#and to be fair i think this is when ellie stops being a jerk to mia so still good for the prompt :V

[elliewiltarwyn]

FFXIV Write 2023 | Prompt #16: Jerk

is it anachronistic to have ffxiv OCs call each other jerks? maybe, however have you considered [throws down a smoke bomb and vanishes]

-1338 words

----

Elilgeim’s in an alcove down the hall, staring out the window at the frozen landscapes, when Mia finds her. She doesn’t need to wonder particularly hard about what’s on the other woman’s mind.

“Couldn’t sleep?” she needles lightly as she approaches, the candlelight emanating from the plate in her hand flickering across Elilgeim’s Roegadyn features.

Including the side-eye she gives Mia as she takes a seat on the bench next to her. “As if it’s possible to sleep after a day like today.” She can’t argue with that. She can’t really think of another thing to say, though, and so they sit there, the Roegadyn white mage and the Hyur free paladin, brooding in silence to themselves in the depths of Camp Dragonhead in the middle of the night.

What a pair we make, Mia sighs to herself. Out of all of the fellow Scions and Archons she had fought alongside, for her, Elilgeim, and Alphinaud to be the only ones to escape the banquet turned bloody must be… some kind of irony. She can’t think of a time any of them has had a kind word to say about the others, between Elilgeim’s insubordination, Alphinaud’s pompous impatience, and Mia’s virtues constantly clashing against theirs… and yet here they are cooped up for refuge in the same camp. If it wasn’t for Tataru, Mia wouldn’t be wholly certain they’d live through the night without ripping each other’s throats out.

…No, that isn’t true, Mia admits to herself. There’s too much self-blame and grief going around for any of them to truly aggravate each other anymore; the sight of poor Alphinaud with his head in his hands, weeping over the crushing weight of responsibility, had broken Mia’s heart. Even now: Elilgeim usually refuses to share a meal or a table with her, yet here they are sitting side-by-side, because who else is left? Her eyes burn as she squeezes them shut, the painful parade of the faces of their lost friends refusing to cease their march through her mind’s eye. 

(Each and every Scion they had been forced to leave behind in their flight stings painfully, but it’s Lilyana’s stand in particular that breaks Mia’s heart. Surrounded by Crystal Braves and Brass Blades at the entrance to the sultana’s secret tunnel, the miqo’te rogue had stepped forth and urged the others into the tunnel first—only for her to make several hand gestures they had never seen before and blast the entrance with a bolt of levin the moment the others had made it in. Through the crumbling rubble now cutting them off from each other, Lilyana had shouted at them to go, I’m going to hold them all off—I’m going to prove I can protect you all, the way you’ve protected me! 

As if Mia hadn’t been the one best suited to that role, as if dear sweet Lily hadn’t already proven her worth several times over…

There had been a small gap in the bricks through which Mia caught Lilyana’s eye for the last time, and the sad smile on her face before she turned and, with a savage war cry, leapt forward into the mass of soldiers before her, knives flashing and untested magicks exploding. She knows that smile is going to haunt her forever… All these friends, lost, for what…?)

“Hey, Mia?”

Mia jerks back, stunned, and stares at her seatmate, who is resting her cheek on the knee of her leg drawn up onto the bench, and—for the first time ever—is looking upon her with something beside frustration or even anger. Mia feels it may be a bit optimistic to read the way her face is arranged as trust, especially given who it is, but she really hopes it is. With tears brimming in the edges of her eyes, Elilgeim swallows a lump in her throat and quietly says, “Thanks… for surviving with me.”

It’s literally the first time she’s thanked Mia for anything, and with the enormity of this gratitude’s source, she has no idea how to process that. She blinks rapidly for a moment until she can finally draw out the words “Same… to you.” And it’s true: as frustrating as Elilgeim has been, as much as they’ve butted heads… she’s genuinely glad the other woman is here with her.

A tiny, wry smile quirks on the corner of Elilgeim’s lips. “Bet you wish it was anyone else, huh?”

Mia rolls her eyes and elbows the other woman in the side, eliciting an exhausted chuckle. “Someone with a sense of propriety and respect, maybe.”

“I have a sense of them; I just don’t pay them any mind.”

“Obviously.” She groans in exasperation and lays her head against the stone wall. “Jerk.”

“Heh. Sorry.” Mia blinks rapidly again. Truly a night of firsts. “I suppose I shouldn’t antagonize one of the few friends I have left.” Just one after another, really. On multiple levels…

“Friend, huh?” The word itself isn’t strange on Mia’s lips; the thought of directing it at Elilgeim is.

There’s a strangely warm glow in Elilgeim’s eyes as she looks upon Mia. “Somehow, in spite of everything… aye. Friend.”

“Interesting.” Mia can’t help but smirk at her. “Does being your friend grant any special privileges?”

“I suppose I could prioritize you with my curative spells,” she drawls, raising an eyebrow like the suggestion is most absurd.

“I’m generally taking the brunt of the damage. As far as I can tell, you already do.”

She winks. “So imagine what it’ll be like now that I actually consider you a friend.”

Mia throws her hands up and shakes her head in long-suffering resignation at her. “Truly, beyond mortal ken.”

“What, were you hoping for something better?” Elilgeim teases, nudging her back.

“I don’t know, it’d be nice to get nickname privileges or something.”

“I hate to tell you this, but Mia seems like an incredibly difficult name to abbreviate.”

“Not me, you jerk,” Mia sighs in exasperation, shoving the toe of her boot against the side of Elilgeim’s leg and eliciting a chuckle. “If I got to call you something only friends can.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Ellie.” It just slips out, easy as a breeze.

A sudden silence falls over the both of them, and when Mia looks up at Elilgeim, she seems frozen in place, staring right back, eyes wide, lips slightly parted. It dawns on Mia what she just said then, and she feels a horrific blush creeping up her face.

“...Huh.” Elilgeim shakes her head, waking from her reverie, and squints down at her hands, considering. “...Yeah, I guess that is a name you could derive from Elilgeim.” She blinks, then looks up at Mia, whose face feels like it’s on fire. “Funny. We ran with an Ellie for moons, and I never thought about that.” Her mouth twists a little. “...I liked her. Shame she wanted to zombify Ul’dah.”

That’s right, the false Mythril Eye reporter. “On the other hand,” Mia says slowly, grinning sheepishly up at the other, “you have to admit zombifying Ul’dah sounds pretty appealing right now.”

Elilgeim blinks down at her for a moment, and Mia wonders if she went just a step too far—and then suddenly the Roegadyn bursts into laughter, and that snaps the cord of tension winding Mia tight and lets her crack up too. “You’re not wrong there,” Elilgeim chuckles, wiping her face. She favors Mia with an interesting side-eye, like she’s carefully observing something before coming to a decision on what to do about it. “...I must admit: I don’t think I’d mind Ellie.”

A small excited thrill ripples through Mia’s veins then. “So… I get nickname privileges after all?”

“...Sure. Yeah.” Elilgeim—Ellie winks at her. “Though—maybe not in front of everyone else. Wouldn’t want them to think anything’s changed between us.”

Mia rolls her eyes and elbows her again. “Of course you wouldn’t. Jerk.”

“Couldn’t possibly be anything else to you,” Ellie says, with the most fondness Mia’s ever felt directed at her. “Could I?”

“Somehow, no. I guess not.”

[thedanishsim]

A playground-playdate 🌤️🛝

The weather had been playing nice for the last couple of days, and with the temperature starting to rise a bit, you could really feel the spring coming quickly. The surroundings started to show it’s greener side with the new leaves and flowers blooming all around. The sun rays started to feel warmer, making it possible to be outside with just a light jacket or sweater on. Some days you could even take it off when sitting sheltered from the mild wind.

“You are never gonna get her back home today”, Ali let out a laugh and took another photo on her phone of Ellie sliding down the slide on the toddler climber - with a helping hand from Mia. “It’s fine, if she wants to play around today, then we stay. I don’t have anything planned for the rest of the day”, Mia smiled. Ellie looked at her mom, and let out a small laugh before running off to the sandbox next to them. A few other kids were playing around at the playground today, but Ellie seemed to just enjoy being on her own or with her mom and ‘aunt’. “She still doesn’t want to play with others?” Ali looked at Ellie while the two girls took a seat at the bench. Mia took a sip of her to-go-cup with lemonade, “she plays with one of the other girls in the daycare, but I think she is just like I was - shy and not into all that wild play”.

Ali nodded, “have you talked to him recently?” Mia turned her head away and rolled her eyes, before facing Ali, “can we please not have this discussion today? I really can’t…” “Come on, you know I only ask because I care, and I want what is best for you and El”, Ali argued while Mia let out a sigh. “I know, I know… I haven’t talked to him. All I know is that he is still planning on visiting on friday and that he will be staying for a week”, Mia looked over at Ellie. Mia could see Ali was thinking. “What?”, “Nothing, I’m just.. When was the last time she saw him?”, “October”, “Seriously? Is it that long already?”, “You already forgot he cancelled on coming for Christmas?”, “Oh.. yeah.. I forgot that” Ali tried giving Mia a slight smile, but little did it help. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Ellie’s dad coming to visit. She wanted him to, but something just felt wrong… “Speak of the dev … Your phone is buzzing”, Ali handed Mia her iPhone. “Thanks”, Mia smiled and looked at the screen: ‘Logan’. “Can you..” Mia pointed towards Ellie and stood up before accepting the call, “hi”.

“Hey.. I’m… Where are you??” Logan’s voice sounded in her ear. “The playground, why?”, “Oh.. It was just the noise in the background. Are you alone?”, “Uhm.. No, Ali is with us”. Logan was quiet for a few seconds, “could you step away for a second?” Mia looked at Ali, who raised a curious eyebrow. “Uhm, yeah, sure, one second…”, “I’ll watch her, just go” Ali smiled. Mia took a look at Ellie before she headed to the gate and went out on the street. “Is everything ok? You sound serious”, Mia asked. “Yeah, everything is fine. How are you?”, “We are fine”, “Good, I’m glad to hear that… I… I’m really sorry, but I have to cancel my visit next we …” Mia felt her heart rate rise quickly, giving her almost a sudden migraine, while everything around her just stopped for a few seconds. “Mia?” Logan’s voice sounded on the phone. “What did you just say?”, “Mia, I’m sorry, it’s just..”, “No! No, Logan, you are not doing this again! You haven’t seen her in six months, and last time you only saw her for 45 minutes! It’s not fair to her”, “I know!” Mia could hear him sigh heavily, “it’s just… It’s a really bad time, with the wedding and all that. They need me to be there and help with the preparations. I can try and maybe just come for a day or two instead, but I have to talk to …”, “It’s not even your wedding, you stupid jerk!” Mia lost it, “you know what? Don’t come, at all. If the preparations for your wife’s sister’s wedding are so important that you can’t come see YOUR daughter, which we have had planned for THREE MONTHS, then just don’t come”. Logan kept quiet. And so did Mia.

“Are you still there?” Logan's voice was apologetic and it sounded like he was actually a little nervous to speak. “Logan, I have to go..”, “Mia, I’m sorry. I don’t want it to be like this. Can we talk later?” Mia shook her head, well-knowing he couldn’t see it. “I don’t know, let me think about it. I have to go”, she ended the call and walked into the playground again. Ali stood up from the sandbox and walked towards her, “what happened??”. Mia felt the tears filling up her eyes, “I can’t, not right now”, and took a seat next to Ellie in the sandbox …

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch47: Use Your Words, Old Man

Intro: Jamie reaches another milestone, and 2021 ticks by with many more memories for the Rogers and Stark family.

Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N:  I adore the edit again... @angrybirdcr​ did good!!!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 46

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

May 2021

“Jamie, no!” Steve swooped down and picked up the tot who had been toddling, albeit, unsteadily, towards Lucky giggling away. Lucky, however, was fast enough to understand and jumped up bolting towards the door of the room, leaping over the baby gate to avoid Jamie’s vice like grip on his ears.

“NO!” Jamie yelled and Steve stopped dead, Jamie in his large arms, as Katie looked up at them both, her mouth falling open.

“Did he just…?” she held her breath. The fourteen month old had been uttering the odd thing that sound like a word for a good few months now, but nothing that anyone would recognise as a proper term.

Until now.

“Yeah I think so!” Steve grinned, looking at her then his son. “Did you just talk buddy? Did you just say no?” “NO! No, No!” Jamie wriggled in his dad’s arms, grabbing at his shirt. Katie, who had managed to get the last few iterations of the word on her phone camera, grinned as Steve placed him back on the floor where he headed over to this play-mat and landed with a thud on the floor, picking up a pile of the large, coloured blocks he liked to play with.

“Of course his first word would be no.” She sighed as Steve sat on the couch next to her. He laughed and dropped a hand to her knee.

“To be fair, honey, that’s what we spend half our time telling him one way or another.” Katie snorted, that much was true. Since he had been fully mobile and walking unaided over the last two months, they had constantly been moving things out of his reach or removing them from his grasp, followed by the word. Nine times out of ten the tot was content to let them do so, but the odd time he would throw a temper tantrum to rival those of his Momma’s.

“NO!” Jamie called again, clacking the blocks together and Steve gave a grin, moving off the couch to drop by his son on the play-mat. Katie watched the two of them for a moment, smiling to herself. She knew it was a cliché but she literally couldn’t have wished for a better father for either of her kids. They were experiencing first parenting issues at both ends of the spectrum, with Emmy five months off her fourteenth birthday and Jamie two months on from his first. It wasn’t easy, hell, they spent half their time second guessing their decisions. Where they being too strict or too lenient with Emmy? Was Jamie developing right? Were his toys educational enough? Was the floor clean enough for him to be crawling or lying on with having a dog in the house? But, when she saw moments like this, Jamie now trying to push his large, red Mega-Block into his Dad’s mouth, Steve clamping his lips together and shaking his head making their son screech with laughter, all her worries faded away.

Jamie really was fast turning into a miniature version of his dad, which was another thing Katie loved. Steve himself didn’t see it, but there had been a moment a few weeks back where the soldier had recognised someone he knew, loved and missed daily in his Son, and it had choked both Parents up.

Steve was led on his back on the bed, Jamie cackling away as his dad was holding him at arms-length and then bringing him back down again to blow a raspberry on his cheek, repeating the motion over and over, until he paused and his eyes widened a little. Katie frowned slightly at the look on his face as Steve gulped, looking into his son’s eyes, their familiarity hitting him like a brick.

“Soldier, what is it?” Katie asked, as Steve’s eyes misted up and he swallowed thickly.

“His eyes. Erm, do you think they’ll carry on turning green?”

Katie frowned. “I don’t know, I doubt it. Apparently most babies, if their eyes are gonna change, will have done it by six months. Why do you ask?”

“I just, well, I never thought I’d see those eyes again.” He whispered, gently resuming his actions.

“I’m not following you, love.” Katie frowned

“He has my ma’s eyes” Steve’s voice was choked as he looked at her, bringing Jamie down to his chest, pressing a kiss to his head, a soft smile playing on his face.

“Then you see your mother’s eyes every time you look in the mirror.” Katie smiled, leaning over to give him a soft kiss as her own chest felt slightly tighter than normal. She wiped a tear Steve hadn’t even been aware he’d shed off his check gently with her thumb, leaving her hand trailing softly across his skin. “Because when I look at him all I see is you. Those eyes are yours.”

He looked up at her and smiled, “yeah?” “Yeah,” she nodded, “I think you’re more like your mother than you realise. Maybe not in looks completely but, well, she raised you single handed. You’re the man you are because of her.”

“She was a fantastic woman.” Steve sighed.

“Well then you should be proud.” Katie said, and he smiled looking over at her.

“I am,” he replied softly, his attention going back to his son, “and you know what else I’m proud of?”

“What?”

“That you’re a Mrs Rogers too.” He looked at her again. “I know it’s just a name but, I really am glad you took it. Jamie has a Rogers momma as good as mine, helping to carry the name forward.”

“You sentimental sap.” Katie sniffed slightly as her own tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

“I love you so much.” He beamed at her, pressing his lips to hers softly. “Even if you are still a Stark really.” She laughed against his lips,”jerk.”

Katie turned back to the laptop she’d been looking at, flicking through a few spreadsheets with the latest figures the SIDE accountants had produced. Steve and Emmy’s idea around the support groups had been well received by everyone involved with the foundation and as such they’d started drafting up the paper work and working out the estimated funding. Steve had consulted Rhodey about the programme and the Colonel had enthusiastically agreed it was a great idea, and as such they’d pitched it to the Government, President Ellis’ reaction had been the same as theirs – why didn’t we think of this before?

As such, they were currently working up the particulars such as how they set up across the country, mobilisation, publicity…and Steve had taken up control of the project, his natural leadership qualities made him a superb Project Manager. He’d also expressed an interest in actually running the ones across New York himself, another way he felt he could help.

They were aiming to open the first ones in September, running two a week for the time being, just to see how well they were received and, from a purely selfish point of view, Katie was enjoying working alongside him again and having him at home permanently instead of traveling with the Military.

“How many groups do you think you’re gonna have eventually?” She asked and Steve tuned to look at her, momentarily confused by her sudden change of topic until he realised what she was talking about.

“I dunno.” He shrugged. “I’d like eventually to maybe run them three times a week, twice a day. Give everyone who wants to come a chance to you know…why d’ya ask?” “Just drilling into these numbers. I reckon we have enough to fund that to start with,” she paused, “and if the government meet our request then we can step it up.” He nodded. “I put the design idea in for the fliers and posters yesterday. Has to be the most sombre thing I’ve ever drawn.”

“I know,” she said softly, “but it’s gonna make a difference Steve, focus on that.”

He was about to reply but he was cut off when they heard the voice from the security system informing them that the gate had been opened by ‘Emmy Rogers’. Steve glanced at the clock and frowned.

“It’s not even one?” 

“They’re on half day,” Katie didn’t look up from the numbers on the screen, “teacher training or something.”

Moments later the front door opened and the chatter of two excited teenage girls hit their ears and Lucky gave a bark, his nails clicking on the wooden floor as he trotted through from where he had been on his bed under the stairs to greet Emmy.

“I know, it’s so cool, right?” Emmy was saying, as her voice grew louder. “I never thought they’d do anything like this, not after the Decimation but, oh hi buddy!”

They heard Lucky’s excited whine as Emmy continued to coo at him, before the two girls and dog appeared in the lounge doorway.

“What’s so cool?” Steve asked instantly and Emmy rolled her eyes.

“Do you earwig into every conversation I have?” She opened the baby-gate and stepped into the room.

“Yes.” Steve deadpanned. “Now spill.” “It’s a Geography field trip Mr R.” Brooke grinned. “Hamilton for the Niagara Escarpment.”

“Canada?” Katie smiled before her smile turned to a smirk as she side eyed Steve “I had a vacation in Canada once.” Steve shot her a glare and his voice dropped to a growl. “That’s not funny.” He said sternly. The memory of what she’d been through wasn’t a laughing matter as far as he was concerned. She flashed him a grin and he rolled his eyes. “So when is it?” He turned to Emmy.

“Last week of term in June.” She answered, reaching down to pick Jamie up who had toddled over to his sister excitedly chattering jibberish as he went. “Just for three nights. I know it’s really short notice but apparently they weren’t sure they could pull it off. Hi Jay!” She swung him up and kissed the little boy on the cheek as Brooke gently tweaked his nose causing him to laugh.

“Six weeks, yeah that is short notice.” Katie pondered. “Do you wanna go?” Emmy’s eyes lit up and she nodded. “I’d love to.” Steve took in a deep breath and Katie looked at him. She could see him grappling with something but Jamie spoke before he could.

“No!”

“Did he just talk?” Emmy’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, he hasn’t shut up saying it for the last hour.” Katie grinned “Look, have you got the details of the trip?” “In my bag.”

“Okay, well leave them on the table, me and your dad will give it the once over and we’ll talk about it later.”

Emmy placed Jamie down on the floor and fished in her bag for the forms before she dropped them onto the coffee table with a soft slap. Jamie wandered this time over to Katie who set her laptop down and picked him up. He sat on her lap and gently wound his hand into her hair, rubbing his face into her neck the way he always did when he was tired.

“I’m gonna put him down for a nap.” Katie stood up and looked at the two girls. “What are you doing this afternoon?”

“Pool!” They both grinned, sharing a hi-five before Emmy looked at her mom, the familiar hopeful expression on her face she always got when she was about to ask for something.

“Can Brooke stay?”

Katie arched an eyebrow. “I thought that was a given, seeing as you’re both already here.”

The two girls grinned and Emmy looked at her mom again, her smile growing even bigger. “And, can we get Thai tonight? It is Friday.” “Dontcha mean Thaiday?” Steve quipped causing Katie to groan as Emmy picked up a cushion off the couch with her spare arm and hit her dad with it.

“That is so lame.” Emmy rolled her eyes as Brooke cackled. “C’mon…”

Katie watched as they left the room, Steve still chuckling at his own joke.

“She’s right.” Katie looked at him, gently re-arranging Jamie slightly as he had started to nod off. “That was lame.”

Steve gave her a look of mock hurt, clutching his chest, before she left and he sat up to read the information Emmy had left on the table. He was struggling a little bit between wanting to let her go and also the worry that had instantly flooded his system about her being safe. He carefully read the details, the trip wasn’t cheap, not that that really mattered, the activities looked good, and a quick google showed him the hotel looked fairly reasonable and was in a nice enough area…

“I knew you’d be on that as soon as you could be.” Katie laughed and Steve looked up at her from his spot on the floor by the table and he gave a sheepish grin.

“Busted,” he sighed, “I just wanted to look into it properly. I really want her to go and enjoy stuff like this but…” “We can’t keep her sheltered, Steve.” Katie reasoned. “No matter how much we want to. She’s gonna be fourteen this time round.” “I know, I know.” He sighed “Do you think we should let her go?” “Yeah, I do.” Katie nodded “We’re lucky enough to be able to afford things like that for our kids, plenty of other families aren’t.”

Steve’s tongue poked the inside of his cheek for a moment as he considered his wife’s words. She was right. Emmy would never have been on a trip like this before, and it did look like a lot of fun.

“Alright.” He heaved himself up off the floor “You’ve convinced me.” Katie grinned “If only everything was that easy.” “It is.” He arched an eyebrow. “All you have to do is pull those eyes at me.” “What eyes?” She asked innocently. “You know damned well what eyes. Those eyes. The ones that can get me to do whatever you want.” “Is it working now?” She looked up at him, batting her eyelashes. “Why, what do you want?” He asked, smirking, knowing full well what she was implying as her hands slid up his chest.

“Well the girls are out at the pool,” her eyes followed her fingers as they started to undo the buttons of his Henley, “and Jamie’s asleep…” Grinning, Steve span her round, shoved her gently forward and aimed a smack to her ass causing her to yelp playfully. “Get up those stairs Mrs Rogers.” He growled, and the pair of them hurried off, giggling like a pair of naughty school kids till they reached their bedroom, where the giggles turned into shared moans, groans and happy sighs.

**** “Thanks for dropping Brooke off.” Jennifer placed a latte down in front of Katie.

“It was no problem, I had to come this way on my way up to the compound anyway.” Katie smiled and then frowned slightly as she noticed the look on her friend’s face.

“You alright?” She asked gently.

“Not really,” Jen sighed, sitting down. “Brooke called last night about the field trip…” “Yeah Steve wasn’t so keen but I talked him round. The girls seem to be looking forward to it.” “That’s the thing.” Jen rubbed at her temple “I really want Brooke to go but, well, business hasn’t been what it used to be before, you know, and I’m not sure I can afford it. Not at such short notice.” Katie instantly felt like a jerk. She knew she was incredibly privileged to be so wealthy but was well aware many weren’t as fortunate.

“I haven’t had the heart to tell her yet.” Jen swallowed and Katie bit her lip.

“Jen,” she leaned over the table dropping her voice, “if you want…” “No.” Jen shook her head, her lips pressing into a thin line, instantly understanding what Katie was offering “I’m not a charity case.” Her voice was clipped. “No, that’s not what I meant.” Katie hastily assured the woman. “Honestly, I didn’t mean to offend you.” “I know.” Jen shook her head “Sorry,that was really ungrateful.” “It’s fine.” Katie waved her apology off, “but the offer is there. We could consider it a loan if you liked.” Jen chewed her lip, and Katie saw her friend’s eyes begin to water.

“Look,” Katie gripped her mug, “it’s a couple of hundred bucks. And this probably sounds crass and really, really fucking shitty when I think about it, but I make more than enough and I really, really won’t notice that amount going out, trust me.”

“I just hate this, you know.” Jen hastily wiped her face. “A few years ago this place was thriving and now, well I just about make enough to cover bills and the thought she is the one that has to miss out…” “Then let me help.” Katie pleaded, looking at the red head opposite her. “Brooke’s been a good friend to Emmy and, well, from a selfish point of view I’d be a lot more comfortable if they were together.”

“That’s really kind of you.” Jennifer nodded after a pause. “Are you sure? I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.”

“Whenever, it’s not a big deal.” Katie nodded, smiling “On one condition.” “What?”

“You sneak me one of your delicious brownies every once in a while.” Jenifer laughed “Oh honey, you and Steve can get free coffee and brownies for life.” “Erm, yeah, pretty sure in a month you’d be bankrupt if I told Steve that.” Katie grinned and Jenifer smiled.

“Would you like to come over?” She asked suddenly. “The pair of you, for dinner maybe? Tonight? Emmy and Jamie as well, of course.”

“Yeah, that sounds great.” Katie smiled. “We’re not doing anything that I know of but I’ll check with Steve and let you know as soon as I can.”

“Great, well, Emmy can stay here if she likes. I’m sure once I tell Brooke she can go they’ll be planning all sorts of mischief.”

“I dread to think.” Katie mused “You know I remember my last field trip. It was to San Fran and I was sixteen. Me and my friend, a girl called Laura, I made some fake ID and we got plastered in a bar. Tony absolutely kicked my ass, before he told me he was actually quite impressed at the quality of my forgeries.”

Jennifer snorted “Yeah, this isn’t exactly filling me full of confidence.”

Katie laughed. “Emmy is much better behaved than I was at that age, Steve wouldn’t stand for her getting into the same amount of crap as I did.” She drained her mug and stood up. “I best be going.”

“Sure, see you tonight? What time will suit with Jamie?”

“Well he normally goes down about seven and he’ll just sleep in his car seat.” Katie smiled “So say six ish? I can feed him and settle him then at yours before we eat.”

“Fab.” Jenifer stood up and Katie mirrored her.“And thank you.”

“My pleasure.” Katie smiled, and she handed Jen her mug. Once the woman was out of sight she dug into her purse and dropped the customary twenty bucks into the tip jar on her way out.

****

Steve was in the kitchen when he heard his wife come home. He didn’t move though, he was too busy watching his son, trying to figure out how the hell the fourteen month old had managed to climb up on top of the breakfast bar unaided. Steve had turned his back for thirty goddamned seconds to load the dishwasher and now his son was crawling along the unit. The only explanation was he’d used one of the stools as leverage, but even that was baffling the Captain, and there was no way Jamie should have been able to manage that, at all.

“Thank you Dr Erskine” Steve grumbled as he swept his son off the surface. “You’re gonna be the death of me, pal.” “No!” Jamie cackled, and Steve sighed, his son carefully held in his arms as Katie walked into the kitchen. “Hey, Doll.” He smiled, dropping a kiss to her lips.

“Hi.” She greeted him, returning his gentle sign of affection before she blew a raspberry on Jamie’s cheek. He giggled as she made her way to the fridge and Steve deposited their boy on the mat at the corner of the room.

“How was Nat?” Steve asked and Katie sighed, grabbing out a bottle of water and opening it.

“Still insisting on flying out to Nepal.” She shut the fridge. “I’ve told her Barton doesn’t wanna be found, but…” she trailed off. “And Bruce has gone again.”

“Where to this time?” Steve frowned. 

“Back to the lab in Seoul.” Katie shrugged. “I don’t know what for. Anyway, I told her to come for dinner on Sunday and that if she misses it again this week imma kick her ass.” Steve smiled as Katie took a drink from the bottle “Oh, and speaking of dinner, we’re not doing anything tonight are we?” 

“Not at the moment, but I’m sure you’re about to tell me we are.” “Jen’s asked us round.” Katie sat down at the table.

“That’s nice of her.” Steve poured himself mug of coffee, Katie waving away his offer of one. “You wanna go?”

“Yeah, and it’s kind of a thank you so we should do really.”

“What for?” He sat down opposite her.

“Well, she was upset about not being able to send Brooke on the Field Trip so I offered to help out money wise.She didn’t want to take it at first but she agreed in the end. As long as it’s a loan” 

“I’m glad she did. I’m assuming Emmy has stayed with them for the day?”

Katie hummed a response.

“Those two are joined at the hip.” Steve snorted

“Another reason I really wanted Brooke to go.”

A movement caught Steve’s eye from the corner of the room and he looked up to see Jamie was now stood up again and was heading back towards the breakfast bar. He quietly observed his son, watching as the boy gripped the legs of one of the stools and pulled himself up. Steve was horrified to see that he was managing to lift his legs off the floor, swinging them onto the foot bar.

“James, No!” He said loudly. The use of their boy’s full name didn’t pass Katie by and she turned in her seat to see Jamie looking at his father before he let go of the stool and fell backwards onto his butt, the pout on his face reminding Steve so much of his wife that he had to stifle a laugh. Katie watched as he got to his feet and toddled towards her.

“He managed to get up onto the kitchen counter before.” Steve eyed the boy as Katie picked him up and sat him on her knee. “What?” Katie’s voice was high pitched as she whipped her head round to look at Steve. “How the hell?”

“Beats me, although from that I suspect he was using the stool as a climbing frame.” Steve sighed watching as Jamie’s attention turned to the now empty bottle of water in front of Katie. “I was loading the dishwasher and in the time it took me to put the plates in he’d made it from his play mat to the top of the damned breakfast bar.” “This is your fault.” Katie laughed, smoothing down her son’s blonde hair. “You and your damned super serum.”

“I know.” Steve shook his head. “I thought we could take him and Lucky out for a walk maybe see if that settles his energy.”

Katie checked her watch “Yeah, we could do. Maybe head to the park. If we go now then we should be back for his nap.”

“Or we can wait a while, and he can sleep in the stroller and I can take you for lunch?”

“Okay so that sounds even better” she grinned “You know, you’re not as dumb as-“

Steve never found out what he wasn’t as dumb as, because at that moment they heard a yell that made his breath catch.

“DADA!”

The parents looked at one another, a shit eating grin spreading across Steve’s face as he leaned forward across the table.

“Dada?” Katie asked, pointing at Steve, bouncing Jamie on her knee. “Dada!” Jamie babbled again, grinning. “Dada!”

“Typical.” Katie rolled her eyes. “I carry you for nine months, give birth, feed you from my boobs and you come out looking like your father and you say Dada first. That’s gratitude for you”

“Guess that means I’m his favourite.” Steve teased, slumping back in his chair, earning himself a glare from his wife. He blew her a kiss, shrugging.

Steve was pleased, however that Katie didn’t have to wait long for her turn. A few days later when she went into Jamie’s room to get him up for the morning he beamed at her and held his arms up exclaiming “ma-ma!” Steve watched his wife on the baby monitor screen and felt his heart swell to what felt like five times its normal size as Katie picked up their son, her eyes pricking with tears and held him tight. 

*****

June 2021

Katie woke with a start, pausing for a moment, wondering why it was so quiet. It took her a second but then she remembered Jamie was at Tony’s, staying for a sleepover. As Emmy was on her field trip, Pepper and Tony had taken the boy to give Katie and Steve a night on their own, the first one they had had in a very long time. Tony had rung them mid-afternoon to ask who on earth had taught him the word ‘whatever’, albeit in Jamie’s pronunciation ‘tever’ and Katie had laughed, that one was firmly down to Emmy. He hadn’t quite managed the sign to go with it yet thought, despite her best attempts.

They’d taken full advantage of it too. Steve had gone into complete romantic overdrive, coming home from a meeting at the tower with a bunch of calla lilies for his wife and told her to get dressed up as they were going out. They’d headed into Brooklyn for a meal at a small Italian (Katie only checking her phone five times, which was an improvement on the twenty the first time they’d left Jamie with his Uncle) and they’d had a great time. It had been intimate, and they’d teased each other relentlessly meaning when they got home they hadn’t even made it up the stairs before they’d been clawing at each other, desperate touches and kisses shared in the hallway before they’d both tumbled into the lounge onto the rug in front of the fire. Grinning to herself at the slight tenderness between her legs, Katie turned over and glanced at Steve who gently shifted in his sleep, a sure sign that he was slowly waking. She scooted closer and rested her hand on his chest, her smile widening as he unconsciously let out a soft sigh of contentment. His eyes were moving under their lids, and as her hand started trailing down over his stomach he took in a deep breath, finally opening his eyes and meeting her gaze just as her touch dipped below the waistband of his boxers. He let out a low groan.

“You’re awake early considering the kids are away.” He murmured, kissing the skin in the crook of her shoulder, his morning stubble scratching her skin slightly as she continued her strokes, teasing him lightly.

“Force of habit.” She whispered back, sighing as he kissed her neck again and again. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close until she was pressed against him, his thigh between hers as he rolled them both over so she was nestled under him. His lips made their way to hers and he gave her a deep, languid kiss as she shifted so that her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him flush against her. Steve propped himself up with his left arm while his other hand went under the shirt she was wearing, his shirt, to her chest, his fingertips barely brushing against her nipples. She groaned loudly at his touch, and he was just about to warn her to be quiet, but then he realised he didn’t have to. With the knowledge that he really could make her scream, he hastily pulled the top over her head and his lips crashed back to hers, the kiss hot and intentional as her legs gripped him tightly in an attempt to get a little more friction between them. He went to tug at the waistband of her underwear, barely breaking his lips away from hers for a moment.

“You want me?” He asked, his voice low and raspy.

“Always,” she groaned, aware of the desperation that flooded her tone and Steve let out a low growl. Katie felt the tearing along one side of the thin lace garment he had hold of and she laughed into his mouth, remembering their first time together when he had done the very same thing. Her fingers scrambled to push down his boxers as he repositioned himself slightly, reaching down with his hand to line himself up, before he gently worked into her. Man and wife both let out a satisfied sigh as Steve’s hand grabbed Katie’s knee and hitched it over his shoulder, a move he knew drove her wild. She moaned loudly and her fingers dug into his arms as he starting pushing a little harder, a little faster, then faster, until he had reached a relentless pace making his wife curse and leaving her short of breath.

He slowed for a moment, making her look at him, letting out a noise of protest. “Don’t stop,” she begged, “Please Stevie.”

Grinning slightly he picked up the pace again, enjoying the noises she was making as she keened underneath him, her head pressing further back into the pillow a she gave another loud cry of his name before he felt her tighten round him as she came, her nails biting at the skin on his arms. He continued to thrust three, four more times before the snake in his belly uncoiled and he jerked on top of her with a loud cry of his own and let go of her leg, collapsing onto her, his face buried into her neck.

“Morning,” she mumbled, her hands tangling into his hair and he let out a soft chuckle.

“Morning, Beautiful.”

They stayed in bed for another hour or so, just laying with one another and talking before it was time to shower. They did that together too, and by the time they were climbing into the car to go and pick Jamie up, Katie was feeling literally and figuratively thoroughly fucked and fell asleep on the journey, Steve smirking to himself at the fact he could still tire her out like that after almost eight years of being with one another.

“Late night was it?” Tony quipped as Katie let out a yawn as she walked into his living room.

“Yeah, and an early morning,” she shot back and Tony snorted, shaking his head.

“Dada!” Jamie giggled as he tottered over from where he had been sat on the rug with Morgan and Pepper “Mama!”

“Hi, Baby!” Katie swept him up in her arms and placed a kiss to his cheek “We missed you.” “Nee!” He said gleefully and Katie frowned, and it wasn’t until he pointed to his uncle and repeated the word that she understood. “Nee!”

Steve let out a snort “Uncle Nee. Suits you Tone.” “Shut up, Spangles” Tony raised an eyebrow as Morgan laughed.

“Uncle Pangles!” The two year old quipped as if on cue, and Steve let out a moan

“Did you teach her that?” He looked accusingly at his brother in law.

“Of course he did.” Pepper sighed, sweeping the small girl into her arms as she stood up, smirking at Katie. “You guys eaten breakfast yet or were you too busy?” Katie let out a snort. “If there’s any going I won’t say no.”

Pepper handed Morgan to Steve as she was trying to reach him and he took her, tossing her into the air ignoring the wince from Tony as he did so, catching the girl expertly.

“Again!” she pleaded and Steve obliged happily, knowing that it was winding Tony up only added to the enjoyment of seeing his niece cackle with laughter. “When’s Emmy back?” Tony asked, tearing his eyes away from where Steve was tossing his daughter in the air like he was wielding that fucking shield to look at his sister.

“This evening.” Katie answered. “Spoke to her last night, not sure she wants to come home.” “I remember your field trip to San Fran.” Tony mused, raising an eyebrow and Katie snorted.

“Yeah, so do I.” She smirked “I was telling Jen about that the other month. My first hangover.” “Okay, can you stop that now!” Tony rounded on Steve who grinned and rest Morgan on his hip and she pouted.

“More!”

“Sorry, Moo.” Steve apologised and she gave a huff as he placed her on the floor and she headed off to find her mum in the kitchen. He arched an eyebrow at Tony who rolled his eyes.

“Dick.” He mumbled.

“Dick.” Jamie repeated loudly and Katie’s eyes widened. Steve looked at his son, utterly horrified, then to Tony whose shocked expression was fast turning into one of utter glee.

“Oh you-” Steve glared at Tony as Katie bit her lip to try and stop her laughter “For f-“ he stopped himself, took a deep breath and pointed at Tony. “You are an absolute…”

“Use your words, Old Man!” Tony grinned, delightedly and Steve’s jaw clenched as he turned so his back was to his son and raised his hand, flipping his brother-in-law off.

*****

October 2021

“Your daddy is gonna be soaked” Katie mused to Jamie as she looked out of the window “It’s absolutely pouring with rain.”

“Dada. Rain!” Jamie grinned, chanting the words back at her, ignoring the small piece of toast that was left on his plate.

Steve had gone for his morning run with Lucky before he headed out to the first of the two support groups he was running that day. He had held the first one in September in an old church hall, and at first Katie was worried that more people would attend to take their anger out on him and had wanted to be there to help but Steve refused point blank, but her concern wasn’t completely unfounded as a lot of people were angry at first, but no one else hit him, and he said it was actually therapeutic for him too, as he could answer questions, and speak honestly and openly about how he felt about the situation.  As it turned out, Steve was a natural born councillor as well as a leader, and by the end of the month he had six different groups running through the week at different places across Manhattan. It was good for him and he was relishing the fact he could still be useful.

The back door opened, and Katie could hear the man she was thinking about stepping into the small utility room off the side of the kitchen.

“Ahhh thanks, pal, “his voice dripped with sarcasm as she heard Lucky’s tag tinkling along with the noise of the dog shaking, “that’s great. really great.” Katie chuckled to herself, picturing his face as he continued to grumble

“Could have waited until I got a towel.”

“DADA!” Jamie yelled at the sound of his dad’s voice, squirming in his seat, breakfast abandoned. “Ucky!”

“Hey, Buddy” Steve called back, as Katie undid the straps from his high chair and they made their way into the utility area where Steve was drying Lucky off as best he could with an old towel. Lucky took the opportunity as soon as he could to scoot past Katie into the kitchen.

Jamie glanced at his dad and excitedly wiggled his arms and legs as Steve shrugged off his sodden waterproof running jacket.

“Hi!” He screeched “Hi Dada!”

Steve’s bright smile light up his face “Hi, Son.” He kissed him once on both cheeks and Jamie squeaked happily before Katie set him down and he toddled back over to the play-mat in the corner of the kitchen.

“What, no kiss from my baby mama?” Steve asked, sweeping Katie into his arms and rubbing at her neck with his cold, damp face.

She squealed and tried to pull away, to absolutely no avail, and Steve continued to laugh and use her as a drying cloth.

“Ew! You’re cold and damp and sweaty!” She wrinkled her nose.

“You don’t seem to mind my sweat when I’m chasing your fourth orgasm.” Steve quipped cheekily, dropping his voice to barely more than a whisper, making her laugh.

“That’s different.” “How?”

“Because that’s sex sweat, this is run sweat.”

Steve laughed loudly “I didn’t realise I had different sweat pores for different activities”

“I didn’t mean that!” Katie rolled her eyes “I mean that I’m not sweaty now, I’m warm, and dry…” “Yeah, and if you give me a moment I can rectify that situation.”

“Dirtbag.” She grinned, his chuckle vibrating into her chest. "Go get showered and warmed up. I’ll make you some breakfast.”

"Kiss first.” Steve muttered before he leaned forward and pressed his mouth to hers. His lips were warm and despite herself, Katie leaned into his arms, her hands snaking up into his damp hair.

“Kissy!” Jamie giggled, and they broke apart to look at the tot who was sat on the floor clapping. “Kissy, kissy!”

“I’m gonna kill Emmy.” Steve muttered, and then he spotted Lucky expertly stealing the toast that Jamie had left on the highchair, before sidling out of the room with his precious treat. “And that damned dog.”

Katie laughed and gave him another peck on the cheek before Steve swept past his son, giving his hair a quick ruffle. She leaned back against the counter and smiled, before she sighed, her happy expression faltering a little. They’d had almost three years now of pretty much non-stop domestic bliss, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something surely had to come along at some point and turn it all upside down.

That was how things went for them, right?

“Mama!”

Her attention flew back to her son as he toddled over to her and held his arms up. “Hungry.” “Again?” Katie rolled her eyes as she picked him up.

“Yup.” He nodded emphatically.

Katie smiled, kissing his cheek, and moved him so he was perched on her hip. With one arm she placed more bread in the toaster and looked at her son, who smiled at her and pressed his lips to her cheek in a sloppy kiss.

“Love you.” He grinned and Katie beamed back at him, brushing his hair back.

“Love you too, Sweetheart.” And with that simple act, she managed to push those worries she had to the back of her mind, again, content to just enjoy what they had for as long as they had it.

**** Chapter 48 Part 1

 **Original Posting**

[flowerpowell]

The Dream Life of Ellie Wheeler (Colt x MC // Logan x MC)

PART THREE

A/N: .... I headcanon (fancanon?) that Colt and Ellie live in the same house as they did in The Boy Next Door (except we only have one bedroom here 😉). Sorry for the wait but I hope it’ll be worth it. Let me know what you think about this series because I’m still unsure 🙊 

Rating: G 

Tagging: @delightfullypinkglitter, @mskaneko, @desiree-pow, @lovehugsandcandy, @badchoicesposts​, @kingliam2019​, @client-327​, @walkerduchess​, @sophxwithers​ ❣

“I go on too many dates But I can't make 'em stay At least that's what people say, mm, mm That's what people say, mm, mm”

“My daddy commissary made it to commas Bitch, all my grandmas dead So ain't nobody prayin' for me, I'm on your head, ayy”

“Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake”

“If I gotta go hard on a bitch, I'ma make it look sexy I pull up, hop out, air out, made it look sexy They won't take me out my element Nah, take me out my element”

“Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake I shake it off, I shake it—"

“Hey!” Ellie exclaimed when Colt turned off the radio. “I was listening to something, you know!”

“I was listening to something as well,” he replied, his eyes glued to the road ahead of them. “But since you kept changing my song back to that pop shit, I’d rather drive in silence.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. They were on the road for many hours now and apart from the time she took to take a nap, they had been arguing about the music playing in the car majority of the time.

“Taylor Swift is not that bad, actually. I’m sure you’d enjoy—”

“Right now, all I want is to enjoy the silence.” Colt narrowed his eyes but still didn’t look at Ellie.

“Hey! I have that song somewhere on my phone! I can play it and—”

“Ellie! I’m driving! Can you keep your mouth shut for at least ten minutes?”

“Okay, okay. Sorry,” she quickly said and looked away. Not that there was much to look at but she didn’t want risk Colt changing his mind and driving her back to California. After all, he agreed to her plan and now they were driving to Oklahoma. Ellie really tried to be nice to him. Colt definitely didn’t even bother. Not that she expected anything else.

Her father also didn’t take it in very well. When she came home with marriage certificate in one hand, dragging Colt with the other one, detective Wheeler almost passed out from anger. And shock. But mostly anger.

She knew why.

Yes, he was angry that she got married without telling him but she married a Kaneko. And her father hated Teppei and devoted his life to find dirt on him. And now with Ellie being married to a Kaneko, Mr. Wheeler had to drop the case completely in the name of ‘no family affairs’ policy. Colt’s “hello Daddy” probably didn’t help either. In short, her father was so angry that Ellie was sure there was no higher level of angry.

Colt and Ellie left the same day and Ellie hadn’t spoken to her father since. Freedom tasted a bit sad but so good at the same time.

“Oh! McDonald’s! I’m so hungry, maybe we could—” Ellie pointed her finger at the restaurant as Colt picked up speed and they passed it in a blink of the eye. She looked at her husband and rolled her eyes. He couldn’t even bother to hide that awful smirk. Jerk.

“Your ten minutes of no talking isn’t over yet,” he noticed and Ellie sighed. This man was a nightmare.

Just a few more weeks. You’re doing it for Langston. Think of Langston. Think of—

“We have only six more hours. I think it’s pointless to stop anywhere to eat. You can make dinner when we’re home, wifey.” Colt finally looked at her and smiled smugly. Ellie wanted to punch him so bad but instead she only nodded and focused on the road.

Langston. Think of Langston.

~~~~

Colt didn’t intend to make it any easier for Ellie Wheeler. She blackmailed him, him, and now he was stuck with her. He couldn’t even leave the country as he wanted initially because her father would be capable of sending literal troops after him.

He still remembered Mr. Wheeler’s face when he realized Ellie married him. Teppei Kaneko’s son. For a short moment, Colt thought Mr. Wheeler would explode. Literally explode because Colt could count every single vein on his neck and face. At least he had to drop his father’s case. Colt was safe, as Ellie promised.

He looked at Ellie as she was stretching after the long ride. She was like a weed, he couldn’t get rid of her no matter what he tried to do.

“Here we are,” Colt said, taking his suitcases and leaving Ellie’s still in the car. “Take your stuff and you can start making dinner. I’m quite hungry.”

“You wouldn’t be if you’d stop at McDonald’s! Or literally anywhere else.”

“Why would I do it if my wife works in a coffee shop and is great at cooking?”

He heard her taking a deep breath and counting quietly to ten.

As he said. He had no intention of making it any easier for Ellie Wheeler.

~~~~

After dinner, for which Ellie ordered pizza since there was nothing edible in the house, Colt went upstairs to his bedroom, leaving Ellie alone downstairs. Her suitcases were still in the living room and she wondered where she was supposed to go. The house was pretty small; there was a spacious living room and a kitchen on the first floor and one bedroom and a bathroom on the second.

Ellie climbed up the stairs and hesitantly knocked on Colt’s bedroom door. At least two minutes passed before he opened the door.

“Yes?”

“Umm… Where can I sleep?” She asked hoping there was another bedroom which she hadn’t noticed before. She surely didn’t want to sleep with Colt in the same room. Considering what Colt thought about her, she was sure he felt the same.

“Definitely not here,” he replied.

“That I know.” Ellie took a deep breath. “But I need to sleep somewhere.”

Colt shrugged. “Not my problem. Should’ve thought about it before you made me marry you.”

“I’m sorry, okay! It’s only temporary, I’ll ask around and find a place in a dormitory and you’ll get rid of me.”

“You can sleep in the living room. Sofa’s comfortable.” And with that, Colt closed the door, ending their conversation.

Ellie went downstairs and put her blankets and pillows on the sofa, taking a mental note to buy some bedding. She took a quick shower, taking another mental note to buy a shower gel because the one she found smelled like Colt and she didn’t like it. Feeling a rush of anxiety, she ran to her improvisatorial bed. She closed her eyes, dreaming of her life here, hoping her mother would be proud.

~~~~

“See you’re already in a wife mode.”

“What?” Ellie stopped reading a book to look at Colt.

“Wearing baggy sweats and all. I think I’ve seen you in this Langston sweatshirt a million times and I’ve known you only for a few days,” Colt mocked her, not trying even for a split second to be nice to someone who blackmailed him.

“Well, it’s not like I have anyone to impress,” Ellie snapped back and Colt rolled his eyes. If he thought his job was difficult, he clearly never experienced being fake-married to someone like Ellie Wheeler. Although to be fair, he was probably more awful to her than she to him.

“Good,” he thought to himself. “She blackmailed me. She deserves it.”

And even though he hated her, he also understood her. She wasn’t the only one with a terrible father.

“Did Mona leave the country?” She suddenly asked.

“Hm? Why are you asking?”

“Just curious. You said it was your last job so I assumed…”

“Yeah, left. I would too if someone didn’t force me to put a ring on my finger.” He waved his left hand to prove a point. He wasn’t even sure why he was putting this stupid wedding band onto his finger every day. Ellie wasn’t wearing hers.

“As I said… I’m sorry. But at least my father dropped the case. And as far as I’m concerned no one else was involved in it but my father so… you’re in the clear.”

“Gee, thanks. How nice of you.”

“So it was you and Mona then? Only the two of you? Or is there someone else?”

Colt eyed her suspiciously. “Why are you asking?”

“Just curious,” she repeated. “When Teppei was still around I didn’t see anyone else. And then only you and Mona.” She was silent for a moment. “Colt?”

“Yea?”

“I’m really sorry about your father.”

Colt didn’t say anything for a while and Ellie assumed it was the end of their conversation. She went back to reading her book when he spoke.

“Just me, Mona and Pop.”

“Like three musketeers.” Ellie smiled.

“No. Like MPC.”

“MPC?”

“Geez, don’t you have classes to go to or something?” Colt rolled his eyes.

“Not in another two hours,” she replied. The classes technically hadn’t started yet but Ellie signed up for additional classes for freshman students.

“Mercy Park Crew. That’s us.”

“Hmm, I’ve seen MPC somewhere in my father’s files but I’m pretty sure he never realized it was you.”

“And hopefully he never will,” Colt added. Why was he telling her all of this?

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Was there anything in the files?” Colt asked. “About other car gangs?”

Ellie looked at him curiously. “No… Are there any other gangs?”

Colt was looking somewhere in the distance and it took him a moment to reply. “Yea. Our rivals. Forget it.”

“I could… do some research if you’d like—”

“Just go to your class, okay? Stop with this investigation,” he said and left the house, banging the door on his way out.

Ellie sat stunned for a few minutes before she finally decided she’d rather come too early to her class than stay in the house for another second.

~~~~

Freedom smelled like fall, felt like sun warming her face, tasted like cold air and looked like Oklahoma.

Ellie’s dream life was finally starting.

She felt tears forming in her eyes as she looked at her Langston University. Everything she went through, the arguments with her father, marrying Colt, bearing with Colt… it was all worth it.

Slowly, looking around as if not wanting to miss a single thing, she made her way through the campus. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Freedom filled her lungs. She was walking with her eyes closed, smile on her face. Everything was—

“Ooof!” She bumped into someone and would have fallen if the stranger didn’t catch her in time. Dream life or not, she still was clumsy.

“You know,” the stranger started, helping her stand up. “There are easier ways to get my attention.”

“I, uh… Thanks. I’m sorry about bumping into you. I won’t happen again, I promise.”

“It won’t? Too bad.”

“I… I’m sorry… I…” Ellie stammered as the handsome stranger smirked.

“First day?”

“Yes,” Ellie got her voice back. “I’m Ellie.”

“Nice to meet ya, Ellie. I’m Logan.”

[whump-tr0pes]

Honor Bound 5 - 5

This is a series. Start here, continued from here.

This is a sequel to Honor Bound, Honor Bound 2, Honor Bound 3, Honor Bound 4, and the prequel Vera.

AO3

Ok @eatyourdamnpears, @who-needs-a-life-anyways, and @ashintheairlikesnow, there was a vote for Finn angst vs. Gavin angst, and Finn angst won. However comma. In an unprecedented turn of events, the muse provided for me fluff instead.

Content warning: permanent injury, chronic pain, brief description of surgery, body image issues with scars, implied captivity

~

At Finn’s side, Isaac jumped as if he’d been shocked. “Y-yeah,” he mumbled, still staring at Sam. “Sure.” He stood and looked around numbly, as if he’d already forgotten what Gray had asked him to do.

Finn turned their attention back to Sam. They seemed to be doing better now. There was a faint sheen of sweat on their face, and they still clutched at their wrist, but their breathing was slowing down, easing, and their tears were drying on their cheeks. Finn bit their lip as they reached up and wiped Sam’s tears away with their thumbs.

Sam looked behind Finn forlornly as Isaac began to pick up the biggest shards of the shattered bowl. “I guess I won’t be able to get up until that’s clean,” they murmured.

“Yeah,” Finn said distantly. “Probably a good idea to wait until it’s clean, yeah.”

“So I guess…” Sam sniffed. “I guess we should… talk it about it now.” They looked down at their lap.

Finn groaned and moved to Sam’s side, sitting down and leaning back against the cabinets beside them. Whipped cream dried on the bottoms of Finn’s shoes. “We don’t have to, Sam,” they said softly. “We don’t… e-ever have to talk about it, if you, um… don’t…” They trailed off and trembled as a wave of guilt washed over them. They buried their face in their hands.

Sam was silent for a long time. The drying whipped cream under Isaac’s shoes make a tacky sound as he criss-crossed the kitchen picking up pieces of the bowl that seemed to lay in every corner.

“Finn?” Sam said softly. Finn raised their head to look at them. Fresh tears stained their cheeks. “I’m… I’m s-sorry.”

“Don’t be, Sam,” Finn said heavily. Edrissa and Zachariah were busy wiping up the whipped cream with towels. Gavin had maneuvered past the mess and into the living room. Finn could hear a bucket being filled with water in the laundry room. “I… understand.”

“But—” Sam bit their lip. “I didn’t want you to find out… like this. I was hoping you’d never have to, um, f-find out at all. I thought… I thought maybe…”

Finn dragged their shoulders up around their ears. “It still might get better, I guess,” they croaked. “If… if it’s caused by, um, by inflammation, or, or s-something like that, then once the, ah, swelling goes down, you might… might get…” Finn looked down at their hands. “I don’t… think…”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Sam whispered.

Finn’s hands slowly curled into fists. “You don’t, um… d-don’t know that, Sam. I could have… while I was, um, fixing you up, I found a nerve that was in the way… I was careful, I was—” Their voice twisted. Their cleared their throat, swallowed against the hot lump there. “I was so fucking careful. I thought… I stayed clear of it. I thought I…” They let their head fall back against the cabinets with a thump. “I thought I did it right,” they whispered.

“You did,” Sam said weakly. “I’m… I’m p-pretty sure…” They cleared their throat. “I’m pretty sure the nerve was, um… already messed up. By the bullet.”

Finn’s head snapped forward, and they stared at Sam. “What… do you mean?”

“Um…” Sam’s throat worked, and they swallowed noisily. “I… th-think I remember… even before the surgery, I…” They looked down at their right hand. “It… hurt. In my hand, and right here…” They drew their pointer finger across the inside of their forearm. “All the way up to here.” They gently ran their finger over the inside of their arm, all the way up to the sleeve of their t-shirt. “I… think I remember… feeling like something was wrong.”

Finn stared at Sam. Their heart squeezed painfully in their chest, hope washing through them, flushing the bitter shame out of their veins. “Sam… are you… You’re not just saying that because—”

“No,” Sam said, and met Finn’s eyes. “I’m not.”

Finn slumped back against the cabinets. “Then… then it’s not…” They wet their lips. “Then it’s not… my… fault?”

Edrissa drew near, wiping the floor clean of whipped cream. Sam glanced at her for a moment before they returned their gaze to Finn. “No,” they rasped. “It’s not your fault.”

Finn’s breath rushed out from between their lips, leaving their chest aching. “O-oh,” they murmured. Tears burned in their eyes.

“You did a good job, Finn,” Sam said softly.

“Oh,” Finn said again. They jerked the collar of their shirt up and wiped their eyes. “Oh.” When they dropped their shirt again, Isaac stood over them both.

“Um…” Isaac bit his lip. “We’re about done, Gray just needs to, um, to mop.” Isaac glanced behind him just as Gray walked back into the kitchen carrying a bucket of steaming water and a mop. The smell of lemon washed over Finn, drowning out the sweet smell of the whipped cream.

“Yeah,” Finn mumbled. They pushed themself to their feet. They glanced up to see Ellis standing at the counter, looking in from the living room. Their hands were locked on the counter and their gaze was concerned and fixed on Sam. Gavin stood beside them, looking stricken. Ellis didn’t even seem to notice him.

Finn blinked and reached down for Sam. Sam took their hand, and Finn pulled Sam to their feet. Sam wobbled, holding their injured foot up, and looked across the expanse of the kitchen floor towards the hallway to the bedrooms.

“I… can, can hop, but I’ll get the floor all whipped-cream-y,” Sam said, glancing at the foot they were balanced on. Whipped cream clung to the sides of their foot.

“I can carry you,” Isaac said at Finn’s shoulder. His voice was pitched low, his gaze moving over Sam’s clothes. Sam chewed their lip and nodded once.

Finn suddenly burst out laughing as they realized Sam was covered in whipped cream from head to toe. They bent forward at the waist, cackling and gasping for air. “Oh my… how did you three even… manage to make this mess?” they wheezed, holding their side. “How… holy shit?”

“We won, though,” Edrissa said quietly, standing by Zachariah by the sink, scrubbing the bottom of her foot with a wet towel.

“Yeah, because there were two of you!” Sam cried, scandalized, their eyes wide in a look of mock hurt. “It wasn’t fair!”

“You can discuss the legality of their win once the kitchen is all cleaned up,” Gray said with a smile, dipping the mop into the bucket of steaming water and whatever it was that smelled like lemon. They wrung out the mop and let it fall to the floor with a smack.

“And once I’m cleaned up, too,” Sam said. They wiped at their face, where a streak of whipped cream was now drying. “I need a shower. Holy crap.”

Gray laid a towel down on a clean patch of floor at the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. “Here, Isaac,” they said. “Take off your shoes here as you take them to the bathroom. Finn, you need to wipe your feet there, too. Unless you’d like to wipe down the cabinets.”

Finn blinked and realized there were spatters of whipped cream on the cabinets closest to where the bowl had fallen. “Damn,” they breathed. “Sure, I’ll help with the cabinets.”

Finn turned as the front door opened and watched Tori and Vera step into the house.

Tori froze as she saw everyone standing in the kitchen, covered in various degrees with whipped cream. Vera was right behind her carrying two canvas bags. She glanced at Tori and followed her gaze into the kitchen. Her eyebrows slowly pulled together.

“Uh… what’d I miss?”

“Edrissa and Zachariah cheated,” Sam grumbled good-naturedly.

“She jumped on my back,” Zachariah said, his gaze flicking between Sam and Edrissa. “As you’ll recall, I wanted no part on this. I only wanted to save myself.” He pressed his lips together, but a smile still pulled at the corners of his mouth. “I am merely a casualty of war.”

“Did you use up all the whipped cream?” Tori gasped. “What… no!”

“I told Gray I would make more!” Edrissa protested.

“We leave for two hours, and the whole house goes to shit,” Vera muttered as she set the bags on the floor and bent down to tug off her shoes.

“What’d you bring us?” Ellis said as they made their way from the counter back to the couch. Gavin remained at the counter, glancing at Sam every now and then, but mostly keeping his gaze down. Ellis shrugged. “I hope you had more luck than Finn did.”

Finn’s heart twinged. Maybe Crayton could get the nausea meds sooner. I wonder if I should call their general store…?

“Made some inquiries in Burmingham,” Vera said as she bent to pick up the bags. “They didn’t get any apples this week, which makes them think there was a disturbance in the southwest supply lines. No news yet about who’s taking over the western sector.” She walked over to the kitchen and stopped at the towel Gray had laid down in the walkway from the living room. “Do I need a password?” she said sardonically, and cocked an eyebrow at Gray.

Gray snorted. “The password is, ‘I don’t want my socks getting sticky.’ I’ll take the bags.” They leaned the mop against the counter and took the bags from Vera’s hands. They set them on the counter and picked up the mop again. Vera wandered into the living room. “Isaac, Finn, this would be the ideal time to leave the kitchen.”

Isaac nodded and looked to Sam. “Ready?” he said softly. Pain flickered in his eyes, tightened in his mouth.

They met his gaze and nodded. “Sure.”

Isaac bent and let Sam wrap their arm around his neck. He gently lifted Sam in his arms and didn’t even seem to notice the whipped cream smearing on his own shirt. He walked with Sam to the towel and kicked off his sticky shoes. He disappeared with them down the hall. Isaac came back around the corner with an armload of Sam’s clothes. After a moment, Finn heard the sound of water rushing through the pipes.

“These need to be washed, I guess,” Isaac said as he stopped at the towel that now served to bar entry to anyone with clean feet. He held out the clothes. “Here are these, I can go grab them some clean ones from their room.”

“Your shirt has whipped cream all over it,” Vera said from the couch, where she sat with her arm around Tori’s shoulders.

Isaac glanced down. “Oh,” he said, and pulled at the hem. “How… This got everywhere, Jesus,” he huffed. He dropped Sam’s clothes onto the towel and pulled his own shirt in one fluid motion.

Everyone in the house seemed to go silent at once. Isaac stared at the shirt in his hand as if dumbfounded at what he’d just done. His scars shone white against his skin, crossing his chest, his arms, his back. He shivered and folded his arms across his chest. A flush crept up his neck.

Finn couldn’t even remember the last time Isaac had had his shirt off around the others. It certainly hadn’t been since he’d been captured by Gavin – almost exactly a year ago, now.

Gray took the shirt from Isaac’s hand and let it fall onto the small pile of Sam’s clothes. “Thank you, Isaac,” they said casually, as if nothing had happened. “We’ll get these in the wash.”

Isaac blinked and took a step back. “Yeah… okay, thanks, Gray,” he murmured. He turned and disappeared down the hall towards the bedrooms. When he emerged again, he had a long-sleeved shirt on. He went to Gavin’s side at the counter and pulled him close. Isaac pressed his lips to Gavin’s forehead, his gaze unfocused.

Edrissa all but materialized in front of Finn, holding a towel. That girl walks so quietly, I swear to god… Finn shivered as they realized why it might have suited Edrissa to learn to walk so quietly in the first place. They wet the towel at the sink and began to scrub the whipped cream from the cabinets.

Gray carried the mop to the far corner of the kitchen and began to clean the floor of the last of the sticky residue. Edrissa grabbed the small pile of clothes, and the large pile of sticky towels, and took them into the laundry room to start a load of laundry in the washing machine.

A washing machine. I’ve never even had one of those before.

Finn cleaned the cabinets, and Gray mopped the floor, dipping the mop back into the bucket, squeezing it out, wiping the floor clean again. The whole room smelled of lemon, now.

Finn finished with the cabinets and took off their shoes to avoid tracking the whipped cream any further into the house. Gray got all the traces of whipped cream off the floor and took the mop and bucket back into the laundry room to be cleaned out.

Sam wandered back into the living room, limping slightly on their injured foot. Finn practically leapt forward to help them before Sam held out a hand.

“I’m good,” they said softly. “And I, um, figured out how to take the bandages off and put them back on once I was clean.” They lifted their head and grinned at Finn and Isaac in turn.

“Oh,” Finn said, and a smile spread slowly across their face. “That’s… geez, Sam, you trying to force me out of the job?”

“Oh, I gave you a run for your money,” Sam said with a laugh.

“Hey, um, Sam?” Edrissa said softly from the kitchen. Her cheeks flushed red. “Do you and Zachariah, um… want to help me make more?”

Sam’s grin widened. “You bet,” they said, and limped back into the kitchen.

Edrissa pointed to a high shelf. “Zachariah, could you…? The big bowl.”

Zachariah smiled gently, and reached up to get the bowl Edrissa was pointing at.

Continued here

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[harrysgloves]

Trouble (chapter 2)

>>>Catch up with master list here!<<<

word count: 5.6K

story summary: You’re nothing but trouble and Harry can’t help the fact that he wants a taste.

warnings: LANGUAGE // Bisexual character // Date rape drugs (not used only mentioned no one’s getting drugged I promise!) // Smut and lots of it fam. // Oral female receiving // Rough sex? // Unprotected sex (don’t do this okay?) // slight degradation // Size kink? (honestly it’s a lot lemme know if I missed something.)

chapter summary: You and Harry hook up 

a/n: wooo took me a long time to write but it’s long so enjoy. This is turning out to be another series so I’m super excited for that! Also, I don’t condone any of this behavior this is just a story for fun. Don’t do this shit. PLEASE. Okay. Thanks.

>>><<<

Harry couldn't keep his eyes off you all night. He stared you down everywhere you went. Following your every move across the bar. From the minute you walked out of your bedroom dressed like THAT he couldn't peel his eyes off you.

Your tight black faux leather skirt hugged every inch of your thighs. Your ass seconds from popping out of the back of it. When you did a little spin for him to tell you if he liked your outfit or not he had to hold back the groan bubbling in the back of his throat.

The thigh high boots you had on with that little crop top that made your breast so out there and full with that choker necklace around your neck was driving him mad. He had to readjust the problem in his pants many times before even walking out the door to go meet the rest of your friends.

He knew he was done for the second you teased your hair one last time in the mirror by the door. His mind immediately started flashing images of his hand laced through your hair pulling it so tightly your head snapped back as he rammed his cock so deep inside you those beautiful moans fell from your perfectly pouty lips. He'd fuck you so hard into the bed teasing you the whole time about how you couldn't take his big cock.

Your sloppy wet hole squeezing him for dear life as he pounded into you over and over again until you came all over him but he wouldn't stop there. No, he'd use you all up, make you never want to be with anyone else ever again. Have you cumming on his length until you couldn't even remember your own name.

"You coming?" You said, holding open the apartment door open, looking at him with those curious doe eyes that he'd love to see looking up from the floor as he shoved his dick so far down your throat you'd choke.

"Uh, yeh." He tried his best to wipe all his thoughts out of his mind but he couldn't help it. Ever since he saw you spread out on the living room floor, hearing your sweet moans, he wanted to fuck the soul out of you.

You smiled biting your lip as you turned to walk down the hallway. Knowing full well what he was thinking. Your hips swaying just a bit more than usual as you walked in front of him.

"Jesus, just fuck her already." Finn groaned from beside Harry snapping his eyes off you lingering at the bar to his friend.

"Whatever." He said rolling his eyes and taking a swig of his beer. If he wanted to stare at you he had to get better at hiding it. Your friends lived to give him shit.

"He's right. You stare at her any longer you're going to get a restraining order." Link laughed from the other side of Harry the second the brunette shot him a look. He was already tired of this conversation and it had just started.

"Yeah Link, like you don't look the same way whenever Addie walks into a room." The last boy, Lex, in the group smiled widely as Link flushed slightly and Finn gagged.

"Shut the fuck up that's my sister!" Finn groaned looking around the room as he tried to not get pissed about his friend fucking his sister… again.

"They've been together fo' 4 months mate. It's time t'get over it." Harry said, smiling at his now very pissed off and uncomfortable friend. Thankful the conversation had moved off you and towards anything else.

He was so tired of everyone giving him shit for how much he liked you. He just couldn't help it. From the first time he saw you he was intrigued. Your not giving a fuck attitude. Your style. Everything about you was so enticing.

He knew you were nothing but a heartbreak waiting to happen but he couldn't help the fact he thought about what it'd be like to be with.

But now with those lingering thoughts of you on the floor moaning and thrashing around, he wanted you more than ever.

"At least he's not fucking your sister." Finn argued to Lex. Their feud building. Really it was like they liked fighting about this, since it was almost every time they went out someone brought up Link and Adeline.

"No the British fucker is doing mine." Lex said, rolling his eyes before he looked at Harry.

"It was one time and I was drunk and 've said sorry 12 times! Besides, she's with Rose and I didn't know." A shudder ran through his body as he thought back to his night with Elena. He wasn't one to help someone cheat and if he would have known about Rose he definitely wouldn't have slept with her.

"I'm so glad I don't have a sister." Link said, smiling widely as Finn glared at him.

"Your brother's hot. He can be fair game." Harry smirked at Link who stood there with his mouth gaping.

"Oh fuck, he got you there." Lex cackled, Finn joining along with Harry as Link grumbled out something about killing all of them.

It didn't take long for Harry's eyes to move back across the room to you. He should have guessed you'd be at the bar chatting up some guy who had bought you the same cheap beer he was drinking. His arm touching your leg.

You only looked away from your drink for a second. Your head turning around to look for all your friends. It was only a second but it was long enough for the creep trying to get you home with him to slip something into your drink.

"Holy shit." Harry coughed, spitting out the alcohol in his mouth back into his bottle, ready to go kick someone's ass when Link's hand reached out to stop him.

"You're going to miss the best part." His friend said making Harry turn to him, eyebrows furrowed.

"Wot?"

"Ohhh, did someone drug her drink, again?" Finn asked way too excited as they all turned to look at you staring at your drink. Your eyes rising so slowly to the guy in front of you before turning to the group of boys.

Harry watched completely confused when Finn gave a subtle nod. Your head snapping back to the creep in front of you. The sweetest smile Harry had ever seen coming across your face.

"God, I love this." Lex said making Harry look at him momentarily before focusing back on you.

He was going to walk over to you but Link's hand stayed firmly over his chest as he shook his head no. Pointing to you now gesturing to the guy somewhere behind him.

Harry's heart racing as the jacked up jock turned around in his seat to look behind him. You looked over to the group of boys sending them a wink before switching the bottles of beer around before the guy turned back to you.

"Fuck, everytime. These idiots, I swear." Finn gave a short chuckle as the huge guy sitting across from you at the bar started drinking his drink so pleased with himself as you picked up your own and took a large gulp.

"Not like they don't deserve it." Link shrugged, removing his hand from Harry's chest.

His eyes never left you. At the bar chatting up this asshole like he didn't about date rape you. Your arm resting on the jerks leg as he started to sway in his seat. Your hand reaching out for the dudes phone, sending a text from it before putting it back in his pocket.

Your hands running around in his other pants pockets until you pulled out a small baggie and the guys wallet. Placing a kiss on the sleeping man's face, an outline of your lipstick left behind on his cheek as you turned so triumphantly towards your group of friends.

"Looks like drinks are on…" You paused opening the wallet one more time. "Aaron Anders. What a fucking name."

"Here you go, knock yourself out and make sure you flush those for me. Can't let anymore rapey pervs get ahold of that shit in here." You said throwing the wallet and baggie to Finn who caught it instantly.

"Who'd y'text from his phone?" Harry asked, his head peeking around you to see the guy being lifted out of the bar by his friends.

"The creeps friends. Couldn't let him die or some shit. That'd be hard to explain." You shrugged, not bothering to look around at the guy being pulled out of the bar.

Really. It was his own fault.

"Where's Ellie and Rose?" Lex said, turning his head around the room to try and look for them which was really pointless.

"Probably fucking in the bathroom." You said, not even attempting to look around. If you knew Rose, she was already trying to win her girl back.

"I'm serious about those pills, Finn, flush them." You said, turning your attention to the guy on your right. His hand running through the billowing waves of dark black hair at the top of his head as he debated what you said.

You should have known the idiot would be thinking about taking them. He had a real problem when it came to drugs.

"We could just take them and see where the night goes." He said, his dark chocolate brown puppy dog eyes looking up to meet yours. Making you laugh at how serious he was being.

He was always a fun time but the kid had some real issues.

"Dude, no."

"Yeah, you got some serious problems."

"I think we should get y'sum therapy mate."

"Fuck, sugguest one thing and all the sudden its oh Finn you have a drug addiction. Fuck you guys." Finn huffed, turning to leave the group and heading for the bathrooms. Your smile wide across your face as you watched to make sure he didn't detour to go date rape drug himself.

It was only a few seconds of you staring at the now closed men's bathroom door before you felt eyes burning through you. Your attention snapping up to Harry who didn't even bother to look away from you.

"Wanna dance?" You asked him, licking your lips. His eyes focusing on them so intensely your breathing caught in your throat. The way he looked at you sometimes, like he was ready to pounce on you, take you right then and there. It was exhilarating.

Your hand wrapped around his wrist, pulling him through the crowd before he even had a chance to respond to your question. As much as you love playing this teasing game with him he wasn’t going to be staring at you all night long, looking like he was about 2 seconds from ripping your clothes to shreds, without at least dancing with you.

"GET IT HARRY!" You heard Link yell from behind you, making you roll your eyes and try harder to push through all the people on the dance floor.

"If you don't shut the fuck up I'm going to tell Addie about this shit. We can't take you anywhere." You heard the last bit of what Lex yelled at Link and a sharp “ow”, you assumed Lex had hit him and honestly, you were thankfully.

Your misfit group of friends, while very entertaining at times, were assholes. They stuck their noses in everyone’s business and had no problem forcing themselves into things that didn’t concern them. They were rude, overbearing, and you loved them for it. Even if it was a little much at times.

Your hands instantly wrapped behind the back of his neck when you made it to a clear enough spot on the dance floor. His firm grip on your waist sent sparks through you. Your big doe eyes flashing up to his smugly smiling face, knowing damn well you felt whatever was between you two.

His body was like a magnet slowly drawing you closer and closer to him. You swayed to the beat of the music, moving in complete sync with him, his body pressed so tightly to yours as you moved back and forth.

The air around you two became thick with the body heat of the others around you. Your hair stuck to the back of your neck but you couldn’t have cared less. The way he was holding you to him like you were the last thing on this earth that he wanted to touch had you wanting to beg him to fuck you right now.

You had no idea dancing could be such a turn on.

He pulled you in even closer to him, his large hands hungrily running over every inch of you that he could possibly touch.

You stopped dancing, biting your lip as you looked at him. His own movements stopping with you. His eyes focusing from your chest that was pressed against him to your lips.

"Can I kiss you?" You asked, eyes pleading up to him. You'd never wanted to kiss someone so much in your whole life.

His lips curling up slightly at the edges as he hummed, thinking about what you'd ask. His hand moving your hair off your forehead, wrapping around the back of your neck as he pulled your lips to his.

Fireworks wasn't even close to how it felt, more like an explosion.

Sparks.

Fire.

Shooting flames of adrenaline pulsating from his mouth to your own. Consuming your entire being into him.

His tongue forcing its way into your mouth with no hesitation. So damn determined to get what he wanted from you. So demanding, so forceful, so dominating.

The submissive inside of you whimpering. Clawing its way to the surface of your mind.

"I love being right." You heard the sweet voice from beside you. Pulling back from Harry not even needing to look beside you to know she'd be wearing a smug smile on her face.

"I like y'bein' right too." He said to Rose. Your eyebrows furrowed as you looked at him before turning to her. Silently questioning what she was talking about.

"I said you'd totally fuck him. He didn't think so." She shrugged, her head laying on Elena's shoulder.

For being so cozy with Rose the girl looked like she wanted to murder you. Her eyes narrowing at the hands around your waist. Harry not letting your body go very far from his.

"Must be nice to be right all the time, baby." You said with a smile. "We're going home."

>>>

Any shred of decency you had left in you was gone as soon as the car door to your uber closed shut. You were on him from the minute you two were semi alone. Legs straddling over his waist in the backseat. Your skirt riding up so high your ass was exposed. The cool air coming from the vents licked your hot skin.

"Gonna give him a show like y'did me?" Harry asked when his lips momentarily disconnected from yours. That swoon worthy smug on his face as you shrugged.

"Don't think he'd mind." You said, leaning back down to connect your lips to his. His hands grabbing your thighs, running up to your cheeks of your behind, pulling you forward onto his clothed length.

Rose definitely wasn't lying. The dude was fucking stacked. Your core clenching involuntary at the sheer thought of him sliding into you. Already feeling bad for the abuse you were about to put your body through.

"Not that the free porn isn't great but we've been outside your place for 10 minutes." The guy from the front finally interrupted you two.

Harry pulled away with a smile on his face as he slapped your ass signaling you to get off of him.

You squeaked, slapping his shoulder, grumbling about him being a dick as you got out of the car. Harry tapping the poor drivers shoulder when he finally got out, shaking his head, smiling at you, his arm wrapping around your shoulders as he pulled you up the stairs to your apartment.

The second the door to your apartment flew open he was on you. Hands gripping the back of your neck as he held your lips to his. Your feet stumbling over his as you both tried to take off your shoes without disconnecting your lips. His arms wrapping around your waist to steady you on your feet.

"Eager?" You asked, smug smile on your face as you peered up at him.

"No idea sweetheart. Had t'deal with a hard-on all week after y'little show." He said pulling you in closer to him. His hands traveling down the valley of your back to your bottom, squeezing each cheek hard in this hand.

"My room. Now." He ordered. Your lips rolling into your mouth at his demanding tone of voice. Already loving the idea of him being so rough with you.

You turned on your heel heading for his bedroom. Taking off your top as you walked down the hallway with him shortly behind you. Throwing the useless piece of cloth over your shoulder, you heard him groan.

You felt his arms back around you, his chest bare chest pressed against your back as he guided you quickly into his room. Slamming the door behind him and promptly pressing you up against the flimsy wood.

"Thought I said my room, not get undressed?" He asked a small smile playing on the corner of his lips as he watched your chest rise up and down from your heavy breathing.

"Thought you knew I liked to break rules." You said arms snaking behind yourself to undo your bra clasp. The black material falling to the floor in between you two.

His eyes immediately focusing on your chest. You could have sworn they visibly darkened. A shiver running through your body as he looked at you. His eyes eagerly eating up every inch of your chest. Studying every crevice of you as his hands grasped each breast firmly. His slightly callused fingers running across your soft skin was such a contrasting feeling to anyone else you'd been with. Taking the air from your lungs as he continued to touch you like it was the only thing he'd ever wanted to do.

"Fuck." He groaned when he heard your soft sighs, leaning down and capturing your lips again.

Your arms laced behind his neck as he guided you to his bed. Pushing you down on the soft blankets. Following you down to the bed. He laid over top of you, leg between yours, hands on either side of your head as he kissed the soul out of you.

Every movement of his tongue against yours had your hips shifting for any sort of friction you could find. Thinking of the things that tongue could do to other parts of you as you pulled him in closer to you. Your chest pressed tight against his as your nails ran down his back and eventually to the button of his pants.

"Eager?" He asked, pulling away from you with a smile, throwing your own words back at you.

"Yeah I am. So get these off." You said, pulling his pants down the little bit you could from your position under him. Not caring how desperate your voice sounded. You were impatient and not above showing it.

In the short time of you kissing him in the club to now he had gotten you so worked up. Every touch he laid on you sent sparks shooting through your entire body. Kissing him was better than any kiss you'd ever had.

It was already addictive. He was addictive.

"Awe, lovey, 'M sorry want me t'touch y'yeh?" His one hand lifting from beside your head, pushing up your skirt.

Your breath catching as his fingers gently ran across your soaking wet underwear. Your hips lifting of their own accord, chasing his hand as he pulled it away from you.

"Jesus, fuckin' soaked fo' me."

The tease knew what he was doing to you. Smiling down so brightly with those perfectly white straight teeth gleaming at you, taunting you. You groaned in frustration, rolling your eyes at him as you laid further back into the mattress.

"Harry." You whined, shifting your hips again. Hands desperately pulling at the front of his undone pants, finally freeing him.

His length hitting you on the leg before bouncing to his stomach. Your eyes widened as you looked down at the very large situation you had at hand.

"That's not gonna fit." You said staring down at the monstrosity before you as he laughed deeply from his chest, shaking his head at you.

"I'm serious! That's like a fucking forearm!" You knew Rose saidwhe was supposed ro be huge but the guy was as big as a porn star. There was no way that thing was supposed to fit inside you. No way.

"Guess I'll have t'get y'ready then." He said, standing from the bed, slipping off his pants one leg at a time. His eyes never leaving you for one minute.

You cautiously eyed him as he continued to smile down at you. You could feel his ego inflating by the second which was infuriating but you honestly had no idea how the hell he planned on getting that fucking thing inside you without it hurting.

"You'll stop if it hurts right?" You asked, making him pause as he got back onto the bed.

"Course. Y'still want t'do this?" He asked, slowly backing away but you quickly reached for him, arms around his neck.

"Yeah just wanted to make sure." You quickly kissed him again. Hoping he wouldn't start having second thoughts about this. You were already here, half dressed, and turned on. It'd be a shame to waste a good night out and not get laid.

"Tell me if y'get uncomfortable, yeh?" He asked, pulling away from you, his eyes that soft cute green again, making you bite your lip as you nodded your agreement.

You laid back down on the bed as he moved further into you. Resting on your elbows as those soft satin lips you were slowly becoming obsessed with connected to yours again. Calming to waves of anxiety in your mind.

His hands smoothly unzipping the side zipper of your skirt with ease. Slowly pulling the taunt fabric down your legs. The tips of his fingers gently brushing across your silky legs as the fabric was pulled off and tossed carelessly to the floor.

His lips parting from your needy mouth. Trailing his lips across the sensitive skin of your collarbone, down to the swells of your breast. His tongue running circles across your pebbled nipples, slowly, but with determination to give care to each one individually. His lips curling at the sounds of your gasps and sighs when he pulled back slightly to blow cool air gently across the warm trail his tongue left across your chest.

Watching so intently when your nipples poked to hard points. A satisfied hum coming from him as he observed your body's reaction to him. Your chest moving up and down so quickly, hands clutching his blanket for dear life.

Trailing lingering wet kisses down your stomach. Your legs involuntarily clenching when he nipped lightly at the sensitive skin close to your hip bone. A hiss coming from you as he repeated the action on the other side.

His tattooed hand running across the thin lace fabric of your underwear and you could feel his grin against your heated skin. His fingers gently tugging down the remainder of your fabric.

Leaving you completely naked in front of him. Your heart rate picking up the second he moved so swiftly in between your legs. Resting on your elbows to see him sat with one of your legs on either side of his head. His hands running down the insides of your thighs, making you clench around nothing.

"What did Rose say again?" He asked, finger gently pulling back your lips slightly. His thumb rubbing light circles around your bundle of nerves before looking up at you, waiting for you to answer his question.

"What?" You asked, confused as to why these two insisted on talking about the other as you laid beneath them. He had you dripping a puddle between your legs and he really expected you to talk about Rose?

"I think she said sumthin' 'bout makin' y'sing right, love?" He asked, not bothering to give you any time to answer.

His mouth connecting with your core in an instant. His tongue flat and thick as he leisurely swiped from your entrance all the way to your clit. Your head landing back on the bed as you let out a shocked moan.

"Fuck, y'taste so sweet." He said his British accent somehow getting thicker as he became entranced in you. His arms wrapping around your thighs pulling you down on his face as he took his time tasting you.

Your eyes struggled to stay open as you peered down at him completely devouring you. The things he could do while kissing you was impressive. But this? This was on a different level.

He took complete joy in hearing your untamed moans. Showing no care in world as he dragged his face around in your arousal. Happily lapping up every single drop from you as he switched so skillfully between your pulsating bundle of nerves and your entrance.

He was a man who hadn't ate in years.

And you were his meal.

His hands around your thighs digging into your skin only added to your insane amount of pleasure. His fingers embedded into your skin leaving bruises on your soft silky skin for everyone to see.

You felt like an instrument being so beautifully played. Chords echoing from deep in your chest as his fingers slipped inside of you, pumping to a distant imaginary metronome.

Your body burned brighter than the sun, a warming sensation pulling at the pit of your stomach. Completely different than anything you'd ever experienced before.

"Harry." You breathed out, hands lacing through his hair to pull his mouth off you.

"It feels different." You whined as a third finger entered you. His pace not faltering the slightest bit as he smiled up to you.

That adorable angelic simple popping out was such a contrast to the devilish things he was doing to you.

"I know." Was the only thing he said before his mouth was back on you, giving light suction to your clit as his fingers expertly slid into you on final time.

The dam had broke. Flooding, gushing, out of you as your vision blackened around the edges. You'd never had an out of body experience before but you were sure this was what they felt like.

Your whole body tensing before a wave of mind numbing euphoria rained over you. The moan you let out was like thunder, roaring in a tidal wave of absolute pleasure.

You had no idea sex could feel like this.

Your body no longer felt like your own as you laid on the now wet bed. Slight twitches of your leg was the only thing keeping your eyes even slightly open until the smug smiling Harry came into your line of sight. He licked his lips so arrogantly as he brushed the hair from your face.

"How was that fo' gettin' y'ready, love?" His playful green eyes would have infuriated you with his taunting tone of voice but you were too gone in that fuzzy state of mind to notice.

"Amazing." You said honestly, you had never had anything even remotely close to that before. Your body was still experiencing random shocks and twitches as he guided you to a less wet spot of his bed.

He parted your legs, hands running down the inside of your thighs as his length slapped gently against your bundle of nerves. Jolts running through you everytime he sprung back to your clit.

He slowly guided himself through your soaked folds. Watching your lips encased around him. He let out a low hiss when his tip slipped inside you, already stretching your walls.

You whimpered at the feeling of his thick tip sliding in and out of you. Slowly working his way up to you being able to take all of him. He moved so carefully. Inching his way fully full inside of you.

"God, y'fuckin' tight." He groaned as your walls clamped around him. Pulling him even further into you.

You whimpered out a pathetic moan when he pulled out of you slowly all the way to his tip and fully back into your tight channel. His eyes glued to where you were connected, watching himself finally fuck you.

"What's wrong, pup?" He asked when he saw your hips shift forward slightly, the cocky smile on his face as he leaned down over you. Resting on one forearm his other hand wrapping around the back of your neck.

"Harder." You whined, bucking your hips underneath him, trying to get him to move the way you wanted him to. Desperate for him to make you feel like he did before.

"Thought y'couldn't handle me?" He said his hips ever so slightly pushing harder into you. Making you wither and moan beneath him.

"Please, Harry." You cried, arms wrapping around the back of his neck as you. Your legs connecting around his back trying anything to get him to finally fuck you.

He connected his lips to yours swallowing your cries and moans as his hips rolled against yours. Crashing against you with so much force against that sweet spot inside of you could barely think straight.

Your body became nothing but a moldable toy for him. He ripped you up from the bed, turning you around within a blink of an eye. Slamming himself back into you from behind.

"Oh, fuck." You cried, head hanging down between your bent arms.

"Wanna hear what 'M doin' t'ya" He said breathlessly from behind you. His hand around your neck as he brought you to his sweat covered chest.

Your hands holding on to his one arm for dear life as he took whatever he wanted. His lips pressed against your ear. His breathless, groans and whispers of how fucking good you felt wrapped around him so tightly were the only thing you could hear.

Your body couldn't take anymore. The high just on the horizon as his thrusts started to get harder and sloppier.

"Gonna cum all over my cock, sweet girl?" He asked, a satisfied hummed leaving him when your walls tightened around him at his words.

"Such a dirty girl, puppy." He whispered into your ear. Chuckling softly at the moan that left you, shaking his head.

He let your body fall to the bed. Your arms barely catching yourself before your face smacked into one of his pillows. You were so close to going again. Your orgasm so close you could taste it as his hands held tightly onto your waist.

"Should 'ave known y'wanted me to use y'like a cocksleve." He said so close to your ear as his front draped over your backside. An earth shattering moan left you at his words. Throwing your hips backwards faster into him as your body worked of its own accord.

His free hand rubbing the perfect amount of pressure on your clit was all you needed to finally let go.

Fucking him was the closest you'd ever get to heaven.

Your eyes closed, rolling into the back of your head as the euphoric feeling swept you away. Your body shaking as you let it all out. Let yourself go completely. Your fuzzy state of mind only increasing with this long lasting effect he had on your body.

You'd never cum as hard as you did when you were with him.

The finale snap if his hips and warm release across your ass was what snapped you out of it. Laying down flatly on his bed as he laid down beside you. Arm over his face as he tried to take in much needed air.

"We should 'ave done that ages ago." He said, making you laugh as you got up from your spot in his bed.

"We could always do it again. I wouldn't mind." You said as you picked up your random articles of clothing from around his room.

"Where y'goin'?" He asked, removing the arm from his face. The confused look he was giving you was nothing short of adorable.

"I'm going to my room." You said simply shrugging as you grabbed the last thing you thought you had in his space.

"Why?" He asked, sitting up on his elbow as he watched you scanning for any leftover articles of clothing you may have laying around.

"Cause I don't do stay overs." You pulled your underwear out from beneath his pants quickly adding them to the pile of clothes you had to take back with you to your room.

"Wot?"

"Have you ever seen someone leaving here in the morning that I've been with?" You asked him, finally, done looking for everything you could finally talk to him face to face.

"No?"

"Yeah, because I don't let people stay over and I don't do the whole cuddling thing or staying at theirs. Just easier that way."  You said sternly. Making it well known from the start that this wasn't going to be anything serious.

You didn't do serious.

"See ya tomorrow, Harry." You said with a smile as you walked out his room shutting his down behind you.

He groaned lay back against the bed hands running down his face as he looked at the ceiling in his room. His mind running with all the things he liked about you. All the ways you were perfect.

And God, the sex, it was just the best with you. Everything about you was just so fucking addictive.

And now that he's had a taste, he wants more.

[takenbyheartstrings]

Pretty White Dress [ a.d ]

Summary: You and DeLuca have been dating for four years, when he decides to surprise you on your fourth anniversary, things just go the way he wants them to, because not every story has a happy ending, but this story does.

Pairing: Andrew DeLuca x dr!Reader

Authors Note: i almost died writing this, that’s it.

Warnings: SO MUCH FLUFF

As cheif of trauma, you had a lot of dignity. You were in a very high position in the hospital, being Amelia’s younger sister by a year, was anything but easy, as the youngest Shepherd and living with your three sisters who were also the chiefs of the hospital, basically, the hospital was run by your family. Being there since your intern days with Jo.

You woke up that morning, Andrews’ arm around your waist, he held you close. You smiled as he was awake holding you because he knew it was the best thing for you, he knew it was what you liked. You had been dating for what felt like ten yeas, but was only three going on four today.

You turned to meet Andrews eyes, “Morning.”

He pressed his lips to yours, “Morning, bubba, happy four year anniversary.” he muttered.

You smiled pressing another kiss to his lips, “Happy four year.”

You stood out of Andrews embrace putting your clothes on, as you felt him watch you, you turned around glaring at him playfully, “Creep.” You smiled lightly as you fell back on the bed in a sweater and pair jeans, as Andrew pulled you back into his embrace.

“C’mon, you’re gonna be late for rounds, and Meredith is carpooling us, and you know how mad she gets when someone’s late - I don’t want your gorgeous head chopped off.” You smiled pressing a kiss to his lips as you got up once more and threw him his slacks, boxers, and a white button-down shirt.

He smiled, putting on his clothes as you ran out the door and downstairs where you could hear Meredith beeping her horn outside of your house. Meredith, Amelia, and Maggie walked in.

Meredith looked at you sternly, “There you are! We thought you were dead,”

Rolling your eyes at Meredith, “Andrew hurry up!” You called from the bottom of the stairs as he ran down, his shirt unbuttoned as he started to button it.

“Good morning.” He smiled as all your sisters looked stood still staring as did you.

“Yes, it’s a very good morning.” Amelia smiled.

You looked at your older sister, “Amelia!” You slapped her arm as she jumped

“Ow!” Amelia pouted, “I deserved it,” She muttered quietly

As all of you piled into the car, you sat next to Andrew as Meredith pulled out the two new seats from the trunk of her car as a space for Alex and Jo.

As you stopped in front of their house, Meredith beeped her horn at them, “I’m gonna be so late for rounds,”

“No you’re not,” Maggie sighed, “You’re on my service today,”

“Aren’t you glad my sisters like you.” You smiled.

Meredith looked at you, “Who said we liked him?” She laughed as Andrew’s eyes went wide, “I’m kidding - I have to like him, you’ve been dating for four years.”

“Good,” You smile at Andrew, as we pull up into Meredith’s parking spot, “So, I’ll see you after work.” You placed a kiss on Andrew’s lips, you started to walk off, “Love you, Bub!”

“Love you too!” He called.

You sighed as Amelia walked into the cafeteria, sitting down next to you, with Jo beside you already, “How are my two favorite girls doing?” She smiled.

You and Jo exchanged a look, as Jo raised her eyebrows, ‘She’s your sister’, you read her lips. You gave her a stern look and looked back over to Amelia.

“What do you want?” You questioned your older sister - she was only like this when she wanted something.

“What do you mean, what do I want?” She asked you.

You looked at her with a blank expression, “You know exactly what I mean.”

“I just need one of you to, help me cook tonight, I’m watching over Zola and Bailey and Ellis while, Meredith is going out, specifically, you, Y/n, you are a very good cook.”

Jo scoffed, “Excuse me.”

“Jo, honey,” You smiled as she laughed, “You almost burnt your kitchen down that one time.”

“Oh, I know,” She sighed, “don’t rub it in,”

✦

Later that night, you were at Meredith’s house, knocking frantically on the door, Amelia opened it, wearing what seemed like a nice dress, you looked at her confused.

“I thought you were asking me to help you cook for kids, not host a dinner party.” You almost yelled at her.

“Look,” Amelia told you, “Just go in the bathroom - there’s a dress in there and come outside, it’s not a dinner party, it’s a dinner for you. Now go.”

You walked into the bathroom, a white dress hanging from the mirror - it was your favourite, but the only person who knew that was Andrew DeLuca, because it was the one you wore every single fancy dinner the two of you had ever gone two, which was about three, one for your six month, one for your one year, one for your two year, one for your three year, and you only wore this dress for those dinners, you were guessing this was number four, and this was your pretty white dress.

You slide on the pretty white dress, as you looked on the floor at a white pair of heels, you smiled sliding them on, following Amelia’s instructions as Meredith stopped you at the door, Zola, Bailey and Ellis in her clutches.

“You look amazing, Y/n, now, as soon as you step outside that door, I am your person - if you wanna get out of there, just page me and I’ll drive the getaway car, otherwise, if you stay, if you cry, I’ll be there for you, two shoulders. Now the kids and I have to go, but have a very good time.” She spoke.

You looked at her confused, “Thanks?” You smiled as you walked outside, the trees laced with fairy lights and the

Andrew sitting at a table, you shook your head, a goofy grin placed on your face.

“Dr. Y/n Shepherd.” Andrew smiled standing up pressing a kiss to your lips.

Andrew pulled out your chair, as you sat across from him, “I know it’s our anniversary, but, you didn’t need to do all this.”

“Yes, I did.” Andrew told you, “I did it, because I love you and you only deserve the best.”

You gave a goofy grin, “Y’know,” You said as you had a steak made by Andrew right in front of you, taking a piece and having a bite, “When I thought I found the love of my life, I hadn’t met you yet, he hurt me. A lot. But you already knew that, because you helped me. You saved me.”

“I know.” He flattered himself, “I am a superhero, I am, the savior.”

You laughed, “Don’t flatter yourself too much.”

He gave a hum, “No, I want to flatter you too much.”

and so Andrew got out of his seat, and held out his hand as Andrew interrupted your dinner for the two of you to stand up, as Andrew held your hand, he bent down on one knee, you know exactly what was going on, so you just sat there and smiled.

“Y/n Shepherd, from the first day I met you, when you called me your person, when you told me I saved you, when you told me that you left that jerk, when you told me you loved me for the first time, I knew you were everything I wanted. I knew you were the one.” He gave her larger grin than the one that was already on his face, “So what do you say, y/n... will you marry me?”

“YES!” You yelled tackling him to the ground planting kisses all over his face, his beard tickling you as you did so.

✦

You looked in the mirror, you looked back at Meredith as Jo finished your hair, “Don’t look at me like that,” Meredith scolded.

“I’m not looking at you like anything,” You said with a blank face.

Meredith sighed loudly, “Look, Amelia ran, came back, Cristina got left at the alter, you aren’t running and coming back too.”

“I’m not gonna run!” You almost yelled.

Jo looked at you, “You’re thinking about it.”

“Okay, but who doesn’t?” You defended yourself.

Jo held your shoulders, “The man at the alter,”

“I didn’t run,” Meredith shrugged.

“You and my brother wrote your vows on a sticky note because you were afraid to be legal, legal!”

“Okay, that’s... fair.” Meredith shrugged, taking your point into evaluation.

Jo stood you up, showing you to the full body mirror, she was wearing a pastel blue dress as Meredith was matching, Maggie and Amelia came into the room, wearing the same thing.

“You look beautiful, Y/n.” Maggie said hugging you.

Amelia looked at you, pulling you into a strong embrace, “Derek would be so proud of you right now.”

You pulled away, “Hey! Don’t make me cry on my wedding day.”

You looked at yourself in the mirror, you’d taken the pretty white dress into a shop, and got someone to custom transform the pretty white dress into the large wedding dress you’d wear today.

You looked at Jo for reassurance, “You do look pretty amazing.”

“Okay, so, then, let’s go. I’m gonna get married!” You smiled.

Next thing you knew, you were at the end, you were standing at the alter, Andrew, standing in front of you, in a black and white tuxedo, about to spill his vows. It was his turn first.

“Okay, so, I’ve said this a thousand times, but I still can’t believe you were dating that jerk when we first met.” that earned a laugh from everyone, “And about a week later, you dumped him, and hid your feelings for me, for well, three months, and it killed me, every second of the way. I just wanted to call you mine, to be yours. We’ve been through hell together, and traveled the heavens, and I will go through thousands of hell lit fires, for you. Because I love you.”

It was your turn now. Not like it could compare.

“They say that God creates you with two heads, four eyes, four arms, four legs, and four feet, and then he splits you into two, he takes your conjoined person and splits your soul into two. It’s like your other half, it’s like having a soulmate - and you think you find the other half of you, and then you don’t. But then you realize you were wrong, and your real other half comes along.”  At this point, the tears streamed down your face, “I believe so much that you’re the other half of me, the half I was never able to find, the half that keeps me sane, the half that keeps me together, that keeps me stable. As we walk through the hellfires, and we walk through the suns of the heavens, I will be holding your hand, the whole way through, because I love you.”

The rings came to you presented by Bailey and Ellis, being dragged in a wheelbarrow by Zola, your rings were slid on the ring fingers.

“Do you take Y/n Shepherd to be your wife? Do you promise to love and cherish her, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better and for worse, for so long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” Andrew smiled.

“Do you take Andrew DeLuca to be your husband? Do you promise to love and cherish him, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better and for worse, for so long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” You returned the large grin.

“You may now kiss the bride.”

Andrew planted his lips on yours in a fast motion, it was almost like the day he proposed when you tackled him to the ground. As he pulled away from you, the both of you walking back down the aisle, he looked at you.

“Hello, Mrs. Dr. Y/n DeLuca,” He smiled.

“Hello, Mr. Dr. Andrew DeLuca,” You smiled, your hands laced together.

It was one happy ending, something you never really saw at Grey Sloan Memorial. But you and DeLuca were something else.

[whumpiary]

Continued from here

content warning: misplaced anger, arguments between loved ones, general insensitivity around trauma, discussed forgiveness or excusing of past abuse, briefly mentioned abusive relationship/returning to abuser, mentioned mind control and crude language used to describe it

-

By the time they’ve all settled at the kitchen table, they've managed to get Cass positioned on the couch with a blanket draped over him and a bucket down on the ground beside him in case he woke up with the world spinning.

Lou sits with her hands curled around her mug, feet tucked under herself like a cat. Josiah sits across on the other side, frowning squarely at the succulent positioned at the center of the table. And Mal sits between them like a damn couple’s counsellor.

Not that he’s feeling bitter about it.

He holds back the joke about the round table.

Lou clears her throat. Josiah’s hand twitches. Mal looks between them and holds the balance like the fulcrum on a set of scales.

Sitting tense like this, Lou and Josiah could almost pass for siblings. Not in looks, perhaps, but in manner. Both faces fixed with don't-give-a-fuck-irritation, both trying to find things for their hands to do before they curl into fists on automation. Both failing. Each have a way of holding their shoulders like they're caught halfway between a shrug. Mal wonders who taught who that particular way of being pissed off or if they both, over time, bashed the same shields out of sheet metal, side by side.

Maybe they were just always destined to meet each other in some gym on a Wednesday afternoon. Mal doesn’t mind the thought of destiny most days of the week. And on this one, with a long lost, very lost, friend stumbling back in through the door…

"How long has he been here, Jos?" Lou asks, voice soft and low. Josiah looks away from her straight away, arms crossed, already on the defensive. "No lies this time. Just tell me."

The long, stretching silence is heavy enough that Mal thinks for a second that maybe that Josiah's already shut down and unplugged. That they’ve already lost him. No room for conversation beyond a few grunts and a shrug. But Lou waits, and she watches. She times her breaths with the patience of someone planning to outlast.

Josiah shrugs and shifts in his seat, eyes locked at some place on the carpet. “Since Tuesday.”

Mal can’t tell if the sharp intake of breath from Lou as she closes her eyes is to stop herself from screaming or from shutting down all together. She stays like that for nearly half a minute, and Mal watches her face for clues.

When she opens her eyes she’s looking at the wood of the table, jaw clenched, fingers white-knuckled around her mug, determinedly focused on staying calm.

“Jesus, so… Five days. He’s been here five days.” She rubs her hand over her face, across the fuzz of her hair. “And why, uh… Why didn’t you tell me? Tell anyone?”

Josiah shrugs again. "I had it handled."

Lou actually laughs. A dangerous, broken glass against glass kind of sound. "Oh, I would love to know what part of having a mind controlling drug addict with a death wish sleeping on your couch you think you had handled."

Mal looks up at her with a tilt of his head and in an instant she’s scowling like a kid being scolded. She mutters something in the vague vicinity of an apology. She presses the heel of her hand to the side of her head like she's ironing out the thoughts in there. Lets out a long exhale. Barely concealed grief. Fear.

“Look, I'm not trying to be an asshole, Jos but this was stupid,” she says, after a minute or so. “This was really stupid. Cass is dangerous and you know that. He is manipulative and out of control and-”

"He was passed out most of the time, it was fine.”

“Yeah but a single word and it could have just as easily not been fine.”

Josiah just looks at her with dead eyes and shrugs. Lou searches his face, exasperated. She splays her hands wide, shrugs. "What if he had've made you go back again?"

"He didn't, though."

"But what if he had?"

“But he didn’t.”

Lou, to her credit, doesn’t launch across the table to hit him across the jaw like Mal half-expects her to. Instead, she buries her face in her hands, squeezes her eyes shut, swallows about three times before speaking.

"Jos, the last time Cass showed up out of the blue needing help, I lost you for three weeks-"

"Two weeks."

"Three," she says, voice hard. Then she tilts her head back, eyes skirting across the back wall like she's solving a math problem, expression just on the brink of cruel. "Actually, it was bang-on 22 days. Wanna take a stab at how I remember?"

Josiah just slams his jaw shut and turns his head away. The tendon in his jaw jumps, muscles of his neck taught against the jugular.

Mal closes his eyes for the barest of moments. He can still hear the sound of the empty blister pack hitting the rubbish bin. The dry, dead laugh that came along with the gonna have to find another way to tally it, huh?

Lou leans forward on the table with a look of challenge on her face and Mal straightens automatically. He can feel old habits bristling in himself, already flicking back to sit on protective defense before the first swing even comes.

He hates playing umpire. He hates that she’s asked him to do this. But it’s fine. It’s a part of figuring this mess out. They’ll be fine in a minute.

Lou clears her throat.

“Okay, so let’s assume for a second that Cass isn’t about to screw you over and sell you off to the highest bidder– ” she ignores Josiah’s scoff. “– Let’s be generous and assume the fucker’s at least a little repentant. Where has he been, then?”

Josiah looks pointedly away, arms shifting to cross over his chest again but there’s otherwise no response. Lou doesn’t shift, though her tongue flicks out to wet her lips like loading a bullet in a gun. “He’s been gone for fourteen goddamn months and then he turns up unannounced on your doorstep. The story better be pretty damn impressive.”

There’s no response.

Lou shrugs like it doesn’t matter. "Okay, so he hasn’t told you where he’s been. Fine. Has he told you why he’s come back?"

No response. Mal opens his mouth to speak but thinks otherwise and clicks his jaw shut again.

Lou barrels on. “Do you know if he’s running from someone?”

No response.

“In danger of something?

No response.

“Do you know if you are in danger of something?”

Nothing.

“Have you even fucking asked?” Her voice shakes, breath shuddering, but she’s so furious it barely seems to register.

Josiah doesn’t look at her, gaze fixed on the carpet with his own brand of burning rage. “The second I ask him that shit he’s gonna bolt and you know it.”

“Good riddance, then.”

“No, not good riddance,” Josiah shoots back. There’s a twisted sort of urgency to the way he says it that Mal’s not even sure he’s seen before on Jos. “I’m not having Cass drop dead on the end of the street because I scare him off instead of helping. He’ll tell me when he’s ready.”

“Bullshit he will.”

“What would you have done, Lou? He showed up sick and scared halfway to hell-”

“The last time he showed up sick and scared halfway to hell he was lying through his fucking teeth,” she spits. “I would have let him rot.”

The room is still and deathly quiet. Lou stays laser-focused on the man across the table from her, eyes burning. Mal can track her heartbeat by the pulsing of the pendant around her neck.

“Do you want to go back there, Josiah? Do you want to go back to Ellie?”

The tendon at the back of Josiah’s hand jumps as his fist tightens but he doesn’t respond.

“You couldn’t speak to us for a month, Josiah. You couldn’t shower, you couldn’t eat. Do you even remember that?”

“He got me out of that place. Not you.” Josiah spits with deadly precision, looking up at her. “That’s what I remember.”

Lou sits back. Bullet to the chest. She scoffs but Mal watches the ice around her glint as the words bite and cut through, needle under her skin and sit there, ready to rot. Her chest jerks in a silent hiccup, the hollow echo of what should’ve been a sob but can’t be. Not right now.

She laughs instead. Bitter, twisted, and full of grief. She crosses her arms across her chest and slouches back, looking Josiah up and down. “Oh man, I am so glad I wasted a year of my life helping you recover from everything that asshole did to you now that I know you were just gonna throw it away the second he walked back through the goddamn door.”

Josiah’s eyes slam shut. Mal makes eye contact with his wife across the table. “Harsh, Lou.”

“No it’s not, if he's not gonna give half a shit about himself, why the fuck did we even bother?”

He tries to reach for her hand. To ground her, calm her down. “Love, come on, you’re not being fair.”

“No, fuck off,” she tugs her hand away violently, tears dangerously close to falling. If Lou had been small on the porch swing not twenty minutes before she looks like a giant now. “Fuck right off. What’s not fair, is that piece of shit turning up out of nowhere and expecting us to take him back. What’s not fair is what he did.”

It’s hard, with someone halfway standing from fury, not to cower like a kicked dog. Mal tries to catch Josiah’s eye, to let him know he still has an ally but the man’s eyes are closed, shoulders knitted up and tense under the onslaught. Mal lets out a loud exhale. Lou burns on.

“And you know what else isn’t fair, Jos? Finding out five days after the fact that my best friend’s kidnapper just turned back up on his front step.”

“He’s not my kidnapper.”

“I’m sorry, what would you to prefer me to call him, Josiah? Mental rapist?”

Mal snaps his eyes to her, rocks forward in his chair. “Alright, line found, Lou. Take a walk.”

“Excuse me?”

“You asked me to call you out if you crossed a line. That’s what I’m doing,” he says, voice quiet and firm. “Get out. Go for a walk. You need to cool off.”

“No fucking w-”

“Love,” he says, reaching for her hand. “Who is this helping?”

She holds his gaze for a minute, her eyes flicking between his, ready for fire, ready for fight. Mal holds his own, squeezes her hand, hopes to God she’s listening. And then all at once she folds.

She takes a minute. She sucks in a sharp intake of breath, one hand over her own face. Squeezes her eyes shut. Takes a breath. Shakes her head. Takes another breath. In for six, hold for four-

“He might’ve gotten you out of there Jos, but he sent you in first,” she mutters, voice low and quick as though to get it out before being cut off “You might have selective memory around that particular sequence of events but I sure as fuck don’t.”

Lou pushes back from the table all at once and rushes out the front door before anyone can stop her or grab her or make a move as though to comfort, as though the decision to leave had been he own. A dramatic exit, not a necessary intervention.

Mal watches her go, takes note of the curling of Josiah’s shoulders as the door slams shut behind her.

Mal slumps back in his chair with a heavy exhale. He refrains from the urge to just sag forward, exhausted and empty after holding the tightrope tight. He hasn’t felt this drained this quickly in a long, long time.

Two hours ago he was halfway through brunch at Now he had a wife stuck in fight mode, a friend on the brink of shutting down completely, and a relative stranger withdrawing from something he wouldn’t even admit to taking. Something was telling him he was gonna need a little more time off than the convenient long weekend.

He looks to Josiah across the way. The man looks unmoored, wounded, hollowed out. Which, to be honest, was miles and miles of fair enough.

“You alright?” Mal asks softly, after the silence stretches too thin. He almost doesn’t really expect a response but Josiah’s shaking his head almost as soon as the question’s asked, face locked in a frown, eyes still staring off into the middle distance.

“I’m the one it happened to,” he murmurs, after a beat. “That’s what she always says. I’m the one it happened to.”

Mal opens his mouth. Shuts it. Opens it again. Makes a few clicks with his tongue. Sighs. He pushes his hair back from his face.

“Yeah, but… you weren’t the only one it happened to,” he says eventually. It’s an awkward way to put it but it’s what he’s got. He watches Josiah’s face carefully. Watches the “Do you know what I mean by that?”

“She wasn’t even there.”

“Mate…”

Josiah looks up at him finally and as soon as he sees the grief and understanding sitting behind the other man’s eyes, Mal exhales.

Talking to Josiah could feel like talking to a wall that kept spitting bricks back at you for every new one laid down but eventually – by the end of the hour or the end of the week or the end of a very, very long year – he’d give you a look like that and without a word confirm that he’s listening, he’s learning, he understands. He’s getting there.

“Yeah,” Josiah says as he looks away, his voice a low rumble. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

The other man closes his eyes and seems to deflate, one arm curled around his middle the other hand pressing on the back of his neck, head resting on his forearm. He looks, now Mal’s paying attention, exactly like someone who’s been solo nursing their ex-loved-one-come-kidnapper back to health for five days straight.

“What do I do, Mal?” he murmurs without opening his eyes. “I’m trying but... I don’t know what the fuck I’m meant to do.”

Mal sits back and looks the other man over, grief tugging at him but a kind of pride too. Josiah’s changed in the last year. He looks stronger now, is stronger now, but softer as well. Mal can’t imagine a question like that coming from him even six months ago.

He sighs and looks to the figure on the couch, halfway hidden with blankets, then at the frosted glass pane of the front door, then back to the man beside him. He shrugs. “Have you slept?”

“Some,” Josiah shrugs. “Not much.”

“Why don’t we start there?” Mal offers. He nods to the couch. “I’ll keep an eye on this one. And try and talk to Lou.”

Josiah looks, for a moment, like he wants to argue, but then the exhaustion seems to hit him all at once and he nods, sitting back. “Will you come get me when he wakes up?”

“If he needs you. Yeah.”

Josiah sucks a breath in and shakes his head, already starting to tangle himself backward. “No. No, he’ll get stressed if I’m not here. He gets, um... nervous. Paranoid-”

“Jos, if he needs you, I’ll wake you,” Mal repeats, gently. He taps his fingers on the table, to get Josiah’s attention, holds his gaze once he’s got it. “You can’t help him if you don’t get rest.”

The other man looks like he might break in two, eyes fogged, half-way drifting already. His eyes shift to Cass and then to Mal and then back to Cass with a hollow kind of longing. But slowly he lets out a shaky exhale. Nods again.

“You’ll come get me,” he echoes. “Okay. Yeah, okay.”

He stands, wavering just a little on his feet, and makes his way down the hallway. He squeezes Mal’s shoulder on the way past briefly and the blond man smiles a little. A silent thank you, a silent apology, a million other silent things that don’t have words to be said right now. It means the world and a half, if he’s being honest. And then Jos is gone.

The house, in the wake of things far too close to violence, feels viciously silent. The clock ticks. The rain starts up again. And for now, Mal sits in it alone.

[halequeenjas]

Hell in a Gift Basket || Jasmine & Michael

TIMING: Yesterday afternoon PARTIES: @coldbloodedkaehler & @halequeenjas SUMMARY: Jasmine goes by to see Michael with a bit of a welcome to town gift. She finds out a little more than she bargained for from the ghosts in the house.  CONTENT: Food poisoning mention

Despite the absolute insanity that was the town of White Crest, Jasmine was able to make a respectable living in the field of real estate. Even with the sky high levels of property damage in the town, she found she could still find clients willing to buy and sell in the area. A large part of her success was due to her own work ethic and determination. She’d always had good connections in town and she worked hard to nurture them and build new ones. Part of that entailed checking in on her customers. She had a whole system with birthday cards set up, but she was always sure to check in on a client soon after they moved into their new home, typically with a nice, branded house warming gift. After all, today’s condo sale or rental could be tomorrow’s house sale. It was why today she found herself checking in with one of her rental customers. Michael had recently moved to town with his family and she had the perfect little gift basket set up for them. There were some wine glasses with her logo on them, a bottle of red and a bottle of white, a nice wooden cutting board with her logo, and a lego set for the little one. She’d let him know she was stopping by so she was sure her knock on the door didn’t come as a surprise. When he opened, she smiled widely and greeted, “Hello, Mr. Kaehler!” She was a bright and cheery as ever as she entered the apartment. She took a glance around and commented, “I love what you’ve done with the place. How’s it been treating you so far?”

A semi-impromptu visit from his realtor had found its way to the bottom of Michael’s list of things to look forward to for the day, and he’d pressed the top of his mobile to his forehead when he’d read Jasmine Hale’s message and sighed deeply into it. A gaggle of forever bitching ghosts hanging around near 24/7 was enough intolerable company, but when up against the vultures in human skin who proudly called themselves members of the National Association of Realtors? He was sorely inclined to pick the dead any day of the week.

Heading down the hall to the front door as he heard the door rap, he ignored Ellie and Chase perched in his living room armchairs and watching him keenly, drowned rat and slit throat respectively arousing not an ounce of alarm. Pulling open the front door, he smiled as he stepped aside to let the woman in, letting it widen as he took in her compliment. “A damn sight better than our old place back in Sedona, I’ll tell you that much,” he replied with half a laugh, crossing his arms and shaking his head at the mere falsified memory of it. The old place back in Sedona had done just fine by them all, but lying came as fluidly to Michael as mercury. His eyes flicked down to the basket, bundled in the realtor’s arms. Ms. Hale could feel pleased with herself in return for whatever garbage in the guise of a gift she was about to set upon him.

“In any case,” he quickly added, “come in, make yourself comfortable.” He smiled, gesturing for her to head into the living room. “The wife’s at work and the girls are back at school, so you pulled the short straw and just ended up with me.” Meanwhile, Ellie was craning her neck from the couch to get a gander at the gift basket. “What’d she get him?” he could hear her ask Chase. Death couldn’t get a good snoop down, and Michael didn’t even blink to acknowledge he’d heard her. Continuing on his way to the kitchen, he glanced back over his shoulder. “I was just about to make myself a coffee. Should I get another mug out?”

One thing Jasmine learned over her career was just how much better homes looked once they were filled. Even if the decor wasn’t quite up to her tastes, it had a home-y feel to it. She could easily picture Michael’s girls running around or his wife enjoying a glass of wine on the couch. With an easy smile, she responded, “That’s great to hear. Glad it’s working so well for you and your family. I do pride myself on finding good fits for my clients.” And ridding them of any ghosts which was why the slight chill going through her threw her off. No, it couldn’t be. She was just still on edge after Constance’s exorcism. That was all. 

When he mentioned it was just them, Jasmine nodded along and said, “Well, there’s some stuff in here they may enjoy, too.” Then she heard voices and it sounded like they were asking about what she’d brought. Michael had just said they were alone so that couldn’t be right, but in this town, she knew better than to doubt her sense at this point. “Oh, funny. I thought I heard someone. Must be the TV or something,” she blurted out quickly as she craned her neck to get a good look around. It dawned on her she didn’t want to look like an insane person in front of her client, so she returned her focus back to him though she still had that nagging feeling they weren’t alone. Maybe she could sneakily place some wards up before she left. “A mug would be great,” she added, “It’s definitely a day that calls for lots of coffee.” She followed him in toward the living area and her eyes landed on the ghosts. Shit. She needed a way to get Michael away so she could talk to the ghosts she’d heard only a moment ago. “So have you met the neighbors yet? And have you been leaving the faucets dripping with the freeze warning?” Not smooth and very unrelated, but she needed a moment alone here. 

 There was a sudden… shift in the woman, and Michael didn’t know what to make of it. He couldn’t stop the slightly perplexed look that crept on him as Jasmine mentioned hearing someone, and for a moment, his heart stumbled out of step before he immediately quashed the feeling. The tell-tale heart would fall deaf on his ears. “Must be,” he agreed, the pause before his answer taking perhaps a little too long. Of course it was the TV – what other options were there?

Entering into the living room with the realtor close behind, it was just as expected. There were no blood curdling screams – no quick dashes to the front door that would necessitate a violent, unplanned end on an otherwise unremarkable afternoon in Maine. All was as it should be – the two clearly dead ghosts were visible to no one but the man who had snuffed out their lives like a match. He shook his head at Jasmine’s question about the neighbours, shrugging. “Not yet,” he replied. “Work’s just been throwing me some weird hours to begin with. We’ll invite them all over sometime, make sure they know they can rely on us, that kind of thing. Not that we’re planning on renting forever,” he added with a smile. He paused for a second as he thought about the taps – faucets – as his wife and everyone else in this country called them. It was a good point. “You know what?” He clapped his hands together, rubbing them together. “I’d better go take care of that now before I forget. Been awhile since I lived any place where you have to look out for these things. I’ll be back with the coffees in a minute.” Already on his way out, he glanced behind him before disappearing from view. “You take milk and sugar?”

Meanwhile, on the couch, two pairs of eyes watched the realtor curiously. It was Chase who spoke first, the flaps of his severed neck jiggling as he spoke. “Hey El? Did you just see this lady just look at us? Almost as if we’re actually… here.”

 There was a small sense of relief that washed over Jasmine as he agreed he did in fact need to go get those faucets going to avoid frozen pipes. The ghosts in the room needed to be addressed and she needed to do that without someone else present in the room who would just think she was some sort of psycho talking to herself. “Good call,” she said as nonchalantly as she could given the circumstances, “Black coffee is fine for me.” Healthier than typical cream and sugar as well as being much less complex than her normal coffee shop order. Once he was out of the room, her eyes fell back on the ghosts who were still just chatting it up. 

“That’s because I can see you,” Jasmine responded to the ghosts in the room, “Which means you must be El… and you are?” She looked at the other ghost as she tried to keep this formidable. Working with ghosts required a fair amount of understanding as things worked out much easier for her if they moved on without her intervention. Still, it was odd they were just hanging around here. They definitely weren’t at the property before so she had to wonder if they were connected to Michael somehow. She placed her hands on her hips and asked, “Do you care to tell me why you’re here? I checked this place up and down for ghosts before I even showed the property.” 

 If ghosts could be struck by lightning, then it was as if the pair had just been zapped stone cold the second the realtor revealed she could see them. Twin expressions gaped at the woman, instantly scrubbed of any previous candour. Ellie’s hand tucked around Chase’s beside her and she squeezed it tightly whilst the other flew to her empty chest. It was the teen boy who actually had the wherewithal to speak, and fury stained his features as he quickly rose to his feet, jerking Ellie up beside him. “Because that guy killed us!” he blurted as he gained the wherewithal to speak. “He’s a fucking serial killer!” Wide-eyed, he quickly realised he was speaking much too loud and he sunk down back onto the couch with Ellie in tow. “Chase,” he replied to the woman’s first question, voice still crackling with shock. “My name is Chase Dunlap. This,” he gestured towards Ellie beside him, “– she’s Elizabeth Matarazzo.” The female ghost beside him gave a light shake of her head as she leant forward. “Ellie,” she mouthed, nodding and scrunching her face in a small giddy smile as she squeezed Chase’s hand again. He ignored her. “How the fuck can you see us too? Are… you like him?” he enquired, speaking slowly. “You kill people? Are you a murderer?”

No sooner than the question was out of his mouth did footsteps return to the kitchen just on the other side of the living room. The clatter of mugs filled the air and no more than a few moments later Michael came back through the door, two steaming cups of joe in hand. Setting Jasmine’s down on the coffee table, he nursed his own. “Faucets are now safely dripping away,” he informed the realtor with a smile. “Oh, and thanks for the gift basket, by the way,” he added as he took a sip of his coffee. “You bring out the welcome wagon for all your clients? Or just the ones from out of town?”

Almost immediately, Jasmine wanted to be anywhere else but this living room. How the hell had she ended up alone with an actual serial killer? He’d seemed so normal and not at all like the random bone lady on the internet. Then again, this was White Crest and things were hardly ever what they appeared to be at a surface level. It didn’t change the fact her heart was pounding against her chest. She took a few steps back from the ghosts and quietly muttered, “He what?!” Her palms felt entirely too sweaty and she found she couldn’t stand still. She needed an exit strategy here. She still had her bag on her and the iron rods could come in handy, but she’d come back to that. If she could get more information from these two, maybe she could actually do something to help. “Chase and Ellie. I’d say good to meet you but…” She trailed off before the next question hit her. Her face twisted up with disgust as they implied she was a murderer. “Excuse you,” she retorted with the offense evident in her voice, “I’m an exorcist not a murderer. I save people, not kill them. The only red shoe bottoms I want are Louboutins thank you very much.” 

With the revelation that her client was a serial killer, she’d been too focused on the ghosts. Michael re-entering the room startled her and she jumped a bit on her feet. “Michael, hey!” Smooth, Jas, smooth. She did her best to recover and put some distance between herself and the ghosts. The smile on her face was almost convincing. “Good, frozen pipes can be quite the expensive and lengthy repair,” she explained. At the mention of the gift basket, she answered, “Oh, I usually like to do something for new clients around the holidays. Especially if they’re new to town. Plus, I’m a sucker for kids so you know, I had to give them a little something.” She glanced back at the ghosts before mentally cursing herself. “I totally don’t mean to interrupt your day though, so I’d be happy to take my coffee to go!” 

 Michael’s hand instinctively tightened around the steaming mug of coffee as he watched Jasmine, listening to her carefully. There it was again. That shift. He was practiced enough to detect when a smile wasn’t quite a smile, and the realtor’s was almost Stepford-esque. But why? His gaze slipped to Ellie and Chase, noticing for the first time that they were staring at him like they’d seen a ghost, but when Jasmine prattled on about taking the coffee to go his attention instantly went back to her. Something, he felt, was off here. Wrong, and he was someone who preferred things to be right at all times. “It’s no interruption,” he said evenly, shaking his head. “Besides, don’t have any take-out cups handy. Trying to cut down on waste, you know. Save the trees and all.” Another sip of coffee. Another swallow. “Though if you’ve got somewhere to be, then…”

As he trailed off, it wasn’t Jasmine who had the first opportunity to talk. Silent though the ghosts had been since Michael came back into the room, it was Ellie who chose now to speak up, her face knitted in puzzlement as if she’d just spent the last minute thinkingly deeply about something. “By exorcist…” she began, “doesn’t that mean you kill ghosts? Doesn’t that make you a murderer, too?”

 This was hardly her best performance. Then again, this wasn’t karaoke. Jasmine had never been good at lying and typically saw little point in it. Seeing as she was with a serial killer who had no idea she’d just found out as much, it was better for her to keep a level head here unless she wanted to become his next victim. “Oh good,” she said with some faux cheer, “I know a lot of times people just offer coffee when people stop by for the sake of being polite.” She laughed along with the mention of reducing waste. While she had no qualms with recycling, this was definitely a moment where she was hating the whole green movement. “Being environmentally conscious is always a good thing. I always do my best to recycle myself and you know, not litter. I love the beaches far too much to leave them littered with my leftover hard seltzers.” She took a sip of her coffee and tried to shake the thought it could be deadly coffee. “Not at all,” she responded letting some of the apprehension slip away. “How are you liking it here so far?” 

All was going back to how it should be until Ellie was speaking again. Without realizing it, she shot Ellie a dirty look with an eye roll, “I don’t kill ghosts that’s not how that-” Shit. That was decidedly the absolute worst thing she could have done in that moment. She turned back to Michael with an apologetic glance. “Sorry, I’m not sure what came over me there. I think I must be a little under the weather. I really should go. Just in case I’m coming down with something contagious.” 

 Everything Jasmine was saying was going through one ear and out the other – not even because of the situation at hand, but because Michael really couldn’t care less. He feigned interest, nodding as he pretended to listen to her. Really he was searching her face, trying to pick up on any more cues that she was ill at ease, and when she indicated she had no issue with staying it began to seem as if it were all in his head. Before he got the chance to reply with his thoughts on the town, Ellie interrupted. And for once, it didn’t seem like she was talking to him or even Chase. It was like she was talking to Jasmine.

Michael tensed and then there the realtor was, shooting Ellie a look and responding like she was any old person in the room with them. He no longer felt the heat of the mug, couldn’t taste the bitter aftertaste of the coffee on his tongue. His heart quickened in his chest and his eyes didn’t even need to dart to the lamp on the lounge-side table beside him. He saw it clear as day in his head, saw himself grabbing it, pummelling her face in, tightening the chord around her neck as her feet kicked uselessly into the carpet. If she really could hear the dead, what had they told her? How the fuck was it even possible? But then, maybe he was getting too ahead of himself. Needed some time to think about how far ahead of himself he was getting, at least. He set his coffee down. If there was an issue, he knew how to take care of it. And even if there wasn’t? He could take preventative measures to put his mind at ease. “Should I ask?” he joked. Offering out his hand to take the coffee from her, he smiled reassuringly to make it seem like he wasn’t too weirded out. “No problem,” he said. “Maybe another time? With Risa, I’m sure she’ll want to thank you. Alcohol always comes appreciated in this house, far as she’s concerned.”

Though she kept her face as neutral as she could, Jasmine couldn’t control the way her heartbeat picked up considerably after her slip of words. Her eyes remained fixed on Michael. Based on context clues, she had the feeling he also knew the ghosts were in the room. If he figured she knew something, she didn’t want to chance that she was the next ghost occupying his living room. She reminded herself to take deep breaths and not get too carried away. Then his joking tone came out and she felt herself relax slightly though she was still on high alert. “Probably not,” she said with a nervous chuckle. Then he was mentioning his wife and she wondered if she knew about all of this. The thought alone made her stomach churn, but she smiled brightly anyway. “Of course. That’d be lovely. I do hope she enjoys the wine. I’ll catch you and Risa again soon.” As she left, she was still looking behind her every few steps to make sure she wasn’t followed. All she knew was that she needed to be far away from here before she decided what she was supposed to do with this newfound information about a serial killer in town.

[george-mackay-macfine]

Dear Diary pt. 5

Requested

Word Count: 3,483

September 18th 2011,

Dear Diary, 

Sorry, I didn’t end up writing more yesterday, but by the end of the day, I was ready to crawl into my bed and pretend I was never born. 

But for the sake of future Y/N. Let me recap it for you. I’ll warn you it’s still pretty much all a blur, but I’m trying to piece it together… 

A very hazy, cider soaked blur. 

When I’d finally managed to work up the courage to leave my bed around nine-thirty, I’d tip-toed all the way from the end of my bed all the way to my door, and out into the main living space. As expected George was sprawled out on the settee. His chest moving up and down evenly, one leg over the armrest, the other hanging down towards the ground. If he was uncomfortable, you wouldn’t know it. 

I studied him for a minute, unable to help myself. 

Had he been a massive jerk last night? Yes.

Had he broken his promise to you? Yes. 

Were you going to forgive him the moment he fluttered his eyelashes at you? Abso-fucking-lutely 

“There’s my sleeping beauty.” I nearly jumped out of my skin as I noticed Dean standing at the stovetop. A skillet of food frying. “Sleep well?”

“Like a dream.” He snorted. I looked to Harry’s door, it was still closed. 

“He’s still asleep.” He took the frypan off the stove and moved the contents to the plate. “Dig in.” I walked hesitantly towards him, my brain trying to communicate to the rest of my body that if we dared to make a big enough noise, the chances of George waking up were high. “You okay?”

“Apart from feeling like an idiot.” I picked up a bit of bacon, pulling it apart. “I can’t believe I acted like that.” Dean shrugged his shoulder, passing me a spare fork. 

“Alcohol does that kind of thing.” I shook my head and stabbed the fork into some of the scrambled egg. “Trust me, I’ve done my fair share of stupid shit.” He pierced a tomato popping it in his mouth. “Running through the school dance naked… Kissing my best-mate…”

“I nearly kissed him.” 

“Who George? I thought you wanted that?”

“No. Harry.”

“You nearly kissed Harry.” He yelled in surprise. 

“Jesus Christ Dean, what are you trying to do? Tell the whole floor?” I shook my head and looked over my shoulder. Harry’s door was still shut, and George was still passed out. 

“Well, what happened?” He leaned across the counter a little, his head dropping. “Henry said you were sick.” 

“We got pulled into a game of spin the bottle and 7 minutes in heaven. I spun, it landed between Harry, and the guy who reeked of weed, remember when we walked in?” Dean nodded his head, 

“Both fine choices.” I shot him a look. 

“We went upstairs, and he was asking me about…” I nodded over my shoulder at George. Dean nodded his head in understanding. “Harry was then trying to pull me up, to drag me down to tell him, Saying how I needed to tell him and it was important to tell him, he lost his footing, or maybe I got the upper hand. Either way, he fell onto of me, and I don’t know we were just caught up in the moment.”

“And you kissed?” 

“Almost. We were about to when George walked in with a girl.” 

“Christ on a bloody bike.” 

“I’m such an idiot. I didn’t know what to do so I just ran out of there.”

“Where’d you go?”

“Down the road.” I dropped my head in my hands. “Then I threw up in the gutter right before Henry found me, and walked home with me.”

“Bloody hell.” He stabbed a piece of mushroom and chomped down. “You gonna talk to them then?”

“Which one first?”

“Probably best to start with Harry.” 

“I dunno Dean.” A door behind us opened and a cold chill slipped down my spine.

“Morning.” His husky voice floated across the living room. “He still asleep?”

“Yeah, mate.” Dean chuckled. “Probably be like this for hours.” 

“Y/N.” I turned slowly in my seat. Harry was stood outside his door. Shirtless… He had abs. Jesus Christ, he looks good. Not important Y/N.  “Can I talk to you?” I nodded my head, not trusting my voice. Harry nodded his head towards his room. “In private?” 

“She won’t be a tick, just gonna finish some food. Then I’ll send her in.” Dean motioned to the plate between us. “Can’t pass up a fry up.” I kept looking at Dean as the door to Harry’s room shut once again. 

“Think it’s too much if I jump out the window?” Dean shrugged. 

“Third story, you’d probably live to tell the tale.”

“But I would escape this conversation.”

“For now.” He shrugged again. 

“For now,” I repeated poking the egg. “What do you think he wants to talk to me about?”

“Knowing Harry, probably just wants to make sure you’re okay.” He pulled the plate away from me. “Now go in there and see what he wants.” 

“Pray for me.” 

“My hands are already clasped in prayer.” I rolled my eyes and pushed away from the counter. 

“Liar.” I stood up and slowly crept past George on the settee, and over to Harry’s door. Did I really want to do this? Have this conversation? Honestly jumping out the window seems funnier, and less painful than this. 

“Just fucking knock already.” 

“Fuck off Dean,” I called back before reaching out and knocking. Knuckle wrapping against the hardwood. 

“Come in.” I pushed the door open and stepped inside. I’d not been inside Harry’s room before, but it was cleaner than I expected. “You didn’t have to knock Y/N.” He was laying on his bed. Still without a shirt, but now he was reading a book. 

“It’s a habit.” He scooted across the bed a little, motioning to space beside him.

Rest in peace Y/N. 

I laid down beside him, careful to make sure we didn't touch. His bed was soft and smelt of him. 

“We should talk about it.”

“Do we have to?”

“I think it’s important that we do.” I felt him shuffle beside me. I kept my eyes on the ceiling. “We nearly kissed Y/N, and I’m sure had MacKay not burst through the door we would have.” What the fuck am I supposed to say to that? “I’m attracted to you Y/N.”

“Harry.”

“I know we’re roommates, had this been a different time, and we didn’t have to live under the same roof for at least the next year where I’m around you at least twelve hours a day, I’m sure I would have been content with one night with you.” My breath hitched a little. “One night with you however I wanted.” 

“I’m sure that you wouldn’t want that.”

“You’re right, I have this strange feeling that I would have always wanted more.” I finally turned to look at him. He was looking up. “But we can’t, and I get that. It’s rational.” Finally, he looked at me. “MacKay… I think he likes you as well. He wasn’t pleased with what he saw last night.” 

“Really?” A harsh nod. George liked me?

“You should go for it.” He looked back at the ceiling. “When you’re ready to of course.” 

“I’m sorry I tried to kiss you.” My voice came out just above a whisper. 

“What are you going to do about George? He wanted to speak to you last night.” He ignored my apology. 

“He does?”

“I think he wants to apologise.” 

“He’s still passed out, as you saw.”

“He drank a lot.”

“We all did.” I sat up. Turning to look down at Harry. “I’ll leave you alone now.” He didn’t say anything, he just nodded his head. I got up and walked to the door. “Harry,”

“Yeah,” He looked away from the ceiling. “I’m sure that I would have always wanted more too.” I pulled the door open. “If we’d had the chance.”

“Guess we’ll never really know.”

“Guess not.” I shut the door behind me. Leaning my head against the wood. 

“There you are.” I looked over to where Dean was standing. George was now sitting in my forgotten seat. “What’d Hudson want?”

“To make sure I was okay.” I held my head up high as I walked across the room, going past both of them and back into my bedroom. If what Harry was saying about George was right, it wouldn’t be long before he knocked on the door. 

Stay strong Y/N. 

“Y/N, babe?” George’s voice floated through the door. I waited a second before opening it. “Hi.” 

“Hi.” He looked behind me. 

“Can I…” I pulled it open wider stepping back so he could get in. “I am so sorry.” I shut the door behind him when he was inside. “I don’t know where to start.”

“You left me, George."

“I know.”

“You said you wouldn’t though.”

“I know.”

“I didn’t want to even go,”

“I know.” 

“I wouldn’t have cared if you’d had spoken to me about it, or said you want to speak to her alone, but you just … bailed.” 

“I know.” 

“Stop saying that.” He took a deep breath and sat down on my bed. Shaking his head. 

“Y/N, I’m sorry. Okay, I fucked up. Really bad,” He turned to look at me. “What can I do to get you to forgive me? I can take you to lunch, or we can go explore.”

“No,” I shook my head, “It’s fine, you don’t have to do anything.” 

“I do Y/N, I want too.” He reached out and pulled me towards him. His arms wrapping around my waist. “Please, let me.” 

“Fine.” 

“Fine? That’s all I get?” He chuckled. “I’ll take it.” He smiled up at me. “Lunch, on Sunday. I’ll pick you up, and then we can go exploring.” And that was all it took for me to forgive him. 

“Okay.” 

September 21st 2011

Dear Diary, 

Remember this date, because you didn’t end up in the end zone, you ended up in the friend zone.

Congratulations. 

Even though Harry said to me just the other day that he thinks George likes me, I am now 99.9% sure he doesn’t, but that 00.01% chance still keeps me going, even if it means being in the friend zone for a while. 

The “date” started off a bit rough, I won’t lie. 

Right before George arrived to pick me up at eleven o’clock Harry had emerged from his room with a blonde girl following out behind him. I wouldn’t have thought anything had happened between them if she wasn’t wearing his shirt and no pants. 

“Ellie, this is my roommate, Y/N.” Harry plopped down on the couch, grabbing the packet of cigarettes he and Dean were currently working their way through together. “Y/N, this is Ellie. She’s in mine and MacKay course.”

Ever since ‘The incident’ Harry’s been acting weird. We haven’t had a proper conversation in over three days, he’s always calling George by his last name, and now he’s apparently bringing home random girls to have sex with instead of talking. 

“This is Y/N?” I didn’t like the way she said my name, it made me uncomfortable. “George mentioned you a couple of times.” 

“I didn’t know you knew George.” I mean for fuck sakes Ellie it’s only been a week since Uni started, I’m surprised you even know Harry’s fucking name. 

“Yeah, met him at the party the other night.” She said as a light tap came to the door. 

“Speak of the devil.” Harry drawled lazily, a cigarette between his lips. The knock came again. “Better get that, don’t want to miss out on your date.”

“S’not a date.” 

“Does he know that?” 

“Harry.”

“How bout I get the door,” Ellie stood up and made a move past me. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. 

“It’s fine, thanks Ellie, but I can get it. Don’t want to interrupt your time with Harry here.” I spun on my heel and walked to the door pulling it open. “Hey,”

“Heya Babe, you alright?” George smiled down at me. I nodded my head and tried to pull the door shut behind me. “Ellie?” George looked past me. “What are you doing here?” 

“Harry invited me over.” George nodded his head. He got the message loud and clear. Though I’d be shocked if he’d managed to miss her half-dressed body lounging over Harry’s.

“Should we go?” 

“Please.” I breathed, head nodding. “See you later Harry.” I looked over my shoulder at the couple. “Great meeting you Ellie,” George grabbed my hand and pulled me through the door and into the hallway. 

“I didn’t know Harry and Elle were a thing.” 

“Me either, I didn’t even know he had her over till about five minutes ago.” George shrugged his shoulders, stopping us as we reached the elevator. 

“Let me get a look at you.” He smiled looking over me, I was suddenly self-conscious of how I was dressed. Should I have dressed up more? Dressed down a little? Shown more skin? Fuck why did I just wear jeans and a plain shirt? “You look beautiful.” 

“Thank you.” My cheeks flushed as the doors opened, George extending his hand for me to enter first. “Where are we going today?” 

“I thought we could explore.” 

“Are we going to find the Loch Ness Monster?”

“If you’re lucky.” He chuckled. “First for lunch I thought we could try this pub that Henry told me about.” Henry, I hadn’t seen him since he walked me home after the party the other night. 

“How is Henry?”

“He’s good.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “He told me that you know?” 

“Yeah.” 

“You don’t care?”

“Should I?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Is he happy?” George nodded his head. “Then that’s all that matters, isn’t it? He’s not hurting me George so why should I care who he wants to love?” My eyes turned into slits. Don’t ruin how I feel about you George by being as narrow-minded as — 

“There she is.” What the fuck? “Y/N from George Daniels roof… She’s still in there isn’t she?” He tapped my forehead. “The little spitfire,”

“What are you talking about?” 

“I dunno Y/N, you started acting… Weird.” He crossed his arms. “I thought I’d lost the girl who’d laughed at my pickup lines, skulled half a bottle of vodka and literally fell onto the roof, and was gaining another Stalker Sarah type.” Harry lied, he doesn’t like you. I turned looking straight at the doors. Praying them to open already. 

“You thought I had a crush on you?” Fucking open you metal death trap. “George.”

“Dumb right.” 

“Least you’ve got that backup modelling career in the mix, case university doesn’t work out.” 

“Christ.” He breathed out as the doors open. “Can I just say how relieved I am that you don’t have a crush on me Y/N?” 

Oh buddy, if only you knew. 

“I thought I was losing my best girl.” 

“M’ sorry you felt that way George, but I can assure you.” Do it Y/N. Protect yourself. Survival of the fittest. “Even if you tried ten thousand of your horrible pick up lines on me, none of them would work.” 

“Y/N…”

“We’re friends George, nothing more.”

Note to self, go back and pick up heart when you’ve got a moment to yourself. 

“Good because I can’t do this Uni thing without you.” He shook his head as he pushed open the door. “Are my pickup lines really that bad?”

“Let’s put it this way.” I pushed open the door stepping out into the chilly mid-morning air. “Your pickup lines, blow up harder than the meteor that killed the dinosaurs.” 

“Harsh.”

“Deserved.” I stopped at the curb. “They’re really that bad.” 

“This way.” George started walking down the street. “Why’d you really run out at the party?” 

“What can I say, I’m dramatic.” He chuckled. “I mean it, the moment I saw Sarah and Julian on George’s mum's bloody floral settee, I wanted to burn it, remember” 

“Safer for society considering what happened to it.”

“Should have poured the vodka on it rather than down my throat.” I chuckled. 

“I could have supplied you with a match, or a cigarette to drop on it.” Excellent job Y/N, you’ve distracted him. “Were you embarrassed you’d kissed Harry?” Perhaps not.

“I didn’t kiss Harry.” We stopped at a set of lights. “We were just waiting out the time of that stupid game.”

“Looked like you kissed him.” 

“Are you seeing her again?” Perfect segway. 

“Who?”

“June?”

“Do you mean April? Bloody hell Y/N.”

“April, of course. So sorry.” I batted my eyelashes as I stepped out across the street. 

“No, you’re not.” He shook his head, trying not to laugh. “But no, I don’t think so.” 

There’s that 00.01% chance creeping in. 

“Too smart for you?” 

“No.”

“Too clingy?” I clapped my hands together. “Oh I know, she’s not enough of a stalker.” George chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll give her Sarah’s number, they can exchange notes, and perhaps… perhaps she can level up to Sarah.” I held my hand against my heart. “It’d be my honour.”

“You’re being sarcastic today.”

“You said you missed roof Y/N.”

“You said roof Y/N was only because of the vodka she’d drunk.”

“Vodka based Y/N, and water-based Y/N are both the same level of sarcastic, water-based Y/N is just better at hiding it.”

“Perfect.” 

“Why don’t you want to see her again?” Good. Act like you care about her Y/N. 

“She wasn’t a great kisser.” I stopped, feet dead on the footpath. “What?”

“Are you serious George? You’re not going to call her because you didn’t like how she kissed you?” I shook my head. 

“What, she had a washing machine tongue.” 

“Oh.” 

“You get it then?”

“Julian had a washing machine mouth.” 

“See and you two broke up.” 

“Nuh-uh. We broke up because he kissed my best friend.” 

“Ex.”

“Right, Thank you. He kissed my ex-best-friend.”

“With that washing machine mouth, you see where I’m going with this don’t you.” George pushed open the door to the pub I wasn’t even aware we’d arrived at. “Washing machine syndrome is a real issue plaguing today's society.”

“That’s not a problem plaguing today's society George, admit it. You kissed and ditched her because you didn’t get turned on when she kissed you.” 

“Hi, I’m Tom.” George and I both stopped talking. Before us stood a boy, about our age. “Sorry to interrupt your conversation. Seemed pretty lively.”

“It’s fine, sorry we didn’t realise you were there.” George chuckled. 

“Don't worry, you two seemed to be having a very… heated discussion.” He grabbed two menus. “Just the two of you?” 

“Just the two.” 

“Great, if you and your girlfriend will follow me, I’ll take you to your table, and your waitress will be over shortly.” 

“She’s not my girlfriend.” 

“We’re friends.” 

“The best kind,” George added throwing an arm around my shoulder. Tom chuckled and held his hands up in the air. 

“If you two best-friends will follow me.” He corrected with a laugh. “Your waitress will be over shortly.” George and I followed Tom to our table, it was a small booth seat and we were able to tuck ourselves away in the corner. 

“He’s cute,”  George whispered as we sat down. “Your type right?”

“How do you know my type?” 

“Brainy, nerdy looking guy.” He looked over to where Tom was seating another couple. “A nice safe guy. The opposite of Julian McDonald” 

But he’s not you. 

“I don’t think so.” 

“Why not?”

“He doesn’t look like the type of guy who’d like to stay up until three in the morning talking.”

“Y/N, the only people awake at three in the morning are in love, lonely, drunk or all three.” 

“Well, maybe I want to add a fourth category to the people up at three AM.” George shook his head. 

“You’re one of a kind Y/N Y/LN.” 

“So they tell me.” I leant forward on the table. “I don’t want to be that friend, but can we cut today a little short? I just thought about all the things I have to do before class tomorrow and I’m stressing out… Maybe we can just do lunch, and forget the site seeing?”

“Rain check instead?” A cheeky smile slipped onto George’s lips. “That way you’ll have to see me again.” 

If only you knew just how much I wanted to see you George. 

[thehandsomeasshole]

@starttheanarchy from X

She kept silent as he talked, rambling about some rather interesting work that was being handed to a CEO. Wouldn't that kind of issues fall into a mixture of legal and HR? Ah poor is the chain of command. Well Gaige held her tongue on those thoughts, leaving the man to his legal headaches. Though at the mention of a wife, her eyes cut to the sky, right to the giant H that loomed overhead no mater where she was. And she felt a small bit of pain for the older man, not having a chance to mourn or process. Just work as usual. And she could tell that this was something she at the very least wasn't suppose to know with how he cut himself off. A small light humm came from her throat, a form of acknowledgment that she was listening and that this was marked down in her memory.

The topic swap back into technology got her moving again, nearing the garage that Ellie owned. Said woman was in front of the compactor doing what she seemed to love best, and Gaige just sent her a wave before ducking into the building.

"Yes, but is it not a sign of good quality when even the parts of your work can be used beyond others?" Gaige was going to be nice this once and allow the conversation to flow away from his past. "No, I can say with absolute certainty I would never take any shortcuts with DT. Or own a company, why would I want to be a sell out like that?" And that is where the anarchist started to come out. Ah the amount of times in class she debated the ethics and morals of the different corporations of the universe.

"Well then it is poor design then to have all the sensors in one place, and you can't say that you don't with how fast they are rendered useless once shot in the blatantly obvious eye." Stairs were taken two at a time as she head over to the workbench beside the vending machines. "I could care less about the funky stuff, would probably be a downgrade more then anything else to my work of art.” The tool case dropped onto the workbench, and a loud snort at the agree to disagreement. Eyes roll at the claim of superiority.

Gaige stills at the mention of what happened at the science fair. Eyes narrow as she was trying to figure out if he was trying to insinuate if the accident was not actually one. Fingers grip the workbench, dents forming under her robotic ones. It had been a moment since she had even had a single thought of that day, one of her worst days even compared to what Pandora had thrown at her so far. And something to think about when there was far less on her plate, one more issues shelved for the eventual emotional and mental break down.

"Actually, DT is programed to react to hostility. Meaning they will only take action after aggression has happened. Reactive rather then active, always has been like that." Sure it was a stupid idea to keep one of her main ways of defending herself on a more passive setting, but Gaige refused to to cause harm first.

"Yes I will admit, there is a fair amount of blood on my hands. But when did I ever claim to be the good guy? You have always been the one to bring it up, usually to either defend your actions or yourself. Since when have heroes ever claimed to be one? When have they allowed cruelty into their actions? To break apart families?"

Jack leaned away from the echo, burying his face into his sweater sleeve and he groaned loudly.

Well, that was definitely going to come back and bite him in the ass.

"Uh… No." Jack raised his head and turned back towards the echo, "No, it is not. You see, I don't exactly design my bots to help you jerks. I design 'em for maximum efficiency in production and combat. Got that? Good."

"Ooh, ouch! Look at you go, insulting me left and right. Good for you." He snorted, shaking his head, "Listen, kid, you can shit on the corpos all you'd like–trust me, I did my fair share of it when I was younger–but it's not as bad as it looks from the outside. And, hey! At least we don't have slaves like- Oh, actually, I think that's confidential… But, my workers get honest pay for, mostly, honest work. If they don't work hard enough, then, yeah. They get the crap beaten outta them or, if they're real lucky, they get airlocked. Much quicker. And funnier, actually. Their little eyes popping out of their heads and they just burst."

For a moment, Jack considered disagreeing. Telling her that the sensors were all strategically placed for maximum energy efficiency. While it was partially true, it wasn't entirely for that reason.

"Nah, I know," Jack laughed slightly, "you're right. It's mostly for the aesthetic, everything just slots together so nicely that way. Looks all sleek and tidy, y'know? You know."

Jack had taken the silence as confirmation he'd made her uncomfortable, talking about her killing her classmate, though it hadn't felt as good as he'd hoped.

She's probably around Angel's age, you asshole, he thought to himself, even more displeased now he'd made himself uncomfortable, too. 

"I did the same thing with the loaders. Can't have them mowing down all my workers, can I? No matter how funny it would be." Jack hummed slightly, picking his pen up off the desk and beginning to rapidly click it, "That did happen once, though. Rouge claptrap unit, got it's gross little hands onto an assault rifle after it found out it was gonna get shot down onto Pandora cause it was useless."

He shook his head, shuddering, "Something you'd never want to see, an ugly little trashcan of a robot coming at you sixty miles an hour and screaming 'you'll never take me alive!' at the top of it's voice module." A small laugh slipped past Jack's lips, "We didn't, the turrets finally kicked in and slaughtered the bastard."

"You're-..." Jack paused, the expression of frustration slowly melting off his face and he leaned back into his seat, "Actually kinda right. I always forget it's not you I hate. Well, I don't like you by any means but… Heh, guess I'm just amazed you'd work for the Crimson Raiders with their track record for screwing everyone over."

He shrugged, satisfied with planting the little seed of doubt in her mind, "I mean, whatever. No hair off my head if they try to kill you, right? Just less effort on my part."

"But, to answer your question…" he leaned forward again, letting out a quiet chuckle, "When they think it's the right thing to do. Y'know, human flaws and all that. The whole trolley problem thing or whatever. Would you rather kill one person you hold dear, or ten you don't? That kinda bullshit."

In all truth, he couldn't remember what they were talking about.

"Next time you wander into a bandit camp, stop and ask yourself: am I doing what I need to? Or am I just doing what I'm told? Always thought it was kinda funny how y'all just run around like headless chickens doing whatever your 'leaders' told you to, bet you don't even question it, do you? They say kill, and you just ask how much you're gonna get paid or if you'll get a shiny, new gun outta it."

"So, how am I doing so far? Pissing you off enough to keep you interested?"

[miss-tc-nova]

The Cat’s Meow - Jumin Han x Fem!Reader Pt 15

We’re almost done! Just 3 more chapters and 2 bonuses (this included)! 

Part 15: So Close

                “Yeah, no. I’m sorry, but that is definitely not her,” I say, ambling along the glass wall. “Excuse me?! Of course I know what cat I’m looking for! I’m her veterinarian! And unless there’s some new evolutionary trait or some bullshit that changes the color of a full-grown cat’s eyes that I don’t know about, that’s not her! Good bye!”

                It’s times like this I wish flip phones where still popular so I could slap it shut; instead I have to settle for jamming my finger against the red circle on the screen. Heaving a sigh, I look out at the city below. Elizabeth has been missing for a week now but we’ve been doing all we can to find her. In an attempt to shift some of the tension away from Jumin, we put my personal phone on the fliers and commercials, especially since I was still quarantined to his penthouse for the time being. I hate it, but after speaking with Jumin and Luciel about it a bit more, I had to admit that it’s probably safer for me here.

                In consequence, I had to arrange for the other vets to take over my shifts at the clinic, which is probably the issue that hurts me the most. And Jumin reprimanded me for thinking of it, but Corrine, Yoosung, and Luciel have been given strict instructions of what to do with the clinic should I be unable to return to handle my affairs for any reason.

                Looking at my phone again, I see the picture of the imposter. With a snarl, I move to throw my phone across the room when the door to Jumin’s room opens. The heir hesitates before stepping into the room.

                “Should I come back later?”

                I let out an exasperated sigh and lower my arm. “No. It’s fine. Just assholes try to get the reward with imposter cats.”Jumin’s face falls. I close the distance between us, wrapping my arms around his waist. “We’ll find her.”

                He dips his head to press a kiss to my forehead. “Thank you, love.”

                Life with Jumin is still weird, but we’re not at odds with each other so it’s enjoyable. There are still lines drawn to keep our relationship from racing over the edge to crash and burn; such as not sharing a bed, especially when Jumin mentioned no sex before marriage. We did disagree about me going to work once and he did keep his promise to attempt to restrain himself; seeing him struggle with that, I had to step back and talk to Luciel. But Jumin’s trying and that makes me happy. That doesn’t stop him from going to work however…

                “Will you be alright being here alone?” He asks the same question every morning.

                “I mean, I’d prefer to go to work too.” He frowns. “But you know…”

                Large, warm hands cup my face gently. “I don’t want to keep you trapped here, but I need you to be safe.”

                “I know, I know,” I sigh. I try to give a reassuring smile. “That’s why I’m here, safe and sound.”

                “I’ll call around lunch time,” he hums, suddenly pinching at my cheeks. “That should give you plenty of time to decide if you want me to send flowers or chocolate.”

                Jerking from his grasp, I pout. “Jumin! What did I say about your random gifts?!”

                “So…Chocolate then?”

                “No! Bad Juju!”

                He frowns at the pet name. “Fine. No chocolate then.” I fold my arms with a triumphant grin to which his eyes roll; nevertheless, he’s smiling. “Alright, I need to get going.”

                “Okay.” Tiptoeing, I press a warm kiss to his lips. They’d become much calmer and more domestic since that first night, but they still never fail to turn my stomach to mush. “I love you,” I say almost dreamily.

                He chuckles. “I love you too. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

                After seeing Jumin off to work, I sit down to do a little of my own. Just because I can’t go to the clinic for work doesn’t mean there’s not emails, phone calls, and social media to tend to; so I get to play with that while fielding idiots trying to trick me for Elizabeth’s reward money.

                It’s just about eleven o’clock when I get a text message from an unknown number.

                ‘Hey, is this the cat?’

                I set the phone aside, rolling my eyes. However, I get a second message that turns out to be an image. Grumbling a bit, I open the message and let out a gasp. The very creature I’d been scouting for peered back at me from the screen. Repeatedly, I tap at the call button until the phone finally rings the mysterious number. With my heart pounding in my chest, I pace back and forth.

                They answer and my breath hitches in my throat. “Hello?”

                “Hi! Uh, hello! The cat! You have my boyfriend’s cat!”

                “Ah, yes. The white Persian. She’s a sweet little thing. I was so worried when I found her cowering in some bushes near the park.”

                “Oh thank god! Thank you so much!”

                “So can you come pick her up now?”

                “I’ll send someone for her immediately.”

                “Um, no.”

                I freeze. “Huh?”

                “You’re _____  _____ right? The vet that Jumin Han is dating right? I don’t think I’d trust her with anyone other than you or him.”

                On the surface, the statement sounds fair enough, especially with the reward money up for grabs. However, there’s a little voice in the back of my head whispering ‘No.’

                “Oh. I see.” But Jumin’s in the middle of a meeting. He’d never answer… “Okay. I can come get her.”

                “Perfect. In the park down the road from C&R? Twenty minutes?”

                “Yeah,” I say without even thinking about it. “I’ll see you there.”

                “Great. See you soon.”

                Hanging up, I look down at the number until the screen goes black. I take a deep breath, grab the envelope of reward money, and head for the door.

                “Uh! Dr. _____! Is there something I can help you with?” the guard asks when I stroll out.

                “Uh, no. I’m good,” I tell him, heading for the elevator.

                “W-Wait! You’re not supposed to-”

                I stop him there. “Someone found Elizabeth and I have to go get her. I’ll be back in thirty minutes.”

                “But-”

                Huffing, I fold my arms. “Do you want to tell Jumin we missed a chance to get his cat as soon as possible?” He hesitates and I step into the elevator. “As soon as I pick her up, I’ll be right back!”

                Just outside, I pause, looking back up at the building, remembering my promise not to go out. Sorry Jumin. But I’m sure you’ll forgive me.

                I catch a cab to the park; I’m five minutes early, but that gives me a moment to contemplate what I may have just done. Pulling my phone out, I dial Luciel’s number.

                “Hellooooo! What’s up, _____?”

                “Hey, I just…wanted someone to talk to.”

                “Huh? What’s wrong?”

                I laugh nervously. “I uh…I left Jumin’s house.”

                “WHAT?! Why?! What are you doing?!”

                “Someone found Elizabeth but he won’t release her to anyone but me or Jumin and he’s busy.”

                “SO YOU WENT OUT BY YOURSELF?!”

                “Yeah, I know it wasn’t smart,” I agree. “That’s why I called you.”

                “And what do you think I can do from here?!”

                “Well if anything happens, you can-”

                “Dr. _____.” Glancing back, I see a man in a black jacket sitting on a bench waving to me. I’m very interested in his peculiar green eyes, but I’m more interested the cat walking across his lap.

                “Oh, he’s here.”

                “Woah woah! Don’t hang up!”

                I take a second and agree. “Alright. Just give me a minute.” Leaving the phone on, I put it in my pocket and approach the man. “Hi. Thank you so much for finding her.”

                He gives me a warm smile. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t like it. “It’s no trouble at all. I’m sure the entire country is looking for this poor cat.”

                I scoop up the cat and she immediately begins rubbing her face against mine. Happy to have her safe, I nuzzle back. “Oh, Elly, I missed you,” I coo.

                The man stands. “I hate to intrude on the reunion, but I brought her here for a reason.” The look in his gentle eyes turns sharp.

                “Huh? Oh, right.” I reach into my pocket for the envelope. “The reward. You can count it if you want.”

                “I’m terribly sorry, but I’m not interested in the reward,” he says, stepping closer.

                Matching him, I take a step back. “What?”

                I see a small group of strangers turn and head straight for us with intent expressions. He offers his gloved hand. “Dr. _____, I need you to come with me.”

                Jumin was right; his cat had been taken and those people wanted more. Without giving him a warning, I take off. I cling desperately to Elizabeth while tearing my phone from my pocket.

                “LUCIEL!”

                “Run! You’re almost at C&R!”

                The adrenaline is rushing through me, fueling my sprint. “I’m so sorry! You were right!”

                “Shut up and keep running!”

                Shoving my way through the busy sidewalk, I bump into nearly everyone in my panic. I’m too terrified to look back and I can feel the fear tightening my throat.

                My foot suddenly catches on an uneven section of the sidewalk. My elbow smashes into the concrete and the rough surface scrapes up my arm. Most importantly, to my horror, my grip on Elizabeth loosens and she takes off.

                “ELIZABETH!”

                Without even thinking about it, I race after her. A screech fills the air and it’s too late. The car barrels through, taking my legs out, and rolling me over the hood. A blunt pain spreads through my skull when I make contact with the black top; everything goes fuzzy.

                My phone lays just in arms reach, cracked screen showing Luciel’s face. It’s faint, but I can hear him screaming my name. My hand quivers violently as I reach for it, but someone else picks it up. Peering up, I see the man with green eyes that almost seem to glow with malice.

                “Dr. ______ is unable to come to the phone right now. But we’ll see you soon.”

                The pain, the fear, terror, all of it fades along with my grasp on the world.

~~~~~

                My body aches; every muscle feels stiff and resists movement. Fighting against the stasis, I let my eyes fall open, taking in the pink tinted room around me. I groan, pushing myself off the bed to sit up, and take in the princess room that I’m in. I’ve never seen this room in my life, and a glance out the window at the vast garden below doesn’t give me any clues to my location either. And then the memories of what happened come back, sending me on high alert.

                Before I can make another move, the door at the end of room opens. In steps a beautiful woman with long, golden hair and sharp, green eyes. She’s familiar but I can’t place where I’ve seen her face before.

                “I’m so glad to see you awake,” she says warmly, in a sweet way that doesn’t quite hide the venom beneath.

                “Where am I?” I’ve got nothing. It’s at least the third story, my body is very angry to be moving, and I know I saw guards outside the door, so there’s no escape. My only potential weapon is the vase of flowers on the table and I’ve got nothing on me but my dingy clothes. This is not a favorable situation if she decides to become hostile.

                “This is Magenta; a paradise for the lost and downtrodden.”

                “A paradise that kidnaps people?”

                “I apologize for the rough treatment, but we were getting nowhere with Elizabeth, so I needed something better.”

                “God, I should’ve known better,” I hiss.

                “I’m glad you ignored Luciel’s warnings,” she says, mocking me beneath that honey.

                “Why are you targeting members of the RFA?” I’m trying to work through the logic. “They’re just a charity organization.”

                Even though she wears a smile, her eyes narrow. “My dear, those five people together could achieve the impossible. I want them, not the organization I’ve already thrown away.”

                That clicks. “You’re Rika. You’re Rika! You’re supposed to be dead!”

                “That’s right. It’s a pleasure to finally meet the woman that melted Jumin’s heart.”

                “What are you going to do with them?”

                “They’re going to help us reach eternal paradise.” Before I can add another question, she produces my phone from her pocket. “However, seeing as you’re not as important to me as Jumin, I’m growing tired of this conversation. And it would save me a lot of trouble if you’d give him a call and tell him to join us.”

                I stare at the phone and back to her face. She’s got a ‘check-mate’ sort of look on, meaning I probably can’t do anything other than call Jumin with that device.

                “You want me to call him?”

                “That’s right. I’ve got coordinates for you to give him for him to meet us. Jumin’s a bit strong-headed; he’d try to get around doing what I ask while still getting his way. On the other hand, I’m fairly certain he’ll do anything as long as it’s you asking. And if you can convince him, I’ll let you join us in paradise too,” she sings. “Doesn’t that sound nice? Forever in paradise with Jumin?”

                I hesitate. “And if I don’t?”

                “Oh, I think a few bottles of our elixir will persuade you to join us. In the meantime, I’ll call him myself and he’ll come all the way here to rescue you. But I would very much prefer you convince him to come without a fight.”

                I look to the phone again and take a deep breath. The thing feels so heavy in my hand. Turning it on reveals the picture I’d set as my background: the picture of us in cat ears on Jumin’s birthday. And when I unlock it, I find only the phone app still available and only Jumin’s number in the contacts. My hand begins to shake as I press the call button. With a sniffle, I put the phone to my ear.

                He answers almost immediately. “_____?!”

                “Hey, sweetheart,” I say softly, trying to keep my voice steady. “How-How’s Elly? Did you find her?”

                “She’s fine, but that’s not important right now. Are you alright? Where are you?”

                As always, I give a nervous laugh. “I don’t know about alright. And…I don’t know where I’m at. But they want me to give you coordinates to meet at.”

                I look to the blond. I know some of her story: Jumin liked her but she chose V, she started to lose herself to depression, and then V claimed she committed suicide. She can’t be all there; she can’t be stable. In this state, she can’t be safe to be around.

                He snaps me back to the conversation. “_____! What are those coordinates?!”

                “Hey, Jumin?” My voice is steady as I look this woman in the eye.

                Apparently, I’ve caught him off guard. “Yes?”

                “I love you.”

                “I love you too, but this is not the time for that. Please. What are the coordinates?”

                “I’m sorry. I can’t give them to you.”

                Rika’s eyes widen with rage.

                “What?! _____!”

                I try to keep away from the woman coming at me. “Don’t trust her! She’s not your friend anymore! Rika-”

                A hand strikes across my left cheek and sends the phone to the ground. I lunge for it, only for Rika to stomp her heal through the screen, killing the machine. With a monstrous look of fury, she looks back at me.

                “It seems you’ve chosen the elixir then!”

                Now, I may have had a chance against Rika. We were similar in size, but the two men she called in: they easily dragged me away into some dungeon. They’d barely walked away when the man I’d met at the park walks into view. In his hand is a tray of bottles, each filled with a teal liquid.

                “The Savior says you were uncooperative,” he says with no emotion in his voice. “I am here to help you.” He steps inside, setting the tray down. Bottle in hand, he towers over me. “Don’t be afraid. We will guide you to the eternal paradise.”

[breakingsomething]

an average night out on the town

basic summary: no one knows the real identity of vigilante "jbm". at least, not until now.

trigger warnings: stabbing, blood, mentions of drugs

tagging @its-ethan-bro cause hey it's your fave side character! here he is, at long last!

it was starting to fucking rain.

of course it was. why wouldn't it? everything else was going wrong in jackie's life. all he needed was a bit of rain to put a damper on his evening.

he considered just going home. he was barely even patrolling anyway; just wandering the city with his MAAS bot on his shoulder, not bothering to keep to the alleys because no one was fucking around. he wasn't even in uniform. he'd given up on that months ago. all he needed was his thick red hoodie, his bag, his goggles, his mask, and his cuffs, along with a few assorted weapons scattered about his person. might as well. as the saying goes, you never know when your brainwashed brother might pop out of the shadows and try to kill you. or something like that.

no one around. jackie stopped under a streetlamp, glancing around the empty streets. nope, not a single soul. that was odd, but really, he wasn't in a state to question it. he was just gonna recharge his bots and go home. he couldn't be fucked dealing with anything else. nothing else mattered. not anymore.

he kept walking. his boots splashed through the rising puddles, soaking the bottoms of his cargo pants and making him shudder with the cold. he hadn't even brought a coat with him, like a goddamn idiot. henrik was going to kill him.

jackie had long ago memorized the locations of each of his bots, having programmed them to stick to dark, secluded areas where he could easily get to them. and there was only so many of them in the city. for instance, jackie could see one glinting in the piping of an alleyway next to a convenience store. he casually made his way over, waiting for the bot to float down and land on his hand. it did so. this bot was smaller than his main one- painted a dark green, a camera with a glowing red light built into the centre, a thick tail trailing behind. jackie's face twitched into a smile as his hand lit up with a magic yellow glow, causing the bot to chirp as its light turned blue. after it was charged, it darted back up to its previous position. jackie shook the light from his hands and kept going.

there were exactly one hundred bots hidden around the city, not including the larger one he kept on him at all times. he didn't technically have to charge each of them individually, but it was good for them to receive extra attention, wasn't it? get a special checkup, make sure they were ok? jackie almost laughed at himself. god, what a load of bullshit.

he just didn't want to go back home.

eventually, ninety nine bots were checked. the last one was also in an alley, this time next to a busier street- there were a few people walking around here, though what they were doing out at two am in the pouring rain was beyond jackie. it didn't matter, anyway. once he'd checked this last bot he could go home and face henrik's worry and disappointment. once he'd checked this last bot.

there was a man lying in the alley.

jackie slowly made his way over to him, his breaths quickening. the man was wheezing, clutching his chest- drunk? hurt? his hood was up so his face was hidden, so jackie couldn't make out his expression. "um, sir?" he croaked, his voice cracking from hours of disuse. he took another step, his boots splashing in the water. "are you alright?"

the man jerked his head round, revealing narrowed green eyes and clenched teeth, but his expression changed upon seeing who he was. "ah, jbm," he murmured. "th'fantastic hero, here to save…" his eyes closed and his arms slipped from his chest, revealing, to jackie's absolute horror, a thin knife wedged between his ribs.

"fuck, fuck," jackie hissed, immediately swinging his bag down and falling to his knees. "shit, lie down, i'll help you."

jackie gently pulled the man down, ignoring his whines of protest as his hood fell and his back came into contact with the puddles of water. he wasn't bleeding a lot, but maybe the bleeding was more internal, that would be harder to see and could kill him in minutes- jackie flapped his hands, only allowing himself a moment of panic before regrouping. he'd dealt with worse than this. he'd dealt with worse. he just hadn't been expecting to deal with it tonight. "i'll call the hospital."

"no!" cried the man, suddenly trying to sit up, clawing at jackie's arm. jackie pushed him back down, fearing he'd quicken the blood loss. "no, no, can't go to- not like this- no hospital, no, no hospital-"

"shit, fuck, ok!" jackie cried, his stress level rising. god, he hadn't wanted to go home before, but he'd rather sit in deafening silence with henrik two rooms away than do this right now. "i'll call my friend, ok? i'm gonna call him, i'll keep pressure on the wound and when my friend gets here he'll help you, ok? he's a doctor, kind of, you'll be ok, it's ok."

the man ignored his ramblings and moaned in pain, still babbling under his breath about hospitals. ok, ok, this was fine. jackie tapped the back of his gauges five times in quick succession and waited for the dinging noise that signified he was starting a call. "curro," he demanded.

there was a moment of pained silence while it just rang, and jackie pressed both hands on the man's chest, listening to his agonized cries. to take his mind off the pain, jackie decided to ask the man questions. "what's your name?" he asked.

the man said nothing, just whimpered and held onto jackie's hands. ok. never mind.

"jb?" came the deep, reassuring voice, and jackie nearly burst into tears.

"curro!" he exclaimed, relieved. "radreaoch ave, the alleyway. there's a guy here, stab wound to the chest, not super deep, and yes, i'm putting pressure on it. knife's still in. how soon can you get here?"

"ten minutes," curro said, and the call ended. simple as that. jackie liked that about curro- he didn't ask questions. unlike a certain other doctor he could mention. actually, jackie doubted henrik would have picked up the phone at all if jackie had called him.

curro drove up ten minutes later, right on time. jackie sobbed the second he threw his car doors open and raced over, his blue jacket bright in the darkness. "c, i don't-" he started, not taking his hands off the man's chest, but curro stopped him.

"we need to get him into the car, take him back to mine. you drive, i deal with him in the backseat. there's no police around as far as i can see, we should be fine." he said all this with such authority that jackie immediately found himself nodding frantically, and then they were lifting the man carefully between them and laying him across the seats, and jackie was driving to the place he always drove to when he was feeling this sense of urgency and panic, and then they were at curro's place again. he lived in a very small area so there were barely any people around, so it was easy to get the guy inside without being noticed; less easy to get him inside without hurting him. it took about five minutes to get him past curro's kitchen and living room to the room under the stairs where he kept all his supplies. five cabinets chock full of anesthetics and pills and bandages, and a padded table where jackie laid the man as curro sped round, gathering stuff into his arms and dumping it onto another small table next to him.

"can i help?" jackie offered, feeling rather useless.

"no, you're ok, this should be fine." curro waved his hand away.

jackie took that as a sign that he should go elsewhere. he left the room and took off his mask and goggles, brushing his hair with his hands. he was sure the man would be fine - curro was a great doctor. he'd only had his license revoked because he'd been possessed one too many times while working - surprisingly unrelated to anti, actually. there had been a ghost had been haunting curro for a couple years, although jackie was yet to see them. still, he trusted curro. trusted him with his life. yes, the man would be fine. he would definitely be fine.

jackie had spent enough time in curro's house to feel comfortable, especially as of late. he shrugged off his heavy red hoodie and sauntered into the kitchen, drinking several glasses of water before sinking into the couch in the living room, exhausted. he considered calling henrik and telling him where he was, but he doubted he'd even noticed he was gone. henrik had been so distant lately, leaving the room whenever jackie came in and avoiding talking to him whenever he could. it kind of hurt, really. it made jackie feel as though he was alone again, back in the days before he knew any of his brothers and anti had no name or face to him, when he was just a human shaped static cloud that tried to kill him every day. he hadn't felt like that in so long.

eventually, curro came out with a tired smile on his face. "he's alright," he said, shaking out his hands. "should be fine in a little while. why couldn't he go to hospital?"

"dunno," jackie said, shifting over to make room on the couch. curro's house was very small, although it was decorated very nicely, especially his kitchen. while curro was a learned doctor, he was also an extremely good cook. "i don't even know the guy, just found him. i'm glad he's ok." he hesitated. "can i… stay the night?"

curro crossed his arms. "why?"

jackie looked away and didn't respond.

curro sighed and leaned back against the couch. "jb, you can't just hide from your brother here."

"why not? he hides from me, too. he didn't come home a few nights ago, said he was staying with a girl named ellie." jackie scoffed. "load of bullshit, i think. like henrik's social enough these days to be getting any action."

curro laughed. "so rude."

"well, it's true. i don't want to talk to him right now anyway. he's been avoiding me. missing chase, i guess, which is fair. i miss marvin." jackie bit his nails anxiously and kept his eyes fixated on the wall.

there was an awkward pause.

"how long have you been wearing your binder?" curro asked as a way of breaking the silence.

"only a couple hours, man." jackie replied truthfully. "don't worry about me. is that guy gonna stay here overnight?"

curro nodded, obviously sensing jackie's need for a subject change. "i would suppose. he'll probably be unconscious til tomorrow, but who knows when he'll wake up." he poked jackie's side. "precisely why you can't stay tonight, unless you're planning to stay in costume all night."

"i could."

"you could not. that stuff looks uncomfortable."

"watch me, dick. just cause you have a low pain tolerance doesn't mean i do."

"yeah, i think your pain tolerance is a bit too high, jb. don't you remember when you sprained your wrist and didn't realize until i x'rayed you?"

"hey, shut up!"

they were so busy bickering and laughing that they didn't hear the door opening and the unsteady footsteps down the hall until -

"hello? i - oh!"

jackie and curro's heads snapped up to see the blonde man standing in the doorway, bandages wrapped around his bare chest. he was staring at jackie with wide eyes, clinging to the doorway to keep himself upright. "holy shit, are you jbm?" he grinned, his words slurring slightly.

jackie yelled and covered his face with his arms, unfortunately a bit too late. curro immediately jumped to his feet. "man, go lie back down, you just got stabbed!" he hollered. "the hell are you doing, walking around - fuck!"

"is that jbm?" the man said loudly as curro pulled him back down the hall. "he's hot, tell him he's hot."

jackie felt his face burning, for multiple reasons. he kept his face covered until the man was gone, then grabbed his mask, goggles, and hoodie, putting them back on despite it being a bit too late. well, maybe the man was so off it on pain meds he wouldn't remember jackie's face the next day? he hoped so. he wrote a quick note for curro and then left. he was sure he'd understand.

it was dark when he got home. dark, and quiet. his heart pounded, as it had the whole way there while he thought about what had just happened. he hoped the guy would be ok. fuck, he couldn't believe he'd allowed himself to be seen like that.

jackie had never intended to become a vigilante. he supposed he had been, once, in the time before his memory loss; his very first memory was standing on top of a building in his first stupid red jumpsuit, right before fighting anti for the first time. but the thing was… he hated confrontation. he hated fighting. he did like saving people, and he did a lot of that, and eventually had come to the realization that he didn't have to always "stop crime," he could help clean up the aftermath. and there always was an aftermath, and he was always there for it. he was a good medic. he hadn't intended to be a vigilante.

but man, did the cops hate him. why, he didn't know, but they did seem to dislike how he did their jobs better than they did. which was partially the reason for the mask and goggles, along with his immense social anxiety. and now, the fact that someone knew who he was - he shivered.

be reasonable, he thought. what's he gonna do, go to the police and say "here, i know what jbm looks like?" no, no, he doesn't know your name. you're fine. as long as he doesn't know your name, you're fine.

henrik was waiting for him.

"jackie," he said as he came into the dark kitchen, lit only by the city light coming through the window. jackie jumped.

"fuck, hen, you scared me," he laughed nervously, trying to make this situation seem normal. maybe henrik wouldn't notice what he was wearing in the darkness. "i didn't, uh, expect you to be up."

well, if he hadn't sounded suspicious before, he did now. both of them knew how bad henrik's insomnia got; there was no reason for jackie not to expect him to be up. henrik raised an eyebrow and stood from his place at the table he'd been sitting at. "that's a lie. where were you?" he walked over and stood in front of him. "drinking again!"

"henrik!" jackie protested, stepping back. "that was one time!"

it wasn't one time. jackie had been going out and getting drunk for weeks, just because it numbed his mind for a little while. but henrik didn't need to know that. "i was charging the bots, ok? that was literally it." it wasn't that far from the truth, really.

"you're covered in blood." henrik said flatly, crossing his arms. jackie's heart skipped.

"it's not mine!" he hurried to say, waving his arms in front of him. "i met a guy, he got stabbed, he was already like - i didn't see who it was -"

henrik suddenly let out a small, bitter laugh, startling jackie. "whatever," he muttered, marching towards the door and leaving the room. "you do you, jackieboy man."

the door didn't slam behind him, and that's what hurt the most.

he hadn't even asked if he needed medical attention. not that he would have said yes even if he did. he did that himself these days, when curro didn't.

they didn't speak the next day. barely spoke the next.

they were missing their brothers. that was understandable. but fuck, if jackie didn't a hug and someone to talk to.

he missed marvin more than he could even put into words.

three days later, he was back out on patrol.

just watching his bots. just keeping a lookout. just walking around, just avoiding henrik, just hating himself and wanting to die. just vibing, really. just the usual. just the usual.

"jbm!"

no fucking way.

he didn't turn. he was too afraid to look. no way the guy had recovered that quickly and somehow found him. no way, no way, no -

"hey! hey, jbm, wait, i want to -"

jackie broke into a run. he was not dealing with this, not tonight, not today, not ever. he raced down the street, legs pumping, the wind rushing past his ears and filling up his hood beneath his goggles.

he turned and darted down an alleyway, not even pausing to catch his breath until he was three streets down and everything was silent. he stopped to lean against an alley wall, sinking to a crouch for a brief second and wheezing. he fumbled in his bag for his inhaler and shook it, taking three puffs of the medicine and trembling slightly. fuck, that was nerve wracking. he was suddenly excited to go home and sit in awkward, grieving silence with henrik.

"hey down there."

a pair of legs in front of him. please, no.

he looked up. the man flashed him a crooked grin, light green eyes glowing like a cats in the streetlight. he was wearing a black tracksuit with red linings, looking like he was just out for a one am run. jackie couldn't breathe. fuck's sake, it was bad enough that this guy already knew what he looked like, did he have to see him on the ground taking his asthma inhaler too?

the man stretched out a hand to help jackie up. he just stared at him before slowing pushing himself up without help. just to prove he was still in charge of this situation. he was not blushing under his mask at this pretty blonde bastard smiling confidently at him, nope, he was not. he was definitely not.

the man tilted his head, his grin ever widening. "wow, you're a hell of a lot shorter than i thought you were."

jackie didn't give him the satisfaction of a response. instead, his eyes darted to the end of the alley, already calculating an escape route that'd get him as far away from this guy as he could.

the man saw him looking. "ah, ah, ah, not today, red," he sing songed, stepping even closer to jackie. he pressed him up right against the wall, leaning an arm against it and blocking jackie's path. "i legit do just want to talk. to say thank you, for saving my life. and apologize, for calling you hot in my delirium. that's not me saying i wouldn't still find you hot in my normal state, by the way. but i'm sorry if i made you uncomfortable."

jackie felt his cheeks burn. "you're making me uncomfortable now," he snapped before he could stop himself.

the man took two quick steps back, raising his hands besides his face. "ah shit, sorry. didn't mean to - ok, yeah, sorry. i get carried away."

jackie stood up straight, crossing his arms henrik style. "tell me this. why couldn't i take you to hospital?"

the man hesitated, both hands still at the sides of his head. "ah, well. the thing is, you're like a hero type guy, and i really don't know if i should be telling you."

a sudden rush of rage and irritation rushed through jackie, and he felt his eyes warning up with burning light. he made a noise that was practically a growl and stepped towards the man until he was pressed against the opposite wall. "fucking tell me, or i will burn your goddamn face off."

the man whistled nervously. "ok, ok, let's not get testy." he exhaled, lowering his hands slightly. "i may or may not have had a few illegal drugs on me - woah, woah, careful!"

jackie grabbed the front of the man's shirt, suddenly furious. "you - you had illegal drugs - and you got stabbed - what did you do, what did you drag me into?"

the man swatted jackie's hands off of him. "nothing, man, seriously!" he protested. "i swear, you'll not be involved at all, i swear! it was just some guy i pissed off, he's a bit of a rival, but it's cool! he doesn't have to know you were ever there, ok? come on, man -"

jackie shoved the man away, disgusted. "you didn't think to fucking - you couldn't have mentioned?"

"well, first of all, if i had, would you have just not saved me?" the man said, and jackie deflated. he was right. "and second, i was very delirious -"

"you were coherent enough to call me hot!"

a smirk crept back onto the man's face. "well, you must be pretty enough that i could see it even after having been stabbed and on painkillers, huh?"

jackie scoffed, heat rising. "fuck you."

the other man laughed, evidently more comfortable now that jackie had backed off. "you're absolutely welcome to if that's what -"

jackie took off before the other man could finish his sentence. he didn't follow him.

what an asshole. what an asshole. what would happen if jackie ended up involved in this - what was it? a fight over drugs or something that was apparently worth attempting to kill a man over? that was the last fucking thing he needed. what a douchebag. what an arrogant, pretty douchebag. no, not pretty. jackie wasn't lowering his standards that far down.

although, when he got home and leaned against the door, catching his breath before he was forced to go inside and face henrik again, he found something in his hoodie pocket. a scrap piece of paper. the man must have slipped it inside when he has him pinned against the wall. the memory made jackie blush and scowl, and he quickly read it.

"dearest jbm. i don't know your name, so i'm gonna call you red. unless your name is jbm, in which case -" the line "what were your parents on and can i get some?" was scribbled out and replaced with simply "what the fuck?" it continued. "unless those are initials or something. i'm still calling you red. anyway, thank you, and i'm sorry. here's my number, in case you should ever need it. very sincerely, aaron."

there was a string of numbers underneath the message.

jackie crumpled up the paper and threw it down angrily. why would he need to call him, for fuck's sake? hadn't he gotten the hint? adrenaline still rushing through his veins from running, jackie unlocked the door and headed inside the house.

it was a moment before he stopped, doubled back, and picked up the piece of paper. wouldn't want to litter. also, maybe he did want to keep the number. just in case he felt like yelling at the guy again once angry criminals inevitably started hunting jackie down for helping out their "rival." just in case.

it was difficult to get to sleep that night.

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Banner Ch47: Use Your Words, Old Man

Intro: Jamie reaches another milestone, and 2021 ticks by with many more memories for the Rogers and Stark family.

Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut! (NSFW) No under 18s. Tony teaching his nephew bad words…

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist 

May 2021

“Jamie…no!” Steve swooped down and picked up the tot who had been toddling, unsteadily albeit towards Lucky giggling away. Lucky, however, was fast enough to understand and jumped up bolting towards the door of the room, leaping over the baby gate to avoid Jamie’s vice like grip on his ears.

“NO!” The toddler giggled and Steve stopped dead. Katie looked up and her mouth fell open.

“Did he just…” she held her breath. The 14 month old had been uttering the odd thing that sound like a word for a good few months but nothing that anyone would recognise as a proper term until then.

“Yeah I think so!” Steve grinned, looking at her then his son “Did you just talk buddy? Did you just say no?” “NO! No, No!” Jamie wriggled in his dad’s arms, grabbing at his once more present beard. Katie, who had managed to get the last few iterations of the word on her phone camera grinned as Steve placed him back on the floor where he headed over to this play-mat and landed with a thud on the floor, picking up a pile of the large, coloured blocks he liked to play with.

“Of course his first word would be No.” She sighed as Steve sat on the couch next to her. He laughed and dropped a hand to her knee.

“To be fair, honey, that’s what we spend half our time telling him one way or another.” Katie snorted, that much was true. Since he had been fully mobile and walking unaided over the last two months they had constantly been moving things out of his reach or removing them from his grasp often followed by the word. Nine times out of ten the tot was content to let them do so, but the odd time he would throw a temper tantrum to rival those of Katie’s at which point Steve would simply sigh, throw him over a shoulder and wait until he gave in.

“NO!” Jamie called again, clacking the bricks together and Steve gave a grin and moved off the couch to drop by his son on the play-mat. Katie watched the two of them for a moment, smiling to herself. She knew it was a cliché but she literally couldn’t have wished for a better father for either of her kids. They were experiencing first parenting issues at both ends of the spectrum, with Emmy five months off her fourteenth birthday and Jamie two months on from his 1st. It wasn’t easy, hell, they spent half their time second guessing their decisions. Where they being too strict or too lenient with Emmy? Was Jamie developing right? Where his toys educational enough? Was the floor clean enough for him to be crawling or lying on with having a dog in the house? But, when she saw moments like this, Jamie now trying to push his large, red MegaBlock into his Dad’s mouth, Steve clamping his lips together and shaking his head making their son screech with laughter, all her worries faded away.

Jamie really was fast turning into a miniature version of his dad, which was another thing Katie loved. Steve himself didn’t see it, but there had been a moment a few weeks back where the soldier had recognised someone he knew, loved and missed daily in his son, and it had choked both Parents up.

Steve was led on his back on the bed, Jamie cackling away as his dad was holding him at arms-length and then bringing him back down again to blow a raspberry on his cheek, repeating the motion over and over again, until he paused and his eyes widened a little. Katie frowned slightly at the look on his face. Steve gulped as he looked into his son’s eyes, their familiarity hitting him like a brick.

“Honey what is it?” Katie asked, as his eyes misted up and he swallowed thickly.

“His eyes. Do you think they’ll carry on turning green?”

Katie frowned “I don’t know, I doubt it. Apparently most babies, if their eyes are gonna change, will have done it by six months. Why do you ask?”

“I just, well, I never thought I’d see those eyes again.” he whispered, gently resuming his actions.

“I’m not following.” Katie frowned

“They err, he has ma’s eyes” Steve said, his voice was choked as he looked at her, bringing Jamie down to his chest, a soft smile playing on his face.

“Then you see your mother’s eyes every time you look in the mirror.” Katie smiled, leaning over to give him a soft kiss as her own chest felt slightly tighter than normal. She wiped a tear Steve hadn’t even been aware he’d shed off his check gently with her thumb, leaving her hand trailing softly across his skin. “Because when I look at him all I see is you. Those eyes are yours.”

He looked up at her and smiled, “yeah?” “Yeah.” she nodded, “I think you’re more like your mother than you realise sweetheart, maybe not in looks completely but, well, she raised you single handed. You’re  the man you are because of her.”

“She was a fantastic woman.” Steve sighed.

“Well then you should be proud.” Katie said, and he smiled looking over at her.

“ I am.” he replied softly, his attention going back to his son. “And you know what else I’m proud of?”

“What?”

“That you’re a Mrs Rogers too.” he looked at her again “I know it’s just a name but, I really am glad you took it. Jamie has a Rogers momma as good as mine, helping to carry the name forward.”

“You sentimental sap.” Katie sniffed slightly as her own tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

“I love you so much.” he beamed at her, pressing his lips to hers softly. “Even if you are still a Stark really.” She laughed against his lips and gently hit him on the chest “Jerk.”

Katie turned back to the laptop she’d been looking at, flicking through a few spreadsheets with the latest figures the SIDE accountants had produced. Steve and Emmy’s idea around the support groups had been well received by everyone involved with the foundation and as such they’d started drafting up the paper work and working out the estimated funding. Steve had consulted Rhodey about the programme and the Colonel had enthusiastically agreed it was a great idea, and as such they’d pitched it to the Government, President Ellis’ reaction had been the same as theirs – why didn’t we think of this before- As such, they were currently working up the particulars, how they set up across the country, mobilisation, publicity…and Steve had taken up control of the project, his natural leadership qualities made him a superb Project Manager. He’d also expressed an interest in actually running the ones across New York himself, another way he felt he could help. They were aiming to open the first ones in September, running 2 a week for the time being, just to see how well they were received and, from a purely selfish point of view, Katie was enjoying working alongside him again and having him at home permanently instead of traveling with the Military.

“How many groups do you think you’re gonna have eventually?” she asked and Steve tuned to look at her.

“I dunno.” he shrugged “I’d like eventually to maybe run them three times a week, twice a day. Give everyone who wants to come a chance to you know…why?” “Just drilling into these numbers. I reckon we have enough to fund that to start with,” she paused, “and if the government meet our request then we can step it up.” He nodded “I put the design idea in for the fliers and posters yesterday. Has to be the mot sombre thing I’ve ever drawn.”

“I know.” she said softly “But it’s gonna make a difference Steve, focus on that.”

He was about to reply but he was cut off when they heard the voice from the security system informing them that the gate had been opened by “Emmy Rogers”. Steve glanced at the clock and frowned.

“It’s not even 1?” 

“They’re on half day” Katie didn’t look up from the numbers on the screen “Teacher training or something.”

Moments late the front door opened and the chatter of two excited teenage girls hit their ears and Lucky gave a bark, his nails clicking on the wooden floor as he trotted through from where he had been on his bed under the stairs to greet Emmy.

“I know…” Emmy was saying, as her voice grew louder “I mean, I never thought they’d do anything like this not after the Decimation but…hi buddy!”

They heard Lucky’s excited whine and then they appeared in the doorway.

“Never thought they’d do anything like what?” Steve asked instantly and Emmy rolled her eyes.

“Do you earwig into every conversation I have?” she rolled her eyes, opening the baby-gate and stepping into the room.

“Yes.” Steve deadpanned. “Spill.” “Geography field trip Mr R.” Brooke grinned “Hamilton for the Niagara Escarpment.”

“Canada?” Katie smiled before her smile turned to a smirk as she side eyed Steve “I had a vacation in Canada once…” Steve shot her a glare and his voice dropped to a growl “That’s not funny.” he said sternly. The memory of what she’d been through wasn’t a laughing matter as far as he was concerned. She flashed him a grin and he rolled his eyes.

“So when is it?”

“Last week of term in June” Emmy answered, reaching down to pick Jamie up who had toddled over to his sister excitedly chattering jibberish as he went “Just for three nights. I know it’s really short notice but apparently they weren’t sure they could pull it off. Hi Jay!” she swung him up and kissed the little boy on the cheek as Brooke gently tweaked his nose causing him to laugh.

“6 weeks, yeah that is short notice.” Katie said. “Do you wanna go?” Emmy’s eyes lit up and she nodded “I’d love to.” Steve took in a deep breath and Katie looked at him. She could see him grappling with something but Jamie spoke before he could.

“No!”

“Did he just talk?” Emmy’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, he hasn’t shut up saying it for the last hour.” Katie grinned “Look, have you got the details of the trip?” “In my bag.” she nodded. “Ok well leave them on the table, me and your dad will give it the once over and we’ll talk about it later.”

Emmy placed Jamie down on the floor and fished in her bag for the forms before she dropped them onto the coffee table with a soft slap. Jamie wandered this time over to Katie who set her laptop down and picked him up. He sat on her lap and gently wound his hand into her hair, rubbing his face into her neck the way he always did when he was tired.

“I’m gonna put him down for a nap.” Katie stood up and looked at the 2 girls. “What are you doing this afternoon?”

“Pool!” they both said, sharing a hi-five before Emmy looked at her mom, the familiar hopeful expression on her face she always got when she was about to ask for something.

“Can we get Thai tonight? It is Friday.” “Dontcha mean Thaiday…” Steve quipped causing Katie to groan as Emmy picked up a cushion off the couch with her spare arm and hit her dad with it.

“That is so lame” Emmy rolled her eyes as Brooke cackled. “C’mon…”

Katie watched as they left the room, Steve still chuckling at his own joke.

“She’s right.” Katie looked at him, gently re-arranging Jamie slightly as he had started to nod off “That was lame.”

Steve gave her a look of mock hurt, clutching his chest, before she left and he sat up to read the information Emmy had left on the table. He was struggling a little bit between wanting to let her go and also the worry that had instantly flooded his system about her being safe. He carefully read the information, the trip was almost three-fifty, not that it mattered, and was for three nights. They were to fly into Toronto and then coach down. The activities looked good, and quick google showed him the hotel looked fairly reasonable and was in a nice enough area…

“I knew you’d be on that as soon as you could be.” Katie laughed and Steve looked up at her from his spot on the floor by the table and he gave a sheepish grin.

“Busted,” he sighed, “I just wanted to look into it properly. You know I really want her to go and enjoy stuff like this but…” “We can’t keep her sheltered Steve.” Katie reasoned, “No matter how much we want to. She’s gonna be fourteen this time round.” “I know, I know.” He sighed “Do you think we should let her go?” “Yeah, I do.” Katie nodded “We’re lucky enough to be able to afford things like that for our kids, plenty of other families aren’t.”

Steve’s tongue poked the inside of his cheek for a moment as he considered his wife’s words. She was right. Emmy would never have been on a trip like this before, and it did look like a lot of fun.

“Alright.” He heaved himself up off the floor “You’ve convinced me.” Katie grinned “If only everything was that easy.” “It is.” he arched an eyebrow. “All you have to do is pull those eyes at me.” “What eyes?” she asked innocently. “You know damned well what eyes. Those eyes. The ones that can get me to do whatever you want.” “Is it working now?” she looked up at him, flicking her eyelashes. “Why, what do you want?” he asked, smirking, knowing full well what she was implying as her hands slid up his chest.

“Well the girls are out at the pool,” she said, her eyes now on the buttons of his Henley as she started to undo them, “and Jamie’s asleep…” Grinning he span her round, shoved her gently forward and aimed a smack to her ass causing her to yelp playfully “Get up those stairs Mrs Rogers.” He said, and the pair of them hurried off, giggling like a pair of naughty school kids till they reached their bedroom, where the giggles turned into shared moans, groans and happy sighs.

**** “Thanks for dropping Brooke off.” Jennifer smiled the next morning, placing a latte down in front of Katie.

“It was no problem, I had to come this way on my way up to the compound anyway.” Katie smiled and then frowned slightly as she noticed the look on her friend’s face.

“You alright?” She asked gently.

“Not really,” she said, sitting down. “Brooke called last night about the field trip…” Katie nodded “Yeah Steve wasn’t so keen but I talked him round. The girls seem to be looking forward to it.” “That’s the thing.” Jen sighed, rubbing her temple “I really want Brooke to go but, well, business hasn’t been what it used to be before, you know, and I’m not sure I can afford for her to go, not at such short notice.” Katie instantly felt like a jerk. She knew she was incredibly privileged to be so wealthy but was well aware many weren’t as fortunate.

“I haven’t had the heart to tell her yet.” Jen said. Katie bit her lip.

“Jen,” she leaned over the table dropping her voice, “if you want…” “No.” Jen shook her head, her lips pressing into a thin line, instantly understanding what Katie was offering “I’m not a charity case.” her voice was clipped. “No, that’s not what I meant.” Katie hastily assured the woman “Honestly, I didn’t mean to offend you.” “I know.” Jen shook her head “Sorry, that was really ungrateful.” “It’s fine.” Katie said, “But the offers there. We could consider it a loan if you liked.” Jen chewed her lip, and Katie saw her friend’s eyes begin to water.

“Look,” Katie gripped her mug “It’s a couple of hundred bucks. And this probably sounds crass but I make more money than I know what to do with.”

“Sorry, I just hate this, you know.” Jen hastily wiped her face “A few years ago this place was thriving and now, well I just about make enough to cover bills and the thought she is the one that has to miss out…” “Then let me help.” Katie pleaded, looking at the red head opposite her “Brooke’s been a good friend to Emmy and, well, from a selfish point of view I’d be a lot more comfortable if they were together.”

“That’s really kind of you.” Jennifer nodded after a pause “Are you sure? I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.”

“Whenever, it’s not a big deal.” Katie nodded, smiling “On one condition.” “What?”

“You sneak me one of your delicious brownies every once in a while.” Jenifer laughed “Oh honey, you and Steve can get free coffee and brownies for life.” “Erm, yeah, pretty sure in a month you’d be bankrupt if I told Steve that.” Katie grinned and Jenifer smiled.

“Would you like to come over?” she asked suddenly “The pair of you, for dinner maybe? Tonight? Emmy and Jamie as well, of course.”

“I think that should be ok.” Katie smiled “We’re not doing anything that I know of.”

“Great, well, Emmy can stay here if she likes, sure once I tell Brooke she can go they’ll be planning all sorts of mischief.”

“I dread to think” Katie mused “You know I went on a field trip to San Fran one year. I was 16. Me and my friend, a girl called Laura, I made some fake ID and we got plastered in a bar. Tony absolutely kicked my ass, although he told me a few years later he was actually quite impressed at the quality of my forgeries.”

Jennifer snorted “Yeah, this isn’t exactly filling me full of confidence.”

Katie laughed “Emmy is much better behaved than I was at that age.” She drained her mug and stood up. “I best be going.”

“Sure, see you tonight? What time will suit with Jamie?”

“Well he normally goes down about seven and he’ll just sleep in his car seat.” Katie smiled “So say six ish? I can feed him and settle him then at yours before we eat.”

“Fab.” Jenifer stood up and Katie mirrored her “And thank you.”

“My pleasure.” she smiled, and she handed Jen her mug. Once the woman was out of sight she dug into her purse and dropped the customary twenty bucks into the tip jar.

****

Steve was in the kitchen when he heard his wife come home. He didn’t move though, he was too busy watching his son, trying to figure out how the hell the fourteen month old had managed to climb up on top of the breakfast bar unaided. The only explanation was he’d used one of the stools as leverage, but even that was baffling him and there was no way he should have been able to manage that, at all. He had turned his back for thirty goddamned seconds to load the dishwasher and now his son was crawling along the unit.

“Thank you Dr Erskine” Steve grumbled as he swept his son off the surface “You’re gonna be the death of me, pal.” “No!” Jamie cackled, and Steve sighed, his son carefully held in his arms as Katie walked into the kitchen. “Hey, baby.” he said, dropping a kiss to her lips.

“Hi.” She greeted him, returning his gentle sign of affection before she blew a raspberry on Jamie’s cheek. He giggled as she made her way to the fridge and Steve deposited him on the mat at the corner of the room.

“How was Nat?” Steve asked and Katie sighed, grabbing out a bottle of water and opening it.

“Still insisting on flying out to Nepal.” she shut the fridge. “I’ve told her Barton doesn’t wanna be found, but…” she trailed off. “And Bruce has gone again.”

“Where to this time?” Steve frowned. 

“Back to the lab in Seoul.” Katie shrugged “I don’t know what for. Anyway, I told her to come for dinner on Sunday and that if she misses it again this week imma kick her ass.” Steve smiled as Katie took a drink from the bottle “Oh, and speaking of dinner, we’re not doing anything tonight are we?” she asked, 

“Not at the moment but I’m sure you’re about to tell me we are.” “Correct, Jen’s asked us round.” she said sitting down at the table

“That’s nice of her.” Steve said, pouring himself mug of coffee, Katie waving away his offer of one “You wanna go?”

“Yeah, and it’s kind of a thank you so we should do really.”

“What for?” he sat down opposite her.

“Well, she was upset about not being able to send Brooke on the Field Trip so I offered to help out money wise.” she shrugged, “You don’t mind do you?”

Steve shook his head. “No, of course not.”

“She didn’t want to take it at first but she agreed in the end. As long as it’s a loan” 

“I’m glad she agreed to take it. I’m assuming Emmy has stayed with them for the day?”

Katie hummed a response.

“Those two are joined at the hip.” Steve snorted

“Another reason I really wanted Brooke to go.”

A movement caught Steve’s eye from the corner of the room and he looked up to see Jamie was now stood up again and was heading back towards the breakfast bar. He quietly observed his son, watching as the boy gripped the legs of one of the stools and pulled himself up, and was horrified to see that he was managing to lift his legs off the floor, swinging them onto the foot bar.

“James, No!” he said loudly. The use of their boy’s full name didn’t pass Katie by and she turned in her seat to see Jamie looking at his father before he let go of the stool and fell backwards onto his butt, the pout on his face reminding Steve so much of his wife that he had to stifle a laugh. Katie watched as he got to his feet and toddled towards her.

“He managed to get up onto the kitchen counter before.” Steve said as she picked him up and sat him on her knee. “What?” Katie asked, her voice high pitched as she whipped her head round to look at Steve “How the hell?”

“Beats me, although from that I suspect he was using the stool as a climbing frame.” Steve sighed watching as Jamie’s attention turned to the now empty bottle of water in front of Katie. “I was loading the dishwasher and in the time it took me to put the plates in he’d made it from his play mat to the top of the damned breakfast bar.” “This is your fault.” Katie laughed, smoothing down her son’s blonde hair. “You and your damned super serum.”

“I know.” Steve shook his head. “I thought we could take him and Lucky out for a walk maybe see if that settles his energy.”

Katie checked her watch “Yeah, we could do. Maybe head to the park. If we go now then we should be back for his nap.”

“Or we can wait a while, and he can sleep in the buggy and I can take you for lunch?”

“Okay so that sounds even better” she grinned “You know, you’re not as dumb as-“

Steve never found out what he wasn’t as dumb as, because at that moment they heard a yell that made his breath catch.

“DADA!”

The parents looked at one another, a shit eating grin spreading across Steve’s face as he leaned forward across the table.

“Dada?” Katie asked, pointing at Steve, bouncing Jamie on her knee. “Dada!” Jamie babbled again, grinning. “Dada!”

“Typical.” Katie rolled her eyes. “I carry you for nine months, give birth, feed you from my boobs and you come out looking like your father and you say Dada first. That’s gratitude for you”

“Guess that means I’m his favourite.” Steve teased, slumping back in his chair, screwing his eyes shut and pumping his fist in mock celebration, a smug grin in his face. It earned him a glare from his wife once he opened them and he blew her a kiss, shrugging.

He was pleased, however that Katie didn’t have to wait long for her turn. A few days later when she went into Jamie’s room to get him up for the morning he beamed at her and held his arms up exclaiming “ma-ma!” Steve watched his wife on the baby monitor screen and felt his heart swell to what felt like 5 times its normal size as Katie picked up their son, her eyes pricking with tears and held him tight. 

*****

June 2021

Katie woke with a start, pausing for a moment, wondering why it was so quiet. It took her a second but then she remembered Jamie was at Tony’s, staying for a sleepover. As Emmy was on her field trip, Pepper and Tony had taken the boy to give Katie and Steve a night on their own, the first one they had had in a very long time. Tony had rung them mid afternoon to ask who on earth had taught him the word “whatever…”, albeit in Jamie’s pronunciation “tever…” and Katie had laughed, that one was firmly down to Emmy. He hadn’t quite managed the sign to go with it yet thought, despite her best attempts.

They’d taken full advantage of it too. Steve had gone into complete romantic overdrive, coming home from a meeting at the tower with a bunch of calla lilies for his wife and told her to get dressed up as they were going out. They’d headed into Brooklyn for a meal at a small Italian (Katie only checking her phone five times…which was an improvement on the twenty the first time they’d left Jamie with his uncle) and they’d had a great time. It had been intimate, and they’d teased each other relentlessly meaning when they got home they hadn’t even made it up the stairs before they’d been clawing at each other, desperate touches and kisses shared in the hallway before they’d both tumbled into the lounge onto the rug in front of the fire. Grinning to herself at the slight tenderness between her legs, Katie turned over and glanced at Steve who gently shifted in his sleep, a sure sign that he was slowly waking. She scooted closer and rested her hand on his chest, her smile widening as he unconsciously let out a soft sigh of contentment. His eyes were moving under their lids, and as her hand started trailing down over his stomach he took in a deep breath, finally opening his eyes and meeting her gaze just as her touch dipped below the waistband of his boxers. He let out a low groan.

“You’re awake early considering the kids are away.” he murmured, kissing the skin in the crook of her shoulder, his beard scratching her skin slightly as she continued her strokes, teasing him lightly.

"Yeah, force of habit” she whispered back, sighing as he kissed her neck again and again. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close until she was pressed against him, his thigh between hers as he rolled them both over so she was nestled under him. His lips made their way to hers and he gave her a deep, languid kiss as she shifted so that her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him flush against her. Steve propped himself up with his left arm while his other hand went under the shirt she was wearing, his shirt, to her chest, his fingertips barely brushing against her nipples. She groaned loudly at his touch, and he was just about to warn her to be quiet, but then he realised he didn’t have to. With the knowledge that he really could make her scream, he hastily pulled the top over her head and his lips crashed back to hers, the kiss hot and intentional as her legs gripped him tightly in an attempt to get a little more friction between them. He went to tug at the waistband of her underwear, barely breaking his lips away from hers for a moment.

“You want me?” he asked, his voice low and raspy.

“Please.” she said, aware of the desperation that flooded her tone and he let out a low growl, and she felt the tearing along one side of the thin lace garment he had hold of. She laughed into his mouth, remembering their first time together when he had done that as her fingers scrambled to push down his boxers as he repositioned himself slightly, gently working into her. Man and wife both let out a satisfied sigh as Steve’s hand grabbed Katie’s knee and hitched it over his shoulder, a move he knew drove her wild. She moaned loudly and her fingers dug into his arms as he starting pushing a little harder, a little faster, then faster, until he had reached a relentless pace making his wife curse and leaving her short of breath.

He slowed for a moment, making her look at him, letting out a noise of protest. “Don’t stop,” she begged, “Please Stevie.”

Grinning slightly he picked up the pace again, enjoying the noises she was making as she keened underneath him, her head pressing further back into the pillow a she gave another loud cry of his name before he felt her tighten round him, her nails biting at the skin on his arms. He continued to thrust  three, four more times before the snake in his belly uncoiled and he jerked on top of her with a loud cry of his own and let go of her leg, collapsing onto her, his face buried into her neck.

“Morning,” she mumbled, her hands tangling into his hair and he let out a soft chuckle.

They stayed in bed for another hour or so, just laying with one another and talking before it was time to shower. They did that together too, and by the time they were climbing into the car to go and pick Jamie up, Katie was feeling literally and figuratively thoroughly fucked and fell asleep on the journey, Steve smirking to himself at the fact he could still tire her out like that after almost eight years of being with one another.

“Late night was it?” Tony quipped as Katie let out a yawn as she walked into his living room.

“Yeah, and an early morning” she shot back and Tony snorted, shaking his head.

“Dada!” Jamie giggled as he tottered over from where he had been sat on the rug with Morgan and Pepper “Mama!”

“Hi baby!” Katie swept him up in her arms and placed a kiss to his cheek “We missed you.” “Nee!” He said gleefully and Katie frowned, and it wasn’t until he pointed to his uncle and repeated the word that she understood “Nee!”

Steve let out a snort “Uncle Nee. Suits you Tone.” “Shut up, Spangles” Tony raised an eyebrow as Morgan laughed.

“Uncle Pangles” the two year old quipped as if on cue and Steve let out a moan

“Did you teach her that?” he looked accusingly at his brother in law.

“Of course he did.” Pepper sighed, sweeping the small girl into her arms as she stood up, smirking at Katie. “You guys eaten breakfast yet or were you too busy?” Katie let out a snort “If there’s any going I won’t say no.”

Pepper handed Morgan to Steve as she was trying to reach him and he took her, tossing her into the air ignoring the wince from Tony as he did so, catching the girl expertly.

“Again!” she pleaded and Steve obliged happily, knowing that it was winding Tony up only added to the enjoyment of seeing his niece cackle with laughter. “When’s Emmy back?” Tony asked, tearing his eyes away from where Steve was tossing his daughter in the air like he was wielding that fucking shield to look at his sister.

“This evening.” Katie answered. “Spoke to her last night, not sure she wants to come home.” “I remember your field trip to San Fran.” Tony mused, raising an eyebrow and Katie snorted.

“Yeah, so do I.” She smirked “I was telling Jen about that the other month. My first hangover.” “Ok, can you stop that now!” Tony rounded on Steve who grinned and rest Morgan on his hip and she pouted

“More!”

“Sorry, Moo.” Steve apologised and she gave a huff as he placed her on the floor and she headed off to find her mum in the kitchen. He arched an eyebrow at Tony who rolled his eyes.

“Dick.” he mumbled.

“Dick.”  Jamie repeated loudly and Katie’s eyes widened. Steve looked at his son, utterly horrified, then to Tony who’s shocked expression was fast turning into one of utter glee.

“Oh you-” Steve glared at Tony as Katie bit her lip to try and stop her laughter “For f-“ he stopped himself, took a deep breath and pointed at Tony “You are an absolute…”

“Use your words, Old Man…” Tony grinned, delightedly and Steve’s jaw clenched as he turned so his back was to his son and raised his hand, flipping his brother-in-law off.

*****

October 2021

“Your daddy is gonna be soaked” Katie mused to Jamie as she looked out of the window “It’s absolutely pouring with rain.”

“Dada. Rain!” Jamie grinned, chanting the words back at her, ignoring the small piece of toast that was left on his plate.

Steve had gone for his morning run with Lucky before he headed out to the first of the two support groups he was running that day. Steve had held the first one in September in an old hall, and at first Katie was worried that more people would attend to take their anger out on him and had wanted to be there to help but Steve refused point blank. Her concern wasn’t completely unfounded as a lot of people were angry at first, but no one else hit him, and he said it was actually therapeutic for him too, as he could answer questions, and speak honestly and openly about how he felt about the situation too. Turns out Steve was a natural born councillor as well as a leader, and by the end of the month he had 6 different groups running through the week at different places across Manhattan. It was good for him and he was relishing the fact he could still be useful. Of course, there was one downside, that delectable beard had, once again, for the third time been vanquished. Because Steve was recognised as ‘Captain America’ at those support groups, or at least a version of.

And “Captain America doesn’t have a beard…”

The back door opened, and Katie could hear the man she was thinking about stepping into the small utility room off the side of the kitchen.

“Ahhh thanks, pal.” his voice dripped with sarcasm as she heard Lucky’s tag tinkling along with the noise of the dog shaking “That’s great. really great.” Katie chuckled to herself, picturing his face as he continued to grumble

“Could have waited until I got a towel.”

“DADA!” Jamie yelled at the sound of his dad’s voice, squirming in his seat, breakfast abandoned. “Ucky!”

“Hey, buddy” Steve called back, as Katie undid the straps from his high chair and they made their way into the utility area where Steve was drying Lucky off as best he could with an old towel. Lucky took the opportunity as soon as he could to scoot away and past Katie into the kitchen.

Jamie glanced at his dad and excitedly wiggled his arms and legs as Steve shrugged off his sodden waterproof running jacket.

“Hi!” he screeched “Hi Dada!”

Steve’s bright smile light up his face “Hi, son.” He kissed him once on both cheeks and he squeaked happily before Katie set him down and he toddled back over to the play-mat in the corner of the kitchen.

“What, no kiss from my baby mama?” Steve asked, sweeping Katie into his arms and rubbing at her neck with his cold, damp face.

She squealed and tried to pull away, to absolutely no avail and Steve continued to laugh and use her as a drying cloth.

“Ew! You’re cold and damp and sweaty!“ she wrinkled her nose.

“You don’t seem to mind my sweat when I’m chasing your fourth orgasm.” he said cheekily, dropping his voice to barely more than a whisper, making her laugh.

“That’s different.” “How?” he snorted

“Because that’s sex sweat, this is run sweat.” she shrugged in his arms. Steve laughed loudly “I didn’t realise I had different sweat pores for different activities”

“I didn’t mean that!” she rolled her eyes “I mean that I’m not sweaty now, I’m warm, and dry…” “Yeah, and if you give me a moment I can rectify that situation…”

“Dirtbag.” she grinned, his chuckle vibrating into her chest. "Go get showered and warmed up. I’ll make you some breakfast.”

"Kiss first, Kitten.” Steve muttered before he leaned forward and pressed a his mouth to hers. His lips were warm and despite herself, Katie leaned into his arms, her hands snaking up into his damp hair.

“Kissy!” Jamie giggled, and they broke apart to look at the tot who was sat on the floor clapping “kissy, kissy!”

“I’m gonna kill Emmy” Steve muttered, and then he spotted Lucky expertly stealing the toast that Jamie had left on the highchair, before sidling out of the room with his precious cargo before he could chastise the animal. “And that damned dog.”

Katie laughed and gave him another peck on the cheek before he swept past his son, giving his hair a quick ruffle. She leaned back against the counter and smiled, before she sighed. They’d had almost three years now of pretty much non-stop domestic bliss, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something surely had to come along at some point and turn it all upside down. That was how things went for them, right?

“Mama!” her attention flew back to her son as he toddled over to her and held his arms up “Hungry.” “Again?” she rolled her eyes before she smiled and with one arm placed more bread in the toaster. For now, she pushed any worries she had to the back of her mind, content to just enjoy what they had for as long as they had it.

Tags

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[whump-tr0pes]

HB4-40/Whumtober day 25

This is a series. Start here, continued from here.

This is a sequel to Honor Bound, Honor Bound 2, Honor Bound 3, and Vera.

AO3

Masterlist

~

Content warning: migraine, emesis, death mention, mention of parent killing a child, implied noncon drugging

~

The room was moving slowly around Gavin, but he was lying still. He blinked his eyes open and winced as even the soft light from the crack in the curtains stabbed into his eyes, feeling like a knife directly into his brain. He squinted and groaned softly as his eyes slowly focused on his own hands, bound in front of him and lying on a pillow, and Isaac, lying next to him on his back, his pinky just touching Gavin’s.

Gavin stirred, and froze as the pain behind his left eye pounded harder. His stomach churned. He twisted his hands against the rope and winced as it bit into his skin.

He squinted – why was his left eye so blurry? – and looked at Isaac where he lay. Gavin didn’t want to wake him; he seemed peaceful, relaxed, his mouth open slightly, the muscles of his face soft and loose. Another wave of nausea rolled over him and he squeezed his eyes shut. He gently placed his hand on Isaac’s shoulder.

Isaac jerked awake with a gasp, his eyes darting over the room, his right hand curling into a fist. Gavin collapsed against the pillow with a moan. Isaac found Gavin and froze, then relaxed, all at once.

“Hey,” Isaac said, with a soft smile. His gaze flicked to the rope still around Gavin’s wrists. “Oh, shit,” he murmured, and hesitantly reached out. “Can I—”

“Please,” Gavin breathed. “Don’t… don’t feel good.”

Isaac’s brow furrowed as he fumbled at the knot. “Oh. What… what’s going on?”

“Head hurts,” Gavin gasped, as even the act of talking seemed to make the throbbing behind his eye even worse. “Nauseated. Don’t wanna move.”

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry. Is it…? Did something…?” Isaac’s hands stopped on the rope. “Are you… sure I didn’t hurt you last night, Gavin?”

“Yeah, sure,” Gavin breathed. “Please, just… f-fuck, hurts…”

“I’ll get Finn,” Isaac said, and Gavin sighed with relief as the knot came away. “Maybe they—”

“Just a headache,” Gavin said tightly. He carefully rubbed his wrists where the rope had cut into them, just a little, while he slept. “It’s… it’s just…” Just the movement of his hands was enough to tip the room around him. He heaved forward, leaned off the side of the bed, and vomited into the small trashcan there. Sweat broke out over his skin.

“I’m getting Finn,” Isaac said in a rush, practically leaping off the bed. He opened the door and disappeared down the hallway. Gavin groaned as he slumped with his head hanging off the side of the bed. As the blood rushed to his head, the pounding grew even worse, although Gavin didn’t know how that was possible. He dry heaved once, then retreated back until his head lay against the cool of the mattress. The cool felt good.

“…n’t know what’s wrong,” came Isaac’s voice as he approached their room. “I just woke up and he was—”

“Don’t turn on the light,” Finn said, their voice coming from the doorway.

Thank god for you, Finn. Please, please don’t turn on the light.

“Oh. I… why, is that…?”

“Just… give me a sec.”

Gavin could hear the soft sounds of padded feet on the floor, but quieter than normal, as if… as if Finn was trying to be quiet. Even so, the sound crawled under his skin and made him feel sick with it. The air moved around him as Finn knelt beside the bed.

“Careful, I…” Gavin’s mouth was numb. “I… I puked.”

“It’s fine,” Finn said, their voice barely louder than a whisper. “Ellis has had morning sickness all week. It’s just puke. You woke up like this?”

“Y-yeah,” Gavin mumbled.

“No recent head injuries?”

“Not… recently…” Gavin laughed, once, then moaned as the pain in his head ratcheted up another notch. “Oh, god.”

Finn huffed out a laugh of their own. “Okay, fair enough. Ever had this happen before?”

“No,” Gavin groaned. “Oh, fuck, what’s…?” He pressed his hands against his head, desperate to push away the pain. “What is this?”

“It’s a migraine,” Finn said gently. Gavin flinched as he felt Finn’s cool fingers against his head, carding gently through his damp hair. He groaned and pushed weakly into the touch.

“F-feels good,” Gavin whimpered. “I’m… s-sorry, I… I don’t know what’s… happening…”

“Honestly, I’m surprised we aren’t all having them,” Finn murmured, a smile in their voice. “They’re a really common symptom of stress. And—”

“You’re the ones who were stressed,” Gavin said, weakly. “You’re the ones who were being tortured.”

Finn blew out a slow breath through their lips. Finally, they turned to Isaac and said, “Please explain to your boyfriend what a dumbass he is. I’m going to get some ice. One of the theories about migraines is that they’re caused by a blood vessel in the brain dilating and putting pressure on the surrounding tissue. Ice on the back of the neck can constrict the—”

“Not a dumbass,” Gavin whispered, trying to ignore how his cheeks flushed. Isaac’s boyfriend? If he didn’t feel so fucking… sick…

“Yeah, sure, Gavin,” Finn said gently, and the air moved again as they stood. Their voice faded until it sounded like they were standing outside the door. “I’ll be right back, Isaac. I’ll bring a clean trashcan and clean that one. I could try to get my hands on some rizatriptan, too. A classmate of mine used to take it for her migraines. It works pretty well, from what I hear. If this is gonna be a regular thing—”

“You mean this is gonna happen again?” Isaac whispered. “Finn… he… he doesn’t fucking… Finn, just… just tell me what to do. Okay? Just… tell me what to do. He… he takes care of me, all the goddamned time. Finn, please…”

“Isaac… breathe. It’s a migraine. It sucks, but it isn’t life threatening, and there are medications that treat it. I can ask Edrissa if she knows any herbal remedies. She might—”

“You… you won’t tell her who it’s for, right? I mean…”

Finn laughed, softly. “I won’t let her poison him, Isaac. No, I’ll say it’s for Ellis. She’s been going absolutely bananaballs over that baby. She’d be happy to help.”

A pause. “…okay. I just… Finn, he… he doesn’t deserve this. After everything he did… I mean, yeah, no shit he was stressed, he walked the fucking wire for three weeks in that fucking nightmare mansion, for us. And… this is how he’s repaid?”

“I know. Believe me, I know. We’re all dealing with… various versions of this. Ellis says their morning sickness is way worse than the first two times. I’m pretty sure Tori’s got an ulcer, and Vera’s back pain has been… I mean, yesterday she could barely get out of bed. And… well. You’ve seen Sam. Although they’re getting better every day.”

“Yeah, but… Finn, could… could this be… I don’t know, a result of the head injury I gave him? I mean, that was almost a year ago now, but… could something that long ago be causing it?”

Gavin’s chest ached at the guilt in Isaac’s voice. He wanted to call out to him and tell him no, this wasn’t from the head injury, he was sure of it… but he felt if he raised his voice, his brain would catch fire and come melting out his ears like hot cheese. The thought made him gag.

“I… don’t think so. I mean… yeah, technically, it could be from that, but it’s way, way more likely that it’s from the stress. I mean… don’t tell Ellis I said this, but… I’ll never doubt his place in the family again, because of how much he sacrificed for us. His mother would have skinned him alive if she ever got even a hint that he wasn’t hers, and that he still cared about us. And he did all that anyway. It would have been… much, much easier for him to just go with it, and let her kill us one by one. I mean, she might have still killed him, but she might not. And he would be… I mean, fuck, Isaac, he was… tortured. And the torture he put himself through, lying for us… what he made himself do to you…”

“I know,” Isaac said brokenly. “There’s… no way I could ever thank him enough for what he did for us. For… for me.”

“You have a lifetime to try, Isaac.”

For a moment, the pain faded, pushed right out of Gavin’s head by his shock. He’d hoped they’d let him stay, but there was some small part of him that believed they were only letting him stay until rumors of their survival had faded, and he could be released again with minimal risk. He’d hoped they’d want him, as part of their family. He’d hoped Isaac would let him stay by his side.

The pain rushed back in and Gavin whimpered softly. Finn and Isaac were silent for a moment. The smell of his vomit was making him sick. He pressed his face against the mattress.

“You… you think he’d want me for that long? A lifetime?”

Finn sighed. “You’re both dumbasses. Yes, Isaac, I do. You’re… you’re literally the first person to ever show him what love looks like. You think he took you just for shits and giggles? I mean, for that reason, too, but… I think he wanted to see what it was that made you so special that you’d give yourself up for Sam.”

“I’m not special. Anyone else would have—”

“You are to him, Isaac. And to the rest of us, too, but absolutely to him. Now… let me go get some ice, okay? I can grab the trash can in a sec.”

“No, I… I can do that,” Isaac said, his voice low and gentle. “It’s fine.”

“…okay. Well, I’ll be back. Grab the trashcan from the bathroom.”

“Yeah.”

The voices faded. Gavin floated in the pain, every heartbeat grabbing him and pulling him back down into his body. The room moved slowly around him, the sour smell of his own sick rankling in his nose. There was a rustling, and when Gavin peeled his eyes open, there was a fresh trashcan on the floor beneath him. He sighed and pulled the covers up over his head.

After a long moment, several minutes or several hours, he couldn’t tell, he felt the mattress dip as someone sat next to him. The blanket was drawn back from over his head, and a cool compress settled on the back of his neck. He groaned softly as the cool pushed away the nausea for a moment.

“Thanks, Finn,” he whispered. Then, fingers trailed gently through his hair, and he whined softly. He’d know that touch anywhere. “Isaac,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” Isaac said softly, his hand moving slowly across Gavin’s forehead. “I asked Finn to let me bring you the ice.”

“Mmm,” Gavin moaned, and his eyes slid shut again. “Thank you.” His left eye ran tears into the sheets.

“I’m sorry you don’t feel well,” Isaac whispered. “I… didn’t know what you needed.”

“Neither did I,” Gavin mumbled. “Ice is good, though. And… and you. You’re… good.”

Isaac huffed out a laugh. “Ah. I just brought the ice—”

“But… it feels good. Thank… you.”

Isaac was silent for a moment. “Yeah, Gavin,” he said after a while.

Every heartbeat pounded in Gavin’s head. For a while, the ice helped. Gavin stirred and opened one eye, cringing when the light from the hallway stabbed into his head. “Do you… do you need to do anything else today?” he said weakly.

“I don’t have anything to do but be here with you,” Isaac whispered. “Unless you want me to go.”

“No,” Gavin sighed. “Stay… please?”

Every breath, every second, seemed to move through Gavin in slow motion. He thought back to the headaches he’d had after Isaac put him in the hospital. Those never lasted for very long, because whenever he started complaining of a headache, his mother would give him something that made him sleepy and dizzy, and he’d crawl back to bed and doze until it was over. For the first time since reaching the north, fear sunk into Gavin’s chest that if any of the team got sick – and Finn couldn’t help them – they were hundreds of miles away from the state-of-the-art hospitals that kept him alive when he’d been close to death. He curled into himself and tugged gently on his own hair, desperate for relief.

The compress on the back of his neck began to warm. Gavin whimpered, tears of frustration running from his eyes. He felt trapped in his own head, assaulted on every side by the faint light from the hallway and curtains, and by the sounds of the others somewhere else in the house.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, was a vague memory of another cool hand on his head, a soft kiss in his hair, a low voice, soothing him as he lay in bed. Pain spiked in his head and he shoved the memory away. He didn’t need to think of her, not now.

Isaac’s hand slid down the back of his head and down his neck, under the compress. “Let me get a new one,” he said softly. The mattress bounced slightly as he stood. Gavin lay still as he walked out of the room, although all he wanted to do was to cling to Isaac, beg him to stay. The headache was getting worse.

A moment later, an eternity later, the mattress dipped again.

“Hey,” Isaac’s voice whispered, and Gavin could have sobbed with relief. “I have some tea… try some?”

Gavin moaned and obediently lifted his head. A cup pressed to his lips and he took a sip. It tasted herbal, sweet, with a hint of spice as well. There was a faint sound as Isaac put the cup on the nightstand.

“Wh-what is it?”

“Something Edrissa made,” Isaac murmured. “Tea with peppermint, lavender, ginger, rosemary, and honey. She said those herbs are good for migraine.” He pressed a fresh cold compress to Gavin’s neck.

Gavin moaned weakly. “She… tell her thank you,” he whispered.

“Hm. Maybe someday,” Isaac said. His voice sounded sad. “For right now… that tea is for Ellis, as far as she knows.”

“I hate lying to her,” Gavin whispered. “If she ever finds out, she’ll… she’ll hate me.”

The unspoken words hung in the air between them: she already hates you.

“Don’t worry about that right now,” Isaac murmured. “You can tell her once you’re better, if you really want. Right now, let’s just… focus on getting you over this. Finn already called into Burmingham to see if they carry riza— I don’t remember what it’s called. Sounds like they can order it and have it in within a week.”

“Hope I don’t get another migraine before then,” Gavin rasped, and pushed weakly into Isaac’s hands as he stroked his hair.

“Yeah,” Isaac said weakly. “Me… me too.” Isaac’s throat clicked as he swallowed. “Can I… do anything else? For you? I mean… do you need anything else?”

“I just need you,” Gavin whispered, not caring how that sounded. “Can you… can you just… I don’t know. I just want you with me.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Isaac said gently. His hand moved down to gently massage the back of Gavin’s neck. “Is that… okay?”

“Yeah,” Gavin sighed, and shuddered as another wave of nausea rolled over him. “That’s… that’s good.”

Continued here

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[evien-stark]

✧I Need You✧ Chapter 112

Eventually you did have to take that call with President Ellis, although you were determined to not let him bother you during… dinner. If a few bags of BK could be considered dinner. Harley was too preoccupied with going on and on about whatever lab experiment they were doing downstairs to really care about much else. When everyone was fed you put some face time into calming Ellis down and telling him this was all for the best, really, and that you’d send whatever resources his way that he needed. 

It was after that annoying phone call (that you’d honestly brought on yourself, no matter the good reasons behind it) and tying up a few more loose ends via email and phone calls that you excused yourself to the small private gym in the back corner of the penthouse to release some stress. If you didn’t have an unexpected young visitor, you might have thought of other ways to relieve it, but… circumstances couldn’t always be in your favor. Still… even as you ran a few miles on the treadmill and finished up with some rhythm boxing, your mind wandered to earlier that morning. And some other very choice moments… having so many to pick from… 

Finished with your workout, though not sufficiently de-stressed really, you emerged to see Tony and Harley sitting on the couch playing whatever game it was that Happy had dropped off earlier that day as per your request. It was at least nice that Tony had something other than work and nonsense to focus on… maybe it would do him good. But this couldn’t go on forever. And you were inclined to believe he hadn’t really worked on a solution to the problem at all today. You’d have to forgive him, seeing as there was an emergency in the lab, but… 

As you took a quick hot shower to wash off and relax your muscles, you couldn’t help but wonder what were the two of you supposed to do? To even get to the bottom of things, Harley would have to admit the reason he was here. He’d run away from home- Tony had gotten a little bit out of him. About his absent father who had come back and seemed to turn his life upside down. And then in the back of the car tonight… he was harboring some real darkness. It wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened, but… 

So many buts. Your mind was reeling as you stepped out of the shower, standing at the sink, toweling off your hair. What could you and Tony do? How much could you be responsible for? Could you roll up to his house in Rose Hill and demand his father left? Sure, why not. The two of you could do anything you wanted. Would that make sense? Would it even help? Probably not. 

In the meantime you also had your own life to contend with. Maybe it would have been better to just take the vacation in the sense of staying with Harley and not working until the three of you figured this out instead of immediately returning to work, but… people would see that you were home. And even if it was your right as an Avenger and a very overworked woman to take time off when you needed it, that wouldn’t stop them from talking. The last thing you needed was to be seen as lazy. 

Romantic getaway with your boyfriend? Fine. Supposedly lazing around the penthouse? Asking for trouble. Add a random child into that mix, god forbid you were ever seen with him (which you would have been) and it would have been extra bad. This was the best you could do, for now. No matter- 

A hand touched over your shoulder, and anxious as your thoughts had started spinning, you couldn’t hold back a gasp, nor the knee jerk reaction of reaching back to grab the wrist it belonged to with a twist to the side. It was obvious who it was the second the fog lifted, but Tony’s sudden sharp inhale of pain and his nervous pleading- “Ah- honey- I need that- please don’t break it-” All did a good job of getting you to let go.

You turned fully, bumping back against the sink. Even though you’d just let him go, you took hold of his wrist in both your hands, massaging a little at the joints. “I’m sorry, Tony… are you okay?” 

“No harm done. And message received.” Smiling at you, working his hand away from yours so he could settle his palms against your cheeks as the two of you shared a gaze. “No more sneaking up on you. Usually a pretty tough thing to do…” Breathing out with a little scrunch of his brows. “What’s on your mind?” Indicating there must be plenty if you’d been distracted enough to not sense him coming up behind you. 

“What isn’t on my mind?” 

“Fair. Very loaded question, I realize.” Shifting his hands all the way back, he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you to him. You practically melted into him, raising your hands up to hold at the back of his shirt, just breathing him in as you laid your head at his chest. The squeeze he gave you was comforting. It was easy to pretend all was right in the world, when he was holding you like that. “We’ll figure out the kid stuff and then we’ll actually go on vacation, alright?” 

You couldn’t hold back the sigh. “That’s fine but we actually need to work on figuring stuff out. ...and also we can’t leave until after Friday at the latest.” 

“Why’s that?” Angling back a little to arch what felt like an accusing eyebrow your way. 

“We have to go to the Val ball.” 

His eyes went up in that perfect annoyed, dead-eyed stare for just a moment. “And here I thought we’d wriggled free of another evening of ass-kissers and ladder-climbers.” 

Your turn now, you reached up instead, fingers touching at the lines of his jaw. “They sent out a newsletter.” 

A mock offended gasp escaped him. “Well how dare they.” Seemingly unable to help his smile after. 

“So we’re going to show them up.” Inching him down closer as you leaned up. 

“Mn. We’re very good at that.” His lips were right there, in a ghost of a touch against yours. Curve of his grin easily felt. 

“We are.” A quiet murmur before you closed that small gap, trying not to fall too deeply. Basically impossible. There was a dizzying heat nearly immediately, and a small little moan you couldn’t quite keep to yourself as his tongue brushed yours. But it was realizing your towel had dropped- at some point- when you felt the glide of his hands against your bare skin- that was when you pulled back for some much needed air. And warned him, “Tony-” It was unfortunate it didn’t sound as authoritative as you would have liked, instead broken off in another quiet pleased noise as his lips kept working down the column of your neck. 

“Yes, honey…” Humming these two words against your skin as his hands came to a stop, gripping your hips, pulling you closer into him. 

You found yourself drowning very suddenly. Your hands raked up his back, not sure whether to push or grab. “We can’t…” This came out in a pitched gasp as his teeth found the round of your shoulder. 

After touching his lips and tongue slowly over the mark he’d now made, his voice came out low. “Kid’s dead asleep- in his room- hundreds of feet away- we’re sound-proofed-” Kissing his way back up the opposite side of your neck between connecting thoughts.

Then to your lips again as he held your face in his hands, kissing you utterly senseless, in that way he always did. Burning with that need that always in turn made you so completely weak. But something he had just said stuck out to you. His room. But it wasn’t. And the two of you could not get consumed by one another and pretend this was another regular night. So with as much strength and willpower as you could muster, your hands came forward, bunching in the front of his shirt, and you angled your head back.

He tried to chase you, and you allowed him a few moments more of broken kisses, touches of tongues, and heavy breathing. Before finally craning your head back enough to give him an idea- and when his half-lidded and glazed eyes found yours, you kissed him only one more time. In apology. “Not right now- Tony-” Almost begging him to be the first to stop because one moment more, you weren’t sure you could. 

There was a soft pained look to the squinch of his brows, coupled with the way his forehead pressed to yours. “If you’re sure…” Only the smallest bit of relief, that he always respected your wishes. The backs of his fingers fanned up your sides, and the look he was giving you killed you. 

“I’m not-” Being truthful with him, especially this truth, was very dangerous. But you kissed him again, softer this time, and let your heart ache when he was stuck in place simply waiting for you to do it again as you pulled back. “But… not right now. When we’re finished with this, okay?” At least this could maybe be an incentive. That was terrible, for sure. But it was the way it had to be. 

He heaved an awful sigh, shifting to hang his head, lowering still until it made contact with your shoulder. “Yeah. Alright…” 

                                                           ---

You didn’t want to fall into a routine, but as the next morning started much the same- Tony getting up, you following suit an hour later. Showering. Getting ready for work. Finding him making breakfast- sharing a few very charged kisses before briefing each other- and Harley- about the day ahead… this was dangerous. This was not a life you lived. And if any one of the three of you got comfortable… 

It was why you asked Tony to try and investigate what Harley was doing here, and what he thought the two of you could do to help him. You couldn’t solve all his problems for him, but you couldn’t solve any of them if you didn’t even know what they were. It was hard to just go to work after all that. 

Harder still when Tony called you from the lab around three PM, and you put him on the holoscreen. “Another fire?” 

At the very least he smiled, but there was a strange tightness to it. “No. Not this time. But… kid’s heading up to you.” 

“Me? Why?” If not a fire in the lab then- 

Tony just gave you a shrug before crossing his arms. “He seems… interested in what you’re doing. I think you must’ve impressed him yesterday. I gave him a pass, so he doesn’t feel awkward about it.” 

“Oh.” Smiling a little yourself then. “Hall pass?” 

He laughed a little. “Yeah. Something like that. Anyway… I think maybe you’re better at this stuff than me.” 

“That’s not true.” You immediately got what he was putting himself down about. He tinkered. And science-d. And worked. And thought you had a much more human touch. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

He just ended up shrugging. “Whatever you say. I’ll see you later.” Catching a lucky break when there was a knock at your door. “I love you.” 

For once you were extra sure as you said, “I love you more.” And then ended the channel before he could protest. 

Pepper opened the door, though you spied said kid behind her. “Harley came up from the labs. Do you want me to watch him?” 

Giving a small shake of your head and an inviting wave of your hand, “No. He can stay with me.” When she nodded and allowed him in past her and then shut the door, you gave a softer smile. “To what do I owe the honor?” 

He came over to the desk, avoiding your eye contact by pretending to look around, and then placed a little piece of paper on your desk. “Tony got interrupted by someone. They were talking about stocks. When I asked about it he said to go to you.” 

On said piece of paper was Tony’s hand writing- One get of of jail free card. Very nice. 

“Stocks?” Looking up at him. “LUNA turn the TV on, please- monitor stocks for me.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” The TV in the corner of your office flashed on. Harley’s attention turned skyward. “That’s so cool. You have one, too?” Not a hard thing to imagine Tony had been showing JARVIS off around the lab. 

“Tony made her for me. For my suit.” Once the numbers and graphs displayed on your screen, you got up from the desk, folding your arms as you looked over them. “They bumped. A little. Not surprising.” Why was someone talking to Tony about stocks…? 

Coming to your side, he looked up at the TV and then at you. “Why?” 

“Well…” Taking a breath, head tipping to one side. “I made a decision to stop and talk to a reporter- and gave a patriotic speech over my opinions of a certain Hydra affiliated senator-”

“The one who threatened Tony.”

“That’s right.” Answering him before continuing. “And then I linked that with my close relationship with the President of the United States. So investor confidence favors that sort of thing.” 

Harley considered all this information before mirroring your posture, crossing his arms. “What’s investor confidence?” 

“It’s the thing that makes stocks go. It’s all basically imaginary bullshit, but it very highly determines the health of your company. If investor confidence is good- if you do good things or say good things or give the impression that you know what you’re doing and that the future of the company is great, then investor confidence goes up. And so do your stock prices. If you mess up or a product is bad or a launch goes haywire-”

“Confidence goes down. So stocks go down. And that’s bad.” 

“Very good. -and, yes. That’s very bad. You can come back, it’s not the end of the world. But it’s harder to build trust after you lose momentum. And easy to keep gaining momentum when you’ve had a long good run.” You gestured for him to take a seat on the couch, and you sat in the chair in front of the coffee table. “Because Stark Industries is so entwined with the Avengers, when I stop to talk about that sort of stuff, it always boosts the stocks. ...provided we have a handle on whatever’s happening.” 

“But what if you don’t?” 

“Then we don’t stop to talk. It’s a very strategic game. Like chess. Sometimes you can plant reporters that will ask the right questions, if we’re worried about the company looking bad- or the Avengers, even, sometimes. Especially in situations where we know we can’t avoid the press.” 

He considered this for a short while. “Isn’t that… cheating?” 

Uh oh. Were you teaching him the wrong things? You had to think before speaking the next time. “I consider it… fair. In a very unfair world. If I have to be forced into a situation that’s not good for me, or for Tony, or the Avengers, then I like to do what I can to even it out.” 

“...to protect them.” 

“That’s always my top priority.” You put one knee up over your leg and settled your hands over top. “Harley… did you hear what was going on? Do you know why someone was talking to Tony about stocks?” 

He gave an uneasy shrug and looked away. “I dunno…” Nervous suddenly. 

“You’re not in trouble- if you listened in.” Even though Tony had sent him away, and made it seem like he was doing Harley the favor here. “I just like to know about these sorts of things. Helps me set up my pieces.” 

Harley still wouldn’t look at you, and gave another shrug. “I dunno- ...there was a man who came in- another scientist, I think. He said something to Dr. Banner, and some of the other scientists- and kept going am I right? And then Tony heard him- and told me to come up here after.” 

You felt a small break of relief. “Oh. They were talking about me.” 

His head whipped up. Shocked. “How could you tell??” 

“We protect each other. It’s the same reason I want that senator in jail- kind of.” Trying to relate it to make it make sense. “He said something bad about Tony- plenty of times- so. I know when someone speaks bad about me, they take it personally.” Even though you’d gotten to the bottom of it, you couldn’t help yourself… “Did you hear what he actually said?” 

Harley sighed. “Something about… how you’re good for stocks but better to look at.” He was not interested in gross adult talk. Or repeating what he’d heard verbatim. There was a telling note of disgust paired with the discomfort that spoke volumes. Someone in that lab had been speaking very terribly of you. And that not only upset Tony, and Bruce, but… also Harley, it seemed. Even if he wouldn’t admit it.

You pressed your lips together. “Oh no. So he just got fired.” Made sense. Tony didn’t want Harley witnessing that. ...you sort of wanted to see it, though. 

“But it doesn’t make sense. They know. Everyone knows. That you and Tony are… dating.” Saying the word like it freaked him out. You had to stifle a little laugh. “So why would he be stupid like that?” 

“Men are very stupid, Harley. No offense.” Smiling and then correcting yourself. “Men like that. Tony used to have a reputation, for a long time. He dated lots of women. Some guys think he’s their buddy, if they say things like that. Or that it makes them cool. I’m surprised they roped Bruce into it, though. Talk about brainless.” Coughing up the word on a hum to lighten his mood- 

It worked. His laughter was a bit of a reprieve. Like you’d won a battle. Short lived, though, as he shook his head and looked away again. Uncomfortable. “You all protect each other.” 

“We’re a team. We have to. And- more than that, now. They’re like family to me. I love them.” Not shy with the use of the word. 

“Dr. Banner called you scary.” A little overly knowing, like he was both telling you a secret and telling you you may be wrong. 

But you couldn’t help your grin. “Because of last night. Because of what I said to that reporter- probably more how I said it.” 

Harley collapsed back a little on the couch with his hands up. “Ugh. How do you do that!” And then squinted up at you accusingly. “Are you spying on them??” 

“No. I just know that- Dr. Banner watches the news- especially when it comes to things about us or the company. And he and Tony were probably talking about it. And he’s right. I am scary.” Wearing it like a badge of honor. 

Your quick inference math seemed to at the very least impress him. He was shy and still a little deflated, arms crossed again as he said, “You’re pretty smart. ...for someone who files papers.” 

“I have to be. To keep up with Tony.” Standing you went back to your desk, but before you sat you waggled a finger at him. “I know you’ve only been here two days- but have you seen me file a single paper?” 

He hummed out a noise with a roll of his eyes before shaking his head. “No.” 

“That’s right.” Reaching up to your earring, “LUNA intercom Pepper for me.” When Pepper answered three seconds later, “Pep, what stacks of paper you have laying around? I think it’s time Harley learns the filing system.” 

“Oh, yes ma’am. I need all the help I can get.” 

Harley smashed his hands against his forehead. “Ugh!” As Pepper poked her head into the office and waved at him, he sighed. Before leaving he offered his final judgment. “You are scary.” Failing to hide his smile as well as he would have liked. 

Secretly you instructed her to only keep him an hour. Eventually he would need to return to the labs. But when he came back to your office after his little lesson, you were in the middle of a phone meeting, so you just gently waved for him to sit on the couch. Pepper gave him the remote for the TV, and he begun to channel surf while you turned in your chair, back to him, to better focus. 

Nothing spectacular of note, and when you were finished you turned back to see him transfixed by some broadcast reporter on the recent goings on at the Triskellion. Images of battle were playing over and over. It ticked an anxious beat in your heart, and you tried to speak over it. “Did you learn anything valuable?” 

He barely paid attention. “Yeah. Don’t mess with you- that’s what Ms. Potts said.” 

“Ms. Potts is right.” Turning your attention to your computer quickly after to start working through some more emails and look over proposals. 

Your eyes lifted every now and again. He jumped every time Iron Man flashed on screen. And, after seeing amateur footage of Tony throwing a Hydra agent from the deck of one of those helicarriers and blasting a hole in the side, he sat forward in his seat. “Man- I wish I could fly in an Iron Man suit. He’s so cool.” Mumbling more to himself. 

You lowered your eyes to your computer, but couldn’t help your smile. “I have to agree.” 

And while you felt Harley looking at you, for a moment, you pretended to keep working. He was quiet when he spoke, almost like he didn’t want you to hear it- but at the same time… still sort of did. “My sister likes you. You're her favorite.” 

Trying to not get caught up in the surprise of that sudden fact, you kept your head down. He wanted to share this with you- you could feel it. That’s why he brought it up. If you overreacted he’d pull back. “She’s got good taste. I can send some toys her way- is she older than you? Or younger?” 

“Younger.” He was already retreating. “...and don’t bother.”

While that was… troubling, you ignored it in favor of this new lead. “Oh. That makes you the big brother. How old is she?” 

He withdrew into himself, crossing his arms tightly. “Eight.” 

It was too much to ask, that you not test your luck. “Is she okay at home by herself?” 

“She’s fine.” And now you’d pissed him off. Very suddenly at that. He pushed himself off the couch and went to the door quickly. But before he opened it he stopped, hand on the handle, and turned to look at you. You put your full attention on him. That same darkness that had taken him before was suddenly staring at you. “And- anyway-...” Starting and then stopping. He pulled on the door. He wanted to say something to you- maybe even wanted to ask for help. Was trying to build up the courage to do it. But it just wasn’t working.

There were no instructions on how to make the correct next move. You knew what this was about, you were sure. You just have to get him to talk. “Harley… is this about your father?” 

He grew so angry. Like a tornado. “Mind your own business!” Realizing his outburst he forced his head down and then shook it. “What do you care- leave me alone.” You felt a pain. More than just emotional. Physical memories etched so deeply into his heart, they passed to you. Ghosts. 

The slap of skin against skin. The jingle of a belt clip. 

He slammed your office door, no doubt headed down to Tony. You heard Pepper go after him. So you called before he could get there. And when he answered- “We have to do something about his father, Tony.” 

The smile he’d greeted you with vanished instantly, and he, too, darkened very suddenly. “...yeah. I figured.” Quiet, hesitant to ask, but gathering up his courage to do so. Funny how similar... “What’d the kid say?” 

“He didn’t have to say it. That man is putting his hands on those kids. I know it.” 

Sitting at his desk, Tony seemed to wilt, expression growing stormy. He lifted the back of his fingers to press them over his mouth. “Yeah. I thought so, too.” 

The two of you shared a long look. Thinking the exact same thing. 

How were you going to murder and disappear this man with no questions asked?