#and were a pain to fix they did not want to co-operate

[higuchisora]

As someone who was kinda disappointed in the way the not-so-Machine Herald transformation of Viktor played out, here's some musings on what could've been done instead to make it more. Yknow. Machine Herald.

After he rises from the sourdough starter and parts ways with Jayce, Viktor realizes the transformation isn't entirely complete- the arcane was able to keep him alive, but just barely. Perhaps at first, he considers just letting himself die, but maybe his return to Zaun sparks the desire to help people again. Now, he has two options:

1. Solo playthrough

2. Co-op

Solo playthrough sees him doing personal research into the arcane and how it can be used for machinery/prosthetics/etc. (because he doesn't have access to another hexcore to just throw at people), and is perhaps most similar to his storyline in League. It's a fairly straightforward route. He experiments on himself and eventually, some volunteers, replacing the body parts that need to be replaced. Similar cultish behavior begins as word starts to spread about a guy who can fix you, heal you, maybe even save your life, as long as you don't mind all the metal. (It's up to you if you want him to keep the balayage or not.)

I don't really see him becoming too much of a zealot in this one, though I do think he'll become so passionate again about helping "fix" people to the point that he maybe gets a little carried away. Starts doing "preventative" procedures. Maybe even unauthorized ones, and when the person on the operating table wakes up, he reassures them that it's all for their own good. It's fine, he tells them. He knows you didn't ask for new legs, but your knees were in bad shape anyway. He did what was best for you. You'll see.

Co-op sees him shuffle his way back to Singed. After having lost the last person he had any faith in, and remembering Singed's last words- how the man was right- Viktor decides that maybe he's better off working with the doctor after all.

I mean, if there was anyone who could keep up with him besides Jayce, it was Singed. His former teacher was the only one who could even come close to understanding what Viktor was going through. So he goes and finds him, and Singed eagerly welcomes him back. They don't agree on everything, even still- but more and more, Viktor starts to come around to Singed's ideals. The man is also eager to research whatever the hell is going on with Viktor. In this version, it's not that the arcane is ineffective, necessarily, but it still didn't magically heal Viktor entirely. He still lacks energy, coughs a lot, is in pain, and struggles to breathe. Maybe whatever terminal illness he had isn't gone; instead, the magic is actively combating it, working like an extra immune system. It's rolled back the progression of the illness significantly, but he's still sick. He'll still die if nothing is done.

So the two start looking into alternatives. Viktor's still hesitant at first, maybe deliberating over whether or not he even wants to keep fighting, keep living. But Singed insists. Possibly brings up his daughter, Orianna- or maybe just focuses on the good this research could do for the whole of Zaun. It's not just about Viktor anymore, he says. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Think of all the lives they could change together, if they managed to discover a cure- not just for this, but for all illnesses. A panacea that could ensure no other Zaunite ever had to suffer from the choking smog or the poisoned waters. This could make everything worth it.

So Viktor persists.

Eventually, they reach a breakthrough. After throwing everything they could into their research- hextech knowledge, shimmer, chemtech, and good old-fashioned mechanics- eventually, they're able to create the ultimate form. They augment Viktor with shimmer and machinery, and Viktor effectively becomes invulnerable. No more illnesses. No more exhaustion. He doesn't even need to sleep or eat anymore, and it should bother him- on some level it does- but all he can think about is how no one needs to suffer anymore.

No more broken bones, or misshapen spines, or wet, bloody coughs. Through metal and magic, he's transcended beyond the fragile flesh of man. He's free.

And it's time to share this freedom with the rest of Zaun.

[jaws-and-canines]

Sign Your Name Away

A Verschlimmbessern story. Contains mentions of death, suicide, chronic pain and past violence.

---

Fennec feels like death. He thinks, perhaps, it has been several days- or only hours, and he would never know which. There are no windows, and the entire building seems to be made from temporary materials, to be disassembled or removed at short notice. There’s a lot of thoroughfare, but the curtains around his bed are drawn, and he knows he can’t stand up to open them even if he wanted to. So he sits, eyes shut, glasses hooked over the lapel of the rough linen nightshirt he has on beneath the covers. Imagining the owners of the footsteps that walk past.

But, God, he thinks, it hurts. He puts his head in his hands and leans back into the pillows, trying not to burst into tears. The sheer gravity of the pain that seems to radiate from his knee, all the way to the very core of his being, the burning heat, the way the stitches can be felt tugging and pulling at his skin all stack up. Fennec thinks he might snap, he might lose his mind should he be left in this state. The little voice in the back of his head points out that the damage is permanent. The damage is permanent and the pain most likely is as well. He can only hope he’ll be able to walk again, but he doesn’t dare hope much.

The curtains squeak as a man steps in, and throws them shut behind him. Black shirt, built like a house, short hair and a previously broken nose, the bent angle which seems to dominate his heavyset face. “Anton Fennec, is it not?” says the man. Fennec is at first surprised that the man speaks German without a particularly bad accent, as many of the others do- but then the coldness of the realisation washes over him. Not many positions in the armed forces would call for a bilingual person to that degree- radio operator, perhaps, translator, perhaps- but someone like that, working alone? No, thinks Fennec, wallowing in his realisation that the man is an interrogator.

If he wasn’t miserable to begin with, the realisation alone would kill any good mood in him. 

He sighs. “Yes, but I wish it were not.” He fumbles to put his glasses back on, and then fixes the interrogator with a clouded gaze. “What are you here for?”

“I want to have a conversation with you.”

“Hm.” Fennec crosses his arms and shrugs, a gesture of ‘go ahead’. Conversation, anyhow, is better than what the previous string of interrogators did to him, even as he was begging and pleading and telling them everything he knew. He doesn’t mind conversation.

The man sits down on the chair beside Fennec’s bed. “If it’s any consolation, the war is well and truly over for you,” he says. “But I don’t think it will be much consolation given your…” The interrogator gestures broadly.

“My position,” finishes Fennec. The man’s eyes are not on his leg, not the surgical drain dripping bloodied amber fluid into a clear bag at the foot of the bed, nor on the crutches leant up by the side of the bed. They are on his face. The man’s sympathies are not for his injury, Fennec knows. They’re for his crimes and for how he’ll have to pay for them. In the traditional manner of the State, probably through a bullet to the skull at the bitter crack of dawn. “My position, which is precarious. I know well that it is.”

The man exhales through his nose, nodding slowly. “The War Crimes Commission has been assembled. The trial is due to start on Wednesday, which means that you will be expected to attend the preliminary hearing, and expected to co-operate with the ensuing investigation.”

Fennec groans, putting a hand over his face. He knew it was coming, but hoped it wouldn’t be so immediate.

“Does that surprise you?” The interrogator leans in. “Were you expecting to just be allowed to walk free, Anton?”

Fennec laughs awkwardly, and raises an eyebrow. He stares at the interrogator for a moment, trying to put together a sentence that won’t overtly provoke the man. “No. I was shot in the knee and then dragged several miles in handcuffs. That’s not a friendly introduction and it has not been friendly since. I was not under the impression I was not going to be tried.” 

The statement is not hyperbole, although he had been barely conscious, shivering and bleeding profusely on the stretcher for the majority of the time, they handcuffed him all the same, and the points where the stretcher could not fit, or became inconvenient, they simply dragged him. Fennec licks his lips, shrugs, and sighs. “Though I was hoping for… more time.” He just shrugs again, open-handed, and pushes his glasses up his nose. “I… do not know. I tried my best, I tried my damn best, and that is all a man can do.” 

“We know,” says the interrogator. “We know you tried to do what was right.”

“Oh, like fuck you did,” snaps Fennec, then shakes his head, a little taken aback by his own short-temperdness, something quite unlike him. “Pardon me,” he apologises.

The interrogator just carries on calmly. “I trust that you’ll do the right thing and co-operate with the investigation.”

Fennec sees right through the simple plea to his morals. It’s not particularly hard to do, he thinks. “And yet…” Fennec looks between the interrogator and the crutches he has not yet found enough energy to even try to use. “You people still shot me. And then, inexplicably, even after I told you everything I had to say, you tortured me. If that is how you treat people who try to do right, I would hate to see how you treat those who do wrong.”

The calmly spoken sentence hangs in the air for a few moments, the interrogator visibly chewing it over in his mind. Eventually, he speaks again. “If you don’t want to hear what I have to offer then I can just leave, Anton, I don’t need to be here.”

He sighs, waving a hand at the interrogator. “No, no, I will listen,” he says, almost exasperated. 

“The punishment for a violation of the laws of war by a belligerent party, generally, is death. I’m sure you know that,” he says. “But someone in your position has one option available to him.” The interrogator puts the two pieces of paper on the bed, gesturing to them with an open palm. “Here is an agreement to testify for the prosecution. Here is an agreement from us that is contingent on the first, for you to countersign, that we will allow you to formally defect.”

Fennec looks at the pieces of paper, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. He sniffs, wiping his nose on the back of his hand. He feels the familiar shakiness of anxiety creep back in. “What will this do?”

“You will lose your German citizenship. You will be issued a State identity number, passport and National Insurance number and you will be tried as a State National- not a belligerent party. This means the death penalty can be taken off the table if you are found guilty with anything less than high culpability, which it seems like you will be.” He pauses, fingers still brushing against the two forms. “I might add, if you sign this, you will be held as a State National- that is, away from your peers, which is probably for the best.”

“Mmm,” muses Fennec by way of agreement. An understatement.

“How is the…” the interrogator trails off, gesturing to his neck. 

Fennec tugs down his shirt collar, revealing the bruised ghost of a handprint there, two hands pressed to his neck. “Johan has always been very strong,” he says.

Fennec doesn’t like to work from conjecture, but the pieces all fall together- as the rumour went, Johan, Captain Rasch, always a little neurotic, had cut his own throat rather than face capture by the State soldiers, and had failed to die. The fact that he remained alive, thinks Fennec, is a very good thing. Not so much of a good thing was him suddenly appearing at the foot end of Fennec’s bed in the early hours of the morning, wearing only a green hospital gown and dripping with sweat, and going straight for Fennec’s throat with a grip only frenzy can pull from a man.

“I am sorry about that,” says the interrogator. “The orderlies should have been with him.”

“It is no harm, so it is no foul,” Fennec says simply.

In truth, he was scared half-to-death. Startled from sleep, he had grabbed for the only thing in reach and beaten Johan over the head with his crutches, screaming for someone to help. The orderlies heard the commotion, and dragged Johan away from him, kicking and screaming. 

The only thing Fennec could think to say to Johan, at that moment, was that he was sorry for what he’d done to him- to all of them. He was hoarse for days- and yet he felt he was the one who needed to apologise.

He wipes his nose on his hand, pushes his glasses back up his nose, and goes back to the issue at hand.

Fennec looks at the papers, and realises, in the most tangible sense, that he is signing his life away. He is signing his wife and his daughter away. But it is this, he knows, or it is resigning himself to death. He doesn’t really feel like the choice is a choice at all. An utter non-choice, it is, with the hole that somehow he has managed to dig himself into.

“I want to keep my name,” he says. It’s a weak attempt at staking his claim over his own life.

It falls totally flat. “Then you can. Are you going to sign it or not?”

Fennec tries to stall again. “It could not wait, could it? You want it done,” says Fennec, looking at the man over the frame of his glasses. 

“It needs to be done before the preliminary hearing.” The interrogator seems to have no concept of just how monumental the forms are, just how destructive. He’s handed Fennec what is essentially a loaded gun, and is asking if he can be done with it as quickly as possible.

Fennec pushes his glasses up his nose. No, if he goes home now, he ruins not only himself, but Alais and Rosalie as well, and he refuses to drag his whole family down with himself. They can live comfortably off his pension, claimed whilst he is presumed dead. A war criminal gets no pension- and most likely, gets tried in the Hague. 

There’s no going home for him now, he realises.

“Give them to me,” he says, and gestures for the interrogator to put them on his table. “Pen,” he says, tapping the table again. “I need a pen.”

The interrogator presses the biro into his hand. Fennec scrawls his signature, with the tremor of hidden pain distorting the letters ever so slightly.

[someone-always-cares]

chapter 4, page 23

first - previous - next

[image description: an sac webcomic page. “i would have been marked late if i went through the front, so i cut corners and took the back door. window. whatever. i was actually about to fake a call for mr whats-his-face for a distraction so i could climb in. unitl you showed up” lewis explains as the two boys keep walking.

“glad to help.” says rami, tilting his head confused, but almost teasing.

“my hero” replies lewis, pressing the back of his hand to hs head in mild false dramatics. rami laughs at this, much to lewis’s delight. he stares at rami, eyes full of wonder at the others boys laughter, the panel background pink and sparkly.

“a knight in shining armour!” he proclaims, dialing up the dramatics, one hand on his chest, the other gently reaching up to the ceiling, where he pictures a spotlight shining down with a flurry of flower petals, while rami continues to laugh. it is notable that page has three rows of panels, the backgrounds of said panels form the three stripes of the bisexual pride flag. end id]

if you missed it last time, heres the bonus pride drawing from earlier this week!

lewis @ anyone: i dont trust you fuck off

also lewis, @ anyone whos both nice and gives off at least vaguely queer vibes: ok silly time activated

also important note: i decided to put the mental health resources on a permanent page on the blog, listed here, or if youre on the blog its listed next to the cast page

anyway: these organizations and charities could still really use your money right now

cash bail funds (us and toronto) | MN organizations | a masterpost of BLM links | various black lgbt+ funds | BLM UK | runnymede | stop hate uk | racial justice network | BLM carrd | black lives matter doc | long list of black trans groups

several of these also include useful resources eg petitions, information about protests, educating yourself and others, ect, so worth a look even if you cant donate

or if you cant spare money:

passively donate money via youtube ad revanue | tab for a cause | cartoonists database

fun fact i realised a bit back, esp when thinking of the current few page: not sure how to put it in words but i guess that rami tends to think in words but lewis tends to think in pictures?

[image description: a compliation of lewis from various pages of the comic, all with him thinking pretty visially, eg “worlds worst excuse trophy”, the part from him picturing himself holding up a boombox “except the song is him, screaming”, a cd with “now thats what i call a huge smartass: new hit singles by some dumbass”, himself buff and grinning, and a buffering logo. end id]

[image description: a compliation of rami from various pages of the comic, all with him thinking mostly with words, of him trying to escape from his restraints and dukes bathroom, and his thoughts overwhelming him trying to talk to cap’s mothers, and failing to think of something to say to cam while hugging her. end id]

unintentional so not a set rule but it seems to be there! neat!

If I were to brush off the ol' art student bullshitting skills I could also frame it as how they plan things out. As in Rami does plan and Lewis doesn't. Eg Rami actually plans stuff like how to defeat the water guy and also trying to plan his way out of a kidnapping situation even while bloody and concussed but Lewis on the other hand does not plan at all. Terrible at lying on the spot and also climbs drainpipes and buildings without going hey maybe I could just take the fucking stairs perhaps

[darklordofthesimp]

Proximity (Din Djarin x Reader)

A self-defense lesson with a Mandalorian was not your idea of fun, especially when he had a habit of toying with you.

Requested By Anon: #70 You're really close right now

A/N: There's always sexual tension during training, isn't there? I really am sorry this is not the best quality. I struggled with inspo and motivation for this one, it was painful to write lol.

Category: Mutual Pining, Sexual Tension

Warnings: Swearing, Violence, Suggestive Themes

"I'm not good at this."

"That's why we're doing it."

"Because I'm not good?"

"So you can get good."

Your heart was racing and you hadn't even begun the session. The tell-tale signs of anxiety were everywhere: the dryness of your mouth, the uneven breathing, and your trembling fingers. It was a strange thing, how the body could anticipate something like that. You hated it.

"Come on," the Mandalorian's voice was low- as if he thought that if he spoke too loud, you'd run off. He was half-right, you were definitely considering it. Who wouldn't?

No one wanted to fight the likes of Din.

Especially not you.

"This isn't my job," you hissed, taking a backward pace towards the ship. "This is yours, actually."

The bounty hunter stared at you for a long moment. You knew why he wanted you to do this, he needed the comfort of mind. Those times when he'd leave you in the ship alone, armed with nothing but a blaster and a farewell nod, it would plague him.

"It's everyone's job to know how to defend themselves," Din rasped, unbuckling the strap on his shoulder. The rifle framing his back sagged and he leaned it against a nearby boulder.

"This isn't fair," you were beginning to panic, now. "You're a big-ass Mandalorian in a shell of impenetrable armor with decades of training."

He nodded dismissively as he removed the jetpack, lowering it gently to sit by his weapon.

"I'm a mechanic," you said simply. "I don't want to get hurt right now, I want to go fix the rust bucket."

Din straightened, finally finishing the offload of his personal arsenal. The sunlight glinted off his visor, temporarily blinding you. Rubbing your eyes with a soft curse, you were startled to find him close when you recovered.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he negotiated softly, "you need this."

"I don't need to get body-slammed," you snapped.

"If you're afraid now, how do you think you'll go when someone is actually trying to kill you?"

He was getting frustrated with your lack of co-operation. You could hear it in the lilt of his voice, the sudden husk of his words. It made you shiver, you didn't want to be riling up someone who was teaching you to fight.

You had always relied on him for your protection just as he had relied on you for your technical abilities. The difference was that he knew enough about your trade to stop his ship from falling out of the sky, whereas, you couldn't fight your way out of a wet paper bag.

"If you punch me," you pointed a shaky finger to his chest, "I will wire the Crest to self-ignite."

"Deal."

With that damning statement, he gripped you by the shoulders.

You blinked at him, nervously sinking into his hold. That was quick, although you weren't sure why you had expected a warning. Was he about to throw you? Headbutt you? Squeeze you to death?

To your surprise, it was none of the above. Rather, the hunter simply stood unmoving. It was as though he was almost... expectant.

"Well?" He jostled you lightly in his grip. "What would you do?"

You stared at him owlishly.

There was a sigh, his fingers dipping into the skin of your shoulders. You were pushing his buttons without trying and for once you were too afraid to take advantage of it.

"If somebody did this to you, how would you handle it?" Mando clarified.

Oh. You bit your lip as your mind raced to answer his question. You knew a little from your days before the bounty hunter, although you weren't sure it would do much against him.

When you opened your mouth to explain, the Mandalorian shook his head.

"Show me," he said.

You did what you remembered: a simple maneuver that had you pushing at the insides of his arms. To your relief, he let go and allowed you to carry out your plans. Reversing the roles, you snatched his hands beneath your biceps, and once he was trapped, you raised your knee in the pretense of a groin kick.

"Good," Mando nodded, fingers resting against your back. You quickly let him go. The training was a lot gentler than you had expected, and although it was a pleasant surprise, your companion had a wicked sense of humor. You rarely got to see it, but when you did, you were generally the butt of the joke.

"The aim is to get away," Din said, casually stepping into your space. "Don't stick around to fight."

You surrendered some ground, inching backward in the face of his approach. You didn't want him too close, purely based on the lack of reaction time you would be given. "Really?" You snarked quietly, "I think I could take you."

There was a surprised chuckle from beneath the helmet, so short you would have missed it had you not been so hyperaware of his presence.

"Yeah?" He teased you softly, walking you backward with slow strides.

"Yeah," you breathed.

"Come here, then." Din tilted his head.

"Nope," you wheezed, "no, I think I'm good."

He said nothing, offering only a small nod. The hunter made a show of looking over your shoulder and you felt a cold sweat trickle down your spine.

You should have been looking behind you, should have been aware of your surroundings. Had you not been so distracted by the man in front of you, you would have noticed that he'd been backing you towards a boulder.

Your breath was knocked from your lungs when your body made contact, the fabric of your clothes snatching against the rough rock. This wasn't a good spot to be in. Whatever was coming next would either be painful or humiliating and you sighed.

A quick glance over your shoulder confirmed that you wouldn't be able to simply walk around it. The obstacle was as wide as it was tall.

You made no attempt to move as the Mandalorian approached, where could you go? You'd concede to this loss and maybe he'd let you return to your actual job. But, instead, you realized he was toying with you, moving with the same torturously slow pace.

"Always be aware of your surroundings," he said with an arrogant shrug.

"You distracted me." You snapped, anxiety crawling from your stomach to your chest. You had no reason to be afraid, he wouldn't hurt you and you knew it. There was just something in the way that he walked, a demeanor you'd never seen before.

You wonder if you had mistaken a very different feeling for fear.

"I seem to do that a lot," the words were honeyed, suspiciously so.

The urge to close your eyes in anticipation was strong when he finally came to a stop in front of you. Settling for a squint, you flinched as he raised his hand to your neck.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he murmured roughly, "but if this was real you'd be dead."

"That's not fair," you huffed, framing the statement with a sardonic laugh. "You haven't even given me a scenario to work with yet."

You'd barely finished your sentence when he moved.

A hard boot kicked the inside of your foot, forcing you to widen your stance. The cold, hard beskar of his thigh pressed against the inside of your legs, pressuring them to remain open.

A sharp gasp fell involuntarily from your lips when his hand raised to rest against the base of your neck. Your eyes squeezed shut, grimacing as you held his wrist instinctively. His grip was soft, almost a caress, but the warning twitch of his fingers indicated that he would squeeze if needed.

The hunter's other hand settled against your waist, fingers digging firmly into the curve of your body. Another silent announcement that he could make it really hurt if he'd wanted to.

"Better?" He asked roughly against your ear. Your eyes shot open, chest heaving as you assessed his position. The inky black of his visor was barely a couple of inches from your face and your nose brushed against the metal of his helmet.

"You're really close right now," you blurted. The proximity made you dizzy, you would have swayed had he not been holding you so tightly. Both your hands gripped his wrist hard as he tightened his fingers fractionally before loosening again. The movement was almost playful and you knew then that he was enjoying this.

"I could be closer, Mesh'la," he murmured. He tugged at the hem of your shirt softly, slipping his touch to your skin. The leather of his gloves was cool against the raging warmth of your body.

You choked at the sensation.

"Are you flirting with me?" You whimpered disbelievingly. When you woke up this morning, nobody could have convinced you that this would be your afternoon.

"I'm trying to make you uncomfortable," he corrected.

"That's not the word I'd use, Din," you breathed.

There was a stunned silence and his fingers twitched against your skin. It was one of his tells, the small movement an easy way to assess his emotional state.

"How-" he cleared his throat, "how would you get out of this?"

"I wouldn't," you said simply.

"Why not?"

"You'd have never let anybody get this close," you rasped, watching him from beneath your lashes. You knew that wasn't what he was asking, not what this training session was for. In your defense, he had thrown that out the second he'd shoved himself in between your legs.

Your core tightened, pooling with a delicious heat that settled low. The pair of you had danced around your feelings for each other for so long, never approaching the topic but acknowledging it silently.

But Din had never been so bold before.

"What if I wasn't there?" He rebutted, tilting his head lightly. Your breath hitched in your throat as his thumb slowly stroked the skin of your side. "What if you were alone?"

"You're always there," you uttered lowly, the promise of a smile playing on the corner of your mouth.

"And what about now?" Din murmured, slowly pulling you to his chest. The hand around your throat lifted, skimming the skin of your neck to settle on your jaw. "How will you handle this?"

"Take me to the Crest and I'll show you."

With a knowing smirk, you hooked a finger into the bottom of his helmet. The digit was lost to the black abyss as you pulled him down.

[direstraitscomic]

Dire Straits: in a very bad or difficult situation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two years before The Robot War the RED team finds themselves in a bitter loosing streak against the BLU team who've somehow managed to procure a suspicious amount of fire power. With their tactics outmatched and the Administrators silence on the matter, the Mercs of the RED team grow exceedingly desperate. As their pay gets cut with each loss, and each fight getting more humiliating than the last they look to request the help of a third party. Through blind desperation this help comes from something most unforeseen. From something teetering on the very edge of mortal comprehension. Particularly from some poor bastard in the wrong place at the wrong time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOL YEP I'M STILL GOING WITH THIS. COMIC IS GETTING ONE MORE REVAMP. The final one god willing. More on the update under the cut!

So to provide a little context for those who've been waiting for this. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. Real life stuff really came around and beat my ass. Currently, my situation is slowly getting worse but I refuse to stop now. The comic had to be put on hold because of how outdated it ended up getting. I did go back to revamp the pages before but I kept finding errors and inconsistencies that just didn't make sense. I feel this comic deserves the effort and I feel you guys deserve a good well-written story. Not only that, but Elly got her final redesign and it's a pretty heavy change. Throughout making this comic her back story changed three times. YES, THREE TIMES, because I kept finding shit that just did not make any fukin sense, some parts were terribly cliché and unoriginal that I ended up growing to hate and one was accidentally too similar to the plot of a game that, at the time, I was unfamiliar with(Maybe it was different enough to get away with I don't know I didn't want to take chances). I unfortunately am a bit of a perfectionist and have very high standards for my work; as shown by how many times models were changed between pages. This is partially due to the fact that she never had proper HWM sliders and setting models up for SFM is HELL. She kept breaking so she needed to be fixed up and given a simpler design to made her easier to operate. As of right now however, her appearance and narrative is set for good, she has HWM now, clean topology, cleaner textures and less bones. Not only that, but I had to make an entire map for this. That meant learning the ins and outs of the Hammer Editor, and gathering up a shit load of props. The Hammer editor (while very powerful) is a right pain in the ass to use, especially if you want a clean functional map.

This took quite longer than it needed to be. This is THE LAST TIME I am going back and redoing these pages, and this time I'm going to stick with it if it freaking kills me. I don't care if it's cringe. This comic means a lot to me as do the characters and those who've read it. Plus it's FUN and I'm allowed to have FUN Janet I wouldn't have been able to make this story if not for the help of @the-talon-ted-meem She well practically co-wrote it. Go give her love and spam her inbox with horrifying emojis or some shit Lastly, this comic is, in a way, made to commemorate Colin "Elliott" Wyckoff a.k.a Kitty0706. There's a lot I can say that's been said a thousand times already but he wanted us to laugh in his stead not be sad. In his honor, I'll help what he influenced live on for as long as I can. Pages will be uploaded weekly. Old pages will be probably deleted enmass soon unless people want to keep them. Then maybe I'll stuff them into a google drive link, I dunno

[karls-writing-space]

Eyo!! Can I be ⭐ Anon? Also, I'd like a request where Sarvente, C!Sapnap and Updike(if you can) comforting a reader who vurnt their hand by a candle on accident? I just got burnt by candle wax and it still hurts 😥😥 [⭐]

Absolutely - three comfort things coming up! I hope these are good!

Heya, mate!!

Ofc you can be ⭐ Anon. That's chill with me!

And owch, that sounds painful. I hope your hand feels better soon!

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Sarvente, C!Sapnap, and Updike Comforting A Reader That Burnt Their Hand Via A Candle

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Sarvente

Mom mode has been activated.

Sarv will drop anything she's doing when she's doing to come and help you.

This angel of a demon would ask to look at your hand. If you allow her to, she will be glad that you are co-operating with her, and will take a look at the burn.

If you refuse to let her look at your hand, she will persist that she needs to take a look. You're injured, and she's worried about your well-being. She will not stop until you show her your hand.

She would then rush you to the kitchen sink to run your hand under some cool water. As she leads you to the sink, Sarv asks you questions about the injury you sustained.

"How did you burn your hand love? Were you playing with the candle? Did any wax drip on you? Were you trying to put it out? Wait - why would someone put out a candle with their hand?"

As you tell her, she clearly gets more worried about you. Sarv would glance at your burnt hand every few seconds to see if it was blistering or if you needed to be taken to the hospital.

As she turns on the sink, she would gently place your hand under the running water. If you were to hiss in pain, she would try to comfort you with her words.

"I know it hurts, darling. We just have to keep it under the water for a little bit."

In a way to try and comfort you, Sarv would pull you into a sideways hug, pressing a gentle kiss to your cheek. She would ask if you needed anything as your hand remained under the water.

If you wanted to listen to some music, she would pull out her phone and (try to) navigate her way through some online music apps to play some music you like.

If you were hungry or thirsty, she would supply you with the food or beverage that you wanted.

If you wanted to talk about something, she will start a conversation about something you like. A book or show series? She'll ask questions about it. Randoms topics? She'll be happy to supply.

Once your hand was finished running under the water, Sarv will almost run to the medicine cabinet that was located a few rooms over to grab some antibacterial ointment, telling you to wait there at the sink.

Sarvente would then grab the first aid kit kept in the kitchen, grabbing some gauze and an adhesive bandage wrap. This wasn't her first time dealing with something like this. Ruv actually had gotten minor burns before, and who treated him? Sarvente, that's who.

As she continues to treat your wound, she looks at you gently. She knows that getting burnt isn't fun

"Is there anything that I can do to lighten your mood, love?"

If you want to cuddle, she will be down for that! Sarv will lead you to either your room, her room, or the common room, and carefully wrap her arms around you. She'll want to be the bigger spoon, but if you want to be the big spoon, she won't argue.

She will be cautious of your hand. She doesn't want to put you in more pain and wants to make sure you are comfortable.

Sarvente is a loving girlfriend, and she cares about you. A lot.

C!Sapnap

"Ohhh, shit-"

That was his first reaction when he saw your hand.

He's worried about you. Then again - who wouldn't? You burned your hand.

Sapnap would lead you to the tap to run your hand under some cool water for a little bit. To try and be somewhat comforting, he would gently rub your shoulders or back in a soothing manner. If he was to hear you hiss in pain, his breath would hitch momentarily. He hates hearing that you're in pain.

"I know, I know. It's almost over, hon."

He would then stop rubbing your back/shoulders and plant a kiss on your forehead before claiming that he was going to get something to try and lessen the pain and walking out of the room for a moment.

Sappinappi then returned to the kitchen with a cold compress and some ointment, gauze, and an adhesive bandage to help fix up your hand. The noirette would turn off the tap and gently move your hand to put it on the counter.

"Alright. This is gonna sting."

He would gently place the cold compress on your hand, moving his free hand under yours as to kind of hold it in place so it wouldn't flinch away.

After he places the compress on your hand, Sap begins to think of a way to try and comfort you or to get your mind off of the pain temporarily.

"Sooo... Did you hear about the fire at the circus? It was pretty ... intents."

A small grin spread across Sapnap's face as he told the punchline, earning a light punch to the arm, followed by a slight deadpan look.

"Really?"

"C'mon, that was a good one."

You lightheartedly rolled your eyes at your boyfriend's joke. The joke little ironic, as you were currently dealing with a fire-related injury at the moment. Sapnap chuckled lightly, deciding to joke around a bit with you.

From decent jokes to the downright dumb ones, Sapnap was feeding you jokes in hope that it would distract you from the pain.

"A man walks into the doctor's office. 'Doc', he says, 'I think I'm addicted to Twitter.' 'Sorry', the doctor replies, "I don't follow you."

"Uh... what do you call a rich elf? Welfy."

"What did the green grape say to the purple grape? 'Breathe, you idiot, breathe!'"

He does earn a few laughs from you, and it's enough to make him smile. He likes that this method seems to be working and that you're laughing. He really loves your laugh.

Once he removes that cold compress from your hand, he moves your hand onto the flat surface that is the countertop, having had moved his hand from under yours.

He applies the ointment and gauze onto your hand, then wraps it up in the bandage. All while pressing kisses onto your cheeks every now and again. When he finishes, he gently holds your bandaged hand in his hand, his eyes shifting back up at your face.

"So, you wanna mess around with Karl and Big Q? Do you wanna cuddle or...? Because I don't mind what we do."

You thought about it for a moment or so before coming up with a decision. "Cuddles." You reply.

The bandana-wearing man nodded, his arms picking you up from the ground, holding you bridal-style. Holding you close. All while being wary of your hand. He was being a bit of a playful dummy. But hey, you loved him. He loved you. It all worked out.

With a hum, Sapnap carried you into the living room. "Let the cuddles commence!"

Updike

"How... Did you burn your hand from a candle?"

The cloud guy may look calm, he's worried about the state your hand is in your hand. He's already leading you into the kitchen. He isn't trying to run, but he really isn't walking either.

On the way to the kitchen, Updike grabs an aloe vera plant that he had growing in his hallway. It's to soothe the burn.

As the two of you enter the kitchen and place your hand under running water, he places a hand on your shoulder and looks at you.

"Is there anything right now? I'll grab anything you need. Food, water, a book, a chair - anything."

"Can I have a hug?"

Updike blinks a few times, surprised by the sudden request. He nods, as he gently pulls you into his embrace. He's mindful of your hand and is careful not to move it all that much while it's under the tap.

Your free arm wraps around his shoulders, a soft smile forming on your face. You then move your hand to pat his (rather fluffy) head.

A rosy hue colors Updike's cheeks as he lightly melts into your touch.

"You're soft... And fluffy."

"Oh? Am I now?" He would respond with a soft chuckle.

"Mhm. Soft and fluffy like a ..." You tried to compare his fluffiness to another thing, but ended up saying "A cloud."

Updike cocks a brow, his smile growing a tad more. "Why am I not surprised?"

You snicker, which just makes Updike smile. He's glad that you're laughing a bit.

The two of you remain in each other's arms, both of you basking in the presence of the other. When the time comes for you to remove your hand from the water, Updike releases you from his arms, turns of the tap, and gently places your hand under his on the countertop.

The male takes a piece of the aloe vera plant off of the plant itself and opens the piece to expose the gel inside of it. He then rubs it on your hand, humming a soft, tuneless tune.

I think he would keep a first aid kit in a closet in his living room. It's used when he has to tend to some minor injuries from his occupation. Right now, you need it.

Updike leads you into the living room and sits you down on the couch, patting your head gently before going to grab his kit.

He's very gentle when he applies the ointment and gauze to your hand.

When wrapping your hand up, he asks if it is tight enough, too loose, or too tight on your hand.

Once Updike finishes maintenance on your hand, he puts everything away back where it was. He then returns over to you, asking what you'd want to do now.

"Can you read to me? Please?"

Updike doesn't deny your request and nods, asking if you have a preferred book or genre you wish to have read to you. If you do, he'll grab it for you. If you don't, he'll grab a book that he thinks you'd like.

He would let you rest your head on his shoulder as he reads. He would run his hands through your hair every once in a while as well.

[tomtenadia]

A Little Braver - 17

So, as promised, part 17 is her.

Be prepared to submerge our bird boy with hugs, he will need them.

I promise the chapter will end in fluff and in a good note. The angst is only for the beginning. I need to douse it a bit since from ch 19 onwards the angst gremlin will be back with a vengeance.

I hope you will love it.

A big hug to all the people who commented, reblogged or loved this fic. Thanks to all of you.

A week had gone by and Aelin and Rowan had taken the official decision to try and go back and both deal with the mess of their lives. 

The week had been perfect. Rowan had taken her hillwalking everyday and slowly she had started to feel like herself again. His presence had helped immensely. In a very short time he had become her rock. Full recovery was still a long way ahead but she felt better and with him at her side she had no more panic attacks or nightmares. 

She felt sad at the idea of leaving the cottage in the mountains but they had promised to go back for some special occasion.

*

It was morning and Rowan was getting ready to go back to work. They had set a date for the inquiry on his student’s death and that would be the day.

For once Aelin was the one worried one. She could not forget his reaction to the movie or the night he came back drunk after Fuzzy’s death. She knew he had put up a wall but hoped he would at least let her in. 

“What are you going to do?” He asked her while adjusting his tie.

“I have a meeting with Dorian and the counsellor and then I will pop in at the station and say hi to the squad and apologise.”

“Good.” His tone was detached and she moved a step to him and hugged his waist from behind “are you okay?”

He sighed “nervous. This will mean revive the entire accident over and over again.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

He shook his head and kissed her “thanks for the offer but I will be fine. My squadron will be there and you have an important meeting as well.”

“Ok,” she wanted to believe him, but could not ignore his cold detached tone and Aelin had learned that it was his coping mechanism. He was not okay.

-

Rowan arrived at the airforce HQ and was met by Lorcan.

“Sir,” he stood to attention.

“At ease captain,” Rowan stood down from attention and placed his hands behind his back in a at rest pose “I am sorry it’s so quick. I knew you were coming back yesterday and I did manage to hold on until today.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Are you sure you are ready?” And for once Rowan heard concern in his CO’s voice “this is going to be brutal.”

“I know.”

“I am on the board too and we have Captain Walker from the 24th squadron and Captain Matthews from the 31st and two engineers. They have all copies of the inquiry sent to the board.”

“Who is the president?”

“Marshal Clark.” Said Lorcan in a preoccupied tone.

“Fuck. The man hates me with a vengeance.”

Rowan sighed again and sat on the bench just outside of the room used for the meeting.

His squad arrived a moment later and they patted each other’s back in support.

“We are all here.” Gavriel told him taking a seat at his side.

“Thanks everyone.”

One of the assistants appeared on the door and announced the board was ready to convene. Rowan quickly texted Aelin and switched off his mobile.

The marshal, being the president, was in the centre of the seating area. Rowan went to greet the other two captains with whom he got along nicely and had known for a long time. Then he went to the marshal and saluted as expected “at ease captain.”

Rowan went to his assigned seat and flipped through the folder in front of him. It contained all the documents they needed. His report of the accident, the reports from the engineering team and other supporting evidence.

Marshal Clark called everyone to attention and declared the board in session. He then proceeded to explain to the members the accident that had happened.

One of the engineers who had performed checks after the aircraft had been recovered was asked to present his findings “after the analysis of the recovered aircraft and after having studied the dynamics of the accident we have found out that the main cause for the engine failure was a disruption in the airflow in the port intake causing it to stall with enough yaw rate to induce a flat spin. Cadet Williamson, according to the records of the accident, flew in the jet wash of one of his classmate’s aircrafts. That caused the airflow disruption. The stall was unrecoverable.” explained the engineer reading from his report “with regard to the canopy, we have found a fault in some model of jets used by the students where the charges did not operate correctly, causing the canopy to separate incorrectly. All those planes are grounded and now being checked.”

“Thank you.” Said the marshal, then his gaze turned to Rowan “Captain Whitethorn, stand please.”

Rowan did so.

“Could you please re tell the board the events that lead to the death of the cadet?”

Rowan took a deep breath and retold step by step what happened. It was still vivid in his mind that it would take ages before he could forget it.

“Did you tell the cadet to eject?”

“I did, sir.”

“Why?” Asked the marshal with inquisitive tone.

“He had lost control of the aircraft. From the black box retrieved from his jet he had pulled 9g after he started spiralling. From my position I could see that he was about to pass out. Ejecting the seat had been the safest option. Little did I know that the canopy would fail.”

The two other captains nodded in agreement, knowing full well that they would have suggested the same thing.

“Would the cadet have survived if he had more high G training?”

“Sir,” Rowan almost growled at his superior “his jet was under 9g for almost ten seconds before crashing in the water. Not even an experienced and highly trained pilot can sustain or survive that.” He breathed again “and you know better than me that centrifuge training can be done only with some weekly limits due to its dangers.”

“Had the cadets received basic procedures on how to properly eject and when?”

“Yes, sir. It’s one of the first things they are taught. They are shown how to properly deploy their parachute and how to blow the canopy. Training is also done in different conditions to simulate possible combat scenery.”

“Training was not the issue here,” said Lorcan going in Rowan’s support “Captain Whitethorn is one of our most experienced instructors and hundreds of students have survived his crushing training and are still alive today because of what he has taught them.”

“The post mortem also backed the cause of death in the crash of the body against the canopy.” Added captain Matthews.

“What kind of training were you doing that day?” The marshal continued, ignoring the protests.

“We were going through some basic dogfight routines. The cadets were only five months out of the academy so we were just covering the basics as per fighter school curriculum.” Answered Rowan who felt lost all of a sudden.

“Would the manoeuvre you had practiced put the boy in a position to be in another jet’s wake? Didn’t you teach them how to stay away from the jet wash of another aircraft during a dogfight?” The marshal had an agenda, that was very clear to Rowan. He was trying to blame this on him.

Captain Walker stood angrily “why are we attacking captain Whitethorn? The problem was that the engine stalled due to the jet wash from another aircraft. An experienced fighter might have been able to find a way out of such deadly spiral, the gods know I have found myself in that situation and got out of it by pure damn luck. Not a cadet five months out of the academy. It’s our job to teach them such manoeuvres but only after they have mastered the basics.” He sat down again nodding at Rowan.

“A good instructor would have taught his students how to fly in close formation and to avoid the wake of a team mate. A captain should know what such manoeuvre could cause.” Continued the marshal who had taken the fight to Rowan.

Lorcan stood angrily “That is enough.” He shouted.

“I would suggest you to sit down, Air commodore.”

“Not when you accuse my best instructor of being the cause of the death of a student.”

“It is my job as president of this board to try and figure out what happened.”

“I told two of my students they were too close. I advised another one not to drop below hard deck. I care about the safety of my students.” Rowan almost growled at the marshal “also, I stand by my decision to order cadet Williamson to eject. Had the canopy worked he’d be alive now.”

The marshal nodded and with a bored expression he then went back to the engineering team and they discussed the canopy issue.

Rowan let them talk and his brain disconnected completely and tried to ignore the pain from what had just transpired.

He sat in silence listening to the rest of the board discuss in the background. 

The marshal eventually called the board to attention “Following the evidence provided by the engineering team and the testimony of captain Whitethorn I declare that the death of cadet Williamson was caused by the port engine stall due to airflow disruption in the intake. The commission also noted that the flat spin in which the cadet went in was not recoverable. Captain Whitethorn is cleared of any faults.” Rowan noticed the disappointment on the man’s face for the fact the had been cleared of any faults.

The marshal then turned to Lorcan “Commodore, I expect you to keep the students grounded until the training jets have been fixed.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The board is dismissed.” Clark stood and walked out.

The other two captain went to Rowan “I had no idea the bastard would try to blame you for this.”captain Matthews added with fury.

“I would have told my students to eject as well. It was the only option.” Added captain Walker.

But Rowan was not listening. It hurt too much, knowing that someone had tried to blame the death of his student on him. That the marshal had to question all of his choices and possibly his training methods.

Lorcan and his squadron were at his side as soon as the room was clear.

“The arsehole has some guts.” Commented Fenrys but Gavriel elbowed him.

Rowan stood in a daze and left the room ignoring the voices of his team calling him.

*

Aelin’s meeting with Dorian and the counsellor had gone better than she expected. Thanks to Rowan she had been able to open up and talk to them about what happened and how she had been before her escape and what had prompted her to flee. She admitted to them her fears.

She felt much better but she had confessed that she did not feel ready to go back in action. She felt okay about going back to the station and work from the office but was not ready yet to be in a fire. She was still too scared for that and Dorian and the counsellor accepted her admission.

So they had agreed for a transition period. Aelin was told as well to attend weekly sessions with the counsellor to track her progress and her mental health recovery. She would be on desk duty for a while and after that, Dorian was willing to send her back out but just at his side in a fire emergency allowing her again to be close to the fire scene and if that went well they could work on a plan on sending her back in. 

She had agreed with the final decision and had left the room with a smile and a light heart. She stopped in the corridor to check her phone but no news from Rowan. The meeting should be over by now. She hoped he was okay.

Happily she drove back to her squad and everyone was eager to catch up with her. Then Aedion stopped in front of her “never again,” he told her and Aelin went for a hug. He remained stiff for a moment, then his arms enveloped her in a bear hug “looks like your captain fixed you up nicely.”

“Hey, I would recover from anything if I had such man looking after me.” Said Ansel and everyone laughed.

“He has been nice to me.” But all she could think was his face from that morning.

 *

Rowan had been walking without a direction for a while now. He felt as if he had lost his rudder, he had spent the last twelve years of his life working for people who had been ready to blame on him the death of a student. He looked at his uniform and for the first time since he had worn it he felt no pride in it. He had been so tempted to resign his wings on the spot. No matter that he had been cleared, it stung so much, even if it had been the opinion of one man.

It had been too much. He knew the marshal was never a fan of his. The first student he had lost had been his son. But at the time as well the board had declared it had not been his fault. It had been the pilot’s mistake. The marshal never forgave him. Seeing him again at a board for a student’s death he had probably tried to punish him for what happened to his son.

In the distance he spotted a pub and decided that a drink might help. He got in and sat at the counter and ordered a whisky, but once the drink was in front of him he could not drink it. In his current state he would spiral down again to the same level of self destruction of many years before when he lost the marshal’s son and he could not do that again. He could not put Aelin through that pain.

So he did the only sensible thing. He called her.

Aelin was in the common room with the squad and they were having fun and the guys were telling her about some of the calls they had and then they were teasing Luca and his upcoming exam.

She was about to tell them to stop picking on him when her phone went off. It was Rowan and her heart stopped. 

She quickly left the room and went outside, sitting on the bumper of one of the engines “hey,”

“Hi,” his voice was low and flat and she feared for him.

“What’s wrong.”

Silence.

“Ro, are you okay?”

“No.”

Shit. She stood and started pacing “where are you?”

“At a pub.”

“Which one.”

He told her the name.

“I am coming. Just stay there.” And closed the conversation and almost laughed at the irony of the situation. A week before she had been at the receiving end of such conversation.

She ran back to the squad “guys, I need to go. Rowan. It’s not good. I just have to go…”

She didn’t even wait for an answer. She just rushed back to her car and drove to him. He did not sound drunk so maybe it was not all lost.

She arrived at pub not long after and stormed in. Rowan was sitting at the counter staring at a glass of whisky in front of him.

“Ro.” She walked to him and his green eyes fell on her. There was pain in them, so much pain.

“You are not drunk,” she told him.

“He ordered the whisky two hours ago and had been staring at it ever since.” Said the bartender.

“Hey,” she caressed his head and he closed his eyes at the touch “what happened?”

He shook his head “not here.” He stood and Aelin followed then came back and chugged down the abandoned whisky and went after him.

He was walking away and she ran after him “wait, you have long legs, damn you.” He extended an arm behind him and Aelin grabbed his hand “fine, we are outside, spill the beans.”

She definitely had no tact.

He walked silently a bit longer until they reached a small park and he sat down on a bench and Aelin took a spot at his side never letting his hand go.

And then he told her. Everything that had happened in the room. The results of the inquiry, the marshal’s accusations. The identity of the first student he had lost and his desire to quit.

“I wanted to throw my wings in the marshal’s face.” He looked down dejected “I feel lost now. I want to go back to my students, I owe it to them, to teach them how to be safe. But everything else… I don’t care about it anymore.” his head leaned against her shoulder and Aelin brushed his head with her hand and kissed it tenderly “Ro, how can I help you?”

Rowan turned his head to her and she thought his eyes were wet with tears “what you are doing just now is enough. Having you with me helps.”

“Do you need to go back to the airbase now?”

Rowan nodded sadly.

“Ok, I’ll drive you.” Aelin stood and Rowan followed but before moving he pulled her to him and drew her in for a kiss “I love you.” He said quietly.

She flicked his nose “let’s go.” She offered him her hand and together they walked back to her car.

They arrived at the airbase not long after “do you need me to come in?”

Rowan shook his head “my team is there. I will be fine. Gav will stop me from doing anything stupid.”

“Good. I am going back to the station.” She leaned forward to kiss him “Will you be okay? I am worried about you.”

“I am a big boy.” He joked.

“Ro…”

He leaned forward and kissed her “I do love so much when you call me Ro like that…”

Aelin smiled against his lips “don’t do anything stupid and tomorrow you can ravish me all you want. You can even be super creative.”

“How can I refuse such proposal?” He kissed her again “I will be fine.” His hand went to the door handle and opened the door “I will see you tomorrow morning at home. Have a nice night shift.”

Aelin’s heart swelled with joy at the word home. Their place. They hadn’t made it official but her house had become home. Their home. And she loved the feeling of it.

“Think creative, captain.”

He winked at her and left the car. Then he waved at her and Aelin left, he put his cap on his head and headed back inside the airbase.

-

Rowan made his way to Lorcan’s office and took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

“Come in,” came from inside.

Rowan entered the room and Lorcan looked up at him and he did notice the expression of disbelief in his CO’s face.

“Rowan —” but the other man stopped him.

“Thank you for today. For the support.” Rowan said quietly sitting on the chair in front of his CO.

“The man was out of line.” Lorcan growled “he knows what kind of instructor you are. How strict you are. The man was trying to get you sacked as a punishment for his son’s death knowing full well that again it was not your fucking fault.”

Rowan looked away, shutting away the painful memories.

“I already sent orders to start working on the canopies and check them all.”

Rowan nodded silently.

“I know what we can do to cheer you up.” Rowan turned his head staring at a surprisingly cheery Lorcan. Elide was really doing miracles.

“Grab you gear and let’s get out in the air, this man here needs to fly. It’s been so long that it’s a miracle I can still be called a pilot.” And he chuckled.

Rowan stood “Fine, be ready to be crushed.”

Lorcan grinned and stood as well “Oh, I submitted a proposal to allow women to serve in the airforce.”

Rowan’s head whipped to one side “who are you and what have you done with Lorcan Salvaterre?”

“The captain and Elide. Turns out we have both chosen very strong women.”

“I like that.”

“Me too.”

Rowan was doing his pre-flight checks when he noticed Lorcan joining him. The man had always exuded charisma.

“You should really send Elide a picture of you in a jump suit. I know how much Aelin likes it, I guess Elide might appreciate it too.”

Lorcan lifted an eyebrow while he reached his jet and popped open the canopy “you think?”

Rowan nodded “how is it going with her by the way?”

“She is incredible. She is tiny but fierce and stubborn and quite amazing.”

Rowan could not believe it, Lorcan was in awe of someone a feat that he thought was impossible.

“You are in love with her.”

“I think so.” said Lorcan hiding the words in a cough, almost embarrassed by his admission.

“Good.” Then he stared at Lorcan and he realised that going out out for a flight had been a good idea. They were evenly matched in skill and it was going to be a fun one. They had a few turbulent months but he had more or less always got along with him. Flying together again felt like the good old times.

“You missed a spot.” Rowan pointed at one section under the wing. 

Lorcan replied with a middle finger and it felt nice to have their old banter back when Lorcan could finally put aside his CO mask for a while.

“I am not a cadet, I know how to do my pre flight checks.”

“Well, you are not following the order we were taught at flight school, cadet Salvaterre.”

“Stop being a smartass, cadet Whitethorn.”

Rowan climbed in his jet and finished his checks inside and communicated with the tower to finalise the flight plan and get the authorisations required.

“Come on Lorcan, you are so slow. Tower gave us the all clear and the flight plan is in. Are you sure you still remember how to fly? Do you need any pointers, Chaos?”

Chaos was Lorcan’s callsign and he had earned it very early in his career for his flying skills.

Eventually they were both ready and the two jets got taxied away and not long after they were in the air.

“Rules of engagement: anything is allowed and two out of three?”

“Copy that, Iceman.”

“Good, be ready to lose.”

The two jets broke apart and went in different directions and for a while they just ran in circles above the airbase to study each other.

Lorcan hadn’t wanted to admit that he was a bit rusty and Rowan was indeed a nasty customer. 

Gavriel and the three young pilots were walking along one of the long corridors on the airbase when they heard the sound of jets in the air and ran to the next window to look who it was. The classes for the cadets were still grounded and the three of them were on ground.

“Holy fuck,” muttered Gavriel when he realised who was out flying.

He ran out to the viewing tower followed by the twins and Vaughan.

“Is that who I think it is?” Asked Connall speechless.

“Rowan and Lorcan.” The older man turned to the three young guys “you are in for a treat, they can make you feel like a newbie.”

Gavriel saw Rowan pull in a vertical and flying into the sun, roll on his back and continue in  straight line flying just a meter above Lorcan, finally flipped his jet once again and placed himself at Lorcan’s six.

Lorcan tried some evasive manoeuvres but Rowan did not let go, always at his tail attempting to get a lock on his CO.

Lorcan felt trapped and as a last ditch he went into a high G barrel roll to try and shake off Rowan.

“Rowan is going to overshoot,” said Connall who was silently watching the dogfight between their superiors.

Then Rowan pulled a trick out of the hat and kept his jet in line with Lorcan’s then rolled and found himself upside down and fired at the other man.

“Holy fuck,” was Fenrys’ comment at the scene.

“What did just happen? How did he even manage that?” Added Vaughan.

“That is Rowan for you. Now you realise why we can’t ever win?”

“One nil for me, Chaos.”

“You are a sneaky bastard, Whitethorn. And where did you learn such manoeuvres?”

Rowan laughed over the comms “get your act together, Commodore, and you can probably get me.”

The dogfight between the two went on for much longer. Lorcan did manage to win an engagement but Rowan still won 2-1. They landed back and they found Rowan’s team waiting for them.

“Good to see you two flying again. The youngsters never had the chance to see the pros at work.” Said Gavriel relieved that the two men seemed again at ease with each other.

“Oh, yeah. Our dear CO was a bit rusty and I took him out to stretch his legs and I handed out his arse to him twice.”

Lorcan gave him the middle finger in response.

*

Elide was in the ambulance doing some inventory checks when her phone pinged. She opened the text from Lorcan and almost fainted on the spot. It was Lorcan in his jump suit beside his jet and the man actually had a hint of a smile on his face. The second image was of him and Rowan standing back to back, their arms folded at their chest and both had a goofy smile on.

She jumped off the ambulance and ran to Aelin who was in the equipment room checking out their gear “Ace, look!” She shouted as she stormed in.

“What?” And she looked at the two pictures on Elide’s phone.

“Interesting…” Aelin stared with curiosity at the picture of the two men.

“He is soooo hot, I have never seen him in a jump suit and gods I don’t know? Want to remove it one bit at a time?”

Aelin laughed “that’s what I would do to Rowan right now if we were together in a private place. I would peel that jump suit off him until he is naked in front of me.”

She saw Elide blush “Lorcan and I haven’t… passed the kissing stage yet. He has never touched me. He is very considerate of me. But a few times he hugged me and I… felt him.” And she made a gesture and Aelin understood.

“Elide that is normal. How do you feel about the next stage? Like exploring each other’s bodies?”

“As in naked?”

“Yes, but you can start with keeping your underwear to have a barrier on if it makes you feel better.”

Elide sat on the bench beside her “I don’t know how to do this. How do I touch him?”

Aelin could see panic rise in the woman “ask him to show you and then once you feel brave enough to try just give it a go. It can be quite fun.” Aelin stopped for a second trying to find a way to tackle the next issue “Elide, have you ever… you know… explored your body? Down there?”

Elide blushed savagely “no.”

Aelin took the woman’s hand “take a nice warm bath and then…” Aelin wiggled her fingers “just put a hand between your legs and see how it goes, what you feel.”

“Oh.”

“At least once you two take the next step you have an idea of how it feels.”

“And Lorcan does that as well?”

Aelin nodded “yes, and if the man is as good as the others claim he might leave you a satisfied mess just with his fingers or mouth or both. A sort of appetiser before the main course.”

“Do you and Rowan…?”

Aelin nodded “and not just him to me but me to him as well.”

“This sounds so much.”

“Elide, look at me.” Aelin placed her hands on the woman’s shoulder “you do not have to take the next step until you are okay with it. Talk with Lorcan. Explain to him that you are getting curious and want to try more. You can use a safe word so that when you start to become uncomfortable, you shout that word and he has to stop.”

“Oh.”

“He hasn’t rushed you or anything?”

Elide shook her head “no, he has been so understanding, and never pushed.”

“Good. You set the pace. You are the one who needs time so he adjusts to you, remember. But if you feel like you are ready for another step just tell him.”

“Is it… is it as good as everyone says? Is it worth it?”

Aelin nodded “with the right person is something incredible. The intimacy… the connection…”

“Do you have that with your captain?”

“Yeah, and some.”

“Uhhh… are we getting serious?”

Aelin looked away for a moment “I loved Sam. A lot. We were good together but it was never like this. Never this deep.” She threw her head against one of the jackets “I don’t know how to explain it but my feelings for Rowan are so strong that sometimes I feel like I can’t breath.”

“I want that too.”

A moment later the conversation was interrupted by Lysandra entering the room “Here you are, why are you hiding?”

Elide showed Lys Lorcan’s picture.

“Oh mama…”

“Elide is feeling… curious.”

Lysandra hugged the woman “that is wonderful, darling. With such a specimen I’d be curious too.”

“Lys.” Shouted Aelin laughing.

“What? Fine the man can be an arsehole but I can’t deny that in that picture he is one hot bastard.”

“Show her the other.”

Elide showed Lysandra the picture with both Rowan and Lorcan.

“Ok, I really need a cold shower now.”

“I am pretty sure Aedion is available. Just keep it quiet.”

Lysandra laughed “don’t you think I tried? He said it would be against the rules.”

“I am almost done with equipment checks. This room will be free soon.”

“You are a wicked woman.” 

Aelin winked.

“Did you do it in here with the captain?”

“No, but his office is quite comfortable.”

“Nice.” Commented Lysandra.

Lys then took Elide’s hand “come on, we got a couple of things to finish.”

Once the two ladies left she phoned Rowan and he picked up at the first ring.

“I am jealous, Lorcan sent a picture of the two of you to Elide and I don’t get a copy?”

“You liked that?”

“You were both smiling.”

“We talked,” added Rowan “Lorcan was even more pissed than me. I think Elide did the miracle.”

Aelin laughed and relaxed at his admission “how so?

“He chuckled. Lorcan chuckled.”

She heard mirth in his voice.

“And the man is totally in love with Elide. I swear I never heard the man talk like that about a woman.”

“Interesting.”

“Also, apparently he has decided to support my idea of having women in the airforce and submitted a proposal to the higher ups and he is prepared to fight for it.” He told her, knowing she would love the news.

“Ok, I might finally start to like the man. What changed?”

“You and Elide apparently.”

Aelin smiled smugly “so he does listen, I am impressed. I don’t think I can cope with the idea of Lorcan not being the bad guy.”

“His job is very stressful and I don’t think I could be able to cope with the amount of shit he has to deal with.” He sighed “put me in a cockpit surrounded by enemies and I will be fine. But the idea of being stuck behind a desk playing the political game day in day out…. no. I will retire before it happens.” He added sadly.

“So, what’s on the agenda for the rest of the day, captain?”

“I am helping him with a few things. Then do more prep work for our performance review.”

“Do you think you are ready for that?”

She heard a lot of noise in the background and she guessed he was back in the hangar.

“Aye, we are good to go.” He was silent for a moment “I have to go, Fireheart.”

“Sure. Be safe and have a nice drill.”

“I love you. Have a nice night shift.”

“Send me that picture, Whitethorn.”

“Yes ma’am.”

She closed the conversation and relaxed heavily. Rowan sounded so much better and she was smidge less worried. With a big smile she went back to her work.

*

It was past 9pm and Aelin was in her office working away on some paperwork Dorian had sent over. She had a good day. It had felt good being back and she realised that Rowan’s help and their time away had helped very much. She felt saner and being at the station did not cause any problems. She was not ready yet to go back fighting fires, of that she was well aware. That was the last challenge she had to face but she and Aedion had discussed a training regimen that would slowly allow her to find the courage again to go fully back on duty and she felt excited at the idea.

She had been so engrossed in her work she did not hear the knock on the door. When it happened a second time she slowly raised her head “come in.” She said flatly and almost annoyed. 

A head of silver hair appeared on the door and she stopped “am I interrupting?”

“Of course captain. How dare you?”

He smiled and took a step in “I can go if you are working.”

Aelin rolled her eyes “get your arse inside and give me fifteen minutes of silence.”

He nodded and walked to her bookcase, giving her his back. His hand behind his back, his spine ramrod straight and his feet slightly apart in a perfect at ease position. She grinned. You could take the man out of the military but not the military out of the man.

She stopped working and rested her chin on her hands and a pen in her mouth. She studied him from behind and was impressed how still he could stay. A feat that had alway been impossible to her. 

Rowan grabbed one of her manuals and started flipping through it. It was only fair, she had done the same to his flight manuals. 

“A chemistry book?”

She eventually decided to stand and join him at his side.

“I hated chemistry in school. I was good at it but never liked it. I preferred physics.”

Aelin smiled and grabbed another book: fire science “this one might be more interesting.”

He had a look through it and smiled at her “can I take it at home or do you need it here?”

“You can take it home.”

Rowan smiled and placed the book on the sofa then cupped her face “hi, by the way.” And he kissed her.

“About time. I thought you were more interested in my books than me.” She teased him, pulling away briefly.

“You told me to stay silent for fifteen minutes. I was just following orders.”

“Screw that.”Aelin switched off her computer and walked to him, palm upturned, offering him her hand “follow me captain.”

“Do I need to be scared?”

She glared at him.

They walked along the corridor of the fire station and it was so silent and quiet compared to what he had seen during the day “where is everyone?”

“Resting. We got beds, you know? But Brullo and Ress are probably up watching tv as usual.”

They walked through the common area and as Aelin suspected the two guys were watching some  series on tv.

“Hi guys,” she greeted them.

They raised their heads “hi boss,” then noticed Rowan “oh captain, you found her. Good.”

“When I walked in I announced myself. I could not just waltz in.”

“Come on,” she grabbed his hand. Aelin dragged Rowan to the area where they kept the fire engine and the truck. She moved to the engine and opened a door on the side and pulled out two thick blankets then with them under her armpit, she started climbing the ladder at the end of the rig “Come on captain.”

Rowan looked at her puzzled.“Where are you going?”

He saw her rolling her eyes “on top of the rig.”

“If the alarm—”

“Captain, if the alarm goes off we have enough seconds to get our arses back down. They will not drive away with us on top of the rig. Do you trust me?”

He looked at her in a strange way.

Aelin threw the blankets on the top of the engine and climbed back down and marched to him, grabbing his hand “move.”

With force she dragged him to the ladder and prompted him to climb. He did as ordered and once at the top he stopped. Aelin stopped behind him, then in a swift motion she pulled her leg over the engine rail and climbed on its roof.

She took the blankets and placed them on top of all the hoses “it smells a bit of smoke. You’ll get used to it.”

He climbed over and stood for a second admiring the view from on top of the engine. When he turned he saw Aelin laying down on the blankets, her arms extended to him and a goofy smile on her face. He joined her and took a place at her side.

She nested against his chest and his arms looped around her frame.

“I come up here a lot on a night shift. I don’t sleep, I just relax, I love to imagine I am laying on the grass and that if I look up I can see the stars.”

“I do that when I am on an aircraft carrier and I am not on standby. I just walk on the deck along the rail, although is not as quiet as here as there are still flights happening, but it’s less busy. I just lean against the handrail, near the island and look out at the sea and I my case I can see the stars.”

Aelin turned in his arms and faced him “can you navigate by just using the stars?”

“We don’t use it much, GPS is a very handy tool, but it’s a skill we learn in case something fails and you are left with no GPS or any other electronic help.”

“What about you? Had a good day at the station?” He kissed the top of her head.

Aelin nodded eagerly “yes, I admitted I had a problem out loud and both Dorian and Aedion have offered to help in anyway they can.” She looked up at him “and you… you helped so much… and still helping…”

He smiled tenderly “it goes under my job description for boyfriend, I assume?”

She caressed his face loving the sound of him calling himself her boyfriend.

“Say it again,” she whispered to him.

“What?”

“That you are my boyfriend.”

He went for a deep kiss “I am yours.”

Aelin smiled against his lips “those are powerful words, captain.”

“They are true, though.”

Aelin’s heart raced and her hand went to his chest and found his doing exactly the same.

“I love this. Us. I really do…” she stuck her head in the crook of his neck inhaling his scent “but it still scares me because it happened so fast. One day I wanted to punch you, the next I wanted to kiss you. And it frightens me. I want this to work. I want us to work out.”

His hand covered hers still on his chest “you are not alone. This is a lot for me as well. But I am done fighting my feelings.” He hugged her closer “I love you, even when this world is a forgotten whisper of dust between the stars, I will love you.”

Aelin kissed his chest “you are so cheesy it’s disgusting.”

Rowan pushed her away and she rolled on her back at his side, her hand still in his “I was trying to be romantic and you ruined the moment.”

She smiled “sorry, I used to do that with Sam all the time. He would say something super romantic and I would respond with a joke. When he proposed I replied that I had to check with my lawyer first.”

“You are a brat.”

“It was so funny. Then I texted him and said that my lawyer had agreed.” Aelin brought their twinned hands to her mouth and kissed them “I showed him later on that night in bed how much I wanted to marry him. He did not complain.”

“You really are a handful.”

“I know, but now you picked me and there is no turning back.” She said against their hands fearing she had gone too far.

“I love a good challenge.” He rolled over and was now half on top of her, his hand on her side caressing her gently.

Aelin grabbed his face in her free hands and kissed him stupid but Rowan pulled back when he remembered where they were. He was still terrified they would drive away with the two of them on top of the engine.

He lay back down and his hand started trailing along her injured arm exposed by the short sleeved shirt. The burns had healed but the skin remained marred. He traced the length of it and leaned over to kiss it.

“Does it bother you?”

“No,” he said softly while continuing to kiss her injured arm and her scars “you are my brave and fierce Fireheart. It scares me that I almost lost you. But you scars…” another gentle kiss “they don’t bother me.”

She snuggled closer and he enveloped her in his arms.

“I forgot.” He propped himself up on one elbow “I have received an invitation.”

“Oh?” Aelin did the same and faced him.

“This weekend the navy is throwing a launch party for the new aircraft carrier, down at the dockyards before she is set at sea for the trials and then off to deployment.” He explained “Me and the guys have been invited and I can bring a guest. Fancy being my plus one?”

“Are we going public, captain?”

“If you want to.”

Aelin thought about it “I could wear the stunning black dress I bought in Doranelle.”

Rowan remembered that dress and the effect it had on him when she wore it in the shop.

“Are you trying to give a heart attack to the whole Terrasen military?”

Aelin giggled “just going to show all those posh boys what an amazing taste in women you have.”

“That I do.” He flicked her nose.

Aelin was about to reply when dispatch alarm went off and she bolted on her feet and pulled Rowan up and grabbed the blankets “come on, captain.”

She climbed down super quickly and by the time he made it down, the blankets were back in the truck and the squad was getting ready to go.

“Showing the captain your special spot?” Joked Aedion.

Aelin nodded and patted his shoulder “keep the guys safe and you stay safe too.”

“Always.” Quickly Aedion ran to the truck and a moment later the squad was gone.

“It’s hard to see them go and not being able to be with them.”

He pulled an arm around her shoulder “come, I’ll make you hot chocolate.”

She followed him “that’s exactly how you woo a woman, captain.”

TAGS:

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[danniburgh]

Rushingly Bittersweet (Javier Peña x f!reader) part 18

Pairing: Javier Peña x ofc//f!reader with name.

Summary: After the fall of Escobar everything starts happening way too fast for Javier; his raise, his new office, his new team, the Cali cartel’s operation, the sudden arrival of a new agent that was transferred to his team for no apparent reason, the way he was falling in love with her almost unintentionally.

And he couldn’t seem to stop any of that.

Word count: +3.8k

Chapter warnings: mentions of captivity, kidnapping and death, hints of misogyny, even more feels omg

A/N: This chapter is set in season three, episode eight. // look guys at this point its all plot lmao, so yeah... also, please, please get ready, next chapter is gonna be almost the double of words and feels so... just a heads up

ao3 // fic index // Masterlist // fic playlist

comments and reblogs are eternally appreciated 💓 let me know if you wanna be tagged

←previous // next→

gif: @bratdjarin ​ 

The time after that call went faster and faster. 

You found yourself running through the embassy hallways along with Feistl to let the ambassador know Javier had Christina Jurado with him, then assuring him she would be safer staying in your house, making sure Feistl backed you up so Crosby wouldn’t be a pain in the ass and asked you if you could handle any strong situations that may concur while she was with you.

Then you went and made some arrangements to get another field agent to be your second as Feistl and Van Ness still had to fix their own shit. By the time you finished running around, Javier was back.

The office was almost empty, spare from Stoddard furiously typing into his computer, from the entrance you could see Javier standing in the middle of his office with his arms crossed on his chest and Christina Jurado sitting in front of him in the loveseat, both in complete silence.

You almost ran through the bullpen when you saw him, crossing the doorframe to his office and throwing yourself at him.

“Fuck, you’re okay,” you whispered, wrapping your arms around his neck and fisting his shirt while he let out a soft oof. Javier let himself embrace you back, letting his arms down and around your waist, you shoved your head in the crook of his neck, not caring that he smelled like sweat and smoke and gunpowder and death. 

You didn’t want to ask him what he had to do to bring back Christina, and you were sure he wouldn’t tell you.

Javier let out a heavy sigh when he felt you finally inside his arms again, for a moment he forgot where he was and let himself breathe you in and out, using you yet again as an anchor to the real world.

You broke the embrace and cupped his face, making double sure he was unscratched, making double sure he was whole, making double sure he was good, at least physically.

He didn’t hold your gaze; he was looking behind you and you turned around.

“Christina,” you muttered, she looked up at you quizzically and for some reason that you didn’t want to dive in at the moment, you wanted to hug her.

There she was, a gorgeous, brave woman who had spent days in a place you were sure was worse than hell, with people that didn’t care about her, sitting there in one of the safest places in Colombia, just waiting for her fate to happen.

You couldn’t stop your brain for comparing and making parallels of your life to hers; she was the wife of a narco accountant; she had been living under the radar for a long time and she seemed to hate it, she merely loathed it and everything that had to do with what her husband was doing; and you, unmarried, oddly loved and chasing down the guys that practically paid her bills. You were about the same age and yet your lives had taken deeply different paths. And both of those paths had brought you both there. To a shitty office in an american government facility in a country neither of you had been born in, looking into each other’s eyes, relating to each other on more than one level.

For a moment you let yourself think what would’ve happened if you would’ve been the one that talked to her instead of Javier. It was a horrible thought; it was terrible to think and utterly useless, but maybe, just maybe, some things wouldn’t have happened.

“Hi,” she whispered, her voice was deep and quite hoarse, she leaned to rest her hands on her legs and you stepped towards her.

“I’m agent Martín, I’m gonna be with you until your flight tomorrow morning,” you explained to her, and you saw her let out a sigh, as if she was more relieved with you there “I’m gonna take you to my house so you can clean up and get some sleep, if that’s okay with you,” you saw her look at you with precaution and pondered the answer, then she just nodded.

“Is Javier gonna come?” she asked, bewaringly, you looked at her attentively and she glanced at him behind you for less than a second. You knew she had seen what he did to get her out of the place she was in and you understood, with the way she was sitting and staring at everything but him, that she wasn’t really fond of the methods.

“No, he’s not,” you assured her, feeling the deep stare of Javier in your back. Christina deflated slowly and breathed in, as if relieved, you stretched your hand to her. She looked at it and then looked at you for a few seconds, deciding if she would trust you or not, you tried to give her a reassuring smile and she took your hand, standing up, “have you eaten?”

“No,” she looked at the floor as you guided her to the door. You turned to look at Javier and he was frowning at the way you were managing the situation. You didn’t need to read his expression or his body language to know he just felt guilty because he didn’t have the same rapport in him. At least not anymore.

He wanted to ask you what the hell were you thinking to take Christina out of the building, but instead just looked at you, trusting you would at least read in his face how insecure about it he was feeling. You shook your head once and gave him a hard stare. He stiffened, and tightened his jaw, then mimicking you and nodding as well, knowing he had to let you do your part.

“Let’s get you some food as well,” you muttered to Christina, who turned to look at Javier one last time.

“Thank you,”

“Don’t thank me, let’s go, someone is waiting for us downstairs and you have a flight early in the morning,” you said, pulling her softly a bit closer to you, as you both walked out of the office.

The next morning came by. You and Christina were sitting in the backseat of Javier’s suv, him driving and another agent sitting next to him in the co-pilot’s seat. Christina was looking through the window, watching Bogotá waking up with her arm curled around yours.

The drive was quiet but tense, and while you felt Javier’s staring at you through the rearview mirror, you remembered the conversation you had with Christina when you arrived at your place the night before.

“Are you Javier’s girlfriend?” she had asked you, sitting on the couch, waiting for you to finish talking with the other agent that had to spend the night at your door and settle next to her. By the way she had asked you could notice it had no double meaning, she was genuinely curious.

“You… could say that,” you replied, biting your lip to stop yourself from smiling, “we don’t really have a name for… this,” for some reason you didn’t know you found Christina really trustworthy. You reasoned that it was maybe because she was trusting you to take care of her safety until she could be in her own country, so it was the logical thing to trust her back. She sighed at your reply.

“I don’t think you really need a tag, y’know,” she had said, and you nodded. She kept quiet for a moment and then grabbed your hand, her skin was cold and her hands were shaking, “I also fell in love with a dangerous man,” she said, making your breath hitch.

“Christina…”

“Don’t let him do to you what being married to Franklin did to me,” she muttered, almost as in secrecy. You looked at her and wished you could just take away all the shit she had lived in all the time she was captive.

The sentence lingered in your mind and settled itself in that nagging part of your brain that made you overthink things. You didn’t know exactly if she was referring to the inevitability of danger into the jobs her husband and your… Javier had, or maybe something else.

She tightened the grip on your hand, bringing you back to the moment, and for a second she lost herself, staring at everything and nothing at the same time. You wanted to ask her so many things and make sure she was okay. You didn’t find the strength in you to take her out of her trance, knowing maybe that was just her way to cope with… everything. 

“I didn’t know if I was going to get out of there,”

“Christina,” you called her and she looked at you, still absentminded “I’m sorry, I have to ask, did they… do anything to you?” the question took her by surprise and her eyes watered. You could see she was already tired of crying and by that point she was past feeling sad. You watched her take her time to answer with expectation, and she shook her head, provoking your chest to fill with air, contented that at least they had spared her that one horror.

“No, they didn’t, but they wanted to,” she had muttered, making you shiver.

It amazed you how receptive your body was being to what she said. And yet again, you realized that you couldn’t avoid comparing yourself to her.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Christina,” you told her, putting your other hand on top of hers that was gripping you. She looked at you and narrowed her eyes slightly.

“Are you really?” her question caught you off guard more than you would’ve expected, she was asking again, genuinely, still having some barrier that wasn’t thrown for you, and you couldn’t blame her for that. You could see she still was scared of something or someone and you could also see that she was angry, not exactly directly at you, but angry.

“Of course I am, I was supposed to bring you to a safe place when you were… when they took you,” her trembling hands moved awkwardly and she stared at you “after Javi arrested your husband, he told me to go to your house and get you to safety, but when I got there, you called him and told him you saw cops and left,” you remembered the call Javier had given you after that, you still recalled the tone of his voice, desperate and frustrated, similar to the one Franklin Jurado had in one of his calls with Christina. You wondered if that could be taken as a parallel of your relationship, but decided not to go there, wasn’t really useful to keep comparing.

“That’s when he told me to go to the embassy,” Christina muttered and you nodded, her gaze got lost again and once again, you saw something inside her eyes that screamed and shouted even though she was sitting in front of you in almost utter silence. She was angry, so, so angry. And you couldn’t blame her for that either.

“I was actually waiting for you,” you told her, she sighed and you bit your lip again, “and when you didn’t arrive I just… I’m just really glad you’re safe, you didn’t deserve any of that,”

Christina shook her head a few times and took a deep breath.

“No, I didn’t” her reply confirmed what you were just seeing. You wanted to tell her so many things, you wanted to tell her that she wasn’t alone, that she was going to get through all the shit, that she was going to see her husband and that even though he was in jail, he was protected and she would be able to rebuild her life, no longer in the shadows, you wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay… But you didn’t, because you didn’t know that. “what’s gonna happen to me now?” she asked, and for the first time since you’d been talking, you heard a tremble in her voice, hesitation, insecurity, and it didn’t suit her.

“He’s gonna fly you home, you’re gonna see your husband” you had said, trying to make things at least a little more bearable, but she just let out a huff and turned to you.

“Are you coming?” Christina asked, her eyes set in you. You weren’t sure if you had that kind of power.

“Do you want me to?” 

“Please”

After that you showed her the bathroom, gave her some of your clothes and almost forced her to sleep in your bed. Then, when you were sure she was at least more comfortable than she was when she arrived, you had called Javier to tell him she wanted you in the plane with her.

You arrived at the airport and Christina was escorted by you, Javier, the other agent that had spent the night at your place’s door, and two police officers. You got settled in a private waiting room and Javier made sure the only ones inside it were Christina, you and him.

“I’m really sorry for taking away your clothes,” Christina said, still grabbing your arm, you were watching Javier looking through the window of the room and turned to her, shaking your head.

“Don’t be, they look better on you,” you reassured her, feeling quite better with yourself for having her smiling at you, a female voice talks through the speakers and Javier turns to you, he captures back your attention and you give him a small smile.

“In less than an hour, we’re on that plane,” he says to Christina and walks to sit behind the two of you “your husband knows, he’ll be waiting for ya,”

Christina said nothing, she just squeezed your hand and you for once tried to be silent, not wanting to meddle in whatever they had, as the mood inside the room had changed and apparently you were the only one that could feel and almost see the palpable tension they had with each other.

“It’s all behind you now, Christina,” Javier muttered, you turned to see him with narrowed eyes and a quirk in your face that asked him if he really just said that.

“And you think I should thank you for that?” Christina rhetored bitterly at him, not even bothering to look at him, you turned to see her and realized who her anger was directed to. And you… understood.

“No, no I don’t” Javier deepened his voice at her.

“No, you think you’re a hero because you, what, executed a bunch of farmers to get me out so that my husband would testify for you?” Christina’s hand gripped yours harder and you tried to keep your calm. You could feel Javier’s gaze glued to your face and you didn’t turn to see him. Not ready to see in his face what you thought you had heard in his voice.

“I did what I had to do and I’m sorry for what happened to you,” your head snapped almost involuntarily at him, your eyes wide and your mouth parted in surprise. He tried to remain serious but he knew you almost completely and you knew him as well. You saw in his face that he really didn’t mean it, you saw in his face that he was only saying it because his ego was hurt. And you noticed in the way he was avoiding your eyes that he knew you already knew. Un fucking believable.

“No,” Christina looked at him and made a quirk that told you she really didn’t believe him, and you couldn’t help but notice the difference at the gesture her face made the night before, when you told her the same thing. You bit your lip to avoid popping out and ask her why she did believe you but didn’t believe him, but you were pretty sure you already knew why. “no you’re not, and you know it,” your gaze stayed in Javier’s face, in his thumb brushing his lower lip, in how his eyes looked at everything but you or her or himself, on how he had stretched his legs to the sides and left his hand hanging, and you saw it, one of his many faces but not the one you were expecting to see, not the one you wanted to see. The agent face. The police enforcement mask, one that showed, maybe even unconsciously, that he only cared about the operative, about the mission, about the main goal. Not about the woman that had lived through hell and he had pulled her out of there himself “you’re a piece of shit.”

Christina turned to the front, still holding your hand and your eyes were trying to get Javier to look at you.

Javier knew himself, he couldn’t bear to look at you because he knew you already had a pretty clear idea of what was going through his head and he was embarrassed. Because he knew you cared, he knew you cared deeply and he felt guilty that he didn’t care as much as you did, he felt embarrassed at the fact that he couldn’t bring himself to care. He wanted to, he really did, but he was just so damn tired.

Exhausted didn’t convey exactly how he felt, he didn't even know if there was a word that could fully express how he was feeling sitting there in the middle of an almost empty waiting room in an airport waiting to take a woman he had promised himself to take care of to convince her husband to risk his life and betray his employers.

Javier thought Christina was right, he was a piece of shit. A piece of shit that didn't deserve to look at your beautiful, ever understanding eyes.

Javier didn’t look at you, and you didn’t like the way he was acting. And for a brief moment you saw a flash of something running through his face. It was anger but wasn’t, it was sadness but not quite, it looked like pride. Was his… ego, hurt?

The time to board the flight came and you felt Christina relax besides you. The whole convoy of police enforcement was escorting Christina to the gate when Javier’s phone rang.

“Yeah,” Javier answered the call and you turned to look at him next to you, “yeah, we’re about to get on the plane, we’ll be in Miam–” he was suddenly cut off, he stopped walking and you did too, Christina saw you and turned to see what was going on “when?” he asked into the phone and a shiver went down your spine, the woman beside you felt your body stiffen as Javier finally looked into your eyes and with one single glance told you everything, “let me call you back.”

“What happened?” Christina asked, trembling next to you, as if she already knew the answer.

“He’s dead” you murmured, still looking into Javier’s eyes. You felt a heavy pull next to you and suddenly a pair of officers were next to you. Christina was collapsing on the floor.

Javier’s eyes fell to Christina as yours filled with unwanted tears. Why were you crying? you quickly tried to analyze what you were feeling and learned that it wasn’t really because of the case, the case and the trial and the testimony was all shit anyway, you knew it, but he didn’t.

It was because your mind was playing with the parallels. You related to Christina even if she didn’t relate to you, and now she lost her husband, while Javier was standing in front of you feeling guilty for all the pain he thought he had caused. You could see the irony, then the question was if you were about to lose Javier as well.

“She needs to go to Miami anyway,” Javier said to you a few moments later. You nodded. His eyes were in yours and he stole a handgrip from you “let’s go,” he said, aiming to walk away from the gate, you frowned at him, giving him a look that asked him if he was out of his mind. He felt a tug in his chest, knowing already you would fight his plea.

“Don’t leave,” Christina was being helped to stand and she grabbed your other hand, making Javier drop the one he had taken, you could see the hesitancy in his face.

“She’s gonna be escorted all the way back to Miami,” Javier’s tone was dubious, the way you were looking at him made him doubt himself for the briefest of moments.

“I’m gonna go with her and make sure she gets to safety” you said. Javier sighed at your willful tone of voice.

“Florencia,” he called and you tightened your jaw, you knew he knew better than to try and contradict you right there and then.

“I’m going,” your voice softened slightly and you turned to Christina “can you go ahead and board? I’ll be right behind you,” you reassured her, she nodded slowly and one of your partners helped her get to the gate, you turned back to look at Javier, noticing how much he was struggling to come up with something to say. “whatever that was, back in the waiting room, I need space from that,” you blinked your unshed tears away and he just nodded back at you, knowing exactly what you were talking about and understanding, begrudgingly, why you wanted to be away from him for a while “I’ll be back tonight and maybe we can talk,”

“I don't thin–”

“Javier,” you cut him off, shaking your head softly to stop him “I’ll see you when I get back.”

Your hand reached to his wrist and you gripped it as strongly as you could for a few seconds, his eyes seemed a bit lost and even though you knew he was having a thousand and one reasons to not let you go, to keep you in Bogotá with him, to need you with him, you had one strong reason to get away from him at least for a day.

One that made you feel hypocritical and traitorous; if he reacted with little empathy and pride to what Christina had told him, how the fuck would he react when you told him the truth?

So you let go of him, gave him a last stare and turned around to walk to the gate, board the plane and take Christina home. For the first time, while flying through the Gulf of Mexico, you had plenty of time to think about all the mess that you had gotten into. And your mind came to one conclusion: there was no way on earth that Javier would forgive you for what you were doing to him.

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[animeheadcannoncentral]

NSFW ENJI (Endeavor) X READER ONESHOT

Business/CEO A/B/O AU - this just popped into my head and turned into a 10 Chapter fic you can read on Ao3: “Hidden Flowers”

Warnings: smut, Dom Enji, sub reader, rough sex, A/B/O dynamics, alpha Enji, omgega reader, alpha Toshinori, heat cycles, dirty talk

Words: 5k

(Y/N) checked her emails one final time, ensuring nothing new had come through in the last three minutes that needed her boss’s attention. She picked up the file she had organised for the day, shuffling the papers into a neat stack before rising to her feet, straightening out her clothes and marching towards the CEO’s office. She opened the door without knocking, an action that he had told her to forego many years ago, she was his secretary after all, if she had something urgent to tell him, there was no point in wasting time knocking on the door. And he also didn’t need to burden of someone knocking on his door fifty times a day. The red head was on the phone when she entered, this scene wasn’t uncommon, some days he scarcely got away from the damn thing.

Closing the door behind her, she walked up to his desk and placed the pile of papers down on his right before walking to a white board and started neatly writing out the day’s major meetings.

“I don’t care about the cost, how long will it take to get it up and running again?” Enji sighed into the phone as he noted down the time frame.

“Is there another company that can fix it faster?” she turned back and saw he was looking at her. He’d asked both her and the person on the other end of the call, he just knew she’d come up with a solution faster.

“Mack Plus have the best engineers, Trencher Co. will be quickest but they fixed that unit previously and it’s broken again, I would suggest Wheels Down Inc as nothing they’ve fixed has broken again and it will be fixed within the week” she spilled out, she’d read the email about the mining vehicle break down this morning and immediately looked at the data for previous break downs. The man nodded and wrote it down, whilst also rolling his eyes at whoever was on the other end of the call.

“(Y/N) will send through contact details for further correspondence with Wheels Down Inc, let me know once the machine’s operating again” and the CEO hung up.

“Fucking useless” Enji muttered as he started going through his emails, “got any good news?” he asked.

“Stocks are up again today?” she tried which resulted in a small smirk from him.

“And you only have one meeting currently locked in today as well, however it is with a major shipping company that we’ve been trying to create a deal with for the past five years” she frowned a little at the last part.

“I said good new (Y/N), not mediocre news” he sighed.

“It’s their new CEO, so I guess a new chance to make good impressions” she tried again.

“That’s why I’m putting you on the front line”

“I’ll do my best Sir” putting the whiteboard marker down and turning back to him.

“Have you found anything of use in Yagi’s background?” he asked as he started going through the files she had left on his desk.

“Nothing of particular use. The problem is he seems completely different to his father, since he’s taken leadership, the company has become heavily involved in charity work. Regardless of whether it was his intention or not, the shipping company has gained a huge amount of positive press. I found nothing on Yagi himself, the only thing you can really play into in this deal is the ‘make the world a better place’ because even after a deep dive on his history, I couldn’t find anything to suggest he wants anything else” she explained with a shrug.

“How do our eco stats look?” he questioned.

“Favourable, we’ve cut emissions by seventy-five percent with the new machine’s we’re using, and with the new sonar tech that’s been implemented we’ve reduced habitat loss due to our companies’ procedures by nearly ninety percent. The rest of the report is on page five” she was confident as he went through the papers and pulled out the report.

“Increase public profile” the red head raised an eyebrow at the short list of suggestions she had made.

“It can’t hurt Sir, becoming more involved with the local community could see a potential increase of upwards of twenty percent in sales”.

“At what cost?” he put the paper aside, knowing she would be able to give him a clearer answer than the document.

“Time, funding, man power” she was curt, the CEO didn’t like wishy washy explanations.

“The board won’t like that” it was a statement.

“Can’t make an omelette and all that” she shrugged and he eyed her. She had never been wrong when it came to giving suggestions or advice on what was best for the company. She would voice her opinion on occasion, when she knew she was completely in the right. It was one of the many reasons Enji kept her as his secretary and refused to promote her to a section manager, not to mention the ridiculous bonuses that he forked out to her at the end of each year for her work. She were too goddamn valuable, and unlike many of his employees, she wasn’t afraid of him. The alpha was used to people grovelling at his feet, begging and pleading for whatever it was that they wanted at the time, usually sex or money, even employment. Enji Todoroki was one of the strongest alpha’s out there, hell, he was so intoxicating some alphas had even begged him to use them. But she wasn’t like them, it was almost as if she couldn’t smell pheromones, he was almost convinced that she in fact couldn’t, going by the amount that he had released around her in the beginning to test her.

When he’d first met her, he was shocked by her professionalism, she didn’t seem to care that he was an alpha and she wasn’t deterred when he borderline threatened her during the job interview. Hell, he didn’t even know what her secondary gender was, her CV states that she’s a beta, but the way she acted sometimes, she could convince anyone she was born an alpha. She wouldn’t take shit from anyone, and she certainly wouldn’t let him dish it out to her either, or if he did, she’d give it straight back and usually be right, and always got away with it. It’s why he respected her so much and hadn’t tried to come onto her once, also because he was more attracted to submissives, and she were far from it. She took suppressants, that much he was sure off, she never smelled like anything, and she didn’t give off any scent at all, ever.

“When’s the meeting?” he asked.

“In thirty minutes” she said as she turned to leave.

“You better get to it then” he mused.

“You don’t have to tell me twice” she gave a small smile and then exited the room. She made her way down to the lobby of the building to greet Mr Yagi on his arrival, just in case he was early. And wouldn’t you know it, this ball of sunshine was always early. He walked through the front doors to the building not two minutes after she had walked out of the elevator. She lifted her shoulders, stood up straight and approached the man with confidence.

“Mr Yagi, I’m (Y/N), Mr Todoroki’s secretary, it’s an honour to meet you” she put on a bright smile upon reaching him and what must have been his secretary. It wasn’t until she reached them that she realised how god damn tall the man was in person. Sure, Enji was tall, but for some reason, this man’s height stuck out to her. And they were both businessmen, so how the fuck did they both luck out in the looks, smarts, height and muscles departments?! It just wasn’t fair. Forget about triple threat, these men were quadruple threats. They covered all fronts.

Then to her surprise, he actually offered her a hand to shake with a genuine smile.

“Thank you for greeting us, this is my secretary Izuku, we’re so glad Enji was kind enough to host this meeting” his voice was deep, but kind and polite as she shook his hand, referring to the greenette beside him. She glanced at the young man before returning her attention back to the alpha in front of her.

She had never met a business partner this kind-hearted before, the business world didn’t usually allow his kind to thrive, but here he was, the CEO of the world leading shipping company. Without even realising it her cheeks flushed a light shade of red and she felt her heart rate increase, and of course, her scent glands started aching as they tried to release pheromones. Luckily, her suppressants were working for now, but it was then that she caught his scent, everything went blurry for a second and she lost focus.

“Are you alright Ms (Y/N)?” he asked, gently stabilizing her by her shoulders. She cursed herself, why did her body have to react to an alpha now of all times?

“I’m so sorry, Mr Yagi, and (Y/N) is just fine” she smiled up at him, puffing out her chest a bit and stabilising her footing.

“Please, call me Toshinori” he corrected her and she was slightly stunned for a moment. Every single business partner she’d ever introduced had always treated her like trash on the side walk, scarcely giving her the time of day. She’d be lucky if she even got a grunt of acknowledgment from them.

“If you’d kindly follow me” she said and turned to lead the way. Taking the chance to scoff at herself and attempt to pull herself together, an attempt that miserably failed when Mr Yagi insisted on maintaining small talk then entire elevator ride. He was just being a human being, asking how her day was going, how long she’s been working at the company, if she enjoyed working here. She could feel her temperature rising with each question he asked, and pain started erupting in her abdomen.

“Please follow me” she said politely, stepping out of the elevator cursing herself, she was going into her heat early, and she was pretty damn sure it was because of the presence of this alpha. She guided the CEO and his secretary to an empty meeting room.

“Please wait in here for just a moment, Mr Todoroki will join you shortly” she said before closing the door. Her head was starting to spin and the pain was growing from annoying to uncomfortable ridiculously fast. She maintained her composure as she walked into her small office, quickly taking some pain killers with half a litre of water. She ruffled through her draws as she looked for her EpiPen, her heart skipping a beat when she couldn’t find it. She knew she had one here for emergencies. The omega let out a sigh of relief when her hand glided over it. Quickly removing the cap and injecting herself with more suppressors that would hopefully stop the effects of her early oncoming heat for at least the next few hours. She took three deep breaths before exiting her office and entering Enji’s.

As soon as the door opened, a wave of pheromones hit the CEO. His brow furrowed in anger. His employees knew better than to come to work during rutting or heat cycles, it decreased everyone’s productivity.

“Get the fuck out of…” his eyes had been fixed on the computer when he glanced at the intruder. “…(Y/N)?” he looked taken aback. There was no way she was an omega. She always held herself like an alpha, how the hell was this strong, independent woman a fucking omega? However, he couldn’t deny that her scent was causing blood to flow straight to his cock.

“But you’re not supposed to be off til next week” he went to check his calendar.

“I know, it’s come on early” she let out a stuttered sigh as the drugs finally started to set in.

“I’ve taken some emergency suppressors, my hormones should level out in the next minute or so. I um, Toshi… I mean, Mr Yagi and his secretary are in the meeting room” she shook her head at herself. It was then that everything clicked for Enji and a smile crossed his face as he rose from his seat.

“He’s sent you into an early heat, hasn’t he?” the alpha’s voice was low, but there was a hint of playfulness behind it. She ground her teeth, refusing to answer the question, instead choosing to look away. He approached her, a smirk still playing on his lips, instead of walking through the door, he shut it, as he caged her between his arms.

“You know better than to not respond when I ask you a question, omega” he let the work hang in the air, testing her boundaries. Her brow furrowed and she glared up at him.

“You don’t get to call me that” she growled at him, then noticing that he was purposely releasing pheromones to try and rile her up. If she hadn’t just shot herself up with enough suppressants for a week, she would probably have slick running down to her ankles by now. Her boss was unfairly attractive.

“Answer the question (Y/N)” he leaned close to whisper into her ear.

“So, what if he has?” she burst out, ducking out from under his arms and walking across the room, folding her arms, “All he did was smile at me and I lose control, what the fuck is wrong with me?” she sighed angrily rubbing her temples.

“When was the last time you properly went through a heat?” Enji asked her, she looked back at him to see a genuinely concerned face. When she had taken her mandatory time off for her mating cycle she never stopped responding to emails, most people wouldn’t touch their computers during the height of a mating cycle, it all became too much, but she was always online, which told him that she probably hadn’t let her body go through a normal cycle in a while.

“I don’t know, during high school, like eight or nine years ago” she shrugged and the CEO just blinked at her in shock.

“I had more important things on my mind” she shied away from his judging look.

“That’s still a long time” he pushed.

“It’s not like I had an alpha to help me through one!” she suddenly shouted at him, she stared him down for a moment before realising what she’d just said and who she had just said it to.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, that’s not your fault, nor something you should worry about, fuck I hate this” she muttered.

“(Y/N), be honest with me, have you ever been through a proper heat?” he asked, when she turned to him this time, there was nothing but concern in his face.

“No” she didn’t make eye contact with him, but she had no reason to lie to him. Enji hated how submissive she was being, this wasn’t her at all, while a dark part of him did want her begging for his cock, he hated seeing her looking so vulnerable, he wanted to protect her, to make her feel safe.

“Look, I’m going to be really selfish now, but if you think you can handle staying for the meeting then I could really use your help. If not, I’m also more than happy for you to go home. But you’re going home before lunch today either way and I strongly advise you don’t take any more suppressants” he paused for a moment, as if trying to word something correctly, “What I’m about to say, I’m saying as a friend, not your boss, if you need help getting through it, i can help you. But who knows, maybe you might actually be able to get his number and he can help you” the alpha growled slightly at that last part, admitting and acknowledging that he wasn’t the one to set off your heat. Although to be fair, he hadn’t purposefully released any pheromones around you since you had your job interview with him. The girl let out a sigh and composed herself, straightening out her shoulders.

“I’m staying for the meeting” he knew she would, “but I am not going through a full heat” she said firmly, walking past him.

“(Y/N)!” he was about to say more, but she had already walked out the door, heading towards the meeting room. She opened the door and put a smile on.

“So sorry to keep you waiting” she apologised.

“That’s quite alright” Toshinori smiled back at her, however he noticed that she was no longer producing the lovely pheromones that he knew he had set off. Was the girl taking suppressors? He was certain he had set off an early heat, that fact that she was supressing it frustrated him. He loved seeing a flustered omega, especially one who was normally kept together as this one appeared to be. She was going to pose a challenge, and Toshinori was going to have fun pulling her apart and turning her into his little slut. The thought had him half hard in his pants. This omega was going to belong to him, one way or another.

Enji followed her into the room. The two CEO’s shook hands and introduced themselves to each other before commencing the meeting. (Y/N) was a sharp as ever, handing Enji the correct documents when they came up in conversation and was able to provide any information when called upon. Izuku wasn’t as sharp as she was, but still maintained a professional standard and look about him, the boy certainly didn’t let the woman’s sheer dominance fluster him. The meeting went as well as it could have, they both signed a contract of partnership, so it went better than both parties were expecting. Seeing her in action just made Toshinori want her more. She was professional, sharp and confident, and he wanted to be the one to own her, to see her trembling underneath him, begging for his cock. Somehow, all four of them managed to remain professional throughout the entire meeting, there were no sly words with hidden meaning, and (Y/N) was thankful for that.

Enji Todoroki was never one to escort his guests out himself, it just wasn’t a thing that he did. So, he left the meeting as he usually would with a ‘pleasure doing business with you’, but he purposefully changed the wording on the following sentence ‘my secretary will get you anything you need before you go’. She burned holes into his back as he exited the room. She was going to kill him. The next morning’s headlines would read, ‘Secretary jailed for attempted murder of her boss’. She sighed, shaking her head slightly.

“Midoriya, go wait outside, I’ll be down shortly, I just need to go over a few things with (Y/N) before we leave” the tall blonde uttered to his secretary.

“Of course Sir” the boy said before he exited the room. Toshinori’s eyes didn’t leave (Y/N)’s, who still had her business face on. He couldn’t read her. This was going to make things more difficult. After seeing her in action, he wanted her even more, and without even realising it, his pheromones radiated off him. But she was acting as if she couldn’t sense them, which pissed him off.

“What can I help you with, Sir?” she asked, her tonne polite, but holding no emotion behind it. Unlike their first interaction where she put on a sweet, warm smile for him, she was bitterly cold now, purposely trying to shut him out.

“I don’t like corporate titles, I told you to call me by my first name” he sighed, rising form where he was sitting, she was going to be more of a challenge then he originally thought. That was fine, he was actually excited.

“Is there anything I can get you, Toshinori” she said softly, not removing herself from her seat as the man walked around the table removing something from his pocket. He handed the small piece of paper to her.

“You seem like a very professional woman, so I hope you don’t take offense to this, but here’s my number, I’d love to catch up for a coffee sometime” he said with a smile and she took the paper from him carefully, the man was letting off an absurd amount of pheromones which were causing her to literally burn off the suppressants she’d taken no more than two hours ago.

“I…uh…” she tried to respond, but the alpha gripped onto the side of her chair, leaning over her to whisper in her ear.

“Let me know if you need any help with your heat, something tells me you’ve never had an alpha look after you properly before” he growled lowly in his chest before pulling away and walking out of the room with a smirk on his face.

Once she finally recovered, she heaved herself out of the chair and found that her panties were completed soaked through, luckily it hadn’t yet soaked through to her actual pants yet. She made a quick dash to her office before closing the door behind her. She turned the internal heater on and grabbed the emergency blanket from the bottom draw, wrapping it around herself and hiding in a bundle under the desk with her laptop as she continued to work, hoping it would distract her from the slick pool that was growing around her cunt and the immense pain growing in her lower abdomen. At about three in the afternoon an email came into the inbox that needed the CEO’s immediate attention. She was too worn out by that stage to register that he had told her to go home and she probably shouldn’t be working at all. She flicked the email to him without a second thought.

Upon receiving said email, Enji’s brow furrowed, she should have been home by now. He quickly opened the door to his office just to check she had in fact gone home, letting out a low growl when he noticed her light was still on. He stormed across the corridor and opened the door, a wave of sickly sweet pheromones hitting him all at once. He was confused when he didn’t see her sitting at the desk, she had to be in the room, there was no way the place smelled this sweet without her being in there. He closed the door behind him and walked around the desk to find her nesting. His first thought was to yell at her for not listening to him and also for using the goddamn office to nest. But then he saw she was shaking as she tried to type out an email, it took a moment for her to noticed him crouching there looking at her incredulously.

“I told you to go home” he rumbled deeply, and she winced.

“I… I can’t walk” she admitted, refusing to make eye contact with him. Something burned inside him, obviously that alpha had said something to her to set her off again, and then just goddamn left her. It infuriated him, sure he’d done the same thing to plenty of omega’s before, but this was his…, no not his, this was (Y/N).

“I want you to send a message out to all staff working today and inform them that they can knock off” he said calmly. She was confused by the instruction, but took a minute to type out the message and sent it on his behalf.

“Now close the laptop and give it to me” he said gently, and she cautiously complied, handing him the laptop before he placed it on the desk over her.

“Come here” he motioned towards himself, and she went to move, but her eyes widened in panic and she returned to the way she was sitting, confusing the alpha who was doing everything in his power not to just grab her and knot her right there.

“If I move, it’s gonna run” she whispered, his face scrunched up in confusion for a second.

“What’s gonna…” he stopped short, she was worried about her slick. She really had never gone through her heat’s properly before, she was embarrassed by something that was normal, something that made him almost lose control and show her just how normal it was.

“That’s okay, it’s normal” he said, still offering his hand to her, she looked at him then, searching his eyes that were looking at her with kindness. There was no malicious intent behind them. She slowly reached for his hand and crawled out of her makeshift nest, pausing for a moment when slick gushed down her thigh, before continuing to crawl out from under the desk. Enji noticed she was clutching her stomach the entire time. She lifted her face up to look at him, she had tears in her eyes.

“Enji, can you please…” she paused trying to think things through, “can you please fuck me?” a tear rolled down her cheek when she said that and the alpha wasn’t’ sure if she was crying from the pain or from giving in. He unintentionally started releasing pheromones, having an omega so close to him, and especially considering that omega was clearly under a lot of stress, his instincts were taking over.

The omega couldn’t help herself when she caught his scent, she latched onto him, rubbing her face into his chest, taking in as much of it as possible. Seeing how well she responded to his pheromones, Enji started released them in waves and the little omega in his arms sighed and then started doing something he thought she’d ever do. She had split her legs over one of his muscled thighs and was rubbing herself on it. If he hadn’t been stiff before, he was definitely rock hard now. The omega was whimpering with each thrust of her hips, and soon enough, Enji could feel his pants becoming covered in her slick. He would never allow an omega to dry hump him like this, but she looked so goddamn perfect as she chased her orgasm on his thigh. He ran a hand through her hair, gently tilting her head back, forcing her to look up at him.

“Are you enjoying yourself? Little omega?” he asked lowly, she let out a moan then made eye contact with his stone-cold eyes, that screamed indifference.

“Please…” she whimpered, by the way she was shaking, he could tell she was close.

“Please what?” his eyes narrowed as he looked down at her.

“Can I p-please c-cum, alpha?” she begged, and something stirred in him, maybe she was a submissive after all. And as much as that excited him, he wasn’t going to be cruel to her right now, he had promised to help her after all. So many dirty things flooded into his head to respond with, but he wasn’t sure if they’d scare her off or turn her on. He decided teasing her was the best way to go.

“You’re so close already, and I haven’t even touched you” he mused, easily picking her up off his thigh and placing her in his lap, she let out a moan as she rubbed herself against his clothed erection.

“Good omegas look at their alphas when they cum” he whispered in her ear and then leant back into the chair, to watch her as she came undone. The girl did her best to look at the alpha as she rode out her orgasm, but her head titled back in euphoria at the height of her orgasm causing Enji to bite his lip to try and control himself. She was going to send him into an early rutt if he wasn’t careful. The girl was shaking as she came down from her high, however, her eyes widened slightly when she comprehended what she’d just done and she quickly looked away, causing Enji to smirk at her expression.

“Come now, you enjoyed yourself, didn’t you, (Y/N)?” he asked, gently grasping her chin and guiding her head to look at him.

“Yes, but…” she trailed off.

“But what?” he asked curious, although, the alpha was well aware of the answer, he just wanted to hear her say it.

“You’re my boss and I just, oh my god” she hid her face in his chest and he chuckled deeply.

“If it’s any consolation, I’m thoroughly enjoying this” he looked down at her to see her flash dagger eyes at him before she doubled over, whimpering in pain as she clutched her stomach.

“I can make the pain go away, you just have to ask” he whispered into her ear. She lost all normal sense as her instincts took over.

“Please fuck me, please alpha, I need your cock, use my cunt, please” she begged and a thrill rushed through Enji’s body.

“You’re so pretty when you beg” he trailed his hands down her body, hooking them under her thighs and lifting her up before easily manoeuvring her onto the desk. He rolled her pants and panties down to her ankles in one go, and was pleased to see that she had removed her shirt when he looked back up and was in the process of removing her bra, before laying down and displaying herself to him.

“Sir, please, I need your thick cock inside me, please fuck me” she begged again, looking him the eyes, on the verge on tears. The alpha released his hard cock from his restrictive clothing, stroking himself as he watched the omega writhe below him. It was a dream come true, seeing her beg for him like that, and it was taking his last piece of self-control not to dive in and fuck her immediately. He leant down over her, slapping his cock against her cunt, teasingly as he gently moved his hand to stroke her face, she nuzzled into his palm.

“Alpha, please, use me for your pleasure, I’m yours, please alpha, please” she begged again, attempting to thrust her hips upwards to gain any form of friction. Enji’s last fibre of constraint snapped, and with no warning, he thrust into the hilt and his omega let out a scream a pleasure. Even though this was her first time, there was enough slick pouring out of her cunt that his massive tool didn’t hurt her, it stretched her perfectly and hit all the right places as Enji started to thrust in and out of her cunt.

“Fuck… your cock… mhmm, feels so good, alpha, do whatever you want with me” she panted as he rammed into her. It was invitation Enji realised. He smirked as he gripped her throat with his free hand, and she let out a whine. Gently running her hand up and down his arm, encouraging to grip her neck tighter.

“Do you like that, little slut?” he whispered into her ear, and she nodded, her hips thrusting up to meet his.

“Good pets reply when they’re asked a question” he sneered, gripping her neck like a vice.

“Yes daddy… I love it when you choke me” she managed to wheeze out using the little oxygen that she had left in her lungs. Her words were nearly enough to send him over the edge.

“You’re such a filthy omega, I bet you’d do anything to please your alpha” he growled as he pulled his hand away from her throat, hooking one arm behind her back, the other under her thighs so he could lift her up. Her legs wound around his waist, arms hooking around his neck as he fucked up into her cunt, using gravity to enhance the angle.

“Mhm… anything to please you, anything, use me as your cock sleeve, I’ll be your cum dump, I want to satisfy you, please Enji” she moaned into his chest. This omega was going to be the death of him. She’d used his name, which meant that there was truth behind what she was saying. He could feel his knot starting to swell up.

“Fuck, you dirty whore, if you don’t stop talking like that, I’m going to knot you” he growled.

“But I mean it Sir, i need you to use me, I could keep your cock warm during long phone calls, mhmmm, you could come in here and fuck me whenever you wanted to, I need to pleasure you, please alpha” she whined.

“I bet you’d even let me fuck you in the middle of a meeting, wouldn’t you? Fuck. You’re mine. You’re my pretty little cum dump. You are mine, all mine” he growled possessively, thrusting deeply into her. It was enough to send her over the edge into an earth shattering orgasm, screaming his name as she clenched around his cock. He was patient and waited until she came down from her high.

“Alpha” she whispered in a sighed, he grunted, informed he was listening.

“Do you want to cum in my mouth or my ass?” she asked with a sly grin and he smirked, this omega had stamina, and the fact that she could keep up with him just made her that more attractive.

“All fours, face down, ass up” he ordered as he placed her on the ground. Oh and did she move quick for him.

“You’re such a perfect little omega for me” he cooed to her as he knelt down behind her, hotdogging her ass with his slick covered dick, using the slick build up to cover his knot.

“Please, use me alpha, I’m all yours” she begged.

“You’ve cum twice now, and you still want my cock. You greedy bitch” he growled, thrusting inside her back entrance, forcing his knot inside, scraping against her walls. The omega beneath him let out a muffled scream of pain.

“If it’s too much for you, I can take it out” he wasn’t being kind, he was teasing her as he fucked her ass. (Y/N) pulled her teeth from her arm and panted before responding.

“I’ll take your cock whenever you give it to me alpha. My perfect, handsome, strong alpha. I’ll give you anything, I’d do anything to please you. I belong to you” she moaned, it was enough to send him over the edge.

“Fuck (Y/N)” he muttered, with one deep thrust, he poured his seed into her ass with a guttural moan.

“Thank you alpha” the omega whispered as he slowly rotated her on his cock so she was facing him before picking her up and sitting down in the chair as they waited for his knot to shrink.

“You were so good for me” he cooed, continuing to whisper soft nothings into her ear as she leant against his chest.

[tsarisfanfiction]

This does not have a title, mostly because it’s 6am and hell if I can be bothered to wrestle with my brain to get one together.  The doc is under the name ‘Holey Scott’, oops.

Once again, I lay the blame firmly at @gumnut-logic‘s feet.  Firstly for This Picture, which got my muses curious earlier, and then for giving me the prompt ‘Scott has a hole in his side’ when I was (once again) hyped up on sugar at stupid o’clock in the morning.  I need to stop doing that.

There is room for more.  There is room for this to be a proper fic.  Whether that will happen, I have no idea.  For now, we have a Scott with a hole where there shouldn’t be.

“Scott!”

Ow.  Something hurt.  Something hurt a lot, and Scott wasn’t sure what it was, but he did know that it wasn’t a good thing.  Hands pawed at him, large, warm, familiar hands, before catching something that really, really hurt.

Someone screamed.

He clamped his mouth shut when he realised it was him.

“Scott!”

He knew that voice.

“Gordon, get Thunderbird Two over here now!”

Gordon?  Shouldn’t it be Vir-

Oh.

It was Virgil’s voice.

Virgil was here.

Virgil sounded scared.

That wasn’t right. Virgil shouldn’t be scared.

His eyes were closed. He peeled them open with a firm demand to his reluctant eyelids, who really did not want to obey.  Tough.  Virgil was scared.  Scott was needed.

He saw blue first.  A grubby blue, covered with grey blobs.

Something solid ran along his shoulders, not quite supporting the back of his neck.  It was warm.

Scott ignored it in favour of telling the muscles in his neck to work, bringing his line of sight down from the cloud-marred sky to a shock of black hair.

Virgil.

His brother was still talking, words sharp with fear.  Scott moved his head a little more and met brown eyes.  They widened, and his voice died.

“Vir-”  Talking hurt.  Breathing hurt.  Saying his brother’s name took more effort than it ever had any right to.  “-gil.”

“Don’t move.”  It was as close to a snap as Virgil ever got, but he still didn’t sound angry.  Just scared. Terrified, and Scott needed to move, just to find whatever was scaring his little brother and make it stop.

No-one scared his little brothers.

“Virg-” he tried again, but once again his body interrupted him.  A cough tore through his chest, hacking its way up his throat and ending in a gargle of liquid in his mouth.

That wasn’t right.

Virgil’s face was white, and he was talking again.  “-lung, John. Gordon, how far out are you?”

Scott couldn’t make out the words garbled out of the communicator.  The liquid sloshed in the back of his mouth, trying to run back down his throat, and his windpipe constricted in protest.  He choked out another cough, and that time felt the liquid erupt past his lips, running down his chin.

It tasted metallic. That was not a good thing.

“No!” Virgil yelled. He did something – moved a hand, maybe – and Scott’s vision went white, then black with little stars dancing across his vision.

He didn’t want to see the stars.  He wanted to see Virgil and find out what was making his brother so scared so he could fix it.

He was Virgil’s big brother. He had to fix it.  There was never another option.

“Scott, stay with me.” It was a plea, wrenching at Scott’s heart.  Why would Virgil think he’d go anywhere?  Why would he ever leave him?

“No-” he tried to reassure him, remind him that he would never abandon his brother, but there wasn’t enough breath in his body and everything hurt so much he couldn’t even get his voice to work properly.  “Not-” He coughed again, more warm, metallic liquid pooling in his mouth and dribbling down his chin.  “L-Lea… ving.”

It took everything he had to push the last syllable out.  Wet, gargled, and nothing like the reassurance Scott had been trying for.

“No,” Virgil said.  It was supposed to be firm, Scott knew, but there was the barest tremble in it.  Fear.  Virgil was still scared.  “No, you’re not.”

That didn’t sound like a confirmation.  That sounded like he was trying to convince himself.  Did he doubt Scott?  Did he honestly thing anything could tear him from his little brother?

His chest tightened and another cough tore through him.  More liquid in his mouth, down his chin.  That hurt.  That really, really, hurt.

That was past pain and well into agony and the dull click of comprehension switched on in his brain.

He was hurt. Virgil was scared because he was hurt.

He… was hurt badly.

Scott didn’t know what had happened, couldn’t remember what came before ow and Virgil yelling his name, but something had happened and it really, really wasn’t good.

Oh.

No, he couldn’t have that. Couldn’t have Virgil worrying over him when they were there to save people and he never, ever wanted to hear his brother so scared because of him.

His knuckles were brushing the ground, arm limp.

Scott told the limb to move.

It twitched.

Not good enough. Scott sent all the disdain he had for its lacklustre performance at it and tried again.  Another twitch, and he sent his frustration at it instead.  Didn’t the stupid thing understand that it had to pacify Virgil?  His voice wasn’t working, strangled by a lack of air and drowned by liquid going places it shouldn’t be, so he had to move.

“Scott, keep your eyes open!”  Virgil was begging and Scott hadn’t noticed when his vision had gone dark, eyelids taking advantage of his shifting focus to slide shut.

With a grunt that should have been frustration but ended up another admittance of pain, Scott forced them open again.

His arm decided that was permission to relax again.

Damn it.  Why wasn’t his body listening to him?  Virgil was scared and he had to stop that.  He was scaring Virgil and that was absolutely not allowed, so why wasn’t his body co-operating?

He yanked at his arm again, but it refused to move.  His fingertips twitched.

“No, Scott.”  Virgil was trying to boss him around but the command in his tone didn’t hide the fear.  “Don’t try to move.  I just need you to stay awake.  You hear me, Scott?  Stay. Awake.”

Scott wasn’t tired. He wasn’t planning on sleeping.

His eyelids really needed to get the memo on that one, because Virgil’s hair was blending in with the rest of the darkness again, and he abandoned his useless, insubordinate arm to yell at them again.  No sound emerged from his throat, the shout entirely mental, but his body took it as a signal to try and cough up his lung.

Coughing hurt, especially when each one was accompanied by a full-chest jerk and the agony that caused painted his vision white.  Liquid gargled in his mouth and drops escaped through his lips, but this time it just wasn’t stopping.

“Scott!”

He couldn’t respond to the terror in his brother’s voice, couldn’t do anything, even keep his eyes open, as his body was wracked with cough after cough.

“Gordon, where are you!”

Scott didn’t hear if their brother replied.  He didn’t hear anything as agony subsided into pain and then washed away into a dark, blissful, oblivion.

tbc..?

[dameronology]

the one where he doesn’t listen (poe x reader)

summary: poe dameron + ‘i think we should take a break’ ‘you’re right - we’ll get some food, cool down and then we can talk about this’ no, i mean a break from us’

warnings: language 

i PROMISE i am working on some fluff, i know literally everything i’m writing at the moment is angst but like 80% of my requests are for angst...and i just hope u guys are okay lol love u 

enjoy,

- jazz

‘Would you just listen to me?!’

You ignored the calls of your boyfriend, violently kicking open the door to the air hangar. You stormed inside, a scowl on your face - you didn’t notice Jessika and Snap jump back at the sight of you. You breezed through the base, boots thumping into the concrete floors, steps like thunder. You couldn’t even look at Poe - you might throttle him otherwise.

You usually embraced his rebelliousness. His courage was one of the many things you loved about him - but this was your mission. You were the commander. It was a different story when he was ignoring your orders. The whole operation had been blown up because he couldn’t listen for once in his life. 

‘Baby, please-’

You stopped in your tracks, and Poe crashed into your back with a grunt. You turned to face him, and for a split second, he held out his arms. The action, however, was quickly retracted when you jabbed your finger into his chest. He silently thanked whichever god was up there that looks couldn’t kill - if they could, yours would have been a weapon of mass destruction.

‘The one time I need you to listen!’ You snapped. ‘The one fucking time, Poe!’

‘I said I was sorry-’

‘- sorry doesn’t get me my mission back!’ You continued, cutting him off. ‘Sorry doesn’t change the fact you ignored me. Sorry doesn’t change the fact you went against my direct orders!’

There was a little bit more to it than his disobedience. You weren’t a superior behind a comms link, barking orders at him. You were his partner - the one person you’d hoped would be the exception to his insubordination. That was what was causing most of the fuel behind your rage. 

Poe bit his lip, nodding. ‘I’ll make it up to you.’

‘How?’ You snorted. ‘You find a time machine and go back and unfuck this up for me?’

He grimaced, hopelessly scrambling to find something - anything - to say that could possibly calm you down. ‘I’ll explain it to Leia. I’ll take the fall.’

‘That was gonna be the case anyways.’ You murmured. 

Poe reached out to grab your hand, but you swatted it away. 

‘Don’t.’ You shook your head. ‘Look, I’m gonna go to my quarters and get the mission report done. I need time to think - and maybe a wall to punch.’

‘Wait,’ His mouth dropped open, and that was when the magnitude of his actions finally seemed to click. ‘This isn’t gonna change anything is it, for us?’

You knew the us that Poe was referring to - and he didn’t mean your professional relationship. He meant the us, us. The us that had sneaky kisses and escapades in broom closets. The us that laid together at night in each other’s arms, discussing everything from from work that day to theories about the deepest, darkest galaxies. The us that might have been the only stable thing in Poe Dameron’s unpredictable life. 

‘I don’t know.’ You sighed. ‘I just need time to think.’

You paused, the volume of the situation beginning to cause the descend down a slippery slope of misery and rage. 

How could he do this to you? You knew that the flyboy was capable of some exceptionally dumb things, but this one took the crown. This was the grand finale that completed The Chronicles of Poe Dameron’s Dumbassery (patent pending). 

Poe grabbed your arm, glancing around at your co-workers. Most of them had left the room when you entered - news of the mission had quickly spread about the base and people did not want to get in your way. Even Threepio had made a point to not go near you. Still, the pilot dragged you from the walkway and towards an empty space behind his X-Wing. The ship was splattered with dents and chips from the TIE fighters that had chased you out of the planet you’d been on. Perhaps that would be the epilogue in the aforementioned book.

‘Baby,’ his voice almost broke, desperate as he grabbed your face in his hands. ‘I would give anything to go back and undo what I did, literally anything, but I can’t-’

‘- I know you can’t.’ You moved his hands, momentarily intertwining your fingers. ‘It can just be so exhausting, Poe. I love you so much but you don’t think about the people around you.

You moved away from him, propping yourself up against the ladder of his jet. Your feet swayed back and forth for a moment as you thought. You were hurting- teetering on the edge of pure insanity, ping-ponging between your intense love for the man in front of you and your frustration at the situation.

‘I think we should take a break.’

You knew that you didn’t mean it. The second the words left your mouth, you wanted to swat them out the air, throw them to the ground like dead flies. Some childish part of you just wanted to scare him, to make him feel what you’d felt. 

‘You’re right,’ Poe nodded. ‘We’ll get some food, cool down and then we can talk about this-’

‘- no, Poe.’ Your voice cracked slightly. ‘I mean a break from us.’

‘You’re breaking up with me?’

‘No, not a break up. Just a break.’ You stood up.

You saw the hurt on his face; the anguish, the torment. More than ever, you wanted to wrap your arms around him; to hug him, to run your hands through his stupidly soft hair and hold him and promise to hurt whoever it was that was causing his distress. But it was you. Was love always this much agony?

‘I gotta clear my head.’ You whispered, slipping by him as you walked away.

--

A few hours later, you were even more angry that you had been when this whole thing started. You were no longer just enraged at Poe - you were now pissed off with yourself. Why had you said that? Why had you let the heat of the situation push you over the edge and say such stupid things?

Three hours without Poe by your side felt like a lifetime - a long, sad, empty lifetime. You’d been sat on your bed, handing resting on the empty space where he should have been. You were still furious at him but that didn’t mean you wanted to be without him.

You let out a sigh, watching as BB-8 circled the floor in front of you. He’d followed you back from the hangar, beeping something about relaxation methods. But aside from that, he’d been pretty silent. You felt like he was a kid who’d seen his parents have a fight. 

‘Where is Poe?’ You asked quietly, moving down to kneel in front of the droid, fixing his antenna. ‘In Finn’s room? I know right, where else?’

Grabbing the nearest jacket from your desk, you tugged it over your shoulders. As the heavy leather fell over your torso, you realised it with Poe’s - he’d lent it to you on your third date. It occasionally lead to a few awkward situations where you, Finn and Poe all turned up wearing matching jackets, given that the pilot had also gifted one to his friend. 

You made your way to Finn’s quarters, BB-8 rolling behind you. He’d perked up a bit at the prospect of his parents you and Poe working it out. Nobody liked to see you guys fight. You knocked on the door twice - usually, you were close enough with Finn to walk in unannounced, but with the given circumstances, you didn’t want to just swan inside.

A few seconds later, the door opened, and he greeted you with a smile. ‘Y/N!’

‘Hey, Finn.’ You greeted him. BB-8 nudged past his leg, rolling inside without waiting for an invitation. 

‘Poe’s inside.’ He said, stepping aside. ‘I’ll give you guys some space, but please don’t do anything in my bed.’

You rolled your eyes. ‘Finn.’

‘Just saying!’ He ruffled your hair as you walked by.

Poe was sat on Finn’s bed, a holopad in one hand and a cup of caff in the other. He’d clearly heard the exchange at the door and was trying to play it cool - something at which he was failing miserably. 

‘Hey,’ you greeted him quietly. You gently took a seat on the bed next to him, pulling the holopad from his hands. ‘Wanna talk?’

‘Is there much to say?’ His voice was cold, and you almost did a double take.

‘Poe,’ you sighed. ‘I don’t want to break up, or go on a break, or whatever it was that I said.’

His brown eyes lit up slightly, and he finally turned to look at you. The last three hours had been equally painful for him - he thought he’d lost you. There was a lot of things that terrified him but there was nothing that scared him more than the idea of life without you by his side. He would have rather gone up against Kylo Ren with a pencil for a weapon than let go of you.

‘I got caught up in the heat of the moment,’ you continued. ‘You hurt me, and I think I was reaching for something that might make you feel the same.’

‘Well, you made me feeling something that was deep, dark and pretty terrible.’ Poe tried to joke, but he couldn’t hide the wavering in his voice. He reached to take your hands in his, and your heart broke when you realised they were shaking. ‘But that’s not a lot compared to what it feels like to lose a mission - especially because of me.’

‘I don’t care that we lost the mission. That happens all the time - it just hurts that you didn’t listen to me.’ You explained. ‘I guess I felt like you didn’t respect me.’

‘I do!’ Poe’s eyes widened. ‘I would...I would do anything for you. You know that, right? You tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it-’

‘- I just want you to listen to me.’ You cut him off. ‘That’s it.’

‘I can do that.’ A smile finally fell onto his lips. He pressed a kiss to your lips, and you felt yourself finally relax. You were going to be okay.

‘I’m still fucking furious at you, though.’ Your words didn’t quite match your actions; with one hand tangled in his hair and one resting on his face, you seemed to be more sweet than intimidating. ‘But I love you, and whatever this is, we’re gonna work through it.’

‘I love you too.’ He pulled you in for another kiss. ‘And I will never, ever do anything stupid again.’

‘I give it five minutes tops.’

[sometimesiwritebadly]

Injured (Spencer Reid x Reader)

Summary: Spencer is in the hospital, and you’re worried sick.

Warnings: Mention of explosives, some description of injuries but not too graphic. (Definitely not medically accurate but whatever.) Some language.

Notes: Angsty fluff. I know i said i would write about Peter Parker next but i had this idea and couldn’t write anything else until i finished it so. I tried to make the reader a sarcastic but i’m worried she just came off as a bitch so let me know if she seemed too rude or not lol

Word Count: 1.4k

Masterlist

“Have a good day at work, Spence. Try not to get shot.”

“I’ll do my best.”

That’s what you say to Spencer everyday before he leaves your shared apartment. You always said it in a joking manner, even though you mean it. Throughout your relationship, he’d managed to follow your advice. Besides a couple scrapes and bruises, he was always as careful as he could be on the job; which you always appreciated. You’d heard some stories of what Spencer had gone through before the two of you met, and you were eternally grateful that you hadn’t had to experience anything like that. That is, until you got a call as you were leaving work today.

“Hello, this is Y/N.” You said through your phone, not recognizing the number that called you.

“Y/N Y/L/N? I’m calling you from D.C General Hospital, we have you listed as the emergency contact for Spencer Reid…” As the nurse continued to speak, your heart dropped. Tears immediately formed in your eyes as you practically ran out of your office building and to your car. The nurse said he couldn’t give you any information about Spencer’s injuries until you arrived at the hospital, and you might’ve had a few choice words to say back. You knew he was just doing his job, but the man wouldn’t even tell you whether or not Spencer was alive. “Asshole.” You thought as you started your car and hung up your phone.

You drove way over the speed limit, especially once the news station playing through your radio announced what you assumed to be the cause of Spencer’s injuries.

“...The coffee shop exploded at 4:29 pm today....the FBI has not confirmed or denied if this was the actions of the same criminal who attacked a local grocery store and pharmacy last week...4 confirmed casualties, and an unknown number of injuries at this time…”

You knew that Spencer had been working the serial bomber case with the BAU, and as you finally arrived at the hospital, you could only pray to every god you could think of that Spencer is going to be ok.

“Spencer Reid! I’m here for Spencer Reid!” You loudly spoke to the woman at the front desk of the Emergency Room as you ran up to her. 

“Y/N?” You turned your head to a group of people you had run past to get to the front desk; you only recognized one of them. JJ.

“Jayje, how is he? Where is he? Is he ok? Can I see him?” You rambled off every question that had been running through your head as JJ pulled you in for a hug. You noticed that she had a large band-aid on her forehead; she must have been injured too. 

“He’s gonna be ok Y/N/N, we’re just waiting for a doctor to come and update us. He and Emily were both close to the explosion. They’re in surgery now, but the doctor said they should be alright. Standard operations.” She reassured you, bringing you over to the rest of the team, who you had yet to meet. “Guys, this is Y/N. She’s Spencer’s girlfriend. This is Penelope, Derek, Aaron, and David.” She introduced you to each member of the team, who you had heard countless stories about.

“Nice to put faces to the names. I wish it was under better circumstances.” You said, reaching out to shake each of their hands. Except Penelope, who pulled you in for a hug.

“I’m glad we finally get to meet the beautiful girl Spencer is always talking about. You look much better in person than in your passport picture.” You pulled away from Penelope’s hug and gave her a very confused look at her words. “Oh, um, I did some digging when I found out Spencer had a girl. Don’t tell him though, I promised I wouldn’t.” For the first time since you got the phone call, a small laugh escaped your lips. You know for a fact Spencer had refused to even tell Penelope your first name to keep her from digging up your past, but clearly that hadn’t stopped her.

“The doctor said it could be a few hours. Please, wait with us. Perhaps getting to know each other will keep our minds off Reid and Prentiss.” Aaron said, leading you back over to where they had been sitting. And so the waiting game began.

~~~

It had been 3 hours. Emily’s surgery went by successfully, but there was still no word on Spencer. Emily had been a little further from the blast, which threw her onto the ground and caused a worrying amount of debris to land on her. Spencer had been thrown into the windshield of a car that had been parked nearby. Luckily, the car had stopped any debris from the explosion to hit him, but Spencer had gone right through the windshield. The only good result of the explosion is that they had caught the unsub as he attempted to run away from the scene.

To keep your minds off of waiting for news for Spencer, the group had moved to Emily’s recovery room. You told the group how you and Spencer had met, how long you’d been together, how Spencer had been planning to finally introduce you to the team after you got settled in your new apartment. It wasn’t until you left the room to get a cup of coffee that a doctor approached you.

“Y/N Y/L/N?” He asked, having recognized you from delivering the good news about Emily earlier.

“Yes? Is Spencer’s surgery over? Is he ok?”

“Yes ma’am, he’s in room 204. His surgery went perfectly, and he should be waking up soon. He’s going to need to stay here for a few days to recover, but he’ll be completely fine.” With a quick thank you to the doctor, you ran back to Emily’s room, 207, to tell the group.

“Spence is out of surgery, room 204!” You said quickly, and without waiting for a response, you left the room and went to find Spencer.

When you entered the room, tears returned to your eyes. Spencer was sleeping, and had cuts basically everywhere on his body, some of them fixed with stitches. His arm was also in a cast. You grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and pulled it towards Spencer’s bed, sitting next to him. Behind you, JJ, Penelope, and David walked in, while Derek and Aaron had stayed behind with Emily.

“Th-um. The doctor said he should wake up soon. He’ll have to stay here a few days.” Your voice was weak as tears threatened to spill from your eyes. Everyone else was quiet, not wanting to wake Spencer before he was ready. You waited for another hour for Spencer to wake up. During that time, Spencer’s co-workers drifted between Emily and Spencer’s rooms. Penelope offered to get you food and coffee, but your appetite had disappeared. You just sat by Spencer, waiting. You downloaded one of Spencer’s favorite books on your phone, War and Peace, and quietly read to him. 

“Y/N?” Spencer’s whisper brought your attention away from the book. 

“Hey Spence.” You whispered back. You leaned down to give Spencer a quick kiss on his forehead. “How’re you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine, you almost blew up. How are you actually feeling?” Spencer always had the habit of downplaying his feelings, because he didn’t want to feel like a burden. You weren’t going to let him act like this wasn’t a big deal.

“...Everything hurts. Did they catch the guy?” 

“They caught him. I’ll ask a nurse to bring you more pain meds.” You said, pressing a button on the side of his bed that should alert a nurse to come check on Spencer. “I told you to try to not get hurt this morning, Spence. You had one job.” You joked, trying to make him feel a little better.

“Actually, you told me to not get shot. So technically, I did my job.” 

“Shut up.” You mumbled, giving him a quick kiss. You were interrupted by Penelope coming into the room.

“Oh my god you’re awake! You’re ok! I can’t believe you kept Y/N from us, she’s amazing, but I can’t get mad at you right now because I’m so happy that you’re ok!”

~~~

Tags: @dr-reid-ismyspiritanimal @la-vie-en-amour1

[dindooku]

after a mission goes wrong, you find yourself somewhere you could never imagine.

how will you cope with your new situation?

how do you know who you can trust?

word count: 4,614

rating: E (swearing)

This was no routine operation.

You’d trained for stressful situations like this for the last ten years, enduring more pain, sacrifice and penance then the human body is able to cope with.

But you’re no normal human; you’re a soldier. You’re the Officer Commander of the 118th SAS Special Operations unit, which for this mission was specifically tasked to investigate and neutralise an unidentified object which had landed in enemy territory.

 The mission debrief had been one you’d never forget. You were given very little intel, purposefully. Being it was an unidentified object meant utmost secrecy, despite you being the OC who would be leading the mission to retrieve it. You knew better than to ask questions, and you could only place your full trust in your superiors. So, you were given the only information you needed to know:

* Co-ordinates

* Enemy confines

* General landscape

 This was usual information, nothing you’d not seen before. The debrief was tense, to say the least, but it wasn’t anything you couldn’t handle or hadn’t done before. You were surrounded by a circle of officials, some you recognised, some you didn’t. Your orders were clear.

 “You will leave the base at 18:00 hours to arrive with the 118th at enemy coordinates at approx 04:00 hours. Ensure no civvy is within the target range and that your officers supply daypacks and equipment for Recce. Your mission is to infiltrate enemy confines, secure the UO and then hold guard until we can get a securing unit in.”

 You had looked at your commanding officer with determination. This was an odd mission, yes, but that didn’t mean you were scared. If anything, the abnormality of an unidentified object being the objective of this mission was intriguing, and you were excited to do a recon mission which didn’t involve the usual sieges of palaces or governments with your soldiers, your brothers.

 When you’d first joined the army you always thought that you’d never be excited or ever looking forward to pain or bloodshed. You joined seeking help and routine, just to be anywhere from home. But after spending 10 gruelling years facing oppressors and sick, twisted maniacs with too much power for their own good, you now lapped at the opportunity to right their wrongs and help those caught in the crossfire. Sure, you’d done terrible, terrible things and witnessed tragedies that the human mind couldn’t even begin to fathom if it wanted to, but knowing that you were doing something to help, whether it be violent or not, was what drove you to keep going.

 It was already 16:00 and the sun was begging to set, leaving only 2 hours to prep your boys before heading out on your mission. You’d received the intel and thanked your commanding officer in haste, wanting to let your brothers in on the exciting new challenge that waited ahead. But, before you could leave, you were called back to attention.

 “Commander, one more piece of intel. This is most important, and we cannot emphasise this enough.”

 This piqued your interest, so you stood back to attention and nodded for them to continue.

 “The UO must not be disturbed. As you’ve seen from the Holo-Map, the data projections have shown incredible readings of energy. It’s not come back as radioactive, or anything on the electromagnetic spectrum either which could, or could not be harmful’—” the commanding officer emphasised those last words, as if he’s implying a hidden meaning, or hiding something that they don’t want you to know, “—therefore you’re under strict orders not to touch the UO. You must hold off and contain the drop zone until we can get the specialists from MI5 in. Under no circumstances does anyone touch the UO without specific authorisation. Do I make myself clear?” They finished with stern words, their gaze burning into you. All soldiers were used to strict commanders and the generic intimidating gaze of superior officers, but as a woman in the SAS field, you’ve built-up an indestructible backbone to threatening power plays. You had to, it was one of the first, and one of the hardest lessons in your training. You’re surrounded by men who thought that because of their physical strength this gave them an advantage, but you soon proved yourself over them with your quick thinking and relentlessness. You were brutal, but that's what was required to be successful in such environments. You seemed to have done something right because now you’re the Commanding Officer of the 118th, leading a 6 man battalion, all of which looked to you for orders.

 You nodded again, but you maintained the intense eye contact, not even breaking a sweat. “Yes, Sir. If that is all, I will debrief the men now and we will prepare to leave for 18:00, Sir.”

 The commanding officer nodded a dismissal before turning round to discuss further intel with the other officials in the room; so you took your leave at their dismissal.

 __________

 You couldn’t have been more wrong.

 This was no routine operation.

 Things were quiet, eerily quiet…too quiet.

 You’d made good time with the boys, with only a slight hiccup at point break with 2 guards, but 9’s and Sleeves (your two knife specialists) took care of them with ease. What wasn’t right however was how easy it was to infiltrate. You’d had practically no resistance, and while normal people would celebrate this, you knew better. Something just wasn’t quite right.

 You made the break at 04:00 under the blanket of night. The base was small, only consisting of a few small rooms in a single building. The terrain was a thick jungle, and the humidity was stifling, but you had done enough training and excursions to be practically immune to the heat. The target was set in a clearing of the forest, completely remote and isolated from outside interference. This could’ve explained the limited armourment, but also made you question why an odd-looking temple of sorts was sat smack dead in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. It was obvious under first impressions that the building was ancient, and resembled similarities to the Mayans and Egyptians architecture, but something about the carvings and inscriptions along the walls just wasn’t anything you could recognise. Not that you could read Mayan or Egyptian, but the symbols were unique and seemed extra-terrestrial…odd.

 But now wasn’t the time to play Indiana Jones, you had a mission to do. So, you ordered your men behind you and you breached the compound.

 As soon as you entered the odd-looking temple, the energy around you shifted instantly. It wasn’t just humid with rain anymore, this was a different humid. It was suffocating but not in the physical sense, instead, it was more like a static that clouded your mind and slowed your processing. You glanced back at your soldiers, “Did you feel that?” You said, hushing a whisper into the mic of your helmet.

 “Feel what, Sir?” Screw asked back, the reply static with interference in your earpiece. You tapped the earpiece at the side of your helmet in an effort to fix the static, but it did no good. Still moving forward, you replied.

 “The energy, it feels different in here, don’t you think?”

 “Don’t start with your hocus focus shit.” Sleeves retorted.

 “Yeah, boss now isn’t the time for your ghost stories,” 9s chimed in.

 “Aight, I get it, but it just feels odd… I don’t like it, stay tight,” you commanded, bringing your M14EBR to your shoulder. You really didn’t like the feeling in here, not one bit.

 You all advanced through the temple, making quick work to check and secure each room and corridor before you found yourself in the centre. The static from before was now overbearing, but you kept to yourself, not wanting to give the boys any chance for further teasing. You wouldn’t mind normally, but this place was really giving you bad vibes.

 As you all entered the centre room, the atmosphere changed again. This time is was cold, icy. The sudden chill brought you out in goosebumps, and a harsh shiver raced through your body, but you made effort to maintain your focus and continue with the mission at hand.

 The overbearing static acted almost like a guide, playing hot or cold with every step you took. And with every step towards the centre of the room, it got louder and louder. You peered round to look at your team, only to see them looking back at you, confused at your sudden tensity. Were they not feeling this presence, this energy? How couldn’t they? There’s clearly something going on…

 “Boss… Don’t. Move.” Frankie said sternly.

 You froze. Slowly peering back round to him you looked at the others, who were all still stood at arms at the back of the room where the corridor joined. You were tense beyond belief now, and you hadn’t noticed how fast your heart was beating, the sound of your blood was now deafening as it coursed through your ears and around your body. It was as if your senses were magnified, everything felt overwhelming and suffocating; the feeling of your gloves on your skin, the sound of dust particles drifting through the air, the smell of dirt that hadn’t been disturbed for hundreds of years. You were sweating profusely now, but you still felt ice cold.

 Turning your head slowly, you faced Frankie. “What. Frankie?” Your voice trembled a little under the whisper, but you held yourself together for the moment.

 “Right in front of you, the…the reflection, it’s like a hazy mirror, can’t you see it?” He replied, his confusion twisting his face. He was looking at you like you’re crazy, in fact, they all were. 

 “What reflection—” You hissed back, turning back around to be greeted with nothing. And they told you to cut the hocus pocus? You scanned the area in front of you. There was absolutely nothing, just the rest of the empty room. So, you took another cautious step. Everyone took in a breath at the same time, holding it in. You tensed, waiting for something to happen. But nothing happened. Right, this was all over nothing.

 You turned, relaxing your shoulders, facing the boys.

 “See, nothing to worry abo—” You were cut off by the anxious shouts of your soldiers, who now had their guns pointed at you. “HEY! Hey, put the guns down, what the fuck are you doing?!” You shouted back, but they didn’t respond. You went to take a step back towards them but were blocked by some sort of force, like a wall…but there was no wall. You put your gun out to test the space in front of you but were met with a solid object. But you couldn’t see it…

 “What in the fu—” you muttered, completely at a loss for what was transpiring in front of your eyes. The boys started moving forwards, their shouts were now muffled. odd, it sounded like you were underwater, barely able to make out what they were saying. You wanted to reach out, to touch the odd, static wall in your way. Your curiosity got the better of you, and before you knew what you were doing you were taking off the glove on your right hand and slowly reaching out to the void ahead of you.

 “DON’T! DON’T TOUCH IT, HEY!—”

 “BOSS!—”

 “What the FUCK IS—”

 You couldn’t hear the shouting. You didn’t see your soldiers running towards you. All you saw was your own reflection staring back at you as you raised your hand to reach out, to touch whatever it was before you.

 Your index finger poked the wall, and you instantly recoiled, the icy lightning coursed through your body, igniting your nerves and singeing your blood. You dropped limply to the floor, and like that, you were out like a light.

 ______

 Your eyes dart open.

 You’re gasping for air, choking on it as it soared into your lungs like you’d just been pulled from water.

 You quickly take in your surroundings. You’re on the floor. It’s light out. You’re sweating, it’s hot. It smells almost… smoggy? Wait, this isn’t the temple, it was dark, we were inside… why is there a hand on my back?!

 You shoot up, twisting and grabbing the hand that had rested on your back. You’re still heaving for air. You stare at the human with wild eyes, completely frantic with confusion. This was not where you were last.

 “Hey! Ow! I’m just tryina’ help! What in the…” They trail off as they reach for your handgun, but before they can grab it you shoot up and launch yourself forwards, turning on your toes and pulling the handgun out of the holster to aim it at the perp.

 “Who are you and where am I!” You demand, your voice shaky and raspy, but the tonality is not mistaken - you’re fierce with your formalities. You don’t like getting fucked about.

 “Woah, ok, calm—” they raise their hands, crouching slightly to act as if they’re of no harm.

 “Don’t tell me to be calm. Where. Am. I” you demand, taking a step closer, still aiming the gun between their eyes, finger dancing on the trigger.

 “Hey, ok, you’re on Coruscant. Look around ya, it's ok, no one’s gonna hurt ya, you’re on the upper levels—” they took a step back, gesturing with their arms to the now growing crowd of civilians watching the scene unfolding in front of them. You take a second to peer around you, taking in the environment.

 It was bright, busy and loud, very loud. It looked almost like a local market place, but huge. The street ahead of you was never-ending, bustling with home stalls and shops - neon lights littering the area with sales of all sorts and goods you don’t recognise. Then you see the language, the same symbols and inscriptions as those on the side of the temple. You’re freaking out a bit now. Yeah, you’d done intense training and seen too much shit to care about regularities but this was a whole other level of bat shit crazy. Peering up, you couldn’t believe your eyes. Vehicles of all shapes and sizes where whizzing just above your head, going in all sorts of directions at great speed. They looked nothing like anything you’d seen before, not jets or planes or anything. Something was seriously wrong here, you’re not anywhere you’ve been before.

 You shoot your gaze back down to the crowd around you. There were beings of all shapes and sizes. Some you instantly recognised as human, but others were deformed or misshapen, odd-looking. Upon closer inspection, some had multiple limbs, green, blue, purple skin, 6 eyes. Ok, have I been drugged? You wonder as your jaw drops open with shock. This was stuff you couldn’t even imagine.

 Sensing the attention growing on you by the second, you leap into action. Peering around you take in the buildings surrounding you, and just in the distance, a tall, church-like building stands tall. Right, refuge. Safe-House possibly? You jerk back towards the human who woke you up, giving a quick nod before you dart off towards your new objective.

 Luckily you still have everything with you, your backpack, watch, guns and spare ammo if needed. You didn’t have ID but if you could find some sort of police station you’d be able to hack and search the database to call upon your credentials and send an SOS for recovery. With this in mind, you ran through the streets of ‘Coruscant’ towards to towering cathedral.

 ___

 You don’t think you’ve ever run this fast in your life. Not when you were ambushed by terrorists, not when you’d been kidnapped and you broke free from the encampment, and not even when you’d been woken in your sleep by a pack of wolves on a Russian Intel OP in the middle of Siberia. Your hallucinations hadn’t stopped, and with every turn new, crazy creatures stared at your frantic attempt to find some sort of normality.

 You finally made it to the Cathedral, but you weren’t quite prepared for how grandly spacious and lavish it was; it must’ve been a good kilometre or two wide, and roughly the same in height too. You’d never seen such a large, simple yet intimidating building. Eyeing the courtyard, hundreds of white armoured beings paroled and strode in groups, but not in assembly, casually. They looked like troops, and your suspicions were confirmed by the metal looking guns attached to their hips or swung round their backs. Some had their helmets off, others didn’t, and they seemed to be colour coded. But now wasn’t the time for exploring, you had to find a safe house and make contact with Base. Picking up the pace from where you’d stopped, you run into the Cathedral, taking two steps at a time. What stood before you was nothing you could have ever predicted, or even prepared for.

 Underneath your feet lay long, smooth slabs of a marble-like substance. The area opened up into a great hall of sorts, with pillars of stone arranged in an open rectangle, supporting the towering ceiling above you. The pillars were simplistic but still had the odd inscriptions plastered up and along with each one. The walls were of minimal design too - no grandiose trinkets or monarchs, no real display of wealth or power - it was unlike any church, cathedral or anything you’d ever seen. Crowding the courtyard in the centre were smaller beings, that looked to be children, all either playing or running around, reading or training - grappling with one another, but happily. What you did notice however was that they were all wearing the same similar robes, some different colours to others but the design the same. Was this some sort of School?

 After taking a second to absorb your surroundings, you scrub your palms over your eyes as if to test whether this was all real of not. Undoing the chinstrap and removing your helmet, you slip one strap off your army pack and attach the helmet onto the back. You don’t feel threatened here, and despite not being ordered to remove it, you have the sneaking suspicion that following orders doesn’t really matter right now.

 Then your attention is drawn to the far corner, where a young man dressed in black robes is walking, quite quickly towards you. You look briefly to his right to see another man, dressed in brown and cream robes just behind him, striding just as quickly as if trying to catch up. You go to take a step but you stop yourself to watch what unfolds in front of you.

 “Anakin, for the love of the God’s will you stop and talk to me!” The older man shouts, clearly exasperated with the younger man before him.

 “Look, Master, I felt a disturbance and I must investigate it, it could be dangerous!” The young man retorts, turning to face the older man and waving his arms in the air. They’re both clearly agitated and something is seriously bothering them.

 “I understand that Anakin, I do, I felt it too. But we can’t just go running off in the middle of Council meetings! You know better than this,—” the older man exclaims, running a hand down his face and resting on his beard, slowly stroking it as if in deep contemplation.

“Master, you must learn to trust me, either way - we must investigate this disturbance and find the source before it’s too late. You know this,” the younger counters, shaking his arms as if to show how irritated he is about having to wait.

 “Do not test my patience, Anakin. I—I do trust you Anakin, just please take a second to centre yourself before you go running into the street of—” And before he can finish his sentence the older man's gaze lands on you.

 You lock eyes. You feel an odd pick of electricity as his sapphire blues burn into your eyes, freezing you both in place, forcing your sharp intake of breath to hold painfully in your lungs. His light golden hair is tidily swept to the right, parting on the far left of his temple. It's not short hair, but it’s not long either. It sits in comfortable waves, soothing and sophisticated. His eyebrows match the colour of his hair, perfectly framing the piercing blue eyes that are boring into you. His jaw is framed in a thick but trimmed beard, accentuating his jawline, giving a heavy aura of wisdom to his frame. He’s gorgeous. Sure, you’ve had the hots for guys before and you’ve had your fair share of flings and relationships, but they were nothing substantial or of purpose, they were just tiebreakers that allowed you to fill your time and release hormones; no one had ever really caught your eye and made you double-take - you always thought you never had the capacity to love because of your profession… but there’s always a first for everything. But now really wasn’t the time for admiring men, because you soon realised that said man was now making a beeline towards you at an alarming pace.

 You jolt, realising now is the time to run. Without thinking you run back out into the courtyard. You make quick sense of the stairs, striding three at a time, taking extra care not to trip of fall. Now was not the time for mistakes. Once you reach the bottom you chance a glance back, only to instantly regret your decision as the distance between you and the two mystery men was quickly diminishing. You turn back around and reach for both your pistols this time, one on each thigh. You pull them up and aim as you stop and turn quickly, bracing yourself in a strong side stance, enabling you to bolt again if needed. Just as you pull up to aim at both men, they stop, side by side. You’re frantically breathing now, body tense. Every muscle is coiled and ready to pounce at the drop of a hat, and you will not hesitate to protect yourself.

 Just as you think you have things under control, the two mystery beings reach into their robes and pull a metal cylinder into their hands. What in the name of all that's holy are they going to do with a piece of pipe?! You chuckle to yourself - you couldn’t lie, you’d seen weirder weapons.

 “Where the fuck am I and why are you chasing me,” you hiss. You’ve just about had it with the weird alien shit and you’re not about to be played around. You want straight answers.

 The older man calmly replies, “Language. You’re on coruscant, we could ask the same abo—”

 “Did you just tell me to watch my fucking language?! How about you tell me where the fuck I am before I shoot the brains out of that pretty little mouth of yours?” you grill. How dare he tell you to watch your mouth when you’ve woken up in this weird-ass city filled with aliens and flying space cars.

 “And you tell me I have a bad mouth master—” the younger man cuts, a slight smirk lining his lips.

 “Anakin—,” the older man scolds, obviously not finding the humour in Anakin's reply. He turns his attention back to you, “Look, why don’t we just lower out weapons and—” He goes to take a step towards you but you fire a warning shot to the ground just right of the older man. He instantly stops, and both men glare back at you. This catches the attention of the soldiers in the courtyard, who are now beginning to surround the three of you.

 “Don’t fuck with me,” you hiss back, fingers flexing slightly on the triggers of each gun.

 “Master, why was there no blaster bolt?” Anakin asks, turning his head a fraction towards the older man.

 “I don’t know Anakin but now isn’t the time,—” he replies before both return their full attention back to you. You slowly start to take a step back. You need to get out of here now. “I wouldn’t bother trying to run my Dear, you won’t get far,” the older man advises.

 Oh, I can’t believe this.

 “You,—” you shake your left pistol towards the older man in a way to gather his attention, “What’s your name?”

 “Obi-Wan Kenobi”

 “Well, Obi-Wan Kenobi, one — I am not, Dear — I am a Commanding Officer of the 118th SAS, and two — for your best own interest you will let me walk away so I can find some way back to where I need to be, comprende?” You barter.

 “Master I—,” Anakin is again cut off by Obi-Wan.

 “I’m sorry but I cannot let you do that.”

 “What makes you think you can stop me?” You’re clearly angry now. The absolute cheek of this man, this imbecile in some sort of funky monk clothing telling you not to run. Is he seeing what you’re seeing, can they see the mad aliens and weird flying vehicles just above you?

 “Oh Darling, don’t test my patience” he retorts, adding a hint of sarcasm to his words. You genuinely can’t believe it. A slight chuckle escapes your lips. You’re going mad, this is it. The years of battle and trauma have finally caught up to you and now you’re seeing space monks, great. Your laughter grows louder and the other two men nervously join in, obviously confused about your reaction. You shrug your shoulders, waving your hands in the air in an exasperated manner. The other two men carry on laughing but chance a nervous glare between them in silent communication. You rub your forehead with the back of one of your hands, the cold metal of your pistol soothing your sweat-laden forehead. Your laugh drops and you fire another warning shot from the other hand, deadening your stare back at Obi-Wan. They freeze.

 “I’ve killed more for less. Let me go and I won’t add you to the list,”

 “Master, I’ve had enough of this—,” Anakin huffs, and with a flick of his wrist, you’re now suddenly disarmed. What. The. Fuck.

 “Language. Please, just put your hands out and—” did he just tell me to watch my language? I didn’t say anything, is he reading my mind? “you could say I am, yes, now please just calm down—”

 What the FUCK is going on right now?! “Calm down? Calm DOWN?! What sort of space wizard BULLSHIT is going on right now, how did you do that? How did you throw my guns? Where am I, who are you? What is going on?” You’re starting to panic now, you can feel the bile rising up from your stomach. This is all way too much for you to process. Either you’ve been knocked out cold and have an incredible concussion or you’ve drunk some really funky tea, either way — this can’t be real.

 “Anakin, I think we need to use a trance, can you—,” Obi-Wan mutters to Anakin, holstering the weird metal cylinder tube from before. Anakin does the same and goes to wave a hand but you cut him off.

 “Trance? What do you mean by trance? No, no way, you are not using some weird wizard shit on me, I’m leaving.” You haven’t got time for this. You’ve got a mission to finish, and you need to find a way back to base. Focus on your priorities. You turn to walk away, about to make haste but before you can take a step, everything goes black.

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Tokyo Tower (Part 5) Butterfly Effect

Please enjoy this! :D I’ve changed a lot about this scene to cut out the irrelevant and pointless parts and keep it focused on the MC and the characters we want to see! @rurifangirl by request

“You think I would use the perfect evolutionary medicine on my own daughter and use her to create the perfect dragon race?"

"The so-called perfect evolution is the ultimate evolution that can maintain divine wisdom. Even if she evolves into a dragon, she is still your daughter. With her obedience to you, she can destroy the world for you, which is the reason you have been raising her so far."

“And if you get God's fetal blood, you'll use it on yourself?"

"It seems that only using it on myself is the safest way. I wanted to try it on Chime as well, but that boy is too hard to control, a viper's heart hidden under a feminine appearance!"

You speak the words but your playful manner has gone and been replaced with a numb realization that so long as Herzog was alive, you’d never find peace. You had a sisterhood and love with Renata but she was shot in front of you. You had just found love again before Herzog had Chance assassinated. And now that you had finally taken solace in a man like Ruri Kazama and bonded as a sister again with Erii, here he was threatening them both.

It would never end. Next would be Caesar, Chu Zihang, Lu Mingfei and then, once he was finished with you, you would be next. The man was a bottomless pit. He had no attachments, no empathy. Nor could he have them even if he wanted to. He’s whole life’s view was eat-or-be-eaten. There was no such thing as balance, no such thing as co-existence.

What he liked to call evolution was nothing but eternal slaughter, breathtaking in its scope. It was hard to believe someone like him could exist. You were horrified and amazed. While you have made decisions to kill others before, for the first time, you’re confronted with someone who had to die in the most absolute of terms.

You speak up again after listening for a bit. “Herzog and Erii were both exposed to dragon blood and started to turn into dragons, but were unable to complete the process. He says they were semi-evolved. Half-evolved. Bondarev has the raw materials Herzog needs, and Herzog has the methods and research to create the evolution medicine. They have agreed to work together.”

You didn’t believe they would really work together. At the first opportunity they would fight to the death. There was very little difference between these two men and the deadpool sphinxes in the mural hall of Genji Heavy Industries. Cannibals.

 "Damn it! How did the Tortoise get here?" Caesar suddenly snarled.

 "Brother!"

Caesar and Ruri Kazama spoke almost simultaneously, both in horror, but the messages conveyed in their tones of voice were completely different. Ruri’s uncontrolled dismay showed that Chisei was still special to him as his brother. Caesar was more concerned about the success of the mission.

“We haven’t had time to blockade Tokyo Tower yet! Tachibana Masamune might still escape!” Caesar shouted.

"Quick! Seal the elevator and the iron ladder! Brother may not have a chance to win against the King General! He will underestimate him!" Ruri Kazama said urgently.

While Caesar was concerned about Tachibana escaping, Ruri Kazama wanted to keep Chisei out of the clutches of Herzog.

"Calling Ruri! Calling Ruri! Change of plan! We're going up the tower now to intercept the King General, you stand by for a kill!" Caesar called loudly.

There was only rustling background noise in your headset. Ruri Kazama's voice disappeared. Caesar switched between different channels, and there was no answer from Ruri Kazama in each channel.

Ruri Kazama might have turned off the communication device or discarded it, in any case, he was detached from the communication network.

“I knew we couldn’t count on that guy!” Caesar yelled in annoyance.

Just like that, the entire operation was in disarray. You didn’t know what happened to him. Maybe an assassin had found him. Maybe Ruri was already dead! “Wait! He said we should stop Chisei!”

Caesar’s voice brooked no arguments. “Ruri Kazama withdrew from the mission. It’s up to us, the commissioners of the Cassel Academy, to carry out the mission of the Secret Party. Since both the King General and Tachibana Masamune have personally admitted to wanting to resurrect the White King, then they have already committed the felony of being enemies of the entire human race and have to be wiped out right now! MC! Lu Mingfei! Prepare your rifles!”

You hesitate. Ruri Kazama specifically told you that not even Chisei Gen was certain to be able to kill the King General. While Caesar was strong and clever and resourceful, he couldn’t rival Chisei's pure brute force. You look down at your sniper rifle in dismay. You heard the King General say that he was a semi-evolved dragon. This rifle was absolutely useless! You throw it down and turn and run.

Mingfei turned his head. “MC! What are you doing!”

The fastest way down the building was the stairwell and you leap down flights at a time. You feel like you were too slow no matter how fast you run! You burst out of the ground floor exit door and streak across the Tokyo Tower’s main plaza. You don’t see Chisei anywhere but you urge yourself to go faster! Lighting flashes and illuminates the black veins on your wrist and black veins peeking out from the collar of your shirt. They pulse like tentacles. You’re running unnaturally fast, fast like a demon, like a werewolf, pushed by the superhuman force of your dragon blood. You didn't need to use blood rage this time. Your condition really was deteriorating, bit by bit. Now Blood Rage was only a thought away.

You reach the stairs faster than any sprinter and start to climb up as fast as you can!

Then you hear footsteps behind you. You whirl to confront who was following.

In the dark and the wind and the rain, you were once again facing Chisei Gen.

Chisei Gen came stepping through the storm, his windbreaker flying like a battle flag in the gale. He was looking up high into the sky, his pupils flowing with the color of molten iron. There is no need for him to sneak. He is an emperor, the absolute emperor. Any opposition he faced he would simply crush with absolute violence.

So you shrink and make yourself as small as possible. “I can’t fight you. I can only tell you that you’re making a mistake! Don’t go up there!”

“What are you doing here?” The sword Onimaru glittered like pure ice in the rain.

“We received intelligence on this meeting from your brother. Caesar and Chu Zihang are also on the way to kill Herz… I mean, the King General and Tachibana for crimes against the Secret party. The King General is a half dragon. Chime didn’t believe you could defeat him and wanted us to stop you from going up.”

At the mention of the name ‘Chime’, Chisei’s eyes burned bright in the dark and the pupils narrowed to needles! He moved like the wind, crushing you against the iron stairs. The metal risers slam into your back leaving deep bruises. Pain explodes in your legs and you realize that he’s broken them. You scream and seize his hair, the only way you feel you can detain him. He’s amber reptilian eyes burn into yours. He snarls low. “I’ll interrogate you later.”

“Fine.” You sob, shaking, pale, and sweaty with pain. You release him. “Go die. Chime is the only one who cares about you anyway.”

Chisei’s eyes widen and then suddenly distance and dim and, for a moment, they revert back to their dark natural color. He looked so much like his brother in this state -- soft, sad, lonely. Those eyes were full of pain and regret. The rain ran in rivers down his face like tears. So little got to him, but those words did.

He straightened up over you and rushed off, flying up the stairs like an eagle, leaving you on the stairs in a curtain of rain. Your legs hurt so bad you want to swoon and every time you look down the world spins and you want to throw up.

“So… how’s it going?”

“How did I know you were going to show up?”

Z sits on the stairs and sighs deeply, holding an umbrella over your head. “Because I’m always by your side. Unlike some people.” He moves his hand to rest it on your hair and then retracts it. “I really do support you. You’re important. And I would rather things have gone my way with our relationship. But, like I said, I can’t make you do something like that. Like the genie in Aladdin. I can’t make you love me.” He chuckled. “But… like the genie, I can fix your legs. And I’ll do that.”

“Why… would you help me? I’m so confused.” You lift your head from the cold metal step. He was still in his fashionable suit and leather shoes.

“I didn’t tell you much when I was courting you, you think I’m going to tell you things now?” He laughed. “You’re doing amazing things. At least, I think you are. Hard to tell.” He turned to look at you with his golden eyes, then his eyes lift up to the stairs where Chisei disappeared. “It’s like the butterfly effect. Tiny little changes that don’t seem to matter have a cumulative effect. Now I’m curious. Hm…” He laughed, musing to himself. “Anyway. Your ride will take a few minutes to get here. In the meantime, I have to let you stay wounded so you don’t wander off and die prematurely. When it’s time to go. You’ll know.” Z stood up and walked away, stepping off the staircase and walking through the rain with nothing but open air beneath him until he vanished out of sight.

You lay on the steps, taking one breath at a time. It was hard not to moan but surely no one heard you over the torrential rain. Your mind drifted to Caesar Gattuso who would probably kill you even if you survived this. Or at least fiercely scold you. He would ask you what you were thinking, running off and confronting a furious Chisei Gen alone. You should have known he’d crumple you like paper. Caesar’s supposed to be the only one with the harebrained ideas.

You wondered what you were thinking. And you recall Ruri Kazama’s desperate words.

Brother!

It wasn’t just any exclamation. Chime was terrified of losing Chisei. His twin brother.

You hear a sudden loud bang, like there was a car collision right above you. As you look, a dark shape looms towards you. You feel a sudden jolt of fear! Metal bits and shredded dark pieces of cloth are raining all around your head and you hear the rattle of machine gun fire from the stairs!

“Ouch! … oh… Ow! Ow!”

A man-shaped thing was moaning while dangling by a rope between the shadowy metal struts of Tokyo tower. You recognized the voice. “Fingel?”

He sighed, whimpering. He was spinning while holding on to a thick rope. “Oh hey girly. Fancy meeting you here.”

“What happened?”

“Uh… the King had an escape plan. A big ol’ metal blimp! Bigger than mine! Haha!” He flinched. “Ow.”

You push yourself upright and suddenly realize that your pain is gone! You look down at your legs. 

They were fine.

At that moment, far more ferocious weapons than assault pistols boomed on the far roof of the building. It was Mingfei!

“The King’s escaping?” You grip the hand rail and pull yourself up. Your legs are wobbly, like you’d been sitting for hours, but they didn’t hurt.

“Yeah… I’m… I’m done here.” Fingel wearily groaned. “I want ramen… and more of that miso soup. I think I’m going to get out of the way. Good luck!” Fingel suddenly started sliding down the rope.

“Hey get back here! I don’t… I don’t have any weapons!” You lean against the hand rail to look down but he is already gone. You grumble to yourself. “Dog with no morality.”

“You can always join meeeee….” Fingel shouted from below.

He was right. You could go home right now. But Ruri was still out there. He might need your help. And… your legs were fine. You sigh deeply.

Chisei was an idiot. He didn’t listen. He never listened. He had a set path, a script to follow and he was following it without delay.

But Chime loved him. 

You push away from the railing and turn away from Fingel and dash up the stairs. You climb on healed legs until you reach the top of the stairs. The outer observation deck was completely covered in broken glass. Every window had been blown out. Chisei Gen was standing on the observation deck with submachine guns but he didn’t even notice you. He was staring into the distance and you follow his gaze.

The King General’s blimp was still aloft, but it was disabled. The man was hanging on by a ladder and buffeted like a limp doll in the wind. Immediately, something like a light black hawk took off from the rooftop of the building next to him, the gusty wind pounding its wings, carrying it to the sky. When the lift was exhausted and this strange bird reached the apex of it’s climb, it turned violently and swooped down like thunder and lightning.

it was a black glider, and under the glider hung a dressed-up Ruri Kazama!

 He was wearing a dazzling kimono, his robe and sleeves danced in the wind and rain. He carried his cherry red sword in his hand. Even without makeup, his plain white face was as beautiful as a supreme heavenly maiden, but with a lion-like smile.

He came in full costume to kill!

The blimp’s rudder was broken. It couldn't dodge and everyone could only watch Ruri Kazama's performance. The black wings hid the General from everyone’s eyes and no one knew his last expression. Whether he changed that mask-like smile.

 Ruri Kazama brushed past the hanging ladder and cut off the King General's head with a single slash.

That was not the end of it. With his gliding wings, he expertly whirled around the King's corpse in a very tight circle, and the second slash cut the king in half at the waist. The third cut severed the hanging ladder. The King's body fell in pieces in the pouring rain, and Ruri Kazama waved his sword in the air to remove the blood on it, and his glider carried him into the buildings ahead.

This was the real trap with no way out, where the strongest bloodline ability cannot be brought to bear. Ruri Kazama understood that Herzog would never entrap himself in the tower. He already guessed that he would have an airship prepared to escape, but, because Ruri did not trust anyone, he didn’t say anything to anyone.

Not even you.

The air was filled with his laughter after he had won, like the laughter of an actor on stage, so exaggeratedly contrived, but hollow and sad. He hated Herzog so much. Your mind fills with questions. Why did he hate him so much? How many years did he prepare to kill this man?

“Chime…” Chisei’s eyes were full of questions and confusion too.

He finally noticed your presence and stiffened, hand on his sword. But you don’t move. “Do you believe me now?” You ask.

Chisei’s hand released. “How.”

“Oh this?” You shake one leg at him. “The ghost of my dead boyfriend came and healed me.”

Chisei’s gaze unfocused and you realized that you meant Z but Chisei was thinking of Chance. “I won’t ask your forgiveness.” He said.

“Good.” You bark a laugh. “I guess that means you’re not a total idiot.” You cross your arms over your chest and smirk.

Chisei sighs, but he smiles a bit. “Even in a dire situation as this, you make me laugh.”

“I have a feel for a dragon’s sense of humor. If the dragon is laughing, it cannot eat you.” You tilt your head slightly.

“And why are you here?” Chisei looked past you.

Moving like a shadow and completely unnoticed by you, Sakura Yabuki stepped forward. She had been at your back, ready to kill you if needed. You feel a sudden chill, but the danger was already over before you noticed it.

"As a result of a discussion with Crow. It was expected that you would come to the special observation deck, so I decided to send men to protect you." Sakura's answer was curt, "I was the only one suitable for the job, so I came."

Lithely muscled, tall, in a black bodysuit and face half covered, Sakura Yabuki was made to live in the shadows. You’d only seen her a few times on your arrival, but hadn’t seen her again since. It was probably a good thing. She didn’t seem to be the type who let you see her at all, unless she was the last thing you ever saw.

What stands out to you though was that subtle humor. Your eyebrows raise. She was funny!

You hear a soft grunt. Bondarev was holding his chest. He smiled that winning smile up at you. “MC. Long time no see!”

Anger rose from the soles of your feet to the top of your head and you stare down at him, fiercely judging. “What’s done is done. I’m not into revenge.”

“Yes… I will… face the judgement of God.” Bondarev hung his head slightly.  “Chisei… let this girl go. She’s caught up in it. She’s innocent.”

“Cut the crap, Bondarev.” You say in sharp blistering Russian. He looks up at you again, eyes wide. “You’re not going to fool me. The minute I turn around, you’ll have me killed. This will end in blood because you don’t know how to live any other way.”

For a moment, Bondarev’s blue eyes sparkled. His Russian was smooth and unbothered by his injuries. “You’ve… learned Dr. Herzog’s lessons very well.”

Your lips quirk up in a smile. 

Chisei’s eyes bounce from your face to his. “You … know each other?”

“Long story.” You back away from all of them, hands raised. “Do what you need to. I won’t interfere.”

"We must hurry up and get someone to clean up the scene," Bondarev said.  "...and call a doctor for me."

"You've been taking some kind of drugs, haven't you?" Chisei Gen asked.

In the low light, you noticed an abnormal sheen on his body. It was the play of the light on small ivory scales.

"It's worse than that, it's preserved fetal blood, but with serum therapy, it's no problem to live for another few years or even a decade." Tachibana smiled, "Maybe enough to live to attend your wedding."

You glance at him and he meets your eye. Why would he mention that in front of you? Speaking in English, a language you would understand... Did he think you didn’t know about the serum treatment? He knows you’re dying and is dangling that in front of you. But you’re covered. Caesar would make sure to knock him off his throne and give you the leadership of Japan and the serum treatment without the constant threat of death. You respond to his look with a derisive snort and an unpleasant grin. You drawl in Russian. “No, thanks.”

The rain was still falling. The wind was sweeping across the special observation deck and carried a faint cry to your ears.

‘Tachibana’ froze for a few seconds and a great fright came into his eyes. He retreated step by step towards the interior. Chisei and Sakura also retreated with him. The majestic wind and rain seems to hide something more terrifying than even the King General.

Surprised, you turn to look for yourself.

A black shadow rose slowly from below the observation deck. The heavy rain hit its greenish-gray scales, breaking into a shining white mist. It unfolded several meters wide wings gently waving them in a graceful rhythm. A long snaky fish tail slowly stretches below its body.

Its long, dark hair is disheveled in the wind and rain, hiding its pretty female face. The corners of its mouth moved slightly, as if to laugh out loud, but what came out was a baby-like cry, and its mouth was full of thorny sharp teeth.

Flying Deadpool.

Not one but a group. They rose up from all directions, as if they were flying snakes in ancient frescoes, a sight that in the legends of all ancient civilizations heralded cataclysm.

[rae-is-typing]

‘Cause You Had a Bad day...

Notes: This little piece was inspired by the dumpster fire of a day I had a week ago. It’s self-indulgent as f u c k, as most of my fics are. Enjoy :)

Description: You’re having a terrible day. Your friends at the Avengers tower help you out a little bit.

Characters: reader, Sam Wilson, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, a rude receptionist named Lisa, unnamed security guard, Peter Parker is mentioned

Warnings: swearing, fractured limbs, squabbling between friends, x-rays

Disclaimers: Civil war probably didn't happen because everyone likes each other and gets along. Kind of.

Word count: 2.4k

Rain pounds on the cement, thunder rolls in the distance and it’s as if a dark cloud is looming over New York. You keep your head down with your hood up. The one day you forgot your umbrella is the one day that it rains like a motherfucker. Your entire body shivers and shakes, and the gusts of wind is only making it worse. You desperately wanted to call for help or a ride, but your phone has been dead all day because you forgot to charge last night. And to top off the shit sundae, you got locked out of your apartment and your parents are gone for the weekend. So you have to walk all the way to the tower from school with no phone, no wallet and no umbrella.

Nothing is going your way at all. You just want to get to the tower, take a nice hot shower, and crawl in a hole and die. 

It’s only when the tower is in sight that you can relax and perk up a little and the pep comes back to your step. But without any warning, you fall forward. A figure runs past you at full speed with a purse in his hand. The contents of your bag spills out in front of you. You put out your hands and try to catch yourself, only to land hard on your wrist.

A cry falls from your lips as pain shoots up your arm. Tears immediately come to your eyes, not only from pain, but from your own righteous indignation. 

“Fuck,” You cry weakly, pushing yourself up with your good hand. You had superhealing like Peter, but it’s not instantaneous and you’re definitely feeling this one. 

You manage to gather your stuff with one hand and shove it back in your bag unceremoniously. You stumble to your feet, cradling your wrist to your chest. Walking the rest of the length to the tower, you desperately trying not to cry.

Someone was kind enough to hold the door for you when you finished walking the steps. After a quiet ‘thank you’, you stepped into the larger lobby. 

“Excuse me, miss. I need some ID.” The snotty voice of the receptionist rang throughout the wide area.

“I’m here almost everyday, Lisa. Can you let it go one time?” You snap, pausing before the elevator. 

“No, unfortunately not. It’s S.I. policy that we ID every visitor that enters the lobby.” Her voice bursts with fake sympathy.

“That is bullshit and you know it,” You voice hardens.

“I’m sorry ma’am. Please let me see your ID.”

You take a deep breath, trying not to go off on the bitchy receptionist. “Lisa, there are a ton of other people in here and neither you nor your co-workers have ID’d one of them. Now if you’ll excuse me,” You huff and walk towards the elevator, ready to press the button when someone puts a hand on your shoulder. You look behind you to see a security guard dressed in all black with a hard expression dressing his face.

“Can I help you?” You snap.

“I need you to come with me.” His voice is rough and low. His shoulders are squared, with arm gripping you, the other is placed on the weapon at his side.

“No.” More anger bubbles in your chest and your hands begin to shake. Your abilities begin to make themselves known through the surge of power you feel in your veins. Heat comes to your hands and your skin begins to warm up considerably. He grabs you by your upper arm, keeping a tight grip on it as he begins to drag you back to the entrance. 

“What the fuck, let me go!”

Anxiety replaces your frustration. Knowing that using your abilities for anything other than pure self defense would definitely land you a weekend in jail and a ban from most career choices, you’re desperate to keep your powers at bay. You struggle in his grip, his hands squeezing your upper arm likely to the point of bruising. He had you at the entrance when the elevator opens. You don’t see it, but Tony, Bruce, Steve and Sam walked out into the lobby. 

“What the hell is going on here?” Tony’s voice reverberates throughout the lobby with vigor. The bustling lobby goes silent; everything seems to stop. Your head snaps back to see Tony and Steve march up to the security guard. Steve pushes him off of you, and Tony begins to interrogate him.

“Why were your hands on my kid?” 

“I-w was-” 

“I don’t want to hear it. Get out of here and don’t come back.” 

The security guard’s face changes form hard to confused and back to hard as he exits the building with slightly slumped shoulders. 

“Mr. Stark, sir,” Lisa rushes out from behind her desk and in front of Tony. He glares down at her. “He was doing what I told him to, you don’t need to terminate him.” 

“Why was my kid being dragged out against her will? And why is she holding her wrist like that?”

“She didn’t give me an ID. It’s industry policy that we ID each visitor-”

“She’s been coming here almost everyday for over a year. She is not a visitor.”

“All I did was-”

“Save it. Go home and don’t come in tomorrow.”

“But, Mr. Stark-”

Tony doesn’t listen. Instead, he turns to where Bruce is gently holding your wrist in his hands, examining the sprain. You skin has cooled down, but you’re still shaking and breathing hard. Steve and Sam stand near you. Sam’s arms are crossed over his chest, his eyes ablaze with anger. Steve had draped his coat over your shaking body, warming you up without the help of your abilities. The anger had left your body when Tony and the others began handling the situation. It was replaced with defeat and exhaustion.

“Jesus kid, you’re soaked. Did you walk all the way here or something?” Tony’s voice went from brutal to concerned in a heartbeat. He ushers everyone to the elevator to avoid the prying eyes of those in the lobby.

“Yeah,” You say softly, wincing when Bruce pressed two fingers to your wrist. 

“Why didn’t you call one of us?” Steve asks. 

“My phone died.”

“Where’s your umbrella, honey?”

“In my apartment.”

“Why didn’t you get it before coming here?”

“I got locked out.”

“What happened to your wrist?”

“Someone ran into me and I fell on it.” 

“You couldn’t catch a break today, could you?”

You shake your head, sniffling. 

“You need to get changed before you catch a cold,” Steve says.

“That’s not how it works,” Tony chimes, glancing at Steve. “The common cold is a virus, the weather has almost nothing to do with it.”

“Really? She’s in pain and soaking wet and you’re chastising me for not wanting her to get sick?”

“I just thought you should know how viruses work. Your information is a little outdated. What’s it been? Seventy-three years?”

“You know what, Stark? You can-”

“Stop fighting.” Bruce says, a hint of a growl coming through his normal voice. The two men stop squabbling for a moment to turn their attention back to you. 

“Super-healing not working yet?”

“I think so, it just really hurts,” Your voice cracks as you hold back tears. You aren’t one to cry over most things, but the stress coupled with your feelings of defeat and indignation and finally getting a break become too much for you. 

“Oh kid, you don’t need to cry.” Tony speaks, voice turning slight with discomfort at the sight of a couple tears trailing your cheeks. “Seriously, you don’t.”

“Sorry,” You choke out, trying to wipe your eyes with your good hand. 

“Don’t apologize, Y/N. A release of emotion is healthy. Stark’s a robot, so he doesn’t understand that.” Steve says, wrapping an arm around you, and letting you rest your head on his shoulder. He throws a pointed look at Tony. “Cry if you need to.”

You nod as the elevator begins to rise. Steve keeps an arm wrapped around you, and you keep your head on his shoulder. You’re crying, but not outright sobbing and occasionally wiping your eyes. The sharp pain in your wrist has dulled to a simple throb, and your hair is slowly drying. The elevator is silent until Bruce speaks up.

“I’ll take a closer look with the live x-ray in the med bay. Right now it looks like a simple fracture that your body should be able to handle within the next couple hours,”

You only nod, eyes fixed on the elevator door. It opens to the med bay. It’s clean, medical instruments on carts and scales in other places. It takes up an entire floor for post-mission operations and other check ups. There are a few doctors on call for emergencies, however you and the other Avengers were most comfortable with Bruce or occasionally Dr. Strange checking in on you if you can help it. 

“Come over here,” Bruce says, leading you to a large table with a few slots built into it and a monitor on top of it. “I need you to take off the jacket and roll up your sleeve.”

You follow the instructions, and take off your bag and set it on the floor. Then you take off Steve’s jacket, hand it back to him, take of your soaking wet hoodie which Steve also takes and roll up the sleeve to your equally soaked shirt. 

“Put your arm through here,” Bruce says, gesturing to the slot in the table. It’s glass on both sides and emits a brilliant blue light. You sit in a chair near the table and out your injured arm through the slot. He gently grabs your hand and guides it to the right position. You fold your legs criss-cross-applesauce on the chair.

It takes a while for the image of your wrist on the monitor. Bruce studies it for a couple moments and you stare blankly at the image of your bones. There’s a small break on the radius of your forearm near your hand. 

“It’s a green-stick fracture, it uh looks like your healing factor has already begun to take care of it. Does it hurt?” You nod. “Alright, I can give you some of the painkillers that we give Peter when he’s hurt.” Bruce turns off the x-ray and lets you take your arm out before he gets up and rummages through a random cart. 

You look up when someone places their hand on your shoulder. Steve smiles down at you. “We’re ordering food, what do you want?”

You shrug, staring back at the now blank monitor. “Something warm,”

“Alright, Shawarma it is.” Tony declares.

“We are not eating Shawarma again. Let's get something more palatable,”

“Shawarma is palatable.”

“Not three nights in a row,”

“JARVIS, place the usual order the Chinese place downtown.” Sam says, rolling his eyes at their squabbling. 

“Done,” JARVIS’s automated voice rang out.

Bruce comes back over holding a small white pill in a small cup, a glass of water and what looks like a brace. You took it from him, easily swallowing the pill and water down. 

“Put this on with it. It’ll keep your arm in the right position,” 

“Thanks,” You say,slipping the brace on, tightening it and resting your injured arm on the table. 

“They’ll begin to take effect in a few minutes. You should be able to shower and get dressed after that.”

You nod, looking back down at your lap. Soon enough, your wrist stopped hurting. You get up without a word and take yourself to the floor you and Peter stay on when you’re staying overnight. Peter is running errands with May, so he won’t be in until later. 

You get to your room and push open the door. Tossing your bag and the brace on your bed, you plug in your phone and go to the bathroom. You turn on the shower to mildly scalding and peel of the wet clothes. 

You take a nice long shower, taking your time in warming up, and crying a little more. The hot water washed away the rest of your tears, your frustration and the anxiety that you’ve been lugging around all day. 

“Miss Y/N, the food has arrived. I recommend you get out soon before it is all gone.” JARVIS speaks. You sigh, turning off the water. You dry yourself off quickly enough and put on a soft crewneck sweater and a pair of large sweats and slip the brace back on.

You put on a pair of slippers and make your way to the communal floor to  see Steve making himself a plate. He smiles when he sees you.

“Feeling any better, sweetie?”

“Kinda,” You shrug. “I’m really tired,”

“It’s been a long day, doll. Get some food, Sam’s putting on a movie,”

You nod, grabbing a plate from the stack near the food. You fill it up with what you want and go to sit in the living room. Tony lounges on the largest chair in the living room, Sam sits with his legs up on the love seat, and Bruce is curled up on the smaller of the chairs in the living room. 

“Welcome back, kid.” Tony breathes out, stretching out lazily. He changed too, now donning a band shirt and some joggers. 

“Hey,” you greet him, sitting on the sofa that’s next to the love seat.

“We’re watching Easy A once Steve gets his ass in here!” Sam begins with an even tone before throwing his head over his shoulder and yelling the last part. 

“I’m coming, be patient.” He grumbles, taking a seat next to you and placing his food on the coffee table.

“Took you long enough, Capsicle. Start the movie, J.”

“Yes, sir.”

The lights in the living room dim, the surround sound starts and the movie begins to play. You sink in the couch, the comfortable plush calming you even more. With the help of the drugs and the brace, your wrist feels as good as knew. Gratitude warms you chest as you catch Tony’s eye. You smile at him. 

‘Thank you’ you mouth. He only nods with an equally warm smile gracing his lips before turning back to the movie playing on the screen.

[s-creations]

Return the Flames - Chapter 6

All at Dead Bird Studios knew of Amos' (The  Conductor's) ability. How the owl could suddenly erupt into flames if  angered enough. When the studio first opened, Dominic (DJ Grooves) was  told that Amos had his ability under control. Nothing to worry about. No  possible loss of anything from an open flame.

A few years later however, and that control seems to have lessened to a dangerous degree.

It should have just been a simple, week long drive to fix the problem. It really should have been.

Dominic should have asked a lot more questions and should have been prepared for a twist ending.

_________________

Fandom: A Hat in Time   Rating: General Audience   Relationships/Pairings: The ConductorXDJ Grooves   Warnings: Eventual depictions of violence, slow burn relationship, named characters, attempt of an accent, being hunted down, a race against time (sort of).

Another dinner, this one with a more pastel color scheme. For some reason. Dominic and Amos claimed a booth tucked away in the back, away from everyone, in hopes they could talk without being overheard. 

Amos was absolutely exhausted. Wanting nothing more than to lay his head down and pass out. It was a bit ironic that for being dangerously hot for so long, he was now freezing. And it was painful. Like pins and needles sticking him in different areas. Probably feeling like this while his body attempted to recover from their crash. He really wished the flame would return. That he could just curl into the closest corner and escape this nightmare for just a little while. 

“Amos...we need a plan.”

Except Dominic kept pulling him back to the problem at hand. Which was needed. Amos just didn’t want to. “We need ta figure out how those peck necks knew about…”

The penguin sighed softly. “I think all we need to worry about for that is knowing that they know. And they’re hunting us down now because of this. Do you think they knew where we’re going?”

“If they knew about the Phoenix flame, I wouldn’t put it past them. They found us really fast after that first dinner.”

“So, our original, direct path is no longer an option. We’ll probably have to make a new, longer path to get to the mountains. Anything to keep them away from us. We’ll just need to make sure you’re alright to stay away for that much longer. Ah, there’s also the issue of provisions and transportations. Thank goodness our wallets survived with us. I would say bus for traveling. But that would take way too long and we’d be trapped if they find us again. So, a rental car would be our best bet. We’ll also need to contact the studio. Let them know we’re going to be gone for a lot longer than originally expected…”

Amos just stared as Dominic kept pulling up the major points they had to worry about. As the list kept growing, the owl felt his resolve break down further. As if he was suddenly realizing how much danger they were in. At the moment they weren’t being chased, they were patched up and food was on the way. Now, with the adrenaline not pumping as much as it was before, Amos’ mind was free to panic over their current situation. 

Someone was hunting him down. Because of what he was. And he put Dominic directly in the line of danger because of this. All because of him. He alerted the authorities because he wasn’t able to control himself. Because he was a danger to everyone he gets near. 

“Amos?”

The owl jumped, attention going from Dominic’s worried face down to his clenched hands lying on the table. “What.”

“You’re shaking.”

Was he?

“Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong- are ya really gonna ask me that after our plunge off the side of a cliff?”

“I don’t think we were up that high.”

“We almost died Dominic! Because I’ve been marked as enemy-number-one of some peck necks. With you as the unwilling accomplice.” 

“Unwilling?”

“Ya didn’t know it would lead ta this when you agreed ta take me. Ya shouldn’t be involved.”

“You didn’t know this would happen either. I became involved when I plowed those crows over with my car. We’re in this together.”

“But ya shouldn’t be! I should have found a way around this that didn’t involve anyone else. This is my problem. I should be fixin’ this on my own.” 

Just with everything else in his life. It was how he’s always operated. He learned how to fight, dealt with his ex leaving, his mother passing away, maintained his train, paid for his film equipment, raised Amelia, put her through college, started saving up for the grandchildren to get them through college as well. 

Everything. Everything he did alone. 

So why did he suddenly feel as if he needed help with this? He should have been able to figure out a solution on his own. 

Amos stilled when Dominic reached over and gently grabbed the owl’s balled up hands. So stunned, he allowed the penguin’s hands to properly slip into his. 

“I’m happy I’m here to help you.”

“How...can ya possibly say that?”

“Because I would be tearing my hair out with worry if I wasn’t with you. Over what could have been happening to you.”

“People are tryin’ ta kill us.”

“Then I’m even further relieved to be here and helping.”

Amos wasn’t sure what to say to that. Attention returning to their clasped hands, the owl felt his heart starting to pick up its pace. The familiar warmth returning to become a comforting presence. Dominic didn’t seem to be letting go soon, did Amos want him to? He realized he didn’t. Dominic’s feathers were smooth to the touch, like silk. And seemed to be a cooler temperature than Amos’ unnatural heat. 

“Um, sirs? Your meals?”

Amos quickly pulled away as the server made their presence known. His feather fluffed up in embarrassment while Dominic gave an easy smile. “Thank you, Darling.”

“O-Oh, of course. No problem.” The server was now flustered. Giving their own smile back as they placed the plates down, departing shortly after.

“Should we make our new plan.” Amos grumbled as they were left alone again. 

“Right, well, transportation first. We need to rent a car.”

“You mentioned something about a bus?”

“Yes, but I don’t think that would be best. We need to control our speed and our direction at will. A bus leaves too many variables that we can’t control. Which worries me. So, I think the car is, again, our best option.”

“Alright… You also made mention of changin’ our route?”

“To try and throw them off. It took them two days to find us. And that was when they had a guess as to how far we were into our journey. That tells me they’re aware of where we’re going. If we change our path, hopefully we can throw them off and sneak by them when we finally reach the mountains.”

“If we can sneak in.”

“We’ll figure it out. If we’re moving our route, we need to inform everyone that we’re going to be gone longer than expected.”

“We also need provisions. We kind of...lost all our stuff.” 

“We have enough paper money to pay for what we need at the moment. Lucky us.” Dominic laughed softly. 

“Yeah...lucky…”

“Is everything alright gentlemen?” The server returned, their attention on the untouched plates. Amos didn’t verbally respond, instead picking up his fork and digging in. 

“Sorry, we’ve just been so engrossed in our conversation. Would you actually be able to help us out with something Darling?”

“Oh, sure!” Amos rolled his eyes at how eager the server sounded. 

“We’re in need of a rental car and a possible clothing store.”

“There are more, larger stores and a rental place further into town. You should be able to get what you need there.”

“Thank you, you’ve been extremely helpful.” 

Amos grumbled as he put his full focus on the food in front of him. Attempting to block out the sickening ‘flirting’ before him. It made his stomach roll uncomfortably. 

He couldn’t tell if it was because he hated seeing such a blatant display in public. Of it he was upset because Dominic wasn’t looking at him anymore. 

____________________________

“How much longer are you going to be gone?”

Amos really didn’t like how uneasy Amelia sounded. “Just a few extra days, nothin’ more.”

“Are you sure that’s a smart idea? Do you...will you have enough time?”

“I’ll be fine, don’t you worry. This was Dominic’s idea actually. Says I need ta ‘relax’ or somethin’ crazy like that.”

“Well, if it’s coming from Grooves, it sounds reasonable.”

“Watch yerself young lady.”

Amelia laughed softly. “Please just take it easy dad.”

“I will. I am. How’s it goin’ on your end?”

“Oh, good…”

“...Did...Did ya have another episode?”

“Yeah. But it wasn’t that bad. I’m fine, really. Just tired.”

Amos gripped the phone receiver a little harder. “Are ya goin’ ta see Dr. Fula?”

“Dad-”

“If ya had an episode, she needs ta be aware.”

“And she was, we called her.”

“Does she want ta see ya?”

“No, in fact, she said I was improving!”

“How? Yer still havin’ them!”

“But this was not as serve as my previous ones. And I recovered faster, and on my own.”

“But ya still had one.”

“Dad, you need to unclench your jaw and release whatever's in your other hand.”

With a huff with some smoke unfurling from his mouth, Amos pulled his hand away from the side of the phone booth. Wincing from the newly created dent in the metal. “Amelia…”

“No, listen to me. I am fine. I’m home, safe and happy with the kids. Grace is staying with me. And a legion of medical professionals are on speed dial. Now I need you to just focus on getting yourself better, okay?”

“...Okay.”

“I know you’ll hate me for saying this, but listen to Grooves. He’s there to help you.”

“But-”

“Swallow your pride and let him help. Please.”

“...Alright.”

“Get better and I’ll see you soon dad. The kids miss you! Can’t wait to see pawpaw again.”

“Tell them I miss them too.”

“Be safe dad. I love you.”

“Love ya too, Amelia.” Amos hung up, letting out a sigh as he leaned against the pay phone. He looked over to Dominic, who was using the furthest phone in the line. 

The penguin was calling the secretary to let him know they were going to be gone longer. Which Dominic was really leaning into the fact the message needed to be pasted along to all the workers. How they both would be coming back. 

Bu̱t͙ tha̦ṱ’̨s͙ no̱t tr̥ue͙,̝ i͜s̙ it̼?͕ Yo̳uͅ’̨re n̺ot ex̖p̱e̻cting̖ t͉o c̝ome̖ back͍ fṛo̭m t̻h̘i̬s̟.

Amos swallowed weakly. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he moved away from the phones and turned towards the street. 

A̟lwa̻ys̨ t̺h͔e̞ sa̞m̤e̠ fo͈r͉ y̦ou. Eͅx̱p̼e̞ct̝ th̺e͓ worͅsṱ. Be͜c̘ause th̤aṱ’̮s͚ a͍ḽl͎ t͢ha̝t͢ is to b̢e̖ e̦xp̗ect͔ed of̹ y̳ou. Th͟e͇ a̗bs͜olu̱te̹ w͓o͢r̖st̝.

Sitting on the curb, Amos crossed his arms over his knees, chin resting on top of them. His ears were pressed against the top of his head, remaining focused on the pavement of the road. 

J͈us̬t a̯d̻mi̡t̤ it̯:̺ you’r̢e d̩yiͅn̢g. Yo̯u’ve k͈nown t͇his fo͜r̗ a w̤h̨i͉ḷe. Y̙et̳ yo̟u̼ ke̥ep̙ g̗i͙vi̯n͇g th̰i͕s se̘ns͇e̘ o̖f͟ hop͖e͇ to yo͈u̱r daug͙h̳ter th͜a͜t̡ y̢ou’ll͖ c̦o͜m͟e̩ b̖a̢ck.̟ How͢ seͅl͔fis̩h of̢ ỵo̮ṷ. N̗ot̫ eve̝n g͎i̞vi̲n͍g͔ ḫe͚r͔ a cha̢nc̘e to̭ h̩a̩ve͢ p̩ro̭p͍e͙r c͚l͕os̝ur̠e̥.

“Amos.” Dominic’s voice broke through, a hand resting gently on the owl’s shoulder. 

“Finally pass the message?”

The penguin nodded as he sat down. “I’m hoping it’s actually passes along.”

“We really need ta replace him.”

“We do…”

“...But we aren’t.”

“Probably not.”

Amos huffed, a smile being pulled onto his face. “As long as we have that cleared up.”

“Mmm… Were you able to talk to Amelia?”

“Aye…”

“Does...Does she know what this could lead to?”

“No. She doesn’t need to know.”

“Amos-”

“She has enough on her plate ta deal with. This is my problem.”

“But if your-”

“We need to go. If we want ta keep ahead o’ those government peck necks, we’ll need that car” Amos stood, heading towards where their server had pointed them. Dominic gave a look of disapproval to the retreating back. But couldn’t really disagree as he knew time was not on their side. 

So, even though the penguin wanted to reprimand Amos for leaving his daughter in the dark, Dominic remained quiet. One problem at a time. And they had agents to avoid.