#beauty supply warehouses

[carib-island-trading]

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[phagodyke]

was really brave and asked one of the senior lab techs to help me use the stock software even tho shes shown me before but it was months ago so i forgot how..... so embarrassinggg 😭

[wardenparker]

For Her

Joel Miller x female reader Co-written with @absurdthirst

Rating: Mature Word Count: 10k Warnings: Cursing, food, panic attack, references to unplanned pregnancy, past pregnancy, mentions of Sarah, general post-outbreak mood. Summary: Low on supplies and needing rest, Joel and Ellie stop in a colony he has heard about to restock on their journey west, but Joel finds far more than be bargained for within the city walls. Notes: We are so, so excited to debut our first Joel fic! We’ve been looking forward to this for ages and can’t wait to explore with the character some more!

There aren't many things that are better now than they used to be. Most comforts are gone and there hasn't been any such thing as safety in twenty years, but Lake Erie is more beautiful than ever and sunrises over the water do have a certain amount of appeal that they lacked before now. You had come here on camping trips with your family as a kid and can't remember it ever being this pretty. Not that sunrise is typically your favourite time of day, but the little bundle wrapped in blankets in your arms seems to love it, and she coos happily now at the rising pinks and oranges in the sky while she wiggles her little fist in the air. Everything is better now that she's here, and you press a kiss to her coffee-brown curls. The rest of the world may be in shambles, but you're going to keep this little bundle safe and sound.

******

Joel's eyes are wary, watchful as he looks around. The rifle in his hand lowered, but still ready to lift and fire, the safety switched off and his finger on the trigger guard. "How much we got?" He demands, peeling his eyes away from the surroundings to glance down at Ellie where she has the supplies scattered out, taking count after a bag had been lost during the last run in with a group of clickers.

"Not much." Ellie frowns at the spread, realizing that the pack they'd lost was the one with most of their food. "We have a couple of days here, at best."

"Shit." Joel hisses, tapping his hand on the guard as he thinks. Trying to decide the best course of action. "Gimme the map." He huffs after a second, holding his hand out so he can look at it.

"Here." Joel's map is marked out in codes and colors that Ellie still hasn't figured out yet, but she's been trying ever since they left Boston. She hands over the map now and starts repacking their supplies. "We just crossed the border into Pennsylvania."

"No shit we crossed the border into Pennsylvania." Joel grumbles at her, aware that the moss covered sign they had passed thirty minutes ago proudly proclaimed them to be inside the boarders of the old state. He shuffles the rifle onto his back and starts studying the map, trying to remember where she had told him there was a colony the last time he left the Boston QZ.

"Cranky." Ellie rolls her eyes as she ties up the drawstring on the bag and shoves it into her backpack.

"Shut up." He grunts, running his finger along the road that the two of them are on. Tracing it up to a small town on the edge of Lake Erie. "Lake City." He taps the map as he remembers her smile as she talked about it, making it seem like it was a haven. "I know a place." He decides, folding the map back up and holding it out to the girl. "They should have supplies."

"A lake?" That perks Ellie up, and thoughts of an actual bath in the fresh water and clean clothes are suddenly at the forefront of her mind. "Fuck it. Let's go."

She hikes her pack up higher on her back and steps past him like she's eager to get there. Making him look after her for a moment before he huffs in amusement and starts to follow. "Hey kid, wait up." He orders, not wanting her to get too far ahead of him.

"You got longer legs than me, old man." She throws the taunt behind her with a smirk, not bothering to turn around and look at Joel. "Catch up."

******

It takes nearly three days to get to Lake City. Joel had to keep the girl in a warehouse for an extra six hours when a group of clickers had come by, huddled down and silent as they wandered through. His finger on the trigger and his body in front of her to protect her if necessary. By the time the tall, cobbled together walls come into view, he can barely see twenty feet in front of his own face. It would have been better to have found a place to bunk down for the night, but the supplies were gone and the girl's stomach had been growling for hours.

The watch lights on the catwalk at the top of the walls outside Lake City aren't exactly anything fancy. There's no FEDRA presence here and therefore no Fireflies. No one waving their gun around or murmuring codes around alley corners. The community of Lake City takes care of itself - self-sufficient and self-supporting in every way they can manage from crops and farming to security and back again. There are two people on the catwalk tonight, carrying two of the only guns in the colony to make sure that no clickers come near the gates. They aren't expecting to see anything, and are chatting between themselves about some gossip or other when one of them stands straight up and points the barrel of his rifle down at the two figures approaching the gate. They don't have the movement patterns of any clickers he's seen, but no one takes chances anymore. "STOP!"

"We're alive!" Joel calls out, lifting one hand up and holding the rifle securely with the other as the two of them slowly approach the light. Squinting at the spotlight that is aimed towards them and he moves his hand to shield his eyes from most of the harsh light.

"I can see that." The voice calls out from the top of the wall. "Put down your gun and stay where you are!" The other figure on top of the wall moves out of sight, presumably to come down and inspect the new arrivals.

"I ain't dropping my gun." Joel calls back, not willing to unarm himself. "Not a chance."

"Hold it out. Finger off the trigger. Stay where you are." The voice from the wall instructs. Down below, the much smaller city door swings open, revealing a smaller figure clad in mismatched armor with a gun directed at the new arrivals. "Stand down." The smaller figure orders from behind their helmet.

Joel holds the rifle out, finger lifted into the air but his eyes are watchful, making sure that no one makes a sudden move. He doesn't trust anyone.

It's not until the figure gets closer that they stop, standing stark still in the open field in front of the gates. They don't speak and Ellie keeps herself from fidgeting. She just keeps her eyes moving between Joel and the person in armor until they nod and turn back to the wall. "Let them in!" The figure calls, without testing or checking or finding out anything.

Your eyes widen when you recognize Joel, grateful for the visor that keeps him from seeing your face and potentially recognizing you as well. Although maybe he wouldn't even remember you, you don't know. It was one night well over a year ago, when you were coming down through what used to be New England and ran into him on the road. The idea of sharing supplies and safety in numbers for one night had ended up with the two of you tearing each other’s clothes off and spending all your frustrations in passion. A night that has ended up being far more consequential for you than it ever could be for him.

Joel frowns, standing straight and immediately moving towards Ellie. The protective stance easy for anyone to see as he eyes them. It's unusual that anyone would let people into their colony without questions or testing. Even without the FEDRA influence. "Thank you." He nods towards the figure who is seemingly giving the orders. "We're just passin' through. Need supplies."

“When was the last time she ate?” Deflecting more than slightly, you nod toward the girl, wondering if she’s his. If you aren’t the first woman that had a night with him and ended up living with the consequences.

"Yesterday." Joel answers, making Ellie cut her eyes up at him.

"She can answer for herself." She blows out and looks back at the figure dressed in tactical gear. "Yesterday." She repeats without a hint of irony.

"Then we'll get you something to eat." You nod back to the gate and start walking, knowing that no one left in the world would be dumb enough not to follow. There's shelter, food, and safety on offer for them inside the colony walls. It's literally what they came here for.

Joel looks at Ellie, nodding towards the figure that is retreating. "Well?" He huffs, "better follow." He readjusts his rifle and starts out after the gear covered leader, frowning slightly as he watches their gait. Something seems familiar about it, although he doubts he will run into you here. You had told him that you were planning on going west.

"This place is weird," Ellie mutters, though she follows at the promise of food. "No test and no interrogation? Weird." Inside the gates, the third member of night watch usually doesn't do much. They're there for support, and to keep the rotation going so the people on top of the wall are always alert. Tonight, though, he looks completely appalled that you're opening the gates for new arrivals. "They need food," you tell him, keeping your helmet and visor in place so no one can see how poorly you're dealing with him appearing out of nowhere. "And someplace to sleep. They'll be gone again in no time."

"Keep your eyes open." Joel watches the person's back warily and cuts his eyes around. "Stick by my side. I don't know what's going on, but I don't trust 'em." If this place is half as lax with security as they seem, it's a wonder that it's still standing. Although it seems a lot cleaner than the FEDRA Boston QZ. Hard to see in the dark, but he imagines it's as picturesque as you had described it.

"Shiiit." On the other side of the gate, Ellie stays at Joel's elbow as they follow the guard through to another room. An empty table and a few chairs standby but not much else, and they stand apart from the furniture when you turn to nod to them. "Someone will bring you food and show you where you can sleep. And they'll lock the gates behind you when you leave tomorrow." You have no expectation that he'll stay here, and even though you had dreamt plenty of times of this man coming to find you - and all the tenderness that that might bring with it - you aren't going to say a word. Not when you have your own secret.

"That's it?" Joel shifts slightly, eyes narrowing as he glances around the room suspiciously. "You're just gonna...let us stay?" His tone is disbelieving and it should be, nothing is free in this world since the Outbreak day. "What's really goin' on here?"

Your head drops a little, and you hate him for being so cautious that he can’t just accept the proverbial gift horse he’s being given. “You want to be turned away? Kicked out for asking questions? Fine.” You point to the door. “Get out.”

Joel doesn't move, just stands there watching. Rocking his jaw for a second before he purses his lips. "Lift your visor." He demands, his gut telling him that he knows why he was just let in. "Show me your face."

You could say no. It would be easy. Two letters. One syllable. But you hesitate. “Put down the gun,” you bargain instead. At the very least you don’t want him blowing you away the second he’s confronted with his past.

Instead of putting it down, he takes his finger off the guard, simply holding it by the pistol grip and he lowers it towards the ground in a relaxed position. "As good as it's gonna get." He tells you simply.

It draws another sigh from your lips, but since the Joel you knew was as thorough a son of a bitch in every way as you had ever met, you know he won’t let it go. If you try to retreat he’ll just follow you and pull the helmet right off your head. “I’m not looking for trouble,” you tell him honestly, but pull up the visor on your helmet with two fingers anyway.

Joel's slight scowl immediately softens into a mixture of confusion and satisfaction at being right. Your name comes off his lips in a soft whisper as he takes half a step back in surprise. "You're— you were supposed to be going west." He mumbles, looking you up and down as if what you were wearing would tell him the story of the last year.

Astonished but quietly glad that he actually remembers you, you shrug your shoulders as nonchalantly as humanly possible and take your helmet clean off. No use hiding now. “Circumstances change.” Motioning to the girl beside him, you try not to look to curious or affected by it at all. If he had a wife that he was stepping out in, you don’t want to make waves. “For you, too.”

"Who, her? Joel points at Ellie and shakes his head. "No, she's cargo." He huffs, not wanting you to believe that this girl is his. "Transporting her." He doesn't want to admit it, but you look good, softer - even with the harsh tactical gear.

“Well…I’m sure you’re not aching to rehash old times.” Although now that he’s seen your face, you have to admit that you are. “I’ll go get your food.”

"Wait." Joel steps forward almost instinctively, not wanting you to leave right away. He's wondered about you since that night, no matter how he's tried to just forget about it. Wondering if you had gone west like you planned and he wonders what had kept you here.

"Well, that's interesting." Ellie huffs, making him turn around and glare at her.

"Unless you need to go." Joel adds, feeling foolish.

“I’ll see if Zach can take over on the catwalk for me.” As much as you’re trying to guard yourself, you do want to talk to him again. You’ve literally dreamt of seeing him. Of a night or day just like this when he would come walking up to the colony gates looking for you. Except he wasn’t actually looking for you. He’s just hungry and transporting some teenager. “Sit with you for a little?”

Joel nods, slightly relieved that you aren't just walking away. "Yeah." He rasps out. "That'll be good." You turn around and walk away, leaving him with a smug Ellie, smirking at him like she knows something he doesn't. "What?" He demands harshly, sending her a glare that would make other men piss themselves but she just smirks harder.

“Who’s your pretty lady friend?” Ellie snickers, enjoying the hell out of Joel’s discomfort. He doesn’t show his cards often, but she loves it when he does.

"None of your fuckin' business." He grumbles, relaxing a bit now that he knows you're here. He sets the rifle down and shuffles the back off his back, relishing the relief from the weight. "I don't ask you about your life."

“It means something,” she argues, taking his relaxation as a signal that it’s safe to plop down in one of the folding chairs at the table that takes up most of the room. “You’ve fucking slept with your finger on the trigger. Now she’s here and you’re all trusting? It’s worth asking questions about.”

"It means I've met her before." Joel counters, shucking his jacket and rolling it up to tie to his pack. He wishes he had known you were here. He would have tried - well, there was nothing he could have done if he had known. It wasn't like he was going to pick you flowers and bring them to you like a beau coming to court you. You had one unforgettable night and for all he knows, you've got someone in your life.

“Yeah,” Ellie laughs. “From old times.”

"Aren't you like 13?" He rolls his eyes and pulls out a chair to sit down, groaning slightly at how good it feels on his back. "A year is old times to you, kiddo." It's shocking sometimes how much she can remind him of Sarah. The sass is a little sharper, but the smart mouth of the teenager has made him snort several times when she wasn't paying attention.

“So you knew her a year ago?” Ellie has been quick to pick up on his dropped facts, realizing he does it when something scratches at a particular thought or memory.

Joel narrows his eyes at her in warning but she just raises her brow at him. "Last time I was outside the walls." He admits, reaching up and rubbing his jaw with his hand. "She told me about this place."

“So she’s why we’re here?” Interesting that Joel actually listened to someone long enough to even absorb what they were saying. He’s not exactly chatty.

"No." Joel shakes his head, looking around the room. "We're here for the four-star accommodations." He jokes, knowing the girl doesn't have a clue what he is talking about.

“And for dinner.” Appearing in the doorway with three bowls of soup, some bread, and glasses of clean water, you carefully balance the tray until you can get close enough to the table to set it down. Luckily you’ve been in and out of this room enough times that you know exactly how many steps it takes to get from the door to the table. Six.

Joel leans forward and takes one of the glasses of water but he doesn't touch the soup or the bread. He trusts you, but that's not why he isn't eating. Instead he moves a bowl and a large portion of the food in front of the kid and nods to her. "Eat."

Ellie doesn’t have to be told twice, applying herself to the meal that’s available to her enthusiastically in the hopes that Joel will forget she’s in the room and talk freely. Gossip is the best she can do for entertainment half the time.

“You too.” The second bowl of soup and the last of the bread is set down for Joel, and you take the third bowl off the tray for yourself before handing out spoons.

"After the kid eats her share." Joel takes a sip of his water, knowing that he won't eat a bite until she is full. He hadn't eaten yesterday so she could have more. He could do without.

“Joel.” You would roll your eyes but you know what it is to be hungry. “There’s more in the kitchen. There’s plenty. Please, eat.”

He watches you for a moment before he nods, pulling the bowl towards him and immediately starts eating with the same tenacity as the kid.

You have to wonder how long they've been out in the wilds. It's a long way from the Boston QZ and they had said yesterday was their last meal, but you aren't sure it wasn't longer ago than that. Instead of asking questions you just have your own bowl, letting the silence be filled by nothing more than the sound of eating for now.

Joel is a fast eater. Has always been one. Oftentimes swallowing down meals to beat a timed clock to get to work on time, or to have a few minutes to rest before the lunch break was over on a job site. So he's the first one that is pushing the bowl away, not completely satisfied but the hollow ache is gone for now.

"There's more," you remind him, not trying to push but wanting - for your own reasons - for him to be taken care of.

"Maybe in a few minutes." Joel nods his head towards the girl. "Don't want her to throw it all up. Waste of food."

The girl grumbles and makes a face, but doesn't say anything, and you nod for now. "So...you're headed through? On your way from Boston to wherever?" For some reason you just can't bring yourself to ask if he would stay, which is what you really want to know. Even for a single day.

Joel looks at the door and then at Ellie for a moment before he looks back at you. "Got to get the kid to the Fireflies." He tells you quietly. "Just left Pittsburg and had a little trouble there." He admits, the run in on the road making them abandon the car when it crashed into the bookstore.

"Shit." Your shoulders fall a little, finding out that he's been in danger, but you don't reach for his hand like you want to. "Do you need to lay low for a little bit? How much trouble is a little trouble?"

"It wouldn't hurt." Joel acknowledges, knowing that he had pushed the kid hard for the past week, wanting to put as much distance between them and the city. "Be even better if you had a car we could have."

"I can ask around." A few people have pieces they've been cleaning up to sell to travelers exactly like him, but you had sold yours before the baby was born to get formula powder, diapers, and the other necessities that came with raising a child. "There's...there's room at my place but..." When you exhale you shudder slightly, suddenly terrified at having to actually tell him what happened. Never having thought this day would actually come, you hadn't exactly prepared a speech. "There's something you should know first."

Joel tenses immediately, knowing that news is never good. This time he is expecting to hear that you have some man in your life. That you don't need him bringing up the past. "You don't have to worry about it." He tells you immediately. "Won't say anything about it." He doesn't want you to think that will say anything if you hadn't been free to have him touch you like he assumed.

"What?" It takes you a second, but your mind catches up to his defensiveness relatively quickly. "No, no...that's not...that's not it at all. It's actually...kind of the opposite of that." Glancing at the girl he's got with him, you swallow a solid ball of nerves and try not to grimace. "Not sure what you're okay with me saying..."

"Well if it's something to do with where we're stayin' she's gonna find out." He frowns, trying to figure out what the hell has you so flustered. "Might as well tell 'er now."

"That's fair." But it still makes you blow out a slow, anxious breath and look down at your hands in your lap instead of even trying to look him in the eye. "It's just...if either of you has an issue with being around a baby...I'll find you somewhere else to sleep."

"A baby?" Joel's eyes widen and he frowns. "You found a baby out here?"

"Not quite." Found isn't really the word you would use. "I..." Your fingernails bite into your palms, nerves making you close in on yourself. With no idea how Joel will react, you just dive in headfirst. "She's seven months old. A-and her name is Caroline."

It doesn't take long for Joel to put the pieces together. You look like you're about to shit a brick and twisting your hands together nervously. Seven months old plus the eight—nine months carrying her. Puts her conception right at the time where he had been outside the walls and met up with you for one night. Joel's chair scrapes the floor as he pushes it back abruptly and turns to stalk out of the room, needing fresh air before he passes out.

"Oh fuck," Ellie murmurs, eyes going wide as she looks between you. Whatever gossip she thought she was going to get, this is way better. "It's not like I could just call you." Immediately ready to defend yourself, you're also ready to collapse inwardly from the anger and hurt on his face. "Show up to a FERPA QZ unauthorized and they hang you, so it's not like I could go to Boston, either." Calling the baby Caroline had been your nod to the city where her father supposedly lived, and she's had Sweet Caroline sung to her as a lullaby every night of her very short life.

Your words stop him from leaving, his back turned to you and he tries to breathe but all he can see Sarah's lifeless eyes, unable to protect her. "I-I need— to go-out-outside." Joel chokes, out, stumbling for the door.

"Joel!" Turning to follow him right away, you pause only for a second to point a finger at the girl. "Stay here," you tell her firmly before going after the man who has no idea how to navigate the colony he's about to be ambling around blindly.

Joel hits the door, stumbling into the colder night air, stumbling off to the side and bends over as he tries to suck in lungfuls of air and put his head between his knees at the same time. Blind panic taking over as all he can hear is the rapid, panicked breaths of his dying daughter's last breaths, not realizing it's actually his own breathing.

"Joel." Shooting after him, you find him hyperventilating against a tree in the courtyard beyond the gate. This isn't the first time you've ever seen somebody have a panic attack - it's a regular occurrence to a certain extent - but since it's the first time you've ever had to tell a man that you gave birth to his child, you're a little shaken. "Joel, you gotta breathe, okay?" You kneel down beside him and gently put your hands on his shoulders, trying to figure out if touching him will be soothing or just spook him more. "Deep breaths. Long, steady exhales."

"I c-can't – you— you— ba-bab-baby—" Joel closes his eyes and stops breathing at one point before he starts to drop down to his knees in the dirt. Inhaling roughly and sounding like a man starved of oxygen finally getting a breath. Trying not to pass out from the rush of oxygen to his brain and he clenches his fists on his thighs.

"I don't want anything from you." What the hell could you even ask for? Child support? That's fucking laughable in the world you live in now. Dropping to your knees in the dirt next to him, one hand is one his back but you're trying to search his face for some kind of reaction beyond panic. "Caroline and I are as good as anybody can be with the way the world is, okay? You just concentrate on deep, looong breaths."

"I don't— I can't—" Joel chokes out a sob and his hand wraps around his watch. The last thing he has from his daughter. "Sarah." He manages, trying to steady his breathing.

"Sarah doesn't need to know." Finding out he does have someone waiting for him is a disappointing twist to your gut, but you can't be focusing on yourself right now.

He shakes his head, shoulders slumping down and he takes a moment before he manages to take an even steady breath. "Not—" He stops himself and reaches for your hand. "She's okay?" He asks. "You're okay?"

"Yeah." You nod and squeeze his hand, wondering what the hell is going through his mind. "Yeah, Joel. We're okay. One of my friends is watching her while I'm on night shift, but we're good. She's...she's my angel."

Joel closes his eyes and absorbs the news that once again - twenty years later - he's a father. He nods, squeezing your hand back before he opens his eyes, more in control of himself than he had been minutes before. "Okay." He rasps out.

"You don't owe us anything, and I'm not asking for anything." He hasn't taken his hand back and you're shamefully glad about it, enjoying the warmth of him again after so long. "You just...you deserve to know she's yours."

He doesn't think that you would lie about something like that. You weren't that type of person. "I— Ellie—" He twists his head around to find the girl outside and staring at him with wide eyes.

"You guys are safe here." Whoever this girl is she's more than just cargo, but you're not going to ask questions. You always got the feeling that Joel was into far more dangerous shit than you could ever stomach, and while that was part of the sex appeal it did also mean you weren't going to stick your nose in his business.

"You shoulda stayed inside." Joel manages to sound like himself when he addresses Ellie but the girl just shrugs.

"But I didn't." She counters back with a smirk. "I wanted to see you freak out over having a baby. Old fart."

"Accidents happen in the world." Shit happens, you know that, and while Caroline was unplanned you wouldn't trade her for the world. "We all process shit differently, Ellie."

"He doesn't." She mutters, some of her joy fading as Joel stumbles to his feet and turns to her.

"Take your time." Your hand on Joel's arm is solid and would be comforting if it weren't for the situation at hand. "I'll take Ellie back inside. Give you...ya know...time to absorb."

"No." Joel shakes his head, the same calm that he normally shows settling back over him. "I'm good." He looks towards Ellie and grimaces. "Can the kid get a bath?" He asks, knowing it's been a while. "Some clean clothes?"

"Yeah, of course." Anything he needs is his, you know yourself well enough to know that you'll give him anything you can without sacrificing what Caroline needs. "A bath, clean clothes, food, place to sleep, whatever. I meant it, you can stay with me as long as you need to."

The invitation to stay shouldn't be appealing, but it is. Right now, Joel just wants to see this daughter of his and get some sleep. He's exhausted and now that his stomach isn't growling, he wants to rest. "Okay."

"Go grab your packs from the room," you urge them both, glad to see Joel looking a little more like himself again. "I'll go check in with Zach and then I'll show you where you're staying."

Joel is quiet as the two of them collect their things, ignoring the obvious looks from Ellie as she tries to catch his eye so she can grill him. He can't do that right now. Meeting you back out front and Joel holds the rifle loosely in his hand. "Lead the way."

******

The small house you've been living in is one of the lakefront cottages that some rich family once upon a time must have used for vacations. It's a little thing with just enough room for you and Caroline and your friend who drops in a few times a week to look after the baby so you can relax or work your night shift for the security team. A lot of your time is spent with the other mothers in the colony anyway, giving a whole lot of proof to the phrase 'it takes a village'. "This is it." A half mile from the gates, you point out the little house that once had white paint and blue shutters, and now looks exactly like the windswept relic that it is. "Home sweet home."

It's the closest that he's seen to normal since the outbreak. His face relaxing even more, and he gives a small half smile as he looks at it. "You sure you want us in your space?"

"You have more right to it than anyone else." The shrug you offer him is a little lax, but it's the best you can do. "And Ellie here needs a good night's sleep."

"I'd fucking kill for a pillow." Ellie moans, her eyes fluttering in at the idea of it. "Hey." Joel bumps her shoulder and frowns at her.

"No, it's alright." You wave him off, not wanting him to worry about propriety when you pull the front door open. "There's a spare bedroom with a whole bed with blankets and pillows and everything for when my friend stays over." Nothing is exactly high quality, but at least it's there. The glancing look you give Joel, though, is cautious. "I can sleep on the couch so you can have a bed. It's okay."

“I’m not takin’ your bed.” Joel huffs. “I’ve slept in worse places than a couch.” He’s not going to kick you out of your bed, not when you’ve got a baby to take care of. “Keep your bed, honey.”

What you really want is to offer to share it, but you're not sure if that would be weird to say in front of the teen. "Kitchen and living room down here, bedrooms and bathroom upstairs." You lead the way into the house with your voice lowered and point down the left side of the hallway. "That's the guest room and the bathroom, Ellie. Knock yourself out. There's a towel in the cupboard after you're done and I'll find something of mine you can wear for pajamas. We'll wash your clothes at the lake tomorrow."

“I get a bed to myself?” Ellie’s eyes are wide and she’s not too interested in a bath but she knows she will feel better. “For real?”

"It's not big, but it's all yours." You nod and watch her disappear down the hall at top speed. "She's sweet. Mouth of a sailor, but sweet."

“She’s a pain in my ass.” Joel corrects you, even as he smirks listening to her squeal of delight and the heavy stomping of her feet since she knows she’s safe.

"Do you..." Motioning toward your bedroom door lamely, you can hear your friend on the other side murmuring softly. "Do you want to meet your daughter?"

Joel takes a deep breath and after a moment, he nods. Just one short tilt of his head. Exhaling slowly so he doesn’t freak out again.

When you open the door two sets of eyes find you immediately. Your friend Emma is confused, obviously, but Caroline's little face lights up and she starts babbling happily the second you appear. "Home early tonight," you explain, offering both girls a smile and reaching for the little bundle in Emma's arms. "How's mama's little angel tonight? Did she wake up wanting snuggles again?"

A baby. It’s been nearly thirty-five goddamn years since Joel has interacted with a baby. Unable to do anything but watch as a little human, a miniature version of you - thank God - coos and babbles at her mommy. Hands grabbing and an occasional squeal coming out of her tiny, yet forceful, mouth.

"She got a little fussy a half hour ago," Emma tells you. Her eyes never leave Joel, though, regardless of the fact that she's talking to you. "One a.m. like clockwork." Bundling Caroline up in your arms is easy. It's like the most natural thing in the world despite how scared you had been to bring a baby into this insanity of this world around you. "Well, I got news for you, baby girl," you coo at her and bounce her softly in for your arms. "You have somebody extra special to meet." Stepping just barely to the side, you nod to Joel and smile. "Emma, this is Joel." The introduction is simple, but that's because your friend knows exactly who Joel is to you. Why he's so important. "Caroline, baby," you press a kiss to her forehead. "You wanna meet your daddy?"

Joel can't even spare a glance for the girl once he sees the kid. Fear, joy, bone deep sorrow and relief that she looks healthy all bloom in his chest at the same time. Eyes focused on her, absorbing every minute movement as you interact with his daughter. He moves forward, barely an inch, without even realizing it. Leaning in so he can see her better. See the child that he had created with you even though he had pulled out and thought that he had been fast enough. He knows that's not foolproof, and the evidence is right in front of him.

“Do you want to hold her?” Not knowing anything about Joel’s life before the Outbreak, you have no idea if this is the first time he’s held a baby or the millionth. He might hate them for all you know. Some people do, after all.

“No.” Joel rocks back and shakes his head immediately. “I’m— I’m dirty. I shouldn’t. I’ve been outside and who knows what I’ve picked up.” The idea of infecting this innocent baby makes his heart pound. “I— no.”

“Okay.” The panic on his face is unexpected, and surprisingly disappointing, but you nod and continue to bounce Caroline gently. “I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…you don’t have to be her father. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s not—” Joel cuts himself off and sighs. “I’ve been traveling for weeks. And had to— the clickers….” He mumbles, looking down at his filthy hands. “I need to clean up.”

“I’m gonna go.” Emma murmurs, grabbing her sweater from the old rocking chair and eyeing the two of you awkwardly. “Come by tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” You nod, reaching to squeeze her shoulder with one hand in silent thanks for everything she does to help you. “Thanks, Em.”

Joel listens as she goes down the stairs and out the door. Alone with you after over a year and there’s this baby in your arms. Taking him back to his early twenties, reminding him of when Sarah was that size. He clears his throat. “I— can I clean up?” He asks, knowing you might not have clothes for him to wear but it would be good to scrub the filth from his body.

“Y-yeah, of course.” You have your own bathroom, attached to your bedroom, and you know for a damn fact that if you hadn’t repaired this place yourself when you got to Lake City you’d be sharing it with at least one or two other families. But you put your foot down and you leaned on the pregnancy sympathy and you got it for you. Or really, for Caroline. “Through that door. I’m not sure if I have clothes you can wear, but I’ll look.”

“Thank you.” With one last look at the baby, Joel strides into the bathroom and closes the door. Amazed that there is a private space for you, that he’s got a baby he helped create. The mirror above the sink is old, the silver coating peeling but he looks into it and wonders when the hell he got so many grays in his hair.

Caroline frowns heavily when Joel disappears from her limited line of sight, and you coo at her quietly while he cleans himself up. “It’s okay, sweet Caroline,” you murmur, cradling her close. “Everything’s okay. He’ll be right back, baby girl. Don’t be sad.”

In the bathroom, Joel strips down, eager to be clean for the first time in who knows how long. The water isn’t warm but it’s fresh. Making him groan under the spray and watch as swirls of dirt and filth rush down the drain.

The sound of the shower running only lasts a few minutes, but you knock on the door when he’s done and call his name quietly. “Joel? I’ve got some things that might fit you. I’ll leave them in the bed for you while I get Caroline a snack, ok?”

“Thank you.” Joel calls out, stepping out and wrapping a towel around his waist. It’s the cleanest he’s felt in a long time and the lure of clean clothes is hard to resist.

******

You’re downstairs with a happily babbling little girl thoroughly enjoying her applesauce when Joel appears in the doorway, dressed in sweats and a t-shirt. He looks like an entirely new man - fresh and clean like he just washed up after work and it’s a completely normal day in a completely normal world. If not for the peeling paint and candlelight, you could almost pretend the Outbreak had never happened. That this is just life with your baby and the man who gave her to you.

"Hey, uh..." Joel frowns slightly, feeling awkward and not wanting to overstep in any way when you have been so kind to him. "I left my clothes in the bathroom. Didn't— they need to be washed." He explains, lifting a hand to run it through his squeaky-clean hair.

“I’ll take them to the lake tomorrow when I do Ellie’s.” You offer, assuming they’ve been traveling hard and will need to rest. Joel isn’t a gentle kind of guy.

"I can wash our clothes." Joel tells you. "You don't need to add more to your plate for us. You already have enough." His eyes turn back towards the baby and he is still startled by the large dark eyes watching him. Reminding him again of Sarah as a baby.

“Then we’ll go together.” That’s fine with you, it’s an excuse to spend more time with him. “This one keeps things plenty messy.” You grin and blow Caroline a kiss. “Don’t you, sweetie?”

Joel nods and licks his lips slightly as he watches the girl react to it. Waving her hands and grinning at her mother. She's getting sleepy, her eyes starting to drift closed before she wakes herself up and waves her arms around with a squeal. It makes Joel smile, just a tiny one, but he does.

“Looks like it’s bedtime.” There aren’t baby monitors or fancy cell phones to use as video equipment anymore, but you have Caroline’s bassinet set up in the corner of your bedroom and that’s all you need, putting her in her basket-turned-carrier anytime you leave the house together. “If you’re tired, we can talk tomorrow?” There hadn’t been much talking with Joel a year ago. It was fast and needy and amazing, but it certainly wasn’t romantic dinners or dates strolling through the park philosophizing about life. Wanting to know him now is just because of Caroline, you tell yourself, even though you know that’s a lie. You hadn’t ever stopped thinking about this man. “If you want, I mean.”

He wants to talk to you but he's also knows that you need to sleep and so does the baby. "Yeah." He nods, shuffling slightly. "We can talk in the morning. Go put the baby to bed and get some rest." He suggests, not hearing Ellie upstairs and he knows she's probably passed out.

“Sure.” You nod, hoisting Caroline up in your arms and picking up the hat of applesauce to put it back in the barely functioning refrigerator. “Just, um…” A smile cracks your tired face when you look at him, you just can’t help it. “It’s good to see you, Joel.”

"It's good to see you too, honey." He remembers calling you that during that one night. It wasn't like he didn't remember every single second of that night after he had left you. He isn't in love with you, that would be foolish, but you had stayed in his mind and now he's seeing you again.

“There’s blankets and extra pillows on the couch.” You want so badly to have just the casual intimacy that would allow you to kiss his cheek, but that night was a long time ago and things are different now. Or at least you tell yourself that they are, because it makes you behave yourself. “Good night.” You turn for the stairs, gently patting Caroline’s back as you go, wanting her to settle in and sleep through as much of the night as possible. You don’t know if you’ll sleep, with Joel so near, but she should be able to have wonderful dreams.

******

Joel, when he's not popped any pills, is a light sleeper. Not sure when it is, but the sun is still down, jerking awake and listening for a moment for what had pulled him out of restless dreams of Sarah when she was a baby. Then he hears it again. A small cry. Not loud enough to really upset the household but the first unhappy sounds of a baby. Grunting, Joel rolls off the couch and stands. Starting to slowly make his way up the stairs. Expecting to hear your voice as he goes, but he still just hears the kid. Until he pushes the cracked door open and sees the small light, the baby moving in her bed in a corner and Joel looks over to see you sprawled out, still asleep. Another small grunt makes his head snap back towards the cradle and he moves towards it slowly.

She looks up at him with curiosity - not scared of him or disliking the look of him, apparently - just upset that in this exact moment there is no one holding her. Whatever the reason, whether it was a bad dream or an upset stomach or general discomfort, little Caroline reaches up her arms to ask to be held as another small cry escapes her trembling lips.

He doesn't hesitate more than a second, watching her as he reaches down and picks up the small girl. Instantly flashing back to when he routinely carried around another baby. He cradles his daughter in his arms and cuddles her close. "Hey baby girl." He croons softly, not wanting to wake you up but happy that she isn't crying now that he's holding her.

It’s sometime after that, that the nightmare starts. You’re oblivious to the world while you sleep heavily in your bed, and the nightmares come out of nowhere. Memories of the Outbreak mix with Caroline’s birth, with terrifying thoughts of losing her or seeing her turned as a child or even a full grown woman. Fear of infection grows in you exactly like the fungus the whole world has grown to fear, and you wake up in a panic that has you covered in sweat. Only to see Joel sitting in the rocking chair under the window with Caroline against his chest like nothing in the world has ever gone wrong in the first place.

"You woulda liked her." His hand is firm on her back, the warmth from her little body against his skin keeps him grounded. "Or she woulda loved you. She woulda fussed and cooed over you like you were the most precious thing." He thinks Caroline likes the rumble of his voice, the vibration from his chest. "She always wanted to be a big sister."

“Wha—what?” You can hear Joel talking but can’t quite make it out. Digging your way out of the mire of nightmares is like slogging through mud. “Is everything okay?”

Joel startles slightly, not enough to disturb Caroline, but he turns his head towards you. "I didn't wake you, did I?" He asks, frowning slightly at the thought. "Didn't mean to."

"No." Wiping one hand down your face, you shift to sit up in bed and get a better look at Caroline in his arms. "No, I, um...nightmare." You shrug one shoulder lamely.

"I was tryin' to let you sleep." Joel looks back down at Caroline and then back at you. "She got a little fussy but she was good as soon as I picked her up."

"I don't normally sleep so deeply." Damn nightmares kept you from hearing Caroline, which you hate, and you scrub both palms down your face in dismay. "I'm sorry she woke you up."

"Don't worry about that." Joel can't help but lean his head over, running his nose over her soft head and down her cheek. "I was just talkin' to her. Tellin' her about things."

"What kind of things?" Instantly you wish he was sitting on the couch or in bed with you so you could cuddle up together. A domestic thought that makes you wish you were a family.

Joel rubs her back gently when she squeals and then settles back down against his shoulder, chuckling softly. “I was tellin’ her about…Sarah.”

"Who is Sarah?" He had said the name earlier, but you weren't about to interrogate him in the middle of a panic attack.

He closes his eyes and nuzzles the baby again, remembering how soft and sweet they could smell when they are clean and sleepy. “She…she was my daughter.”

You don't miss the was in the sentence, and you suck in a cautious breath. "I'm sorry." Now that you have Caroline, you can't imagine the pain of losing her. No wonder he panicked when you told him he had another.

“It was a long time ago.” Joel mutters softly, his eyes opening and finding yours, seeing the sorrow in them. “She woulda been 32, laughing her ass off at her old man finally givin’ her the sister she asked for for Christmas every year.”

Before the Outbreak. You swallow, nodding as you absorb this new information. “If she was anything like you, she’d rib you mercilessly.” What little you do know of him, Joel teases as a sign of affection.

“Endlessly.” Joel knows what it’s like being a single parent, he hasn’t forgotten. “Her mother…left us when Sarah was three months old.” He decides he owes you this, you are connected with him in a way that fundamentally changes things. “I raised her, she had a...a way that just made me marvel at how smart she was. Quick witted.” His foot pushes off the floor and rocks the chair gently. “Until….”

“You don’t have to tell me if I’m you don’t want to.” If it will hurt you. The last thing you want is to hurt him in any way. Not when…when you feel about him like you do, and when he’s given you something as incredible as Caroline.

The baby squirms, capturing his attention for a moment and he rubs her back soothingly. “It’s okay. She— the day it happened – ‘Outbreak Day’ – it was my birthday.”

“Shit.” Shifting forward in your bed, you instinctively reach out to touch his knee. “I’m so sorry.”

“You know how it was.” Joel grunts. “Chaos. A plans crashed and the truck we were in flipped.” He can see it, plain as day. “Her ankle was hurt so I carried her and the Army— they—” He closes his eyes and squeezes them tight. “They shot us.”

“Assumed infected.” You sigh, looking down at your hand on his knee before realizing it’s probably an overstep and recoiling. “The Army took at least one person from all of us. People who could have survived. Who were fine.”

“They killed a twelve-year-old girl.” Joel hisses. “My baby girl.”

“And they killed my seventeen-year-old sister.” He’s not the only one who lost someone, but it’s obvious that his loss is still as fresh as the day Sarah was shot. “I-I’m sorry, Joel. I am.”

“I’m sorry about your loss.” He rumbles out softly. “We’ve all lost people.”

“We have.” You can agree to that without hesitation. “But…we also gained someone. Tiny and fussy and she’s got the best laugh in the whole world. I’m just…I’m glad you got to meet her.”

“I’m sorry.” Joel shakes his head, even as he cuddles her closer. “I didn’t mean to – I shoulda pulled out sooner, I guess.” He knows that he could have gotten you pregnant from precum but he still feels guilty.

“I appreciate that, but…now that’s she’s here? I wouldn’t trade her for the world.” The times of being angry with him for what happened are far behind you at this point. You knew the risk you were taking having unprotected sex - you had just wanted Joel too desperately to care.

“I never expected to see you again.” He admits quietly. “Thought you would be out west somewhere. Thought about it some.”

“You thought about me?” You probably sound more surprised than you should, considering how often you think about him, but you had assumed he would have forgotten about you fairly quickly. He had nothing like your reason to remember.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Joel frowns slightly and tilts his head at you. “Thought we had a good night. Conversation…what happened after.” He smirks slightly.

“I thought we had a fantastic night.” And you hadn’t wanted to let yourself be overly sentimental in dreaming that he might still think about you sometimes. “I just didn’t know what you were going back to, so I kind of…didn’t want to let myself get sentimental, ya know?”

Joel snorts and shakes his head. “Some things you just don’t do.” He murmurs. “End of the world or not.” He and Tess hadn’t been exclusive, hell – she hadn’t even really been in his bed for a month before he had met you. Not that it matters now.

"Doesn't mean you couldn't have met somebody else since." There had been a million different ways that you had talked yourself out of getting maudlin over his memory or overly attached to fantasies of him, and you shrug a little while you watch him rock your now sleeping baby. "It was easier not to let myself dream about you."

“Naw… nothing—” He clears his throat. “Nothing that actually matters now.”

"I'm not expecting you to drop everything because of her." That's not something you would have asked of him even in the time before, and you're certainly not going to ask it of him now. The world has changed, even if people are fundamentally the same. "But we won't say no to visits now and then if you're still traveling."

He’s quiet for a minute, stewing as he contemplates what to do. “I’ve got to go.” He admits after a long moment. “Get the girl to the Fireflies.”

"Yeah, you said." It hurts more than you want to admit, because you want him to drop everything and stay with you. To be with you and Caroline. It's such a juvenile fantasy in some ways, but the way you've felt about Joel for the last almost year and a half is undeniable. "But like I said...if you ever came back this way...we would be glad to see you."

He can hear it in your voice, twisting his head so that he can look at you. “She’s important.” He tells you quietly, hoping that he can trust you. “Special.” He adds meaningfully.

“She seems like a good kid.” A little foul-mouthed maybe, but you had been too, at her age. And that was without the world collapsed around you. “I just want you to know you’re welcome here, that’s all. Caroline is…she’s your blood. And if you want to know her, you should be able to.”

He should be grateful that you are telling him that. That he can live his life and not worry about the baby he’s fathered. But it irritates him. “You aren’t goin’ west anymore? You could.”

“I can’t protect her on my own.” It’s something that you struggled with. The change to your plans to go west and find what remained of your family had been abandoned when you figured out that your sickness was pregnancy and not any of the thousand other things it could be. “I stayed and worked on the house so she could be safe. I have no business going west anymore.” As much as it hurts you, you really can’t. Caroline instantly became and will always be your first priority. “Not until she’s older, anyway. A lot older. And by then who knows what will have happened.”

“I’ve got to get to Jackson. My brother Tommy, he’s missing’ and that’s where he was last.” Joel shuffles Caroline so that she’s cradled in the curve of his arm.

“Wyoming?” He said west, not south, so it’s an informed guess. And an ironic coincidence, if it’s true. “I…I used to have people out there. I don’t know if they’re still there or still alive, but they were in Jackson last I heard.”

Joel nods, confirming he meant Wyoming. The idea of traveling with a baby isn’t a pleasant one. It makes things hundreds of times more complicated, but he also knows that he doesn’t want to leave the two of you, wondering what would happen to you.

“Could I send a letter with you, maybe?” Just being able to tell your surviving family that you’re okay - safe and with a baby - would be such a relief. “If you don’t run into them or can’t find them, that’s fine. But just in case?”

Joel is quiet for a long minute, mulling over everything. “If we had a car, we could go. All of us.” Joel murmurs quietly, unsure of your willingness to travel with Caroline.

“You want us to go with you?” It honestly wasn’t something you had expected. If anything, you would have been ecstatic to have him come back to you when everything was over.

“Only if you think you can handle it.” Joel tells you quickly. “It’s not going to be stroll. It’ll be dangerous. And the baby will need to be protected.”

“I’ve been out there before,” you remind him. It’s how you met, after all. Or at least it’s where you met. Out in the wilds. “It’s how I know I can’t do it alone. But two of us? That’s…that’s different.”

Joel looks at you, “how much can we get?” He asks, wanting to know about supplies. A car, horses, whatever could be had here.

“A lot of people want this house.” A safe place to live is invaluable, and this one has the benefit of the small garden Emma helped you start. “I’ve got good food stores and medical supplies. Clothes, soap, a knife and an axe.” You had built up this house to be where you raised your daughter, so you had stocked up supplies, too. “We could trade the house for a car and whatever else we need.”

“If you’re wantin’ to stay here, I won’t blame you.” Joel strokes the baby’s face gently and smiles when she reaches up and grabs his finger while she sleeps. “It’s a nice life you have here and it – it’ll be hard out there.”

“This is as good a life as we can hope for anymore.” That’s true, and it makes a part of you ache that you actually aren’t very happy here. You have everything you need, Caroline is safe, and there’s less violence than in a lot of other places - but you feel isolated regardless. Even the friends you’ve made feel like placeholders compared to your family. “But I really don’t know.” Is it worth giving up security for happiness? How will you know which will make Caroline happier?

“If you want to go, I’ll get you there.” Joel promises you, serious about that. He will do anything to protect you and the baby. Ellie too. “I promise.”

“I miss my family.” It comes out small, more ashamed than you’d like, as you watch Joel cradle your daughter in his arm. “I think I’d give anything to have my family back. Anything but Caroline.”

“Nothing wrong with missing family, baby.” Joel hums quietly, thinking about Tommy….and Sarah. “Sometime the only reason to go on if for people we care about.”

“Do you keep going for Tommy?” It’s an intensely personal question, but the connection you share with him now just as intensely personal as you could have with another person.

“I did.” Joel admits, his brother the most important person in the world to him until recently. Or tonight.

“Did?” You ask, your eyebrows knitting together, wondering why he’s talking like his brother is dead when he just said he was going to find him.

“Did.” Joel murmurs softly, leaning down and pressing his lips to Caroline’s forehead. “Now I’ll keep going for her.” He tells you, looking up when he pulls away from his daughter.

______ Master Tags: @pixiedurango @chattychell @winter-fox-queen @lady-himbo @artsymaddie @princess76179 @paintballkid711 @missminkylove @pedrosbrat @ew-erin @sarahjkl82-blog @sharkbait77 @justanotherblonde23 @lv7867 @recklesswit @mylittlesenaar @f0rever15elf @gallowsjoker @steeevienicks @athalien @sherala007 @skvatnavle @thatpinkshirt @jaime1110 @girlimjusttryingtoreadfanfics @goodgriefitsawildworld @greeneyedblondie44 @katheriner1999 @littlemousedroid @harriedandharassed @churchill356 @ajathegreats-blog @hardc0rehaylz @beardsanddetectives @kirsteng42 @ladykatakuri @adancedivasmom @madiebear @tanzthompson @emilianamason @bigsdinger​

My Masterlist!

[violettwrites]

hi!! will you please write another fic about daryl x reader

reader seeing/experiencing something traumatic and she’s shaking and tears rolling down her cheeks and daryl sits down in front of her trying to comfort her.

safe in your skin 🏹 daryl dixon

a/n: hi nonnie than you so much for this request !! ( and sorry it took so long 😭 ) i listened to the song linked while writing this and highly recommend you guys do too !! it’s beautiful and tigers jaw is one of my fave bands 🫶🏻 anyway i hope you enjoy this !! and as always, don’t forget to like/reblog if you enjoyed this and feel free to follow me to see more of my stuff !! x

i also just realised gregory is the fkn asshole from hilltop but this is NOT him i just couldn’t think of names apparently i am so sorry

as always, my ask box is open !

( intended lowercase )

summary: reader and daryl go on a supply run, but are separated from someone close to them— when they do eventually find them, they must learn to deal with the unforgiving curse that is life.

warnings: mentions of death

word count: 848

the woods were eerily quiet, the usual rustle of leaves and the distant calls of wildlife had been replaced by a thick and heavy silence. you and daryl had been split from gregory during a supply run, someone you had been through the fall with since the start. your best friend in this unforgiving world. but you had known he was smart enough to survive on his own until the two of you found him. or so you thought.

the sun was starting to breach the horizon, the soft glow casting an almost angelic light over the town daryl had led you to in search for your best friend. if it was anyone else, he probably would have told them it wasn’t worth risking their lives to look for him, but you were different.

making your way towards the warehouse you all were supposed to go to so you could find supplies, you stopped once you reached the parking lot, spotting a group of walkers, all crouched down as they feasted on something— someone.

gregory.

you knew that brown coat he had worn since the start, now covered in blood and guts— the remains of what was once your best friend. the sight was too much, causing you to drop to your knees, mouth open to speak but nothing came out.

the brutal reality hit you like a tidal wave— all at once. sure, you had lost people before. people that were close to you, but there was something so much different about losing your best friend. your confidant. the one you told everything to. just taken away from you like that. he was gone. his last moments presented to you in a gruesome way— a way he never wanted to go out.

your hand shakily came to your mouth, tears clouding your vision as they freely streamed down your cheeks, choked sobs coming from your lips as you tried to process what happened, but you couldn’t. you couldn’t get your head around the fact he was truly gone. it was a sight that was haunting, knowing it would be imprinted in your mind for the rest of your life.

daryl, ever the stoic figure he was, had been beside you, at a loss for words. he watched as you struggled to keep yourself together, but the sight of you silently breaking down next to him made his heart wrench. you didn’t deserve to see your best friend’s end like that. no one did.

he took a deep breath, crouching down slowly in front of you, fearing that any sudden moment or words might shatter you further.

“hey,” he spoke softly, his rough voice carrying a tenderness that was rarely heard. he reached out, placing his hands on your shoulder in attempt to ground you— to bring you back to this reality, as much as you didn’t want to be here.

you looked up at him, eyes red and glassy, struggling to form words. daryl didn’t push; he simply stayed there, his present a silent testament to his support. he wasn’t asking you to speak or pretend you were okay, he was just there, a steady presence in the midst of your storm.

as the minutes ticked by, daryl slowly pulled you into a gentle embrace, arms tightly wrapped around you. you rested your head against his chest, body still trembling as you tried to come to terms with the loss you had just suffered suddenly. you tried to focus on the beat of his heart, steady as you listened, a small yet significant reassurance. he stroked your hair with one hand, the other still holding you close.

“i know,” he murmured into your hair, his voice rough yet filled with emotion. “it ain’t fair, it ain’t right.” he paused for a moment, swallowing hard as he tried to find the right words. “but we gotta keep goin’. for him. for everyone we lost. we gotta keep movin’.”

you nodded against him, the closeness offering a fragile sense of comfort. you knew daryl was right, the world didn’t stop for anyone. and the dead wouldn’t stop for anything. not even your tears and cries. but the ache in your chest was still painful. yet his presence was a lifeline, a reminder that even in the darkest moments, you weren’t alone.

eventually, you pulled back slightly, meeting his gaze. there was a shared understanding in his eyes, an unspoken bond formed through loss and survival. everyone had experienced the same thing. but that didn’t mean it hurt any less.

daryl offered a small, encouraging nod, and together, you stood up, ready to face the rest of your journey— knowing it would be filled with more moments like this. as much as you wish it wasn’t— that cruel things didn’t have to happen to such kind people.

the road ahead was uncertain and filled with the echoes of loss, but with daryl by your side, you took your first step forward, carrying the memory of gregory with you— not his gruesome death, but the light he brought to your life.

[theoutcastrogue]

[From a 2014 article by John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats. He's talking about how a random spam email ended up inspiring a part of his book Wolf in White Van. Later, in 2020, the album Getting Into Knives came out, and I think it inspired its artwork too.]

"It took years for me to be able to just reflexively delete spam, or filter it so that I never see it at all. I blame the spammers for this; the quality of their work took a sharp nosedive at some point. But during whatever period of the internet’s growth you’d call the early 2000s, it seemed like you’d still get some winners: things that had been typed up by a person, sent out to a bunch of email addresses they’d bought or rented for 5 or 10 bucks from the only guy who was ever going to make any money in this particular exchange. Most of them went directly, if manually, into the trash; but once in a while, there’d be one that seemed to earn, at the very least, the minute it’d take me to read it.

The one I’m remembering here was subject-lined SUPPLY OF KNIVES. [...] The subject line opened on an all-caps email that boasted, in ornate, antiquated English appealing to the reader’s more refined sensibilities, about the high quality of the knives on offer at an external website. You shouldn’t click on links in spam email. I live my life on the razor’s edge! I clicked the link.

I want to tell you about these knives: They were beautiful. They were weird. They had elaborate designs in the handles, moons or stars of wolf heads, and special grips, and a variety of points. They were made from metals whose pedigrees were described lovingly, and had been struck — smithed? wrought? — via processes I knew absolutely nothing about, but that sounded fantastic, difficult, arcane. It’s the joy of specialized language: When you’re an outsider to it, it can’t help but sound cool.

Of course this is the whole idea of any operation like this. SUPPLY OF KNIVES could well have been, and probably was, a company in Ohio who’d stumbled across an old warehouse full of knives, and knew enough about sales to describe these things in the most exotic terms they could find. I’m pretty immune to pitches: Who likes to feel like he’s being pitched? But somebody involved with SUPPLY OF KNIVES had had just enough authorial flair — that, or true faith — to caption each knife’s mysterious, blurry accompanying JPEG with a description whose constant recourse to specialized vocabularies seemed to say, “You’re not even reading this unless you already know about this sort of thing. Let us therefore speak like the fellow travelers we are.”

It was like a trade catalog for roadside bandits in need of knives.

I can’t speak for everybody, but I know that when I was a child the life of the roadside bandit seemed like a pretty romantic way to go. I looked at all these knives and read the descriptions and was just generally delighted about the whole thing, so I saved the email in a “memorable spam” folder I used to keep that had maybe two other emails in it. A few years later, Apple came out with this robotic-arm-screen iMac you never see any more, and we were long overdue for a new computer so we got that; and then, after a while, I got myself a laptop, because I was traveling all the time, and eventually both the old iMacs ended up in the basement, and they were both asleep but alive until fairly recently, as far as I knew.

But when I went to check for the email, it was gone. The old blue iMac is dead, bricked, lifeless. Searches on the term “supply of knives” on this laptop and on good old robot-arm-screen find nothing. The backup CD for the blue iMac drive is probably in a drawer around here somewhere, but that’s like saying, “The coin I had in my swim trunks’ pocket is probably somewhere in the ocean.” There is no SUPPLY OF KNIVES. There’s only the memory."

[source]

And this is the wonderful cover art of Getting Into Knives. Back cover and promo material below. Note that "Knives International" and "Knives Wordwide" are not real companies, they appear to be a callback to that elusive spam email.

[imasinnerimsorry]

The Girl Worth Fighting For

Well-known boxer Harry Styles has been a regular at his trainer Antonio Montez’s gym, and he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. But, Antonio’s daughter Lola also comes around, and Harry wants her all to himself. Is she a girl worth fighting for?

SMUT / ANGST; Kinks include: deep penetration, face-fucking, deepthroating, riding, age gap (7 years), creampie

“Keep goin’, Styles,” Antonio yelled, encouraging Harry to hit the punching bag harder and with more vigor. With that, Harry used all of his power to hit the bag with enough impact to send the bag flying backwards each time.

It was a normal training day for Harry at Antonio’s, a gym he’s been going to since he had moved to New York and began his boxing career at 19. The owner of the place, Antonio Montez, built this place from the ground up (both literally and physically), and ever since Harry’s been there, he had treated him like he was his own son. He’d make him home cooked meals and carry them to the gym, take Harry out to sports games with him, and even give him advice in his personal life. The two men were very close.

Antonio also had a daughter, Lola, who had been helping around with errands and supplies for the gym whenever he needed them. Although Harry had been going to that gym for 6 years now, he had never seen her until recently when she started working part-time. He recalls Antonio being a divorced man, so he could put together that Lola probably lived with her mom during those 6 years. From previous conversations with her, Harry learned that she was a 20 year old student at FIT working on her degree for Fashion & Design, and was currently in her second year. She was quite a good girl: smart, obedient, a great sense of style, and a true Daddy’s girl.

But that’s not all Harry noticed about her. Lola had long beautiful brown hair with a red ombre that got brighter as her hair trailed down to her beautiful collarbones, the left one being engraved with a tattoo of a zodiac glyph (the sign of Scorpio maybe? Harry wasn’t too apt when it came to astrology). She wore glasses sometimes, but Harry assumed that she had contacts on the days she didn’t. Her body was full and beautiful; her bust spilled out of every top she wore, her thighs and ass were thick and the jiggles they made as she walked always captivated him, and her love handles accentuated her God-given curves. He noticed the stretch marks and freckles that adorned her skin. She was just perfect.

Lola walked inside of the building, carrying bags of supplies that her father asked her to buy for the gym. She placed them into the storage room and walked back out, running up to her dad and giving him a tight squeeze. “Hi, daddy!,” she said as he held her tight.

Antonio let go and smiled down at his daughter. “Mija, que paso?” He asked her, curious with how her day went.

Lola smiled. “It went well, daddy. I finished up the errands for the house this morning and took Bubba (their dog) out for a walk! I also got the supplies you said you wanted from the warehouse! See?” She pointed at the supplies settled in the storage room, a huge smile on her face as she looked up at her dad.

Her father smiled proudly, “That’s my girl! Thanks so much for the help, mija. This gym wouldn’t be what it is today without your support.”

From the corner of his eye, Harry noticed the glimmer of Lola’s teeth as she smiled at the praise  her father just gave her. He loved to see Lola’s beautiful smile form that arched shape on her lips, but didn’t let it distract him too much from his training. Besides, her father was right there, and Harry didn’t want him to notice how captivated he was by his daughter.

Antonio continued speaking to his daughter, until a question popped up that caught Harry by surprise. “And how was the date?”

Harry’s stomach dropped. Date? She went on a date? Or did she eat dates? What was happening? His thoughts ran wild as he continued punching the bag, his hits getting harder with every word they spoke as they continued their conversation.

Lola smiled and let out a small giggle. “I enjoyed it. He was really nice. We went to that Korean restaurant and I got some bibimbap!”

“Did he treat my baby girl well?” Antonio questioned, nudging his daughter’s shoulder in a playful way.

“Yeah, I’m planning on meeting up with him again this weekend!”

Harry punched the bag with the hardest punch he could throw, his rage fueling his fire. The bag seemed to fly all the way back because of the force of Harry’s blow. Both Antonio and Lola looked at him in shock and confusion.

Harry noticed the two’s stares, and he cleared his throat. “Sorry ‘bout that. I got immersed. Thought I was in a real fight.” He let out a fake snicker towards the end of his statement, and Antonio chuckled as well.

“That’s alright, Styles. It happens,” he reassured Harry, patting the boxer’s shoulder with his hand. “Continue doing what you’re doing, bud.”

***

The night came and it was finally closing time. All of the patrons left, and it was only Harry, Antonio, and Lola left in the building. Harry usually stayed until closing on some days when he really wanted to train. He genuinely enjoyed being at that gym- it was like his sanctuary or safe space where he could let off steam and be around people he cared about. Antonio and Lola being those people.

Harry sat on a bench, taking off his boxing gloves and removing his mouth guard as he noticed Antonio packing up. Lola was getting the last bit of cleaning done, and Harry watched as she bent down to sanitize one of the metal bars of the equipment. She was wearing yoga pants, and her ass looked absolutely delectable to Harry. But of course, he quickly turned away before anyone would notice, especially her father. He heard the jingling of keys come from the corner of the room as he turned around.

“Alright, honey, I’m gonna let you finish up and then close up shop,” he said Lola.

Lola got up from her position to look at her father. “Okay, Dad, I’ll do that. I’m gonna miss you.” She ran up to her dad to give him a tight embrace and a kiss on his cheek.

Antonio let out a belly-laugh. “Honey, we’re literally going to see each other at the house later. Don’t miss me too much.” He looked over to Harry. “G’night, champ! See ya next week! Make sure she does her job.”

Harry smiled at Antonio. “Same time, same place! And don’t worry; she’s in very safe hands, Tony!” He looked towards Lola, still with a huge smile on his face, and she looked right back at him, cracking a smile.

“Alright, kids! Goodnight!” Antonio pushed through the glass doors and disappeared through the night. A slight breeze came through the doors, and Lola shivered a bit.

“It’s a bit chilly tonight, huh?” She questioned Harry, who was busy packing his duffel bag. “You should put on a sweater or something before you head out.”

“Yeah,” he answered a bit plainly. “Thanks.”

Lola noticed his monotone voice. He wasn’t normally like that. Whenever they would strike up a conversation, his voice was always so expressive and colorful. He’d always look into her eyes whenever they spoke, and they would always seem to sparkle as if he were intrigued with whatever she was saying to him. It was different tonight, though.

“Harry, you alright?” She asked.

Harry quickly glanced at her, but resumed packing his bag and keeping himself busy. “Yep. I’m alright.”

“No, no, you’re not. Harry, please, tell me what’s wrong.” She was genuinely concerned about him. That was her father’s best customer. He’d always been nice to him and her. So, what was the matter?

Of course, he was irritated. He literally overheard her and her dad discussing a date she went on. A date that happened today! Why wouldn’t he be pissed?

“Just having a bad day is all,” he answered, his voice still monotone. “You sure had fun today, though,” he said, hinting at the date, which Lola noticed. His voice was laced with fire and rage, something very different and obvious to his normal speaking voice.

Lola stood in thought for a moment, looking up as if she were trying to deliberate what he was saying with her brain. A lightbulb went off all of a sudden. “A-Are you talking about my date? Well, yeah, I had fun.” She was confused. “Why?” She noticed Harry clench his fist as he grabbed his gym towel. The veins of his tattooed hand and arm popped out, showing that his anger was absolutely seeping through him. Then she realized. “Are you jealous?”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows, his expression looking more upset than ever. He just jumped straight to the point, asking “Did you have sex with him, Lola?”

His straightforwardness caught Lola by surprise. “What?!”

“Did you and your date sleep with each other?” He started to walk over to her.

Lola was stunned by this question. It was too invasive. And why did he want to know? “You’re not my father, my brother, my man, or anyone of importance for me to tell you. You don’t own me, so why should I tell you?” She looked up directly into Harry’s eyes, only a feet inches away from her as if they were having a standoff. She furrowed her eyebrows at him angrily, wanting to try to intimidate him.

But, Harry scoffed. She looked cute when she was trying to put her foot down. He decided to stir the pot to stand his own ground. “You’re right, I don’t own you,” he paused for a second. “But I can make you mine.” He raised his eyebrow and grinned.

The woman gasped at his statement. “What do you mean by that?”

Harry took a step closer. “I can make you mine. But, only if you’ll let me.” He grabbed her by her jawline, stroking her cheek with his thumb as he looked into her eyes.

“Will you let me, Lola?”

Lola nodded slowly. She didn’t even really know what she was agreeing to, but something in here told her to. So, she did. Might as well.

“Open your mouth, sweetheart,” he whispered into her lips. “Open ‘em- there you go.”

Lola opened her mouth at his command, not really expecting what could happen next. Her mind was dazed, and honestly she would do anything he told her too if he wanted.

Harry bent his neck a bit, so that his mouth could be over hers. Just then, he dropped some of his saliva into her mouth. It was warm and the texture was different to say the least, and Lola kept it onto her tongue with her mouth still open, awaiting for his next move.

Harry smiled and let out a small chuckle from under his breath. “You just gonna let it sit there or..?” He joked with her as he looked up and down at her current state.

Lola quickly swallowed his spit down, feeling it slide down her throat alongside her own. It was a strange yet appealing feeling. And she wanted more.

Harry grabbed her by the back of her neck and kissed her. It was something sloppy, wet, raw, and disgusting, the type that made a couple swallow each other’s tongues and taste each other’s souls. As he released her from the kiss, his lips bit into hers. “Good girl,” the man complimented her, noticing her flushed cheeks as he grinned. “Now,” he began to take off his sweatpants, removing one leg at a time, and Lola’s jaw dropped again as she looked at the package this man was hiding this whole time underneath, “I want you to take off your clothes, get on your knees, and prove to me why you should be mine.”

Lola couldn’t say she was prepared for this. It’s not like she hasn’t sucked dick before, but this was Harry Styles, one of the most infamous boxers in the boxing world. He was just so big… and experienced. He was 7 years older than her, and much richer than her, so how could he not have had girls in the same position as she is right now. But she had to forget about that right now, like her brain kept repeating since this whole altercation started. Just live in the moment. So, she quickly stripped herself down and got on her knees. Luckily, there was a gym mat underneath her that cushioned her joints and made this a bit more comfortable.

The man looked down upon Lola and his grin went away as he wanted to assert his dominance over her in this position. He grabbed the back of her head, taking her hair into his hands as he positioned his cock to her mouth. She pouted her lips and kissed his tip, causing Harry to let out a small gasp. “Eager little thing,” he said with a tsk. Not wanting to waste any more time, he pushed himself into her mouth. “Now, suck.”

Lola immediately started to take him, getting used to the feeling of his girth stretching out her mouth. But, as soon as she was familiar with him, she brought his tip to the back of her throat, causing her to gag. Harry was amazed at what he was seeing; the girl was trying to take him all in one go! “You’re gonna take all of me?” She nodded, her mouth taking him in deeper. “Oh, good girl,” Harry responded, drawing out the word “girl” as his nerves on the tip of his cock reacted to the back of her throat constantly hitting them.

“You’re sucking me off like a big girl, Lola,” he murmured as she continued deepthroating him, his hand caressing the back of her head. “Don’t even need me to teach you anything, love.” He removed his hands from her and put them up in a way to hint that she could take the reins as she continued to take him deep into her.

Discovering how daring this girl was, Harry wanted to try out something a bit different than the normal positions. “Alright, darling, get up off the ground f’me,”he said, pulling back her hair so that her mouth could pop off of his cock. “C’mon, we don’t have all night, princess.”

Lola managed to stand up and before she could even look at him, he grabbed her hips and lifted her up, flipping her upside-down. Lola let out a little squeak, making Harry laugh and slap her ass. “That scared you?,” he laughed again. Lola rolled her eyes, although he couldn’t see her reaction, and slapped his thigh, “Yes, you fucking dick,” she responded.

Harry stopped laughing as he noticed his view. “Look at this perfect fuckin’ cunt,” he said in awe as he looked at the sight before him. She looked like a pretty flower, in bloom and ready to be picked. Her puffy labia had a glossy sheen to them as they shone in the bright lights of the room, looking like dewy petals after it had rained. Her little clit stuck out a bit from its hood, and it was the centerpiece. He couldn’t wait to try her.

“You alright down there?” he asked as he remembered that she was literally upside down and relied on only his strength to stay in this position. He knew the blood was rushing to her head; the feeling was familiar to him as he did handstands as a part of his training.

Lola gave him a nod, but quickly realized he couldn’t see anything so she forced out a “yes”. The blood rushed to her head, but she didn’t care as all she wanted to do right now was to please the man lifting her up. Her life was in his hands so to speak because if he dropped her, she would land right on her skull, and that wouldn’t look pretty. But, Harry was built for this. His grip was tight around her lower body as he held her up, her pussy to his face as he was about to provide Lola some relief.

Harry managed to shift his pelvis towards her head, trying to find her lips with the tip of dick. Once he felt them, he shifted himself inside of her, causing her to let out a garbled moan as he managed to hit the back of her throat. He started to thrust into her mouth, while his mouth began its movements, his tongue gliding around her labia. Lola’s moans, although garbled, vibrated onto Harry’s shaft and even his balls as they slapped onto her cupid’s bow, and he could swear he was transported to heaven.

Harry’s tongue slid itself into her little hole, and he could feel every ripple of her walls as they clenched around his membrane. His chin found some way to rub against her clit, and Lola could feel the hairs of his stubble flick every nerve. The friction caused her to tap onto Harry’s thigh. Harry knew what this meant, and quickly moved himself from her mouth. “Y’alright?” he asked her, pausing his motions of his tongue to get some sort of coherent response from her. Once he heard her take a deep breath and respond with a “yes”, he thrusted his cock right back into her, immediately finding his way back to her epiglottis, and Lola started to gag. Harry could feel the drool drip down his thighs and took a quick glance to the ground, noticing her saliva make a pool by his feet. But, it was all a glorious, euphoric feeling, and Harry took that as encouragement to suck onto her clit and dip the tip of his nose into her hole. The way she smelled was just as enticing as what was taking place, and Lola was just as pleased as she could taste the man inside and all around her own mouth.

Harry removed his mouth from her lower region, using his tongue to lick up the residue that stained his lips and chin. “Alright, honey, I’m putting you down now,” he told her as he used his strength to flip the girl rightside up. He laid Lola onto the floor, rubbing his hands down her skin to make sure that she was alright. She blushed as she felt his calloused hands move down her body, not really expecting how gentle he would be with her, especially with him being a boxer and all.

Harry held onto his shaft as he shuffled his body between Lola’s legs. He opened her legs a bit more with a gentle touch, and aligned himself with the opening to her cunt, mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen. “You ready, love?” Lola nodded and looked down to see what happened next.

Both Harry and Lola let out a gasp as he pushed inside.

“Oh, darling, you fit like a fuckin’ glove,” he said, a groan escaping his lips as he managed to put himself as deep as he could inside of her warm core. Lola let out little moans which pleased Harry’s ears as he knew the girl was loving this moment too.

“Ohhhh,” he drawled out in realization as he felt her cunt pulse a bit tighter after his statement. “You like being praised, huh? Being told you’re doing a good job by an older man? I noticed that with you and your daddy’s conversation earlier.” He smirked while stroking into her deeper. “A real praise slut you are. And you deserve every word.”

His thrusts were slow, yet deep, as he really wanted to really revel in the moment. He was finally fucking the beautful girl he’d always pictured himself with. And she felt like everything he wanted. Luckiest man in the world, he was.

Lola was in paradise. Her moans were guttural and low as she felt him inside of her. With every thrust, she let out a little curse or mumble underneath her breath, which were words of encouragement to Harry to keep going. She didn’t want this to end.

He started to angle his strokes upward, wanting to experiment with her and see if he could find the imprint of his cock through her lower stomach. As soon as he saw it, he rubbed in the area, and Lola cried out even louder. “You feel me right there, honey? In your tummy?” She moaned in confirmation, and her head tried to go up and down to nod along.

A couple more strokes went on and more moans were released as Harry fucking her. It was an erotic scene, almost as if they were shooting a porno. His balls consistently slapped against her perineum with every thrust and his thumb circled her little aching clit as, causing moans that Lola never experienced before with previous partners. Her walls started to clench around Harry, and he was quick to notice when a girl was about to orgasm. So he did what any man would do.

He pulled out, leaving Lola confused as she started to whimper. She almost looked like she was on the brink of tears. Harry chuckled under his breath. He didn’t want to pull out (and judging by her reaction, he could tell she didn’t want him to either) but Harry wanted to switch positions.

He decided to lay onto the mat, spreading his legs a bit, but leaving his head up to look at the girl, still whimpering because of her stalled release. “Alright, get on top of me, sweet girl,” he said, slapping his hands on his thighs for emphasis.

Lola nodded, a sweet and simple “okay”, escaping her lips as she found her way down. She swung one of her legs over him, putting herself into position above him. Harry stroked her jaw with his thumb yet again as he soothed the trembling and needy girl on top of him. He smiled, saying, “You were such a good girl taking my cock like that, sweetheart. Now, I want you to rub your pussy on my cock, okay? Just want you to get used to this position with me, yeah? Show me how you’re gonna take me. Prove to me you’re worthy of being my big girl.” His words were laced with lust, but his eyes were filled with desperation and need. As much as he wanted to feel Lola wrapped around him, he still  wanted to get her worked up a bit.

Although she really wanted him inside of her again, she obliged and placed her aching cunt onto the shaft of his cock and started her movements. His shaft started to glisten with the coating from her warmth as her labia rubbed against him; what a delicious sight for him to see. His veins were prominent and Lola swore she could count the amount he had just by feeling him underneath her. She glided on him back and forth repeatedly, which emitted moans from her mouth of pleasure, yet also yearning. She wanted to feel herself do that with his cock inside of her, wanted to feel his shaft touch every part of her from the inside.

Suddenly, Harry grabbed Lola by her hips and steadied her movements, holding her tightly in his grasp. He positioned himself a bit more comfortably, aiming his cock to her ready entrance, and started to move his lower half upwards to fuck up into her.

Lola couldn’t help but moan and throw her head back. Harry was hitting the deepest, most delicious spots inside of her more than any man had ever tried in the past. Her pussy clenched around him, causing the wetness that was already seeping through her hole to slide down his length. It created a beautiful sight for the two of them to see.

Harry kept fucking his hips up, and lowered Lola’s body a bit lower so that he could feel her as deep as he could. He managed to find an angle where the base of his shaft could glide against her G-spot while the tip of him could poke out an indentation through her lower belly, and Harry let out a moan as if he were touched by an angel. A small “yes” drew from under his breath as he continued his movements.

“Lookin’ like a pretty princess up there, riding my cock like that,” he said absent-mindedly. “You just need a tiara.” His words just sped through his mouth without censorship, his brain too focused on making sure both him and Lola were receiving pleasure. He reached his hand down to her ass and spanked one of her cheeks, and his balls felt the skin jiggle on him, making him moan. He decided to use both hands to spank each cheek interchangeably, which vibrated against his sack, another loud moan escaping his lips. And it obviously was just as pleasurable for Lola as he noticed how she squealed at every force of impact and how her cunt pulsed with every stroke of his cock.

“Look at those fuckin tits, too, fuckin’ hell,” He said, his eyes in a trance as he stared at them.  “Look at ‘em fucking bounce. Your daddy’s making you walk in a gym filled with all these gross old men havin’ a look at these? Irresponsible,” he joked, making himself laugh a bit in the process. But, the feeling of Lola’s pussy clenching around him at the praise lured him back into moaning again. “Shit- you’re somethin’ special, love.” Harry felt like he was in nirvana. He had a beautiful girl hopping on his cock like a little bunny, her tits bouncing along in circles, and her ass pounding on his balls with each thrust. Her beautiful skin was glowing with a bit of sweat, and her cunt enveloped around his cock in a way that nothing else could. It was amazing.

Lola couldn’t take it anymore. All of this pleasure circulated throughout her body- from her toes, to her pussy, to her ass, her stomach, her breasts, her neck, her head, and all throughout her spine. She just couldn’t handle it, and it caused her to fall forward onto Harry’s chest. She dug her head in the spot between his shoulder and neck, giving that spot on his skin a little kiss before shifting her head so she would be able to moan and breathe without difficulty. She repeatedly called out his name as she felt her abdomen starting to heat up, indicating that she was nearing her peak.

Harry held onto her, wrapping his arms around her back and putting them in a cradling position as he continued to thrust his cock inside of her. “I’m right here, pretty girl. Look at me,” he instructed her with a gentle tone, and the girl somehow managed to tilt her head and look into his eyes. “Yeah, look at me, princess. You’re just a beauty, aren’t you?” Harry shifted one of his hands to the back of her head, allowing him to make sure that they stayed face-to-face. “My gorgeous girl. Mine. No one else’s. This is my pussy, my breasts…” He kissed the tip of her nose. “My nose”. He kissed her left cheek. “My cheek”. He finally kissed her lips, this time with more passion than the first. His tongue explored the inside of her mouth once more, her body allowing him to do so as she was still focused on her own orgasm. “My fuckin’ lips, yeah? My fuckin’ mouth.”

All of his sweet nothings traveled from Lola’s ear to her abdomen, and it helped egg on her orgasm. She finally reached her climax, and Harry was amazed at the sight he saw and the physical reactions she had. Her whole body shook and pelvis bucked repeatedly as she came, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Harry stroked the hand cradling her head through her hair as a soothing gesture, hoping that it could help ease the intensity of her orgasm. “I’m right here, darling. Right here. You’re alright,” he whispered in her ear, adding extra words to help pacify the situation.

Just as Lola was calming down, Harry could feel his orgasm nearing, and picked up his pace just a bit, but not too much to make Leila cry out. His grip on her tightened, and Lola kissed all over his face- his cheeks, his lips, his chin- to help him through his climax. Then, she could feel the little spurts of his cum fill her up from the inside.

“Take my fucking cum, Lola,” Harry grumbled into her ear as he came so deep inside of her. “Let me own you, spread my seed inside so you know you’re mine.” He let out a deep groan as he continued before saying these four words, “I love you, Lola.”

Lola’s eyes widened as she heard this sentence, but she didn’t want to make her shock obvious. She allowed Harry to finish his orgasm, and as he did, he pulled out of her and helped her come off of him. She rolled to his side and then faced him, wanting to confront him about his confession.

“You… you love me?” She asked, and Harry picked up on the genuine confusion in her voice. To be honest, it almost sounded like she was… offended?

“Yes, Lola, I’ve loved you for all this time,” the man finally admitted, tears staining his eyes. “When I noticed that date you went on,” he sniffled for a moment before continuing, “with that- that dickhead.”

Lola sat up in protest. “Harry, don’t call him a dickhead! You don’t even know h-”

Harry cut her off. “I don’t need to know him! And I don’t want to get to know him; I want to get to know you!” He took a couple breaths, his chest rising and faltering as the air went in and out of his body to calm down. He didn’t want to be too harsh with the girl.

“What I need to hear from you right now is,” he paused, wanting to stop himself from saying something he might regret and something she might be afraid of.

But, Lola wanted to know what he had to say. “Is what, Harry?”

Harry sighed and finally looked into her eyes. He noticed her crying, probably even more than he was. They were both a mess. He didn’t want her to cry, but he had to ask her one last thing. “I need to know… Do you love me, Lola?”

She didn’t know what to think honestly. Yeah, the sex was good, and Harry was pouring his heart out to her. But… something was missing.

“Harry, I appreciate you. You’ve been there for my father at the hardest parts of his life. He told me how much you meant to him. How you’ve been… like a son to him. I mean he’s known you since you were my age! You’re 27 now!” And it was all true. After every workday, her father would talk about Harry in the car and at the house. He would bring up Harry’s little awkward shuffle that he did whenever he was waiting for the restroom. He talked about how Harry went through a rough patch with a best friend, and how he was able to help him through that time. He would ramble on and on about this “Harry Styles” whenever she was at the house. She knew of him, but she didn’t know him personally.

“And then there’s you and I.  I’m so much younger than you! I mean, you’re pushing 30, and I’m barely in my 20s. We’ve only had a true conversation with each other like twice,” She showed him her index and middle finger for reference. “I told you about my student life and the hobbies I had. The only time I ever spoke to you outside of the gym was when my car broke down and Daddy said I should call you to pick me up. Even that car ride wasn’t anything meaningful to build our bond.”

Harry was enraged. “Then why would you have sex with me? Why would you make me cum inside you? That didn’t mean shit to you?”

Lola brought her head down in embarrassment, not even realizing what had just occurred before this argument until now. “I just wanted to have some fun. I don’t even really know why. Just listen, Harry, if we were to get together, it’d be weird for everyone.”

Harry sat there in silence. He didn’t really know how to respond to what she said. His mind started racing. Oh fuck, I just fucked my trainer’s daughter, he thought. I just had sex… with the daughter of the man who took care of me for so many years. Just cuz I thought she was hot? What the fuck is wrong with me? He started to hyperventilate, his heart seemingly bursting out of his chest.

All of a sudden, he stood up. Lola noticed how his skin was pale, his eyes were blank, and how his chest rose up and down at a fast pace as he hyperventilated. She reached out to grab his forearm, but Harry just nudged her off. “I have to go,” he stated so simply, his voice laced in distraught. “I just-” he sighed. “Make sure to lock up properly before you leave.” He grabbed the duffel bag with his clothes and equipment, said his goodnights and goodbyes, and pushed through the exit of the gym, leaving Lola there all alone. Tears flooded her eyes. What… just happened?

[fatehbaz]

They’ve built a “Great Wheel” on the Seattle waterfront [...].

The small timber village became a military outpost in the Puget Sound War [...], [and] soon evolved into a trade gateway, with timber tailings and other industrial trash from Henry Yesler’s mill used to fill in the marshlands [...], atop which migrant laborers raised tents and shanties [...] now working to feed raw materials into the furnaces of the Second Industrial Revolution burning in the East. [...] The first nationwide strike ripped across the country’s railways in 1877, but in Seattle the unrest took on a grim character, as thousands of unemployed white workers rioted against their Chinese counterparts [...]. Meanwhile, [...] local elites rebuilt [...] downtown [...] from scratch, hosting the tallest building on the West Coast alongside other new constructs [fueled] with money gleaned from the supply chains linking eastern capital to Alaskan gold. [...] Today the city - again rebuilt [...] - is seen as one of the primary beneficiaries of the “Fifth” Industrial Revolution in information technology, outshone only by California’s Silicon Valley. [...] The digital was increasingly thought of as somehow "immaterial," sustained by intellectual labor more than physical toil [...].

Silicon Valley myths of [...] "immaterial" labor disguise a more gruesome dynamic in which growing segments of the global labor force are being deprived even of the basic brutality of the wage, instead forced out into growing rings of slums, prisons, and global wastelands. [...]

---

Perched alongside a downtown business corridor [...], Seattle's Great Wheel seems to peer out over [...] [the] prophesied “cooperative commons,” an infotech metropolis abutting the beauty of an evergreen arcadia. But travel below Seattle’s cluster of infotech industries and the image appears much the same as that of a hundred years prior - a trade gateway, squeezing value from supply chains by selling transport and logistical support. The southern stretch of the metropolis bears little resemblance to the revitalized urban core of the city proper. Instead of the “cognitive labor” of Microsoft, it is defined instead by the cold calculation of companies like UPS, founded in Seattle when the city was one link in a colonial supply chain built first for timber, then Alaskan gold, then World War. [...]

In south Seattle, this logistics empire takes the form of faceless warehouses, food processing facilities, container trucks, rail yards, and industrial parks concentrated between two seaports, an international airport, three major interstates, and railroads traveling in all directions. Meanwhile, the poor have been priced out of the old inner city, moving southward [...]. [T]hey can be found staffing the airport and the rail yards, hauling cargo in and out of two the major seaports, loading boxes in warehouses [...]. And, beyond them, the shadow stretches out to Washington’s rural hinterlands where migrant laborers staff a new boom in agriculture and raw materials [...] - and further still into America’s long-depressed interior, where the Great Wheel meets its opposite: Memphis, the FedEx logistics city, watched over by a great black pyramid [the infamous Bass Pro Shop pyramid]. [...]

Every Seattle is capable of creating an eco-friendly, “cooperative commonwealth” tended by apps and algorithms only insofar as there is a Memphis that can provide human workers to sort the packages, a Shanghai to build the containers that carry them, and a Shenzhen to solder together the circuits of the machines that govern it all.

---

All text above by: Phil A. Neel. "The Great Wheel". Brooklyn Rail. April 2015. Published online at: brooklynrail.org/2015/04/field-notes/the-great-wheel. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Text within brackets added by me for clarity. Presented here for commentary, teaching, personal use, criticism purposes.]

[redlilith5]

DC x PJO

Alfred Pennyworth Son of Dionysus part 2

Back when Bruce started developing his civilian and vigilante personas Alfred took it upon himself to teach theater cause yes his father is the God of Theater. He has personally used it back in his spy/agent era so he has quite the experience.

When Bruce explains the playboy persona he wants for his civilian identity Alfred finds it hard not to laugh. Bruce, the boy he has come to see as his son, has so much in common with his (adoptive) godly family. His heart filled with warmth every time he saw his ward engage with his domains. He was even more overjoyed when the little fledglings were as dramatic (or even more dramatic) than Bruce himself.

The entire family has shown signs of his domains and have proven to be as feral and chaotic as demigods tend to be. He would have thought he would miss the chaos the camp practically lived on, and for a time he did miss it. Until the bat got himself a bird and the chaos energy just kept growing through the years. The constants fights, pranks, plots and general shenanigans reminded him so much of his first home.

Just as Gothamites are considered a different kind of human bred (by the internet, the science community is still researching) some can be said of the Nature Spirits. Where a non Gothamites nature spirit walks into Gotham they would get sick instantly by the air pollution alone. But like any creature they can evolve to withstand the harsh conditions. Considering the manor has a beautiful garden and a forest nearby Alfred has become friends with the local spirits. This has the benefit of having extra magical security and people willing to snitch on his mortal family whenever they are doing anything he doesn't approve of. The children can keep thinking he's some sort of God (which is hilarious) but he's just resourceful.

The manors garden and greenhouse he uses to connect with his father's agricultural domain but he also plants medicinal and poisonous plants. Mainly used for his family but he does send his fair share of supplies to the camp. Because of how long he has been taking care of the manor's green side the plants have been influenced by his divine presence that they have in a way become sentient. In other words a magical garden as security. Unless the person comes or has the scent of one of the family members they will attack. Unfortunately this includes Thalia Al Ghul. He has made a deal with the water spirits so that any time his family ends in the water they can at least make sure they surface with their face up and they get pushed towards the nearest shore/family member. He pays them handsomely for the assistance.

Since Alfred doesn't really use his money he uses it to send supplies for the camp, set up safe houses/warehouse for demigods, donates to any group that helps nature heal (after thorough research and sends his father and siblings their favorite drinks and nice tea sets and cups. He even sends his own blend of tea, recipes and plant care instructions/advice.

When the youngest member brings home a cat and promptly names them after him he almost cries. He doesn't often ask his father for things and because of this his father has never denied him anything. His father may pretend to not care and everyone may believe it but his children know the truth. He is the God of Theater, he is just that good of an actor and his children are good at seeing when someone is acting. It does help that his request are most often than not reasonable and brings healthy amounts of chaos and amusement to his life. It may also be because he is the longest living son in two thousand years. So when his son asked him to be capable of communicating with his grandson feline he granted his son the ability to communicate with all sorts of feline without a second thought.

Alfred once subtly planned for Damian to bring a wild cat without anyone, not even Damian himself, known he orchestrated the whole thing. When Damian is caught in the act and asked if he is crazy Alfred coughs silently. He is the son of Dionysus. All his children have a little bit of madness but he's a good actor and his father always makes sure his children can control the madness. After all it is their birthright and inherited domain.

[darkbluekies]

hi hi how have you been if it's no trouble and if you are taking requests can I request your ocs with an artist reader that gives them a painted picture of themselves, If it's too difficult pls ignore this. Thanks and have a great day/night♡

(sorry if my grammar is bad)

A/N: I'm so sorry, there might have been some translation error in my brain that said that yn gave the yanderes a picture of themselves, not of yn! I'm still not 100% sure what you mean, but I wrote this. I hope you'll like it even if it's the wrong interpretation :(♡

Warnings: a bit suggestive parts in Edmund's and Silas’s

Silas:

You’re quietly coming into his office with something behind your back. Silas looks curious, asking you what you want since you never come down to his office. Youquickly give the paper over to him and attempts to run, but he lets his men lock the doors before you have the time to reach them.

“Now, now, don’t run. Let’s see what you’ve given me … wow, baby, this is magnificent. You drew me? Why haven’t you told me that you have such a talent, little thing? Now, don’t get all shy now. I really like it. I’ll keep it right here on my desk. Come here now so I can give you a kiss.”

Dr Kry:

He can tell that you’ve been drawing something for over an hour by now, but you haven’t let him see it. Everytime he comes close you pull the paper away. He’s growing curious, he can’t deny that. By lunchtime, you give him your artwork. He scans it with a small smile on his face.

“You made this of me? How sweet of you. I will cherish this dearly, I promise. Do you like to draw? Do you want me to buy you some supplies?”

King Edmund:

He has hundreds of portraits from all ages. Every year there's a new portrait of him (and you) hung in the throne room. But when you give him a messy sketch of him that you made while waiting for him to finish a meeting, he's mesmerized. You've caught something that the other painters haven't. There's something real about your sketch. Something human that has gotten erased in the official portraits.

"This is so beautiful, my jewel. You have a wonderful talent. I want you to paint my next portrait. And I'll do whatever pose you want, wearing whatever you want."

Jerry:

She likes to make some sketches too. But nothing professional. Just some doodles when she's bored. She has let you borrowed her sketchbook while she's gone in a warehouse to retrieve stuff you want nothing to do with. You draw her from memory and when she returns you hand the book back. She catches a glimpse of the small cartoonish sketch you've made of her.

"Is this supposed to be me? Why did you make my face so round? I have a jawline, you know. I'm just teasing, I know it's an art style. It's stupidly cute somehow. I'll make one of you later and then we'll keep them in our phonecases, got it?"

Hedwig:

You're not paying attention in class again. It's okay, though! Hedwig will give you her notes. You're leaning against the wall, doodling. You start to draw your girlfriend, picturing her side profile magnificently.

"Y/N, we'll work in pairs now- … oh, is that me? Wow, you're amazing! You have to show me more later, I didn't know you had such good talent! Can I keep it? Thank you, I'll hang it in my locker and get reminded of you every time I open it!"

[carib-island-trading]

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[bittersweetcreep]

Luna runs into civillan Damian again

Author's Note: This is part 2 of my Talia Al Ghul and Red Luna post, but you can read this as a standalone.

Part 1 here

A nice breeze rustled the tree's leaves, and sitting underneath that very tree was Luna. She was spending her free time sketching away in her sketchbook. Art was a nice way for her to relax and let her guard down. It can be so taxing to be constantly aware of her surroundings, It's nice to let go of that need to be ready for an incoming attack. That's the reason why she didn't sense a presence coming towards her. She didn't sense them sitting on the grass next to her, she didn't feel their stare.

Feeling a hand tuck her hair behind her ear was the moment she realized someone was there. Turning her head, she was met with Damian Al Ghul. He had this look of confidence and was wearing a devilish smile when he spoke his voice was filled with fondness as he greeted her. "Hello Luna."

Choosing to be polite, she signed back to him °Al Ghul. What do I owe the pleasure of seeing you this time around?° moving his fingers, he began to stroke her cheek. He seemed to be admiring her. "Don't worry your pretty little head, I'm not here to kill anyone. I'm not even an Al Ghul at the moment." She noticed he used the words 'at the moment', so he must be staying with his father at the moment but will return to Talia. Now that Luna thinks about it, who is Damian's father? After all, Talia wouldn't just procreate with anyone. It's probably best she doesn't know.

°If you're not here on a job, then why are you here?° Resting an elbow on his knee, Damian was once again wearing that devilish smile while he spoke. "I'm here for you, I wanted to spend time with the Red Luna who bested the heir of the League of Assassins and Talia Al Ghul herself." Picking himself up off the ground, he extended his hand for Luna to take. "What do you say, Luna? Will you do me the honor of showing you a good time?"

There was a moment of silence between them before Luna responded °As long as nobody gets killed, I don't see the harm.° putting her art supplies and sketchbook in her messenger bag, Luna took Damian's hand. Once being pulled to her feet, she signed one more thing before they left. °Don't make me regret this.° bring her hand up to his lips he reassured her. "I wouldn't dream of it."

He took her to a large warehouse like building that had the words Palette Paradise on it. The building was surprisingly walking distance from the park they were at. Once inside the building, they were greeted by a receptionist who opened a door for them. Damian offered his hand, giving Luna a reassuring smile. Deciding to trust him, she took his hand as he guided her inside.

The door closed shut behind them, leaving them in a pitch-black room. This put Luna on edge, but then the room lit up with millions of floating lights. Blue, pink, and yellow covered the sky around them. It truly was a beautiful sight, one where Luna couldn't look away from. Damian couldn't look away either, but it wasn't the lights that had his attention it was Luna.

Her eyes shined even brighter than those lights, and she had the biggest smile on her face. She was radiating pure joy and wonder as she stared up in awe at all of the colors in the sky. Damian swears he was falling for her all over again.

Entering the next room, they were greeted by the sound of birds chirping with a sunny sky. It had this peaceful atmosphere to it, but a sudden struck of lighting broke that atmosphere. The loud sound startled Luna, causing her to jump back into Damian's arms. Then dark and stormy clouds started to surround them both with low lighting coming from under their feet in an ashy purple tone. It suddenly started to rain too but for some reason she wasn't getting wet.

The sudden sound of laughter coming from Damian snapped the girl out of her surprise and shocked. Twirling her around, he placed his hand around her waist while clasping her other hand in his. "Follow my lead." They began to dance while staring into each others eyes. For some reason, Damian staring at her with his dominating gaze is making her feel shy, and her cheeks seem to be heating up too. Why is she feeling like this? And why is her heart racing? Can he hear the pounding her heart is making?

After exploring the other rooms, they left Palette Paradise. Damian wanted to treat her to something sweet, saying he had a place in mind. What Luna didn't know was that he was treating her to Puff Perfection, a high-end bakery that's known for their luxury desserts only the rich can afford. Tugging the back of the teen's shirt to get his attention, she informed the boy of the cost of this place °Not here, this place's desserts are costly. I know other places that are much more affordable.°

Placing a hand on her head, Damian gave a reassuring smile. "There's no need to worry about prices. You can trust me to treat you to something sweet." Trusting his words, she (with some apprehension) stepped inside of Puff Perfection. They were immediately escorted to a private table on the balcony and were given a shared menu that's filled with nothing but desserts.

Luna planned to get something cheap, but seeing all of the mouth-watering desserts that thought was thrown out the window fast and her sweet tooth took over her. There were so many tasty desserts with so many flavors. How can she choose one when her sweet tooth is telling her to eat them all. "Hey Luna, look right here." Damian pointed his finger to something called The Sweetheart Special. Reading it, the special comes with a triangular raspberry and rose essence cake covered in a pink ombré buttercream, a pink ombré macaron tower with rose Italian buttercream and hibiscus rose chocolate ganache and a rose milk tea latte.

"You wanna get that?" Giving him a thusiastic nod (which is just her nodding her head up and down super fast) Damain calls their waiter over and told them,"We'll be getting The Sweetheart Special." Luna was surprised to see the waiter back so soon as they didn't even wait for a full minute, but that thought was long gone when he served them their drinks and desserts.

Picking up her fork, she took a slice of cake into her mouth and let out a satisfied moan. Luna swore when she took that bite she bit into a slice of sweet berry paradise. Wanting to share this little slice of heaven, she took a portion of her cake and held her fork out for Damian to take. He leaned over and took a bite off of her fork.

Luna took a sip of her rose milk tea. When placing her cup back on the table, she was met with the sight of a macaron. Pressing the cookie to her lips, she took the hint and bit into the macaron. Damian took what's left of the cookie into his mouth. They took their time eating the rest of their desserts and continued feeding each other while making menial chatter.

"So you're telling me you don't have a TV or a laptop, but you have a flip phone that can only call people?"

°And a apple iPod.°

"You should come over to my place sometime. I could show you a few TV shows you might like or even a movie."

°We'll see°

Luna looked over the balcony to see the sky painted in an orange hue and the sun setting far off in the distance. This is usually the time she would be heading home to get ready, but the thought of her time with Damian coming to an end saddened her. There was a selfish part of her that wanted to skip her vigilante duties to stay with Damian a little longer, but she knew she couldn't.

°I should be going, I have something that can't be left unchecked.°

"I understand. My father is expecting me soon anyway."

Getting up from their sets, they walked past many rows of empty booths. Now that Luna thought about it, the whole place was empty when they first walked in, and the Palette Paradise was too. It didn't make sense with a place like Puff Perfection she expected the place to be jam-packed, but there wasn't a single customer in sight. Deciding not to dwell on it, she continued to follow Damain past the receptionists desk (she chose not to say anything when he didn't go to pay them) and towards the entrance were he held the door open for her to go through.

°You made today a real dream, makes me wish i could stay with you and never wake up°

"Luna." he said her name in a breathy tone as he looked at her with all the love and passion he held for her. With one hand, she continued to sign while the other reached for her phone. °We should do this again sometime. Do you mind if I get your number? I would like to schedule our next meet-up. °

Taking the flip phone from her hand, Damian started to put in his contacts. "I was thinking of taking you to the glass pebble beach to do some swimming, maybe take you jet skiing too." Finished typing in his number, the raven-haired teen handed her phone back to her °I don't have a swimsuit° she looked at her phone to see his number with the name 'Your Personal Demon❤️‍🔥' attached to it. "Don't worry, we can stop and get you one on the way there. My treat."

°Ok, then I hope to see you soon.° leaning forward, Luna placed her lips on Damian's, catching him by surprise. Pulling away, he was met with her gentle smile. Giving him a small wave, she turned around and started making the journey to her house. Leaving behind a lovestruck Damian.

Bonus Sense

Walking through the mansion's doors was a glowing Damian who had this dreamy expression on his face. He was practically floating off the ground as he made his way to his room without a care in the world. He even passed Dick without so much as giving him a glance, which freaked out the ravenette as he's never had an interaction with the kid without hostility. With a million questions Dick headed off to the man who always had the answers.

Rushing to the billionaire's office, he slammed the doors open and screamed, "Bruce! Something's wrong with the hellspawn!" Looking up from his paperwork, said man responded to the raven-haired male in a calm tone."In what way is something's wrong with Damian?" "I walked past him without being threatened, insulted, or being stabbed, and he had this weird look on his face that Damian would NEVER be caught dead wearing by anyone, let alone ME."

Looking back to his paperwork, he responded to Dick "Well Luna does have that effect on him." This confused the circus boy."I know that much, but he was out as Damian, not Robin." With a dismissive tone, the affluent man answered him. "And now she knows Damian Wayne." Running a hand through his hair Dick let out a frustrated groan. "What did he do this time?"

Without missing a beat, he asked his question, "He took her on a date, and from what you're saying, it went well." "I guess that explains why he's acting like a Disney princess, and let me guess he used the Wayne's name for this date of his?" There was a small pause before he answered with a simple "Yes." Bruce looked up to see Dick making a face. "And you allowed this because?" Letting out a deep sigh, he started explaining himself "Talia for lack for a better word 'persuaded' me and Damian promise to in his words 'play nice with the mediocre villains and your non-biological son'."

"Hmm.... for how long?" The billionaire rubbed his temples to ease the incoming headache. "Originally, he proposed 2 weeks -" "Go figure." Bruce gave a stern glare. Dick chose to shut his mouth and let the man continue. "I propose 6 weeks with the addition of providing all the resources needed for more dates with Luna." Dick cocked his head to the side. "And if he went back on his word, you'll pull back all of those resources?" "Exactly, and I have a feeling these dates with Luna will keep him on his best behavior."

[fictional-love-is-my-life]

I read your Mirage dad headcannon and I loved it!! Think you could do a one shot or headcannon on how Mirage would act with having a human girlfriend?? 👏🏼👏🏼

I'm glad you liked it! I decided to make this a little oneshot:

Mirage x human!female!reader

Warnings: None

Mirage never imagined one word would have so much power over him. He never expected to say one word in every sentence, resulting in him saying a single word over 50 times a day. Yet here he was.

"Mirage, where have you been?" Arcee asked. Mirage swaggered over to her, a large grin planted on his face.

"I was with my girlfriend!" He beamed. Girlfriend, it really rolled of the tongue. He loved it so much he couldn't stop saying it.

"I see. Have fun?" Arcee smiled. She was glad to see Mirage happy.

"Hell yeah! My girlfriend is the best. She's funny, beautiful, kind and smart. And the cutest human ever." Mirage expressed, his spark humming happily as he spoke of her.

"Well, you didn't miss much. Optimus says things look clear so we don't have patrol tonight."

"Great! Then I get to spend more time with my girlfriend." Mirage was going to take any free time he had to spend with her.

"Yes, you sure can." Arcee laughed.

"Oh, I have to do something. Something special, something she'll really love." Mirage pondered to himself, servo gently placed under his chin in thought. "I need Noah." He transformed and quickly drove off to his other human friend.

Noah sat in his garage, fixing a pet project he was working on. The garage door was open, allowing Mirage to drive in. Without looking Noah pressed a button beside him, the garage door closing behind Mirage. Noah had gotten used to the sound of Mirages engine so he knew it was him. Once the door was closed Mirage transformed.

"Noah, buddy. I need your help." Mirage took a seat on an old couch, making the springs screech and whine under his weight.

"What do you need?" Noah asked. He stopped what he was working on and faced the mech.

"I need to do something special for my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Noah raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah bro, we made it official last night. It was kind of an on the fly asking and accepting, nothing fancy about it. So today I need to do something special for her!" Mirage explained.

"So what do you need me for?"

"Well, I need you to help me make it special. Y'know, get me flowers for her, or jewelry or stuff like that."

"Why me?" Noah laughed.

"I can't exactly walk into a shop and buy it can I?" Mirage pouted. He had thought Noah would be willing to help no questions asked. "C'mon man, help me out."

"Alright, I'll help. What exactly were you thinking, because you know what she likes. And jewelry and stuff doesn't help me."

The two spent an hour planning out a small event. Noah and Mirage then spent the next few hours driving around New York, Noah getting out and going into stores to purchase supplies.

"I hope you plan on paying me back for all this." Noah stated.

"Yeah I'll figure out a way." Mirage complained. He felt like time was running out and he still had to set up. While driving around Mirage radioed his girlfriend. During their dating period he had given her a radio so they could stay in contact. He stole the idea from Kris.

"Hey darling." Mirage cooed over the radio.

"Hey handsome." (Y/N) replied. Her voice filled Mirage with joy.

"I've got a free evening, and I'm setting something up. Can you be free tonight?"

"Tonight yeah, I have nothing planned. Or well, I guess my plan consists of whatever you're planning."

"You're so funny!" Mirage laughed. Noah rolled his eyes. Noah knew Mirage was smitten, but this was something else.

"I'll pick you up later tonight, wear something pretty. Well you are always pretty, but y'know where something really pretty."

"I will." (Y/N) laughed.

With that settled Mirage drove to an abandoned warehouse, the same one he took Noah to the first time they met, and on the third date he took (Y/N) to. Noah and Mirage set everything up, using all the supplies they had gotten throughout the day. Once completed, Mirage took Noah home, then drove to (Y/N)'s place.

He parked outside and honked his horn. A few minutes later she appeared, in a beautiful outfit that made Mirages engine rev. She smiled, a smile that sent shivers through his form. He opened his driver door and allowed her in.

"Ready?" He asked, strapping her in with his seatbelt.

"I am." Mirage drove off, playing a radio station that consisted of mainly love songs. He stated that his radio was broken and he couldn't change it.

"Hey, we are about 5 minutes away. Could you close your eyes?" Mirage asked.

"Sure." (Y/N) responded. She trusted Mirage completely, so she had no problem closing her eyes no questions asked. He drove into the warehouse and stopped then unbuckled the seatbelt.

"Trust me?"

"Absolutely."

Mirage very gently transformed around her. Shifting his body until he was standing and holding her in his servos. He placed her down, keeping a servo behind her back.

"You can open your eyes now." Mirage whispered.

(Y/N) opened her eyes. String lights were hung up around the the middle of the warehouse making a circle of light in the center. In the middle were a few blankets laid upon the floor and a number of pillows placed evenly on the blankets. Candles were also strategically placed a few feet away from the flammable blankets, but they were there to enhance the mood.

"Oh my, this is beautiful!" (Y/N) exclaimed. Her heart pounding in her chest.

"Shall we?" Mirage offered his servo. (Y/N) took it. They made themselves comfy among the cozy pillows. Mirage laid on his side, his helm propped up by one arm, so he could be on a similar level as (Y/N). "Oh, I also got you something."

"You didn't have to get me anything."

"Well I did." Mirage pulled out a small box, gently handing it to (Y/N). She opened it, revealing a necklace, on it was silver heart shaped pendant with a blue heart shaped jewel in the middle of it. (Y/N) gasped in surprise, and awe at its beauty.

"It's gorgeous."

"Turn it over." Turning the pendant over revealed 'Mirage' had been engraved on the back of it.

"Oh I love it so much." (Y/N) leapt up, she grabbed Mirages helm with both hands and plastered a million kisses all over his faceplates. "Thank you!"

Mirage placed his free servo behind her back, pulling her in closer. He caught her lips and the two kissed passionately. The kiss only being broken so (Y/N) could catch her breath.

"You really like it?" Mirage asked.

"I love it. And I love you so much." (Y/N) put the necklace on.

"I love you too. I wanted something special for my girlfriend."

"Well, you did amazing this is really special. I have the best boyfriend ever."

That word rang through his audio receivers like music. Boyfriend, the second best word. And as much as he said the word girlfriend, he also hoped to hear boyfriend just as much.

Bonus headcanons just because I want to:

-Will say girlfriend as much as he can.

-Gets so giddy and excited when his girlfriend is around. He does everything he can to try and impress her or make her laugh. Absolutely loves her laugh so will say so many jokes, even if they are terrible.

-Flirts all the time.

-Shows her off to everyone saying 'this is my girlfriend' even if they already know that.

-Likes PDA and wants to kiss and touch her all the time. He would make out with her in front of the others and not care at all.

-Loves to see her in cute outfits. He loves getting little fashion shows, and likes to help his girlfriend pick out outfits.

-Will carry her around, because it means he gets to hold her close.

-Late night chats. He talks with his girlfriend while she tries to sleep. And he feels so happy if she stays on the radio while she sleeps. He feels like it is a way for them to be together even if they can't be.

[greenbergwrites]

Green. I’m a starved man. I’ve been rereading your post about Steve and Etienne being feral and Bucky trying to take care of them. If you have anything in your beautiful brain about that to continue off of. I think I’d cry. Love and appreciate you for everything you do and have done <3

Real talk, the original story I’ve been trying to write all year has been a feral!Omega plot inspired by that very post. [I even kept the name Etienne for one of the minor characters 😂]

Feral!Omega is apparently my new fixation and I regret nothing. 

So yes, I will happily continue that story for you.

Original post here for anyone who needs a reminder.

–

The feral Omega can walk out of his cage under his own steam. His companion, still as quiet as ever, cannot. Along with whatever injury has him bleeding, there appears to be something wrong with his foot. 

Bucky kneels beside the boy, permitted reluctantly by his protector, pursing his lips as he looks it over. The feral Omega hovers just over his shoulder, that warning little grumble-hiss still in every breath he takes. Should Bucky do or say the wrong thing, he has no doubt the Omega will attack.

He tries to keep himself and his scent as calming as possible, but it’s not easy. The boy’s foot is bent at an unnatural angle and seeing such an injury on an Omega makes him want to rage. His anger would accomplish nothing but agitating the feral Omega and potentially scaring the silent one, so he tamps it down as best he can.

The Omega is too dirty for him to figure out of it’s an old injury that’s healed wrong or a newer one that can be more easily fixed. Either possibility is unacceptable–angled like it is, it has to be causing the Omega pain.

“We’ll get this fixed up in no time,” he murmurs to the boy, keeping his voice soft and soothing. “For now, will you permit me to carry you?”

The Omega blinks up at him with those big, blue eyes. There is an air of vulnerability to most Omegas, but it’s more intense with this one. His gaze is so open, so sad. Bucky wants to find everyone who’s responsible for that expression and hurt them slowly.

The Omega nods silently.

Carefully, Bucky scoops him up. The boy is so light, it’s almost sickening. He pauses, giving himself a moment to rest his cheek on the boy’s hair.

No one else will hurt you, he vows silently. 

He promised it aloud already, and he’s sure that neither of them believed him. He won’t fail them, though. He will make sure they’re safe.

The feral Omega vibrates with tension, as if wants to snatch his companion from Bucky’s arms and carry the boy himself. As small as the other Omega is, Bucky isn’t sure he’d succeed, though. Perhaps that’s what stops him.

“Follow me,” Bucky tells the feral one, his voice still soft. 

It doesn’t soothe this one quite like it soothes the Omega in his arms, but it doesn’t seem to hurt, either.

Outside, the rain hasn’t slowed. Most of the vehicles are gone now, as are most of the humans. Two black trucks and a single ambulance remain, all three parked near what appears to be a triage tent near the entrance to the warehouse. The Enforcer that guided Bucky inside is standing near it, holding open the flap to allow them inside.

The feral Omega darts forward, putting himself between the Enforcer and Bucky, snarling loud enough to be heard over the storm. It doesn’t seem to register to him that he’s being drowned by the rain.

Bucky sighs softly, shifting the Omega in his arms as he approaches their little bodyguard. He lets his fingers brush over the feral one’s damp arm.

“Enough,” he chides. “Get in the tent so we can all get out of the rain.”

The Omega glares at him, but after a glance to his companion, he reluctantly obeys. 

Inside, the tent is set up with a gurney, two chairs, and a rudimentary set of medical supplies. It’s also empty.

The Enforcer comes in behind them, letting the flap shut behind him.

“You said they don’t like humans,” he said, “but all the medical personnel on site are human. I have some training, but unless they’ll allow the others in, it’s all we have.”

Bucky nodded. “I think we can make do with the two of us.”

It takes quite a bit of coaxing, and more promises of safety from Bucky, but the feral Omega allows the Enforcer to help his companion. Bucky can take care of their superficial wounds, but the foot requires more training than he has. 

By the time Bucky’s found cleaned and bandaged their cuts, the Enforcer has cleaned the silent Omega’s foot and examined it. Now that the dirt is gone, Bucky can see that his foot is swollen and red, making the injury new.

He hates how relieved he is about it. The idea of an Omega being hurt at all is unthinkable, but at least they won’t have to re-break the bone to set it correctly. He isn’t sure the feral Omega would be able to stand that.

“I’m going to have to set it,” the Enforcer says apologetically, looking to the blue-eyed Omega. “It’s going to hurt, but only for a second.”

The Omega looks to Bucky, and Bucky can almost hear what he’s thinking.

You said I wouldn’t hurt anymore.

Or maybe that’s just his guilty conscience, promising something before he knew all the facts. 

Bucky touches the boy’s hair.

“If there were any other way,” he said, “we’d do that instead. But if we leave it, it’ll heal wrong and we’ll have to re-break it if you want to walk again. It’s up to you, but setting it now is better.”

Frankly, Bucky is surprised it hasn’t healed itself already. The fact that it’s still swollen and fresh is worrisome. Their kind don’t heal quite as quickly as the movies portray, but they do heal fast. It should be at least halfway there already.

The Omega looks back at the Enforcer and nods solemnly. His feral companion, though, snarls before the Enforcer can even touch him.

Bucky takes him by the arm, pulling him closer. The fact that the Omega lets him is a good sign, considering how hostile he is. He takes the feral Omega’s face in his hands, making sure the boy is looking at him.

“We have to do this,” he says firmly. “It’s what’s best for him. Hold on to me if you have to. Don’t look. Whatever it is you need, but you have to let this happen. Do you understand?”

For several long seconds, the Omega just stares at him, and Bucky worries that he doesn’t. That he’s too far gone to truly grasp what’s happening.

Then, thankfully, he nods. It’s small, and the boy’s breath is shaky, his gaze displaying fear for the first time. But still, he nods, and Bucky knows he isn’t so far gone.

“C’mere,” he says, gathering the feral Omega to him, and the boy buries his face in Bucky’s chest, his fingers gripping Bucky’s shirt tightly. 

Bucky shuffles them closer to the gurney, because he can’t allow one Omega to be comforted and leave the other bereft. He keeps one arm tightly around the feral Omega’s back and lays his other hand on the back of the silent Omega’s neck, squeezing lightly.

The silent Omega reaches up, grasping his wrist.

“Eyes on me,” Bucky orders him. When the Omega obeys, staring up at him, he tells the Enforcer, “Go on.”

It’s quick. A little jerk of the Enforcer’s hands, the snap of bone going back into place. The feral Omega jolts in his arms, trembling, and the blue-eyed Omega closes his eyes, his breath hitching almost imperceptibly. 

When it’s over, Bucky relaxes his hold on both Omegas. He sighs in relief, nuzzling first the feral Omega in his arms and then leaning down to do the same to his companion.

“Good,” he murmurs to them both. “You were both so good. I’m so proud of you.”

The blue-eyed Omega gazes up at him in wonder. He leans back until he’s resting against Bucky’s hip, pulling Bucky’s hand down to rest on his chest. He keeps holding onto it, clinging to Bucky as fiercely as his companion does.

The Enforcer reaches for something to bandage the ankle with. By the time it’s wrapped, both Omegas have calmed considerably, though neither of them have let go of Bucky yet. He doesn’t make them, either. They’ve been through hell, and whatever comfort they want, they deserve.

The Enforcer clears his throat awkwardly.

“Neither of them have a pack scent,” he says to Bucky. “Until they can tell us where they belong, the next step is to have a local pack foster them. We’ve already contacted the closest ones, their Alphas should be here soon.”

Bucky’s instinctive reaction is to protest. These Omegas are no one to him, not in any sort of way, even though it feels like the opposite.

They trusted him enough to let him get them out. They trusted him enough to allow the Enforcer into their space. They trusted him enough to allow pain, no matter how briefly, and to let him comfort them through it.

He swallows down that instinct, though, knowing that he has no right. 

Reluctantly, he nods and tries not to tighten his old on the Omegas.

“Okay,” he says, and the word tastes like ash on his tongue.

[teddymoon06]

Close to the edge

Chapter Six: The Road Ahead

The dawn light filtered through the grimy windows of the warehouse, casting an almost ethereal glow over the space. Y/N and Yeonghu, now equipped with the supplies Alex had provided, prepared for the next leg of their journey. The weight of their recent losses still hung heavy, but there was a shared determination between them—a silent agreement that they would push on, for better or for worse.

Alex had been unusually quiet, a stark contrast to their earlier interaction. They moved with practiced efficiency, gathering gear and checking the perimeter. Y/N and Yeonghu were left to their own devices for a while, using the time to gather their thoughts and prepare mentally for the road ahead.

The warehouse, though secure, was a temporary refuge. The real test lay outside its walls, in the vast and unforgiving cityscape that stretched before them. Y/N glanced at Yeonghu, who was meticulously checking his gear. His focus was unwavering, but the lines of fatigue etched into his face betrayed his exhaustion.

"Ready?" Yeonghu asked, his voice steady.

Y/N nodded, though her heart still pounded with a mix of anxiety and resolve. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Alex finally approached them, their demeanor now more guarded than before. "We should get moving. The sooner we leave, the sooner we reach the safe house."

Yeonghu nodded, his gaze sharp and alert. "Lead the way."

Alex took the lead, guiding them through the maze of alleys and side streets. The journey was arduous, with every step laden with the unspoken dread of what might lurk around the next corner. The city was eerily silent, its once-bustling streets now desolate and overgrown. The occasional creak of a door or the distant rustle of leaves was enough to set their nerves on edge.

Despite the danger, there was an odd sort of beauty to the abandoned city. Nature had begun reclaiming the urban sprawl, vines climbing up the sides of skyscrapers, and wildflowers growing in cracks of the pavement. It was a stark reminder of how quickly the world could change, how swiftly civilization could be erased.

As they walked, Alex filled the silence with fragments of information about the city’s current state. "The safe house is in a residential area, mostly intact but well-hidden. It was used by a few others before, so it's not completely empty, but it's safer than staying out in the open."

"Have you been there recently?" Yeonghu asked.

Alex shook their head. "Not for a few weeks. Things change fast out here, and I haven’t had a reason to go back. But it should still be secure."

They moved on, and Y/N's mind raced with questions. Who had used the safe house before? What kind of people were they, and what had happened to them? The uncertainty gnawed at her, but she pushed it aside. They needed to focus on the present, on surviving the immediate threats.

As the hours passed, the cityscape began to change. The buildings grew older and more dilapidated, the streets less familiar. Alex led them with a confidence that suggested they knew this area well. Despite the growing sense of unease, Y/N found some comfort in their presence. They had been through this nightmare before and had managed to survive.

Finally, as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows over the city, Alex halted before a nondescript house tucked away between overgrown hedges and crumbling walls. The house was small, its exterior unremarkable, but the subtle signs of recent habitation—a fresh patch of dirt, a slightly tilted flower pot—hinted at its continued use.

"This is it," Alex said, their voice low. "We’re going to enter through the back. It’s less likely to attract attention."

Yeonghu nodded, his eyes scanning the surroundings for any signs of danger. "Alright. Lead the way."

Alex led them around to the back of the house, where a small, rusted door was partially hidden by a tangle of ivy. With a practiced hand, Alex pushed the door open, revealing a dimly lit room. Inside, it was clear that someone had taken care to make the space as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. There were makeshift beds, a few boxes of supplies, and even a small, functioning stove.

“Looks like someone’s been here recently,” Yeonghu said, surveying the room.

Alex nodded. “It’s not perfect, but it should do for now. We can stay here for a while and regroup.”

Y/N stepped inside, her senses adjusting to the dim light and the faint smell of wood and dust. The room was small but surprisingly organized. There was a sense of order amidst the chaos, a small comfort in the middle of their disarray.

“Thank you for bringing us here,” Y/N said, her voice sincere. “We appreciate it.”

Alex shrugged, their face partially hidden by the shadows. “Like I said, it’s not much, but it’s something. I’ll stay for a while to make sure you’re settled, but then I’ll be on my way. I don’t stick around too long.”

Yeonghu nodded. “We understand. We just need a bit of time to rest and figure out our next steps.”

As Alex settled into a corner of the room, Y/N and Yeonghu took a moment to unpack and organize their supplies. The tension of the day seemed to lift slightly as they worked together, the familiarity of routine providing a brief respite from their constant state of alert.

When they were finished, Y/N sat down on one of the makeshift beds, her body finally able to relax. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the fatigue and pain that still lingered. The day had been long and taxing, but there was a small sense of relief in having a safe place to rest, even if it was only temporary.

Yeonghu joined her, sitting down beside her with a sigh of exhaustion. “We’ve come a long way, but we’re still in this together.”

Y/N looked at him, a small smile tugging at her lips. “Yeah. We are.”

They sat in silence for a moment, the weight of their shared experiences settling between them. Despite the danger and uncertainty that lay ahead, there was a sense of solidarity—a reminder that they were not alone in this struggle.

As the night deepened, Alex began preparing a small meal with the supplies they had brought. The simple act of cooking felt almost normal, a fleeting glimpse of the world that had once been.

Y/N and Yeonghu joined Alex at the small table, the shared meal providing a brief moment of comfort and camaraderie. The conversation was light, focused on practical matters and the plans for the coming days. For a brief time, the weight of their circumstances seemed to lift, replaced by the simple pleasure of shared company.

When the meal was finished, Y/N and Yeonghu retired to their makeshift beds. The exhaustion of the day weighed heavily on them, and sleep came quickly despite the lingering worries and fears.

As Y/N drifted off, she found solace in the small, fleeting moments of peace. The world outside was still filled with danger and uncertainty, but within these walls, there was a temporary respite. And sometimes, in the midst of all the chaos, that was enough to keep moving forward.

The next morning arrived with a muted, gray light filtering through the grimy windows of the small house. The city outside remained silent, an oppressive stillness that seemed to linger in the air. Y/N woke to the soft sound of Alex moving about, their presence a reminder of the precarious balance of safety and danger they were living in.

She stretched carefully, trying to ease the stiffness from her muscles. The pain in her leg had subsided slightly, thanks to the rest and the makeshift bandaging, but it still throbbed with every movement. Yeonghu was already up, sitting at the small table and examining a map Alex had spread out before him.

“Morning,” Y/N said, her voice still heavy with sleep.

Yeonghu looked up, offering a tired smile. “Morning. How are you feeling?”

“Better,” Y/N replied, easing herself into a sitting position. “Thanks to the rest. What’s the plan for today?”

Yeonghu nodded towards the map. “We need to figure out our next move. Alex mentioned a few potential routes to get to other safe locations, but we need to decide the best path.”

Alex, who had been quietly preparing breakfast, turned their attention to the discussion. “The routes are all marked here,” they said, pointing to several routes on the map. “There are some places that are relatively safe but require a bit of a detour. And then there are others that are more direct but more dangerous.”

Yeonghu studied the map closely, his brow furrowed in concentration. “We need to balance safety and speed. The longer we stay in one place, the higher the risk.”

Alex nodded in agreement. “That’s the general idea. If we’re looking for safety, we can take the longer route and avoid heavily populated areas. If we want to move quickly, we’ll have to navigate through riskier zones.”

Y/N took a deep breath, looking at the map and trying to make sense of the options. “What about the safe house you mentioned earlier? Is it still a viable option, or should we focus on another route?”

Alex’s expression grew serious. “The safe house is still a good option, but it’s not guaranteed to be safe forever. Things change quickly, and what’s secure today might not be tomorrow.”

Yeonghu glanced at Y/N, clearly weighing their options. “It might be worth checking out the safe house, but we need to be prepared for anything. If we find it’s compromised, we’ll have to move quickly.”

Y/N nodded in agreement. “Let’s take the safer route to get there, but stay alert. We can’t afford to let our guard down.”

With the plan in place, they finished their meal and gathered their gear. The small house, though offering temporary refuge, was not where they intended to stay for long. The outside world was waiting, and they needed to be ready.

Alex led them out of the house, the morning air cool and crisp. They moved with purpose, their steps carefully measured as they navigated the maze of abandoned streets. The city seemed almost peaceful in the early light, but the tranquility was deceptive. The dangers lurking in the shadows were ever-present, and they knew they couldn’t afford to be complacent.

As they walked, Alex shared more about the area they were traversing. “This part of the city used to be a bustling neighborhood, full of families and small businesses. Now, it’s just another part of the wasteland.”

Y/N listened intently, trying to piece together the fragments of the world that had once been. It was hard to imagine the vibrant life that had existed here, now reduced to ruins and decay. The reminders of normalcy were fleeting, but they provided a glimpse into what they had lost.

The journey was slow, but steady. The streets they walked were eerily quiet, the occasional sound of distant groans or the rustle of wind through the debris serving as constant reminders of the danger that could appear at any moment.

After several hours, they reached a small, run-down park. It was overgrown with weeds and encroaching vegetation, but it provided a brief respite from the city’s oppressive atmosphere. Alex led them to a bench that, despite its dilapidated state, offered a chance to rest.

“We’re about halfway to the safe house,” Alex said, taking a seat on the edge of the bench. “We should be able to reach it by late afternoon if we keep up this pace.”

Yeonghu sat beside Alex, his eyes scanning the surroundings for any signs of movement. Y/N took a seat on the opposite end of the bench, her leg throbbing from the strain of walking.

“Do you have any idea who might have used the safe house before?” Y/N asked Alex, trying to gather as much information as possible.

Alex hesitated for a moment before replying. “It was used by a few different groups. Some were just travelers, others were locals trying to stay safe. I don’t know the specifics about who might be there now, but I’d expect it to be either empty or occupied by someone new.”

Yeonghu leaned forward, his expression thoughtful. “We should be cautious when we arrive. If there are people there, we need to make sure they’re not a threat. And if the place is empty, we need to be ready to move quickly if necessary.”

Alex nodded in agreement. “Exactly. And remember, things can change fast. We’ll need to stay on our toes.”

They took a short break, resting and rehydrating before continuing their journey. The park, though quiet, provided a momentary sense of normalcy, a brief respite from the constant vigilance they had maintained.

As they resumed their trek, the cityscape began to shift. The buildings grew older and more decrepit, the streets narrower and less navigable. The safe house was within reach, but the path to it was fraught with challenges.

By late afternoon, the sun cast long shadows across the city, and the temperature began to drop. They approached the area where the safe house was supposed to be, the tension palpable as they neared their destination.

Alex led them through a final series of alleyways, their steps cautious and measured. The safe house came into view, its unremarkable exterior blending with the surrounding ruins. It was clear that they had arrived, but the uncertainty of what awaited them inside lingered.

“Here we are,” Alex said, their voice low. “Let’s check it out.”

Yeonghu took the lead, approaching the door with caution. He pushed it open slowly, revealing a darkened interior. Y/N followed closely behind, her senses on high alert.

The inside of the safe house was surprisingly well-maintained. There were remnants of previous occupants—cans of food, medical supplies, and personal items scattered around. The place seemed to have been lived in recently, but there was no immediate sign of anyone present.

Yeonghu and Y/N carefully moved through the rooms, checking for any potential threats. The house was small but functional, with a few rooms that could be used for sleeping and storage. It was clear that it had been a refuge for others in the past, but now it was their temporary haven.

Alex settled into a corner of the main room, their eyes scanning the surroundings. “It’s not perfect, but it should be safe for now. We’ll need to keep watch, but it’s a good place to rest and regroup.”

Y/N sighed with relief, her exhaustion evident. “Thank you for bringing us here. It feels like a small victory.”

Yeonghu nodded, his expression a mix of relief and weariness. “We’ve made it this far. We just need to keep moving forward.”

As night fell, they settled into the safe house, preparing for a night of rest. The world outside remained a constant reminder of the dangers they faced, but within these walls, they found a brief respite. For now, they could focus on the small victories and the hope of finding their way through the chaos that had overtaken their world.

As Y/N lay down on the makeshift bed, she closed her eyes and let the exhaustion wash over her. The journey ahead was still uncertain, but for tonight, they had a place to rest, and that was enough.

The night in the safe house was eerily quiet, the darkness outside serving as a stark contrast to the modest sanctuary they had found. The small rooms were dimly lit by a few candles Alex had managed to find, casting flickering shadows on the walls. Despite the relative safety, Y/N couldn’t shake the underlying tension. The weight of the day’s journey and the unknowns that lay ahead kept her mind racing.

Yeonghu had set up a makeshift guard post by the window, his eyes constantly scanning the street outside. He knew the importance of staying vigilant, even in what seemed like a secure location. Alex, meanwhile, had started organizing the supplies they’d brought, setting up a small area for their provisions and checking the medical supplies to ensure everything was in order.

Y/N tried to help, but her leg was still sore from the previous day’s exertion. She opted to sit on the floor near the makeshift food area, sorting through some cans and packages. The simple task helped distract her mind, but the quiet that enveloped the safe house only served to amplify the silence.

As she worked, Alex approached, their face partially obscured by the dim light. “You’re doing well with those,” they said, their tone soft but earnest. “We should have enough to last us a while, but it’s always good to be prepared.”

“Thanks,” Y/N replied, looking up. “It’s strange, isn’t it? How something as simple as organizing food can feel like a small victory.”

Alex nodded. “In this world, it’s the little victories that keep us going. Every day is a fight, and every small achievement matters.”

Yeonghu glanced over from his post, his expression thoughtful. “We’ve made it this far, and we’ve found a temporary safe spot. That’s something.”

The night dragged on, the hours marked only by the occasional shift in the shadows and the distant sounds of the city. Y/N eventually retired to one of the small beds, her body protesting the discomfort but her mind refusing to settle. Sleep came fitfully, her dreams haunted by fragments of her past and the uncertain future.

The next morning, Y/N woke to the faint light of dawn seeping through the grimy windows. She stretched carefully, trying to ease the stiffness in her muscles. Yeonghu and Alex were already up, preparing breakfast with the supplies they had. The simple act of sharing a meal brought a brief sense of normalcy.

“We’ve got a bit of a plan for today,” Alex said as they handed Y/N a cup of coffee. “We should take stock of what we have and plan our next move.”

Yeonghu nodded, his gaze focused. “Agreed. We need to consider our options and prepare for whatever comes next.”

They gathered around the small table, discussing their plans. The safe house had provided them with a much-needed respite, but it was clear they couldn’t stay forever. The city was still fraught with danger, and their next move needed to be strategic.

Alex laid out the maps again, pointing to various locations. “There are a few potential safe zones further out. We could make our way to one of those, but we need to be careful. The routes are filled with risks.”

Yeonghu studied the maps, his finger tracing a potential route. “We should aim for a location that offers the best chance for long-term safety. If we find a secure place, we can start making more permanent plans.”

Y/N took a sip of her coffee, her thoughts racing. “What about supplies? We’re running low on some essential items.”

Alex nodded. “We can make a supply run to a nearby store. It’s a bit risky, but it’s manageable if we’re careful.”

Yeonghu looked at Alex, a sense of determination in his eyes. “Alright. We’ll need to stock up before we move out. We should plan the supply run for today, then finalize our route.”

With the plan in place, they finished their breakfast and prepared for the day’s tasks. The supply run was necessary, but it also carried its own set of risks. They needed to be cautious and strategic to avoid unnecessary dangers.

The city outside remained as desolate as ever. As they set out for the supply run, the sense of urgency was palpable. Every street and alley seemed to hold potential threats, and they moved with a heightened sense of alertness.

Alex led the way, guiding them to a nearby store that had once been a popular grocery. The building was partially collapsed, but the main entrance was still accessible. They approached cautiously, their senses on high alert for any signs of danger.

The interior of the store was in disarray, shelves overturned and items scattered. It was clear that others had been here before, but there were still usable supplies to be found. Alex led them through the aisles, checking for any intact packages and cans.

Y/N and Yeonghu split up, working efficiently to gather as much as they could. They moved quickly, aware that the longer they stayed, the greater the risk of encountering trouble. The sense of urgency pushed them to work faster, their movements tense and deliberate.

As Y/N reached a shelf of canned goods, she heard a distant noise—a faint scraping sound that made her freeze. Her heart raced as she glanced over at Yeonghu, who was also pausing to listen.

Alex, already on high alert, signaled for them to move quickly. “We need to wrap this up. Let’s get what we can and get out.”

They hurriedly gathered the remaining supplies, their movements quick but controlled. The scraping noise grew louder, closer. It was a sound they couldn’t ignore.

With their bags filled, they made their way back to the entrance. The tension was palpable as they exited the store, their senses straining to detect any signs of danger. The scraping noise had stopped, but the sense of unease remained.

Once outside, they took a moment to regroup, their breaths coming in relieved sighs. The supply run had been successful, but the danger had been a stark reminder of the risks they faced.

As they made their way back to the safe house, the weight of their situation settled heavily on them. The supplies would help, but the threat of danger was ever-present. They needed to remain vigilant and ready for whatever came next.

Back at the safe house, they unloaded the supplies and began organizing them. The small victories and the sense of accomplishment were fleeting, but they provided a brief respite from the constant struggle.

That evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, they gathered in the safe house to discuss their next move. The plan was to rest for the night and prepare to leave the safe house in the morning. They needed to continue their journey, to find a place where they could truly feel safe.

The world outside was still filled with uncertainty, but within the walls of the safe house, they found a temporary solace. They shared a quiet meal and discussed their plans, the camaraderie and sense of purpose providing a small measure of hope.

As Y/N lay down for the night, she reflected on the journey they had undertaken. The challenges they had faced and the dangers that lay ahead were daunting, but the small victories and the support of her companions were a reminder that they were not alone.

In the darkness, as she closed her eyes and tried to find rest, Y/N clung to the hope that, despite the chaos and uncertainty, they would find a way to navigate the world they now inhabited. The road ahead was still fraught with challenges, but as long as they faced it together, there was a chance for a better tomorrow.

Next | Previous

[moonlight-tmd]

Hello! A huge Blitzbee fan and a huge fan of your work here! What about a date after one of them had an exhausting day at work, and the other went all out glamorously for the date? I’m talking roses and lights and all that. Hehe ^^

Hello and thank you! I'm glad to hear you like the stuff i make <3

I wrote a similar thing about Blitz being all lovey dovey when Bee came to a meeting exhaused on my AO3 BlitzBee week but now i'm thinking what would Bee do when Blitz came back more and more tired from the constant work Megs and Lugnut give him...

I suppose Lugnut threw his work on Blitzwing, so he was stuck organizing and carrying supplies to the magazines all days long while Lugnut praised their Lord with an excuse of "discussing strategy plans with him". Bee understood that even a strong mech like Blitzwing can get tired and worn out so he planned a little something for their next meeting...

The next time Blitzwing flew out all tired to meet up with Bee he didn't see him when he landed by the warehouse. Instead, there was a note saying "Come inside~" with a heart drawn attached to the door. So Blitz took the note and entered their hideout. It was dark, all the lights have been turned off and the windows were covered. Only a moment after he called Bee's name the light turned on- or rather all the fairy lights haging from the walls and support beams of the building, all white, pink and magenta. There was other dimly lit decor and in the middle of the room on the floor was a big spread out rest area with electric candles surrounding it, he could see and smell incense on the crates placed nearby with dark sheets on them and bowls of various snacks sitting there just waiting to be eaten.

He was far too stunned to notice Bee creep up behind him and greet his beloved. Bumblebee was all shiny and had those silky blue ribbons wrapped around his horns, neck, arms and thighs. He had that adoring look on his face. A truly beautiful sight for Blitzwing.

He said he knew Blitz was doing one heck of a tough job and wanted to make their night a bit more pleasant for him. Blitzwing though he wanted them to interface but Bee only laughed and said not everything is about interfacing. Tonight was Blitz's night to relax.

Bee grabbed his sparkmate's servo and guided him to lay on the big pile of blankets and pillows. He made Blitz use his thighs as a pillow and pet his helm while also feeding him the fancy snacks he somehow got his servos on. Then he made Blitzwing lay on his chassis and went to massage his back plates.

The amount of stress and tension he had to knead out from there was making his own servos hurt but he never said a thing, he only sat there praising his beloved while listening to his moans of pleasure and relief. Bee brought special oils to rub into Blitz's metal to help with the stress, they all smelled good so he used different ones in different areas, he left the best one for his wings since he knew how much tension got in those struts after heavy duty work.

It was amazing. Bee assumed Blitzwing must have fallen into recharge when he was caressing his back to relax after the intense part of the massage. Blitz looked so peaceful, Bee was very happy that he helped his beloved, the spa night was a success. While petting Blitz's back he leaned down and whispered the word of love to him, how much he meant to him and that he'll always be there for him no matter what. He whispered how much his life got better since they met and that he'll never leave his side. Blitz was everything to him and he would do anything to keep them both happy. Bee gave him a kiss on the helm before he carefully squeezed himself under Blitz's arm to snuggle and recharge himself...

...What he didn't know is that Blitz wasn't recharging at all and trying his best not to burst out crying while Bee said all those things. Once Bee was in recharge he started quietly crying and hugged him as close as possible. Bee really went the whole world distance and beyond to make him feel like the luckiest mech alive. He never told Bee he heard his confession but he kept it in his Spark forever.

And of course, he did make Bee scream his name in the morning. Bee prettied himself up just for Blitzwing and it truly was doing things to him the whole time he saw the scout. A relaxing night followed by a passionate morning was something he never knew he needed. Shame they both had to leave so soon, but well... they could always reapeat that when they have more time~.

[puff-cat]

LONG TIME NO JOUKAI FOLKS

But I watched Mignon again and the soundtrack is also finally out and the vibes are IMMACULATE so here comes the brainrot

Supernatural AU - werewolf!Jou, Vampire!Kaiba

The underground boxing matches happen every full moon in an abandoned warehouse; werewolves are the fighters. It helps them get out their aggression in a (usually) less bloody way, and it’s a great show for any other supernatural being who wants to come and watch. Kaiba is the medic on shift - mostly bc he’s actually a trained surgeon, and the middle of the night time is convenient. He’s been doing this for decades, it’s just a part of his routine. Never drinks any of the blood from his patients though, he would never lower himself to drink from a “street mongrel”. Lord knows where they’ve been.

Outside of that world, Kaiba works at a hospital. He takes surgery consults in the early morning or late evening, when his office can be dimmed without seeming strange. During th day, he haunts the windowless ORs, where the sun can’t touch him. And there’s always a supply of blood that can be afforded to “go missing”.

Back to the fighting-

The newest boxer on scene is a young wolf that goes by “Blondie”. He’s got beautiful golden fur and a handsome smile, but what makes Kaiba take notice of him is his eyes. Usually, when werewolves fight, their eyes are clouded by rage, bloodlust, anything that drives their instinct to win. But Blondie’s eyes are so clear, like the deepest amber. They shine with the thrill of the match when he enters the ring. He’s not the biggest wolf, or the strongest, but he’s quick and he’s clever. And he starts winning.

There’s more to this that I can’t coherently write out in notes without spoiling the entire thing lest I decide to write this as a fic, but if anyone wants to know more my inbox is always open hehe

(Also yes there is absolutely JouKai horniness with Jou in his wolf form when they eventually get together. Because I’d never pass on that opportunity)