart and jerking her through. Ignoring the way the stranger somehow knew her name and the way she was lucky she wasn’t crushed by the doors, Emma heaves down on the ground, her painful ankle all forgotten.

The jitters in her body making her stand on shaky legs until she dropped down on her knees. Lunch had already processed most likely, as she couldn’t hurl up anything solid, but a bad taste lingered in her mouth lingers in her mouth regardless

When the last flow leaves her, Emma sits back, still on the ground, her hands buried in her hair to ground herself.

‘You’re out, you’re okay, you’re fine,’ she reassures herself, refraining from rocking back and forth.

For the first time, Emma glanced upwards to look at the person who saved her. The man, if she could call it that, wore a clown suit, completed with a face caked full of make-up. She inched away from him when their eyes connected, certain that the eyes that stared back were yellow, but upon second glance, she notices they were blue, just like her pops.

‘hmm, are you alright there? You look a bit shaken up’, the man grinned with his teeth visible, yellow and sharp on top while his tongue licked over them like he was hungry. He creeped Emma out, but he did rescue her, so Emma felt obligated to give him the benefit of the doubt.

‘Thank you’, she breathed out, the tears in her eyes running dry. He extended a hand out to her, and she took it, pulling herself upright and shaking the nerves off of her.

‘Who are you?��

‘My names Pennywise the dancing clown,’ he giggled in a weird, unsettling tone, ‘you really should refrain from using that lift, I heard it’s,’ he paused and winked at her, ‘scare inducing.’

‘Right,’ Emma trailed off, the polite smile on her face never fading away. ‘Oh wait, you’re a circus performer right? I heard about it coming to town from one of the posters outside.’

At pennywise nod, Emma relaxed. Sure, he came across as frightening, but maybe that was just her imagination after the scare she had experienced, and it would provide a reason why he was dressed like that.

‘Yes yes’, he explained, ‘do you like the circus? Because I love it’, he twisted his body in a way that made bells go off, the smile on his face unusually large for his face. Speaking of which, his forehead was also massive.

‘Your fathers used to love the circus too.’ The admission sparked new interested within Emma, who perked up and listened to him with all her attention.

‘You knew my fathers?’ she asked, shaking off the worry that loomed in the back of her mind.

‘Why yes of course I do, we were all best friends, and we did so much fun things together. If you want, I’ll tell you all about it.’

Emma hesitated, she had never met this man, and he seemed to be sketchy, but at the same time her interests had been piqued, and she figured that the man wouldn’t have come to her aid if he had something malicious planned.

‘They lived in Derry, Eddie and Richie, and they have always been best friends. But the summer of 1989 was one they’ll never forget.’

Emma frowned, neither her dad nor her pops had ever mentioned the summer of 1989, nor had they ever discussed any other people outside of the losers club, but if he knew their names were Eddie and Richie, there’s no way he hadn’t met them.

‘Ow yes, the summer their nightmares came to live right before their very eyes,’ his voice lilts up in a sing song sound, almost a mocking tone, and he belly laughs, as if the prospect of facing your fears was that funny to imagine.

Emma’s heart began to pound faster when the memories of the lift resurfaced, and she couldn’t phantom anyone laughing at that.

‘It all began with uncle Bills little brother….’

When Emma awoke, she was laying down on the sofa, her legs stretched over side so her feet were dangling. She lifted her head and scanned the room in confusion, blinking away the sleep from her eyes.

She would’ve swore that she had a conversation with a guy, but maybe that was a nightmare that she experienced a little too vividly. The talk was strange to begin with, anecdotes including murder, brutal attacks and near death experiences presented as something that really took place, something her family endured.

A quick search on the internet let Emma to believe that she saw a hallucination induced by her distress, and so she never mentioned anything to her fathers when they returned home from their date.

Perhaps the man had offered help to Emma, and he was uncanny enough that Emma dreamed about him after he left, but the conversation was all in her head and never had never come to pass.

The elevator was at full service again the next day, so she never informed Richie and Eddie of that either, feeling no need to rehash how irrational she behaved.

She adamantly fought tooth and nail to never step near the lift at any time, and since her parents were good at parenting, they accepted that with no questions asked, although Richie would huff and puff walking up and down the stairs, his old man bones creaking in protest changelessly.

-----

‘Chug chug chug’, Bill chants, his hands balled in fist chomping down on the table as he viewed Richie gulping down his glass in one smooth sling.

‘I hate it here’, Stan rolls his eyes, downplaying the nearly there smile that graced his face upon hearing roared laughter.

Losers club meetings always brought a never seen amount of chaos and noise, causing them to be chucked out of restaurants more than once, but they’re never deterred.

Stan advocated on multiple occasion to host the parties in one of their houses, but upon the suggestion of organizing one at his house, he backed down and dejectedly proposed a new restaurant they’re welcome at, for now.

This time, the choice alternated between a new Thai restaurant or a steak house that Richie tipped very generously for last time they visited, the new Thai place being a tad more inviting.

Emma loved losers meetings, because she always got to reconnect with her aunts and uncles, and also because the food was more than delicious.

She adored all the losers dearly, but the one she formed a special bond with was Mike, the history buff who knows more than Emma’s actual history teacher, and the one who somehow knows all the right words she must hear if she asks for advice.

The spot next to him is without fail the one chair that remains empty until she arrives, hanging off the tip of his tongue to hear about all the adventures he undergoes on his far off trips.

Today is no exception, Mike sitting on Emma’s left as she bolsters equally as loud as her uncles and aunts as liquid spills from the side of her pops’s face, staining the new shirt her dad recently bought and now belongs in the trash.

Eddie’s face is set in a scowl, as he thrusts out for a napkin and hands it over to Richie, who takes it with a smack kiss on the cheek as a romantic gesture Eddie repulses away from.

‘Dude, keep your disgusting bear filled lips the fuck away from me’, his face lighting up with a blush he tried but fails to suppress. His repulsion of germs decreases every day, but it’s not gone completely, the avoidance of touching the table with any skin proof.

‘Oh come on Eddie, it can’t possibly bother you that much, you married the guy’, Stan remarks, chuckling when Patty softy taps him on the arm.

A waiter pops his out from behind a wall, his face betraying nothing, but the murderous look in his eyes more than telling enough that this will be the last time they pop in this eatery. He refrains from saying anything though, walking away with a rigid back to no doubt complain to his coworkers about annoying table number five.

Thank god, they’ve only arrived an hour ago, and are still waiting on their food to come, and Emma is excited to try it.

‘Ben and I saw the circus in town two weeks ago,’ Bev steers the conversation in a different direction, bored with the current lack of anything but laughter.

The mention of the circus reminds Emma of the strange encounter that happened, the incubus she can recall in perfect detail. The duality of reality and fiction confusion her to this day. She’s pretty sure she dreamed the whole thing besides her being stuck, but then did Pennywise exists for real? And if not, then who helped her out?

The table turns abnormally quiet, so much so that it shocks Emma out of her thoughts. Stan’s face in particular drains of all color and he taps his fingers on the table to remain calm and collected, Patty scrutinizes his every move, but she is lost for how to react as well.

Ben sips his drink awkwardly, clearing his throat after and lacing his hand with Bev with a warning squeeze. Emma is a second away from asking what in the world is going on, but Richie’s got it covered.

‘Yeah, you saw any one familiar? Like a type of clown hoping we die gruesomely? It’s been a while huh I wonder how he’s doing these days.’

‘Richie’, Eddie hisses exasperated, motioning his head in Emma’s direction to remind Richie their daughter was still in the room with them.

Emma chortles at his joke, covering her mouth with her hand so that no piece of the chip she’s nibbling on accidentally lands on the table, the others following her lead easily. They remain at the edge of their seat, not yet settled, but Richie’s humor calmed them down enough that the tense atmosphere around the room fizzles out.

Emma, unthinkingly and mindlessly adds; ‘That someone happened to be named Pennywise?’

She continues to chuckle at her addition, right up to the point that a glass crack to her left, Ben’s glass splintered in tiny pieces on the floor as his big, shock filled eyes gawking at Emma as if she announced she’s pregnant.

The sound of glass relinquishing disturbs Emma’s laugh, the blast spooking her out of nowhere.

‘What? Her dad asks her pressed, and if she thought the losers looked keyed up before, the consternation they now display is in a whole different ballpark.

Trying to rail the topic back on track, Emma continues to jest the situation, reminiscing on the fictional things in her dream.

‘Yeah, you know Pennywise. The clown that transformed into your worst fears. Stan’s painting, pop’s clowns, dad’s gazebo’s, oh and of course we can’t forgot about breaking dad’s arm right.’

No one else laughs, all of them staring shell shocked ahead, unbeknownst to Emma thrusted back to the summer of hell.

‘Emma,’ Richie address her, his palm rubbing across his chest on the left side, his heart burning with urgency to protect his daughter and his family without a second of hesitation.

Richie rarely uses her name in place of a nickname, so she drops the act and tunes out every other person and sound for the sake of paying attention to her pops.

‘Where did you hear all of that?’

A cold gust of winds breezes around the room, resulting in shivers that shake Emma’s whole body. All members of the losers club focus on her, awaiting her response to the question. Eddie and Richie in particular are most keen on finding out how their daughter somehow, without any of them telling, savvy traumatizing events of their youth.

‘I don’t know, a nightmare. Why is it so important?’ Emma inquires, enclosing her body with her arms in an effort to comfort herself.

‘A nightmare?’ Eddie clarifies, the intention behind his inquire not flying over her head.

‘Emma’, Mike interrupts to stop the impending flood of dread about to unleash over her before it even begins.

‘I know you know so much more than you’re letting on. I understands why this is scary, but it’s of the upmost important that you come clean now.’

Mike can read her better than a book, and that’s saying something for a librarian, so Emma gives in, overwhelming tears sticking to her eyelashes, the attention proving to be too much, begging anyone in the room to explain to her what’s going on.

‘The elevator got stuck in our apartment building, and this guy, Pennywise helped me out.’

‘Oh applejack,’ Richie exclaims, understanding now why she’s so resilient on trudging the escalator. Eddie scrambles up from his chair across from Emma’s seat, and tucking her away safely in his arms, her head underneath his chin.

‘it’s okay Ems, you’re safe, you’re fine.’ He soothes her, suppressing his own sobs at the knowledge that Pennywise had been this close to attacking his daughter, the light of his and Richie’s life. Richie joins him a moment later, pressing both Eddie and Emma close to him in spite of the difficult position they’re in.

‘Yeah, no fucking clown is coming near you again, well except for uncle Stan then of course. He gets a pass.’

Uncle Stan dishes out no jab, inevitably inciting more terror in Emma, who whimpers and hides behind the shield her dads form around her.

The night ends with a sleepover all the losers join in on, each and every one committed to creating a safe space for Emma, and if that means killing Pennywise again, then so be it.

#reddie #reddie x daughter #My writing #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrack #Richie x Eddie #richie tozier imagine #eddie kaspbrak imagine #the loser club imagines #it chapter two imagine #mike hanlon imagine #ben hanscom #beverly march imagine #bill denbrough imagines #stanley uris #richie as a parent #richie as a dad #eddie as a parent #Eddie as a dad

106 notes · View notes

themuffinbee · 4 years ago

Text

Lore Olympus Novelized, Chapter 4

First Chapter - Previous Chapter

Hey, it's been a while. Life has been rough, so this took some time to finish. Since I'm having to play with the chronology of the chapters a little to fit a literary narrative format, the comic's Chapter 5 is LON's Chapter 4. It’s finally Pining Hades o’clock, my friends!

As always, this is merely an unofficial fan adaptation. All plot and dialogue belong to the talented Rachel Smythe. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

—————————————————

“I’m not into this.”

Silence.

“I’m not happy with myself,” Eros said, a little louder this time. Still, his mother ignored him as she flitted from car to car.

He glanced around the moonlit parking lot in the hope that there would be somebody, anybody around to put a stop to this nonsense. Of course, there wasn’t a soul to be seen.

“I’m so uncomfortable right now.” What an understatement. Eros had that creepy-crawly sensation like a thousand bugs moving under his skin when he thought about all the rules of consent he had broken in the last two hours. Ugh!

He kept his eyes straight ahead as he shifted the dead drunk, unconscious goddess in his arms, attempting to make her more comfortable. After all, it wouldn’t do for her to have a cramped neck or pinched nerve after a night like tonight. He had to have some standards.

“Oh, stop fussing and hurry up. Serves her right for being so trusting,” Aphrodite said without even a glance in his direction. She stopped and cocked her head. “Eros, do you know how to pick locks?”

For crying out--

“Ma, what the fuck are we doing?” Yeah, okay. He probably should have asked that question a couple of hours ago, but whatever. “I left a perfectly good orgy for this, I thought you had an actual emergency. It's late. I'm cold.”

His mother finally looked him in the eye, and, much to his disappointment, she seemed far more annoyed than concerned at his insubordination.

“Look at this girl." He held up Persephone, her head lolling to the side. “She’s like the personification of a friggin’ cinnamon roll! An adorable, pink cinnamon roll!”

Aphrodite only crossed her arms and glared at him.

Oh, my gods. What. Even.

“Why are you jealous of a cinnamon roll?!” Eros took a calming breath. Getting angry with his mother only made her more stubborn. He took on a more coaxing voice and said, “Let’s just take her back to Artemis and tell her you’re feeling a bit more deranged than usual.”

That got a reaction.

“Check that sassy attitude, Mr. Man,” his mother said with her hands on her hips, using a tone she normally reserved for his younger siblings. She turned away and clasped her hands to her chest, eyes misting over far too quickly to be sincere. “You still owe me big time after that bullshit you pulled with Psyche.”

Then she glanced back towards him, her eyes now narrowed in a chilling gaze. “You want to see her, right?”

And that was that. Eros pressed his lips into a thin line and remained silent.

“Yeah, I thought as much. Now help me find his car.” Aphrodite flipped her lavender hair over her shoulder and continued down the parking lot, her fists clenched at her sides. “Stupid Hades!”

Why was she acting so weird tonight? Everyone already knew she was beautiful, especially when she wore a getup like she had on tonight. Iridescent white with her purple complexion? Always a winning combination. And, besides... “Since when did you give a crap about the King of the Underworld?”

His mother shot him a glare over her shoulder. “It’s about respect!”

Eros sighed. “I’m pretty sure that breaking into someone else’s car is a crime...”

“Listen--”

“...aaand it’s not very respectful.”

“Listen.” She spread her hands out to the side of her face and little sparkles of light shot out of her fingers. “Listen.”

The sparkles formed a hazy image of a cartoonish, disgruntled Hades.

“We’re gonna hide her in his car." Aphrodite gave a little twirl of her finger and the cartoon Hades flung open his car door to reveal an equally indignant Persephone. “Once he gets home, he’ll find her. She’ll be super drunk and do a buttload of embarrassing stuff. He will think she’s totally gross.”

The imaginary Persephone fell to the ground crying as the cartoon Hades shrugged. Aphrodite lowered her pitch to something exaggerated and rough and not at all like the King of the Dead. “I’m a big stupid idiot and Aphrodite is the most beautiful goddess ever.”

“And then!” His mother returned her voice to normal as the image of Hades pushed a judgy-looking Persephone off of his driveway. “Since he took her home drunk, she’ll think he’s a creepy, old man."

Aphrodite smiled and closed her eyes, looking so content that she may as well have spent the day at a spa. “That’s the plan.”

Eros stared at her and tried to make sense of the raving nonsense he had just heard. At least this was Hades and not one of his brothers they were talking about, so Persephone should be safe enough. But still, this was beyond messed up. Did his mom really think this would work?

Aphrodite’s smile dislodged a bit and one of her eyebrows crooked upwards as she looked up at him, waiting. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Fresh hell, I am embarrassed for you.”

She tried to protest, but he kept talking, “Mom, you seem to have such a distorted view of people these days...when did you stop seeing the best in people?”

Aphrodite pinched her mouth shut and spun on her heel with a “Hmph!” as she continued her march through the parking lot.

"When did you forget about kindness?" Eros followed after her, "When did you forget about love?"

Still, Aphrodite walked onwards.

It was at this point that Eros realized he may have given his mother a complex. Gods, what a fucking mess.

—————————————————

Hades pulled his car into the driveway and proceeded to sit and stare out the window, not really finding the will in his bones to move. This was the worst night he had put himself through in a while, and he wondered just how much more scotch it would take for him to wipe it from his memory.

Not only had he somehow fucked things up with Minthe, but he had acted like a complete fool at his brother’s party, all for a pretty girl he had never met. Looking back, even his thoughts were embarrassing. ‘Like a rose in a snarling mess of brambles?’ Where had he come up with a phrase so disgustingly saccharine?

Just then, a small sound from the back seat cracked through his ruminations. He turned his head and saw…

What. What the...why...how???

She was there. Persephone. In his car. Somehow.

She was curled up asleep in his backseat, covered in roses of all things -- because of course she was -- and she looked, she looked…she looked miserable. Pale and sick. There was a small slip of paper attached with tape to her thigh, and drawn on it was a delicate little heart.

Aphrodite.

She must have overheard him at the party, but he didn't remember seeing her there at all...which was probably Aphrodite's problem. The Goddess of Beauty had always been a diva that never liked to share the spotlight, but when did her ego get so fragile?

Hades shut off the engine and walked around the car as quietly as he could. When he opened the rear passenger door, Persephone let out a small, whimpering groan at the sound, but stayed limp, one of her knees dangling so far off of the seat that it almost drooped to the floor. There was no way she would be able to walk in that state.

Deciding to look only at what his hands were doing, and not at the disheveled goddess slumped over in the back of his car, Hades half-knelt on the floorboard and began brushing Aphrodite’s signature roses off of the seat, their cloying scent filling the air. His gaze remained glued to his fingers as he peeled the little note off of Persephone’s thigh and crumpled the offending piece of paper into a ball.

Trying to be gentle, and most likely failing, Hades hooked one arm behind Persephone’s shoulders and the other under her knees, sliding her out of the car and doing his best to avoid bumping her into anything. Her head lolled against his shoulder and the smell of alcohol on her breath replaced the scent of the roses. A lot of alcohol.

As he walked towards the house, an emotion between sadness and anger grew behind his ribcage. There was no reason for her to be here, no reason for her to be mixed up with someone as...volatile as Aphrodite. No reason except for--

Hades felt Persephone stir against his chest and she let out a little moan, now reaching out an arm as though she were attempting to grab hold of something. A small butterfly made of pink light appeared on her wilting fingers while another fluttered about between her neck and his shoulder. Hades finally let his gaze drift up to her face and...hell. Even in as pitiful a state as she was in now, with her brow all furrowed and her skin far too pale, he would still say Persephone was more beautiful than Aphrodite. Thank Gaia the little goddess was practically dead to the world right now, otherwise, she would be able to hear his heart beating a thousand miles per minute and--

Hades frowned and looked away, resuming his path towards the house. He was not one of his brothers and he was not going to act like them tonight. Staring slack-jawed at someone across the room in the middle of a crowded party was one thing, ogling an incapacitated woman you were carrying into your home was very much so another.

A low whine pierced through the silence as a shape made of darkness padded out from the shadows. One canine head split into three, all six ears standing at full attention.

“Settle down, you might scare her,” Hades said as he motioned with his hand to halt his guard dog’s advance. He held Persephone closer with his other arm, vaguely realizing that one of her hands had curled itself around the lapel of his coat. Cerberus whined again, but his ears and tail relaxed by a fraction.

Good boy.

With only the minimum amount of fumbling and jostling, Hades managed to get the two of them through the sliding glass doors and into his living room. He shifted Persephone in his arms and bent over to deposit her into the nearest chair. Before he could lower her so much as two inches, he heard her make the smallest whimper into his shoulder as she flopped one of her arms around the back of his neck. Hell on Olympus, she sounded so sad, so scared. And why was she clinging to him? Was she so drunk that she thought he was someone else? That had to be it.

Cradling the back of her head in his hand, he whispered, “I’m just - I’m just going to put you down for a sec, okay?”

She did not answer, but he felt her arm slide off of his neck. As he laid her down in the chair, he tried to ignore how much he didn’t want to let go of her either.

Tasks. He needed tasks. Tasks were going to be his best damn friends tonight.

Task one: water.

His feet took him from the living room to the kitchen without further thought, his hands on autopilot. Open cupboard, grab glass, close cupboard, place glass under faucet, turn on faucet, turn off faucet, walk back to the living room, and--

He came to a halt the moment Persephone came back into view. She still looked miserable, of course, but even with her sickly pallor, she positively glowed in the darkness. Seeing her splash of bright pink against the ever-present shadows of his home, a dusting of wildflower petals gathering around his chair, it dawned on him just how foolish his attraction to her was. The King of the Dead together with the Goddess of Spring? The very thought was laughable, absurd.

Hades sighed as he knelt in front of the chair and Persephone opened her eyes, half-lidded and unfocused. He held the glass aloft in his hand, shaking it a little in an attempt to get her attention. “You should drink some water.”

Her expression remained blank, a slow blink being the only sign that she may have comprehended his words. When she made no move to reach for the glass, Hades leaned forward, placed a tentative hand under her jaw, and held the glass to her lips. Though a few drops did spill out the sides of the cup, he saw her throat make weak work at drinking. Good.

Now for task two: accommodations.

Once she had nearly drained the glass, he set it aside and again picked her up from the chair, heading off towards whichever of his abandoned guest rooms he thought most likely to be ready for seldom-seen company.

As he carried the inebriated goddess through the darkened halls, Hades felt her sink deeper against his chest with every step, until she had nestled her head against his cheek, her fingers toying with his bowtie. Nobody had the right to be that damned adorable when they were blackout drunk. He tried not to think of what would have happened if Aphrodite had dumped her in someone else’s car by mistake. Someone like Zeus, or Ares, or Apollo.

He crossed the threshold of a suitable room and a knot formed in his throat as he came upon the third and final task of the night: sleep.

“Sorry for manhandling you…” Hades said as he sat down on the bed and pulled back the covers, Persephone’s legs splayed across his own. Somehow speaking aloud made this feel less...creepy. He let go of her once they were settled, expecting the little goddess to lie down and bury her face in a pillow. Instead, much to his contradictory discomfort and happiness, she steadied herself by looping her arms around his neck and slumped her head onto his shoulder.

Wow...right. Okay. This was not going the way he had planned. He cleared his throat and reached towards her feet.

“If you sleep with your shoes on, you’ll get sores on your feet,” he said, deciding that narrating his actions to the silent goddess made him at least feel much more comfortable. Though taking her shoes off wasn’t nearly the same as, say, changing her into pajamas, it still felt like it passed some boundary of intimacy. As he slipped one stiletto heel off and then the other, he noted that they came off a little too easily, like they were half a size too large. Hades thought of all the nights he had crashed on his office couch, too exhausted to bother taking off his shoes. The ill-fitting ones had always left behind the worst blisters. He winced a little at the memory. “Trust me, I know.”

Lifting the covers with one hand and cradling her back and head with the other, Hades managed to steer Persephone’s legs under the sheets. Her arms, however, stayed outstretched and draped over his shoulders even as he laid her head on the pillow. Damn, if he didn’t know that she was too drunk to even sit up on her own, he would have thought she was trying to seduce him--

A shiver ran through Hades, electrifying enough he might have mistaken it for one of Zeus’ lightning bolts. So light that he could barely register the sensation, he felt the slight brush of her fingers skimming over his hair. It stole the breath from his lungs. One by one, her fingers traced over his ears and ran along his cheeks, her touch gentler than anything he could remember. But, the pads of her fingers were also somewhat...rough. Not the soft, downy skin he would have expected of the dainty goddess.

For a moment, he wondered if she were attempting to map his face through touch as each finger spread over his features. Some outlined his cheekbones, one of her thumbs glided over the side of his nose, and a few of her fingers, gods, slid along his jaw. Each digit only made the barest, most tantalizing bit of contact with his skin, and that alone was nearly overwhelming. It wasn’t until her other thumb grazed the corner of his mouth that he realized had been sitting spellbound this whole time, his eyes shut as he leaned into her touch. Practically a puddle in her hands.

…Would she want to map out the rest of him with those hands?

You are not your brothers. You are not your brothers. Snap out of it! You are NOT your brothers.

Hades sighed and brought his hands up to catch hers before they went anywhere else. “Now stop that.”

Looking down, he could indeed discern a set of calluses padding her rosy fingers and palms. The puzzle of Persephone only continued to grow. It was a good thing he still had his gloves on, otherwise he would be so very tempted to explore those callused hands with his own.

Who was he kidding? He was already tempted. Which meant that he needed to leave.

“I’m going to bed now. Goodnight, “ he said as he released her hands.

Yes. Good. Satisfied that he had done the correct, gentlemanly thing (to the best of his abilities at least), he headed for the door.

And then he heard it.

From behind him came one loud, giant sniffle. And then a small whimper. And then another sniffle.

Oh.

Oh no.

She was crying.

Before he knew it, he was back at the side of the bed, kneeling on the floor. “I can take you home if you want,” he said, noting more of those luminous pink petals had formed on the dark sheets, “I just don’t know where you live.”

“Please don’t tell my mom how drunk I got tonight,” she whispered, her voice all cracked and warbled. Tears were already streaming down her cheek as she clung to the pillow beneath her. “She’ll make me move back home if she finds out.”

Hades nearly chuckled, “Your mother? Demeter and I aren’t exactly best buds. I may be a lot of things, but I’m no snitch.” Surprised to find his hands moving on their own, he wiped away her tears in an attempt to stem the flowing tide. “Sweetness, don’t get worked up. Everything will seem one thousand times better in the morning.”

With one last baleful look at him, a gaze reminiscent of her earlier flash of sadness at the party, Persephone closed her eyes. Hades pulled the covers up and over her bare shoulders. At least his reassurance had given her some kind of peace.

After shutting her door behind him, he wandered through the shadowy corridors, his feet finally leading him to the rooftop patio. Hades breathed in the chill of the Underworld’s eternal night. The cold air on his skin, however, did nothing to reduce the memory of Persephone’s delicate touch on his cheeks.

Damn.

She shouldn’t be here.

Sunlight and wildflowers and warmth had no business being in the Land of the Dead, especially when she didn’t have a choice in the matter. Not that she would ever want to come here of her own accord anyway.

Hell, this entire night had been a new level of idiocy for him. Of course, Minthe was tired of his dour bullshit. Of course, Aphrodite would have been in the Olympian suite at the party. Of course, she would spite a less powerful goddess out of petty jealousy. Of course.

Hades gripped the handrail of the balcony as he surveyed his shrouded, dead kingdom, and had what he considered to be his most logical thought of the night:

This is all my fault.

#Lore Olympus #Lore Olympus Novelized #my fics #Persephone #Hades #not cr

6 notes · View notes

pollyannisms · 4 years ago

Text

DISCORD HEADCANON DUMP

Ángela falls strictly into the Iceberg category, where promotion is off the table entirely because she is too valuable for the foundation where she is. Unless another version of her comes along, they would never find another person to do what she does with the same efficiency and fearlessness. It's like, how many forensic pathologists would be happy and willing to climb into the giant decomposing chest cavity of a potentially dangerous anomaly to get an insight on what it was that put them down? Not many besides Ángela, that's for sure!

Okay, this is more of a general headcanon than one which applies to a Ángela alone. Still, I'm of the firm opinion that any researcher/doctor/security officer/etc. Who fits the profile of a 'team-leader (i.e. has assistant workers, trains future workers as a part of an apprenticeship program, etc.) has the additional duty of monitoring the workers under them, in addition to whatever job they are expected to perform, and reporting any concerning/dissenting/anti-social/overly-cruel or generally problem behaviour to the Ethical Enforcers before it becomes a more significant issue for the foundation at large. And it's from these reports that things like mandatory psych evaluations, increased surveillance, etc., are often borne.

So, for example, let's say one of the forensic assistants under Ángela began vocally experiencing a higher degree of humanization of the individuals and anomalies they autopsy and expressing a great amount of guilt over it. Ángela would be obligated by her duty to report this to the ethics team, and they from there would schedule a psych evaluation for the individual in question, and advise Ángela to keep herself open if they need support in the mean time. From there though the ethics team and psych team would evaluate whether the employee was fit to continue their work or posed a danger to themselves, others or the foundation as a whole and consider taking steps from there.

A lot of the time when people in the foundation talk about O5 having ‘eyes’ everywhere, it’s in reference to these sorts of mandatory reporters.

Ángela is in charge of choosing her team members (aka. forensic assistants to help her move bodies around, take measurements, etc.), and I think she is VERY VERY picky about who she takes and doesn’t.

Though this is because she does a lot of the grosser, more gruesome and dangerous aspects of the job that no one else wants to do (and therefore gets pushed off onto her), and she doesn’t want to have anyone go with her, who she can’t rely on in a pinch and who can’t bear the emotional burden of her job. iii

Prompt: For researchers; What was their favorite SCP assigned to them and why? Do any stick out in their memory? Why? What did they do and what were they?

Ángela’s favourite SCP and also most heartbreaking assignment was SCP-8699 or The Living Dead. They were a humanoid anomaly that was inanimate most of the time but became animate during instances of a full moon. Which weird as it is, wasn’t their anomalous trait. It was the fact that they could not be killed by brute force, but could not regenerate themselves, actively decayed like a corpse but remained alive during full-moon periods, felt no pain and seemed to know nothing about itself other than that it existed, but seemed incapable of understanding that it should’ve been dead.

They were given to Ángela during an entirely separate SCP investigation and were undergoing an examination to create a link between said aforementioned SCP and themselves - but regained animation and sentience on the exam table. Causing Ángela’s crew to evacuate the lab and Ángela to retreat into the observation room to trigger the breach in progress alarm. Though, to Ángela’s surprise, rather than attempting to break into the observation room to try and kill her, they ripped off their EKG and hid under the exam table and seemed terrified, crying and shaking and trying to cover themselves.

Ángela, being Ángela and seeing this, turned on the speakers in the lab from the observation room and did her best to comfort the SCP, and directed them to some extra lab coats she kept in case of emergencies and talked with them, and between the jigs and the reels, managed to calm them down, explained they weren’t in trouble and that there had been a mistake, and played four games of tic-tac-toe before the security team finally got to the lab and secured 8699 and rescued Ángela.

Though on their way to move 8699, dawn broke, and they reverted to an inanimate corpse once again. Ángela, with backing from her superiors, decided warranted further observation, and thus the pattern was detected, and they were classified!

Sadly though, Ángela and her team had to classify them as Khonsu, and due to their natural decay, 8699 was fully neutralized within two years of their discovery. Much to the heartbreak of the time assigned to them, as they were lovable in their way. Like, they were this 2.3 metre tall emaciated, rotting corpse that wouldn’t look out of place in a horror movie, with the mental maturity of a child and this sunshiny disposition and an apparent inability to understand the situation they were in entirely. I mean, how can you not love a shy, gentle giant that tries to hide behind its researcher that’s half its size.

What Ángela remembers about them the most though was when she was ordered to carry out a complete autopsy of them during one of their periods on apparent inactivity, as they were functionally dead and therefore able to be conducted without the possibility of excessive pain or cruelty. Before the dissection, though, Ángela, with backing from the Ethics committee, chose to have a meeting with 8699 and told them everything she was going to have to do and stressed that they were allowed to say no to anything ‘too invasive’ and the ethics committee would make sure she wouldn’t have to do it. But they didn’t care, they just shook their head and shrugged it off, saying ‘No, it’s fine, I won’t feel it anyways and I trust you, you’ll put me back together again,’ to which Ángela was like

Something unintentionally uncovered by the 8699, though, was that Ángela seems to have anosmia because, even when 8699 was falling into goo and bones and ‘reeked to the high heavens,’ so much so that they had to give it an airtight containment chamber. Ángela was able to remain in close contact with them and even eat in their presence.

Prompt: What was the scariest or most traumatic moment that your character has had to live through and how did they respond to the trauma in that moment?

For Ángela, there are four options for this question. There was the moment she found her older brother’s dead body bloated and disfigured and unrecognizable as him if it wasn’t for the crucifix necklace he always wore, which left her, well, non-functioning. She disconnected from her peers and family, developed depression, mentally regressed in terms of maturity, and developed muteness for the better part of 3 years following. In her defense, what she saw was horrifying for a child, and she wasn’t given trauma or therapy in the aftermath to help her cope.

- there was the incident that triggered her abduction hiring by the Foundation, which left her incredibly rattled and nervous about resuming her work for months following (though, with help from available counselling and therapy, she moved past that trauma and was able to return to work)- there was the first-ever containment breach she was a part of

- where one of the patients she and her team were working on suddenly returned to life and sunk its teeth into her coworker’s throat—causing him to bleed out. She and her team members to have to leave him to it, which was the reason for her first promotion and was the incident that made it sink in that she wasn’t working for the government anymore and that the SCP Foundation was much more dangerous than she could have ever prepared for. Sometimes she still has nightmares about that assistant grasping at his neck desperately and trying to claw his way to the door to escape with them, only to be dragged back into the lab by the anomaly-infected corpse and the sound he made, oh god, the sound. Something between a wet rattle and a wheeze as he tried to cry for help despite his open wound.

And there was the lead up to 8699’s neutralization. See, before it’s death, it had requested Ángela visited them in the Foundation’s equivalent of a hospice center in Site 17, and she went. She used her vacation days and headed over, and things were going great! 8699 remembered Ángela and has perked up the moment it recognized her, and they chatted, about her team, the non-classified information about the site, how the flowers looked. The birds were coming home for spring, and things seemed, well, great, despite the ever-present vibe of forthcoming death.

Then something happened- she couldn’t tell you what, but something clicked in 8699, like the gravity of the situation finally dawned on them, and they asked her to get closer. Given their history of non-violence and friendliness, was obliged by Ángela, and they spilled everything they knew about themselves and how they came to be what they were, which took Ángela by surprise and left her shocked. Never before had they lied. They were forthright, almost childishly so, so it seemed so strange. Then they said they had to give her something and began hacking and coughing violently. They seized and sputtered and Ángela, being a smart cookie, tried backing up.

At this point, she was terrified. 8699 wasn’t acting like themselves. They didn’t seem like themselves, they were more erratic, agitated, and she didn’t know if they were going to try and attack her or not. But 8699, despite retching like it was trying to heave it’s organs through its mouth, grabbed her wrist and held her with a strength she couldn’t get out of. At that moment, her entire life flashed before her eyes. It was like every mistake she had ever made fit into one jigsaw puzzle, and she understood that she was going to die here with this SCP she underestimated. But, instead of attacking her, 8699 just produced this group of 6 polished gems and shoved them into her hand before letting go, and Ángie just fell to the ground.

She was in such a state of shock that it wasn’t until the security team put her into a quarantine that she understood what the fuck had even happened. Shortly after that, this apparent attack 8699 entered inactivity for the final time and never returned to an animated state.

Prompt: What is your character’s opinion on the armed guards buzzing around the facility? Are they intimidated by them? Do they enjoy them? Know them by name? Or do they pity them?

Regarding the guards, Ángela has divided emotions. On the one hand, she fears their guns but pities them as people. They’re often so young and unequipped to deal with these situations, promised this exciting, lucrative career, only to be treated as d-class with guns.

She, in equal measures, wants to hug them and tell them to run for the hills and mutter under their breath about their foolishness. But this is more so directed at what she sees in them that reminds her of her. In practice, she’s kind and a bit maternal to many of them - popping her head into the guard breakroom at the beginning of her shifts to say hi, before scampering off to do her thing and always remembering their names and birthdays.

EXCEPT in the case of the guards assigned to her. Those guys, good lord, she hates those guys. They always respond to her breach in progress alarms like five minutes late, they make scathing comments and insults, they think she can’t hear when she works late, take smoke breaks every ten minutes, even though she knows neither smoke. She loathes them, but she would never give them the satisfaction of knowing that, no, she chooses to kill them with kindness as ineffective as that is!

Prompt: What’re your character’s opinions on anomalies? Most notably sentient, however can apply to all. Broad, but here’s something’s to detail: - Are they evil? Are they “out to get us”? - Should they be contained, or let free, or neutralised? Where’s the line between “possible staff”, “must be contained”, and “must be neutralised”? - Should they have the same rights as standard humans? - What’re their opinions on free-roaming passive SCPs, or anomalous personnel? - Where did they come from? Was it a “someone” or “something” that created them all? Do they simply just exist? - Do they believe any SCP-001 proposals? If they do, which? If they don’t, why not?

-Ángela subscribes to the Gears school of thought regarding anomalies, their nature and their inherent maliciousness. In that, she doesn’t believe they’re a part of some ‘conspiracy’ against humanity, some pawn in an unfathomable being’s game of chess, etc. Ángela is of the opinion that they simply are. In the same way, animals simply are. They exist because they exist, and their nature is what it is.

She doesn’t believe that anomalies can choose to be the way they are and feels that expecting them to be different and conform to a human morality, behaviour, or culture is a waste of time applying human morality, behaviour, and culture to them.

- Ángela feels they (the anomalies) should be contained for both the safety of humanity AND the anomaly themselves in equal measure. See, the world is harsh, and humanity can be cruel, and while many anomalies can defend themselves against this fact of life, or at least blend in well enough with civilization to go unnoticed. Many can’t and need the protection, stability, steady supply of sustenance, etc. The facilities provide them.

Regarding the lines of neutralization, containment and staff treatment- it’s hard to say generally, as Ángie feels it should be handled on a case by case basis, which factors in all perspectives about the situation. From risk vs reward, the financial aspect, the human cost, the opinions and desires of the anomaly in question and whether or not it would cause undue suffering in the anomaly.

By and large, though, she thinks a lot more sentient, low-security risk anomalies (i.e. 073) should be given the option to seek a profession within the foundation and be allowed to strive for a semi-normal life with privileges such as forming relationships, having friendships, hanging out, taking sick/lazy days, etc. Because, while they are objects, they’re also people - and their anomaly shouldn’t invalidate their personhood. At least, not as far as she’s concerned.

- This is another case-by-case type of question. For humanoid and or sentient SCPs that have proven themselves to be the most baseline, minimal threat in Foundation Security and Staff safety - then yes. She feels they should be given civil liberties and human rights like any other person in the foundation. For anything beyond that, though? Hard pass. Though they should still be acknowledged as people, they should not be handed rights and liberties - ESPECIALLY In the case of entities that have proven themselves to be manipulative, repeat breachers, violent, etc. It’s playing with fire and, while certainly morally questionable, is a necessary evil.

- Ángela honestly doesn’t care that much. In some cases, it can take her back a bit (like coming into contact with a humanoid pigeon that is at least a head taller than her), but she’ll get used to it. This all being said, though, there are some free-range SCP’s Ángela can’t help but feel nervous in the presence of. She tries to bite back the feeling and deny its existence, but it does exist. Have faith that it does.

- In short, yes. To elaborate, though, Ángela believes every anomaly is made by something. Though whether that thing is another entity, nature itself, the universe, a paradox, rip in space-time, etc. Is all a matter of debate and a case by case basis.

- Ángela has an SCP-001 proposal of her own, and I’ll leave it at that! Haha

#headcanon tbt #~lore~

4 notes · View notes

for-ests · 5 years ago

Text

Lost In Your Light: Peter Parker x Reader (Part 5)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

[ my masterlist ] word count: 4, 349

CHAPTER 5: THE FIRST TIME I SAW YOUR FACE

As soon as Y/N arrived home, she ran into her bedroom and flipped open her laptop.

She had tried her best to remember everything Mrs. Anderson said but most of it had already started to fade away. Genetic... traits... magic?

Frantically typing away, she searched ‘Genetic healing traits’ but nothing on the first or second page had anything to do with that. Feeling slightly discouraged, Y/N tried a different approach. ‘Is it possible to heal someone by touch alone?’

The history bar claimed she had already searched that question before. She bit her lip with worry, and changed it to ‘proof of healing someone by touch alone’

The determined girl hit send and began to scroll through pages and pages worth of seemingly useless information, until one website caught her eye.

Ancient Norse carvings found in Central Norway that depict possible healing rituals

The title itself didn't exactly correlate to the question she was asking, but it was a place to start.

The Asguardians were powerful God-like human beings who most likely had her powers, but amplified to the extreme. It wouldn't be such a surprise if her... mutation... had something to do with them, right?

Her eyes widened. Could this have something to do with another species?

Y/N slumped forward on her desk and sighed. There were endless possibilities. Yet, there was no denying that research on Norse mythology and the Asguardians was a good place to start. And for some odd, indescribable reason, she was drawn towards it.

"Since wars and constant border disputes ravaged the way of life in the early century—Northern Europeans gradually began to gravitate towards spiritual growth. Their lives were filled with blood, killing, and an incredibly short life span. Due to the constant threat if death, early Norwegians highly valued healing and mendification rituals, spending hours and days on the inner channeling of power from the "higher aboves'' believing if they persisted long enough, the Gods would grant the person they were trying to save with new life.

This information is based on the newly excavated rock carvings pictured above, some found outside and inside Stykket. Scandinavian historian experts were able to decipher its meaning.

"New life will come to those that wait." Y/N breathed out the words. She scrolled through countless pictures of the mountainside cave, studying carvings and pictures of the old European rituals.

It didn't make sense, but at the same time, it did. The girl felt drawn to the carvings in the caves and the miraculous tales they told, connected through an invisible bond.

Feeling somewhat excited, Y/N kept digging through articles after articles of related mythology and excavated Northern European ruins.

But after what seemed like hours of searching, one particular name caught her eye.

It was a name that felt holy in itself, and as the words breathed from her lips, she froze.

Eir, the goddess of healing.

"Eir blesses those who are worthy."

After processing the foreign language that had danced across her tongue, Y/N gasped. She had read straight from the picture. She could understand the old Germanic words without reading the translation underneath.

And that's when her hands started to glow. Her eyes widened in fear, unable to control the sudden surge of energy.

Y/N tried to command it to stop, but the senseless light persisted.

She couldn't feel the warmth like she usually could. She couldn't feel it trying to burst from her fingertips. It felt like nothing was there.

Eir.

The name flooded back into Y/N's mind. A cold chill ran down the back of her spine.

Shivering, the girl lunged forward and slammed her laptop shut. She crawled off her bed and paced the room back and forth.

What the hell was going on?

Her mind screamed, but she couldn't express the emotions she was feeling. This revelation was scary, but her heart wasn't even beating fast. She was calm, and unbothered. Could it be possible that she was psyching herself out?

Y/N stared at the magnificent golden light, one that lit up the whole of her bedroom, sparkling against her eyes and the windows that overlooked the city.

Y/N sat back on her bed. Unsure of what to do. The light would fade eventually… right?

She turned her hands over and noticed something that she hadn't noticed before.

Her veins were glowing.

Mrs. Anderson had mentioned it could be a genetic trait...

Y/N always knew she was part Scandinavian, it came from deeply rooted ties on her mother's side. She had celebrated it, especially from the recent emergence of Thor and other mythical beings. But her mother was dead. And that part of Y/N died with her.

Y/N suddenly felt solemn all over again. She didn’t have much communication with her mother's side of the family. She hadn’t spoken a word to any of them since the funeral. A funeral that seemed like ages ago, but also one that was as fresh as yesterday.

Her father was 100% (Y/R), so this power manifesting inside of her was not a trait passed down by his relatives.

Feeling overwhelmed from the lack of valid answers, and desperate to take her mind off the situation at hand, Y/N glanced to the clock. It was midnight.

She sighed heavily. It was time to make her nightly rounds, even though she was incredibly tired and in need of sleep.

At the idea, the glowing ceased.

Furrowing her eyebrows in concern, Y/N was confused if that was a good or a bad sign. Regardless, she quietly zipped up her jacket and slipped into her boots. She had a feeling tonight wouldn't be so action packed. It would be like most nights-- walking aimlessly through the streets and feeling nothing.

Nevertheless, she persisted and managed to sneak past her father's bedroom without him hearing. She was starting to become a pro at sneaking out.

At least it's for a good purpose... not for partying or drinking. If he ever finds out he should be proud of me.

Y/N stepped out into the street, shivering against the brisk winter breeze. Since it was a weeknight, there was not another soul in sight.

Her senses were static. They felt as cold as ever. An uncomfortable contrast from the warming, encouraging surprise she had witnessed before.

The girl almost felt like turning back.

But minutes later, she found herself at the end of the street, heading towards the park.

Why do I come here almost every night? No matter what, I always come back.

Y/N sighed, breath misting into the air. Her eyes drifted to the sky, and what she found was utterly disappointing.The city was so bright that she couldn't see the stars.

Her mood shifted temporarily as a car passed by.

The girl longed to escape the city. She longed to walk through a meadow and sit by a stream. Y/N wanted nothing more than to walk through a forest and inhale the scent of the evergreens. She was starting to grow sick of the constant routine, walking through the bleak concrete streets, shuffling mindlessly through the hallways, sitting at the same park, and longing for something more. Every single day and every single night.

Sitting there like that, made her feel so little... so insignificant... so normal.

And Y/N knew she was far from it.

So why do I have to keep pretending I am?

She held her hands out in front of her and examined them for the hundredth time that day. They looked normal, they felt normal, so why weren't they?

Why was I given this power?

She felt tears welling in her eyes. Y/N didn't know how much longer she could take this.

She was alone. Nobody could help her, nobody could provide an explanation. She had been suffering through the motions her entire life, hoping for something that might never come.

Through her blurred vision, she focused on the lights across the bay. There was nothing special about them, but she had to focus on something. Nothing around here was special.

And as if it couldn’t get any worse, snow began to gradually fall around her. Y/N could see the crystallized snowflakes pattering across the water, she could see them glimmering in the lamplight.

But she stood still, unaware of how much time was passing. She felt numb.

I'm truly alone.

But that's when she heard the snow crunch under someone's feet.

Y/N whipped around.

It was Peter. Or Spider-Man. She felt like she couldn't call him Peter without knowing what he really looked like. A man in a red and blue suit didn't look like a Peter.

The girl just stared at him, unsure of what to say, and unsure if she wanted to stop the questions racing through her mind.

She had gotten too used to them.

"I had a hunch you were going to be around these parts." He finally said. "Though I'm not sure why you're just standing in the snow."

"Nobody needs my help tonight." She whispered, turning back to face the water.

Peter stepped alongside her, and didn't say anything. Y/N was guessing he felt the same way, since the streets were entirely empty.

"So why aren't you in bed?" He asked, trying to spark casual conversation. She couldn't tell what he was looking at from the shelter of his mask, or if he even noticed how distraught her expression was.

"Didn't feel like it." The snowflakes began to catch in Y/N's hair. She frowned, wishing she had brought a hat.

Spider-Man was silent. Regardless if he wanted to console, it was nice to be in his company. His presence instantly repressed her negative thoughts and emotions.

He stepped closer, but not too close. He glanced at her sideways, mask twisting in response with his expression. The girl rolled her eyes, she hated not knowing what he was thinking, or if he was even looking at her.

"Why did you come find me?" Y/N whispered, his proximity causing her heart to skip a beat, even if she was staring directly into black fabric.

Peter shrugged. "I thought you might be in danger..."

"And...?" She questioned, knowing that couldn't be the only reason. His posture was tense and hesitant, a far contrast from the night before. Something was wrong.

Only for a brief moment was he able to hide the truth.

Eyes scanning along the exterior of his suit, Y/N tried to find some sort of injury. She furrowed her eyebrows when she couldn't find anything.

"I was wondering if you could heal me again." He admitted, following her gaze. "But I was serious about the danger part."

The girl almost burst out with laughter, but bit her lip to keep herself from doing so. "Of course I would." She said evenly, though deep inside her nerves were stirring.

Peter said nothing.

"Well?" Y/N started to take off her gloves, shoving them inside her coat pocket. The winter air nipped against her skin, causing her to shiver again.

She looked up to find Spider-Man staring right at her.

"Where is it?" The girl asked. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"It's on my face." He swallowed.

"And that's a problem because?" She chuckled, knowing well enough why he was hesitant.

"Only a few people know who I really am." He said. "I need to be able to trust you."

"You can." Y/N replied quickly. "I have a secret too. You're the only person who knows what I can do."

"I am?" His voice sounded surprised. "How? You walk around the streets with only a hat on."

"I'm still working on that." She looked away in embarrassment. "What happened a few nights ago was the only incident I've been in. I don't go fighting crime like you, I'm quiet about it. I can lie my way out, unlike you."

"Unlike me?"

"That's besides the point." Y/N tittered, realizing she had instinctively moved closer to him. "You're going to need to take your mask off if you want me to help you."

"I-I know."

"There’s nothing to be worried about, I promise." She assured, knowing such a blanket statement was easier said than done. "We're in the same boat. A secret for a secret."

“You’re right.” His breath sounded shaky.

Despite that, Spider-Man slowly reached up and slipped his mask off. He had tossed all doubts aside at her confident promise.

Curly brown locks bounced as they were freed from the silky material, and Y/N's breath hitched when she finally saw the handsome face that was hiding underneath.

"W-wow..." She stammered. He was more attractive than she had anticipated, and frankly, it only caused the crush she had on him to grow stronger.

"What?" He looked confused.

"That looks like it hurts." The girl covered up her moment of reflection. She wouldn’t be caught dead swooning over the very person she needed to partner up with. There was no time for that… there couldn’t be any time for that.

"It does, a lot." Peter agreed. He could barely see out his left eye, his eyelid so swollen that it was starting to force his eye shut completely.

There was also a deep, bloodied gash that ran along his whole cheek and across his nose. His skin was discolored with bruises but she still thought he looked charmingly handsome.

To Y/N, his injuries were a reminder of how selfless he was.

"As you can see I can't go to school looking like this." He whispered. "People would ask too many questions."

Peter could tell Y/N was studying him. He couldn't tell what she was thinking, but he felt her eyes graze over every part of his face.

"Come here." She whispered, holding her hand out. Her voice was gentle and alluring. Peter found himself obeying without a second thought.

Her soft, delicately feminine fingers brushed against the cut on his cheek. They were a warm beacon of light against the harsh waves of wind that swelled around them.

Y/N closed her eyes. The warmth grew intense as she channeled her power to mend the gash. She managed to keep the golden light at bay, but she felt the same surge of energy; one that was almost too hard to control.

The girl’s hidden emotions helped intensify her capabilities. Her fingers ran smoothly along his cheekbone, so smoothly that she felt the scar disappear. Y/N reached over and touched the tender skin along his left eye, taming the natural healing process to follow her own.

Without trying to, she glanced from the injury to his eyes and witnessed her golden light dancing in them. Gazing further, distracted, she noticed they were an enchanting shade of amber brown. Wonder illuminated in them.

Could that wonder be... for her?

Y/N's hands fell to her sides. The injuries were gone.

"Thank you." Peter said.

"It's no problem, really." She shrugged, slipping her gloves back on. In truth, she didn't really need them since her hands never felt cold. Especially after she used her powers. But it was the one thing that still made her feel normal.

It was a barrier against the uncertainty of her future.

Y/N looked back up and met his eyes.

"You know..." She swayed back and forth on her heels, the snowing crunching underneath her weight. "You're handsome. Why do you keep your identity a secret?"

Peter blushed at her partial compliment. "I... um. I don't know. I guess I don't want people to hurt my family and friends. The reason I fight is to protect them, I don't need the fame that may come with it."

"I understand-"

"Why do you keep your power a secret? You could help so many others than just me." Peter continued, a gust of wind blowing his hair to the side. He began to slip his mask back over his face.

"I prefer you with it off." She smiled softly, avoiding the question.

Peter decided to not to pry. He considered the thought she might have a reason to not share her abilities with the world, one that he couldn't understand.

"Well Peter." Y/N said evenly. "I better get going now that nobody needs my help."

"Yeah... Do you have school tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yes. I'm a senior. Are you?"

Peter nodded. There was a moment of silence and she could tell he wanted to say something more.

Y/N waited, her eyes studying him intently. There was so much to look at when it came to Peter. She still couldn't believe she was gracing his face. The girl couldn't help but feel special to know she was one of the few to do so.

"Can I..." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Maybe have your number?"

Y/N stared at him in surprise. She couldn't tell what he wanted it for.

"For when I need you to... you know." He gestured, too embarrassed to admit his actual reasoning.

She grinned as a plausible reason finally clicked through her mind. "And for when I need... you know. Help."

"Precisely." He chuckled, pressing a patch of suit on the side of his leg. A phone slid out on command, and he handed it to her, the contact app already opened.

"Did..." Y/N gasped in astonishment as she typed in her number. "Iron man totally made this suit for you, didn't he?"

"Yeah." He seemed proud. "He did."

They smiled at each other, but Y/N's soon faded. Her contentment was replaced with a solemn expression.

Would this be an appropriate time to ask him for help? If anyone has the connections it's Spider-man.

"Do..." She hesitated, handing him back the cell phone. "Do you think Mr. Stark would have any idea what's wrong with me?"

"Wrong?" His lips parted in confusion. "There's nothing wrong with you, Y/N."

Peter's voice was firm and commanding, and it almost persuaded her to think differently.

"I..." She faltered, stumbling along her words. "You're the only person I've met that has... extraordinary abilities. And we met by chance! It may be stupid, but I feel as if we met... for a reason?" Y/N started to twiddle her thumbs. Admitting her thoughts was embarrassing, especially to a superhero, someone who could actually help her.

His features softened at the sight of her so open and honest. It was almost as if she was unraveling herself for only him to see. It hadn't taken long for him to crack her shell. Perhaps it was because he had trusted Y/N, and she noticed it.

"I feel so alone, Peter. I've been trying to understand my powers, but there's nothing. I need someone to help me-"

"I will help you. All you had to do was ask." He interrupted, knowing she was going to persist trying to convince him of something he already agreed with.

The girl sighed in relief, the words dying in her throat.

"T-thank you... so much." She turned away. "I should get going. I'll... text you or something." She assured, trying to cover up her moment of weakness. Y/N didn't understand why asking for help bothered her so much.

But she needed a change. Though the power was hers, she couldn't do it alone.

"Be safe, Y/N." He called, debating whether or not he should follow her home. The last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt. Talking to Y/N was like a breath of fresh air, and Peter found himself growing particularly fond of her.

She looked over her shoulder one last time. "You too, Peter."

Her parting sentence was simple, yet effective. Peter loved the sound of her voice.

What is this feeling...?

He sighed. It was nothing like the petty little crushes he had for girls at school. This feeling was different, it was stronger; though he had only known her for a couple of days. Peter slipped his mask on as he watched her leave.

She was a mystery he couldn't wait to solve.

As he ran from the park, swinging from rooftop to rooftop, the image of her beautiful smile refused to fade from his memory.

Peter stood at the top of a skyscraper, the sound of harsh winds filling his ears. As he stared out at the city, everything finally seemed to make sense; only for a moment.

He meant what he had said. He would help Y/N in every way he could.

Tag list!

@spn-assemble-seven @eridanuswave @fallisflame @used-avocado @pluckypete @vanillanestor @averyfosterthoughts @wherewecomealive @magicalturmoil @lust-for-pan @keep-bears-wild @selintugmen @undiadeestos @eridanuswave @unknownsolarsystems @ineedabifriend @silver-winter-wolf

#peter parker x reader #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker imagine #peter parker #tom holland x reader

90 notes · View notes

aaluminiumas · 4 years ago

Text

Puppet

M-RATED. TW: BLOODPLAY, GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF VIOLENCE

If you want to read the whole fanfic, don’t hesitate to do it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21384370

Doflamingo, habitually sprawled across his armchair, was enjoying quiet sounds of jazz that seemed to crawl under his skin. Tranquility of the dimly lit room was spreading across his tired muscles, the notes were flowing through his veins: only a few were allowed to enter the chamber, and currently the King of Dress Rosa was relishing his solitude – and power he wielded. He no longer needed to gain authority; now he possessed not only money and influence but also resources of the whole country; after obtaining the position of Shichibukai, he re-confirmed the right to ascend the throne and to rule single-handedly.

But there was something that didn’t go according to his plan: Caesar postponed the development of the weapon due to some unpredictable circumstances, Kaido demanded certain guarantees, and a feeble attempts at rioting sparkled across all over Dress Rosa every once in a while. Of course he squashed such rebellions easily but they got on his nerves even more than anything else: he hated wasting time in vain, and none of his family members would eliminate the insurgents quietly – they were so much into cruel performances.

His thoughts were interrupted by a subtle knock on the door. In a moment, a tall pale woman emerged in the room: her yellow avian eyes looked in front of her but never at the figure on the armchair. Yes, he awaited her: for some vague reason, news from Punk Hazard did not reach Dress Rosa, and Caesar, extremely lazy when it came to writing, ended up sending reports twice a week which clearly was not enough. The only person who could elucidate on the current situation was Monet – discreet, attentive and incredibly smart secretary copying and rectifying long lines of chemical gibberish by day as well as by night.

“Young Master?” came her low indifferent voice which nonetheless contained a hint to her trademark sly smirk. “I received your order.”

Sweeping his eyes over her, he idly shifted in his cushion automatically spotting a thick folder in her arms: Clown never took care of his documents. Gaze casted elsewhere and remained averse to her position. Not out of disrespect or neglect, but because he simply was that comfortable around her. Such was the aura of a debonair, perfectly calm, beguiling.

“Monet…” his deep, pensive calling would hopefully bring her further into the room, seated in the intense shade of closed curtains and oak brown overtones, the King's actual seating was quite the distance from the door. Despite that, he would relay his words to the other with simplicity, being the only two beings within the chamber. "You’ve got something for me?"

“Quite a lot, in fact.” Throughout the years spent at his feet, intent and careful, Monet learnt all the intonations of his: she knew when he was relaxed; by a mere sound she could guess whether he was angry or just irritated; just a word escaping his lips could tell her more about his mood than his gestures — cunning, powerful man, Doflamingo was aware of the ways to deceive those around him by his visible tranquility and taciturnity. But not Monet. “I have reports on Caesar's work as well as Vergo's documents. And… on a side note… Law is in the lab, too. Probably this is something you would like to know, Young Master.”

This must’ve put him on guard: his relaxed hands slid across the armrests, the nails scratched the wood. She expected him to loathe the idea, but she had never seen him to lose him temper in a heartbeat – high time to deflect his attention by the latest scientific achievements made by Clown.

Respectful, Monet hovered over to her Master, gently placing the papers on the tiny table to his left, and pulled out one document. “This is the main weapon Caesar is currently working on. You may be interested in the details, expense and the rest.” she extended her hand — and offered him her trademark sly grin exposing her sharp teeth.

Law?..

Her ruses didn’t go unnoticed: Doflamingo grabbed one of the offered papers but his thoughts rushed back to Flevance – his mind immediately wandered towards the town leveled to the ground in mere hours, to the tragedy that stupefied the rest of the world, to the grave that released only one prisoner – that boy with hollow eyes. Trafalgar, who was taken in with open arms, taught multiple trades to… betrayed the Family. That would’ve been the first time Doflamingo heard of Law’s current location. He was smart to keep away, but an appearance at Clown's Laboratory? It could only spell trouble. Trouble he decided to keep from his immediate expression, rather sulking in the thought of Law's insubordination.

Lanky digits gripping the opposite ends of the paper, withholding it before him, inspecting thoroughly. Along with that simper of hers.

“Hm.” Granted he, dismissing the sheet of paper at his side, where the bulk of the pile lay. Had the Surgeon plagued his mind that easily? Well, possibly. Although, if one were privy to the psyche of Doflamingo, they could expect it not being readily shown on his persona. His plight to stay imposing, an-ever winding road indeed. “What sort of man do you take me for?”

Monet was surprised by the question but didn’t reveal it: when Doflamingo asked, one was expected to answer – this unwritten rule of the Family she had learnt better than others. Sadistic to an extent, she felt no fear at the tortures she was exposed to, but she barely wanted to become the object of those.

“Intelligent and insidious, Young Master.” Her voice didn’t jump up a notch: collected as usual, the woman was standing in front of him, taking in the sight of his tall, muscular figure. Swarthy, derisive, sarcastic complexion; that constant smirk upon his lips. Thin aristocratic fingers always pulling the imaginary strings.

Relaxed manners.

Quick.

“Highly attractive. Powerful. Strong.” Adjectives escaped her lips without a hindrance: she spoke her mind honestly, aware of his attitude to a lie. He could kill her right here, and if he wished so, he wouldn’t waste his precious time. He would shut her up by a single gesture – but nothing happened: she was still standing in front of him, glaring into the hidden eyes of her Master.

Subtly, the middle digit twitched briefly, this in turn manipulating a thread between them; another lax move of the string connected at the evergreen-haired female’s chin – and she rose her head a little. Seeking to reel her in close, preferably on the knees, as comfort would persist. In joint, the Powerful, Strong, Highly Attractive Monarch rose from the seat’s back-support, meeting Monet's face with his. Despite the current turn of the situation, she was far from danger and to put it into perspective, in front of him was simultaneously the most secured and vulnerable one should ever feel. The Harpy did not utter a single sound: even knowing that may be her last evening at the palace, she evinced no fright, albeit any other one would have been shivering at the sight of Doflamingo Donquixote. Calm as ever, unmoving, she kept glaring at the tanned complexion slightly sneering with the corner of her lips.

A heated breath, passing onto her snow-tinted ear. Then came the low crooning of his tone.

“Then why is it, that you only report to me with bad news? Am I not deserving of anything good? Is that what you're trying to tell me?”

....

#one piece #op #doflamingo #donquixote doflamingo #monet #doflamingo x monet

12 notes · View notes

suitofvibraniumarmor · 5 years ago

Text

Boston Boys [Part One]

Summary: Dr. Aurelie Juneau treats someone in the emergency room she shouldn’t, and get a visit from her brother a few days later. Pairing: Chris Evans x OFC, John Krasinski x OFC Word Count: 1700 Chapter Warnings: Hospital setting and treatment, mentions of guns, implied crime. Square Filled: The entire series (bits and pieces of it) will fill my Crossover square for @marvelfluffbingo. A/N: This story contains a character who lost her hearing as she got older. I do work closely and regularly with the D/deaf community (I’m a sign language interpreter), but my own hearing problems do not involve significant hearing loss. It is not my intention to offend anyone, only to bring in a character with a quality I don’t see often in other fics. If you have questions about her, feel free to ask :)

A busy emergency room wasn’t an unusual thing, especially in Boston, but tonight the chaos was weighing down on Aurelie. She pulled the magnet piece of her cochlear implant away from her head in an effort to drown out the sound for a few peaceful seconds. She stretched her neck from side to side, then rested her head in her hands. The near-silence was a welcome reprieve from the things weighing on her mind.

A tap on her shoulder prompted her to replace the magnet against her head and turn to see who was beckoning her. A nurse handed Aurelie a chart.

“The guy in room five is refusing to let anyone examine him or anything until he sees you. Says he’s got a lac, I see blood on his shirt.”

Aurelie frowned. “He seem legit?”

The nurse shrugged. “Seems like any run of the mill guy, middle class, whatever. We called security down, they’re waiting by the room.”

“All right.” She flipped through a few pages of the chart. “I don’t recognize the name, but I’ll check him out.”

She stood from the desk where she had been charting and skimmed over the rest of the chart as she walked. The curtain to room five was pulled closed for privacy, but the sliding doors were still open. Normally such a room would have been reserved for a psych patient or a near-trauma. Aurelie suspected that the nature of this patient’s refusal to speak to anyone but her had something to do with his room placement.

The request for her services was another common occurrence in the emergency room. Though no one, including most of her patients, particularly knew why she did it, Aurelie treated any injury or sickness that came into the ER, and she did so with a discretion that, at times, was outside of the law. Her casual manner about the treatments often went unnoticed by her co-workers, or didn’t bother any of them enough for them to speak up. If you lived in Boston and got tangled up in some mess that got you hurt but you didn’t want the authorities involved, you went to MassGen and asked for Dr. Juneau. That’s just the way it was.

Pulling the curtain to the side, she kept her facial expression neutral, as she would with any patient. She surveyed the man laying on the bed; at least six-two, maybe a buck-eighty in weight. Brown hair, face pale -- from his injury, Aurelie figured. She set the chart on the metal tray and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I’m Dr. Juneau. You asked for me?”

The man nodded. “I’ve heard that you’ll take care of someone and not put anything sketchy on the books.”

Aurelie licked her lips, pulling her bottom lip between her front teeth. She flipped on all of the lights in the room and surveyed the man again; his face was only vaguely familiar. Regardless, she wasn’t going to put herself on radar by causing a scene. So, she stepped out through the curtain again and told security they could go.

“He’s an old family friend, scared of hospitals. I’ll talk to him about it.”

The two guards who had come down from their bubble shrugged and left. Aurelie asked the nurse to give her a few minutes before she came back into the room. She donned a pair of gloves and disappeared back behind the curtain. After hooking him up to a heart monitor and a blood pressure cuff, she checked his temperature and respirations. With all of vitals noted, she took a seat on the rolling stool and asked where his laceration was located.

The man pulled his shirt up to reveal a cut above his left hip bone, pulling around to his abdomen. Aurelie positioned herself on the side of the bed and took a closer look at the cut.

“How’d you get this?”

“Does it matter?”

“Fair enough.” She rolled to the door and asked the nurse to bring a laceration kit. While she waited, Aurelie got a clean washcloth and doused it with sterilized water. She cleaned the dried blood from the area, then sat and waited in silence. When the nurse came with the lac kit, Aurelie sent the chart with her, and got ready to stitch the man up.

“This is gonna sting, but it’s better than taking the stitches raw,” Aurelie assured, injecting lidocaine to several places in and around the cut. She waited a little longer, then poked him with the needle again. When he didn’t even flinch, she knew she could start the stitches. “Do you need a tetanus shot?”

“Don’t think so.”

Other than that, she went to work in silence, quickly and neatly stitching up the cut, making sure the scar would be straight and minimal. The cut was halfway stitched when he spoke again.

“What’s that above your ear?”

Aurelie pursed her lips, completing two more stitches before answering him. “It’s called a cochlear implant. It helps me hear, to a certain degree.”

“You’re deaf?”

“I wasn’t always. Slowly started to lose my hearing as I got older, sometime in high school, it dropped out completely from the left side. Right side is there, but not nearly a hundred percent. They still don’t know why.” She bit her bottom lip as she struggled to knot the stitch she had just completed on. “My turn?”

He frowned. “What?”

“You asked me two questions. Now I get to ask you two questions, right?”

“I guess.”

Aurelie nodded. “Are you from Boston?”

He laughed. “The accent didn’t give it away?”

She smiled. “You needed to lighten up. It was worth wasting a question. What’s your real name?”

“My real name?”

“I know it’s not Boris Schmidt, even if that’s what’s on your chart.”

The man said nothing, and Aurelie knew better than to push the issue. They fell into silence again while Aurelie finished the stitches and bandaged the area. She left for a few minutes to fill out his dismissal papers, then returned to educate him on the aftercare.

“What are you going to put in my chart?”

Aurelie shrugged. “That you came in with a lac to your lower left flank and quadrant, there was no sign of infection or organ disturbance, that I stitched you up and sent you on your way. Nothing more, nothing less.”

He nodded. “Thank you.”

Aurelie snapped her gloves into the trash can and turned back to him. “You’re welcome. Good luck.”

At the curtain, Aurelie thought she caught him say something, but had to turn back around to ask him to repeat.

“John,” he smiled. “My name is John. Krasinski.”

Aurelie’s smile faded. “Krasinski?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed, “it’s a weird one, I know.”

Aurelie nodded. “Do me a favor, John. Don’t tell anyone that I treated you.”

With that, she pulled the curtain closed behind her and went back to her desk to chart and catch up with her other patients.

GIF found via Pinterest search.

Three days later, another hospital shift. Fortunately, this night was not nearly as busy as her last shift. When Aurelie’s pager went off and she saw the code 613, she finished the current orders she was working on, then made way for the parking lot just outside of the emergency room lobby.

Her brother, Chris, was leaned against his car, a classic American muscle number, smoking a cigarette.

“You know this is a hospital, they’ll fine you for smoking outside of the designated area, dumbass.”

Chris turned with a chuckle, tossing the cigarette to the ground and put it out with the toe of his boot. “Better? Here. Your ma packed lunch for you.”

“That was nice of her,” Aurelie replied, taking the brown bag from him. “What’d she pack for you?”

“A nine mil and a wish that I wasn’t so much like my father. The usual.” He opened the driver’s side door of the car and reached in for another bag. “This is from him, by the way.”

Aurelie checked that no one was watching them and shoved the bag back at Chris. “I don’t want that shit, and you know it. I didn’t earn it, neither did you, neither did he. I don’t need it.”

“Aur, listen, all right? Hey, don’t make that damn face. Yeah, we’ve been over this a million times, we’re gonna fuckin’ go over it again. You’re his kid, whether you ever wanted to be or not. Maybe he’s not the dad you were born to, but he’s the one you ended up with. He’s just trying to take care of you.”

“He’s not over what happened. He still thinks my deafness is his fault, and if he pays me off long enough, I’ll come back to the family. Can’t you see that?”

Chris pursed his lips. “Why can’t you stop putting me in the middle of this?”

Aurelie groaned and tucked the extra bag into her white coat. “Fine.”

“All right.” He pulled another cigarette from the pack and held it between his lips but didn’t light it. “You been holdin’ up all right?”

“Yeah, of course. I can hold my own. You made sure of that.” She decided to take a chance and mention her patient from the other night. “Hey, you remember that guy who went to the high school, he was a year ahead of you -- John Krasinski?”

“Fuck that guy,” was Chris’s immediate response. “He and his family could jump into the river and not come back up and I’d keep walking.”

“Tell me how you really feel,” Aurelie snorted. “So that thing with your family and his, that’s still a thing?”

Chris nodded, tossing his cigarette lighter up and down in the palm of his hand. “Hell yeah, it’s still a thing. They’ll learn one day that we run shit, though. What made you think of him?”

“I don’t know. Random thought, I guess.”

The expression on her brother’s face told Aurelie he was going to be watching her carefully over the coming weeks. She thanked him for the food and went back into the hospital, careful to put the bag of money into her backpack before anyone else suspected something was amiss.

AllOfTheThings: @captain-s-rogers @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @hurricanerin @horsesandbandsforlife @im-not-an-armrest-im-short @captain-rogers-beard @shynara51 @sea040561 @anxiouskore @pinknerdpanda @xtina2191 @jackryanplz @beakami @heartsaved @fullprunerebelstatesman @blackwidowismyhomegirl

Boston Boys: @atc74 @the-murder-strut-murdered-me @becs-bunker @shield-agent78 @patzammit @crazyandanonymous4u

#chris evans #john krasinski #crossover #fanfiction #criminal!au #queue and i remember budapest very differently

57 notes · View notes

atlas-of-a-human-soul · 5 years ago

Text

Fix Me (doctor/soulmate AU) {4}

Summary: Getting to know Grayson Dolan and his field of expertise, Y/N finds herself growing closer to Ethan despite her initial reluctance.

Warnings: angst, fluff, SMUT, swearing, drinking, possibly triggering end

Word count: 7000+

Fix Me (doctor/soulmate AU) series Masterlist

A/N - heavily inspired by Grey’s anatomy, my own experiences and thoughts, but also by songs: Birdy - Not about angels, Bear’s den - Fortress, Matthew and the atlas - Out of the darkness, Harry Styles - Falling, Kodaline - Wherever you are, Isak Danielson - Love me Wrong, Dove Cameron - Remember me, Tom Odell - Can’t pretend, The XX - Angels.

I really hope you guys like it! Feedback is always wanted and appreciated, no matter how small or big it is!

If you want to be tagged for future parts, reply down below.

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

Pulchritudinous (adj.) – having incredible physical beauty

Pink. Pink walls, pink scrubs, pink down to her underwear - that's what gynecology felt like to Y/N. Everything and everyone's just so...PINK. And she doesn't have anything against the color, in fact it reminds her of the most beautiful sunsets she's ever seen or the luscious lips she recently kissed, but there is such a thing as too much pink and this was the perfect example of that.

People smile so much she wondered if their faces are stuck like that and while she appreciates the kindness and acceptance they bestowed on any intern joining them, Y/N feels like she's stuck in a cotton candy machine cartoon. Yet she can't blow this.

It is absolutely imperative she does well and convinces Ethan to stop giving Grayson anymore of the interns because she never wants to be back on this ward in her life because the happy-go-people are driving her insane.

"Morning little princess! Had a good night?" Grayson snickers at his own hello and its was the first of many hints he had given her about what he coaxed out of his brother during morning coffee.

"A better night than this morning." She grumbles, looking up at Grayson in suspicion. Maybe he's always so smiley or his hair is always so nicely combed to the side, but something told her his curls are wilder than Ethan's and she got to experience them once upon a time. She nearly had a repeat just the night before and while she wanted to let go and give into Ethan, she stopped herself just in time.

Being around his twin certainly didn’t help her rid of Ethan from her thoughts or memories and no matter how hard she tried to lock the memories of his gentle touch, there was no denying he sunk his claws deep into her and more she tried to fight it, she fell only further.

“Sounds like you had a very interesting evening then.” Grayson quipped, his smile painfully ineradicable and unreadable, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling he could tell there was something between her and Ethan. Would Ethan tell his brother? Would she be comfortable with Grayson being let in on their forbidden kiss?

“You could say that.” She forced a smile before clearing her throat awkwardly.

“So, when am I supposed to be useful around here?” Changing the subject, she quickly glanced at the half empty rooms with lips pressed together, hoping she’d get to pay her dues and be done with it because if there’s one specialty she was sure she wasn’t fit for, it was definitely gynecology.

“There’s only one woman in the maternity ward, she should give birth sometime during the night. Until then, we’ll do a couple of check ups to follow progression of the delivery, mainly to make sure the baby and mama are well. The rest are all here due to risky pregnancies, but I don’t expect anyone to have their baby this week.” Briefing Y/N, Grayson was sure she would roll her eyes or at least make a remark on the slow day ahead, but he was surprised to see her nod along and make a few notes for herself.

“Alright. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to start rounds myself and I can fill you in later?” She smiled and Grayson frowned ever so slightly as if he was lost in his attempt to read her. And he was. People are usually open books and Grayson loves being able to anticipate what they will do or say, but this girl was hard to read and it frustrated him…especially when he wanted more information on how she feels for his brother who is a besotted fool. Aside from her beauty, Grayson found herself wondering why Ethan fell so fast for her because he wasn’t the cloudy, twisty type and Y/N looked like she possessed darkness Grayson couldn’t fathom.

“Doctor Dolan?” After losing patience, Y/N reminded Grayson she was still there and waiting for confirmation and while she could stare at his perfectly symmetrical face all day and admire the way his eyes are hazel in this particular light or his extreme beauty all around, she really wanted to make a good impression and prove she can do more than just surgery and most of all, she wanted to prove to Ethan that she can take orders outside of bed too…when she wants to.

“Oh, yeah. Sure. Page me if there’s trouble.” Grayson instructed with a small smile, rubbing his chin as she walked away from him, leaving him more confused than he had ever been in his entire life and all he could hope for is his own soulmate being easier to understand than Y/N otherwise he’d be in deep shit.

Orphic (adj.) – mysterious and entrancing, beyond ordinary understanding

“How is she doing?” Ethan appeared before Grayson without any warnings in the attendee lounge, nearly scaring him to death as he choked on that sip of coffee he thought of as his saving grace just moments before.

“You can’t just jump people and expect them to be forthcoming”, Grayson coughed once more and Ethan took it as a sign to pat his back…a little too hard for comfort or to earn a proper thank you from his brother, but he did receive a dirty I want to kill you look for his efforts.

“I didn’t jump you, I asked nicely as any brother would. Now, would you be a good brother and tell me you didn’t scare her away?” Ethan insisted, his eyes bright and curious, his hands clasped together before his chest in a tiny prayer of sorts, as if it would ever work considering Grayson’s meddling nature can only be stopped by death and that was certainly not happening any time soon.

“You literally came out of nowhere!” Grayson exclaimed before shaking his head in annoyance only to sit back on the couch and take a deep breath. “She was as enthusiastic as she can get, I supposed. Pretty sure she’s just itching to get this rotation done with so she can finally be back by your side.”

Eyes widening, Ethan’s lips twitched as he fought a smile from appearing because he knows that any time he gets any hope, Y/N disappears and he’s left to lick his wounds. This time, he would take it slow and let her mystery unveil itself on terms she’s comfortable with because whenever he pushes the matter, she runs, but the moment he slows down and patiently lets her know he’s not going anywhere, she opens up and every time he gets insight in all her beauty, he is left entranced. She’s not for feeble minded people, there’s no doubt about it in his mind and if anything, Ethan was more determined to love her because of it. She tested him in every way possible and while it was stressing him out, Ethan wouldn’t give up on her. She’s hard to understand to ordinary minds, but Ethan isn’t ordinary and he was ready to face the challenge.

“You didn’t tell her I told her about the kiss, right?” Deciding to check, just in case Grayson really wanted to anger him, Ethan tilts his head to the left ever so slightly, just enough to make sure Grayson knows there is only one right answer.

“No, but I did tease her with a few hints I’m sure she didn’t pick up on.” Chuckling, Grayson winks at Ethan before leaning in and whispering: “Don’t worry, she said she had a great night.”

“I swear, if she realizes you know I will never tell you anything again.” Cracking his knuckles, Ethan leans on the couch too, resting his head on the back of it with a heavy sigh leaving his lips.

“She won’t! Dude, relax and go with the flow. The connection you two share can’t be erased by anything and she will realize that too. I just hope my soulmate situation ends up being easy peasy lemon squeezy, cause I don’t think I can handle the stress you’re dealing with.” He barely finished the sentence before Ethan cackled, clapping his hands before turning to his brother.

“I hope I’m alive when you meet her because I have a feeling you’re going to be worse than I am.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Grayson’s words only sparked more laughter from Ethan who had tears in his eyes whenever he realized karma is a bitch and Grayson would likely get a woman that will drive him crazy too or he will drive her crazy because as much as he loves his brother, Grayson isn’t an easy man to deal with either.

“I hate you so much.” Grayson’s pager went off just in time and while he had more than enough to say to his brother for psyching him out about his soulmate, Grayson flipped him off and rushed toward his ward because Y/N’s just a newbie and he couldn’t let her deal with emergencies herself even if he wished he could. Grayson loves his job dearly and out of all the specialties he could have chosen, gynecology and neonatology were his first love and that’s why he became a double certified surgeon.

“Where’s the fire?” Still out of breath, he watched the rather calm Y/N with a raised eyebrow and he definitely had to hold himself back from taking his frustrations out on her.

“Just wanted to let you know the patient demanded epidural and I need you to handle it since I’m just an intern and I can’t exactly summon the anesthesiologist myself without your signature.” Finishing the last of the papers she was working on, Y/N looked up at the almost heaving, red in the face, sweaty Grayson who looked like he was about to have a stroke considering the pulsating veins in both his neck and forehead as he kept a tight-lipped smile to pose as a front of calmness and serenity.

“You good?” She asked with a slight frown, wondering if she should page some help in case the giant before he decides to crash on the floor, but he quickly nods, placing his hands on his hips.

“I’ll call them now. Thank you for paging me.” Despite the polite tone used, Y/N could tell Grayson wasn’t quite happy with her but then again, she had to call him before the poor woman’s time frame was closed and she had to endure all the pain of a natural delivery even though it’s her right to ask for medication. Shrugging, she just smiled and went on her break without sparing Grayson a glance, figuring she’d only get a death stare if she dared to look back and she wasn’t in the mood for anyone’s anger.

“Delivered any babies?” Alex asked her as they passed each other in the hall and Y/N had to fake a smile as she realized she’s waiting on one woman to pop while the rest of the interns are all in the OR. Anger of her own bubbled up to the surface as she walked into an on call room, her eyes stinging with tears she absolutely hated. Most people break things when they’re enraged, but she cries. It’s contradictory but that’s exactly who she is – a breathing contradiction of nature.

Querencia (n.) – a place from which one’s strength is drawn, where one feels at home; the place you are your most authentic self

“What’s wrong?”

And there he is again, finding her even when she’s looking for solitude, offering his hand to hold and shoulder to lean on even when she least expects it. The worst thing is that she’s actually becoming dependent on his help and that scares her most of all, because what is she supposed to do when he decides she’s not worth it and goes back to whoever his soulmate is? It’s always going to haunt her – who is his soulmate and what is their story? Why would he be kissing her if he has a soulmate?

“It’s stupid and I didn’t know you were in here. I’ll let you rest.” Mumbling so fast, Y/N stood abruptly, wanting to leave Ethan behind and find a quiet, vacant place to release the pent up emotions and confusion so she could handle faking some perkiness for Grayson for the rest of the day.

Grasping her hand in seconds, Ethan didn’t hesitate to pull her back toward him, refusing to let her walk away when she’s so clearly upset. Their eyes meet in an instant, the closeness forcing them both to hold their breath and look at each other silently. Ethan’s free hand gently moves along her arm, finding its rightful place at the side of her neck, touching her skin so tenderly she felt on cloud nine and it reminded her of that night where he unraveled her, made her scream his name in pleasure she never found before or after than night again. There was no denying it, Y/N had a weakness for his hand on her neck and his words in her heart, neither of which she had any willpower to refuse, especially not when she couldn’t breathe when he looked at her with such longing, shameful lust and indisputable passion. And still, she never felt more at home nor did she feel more herself than in Ethan’s arms.

“It’s not stupid to me. I won’t make fun of you, I promise.” Ethan assures her, speaking first in hope of having her walls break down and he released her hand only to wrap his arm around her waist, bringing her closer than ever, close enough to smell the cherry chopstick on her lips.

“I just miss surgery and everyone’s doing their thing while I’m waiting on one woman having a baby and it’s frustrating. But you’re right, I have to learn to be a team player and to be more patient with you and believe your experience and knowledge that is vast comparing to mine. But I still miss it.” The timid look in her eye made his heart clench so painfully, that Ethan could hardly stop himself from kissing her to relieve the hurt. His soulmate is a willful woman, fierce and independent that it made him feel guilty for seemingly beating it out of her in this particular moment.

“I see you learned the lesson. If it’s worth anything, I miss having you around too.” Ethan smiled, his lips nearly touching upon her soft ones, the proximity playing with his senses and driving his self-control up the wall. There is nothing in the world he wanted more than to kiss her again, but this time around Ethan decided to let her make the move. She is tender, but fierce. To understand a woman like her, one must realize that the former is who she is and the latter is what life demanded of her – a caring heart that has seen too much pain.

“You miss me or you just want a repeat of our night together? Is this emotion or physical attraction?” Wrapping her arms around his neck, she wets her lips in thought and he can’t help but think this is a well-designed trap for him to say the wrong thing and for her to use it as excuse to put distance between them rather than face her own desires and he was almost certain those desires included him.

“Why can’t it be both?” Opting for a rather neutral response, Ethan bites the inside of his lips in anticipation of her pushing him away and storming off, but even as he waits, he feels her hips press closer to him as if she’s telling him he won’t be left alone. Not again.

“Physical attraction is nothing more than chemical reactions in your brain. Can’t trust them. They’re not real.” She quipped, seeing a cocky smile appear on his lips, noticing the tiny wrinkles around his dark eyes as he holds her gaze bravely, unwavering even when she hardens.

“Isn’t the whole universe a chemical reaction?” Ethan raised an eyebrow, holding her captive with just his eyes, as if his arms posed no threat comparing to the power of just a look.

“Do you trust that?” He continued as a tiny bead of sweat formed on his temple.

“The heart we’ve been working on in the OR, this connection we share that makes us unable to walk away? Feels pretty real to me.”

Biting her lower lip, contemplating the right move, Y/N couldn’t fight him on it. Her heart knew he was right for it wouldn’t be screaming at her to kiss her and those butterflies in her stomach felt more like killer bees as the need to feel him inside her had taken over every thought she generated.

One hand caressing his lean cheek, Y/N forgo all rational thought as she slammed her lips against his and Ethan’s own heart leapt inside his chest. In the force of a passionate kiss, he pushed her against the door, remembering to lock it just before he slipped her lab coat off. His burning lips had only been fueled to stay on hers forever, his tongue lining her lips before they part. The kiss deepened; desire and passion palpable as their souls stir, itching to be as one.

Breaking apart just to take their scrubs off, they were sure they broke a record in undressing as they clashed again. Ethan chuckled as she nibbled on his bottom lip, her right palm falling over his chest down to his abs only to stop at his boxers, pulling at the waistband with her own lips spreading into a smile.

Their gazes locked. They were both breathing rapidly, both totally focused. She studied the sight of Ethan’s bare body, his abs on display and his heart visibly beating in his chest, her eyes travelling down to his happy trail and to her reluctant hand that already slipped a few fingers inside his briefs and she pauses not because she’s unsure about wanting this but because for an instant, she is aware of the throbbing in her blood, of the beat that seemed to vibrate about them – something only Ethan could ever make her feel.

“You really sure about this”, but Ethan worried she’s backing out and she had to make sure she felt safe to say no if there was any doubt in her mind about it happening. Little did he know the only doubt she had was tied to becoming a dreaded Grey’s anatomy cliché.

“I followed all the rules. Drew inside the lines. Where did it get me? I’m done being the good girl, Ethan. I want you. ALL of you.”

As his fingers passed the point between her breasts, and moved lower, she drew in a shuddering breath. And closed her eyes. “Please.”

Ethan heard the tremor in her voice, his lips following as they tremble before attaching to her neck, palm sliding possessively around her hip, fingers sinking into soft flesh as he drew her to him. He took her lips, her mouth—a second later, he felt the shudder that passed through her, her achingly sweet surrender.

He felt her fingers at his nape as they slid into his hair. Her lips are soft, pliant, eager to appease and he feasted, on them, on her mouth, on the warmth she so freely offered him, no struggle and no stress. She pressed herself closer to him as he slid his hand down her back, to stroke, then cup her bottom, growling possessively as she giggles, breaking up their kiss into a few quicker pecks.

“You’re driving me crazy.” Ethan manages to whisper, smiling as her giggles make his worries subside, casting all fear aside as he rests his forehead on hers, walking her back to the lower bunk and while he didn’t expect their second time to be in an on call room on a bunk-bed, he realizes it’s not the place or circumstance but the person he gets to hold close to him.

“Good. That’s the goal.” She mumbles as he unclasps her pink bra with one hand, helping her take it off before his fingers grasp the pink panties and rip them on the sides as if she won’t need them for later.

“Pink, huh?” He kinks his eyebrow as that smirk of his reappears and she can’t help but roll her eyes at him.

“Your fault. Gynecology, remember?”

He caught her hand and towed her the few steps to the bed. He sat, then took her other hand too, and pulled her to stand between his knees. She watched, her breathing ragged, as he took in her body fully for the first time. The first time they barely took time to look at one another, missing those birthmarks and scars life had left on their skin as a road map to what they’ve survived. This time he had no intention on missing anything, including the scars she had from her surgery or any other intervention her body suffered.

Ethan drew a shuddering breath and reached for her. His burning palms sliding over her back, urging her forward, broke the spell that had held Y/N. On a gasp, she let him pull her near, grasping his shoulders to steady herself. He looked up, the invitation in his eyes very clear, one she took in an instant as she bent her head and kissed him, longingly, openly, giving all she had to give.

She was his and she knew it. There was no reason she couldn't indulge him, and herself, in this way. No reason she couldn't let her body say what she struggled to say in words.

After a long, lengthy, satisfying kiss, his lips slid from hers to trace the curve of her throat, to feel the blood pulsing just under her skin. Y/N tipped her head back to give him better access; her fingers sinking into his shoulders as his tighten on her hips as he takes full advantage. He held her steady as his lips drift lower, over her breasts. Struggling to breathe, she murmurs appreciatively when his lips press more firmly to her breasts, her murmur ending on a gasp as his teeth grazed one nipple before taking it into his mouth, and she felt herself melt down to her bones. One of her hands convulsively clutches his hair as he adores her breasts, teasing her, pushing her to her limits, soothing one moment, then tantalizing the next, easing her back one minute, then whipping her to an excruciating peak of pleasure he delays.

“I need you.” She whispered in shaky breath, but he didn't answer. Instead, he trailed lingering hot kisses down her quivering belly. And into the soft curls at its base. As it came, a kiss so intimate she could barely cope with the shattering sensation. He followed it with more, not ruthless but relentless, not forceful but insistent. Ethan smiled up at her, teasingly as he watched her struggle to keep herself standing before allowing his tongue slide between his lips first and then between hers. His tongue slid lazily across the sensitive bud, making her bite her tongue to hold in a moan that would surely alert the nurses to knock on the door and he wanted to tell her to let it out, to allow him the mercy of hearing her beautiful moans once again but even he knew it wouldn’t be sensible.

She clutched closer to him, and lost any hope of pretending the truth was not real, that she wouldn't be his, be anything he wished. He filled his palms with her, cupped her and supported her, held her steady as he tasted her. Explored her with his tongue, teased and tantalized her until she found herself almost sobbing.

“Is this not real?” Reminding her of the argument she made before, Ethan had a licked his lips clean of her, watching her admit to the truth in her dire need.

“It is. The most real thing I’ve ever felt so don’t you dare stop.” She instructed, still bossing him around even though he is in charge and they both knew it. But he gave in, pushing his briefs down only to pull her onto his lap, her knees onto the mattress, sliding along on either side of his hips. He knew her body was ready, yearning to be as one, to feel him inside once more.

“Good. Now promise me you won’t pretend this didn’t happen.” He plays dirty because when he’s doing it by the book, Y/N is always there to remind him she doesn’t follow rules. This time, he’d make sure she did.

“I won’t. I promise.”

As her thighs slid past his hips, he grasped hers pulled her down. He sank into her and saw her eyes close, lids falling as her breath left her in a soft, long-drawn sigh. Her body stretched, her softness accommodating his hardness. He wanted to close his eyes too but he feared missing a single second of her beauty. Then she shifted, pressing deeper, to take more of him, to fill herself completely. For one fractured second, he thought he'd lose his mind. He certainly feared losing all control.

He lifted her, then lowered her and she quickly caught the rhythm, realizing she could move herself. He eased his hold on her hips, let her have the illusion of setting the pace when in reality, he never let go, but counted every stroke, gauged the depth of every easy penetration. After all, in a way, she was still a virgin and he the one with experience.

It’s timeless, without restraint, their bodies joined as she buried her face in the crook of his neck, her nails digging into his back as her breathing is heavier and her moans are harder to muffle. He gave her that - unalloyed sensual joy, pleasured delight beyond description under his subtle guidance, she gasped, swayed and panted as he filled her, thrilled her, pleasured her to oblivion. He gave her all, and more, he gave her himself. And as he neared his end, Ethan finally lost control – pulling her onto the mattress, laying himself atop as he pushed deeper, faster, forcing her to bite into his shoulder as her toes curled, eyes rolled back and tears fell from her eyes from the pleasure. However, in the last moment, Ethan pulled out, pumping himself till the finish until he came on her stomach.

“I’m so sorry.” He whisper shouted, reaching for the panties he ripped off her, cleaning her stomach in a slight panic as if she cared at all.

“You should be. Why didn’t you finish inside?” She challenged with a lazy smile and genuine confusion. “It’s not like I can get pregnant, Grant.” She chuckled, using the name she always reverts to eventually, especially when they get close and they certainly got close this time. But it also reminds him she’s completely unaware they’re soulmates and that she could in fact get pregnant with him.

Swallowing thickly, he fakes a smile before tossing the panties back on the floor, satisfied she was no longer covered in sperm though he wouldn’t mind it one bit if they were home and she had a proper change of clothes and a shower.

“I forgot.” Ethan lies through his teeth as he looks at her messy hair and smiles. “You look beautiful.” Complimenting her, he leans in to press a kiss on her lips, allowing her a taste of herself inadvertently.

“I look like I had sex and the only reason why I look beautiful to you is because I had it with you.” She chuckles, shaking her head as she moves to her side to let him take up more room as he’s bigger than she is.

“You always look beautiful.” Ethan retorts, his hand pushing back her hair and while he intended to be sweeter and cuddle, her pager went off and ruined the magic.

“Damn it.” She grumbled as she scrambled to get dressed, hating the one paging her with burning passion. After all the time she had denied herself the pleasure of Ethan’s company, her pager is the one that ends it prematurely.

“Great, now I have no underwear.” She exclaimed, sending Ethan a quick glare he responded to with a low chuckle and a striking smile.

“That’s hot. I’ll make sure to stop by and give your ass a nice little tap if it gets too breezy.”

Rolling her eyes at him, she managed to hook her bra before looking at the incessant pager with a disgruntled scowl, trying hard to hide her trembling legs as her body is clearly unfit to function just yet.

“Tie your hair to hide the sex hair.” Ethan adds in good measure only to get her frown and scowl directed at himself and if looks could kill, he’d be a dead man. Raising his hands in mock surrender, Ethan struggled to keep a chuckle in. “Or don’t. I’m not ashamed of what we did here.”

“Think your brother might feel differently. He’s the one who cut this short.” Sticking her tongue out, she put on her scrubs and coat, adjusting the stethoscope before rushing toward the door, her hands already working on creating a bun to hide the ‘sex hair’ as Ethan put it.

Falling back on the mattress, Ethan exhaled loudly, rubbing his hands over his face in disbelief. It felt like a dream, as if they were in their own world – a bubble no one was allowed inside, until Grayson ruined it.

“You’re so gonna pay, Gray.”

Mirifical (adj.) – wondrous, amazing,

“You’re slow, Y/L/N!” Grayson reprimanded her as she rushed into the delivery room, freshly gowned to make sure there isn’t a way for any infection to put the mother at risk.

“I was on a lunch break. Why are we doing a C section?!” Y/N frowned, quickly putting on sterile gloves with the help of a nurse, her mask attached by another as she didn’t expect it to be a surgical procedure.

“Baby’s stuck, now come over here and let me show you what gynecology is made of.” Grayson raised his voice ever so slightly, but the mask muffled the sound enough for it to seem like he’s still talking in a calm fashion.

Y/N stood beside him, following his instructions carefully, stealing a few glances his way. Even with sweat rolling off his forehead and worry lines etched into his flawless skin, half his face covered under a mask, Grayson looks absolutely breathtaking and it didn’t stem from any physical beauty but the sheer power of will and fire his eyes held, something she recognized in Ethan as well. In that moment she found admiration for the younger Dolan, and even for the pink scrubs he sports with pride.

“Wanna do the honors?” Grayson interrupted her thoughts, beckoning her to be the one to finish the section that lasted exactly 3 minutes and she couldn’t help but smile and take him up on the offer, finishing the vital part of the surgery and to everyone’s relief, the baby cried instantly.

Grayson cut the cord immediately, but Y/N was frozen in time. Holding this little baby, a tiny miracle in her hands as it wailed simply for being taken away from its mother, knowing she brought this life into the world – it swelled her heart and softened her immensely. She had no idea that this day would end with a baby in her arms, one she was forced to hand over to the nurses to wash and clean and do the proper vaccination and prophylaxis and all the necessary blood tests so it would be ready for the mother when she wakes.

“You good, Y/L/N?” Grayson questions, aware the birth had hit her hard, perhaps harder than he anticipated and it worried him. It’s the first time she could tell Grayson Dolan isn’t smiling or being his happy self.

“Yes, just never held a baby let alone one just born.” She shrugged it off, swallowing thickly as she wondered if she’d ever have one of her own. If she stays with Ethan against all odds, they would never be able to conceive like soulmates do and while she never saw herself as someone eager to have children, the thought alone had nearly broken her.

Yet, she returned to Ethan that night, to the same bed she lost her virginity in and she didn’t stop on one night, nor did she ever plan on stopping at all. Ethan had become a drug of choice she wasn’t sure she’d ever be rid of, even if he asked her to. And as weeks passed and months followed, Ethan and Y/N had been careful enough to hide their liaisons from prying eyes.

Y/N experienced all specialties, every surgical OR and every possible teacher but no one could substitute Ethan nor Grayson for that matter. The week she spent on his ward turned out to be quite an adventure and when he asked for help again, she wasn’t opposed to it either. And while she got closer to Ethan, she was close enough to talk to Grayson as well, close enough to ask the questions she feared to ask Ethan because the answers might be far from what she wants to hear.

"Do you feel your soulmate?" She asked softly, worried Grayson might find her question too personal but he just nods, a faint smile playing on his lips. After the long day they had, this talk coming after midnight wasn’t such a surprise.

"I've always felt my soulmate." Biting his lip, he saw the slightest of smiles finally break through the cold surface she put on and he quite liked the way that small gesture lit up her face so perfectly.

"It's like having two hearts, isn't it? Like you have two hearts in your chest, beating, calling out for you and while you feel it, it isn't really there. Yet it pulls you in different directions, tears you up inside. And I've always felt that maybe the pain comes from the other person. Maybe we feel their emotions as well?" Swallowing thickly, she dropped her gaze to her feet, feeling guilty over her overwhelming, undeniable desire for Grant when her possible soulmate felt so torn and maybe they are looking for her while she's getting involved with someone else.

"I don't know how people ignore that feeling. How do you?" Looking back at Grayson, she saw his smile erased and his shoulders slack. This is the second time she saw Grayson Dolan serious without his usual smile on display.

"I'm not ignoring it, I just feel my soulmate is doing her thing. It's a girl, that much I feel is real. And I believe that once she's done, she will find me and it won't be planned and it won't include me chasing a ghost around the world. It will be as it is meant to be. Perhaps she's not ready to meet me? Or she's trying to figure out who she is and how to love herself before she can love me completely. Either way, I'll wait ‘till she's ready because she felt when my soul came to this world and I know she feels me every day. I can wait. I will wait." Grayson shrugged, a sad smile back on his face but it's a smile nonetheless.

"It's refreshing to be around someone as honest as you. You always seem like sunshine, the guy who is always happy positive and spreads that emotions to all who come in contact. You seem warm, like the guy who never gives up on people."

"I'm not the sunshine brother." Grayson stops her, his smile wider as he scratches his chin. "You got it all wrong, princess. Ethan is and always has been the sunshine between the two of us. What you described matches his personality and only some of mine. You'll see that in time." But she did know it in a way. Ethan had always been her warmth, her own sunlight she basked in and she was completely drunk on him. Grayson is more of an ocean – calm and peaceful but can become turbulent and temperamental in an instant.

"You know, don't you?" She couldn’t deny it, not after the initial hints he made and even less after he had caught her leaving Ethan’s apartment last week.

"I'm his twin. I know everything."

And with a shrug, she nodded in acknowledgement, fully aware that her secret is no longer a secret and she still found herself at Ethan’s place that night.

She shuddered, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip ruthlessly as Ethan’s breath caressed her skin. It felt so right, too right to resist his advances. She lived for those nights with Ethan, those thick with lust and romance and wine and naked kisses. It wasn’t meant to be anything but friends with benefits, at least for her, so imagine her shock when Ethan’s heart spoke instead of his mind just as the two were coming down from their high.

“I love you.”

Y/N’s heart stopped as she sat up, grumbling sheets before her naked chest to hide what he knew better than she did. The words were enough to drive her mad, but what truly scared her is that what was between them is now spoken.

“But you have a soulmate and so do I. That’s not possible.” She managed to say as her teeth chattered, oddly enough she wasn’t cold yet her entire body shook with Ethan’s confession.

“I know and I want to explain.” He tried, desperately reaching for her but she wasn’t ready to hear it. He knew it when she pulled away and started looking for her clothes all while hiding her body from his sight. He had to calm her down, but there was no saving the night.

“Nope. I’m leaving and you need to figure out your shit or this is over.” She continued, managing to put on some clothes while Ethan ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He grabbed his own clothes as quickly as possible, running after her in fear of losing her – something he never got over. But it took him five minutes to catch up, only to find her standing on a bridge.

“Loving the wrong person is like self-harm.” She whispered, more to herself than him as she stared ahead at the river, aware he’s there without even looking his way. She wasn’t going to jump, but she thought about it. She thought about what would happen if she made that one little step and fell to her death. Would he miss her? Would he grieve for her? Or would he move on with another and forget about her miserable existence? She wondered if Ethan would be better off without her and maybe, just maybe she is a disappointment to him. He never talks about his soulmate yet she feels there’s something he hides about her that is there to hold them back, to stop her from fully admitting her feelings for him.

“You really think I’m the wrong person? That I’m killing you? Because you’re killing me! When all is said and done, you will destroy me and I’ll ask for more.” Ethan shouts, his heart torn to pieces as it’s been ever since he met her and he knew he was saying the truth – she would be the death of him.

“Maybe it’s you know needs to sort her shit out because I have nothing to sort out. I told you I love you and you basically told me I’m an idiot and left. If I’m not enough than be honest and say it but don’t think of me as a fool.” And this time, for the first time, it is Ethan who is walking away.

Little did he know that come next day, he would be hating and regretting his choice.

“You look like you didn’t sleep much.” Grayson notes, noticing the dark shadows under her eyes that matched his brother’s far too much to ignore and neither of them were happy nor shy about it, so it wasn’t hard to realize a fight broke out and the two didn’t part on best terms.

“Thanks for noticing, Captain Obvious.” Sassing back without even looking at him? That felt more like the old Y/N – the one too confused and too afraid to go after what she wanted which differed greatly from the woman she’d become ever since her secret relationship with Ethan began.

“Ouch. I just wanted to offer a sympathetic ear.”

Blaring alarm interrupts their chat, the sliding door closing shut on their own and while Y/N would usually ignore it, she couldn’t help the fear that crept up and formed a cage around her heart.

“What just happened?” She grabbed Grayson’s forearm inadvertently, still staring at the door and the sudden quick pace everyone had taken, feeling a growing lump inside her throat as all the pagers went off. Taking a quick look, Grayson paled.

“Code Silver? What the fuck is Code Silver?” Y/N’s voice trembled as she pulled on Grayson’s coat but he was quick to pull her close to his body and push her in the nearest room.

Fighting his strong grip that would surely leave a bruise, her panic only grew as Grayson’s heavy breathing started to alert her even more. And whether she liked it or not, she wished she could be stuck with the other Dolan twin – the one that is calm and collected and always knows what to do as if his middle name is Google, not Grant. She already missed the safety of his arms and even more so, hated herself for not staying in his bed and convincing him to take a day off.

“Let me go! Grayson! What the fuck is going on?!”

He gestured for her to get down and put his hand over her mouth to quiet her before they’re both silence otherwise.

“There’s a shooter in the hospital.”

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

Tags: @beinscorpio @peacedolantwins @heyits-claire @dolandolll @godlydolans @dolanstwintuesday @ethanhes @iwastornsincethestart @graydolan12 @fxkthatdairy @zeusgrayson @libradolan @justordinaryjen @pineappledolan @graysavant @voguekristens @imayoutubere @livexdolan @shadowsndaisies @maybgrayson @dolans4lyfe @mendesficsxbombay

Anyone crossed out wasn’t able to be tagged, probably an issue on Tumblr’s side, sorry.

#dolan twins #grayson dolan #ethan dolan #ethan dolan x reader #ethan dolan fanfic #ethan dolan x you #ethan dolan au #ethan dolan fanfiction #ethan dolan fic #ethan dolan fluff #ethan dolan smut #ethan dolan angst #ethan dolan doctor soulmate au #ethan dolan doctor au #ethan dolan soulmate au

62 notes · View notes

goldleafacrossyourlips · 5 years ago

Text

Uneasy Lies the Head - CAOS - Dark Lord/OC - Chapter 9

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

Chapter 9 - Honeysuckle and Soaks

If someone would have told Samara a year ago that she’d lose her magick, regain it by eating a Mandrake’s heart and learn that she was destined to be the Dark Lord’s Queen, she would’ve laughed herself sick and then sent that person to have their psyche checked. Yet, there she was, following her cousins and their friends, leaving behind the quickly decaying body of her Mandrake after having heard the prophecy was in motion. Samara nearly scoffed to herself about how unbelievable it all was but when had Spellmans ever lived through normalcy. Still, all this was insane!

She could feel it though. Or rather, she supposed Him. Lightning still struck above but it was nothing compared to the electricity she could feel buzzing through the air. It seemed even the Earth knew what was happening. The Dark Lord had surfaced. She could tell. The way the world seemed to slow and tremble. The critters they passed in the forest were hiding and not because strangers were walking near their homes, but rather they could feel the power that had just emerged.

“Aunt Hilda.” Sabrina called out as the group finally reached the Spellman house. Samara was the last to enter the kitchen, bringing up the rear of them. She was too busy reassuring her Shadows that she was okay, as well as sensing the changes the Earth was going through with the Dark Lord now walking upon it.

“And where have you been all night?” Aunt Zelda’s voice was sharp. Samara looked up and greedily took in the sight of her hard-headed Aunt. Perhaps she could help her make sense of all of this. She was relieved to see her, after hearing that she’d been placed under a housewife spell. The knowledge of that just made Samara hate Blackwood even more.

“Aunt Zelda.” Sabrina continued to march towards their Aunts. Aunt Hilda was sitting down, concern written across her face. Aunt Zelda as always was puffing away at a cigarette, her nerves clear to see.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on, Sabrina? The trouble we’re in?” Aunt Zelda stressed, leaning towards the group. Samara weaved around the group until she was sitting across from Aunt Hilda and served herself some tea. She shot a soft grin towards her Aunts. Yet she was ignored as Sabrina continued to speak.

“Aunt Hilda, Aunt Zelda, listen to me for one second.” Their Aunt’s heads tilted towards Sabrina, showing their willingness to listen. Samara stirred in the sugar to her tea, snagging a sweet from Aunt Hilda’s plate. Not like she’d notice.

“Ms. Wardwell manipulated us into fulfilling a prophecy. One that’s meant to bring about the end of the world.” Sabrina’s words were quickly delivered and breathless. Samara nearly chuckled at her Aunt Zelda’s eye roll but resolved not to from the tension in the air. “Because of us, the Dark Lord has assumed His original form and is somewhere in Greendale. And the Gates of Hell are going to open, releasing the hordes of Hell.”

“Sorry, all this is--This is all happening now?” Aunt Hilda’s shaky question filled the silence, her eyes wide and mouth hanging. Samara peered at her over the rim of her teacup as she took a sip.

“Now or very soon.” Sabrina’s tone was very stressed. Samara leaned back and let Sabrina and the others fill her Aunt’s in on what was going on. Now that she had her magick back, she didn’t really care what was going on. She wanted answers of course, but her cousin’s panic wasn’t a priority to her at the moment. Honestly, she was still quite peeved off about the whole Mandrake business.

“According to the prophecy I found, His plan is to enslave the tribes of human and witch-kind, and to rule over everything with His demon army.” Nick revealed, stepping to Sabrina’s side. Samara could practically feel the shock and worry radiating from her Aunties, like storm clouds.

“There’s more. Sabrina created a Mandrake that’s absorbed her witch powers. Which created a Mandrake of Samara that absorbed her powers as well.” Ambrose butted in. Samara almost huffed at her cousins not noticing that she was well and fully powered. Still she remained silent, a deeper part of her enjoying the chaos that was rolling through the room.

“All of them?” Aunt Hilda’s voice barely hid her despair.

“And that’s not even the worst of it.” Sabrina continued to hammer on. Her Aunts were instantly groaning.

“What’s worse than you being mortal?” Aunt Zelda spat. Samara hummed. She knew out of the entire family, Aunt Zelda would be the worst one to react to Sabrina’s newfound mortality. Sabrina remained tightlipped for a moment but before she could respond, Ambrose spoke for her.

“She is to be the Sword of the Dark Lord and enact His will. And Samara…..” Ambrose trailed off. The room’s attention shifted to the girl in mention. Samara had her teacup raised to her lips and was taking a sip. She peered at her Aunt’s as she did so.

“And Samara what?” Aunt Zelda spat out, her hands and jaw clenched. Samara delicately set her teacup down.

“And apparently I am to rule by His side, as Queen. Oh, and I’m not mortal. I bit the heart out of my Mandrake and gained my powers back. So all good on that front.” She said lightly in opposition to how her Aunts reacted.

“How? Wh- Over my dead body. You’re both too young.” Samara felt like a cat that was being brushed the wrong way. Spikes trickled up her spine at her Aunt Zelda’s words.

“You’ll stand against the Dark Lord then, Auntie.” Ambrose’s voice was hopeful. Samara’s fists turned knuckle white on top of the table.

“To defend my nieces? Certainly. Family comes first. And the Dark Lord is not without His aversions.” Aunt Zelda’s words rang with newfound determination.

“Iron Spikes.”

“Onions.” Aunt Hilda supplied, staring at Samara from across the table. Samara kept her eyes downcast, her teacup rattling softly from where it sat in it’s saucer. She shouldn’t be this upset with her family attempting to protect her. But their words against the Dark Lord filled her with rage. Why?

Distantly she heard as her Aunt Zelda continued to bark orders on how to protect the house, but her mind was miles away. Why was she so angry with her family? Why did the thought of staying separate from the Dark Lord send a pang through her chest? In an even more private place in her head she asked the question she was most concerned with. Why did the thought of being His Queen appeal to her so much? She wanted answers. And she wanted them now.

“Samara?” A hand covered her still tightly furled fist. She forced it to relax and took a deep breath as she looked up into the concerned faces of her Aunts.

“I know this is scary, but we aren’t going to let Him have you two. Don’t be afraid, my love.” Aunt Hilda assured her, squeezing the hand she held. Aunt Zelda hummed in agreement. Samara felt a frown curl on her face.

“But I’m not scared. That’s the thing. I’m confused. I have so many questions. And I want the answers, now.” Samara said, her Shadows flickered in the corners of her vision. Her Aunt's casted looks at her full of pity. Samara felt irritation lick up her spine. She looked away from them and screwed her eyes closed.

“What’s even worse is that, a part of me. A rather large part of me, wants him, that, something. I don’t know! All I know is, is that the thought of staying apart from him hurts. I have to figure out what’s going on. I don’t know who I have to talk to but I need to talk to someone with answers. You know as well as I that you can put up as much iron as you want, he’s still going to come. And I want answers by the time he gets here. Excuse me as I make a few calls to some of my clients.” Samara ground out before shoving away from the table and stalked up to her room. Her Aunts were frozen where they were, shocked by her outburst.

Samara threw herself down into the seat of her vanity. The sight that met her in the mirror shocked her. She was a mess. Her hair was a frizzy heap, no doubt due to the electricity in the air that night. Her clothes were disheveled and she had streaks of dirt painting her exposed skin. She heaved a sign, resting her elbows on the vanity edge and setting her head in her hands. She had a bad feeling that this was going to end in a mess.

Peering up at her reflection once more, Samara made the decision to clean up before trying to find answers through mirror scrying her clients. Besides, a bath could help her mind kickstart into gear. She turned away from the mirror and walked to the bathroom.

She stared at the clawfoot bathtub that waited in the center of the room before shrugging her shoulders and snapped her fingers. Instantly the tub was filled with steaming hot water. At least her amped up powers were good for something.

She turned away from the tub and began to shed her soiled clothing. Finally bare to the room, she turned back to the bath only to freeze. Where once, still, clear water filled it, now petals of honeysuckle covered the surface of the water. She slowly approached the water and peered into it. Seeing nothing nefarious hiding in the water, she dipped a finger into the hot water. After a minute of nothing happening she hummed and decided to take her chances.

As she sank into the scorching water, a deep moan escaped her. Her tense muscles relaxed as she leaned back against the wall of the tub. The pleasant scent of the flowers surrounded her and caused her to feel even more boneless. This was exactly what she needed after the events she’d had since she’d arrived at her former home. Sure, she’d taken brisk showers and baths, but it’d been a while since she’d really soaked for the pleasure of relaxing.

She ran a finger over the top of the water, creating a break in the petals. Her mind, before seeming so frantic and spiralling, was now almost sluggish from the euphoria she was experiencing. She leaned her head back against the rim of the tub and her eyes slipped closed.

At this point, there were two main points of actions she could take. She could either stand with her family. Help them play keep away from the Dark Lord. Help prevent the Apocalypse and find a way to send the Dark Lord back to Hell. Or. She could accept the prophecy as it was. Help the Dark Lord bring Hell on Earth. Rule over the humans and witches. And stand by His side as Queen.

She really did love her family. They’d taken her in when she had nobody. But there had to be a reason that she was chosen to become His Queen. She was sure that was a decision not made lightly. Samara decided to not make a choice just yet, not until she knew more.

Her eyes blinked open as a chill wracked her, not from the water cooling; which with her powers she was keeping it at a nice skin melting temperature. No, the chill was from a familiar presence rushing through her. It didn’t linger though. It shuddered through her from head to toe before departing. She looked around the room and found nothing out of place before she realized the honeysuckle petals were gone and now red tulips were in their place. She hummed as she pinched a petal between her fingers and lifted it to her eye level. She placed it against her lips and inhaled, a small smile gracing her lips at the scent and softness before she dropped it back to the water.

39 notes · View notes

cruecifymesixx · 5 years ago

Text

Love and Leather /part Sixxty Eight/

Word Count:10.9k

A/N: continuation from 67! Enjoy! Feedback is always appreciated

Warnings: language, extreme angst, intense therapy sessions, SMUT(bear with me. I haven't wrote smut in a hot minute)

Taglist: @brideofdraculana , @xstarryeyesx , @aryssav , @miserablecunt , @dangerous-like-a-loaded-pistol , @fandomshit6000, @anntheboneless,, @venus-calum, @justjodeye, @hi-my-name-is-riley, @extremesadnerding, @thatbandchick39, @awkwrdcait, @countrygirlswonderland @awesomealmostdopestudent, @romanticvengeance , @tashy-bear, @krazykatkay456, @terror-triplet, @shouttatthedevill @beachystars, @rodriguez025, @kickstart-myheart-sixx, @s-outhie, @anxious-diabetic, @awkwardblackgirls, @rockersbox, @brooklyn-antiques, @shamelessobsessions, @jerseytaint, @lilytalebi, @criminalyetminimal, @motley-queen, @trapt-in-a-dream, @lunamadhatter99, @broke-n-bitchy, @thanks2pete, @slowandangry, @lovesick-heart0, @keepcalm-and-beyou, @miriampraez, @teenwolflover28, @lilyhw1, @motherloovebone, @random-internet-user-4471, @falcon-arrows, @talranocchia2001, @wheresmyvodkabitch, @waywardprincess666, @iluvmesomemarvelndc @zoenicoles, @vamprlestat, @supersoldierballerina, @primal-screamer @electradestiny, @marshbev, @n0-sh0rtage-0f-faults, @cruebaby, @ggorehorror, @valentines-in-london, @miss2001babe, @nassauartist @cmft-jr-winchester, @bokkie92, @notworthyofyou1120 @xrosegoldwolfx, @lauravic, @mgkobsessed, @chaoticvybe, @thoughtsoftheantagonist @marvelismylifffe, @sleepyjunhong @lovemythsworld @sparxx27 @gingerspicetalks @unknownoblivion @siliwanoel @nevergoodenuffbutokaaayyy @sublimeprincesswasteland @kylieinwonderland @haileynicoleseavey17 @lavendersoundbarrier @ijustwanttokiss70srogertaylor @kellysimagines @meetthesixxter, @duffshairdye, @xpoisonousrosesx, @m0rnlngstar, @cranberrirolls, @oskea93, @love-struck-aries, @idumpyourgrass, @minxtruck, @i-want-to-shoot-myself, @cruesixxlover1991, @arianareirg, @fentitrbl, @dogmom2014, @sinningsixx, @motleycrueprincess

*Nikki's POV*

"Nikki, Vanity is in the hospital. She doesnt want you here but im not taking Arianna to the hospital because I dont waknow what kind of condition Van is in. So, I need you to be here for your daughter, or are you actually the asshole I think you are?"

I stared down at the desk, trying to Process waht was going on, "Nikki? Did you hear me?" My stomach was twisting into knots as my heart felt like it was stuck in a vise grip.

"The hospital? Is-is she okay?" I breathed out the words. You know when you have those moments where it feels as if all time is standing still and you are the only person in the univer? Thats how i was feeling.

"I dont know Nikki! All i know is Arianna wasnt picked up from school. I found her waitin ginside when I left. I tried calling Vanity but she didnt answer and I had a voicemail from the hospital saying she was there and im her only emergency contact she has."

I reached for my water, dowing it until the bottle was empty, "Uh...uh...it's gonna take me hours to get there regardless..."

Clementine scoffed, "Unbelievable, do you not fucking hear me? Vanity is in the hospital!! The mother of your child and so called loved of your life needed medical attention!"

"It's gonna take me hours to get there..." I repeated.

"I don't give a shit Nikki. You have the fancy jet, use it."

I shook my head, "Look, im the last person Vanity wants to see right now. Can't you just send Ari to one of her friends or something.? Can't someone else watch her while you go to the hospital? Clementine, I'm across the country..."

She laughed, "As if I would send her to stay with Jason. I'm her only friend here, Nikki."

I felt my bood boil and my body become tense, "Ja-Jason? She's talking to Jason?" My jaw was clenched as I galred at the doorway, seeing Brandi scowling against it.

"Well Nikki, if you had kept your promise Jason wouldnt be an option." I closed my eyes, breathing through my nose as I shook my head, "He's not a fucking option!!" I yelled back in defense, "He aint even a fucking blimp."

"Are you coming or not? Arianna has already been so upset and stressed out lately. I don't want her to be upset even more. Trust me, Vanity feels the same way."

I glared at Brandi, "Just give me a few hours." I watched as she threw her arms up and shook her head.

"You fucked up this time. I mean it. You can ignore Vanity, but you dont lie to your kid."

"I know! I know! I just...look I'll explain everything whenI get there, alright?" I retorted as I hung up the phone and looked at Brandi, "You! It's all your fucking fault!"

Brandi was appalled, "Me? I did nothing! You were the one who didnt call and kept saying you were too busy! Don't put that on me!"

"I did nothing." I mocked her voice, walking past her and to my bedroom, "As if you didn't fuckin use coke and your body to make stay with you."

I shook my head, quickly grabbing garments from the closet and throwing them on my bed, "Filled my head with bullshit!" I shouted as I threw the duffle bag on the bed next.

Brandi laughed, "Oh come on Nikki. You know who you really want."

I shook my head, trying to rid my ears of her nasaly voice, "Yeah, now I do! Now that I know my daughter has been crying over me and that Vanity is in the hospital! It takes her getting hurt to make me realize it!" I screamed, watching her flich at the loudness, "It always takes Vanity getting hurt to make me fucking realize how much of an asshole I am!!"

God, I fucking hope she's okay.

"Oh my god, she's probably being dramatic! Nikki, please don't go. I just got you back, stay here with me. Please baby?"

"Why?! So you can keep ruining my fucking life? So you can keep going on the lavish trips and shopping sprees?! Fuck you and fuck off! I'm done. If I get back and your shit is still here, I'm burning this fucking house to the ground with you and your shit in it!" I threatened, grabbing my bag and then my car keys right after.

"I'm serious, Brandi. I am done. I'm signing the papers and giving them back to the lawyers."

*A few hours later*

I got out of the rental car, slamming the door as I parked outside Vanit's apartment building. I went inside, repeatedly pushing the elevator button until it opened,. I stood in the elevator, pushing my hair out of my face as I tried collecting my thoughts. I had called Clementine on the plane and she said she was at Vans house waiting for me. I couldn't wait to see Arianna.

The door slid open on her floor as I speed walked down the hallway before I was face to face with her front door. I knocked and waited until it opened.

"Took you long enough." Clementine answered, a bitchy glare on her face as I sighed, "I'm sorry, okay! I am sorry!" I said, almost out of breath as I looked at her.

"I am not the one you need to apolgize too." She snapped at me as my eyes glanced over to Arianna who was staring at me from across the living room.

"Pumpkin.." I got down on one knee, smiling at her, "I've missed you."I frowned when she completely ignored me and walked straight to Clementine.

"I want Mommy." She whsipered, pulling on Clem's hand and looking up at her.

"I'm gonna go get her babe, okay?" I tried reassuring her, but all i got in return was mean glare.

Clementine smirked as I straightened back up, "Good luck, hope you come back in one piece."

*Vanity's POV*

I glared at the wall, sitting uncomfortable as ever with my arm in a sling, dried blood around my nose and six stitches on my forehead. My glare then went to the nurse who entered my hospital room. "Can I just fucking get something for pain?! I'm dying here!!" I yelled at her, they've ignored my requests three fucking times!!

"Hello! Are you fucking stupid or something?!" I groaned, pushing the bed side table towards the nurse as she was standing at the counter.

"And something other then god damn ice chips?!" I shouted grabbing the pink plastic cup and throwing it out into the hallway.

The nurse turned towards me, "Ma'am, you need to behave. r I will get psych down here to take you to thier side of the hospital. You understand me?" She berated me like a fucking child as I looked away from her and out the window, "I will work on getting you something to drink. Buut I cannot give you any medications." I rolle dmy eyes, pulling my arm away from her touch as she tried to wrap the blood pressure cuff around my bicep.

"Do you have any recollection of what you have put into your system? cocaine and diamorphine were all found in your blood system."

"What the actual fuck is diamorphine?" I qustioned her, rubbing my temples as I felt myself becoming irritated even more.

"Plus, when you came in your blood alcohol contenet was at a point one five and thats three times the legal limit in the state of New York." I looked at the banana bag I was hooked up too, "Diamorhpine is heroin, Vanity."

"Jason..." I mentally cursed him out, "I don't do heroin." I told her as she looked at me with the same look she probably gives other druggies taht tell her the same exact thing.

"Well, we did have difficulty setting up an IV, your veins are shot in both your arms. Luckily, we were able to get the veins in your hands to cooperate or we would have had to do a pick line straight to your heart."

I shook my head, "I don't do heroin. The blow was probably mixed with the heroin. I wouldn't willingly touch heroin. I didn't- I wouldn't."

"You are very lucky the car accident wasn't your fault, but the police will be in touch with you later to get your statement. May I take your vitals now?" The nurse, whose name tag read Margie questioned as I nodded.

"Statement? I don't rember anything. When can I go home? I have a daughter-" I gasped, "I have... i have to call Clementine!" I tried getting out bed but the nused pushed me back gently by my other shoulder.

"Our charge nurse has already conta ted her, now please, relax. I'm sure your child is fine." I took some deep breaths as I relaxed into the stiff bed, "Now, since youre awake and coherent, you dislocated your shoulder and you have a concussion so no blood thinner or it could make it worse. You had a minor laceration on your forehead but the doctor took care of it."

"Sorry to interrupt you Margie, but your patients husband is here." Another female nurse stated.

"I don't have a husband." I told them and right on queue, the blood pressure monitor started beeping eratticaly when I saw Nikki.

"Get out!! I don't want him here!!" I picked up a cup of jello, chucking it as hard as I could at him but he ended up catching it in his hands.

"I thought you said you were her husband?"

"I'd rather fucking kill myself than be married to him!"I shouted at the nurse, her eyes widening at my statement.

"Margie, should I call psych?"

Nikki put the cup of lime green jello on the counter, taking hesitant steps towards me, "I am just here to take you home. Clem called me and I just flew on the jet all the way here. She's with Arianna, she didn't want her to worry."

"You're her ride home?" Nikki nodded, "No! I'm not going anywher with this psycho!" I motioned to Nikki as he frowned.

"Doll, please?"

I pointed my finger at him, "Don't do that to me, Nikki! Don't look at me like that and don't talk to me like that!"

He rolled his eyes, completely ignoring me as he started talking with the nurse, "Can i have her discharge papers, please? She'll be safe with me. She's just a little uh...pissed off at me at the moment. It's nothing new." Nikki tried to laugh as I glared at him and as the jurses looked a bit weary.

"Do you have another ride, Vanity?"

I exhaled in a defeated manenr, "No. I don't."

"Why don't you step outside with our charge nurse while wehelp her get dressed an situated with the sling." Margie explained to Nikki, motioning to the door as he nodded and stepped out.

I pulled up my jeans after they handed them to me followed by my booths. The nurses helped me put my shirt on, with minimal complaints from me about my shoulder hurtinbefore hanging my jacket off my shoulders.

"Van, look, I don't want to be here-"

"You should want to be here, Nikki!" I shouted at him in the middle of the hospital, feeling other doctors and nurses look at us.

"Stop it! Just let me finish! I meant here, in the hospital with you! Clem called and here I am! So i'll take you home and just fucking go back to California if thats's what you want, alright!?" Nikki raised his voice as I stared at him in disbelief.

I vocally let out a "Ugh!" before pushing him to the side, "I can't stand you!"

"Yeah, just keep it coming Vanity. Tell me how much you hate me!" Nikki followed with heavy footsteps as we evenutally made it outside of the hospital, "Fuckin telll me Van! Tell me how horrible I am and how much of an asshole I am! Let's get it out of the way now princess!"

I quickly turned around, shoving him with my free arm repeatedly, "Where were you?!" I yelled, "You bastard! I can't fucking believe you would do this!" I shoved his chest again, forcing him to lean back into the wall as I continued to do so, "i'm so fucking sorry wer're such a bruden to you and your wife!"

"She's not my wife! I was busy!" He defended himself as I shoved him again, "Vanity, knock it off!"

"Busy with what Nikki?! Tommy's been here so don't even tell me it's the band and I highly doubt divorce papers take three months to sign!"

"She tried getting me to stay and-"

"Tried?! Nikki, you did stay! You chose her over me, not even me but your fucking daughter!" I shoved him again, but this time he grabbed my arm and forced it to my side.

"Calm down, now!" He lowered his head, shouting in my face as I fought his grip, "She's getting her shit out while im here! My marriage to her is over! Alright?! Stop acting like a fucking bat out of hell!"

I forced my wrist away from his grasp, "Just take me to my daughter."

"I'm sorry, Vanity. I really am."

I rolled my eyes, opening up his car door before sitting down, "Fucking save it Nikki. You're always sorry."

When we arrived at my apartment door, I unlocked it and tried slamming it in Nikk's face but he stopped it from closing.

"Mommy!" I sighed, trying to keep my tears in check as I picked up Arianna and gave her a hug.

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry. Mom got into a little trouble and she had to go see the doctors, but im okay now." I smothered her cheeks in kisses, "Pizza and cookies? Wow! Did you tell Auntie Clem thank you?"

Arianna giggled, "We made them for you! And we saved some pizza. Auntie said you would be grumpy and hungry when you got home." I smiled, silently thanking Clementine.

"Boo boo?" Arianna frowned as she pulled on the swing a bit.

I nodded and brushed my finger over her cheek, "Yeah angel, a really big boo boo but i'll be better in no time." I smiled as she kissed my cheek. I saw her then look over my shoulder as I sighed and put her down on the floor, "You should go say hi to daddy while he's here..."

Arianna glared at him before she loooked up at me, "I saw him already."

"Nikki took a few steps before crouching down to her height, "I've missed you princess." He smiled at her and fixed a loose strand of her hair, "Dad's been busy.." Arianna wasn't buying his bullshit either as she walked away from him and went to play with the scattered toys in the living room.

Nikki, the six foot and buck seventy five man that he is, got on his hands and knees and crawled over to her, "You got new toys? Those are pretty cool."

"I want to play by myself." Arianna told him, moving all of her toys away from Nikki and putting them in front of her.

I felt Clementines glaring at me, "I am fine."

"Oh really now?" She laughed a bit, "What the hell even happened Vanity?"

I motioned her to come over to the table and sit down with me so our conversation would be out of earshot from both Nikki and Arianna.

"You cannot get mad, alright? But I maybe snorted a bit too much and drank a little, or a lot. I don't remember crashing, and I sure as hell don't remember getting to the hospital-" I laughed, "And get this, heroin was mixed in with the blow I got from Jason. Isn't that hilarious?"

"Vanity..."

"No worries! It's all good!" I reassured Clementine with a pat on the arm, "I'm fine, I mean kinda. My shoulders dislocated and I have a concussion. They flushed my system, I'm good! I'm great!" I shrugged it off like it was nothing as Clem wore an upset look on her face.

She took off her glasses, rubbing her temples before she looked at me, "Good/" Good until Jason gives you more drugs?"

"I'm not. I'm done. I finished off what he had gave me, I told myself that's all I would do. I'm sorry clem."

She scoffed, "Sorry?" Vanity, you could've been seriously injured or worse. You're wasting money on this crap!" Clementine raised her voice just a tad.

"Well, so what if I am? It's not like I'm broke or poor." i retorted, glancing over and seeing Nikki attempt to get into Arianna's good graces.

"Nice, real nice Vanity." I looked back at Clem, seeign her stone cold glare.

"What?!" I gave her a confused expression, "That was not a shot at you if that's what you are thinking. You're not broke or poor. Your paintings sell and I give you money for being her babysitter."

"I said I wanna play alone!!" We both turned our heads when Arianna had yelled at Nikki, "Give me my dolly!" She yelled again, snatching it out of his hands.

"Princess, I am sorry I've been gone." Nikki spoke with hurt in his voice as he stared at her in shock before he glanced at me for guidance.

"Arianna, c'mon. You can't just ignore me." Nikki smiled before ticking her sides.

I watched as she pushed his hands away from her, "Go away."

"She's as stubborn as you are." Clementine mumbled to me as I nodded.

"I don't want to play with you." Arianna muttered as she moved away from Nikki completely, taking her toys with her but he only followed after her.

"Daddy just has stuff to take care of in California, ya know?" Nikki spoke softly as he laid on his side and tinkered with one of her toys.

"Go back to 'fornia!"

Nikki sighed, narrowing his eyes at her, "Arianna, do not yell at me."

"You lied! Mommy said you lied!"

Remind me to stop gossiping with Clementine while Arianna is within the same vicinity.

Nikki side eyed me before turning his attention back to her, “Babe, I-I didn’t lie. I told you I’d be back and I’m here now.”

“You stutter!”

“Arianna, I didn’t lie to you! Stop yelling at me!” Nikki raised his voice, not necessarily yelling at her but he was stern.

“Liar!” Arianna shouted, throwing her doll at Nikki’s face before she ran down the hallway to her bedroom. I heard her attempt to slam her door but since little tiny fingers and door jams don’t mix well, I had put foam at the top of the wooden frame.

Nikki mumbled as he got off the floor, “Just like your mother.”

“I think maybe you should go…” I told him as his eyes darted over to me.

Nikki shook his head, “I flew all the way out here. She can be stubborn all she damn well pleases, but I’m not leaving.”

“Then you should have called. Kids aren’t stupid.”

I closed my eyes, wishing Clementine had not put her two cents in as I felt Nikki’s anger rise even more.

“Stay the fuck out of it! It isn’t any of your god damn business!” He snapped at her quickly as she rolled her eyes before she stood up and started grabbing her things.

“Clem..” I spoke softly as I watched her shake her head, probably plotting how to murder Nikki and get away with it.

“Not a single fucking thank you for making sure your kid doesn’t know you like to come home high and pass out. That she doesn’t know how much of a fucking asshole her father is.”

I glared at Nikki as he rolled his eyes at me and went to sit down on the couch, “Clementine, I’m sorry. But thank you for making sure Arianna is always safe. I love you?”

She sighed, glancing at me as she looked back at Nikki, “I love you too…just call if you need me okay? Maybe take your mutt to go get neutered, he likes pissing on everything.”

I tried to keep my laughter in, “Bye Clementine, Thank you.”

I closed the door, turning around and leaning against it as Nikki stood in the middle of my living room.

“Can we please talk now? Just you and me.” I watched as he fiddled with his thumbs as I went to the fridge and grabbed my bottle of wine and glass from the cupboard.

“I don’t think you should be drinking if you…” Nikki stopped talking as he was met with my death glare. I sat down on the couch as he sat down next to me.

“You were gone for months, Nikki. You didn’t even call! You barely called at first and then it just stopped. How is that suppose to make me feel? To make your daughter feel?” I expressed my grievances as I poured the sweet red into the glass.

“Vanity, I’m sorry.” He placed his hand on my knee, “I fucked up. I really fucked up. She…Brandi gave me coke and it had me going for a minute. I was an idiot.”

“Blow? She gave you blow? I introduced you to your fucking child and you just run back to la la land because of some fucking dust? Prioritize what’s important to you, Nikki!”

Nikki shook his head, “I thought…I just thought maybe you didn’t really want me back, that it was all just a one time thing.”

That alone sent a knife straight through my heart, “A one time thing?” I stared at him, “After the night we spent together before you left, you really thought that was a one time thing? I wouldn’t of said the things I said if it was just a one time thing.”

“Babe, I was just…she fucking cornered me and it was a moment of weakness.”

I laughed in his face, “More like a moment of stupidity. Let me guess, she offered a few lines to you with her mouth wrapped around your dick again?”

Nikki took the glass of wine out of my hand before pulling me towards him, “I am sorry, okay? I messed up. I listened to the wrong person. I made a horrible mistake. I promise darling, I’m not going anywhere. I’m done leaving. I should have never went back there to begin with, should’ve made the lawyers fly out here.”

I felt his hand wrap around mine as his thumb brushed over my bruised knuckles, “How do I know that Nikki? That you just won’t leave again? That I won’t have to think of some bullshit reason to tell Ari why you aren’t here.”

“Because I’m not going anywhere Van, I swear to god I’m not leaving again. I’m not leaving unless you and her come back home with me. Brandi’s gone, princess. It’s done. She used coke because she knows it’s one of my weaknesses right after you.”

“Why does she have such a hold on you Nikki? I saw the pictures in the magazine. You two looked so happy.” I felt my chest get heavy as tears started building up.

Nikki kissed the back of my palm, “Those pictures were a bunch of lies doll, you have to believe me Vanity. I had to stay at a hotel for a few days after cause I felt so…so fake and wrong. I just wanted to hide and disappear from the world.”

Nikki wiped my cheek with a finger, “Why didn’t you come back to me right after that? You could’ve came here Nikki.”

I saw tears in his hazel eyes, “I-I was scared. Scared that the weeks I spent here with you and her was too good to be true. That all of this was happening again. It’s us Vanity, when are the cards ever in our favor?”

“We have some pretty shitty cards dealt for us, huh?” I laugh as I wipe his tears from the corner of his eye, “Please stop hurting me.” I begged him as I cupped his jaw, feeling the muscle relax underneath, “I’d wait forever for you, Sixx. I’m stupid for doing it, but I would do it in every universe.”

Nikki frowned, “I know. I know. I won’t, I promise. Please…please don’t take me out of yours and her lives. I want to be apart of it.”

“Nikki, that’s all based on your behavior. Not mine.”

He nodded, “Okay, fine. Where…where can I start? What do you want me to do.” He was acting like an attentive puppy waiting for his next treat.

“Can you get Arianna ready for bed?”

Nikki laughed, “How hard could that even be?”

*Nikki’s POV*

I had chased Arianna round the house for the past hour, even tripping and almost falling over rugs and her toys that were every where. I chased Arianna into her room as she laughed her ass off. No, this wasn’t a fun game of chase.

“Arianna, time for bed. Now!” I grabbed her as she started laughing more. I carried her to her bedroom before pulling down her blankets and putting her in bed.

“You aren’t the boss of me!” She said, kicking the blankets off and attempting to get out of bed. I’d be willing to let her but it was already nine at night.

I lightly pressed on her shoulders, putting her Back down, “Arianna, do you want me to use my mean voice? Bed, now. Or you won’t like it when you don’t get any cookies or TV tomorrow.”

Her big brown eyes turned to saucers, “You’re being a poo poo head!” She shouted, tugging the blanket away from my hand.

“Yeah, and you’re being a brat. Go to sleep.” I realized that was too harsh when her bottom lip quivered.

“You’re being mean!” She pouted as she grabbed her stuffed animal and turned on her side and faced the wall.

“Goodnight angel.” I muttered before turning off her ceiling light and plugging in her night light, “Or demon.” I whispered as I stepped out of her room and closed the door.

I walked into the kitchen, seeing Vanity downing some whiskey. She had just taken her pain pills not even thirty minutes ago, “Maybe you need help. Rehab or something.” I told her softly as she shook her head and put the bottle back in the fridge

“Van, you got into a car accident. We’re lucky this wasn’t another Razzle incident….” I trailed off as she stared at me in disbelief.

“Nik, it was just a fluke accident. Plus, the person in front of me was driving like an idiot. I’m fine.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Fluke accident? Vanity, I ended up dying and coming back. If I had someone tell me then I wouldn’t have gone through all that. And you especially wouldn’t have had to find me in my closet after.”

Vanity rolled her eyes, “Literally everyone did tell you to slow down…”

“And did I listen? No, I was too late and I was lucky to come back from it. Don’t you get it doll?”

She huffed and puffed, “You’re being dramatic. I’m not going to die. I don’t over do it like you. Jason just had a bad batch that was mixed with…” I waited for her to say it, “He gave me blow that was mixed with smack.”

”Oh, speedballs. Next thing you know you’ll be freebasing.” I retorted as she let out a gasp, “I would never do that! Listening to you and reading those journals you had were scary.”

I chuckled, “Scary? Well, seems like you’ll be looking for something more intense soon enough. It’d be a shame to make Arianna go through what you went through with me.”

Vanity shook her head, “I would never go out looking for something stronger and I would never do that to Arianna.” She defended herself as this argument was now becoming amusing to me.

“That’s what I said too. You know, you act as if I was never a drug addict. She’s not gonna be able to tell you to stop, she’s a kid Van. I had to watch my mom do this shit.”

She glared at me, “Because I’m not an addict like you Nikki. I’m not hiding in closets and I never do this stuff around her. Yeah, Jason comes over but we don’t do drugs here.”

I shook my head, “A guy you shouldn’t even be associating with in the first place! He’s bad fucking news, Van.”

“What are you? My fucking dad?” Vanity snapped quickly as we stared at one another.

“Fine, do whatever the hell you want. I’m gonna go find a hotel and I’ll be back in the morning.” I grabbed my jacket off the chair as I walked past her, “Goodnight V.” I spat out hastily as I opened up the front door.

I felt her hand wrap around my wrist as I hung my head down low and exhaled, “What? We’re just pissing each other off. You’re on edge because you were forced to detox at the hospital and not thinking rationally. You really want to argue more, Vanity?”

She shook her head as her hand moved to mine, holding it tightly, “I want you to stay with me, please?”

My eyes met hers, seeing the pain and vulnerability in them, “I’ll relax, okay? I’m fine. I just want you to stay with us. You’ve been gone way to long.”

She pulled me inside, walking backwards as she played with the rings on my fingers, “You relax too. I can tell you’re upset.”

I pulled my hand away from her, “Van, why do you think I’m upset? Clementine called me saying you were in the hospital? Do you even have a clue what I thought was wrong? That maybe Arianna would be without a mother and I wouldn’t have you anymore? Do you know how terrifying that is for me? You’ve been the only constant, besides the band in my life. You’re all I have Vanity…and I already had to experience life without you and I don’t want to do it again.” I sat down on the couch as she sat down next to me, her back resting against the arm as she looked at me.

“I’m fine Nikki.” I shook my head, “No you are not. You aren’t fine and you haven’t been fine for a while. Is this…is this because of me? You doing this to yourself. The drugs? The drinking? Hanging around Jason?”

Vanity played with the ends of her hair, picking off dry blood as she looked at me, “I don’t know…” I rested my hand on her knee, brushing my thumb across her skin, “It’s…it’s not because of you. It’s because of the hurt and the pain you cause. I’m high and I don’t think or feel it. It numbs it..”

I laid my head against the back of the couch, “Have you gone to your therapist lately? If you don’t want to go to rehab then you need to be going to therapy.”

“No, I haven’t.” She mumbled as I groaned.

“Vanity, you need too! I’ll make an appointment for you.” I looked at her, seeing her staring down at her nails until I put my hand under her chin to make her look at me, “I think you need to come back home. You live where there’s a dealer around every corner and back alley. You’ll never get clean here.”

Her eyebrows tightened together, “I’m not leaving New York.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want too!” She quietly shouted, “Arianna was born here, this is all she’s known, Nikki.” She expressed her concerns as I listened.

“I understand that, but don’t you think she’d love to see the ocean? Be near me instead of only flying out when I can? She’s a kid Van, she can adjust. I think it’s only you who doesn’t want to come back home.” Vanity looked away from me, wiping her cheeks as I kissed the top of her knee before resting my chin against it.

“Then I’ll fly her out to see you or something. There’s an ocean here too, ya know? You moved around so many times as a kid and look what it did to you. I don’t want that for her.”

“I’m move here, then.”

Her lips parted, “You can’t move here. Everything for you is in Los Angeles, the band, the music. Not New York Nikki, no. I won’t let you do that.”

“Fuck the band, Vanity! I have enough money to not need the band for a while. I want you and I want our daughter, nothing else. I want you.” I told her as she wiped her tears away again and looked at me, “I want you the only way I know you. I want you to be okay again, to be a good mom and to be my best friend. If you don’t want to be my girl just yet, fine. Arianna can just take your place.”

Vanity broke out into a beautiful smile, “The only girl that’s ever allowed to to take my place.” She rested her hand against my jaw, thumb grazing over my cheek, “I still love you Nikki.”

“I still love you more.”

I let out a sigh, I guess we'll save the coming back home argument for another day.

*A few days later, Vanity’s POV*

“Mommy..” I opened up my eyes, glancing over at the clock and saw that it was seven in the morning, “Daddy’s making breakfast and I don’t want to eat it.”

I chuckled, sitting up carefully and resting my shoulder against the pillow, “And whys that?”

She shrugged, “Cause he’s a poo poo head and he’s being mean to me.”

I stared at her, brushing her messy hair out of her face “Quit calling him that Ari. You know, you’re probably hurting his feelings. He said he was sorry, you’re being stubborn like me.”

“I am not stu-stubborn!” She defended herself as she crossed her arms over her chest and gave me the stink eye.

I grabbed her and put her off to the side as I got out of bed, “Let’s go get ready for school and then you’re eating whatever your dad made.” Arianna crawled out of my bed as she started running to her room, “Am not!!” I followed her and went to her closet to pick out an outfit.

“Get dressed and I’ll do your hair after you eat breakfast.” I repeated myself, “No!!!” I chuckled as her tiny hands pushed me out of her bedroom.

I walked down the hallway and into the kitchen seeing Chef Sixx attempting to flip pancakes, “Ow! Fucking piece of shit!” He shouted as the bacon popped oil onto him as he turned it.

“Need some help?” I asked him as he turned around to look at me, laughing as he did so

“Ha! Yeah right! I’m not letting you anywhere near this until it’s done. I’m not eating burnt bacon or doughy pancakes.” He continued to laugh as he started cracking eggs in a bowl before whisking them.

“I’ve learned to cook.” I mumbled as I sat down on the barstool, Nikki handing me a cup of coffee right after.

“Two sugars and a lot of creamer, right?” He questioned a smile on his face as he held up the spatula. I nodded and took a sip.

“How was the couch?” My lips tugged in a crooked smile as he had an unamused expression on his face.

“It was fine. Would prefer to keep your bed warm. But…it was fine.” Nikki exasperated, “I had Arianna’s fairy blanket to keep me warm since you didn’t give me a blanket or a pillow.”

I looked at Nikki, taking another sip of coffee “You didn’t ask for anything last night. So how am I suppose to know?”

Nikki scoffed as he turned towards the stove and continued cooking, “Keep it up and you won’t get any of this.”

I shook my head, “Not hungry anyways.” I smiled when Arianna came out into the kitchen, glaring at Nikki as she climbed up on the barstool next to me.

“Well too bad, you’re gonna eat. You’re too skinny still.” Nikki stares as he put a plate of mini blueberry pancakes, eggs and bacon in front of Arianna.

“Am not.” I told him as I watched Arianna push the plate away from her, “Are too. Your ass is getting smaller.”

Jeez, thanks asshole. As if I can’t see the weight loss when I look in the mirror.

I bit down on the inside of my cheek, “Eat your breakfast Ari so we can finish getting ready.”

She stuck her nose up, turning her head away, “I’m not eating that. It’s gross.”

I sighed, “How would you know that? You haven’t even taken a bite yet. Eat, now.”

“It’s gross cause he made it.” She spoke in a matter of fact type of tone, sticking her tongue out at Nikki, “Can I have cereal? I don’t want it.”

Nikki put a plate in front of me, “Look, I’ll eat mine if you eat yours.” I took a bite of the pancakes, moaning as they were good, “Holy crap.” I started shoveling them into my mouth. We’re they that good? Probably not. But I can’t remember the last time I ate something sufficient.

“Can I have yours?” I looked at Ari as she tried reaching for my bacon until I handed it to her, “Babe, you’re eating the same thing as me.” I chuckled as she took her own little pink fork and took a bite from my pancakes.

“I’m gonna go freshen up.” Nikki muttered as he tried smiling at Arianna who still returned a mean little glare towards him. He frowned before leaving the kitchen.

“You know…you can’t be mad at him forever.” I told Arianna as she started eating off her own plate.

“Yes I can.” She stared at me, “…not nice.” She said, mouth full of sugary syrup and pancakes as I shook my head.

“Daddy’s nice and you know it. You’re not being nice to him, calling daddy mean names and not talking to him. He loves you Ari and he’s sorry for what he did.”

“Fine. No more poo poo head.” She giggled before she continued eating. I kissed her forehead before hopping off the chair. I walked down the hallway, yawing as I headed to my bedroom to straighten up and get dressed for the day.

After the morning routine was over and Arianna was ready for the day, she wanted her hair braided with one of her pink bows at the end of it. I slipped on a pair of shoes and slipped a jacket over my shoulders, wincing at the discomfort of putting my arm back in the sling.

“You could ask for help..” Nikki said, watching me struggle before coming over and helping anyways.

“Thanks.” I muttered, “Ari, you ready to go?” I asked her as she climbed off the couch and grabbed her backpack.

Arianna looked up at me and Nikki, “Will you walk me to my class?” She asked Nikki as he smiled at her before patting the top of her head, “Of course I will.”

When we arrived at her school a little while later, Arianna gave me a big kiss goodbye handing her a pink lunchbox right after, “I’ll pick you up later, okay?” I told her as she nodded and grabbed Nikki’s hand, tugging him towards the doors. I got back in the car, sitting down as I listened to the radio.

I glanced over seeing Nikki’s wallet was dropped on the floorboard. I reached down and grabbed it. I looked towards the doors and chuckled to myself. His wallet was stuffed full of cash. He’s such a hypocrite sometimes. He use to give me crap for always carrying around a lot of loose bills. I looked through his credit cards, he’s gotten two new ones that were a nice shiny black. I smiled at his goofy identification card, seeing him try to force a half assed smile. Nikki also had a guitar pick tucked inside the folds. A piece of paper was sticking out, but I realized it wasn’t a paper it was a picture. A picture of me and Arianna that Nikki had took when we spent the day at the boardwalk.

Through the tinted windows, I saw him coming back outside as I quickly stuffed the picture back in and tossed his wallet onto the seat, “Oh there it is. Thought I forgot it at your place.” Nikki grinned as he put his wallet in his back pocket.

“We have some where to be.” Nikki explained as he started driving away from the school.

I briefly glanced over, “Oh yeah? Where are we going?”

Nikki smiled at me, “You, Vanity Blackwood, have an appointment with your therapist.”

The smile fell from my face, turning into a scowl as I contemplated opening the door and jumping out, “You’re joking, right? Nikki c’mon.” I whined as I slumped back into the chair.

“Told you I was making you an appointment sweets. Did you think I was lying? You’re going and I’m gonna sit in there with you.”

*a little while later*

We sat side by side, knees resting against each other as we waited for my therapist to come in. I had my elbow perched up on the arm of the leather couch as I rested my cheek against my fist, watching the clock tick by slowly.

Nikki’s arm was wrapped around the back of the couch, his hand lightly rubbing my shoulder, “What time does Ari get out of school?”

With a monotone voice, “Three.”

I could heard the deep breath of annoyance as he took his arm and hand away from me and places his hands on his knees as he leaned over and grabbed some candy.

My ears perked up when I heard the door open, “Oh! I didn’t know we’d be having guests today. I’m Dr. Lilian Watson. Vanity, it is so nice to see you.”

“Yep, I’m here.” My voice oozed sarcastic cheer as I rolled my eyes, “This is Nikki.” I motioned to him as they shook each other’s hands.

“Oh…the Nikki. Vanity, I see there’s been some progress. What brings you in? It’s been a while since I’ve talked to you.”

I rolled my eyes at both the therapist and at Nikki, “He’s forcing me to be here

“She needed to come and see you.” Nikki butted in as I shook my head, growing more and more irritated.

Dr Watson adjusted in her chair, pushing her glasses up her nose, “Well Nikki, can you tell me why you think she needs to be here?”

Nikki chuckled, “She dislocated her shoulder last week due to driving under the influence of booze and narcotics. Busted her head open and had a bloody nose as well which is why I’m in New York to help her out but she’s not being appreciative of it.”

“Yeah, I see the sling.” She wrote some things down as I side eyed Nikki, “So, were still using?”

I reached for the bowl of candy on the table, “Not since the accident.” I shrugged and stuffed some m&ms into my mouth, “Incase you can’t tell, I’m being watched like a hawk. But I did stop for a while before then and then continued once I started hanging out with Jason again.”

“Who you shouldn’t even be hanging out with after last time.” Nikki butted in as I glared at him.

“I’m sorry? Are you my fucking husband?” I snapped, watching his eyebrows raise in surprise before turning away from me with a light shake of the head in disbelief.

“What happened last time?”

I groaned, “This was a bad idea.” I mumbled, eyes rolling as I sighed, “Jason got physical with me at the bar and Nikki beat him up for it. But Nikki doesn’t have room to talk when he was off getting high with the wife he was suppose to be divorcing when he should have been with his daughter.”

“I’ve gone to meetings in my free time, Vanity. Unlike you who just sits on this guys dick and gets fucking high!” Nikki fought back as he glared at me.

“I don’t do that!” I yelled at Nikki, feeling myself get worked up and by the smirk on his face, he knew it too.

“Okay, okay. Let’s just relax?” Dr Watson took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose, “I don’t specialize in couples therapy, so Nikki in your opinion, can you tell me where the issues root from?”

Before Nikki could respond, “We’re not a couple actually so you don’t need to use that phrase.” I pointed out, my tone was extremely bitchy as Nikki let out a hushed Wow.

“Oh yeah? So I’ve just been hanging out here and taking care of you and making sure you’re good for no reason?” Nikki looked at me, “Seriously, not a couple?!?”

“Well we aren’t!!!” I fought back, “How could you even think we’re together?! Because we almost fucked that night?! You aren’t my boyfriend and you for sure aren’t my damn husband!”

In a raucous tone, “You and your fucking ten million reasons why! I had to go back! How many times do I have to explain myself?! I didn’t want to go back!”

“Uh maybe you could of told her to fuck off like the countless times you’ve told me to fuck off!” I continued to argue, my voice becoming hoarse from all the yelling, “Cause it’s all about me and Arianna.” I mocked his voice before rolling my eyes

“Because it is!”

I scoffed, “What? For a few more weeks until you find some new ditzy playboy?!”

Dr Watson cleared her throat as I sunk back into the leather couch, “Okay, let’s take a few breaths to get rid of some of this anger.”

Nikki reached for a handful of candy, stuffing his cheeks until they turned pink, “I’m not angry.” He mumbled as I scooted away from him.

“How is Arianna?” The therapist exhaled deeply as she looked at us with a forced smile.

“She’s fine, trying to get used to someone-“ I glanced over at Nikki “being around again. She’s in kindergarten now and is doing wonderful.”

Nikki piped up, “She’s a great kid, takes after her mother so wonderfully well.” He shook his head as he glared at me. I attempted to speak but he continued, “Coke angry Vanity and all of her fuckin tantrums don’t need to show up when Arianna is around. I grew up with a mother who used so I know what it’s like.”

“Yeah Vanitys mentioned a thing or two about you and your own addictions.”

“I am still trying to over come them everyday. I go to meetings, talk to my sponsor. I actually try.”

“And here comes the sob story.”

If Nikki wasn’t angry before I said that, then he sure as hell was now, “Sob story?! Are you fucking kidding me!?” Nikki grabbed the pillow I was holding onto and flung it across the room, “Me almost killing myself is a god damn sob story to you?! Fuck you, Vanity! You should know better than that! Christ sake, you’re apart of that sob story!”

“Nikki, I didn’t-“

“Didn’t mean it?! You never mean anything because you never fuckin do anything wrong, right?! Little miss princess Vanity with all her millions and millions of oil money can do no harm because everything about you is so god damn perfect, right?!” Nikki shouted, making me flinch at his loudness.

“What have I ever done to you? Except fuck Tommy more than once? Fucked Slash? What have I ever done to hurt you?” I questioned him as he stared at me.

“More than once?!”

“You had intercourse with Slash?” Dr Watson seemed genuinely surprised.

Through gritted teeth and a clenched jaw, “You fucked Tommy? Again?! When! You said it was only one time!”

“I-I didnt… I didn’t…”

He arched an eyebrow, “Now you’re gonna lie about it?! Did you fuck him again or not? Tell me right now Vanity.”

“Vanity, it’s alright. Just be honest about it with Nikki. It’s always a smart thing to share your past sexual partners with your current one.”

“I’m not fucking him!” I pointed at Nikki, “I don’t want to touch him and I don’t want him touching me! He probably got some fucking disease from his little wife.”

Nikki was more outraged at the fact I would call him dirty then anything else I’ve been saying, “I am clean, Vanity! Unlike you since you like to hop from dick to fucking dick!”

I smacked his arm, “Don’t talk to me like that!”

“Hit me again Vanity. I promise you won’t like what I do.” Nikki threatened as I almost took him up on it.

“Okay! Okay, stop it!” Lillian raised her voice a tad before clearing her throat, “Vanity, just be honest with Nikki. Nobody is hitting anyone."

“I slept with Tommy when he first came to New York, when he found me. I was emotional and he was there for me. You should be happy he was there for me Nikki!”

He laughed, “Happy?! Happy that my best friend stuck his cock in you?! Why should I be happy that you opened your fucking legs for him again?!”

“So clearly the issues run deep..” The doctor mumbled as I stared at Nikki with tears in my eyes, “I am sorry!”

“Sorry for what exactly?! Sleeping with my best friend? Running from me because of what I did? Sticking a needle into your god damn arm? Or keeping Arianna from me out of spite?!”

“Out of spite? None of this is out of spite, Sixx! None of it!” I cried to him as he shook his head, running a ringed hand over this face.

“Really?! So five years you just couldn’t call or write or fuckin mention we have a kid! Had to find out from coming back here and bumping into you out of luck!”

I looked away from him and at the therapist, “It wouldn’t be hard if he stopped fucking up! Do you know how many times I’ve had to deal with his shit! To pick up the pieces of what he’s done!! Maybe instead of shoving shit up your nose and crying over me like Tommy said you were, you should’ve tried a bit harder!”

Nikki was at his wits end with me, “Tried?! I fucking called your mother every god damn day! I wrote a fucking letter to you only for it to be sent back to the house! Don’t tell me I didn’t try! I would’ve gotten on my god damn knees for you! You were the one that didn’t try! You say I tossed you to the side, no! You fucking tossed me to the side! You left me! You fucking left without a trace! Left everything behind! Everything we had together like I was fucking nothing to you!” I watched him as I saw tears falling down his reddened cheek as he continued yelling his frustrations at me.

“You left me, Vanity. I wanted to fix it. You said it would have been better for us if I had just fucking died when I overdosed. Do you have any clue how that made me felt? How that simple sentence ripped my heart to shreds. I would’ve been satisfied with just your siblings or your mom telling me I was going to be a father. You knew how bad I wanted to be a dad, to have a family with you, to watch you carry my child. You chose to be selfish, Vanity.”

Our eyes stayed locked on one another as we sat in a silence that was choking me, “I’m not selfish.”

“Bullshit Vanity.” Nikki croaked as his tongue stuck out to lick away salty tears at the corner of his lips, “It’s always about you and what you want. You wanted to keep her away from me, you said you could keep going as a single parent not that long ago but I’m sure you would just keep paying Clementine to babysit her.”

“I never wanted to keep her from you!” My soft expression quickly turned into a scowl, “Do not bring Clem into this! She’s done nothing but help me!”

“Clementine practically takes care of her half the time while you’re off doing god knows what, Van! Don’t you see that?! I’d love to see how to it would’ve went if you didn’t find anyone.”

My eyes narrowed at him, “I’d be able to do it by myself! I don’t need you or anyone.”

My eyes stayed glued to his before I looked away when Dr Watson had put her notebook down, “I think we might be done with this session…”

“Yeah. That’s enough.” Nikki muttered as he fixed his shirt and grabbed his jacket from the table.

“Like I said, I’m not a couples therapist. But I think there’s a lot that needs to be uh, mended.”

He laughed, “No shit.” I quickly swatted his side, “Don’t be a dick. Thank you Dr Watson."

“Yeah, Thanks Watson.” Nikki spoke gruffly as we both started walking to the door, the therapist closing it right after us.

Nikki quickly grabbed my hand as he pulled me down the hallway. I saw his head shaking as he mumbled my name and profanities under his breath, “Ow, Sixx.” I winced as his rings were pinching my skin, “You’re hurting my hand.” I attempted to pull away from his grasp, he looked at me before opening up a door and shoving me inside, “What the fuck is your issue?!” I yelled as he flipped on the switch and slammed the door shut, blocking me from leaving even if I wanted too.

Nikki stepped closer to me, “You have a lot of fucking nerve acting like that in there.” I took a step back and bumped into the trash can Before I grabbed the counter of the bathroom to balance myself, “Just sitting there talking shit about Nikki and all the bad things he’s done to you.”

“I wasn’t talking shit!” I argued back, “And you started it! I was ready to have a nice peaceful session but no, you had to go and open your fucking-“ I instantly stopped talking when he closed the distance between us, roughly grasping my chin in the palm of his hand.

“There you go again! Blaming everything on me! Maybe if you weren’t such a fucking bitch I wouldn’t have to be an asshole to you! You ever think of that one, princess!?” Nikki forcefully pressed his lips to mine causing me to wince against the friction. Teeth scraping against my skin as I soon tasted a drop of blood on our lips, with a breath being deprived from my lungs as Nikki wrapped his hand around my throat, lightly squeezing as he did so.

I tried reaching for a fistful of his hair, on instinct alone his free hand captured mine in his as he held it behind my back. My nails scratched and pinched at his hand only for him to tighten his grip around my neck. A shaky, girly moan escaped through my lips as he took a step back, hand still wrapped around my throat as he broke out in an arrogant grin. His thumb traced over my bottom lip, wiping away the blood before he took it away and sucked it off himself.

I wrapped my fingers into his hair, roughly yanking his head down to continue the heated kiss. My tongue ran over his lip, before gently tugging on it with pearly whites. Nikki groaned as he placed his hands on my hips before his fingers found the button and zipper of my jeans. I pulled away from him, shoving his hands from me as I attempted to push my pants down. I let out a yelp before slapping my hand over my mouth when Nikki roughly grabbed me by my hair and dragged me to him, holding brunette strands by the root as he tilted my head back and pressed soft simple pecks to the front of my neck, “Let’s see if you remember who the fuck you belong too.”

The deep baritone of his voice sent chills down my spine as well as heat straight to my core. I tried to kiss him again but he refused to let me. His hand found my throat again, needy whimpers escaping. I followed his lips, mere inches from one another as his nose brushed against mine, “Nikki…” a pleading moan came from me as he chuckled darkly in return. His sage colored eyes were making my skin crawl in the best kinda way, knowing he was planning, thinking some of the most dirtiest things. I let my hands wander, landing on a silver buckle as I undid it and let it hang loosely on his hips.

Nikki backed me up until I hit the sink counter. He towered over me. one hand at the base of my neck, forcing me to keep eyes on him. I felt cold rings running down my body as he pulled the thin blue fabric down from between my legs.. An attempt to squeeze my thighs together due to the coolness failed when Nikki brought an open palm down on my ass. I closed my eyes before looking back up at him.

“Look at those pretty eyes just begging for me. Thought you didn’t need me, Princess?” I frowned at his words only for him to let out a laugh. His middle finger traced over my lip as I welcomed it, letting my tongue roll over the rough pad before sucking on the tip. Nikki added another finger to the mix, middle and ring now as I gave it the same treatment, “Dirty fucking girl.” He smirked in my face as he took his fingers from my mouth and placed them between my legs. My head tried dropping to watch what he was doing only for him to yank me by my hair, “Eyes on me. Only me.”

My lips parted when his fingers skillfully invaded my body, knuckle fucking deep. It was abrupt and sudden when his fingers began moving at a fast pace inside of me, fingers curling at just the right spot. The vulgarity of the sound of his palm slapping against my body bounced off the tranquil and zen picture frames that hanged on the wall.

“O-oh my god.” My voice was reduced to a whimper as he finally let his lips meet mine. I rested my hand on his shoulder, fingers gripping the hem of his shirt as I broke the kiss, “Nikki!! Fu-fuck!” I cried out for him, feeling him push another finger inside of me as he poked and prodded at the bundle of nerves inside of me. My eyes screwed shut, feeling them roll into the back of my head behind closed lids as I felt myself fall off the edge of pleasure.

“That’s it baby. Come apart for me, let me get a fucking taste.” Nikki relentlessly abused my insides until his hand was drenched with sticky wetness. I attempted to regain composure, pushing hair out of my face as I watched him suck and lick his fingers clean. Tattooed fingers engulfed themselves around chocolate strands of hair as he pulled my face towards his, warm and soft lips finding mine.

“Still taste so god damn sweet baby girl.” Nikki moaned as he grabbed me by my hips, roughly pulling me away from him before bending me over the counter, hair tangled in a fist as my cheek laid against the cool tile.

I closed my eyes, attempting to catch my breath as I listened to the sound of a zipper being pulled down followed by a sickening slap against my skin. I chewed on my bottom lip as I brought my head up, “Watch me.” Nikki growled as he yanked my head up a bit more. His free hand was wrapped around the base of his cock, giving long and slow strokes to himself.

My lips parted with a silent moan that never tumbled out as I felt Nikki press the tip to my entrance before pushing in. I breathed out a sigh of relief as I felt him fill me, completely. I noticed his bangs covering his eyes, but I could tell he was looking down at the intrusion of my body.

“O-oh fuck, Van.” Nikki moaned, sliding his cock out slowly slowly before sliding back into me “Fuck me.” He groaned, taking his hand away from my hair and digging his fingers into my hip His pace started increasing as his hips smacked against my bottom, fucking me harder and deeper.

Tattooed fingers found themselves curled over my shoulder, nails roughly scraping at my skin. My hips naturally started rocking into each of his thrusts, feeling my insides clench around his throbbing length. I closed my eyes, moans of his names falling off my tongue. An arm of his snaked around my body with a hand dipping underneath my shirt as he grabbed my tits, finger tips pinching and twisting my nipples.

“You feel so good, Nikki.” I breathed out, feeling his hand twist into my hair again. My neck crained back, his lips press against my forehead as he thrusted into me hilt deep. He moved my hair to the side, pressing rough and wet opened mouth kisses to my shoulder before nipping at the soft and delicate skin.

“You still take my cock so well, Princess. So fucking tight and wet for me. So…fuckin perfect.” Nikki breathed into my ear, nibbling gently as he did so. I turned my head just a bit, letting my lips find his before he broke the kiss and pulled out of me.

Nikki dragged me into a stall, making the door bang against the hinges as he sat down and pulled me over his hips.

“This isn’t sanitary.” I mumbled, “Ow!” A rude and sharp slap against my ass cheek ended all complaints I had.

“…don’t give a fucking shit.” Nikki stated in a husky tone as he gripped my hips, fingers digging into the skin roughly. I wrapped my hand around his throbbing member as I hovered over him, slowly sliding down onto it before I gripped his shoulder.

Pornographic moans fell from both of our lips as he buried himself inside of me. I started grinding my hips into his, feeling Nikki accommodate himself in the most delicious way. Nikki Sixx being the only man to ever do so.

Nikki cupped my jaw, pulling my face towards his as our lips touched in a slow and deliberate kiss. His tongue found mine as I tasted the fruity gum he was chewing on. His hips started thrusting up into me at a slow pace, “You feel that baby?” Nikki broke the kiss, his bright green eyes borrowing holes into mine. I nodded my head in a sheepish manner, “That’s all yours.”

I wrapped my free arm around his shoulder, leaning into his chest as I focused on his movements inside of me. He reached between our bodies, fingers dancing around my clit at a rapid pace. I closed my eyes, feeling myself clench around him. I knew he was close too by the way he twitched inside of me.

“Go on baby, cum all over this fuckin cock. Let me have it.” Nikki’s voice was strained as he tried holding off to let me hit my peak first.

“Nik-“ I moaned loudly, only for Nikki to put his hand over my mouth when the bathroom door opened up. My eyes rolled as he continued to thrust into me at a slower pace, smirking at me when I felt myself cum as I moaned into his hand.

“Shit..” Nikki whispered as he pulled out of me, taking his cock into his hand and giving himself a few rough pumps before he hit his end. I sat in his lap still, watching him jack himself off for a few more minutes until he relaxed onto the toilet he was perched up on.

We both heard the water start running as whoever came into the bathroom was singing to themselves, “Look.” Nikki whispered as he wrote ‘V&N’ on the stall with his own cum. I covered my mouth to keep my laughter in as I shoved his shoulder playfully.

“So romantic.” I mouthed before getting off his lap and pulling up my jeans and panties. I stepped out of the stall, the other woman smiling at me through the mirror as I washed my hands and fixed my unruly hair, wincing when my fingers brushed past my scalp. The women was taking her sweet time as she started checking her make up and fixing her own hair so I decided to leave the bathroom and waited out in the hallway.

My eyes went wide when I heard yelling coming from the bathroom, “Sorry!” Nikki yelled back as he stepped out of the bathroom, glaring at me, “I thought she left! Not you!” He shook his head at me as he reached for my hand.

“So, you wanna grab some food?” He questioned as he held the office door open for me and we stepped outside.

I wrapped my hand around his bicep as we walked to my car, "Yeah, I would like that." I smiled up at him, Nikki lowering his head down to give me a quick peck on the lips.

Nikki helped me into the car, closing it as I was situated. He started driving to wherever he decided to take us. He rested his hand on my thigh as I intertwined our fingers together.

I hope this meant good things were coming for us.

122 notes · View notes